Well, I've managed to write this between my breaks from studying and thus I'm uploading. But right now I don't have the head for any, cleaver comments (if I ever managed to write one), so I'm just gonna stick to "here's the new chapter".
As always I wanna thank everyone, who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm happy to know you enjoyed it and hope that this one will live up to your expectations as well. Naturally I won't mind if you'll review this one as well.
VERY IMPORTANT: it's hard for me to think about it, so I'll just write it straight: recently I found out my father has cancer and is going to have an operation soon. That naturally turned everything upside down for me and thus I may not have the time (and most likely even the heart or will) to write more, so I'm afraid this story may not be updated for a while. It all depends on how the situation will evolve, however I figured it's best to warn you guys about it.
Almost forgot: there were some of you who gave the eliminations match-up another guess and just to keep the… hmmm… game going, here are the results of how many fights from another try you got right:
Super Tay – 0 (sorry)
Morlin – 0 (also sorry)
And with that, lets just get on with the show:
Chapter #90: Kogane's Secret Weapon
Title Page: Kogane in a laboratory suit is preparing mixtures, wearing rubber gloves on her hands and goggled on her eyes
"I don't suppose you gonna like this, Shikamaru-sensei" Kogane thought to herself as she picked out two mixtures, one green and one blue, in thin bottles. "But it appears I can't win without THAT" and hesitating for one, last moment, she uncorked the first bottle, pouring the green substance into her mouth: "First, the green one!"
"No!" Shikamaru yelled internally as he saw what just happened. "She's actually going this far to win an elimination match? This is beyond troublesome!" however there was nothing he could do as veins suddenly began appearing on Kogane's body, while her muscles on legs and hands seemed to grow. Her skin darkened a bit, making Aoru narrow her eyes: "This is something like that medic girl I fought, but at the same time different… what the hell did she just drank?"
"I never really liked buff women" stated Kusari with a note of disappointment in his voice. In a flash Kumiko gave him a hard smack in the back of his head with a vein pulsing on her forehead as well: "Is that all you ever think about, wack-job?" she yelled, making the chain master hold his head and moving away. Regardless to that, Takaru seemed to grew worried: "This is strange… that mixture seemed to increase her muscle mass, but neither of the soldier pills have the effect that'd be this visible… what was that substance?"
Instantly Kogane charged forward, appearing before Karame at speed he found hard to follow. Acting on instinct he jumped aside of the incoming punch, just barely avoiding the attack which hit the wall he stood on, making it break into pieces.
The sand-nin landed safely on the floor, which his eyes slightly widened: "What the hell is this suppose to be? Does all, Konoha kunoichi tend to increase their strength and speed just like that? What was in that bottle, liquid soldier pill?" he asked annoyed as he observed his opponent's muscle mass still growing.
"Not quite" was Kogane's only reply before she engaged her adversary again. In a flash Karame found himself pushed back as he kept on dodging and blocking all of the leaf-nin's attacks, yet it didn't took him too long to realize that their speed was increasing. With no, other alternative, the bandaged boy jumped back, instantly performing another set of hand seals while he was still in mid-air.
In a fraction of a second his bandages shoot out again, forming themselves into spikes as they came at the charging Kogane. The kunoichi made an effort to dodge some of them, yet surprisingly she ignored most as the cut her arms, legs and torso shallowly. Karame was completely shocked by this and was incapable to react in time. The instant his feet touched the floor, the blonde delivered a powerful spin-kick into his face, thus sending him flying back.
As he came closer to the wall, the sand-nin performed another set of hand seals, making the bandages on his back and right shoulder unwrap and form into some sort of a shield. As Karame crushed against the bricks, the paper folded itself back to its original form, leaving the boy rubbing his soaring shoulder.
"He made his paper more fluffy to amortize the hit" Kitsune quickly analyzed as he observed the whole scene. "He really can change some of that paper's properties. If he wouldn't act in time, his shoulder would surely be dislocated by now" and with that henarrowed his eyes, settling them on the sand-nin.
"This is bad" Karame thought to himself as he rubbed his shoulder. "Even though I made a paper sponge it sure hurt and that kick from just now… it almost broke my jaw! Her strength increased at least several times and what's worse it seems to keep growing by the minute. Allowing this match to last any longer can result in my defeat! I need to end this!" and with that he went through another set of hand seals.
"Just a little more" the blonde kunoichi reminded herself as her breath became quicker. At that instant Hanamaru's yell 'come on, Kogane-chan, you can do it' reached her ears and instantly she charged again, coming at Karame with her fists ready. As she came close however, the sand-nin finished his chain of hand seals and slamming his hands to the floor, he called out: "Kami Henzuru: Kami Hitoya!"
In a flash his bandages dug into the floor and shoot out around Kogane, wrapping themselves around her legs. Before the leaf-nin knew it, her legs got tied together and she found herself incapable of moving them, while she felt to the ground. "Gotcha!" Karame exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief.
"So it's not just about giving different properties to a certain sheet of paper" concluded Toku as his eyes narrowed. "He can change the paper properties at will! In order for it to dig into the floor, it needed to be sharp, the instant it began wrapping around Kogane's legs it became flexible and then, to hold her down, it hardened like steel. That mummy guy spoke the truth: with paper he can do almost anything!"
"It looks like this match is over" announced Horamaru with a wicked smile. "Now all that's left to do is to squeeze those pretty legs so that the only thing left from them would be a puddle of beautiful, crimson blood" at this point Sabure gazed at her teammate, and although the mask still covered her face, Dekai could've sworn he felt enjoyment shining through it.
"It's not over yet" Hari disagreed, gaining her companions attention. "Unlike you, sicko, Karame isn't a sadist. He certainly won't do anything like that. At the very least he needs to immobilize the girl completely and by using Paper Prison, he limited his hands. This match has not being resolved yet…"
"I'd prefer not to kill you, so do surrender" the mummy purposed as he observed the girl still laying on the ground with her legs wrapped in his bandages. Kogane merely gazed up and then smirked under her nose: "You forget one, important detail. I may not be able to break those bandages of yours… but my strength keeps increasing!" and with that she threw her legs in different directions, making the paper holding them rip.
"Crap, I forgot to harden the bandages constantly!" Karame cursed in his mind at the remains of his paper prison slowly retreated back to his hands. This gave the blonde kunoichi all the time she needed as she got back to her feet and charged again: "With those bandages still retreating underground, he's nailed to the floor! I can use that!"
Once his bandages finally returned onto his hands, Karame found Kogane being merely inches before him. As the kunoichi threw a kick at his head, the sand-nin instantly bended his knees, making the attack go right above his head, yet at the same time the blonde launched a punch coming directly at his face.
With no time to dodge, Karame performed a quick hand seals, making the bandages around his feet unwrap and spin near the floor around him. Seeing this Kogane instantly jumped back, thus avoiding getting cut by the paper, which immediately retreated back to covering the sand-nin's legs.
"This should do it! Now the blue one!" the kunoichi thought in mid flight and in a flash she reached for her hostel, uncorked the second bottle and poured the blue liquid inside it down her throat.
"This is not good" Rei thought to herself as a worried expression crossed her face. "She's really planning to go all the way through with this!" and with that she gazed at Shikamaru, but the lazy jounin only threw her a sad look back, which told the kunoichi everything: "Right, this is still an elimination match… we can't interfere… but why… why would you go this far, Kogane?" she asked herself as her eyes traveled to Hanamaru, who kept on cheering for his teammate.
Immediately Kogane performed another set of hand seals, once more gathering air in her mouth. "She's planning to use the same attack again?" Ibuki raised her eyebrow, confused about the blonde kunoichi's behavior, yet Kitsune only narrowed his eyes.
In a flash the Leaf gennin let out the air with a call "Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" making a huge steam of fire escape her mouth, much more powerful then the previous ones. Karame's eyes only widen at the sight as he instinctually went through another set of hand seals: "Son of a… this is totally different from those fire waves from before! The among of chakra she put into it… it's unbelievable!"
Flames covered Karame's body, instantly burning the bandages on his body to ashes. As fire hid the sand-nin from everyone's view, Kai leaned over the rail, shocked: "She got him!" he yelled surprised and slightly terrified, yet Kokoro merely shook his head in disagreement: "No… he managed to escape…"
And at that very moment Karame shoot from underground behind Kogane, delivering a powerful kick into her face, which send her flying back and the came to a rolling stop few meters away.
"What just happened?" demanded Tsume as she looked around the other people gathered at the platform. Hitomi, who still had her Byakugan activated, only narrowed her eyes as she explained: "A simple Kawarimi. That time, when that mummy guy made his bandages retreat after Paper Prison, he purposely ripped of a small piece of paper, leaving it in the underground tunnel his bandages made. Apparently he made the tunnels wider then one would think, but since they were underground, his opponent couldn't notice that…"
"So he left that piece for a quick getaway and possible counter" concluded Horohoro as he gazed at the white-eyed kunoichi. "Once he replaced himself with that piece, it was easy for him to dug a tunnel going behind this Kogane girl and attack by surprise. He certainly thought ahead…"
Kogane slowly struggled back to her feet as her body started shaking a bit. Karame narrowed his eyes as he realized what state his opponent was in and was about to purpose her to give up again, when suddenly a strange sensation hit him.
Kogane's breath became fast as her shoulders kept on going up and down with every in- and exhale. The whole picture gave the impression that her lungs were at their limits and were desperately trying to keep their host living. However Karame's concern over his opponent instantly disappeared as chakra suddenly began escaping her body at an incredible paste… and in great among.
"What the hell's going on?" the bandaged sand-nin asked, taking a single step back, while the kunoichi raised her head to look at the mummy. Chakra kept on escaping from her body, but surprisingly it seemed to settle all around the blonde as a memory from few years ago flashed in her mind: "Dad…"
---Three years ago in Konoha---
"Hey, dad, why are you taking me to the laboratory?" a ten-year-old girl with long, blonde hair, clipped in a ponytail, and hazel eyes asked excited as she hoped around an older man with spiky hair in the same color as her and eyes incredibly similar. As they entered a room with hundreds of mixtures in all colors of the rainbow and useful tools, the man turned towards his daughter and kneeling before her, he began with a serious face: "Kogane, what I'm about to tell you is really important, so please, listen carefully…"
"Oh, not another lecture" the girl pled with a bored and sad tone. "Please daddy, can't we skip it? You promised you'll show me how to prepare soldier pills!" but at this point the man dropped his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to stay: "I'm sorry, but you have to listen…"
"Daddy" she tried to continue, but was instantly cut off by the man: "No, Kogane! You have to listen, because what I'm about to tell you concerns you more then you can imagine. And you must know it in order to understand why our clan is the way it is right now! I wanna tell you about our bloodline limit…"
---sudden turn of events… could this be the awakening of the Rikoteki's Kekkai Genkai?---
And this concludes this chapter. I do hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave me a review. It'd mean a lot. As usual I'm placing a jutsu encyclopedia bellow, but due to recent events I don't have the heart to write a description to it. Maybe another time:
Kami Henzuru: Kami Hitoya (Paper Manipulation: Paper Prison)
Konoha #7: Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3: Konpaku Rei, Rikoteki Kogane (in progress), Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4: Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, 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 (in progress)
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 that's that. Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Thanks for tuning in and have a great day. Take care!