Disclaimer: Chapter 1 still.
"Looks like I don't need to bother being here any longer." Kakashi covered his already covered face with the palm of his hand as he yawned. "I should probably head off and make sure my team is doing alright after their fights." He didn't move from where he stood. "Yep, should probably get on that team stuff right now."
"Your enthusiasm is infectious Kakashi." Gai's response made the Jonin chuckle, actually laugh as he turned to the Green Beast of Konoha.
"I'm trying to outclass you now I guess."
"HA! Believe me my Eternal Rival, on such a day I shall circle the village hundred times on each of my thumbs!" Gai rose both thumbs as if to act as the formal signing of such a vow and Kakashi nodded.
'This is getting out of hand.' It was the only thought going through Kakashi's mind at the moment. He glanced to the Hokage and saw the storm brewing behind the old eyes. 'This is really getting out of hand.' He wanted to curse himself for every passing Team 7. 'This is all going to be my fault again.'
'I'm a terrible sensei, Obito.'
Kakashi's visible eye crinkled around the edges. Gai took notice.
"See you later Gai." He vanished in a cloud of smoke. Gai knew he didn't go far.
"Alright, you two know the rules." Hayate looked at the two Genin that stood on either side of him, facing the other. "I'll be observing the match. Try not to follow any of the other fights you've seen. They're all bad examples." He coughed into his hand several times. "Alright, begin anytime you want."
Kiba immediately threw himself towards Shino with a growl. Shino deftly avoided him, his hands remaining in his pockets as he took step after step backwards in retreat. A keen eye would take note of the writhing black splotches he seemed to leave behind.
"Nice one, Shino." Kiba grinned at him, his fangs on display, as he deftly leaped over the tracks left by Shino, his kikaichu remaining on the ground as he landed on the ground. "Too bad I've seen that trick one too many times now."
"You've fallen for it about the same number of times I've made use of it." The Aburame shrugged his shoulders by the way the collar of his jacket moved up and down. "I figured it couldn't hurt to try it out." The heir of the Aburame Clan suddenly flung his arms forward, a swarm emerging from under each sleeve. "It looks like I'll have to improvise now. Why? Because you've gotten better since the last time we fought Kiba."
"You know it." Kiba seemed to know Shino's favored patterns with his kikaichu, deftly avoiding the flurry of movement from the twin swarms controlled by the bug user. He even dodged the amassed bugs behind him darting forward as a black wall. He rolled to the side and with a bark Akamaru left his jacket.
The ninken growled at the Aburame who was his master's opponent and jumped onto Kiba's back.
"Beast Human Clone!" In a puff of smoke, Akamaru had transformed into a feral looking version of the Genin's back he stood on. The differences were swiftly eliminated when Kiba's nail elongated and his appearance became far more feral. Both let out a howl before darting forward.
"Fang Passing Fang!" Both spun and turned into ferocious spinning beasts heading straight towards Shino.
"K-Kurenai-sensei, is it alright for Shino and Kiba to f-fight like this?" Hinata looked towards her Jonin sensei with worry shining in her pale lavender eyes. The concern for her teammates made Kurenai want to smile. The way the girl cared for her friends was rare from a Hyuga, thought to be nonexistence by most of the village.
"They'll be fine Hinata." Kurenai looked down as the cloud of dust thrown up by Kiba's attack began to fade, showing Shino was only a big dinged up from the ferocious attack that was a staple of the Inuzuka Clan's fighting style. "Consider this a spar."
"Oh." Hinata looked out at the two and frowned. "Kiba doesn't win many spars."
"Yes. He doesn't." Kurenai, despite such a thing, could only smile as she watched her two students battle. Pride shined in her eyes as Kiba and the transformed Akamaru landed on opposite sides of Shino as a black circle took hold of the ground at Shino's feet.
"You got some bugs on me." Kiba brushed some of said bugs off his sleeves, taking hold of a few and crushing them.
"I did." Shino spoke the fact of the battle as his hands returned to his pockets. "No doubt that you'll pass out soon."
"Not likely." Kiba grinned as he reached into his hoodie pocket, drawing out two brown spheres.
"Ah, yes, Military Ration Pills. Those will be a problem." Shino sighed by the way the collar of his jacket lowered before rising back up. "Why? Because they'll replenish our energy almost as fast as my kikaichu can drain your Chakra."
"Dead on." Shino wasn't idle as Kiba popped one into his mouth and grimaced as he bit down before tossing the second one over his head and to Akamaru. A dozen of his faster kikaichu intercepted the pill and a swarm swiftly consumed it.
"It was a fortunate thing I had those bugs waiting." Shino was almost grinning as Kiba growled at his plan being thwarted. "Your Combination Techniques are top notch but Akamaru isn't going to last long without those pills and," The bugs encircling Shino bulged as their numbers seemed to grow. "my kikaichu are draining the both of you rather quickly."
'Crap.' Kiba didn't let his worry show, he exchanged a silent nod with Akamaru before both went on all fours and raced forward again. 'I don't have many pills on me after the Second Stage.' His team had made abundant use of his supply after three days of fighting, none of them expecting the preliminaries. 'Two left top.'
He threw a kunai with an explosive tag trailing behind it forward, blasting through the sudden wall of insects in front of him. Shino's eyes seemed to widen behind his glasses before the Aburame brought his hands up, dark specks spreading across his entire jacket. Any physical contact would let the bugs latch on.
"PASSING FANG!" Akamaru crashed down on Shino after avoiding the wall of bugs by jumping high into the air.
The Aburame was thrown to the ground by a barrage of vicious and ferocious strikes just as Kiba threw himself forward next.
"PASSING FANG!" He echoed his ninken partner with his own ferocious blows sending Shino out of the circle of bugs, something which hurried to follow after him even as the Aburame worked to swiftly regain his footing. His feet dug into the ground, Chakra helping him come to a swift stop as he threw his swarm forward in a rare offensive maneuver.
The swarm separated into five. Three went at him from the left, center, and right while two others went wide and aimed to wrap around and join together to strike him from behind. He had seen the attack used and been on the receiving end of it already. Kiba was about to dart to the side when a white and brown dog hit the floor where his copy once stood.
"Oh no." Hinata looked down at the match and couldn't help the concern in her voice. Her Byakugan took hold of her eyes and the normally impassive Hyuga eyes reflected her worry even then. "Akamaru's Chakra is being drained too much. Kiba's Human Beast Clone techniques are useless now."
"Trust me Hinata, Kiba has a plan." Kurenai patted her Genin on the back, her eyes focused on Kiba as he grabbed the near collapsing Akamaru from off the ground and threw himself out of the way of the attack. The swarm directed to the right managed to graze him and his jacket was being covered by the kikaichu.
'I liked this thing too!' Kiba made his decision, drawing a kunai in the arm not cradling Akamaru, and tearing his jacket apart with a few precise slashes. He hit the ground with a series of rolls, probably aimed to squash any bugs that had gotten on him, and threw his kunai behind him.
Shino deftly blocked it with his own ninja tool. The ripping of strands of fabric filled the air between the two as his kikaichu feasted on the jacket in the frenzy he had sent them into for such a swift attack.
"You'll owe me a new jacket once I win, Shino." Akamaru was released from his grasp and Kiba crouched next to the ninken, running a hand through his fur to an appreciative tail wagging from Akamaru. "And you'll owe Akamaru a few things too."
"I intend to replace your jacket once I win, Kiba." Shino returned his hands to his pockets. "You'll need to provide for Akamaru yourself afterward." Kiba grinned at the challenge in Shino's words.
"Let's see who's right then." He had managed to snatch one Military Ration Pill from his jacket before the kikaichu had forced him to get rid of it and bit off half of the vile tasting pill with a grimace. He offered the other half to Akamaru who grimaced as he quickly gobbled it up.
His fur turned crimson before the ninken growled, once again assuming Kiba's form in a cloud of smoke. Both feral looking boys nodded to each other before they darted forward on all fours once more.
'You're getting better Kiba.' Kurenai couldn't help but smile as her student unleashed his ferocious Taijutsu style on the surprisingly nimble Aburame, his blows dodged with each missed blow collecting more and more of his kikaichu. The insects hung in the air around Shino, a dark cloud that was growing smaller and smaller the more Kiba attacked and collected them. 'You still have a far way to go through.'
Shino took his hands out of his pockets, throwing out a number of shuriken he must have kept there to distract Kiba. Only one of the boys responded, no idea which, and batted the spinning ninja tools away with a growl with clawed hands. The other lunged towards him, a kick that would have sent him into the air dodged as he rolled to the side and a punch that he would like to not know the effects of ripped into the ground. Both Kibas snarled at him before throwing themselves forward.
"Passing Fang!" One came from directly in front of him and another lagged further behind. It wasn't the destructive Fang Passing Fang but a good use of simultaneous uses of Passing Fang. He could barely avoid one of them with certainty, two of them insured one attack landed.
He sent a swarm of kikaichu forward, mentally recognizing he was giving away half of his offense and defense capabilities with them intercepting the one closest to him but he found it a worthy sacrifice. He waited as one of the Passing Fangs came to a halt against the barrier his kikaichu formed and the cause of the attack hit the ground hard. He continued to wait, ready to jump whichever way he needed to, as the other Passing Fang spiraled through the air towards him.
"It's still hard to believe those two are so strong." Hinata's Byakugan slowly died, the veins around her eyes becoming less pronounced as her Dojutsu deactivated. "I-I'm glad they can fight like this."
"All three of you are surprisingly skilled for Genin." Kurenai looked out at her two students fighting, Shino avoiding the attack by leaping to the side but stumbling upon his landing, and to Hinata. The Hyuga was still worried for her teammates despite how much more they had gone through during training. "Unlike a lot of others, all three of you have responsibilities that require you to be stronger than most others your age. You, Kiba, and Shino are the heirs to some of Konoha's strongest clans after all: the Inuzuka, Aburame, and the Hyuga."
"The Hyuga's are the strongest clan in Konoha, Kurenai-sensei." Hinata corrected her without meaning to it seemed from how red her face became. "I-I mean to say t-that…I'm sorry for speaking like that to you Kurenai-sensei b-but I-I-I-"
Kurenai couldn't help but sigh at how swiftly Hinata could change. She spoke those words with the pride of a Hyuga one moment and turned into her normal timid self the next. It was almost concerning how fast she could go from confident and assertive to meek.
'This is it.' Kiba recovered from missing Shino with his attack but could hardly stand. 'I don't have much left with these bugs draining my Chakra like they are.' Akamaru growled next to him, the Human Beast Clone Technique still working but it was fading and fast. Kikaichu covered the transformed ninken and Shino no doubt knew who was who now.
"Let's take him down with one attack, Akamaru!" Kiba threw himself forward as the transformed Akamaru barked his agreement. Both were on all fours as Shino readied himself for the last encounter of their battle. He was never much of a physical brawler so he had to either defend or lose.
There was no in between now.
"Fang Passing Fang!" Kiba and Akamaru threw themselves forward into another violent spiral, Shino unable to avoid it this time. They were too close to him actually, far too close for him to even think about dodging. The best he could do was to summon his remaining kikaichu to him as quickly as he could and send them forward as they took shape, creating a wall of the insects that stripped the two of their Chakra faster. He still didn't avoid a vicious combo attack from the two, being driven back and into the already cracked wall. Kiba and the transformed Akamaru followed after him, hitting the wall next to him as Akamaru returned to normal.
Kiba could barely remain conscious as Shino's ravenous kikaichu consumed the last of his Chakra.
"I should let you know." Shino groaned as he looked down to Kiba, sliding down the wall to rest next to him. "I bred some insects specifically to eat your Ration Pills. Why? Because I knew it would be the best way to defeat you if we met in the exams."
"I'll get you back for this one day." Kiba slipped from consciousness with those words.
"Shino Aburame wins his preliminary match." Hayate's voice carried across the arena as Kurenai looked down at her two students, both were exhausted but she couldn't be prouder of them.
'Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all?' Her doubts had at last been moved aside after the display her Genin had put on. They weren't monsters but they were better than most Genin could hope to be. Kiba may not become a Chunin in these Exams but he was a shoe in for the rank sooner rather than later. 'I had nothing to worry about after all.'
"Neji Hyuga and Yoroi Akado are to come to the arena!"
AN: I think I'm leaving a comment about each of these fights. For Shino and Kiba, I went in with the idea Kiba was going to lose. Figured it would be similar to how Shino beat Kankuro in Naruto canon. His bugs would make fighting him hand to hand like punching a wall of knives.