To be honest, for a while there I wasn't sure if I'll manage to update today. There's been some trouble and I don't suppose it's really important to bore with them. Everything seems to be fine now and I just hope that trouble won't occur with this chapter and that you'll be able to read it.
As always I wanna thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. It seems that very few of you actually believed that I'd dare to kill off Karame at this point of the story… but whether you were right or wrong, this chapter will give you the answer. Also, on a side note, the popularity contest will be opened next chapter, so those of you, who're willing to participate, might wanna go over the characters once more, just in case.
AND PLEASE REVIEW! IT'D MEAN A LOT!
Now, without further to do:
Chapter #92: Shadow Blade
Title Page: Kai out front and in the center, giving the thumbs up and in the background the page is divided into four squares with Ibuki being shown in the upper left one, Takaru upper right, Kusari lower left and Kumiko right bottom
"This is the end" announced Kogane as Karame's body hung motionlessly on her hand. The kunoichi lowered her head and then slowly retreated her arm, but it was then that she realized something hold her. In a flash the sand-nin's body started deforming and before she knew it, bandages wrapped around her, immobilizing her. Her eyes only wide at noticing there was no-one inside the mummy outfit.
A moment later there was a puff of white smoke and Karame appeared few meters behind the blonde, surrounded by ripped pieces of paper: "Looks like I finally caught you" he stated with a tiny smirk appearing under his bandages, while Kai yelled, totally confused: "What's going on? Kogane's hand went right through his chest! He should be dead or something!"
"How did you escape?" the kunoichi asked her opponent as her breath speed up again. Karame slowly walked over to her as he replied: "Another Kawarimi, actually. I carry a lot of sheets of paper under my bandages, thus it's easy for my to form them away from your view. I made one of them form itself into a human form and replaced it with my own body…"
"Henzuru Bushin" Kumiko concluded, not even trying to hide the fact that she was impressed. "Now I get it! That's why he used so many sheets of paper to form that lion! He disgusted himself as one of the sheets and made the clone fight for him, while he awaited a better time to act!"
"What are you talking about, Kumiko-chan?" Kusari asked, still a little confused, only this time it was Kitsune, who explained: "That paper lion could've been formed from a single sheet of paper. That sand-nin purposely used more then one, so that even when the lion gets destroyed, there's bigger hope that one sheet remains unharmed. The sheet he disgusted himself as" and at this point Galu narrowed his eyes: "So you mean since the moment he formed that lion, the one under the bandages was his paper bushin?"
"Pretty much" admitted Kumiko calmly as she settled her eyes on Karame. Meanwhile the mummy stopped a meter or two away from his opponent and glanced at her: "I do suggest you give up, otherwise I'll be forced to get brutal. I'm not gonna make the same mistake like with Paper Prison…"
"Actually, you just did!" Kogane announced and in a flash chakra spikes shoot from her body, ripping the bandages that imprisoned her. "My body is surrounded with chakra, which in this state I can manipulate to an extend. Now you're…" but she never managed to finish as a sudden pain in her chest brought her to her knees. In an instant she cough out blood, collapsing to the floor.
"This is not good" noticed Shikamaru as he quickly jumped down to the arena and located himself next to his student. Immediately he reached to her hostel, picking out a thin bottle with black liquid in it. He helped the girl drink the mixture, making her breath calm down a bit. In a flash chakra stopped escaping her body as the sphere surrounding her disappeared, "Sorry, but I don't think she can continue" the lazy jounin stated, lifting up the blonde kunoichi in his arms.
Lee only gave a weak nod, before announcing out loud: "Winner: Karame!" In an instant Hanamaru appeared next to his instructor, along with his teammates, Kumiko, Kai and Naruto. The chubby gennin gazed at the now unconscious kunoichi and with a worried expression on his face, he began: "Shikamaru-sensei, will she…?" but before he could finish, the lazy jounin guessed his thoughts and replied: "Right now she's really drained and it'll take her a while to get back to top shape, but she should be fine" and at those words he looked at the whisker-marks and loud enough only for him to hear, he whispered: "The medics won't really do her much. Her state is bad. She let the mixtures effect last too long. I need to take her to Sakura and call her father. That way her state can be stabilized. I know it's troublesome, but since all my students already fought, there's no need for me to stay here. Would you look out after them for me?"
"Sure thing" Naruto replied with a serious face, which earned his a nod from Shikamaru, who was gone the next instant, along with Kogane. Hanamaru hung his head down and stared at the floor. Seeing this, a worried expression crossed Rei's face. She wanted to say something, but couldn't think of anything. It was then that Toku walked over to the chubby gennin and placed his hand on his shoulder: "Don't worry about her, I'm sure she'll be fine. You heard what Shikamaru-sensei said. We should get back to the platform, coz they can't start the next match because of us. The sooner eliminations end, the sooner we can go and visit her…"
"Yeah, you're right" Hanamaru admitted and soon they all headed back to the platform. The lazy kunoichi only gazed at the umbrella user and then trailed off in her thoughts: "Even though Shikamaru-sensei did say that… those mixtures surely left some effect on her organism. And if those effects could be easily taken care off, why would Shikamaru-sensei disappear with Kogane? Although I prefer not to think that, but Kogane may not be fine…"
"Took you long enough" Sabure said to her teammate with an accusing tone, once Karame retuned to the platform. The mummy didn't reply. He just gazed at the redhead and then looked towards the Leaf shinobi, who were just returning to their places as well. As Hanamaru passed him, he stopped the chubby gennin, making him and his companions attention get drawn to him: "You teammate fought well. She gave me quite a bit of trouble. I do hope she'll be okay…"
Hanamaru just kept on staring at him with an emotionless face, when finally he managed to let out a weak and a little fake 'thank you', before continuing on his way. Horamaru merely crossed his arms, as a playful smile appeared on his face: "Why do you even bother? This is a battle and it's only natural people get hurt in it. Regardless to how you feel, you're the better warrior. No need to feel sorry for the defeated…"
"Even when two people are enemies, it doesn't mean they can't respect one another" Dekai cut in, sending the blonde a cold stare. "Shinobi are still human… they still feel, no matter how much they're forbid to do so. Well, most of them" and with that his eyes settled on the string user, which made Horamaru's smirk widen even more.
"Lets move on to another, elimination fight!" Lee broke the tension slightly, by directing everyone's attention to the screen again. Names began switching again and after a short moment next contestants were revealed: TANKEN FUNBO versus MAKKO SHITA. And in a flash Taki jumped up, delivering a powerful pat in the back on Ibuki's brother, almost making him fall through the rail: "Good luck, Funbo-kun!" she cheered, making Horohoro sweat drop at her behavior.
"Just don't go too far" Hitomi warned him, but Funbo only smirked at that. In a flash he jumped down to the arena, awaiting his opponent. Meanwhile Tetsu looked to his left, where Shita sat on his shoulder. The small boy stood up and turning to the hammer carrier, he stated: "Looks like it's my turn! Wish me luck, Tetsu-san!"
The chubby boy merely gave him a nod before the tiny gennin also jumped down, somersaulting several times in the process. Ibuki on the other hand narrowed her eyes as she observed Funbo walking towards Lee: "Now we'll see just how strong you really are, niisan…" she thought to herself, while the Leaf's Green Beast raised his hand: "Twenty eight match: Tanken Funbo against Makko Shita! Ready and… go crazy!" and immediately he moved out of the way, seeing the waterfall-nin going through a chain of hand seals.
"Katon: Doragon Enkou!" the tiny gennin called out and in a flash a huge dragon made of flames arose, surrounding the waterfall-nin with its burning tails. Instantly Kai panicked a bit as he flipped his hands up and down: "What's going on? How could that Bakufu guy do that? This is…" but at this point Takaru grabbed him by the collar, slightly annoyed: "Would you just shut up and watch the fight?"
The flame dragon suddenly shoot at Funbo with its mouth opened, ready to burn the young assassin to ashes. Instinctually Ibuki's brother reached for his stick and charged forward, completely surprising Shita. As the dragon came closer, the leaf-nin slammed one end of his stick into the ground and used that instant to bounce of the floor, thus flying his into the air, way above the burning beast.
In a flash Shita found himself jumping back in order to avoid Funbo's stick, that came at him from above. As the weapon smashed the floor hard, the young assassin pushed it forward, thus hitting the surprised waterfall-nin right in the stomach while he was still in mid-air. While the impact threw him even further, the Bakufu shinobi went through another set of hand seals and as electricity surrounded his right hand, he extended it, calling out loudly: "Raiton: Ikazuchi Tooriame!"
In a blink of an eye tens of small bullets of electricity shoot out at Funbo, who once more acted on instinct and propping his stick on the floor behind himself, he bounced off the ground and somersaulted, avoiding most of the incoming attacks. As some of the thunderballs came at him however, the young assassin landed with his left foot on his stick before it felt to the floor and used that instant to jump higher, above all the charges.
Immediately he reached for his shuriken and unleashed them at Shita, who began jumping and strafing in every direction, barely managing to avoid all the shinobi stars. In the meantime Funbo landed on the ground and with just few flips back, he picked up his stick, that laid on the floor, and came to a stop, again in a fighting position.
Instantly Shita performed another chain of hand seals and with the last symbol, he called out from the bottom of his lungs: "Hyouton: Tsurara Shindou no Jutsu!" and at this point Horohoro's eyes narrowed as a huge icicle suddenly shoot out of nowhere, coming straight at the young assassin: "So that's it…" he thought immediately, throwing a quick glance at Hitomi.
Funbo narrowed his eyes as well and spinning his stick in his hand, he charged forward, going straight at the incoming icicle. "Is he nuts?" Tsume only managed to yell as she grabbed her head, but to her great surprise, the ice spike just went right through the young assassin, without causing him any harm. Shita didn't manage to react on time and in the next instant his chin got smashed by the leaf-nin's stick, with the impact sending him few meters back and landing hard on the ground.
"How did you figured it out?" the waterfall-nin asked as he slowly struggled back to his feet. Funbo merely placed one end of his stick on the floor and used it to prop himself coolly as he replied: "Do you take me for someone that stupid, rookie? In case you haven't noticed, that blind guy from before is my teammate. He's an expert in genjutsu and taught me a few things about it. And even if he didn't, there's no way in hell I'll believe someone with such pitiful level would have a talent for so many elements. With all that, even a total moron would figure out you were using genjutsu from the very start…"
At this point Kai's eyes narrowed slightly as a single drop of sweat run down the back of his head. In a flash be placed his hands behind his head and with a confident voice, he announced: "It was so obvious, I can't imagine someone not figuring that out already" and as he said so, Kokoro gazed at him, also sweat dropping: "So you didn't figure that out…"
"I'm slightly worried" stated Akira, loud enough only for his teammates to hear him. Hitomi instantly gazed at him and returning to observing the fight, she replied with her arms crossed: "Don't be… if that Waterfall guy can only use genjutsu, Funbo won't have any trouble winning…"
"Actually Funbo winning this match… is the thing I'm worried about" the blind gennin responded, while the young assassin lifted his stick again and preparing himself to charge, he announced calmly: "Best to tell you this right now, so you won't be surprised later… I will kill you…"
---a dreadful statement… and then?---
And this concludes this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll review once you're done reading it. It'd mean a lot. As usual I'm placing a jutsu encyclopedia, but since the only techniques used this time are genjutsu cast by Shita, I figured I'll leave out the descriptions, as they aren't necessary:
Katon: Doragon Enkou (Fire Element: Dragon Flame)
Raiton: Ikazuchi Tooriame (Thunder Element: Thunder Shower)
Hyouton:Tsurara Shindou no Jutsu (Ice Element: Icicle Impact Skill)
Konoha #7: Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3: Konpaku Rei, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4: Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, Kobushi Galu
Konoha:Hamano Taki, Hyuuga Hitomi, Manako Akira, Tanken Funbo (in progress), 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: Furikuzu Tsuino, Hebereke Nazaa
Bakufu:Abura Tetsu, Makko Shita (in progress)
Tsuki:Junsei Teela, Tenka
Hane:Ono Reiji
Kumori: Kyuu
And this is it for now. Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and that you'll drop a review. Best wish and have a great day you all!