Disclaimer: Guess what it is.
Author's Note: Well, in a little over twenty-five hours it will be New Years. Just for that I took some time out of my free time to write out this chapter just to celebrate the "last day" of 2013 in my own little way. I hope that you guys enjoy the chapter, and I'll probably be posting the next chapter in around two to three weeks.
So I've gotten one review (I think) and two PMs asking about whether Naruto would be making an appearance in my story or not. To be honest, he is, but I'm not sure how I'll be introducing him into the story. He won't be in the tournament though, so don't worry about it for now.
Also, if you guys annoyed or confused about one or two of the things during the chapter, read on until the end and check out the author's note at the end of the chapter. I'll most likely have an explanation for it there.
Follow, favorite, and review. If you saw anything that you liked or disliked about the chapter, feel free to leave a review.
Chapter 4: Old Friends, New Enemies
I finally understand… I'm alone. I won't believe in anyone, or love anyone. I'm alone.
- Gaara
|The Battle Lobby, The Grand Spirit Dome, Soul Society|
As Sasuke, Suigetsu, and the rest of the tournament applicants entered the battle lobby, they saw that it was in fact an outside field set inside of the dome. The field was over one hundred feet by one hundred feet, and there were ten targets set up at the very front of the field.
Everyone suddenly looked to their right as a medium-length brown-haired man dressed in a dark purple Shihakushō walked out from nowhere. He had an almost lazy aura that seemed to surround him, and he walked with his hands inside his pockets. His Zanpakuto, which had a regular bronze tsuba and a brown hilt with bronze diamond patterns on it, hung from his back from a black leather strap. "Ok, listen up," he said in a surprisingly lazy and drawled out voice. "I'm Akihiro, your proctor for this tournament. For the initial round, you'll all be showing off your Zanjutsu, Hakuda, and Kido skills in front of everyone here… If I and my fellow proctor from Seireitei decide that you're out, then you're out. I won't tolerate any objections." He stared at the crowd of applicants through his lazy yet stern and narrowed dark brown eyes.
Sasuke frowned inwardly at the mention of Kido. Kido… But I don't know any Kido… Am I going to be disqualified from the beginning…?
"Now," continued the proctor, "let's start the-." He suddenly stopped at the sound of footsteps approaching the group from behind him and turned around to see a beautiful orange-haired busty woman approaching them, and many of the male applicants sighed dreamily and straightened up to look tough as they caught sight of her.
Akihiro gave the newcomer a slight nod as he turned back around to face the crowd. "Everyone, this is the jubantai-fukutaichou, Matsumoto Rangiku, your second proctor."
As Rangiku gave everyone a small wave, she flinched as she saw Sasuke, obviously taken by surprise by his sudden appearance. I-Is that… Sasuke…? What is he doing here…? Shaking her head, she pushed the thought to the side and concentrated on the tournament. "Anyways, shall we get going with this, Akihiro?"
Akihiro nodded in agreement as he stared at the people in the crowd. "Now… First up is Kido. You will each demonstrate a Hadō and Bakudō spell in front of the group, aimed at the targets and straw dummies that are stationed at the very front of the field." Sighing as if he was already exhausted from the day's events, he looked around the crowd for his first group of victims.
"Alright…" He pointed to eight males and two females that were in the very front of the group and motioned for them to come up with a lazy beckoning motion using his hand. "You ten are first… Line up in front of the ten targets and show us a Hadō #4: Byakurai." He then waited for the first ten applicants to line up before saying anything more.
"Ok, and one… two… three!"
All ten applicants raised both hands at their own individual targets and, ignoring the incantation for such an easy spell, just went straight to the spell.
"Hadō #4: Byakurai!"
Ten streams of white-blue lightning discharged from all ten of the applicant's two hands, speeding towards their targets and completely obliterating it. As they weren't masters of Kido, their attacks were much more dispersed and ineffective; still, they managed to destroy most of their individual targets.
His face showing no emotion, Akihiro asked the ten applicants to step to the side and asked the next ten applicants to step forward. "Alright, and one… two… three… go!"
...
After most of the three hundred applicants finished performing Byakurai for Akihiro and Matsumoto, only Sasuke, Suigetsu, Menma, and two other people were left. As there were only a few applicants left, Akihiro asked them to perform Byakurai individually in front of the group with full power.
As the first of the last group stepped forward, Sasuke saw that she was a female of average height with her blonde-hair pulled back into four individual ponytails. "Alright," she said as she raised a single hand at her target. "Hadō #4: Byakurai!" A white-blue bolt of lightning much more compressed and powerful than most of the other applicant's shot out from her hand, obliterating her target completely so that nothing remained except for the wooden pole which it had sat upon.
Scoffing, she sniffed as she walked to the side of the completed applicants and stood there with crossed arms, a calm look on her face as she awaited the next applicant with the rest of the group.
Akihiro, looking surprised by her performance, shared an understanding look with Rangiku and pointed at the next applicant, who was a female with fairly short bright pink hair and large green eyes. She wore a plain pink and red top and along with a dark pink skirt which was worn over knee-length grey pants. Her outfit was completed with a pair of matching black gloves and boots.
Walking up to the line thirty feet away from her target, the female raised a single finger at her target, surprising all of the applicants and proctors except for Sasuke, who was distracted by her bright pink hair and large, hardened green eyes. That girl… Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he stared hard at her. I… know her from somewhere… I'm sure of it…!
Taking a deep breath, the female maintained a calm and composed look on her face as she readied herself.
"Hadō #4: Byakurai!"
A narrow stream of lightning discharged from the girl's fingertip and created a fairly large hole that left just a thin circular layer of the remainder of the target.
This caused all of the applicants to murmur their surprise and confusion to each other, obviously having been taken aback by the girl's splendid performance. Even the two proctors looked stunned by her, and they both turned to look at each other in surprise.
"Th-That was amazing…!" said Rangiku in a surprised tone.
Akihiro nodded, a stunned look creeping across his usually lazy face. "That girl… The way that she executed Byakurai was at least at the level of a vice-captain, even if the power level wasn't as high as it should have been. Her reiatsu control must be at a master level." Shaking this off, he turned to face the remaining three applicants.
"Now, let's see…" The corner of his mouth switched as his narrowed eyes found Sasuke. "How about you, pretty boy?"
Sasuke frowned at this and stepped up to the white line, sighing inwardly as he heard multiple girls from the crowd of applicants sigh dreamily and cheer at his appearance. How annoying… he thought as he raised a single finger at the target. I've never done Kido before, but… He closed his eyes as he thought back to when he had observed the pink-haired girl's performance of Byakurai. Now, the Hadō spell is definitely a concentrated discharge of reiatsu… So all I need to do is concentrate my reiatsu at the tip of my finger and discharge it, huh…? Well then… Opening his eyes, he narrowed them as he channeled his reiatsu into the tip of his finger. A small bright orb of blue energy began to manifest at his fingertip, and it grew with each passing second.
"Hadō #4… Byakurai."
A largely compressed and narrow stream of white-blue lightning shot out from Sasuke's fingertip and sped towards his target, obliterating it as well as causing scorch marks to appear near the edges of the two targets that stood on either side of it.
Rangiku's eyes widened as she saw this. Wh-What…?! I never knew that Sasuke could use Kido, nonetheless use it with such precision and accuracy…! This guy… He was meant to become a Shinigami.
As Sasuke walked to the crowd of finished applicants, he noticed Menma smirking at him as well as the pink-haired girl from earlier staring at him with a curious look on her face.
… After Sasuke, Suigetsu and Menma were the only two applicants left. Suigetsu, who was up first, was barely able to use Byakurai as it accidentally discharged early and only hit the top right of the target. Menma, however, was able to use a highly powered-up Byakurai which completely destroyed his target and scorched the wall behind it.
After everyone had passed, the Zanjutsu and Hakuda tests were next. The three hundred applicants were put into groups of five and ordered to spar each other. Although Sasuke easily passed this test, he found himself being surprised, even if it was only just barely, by Menma's performance. The cruel figure cruelly took out his opponents with powerful and almost illegal elbow jabs to the windpipe, knees to the face, and various other moves that completely wiped out his opponents. His movements were so in-tune and refined that Sasuke found himself realizing that his own Hakuda skills were most likely inferior to Menma's own.
The next and final test, which was Zanjutsu, was where all of the applicants minus around ten or so people who were sent to the emergency room demonstrated their swordsmanship skills to the entire group by performing various moves on the straw dummy while keeping it "alive" by not puncturing or attacking any of the areas that would be "fatal" to it. In this test, Menma proved to be almost as skilled swordsman as Sasuke, but it was still obvious to even Sasuke that Menma's Hakuda skills surpassed his own.
… After the three tests, the applicants were then sent to the battle stage which was a large room that was around one hundred and three hundred feet by one hundred and three feet and was told to stay there. Out of the three hundred applicants, only sixty-four were able to pass. The rest were considered too weak or unfit to enter the first "official" round of the tournament and were disqualified.
As Sasuke and the others entered the room, they were welcomed with the ear-deafening cheers from the crowd of over five hundred people that were seated all around the battle stage. It was similar to an arena, but not quite an arena. The only thing in the arena besides the seats for the spectators was a large platform that stood in the middle of the room. Sasuke guessed that that was where they would be fighting. There were also four large screens mounted on the top of all four corners of the room.
"W-Wow!" gasped the pink-haired female in amazement. "What a crowd…!"
Menma, who was calmly accepting the cheers that were directed at him with crossed arms, scoffed at the pink-haired female's novice and rolled his eyes at his group of followers, causing them to snicker at her.
Akihiro and Rangiku, who suddenly appeared in the middle of the platform using flash step, waved at the crowd and motioned for the quarter-finalists to step forward. "Now," began Akihiro in a loud voice, "thank you all for coming to the quarter-finals for the Global Divisional Tournament!" He then paused and waited for the cheers to die down. "Now, with the sixty-four remaining quarter-finalists, we will now begin the first official round of the tournament!"
As the crowd cheered and screamed in approval, Akihiro and Rangiku stepped up to the group of quarter-finalists. "Now, I believe that all of you were assigned a number during the application process, am I correct?" asked Akihiro as he glanced at the group.
Once everyone nodded, he continued. "Well, now you will each find the person that has the same number as you; as for the rest of you who can't find the three people that belong in your group, that's because they were most likely disqualified. If that should happen, then come to Rangiku-san and I, and we'll fit you in with a group."
Once he finished, the group of applicants looked around for their group and wandered around in search of the three people that they were to be grouped with. Sasuke, luckily, was partnered with Suigetsu- probably because we registered together, thought Sasuke to himself- as well as the pink-haired girl and the blonde-haired girl with four ponytails. To his surprise, he saw that the blonde-haired girl had a Zanpakuto as well, but he didn't mention it.
"Well, it looks like we're a group, huh?" said the blonde. Turning to Sasuke, she gave him a flirty wink. "So, what's your name?"
Frowning at this, Sasuke glanced to the side as he ignored the wink. "Uchiha Sasuke."
Well well well, isn't he a hottie? thought the blonde as she studied him carefully. "I'm Temari," she said, introducing herself to the group. "Nice to meet you all."
The pink-haired girl gave everyone a small smile as she introduced herself next. "I'm Haruno Sakura," she replied in a fairly feminine yet resolved voice that told everyone in the group that she wasn't here to play around. Sasuke also noticed that although she was smiling at everyone, it was more directed towards him.
Sighing tiredly, Suigetsu yawned as he stretched his arms out over his head. "Well, I'm Hōzuki Suigetsu," he said in a lazy voice. "Nice to meet you all." Scratching the back of his head, he yawned again as he looked around the room. "So, why are we paired up in groups of four anyways? I thought that this was supposed to be a battle stage. Doesn't that mean that we're going to fight?"
… Once Akihiro and Rangiku grouped up the leftovers, he clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention. "Everyone, listen up!" he said in a lazy yet stern voice. "Now, this round of the tournament is going to be a little bit more… brutal than the previous initial round." As he said this, he walked over to a level that was located on the ground near the right side of the platform and yanked it down, causing the ground to rumble beneath their feet.
The middle part of the platform suddenly started to cave in and drop slowly to reveal a large underground passageway located underneath the battle stage. Even Menma seemed surprised by this, and all of the hostility in the air was forgotten between the fourteen teams as they gazed down into the underground maze-like area with awe. At the same time, the monitors located throughout the room flickered to life, revealing a live feed of the maze below.
"This is your next stage for the first round of the tournament," explained Rangiku. "The passageway below leads to an area that was built specifically for this purpose. In there lies many low-leveled Hollows that you must defeat if you happen to come across them, or you'll die. You'll also be fighting against of the groups here, and in order to pass, you must take the emerald stone that every team has with them." Having said this, she held up a small hexagonal-shaped emerald to show the groups. "This is one of the two items required to pass this round of the tournament. Every group will have a sapphire stone which they'll have to carry around with them, but both stones are required to pass this round, understood?"
As everyone nodded in understanding, Akihiro and Rangiku passed around the sapphire stone to each of the fourteen groups, but what they didn't know was that they secretly slipped in the emerald stone inside the pockets of the members of seven of the groups.
After they had finished passing out the stones to everyone, Akihiro opened his mouth to speak one last time. "Now, I've secretly given an emerald stone to seven of the fourteen groups. Everyone is to check their pockets once they've entered the arena, and you are to tell no one that you have the stone; otherwise, that group could end up being the targets for the other groups. The others groups are to search for and seize control of the emerald stone from any of the other groups and run straight towards the exit that's located on the far side of the maze, understood?"
…
"Then good luck, and I pray that none of you are killed in this round," said Akihiro in a serious tone. "Also, remember that even though seven of the fourteen groups have the emerald stone, only six can pass. Now, each of you line up in one of the ten marked spots that leads down to the arena and wait for my command!"
… Once everyone lined up in their respective places, Akihiro glanced around the room and took a deep breath. "Three… two… one… Begin!"
And with that, the fourteen teams plunged down into the unknown that lay below them without hesitation, knowing in the depth of their hearts that they might not come out alive.
…
Landing on the ground below in a crouched position, Sasuke, Suigetsu, Temari, and Sakura all looked up at the sound of unknown screeches echoing throughout the barren cave. Hmmm… Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he glanced around the surrounding area with just his eyes, his entire being unmoving as he studied the aura of his surroundings. Now… Judging by the position and spikes of reiatsu, there's a single team located not two hundred feet from where we are now, and there's multiple Hollows scattered throughout the cave…
Once he finished grasping as much information as he could from his surroundings, he closed his eyes and breathed in a breath of cool air. Ok… Straightening up, he unsheathed his Zanpakuto and looked around at his group. "We'll be heading for the group located nearest to us," he said suddenly before walking in the direction that the enemy group was in. "Let's go."
As he walked away, however, he was stopped by Sakura grabbing onto his wrist. "Wait a minute!" she demanded in a slightly frustrated tone. "We shouldn't just be charging at whichever group is nearest to us! We should think about this and form a plan first! Also, shouldn't we figure out how our abilities can coordinate with each other's so that we can fight effectively when the time comes?" Her eyes were wide as she stared at Sasuke, and he found himself realizing that there was a hopeful glimmer in her eyes that begged for his approval, and he wasn't sure if she herself knew this.
Frowning, he pried his wrist from her grip and looked away from her. "You're annoying," he replied calmly. "There's no need to figure out how we'll be fighting together because that won't happen. Fighting in groups isn't my style." Having said this, he resumed walking away, Suigetsu and Temari quietly following after him.
Sakura looked down at the ground disappointedly as she trudged after the others, a sorrowful glint appearing in her eyes. Why… does he dislike me so much…? That look in his eyes… It wasn't of hate or even annoyance but more of someone that's trying to push me away... and why do I care so much about it...?
Meanwhile…
Menma looked up at the ceiling of the cave which had closed and closed his eyes as a cool breeze fluttered past him, causing his hair to rustle in the wind. His group, which consisted of two males and one female, waited quietly behind him, not daring to utter a peep in fright that it might cause him to unexpectedly lash out.
After a few moments passed, the feral male opened his eyes and looked down at the three bodies that lay on the ground mangled before him. Arms broken, legs twisted, and even a broken neck. Each of the bodies were mangled and torn up in a unique way, but their similarity was that they were all covered in blood.
Menma licked his lips joyously as he turned around to look at his group. One had gotten away, but it didn't matter. He could hunt the loner of the group down at any time.
The group stiffened as their unofficial leader turned around to face them, and they dared not even breathe as he watched them carefully. It was only when he spoke that they released the breath that they had unconsciously been holding in.
"Don't worry about the runaway," said Menma quietly, his voice soft and smooth but dangerous. "We can't hunt him down later if it comes down to it, but it won't be necessary." He then opened his clenched hand and held up the emerald stone that he had found in one of the defeated opponent's pockets. "We were lucky that they had the emerald stone, huh?"
The group nodded in agreement simultaneously, and Menma grinned a feral grin that sent shivers running down all three of their spines. "The proctor said that even though seven of the groups have this stone, only six would be allowed to pass, am I right? What a stupid and pointless rule."
"Y-Yea," stammered one of the males nervously. "B-But we're l-lucky that we f-found one of the stones s-so early in th-this round."
Menma nodded in agreement, and his grin grew even wider as he held the emerald stone up for the whole group to see. "Well, you're definitely right about that, but you're forgetting one thing, Buzz…" He slowly closed his fingers so that the emerald stone was no longer visible, and slowly tightening his grip on it, he crushed it into fine dust. He then flipped his hand over and opened his fist, causing the emerald dust to scatter through the air so that it danced past the group and into the unknown with the breeze.
"Our main objective… is Uchiha… Sasuke."
Sasuke flipped his opponent, a long brown-haired male with green eyes, onto his back and slammed the end of his Zanpakuto's hilt into his stomach, knocking the breath out of him and causing his eyes to roll to the back of his head. Tossing his unconscious opponent aside, he looked around and saw Temari easily dispatching her opponent with a kick to the face, and Sakura, though she was having a harder time with her opponent then her teammates, managed to land an impressive combo of elbows and knees on her female opponent, knocking her out as well.
Suigetsu, on the other hand, was having fun toying with his opponent, and he had him pressed up against the wall with the point of his sword nicking his neck. "Well, where's the emerald stone, huh?" he inquired with a smooth and silky voice. "If you tell me, I won't have to kill you, but if you don't on the other hand, then, well…" He pressed the point of his blade even harder against his prey's bare skin. "I think that you can figure it out, am I right?"
Suigetsu's opponent gulped in fright as he tried not to shake. "I-I-, I mean, w-we don't have the e-emerald stone, I s-swear!"
Sighing in frustration, Suigetsu withdrew his sword and picked the scrawny male up by the scruff of his robe. "Ok then… Tell me about the other group's locations. Where are they currently at? Where are they headed towards? Are there any traps? Tell me." He then closed his eyes and gave him a big, unnerving grin.
"Now… spill it."
…
A few minutes after the interrogation, Sasuke and the others were walking alongside a carved rocky path in search of their next prey when they suddenly heard a shrill scream pierce the air, breaking the silence.
Sasuke's head shot up as he heard this, and he narrowed his eyes as he pinpointed the location of the scream. Motioning for the others to follow him, he signaled for Temari to keep a lookout on the blind sides of the group formation.
"D-Did you feel that r-reiatsu, Sasuke?" asked Sakura in a frightened whisper. "Are we r-really going to go towards that huge reiatsu?!"
Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose in order to maintain his cool as he stopped to answer. "The purpose of his round is to eliminate most of the competition and pass through the first round of the tournament." Having said this, he continued onwards with the rest of the group following him silently.
"He's right, Sakura," said Temari quietly as she kept a lookout for any signs of enemies. "The more threats we eliminate this round, the better it'll be for the next round… Anyways, we'll have to face everyone sooner or later, so it'll be better for us to deal with any annoying problems now instead of later."
… As they ventured onwards, Sasuke held up his hands as a signal to stop as he came upon what he was certain was the location of the scream from earlier. Now… Let's see who this guy is… As the group had stopped behind a wall of the cave, he motioned for everyone to stay still as he stretched his head out from behind the wall.
First was the victim, a male with chocolate brown hair and wide, dark brown eyes speckled with hazel flecks. He was lying on the ground, completely still with his eyes glazed over. Sasuke realized that he wasn't hurt but still unconscious.
Next was his opponent, a red-haired male with strange pale blue-green eyes along with black eye rings. He was a little shorter than the average height, and Sasuke noticed that he had the kanji for "love" tattooed on the left side of his forehead. He was dressed in full-length dark trousers as well as a long-sleeved sand-brown coat with flaring hemlines. He wore a grey holster vest over it which was held together by a single strap over his left shoulder, and he carried his sword, which was a Zanpakuto, on his back with a strap. It was a regular katana with a rectangular blood-red tsuba and hilt with bronze diamond patterns on it.
That guy… Looking away from the group, Sasuke spun back around to face the group, his face showing nothing as he looked at this group. As he opened his mouth to speak, however, he was interrupted by a voice that seemed to come from the red-haired figure.
"Come on out you four," he said in a calm and collected voice. "It's quite obvious that you're there."
…
Knowing that they had no other choice except for retreating, Suigetsu jerked his head to the left, signaling for everyone to step out from behind their hiding place. "We might as well." With that, he and the others, including Sasuke, stepped forward from their hiding spot and stepped out into the open to face their new foes.
Wh-What in the world…? thought Sakura as he saw the red-haired figure. Th-This guy…! He doesn't look strong at all, but his level of reiryoku is surprisingly high…! We might be in for a whole lot of trouble if we're not careful…
"You…" The red-haired figure blinked, a calm look on his face as he pointed to Sasuke. "Someone at your level shouldn't have to resort to spying on your opponents, and yet…" He closed his eyes and sighed as he lowered his hand. "I feel as if I know you from somewhere… What's your name, stranger?"
Unsheathing his Zanpakuto, Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he stared hard at the enemy figure. "I'm interested in who you are too… I'm Uchiha Sasuke… And you are?"
"My name is Sabaku no Gaara," he answered quietly. "I wonder… Did you come here to fight me, or did you come here to seek the answer to the question that I myself have been asking ever since my arrival in Soul Society…?"
His eyes slightly widening at this, Sasuke didn't answer as he continued to stare at the red-haired figure. This guy… He's right… I knew that he was the enemy, but for some strange reason, I thought that the answer to my past life could be answered by meeting this guy… I know that I've met him before, but where…? So much confusing things have been happening today... Interesting...
"I can see that I was right…" Gaara opened his eyes as he stared levelly into Sasuke's eyes. "Uchiha Sasuke… As none of our teams possess the emerald stone, why don't we postpone our fight until later…? If what we're both thinking is true, then we will end up fighting someday…"
…
Spinning his Zanpakuto in his hand, Sasuke sheathed it with a single fluid movement and walked away with the rest of his group. Gaara's group, who had been timidly watching from the sidelines, made no effort to stop the opposing group. "Very well then," said Sasuke as he walked away. "Until next time, Sabaku no Gaara."
... Menma chuckled quietly to himself as he saw this. As I thought… Those two guys are just a bunch of pussies…! Straightening up from his crouched position, he stretched out his back and turned to face the rest of his group who had been quietly standing behind him.
"Well, let's get moving," he ordered. Picking up his sheathed sword from the ground next to him, he leapt down from his spot to the ground below.
As his group followed suit, he looked around and then closed eyes as he concentrated on the groups of reiatsu that were scattered all throughout the cave. One… two… five Hollows located not far from here… There's also-.
"Boss," said one of his teammates, interrupting his thoughts.
Growling in annoyance, Menma turned around to face his teammate, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Talon… What?"
Gulping nervously, Talon, a shaggy blonde-haired male with piercing golden eyes, struggled to look away from his bosses' dead ash grey eyes. "Sh-Shouldn't we go after that U-Uchiha Sasuke's group…? Since h-he's the closest t-to us, we could easily c-catch up to them and-."
"No," said Menma abruptly, cutting his teammate off. "If I'm going to test my strength against Uchiha Sasuke, I want it to be in a place where I can humiliate him in front of the whole crowd while we're there in person!" Looking in the direction that Sasuke's group had headed off in, his lips spread into wide grin which showed off his pointed canines.
"Anyways… Let's go."
Three hours later…
The six final groups stood side-by-side proudly with their heads held high as the eager spectators cheered and shouted their approval. Akihiro and Rangiku quietly waited with their hands clasped behind their back as they looked on in approval.
The six passing groups were Sasuke's, Menma's, surprisingly Gaara's, and three other groups. As they presented their sapphire and emerald stones to the two proctors, they quietly awaited their next instructions.
Once they finished collecting each group's tokens, Akihiro and Rangiku gave each other a slight nod and turned to face the winning groups. "Ok," Akihiro started, "congratulations to the six passing groups of the first round of the Grand Divisional Tournament. Now, listen carefully to these next instructions. You see the four monitors mounted on each corner of the battle stage? They'll be determining which opponents you're going to be fighting next."
"W-Wait a second!" cried out Sakura. "Are you saying that we have to fight again?! We just finished fighting against multiple Hollows and the enemy groups! Don't we get to rest at all?!"
The other first round finalists voiced their agreement at this, and there was a string of murmur and complaints throughout the six groups. Che! scoffed Sasuke silently. How annoying…
"Now, don't worry," cooed Rangiku mockingly as she patted Sakura's head. "Aren't you the cutest thing?"
Sakura's face grew hot at this, and she struggled not to explode as some of the other group members snickered at her humiliation.
"I'm just kidding," said Rangiku with a wink. "We already knew that one or more of you guys would complain at that. Don't worry, you guys won't be fighting in your current conditions. We've actually invited the captain of the 4th Division of the Gotei 13 to tend to your wounds before the tournament. There will be a thirty minute intermission before we continue onto the second round- or the semi-finals, I should say, of the tournament."
This caused a gasp of awe to rise up from the groups as they thought about finally getting to meet one of the legendary Gotei 13 captains. "A-A c-captain…?" stuttered Sakura in amazement. "W-Wow…! That's-!"
She was suddenly interrupted by an announcement that sounded from the speakers that were built into the ceilings above.
"Attention everyone! We will now have a thirty minute intermission before continuing onto the second round of the Global Divisional Tournament! Please use this time to make any necessary trips to the food stand and/or the restroom! Again, we will now have a thirty minute intermission before continuing onto the second round of the tournament! If you have anything to do before the tournament continues, now is the time to do it! Thank you, and have a nice day!"
Sasuke looked up at the ceiling and grinned. Heh… This will be interesting…
Author's Note:
In case you guys were wondering, I wasn't trying to undermine Sakura in any way. I was just showing her "timid" side that always seems to appear whenever she's around Sasuke. She'll still be the tough tomboy that she usually is in the manga and anime starting from the next chapter on, so don't worry about it.
Translations:
Sabaku no Gaara: Gaara of the Desert.
Follow, favorite, and review if you found this chapter likable. Thank you.