Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.
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Memories Of Others
Chapter 41
The Finals Continue
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"That was certainly an interesting match." The Kazekage noted as he settled back into his chair. "It would seem that you have a potential second Tsunade there."
"Perhaps." Hiruzen smiled, then he paused. "I see your daughter has a flare for the dramatic."
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Genma looked up as a shadow briefly blocked out the sun. His gaze locked on to the giant fan on which Temari was perched, then the Suna kunoichi rolled off it, closing the fan in the same instant as she dropped ten feet to the ground.
A few seconds later, her adversary appeared from the stairwell and calmly strode across the arena, bells chiming on her belt, before coming to a stop in front of Genma.
"So, you both know the rules." Genma stated, earning a pair of nods. "Good. Temari of Suna versus Tsuchi Kin of Oto… begin!"
Both shinobi remained motionless for a moment, then Temari snapped her hands into a seal.
"Kai!"
The pulse of chakra caused the Oto kunoichi to ripple out of existence and revealed her trying to sneak to the fallen trees.
"There you are!" Temari growled, swinging her fan to send a blast of cutting wind at Kin, who responded by diving over one of the fallen trunks, allowing it to take the brunt of the attack. Splinters briefly filled the air and Temari took advantage of the pause to leap into the air, buoyed on her fan by a rising column of air.
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"Can she attack without her fan?" Hiruzen asked curiously.
"Yes, but her strongest attacks are her wind techniques." The Kazekage admitted. "She has concentrated on using her fan, so her other skills may be slightly… rusty…"
"That sort of specialization may be good as part of a team, but on solo missions, it'll be a notable disadvantage." Hiruzen mused as he leaned back into his seat. "Of course, it would seem like the Oto girl is also a single-trick kunoichi with her reliance on genjutsu…"
The Kazekage twitched slightly, but didn't reply.
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"Where are you…" Temai whispered, scanning the floor of the arena for any sign of her target, then her reflexes screamed at her. As she flung herself into a diving roll, a barrage of discolored senbon sliced through the space that she had been occupying.
"Got you!" Temari snarled, swinging her fan in a complex spiral as she fell through the air. Four blasts of wind slammed into the tangle of logs that the senbon had been launched from while a fifth slowed her descent so that she landed lightly, ready to launch another attack.
"Now I've got… what the hell?"
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Kin squirmed out from underneath the half-shattered trunk, dragging her first prize with her. Propping it on the trunk, she squinted at her target, then triggered the Kunai launcher that had been abandoned in the first match, sending a score of Kunai screaming towards the fan-using bitch. As the blond bimbo used her fan to deflect the kunai, Kin pulled the second launcher out and triggered it before using the carry-strap of the final one to sling it over her back.
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Temari used a blast of wind to send the first barrage skittering away, then to deflect the second.
How? How had that arrogant little sound-bitch managed to launch…
Launch...
Launch…
The launchers!
The launchers that the Uchiha had used! They must have pre-arranged for him to leave some of them there!
That traitorous bitch! Sound must have allied with Konoha in order to take down Suna and only she knew about it!
They probably had a way to take down Gaara as well!
Temari felt a trickle of cold sweat going down her spine. She needed to end this quickly so that she could tell Gaara that his mission had changed.
"Futon: Okamaitachi no Jutsu!"
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Kin dived into a shallow recess as the air above her seemed to shatter, along with most of the logs that had been sheltering her. Pulling out a small storage scroll, she unsealed a small bag and swung it round, scattering the contents around her before hunkering down, hoping that her adversary didn't choose to simply repeat the attack until all of her cover was blown away.
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Temari smirked as she saw her target lying almost motionless in a small dip in the ground. Folding her fan so that she could use it as a club, she crept towards the traitorous genin, stepping lightly so that she wouldn't…
"Ow!"
Temari yelped as something sharp poked through her sandal, cutting into her foot. The pain caused her to fall over and she found herself looking at a caltrop, one with the tips a different color to the metal used to make it.
Realization dawned even as the world faded and her last act was to move her fingers into a sign used only by Suna.
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"The hell?" Baki muttered, lowering his telescope. "Did she mean to do that?"
"Do what?" Kankuro asked.
"That sign as she collapsed…" Baki mused. "What did she discover that made her use that sign?"
"What sign?"
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"Winner, Tsuchi Kin." Genma announced as he carefully picked his way past the scattered caltrops to pick up the Suna kunoichi. Managing to collect the fallen contestant without scratching himself on the poisoned points, he retraced his steps to where the medic-nins were waiting.
"I used a fast-acting knockout drug." Kin supplied as she stepped up beside him. "She'll be awake in a few hours, but weak for a few days."
The lead Iryonin nodded in thanks as one of his assistants gently pulled the caltrop from Temari's foot.
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"Stay here. I'm going to check on her, see if she can be revived long enough to tell me what she discovered."
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"Certainly an interesting match." Hiruzen smiled as he turned his attention to the next pair of contestants.
"It was... heh, Those two almost look like kunoichi." The Kazekage chuckled.
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Neji gave his adversary a glare from the corner of his eye. He was proud of his skin and hair, but Haku's skin was even smoother than his own, while his hair was both longer and more luxuriant. In fact, if not for his Byakugan, Neji might have mistaken Haku for a girl!
How could any boy be that pretty? It just wasn't right!
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Haku glanced at the fuming Hyuuga. He didn't know why the boy was so angry, but he put it out of his mind as the two of them came to a stop in front of the Proctor.
"Hyuuga Neji of Konoha, Yuki Haku of Mizu, are you both ready to fight?"
Both shinobi nodded.
"Then… begin!"
Remembering his research on the Jyuuken and its weaknesses, Haku dashed away from his opponent in order to avoid the chakra-infused strikes that he had been about to launch.
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"Revive her."
"But sir," The Iryonin protested, "If we do, it'll increase the amount of time needed for the poison to fully clear her system. She'll be unable to resume her shinobi career for a fortnight rather than three…"
"I said, revive her." Baki growled and the med-nin seemed to slump.
"Alright, but first, sign here to say that I warned you."
Baki scrawled his name on the proffered sheet, then watched as the Iryonin used a healing Jutsu on Temari's head, causing her to groan and stir.
"Leave."
The Iryonin scampered out of the door, closing it behind him and Baki turned back to look at his student.
"…baki-sensei…?"
"Temari." Baki said quietly. "Report."
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Another underground water cache exploded upwards, the spray turning into a barrage of Ice senbon that slashed at Neji who responded by repeating the move that had caused his cousins to gasp in shock and his uncle to smile proudly.
"Hakkeso Kaiten!"
Once again, the ice senbon shattered against the whirling chakra shield, their broken fragments forming a shallow moat around the Hyuuga prodigy.
"That is the third time you have tried and the third time you have failed." Neji stated. "You cannot win with that technique."
"Indeed I cannot." Haku admitted as he started making a series of hand-seals. "But, it means that at last, I can perform the technique that will grant me victory. Makyo Hyosho!"
The water around Neji bulged and rose upwards, solidifying into a dome of ice mirrors and Haku stepped up to the dome, then stepped into one of the mirrors, his image appearing on all of them.
"Your Kaiten is not strong enough to break my mirrors." Haku said, his voice seeming to come from all twenty-one mirrors at once. "Now, I am afraid that it is time to end this."
Neji spun round, his hands covered in chakra as he fought to deflect the senbon slashing at him from all directions but even the Genius Prodigy of the Hyuuga Clan was outmatched by the sheer speed of the attacks and within minutes, he dropped to his knees, senbon sprouting from almost every part of his body.
"I… yield!" He managed to croak and the mirrors promptly melted into falling rain as Haku re-emerged.
"Winner, Yuki Haku!" Genma announced.
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"Well done, Haku." Zabuza said so quietly that even Chojuro and Suigetsu who were flanking him didn't hear. "I'm proud of you."
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"What happened?" Baki asked as he sat down beside Kankuro.
"The mist dude used a really weird ice technique to win." Kanuro replied. "What did sis say?"
"You remember how I learned the basics of puppeting in order to help you?" Baki asked and Kankuro nodded. "Good. You need to get to Gaara before he reaches the arena floor, but leave Crow with me to hide your absence. I have a message for your brother. Give this to him"
Kankuro nodded as he accepted the folded sheet of paper and then stealthily unsealed his second puppet from the scroll, making sure that nothing showed above seat level.
"What about dad?"
"I'll inform him when he looks across." Baki growled. "Now… switch!"
Kankuro kawarimi'd with Crow, then crept away, leaving the genjutsu-disguised puppet sat next to Baki.
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The med-nin vanished through the archway leading to the medical bay and Genma turned his attention to the final pair of combatants. Aburame Shino was the first to emerge from the archway, followed a few seconds later by Gaara.
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"Fuck!" Kankuro cursed as he saw his brother step out onto the arena floor barely two meters away. "Damn it! Too slow!"
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Baki waited for the Kazekage to look at him before his hands moved in a set of movements known only to the Kazekage and those appointed into the secret Suna no Me organisation. To his shock, the Kazekage responded with the signal for Stay On Plan, but using the normal Suna sign-language.
"Oh fuck." He breathed. "That's not Rasa!"
"I didn't make it in time." Kankuro said quietly, having switched with his puppet while Baki was distracted.
"Then I have a new mission for you." Baki growled.
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Under his mask, Orochimaru frowned. He didn't recognize a single sequence that Baki had used, but his Stay On Plan signal seemed to have calmed him.
"It looks like your youngest is going to show us his power." Hiruzen said and Orochimaru's frown deepened. The Hokage knew something, but he couldn't quite work out what…
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"Aburame Shino of Konoha, Gaara of the Desert, shinobi of Suna, are you both ready?" Genma asked.
"I am prepared." Shino droned.
"I will prove my existence!" Gaara growled, earning a quirked eyebrow from Genma.
"Then the final match of the first round will… begin!"
A swarm of bugs erupted from Shino's coat and surrounded Gaara.
"Is that it?" Gaara sneered, then he started to choke, spitting as he tried to expel the bugs that had flown into his mouth.
"Your sand armor covers your skin, but every armor has a weak point." Shino stated calmly. "I wonder if your eyes are as vulnerable…"
"You'll never learn!" Gaara howled, the cork of the gourd he wore popping off as a torrent of sand flowed out, swatting away the bugs before rearing up and crashing down over Shino, reducing him to a sand-covered lump on the ground.
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"Well, that was fast." The Kazekage smirked.
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Authors Afternote – Yeah, I know. Totally evil stopping place (evil grin)
Maybe even despicable…