Clouded Tactics

Ino and Sakura naturally cheered for Sasuke's victory.

Sasuke looked up at Rock Lee who was in the stands. If I didn't see your match with Naruto, Lee I would have been in big trouble, the Uchiha thought. He then fell back out of energy to continue to sit up when he felt something against his back, holding him up.

He looked back to see his teacher, reading a book. "Lion's Barriage, huh? That's one of Guy's moves." Kakashi crouched down beside him, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Now it's time for us to seal up that Curse Mark."

"What? Right now, but I want to see the rest of the matches," Sasuke protested.

"That's enough, I've already cut you enough slack," Kakashi said. "Now let's go." The two stood up and left the room to perform the needed ritual to keep the dark power under control.

After the field was cleared, the panel began randomly flashing names again. The panel finally stopped after a minute. "The next battle will be Shino Aburame, versus Misumi, versus Kankuro. The three combatants please come to the field."

The chosen shinobi left the higher floor and walked onto the main floor. Misumi stood across from Kankuro while Shino was in the middle several feet back. "The match between Shino Aburame, Misumi, and Kankuro will now begin," Hayate said.

"Do you think Shino will be alright?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Kiba answered. "He's the last person I would want to go up against." His arm rested on the railing, looking down at the floor below them.

Misumi took up a fighting stance. "A word of warning once I get into my jutsu you both should give up…quickly. That way I can make your defeat as painless as possible."

"That's funny." Kankuro pulled off the mummy from his back and slammed it down on the ground beside him, holding the top. "Though I can't promise that it will be painless."

"You both seem to be rather confident." Shino took a step back and stretched his arms out toward his two opponents. "Don't forget that I'm here as well." The three shinobi stood their ground with everyone waiting to see who will make the first move.

Kakashi finished writing the needed seal at the base of Sasuke's neck. He then performed the hand signs and placed his hand on the back of the boy's neck. The character flowed around the curse mark to create a seal.

Sasuke bit down on his teeth, trying to bare the pain.

Kakashi took his hand off the boy. "There that should do it. Now you should realize that this seal is only as strong as you are. If you ever doubt yourself or waver the curse mark will be release in all of its fury."

Sasuke collapsed on the ground unconscious.

Kakashi looked at him amuse. "Too tire to even argue."

A dark laugh came out of the shadows. "My, how you've grown," a voice called out. Kakashi tensed up and faced forward. "To think you can now perform the curse seal Jutsu." Orchimaru stepped out of the shadows into Kakashi's sight.

"What do you want with Sasuke?" Kakashi questioned.

Shino sent his bugs flying in the directions of both of his opponents. The bugs swarmed around the two other shinobi to everyone's shock.

"Bugs?" Naruto questioned.

Sakura held her fist to her chest. "I've never seen anything like this before."

Kankuro opened up his mouth and shot three kunai out at Shino. The three knives stabbed into the bug shinobi's chest and forehead. He fell back that stopped the stream of bugs that were coming out of his sleeves.

Both Kiba and Hinata appeared shock. "Shino," Kiba said.

"Oh, no," Hinata cried out.

"I got him," Kankuro taunted. The bandaged up object unwrap with the real Kankuro flipping out of it with chakra stings attached. He pulled out the Kankuro that was caught up in the bug swarm that broke off its clothes and disguise to reveal that it was a puppet with four arms.

The bugs came falling off of it as the disguise fell to the ground. Kankuro turned around to face his other opponent. "One down, one to go."

"Kankuro, pay closer attention to both your enemies," his teacher told him.

Kankuro opened his eyes wide in shock. "What?!" He looked over to see the fallen Shino breaking apart into bugs. "It's some sort of bug clone." Kankuro looked around. "Then where is the real one?"

He then looked up above Misumi to spot Shino standing underneath the walkway. His hands were stretched out in front of him, controlling the bugs. His bugs swarmed around as he tried to escape, running toward Kankuro. The bugs that original attacked Kankuro's puppet came at him like a tiny army.

"You're not going to get me that easily," Kankuro said. The puppet master shot smoke bombs out of the palms of his puppet's hands. The smoke bombs broke open that covered up the battlefield so that no one could see through the blacken cloud.

"That sand ninja is no slacker just like his buddy," Kiba said.

"Do you think Shino will be alright?" she placed her fist up to her lower lips with a look of concern on her face.

Kiba smiled. "Yeah, Shino still has a few tricks up his sleeves."
"I hope your right," Hinata said.

Naruto folded his arms over the railing, looking down at the smokescreen. "This stacks, I can't see a thing." One of them is going to make it to the next round so now would have been a great chance to check out their jutsu. Naruto got an annoyed look his face.

"I can't believe that bug brat from the leaf is actually putting up a fight against Kankuro," Temari said.

Gaara stood there indifferent.

"I told him not to underestimate his opponent," their teacher said. "He should know better than this."

Temari placed her hand on her hip. "Well, he's got the advantage now."

"I've got to find him quickly," Shino said. His bugs had already taken down Misumi with his bugs, but this Kankuro of the sand village was proving to be more of a challenge than he first thought.

Two flashes of light came from in front of him. Shino pulled out a kunai knife from his hustler and knocked away the incoming blades that were aimed right at his face. The blades spun to the ground. "A frontal attack, huh? No, that's just a diversion."

The bug shinobi then heard the sound of chattering teeth coming from his right side. Another light flashed across. Shino flipped down from under the rafter. He landed on one hand and knee. His sleeve was cut with a trickle of blood dripping from his cut.

"You can't escape me," Kankuro stated in the cover of blackness. "That blade was coated in poison. If you don't get up and have that cured you'll be dead in ten minutes."
Shino breathed heavily. "Ten minutes, huh? That sounds like enough time to defeat you."

The crow puppet dove down toward Shino. "You have no idea who you're messing with, kid," Kankuro said. The puppet stuck out its wrist blade right down at Shino to stab him through.

Shino heard it coming and flipped out of the way just in time. The blade stabbed into the ground.

The puppet pulled out and came right after the bug shinobi. Shino moved out of the way of the flashing lights that came off of the blades. The poison gradually slowed him down so he was struck by the blade two more times.

The smokescreen slowly thin, making it easier to make out the puppets form.

Shino fell back on his butt not able to move anymore. The puppet then pulled back its blade then thrust his blade forehead straight at the bug ninja's forehead. It stopped just inches away.

Shino breathed heavily. He was so tired he couldn't believe it. He had only been poison for four minutes.

A scream came out of the smoke.

"What, that sounds like-?!" Temari said shock.

Everyone looked down at the scene as the smoke finally cleared.

Both Misumi and Kankuro lied on the floor unconscious thanks to Shino's bugs. Shino sat on the ground beside the fallen puppet. "Thank goodness, they made it."

"And the winner is Shino Aburame."