Hey, just as promised, here's the second chapter of N:NG DOUBLE UPDATE! Hope You enjoyed the previous and that you'll like this one as well! Do review once you're done!
Chapter #102: Main Event
Title Page: a totem: on the top there's Kai with his hands extended to the sides, then Kumiko winking, Kusari smiling, Ibuki surrounded with kunai on a wire and at the bottom Takaru with a pissed-off face, while Rei stands beside the totem, proud of herself
As all the gennin, who made it through the eliminations stood in the middle of the devastated arena, Kakashi smiled behind his mask as he glanced at the young shinobi faces. With a quick inhale, he spoke up, gaining everyone's attention: "For starters I'd like to say that all of you did a great job winning your elimination fight and advancing to the final! I wish you luck during it, which I'm sure you'll need…"
"Quite a few people…" noticed Shikamaru with a slightly sleepy face. "Thirteen from the Leaf, ten from Suna… four from Kusa, two from Tsuki and one from Ame, Kane and Bakufu… thirty two overall… up till now this many hasn't even made it out of the Forest of Death, let alone enter the final exam…"
"Please calm your youthful spirits down as I'll explain the rules of the final exam to you!" yelled Lee, thus making all the gennin gathered in the room to look at him. "As you were told before, the last exam will take place before an audience consisting of possible customers and other villages leaders. You'll be representing your village's strength, so I advice not to hold back during your matches! We want you to show everything you got during your fights, which is why the fourth exam will take place… a month from today!"
"Huh?" Galu's eyebrow went up at hearing that. "Meaning not right now?"
'The break will be used for preparations…" explained the Green Beast calmly. "During this time we'll inform all the various country lords and the shinobi village leaders. It's the time required to arrange the gathering for the event… but that is also the time you, blooming youngsters, can use!"
"That eyebrow face can't say anything normally…" Tarakudo sighed internally, yet managed to restrain himself as he spoke up: "What do you mean by 'time we can use'?"
"To put it as simple as I can…" replied Lee with a wide smile. "It is the time which you can use to know your enemy and yourself! You may use that time to analyze data you've gathered during the eliminations that just took place… up till now, the battles were realistic ones, when you had very little or maybe even none information about your opponents…"
"There is something to it…" Kitsune thought to himself as he glanced at some of the participants. "Sand users, mind readers, blind guys, bone throwers, puppeteers… and most of all – immortals…" and at this point his eyes stopped at Takai.
"Since you all saw the other participants fights, the final test will be different…" Lee continued calmly. "Some of you uncovered all your cards before your potential adversaries… and some got badly injured due to fighting a strong opponent… to make it fair we're giving you this month to recover, improve yourselves or plan your strategy. Naturally, you can also just rest… it's your call… however before you're all dismiss, there's one, last thing that's need to be done…"
"Then move it, old fart, I have stuff to do…" Reiji shoot at the jounin annoyed.
"Calm your spirit of youth down, this'll only take a moment…" announced the Green Beast as suddenly Tenten appeared back in the room with a small box in her hands. "Inside the box Tenten-san is carrying there are small sheets of paper! I'd like to ask you all to take one from it…" and as the weapon mistress came towards the gennin, she added with an evil smile 'just one'.
As everyone got their sheet, Kiba also appeared out of nowhere with a small notebook in his hand. Lee nodded towards him and then turned to the young shinobi: "As you probably noticed, on each sheet there was a number. I'd like to ask you to give your numbers to Kiba-san. Lets start from the left…" and as everyone did as they were told, the Green Beast smiled before continuing: "And with that, we can tell you who you'll fight in the final exam!"
Everyone (A/N: well, most of them anyway) didn't hid their shock at the last announcement, yet Kiba seemed to be unmoved by that and just turn the notebook he had in his hand over, showing them a table with the names of all the final exam contestants:
Fight 1: Haisha Kai (1) vs. Takai (2)
Fight 2: Ono Reiji (3) vs. Wanabi Hizoku (4)
Fight 3: Abura Tetsu (5) vs. Tanken Funbo (6)
Fight 4: Honemaru (7) vs. Gekido Takaru (8)
Fight 5: Benda Kokoro (9)vs. Horamaru (10)
Fight 6: Furikuzu Tsuino (11) vs. Tarakudo (12)
Fight 7: Manako Akira (13) vs. Dekai (14)
Fight 8: Hyuuga Hitomi (15) vs. Tenka (16)
Fight 9: Hokku Tobane (17) vs. Sabaku no Sabure (18)
Fight 10: Murasakki Kumiko (19) vs. Debano Kitsune (20)
Fight 11: Junsei Teela (21) vs. Kanraku Nezumi (22)
Fight 12: Horohoro (23) vs. Hagane Kusari (24)
Fight 13: Aoru (25) vs. Hamano Taki (26)
Fight 14: Torune (27) vs. Hari (28)
Fight 15: Amagasa Toku (29) vs. Kyohaku Tokame (30)
Fight 16: Kobushi Galu (31) vs. Karame (32)
As the final match-up was revealed, Toku merely glanced at the paper and realizing that he'll fight as one of the last, he only narrowed his eyes without saying a thing. Honemaru on the other hand set his eyes on his opponent and narrowed them as well: "Gekido… Takaru…" Karame had other thoughts going through in his head however: "I'm going last…" he thought, slightly depressed.
"I'm fighting a girl…" Kitsune let out a sigh as he realized who he opponent was. Kumiko however wasn't delighted with the choice either: "Geez, that guy won't be easy to beat…" but as she trailed off, Kusari, who stood beside her, noticed her troubled face, and got her out of her thoughts: "Lets do our best, Kumiko-chan!" he yelled, smiling widely and wrapping his arms around her. That, naturally, ended up in him getting a powerful smack on his head from the kunoichi, but for some reason, the young genius did felt more relieved after that.
Horohoro merely glanced at the chain master calmly: "So this is my opponent?" the blue-haired boy concluded in his mind with a raised eye-brow. Then Akira placed his hand on his shoulder and as he looked at his blind teammate, he only announced: "You're going against that huge sword guy from the Sand…" and with that the genjutsu expert nodded as a 'thank you'.
Horamaru smirked evilly and licked his lips: "I have that mind-reading guy, eh? This should be fun…" meanwhile his teammate, Hari, glanced at her opponent. Torune returned the glance and the two had a staring contest for a short while, broken by them both. Kankuro only looked at his sister with a worried expression on his face, yet the blonde jounin seemed to not noticed that. She just set her eyes on her wind-using subordinate.
"At least I'm not in the same block as Takai…" Aoru thought relieved before glancing at Taki. The boomerang user glanced back at her and after a short analyze, she returned to observing the jounin before her: "This won't be easy…" she thought to herself, yet shook excited.
"So, this whole Final Exam is just a stupid tournament" concluded Galu, narrowing his eyes. Meanwhile Tetsu was delighted: "So I got that bastard who fought Shita? Good, I'll make good work out of him" and with that he gazed at Funbo, who noticed his stare, though acted like he didn't. This annoyed the chubby gennin even more, but he decided to ignore that… for now. "Act cool all you want, but I'm gonna smash every, single bone in your body into pieces!"
Teela and Tenka, who stood beside each other, exchanged glances, but said nothing. In the meantime, Hitomi gazed at her adversary as her peril-white eyes narrowed: "I got that thunder girl" she concluded, while Sabure let out a frown. Dekai, who stood next to her, threw her a quick look as worry appeared behind his mask: "Again she's not gonna fight Takai unless they both reach the final… if this keeps up, her mental state may worsen even further…"
But as Dekai was worried about Sabure, Tobane was more worried about the fact that she was going to fight the redhead girl. Uncertainty was showing all over her face. Seeing this, Hizoku placed his hand on her shoulder, thus making the kunoichi gaze at him. He took off his mask and gave her a warm smile, which managed to calm the girl a bit as she smiled back.
"Do not worry" the redhead grass-nin whispered to her without dropping his smile. "You do not need to fight her for me. With Taka in the stands and me participating in the Final, everything is ready to commence with the plan. If you'll choose to fight her, do so for your own gain" and at this point Tobane nodded, once more settling her eyes on the table Kiba held in his hand.
Meanwhile Hizoku gazed at his other teammates. Tokame seemed to be unmoved by the news who his opponent will be, but Nezumi on the other hand didn't looked to pleased with the fact she'll go against Teela in the first round. But not only Hizoku observed the grass-nins, for Reiji also had his eyes settled on them: "Well, this should be fun" he thought with a smirk as his eyes stopped on the redhead.
Tarakudo also was delighted with the choice that was made: "That scar-faced guy who defeated the drunk…interesting… very interesting indeed" and without any control from his side, a smirk appeared behind his bandages as well, while Tsuino didn't seem to pay any attention to the sand-nin who he was supposed to fight in one month.
Kokoro stared in the distance, carefully listening to everyone's thoughts, trying to know his opponents better. His mind set upon a certain boy with a scar running down his face and a Leaf hitae-ate on his forehead. Takaru had his eyes on Kai with a little worry drawing on his face: "So you got that scythe freak… dammit, how can one beat a guy like that? And I was hoping we'll finally get to face each other…"
"Perfect" Takai thought to himself with a wicked smile as his eyes traveled towards Kai (A/N: in case you've forgotten, he mentioned he wanted Kai in his collection). The blonde shivered as he caught a glimpse of him, but a second later his eyes narrowed, while he tightened his fists: "What the hell am I doing? That guy may be strong, but there's gotta be a way to defeat him! I don't care how strong he is! I won't run away!"
"Both Kokoro and Galu got sand-nins" Hinata analyzed as she scanned her two subordinates. "They're not easy opponents. During that one month, I'll need to make them stronger!" and as determination shined from her face, Shino managed a smile as he gazed at his former teammate.
"Alright brats, listen up!" Ino, who seemed to return to the room at the same time the other examiners did, raised her voice, gathering everyone's attention: "If you have any questions, best answer them now, otherwise you'll have to find out on your own. If you don't have any, then get the hell out, coz we have more important stuff to do!"
"I have a question" announced Kumiko, raising her hand. "Since the whole exam has the tournament system, it means only one can win. Thus that mean only one of us will be promoted to a chuunin?"
"That's not it" Kakashi began explaining calmly. "As said, the matches will be observed by the country lords and the leaders of shinobi villages, including me and the Kazekage. We will be your judges, who'll grade you for your performance. Various things will be grades and thus anyone who'll prove worthy becoming chuunin, will certainly get promoted, even if he or she would lose his fight. However winning and reaching the final round will give you a chance to promote your village as well as promote yourself a while longer and thus heighten the possibility to get promoted…"
"So there's a chance all of us will become chuunin?" asked Taki with hope in her voice. The Rokudaime merely nodded, however his voice did not change as he spoke again: "Yes, but this also works the other way around: it's possible that none of you will get promoted…" and as his words sink in, silence befall the room. After several moments, Kakashi continued, this time with a little bit more cheerful voice: "Since there aren't any more questions, I suppose the only thing left for me to do is to wish you luck! See all of you in a month at the Konoha Stadium!"
---A while later at the Konoha Hospital---
"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted his old friend as he led his gennin into the huge, Medical Center. The pink-haired kunoichi smiled at the waving blonde, placing a soft kiss on his whisker-marked cheek, making a tiny blush appear on his face. Seeing this Kumiko merely rolled her eyes, while Kusari seemed stunned and extending his cheek forward. Takaru only sweat dropped at the sight, perfectly predicting what was about to occur and that was Kumiko beating the shit out of the chain master.
"Hey, Naruto. How you've been?" asked the woman with a warm smile. "Finally decided to visit, eh? It's been almost two months already" but the Kyuubi vessel only scratched the back of his head, feeling a little uncomfortable, as he replied: "Actually, just awhile ago a student of mine was taken here and we came to visit her…"
"Right, you never stop by to see just me" Sakura frowned, acting like she was angry, but instantly returned to her cheerful self as she spoke up: "But you're a bit late, she already left the hospital…"
"Wait, this cannot be!" Naruto responded, shock appearing on his face. "She was incapable of moving, much less leaving on her own!" but the pink-haired kunoichi shook her head at this, calmly explaining: "You misunderstand. She didn't walk out of here on her own. Her clansmen took her under the guidance of Tanken Satsu himself. I told them she should not be moved yet, but they didn't seem to care. You know the rules the Shodai Hokage made with their clan, it was not my place to stop them."
"Yes, I know" the Kyuubi vessel nodded, narrowing his eyes. "But this is bad… very bad!"
"What do you mean by that, Naruto-sensei?" Kai asked, completely confused.
"I'm afraid that Ibuki's life… may be in grave danger!"
---unexpected turns… what will become of Ibuki?---
And so this chapter ends, ending the double update as well. Hope you had fun reading it and that you'll leave a review before you go. It'd really mean a lot.
Now, before I go, I want to wish all of you (at least those who celebrate that holiday) a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Good luck trick or treating and until next time, hopefully.