"So… Team Alto is going to be in the next match, huh"? Kiyomi sighed, voicing her thoughts out loud. Frankly, it was something that first caught Mana's attention as well after the next match up was announced.
"Yeah, Quill B claimed that he had a qualm with Team Alto and wanted to take Kres-T's life for killing his friend. I've seen Quill B among the genin in the audience so things might get a bit heated up", Mana agreed.
The two girls found themselves calmly waiting outside of the infirmary where they were told that Meiko was still in the same condition she was left in after her match and was being moved to Konoha Hospital. Her moving, based on what the girls were told, was not due to changes in the blacksmith's condition, but merely because more and more injured genin needed medical attention and Konoha High was ill-roomed and staffed to deal with the demand.
"Yeah, but… Can you really blame Team Alto and call them monsters, ones like Team Phobos? More so, why are we calling Team Phobos monsters to begin with"? Kiyomi uncomfortably shrugged, it was becoming clear that she knew how Mana would react to these questions but she wanted them raised regardless.
"We don't call, or consider Team Phobos monsters, really. Not in terms of their humanity. They are referred to as such because of their monstrous skill gap, compared to the rest of the genin. In a way, we were supposed to always be monsters as well. We are still overtrained and overly experienced for this exam, remember"? Mana replied, feeling equally as uncomfortable because she sensed where Kiyomi wanted to turn this topic to and she did not want to argue with her good friend about that, at least not now.
"Alright, but I mean… Why are we supposed to dislike them? Team Phobos are nothing but really patriotic folk. I cannot ever blame someone like that. They love their village and want all that is best for it. They're willing to do whatever is necessary just to make it one of the Greats, not even for monetary or economic reasons but just so it doesn't go through famine again", Kiyomi wondered.
"Yeah, but they aren't all just one kind of people. Just because Stea doesn't like violence and doesn't like kicking her love for her village to the extreme, doesn't mean her teammates don't. Gasco and Doma advocate taking of another's life just for the sake of that person being weak and a detriment to their village's military strength. I've seen it with my own eyes, you can't ever place your heart and moral support behind people like that", Mana objected passively. It wasn't that she lacked passion for her arguments, it was just that the pressure of all that has happened recently was sinking her head beneath the surface and it took all of her flailings just to stay relatively afloat.
"Yeah, but then why are we supposed to treat like Kres-T did something wrong? From what Quill B told us, he killed a traitor, a ninja who planned on leaving their village, becoming nukenin. There is no greater honor for a ninja than killing someone with such traitorous intentions, it is Quill B who truly is out of line, wishing to kill a fellow ninja for the sole reason of him killing a traitor", Kiyomi became more passionate and less uncomfortable with her arguing with each passing moment.
Somewhere deep inside she must have felt a bit misguided to voice these thoughts at first but now that she had let them out, they quite nicely aligned to her own ideals – Aku-Soku-Zan. The ancient code that demanded the complete annihilation of any evil one saw at their sights. It wasn't even pure Aku-Soku-Zan that fueled Kiyomi, a true follower of that code would've slaughtered Mana with no hesitation for stealing supplies from another, they'd have gone on killing other killers without any qualms about it. The two sides of the same idea: the pure Aku-Soku-Zan and its modernized version were tearing Kiyomi from inside, Mana could feel it.
"Life is life. No life is to be thrown away meaninglessly. I don't care if that life belongs to a traitor or not. I'll stand behind a man wanting justice for a death of his friend but I will not let Quill B kill Kres-T if they ever meet in combat either", Mana firmly stood by her stance, "That, after all, is still, and always will be my Ninja Way".
"Well then, you better get ready and prepare to fight more battles than you need to", Kiyomi brightened up, her tone was soft and almost motherly. Almost like she displayed a very worried care for Mana's health.
"What do you mean"? The magician wondered.
"Look at it, the man you hate is about to fight in a grueling tag match. When is the best chance to slip a knife between their ribs than after such a match – when your hated enemy is tired and injured"? Kiyomi calmly explained as she stood up and followed the stream of flooding genin back into the gym hall.
Mana sat there dazed and lightly shocked for a while. What Kiyomi said was so true that it had to be an accurate read on the situation. It was one, which Mana had to take to mind but what was she supposed to do? She could not afford to waste any chakra or her own health, she will need all of it for the exam and she has been hammering again and again into her own mind about how important this exam was for her.
"Save a life of a killer? Win my match, what should I do"? Mana whispered to herself. It was not really a conflict, the moment the question was raised she knew which she had to do but the realization of what she would be giving up on in return plagued her immensely. She was about to give up on her image as a great ninja, the possible inspiration to the people around her that'd have helped her live up to the ideal way of changing the world – inspiring people to change through example. Still quivering like an autumnal leaf, Mana stood up and walked into the gym hall, even as the weak and plagued winter sun shined through the windows, the magician felt the darkness wrapping around her head and her throat, smothering her and driving fear and uncertainty into her heart.
A restrained clanging piqued Mana's interest once she took her place by Kiyomi's side and in front of her sensei. The female member of Team Nimbus – Jean-D, a spitting image of her brother, was making her way to the arena. This time, the armored kunoichi didn't wear her face rag on her face, instead, she used it as a scarf of sorts and let it just fall and wave loosely behind her back, partly wrapping around the twin knives she had sheathed behind her and knocking about on her hips.
"These are the Team Nimbus that wanted to claim me as their target back in Forest of Death, right"? Kiyomi asked.
"Yeah, they're also quite strong. I've met a pair of ninja, well… They kidnapped me… Anyways, these guys managed to scare their powerhouse member like a little kid. They're no joking matter", Mana worryingly confirmed. The more powerful the enemy, the more troubled she had reason to be as the odds of Quill B being tempted to attempt and assassinate Kres-T would have been greater.
"No joke, didn't that one guy from their team take both Meiko and Sugemi to beat"? Kiyomi confidently smiled, she was right to be smiling and to feel relieved, now that Team Nimbus had no business or quarrel with her.
"Hey, look, that's another one of those Team Scuti guys, those traitorous assholes that tried to hurt you after having a truce agreement with Sugemi's team", Kiyomi pointed at a brown haired young boy with a black top making his way hastily onto the arena and taking his place by the side of his female armored teammate. The shiny face paint on the boy's face was by far the most eye-scratching feature that simply demanded attention whenever one looked at Gorm Cleiti.
Then, Mana noticed another familiar face calmly making his way onto the arena – Buhakim of Team Pahlavi. The golden haired, dark skinned young man obsessed with some strange moral code he called "Uber-Spirituality" and his odd style of puppetry techniques. While he did act in a very comedic and joke-inviting manner, his skill and puppets were considerable and his reserved and cool-headed mindset had to be commended and revered as well.
An athletically looking young man, wearing sleeveless baggy clothes separated from Team Alto and calmly made his way to the arena. Even by Kumogakure's relatively exotic standards, the youth was in the league of his own. Wearing two odd bracelets with axe-handles attached to them, shaved bald except for the five sharp sticking out spikes of hair that were dyed red, with a face that could've been honestly imagined quite easily from the uneasy history Kres-T was described as having with Quill B, at least as far as psychotic first impressions were concerned.
Jean-D and Gorm discussed something between themselves. Initially it appeared like they both had differing opinions about who should've lead the match, after something very short and emotional that Gorm said, however, Jean reluctantly agreed with a nod and warmed herself up, drawing two long knives and playing with them skillfully in her grip. Gorm went up to the tag scroll and got sealed inside.
On the other side, however, Buhakim and Kres-T stood completely silent, refusing even to talk to one another, that being said, once the overseer insisted that one of them finally agreed to be sealed inside the scroll, Buhakim, without any objections from his tag partner, strolled at a slow turtle's pace to the scroll. The boy's strut was almost mocking to the overseer's attempt to proceed with the matches optimally and in a rule-abiding manner, and sealed himself inside the scroll. Not only did Kres-T not object to this, he appeared excited and glad that his partner didn't want any of the battle ahead.
"Look at those eyes, tell me honestly that you believe this young man to be a just follower of his village's code and not a sociopathic murderer, glad to have an excuse to kill someone, and I'll start supporting your side immediately", Mana taunted Kiyomi's previous hesitance to believe in the cruel words said about Team Alto.
"Can't judge a person about how much they've allowed this world of ours to get to them. Aren't you all about judging someone by their actions, not their degree of crazy"? Kiyomi returned the sentiment.
The battle started without any additional encouragement from the overseer, the moment when the higher ranking ninja cleared the way for the combatants to begin, they charged at each other, thirsty for blood yet careful in their approach. Even when their shouts and grunts sounded primal and scary with how animalistic they were, inviting hidden instinctual fears of the more basic parts of our nature, their moves were cold and calculated. Scoping out their opponent's skill, carefully poking and backing out, nothing more, nothing less.
Finally Jean-D found herself brave enough to slightly overextend with a double assault – using her left kick for a jumping kick and her knife for a slash. Kres-T swiped his axe blades attached to his bracelets in an X shaped swipe, aiming to disarm his opponent with her brave assault and then injure or open her up for a finishing stroke.
Jean-D grunted out in pain as the overwhelming force and hold-nothing-back sadistic approach to fighting of her larger opponent triumphed, smashing the knives out of her hands through brute force while Kres simply powered through the kicks, choosing to take a little bit of damage just to potentially end the battle quickly.
Kres-T soared high and dived low, aiming to injure his opponent but Jean-D was simply too agile, even when disarmed, being completely able to both avoid his axe swipes and deliver a pair of good quick kicks and palm strikes to his face in return. Kres only noticed too late that he had pressured his opponent too much, pushing her all the way back to her own tag scroll. It wasn't difficult to notice the moment of hesitation in the young man's eyes, the conflict of whether he should sate his bloodlust for Jean's blood, or if he should back up a bit and wait out the inevitable tag.
The more sadistic side of Kres-T won, the young man swiped his axe downwards, leaning the swipe in angle a bit to the left to cover more space, Jean-D read him like a book, waiting his attack out before opening the scroll. In a maroon colored flash Gorm appeared from the scroll and, together, both teammates relentlessly overwhelmed their opponent, fists flew from every direction, kicks aimed at Kres-T's joints and his vital spots did all the damage they could do in the mere three seconds that were given. A quick glance to Jean's knives revealed that the young woman found her moment even to retrieve her primary weapons during the brief time of physical advantage she had obtained.
Blood was trickling down at an alarming rate and quantities from Kres-T's nose, cracked and swollen lip, busted eyebrows and random bruises he had obtained from Jean and Gorm pummeling him, with the duo being two highly physical and athletic combatants of their respective teams. Nevertheless, Kres-T remained on his feet. Even though the relentless opponents downed him a couple of times during the ceaseless barrage of fists and kicks. Just the very scent of his own blood must have sent the young man to a psychotic frenzy even bigger than the one he had before. Whereas previously it looked like he had some sort of a choice in his fighting style, now his sadistic side dictated it completely.
Kres-T's arms moved onto his hips, this alarmed Gorm but he was not yet familiar enough with his opponent to rush straight into interrupting his every action. He didn't know the extent of his opponent's speed, the nature of his jutsu, various skills and abilities, how fast his hand seals were and a great number of other things. Rushing this way, without knowing that sort of information lead into rushing straight into a trap.
The young man removed a pair of black orbs, similar to the smoke and flash bombs that most ninja carried in their kits, except these ones had streaks of glowing red steaming inside, visible through what appeared to be glassy parts of the orb's surface.
With a cruel grin, Kres-T lobbed the two spheres straight at Gorm, forcing the Team Scuti genin to get on the defensive and evade the bombs with great agility and acrobatics. It did appear like the boy was putting in effort in evading these explosives. Once evaded, the bombs hit the barrier and the force of impact detonated them, forcing Gorm to struggle to even stay on his feet. It was not difficult to imagine a more skillful and relentless barrage of similar explosives landing their mark a pair of times though.
By then Gorm must have realized that while he had more than a chance fighting Kres-T hand-to-hand, or hand-to-axe, with these various explosives in his kit, Kres had the option of controlling the battle from long range. With agile back vaults the Hoshigakure genin moved in to his tag scroll. Despite Kres-T's charge, attempting to disrupt the tag, Gorm switched out again, unsealing Jean-D.
However, this time, it did not appear like the two were in a rush to attack their opponent again. As three seconds passed quietly, in a maroon flash, Gorm got sealed away and Jean-D calmly stood in a fighting stance wielding both of her long knives.
"They exchanged information", Mana muttered to herself.
"That's clever", Kiyomi nodded.
"It's all about decisions, this stage. Will you choose to attack, but leave your teammate in the dark, risking a potential screw-up down the road for a little bit of a temporary advantage and damage, or do you share intel with them and play the long but steady game", Mana realized now. "It's like each team learns something with each passing match and change their approach".
Jean-D rushed onwards, slashing with her knife, rolling aside to avoid the quick bomb thrown her way, before getting inside knife-fighting distance as she stabbed downwards, using her knife with a dagger grip. Even as her knife was deflected, the young woman chose to proceed with her stabbing motion and stab into the ground. Not hard enough to damage her knives, yet still strongly and willfully enough to be seen and noted.
Jean deflected Kres-T's axe slashes with her remaining arm while she stabbed at him again. Kres raised his block upwards to interrupt the daring thrust but then he felt sharp pain below – where the previous knife stab hit the ground. After seeing his blood trickling on the ground, coming from a shallow cut on his thigh, a place where he was not even attacked in, Kres-T roared in rage and slammed a flash bomb into the ground, forcing a temporary cooldown of both combatants.
"What was that"? Kiyomi wondered, "Did you even see that? You've trained in defensive martial arts so your perception should be better"
"Yeah. Her other hand was nowhere near that thigh, also her thrusting knife appeared to blur and shorten right as it was thrusted forward, right when it was about to hit Kres-T's block", Mana confirmed Kiyomi's confusion about the exchange of attacks. "I'm not sure what this was, one thing's clear – she's not just a knife-fighter, there's some ninjutsu or genjutsu involved and it had something to do with that pointless thrust at the ground before".
A muffled and conserved laughter echoed through the Konoha High gym hall before transitioning into a full-on psychotic fit of laughter. Kres-T appeared to have been having a time of his life here as he was letting go of his composure and, seemingly, his sanity itself.
His laughter continued to spread through the gym hall and creep out the audience, before the psychotic Kumogakure genin took a slow step forward, transitioning into a slow walk towards his opponent.