Never Trust A Snake ~ 32
Raditz floated in the air while Vegeta was standing on the ground with an amused grin on his face. The 'Prince of All Saiyans' looked up to his partner and chuckled, "It seems like we might be getting a new pet, Raditz," The boy joked as he started casually stretching out, while the possessed form of Gaara let out a monstrous roar. "Why don't you go entertain the tanuki while I warm up?"
"My pleasure," Raditz cracked his knuckles as he dropped down to the ground next to Vegeta. He shot off of his left foot so blindingly fast that an after image was left in his wake. The saiyan reappeared directly in front of Gaara, kneeing the boy in the gut so hard that the ground shook underneath them, but there was no reaction from the red-head.
Gaara's possessed face had a wide grin plastered on it, "Do you not understand boy!? I bolster the ultimate defense!" Raditz looked down and saw that his knee was being blocked by a layer of sand. More of the sand began to kick up around him and Raditz chose to back away. Gaara threw his hand out toward where Raditz landed and a tendril of sand shot out at trying to stab him through the chest.
The boy had learned from his first bout that the enemy of the 'ultimate defense' was untraceable speed. He decided to kick it up a notch, running circles around Gaara, and his multiple blurry after images were the only thing that Gaara could see from Raditz. The tendrils were still shooting out at him, but he was simply too fast to be hit by something so direct.
The sand continued to chase after the teenage boy, and Raditz took notice. He grit his teeth, finally taking his chance to attack from behind. He knew the tendrils of sand would cease once he was back in Gaara's personal space. There was a supercharged ball of ki in his grasp as he stabbed it through Gaara's back, which made the boy's innards explode out of his body. Sand flew everywhere and Raditz had a victorious grin on his face.
"You made this too easy for me boy," Raditz boasted as he now tried to pull his arm out, but it was stuck. The hole that he had just created in Gaara's back quickly refilled with sand, and the possessed boy turned his head to look over his shoulder with a bloodthirsty smile. "There's no way!" He looked down as sand began to creep up the length of his arm and onto his body.
"Underestimating me was your biggest mistake fool!"
Raditz's arm was so thoroughly locked into the pit of Gaara's chest that the only was out of this was cutting his arm off, and he didn't intend on losing a limb. He looked past Gaara's monstrous figure and caught wind of Vegeta still stretching with an entertained expression on his face. He moved to form a fist with his free hand, but his fingers were being held still by Gaara's sand.
He was trapped.
The saiyan had a frustrated expression on his face now, "DON'T JUST STAND THERE VEGETA, DO SOMETHING!"
Vegeta currently had his arm behind his head, "Don't rush me."
. . .
(Forest Of Death ~ With Anko)
The purple haired woman was rushing through the forest at high speeds. A team of Chuunin had alerted the proctor not too long ago of a deceased group of Kusagakure genin with their faces ripped off. She only knew one person capable of that, and Anko knew when a snake was slithering behind her back.
She had to find the man before it got completely dark out, or else he'd escape by the time morning came. Anko landed firmly on the branch once she felt an ominous feeling saturating the area. The killing intent was thick, and even as a trained killer herself it made the woman somewhat wary. Her skin was crawling as she slowly turned her head to see what was behind her.
Nothing.
When she turned back to face forward, she instantly drew a kunai and put it at the man's neck who had appeared out of nowhere, "I knew I would find you out here!"
Orochimaru grabbed Anko by the wrist and frowned deeply. Standing before her was an ugly sight to see, dead skin falling off of his face, and the red meat of his chest exposed after it being blown off completely by the combined forces of Pepper and N, "That's because I'm not hiding, child," He tightened his grip on her wrist and furrowed his brow. "I know you want to talk to me, but now is not the time."
Anko was breathing heavily, finally being able to confront the man that had put her through so much. She grinded her teeth together angrily, ready to lash out, but the man's hold on her put her in a vulnerable position. From her sleeve, snakes slowly started slithering out, "Fuck that, why are you here, Orochimaru!?"
He broke away from the hold he had on her and backpedaled across the branch. Anko shot forward and tried striking him with a precise string of punches and kicks, but Orochimaru was far too wily to be captured that way. The man jumped off of the branch and gained higher ground, using his fingers to activate a simple seal.
Before she could give chase to Orochimaru, she instantly buckled over in pain, as the seal on her neck was activated. The man looked down on her and folded his arms over each other, "I don't have time for these petty games, Anko, I am not your enemy." He hated to admit it but, "Our interests are aligned for the moment."
Anko grabbed at her neck and tried to hold back screams of agony, "What the hell do you mean?"
"Have you been paying attention to who you've allowed in this exam?" Orochimaru questioned the downed girl while shaking his head in disappointment. "Fourteen percent of the exam entrants were extraterrestrials, and there hundreds more of them filtering into your wretched village by the day."
Anko was starting to overcome the pain, and come to a stand once more. She looked up at Orochimaru, who was almost unrecognizable after he had his face blown off by a pair of teenagers, "What the hell does that even mean?"
"For the last few decades, there have been reports of beings coming from outer space and occupying our land. Some aren't hostile, but there are a select few that have power comparable to tailed beasts easily, and they're planning on destroying Konoha to use as their own," Orochimaru explained the predicament to his former student. "By way of your own foolishness, you've allowed hordes of them into the village to corner you."
"That's our problem to handle then, Orochimaru!"
"I cannot trust you or the Hokage, so I had to take things into my own hands. I have an eye watching over village now, if anyone is going to destroy Konoha it will be me," Orochimaru was slowly starting to sink into the branch of the tree, "Carry on the exam as scheduled, I'll keep you updated if something else happens. Watch your back, Anko."
"But, Oroc-" The man disappeared before she could say anything else, biting her lip once he vanished. For Orochimaru of all people to be concerned about Konoha's wellbeing meant something was going horribly wrong in the ninja world.
She had to report this to the Hokage.
. . .
(The Saiyans vs. Gaara)
Raditz reared his head back, screaming in pain as the sand holding him stabbed his arm and nearly snapped it in two. There was even more pain spreading across his body once the minute amounts of sand covering the other parts of his body mimicked the act that happened on his arm. Precise tendrils of sand tried to stab at his vitals, "VEGETA!"
Vegeta rolled his eyes as he finally stopped stretching, still not dashing into the battle to aid like Raditz wanted him to. He was still observing, "Perhaps if you weren't such a weakling, you wouldn't need my help." He mocked as he continued watching Raditz struggle to break free.
The boy cried out in pain after his arm was forcefully broken, and he was now being stabbed all over. Sand continued to layer over his body, and the normally composed saiyan was starting to mentally break down at the thought of actually dying in battle. Dying in battle by the hands of a human, regardless of what was sealed inside him made it even worse in his mind.
Sand started to crawl up his torso and grab at his throat, and the vision in his eyes was starting to get hazy. His eyes moved past Gaara choking the life out of him once again, trying to focus on Vegeta who was simply standing watching with a blank face. If he lived through this, he would never forgive him.
"Vegeta, if Raditz dies we'll get eliminated!" Mai screamed out shakily from the bushes, the leaves rustling as she instantly moved to a different position. "Tsuchikage-sama will tear us apart if we get disqualified."
Vegeta growled, "You're lucky the girl said something." The boy with the strong widow's peak saw enough to know what to do. He crouched down and instantly shot forth with amazing speed. As he moved, he formed a simple cross seal with his fingers, and four copies of himself popped into existence to join the battle.
They were all moving so fast that Gaara's defense couldn't keep up. He wasn't going for a kill shot, just a distraction. After seeing Raditz fail at trying to use brute force against the possessed genin, he mentally cursed at himself because he would have to stoop down to a shinobi's level to beat him. What Gaara now had in power, he lacked in pure skill, and Vegeta had both.
The confident Iwa-genin pulled out a kunai, as he maneuvered through the constantly shifting sand defense, and powered his weapon with chakra. He raised his arm into the sky and then slashed downward, ignoring the loud scream of pain that came from Raditz's mouth. Vegeta kicked the boy in the chest and sent him flying away as all of the sand that covered him flew off of his body.
"It's just you and me now, boy," Vegeta said as he tossed the kunai to the side. He had made himself vulnerable in his effort to keep Raditz alive, and a giant hand made of sand tried to smash him like an insect. He was quick to react though, and with a single hand he held up the massive appendage from crushing him, "I'm nothing like that peon you just fought, come at me with your best."
"Ha! If you think you're going to last any longer than your partner, you're a damn imbecile!" The possessed boy let out a loud laugh as he tried to press down on Vegeta with his enlarged hand, but Vegeta violently threw him off his balance, and followed it up with a blast of ki that opened another large hole in his chest.
Gaara tumbled across the ground, while Vegeta stayed put. He took a deep breath; his clones had long since been dispelled, and needed to keep this battle at a range. Unless he wanted to end up like Raditz, he was going to completely avoid any kind of hand-to-hand combat as long as he possibly could.
"YOU BASTARD, YOU CUT OFF MY ARM!"
The short boy looked over his shoulder, saying nothing as he watched Raditz continue to yell in anger mixed with immense pain after finally registering that his hand had been cut off courtesy of Vegeta. He didn't seem to care, returning his glance to Gaara, who was getting back on his feet.
"I WILL KILL YOU, VEGETA, YOU CUT OFF MY ARM!"
"Stop whining, you'll get another one," Vegeta said nonchalantly as tried to form another plan before Gaara got on the offensive. He cursed under his breath when the boy dashed forward with shocking speed, and parried a punch from his oversized hands with his forearm.
Vegeta retreated from close quarters combat and ascended to the air. Gaara's sand quickly followed him, and he had to move through multiple hands made of sand trying to swat him down like a fruit-fly. He decided to use a tactic from Raditz's playbook, and started flying around in a circle, turning into a blur.
Gaara's eyes were moving back and forth quickly trying to keep up with Vegeta's form, but it was all a blur. The boy tried to swat him out of the air, but he was simply too fast. Once again at a disadvantage, Gaara was frustrated to no end and let out a powerful roar that sent wind flying out from all directions of his body.
The saiyan boy was thrown off of his course and had to protect himself by blocking his face from the strong wind Gaara kicked up. He held his position in the air, "Stop toying with me human, and show me the rest of that sad excuse you call a power up!" Vegeta held his hand out and it started to glow, while the possessed form of Gaara began to growl.
"YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE ME AT FULL POWER!"
"I'm not going to ask twice," Vegeta furrowed his brow as he brought up his other hand and started to fire off a barrage of ki-blasts that didn't stop for a whole minute. His display of power kicked up a large cloud of dust that hampered with his vision, but an excited grin crossed his face when he did begin feeling a spike in Gaara's power level.
"YOU'RE GOING TO REGET THIS!"
Vegeta wasn't at all impressed by the energy that was starting to pour into the area. He rolled his eyes, now bringing his index and middle finger up in front of his face. His other hand was placed over his forearm as he gathered his energy, "Time to end this, I had fun watching you bully my friend Raditz though."
The demonic aura only continued to get stronger, and Vegeta wasn't seeing things his teammate Mai's angle. She was currently behind the ever growing form of Gaara, "Vegeta, stop you're going to get us all killed!"
"Shut up girl, this is my fight!" With no regard for any life around him, Vegeta slashed his hand through the air, as explosive energy began to bubble in the area where he sensed Gaara.
From Mai's point of view, at first it had gone dark because of the large figure that was blocking her view, and then suddenly a shining light began illuminating the entire forest.
"Say goodbye you piece of shit!"
. . .
(Forest of With ~ With Chi-Chi and Mao)
Mao tucked her hair behind her ear and continued meticulously working on the seal she had come up with not too long ago. She had to be precise with her strokes, or the seal would backfire and ultimately malfunction when she poured her chakra into it. It was a tedious task, sweating dripping down the side of her face as she continued her process.
Chi-Chi had her hands on her hips, tapping impatiently as she watched the girl work. Mao explained it would take a while before she started, but she was starting to get antsy when the forest started to shake as the night went on. Goku could be in serious trouble, and she didn't want to risk losing one of her friends, "Mao…"
"I'm working as fast as I can," Mao was slowly moving her hand as she continued drawing the proper arrays for the seal to work how she intended.
"What is this thing going to do anyway?" Chi-Chi asked, crouching down to take a look at the girl's work while she continued to move her hand steadily with the brush.
"It'll establish a direct link between you and I," Mao explained, pausing briefly to look at the sheet of paper she was drawing on. A small nod to herself, she went back to work, "As long as my Toki Jun is active, and you're within my range I'll be able hone in your location. We'll also be able to send data back and forth to each other."
"Wow, Mao, that's amazing," Chi-Chi complimented.
Mao grinned as she appeared to be putting the finishing touches on the seal. As she was on her last stroke, her hand was thrown off once the whole area started shaking, and she was thrown into Chi-Chi's grasp.
Debris went flying over the bridge and some of the water was thrown off its course and splashed in their face. The earthquake like force didn't stop a few minutes, and the two girls were shaking in fear as an ominous aura started to suffocate the forest.
"Okay, Mao, change of plans."
. . .
(Vegeta vs. Shukaku)
Mai's jaw went slack as she blown away by the huge explosion created by Vegeta. There were branches and huge slabs from the ground flying everywhere that she was narrowly avoiding. To make matters worse, once of the largest beings she had ever seen had been knocked off of its footing by Vegeta's attack, and was about to fall over and crush her as well as a huge section of the forest upon impact.
She looked up to the sky and prayed, 'Please, kami, I never wanted to be a ninja!' The girl crossed her fingers and closed her eyes. 'Don't let me go out like this,' The girl said to herself, and after hearing Shukaku drop to the ground; she thought it was all over. Mai felt weightless, and like she was floating in the air. She was too scared to open her eyes, not yet ready to see the afterlife.
"Open your eyes you stupid girl," Vegeta's frustrated voice made her do as instructed. She looked down and saw the whole forest from where they were levitating, the huge body of Shukaku stirring as it started to get up off of the ground. Her heart was racing, as she clutched onto the saiyan, who was currently holding her bridal style. "If you don't want to die, I suggest you listen."
Mai looked around in the sky, her face now confused, "Where's Raditz?"
Her question was answered fast, "YOU INCOMPENTENT MONKEY!" Raditz came flying at full speed, trying to tackle Vegeta out of the air, but Vegeta swiftly moved to the side, and started to float away from the angered boy. He was infuriated, "HOW DARE YOU CUT OFF MY ARM!?"
Vegeta stared blankly at Raditz before it slowly turned into a smirk, as the boy kept lashing out at him for cutting off his arm. The prince ducked under one of his punches, and then planted a firm foot into the side of the boy's head that made him stop his assault. Vegeta followed it up by rearing his head back and smashing it into Raditz's already injured chest and sent him back toward the ground.
"Without my help you surely would have died," Vegeta said smoothly after knocking away his partner with Mai still in his grasp. There was a bit of blood dripping from his forehead that he completely ignored. His voice boomed down to Raditz, who had stopped himself from plummeting right into the belly of Shukaku, "Your fear of death is starting to become a thorn in my side, and it's been a liability for years."
Raditz opened his mouth to respond, but Vegeta deftly cut him off, "Even the human girl isn't as pitiful as you." He hoisted Mai over his shoulder and started descending down to Raditz's level, so the boy could lock eyes with him, and feel how serious he was. "As long as you're scared to die, you'll never be able to achieve new heights. If you continue to be a burden, the moment this exam is over I will kill you myself." The malicious energy that exuded from Vegeta made it hard for Raditz to move, let alone say anything.
Vegeta was deathly serious, and it sent an uncomfortable chill up his spine.
"Now, take the girl, I have business to attend to," Vegeta said as he threw Mai haphazardly through the air, and Raditz was forced to catch her with his only hand by her hair. She yelped in pain by being held like a rag-doll, "You're too weak to fight this battle, keep her alive until I'm done."
"What makes you so confident you'll win?" Raditz asked incredulously.
"Because I'm not you," Vegeta said as he was suddenly surrounded by a white aura. His power level took a considerable hike upward and he let himself freefall from the air, readjusting his position so he was facing the ground as he shooting from the sky like a meteor, and his intention was to destroy the tailed beast that still hadn't recovered from his Bakuhatsuha.
"Show yourself boy!" Shukaku shouted as it used its sand to push itself back up to a stand. It couldn't sense the boy's energy until the last second, as Vegeta ripped through its entire body, entering from the head, and exiting through his ass. It tried to use the sand that composed it to strike him down while he was inside of him, but the boy was gone just as quickly as he had entered.
The hole created by Vegeta's act was filled with sand, and what once was Gaara scanned over their battle field, seeing nothing. Shukaku let out a fierce growl that shook all of the spectators that were crowding around the area, at a safe distance, so they could watch Vegeta take on one of the legendary tailed beasts by himself, "Hiding will do nothing for you boy, do you really think the almighty Shukaku can't find a mere child!?"
Vegeta's voice started to boom throughout the area, but he himself was no where in sight, "I'm not hiding from you, you wretched beast." The ground underneath Shukaku began to rumble, and it averted its eyes to the forest floor. Slabs of the forest floor burst into the sky, as an army of Vegeta clones slowly ascended from the underground. The beast's eyes moved quick, counting fifty clones of Vegeta. "I must say, these shinobi arts are starting to become useful. What's more reliable than one Prince?"
All the clones spoke in unison, "A whole platoon of them."
"It doesn't matter how many of you there are, I'll destroy them," Shukaku waved it's arm, sending a gust of wind in the direction of all the Vegeta's and the unfortunate spectators. Much to the beast's chagrin, none of them dispelled, instead being thrown into everything surrounding the area. It furrowed its brow after seeing them all moving to get back up, "No mere clone is that durable!" It opened its mouth as it prepared multiple compressed blasts of wind.
One of the clones spoke up, "We're not clones split by chakra, fool, and we're created by the natural energy absorbed by the original. Your flimsy ass winds won't be e-" This particular clone wasn't quick enough to avoid being smashed by a compressed blast of wind. The rest of the clones that got a relay of the specific memory in their mind instantly took to the air to avoid the same fate of their duplicate friend. They all covered each other's asses perfectly, maneuvering through the air, and all them throwing shuriken trying to distract the large tailed beast they were doing battle with.
It waved its giant arms to block the shuriken, and the metal weapons slowly sunk into its sandy skin. It lowered its limb and instantly started shooting bullets made of sand into the clones. Fighting a tailed beast was no simple task, and some of them couldn't take the brute force behind the sand bullets that were landing in their vitals; disappearing from existence with a poof of smoke, "Face it boy, I'm your worst nightmare!"
"I'd like to think I was yours," There were only fifteen Vegeta's remaining. The brief bout between the Prince of All Saiyans and Shukaku was beginning to take a toll on the forest. Trees were uprooted from the ground, debris everywhere, and a few casualties among the groups of genin that were too close while watching the fight. The clones snickered as they held their hands to the sky, chakra starting to slowly rotate in the palm of their hands. "I've had fun, I really have, but it's time we stop playing games."
Shukaku laughed at the cocky genin and swatted at least four more clones of Vegeta down to the ground, dispelling them upon impact. The others scattered about the air, now holding a disc of sharp, rotating chakra above their heads. The beast looked up and cracked a smile, shooting out even more bullets of sand at the remaining clones.
They all threw the discs of chakra, Shukaku moving to guard, but ultimately lost one of his arms in the process, while the other discs were completely futile. It let out bellowing roar that shook all of the clones to their core, and it swung it's huge arm, dispelling the remainder of the duplicates. It was beginning to get irritated to end, when once again; the field was empty, and there was no Vegeta. Even if it was slowly reforming; having his arm torn off was utterly disrespectful, especially by an impudent child, "STOP PLAYING WITH ME BOY, SHOW YOURSELF!"
The real Vegeta was rising out of the ground with a smirk on his face, "Hm, how disappointing. I thought my clones would be able to finish you off." He rolled his neck, letting his arms fall to the side after using his 'Hiding Like A Mole' technique to stay underground and come up with a plan. He instantly shifted from his position, dashing across the ground when bullets of sand and wind were trying to turn him into a splat on the land.
Shukaku laughed out loud, when Vegeta fell for his feint, and he smashed his hand on top of the boy when he got into the spot he predicted him to move to. Expecting to see a smear of blood on the ground, Shukaku's face twisted in confusion when he felt resistance under his monstrous hand. He tried harder to press down, but he still couldn't kill the inhumanly strong Vegeta, "YOU FOOL, I'VE GOT YOU RIGHT WHERE I WANT YOU!"
"Do you really?" Vegeta questioned the giant beast made of sand. Since he was out of sight from everyone, no one could see the amount struggle on his face. Holding up the hand of the tailed beast was no laughing matter, and it was a battle he was starting to lose. The boy was sweating furiously as he tried to push up and out of Shukaku's palm, but the monster kept applying force. Vegeta let out a scream of pain, as he forced his muscles in his arm to tear trying to keep up the beast's hand.
He tried to ascend off of the ground, "FUCK!" Vegeta looked down at his feet and saw that they were encased in sand. The entire time he was struggling for supremacy with one of the strongest beings to ever walk the Earth, sand was falling from the beast's palm, and wrapping around his body. Vegeta was so caught up with trying to free himself he didn't notice, and now there was hell to pay.
The entire forest floor collapsed in on itself, as it was washed over by a wave of sand that came from Shukaku. Vegeta had to spit sand out of his mouth as he was suddenly knocked over, being dragged forward by the ankles, and looked up to see Shukaku with a victorious grin on his face. His whole body was wrapped in sand, restricting his movements, and his heart was beating sporadically, since he was definitely looking death in the face at this moment.
"You were more exciting than your friend, I must admit, boy, but this is the end of you," Shukaku said to Vegeta as it opened its mouth wide and started generating a dark chakra that made the boy uncomfortable. The evil energy that flooded the area as it generated the most menacing attack he ever laid his eyes on sent a chill up his spine. What made matters worse, was the attack was focused on nothing other than him. He was at Shukaku's mercy.
He wouldn't accept loss though, and his eyes slowly started to illuminate with energy in his last ditch effort. Perhaps if he could disrupt the attack, it would implode on itself, and set him free of the restrictive sand? It wouldn't hurt to try, but before he could act on his impulse; everything stopped.
Vegeta watched in awe as the dark energy from the impending bijudama slowly dissipated, and the large tailed beast placed its hands on the sides of its head. He was still trapped in the sand, but at least he wouldn't be blown to smithereens by the biju's most powerful attack.
"This is my fight, Shukaku!"
. . .
(Forest of Death – Outside of Vegeta vs. Shukaku)
The fight between the alien child and the Jinchuriki had drawn a surprising crowd of spectators. They all set aside their respective battles for the scrolls to gawk at one of the highest powered fights to ever bless their genin eyes. Seeing a mere child fly through the air and combat one of the legendary tailed beasts and not dying within the first few seconds was amazing. Even more so after seeing Vegeta visibly troubling the beast, cutting off his arm, and forcing him to draw his trump card against him.
"Just how strong is that boy?" A masked shinobi asked in awe, looking back at his leader with worry written all over his features, even if no one could see it; they could feet it. His voice was shaking with fear, not only was a tailed beast on the loose within the Forest of Death, but there was child who seemed almost as powerful as the biju holding his own.
Of all the bystanders, for the literal leader of the village to be in the forest to watch this fight was an even crazier spectacle to see. He was well hidden in his position, of course, but after the whole section was torn apart by Shukaku and Vegeta; it was hard to stay low key. The old man let a smile stretch on his seasoned face, "Even I don't know myself, but he is quite the formidable shinobi."
He had been watching the fight since the beginning. After his presence was requested by the likes of Anko Mitarashi, he decided to meet the woman personally in her domain. The original plan was to pass through the forest unnoticed, but it was hard to slip by two forces of nature going against each other within his village.
"Hokage-sama, we can't just stand by and watch," Another ANBU guarding the man spoke up. "If the Ichibi defeats the boy and breaks into the village, we'll have a serious problem."
Hiruzen firmly shook his head, "Even if the boy loses, it will take the beast quite some time to escape the forest. I have sentries prepared." He grinned at the worried ANBU, "Have some faith in the youth, they tend to surprise us every once and while." That was the end of the conversation, leaving the ANBU there standing in silence, as the Hokage continued to watch the exchange between Vegeta and Shukaku.
The man's attention was broken before Shukaku started forming the bijudama, when he heard rumblings among the other spectators about the 'Hokage,' and he was forced to make his leave. He looked at his two ANBU guards, and all three of them nodded.
With a mere shushin, all three of them were gone without a trace.
. . .
(Forest of Death)
The whole forest was in an uproar, and Team Asuma wasted no time moving throughout the night as they trekked toward the center of Training Ground 44 to find the tower that was mentioned at the beginning of the test. With the remainder of the genin choosing to watch the fight between Vegeta and Shukaku, the trio of genin decided to use it to their advantage, and run to the finish line while everyone else chose to be gawkers.
Anybody with eyes could see the monstrous figure that was Shukaku, and the Konoha genin's natural instinct was to run away, which happened to be their specialty. Shikamaru looked over his shoulder and saw that Choji was distracted as they ran through the forest, "Choji, eyes up front! Come on, you can't get distracted that easily."
"What if our friends are in trouble, Shikamaru?" Choji said with a frown, as he turned his attention to Shikamaru, who was currently leading the team, while reading off of a rough map he created the moment they entered the forest. "We can't just let them die."
"That's the whole point of this exam, Choji, to test your abilities in mission-like circumstances," Shikamaru explained to him, as well as Ino who looked equally worried. He frowned, "I understand you're scared, but if this were war; we can't worry about our comrades the entire time. They have a mission and so do we. If we let out emotions rule our judgment, what good are we?"
"Shikamaru's right, Choji," Ino hated to admit it, but the lazy boy had a point. The scrolls were supposed to represent valuable information, and if they risked the info even though they had a clear cut path to their destination to go back and saved fellow Konoha teams they'd be stupid. They weren't directly in this exam as one big team, so they had to operate almost as if they didn't exist. "They might be our comrades outside of this, but right now, everyone is the enemy."
Choji sighed, "Fine, I guess you guys are right." The fat Konoha genin rubbed his stomach and frowned, "But I'm starting to get hungry, I hope there's food at the tower."
"This is all so troublesome," Shikamaru mumbled to himself as they ran at high speeds. "I can't wait until this damn test is over."
. . .
(Gaara vs. Vegeta)
From the head of Shukaku, Gaara rose, looking like a zombie while he was attached to the ethereal being made of chakra. When Vegeta drove him past the point of partial transformation, Shukaku had control for a portion of the fight, but after a long internal battle with beast; he was starting to regain control of the situation. He was still crazy as all hell, but it was definitely a start.
Vegeta quietly thanked the boy's surprisingly strong will power, as he carved himself out of the sand encasing his body with beams from his eyes. He could have done the same for Raditz, but he needed to teach the boy a lesson earlier. Vegeta rolled out of the sand, and backpedaled away from the monstrous figure towering over him, "Welcome back, child."
"I will finish you for myself this time!" Gaara spoke through Shukaku, his voice distorted by the demonic chakra that was still fighting to control him. He was in an unstable state, but he was good enough to fight. "I needed to see your blood shed with my own eyes."
"I can't promise that pleasure, boy," Vegeta accepted the fact that he couldn't flat out kill Shukaku after fighting him. The muscles in his arm were done for, and it would take more time than he had to recover from his injuries. He took a deep breath, finally seeing why the beast was sealed inside of a host, because they were damn hard to get rid of. "These words have been exchanged a few times during this battle, but it truly is over now."
Gaara raised his arms, as a javelin made of sand was formed and he began shooting them at the boy on the ground. He repeatedly spammed the attacked, and planned on doing so until Vegeta was dead. While the boy was injured, he was still extremely fast on his feet and avoided the javelins in a zigzag pattern.
He rolled across the forest floor and took a deep breath, before shooting out a large blast of fire form his mouth without forming a hand seal. It had no structure to it, and it smashed in Shukaku's face, blinding his vision for a moment. Vegeta instantly retreated to trees that remained in the forest, and shook his head as viewers of the fight were seen fleeing upon him running into the space they were watching from.
The Prince of All Saiyans took this moment of reprieve to catch his breath and regain his bearings. His ability to use ninjutsu was shot to hell for the moment, since he couldn't even stand to raise his arms, lest the intense pain from his torn muscle ligaments eat away at him. The most he could do was take the stinging pain for a moment to form a cross seal, and send a few clones back into the fight to distract the tailed beast while he recovered.
He let his arms limply fall back down to his sides and bit his lip trying to ease the pain of his injuries. The boy wouldn't dare be trying to do anything with multiple hand seals, so he had to rely on strictly taijutsu to see him out of this situation. Even with his inhuman reserves, he was low on chakra, as well as ki, and it wouldn't be long before he would be exhausted.
Memories from one of his clones were filtering back to him, so he knew it was time for him to move.
Gaara/Shukaku on the other hand was having a blast playing 'Whack-a-Mole' with Vegeta's clones. He smashed his large fist on the head of a clone, forcing it to burst, and another was destroyed by a shockingly fast bullet that destroyed the lower half of its body upon impact. With one last swing of its large arm, a gust of wind sent the remainder of the clones flying into the thick of the forest, to be dispelled once and for all, "I'm tired of these games!"
"So am I," Vegeta said in a muffled tone, revealing himself to be running up the length of Shukaku with a kunai in his mouth. Once he was in range, he threw the kunai at Gaara, but the red-head simply caught it and tossed it out of his way. Vegeta had to weave through multiple tendrils of sand, propelling himself out of harm's way with a front flip, and landed right behind Gaara.
Vegeta swung his foot around and tried to smash it into Gaara's side, but he blocked with his forearm. The saiyan broke away and now had to avoid even more sand shooting from underneath him. The boy's stamina was beginning to wear down, and he was caught around the ankle by the sand once more.
He was launched into the air, as Gaara lifted his hands, and Shukaku mimicked the boy's movements. Vegeta was smashed between Shukaku's palms and immediately felt one of his ribs break and threaten to stab something vital. He coughed up a bit of blood, and was instantly dropped out of the sky.
Before he could hit the ground, Shukaku lifted its tail and used it to punch Vegeta across the forest floor and into a row of trees that were instant uprooted from the ground by the impact. Vegeta yelped out in pain, never being so thoroughly beaten in his life. Even after all the damage he was taking though, he still had the slimmest amount of energy to stand up, but ended up falling down to his knee.
"Face it, this is the end of you!"
"Are you sure you don't want my help now, Vegeta?" Raditz was floating not too far from where Vegeta landed with a slight smirk on his features. "It seems like you could use it," He said mockingly, and got a menacing glare from Vegeta.
Mai, who was still being held by the hair frowned at them both, "You two really are the worst teammates I've ever had."
"No, this is exactly what I wanted you idiot, stay out of this!" Vegeta yelled as he smiled like a mad-man. There was white energy beginning to radiate off of his body, as the feeling in his arms was slowly starting to come back. He balled up his fist as his power returned even greater than before it left. Shukaku had the upper hand not too long ago, and if would have taken one more hit; it would have been over, but he managed to survive its onslaught.
"Why the hell would he want to get torn apart?" Mai asked with a confused look on her face.
"Zenkai (Full Release)," An ability he had never been able to achieve during his thirteen years of life. He watched Vegeta's power start to come back to him, and he knew that the boy was going to be even stronger than he was before. "Whenever a saiyan experiences fatal injuries or a near death situation, should they survive it; they come back even stronger than before." With him being so scared of death, he could never exploit the ability. "Once Vegeta realized he wasn't strong enough to flat out over power the tailed beast, he decided to abuse Zenkai, so he could get an increase in power, and turn the tides of the fight."
"That's ridiculous."
Vegeta rolled his neck, as he shot off of the ground and swiftly avoided all of the tailed beast's attempts to knock him out of the air. He landed on the head of Shukaku, skidding across the top of the demon to a halt and calmly started power walking toward Gaara's body. Tendrils of sand tried shooting at him, but he batted them away like they were mere nuisances, and grabbed Gaara by the throat.
"Thank you, without you I would never gotten stronger," Vegeta ripped Gaara out of the body of Shukaku and started choking the life out of him. He grinned, the demon underneath him beginning fade away to return to its host, and he himself was now floating in the air. Normally he would have ended the boy's life right there, but he chose to drop the boy out of the sky and let him hope for the best. He had wasted too much time fighting him, and he was somewhat relieved for it all to be over, since he knew biju couldn't be killed; he didn't want to deal with the resurfacing beast for quite some time.
Everyone else who was still watching the fight were utterly shocked, and there was a stir in the forest after the boy descended to ground with a victorious grin on his face.
They couldn't believe what they were seeing, "Kami, that boy just defeated a tailed beast all by himself!"
Damn right he did.
. . .
Vegeta just got his first gym badge, I'm damn proud of him. I hope that fight was enjoyable to read, because I was entertained writing it. There aren't any extraordinary music vibes that brought this chapter on, but enjoy it regardless.
Stay wAvy kids. ~