Chapter 23: Tenten vs. Ino
"Fighters Tenten and Ino, please come forward."
Tenten sighed exasperatedly as she slowly walked towards the battle grounds. Raising a hand, she gave the presiding referee a nod.
"Here…" Ino walked towards the proctor, both hands on her hips.
The proctor nodded as both fighters stood before him. "To those who remain, please proceed to the waiting area."
Groans and mutters were heard from the crowd of fighters as they headed towards the waiting area.
Neji moved away from the middle of the clearing to the side of the judges. He definitely didn't expect to have Tenten and Ino fight this early on in the elimination rounds. And though he would never admit it, he was curious to see how much Tenten has improved over the past three years of her disappearance.
Tenten glanced at Ino and bowed respectfully.
"It's too bad we both have to fight each other this early on in the Jounin exams huh?" Tenten said as she looked at Ino with frustration.
"Yeah… I guess it is." Ino replied as she closed her eyes, folding both hands on her ample chest.
"Regardless, let's both try our best!" Tenten exclaimed. She smiled at Ino as she raised both her arms and balled her hands into fists.
Ino smiled as she nodded.
"Are both fighters ready?" The match supervisor asked.
Both fighters jumped backwards at a considerable distance, each taking up a stance of her own.
Tenten crouched down in anticipation. She couldn't make this fight last long. She didn't want to hurt Ino. But she didn't want to defeat her too quickly either. Ino may seem vain but even someone like her has pride in being a kunoichi.
"The first fight of the elimination round under group G…" The supervisor began as he raised his right hand and place it in between the two fighters.
Tenten and Ino both readied themselves. Tenten moved her hand behind her back just below scrolls, ready to take it out whenever she saw fit. Ino, on the other hand, dug her hand in her weapons holster waiting for the signal.
Ino took deep breaths to calm herself down. Sakura warned her earlier to be careful with this girl. She cursed her luck. Why did she have to be pinned against someone she hardly even knew? It's been three years since she last saw her fight. All she knew about was she had a strange penchant for weapons. As for how much she's improved over the years, what techniques she's acquired, what skills she currently possesses, she knew nothing.
"Tenten vs. Ino Yamanaka…" The referee began, giving each fighter a glance.
Ino gripped a kunai in her weapons holster. No matter what happened, she had to win. Failure simply couldn't be an option.
Bringing his hand down, the exam proctor signaled the start of the match.
Shikamaru sighed as he headed towards the waiting area. His first match was over and he had won. He didn't use up too much chakra and he found his first match relatively easy. He was lucky this time around.
He looked up at the clouds wondering how all the other Konoha Chuunins were doing. The pressure from the first match was usually the greatest. He hoped the others wouldn't let it get to them.
Shikamaru closed his eyes in irritation as his thoughts drifted towards his own team. Ino was fighting against the girl from Gai's team. Shikamaru hated the fact that he had no information about the bun-haired girl other than the details of her fight against Temari of the sand years ago. There was a big chance that Ino would lose. If what Sakura said was true, then Ino wouldn't stand a chance. Speed alone would render her incapable of fighting back. As much as Ino has improved, she was still a team player, not a solo fighter.
Shikamaru looked up at the clouds offering a silent prayer to the heavens for Ino's victory. After all, she was doing this for Asuma-sensei. Honestly, Shikamaru couldn't care less if he or anyone in their team would be promoted to Jounin. At the end of the day, those were just labels to classify people more easily. A label would never be able to quantify how much skill and talent a person truly has.
BOOM!
A loud explosion erupted in the middle of group J's clearing. It was enveloped in dust and smoke. Visibility was nearly zero.
Kakashi slowly brought down his favorite green book from his face , eying the explosion a good few meters ahead of him. Sighing, he pushed himself off the tree and slowly walked towards the middle of the clearing.
Kakashi smile a bit at the silhouette sparking tiny bouts of lighting. He really wasn't joking when he said he'd finish the match in less than a minute.
As the smoke cleared, Kakashi clanked around for casualties only to realize all other participants were simple rendered unconscious.
Kakashi sighed. If Sasuke didn't take his time walking from one end of the clearing to the middle, he would have finished the match in less than ten seconds. "Well, it looks like we have a winner."
Sheathing his sword behind his back, Sasuke began to walk away completely unharmed.
"Congratulations!" Kakashi stated cheerfully just as Sasuke passed him by. An indifferent glance was all he got as a reply.
"T-That was… Amazing." One of the proctors whispered to Kakashi as he stared in awe at Sasuke's retreating back.
"He didn't kill any of them." Another proctor added.
Kakashi turned around to look at Sasuke's retreating back. He's definitely gotten a whole lot stronger. In his state right now, Kakasi would even dare to say he was worthy to become the Hokage. But for some strange reason, the Uchiha prodigy didn't seem to be aiming for the position. He couldn't understand just exactly what Sasuke wanted but Kakashi knew the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan remained unattached and lost, like he was still searching for something, maybe a place to belong to. And deep down Kakashi knew Konoha wasn't it.
"BEGIN!"
Ino charged straight on towards Tenten holding a kunai in her right hand. Tenten cart wheeled backwards avoiding the array of attacks the Yamanaka clan heir threw at her.
Flipping back gracefully, Ino released a handful of kunais and shurikens. Pulling out a scroll, Tenten summoned a cluster of weapons to deflect the attack.
Jumping backwards further, Ino pulled a kunai from her weapons holster and successfully blocked what was left of the weapons aimed at her. Ino landed on the floor slightly panting while Tenten stood a couple of feet away from her holding a half opened scroll.
Ino clicked her tongue in annoyance at the scroll. If Tenten were to launch the attack she used on Temari of the sand, Ino knew she wouldn't stand a chance. She needed to keep the fight short-ranged. Pulling out more of her weapons, Ino charged at Tenten once again.
Rolling back her scroll, Tenten pulled out a bunch of kunais out of her weapons holster to match up against Ino's own. Tenten and Ino continued to fight in a taijutsu dominated battle.
Neji watched the battle in disappointment. Tenten was obviously holding back. Battles like this tend to last longer and were incredibly boring to watch. Scoffing in annoyance, he turned his attention to the list of matches, disinterested in the battle before him.
Tenten continued the fight in frustration. She wanted to end the fight but she didn't know how to without humiliating Ino. As she cartwheeled backward, she saw a glimpse of Ino's clan hand sign. Her eyes widened a bit and she immediately cart wheeled to the right. When she saw that Ino was still doing the hand sign, Tenten continued to cart wheel all over the place to avoid Ino's technique.
Neji continued to watch the match in boredom. This was such a low level fight.
Jumping into the air, Tenten pulled out her scroll.
Ino's eyes widened in surprise. "Shit!"
Tenten summoned a total of 20 weapons. Ino immediately took out a kunai and cart wheeled away from her position, using the kunai to deflect what was left of the weapons headed her way.
Tenten landed on the floor and placed her scroll behind her once again.
Ino gritted her teeth. It was humiliating to be defeated, but it was more humiliating being pitied. "You only brought out a few of your weapons. I know you can bring out hundreds or maybe even thousands of those!"
Tenten's eyes widened in surprise.
"So what the hell are you doing?" Ino asked as she narrowed her eyes.
"This is a battle. No time for talking." Tenten said as she attacked Ino again with a kunai in each hand.
Ino grabbed another kunai in her weapons holster and deflected Tenten's attacks.
"You're supposed to be fast, aren't you?" Ino yelled angrily in between attacks.
Tenten and Ino's kunais met and they both jumped backwards due to the force of deflection.
Ino growled in annoyance. "Why are you holding back?"
"I'm not!" Tenten yelled in reply.
"Then what the hell do you call what you're doing now!?" Ino yelled yet again.
Neji smirked in amusement. He had to hand it to the blonde kunoichi. He didn't know she had it in her. He never expected the Yamanaka princess to actually confront Tenten of her slacking off in the match.
"I'm gonna tell you this once so listen well." Ino said as she stood up straight and pointed her kunai at Tenten. "I'm not going to hold back, you hear? I'll go all out from now on. So if you chose to stay that way, be my guest!"
Tenten relaxed a bit and brought down her arms. She then bowed apologetically much to Ino's surprise. Raising her head, she had a smile on her face. "I'm sorry Ino. I'll do my best from now on then."
Ino nodded a smirk on her face. She charged at Tenten once more with a kunai in hand.
Tenten jumped into the air taking out her scroll as she gracefully twisted and turned. The thick parchment followed her every move, a perfect partner in her dance of death.
In the blink of an eye, Ino realized Tenten was no longer in the air. All that was left was the gigantic scroll falling gracefully down from the air.
Ino panicked when she felt something behind her. Turning around, she was greeted by a bombard of weapons courtesy of Tenten. All Ino could do was close her eyes. The weapons were already too close for her to even react. She felt herself being thrown backwards onto a tree. She had her eyes closed, waiting for the pain of her injuries to come but she felt nothing. Opening her eyes, see realized she was stuck to a tree.
"What the-" A kunai was held to her throat.
Ino's eyes widened in surprise. She couldn't move at all. Her body was surrounded by at least twenty of those weapons. Even if she did manage to pull herself out, she'd be naked in front of everyone.
Tenten glanced towards Neji awaiting his decision on the match.
Neji gave the match presider a nod.
"Winner of the match, Tenten." The referee announced.
Placing the kunai back in her pouch, Tenten released all of her weapons.
Ino breathed heavily. She couldn't believe it. "I-I… I lost."
Tenten looked at Ino and bowed slightly, hating the guilt building on her chest. "Thank you for the match."
Sasuke walked back to the arena ignoring the uproar his arrival was causing. Only his group had done an all-out brawl. All other groups followed the rules. He wasn't against the brawl. If any, it actually saved him the time and effort. But now the long wait irritated him the most.
As he took a seat at the contestants waiting area, he caught sight of Tenten and Ino's battle. The blonde Yamanaka was pinned to a tree while Tenten held a kunai at her neck. Sasuke snorted. That was predictable. But seeing how long it had gone, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Nine minutes?" He clicked his tongue. Just what the hell was that bun girl doing?