Hey, hope you enjoyed the last one.
Now I only got 1 answer to the question (ty mrcastor11) of whether or not to have Satsuki see the preliminaries. So we are gonna go ahead and have Satsuki see them, also if a fight is gonna be basically the exact same as Canon without much variance it will be glossed over and a main focus will be on the reactions to said fight.
We also hit over 300 follows on ff, a big thank you to everyone, let's aim for 300 favs next.
Anyway let us start.
Forest of death, center tower, final day of the second exam
Naruto, Sakura and Satsuki walked through to the tower, lead by Kakashi sensei until they reached a large open room, with each of the teams gathered, along with their respective sensei, no was no small amount of pride for the gathered leaf ninja that most of the surviving teams were leaf ninja themselves, even more so for the sensei of the rookie teams, who had all made it through.
"Hmm, it seems we have some last minute arrivals, cutting it quite close Naruto my boy." The Third Hokage spoke happily, honestly he was very worried Naruto's team wouldn't make it through, it would be a loss less entertaining without them that's for sure.
"He he. Sorry old man, got held up with a couple of things you know how it is." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, Kakashi just shook his head at the casual tone he took with even his Hokage of all people, especially in an official ceremony.
"Anyway, I would like to congratulate all of you young genin standing here, it is no small feat to make it this far, no matter what happens from here on out, have pride in this accomplishment." The third Hokage spoke to the collection of ninja.
"Just shut up old man, when does the killing start?" Gaara thought, he'd gotten here early and had been cooped up in the tower for days, mother was getting thirsty.
"Now before we continue I'm going to tell you about the true nature of these chunin exams." The third stated, getting looks of confusion from the crowd.
"While it is true that these exams are a perfect environment to see the potential and development of genin to see if they have what it takes to be promoted outside of normal field promotion. There is another reason, it is to properly gauge and maintain the balance of power between villages. Here we pit shinobi against shinobi to see who is greater, this acts as a form of mock war, allowing our allies to see your strength and thus prevent ideas of war, it is a small controlled skirmish, to deter any village that has ideals of war, its thanks too thus practice that peace is maintained." The third Hokage spoke, revealing the true nature of the exams, a way to prevent war by a non-aggressive show of strength, Naruto didn't really get it, but if it allowed him to push himself further and become a chunin, and thus one step further to becoming Hokage, he was down for anything, he just hoped if Kabuto was correct about these one on one battles, he didn't have to fight anyone who he considered a friend but then again, he kind of did, the idea of him and Satsuki battling it out with everything they had made his blood boil for battle.
After the little explanation a ninja jumped in front of the Hokage, wearing a bandana across his head with a leaf village metal plate attached.
"Please allow me to take over lord Hokage." He said bowing. The Third simply nodded.
"OK *cough* I'm Hayate Gekko. *cough* Procter of the third stage *cough*. No the real third part of the exam will be held *cough* a month from now, but there's a slight *cough* issue. There too many of you, *cough* so we'll be holding some primary rounds here and now to *cough cough hack* sorry, to decide who will go on ahead, that being said, if anybody feels they are unfit to take part in these battles *cough* you are free to drop out, your team will not suffer if you feel you can't keep going.*cough*" The new proctor spoke, quite a few people among the genin were quite concerned over the brown haired man's sickly look, bagged eyes and constant coughing. Was this guy fit for duty?
Nobody seemed to budge on the question.
Sakura turned to Satsuki and gave her a look, she wasn't an idiot she could tell that mark meant something and something bad, she could tell it was affecting her in that last fight, she could see her body shaking and her teeth grit as she fought through the pain.
"Satsuki, are you sure you should be fighting? I mean in your condition?" Sakura whispered to her fellow kunoichi, she was worried about her, obviously Sakura knew she was committed to this, that was beyond obvious even Naruro could pick up on it, but what worried Sakura was Satsuki pushing herself too far, losing a fight and losing it badly, so not only was she failing the chunin exams but risking serious injury.
"I say *cough* nobody can interfere with the battles, I'll step in and *cough cough* stop the match if the conclusion is obvious to prevent loss of life, but these are shinobi battles, *cough* you should all be very aware of how the flow of the battle can change in an instant, we can't guarantee your safety.*cough*" Hyate spoke, coughing through his words still.
"I'm fine Sakura, I came here to fight the best, and that's exactly where I am, I'm not quitting, no matter what, I…I can still fight with this thing." Satsuki said to Sakura, in truth she wasn't completely fine, the thing had started to hurt more as she entered the room, part of her, the part of her that represented that scared little girl who ran away from the madman her older brother had turned into. But Satsuki had swore to herself she'd kill that part of herself, she had too.
"But Satsuki you could get seriously hur-." Sakura started to say only for Satsuki to cut her off.
"I said I'm fine! It's none of your business anyway, I came here to fight, to push myself, and that's exactly what I'm going to do." Satsuki whispered in a harsh tone to Sakura, getting her to flinch slightly at her tone.
"Hey Satsuki you don't have to be like that, Sakura just cares about you all, if you really don't think you're better you can drop out, nobody will think any less of you." Naruto spoke, obviously concerned about her too, he'd obviously noticed Satsuki's lack of action against the rain ninja, she still wasn't well, no matter how you looked at it.
"Not gonna happen, we were in that forest for five days to get here, I'm not back out now, I came here to fight the best, and that's what I'm going to do, it's the best way to get stronger, grow as a ninja." Satsuki spoke with conviction, Naruto backed down, he knew he couldn't talk her out of this, she'd keep pushing ahead. Further and further, never stopping, and he'd never not admired it.
"Besides, you're one of the ones I want to fight the most." Satsuki spoke, smirking at him, Naruto was slightly stunned by that.
To Sakura it didn't mean all that much, but to Naruto? It was the world, he'd never stood up to his female teammate, never, he'd tried to match her countless times, ever since he made himself her rival, they'd been neck and neck with the tree climbing but Satsuki had reached the top first.
So for her to say he was one of the ninja she wanted to fight the most to push herself past her limits? It was abundantly clear to Naruto Uzumaki, that Satsuki Uchiha acknowledged him, acknowledged him as a shinobi of her caliber and one worth fighting with all she had, Naruto couldn't help but blush slightly at the notion, he'd long since dreamed of standing with or against Satsuki on equal ground as a ninja, his blood boiled at the idea of finally showing her that he was a strong ninja in his own right, worthy of being her rival.
He then knew he couldn't stand in her way, not for anything, for Satsuki's wishes, and his own.
"OK then, but if something goes bad don't be afraid to drop out, we'll fight against one another as leaf ninja one day, I'm sure of it, those sound guys will jump at any chance to kill you if they can." Naruto spoke, small smile on his face, she just continued to smirk, nodding back, it was true those sound ninja probably held a grudge, she had seen Zaku glaring at her since she entered the room, one of his arms in a cast, she still remembered the feeling of his arms being torn from their sockets, and a spark of euphoria still lit up in a dark black place in the back of her mind.
"Yeah sorry, I'm calling it quits." A voice sounded out, everyone looked to see Kabuto raising his hand and walking out of the crowd.
"Kabuto? Why? You just passed the exam, you've taken this test so many times, you could pass!" Naruto spoke out, clearly concerned over his new friend quitting.
"Sorry, in all honesty, even with that rest while you fought those rain ninja by yourself I'm still exhausted, plus my hearing has been gone since I took that blow at the start of the exam, I could barely hear what lord Hokage has been saying, so I'm withdrawing." Kabuto explained, scratching the back of his head sheepishly and sharing a hushed word with a member of this team.
He was then shown the exit by an attending ninja and Hayate saw there would be no other dropouts.
"*cough cough* let's begin, behind me we'll have a screen, it will display two random names, those will be to combatants,*cough* the rest of you will watch from the viewing areas on either side of the arena*cough*." Hayate, complete with his seemingly signature coughs.
The Hokage and his group left the arena as large slab of stone moved on the wall and a screen was shown, the screen filtered through names until two appeared.
Yoroi Akado vs Satsuki Uchiha
The two names were shown on the screen and feelings of dread overcame Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi, right out of the gate?! Satsuki had no time to rest at all and she was already fighting? This wasn't good, plus the guy she was fighting, Kabuto's teammate, looked totally fresh, no fatigue at all, Satsuki was at a disadvantage, a major one, in truth all of team seven were, as they looked over all the other teams and saw they looked a lot better then they did, clean clothes, properly fed and showered, it would be an uphill battle for all three of them.
Before he left for a platform Kakashi walked up to Satsuki and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"Listen, with that mark, all jutsu is off the table, even your Sharingan, and if you let it take over, I'm stopping the match, no exceptions." Kakashi said to her his tone deadly serious and leaving no room for argument, Satsuki just nodded begrudgingly, not only was she worn down from the forest but all her ninjutsu was off limits, fear and doubt were starting to creep into her mind.
Everyone walked to one of the two viewing platforms and looked down at Satsuki and Yoroi, standing apart from one another, each ready to go at a moment's notice.
"Come on Satsuki, you got this!" Naruto yelled from the stands, her eyes shifted to him briefly, well obviously she had this in the bag, she was Satsuki Uchiha.
"*cough* begin!" Hayate said as he waved his hand down and jumped back away from the arena.
Satsuki instantly started by throwing a handful of kunai at him only for Yoroi to quickly sidestep and rush towards Satsuki, she pushed chakra into her legs almost on instinct to jump away, only to fall short as she felt the mark throb and pain to shoot through her body causing her muscles to seize up and leaving her fully open.
Seeing his moment Yoroi forced Satsuki to the ground as he held his hand over her face, his palm glowing blue.
Instantly Satsuki started to feel it, her own chakra being leached from her, absorbed by Yoroi, she didn't have a lot of chakra to spare.
"Just what in the hell?!" Satsuki managed to rasp out, every second his hand held onto her Satsuki felt her strength draining, any more of this and she wouldn't be able to even stand, let alone fight.
She mustered what strength she could and gave a harsh kick to Yoroi's gut, sending him back.
"I'd give up if I were you. At the very least if you quit now you'll still be able to watch the other matches, or I can send you into a week long coma via chakra exhaustion, that's the amazing power I was born with, the ability to leech and convert another beings chakra into my own, not only draining them, but restoring my own supply of chakra." Yoroi bragged, of course he knew his assignment, drain Satsuki of chakra so she had no other choice but to unleash the immense power she was gifted by lord Orochimaru further strengthening his hold over the girl, but if he could put on a good show, show that even against one of his lords marked maybe he would be elevated to the same status, to be one of Lord Orochimaru's chosen, to be one who wore his exalted mark, the young Uchiha didn't know how blessed she was.
"All my chakra, it's gone, I don't have anything left…except that." Satsuki thought, as the dark influence of the mark was still there, waiting for its opportunity to pump its beautifully dark power into her.
But she knew she couldn't, it's just what that freak Orochimaru wanted, she was not so stupid to believe that while the power the mark granted her was amazing, it wouldn't be without cost,her being debilitated for two days after its use was no coincidence, not only that but she knew the moment she did Kakashi would step in and stop the match, and she'd lose her spot in the main rounds because of that.
Satsuki only had one course of action, she glanced up and looked at Lee, watching the fight with an intense look on his face.
"If he can do it, so can I." She thought as she leveled her gaze at Yoroi.
She'd have to beat this guy with no chakra, pure taijutsu, she couldn't even push chakra into her limbs to enhance her strikes.
"Think back." She thought to herself, she'd seen Lee's moves with her Sharingan so while they weren't active, their ability to copy and memorize still allowed her to think back to the moves Lee used perfectly, one in particular came to mind.
However before she could properly recall the moves Yoroi ran at her again, Satsuki just barely dodging his strikes, until just one finger touched her, only for a split second, the drain in chakra threw her off, she stumbled and Yoroi grabbed her arm absorbing more of her chakra, fully intent to drain her dry.
Up in the stands, masquerading as the sound teams jonin sensei Orochimaru licked his lips, with his skills he'd been able to listen in on what Hatake had said, it was perfect, he'd win no matter what.
Either Satsuki would lose, and thus her hunger for greater power would grow. Or she'd give into her curse mark and Hatake would stop the fight and she'd be resentful and desire more power still, either way, Orochimaru's hold over the young Uchiha would grow.
While Yoroi's overall skills were lacking he was a half decent spy and had a very interesting unique trait, sadly he'd been unable to adapt it into his own physiological, a side effect of Yoroi's special chakra that could leech off others was that it was naturally weak, a price to pay for its adaptability, truly a shame, but against a ninja that wasn't able to counter his jutsu with long range ninjutsu, like Satsuki in her current state, it was a deadly weapon.
In the stands Naruto gripped the railing tight as he saw Satsuki struggle. Just what was that masked guy doing?!
"Hmm, it seems to be a jutsu that allows him to drain chakra by touch? Interesting." Kakashi said, Naruto turned and saw his single Sharingan on display, he was obviously looking at Yoroi's jutsu.
"But Satsuki has barely any chakra left, if this keeps going she won't have any chakra left at all, she'll end up passing out like you sensei?." Sakura spoke, equally worried about her teammate. Inadvertently outing her sensei's chakra exhaustion blunder to Guy.
"Ha, it seems you still need more training to increase your levels of chakra Kakashi, how about some laps around the village?" Guy spoke, giving Kakashi a thumbs up while his smile twinkled.
"Hmm? You say something Guy?" Kakashi said, turning to his friend.
He just turned and visibly cringed.
"Damn you Kakashi and your hip attitude!" Guy spoke under his breath.
"Don't worry Guy-sensei I am always glad for more of your training!" Lee spoke to his teacher and idol.
"Thank you for your support Lee but keep an eye on the match, you may be fighting these people in the next round, it will aid you to get a look at any jutsu they may use against you." Guy spoke, Lee taking out a notepad and writing the words down, then focusing entirely on the fight, after all, he wanted Satsuki to win, so Lee would get to fight her too.
"Come on Suki, you're better then this guy." Naruto muttered to himself.
"Screw…OFF!" Satsuki spoke through gritted teeth as she mustered what strength she had and delivered a harsh kick to Yoroi's chest, sending him flying away again.
Satsuki collapsed to her knees, panting hard, she barely had a drop of chakra left, worse still, she could feel the mark, it was like her own chakra was a cage, keeping it at bay, but now the cage was little more then some flimsy sticks, and the entity trapped inside was just begging to be unleashed.
"Come Satsuki! You're better then his guy, where's all that Uchiha pride and talent you are always on about huh?!" Naruto shouted down to her, his face full of worry, she couldn't lose, how dare she, after…after she had acknowledged him like that…How dare she even think about losing!
"Oh shut up, you loser." She muttered under breath, as stupid as his outbursts were, he was right, she was better then his veiled chakra parasite, she knew she only had one chance, and one shot, he had to make it count, because she needed to get through this, to fight Lee, Gaara, that arrogant Hyuga and Naruto, she'd seen him grow and grow at a breakneck pace from that idiot in the academy, she knew someday, if he kept going at the rate he was, he would grow into a truly gifted ninja, still an idiot, but a skilled ninja nonetheless. And she wanted to see that, she wanted to see the depth of Naruto's potential, and surpass it, her pride as a ninja, kunoichi and Uchiha demanded no less.
She rose to her feat and musting strength she didn't even know he had to give she rushed Yoroi and in a display that shocked, Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, Guy and Lee most of all landed a harsh kick to Yoroi's chin, in a motion that was essentially an exact duplicate of Lee's.
"No she couldn't have?" Lee muttered under his breath, he'd trained for two weeks straight just to get that kick right, was this the copying power of the Sharingan Guy-sensei had told him about?
Satsuki then jumped herself, following Yoroi in a dancing leaf shadow. However as soon as she did the mark struck, breaking its bonds as the black marks started to cover her flesh, thoughts about how she should rip this weakling's throat out! Filled her mind.
"No! I won't…let you…control me!" Satsuki thought as she mustered all the willpower she had and shoved the dark power back in its cage, the markings faded and the dark chakra left her body.
"J-just what the hell are you, you suppressed lord Orochimaru's mark?! That should be impossible!" Yoroi spoke, blowing his cover in his shock, to think that she could suppress his lord mark with sheer will, Yoroi was finally starting to understand why lord Orochimaru was so interested in her.
He also cursed his weak constitution, while his unique jutsu was amazing it also meant he had weak chakra and a weak constitution.
"Truth is I copied that part, but from here on it's all me. You're done. I'm sure that Ibiki guy will have questions for you when you wake up." Satsuki spoke smugly, she had him, not only that he had given himself away in his shock at her ability to suppress the mark.
Satsuki then unleashed a series of midair blows in an almost pseudo Primary Lotus.
"Prideful…LIONESS!" Satsuki shouted out 'lioness' being spoken with the last blow, a fierce kick across Yoroi's chest as he slammed into the ground, it was abundantly clear that he wouldn't be getting back up.
"*cough* this match is over, *cough* winner, Satsuki Uchiha.*cough*" Hayate spoke through more coughs, checking to see if Yoroi was breathing, he was but just barely.
"Heh, every time I think I'm catching up to you. You do something like this." Naruto spoke softly still in shock as Satsuki seemingly copied the first part of the jutsu Lee almost almost hit her with then made it her own in a masterful taijutsu barrage. It only made Naruto want to push past her more.
Satsuki picked herself off the ground but stumbled only for someone to catch her.
Naruto stood there, with a smile on his face as he put her arm over his shoulder and helped her walk.
"Not bad, to think you would adapt Guy's lotus like that." Kakashi spoke next to them both.
"Now I'm afraid you can't stay to watch the rest *whispered* we need to steal that mark." Kakashi spoke to them both, the second part just to Satsuki.
"No gonna happen. I'm watching the fights." Satsuki spoke harshly, obviously she knew something had to be done about the seal but was that time right now, she had things under control.
"Yeah Kakashi sensei I know Satsuki is a bit beat up but she'll be fine just watching.
"*sigh* fine, it's pointless arguing with you two like this, but we deal with things as soon as pliminaries are over, and no chakra, no Sharingan, nothing. Understand." Kakashi spoke, his tone and signal eyed gaze leaving no room for argument.
"Also, get that guy under guard, he let it slip that he's a spy, one for Orochimaru." Satsuki said to Kakashi, causing his eyes to widen.
"Your sure?" He asked, Satsuki just nodded, Kakashi made a clone that followed the medical team out of the arena, carrying Yoroi on a stretcher.
Naruto sat Satsuki down in the viewing area, she just leaned back against the wall and breathed deeply.
"You okay?" Naruto asked her, kneeling down next to her.
"Yeah, just got…no chakra right now, but I'll be fine." Satsuki said to him.
"Oh, take one of these then." Choji spoke, walking up to them and digging around in his pouch.
He handed small pill to Satsuki with a kind smile.
"A food pill?" Sakura spoke, seeing the small object.
"Not exactly, it's more mild, it doesn't give the massive amount of energy and calories a normal one does but it doesn't have any side effects like you sleeping for about sixteen hours after taking a normal food pill. My dad gave them to me, really helped us in the forest." Choji said as Satsuki swallowed the pill.
"Oh right, the Akamichi clan were the ones to invent the food pill after all, makes sense your dad would give you some." Sakura said, remembering reading something about the Akamichi inventing the pill during the first great shinobi war.
Seeing that his fun was over, the disguised Orochimaru left the arena, the only thing he cared about being over, the matches of his sound genin puppets being of no interest to him, Dosu glared at the spot he disappeared from, the feeling of betrayal not faltering.
In an isolated location Orochimaru met up with the most useful follower by far.
"Well, it seems Satsuki's match was early on. Lord Orochimaru." Kabuto spoke, his headband now being that of the sound village.
"Indeed, Yoroi lost obviously, his jutsu is impressive but the downsides it brings means that he'd never be a match for someone like dear little Satsuki. But she even suppressed the curse mark with sheer will, oh she will be magnificent Kabuto." Orochimaru spoke, his tone jovial, like a child on Christmas, only the present under Orochimaru's dead and genetically modified tree was his next host body, one Satsuki Uchiha.
"Yes I agree, but what should I do about Yoroi? He's currently being held in the hospital under guard, I believe they suspect him of being a spy." Kabuto spoke, his tone not really that serious, Yoroi didn't really hold any information of real value, no battle plans for the upcoming invasion, all their operatives had been fed slightly altered versions of the same lie, so it would never be clear what was the real Intel or not, well unless they captured and broke Kabuto, but Orochimaru knew he was too good to be captured by the leaf village.
"Kill him if you can, he serves no further use then as a vessel for the reanimation jutsu. And we can use any available warm body for such a thing." Orochimaru spoke, he truly didn't care about either of Kabuto's two 'teammates' he had their genetic code and bloodwork, little else was needed of them, they were both pathetic shinobi.
"As you wish Lord Orochimaru. What about Satsuki? She's saying in the arena, not having her mark sealed and moved to a private medical room to recover like we thought? Doesn't that interfere with your plan?" Kabuto asked, his tone still as if he was amused, truth he told, he understood his lords obsession over the Uchiha dojutsu but didn't share it, there were many aspects of ninjutsu that fascinated Kabuto, but ocular prowess wasn't one of them.
"While I would like to acquire Satsuki as soon as possible I won't be taking her as my next vessel, after all, she needs to be trained and allowed to fully synchronize with the curse mark so her body doesn't regret me after three years." Orochimaru said, he had time to acquire Satsuki, even if they sealed her curse mark it would matter little, as they would likely employ an evil sealing method seal, a common seal for curse marks, little did they know Orochimaru had refined his curse mark since then, while the seal did stop the overt negative effects, the more subtle corruption of the seal slipped through the cracks, and as the seal worked off the bearers will to keep it at bay, eventually, the seal would do absolutely nothing to prevent Satsuki's use of his mark, now if that bumbling fool showed up with some even more advanced fuinjutsu thereight be trouble, but his operatives in the land of steam had recently let him know that he had just gotten himself banned from yet another hot spring resort so he wouldn't be a problem right now.
Oh yes, sooner or later, Satsuki would willingly come to him seeking power, it was not a matter of if, only when.
Back in the preliminary arena
The next two people who were chosen to battle stepped into the arena, and many people could guess who would win this one, on one side was Shino, who had apparently gotten here the first day and was fully rested.
The other was Zaku, who had a large bruise on the side of his face, one bandaged arm that was obviously not moving with full functionality and the other in a cast, Satsuki's handiwork, Satsuki was troubled by the fact that the sound of Zaku's arms being torn from their sockets still sounded like a sweet melody, the only thing sweeter would be Itachi's dying screams, along with anyone else that got in her way.
.
.
.
Fuck…where had that come from?
Satsuki pushed the thought into the back of her mind as she focused on the fight; she had obviously heard stories about the Aburame clan's unique bug ninjutsu, but had never truly seen it in action.
But if Zaku could still use those sound blasts the large area they covered would be a stronger counter against a swarm of bugs, or however the hell the Aburame attacked their enemies.
"Listen, just withdraw, you're injured, I'd rather not make things worse and do any…permanent damage." Shino spoke, hands in his large jackets pockets, his words both out of respect for his heavily injured opponent, but also a threat.
"I only need one arm to beat up some pussy treehugger leaf ninja! I ain't backing down!" Zaku shouted over to Shino, ironic as the person who put him in the state he was in was a leaf ninja, but Zaku had never been the brains of his team, mainly just the muscle with some destructive jutsu.
The fight then ensued was a landslide as everyone thought it was, it ended up being revealed that the true nature of the Aburame's bug jutsu was a lot more intimate that originally thought, as Shino apparently had the bugs he controlled living inside him, in a truly unsettling symbiotic relationship where the bugs feasted on the hosts chakra and thus obeyed Shino's will, everyone visibly cringed at the knowledge, Sakura and Ino even looked a bit ill at the thought.
In the end Zaku revealed he did have some movement in his second arm and tried to use it to catch Shino out as he had trapped Zaku in a pincer attack, a swarm of his chakra devouring beetles on one side and Shino on the other, he couldn't blast one with his single arm without opening himself up to the other.
However Shino thought a step ahead, and had secretly clogged both of Zaku's wind tunnels with bugs, he even clogged the one in the cast just to be on the safe side.
Zaku ended up destroying his own arms, the pressure just built up and eventually Zaku's arms were the ones to give, he was carried away on a stretcher, it was obvious to everyone that he would most likely never use his arms again, and everyone knew they'd have to keep an eye on Shino in the final part of the exam, he wasn't one to be underestimated.
Kurenai looked proud, she'd honestly been a little insecure about having her team in the exams as she was one of the newest jonin, especially when there were ninja who had been jonin for most of their ninja careers like Kakashi and Guy entering their teams in the exams.
Shino casually walked back up to where his team was standing, his as unreadable as ever.
"Nice going Shino, you really showed them!" Kiba said excitedly to him.
"G-good j-job S-shino." Hinata stuttered out, tapping her fingers together.
"Great job Shino, you've really come a long way." Kurenai spoke with a kind smile on her face.
"Man, I really hope I don't have to fight him, I don't know what I'd do against those bugs." Ino muttered with Sakura nodding along with her.
"He's good, he may be even better than his father one day." Kakashi spoke leaning against the wall with Guy. They had been on a few ops with Shibi Aburame, Kakashi more so then Guy, as Aburame clan ninja normally prefered stealth ops and while Guy was an amazing shinobi, stealth was never his strong suit.
"I agree, these exams are shaping up to be pretty interesting, all the fiery youth is making my own burn brighter." Guy spoke a bit over dramatically with Lee joining in, Kakashi just sighed and shook his head, he thought back Kakashi to old memories, Guy and Lee together really were exactly like Guy and his father, he wondered if Guy truly realized how much of an idol and father figure he had become to the young genin, don't get him wrong it was nice to see, he was just worried about how far Lee was willing to push himself to make Guy proud.
His lone eye looked back at the screen to see the next two names.
Kankuro of the sand vs Misumi Tsurugi
Hmm, Yoroi's teammate, was Orochimaru brazen enough to place his spies on the same team? Maybe, he'd have to keep an eye on this one, along with that one that dropped out, Kabuto was his name.
"It's that guy from the sand, I wonder if we'll get to see what's in the bandages on his back?" Naruto mused, leaning on the rail, Satsuki joined him, while it was his younger brother Satsuki cared about, it couldn't hurt to keep an eye on each of the sound ninja, and everyone who won, as she could fight any one of them in the next round.
"My best guess is that it's a puppet." Kakashi chimed in, confusing Naruto.
"A puppet? How would that help?" He wondered, tilting his head to the side. Satsuki just smiled and shook her head, of course that idiot wouldn't know.
"A ninja puppet Naruto, it's a special style of fighting invented by the right hand and trusted friend of the first Kazekage Chikamatsu Monzaemon, it involves using strings made of chakra it move a human sized puppet, but that puppet it filled with kunai, blades and all sorts of weapons to attack, it's like a giant ninja tool." Sakura explained to Naruto.
"Really? I never knew there were ninja weapons like that." Naruto said under his breath as he looked at the sand ninja weird makeup and all, but mainly that thing on his back, which was most likely one of these ninja puppets.
"That makes sense, after all many if not all puppets employ some form of poison, and no nation has more plants, and forms a wildlife to create poison then the land of wind, I heard a story about how Lady Tsunade of the sannin and the best puppeteer and poison expert in the hidden sand were constantly battling one another in a kind of shadow war, Lady Tsunade constantly creating new antidotes for every new poison the puppeteer made." Kakashi explained, he'd run into a fair share of puppeteers, that poison was a problem, if the ninja was serious then just a drop of its liquid form and just a whiff of the gas and you were a deadman without an antidote.
Sakura's eyes sparkled at hearing such a cool story about the legendary kunoichi she'd always looked up to.
"Yeah, a lot of the poisonous plants we grow in the village are originally from the land of wind." Ino chimed in, as the Yamanaka family were responsible for the management of useful plants grown for the village, both medicinal and poisonous, they weren't just good at getting in your head.
All three watched the fight and were initially surprised as Misumi seemed to use a jutsu to bend his body in an unnatural way and completely ensnare Kankuro with his bendy body.
"Listen I'd rather not kill you kid so surrender or I'll snap your neck like a twig." Misumi threatened, secretly hoping Kankuro said no.
"I'd like to see you try." Kankuro spoke, his voice still confident, Misumi just sighed and with a quick flex of his body via his chakra he sickening snap was heard as Kankuro went limp.
All the leaf ninja were shocked, that was ruthless, yes they knew dying was a risk but they expected it to be an accident not via ultimatum.
Hayate was about to call the match when an odd sound was heard and Kankuro's head did a full one eighty as some sort of clay fell off of his face, showing it wasn't Kankuro at all, the entire facade dropped as 'Kankuro' was in fact a puppet, which used it multiple limbs to trap Misumi and out of the bandages the real Kankuro appeared, hiding away and controlling his double all this time.
"That's quite clever, I'll admit." Kakashi spoke, quite impressed with that ruse, however it would do little against his Sharingan or a Byakugan.
"In the end Kankuro's puppet jabbed a needle into Misumi which made him go completely stiff. He said that match was over and to bring some medics before his airways fully closed up due to the paralytic he'd just pumped into him, Hayate called it, a landslide easy win for the sand ninja, he smirked as she walked out of the arena. Seemingly quite pleased with himself.
"Kinda wished I could have snapped that guy's neck, but it's better to make these leaf ninja think that all I'll be packing next month is a paralytic, just a drop of the stuff I'll outfit Crow with in the finals will kill anyone stone dead." Kankuro thought as he walked up next to Temari.
"Well, he's the Kazekages kid, makes sense he'd be good." Kakashi spoke, reminding team seven that the sand team were in fact all the children of the current Kazekage, they all needed to be on their guard around all three of them.
They all looked to see the next two names come up.
Sakura Haruno vs Ino Yamanaka
Both kunoichi looked at each other with a surprised blank expression before splitting into grins, it was clear their rivalry was still burning strong as ever.
That is where we'll end it for now. Sorry this took a while and it's not an amazingly long chapter. I was just busy with being ill, a lot of life stuff and work, but the prelims are now in full swing.
Yes I changed 'Lions Barrage' to 'Prideful Lioness', which I feel works (also setting up me building on it later), as Satsuki is not only Prideful but a pride is a group of lions and it's a barrage of many blows, and lioness from lion is obviously masculine to feminine, Cus while Satsuki is a tomboy she also is quite proud of her status as a kunoichi of the Uchiha clan.
Please leave any comments and reviews. I enjoy reading them, let's also push for 200 kudos and 300 favs. I'll see you in the next one.