As I stated in the previous chapter: if I wouldn't be satisfied with the number of reviews, I'll put this story on hold. Considering that I'm uploading this chapter, some of you might think I've changed my mind, so let me clear one thing: this chapter got submitted ONLY because there really are few people who wish to know what happens next and I've decided to not interrupt the story in the middle of the fight. But with the lack of reviews, and the rotten humor I got lately due to a certain event, I prefer to concentrate on my MORE popular fics and leave those which are reviewed by few.
Most of the questions concerned 'what happens next' so all you have to do to find out is to read this chapter. Sorry to everyone who enjoyed the story, but unless the number of reviews for this chapter will be high enough, you won't be able to read the next chapter. Seriously: I WON'T UPDATE UNLESS THE NUMBER OF REVIEWS WILL BE SATISFACTORY!
Chapter #59: Brains and Beauty
Title Page: Kumiko is sitting on a hill with a huge hawk next to her, which wraps its wing around her and behind the two stands Takaru, who only sweat drops
"I'll show you what a Konoha shinobi can do…" announced Kumiko as she pointed the tip of her kunai at Kuri. "I'll finish this within the next, five minutes…" and suddenly she tossed her knife straight at the snow-nin, who immediately made the huge, Fuuma Shuriken spin in her hand, aiming to deflect the incoming weapon with it.
As the two weapons collide, the small knife instantly got blown away by the huge shinobi star and Kuri kept on charging forward with an attempt to cut the leaf-nin in half with the shuriken that was still spinning in her hand.
Immediately Kumiko jumped into the air and flying right above the Yuki kunoichi she grabbed the kunai that her opponent deflected as it was still in mid-air and landing safely on the floor few meters away from the snow-nin, she struck her knife into the ground and reached for her two shuriken. "Five moves… if I miscalculated, things are basically over…" she thought to herself with a smirk as she threw her shinobi stars at her adversary.
Instinctually Kuri used her spinning Fuuma shuriken as a shield and blocked both attacks with it, making Kumiko's shinobi stars bounced back. It was then that the Leaf kunoichi charged forward, picking out another kunai. The Yuki shinobi merely smirked under her nose: "Useless…" and with that she ran at her opponent as well.
In a flash the young genius performed a quick hand seal and Kuri's eyes slightly widen as now five Kumikos charged at her, each throwing the knife at her. "A simple bushin? Who does she take me for, a rookie?" the snow-nin thought to herself as she dodged all the kunai and then spun on her foot, cutting the phantom on her right. The leaf-nin avoided certain death only because she managed to bend back in time, yet still she got her left shoulder cut and her blood sprayed the floor.
"Such tricks won't do…" stated Tsume calmly as she was propping her hands on the rail. "Bushins aren't that hard to tell apart as phantoms doesn't have chakra circulation system… even without a Byakugan one can tell them apart if the number isn't too great and he'd have enough time to look closely… still, that Snow girl told them apart quite fast…"
"Well, it's not like I've expected anything special from brats…" began Funbo with a smirk as he glanced at his sister. "But I was hoping that you guys won't be using kinder garden tricks… how sad…" yet Ibuki only smiled under her nose: "You're quick to judge for someone whose so hot on becoming the head of our clan…" and as the male Tanken turned his gaze to the arena once more, he realized that the phantom on Kuri's left suddenly began running faster.
In a flash the real Kumiko found herself facing the snow-nin's back with a kunai ready in her hand as the one that just got wounded suddenly faded away into nothingness. "That hag!" Kuri only managed to curse as she jumped back while turning around in order to get away from her opponent: "So, she predicted Kuri will manage to tell the phantoms apart and used some other trick to make her real self look like a phantom too…" Kato conclude in his mind with a smile.
Instantly Kumiko threw the kunai in her hand at the snow-nin, which also got blocked by the huge, ice Fuuma Shuriken, which was still in Kuri's hand, but the Yuki kunoichi's eyes widen as she realize that the knife she just blocked and which began falling to the floor had an explosive tag attached to it.
As the tag went off, the shuriken Kuri held in her hand shattered and broke into pieces while the snow-nin was send flying back and flipped in mid-air, landing safely on the ground. "Way to go, Kumiko-chan!" Kusari cheered from the platform, throwing his hands to the sky.
"Damn, she broke the flight a little too early…" the young genius cursed in her mind as the Yuki shinobi slowly stood straight again. Meanwhile, on the platform, Aisu only narrowed her eyes: "Kuri… I've expected better from you…"
"You little…" began the Snow kunoichi as she glared at her opponent while ice swords formed in her hands. And in a flash Kuri jumped forward, spinning wildly, extending her hands in the process.
As the deadly windmill came straight at her, Kumiko kneeled down and picked out her last, two kunai. Once Kuri's spinning body was close enough, the leaf-nin jumped forward flat, surprising everyone, and managed to flew under her opponent's attack, having her back cut few times however.
The moment she found herself near the floor, Kuri came to a sliding stop with Kumiko's blood covering her blades. She smiled widely as she glanced at her opponent's back, which now had several, deep cuts on it and the outfit was ripped. The young genius turned around and set her eyes onto the snow-nin, who only licked the blood off her ice swords.
At this point Yamazaru got slightly excited and made a step forward, almost as if he wanted to jump down to the arena and join the 'fun'. Once more Yari had to make a great effort to calm him down and once he succeeded, he glanced onto his female teammate, who was in the middle of her fight: "If Kuri-chan will keep on acting like that, I may not be able to hold him down much longer…" he thought to himself as his eyes narrowed.
Meanwhile, at the same time, Takai's body shook slightly from the excitement as well. Torune, who was now standing next to the scythe user gulped quietly as a single drop of sweat run down her face: "He's really starting to loose it… that other side of his…I don't want him to go crazy like that time…" and with that she shivered at the memory.
"Yeah, that was good!" cheered Tarakudo, who was now standing on his hands and clapped with his feet. "I like that Snow girl already!" he announced with a satisfactory voice, while Dekai merely glanced at him and then turned to the arena once more. His eyes narrowed as he observed Kumiko, whose grip on her kunai tightened.
"It all settles now!" the leaf-nin decided as she suddenly threw one of her kunai at Kuri's right shoulder and immediately reached for her final shuriken. The Yuki shinobi only smiled as she dodged the attack by moving to her left. Kumiko only charged forward with her other knife ready.
As the distance between the two kunoichi shortened, the young genius swung her kunai at Kuri's throat, only to have it blocked with the ice blade that the snow-nin carried in her left hand. In a flash the Yuki girl aimed to pierce Kumiko's stomach with her other blade, yet surprising most of the people gathered in the room, the other female stopped that assault by hitting the blunt side of the sword with her foot and thus making the transparent weapon flew out of her opponent's hand.
Without wasting a second Kumiko retreated her kunai and aimed another attack at the snow-nin's throat, yet the Yuki shinobi managed to avoid the assault by moving aside while spinning on her left foot. Before the young genius noticed, her opponent was already behind her and prepared to cut off her head.
In an instant Kumiko bended over, making the ice blade which Kuri swung at her go above her head and the moment it did so, the young genius turn around and threw her shuriken at the snow-nin's face. Acting on instinct, the Yuki girl jumped back, thus making the shinobi star flying right before her eyes without causing her any harm, yet she wasn't prepared for what was coming.
"Gotcha!" Kumiko thought with a smile as she performed a quick hand seals. It was only then that Kuri realize she stood right next to the kunai her opponent stuck in the floor earlier. And that kunai had an explosive tag attached to it. By performing the 'ignition seal', the young genius activated the tag, giving the snow-nin only enough time to jump back to avoid serious damage.
As the tag went off, smoke covered most of the area around Kuri. Having no way to see, the Yuki girl performed hand seals of her own and in a flash a shield of ice appeared on her free hand. Once the smoke cleared, she searched for Kumiko with her eyes and located the other kunoichi charging right at her from her left.
"You just lost your chance…" announced Kuri with a smile as she ran towards her opponent with her sword ready. It was only then that she noticed Kumiko had one hand hidden behind her back and before she realized what was going on, the young genius threw whatever she carried in that hand before her. It was her only flash bomb.
Kuri's eyes widen as she the incoming bomb was a bit off-track and then realized what was going on a second too late. "That b…" she only managed to think as the bomb exploded with light, completely blinding her.
After a second she blinked her eyes several times, but that wasn't helping at all. In was then that Kumiko's voice came from behind her: "One of the basic laws of shinobi: always use your enemies strength against them… you sealed your own faith…"
"Those mirrors you created when you used those smoke bombs…" the leaf-nin continued calmly as she came close to her opponent's back. "I realized that only your reflection was shown in them and it got me thinking why that was so. And then it hit me that it was all about the angle they were under: dependable on which side they're turned to, they'd deflect certain things… that gave me the idea. Back when you used them, I only broke one of them…"
"You…" Kuri's eyes widen at the realization, yet she still could not see a thing. "When you charged at me and I at you, there was my mirror between us!"
"Preciously…" Kumiko nodded calmly. "I've located myself in a way so that neither of us would get reflected in it. The light bomb itself isn't that powerful, but funny thing about glass is that when used correctly, it can concentrate light and make it stronger… when my light bomb exploded near your mirror, the flash was much more powerful then it should've been. The fact that your creations are transparent became the nail to your own coffin… you didn't saw your own mirror…"
"So that kunai with the explosive tag…" concluded Kuri, still blind. "It was just a distraction to cover yourself from me… once you charged forward, I was too busy to noticed that there's a mirror between us!"
"Exactly…" Kumiko nodded again. "Everything I did since my statement that I'll finish this in five minutes was to bring you to the place I left my explosive tag and use the moment when smoke will cover your sight for a short while to 'put' the mirror between us… that flash was only suppose to blind your for a short while, so that I would have enough time to do this…" and so she went through a series of hand seals: "Odori no Sendo!" and in the next moment Kuri collapsed to the floor, screaming.
Lee immediately appeared next to her and after a short examination, he announced: "Winner: Murasakki Kumiko!" and as the young genius headed back to the platform, the fuzzy eye-browed jounin glanced at Kuri, who was taken away by the medics: "She used a pretty powerful genjutsu just now… but what's more, with good tactics, she managed to make a harmless flash bomb a dangerous weapon… that flash was so strong that even though I closed my eyes in time, I still got slightly effected by it… no wonder that Snow girl became defenseless after that flash hit her eyes…"
"Go girl!" Tobane cheered from the platform as she threw her hands to the sky and then rubbed her eyes slightly: "She could give us some kind of heads up though… I still see spots before my eyes…" Taka only glanced at the young genius and narrowing his eyes behind his mask, he only thought to himself: "Those brats are interesting…"
Hizoku just smiled under his nose at his teammates behavior. His eyes then set on Kai and then narrowed before he turn away. "Nice job, Kumiko!" Kai complimented his companion as she reached the rest of her cell.
"That's my Kumiko-chan!" announced Kusari as he held out his hands in the attempt to hug the kunoichi, but just then he received a powerful kick in the stomach from the young genius: "Stay back…" and with that she gave him a dead glare. But a second later she smiled and thanked her companions.
"I heard that love can hurt, but this is getting slightly overboard…" whined the chain master as he held his stomach. Takaru only sweat dropped at the whole situation. He took a quick glance at Naruto, who simply shrugged with a wide smile on his face.
"Well, this was boring…" stated Youji annoyed. "When's my turn, dammit?" and with that she glared at Nazaa, making the redhead boy take few steps back, a little scared. Ryo merely adjust his glasses as he glanced at Kumiko. "Most interesting…" he thought to himself with a smirk.
"Lets move on to another, elimination fight!" purposed Lee loudly, making everyone turn towards the screen again. Names began flashing before Kai's eyes at top speed, making it impossible to read them as they appeared. Seconds turned into minutes and those into hours as the young gennin awaited the choice of the ninth match participants. And then, finally, the choice was made…
---fate rolls the dice… who goes next?---
And so this chapter ends. Hope you enjoyed it.
Since this is might be the last chapter of this story, I'd like to thank everyone who read and reviewed it all this time. It's been fun and I hope you had at least as much fun reading it as I had writing it. Sorry to cut the story in a moment like this. I hope you'll understand.
Take care everyone.