Chapter Twenty-Five
After the ten minutes of rest time had passed, the audience was nearly silent and eager for the next round to begin. According to the roster, this round would be a bit different, as there were an odd number of participants. As such, one of the next genin had not fought yet and would battle one who had. The winner of that match would compete against another of the previous winners to rise to the finals.
For the first of the three semi-finals matches, Hotaru Hyuga of Konohagakure faced Aki Kita of Takigakure.
Aki, with her eyes covered by that strip of cloth and the staff in her hand steady as a rock, seemed utterly unperturbed. And while outwardly Hotaru reflected that stillness, inside she was thinking furiously. If her theory about the blind girl's skills was correct, then Aki was the worst opponent she could face outside a powerful ranged specialist. This girl was a close-combat specialist whose abilities were a passable imitation of the byakugan's capabilities.
She took a Gentle Fist stance and waited, Aki gripping her staff and taking her own stance. "Hajime! Fight!"
Hotaru's byakugan flared to life as she rushed forward, fingertips glowing with chakra. She dove into a Gentle Fist kata, pushing herself to move as fast as she could to finish this fight quickly. And yet as fast as she moved, Aki stalemated her strike for strike, using the unfeeling wood of her staff to redirect or even halt Hotaru's movements with minimal movement.
Hotaru disengaged and leapt back for distance to plan her next move, shaking her stinging hands. Whatever wood that staff was made of was resilient indeed to stand against more than a few direct Gentle fist strikes. As she continued to think, Hotaru perked up at a sound she would have never expected. Aki, who up to this point in the Exams had yet to say a single word with a stoicism that would impress the most hardened Hyuga, was giggling.
"What could possibly be funny?" Hotaru asked.
"Not funny. Exciting," Aki corrected with a faint smile. "I am quite a fan of your family, Lady Hyuga." Aki seemed to relax, some of the tension leaving her body. She lifted the cloth covering her eyes to reveal twin white orbs, very similar to Hotaru's. But these were not byakugan … they were simply blind. "My second year in Taki's Academy I began to lose my sight. My parents thought I should drop out, and I began to think the same …
"But the very day I decided to resign from the Academy, a team of Leaf shinobi arrived carrying some missif or other. A duo of Hyuga clanmates. With what was left of my sight, I saw them: two strong, noble ninja with white eyes, just as mine would become." She chuckled. "It was then that I decided to stay on my path. I hit the library with a friend and began researching the Hyuga clan. From there I learned of the byakugan, and even further of sensory ninjutsu. I asked an instructor to teach me, and in the years since I have honed it to a fine edge." She replaced the cloth, tying it tight before taking up her staff once more.
"In many ways, I owe everything that I am now to your clan." She shifted her staff to a two-handed grip and spread her stance. "Your family inspired me, and now I would show you the fruit of my labor. I will be a great ninja even without sight. And now I would test myself against you, a member of my inspiration."
Hotaru was speechless for a moment. She could never have suspected that a foreign shinobi would regard her famed clan with anything but grudging respect and fear. But this girl, who was less than two years older than her, had looked upon the Hyuga as a guiding light. She chuckled and resumed her Gentle Fist stance. "Then test yourself. Let us see if you are worthy to walk alongside the Hyuga clan."
Both girls shouted battle cries and charged. Hotaru pitted her Gentle Fist training against Aki's staff and reflexes, and for several minutes of non-stop taijutsu neither could find an opening. Hotaru's perception was too wide and Aki's reflexes too sharp for either of them to get more than a grazing hit in, and in Hotaru's case never close to Aki's tenketsu.
Finally, they broke apart to reassess, both of them sweating and breathing heavily. Hotaru was grimacing at the myriad of abrasions from Aki's staff. Like before, she had used her weapon to deflect Hotaru's attempts to close her tenketsu and leave her temporarily paralyzed. But her white eyes saw the collection of welling bruises covering Aki in turn, results of her bursts of chakra that had penetrated her skin and left mild damage. It hadn't hit her chakra points, but that didn't mean she'd gotten away scot-free.
"One more clash," Aki said, straightening up and gripping her staff again.
"As you wish," Hotaru nodded. She charged forward and Aki rushed to meet her, swinging her staff. So prepared for another taijutsu duel, Hotaru failed to notice the piece of paper that had been wrapped around one end of Aki's staff all during the match flare with chakra until it was too late — and the tag flared with blazing white light that ripped a shriek of pain from Hotaru as she instinctively covered her eyes. Which left her vulnerable to the rapid tattoo of strikes to her abdomen that no doubt bruised ribs and sent her sprawling to the ground.
Hotaru coughed at the pain in her torso as her vision slowly came back and revealed Aki holding her staff to Hotaru's throat. "Yield, Milady," she said quietly, not a hint of condescension or arrogance in her voice.
Hotaru blew out a frustrated breath that dissolved into coughs and a single chuckle. "I withdraw," she called out.
"Then the winner is Aki Kita," the proctor announced, much to the applause of the audience. Aki held her hand out to Hotaru, who decided to take it and be hauled to her feet. But Aki took it a step further and lifted both their hands into the sky, an old custom of honoring a defeated opponent who had fought with honor and skill. Hotaru smiled, even if Aki could not see it, and allowed herself to be escorted to the infirmary while Aki returned to the participant's box.
"That was beautiful!" Kato cried, clapping enthusiastically while tears leaked from his eyes.
"The battle, the story, or the end of the match?" Ken asked, also clapping.
"All of it, man!" he chuckled.
Up in the Leaders' Box, Hiruzen was clapping as well with a genuine smile.
"How can you be happy about this outcome, Hokage?" A asked. "One of your most promising genin was defeated by a blind child from a minor village."
"And yet both young women acted with honor and sportsmanship. Life is about more than brute force and might. It is about using these traits in the most beneficial way for all. And in that way, I think the young Hyuga will do quite well."
The next match-up was interesting to most of the audience, if for no other reason than it was two members of the same village facing each other — always an interesting source of drama. Of course, most of the audience didn't know that they were on the same competing team. Or at least had been.
Ken and Kato of the Hidden Leaf stood opposite each other, each of them primed to fight as they waited for the proctor to announce the start of the match.
"Nervous?" Kato asked with a wry grin.
"Not especially," Ken shrugged with a similar smile. "After all, who in their right mind would fight a seal master? Am I right?"
Kato winced good-naturedly at the call-back to the second phase of the Exams. "Apparently, me," he answered. "Assuming you believe I'm in my right mind."
"If you two are done," the proctor interrupted. "Hajime! Fight!"
"May the best man win!" Kato shouted as he flung a handful of shuriken and multiplied them with the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique. Kato may be laidback, but he was no fool — he stood little chance against Ken if he didn't go all out. Ken had apparently prepared for that opening move and raised an Earth-Style Wall to deflect or absorb the shuriken, which gave Kato enough time to slice his thumb and form the five seals of a summoning.
Tsukumo and Sho appeared beside him in bursts of smoke, both armed with their customary wooden katana. "So, Squirt," Sho asked with glee, "who're we kicking to the curb this round?" Both bonobo-like monkeys, twins as it turned out, were of a younger generation than Yama or King Enma; they were more along the lines of Kato himself in age and maturation. With all the youthful cockiness that it implied.
"As early in the match as you have summoned us, I can only hope it's worth it," Tsukumo commented lowly. As dry, bordering on depressive, as he could be, Tsukumo much preferred fighting opponents that pushed him to his limits, as opposed to Sho who loved to fight anyone for the sheer joy of combat.
"We're fighting Ken, actually," Kato informed them.
"Your teammate?" Sho asked. "The redhead? Oh, man. We're gonna destroy him!"
"Don't be so sure," Tsukumo said, sniffing the air. "Something isn't right."
As if on cue, Ken's earthen wall exploded into rubble, forcing the Sarutobi and his summons to leap backward to avoid the flying rocks. And from the dust emerged Ken, standing on the head of a house-sized slug. "Sho, Tsukumo, nice to see you both," Ken said easily. "Lady Katsuyu, shall I introduce you?"
"Introductions are part and parcel between competing summoners," Katsuyu replied. "Please do."
"This is my opponent in one of the semifinals, Kato Sarutobi."
"Ah. Your teammate, if memory serves. And a clansman to Lady Tsunade's own teacher." Katsuyu's eye stalks veered to the side a bit to look upon Lord Hiruzen, who schooled his surprised look into one of respect and nodded silently.
"Yep, that's him," Ken agreed. "And his monkey summons, Sho and Tsukumo. Would you mind distracting those two while I handle Kato one-on-one?"
"I can do even better than that," she replied. Katsuyu then split off a portion of herself that lunged with deceptive speed and absorbed Sho into her body, suspending him and likely washing him in warmth and comfort like she had done for Ken's trial. And the split had barely reduced her main mass, either. "Now then, shall we do as we planned?" she asked.
"We shall," Ken said with a grin. He drew his black short sword and leapt from Katsuyu's head to slash at Kato, who blocked with an Adamantine Staff that Tsukumo had quickly Transformed into. The duo traded blows, the Earth nature of Ken's reinforced sword protecting it from the durability of the Adamantine Staff.
But Kato had to resist more than Ken's attacks. As they dueled, clones of Katsuyu the size of his head, produced from her original summoned body, would frequently fly at him at high speed and force him to divert his attention to dodge or swat them away. He distantly noted that his swings did little to harm the slugs, who would then merge and reform into larger clones before starting another bombardement.
"This is hardly fair!" Kato noted, mild panic raising his voice. "You absorbed one of my summons and have about a million up your sleeve? C'mon, man, this is supposed to be fun!"
"If ninjas have a fair fight, one is doing something wrong," Ken said, his teeth grit in concentration as he tried to penetrate Kato's whirling defense. A sword, particularly a short one, was just not a good weapon to handle a combined offensive and defensive weapon with a long range. "Besides, if you're so concerned with fairness, why'd you summon your boys so early in the match?"
"Fair point," Kato conceded with a strained grin. His arms were starting to burn from the effort of constantly whirling the heavy staff. "Okay, time for some breathing room! Tsukumo!" Kato leapt back and planted the end of the staff into the dirt before riding the other end as it expanded to be level with the uppermost bleachers.
"Taking the high ground!" Ken shouted. "Seen it!"
"Dammit, Koko," Kato huffed. "Did you show him everything we can do?" Kato blinked as he felt a shiver run up his spine and heard a distant indignant "No!" in his sister's voice. He cast his gaze around searching for his sister in shock.
"Kato, perhaps you should focus on your opponent," Tsukumo drawled from the staff. Kato looked downward to find Katsuyu at her original size contracting inward before swelling up to launch Ken with a battlecry into the air … and straight at Kato! The Uzumaki crashed into the Sarutobi and knocked him off the staff, only for him to be snatched by Tsukumo's arm that emerged from the shaft and took hold of Kato's ankle to stop his fall. Tsukumo's head and other arm emerged as well to swipe at Ken, who had held firm on Kato's clothes to keep from falling himself. But before the monkey could attack, he yelped and retracted his head and limbs in the wake of a spray of acid that bathed the staff.
With no one holding them, Kato and Ken fell freely until they impacted another smaller clone of Katsuyu that absorbed them into her body before spitting them back up. Ken, having become accustomed to that bizarre feeling in the past weeks, shook it off quickly and unsealed his sword to dive back into the fray.
"Hold on!" Kato shouted, holding his Adamantine Staff in a guard stance. "Ken, my man," he said with a strained grin. "Whadya say we settle this one-on-one. No more summons, just you and me."
"I'd say you're desperate," Ken said before smiling slyly. "I'd also say-" he looked at Lady Katsuyu, "-what say you, Milady?"
"It would be a more personal showing for the judges," Katsuyu surmised. "Should he renege on this arrangement, simply summon me again. Good day, Ken. And good luck." With that, Katsuyu's clone spat up Sho and they all vanished in a burst of smoke.
Kato sighed at the sight of Sho still in some kind of stupor. "Tsukumo, you mind taking your brother back with you?" In reply, Tsukumo un-Transformed and threw his brother over his shoulder before nodding and vanishing as well.
With that, Kato pulled out his iron kali sticks and locked them into their extended staff formation before charging for Ken, and the duel began again. This time, Ken's sword struck sparks wherever their weapons made direct contact, slowly whittling away at Kato's weapon. As he swung and whirled, Kato wracked his brain for a counter strategy before noticing that Ken was dripping sweat, his slashes and defenses slower than before.
In a flash of inspiration, Kato knocked the black sword aside and straight-kicked Ken backward before unlocking his staff back into the eskrima sticks and flipping into the air. He threw his sticks and, using his own variant of the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique, multiplied them into a rain that sent Ken to the ground before pinning his wrists and ankles to the floor of the arena.
Kato landed heavily and laughed before wincing and holding his arm where Ken had gotten a good cut in. "Okay, well, this has been really fun, Ken. But would you mind surrendering?"
Ken lifted his head and chuckled unnervingly — before a pair of arms burst from the ground and dragged Kato up to his chin within the stone floor. "What the-?!"
Another Ken, a shadow clone, rose up from the dirt and conjured another clone to release the real Ken from his restraints, then unsheathed a kunai and held the point to Kato's eye. "Say it," he said, not unkindly.
"Crap man, you're really gonna do that?" Kato asked. When Ken remained quiet, Kato sighed. "I forfeit," he called loudly.
When the proctor announced the winner, Ken cycled through some hand seals and then pulled Kato from the ground like out of thick mud that didn't stick to him. "You did well, Kato," Ken said. "It wouldn't surprise me if you're promoted."
"Yeah, yeah," Kato said with a grin. "Just kick that Cloud jerk's butt for me, 'kay?" With that, Kato was led by the medics to the infirmary for a cursory examination while Ken returned to the participants' box.
"Oh yeah! Cou-sin Ken! Cou-sin Ken! Cou-sin Ken!" Naruto was standing in his seat and pumping his fists in excitement for the match.
Next to him, Tomoko was clapping enthusiastically too. "Nice work, Red!" she shouted. All the while, she was mentally patting herself on the back. 'Nice to know Aoba actually ran with that little plan. Who woulda thought Ken would forge a compact with one of the Great Sage Tribes, either?'
"Hey, Tomo!" Naruto yelled excitedly. "He did the thing! The summoning thing! But why'd he get that big ole slug? I thought that technique poofs up monkeys."
"The Summoning Technique summons animals the user has made a contract with," Tomoko explained, gently dragging Naruto back down to his seat. "And that wasn't just any slug, Naruto. It was Lady Katsuyu of the Damp Bone Forest. She's one of the most powerful summons out there, alongside Gamabunta the Toad Boss and Manda the Snake Lord."
Naruto mulled this over for a minute. "So, did he get that because he's crazy strong?" Naruto asked with a grin.
"I dunno," Tomoko admitted. "I've never heard of a slug summoner besides Lady Tsunade. I guess you'll have to ask him after the tournament."
While Naruto and Tomoko were in discussion and moved on to talking about the next match, Karin across the way was trembling with joy, holding her hands over her mouth to keep from cheering and drawing attention to herself. 'He summoned Lady Katsuyu!' she thought.
Every now and then when she was young, her mother had told her tales of the Legendary Sannin, focusing most of all on Lady Tsunade of the Senju clan. According to her mother, Lady Tsunade was descended not just from the Senju, but from the Uzumaki clan through her grandmother. Karin had adored those stories, not just for the powerful Uzumaki, but the fact that such a famed, feared, and respected ninja was a kunoichi! And she vividly recalled another title for Tsunade: the Slug Princess, so named for her descent from the First and Second Hokage and her compact with Katsuyu the Great Slug.
And her clansman, of which she was certain he was, could do the same! Making sure her admission ticket was still in her pocket to save her seat, Karin ran for the infirmary where her mother was stationed. Enough was enough, her mama had to know!
And all the while, up in the leaders' box, A was once again fuming. While he had somewhat enjoyed watching a Sarutobi be defeated, which some might interpret as one of Konoha's elite clans being not so great after all, he was grinding his teeth at the continued impressive showing from the Uzumaki. And not only his personal prowess, which was remarkable if not exceptional, but the fact that he had summoned one of the Great Sage Summons. He knew as well as anyone the reputation of Tsunade, the only other known summoner of Katsuyu.
So what else did this Uzumaki character have up his sleeves? In so considering that, he thanked heaven that this one hadn't displayed the Uzumaki's most famed and feared skill.
"I must say I am proud of them both," Hiruzen commented. "Young Kato performed admirably and Ken once again used his shadow clones for a strategic win. I think your Raiun fellow will have his hands full in the final match."
Kaori hummed a tune from her childhood as she soaked a rag in distilled water and brought it to her newest patient. She already had that bone-deep weariness from using her healing bite once today, and the primary physician was taking his lunch break. He was a kind man, but it still seemed unprofessional to leave her here alone as the matches got more intense, even if for only a half hour.
Apparently the old doctor had that much faith in her healing ability.
The medics escorted a limping young man into the infirmary before bowing and returning to the main stadium to keep an eye on the next match. It was standard practice as some of the matches in years past had been known to end fairly quickly. She approached the young man with tanned skin and dark hair and eyes with gentle caution.
The young man looked up from his bed and smiled crookedly, his cheeks dusting with pink. "Hey there. You gonna be patching me up?" he asked.
"That I am," she replied, distantly but not unkindly, before gesturing at his shirt. "Can you remove that or do you need help?" As the young man removed his shirt to reveal a number of weeping scratches and several bruises, Kaori cast her gaze around the others in the infirmary. They were all stable, but that Yuri girl had been so badly hurt that she had been forced to have the child bite her. Brushing that aside, Kaori wrung out her rag and began gently cleaning the boy's cuts.
"Name's Kato Sarutobi, in case you were wondering," Kato said with what he hoped was a roguish grin.
"A pleasure, I'm sure," Kaori replied. "These wouldn't happen to be sword wounds, would they?"
"Yep. My teammate may not be a swordmaster, but he knows a thing or two. If I was gonna lose to anyone in this crazy thing, I'm glad it's to Ken-"
"MAMA!" Both of them looked at the door in surprise to see Karin — to Kato just a random bespectacled little girl — skid to a stop and catch her breath. "Mama, you won't believe it! He's strong, Mama! Strong enough to help us! Maybe we can go with him and stay in his village, or maybe-!"
"Karin," Kaori said gently, leaning down and taking her daughter's arm to get her attention, "slow down. Breathe, catch your breath." She modeled taking a deep breath, which Karin mirrored a few times until she settled. "Now then what's this about a boy?"
"Not like that, Mama!" Karin said indignantly. Kaori smiled a bit at the reminder that her daughter was nine and still in the "boys have cooties" phase. "We're not alone, Mama! One of the genin in the contest is an Uzumaki! Ken Uzumaki!"
The rag fell from Kaori's slack grip at her daughter's words. For a few moments the words rattled inside her head, refusing to sink in and give her false hope. It couldn't be … could it? After all these years …
"Not alone, huh?" Those words from Kato broke through Kaori's stunned haze and leeched the color from her skin. She grabbed Karin and drew her close, years of fear rising up as an instinctive urge to protect. She turned to face Kato and took a few steps back before she realized that Kato was smiling. But not the cruel, greedy sneer she had expected … no, this was open, honest, and genuinely delighted.
"Oh, man. Ken's gonna be thrilled when he finds out he has more family around," Kato chuckled. Then he noticed the pallor in Kaori's face. "Hey, easy there. I'm not gonna hurt you. Heck, if I did Ken would probably track me down and do … man, I don't even want to imagine."
Kaori was silent for a few moments before replying. "You're telling the truth…?" she asked.
"Yeah, of course," Kato said with a shrug. "Ken's a new member of Konoha. Guy's been a Leaf shinobi for four months and he's already cleaning house in these Exams. Case in point, he beat me." He hooked his thumb at himself with a self-aggrandizing look.
"Oh, you're the boy with the monkeys!" Karin piped up.
"First of all, it's man with the monkeys," Kato corrected playfully. "And second, if you don't hurry, you might miss the next match, little lady."
"He's right, Karin," Kaori said. "Go watch the rest of the matches. And remember-"
"Keep my head down. Don't let anyone know," Karin answered before her mother could start. "Yes, Mama." She gave a tentative wave to Kato before leaving the infirmary. Kaori was so focused on watching her that she didn't notice Kato bite his thumb to draw blood, weave hand seals, and then clap his hand to the ground to summon a monkey. She yelped at the human-sized ape that materialized in the infirmary, dressed in a leather vest and a wooden sword across his back.
"Yo, Sho. I've got a favor to ask," Kato said. "You like kids, right?"
"Sure, man. I love kids," Sho said with a sharp-toothed grin.
"There's a redheaded little girl with glasses heading for her seat. You mind keeping an eye on her, undercover?"
Sho shrugged and in a burst of smoke was replaced by, for all intents and purposes, a Leaf shinobi who looked a bit simian. Except for the tail, which he tucked into his illusory pants. "You got it, man." With that, he bowed to Kaori and took his leave.
"You shouldn't be straining yourself," Kaori chided, naturally returning to caretaker-mode. "Though that was a sweet gesture."
"Anything for a lovely lady," Kato said with a grin, to which Kaori rolled her eyes and took up a bottle of iodine. "Wait, does that stuff sting?" Kato asked nervously. "Because I- AAAHHHH!"
And chapter twenty-five brings more action-packed tournaments!
*It was very fun to create Aki's backstory. It was one of those things that just makes perfect sense and lfows out while you write - not to mention it explores to wider world of Naruto.
*What Aki used to win was a flash paper, like a flash-bang grenade that only produces incredible light. I'm going with the fan canon that such a thing would be devastating to a byakugan due to their wide field of vision.
*The idea of Kaori telling young Karin stories about Lady Tsunade came to me in a flash of inspiration, and I just had to put it in.
*Sho's transformation into a human disguise but leaving his tail was a reference to Sun Wukong, whose power of 72 transformations would never allow him to hide his tail.
As always, I hope this was a fun read! Leave a review - they make me happy - and may your inspiration flow freely.