NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
The Final Test part 2
Down on the arena floor, Sakura and Gaara glared at each other, with the pink haired kunoichi adjusting a newly acquired pair of fingerless fighting gloves, with metallic braces on the knuckles. Her opponent just stood where he was with his arms folded and expression unchanged. Though he was well aware of his opponent's incredible strength, he had little to worry. Unless Sakura could get by several inches of thick sand that can stop a bullet in its tracks or even an avalanche, then it would be at that point Gaara would have something to genuinely worry about. But for now, the two of them just took to glaring at each other.
The crowds murmured loudly and excitedly, expecting a good match to come from these two promising Genin. Anko paid particular attention to this upcoming fight, taking a seat and pulling out some popcorn out from her trench coat, with her Jonin comrades standing by her watching on with just as much curiosity as the next person. The Third Hokage was most interested to see how Sakura Haruno would fair against the Kazekage's own son, the most promising Genin to come out of Sunagakure in years, having watched him literally breeze through the competition in the preliminaries.
The Kazekage watched closely as well, and with great anticipation to be seen under the veil of his mask, knowing full well that it would be tailed beast inside Gaara, which will help him decimate the great village of Konohagakure.
It was only a matter of time till his plan unfolded.
"Hmm… that would be your son Gaara down there, am I right, Kazekage-sama?" Mei exclaimed, glancing over at the masked village leader. The man smiled back in response from under his veil.
"Oh yes. That's my son," the village leader replied, though his response lacked any emotion to indicate his enthusiasm on the subject. "He is incredibly powerful, perhaps even stronger then an average Chunin from my village. Gaara has truly come far…"
"So I see…" Mei nodded, looking back down towards the arena.
"How do you think this will turn out?" Kiba asked from where he stood in between Lee, who had just gotten back from the medical bay, and Naruto, who stood to Hinata's right. Miki and Takagura were standing well away from the small group, and were staring down at the arena quietly with similar, stoic expressions.
"It should be an interesting fight," Naruto smiled. "I have great confidence in Gaara. But I am certain Sakura will come out victorious in this one."
"You are so certain, Naruto-kun!" Lee exclaimed, glancing over at his blonde teammate. "You have such faith in your comrades."
"I believe in them more then I believe in myself," Naruto stated, nodding his head affirmatively. "You can always rely on your comrade to pick you up when you fall or carry you when you are injured. As their friend and comrade, you would do the same if they fell over or needed your help, wouldn't you…?"
"How true!" Lee grinned, and let out a mighty cheer which echoed down from the balcony. "Sakura-chan will do well! And so shall her opponent!"
Ryoko, after looking between the two combatants to see that they were ready, smiled and raised her hand. "If there are no objections or complaints… you may begin!"
She leapt away, at the same time, the cork on Gaara's gourd came undone and a cloud of sand slithered out. The thick mass of particles began to hover in the air behind him, like a snake slithering across the ground. Sakura smiled and reached behind her and into her pouch, grabbing a cluster of shuriken and holding them between her fingers, eyeing her opponent carefully. His sand seemed to react to the threat, while he stood where he was with his arms crossed, glaring at her.
The crowd silenced itself in anticipation, the two Genin below finally doing something.
"Well then," Sakura exclaimed, smirking. "Let's test that ultimate defense of yours, Gaara-san…" In the blink of an eye, Sakura tossed the shuriken straight at the boy, the ninja stars cutting through the air swiftly and simultaneously. The sand floating behind the jinchuriki shot around and shielded him, the ninja stars smacking against the blanket of sand and lodging themselves in it, uselessly. Sakura then sprinted forward, opening up on her assault, charging at her opponent as quickly as she could.
Unfortunately, her speed on her approach put her at a disadvantage.
Gaara smiled, the hardened sand in front of him suddenly loosening, and slamming straight down into the ground before rising up. Within seconds, the stream fed from his gourd transformed into a sand version of himself, the copy's right hand holding the shuriken caught from the kunoichi's barrage. Sakura furrowed her brow at the sight and leapt through the air, flying straight down towards the red haired boy. Gaara's sand copy threw her shuriken back at her as a welcoming present, which Sakura knocked aside with a kunai, before tossing the drawn kunai at Gaara in response. The sand copy raised its throwing arm and caught the knife, the blade sinking into the limb.
Before it could throw it back, Sakura flew right into it, foot first. Her kick literally disintegrated the clone, allowing her to land within Gaara's outer defensive perimeter, and charge at him. She kicked up dirt on her restart as she lunged at the boy, cranking her right arm back and throwing it at her opponent, who continued to stand where he was with his arms folded, glaring at the kunoichi's incoming punch.
However, just before the punch could land, Sakura smirked and suddenly, vanished right in front of Gaara. The red haired Genin looked up in shock, just as his target reappeared right behind him, skidding across the ground to a stop.
The Genin up in the waiting area blinked in astonishment, except for Naruto, Hinata and Takagura.
"She's fast!" Kiba choked, rubbing his eyes, "Faster then before!"
"Whoa…" Lee exclaimed, leaning over the railings in excitement. "Sakura-chan is about as fast as me without my weights on… maybe even the same speed as me!"
Gaara had but a second to look behind him before one of Sakura's killer punches connected with his face. The blow sent a shockwave ringing out around them, and threw the Suna Genin off of his feet and sailing through the air, before he inevitably hit the ground several meters away.
Recovering from the hard landing, Gaara sat up, struggling in the effort. The Suna Genin glared up through overshadowed eyes at his opponent, Sakura stepping back into a stance again, and readying to attack.
"She's fast… and strong…" Gaara thought, his right eye twitching, and head ringing from the force of the blow. "Stronger then that Neji I fought back in the preliminaries…"
Sakura took off with a sprinter's start, and dashed towards her opponent at incredible speed, which increased on her advance. Gaara quickly assumed a kneeling position and threw both hands out, a wave of sand exploding up from he ground and rising up to flatten his target. The pink haired kunoichi however, vanished in a bat of an eye again, and maneuvered around the wave, reappearing behind Gaara. It was a method of attack she picked up earlier from Naruto, which he used quite proficiently. The red haired boy blinked in surprise and wheeled around, throwing his hand out again, a ten meter high wall of sand shooting up in front of him.
Not at all thrown off by the barrier that suddenly rose up to block her, Sakura ran at it and slammed her foot against it. Seconds later, the audience watched as the pink haired kunoichi sprinted up the vertical incline, reaching the top in no time flat, and jumping down at her opponent. Cranking her right fist back, the girl roared as she descended towards Gaara, who spotted the girl from the shadow she made in front of the sun.
"SHANNARO!" Sakura shouted, thrusting a chakra powered punch straight down on top of the Sunagakure Genin. An umbrella of sand quickly shot up over the boy, and formed several inches thick, the kunoichi's punch colliding with it instead of the user. Her blow was effectively absorbed by the loosely packed defense, with only a ripple forming across the barrier from the punch.
Frustrated at the failed attack, Sakura kicked off of the shield and leapt away, moving out of Gaara's defensive range and skidding to a stop as soon as she was at a safe distance.
She didn't pause for long though, and charged again, not wanting to give her opponent the chance to think or recover.
Gaara moved the wall he had used to try and stop her before in front of him, this time forming a more spherical defense, like an egg shell. As soon as he did so, a spear of sand shot out from it and straight for his target. Sakura, spotting the high velocity spike flying at her, quickly leapt over it and landed on top of it, and began a hard sprint down the moving pillar. Reaching the end, she then leapt right over the small barrier where the spear started from and, with unstoppable momentum powering her own, she rammed into Gaara. His sand armor, though absorbing most of the impact, effectively cracked on the impact as Sakura tackled him.
The girl didn't stop there though.
After lifting Gaara off of his feet with her tackle, she grabbed him by the shoulders then kneed him in the stomach, followed by a swift grappling move, in which she threw him over her shoulder, and drove him straight into the ground. Gaara landed with a loud thud, his gourd splattering into a pile of motionless sand underneath him.
Leaping over the downed red head, Sakura pinned him to the ground by driving her knee into his chest and, grabbing him by the collar, cranked her left fist back, and thrust it straight down into his face.
Her actions weren't fast enough though, when the sand from Gaara's shattered gourd suddenly shot up around him into spikes, launching themselves at the kunoichi. Sakura cried out in pain when she was struck in the shoulders and the side of her face by the spikes, forcing her off of its user. She back flipped away from her opponent when she jumped off of him, and stopped ten meters away once she was sure she was out of his automatic attack range.
Reassuming a defensive stance, Sakura watched as Gaara slowly got back to his feet, his gourd recreating itself on his back.
Face cracked from the blows he sustained, Gaara glared up at the girl, already visibly fatigued by the amount of chakra he had thrown into his sand armor. Sakura frowned, before briefly glancing at herself. She had not only been impaled through her right shoulder and had gashes on her arms from the boy's sand spikes; she also got caught in her right cheek and in the legs. If she hadn't moved when she did, she was certain she would have been skewered.
"That was close…" Sakura thought, looking back up to watch Gaara form a hand seal in front of him and ready himself for her next attack. "My opponent can attack while defending, which makes approaching him extremely dangerous. I'm sure Neji had the same problem when he fought him…" She watched as a cloud of sand formed a defensive ring around her opponent, at the same time, uneven pillars of sand slowly rose up on four different sides of its host, like defensive branches jutting out of the ground. As soon as they fully extended into thick trunks of sand, Sakura deduced that it was just another difficult obstacle she had to get around. "Oh… great! Just when I was having the time of my life, he goes and does that…"
"Sakura-chan has gotten much stronger," Hinata exclaimed, smiling up at Naruto, who was grinning widely. "Y-You trained her to fight like that…?"
"Not me," the blonde Genin shook his head, earning the ear attentions of Kiba and Lee next to him. "She got all that strength and techniques from training with Anko. However, her speed was thanks to a bit of my training." He chuckled when he looked over at Hinata, who was blinking curiously up at him. "However, what really tops off all of her training is that she will never give up. It's something she learned from our team…"
"Amazing!" Temari awed, staring down at the arena with wide eyes, as was everybody else up in the stands. "Her speed and strength have increased so much since her fights in the preliminaries she's actually able to fight around Gaara's defenses."
"Incredible," Tenten shook her head. "I never would have thought Sakura could progress this far…"
"She must be a genius of some kind," Shikamaru commented, earning nods of agreement from Kin and Choji next to him. Neji furrowed his brow as he stared down at the arena floor, unable to take his eyes off of the fight.
"Even with my Byakugan and flawless Gentle Fist techniques, I couldn't get by his defenses," Neji gritted his teeth nervously. "But this girl, she combines technique with incredible strength and speed. That is certainly enough to take down this opponent… if she can hold out long enough…"
Sakura smirked, licking her lips as she watched Gaara form his defense. "Things have just gotten more interesting…" Reaching for her holsters at her sides, she pulled out her brass knuckles Naruto had given her, and cuffed them. As soon as she did, blue auras of chakra burned up around both her fists, wafting like flames. "I'm going to have to hit hard and fast to get around that defense. If I have a chance in hell of beating Gaara, then I have to end it with one hit as soon as I get around his shield!"
Before she had a chance to begin her attack, Gaara's ring of sand suddenly whipped out with a crack of unmatched force, and shot straight at her like a bolt of lightning. Sakura leapt away to avoid it, the attack striking the ground instead, with enough force to split a boulder. Gaara frowned and slapped his hands together into a hand seal, following the girl with his attack. Sakura leapt left and right, avoiding the sliver of sand in pursuit of her.
Eventually getting at a reasonable distance from her opponent, she pulled her left fist back and slammed it against the cloud lunging at her. The blow literally disintegrated a good half of the mass of particles, before the girl took off at full speed towards its user, still surrounded by his fortress of defenses.
The Jonin and Genin in the stands watched, stunned, as Sakura dashed in and around on her approach, ducking around hoops and whips of sand shooting through the air at her from her opponent. It was clear her opponent was a bit under pressure, as noted by Gaara's attempts to take her down. The pink haired kunoichi however, displaying uncanny maneuverability, made it to Gaara's outer defenses relatively unscathed in just a matter of seconds, and with an incredible show of force, slammed a fist through the revolving ring.
Her jab broke through the first line, and she exploded into her opponent's defensive circle. Recovering from the punch, she lunged at her opponent with a second shot. Two pillars that stood around Gaara at his defense slammed together in front of him, shielding him from the girl's incoming fist.
With a primal roar, Sakura's fist connected with the thick wall of sand, the blow sending a shockwave in all directions. The force of her blow was so strong, that the blast of wind from it was felt by the entire audience, whipping at their faces and clothes. Those in the front row had to shield themselves from the debris thrown in their faces. The primary result from this attack though, was that where Sakura's fist hit, the wall-pillar in front of Gaara rippled several times, before eventually cracking and splitting.
The cracks branched out over the entire structure, seconds before the whole thing suddenly caved in, revealing an astonished Gaara standing behind it. His face had also cracked in the same way his secondary defensive wall had, the force of Sakura's punch having traveled through the entire sand wall in front of him, which was about fifteen inches thick, and rattling Gaara's body on the other side as a result.
Sakura grinned as she brought her fist back, standing just several feet in front of her shaken and unguarded opponent.
"And that was only the beginning," she bragged, a bead of sweat running down the side of her face. "Fuck no it wasn't! I may have coated my hands in chakra, but that hit was like trying to break through several cinder blocks all at once! What the hell is in that sand?"
Frowning, Gaara's sand suddenly came to life again, although the sand that collapsed in front of him didn't. Sakura reacted quickly when clouds of it suddenly began shooting up around her and her opponent. Springing into action, she crouched low and leapt away as a huge wave of the cloudy mass came from over Gaara's shoulder and slammed into the ground where she was standing a split second before. Flipping through the air, the pink haired girl eventually landed against the side wall of the arena close to the top, crouching against it and glaring down at her recovering target.
Watching from afar, Sakura and the stadium's audience saw the whipping sand around Gaara converge around him, within a matter of seconds form a thick, more prominent defensive barrier around him. Everyone was astounded when they saw Gaara hide his entire body inside a sphere of sand, a sight which shocked Temari out of her seat.
"That's…" the golden haired girl choked. "If Gaara is resulting to using that shield, then that means his opponent is much stronger then he anticipated…"
"What is that?" Asuma blinked.
"It appears to be one of his last resort defense systems," Gai thought, rubbing his chin as he analyzed the ball of tightly packed particles forming in the middle of the arena. "So far, he has shown a secondary defense barrier, which can act as an offensive weapon too, and his sand armor, which is his final line of defense. This must be a supplementary defense in order to counter against Sakura's incredible strength."
"He must be really desperate if he's using that then," Anko commented, smirking. "If any one of Sakura's Chakra Enhanced blows hits him, then the fight is basically over… sand or no sand"
Sakura frowned as she looked the defense encasing Gaara over, sweat trickling down her face. "Okay… definitely not something I want to get close to if his sand automatically reacts to anyone coming within a couple of feet of him." She noticed a small eyeball appear above the sphere, which looked around a bit like a periscope, before locking onto her. "He can see me? Alright Sakura… calm down. There's only one technique that you have that can break through that thing…" She clenched her eyes shut, breathing nervously. "Naruto taught me for a good part of the year how to create it… and said it was only for last resorts… but I guess the time has come to use it…"
Letting out a sigh, Sakura held her right hand straight out to her side and grabbed her wrist with her left. She held her arm securely, concentrating hard and beginning to compress her chakra into her next attack. Naruto easily recognized the stance she took to performing the technique, and furrowed his brow, hoping she was confidently down with creating it. Even Hinata noticed the familiar formation of chakra running through her teammate's body, her Byakugan activating to get a better look.
"I-Is that…?"
"Yup," Naruto replied without hearing the rest of the question. "But can she do it? Out of our entire team, Sakura is the best at molding chakra and utilizing it, and should be able to perform this technique no problem. However, in spite of months of practice, she's only mastered it to an extent that the technique has a seventy-five percent execution of success, compared to a twenty-five percent that it will rebound." The blonde sweat dropped. "Gaara's defenses are too strong, even for her… so she's resulting to using that technique?"
The audience watched in astonishment when blue chakra suddenly appeared hovering outside of Sakura's palm. The twisting wind energy formed into what became a small, golf-ball sized version of Naruto's Rasengan, which grew a bit more in size on its appearance. The Third Hokage and Jiraiya blinked in astonishment when they saw the pink haired kunoichi create the Forth Hokage's secret technique so quickly… or… what looked like the Forth's technique, with Kakashi also reacting in surprise.
"So… she's using that technique," Anko grinned. "I hope she can hold it together…"
"What is that? The Rasengan?" Kakashi asked, looking at Anko. "I didn't know she could use that technique…"
"It's not," Anko replied, looking over at the Jonin. Gai, Asuma and Kurenai turned to her, seeing the smirk etched on her face. "Sakura wasn't able to master the Rasengan within a month. She was only able to get to the second stage, giving the technique power… and was unable to master the third stage; maintaining its shape. So… she improvised on Naruto's technique, by having it work with her attacks…"
Just as she said that, the small ball that Sakura held in her hand suddenly expanded, the shape it was able to hold for just a few seconds breaking up and becoming an uneven, twisting mass of energy. The wind chakra then suddenly ran over her entire hand and down her arm, till it covered her entire limb to the elbow. The twisting blue energy whipped around her arm and began wafting off of it, as she used her chakra to sheath it and keep its shape.
The kunoichi found it much easier to control the technique Naruto taught her directly from her body, which she used in the same manner for her Cherry Blossom Impact, as she was unable to maintain the Rasengan's form for very long with just her hands.
Clenching her extended hand, the twisting wind around her arm increased in ferocity, the girl smirking and looking down at her opponent.
"Let's begin…" With that said, she sprung to action, shooting straight down to the arena floor and dashing across the arena, charging straight for Gaara. With her right arm glowing brightly with blue energy and whipping violently through the air, the audience rose to their feet as they watched the girl open up with her attack.
"Well… what does the technique do?" Kakashi asked, looking at Anko with worry. The woman chuckled and sat back, observing as her student rushed Gaara's defense in the middle of the arena.
"Unlike Naruto's Rasengan, which attacks the body at a cellular and surface level by grinding into the target, before killing the opponent by sending them away with the twisting blast of the compression of wind energy, Sakura's technique combines the first two stages of the Rasengan with her Chakra Enhanced Strength. What do you think happens?" Anko grinned.
Asuma blinked and looked at Kakashi, who was also thinking the same thing.
"The wind chakra creates rotation, which increases speed and strength of techniques… that means…combined with Sakura's technique…" Asuma sweat dropped.
"She basically decimates any obstacle she hits…"
Sakura lunged as soon as she reached Gaara's defensive ball, thrusting her Rasengan powered hit straight towards his shield of sand. As expected, spikes jutted out at high velocity to counter, but Sakura ducked through them, and followed through with her technique.
"Sky Blossom Impact!" Sakura roared.
Her fist struck the barrier, and as soon as it did, everything around her seemed to go up, literally.
An explosion of incredible magnitude shook the entire arena. A shockwave and continuous blasts of wind ripped at Gaara's defensive sphere, tearing it apart. The energy and power that rippled out from the impact point relentlessly attacked the stands where the audience sat as well, who braced themselves against the raging storm. Those in the front row were astounded at the force displayed, with the proctor, who was getting the worst of it for actually being in the arena, shielding her face with one arm, and looking to see what was happening.
"Man… what a hit!" Ryoko exclaimed, feeling the debris and dirt wrack at her body.
Debris, rubble and dust clouded the entire floor, the Kages watching from high above leaning forward with anticipation to see what had happened. The Genin, who were watching as well, gawked, stunned at what they had just witnessed, and continued to do so as the dust clouding the arena started to lift, and reveal what had happened.
Sakura was kneeling several meters away from where she previously stood in confrontation to her target's defense, panting heavily and gripping her right arm, which was cut up and damaged. Hissing, she took her left hand and sheathed it in green chakra, beginning to heal the wounds around her right limb.
Though most of the Genin up in the waiting area were astonished by the display of strength, Naruto chuckled when he spotted Sakura healing herself.
"Well… the attack was successful, except for a bit of rebound," the blonde slipped his hands into his pockets as he thought. "I'm surprised she didn't break her arm. When used against the regular Rasengan, her technique is clearly the stronger… which I found out the hard way." He tipped his head a little, memories of his training during the month coming back to him. "Her newly named Sky Blossom Impact is a one hit, take-out move, which can only be used once. It uses up a lot of chakra, and can damage the user's arm as a result of the high rotation and execution. I can see why she would prefer to just use her fists then that attack…"
When the dust cleared up more, Sakura herself was able to see the results of her attack. A massive trench expanding outwards from the impact point could be seen, the ground cracked and split. Against the wall of the arena that bared the brunt of the attack, the girl saw that it was covered in sand, with a small impact crater the exact shape of her fist punched into the side.
Gaara was slumped limply against the damaged wall, staggering to his feet and groaning in agony. Gripping the side of his head, the boy stumbled away from the concrete wall behind him, as sand poured out of every crack and crevice of it, as well as crumble off of him. The red haired Genin panted and looked up towards his opponent, to see if she herself was still alive.
Sakura was in a similar state of exhaustion and damage as he was. Gaara's sand armor may have protected him for the most part, but he was completely drained as a result, his entire body rattled by the force of the impact. Furthermore, as the Suna Genin limped around in the trench, leaking sand, he was also seeing colors that weren't natural, as well as a hazy blur.
Rising to her feet, Sakura let her right arm hang, and instead, lifted her left arm in response to seeing her opponent still alive and breathing, chakra radiating off of her fist.
"Want more?"
Gaara, stepping out of the trench, frowned and glared at his opponent.
He quickly reconsidered the attack he was hit with, and given the condition of his opponent, didn't feel like being hit by another one of those a second time if she was able. However, he also felt that he had plenty of chakra to carry on the fight longer, his sand rising back up to him and reforming into his gourd. His closely packed armor also began repairing itself as he eyed his target carefully, who was barely managing to hold her ground herself.
But then, after the next few minutes of nerve-rattling suspense, Gaara glared up towards the Kage stands, seeing his 'father' sitting in the middle of them and watching in anticipation. The red haired Genin then looked over at Naruto, watching the fight with a concerned look on his own face and wondering what was going to happen next.
After a few moments of consideration, Gaara turned back to his opponent, facing her front on.
"I quit…" He mumbled, turning heel and heading back to the stairs.
Sakura's jaw dropped. "Wha…"
Gaara stopped briefly and looked over at the kunoichi. A smile crossed his lips. "As much as I would like to continue this fight… I don't feel up to it anymore. Although… I'd probably win with you struggling to stand where you are… I would much rather give you this victory today…" He turned back around and headed the rest of the way over to the exit, and went up the stairs to the waiting room.
Sakura blinked. "Holy shit… I just dodged a bullet…" The girl then collapsed to her knees. "Man… any longer and I would have been put into intensive care…"
Ryoko chuckled when she saw Sakura fall over, and raised her arm. "Winner, Sakura Haruno!"
The audience murmured amongst themselves in confusion for several seconds, but then began applauding Sakura's efforts. As soon as the victor was announced, Naruto and Hinata hopped over the railings and went over to help their teammate; amidst the applause and cheering she began receiving.
Naruto crouched down beside Sakura and checked her arm, the girl still breathing heavily in exhaustion, yet allowing the original master of the Rasengan to look her over. At the same time, Hinata pulled out some bandages and ointment for Sakura's wounds from her pouch, seeing how damaged she really was.
Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked at his teammate. "Held onto the attack any longer and your arm would have been ripped apart…" Sakura grinned sheepishly up at her boyfriend, who smiled and pressed his forehead against hers. "Why don't we just put a pin in the Sky Blossom Impact, and pop it onto the drawing board for now…eh?"
"Sure…" Sakura chuckled back, and kissed him on the cheek.
"Congratulations…"
Hinata smiled up at Sakura as she bandaged her arm, eyes twinkling. "You really are lucky, S-Sakura-chan…"
"To be honest, I don't think I would have been able to hack it if Gaara continued with the fight," Sakura sighed, feeling Hinata quickly apply the ointment, before wrapping her arm up tightly. She also felt her adrenaline produced from the fight plummet, making her realize how exhausted she actually was. "He's still the stronger of the two of us…"
"You did well though," Hinata smiled happily up at the girl, who smiled back.
"Oh well…" Anko sighed, lying back and finally able to relax from the drama. "It was fun while it lasted…"
"Sakura has gotten much stronger though. That much is clear," Kakashi commented, smiling. "She's progressed just as much as Ino has…"
"But Gaara was still able to continue fighting. Why did he just quit?" Kurenai asked, furrowing her brow. "That boy could have kept up the battle, and perhaps turn it in his favor, given his abilities."
"Maybe he couldn't hack it either," Asuma shrugged. "Regardless, the victor has been decided."
The Third Hokage smiled and sighed, relieved that the fight didn't carry on into a more bloody battle. He turned to the Kazekage, who was also sitting back, looking a bit disappointed under his veil. The old man smiled as he looked at his old friend, while Mei sitting on the other side, smiled and clapped in delight at such an entertaining battle.
"It was rather unfortunate your son quit," Hiruzen said, smiling. "But it was a good fight…"
"Yes… it was," the man sighed. Meanwhile, underneath his layers of masks, the man was seething. "Dammit all to hell… that boy didn't follow through with the plan!"
The Kazekage glared over at Sarutobi when he turned his head, with Jiraiya smiling on the sidelines with his arms folded, unaware of the Sand leader's boiling frustration. "The next chance I get… I'll take the Third and drag him into the barrier. Perhaps the distraction of this next round will give me the chance I need…"
Round 4…
While Hinata helped Sakura out of the ring, Naruto stayed behind, and took his place right next to Ryoko. The red haired woman smirked down at him ad wished him luck, before calling in Takagura, the boy rather enthusiastically, but not verbally showing it, jumping over the railing and landing on the arena floor soundlessly. He marched over to where the pair stood, and took his spot on the proctor's other side. Once he arrived, the two Genin stepped forward and faced each other, glaring at one another, with Naruto from under the shadow of his wide-brimmed hat, and Takagura from under his hood.
The Genin up in the waiting area and those in the audience watched and waited with their breaths held. All those who were there, knew that Temari had been easily taken out by her opponent with just a single blow, and that if the Kiri Genin was as strong as he really was, then Naruto was in for the fight of his life.
The audience was also watching on in interest. After hearing about their resident jinchuriki's many escapades, his numerous successful missions, and the news that he had made it this far into the exams, had perked a lot of interests. Murmuring began to echo around the crowd, with the adults passing on positive comments to each other about the boy, with rumors of how strong he really was being thrown about as well.
"Isn't that the loudmouth brat from the academy?"
"Looks like it…"
"You know I heard that he defeated that mercenary bomber from Iwa in Wave Country…"
"That S-Rank criminal Deidara?"
"Yup!"
"Yeah! Not to mention the proctor standing right next to him. He actually fought against her."
"Oh yeah, I heard about that too. She was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen from Kiri, and he and his team helped bring her down."
"If he was able to get this far in the exams, that means he's a lot stronger then he appears."
Temari looked around her, particularly over her shoulders in the direction of where Kotetsu and Izumo sat. Of course, this was just by coincidence. She was more interested in the opinions of a lot of the parents she noted to be sitting in that general direction. "Hmm… it looks like a lot of the people that doubted Naruto before are starting to lighten up a bit. I heard from Rin-san that a lot of the villagers in Konoha despised him… but after hearing the stories about Naruto and his team… they're starting to see him in a completely new light…"
"Give him some credit for getting this far," Kotetsu chuckled. "Anko really pushed him a lot in their training. Wait… scratch that! She put a lot of pressure on her entire team…"
"Not to mention the brat got a lot of training from Jiraiya-sama," Izumo said, smirking over at his friend. "Oh, did you see the look on Ibiki's face when he checked Naruto's test sheet? Man… it was priceless! His sheet was covered in profanity and drawings of boobs! He even included some new swear words I'd never heard of before…"
"Really? Like what?" Kotetsu asked.
"Oh, well you know the MILF statements and interjections you usually curse out, well…there is the big one with the 'f', but instead of your mom, it's a sister equivalent. He came up with a completely new word involving three members of the family…"
"What is it? I'll use it on open-mike night down at the bar," Kotetsu nudged, pulling out his notepad. Temari sweat dropped and sighed, before smiling back down at the arena.
"Same old Naruto… you give him a plate and ask for a chocolate cake, and he gives you a whole banana cake…"
The Third Hokage chuckled as he watched Naruto stare down his opponent, with the Kazekage also looking down at the arena floor with great interest. Jiraiya was quite intrigued by how his apprentice's fight will go, and was looking down at Minato's look-a-like with a smile on his face. As Jiraiya marveled at his student's show of confidence, at the same time, Hiruzen turned to look over at Mei, who was also giving the two combatants her utmost attention.
"I believe the boy down there is one of your own, Mizukage-sama?" the Third queried.
"It looks like it, yes!" the woman smiled, glancing over at Konoha's leader, while Ao was leaning up against the wall, arms folded, and focusing on the arena down below. "I'm surprised to see that Takagura made it this far into the exams! I heard he was mostly a sensor type ninja, a natural talent he picked up back in the academy. He didn't have much taijutsu or ninjutsu techniques under his belt, but he was an expert at kenjutsu!"
"Not a ninjutsu specialist, huh?" Hiruzen pondered, sitting back into his chair and staring down at the Genin across from Naruto. His thoughts reran the final round that took place in the preliminaries leading up to the Third Stage of the Exams, where the Kiri Genin fought the Suna kunoichi with little effort, perhaps none at all. This, and the Mizukage's statement, supported his conclusion that Kirigakure had no knowledge of the actual Genin now participating in the exams whatsoever.
"If that's true, then that means that the Kiri Team progressing through these tests really are a rogue group… and Kirigakure has no involvement in the infiltration. This is bad…" Sarutobi thought, scratching his chin.
Ryoko smirked, hands in her pockets as she chewed quietly on a reed she had stuck into her mouth. "If there are no objections between you two," she exclaimed, looking over at a smiling Naruto, then back over towards the ever stoic Takagura, the red head then raised her arm, and swiftly lowered it, "you may begin!"
She leapt away, giving them some distance for their squabble. It was at the announcement of the fight the entire audience hushed up all at once, and focused all their attention on the two Genin in front of them. The shinobi sitting in the crowds flocking the stands also leaned in, literally gripping their seats as the tension of the coming battle grew.
The moment Ryoko announced the beginning of their round, Takagura reached out from under his cloak with his right hand, grabbed the scruff of his collar, and ripped the entire outer layer of clothing off, throwing it onto the wind. This actions surprised Naruto, and when he saw the boy rip off his disguise, the Kiri Genin grabbed the cane off of his back and spun it several times around him, before driving the thick end into the ground, splitting the rock solid earth on impact.
The boy wore standard black ninja attire, a black mesh shirt and vest, with a green battle dress and a thick, forest green scarf around his neck. Instead of sandals, he wore brown, calf high boots, and had a green sash around his waist. Pale white skin revealed itself to the world, with his stitched, scarred eye flashing under the sunlight, and his unkempt gray hair whipping around him wildly.
It was at the full sight of the boy, Ryoko had no doubt that Takagura was the spitting image of Yagura, perhaps even the former Kage himself.
"His eyes however… they're different…" the woman thought, watching as the boy glared across at his opponent.
Naruto also noted the color of Takagura's eyes.
Instead of pink, they were now a sickly grey.
"Oh my God… you actually do have a scarred eye!" Naruto chuckled.
Of course… Naruto, being the unpredictable shinobi he was, chose to focus on different areas to lighten his mood.
"Is this real? Is this really happening?" the blonde shinobi laughed. "This is ridicules! All that's missing is the evil kitten and the chair you can swivel around in!"
About half the audience fell flat over animated style, whereas the other half just sweat-dropped, including the Jonin and the Kages, as Naruto continued laughing his head off. Shikamaru sighed and slapped his face.
"Is he high?"
"So… heh-heh… you want to dance?" Naruto grinned, shaking off from his fits of laughter and straightening up. Swiftly, he reached for his trench-knife on his shoulder and drew it, the blade flashing in the sun. His weapon gleamed brilliantly as he twirled it in a single handed grip and assumed a fighting stance, blade held in a backwards grip. "Let's go…"
"I can sense… you are incredibly powerful," Yagura spoke; his voice shallow and filled with absolutely no emotions whatsoever. Heck, he didn't even react to Naruto's comments, which had turned a lot of heads in the audience. His words shook his opponent out of his reverie, causing him to furrow his brow at the emptiness in his voice. "You are more powerful then before. Conclusively, I shall have the pleasure of killing you… to eliminate you as a threat!"
All of a sudden, he popped his staff with another jab to the ground, the top hook with the flower at the end suddenly skyrocketing upwards, a chain keeping the hook attached to the staff. Naruto watched the hook soar high above him, stunned, the chain suddenly whipping around, and the blade coming straight down towards him.
The Konoha Genin leapt away as fast as he could, the dangerous projectile striking the ground where he stood seconds before, the impact exploding upwards with rubble and dust. Yagura leapt through the dust cloud and ran after Naruto, the blonde retreating from the impact point and his attacking opponent.
Stopping a safe distance away, Naruto blinked in shock, his opponent still running after him. "His staff also functions as a spring-loaded Kusarigama! That's insane!" He had little time to raise a complaint though, when Yagura slashed at him from a distance with his chained weapon, the hook slicing through the air at a high velocity, straight towards the boy.
Naruto leapt straight up to his left, avoiding the swipe and disappearing into the trees surrounding the back half of the arena. Yagura followed his target with his eyes, slashing his hooked Kusarigama back around him and slicing out at the tree tops. With a single swipe, he sheered the top halves of three trees standing in a row with one slice, leaving them flat tops. He struck again, then again, and again, the last strike slicing them down at a diagonal angle, the trunks keeling over like dominos.
The blonde shinobi leapt out of hiding as his tree started to collapse, flipping through the air and drawing clusters of kunai from his pouch. Gritting his teeth, he flung them straight down towards his opponent while still airborne, whose chained weapon was still extended after the executed attack. However, a split second before his kunai hit, Yagura swiftly brought his staff around, the chain from his weapon curling through the air around him, and effectively blocking the barrage. The kunai slammed against the chain one after the other, clanging loudly before being knocked away.
"Shit!" Naruto shouted, spinning through the air and landing on the ground a great distance away, crouching to absorb the impact. "That won't work… but… then again…" "Let's see you try that successively!" The blonde roared, his hands suddenly being filled with clusters of shuriken from his sleeves, which he then threw all at once at his opponent. The ninja stars curved through the air as they cut towards their target.
Yagura's staff withdrew the Kusarigama blade back into it to form a single weapon once again. Swiftly, and displaying incredible speed with such a heavy looking staff, the boy began spinning his weapon around him with spectacular skill, blocking the onslaught of shuriken, and at the same time, charging at his opponent. Naruto ran left, beginning to circle his opponent and moving to the center of the arena, tossing shuriken three after three at his opponent. The young former Kage effectively blocked them all, showing the same ferocity as he did before when blocking the first barrage of nine ninja stars. The weapons bounced off his flailing staff spinning around him like a copter blade, with little effect, as Yagura approached his opponent.
Skidding to a stop, Naruto leapt back when Yagura swung his staff around and brought it straight down on top of the blonde when in range, the thick end striking the ground and splitting it with a loud bang. Leaping backwards, the blonde pulled back his right sleeve and cranked his gauntlet, taking aim.
"TRY THIS!" A loud gunshot was heard as Naruto simultaneously fired off a kunai at the boy while in mid-air, who barely managed to block the high velocity kunai with his staff. But as the kunai fell away right in front of the boy, still locked in his parry, a tag unfurled from around its handle.
Yagura blinked in surprise, spotting the danger at the last second.
BOOOOM! The tag detonated with tremendous force, staggering the jinchuriki.
Naruto landed twenty meters away from his opponent from the propulsion provided by his gauntlet firing, taking a defensive stance and glaring intensely into the dust and smoke formed by the explosion of his paper bomb.
"That had to at least faze him…"
As he was watching the cloud fade, he suddenly spotted a shadow growing around him, forcing him to look up. Unexpectedly, he saw Yagura descending straight down towards him, staff spinning around in his grip above his head, cutting through the air with loud swooshing sounds echoing off of it. Naruto swiftly redrew his trench knife, and blocked the downward strike, the loud clang and shockwave following, cracking the ground at the blonde's feet as he felt his whole body shake from stopping the blow. Yagura landed in front of him and began lashing out at him with his staff with swift, powerful strikes, Naruto forced to back off quickly, blocking each incoming strike expertly.
The two began an incredible, close-combat duel, staff verses knife, with Naruto ducking and blocking every single attack Yagura attempted. The boy's staff spun around him with superb speed and precision, but regardless of his proficiency with it, he just could not get past Naruto's defenses, as the blonde backed up, circled and avoided every blow thrown at him. The clanging of metal against metal rang out, with sparks flying between the two combatants, jumping and sprinting left and right across the arena.
Spinning his staff around him again, Yagura struck at Naruto, only to carve a trench into the solid earth as a result, Naruto leaping out of the way and sliding to a stop. He spun his knife around in his grip and brought it up into a forward hold, blade flashing. Yagura came back around, sprinting at the boy and swinging straight across at him with his weapon. Naruto carefully timed himself, and then dashed at him in response, ducking low under the swung and sliding right between Yagura's legs. After passing right underneath his opponent, Naruto sprang back to his feet and sprinted away.
Yagura spun around and swung out with his staff, but ended up hitting nothing. Watching his opponent retreat, the grey haired boy gritted his teeth in frustration and thumped his staff into the ground, the top hook flying off once again. Spinning the chained weapon around him, he thrust it outwards, attempting to catch his opponent on his blind side.
Naruto heard the swishing of the hook and ducked just in time in his sprint, avoiding having his head sliced off by the weapon. He then forward flipped several times, and leapt off of the ground, flying straight up and landing against the side of the arena wall, crouching against it. He then flipped over so that he had his back pressed up against the wall, and sprawled out comfortably like a spider, glaring down at his opponent.
Yagura swung his hook around him, spinning it at a high velocity as he ran after his opponent. Seconds later, he slashed out with the hook at the end of the chain, slicing at the blonde perched against the wall thirty meters away. The blonde Genin back-flipped up the wall, avoiding the hook as it came skidding across the concrete, leaving a wide gash in its side. Yagura swung the hook around some more and continued slashing out at Naruto at his thirty meter distance, slicing up the wall as the blonde crawled across it, hopping around and avoiding the flailing hook. Eventually, Naruto ended up crouched against the wall, and sprang forward, flying through the air and straight down towards Yagura.
Flipping acrobatically while in mid-air, Naruto thrust a kick straight up, sending his hidden kunai in his sandal flying at his opponent. Yagura withdrew his hook swiftly and spun it around him, the chain deflecting the incoming knife with a loud clang, before the hook spun back around and went flying at the airborne Genin. Naruto back flipped on his descent, barely avoiding the flower donned weapon that flew up at him, and landed with a loud thud right in front of his opponent, crouching to avoid injury from the fall or his opponent.
Exploding into movement, the blonde cranked his right hand back, hidden-blade shooting out of his sleeve. He struck out at his opponent, clashing against the swings of the staff as Yagura backed away, defending from his target's attacks. Sparks flew as metal sliced against metal, the pair dancing and spinning around each other as they clashed in the middle of the arena.
The audience awed at the speed and ferocity of both Genin, watching them sprint in all directions across the arena's surface and meet each other when they crossed paths, weapons clanging loudly with sparks flashing. Temari was astounded that Naruto was able to fight Takagura head to head, while she, despite her best efforts, was knocked out in one blow. The other Genin watching beside her were also astounded, Neji having activated his Byakugan in order to better capture their movements.
"Kami, they're fast!" Tenten blinked, shaking her head as she watched Naruto zip-line left and right before lunging at Yagura, his hidden blade locking with the Kiri Genin's staff, both weapons grinding into each other in the grapple. "Good thing that weapon of his is strong…"
"Their movements are so much alike," Neji commented, furrowing his brow as he watched them break off and sprint around in a full circle before charging at each other again, and thrust their weapons at their target. They passed each other in the center, sparks flying with three loud clangs heard, when it only looked like they struck at their opponent once. "They're both fighting equally in terms of speed, technique and power…"
"Naruto is starting to see how Takagura fights," Kin nodded her head, gritting her teeth when she watched the blonde barely avoiding a series of swings from Yagura's staff, before he leapt at him and sent a spinning side-kick into his chest, knocking the boy staggering away with the blow. "He's analyzing his opponent's style, and is countering it with his own."
"Unbelievable," Shikamaru whispered blinking in disbelief as he watched Naruto run rings around his opponent before leaping at him with a roundhouse kick through the air, Yagura ducking and countering, only for the blonde to grab his staff on the swing and flip over it, kicking at the boy's head at the same time. That blow really knocked the Kiri Genin for a loop. "Naruto is…actually learning how to fight his opponent, while he's fighting!"
Anko smirked as the other Jonin beside her watched on in astonishment. "Naruto was at first running from his opponent but now… he's learned to get in close, and is matching him blow for blow. It won't be long now till his opponent starts running from him…"
There was a loud thud when Naruto's jab and elbow landed against Yagura in a tackle, the boy slamming himself into his opponent after ducking under a staff strike. The grey haired boy skidded back along the ground, having taken the blow in both his chest and face. Staggering, he glared up through gritted teeth, and seethed angrily as his opponent landed, before the blonde rushed at him.
The Kiri Genin had noticed that his opponent had started fighting back right after he leapt off of the wall to evade his long-range attacks, and began fighting more at an enclosed distance, having come to the idea that he couldn't use his Kusarigama at such close quarters.
Shouting angrily, Yagura swung his staff out at Naruto, who ducked straight under it so fast that it looked as though he disappeared. Suddenly, the blonde reappeared right underneath the boy, and with an incredible show of strength, kicked the boy skywards. The grey haired former Kage skyrocketed from the blow, winded, with Naruto forming a single hand seal as he crouched from where he had kicked.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Twelve shadow clones burst up around him, and leapt into the air, flying straight up towards their opponent. His training with the boulders and heavy weights gave him the ability to literally soar through the air at high speed with little effort, and had increased his speed significantly. As a result, when he jumped straight up, he rocketed at the speed of kunai.
When the clones reached Yagura, one after the other, they hammered kicks right into their target's abdomen, sending him further and further skywards with each blow. They kicked him so far up that Yagura was literally hanging suspended a kilometer above the arena. The audience rose to their feet to follow the astonishing battle, now taking to the skies above their heads.
Watching his clones dispel, Naruto grinned and knelt down low, before leaping straight after Yagura, his ascent stunning the entire crowd.
"HE'S FLYING!" Tenten shouted.
"Incredible," Kakashi murmured, watching the blonde disappear after his opponent. "Where did he learn to do that?"
"YOSH! A Strong body and strong legs mean you can 'jump good'!" Gai shouted, thrusting his fist out. "GO NARUTO!"
Yagura, still airborne, glared down towards the arena below with wide eyes as his opponent flew towards him at high speed. Maneuvering through the air, Yagura lashed out with his staff, swinging with his Kusarigama at his target, only for his hook to miss when the blonde maneuvered around it and spun through the air, sending a kick straight up into his face. The grey haired boy was knocked into a flip from the blow, the two of them soon beginning their descent. The Kiri shinobi recovered though, and turned through the air to face his opponent, who was falling at a several meters distance from him, upright and glaring back.
Though not in his element, Yagura decided to confront his opponent. However, Naruto surprised him yet again when he threw both his hands behind him, his palms suddenly exploding with blue wind chakra. Like rocket thrusters, the blasts of wind chakra from his hands propelled the blonde straight towards his opponent at high speed, flipping and twisting him through the air on his approach.
Lunging at his target, Naruto then lashed out with his combat blade, Yagura meeting him with powerful swings of his staff. With excellent speed and maneuverability, Naruto clashed with the boy, coming at him from all sides as he was thrown off with every attack the two threw at each other and collided in mid air, and returned with even more ferocity to each strike. Sparks flew from loud clangs and shockwaves echoing out from between them, the two shinobi fighting it all out, hundreds of meters above the ground, while they fell.
The Kages, who were sitting atop of the roof, were looking up with astonishment, as they could see the two shinobi fighting and plummeting back towards the ground together. Jiraiya was also watching on from beside Hiruzen, quietly awing at the sight of the firefight above him.
"That boy continues to surprise me. He's able to fight his opponent anywhere, whether on water, on land… or even in the sky…"
Yagura roared as he lashed at Naruto with his staff, only for the blonde to kick it aside and lunge at the grey haired jinchuriki, slamming his feet into his face and down onto his stomach. He repeatedly kicked him in the limbs and mid-section, making sure he was staggered before rearing back with his right fist, and slamming Yagura straight across the face, sending his opponent plummeting at a far greater speed straight towards the ground.
The audience watched in awe as the Kiri Genin literally broke the sound barrier three times before eventually colliding with the earth in the middle of the arena. His impact with the ground sent an explosive blast of dust, debris and rubble rocketing two stories high, with Naruto grinning at the success of his assault. The crowds in the stands shielded themselves from the blast of wind that rippled out from the Genin's crash landing, with the other shinobi in the waiting area looking down at the arena with wide eyes, wondering if Takagura was still alive.
However, just as Naruto fell towards the arena floor, he was shocked when he suddenly saw a pillar of water shoot out from the impact crater and part the dust cloud. That jet of water expanded and transformed into a two story fountain, which began filling up the arena and transforming it into a small lake.
Quickly using his wind chakra from his hands to maneuver himself through the air, Naruto pushed himself over to the arena wall and landed at the very top. Landing into a crouched position, he looked down and watched as his opponent summoned a lake's worth of water into the arena and began filling it to up, Ryoko bobbing up and down on its surface and watching the water level rise, waves crashing against the arena walls.
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave," Naruto thought, recognizing the technique from sight alone. The mists of condensing water generated from the uproar of the new arena lake, and the dust from Yagura's crash landing, vanished, leaving Yagura standing atop of the water right in the center and in plain sight, glaring up at his opponent.
The audience and the Genin noticed that he no longer had his staff, and had received quite a bit of damage from the impact from his fall. He was bleeding from the corner of his lip, his outfit was tattered, and he was badly bruised up and covered in dirt. Naruto was also a bit bruised himself from his hand-to-hand battle with his opponent, but didn't take as many hits as Yagura had.
"Oh… you're still alive," Naruto smirked, raising an eyebrow down at his opponent. "Ready for a second round?"
Yagura didn't say a word. Instead, he slapped his hands together into a series of hand seals before thrusting his right palm down to the water at his feet, grabbing his wrist with his left hand. All of a sudden, the water around him became drawn to the center of his palm, the liquid spinning at a high velocity in his very hand, forming a water version of the Sharingan. The small vortex sphere continued sucking up large quantities of the lake in the arena around him. If the appearance of his Water Release technique from the ground didn't astound the audience, then his next technique did, as he drained the entire arena in whirlpool like fashion, and compressed all of the water into the palm of his hand.
Naruto felt an incredible influx of chakra come from his opponent, and gritted his teeth. "Shit… that's definitely not going to be a regular water bomb!" Throwing both his hands out, the blonde's wind chakra began to circulate at his palms, quickly forming a Rasengan in both his hands, each of them growing to the size of bowling balls. The amount of energy he generated created a small tornado of wind to form up around him, which dispersed at the production of his duel technique.
Furrowing his brow, he glared down at his opponent, who had now completely drained the entire arena, and was now holding his mini vortex water sphere out to his right side, his chakra giving it shape and maintaining it.
Grinning, the blonde nodded. "LET'S GO!"
Leaping off of the side of the wall, Naruto dove straight at his opponent, gathering speed on his descent. Yagura assumed a well balanced stance and took aim, bringing his hand around and waiting for his opponent to get into range. The blonde twisted through the air, cranking his right hand around and, with a roar, lunged down at his opponent, the sphere of wind in his hand swirling violently.
"RASENGAN!"
"WATER VORTEX TECHNIQUE!" Yagura shouted, thrusting his attack upwards to meet Naruto's.
The moment their two spheres collided, shockwaves ripped out from in between them, followed by continuous blasts of wind and a hurricane to generate around them, as Water Release met Wind Release. Naruto continued to hover above the ground, diving at his opponent with his one attack, grinding it against the sphere of water slicing away at his own. The compression of both wind and water caused excessive hurricane blast winds to ripple between them, tearing up the ground and the air space around them, as well as hyper condensation of water, which also contributed to the damage.
The audiences in the stand were hit by a tremendous gale of wind, which sprayed them with water and debris from the arena below as the two super Genin ground their attacks into one another. The Genin in the front row had the worst time in hell, since they were the closest to the raging energies outputted by the two attacks colliding. The Jonin also had to brace themselves against the winds, but not as much as everybody else. The Genin in the waiting stands however, had a hard time keeping their positions against the railings, and were blown back further into the room.
As Naruto continued to press on with his attack, he noticed that Yagura's water vortex technique was giving way to his Rasengan, as noted by the extreme warping in its shape. Unable to maintain the vortex technique, the grey haired former Kage suddenly staggered back, when the sphere he was holding suddenly exploded like a bubble, water droplets shooting out in all directions before suddenly becoming suspended in mid-air. At the same time, Naruto's first Rasengan dropped as he fell to the ground.
Landing, the blond wasted no time in lunging with the second Rasengan he prepared, swinging it around before thrusting it straight at Yagura's wide open chest.
"EAT THIS!" he roared, throwing the air sphere straight into the boy. The blast that followed sent a second shockwave over the arena, splitting the ground as well as cracking the surrounding walls. Seconds later, after the attack grinded into Yagura, the boy was then blasted off of his feet, twisting in the tornado that sent him flying into the arena wall. Whipping through the air, the former Kage then slammed straight into the concrete, sprawling out on the crash that would have broken every bone in his body. Seconds later, his lifeless body fell away, leaving a nice indent and a small impact crater where he hit.
Naruto panted at finally being able to level his opponent, Ryoko standing at a safe distance away and watching with her arms crossed in observation. She raised her eyebrow when she watched the spiky haired blonde straighten up and begin walking over to where his opponent had fallen.
"I'd take more then that to take Yagura down…" Ryoko thought, furrowing her brow. "Naruto certainly knows that. So far… the scar-faced brat has only been fighting under his own power…"
Just as Naruto was still walking towards the far end of the arena, the audience, still stunned from the clash of powers, followed the blonde as he made his way across. However, the suspense died out when the blonde stopped and looked on in surprise when he saw the silhouette of Yagura rising behind a cloud of dust. When that dust cloud dissipated, the boy revealed himself to be in the same state as before, with only one difference.
The clothes at his chest were torn open, but instead of human skin seen underneath, the crowd was shocked to see the underside of a turtle shell shielding him, with the burn marks from Naruto's Rasengan seen engraved in the bone hard surface. Slowly, that mark disappeared as it healed itself, Yagura glaring stoically towards his opponent, who stood at a safe distance from him.
"Well… that's certainly not good…" Naruto murmured.
Just when he said that, a circle of shadow loomed over Yagura for several seconds, before the cloaked figure of the Kiri Genin's Jonin sensei unexpectedly dropped down from the top of the arena wall, and landed right next to his student. Though he had fought valiantly so far, the 'Takagura's' team leader decided to step in now to stop the fight, and as soon as he appeared right next to the grey haired boy, he rose to his feet and grinned up at Naruto, who stepped back at the sight of the towering Jonin in surprise.
"You're right there… brat!"
TO BE CONTINUED…