The next morning, I woke up knowing it was the day of the final rounds of the chunin exams. I wasn't particularly excited about today, just curious to see what would happen. Right after I got out of bed, I took a shower making sure to tie up my long blue hair after. My bandages were new and my clothes still consisted of uncle Yagura's shirt and Jiro's pants. I didn't bother wrapping bandages on my shins, I planned on seeing uncle Yagura this morning who I hoped had my clothes cleaned.
I left the apartment without alerting Jiro, Mitsuru or even Shozouki that I was. The walk through the village was peaceful, there wasn't many people up yet. I was able to enjoy a nice walk through the village without interruption.
At the Hokage tower I didn't have a problem finding my uncle's room. I gave the door a knock and waited for him to open the door, which didn't take long. He opened the door in his Mizukage's robes. His wheat colored hair was a shade darker showing that he recently got out of the shower.
"There you are." he stated. He moved to the side to let me in the room. "I was hoping you would stop by this morning. You need your swords for the final round don't you?"
"That's why I came, yes." I said. I walked passed him and saw my swords leaning against the small table in the the room. "I was also wondering if you got my clothes cleaned?"
"I did, I had Emon get them cleaned." he said. He walked over to the dresser in the room and opened the top drawer. He reached in and pulled out a bundle of my clothes. Then he turned and walked over to me to hand them over. "You should change, you can't keep wearing my clothes."
"I'm using your bathroom." I said. I took the clothes from him and disappeared to change. I wasted no time in getting my clothes changed. I missed my high waisted dark olive leggings. My short sleeved black shirt with a 'v' neckline flattered me more than uncle Yagura's shirt did. What am I thinking? My whole outfit is more flattering than the one he gave me. Not that I care about how I look, I feel more like myself in my own clothes. I also feel like people take me more seriously when I'm not wearing clothes that are too big for me.
When I exited the bathroom uncle Yagura was seated at the table. "Have a seat Ketto, we need to talk about the final rounds."
"What would we need to talk about?" I wondered. I walked across the room and took a seat by uncle Yagura.
"I don't want you using any jutsu that is particular to Isobu." he said. "I've had a curious shinobi ask about your hallucinogenic mist. I would really rather not have to keep telling people the same lie. The more I say it the more people will question it."
"Fine, I won't use the hallucinogenic mist. I don't want it to cause trouble for you." I said.
"You also can not use shockwaves. Or any other ability that you've learned from him." he said. "But you can use your coral. It is particular to Isobu, but the coral palm technique is unique to the Karatachi family. If you use coral as your weapon then we can use that as a variation of the coral palm. It was the first thing you learned to do without Isobu's help, so I can only assume you did inherit it from the Karatachi's anyway."
"You think so?" I questioned. I never thought about how or when I learned to use coral, just that I've always known how.
"Oh yes, I'm very certain." he said. "I was ecstatic to learn that you knew how to create such a thing. At that point, I thought I was the only one alive that knew how to use the technique."
I didn't know about that, but it makes me happy to know that's how he feels about it. I've done something to please him without even trying and I didn't even realise. It makes me feel as if I've lived up to his expectations.
"I promise I won't use any jutsu that will call attention to where they came from." I said. "If you want I can use the coral palm?"
"It would be nice to see someone else use it." he said. "You don't have to, but I would appreciate it."
"I understand." I said.
"We should go, I have to meet with the Hokage and the Kazekage this morning. Why don't you come with?" uncle Yagura got up from his chair and grabbed his Mizukage veil to place on his head. "Let's show the Kazekage what he is up against if he tries anything today, hmm?"
"Do you really think anything will happen?" I asked. I also stood up and grabbed my belt that was draped over the swords. I put the belt in place and then attached the swords, first my Kukushibyo and then the Executioner's blade. Out of the seven ninja swords this will be the first one to be brought back, but the second to be in our possession considering we always had possession of the Hiramekarei sword.
"I don't have any proof, I can feel it in the air." he said. "I can feel that something sinister is at work here, and for once it has nothing to do with the Mist. Can you feel it Ketto?" he looked at me expectantly.
"I don't know how I feel about today." I began, "Just that I'm itching for a fight."
Uncle Yagura smiled at me. I could see that the smile reached his pink purple eyes, which I hardly ever got to see. He never really smiles much, but when he smiles at me they seem genuine. "I'm sure you'll get one. Let's go, we don't want to keep the Hokage and the Kazekage waiting."
"I suppose not, no." I replied.
Uncle Yagura moved to the door and opened it. I followed him as he walked us through the Hokage tower and to a room I haven't been to before. Though, there is a similar room in the Mizukage's tower, it's used to receive civilians and other ninja. They all voice their concerns to the Mizukage and the Mizukage does their best to resolve issues. Sometimes this room is also used to assign missions to ninja.
The Hokage and the Kazekage were already present, they were also adorning their kage robes. The Hokage had a red veil while the Kazekage had a dark green and uncle Yagura's was blue. There was also an anbu from their villages accompanying them. I looked around trying to spot Emon, but I couldn't seem to find him.
"Rasa, Hiruzen, this is my niece Ketto. She'll be escorting me to the arena." uncle Yagura gestured to me. Maybe that's why Emon isn't here, uncle must have him off doing something for him. That's probably why he brought me with him, as some kind of protection. "Ketto, they've both wanted to meet you."
"Hello Miss Momochi, I've been wanting to meet you since the second stage of the exams." the Hokage had a friendly personality and seemed kind. He was an older man with age spots on his face, which may have frightened off some people but I didn't care what he looked like.
"I've been interested in you as well." voiced the Kazekage. There was something sinister about the way his chakra felt, but he is Gaara's dad, maybe he has an insatiable bloodlust too. "You seem to be a very special young lady. The reports I've read on you are fascinating. You appear to have abilities that surpass that of a genin." He observed me with a keen eye, I felt as if he suspected I was more than just a genin.
"Thank you for saying that. I train very hard whenever I can." I bowed my head in faux appreciation. When I lifted my gaze the Kazekage was looking at me through narrowed eyes.
Uncle Yagura added his input too, "She trains with the best. For a time she took turns training with the seven ninja swordsmen. She trained mostly with her brother, but for the last couple of years I've taken a more prominent role in her training."
"It's quite noticeable too." the Hokage said. "You must be proud of her Yagura."
"I am, and I know she'll excel beyond what I can teach her." uncle said. "She's grown into an honorable shinobi." His words touched me. Did he really think I would advance to a higher level as a ninja than himself? Am I really honorable? Uncle Yagura seems to think I am, but am I really?
I didn't really know what to say to uncle Yagura's words, so I didn't say anything.
"We should be on our way to the arena." the Kazekage suggested. "I would rather we not be late."
"I don't think we'll be that late, but I suppose we can start on our way there." the Hokage said. He turned to the anbu waiting on him with an owl mask. "Let's go. I could always meet the lord of the land of Fire before the matches begin." The anbu nodded at him and the two of them left the room.
Uncle Yagura and I were left alone with the Kazekage and his anbu. "I was wondering about Ketto's chakra."
"What about her chakra?" uncle Yagura's voice took on a hard edge and his eyes narrowed at the Kazekage.
"Oh nothing, that's just it isn't it?" the Kazekage said. "I find it strange that she seems to be an exceptional ninja, but she doesn't have any chakra."
"What are you implying?" uncle asked.
"It's just odd, I don't know exactly what's going on but I will figure it out."
"You can try." uncle replied. He directed his attention to me, "Ketto, let's go."
I nodded in agreement. My fingers moved to form the signs for the transportation jutsu and then I grabbed hold of uncle Yagura's shoulder. We vanished from the Hokage tower and reappeared on the street in front of the building. I didn't know where the arena was, so I thought it would be best if I didn't try and transport us there. Who knows where we could have ended up.
"Has the Kazekage always been like that?" I asked. "He seems unpleasant."
"He used to be more nonchalant and was tolerable enough to talk to. Now I can't stand that man." he replied. He started walking off in one direction and I followed him because I was unsure about where we needed to go. "That's all the more reason for you to stay alert today. I don't want you to be caught off guard, so I want you to expect anything to happen."
"Understood. If anything happens, I'll be one of the first to respond." I said.
"Good." he said. "For now, I'll need you to stand as my bodyguard. I have Emon checking on something for me, so I'll need you to stay by me until he gets back, which should be before the final round starts and you are needed in a separate location from me."
"What is it that he's doing?" I wondered. I still followed him as he walked with a purpose.
"It's not something that I want to disclose in detail while in public." he said.
"Oh, nevermind then. I don't need to know." I realized that it must be something to do with the potential attack on the Leaf village or something particular involving the Sand ninjas at least. I understand that he doesn't want to talk about it, it's not exactly something you want revealed to everyone. There may be a panic and we don't need that, so I let the topic go.
As I walked with uncle Yagura, I noticed there were more and more people out on the streets the closer we got to our destination. People stopped and stared at us and moved out of our way. I didn't think of it having anything to do with me, I assumed they acted that way because uncle Yagura is the Mizukage.
We arrived at the arena and made our way to a sectioned off area on a balcony above the rest of the spectators. There were three chairs, one for each kage. Uncle Yagura walked to the furthest one and sat down. I followed him and stood beside him. Together, we watched more and more people fill up the seating in silence. At some point the Hokage appeared and took a seat next to uncle Yagura and the Kazekage sat on the other side of him.
Smoke bombs went off in the air to signal the start of the final rounds. That was when Emon appeared using a transportation jutsu. "Everything is in place." he said.
"Very well." uncle replied. He directed his next words to me. "Ketto, you may go now. The other participants will appear in the arena shortly."
I nodded and left him. Whatever happens, I believe he'll be alright. Especially with Emon here, he won't let anything happen to my uncle.
After finding my way down to the arena, I joined the other participants. Everyone was lining up so that the audience members could see them. I ended up standing between Jiro and Mitsuru. Shikamaru was near us along with another Leaf ninja that I couldn't remember. He was the one with the bugs. Neji Hyuga was here and so were Gaara and Kankuro. I looked around some more, but both Sasuke and Naruto were missing. Where could they be?
Suddenly, Naruto came flying through the entrance behind us and skid along the floor. Everyone in the audience started to chatter at his arrival. I guess he did make a spectacle of himself and we haven't even started yet. Naruto quickly got to his feet and exclaimed, "You guys aren't going to believe this, but there's a huge group of stampeding bulls coming this way!"
"What?" Shikamaru said. "You're right, I don't believe it." I looked around the two and didn't see anything.
"I'm serious! There must be a million of them coming this way." the more he talked Naruto seemed to realize where he was. "Hey, where's Sasuke?" Maybe he didn't fully realize were we are..
"Quit your fidgeting you two." the proctor said, I noticed that he was a different proctor from the preliminaries. "Stand up straight and present yourself to the spectators." It was then that Naruto noticed the cheering crowd. "You guys are the heroes of this final competition."
Heroes? How would we be considered heroes? Could he mean heroes to our nations? I mean it is a way to represent and make our nation's proud, but would we really be considered heroes?
I looked up at uncle Yagura seated above everyone else to see him with Emon. They both were acting as if this was something tedious that they had to attend. Uncle Yagura always seems to be relaxed though, he's good at that. No matter the situation he is always nonchalant about it. He caught my gaze and nodded at me. I nodded slightly in return to show that I was ready for whatever happened today.
The Kazekage said something to the Hokage that caused him to chuckle. Uncle Yagura looked over to the Kazekage with a glare. Whatever it was that the Kazekage said must not have been something to joke about.
The Hokage stood up from his seat and walked to the railing of the balcony. "Welcome all, and our deepest thanks for coming here to the village hidden in the Leaves for this years chunin selection. We have come to the final competition between the ten candidates who made it through the preliminaries. We ask that no one leaves until all of the matches have been completed. Now everyone enjoy!"
The proctor turned to us. "Incase if any of you need help remembering, here is a diagram of all the matches." He held a piece of paper up for us to see, but I already knew I was going up against Kankuro. Though, the more I looked, I noticed there was something different. "The last two matches have been switched. Now Mitsuru will fight Shino and Jiro will fight Shikamaru. We thought it would be best this way."
Naruto raised his hand, "Question, what'll happen to Sasuke? I mean if he doesn't show up."
"If a candidate is not here in the arena at the time his name is called, he forfeits the match." Naruto looked back at the entrance that he came through to try and look for Sasuke again. "Alright, listen up. The terrain is different, but the rules are the same as before. That means there are no rules. The match continues until one candidate acknowledges defeat or dies. That being said, if I determine a match is over, I can step in and stop it at any no arguments permitted, understood?" We didn't say anything so he continued, "These are the opponents for the first match, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga. Those two stay, the rest of you can go to the waiting area."
Everyone started to turn away to make their way to the waiting area. Before I left, I turned to Naruto and lightly punched his shoulder. "Don't worry, I believe in you."
"Thanks Ketto." Naruto smiled at me as I left him.
Jiro and Mitsuru were waiting for me not too far away. Together the three of us followed everyone else to our own balcony that served as our waiting area. "Mitsuru, Jiro, I want you to stay alert alright?"
"What do you mean?" Mitsuru asked curiously.
"I can't say, just do as I say okay?" I said. I can't tell them why they have to stay alert, but the least I can do is warn them.
I walked over to the balcony railing to lean against it. There will be a few matches before mine, so I might as well get comfortable. Mitsuru and Jiro settle on either side of me. We watched Naruto and Neji face each other. We were close enough that we could hear what they were saying.
"You got anything to say to me?" Neji asked.
Naruto clenched his right hand into a fist and held his arm out in front of himself. It was the same pose he was in at the end of Neji and Hinata's fight. "Only what I told you last time." Naruto growled. I remembered that, Neji was saying how once a person's a failure they're always a failure and there wasn't anything one could do to change that. "I vow to win!"
Neji adopted a defensive stance, "I can't wait to see the look on your face when you realize the vow you made is impossible to keep."
"Are we just gonna stand here talking all day? Or are we gonna fight?" Naruto said.
The proctor stood in between them, "Alright, now let the first match begin."
Neji activated his Byakugan while Naruto just stood there. Suddenly, he threw several kunai that Neji managed to block with a kunai of his own. Naruto then rushed at Neji in a frontal attack. He tried punching Neji only for him to block the punch and direct Naruto passed him and to the ground. Naruto adjusted himself to kick Neji, which he also missed. Then he flipped and started throwing punches at Neji again, each punch was blocked and you could hear the sound of flesh hitting flesh from here. Naruto kept throwing himself at Neji trying to get at least one punch in but was unsuccessful. Neji then used the palm of his hand to hit Naruto. Immediately after, Neji used his fingers to strike Naruto in the shoulder. Naruto ended up lying on the ground clutching his shoulder. He rolled to his knees and stayed on the floor.
"Do you understand now, you have no way of beating me." Neji said.
"Heh, get real. I was just checking you out, that's all." Naruto scoffed. He pushed himself off the ground and stood tall. "Okay, now that we're warmed up, we can get started. Naruto moved his hands in position for a jutsu. "Shadow clone jutsu!" Four clones of Naruto appeared around him. They all grabbed a kunai and moved into a defensive stance.
"No matter, you can't hide for long." Neji said.
"Heh, we'll just see about that." all five Naruto's said in unison.
"If you're coming then come on." Neji said.
"Hey!" the Naruto's echoed. "Don't ever," one clone said. "Don't ever," another echoed. "And I mean never." "Count me out." Four of the Naruto's charged at Neji while one stayed back, the one I thought was the real Naruto.
Neji flipped over two of the clones while he dodged the other two. While Neji was distracted with the clones, the Naruto that I believed to be the real one ran up and kicked Neji in the face. Or at least, it looked like Naruto kicked him in the face. Neji was just out of reach of Naruto's foot when he jumped and did a backflip to get some distance from Naruto.
"Not bad, but let's see you do that again!" Naruto yelled.
Naruto's shadow clones ran at Neji again, who jumped into the air and spun several times. He used his feet to kick two of Naruto's shadow clones and palmed the other two. All four of them disappeared into a puff of smoke leaving only the real Naruto left.
"You thought you could be Hokage." Neji taunted. "It's absurd, never. These eyes of mine show me many things. One thing they've shown me is that people's limitations are set and unchangeable. Only a fool wastes his time trying to become something he can never be."
"A fool huh." Naruto said. "Not this crap again, who are you to judge what a person can or can't be?"
"Do you think anyone can be Hokage?" Neji asked. "That all it takes is a little hard work? Open your eyes, out of all the shinobi in all the world think how few ever become Hokage. They were born destined to be Hokage. It's not something you become by trying to become it. They were chosen by destiny. Each person is given their own path to follow and they must follow it obediently to the end. There is only one destiny we all share equally, death."
"Yeah, so what? You can think that if you want, people always tell me that I just don't know when to give up. Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled. Dozens of shadow clones appeared this time. It touched me to see Naruto fighting his hardest for something he believes in. I don't doubt that he'll find a way to beat Neji, because Naruto's will is stronger than Neji's.
Mitsuru turned to me, "Do you really think he'll make it out of this?"
"I do, He's Naruto, he won't let some stuck up guy tell him how things are going to turn out. He'll fight to win." I said.
I watched as all the Naruto's ran at Neji and in turn Neji used his Byakugan to keep up with all of them. Naruto's shadow clones kept going at Neji, who didn't seem to be tiring out any time soon while Naruto and his shadow clones were trying to catch their breath.
Neji suddenly ran through all of the clones and struck Naruto in the chest over his heart. "You're the one that's been keeping out of my range for fear of me striking your chakra points like this. The more the others attack, the more you stand out for holding back. You're the real one, aren't you?" Naruto slumped forward and slowly his shadow clones disappeared. "I told you it was pointless."
Naruto chuckled, "Oh yeah, and I told you it was a mistake to count me out." Then that Naruto disappeared. That's impressive, he managed to fool everyone into thinking a shadow clone was the real him. Any other ninja would have used that strategy and kept themselves out of the line of fire while their shadow clones did all the fighting, but a part of me knew Naruto wasn't one of them.
"But how!?" Neji wondered.
There were two Naruto's left and they both charged at Neji from behind. Naruto wasn't able to touch Neji, the Hyuga was able to rotate fast enough to create a barrier around himself. Naruto was propelled backwards by the invisible barrier and fell on the ground.
"What the heck was that?" Naruto asked.
"Did you really think you won." Neji said.
Naruto got to his feet. "We'll see about that." He made some more shadow clones and surrounded Neji. Together than all converged on Neji but they were repelled by the unseen barrier Neji summoned the first time.
"This is the end for you." Neji said. "You're in range and you can't escape my eight trigrams." Neji moved into a stance. "Gentle fist art, eight trigrams, sixty-four palms. Neji moved to strike Naruto. He fit two different places on Naruto's chest, "Two palms!" Neji jabbed a few more times. "Four palms! Eight palms!" Neji kept moving and striking at Naruto. "Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Sixty-four palms!" Naruto fell backwards onto the ground with blood flowing from his mouth.
It was silent, I couldn't hear any chatter from the other spectators and none of the other participants said a word either. Until Jiro spoke, "Is he?"
"Dead?" Mitsuru offered.
I know it didn't look good for Naruto. Neji nearly stopped Hinata's heart when he was battling her and he did strike Naruto in the chest many times. Neji could have easily stopped Naruto's heart, but I had a feeling Naruto would be alright. He had too, it's hard for me to come to terms that someone with Naruto's spirit would be killed that easily.
The proctor approached Naruto's motionless body. "It looks like it's over." he said. Slowly, Naruto moved. First, his fingers twitched. Then, he sat up and transitioned to his knees where he seemed to have the hardest time moving beyond that and fell to his stomach. I admired that he was able to attempt to continue his match even though he seems to be at a disadvantage.
"I have struck all sixty-four of your chakra points. You're lucky to still be breathing." Neji said. He watched Naruto tremble and fail to move beyond his position. "Well, must be frustrating, to realize how utterly hopeless it all was, this little dream of yours. You thought you could succeed on hard work alone, but that's only an illusion.
Naruto managed to push himself to his feet.
"How is that possible?" Neji asked shocked.
Naruto chuckled breathlessly, "I told you, I just don't know when to give up."
"What is he doing?" Mitsuru asked.
"What does it look like Mitsuru." I said. "He's fighting for something he believes in. Haven't you ever fought someone with the same purpose?"
"I guess, but it was never life threatening."
I heard Naruto mention Hinata and I knew that he was going to try and win this match for her. The way Neji and Hinata's match ended in the preliminaries left many people upset, even me, I couldn't imagine Zabuza actually killing me. I mean, he acted like he was going to all of the time in training, but he never would actually fully intend to kill me. The way Neji behaved was unforgivable and Naruto was going to put him in his place, or at least try to.
My attention was fully pulled back to Naruto's fight when Neji mentioned a curse mark. "The curse mark is the symbol of a bird locked in its cage. It's the mark of those who are bound to a destiny they cannot escape." Neji removed his forehead protector to reveal the mark he was talking about. It was a green 'x' in the middle of his forehead with two hooked lines on either side.
"That's the curse mark?" Naruto asked.
"I was four years old when the leaders of my clan branded this symbol on my forehead with their curse mark jutsu." Neji started, "On that same day a great celebration took place in the hidden Leaf village. After many years of war a peace agreement had been made with the land of Lightning and they had sent the head cloud ninja to sign the treaty and join in the celebration. Everyone was there to welcome our old enemies, every genin, and jonin in the Leaf village. Only one clan was absent, the Hyuga clan, because this was the day the heir to the main household was to turn three. It was Lady Hinata's third birthday. Her father, Lord Hiashi Hyuga is sitting up there. He and my father Hizashi are twins and yet he entered the world first, so he is head of the family, the first born."
"That sounds like he has been holding a grudge his whole life and hasn't done anything about it." Mitsuru muttered.
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed to find out that's where Neji's anger came from. Sometimes you can't escape your destiny like Neji said, but you can try to change your destiny. For so long, it seems like Neji has been letting other people decide things for him instead of voicing his own opinions. He thought that if he killed Hinata in the preliminaries then the main family would have to notice him as being more than a cursed child.
"Does he really think he can achieve anything by beating Naruto?" Jiro wondered. "No one will care, everyone will just know him as the Hyuga who made it to the final round of the chunin exams. I kind of want Naruto to win and put him in his place."
I could feel a small smile stretching my face. I want Naruto to win too. Not because I want to fight him so I could test his strength, I want him to win to prove that anyone can be a good ninja if they set their minds to being one.
Suddenly, Neji charged at Naruto. Using an open palm Neji attacked Naruto and sent him flying backwards. "You're a failure." Neji said as Naruto hit the ground.
"Wait." Naruto pushed himself to his feet with one arm holding his stomach. "I don't quit and I don't go back on my word. That's my nindo, my ninja way."
"I've heard those words before." Neji said.
"All of this destiny crap. If you really believe it then why are you the one that's walking away?" Naruto asked.
"It's pointless to explain it to you." Neji said. "We are all given a destiny at birth. You don't know what it's like to be branded with a mark that sets you apart."
My hand lightly touched my stomach where the seal that keeps Isobu inside of me is hidden by bandages and cloth. Destiny, I guess I've never thought about my own destiny. Was I always meant to be the three tails jinchuriki? I felt my face crease into a frown, who knows what my life would have been like. No one would know that, and honestly, I wouldn't change anything that has happened to me so far. Everything that I've experienced even though it wasn't normal for a kid, was still a part of my life. It is what sculpted me into the person I am today. Neji should learn to come to terms with what has happened in his past and what that mark on his forehead means.
I watched as a dark sinister aura surrounded Naruto as a current. That was when I realized that he purposely used up all of his own chakra so that he could access his nine tails chakra. I should have known from the day I taught him to walk on water that it would be harder for him to access that kind of chakra. In order for him to use the nine tails chakra he had to physically exhaust his body and make the demon think he was in danger of dying.
Both Neji and Naruto advanced on each other once again. Naruto, with the help of the nine tails was able to move faster and strike Neji harder. Naruto looked to be able to keep up with Neji and avoid all of his attacks. When the two clashed there was a massive explosion causing dust particles and other debris to rain down on us. I shielded my eyes with my left arm and the hair in my ponytail swayed in the wind created. I was able to squint and see that both Naruto and Neji landed in separate craters in the ground.
Neji is the first to move, he crawls out of his hole and walks over to the one Naruto lay at the bottom of. "Sorry, but this is reality. You're a failure. This match is over." The ground started to crumble by Neji's feet and Naruto came bursting up through the Earth to land a punch under Neji's jaw. It had enough of an impact to cause Neji to cough up blood and land backwards a few feet. "I can't move." Neji said.
It was that moment that the Naruto still laying in the hole disappeared to reveal another hole underneath him. It looks like Naruto tunneled his way under the clone just so he could surprise Neji and catch him off guard. There was so much dust before that I wasn't able to see the switch happen.
"For the record, I failed the graduation exam three times. Cause there was always this one jutsu that was always on the exam and it tripped me up every time. It was the one jutsu I just couldn't master. My clones were pathetic, that's right, I flunked the shadow clone jutsu every time. So don't come whining to me with this destiny stuff and stop trying to tell me that you can't change who you are."
The proctor stepped out onto the battlefield. "The winner is, Naruto Uzumaki."
Everyone in the stands cheered for him. Jiro was leaning over the balcony cheering for him too. "Woohoo! Go Naruto!" I clapped for the knucklehead and Mitsuru clapped leisurely as if cheering for someone was against everything he believed in, and what would I know about it? That could be true.
Naruto ran around blowing kisses to everyone in the audience. He was really eating up their praise for him. As Neji was being carried off the battlefield, Naruto made his way back up to our balcony with his arms behind his head. "Did you see that? I totally beat him."
"Yes, you did." I said. "It was quite impressive."
We all anticipated the next match to be called, but I didn't see Sasuke anywhere. People in the crowd started to become agitated with the delay.
"Where is Sasuke?" Shikamaru said as he leaned against the balcony. "What in the world does he think he's doing? Forfeiting?"
"He's definitely going to be here, believe it." Naruto crossed his arms and leaned against the balcony too.
I couldn't help but to get a look at Gaara. He didn't seem bothered by the fact Sasuke wasn't here for their match, he actually looked really calm. He looked over in my direction and watched me for a bit before looking to Naruto, who was glaring in Gaara's direction. I saw Kankuro and Temari whispering to each other with serious looks on their faces and wondered what that could be about.
The proctor appeared in the battle arena again. "Listen everyone, one of the competitors from the next battle has not arrived yet, so we're going to postpone this match briefly and simply jump ahead to the battle that would have followed this one."
Everyone in the crowd gasped at the change. However, I was more than thrilled to participate in my match with Kankuro. I launched myself over the edge of the balcony and freefalled to the arena. As the ground grew closer I focused on what Isobu recently taught me and felt for the water in the closely approaching ground and raised my arms up. With the movement of my arms, water came rushing out of the ground to grab hold of me. I had it place me gently on the ground and then had it circle around me as a spiked defensive shield. When the water is taken out of something, it's returned to a dehydrated state, the place I stood in had a three foot diameter all around of the finest sand.
"Ketto and Kankuro." the proctor announced. "Someone's a bit eager."
"Proctor!" Kankuro called from the balcony. "I withdraw! I withdraw, so please advance to the next match."
The proctor sighed, "Due to a withdrawal, Ketto Momochi wins by default."
I glanced briefly at Kankuro and scoffed, it was typical that it would be my match that would be cancelled. I didn't even get to use my coral palm. I let all of the water I had summoned fall to the ground in a big splash before turning and making my way back up to the balcony. I made eye contact with uncle Yagura on my way back up. He was talking to the Hokage and the Kazekage.
Up on the balcony, I was greeted by Naruto. "Hey Ketto, how did you do that?!"
"It's just something I learned while I was away." I said. I brushed it off like it wasn't a big deal, hoping that Naruto would leave it at that.
"But Lady Ketto, you turned dirt into sand and used the water from the dirt as a weapon!" Jiro butt in. He had sparkles in his eyes and looked at me admiringly.
"I just felt for the water." I said. Of course, Jiro would be the one to say something. "Now be quiet. You're being loud."
"Up next is Jiro and Shikamaru." the proctor called.
"You're up." I nudged him with my elbow as I passed him.
"Oh right!" he dashed to the stairs to take him down to the arena. "Be right back!"
"Yeah, come on Shikamaru, you can do it!" Naruto cheered. He smacked Shikamaru on the back and because he was leaning over the balcony it was easier for him to fall down to the arena and land on his back. I watched as he fell to the ground, that was definitely less graceful than me and it looked like it could have hurt. "Sorry Shikamaru!"
Jiro unsheathed his katana and squared off with Shikamaru. "Are the two of you ready?" the proctor asked.
"I guess, this is going to be a pain." Shikamaru said. Jiro just nodded his head as a response.
"Alright then, you may start." the proctor left the two of them in the arena.
Suddenly, Jiro jumped further away from Shikamaru and landed in the place I was in before with the water now drenching the sand. "I remember your jutsu. You can control someone's shadow, but you have to be within a certain distance of that person for it to work."
"That's right." Shikamaru said.
Jiro smirked, "This shouldn't be too difficult." Jiro started weaving hand signs for the water clone jutsu. When he finished the water that was in the sand rose into the air and formed a humanlike shape. It continued to define itself and appeared as another Jiro holding a katana.
"Great, now there's two of you." Shikamaru moaned. "This is such a drag."
"Only one of us has to touch you to steal your chakra." both of the Jiro's said. With their katana's in hand they both surged forward with a burst of speed. One of the clones lagged back a bit and it was the one that was closest to Shikamaru that was caught in his shadow possession jutsu as soon as he was in range.
"What are you going to do now?" Shikamaru asked. "All I have to do is have your shadow clone defeat you."
The Jiro that faced us smirked, but he didn't say anything. Neither did the other one and I couldn't see his face. If it was anyone else I wouldn't care, but Jiro is always talking, it's like he doesn't know how to shut up. His silence makes me think about which one of the Jiro's on the battlefield is the real one. A water clone only has about ten percent of the users chakra. I know that some people have been able to give their water clones more chakra than that, but that's more experienced users. Jiro's water clone seems to have a similar amount of chakra as him, so I'll have to find a different way to identify which is which. Wait a minute, Jiro's bloodlust. That's how I'll figure out which one is the real him.
I watched as Shikamaru ran forward while the Jiro under his possession mimicked him. Shikamaru was able to maintain a safe distance from both of his opponents as he had Jiro raise his sword. An eerie smile crossed his features and I knew that was the real Jiro.
"Hmm." maybe it was his bloodlust that got him in this position. Unless if he planned to be the one to fall into Shikamaru's jutsu.
"What is it?" Mitsuru asked. He was looking at me from his place on my left while I continued to watch.
"Tell me Mitsuru, which one do you think is the water clone?" I questioned. I could feel some of the other participants start to look at me too.
"What do you mean?" Mitsuru sounded confused. "If he has any sense at all he would have sent in his water clone first..." Mitsuru trailed off. He moved his head abruptly to face the arena. "That idiot."
"You really shouldn't be surprised." I said.
"What are you talking about Ketto?" Naruto asked from my right. "Are you saying that the Jiro Shikamaru is controlling is the real one?!"
"How could you tell?" Mitsuru wondered.
"His bloodlust, his water clone doesn't share the same thirst." I said. It still amazes me that Jiro becomes an entirely different person when he's holding his sword.
I focused in on the match again. Shikamaru was able to keep up with the shadow clones attacks, but he was only able to block and parry. He wasn't as experienced as Jiro was and he looked to be running out of stamina too. His breathing was shallow while the water clone was doing just fine. It was only a matter of time before Shikamaru made a mistake.
The water clone ducked under Jiro's blade and made his way behind him. He lifted his own blade and rested it on the back of Jiro's neck. The water clone spoke, "If I remember correctly, all I have to do is harm whatever you have possession of and the same injury will be reflected on your body."
"Right..." Shikamaru looked like he was contemplating what to do. "If I release my hold on your clone then both of you will be after me. On the other hand, I don't know what will happen if a clone is destroyed while I have a hold of it, and I'm running out of chakra fast."
"Well, what are you going to do?" the clone asked.
Shikamaru sighed, "I forfeit." People in the crowd gasped at hearing that. "There's no way I could win. I forfeit." Shikamaru released his hold on Jiro.
The proctor appeared in the arena. "Due to another forfeit, Jiro Matsuo is the winner of this match."
Both Jiro's raised their arms with a smile on their faces soaking in the audiences praise. He didn't blow kisses like Naruto did, but Jiro was definitely going to let this win get to his head. Suddenly the two turned to Shikamaru. "You got it wrong." the water clone said.
"What did I get wrong?" Shikamaru asked confused.
"The one you had control of was the real one." after saying that the water clone exploded into a fountain of water and saturated the ground.
"My options were to wear you out or get either me or my water clone to drain your chakra." Jiro said. His hand was raised to Shikamaru with the palm up as if to shake hands. "I think that after some more training our match would have ended differently. Would you like to try again in the future?"
Jiro was going out of his way to make a friend from the Leaf village. For the time that I've known him, he hasn't tried to make friends. He was placed in the same situation as Mitsuru, so they have something in common. They bonded over that. Jiro also is trying to be friends with me, probably because he's stuck with me for awhile too. Now, he's trying to befriend Shikamaru without having a reason to other than wanting to. He's definitely grown as a Mist ninja, going beyond what any other ninja from the land of Water would.
Shikamaru sighed, "This means that I'll have to take my training more seriously, but fine, I'll accept your offer."
Together they walked back up to the balcony. The proctor announced the next match, "Next is Mitsuru and Shino." Shino walked down first, with Mitsuru following. They walked to the center of the arena and stood across from each other. "If you are ready, you may begin."
Shino's arms were covered, but it was possible to see bugs crawl out of his hands. The bugs were crawling out from underneath his skin at an alarming rate forming a cloud of bugs around him. Mitsuru didn't move or show any worry at the situation, he was calm. Even as the swarm of bugs came flying at him he didn't seem bothered.
Mitsuru lifted his arms and did a series of hand signs that he completed just before Shino's bugs converged on him. He took a deep breath and exhaled a stream of frosted air. He breathed ice onto the bugs that came for him. They fell in clusters around his feet, useless.
"My bugs." Shino sounded distressed and hurried to some of the frozen bugs and picked a handful up. "You froze my bugs."
"Yeah, don't go whining about it. We still have a fight to finish." Mitsuru said. He ran at Shino with his fist raised for a punch. Shino was quick enough to deflect the hit and guide Mitsuru's fist to brush passed him. "This match can still be interesting."
Mitsuru fisted both hands and blew on them until a layer of ice covered his hands. Then he launched a series of attacks at Shino who tried to avoid the icy fists with difficulty. While Shino was doing a good job at deflecting most of the hits he was still hit several times. After a little while Shino started to wince with each movement of his arms and I could only assume that he was starting to bruise from the hits he couldn't avoid, but he was still keeping up with Mitsuru. Or at least, he was trying to.
Mitsuru suddenly used his leg to kick Shino aside. The other boy wasn't quick enough to register the attack and went flying backwards several feet and landed on his back. Mitsuru brought up both fists and smashed them together causing the ice to break away and reveal his normally pale hands turning a blue purple color. With stiff fingers he tried to make the hand signs for the water dragon. The more signs he was able to form the faster he could move his fingers.
Shino struggled to push himself up with his weakened arms and by the time he got to his feet Mitsuru's water dragon was just launched at him. Shino crossed his arms in front of his face to brace for the impact that carried him across the arena and slammed him into one of the walls.
When the water dragon retracted Shino was revealed to be partially stuck in the wall. He stayed motionless until his arms fell from his face and his upper body tipped forward. He fell to the ground in a heap of clothing and didn't move.
That was when the proctor appeared to check over Shino. When he was done he stood and said, "Due to a knockout, Mitsuru Onishi is the winner."
Mitsuru came back up on the balcony while medical ninja carried Shino off. It didn't take too long for the audience to get restless. The only match left of the first tier of the tournament is Sasuke and Gaara's match. Except, Sasuke is still nowhere to be found.
The proctor turned to look at the entrance to the arena before looking up to the Kage's. Another Leaf ninja appeared in the arena to whisper something to the proctor.
"He'll be here." Gaara said. He was standing off to the right of me with Kankuro. "He'll definitely be here."
"Yeah," I agreed. "He's too proud to not show up."
"There's something about him that I don't like." Jiro said. Jiro looked to be thinking about it when he suddenly said, "He thinks he's better than us."
"I was getting that feeling too." Mitsuru agreed. "I don't understand why that would be, there are people with more power behind just their names alone that are competing and they don't act above anyone else because of that."
"What do you mean?" Kankuro asked.
Mitsuru turned to face Kankuro, "Take you and your siblings for example, you're the children of the Kazekage, yet you don't act any differently than any other ninja in attendance."
"How do you know that?" Kankuro wondered.
"Information gathering is quite easy." Mitsuru said looking away from Kankuro, he didn't elaborate. "You know, there is someone else competing with a weighted name. It carries as much influence, if not more than your own names."
"Oh, yeah?" Kankuro questioned, "Who is that?"
"Lady Ketto of course, her uncle is the most deadly and terrifying man in the land of Water. Maybe even in all of the nations." Jiro explained. He was looking around the arena for a sign of Sasuke, who still wasn't here.
"It's said that he was the one who turned the Mist into the Bloody Mist." Mitsuru added, "The Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi. It's said that the Mizukage sent her on assassination missions for years. Under the Mizukages orders, Ketto hunted my family and killed us because of our kekkei genkai."
"And you're still on the same team as her?!" Kankuro demanded.
"It's not like I'm actively trying to kill him." I said.
"Alright," the proctor said, "the time limit has expired. I'm officially calling this match."
A whirlwind appeared in the arena next to the proctor. The winds died down to reveal Kakashi and Sasuke standing back to back.
To Kankuro, Gaara said, "I told you he would come."
People in the audience started to cheer for Sasuke. "What's so great about being an Uchiha anyway?" Jiro asked. "How is it any different than being a part of any other clan with a strong dojutsu?"
"Their clan has tried to overthrow the Leaf village on many occasions and now there's only two left. Everyone will be paying them extra attention." Mitsuru scoffed. "It's not any different than what would have happened in the Mist village."
"Oh, you mean the Kaguya clan?" Jiro tilted his head to the side. "Mom told me about them. She was gathering intel on them for years, she was the one to lead the team to collect every one of their secrets. She said that the clan was noted to be very savage and battle-hungry, they didn't have any tactics when entering battle. They just intend to show their ferocity and they think people will fear them. When my mom had information that the Kaguya clan was going to attack Kirigakure and overthrow the Mizukage she went straight to the Mizukage and he told her not to worry about it. Apparently, he's had suspicion of the Kaguya clans treachery for years, he was just waiting for a reason to kill them all and he did. The night before the morning they were going to start their siege on Kirigakure they were killed in their compound, not a single one of them lived."
"How was that possible, how did they die?" Kankuro leaned closer to Jiro. Gaara peeled his eyes away from Sasuke to look to Jiro curiously too.
"The results were inconclusive. All they really know is that it was an unknown toxin that stopped their internal organs." Jiro said. "But all of the villagers know that it was the Demon of the Mist who saved the village from their unknown fate."
"Alright, Gaara come on down." the proctor called up. Gaara stood there for a bit, his breathing was ragged and I could feel his bloodlust rolling off of him in waves.
"Look Gaara, don't let him throw off the plan." Kankuro voiced lowly. I don't think I was meant to hear, but I was close enough that I did anyway. Something is definitely planned to happen, and soon.
Slowly, Gaara turned around and walked to the stairs leading down from the balcony. We all waited for Gaara to stand across from Sasuke before the match could begin. I was looking around now knowing that something was going to happen soon I need to be more attentive. In the audience with the other spectators I was able to find about eight anbu from the Leaf village. I didn't let my worry show on my face as I thought that wouldn't be enough. I continued to look and spotted Shozouki, within five rows of his seat there was a Mist anbu above him in the bleachers and below him. Another one was spotted in each of the corners of the stands. That makes six, and it looks like Emon has disappeared again leaving uncle Yagura the only kage not protected. He must be wherever he was earlier. All together that's about eight Mist ninja too, but still, that might not be enough.
The proctor told Gaara and Sasuke that they could begin, and already the cork on Gaara's gourd was out, sand streaming out of the top. Suddenly, Gaara clutched his head. "Please, I beg of you. Don't get so mad at me, mother. Earlier, I know I made you taste such awful blood. I'm so sorry, but this time I'm sure that it'll taste so very good."
"Did he just say mother?" Mitsuru asked out loud.
Kankuro stepped up to us. "He thinks the sand is our mother. He believes that because he killed her that she is always punishing him, but that is Shukaku. He's never acted like this before a fight."
The sand that was floating around Gaara dropped to the ground. Gaara hunched over trying to catch his breath. Trying to control his bloodlust is proving to be difficult, especially being that it's really the bloodlust of the demon inside of him.
Sasuke threw some shuriken at Gaara, which Gaara caught in his sand. The sand turned into a clone of him and appeared to be holding the shuriken in it's hand. Sasuke ran at Gaara, but Gaara's sand clone sent a turrent of sand towards Sasuke. The sand clone did all of the fighting while Gaara stood there with his arms crossed.
Sasuke was able to land some hits on the sand clone and it looked like the clone dissipated. He ran through Gaara's inner ring of sand and went to punch him in the face. A pillar of sand appeared to block Gaara's face, but Sasuke rotated on his foot and disappeared only to reappear behind Gaara. Sasuke managed to punch Gaara in the face and send him flying.
When Gaara sat up, I could see deep cracks in his sand armor on his left cheek. Sasuke again ran at him with great speed. Gaara tried to put up a sand barrier in front of himself, but Sasuke only shifted direction to appear behind him again. Gaara tried to move his sand to protect him, but Sasuke kept changing direction and managed to kick Gaara in the face this time and sent him flying once again.
Sasuke ran around Gaara's fallen form creating a bit of a cyclone as Gaara stood up. All of a sudden, Sasuke stopped running around Gaara and started punching him and even kneed him in the stomach. Sasuke stops his assault and jumps away from Gaara out of breath. Gaara also seems to be out of breath. He seemed calm and regained a proper breathing cycle before Sasuke could. Gaara lifted his arms and took on a pose. His sand rose around him in a dome shape and covered himself completely.
Sasuke ran at Gaara and tried to punch him before the sand made it nearly impossible, but he was too late. As Sasuke struck the sphere of sand, it hardened and spikes protruded out towards him. Sasuke jumped back with his sharingan activated while the spikes receded into the sphere.
An eye made up of sand appeared above the dome, it was the same eye that I saw during the first stage of the exam. Sasuke tried attacking the sand sphere only to have no luck. The sand would just move to form spikes whenever Sasuke was close and the rest of the time it was still. Sasuke wasn't able to break through it.
Sasuke took off the bands that encircled his left forearm. He ran up the wall of the arena and waited there. He did several hands signs before lightning appeared beneath his hands as he knelt of the side of the wall. Sasuke ran with one of his hands fisted in lightning trailing behind him. He ran down the wall and across the arena to Gaara's sand dome. Sasuke managed to dodge all of the protrusions that emerged from the dome and landed a hit on the dome. Sasuke's fist passed through the solidified sand where he seemed to be held in place. Sasuke braced himself and used his lightning to get out of his position, but when he jumped away something came with him.
It didn't look like the rest of Gaara's sand, it was formed into an arm and had markings on it. It even looked like it had claws. The hand receded into the sand dome leaving a hole where Sasuke punched through. I suspected that it was Gaara's tailed beast, so I became more alert. Especially when the sand started to crack around the hole and the rest of the sand started to fall away to reveal Gaara. He was clutching his left shoulder, blood was seeping out between his fingers.
My attention was pulled away from Gaara and Sasuke's fight when white feathers started to fall from the sky, they didn't seem to be tangible so it must have been a genjutsu of some sort. I could hardly tell there was a genjutsu being cast. I felt that there was something wrong, but it didn't affect me like everyone else. This must be it, the start of the ambush of the Leaf village. I quickly put my hands together and said, "Release." before I could fall under it. Usually, I'm pretty good at not being affected by genjutsu's but I wanted to play it safe this time, uncle Yagura is counting on me.
I turned to my teammates to see Jiro slumped forward over the railing and Mitsuru struggling to stand upright and stay awake. Mitsuru raised his hands and released the genjutsu on himself too. That was when there was an explosion that went off up by where the kage are seated. "I'll release the genjutsu on Jiro, don't worry about us." Mitsuru said. Ninja with forehead protectors from the Sound village appeared from over the walls of the arena.
I didn't respond to him, instead I moved to attack the closest threat involved in this ambush, Kankuro. I quickly looked to Kankuro only to see him about to jump into the arena to Gaara. I didn't have time to grab either of my swords, instead black tendrils of coral trailed into my left hand. By the time I moved through the motion of throwing, I had a black kunai made of coral to throw.
Kankuro wasn't paying too much attention to me, but he must have sensed something from me to turn slightly. The blade of my kunai embedded itself into his right shoulder instead of slicing his throat like I wanted, but the damage was already done.
He clutched his shoulder with a startled gasp, gripping the kunai he pulled it out of his shoulder and threw it to the floor. Then, he jumped into the arena next to Gaara anyway. I couldn't be bothered to follow after him and Temari, who managed to jump down into the arena too. Kankuro won't last long with my poison running through his veins and Temari probably won't either, not with the lasting injuries I gave her from our fight. The two of them will eliminate themselves. Now for more pressing matters, uncle Yagura's safety.
