"W-What's wrong with that guy", Kiyomi uttered before taking half a step back in disbelief. The radiating aura and chakra of the Tailed Beast made the girl move back precautionary, on an instinctual level and completely obliviously to her own movements.

"He must've leaked out some of the Tailed Beast's power", Mana continued to stare in certain disdain and pity at the leaning forward on all fours Daidao, the young man kept dragging his right arm across the arena floor like a horse preparing to charge.

"It's so… Freaky, even I can feel it, he's partially… Someone else. Like he's possessed or something", Kiyomi grunted, jumping forward in frustration. By then she must've realized the instinctual fear that took over her and lashed out to compensate for the show of weakness. Judging from what Mana had seen all around her, pretty much everyone, no matter their rank or strength level reacted similarly. Eyes and body full of fear, then came anger and hatred for the being inspiring said fear.

"Tailed Beasts are essentially chakra itself, they're entities made of chakra and living embodiments of it. Letting some of its chakra to leak out means letting part of its consciousness take you over, their essence is inseparable from chakra", Mana muttered as she looked at Daidao with different eyes, realizing just how much rage was present in the eyes of people around her.

These people didn't hate Daidao and his like for something they did, they hated them for something the Jinchuuriki were – containment for the Tailed Beasts who were unequaled monsters in power. If all of the Tailed Beasts were put together in one spot, one would have essentially all of the chakra in the world in one room and chakra was the essential natural force that tied the universe together. In that manner, Tailed Beasts are forces of nature, indestructible and unkillable, forcing mankind to toughen up and deal with it differently than destroying it.

And, if Mana knew mankind, it was stingy about things it couldn't destroy, if needed.

"Wow, what a freak, just who should I root for now? I kinda want Meiko to win but that'd mean this freak would advance as well", Kiyomi sneered at the leaking with unnatural Tailed Beast chakra Jinchuuriki who still struggled to maintain his humanity and control himself right, now having two consciousness on the steering wheel.

Without acknowledging the hateful eyes staring all around him, Daidao darted forward like an arrow. Moving on all fours naturally, like it was his natural state. Just as the Five Tails' Jinchuuriki approached his opponent it froze in place. The awesome speed of Daidao had shocked Takemito who appeared to snap out from his persona just for a moment and looked at his opponent with eyes that were taking him completely seriously.

Like a trapped wild animal, Daidao began leaping around wildly, bouncing off of the very edge of the arena just to get to the other side and bounce off again. At this point the Jinchuuriki was just thrashing and rampaging around, still trying to share control with the entity inside of him right.

"Hey…" Takemito raised his hand up, trying to talk to his opponent when enraged Daidao appeared right in front of his face with a blunt force upwards hook. When the Jinchuuriki punched diagonally upwards, the leaking snow-white chakra of his Tailed Beast formed a bubbling square construct around his fist that looked like a hoof. Takemito cartwheeled aside, the suddenness at which he had to perform the dodge made the genin trip up and tumble over on his back.

The Jinchuuriki charged forward, aiming to stomp at Takemito just like he had been stomping Daidao around before but Takemito's feet shot upwards, throwing his opponent high up in the air before the boy's entire body threw itself up in pursuit. Takemito threw fist after fist, overwhelming his confused and struggling to maintain a consistent defense opponent and pummeling Daidao ruthlessly before flipping over in mid-air and smacking the overflowing with Tailed Beast chakra Jinchuuriki down to the ground.

"This doesn't make any sense, a Jinchuuriki should be more powerful and faster than any genin. Why is Genti… I mean Takemito still in complete control of the fight", Hanasaku finally broke her streak of silence as she had finally gotten invested in the fight of younglings happening in front of her.

"He's not, not entirely", Kiyomi shook her head, "He's hitting Daidao a lot, but that doesn't give him the advantage. Daidao is confused, it's easy to see that the entity partially in control doesn't want to fight, it doesn't want to be in control and just wants to stay hidden. The damned thing moves similarly to Mana, I've learned to see a reluctance to fight by now".

Mana looked away, disliking the implication that she and a Tailed Beast had anything in common. She didn't know this "Fiver" or whatever name Daidao almost referred it to but she had met a Tailed Beast before, a being that answered to Mana's kindness with intent to kill her and her friends. In the end, Mana still freed it but only because she thought of it as being more right than the alternative. Could the Tailed Beasts really be THAT different from one another?

"Come on, Fiver"! Daidao screamed out in both rage and pain as he effortlessly stood up from the beating he just took. Mana observed in shock as the boy's scratches and wounds began covering up as they lit up with an almost majestic white glow. "I'm gonna grant you more and more control, if you don't stop resisting and fight", the boy taunted the beast inside of him.

"This is cruel", Mana cried out.

"Huh? Yeah, it kind of is, why should Gentib be forced to fight against a freak of nature like that? Tailed Beasts should be banned from being used, it's unfair advantage", Kiyomi nodded in agreement.

"They are banned, to a certain extent. Surrendering complete control and using the Chakra Cloak mode to manifest tails is forbidden. Just tapping into the beast's supply of chakra without losing control is permitted", Hanasaku sighed.

"No, it's cruel to force Five Tails to fight like this. It just wants to sleep peacefully inside Daidao. I don't like it, I don't like Tailed Beasts but… No one should be forced to fight, not even for their partners or friends. The importance of someone choosing to fight is the free choice to fight for something", Mana looked down as she could no longer observe the barbaric struggle for control of Daidao's body with the Jinchuuriki forcing the beast inside him who wanted nothing to do with anything to fight.

Takemito looked at the audience. As he saw their rising tensions over the situation, he nodded and charged off ahead. Jumping in the air and performing his flashiest and most powerful jumping cartwheels and kicks, pulling out all stops as he continued to pummel the Jinchuuriki but every blow was simply shrugged off as the young man's best efforts failed to out damage the natural regenerative abilities that leaking Five Tails' chakra granted.

At that point, Mana could notice the weariness in Takemito's performance. The high-flying and acrobatic fighting style was beginning to lose its flare as the young man in control failed to catch and maintain his breath. At that instance, Daidao simply disappeared from Mana's sight before reappearing seemingly instantly right before his opponent with Daidao's head diving deep into Takemito's gut, driving all the air out of the young man.

"Atta girl, we agreed on this, remember? I help the animals and the green for you – you fight in this exam for me, remember"? Daidao grunted through his teeth as his face was beginning to take more primal. Bony features became more apparent as his cheekbones stuck out and became more profound, his chin appeared to elongate as the mask of the Jinchuuriki began to completely tear apart, revealing the boy's brown hair as they stuck out and flowed upwards from the intense stream of chakra leaking out of his body.

Takemito lunged forward, jumping in the air and trying to dropkick his opponent right in the face. After the young man's feet connected to Daidao's face, damaging his already torn and tattered mask even more, the youth kicked off in the air and weaved some hand seals.

"Idol: Babcock Stream"! he yelled out placing his arms in front of him as he blew out an intense air pressure from his lungs. The immensely powerful Wind Release ninjutsu stream enveloped Daidao completely, since the blast of wind was completely transparent and the barrier completely protected the audience, Mana could see Daidao's steampunk armor tearing away from the youth's body in pieces before his flesh and skin just barely didn't meet the same fate. Cut up and crushed by the incredible air pressure, Daidao collapsed on the ground momentarily before the leaking Tailed Beast chakra intensified again and allowed the young man to pick himself back up.

"His body isn't healing anymore", Mana noticed.

"Yeah, they must've noticed that the beast is acquiring too much control. Since neither Daidao nor the Five Tails want that, they settled down on the amount of chakra he is drawing out. It appears this is Daidao's limit before he starts manifesting tails", Hanasaku noted, she must have fought a Jinchuuriki, or several, at some point in her life since such on point knowledge was very uncharacteristic for the Fifth Hokage.

Many in the audience could not even see Daidao move. All they could hear was another battered shout from Takemito as Daidao's head tackled the young man, sending him sliding back the arena, flipping over in an arc and leaving a dirty trail of blood as he slid back from all of his bruises.

Takemito spun his legs in a circle to pick up momentum and get him back on his feet, spinning his lower body like a windmill. Just as the more idol-like persona of Gentib got up on his feet, his eyes instantly noticed his airborne opponent closing in with a closed palm strike. The acrobatic Hoshigakure ninja leaped back, successfully avoiding a crushing thrust of air pressure emanating from the hoof shaped chakra construct shaped around Daidao's palm strike.

Gentib's Idol persona gained speed and momentum, charging at the place where his opponent would inevitably land and hopping in the air, rotating his lower body in a vault-like manner for a double windmill kick. It was a move of massive weight and setup required, investing a lot of force and momentum but it must've packed considerable force and knockout potential. With Daidao being airborne, it was tough to imagine just how could the Jinchuuriki avoid the gruesome duo of kicks.

With a bone snapping sound, the windmill kicks connected, the entire grisly scene froze in time, seemingly, as Daidao's head cocked down so low that it almost looked like the young man would crush his face against his own chest and whatever armor remained. Then, with a loud popping sound and a puff of smoke, the Jinchuuriki was gone. Only his own tag scroll remained floating in mid-air.

"Horn Breaking"! A triumphant wild shout of the Jinchuuriki echoed through the arena as Daidao seemingly blasted out of nowhere at his opponent from behind, having just replaced himself with Takemito's own tag scroll and rushing at the dual persona user with a tackle from behind.

Takemito kicked the scroll with his foot, catching the wooden base of it with his arm and spinning around, trying to utilize the rather heavy scroll as a swinging blunt weapon at his blind charging opponent before realizing that the charging Jinchuuriki had whizzed right past him – the attack was just a fake-out.

As Takemito tried turning back to the front and dealing with a full frontal assault of the shared consciousness entity he was dealing with, a powerful tackle hit him right in the face. Mana covered her eyes right before the hit took place, such a hit could've ended pretty sadly and the sound of impact was unbelievably gruesome, filled with deafening thuds, emanating forceful shockwaves that forced the barrier to light up all over and bone twisting and snapping sounds.

Takemito floated up in the air weightlessly, but after the full force of the impact played out, making him blast at the other side of the arena from the force of impact, the boy just stopped in mid-air and got snapped back to the initial location of impact. It appeared that right after the tackle had connected, Daidao managed to grab hold of the edge of the tag scroll, meanwhile, the rest of the scroll was in Takemito's hands and as the tackled young man got thrown back, rather violently so, the scroll unraveled and the unsealing process initiated.

"What the…" Kiyomi muttered incoherently as many of the audience members rustled in a manner, not unlike that of the future Yamanaka heiress.

Mana was forced to blow all of the accumulated air out of her chest as she had barely found a peaceful moment to breathe properly. Now the Jinchuuriki had decided to force a tag into Sugemi, someone that the monstrous two-in-one genin initially tried to avoid.

"Why on Earth…" the magician found herself muttering as well as to her the combined decision of forcing a tag was confusing. Maybe either the Five Tails, or its host, thought that Sugemi was still tied up and unable to defend himself, which would lead to an easier ring out? Then again, Takemito could have either gotten ringed out or come really close to it just from the overwhelming impact of the tackle that bloodied his face.

"I think, with Five Tails' help, Daidao finally realized why Meiko tagged him out. Now he's trying to fulfill that function until he can't fight anymore", Hanasaku leaned back to the wall, her content face betrayed just how much the past Hokage was enjoying this match.

"Why Meiko tagged him out"? Mana wondered out loud, the escalating tensions of the match made her forget all about her more down to Earth problems like her lack of confidence in her readiness for the next stage as well as her relationship problems that have disheartened her whole day.

In a maroon flash, Sugemi got busted out of the sealing scroll, no longer covered in Meiko's chains. He initially intended on commencing a double assault on his opponent but then he noticed Takemito's busted face and his badly wounded state. It didn't appear like Takemito was in danger of dying or passing out, but his facial injuries and the profuse bleeding needed some quick first aid.

"What's the meaning of this, Daidao"? Sugemi sneered at his friend, as Takemito got sealed away with the allotted seconds passing, who just dragged his clenched fist across the crushed and damaged arena floor like a horse or a bull signaling an impending charge. The human part of the young man's mind was slowly beginning to make way for the more primal and force of nature part of his dual identity, Daidao must've known the rulings against submitting too much of his conscious to the Tailed Beast which was why he rushed thusly.

"Finally grown some balls to take me on"? Sugemi further taunted the genin with a brave and wide-open stance of his hands wide open and his chest and face completely exposed.

"No, that's what Meiko asked to let her do", Daidao growled.

"Huh? Then go ahead, switch out", the Nara encouraged his teammate by playfully waving his hand in the direction of the Jinchuuriki's tag scroll.

"She's the only one strong enough to beat you when you're using the Gates, Fiver told me that must've meant that we're supposed to kick your ass until you bust them out"! Daidao struggled to keep his voice from a flat out roar, growling and grunting as he spoke. Despite the illusionary conflict of consciousness, there was none – the fast and precise movements of the Jinchuuriki betrayed total unity and agreement with the beast inside of him.

Faking out a notion of speaking something, Sugemi quickly jumped to action, throwing a kunai to the side. Daidao jumped at his teammate with a winded up palm strike, focusing an immense amount of his borrowed chakra into another massive "hoof" strike to blow his friend away. Then, in a moment of truth, the Jinchuuriki froze in place. Shaking as he tried to overpower the shadows tying him down, Daidao looked aside, noticing Sugemi's shadows moving to the shadow of the kunai he had thrown further aside, before being channeled through it in an almost static angle and moving from the side right around his own.

"Shadow Possession Jutsu"! Sugemi chanted out as even his own impressive body struggled to keep his shaking and raging friend contained. The shadow that tied around Daidao kept backing out before reaching out and tying around the Jinchuuriki's body again.

"I see what you're trying to do. The moment I activate my Gates I'm on a timer. Even if I deactivate them, I'll still be weakened and strained continuously until the end of the match. You're trying to force me into the timer for Meiko to outlast because she's not strong enough to both force me into it and take me out once the clock starts ticking", Sugemi mumbled. "Scheming and strategizing like this… Such a bother. Then again, maybe it'll make a nice heel plot for my manga, increase the tensions for the main protagonist to overcome"?

Sugemi quickly let go of his opponent, suddenly and on his own terms, as the still rampaging and shaking Jinchuuriki stumbled over the sudden freedom of movement, the Nara charged up to his friend, weaving hand seals with one hand to unleash his innovated Nara clan hijutsu.

"Shadow Tendril Jutsu"! He shouted as the shadows formed a whip-like construct outside of his pocket, whipping the Jinchuuriki straight at the face, before Sugemi turned around and repositioned himself and his weight, unleashing another hijutsu attack, just as suddenly and skillfully.

"Shadow Tendril Barrage"! Sugemi roared out as several more tendrils slithered out from his pockets before branching out into several more tendrils halfway and the whole formation began rapidly smacking about at Daidao's general direction. Preparing for a finishing blow, Sugemi switched his hand seal weaving hands before turning around again, just to be greeted with Daidao's bloodshot eyes and his shattered armor finally being completely shed away with the leather straps still hanging awkwardly from the boy's pants.

It was a contest of agility and minds, also the jutsu that each young man had prepared for his opponent. Sugemi knew that he couldn't waste any more stamina or chakra. Meiko was going to make him have his hands full, he had to settle this with this exchange or he'll really need to clutch it out afterwards…

"Horn Breaking"! Daidao roared out with a bestial undertone to his voice, almost like another female sounding entity was speaking alongside him.

"Shadow Tendril Heart"! Sugemi shouted out as the tendrils slithering out from under his uniform all wrapped into one, almost round, more oval in shape construct in his palms and the Nara thrust it right at his charging friend.

Even if the barrier protected the audience around it from needing to risk their chakra control and their bodies any more than absolutely necessary in the arena, the resulting blast and howling sounds of Daidao's body charging through the erupting heart of shadow tendrils made the audience cover themselves and turn away. Upon being hit the heart of shadow tendrils burst open in a wild storm of swatting and whipping constructs of shadows. The intense light show and sounds made it impossible to follow until the resolution became clear.