I'm back.
Do you know how annoying it is making characters for the chunin exams? I mean, dozens of one-off characters. Argh. THAT is why I always end up with so many characters… plus low willpower. So Yeah.
Chapter Eight-Showdown
"You've made two very, very stupid mistakes." said the furious girl. "The first was taking my sister. The second was letting me keep talking for long enough for Hanabi to charge her attack."
"Raiton: Denkou Tentai!" said the black haired girl, Hanabi.
A chain of electrical chakra reached up from the young girl, disappearing into the clouds with a rumble of thunder.
"…was that it?" asked Tenten.
The brown haired girl ignored her, turning to Hanma.
"Hanma, I mean you. You're my lost sister."
"Don't be silly, you're from Cloud and I'm from Konoha!" replied Hanma, laughing. "How would that work.?"
Kusari Daiga scowled. "Then I'll kill them and take you back home myself. Hanabi, attack!"
Hanma's eyes widened, and she formed her chain hammers on reflex.
"You can't hurt them!" she commanded.
Hanabi closed her eyes in effort. And a bolt of lightning speared down from the sky-towards Tenten and Shikamaru.
"No!" shouted Hanma, leaping forwards. Her chain-hammers crossed in the path of the lightning.
An explosion sounded, blinding them all for a good minute.
Hanma lay unconscious on the ground, slightly singed but alive.
"You're going to regret it if she's hurt." growled Tenten.
"Not half as much as you will." said Daiga, her eyes smouldering. "Hanabi, Seichi, attack the boy!"
Shikamaru drew a kunai, reasoning that the girl attacking him-she couldn't be more than eight!-wouldn't be that hard to defeat.
"Byakugan!"
"Troublesome… Kagemane no Jutsu!"
The girl skidded to a halt, before flipping backwards, jumping from a tree, and generally dashing around to avoid the shadow.
"She must be a Hyuuga…" reasoned Shikamaru to himself. "Why is nothing ever simple?"
The boy on the other hand, Seichi, was viciously swinging an electrically charged sword around-as three ninken transformed into their respective partners, and performed a triple Tsuuga upon him. A flash of his blade arced into one, dispelling the transformation and sending the injured form of Kuroimaru sprawling to the floor.
The other two dogs caught him from both directions, drawing blood, tearing clothes and knocking him completely out of the battle.
Tenten was having trouble fighting the vengeful Daiga. She knew from experience with Hanma that she couldn't block-the power of the attack would shatter anything she used. If it hit her, she'd be severely injured, if not killed.
Her only real choice was to dodge every attack made by the mesmerizing blades, as they swung, back and forth, an endless dance, hypnotically in front of her.
Tenten's eyelids began to droop. Then they shut.
One of the blades lashed for her.
Daiga was thrown off balance, crying out, her weapons dissipating as Baramaru slammed into her side with another Tsuuga. Zenmi had attacked Hanabi, only to be struck in the chest with a jyuken strike.
But it gave Shikamaru the opening.
"Kagemane… success." he panted
Baramaru barked loudly, and Tenten reached through a heavy, misty haze, and opened her eyes. As soon as she did, the genjutsu failed and Tenten woke properly.
She put a kunai to the furious Daiga's throat.
"Now." said Tenten. "Explain to me how you can be such a self righteous bitch about your sister, and have a Hyuuga on your team."
"What?!"
* * *
"Where the hell are they?!" complained Kama, lounging about under the flare.
"Kekeke… you have bigger problems."
* * *
"Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" shouted Naruto, forming the familiar handsign.
Almost a hundred clones appeared,
"Kaen Bunshin no Jutsu."
"Hana Bunshin no Jutsu."
"Clones, clones, clones." mocked their opponent. "Chakra Furea." he said, eyes narrowing as he went through a short set of handsigns.
A pulse of chakra spread from him. It felt like a tiny tingle, a slight queasy feeling that passed in moments.
Every single clone vanished.
The three rock ninja charged, Naruto sweeping viciously for his opponent's legs.
The immense rock-nin didn't even shake. Naruto kicked and punched, but nothing had any effect.
His enemy grabbed him by the arm justg as Naruto had the bright idea of trying jyuken, and threw him into the path of the girl, Ikei, before he could.
She then proceeded to punch him with all the power her four foot frame could manage. Somehow, this sent him flying through a tree.
Ikei then continued on to Sasuke, who appeared to be standing in a simple, serene stance. Inside he was, for the first time in a long while, terrified.
"If you face someone who is weaker than you, defeat them quickly and simply. If you face someone who is your match in every way, you must simply grow stronger. If you face someone who surpasses you, use their own talents against them."
The words of the Wolves' taijutsu coach came quickly to him. They didn't much help.
The girl leapt, punching for him. He jumped too, sideways. The ground cratered, shattering from the impact.
Sasuke studied it intently. This would be a useful technique to remember… assuming he survived.
He activated his Sharingan.
He then continued to dodge backwards, not willing to get into range. Finally, the girl got bored.
"Fine." she scowled. "I'll help Houfo."
Their leader, Houfo, had been blasting lightning at Ino for their entire game of cat and mouse.
"Raikou!" hew barked, a javelin of lightning appearing in his hand before he threw it, coalescing into a bolt that vanished into the distance.
Ino had dodged, again. She hadn't managed an attack yet-her main skill was with clones.
She was completely surprised when Ikei grabbed her from behind, and punched her in the stomach.
Sasuke cried out. He heard something breaking.
Ino winced, as blood dripped slightly. She whispered something.
"What was that, little girl?" teased Ikei, holding her up.
"Flowers." she repeated. A circle tattooed onto shoulder flashed briefly.
Ino exploded into a cloud of petals, then each one detonated with a flash.
Ikei had her eyes tightly shut, trying to get out. She walked right into something.
"Hn." said Sasuke. He punched her in exactly the way she had to Ino. This time, he knew he heard something break. "A nice technique. If Ino doesn't heal, I may strike somewhere more vital."
He dropped her, and went looking for Naruto.
When he found him, Ino was there.
"You used the seal." noted Sasuke.
"Yep. Swapped myself with a flower clone. Did you get her?" asked Ino.
Sasuke nodded. "She won't hurt you again."
There was an awkward silence, in which Naruto awoke.
"Uhh…. did we win?"
* * *
"Hinata!" shouted Kiba in terror. Manami turned from where she had run, and added her own scream.
"You're next." said Gaara levelly. Kiba growled.
"Gatsuuga." he said simply.
He and Akamaru flew through the air towards the sand-nin, tearing into the sand that flew up, burrowing through, but unable to penetrate.
"Byakugan!"
Gaara stiffened, and spat up blood.
A jyuken blow to the back while the sand was distracted.
Hinata dashed away as Kiba finally accepted the Gatsuuga wasn't going to penetrate, and deflected back.
"H…Hinata?" he asked, afraid it wasn't.
She nodded. He hugged her. She blushed. She hugged back.
"Why aren't we running from the homicidal sand ninja?" asked Manami, her hands furiously chewing on clay.
She managed to finish, forming the clay into a bird-large enough for them to ride. She leapt onto its back, and Hinata and Kiba followed quickly.
Gaara watched them fly away.
"There must be someone around to kill…" he murmured, turning, and walking between Temari and Kankuro. "There's always one of you."
* * *
"We're here. With a scroll too. And… we've kind of acquired three cloud ninja." said Tenten, followed by Shikamaru, as well as the cloud nin, including Daiga, who was carrying her sister.
"We're here too." said Naruto. He grinned. "How do you acquire cloud-nin?"
"Long story…" muttered Daiga.
"Heya everyone!" said Manami, as the bird landed with a slight tremor.
"…" said Hinata.
Everyone stared at her.
"Why are Kame, Lee and Neji unconscious in the bushes?" she asked.
"Kekeke… that would be me." said a pale, black haired figure, walking into the open. "There are some very interesting abilities around. Important to keep an eye on. After all, I need to plan for my next host."
* * *
Wowhardwork. Also, I am gonna have to remember MULTIPLE PLOT THREADS. Help me.
* * *
For the record, I do use an online dictionary, and some words aren't there. I use the closest words I can get to the meaning I want.
Raiton: Denkou Tentai-Lightning Release: Lightning God
Byakugan-All Seeing White Eye
Kagemane no Jutsu-Shadow Imitation Technique
Tsuuga-Piercing Fang
Omoiseichuu Daiga-Hypnotic Blades (Unnamed Genjutsu used by Kusari Daiga)
Taijuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu-Multiple Shadow Clone Technique
Kaen Bunshin no Jutsu-Blaze Clone Technique
Hana Bunshin no Jutsu-Flower Clone Technique
Chakra Furea-Chakra Flare
Bakuyakuken-Explosive Fist (Fighting style used by the rock-nin Ikei)
Fuinjutsu: Bakuyaku Hana Bunshin-Sealing Technique: Explosive Flower Clone (Ino's seal, with code word of flowers. (of course, she had to apply chakra too. Otherwise it'd go off whenever she said flowers… what a party trick!))
Jyuken-Gentle Fist