His eyes slowly opened. Everything hurt and he couldn't think straight. Maruku stared up at the stone gray ceiling. Where am I? He heard footsteps before the door to his room opened. The boy turned his head to find his friends and his teacher.
He tried to open his mouth to greet them but he found the task of doing so incredibly difficult. Lucky for him however they seemed to know what was on his mind.
"You're at the peak of . We carried you here after the cold got you. Everyone is fine for the most part. Sasuke has the shakes from soldier pill withdrawl but other than that everyone is ok. There's going to be a preliminary round before the final stage. Anyway we just came to check on you to make sure you're alright. Get some rest." Maruku looked at Sakura as she was talking.
A preliminary? If he didn't compete in the preliminary he would be disqualified and that could not be allowed. So it was with a will of steel that he pulled himself from his bed to stand on shaking legs.
"Maruku you need rest. Don't worry about the preliminary. You did well to make it as far as you did." He looked at Kakashi-sensei with a frown. Even if he couldn't speak he would make sure his feelings got across. Making a fist he put it to his teacher's chest.
As long as I can clench these fist then I can keep fighting! His gesture came across perfectly clear. Kakashi sighed. What a troublesome student. "If you believe you're well enough to fight then I will allow you to do so."
Maruku nodded and slowly but surely took shaky steps towards the door. As he followed Sakura to where the prelims would be done he gave her a questioning look. She seemed to pick on his thoughts well enough.
"Naruto and Sasuke are already there. We couldn't all come or else the whole team might have been disqualified." He gave her a look of alarm.
"Don't worry so much I'm still in." Satisfied he gave a nod and let the girl support him as they continued walking down the hallway. Soon afterwards they came to a large room with a balcony and large circular fighting ring in the middle of the room. Sakura led him to where the rest of the team were waiting.
"Why the fuck are you out of bed?" There was a harsh whisper from Sasuke as the other boy glared at him. He noticed the boy was shaking ever so slightly.
Due to talking and simply moving was difficult Maruku couldn't exactly answer. Sakura his translator so far answered for him.
"He came to cheer us on. He's not going to actually fight. Isn't that right Maruku? You're not going to fight when you can hardly move right?" Maruku did his best to ignore the girl's thinly veiled threats disguised as questions. He did not get tortured and then almost died on a mountain to not get to the final round.
He would fight and he would win that's all there was too it. They watched as an electronic board lit up and started flashing before two names came up.
Well shit. Maruku didn't think he would have to fight first, and he most definitely didn't think he would be fighting Kiba of all people. Maruku did his best to ready himself. As he headed down to the ring a hand found itself on his shoulder. He turned around and came face to face with Kurenai.
"I know you're hurt, and that I have no right to ask this of you. But please, do your best to teach my student some humility." The boy nodded. He was going to beat dog boy's ass regardless. He stepped into the ring, across him was his opponent who was wearing a cocky smile, no doubt thinking of his easy victory. There was a cloud jounin in between them who started to explain the rules.
"Welcome to the preliminary round. Here you fight until you are unable to fight any more or if you lose by ring out. Begin!"
Kiba immediately took a soldier pill and his chakra blazed becoming visible outside of his body.
"I'll end this in one shot! Four legs jutsu!" The boy sped forward kicking up some of the tile with his speed. Maruku coughed up blood at the impact. Slowly he stood back up on shaking legs and wiped the blood away from his mouth. The fight was already over.
"So it looks like the loser can take a hit. Well lets see how you handle this!" As Kiba's chakra flared he suddenly fell to both knees.
"Whats going on?" The boy was confused. His reserves had just taken a hugh dive out of seemingly nowhere. He looked at his opponent who had blood red markings on his right hand. His face looked much to relaxed.
"White Divider. The second you hit me gave me the opportunity to apply it. It's over. Divide!" Kiba's eyes glossed over as the last of his energy was sapped and transferred. Maruku was disappointed by the easy match but it couldn't be helped. He was in no condition to fight a prolonged battle. As he made his way back upstairs he caught the eyes of Shino and Kurenai. They both gave him a nod which he returned. Walking back to his team he gave them the thumbs up before sliding down the wall ready to fall asleep at any moment.
The board flashed again. This time it was Sakura's time to fight, the person she was fighting. Ino. Maruku,Sasuke, and Naruto all grimaced. This was going to be brutal.
Sakura steeled herself as she walked down to the fighting ring. It wasn't because she didn't believe that she couldn't win. It was because as it was looking she would embarrass her once friend.
"Are you prepared to lose forehead girl?" Sakura didn't bother replying, instead she unsealed two water canisters and clipped them to her sides. The canisters could hold much more water than looks could believe because there were seals inside them that expanded storage. It cost a pretty penny for those seals but she couldn't find Maruku to have him do it for her.
With her great control and limited chakra this was her optimal fighting style. Using her chakra to control water to make it do what ever she wanted instead of spamming jutsu.
Uncapping the canisters, with a flex of chakra water came out and surrounded her hands ready to do her bidding.
"Begin!" At the signal a rushing stream of water made its way across the fighting ring. Inot jumped back to not get caught. It was useless however as she soon found herself by the edge of the ring. Thinking quickly the blond girl threw a smoke bomb to avoid detection and escaped from Sakura's line of sight. Making her hand sign for her signature jutsu she pointed to where she could sense the other girls chakra.
"Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Her conscience went forth albeit slowly to inhabit the other girl's body. Well that was the plan. What she didn't plan for was to end up in a rock clone that was bound to the floor with some type of sticky water.
Sakura came out from behind her clone. Her plan was a success. As her clone kept trying to break free, Sakura made her way across the ring where she knew Ino's body was. Giving a quick kick to the lifeless body sent it out of the ring.
"Ino Yamanaka is eliminated due to ring out. The winner is Sakura Haruno." With her victory confirmed she let go of control of her clone and watched Ino's body start to stir. Sakura went to offer the other girl up but she was completely ignored. She let out a small sigh. She knew that this was likely to happen but it hurt nonetheless.
Maruku watched as Sakura won her match with ease. He was proud of her, he had to wonder where she got the fancy seal canisters. He put it to the back of his mind. It could wait until they got back to the village. He let out a yawn. He was still incredibly tired. The boy got a tap on his shoulder.
"Get some rest. We'll handle it from here." Maruku nodded at Sasuke's words. He sat back down and closed his eyes letting sleep claim him.
FIREFIREFIREFIRE
When he opened his eyes again he found that the prelims were over. Standing up he shook the sleep from his face. Where was everybody? As a matter of fact where was he? This was not the place he fell asleep in. Glancing around he quickly deduced that he was in a hospital room. Since he was feeling better Maruku took it upon himself to jump out the window. Luckily he was a ninja and the jump was only three stories. Taking in the sights he knew he was in the heart of Kumo. He let his feet take control as his mind drifted. He needed to figure out his next move.
While the boy was walking he never noticed the eyes that followed his every move.
FIREFIREFIREFIRE
Darui was conflicted as he watched the Konoha genin wander the streets. Ever since he first laid eyes on the boy he felt a strange nostalgic feeling as if he knew the boy. But that was impossible or at least he thought it was at first. He spoke to the Raikage about this and the man's answer was simple.
Get a blood test.
So the man did just that. While the boy was recovering from his ordeal on sneakily took some of the boy's blood. That in itself was difficult as the boy's friends seemed to visit constantly. Not to mention the fact that he had almost been caught by Kakashi of the Sharingan. That would have caused an international incident at the least. But the moment he had the blood he immediately got it tested with his own as a comparison. The results left him more confused than ever.
It was a 99% match. He was now trying to find the courage to approach the boy. His son. He had a son! A son that was allied with an enemy village. It was no secret that Kumo and Konoha disliked each other. This was the source of Darui's confusion. How could he possibly try and be a good father to an enemy. His instincts as a decent human and his instincts as a ninja were clashing and he had no idea what to do.
Before anything could be decided he needed to speak to the Raikage and tell him the results. He briefly wondered if the boy had inherited his storm style. He shook his head at the thought. Right now there were still many things to do while the exams were going on but he could tell that this year's final was going to be incredible. He would see the full extent of Maruku's power there.
Still he could only hope that the boy would be okay. He was fighting Yugito in his first match after all.