A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Rise of the Uchiha tends to get more reviews, so that's the story I find myself writing more often. But this story is still on track, and I plan on updating, if not often, at least regularly, until it's finished. I hope you all stay with me!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter 13: The Preliminary Exams – Part Two
After the momentary lull produced by the aftermath of the fight between Lee and Neji, Hayate called out the genin to fight in the next match.
"Uchiha Sasuke and Akado Yoroi, please take your places."
The last Uchiha seemed a little unsteady to Shikamaru's eyes, and his face looked as if he was in pain. He couldn't help but think of what Sasuke's teammates had said, about the appearance of the super-strong Grass genin who had attacked Sasuke.
"Should he be fighting?" Choji asked, the kindly Akimichi's brow furrowing with worry.
From his spot on the railing next to Team 10, Naruto scoffed loudly. "He'll be fine. If anyone beats Sasuke, it's going to be me! Kick his ass, Sasuke," the irrepressible blond yelled down to his teammate.
Sasuke ignored him completely, but Yoroi looked up at the sudden shout. His dark glasses and the cloth covering his face obscured his expression, but it was obvious from the way his shoulders shook that he was laughing.
"How touching," he taunted, sneering at Sasuke. "You have your own cheering squad. You look like you'll need it, too – are you shaking because you're nervous? Maybe you're smarter than I gave you credit for!"
"Hn," grunted the ever-eloquent Uchiha. Shikamaru leaned forward, curious as to how this fight would turn out. It was the first time he'd ever seen the genius of their class fight in earnest, and also the first time he'd seen him fight at less than full capacity. Would he be able to live up to his reputation?
"Begin!" Hayate called.
Sasuke sprang into action, jumping back and forming a set of seals that Shikamaru instantly recognized. They were for the Burning Fireball jutsu, a technique that Shikamaru himself had grown very fond of while training for the Chunin Exams.
But instead of spewing a high-velocity ball of flame, Sasuke cried out in pain and sank to his knees, one hand clutching at his neck.
"What?" Naruto exclaimed. "The other guy didn't even move!"
Sakura shushed Naruto insistently, her eyes riveted on her teammate. "It's the injury he got in the Forest of Death… it must still be hurting him somehow."
"Then this fight's over, right?" Ino asked worriedly. "I mean, if Sasuke can't even use jutsu to fight…"
"Not necessarily," Shikamaru said after a moment. "Lee can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu at all, and he just gave Neji a run for his money. Besides, Sasuke's opponent doesn't look too impressive. He could have ended the fight right after Sasuke's jutsu failed, but instead he's gloating. That's dangerously overconfident, especially when fighting someone as good as Sasuke."
It was true that Yoroi wasn't capitalizing on Sasuke's weakness. Instead he had thrown his head back and laughed. "It's better than I thought!" he crowed. "The great Uchiha can't even mold chakra. Prepare yourself!"
He threw a brace of shuriken at Sasuke, who mastered the pain in time to deflect them away with a kunai. But Yoroi had moved immediately after throwing the weapons, and closed with Sasuke before the Uchiha could prepare himself. He slashed at Sasuke viciously with a kunai, and trapped Sasuke's blade against the ground. With his free hand, he reached out and grabbed Sasuke's hair.
Shikamaru gasped when he saw that Yoroi's arm was glowing with blue chakra, which seemed to be flowing from Sasuke into his opponent.
"Do you see now why it's useless to fight me?" Yoroi laughed. "Even if you could use your techniques, I would defeat you. My technique can drain you of all your chakra in minutes!"
Indeed, Sasuke was growing visibly weaker, to his teammates' dismay.
Sakura was gripping the railing with knuckles that were quickly growing white, while Naruto was a heartbeat away from jumping down to join the fight.
Sasuke strove to keep his feet, and forced words out through gritted teeth. "I don't… need chakra… to beat a weakling like you!" He dropped his hold on the kunai in his right hand, and struck Yoroi a blow in the chest. It drove the older genin back far enough that he had to let go of Sasuke's hair. Sasuke lost no time in distancing himself from the glowing blue chakra around Yoroi's arm.
A tense taijutsu battle followed, with Sasuke demanding more and more speed from his weakened body, while keeping Yoroi from successfully draining his chakra again. For a while he was unable to land a decisive blow on the older genin, until at last, in a fit of frustration, Yoroi put too much force into a wild haymaker, and took too long to recover.
Sasuke ducked low and lunged, bringing himself within Yoroi's guard. He crouched and kicked sideways and up, burying his foot into his opponent's solar plexus. Yoroi went flying through the air, eliciting a giant cheer from Naruto. But Sasuke wasn't done yet.
He disappeared, only to reappear overhead, his body positioned directly underneath Yoroi. It was exactly the same move that Lee had used in the previous fight, right before trying to take out Neji with his final attack.
Sasuke could not have seen Lee use that move more than once or twice, Shikamaru was sure. And yet here he was, pulling off an advanced taijutsu move as if he'd been practicing it for months. So this was the power of the sharingan. And it seemed that Sasuke had made his own adjustments to Lee's technique.
Instead of wrapping Yoroi in bandages, Sasuke positioned himself so that he was above his opponent, and kicked him down toward the ground.
"Lion Barrage!" Sasuke yelled, and proceeded to unleash a devastating series of kicks that propelled Yoroi downward with terrifying force. The older genin impacted with a crash that echoed loudly through the arena, coming to a stop as abruptly as a sparrow flying into a window.
"Ouch," Naruto winced. But it wasn't over. Sasuke fell out of the sky like some dark, avenging angel, bringing his leg down in a tight arc like a descending hammer. His heel ground into Yoroi's midsection so hard that his opponent's ribs snapped instantly, as if they were no more than a bundle of sticks. Yoroi's back arched, and a gout of blood escaped his open mouth.
Sasuke stood up and walked away, not looking back at the battered mess that was now Yoroi. Before he had taken more than a few steps, however, he faltered and almost fell, revealing just how weak his body was.
Shikamaru was very impressed. Sasuke had shown he could fight even at a disadvantage, and persevere through pain. Perhaps he even deserved his reputation as the best genin in their class, although Shikamaru could think of few ways to defeat Yoroi that would have been more elegant.
Medics scurried onto the field and carefully loaded Yoroi onto a stretcher before wheeling him away.
"Next match," Hayate called out immediately. "Akimichi Choji and Tsurugi Misumi."
Shikamaru and Ino both placed a hand on Choji's shoulder, squeezing gently before letting him go.
"Be careful, Choji," Shikamaru advised, giving his friend a heartfelt smile.
"Yeah," Ino added, laughing. "Be careful not to hurt him too badly!"
Unless he's working with his traitorous teammate,she added mentally to both her teammates. Then I don't care if you kill the bastard.
"Thanks, guys," Choji said calmly. "I'll do my best."
Misumi had already descended, and was waiting in the middle of the floor for Choji to arrive. The last member of Kabuto's genin team was dressed almost identically to Yoroi, with the exception that his glasses were clear. From the way he stood, casually and arrogantly, it seemed Misumi had the same sense of over-confidence shared by his teammate. Shikamaru could only hope that this fight's outcome would be similar to the one before it.
"Ready to fight yet, fatty?" Misumi sneered as Choji approached. A gasp went up from members of the Rookie Nine who had seen Choji after being called fat. It was strange for Shikamaru to realize that his teammates really had no idea just how much Choji had grown. How much they'd all grown. Well, this fight would probably make it clear.
Choji ignored the jibe about his weight, and nodded respectfully both to Misumi and Hayate. "Yes, I'm ready. Let's fight well, and honor our village."
The Rookie Nine, with the exception of Shikamaru and Ino, gave a sigh of relief that Choji wasn't going berserk. Hayate stepped forward, his hand raised.
"Begin!"
Choji attacked first, drawing a nod of appreciation from Shikamaru. The Akimichi was strong and could absorb a lot of punishment, so it made sense for him to take the offensive, and try to wear down his opponent early.
Instead of drawing his kunai, Choji put his weight behind a simple combination of punches and kicks, the purpose of which was to gauge his opponent's strength. Misumi turned the blows aside with taijutsu that was, in Shikamaru's estimation, only passable. He seemed slightly quicker than Choji, but not enough to make much of a difference. And when Choji put all of his strength behind a straight jab, even though Misumi blocked with both arms crossed, the force sent him flying off his feet.
"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed. "When did Choji learn how to hit so hard?"
Shikamaru was feeling good about the fight so far, but he knew that Misumi must have something up his sleeve. After all, Kabuto would not have paired himself with weaklings, and Yoroi had possessed an extremely potent technique. That suggested that Misumi would have some signature move as well. But Shikamaru trusted Choji to be ready for that possibility.
When Misumi got back to his feet, he didn't look at all like someone who'd just been sent flying off his feet. Instead, his eyes glinted savagely and he advanced on Choji like a predator stalking its prey. Choji set himself in a defensive stance, waiting for Misumi to make his move.
This time it was the older genin who attacked, charging in with what looked like reckless abandon. But just as Choji raised his arm to block, Misumi… stretched, as though his body was made of putty. His arms elongated like pasty, white snakes, and wrapped around Choji's arm, spinning him completely around. His legs elongated as well, until the freaky genin had wrapped Choji up like a mummy swathed in bandages. He began to squeeze, concentrating most of his upper-body strength on choking Choji into unconsciousness.
"What do you say now, fatty?" Misumi gloated. "I can dislocate every joint in my body, and guide my attacks with chakra. Fighting me with taijutsu was the last mistake you'll ever make!"
"Oh no!" Sakura cried out, leaning farther over the rail. "Choji!"
Naruto turned away for a second, and saw Shikamaru and Ino looking unconcerned. "How can you two be so calm?" he demanded angrily. "That's your teammate down there!"
"We know, nitwit!" Ino snapped. "Choji's fine."
"Huh?" Sakura swung her head to look at Ino. "What do you mean?"
Shikamaru shook his head. "She means that this fight is in the bag. Misumi is too stupid to realize it, but he just played into Choji's hands. Just watch."
Shikamaru and Ino gestured back to the arena, where Misumi continued to try and strangle Choji. With a great effort, Choji managed to bring his hands together, against the pressure of Misumi's grip. He formed a set of hand-seals, and choked out, "Multi-size jutsu!"
With a pop Choji expanded to four times his normal size. Misumi stretched with him, however, still managing to maintain his hold around Choji.
"Let go, if you want to live," Choji said, his voice now sounding out clearly.
"Not a chance," Misumi snarled. "No matter how big you become, I'll just keep strangling you until you run out of air or chakra, whichever comes first."
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Choji said, and his voice was genuinely sad. Then he brought his over-sized hands together and made a second set of seals. "Human Bullet Tank!"
Immediately, Choji's arms and legs retracted, only to be replaced by jets of blue chakra. Misumi let out a cry as the chakra burned his arms and legs where they made contact. He probably would have let go, but Choji began spinning before he could disentangle himself. And so when Choji became a giant, spinning sphere, Misumi was trapped around it.
Choji rolled in a tight circle, and there was a series of cracks that resembled the sound made by popping bubble wrap. It was the sound of every single one of Misumi's bones shattering as they were ground into the floor by the force of Choji's rotation. Everyone watching the match winced almost in unison.
Choji ended the technique almost immediately, returning to his normal size. Misumi was already unconscious, and his long, stretchy body slipped off of Choji and onto the ground like a stream of some viscous fluid. The medics rushed to get him off the field, although Shikamaru was almost positive that he couldn't still be breathing after that technique. The only hope for Misumi was if Choji had stopped his rotation before his opponent's skull was crushed.
When Choji ascended to the balcony, the looks he received were almost exactly the same as the ones Shikamaru had received after killing Dozu. Apparently no one had been prepared for such a methodical and effective smackdown.
"Well done, Choji," Asuma said quietly, tacitly approving the amount of force that Choji had used.
Choji bowed his head. "Thank you, sensei."
In order to take some of the focus off of Choji, Shikamaru turned to Ino and gave her a challenging smirk. "So, there's only you left, Ino. You and Sakura."
Ino quickly congratulated Choji, and then nodded to Shikamaru with determination. "That's right! And you better believe I won't be the only one from Team 10 not going on the finals."
She kicked off from the railing, turning a somersault in the air before landing in a low crouch. Shikamaru hid a smile. Though Ino had been a little abrasive in the past, she was getting much better now. She was more thoughtful and attentive, and her determination had only grown stronger the more difficult the circumstances. And as if that wasn't enough, the girl just flat-out had style.
"Let's go, Ino!" Choji cheered happily.
Sakura was unusually determined as she descended from the balcony into the arena. Like Ino, she was also the only person on her team who hadn't yet cleared the preliminaries. Between that and Sakura's long-standing rivalry with Ino, Shikamaru was sure that the match was going to be extremely heated. But whether it was good or not depended on how much Sakura had grown.
Before Hayate could start the match, Ino stepped forward to talk to Sakura.
"I meant what I said about not liking Sasuke any more," she began, gazing seriously into Sakura's green eyes. "And I still want to be your friend. But I want you to know that I'm not going to hold back. If you want to beat me, you're going to have to intend to kill me – because not even that will be enough."
Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but doubt crept into her expression. "We'll see," was all she said in return.
Hayate stepped forward again, looking slightly miffed that Ino had cut him off, and began the match. Ino started throwing shuriken, which Sakura dodged easily. It was anticlimactic after her speech only seconds ago, but Shikamaru guessed that Ino was trying to keep some of her newer techniques hidden for the next round.
Sakura circled Ino until she saw an opening, and then brought the battle to close-quarters by charging in, kunai drawn. They traded blows with their kunai, matching each other closely, darting in and springing away again before either could capitalize on an opening. To Shikamaru's eyes, Ino looked like she was moving a little too slowly. A second later he realized why – she was testing Sakura! Ino was consciously holding back, testing the limits of Sakura's abilities.
It was obvious to anyone with sufficient experience what Ino was doing, and soon Sakura realized it as well. "Come on," she snarled, her face reddening with anger. "Don't patronize me! Fight me with everything you have!"
Ino shrugged. "Fine by me." When she kicked off from the ground, she was moving noticeably faster. She slashed and feinted with her kunai, approaching Sakura from new angles, too fast for the pink-haired girl to counter. Soon Sakura was covered with small cuts, mementos of the times when she couldn't completely block Ino's attacks.
Sakura was panting hard, almost completely out of breath, when Ino came to a stop in front of her. "You have a long way to go before we can be rivals again," Ino said, her voice sounding out clearly through the arena. "But I'll be waiting for you."
"Shut up!" Sakura rasped, exhaustion coming through clearly in her voice. "It's not over yet."
When Ino spoke, her voice was almost sad. "Yes… it is." Her hands flew through a series of seals that Shikamaru had never seen Ino use before. At the same time that she completed the technique, Sakura gave a surprised shout.
"My eyes!"
She clapped her hands to her eyes, dropping her kunai as she did so. Ino charged, holding her own kunai thrust outward. At the last second she inverted the kunai, and slammed the handle into Sakura's temple. The pink-haired kunoichi slid across the floor and collapsed, out cold.
"What did she do?" Naruto asked in confusion. "Are Sakura's eyes ok?"
"Genjutsu," Choji replied. "Ino blocked the messages from Sakura's eyes to her brain. Once Sakura wakes up, she'll be fine."
Naruto whistled. "Wow. I wanted Sakura to win, but that technique is really cool! I wish I could use it on Sasuke – without his eyes, I bet I could pound the crap out of him!"
Ino waited in the arena until the medics had finished loading Sakura onto a trolley, and then quickly rejoined her team. "We did it," she said, but she didn't seem too happy. Shikamaru saw her eyes keep flitting back to the door through which the medics had wheeled Sakura away.
"She'll be stronger for it," Shikamaru said in an off-hand tone. "You did the right thing."
Ino smiled at him, her eyes suspiciously bright. "Damn it, Shikamaru, you're not supposed to know what I'm thinking unless I use my technique!" She paused for a second, and then gave him a quick punch in the arm. "But thanks."
Shikamaru winced, rubbing at the painful spot on his forearm. She really did hit hard. "Don't mention it."
"Now the final match," Hayate called out. "Kankuro vs. Aburame Shino."
Shikamaru turned his attention back to the arena. This promised to be an interesting fight: the final member of the Sand team against the bug-user who had scored almost as high as Shikamaru during the Academy. Shino would definitely have his work cut out for him here.
In contrast to the calm, unflappable Shino, Kankuro was practically quivering with anticipation. He reached one hand up to the bundle on his back, checking to see that it was securely attached. "Let's get this over with," he snarled to Hayate.
Hayate ignored him, but stepped forward and raised his hand. "Begin!"
Waves of bugs rose from Shino's sleeves, and gathered in a giant cloud in front of him. A loud buzzing sound filled the arena, startling Shikamaru with the memory of the fight a few months back against Team 8. Just how much stronger was Shino now?
Kankuro began circling, surveying the insects warily.
"Excuse me," Shino said in a bored tone, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the buzzing of his insects. "But please stop this ridiculous charade. My allies are perfectly capable of telling a puppet from a real person."
This time, Naruto wasn't the only to be surprised. "A puppet?" Ino gasped. Shikamaru was also surprised, though he didn't react. It made sense, he supposed, for a puppet user to try and keep his identity secret. It was just lucky that it was Shino fighting Kankuro, and not someone without the sensory ability to figure out the deception.
"Hehehehe." Muffled laughter came from within the bandage-wrapped bundle. The fake Kankuro pulled at a white strip and the entire thing unraveled, revealing a second Kankuro who was attached to the first by means of blue chakra strings protruding from his fingertips. The skin of the first Kankuro crumbled away, revealing an evil-looking puppet with segmented wooden joints.
"Good job seeing through my disguise," Kankuro said condescendingly, "but it won't help you any. You'd better hope your medics have a good stock of anti-venoms!"
"A poison-user?" Shino mused. "I expected as much. It makes your puppet much more deadly."
"As you'll soon find out!" Kankuro sent his puppet forward, its tattered cloak swaying madly as it bore down on Shino. His insects mobilized, surging to intercept the puppet before it could get within range. Wooden compartments slid open on all sides, and a purple mist spewed out, killing the insects that it touched. Before more perished, the insect cloud retreated rapidly, and shot instead at Kankuro. But the Suna genin proved to be much more agile than he appeared, and evaded the insects with ease.
Meanwhile, Shino was forced to do some quick acrobatic work to dodge the needles that shot from the puppet's arms and mouth. "You'll pay for harming my allies," Shino said in a cold voice without any inflection.
"Oh yeah?" Kankuro responded. "And who's going to make me? The more insects you send against me, the more Crow's poison will kill!"
Shino did a backflip to get out of range of Crow's next swoop, and put on a burst of speed to get out of the puppet's range. "We'll see about that."
The surviving insects, about half of the original cloud, mobilized in search of Kankuro, while Kankuro's puppet Crow lost no time in chasing down Shino. What followed was a tense game of cat and mouse, as both long-range fighters tried to immobilize their opponent without leaving themselves unprotected. Shino's bugs would get close to Kankuro, only to swoop away to safety when Crow turned to protect its owner. Similarly, Shino often had to call his bugs to screen him from Kankuro's view, allowing him to get a few more steps ahead of Crow. But it looked like time would play in Kankuro's favor, because with every pass Crow killed another fraction of the insect horde with its poison smoke.
"So that's all you've got?" Kankuro taunted, as he moved to keep ahead of Shino's bugs. "I'll kill your bugs off slowly, until you've got nothing left to protect you!"
Shino didn't respond, but it looked as though Kankuro had said nothing but the truth. Shino's bugs were dwindling, and in minutes he had barely enough left to help distract Crow from reaching him.
"It appears I will have to resort to different tactics," Shino said. "Luckily you're not the only one with smoke."
The Aburame threw a series of smoke bombs at the ground all around the arena, obscuring both Crow and Kankuro. A series of metallic sounds echoed from within, most likely the sound of Shino's kunai being repelled by either Crow or Kankuro. A solitary kunai flew out of the smoke cloud and clattered to the ground.
When the smoke cleared, Shino was flitting around Crow, and maneuvering himself to get closer to Kankuro. Before the puppet could overwhelm him with its hidden weapons, Shino sprang away, directly at Kankuro. To Shikamaru's surprise, Kankuro did not try to evade, but instead met Shino's blade with one of Crow's detached arms, which soared through the air to block his attack. Before Shino could set himself for another try, Kankuro twitched his left hand, and suddenly his chakra strings reconnected to a loop of ninja wire coiled around his belt.
It shot out and wrapped around Shino's torso like a deadly boa constrictor, immobilizing him as Crow swept in like a monster from the underworld. Hinata let out a small cry, which was cut off as two of Crow's needle-arms impaled Shino directly through the chest. But instead of bleeding, Shino's body exploded, just as Shikamaru had expected, into a cloud of bugs.
"A bug clone?" Kankuro yelled in surprise. The bugs surrounded Crow and began chewing their way through the wood. Purple smoke spewed out, but when it cleared the bugs were still there. And Crow quickly disappeared, whittled away until it was nothing but a few silver weapons canisters and a wire frame, all of which fell to the ground.
"Crow!" Kankuro shouted. "Damn it, how…"
There was a loud crack, and the kunai that had flown out of the smoke cloud before turned into Shino. "A simple henge," the bug-user said. "And a new strain of bugs that are immune to your poison. It took me longer than I would have liked to accelerate their reproductive cycle, but we were chasing each other for more than long enough. That is the power of natural selection, coupled with the kikai bugs' rapid evolution. And that is why living things will always make the best weapons. What is dead cannot adapt."
"Shut up!" Kankuro yelled. "I'll kill you!" He began throwing explosive tags with frenzied abandon, but Shino dodged them easily. Without his puppet, it was clear that Kankuro was only passable with other ninja skills. Shino rallied his bugs and sent them after Kankuro, hunting down the Sand genin with unflagging patience and care. Kankuro ran out of explosives soon, and switched to smoke balls and poison bombs, but Shino's bugs were careful and avoided losing many of their number to the desperate attacks.
When Kankuro was out of options and exhausted, he gave a loud, despairing cry and charged at Shino, hoping to take him by surprise. But Shino gave way before the attack, and jumped across the arena. As Kankuro was turning to pursue, the wave of kikai bugs finally caught him.
He gave a muffled scream, but it caught off almost immediately as bugs poured into his mouth and nose. Shikamaru shuddered violently, watching Kankuro getting submerged under the buzzing, surging wave, and he was sure he wasn't the only one. But seconds passed and the insects withdrew, showing that Kankuro was still alive.
However, his face was pale and listless, and his body trembled in the throes of chakra exhaustion. He slumped face-first on the floor.
"Winner, Aburame Shino!" Hayate declared. The Suna jonin was by Kankuro's side in a second, hoisting his genin onto his shoulder and leaving the arena without a backward glance. He was followed by Temari and Gaara, the latter of whom looked back only once. Shikamaru felt the boy's murderous gaze, and met it with the fiercest stare he could muster. Gaara mouthed a word, which Shikamaru understood thanks to his ability to read lips. The word was, "soon."
The Hokage stepped out into the arena, and began congratulating all of the participants on an exciting preliminary round. The words barely even registered with Shikamaru, who was still battling to regain control over his pulse long after Gaara had left.
After the Hokage finished, the different teams broke off and started to filter out of the arena with their jonin senseis. "Congratulations, you guys!" Asuma said with a broad grin, as his three victorious genin came up to him. "You're the only team to all go to the final round, and that deserves a celebration! We're going to Yakiniku Q, and it's on me!"
But although his words were cheerful, Asuma's eyes told a different story. There was pride there, absolutely, but there was even more worry. He gave Ino the signal to initiate her mental link so they wouldn't be overheard.
Eat well, but don't lose focus. In a month from now, Konoha will come under attack from the joint forces of Sunagakure and Otogakure. Place your trust in the Hokage, and train hard. When the day comes, Konoha will need us all to be at our very best.
All of the excitement of clearing the Preliminaries drained from the genin instantly. They stared at each other in shock. It was Choji who finally broke the silence. The young Akimichi gathered himself up, standing at his full height.
"Come on," he said, looking from Shikamaru to Ino. "Let's go eat. Nothing ever got done on an empty stomach."
His words were exactly what they needed to master their surprise, and continue walking out of the arena while appearing like normal genin. But as they walked together, talking as if everything was all right, the terrible truth settled over them like an ominous storm cloud.
In just a month, they were going to war.