Starlight
Don't own Naruto
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'Thoughts'
"Talking"
'Someone Else Talking in a person's mind'
(----) Different point of view
-+-+ Scene change
-/-/-/ Flashback
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Chapter 11
He just stares at the group of people in front of him. They were all high level ninja. He just tones the stuff out about trying to impress clients of other countries. He wonders if this speech was ever going to stop.
Out of twenty teams, only six teams passed. The one team with Gaara on it, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino's team, team 7, Gai's team, the sound team, and finally his team. That makes eighteen people.
He mentally sighs and they finally get to the part of where they fight each other. Soon they walk up to the catwalk and wait for the match between Zuka and Lee. Soon the examiner for the third exam begins the match.
Then Zuka then begins to brag about his wonderful arms and how much damage he could do. He just rolls his eyes at this. Before Zuka knew it, Lee punched him. "So, it's the hard way, huh?" Zuka states. Lee takes a fighting stance and says, "Enough talk, I'm burning with a fury passion!" Then Zuka sends out and air blast. It never hits, for Lee disappears and reappears behind Zuka. Then just as Zuka tries to send an air blast at Lee, Lee then just stands there, and says, "I wouldn't try that again." Zuka just smirks and tries to blast Lee, but his arms get blasted off.
"I blocked the air passages with a few rocks. I also used large ones at the opening points, so when I warned you not to try it, you should have listened to me." Lee says in a sad tone. Medic Nins appear and soon collect the arms and Zuka.
Lee then looks depressed as he walks up the stairway. The scoreboard then shows the names, Terish and Sasuke's names. He looks at the two and finds that they were glancing at each other.
Soon both make their way to the floor and the examiner begins the match. He wonders just what kind of jutsus Terish will be using, for Sasuke could very easily copy them and use them later. This was going to be a longer battle then the last one.
They then charge each other, as they watch, they exchange punches and kicks. As Terish retreats a little, Sasuke then takes it up a notch. Sasuke's Sharingan is now active, but then Terish smirks and does a series of hand seals. "Night Flare!" Terish yells out the name of the jutsu. As they all watch, Sasuke covers his eyes.
In that moment, Terish seems to disappear. He didn't bother to search around for Terish, knowing full well that Terish was using a family technique. This was the reason why the Leopard clan were consider to be some of the best scouts and ambushers.
Soon Sasuke is also looking around for any signs of Terish. As Sasuke turns around in a frantic search for Terish, series of kunai begin to rain down toward Sasuke. It looks like Terish had a trap already in place. There are gasps as a net of light appears on the ground and before Sasuke could leap away, the net shots up. The lines of the net wrap themselves around Sasuke's body.
Soon Sasuke can't move, and if Sasuke had enough chakra control to make a chakra blade, he wasn't getting out of this trap. Terish appears from the shadows. Terish then walks over and knocks Sasuke out.
"Winner is Terish Leopard." The examiner says. The lines of blue chakra disappear from Sasuke's body and a Medic Nin appears and checks on Sasuke. Kakashi appears and picks Sasuke up and walks him up the stairs, with Terish walking behind him.
The next match is between Kiba and Ganmaru. Both make their way down the stairs. Akamaru is on Kiba's head. Then when they both reach the bottom of the stairs, Kiba puts Akamaru on the ground.
Then the examiner says, "Begin!" Ganmaru is already doing hand seals. Soon two water clones appear on either side of Ganmaru. This cause Kiba to blink in surprise, then Kiba says, "Fat lot that's going to help you! Their just water clones!" Akamaru barks in agreement with his master. Ganmaru just grins a bit at that. "Really? Are you quiet certain about that?" Ganmaru asks. Kiba just snorts and tells Akamaru, "Attack the stupid water clones." Akamaru growls and charges one of the water clones. The clones attack that dog. Then when Akamaru destroys one, the clone shatters into ice shards. Akamaru then dodges the shards, but forgets about the other clone.
"I guess that time he spent with Haku helped." Sakura says. He sighs and says, "True, I wonder why Zabuza never used this version of water clone?" Kakashi answers, "It's a recent development. I helped Ganmaru and Haku with this one." They look at Kakashi and then they all just blink at this. Then they returned to the fight.
Ganmaru has five more clones to help him fight against Kiba and Akamaru. The pair of them are retreating from the clones. Then Kiba digs around in his pouch for something. Then Kiba says, "Akamaru, here!" The dog jumps and shallows the red pill. Soon Akamaru changes into a red dog.
"You think that's all I got up my sleeve?" Ganmaru asks. Ganmaru then does some seals and soon the whole floor looks like there are over forty Ganmaru's. This causes Kiba and Akamaru look around in confusion. He knows something that Kiba and Akamaru don't, most are just illusions. Ganmaru's plan was beginning to come into light.
He now knows why Ganmaru let Kiba and Akamaru destroy those costly clones. It was to not just freak out the pair but also to have a source of water. For that's what the shards of ice are becoming. It takes longer for ice to melt then for water to evaporate, so whatever Ganmaru is planning, he needs the extra chakra he's saving by having these shard of ice around. But he's still at a lost as to what kind of jutsu needed that kind of special planning.
Kiba and Akamaru finally calm down and Kiba uses a jutsu to transform Akamaru into a beast clone. Then they both use Piercing Fang on all the clones. Soon ice shards litter the floor and Ganmaru takes a few hits too.
Then Ganmaru grins and quickly does some hand seals. "Area change! Ice Field Jutsu active!" Ganmaru yells out. Soon it gets cooler and many of the ice shards grow bigger. The shards of ice now look like great ice spires and they were also cold. He grins at this and it now makes sense about why Ganmaru need the ice shards. It also meant that Ganmaru has gotten more control over his chakra.
"This doesn't frighten us! Piercing Fang!" Kiba shouts. They drill through many spires but by the time they are even close to Ganmaru, the force of their attacks is much less.
Then when Kiba and Akamaru come out of the attack, Ganmaru attacks them and don't let up. Even from here, he could see that Ganmaru looks tired, but he soon gets a lucky break. Akamaru tries to use Piercing Fang without warning; the beast clone misses Ganmaru and knocks out Kiba.
With Kiba knocked out and Akamaru transforms back into a dog. Then the examiner says, "Ganmaru is the winner." Then the ice field disappears and Ganmaru faints. The Medic Nins take both of them off the hospital wing.
He then takes a minute to glance at Lee. He finds that Gai and Lee's female teammate comforting the depressed Lee. It seems that Lee's not over the fact that he's responsible for that guy's arms getting blasted off. Not that he could blame the guy, it was really gross. He sighs and looking to see if it's his turn and finding that it's Yue and Shino's turn. He then nods to Sasuke, Terish, and Kakashi, not Sakura though; she was too busy yelling encouraging words to Yue.
He hoped that whatever happens, it's a long match. The simple reason why they've been winning so far was they haven't really shown off during practices and spars. He walks pass Lee's other teammate as he walks to where Gai was. He didn't bat an eye at the kid with white eyes.
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He watches as Koichi heads over to Gai's team. He didn't really know what to make of it, but decided not to worry about it. He might have lost to Terish, but he was now more eager to learn more then just jutsus that Leaf offered.
He watches as Yue and Shino stand looking at each other for a few moments. "Why don't they just attack?" He hears a new voice say. He turns and finds the other guy from Sand. "They've sparred before." Terish answers. They then turn to watch as Shino is making the first move.
Shino attacks by throwing two kunai towards Yue. Yue moves forward and grabs them and in a simple spin, sends them back towards Shino. Then Yue races towards Shino. Shino dodges the kunai and throws a punch at Yue when Yue gets close enough.
As they watch, Yue and Shino exchange blows and kicks. Then Yue does something that shocks many, for from Yue's fingertips, chakra appears like lines flowing through the air. Shino leaps away and the lines of chakra disappear a good two feet away from Yue.
"What did Yue do?" Sakura asks. Terish answers, "When you have a great deal of control of your chakra, nothing is impossible. That chakra was focused and released as sharp strings. Shino can't do what he normally does in this match. I wonder if Shino has a plan in works, though." He looks at Shino and wonders just what Terish meant by Shino not attacking normally. He doesn't ask though.
Shino is now retreating from Yue. Then ask Yue's fist finally connects, Shino's body breaks apart into a great many bugs. Yue don't panic though, it looks like Yue didn't seem all that surprise at this. The bugs attach themselves to Yue, but Yue don't seem to mind.
Then it looks like Yue finally found what he's looking for, Yue does a simple seal and blue chakra appears around him. The bugs get off Yue and fly around the blue lines of chakra. Then Yue begins to do some seals. Then there are four other Yue's. Then they spread out and so more insects appear.
The clones and Yue don't pay much attention to these bugs. It was then that he realized that most of the bugs were most likely an illusion. The clones and Yue then meet up with a group of Shino clones.
Soon only one Yue and Shino were left and the illusion of the swarm of bugs disappears. Yue then blocks one of Shino's punches with his wooden shield. Yue then pushes Shino back and punches Shino's lower jaw. This sends Shino into the closest wall.
Shino's body breaks apart into bugs and the real Shino appears behind Yue and Yue just ducks down to dodge the punch aimed for the back of his head. Yue then knocks Shino onto the floor and quickly draws a kunai and places it by Shino's neck.
"I surrender." Shino says. The examiner then proclaims Yue that winner of the match. Then Yue helps Shino up and they then walk back up the stairs together. He sighs and turns to see Kiba and Akamaru also making their way up the stairs.
Soon the scoreboard reads, Tenten and Temari. The female teammate of Lee walks down the stairs and the only female from Sand just jumps to the floor using her huge fan. They then both look at each other and soon the examiner starts the match.
As soon as the match starts, Tenten begins to throw kunai towards the blond Temari. Temari just stands there, looking bored and then as the kunai get close, Temari's fan opens to one purple dot. The kunai the land on the floor around Temari, then Temari says, "You'll lose this match when four dots appear." Tenten looks stunned at this and then seems to be thinking about something.
Temari just waits and Tenten the takes out a single scroll, then Tenten opens the scroll and soon weapons appear on the paper. Tenten then begins to throw them at where Temari is standing. Once again the weapons approach the Sand Nin and then they land on the ground surrounding Temari. Temari's fan has another purple dot on it.
Now Tenten looks pissed and takes out two scrolls and leaps into the air. Tenten opens both summoning scrolls and soon a good many weapons appear on the papers. Tenten then shots them all towards the Sand Nin. Once again Temari's fan opens to another purple dot and the weapons land far from Temari.
Tenten looks exhausted and Temari then opens her fan to reveal the fourth dot. Temari then picks up the fan and swings it at Tenten. This sends Tenten into the wall behind her. Tenten is knocked out and the examiner declares Temari the winner. Some Medic Nins come and take Tenten away.
Temari walks back up the steps to where Gaara and the other Sand guys are. The scoreboard then reads Gaara and Dosu. Before they even make it to the floor, Dosu says, "I forfeit." Everyone just stares at the Sound Nin. Gaara just sends him a murderous glare. Then examiner then declares Gaara the winner.
The scoreboard then reads Koichi and Kankuro. Koichi and the last Sand Nin walk down the stairs. He's not too worried, he already knew which of the two was going to win. It also looks like Gaara knew too, for Gaara was now just glaring at Dosu.
The examiner then says begin. Koichi just takes out a kunai and throws it, not at Kankuro but at the bundle. Then Kankuro leaps in the path and the kunai hits the guy in the chest. But there's no blood. The bundle unwraps and there stands the real Kankuro. "So you knew." Kankuro states. "I could feel the strings from here." Koichi answers.
Then Koichi races towards Kankuro. The puppet opens up and shots out some simple needles but Koichi just jumps over them and then over the puppet and kicks Kankuro in the head. Kankuro's head hits the floor first and then the rest of his body lands on the floor too. It was a knock out and Koichi is pronouncing the winner.
"Your burning fire burns more brightly then the last time I saw it!" Gai yells out. He looks over at the other jonin. It was Terish that answers, "Gai's a old friend of Koichi's family." "You mean you know Gai?" Sakura asks. Yue nods and Terish answers, "Gai's the one that's been the contact between our villages since we were eight." Kakashi then says, "So that's where he's disappearing to…"
The scoreboard then reads Neji and Hinata. He blinks and looks to where Hinata was standing. Then Koichi yells, "Do your best, Hinata!" That snaps Hinata out of it and for Hinata blushes. Soon both make their way to down the stairs.
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She can't believe that she's standing on the floor. She just stares at her cousin. She can't believe that she was facing him! But what happened last night, what the old woman told her. She'll try her best and promises not to let Neji psychic her out.
For the first time in her life, she felt this calm settle over her. She felt at peace with the now. She's never felt this way before, but she didn't worry about it, though.
She then sees a movie play out in her mind. It shows just how Neji would attack and how it ends. She gets knocked out, but this was the odd part, she sees Koichi, but not the Koichi she knows. This one wears an orange jumpsuit and is paler. It was also odd that he's wearing a Leaf headband…
The images stop and Neji also stops talking. She goes into a stance and waits. This throws Neji off, but her cousin then recovers and charges her. She didn't even know it, but she misdirects some of her cousin's attacks and also lands a few of her own. It was like she wasn't in control…
She moves without thinking about it and moves quickly to her right and lands an attack on her cousin's back. This causes him to cough up some blood. It also angers him and without any warning Neji aims for her chest. She directs it out of its path, but it hits her shoulder. She also lands three hits before Neji could pull away.
They retreat from each other. She's attacking with her Byakugan activated without remembering when she activated it. They then wait for a few minutes and then she charges her cousin. She aims for his stomach but their attacks hit their chests. She smiles a bit at this, knowing that she changed the out come of this fight…
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He watches as both Neji and Hinata fall to the ground. It was a draw and Medic Nins came and carried both away. He's relieved that Hinata tied with Neji in this match. He was also impressed that Hinata had improved so much. He wonders what caused the change in her, though. It was kind of like dreaming…
He shakes his head and watches as Sakura and the last Sound Nin walk onto the floor. Everyone knew which of the two were going to win, but it was just how badly Sakura will lose.
The match began and within five minutes, Sakura is knocked out from the bell ringing. Sakura is carried away and they were given a break before the speeches start. They all go to check up on Ganmaru, Sakura, and Hinata.
To Readers:
Orochimaru didn't get a chance to bite anyone, though he was aiming for Yue though. Hope that this clears it up for you. Also about Lee's match, I though plugging the holes was pretty obvious to anyone with any thinking person. Lee just didn't think that the arms would blast off, though just shoot the rocks out. That was mostly the bloodiest scene in this chapter.