And I'm back! Boy, I must admit that halfway through this chappie I was positive it's going to be a long battle. But in the end I'm quite found of how it turn out in the end. It's not the exact way I pictured it from the start, but…
As usual I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. It really meant a lot.
Also, since lately I've been getting into a good mood (ironically really, considering how much work collage dropped on me), I had an idea. Now I figured I'll try to make a deal with you guys. Here's the thing: if everything goes well, I'll have some extra time during this incoming week to write some, so I figured I could try finishing two chapters of N:NG. Now, if I'd manage to do that, I could upload them both at one time, giving you more stuff to read for a week. However, in return, I expect that you'll bless me with reviews for this chappie (and, naturally, I won't mind if you'll decide to review both chapters that would be submitted next week). So if you want a double update next week, review!
And now, lets get down to the story:
Chapter #69: Sixth Sense
Title Page: a dark room: Kokoro is sitting on a chair and right in front of him stands Kai with a flashlight shining in the other blonde's eyes, like they were in the middle of interrogation
"BEGIN!" Lee's loud voice was heard an instantly Kato picked out his sword, charging straight at his opponent. Kokoro however didn't move at all at first, only to easily dodge the first attack that came from his adversary, by bending back. The snow-nin seemed unimpressed by that however as he kept on swinging his katana, but the blonde still managed to dodge every, single attack.
Kokoro suddenly jumped back, picking out several shuriken in the process, and unleashed them at his adversary, who merely stopped in his tracks and used the huge blade of his sword to block all the incoming, shinobi stars.
Upon landing on the floor, the blonde immediately placed his right hand on it and threw his legs into the air, now standing on his hand. Instantly he bounced off the ground, thus avoiding Kato's bulldog, which suddenly jumped at him from behind. As Kokoro flew above the canine, somersaulting in the process, he delivered a power kick into the back of the mutt's head, making it whine in pain.
Tsume's eye twitched at the sight, while Kai's widen: "That was nice!" he announced excited. "I'd have never thought he'd manage to predict that that bulldog will come at him from behind!" but even as he said so, Senkou only let out a quiet chuckle, gaining the blonde's attention: "Kokoro didn't had to predict anything" he stated simply, making the loud mouth look slightly confused. "He knew that attack was coming from the start… it's just as I said: there's no way Kokoro can lose…"
Meanwhile Kato charged at his opponent again and swung his katana parallel to the ground, yet the leaf-nin seemed to saw it coming all along and jumped into the air, somersaulting. As his head located itself beneath his body, Kokoro spun in mid-air and delivered a powerful kick into the Yuki shinobi's face, making the huge man take a single step back.
Before Kato could do anything, his adversary propped his palm on the flat side of his katana and spun on it reversely to the direction he just did, delivering another kick into the snow-nin's face, this time in the swordsman's left cheek.
Kato managed to pull himself back together quickly however and letting go of his weapon, he aimed a spin-kick into Kokoro's face, yet the blonde avoided the assault by simply bending over. The leaf-nin then propped both his hands on the floor and spinning on them, he delivered a powerful kick into his opponent's stomach, making the larger gennin take few steps back and bend over due to the impact.
Seeing this as an opportunity, the blonde spun a bit more and this time launched a kick with his other leg at Kato's face, which was now closer to the floor. As the attack connected, the swordsman was send flying back. A moment later Kokoro bounced into the air, spinning parallel to the floor as the snow-nin's bulldog jumped at him again, yet due to the Leaf shinobi's maneuver, the mutt came right bellow him.
While he was still spinning, Kokoro grabbed the dog by its collar, thus taking it into a spin as well. The animal only managed to let out a whine before the blonde made its face crush hard against the floor, thus sending the mutt into unconsciousness. At that time the leaf-nin landed on the ground and glanced at his opponent, who was now slowly getting back to his feet.
"That leaf-nin's actually pretty good" stated Aisu, though her voice didn't show she was really impressed. Yari only threw her a gaze and then got back to observing the match. Kato was now standing back up, breathing a little faster then usual.
"That brat!" he cursed in his mind as he settled his eyes on Kokoro. "That damn blonde is making me look like an idiot! I'm not gonna let a pipsqueak like him make me look stupid!" and with that he went through a series of hand seals, calling out with the last symbol: "Hyouton: Hyouki!"
Horohoro's eyes widen as suddenly the floor in the arena froze, followed by ice spikes shooting up from it. A single drop of sweat run down Akira's face at the sensation: "Such a huge among of chakra… what in the world did just happen?" he asked himself, while Mikka only managed to call out with concern in her voice: "Kokoro-kun!"
Having no, other way to dodge, Kokoro jumped into the air and then placed his hand on a spike that shoot near him, only to spin around it and then land safely on a spike nearby. As his feet touched the cold surface, the blonde bended his knees, making his face almost touch the spike, and then bounced off it, spinning in the process.
It was then that the gennin gathered noticed Kato coming right at the blonde with his sword ready. Surprisingly, it seemed that the leaf-nin saw him earlier, as he landed a drop kick onto his adversary's head while he spun and then spun reversely, delivering a powerful spin kick into the Yuki shinobi's stomach, which send the larged gennin back.
But then Kai's eyes widen as Kato's body suddenly shattered and then broke into hundreds of small, ice pieces. "Koori Bushin no Jutsu!" announced Galu calmly as his eyes narrowed, before he turned them in another direction, where the real snow-nin was.
Kato appeared from behind one of the ice spikes with his katana ready to cut Kokoro in half, while the blonde was still in mid-air. However, the snow-nin's eyes widen as they stopped for a split second on the spike he was passing. "Explosive tag!" he noticed just in time to cover his face with his hands before the tag went off, shattering the spike into tens of small pieces, many of them cutting the swordsman's body shallowly.
"He placed the tag when he landed on the spike" Aoru figured, slightly impressed, while Takai only narrowed his eyes. Tarakudo let out a small chuckle. Certainly the bandaged gennin was enjoying the fight, especially after Kokoro inflicted the wounds on Kato.
"What the hell is going on?" Kato thought to himself annoyed as he settled his narrowed eyes on the blonde, while blood run down his cheek. "I'm incapable of landing a single blow on that brat! He's always one step ahead of me. It's almost as if he…" the snow-nin began, but to his surprise, at that moment, Kokoro spoke up: "Was reading your mind?"
Kato's eyes widen in surprise as sweat slowly began appearing on his face. "This can't be…" he tried to convince himself. The blonde only continued with a serious face, that didn't show any emotions: "It's exactly how you picture it. I come from the clan of telepaths. My bloodline limit allows me to enter other people minds and thus know what they're thinking. I haven't mastered that skill yet, so I'm capable of reading only the surface thoughts, but that's enough in this case. Do you know what's the first thought that comes to someone's mind, when he realizes the person near him is a telepath? He usually starts thinking about things he would prefer to keep a secret from everyone. You wanna know why? Because the instant he knows a telepath is standing besides him, he starts looking for a way to block that persons way to his secrets… just like you did now…"
"You mean?" began the snow-nin, taking a single step back, while Kokoro simply nodded: "Yeah… you just told me your weak spot" and with that he charged forward at an incredible speed, making it unable for Kato to react in time. In an instant the mind reader appeared before the larger gennin and delivered a powerful kick into the snow-nin's chin, making the swordsman feet leave the floor.
Kato dropped to the ground a second later, only to receive a powerful blow from an opened palm into his chin again, which this time made him cough out blood. Aisu merely narrowed her eyes at the sight: "Attacking Kato's chin… that blonde brat really found out his weak spot… does this mean he's really a telepath?"
Lee slowly walked over to the laying snow-nin and realized, slightly surprised, that he was out cold: "With just two hits on the chin? It must be some sort of a weird, genetic flaw for a guy this big to get knock out with only this much… well, either way, the result seems obvious" and with that he rose back to his feet and glanced at the blonde: "The match is over and thus Benda Kokoro is the winner!"
"This is unbelievable!" announced Kai as the medics took Kato away and the telepath was slowly walking back to the platform. "Do you mean to tell me Kokoro was able to read our minds all the time?" he asked, glancing over to Senkou, who gave him the 'duh' kinda look. Naruto only gazed to Hinata, who smiled under her nose at her subordinate's success.
Honemaru only gazed at Kokoro the instant he walked pass him and his eyes narrowed. The blonde however seemed to completely ignore the sand-nin and joined his companions without any delays.
"Nice work, Kokoro" announced Tsume, patting her teammate on the back, while Toku only send him a short glance. Takaru on the other hand walked closer to him and asked calmly, without any sign of worry: "So, mind telling me how long have you been able to use that bloodline limit of yours?"
"Basically since the start of the Academy" Kokoro replied simply, making Kogane's eyes almost go out of orbits: "You mean while we were still in school, you just kept infringing my privacy?" she yelled, pointing her finger at him. The telepath only shrugged, before replying: "I didn't do it on purpose… back then I just couldn't control my bloodline yet… oh, and by the way Kusari, can you think about… well, anything else besides what you're thinking?" he asked, making the chain master's face turn completely red as he turned around.
Engaged in the conversation, most of the Leaf gennin didn't even realize that the next pair of contestants already got chosen. Nezumi, after taking a quick glance at the screen, wrapped her arm around her masked teammate and with a wide smile appearing on her face, she announced: "Looks like it's your turn, Taka-kun…"
The masked boy only glanced at her for a split second and then let out a sound that might've been considered a frown, before he stepped onto the rail and jumped down to the arena, waiting for his opponent. Hizoku merely shook his head and then turned towards the group of leaf-nins: "Sorry to interrupt your debate" he began calmly, gaining the young shinobi attention. "But it appears they're waiting for one of you…" and the moment he said so all the rookies turned towards the screen.
Kai's eyes widen at noticing the new, two names which were now displayed on it. A worried expression crossed Kumiko's face as she glanced over to her teammate, while Takaru merely narrowed his eyes. Kusari let out a sigh and then headed down the stairs, realizing what the screen said: HAGANE KUSARI versus KUCHIBASHI TAKA.
"So Kusari will be going against one of you guys" concluded Ibuki as she glanced at the other grass-nins. "I must say that masked guy got quite unlucky… Kusari may not give the impression of it, but in reality, he's pretty strong…"
"I'm afraid the unlucky one, is that friend of yours, actually" Tokame interrupted her, still not showing his face from under his hood. "Taka might act superior sometimes, however he has his skills to back it up. In actuality, he may be even stronger then Hizoku…" and as he said so, Kai's eyes widen even more as he set them onto the grass-nin that was about to fight.
"Stronger… then that Hizoku!" he thought to himself, getting very worried about his companion, who was now having an eye contest with the masked gennin, while they waited for the starting signal. The atmosphere became surprisingly heavy as the two breaths synchronized and then, finally, the match began…
---the two chain masters stand before each other… what's to come?---
And so another chapter ends. Hope you enjoyed it.
As usual, since new techniques were used, I'm obligated to write down the jutsu encyclopedia, so here goes:
Hyouton: Hyouki (Ice Element: Ice Age) – a technique used by Kato. Its basic is to release chakra into the atmosphere and then, by using the correct set of hand seals, make it lower the surrounding temperature. That way the ground surface freezes, while the chakra the user released stays there and allows him to control the frozen water anyway he desires (for example allowing him to create ice spikes).
Koori Bushin no Jutsu (Ice Clone Skill) – basically a technique similar to Mizu, Suna, Kage or Ishi Bushin. The only difference is that this time the clone is made of ice. Not point in dragging about it anymore.
And lastly, an updated list of the elimination participants:
Konoha #7: Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3: Konpaku Rei, Rikoteki Kogane, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune
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, Eshaku Ryo, Furikuzu Tsuino, Hebereke Nazaa
Bakufu: Azarashi Kawa, Abura Tetsu, Makko Shita
Tsuki: Junsei Teela, Tenka, Chishio Nobu, Kihako Tasuki
Hane: Ono Reiji, Sentou
Yuki: Nadare Aisu, Sarumaru Yari
Kumori: Kyuu
And that's that for now. Thanks for reading. Take care and until next time, you all!