Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one. Please review to let me know your thoughts
Chapter 19: - The Final Rounds Get Complicated
Having been proclaimed the winner, Naruto was thoroughly enjoying the cheers that the audience were singing. He was rushing around the arena throwing out kisses to the people.
"Ah, Naruto defeated Neji. Oh man I can't believe it and I thought Naruto was the same as me one of the dorky uncool guys," Shikamaru stated, in his surprise. I shook my head at his statement.
"Dorky and uncool?" Shino questioned.
"Now everyone says he's going to make something big of himself, just great. I doubt I can beat him now, this is really bad. I've never felt so depressed, what a drag," Shikamaru continued complaining.
"Oh I don't know about that. Naruto's all brawn and spirit, you could easily outsmart him," I spoke up, causing the other two Leaf shinobi to look at me in surprise. Naruto eventually came up to the balcony, grinning like a mad fool, me and Shikamaru greeted and congratulated him on his victory.
I sensed that the crowd were energized from Naruto's match but it was only heightened by the anticipation for the next match to begin, however Sasuke had still not shown up, and I was beginning to worry something had happened. The anticipation soon turned to agitation at having to wait and one had to wonder how long it would take before that agitation turn to aggression and things got… ugly.
"That Sasuke, what in the world does he think he's doing? Forfeiting?" Shikamaru questioned, having also noticed the crowds demeanour.
"A wise man never quits danger, leading to a wise decision," Shino spoke up.
"Huh, what are you talking about? He's defiantly going to be here, believe it" Naruto stated. However I noticed the glance that he shot at Gaara and the returned glare that he received.
"If they don't do something soon, people are going to get seriously hurt," I stated. As hearing my words the moment I finished speaking the proctor declared that Sasuke's match would be postponed instead of being cancelled. Naruto sighed in relief at this fact but I was suspicious as this contradicted what we had been told before the beginning of the matches.
"Hey that means my battle's one match closer now, what a drag," Shikamaru complained. I had to wonder if he was honestly panicking or if it was just his laziness coming into play.
"On to the next battle. So Shino and Kankurō, come down," The proctor called up to the alcove.
"Proctor I withdraw," Kankuro called out. I looked at the boy surprised and it seemed I wasn't the only one, Naruto and Shikamaru were surprised as well. His cry had also caused further agitation to rise from the crowd, the proctor moved on to the next match and Temari jumped down using her fan to glide to the arena floor. Shikamaru was reluctant to go down but Naruto ended up knocking him over the railing, causing him to fall, head first, to the floor.
I looked over to see that he had managed to come out uninjured but he was unimpressed by Naruto's actions, as seen from the annoyed look on his face. Soon garbage was being thrown at the poor guy as he just led there staring up, I kind of pitied the poor boy being the target of people's aggravation.
Temari was the one who began the match by charging at Shikamaru and bringing her fan down on him, however before the strike hit, Shikamaru had thrown two kunai into the wall and used those to stand on, escaping Temari's attack.
Throughout all the game of shogi me and Shikamaru had played against each other during the times we were waiting for Naruto to wake up, I had come to learn some things about the lazy boy. One was that he had a great strategic mind.
The match between Shikamaru and Temari was… difficult to describe, both of them were strategists, however whilst Temari stood out in the open attacking with her Wind Style, Shikamaru hid in the shade of the wall, barely making a move. This played to their advantages, Temari was at a long distance which was perfect for a Wind Style user, whilst Shikamaru's Shadow Possession was strengthened by the other shadows surrounding it.
Shikamaru used several ways to lengthen his shadow, by waiting for the wall's shadow to get longer and using his jacket as a parachute to cast another shadow which acted like a charge point for his Jutsu. Temari continually dodged the shadow and measured the distance each time it was lengthened, to remind herself of the safety point.
Eventually Shikamaru managed to catch her, thanks to Naruto, He used the tunnel that Naruto had dug when he defeated Neji to his advantage, as Temari had ended up right beside the hole Naruto had punched out of. That hole and the hole within the crater were connected and Shikamaru was able to extend his shadow's reach using that and caught her… however he still gave up, making Temari the winner.
Naruto ended up jumping down from the alcove and running up to Shikamaru, I sighed at the blonde's impulsiveness before jumping down myself if only to prevent the blonde from killing Shikamaru.
"Why'd you give up?! Are you really that lazy or are you just a bit chicken?!" Naruto yelled at Shikamaru, as the brunette stretched. I waited to see how Shikamaru would respond before stepping in.
"Hey it's over let's just forget it ok," Shikamaru suggested. I knew that Naruto would only get more infuriated with the lacking answer that he had been given.
"Are you kidding? No it's not ok, you had that match-," Naruto began to lecture but Shikamaru cut him off.
"Would you skip it, are you forgetting? There's another match," Shikamaru reminded Naruto, shutting the blonde up instantly.
"He's right Naruto, we still have Sasuke's match to wait for," I joined in, causing both of them to look at me.
"What about your match?" Naruto asked.
"My match will only happen after all victors of the first four matches are decided since it is me against Temari and the winner will face Shino," I explained. Naruto seemed to understand and then turned back to the more pressing matter… Sasuke's lack of appearance.
The crowd was getting riled again because of Sasuke not showing up yet and I knew things would really get ugly if he didn't come at all, Naruto was looking all over the arena to see if he could spot our missing teammate hiding in the shadows. The proctor then told everyone that Sasuke was going to be given ten minutes to arrive at the stadium otherwise he would be disqualified.
'This is bad, could I have misread the chakra sense… no I'd know his chakra anywhere. I just hope that whatever happened to Sasuke it isn't bad.' I thought as the three of us remained on the ground waiting in anticipation for something to happen.
"Man I swear if he doesn't show I'll kill him, I swear I'll kill him," Naruto ranted. Me and Shikamaru simply remained silent onlookers to the growing aggravation in both the crowd and Naruto.
"You know, it might not be so bad of an idea to hide and soon," I whispered to Shikamaru.
"Why's that?" Shikamaru asked.
"Because you got garbage thrown at you… twice and they're only getting more agitated meaning sharp objects could be next," I responded. Shikamaru his head and sighed in agreement and annoyance, Naruto repeated his threat on Sasuke's life as well as stating that the crowd would probably kill him as well.
"Alright, the time limit has expired, so I'm officially calling this match-," The proctor began to speak only for a large gust of wind to blow all around us, whipping up a large tornado of leaves in the process. When the gale calmed down I saw that standing in the middle were Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei.
"Sorry we're late you wouldn't believe the traffic," Kakashi-sensei spoke up in a calm voice.
'So he really is always late… really late.' I thought unimpressed by the both of them.
"And you are?" The proctor asked, directing his question at the young Uchiha.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha," He responded. Immediately everyone began to cheer for him, I could tell that Shikamaru also wasn't impressed by the boys' actions.
"Ha, so you decided to show up after all? I was betting you wouldn't come, because sooner or later you'd have to face me," Naruto taunted his rival, finally attracting the ravenette's attention.
"So what about you did you win?" Sasuke asked.
"You know it," Naruto responded.
"I haven't fought yet, we've been waiting around for you get your lazy butt here for the past ten minutes," I spoke up. Sasuke looked at me and nodded, I couldn't help but notice there was something different about him but I couldn't peg what it was, apart from the new black single piece outfit he wore. With bandages and bands longs his limbs.
"So how late are, it's not like Sasuke's disqualified or anything, right?" Kakashi asked nervously. Me, Naruto and Shikamaru all looked at the proctor, the time limit was up but he hadn't been able to officially declare that Sasuke had lost the match.
"Like master, like pupil, even down to your lousy sense of time," The proctor stated in annoyance, causing Kakashi to repeat his question. "You know you were so late they extended the deadline for you, twice in fact and it's lucky for you we did, you just made it. No he's not disqualified," The proctor answered.
"Oh that's a relief, you had me worried there for a minute. So we're ok," Kakashi stated the relief in his voice obvious. I saw that Sasuke was staring at something, so I followed his line of sight and saw it was Gaara who was returning the stare.
"Just make sure you don't lose to this guy," Naruto encouraged Sasuke. Naruto then told Sasuke he also wanted to fight him as well. Gaara was called down and so me, Naruto and Shikamaru went up the stairs seeing as how we weren't needed.
"Will you hurry up come on," Naruto complained to Shikamaru. We had almost reached the top of the stairs leading to the pathway for the alcove and Shikamaru was behind the both of us with me in the lead.
"Relax Naruto, you're going to give yourself an ulcer," Shikamaru responded. I turned around to wait for Shikamaru to catch up, along with Naruto who was a step below, when I saw something in the hallway, Shikamaru saw our stopped presences and turned to see what we were looking at.
Within the hallway were three people that I could make out, however features and clothing were obscured as well as anything they could be saying. One figure was walking towards the stairs we were on whilst the other two were opposing the person.
Suddenly the lights went out preventing us from seeing anything, but we heard enough, screams echoed from the hallway as whatever was happening occurred and we couldn't do a thing to stop it.
One of the people rushed out and I saw that he was a Grass ninja, but that was all I got before sand dragged him back into darkened hallway. I knew then he was dead, the three of us remained deathly still not wishing to make a sound as we waited for something to happen. Gaara's footsteps echoed as he walked towards us, he came down the stairs and his hand lightly brushed mine and it felt like static shot through my arm, he walked right passed us and down the stairs to the arena.
A few seconds passed before the two collapsed to the stairs whilst I hand to brace myself against the wall that was beside me. Shikamaru stated if we had been any earlier it would have been us that died and that Sasuke was in trouble.
"Hey Naruto, Ami, do you remember yesterday? What Gaara said?" Shikamaru asked. Me and Naruto both remembered after all how could we forget such an event. "I do for sure," Shikamaru stated.
"All the same I will kill you, just you wait, I'll kill you, I'll kill you all," Gaara told us. Those words echoed from the back of my mind, refusing to be forgotten.
"That's what he said but then he didn't do it," Shikamaru stated. I wondered why he hadn't killed us, to Gaara it all the same it didn't matter who he killed. "It was the perfect opportunity but he… I don't know. It was like he didn't even see us or something," Shikamaru stated. I nodded understand but then the wheels in my mind began to spin a turn and a terrifying resolution came to mind.
"He didn't kill us because he didn't see us," I blurted out, causing the two to look at me confused. "Think about, those two got in his way, we didn't. He killed them because of that, he's solely focused on Sasuke, so much that only those who try to stop him are noticed," I explained. Realisation dawned on their faces along with the fact that we all now knew that Sasuke was it danger.
"We've got to tell Kakashi-sensei right," Naruto stated, as he leapt to his feet.
"What are you planning to do?" Shikamaru asked. But Naruto didn't give him an answer as he began to run off, I pushed off the wall and began chasing after him with Shikamaru following me.
"I've got to stop him, I've got to stop the match," Naruto called back as his answer to Shikamaru's questioning. We arrived in the audience's area and looked around until I spotted a head of white hair, along with pink, blonde and black hair.
"He's over there," I told them. We rushed over to were Kakashi-sensei was, hoping to save Sasuke from certain death.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out, attracting the Jōnin's attention towards us. We arrived at the top of the stairs that Kakashi was stood on, all three of us were panting heavily from having run so fast to reach Kakashi, I saw that Guy, Lee, Sakura, Ino and Chōji were there along with him.
"What is it Naruto?" Kakashi-sensei asked, confused by our sudden appearance.
"Sensei please, you just have to stop this match right away," Naruto begged, the panic for Sasuke filling his voice.
"What?" Kakshi-sensei asked, surprised by Naruto's demand.
"The guy Sasuke's fighting is completely different to the rest of us, he's about as far from normal as you can get," Naruto explained. Although the explanation only served to confuse the others even more than they already were
"Naruto, slow down. What are you trying to say?" Ino asked.
"He thinks his point in life is to kill people. Don't you see if this continues Sasuke will die!" Naruto yelled at the other, hoping to get his point across. "You got to believe me," Naruto continued when he saw the sceptical looks on his friends' faces.
"Relax, no need to panic. You know Sasuke and I weren't just goofing around there's a reason we were so late getting here," Kakashi-sensei explained. I still didn't calm down, things were too dangerous at the moment for me to drop my guard, no matter what anyone said.
I watched as Sasuke attacked the Sand Sphere that Gaara had most likely encased himself in, however all of Sasuke's attacks were in vain since the sand was far too hard to penetrate with the basic attacks he was using, it would take considerable power and force to punch through the sand. It also didn't help that the Sand sphere was able to retaliate by launching out spikes of sand to attack Sasuke.
"Sensei you said there was a good reason you were late. What were you doing?" Sakura asked. I was also interested in this fact but I was far more concerned with the match than information.
"Well it's kind of a long story," Kakashi-sensei responded. Naruto got annoyed by this and demanded for them to do something but he was simply told to shut up and watch by Kakashi-sensei. "Keep your eye on Sasuke, he's about to surprise you," Kakashi-sensei informed us. I furrowed my eyebrows but decided to focus my attention on the Uchiha to see what would happen.
Sasuke began to star flipping backwards and even went quite a way up the wall before skidding to a fault, I saw him form hand signs before thrusting his left hand down so that it faced the wall. Then a tingle appeared in the air and I watched as a large amount of lighting began to gather in Sasuke outstretched palm.
'It couldn't be.' I thought in surprise as I recognised the jutsu that Sasuke was using. Kakashi-sensei revealed that the reason why he always trained Sasuke was because Sasuke was like him. Sasuke then moved his arm back so that it ended up by his left side before he began charging down, the force of the lighting was also ripping through the stone of the wall.
Everyone was surprised and impressed by the jutsu, but I noticed that guy seemed to know what the jutsu was himself. The jutsu was also giving off a strange voice one that could be described as chirping birds, Sakura asked what the technique was.
"It's a jab, but this jab is a jab like no other. It's the only weapon in Kakashi's arsenal he didn't copy from someone else. It's the weapon of choice for assassination," Guy explained, surprising everyone. "The secret of the jab is in the speed with which it is delivered and the ninja's ability to focus the chakra at the point of impact. Once these two elements ,speed and focus, have attained a certain level the chakra actually becomes physical and gives off that distinctive sound you hear, like birds chirping," Guy continued to explain.
"It is this sound that gives the technique its' name, Chidori – One Thousand Birds," Guy finished up. He finished just as the attack went through the Sand Sphere, silence hung over the arena for a few moments, I knew Guy was talking but I couldn't hear his words for the silence was suffocating as I waited for something to happen. Then the most painful sound I ever heard echoed from the Sand Sphere… it was Gaara, screaming in pain.
Sasuke then began to struggle to pull away of sand as it seemed his arm was trapped, then more lightning to burst out from around his arm and the screaming came again. Sasuke was eventually able to remove his arm and jumped back, but along with his arm was something else, it was a strange thing, a sandy coloured length that had blue markings on it and spines protruding from the sides and the end which was shaped almost like a hand.
Sasuke collapsed to his knees clutching his arm whilst that strange thing retreated inside of the Sand Sphere. Then the sphere began to crack before crumbling away into the normal soft sand it was, Gaara's form was revealed and I saw that he was clutching his left shoulder but I still saw the crimson fluid leaking over his hand.
Suddenly as if out of nowhere, white feathers began to fall down around us, I could feel my eyelids beginning to droop and I realised it was a Genjutsu, I immediately released it dispersing the effect around me and waking myself up. I saw that Guy, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and several others had also released the Genjutsu but almost everyone else had fallen under its' spell.
Then smoke engulfed the area where the Hokage and Kazekage were sitting, I watched as the ANBU Black Ops that had been scattered about all charged for the Hokage's area.
"This is good," I stated, before summoning my katana knowing that a fight would soon be on our hands.