Chapter 11

Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331

Naruto saw the face-off between the two girls. He admitted that Kalula looked bored. Tara looked determined but also a bit cocky.

"Hm, this is going to be an interesting fight."

Raian shook his head. "I don't know what is so interesting." A smirk appeared on his face. "This is going to be one-sided if she acts like usual."

Naruto was confused about this comment, but he accepted there was more to meets the eye. On the other side of the rafters, shouting could be heard.

"You got this Tara!"

"Yeah don't lose to some nobody!"

Naruto couldn't help but snort, they really were just adding fuel to this fire. But then again he shouldn't be too surprised about this. Given they were always good at pushing other people's buttons. But he hadn't known Kalula long, but he was sure, she wouldn't be flustered by this.

On the floor Kalula had analyzed her opponent. She was a serious kunoichi, at least more so than the last two. The one's from outside the village proved to be superior to the one's in the village. But then again that wasn't surprising given they were not pampered. And she could see that with her too, she had a nice upbringing. Now she did have a good upbringing herself, but her parents never pulled punches when it came to expectations. Especially, dealing with their profession and unlocking their full potential. Even her grandfather who was always doting on her, he was strict on his lessons. Karula experienced someone at the age of 6. As it was a former member of the clan that betrayed them.

From there, she was trained in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, preferring her short sword while working, and other forms of study. She never slacked off, and all her relatives put her through the ringer. To her, anyone who didn't push themselves to the fullest in this profession had no right to complain when they died.

She could tell Tara took her training seriously but was pampered.

But she would focus on caving her head in now.

When the protector shouted at them to begin Tara rushed at Kalula and engaged in pure Taijutsu.

'Should have expected this but still, bold.' Kalula was thinking such while dodging and weaving through her attacks. Tara was swinging for vital points on her body, but she could tell the fighting style wasn't meant to be aggressive. 'Probably since it relies on their eyes to make it work more effectively.' She sighed and continued to dodge all her attacks.

Tara gritted her teeth. This girl wasn't taking her seriously.

'Fine then let's see how you like this?'

Tara leapt back and went through some hand signs quickly. She then inhaled and exhaled,

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

The flame quickly roared to life and rushed to Kalula.

Erioh rubbed his chin, "Impressive that girl is slightly better than the last two girls from the village."

"That isn't that much praise. Those two are embarrassment to female warriors everywhere." Lady Kure didn't hide her disdain from the previous match ups. While the one with weapons was somewhat better than the pink hair girl. It wasn't by that much in her eyes. She was cocky and too one dimensional that it affected her overall performance.

"I agree with you sister I'm just saying that this one is better."

Back in the arena, Yakumo smirked, "She's got her now." No matter how you look at it this all plays into Tara's next move. With the Fireball coming at her, she had a few choices of where to go. Either direction she went in, Tara could capitalize on this and counter her.

Obito smiled seeing the opening strategy. It was pretty good and something those that aren't Chunin level would know a counter for. He was impressed with the level of insight she had for this bout.

But the ball of flame was cut in half leaving it sparking out.

Kalula, who was standing in her previous spot looked at her opponent.

"Please don't tell me you thought that was enough to deal with me."

Tara glared, "Not even close." She ran through some more hand signs and fired off a torrent of flames.

Kalula quickly rushed around Tara who was chasing her with the flames. It was an easy strategy, given that she was firing off recklessly.

"Interesting this is a challenge of reserves." Naruto watched the proceedings with some curiosity.

"Yeah, the goal is to see which runs out first, Kalula's stamina or that Uchiha's chakra reserves."

Naruto shook his head; it was reckless on both ends but more for Tara. If she wasn't careful should overexert herself and this would leave her even more vulnerable.

Kalula quickened her pace and slashed at Tara's exposed back.

But she ducked at the last second and put some distance between them.

Tara quickly activated her next trick, her Sharingan.

This shocked some people in the room.

"When did she unlock that?"

Obito smirked, happy with the surprise. "It was during one of our training sessions when she was caught in an illusion. She managed to awaken her eyes and break free of her illusion. Thanks to this, she now has two tomoes in each eye."

Obito didn't bother to mention that she kept it a secret even from her relatives. Wanting this to be something she kept close to her chest.

Sasuke, who was watching the match earnestly, was angry. His sister already unlocked their eyes. It was unfair; he didn't have them, and yet here is his sister showing them off. Already on two tomoes from a short amount of time. He was pissed, there was no way he could allow his sister to surpass him this much. The itch on his neck spurred to life and he was scratching it.

The sensation was coming back, and his dark feelings were growing. He didn't know care about the evil aura that was building around him, he was just pissed that someone was better.

Up in the booth, Mikoto and Fugaku were proud their daughter managed to awaken her eyes while Itachi was watching on with a blank expression. But if one looked closely they would see pride of his sister's accomplishments. While also hiding his worry when looking at Sasuke's angry face. His brother had been moody ever since the Academy incident and it seems to be growing ever since the forest. Anko already alerted everyone that Orochimaru was in the forest not too long ago and he knew the man was up to something. But he wasn't sure what.

But given his brother was holding his neck he could only fear the worst. HE would talk to him after the preliminaries were over.

Toph, who had not said much since Tayuya's fight was focusing on the match and smiling.

"So, she unlocked her fancy little eyes? Nothing special really." She sighed, "I can already feel them and there is no doubt this fight isn't even close."

Kalula raised an eyebrow. Was she supposed to be intimidated by her eyes? She doubted she would be considering everyone saw and knew the eyes. In her clan they had to deal with rogue Uchiha's that came to pick a fight. They developed counter measures when it came to dealing with them.

Sighing she sheathed her blade and began walking up.

"Oh, giving up on the weapon because you know it won't reach me?"

Kalula frowned, "No it would be a waste of time to use my weapon on you. But I'll get a bit serious."

Tara saw Kalula walking to her, and she frowned. She quickly took her stance and waited for her opponents move.

Sasuke smirked,

"She won't land a hit. With the Sharingan and our style she can't lose." He turned to Naruto, "Better pray your teammate makes it out of this in one piece."

Naruto sighed.

Kalula walked until she was a few feet from Tara and smirked. This annoyed the Uchiha heiress, and she quickly lashed out.

Her punch was easily read, and she managed to catch her by the wrist. From there, she turned her hand over before landing a powerful punch to her stomach. She coughed up spit, but she didn't have time to react as her right leg was swept.

From there her wrist was freed only to be met with a powerful punch to her stomach. She went backwards, with her head skidding across the floor. But she quickly turned herself right side up, trying to regain her semblance.

A powerful blow to the face pushed her head backwards. She soon felt a kick to the side of her head sending her rolling across the floor.

'What is happening? I should be able to read her movements perfectly. But I can't seem to get a read on her.'

Naruto saw Kalula's actions and smiled.

"She is moving in a way to out predict."

"Huh?" Raian turned back to the fight, "Is that all she is doing?"

"Yep. You see, she baited Tara's first strike, and then, while her vision was focused on her hand being caught, she ate the punch to the stomach. This led to her being sent flying and meeting a brutal knee to the face. The reason Tara's eyes can't keep up is that she is moving faster than her mind can rationalize her environment."

"So, in short; she is moving too fast and erratically her eyes are worthless."

"Yes but those with hardened skills and talent can find a way around this concept. Especially with the Sharingan in their possession. However, the idea doesn't stop there as she could just make her predict her move and then at the last second divert the move."

Ha! That is true." Raian smiled, "Good thinking on her part."

Naruto rolled his eyes he figured this be the case given that he too came up with the same concept years ago.

Tara was frustrated, she was trying to read her, but nothing was working. She had done this scenario a hundred times with her teammates and Obito, but she seemed to be making it harder than they did.

Pulling out a kunai, she quickly swung it to where she would be standing, hoping to cut through her knees, or at least one knee, to slow her down.

Kalula stepped on her wrist and punched her in the back of her head. Sending her face first into the floor. there, Kalula twisted her heel making her release the kunai, then kicked her in the side of the head, before finishing it with a brutal axe kick straight down the back of her head.

Everyone watching was shocked by how outclassed the heiress of a major clan was. They didn't expect something like this.

Fugaku was furious that his daughter was embarrassing him; Mikoto was worried about her daughter, while Itachi was fearful. They didn't want to see her get hurt more than this.

Naruto sighed, he saw this coming and waited for the match to finish. There wasn't much more that Tara can do to even the odds. Her trump card was revealed, and she couldn't do shit with it in the end.

Yakumo was horrified there was no way this was real. Her teammate was surprisingly calm, but he too was watching the results unfold.

"Tara get up! I know your better than here! Get up!"

Really cheering Naruto couldn't help but wonder if that is all she was capable of. Compared to most others, her physical ability was low. So, seeing someone like Tara dispatched without mercy, it horrified her.

Kalula saw her opponent stirring and sighed. She really didn't want to maim her; unlike her family she hated unnecessary bloodshed. But seeing the girl slowly getting back to her feet she knew this was going to drag on just a bit longer.

'Alright let's see what else she can really do in this situation.'

Tara coughed up some blood and glared. She was ready, now she was going to kill this girl and show Naruto and everyone else, the Uchiha were the strongest family.

Going through some hand signs she held her wrist downward.

Kakashi's eyes widened.

"Obito you didn't."

"Oh, I did, turns out her affinity for fire and lightning is the same as you." He smirked, "So using my own memory of the technique I was able to recreate it. Thus, teaching it to my student."

"What is that?" Ino looked on in shock. Lighting was gathering around Tara's hand, and she was grinning. Her Sharingan was activated, and she was eager to use whatever the move is.

"This is a move that I created to combat the Rasengan back when I was younger." Kakashi looked at the palm of his hand, "It was a move that I used from condensing the lightning in my hand to a fine point. For example, my palm and controlling it to where it can be used as a weapon. more so, the range on his attack is minimal at best, but the worst part is the tunnel vision."

"Yes but she doesn't have that." Obito pointed to his eyes, "As you can see the Sharingan overcomes that obstacle. Allowing them to bypass the one crippling weakness of the move."

"I see," Kakashi sighed, "It would seem that you have a good student Obito."

"Yeah I really do now let's see her finish this."

Tara was charging up the attack and Kalula was just standing there.

"I see, so this is your ace in the hole. Some overpowered strike?" Karula smirked, "Let's see if it works out."

Tara grinned and soon the lightning in her hand condensed further making it spark all over the room.

Most of the other Genin were impressed with the attack itself. The teachers were even more impressed with how far she had come in a short amount of time.

The Namikaze twins were smiling at a rival. She was showing everything, and they had to admit they were falling behind. They would need to step up their training in the upcoming months.

As for the Uchiha clan they were becoming prouder of Tara's achievement. Everyone but Sasuke who was fuming at his sister's talent. He couldn't believe it! She got a A-rank assassination justu while he barely has accomplished anything in terms of new moves. He hadn't awakened the Sharingan yet and he was getting anxious about it. His father had told him that sometimes late bloomers do appear in the clan. Obito being a clear example of this.

But now? He was even further behind his sister in achievements.

'Power I need more power. Why is she the one that gets it all? Why is Itachi the one that gets more? I hate it!' The burning in his neck flared again. 'I need to get stronger, no matter what. More power, I need more power.'

Naruto was rubbing his ears,

'Should an assassination move make that much noise?' He shook his head, 'Eh, probably is expected these days.'

Naruto admitted the attack looked and felt powerful, but the problem is the condensing of the attack. Doing this limited the range more than any other justu out there. From what he could see, this move alone could cause problems if you didn't hit just right. Extending your hand and you left it open to be cut off or broken if the move missed. Plus, if someone's reflexes are sharp enough they could easily dodge it. 'But the Sharingan probably helps with this problem.' He sighed, bored now due to the fact Kalula looked like she was planning something. 'And given what I have learned from the Kure Family, you should fear them even more when they look bored.'

Tara roared to life and quickly dragged her hand across the ground causing it to explode all over. At the same time, the attack was sparked so much it was blinding to anyone looking directly at the attack.

She extended her hand out and aimed straight for her heart. Knowing if she hits that and manages to critically injured her the fight was over.

'Checkmate!'

"You're celebrating too soon."

Tara's eyes widened as Kalula appeared to her right, far away from the attack. She growled and swiped her arm. Kalula pushed backward, avoiding the strike and jumping back as she continued to swing with the move. At first, it was being used to impale her chest, but now it was being used as if it was a sword.

Kalula dodged her attacks, always moving to the side or falling back. Just barely avoiding the lightning that was trying to hit her. But the minute her back hit the wall she knew what was going to happen.

Tara smirked, cornering her; thrusting her fist forward, she released all the chakra into one fine point.

The explosion was immense, everyone had to cover their eyes for dust that was kicked up. Debris was through the air and some of the people on the railing above were coughing up from the dust

Everyone thought the match was over, but the smoked didn't clear. They expected to see a Kure girl impaled through the chest by Tara.

Someone came flying out of the smoke and rolled across the ground with her coming to a stop after hitting the opposite wall.

Everyone looked down and were shocked to see that it was Tara. But, her left arm that was holding her attack, it was mangled. It had signs of the blood vessels exploding after being gripped tightly. So much so, she was huffing from the amount of blood she continued to lose.

Out of the smoke emerged her opponent, but she was slightly different.

She was covered in a purple aura with her body sharing the same tint. Her body was pulsing from the released aura, and she was focusing on her opponent. The aura was intense and most Genin were flinching from the pressure.

"Well now since you showed me something interesting I figured I would return the favor."

Kalula raised her hands above her head and stretched. "You know I wasn't going to try and kill you or anything. Just maiming you was the goal. Especially since killing you would only be troublesome down." Her eyes narrowed and focused on the Uchiha heiress. "But since you decided to try and aim for a killing blow in that last moment. I don't have to be kind to you."

She cracked her knuckles and glared, "So get ready this is going to be a flash."

Kalula appeared in front of her, and Tara's head went reeling back from the strike. Blood seeped out of her mouth, and she soared through the air.

But the next moment her leg was grabbed, and she was thrown into the wall. Met with a powerful blow to her stomach making her spit up more blood.

A brutal hook was thrown to her chin, then anther hook to her body, and a final hook to her other cheek. The pain intensified, and she could only feel her mind blurring and her vision going black.

Kalula didn't stop; she slammed her elbow into her temple, swept her leg, and threw a straight punch into her chest. the pain continued to grow as each strike she was landing was causing more and more pain. Even leading to her feeling some bones breaking from the impact. She couldn't stand, barely able to keep her thoughts together, but then she saw her forming a straight line with her fingers and then thrusting them forward. Like the Hyuuga style of fighting, but she felt it going through her chest. Straight into her heart, where she coughed up more blood and collapsed. She had fallen to her knees and blood drained out of her mouth and the gaping wound in her chest.

Finally, Kalula was about to continue but there was a shout,

"Kalula that is enough!"

Turning her head, she looked up at the voice. It turns out it was Naruto who was staring at her with the same blank expression as before.

The Kure clan was looking on wondering if she would-

"Of course, beloved!" Soon, her transformation ended, and she quickly skipped to the top floor, noting that Tara couldn't continue.

Most of the Kure sweat dropped at this change of personality. Especially during everything that happened. The only people she seemed to share this response with was her grandfather and her parents. Outside of that, she never gave any other kind of reaction other than irritation.

The doctors quickly rushed to the ground, and Obito dashed to check on his student. The damage was extensive, and he could see she was barely hanging on. The healers were working overtime to stop the bleeding from the wounds, but it was bad. They had to stabilize her before they could move her.

Luckily, the injuries didn't take long to stabilize, but everyone was shocked with the outcome of the bout.

Most of Konoha was just shocked that one of their own lost again. But this time, someone from a prominent clan and with great skill. It was unheard for them to see one of their brightest hopes dashed like that. Yakumo was in denial her friend did so poorly feeling that Kalula got lucky.

Her other teammate didn't have a readable expression. He was stone face, not showing anything going on in his mind. Most thought he was in shock from the pure brutality, but they couldn't be sure.

On the other hand, Sasuke was worried about his sister, but he was also secretly glad. Happy that she lost this fight so brutally, now all he had to do was win his fight. This would prove he was the better Uchiha even without the Sharingan. This would raise his stock and prove he is worthy of being considered the greatest.

The Namikaze siblings were shocked. Their friend was so brutally beaten down, they weren't sure of her personal state. It looked like she could be dead, but their teachers assured them that she was okay. Just heavily injured. But seeing their brother or should they say former brother so close with the girl that did it angered them. Menma vowed to destroy both while his sister swore the same thing.

While this was being settled, Itachi was comforting his mother and father, who were horrified with the match. The other clan heads were there helping to support the mourning parents. Something like this is to be expected but they were terrified to see such brutality in a simple match.

Minato was disgusted this wasn't supposed to happen. He was sure that Tara would have held her own against anyone else. She was talented and considering she had the Sharingan and the Chidori technique at her disposal. Showing higher level of control than most would expect for her age, it was quite shocking to see her beaten so brutally. Which reinforced his opinion that the Kure clan was nothing more than brutes that didn't deserve their positions and should be put down for the wild monsters they were.

Naruto on the other hand was having to pamper his teammate who seemed to be taking on the form of a dog. So, rubbing her head, she was elated at the attention, but he swore he saw the face of a demon. Somewhere in the upper rafters.

After a few minutes of cleaning up the damage in the arena, Hayate announced the next match. The board rotated quickly before stopping at two names.

Shikamaru Nara vs Dosu

Naruto had to raise an eyebrow, what was with all the matches? He figured that most of the matches would consist of the Leaf but not this early on. Given this is the fourth fight in a row with someone from the leaf.

But he shrugged, so far they were on a losing skid, so it didn't mean anything.

Looking down he saw Shikamaru already on the arena floor with a bored expression on his face. While his opponent was hunched over and looking at him as if he was prey.

"Fifth match is ready to begin!" Hayate waved his hand up and then down, "Begin!"

Shikamaru stared at his opponent and glared. He really didn't want to fight but he knew if he didn't his mother would get mad at him. Then his teammate Ino would be pissed too, and he would never get any sleep. But seeing the guy he didn't know anything about him. He made an estimate that, given their village name, his skill revolved around some kind of sound-based attacks. But he didn't know what kind. That was the primary issue for him.

Dosu, he didn't care what his master wanted him to do. Honestly, he heard the rumors that Orochimaru wanted something related to the Uchiha clan. Which is why they were planning on targeting them in the forest but for some reason they couldn't find them. So, their plan of attacking him fell through. But he could see their master's seal on his neck meaning that he was in the exam and had already reached him. Why though, the question is beyond his need to know.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the bandaged teen while ignoring Kalula pouting at not getting more head pats.

'This is going to be rough. Hope you can notice the signs Shikamaru. "He had a rough idea of what this guy could do. More, the way he was moving and the way his arms were, he could guess it was something inside of his arm. Or something under his bandages to be precise.

Dosu rushed forward without restraint, seeing his opponent standing there. He knew for a fact that this guy didn't have anything special like the Uchiha or the Namikaze brats, so it would be easy to close the distance on him.

Shikamaru saw him lashing out at him and quickly jumped to the side to avoid his strike. He missed his strike and quickly stood his ground with a frown.

'What is wrong he missed his attack, but he doesn't look frustrated. Quite the opposite, he seems calm.'

That is when he notices the sudden ringing in his ear. The sensation of his mind slowly wavering and his mind becoming a blur.

'What the-,' he felt like vomiting but damaged to avoid it.

Dosu quickly charged again and, this time, lashed out with his arm, aiming for his stomach.

'Got to get my distance.'

But the minute he landed he slipped. Looking up he saw Dosu on top of him again this time with his hand raised high in the air.

"This ends now."

He brought his hand down and aimed straight for Shikamaru's face.

"Shikamaru!"

Ino was terrified for her teammate. She never expected him in a position like this.

Dosu felt his body freeze, looking at Shikamaru he tried to move his head down. But it wouldn't budge, nothing he did made it move.

'What the hell is happening? I had him dead to rights.'

"That was close." Shikamaru stood up from his position and frowned at him. "You had me going there for a second. But it was easy for me to read thanks to you overpaying your hand. In fact, this was pretty easy counter after my head cleared up for a second." He sighed, "But this was a serious drag."

"Oh?"

"Yeah I figured out that the power of your attack was producing sound waves that rippled through the air. That is why even though I was dodging you managed to hurt me in some manner or another. To be honest, it was impressive but since you were so eager to show off this was easy to do." He smiled slightly, and with his shadow, he had it extending around his neck. "Man, dad had me learn this trick with my shadows, but it was a serious pain to learn. Mother was hassling me to get it down sooner rather than later. I missed a lot of sleeping time."

"Bastard." He growled, feeling the shadow tightening around his neck. This was bad; he couldn't think of a way out of this unless he could keep the idiot talking or distracted. He was screwed.

The shadow tightened around his neck further, making him choke on his already clouded windpipe.

"Now surrender of death. Your choice but trust me it be less troublesome if you just surrendered."

"Fuck your silver spoon bitch. You guys think you're so hot just because you come from big ass village. But you should know, size isn't wanted matters it is how you use it." He smirked under his bandages and tried to move. But Shikamaru kept him in place, leading to another sigh.

"Yeah well this is too much work for my taste." He tightened the shadows around his neck, and this led to him slowly losing consciousness. Before long, his head fell back, and his body went limp.

Shikamaru removed his shadows and walked over to check.

Suddenly he felt something touching his stomach.

The nausea sensation returned, and his body lurched over.

Looking down he saw Dosu sitting up, but his hand was fully extended to his stomach.

"Easy."

Dosu sat up with a smirk under his bandages. "I knew that if I played opossum, you would release your shadow. It was a gamble, all things considered, but it was worth it." He smirked under his bandages and stood up slowly. Now, then, how are you feeling?"

Shikamaru puked onto the floor and dashed away from him.

'Shit, I didn't think he would be able to do that, but then again, I should have seen it as a possibility.'

Dosu glared at him, "You should have listened, just because you come from a big village doesn't mean shit, you are just a pampered brat that got by with luck." His bandages crinkled, showing his smile growing under the bandages. "With this you made a fatal move. Now prepare for the suffering."

Shikamaru gulped up some air and quickly faced down the man.

'Damn it this is more troublesome than I thought. Got to do something about this.' He scrambled through his mind, but he quickly jumped further away from Dosu, who now was chasing him, firing off his arm whenever he was close. Luckily, he was far enough back to avoid the pain, but he knew this wouldn't go on forever.

'Before long he is either going to catch me or I'm going to slip up.' He sighed, 'I really want to sleep.'

Naruto watched the proceedings and sighed, "Should have killed him, would have made his life easier."

"True, but some people don't think like that."

"What the fuck are you talking about Kalula how you cannot think like that given the history of Shinobi. That should be their first solution to some of the fights in the war or even in events."

"Still, it is a time of peace, so he didn't have that initial thought."

Ino glared at the group, "Shut up, Shikamaru isn't a monster like the rest of you. He'll figure something out."

Naruto rolled his eyes, monster? Please that is all that remains of their field.

Shikamaru wasn't thinking about this, but he was trying to find a solution. The only thing he could do is try to trap him in his shadow again, but he wouldn't be dumb enough to get too close.

SO, he needed an alternate solution.

Dosu approached Shikamaru and raised his arm and thought,

'Connected.'

His foot landed on something unusual. Looking down his eyes widened and saw a kunai, but this had something wrapped around it.

'Fu-,'

An explosion followed. The blow was powerful enough that everyone had to cover their eyes to avoid being blinded.

Shikamaru sighed before reaching through the smoke with his shadows and saw that his opponent was lying down. Not waiting for him to get up, he quickly summoned his shadows again and this time started strangling him but to the intent of making sure he was out cold. He could feel that his body was growing colder as the strangulation continued.

But after a few minutes, he managed to get him, his body went limp, and he saw no sign of him playing possum again.

'Fucking troublesome I don't want to do this again.'

The protector saw that Dosu was out and smiled slightly,

"Winner of the match Shikamaru Nara."

Chapter End

Winners: Raian, Karula, Temari, Tayuya, Shikamaru.