Well, this chapter took longer then I hoped it would, but that couldn't be helped really. Sadly, I'm afraid there's high chance next week chapter will be delayed as well. On a more positive note though (especially for those who read my original works on FictionPress) I am also updating both "Dragon Blood" and "Forgotten Sands". Plus I'm submitting two, completely new stories of mine.
As always I wanna thank everyone who did review the previous chapter. It truly means a lot. I won't be going too deep into that this time around, but it's mostly because I'm in kinda hurry (basically I'm submitting this chapter right before leaving for the weekend, so…)
SECOND CHARACTER POPULARITY CONTEST: I just wanted to remind everyone, who didn't voted yet, that they still have a chance to do so! The rules of the voting are written down in chapter 93! Remember: every vote counts XD
And now, lets get on with it:
Chapter #97: Final Match up
Title Page: Kai dressed in a suit with sunglasses on and a suitcase with 'top secret' labeled on it is entering a gondola, 'driven' by a fat, Chinese guy with long, thin mustache
"I think that's enough warm-up" stated Tsuino as he picked out his dagger swords and a smile appeared on his face. "What say we get serious, old friend?" he asked Nazaa, who responded with a smirk as well: "Works hik for me!" and in a flash he charged at the scar-faced boy, still giving out the impression he was about to trip.
Just before reaching his opponent, he did trip and falling face-first, he propped himself with his hands, throwing kicks at Tsuino, how managed to dodge the assault in the last moment by bending back and then, spinning on his foot, he leaned forward, ducking under the rest of the kicks, aiming to swipe Nazaa off his feet.
Letting his natural reflex work, the redhead simply bounced up and placing his body parallel to the floor, he went at his teammate with a head-bomb. With no time to move out of the way, the scar-faced boy quickly split his legs, moving them out of the drunk taijutsu user's way, yet that was a mistake as Nazaa broke the fall with one hand and spinning on it, he delivered a powerful kick into Tsuino's face, who was defenseless at the time.
As he was send flying back, the 'dagger' user flipped and came to a sliding stop. In a flash the redhead catherine-wheeled to his adversary, aiming a drop kick on his head again. This time however Tsuino was well prepared and propping his left hand on the ground, he blocked the assault with his right leg, immediately delivering his left on into Nazaa's stomach, this time sending his teammate flying.
"Did you already forgot that I can be unpredictable too, Nazaa?" asked the scar-faced boy with a smirk, while a bored expression crossed Kai's face: "Okay, I've been watching this for a while and to be honest I don't see what's so great about this Saiken thing. That Scar guy still can lend a blow and he avoided most of the attacks himself…"
"Do you really need to have everything told to you straight?" asked Galu, sighing, yet replied none the less: "This whole Tsuino fellow is just well train, his reaction time is very small, which allows him to counter quickly. Very few gennin are capable of doing what the scar-face's doing. Probably even many jounin would have problems fighting the Drunken Fist as effectively as that rain-nin right now…"
"It's main strength is its unpredictability, as you were already told" Kokoro cut in calmly, as his eyes narrowed. "It's hard to say from where the attack will come, because even the user himself doesn't know that. Both punches and kicks are thrown at random, having the body act on its own. In this case even my mind reading wouldn't do any good…"
"But there's more" Kitsune continued, making Kai's head now turn towards him. "Whoever uses the Saiken also gives his or hers body be effected by natural reflex. It means the body doesn't waste time to think about blocking, it just avoids getting hit. This also makes any strategy useless, coz you never know how your opponent is gonna react to your assault."
"And aside from all that" this time it was Hitomi who joined it the conversation. "It is also a simple fact that when drunk, ones physical strength is greater the usual. Of course endurance also increases. To put it as simple as I can: whoever uses Drunken Fist, is capable of surpassing his own limits in taijutsu. There are disadvantages, like the fact that such person would find it hard to form a strategy of his own or even perform a more complex attack, however if it's just a physical battle involving taijutsu and weapons, Saiken allows a shinobi to overpower his opponent with body's instinct alone, with the only side-effect being a hangover…"
"Oh" replied Kai with his face slightly amazed, making Rei sweat drop: "I don't suppose he understood either way" she stated and then turned her sleepy gaze down to the Arena again, where the two rain-nin were charging at each other once more.
As the two engaged each other, Nazaa threw a fist at his teammate, yet Tsuino quickly dodged by spinning on his foot and once his back was facing the redhead, he grabbed his arm, aiming an elbow at the drunken gennin's stomach, only to have this assault get stopped by the other rain-nin's knee. In a flash the scar-faced boy threw a kick back, hoping for an opening, however also this time the attack didn't reach it's target as it was stopped by Nazaa'a free hand.
Acting immediately Tsuino made a move like he was trying to toss the redhead over his shoulder, yet as soon as the other rain-nin's body got pulled forward, he twisted the hand he tried to elbow his teammate with and stopped the blade of his dagger sword not more then an inch before Nazaa's throat: "Sorry, but it seems to me this is the end of it…"
"Yeah, hik looks like that" admitted the redhead. "I lost again" and with that he turned towards Lee with an absent-minded expression on his face: "Sorry, Eyebrow guy, but this match… seems that I wanna give up" and without wasting another second, the Leaf's Green Beast, slightly pissed by the 'eyebrow' remark, instantly announced Tsuino's victory.
"Being able to read the movements of a Saiken user…" Teela thought to herself without even the slightest change in her expression. "That boy with scars certainly won't be easy to deal with…"
"When those other, two rain-nin fought Tobane and Tokame I knew that team wasn't ordinary" Hizoku noted in his mind as he observed both Ame gennin walking back to the platform. "The final exam should be fun. But right now, there are only two matches left and still one of Kai-san' teammates haven't got a chance to fight" and with that his eyes settled on Ibuki.
"Lets move on to the next, elimination fight!" Lee announced, making most of the people's attention focus on the screen once again. Takaru merely looked around and with a raised eyebrow, he stated with a little teasing voice: "You know, Ibuki, I hate to be the barer of bad news, but the way I see it, the only people left, are those that won't allow anyone to spit in their bowl…"
"Thanks for cheering me up" the young assassin shoot back, sweat dropping. Kyuu simply gazed at her and then at the scar-faced gennin. He then narrowed his eyes, yet kept his posture as if he didn't care. The one who really didn't care, was Takai as he was still observing the screen with his arms crossed.
At that very moment the choice was made and without a word spoken, Sabure made a single hand seal, making herself get surrounded with sand and in a flash a mirror image of the sand whirlpool appeared in the middle of the arena, which made Lee narrowed his eyes at the sight: "This girl…" was his only thought before his eyes traveled to the screen to see who the redhead kunoichi was going to fight: TANKEN IBUKI versus SABAKU NO SABURE!
"Waiting so long and not even fighting last" began Kai with a slightly bored tone. "How uncool" and with that Ibuki gazed at him with her eye twitching: "Can't you guys throw at least one, encouraging word?" she yelled annoyed as a vein began pulsing on her forehead.
"Don't get yourself killed" responded Kumiko matter-of-factly, making something break in the young assassin. The weapon mistress just turn around and began getting over the rail: "Best just get going before I start killing people" she announced pissed, but before she managed to jump down, Naruto's hand landed on her shoulder and as she gazed at her teacher, the whisker-marks jounin stated: "Ibuki, that opponent of yours… if I'm not mistaken, she's the worst type of opponent someone of your skills could've get. Don't push yourself with this…"
The young assassin merely gave a nod before jumping down and walking to the center of the arena, where Sabure already awaited her. It was at this time that Toku turned to the rest of Naruto's subordinates with a single drop of sweat falling down his face: "You're not very good teammates…"
"Sorry, Toku, but you don't know Ibuki as well as we do" Kusari replied with a tiny smirk. "She fights best when she has a good reason to do so. And considering that we know nothing of that sand-nin, we gave her the best motivation we could… she's gonna do her best, just to shut our mouths" he announced as his eyes settled on the weapon mistress.
"So they made fun of her, to push her to going all out" concluded Akira, also managing a smile. "An interesting idea… but with that weird chakra that's coming from that other girl's gourd… I have a bad feeling about this…"
"Well Ibuki, what are you gonna show us?" Funbo asked himself with a playful smile as his eyes settled on his younger sister. Takai merely narrowed his as they stopped at Sabure, who also gazed at the scythe user for a split second, before she returned to observing her opponent.
"Thirty first match: Tanken Ibuki against Sabaku no Sabure!" Lee called out loudly, rising the tension in the room. "Ready and… BEGIN!" and instantly the young assassin reached for her weapon porches, unleashing shuriken at the redhead. Surprisingly for her though, sand suddenly shoot from the masked girl's gourd and blocked shinobi stars' way, stopping them before they managed to reach their target.
"With sand?" Ibuki's eyes widen in shock as the sand shoot at her, forcing her to jump back as she picked out few more shuriken to toss them at Sabure as well, but also these got blocked by a new wall of sand that rose from the Suna gennin's gourd.
Ibuki landed safely on her feet, not taking her eyes off Sabure. The sand was now all around her feet and swirling around its master, who stood in the exact, same spot as when the match began with her arms crossed. Above the masked girl's head, the sand took shape of a dragon's head as a disturbing sound filled the room while it cut through the air.
As calm as ever, Sabure simply reached for her mask and slowly took it off, revealing a pair of jade eyes, which stared at the weapon mistress. Just one gaze into them send shivers down the young assassin's spine. But what scared her wasn't the urge to kill or some deep anger. What was most frightening in those eyes, was a complete lack of emotions. There was absolutely nothing in them. Besides jade pupils, the sand-nin's eyes were empty.
"You're not the one I wanted to fight" the redhead stated simply, her voice as emotionless as her eyes. "However, since you're in the way, I can't just move forward freely. I do not care for your reasons to fight nor do I care who you are. If you won't give up now… I will kill you…"
---Ibuki's weapons against Sabure's sand!---
And that's that. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave me a review once you're done. Now, quickly, the updated list of gennin:
Konoha #7: Murasakki Kumiko, Tanken Ibuki (in progress), Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3: Konpaku Rei, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4: 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 (in progress), Hari, Dekai, Horamaru, Karame
Kusa: Hokku Tobane, Kanraku Nezumi, Kuchibashi Taka, Kyohaku Tokame, Wanabi Hizoku
Ame: Furikuzu Tsuino, Hebereke Nazaa
Bakufu: Abura Tetsu
Tsuki: Junsei Teela, Tenka
Hane: Ono Reiji
Kumori: Kyuu
And so this concludes this chapter. I truly hope you found it enjoyable. Take care and until next time, hopefully!