Chapter 21
The fifteen minutes were over and Neji called out the next match, "Usagi of the Zodiac Clan and Jotaro Uzumaki, come on down!"
As Usagi and Jotaro walked towards their battle, both thought of the other and how intriguing they were.
She just smiles and seems like she could do that when she kills someone. It's scary…and there's something else…
He has a determined look about him… Whatever it is he believes in… he truly sets apart everything else as unimportant to his own goals… He's a very interesting young man… It's in his eyes…
The two faced each other, waiting for Neji's signal. The whistle blew and Usagi stood waiting as Jotaro took the initiative, a flurry of kicks and punches. Usagi seemed a blur as she either dodged or diverted the attacks and caught one punch in her palm. Grinning again, she kicked into Jotaro's midsection, sending him crashing to the other side of the arena.
Jotaro got up, looking at Usagi, who stood unmoving again. His anger flared up and he felt that evil presence take over. But he managed to keep it under control, unleashing his new strategy. Focusing chakra into his right eye, he felt that newfound power similar to the bestial one, only more comforting.
He then began to fight again, faster and stronger than before. But Usagi kept up regardless, matching his speed and strength, this time using Jotaro's own momentum to throw him to the opposite end of the arena. Jotaro got up, a bit embarrassed, but still eager to fight. He thought of his few battles with Minoru, who obviously overpowered him.

Jotaro, still inexperienced at 10, lunged at Minoru, who stepped calmly out of the way. Jotaro spun around with a second attack, which his nemesis simply took. The young Minoru simply turned to Jotaro, again lecturing him.
"Put more energy into the attack and you might hurt me. And…"
Jotaro pulled back, the flame in his eyes growing stronger as his eye glowed bright gold. Minoru turned and saw a strange aura about Jotaro. But it mattered little to him. His own left eye glowed a deeper shade of gold and his chakra flow improved instantly. Jotaro seemed to become faster, but Minoru could still keep up. Again, Jotaro was defeated, at Minoru's feet, exhausted.
"How do you always manage to win, Minoru? You've got no life in those attacks and you have no potential for real taijutsu. What is it that allows you to win?"
Minoru's response was simply, yet enigmatic in its own way.
"I have a determination to surpass those who came before me. My father…my uncle…Hokage… I want to be stronger. And that desire, combined with my mantra of 'Calm rivers defeat raging winds' gives me my reason for fighting and the ambition to gain my ultimate power. But the realization of weakness gives you strength. If you have a constant delusion that you can beat any opponent, you'll set a precedent to lose. If you know more about what's wrong, you can help make it right. So…another battle…dunce?"
Jotaro grinned and rushed again, fighting Minoru with new drive as a punch hit home.

That's it… I'm weak…so that'll make me stronger now…Usagi may have the upper hand, but she's never fought me before. We'll see who's better!
Jotaro unleashed hand seals and his favorite ninjutsu, called the Body Freeze Skill, his specialty move. Usagi seemed paralyzed and Jotaro took the advantage, pummeling the rabbit with even greater power, throwing off her blocks, making this fight easier than ever. Usagi was on her back, her face bloodied and she even swore he'd fractured a bone or two. It was time for her own special move. Performing the sign of the rabbit, Usagi seemed to vibrate with chakra.
Jotaro gasped as Usagi unleashed newfound agility, superceding Jotaro's speed tenfold. Jotaro was on the ground again and could do nothing as Usagi continued to strike him. She even began mocking him.
"You thought you were fast, demon… Well…the special Rabbit Ninjutsu allows me to be as strong as my master. But now," she said while pulling out a three jointed staff, "You'll face the Nyoibo Usagi combo." Thrusting the staff forward, it slid past Jotaro and struck him in the back. Jotaro's darkness erupted again, as he suppressed it again.
Should I really try to use that power again? It nearly killed me before… But…Usagi's so strong… I'm going to take that risk. I told Kyoji to trust in himself, so I'll do the same.
Usagi's Nyoibo attack struck again, this time, Jotaro taking the full power. Seemed to him to abuse unleashed the full power. The flames began to spark and Usagi stepped back, Jotaro now flaming with newfound chakra, his body changed to a more feral form. She grinned and flowed even more chakra into the move. She and Jotaro moved in slow motion, it seemed, as Jotaro slapped the weapon out of Usagi's hands, grasping them and meeting her face to face. But Usagi escaped his hold and flipped backwards, knocking Jotaro's chin with a kick and returning them to the real world, bursts of chakra indicating their sheer speed.
Usagi was thrilled. This demon was her greatest opponent yet. She'd have to use every skill she possessed. But with this new power, he matched her evenly. The thought came into her mind about how Enishi would arrive soon. She had expended a great deal of chakra and this boy seemed to have no end. She did possess the other half of Rabbit Ninjutsu, with the quick solution, quick death routine…
Performing the reverse sign of the rabbit, Usagi came at Jotaro, simply relaxed and prepared to fight, but doing nothing as Jotaro struck her. But she was perfectly fine as Jotaro struck air. Coming up behind Jotaro, she struck flesh, but she was done, as Jotaro stood untouched. His Kyubi chakra was concentrated in his right arm, while his Taigan Right performed an extra powerful counter to Usagi's Rabbit Rapid Strike, normally impaling the opponent, but expending nearly all her chakra.
But only Jotaro fell unconscious as he had lost his Kyubi chakra to exhaustion, his own loss of power combined with stress causing him to faint.
Usagi, on the other hand, had almost completely lost her single source of chakra and was out of techniques as well, but manageed to keep her footing. In short, the match was Usagi's. This threw Neji off, but he simply spoke to the two while they were still conscious and announced the next match.
"Usagi progresses to the finals, but there's still hope, Jotaro. Kenta Uzumaki and Shige Hyuga! Your fight is approaching! You get five minutes!"

Elsewhere, a man stood in the forest, blue green hair falling in bangs across his eyes. The cold red pupils glinted in the shadows. He spoke, his teeth glinting as he finished.
"Usagi has failed…but I'll kill you myself, you Kyubi bastard! The Zodiac Clan will finish what the Akatsuki started!"

Chapter 22
Kenta stood opposite Akimaru on the arena floor, both waiting for Shige to prepare. They heard her coming early with their enhanced hearing and turned to see her weighed down with shuriken ad kunai, one even in her mouth. Akimaru hopped onto Kenta's shoulder and both smirked as Shige readied herself. A rain of shuriken hurled towards Kenta, who dodged them easily. He and Akimaru faded into the air without a word.
Shige began to panic and look frantically about for Kenta or his cat. Two shurikens rocketed at her, but stopped and began floating about Shige's head. Almost as if from the air, Kenta's face appeared, mocking Shige. Shige gasped and began to run. Akimaru's mewing call seemed to hurt now as Shige ran. Stopping in the middle of the forest, Shige thought to herself.
That punk! He's just mocking me! HE can't keep that up forever. Just wait it out…then it'll all be over…
Shige readied the shuriken and threw them out, striking the trees. She heard Kenta's voice again and shouted, her temper already flaring up. She then sensed Kenta's presence, but it was right in front of her. She saw Kenta sitting down. Thrusting out a shuriken, Kenta disappeared.
A clone!
Shige saw countless Kenta, one even taking a lunch break, it seemed. She grimaced and closed her eyes, letting the anger vent in her own special way. A red chakra burst from her body, surrounding her shuriken. She then spun around, the shuriken blazing out from all directions. All the Kenta disappeared at once, but the real Kenta was still nowhere to be seen. This was going to take a while…

Neji looked at his watch and sighed. It had nearly been an hour. He was about to call the match, when he saw Kenta burst forth from the forest, still being chased by Shige, who was completely out of control now, flinging shuriken in all directions. Kenta was able to dodge the throwing stars, but seemed to blend with the background. The two children continued the battle in the other end of the forest.
Choji sighed and thought to himself.
He's doing it again. In reality, he's just moving with catlike grace, but it looks like an advanced illusion. Spending all that time with that cat had certainly given him an edge
Kenta eyed Akimaru over in the corner, the cat simply bathing itself as Kenta did the hard work. But Akimaru truly was the one with the great skills. He remembered it all so well…

Kenta was around 8 and had just finished his first day of Academy training. None of the kids seemed to want to play with him or even talk to him. He began to cry, but then looked up as he heard a mew. A small black kitten, only about a month old, looked up at him with small green eyes. It pawed his legs, looking up lovingly at him. Kenta sighed and picked the cat up and placed it lightly on his shoulder. The cat looked around, panicked at the sheer height, but then Kenta spoke to his new friend, comforting it.
"Don't worry little one… I'll keep you safe from any mean dogs… Hey…you want to be my partner?" The cat nodded hesitantly and Kenta jumped for joy, the cat leaping away and into the forest. Kenta took this as an invitation for playtime and followed the cat.
It had been a few hours, and Kenta thought he'd never find the cat, which he had named Akimaru, since it was around autumn now. He then spotted the cat, bathing itself, unknowing of Kenta's presence. Kenta snatched the kitten and held it playfully above him, laughing as the kitten began playing back, relaxed again. He had found a friend…

He nodded to Akimaru and continued to mock Shige, who glared and began the recovery of the lost shurikens, still keeping watch for Kenta's pranks. She still couldn't help but become furious, the anger building up. Taking the remaining shuriken, she flowed the anger into her chakra and thrust three blades in varying directions. She heard a squeal… Finally, she had made a hit on Kenta. She then felt calm again, now realizing how good it felt to vent all that stress. Running a hand through her ratty hair, she began to reminisce as well, thinking of home and of her own battle with emotions.

Risa and Hitomi had been picking on Shige again, and she was ready to explode again, but she was caught by Tenten, who pulled her home as she tossed shuriken towards the two girls.
Tenten sat Shige down and looked at her with that calm sort of look that slowly calmed her daughter down.
"Honey…you need to learn how to let that anger out…without hurting Hitomi or Risa…or anybody else for that matter. Is there anything you can think of?"
"Yeah…just…just leave me alone!"
Tenten nodded and kissed Shige on the forehead, leaving her daughter to sulk in her room, her knees held close to her body.
Shige managed to calm down after a few minutes of punching her effigies of Risa and Hitomi. She looked at her hands, now marked with cuts from the abrasive materials on the dolls. Sighing, she thought to herself about how to solve this problem. But she was getting nothing. She remembered being told that when she had a problem, she was to meditate and concentrate. The anger still maintained itself, but Shige focused. She relaxed quickly and opened her eyes to a strange red smoke. With the realization afterwards that the smoke was simply a new form of her chakra manifesting itself, Shige tried again, this time, able to produce a great amount of chakra, much more than ever before. She grinned and punched the air, but stopped at the possibility of what her anger chakra could do. The worry was over and Tenten smiled as she looked on in the room, Shige experimenting with her Rage Chakra again and again.

Shige calmed herself, checking and confirming that she was at half chakra levels.
That still should be enough for the finishing move. Just need to get all my shuriken and get ready to book it…
Shige rocketed away, focusing on the days when she still had a great deal of anger to deal with, trying to gain as much power for the finale.
Elsewhere, Kenta stopped his stealth for a second, locating Akimaru, rubbing the cat behind the ears. She always liked that and purred lovingly as she rubbed Kenta's legs, curling up in his lap. Kenta grinned and sat back, but sat back up immediately as he heard Shige powering up her chakra. He gently placed Akimaru in the branches, hidden from Shige's assault, he hoped.
Shige's Rage Chakra had reached its peak, now surrounding every inch of her body. The shurikens were staying close to her body as she screamed out and let loose countless chakra bolts. Kenta stopped many of them with his cat speed and chakra boosts, but stopped as Shige appeared behind him, nearly twenty shuriken readied to fire. Kenta blinked and Shige was gone. He heard Akimaru's screech and panicked, as that was his ticket to stealth. Shige tapped him on the shoulder and grinned even as she fainted, her last words being
"Found your weakness…but neither of us is passing now…"
Kenta looked down and saw hundreds of shuriken lodged in his body, just far enough to cause superficial cuts, but not enough to kill. This was control. The first bursts were a distraction. She had him off guard. He had to watch that in next year's exams.

Neji again looked at his watch and looked over to Ryota, who nodded and rushed into the forest. Only a few minutes had passed and he returned, both genin unconscious on his shoulders.
"How are they?" Neji inquired.
"They both exhausted their chakra," Ryota said, still listening to his headphones, "Just get on to the last two matches. I'm nearly mad with battlelust."
Neji nodded and called out the next two contestants.
"Minoru Uchiha and Basho Nara. Prepare to fight in fifteen minutes."
Minoru looked over to his still lazy opponent, who had watched every battle with a half dazed look. But Minoru was still afraid of him. With the Mental Chakra, there was always the potential for something new. After all, it was his plan that beat Hattori and he had stopped Jotaro's rampaging before. Minoru truly was facing his most difficult opponent, who snapped out of his stupor, scratching his nose and looking over at Minoru with a strangely pleased grin.