Chapter Twenty-Two – Preliminary Knockouts Part Two
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"Higurashi Tenten and Kagetora Naruto."
Naruto vaulted down to the floor and turned to see Tenten approaching down the stairs. As she approached, she nodded to him and he returned the greeting.
"Tenten, cat or sword?"
"Sword." Tenten said, pulling out a small scroll and unsealing a katana. Fastening it to her belt, she pulled out another couple of scrolls. Naruto nodded and held out his hand.
"Come."
Several of the genin gasped as the Kitsune's Claw materialised in Naruto's grip, and he settled into a defensive stance.
"Two of Momochi Zabuza's students meeting in battle." He mused, glancing over to where Zabuza and Haku were standing, watching them. "This will be a battle everyone will remember."
Tenten nodded and flexed her fingers, letting three Kunai drop into her hand ready to throw.
"Tenten and Naruto, begin!"
Tenten flung her Kunai at Naruto, then leapt sideways, unleashing more projectiles. Naruto responded by whipping his sword around in a complex spiralling movement that deflected every single one of the kunai, then he flung his dagger at Tenten's feet, embedding it in the floor as Tenten rolled out of the way, coming to her feet and unsheathing her katana in a single move. The two of them paused briefly, then they hurtled towards each other, swords ringing as their paths intersected and seperated again.
"Damn." Tenten mused, looking at the tear in her trouser leg. "Another inch and that would have hurt."
Naruto looked at his arm. "You managed to scratch me."
"Yeah, but your insane healing has probably sorted that already." Tenten replied, dropping into a fighting stance. Naruto grinned and spun his sword one-handed before taking a low-guard stance.
For several seconds, neither one moved, then as if they were two bodies controlled by a single mind, they spun into action their swords moving so fast that to the observers, they seemed to be wielding metal fans that blurred and clashed in incredibly complex patterns before they leapt away from each other.
"Dammit." Tenten said, looking down at the rip in her top that was exposing her stomach and the slight scratch on it. "You almost got me that time. You've been holding back in our spars."
"So have you." Naruto replied, glancing down at his left flank where Tenten had managed to slice straight through his reinforced tunic. "Repairing this will cost me quite a bit."
"I'll ask dad to give you a discount." Tenten grinned. "But I think I'm going to win this time."
"Don't count on it." Naruto smirked, jamming his sword into the ground as he noted where she was standing. "Demon Technique, Reverse Dagger Summoning!"
Tenten blinked as Naruto vanished in a flash of red chakra, then her eyes widened as his left arm locked around her neck, his other hand lightly gripping her right hand and the katana in it. For a moment, she remained motionless, then she slumped.
"That's a new trick."
"Meh, it's how I escaped from Orochimaru." Naruto admitted. "So, you yield?"
"Yeah." Tenten sighed. "I yield. Dammit.
"Winner, Naruto." Hayate said as Naruto released Tenten.
"For what it's worth, you put up a damned good fight." He said and Tenten smiled at him.
"You did too. You deserved this one. I should have called cat instead. Maybe next time."
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"Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba, fight!"
Sakura looked at her opponant and gulped. "Erm, you wouldn't hit a girl, right?"
Kiba barked with laughter. "You're kidding, right? I'm teamed up with the deadliest Kunoichi in Konoha, one who still kicks my tail around the training fields. I have to go all out to make sure she doesn't KO me. You really think that I wouldn't hit a girl given that I know how dangerous they can be? Get a clue."
Hinata hid her blush in her hands as Naruto and Neji both smirked at her embarrasment.
"All Fours Jutsu!" Kiba shouted as he flung a soldier pill into Akamaru's mouth. Akamaru gulped the pill down and leapt onto Kiba's back, his fur turning red. "Man-beast Clone Jutsu!"
Sakura took a step back as the cloud of smoke cleared to reveal two freal-looking Kibas snarling at her, then they both charged. Sakura raised her arms in a useless gesture of protection as both Kiba's slashed at her…
… sending a log flying into the wall.
"Substitution." Sasuke half-whispered. "Very clever, Sakura."
Both Kibas looked round, then they looked up to see Sakura stood on the ceiling of the hall, dropping some vials. The Kibas tried to dodge, but they got caught in the vapours and emerged, falling onto the floor, twitching slightly. Sakura dropped down, landing lightly on the floor.
"Gas pellets, paralysis gas payload." She explained, looking at the two Kibas. Pulling out a Kunai, she walked over to one of them and placed her Kunai against his neck. "I guess that I… Wha?"
The downed Kiba grabbed her hand and rolled, pulling her off her feet and pulling her over in a throw that slammed her full-length on the ground. Before she could recover, Kiba had pulled the kunai from her grip and placed it against her neck while the other Kiba had leapt over and grabbed her hands, pinning them above her head.
"Playing possum." Kiba growled. "Guess I win."
Sakura closed her eyes and nodded slightly. "I yield."
"Winner, Kiba."
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"Nara Shikamaru and Sai, begin!"
Sai leapt back as Shikamaru's shadow extended towards him, then pulled out a scroll and a paintbrush, starting to draw on it. An instant later, the scroll was ripped out of his hands by a thrown kunai.
"I don't know what you can do with that scroll, but I don't think I want to find out." Shikamaru said, moving forwards.
"I forfeit!"
Shikamaru froze as if caught in his own shadow technique.
"You forfeit? Just like that?"
Sai nodded. "My skills without my scroll do not allow me to proceed with any real hope of victory against your shadow skills, so forfeiting is the only logical choice."
Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, at least this fight wasn't as troublesome as it could have been."
"Winner, Shikamaru."
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"Kankuro No Sabuka and Rock Lee, begin!"
Kankuro placed his wrapped bundle on the floor and looked up, only to be sent into the wall by a powerful spinning backhand punch. Lee didn't even hesitate, he grabbed the bundle and swung it up and over, slamming it into the ground, before pulling at the wrappings to reveal a knocked-out Kankuro.
"My otouto told me you were a puppet user." Lee said to his unconscious enemy. "Creating a strategy to defeat you was easy with that knowledge."
"Winner, Rock Lee." Hayate said as medics appeared to carry off the downed puppeteer. "Could all the winners please come down?"
Naruto landed on the ground, then caught Hinata as she dropped down. Hand in hand, they joined the others as they lined up.
"You ten have passed the second stage. The third stage takes place in a month's time, you can take that time to train and research your opponants. Now, please take one of the tokens from this box and read out your number."
"I am number three!" Lee exclaimed.
"Five." Sasuke said.
"Number ten." Temari announced.
"Six." Intoned Gaara.
"Four." Kiba said and Akamaru barked from on top of his head.
"Seven." Said Kin.
"Nine." Hinata half-whispered.
"Number one, as I always knew I was." Naruto laughed.
"Two." Said Neji. "Don't say anything, Naruto."
Naruto gave him his best 'who, me?' look and several of the other genin chuckled.
"And I'm number eight." Skikamaru said. Hayate nodded and finished writing on the clipboard before turning it round so that they could see it.
"As you can see, Naruto, Neji, Lee and Kiba will face up to four fights, depending on how well they do, while everyone else has three at most. The first round wil be Kagetora Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee and Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara no Sabuka, Tsuchi Kin and Nara Shikamaru and finally Hyuuga Hinata and Temari no Sabuka. The winners of battles one and two will fight each other, the victor to fight the winner of battle three for a place in the final match. The winners of battles four and five will fight each other, the winner from that reaching the final match. Any questions? Good. Report back to your Jonin-sensei and be ready. Remember, you have one month to prepare."
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"…and two of my youthful genin got through, compared to only one of yours, my eternal rival." Gai gloated as he helped himself to another serving of food.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?"
"Curse your Hip and Too Cool attitude Kakashi!" Gai ranted as most of the people around the large table laughed. Naruto grinned as he reached out for the ladle, only for Hinata to slap his hand.
"You've already had three helpings of Ramen." She said sternly. "It's time for you to eat something more nutritious."
Naruto looked at her and she smiled at him.
"Don't give me that look, we both know I'm better at doing it than you are. Now here, eat up."
"Wow, you are so whipped." Kiba smirked from across the table, then he paled as Hinata looked at him.
"Kiba, your tactical acumen seems to be as lacking as normal." Shino noted from beside him. "Saying anything that could annoy Hinata is… unwise."
"Ah, come on." Kiba whined. "I won't meet her until the finals, give me a break here."
Shino stared at him. "You are up against the only genin who can hold his own against Naruto going all out in your first match. If you manage to win that, you are up against either Naruto or Neji, most likely Naruto… I mean no offence, Neji-sama."
"None taken." Neji shrugged. "In the last ten spars I've had with Naruto, I've only won three times. Please, continue."
"Thank you." Shino said. "Even assuming you manage to beat Naruto or Neji, that places you up against Uchiha Sasuke with his Sharingan or Gaara the Jinchuuriki of Suna. The chances of you succeeding against all of them with your current capabilities is… low."
"Hey." Kiba protested. "Stop ruining my dreams."
"That genjitsu was the worst thing I have ever encountered." Ino shivered. "I tired to dispell it, but it just kept getting stronger, it was like the whole world was rippling around me, I couldn't stand, I couldn't attack, I just… It still gives me the shivers as to how helpless I was."
Sakura nodded. "At least you didn't fall for one of the oldest tricks in the book. I thought I was intelligent, I can't believe that Kiba managed to outwit me. It was so embarrasing. From victory to defeat in half a second, and all because I let my arrogance take over."
"You were too clever." Kiba said. "I was counting on you being clever enough to keep track of which one was me and which was Akamaru. If you'd gone for Akamaru, I'd have been in trouble."
"Tell me more about Kin's genjitsu, please." Shikamaru asked. "It would be less troublesome if I knew in advance what to expect when I go up against her."
"Gakis are doing well." Anko said, looking down the table. "They've really got the whole teamwork thing down now, and those who haven't won are inspired to do better next time."
"While only one of mine got through," Kakashi said, "his matchup in the third stage will be a problem."
"Emo's up against a Jinchuuriki, Gaki told me." Anko said flatly. "You'll need to give him some serious moves to last against the Ichibi container. Speed as well, Emo needs to go faster, lots faster."
Kakashi nodded as Asuma winced. "Shikamaru's already complaining about how he's fighting girls all the way through to the finals. He's also rather worried about Naruto's ability to turn into a giant cat, he claims he's having a hard time coming up with a counter to that."
"I need to get Kiba to train in more than just his clan techniques." Kurenai said, glancing over to where Kiba was arguing with Sasuke. "Just facing off against Lee will not be a trivial challenge, Lee's speed is scary."
"And that's with him wearing weights." Kakashi noted, causing Kurenai to stare at him in shock. "What? I helped him train a bit, teaching him some ninjitsu that he could integrate into his fighting style. I'd offer to help with Kiba, but I need to seriously up Sasuke's game if he is to make it through the finals intact. He'll be fighting two Jinchuuriki, but the second one will hopefully cut him some slack."
"Two?" Kurenai asked and Kakashi slapped himself on his forehead.
"Oh, I forgot. Legally, since the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into his own son, Naruto is not a Jinchuuriki as he's not the Yondaime's son. But, yeah. If Sasuke manages to take down Gaara, which he might since he lasted against Orochimaru, he's then got Naruto to face. And Naruto is just too good."
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The door to Naruto's room opened and a familiar figure slipped in.
"Needed your snuggly again?" Naruto teased as Hinata slipped under the sheets and curled up against him, head pillowed on his shoulder. Hinata giggled and lightly slapped his chest.
"Stop that." She commanded. After a few moments, she twitched slightly, looking up at him despite the darkness.
"Are you alright? You're thinking about something."
"I need to take a trip to Wave." Naruto said. "The Elder of the Great Tigers told me about their history earlier, apparently I'm not the first Tiger-bondmate, they were linked to a small clan that joined Uzushiogakure just before it got wiped out. The remaining tigers fled, reaching Konoha just before my birth and Kushina snuck them into the Forest of Death, intending to place them somewhere else after I was born, using them as my bodyguards. Of course, the renegade Uchiha screwed things up and the tigers were stuck there until I discovered them.
"The thing is, they know where some of the treasures of Uzushiogakure are located and they want me to retrieve them. Scrolls, weapons, treasure that was hidden rather than smuggled out during the attack, even a summoning scroll or two. But it'll take a couple of weeks to make the trip."
"I'll come with you." Hinata said and Naruto shook his head.
"I'd love you to, but in a month, you're up against Temari, then probably Shikamaru. You need to train, Hinata. I'll be trainign like anything when I get back, but I can afford it since I can use Kage Bunshin to get more training time in, something you can't do."
For a moment, Hinata struggled to find an arguament, then she slumped in defeat. "You're right, damn it." She muttered. "But you take good care of yourself out there, I want you back unharmed."
Naruto grinned as he stroked her hair reassuringly. "Don't worry. Let me check something with my tenant, I may be able to come up with something."
