Here's the new chapter. Match 3 takes place.


At the start of the match, the Kiri team quickly closed into the Iwa team, who were triplets, and the masked Kiri nin named Haku quickly surrounded them with ice mirrors. Chojuro drew out his sword and engaged with Asahi, who'd surrounded his fists with an earth style jutsu. The other two Iwa nin did the same, and moved to take on Kurone, who was staying back. Kurone took out a kunai and cut himself.

He watched as Kurone splattered the blood onto the ground, which somehow landed into a spider shape, which rose up to form a moving spider.

He frowned, and asked his teammates, "Wait, it's possible to manipulate blood like that ?"

To his surprise, the answer came from neither Shikamaru nor Ino, but from Sakura, who said "Well yeah. Blood is 70% water, so it's technically possible to do so through water style. It takes some skill though, and it's generally not very useful."

That made sense, but it resulted in another question entering his mind. "Wouldn't that mean that water style users could just manipulate the blood of others and win easily ?"

Sakura cocked her head to the side, some surprise evident in her expression. She then answered, "No, because the body has natural defenses against foreign chakra. It generally expels those upon entering. It is possible to force of manuever your chakra through if you're in direct contact with the body, but at that point there are far easier methods of killing them. So generally only medics use that to heal others. Of course, there are exceptions. The Yamanaka clan techniques can bypass these measures to directly target the mind. And.."

She paused, there, seemingly realizing that she'd gone on for quite some time. He didn't really mind, but she looked a little sheepish.

"Anyway" Sakura continued, "it just doesn't work that way."

He thanked her and turned his attention back to the match, though he glanced at Sasuke for a moment, who he'd noticed frowning while Sakura had been talking. What was that about ?

In the match, Haku had somehow entered the mirrors while moving between them, constantly pelting the Iwa nin with senbon, who'd summoned up an earth dome around them to block the senbon. He had to admit, Haku was skilled. He'd managed to deftly avoid hitting his teammates, who were trying to break the barrier down. Chojuro managed to open up a hole in the barrier with a combination of a sword strike and a water style jutsu, and Kurone directed his blood spiders to enter the opening. He heard a scream, and then saw the Iwa trio exit the barrier, as Akito held a hand to his neck, which was bleeding. He noticed that one of the spiders had grown far larger than it was originally. Kami, had it sucked out the Akito's blood to grow bigger. That was freaky.

But the wound wasn't that bad, and Akito had managed to wrap it up with some cloth. But then, just as Akito looked ready to fight, he collapsed onto the ground. Haku immediately took advantage of the distraction to knock Asahi down, and Chojuro cut down Haruto.

The Iwa team had been completely crushed in a short period of time. The only wound the Kiri team had received was the self-inflicted wound on Kurone.

But what exactly happened to Akito ? Before he could ask the question, Kiba beat him to the punch, and Sakura answered "Considering his clan name, I'd say that Kurone has poisonous blood. So he injected some of it into Akito, while simultaneously drawing out his blood by using his blood, which had managed to directly enter Akito's bloodstream, as a medium to inject his chakra in and pull out blood, which he then added to the spider. A clever technique, which requires impressive chakra control."

Damn. He didn't get all of it, but it seems like his team's next opponents in the next round were tough.


"The hell is with genin this exam" Onoki thundered. "This is getting ridiculous. The level here is clearly already high chunin level."

Yagura smiled at that and said, "Yes indeed. We at Kiri have also been blessed with an excellent team in this one. Seems like Iwa hasn't been as lucky."

A was stroking his beard and said, "Ice release huh. I thought that clan had been practically wiped out."

That removed Yagura's smile. "Yes, my predecessors actions did hurt Kiri's strength greatly, but thankfully Haku managed to survive that tragedy."

He decided to change topics and said "I believe that this next match would interest all of you greatly." Interest them indeed, he thought, barely holding back a smile. It was time for Naruto Uzumaki, the Jinchuriki of the 9-tails, the legacy of the fourth and one of the few surviving Uzumaki in the world to enter the world's stage.


A/N

That's all for this chapter. Next up, Match 4. Also, in case you haven't realized it yet, the actions that were attributed to Yagura controlled by Tobi instead happened because of the third Mizukage, who wasn't controlled by Tobi, and just went a little cuckoo over time.

Chojuro

Ninjutsu: 2

Taijutsu: 3

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 2

Strength: 3

Speed: 3

Stamina: 3

Hand Seals: 1.5

Total: 19

Notes: A skilled swordsman, and one of the candidates for the few great swords left in Kiri.

Haku

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 4

Strength: 1.5

Speed: 4

Stamina: 2

Hand Seals: 4.5

Total: 22.5

Notes: One of the few ice release users left, and is incredibly talented. Was trained by Zabuza himself from a young age.

Kurone

Ninjutsu: 3

Taijutsu: 1.5

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 3

Strength: 1.5

Speed: 2

Stamina: 2

Hand Seals: 2

Total: 16.5

Notes: From a clan with poisonous blood, this genin is skilled with Ninjutsu, and has a solid understanding of a ninjutsu theory. Has a scientific mind.

Akito

Ninjutsu: 2

Taijutsu: 2

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 1.5

Strength: 2.5

Speed: 2

Stamina: 2

Hand Seals: 2

Total: 15.5

Notes: Is part of a team of triplets. They have decent teamwork, but individual skills level is just around chunin level.

Haruto

Ninjutsu: 2

Taijutsu: 2

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 1.5

Strength: 2.5

Speed: 2

Stamina: 2

Hand Seals: 2

Total: 15.5

Notes: Is part of a team of triplets. They have decent teamwork, but individual skills level is just around chunin level.

Asahi

Ninjutsu: 2

Taijutsu: 2

Genjutsu: 1.5

Intelligence: 1.5

Strength: 2.5

Speed: 2

Stamina: 2

Hand Seals: 2

Total: 15.5

Notes: Is part of a team of triplets. They have decent teamwork, but individual skills level is just around chunin level.