Hey everyone, here it finally is! The newest chapter of The Sparring Tournament! We're slowly nearing the end of it, as you can see judging from the decreasing number of participants left, and because this round is almost finished, so yeah ^^ I already know what I'm going to write next (I have a LONG list), and I'm really excited about that, though I'll miss writing TST when it's done :)

Anyway, enjoy this chapter! :D

Chapter Nine: Round Two, Sixth and Seventh Battle; End of Round Two! Battle of the Blondies and Food-addict Showdown!

1. Ino Yamanaka (1) Vs. Roronoa Zoro. (2)

2. Usopp (5) Vs. Shino Aburame (6)

3. Edward Elric (11) Vs. Sai (12)

4. Natsu Dragneel (13) Vs. Shikamaru Nara (14)

5. Kiba Inuzuka (19) Vs. Nico Robin (20)

6. Naruto Uzumaki (23) Vs. Sanji (24)

7. Chouji Akimichi (25) Vs. Monkey D. Luffy (26)

After everyone was patched up, especially Robin, it was time for the next battle, and it was definitely going to be an exciting one. Two of the strongest participants were going to face off: Naruto and Sanji.

Shikamaru became the referee once again after being treated as he walked to the middle of the field. "Alright, Naruto and Sanji, get on the field for the next match." He announced.

Naruto smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Alright, it's finally my turn again!" he uttered excited.

Sakura walked up to him with a smile on her face. "Good luck Naruto, I know you can do it." She spoke. "Go kick his ass."

Naruto grinned. "Thanks Sakura, I'll win, I promise, and you know I-" he started.

"Yes, I know, you never go back on your word."

Naruto nodded. "Exactly!"

Sakura giggled lightly as Naruto walked to the middle of the grassy field, which was pretty messed up by now thanks to all the harsh battles.

Sanji was already standing there, a smirk on his face. "Heh, now I'll show you what I've got in front of all these beautiful ladies."

"Yeah right." Naruto reacted amused. "Show me."

Kiba chuckled. "Heheh, it's a battle of the blondies." He commented.

Not many of the others heard, since he was sitting more on the edge of the small crowd, but those who did laughed lightly.

"Alright, battle six: Naruto Uzumaki Vs. Sanji, begin!" Shikamaru called out and got out of the way.

The two blondes ran at each other, each trying to launch the first attack and of course also land the first hit.

They reached each other in the middle of the field and dust flew up due to their power. It cleared up soon since it was just a punch and a kick, revealing that the one who landed the first hit was Sanji, who'd kicked Naruto right in the face. The latter had shoved back a bit and was just getting up with a red mark on his face.

"Man, that hurt." He spoke.

Sanji smirked again. "Heh, it better."

"Sure." Naruto reacted and ran at Sanji again, his fist ready.

As Naruto reached him, Sanji kicked towards him again, aiming for his stomach this time, but Naruto dodged it without any problems and spun around, then managing to land a hit in Sanji's face.

Sanji got pushed back a bit, and he smirked as he stood up properly. "Not bad."

Naruto smirked. "Thanks."

"Are they just hitting each other in the face…?" Nami muttered, sweatdropping lightly.

Usopp shrugged before returning his attention to the fight.

Naruto formed a handsign, very familiar to his old classmates. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he exclaimed as a puff of white smoke appeared. Out of that smoke came three more Naruto's.

"Nice magic trick you got there."

"Heheh, thanks." The four Naruto's replied at the same time before two of them ran towards Sanji, fists reading to punch their target.

Sanji fought them for a bit before kicking them both in the stomach, making the two disappear in a white puff of smoke, but he had been too distracted to notice the two remaining Naruto's creating a rasengan and the real Naruto running towards him with the blue ball of chakra in his hand. Sanji's eyes widened slightly and then the whiskered blonde hit him with the rasengan.

"Rasengan!" he exclaimed loudly, slamming the, less strong as to not hurt Sanji too badly, rasengan against Sanji's stomach.

The cook flew back and hit a nearby tree, slumping against it, his suit had been ripped and a red, spiral-like mark was on his uncovered stomach. Sanji looked up to Naruto and smirked. "Heh, not bad." He complimented. "You beat me pretty damn fast."

Naruto grinned. "Thanks!" he said before walking up to Sanji and held a hand out to him to help him up.

Sanji took his hand and got pulled up.

"Sanji has been beaten, the winner of this battle is Naruto." Shikamaru announced as everyone applauded.

"Wow, that was really fast." Sakura spoke up.

"I'm surprised he beat Sanji-kun that quickly." Nami reacted. "He barely got to do anything, he only kicked normally."

Sakura nodded as she turned to look at Naruto with a smile on her face.

Zoro burst out in laughter, earning a glare from Sanji. "Hahahaha! You got beaten in 5 minutes!" the swordsman laughed.

Sanji's glare grew. "Shut up Marimo!"

"I got into the next round and you didn't!"

Sanji growled and got to the sidelines with Naruto's help.

Soon, it was time for the last battle of the second round.

"Luffy and Chouji, get over here so we can end this round." Shikamaru spoke up.

Luffy grinned. "Yosh, it's my turn!" he exclaimed before launching himself to the middle of the grassy field with his rubber-powers, making most of his crewmates sweatdrop.

When Chouji got there as well, Luffy smirked. "Good luck man, 'cause I'm going to win this thing!"

"Heh, you bet, I'm going to win." Chouji countered.

"Battle seven: Monkey D. Luffy Vs. Chouji Akimichi, begin!" Shikamaru announced and got out of the way as the two immediately headed towards eachother.

"Human Boulder!" Chouji called out as he turned into a large ball and rolled towards Luffy.

Luffy barely managed to dodge the attack by jumping aside. "Wow, you're fast!" he pointed out as he landed on the ground.

Chouji then turned around and rolled towards him again.

"He can turn around too?!" Nami uttered surprised as she watched the battle.

"Yeah, Chouji can keep rolling like that for a very long time." Ino spoke up after she was done helping with treating Sanji.

"Wow." Was all that Nami could utter as she continued watching the fight.

Luffy dodged it again, but his arm got scraped and started bleeding. "Damn."

Chouji turned yet again and rolled at him a third time.

Luffy got a bit annoyed by this and decided to do something. "Gomu Gomu no….Fusen!" he exclaimed and took a very deep breath, inflating himself.

Chouji ran into Luffy's inflated stomach, and Luffy whinced lightly because of the spikes, but concentrated on trying to stop Chouji, who continued spinning into him.

Chouji kept spinning strongly while Luffy did his best to stop him, gritting his teeth. The others watched in anticipation, because this was obviously going to determine the winner of this fight.

Eventually, Luffy pulled in his inflated stomach a bit before making it relax again, letting out a loud yell. This launched Chouji like a cannonball, making him fly through the air.

The rest watched his their jaws hitting the floor. Luffy had just launched Chouji into the air, making him fly metres away, not everyone can pull that off, definitely not.

Chouji returned the normal while in midair, due to exhaustion and the impact, before he landed on the ground a few metres away. Dust cleared up and he was lying there on his back, covered in bruises.

Luffy grinned. "I win!"

"Chouji has been beaten, the winner of this match is Luffy." Shikamaru spoke, ending the match and along with it, the second round.

And that's it for this chapter, now I'm going to start writing on the next chapter. Sorry that it's a relatively short chapter. The battles were both quickly decided, especially Naruto vs. Sanji. I might make it longer when I revise it sometime, but it won't be in the near future, I have many fanfictions planned. Hope you liked it!

'Till next time

FanFictionneer