Yup, my big day's behind me already and it's back to reality, where collage is a nemesis… but I'm glad I've managed to find enough free time to finally write this and to upload it. I was a bit afraid how this fight will go, but I must say that I'm pretty satisfied how I wrote it.
As usual I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed last time. It means a lot. I'm glad you enjoyed the previous match and hope you'll like this one at least as much (this one's one of my personal favorites too). To answer the questions some of you asked:
Who does Kankuro has kids with: she's an OC and a minor character really. I haven't even named her yet, but I can say that she's a sand-nin and a weapon mistress (hence why Hari is capable of using her senbon with such skill)
Can you make a chapter with just info about the character: sorry, but those sort of chapters aren't allowed on this site. And I'm not sure what information you need. If anyone of you guys (and girls) is confused due to the number of characters, let me know and we can try to think of a way to pass that. For now the only thing I can do is place a list of gennin at the end of this chapter.
I hope that covers all the questions. Sorry if I missed anything.
And now, without further to do:
Chapter #57: Illusionists
Title Page: field: Kai and a mole are looking at each other, raising their heads from the holes they made in the ground. The blonde has a miner's helmet on his head and a small mountain of ground on top of it. In the background you can see Akira walking with a shovel on his shoulder
"Seventh match…" began Lee loudly as he observed the two, next participants. "Bakara from Kumori against Manako Akira from Konoha… BEGIN!" and in a flash the shadow-nin reached to his hostel and threw several shuriken at the Leaf shinobi, making the other boy jump to his left in order to avoid the assault, however that was exactly what the masked ninja wanted.
In an instant Bakara appeared next to Akira, whose feet were still off the ground, with a kunai in his hand, ready to cut the leaf-nin. But to the shadow-nin's surprise, the Leaf shinobi suddenly reached for the floor with his hand and used it to break his flight. In a fraction of a second his body got placed parallel to the ground as the leaf-nin launched a kick at the masked boy, catching him off guard and thus sending him flying back.
As Akira's feet touched the floor, the shadow-nin flipped in mid-air while forming a hand seal and landed safely on the ground as well. At the very same moment tens of Bakara suddenly began appearing around the Leaf shinobi, surrounding him from every direction.
"Kage bushin?!" Kai's eyes almost went out of orbits at the sight. He turned towards his teammates with a questioning glare. The one to answer him, was Kusari: "No, this is just a simple bushin… but still with so many phantoms, it'd be hard to see which is the original… that shadow-nin gotta have some plan…"
In an instant all Bakaras charged forward at Akira, making it unable for him to escape. The leaf-nin however merely lowered his head slightly and still keeping his eyes closed, he spun on his foot and threw a spin-kick at one of the phantoms. As his attack connected, everyone's eyes widen as they realize the one Akira kicked was the original and once the shadow-nin was send flying back again, the other phantoms faded away.
"How was he able to tell the difference with such ease?" demanded Kumiko completely surprised. "Did he used some sort of dojutsu?" (A/N: in case you don't know, dojutsu is an eye technique… Byakugan and Sharingan are examples of such) and with that she turned towards the older gennin. Hitomi only smirked before she replied: "It's not that… Akira doesn't have any dojutsu… at least not in the literal sense…"
"Not in the literal sense?" repeated Galu a little interested. "What do you mean by that?" but the white-eyed girl said nothing more. Meanwhile down on the arena Bakara came to a sliding stop after he went flying. In a flash Akira charged at the shadow-nin instantly, not giving him any time to rest and jumped into the air, coming down with a scissor kick from above.
Having not enough time to dodge, Bakara raised his hands to block, but as both of the leaf-nin's legs stopped at his opponent's arms, Akira bended back and propping his hands on the floor, he shoot under kick, which headed straight at the Kumori shinobi's stomach. The masked boy bended back in the last moment, thus making his enemy's assault go right above his face, but in the next second the boy who still had his eyes closed spun on his hand and launched another kick, which once more came from above.
Having no way to dodge nor block, Bakara received a powerful blow in his stomach, which made him land hard with his back on the floor. Instantly he placed his hands to the ground and flipped back, returning to his feet, but at the same time Akira somersaulted as well and landed right before him, with his face merely inches away from the shadow-nin.
In a flash the masked boy launched a punch at his opponent's face, but the leaf-nin simply bended back, thus avoiding the hit and before Bakara could react the Leaf shinobi spun on his foot and swiped the Shadow ninja off his feet, using his leg. In order to not fall to the floor, Kumori shinobi landed on his hand and bounced of immediately, keeping a safe distance from the Konoha gennin. However Akira was far from letting him go.
Instantly the leaf-nin jumped to his left while he spun parallel to the floor and split his legs to left and right. Bakara immediately strafed to his right in order to avoid a direct hit from the kick that came from above at his head, but even as he succeeded in doing so, he had no time to relax as his opponent acted immediately as well.
The moment his feet touched the floor, Akira spun on his foot and launched a spin-kick aimed at his opponent's head. In a flash Bakara bended back, thus making the leaf-nin's assault go right above his head. But the Konoha shinobi didn't stop there, he kept on spinning on his foot and as he made a full circle once more, he launched another kick at the masked boy, this time placing his leg much lower compared to the previous try.
Bakara didn't manage to react in time and as he received a powerful kick in the stomach, he was send flying back once more. Before he hit the floor, he managed to flip in mid-air and yet again land safely on his feet. He glared at his opponent, who this whole time kept his eyes closed.
"Fine, I'll admit that you're a troublesome adversary…" announced Bakara with a tiny smirk appearing on his face. "I guess I'll have to get serious…" and with that he went through a set of hand seals: "Genjutsu: Akuma no Mai!" and suddenly thick mist began surrounding the arena. Before anyone could notice, the masked boy's hand, which still hold the last symbol, began deforming and in an instant changed into hideous, grey skinned snake beasts, which shoot straight at the leaf-nin, who still stood in the same place, his eyes still shut.
Akira didn't even manage to move as the first snake sunk it's teeth into his left arm. Soon another one followed, this time attacking the boy's right shoulder. Before he knew it his entire body was filled with grey snakes that shut their jaws on various parts of his body: legs, hands, torso, neck, even head. He didn't scream, but he felt his body slowly being paralyzed. "So this is his plan…" the leaf-nin concluded in his mind.
Meanwhile Bakara slowly walked towards his opponent, picking out his kunai. "The game ends here…" he smiled to himself as he aimed his knife at the other boy's throat. Lee only narrowed his eyes, realizing what the shadow-nin was planning. But before the masked gennin manage to shoot his kunai at Akira, the Leaf shinobi surprisingly picked out his in the fraction of a second and tossed it at the Kumori ninja's head, forcing him to bend down in order to avoid certain death.
As he did so, Akira in a flash found himself next to him and before he managed to stood up straight again, the leaf-nin landed a powerful kick in his stomach, which once more send him flying back. This time he landed safely on the wall, sticking to it using chakra in his feet. "This guy… how in the world?"
"I guess I should've warned you back then, but it would be stupid of a shinobi to do so…" Akira spoken as he turned towards his opponent and opened his eyes, revealing that they were completely white. "Genjutsu of that level has no effect on me…"
As he saw his eyes, Bakara choked slightly, realizing what was going on: "This brat…it's impossible!" At the same time, on the platform, Kogane began throwing confused looks at everyone around her: "What just happened? How come that guy wasn't effected by the illusion? It seemed pretty powerful to me. And what's with those eyes? It's not a Byakugan…"
"Indeed, the genjutsu that Shadow guy used was a high level one…" admitted Funbo with a tiny smirk appearing on his face. "It's not a surprise you saw it as a powerful one… it was. The problem is that Akira possess something like a natural, genjutsu defense system… such illusions doesn't present much of a problem to him…"
"How come?" asked Kitsune curious, which made Funbo smile even wider before he replied: "Can't you see his eyes?" and as Mikka glanced at the older gennin bellow, she hid her mouth behind her hands to not let out a weak scream. Kokoro only narrowed his eyes slightly, before he cut in: "He's blind…"
"What that has to do with anything?" asked Hanamaru, still completely lost. Funbo only let out a sigh as Kumiko joined the conversation: "Genjutsu's main purpose is to trick the target's five senses. The more powerful techniques of that school effect every, single one of them, however there's a special rule to that: no matter what level the illusion is, it always tricks the sense of sight first… since that guy has no sense of sight, any type of genjutsu cast on him will have lesser effect then it should from the very beginning…"
"Above that…" Horohoro cut in calmly. "Akira's chakra control is perfect… even if someone were to trap him in an illusion, he still can easily break out. Considering that this shadow-nin seem like a genjutsu specialist, he couldn't get a worst opponent…"
"Wait a minute…" Kai turned towards the older gennin. "If that guy's blind, how can he so easily tell where his opponent is?" but surprisingly the one replying to his question was Ibuki: "Most likely the loss of sight made his other senses sharper… basically it's safe to assume he can hear things you'll never be able to hear…"
"Akira-kun was blind since he was born…" Taki announced as she observed her teammate bellow with a little sad face. "Being not able to see a thing forced him to learn moving by using other senses. He's capable of locating his enemies by their scent almost as well as the Inuzuka can… heck, he's even able to know where they are by their breathing alone…"
"Most of all, sharper senses make it harder to trick someone with genjutsu…" Tsuino, who was listening to the conversation closely, concluded in his mind. "No wonder that mask guy can't do a thing against him…"
"I must say that I never expected to meet someone like you during the exams…" admitted Bakara as he glanced at his opponent from the wall. "But the advantage is still on my side… after all, I see perfectly and you have to rely on your other senses…"
"I suppose you're right…" nodded Akira calmly. "Shall we make this a bit more fair then?" and without waiting for the answer, he went through a quick series of hand seals: "Genjutsu: Kokuangyo no Jutsu!" and suddenly the entire room was covered in darkness, making it impossible to see a thing that's even an inch before ones eyes.
"Hey, what happened?" Kai's voice was heard in the shadows. "Who turned off the lights?" Takaru merely narrowed his eyes as a single drop of sweat began running down his face: "My mother told me about this technique… a special illusion invented by the First Hokage… it makes the entire surrounding area one, dark place which covers the view of your opponent… that Akira guy just used it…" and at this point another drop of sweat appeared on his face: "But above that… how in the world did that guy learned this technique?" he asked himself in his mind.
Just then a sudden yell was heard and a moment later the darkness cleared, revealing Akira standing right above Bakara, who laid unconscious on the floor. Lee slowly walked over to the two boys and after a short examination, he announced: "Winner: Manako Akira!"
Immediately medics appeared next to the masked boy as the blind gennin slowly headed back to the platform. "So, I'm the only one left…" Kyuu concluded calmly as he observed the medics, who were taking his teammate out of the room. His eyes narrowed as he threw a quick glance at the victorious, leaf-nin.
"Great job, Akira-kun!" cheered Taki as she threw her hands to the sky. "I knew you'll win!" the blonde gennin only smiled in her direction and the he felt a hand landing on his shoulder: "Nice fight…" he heard Horohoro's voice coming to his ears.
"Thanks guys…" was all Akira replied with a smile on his face. Even Shino smirked for a split second, but his face instantly turned serious again as the names on the screen began changing once more.
"Damn, for someone who can't see the tip of his nose, that guy is pretty good…" whined Kai as he glanced at the older gennin. He was about to go on, but just then a loud 'bing' was heard and as the blonde stared at the screen, his eyes widen at the realization who'll go next. He glanced at his teammates, who were looking at the two, new names slightly shocked: MURASAKKI KUMIKO versus SUTARU KURI.
"Will the next, two contestants, please, get down here…" asked Lee and in a flash the light-blue-haired Snow kunoichi jumped down to the ring bellow. As she did so, Yamazaru took a step forward as if he wanted to take his teammate's place. Yari immediately put his hand on the large gennin's shoulder, which seemed to calm the helmet wearing ninja a bit. Aisu only threw the two a quick glare and then turned towards her female companion once more.
Kumiko only looked at her opponent and slowly walked down the stairs. "Eight match:…" announced the Green Beast as the two girls stood in front of each other. "Murasakki Kumiko from Konoha against Sutaru Kuri from Yuki…" and at this point he took quick glances at both kunoichi, before he called out from the bottom of his lungs: "BEGIN!"
---eyes set onto the two kunoichi, who stand before each other… the battle never ends---
And this concludes this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave me a review once you're done. It'd mean a lot.
Now, about the techniques used in this chapter:
Genjutsu: Akuma no Mai (Genjutsu: Dance of the Demon) – what can I say? It's simply an illusion that create snake-like creatures, which attack the target. By confusing his or hers senses (mostly the sense of sight and touch), the target gets paralyzed from the snakes venom, which he thinks got into his body.
Genjutsu: Kokuangyo no Jutsu (Bringer of Darkness) – a jutsu first used by the 1st Hokage. Basically it's a genjutsu that creates an illusion of complete darkness that surrounds the battlefield. The user is unaffected by it, of course.
And lastly, coz I kept on forgetting to do it, here's the list of the eliminations participants (those that failed and got taken by medics are crossed-out completely, those who won are underline and those that lost, yet remained as spectators are written in italics):
Konoha #7: Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3: Konpaku Rei, Rikoteki Kogane, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4: Igaku Mikka, Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, Hatake Senkou, Kobushi Galu
Konoha: Hamano Taki, Hyuuga Hitomi, Manako Akira, Tanken Funbo, Horohoro
Suna #1: Aoru, Torune, Honemaru, Tarakudo, Takai
Suna #2: Sabaku no Sabure, Hari, Dekai, Horamaru, Karame
Kusa: Hokku Tobane, Kanraku Nezumi, Kuchibashi Taka, Kyohaku Tokame, Wanabi Hizoku
Ame: Kasano Youji, Nokogiri Karei, Eshaku Ryo, Furikuzu Tsuino, Hebereke Nazaa
Bakufu: Azarashi Kawa, Tora Miaka, Abura Tetsu, Makko Shita
Tsuki: Junsei Teela, Tenka, Chishio Nobu, Kihako Tasuki
Hane: Naginata, Ono Reiji, Sentou
Yuki: Nadare Aisu, Sutaru Kuri, Sarumaru Yari, Urufu Kato, Yamazaru
Kumori: Kyuu
And that's really it for this chapter. Thanks for reading and until next time, hopefully.