Let's start this from the beginning
Chūnin Exams
VIII
Itachi wasn't surprised when he saw Yugito win against his teammates. After all, just like them, he had more or less known that it would happen and he didn't expect different results for his own fight with her either.
What did surprise him, however, was how well Anko had done.
Yukio's fight went just as he had expected, with him trying to trap her in an explosive trap while keeping his distance and relying on Ninjutsu. That did of course not work out, but it was still a decent show. Anko, on the other hand, exceeded all of his expectations. That she somewhat managed to put pressure on her opponent in a Taijutsu battle was still within what he had thought might happen, her fighting style being rather annoying even for superior enemies when they encountered it for the first time, but everything that came afterwards was a surprise.
He definitively didn't expect her to use Orochimaru's Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes technique, even if it was on a smaller scale than the Sannin's. Especially not in combination with so many explosions and poison. Had she used it against him, it wouldn't be a lie to say that he very well might have lost. If he couldn't escape from it in time, his only chance would have been to use his Susano'o which at this point would still exhaust him in a matter of seconds rather than minutes.
Then there was also the thing she did at the end to consider.
Anko might be stubborn at times, but she wasn't stupid. Continuing the fight when she had obviously lost was a useless endeavour that made no sense at that point. It would have been explainable if she had been angry as she tended to let her emotions cloud her judgment from time to time, but she had appeared to be calm. So, knowing her, she must have done -or at least tried to do- something. He had a few ideas of what that could be as well, but unfortunately, he had been unable to see anything happen from his position.
Well, nothing he could do about that now. He had other things to worry about.
Before he reached the finale where he would face Yugito Nii, he had three other fights to win. Fortunately, none of his opponents were one of the other two above-average talented participants aside from the aforementioned blonde, so it was easy to show off his abilities without exhausting himself.
In the end, the one who decided whether or not a Genin would be promoted to become a Chūnin was the representative of their respective village, whether that was the Kage or just a shinobi sent in their stead didn't matter. With that in mind, it wouldn't be surprising if someone assumed that it was settled from the beginning that every village would promote all of their shinobi that reached the third stage of the exams and that the actual performance didn't matter.
They would be wrong. The low number of promotions per exam showed this just too clearly.
The Chūnin Exams were a substitution for war, intended to show the strength of your village's new generation for everyone to see, whether they be friend or foe. Promoting a Genin that had shown no real promise during the exam would be seen as a cheap and poor decision. Not only that, but it might also give the impression that a village either tried to make themselves appear stronger than they actually are by increasing their official number of Chūnin, meaning they're trying to hide a weakness that could be exploited, or that they have very low standards, which in turn also indicates that the village was weak. At worst, these impressions might be enough to convince another country that it would be worth a try to invade while at worst, they might lead to fewer job offers from feudal lords who will go to other villages with them instead.
This meant there were exactly three reasons for a Genin to give it their all:
The first one was obviously the simple desire to win the tournament. The second one was to fulfill the purpose of the exam in demonstrating the new generation's strength to discourage other countries from invading their home. The last one was to impress all the present feudal lords and Kage to make sure that they can be promoted in the first place.
However, this could turn out surprisingly hard if you were much stronger than your competition; after all, if you just stomped your opponents, the viewer could just as easily assume that it was because they were so weak, not because you were especially strong. In that case, a Genin who fulfilled all the requirements for a promotion might find themselves still failing the exams because they didn't give good enough of a show.
Itachi didn't plan on making the same mistake.
Against his first opponent, he used a flashy Genjutsu. It was a relatively weak one, but it was enough to keep his opponent in it when strengthened by his Sharingan even when he made a clumsy attempt of breaking it. For most of the crowd, it looked as if he was running away from imaginary enemies and fighting the air, while inside the illusion the world was shaking and twisting in ways that wouldn't be possible in the real world. The feudal lords, on the other hand, could see the same thing he did as Itachi had made sure to include them in his technique.
It was fortunate that they all sat together. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to do so as it would waste too much chakra to put the entire stadium under his illusion.
Against his second opponent, he used only Taijutsu. During the entire fight, he made sure to appear completely in control, making it look as if the only reason the fight wasn't over yet was that he was cautious in case his foe was hiding his abilities. Finding the middle-ground between being cautious and being a coward wasn't easy, but he thought he managed it just fine. He ended this fight with a fancy shuriken technique -the kind Sasuke always liked to watch him do- that bound his opponent in wire strings that had been attached to his weapon.
Finding a new way to win his third fight was much harder; he didn't want to waste any more chakra -he had been hesitant about even the small amount for his previous Genjutsu- and also didn't really like the idea of repeating himself.
In the end, he simply decided to take his opponent as fast as he could out with Taijutsu. It might be boring to watch, but it was more important to be fit for his fight against the Jinchūriki than it was to impress the crowd. He already gave them two good shows and his last fight would be one as well; that should be enough.
So, here he was; standing in the middle of the arena and waiting for the proctor of this exam to announce the start of his last fight.
Thanks to Yugito's superior physics, he was inferior to her in Taijutsu, just like her enormous chakra reserves gave her a lead against him in Ninjutsu. That left only Genjutsu as a possible field he was better than her in, but there was another problem with that:
He didn't know if it would even work.
Jinchūrikis could control their Biju's chakra either by force or by allying themselves with them, and Itachi had no idea which was the case with his opponent. He knew she learned to control it through strict training since her youth which made the former appear more likely, but there was still the situation with the Jinchūriki of the eight-tailed to consider; he famously befriended his Biju, so who was to say he didn't teach Yugito to do the same? They were from the same village, after all.
Now, if she had indeed befriended it, it would be no problem for the Two-Tails to free her from any illusion he could cast on her, meaning it would be just a waste of chakra. Unfortunately, the only way he could somewhat reliable find out if that was the case was by using a powerful Genjutsu and see what happened. A weaker one just wouldn't do, seeing as her training doubtlessly involved how to free herself from them.
So I guess I will need to try and trap her rather than beat her in open battle.
He would certainly try. Fortunately, he had a plan.
"This fight will be between Itachi Uchiha from Konohagakure and Yugito Nii from Kumogakure! Are the participants ready?"
She had confidence in her son's abilities -how could she not after watching him beat his last three opponents with such ease?- but there was still a lump in her throat that didn't want to vanish.
He might be strong, prodigious even, but was it enough to beat his last opponent? A Jinchūriki who had some measure of control over her Biju, no matter how little? After observing her last three fights, two of which were against her son's teammates, she didn't think so.
She subtly looked to her side when she felt something touch her only to find that the Sandaime had laid a hand on her arm out of sight of the other Kage.
It was a good thing that she currently wore an ANBU mask, hiding her blush. She was an adult and yet here she was, being reassured by the person she was supposed to guard. With a deep breath, Mikoto regained her cool; she had a job to do. She couldn't let herself be distracted, not even by her son.
Good luck, Itachi, she thought before returning her full attention back to the protection of her Kage just when the fight began.
"You first teammate retreated and forced me to rush after him, the other one did the exact opposite, and now you chose to just stand still. You're an interesting bunch, aren't you?"
"If one strategy doesn't work, you obviously try another one until something does."
Yugito's lips twitched. "Neither of us will win if we stay like this, though."
"Maybe I don't want to win," he said with a tilt of his head. "Just having a draw with you would be pretty good already, don't you think? Both of us would win the tournament in that case, from a certain point of view."
"Tempting," she said before suddenly throwing up her arms. "But I think I must decline."
"Nezumi Kedama!" (Mouse Hairball)
When she spit several small balls of fire towards him, the technique didn't look very special at first. However, the real problem appeared when he tried to dodge them; rather than just flying past him, the now mouse-formed balls of flames changed directions and pursued him, forcing him to continue backing away.
"Don't take your eyes away from your enemy!"
Itachi noticed that his opponent's nails had changed and were now 30 centimetres long when he dodged her slash by a hair, but he didn't have time to think about it before one of the flame balls crashed into him with a small explosion.
A second later, a murder of crows flew towards her, blocking her sight and making her jerk back with wide eyes. Then, before she had the chance to do anything about her situation, she instinctively fell into a crouch to dodge a kunai that came at her from behind. This one was shortly followed by others until she found herself deflecting weapons that came at her from every direction with her claws.
Having experienced the tendency of his team to use explosions whenever possible, she jumped into the air before he had the chance to blow her up while her vision was so limited by all his birds. Her prediction became true just a second later when the place she just came from was consumed by the result of several small explosions.
Yugito had no time to celebrate her foresight, however, for she suddenly found herself under attack from two sides by him and one of his clones.
She tilted her head out of the way of one kick before redirecting the leg with her shoulder to bring the clone out of balance while simultaneously blocking a kunai from the real him with her left claw. Then, she set out to slash the still unbalanced clone into pieces only to stop her movement when she saw a kunai with an explosion tag thrown at her from below. Catching the weapon before it could hit her, she ripped the tag off and threw the weapon at the clone she had just been about to attack. This made Itachi abandon his own attack, giving her the time to block another kunai slash before she put the tag on the still extended arm and kicked him towards the other clone to get them both away from her.
The explosion ripped both of them apart.
The fight didn't stop there, though. She had barely landed on the ground, a good 15 meters away from him, when two hands broke through the ground and grabbed her ankles. Itachi instantly rushed forwards to exploit her momentary confusion, only for him and the clone in the ground to be hit with a stream of electricity when the blonde's body transformed into lightning.
Suddenly it was him who needed to jump back to avoid two hands that came through the ground, shortly followed by their owner that wasted no time in jumping after him.
"You guys are seriously starting to annoy me with all those clones and explosions," she said with a growl as she slashed at his head.
Itachi had no breath to spare for a reply before he was forced to tilt his head back to avoid being hit by her claws. Afterwards followed a short Taijutsu bout that made him very glad that he had a Sharingan; careful not to cut himself, he redirected her right arm before attempting to use his short stature to sneak through her defense. Not deterred at all, she simply stopped his attack by swinging her knee up to knock him out. He jerked back, barely able to avoid this counter, only to be instantly forced to block several more slashes from her claws while simultaneously backing further away in an attempt to get out of her range.
Yugito was moving faster than when she fought Yukio or Anko and her claws gave her more range than she had before. That might have been to his advantage if he could fight like Anko, where the additional range would have been more of a disadvantage than anything else, but that was unfortunately not the case. For all that he had seen her fight with his Sharingan several times before, his body was just not able to make the same moves as her. The only reason he could keep up at all was that he could predict her movements with his eyes, but even that had its limits.
That became obvious when she suddenly found an opening and sent him flying with a kick to his chest.
Itachi managed to regain in control even when the breath was knocked out of his lungs, changing his position mid-air and landing on his feet instead of crashing into the ground. Even so, he was still dragged for several meters before he came finally to a stop just ten meters away from the two small bodies of water in one corner of the arena.
The entire sequence had lasted little more than three seconds, but it had been enough time for his opponent to create three clones and surround him.
Escaping was not an option, so he started to rush through hand seals instead.
"Katon: Hibashiri!" (Fire Release: Running Fire)
Releasing a stream of fire towards the ground in front of him, the flames instantly started to move on their own to encircle him with a protective barrier. A second later, three of the bodies dissolved into lightning when they came into contact with the fire. The fourth one, the one that must be the real Yugito, ripped a hole into the wall with a slash of her claws that sent knives of compressed air towards it.
Before he could react, she closed the distance between them in less than a heartbeat and stabbed him through his chest with one of her claws.
This time, she wasn't prepared for the explosion.
When the cloud of dust lifted, they knelt in a similar position just 10 meters from each other. However, the difference was that his breathing was notable harder than to begin of the fight while hers was still calm. Not that he was already exhausted, his stamina was better than that, but he was definitively starting to feel the strain on his chakra and body.
"I know I repeat myself, but you guys are really annoying. First it were all these explosions and clones, and now there are exploding clones. Seriously, enough is enough! "
He narrowed his eyes a bit. Something was off about the way she said that, but what was it? "You seem to know a thing or two about clones yourself, though."
"I fight fire with fire," she said with a shrug that, again, looked a bit weird, although he couldn't say why. "Hey, that right now was not one of these weird crow clones, right? Isn't it wasteful for someone with your reserves to use a shadow clone only to blow it up?"
He suppressed a grimace at that.
She was right; the Bunshin Daibakuha (Great Clone Explosion) was rather chakra-consuming. It was especially annoying for him because the technique had done hardly any damage aside from burning some parts of her clothes. Right now, he didn't have too much his chakra left, which meant his initial plan might not be possible anymore if he didn't do something to change the flow of the battle. As it was now, he was just wasting his energy without having anything to show for it.
"Well," she said while standing up with a shake of her head. "It's to my advantage, so I'm not complaining."
With one blow, he suddenly realized what was off about her: although he hadn't injured her, the way she moved and spoke was somewhat lethargic. Not very much, definitively not enough to be obvious, but it was noticeable for someone who looked closely. But when he hadn't injured her, what was causing it...?
Anko!
Did she inject her with some poison? Was that why she hadn't surrendered? But where did she get a poison that affected a Jinchūriki, and why was it only starting to work now?
"Here we go!"
Lethargic or not, she was still fast. Not as fast as in the beginning, he noted, but still fast. Still, if the effect got only stronger with time, he might be able to exploit it if he managed to defend himself long enough. But with his current reserves and the way he burned through them just by keeping up with her, well...
Making a split decision, Itachi quickly took a soldier pill from his pocket and managed to put it in his mouth just in time before he needed both his hand to defend himself. It wasn't one of the stronger ones, but it should be enough for what he intended to do.
"Something like that will not save you," she exclaimed when her fist, which had once again normal-sized nails, connected with his palm.
In the following confrontation, he allowed himself to be pushed back as subtle as he could as to not give away what he was doing. Ducking under her leg when she tried to kick him, he backed away with a flick-flack before throwing a number of shurikens at her that were connected by wire. That didn't slow her down, however, as she simply threw kunai of her own that hit the holes in the centre of his weapons to direct them back at him, demonstrating that she was just as skilled in this area of combat as she was in all the others. Suddenly having his own weapons, including wires, thrown back at him, he had no other choice than to jump in the air and twist his body to avoid them.
Unfortunately, that gave his opponent the opportunity she needed to close the distance. He had just enough time to raise his arms in front of his face before the kick threw him back downwards, right into the water.
While he hadn't intended to reach the water body in this way, it was still where he had wanted to go, so he didn't complain too much. Ignoring the pain from the crash, he used the moment where the water blocked his opponent's view to create a clone that would hide underwater.
Things got more complicated when emerged from the water, though.
"Raiton: Gian!" (Lightning Release: False Darkness)
Itachi's eyes went wide as time slowed down around him.
He instantly knew that he wouldn't be able to escape the body of water before the attack hit it, meaning he couldn't dodge that way. The only possible escape route was up, but that would bring him into the waiting arms of the blonde who would doubtlessly throw him back into the water, making the point nought.
Without thinking about it, he created another shadow clone while suppressing his annoyance at not having enough time to form a less chakra-consuming crow clone. The clone didn't even wait until the smoke vanished before he jumped towards the ground, away from the water, already performing hand seals.
The lightning attack hit an upwards flying torrent of water and followed the stream rather than continuing to fly downwards, reaching its source, which was his clone, just when he reached the ground, releasing all its energy harmlessly into the earth after destroying it.
Then Yugito was suddenly in front of him, sending him flying once again with a kick that made him gasp in pain even though it lacked the strength from her previous attack. It was still enough to make him slide over the water for several meters before he came to a stop on his knees, however.
He looked up, expecting and preparing for another attack, only to find that his opponent was still standing where he left her, leaned forward and with her hands on her knees for support.
"What is-" she started, but didn't get the chance to finish as the clone he had hidden underwater took the chance and appeared right behind her. To her credit, she instantly turned around to defend herself, but the effect of whatever substance Anko had used was finally taking effect; rather than sending a kick at his clone, she toppled and fell to her knees, meaning she was unable to stop his clone's technique.
"Suiton: Suirō no Jutsu!" (Water Release: Water Prison Technique)
He released his breath when he saw her fully enclosed by the water.
She would surely be able to escape the prison if she weren't as weakened by Anko's poison as she was, but not like this. This meant that he didn't need to go through with his initial plan, according to which he would have used a lightning technique he had copied with his Sharingan to shock her while she was inside the water. A relief, really, as his chakra was still pretty low, even after taking the pill earlier. After all, they were used to increase your stamina first and foremost, not to refresh your chakra. While that happened as a side product, the amount wasn't that big. He was already pushing his reserves as it was and the chakra-consuming water prison didn't help things in the slightest.
But no matter. This was his victory.
The boy hadn't even scratched her, so how had he injected her with poison? She had even made sure not to breathe in the smoke of any of the explosions in case he would use the same trick as his teammate!
She didn't know if she should snarl in anger or laugh in excitement; on one hand, she had somehow fallen prey to the same trick twice, while on the other hand, she had found not one but two opponents that were actually a challenge!
But that was secondary now. First, she needed to concentrate on not losing.
"Matatabi," she thought. "I need your help. Give me some of your chakra."
"Twice in one day? Honestly, Yugi, are you slacking off?"
"Very funny, but now is not the time. I will lose if you don't hurry!"
She heard her comrades booming laugh before she finally lent her some chakra. Her lips tucked upwards, assured that whatever substance was in her body would be gone soon enough, when her vision suddenly became black.
"Hey, Matatabi! What is going on?" she shouted inside her head, ignoring how even her thoughts seemed to be more sluggish now. "Why isn't it working?"
"I don't know," the beast said, sounding unsure for the first time since she knew her. "My chakra should heal you, but for some reason, it doesn't!"
"Then send some more!"
"You sure? You still can't control it very well, you know."
"I don't care!" she replied forcefully. "I will not lose like that!"
It was stupid to let herself go like this, but she didn't want to lose here. This hadn't anything to do with the task the Raikage had given her anymore, nor with her desire to be promoted; no, she wanted to win because she had fun!
Her partner complied with a wordless grunt, and a moment later, she felt a new wave of energy surge through her veins.
"And the winner is-"
The proctor was interrupted when an explosion of red chakra ripped through Itachi's prison and the clone besides it, creating shock waves that sent small waves in all directions and made the water below Yugito's feet boil.
The chakra didn't form a tail, which was good, but a thin layer of it wrapped all around her body protectively, shielding her from any harm that could come to her. And it didn't just protect her from outside threats, for obviously the poison had been purged from her system.
This is very bad, he thought, a sentiment that became only stronger when he saw that her iris had been replaced by the heterochromatic eyes of the Two-Tails. There was still something human in them in the way she looked at him, which was a relief as he didn't want an out-of-control Jinchūriki at his throat. Still, by the way the human intellect clashed with the animalistic hunger in them, he could fairly confidently say that she still lacked the control she would have later in life.
Itachi knew exactly what he needed to do.
He had just opened his mouth to surrender as there was no way he would fight a Jinchūriki in such a situation when his body moved on its own to evade an axe kick that would have smashed his head. The same happened with the following attack and the one after that before his mind gained control over his body back just when he dodged another kick.
Then, rather than pursuing him further, she punched into the air in front of her to throw a shock-wave in his direction, prompting him to weave hand seals as fast as he could.
"Suiton: Suijinheki!" (Water Release: Water Formation Wall)
The wall stood for less than a second before the shock-wave broke through it, but it did the job of lessening the impact and for that, he was thankful. It still hurt when it sent him flying after it crashed into him, though.
He was still flying when Yugito appeared beside him, arriving with such a speed that even though he could still predict her movements with his Sharingan, he couldn't react in time. So, rather than trying to block her next attacks outright, he tried to minimize the damage as much as he could.
The first punch was aimed at his left shoulder, so he already twisted his body in advance so that there would be less power behind it when it connected. He was pretty sure the arm in question was still dislocated, though, the pain making him bit on his cheeks to stop himself from screaming.
The second punch aimed at his chest; thankfully, his arms were already there, so he could put them between her and his body, ignoring the intense pain that shot through his left arm and shoulder at that action.
The third attack was a kick, and this time he managed to avoid an injury altogether; Itachi ankled his legs in a manner that made her kick the bottom of his feet, allowing him to use her own power to his advantage as he pushed himself into the air and away from his opponent.
That didn't last for long, for she jumped after him just a moment later, managing to catch up to him in little more than a second. However, she didn't immediately attack him. Instead, he could see her channeling chakra towards her mouth for some kind of Jutsu.
At this point, there was not much he could do. The problem was that he needed to do something as no one seemed inclined to end the battle, so he did the only thing he could think of:
He directed all of his remaining chakra into his Sharingan and glanced directly into her eyes.
One moment she was fighting the haze of bloodlust to keep in control of her body, the next moment she found herself standing inside her inner world. That was not the real surprise, though, and neither was the monstrous, two-tailed cat behind her.
No, the real surprise was the presence of her opponent.
That she didn't immediately attack him was a testament of how shocked she was. "That's my inner world! How did you-"
"It's his eyes," Matatabi interrupted her, sounding oddly gleeful. "Though I didn't expect someone that young to be capable of such a thing."
Right, she thought. The Sharingan. I should have thought of that. To be fair, having someone invade your mind like this was rather off-putting.
"Do you plan to control me with them? I heard how one of your ancestors used these eyes of yours to control the Nine-Tails in his fight with your Shodai Hokage, you see, but I never had someone try the same with me! "
"Don't be ridiculous," she snapped. "He has barely any chakra left! Besides, there are no records of the Sharingan controlling Biju aside from the Nine-Tails!"
"But that's what makes it so interesting! "
She opened her mouth to reply, but the boy was faster. "I doubt I would have enough chakra to attempt that even if my reserves were full. Attempting it now would be nothing less than stupid of me."
"Oh, how disappointing."
"If that's not why you're here, then what is it?" she said, ignoring Matatabi's whining about how never anything interesting happened to her. Then, before he even had a chance to reply, she noticed something else. "And how do you even know about me? I can't believe they tell children much about the Biju in Konoha."
"I'm my clan's heir, so I have access to more information than most. At least when it has something to do with our Kekkei Genkai."
That makes sense, I guess. Besides, there were enough shinobi that didn't care much about their children's innocent and childhood. Such an attitude would also explain how someone so young could be so strong already as she knew from experience that only intense training brought such results. "And you're not scared?"
It was one thing for him not to be scared of her, there were enough people who didn't blame the Jinchūriki for holding a demon inside of them, but even now, standing just a few meters away from Matatabi, he seemed perfectly calm.
"You can't harm me in this world," he said with a small smile. "The worst thing you can do is throwing me out."
She narrowed her eyes but accepted the answer. "You still didn't answer my first question; what is your aim by coming here?"
He didn't reply immediacy, making her unintentional tense up in preparation for anything he might try, only to calm down again when he finally opened his mouth. "I wanted to ask you to stop attacking me."
She blinked, too surprised to answer.
Matatabi didn't have the same problem, though. "Hah! I take it back, this is actually fun! And say, why would she do that?"
"For one thing, because her control is obviously not perfect yet and running amok in another village would put your Kage into a bad position," he said. "For another, because I will die if this fight goes on for much longer. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how Konoha would react if the heir of its biggest clan was killed like that, do I? People are expected to die in these exams, of course, but if it happens because of an out-of-control Jinchūriki, people might take offense." Then he sent her another small smile. "Also, on a more personal note, I would simply prefer not to die."
"That...makes sense." And to be completely honest, she didn't want to kill him either. Not after he entertained her as much as he did. Things would be different if they met on a mission, naturally, but right now? Also, winning like this, with only half her senses, wouldn't be satisfying at all.
"He really has a point, who would have thought."
"Alright," she agreed with a sigh. "I agree. Now get the fuck out of my head."
When she came back into the real world, Yugito found herself kneeling only a few meters away from her opponent.
Honestly, how often had she found herself in that situation today? It was starting to get ridiculous.
She felt the backlash of using Matatabi's chakra, her body feeling as if she had spent the last few hours sparring with her sensei. Well, maybe a light sparring, she thought with a soft snort. I can still move, after all. Still, she could feel the strain of the day catching up with her. Not only was her entire body sore, but her chakra was also mostly depleted, another side-effect of using Matatabi's chakra.
Yet she looked much better than her opponent.
She was exhausted, yes, but with some effort, she would be able to move and continue to fight. Not very well, but at least somewhat. Itachi, on the other hand, seemed to only keep himself upwards with willpower alone. Not to forget that she had dislocated his arm, which would have limited him even if he managed to continue the fight.
There was a vague feeling of disappointment in her chest, not only because the fight was over but also because she had let herself go as much as she did. She also felt somewhat bad for injuring him. Not because of the act itself or because she had used the Biju's chakra, it would be stupid to lose because you didn't use everything at your disposal, but because she used it without being truly in control. She was taught since her earliest childhood to never use a technique she hadn't mastered yet, which was especially important for a Jinchūriki like her, and yet she had done just that.
It was dishonorable.
She knew what to do.
"I surrender."
"I surrender."