A/N: Good day (or good evening), ladies and gentlemen. I don't have a lot to say this time around, other than trying to peg out another chapter in the midst of my rather hectic schedule (I'll spare you all the details—you know how real life can be). I apologize for the long wait…as well as my indefinite hiatus. To those still with me, thank you ever so much for your saintly patience. To those that have left me in the harrowing darkness, I owe you a plethora of my deepest apologies. Believe me in that I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.
Without further ado, let's get down to business…
The Preliminary Rounds…
Saishuukai… (Last time…) on Birth of a Legend: The Fox Druid…
"There are basically no rules," Hayate continued. "The fight will continue unless one of three options occurs: you die; you are rendered unconscious; or you submit, admitting your defeat. Um…If you don't want to die, then I would encourage you to acknowledge your defeat at a moment's notice.
"However, when I decide that the match is over, it is over if, and only if, the winner is determined by my ruling. I'll jump in and stop things, since we don't want any unnecessary deaths. This will be the object that controls your destiny…"
That was the signal. Anko tapped a button on the side of the headset. "Open it," she said through the transmitter.
Part of the wall opened up, behind the large set of hands. Planted in the wall was a considerably large monitor.
"This electronic scoreboard will show the match-ups for each battle. Now, I know that this is sudden, but let us announce the two names of the first fight…"
The electric display board spun quickly, running through the names of the chuunin hopefuls. The iridescent characters began to slow down until they paused on a set. Glowing like fire, two names had been presented.
The ones that would be facing off first would be…
Chapter Sixteen: Battle Ignition: Genin Knockout Rounds
Amidst the crowd, one shinobi smirked while the other one gulped in anxiety. It was going to be a very interesting match to kick off the festivities.
"Would everyone, with the exceptions of Akimichi Chouji and Temari, please move to the upper balcony?" Hayate questioned.
The portly boy was on pins and needles. He had to face off…against a girl? She certainly looked very mean and a bit barbaric, from what he had seen. In a sense, she embodied the femme fatale of his entire group of peers.
A steady hand grasped his shoulder from behind.
"I know it's troublesome to say this, but there's no pressure, Chouji," Shikamaru said, bored look and all. "Just do your best. That's all you can do at times like this. And remember: don't fall for easy ploys."
The hefty lad's worry was abated, courtesy of the words of encouragement from his childhood friend. He would take this loss or win in stride, whatever would be the outcome.
"If you perform well, Chouji, then I'll treat you to some barbecue," their sensei chimed in from out of nowhere. He thought that spurring along his charge with a rewarding incentive would further pacify him. "So, how about it?"
"Sensei, you shouldn't convince him with food," Ino bluntly said, eyes narrowed.
That provided the desired results. Chouji's eyes held within them a subtle fire, ready to roar. He pounded together his fists. There was grub waiting for him at the end of the tunnel. "All right, let's do this!"
XXXXXXXXXX
With everyone up on the rafters, with the exception of the two competitors and the proctor, the first match was under way.
Temari's calculating orbs took in what she saw in her rotund opponent. In a literal sense, she sized up her competition, and it left little to be desired. The frown on her face was evident of that fact.
"Let's just get this over with…" Temari commented.
Chouji was at odds with himself for the moment. Should he dare strike first against the young woman standing several meters from his position? He had a kind heart, but he could never, ever hit a lady. That was what his mother told him when he was a tyke…
"I don't have all day, fatty," the fan-wielder grumbled, slamming down her ougi for accent.
It had grown eerily quiet all throughout the tower.
The portly shinobi paused in his thought processing. Did she just say…what he thought she said?
"I'm sorry," Chouji muttered between clenched teeth. "What did you call me?" Slowly, but surely, killing intent began to leak from the corpulent brunet while his eyebrows started to violently twitch. "I didn't quite catch that…"
Shikamaru placed his face in his palms and shook his head. That female ninja was sunk. It was another case of troublesome, unless it was a part of the Sand chick's strategy…
'Wait! That's it!' Shikamaru's eyes grew very large.
Ino grimaced, too, on account of the now ticking time-bomb that was their normally compassionate teammate. That Suna kunoichi royally screwed herself over on that one by striking a very sensitive nerve. She just broke one of the unspoken taboos of one Akimichi Chouji…or any of his clansmen, in general:
One: Never, under any circumstance, come between an Akimichi clan member and his or her food. One would receive a humiliating pounding from the affiliate in question.
Two: Never, ever, under any condition, debase their status as anything other than 'pleasantly plump' or 'big-boned.' Similar results may appear similar to the first common law sanction, if not worse.
Sure, she berated Chouji time and again regarding his weight, but it was just out of concern for his well-being, even though she was loath to admit it. She would not stoop to the level of disrespecting him. That was asking for too much trouble. She was the domineering kind of individual; not coldhearted and certainly not cruel.
Temari's visage was composed and showed no emotion. "I said, 'I don't have all day, fat-ass,' or something along those lines. What? You can't hear, either? Well, then, you must be some fat retard…" She supposed that this was part of her plan: get her adversary angry enough to cause enough blunders to cost him the match.
So far, it was working…a little too well…
"Chouji better keep his head in this match, or else he's toast," the shougi player summed up.
"How so, Shikamaru?" Ino asked with her eyes still fixed on the arena.
"If he gets careless, then his opponent will capitalize on the mistakes that he will probably make. In shorter terms, she's egging him on…on purpose…" He paused. "At least, that's what I think."
"I'm not fat!" the portly shinobi roared. "I'm pleasantly plump!"
The tubby genin flashed through a couple of hand seals to expand his body to unreal proportions, enabling his clan-specific Baika no Jutsu. Tucking in his head and limbs, he began to roll and pick up the pace toward his opponent. That bitch was going to get steamrolled…the hard way.
"Nikudan Sensha!!"
Temari hid her surprise when the human cannonball picked up velocity. She rolled out of the projected path and started to process the abilities of the ninja known as Chouji.
From what the wind mistress could tell, the evident girth on his frame was the primary source to powering his techniques. He was more than likely a specialist in close-ranged combat.
She smirked. It was going to be an interesting match. She should be at the vantage point with her special style of Fuuton ninjutsu…
That was, if she could maintain a steady distance from the obese genin. Otherwise, she would get flattened beyond recognition if she was not too careful.
XXXXXXXXXX
From the rafters, Naruto glanced at the mark on Sasuke's neck and noticed an amber ring surrounding it. It appeared as though the skin surrounding said blot was elevated, indicative of an agitated, swollen state. It looked a bit grotesque.
"Hey, Sasuke?"
"What? Can't you see I'm trying to watch the match?" he asked, eyes somewhat sagging.
"I know that, but…what happened with that mark on your neck? It's…kind of puffy." Naruto's face scrunched together as if he whiffed spoiled meat.
The raven-haired ninja thought for a moment. It was sort of obvious that the blond idiot was concerned. However, in Sasuke's mind, he was getting too close for comfort. He should have remained as distant as possible.
"I'm fine, Naruto," the Uchiha flatly stated. Kakashi, along with some help from the Hokage, partially sealed the triple-tomoe mark from spreading too far. As a secondary effect, it helped with lessening the pain a little. On the other hand, after his match was done, his cyclopean sensei would haul him away to add more onto it. "So, don't worry about me. I'll manage."
Sasuke breathed easier after sating his teammate's curiosity, for he turned away his slit orbs to the arena below. He, too, peered down and saw what was about to unfold. So far, to the raven-haired genius, it was rather uneventful, to say the least. It was mainly Chouji rolling and the blonde (Temari, he remembered) evading. But, of course, it was just the start of the round, so it stood to reason that nothing worthy of note would appear…yet.
The bewhiskered ninja clutched the railing before he eased up on his grip. His right hand was dully throbbing, but it had been nowhere near the pain that he felt twenty-four hours ago. It seemed as if his regenerative abilities kicked into overdrive after he had fallen asleep. Naruto was close to being at one hundred percent when going into his upcoming fight, whenever that may be.
"Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" a soft voice asked.
The emanating scent of peaches wafted into the blond's nostrils before he turned to the direction of the kind tone.
"Haku-chan!" he cried with wide eyes. "I didn't see you with all these people in the Tower."
She gave Naruto a soothing smile and then grabbed the village savior's hand.
"Eh? Haku-chan, what are you doing?" His frantic eyes zoomed around the building, but luckily, no one paid any mind. Sakura, who was curiously looking at the quasi-tender moment, did not count.
His reply was a hand, coated in green, which hovered around his sore hand. Naruto felt ethereal warmth envelop his limb.
Her eyes crinkled in delight as she continued her ministrations. "It's only a simple diagnostic technique that I learned some time ago."
"When did you…?"
"The time's not all that important," she answered.
"I thought there weren't any secrets between us…"
"Secrets to jutsu, yes, there can be," she remarked in a sagely manner belying her age. "Other than that…" She tapered off, letting Naruto fill in the space.
The blue-eyed kid paused with a blank look on his face. "Fair enough," he stated after a sigh.
"I noticed that you have been favoring that hand for quite some time, even when Hokage-sama was giving his speech." Concern was subtly pouring out of her voice. "I just thought that I…should check on you. That's all." She canceled the technique. "For the most part, your hand is all right, but I detected some faint traces of…burned muscles due to concentrated chakra usage. At any rate, they're close to fully healed, and the pain should subside within another hour or two."
Naruto nodded. "That sounds like good news, then." A phantom pain ran through his shoulder, causing him to wince. He rubbed the area where he was bitten by that damnable serpent. It was not as elevated as Sasuke's mark, but it was definitely a sight for sore eyes. "Mind giving this a quick once-over, too, Haku-chan?"
Regrettably, the Hyouton specialist shook her head. "That…is something that I cannot heal, given the amount of training and experience. I'm afraid that it would be beyond my expertise." She wished that she could help him, but it was out of her hands. She could not do much of anything. With a heavy heart, it was painful to see her savior…er, the village's savior suffering from a burden that she could not lighten.
"You don't need to be upset, Haku-chan," Naruto spoke, clearly reading what was on the Hyouton kunoichi's mind, much to her surprised look. The boy's perception was astounding. "Compared to the things I've gone through, this isn't anything to sweat over." He gave her a light smile. "Trust me on this one. I'll be okay."
While the two were immersed in their own world, a gust of wind was followed by a loud, rumbling sound. Naruto, Haku, and Sakura turned their attention to the showground and had seen Chouji engraved along the edge of the wall. From where his body impacted, spider web-like cracks crept up and around the partition.
Gekkou Hayate could tell that the portly boy would not be getting up after he fell from his indentation. "The winner of this match is Temari."
"Wait a minute," Naruto muttered under his breath as he took in the scene below. "What the hell just happened?"
"Should've been paying better attention, knucklehead," Sasuke retorted while the medical staff sprung into action. With little to no effort, the medical-nin moved the portly boy onto a stretcher and carried him away to be treated for any injuries.
Naruto took the opportunity to hold his tongue from unleashing a flood of expletives against his dark-haired teammate. Now was not the time to blow his top. However, he could not stop from grinding together his teeth or clenching together his fists.
'Just calm down…' he chanted to himself.
He was not stupid; nor was he bright, either. He had his moments of clarity, whereas, in some cases, he would be left wandering around in the dark. This would be one of those times.
Naruto could have asked Kakashi-sensei, but their perverted instructor was too engrossed in his trashy book. He probably did not see much of anything as well. It was either that, or he just feigned not paying attention.
With an even breath, he used his enhanced vision to take in the big picture from what took place.
Taking into account from what he had seen of Chouji's abilities, that blast of wind was evidently not his own, so it was, without a doubt, part of Temari's arsenal.
'So, she's got a concentration in Fuuton, eh?' he calculated while watching the older blonde walk proudly to her squad. 'That could explain that…thing that she has on her back. I didn't see if it could be opened or not.'
He would have to keep an eye on that other blonde and see what she pulled off. Maybe he could learn something from her, just like what he saw from that Zaku guy.
Hayate's voice broke through Naruto's thoughts. "Um…I think we should go on with the next match." He coughed to clear his throat.
The symbols on the electronic board became a blur before landing on another set of competitors.
"Well, I guess I'm up," Sasuke evenly said. He turned to Naruto and displayed a rather conceited, smug look. "Watch and learn, idiot."
Naruto pretended to be disinterested when Sasuke flipped off the railing and into the arena below. "What a show-off," he muttered under his breath.
Sakura heard the subtle jab and lightly smacked Naruto in the back of his head. "Like you're one to talk," she retorted with flat eyes.
He cut his eyes to the rosette-haired kunoichi. "Hey, I'm just saying," the blond weakly spoke up in his defense.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Are the challengers ready?" Hayate asked between a fit of coughing.
Sasuke took in what he saw in his opponent; someone by the name of Tsurugi Misumi. From the looks of it, the ninja appeared to be well-built, lean and well beyond Sasuke's age—probably twice as much, if the dark-haired shinobi could guess.
The man's head was obscured from view due to a bandana on his cranium and a deep-violet cloth hanging around the lower half of his face. Like Kabuto, Misumi possessed a set of glasses as well, and his eyes did not look friendly in the least.
Narrowing his focus on the competition, Sasuke nodded his head in the affirmative. He would take this challenge head-on to test his mettle. He prepared himself by shifting into his natural fighting stance.
'Arms out…knees slightly bent…I'm good…'
"You should know," Misumi said with a sneer, "that I show no mercy against punks like you."
"Hn," Sasuke snorted in indifference.
The masked ninja narrowed his eyes. "I'll say this now: if I put my techniques on you, it's over. Give up immediately."
"Go ahead," Sasuke retorted with nonchalance. He slightly slid his leading foot. "Do your worst."
With an unspoken signal, the larger genin sprang into action by rushing his smaller foe with a quick right hook. Sasuke, as per instinct, nimbly dodged the oncoming blow to where his face would have been. In turn, the lone Uchiha utilized his opponent's momentum by grabbing the larger of the two and throwing him over his shoulder.
The elder shinobi deftly landed in a crouch to regain his center of gravity.
'Hmm,' he mused. 'This kid's not half-bad…manipulating my own weight against me with little resistance…'
Misumi noticed that the short kid was flying through hand seals…probably gearing up for a Fire Release technique.
He was not going to let that Uchiha punk incinerate him. Once again, Misumi rushed Sasuke, breaking his concentration. The purple-clad shinobi launched a punch, but the sole Sharingan wielder used his two arms to stop the blow to his face.
Sasuke's relief did not last long, however, when the arm that he grabbed began to contort and wrap around him like a boa constrictor, completely trapping both of his arms.
"What the—?"
"I won't give you a chance to do anything!" the stretchy shinobi thundered.
'Damn it,' he pondered as he struggled to break free. 'I can't use jutsu now…'
"In order to gather information, my body has been altered to fit in any space," Misumi spoke up out of the lone Uchiha's surprise. "I can keep squeezing until I break your bones." He narrowed his eyes. "If you don't give up, then I'll keep squeezing harder."
Sure enough, Sasuke felt even more pressure constricting around his now immobile joints and muscles.
"Guu…" he wheezed. Keeping his cool, the Sharingan heir looked around for a way out. 'I can barely breathe…'
"I don't know what you're planning," the contorted ninja cut in, as if giving his prey a warning, "but you can't do anything while like this." One could feel the sneer coming from behind his mask. "Try something funny, and I won't wait for you to give up. I'll immediately break your neck, boy." He applied more pressure. "So, go ahead, hurry up and submit."
"Heh," Sasuke managed to huff out. "Is that all you've got? Even…my teammates could do better…than what you're doing."
Misumi grunted. "You asked for it, shrimp."
'I'm not going out like this,' Sasuke mused. 'I have to achieve my goal…'
SNAP!
Most of the participants looked on in mute horror, while a select few looked on with unbreakable concentration. Something was not right as Sasuke's body hung limp in Misumi's serpentine grip.
XXXXXXXXXX
"No!" Naruto shouted while running his fingers through his hair. The grimace that lined his face practically pulled most of the muscles along his mandible. "No, no, no, no! This can't be it!" Doshaburi practically felt the worry that poured from his master.
'Master Naruto…'
Sakura, on the other hand, was tearing up. Saline drops were pricking at the corners of her vision. "Sasuke-kun…" she hoarsely whispered.
"I wouldn't count out your teammate just yet, if I were you," Kakashi noted, startling his charges a bit.
Of all things, the bewhiskered blond wondered since when did his perverted sensei stop reading his book and paid more attention to the fight.
The foxy genin and his pink-haired counterpart noticed a slight twinkle in their instructor's eye; as if he knew something that they did not. "Just watch and see for yourself, ye of little faith." Said orb crinkled in amusement, leaving Naruto and Sakura more confused than ever.
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
'The blank looks tell it all…' the Copy-Ninja inwardly mused.
XXXXXXXXXX
The contorting ninja heaved a sigh. "Damn idiot…You made me kill you…"
"I made you kill who, now?"
Confused looks wandered around the entirety of the stadium, looking for what sounded like the last Uchiha's voice. Ever slowly, Sasuke emerged from the ground like a ravenous phantasm while Misumi looked as if he had seen just that…a wayward spirit desiring vengeance.
It was then that the serpentine ninja saw that ever-burning fire in the Uchiha's eyes that could never be extinguished. Within those eyes, Misumi could see that strong will to survive…the need to conquer those who stood in his path to glory and infamy in the shinobi world.
Those very eyes shook the distorted man to the core.
'What is he?'
'I suppose I ought to thank that Rain ninja for the inspiration…' Sasuke rippled out of the ground and stood up on the solid linoleum of the stadium.
"The hand seals were a ruse, Misumi," Sasuke stated in a condescending tone. "The technique I laid out was already in the false sequence. You thought that you had me, but it was I who had laid the trap, and you became the victim." With a snap of his fingers, the effigy that Misumi grasped started to ignite in a blaze of orange and red flames. With naught but a whisper, Sasuke spoke softly the name of his technique, "Katon: Shoushin no Kouji…"
It was then that the bespectacled ninja started to howl in pain, trying to snuff out the flames, when a swift kick was delivered to his smoldering, limp body.
However, Sasuke was not finished with his attack. It needed a dazzling follow-through; something that would even make the 'dead-last' green with envy.
The Uchiha scion began to spin on his head, with legs spread wide and angular, almost like a revolving top.
'What the hell is that bastard trying to do?' Naruto mused as his lips pursed in tandem with his thinking scowl. 'I never saw anything like this coming from him before…'
His question was answered when dazzling flames ignited from underneath Sasuke's head, propelling him skyward, to meet his soaring foe head-on.
In fact, Sasuke's foot landed in the dead center of the contorted shinobi's back after his fire-powered launch. The gurgling sound from the semi-conscious Tsurugi did not end the oncoming bombardment of kicks, sending both ninja higher into the air.
The raven-haired avenger nimbly gained a leverage hold onto Misumi's clothes, propelling himself over the fatigued body to plant another hard kick into the older ninja's ribcage.
Once again, the onyx-eyed shinobi's onslaught was nowhere near finished. Just like he had done in the Forest of Death, he saturated his extremities with chakra, but this time, scorching-hot flames danced about his arms and legs. He was going to make this really sting.
With one final bellow, the Sharingan-wielder fired away with impressive follow-throughs of hammer blows and knee strikes to his now-plummeting adversary.
The chain combo ended with sizzling, fiery heel-plants delivered to Misumi's sternum. When the contorted shinobi hit the floor with a sickening thud, fissures in the linoleum tiles could be evidently seen. Tsurugi Misumi was down, out, and not going to get back up any time soon.
After the unilateral attack, the sole Uchiha stood up, exhausted, after delivering unto his opponent the highly impromptu Shishiku Rendan—the Lion's Roar Combo, which essentially combined elemental chakra into the art of taijutsu, but finished out with a different style of brutality. At first, when the…former…idiot thought up of it, Sasuke scoffed at the idea. He thought of it as an impossible feat…
The Sharingan-wielder regretted having said that, for, during a practice (experimental) bout, he had the air knocked out of him when Naruto landed a blow to his gut, which was enhanced by wind-natured chakra. Sure, he would never admit it out loud that he was taken by surprise on that day, but that gave pause for thought on the many combinations and possibilities he could acquire through blending different disciplines to create something that maintained the best of both worlds. He shook his limbs in an attempt to stop the tingling sensation from having fire-enriched chakra percolate through his system. He would have to be cautious on how to use that later.
Upon further confirmation of the twisting ninja's status, Hayate ambled over to the downed man and checked him. Misumi was breathing, albeit barely, with some occasional wheezing. He could assume that his eyes were closed behind his shady eyewear. There was no doubt; he could declare this as a victory in the younger shinobi's favor.
The seemingly sickly proctor coughed a bit before he spoke up amidst the hanging stillness. "Tsurugi Misumi is unable to continue. The winner of this match…is Uchiha Sasuke…"
XXXXXXXXXX
Silence reigned over the entire stadium after the upset win in the Uchiha's favor. Though it may have been desolately quiet, the thoughts of many aspiring chuunin hopefuls were buzzing about like an angry hive of bees (or rather, destruction beetles in Shino's case). Even some of the higher-ranked shinobi and kunoichi were rather impressed by that rather short match.
Stroking his thinning beard, the Sandaime Hokage looked rather pleased with how well the Uchiha heir turned out. It seemed as if his opinion on the matter of team placements had turned out for the better. He was especially impressed with how Sasuke managed to integrate ninjutsu into taijutsu, despite how foolhardy and dangerous that had been. That, in and of itself, took considerable skill beyond reproach and without peer. How he managed to not burn himself to a crisp was beyond him. Hiruzen decided to stash away that idea to toggle around at a later time.
Who said that old dogs could not learn new tricks?
XXXXXXXXXX
Once Sasuke was whisked away by their jounin instructor for reasons unknown, Naruto stood on the sidelines, watching the next few matches with partially detached interest.
The next matchup was more of a battle to witness who would make the first move. His former silent classmate, Aburame Shino, was pitted against a chakra-draining ninja like himself, one Akadou Yoroi.
It would be sufficient to say that it had gone on for roughly three minutes before any progress was seen, and that was when the older shinobi began screaming as if he had been tossed into a colony of fire ants. As composed as the next shinobi exemplar, the bug-host managed to discreetly encompass the room with his insects, circling around the elder of the two, without any hint of giving away his true intentions. He simply uttered that Yoroi should give up while he still had the opportunity. Not one for throwing in the towel, the other bespectacled ninja engaged Shino for a brief amount of time.
Little did Akadou Yoroi know that landing a punch on the living host of a Destruction Beetle colony would be his undoing, for it was, once again, another ruse (in the form of a bug clone) before the match came to its rather anticlimactic close, with hardly any verbal speech, whatsoever.
After Shino's battle, Shikamaru made his next match a bit more entertaining, despite his griping mumbles about not wanting to be here. Regardless of the sullen boy's protests, he managed to think circles around the bandaged mummy (Dosu, he vaguely recalled). Taking into account on what the Oto-nin had on his arm, the lazy genin took the necessary steps to stay away from being hit by that…much less, being around the unsettling proximity of that metal contraption.
Once Kinuta Dosu was where Shikamaru wanted, he attacked with his clan's vaunted technique, the Kage Mane no Jutsu, through the cracks in the tiles, essentially freezing the elder shinobi in his place and was forced to mimic his captor's movements. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, the pineapple-haired genin took out a few shuriken from his pouch, with Dosu imitating what he had done, and immediately let loose those pointed stars. It was the Oto-nin's misfortune that he was so close to the wall that he collided with it when trying to dodge the barrage, promptly knocking himself out.
His former part-time tutor, Rock Lee, probably held the fastest match conclusion to date when he fought against the Sound kunoichi, Tsuchi Kin…a whopping forty-five seconds!
At first, Lee was reluctant to face off and fight against a girl. He, like Chouji, was even more hesitant to mar her youthful image, but the spandex-clad splendid ninja was more outspoken on his stance.
That changed, however, when Kin started to ridicule his style of dress…as well as slandering his sensei…
Those who knew the splendid ninja slightly winced when she directly prodded into a taboo subject.
Never, under any condition, insult Rock Lee's mentor.
Naruto ruefully shook his head when he recalled those pointed remarks from the Oto-nin. 'The poor girl had it coming…with that mouth of hers becoming her undoing…'
It was on account of those not-so-subtle jabs that allowed the bushy-browed ninja to hold no reservation on his part when he soundly pummeled the smaller girl into the wall, leaving an almost identical indentation alongside Chouji's when he was blasted back in his fight with Temari. Some ninja on top had to look away from the utter humiliation.
Once Lee had calmed down after the match, he gave his deepest apologies to his then-unconscious opponent before meeting back up with his teammates.
His tempered spirits were dampened a bit after he had seen the questioning looks from both Neji and Tenten, and an emotionless look from his idol and guru.
"Lee," Gai said quietly, "you have done well; however, one must never give into blind fury, for that will lead to petty vengeance. Hatred begets a vicious cycle, and the chain of events will not stop." His speech was not only directed at his youthful student, but it was implied to the less-than-youthful Neji, too. "Do you understand, Lee?"
"Yes," Lee replied, completely humbled, if his bow with his head to the ground was any indication. "My deepest apologies, Gai-sensei."
A small smile let through on Gai's visage as he knelt down and placed a shoulder on the bowing genin. "At least you know that, either in victory or defeat, you can learn valuable lessons." He looked up at his other two vernal pupils. "That goes for everyone."
Neji scowled a bit. "Right," he tightly responded.
"Yes, Gai-sensei," Tenten quietly added after her white-eyed teammate.
Even with his eccentricities, Maito Gai shared nuggets of wisdom to anyone willing to hear him out…that was, whenever he was not in the mood to go on tirades stressing 'youth.'
XXXXXXXXXX
Naruto and Sakura suddenly felt a presence appear from out of nowhere, directly behind them. Both of them had tightened up and reached for their braces of kunai, but they had relaxed when the ninja in question was none other than Kakashi-sensei.
"Yo," he uttered with a wave of his hand. If he was winded, then he did a good job with hiding it.
"Hey, Sensei," the blond genin began to ask, "could you try to be a little bit less scary when you do that?"
"Well," the Copy Ninja casually responded, "you should always check your blind sides. It'll prevent things like this from happening."
Naruto frowned when he saw his sensei's lone, upturned eye. "Are you making fun of me?"
"What makes you think that, Naruto?" The question was laced with mirth.
"Um," Sakura piped up, "Kakashi-sensei, where's Sasuke-kun? Is he okay?"
If Kakashi had winced, then it went by unnoticed. "He's fine…He's in the hospital ward, resting for now…"
'…with ANBU protection surrounding his room, though…' That much had been left unsaid.
It was rather disheartening for Orochimaru to come into Konoha, uncontested and running amok. Even though Kakashi was told by the Great Snake that he had been maimed by his students, the man was still a grave threat, if that overbearing thirst for blood was any indication. He was a fool for thinking that he could compete with someone with a little over twenty years more experience than him.
But still, the Copy-Ninja hid his shock and pride with relative ease when he gleaned that bit of data from Orochimaru. His team crippled the crafty Orochimaru, which was definitely something far beyond words. Granted, it was probably due to the element of surprise that his charges managed to disable that traitor. On that, Hatake Kakashi was fairly certain. He would now have to keep a close—actually, scratch that—closer eye on each of them, just in case any outside party wanted to spirit away one, two, or all three of his pupils. Since the defected shinobi knew now of his charges' capabilities, he doubted that the same result would come about again.
His thoughts were interrupted when the proctor called out that the sixth match was about to start.
"Man," Naruto sniffed, "there sure are a lot of interesting people here…weird ones, too…"
The blond ninja heard his sensei snicker a bit. "Heh…Like you're one to talk, Naruto."
Sakura, on the other hand, guffawed. "Hah! Good one, Sensei…"
Apparently, the humor ran both ways from Kakashi. "I wouldn't be laughing now, if I were you, Sakura. Just look." He pointed to the digital projector.
"Huh?" Sure enough, her name was on the board, but was rather stunned by the name of her opponent.
Cyan orbs looked at the projector, too. "Oh!"
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Emerald eyes met foam-green as one set eyed the other cautiously, and vice versa.
"I never thought that it'd come to this, Sakura," Ino mentioned, eyes still locked onto the rosette.
"…Likewise, Ino," Sakura muttered. She owed a lot to her former friend; Ino acknowledged her true potential and self-worth despite being belittled for her insecurities when they were in Suzume-sensei's flower-arranging class. It was Ino that stood up to Sakura's aggressors, and from the bottom of her heart, she would truly be in the blonde girl's debt for giving her the encouragement to blossom into something far more beautiful than the cosmos flower.
With an even breath, the pink-haired kunoichi removed her hitai-ate and retied it so the Hidden Leaf insignia was visible on her forehead.
'Ino…I have always believed those words that you told me. I always hoped they were true. You were my goal; I wanted to be like you, and now, here I am…'
"Ino," Sakura started, "right now, I have no intention of fighting over Sasuke-kun with you…"
The blonde's forehead developed a twitch mark. "What was that!?" she bellowed.
"In fact…I'm not worrying over him for the moment, either," Sakura softly uttered, which made Ino pause unexpectedly in her tirade. Her bright, green orbs were no longer in view when Sakura bowed her head and closed her eyes. "I will no longer be the damsel in distress and fight on my own accord. I hope that, through this match with you, I can find my own courage." When her head rose up a few seconds later, resolution permeated her porcelain visage.
"Sakura…" Ino was beyond words, but then realized what her former friend was conveying. 'I get it…'
Like Sakura, she, too, straightened up her forehead protector to fit appropriately, to match the same position. Then, she smirked. "You better bring your A-game, because I'm not going to go easy on you!" Deep down, she felt wary of this developing cherry blossom before her, but on the whole, she was very excited to pit herself against her proclaimed competitor.
"Heh," the green-eyed bookworm snickered as she readied her taijutsu stance. The look of concentration on Sakura's face was unwavering. "Just you wait, Ino. You haven't seen anything yet."
Racing toward one another, the match between the Mind Mistress and the Shadow Blossom was under way…
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Flipping through a few hand seals, one Sakura split into three as the distance was being closed.
"What?" Ino was astonished…as well as a bit insulted. "You're coming at me with that textbook technique?"
The blonde hurriedly tried to seek out the real one out of the three copies, but she was immediately cut off when the real Sakura dashed at her with blinding speed and socked her in the jaw. The blow sent the Yamanaka girl a few yards back, all the while shouting in pain.
"If you think I'm the Sakura that cries a lot, then you'll be hurting badly! Get back on your feet, Ino!"
'I'm definitely not thinking that…You have changed, Sakura…' Ino wiped where she was struck and grinned. She would not admit that, even if her personal pride was at stake. "As you wish, here I come…" Staggering back on her feet, Ino rushed through the Inu and Hitsuji hand seals and focused her mental concentration on the area in front of Sakura. The rosette felt a sharp thrust into her abdomen, grunted, and was promptly propelled her back a few feet.
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"Whoa…" Shikamaru said, rather astonished. "Since when could Ino do that?" He could have sworn that the Yamanaka did not have any offensive ninja arts in their archives. He was sure of it…unless, as per usual, the clan held out on what each member truly knows and what kinds of jutsu are catalogued. He grumbled, "Troublesome," and just left it at that.
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"What do you think of my Ninpou: Kiryoku Bakufuu, Sakura? It gives you a shock to your system, doesn't it?" The grin that radiated on Ino's face practically oozed smug superiority.
Sakura started to chuckle. "Interesting…" She would admit that she was caught unaware of that cheap parlor trick. It was just a minor concussion blast of the user's will that was projected outward to knock back any oncoming adversary. Finally getting back her breath, she continued. "We could turn this into a jutsu battle, if you wish…"
That smirk never left the mind-walker's face. "Go for it…"
"My pleasure…"
The lone Haruno-turned-shinobi flew through a varied and (dare Ino say it) complex string of hand seals, finally landing on some awkward looking seal. Her left hand was practically balled into a fist, whereas her right hand was made into a half-Tora seal.
Sakura brought up her right limb close to her cranium while she extended the left one at a forty-five-degree angle away from her…
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"Oh, no…" Lee was gripping the guard rails as hard as Naruto had been doing. He had seen it as an eyewitness, and he never liked it when it came out to play. He started shaking a bit.
"What's wrong, Lee?" Tenten asked with a worried look adorning her face. "It's not like you to worry about something."
"She is about to unleash a not-so-very-youthful entity that resides within her…"
"Huh?" The weapons mistress was befuddled. "What on earth does that mean?"
However, the splendid ninja pressed on as if he had not heard his teammate. "…Something the likes of which you will never want to see or witness in your lifetime…"
"What are you doing, speaking in code?" Neji scoffed.
Lee could not say anything more. He wanted to crawl into a fetal position and grovel for immunity at Gai-sensei's feet. The splendid ninja felt woe in that he would lose his delicate flower to some hidden beast.
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Elsewhere in the stadium, the sand in the bloody-haired Sand shinobi's gourd started to grind against itself and whirl about frantically. Whatever it was, Mother was overjoyed.
"Should I feed you her blood, Mother?" Gaara quietly asked in his usual monotone, which immediately brought his siblings to be on edge for what may happen…as well as taking a step back from the deranged jinchuuriki.
Whatever excited the demon poorly sealed inside Gaara was not a good thing…
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"Release!"
Ino got concerned when she felt that chakra spike coming from her former companion, but then grew pensive when some black, gaseous effigy flew from Sakura's mouth and eyes and landed beside her.
The now-crouching figure stood up to match the same height as the pink-haired kunoichi adjacent to her. She looked like Sakura, but she had hair as dark as the midnight hour, and her cheongsam and tight-fitted shorts resembled a photo negative of Sakura's attire—a black dress with red trousers.
While the authentic Haruno coughed a bit due to the strain on her body, the Sakura-double began to cackle wildly. "Hey, Ino-chan," she commented playfully, "remember me?"
It was then that Ino's blood chilled for a brief second. That was the thing that kicked her out of Sakura's mind when she tried to pry into what the bookworm knew in regard to the questions on the first phase of the Chuunin selection examinations. Though, she could have sworn that she was just a chalky outline of her outer image, but with a very vicious streak…and quite a foul temper, too.
The mind-walking kunoichi tried her best to hide her grimace from view. 'So, that's your power, Sakura…'
"Why wouldn't I?" Ino carefully retorted while glancing between the two, seeing if either one would make a move. Odds were definitely not in her favor at this point in time. A two-on-one assault was unfair, but so was the world of ninja—one would play to win, by hook or by crook, whether one would like it or not. She overheard her father mentioning to his fellow drinking buddies about damning the rules of impartiality.
Now that her pattern of breathing was stabilized, Sakura got back on her feet. "Youjutsu Kuchiyose: Kage Ningyou Bushi…Let's say that you can equate this to a semi-solid clone of mine that won't go away any time soon." It took half of her available reserves, as well as tapping into the first two Inner Gates for the boost—Kaimon, the First Initial Chakra Gate, and Kyuumon, the second chakra Gate of Rest—so, of course it would be sticking around for quite a while! The chakra needed was not only to bring out her Inner Will by forcing open her mental pathways, but it was also used to form a solid body for her cerebral construct. If she had not been prepared, then it would have left even more considerable strain on her body.
"Well, then," Inner Sakura chirped, "let's start this dance! Shannaro!"
The duet sprang into action with matching sprints, side by side.
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A/N: Well, it was about damn time that I updated again, right?
(That's a rhetorical question; please, don't answer.)
To appease you all, this fic is not dead in the water, even though I haven't updated in almost over eleven months or so. I've been nursing this chapter ever since the start of the New Year, and I'm still not really all that content with it. I suppose that would be my inner perfectionist trying to rear its ugly head.
At any rate, I would like to, once again, give you my deepest apologies for leaving my most faithful readers in the dark after all this time. Let's say that it's been rather busy on my part, seeing that my senior year of college is catching up to me rather quickly (assignments, the creeping deadlines and what have you). I'm sure that a handful of you can relate to what I'm going through. Well, that and I have been compiling a lot of forethought for both of my current fics. Along those lines, not a lot of fan fiction authors are updating as of late, too. I think we've hit a dry spell…or a lot of people are a bit more interested on how well the manga is staying afloat or flopping.
Nevertheless, I hope that the fights (for the moment) were enjoyable, at the very least. I had a huge block regarding that, unfortunately, since I decided (more or less, was persuaded by pudgypudge) to change the Chuunin preliminary match-ups a bit to break up from the standard, monotonous results from the manga. Some had to remain canon, however, for a greater purpose. Be on the lookout for the rest of the fights in the next installment. I know that this is short in comparison the more 'recent' chapters, but I've been putting this off longer than I thought.
As per the norm, I must give credit where credit is due. I would like to thank pudgypudge and weixuan18 for their input, and Paladeus for giving this chapter several glances.
Anyhow, now that I've spoken my peace, let me know what you think (meaningful reviews, now, and try not to snipe me for not updating), and enjoy the rest of your day (or evening, depending on your time zone), ladies and gentlemen.
Oh, and be sure to visit my forum to keep abreast with my update progress…among other things.
The preliminary exams are coming to a close. Several of our chuunin hopefuls have endured against the opposition. What will the winners do during their short reprieve? Time is ticking, and they are not getting any younger…
Jikai (Next time)…on Birth of a Legend: The Fox Druid…
Training Daze (Part I)
Romaji/Jutsu Guide
Baika no Jutsu (Multi-Size Technique): unranked, supplementary secret ninja art technique for the Akimichi clan; this jutsu increases the user's body size by using up the user's food energy, converting calories into chakra (Narutopedia)
Nikudan Sensha (Human Bullet Tank): C-rank offensive short- to mid-range body technique; practitioners of this secret art use the Multi-Size Technique to make themselves into a human-sized ball, while tucking their limbs inside their clothes and use chakra to propel themselves into a powerful, but slow, roll; it is difficult for the user to turn in this form (Narutopedia)
Katon: Shoushin no Kouji (Fire Release: Lure of Self-Immolation): C-rank supplementary ninjutsu; the user leaves a volatile clone of him or herself that incinerates upon the slightest of sound effects from him or her, such as fingers snapping (created)
Shishiku Rendan (Lion's Roar Combo): C-rank offensive taijutsu maneuver; variant of the original Lion Combo, but finishes off the opponent with a dual heel-plant into the abdominal region; this technique increases in grade level if the user adds elemental chakra into it (created)
Kage Mane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique): supplementary secret ninja art to members of the Nara clan; this technique allows the user to extend his shadow for as far as it has sufficient area; once it comes into contact with a target's shadow, the two merge and the target is forced to imitate the user's movements (Narutopedia)
Ninpou: Kiryoku Bakufuu (Ninja Art: Willpower Blast): D-rank offensive all-range hijutsu; user creates a weak concussion wave to knock back foes (created; based off Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Assassin's Mind Blast Shadow Discipline)
Youjutsu Kuchiyose: Kage Ningyou Bushi (Dark Art Summoning: Shadow Puppet Warrior): C-rank offensive/defensive Haruno-clan kekkei genkai youjutsu; user draws out Inner Will as it manifests itself into a human being and as an effective battle partner (created; based off Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Assassin's Shadow Warrior Shadow Discipline)