OK! Sorry I didn't update in like, a week, but I was abroad for the half term, and the last chapter I wrote was on my grandma's shitty computer.
Now, onto the much nicer things, I'VE REACHED THE 50 REVIEWS TARGET! THANKS GUYS!
Right now, in the top-right corner of the page I see exactly 50 reviews! It's so awesome!
Moving on, Let's continue with the story!
~::~
Proving one's Worth: Shiso's style.
~::~
"Then let the twelfth and final match begin!"
Hayate's voice echoed throughout the arena. Those who were left watched curiously. None of them apart from those who were on his team, knew anything about Shiso's fighting style. All they knew was that he was on the vicious pinkette's team, therefore, there is a 50-50 chance that he is in some way vicious too.
Touché.
However, even though the match had begun, none of the two moved a muscle.
Then, Dosu broke the silence.
"You'd seen what my Melody Arm did to Fatty. Unless you wish to share his fate, forfeit and don't make me waste my chakra."
Shiso snorted. "The reason your previous opponent lost, was not because he was too weak, but because you had already seen his technique, and had plenty of time to analyse it. However, now, it's you who is in the dark about my abilities, while I had already seen yours. There are always two sides to a coin. You're about to experience the less fortunate one."
"You're defending someone whom you don't even know. What respectable ninja does that?"
Shiso smirked. "I wasn't defending anyone. I was distracting you. Look over your shoulder."
Surprised, Dosu looked over his shoulder, only to find a Shadow Clone smirking at him.
That one second of surprise was all Shiso needed. Quickly thinking ahead, he took out a flash bomb and threw it between himself and Dosu.
An explosion of blinding white light engulfed the battlefield.
~::~
"Wha-! Where are they?"
"Umi-chan, relax. Shiso knows what he's doing." Sakura reassured her friend.
"If you say so."
And sure enough, a second after she said that, Shiso reappeared, high up in the air dragging Dosu with him by his scarf. They could see a small trickle of blood dripping down from Shiso's left ear.
Not good.
Although it's common knowledge that when you're captured you should escape, Dosu didn't seem to be making any effort to escape or even move away Shiso's grasp.
However, it seemed that he wasn't doing it on his own accord.
"Wh-What is this? I can't move!" Dosu exclaimed.
Sakura smirked.
Finally. Show us what you've been hiding away all this time. Make us proud, Shi-kun.
Shiso chuckled. "Of course you can't move. I used the Body Pathway Derangement technique on you. I would be surprised if you could move at all."
Without saying anything else, Shiso suddenly let go of his opponent and jumped to the ceiling, sticking to it with his chakra.
Taking out a cord of ninja wire, he attached it to a kunai, then throwing said kunai at Dosu.
To everyone's surprise, it didn't hit Dosu. It wrapped around him.
Quickly taking out a second kunai, Shiso looped the opposite end of the wire through the hole. Grabbing the kunai, he lodged it in the ceiling, making a sort of anchor for himself and Dosu, the end of the wire held tightly in his hand.
The people watching were suddenly very curious.
~::~
Kami-sama, please let this work.
With that in mind, Shiso jumped down to stand back on the floor. He inwardly did a victory dance when he saw that his opponent was tangled in his wire strings. Just like he planned.
It took time, but the technique had worked – the kunai he'd looped around Dosu held him in place; exactly in the middle from the floor to the ceiling.
Now, all that was left was to do the final move. The move which would distinguish the winner of the match.
~::~
"Why is he just standing there? Do something Shiso!"
"Umi, SHUT UP!"
Silence.
"Sorry. You were starting to piss me off. And as far as I'm concerned, you're the Earth Style user in here – channel your chakra into the ground, find out what he's doing. From my point of view, he's concentrating on gathering chakra… For one reason or another."
For a second, Umi closed her eyes. A tiny frown appeared on her face.
"He… He's concentrating a shit-load of chakra… But not outside… He's channelling it inside his body!"
At that same moment, Shiso opened his eyes. But they weren't his normal, hazelnut eyes. They were the colour of liquid silver.
"One Thousand Birds Current!"
Everyone watched, awestruck, as Shiso's body began to glow with a soft blue light. A second later, sparks and flashes of electricity started shooting out from his body.
~::~
Now that the first stage is complete, it's time to start the second stage. Fuck, being a Lightning User sucks dicks.
Shiso closed his eyes, concentrating hard on doing exactly what his Academy teacher had told him to do.
Concentrate my chakra… Focus on where I want it to go… Then, RELEASE IT!
~::~
Everyone watched, captivated, as the sparkling electricity slowly started gathering in the palms of Shiso's hands, the small frown which marred his face becoming a bit bigger.
Then, gasps and gulps echoed around the arena as the blue, electric glow began to engulf the wire Shiso was holding. But that wasn't the only thing – the electric chakra started travelling up the string, almost as if it was a ladder. And everyone observed as the blue glow got closer and closer to Dosu.
And then, as the chakra finally made contact with Dosu's skin, an ear-piercing scream rang through the arena.
It was the end of the match for Dosu.
Shiso released the wire and his opponent tumbled to the ground in a messy heap.
He walked over to the Otogakure ninja.
"See? I told you not to get cocky. You overestimated your abilities, therefore forgetting about the most basic rule when it comes to elements; Light always travels faster than sound. It's the way of life. And that one rule was what led to your downfall."
Hayate coughed and walked over to Dosu. "He's had it." He muttered.
Straightening, Hayate coughed again and spoke to the others. "I declare Shiso No Ame the winner of the twelfth and final match. Congratulations."
Shiso nodded in acknowledgement and turned to walk away.
Suddenly, there was movement on the supposed battlefield, and a grey blur moved at incredible speed towards Shiso.
Dosu.
"NO!" Umi and Sakura shouted in unison, both instantly jumping down to help out their teammate.
It seemed as though Dosu ignored the fact that the match was over and somehow managed to free himself from the Body Pathway Displacement technique which Shiso had placed on him a few minutes previous and was now standing behind Shiso, his arm outstretched and the vibrations of his Melody Arm drifting freely to Shiso's eardrum.
In that moment, Sakura and Umi landed on either sides of their teammate. Umi caught the barely-conscious boy, while Sakura turned to his attacker. A feral growl escaped the rosette.
"If you knew what was good for you, you would have never attacked my teammate. You foul."
And in a blink of an eye, she was in front of him.
A swift, chakra-enhanced kick to Dosu's right arm was all it took for the Melody Arm to crash into hundreds of miniscule, metal pieces.
The onlookers stared in shock.
However, it seemed as if destroying Dosu's only fighting tool was not enough for Sakura. So, with a snarl, she promptly backhanded the mummy-like nin, causing him to fly back and crash into the wall 20 feet away.
"Don't you ever think about hurting any one of my teammates again or there will be hell to pay."
After letting that threat hung in the air for a few seconds, Sakura turned around and worriedly approached her battered colleague.
Kaimei-sensei appeared next to them, anxiously assessing the damage which has been done to his pupil's body. "Call in the medic-nins!"
All the while, the Hokage's gaze was focused on the two girls who'd jumped in to save their teammate.
Their reactions were quicker than those of the Jounin who were watching. They interrupted the fight instinctively, wordlessly agreeing on who was responsible for what.
It was incredible, really. The Hokage had noticed, out of the corner of his eye, the wordless exchange of questions the girls had just before they jumped down:
He felt the red-haired girl's chakra reach out to her teammate, and then come back to her, and he saw the delicate frown which appeared on her forehead just before she shook her head.
It wasn't hard to figure out what the unspoken question which came from the rosette was; Will you stop Dosu, or shall I do it?
And the quick chakra check was to see which girl had more chakra, therefore a bigger chance of preventing the Oto-nin from doing any more.
Their team-dynamics were incredible.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was never the one to jump to conclusions after knowing someone for only a few minutes, but he'd assessed that if the trio ever was to become Leaf Ninja, they would have a 95% chance of being The best ANBU squad in their generation.
~::~
"Due to the recent events, I hereby disqualify Dosu Kinuta from the Preliminaries, also taking away his ability to participate in anymore Chuunin Exams which will ever be held. Now, would all of you who'd passed come down here. It's time to find out who you will be facing in the final stage of the exam."
Shino, Kankuro, Gaara, Temari, Umi, Sakura, Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, and Shiso came down (in Shiso's case, stumbled would be a better description). Sasuke was still with Kakashi, wherever they went.
"For all ten of you, randomly pick a piece of paper out of this box, and look at your number…"
Naruto got 1, Shiso got 2, Shikamaru got 3, Temari got 4, Sakura got 5, Neji got 6, Shino got 7, Kankuro got 8, Gaara got 9, Umi got 11, Sasuke got 10.(A/N: It was the last paper in the box. He's still in the Hospital, remember?)
"Okay, this means,it's going to go like this:
Match 1:Naruto, you're facing Shiso,
Match 2:Shikamaru is going against Temari,
Match 3:Neji v.s Sakura
Match 4:Shino, you're against Kankuro,
Match 5:Gaara you're facing Sasuke,
And Umi, you'll be fighting the winner of match 4.
These are the battles of the Third Chunin Exams, which will be held in a month…"
"WHAT? A whole month?" Naruto nd Umi shouted.
"Everyone has seen what each of your abilities are. You might want to work on new jutsus and techniques."
~::~
"Ah, a whole month of blissful peace…" Sakura sighed after Hayate had informed them of their matches.
"Nuh-uh, Sakura-chan! You're going to train, and you're going to train hard! Because, even though you're awesome, you can always get awesomer, can't you?" (Note: 'Awesomer' is a word created by Umi. It does not exist. It would be cool if it did, though. Wouldn't it?)
Shiso, now fully healed, groaned. "Where does she get the energy…?"
"I have no idea, Shi-kun. No idea at all."
~::~
Finished!
Sorry for not updating in so long! I wanted this chappie to be good!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in your REVIEW!
~Invincible