Maruku was currently kicking his own ass. He had met with Sakura and she had told him who his opponent was going into the finals. Yugito Nii. The same person who had put Sasuke into the ICU.
FIREFIREFIRE
The electric board flashed again this time with Sasuke's name. The dark haired boy steadied himself. His control was still on the fritz, an after effect of the soldier pill. It wouldn't matter though. He was Sasuke Uchiha, a genius. He was sure to beat some no name cloud chick.
As he headed down to the fighting ring he stole a glance at his opponent. The girl looked almost bored as she readied herself into her stance.
"You would spare yourself a lot of pain if you just killed yourself right now." That caught Sasuke a little off guard but he shook it off.
"Begin." The girl immediately went on the attack. Sasuke noticed something instantly. She was very fast. Perhaps maybe the fastest person he had ever fought. She was upon him in the blink of an eye.
Raising his arms in a cross guard he had no choice but to take her flying kick head on. There was a very disgusting snap as his right arm broke. The fight had just started and it already wasn't looking good. It looked like he had no choice he would have to take a page out of Maruku's book.
Taking some shuriken with good hand he quickly threw them running through half hand seals.
"Lightning containment unit!"
An electric blue barrier went up surrounding the girl. With a hand seal the entire space filled with electricity leaving no room for escape. He held the seal even once Yugito stopped screaming from the pain. Once he felt that she was fried beyond death he let go. Once the barrier fell he gagged slightly at the burnt smell of flesh.
As he looked upon the girl he saw her charred and blackened skin. Satisfied with his he began to walk away. As he was walking a thought occurred to him. Why hasn't his victory been announced yet?
Thats when he felt it. A monstrous chakra followed by a primal yell. He had no time to react before a clawed hand punched through his chest. "Oh shit."
That was the last thought he had before his whole body was set ablaze with a strange blue fire.
FIREFIREFIRE
Once he heard the story of how his friend had been defeated Maruku immediately asked Naruto to teach him the Shadow Clone Jutsu. The boy was reluctant at first with it being his signature move and what not but he taught him nonetheless. Maruku was proud to say that he could make two whole shadow clones. It was a sign that his training had paid off. However that wasn't going to be enough for the finals. That's why the boy was training in a place that no one in their right mind would dare be. Mt. Thunder.
It was difficult. The cold made it hard to move and think and he knew that if anything happened to him up here he would probably die. But that was the entire reason he was here. The boy had delibritatly placed himself in a do or die situation. Right now he was doing his best to get his body ready for the next body seal.
The Inverse Limit Seal. A super dangerous multi-layered body seal that allowed one to push their body to the max. The Inverse Limit seal did a couple of things. The first thing it did was increase his bio-electricity, speeding up his reflexes to the point where his body seemed to move faster than his brain could think. The other thing it did was force open two of the eight gates. The Gate of Opening and the Gate of healing. These two gates in particular were helpful because it allowed his muscles to use 100 percent of their power while also reenergizing him. Combine that with a small En radius and plasma style chakra to boost his power and speed even further he should be able to reach autonomous movement.
Technically. He hadn't tested it on himself yet and his clones couldn't handle the strain which didn't exactly fill him with confidence. That was for later however. Right now he was working on developing new plasma style techniques because just the spirit gun was not cutting it.
The move was really good. It was so fast and powerful that it practically guaranteed victory. If it could hit. The problem was it took too much power and required charging time. It wasn't meant to be anything other than a finisher. Trying to use it in the middle of fight left him deprived of any chakra and left him open.
That's why he had made the Laser Cutter. Swinging a knife hand he could unleash a wave of plasma that could theoretically cut through anything. It was fast, deadly, and as far as he knew it unblockable. It also didn't take nearly as much chakra as a spirit gun which was the whole point.
However the Laser Cutter wasn't the only new jutsu that he had been working on. The Spirit Gun Series was also another project. There were the standard variations like the double shot, and the shotgun but Maruku had added some of his own.
The Semi-Auto was a weak bullet that didn't even completely pierce the opponent which was a good thing since it wasn't supposed to. Much like a real bullet it would enter the body and stay there. The twist was it was a plasma bullet which burned up to 4000*F.
The High Caliber was simply an armor piercing round that was capable of traveling a large distance at very high speeds. While it had a decent chakra casting cost it wasn't nearly as bad as the original Spirit Gun.
Finally there was the Full-Auto. Much like the Shotgun it used lots of smaller weaker plasma bullets however it wasn't a spread but concentrated fire. When used right it was probably even more devastating than the original.
However all of these paled in comparison to his newest finisher. The Plasma Crusher. He had reworked it from a beam into his hardest hitting physical move. It was basically a rip off of the Psycho Crusher. Rip off or not there was no denying its power.
While those were all the plasma techniques currently at his disposal it meant nothing if he couldn't get his body ready for the Inverse Limit Seal. He had heard of Yugito's speed and there simply wasn't enough time in a month to get that fast naturally. With a shout of frustration he exhaled a powerful flamethrower which dispelled his clone. He collapsed face first into the snow breathing heavily. It was only pure survival instincts that he remembered to keep channeling fire chakra.
As he struggled to get warm he heard a voice. "Man why are all the kids these days so strong?" Tired or not Maruku forced himself to his feet at the voice of a potential enemy. Coming face to face with the possessor of said voice it was the last person Maruku expected to see.
Darui. Why was he here. He tried not to show it but the boy was nervous. This wasn't an opponent that he could beat. At least not right now. Great. He was stranded on a mountain with no back up and now he was right in front of an enemy jounin who was one of the best in Kumo. If he lived through this Kakashi-sensei was going to kill him. Right now he needed to stall and try and figure out a plan.
"Can I help you?" The question was polite enough but they both knew the meaning behind it.
"You can call me Darui. I usually train here and you're kind of in my spot you know?" The boy narrowed his eyes. That was a whole lie and a half.
"Sorry. Is there a reason you're watching me?" The man sighed at being caught so easily.
"There is actually. I was hoping if I could see any of those strange green techniques you've been practicing. It kind of reminds me of my own fighting style." Maruku was caught off guard at getting a straight foward answer but fore what the man said sunk in. The Plasma Style. It always seemed to bite him in the ass one way or another.
"It looks like you have a bit of a control problem. I could help you with that." Maruku was confused by the statement. Control problem? His chakra control was just fine.
"What do you mean by help. We're from different villages, why would you want to help an enemy?"
"Lets call it personal curiosity." Despite the man's lax attitude Darui was rather nervous. This would be the only chance he got and if the boy turned him down now he would probably never see his son again.
Maruku studied the man closely. He was completely relaxed but he knew that was probably a front. Judging from the fact that he couldn't sense any hostile intentions he decided to give the jounin a bit of leeway.
"Alright. I'll show you a bit of plasma style. But if you die it's not my fault." Darui simply nodded and readied himself. Maruku raised his pointer finger and a bright light green orb appeared shining so brightly that not even he, the user of the technique could look at it directly.
"Spirit Gun: High Caliber!" There was a loud boom as the bullet rocketed forward tearing up the ground beneath it and burning the very air.
"Lightning Style:Black Panther!" The bullet and the panther clashed very briefly before the bullet pierced through the jutsu dissolving it. Darui's eyes widened as he threw himself to the side letting the bullet soar pass him.
Maruku on the other hand was rather happy. It was the first time he used the technique on something other than a clone and he was satisfied with the results. Looking at Darui who was already back on his feet he noticed the man was giving him a strange look. The man looked proud but by what he didn't know.
"That was good but you're overpowering your moves. You end up wasting chakra that way. See if you cant pack it more tightly that way you still get just as much power but at lower cost." Maruku nodded at the advice and got ready to start again.
It was this simple exchange that got Landed Darui as Maruku's personal trainer for a month. Not that he was complaining of course. His student/son was a little boring but he seemed like a good kid even without any parental guidance. Honestly that was the best he could hope for. Maybe by the end of the exams he could get the boy one of those birthday presents he had to catch up on.
But that was for later. Right now he had to get the boy ready to fight a jinchuuriki and the strongest genin in Kumo.