"I bet this place has a really nice canteen", Meiko sighed.
"You've got a really important match up ahead and all you can think about is eating, go figure", Kiyomi tried to lecture the blacksmith who then turned around and shook her head frustrated.
"Nah, I'm not gonna eat right before a battle. That's asking for an accident", the redhead grumbled out.
Mana could not really believe that Meiko ended up fighting Sugemi. These battles were supposed to be matched up completely randomly and yet it kind of felt like a cruel twist of fate. Of all the different teams and villages participating in the exam, two teams from Konohagakure had to clash, as well as two members of Mana's past teams.
"So how are you feeling"? Mana tried shaking the gloomy thoughts away by talking to her friend, realizing she has been awfully quiet since the battle was declared.
"Hee hee, I'm kinda excited, really. I mean I asked Sugemi to train me before and he refused. Now I'll be able to show him just how strong I've gotten without his help", the blacksmith raised her fist up looking mighty competitive.
"What kind of training did you do? Both of your chakra signatures are significantly larger", Mana wondered loudly. She did not even need to elaborate on what she has been doing for training, her training plans pretty much came true and, except for her loss of smell, it all went without a hitch. Just the fact that Mana could even easily sense and compare Meiko's and Kiyomi's signatures like that should've told them that her sensory abilities were finally awakened fully and the magician was beginning to control them.
"I trained with Galateia and Aoi. I think she's already over me, we've been fighting over and over again, nonstop", Meiko grinned.
"I see, emptying your chakra supplies again and again would've slowly increased your overall pool, just like contracting a muscle again and again makes it grow. Also, just like a muscle needs food and nutrients for growth, you needed physical and spiritual growth to feed your chakra's growth", Mana realized, mumbling to herself.
"Yeah, well… Our scuffles were nothing if not physical, plus, fighting alongside a maniac like Teia kind of made me appreciate competition differently too, maybe that constituted as spiritual growth"? Meiko shrugged as she calmly rubbed her back against the wall. She tried to look calm but it was clear that the blacksmith was not entirely at peace.
It could not just have been that, Meiko fighting continuously on edge, always pushed to her limits must have made her innovate, create new fighting styles and techniques to overcome the difficulties of training which must have increased her spirituality sufficiently to satisfy and match the physical aspect increase and greatly enlarge her chakra signature in general. Had her training been any less balanced, such an increase would not have been possible.
"What about you, Kiyomi, did you learn any hidden clan techniques, like you intended to"? Mana turned at Kiyomi. Meiko just snickered unexpectedly.
"Nah, she's been training with her uncle's servants because her old man's been too busy sleeping", the redhead snorted mockingly.
Mana could see a vein twitching on Kiyomi's forehead but she restrained herself from physical actions.
"I'll have you know that the two servants I trained with were purposefully pushing my physicality and my spirituality to their limits every day. Whereas you stumbled into a spurt of growth by accident, I was lead there through skill and experience", Kiyomi explained, finding a way to bite back at her friend. "Anyways, what's with all the curiosity", she wondered.
"I'm just worried, that's all", Mana looked back at the open door of the hall. Seeing that last battle scared her tremendously. These were no ordinary Chuunin Exams, every step of the way, every surviving member proved themselves to be prodigious monsters of their respective villages. While before Mana thought that it was just a pair or trio of ninja who was truly outside her league, the more she observed, the more worried for her own well-being, also that of her friends she was.
"Hmm? Well, aren't you able to compare my chakra signature to that of Sugemi's? Haven't you seen both of us fight? You should be willing to make a pretty educated guess of what'd happen if we crashed against each other…" Meiko grinned, from her oddly curious face the magician could tell that the redhead very much wanted some manner of encouragement.
This was something that worried Mana, the kind of Meiko that she'd see in that battle. When the blacksmith was all herself, confident, excited and fired up, determined to fight for what she's fighting for at that moment – she was unstoppable. Truly a physical and stamina monster to match Team Phobos and all other monsters. A member of her team to scare other genin with. However, over the time searching for the Box of Ultimate Bliss, the magician had seen a very different Meiko as well. Hints of her showed even during the exam, desperate, self-loathing and sad.
"Judging from what I can tell, you've got it in the bag"! Mana cheered on Meiko, even though it was nothing more but a lie. She had never seen anyone successfully clash with Sugemi's Eight Gates techniques up close and that would be the range where Meiko will try to keep the brawl in. It was a fifty-fifty gamble, really and Mana knew it. Before her training Meiko would have come up short, now – plenty of things were still in the air.
Kiyomi's odd stare caught Mana's lie. Had Meiko not been absolutely clueless, she would have been able to do so as well.
"Plus, if anything does go wrong, you still have Daidao to pull you out, right, he's a Jinchuuriki, after all"! Kiyomi added more encouragement on top, Mana wasn't sure why the Yamanaka would do so, but Mana's intentions must've been successfully picked up by Kiyomi who also must've witnessed Meiko's self-roasting tendencies on one occasion or another.
And so, the moment of battle had successfully been reached. The wandering and resting, discussing the battle they've just seen ninja quickly gathered into the Konoha High gym hall witnessing a barrier having been erected over the newly rebuilt arena. Seeing how this went against everything that previously said by the overseer, plenty of mentors raised even plentier amounts of ruckus.
"Please, settle down, everybody", Lord Sixth spoke up, instantly easing the rising tensions and encouraging everyone to take their places and settle down as once the man spoke up, everyone else fell silent.
"As you see, we've easily rebuilt the arena. That's Dorimi-senpai's specialty, after all"! The overseer cheerfully gave the bandanna-wearing jounin a thumb up. "However, we've also discussed something with the Village Protection Services' recently established Barrier Corps division. They seem to have understood our troubles and agreed to erect a unique barrier, one you see right here".
Mana looked up, examining the rectangular shape surrounding the arena and admiring the glowing glyphs and complicated symbols glowing on its bright purple walls. She did not know much about barriers, but there was something to be admired in the ability to erect protective walls to protect people dear to you. If there ever was a specialty she'd be choosing as a ninja, it'd certainly be that of a Barrier Ninja.
The overseer quickly went over a handful of hand seals before breathing in so deep that his chest greatly inflated. "Fire Style: Blaze"! The Sixth's assistant shouted out as he breathed out a mass of fire hurling at the upper corner of the barrier walls. The mass of flames exploded upon impact in a moderate and rather puny blast as it was a simple technique most Fire Release users could have learned in a handful of days. Not a single breath of smoke nor a tongue of flames escaped the protective hold of the barrier.
"Yeah, we know how barriers work", Chestnut Hanasaku spoke up looking with a bored expression at the unharmed barrier. "I'm sure that the problems everyone had with the barrier were concerned with ring outs", she added.
"Were they now"? Lord Sixth's assistant triumphantly sung out as he jumped out and completely phased through the barrier as he passed through. Hanasaku smiled seeing the amusingly complex nature of the barrier that was erected.
"As all of you are aware, the arts of Barrier Ninjutsu and Sealing Ninjutsu are intertwined. Sealing glyphs serve as commands of how a Barrier should behave, with enough commands, complex behavioral patterns can be created. Therefore, this barrier shall protect the audience from powerful aftereffects of jutsu used by competitors, however, it will not interfere with intents of winning via ring out", the overseer of the exam demonstratively gestured in awe towards the barrier.
"Hmmm, impressive", a female mentor of one of the teams noted, "I was certainly worried that after enough clashes like that last bout, my team would be exhausted just observing and surviving being in the audience of such battles. But how powerful this barrier truly is"?
"It is true that giving barriers more and more commands makes them weaker, that being said, this barrier was designed with higher echelon chuunin rank ninja in mind. It is safe to say that even the most powerful of your students will not as much as leave a dent on it. The White Nova nintaijutsu we've seen before was truly impressive, compacting the amount of chakra present in a massive dying star by emulating similar conditions inside one's own body. This barrier, however, could withstand a blast billions of times stronger and less properly channeled than that", the overseer explained.
Meiko punched her own palm and made her way onto the stage, without saying anything to her friends behind her or her mentor who just followed her student with a supportive glare. Further to the eastern point of the room, Daidao and Sugemi both casually walked off from their trio and casually made their way onto the arena, turning to different poles of the structure and walking there back to back.
As the three gathered Konoha ninja stared at each other, Meiko standing beside her teammate, they began looking around for Gentib, the member of Team Scuti who appeared to have survived and advanced to the next stage in the big genin brawl right before the end of the Forest of Death stage. Seconds, even a pair of minutes had passed but Gentib was nowhere to be seen, his mentor and his other competing teammate – Gorm just blushed and hid from mean public eyes staring at them, shrugging lazily with any questions about the genin's location.
A popping sound made everyone turn towards the door, confetti and white and golden ribbons began floating from the exit in a highly coordinated manner, being guided by a weak wind current before a handful of flash and smoke bombs exploded. These were custom made, weakened and muzzled, no doubt. The flash bomb was mostly just for a flashy effect whereas the smoke bomb spread very non-intrusive and stinging one's nostrils smoke.
Gentib slid out from the corridor on his knees like a massive rockstar before rolling forward and springing off the ground high up in the air, only to land right in the center of the arena in a flashy stance. The genin was dressed in a bright silver disco jacket, wore stylish shades and had his hair spiked in front of him, his jeans were completely tattered and he barely looked like ready for combat.
"You can see that guy's a real entertainer, you planning on doing something like that"? Kiyomi cheeked Mana, trying to just tease her but seeing the magician's composed and worried face she eased up and just calmly watched the ensuing shenanigans on the arena.
"Contestant Gentib, are you ready"? The overseer stuttered, confused and taken aback by this whole show of dramatic flare.
"You know it, daddy-o", Gentib stood up and swiped his shades off before throwing them aside, the shades landed in the hands of a very confused and flustered young lady who just jumped after realizing she caught the shades and dropped them. "Name's Takemito – the Flashy Silver Idol"!
"Whoa, you got a face like the Bloody Mist banner, longhair, you need to check into a community joy ride or else we're both getting the Kirigakure sunset", Takemito pointed his indexes at Sugemi in a showy manner before moonwalking his way to the scroll, I'm too straight outta fridge to hang around those two cubes, I'm outta here, daddy-o"!
As he continued to baffle Sugemi with his odd manner of speech and a completely changed personality from his Tankobaji persona or his default self, Takemito pulled on the scroll and in a flash of maroon light he was gone. Leaving Sugemi with a gaping jaw, still trying to express his disdain of working with a double crosser from the likes of Team Scuti.
"Okay, I'm not even going near that guy", Meiko pointed at the levitating, glowing with chakra scroll. "Is it OK if I go first"? She inquired her temporary tag partner.
"More than fine, honestly. You've seen me trying to match up with Sugemi already, even without the Gates, I'm a poor match up for him physically, it'd be better if you wear him out for me, I can finish things off". Daidao nodded before slowly walking up to the scroll and pulling on it, as the scroll opened, the young man got enveloped with a maroon light and sealed off inside.
Meiko and Sugemi continued to stare each other down long past the moment when the overseer declared the beginning of the second match. Neither one wanted to make the first move and show a card from the hand they were playing. Granted, in Meiko's case it was less a result of careful planning and more like the excitement of it all that rooted her in place.
"So have you found a better training partner than me? Have they taught you anything useful"? Sugemi inquired as he fixed his wristbands and placed his hands in a hand seal weaving position, in front of his chest.
"You'll just have to come at me and find out"? Meiko teased her opponent, taking a purely offensive fighting stance, Mana found such a stance to be awfully brave, edging on the verge of being stupid, but, then again, the blacksmith was not fighting the magician, someone who was well versed in countering highly aggressive taijutsu offensives.
"Yeah"? Sugemi smiled, changing his stance into a one hand on his tool pouch, one focused on physical defense, adapting to Meiko's stance. "Just what kind of trap are you luring me in, I wonder? What foul villain tactics will you use to make conflict worthy of a golden chapter in my heroic manga"?
"Do I look like the type to scheme? I'm just gonna punch you until someone outranking me tells me to stop punching you", Meiko didn't cease smiling, letting her powerful legs kick her body off in a lightning fast rushing dash straight at Sugemi. It was a gambling approach, usually, physical fighters may have wanted to scope their opponent more than this before matching speed and power with them, trading fists. Else they risked getting completely outmatched in a rush they themselves initiated, clashing with a totally unfamiliar style.
In Meiko's case, it was a gamble, the blacksmith just tossed caution to the wind, running at her opponent, caring little about if they were stronger than her and just by how much. If she could not take on Sugemi without his gates, she'd be completely overmatched clashing with him even in his First Gate. This careless thinking had gotten Meiko this far, the redhead figured it would keep carrying her further.
"My kind of girl"! Sugemi yelled out in excitement before launching his own body forward as a response to Meiko's offensive, thrusting his own forearm onwards to clash with his opponent.
Meiko's backup hand weaved a hand seal, moving her hands to her shins and opening up a chakra storage seal, unleashing a powerful jet of chakra erupting in the form of blue flames that boosted her speed and precision. A boost in velocity will boost her force, something that Meiko learned from experience when coming up short against Galateia's force during training. She did not understand the physics behind it, she just knew it happened and that was enough for her!
"Shadow Tendril Jutsu"! Sugemi shouted out as the hand resting inside his ninja pouch formed a one handed seal, firing off a strong, long ranging dark tendril from inside the pocket of his gi. The flames bursting from Meiko's shoes intensified, firing her lower body upwards and forcing the girl's body to flip over and avoid the flying tendril's hit. It disturbed the force boost, worry sparked in the girl's heart about the success of the clash.
As her upper body kept moving she slammed her forearm against Sugemi's, both competitors winced in pain that the shock of impact force caused to their bodies. It appeared that Meiko was first to recover, reaching for her elbow and her chest and setting off seals located on those parts of armor.
"C Rank Seal: Release"! Meiko commanded as her seals unsealed a two-edged short sword and a buckler shield as the chakra output in her boots intensified on the right side making the blacksmith spin rapidly to add momentum to the strike of her sword.
Previously she would have unsealed her sword in the beginning that was before she obtained the experience of clashing with Galateia using countless different weapons. Not knowing just what weapon she would use made the opponent confused, it made them make gambles and try out safer yet weaker guards and stances. Had Sugemi known that she would be coming with this specific sword he'd have read her possible moves, found a way to gain an advantage.
The instance when Meiko felt her sword slipping through something like a hot steel wire went through butter she realized something was wrong. Then the cloud of smoke hit her in the face and she realized that it was a Substitution Jutsu. Feeling a sharp pain of a blow from above bringing her down made Meiko desperate, she raised the buckler up to defend against Sugemi's downwards vertical leg drop and pushed him off of her.
Quickly the blacksmith got back on her feet with a graceful roll and took a fighting stance using the same combination of weapons. Meiko allowed herself the luxury of her eyes wandering down and witnessing a stone tile of the arena laying split in two, the object of Sugemi's Substitution Jutsu, something he must've noticed and focused on way before the battle.
"Is that it"? Sugemi grinned as he warmed himself up some more, cracking knuckles, "If this is all you've got, I'll make minced meat out of you the moment I turn the gates on, maybe I should save it for when I really need it, spare myself the strain"? he taunted, trying to apply psychological pressure.
Mana's heart skipped a beat, psychological warfare could've been awfully effective against Meiko. If only he hit a softer spot, that could've crumbled Meiko's whole tough suit of armor, made a loser out of the competitor inside of her. The magician's eyes opened wide, shocked that Meiko answered her opponent with a grin.
"Right back at you. If you felt like using Substitution Jutsu so early, maybe I don't need to pull out my new jutsu just now"? The blacksmith teased her opponent back with more confidence than Mana remembered her friend having. There was no mistake, this was no Art of Tree Climbing failing Meiko, this was the Meiko than tangoed with a powerful pirate all over the Earth's mantle. This was the best possible Meiko.
Substitution placed a strain on the user's body, made it difficult, next to impossible to use it for a while after it was used. That meant Meiko had a chance, Sugemi just lost a powerful ace, also handed one to Meiko, giving her an idea what to use in her own substitution. She could win, this time Mana did not need to doubt herself as she lied, she honestly believed her friend could win…
