"We're next!" Toroi, a chubby and short Kumogakure ninja punched his open palm and turned at a quiet Iwagakure ninja who did not move at all in response or acknowledge his opponent's existence. "I'm gonna crush you in no time at all!"
After making that bold declaration, Toroi waltzed off onto the arena with the step of someone who took victory as something they were entitled to. Gurker Gliesse pushed himself off the locker he was pressing his back to for support, flipped his checkered, brown, and green scarf over his other shoulder so that it didn't get in his way and without opening his eyes proceeded to follow his opponent into the arena.
"Is he an idiot?" Meiko wondered out loud while staring at the Kumogakure ninja stretching out in the arena. When the subject of lucky jackals that proceeded in the exams because they didn't stand out too much in the previous round and just kind of slipped through came to mind, Toroi was one of the main talking points.
"He might be, though, in this case, he is right…" Kiyomi sighed.
"Are you kidding me? He's been running and cowering the entire time in the last round after he'd messed up his first attack," Meiko turned to her teammate.
"I am not objecting that he's a lukewarm ninja, all I'm saying is that he's going to win," Kiyomi replied though because she paid closer attention to the little screen broadcasting the fight and not her friend, it was impossible to tell what she was seeing that Meiko wasn't.
The bespectacled genin stroked the bull-horn tattoo on his left cheek for good luck and took a fighting stance. His neck seemed thick enough for the red rope that he wore over his neck to slowly constrict him. The moment that the proctor declared the beginning of the match and buggered off, the giant shuriken that hung on Toroi's back spun around in the boy's hand as if it had slithered there itself.
A pleasant, blue glow formed a static aura around the massive projectile, a signifier of the Lightning Release chakra coating. Toroi hurled the shuriken right at his opponent who appeared to wake up in the mid-flight of the ninja tool and stomp the ground in front of him while he clapped his hands together. A slim stone pillar burst forth from underground and caught the shuriken by the ring like a nail caught a horseshoe. The bright crackle of Lightning Release faded away after a few violent sparks while grinding against the stone.
"Water Style: Raging Waves!" Gurker Gliesse chanted while breathing in deep and bloating at his abdomen section. When he breathed out, water gushed from his mouth with the intensity of a waterfall though it didn't seem like Gurker was aiming the jutsu at his opponent as he directed it diagonally down.
Toroi jumped up, thinking that the purpose of the jutsu was to wash at his calves and send him tumbling down. While he did leap over the washing wave but he slipped upon landing, resulting in a humiliating planting on the right side of his face which submerged in dirt and the bespectacled genin rose back to his feet half-crummy.
"What a disgusting charade!" Relta Ginn grit her teeth. "I'm not going to keep watching this."
"Huh, what does she mean?" Meiko wondered.
"Haven't you noticed it? The way in which Gurker Gliesse is fighting?" Temari looked at Meiko. "I thought you were one of the more experienced ones…"
"He's holding back, sure, that makes most of the examinees though, doesn't it? I mean it's not a good idea to overextend until you know your opponent's fighting style and their techniques for sure," Meiko shrugged.
"Oh, come on, didn't you see the terror in Gurker's eyes when Toroi slipped up and fell? The poor guy thought his opponent accidentally ended up knocking himself out…" Relta mumbled before disappearing behind a shutting door.
"Hmm? Yeah… I guess it can be pretty tricky fighting a total weakling and having to make it an entertaining match…" Meiko pondered out loud to herself though the rest of the genin present in the waiting room only shook their heads looking at the blacksmith as if she was the only one out of some mysterious loop that all of them were aware of.
"Think you've got me on the ropes, huh? Surprise kunai!" Toroi exclaimed, raising his arm up and releasing a handful of kunai knives aimed at his opponent.
Gurker flinched and turned around, catching a few of the knives to his side and body. None of the hits he took seemed dangerous but it felt odd that he took them at all. No ninja a few training sessions in could have ever been caught off-guard by the "Surprise kunai" attack. It couldn't have been just that Gurker was trying to make the fight last longer and seem more outstanding than it actually was. One could have not been touched and still won in a way that would have warranted a promotion. That implied that Gurker's goal was not to win at all.
"Viscosity Release: Water Assault!" Gurker weaved his hands together while the layer of water he had created earlier banded together into smaller jets that whipped at Toroi, the bumbling chubby tried swatting aside at the water and while it did seem that he possessed respectable physical strength, the manner of Gurker's attack was of a different ballpark entirely.
Had it been normal water that Toroi slapped at, he'd have likely swatter the low-ranking ninjutsu attacks aside. Though Gurker's Viscosity Release did not work like just any ordinary water, upon contact it did not whip or splash, it stuck to the surface it contacted like gum and then continued to buoy and flap around while it wrapped further and further over the surface that the technique touched, like an outer layer of the area.
Toroi shook his arm in panic while still lobbing kunai knives at his opponent. Gurker turned on one leg and fell on his side. He writhed on the dirt for a few more seconds before noticing that no staff was rushing to his aid. None of their sensors registered a dip in his chakra, prompting the young man to sit up and wince from his wounds.
"I give up. I think he got me pretty good…" Gurker mumbled out.
"H-Huh? Examinee Gurker surrendered? That's so unexpected, just when he seemed in control of the match and when he managed to catch his opponent with his technique…" Konohamaru leaned back in his chair, sounding a bit disappointed in the short exchange he had just seen.
"You can never underestimate the damage that a well-timed and well-aimed projectile can do. Shuriken and knives might seem like supplementary tools but a precise user can use even such elementary tools to hit vital areas… If such an area truly was hit, examinee Gurker is wise to surrender now and see his wounds treated," Udon shrugged, rationalizing the folly he had just seen.
"Still… Everyone's sort of trying their best, why would an examinee not try and push themselves a little bit, at least, chakra augmentation can sustain one's fighting ability for a little while, you know…" Moegi sighed.
"Well… The good news is that the stadium hasn't been damaged at all by that last match so there will be no downtime in moving on ahead. I think we're going to jump right to the next match. We've got Wakizashi Meiko VS Sunny-Lee lined up next," Konohamaru being ever the optimist managed to find at least a few benefits to this disappointing last match.
"Huh? What the hell!? I'm up next, it's so sudden!?" Meiko freaked out. "That match lasted no time at all!"
"Told you that Toroi would win…" Kiyomi sighed and sat down on a bench. With a subtle smirk, she offered Meiko a thumb up. "Go get 'em…" she encouraged her friend.
"Tsk… No fair, how did everyone know that the match was gonna be such a rip-off?" Meiko grumbled to herself while slipping her helmet on and pounding it a few good times before entering the back end of the hallway leading outside and doing a few stretches before stepping into the light.
"Gurker threw the match because he's an Iwagakure ninja," Meiko heard a faint voice beside her. It was a bit screechy and low-pitched for a young lady that owned it but that only made it more distinctive and the words she said easier to make out.
"Promise me that you wouldn't do something like that, throw the match just because I'm a Kumogakure ninja!" Sunny-Lee smacked her own freckled cheeks while walking alongside her taller, bulkier and far better-equipped opponent.
Now Meiko finally understood. Kumogakure beat Iwagakure down during the Coltan conflict the two countries shared and began integrating the local ninja into their own arsenal, turning the enemy forces into their own assets. The only Iwagakure ninja from this universe that competed were those that swallowed the Kumogakure pill down, as bitterly as it went, and agreed with all the conditions that applied with that pill.
Under no circumstances, not even if it was a ninja from alternate Kumogakure, could an Iwagakure ninja beat an opponent from the village that was its superior in the art of war. The realization of that filthy sentiment made some venomous bile bubble down Meiko's stomach. She'd never throw the match like that though she felt glad that she didn't have to. In fact, the way that the relationship between Konohagakure and Kumogakure was, the administration was way more likely to enjoy her victory, due to the unstated sense of rivalry between the two villages.
"Konoha… Kumo… It doesn't matter which is stronger in terms of military strength or economy anymore. Can't we just have one match? Nice and clean?" Meiko turned to her opponent after the two walked out into the light much to the audience's cheers. The blacksmith did not expect such a reaction to her armor though the public opinion was that it was way cool, judging from the way the cheers reverberated through the entire arena.
"That's what I would like too!" Sunny-Lee nodded her head, showing a few strands dyed orange over her rich head of dark and curly hair. Seeing Sunny-Lee again reminded Meiko of the first time she ever saw freckles on the face of a person of tanned skin, a few shades darker even than Mana's. Meiko recalled feeling it looked weird a few years back though now she realized how easy it was to get used to.
When the proctor called for the match to start, Meiko thrust her fist out and let a pair of rods to emerge from the top and bottom of her right gauntlet. The blacksmith grabbed the top rod and yanked on it, forcing her armor to emit the metallic shriek of intertwined braids of steel wire while she freed the two rods interconnected with steel wire underneath her armor plates.
"Nunchaku?" Konohamaru opened his jaw. "So examinee Meiko is a taijutsu specialist then?"
"Not quite…" Udon chuckled, "This examinee can perform at a wide variety of ranges and might just be the most flexible combatant in the roster of finalists."
Meiko swung her improvised nunchaku, sending the upper rod flying at her opponent. Sunny-Lee rolled aside, avoiding a smack that made the audience in the front rows cover their ears while even those on the back rows twitched in discomfort. The whip of hardened plastic against the dirt cracked the ground open and might have pummeled more than a few of Sunny-Lee's bones.
"Cotton Release: Static Pulse!" Sunny-Lee clapped her hands together while still on her knees. Strands of what appeared to be silk at first, before it stretched out wider and thinned out drastically, revealing itself to be natural cotton, coiled into balls of softness stuck to their creator's body. Sunny-Lee evaded a few of the corrective swipes that Meiko sent her way while rolling a few of the cotton balls together. A spark of light flicked the moment that the two spheres touched making Meiko smell trouble from the get-go.
An electric shockwave took off from the tips of every cotton strand, connecting together into something greater altogether as it spread out wide and engulfed Meiko in it too. Her helmet, her shoulder pads and every single armor piece she wore began feeling heavy on her body, abandoning such thoughts of grandeur as to move around in her armor, even her arms and legs felt too heavy to move.
"Cotton Release? I've never heard about this kind of Kekkei Genkai…" Konohamaru turned to his peers for some more insightful commentary.
"Neither have I, I don't think there would be many that have heard of it, though it sounds like an off-shoot of the Senju Wood Style, like the Bloom Release and Vine Release…" Udon pondered.
"Are you saying this young lady from Kumogakure can use a signature talent of the founders of Konohagakure?" Moegi looked bewildered.
"It is not outside the realm of possibility. This universe appears to have suffered much more from skill leak, in more difficult times members of various clans have moved all over the world. I've heard about a powerful Yamanaka clan presence in Kirigakure, in fact. It's not too outrageous to believe that a Senju might have found their way serving Kumogakure at some point and their descendant being capable of an entirely different spin on the Senju Wood Release," Udon shrugged.
"Wow, who would have thought that a Kumogakure ninja could perform and improve on Wood Release!?" Moegi shook her head.
"I don't think that young Sunny-Lee can perform Wood Release, at least she hadn't shown such an ability previously in the exams, it isn't rare for descendants of esteemed clan members to lose their signature talent while exhibiting unique off-shoots of the ability when they descend from two different clans…" Udon corrected his friend.
Right now Meiko didn't care if Sunny-Lee could perform Wood Release or not, all that she cared about was moving her body in time to intercept the next attack. Sunny-Lee sieged the ramparts of her armor with a relentless taijutsu assault. Her hits sent rabid clangs that made being inside of Meiko's armor feel like being inside of a bell being rung but she didn't wield much success in dealing actual damage. Just when the blacksmith began to feel threatened, her fist clutched successfully.
The redhead put up her arm, releasing a couple of windmill shuriken that fired from her forearm after emerging as mere rings and taking complete shape after snapping and locking into the slingshot compartment. Sunny-Lee took a backward vault, Meiko didn't think that such an evasive maneuver would suffice though once she saw her shuriken entangled in the messy cotton puffs on Sunny-Lee's hands, she cursed and dashed back for some more distance between the two.
"You look like a cheerleader…" Meiko taunted her opponent. The joy in her tone betrayed that it was not mockery but playful banter.
"That was the inspiration," Sunny-Lee followed her opponent moving behind her and then back into her tunnel of vision using nothing but her eyes.
"Cotton Release: Static Wave!" the tanned Kumogakure ninja formed another puff of cotton in her right hand and slammed it at the ground, sending golden worms of electricity crawling in every direction. Now being aware of the paralyzing aftereffects of the static electricity that built up inside those balls of cotton, Meiko made sure to let the jets in her boots loose and ascend to the sky.
A rough yank and searing pain in her knee made Meiko stop blasting off and turn for her opponent. She couldn't quite make out why she stopped in mid-air though she knew that it had something to do with her right leg since it hurt the joints of that leg to try and ascent. The blacksmith extended her arm and unsealed a flurry of shuriken to cut a string of steel wire that Sunny-Lee had slipped onto her leg when she unleashed her flurry of physical attacks earlier.
"Cotton Release: Static Beam!" Sunny-Lee pressed two of her cottony pom-poms together and rubbed them against each other, making the static electricity that built up inside them so intense that the whole cotton substance glowed gold.
Meiko grunted in pain as she felt her entire body locking down. The hit would have been way more severe had she not worn the full armor set that protected her against some of the damage, Meiko was lucky that the static electricity that Sunny-Lee used was hardly different from Lightning Release ninjutsu which her armor was meant to insulate her from. Of course, any insulation of such sort would have only been possible to a certain degree.
That beam was too fast. If she got caught off guard again and didn't see the beam coming, there was little to no way of dodging it out of reaction alone. It was faster than mere lightning, more intense, and far more focused. Meiko put her dukes up and let her gauntlets activate the Reactor Gauntlets' module, arming herself with her more recent invention that was beginning to climb her list of favorites.
"Reactor Shot!" Meiko yelled out, focusing a handful of the chakra that her Reactor Gauntlets helped her store and channel into a more focused version of the Reactor Breath jutsu she used to use earlier. The Reactor Shot projectile was more compact, of much more refined shape though it also blew up in a much larger explosion and packed a better wallop altogether. The Reactor Breath might have had a slightly better range though.
Sunny-Lee shrieked out in shock and rolled up a large cotton ball, raising it up in between herself and the incoming attack. The cotton ball fell to tiny cinders and burnt up after hitting the ground though it looked like it had offered the protection that Sunny-Lee sought from it.
If only someone had told Meiko during the last month that the best suit of armor she's ever built for herself, resulting in culmination on everything she's learned about blacksmithing and different ninja fighting styles would struggle against some cotton-rolling girl, Meiko would have had a blast back then, though she wasn't laughing now.
It was a good thing that this was not the full extent of Meiko's abilities then.