Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Warcraft.
Chapter 24: Finishing Up
As Genma announced the next match, Naruto arrived at the fighter's box, both interested and not at the same time at the match.
Both Shino and Kankuro descended to the stadium and faced each other off.
Genma said, "Alright, you know the rules. Anything goes but the fight stops when I say so."
When both fighters understood, Genma started the fight and jumped off.
Kankuro frowned. I can't believe Father changed the plan so suddenly. But, oh, well, with these match-ups and all five Kage present, it would be impossible to get Gaara battling first before us.
Grabbing the package on his back, he unfurled it to show a puppet with three eyes, four arms, two legs, and wearing black rags. "Karasu, take the stage."
Shino extended his arms and insects slowly swarmed out of his sleeves and jacket collar and surrounded him. All the while, his eyes roamed the stadium. A puppeteer is vulnerable while controlling his puppet. So, he must need cover while using his puppet. With the landscape completely barren of trees or rocks, it would be nigh impossible to find one. I just need an opening and it would be over for him.
Shino had his insects swarm to Kankuro's side. Kankuro replied in kind by sending his puppet towards him, dodging the swarm to the right.
Shino narrowed his hidden eyes as he jumped to the right to avoid the puppet and threw a couple of kunai rigged with explosive tags towards Kankuro.
Kankuro jumped over it, just as it exploded, and landed right beside Karasu. Following through, he pulled a few strings and Karasu opened its mouth and fired a huge number of senbon.
Shino countered by clustering his kikaichu together like wall and absorbed the impact of the needles. Lowering his kikaichu wall, he allowed his other batch the charge at Kankuro.
Both puppeteer and puppet jumped away from the swarm, just as Shino sent the swarm that made up the wall towards them.
Kankuro clicked his tongue and dodged the swarm and had Karasu release a poisonous gas at Shino.
Shino raised a hand and said, "Kawarimi," and substituted himself with a log, just as it slowly withered.
Shino appeared in one of the tree clusters behind Kankuro and had his swarm converge on Kankuro, who was caught off-guard by the usage of Kawarimi.
As Kankuro narrowly avoided the swarm, he directed Karasu to fire its poisoned kunai towards Shino.
Shino dodged every single one and waited for something to happen.
Kankuro exclaimed, "You're open!" With a finger's twitch, Karasu zoomed towards Shino, while still firing the kunai.
Shino extended his arms and his kikaichu collected in front of him to block Karasu but was unprepared for the head to detach from the puppet and jump over the wall towards him. And as it showed a giant needle from its mouth, Shino tensed and prepared himself for impact. But, before it did, the head fell to the ground.
Kankuro gaped. "What the hell happened?" Suddenly, his whole puppet fell to the ground and he had an army of kikaichu crawling up his arms.
Shino lowered his hands and said, "Like all living things, there are male and female kikaichu. The female kikaichu secrete a scent unique to its male counterpart. Not even the Inuzuka's canine partners can smell it."
"What's that got to do with this?"
"Look upon your hitai-ite." Kankuro did so and saw a kikaichu on it. His eyes widened.
"This is a-"
"Indeed, that is a female kikaichu, attached to you during your shock from my use of Kawarimi." As he turned around, he said, "I win."
Kankuro cursed and blacked out from chakra exhaustion.
Genma appeared at the stadium and announced, "Shousha: Aburame Shino!" As applause greeted the winner, Genma announced next, "Next fight: Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari."
While Kankuro was carried away and Shino was going up the stairs, Temari jumped on her fan and floated down to the stadium and Shikamaru rubbed his shoulders, saying, "Troublesome, I have to fight a girl…again!"
But, he was caught off-guard when Naruto lightly pushed him down the fighter's box.
As Shikamaru stood up and muttered about 'troublesome blonds,' Naruto said, "This would be a good exercise, Shikamaru. Think about this…your mother's watching you."
Shikamaru slightly paled and looked at the audience. True enough, Nara Yoshino looked at him with a smile. But, this smile holds double meaning. On one hand, it means 'Good luck in your fight.' On the other hand, it means 'Give up without a fight and you're gonna get it.'
Shikamaru whispered, "Troublesome." Then, he looked at his opponent. Sabaku no Temari was looking at him with a cocky smirk and a calculative eye. Her battle fan is open and right behind her.
Temari said, "Come on, Nara! I ain't got all day!"
He said his catchphrase again, as Genma started the match, before he looked around and assessed the situation. Darn it. There aren't many advantages to go on here. Argh, I would have to make my own advantages. He grabbed a couple of kunai rigged with explosive tags and threw one at Temari's right and the other directly at her.
Temari smirked before she blew them away with her fan. Both kunai headed at the wall above Shikamaru.
He gave a small 'Troublesome' before the tags exploded and sent rubble down towards him. Dust covered him from everyone else's view.
Suddenly, there was an exclamation of, "Kagebari no Jutsu (Shadow Needles Technique)!"
A single thick shadow extended from the dust before it split into smaller branches and detached from the ground, intent on hitting Temari.
She narrowed her eyes. She jumped to the side as the first needle slammed down on her. She then ran around the stadium, dodging the needles that kept on slamming down on her position. However, some shadows came out of the ground and tried to pierce her.
Having had enough, she jumped on one needle and used it to jump higher. Then, she whipped her fan and said, "Futon: Shinkuha!" A gust of wind was summoned from her fan and turned into some sort of wind blade that headed towards the dust cloud.
The shadow barrage suddenly ended as the wind blade collided with the dust cloud. Temari landed and watched the cloud disperse.
When it did, she was not surprised to see no one there. Turning her head towards the trees at her left where Shikamaru was, she said, "Come on, Nara! Is that all you got?"
He sighed as he sat by the roots of the tree behind him. He looked up, gazing up at the clouds as the sun was hidden by the part of the stadium wall he was in. I envy those clouds. They're up there, flying so carefree in the sky.
Temari clicked her tongue and sent a large gust of wind towards Shikamaru, saying, "Futon: Kamaitachi!"
Another dust cloud covered Shikamaru from view before a small beam of shadow extended from the wall's shadow and dashed towards Temari.
She was surprised but quick. She jumped away from it and landed just as it ended a few feet from her. She smirked. "So it has a limit." She drew a line with her fan and gave a thought. The length of his shadow can only go as far as his normal shadow's surface area. And by adding it to the shadow near him, he can lengthen it even more. Given the surface area of his normal shadow and the shadow of the wall, the length of his shadow can only go 15 meters and 32 centimeters.
Then, Shikamaru sighed and formed a circle with his fingers.
Kurenai was confused. "I've never seen a seal like that before."
Asuma chuckled. "That is no seal. It just means that Shikamaru is planning ahead."
She raised a brow. "He can do that?"
"He is one of the Nara, the smartest clan in Konoha. I tested Shikamaru with an IQ test and he has an IQ of 200."
Her eyes widened. "That's impossible. His grades at the Academy don't show that."
"Yeah, well, he said it was too troublesome to even lift his pen so he just slept through it. Back then, I didn't even know it. I only noticed it when we played shogi and I kept on losing to him."
Shikamaru lowered his hands and became somewhat serious.
As Temari fired another powerful wind jutsu, he hid behind a tree and took out a kunai.
A few seconds later, a kunai whizzed past the trees and towards Temari. She sneered at the attempt and parried it away. Following through, she sent a powerful wind gale towards the trees where Shikamaru is. As a result, Shikamaru jumped high and stuck to the wall. And, avoiding the continuous wind gale, he ran all the way around to the random holes in the ground.
Temari narrowed her eyes with suspicion before she jumped away from them, landing just in front of the rubble pile. "I know your plan, Nara!"
Shikamaru returned narrowed eyes with narrowed eyes. I'm running out of chakra. I only one more use of my Kage jutsus before I faint from exhaustion. I better make it count. Making a handseal, he said, "Kage Mane no Jutsu." His shadow extended, dodged the various holes in the ground and went towards Temari, who smirked.
She slammed her fan down on the ground and flung it open, hiding behind it. I can use a Kaze Bunshin to draw his attention and when he's open, I'll get him! But as she was about to form the seal, she froze. What? I can't move! How?
She felt herself standing up. She then looked at Shikamaru, who released a sigh. He said, "You look confused."
Temari said, "How did you bind me?"
Shikamaru slowly turned his head back, forcing Temari to do the same. Her eyes widened when she saw a shadow extending from beneath a medium-sized rock. "Impossible! How could you reach here?"
Shikamaru had his leg sweep nothing behind him but Temari's removed the rock to expose a hole beneath it. He said, "A sewing needle pierces a cloth twice to sew. You didn't count the Kagebari, did you? As one enters, one leaves. But there was one who didn't come up below you. I had that one pierce through that spot. Then, I just feigned helplessness to lull you into a sense of false security. Then, I ran to these holes so that you would think that I would use them to sneak up on you from behind. Luckily, your cockiness paid off."
Temari gritted her teeth as Shikamaru had her walk towards him, as he did the same. Then, both raised their hands.
But everyone was shocked when Shikamaru said, "Alright, I give up."
Temari asked, "What? Why would you?"
"I wasted enough chakra using the Kagebari no Jutsu and Kage Mane no Jutsu. Frankly, I only have enough chakra to hold on to this technique for ten seconds, tops."
Genma announced, "Well, winner by forfeiture: Sabaku no Temari."
As Shikamaru released the Kage Mane on Temari, he rubbed his shoulders as he went back up to the fighter's box. Temari looked appalled at first before she shook it off, took her fan, and flew back to the box, joining her siblings.
Genma then announced, "Next: would Omoi and Chikyu Unmei come down?" Both did so. "Alright, prepare yourselves. And begin!"
Omoi took out his sword while Chikyu formed handseals and said, "Doton: Kuroba (Earth Release: Black Blade)." Then, he put his hand on the ground, which shifted, and pulled out an obsidian black blade. He brandished it and ended in a stance.
Chikyu said, "En garde, Omoi-san."
Both charged at each other and clashed blades.
They broke deadlock and Omoi raised his blade high and slashed down. Chikyu raised his blade and blocked it. As he pushed it away, Chikyu quickly turned around and kicked Omoi in the face, narrowly avoiding the nose. Omoi flipped back and recovered to block at slash to the left. He circled the deadlock to the other side before he freed his left hand and backhanded Chikyu in the face.
Chikyu released the deadlock, managed to compose himself, and slash diagonally, blocking Omoi's downward slash.
Chikyu pushed Omoi away so that he can stand up fully and threw a number of shuriken at him.
Omoi dodged them and dashed towards Chikyu. Once within range, he said, "Kumo-ryu Mikazukigiri."
He gave a wide slash that Chikyu narrowly blocked due to the strength of the blow.
As Chikyu managed to secure himself, he ran towards Omoi, throwing a bunch of kunai at him.
Omoi parried the kunai and quickly blocked the strike from Chikyu. But, he was unprepared for the punch to his face. As Omoi flew to the stadium wall, Chikyu stabbed his sword on the ground, made quick-paced handseals and said, "Doton: Ryusa (Earth Style: Quicksand)."
Once Omoi hit the wall and descended to the ground, he began sinking. He recovered and managed to remove both his hands and make handseals. When he finished, he slammed his hands back into the quicksand and said, "Raiton: Bakuhatsu Shogeki (Lightning Style: Explosive Shock)." The ground he was in exploded with electricity as Omoi gritted his teeth in pain but managed to escape the quicksand.
As he lamented the loss of his blade, he held out his hand and said, "Raiton no Yaiba (Blade of Lightning)." Lightning coated his hand and formed into a guard-less blade.
He whipped it to the side and charged at Chikyu, who did the same.
As more clashes occurred between elemental blades, the Kazekage gazed up on the Hokage Mountain, where a small dot was on the head of the Sandaime Hokage's head. Focusing his sight upon it, he saw the dot move in a particular pattern that signaled that everything was set. He gave a discrete shake of the head, showing that he wants to wait a little longer. With a shake of the hand, he sent a signal to the 'dot' to add more to the plan as the fight goes on. The dot understood and vanished.
Omoi pushed Chikyu's blade away and slashed at him, sending a small shock to his nerves.
Chikyu fell to the ground as the shock finally reached his spine, paralyzing him. He narrowed his eyes at Omoi before he conceded defeat.
Genma announced, "Shousha, Omoi."
As everyone applauded the show of swordsmanship, Omoi and Chikyu returned to the fighter's box.
Then, he said, "Would Kinuta Dosu and Sabaku no Gaara come down to the arena?"
Everyone was quite stumped when Dosu said, "I forfeit."
Upon asking the reason, Dosu said, "My attacks would prove fruitless against an opponent with sand manipulation."
Genma nodded and gave victory to Gaara.
The Kazekage narrowed his eyes and had one of his subordinates take him for his desired jutsu. His death would further the ambition of Orochimaru, the 'strongest' of the Sannin (as he so believed), the man who would become God.
Genma said, "For the last battle of the preliminary round, would Rock Lee and Uchiha Sasuke come down to the arena?"
As both came down to the fighting grounds, the Kazekage leaned forward, intent on surveying his 'Sasuke-kun's' match with great interest. The other four noticed and frowned. He didn't seem interested when his sons and daughter fought but showed interest when a foreign shinobi fights a fellow, foreign shinobi.
Rock Lee's eyes flared with determination. "Yosh, Sasuke-kun, let us have this fight with our great Flames of Youth!"
Sasuke raised a brow before grunting and activating his Sharingan. "Whatever, Lee, let's just fight."
As Lee charged, Sasuke's eyes flashed to his side and ducked under an overhead kick. Following through, Sasuke went for a sweep kick towards Lee's remaining leg.
Lee was swept off his feet but recovered and put his hands on the ground and pushed himself away from Sasuke.
Sasuke watched Lee land and dash towards him. He dodged a punch to his chest and kicked Lee.
Lee countered by placing his other hand to block the kick and followed through by slamming is elbow on his knee. Sasuke anticipated it and quickly twisted his body around to allow the back of his knee to meet Lee's elbow, thus, removing the risk of fracture, regardless of the pain.
Sasuke flinched as the elbow made contact. That fucking hurts. Putting his hands on the ground, he exerted his efforts on his hips and twisted around, making Lee lurch forward.
Sasuke locked his legs around Lee's neck, but he was too fast. Immediately after Lee landed on the ground, he rolled away and stood up. Sasuke frowned and stood as well.
Both stared at each other before Lee put a hand to one of his leg warmers and took out a pair of nunchucks. Twirling it around him like Bruce Lee, the nunchuck went to his right hand while its match went under his armpit, Rock Lee's remaining hand outstretched (Bruce Lee's stance with a nunchuck).
Sasuke narrowed his Sharingan eyes before his hand went to his back. However, as he was about to unleash some sort of weapon, a voice within his mind spoke.
Steady your arm, child. In times of war, such weapons are to be kept secret and only to be released as a last resort. Your opponent's weapon is nothing short of common. Yours is not. This would arouse suspicion and focus all attention on how you came to learn such knowledge. It would be best for you to analyze your opponent's movements and react accordingly.
Yes, I understand. Forgive me for my impulse, Master.
You are forgiven. But do not forget this valuable lesson.
Sasuke lowered his hand and drew a kunai.
Naruto and the high-level shinobi narrowed their eyes. Sasuke seemed to want to draw something on his back but something stopped him. Instead, he drew a kunai. Something was helping him and it was unknown.
Lee didn't seem to notice and charged at him. Sasuke's eyes flashed and he began dodging Lee's attack with ease.
Then, Sasuke jumped back and threw a kunai at him. And while Lee blocked the kunai, Sasuke formed handseals and said, "Katon: Goukakyou no Jutsu." He breathed out a large fireball towards Lee.
Lee jumped over the fireball and was surprised when Sasuke was in front of him, fist drawn back to punch him. As Lee crashed to the ground, the fireball was approaching the Lee-filled crash site.
Sasuke landed and kept his eye on his opponent. Suddenly, a large outburst of chakra dispelled the fireball completely. Sasuke narrowed his eyes to avoid blinding himself with the intense chakra.
A figure slowly stood from the site and walked forward. It was Lee with a tornado of chakra swirling around him.
Every jonin-level shinobi had widened eyes.
Kakashi turned to Gai and harshly said, "You taught him the Eight Gates?"
Insert explanation
Sasuke suddenly had widened eyes as Lee suddenly appeared behind him, leg outstretched.
He felt a sharp blow to his head and fly towards the tree. Lee wasn't finished and appeared above the tree mess, fist held back to punch.
However, he was caught off guard when a log met his fist and he felt two feet slam into his back. And he was slammed into the ground. Following through, Sasuke grabbed the back of Lee's jumpsuit, threw him up into the air, and, as Lee fell, performed a difficult leg move and kicked Lee towards the wall, shouting, "Kazaguruma (Windmill)!"
Sasuke panted as he nursed his sore head. That kick was powerful to destroy rock! Thank goodness I had the good mindset to protect myself with chakra.
Lee slowly stood up with nothing more than a stream of blood going down his head.
The fight continued on…until a series of large explosions occurred in key structures in Konoha.
Sarutobi held wide eyes filled with horror before a large, purple barrier covered the Kage booth.
And the Kazekage suddenly jumped off his chair and onto the farthest wall of the barrier. He shed his robe to show Orochimaru in his grinning glory.
The invasion of Konoha has begun.
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