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"Last time on Total Ninja Island, the Hawks and Toads set off on a three part endurance challenge, ending with a brutal awakeathon, last man standing style. Unfortunately for the Hawks, Gaara not only avoided the drugged food, but also has insomnia, and easily outlasted Karui and the Hawks. At elimination, it was down to Sai, Karui, and Sakura, but the girls caught a break and our pale creepy smiling boy got the boot for annoying…pretty much everyone."
"Who will go home next, will the tension starting to build overflow, will the lack of sleep affect our ninja? Find out now on Total. Ninja. Island!
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The morning after the awakeathon was a nearly silent affair. The assembled ninja were mostly recovered, but both Neji and Karui, the non-insomniacs who went the longest, were both clearly feeling the effects of the previous challenge.
"How's everyone feeling this morning?" Kakashi asked cheerily, getting groans from most of the teens, and a few cheery responses from Naruto, Lee, and Fu.
"Well I hope you've recovered quickly, because it's challenge time!"
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"Called it, and with how tired Karui and Neji look, we should have this in the bag." Temari smirked.
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"God. Damn. IT." Karui growled, bags still massive under her eyes. "Fun fact, when she's really tired, apparently Tenten saws logs when she sleeps, and she kept waking the Hawk girls up all night. The others are fine, but after the awakeathon…I'm dead on my feet."
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"Welcome to the indoor training building." Kakashi greeted the teams, welcoming them into the school gym room, a pair of large red rubber balls in his hands.
"Weapon throwing and evasion is a large part of ninja skills, and since it would be irresponsible to have you all throwing actual knives at one another, we'll be playing a classic game instead. Dodgeball."
"Oh boy, how ninja like. Not like we could just play this in gym class back home." Shikamaru complained, head resting on a hand as he sat on the bleachers with the other Toads.
"So you already know the rules, when these get thrown at you, you dodge!" Punctuating his throw, Kakashi whipped the dodgeball at Shikamaru faster than most eyes could follow. The streaking red blur slammed into Shikamaru's face and sent him into the row of bleachers behind him hard, his body thumping against the metal, his vest the only thing protecting his back from a direct impact.
"Mah mah, you were supposed to dodge that, Shikamaru, how very unninja-like of you." Kakashi waved a hand in front of his face in fake embarrassment. "The second rule is no catching." Kakashi lightly lobbed a dodgeball at Fu, who caught it easily with a raised eyebrow. "While a normal dodgeball rule, ninja weapons simply can't be caught except by the absolute best, and even then you usually get your hands cut up, so no catching.
"So we can still use balls to deflect throws against us, just like we would thrown weapons?" Haku asked, tilting their head sideways in thought from their seat amongst the Hawks boys, who all looked distinctly uncomfortable with Haku's presence. Probably because they had gone to sleep in their half of the cabin and had awoken to an empty bunk and a refreshed Haku coming from the girl's side.
"Exactly!" Kakashi said, putting his finger on his nose and pointing at Haku, chucking another ball at Fu, who squeaked in surprise and took the ball to the face just like Shikamaru had moments earlier, despite the ball in her hands. "Ohhh, you were supposed to deflect that." Kakashi winced in fake sympathy while Gaara hauled both Shikamaru and Fu back to their feet, not even flinching at the task.
"So are we just free for alling this and…" Kurotsuchi trailed off questioningly, looking at the relatively small gym room and limited number of balls laid out on the court compared to the two teams of 11 ninja teens.
"Oh no, we want to capture every bit of ninja action, not get it muddied up by jamming you together in a big sweaty heap." Kakashi said, pausing after his words for a moment to giggle before continuing. "It's going to be five on five, best of five rounds. Whichever team loses, it's back to elimination for you."
"And of course you've got the lineups already decided, don't you." Sasuke asked, eyeing the grey haired host warily, watching for any balls flying his way for speaking up.
"Corr-ect!" Kakashi said in a chipper voice, "Game 1 will be Naruto, Omoi, Fu, Temari and Ino for the Toads, and Sakura, Kurotsuchi, Haku, Choji and Shino for the Hawks!"
"YOSH! Go Naruto! Lead us to victory!" Lee cheered on the blonde captain, who winked and gave a thumbs up at the hyperactive teen.
"You got it Lee, we're taking this one!" Fu agreed, pumping her own fist in preparation for the coming match, already recovered from the shot to the face from Kakashi.
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"This… is going to be rough." Kurotsuchi groaned, "Neji and Karui are still feeling it from the last challenge, and now I have to go against Naruto and Fu, who are basically children on energy drinks."
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"With Kakashi picking the lineups, Shikamaru is just going to laze around until it's his turn." Ino complained, running a hand through her platinum blonde locks. "If we could actually pick our own teams within some rules and something Shika would have it planned out for us in a heartbeat, then maybe everyone will stop trying to toss him out for being so lazy…"
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"Ok, so as much as I want us to win…I want Ino gone." Karin said, tapping her chin with one hand in a thinking pose. "Not only does she think she has a shot with Sasuke, but she's got Shikamaru and Choji wrapped around her little finger. At least with the other groups of three, they all do their own thing, but lazy and fatty don't have the balls to stand up to her."
Karin smiled brightly, but the look fell far short of her eyes, which gleamed darkly, "So if I trip just a little bit and knock a teammate over, oh well."
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"And, Dodge!" Kakashi called, and both teams shot into action, Naruto and Fu diving for the opening line of dodgeballs and knocking two back towards Omoi and Ino, while only Haku got a dodgeball for the Hawks.
"Oh dear…" Haku trailed off as the Toads all open fired as one, two balls heading for Haku and Kurotsuchi respectively. Haku gracefully used her ball to deflect Omoi's throw while bending backwards to dodge Naruto's hard throw, but Choji didn't see it coming and Naruto's shot nailed him in the gut. Kurotsuchi did her best to dodge the low throw from Ino, but when she leapt to dodge, Fu's throw caught her clean in the ankle, sending her head over heels and face first into the ground.
"Kurotsuchi out! Choji out! Hahaha, did you see that Gai, her face hit the hardwood full speed." Kakashi cackled while Kurotsuchi pried herself off the ground and stumbled her way back to the rest of her team, nose bleeding and bent.
The early barrage from the Toads meant that all but the ball Fu hit Kurotsuchi with had remained on the Hawks side, leaving Naruto with the recollected ammo as the only member of the Toads with a ball, While Haku had two and each Sakura and Shino was carefully holding theirs.
"Target Naruto first!" Sakura ordered, chucking her ball at the blonde, and Shino added his into the barrage while Haku let both of her own shots fly. Rather than use his ball to deflect, Naruto let loose his own shot at Haku while she was mid throw, catching her clean in the ribs, before jumping to avoid the two balls coming his way.
"Damn it!" Ino cursed as one of Haku's two shots hit her and the other tagged Omoi clean in the face, sending him to the floor.
"Ino out! Haku out! Omoi out!" Kakashi announced as the named ninjas got off the field, leaving it 3 vs 2 on the court.
"Oh no, I got out, my team could hate me if we lose, and then we could keep losing matches because they're mad at me, and someone could throw the dodgeballs at me in anger, and then I'll be hurt, and then when the voting comes…."
"Can it Omoi!" Temari snapped at her teammate who was walking off the gym floor.
"So uncool." Samui added when Omoi plopped down next to her on the bench.
Back on the gym floor, Naruto now had two balls while Temari had the last one still on the Toad side while an unarmed Fu hovered at the back of the Toads side, leaving Sakura and Shino with the last two balls and staring down a confident Naruto nervously.
"Let's wrap this up dattebayo!" Naruto said with a smirk as he fired off his two balls in quick succession, tagging Sakura in the shoulder and Shino in the face as he was too slow to deflect Naruto's throw.
"Sakura out! Shino out! Toads go up 1-0!" Kakashi said from his seat, and in a green flash, Gai blitzed across the court and had the balls arranged on the midline once again.
"Let's go Naruto!" Fu cheered on her team captain while the rest of the Toads shared high fives.
"It's just one win, you haven't beaten us yet." Kankuro shot back, stretching his arms from the Hawks side.
"I'm glad you think so Kankuro, because you, Sasuke, Hinata, Neji, and Haku are up this time for the Hawks." Kakashi said cheerily.
"Ah. It seems it's my turn again." Haku said with a small frown, they hadn't even fully sat down yet when Kakashi called their name.
"If you want to rest you could just finish this application form." Kakashi offered, waving another application form at Haku, the gender box still blank.
"Well, it's a good thing I am not overly tired today." Haku ignored Kakashi and took to the gym floor gracefully.
"Hn. Just don't cost us this round." Sasuke grunted at Haku, who waved off his concern lightly.
"And for the Toads, Gaara, Lee, Samui, Shikamaru and Chojuro!"
"Cool."
"Troublesome."
Samui and Shikamaru's opposite responses to being called drew chuckles from Kakashi who watched the Toads line up opposite the Hawks.
"Neji! I will make use of this fortunate pairing to surpass you, yosh!" Lee called over to the long haired Hawk, who flinched at being called out.
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"I do not have the energy to deal with that flailing lunatic today." Neji said with a groan, leaning against the sidewall of the confessional. "I'm not as tired as Karui, who is literally napping on the bench, but still!"
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"Well, this is gonna be a drag." Shikamaru sighed, his hand twitching towards his vest before he shifted it to an elongated facepalm. "At least I'll get to test a theory of mine that could make this game interesting."
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"Dodgeball isn't really my thing, but that's cool." Samui said calmly, "But I wish Omoi would quit freaking out about it, so uncool."
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"Ninjas ready and….DODGE!" Kakashi called and Lee blitzed forward and knocked back as many balls as he could to his team, leaving only two for the Hawks in the hands of Sasuke and Haku while he, Gaara, and Samui each had one.
"Everyone aim for Sasuke, focus on Neji once he's down." Shikamaru said from the back of the Toads group, having not even gotten up when Kakahsi said start, instead staying crouched in the back.
"Yosh, we shall defeat them with our hard work!" Lee yelled and let loose with a cannon-like throw.
"How youthful, show them your springtime of youth Lee!" Gai called from the sidelines, getting a thumbs up from the boy on the court, both black haired ninjas' teeth flashing as they shared a smile.
"There is so much regret happening right now." Kakashi said as he watched the result of the Toad's attack.
Haku had taken advantage of their focus on Sasuke to hit an unexpecting Samui just after the ball left her hand, but on the other side, Sasuke was showing exactly he was their team's captain, just as Naruto had the round before.
Taking only a half step sideways, Sasuke used his ball to deflect Lee's hard shot while also dodging Gaara's shot at his head. Flicking his wrist, Sasuke used his ball to deflect the last incoming ball, Samui's throw, back at the Toads, catching the seated Shikamaru in the face for the second time that day.
"Samui out! Shikamaru out!" Kakashi announced, only to be cut off by Sasuke.
"Wait for it."
Sasuke's ball, the one he had thrown to redirect Samui's throw into Shikamaru, had been knocked upwards, and was finally falling, right on top of an unsuspecting Gaara's head.
"Add Gaara to it, that's three Toads gone to none of the Hawks, talk about dominating!"
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"Nothing definite, but a few more rounds should prove it….what a drag." Shikamaru complained, holding an ice pack to his rapidly blackening left eye.
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"You are fated to lose, just surrender now." Neji said to Lee and Chojuro, even as he held the lone ball for the Hawks while Lee and Chojuro each had two. The black haired ninja bouncing on the balls of his feet while Chojuro was giving the full Hawks team an appraising look.
"We shall never surrender, our hard work will flourish into success!" Lee shouted at Neji, preparing to unload his dodgeballs.
"While I might not be as confident as him, we can at least go down swinging. What kind of ninja just up and quits." Chojuro agreed, settling into a ready stance.
All four Toad balls flew across the gym floor, and while Neji attempted to return fire, Lee easily dodged his shot while one of Chojuro's caught the tired ninja in the gut. Haku was quick to duck under the sharp toothed boy's other throw, while both of Lee's shots impacted Hinata and Kankuro in the stomach, both not expecting the focus when Sasuke was still in the game.
Before Kakashi could even announce the eliminations, Sasuke kicked the ball that had just bounced off Neji right into Lee, who was still recovering from his hard throws, the ball pegging him in the side of the head and leaving only Chojuro for the Toads.
"Neji, Hinata, and Kankuro go down for the Hawks, but before you can even blink Lee joins them, we're down to Chojuro vs Sasuke and Haku now! Will our lone Toad make a comeback or are the Hawks evening the score!" Kakashi's announcement was met by a low muttered 'not likely' from Shikamaru, who received a smack to the back of the head from Ino for his commentary, not that he seemed to notice, too absorbed in watching Sasuke juggle two dodgeballs while Chojuro held up two of his own defensively and Haku held the fifth in a ready stance.
"I take it you would like to make the finishing blow Sasuke?" Haku questioned their team leader, getting a sharp nod in return, and with that Haku took several steps backwards to allow Sasuke to clean up the last toad.
Chojuro went to say something, probably about underestimating him, but Sasuke whipped both of his balls off in rapid succession, neither one actually aiming at Chojuro, the first bounced off the wall to the left, only inches from Kakashi's head, and the second slammed into the floor and then the ceiling.
Before Chojuro could return fire at the seemingly defenseless Sasuke, the two balls Sasuke had thrown collided in midair, the one coming down from the ceiling collided with the much faster one coming from the side, sending the first ball straight at Chojuro's unsuspecting back.
"Chojuro out! Hawks even it up!" Kakashi announced, not even flinching at his near miss with a very powerfully thrown dodgeball.
"Ladies, you're up! Fu, Ino, Karin, Temari, and Samui for the Toads, Sakura, Karui, Hinata, Tenten, and Kurotsuchi!"
"What about Haku, they were in the girls bunk last night, shouldn't they count for the girls too, let gorilla arms Sakura sit this one out?" Kankuro asked from the seats, and the look his pink haired teammate sent him promised unfathomable pain.
"Well, if Haku would care to confirm that, then I am absolutely ok with that, Haku?" Kakashi pulled out another sheet and Haku only giggled and shook their head, getting a pout from Kakashi as he crumpled up the paper and tossed it aside as he had the previous one.
"Both sides know the rules, teams are tied 1-1, so ninjas, DODGE!"
"Give me all the balls you can!" Tenten called, waiting in the back even as the other four girls blitzed forward.
"Why should we do that when I can just get the dumb pig out on my own!" Sakura yelled back, whipping a throw at Ino, who dodged and stuck her tongue out at Sakura in retaliation.
"Look, you can vote me out if we end up losing, but trust me!" Tenten yelled back, and Kurotsuchi stepped in to settle things.
"Get her all five, even if you get out doing it!" She ordered her team, and while Hinata listened, catching a ball thrown at her and rolling it to Tenten, even though it meant she was eliminated, Sakura and Karui belligerently ignored both Tenten and Kurotsuchi, hurling their own balls back and forth with Temari, Fu, and Ino, while Karin and Samui hung in the background.
"Hinata out! Toads take a slight lead!" Kakashi announced while the throwing continued. Tenten had managed to get two of the balls for herself, and was playing safe in the back of the Hawks zone while the others used the remaining three back and forth, the lack of ammo slowing down the game considerably from earlier rounds as rushing down a single target wouldn't work as well.
"Samui, see if you can snipe Tenten out, I don't like how she's been hoarding ammo back there." Temari passed one of the balls to the blonde who nodded in response.
"Cool." What they both didn't realize was that Karin also cottoned onto their plan.
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"I might not be in another round, so if I can help Sasuke a little from here, who can blame me?" Karin asked the camera, shrugging with a smirk.
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"Whoops…" Karin tripped as Samui went to throw at Tenten, stumbling the blonde and causing her shot to go wide and basically giving Tenten a third ball as a gift. Karui was quick to pounce on the chance and hit both girls at once as they stumbled into one another, even as Sakura yelled in outrage as Ino finally hit her with the fifth ball, sending it bouncing back to the Toads side.
"Samui out! Karin out! Sakura out! Three all now, it's anyone's game!"
"Yosh, Go Fu! Go Temari! Go Ino!" Lee cheered from the sidelines, Naruto pulling out chibi toads flags from somewhere to show support for the girls of his team.
"Three isn't ideal, but this'll work, time to show you Toads what a weapons specialist can do!" Tenten finally unloaded, twirling as she spoke and unleashing all three of her collected balls. Like Sasuke before, they bounced off one another in midair, but rather than his two that hit each other once, all three balls collided with one another multiple times as they flew across the room.
"Ow!"
"What the!"
"How!"
One by one, the ricocheting balls hit the Toads, first Ino, then Temari, and finally Fu, none of which were expecting the shots to come from below as Tenten made use of the floor to hit all three clean in the chin.
"What a finish, the Hawks take the lead 2-1, the Toads have blown two games in a row now!"
"Let me guess, it's time for an all boys game?" Shikamaru said with a scoff, getting a sharp look from Kakashi.
"Indeed it is, and for his snark, Shikamaru gets to compete! With him for the Toads are Naruto, Lee, Omoi, and Gaara. And for the Hawks, Sasuke, Choji, Haku, Shino, and Kankuro!"
"Someone nail that pajama cat for me!" Sakura yelled at the Toads, getting looks from her teammates.
"You know Kankuro is on our team, right?" Kurotsuchi asked the pinkette.
"We don't need him to win, we have Sasuke to do that, you saw him ricochet those balls, how could he possibly lose?"
"He'd probably lose to Tenten, she did the same thing, but better." Karui added with a yawn, falling back into the Hawk side bleachers heavily, obviously spent of whatever energy she had recovered.
"Match point for the Toads, ready, DODGE!" Kakashi called, and both sides blitzed for the balls.
"Sasuke out! Naruto out!" That came as a shock for both teams. When the two leaders ran forward, each one had flicked a ball backwards to their team, while flicking another at one another, and neither was expecting to see a ball coming at them as they moved. At exactly the same time, they eliminated each other, leaving their teams with the two balls from their interaction each, and the fifth in the hands of Lee, who had sped forward and snatched one before zipping back.
"Yosh! I shall finish the good work you have started Naruto!" And with a strong throw, Lee's shot nailed Kankuro in the junk, sending him to the ground whimpering.
"Kankuro out!" Kakashi called as Sakura cheered, fist pumping while her team shot confused glares at her.
"We must eliminate Lee if we are to stand a chance." Shino informed his remaining teammates Haku and Choji, "Why? He is the most physically fit and the best aim remaining of the Toads. We can take advantage of his excessive celebrations."
"As you say Shino." Haku said, collecting the ball that had just hit Kankuro, leaving all three remaining members of the Hawks armed while Shikamaru passed a ball up to Lee and Gaara shoved the fifth into Omoi's hands, the redhead moving to the back with Shikamaru.
"What am I supposed to do with this? What if I miss? What if I hit a teammate? And what if I hit my team that isn't playing? Then everyone will get mad at me! Or Samui will get mad at me! And then they'll vote both of us off! And Karui might get caught up in it too! And if sensei sees us all go out early then…"
Omoi's rant was cut off as both Choji and Haku nailed him with their shots, the blonde worrying boy going down hard in a heap.
"He made that too easy, Shino." Choji shrugged to their hooded teammate, whose eyebrow was twitching in annoyance.
Before he could reply and throw his own ball though, Lee's ball flew across the room and nailed Shino in the foot where he wasn't expecting it.
"Omoi out! Shino out! Are the Toads pulling their comeback!"
"Here, we all hit Haku while we have the ammo and Choji will go down easy." Shikamaru rolled a ball to Gaara, who eyed it silently before scooping it up as Lee recovered a ball of his own, leaving all five remaining players with a ball.
"Now!" Shikamaru called, and while he and Gaara threw at Haku, Lee nailed Choji before he could throw. While Haku's throw made it through with startling precision, hitting Lee just as he finished throwing his own shot, Haku was left with nowhere to dodge and both balls plowed into them, knocking them to the ground roughly.
"Lee out! Choji out! Haku out! Toads tie it up 2-2, and we move onto the final round!"
"What a valiant display of youth, truly inspiring!" Gai wiped a tear from his eyes, sending a thumbs up at Lee, who happily returned it before making his way back to his team, getting pats on the back of congratulations.
"For the final round, you all get to pick your own teams, so think hard about how the games have gone so far and send in your teams!" Kakashi called, and a smirk instantly formed on Shikamaru's face.
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"Finally, a chance to do something I'm good at. Depending on how the Hawks make their team, this is either going to be impossible, or just tricky." Shikamaru said with a grimace, "I thought we'd have an advantage with Karui and Neji being tired, but Tenten is the main issue. If we can't get rid of her early, it's all over for us."
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"I have a plan, but it hinges on a few things." Shikamaru said to the Toads, instantly getting their attention as all signs of his constant sloth left him in an instant. "Naruto, do what you did last time, get Sasuke out right at the line. Even if it takes you out as well, him and Tenten working together would be unstoppable."
"You can count on me." Naruto said seriously, "That teme won't know what hit him!"
"Our other players will be Lee, Fu, Temari, and either Gaara or Chojuro. You're the ones who have performed best so far, with Karui and Neji being tired, the Hawks are down in strength. As long as we can keep Tenten from getting ammo, we should be fine. So try and throw as hard as you can so even if you miss, the balls bounce back to us." Shikamaru instructed, getting nods from the team.
"Let Chojuro play for me." Gaara said, bowing out with a nod, sitting beside a worrying Omoi, smacking him upside the head to get him to shut up.
"Alright then, go get them team!" Ino encouraged her team, and the five Toads, Naruto, Chojuro, Lee, Fu, and Temari lined up across from a visibly yawning Neji and Karui, Sasuke, Tenten, and Kurotsuchi.
"Why don't they have Haku in?" Shikamaru wondered, fingers balancing his chin as he looked over the teams with an astute eye.
"All the heavy hitters have come out to play, let's see just what you little ninjas can do. DODGE!" Kakashi sent them off and the ninja blitzed forward, to both expected and unexpected results.
"Naruto out! Sasuke out! Kurotsuchi disqualified!"
While Naruto and Sasuke had each blitzed forward again and gotten each other out with a single ball, Kurotsuchi had sent herself flying forward with reckless abandon, not slowing down at the line in the slightest. While she went flying over the line and got herself disqualified, she also managed to knock the remaining three balls directly to Tenten, who scooped them up with a smirk.
"Tenten has all the balls!" Omoi panicked form the sidelines, and got smacked by Samui for his outburst.
"So uncool…"
"Catch them to stop any bounces, even if it gets you eliminated!" Temari shouted as she and Lee wielded the two balls from Sasuke and Naruto's exchange. While she had been caught off guard previously, Temari knew what to expect from the bun haired girl now.
When Tenten let loose, Temari threw her own ball just as Tenten finished throwing her own, Lee following suit and aiming at the biggest threat on the Hawks. While defenseless, Tenten wasn't without allies, Karui, despite her clear exhaustion, had more then enough energy to act as a body shield for Tenten, taking herself out as Tenten's barrage on the Toads began, the three balls bouncing at all angles.
"I got two!" Chojuro called and tanked two hits to the chest by twisting himself and catching the balls with a grunt of pain as they slammed into him. Temari grunted and caught the third before it could bounce back to the Hawks, taking herself out, but keeping the ball away from Tenten was more important.
"Temari out! Chojuro out! Karui out!" Kakashi called as the remaining five took stock of one another. Neji stood in front of Tenten who had two balls, both of whom were staring down Lee and Fu, the remaining three balls in their possession thanks to their teammates' sacrifices.
"Yosh, this time I shall stand tall for my team, you are done Neji!" Lee yelled, preparing to shell Neji and Tenten with his two balls, Fu standing at the ready next to him with an intense look of concentration on her face, eyes narrowed at a smirking Tenten.
"No matter how tired I may be, fate is on my side, I will not allow you to pass me!" Neji took a stance, getting a gasp from Hinata on the sidelines and a forward lean from Gai, both of whom clearly recognized the stance.
"I will not accept fate!" Lee yelled, and with that, all three balls from their side were let loose towards Neji, who inhaled deeply before moving in a circle.
"Kaiten!" Neji called and in a single rotation of his body, Neji swatted down all three balls, sending them uselessly bouncing on the ground.
"Neji out! Will his sacrifice come in clutch, or is it over for the Hawks!" Kakashi called as Lee and Fu took stock of their situation. They had Tenten outnumbered 2 to 1, but Tenten had all the ammo, and a megawatt smile that spelled doom for the Toads.
"Finally, I've got all that I need to pull this off. Good luck dodging, because you'll need all the luck you can get to dodge this, Twin Rising Dodgeballs!" Tenten yelled as she let loose, throwing a ball with each hand, kicking one with each foot, and kipping the last up to her hands with a knee as the four blitzed across the room.
Lee and Fu both hit the deck, flinging themselves sideways, but instead of losing power, the balls continued bouncing, and when they shot back towards Tenten, she used her remaining ball to spike them back, moving rapidly and keeping Lee and Fu penned in with a wall of flying red rubber.
"Holy shit…"
Everyone was gaping at the performance from Tenten, who was effortlessly keeping the killzone focused on the two remaining Toads, not a single bounce went anywhere near Kakashi or the rest of the teams.
"Lee, if we don't figure out something fast we're done for!" Fu called to the hyper ninja, who nodded in complete seriousness. "I'm going to throw myself into it and try and disrupt the flow, you scoop up whichever ball hits me and take her out!" Fu yelled over her plan before leaping into the mess of flying rubber, taking three of the dodgeballs directly with a shriek of pain.
Lee shot forward and scooped up one of the balls that had fallen out of Tenten's rubber hell, preparing to throw, when the last ball, the one Tenten had been using to continue the redirection of the rest, slammed home into Lee's unsuspecting face, sending the fitness ninja to the ground in a heap.
"Fu out! Lee out! Hawks take it 3-2!"
"That's how you do it!" Tenten yelled in victory, flashing a peace sign to the rest of her team while beaming as the rest of her team congratulated her.
"Toads, you had the early lead, but you guys blew it, what happened?" Kakashi asked, poking at the defeated Toads, getting grumbles from the team, Naruto was helping Lee up while Temari was surprised to see Gaara helping a stumbling Fu stay on her feet.
"We couldn't do anything! They kept ricocheting balls, and we couldn't stop them. Our plan failed, and we couldn't move fast enough! What if Gai poisoned us! Or if-!"
"Can it Omoi!" Samui finally snapped and decked her fellow blonde and teammate, sending him crashing into the bleachers with a vein twitching in her forehead.
"Wow, that aside, I'll see you little Toads at the campfire tonight, think long and hard about who you want to eliminate." Kakashi said cheerily, pulling out his book and walking off, already absorbed in it. Looking at him as he read, Naruto raised an eyebrow at his choice in reading material, finally noticing exactly what series Kakashi was always reading.
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"Usually Karui can keep Omoi in line when he flips out. But with her on the other team…" Samui trailed off, rubbing her temples with both hands, "So uncool."
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"Ugh! I thought we had that when Shika got to make a strategy. Now I have to go make sure his lazy ass isn't on the block for making a plan that didn't work!" Ino complained, "He keeps this up and it won't be worth the effort to keep him around. At least there's an easy target to shift everyone's focus onto…"
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"That's how it's done!" Tenten fist pumped, still holding one of the dodgeballs, "Kurotsuchi's idea to get balls from the start worked perfectly, and the weapons mistress brings it home! I'm here to play, so Sasuke and Naruto better watch their backs, the rest of us aren't just going to let them run away with this."
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"For as good a plan it was, Kurotsuchi never struck me as someone with so much insight into planning, perhaps I should be keeping a closer eye on her." Haku mused, thinking and tapping their chin in thought.
**Camera Static**
"Eleven Toads, ten safe ninja, who has been a let down for the team so far." Kakashi taunted the assembled Toads, the firelight casting long shadows over his lone visible facial feature.
"Well, the safe ones so far are; Naruto, Gaara, Lee, Fu, Samui, Karin, Temari, Ino, Chojuro."
One by one, the marshmallows on the plate were tossed over, Omoi sweating more and more as his name wasn't called while Shikamaru was lounging on his stump, leaning back against one of the campy totem poles lining the campfire pit.
"Shikamaru, you were in the last three last time the Toads had to send someone home, and it was your strategy that failed in the final round. Do you think you're going home because of it?"
"Meh." Shikamaru shrugged at Kakashi, still reclining.
"And Omoi, all your worrying words seem to have just annoyed your teammates, and you didn't do much to help them in the challenges so far…" Kakashi trailed off as Omoi got started again.
"I have been useless! They all hate me, and I'm going to be eliminated, then my sensei will beat me up, then he'll drop me as a student, then my parents will throw me out, then-!"
"Alright alright enough already. Gai, get this weirdo outta here, Shikamaru gets the last marshmallow." Kakashi tossed the final marshmallow to Shikamaru and Gai scooped up Omoi in one fluid movement and slung him over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
"Adios master of muttering!" Kakashi waved Omoi goodbye as the boats left the dock of shame, the rest of the Toads already heading back to their cabin, except for Ino, who pulled Shikamaru aside and away from everyone else.
"You better count your lucky starts Shikamaru Nara, because it was either you or him getting on that boat out of here. Because you actually gave a damn for 30 seconds and threw together a quick plan in the final round is the only reason both Naruto and Fu agreed to vote for Omoi instead of you. So get your ass in gear, because there won't always be someone there to take the fall while you're busy being lazy." Ino snapped at her childhood friend, who had a hand glued to one of his vest pockets, twitching lightly.
"Sure thing…what a drag." Shikamaru complained.
"And quit looking so twitchy, we both know this is good for you." Ino smacked his hand off his vest and stormed off while Shikamaru sighed and followed her back slowly, hands planted in his pockets.
"Troublesome."
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"And our dodgeball challenge comes to an end, and the Toads vote off worry boy Omoi. Who will lose next, will Shikamaru finally get off his ass, will anyone figure out what Kurotsuchi is up to, will Karin sabotage anymore challenges for the Toads. Find out next time on Total! Ninja! Island!"
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Guess who wound up being a day late because they forgot what day of the week it was. This guy. Nothing like being swamped with work to really throw you off. But here it is, dodgeball, complete with Tenten actually being worth something and getting a badass scene, a whole scene more than the entire Naruto series. Seriously, her and the rest of the non-team 7 Konoha rookies could have had such badass moments in the series and it all went to 'reincarnation child of prophecy' Bullshit instead. Complete waste of characters, including them and then not letting them do anything except be helpless fodder that the protagonists have to save. UGH. As much as I like Naruto, I do have serious issues with it.
Welp, hope everyone is doing well, this is the last fully completed chapter I have, so if I don't find the time to keep writing, the next few will come much slower, but what can you do?
Happy Reading Everyone -Centurion Africanus