Okay, so this took longer then a week to finish, but better late then never, I suppose (or at the very least I hope you feel that way). Basically I had doubts about sitting to it and writing it, considering how this week turned out, but after all the TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY was yesterday, so I'm a day late with this chapter anyway.
To start off I wanna apologize that this time around I haven't answer any reviews through reply. I just don't have enough time: I haven't slept at all last night, I have a test tomorrow and a lot of amendments to do in my assignment due Friday (well, not exactly, but if I won't manage to do it till Friday I'll be falling behind with that work, so…). So to be fair I'll just quickly answer your questions and doubts in one go now:
Senkou and Chidori:I assure you that Kakashi had a reason to teach his son Chidori as well as Senkou, knowing its flaw, had a reason to learn it. All will be revealed later on it the story (it'd be stupid to just give you all the answers right away, wouldn't it?).
Mikka and Senkou?: they're just close friends…
Takai's fight and collection: well, considering now that Kai's match is done, most of you guys now await Takai's match. Probably the fact that you'll have to wait a while longer won't make you happy, but at the very least I can assure you that before eliminations will be over, you'll learn a lot about that character (his background, abilities and basically his collection), so be a bit more patient. There's only 8 matches left and although some of them are longer, this part of the story is close to its ending.
Body Flicker: one of you guys had doubts that the Body Flicker Senkou used was different from the one in the manga. Now I'm pretty sure that technique is not for gennin (I can't recall anyone of that rank using it in the manga), but perhaps I goofed up a bit with how it works. I'll look into it when I'll have more time and then get back to that (regardless the way Senkou used it was needed, to show Kai's talent).
Kai's photographic memory Sharingan?: don't worry about that, it won't work that way. To put it simply: Kai can memorize the seals used by his opponent (regardless to their number), but basically that's that. If he'd want to perform the technique he was earlier, it'd require a lot of training for him to get the right chakra among etc. (kinda the reason why he managed to perform Takaru's Insei Tooriame only now and why he spent so much time training before he managed to execute Kage Bushin the way it should be done)
I think that covers it, but sorry if I missed anything. As always I wanna thank you all for reviewing, especially those that took their time to review all the chapters from the multiple update. It means a lot.
And now lets get to the story:
Chapter #85: Tidal Wave
Title Page: simply Taki riding a shark
"Winner: Haisha Kai!" Lee announced loudly, making Kumiko instantly throw her hands to the sky with an even louder "that's right". Kai however soon stopped throwing victory signs and turned towards Senkou, who found it impossible to move at the moment. He gazed at the blonde, who now stood right next to his laying body.
Extending his hand, Kai smiled widely and announced: "This was a good fight. I must say that no-one gave me this much trouble so far, so if you want to have a rematch, I'm at your disposal" and as he said so, Senkou's eyes widen slightly. An instant later he smirked behind his mask and gathering all the strength he had left, he raised his hand to shake the blonde's: "You can be sure I'm not gonna leave it at that… next time you're going down!"
Kai simply nodded and then slowly began returning back to the platform, while Mikka appeared next to the masked gennin and placed her hands near his body: "Senkou-kun, your wounds… I can…" but before she could finish, the son of Hokage grabbed her by the wrist softly and with a stern voice, he interrupted her: "Leave it! I'll be fine! There's only eight matches in the eliminations left and you still haven't fought, which means your turn will come soon! There's no point for you to waste your chakra on me. Conserve it and win your fight. I'm sure that if you'll go all out, you can beat anyone here… though, a piece of advise: I'm not sure why, but the air around that sand-nin with the scythe seems heavy. If he'll be your opponent, you better stay on guard at all times" and as he said so, the medics took him away, making the kunoichi gaze after him worried.
She then looked at Takai, who seemed to be shaking with excitement as he reached for his backpack for a split second, but instantly retreated his hand as he caught a disapproving glare from his instructor. A smile remained on his face however as his eyes settled on Kai, who now walked pass him: "This blonde… I'll have him in my collection…"
"I'm curious" announced Naruto, glancing over at Hinata, thus gaining the female jounin's attention. "From what I know, mastering Chidori without the Sharingan is not possible, so how is it that kid is capable of performing it?"
"In a way, you answered your own question, Naruto-kun" the head of the Hyuuga replied, smiling under her nose. "That technique cannot be completed without the Sharingan, but it's not impossible to perform. I recall Kakashi-sama saying that he invented Chidori before obtaining his left eye. Senkou can use the Thousand Birds, however, because of the speed, he cannot see his opponent's counter. Most likely that's the reason why he was incapable of dodging those strings your student used…"
"But knowing all this, why did Senkou used that technique?" asked Kusari confused as he turned towards his instructor, yet the one to reply him was Kokoro: "Actually, the answer is pretty obvious… and you don't have to be a telepath to figure it out. That jutsu was Senkou's most powerful technique. His last line of defense, if you will. Knowing that, the reason for him using it seems pretty clear, doesn't it?" and with that he managed a smile as his masked teammate was taken out of the room by medics.
The names on the screen already began changing and the moment Kai gazed at it, the next pair got chosen: HAMANO TAKI versus AZARASHI KAWA. And In the very instant the choice was made, the boomerang using kunoichi threw her fists to the sky, with a loud yell: "Yay, my turn!"
Funbo merely rolled his eyes at his teammate's behavior, yet didn't say a word. Taki immediately jumped down, not even waiting for 'good luck' from Akira, which came a second later. As she landed on the arena, her opponent slowly walked down the stairs, taking her time.
As the two now stood in front of one another, Lee announced loudly: "Twenty Fifth match: Hamano Taki against Azarashi Kawa! Ready and… explode!" and immediately he moved out of the way as the waterfall-nin threw the bottles of water that she carried on her belt to the sky with her left hand and tossed kunai at them with her right.
While the bottles broke, spraying the air with the liquid, Kawa performed a quick set of hand seals and with a wild cry: "Suiton: Mizu Gosunkugi no Jutsu!" she made the water form itself into a spike and fly straight at her opponent, who barely dodged the attack by jumping to the sky and back.
In a flash Taki reached for her boomerang and tossed it at the waterfall-nin, who simply made another set of hand seals and immediately the water from bottles returned to circle around her, taking the Leaf gennin's weapon along for the ride. With another symbol, the boomerang got thrown straight at its owner, yet to Kawa's dismal, her adversary caught it, almost as if it was going to her hand anyway.
"How did she do that?" asked Hanamaru a little confused. "Even though that's a boomerang, it's almost like it was always going back to her hand" and with that, Ibuki answered him, without taking her eyes off the arena: "It's a simple trick really: if you'd look closely, that boomerang is connected with her hand by a thin, chakra string, so regardless to anything, as long as that string won't break, the boomerang will always return exactly into her hand…"
"But why go that far when it's a weapon that returns to you by its nature?" now Toku got a little lost as he gazed at the weapon mistress. Kitsune merely narrowed his eyes upon answering: "Double protection, I guess… that way, there's no way she can lose her boomerang. Though still it seems weird to do that…"
"Suiton: Wanizame Batsu!" Kawa suddenly called out, making the water from the bottles shaped into a shark that came right at Taki. The masked girl acted immediately and leaned to her right, making the attack go right next to her, yet still got her left arm cut shallowly.
The leaf-nin immediately jumped back and sticking to the wall with her feet, she covered the wound with her hand as she gazed at her opponent. Shita, who was still sitting on his teammate's shoulder smiled behind his mask: "Looks like Kawa has the advantage, eh Tetsu-san?" he asked, yet the chubby gennin didn't reply. In stead he just narrowed his eyes as they stopped on Taki.
"I must say that at first I thought this could actually be a good match, considering you're a water user, but seeing that you need a water source to perform your techniques disappoints me a bit" announced the masked girl calmly as she slowly took her mask off. "I suppose I should show you the real potential of the water user" and with that she performed a quick set of hand seals, calling out with the last symbol: "Suiton: Mizu Bakuha no Jutsu!"
In a flash a huge among of water left her mouth and shaping itself in a large whirlpool, it went straight at Kawa, literally smashing her into the wall few meters away. As the liquid finally stopped pushing her against the wall, the waterfall-nin felt to the floor unconscious.
Lee made a quick analyze before announcing Taki's victory and the instant he did so, the leaf-nin began feeling heavy. Yet before she could fall, Akira appeared near her and caught her, helping her keep standing. Horohoro also showed up, helping his blind teammate.
"Horohoro already warned you in the forest that you should conserve your chakra" Akira reminded her calmly with a note of concern in his voice. "I don't really think it was necesarry for you to go that far just to knock that Waterfall girl out..."
"Well, perhaps, but right now you should more concentrate on the fact that our team managed to keep the winning streak and we're all gonna fight in the final exam" but as she said so, the blind gennin threw her a look, which she instantly understood: "Oh come on, Akira-kun, you're not really thinking Funbo-kun can actually lose..."
But Horohoro only gazed at Takai and upon narrowing his eyes, he thought to himself to prevent his teammate from worrying: "Funbo may be strong, but that scythe guy... somehow I doubt he'd manage to defeat him... in actuality, I doubt anyone here can..."
"It appears Taki still has too small chakra among to use her abilities freely" concluded Hitomi as she gazed at Shino, while her teammates were slowly returning back to the platform. The jounin only glanced at her, but said nothing. Takaru on the other hand shown a single drop of sweat falling down his face as her words reached his ears: "Even so, being able to perform a water technique of that level with no water source near ,and at her age at that, is to be recognized. This whole, Taki girl doesn't stand out, but she certainly won't be easy to defeat..."
As the trio left the arena and Kawa was taken away by the medics, two, new names appeared on the screen: IGAKU MIKKA versus AORU. Seeing this, Galu gazed at his teammate calmly, who was getting slightly nervous. A worried expression crossed his face as he placed his hand on the medic-nin's shoulder: "You don't have to fight if you don't want to..."
"I know" Mikka replied quietly before taking in some air. "But I want to. I promised Senkou-kun I'll do my best" and with that she glanced over at Kai: "Plus Kai-kun will be watching…" and with that she slowly headed towards the stairs, but before she managed to reach them, Tsume stopped her:
"Mikka… you better watch yourself" the dog kunoichi announced, gaining her teammate's attention. "I don't know what this Sand girl can do, but Uramaru is acting a little weird. Don't play around" and as she said that, the medic-nin gave a slight nod before continuing walking.
Meanwhile Aoru placed her foot on the rail, ready to jump down onto the arena. With a short 'good luck' from Torune, she went over the edge and landed bellow, right next to Mikka, who just made it down. The two walked side by side to the center of the battlefield, not saying a word. The sand-nin didn't even seem to notice her opponent, whereas the Leaf gennin threw her a glance from time to time.
"So, Aoru's turn, huh?" asked Hari with a smile appearing on her face. She looked over her shoulder at Sabure, who merely threw her a quick glance, before returning to observe the arena. The blonde sweat dropped a bit, as she did the same: "So she got back to her normal self…not sure if it's good or bad though…"
"Well, I hope this match will be more entertaining then the previous ones" whined Horamaru with a bored tone. "Luckily Aoru's not some sissy who'd hold back for no reason" and with that thought a creepy smile crossed his face, while Karame only shoot him a quick glance. Honemaru narrowed his eyes as he observed his female teammate now standing in front of her adversary. His head twitched to the right for a split second, making Dekai get slightly worried this time.
"Twenty fifth match!" Lee announced with his usual voice, making all the attention in the room concentrate on the two fighters. "Igaku Mikka against Aoru! Ready and… BEGIN!"
---The eliminations move on, regardless to everything… what'll happen next?---
And so this chapter is done. Hope you enjoyed it. Now I don't have enough time to make the whole jutsu encyclopedia, so I hope you guys won't mind that this time I'll only make translations of the techniques. Next time I'll give you details. Sorry:
Suiton: Mizu Gosunkugi no Jutsu (Water Element: Water Spike Skill)
Suiton: Wanizame Batsu (Water Element: Shark Attack)
Suiton: Mizu Bakuha no Jutsu (Water Element: Water Blast Skill)
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 (in progress), Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, Kobushi Galu
Konoha:Hamano Taki, Hyuuga Hitomi, Manako Akira, Tanken Funbo, Horohoro
Suna #1: Aoru (in progress), 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: Furikuzu Tsuino, Hebereke Nazaa
Bakufu:Abura Tetsu, Makko Shita
Tsuki:Junsei Teela, Tenka
Hane:Ono Reiji
Kumori: Kyuu
And now a little something I've planned earlier. This was done way back, so luckily I only had to paste it in. Ladies and gentlemen, for everyone who's interested, this is how the FIRST CHAPTER of N:NG was supposed to look like at the beginning (basically the differences between that version of the story and this one began after the gennin exam):
Chapter #1: The Shadow of Team Number 7!
"So this is my new team?" asked a man around thirty with spiky, blonde hair, sky-blue eyes and whisker marks of his cheeks as he glanced at the paper that was just handed to him. He wore a black and orange jumpsuit and had a hitae-ate with the Leaf symbol covering his forehead. "That one doesn't surprise me, but who are the other two? That boy's name sounds familiar…"
"Well, you meet his father a long time ago, Naruto" replied an old man with medium-length, grey hair, clipped in a ponytail, and a long scar going across his face. "But that's not really important. Neither of the two have any idea as to who their fathers are… we should keep it that way…"
"If you say so, Iruka-sensei…" the blonde man replied as he slowly turned around. "I guess I'll be going now to see those three… got any advice before I do so?" he asked, making the older man only smirk under his nose before he replied: "Watch out. They're troublemakers…"
---A little later---
Naruto opened the door leading to the classroom, thus making a blackboard eraser fell to the floor. He gazed at it sweat dropping and with the thought 'just like old times' he lifted his head to look at the three kids that were the only ones left in the room.
"Damn, he didn't fall for it" whined a boy with spiky, blonde hair and green eyes, wearing a mostly yellow jumpsuit. A boy who sat beside him, one with medium-length, black hair, clipped in a ponytail, wearing a black t-shirt and a green waistcoat on it only glanced at the other boy and with a matter-of-factly tone, he announced: "Of course he didn't. Did you really expect a jounin to get caught by a lousy bobby trap such as that?"
Naruto then turned his gaze at the black-haired boy and immediately spotted that his hands were wrapped in some sort of chain. But what really captured his attention in him was a scar that run through the boy's left eye. The wound didn't seem to effect his sense of sight, but it was pretty visible.
"I'm very sorry, sensei!" announced a girl in a squeaky voice, making the jounin shut his left eye a bit to endure the pain caused by the sudden sound. "Those two are always like that!" and as she said so, Naruto glanced at her and realized she was the same age as the two boys.
The kunoichi had long, brown hair, clipped in a ponytail, and hazel eyes. She was wearing a violet, shinobi outfit, that covered her hands to the elbows. The man only smirked under his nose with nostalgia and then showed the three gennin with his hand that they should follow him.
Upon reaching the top of the Academy roof, Naruto propped himself against the rail and looking at the trio that settled on the other end, he announced loudly enough for them to hear him: "Okay, listen up! I was chosen to be your jounin instructor, so that means we'll be spending a lot of time together! However it'll be hard to work anonymous, so how about, for starters, you tell me something about yourselves? You know: your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, plans for the future and the sort. Lets start with the lady…" and with that he glanced over at the girl.
"My name is Murasakki Kumiko" the girl began shyly and unsure. "I like… umm… I mean, my hobbies are… well… I dislike… okay, I got nothing…" and at this point Naruto just sweat dropped: "Sakura-chan, this girl reminds me of the old you so much…"
Jounin's eyes then traveled to the young blonde, who sat next to the kunoichi: "Looks like you're next…"
"The name's Haisha Kai! I don't have the time to waste it on talking about useless stuff, but keep this in mind: I will become Hokage someday! It doesn't matter what it takes!" and seeing a tiny smirk appearing on Naruto's face, he pointed his finger at the man: "What, you got a problem with that?"
"Damn, this is seriously deja vu all over…" the jounin thought to himself with a smile as his eyes stopped at the last member of his cell: "Looks like you're the last one…"
"Name: Takaru… I don't have a last name. There are a lot of things I don't like, but nothing I'd especially enjoy. As for plans for the future, I have three: to surpass someone, to find someone and to kill someone…"
"Well, I suppose that much should be obvious…" Naruto concluded in his mind. "Okay, that'll do for now…"
"Wait a minute!" Kai stopped him. "You never told us about yourself!"
"Oh yeah, it slipped my mind" announced the jounin, scratching the back of his head before he answered the boy's question: "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I like ramen. About the things I don't like… well, lets just say the list grew over the years and there's no need to bore you with it. As for hobbies… eating ramen maybe. And my dream…" with that he glanced at the blonde gennin. "I'll keep that to myself for now…"
"I heard better introductions" stated Kai simply.
"I suppose yours is an example of such?" asked Naruto teasingly, but immediately cut to the point: "Doesn't matter. It's best if we won't waste too much of your time today. I advice a good night sleep. Tomorrow we'll be meeting at a place mentioned on these" and with that he handed them some papers. "And play a little game…"
"Game?" asked Kumiko confused. "What sort of game?"
"Oh, you didn't know?" Naruto asked surprise with an evil smile. "Just because you passed the final test at the Academy doesn't mean you become gennin. In order to be promoted to that rank, you need to pass another test. The one that'll take place tomorrow. And I'll tell you right now: the chances of failing it are way above 50..."
"Isn't that right, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Fifty percent?" Kai repeated in his mind, gulping in the process.
"I suggest bringing all your shinobi equipment and be ready to go all out" Naruto announced calmly, standing back up. "If you won't be ready for hardships, you can consider yourselves failures already. See ya!" and with those words he was gone.
---The next day---
The weather was great: the sun shun on the clear sky as the three rookies gathered in the place mentioned in the notes from Naruto. It was an opened field with a stone monument in the center and the forest surrounding it (a little they didn't know, it was the same place where their jounin instructor took his gennin exam).
Some time passed and Naruto appeared as well. Without saying a single thing he just walked to a nearby trunk and placed a small alarm clock on it. He then reached for his pocket and taking out two, small, golden bells, he announced: "As you can see, I have here two bells. Your task will be to take them away from me till noon. Each person needs only one bell, but there are only two, so at least one of you will end up without a bell… and the one to do so, will automatically fail this exam and will return to the Academy…"
"But sensei, that's not fair!" yelled Kumiko offended. "How come one of us has to get back to the Academy?"
"And who said it'll only be one?" responded Naruto calmly. "I said that at least one of you will finish this test with no bells, but it could be all three. To put it simply, all of you may fail…"
Kai swallowed his saliva loudly, while Takaru only smirked under his nose.
"As I announced yesterday, you can use shuriken and any, other shinobi tool" continued Naruto calmly, without changing his expression. "I'll tell you right now: if you won't go all out, there's no way for you to get the bells…"
"He's pretty confident…" Takaru thought to himself with a smirk. "Guess we'll soon see what he's capable of. Either way I can't fail here… I have goals to achieve…"
"I'll get that bell even if I'll have to kill him" announced in his mind Kai with determination showing on his face. "At all costs, I have to become a shinobi!"
"Calm down Murasakki…" Kumiko tried to calm herself down. "You can do it…"
"Well, you all seem to be ready" noticed Naruto as he tied the bells to his belt. "Guess there's no point in keeping you waiting" he looked at the clock. "From now on, you got two hours to take the bells away from me. Best of luck, coz you'll need it. Okay, enough chit-chat. Ready and… begin!"
And hearing that commend, the three rookie scattered.
---And that's that for now! Hope you'll review and until next time!---