A/N: The song again is to keep the christmas music on.. I seriously am running out of songs.. holidays make great excuses XD This one is by cindy lou who from "The grinch who stole christmas" .. or something like that. Great song though. Warning you all now.. I plan on writing ALL of these fights out.. because they're not the original fight I don't want to just leave it for the imagination.. writing fights isn't my strong point but I'm trying. This also means that the next five chapters are going to be fighting.. lots of it. Sorry for those of you who dislike fights. My next non-fight chapter should be up by Jan 15. I hope. If not sooner.
"Is this, this electric score board will show the match ups for each battle. Now, this is sudden but lets announce the names of the two in the first fight." Hayate finished. "Round one, Nara Shikamaru verses Tenten! Now these two entrants come to the front, can everyone else move to the balconies."
"Good luck Shika." Shinobu grinned as she passed by.
"Troublesome." He grumbled, but smirked back none the less.
"The two participants in the first fight are Nara Shikamaru and Tenten. Are you ready?" Hayate asked, looking between the two.
"Whatever.. sure."
"Yes!"
Shikamaru POV
"Begin!"
"Just a leaf rookie... this should be a piece of cake for her." Neji stated.
"GOOD LUCK TENTEN!" Lee screamed from the balcony.
"Does he ever shut up..? Troublesome.." Shikamaru mumbled. Oh man, what a drag. I mean give me a break. I've got to fight a girl?
"Hey.. he may be annoying but don't insult my teammates.
"TENTEN! YOUTH! POWER!" Lee shouted in support.
"CHEER LOUDER!" Gai joined in.
"C'mon Tenten! Send him back on a stretcher!"
"Show the power of youth!"
"This is troublesome enough nevermind their annoying cheering."
"Don't lose, Shikamaru!"
"You're one to talk." Tenten laughed, looking up Shikamaru's teammates, cheering from the balcony.
"They're troublesome too.." Shikamaru sighed.
"Sure sure, let's just start so I can beat you and relax before my teammates have to fight." Tenten laughed. "Oh, and good luck, you'll need it."
"Hn, we'll see." Shikamaru smirked.
"But all I need to do is watch your shadow right? It's your only trick.. I saw you with your team." Tenten grinned before pulling out a handful of weapons.
"Weapons mistress, eh? Troublesome." Shikamaru smirked slightly before beginning his own odd dance consisting of him flipping and hopping around trying to avoid all of the different weapons. If this was how the entire fight was going to be he wasn't going to last long. It would exhaust him too quickly and he'd be forced to forfeit.
"So.. what happened to that cocky attitude. You look like a mexican jumping bean." Tenten laughed as Shikamaru was forced into a mid-air split to avoid getting his.. important body parts.. turned into a weapon shishkabob.
"Yes, and I'm avoiding most damage as well." Shikamaru panted while leaning on his knees, thankful for the temporary cease fire. He had managed to avoid all but two shuriken which sliced a good chunk of his sleeve off and taking some skin with them.
"For now." Tenten grinned, pulling out a scroll.
"Hmm... a summoning scroll? What type of weapon do you use.. or is it an animal.." Shikamaru wondered outloud.
"Just watch and see Mr. Lazy." Tenten grinned.
"Ya ya, Mrs. Sarcastic." He sighed earning a laugh from Tenten as she jumped into the air, the scroll and smoke whipping around her in a dance of weapons.
"Shit... A tornado of shuriken and kunai? Kagemane no Jutsu!" Shikamaru groaned to himself before trying his best to attach shadows to all of the different weapons, causing them to fall straight down instead of at an angle towards him. By the time Tenten came back to the ground Shikamaru almost completely out of breath while the weapons lay on the ground, not a drop of blood on any of them.
"W-what? How?"
"You underestimated me. Just because I won't hit a girl doesn't mean I'm going to roll over and die for you either." Shikamaru smirked. But at this rate I won't have much time.. it's only been three minutes and I'm running out of chakra too quickly, I can't use my jutsu on all of those weapons at once. Maybe if I use the shadows of the weapons I can get her while she's attacking.. I would get hit that way, but it's probably the quickest way to end the fight as well.
"You're underestimating me too, you don't have time to formulate a plan Nara." Tenten shouted, throwing several kunais towards him.
"We've already been throu- CRAP!" Shikamaru's eyes widened as he dodged the first one and it proceeded to explode behind him. She tagged them. Damn it. He winced as the different kunais wizzed past him blowing up at different times. He managed to get through with slightly burns until the last one knicked his pants, hooking onto them. Before he could unhook it, it exploded sending him flying into a nearby wall.
"You ok?" Tenten asked, showing some honest concern when he didn't get up quite away.
"Lovely.." He looked up and grinned before pointing to the kunai laying in the middle of the room then gesturing to his unharmed leg.
"Ugh.. I planned on saving this for the main event.. but I guess it's now or never.. Rising Twin Dragons!" Tenten shouted, opening two scrolls simultaneously and throwing them into a spiral in the air before pushing off from the ground to meet them.
"More weapons? This is going to hurt..." Shikamaru sighed, splitting his shadow off again as the weapons started raining down. If he could get the majority of them away from himself he'd still be able to catch her just before she stopped the jutsu.
"I'm not done yet!" Tenten shouted with a grin when the weapons lay on the ground. Flipping back into the air she flicked her wrists, invisible strings catching in the light. She's attached rope to all of them.. that's perfect. Just as the weapons made there way towards Shikamaru he grinned.
"W-whaaat?" Tenten's eyes widened in shock as she felt her limbs lock up, preventing her from controlling the waepons as she fell to the ground. "H-how?"
"You need to be more careful.. you're too busy watching your own shadow and mine. The shadow of your own weapon escaped your mind." Shikamaru grinned pushing off into air and using his shadow to controll the weapons, moving his arms so her arms would drag the weapons back towards her.
"Darn it.." Tenten winced as some of the weapons hit her. "But, I get hit it'll hurt you too!"
"If you're a shinobi then fight with the knowledge of your surroundings. Even if we move the same.." Shikamaru started, pulling out of his bridge. "The distance between us and your falling weapons are different. If I dodge this one here," He paused to dart to the left. "you run into that one." he said as she let out a cry, a kunai embedding itself into her forearm."
With one last arm movement he took the blunt objects so they all hit her at once, not having the heart to watch her get stabbed by the sharper ones. With in a moment she was knocked out and tangled in her own weapons.
"YEA SHIKAMARU!"
"YOU RULE!"
"Hn.. troublesome." Shikamaru smirked slightly after he saw the medical team was coming to make sure she was ok.
"Winner! Nara Shikamaru! Now the next match.. Aburame Shino verses Yamanaka Ino!"
"Shino..? Which one is he again? I don't remember seeing him in the academy.. Maybe he's from another village." Ino muttered to herself as she made her way down to the ground level.
"Shino.. Yamanaka mind body swap.. I'll bet you anything she tries to use it to get you to forfeit. Be careful." Shinobu whispered.
"I will b,e thanks." Shino smiled.
"Good luck Shino-kun!"
"Ya! Go kick some ass!"
"Kiba!"
"Sorry Kurenai-sensei..."
Shino POV
Shino sighed as he made his way down to the main floor. His best bet was to distract the girl with basic academy moves while he got his bugs to sneak up on her. It would be even easier if she was afraid of bugs like most of the girls from the academy were.
"Aburame Shino.. Yamanaka Ino? Are you ready?" Hayate asked, now that Tenten was gone on the stretcher.
"Yes."
"Yeah."
"Please begin."
"Forfeit.. if you fight here you will be finished." Shino stated simply.
"N-no!" Ino said, looking slightly taken aback. "I'm not losing to Sakura.. and I'm not losing to you.. I am strong.. I'm not forfeiting!"
"Beating me or forfeiting to me has no relation to you losing to Sakura. Forfeit. You can't beat me with simple mind techniques." Shino repeated.
"Y-you know my technique?" Ino stuttered.
"Yes.." Shino sighed, watching his bugs move from the corner of his eye.
"I'm not going to give up!" Ino growled running forward to attack Shino, darting to the right she moved to punch his head.
"It won't work." Shino stated, quickly blocking it. "You cannot beat Sakura and you cannot beat me. Someone who focuses more on their hair than their skills should not be a ninja." Shino explained without hesitation, while a girl's self-confidence means a lot at this age, it's also easy to take advantage of that kind of mental state. If he was lucky he could cause her to lose her focus with a few simple words. Sakura seemed to be an especially large weakspot.
"You better stop under-estimating and dis-respecting me!" Ino shouted, pulling out a kunai.
"You're mad and irrational, you're a simple civilian teenage girl and you don't deserve to be here. Please forfeit and I won't have to hurt you." Shino replied, matter-of-factly, watching her raise the kunai.
"ORAAAAAAA! I don't need this!" Ino screeched, cutting her ponytail off.
"Yikes.. she's snapped!" Shikamaru grimaced from the stands as she threw her hair onto the ground.
"Scary." Naruto mumbled...
"I'm going to end this right now! I'm going to make "I give up" come out of your mouth!"
"I can understand your desperation.. but that's useless." Shino stated. "Your jutsu, it allows you to project your own spiritual energy at your opponent. You can take control of their body for a few minutes. But it has a weakness.. your spirit would fly at a slow speed, miss your target.. and it takes you a few minutes to get back to your body leaving you vulnerable for attack."
"So what? We won't know until I try!" Ino shouted.
"If you miss this will be over.. you do know that. Right?"
"Idiot! Don't!" Shikamaru shouted.
"SHINPOU! SHINTENSHIN NO JUTSU!" Ino cried, her hands locked onto Shino has he darted from where he was standing. For a moment they both froze looking downwards.
"Which one..?" Shikamaru questioned.
"Too bad... Ino" Shino spoke. "It's over now." His eyes widened as he went to walk forward.
"I told you not to underestimate me Shino. You fell for it, my trap!" Ino grinned. "I've created a special chakra rope using my hair, this was all an act. Now I just have to enter your body and make you give up. I have a 100% chance of succeeding this time."
"I can't move.." Shino winced slightly.
"Shinpou.. shintenshin no jutsu."
"Did it work?" Shikamaru asked.
"Shino...crap.." Shinobu sighed.
"Too bad.. Shino.." Shino/Ino spoke with a maniacal grin that didn't really suit hiim. "I, Aburame Shino f-AAAAAAGH! W-w-what is that?"
"What? What's happening?" Choji asked, tilting his head.
"BWahahaha! That's hilarious!" Kiba snorted, watching Shino as tears started streaming down his face.
"G-get it off I CAN FEEL THEM CRAWLING GET THEM OFF!" Shino/Ino cried out.
"The bugs inside of his skin are something he is used to, the feeling doesn't register to him. But for a new comer, it would be like having hundreds of bugs crawling beneath your skin and on you. It's not a feeling most people would be able to ignore." Shinobu grinned and Shikamaru grimaced.
"Release!"
"I told you. It would not work. Mind games don't work with me." Shino smiled. "Now you can forfeit.. or take note of the bugs behind you. They're called destruction bugs. They attack their prey in numbers and eat their chakra. If this many attack you, as I said before, you will be finished.
"I f-forfeit! Just please d-don't let them near me!" Ino whimpered, she was visibly shaking.
"You forfeit?" Hayate asked.
"Y-yes just get th-them away!" Ino begged, crying. Within moments the bugs behind her fluttered away, retreating back into Shino's skin.
"Sorry.. " Shino murmered before going back up to meet his team.
"That was kind of brutal dude.." Kiba grinned.
"It was that or lose." Shino said simply.
"Good job Shino!" Shinobu congratulated him.
"Yes, good job." Hinata repeated, but Shino was distracted watching Ino retreat to her team, apologizing in choked sobs. Shikamaru simply held her as she trembled. Another win for fear of bugs.
"Alright, next round is Temari verses Kin Tsuchi."
Temari POV
"Ugh.. I have to fight one of the people from the stupid unheard of sound village?" Temari sighed to herself walking down to the ground level.
"Then it'll end quickly." Kin replied with a straight face, overhearing her. That girl has some nerve challenging me.
"For the third match.. Temari.. Kin.. get ready." Hayate spoke. "Begin."
"They're both just standing there.. but I can't tell if their analyzing each other or not.. it looks more like they're waiting for the other to move." Shinobu noted, watching with a slightly confused expression. She wasn't quite sure who she wanted to win, from hearing about the forest from her teammates she wasn't particularily fond of the idea of fighting any of the sand ninja.. but she didn't want another run in with the sound either.
"What are you waiting for? I did say for you to begin."
"I guess she's waiting for me to make a move. Big mistake, because the first move I make will be the last move you see." Temari smirked.
"Another one trick pony, hm? I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you." Kin laughed.
"Oh come on, I don't want this match to be over too quickly. So why don't you go first?" Temari replied. That girl is going to get what's going to her for that one. "Come on, girl.Show me what you got."
"Ya you just thinking that way little girl.." Kin smirked, throwing two senbon with bells attached towards Temari. They missed and lodged into the wall behind her.
"What was that? A warm up excersize.. Or maybe you're a little nervous and it's effected your aim. Is that it? Perhaps, I was hoping I could at least work up a sweat. But forget that idea if this is the best you've got." Temari taunted, grabbing and opening her fan. "Take a look, this is the first moon." Temari laughed. "There are two more. When you see all three moons you'll know, you've lost the match." With a quick swish a blast of wind send Kin stumbling into the wall behind her, the bells behind Temari ringing from the action.
"Hn.. so you attached strings to the bells to distract me right?" Temari smirked, using her fan to snap them, causing the bells to ring.
"Don't act so smart.." Kin laughed as Temari's eyes widened.
"What.. what the?"
"Too late. You see, you don't ever ask for whom the bell tolls because it tolls for thee. This bell sends off a peculiar sound vibration that travels through the outer and inner ear then directly to the ear. First comes paralysis, then you'll start hallucinating." Kin grinned, watching as Temari moved to cover her ears.
"It won't work. You can't block the sound out once it's inside your head.. it's useless."
"Ugh.. I can't tell which one is the real one.." Temari growled.
"You can't move your arms or legs and even if you could you wouldn't know which one of us to attack. Face it, you're cooked little girl." Kin smirked.
"You think it's that easy, huh?" Temari grinned. "Aagh!"
"It's over... the sound girl is going to lose." Shikamaru sighed.
"W-what? How can you tell that?" Naruto asked, his eyes not leaving the match.
"If you can't see it I'm not going to waste my time explaining." He sighed again, leaning on his hand.
"That was three.. next time I'll throw five.. each time a couple more till you end up looking like a hedgehog." Kin laughed.
"There's one flaw in your little plan.." Temari winced slightly standing.
"W-what..!" Kin took a step back, looking shocked.
"I don't need to know which one of you to attack.. when I can attack you all at the same time. Moon number three." Temari smirked before her fan swirled disappearing with her in it.
"Huh.. where did she go? She's gone!" Kin growled, looking around. "How did she even stand?"
"Over here!" Temari laughed, she was sitting on her fan which was gliding towards Kin. "I had my wind break the jutsu.. it had been with me the entire time.. it showed me the bells.. but you weren't watching close enough to notice." When it landed she picked the fan up and crouched slightly. "Now it's my turn. Wind psych jutsu!" Kin was quickly dragged backwards into a giant vortex controlled by Temari's chakra. The previous senbon being dragged with her. The wind and weapons taking turns in slashing up her skin. As she finally fell back down from the wind Temari adjusted her fan, Kin landing on her back on the tip of it, blood spilling from her mouth.
"Oh wow.. that girl's really ruthless.." Naruto mumbled.
"Wasn't much of a match. Kinda boring." Temari smirked, throwing the girl from her fan.
"Yup.. it's another win for the sand village.. just like you said it'd be." Choji said, looking over the scene.
"Well of course, that's why I said it." Shikamaru sighed.
"Wow.. looks like we're guarunteed a clean sweep in this round." Kankuro stated.
"That sand team.. is clearly one to be feared.." The Hokage spoke quietly, observing.
"The winner of the third match, Temari." Hayate announced, grimacing slightly. "Next match.. Haruno Sakura verses.. Uchiha.." Hayate cut off coughing.
"What..? They can't pit teammates against each other!" Sakura cried out, Shikamaru's entire team looked over in confusion. Team eight and Naruto looked on at Shinobu with knowing eyes.
"Haruno Sakura verses.. Uchiha Shinobu." He finished before coughing again.
A/N: And I left a mean cliff hanger, yes, yes I did XD It will most likely be updated today if not tomorrow. Oh and as AlpenWolf pointed out, I don't want to remove the ACTUAL reviews. I want to remove my responses in the chapter because they take up space and it makes my word count look as if I'm lying. The responses as in the things below this lol.
Neko Morie: D'aww thanks :D That's cool :D When I graduate high school I'm very tempted to take a year (ya.. literally this is kinda lame but awesome)to not only work but travel and go to every single anime convention around the world. Haha. It would make my life to do that. Since not everyone is held at the same time. I could go to anime north in may and october. I could go to metrocon in the summer (i think that's when it is) I could go to anime weekend atlanta in september. Except I bet there's way more than that XD Aww, it sucks that you're not going to go to your XD Happy holidays.
Alpenwolf: Haha, no I don't want to remove the actual reviews. I tend to re-read them sometimes because they help me write. I meant that I want to remove my responses to them that I've posted in the chapter. I delete reviews that are only insults when they don't make sense but I tend to like reviews even if they're harsh because I can learn from them. And no problem about the youtube thing. Really? 10 years? That's ridiculous.. O.o.. It definitely made me laugh it's funny :D I wouldn't lie about age on here if I was allowed to share my age. :/ lol. My mom knows I'm writing but I'm not sure if she reads my stories. My reviews make me feel like I'm 10 well, I guess it comes with being young and living with your parent(s). I like being younger for now, less to worry about XD OOPS O.o Thanks for pointing out the rookie ten thing, I fixed it XD I didn't even notice.. then again I was writing that at around 2am. Yay :D I really like Shino but I feel like he doesn't get enough spotlight sometimes, that's why I like sHinobu being on his time XD More people get a chance to like him.. or dislike him but I don't want that XD We'll see. preliminaries? lmfao. Fun word indeed. I'm a little nervous because changing certain things changes BIG things in the later plot events so I keep re-writing the different fights. The first one between Tenten and Shikamaru ended up the exact same as the Shikamaru Kin fight from canon so I re-wrote like 5 more times and I still feel kind of iffy.. :/ Thanks for the review :D
