Sasuke "Amaterasu" Amatsukami vs. Zaku
"Everyone else, clear the floor," the proctor shouted. "The two named named, take positions."
Sakura gave one last worried glance towards Sasuke as she left the arena to stand on the railings given to let them watch, immediately seeing another purpose to these preliminaries that hadn't been mentioned. They can all watch and see what the winners are capable of, she thought. They would know what to prepare for in the final rounds, which would mean several would have to hold back, so maybe Sasuke could hold back as well? Maybe he wouldn't be enslaved to the Mark?
--
Zaku had multiple severe burns and was missing an arm. Also, he lost his gun. He liked his gun. Wouldn't you know it, the fight he had to prove himself with was against the bastard that did this to him?
He knew that their orders were simply to test the boy, not kill him, but Dosu had once casually mentioned that a boy who died to them had obviously failed any given tests, and who was he to disagree with the team leader?
Plus, the boy had his Mark, which meant that either he was already prepared and they could end this farce right here, as he was perfectly confident that Orochimaru could engineer a kidnapping right now, perhaps too confident in his master, or his powers would be suppressed by fear of activating it, thus leaving him easy pickings for Zaku's revenge. Either way, things were looking up.
--
The frustration and bitterness at seeing his opponent was already causing the Mark to burn in irritation. I can't channel Ichor properly, he realized, then snorted internally. Oh well, I can beat this clown without it. I'm Sasuke "Amaterasu" Amatsukami!
When the proctor called to begin, Zaku started by buzzing those wings of his, which prompted Sasuke to prepare for a forward charge or strike from the air that never came. Instead, his opponent merely buzzed the wings intensely, creating an annoying sound that gave him a severe headache, reached into his head and started making him see double as the noise continued to pound at him…now he saw what his opponent was doing, and Sasuke did not like it.
Drawing his naginata, he stabbed it the enemy's direction, only to miss as the confusion induced by his headache meant he couldn't process the Mutant's movement until it was too late.
Zaku easily dodged to the side, then leapt to Sasuke's location and grabbed the Scion's face with his remaining arm, prompting the boy to feel his strength being drained. Sakura had described this to him earlier, but he still found himself unprepared for the Mutant's ability. Frustratingly unprepared, he felt himself get weaker.
The Mark was burning more intensely, letting him know, somehow, that it could save him if he just embraced its power, let the pain of his injuries be turned into strength, become accepted as a sacrifice. He could end this weakness, if he could just give in…no.
With the clarity from that simple rejection, he realized just how stupid his opponent was actually being; with only one arm, he couldn't actually pull off any grappling maneuvers, so grabbing Sasuke in order to use his power like this only put him in a vulnerable state.
Without that infuriating buzzing power, the fight would have already been won in Sasuke's favor, and now that he had the wisdom to think, he tossed his naginata back so that his forward hand was right behind the blade, and stabbed it into the man.
--
Dosu didn't know whether he should be thankful for or cursing Zaku's idiocy. There were so many ways that the Mutant could have gotten around that, but the imbecile just chose to go for the straight grab and leave the opponent's limbs available to strike back at a stationary target. Did he really think that he could rely on that silly insect buzz forever?
Honestly, at this point the best course of action would have been to stay on his opponent and hope that the Parasite Drain would make Sasuke's strength give out before his own, but instead the man freaked out, leapt back (which caused Sasuke's blade to cut into him further as it withdrew), and started flying around randomly, not only doing nothing with his mobility but inadvertently revealing to the audience and, more importantly, his opponent, that he could only fly for a short period of time, which inevitably resulted in the Scion realizing this, calculating for it, and throwing that damned spear into Zaku right as he was forced to land.
Sasuke then leapt onto his own weapon, locked Zaku into a headlock with his legs around the Mutant's collar (impressively avoiding direct contact with Zaku's skin), and pushed the naginata in further with the hands keeping him aloft on the embedded spear.
"Yield," Sasuke demanded.
Well, Orochimaru won't get mad at Zaku for killing him. That was good. What wasn't was that Sasuke seemed to be resisting the Mark quite effectively, while being competent enough without it. What did you make us go through all of this for, then?
--
"Yield," Sasuke repeated himself, really not wanting to stay in this position for much longer.
The soreness from holding himself up on the spear was only exacerbating the unhealed soreness from his fight with the river-woman-thing from earlier, and he genuinely did not know how much longer he could hold out. If he had to kill the guy in front of him to finish this off more quickly, then so be it.
His opponent started coughing up blood, seemingly unable to speak in response, which prompted the proctor to gaze at him and say, "this fight is over. I am surrendering on Zaku's behalf. Sasuke Amatsukami is the winner!"
--
Naruto cheered on his bandmate, both externally and internally. Sakura did the same externally, but internally she was more worried than ever. He didn't use a single Purview in that fight; was it because he was afraid to?
Glancing at Naruto, she realized that she might very well be the only one on her Band without a horrific curse, and started to seriously wonder about her safety. Could she trust them, between Mikaboshi's power and whatever these Sacrifice freaks had done to Sasuke? Should she…start avoiding them? Or was being there for them the thing they needed the most?
She was still lost in thought when Kakashi tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hi," he said, prompting her to shout in response.
"Where did you come from?"
Kakashi shrugged. "Guides are allowed to come watch this. It helps us figure out what we need to work on with our students. Besides, I need to know how you're all doing in the exams, and how far you'll go."
Letting the nice emotional sentiment wash over her before she told him about the thing that she really needed to tell him about, she was interrupted when he continued, "there's an entire month's worth of meal payments resting on your performance. My wallet can't afford to leave this to chance."
Sakura slammed her palm against her forehead, but then remembered that there was, in fact, something important to say. "Listen, something happened to Sasuke in the Forest, and, well, I don't really know what it is, but…".
"I have my suspicions," he responded as he looked down at his student, who collapsed after winning his fight and was now being taken away by medics alongside his opponent. "Don't worry, Sakura, we're not going to ignore this. We'll keep an eye on him, and figure out what to do about it. For now, focus on the upcoming fights. You might have to go up soon."
--
Soon, maybe, but not not next. As the green letters rearranged themselves, 'Shino "Morrigan" Tuatha da Danaan vs. Kosuke Redcap' appeared.
On one side, Kiba cheered his bandmate on as Hinata much more awkwardly encouraged him, while on the other one of the older male Fae walked into the arena, clearly looking uncomfortable.
--
Shino did not react to his bandmate's antics as he walked into the arena, drawing a sword and preparing his crows. Noting some wraiths that had gathered into the area to watch, and knowing that most of the others here wouldn't be able to see them (his opponent couldn't, as far as he could tell), he whispered to them, trying to get their support, hoping that it would help.
--
Okay, you know the Seelie King's orders. Ensure that Fuu makes it to the final round, then drop oit so no one notices the Village Hidden in Dreams sent some men of way too high rank.
These preliminaries had almost proved to be a godsend, as it meant he could 'lose' without drawing attention to himself by randomly dropping out before the final rounds, but then they faced him against one of the False Kings. How could he, a child of the free folk of Arcadia, simply bow down and let this upstart claiming to be descended from the rulers of Tir na Nog defeat him without a real fight?
Knowing that he would have to stick to the lower Cantrips, he reacted to the start of the match by intoning "Pyretics Cantrip: Kindle," and targeting the boy's sword. The False King started grimacing in pain as the metal in his hand rapidly heated up, though to his credit he was able to hold on.
Not well enough to properly block when Kosuke came at him, his own sword swinging, and got several nicks on the boy before the crows started tearing at him.
"Wayfare Cantrip: Hopscotch," he intoned as he shaped his Glamour into allowing him to leap a great distance, jumping up away from the crows and trying to figure out his next move when what felt like a hand passed through his lower leg and caused him to trip. He could barely feel whatever it was, but it made him lose his balance long enough for the damn crows to be on him once more.
The Scion, passing his sword between his hands in what was meant to look threatening but was clear to the Fae was really a semi-secretive game of hot potato to overcome the effects of the earlier Cantrip, walked up to him, prepared to attack.
He managed to genuinely surprise me, has the birds hitting me badly, and has shown competence.
It wouldn't be a bad time to end the fight here. He really should have, but…it was a False King! And that tripping trick, however he pulled it off, was really infuriating! He shaped the Glamour surrounding him, trying to ignore the crows, as he prepared to ignite this bastard.
"Pyretics Cantrip: Engulf!" He shouted as the False King's clothes burst into flames.
--
Shino was trying really hard to keep his calm. Rapidly pulling his outer layer off and tossing it to his side, he forced himself to ignore the fact that he was now effectively fighting in his underclothes before a large crowd of people, as such thoughts were neither helpful nor practical.
His quick thinking had spared him all but minor burns on his torso, but the feathers from Morrigan's cloak were embedded into that jacket, and he was not at the point where using Purviews without his Birthright was easy; he could do it with a lot of concentration, but he feared that such concentration was something this opponent wouldn't allow him to have.
"What are you doing, Kosuke?" One of the Fae, the other older male, shouted. The same man then seemed somewhat taken aback, then addended, "be sure to finish this, for the Village!"
That, if anything, seemed to calm down Shino's opponent, who looked at the situation and suddenly shouted, "my best attack did nothing. I can't win this, I surrender."
While Shino wasn't mad at having won, this did come off as oddly disappointing. He really felt that this opponent had more to offer, but had nothing else to say when he was announced the winner.
--
"What in the Winter, man, we already have Rank! Were you trying to win there?" Kosuke's comrade was not particularly happy with him.
"I had to put on a good show. Besides, it worked out in the end, didn't it? I won't make it to the finals, and the other Villages won't complain if they find out who we were later. You need to learn to relax a bit."
He wasn't satisfied with this answer, but chose not to pursue the matter.
--
Once Sasuke had been removed from the fighting, Anko decided it was time to stop playing impartial proctor and check for herself what Orochimaru had actually done to him. The Mark had the same bearing as the Itzli Mark he had once used, allowing a person to become more and more powerful until they…became that much more valuable as a sacrifice.
The older version empowered one's unique Purviews, and could sort of grant the Itzli Purview to those not inclined to have it. Anko rubbed her own Mark, thinking on how little use she had had for it before turning against her master; she could naturally use the Itzli Purview, and philosophically only chose to use its weaker abilities, the ones that required self-sacrifice, anyways.
Still, there were differences with Sasuke's, strange alterations that she couldn't identify. She wasn't certain what her old master had done, and that terrified her. What's going on with you, kid?
"He's becoming mine," a voice that sounded inexplicably snake-like issued from the Mark, one that she knew all too well.
"Where are you?" She screamed, but Orochimaru made no response. His voice had seemed to come from the Mark itself.
This needs to be taken care of immediately, she thought.
--
Kakashi nodded as he listened to the strange man who showed up to whisper at him.
"Very well, I will go to see him once Naruto and Sakura are done here."
When the man left, Kakashi informed them that the Mark was, in fact, dangerous, and that they were looking to get some experts on the matter to look into it. He would probably be safe for now. That really didn't seem to satisfy the two, but they kept their attention on the next fight as Kakashi requested when the letters came up with "Kankuro of the Spirit Scepters Vs. Jess James."
One of the Mummies, the one that had been bullying that child that Naruto chased around earlier, walked into the arena, facing a Cowboy she had never seen before. Ino apparently had, as she muttered "wow, that guy actually made it," under her breath as she watched them.
Sakura was somewhat interested in this fight, enough not to press for more information until after it was over, as not only had the Mummy creeped her out and made her curious about what was under that wrapping earlier, but he was also with the strange boy with the odd Heiroglyph over his head that she really wanted more information about.
This isn't over, she thought in Kakashi's direction, but I'll play along for now.
--
"Your arm doesn't look so great," Kankuro noted, looking over his opponent and noticing his quite-obviously-barely healed wounds. "Are you sure that your ready to do this?"
Nothing in his voice suggested that the concern was genuine, and his opponent seemed to register this, for his first response was to sneer.
"I don't need my arms at full strength to take on some wrap-up zombie. Widow-Maker and Widow-Reuniter can take you down just fine," he answered, flourishing his guns.
"Did you really name your weapons after their ability to kill husbands and then kill their victims' grieving wives? That's a little messed up, cowpoke, even if I can appreciate the artistry there."
Jess James laughed at this. "You don't know the women of the Weird West if you think they'll just sit there and grieve when a man's taken out their husband. A smart shooter would make widowers first, but that's neither here nor there. Enough talk, let's see what you can actually do."
When the proctor called for the match to start, the Cowboy immediately sent several bullets flying straight into Kankuro's arms and legs.
"Well, that's what I can do when I'm not tryin' to kill ya. Why don't ya yield? Yer already crippled."
In spite of his words, and obvious bullet wounds, Kankuro did not seem the slightest bit fazed as he opened his robes to reveal several clay scorpions, five of which started falling from his person to start crawling toward the Cowboy. He himself grabbed one of the small weapons tied to his necklace, a tiny figurine of a curved blade, and grinned as it grew into a much larger curved blade in his hands. For some reason, he took the time to set the human-sized bundle on his back down before charging straight for James.
James didn't bother to think on this matter, instead focusing on taking out the scorpions before the larger man with the sword could distract him from them (he realized full well what his opponent was doing, and was not about to focus on the biggest seeming threat just to experience some scorpion venom for his efforts), and noting all of their locations.
This wide open space reminded him of the chapparels of the Weird West more than that damn Forest did, and unlike there he could really focus his abilities, lining up and noticing six targets…there!
He leapt back from the swinging blade, put his foot against the wall behind him, and leapt into the air, firing all six of the bullets in his cylinder in a maneuver that would have been impossible for someone not trained in Tall-Tales, and quite possibly without a Manitou's blessing, though he preferred not to think about those little freaks and what aid they might be granting him.
Bursts of clay shattered from the five scorpions and…a bit of marble from the Mummy he was fighting? So that's your little trick. Clever, but not clever enough.
As he landed, wincing as he had to use his other gun and thus his barely healed arm to do it, he shot at the human-sized bundle, guessing that that was the real one. His guess proved fruitful, if the screams of pain were any indication, as well as the sudden desperation in the marble statue of Kankuro as it rushed toward him far more quickly, swinging far more ferociously.
While its speed and strength were greater, its finesse was significantly reduced, and he found himself able to dodge most of its swings. One got him right in the hurt arm, causing him to scream like the dickens, but he would have survived and gone on to finish off the thing's master had said master not escaped his wrappings, and in the time spent dodging and weaving through the effigy's attacks managed to get to where he could touch his little statue.
--
Kankuro had thought through the possibility of using his Overseer Effigy as a distraction to keep himself safe, but really he used it to hide his capabilities for the final battle next month, whether he got to fight early enough to actually get his performance evaluated or…well, he wanted as little intelligence on his actual capabilities for whomever he ended up fighting at that time as possible.
Overseers couldn't command as many Effigies as an Effigy Hekau user, or at least not a good one, so its limits might give bad information to his opponents. He was really frustrated that this May-Apophis-Devour-Him Cowboy ruined this plan, and fully intended to let him have it.
Dropping all of the clay scorpions, and clay spiders, and marble cats he had created for this mission, and with a lot of recent free time to prepare and an ample supply of Sekhem to work with thanks to his status as the Hem-Netjer-Tepi's apprentice, Kankuro had made dozens, all pre-infused with Sekhem and simply waiting for his activation and orders.
The Cowboy was too distracted facing his Overseer, doing plenty of damage and basically destroying the thing (another reason to show the bastard no mercy, as Overseers, especially one with as many situations prepared for independent action as this one, were one of the most difficult Effigies he knew how to make, and he wasn't sure if he could have another one properly prepared for next month), to notice the menagerie striking at his feet (ironic, considering Kankuro was pretty sure that he had seen through that very trick earlier), and it wasn't long before he fell to the ground, screaming in pain and eventually having the wisdom to surrender.
When his Overseer did end up collapsing from the damage, no longer in a state to use infused Sekhem, Kankuro cursed that wisdom even as he should have been proud of his victory.
--
"Why do we do this to each other?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi didn't deign to answer. She was growing somewhat sick of letting him get away with such answers, and was just about to tell him that when the shifting green letters spelled out "Sakura "Athena" Haruno Vs. Ino "Freya" Aesir." You got lucky this time, she thought.
Both girls walked down into the arena, faced each other, and glared. Sakura remembered every time Ino had mocked her and made her feel insecure over her enormous forehead. Ino remembered every time Sakura had compared her to various animals and threw what was once their close friendship back in her face. Both of them remembered the constant back and forth over who would be Sasuke's true love.
The two had been enemies since puberty made them start really noticing boys, even if they could still work together when it counted, as in the Forest, and now seemed as good a time as any to settle the matter.
When the call came for them to begin, Sakura drew her spear and stood back, waiting for Ino to come to her.
"Fertility Purview: Toxic Thorn," Ino intoned as thorns appeared on her palms. "Are you sure you want to take the defensive stance, Sakura, after all, you have a lot to cover. I don't think that weapon can reach from the bottom of your forehead to its top."
Sakura gritted her teeth in frustration. Ino made a show of glancing at both of their chests.
"Although, I suppose other parts are small enough to make up for it."
Oh, that bitch is dead, Sakura thought as she dropped all pretense of a defensive position and went for the charge.
Ino smirked, but found that expression premature when she was barely dodging out of the way of Sakura's spear thrusts. Having been counting on what she assumed to be her superior training in hand-to-hand combat growing up in a Clan to carry her through once she got the outborn into melee, Ino found herself somewhat overwhelmed when Sakura instead took advantage of her weapon's longer reach to thrust and bat aside all of the Aesir girl's attempts to pierce her skin. This was bad.
--
Sakura was mad, but not that mad. Okay, she was that mad, but in the time since leaving the Academy and seeing actual fights, she had learned to gain some perspective, even cutting off her hair and working with Ino to get here, so she could say that she had the sense to not go blindly into the attack, as much as she wanted to.
While she indulged her anger and felt it guide her into an aggressive posture, she did what she could to make sure it wasn't a stupid aggressive posture, so it actually looked like it might be the right tactic.
After all, this girl had just hit on both of her biggest insecurities, after years and years of doing so, after…a childhood where they met because she was one of the few who didn't.
--
When they were both in the mortal schools before their Visitations, all the girls had mocked her forehead, but Ino instead had come up to her and given her advice on how to wear her hair so she didn't emphasize it. It had been a shockingly kind gesture which no one else would provide, and Sakura had been so grateful that she started following the Aesir girl around like a stray dog.
For reasons she wouldn't understand until later, Ino was actually discouraged from befriending her; Ino already knew she was a Scion long before Freya granted her her Birthrights, while Sakura would be utterly shocked when Athena appeared before her one day and informed her that, while her divine father wasn't interested, she was willing to accept Sakura as her daughter if she would take the Birthright.
When it was thought that Sakura was mortal, Ino's father and mortal mother thought she should keep her distance; the life of a Supernatural Man and that of a mortal were often too different, too filled with things that the other could never understand, and that it was best to cut it off now before emotions got complicated later.
Ino had ignored their advice and become Sakura's best friend, something the latter girl was supremely grateful for when she learned that she really was a Scion and the fallout that came afterward.
At the time, Sakura was too happy about the prospect to think through its implications, and was only too overjoyed to let her parents know that apparently she was the child of a God. The fact that she had just exposed her mother's affair to her mortal father was something she wouldn't think of until later, when the fighting and yelling started.
There, once again, Ino was there for her, even if she couldn't fully understand (Ino's mortal mother had been honored to find out her husband had lain with a Goddess, the eternal difference between Clan and outborn relationships), she could guide her through this, especially as Sakura's Visitation cured her own parents of their hangups about the friendship.
They were close, but there was still a distance between them that always existed, one first caused by the circumstances of their mortal parents. Ino had studied Purviews before she could use them, had started training with different weapons long before she hit puberty, while Sakura only knew what school bothered to gloss over before she got into the Academy, and her knowledge of weapons came came through study, not starting until long after many of her peers.
Ino had been her best friend, but also her superior. She was someone to look up to, and someone to envy. When their bodies started the transition from childhood to adulthood, Ino grew early and filled out well while Sakura remained scrawny and disproportioned (at least in her own mind).
So, when they both fell for the same guy, that envy finally blossomed into resentment, and for once Sakura refused to lose. This was something she would have before Ino could, this was where she would beat her friend.
One day, when Ino noticed that Sakura had let her hair grow out, she responded by letting her know that Sasuke liked girls with long hair (she actually didn't know it if was true, but she considered it her best feature and surely hoped so), which prompted Ino to let Sakura know that she intended to be Sasuke's boyfriend, which started a fight that only ended when Sakura decided they couldn't be friends anymore.
It…was kind of silly, looking back on it. Sasuke himself never showed the slightest interest in either of them. And so, as she fought her former best friend, she realized that they were now equals, that she had surpassed her flaws as being born outside the Clans, and was ready to face a fellow Scion where it really mattered.
--
They were in somewhat of a stalemate, prompting both to attempt a distraction. Even knowing that Sakura didn't swing that way, Ino used her Appearance Knacks to force Sakura's attention toward her, but the girl was already focused on her and thus it did little.
Sakura then yelled out something that had been on her mind for a long time, "you looked down on me, diminished me, and made me out to be your inferior," then intoned, "Justice Purview: Guilt Apparitions." The boon failed.
What? How…Sakura felt the answer. The target was innocent of the accusation. Since the Justice Purview had a weird way of knowing the truth about things even when the user didn't, and wouldn't work under specific truths, Sakura ended up distracted by her own plan and gave Ino the opportunity to move in and stab her.
Spears were great weapons, giving the wielder reach and maneuverability from a short distance, and were easy enough to use to block most opponents from closing that distance, but once one managed to get inside it they could quickly prove to be a hindrance, just as the the spear in Sakura's hands was as Ino injected her poison into Athena's daughter and refused to let go.
"Yield," Ino yelled.
"You never looked down on me," Sakura needed to let that out before she could expend the mental energy needed to find a way out of this, even as that turned out to be a simple matter of tossing her spear to the side and drawing a knife with her free hand, and even though Ino also caught that hand by stabbing the thorn on her other palm into Sakura's wrist, it was at a bad angle and gave Sakura the opportunity to stab her knife into Ino's arm.
"Health Purview: Inflict Wounds," Sakura intoned as the cut from her knife rapidly expanded, leading Ino to scream in pain and reflexively pull back.
This meant that Sakura no longer had two thorns stabbed into her, but it also meant that the poisons from earlier were in her veins while Ino merely had to deal with a bad stab wound.
The situation was to the Aesir's advantage, which is why it was so weird that rather than press the advantage Ino instead chose to respond, "look down on you? Sakura, I have thought a lot of things about you over the years, but I have never thought you were my inferior."
Sakura blushed as she threw her knives at Ino. That…was nice to hear.
Keeping her distance from her opponent, Sakura intoned, "Health Purview: Assess Health, Science Arete," and tried to see if there was anything in her repository of information about poisons that would let her know what Ino had actually infected her with and if there were any cures or advantages she could pull on.
She saw what she would need to cure herself, which was not available within the confines of the arena, and she saw that Ino had been careful to ensure that the venom would probably only knock her unconscious before her own bloodstream took care of it, but that wouldn't do at all.
"Ino, were you paying attention, you threw in enough to kill me!" Sakura shouted in a desperate gamble. Ino blanched, but quickly composed herself.
"Then yield, so you can be healed."
"I'm not surrendering to you!"
Ino looked uncomfortable, but steeled herself. "This fight isn't worth your life," the Aesir stuttered.
"Becoming a great Hero, or even Demigod, is worth my life. It is worth taking my life?" Sakura responded.
Ino sputtered, "you'll fall unconscious before you die."
Sakura shook her head. "I just checked myself. By the time I fall unconscious, it will be too late."
--
Ino thought back on her memories of the fight with Amachi, and that giant cloud of poisonous gas he breathed. Seeing the state Shikamaru, Choji, and Asuma were in, watching over their gasping, pained bodies, it made her wary of seeing such a sight again.
She had felt bad about when she injected her venom into the Cowboy from earlier, and was glad to have left before she could see its effects. If she couldn't bring herself to see what she had done to a complete stranger like that, then could she watch with as many lifelong memories as she and Sakura had?
Asuma would scold her for this later. Choji would slap his face against his palm, but probably understand. Shikamaru would think she was an imbecile, but decide that the whole thing was a drag anyways.
Ino dismissed her thorns, thus weakening the poisoning, and then tossed Sakura some medicinal herbs.
--
Holy crap, that actually worked, Sakura thanked the Lords of Olympus as she chewed on the flowers Ino had tossed her before moving in on the attack.
It felt a little bad, knowing that her old friend did care about her that much, but victory was victory. Kakashi, at least, would be proud.
Ino drew her own knives, and the two stabbed and jabbed at each other. Sakura was still weakened from her earlier poisoning, but occasionally got the opportunity to expand Ino's wounds with her Health Purview Boon, so, in the end, they both collapsed to the ground, barely holding on, and the proctor eventually called a tie.
--
"Well, that was stupid," Shikamaru noted from the sidelines.
"I get it," Choji contradicted. "Ino didn't want to hurt her friend."
"It cost her her victory," Shikamaru responded.
"Some things are more important," Choji answered, which caused Shikamaru to dismiss the whole argument as a 'drag.'
--
Ino woke up first, looking at Sakura. You manipulative bitch, you...did really well.
In the end, the Aesir girl could hardly blame the outborn, no, the Dodekatheon girl for doing what it took to win. Had Ino been in that situation, she would have been morally inclined to do the same thing. She might not have, but only because she wouldn't have thought that it would work.
Did Sakura still trust in our friendship that much? In my good nature? In my capacity to care for her?
In spite of everything that happened, the angle Sakura had gone for when trying to manipulate her was to ask her to care about the girl, and even though it turned out to be a weakness here, it warmed her heart a bit. Maybe…they could start talking again. Really talking, not sniping at each other, and maybe, just maybe, the gulf between them could be resolved.
Ino knew that, on some level, she should be ashamed of her behavior, and learning a valuable lesson about mercy; specifically, never provide it to an enemy that can still strike back. Mercy had its time and place, but everyone from the Academy to her Guide had emphasized that, when given the option, one should go for the kill. Surrender was exploitable.
However, looking at her old friend's face, Ino suspected that maybe, just maybe, mercy was the right option here, if for reasons completely independent of passing these Exams.