NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
The Third Test
The morning of the Third Test…
"What the…?"
Naruto had woken up from what was one of the best, and only, twelve hours of sleep he ever had in ages. The afternoon before, he went to bed early and fully dressed, pretty much on guard, seemingly ready for anything. But, when he expected to be attacked some time while he snoozed, what he didn't expect to find in the morning was his two teammates and Kin huddled up against him on the same bed, all of them sound asleep. Kin was on his right, Hinata was curled up on his left, and Sakura was lying with her head against his stomach on his right.
He had practically slept top-up the whole time, and since it was a reasonably sized bed, he couldn't complain. Nevertheless, the scene was still a bit of an eye opener in itself.
Sitting up had the girls curl up to him even more, all of them wearing cute expressions of peace and enjoyment. Needless to say, Naruto didn't really wan to wake them up, and certainly did not want to disappoint them if they woke up and found him gone.
He just smiled and was about to lie back down, but got a bit of a surprise when he also spotted Temari lying at the foot of his bed, sleeping as soundly as the other three.
Okay, now he definitely couldn't get up even if he wanted to. He was cornered on all four sides.
"Oh well…" Naruto laid back, hands behind his head. He let out a sigh, completely at peace himself. "This is new to me. I'll let them sleep, don't want to wake them up just yet…"
Little did he know, all four of them were awake, and they all smiled and moved closer to him…
The Tower's Main Hall
The teams that had survived the infamous Forest of Death stood proudly or exhausted in separate rows, each row being a formation of all three team members. They stood in front of a raised platform in the middle of an open hall surrounded by walkways lining the walls, and a huge stone statue with hands formed into a hand seal in front of them, with a score board attached to the wall above it. On the raised platform, the surviving teams' Jonin teachers and proctors stood, with the Hokage in the center, fully robed and puffing on his pipe.
Everyone looked around, taking note of the team to have survived. Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, Team Gai, the Sand Siblings, Kabuto's Team, and the Kiri Team were all who made it.
"Man… only seven teams made it through…" Shikamaru murmured, looking around before glancing up towards the stand where their second proctor stood, happily munching on a dango stick, as if this were just a regular day for her. "She was right when she said she would cut down the teams that made it through by half…"
"Only the teams with the most potential made it through in one piece," Sasuke thought, paying particular attention to, not only Naruto's Team and the Sand Siblings, but also to the Kiri Team standing quiet on the side. He furrowed his brow when he saw the boy wearing the brown, full body cloak and the hooked staff on his back. "Out of all of them… that one interests me the most…"
"Look at that… Naruto's team made it through with barely even a scratch, while we got held up by a day," Tenten whispered, looking back at Lee, whose eyes showed he was literally fired up.
"Yosh! He is proving to be a most worthy adversary!" Neji shook his head at his teammate's exclamations, while Tenten just giggled nervously at her friend's sanity.
"Hmm…" Naruto thought, looking between the teams and drinking in the competition, while comparing stats. "I might be getting more then just a challenge out of a few of these guys yet…"
Above the silence, there was but a breeze of murmurs. When all eyes focused on the grand stage, the proctor for the second stage of the exam stepped up. Finishing off the last of her dango, Anko tossed it aside and dusted her hands down, smirking at the small crowd of twenty-one Genin staring back up at her.
"Congratulations on finishing the Second Stage of the Exam!" Anko exclaimed, looking from one serious face to the dirty ne next to it. "Man… twenty-one… I was hoping the numbers would fall into single digits…" "For successfully passing the Forest of Death, you have earned the right to proceed into the Third Stage of the Exams. But before we move on, the Hokage wishes to have a word with you…" Stepping back, she gestured for the village leader to take the stage. Head nods symbolized the brief communication between the two, and Hiruzen Sarutobi moved forward to give his speech.
"I am proud to see that so many of you have survived the first two stages of the exam. To come this far is truly a testament of your strength as an individual, as a team, and as a shinobi carrying the pride and strength of your village, and your country! Though you may have heard this many times before, I still believe it is necessary for me to remind you of the importance of the Chunin Exams, particularly at this stage of the exams," the old man began, removing his pipe from his mouth and blowing out a wisp of white smoke, smiling. "We put you through these exams to test your vigilance, your courage, and whether or not you truly deserve to be a person worthy of being called a shinobi. Pitting you against one another in a world without bounds is a trial all shinobi must go through in their lives, every night and every day, whether with their comrades or even against them. In spite of being an ally, or even a friend, from the same country, from an allied nation or even from a foreign nation, we shinobi show this friendship through tests of hardship and adversity. Furthermore, these exams are a time where shinobi from foreign nations, including the Great Five, come together as a sign of respect, friendship and good faith, to battle each other as shinobi. Knowing that you carry the weight of your village and your country means you are more then willing to prove yourselves all the more."
"Boy, the old-man really knows how to drawl on…" Ino thought, letting out a sigh.
"Therefore, it is a custom amongst shinobi nations to test the strength of their villages and people, by having their Genin prove themselves worthy on their own grounds," Hiruzen stated. "This is between you, not just as teams, but also as individuals, fighting and dying for your villages. This is how the balance of power between allied nations and foreign powers is preserved, through fighting. This is how friendship is defined in the shinobi world. The Third part of the exam is a fight for your lives, with the pride of your village at stake!"
Out of nowhere, there was a flash of light and suddenly, a massive sword the size of Hiruzen plunged into the ground right in front of the Third Hokage from above, slightly pricking the tip of his funny hat. The Genin jumped, while the Jonin behind the Hokage rolled their eyes at the person's boldness, when all of a sudden, a figure suddenly appeared perched on the top of her sword, holding a notepad and chewing on some gum. The Third got quite a energy boost when he was staring right into the butt of Ryoko Takahashi, clad in her tight black slacks, blue sandals, black turtle neck showing off her sizeable chest and mid-drift, and Jonin vest. She grinned as she took in the competition left and looked behind her at the old man.
"I'll take it from here, Lord Hokage," Ryoko exclaimed. "If I may… this is my first time after all." The way she said it had a few guys block their noses to stop the nose bleed to follow, not to mention the way she licked her lips did more then just chafe their pants.
The Third nodded, clearing his throat to cover up his embarrassment. "Very well then, Ryoko, I will leave them in your care."
"Alright, for those of you who don't know me, I am Ryoko Takahashi, proctor for this stage of the exams." The red head grinned even wider and looked back at the rows of Genin. "Now, to get us started, the Third Part of the Exam is in fact a tournament, where each of you will be pitted against one another, which is why the Hokage places the pride of villages and nations, and your own dreams and ambitions, on your shoulders in such high regard! However, because so many of you have passed the second part of the exam, a preliminary round may now be held to thin out the numbers in preparation for the actual third stage." What Ryoko said stirred up the crowd a little bit, particularly the three Kiri Genin standing on the sidelines.
All three of them suddenly developed serious expressions on their faces, and were glaring in her direction. They easily recognized the patch wearing Jonin as their former village swordswoman, and former leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
The Jonin team leader of the Kiri Genin also standing in the crowds covered in a full body cloak, but also wearing his headband in plain view, was glaring at the red-head, a huge grin on his face, hanging precariously above the X-shaped scar on his chin.
"So… Leader-chan is now a Leaf Shinobi… what a disgrace…"
"This preliminary round is almost the same as the third stage, except this will only have the teams, your senseis, proctors, and Hokage-sama as audience," Ryoko stated, before looking down at the board she held in her hand. "However, before we begin the preliminary rounds, if any of you don't feel up to the challenge, then raise your hands now or you will get hurt…"
There was a pause as silence flooded over the pool of heads. Everyone was looking between one another, wondering if anybody is going to throw in the towel. Kabuto looked towards the stand where the pale Konoha Jonin stood patiently, a smirk ever present on the man's face. Receiving a glare from the familiar looking Jonin, Kabuto nodded his head in understanding and held his ground. Ryoko smirked after a few minutes passed, seeing that nobody was going to roll over just yet.
"My, my… even the girls have a big pair on them in this group," Ryoko licked her lips excitedly. "Very well then, since nobody is stepping down, then we shall begin the preliminary rounds. The rules are simple; your names will be picked out at random off of the scoreboard you can see on the wall above you, determining the combatants for each match. This ain't no training exercise, so I expect each of you to fight at your best, as this will consist of one-on-one individual combat. This is recommended in order for you to survive, especially in the real world. The winners of each bout will proceed to the third stage of the exam. No real rules apply to shinobi combat, so you will fight each other until one of you dies or concedes defeat. As much as I want to see people dying, I have been ordered to step in if the bouts go too far to prevent any unnecessary loss of life…" She groaned and looked over at the Third Hokage. "Where's the fun in combat if you can't see a bit of bloodshed, huh?"
"Ryoko…" Hiruzen groaned.
"Okay, fine…" the red head sighed and looked back. "Furthermore, since there is an uneven amount of you at 21 candidates, there will be at least one match during the preliminary rounds where a three person, free-for-all fight will take place. The winner from that bout will proceed onto the next stage of the exam!"
There was a bit of hesitance seen amongst the teams, causing Ryoko to frown a bit.
"HEY! My preliminary rounds, my rules! So keep it together!" She looked up at the panel board above the giant hand statue. "Now, pay attention to the board, as the first two names will now be randomly decided!"
The board lit up, yellow names flashing between vs, the beeping and blaring having everyone staring up at it and standing on their toes. All the Genin were tense, waiting for the results to appear and decide their fates.
"Man… I sure hope my name doesn't appear with Naruto's," Shikamaru groaned, looking over at the blonde who was grinning wildly. "This is gonna be a drag, either way…"
"Please let me fight with someone strong!" Rock Lee said, raising his fist. "I want my flames of youth to be burning brightly!"
Naruto looked between the groups, completing his analysis. "I can safely say that I can beat most of these guys, but there are some that might prove to be a handful for me," Naruto thought, glancing over at Gaara, then at Lee, then the three Kiri Shinobi, and finally Kabuto. The last one he looked at, he gave a particular glare. "This one's playing a dangerous game with the way he's been strolling about…"
Seconds later, the board stopped, the two names decided.
Sakura vs Tenten
Sakura grinned and thrust her fist in front of her. "HOOSHA! I'M FIRST UP!" This earned smiles from Naruto and Hinata.
Tenten smirked, glancing over at the pink haired girl. "Fine by me!"
Ryoko, not to mention Anko and Gai grinned proudly, with the proctor raising her hand. "Those two whose names have been called may stay, the rest of you, please proceed to the balconies with your teams and senseis. You'd better sit back folks; this may be a good one!"
Everyone filed out, leaving only Sakura and Tenten glaring each other down, with Ryoko standing in the middle. The Sand Siblings and their Team Leader Baki stood on the same balcony as Team Kabuto and the Kiri Team, who were joined by their Jonin leaders soon enough. Team 7, Team 8, Team 10 and Team Gai stood on the other one, both sides getting a great view of the ring below.
"Who do you think will win this one, hmm?" Kankuro asked. "My vote is on the pink haired girl."
"Same," Gaara murmured, furrowing his brow at the two combatants. Temari was also rooting for Sakura, making the whole of the Sand Siblings team throwing their votes in for Naruto's friend.
"I reckon that brown haired girl will win," Shikamaru murmured. "As far as both of them go, they show a lot of spunk…"
"Forehead doesn't stand a chance," Ino exclaimed, folding her arms.
"I don't know… it might be pretty interesting," Choji murmured, munching on a bag of chips.
Team 7 was rather quiet, all of them staring down at their member with smiles and smirks. Kin was also accompanying them, paying close attention to what was going to go down in the middle.
Sakura and Tenten stared each other down, as Ryoko, sheathing her sword on her back, looked between them and raised her hand, keeping a careful watch on them.
Amidst the silence, she brought her hand down. "Alright! You may begin!"
Leaping back, the proctor moved just in time to avoid barrages of shuriken thrown between Sakura and Tenten, the stars colliding in mid-air and knocked in every direction. Everyone blinked as their attentions were set to a higher standard, when the two combatants immediately opened up on the bell.
Drawing another handful of shuriken, Tenten threw it at her opponent, the black stars curving through the air on their approach. Sakura sprinted forward, kunai drawn. She knocked the barrage aside, and continued towards her opponent, who back-flipped to avoid a slash then a kick. Tenten drew a kunai of her own and hooked at Sakura in a swift counter, their colliding blades sending sparks through the air, as the pink haired kunoichi drove her opponent back, both of them exchanging swift blows. Eventually, Tenten hit the wall, her opponent lunging at her with a chakra inflamed fist and kunai. The blow to follow smashed a huge hole in the wall, the cement and stone breaking apart into huge chunks, with the sole girl member of Team Gai barely managing to dodge the blow meant for her.
Tenten managed to maneuver around the lunge, and watched as the wall Sakura's kunai and fist impaled collapsed under the chakra inflamed punch. This had everyone's eyes widened at the sheer, brute strength the member of Team 7 displayed.
"Whoo, that was close," Tenten thought, reaching behind her and grabbing a scroll. "Any closer and I would have been turned into flat bread…"
Sakura yanked her hand out and spun around, and chucked her blunt kunai at her target. Tenten ducked, throwing her scroll in front of her, unfurled it in one go. Biting her thumb, she drew blood and quickly swished it across the paper. With that done, she stood up to full height and began swinging her unfurled scroll through the air like a streamer, puffs of smoke exploding along it.
"Dragon's Dance!" Barrages of bladed weapons shot out of the scroll, including Kunai, Kurai, Shuriken, Scythes and an assortment of ninja stars. Sakura leapt to the side, avoiding the first wave of attacks. She barrel rolled and hopped to her feet, before beginning to spring around Tenten, as she spun and twirled her scroll, sending barrages of bladed weapons one after the other towards the pink haired kunoichi.
Sakura responded by throwing cluster of kunai at Tenten, only to have her blades knocked out of the air. Finding no hope in medium-range with this girl, the pink haired Genin continued running laps, dodging and evading more and more weapons as they flew consecutively at her. Tenten smirked, successively unsealing her weapons with every swipe, and sending them at the girl. Sakura opted to block and parry every wave of knives that came at her, but wasn't able to accomplish this repeatedly, and ended up getting badly cut up when she was caught in the middle of a barrage. Leaping to the left and right, she suddenly got another face full of shuriken, and crossing her arms over her face, was able to avoid a good deal of them on a duck, but caught about five in her arms and legs, and was thrown off her feet.
Skidding to a stop, Sakura uncrossed her arms and glared at the brown haired girl, who strung her scroll over both her arms and took a stance, readying to whip out some more.
Not wanting to let that happen, the pink haired kunoichi yanked a knife out of her shoulder and threw it at the girl. Tenten responded by dodging, tossing her scroll aside as she had run out of weapons to throw. Sakura continued pulling out blades that were stuck into her arms and threw them one after the other at the shuriken wielder, who leapt and dodged away. Both of them continued this dance by continuing to exchange kunai and shuriken across the arena, picking up random weapons off of the floor and using those, while ducking and dodging all over the place. It was a pretty high strung match, and everyone was surprised at the agility displayed by the pair.
"COME ON TENTEN!" Lee shouted, throwing his fist in the air. "YEAH!"
"That girl is stronger then she appears," Anko exclaimed, smiling. Naruto and Hinata were watching the fight in interest, both of them analyzing both the fighters' movements. "Leave it to Gai to raise three strong students…"
"I never knew Sakura could move like that!" Ino said, frowning. "Man, I'm still so far behind her."
In that instant, Sakura lunged at Tenten, covering the distance laid out between them, and ducking a kunai in the process. She came right up to the girl and connected a jab right across her face, sending the other kunoichi flying across the way. Tenten hit the ground hard and rolled, head ringing from the blow. The pink haired kunoichi let her land, and quickly charged, not wanting to let the girl get up.
Tenten, albeit a ringing head, looked up just in time to see Sakura sending a fist straight down at her, encouraging the shuriken user to swiftly dodge right. Rolling over, Tenten avoided the fist that cracked the ground, and sent a kick up at Sakura as she leapt to her feet. Tenten's heel hit Sakura square in the chin on its execution and staggered her, but not enough to put that much damage on the pink haired girl. Tenten crouched low and reached back for her two other scrolls, cuffing them in her right hand and thrusting them out.
Sakura, not in the mood in letting the girl unleash her next onslaught of attacks, rushed her and sent a hook right across her face. Tenten staggered, and attempted to block the next series of blows, but was hammered rather badly as Sakura threw punches one after the other. The pink haired kunoichi shouted as she landed each blow, obviously putting effort behind each punch. Tenten responded with an elbow and a hook, and retaliated with a roundhouse kick to her face. Sakura came back round with a backwards roundhouse kick of her own, and sent the girl flying with the powerful blow. Before she hit the floor, Tenten grabbed a scythe from the ground in mid flight and threw it at the pink haired girl, hiding her square in the shoulder and impaling the large, curved blade.
Both Sakura and Tenten hit the ground in their respective ways, the shuriken user landing on her back and Sakura dropping to her knees, clutching the scythe in her shoulder blade. Both of them had inflicted a lot of damage on the other, and it was noted that both of them were exhausted by the time the first ten minutes had passed.
Her face bruised and swollen from the mind-boggling blows, Tenten sat up, panting. Sakura was in pain all over, her body covered in holes and gashes from the knives thrown at her.
"Man… you throw… a mean… right hook," Tenten panted. Sakura grinned at her, nodding her head.
"Well…you've got… an awesome… throwing arm," Sakura panted back.
Grinning, and wiping the blood pouring from her nose, Tenten held up her two scrolls, having managed to hang onto them through her beating. Sakura too, decided to bring out her trump cards, and pulled out her brass knuckles. In the meantime, she pumped chakra into her right hand and began healing some of the more serious wounds, while she watched Tenten prepare for her next attack.
Gai raised an eyebrow. "Oh… so that girl knows some medical jutsu?" Lee and Neji looked on in intrigue as a lot of the serious wounds Sakura received healed up.
"Wow, that's handy," Temari commented, Kankuro nodding his head in agreement. The Third Hokage smiled, quite enjoying this little bout himself. The sheer will and fire displayed by these two was set reasonably high.
"She learned that herself," Naruto exclaimed, smiling. "This fight is moving along quickly, they're both so strong. And it appears the two of them are going to be using their best techniques on each other so soon into the match. I know Sakura is a hard hitter at close range, but Tenten is a good long range and medium range."
Tenten unfurled both her scrolls and, crouching low, prepared to take to the air. "My next move… will decide it all!"
Sakura frowned and cuffed her hands in her brass knuckles, blue chakra surrounding her fists and radiating off of them like battery powered boxing gloves. She took a stance, waiting for the brown haired girl to make her move, and an opportunity for her to strike.
"HERE!" Tenten leapt into the air, climbing a good several stories and, hitting a reasonable altitude, thrust both her scrolls out. Sakura watched as the girl hovered above her, and began spinning on the spot, throwing both her scrolls out and opening up with her next attack.
"TWIN RISING DRAGONS!" Tenten shouted, reaching out towards the scrolls twirling around her. Puffs of smoke began exploding round the scrolls as weapons sprung into the air. Grabbing them, the brown haired girl then began raising hell down upon Sakura, literally. Shuriken, kunai, Kurai and a whole assortment of bladed, chained and spear weapons began flying straight down towards the kunoichi at high velocity, threatening to skewer her like a dango.
Not wanting to die, Sakura looked down at the ground and straight up at the waves of weapons flying straight down towards her. Making a quick calculation, Sakura threw her right fist back and, making sure she had the right angle, thrust her fist straight down into the arena floor. The blow split the stone in several places and suddenly, a huge stone slab shot out of the ground and covered over her as the barrage of bladed weapons flew down at her. Tenten gaped in shock when her weapons, instead of impaling Sakura, impaled the huge stone slab that just jutted out of the ground. Everyone looked on in surprise, as Sakura grinned from behind her stone barrier, and the flying weapons safely impaled the area around her, missing her completely.
"What the?" Tenten blinked. "What did she… how did she…?"
"I'm not finished yet!" Sakura shouted. Hearing the barrage stop, the pink haired kunoichi punched the stone slab in front of her, splitting the rock in two. Grabbing the top half, she leapt forward and, taking aim like she any other shuriken, threw the boulder straight up at Tenten, using her chakra to increase the strength of her throw and the speed of the rock. The slab smashed through the twirling scrolls and hit Tenten like a bullet train. The girl had to only blink before the rock slammed into her, and knocked her out of the air. Sakura grinned and watched as the unconscious girl fell from above. "BULLS EYE!"
Everyone watched as Tenten hit the floor, astonished, and rather surprised by Sakura's unorthodox method to win the fight. Team Gai was more surprised then the others, while Team 7 grinned on the sidelines.
Kin blinked in surprise when Tenten hit the ground, and Sakura punched the air in triumph. "Whoa… I didn't see that coming…"
"I guess she picked up more then just a few moves from you, Naruto," Anko grinned, patting the boy on the shoulders as they watched Ryoko look over Tenten and check her life signs. "She learned some rather unorthodox methods as well…"
"Using whatever comes her way," Asuma murmured, rubbing his chin in thought. "Resourcefulness and a strong arm is quite an advantage in battle."
"Both of them showed excellent ingenuity and agility in combat, and preferred making strategies during more direct attacks, then thinking things over beforehand. Now that is shinobi initiative on a whole new level," Kakashi said, nodding his head. Kiba was a little bit shaken up himself when he saw the girl hurl the rock as if it were a softball, while Shino and Sasuke stood by in silence, both of them surprised at the outcome as well. Kakashi looked over at Gai, who was remarkably still smiling at his student's success. "You seem pleased, Gai."
"My student fought a good, hard battle!" the fuzzy browed Jonin exclaimed, shaking his fist and grinning. "What spirit! What passion! What youth! Oh, how it is to be young!" Kakashi developed an animated sweat drop and looked away, preferring not to press the question any further then that.
"The winner, Sakura Haruno," Ryoko shouted, calling in for a stretcher before turning to the pink haired girl with a grin. "Nice throw girlie. Wouldn't want to be in front of those fists…" Sakura twirled her brass knuckles and holstered them, smiling back at the red-head.
"Thanks a bunch!"
After a brief congratulations shared with the proctor, Sakura ran up to her balcony to join her teammates, who immediately congratulated her on her arrival. She received a pat on the back by Anko and a hug from Naruto and Hinata. Asuma shook his head at the antics of the team, before looking back down at the arena along with the others to see a battered and bruised Tenten carried out.
Ryoko chuckled as she watched the extra hands fix up the floor a bit and clean up the weapons, before looking towards the scoreboard for the next combatants. "This looks to be a promising tournament after all…"
The following matches proved to be quite interesting and entertaining. The next match had Sasuke and Kiba fighting one another, the two opposites on Team 8 turning quite a few heads. It was just as fierce and as power-hitting as Sakura and Tentens match before hand, with Sasuke getting kicked around quite a bit by Kiba and Akamaru when they used their man-beast clone collaboration techniques against their teammate. Sasuke however, was able to gain better ground through use of his Sharingan, and was soon trading heavy blows with the boy-dog partners.
However, after a prolonged battle, one of them would have to come out the victor.
Kiba skidded on all fours across the stone floor, bleeding profusely from his nose after receiving a side-kick from his opponent, who knelt on the ground several feet away, panting heavily and two-tomoed Sharingan blazing. The feral Inuzuka wiped his nose clear and grinned, before charging at his opponent again, reaching back and cuffing a handful of shuriken from his pouch, before throwing them at his opponent.
Sasuke barrel rolled to the side, crouched, and then lunged in response, throwing a jab across Kiba's jaw. The boy blocked it and countered, slashing at the Uchiha with a flurry of clawed strikes that badly tore up Sasuke's shirt, and sliced clean gashes across his skin. After whacking away at the Uchiha and gaining ground, Sasuke countered with a swift round house kick, followed by a jab across Kiba's face. He then drew a kunai and threw it at the boy, only for him to maneuver around it and crouched down on all fours, snarling menacingly.
"It may be one on one now, but your ass is mine, kid!" Kiba shouted. Everyone had seen Sasuke flatly knock out Akamaru, who was now lying unconscious on the floor some ways away from the fight, leaving just his master and Sasuke going at it. Of course, the Inuzuka was doing fairly well against the Uchiha, who was practically on his last legs.
Sasuke grinned. "Don't count me out just yet, dog boy!" He quickly shot through a series of hand seals and took aim, inhaling quickly. Kiba responded fast, moving in for a charge. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The exhale had fire bellowing out of Sasuke's lips, which quickly whipped into a huge sphere of orange and propelled straight at Kiba, tearing up the ground on its approach.
The boy rolled out of the way and swiftly attacked on Sasuke's blind spot. The jutsu left the Uchiha's sides wide open and suddenly, the black haired Genin was tackled from the side and sent rolling across the ground. When he skidded to a stop on his back, Kiba pounced and landed on top of him, thrust his clawed hand straight down at him. Sasuke caught it with his arm and held as Kiba drew blood, both boys barring teeth and glaring at each other.
"What a brutal fight," Choji commented. Shikamaru and Ino nodded in agreement.
"They're sure not afraid of ripping each other apart," Asuma exclaimed, folding his arms. "If this keeps up, both of them will knock each other out."
"Give it another minute or so. One of them will eventually break," Kankuro said, nodding his head.
Kiba grinned and rotated his claw around, Sasuke's eyes widening when he saw what the boy had planned next, recognizing the hand gestures.
"PIERCING FANG!" Kiba shouted, and suddenly, his body began spinning at a high velocity, tearing up Sasuke as it drilled down right on top of him. The Uchiha shouted in agony as his chest was torn into like an open blender blade was gnawing at him, before Kiba leapt off of him and landed a safe distance away, bearing his claws and fangs. The Inuzuka grinned as Sasuke struggled to his feet, panting heavily, with his exposed chest all gashed up. "A direct hit like that without a running start would still leave you scarred kid! Had enough?"
Panting, Sasuke looked up towards the stands towards his teacher. Kakashi was looking down at him, looking over his condition and recapping on the fight, with Shino also passively watching in the background. Eventually, Kakashi came to a conclusion and shook his head at the boy. Sasuke, understanding, sluggishly rose to his feet and gripped his chest, feeling sharp pains rack his body.
"Alright… you win, Kiba," Sasuke groaned, smirking at the boy. "Perhaps next time we can have another fight, and I will beat you…" Kiba smirked back and stood up as well, both of them looking towards the proctor. Ryoko saw that Sasuke conceded to the match, and nodded in understanding, raising her hand.
"Winner, Kiba Inuzuka!"
"What a relief…" Kiba sat back on the ground as he watched Sasuke head back up to the balcony. He followed him with his eyes, sweating nervously and in exhaustion. "Any longer, and I would have thrown in the towel myself…"
"Way to go Kiba!" Sakura shouted, with Hinata also smiling for him. Naruto chuckled and winked.
"He really tore up the field in that fight. I hope there's a floor left so that I can get my turn," Naruto exclaimed. Anko was busy eating a stick of dango to really care. As much as she enjoyed seeing blood fly in a fight, that was a bit of a disappointment for her.
"Geez… no one died… what a shame," Anko grumbled.
"These fights are all brawn and no brain," Shikamaru murmured, resting his head on his arms. "Man… I'm kind of worried about who I'm going to fight next. Everyone, esspecially Sasuke and Kiba are so strong…"
"Don't worry Shikamaru; you'll get your chance!" Asuma exclaimed, patting his student on the back as extra encouragement. "We've got a long ways to go yet…"
Preliminary Round 3
The moment Asuma finished his encouraging speech with Shikamaru, the lazy bum's name just happened to pop up on screen next to Ino's and Misumi's, one of the Genin from Kabuto's team. The three-person free for all battle followed soon after, where Misumi, displaying a rather unusual elastic ability, put both Shikamaru and Ino on the ropes, literally, and tossed them around quite a bit before being set upon by Ino's mind disruption technique. With the man disoriented, Ino could then concentrate on Shikamaru, both of them exhausting themselves fighting each other.
Using his shadow possession technique, he chased Ino all over the place, the girl able to keep a step ahead of her teammate's abilities. She tried hitting him with her technique, but missed more then once when he also evaded. It was basically a game of cat-and-mouse between the two for a good fifteen minutes of the fight.
Of course, Misumi managed to pull himself back out of his brief state of inebriation, and decided to take out Shikamaru before he could get trapped again, strangulating the boy using his rubbery body to bind his arms, legs and neck. However, before he could knock out Shikamaru, Ino managed to sock both of them with a hook aimed up at her teammate's chin, followed by Misumi's face. This left Shikamaru lying dazed and confused on top of an equally dazed Misumi, both of them wearing swirly eyed expressions.
Disorientated or not, both of them were pretty much unable to continue.
"Get… this… brat… off of me…" Misumi spoke, his voice muffled by Shikamaru's hair and his face cloth. Ino, battered and beaten up herself, was kneeling exhausted on the ground several feet away, glaring at the two dazed and confused Genin lying on the ground.
"You guys suck!" she shouted, panting slightly and pointing an accusing finger at them. "Shikamaru, you lazy bum, get up and fight me right! The weirdo you're sitting on can stay down!"
Shikamaru sighed and looked up towards the ceiling, not even caring about his cut lip, or the fact that his body was numb from falling down so hard.
"This is such a drag, just leave me alone Ino…"
Up in the stands, everybody was yawning. Though Shikamaru showed a lot of creativity in attempting to stop both Ino and Misumi, in the end, his laziness wasn't carrying him any further then the dazed Misumi he was lying on top of. The fact of the matter was that his blonde teammate could throw a much harder hook then him, and he was just too beat now to even bother continuing the fight.
"Come on! Do something else!" Kiba shouted his face in stitches, while also caressing Akamaru in his arms, the dog still unconscious from the beating he received. "Geez! Show some initiative Shikamaru!"
Asuma sighed and looked down at his two students in content. "(Sigh) Either Ino has won or Shikamaru is just stalling. Why did those two have to fight anyway…?"
The Sand Siblings on the other side were staring oddly down at the sight before them. There was a double stack up, with Ino now kicking Shikamaru while he was still lying down on the floor, not caring about the match and staring up at the ceiling, counting the tiles.
"What is going on?" Temari asked.
"This is more like a spat then an actual fight… minus the weird arm stretching freak," Kankuro muttered. Gaara shook his head, looking quite disappointed himself. Across the way, Kabuto was actually enjoying the match, mostly because it was ne big stand up so far.
"Man, Misumi got his butt kicked by two rookies," Kabuto chuckled. Yoroi also laughed hysterically, arms folded as he looked down at his comrade's state. "You don't see that every day…"
"No kidding, what an oaf," the black eyed man replied.
"This is the weirdest match I've ever seen," Anko said, earning nods of agreement from Naruto, Kin, Sakura and Hinata. On the upside, everybody ended up getting a kick out of Ino beginning to stomp on her teammate's face. The Snake Mistress snorted. "If that doesn't get him up, I don't know what else will…"
Ryoko sighed, sitting on top of her sword eating a bowl of ramen. She watched as Ino stomped on her teammate's face, and decided to call the match from there, out of not just the fact that Shikamaru wasn't fighting anymore, but mostly out of boredom. Raising her chopsticks, she waved them in the air.
"Battle set and over: one knock-out, the other unwilling to continue. The winner is Ino Yamanaka," Ryoko said, before returning to her noodles, shaking her head. "Man… never thought I'd hear myself say that…"
Preliminary Rounds 4, 5 and 6
The round before had Kankuro vs Choji. Although the two of them were pretty confident in their abilities, perhaps a bit too confident, only one of them would be moving through to the next round. Kankuro pulled his trump card on the boy and unleashed a six armed puppet on Asuma's student. The fight that followed became a rather interesting one when Choji barreled through the puppet to get at its master, Kankuro forcing to move from medium range to close range.
However, the Spiked Human Bullet Tank technique that Choji frequently used in conjunction with his Multi-Size Technique forced Kankuro to put some space between himself and his opponent. He needed to get into medium range in order to really fight his opponent, meaning he had to dodge left and right over the concrete floor to avoid the huge ball lined with shuriken barreling towards him.
Eventually he managed to get his puppet Black Ant and Crow to corner Choji. Black Ant opened up and shot a dozen chakra wires out and caught Choji as he attempted to crush Kankuro, and got sucked into the puppet's torso. However, because of his size in his Bullet Tank Form, Choji got stuck half way.
Kankuro had to therefore kick at him a few times before the boy eventually forfeited since he couldn't move. This was followed by attempts by Temari, Kankuro, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru and Asuma trying to pull Choji out of Black Ant, as he was unable to drop out of his technique properly, and still ended up stuck. After several minutes of trying to pull him out, Ryoko then moved everyone on to the next match.
Hinata and Yoroi fought next, and because it was once again a taijutsu battle, placed the Hyuuga directly in her field. However, her opponent wouldn't give up without a fight, his chakra scalpel abilities forcing Hinata to use her Eight Trigrams Rotation technique, surprising Neji who was just learning to use the technique himself. Eventually, after a prolonged battle, Hinata managed to knock out her opponent and move on to the Third Stage.
Shortly after some really entertaining fights and unconscious bodies being rolled out, Ryoko called the next match.
"Rock Lee and Eclipse! Come on down," Ryoko shouted.
"YOSH!" Rock Lee enthusiastically leapt down from the railings and took a stance, waiting for his opponent to enter. Looking up, he spotted the black haired Kiri Genin, the one that had everybody trembling, walk on down slowly to the arena. He came to stand directly in front of Rock Lee a good ten meters away, hands in his pockets and glasses hiding the fierce look of hatred blazing in his eyes. Lee grinned when he saw his opponent turn to him. "Let us make this a good fight?"
"Yes…" the boy, now known as Eclipse, whispered, bowing to convey an air of honor, on top of his excitement for blood. "I hope that this will be a most rewarding battle…"
Eclipse's teammates above were watching with great interest, esspecially the Sand Siblings and Team 7. Everyone had become roused by Hinata's fight before hand, and those who knew Lee well, also knew that this coming fight will be a good one. Granted if his opponent could put up a good fight was also a question everybody had on their minds.
The Hokage raised an eyebrow as he watched the two boys stand each other down, becoming more and more curious at the Kirigakure ninja. "I know Lee… he has trained incredibly hard to get this far, and from what I've heard from his teacher, is really strong." He then looked over at his dark haired opponent wearing full black. "Kirigakure is our ally… however… it troubles me that they would only send in one team to compete…"
The cloaked Kiri Jonin looked down at the arena with more interest, arms folded and orange eyes blaring through the shadows of his hood.
"I hope Eclipse is in full control of himself. He must be in order to carry out our plans for the future…" he looked down at his other two students, both of them eager to see the fight, yet not outwardly showing it. "We all have a part to play…" Across to heir right, the Sand Siblings were not only eyeing the next combatants, but also the Kiri ninja. After hearing what Naruto had to say, they became even wearier of the shinobi from the Hidden Mist Village.
"What's their game?" Gaara whispered curiously, before turning back to the floor below.
"Alright you two, lets make this one a clean bout," Ryoko said, looking between the two Genin, raising her hand. "You may begin…"
Rock Lee leapt into the fray first. He started off with a sprint, dashing at his opponent with a smile ever present. Leaping through the air, he spun at Eclipse with a powerful roundhouse kick, cutting through the air like a knife.
"KONOHA DAI SENPUU!" he shouted, his kick slamming across the boy's face. The blow connected with a loud bang to be heard on impact. Everybody flinched in discomfort at the sight of the blow and the spray of blood to splatter across the floor. Even the Jonin blinked in surprise when the boy didn't even react or even bother to move before he was hit.
Lee landed and continued hammering away at Eclipse, sending a series of punches across his face, followed by kicks to the chest and stomach, knees, elbows, and finally, a powerful jab across his face again, the boy staggering back from all the blows. Blood was splattered everywhere, with even more pouring from his nose and mouth. His goggles had also cracked from the punch, leaving his face a crumpled mess, and the top of his brown, buckled up trench coat covered in blood stains.
Bushy brow stood back, taking a stance, looking at his staggered and obviously wounded opponent with a bit of concern.
"You didn't defend? Are you okay?" Lee asked, not wanting to attack his defenseless opponent.
Just as the black haired boy staggered a bit more, he then slumped over, unresponsive. Ryoko raised an eyebrow from the sidelines, watching as the boy hunched over, as if sick. But then, to everyone's shock, he looked up, showing off his bruised and bloodied face, a huge grin spread across his lips.
The boy licked the blood from his upper lip and chuckled.
"Only taijutsu… how fascinating," Eclipse exclaimed, straightening up and cracking his neck from left to right. "Let's see you try that again…"
Lee gasped when he heard a sizzling sound, and looked around at the blood splattered all over the place. Everybody gasped when they saw the blood turn black and evaporate into smoke. That smoke then floated over to the boy, and got sucked back into his body. The blood around his face disappeared as well, all his injuries and damage to his clothing repairing. His grin remained.
"Smoke?" Asuma queried. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji were gawking at the sight, as the black haired boy's body fully repaired itself from the damage.
"Now that's an interesting technique," Kakashi murmured.
Kiba blinked. "Is that why Akamaru was so nervous around that guy… because he was just a walking cloud?"
Sakura, Hinata and Kin stared in quiet surprise, with Naruto glaring daggers at the weird Kiri Nin. Anko was also analyzing the boy carefully, wondering how his body was doing that, but was unable to come to any conclusion as of yet, and instead just decided to watch to see how the rest of the fight would play out.
Meanwhile, Eclipse had fully healed himself, and was now smirking devilishly at his fuzzy browed opponent.
"Now… I shall eat you…"
There was a one second pause and suddenly, Eclipse attacked Lee. He kicked off f the ground, and seemingly flew straight at Lee in the blink of an eye. The boy responded, ducking quickly to avoid a roundhouse kick. Lee retaliated with one of his own, sending a roundhouse kick up towards Eclipse's head, the boy raising an arm and blocking, before bringing his raised fist straight down at his opponent in an overhead punch. Fuzzy brow leapt out of the way, just in time to avoid the punch that impaled the ground.
Back-flipping away, Lee then landed and, swiftly drawing a cluster of shuriken from behind him, threw it at his opponent. Eclipse brought out a kunai of his own, and blocked three of the shuriken, but got hit by two of them in his left shoulder, staggering back and dropping his kunai. Lee took this as his next opportunity to strike, sprinting forward and leaping at the boy, sending his left knee right into his chest. He then seemingly disappeared due to his speed, and reappeared on Eclipse's right, sending a roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him back.
Staggering to a stop, Eclipse shook his head, regaining his senses. Lee then suddenly appeared behind him, and brought a kunai round at his opponent, attempting to impale him. However, the boy glanced over his shoulder with a grin, and his body suddenly dematerialized into smoke. His entire body turned into a black cloud and suddenly floated off through the air, Lee missing his target by millimeters and skipping back. He blinked in shock.
"Huh? How did he do that?"
Neji and Gai was looking down at the battle in surprise, the Hyuuga boy putting up his Byakugan to get a better look at the battle. Unfortunately, it did him little good, and couldn't find the other boy that had successfully evaded Lee's attack. Everyone became surprised at the unexpected evasion made by Eclipse, and began searching for any traces of him.
Suddenly, a leg shot out of thin air and kicked out at Lee, the boy back flipping when the black cloud of smoke reappeared with the leg, the rest of Eclipse reappearing from where that leg was. Rock Lee gritted his teeth and prepared to charge again, but suddenly saw the boy dematerialize again and vanish into thin air, the last thing Lee saw of him was his huge grin.
The next thing Lee felt was being kicked in the back followed by a punch to his face when the black wafts of smoke began surrounding him and cloud his vision. Soon enough, random kicks and punches began shooting out of the surrounding black clouds and began hammering away at him. Everybody could only watch in shock as the boy was punched and kicked around by the cloud of black smoke.
"How can you fight someone like that?" Sakura shouted.
"L-Lee-kun…" Hinata gasped, watching as Lee was suddenly kicked in the face and clothes-lined.
"That boy must have an incredibly high Fire Element Chakra that gives him that ability," Naruto whispered. "To be able to break down his body and recombine it in an instant is truly an astounding feat, not to mention to be able to recombine separate parts of his body in different spaces and use them at will. Incredible speed combined with incredibly potent chakra… amazing…"
Sasuke activated his Sharingan, and began watching the fight more closely, impressed by Rock Lee's speed and taijutsu, but even more shocked by the other Genin's own abilities. Everybody else was now watching the fight more intently, with Ryoko standing as far away as she could, impressed by the two combatants skill shown thus far.
Fed up of being kicked around, Rock Lee leapt out of the ring of smoke surrounding him, and back-flipped up to the top of the stone statue. Perching himself on the pinnacle, he glared down at his opponent, who reappeared out of the cloud of smoke that formed around him and shaped him. Hands in his pockets, the boy glared up at the fuzzy browed Konoha Genin perched on top of the statue.
Over by the Kiri Team, the three members, including the Jonin leader, were watching the fight with smiles on their faces. The blind girl blinked as she heard and felt the fight explode around her.
"Eclipse-kun is using his shadow smoke, isn't he?" she exclaimed. Her sensei nodded his head, grinning.
"Yes…" the Jonin replied, chuckling. "For years Eclipse has been increasing his chakra and pouring it into that smoke he carries around in that plastic bottle on his back. In so doing, he has bonded with it and can transform his entire body at will into smoke. This makes him completely immune to physical damage…" He then frowned a bit. "However, he does have one weakness…"
Lee smiled down at the black haired boy, seeing him still glaring up at him. "You are truly a worthy opponent indeed! I am no match for you with my taijutsu in this state, but perhaps at a level higher… I may be able to beat you. I have promised my sensei that I would not, however… I am afraid I must break my promise…" Lee looked up at his sensei, to see Gai grin at his student and give him the thumbs up. Everybody looked between Lee and his teacher, seeing the shared grins and looks of confidence on their faces.
"You can do it Lee! You have my permission!"
"Yes sensei!" Lee slipped off his leg bands and pulled off the weights underneath them. Everybody watched curiously as the fuzzy browed boy removed his weights, with Naruto furrowing his brow in response to the sight. Seeing Lee result to removing his weights told the blonde that this opponent may be too much for him to handle.
Lee threw away the weights, the incredibly heavy slabs of training gear hitting the ground with the force of landmines going off, and the shockwave that followed shaking the walkways and everyone on them. Teams 8, 10 and the Sand Siblings were astounded at the amount of weight Lee was actually carrying, the Kiri ninja also becoming intrigued. It was hilarious to see WTF faces on Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, Sasuke and Kin.
Team 7 blinked in surprise, Anko raising an eyebrow, Sakura gawking, Hinata fidgeting nervously and Naruto looking more worried, not about the boy Lee was fighting, but for Lee himself.
Immediately upon removing his weights, the bushy browed kid leapt off of the statue, vanishing from sight. Eclipse blinked and looked behind him passively, seeing Lee suddenly appear out of thin air. The mini-Gai shinobi's speed was at such a higher level now, it made it impossible to actually follow him.
"You are mine!" the boy shouted, sending a fist right at his opponent's face. However, Eclipse surprised him once again when he evaporated into smoke, the smoke floating through and past Lee, and rebuilding itself into a physical body behind the boy in a tenth of a second.
Grabbing Lee by the scruff of his collar, Eclipse then threw him over in a single handed throw, and drove the boy into the ground, the impact creating small crater at its force. Lee shouted in agony at the sudden reversal of force, groaned and looked up, seeing his opponent grinning sadistically down at him.
"Don't think that you can beat me through brute strength and impressive speed alone… boy…" Eclipse exclaimed, raising his hand towards the downed Lee, the tips of his fingers wafting black smoke. As of that moment, Rock Lee was now beginning to tremble in fear. "I shall now assimilate you!"
Naruto, after analyzing Lee's opponent from a distance for a good few minutes, suddenly had realization hit him in the face, around the same time Temari, Neji, Kakashi, Asuma and Hinata also came to the same conclusion. The blonde leant over the railings, now desperate and determined to save his friend from a gruesome fate.
"LEE!" Naruto shouted down at him. "HE HAS A WEAKNESS!"
Snapped out of his reverie, Lee spun a kick right up at his opponent, landing his foot on Eclipse's chin and knocking him back. The fuzzy browed boy back flipped away, putting space between him and his opponent. When he landed, he looked up at Naruto, the blonde shouting down at him.
"EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BREATHE! TAKE AWAY THE AIR AROUND HIM AND HE'S DONE FOR!" Naruto yelled.
The Kiri Ninja across looked up towards the blonde in surprise, wondering how he was able to figure it out. Kakashi and everybody else who had also realized this nodded in agreement, and looked down to see what Lee would do next. The bushy browed boy looked back at his opponent, noting the tell-tale wafts of smoke rising off of his shoulders. Eventually, after making some quick recounts and calculation, the boy's mind also snapped with an idea and he grinned up at Naruto.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun!" he shouted.
Immediately, Lee assumed a sprinter's running start and, taking aim, shot at break neck speed towards his opponent, who raised his hand towards the charging boy. However, Eclipse was surprised when the green blur suddenly shot around to his left, and began sprinting around him in an anti-clockwise direction. Lee continued doing this, forming a blurry green ring from the countless laps he was now running. As seconds ticked by, Lee sprinted faster, really kicking it up a notch.
Anko grinned over at Naruto, who smiled back up at her. "Good call, gaki…"
The wind started to pick up around Lee, dust flying everywhere as Eclipse attempted to figure out what was going on. From Lee's perspective, he knew he had to pick up his speed a bit more.
Crossing his arms over his face as he ran, he concentrated hard. "I must… beat… my… opponent!" Energy suddenly exploded around him, his skin turning red and blue sweat radiating off of him like visible wind. "Third Gate: Gate of Life! OPEN!" A shockwave rang out as he picked up speed, the wind caused from his lap running around Eclipse increasing to that of a miniature tornado. Eclipse's eyes widened at the sudden jump in his opponent's speed. Lee kept his arms crossed, intent on finishing him off. "Forth Gate: Gate of Pain! OPEN!" Lee's speed exploded into a whole other level.
His running caused a tornado to shoot up right in the middle of the arena, with Eclipse standing right in the middle of it. Of course, he wouldn't be standing alone. All of a sudden, his lungs just refused to work, and struggling to breathe, he collapsed to his knees, choking on nothing. In those few seconds he began feeling the effects of Lee's high-level sprinting rotation around him; Eclipse's body began breaking apart, smoke floating off into the air and dissipating.
Sakura blinked, looking up at her sensei. "What's happening to him? I-Is he finally taking damage?"
"Oh yes," Anko exclaimed.
"Thanks to Lee's speed and his rotation pattern leading up to the Lotus technique, he creates a vortex which sucks away the oxygen. Without oxygen, his opponent can't breathe, which means he can't use his technique effectively," Kakashi thought, raising an eyebrow. "Clever…"
As Eclipse gasped for air, he looked down at his hand to see it coming apart, smoke disappearing into the air as he began losing bits of his body. Right now, he has lost three fingers, pieces of his trench coat, the right side of his face, and bite size pieces from his legs.
"Dammit… I… can't… hold it… together…" the boy growled, looking up with black blood seeping out of his mouth. "Damn… you…!"
"NOW LEE!" Gai shouted.
The bang of the shockwave to follow in Lee's sudden change in direction, and the boy was underneath his opponent, a swift kick to the chin sending Eclipse skywards. In the blink of an eye, Lee followed, and while in mid-air, began smacking his opponent around. Everybody was looking up to the air space in front of them, watching as the green and red blur began smacking around the boy in the trench coat. Eclipse was staggered, unable to absorb or recover from the high velocity of hits after being weakened from oxygen deprivation.
Seconds later, Lee appeared above his opponent and hit him straight towards the ground. In their descent, Lee caught up to him and wrapped a strain of gauze around the boy's mid-section, yanked him back towards him, and sent an earth-splitting punch straight across Eclipse's face. A thunderous explosion in the center of the arena followed a split second later, debris and dust flying everywhere, with Ryoko bracing herself for the blast of wind to follow.
Everybody held onto whatever the could against the force winds, and waited it out to the end. When the climax of the blast subsided, the audience looked back down at the arena floor, to see a huge, smouldering crater sitting in the center of the concrete floor, as if a massive artillery shell had hit. At the bottom of it, lay the unconscious body of Eclipse, with Lee standing over him, dropped from his Eight Gates state and panting heavily, exhausted.
Ryoko hopped up from where she sat, and walked towards the crater, looking down into the center of it. When she saw the black haired boy lying flat on his back, in a close-to-dead state and Lee standing tall, she grinned and slid down to where the two Genin were. She checked for a pulse on the Kiri Genin and looked over his battered body, as well as the state of the field. Everybody held their breaths, awaiting her answer.
The Kiri Team was looking down at their teammate and comrade with little concern. Their expressions conveyed more of a deep loathing from both the teacher and the cloaked student, while the blind girl was looking nervous. After the proctor analyzed the seemingly dead boy, Ryoko rose to her feet and raised her arm, pointing at Lee.
"The Winner of this Round: Rock Lee!" Ryoko exclaimed.
Teams 10 and 7 broke into cheers, with Naruto applauding his friend, smiling at his success. The Sand Siblings continued to stare anxiously down at the field as Lee stepped out of the crater and began cheering himself, throwing his fists in the air and striking a pose in his characteristic way, grin flashing.
"I did it, Gai-sensei!" he exclaimed.
"What a weird... strong guy," Kankuro murmured. Temari and Gaara nodded in agreement.
While the people on the balconies celebrated the end of the spectacular, high intense fight, Ryoko was continuing to look over the boy lying in the crater. Considering bringing out a stretcher for him, the swordswoman, as well as everybody else, got a rather nasty shock when Eclipse unexpectedly rose up from the ground with just his legs as support, and staggered to a standing position.
Smoke wafting off of him, the boy glared up at the celebrating teams, seeing them suddenly stop and stare at him, as if they had spotted a ghost. Naruto blinked in surprise, while Sakura, Kin, Hinata and Anko gawked in shock. Sasuke, Kakashi, and Kiba were also dumbstruck, with Shino's silently staring, mouth agape. Pretty much everybody was sharing similar expressions as they watched the ghost of a Genin get back up after being on the receiving end of a one-hit, killing move. It was perplexing and unbelievable.
"Impossible… he shouldn't even be moving!" Lee thought, rubbing his eyes to see if he wasn't hallucinating. "He should be out cold… even dead!"
Battered and breathing raggedly, Eclipse silently marched out of the crater, and past his opponent. Lee watched in awe as the beaten and bloodied body marched back up to the balcony on his side, and over to his teammates, not caring about anything else around him. When he returned to the Kiri Team, he received a warm smile from his blind comrade and a pat on the shoulder from his team leader. Seconds later, he was standing where he was before his fight started, hands in his pockets, and his wounds slowly starting to heal.
"O-kay… that was scary," Ryoko said, smirking. "The brat died and came back to life! I could not ask for anything less…" She turned back to the still stunned crowds, and raised her arm. "Rock Lee has won by knock-out and at his opponent's concession. We shall now continue on with the matches!"
TO BE CONTINUED…