"Yamanaka Ino, Tsurugi Misumi, time to fight," said Hayate as he kicked at the display. As before, the signs of the previous fight, every crack and broken tile, seemed to wash away, leaving a pristine arena for the next round. Walking calmly down into it, the white haired girl sized up her opponent, an older leaf-nin, rather than one from outside the village. She almost felt bad for the guy, going up against her, but she wasn't about to let her team down and fail now, not with the others having passed their contests with such ease.
"Hmm, so, you're one of the Thirteen then? One of those rumored special forces, who are as strong as the ANBU?" Asked her foe as he faced her on the floor. The man's face was hidden behind a mask, a small cloth thing that moved with him in an odd way, not even shuddering as he spoke, and only his eyes, gleaming behind a pair of large glass, gave him any kind of expression at all.
"I am, and I am that last part too. We train all day thanks to someone in our ranks, and our chakra capacities are well beyond our years," she told him, not trying to brag, just telling him straight out that he had no chance.
"Oh? And you think a little training is going to make you good ninja?" Asked Misumi as a follow up. His tone, oddly, was not mocking as one might expect, but instead curious, after all, the rumors were too widespread to be just hot air, and he'd already seen demonstrations of power far beyond what would be expected of first year genin. No, he was taking her very seriously as he stood there, loosening his joints.
"Preparation is important, yes, but we've already taken down opponents way harder than your average Genin. My team, for instance, captured Aspen, the Deer Boss, and then rescued him from some idiot Daimyo who wanted him as a trophy," she told him, this time a bit of bragging entering her tone as she shrugged, as if the mission hadn't been the most harrowing experience of her life.
"Ah, so you're on the same team as the Nara," responded Misumi, adding that to his planning as he prepared to strike.
"Yep, and we can do this now, thanks to Aspen," the instant the last syllable left her lips, her finger found itself cut by a kunai in her off hand, which then drew a small line on her wrist. Before Misumi could stop her, she slapped the hand down onto the ground. A cloud of chakra smoke began to spread out, covering the arena again, but even before it cleared, one could hear hooves, a lot of hooves, clacking against the tile floor, a cacophony of snorts accompanying them.
When the smoke cleared, Ino was astride one of the deer in the same way Shikamaru had been, but unlike his, her summons was different. For one, the one she was standing on was humanoid in shape, with massive hands holding a pair of wicked looking long spears, and standing a good thirty feet tall, with the young kunoichi riding on his shoulder. For another, almost a hundred bucks, all as large as the Healer, stood at his hooves, their four legged bodies nearly covering every inch of the arena floor on Ino's side.
"I'd like you to meet Benjamin and his crew. These guys are the Deer Court's best enforces. If I were you, I'd surrender now," she said, and as if to make the point clear, the giant deer she was standing on twirled his spears in an expert kata, moving through the motions so fast his weapons whistled, all without budging her from his shoulder.
"Now, this is an….I will ask, one of them, that one, to come nearer. I will not attack it," responded the genin after a moment, and Ino looked at the deer, who looked back towards her. Ino and Benjamin nodded, and the buck troted forward, his sharp hooves leaving small marks in the tiles as he got closer. Stopping within reach, the buck stood there, his horns glinting wickedly, and Misumi just stared at him, before reaching forward, running his fingers through the buck's fine coat.
"They're really there...you summoned this many…" he said, the awe in his voice easy for all to hear, before he took a step back.
"I surrender. I know my limits, and this many opponents is far outside the range of my skills," he said, idly redoing a latch on the inside of his sleeve. Inside, a few pills that contained sealed water for use in his water clone technique sloshed. He could make about half a dozen of the things, and had hoped to overwhelm his foe, but with a hundred and one against only seven, it wasn't hard to see how that battle would go.
"Yamanaka Ino wins by withdraw," said Hayate, kicking the display to make her name glow. Ino, for her part, clapped once and gave a rather childlike bounce, even as the deer she'd summoned vanished in smoke. The two leaf-nins then went back to the observation area. The moment they were back up there, another kick and the display was spinning through the names of the remaining combatants, stopping on two after a few moments.
"Sabaku Temari, Inuzuka Kiba, you're next," was all he said as the names became clear. The second of those names howled with excitement as he, and his puppy, leapt from the wall, landing in the arena heavily. Temari, looking down at him, wondered idly what she'd gotten herself into, and unhooked her fan from behind her, using a single stroke of it to kick up a gust that she rode down to the floor, landing far more lightly than he had, and then standing there staring at him.
"So, I gotta fight you. Man this is gonna be a bummer. I was hoping to have more of a chance to show off," said the leaf-nin as he looked his opponent up and down, quickly going into a series of punches and kicks that flew fast and furious in front of him, as if to show off how fast the fight was going to be over. Temari, puffing out her cheeks, considered just knocking the fool aside with her fan, but then let out a breath in a harsh sigh.
"So, you think a girl is no challenge for one of the Thirteen?" she asked, hefting her weapon up and pointing it towards him accusingly. To her great frustration, he laughed at her, falling back so his puppy jumped off to the floor.
"Are you mocking me?!" she demanded, swinging her fan at him, creating a stiff wind that forced the Inuzuka to plant his feet firmly on the ground to keep from being blown away, even as dust from the previous matches got kicked up, making a small cloud on the arena floor. When it passed, he held up his hand, getting Temari to pause her attack for a moment.
"Sorry, sorry, heh, I wasn't laughing at you being a girl. You see that pink haired girl up there?" he said, pointing a thumb behind him, Temari, backing away so she could keep him in her sight, looked up to find a pink haired girl grinning down at her while cracking her knuckles.
"That's Sakura, she's on my team, and right now, I think she's the strongest of us all in terms of raw strength," he explained, and Sakura giggled in a very girly way, before bringing her foot down on the wall. Said foot caused a shudder Temari could feel from where she was, and it even caused a large crack to form beneath her, making the Sand-Nin's eyes bug out before she took control of herself.
"Yeah, you see, I don't have any issues with you being a girl, and if I did, Sakura would totally twist me into a pretzel," he explained.
"Then why are you so confident I won't be a challenge?" she asked, and he grinned at her, holding up two fingers in front of him.
"Well, first off, because you're a weapon user. I know your type, I fought plenty of them at the border a month or so ago. You guys depend on those big tools you lug around everywhere. You need them, or your style just doesn't work right. At least with Tenten, she can use a lot of weapons, you guys need that specific one," he said this while pointing his free hand towards her fan, and Temari almost seemed to hold the weapon defensively against her, as she folded it back up, not disputing his point, but also not admitting it.
"And what's the second reason?" she demanded, and his grin turned feral.
"Because Akamaru's already behind you, and he's gonna take your weapon," he said, and Temari spun on her heels, bringing her fan out in an offensive posture. Before she could send a blast of wind at the puppy though, she felt a pair of strong hands grab her, as Kiba shot forward, and then grabbed at the fan. At the same moment, a pair of very tiny, but powerful, jaws latched onto her wrist causing her grip to weaken. The result was clear, as Kiba flipped end over end, landing just behind her, her fan now in his grip.
"Yeah, like that," he said as he turned towards her. Temari quickly looked at him, then at her fan, and then considered her options carefully. She was a Suna-nin, a class of ninja not known for giving up easily. At the same time, she was also trained well enough to know when a fight was unwinnable, and as galling as it was, Temari knew she didn't have the power to win this fight without her fan.
Even more galling was how easily that had worked on her, thanks in part to her anger. He'd made her mad first, and then using the cover of the dust she herself had kicked up to hide the dog getting off. After that he'd distracted her, getting her to turn around like that. If she'd been thinking more clearly, she would have jumped, not turned, but he'd gotten her so riled up that she had acted on instinct rather than training.
"You're smarter than you look," she said at last, a smile coming to her lips as she realized she'd been beaten by brains, not brawn, and then held up both hands.
"I concede," she declared, and her name faded, while Kiba's name shone brightly on the board. Twin howls came from the boy and his dog, who walked forward, and held out his hands. Returning the fan, before the two went back to the balcony to watch the remaining matches.