Disclaimer: - I, SSG-Goku3397, do not own Naruto and any related matter. It all belongs to Kishimoto, the original brain behind the character Naruto. The only thing that I do own is the plot of this story and any original jutsu, seals, concepts and OC's that are present within the story.
"Thoughts / Telepathic Speech"
"Speech"
Letters / Jutsu notes
Chapter 27 – Chunin Exams Final Day II
"Welcome Yonkage-sama!" The Manager of the Golden Leaf Hotel said as the four Kage entered Konoha's best establishment. "Shall I direct you to your usual room, Hokage-sama?"
"No, direct us to Naruto-kun's reserved room, Toshio-kun. He will be joining us soon."
Toshio nodded with a bow and bidding the four Kage to follow, walked up the flight of stairs to his right for three floors before coming to a stop in front of a pair of large ornate doors made of red lacquered wood engraved with gold. Pressing his palm on the engraved gold spiral, Toshio focused a bit of his meagre chakra into it, causing all the gold engravings to glow before a click was heard as the doors swung open on their own accord. Turning to the Yonkage, Toshio smiled and said, "Naruto-sama has had all the security seals updated so that only authorised personell would be able to activate the which includes Naruto-sama and his present heir."
"Naruto-sama doesn't do things by half, does he?" Mei asked with a smile.
"That he doesn't Mizukage-sama. Please enter and take any seat. A waiter will be with you shortly and while you wait for Naruto-sama, may I suggest sampling the legendary Myobokuzan Sake? Naruto-sama has been able to set up a small deal between us and Myobokuzan. I am told it is to die for!"
"And the strongest sake in existence. You should be careful, if you plan to partake in it, Mizukage-sama!" Sakura commented as she walked up with Naruto, Otohime, Shion and Hinata. All four were wearing simple casual kimono but the silky texture and the vibrancy of the embroidery revealed that the kimono were in fact extremely expensive. Sakura was wearing a simple pair of jeweled earrings made of gold and glowing pink crystal. Otohime and Shion had pulled up their long hair into intricate knots held in place by a bejeweled Jade comb and Jade chopsticks respectively. Hinata had pulled up her hair in a ponytail held together by a ribbon of pink perls — a gift for Otohime of doing so well against Neji.
"So the rumors are true then. Only the most hardcore of drinkers and Jinchūriki could even hope to consume more than a single saucer of Myobokuzan sake?" Ōnoki asked with interest.
Naruto nodded in agreement as he and his group greeted the four Kage before commenting, "It seems that Kurotsuchi didn't come. I was hoping to hold a conversation with her about her match."
"I am afraid not Uzumaki-dono. I would wage a guess that she feels embarrassed at her — on her mind — less than stellar performance. She was always such a hardheaded child."
"Aren't we all?" Naruto said with a grin as everyone situated themselves around the large table. The four Kage on one side with Naruto and the girls on the other.
"Toshio-san, I would like to sample some of the Myobokuzan sake, if you wouldn't mind."
"Immediately Mizukage-sama!" Toshio said as he left in a hurry. A few minutes later, a woman dressed in an expensive kimono commonly seen to be won by Royal servants walked in with a tray filled with sakazuki saucers and a bottle of Myobokuzan sake. Pouring some sake into all of the saucers, she placed them in front of the seated party before bowing and moving aside to wait for the distinguished group to order.
Taking a sip from his saucer, Hiruzen asked, "Karin-chan didn't come with you?"
"Unfortunately no. She decided to train some more with her Kongōfūsa and her ability to apply seals through them. She was a bit annoyed that Shino realized her plan and gave up. Zabuza and Tsunade-bāchan seems to have rubbed off on her. She is becoming a perfectionist with her techniques." Naruto commented only for Sakura to snicker.
Realizing that the Kage were staring at her in curiosity, she suppressed her urge to keep snickering and said by way of explanation, "Naruto is just as much a perfectionist. I think it is an Uzumaki thing as even Moka-sama seems to be like that."
Hiruzen smiled and said, "I will have to agree with you there Sakura-chan. I believe that it is really an Uzumaki thing as I had seen Mito-sama do the same thing."
After that, the room was filled with small talk as they ordered their food and waited for it to be served. After the food had arrived and the doors were sealed, Naruto suddenly turned serious as Otohime, Shion and Hinata were engulfed in puffs of smoke. When the smoke dissipated, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Zabuza were sitting there with frowns on their faces.
"Glad you two could join us. Now what did you wish to inform us Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked with a frown.
"Rasa is an Edo Tensei. Orochimaru has changed his plans from what we know. He may include more than the deceased three Hokage in the battle as Edo Tensei. If that happens, I would like it if you all would carry a seal for me."
All four Kage nodded as Jiraiya and Tsunade frowned deepened. Zabuza quietly sat there waiting for his orders. All four Kage nodded causing Naruto to smile and nod to Zabuza. The former master of the Kubikiribōcho nodded as he passed the four Kage a stack of seals each.
Naruto nodded towards the stacks of seals and said, "Those seals are Keiyaku Fūin combined with a kind of seal designed to steal control of other seals from the seal's master. Combined, they should free the Edo Tensei and give them their free will back giving you a major reinforcement. Even if the second half of the seal fails to perform as wanted, the first part will release the Jutsu, there by nullifying the technique. Make sure not to hesitate."
The four Kage nodded as he they pocketed their stack of seals before Jiraiya, Zabuza and Tsunade transformed back into their disguises. After that, they started just having lunch before leaving, giving off the impression that there was no secret meeting at all.
Naruto appeared in the middle of the arena and declared, "Welcome to the second day of the Chunin Exams Final in Konoha. Will Yamanaka Ino and Kazekage Gaara please come down to the arena!"
As soon as Naruto finished, Gaara appeared across from him in a Suna Shunshin while Ino floated down from the competitors box.
"Are both of you ready?" Getting nods from Ino and Gaara, Naruto declared the match to begin and disappeared.
Gaara didn't waste anytime as he sent a wave of sand tentacles at Ino who just grinned impishly and used her powerful psychic powers to rip the tentacles apart, all the while charging towards the Ichibi Jinchūriki.
Gaara was a bit surprised but retaliated by launching a wave of sand shuriken using the Suna Shuriken no Jutsu and was pleased to see that Ino was forced to roll away to dodge the wave, her not inconsiderable psychic powers helping in ripping the hundreds of sand shuriken to shreds. Nodding to himself, Gasra concluded that Ino hadn't yet developed her skills enough to handle too many objects at the same time.
Ino scowled as she kept trying to charge Gaara only to be forced to take evasive manuvires each time as the Ichibi Jinchūriki started using Jutsu that were wide reaching and too numerous for her to rip apart with her mind. Dodging another round of Suna Shuriken, Ino decided that she had, had enough.
Gaara was gathering a large amount of sand for his next jutsu when his instincts dictated that he move away. Jumping back onto a platform of rapidly retreating sand, Gaara was completely surprised when the ground he was just now standing on was ripped to shreds from some kind of invisible attack. It didn't take too long to figure out that while Ino couldn't spread her focus to a large number of objects at the same time, she could easily generate enough focus to one shot him, should he let her.
"This is going to be far more brutal that I expected." Mei commented getting a nod from her fellow Kage.
"I agree with you about that Mei-dono. The Yamanaka may not be able to spread her focus onto too many things at the same time, but it seems that her focus is quite considerable when focused on a single point or object." Ē said getting a nod from the other Kage.
"No matter what, I doubt the Yamanaka will win against a Jinchūriki as skillful as young Gaara. At least not yet." Ōnoki stated with a frown.
Hiruzen and Rasa didn't comment as they kept their focus on the battle waging below.
Kiba winced as Gaara took one of Ino's psychic bursts head on, cracks forming on his Suna no Yoroi, which quickly filled up with more sand.
"This battle is getting way out of hand. Gaara could have been badly hurt if he didn't have that defensive jutsu." Kurenai commented getting a nod from her fellow Jōnin.
"I wish that it would get more out of hand. At least then I could watch the blood flow!" Anko whined just as Ino was struck by a pillar of sand, which the young Yamanaka Heiress failed to detect until too late, sending her out of control.
"Neither seems to be holding back much..." Yugao said only for Gaara to be enveloped in a bubbling cloak of red chakra in the shape of a tanuki with a single tail. "I completely forget that he was a Jinchūriki. Ino doesn't have a chance now."
"Don't count Ino out yet. She is quite the prodigy in air bending. She may still pull out a victory." Asuma commented with pride only for Kakashi to comment, "Why are you so proud of her? She learned all of it on her own with barely any help from Naruto after learning the basics."
Asuma lowered his head in shame at the comment as the other Jōnin chuckled at the Sarutobi Heir's expense.
Ino closed her eyes and focused causing her body to be covered in a nimbus of blue glowing air causing many raised eyebrows amongst everyone in the stadium, Naruto excluded.
"What the hell is that?" Konohamaru exclaimed in shock causing Sauske to focus with his Sharingan. After a few moments, he turned off the fabled dōjutsu and said, "It seems that she is focusing all of her mental faculties on the air around her body to enhance her physical capabilities, probably her air bending as well."
"It's that even possible?" Haku commented with curiosity.
"She is doing it, so it must be!" Shikamaru said before grumbling out, "Troublesome blond just got more troublesome."
"You can blame Shishō for that!" Konohamaru stated with a cheeky grin.
Sasuke frowned in thought before commenting, "You know something, it seems that behind Naruto and Sakura, it seems that Ino has had the greatest improvement amongst our classmates. She was never this driven nor skilled in the Academy."
Shikamaru and Hinata nodded in agreement before turning back to watch the match.
"I would advise that you give up before you injure yourself," Gaara commented getting a scowl from Ino. Gaara and Shukaku could see that if Ino messed up her technique, it could lead to disastrous consequences for her body.
Without answering, Ino charged forward smashing through a statue of Shukaku — Gaara's Shukaku no Tate — with the ease of forcing through a wet rice paper wall. Seeing that his ultimate defense was next to useless against Ino's technique, he decided to believe in Shukaku and charged forward to meet the Yamanaka Heiress as glowing blue lines formed upon the cloak of bubbling red chakra.
As Gaara and Ino was about to clash, a pulse of chakra erupted from Gaara — the blue lines flashing with an elritch glow — causing a barely visible shockwave to crash into Ino, as a result, her glowing air armor suddenly vanished.
Ino could just barely widen her eyes in shock before Gaara smashed his fists, engulfed in a cloak of bubbling red chakra, into her stomach, knocking the air out of the Yamanaka Heiress' lungs and simultaneously knocking her out from the immense pain she was suddenly accosted with.
The unconscious Ino was about to crash into the arena wall when Naruto appeared and caught her in his arms as he called out, "Winner by Knock Out, Kazekage Gaara!"
As the crowd started cheering, Gaara let the cloak be absorbed back into himself just as Naruto shouted out, "Medic!"
Sakura appeared beside him in an instant and drew on the water in the air to cover Ino's body before it started to glow with a soft blue light. After a few minutes of tense silence, during which, Gaara stared at them with well concealed worry, the water stopped glowing and dissipated back into the air.
Seeing the questioning looks from Gaara and Naruto, Sakura smiled reassuringly and said, "She will be just fine. She had some minor internal bleeding around her stomach and uterus. I healed them with ease. She needs to train her taijutsu more. She needs to developed more muscles to survive such powerful blows, even with chakra reinforcement."
Naruto nodded as he handed the unconscious Ino to Sakura and nodded to Gaara to leave.
After both left, Naruto straightened up and said, "Yamanaka Ino will be just fine. Now will Nara Shikamaru and Sarutobi Konohamaru please come down to the arena!"
Konohamaru flashed the nervous Nara Heir an excited grin and jumped over the barrier. Shikamaru shook his head as he approached the barrier. Taking a deep breath, Shikamaru shouted out, "Proctor, I forfeit! My skillset is wholly unsuited to combat against Konohamaru. I feel that getting injured needlessly is foolish."
Normally, he would have just forfeited just out of laziness but this time, he had a proper reason. With the warning of war coming to Konoha, Shikamaru knew that he would need to do his part, so why put his life at jeopardy from unnecessary injuries. Besides, fighting Konohamaru would only get him sent to the infirmary with severe burns and bruises, not to mention that there was also the possibility of being electrocuted.
"Winner by forfeiture, Sarutobi Konohamaru!" Naruto declared as Konohamaru groaned in annoyance and the crowd shouted out their displeasure.
As Konohamaru walked up to the competitors box and the crowd settled down, Naruto shouted out, "Will Uzumaki Karin and Hyūga Hinata please come down to the arena!"
As soon as he finished, Karin and Hinata appeared in swirls of leaves and got into their taijutsu stances. Naruto asked if there were both ready, getting nods in return, causing him to smile and declared the battle to begin.
Naruto had barely vanished as Hinata's arms were engulfed in a thick layer of water. Opposite her, Karin had already conjured four of her chakra chains while pointing at Hinata with her palms touching at the heels, glowing with a three dimensional seal.
Hinata charged forward with her arms waving behind her leaving behind twin trails of glowing mist. Just as she was within five feet of Karin, the glowing seal pulsed golden as a ball of concentrated reddish gold light burst forth with the girl calling out, "Hadō Fūin: Kongōbaku!"
Hinata's eyes widened in shock as the blast raced towards her with incredible speed. Seeing no choice in the matter, she stopped moving forward and spurn in place as she let the water around her arms unfurl into a hundreds of tendrils of razor sharp water and ice. The tendrils flared out and engulfed the girl in a dome of tendrils which seemed to start glowing with a bluish white light. The blast of light collided with the tendrils and was ripped to pieces though some of the blast made it through — enough to singe the Hyūga Heiress.
Karin watched as Hinata easily counter her technique with surprise and awe. She didn't expect Hinata to be able to directly counter a B-Ranked Fūinjutsu, especially this new three dimensional kind that Naruto has began to develop and taught their Clan. Now that it had happened, Karin decided that she needed to be a bit more careful. While the only chakra expenditure she encured was the crafting of the seal in air out of her chakra — the seal the absorbing the ambient natural energy and recidual chakra in the air to generate the blast — she could only use it and ones of similar rank up to twenty times before her chakra levels would be seriously depleted. Using an A-Rank Fūinjutsu was even more dangerous as she only had one in her arsenal and could only use it thrice a day. Besides, it wasn't meant for use on allies. Sighing, Karin finally decided to focus on old style two dimensional seals channeled through her chains or hands against Hinata.
Nodding to herself, Karin speared forth her four chains and crashed them into the earth in the four corners of an imaginary box. The chains pulsed before seals formed on the ground and glowed. A translucent blue barrier formed around he opponent, who had just finished her spin and looked at the barrier with her Byakugan active. Analyzing the weaving of the chakra in the barrier, just like Moka-sama taught her, Hinata smirked as the water around her arms glowed golden and speared out in five directions. Each spear of glowing water seemed to pierce a random place in each of the five faces of the rectangular box like barrier. After a few moments, golden cracks appeared in the barrier before the whole thing shattered into motes of glowing blue and gold chakra.
While Hinata was taking care of the barrier, Karin had taken the chance to bombard the area around Hinata with her chains, applying manner of seals on the ground in anticipation of just such a thing. Hinata wasn't the only one Moka-sama had taught how to handle barriers. After all, her Kagura Shigan was just as good, if not better than the Byakugan in chakra sensory perception.
"This battle is turning out to be a game of strategies and deception. Don't you agree Hokage-dono?" Rasa asked with interest.
Hiruzen nodded in agreement as Ōnoki stated, "There is much more to be seen yet. I feel that both are still hiding some cards in their sleeve."
"Let us hope that they don't have any cards that will lead to the destruction of the arena. Uzumaki are known to be quite destructive when needed... And even when not needed." Mei said with a grin. Being of Uzumaki descent, she really couldn't refuse a chance to praise her ancestral clan.
"At least the girl isn't a Jinchūriki like Kushina-hime was. The possibility of large scale explosions are far less that way." Ē said with a grin directed at Hiruzen who chuckled at the reference. Kushina was know to channel explosive seals the most. At least Karin prefer to use more subtle ones.
"Oh great! This one is going to be a long drawn out battle and here I was expecting a fast paced cat fight." Kiba commented only for his elder sister to smack him behind the head.
"Keep making comments like that and I will tell Mom. You know what that means, don't you?" Hana said with a feral grin.
Kiba grumbled underneath his breath but Hana easily heard what he said as the grin widened as she commented, "That's right, Kennel Duty for a month. Isn't that fun?"
"Can we just watch the match?" Kiba complained causing Hana to nod as she turned her attention back to the match only to see Hinata weave through a literal minefield of seals, triggering the more dangerous ones with glowing tentacles of water. All the while Karin kept plying the field with more seals.
"Wish I knew how to use Fūinjutsu like that Uzumaki girl. Fūinjutsu is such an useful art but too difficult for most of us to learn and use appreciably in battle." Hana said getting nods of agreement from all the surrounding higher ranked Shinobi and Kunoichi.
Kiba nodded as he said, "I will agree with you there. I still have nightmares about those golems in the Forest of Death. They were made from seals as well. I heard that more advanced ones would be deployed around Uzu as automated defence."
"It seems that Naruto-sama is being paranoid in the defense of Uzu, not that I can blame him. Afterall, Uzu has already had a fall. She is just getting up back on her feet again. And with any fall, we all learn." A Shinobi, wearing a Jōnin vest and seems to be approaching his middle fifty's, said with a sad frown. The man was a veteran — that was clear — a veteran who had seen the fall of Uzu and remembered the Uzumaki in action.
"I must... Say Karin, your skills in fūinjutsu are quite frightening." Hinata said as she jumped back from a seal, simultaneously piercing it with a glowing strand of water, causing the seal to glow yellow and fade.
Karin grinned and stated, "And your ability to disrupt the chakra composition of seals and probably ninjutsu is just as frightening."
Hinata smiled at the complement as she launched a wave of thin yellow glowing needles of water at Karin, who swiped them away with her chains before hissing in annoyance as some of the chain-links eroded from the contact with the glowing yellow water. Jumping to the side to dodge the next set of needles, Karin charged more chakra into her chains, repairing the damaged links before sowing the area around her with more seals.
While Karin kept applying seals and repairing her chains, Hinata moved closer with each passing second, weaving through seals, deactivating them with ease — sometimes launching another wave of water needles to throw Karin off.
Seeing that her strategy was failing, Karin gritted her teeth and took out a metallic ball enscribed with seals. Channeling chakra into the ball, she threw it at Hinata. The Hyūga Heiress narrowed her eyes and swiped at the ball only for a wave of chakra to temporarily disrupt the water under her control as the ball exploded and covered the whole arena floor with smoke. Hinata frowned as her sight was impaired by the smoke, something that should have been impossible, unless — it wasn't smoke but a chakra cloud mixed with smoke.
Gathering a large amount of water towards herself, Hinata bended it to form a swirling dome of churning water around her as she waited for Karin to make her move.
"What is Karin planning? And why is Hinata suddenly on the defensive? She should be able to easily see through this thin smoke cloud." Sakura commented to herself as Otohime and Shion just sat there with watched with confusion.
"Could it be that Karin used some kind of seal with the ball?" Otohime asked with a soft frown.
"Your guess is as good as mine Hisui, but it is definitely a possibility... Of course, the smoke cloud is saturated with a chakra cloud hiding Karin from Hinata's Byakugan. Ingenious! The seal must have dispersed the stored chakra in the form of a concentrated cloud that is invisible to the naked eye. Those damn Uzumaki never take the easy way, do they?" Sakura said with a smile getting a smile and nod from Otohime and Shion. Shion may be new but she had gotten to be good friends with both Karin — who was the present Heiress and a princess of the Uzumaki — and Hinata — who would probably be her sister-wife, that is if Shion herself accepted the marriage.
"Who do you think will win Sakura-chan?" Otohime asked hoping for an unbiased opinion. Sakura had the habit of being extremely blunt when evaluating someone. Never did she embellish nor did she underrated.
Humming to herself for a moment, Sakura said, "Both are quite well matched, but I believe that Karin has the advantage. If Hinata slips up even a single moment, then it is over for her. Seals are just too dangerous and varied to take such a chance Hisui-chan."
Otohime nodded in understanding as they watched the cloud dissipate to reveal Karin holding another of her three dimensional fūinjutsu shiki in between her palms. Thrusting her palms forward as she called out, "Hadō Fūin: Raikōhō!"
A blast of compressed yellow lighting blasted out from between her palms at Hinata with a might roar, deafening many ears. Hinata's eyes widened in shock at the speed of the attack. Twisting upon her heels, Hinata conjured the barrier of yellow glowing strands of water again in hopes of striving off the technique only for a pair of hands to erupt from underneath her and catch hold of her feet causing her to trip. The last thing she saw before being engulfed in a massive electrical explosion was the smirk on the face of Karin's Kage Bunshin just as it popped from the surge of electricity.
"True blue Uzumaki style execution. Both girls deserve a promotion but Karin should be given Tokubetsu Jōnin for her mastery in fūinjutsu." Ē said getting a nod from the rest of the Gokage.
"But does she have the stamina to be a Jōnin?" Mei asked with concern.
"It will be Naruto-sama's prerogative to promote her. If he believes that she deserves it, then good for her." Ōnoki stated as the smoke cleared revealing an unconscious Hinata.
Naruto appeared and declared, "Winner by Knock Out, Uzumaki Karin. Will Uchiha Sasuke and Yūki Haku please come down to the arena!"
As the medics took away Hinata to be treated and Karin rushed off to check on the Hyūga Heiress, Sasuke and Haku appeared in the middle of the arena in swirls of flames and snow respectively.
"Are both of you ready?" Sasuke just grunted as he got into the opening stance of the Interceptor Fist while Haku pulled out a few senbon and got into a more relaxed stance. "BEGIN!"
Haku didn't waste anytime as she threw her senbon at Sasuke as she jumped back to gain more space.
Sasuke just smirked as he punched forward releasing a wave of blistering yellow flames, causing the senbon to stop in there tracks. A sudden feeling of dread filled Sasuke's mind causing him to instinctively dodge to the right causing multiple small shards of sharpened ice to shatter on the ground behind his previous position. Rolling to his feet, Sasuke focused his mind jumped. At the apex of his jump, Sasuke released a concentrated stream of fire from his feet and fists causing him to sore towards Haku.
The beautiful Yūki Clan head cursed as she was forced to roll away from the small pool of water she had unsealed; watching the pool be vaporized by the flames Sasuke released as he crashed into it. The sudden burst of steam hid the Uchiha Heir from sight for a moment before multiple shuriken flew out of the steam cloud, covered in flames.
Haku narrowed her eyes as she threw a few of her senbon at the flaming shuriken, deflecting them with ease before unsealing a very large scroll and unsealing it's contents. A massive flood of water filled the arena, rising nearly a quarter way up the arena.
"It seems that the Uchiha Heir is skilled enough to force the young Yūki to prepare for her main arsenal." Ōnoki commented getting nods from the rest of the Gokage.
"The question is: will young Sasuke be able to keep up?" Ē asked directing the question to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen shrugged as he stated with a nonchalant expression, "Who knows? His training in ninshu I know about, but unfortunately, I have no knowledge of his mastery over his activated Sharingan. From what I heard, Naruto-kun personally helped him activate and train it. Not to mention that Sasuke-kun has quite a few different ninjutsu under his belt. Some from each of Raiton, Katon and Dōton. If he uses them judicially, he may just win yet."
"He doesn't use his ninjutsu much, does he?" Rasa asked getting a nod from Hiruzen.
"But that doesn't mean that he is weak. I have seen his skills in taijutsu and ninshu." Mei commented offhandedly as she watched Sasuke launch himself towards Haku, flying on jets of flames, leaving streaks of steam where ever he passed.
"That's interesting, it seems that both Haku and Sasuke can move much faster than normal using their bending than they could using chakra reinforcement." Shino commented as he observed Haku bend the water underneath her to carry her away from Sasuke, all the while bending two thick tentacles of water to try and attack the flying Uchiha, who kept dissipating the tentacles with bursts of concentrated flames.
"That is true, but who will win? Will it be Sasuke or Haku?" Tenten asked with a frown. This match was becoming far more exciting by the moment.
"Unsure, but I believe that Sasuke has a bit of an advantage here." Sai said with his usual emotionless tone.
"Why would you say that?" Tenten asked with surprise. From her understanding, Haku had the advantage. If she was forced — like she herself did to her last round — then she would just bend the water to crash down on Sasuke. Now unless Sasuke had an impenetrable defense technique, he was done for.
"Sasuke has adequate mastery over a couple of uncommon Raiton Jutsu. I also believe that he isn't using the Sharingan yet. That is his trump card after all."
"I believe that it would be more logical to watch than speculate." Shino said as Haku froze the water underneath her feet and bended the water around her to form eight thick tentacles, waving around her in a defensive formation.
"I will have to say, you are good Sasuke. Far too good for a rookie." Haku said with a grin.
Sasuke smirked and said, "And you surpassed my expectations for you. How about we stop this game of cat and mouse and get to real battle?"
Haku's grin widened as she said with a teasing tone, "Took the words right out of my mouth Sasuke-kun!"
In a blink of an eye, water flowed all around Sasuke and froze to form multiple mirror like constructs of ice. Sasuke looked at the dome of ice mirrors with interest as Haku walked up to one of the mirrors and simple fused with it. A reflection of Haku appeared on each mirror causing Sasuke to blink in surprise before the water below him suddenly froze and erupted in spikes. Jumping hight, Sasuke tried to blast his way out of the topmost mirror only for his eyes to widen in shock.
The mirror was a bit warped from the flames, but the water quickly flowed back into place and froze again to reveal a completely unblemished mirror.
"You will need far hotter flames than that Sasuke. This is my greatest technique. It was once a ninjutsu technique — a very chakra intensive one. Now, I can create and maintain it with water bending while using my Kekkai Genkai to merge with the ice. Behold the majesty of the Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōsho!"
Sasuke stared at the mirror in front of him in shock as Haku finished her speech and image flickered. It was only the fact that he was used to sparring with Naruto that his instincts warned him of the approaching attack. With reflex born of hours of surviving painstaking beat downs, Sasuke twisted his body while activating his Sharingan.
"Damn, Haku has been holding out on us! She never revealed this technique." Suiren pouted in annoyance getting a chuckle from Zabuza.
"Don't take it the wrong way, but Haku hates using this technique. Before learning Ninshu, it was both her trump card and her last resort — especially with the massive chakra expenditure needed to keep the technique active for appreciable amounts of time. It was enough to push me to my utmost to just survive. In Fack, I believe that if you ask nicely, she will even help you develop a similar technique with your crystal."
Suiren nodded with a smile before her eyes widened in shock. Turning to her — on again, off again — Sensei, she asked, "She could push you to near defeat with it?"
Zabuza nodded with a grin, though his bandages hid it before turning back to the battle, or as he called it in his mind, massacre.
After Sasuke dodged the fifth volley of ice senbon, Haku chuckled and said, "The fabled Sharingan really do live up to its name. I didn't expect you to be able to survive so many volleys without sustaining a single injury."
"Thanks for the compliment, but you haven't even seen what the Sharingan can really do." Sasuke said with a smirk as his right arm flashed forward and caught hold of Haku's arm.
Haku's eyes widened in surprise just as a fist crashed into her stomach, causing all the air to be expelled from her lungs. Even disoriented, Haku's focus didn't falter, as the ice mirrors stayed in existence.
Jumping back from a follow-up kick, Haku got her breathing back under control and re-merged with a mirror causing Sasuke to smirk and taunt, "Hiding there won't help. You will after all have to exit to attack."
Cold laughter filled the dome as Haku said, "What makes you say that? I don't need to leave to attack." With her piece said, a rain of ice senbon flew from all the mirrors at the same time.
"Sasuke seems to have made the mistake of underestimating Haku. Quite said really — call it a remnant of my previous fangirl period — but I expected him to win." Ino commented from beside Shikamaru.
"Huh, when did you get here?"
Giving a stink eye to the Nara Heir, Ino said, "Right after the start of the match. Now just pay attention to the match you lazy idiot!"
Shikamaru just shrugged as he focused his attention back to the battle. It seemed that Sasuke was being overwhelmed to the point that even his bending was being unable to keep up with the amount of senbon flying towards him.
Sasuke closed his eyes and sighed in annoyance. He had really wished to keep this a secret but it seems that Haku was just too good. Snapping his eyes open, the tomoe in his Sharingan blended together to form into collection of ellipses and curved black lines forming into a flower like pattern.
Haku watched as his Sharingan transformed into an unknown form right before the senbon struck him. She had made sure to target non-lethal areas, so she wasn't worried about his continued existence, but for some reason, a shiver ran down her spine.
That foreboding feeling intensified when an explosion of chakra erupted form Sasuke just as the senbon struck. She watched in shock as Sasuke was entomed in the middle of a skeletal torso with wings and a tengu mask made of violet chakra.
It was only her honed instincts that prevented her from being grievous injured as she had jumped out and away from the mirror just as a tsurugi made of the same purple chakra cleaved the lower level of mirrors in half.
Sasuke turned to Haku with the chakra construct follow his gesture. Taking a single step, Sasuke rose into the air as the torso turned into a full sized man in armor and tengu mask with a tsurugi in each hand and two wings.
"I must commend you Yūki Haku for you have pushed me to use one of my greatest techniques. Behold one of the powers bestowed by the Eien no Mangekyō Sharingan: Susanoo!"
Haku stared at the chakra construct with a dumbfounded expressions as did many other in the crowd. After a few moments, Haku shook her head and focused
Bending all the water underneath her, she tried to crash it into the Susanoo only for Sasuke to dismiss one of the swords and conjure three magatama shaped constructs of chakra which was promptly set ablaze in black flames and thrown at the massive wave of water with the call of, "Yasakani Magatama!"
"I haven't seen a Susanoo since I faced off against Madara!" Ōnoki exclaimed in shock.
The other Kage watched the battle with shock and awe as the three magatama crashed into the wall of water and exploded, vaporizing the water and most of the remaining water in the arena as well. Haku was thrown back from the shockwave and crashed into the wall of the arena, already unconscious.
Naruto appeard and after checking Haku's condition declared, "Winner by Knock Out, Uchiha Sasuke! Now tomorrow will be the finals, which will be a free-for-all amongst the four finalists. Before that, I once again remind you that a spar will occur between Kumo's A-B combo and myself with certain restrictions placed upon all of us — no need to accidentally destroy the arena and with most of Konoha!"
Many chuckles filled the arena along with excited whispers as everyone was waiting to see the spar. After all Kage level battles were generally private affairs due to them being so destructive.
"Now have a good day!" With his piece said, Naruto picked up Haku and disappeared.
"The end was a bit over the top but with a perfect Susanoo like that, I am surprised that there wasn't much more destruction." Ōnoki said getting confused looks from the three younger Kage.
Seeing the looks of confusion, Hiruzen explained, "The Susanoo is one of the secret techniques of the Uchiha. It is said and proven that a perfect Susanoo can rival and even push back Bijū. Young Sasuke is either inexperienced or was holding back severely to prevent too much damage. Either way, both deserve a promotion."
"I agree with you there Sarutobi. Now how about we adjourn for the day. I would like to soak my old bones on one of you villages famous Ōnsen."
"I agree as well Ōnoki. See you tomorrow!" With that said, Hiruzen vanished along with his two bodyguards. Soon after the other Kage bid their farewells as well and left with their own bodyguards.
Japanese Translations
Yonkage = Four Shadows
Shishō = Master
Gokage = Five Shadows
Tsurugi = Double Edged One-handed Sword
Tengu = A type of crow yōkai with very long nose
Magatama = Comma Shaped Jewels used in Shinto culture
Japanese Jutsu, Style and Weapon Name Translations
Kongōfūsa = Adamantine Sealing Chains
Keiyaku Fūin = Contract Seal
Suna Shuriken no Jutsu = Sand Throwing Stars Technique
Suna no Yoroi = Sand Armor
Dōjutsu = Eye Technique
Shukaku no Tate = Shield of Shukaku
Hadō Fūin: Kongōbaku = Path of Destruction Seal: Adamantine Blast
Hadō Fūin: Raikōhō = Path of Destruction Seal: Roaring Thunder Cannon
Raiton = Lightning Release
Katon = Fire Release
Dōton = Earth Release
Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō = Secret Technique: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals
Eien no Mangekyō Sharingan = Eternal Kaleidoscopic Copy Wheel Eye
A/N: I hope you all liked this chapter. It is a bit short at only 6.5k but I hope that it is enough. I will try and Finish the next chapter as soon as possible.
Also, I read a review that needs to be answered. Many don't know this but Gaara's clan name is Kazekage not Sabaku — which is a title he gained for his use of sand techniques.
Please remember to review.
SSG
