Wow, I actually managed to pull this off and finish this chappie after what happened today. Anyways, I was tired when I made a double check on this one, so it might be filled with mistakes even more then my chapters usual are, so sorry bout that.
Thanks to all reviewers, both 'old' and 'new'! I'm glad you're enjoying the story (even though I feel slightly depressed that the reviews number seem to be dropping… don't want to scare anyone, but with the among of collage work, if the story won't keep good enough popularity, I'll put it ON HOLD, so if you wish to know what happens next, review). There weren't too many questions for last time (to answer the only one I've spotted: no, English isn't my first language), but sorry if I missed any, my mailbox seem to be failing lately. Anyway, I believe the only thing left to do is to get on with the show:
Chapter #58: Pure as Crystal
Title Page: Kumiko is watching her deflection in a huge crystal
"Eight match: Murasakki Kumiko from Konoha against Sutaru Kuri from Yuki!" announced Lee loudly as he stood between the two kunoichi. "BEGIN!" and in a flash the leaf-nin reached out to her hostel and threw several shuriken at her opponent. Yet her eyes widen as she saw the Snow ninja only held out her hands and all the shinobi stars she threw suddenly got thrown off their course, each landing on the floor after reaching only half of their route.
"What?" Kumiko thought to herself as she jumped back and reached for her scroll. "Can she generate some sort of defensive field? But she didn't perform any hand seals… so, what's the trick?" and with that he bite her finger. In an instant she wrote a single symbol on the scroll with her blood and a second later a Fuuma Shuriken appeared in her hand.
In a flash she threw the huge shinobi star at her adversary, yet the snow-nin kept standing calmly. She performed a quick set of hand seals and the moment the shuriken came close to her, she dropped her right hand down and even though she didn't physically touched the incoming weapon, it was still thrown off course and hit the floor before it reached its target.
Immediately Kuri charged forward, making Kumiko pick out several shuriken, which she threw at her opponent, yet the snow-nin merely swung her right hand before her and in a flash the shinobi stars the young genius threw got deflected by invisible blade. The leaf-nin duck as the Yuki ninja swung her hand at her and then jumped to her right in order to keep a safe distance from her adversary.
"What the hell's going on?" demanded Kusari as his grip on the rail tightened. "How can that Snow chick deflect all of Kumiko-chan's attacks?" and as he looked around, his eyes stopped at Shikamaru, who seemed to realize what was going on. The lazy jounin had his eyes slightly narrowed and as Kitsune took a quick glance at his sensei, he also looked more closely at the Yuki kunoichi. Immediately his eyes widen at noticing what was going on.
"You still don't understand, don't you?" Kuri asked her opponent as a small smile appeared on her face. Kumiko only narrowed her eyes slightly and it was at that time did the snow-nin held out her hand suddenly. Acting on instinct the Leaf kunoichi jumped to her left and as she heard something cutting the air, her right cheek suddenly received a slash.
Horamaru only smiled to himself: "Ah… most interesting…" Kumiko only set her eyes on her opponent as she wiped the blood that began to run down her face with her left hand: "So that's it…" she thought to her as she looked at the Snow kunoichi.
---Meanwhile, elsewhere---
Saiken narrowed his eyes as he stared at the building before him: it was a high, white tower, that stood above the entire village. A small balcony was located on its top and a large symbol for 'fire' was placed on one of the walls. "Hokage Tower…" the headgear wearing boy thought to himself with a tiny smirk. "I don't really suppose it's of any use to check what defenses it has… that Hatake guy is probably carrying the scroll with himself all the time… besides, it'll be troublesome for me alone to break in, even if there'll be a need to do so…"
And at that moment his eyes narrowed even more as he took a quick glance over his shoulder without moving a inch. Someone has just appeared on the roof behind him. "What does a boy your age is doing here at this time?" asked a cold voice and as the shadow-nin turned around, he noticed a young man with an ANBU mask on. Saiken set his eyes onto the new arrival, before he replied: "I couldn't participate in the eliminations, so while waiting for them to get over with I've decided to do a little field trip…"
"Is that so…" came a response. The ANBU walked closer and the moment he found himself right in front of the boy, he announced: "Well, you shouldn't walk around here really… may I suggest you leave this area?" the Kumori ninja only nodded and with that he was gone.
Sasuke merely narrowed his eyes as he looked in the direction the boy disappeared to: "Seems like that's the bat Naruto mentioned… there really is something disturbing about him, even though I can't place a finger… and why was he checking out Hokage's Tower defenses?"
---Back to the eliminations---
"So this is what's been going on…" stated Kumiko calmly as she wiped more blood that came from her right cheek. "I thought there was some bigger trick into that.." and as she said so, Kuri only set her eyes on her opponent, before she replied with an emotionless voice: "Sorry to disappoint you then… but that's all there is to it…"
"Could anyone clue me in on what are those, two chicks talking about?" Senkou asked his companions slightly annoyed. Surprisingly for him, the one to answer his question was the snow-nin's female teammate: "By sending her chakra into the air, Kuri can freeze water in the atmosphere and form it anyway she desires…"
"And just what does that has to do with anything?" demanded Kai as he looked at the Yuki kunoichi with raised eyebrows. And making even greater surprise then Aisu explaining her companion's ability, the one to speak up was Teela: "Everything, really… the ice she creates by freezing water is thin crystal… kinda like a window…" the moon-nin announced calmly as she 'blessed' the blonde with a glance, making him blush slightly, which again made Mikka 'growl' quietly from the distance.
"Right…" the loud mouth nodded and after a short silence, he added: "Now I don't get it…"
"Don't you have any brain cells between your ears?!" Takaru lost his temper completely at his teammate's comment. "It means that whatever that Snow girl creates, you're not able to spot it because it's really thin and transparent! You see right through it!"
"Man, I've never thought those eliminations will be that exciting!" yelled Hanamaru as he began eating his potato chips even faster. And at this point everyone sweat drop as a loud snore was heard. Kogane turned around to look at Rei, who was still sleeping, completely not interested in what was going on.
Toku on the other hand was troubled by something else: "Where did he get those chips?" he asked while sweat dropping as he observed his chubby teammate. And then he turned towards the ring once more as the fight continued.
Kuri once more performed a quick set of hand seals and in a flash transparent, ice blades formed between her fingers. In a fraction of a second the snow-nin unleashed the crystal knives at her opponent, who acted immediately: in a flash she picked out thin strings and swinging her hands in all directions made them fly all around her. As some of them got cut, Kumiko bended to her left as she turned her right hip towards the Yuki shinobi. And in the next second the left side of her torso, right leg and left shoulder got cut by an invisible blade.
"Clever…" Ibuki commented her teammate's action. "She spread those strings in order to locate those transparent knives… once the knife cut the string, she knew from where it was coming from and managed to figure out its route. But she's not a close-range fighter, so she doesn't have the reflex to dodge the incoming blades…"
Just then Kuri threw few smoke bombs straight at Kumiko and began another chain of hand seals. Unable to see a thing and risking falling under her opponent's blade in case she'd try to get out of the smoke cloud, the young genius made a desperate move and threw some of her kunai into the floor, surrounding herself with knives stuck in the ground. Once that phase was complete, she picked out her scroll again and once more biting her finger, she summoned another Fuuma Shuriken by writing the right symbol on the paper.
Once the huge shinobi star appeared in her hand, she began spinning it, creating a weak wind that blew some of the smoke. As the space around her cleared slightly, she spotted Kuri charging right at her from her left. In a flash she pulled her other hand to her torso, thus revealing that it was holding thin strings, just like a moment before, only this time there were tied to the kunai that were stuck in the floor.
As she pulled the strings, knives flew out of the floor and being completely under Kumiko's command, they were send flying straight at the charging snow-nin. Yet the young genius eyes widen as the moment her kunai struck her opponent, she broke into pieces.
"A mirror! She used the water to make her own reflection!" Kumiko noticed immediately and turned to her right, where another Kuri was charging at her. But just then another thought crossed her head. "That mirror from before… it was bended a little!" and as she narrowed her eyes, she realized that the snow-nin she was now seeing was a mirror deflection as well.
In an instant she looked over her left shoulder and saw the real Kuri coming right at her with a long, ice sword in her hand. Immediately Kumiko jumped to her right and only thanks to that did she avoided certain death, yet she still got her left arm cut pretty badly and dropped the Fuuma Shuriken she held in it.
Seeing that Kuri was undone, the Leaf kunoichi reached for her pocket and in a flash threw several smoke bombs straight at the snow-nin. As the bombs exploded, Yuki shinobi's sight got covered, thus giving Kumiko enough time to fled and think about her strategy.
"I've been expecting something more…" admitted Kawa as she yawned slightly. Tetsu did not respond in any way. He just set his eyes on Kumiko. Shita, who was still sitting on his shoulder, noticed that and followed his teammate's example. The fight was not over yet.
In a fraction of a second the leaf-nin jumped onto the wall and stick to it using chakra in her feet. Naruto only smiled slightly under his nose as he glanced at his subordinate: "Kumiko's calculation skills most likely rivals those of Shikamaru himself, however that Yuki girl's ability is quite unique and she doesn't seem to be mindless either… so how are you gonna resolve this, Kumiko?"
"This is really a pain…" Kumiko thought to herself with a smile as the smoke she created slowly began to disappear. "With all the trouble from the Forest and with this, I only have two, explosive tags, a flash bomb, five kunai and three shuriken… not much of a weaponry… this may be interesting…" and with that thought she narrowed her eyes while her smile widen.
Kuri looked around as the smoke cleared and a second later her eyes stopped on the wall on which her opponent was standing on. The leaf-nin jumped down and landed safely on the floor. The Yuki shinobi formed a quick set of hand seals and held out her right hand in which a Fuuma Shuriken of crystal ice began forming in it: "Pathetic… attacking mindlessly… and I thought that being one of the Five Great Villages still meant something…"
"Sorry for not putting too much heart into it…" Kumiko shoot back, still smiling as she picked out a kunai. "If it'll make you feel any better, I promise I'll finish this within the next, five minutes… I'll show you what Konoha shinobi can do…"
---miscalculation equals defeat… the result?---
And that's it for this time. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave me a review once you're done. It'd mean a lot and would help this fic to survive.
Now, before I finish this, just a reminder of the team rooster:
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 this really concludes this chapter. Thanks for reading and I hope you'll review.
Take care!