There can be no great courage where there is no confidence or assurance, and half the battle is in the conviction that we can do what we undertake.
-Orison Swett Marden
Chapter 27: Conviction
The kikaichu crawled out from Shino's sleeves, swarming over his hands. Kei grimaced, moving farther away from the black cloud that was surrounding Shino. She had known about the Aburame's kikaichu, but it was hard to prepare oneself for being attacked by thousands of little bugs. She didn't know much about the Aburame clan techniques. She knew that most of the clan members became trackers in their later years, so she assumed that the kikaichu helped with that. She also knew that the bugs siphoned chakra away from those that they landed on. Unfortunately, that knowledge would not help her very much here.
The black swarm flew up in the air before diving at her. She rolled out of the way and began jumping around the arena. She just had to buy time right now. If she faced them head on, all of her chakra would be depleted. That was the last thing she wanted right now. She shunshined to the other side of the arena, thinking of a way to take out the swarm. The bugs were not that fast, so it was easy to outrun them. Every time she crossed the arena, she gained about ten seconds.
Her golden eyes flicked over to where Shino stood in the center of the arena. It was safe to assume that he kept some of his swarm with him at all times, so attacking head on was a bad idea. That meant she had to attack long distance. But he swarm would intercept any senbon that she threw at them. So what would reach him from a long distance?
She shot over to the opposite side of the arena, and an idea struck her. Kei clapped her hands together, smearing her palms together. The buzz of the kikaichu sounded in her ear. She whirled on her heels and spread her hands out, a thin watery filament stretching between her two fingers. The water wobbled in the air as the bugs neared.
Kei pulled her arms closer to her chest before thrusting them out, releasing her chakra hold on the water. The water splashed forward, showering the kikaichu. The water dampened their wings, and dozens of kikaichu fell to the ground. Kei eeped and dodged out of the way as another group of kikaichu filled the places of the fallen. Kei eyed the kikaichu that were struggling on the ground before shunshining across the arena again. She could work with this.
"Gyoushuku Mizu no Hari no Jutsu!" Kei landed on the dirt before whirling around and flicking her hands at Shino. A sliver of water appeared in the air before firing off towards Shino. Shino hummed as a cloud of kikaichu dived in front of the water, falling down as they were hit. Kei refrained from smiling as she saw a pale patch of skin from where the kikaichu had left. Bingo.
Her eyes caught the slight reflection from behind Shino. The kikaichu neared her, but she was too busy to really notice. She closed her eyes and felt the little twinge of chakra that told her that the jutsu was ready. She pressed her hands out and the water senbon shot at Shino. One of the best things about her jutsu was the fact that it didn't have to originate from her hands. She just had to solidify the water and direct it.
The senbon behind Shino's head angled upwards before slipping down his overcoat. The water curved mid-flight before striking Shino in the neck. Shino's hand instinctively shot up towards the impact area, but it was too late. His glasses slid forward before falling off his face. Shino's grey eyes slowly shut as he fell forward onto the ground.
"Aburame Shino is unable to continue the match! Shimizu Kei wins!" Hayate called out. Kei gave a sigh of relief before slumping back against the wall.
-TSUME-
"It looks like I will be battling against you, Nara-san." Hinata clasped her hands tightly together before reaching out to the rail in front of her. She pulled herself over the metal handlebar before dropping down to the dirt. The clumps of rubble from the last contestant had already been cleared from the arena. There was a slight unevenness in the wall, but it was hardly noticeable. All eyes were set on the genin in the arena.
Shikamaru rubbed his hand against his face. "This is so troublesome," he grumbled lowly. "Oi!" Shikamaru turned to where Hayate was standing and shouted, "I withdraw." Murmurs of surprised ran around the arena as Shikamaru merely yawned.
"Why are you withdrawing?" Hayate spluttered in confusion. He dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief. Withdrawals were not particularly common in the games. Most people were forcibly removed or discharged for disorderly conduct. After making it all the way through the forest, almost no one disengaged. They had already invested too much in the games.
"There are 329 outcomes to this fight. All of them take under five minutes for a victory," Shikamaru said simply. "Neither of us are stamina fighters, so we would try to end the battle quickly. Hyuuga-san specialized in close range combat while I specialize in medium range. This might lead to better outcomes for me, but that is not the case in an arena like this." Shikamaru waved a laze hand towards the near empty arena.
"A real battlefield would contain obstructions such as a wayward tree or even ankle-high grass. It would have things I could pull to my advantage, but the only thing I could use here would be a bit of dirt or chalk. Hyuuga-san would be given the natural advantage in this field because of her fighting preference. It gives deference to those that charge head on into battle since there is nowhere to hide." Shikamaru leaned forward on the railing and looked down towards Hinata. He made eye contact with her before looking back up to Hayate.
"I'm not stupid enough to enter a battle I am going to lose. Out of the 329 outcomes I have foreseen, only 78 result in my victory. This means Hyuuga-san has a 76% chance of winning. It makes no sense for me to attempt this battle if there is such a high risk. This is why I am withdrawing." Shikamaru pushed off the railing and put his hands behind his head.
"So Hyuuga-san can withdraw from the court. It's her win. Consider it a BYE round." Shikamaru shrugged and turned away, only to be stopped as Hinata yelled at him.
"How can you give up so easily? Would you really dishonor your clan by giving in like that?" Hinata called out in frustration. She stamped her foot on the ground and stared at Shikamaru's retreating back.
"My clan cares for my wellbeing. They wouldn't want to see me end up in the hospital." Shikamaru cast a meaningful glance over his shoulder before walking to one of the benches along the wall. He sat down and crossed one leg over the other. "You may continue the rounds."
Hayate blinked slowly before stuttering, "Ah, yes. This match goes to Hyuuga-san. Hyuuga-san, if you will exit the arena, we will continue with the matches."
Hinata hung her head slightly before giving a quick bob of her head. She shunshined to the upper level and walked back over to her teammates. The machine on the wall flashed orange as the names appeared on the screen. The names cycled across the screen before a loud bing was heard. Everyone looked towards the screen to see who the next contestants were.
"Sabaku Temari versus Rock Lee? This will be interesting," Kei commented, flipping out her notebook. When she looked up again, the two contestants were already in the arena. Temari brushed her hair back over her shoulder and put her hand on her hip
"This will be over quickly, boy. Let's get this started." Temari smirked and looked up towards Hayate, "Call it!" She demanded.
"A-ah, yes." Hayate coughed into his fist before raising his hand up. "The match will begin in three, two, one... Go!" His hand dropped down and Lee shot towards Temari. Temari pulled out her fan and opened it a third of the way.
"I'm sorry!" Lee yelled as he rushed towards her in a blur. From the stands, the watchers already knew the results of the match. It was a match that was impossible for one of the contestants to win, and it was evident that it would play out as most of them envisioned it. Temari pulled the fan back to send a gush of wind towards Lee, but it took too much time. The fan barely made it behind her back before Lee had arrived in front of her.
He straightened his hand out before slamming it into Temari's left wrist. Her grip on the fan weakened, and Lee took the chance to elbow the weapon out of her grasp. Within moments, he had spun around to kick Temari in the stomach, sending her flying into the wall. Kankuro's boos were heard as Lee zipped over to where Temari was regaining herself on the ground.
Temari dealt with crippling blows and stamina fights. Quick hand to hand combat was not something she could pull off. She flipped a few kunai out, hoping that he would impale himself on one of them, but she underestimated his control. His hand weaved out of the way of the kunai, striking her in the arm. She let out a cry as her arm dislocated, but her cry turned to gagging as Lee held her by the neck.
"I apologize, but please surrender this match!" Lee yelled in her face. Temari lifted up her only usable arm to try and pry away his grip, but fount it futile. She gave a rasping cough before turning away. She looked up at Hayate and gave a feeble nod.
"Sabuku Temari has conceded the match. The winner is Rock Lee!" Hayate called out before giving in to a hacking cough.
-TSUME-
"So, are you going to tell me how your rounds went? I was only able to watch a few of them since my services were required elsewhere." Inoichi lifted a cup of steaming green tea to his lips. He put it back down on the table and leaned on one arm.
"Naruto-san and sound genin named Zaku Abumi faced off. Zaku-san audaciously flaunted his abilities before an unknown enemy. It was a stupid thing to do. It could have gotten him killed if it was anyone else," Kei deadpanned, rapping her fingers on the table. "He was still lucky that Naruto-san only knocked him unconscious. His ability was interesting, but simple. The airtubes in his arms are too susceptible to attacks. Not only can they be clogged, but they fire in one direction, and in one direction only. Naruto-san moved faster, and that was all there was to it. Zaku-san didn't move his arms fast enough to block."
Inoichi chuckled weakly. Kei made it sound so simple, but judging by the look on Naruto's face, he thought it was much more impressive. "And what about the other rounds?"
"Sakura-san and Hanagaki-san went next." Shikamaru commented. Inoichi laced his fingers together, signaling his attention. After hearing about what had happened with Team 7 in the forest, he had been trying to keep a close eye on the genin. "Sakura-san seemed off." Shikamaru frowned a bit. "The round lasted less than two minutes. Hanagaki-san put up a genjutsu which Sakura-san dispelled. Sakura-san stabbed him in the chest and it was over."
"Sakura-san left the arena immediately after that. It was kind of weird," Naruto commented. "She didn't even bother to see if he was okay! And, not that it's a bad thing, she seemed strangely confident. She didn't hesitate at all. She wasn't at all like that when we entered the exams." Naruto leaned his head on the table and looked over towards Inoichi. The man was meditatively swirling the tea inside of his cup.
"I see," Inoichi finally said. "I will have to talk to Hatake-san about that. It looks like he'll be quite busy after the exams are over." He trailed off in thought. Kakashi had never been the best with genin. He had matured differently than most genin his age, and was unable to relate to them for the most part. Inoichi doubted that the man had it in him to have a heart-to-heart with anyone, much less his students. Sakura and Sasuke would need counseling after everything that had happened in the forest. If Kakashi couldn't do it, Inoichi would have to intervene.
Inoichi bit the inside of his lip before turning back to his genin pleasantly, "Was there anything else of interest?" He would have to think about what to do later. Hopefully, something would strike him in the meantime. He couldn't let the Hokage force them into the T&I's care even if he trusted its members. The very fact that they were visiting T&I members would be far too damaging to both genin.
"Akimichi-san faced the second Sabaku-san for one of the latest battles. Sabaku-san was outmatched from the start. There was no way his puppets could be an Akimichi especially since Akimichi-san has already learned some of his clan's jutsu. Sabaku-san managed to catch Akimichi-san inside of one of his puppets, but it still ended in his loss. That leaves the youngest Sabaku as the only one going on to the next rounds," Kei said quietly. Her voice was devoid of emotion, and her attention wandered to toying with some of the rice on her plate.
"That's good that at least one of the Suna delegates made it into the later rounds." Inoichi said with a calm smile. It would be good to have inconspicuous backup in the finals. Most Kages left after their teams had all lost. The jonin could report on any important genin, but there was no need for a Kage to be present for that. It would be too suspicious if all of Suna was watching the finals even though they had no competitors.
"You'd be glad to see how well Ino-san did," Shikamaru drawled. "But..." He cast a glance over at Inoichi, "You never taught her the clan jutsu, did you?" Inoichi choked and hurriedly drank some more of his tea. His genin chuckled at his awkwardness and shook their heads.
"I've been awfully busy ever since I took on a team of my own, you know. I haven't had the time to tutor Ino as well," Inoichi explained. He looked at the table despondently, "It's sad that I have to ask you about how she did. I'm sure that I will see her at dinner tonight, but I rarely see her during the days now. Even when we talk at dinner, she seems more distant than she used to be." Inoichi sighed and looked back over at Shikamaru, "Well?"
"Ino-san won. It was easy enough to tell by my manner of speech, wasn't it?" Shikamaru smirked and leaned on his fist. "It was obvious that she was lacking any clan jutsu, but luckily, her opponent wasn't very talented either. Kimura-san isn't a very serious ninja. He gave in after only a few hits. Ino-san on the other hand was... very talent with a kunai. Kurenai-sensei must be a very good teacher."
Inoichi nodded. "Kurenai-san is a newer sensei, but she is very promising. She has shown signs of strain recently, but I have no doubt she'll pull through. She has been looking better since I last saw her in any case. I'm sure that the fact that her students lasted to this point has made her proud."
"Ah!" Naruto perked up, making the rest of the table jump. "That was right! There was something I had to tell you all. It's about Tenten-san."
Author's Note: I apologize for being late! I've been all over the place this past week, and I highly doubt that things will clear up any time soon. Not only that, but I seem to have gotten myself sick. I made most of this chapter tonight, so it isn't even betaed. Oops. Sorry if there are some weird spellings in here! I'm known to do that when I'm not fully functional.
I may be late again next week. It really just depends on how I'm feeling next week. I'm behind on just about everything from schoolwork to workwork to fanfiction writing. I apologize for the shortness and the delays that may occur in the future!