Chapter 29: The Final Matches of the Dark Tournament Begin!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and never will.
A/N: This is part one of the final two chapters of the Dark Tournament interlude. I hope you like it.
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Standing tall in the eastern most part of the island that had been given the title of host to the Dark Tournament festivities was a stadium that had merely hours before being packed with tourists and fighters alike. Not a sound outside of the forest could be heard except for the light snoring of a boy. Any nearby squirrel or tree living animal could see that a blond haired boy in full clothing was sleeping on the top ledge of the deluxe stadium. As he was sleeping Naruto rolled awkwardly off the ledge and landed on the ring in the very epicenter of the open top arena.
Slowly, and groggily, Naruto pulled himself to his feet and rubbed his hazy eyes. "Well, this is a little earlier than expected, but I guess I can take advantage of this time."
For the next few minutes, Naruto did a few stretches and raided the team lounge inside for food. After enjoying some, oh, six packs of miso ramen, Naruto left the lounge and walked through the rows of seats in the various bleachers, thinking of what exercises to do. Eventually, Rock Lee came to Naruto's mind and he remembered the training that he had been doing prior to the end of the Chunin Exams. For the next few hours, Naruto ran a few laps around the stadium, climbed the walls using chakra, practiced kunai throwing, and practiced using Kazemougi.
"The sunrise is hours away. I think I might just get some sleep in the team lounge. Yeah, sleep," Naruto walked at a fast pace to the lounge, falling asleep as soon as he came in contact with a couch.
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Three Hours Later
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A throbbing pain overcame Naruto as he slept, just enough to wake him up. Standing above him was a very angry Kuwabara, who had brought him up by his shirt.
"Wake up, punk! I swear, you're worse than Urameshi!" Kuwabara bellowed at an ear splitting sound.
"Five more minutes…please," Naruto continued to go in and out of sleep, causing Kuwabara to go ahead and drag him over to the arena floor.
Not able to drag the weight effectively, Kuwabara gritted his teeth at the top of the stairway going down to the center grounds and launched Naruto. Now awake, Naruto felt the cool breeze against his face and enjoyed it before opening his eyes and yelling. Not too far away from the rest of his team, Naruto landed and skidded across the ground, soon finding the will to get up.
"It's all good, guys. So, who fights first?" Naruto hid the fact that a serious case of rug burn now plagued his entire black side.
"Well if it isn't the resident wimp," Yusuke shifted his attention to Naruto and drew a sly grin on his face.
"Yeah, yeah, just wait until you catch a glimpse of me fighting," Naruto countered before facing the announcers, who had began to talk.
"Are all of you demons in the audience ready for an all out gore fest?" Koto began, asking the crowd a question she knew they would answer with much vigor.
"Oh yeah, today Team Toguro fights Team Urameshi. This one is sure to excite," Juri finished talking quickly and let Koto excite everyone even more.
Abruptly, Naruto shouted and interrupted Koto. "Sorry to interrupt, but they only have four members. You know, two plus two, two times two, cuatro, whichever way you want to put it."
"The kid does have a point, Koto. I'll go talk to Team Toguro," Juri brushed her hair aside and hurried over to the mentioned team. "Hey, guys. As that kid brought up, you've only got four team members. Five is the minimum."
"We've got a fifth member. He's our team leader, and manager, Sakyo," Toguro said in an intimidating tone, easily scaring away Juri.
"As it seems, Team Toguro has a fifth member, Sakyo. Without further ado, I Koto call Kurama and Karasu to the ring. The both of you may start when ready," Koto said while sitting behind her announcer table.
As told, the two mentioned fighters entered the ring and gave each other blank stares, taking their time to start the fight. Over the course of around twenty minutes, Kurama had transformed, Karasu had nearly blown everyone up, and the match had continued to be a roller coaster. Naruto watched the match in awe, amazed. He blinked once and as he opened his eyes, Kurama was crawling to the center of the ring and Karasu had become a beautiful plant.
"Um, everybody, according to the committee, Kurama has lost by an earlier ring out. Technically, Karasu, the plant, has won the match," Juri announced, pissing off Team Urameshi and giving the crowd a reason to cheer.
Things took a turn for the better as Hiei nearly killed Bui, winning and tearing apart the ring, prompting an hour delay until Toguro brought the old ring over and put it in place of the old one. This allowed Kuwabara and the older Toguro to fight. In a matter of minutes, the match had ended, an injured Kuwabara pulling out the win by crushing the older Toguro.
"Okay everybody, it's time for the fight of the d-" Koto was cut off when Toguro began to speak.
"I don't want to fight just Urameshi," Toguro said before pointing at Naruto. "The both of them, are mine to fight."