Well, you know, so…
Chapter #84: Birds Flying
Title Page: Senkou is standing with his back turned towards the 'audience' and is uncovering his face
An eight-year-old girl with short, black hair ran through the streets, holding a frightened, black kitten in her hands. She wore a violet jumpsuit with a yellow sun on the back and had green eyes, which she used to look over her shoulder, to see if she managed to lose the group that was chasing her, yet sadly the three boys that seemed only a little older then her was still on her trail and were getting close.
The girl suddenly turned into the alley, only to realize that it was a dead end. With just few trash cans near the edges and a huge, brick wall out front, she had nowhere to go. She turn around in hope to leave the place, yet she was out of time: the boys that were chasing her were already blocking the only way out.
"You stupid, little hag" said a boy with medium-length, brown hair, made into dreadlocks, who seemed around ten years old and acted as the leader of the group. "What in the world were you thinking stealing that damn fur ball from us? You spoiled the fun! We were just about to wrap its legs with bandages! What the hell is your problem?"
"Y-you shouldn't t-treat animals l-like that!" responded the girl as bravely as she could, yet her trembling voice and shaking body instantly gave away the fact that she was terrified. The leader of the gang took few steps closer, making her back away until she felt the cold, brick wall facing her back.
"What is it to you anyway?" the boy asked annoyed with anger starting to show on his face. "It's not like it's your cat and we just wanted to have some fun" he announced, still walking closer to her, which made the kitten start scratching the girl's hand as it tried to run away from the boy with dreadlocks.
"Mine or not, it's still a l-living creature!" she replied with a little squeaky voice. The cat stopped scratching and now hid in her jumpsuit, making it tremble even more. The dreadlock's eye twitched and then reached out for the girl with his hand.
But before his hand managed to reach its target, it suddenly got grabbed by the wrist. As the dreadlocks gazed to his right, he saw another boy, around the girl's age, with silver hair, hazel eyes and a violet, shinobi outfit with a mask covering his mouth. The older boy immediately retreated his hand and slightly confused, he announced: "Hey, I know you! You're Hokage-sama's brat, ain't ya? What the hell do you want?"
"What I want is for you and your buddies to leave the girl and that cat alone" the boy replied calmly with determination in his eyes. The older boy looked him up and down and with an annoyed expression on his face, he shoot back: "What is it with you people? She's a friend of yours or something? This is none of your business!"
"I don't know her" admitted the masked boy, keeping his calm. "But she's an inhabitant of this village like me, so I believe this is my business. Plus I don't like the fact that three guys are picking on a younger girl and a helpless cat just for fun…"
"You better watch out, shorty" the dreadlocks announced, once more anger taking over. "I won't hold back just because you're Hokage-sama's brat. Get out of our way or else you might get hurt" but as a reply, the masked boy only walked over and stood between the group and the girl. "You asked for it…"
A while later the three boys were gone, leaving a beat up, silver-haired boy in the alley with the girl and cat next to him, terrified, yet aside from that unharmed. The girl instantly gathered chakra in her hands and as they began glowing, she moved them near the boy's scratches, making them heal at an amazing rate.
The masked boy looked with his eyes widen in surprise at that and then gazed at the girl, completely shocked: "Y-you're a medic-nin? And at this age?" he asked suddenly, scaring the girl for a split second, but then she regained her posture and merely nodded shyly as a tiny blush appeared on her face. "Wow, that's incredible! You must be really talented! I didn't know one could learn medical techniques at our age…"
"M-my clan has practiced medicine f-from the beginning, s-so I started my training in that area at a young age" the girl replied, managing a weak smile. "And I'm s-still not very g-good at it… I can only help a little bit, the more serious injuries will take time to heal…"
"Yeah, but still this is pretty amazing! I heard medic-nins are really hard to train! I even envy you a bit!" he announced, smiling widely under his mask. Silence felt between the two for few moments, until the girl finally decided to break it: "Why did you help me?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't even know you" she announced, staring into the boy's eyes. "I'm grateful for your help, but you ended up getting hurt and…" but before she could continue, she got cut off by the masked boy: "I told you already: I don't like it when people pick on others just for the heck of it. And above that I made myself a promise that I'll protect this village with all my strength and you're the part of it. The events from just now only proves that I need more training" and with that he managed a laugh, making the girl smile as well: "There you go! You look much prettier with a smile on your face!"
The girl's face now turned completely red as she turned around and gazed at the wall. The boy slowly got back to his feet, still shaking a bit, yet he managed to keep his balance. The girl glanced at him and quietly, so that only he could hear her, she announced: "I still… don't know your name…"
"Hatake Senkou" the masked boy replied immediately, extending his hand and helping her get up to her feet as well. The girl face stayed red as her smile widen, before she introduced herself: "Igaku Mikka…"
---Flashback ends---
As electricity embraced his right hand, Senkou raised his sight, giving Kai a grim look before charging straight at him with an incredible speed, calling out in the process: "Chidori!" and instantly Kumiko realized what just occurred: "That's the same technique this whole Sasuke guy used in the Stone Country! She recalled with fear as she remembered the jutsu's destructive power.
Seeing his opponent getting closer to him, Kai tried to move, yet found his legs as if they got nailed to the floor. With all hope lost, the blonde decided to try a desperate move and reached for the ground. In a flash he swung his hand and Senkou's eyes widen in surprise as he felt his feet getting cut.
As sudden pain shoot through his legs, the masked gennin lost his balance and had to slow down in order to prevent falling down. Seeing an opening, Kai immediately charged forward and rammed his right hand right into the son of Hokage's face, making the silver-haired boy's body bend back as he fell to the floor.
"What the hell?" demanded Tsume as she leaned over the rail. "What did that blockhead do to throw Senkou off balance?" and as she looked her companions over, the one to answer her question was Horohoro, whose only reply was: "Strings…"
"Strings?" Kogane repeated, completely confused, when suddenly Kitsune cut in, as calm as always: "That sand-nin who fought before with that metal arms guys… he used metal strings. At the end of his match, his strings were cut, but they never got removed from the ring. It'd appear Kai noticed them and used them as his own…"
That's what happened?" asked Galu, raising his eyebrow. "But isn't that kinda like cheating? I mean those strings weren't his weapon nor did he used them before…" but before he could continue, Hinata cut in: "How do you think that's unfair? These eliminations were meant to reflect real battle conditions. True those strings didn't belong to him and stayed on the ring because of a simple mistake, however that doesn't change the fact that by using them, Kai shown a very important quality for a shinobi: he used the surroundings to his advantage…"
"Good going, Kai!" Kusari instantly cheered louder, throwing his fist to the sky. "Kick his ass!" and as he said that, Ibuki merely sweat dropped as he moved away from the chain master, while she kept her hands crossed and then settled her attention on the match again.
"This time you won't stand back up!" announced Kai as Senkou slowly got back to his feet, holding the back of his head with his right hand, making the masked gennin gazed at him. In a flash the blonde performed his standard technique and with a cry 'kage bushin no jutsu' five clones appeared next to the original loud mouth.
In a flash the first jumped forward and stopping right before Senkou, he propped his hands against the floor and threw both his feet up. The son of Hokage, still recovering from the hit shock, didn't manage to react in time and got blown up into the air the instant the blonde's feet connected with his chin.
The rest of Kai's bushins charged forward in a straight line and as the one leading them jumped into the sky, so did the others. The moment the first clone reached Senkou, who was still in mid-air, it punched the masked gennin in the chin, thus sending him flying even higher, with the next clone using the first's back to jump higher as well and also deliver a punch into the son of Hokage's chin.
After the third clone punched Senkou higher to the sky, the fourth spun in mid-air and landed a powerful kick into the silver-haired boy's face, thus sending him crushing to the ground with his head first. Meanwhile the last Kai, the original, bounced off that bushin's back and then off the ceiling, flying straight at the masked gennin. Once the blonde reached his opponent, he grabbed him from behind, immobilizing the son of Hokage as they both continued falling heads first, when suddenly Naruto's subordinate put them into a spin.
As the ground was merely inches before them, Kai immediately rested his feet on Senkou's back and bounced off, flipping in mid-air and landing safely on his legs. The masked gennin wasn't that lucky however and crushed hard against the floor, yet managing to cover his head with his hands.
"Can't he think off a technique of his own in stead of using other people's ideas?" Naruto asked himself, sweat dropping, as he shook his head and covered his eyes with his hand, while Takaru merely smirked at the sight.
Everyone's eyes almost went out of orbits as Senkou slowly struggled back to his feet, his body shaking and his breath as heavy as it could only be. "You gotta be kidding me!" yelled Taki shocked. "After all that, how can that guy stand up?" but Rei only narrowed her eyes and a moment later legs bend beneath the son of Hokage as he collapsed to the ground.
Lee made a quick inspection and after few seconds, which seemed like hours, he finally announced the result: "This fight cannot be continued and thus I declare Haisha Kai the victor!"
"Way to go, Kai-kun" Mikka smiled to herself with a sigh of relief. Funbo only smirked under his nose at the sight, while Sabure cheered loudly: "Great fight, people!" Teela merely gazed at Kusari for a split second and then retreated her sight back to the blonde, who just finished his match: "He may become a hard opponent…"
Hizoku smiled widely, making Tobane return his smirk. Reiji simply crossed his arms as he narrowed his eyes, while Kyuu trailed off into his thoughts: "That blonde brat… he doesn't look like much, but as it stands now, he may actually possess a treat to our plans…"
"What is everyone so worked up about?" asked Tetsu as he raised his eyebrow. "It's not like either of those two were really strong" and as he said so Shita immediately began agreeing with him, however Kawa had doubts about how much truth was in her teammate's statement.
"So what do you think hik, Tsuino?" Nazaa turned to his companion, who only throw him a gaze and then returned to observing the blonde, who now kept on sending victory signs all around, as he responded: "Well, one thing's for sure: that guy is not an ordinary ninja…"
Meanwhile Torune felt the atmosphere around her getting heavy and as she turned towards Takai, who now stood beside her, she realized her teammate began shaking from excitement. Fear have completely taken over her as a psychopathic look appeared in the scythe user's eyes when he announced: "That blonde… I want him in my collection!"
---the battle ends… but the challenge is not over yet---
And with that the multiply update is finished. The victor is revealed and next time eliminations move forward. There are still few matches to go, which I hope you'll enjoy. I also hope you enjoyed this, special update, and that you'll leave a review once you're done.
Take care and until next time, hopefully.