The next match up was announced and it was Konoha's Inuzuka Kiba who would be stepping out onto the battlefield. He had been looking forward to this match, ever since the very second he had lost his match to Naruto in the preliminaries the previous time; he wanted to prove he could fight. He had grown a lot in his mental attitude and physical capabilities and he knew him and Akamaru were going to go well. He would show Shino he was still a good fighter and not surpassed by him.
As he walked out, so did his opponent. He stood at around the same size and wore a coat; he was from the valley of rain, which meant he was used to the conditions and once more a crowd favourite. The rain would also impact on Kiba and Akamaru's smell which he hoped he wouldn't need too much. The referee set up and officially began the match and none of the fighter's moved straight away. They squared each other off and both thought about their plan of attack.
Kiba already knew that charging straight on would be hazardous, he wanted to keep Akamaru close for now and then hopefully corner him later. He slowly edged in as did the enemy. After another few seconds of staring, the enemy picked up the pace coming in closer. He was met by Akamaru who ran out in front of Kiba and tackled the rain ninja to the ground. Akamaru had pinned the ninja to the ground and Kiba found it peculiar the rain ninja didn't look to scared provided the situation he was in. Then suddenly without anyone noticing what happened, Akamaru was flung off the rain ninja and smashed into the ground. Kiba couldn't make out what it was as the rain ninja wasn't in the position to do that kind of manoeuvre. Whatever happened, he wasn't going to get away with it, he hoped Akamaru hopefully hadn't taken too much damage and that this rain ninja hadn't equalled out the playing field from the first move. Kiba tried to charge at the enemy, but found he suddenly couldn't move. He looked down at his feet and he was tied down by a gooey rope coming out of the ground. Were these some kind of tree roots? Or a rope animation technique? Kiba looked up from his feet at his opponent who was now right in front of him. He had drawn a kunai ready for an instant kill and Kiba was only barely able to block the kunai but left himself wide open to a secondary punch he couldn't brace himself for. It connected cleanly and sent Kiba to the ground. Kiba felt embarrassed, he could feel Shino watching and judging him in the stand. He knew he should be trying to work out the trick to the techniques, but he couldn't help but want to yell out to Shino to get off his high horse.
Shino was watching the fight from the stand and saw Kiba look over in his direction from the battlefield. "Will Kiba be ok?" asked Hinata next to him.
"Not if he cant stop worrying about me up here and start worrying about his opponent out there." Shino knew things were competitive between them; he wanted him to win though. He had figured out what kind of techniques this guy used and actually wished it was him out there instead for this one. He however knew that nobody else would most likely know what was going on as it was fairly different. Against Kiba and Akamaru, this could be potentially troubling if not handled delicately.
Kiba got off the ground favouring his face and was subject to another shot from the enemy to the ribs, once more sending him to the ground. While Kiba was on the ground, the enemy ninja took the opportunity to charge again, before he could reach Kiba though, he had been taken out from behind. The rain ninja made a yelp from the shot to the back that he got and because he wasn't expecting it, it took a while before it set in that something had happened. He looked behind him to see Akamaru there, not as hurt as what he looked and then, poof…it changed and Kiba was standing there. "So it was you that attacked me from the start?"
"I wouldn't send my best friend in first." Kiba had got one up on his opponent, the little trick he had remembered from his Naruto fight had stuck in his memory and he used it well to gain some advantage back in the fight. He needed to press the attack though and this is where both the real Kiba and Akamaru who was looking like Kiba attacked from both fronts. The rain ninja didn't panic, he done some quick seals and the tentacles sprouted out of the ground once again and latched Kiba and Akamaru to the ground. Akamaru changed back to his normal form and was able to escape. Kiba ordered him to keep as much distance as possible until he could get himself out. Akamaru expressed his dislike for this plan, but he obediently listened. The rain ninja let Akamaru go and looked back to Kiba who was still latched to the ground by the tentacle things. He punched Kiba square in the body and it was a very good shot. The crowd cheered on their ninja as the Leaf ninja was not doing to well against their own. Kiba from the Inuzuka clan was not going to lose; he got up once again favouring his wounds.
"You got guts, Leaf Ninja. But you can't keep getting up." Kiba could get up as many times as he wanted, he was not going to let this ninja beat him. He tried to smell what was attacking him but the rain and the mud and fact that whatever it was, was underground meant he couldn't smell anything. "You have guts Leaf ninja, but you cannot keep getting up." That sounded like a challenge, he could get up as many times as he wanted, he was not going to let this ninja beat him. Kiba worked better attacking with Akamaru, and needed to get back alongside him as soon as possible. He concentrated hard so that adrenaline pumped through his body, increasing his speed and power. With the claws he sprouted from his hands, he rapped at the tentacle ropes around his leg and cut through them releasing some kind of gooey stuff out of it and they swirled around violently like they were in pain. The rain ninja tried coming in to attack, but Kiba was way to quick and easily unleashed a quick combo that gave him some time to then retreat back to Akamaru. "Your dog will be of no more use for this fight," said the rain ninja. Kiba and Akamaru did the Beast Mimicry technique and charged towards their opponent. As they were charging, Kiba looked next to him to see Akamaru faint out of nowhere. Kiba stopped and went over to him while keeping an eye on the rain ninja. Akamaru seemed drained of all energy. "I told you the dog will not be of anymore use." Kiba hunched over Akamaru and saw what the problem was and what the rain ninja used to fight with. However he only needed to look away from the rain ninja for a second and another tentacle came out of the ground and smashed him and left him open to a follow up attack by the rain ninja.
Kiba was very sore, everything in his body ached and when he tried to get up, he had little strength left in his limbs to be able to move at all. The rain ninja laughed at him, "It seems like I got the weakest Leaf ninja." The crowd cheered at Kiba on the floor and he got a flashback to the preliminary fights. He recalled his fight with Naruto and how every time he knocked him down, he got back up and how demoralizing it was until he was eventually beaten by him. How someone as untalented as Naruto could have beaten him, would actually help him in this fight. He was a representative of the Inuzuka clan and would win. He used every bit of strength he had to get up off the ground and wiped the cuts which dropped blood onto his face. "You challenge me here as a weak ninja makes you the underdog. Oh by the way, I have figured out what you do-nothing special you are only summoning useless worms." The enemy ninja didn't laugh at this and prepared to attack, "I'll show you what my worms can do." When Kiba had looked at Akamaru before, he had seen worms all over his body and were somehow draining his stamina. There were probably some on him as well, which meant he needed to finish things quickly. He took a soldier pill in his belt and prepared to meet the rain ninja in his attack. As the rain ninja charged, Kiba threw some kunai at him but it was stopped when a worm tentacle came out of the ground and intercepted it. Kiba summoned up more adrenaline in his body and was very fast to dodge the attacks the rain ninja threw at him. For the first time in the match, he had got a very good shot onto the rain ninja which seemed to do quite a bit of damage. The crowd groaned and the enemy got up from the ground ready to go again. This guy didn't have the worms in his body like Shino; he summoned them which meant they were coming out as different shapes and sizes.
After this bout, their positions on the field were not good for Kiba. Kiba was nowhere near Akamaru on the floor and the enemy was. He seemed to notice this and went straight over there taking out a kunai. "NO!" screamed Kiba and the rain ninja turned around and made some seals, "Worm Destroyer." A huge worm came out of the ground and looked like a monster. It was blocking Kiba's path and the rain ninja was going to kill Akamaru right in front of him. "Give up now, or you say goodbye to your dog and your life Leaf ninja."
"There is no need to give up when I am going to win." The rain ninja shrugged and ordered his massive worm to come at Kiba while he stabbed down with his kunai. The worm destroyer was so big, it even had teeth and would tear him apart if it got a hold of him. Kiba was looking passed this though as the rain ninja had bought the kunai down through Akamaru. To everybody's surprise though, the dog vanished showing it was an ordinary clone. From behind the rain ninja, the real Akamaru sprang up out of the ground and latched its teeth and paws into him, and leaving him unable to move.
This is what Kiba was waiting for and did a Fang Destroyer technique which took him directly into the giant worm's mouth but blasting straight through the skin of the worm completely killing it. Instead of stopping, he continued on to where Akamaru held the rain ninja and had a clear shot straight to his whole body rendering the rain ninja completely unable to fight. After they knew they had won, Kiba and Akamaru dropped to the ground, unable to continue from fatigue.
Shino and Hinata were watching. "What happened?" Hinata asked Shino.
"When Kiba was hunching over Akamaru before, he must have slipped him a soldier pill. Akamaru waited and dug a whole and left a clone and waited for the opportunity to come up behind the rain ninja. Kiba was banking on the rain ninja trying to kill an unconscious dog. His fang destroyer moves his whole body in a circular motion at incredible speeds therefore having too much force for the worm's skin to handle. What you see now is the result of the worm ninja having placed his own worms on both Kiba and Akamaru who have no more stamina left, the soldier pill acted like a temporary energy system for them both. The important thing is though, that Kiba won and you Hinata should be focusing because your match is next."