Wow, once I sat down to it, this chapter was done in a moment :) I can only hope the few, upcoming ones will be as easy to write, but I doubt that ^^' Kusari finally steps into the ring and I've been anxiously awaiting this, particular showdown. Hope you'll enjoy it.
Just a reminder for those who are interested: Character Popularity Poll is still open and you can give your vote, but note that it's near its END! The results are scheduled for chapter 150, so if you wish to take part in the voting, you'll need to do so before chapter 150 is published. If all goes well, that is not too far off.
With that said, lets us see how things are going in Konoha Stadium, shall we?
Chapter #148: Twelfth Match
Title Page: Akira, who has his eyes blind-folded (no idea why :D) is holding a bat as he tries to locate a pinata hanging from a tree branch just next to him
"Winner: Kanraku Nezumi!" Lee announced as the rat girl kept huffing, carefully observing the moon-nin that laid flat before her. The instant that statement was made, the rest of the Kusa team jumped down onto the arena, each striking a strange-looking spear into the ground on either end of the stadium. The jounin raised an eyebrow at this action, shifting his gaze to Tobane, who was the clostest to him from the bunch.
"Well, the match has already been decided, so it should be fine for us to interfere, right?" she asked with a wide smile as she bite her thumb, the other three doing the same. With a quick set of seals, they each slammed their hands into the ground, making the spears vibrate, only to release a cleansing blast of blue fire, that spread throughout the area in a mere seconds.
Lee remained unfazed by this, allowing the flames to ram through him, surprisingly leaving the Leaf's Green Beast unharmed. Just as the fire died down, the grass-nins swallowed a white pill, with Tokame feeding it to Nezumi and Hamaru. Even Teela was handled, with Taka only dropping the pill onto the blue-haired kunoichi's palm.
"You should take one as well, Lee-san" Hizoku announced, throwing the medicine to the jounin. "Though it was only for a short while, you're definitely infected; this should kill any bacteria that are left loose after our sealing" he explained, receiving a nod from the man as he complied.
The taijutsu expert gazed at Nezumi, who was slowly getting back to her feet, helped by Tokame, nearly all signs of the disease already gone. Obviously both the flames and pills were made to fight Eisei no Mitsurin. He then shifted his fuzzy-brow eyes back to the redhead, his voice calm: "Going so far and taking such a risk... he might've won, but I doubt this match will really help her get promoted to chuunin..."
"No, I don't suppose it will" Hizoku agreed as Tokame helped their teammate up. In the meantime Kusari also jumped down onto the arena, walking over to the fallen moon-nin, his eyes narrowing at the sight: "Come on, how long do you plan on laying there like a log, Teela? Cut the crap already!"
"That poison was quite draining" the blue-haired girl responded with her usual monotone, which only agitated the chain master further: "Don't play that with me, dammit! Do you think I'm that stupid? You gave up the match!" he accussed, pointing his finger at the kunoichi, who was still laying on her back, gazing at the sky.
"I might've lost either way" she finally announced, slowly picking herself up. "That Grass girl was quite powerful in the end" she added as she glanced at her opponent, who was no leaning on Tokame. The medics appeared around them, quickly taking the rat ninja away, but as another showed up close by, Teela merely raised her hand in negation: "That won't be necessary" she assured and while the medic scanned her, he gave a slight nod.
"Maybe you should go?" Kusari purposed, giving her a worried look.
"Perhaps, but I wish to see your fight first" she proclaimed, making the boy get back to his annoyed state again: "What the hell is wrong with you? If that's the case, then you should've just won right now!" he snapped, while the blue-haired girl gave one, last gaze at her adversary.
"She had a good reason to fight" the moon-nin stated simply, her exterior as emotionless as always. "It got me thinking... how would Hasaki-san react?" she informed, making the young, Leaf gennin lower his head at the mention of the name. Silence fell between the two, broken once the kunoichi placed her palm on his shoulder: "I wish you luck in your match" she announced, jumping back to the platform.
"I'll never understand that hag" Tasuki proclaimed with a frown, resting his cheek on the hand. "What the heck was that all about anyway?" he questioned, turning to the twins.
"Don't worry over things like that" Nobu shrugged, unmoved by the occurrence. "That's who she is – doing what she feels like. It's the same as in the Forest of Death, when she gave our scroll to that brat that's about to fight. It's best to accept it" he added.
"It is a shame though" Kumo joined in. "Out of all gennin gathered, she's most definitely one of the strongest... it's hard to imagine anyone more suitable for a chuunin..."
"Well, being chuunin is not just about strength" Hinami proclaimed with a straight face, making her students gaze at her confused. To their dismal however, their jounin instructor said nothing more. Meanwhile, Kakashi was much more concerned over the development: "The Five Dances, Eisei no Mitsurin... these grass-nins are definitely not average gennin... but if that is so, how come they weren't recommended for the exam?" he wondered, ignoring Satsuki, who just gave Gaara a pat on the back... or tried, since the sand blocked her palm.
"Oh my, Teela actually lost" the Moon leader noted with surprising smile. "This is quite unfortunate for my village, losing both representatives in the very first round" she added with a laugh, adding to the uncomfortable feeling of the other people gathered. "But, since Fugo-chan isn't here, I guess I can cheer his gennin on" she noted with a devilish grin as she rubbed her hands.
"Just get on with the next fight" Genmei begged in his mind, allowing a single drop of sweat to run down his face. "Please..."
"Seems that this Moon girl of yours ain't so special after all" Kogane teased her teammate, elbowing Rei lightly. Seeing no effect to her comment, she shifted her attention back to the arena, where one of the participants was already waiting for his opponent: "Kusari's turn... man, I cannot believe that perv got this far!"
"Well, it's not like he really won his elimination fight" Tsume noted with a bored tone. "I doubt he'll get this lucky again and I don't see his chain anywhere... think he didn't bring it?"
"Kusari may be dumb, but even he's not that moronic" Senkou answered simply. "My guess is he has some thump card... mind cluing us in, Ibuki?" he turned to the young assassin, who had her hands wrapped before her mouth, but the kunoichi only shrugged: "Frankly, I know just as much as you do" she responded.
"Good luck, Horohoro-kun" Taki cheered in her, usual fashion, as the blue-haired boy readied himself for the duel. "Wipe the floor with him! Show him the power of the tidal wave! Be as deadly as a storm! As swift as a current! As fast as a cyclone! As unyielding..."
"I think he gets it" Funbo interrupted with his arms crossed in one of his rare moments of showing emotion, in this case, annoyance. He managed to recompose himself quickly, returning to his cold exterior, while his eyes shifted to the ice manipulator: "You don't need any luck... that guy is nothing..."
"In the eliminations we didn't really get to see him go full out" Akira warned calmly. "It's not wise to underestimate him" he added as Horohoro nodded: "I know... and I low the idea of fighting a fellow leaf-nin to begin with... but this can't be helped" he proclaimed with a sigh.
"Forget about that nonsense already" the young Tanken said sternly. "This is a fight... that's all you need to know right now" he pressed, surprisingly pushing away his companion's doubts, if he even had any to begin with. With another nod the teen jumped over the rail to face his opponent, having the two, rookie gennin observe him.
"I recall that in the forest of Death we really couldn't do much against those guys" Kai reminded his comrade with a worried look. "Think Kusari will be okay?"
"It's hard to say at this point" Takaru replied matter-of-factly. "Especially since we don't even know what of his chain... one month is far too short to change your fighting style completely, but ever since we stepped into the stadium, I have not seen him carrying any weapons. There's no telling what his plan is..."
"It's that Hagane brat" Futatsu thought to himself, his face twisting in dismal, while Taka rested his head on his palm, awaiting the start of the match. Even Naruto allowed himself a worried look as the two fighters approached the center of the battlefield: "Just don't do anything stupid, Kusari..."
"Twelfth match: Horohoro against Hagane Kusari, both from Konoha!" Lee announced as the duo eyed each other intensively. "BEGIN!" he yelled, moving out of the way as the blue-haired boy instantly bent his knees, going through the first set of seals: "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" he called out as a steam of water blasted from his mouth.
In a flash the liquid shaped into a dragon, which spread its jaws as it lunged at the chain master, forcing the latter to strife left. As the attack splatted against the ground, Kusari came to a sliding stop, seeing Horohoro already flying at him.
The ice user aimed a horizontal kick to his opponent's head, but the younger gennin ducked under the assault and launched an uppercut to the blue-haired ninja's chin while he was still in mid-air. With no way to dodge, the older shinobi blocked the attack with an opened palm and use the momentum to spring himself upward, somersaulting as a new set of seals was formed: "Suiton: Homingu Saikuron no Jutsu!"
Immediately the water soaking into the ground after his last technique rose up in a spinning fashion, forming a cyclone as it turned straight at the younger gennin, again forcing Kusari to dodge, this time by flipping back a few times. To his surprise though, when the assault came at the spot he just stood, it turned and followed his path.
With another flip the perverted teen felt the wall of the stadium pressing against his back, while the attack continued to chase him with a buzzing noise. Having no time to strife, the leaf-nin quickly bit his thumb and wrote the kanji on his arm, making smoke release from beneath his sleeves.
In a blink of an eye he threw his right hand up, a steel chain flying out from beneath his clothes. With a flip of his arm, the large, scythe-like blade located at the end of the chain dug into the top of the wall, allowing the teen to pull himself up just as the cyclone came, making the deadly current smash against concrete, splattering again.
Pouring chakra into his feet, Kusari stuck on the wall, ripping the scythe blade out of it as he gazed at his adversary, who now casually observed the younger gennin from bellow ground. Narrowing his eyes, the rookie jumped off and landed few meters away from the blue-haired shinobi, spinning the blade in his right hand.
"I doubt that's the only improvement you made" Horohoro stated simply as his gaze befall the weapon for a split second. "It's a tad saddening this, little show didn't force you to reveal the whole spectrum" he added, surprisingly emotionless.
"Don't worry" Kusari responded, flipping his left arm as a jingle filled the air. "I see you're too dangerous to play around with, so I'll humor you" he proclaimed as the other end of the chain escaped his left sleeve, showing its end splitting into three, each ended with a small, metal ball.
"Adding the number of balls?" the older ninja's eyebrow raised. "You think this is really gonna do it?" he asked, to which the chain master smirked under his nose: "That we shall see..."
Taka only smiled behind his mask. The noise just now gave clear indication there was more to it then met the eye. Regardless to everything, the real match bellow... was starting now...
-Kusari's new weapon!-
Hehe, kept you long enough in the dark as to what Kusari's new chain looks like, huh? So, what do you think? Better then the previous, worse... don't really care? The fact is Kusari vs. Horohoro was one of the fights I was most anxious about – being of the first I had planned for this tale (even before the character rooster was done :D). I can only hope I won't screw it up :D So, who do you think will win this one? ;
Konoha #7 (Naruto): Tanken Ibuki, Gekido Takaru, Hagane Kusari, Haisha Kai
Konoha #3 (Shikamaru): Konpaku Rei, Rikoteki Kogane, Amagasa Toku, Debano Kitsune, Gusoku Hanamaru
Konoha #4 (Hinata): Igaku Mikka, Inuzuka Tsume, Benda Kokoro, Hatake Senkou, Kobushi Galu
Konoha (Shino): Hamano Taki, Manako Akira, Tanken Funbo, Horohoro
Suna #1 (Temari): Aoru, Torune, Tarakudo, Takai
Suna #2 (Kankuro): Sabaku no Sabure, Hari, Dekai, Karame
Kusa (none): Hokku Tobane, Kanraku Nezumi (currently in medical wing for treatment), Kuchibashi Taka, Kyohaku Tokame, Wanabi Hizoku
Tsuki (Hinami Hoshiru): Junsei Teela, Kihako Tasuki, Chishio Kumo, Chishio Nobu
Kane (unknown): Futatsu
Kumori (Tategamaru): Saiken Tenma
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)
Fight 17: Takai vs. Wanabi Hizoku
Fight 18: Tanken Funbo vs. Gekido Takaru
Fight 19: Benda Kokoro vs. Tarakudo
Fight 20: Manako Akira (automatic win)
Fight 21: Sabaku no Sabure vs. Debano Kitsune
Fight 22: Kanraku Nezumi vs. ?
Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Skill)
Suiton: Hoomingu Saikuron no Jutsu (Water Release: Homing Cyclone Skill)
And so this chapter is complete. Hope you had fun reading it and tune in next time!