Chapter 12

I teleported quickly down to the arena, and glared at a girl with long, light green hair and gauzy brown top and bottoms.

"Simple," I said, moving to my teleportation stance – the ankle of my right foot touching the ankle of my left, forming a right angle, and my stiff fingertips curled and hooked into each other.

"Begin!" said the proctor, and I stood there, tensed.

"Hyaaaah!" shouted the ninja from Grass, and ran at me. She pulled out a kunai, ready to stab me, but missed.

"Huh?" she said, then, "Yaaah!"

I had appeared right behind Natsuko, pulled out a kunai, and slit her heels.

Natsuko fell to the ground, unable to walk. I stood up, dusting myself off, and kept a safe distance from her (she still had a kunai) and said "Really, now,. That is a simple technique that anyone could see through, and yet you, who are older than me, didn't suspect a thing. That. Is. Pitiful."

And I turned to the proctor. "As you can see," I said, "My opponent is unable to fight."

"Uh, right," he said, "The winner: Ferrna Amaya."

I smiled, but then fell to the ground, hitting my butt hard.

"Umph!" I grunted, and quickly teleported out of the way of Natsuko, who had crawled over and tripped me, and was ready to stab me.

The match is over dear," I said sarcastically, and walked up the stairs.

AKIMICHI CHOUJI VS. DOSU

Winner: Dosu

HORAN IWAKO VS. CHIRIAKA KATSU

.Katsu took his time walking down the stairs, and the proctor immediately started the match when he got down there. It began the same as mine.

"Yaaah!" shouted Iwako, but to, his dismay, he also missed with his kunai, because Katsu had sunk into the ground, completely covered.

"You can't fool me," said the boy, "you had to have buried yourself right, here!" He slammed down his palm, creating a mini earthquake like Tsukiko's. He looked down expectantly, but his face fell.

"Where'd he go?" he asked.

Even the ones who weren't interested in the match turned to look, seeing that there were only two people in the arena: Iwako and the proctor. We all waited. Seconds passed into minutes. They ticked by as Iwako got more and more confident that he won.

I looked over at Aika, who gave me a thumbs up. Katsu had used this technique often enough that we recognized it.

After exactly fifteen minutes had passed, something happened.

A dull roar emitted out of nowhere It started as a whisper, and grew louder, and louder, until people were covering their ears.

BOOM!.

A force that broke windows rang through the whole tower, and a shower of dirt landed on everyone.

When the dustcleared, we all saw the winner. Katsu was standing calmly on top of the cracked soil, and Iwako was lying on top of the fingers of the statue in the room.

Told you Katsu would win.

"Ahem," said the thoroughly dusty proctor, "The winner, Chiriaka Katsu!"

Katsu walked slowly up the stairs, and I hgged him before he could get back to standing next to Aika and Tsukiko.

"You did great! It was so riveting! Definitely the best work you've ever done!"

All Katsu could do was blush and look away from me.

All of a sudden, I head a small cry. I looked over at the other three, and heard Aika say, "It's me, I'm next!"

"Really?" Tsukiko said, looking at the screen. "Oh, you're right."

And she was.

KADOU AIKA VS. JURO FINYER

Oh, crap.