Goku The Genius 2 ~ 35

Vegeta had a kunai held to Mao's throat, "Did you really think you could go this long without seeing me, Kakarot?" He grinned when he saw the look of utter shock on Goku's face once he ran happily into the clearing. The prince had been waiting a long time for this moment, "You didn't really think this girl's chakra was strong enough to guide you, did you? I augmented her jutsu to draw you out, and it worked perfectly."

Despite the situation, Goku laughed while scratching his head, "I knew I'd see you, I just hoped it wouldn't be right now." He wasn't at full strength by a long shot, and a fight with Vegeta wasn't what he needed at the moment. Goku walked up to Chi-Chi's side while cracking his knuckles, "So why don't we just go our merry ways, Vegeta, we can do this another time."

Chi-Chi noticed the bandages underneath Goku's top and the few minor burns he had on his face. He looked like he had taken a beating, yet his presence felt stronger whether he knew it or not. She reached into her equipment and pulled out a kunai, tossing it to Goku, "Don't be such a puss Goku, we can handle him together." When Goku turned his head and smiled awkwardly, she furrowed her brow, "How do you even know this guy?"

"Um, long story," Being ran out of Iwagakure with a transformed Vegeta on his ass shooting fireballs left a lasting memory, and somehow the boy holding Mao hostage felt even stronger than their first encounter. He wasn't awake to see Vegeta fight off the Ichibi, but that certainly wouldn't have helped his case either. Even K told him to run if he crossed paths with Vegeta, but the variable in the situation was him having his teammate, "Hand Mao over first, and then we can have the fight that you want so bad."

"That's all I wanted to hear, Kakarot," Vegeta threw Mao across the clearing and she tumbled right to Goku's feet. The spiky haired kumo-genin braced himself to take off running toward Vegeta, but Chi-Chi beat him to the punch. He watched in awe as the girl jumped into the air and then slammed her fist into the ground. While a normal person probably would have broken their hand and looked like a damn fool, Chi-Chi's punch had much better results.

Everyone else nearly lost their footing as the ground before Vegeta shattered, and a huge cloud of dust and debris was kicked up into the air. Using the cloud she created as a distraction, Chi-Chi was instantly running back to her team, shaking the pain away from her hand, "Don't just stare at me, let's go!" She grabbed a disgruntled Mao off of the ground, and a shocked Goku quickly ran after her. If a head strong person like Goku thought it was a bad idea to fight, she knew it had to be a terrible idea then.

They took to the trees and started moving in the opposite direction so they could put distance between them and Vegeta. Goku was still amazed by Chi-Chi's sudden show of strength, "When did you get that strong? That was awesome!" He couldn't fight back his childish glee after seeing her cause a mini-earthquake with just her hand.

"I'm not that strong, it's just a jutsu my dad taught me," The girl explained, now having Mao hoisted over her shoulder as they bounced through the forest. She looked down at her bloody knuckle and frowned, since she had yet to master said jutsu. Chi-Chi looked at Goku, "It's called Gyūmaō No Ken (Ox King Fist)." A technique she didn't plan on using until she could properly control it, but with desperate times came desperate measures.

"If you don't mind me saying, we need to head to the tower," Mao had seen how battered Goku looked upon arriving on the scene. "Even with the three of us, we're in no condition to fight." She said as wind was flying into her face while they traveled, "My chakra is exhausted and I need adequate time to rest."

Goku nodded, remembering the picture of the map they saw before entering the forest, "If we follow the river, we should be able to make it to the center before morning comes." He had already factored in the inevitable encounters from enemy ninja, wild animals, and the fact that they were all injured or exhausted to a degree. "Follow me," since he had just came from the river he knew exactly where to go. He leapt ahead of the two girls and began their trek to the body of water.

Oops, he forgot to factor in Vegeta.

The prince of all saiyans flew through the air like a hawk, and grabbed Goku off of the branch like he was sneaking up on his prey. Vegeta grinned while Goku struggled to break free from his iron grip, "That whole cut and run bid you and your wenches did was cute, but that's not enough to lose me." Vegeta started flying closer to the ground and forcefully dragged Goku's face through the dirt while going at high speeds. It wasn't a pretty sight, but damn was it entertaining.

Goku instantly spat out all of the accumulated mud and bugs that he nearly swallowed as Vegeta started to ascend higher into the air, latching onto Vegeta's arms, and the two saiyan boys were now full-out wrestling in the sky. Goku still had a kunai in his other hand, cutting away at Vegeta's torso, sending blood flying everywhere, while the Iwa-genin was punching Goku in his face repeatedly, but couldn't get him to let go.

Vegeta's shirt was sliced open and Goku smiled when he was how heavily bandaged the saiyan was. He was in no condition to fight either, and a small glint of hope shined in Goku's eyes when he saw the bloodstained bandages. Now he knew where to aim, as he tried to land another stab right at his ribs to reinjure whatever the boy was trying to heal, and Vegeta wasn't having it, "No!" The boy knocked the kunai out of Goku's hands, and the Kumo-native tried to reach out and grab it before it fell to ground.

Apparently he reached too far.

Goku lost his grip on Vegeta and immediately started dropping to the ground. Since he risked it all for the bladed weapon, he figured he might as well use it. Loading the kunai with chakra, it set ablaze and he tossed it with the remainder of his strength at the still airborne Vegeta. The boy was clutching at the surprisingly deep wounds Goku had landed, and barely even noticed the kunai coming for his head. Kumo's resident alien was pleased when he heard a scream of pain before he himself hit the ground with a nearly back-breaking thud.

That would have been the perfect time to find out he could manipulate wind chakra, but the universe wasn't that kind. Pain washed all over his body after being dropped from so high, and his vision grew hazier as the adrenaline from fighting an overpowered alien child in the middle of air was starting to wear off. He placed his hand on his face when he felt blood trickling down from his nose, "Great, my nose is broken."

He had hit the ground so hard, all of the birds that were perched on the trees flew away and other smaller animals scurried off as they unknowingly gave away his location. If Vegeta had any strength left, he could swoop down and kill him with no problems. Goku shut his eyes and let out a deep, pained sigh as he reopened them and stared to the sky. The spot where he once saw Vegeta was now nothing but blue with white speckled clouds passing over.

After being so thoroughly beaten once again, he was exhausted and could barely sense half the things going on around him. He probably wouldn't know where Vegeta was until after he was killed by the prince. Goku chuckled to himself, turning his head, but didn't even gasp in surprise when there was a bear cub hovering over his body sniffing him. He could barely make the bear out through now swollen eyes, but he still smiled, "Hey, little buddy."

XxX

(Moments later – with Vegeta)

"Damn, Kakarot," he was getting tired of shinobi's methods of fighting. Everything they did was nothing but silly magic and cheap tricks to him. Vegeta had dropped down to the forest floor to follow Goku's trail, while also feeling at the newly created wound on his face. At first, Goku had left multiple cuts all over his chest, and reopened a few wounds from his fight with Gaara, but he decided to follow up by leaving a permanent scar on his right cheek.

If hadn't moved his head quickly enough, he'd probably have a kunai lodged right between his eyes, but he narrowly avoided the knife. There was a deep gash on his right cheek, which wouldn't have been a problem, but it seemed that Goku was outgoing and decided to layer his last ditch effort with fire chakra, and now there was a burn surrounding his cut. He ran his hand over it just to see how deep it was and frowned.

For now he would focus on stopping the blood that was flowing so freely down his cheek, and then he'd have Mai stitch it up after he ended Kakarot for good. He was currently walking through the thick of the forest, starting to see signs of where the boy crashed. There was a thin cloud of dust that was still in the air from when he landed, and his eyes fell upon the downed form of Goku with blood flowing from his nose, and huge swollen eyes, "You look terrible, Kakarot."

The bear cub lifted its head and turned to look at the newcomer in Vegeta. Since it was technically just a curious baby, it started walking toward Vegeta with observant eyes. Vegeta narrowed his eyes and looked at the bear cub with a smile, "Don't think your friend is going to save you, Kakarot, your time is up." He held his hand out toward the bear and it started to glow with ki, but before he could end the poor cub's life; he heard loud foot steps getting closer at an alarming rate.

Goku's head was still turned in the direction the baby bear had walked in from, and through his swollen eyes he saw the gigantic mother bear rushing to the scene. It was far bigger than any regular bear he had seen in his life. So these were the deadly animals that Anko talked about? He heard even more giant footsteps following after the huge mother and he mentally cursed, 'Shit, stay still, stay still!' It wasn't that hard of a task for him, since he hadn't really moved since he dropped out of the sky.

Vegeta on the other hand was too prideful, yet ignorant to even know that you were supposed to stay still in a bear attack. He wasn't even from Earth, and his time on Earth was spent fighting humans; not animals, and he definitely spent zero time in the academy. Little did he know, the earthly saiyan Goku had an advantage right now.

The humongous bear stood up on its hind legs to reveal its true height, coming in at about twelve feet tall. It let out a loud roar, and the bears that followed after it did the same; the rest varying in heights in comparison to their obvious leader, but were still huge in their own right. The mother sensed her baby was in trouble the moment Vegeta started circulating ki, and the boy decided to now focus it on her.

The saiyan shot a quick blast of ki right at the mother bear, and his jaw nearly dropped when the blast only irritated her instead of out right downing it like he intended. Collective growling was now starting to surround Vegeta who warily took a step back, preparing to fight at least eight bears while he was injured, but he was still the most confident person on the planet. Despite the numbers he liked his odds. He'd be damned if he just came off of a victory against a tailed beast and lost to a mere forest animal.

Goku suddenly felt himself being dragged across the ground and looked up to see Mao. He hadn't even heard her walk up, and apparently no else did. The boy opened his mouth to say something but Mao pinched his arm and held her index finger over her mouth. He took that as his cue to 'shut up,' and allowed himself to be dragged away from the scene.

XxX

(Night Time – Forest of Death – With Chi-Chi, Goku, and Mao)

The entire team was extremely relieved after escaping Vegeta, leaving him to be mauled by an entire pack of bears. They were positive he'd make it out alive, but if he didn't; at least Chi-Chi wouldn't be that disappointed by it. Mao and Goku were currently knocked out cold after so thoroughly exhausting their chakra for the entire day. Goku had been in two near death fights, while Mao ran her reserves down from the night to the morning in their search for their lost teammate.

Chi-Chi smiled when they were finally all together once again, in relative peace. Since they had put in a lot of work, she figured she could pick up where they left off and get them to the tower, so they could get true medical attention, and rest without worrying about being attacked. Chi-Chi was currently rowing a life boat across the water, feeling slight pain in her fractured hand after shattering the ground earlier.

Thanks to a handy capsule she retrieved from Bulma before the exam started, they cut the travel time down by a great margin. The original plan was to water walk on the river until they made it far enough to run in a straight shot to the tower, but that would have taken far longer since Goku and Mao needed rest, and moving on foot couldn't compare to the time they were making on the life boat. It also killed two birds with one stone, they could keep moving and the exhausted teammates could sleep.

The sounds of the waves crashing against each other as she rowed through the water were calming and almost hypnotic to a degree. Since no one else had access to a boat, or were daring enough to run all the way down a raging river like they were willing to; they were left alone. Everyone else would be either finding somewhere to camp out at, or just fighting within the depths of the forest for a scroll anyway, so she expected as much.

Rowing through the waters was tougher than she anticipated, and her arms were starting to get tired. Her shoulders slumped, the boat still being carried by the direction of the water and Chi-Chi took a breather for a quick second.

"Giving up already?"

Her head turned to see Goku pushing himself off of the floor of the life-boat. She offered a weak smile, and he grinned toothily back at her, "No, I've been at this for a few hours; I think I can handle it." Chi-Chi resumed rowing, taking control of the boat from the waters and continued navigating them toward the center of the forest. After being on the river for so long, her mind was jumbled and got hard to stay focused after listening to the sounds of the waves for hours. She wouldn't bring herself to admit it, but she was tired, and her teammate could sense that.

Goku's soft hand was placed over her own and he gently guided her away from her seat, taking her place in rowing the boat. It was the least he could after her and Mao had saved him earlier, "You've been working really hard Chi-Chi, no need to push yourself." Sure he was the closest thing to being completely broken, but after a few hours of sleeping he figured he could handle a little boat action.

"Thank you, Goku," She sat on the floor and leaned back on her hands. The girl stared up into the night sky that was decorated with stars. This exam was hectic the moment they stepped into the forest and it was nice to relax, especially knowing that they were closed to being finished. If this was what true shinobi life entailed; she was anticipating quite the career. The girl shut her eyes and let the gentle breeze flow past her, "I never expected you be this brave."

Goku tilted his head while he rowed, "Um, what do you mean?" He never really tried to act brave; it was an innate thing that he had no control over.

"N told me about what you did back in Hoseki, fighting against those S-Class criminals, and even now fighting to protect Mao and I even though you were injured. I haven't seen you back down," Chi-Chi praised the boy that she saw a lot of growth in. He was different from their graduation, going from something a slacker and class clown to a strong shinobi in the making. He had even lost the tail he seemed so attached to, "I thought you and N were just going to be flies on the wall, but you two really stepped up."

The alien boy smiled, "Eh, school's not really my thing." He said with a bit of a laugh. The entire group of students he hung around with was underachievers in the academy, just floating by to get it over with. "I've been training my whole life to be the best, and I just want to be strong enough to protect the people I care about. I guess that's where that whole bravery thing comes from." Goku felt the heat of Chi-Chi's body wrapped around his when she pulled him into a soft hug.

"So you're admitting you care about me, how sweet," Chi-Chi rested her head against Goku's back and listened to the sweet sound of his heart beating. A regular boy's heart would have been beating out of their chest from this type of attention, but Goku was completely calm. She could tell that he was far from normal, and she was right in her assumption in more ways than one. The girl kept her arms wrapped around his torso to keep her comfortable, "I want to be strong too; in fact I want to be the strongest woman to ever live."

"I think you can be stronger than that, you should aim for strongest person to ever live, man or woman," Goku motivated the girl that was tightly wrapped around him right now. He could tell how tired she was, so he wouldn't fight it. The boy broke his eyes away from the river in front of him and turned his head slightly to smile at Chi-Chi, "I'm going to need some competition in the future."

Chi-Chi rolled her eyes playfully, readjusting her body to she could place her fingers around Goku's chin, and slowly started leaning in, "You know, there's something else I've been dying to tell you, Goku." The air between them started to feel different, and she rubbed her nose against his and the two genin smiled at each other. They both knew there was some kind of attraction between them since their academy days, but they never had any real time to act on it. Now was as good of a time as any, since once they entered the tower the needed to focus on the next part of the test.

Before Goku could get a kiss from someone that wasn't his mother, Mao let out a silent gasp awkwardly that made both of them turn to look at the glasses-clad genin, "I hate to interrupt, but Goku, please pay attention to the waters." She had just woken up, so she discovered what was going on far too late for there to be any better reaction than the one she had. The only reason she hadn't outright screamed was because she did want Goku and Chi-Chi to have their moment, but their display of affection could be showcased another time.

Goku and Chi-Chi were so caught up in the moment they didn't realize they were going straight for a cliff. The boy's head whipped forward and it was too late, the entire life boat was sent flying over the cliff and down the length of the waterfall. All three of them were screaming at the top of their lungs, since it was a fifteen foot drop to the ground, and they had no idea how deep the waters at the bottom of the waterfall were.

It was a long drop, but not long enough where you could see your life flash before your eyes, or even think of a plausible plan to leave without a few broken bones. Chi-Chi instinctively grabbed onto Goku's forearm and Mao did the same to her. "Does anyone have anything to say before we hit the water?" Mao asked while they continued to drop.

No response.

After breaking up their little moment, Mao expected as much. She closed her eyes as all three of them were plunged underwater, smacking against the river with a pained groan. Luckily the waters were just as deep as the ones above, and they would probably endure a few fractured bones among other things, but they were at least alive. With her being the closest to the surface she tried to swim upward while Chi-Chi and Goku were latched onto her.

The trio climbed onto the surface, their clothes sticking to their bodies, and Goku let out another pained groaned as his already destroyed shirt stuck against his wounds. Mao let out a sigh of relief after not only surviving, but looking up from her position to see the tower they were so desperately searching for blocking out their view of the moon. She tapped Chi-Chi, who smiled when she saw the tower as well.

They were almost done.

XxX

"Oh, you look like shit," Mai complimented as Vegeta stumbled back to their small camp hours after his departure. She couldn't help but grin at seeing his condition. He was fine for the most part, but he was covered in blood and flesh from his head all the way to his toes. It obviously wasn't his, because alien or not; nobody loses that much blood and walks away from it, "Looks like you just fought an army."

Being attacked from all angles by enemies that were bigger than you and just as bloodthirsty was not something Vegeta enjoyed. He flicked away a piece of brain matter from one of the bear's and sat down on the ground calmly, like he wasn't completely drenched in blood. The images of cutting through them with a chakra enhanced kunai were still in his head, and it took a lot to kill an already mutated bear from the forest of death. If there were any more of them, he might have actually lost a limb, but in the end he prevailed.

The thing that irked him the most was Goku managed to slip away while he was fighting the bears off. The damn bastard was going to pay for running away from battle again. The next time they faced off, he would make him suffer, "Come here, girl, I need you to re-stitch my wounds." He ordered and she rolled her eyes as she got up from her spot and started pulling out medical equipment.

"I hear no mention of killing Kakarot, it sounds like you failed," Raditz teased and got an irritated glance in return from Vegeta. "I knew you couldn't defeat him, he fights like one of them and that's your biggest weakness." The boy who had previously had his hand cut off by Vegeta had no problem poking fun at his forthcomings for some reason. It was just the way true saiyans interacted.

"Your little brother would have you joining Nappa in the afterlife, so I'd rather you shut your mouth. You can't back up half the things you say," Vegeta shot back and winced in pain when Mai poked at the newly acquired cut on his cheek. She frowned as she pulled out a senbon, preparing to stitch it closed, "Pick you next move wisely, girl." He didn't want to feel anymore pain than what he was already experiencing, and Mai poking and prodding at his wounds certainly wasn't going to help heal them. "Don't touch me unless you're making an active effort to fix this."

She frowned as she started cleaning up the wound with the little bit of water she had left in a canteen and a piece of cloth. Mai had nothing to sterilize the wound properly, so he would have to run the risk of infection until they got actual medical attention, "This is going to hurt a little bit."

XxX

(Forest of Death – Tower – Three Days Later)

Goku strolled into the area all the remaining contestants were summoned to. He was actually the last to arrive, since his team had been resting up inside the tower for days, while there were teams that had just arrived the morning of the last day. His nose was wrapped up in bandages, and his burn wounds had been treated during their three day stay at the tower. The newly arrived team wasn't given any time to really recover, other than the down time right now as the prepped for the next portion of the exam.

The saiyan's eyes traced around the small arena type setting they were being held in. In the far end of the mostly empty space, was a giant screen attached to the wall, and a statue of the seal of confrontation. It gave him a foreboding feeling that he was about to duke it out with some unlucky genin from a foreign village. He looked up and saw there was an area for spectators, which was filled with the Jounin sensei of all the genin present.

Among them he saw Master Roshi, and, of course, staring blankly at him from the higher ground was his sensei 'The Limitless K.' His stoic expression told him everything he needed to, and he sent a smile to the man in return. His eyes kept moving along the room, taking note of who made it to the next stage of their exam.

Of course, there was the strange team of Oto genin, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Neji's team, Vegeta's team, his teammates of course, and last but not least; N's team. The blonde haired Akatsuki recruit was catching a few glances he wished he could avoid, especially from K. While his outward expression didn't let off much, after being around K so much; N knew what he was saying through his eyes alone. He looked away, since he couldn't explain himself right now.

Even Mao, his former teammate looked at him with eyes wanting some form of explanation. He had an armband with the symbol that the very same man who had killed their sensei and nearly blown Krillin to pieces wore on his cloak. Luckily for the newest Akatsuki recruit, the chatter among genin and Jounin was brought to a close by the appearance of the seasoned face of the Hokage.

"First of all, I'd like to congratulate you all for passing the second part of the test," The Hokage looked among the crowd and took a mental count of how many heads he saw. Eighteen genin had survived the forest of death, "But before I explain the third test, I want you to know the true meaning behind this exam." From that point on, Goku had completely tuned out the old man as he looked up to the spectators and saw the same black cloak with red clouds among the other Jounin.

The grey eyes of the woman stared back at Goku, and her stoic face almost rivaled K's. Goku got an uneasy feeling as the blue haired woman bore a hole into him from faraway and he broke away from their impromptu staring contest. The first time he had encountered Akatsuki, they tried to kidnap him, and they literally ended up kidnapping N; who was actually standing not too far from him.

The words, "I forfeit," being uttered from his teammates mouth brought him back to reality after spacing out for so long. Goku's eyes widened when those words came from Mao's mouth, and she bowed as she backed away from the crowd and went to join the Jounin above the arena space. Clearly she knew something he didn't and he could only watch in awe as she walked off.

"Anybody else?"

Mai raised her hand and started walking away from the crowd as well, "I'm forfeiting too." She couldn't reveal her trump card just yet or the Tsuchikage would kill her.

"That leaves sixteen participants," The Hokage mused aloud and smiled. "Only half of you will pass and advance to the finals. Since there will be a lot of important spectators from all over the continent, I cannot let the main event run too long. All sixteen of you will participate in a preliminary round, and eight of you will continue on to the finals one month from now." He looked to the chosen referee and gestured for him to explain the rest.

A sickly looking Chuunin stepped up and explained in the Hokage's stead, "The fights will be one-on-one, and you'll be fighting as if it were a real life confrontation. There are sixteen participants, so there will be eight matches, and the winners will advance to the final round." He let the explanation settle and then continued talking, "There are no rules. The only way to lose is death or being knocked out, if we feel one of you is no longer in the condition to fight then we'll call the match. The matches will be decided by the electronic scoreboard," He coughed between talking and pointed at the scoreboard that was above the statue.

Names started flittering on the screen and everyone in attendance watched in anticipation for the first match to be announced.

The screen finally stopped going through names and stopped on Akimichi Choji and Raditz. Everyone else cleared out from the area and left the chubby Konohagakure native and the one-handed saiyan. Murmurs were heard all over the place, 'he only has one hand,' among other things. The saiyan looked into the stands with a furrowed brow and set to prove the crowd wrong the moment their match began.

"Participants, are you ready?"

They stood across from each other, Raditz with a stale expression for Choji, while the brown haired boy smiled at his opponent. They both nodded and the proctor yelled, "Begin!"

"You can do it fat ass, he only has one hand!" Ino yelled enthusiastically from the stands.

His sensei rubbed his head, not being able to give Choji the proper motivation to fight since he was chosen to go first. The fact that he made it this far was an accomplishment in itself, since out of the 60 participants that failed, 40 of them were dead and 10 of them were declared missing. That left 10 who just outright failed, but even those people left with some kind of lasting memory from the forest that wasn't at all positive. For now he could just put his trust in his student that he would utilize the lessons he did learn.

Choji's chakra exploded outward and he multiplied in size, taking on a very round appearance, "Baika No Jutsu (Expansion Technique)!" Raditz watched with an un-amused expression on his face, not moving a single inch despite Choji obviously going on the offensive. The large genin tucked his limbs inside of his body and propelled himself into a speedy roll across the ground, and Raditz leapt out of the way.

He skipped around Choji and moved behind him, "Is that all you've got fat as-" The rolling form of Choji suddenly switched directions and was now rolling head on at him once more. His previous assumption of Choji only being able to move in straight lines was thrown out the window, and he would actually have to put some effort into not being flattened by Choji's technique. He grit his teeth since the boy was surprisingly fast in that form, and had no time to avoid him.

Raditz threw his only hand forward and showed off his strength by stopping Choji, who was still spinning rapidly despite his path being halted. The saiyan furrowed his brow, not being able to hold Choji for that long, and he slowly started to lose position, his feet were gradually skidding across the ground. Lest he wanted to be ran into a wall and ultimately squished, he had to think of something.

"To be able to stop Choji with just one hand…" Shikamaru said as he watched the battle closely.

"He must be really strong," A bead of sweat ran down Ino's head, worried for her teammate. She doubted Raditz at first glance since he had an obvious handicap and a not so imposing stature, but from what she had seen; he could probably out muscle her with just one hand, so she could only imagine what he was capable of with two hands.

K knew what he was capable of, and Goku had the slightest idea as well. The Kumo-genin was watching this match intensely, since this was the same boy that claimed to be his brother. Even though his partner tried to and was still actively trying to kill him, he didn't think that negatively of Raditz. Before Vegeta put a fireball up his entire team's backside, he offered him the chance join them, and he seemed to have some interesting in knowing Goku, but they were simply working for two different nations.

He almost wanted to cheer for Raditz, but he stayed silent, and continued watching the match.

With his back nearly to the wall, metaphorically and literally; Raditz hunkered down and used the strength of his legs under him and magnificently lifted the still spinning Choji off the ground, tossing him into the air. There were a lot of surprised gasps at his immense strength and he smiled at their shock. Choji stopped spinning once he had been thrown, and Raditz took the opportunity of him free falling to the ground to his advantage.

He leapt off of his right foot and bounced off of the wall for momentum and met Choji's body in the sky. Since he had lost his hand in the forest, he figured he might as well get used to using his feet. Raditz swung his leg around and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to Choji's side that sent him flying into the seal of confrontation statue and absolutely shattering it. He landed gracefully on the ground and after a few seconds of Choji not getting up; the match was declared over.

"Winner: Raditz!"

Raditz calmly returned to the stands with his team, getting a few surprised looks from the Konoha faithful and that was about it.

XxX

After the medical team moved the unconscious Choji from the arena, they continued to the next match.

Yamanaka Ino v. Ten-Ten

Ino read her name on the screen and smiled, "Wish me luck Shikamaru," she looked at the boy expecting some kind of good luck, but his mouth twitched slightly, but found himself too lazy to actually say anything to motivate his teammate. "When I win, I'm going to make sure we fight each other in the finals so I can whip your lazy ass into shape."

"I don't think I'm going to make it that far to be honest," Shikamaru admitted lazily and rested his arms on the railing. "Stop being troublesome and go fight your match."

The blonde rolled her eyes as she walked off, believe or not; that was as close as motivational speech you would get from Shikamaru, so she'd accept it for now. She went to the center to meet her patiently waiting opponent in Ten-Ten and they didn't say a word once they met eyes. Ino had never met the girl personally, and with this being their first formal meeting; she didn't want to give away too much.

"Begin!"

There were no initial movements, since neither of them wanted to be the one to take the first move. Ino hated being a clan-child sometimes, and this was one of those moments. While people were taught to expect the unexpected, it was hard to get enemies to follow that motto when facing someone with a well known Hiden or Kekkei Genkai. People already had a general idea of what you were capable of, and a preconceived notion of how you fought.

Ten-Ten on the other hand had no such attachment to her name. Ino had no idea what she could do and how she might move. While the mind transfer technique the Yamanaka's used was famous, it wasn't exactly combat friendly. As long as she kept moving, Ino's most useful technique would be null and void against her, and it would boil down to a battle of basic academy skills and taijutsu. Ten-Ten outclassed her in every way possible in those facets, save for genjutsu.

"I hate to tell you, Asuma," Might Guy offered a huge smile to Sarutobi Asuma and gave him a thumbs up. "Ino is no match for my precious Ten-Ten! The power of youth will guide her to victory."

Lee ran in to join the conversation, "And if Ten-Ten does not win, I will run five hundred laps around the village the moment this exam is over to restore the balance of youthfulness among our team!" He held his fist up with pride, tears of joy streaming from his eyes uncontrollably.

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEEEEEEE!"

"GAI-SENSEEEI!"

Asuma hadn't even gotten a chance to open his mouth before he started watching the bushy-brow duo run off into a sunset that appeared out of nowhere. He rolled his eyes, "I'm going to need a cigarette after this."

K watched Lee and Gai's strange interaction, "A genjutsu with no chakra involved, Konoha ninja are truly amazing."

Ten-Ten furrowed her brow when she saw her team currently making a scene, "Oi! Would you two stop already, I'm trying to win a fight down here!" She just wished that for one day, let alone a few minutes that the green jumpsuit wearing duo could behave like mature men, but that was nothing but a dream.

XxX

Ino was on the ground in a bloody, cut up heap of what she once was. Ten-ten did. Not. Miss. Her deadly accuracy left the blonde unable to fight, and it looked like the bun-wearing kunoichi hadn't even broken a sweat. Her brown eyes looked over to the referee, placing her hands on her hips while she waited on him to call the match.

"Winner: Ten-ten!"

That's what she wanted to hear. Ten-ten smiled to herself and walked out of the arena to go and join her sensei, who was currently crying at how 'youthful' her match had been.

"That's two-thirds of your team eliminated already," Neji turned to look at Shikamaru, who seemed unfazed by what was going on. "You're the only remaining hope for them."

Shikamaru looked up at his sensei, "If I forfeit, we can all go home, right?" A hesitant nod came from his sensei and he instantly raised his hand, but had it shot back down by the very same man. "You saw what that kid did to Choji, with one hand… I don't want any parts in that."

Asuma patted the boy on the head, "Trust me, you can do it." He walked off to go join his other students in the medical bay for the time being, since he fully believed Shikamaru could win if he were to fight next. Choji and Ino probably needed more of a morale boost than he did, "Don't forfeit while I'm gone or I'll have you doing D-Rank missions all summer."

"What a drag."

Ino was carried off on a stretcher and all eyes in attendance suddenly shifted to the screen once more. It returned to life and names started appearing on the screen.

Hyūga Neji v. 19

The chubby genin was standing with his sensei, who was a tall man with an Otogakure headband around his head, two bangs framing his face, and a long pony tail. They hadn't said a word to each until now, "Where is Kabuto?" He hissed lowly in the ear of his student, and got an amused smirk in response from the equally paper-white child.

"I killed him," 19 said back to his sensei as he then walked off toward the arena. He caught a few nervous glances from Mao and Ten-ten, but ultimately locked eyes with the very Hyūgahe was supposed to fight. An evil smile crossed his face as the two were walking down the stairs right next to each other. "I'll have you know, Hyūga, there is no option to run like you had last time." He said in reference to when he sensed Neji's energy hovering around him, but he never acted on it.

The two walked out to the center and Neji narrowed his eyes while looking at 19, "I of all people understand that its fate that has brought us here together for this fight." He got into his Jyuken stance and 19 got into his own fighting position. Everyone in the room could feel the tension between the two genin, and they were both radiating an immense amount of killing intent before the proctor even started the match.

"So much bad blood, do those two know each other?" Shikamaru looked to one of his Konoha natives for an answer.

"Yes, after what happened to Hinata-san in the Forest of Death, Neji has wanted to correct the un-youthful actions of the Otogakure faithful," Lee remembered seeing how bad Team 8 looked after fighting the trio from Otogakure. He would have felt the same way if he entered the ring with 19, since no one hurt his comrades and got away with it. At least now, Neji could get his proper revenge.

Gai had his arms folded over one another and turned his head to look at his student with a raised brow, "What exactly happened to Hinata?"

"We found her with her eyes ripped out of her sockets and drained of all her chakra," Ten-Ten remembered the horrible sight as well and cringed just thinking about it. "Kiba and Shino had their asses handed to them too, but Hinata caught the worst of it. According to Kiba, the 19 guy was the one she fought. We tracked them down to fight, but at the last minute Neji turned away." It was very uncharacteristic of Neji to turn away, so the last bit of info surprised Gai.

K was listening in on the conversation, remembering the name Hinata from a previous Kumogakure escapade that had gone terribly wrong. Judging from the sound of it, someone achieved what Kumo failed miserably to do, and hadn't been caught. It was a smart move too, since there was no seal on the main branch members to destroy the Byakugan. He was now looking at the boy 19 as a person of interest.

Chi-Chi looked at the utter surprise that was in the Konoha native's faces, having been there as well to see what happened to Hinata, but she had no idea who did it. Her eyes turned to 19 with an arched brow.

"Begin!"

Neji instantly activated his Byakugan and looked over 19's chakra pathway system and his overall genetic makeup in general. He had to hide the surprise in his face, trying to remain stoic after seeing that his enemy's chakra reserves were bigger than the last time he had looked him over. His brow twitched when 19 had an amused grin across his face, "Is something funny?" He continued to exam 19 with a wary eye.

The 'all-seeing' eyes were locked on the pit of the boy's stomach. It was the focal point of his of all his chakra. It all circulated through the thing resting inside his stomach, which he figured to be the source of his power. He'd seen it during his fight with Kabuto, when he absorbed chakra it took in the foreign energy and converted it usable chakra for 19 to utilize. There were other oddities about his body, like the mechanisms built into his arm that ejected bladed pikes, but that was somewhat normal in the world of shinobi to make bodily modifications.

"There's no way for you possibly beat me, I've seen the Jyuken already," 19 told him, in reference to his defeat of Hinata. Aforementioned bladed pikes slid out of his palms, the mechanism in his hands stretching out in size to accommodate the blades comfortably. He crossed them as he positioned himself to charge in at Neji, "Use what you saw wisely, because I'm fighting to win, Hyuga."

Neji had to dodge the first few initial stabs and dance around his strikes, all while coming up with a plan of action against the chubby genin. The fact that Hinata lost against him meant that he had gone against his fighting style before, just not as polished. Neji was in a different league, but he had to see for himself just what kind of defensive tactics 19 had against the legendary fighting style.

The Hyuga crouched down as a blade sailed over his head and shot forward into 19's bubble of space, stabbing his fingers into a few tenketsu in his abdomen, making the boy stumble backward. For a quick second, his eyes focused on the area he just struck to see what would happen, and smirked when the tenketsu remained closed and 19 actually grasped at his stomach in pain. Neji beckoned him forward with a simple hand motion, "Your ability to absorb chakra is next to useless without you establishing contact with me through your hands. I assume that you already know that by the way you're approaching this, I've seen your ability first hand."

19 stayed silent while Neji went on in his explanation, "You can't directly absorb chakra like most think, your actual chakra has to enter a target's body, and you forcefully pull it out with your own, which is why you stick to your enemy's skin with your chakra to establish that connection." Neji smirked at the slight unease in 19's face after being figured out, and his ability broadcasted to the entire room. "By use of the Jyuken style, I'm able to use my chakra to close your tenketsu, and thus negate your ability to absorb chakra by pushing yours out of my system, or stop it before it gets the chance to enter. It was Hinata's destiny to pave my way to victory, and for that I am grateful."

"A beautiful analysis, Hyuga," 19's plan wasn't ruined though. He still had too many tricks up his sleeve to be deterred by Neji's genius. He ignored the numbing pain in his stomach and charged back in at Neji. 19 stabbed at Neji's eyes and the boy guided the artificial human's arm away with his own, but still managed to be grazed on his cheek by the blade. Blood dripped down the side of his face and they were at a stalemate once more.

Any wrong move and Neji could have his face sliced open by 19's blades. The very arm he parried the blade with was now dripping blood as well, and his palm of his other hand was freely dripping blood too since he used his other limb to do the same. He knew 19 was trying to target his eyes and take him out of commission, and he couldn't let fate repeat what had happened to Hinata.

The power struggle was evident as the two tried to gain footing on the other. Blood continued to flow down the length of the blades, and Neji knew he couldn't keep this up any longer lest he wanted deep cuts in his cheek, arm, and hand. With one vicious spin, Neji released chakra from all of his tenketsu that caught 19 and sent him smashing into the other side of the arena, creating a hole in the wall.

A small cloud of smoke and debris came from the wall and everyone's vision was obscured for a moment, save for Neji. He didn't have time to look over his wounds, simply preparing for the next inevitable bout between him and 19. The boy knew that his defense wouldn't be enough to stop the Otogakure native. Through the smoke, he saw 19 climbing out of the hole with a pained expression, and suddenly had to roll out of the way of a bladed pike shooting past his head and stabbing into the opposite wall.

Neji furrowed his brow when another one shot out from 19's direction and he dodged that as well. From what he could see, 19's back was gravely injured, and there were cracks in his spine after being sent away from the repulsive force he created, yet the boy was slowly coming to a stand. In that moment, he noticed that the flow of chakra was changing, instead of him feeding the thing in his stomach chakra, it was starting to feed it to him, and he couldn't hold back his gasp when he saw 19's spine repairing itself.

He had to act fast.

The Hyuga ran in as the smoke began to settle to deliver a finishing blow before 19's spine reconstructed and he was actually able to move. 19's eyes widened in surprise once he realized what the Hyuga boy was up to, remembering that Neji could see his injuries and held his hand out in the boy's direction. His other arm was being used as support for his body before he could fully stand.

From the mechanism in his palm, it opened wider, and shot out a supersonic wave of wind that sent Neji flying across the arena and smashing against the wall, 19 not letting up the wave even as came to his two feet, spine being repaired. He lifted his other hand and added an even more terrifying level to his already powerful attack, and everyone watched in awe/horror as Neji's body was being crushed under the pressure of the wind. He started moving forward to continue his onslaught.

"NEJI!" Rock Lee yelled out, literally about to jump into the arena until Gai grabbed him by the arm to stop him.

"Lee, believe in your teammate," Gai said as he continued to watch what 19 was capable of.

Lee wanted to say something else, but he had to trust Gai, as well as believe in his teammate. His eyes slowly shifted back to the match, it getting harder to watch as time went on.

Neji's body was contorting in ways that shouldn't have been possible, and multiple limbs were either dislocated or flat out broken after being smashed under the pressure of the air. When 19 was standing before him, he let his hands fall to his side and Neji dropped to the ground like a bug that had just been smashed against a window. The chubby genin crouched down and smirked at his downed enemy, "Don't think my powers are limited to what you have seen. Remember that I am still a shinobi of Otogakure."

The Hyuga's body twitched horribly after being crushed and he coughed up a decent amount of blood. Surely 19's jutsu did some internal damage and he had stopped just short of completely crushing his insides. He couldn't even bring himself to respond and he instantly fell unconscious, the proctor calling the match promptly after.

"Winner: 19!"

The chubby genin calmly returned to the stands to join his team, getting a few surprised, afraid, and vengeful glances from the entire lot of genin. He didn't want to reveal any more of his techniques during the preliminaries, wanting to showcase his more 'extraordinary' techniques during the finals, but Neji pushed him to that point. He expected as much, based off of the information he had, and had he been quicker to finish him off; he just might have won.

Gai went to join his battered student, and Ten-Ten followed after him. Seeing the genius of their team crushed like an annoying fly wasn't something they ever expected, and they helped him onto the stretcher so they could join him in the medical bay. Ten-Ten looked up at 19 with eyes full of hate as her teammate was carried off, and he sent her a stoic expression in return.

19's head turned when Rock Lee was now standing in front of him, how he got there without him noticing was almost concerning, "I wish to do battle with you in the final round. It will be the ultimate test of youth, so I can avenge my teammate. I look forward to it." He bowed respectfully and returned to his spot amongst the Konoha genin

"Seems like you made a new friend, 19," Lapis poked at the boy's fat belly and bust out laughing. "I'm surprised you won, after seeing how hard you smashed into the wall, I thought your back was broken."

"It was," 19 seemed disturbed by the fact as well, "but somehow it fixed itself."

The man standing in as their sensei patted him on the head, "That's because you're gifted."

Before 19 could pry information out from the man, names appeared on the screen.

Vegeta v. Lazuli

"Oooh, sis, you're up," Lapis patted the blonde haired girl on her back and she rolled her eyes. "Knock him dead."

Vegeta walked past with a smirk, "Hmph, good luck with that, girl."

The two entered the center of the arena, having to hop over the newly created crated from Neji and 19's fight and wait for the proctor to start the match. They locked eyes, Vegeta's radiating confidence, since he didn't believe a girl had a snowball's chance in hell at defeating him, while Lazuli quite simply wanted to rip his head off. She could feel him underestimating her, and that had to be her biggest pet peeve.

"Don't get too cocky, Vegeta," The girl said as she folded her arms over each other and smirked at the Prince of all saiyans who was stretching in anticipation of the fight.

"Begin!"

XxX