It turned out to be Kabuto's other teammate, the one without the stomach injuries, that went next. He in turn was faced against the last remaining Fae.
Immediately after the proctor shouted for them to start, "Chaos Purview: Paralyzing Confusion" was intoned less than a second before "Wayfare Cantrip: Hopscotch" and the entire arena was shocked and awed by the fantastic sight of a man leaping to the ceiling, seeming to think that the ceiling was the floor and turning upside down when he reached it, only to fall back down on his head.
Were he a mortal, his neck would have almost certainly have broken and left him dead. As it was, he needed immediate medical attention, something the proctor seemed to agree with as he surrendered on the Fae's behalf.
--
'Dosu vs. Choji "Guan Yu" Tian Tang Zhi Fa Yuan.'
Choji was uncertain as to whether he should be grateful that he no longer had to wait (the waiting was making him hungry) or terrified that it was now his turn to risk horrifying injuries on behalf of the Village. Also, his opponent was from Sacrifice, a Village he knew nothing about. What creature was he even facing?
"You know, I'm not sure if I'm ready for this…"
Shikamaru nodded in understanding. "It's a total drag. I think you're good enough, but if you don't want to…"
Choji nodded gratefully to his bandmate, both for respecting his wishes and having confidence in his skills. Unfortunately, it still didn't resolve his internal question of whether or not he should go through with the fight until Asuma-Laoshi stepped in.
"You know, Choji, if you win this, I'll get you some all-you-can-eat barbecue later."
Running to the center of the arena, he stood, battle-ready, wondering what was taking his opponent so long.
--
Dosu looked over his opponent with his uncovered eye. A great sausage of a man, he couldn't really tell whether the boy was fat or covered in untoned muscle, but knew that it ultimately didn't matter. With a Scion's vast supernatural abilities, physique wasn't necessarily the most important thing, just like it wasn't the most important thing for Vampires, but still, it couldn't hurt to rile up and distract the poor boy.
"Lucky me, I get to go against the fatass."
The boy, who was already excessively motivated for some reason, had his face turn unexpectedly dark. "What did you call me?"
"I see that you have poor hearing as well. I was just thinking out loud how lucky I am that I didn't end up with someone strong, but some lazy, gluttonous fatso."
This morphed the boy's motivation from excitement to rage.
"I WILL DESTROY YOU! WAR PURVIEW: BATTLECRY!"
To most, Choi's screams would have been intimidating. Dosu would normally have the self-control to not react in fear, but the Ichor-fueled screams disoriented him and forced him to fight off an unnaturally induced panic before dodging a strike from the boy's spear.
"Dominate Discipline: Command. Yield."
Both enraged and seeming to possess a strong will, the attempt did nothing but give the boy time for his next strike to go through Dosa's stomach. Luckily the kid had not realized he was a Vampire yet, and that an attack to his stomach would be worthless, so all he got for his efforts was to have his weapon uselessly stuck inside a grinning Dosu, who proceeded to slam his metal arm-band into Choji's head.
The kid was dazed and knocked back, but clearly not out.
Not seeing anyone from the Village Hidden in Masks to hide from, and thinking that Kin had already screwed up in that front anyways, Dosu intoned "Obtenebration Discipline: Shadow Play," channeling his Vitae to warp the shadows around both himself and Choji into a dark circle surrounding the large boy, which confused said boy and kept him distracted for long enough that Dose could channel his Vitae even more and shout "Obtenebration Discipline: Arms of the Abyss," turning the dark circle into mass of pitch-black tentacles.
As they grabbed Choji's arms and kept him pinned there, Dosu pulled the boy's own spear from his stomach and charged, ready to take him out with his own weapon.
"Taiyi Purview: Yin-Yang Destruction," the boy shouted, summoning a burst of light that dissolved most of the tentacles and irritated Dosa's skin.
It seemed to be some sort of imitation of sunlight, but how? The boy hadn't used the Sun Purview, and Dosu didn't really think it would be fair if Scions had multiple ways to generate sunlight. Then again, when has life ever been fair?
--
The Tian Tiang Zhi Fa Yuan Clan always made sure to teach its Scions about all of the General Purviews (Animal, Chaos, Darkness, Death, Fertility, Fire, Health, Guardian, Justice, Moon, Psychopomp, Stars, War, Water, he instinctively repeated in his head without meaning to), far beyond what they learned in the Academy, even if said Scions would only ever realistically master the abilities of a few, because understanding the Purviews in general was necessary to fully utilize their Unique Purview, Taiyi.
You can't change the nature of things if you don't understand not only their current nature but the new nature you're creating, as both his father and his various mentors would repeat ad nauseam.
Today, he was grateful for their lessons, as painful as they had been at the time, for not only did they get him out of those tentacles, but his opponent's reaction to the sudden sunlight meant that he was one of the kinds of Supernatural Men who didn't do well with it.
He didn't really have the Sun Purview, even though he had tried to master it not long after Shikamaru's Visitation and the realization that he was naturally inclined to the Moon Purview (they thought it would be cool if their powers came in a pair), but he had the Guardian Purview, and he hoped that he understood it well enough for Taiyi to do its thing.
"Taiyi Purview: Five-Cycle Conjunction," gathering what he knew about Sun energy and mentally directing it toward his Guardian techniques. "Sun/Guardian Purview: Aegis."
It worked; rather than having his Ichor converted into toughness, it formed a barrier of sunlight around him.
--
Well, this isn't good, Dosu thought.
He had a little bit of the formulas for overcoming a Vampire's weakness to the sun, at least enough that it wouldn't kill him, but this was going to make the Obtenebration Discipline practically worthless and would still hurt like the dickens. Well, there was nothing more to it; he was simply going to have to rely on his strength.
Luckily, he was no slouch in that area, so he charged with the spear once more and prepared for a quick skirmish when instead the boy leapt over him, jumping impossibly high, and landed right behind him, gripping Dosu in a headlock.
Dosu thought he was strong, and he wasn't wrong about that fact, it was just that this boy was insanely strong.
Knowing that he couldn't get out of it through brute strength, especially with the small burns appearing on his back from Choji's Sun Aegis, he instead opted to angle the stolen spear so that he could stab it into the man behind him. Gritting his teeth and bearing it rather than pulling away, the Scion pressed his arms into the Vampire's neck.
"I don't want to kill you," he said, "yield."
As far as Dosu could tell, the boy didn't realize that breaking his neck wouldn't do anything to him, though beheading him would, and this kid was certainly strong enough to do so. There were also the minor sun burns that were getting worse. All logic stated that he should take his opponent's advice.
However, he didn't want to surrender here. The more he thought about it, the more Lord Orochimaru's actions started to weigh badly on him. While maintaining a fragile alliance with Mummies, he sent out one of the few Akhmat in his employ. When looking for a new bearer of the Itzli Mark, he sent out three loyal agents with no Marks to find some random Scion who knew nothing about Sacrifice and unwillingly give him a Mark at great cost to themselves. Their lord put all three of them in grave danger for this mission, and for what…Dosu realized that they were sacrificial pawns.
For whatever reason, Orochimaru had no intention of the three surviving the mission. Why would he? Kin and Zaku were unstable enough to be liabilities, and Dosu was hardly indispensable.
However, he had no intention of dying for a man who thought so little of him. Dosu was going to get through this ordeal, if only to prove that bastard wrong. So, he channeled his Vitae and, in a desperate act, tried for a Discipline he had never done successfully before. "Obtenebration Discipline: Black Metamorphosis."
He had used up almost all of his Vitae; he was definitely going to have to feed immediately after this, but he could feel the newly formed armor growing from his skin, feel the tentacles forming from his sides.
Said tentacles gripped his opponent, tightening and ripping. That damned sun-armor meant that they slowly dissolved as they did so, but not quickly enough that they weren't getting some solid hits in. His own black armor was slippery and wrong to the touch of anyone but the wearer, so Choji was unable to maintain his headlock.
Stumbling, but keeping that sun-stuff up and readying to renew the attack, Dosu was fully aware that he could not simply stay there and revel in his power; he had to exploit this opportunity quickly.
Sending forth his tentacles to grip onto the Scion's legs and attempt to trip him, he was frustrated by the apparent stone wall they faced when trying to overpower him.
Instead, he simply used them to keep the Scion still while he charged forward with his spear again, but to his frustration, between the boy's immense strength and the sun-armor weakening his tentacles, this Choji managed to pull out of his grip and dodge the first time, then the second, until the third finally caught him.
It wasn't at an angle Dosu would have preferred, but it got the spear stuck into the kid's side…where said kid grabbed his spear and forced it out, not being able to get it from Dosu's grip but managing to control its angle, and then ramming its butt straight into Dosu's chest.
With his dark armor, it shouldn't have hurt; had the boy's strength been enough to not have it harmlessly bounce off of him, then it should have broken, as it was merely wood, after all.
Unfortunately, the thing seemed to be one of those 'Birthrights' that the Scions got from their parents, and had some form of supernatural durability. Even though it still would have bounced harmlessly off of him if wielded by anyone else, with Choji's unnatural strength it managed to start slowly piercing into him.
Not letting this stand, Dosu lashed out with a tentacle and wrapped it around Choji's neck, now that he couldn't run away without giving up on the attack against the Vampire's heart.
Choji pushed. Dosu tightened. Choji pushed. Dosu tightened. Choji felt himself lose the ability to breathe. Dosu felt his Beast start to panic as the wood of the spear dug into his flesh and neared his heart. Still, Choji pushed and Dosu tightened.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to the pair, Choji fell from consciousness, though his falling form managed one last push with the spear, enough to get the wood into Dosu's heart. With one down and the other in torpor, the proctors weren't entirely certain what they'd do.
--
"So, was that another draw?" Naruto wondered out loud.
Kakashi was just remembering that he had meant to check on Sasuke once Naruto and Sakura's matches were done with, so he was slightly distracted at the moment, but he did want to know that as well; if they counted that as Dosu's victory, then he was absolutely displaying (definitely not forging) definite proof that Ino had collapsed a half-second earlier than Sakura.
So concerned was he with this that he didn't even notice Lee's increasing whining about how long it was taking for them to get to his turn, which he would gladly have exploited to shush anyone reminding the boy that he was one of the only two left and thus guaranteed to go in a moment.
Instead, Shikamaru had to open his big mouth and sooth the distraught boy by pointing out that the letters hadn't even flashed randomly before displaying "Gaara of the Desert vs. Rock "Osiris" Lee."
That title caused Kakashi to raise an eyebrow. Was this the Gatekeeper from Hekau that people had gotten so worked up about? Well, he was currently two up and one down against Gai's one up, one down, and one uncertain, so he figured it would be worth it to wait around a little while and see how that 'uncertain' actually ended up. It wasn't like there was much he could actually do for Sasuke anyways.
--
Gaara didn't know if he had ever felt the emotion that others referred to as 'happiness,' but he definitely wasn't feeling it at that moment. This whole thing had gone on for so long. Why did they have to wait a month? Why did they have to send him out here so early to do it? Couldn't the Hem-Netjer-Tepi have his invasion earlier? Why did he have to wait so much? Wait. Wait. Just wait, surrounded by spilled blood but unable to cause any of it. It was so tormenting. The thing inside him was thrashing, all seven heads eager for bloodshed.
When those silly little green letters finally settled on his name, his facial expression showed no change as he walked down into the arena, but his internal mechanisms were afire. While he still didn't know whether or not he had ever felt 'happiness,' he did know anticipation. Whomever this 'Rock "Osiris" Lee' was, he would have blood spilt today.
Then, in a moment that surprised even himself, he hyper-focused on the name. Osiris? Was that not the one that brought the Mummies back? Was that not the one whom everyone in that accursed Village of his worshipped and praised? The thing inside him was raging more than normal. Yes, blood would be spilt today.
--
Lee was completely oblivious to Gaara's internal monologue.
"Greetings, fine challenger, I am grateful that we finally get to face one another today! Let us have a glorious test of our skills!"
The Mummy (or at Lee thought he was one, considering his Village) said nothing in response, not even getting into a combat-ready stance to match Lee's own.
Is he giving up? Is he disrespecting me? Is it a strategy?
He didn't know, and it bothered him. On some level, he wanted to prove himself before this opponent in particular. Mummies claimed to be Osiris's true children, and thus anyone claiming to be the Scion of the Pesedjet God was victim to some false spirit, and Lee had no intention of them letting the God who gave him a chance and awakened his Ichor when his unknown Divine Parent wouldn't be slandered in such a way.
Plus, he had always heard that their physical skills weren't that much better than mortals, while their supernatural energy manipulation was arguably among the greatest of the Supernatural Men. While Temari and Kankuro's performance hadn't really supported the initial claim about physical ineptitude, the fact that their skills and weaknesses were supposedly the exact opposite of Lee's own meant that he felt they would be the perfect opponent for him to prove himself against.
The Dead Last with no Purviews versus the frail Mummy with presumably great supernatural power! It would be a battle for the ages!
--
When the match began, Lee closed the distance between himself and the strange Mummy in less than a second, which made it particularly impressive that a mass of flint managed to form a barrier in front of his opponent and block his punch effortlessly. Lee followed that up with a kick that was also effortlessly blocked.
Gaara, not seeming the least bit worried about Lee's repeated attacks, intoned "Landslide," causing the ground beneath the floor to jut up, smashing through the tile beneath him and forming a series of upward pointing stone formations that would have stabbed into or trapped Lee had he been even a little bit slower.
As it was, his instinctive reaction had been to get as far from the attack as possible rather than simply dodge, and thus made what he felt to be the mistake of getting distance between himself and his opponent.
Gaara took advantage of this, holding out his hand and causing the tops of the rocks in front of him to start crumbling and forming loose pebbles, which he then invoked by shouting "Celestial Hekau: Sandstorm."
The pebbles, strangely resembling flint even though that wasn't the mineral the rocks had been made of, started flying around the arena in a swirling mass. Not trusting his Stamina nor Dexterity to keep him safe in said mass, instead of charging forward toward Gaara again he went for one of the tiles that the Mummy had sent flying earlier.
Channeling more Ichor than normal into his Strength Knacks, he flung the tile forward with more force than the greatest mortal could hope to apply, but it smacked harmlessly into another wall of flint. Not lacking in scattered tiles to throw, Lee grabbed three more and tossed them at different angles, seeing the third barrier appear a little bit more slowly…ah ha!
He still didn't trust his Stamina and Dexterity Knacks to keep him safe in the flying mass of rocks that he would have to pass through to reach the boy, but, well, when was battle safe!
He squatted down and leapt, trying to minimize the time he would have to spend within Gaara's flint storm by passing over it, falling down into it right above Gaara and hoping that the bits of stone cutting into him ultimately wouldn't be enough to take him down before he threw another tile downward and then, falling to right above the boy, multiple lacerations appearing all over his body but not yet bringing him down, he shifted his body so as to launch several punches and kicks in rapid succession all around the strange Mummy, getting smacked into flint barrier after flint barrier, until finally he managed to push through, barely brushing against Gaara's skin with the window of time he got…"Strength Knack: One Inch Punch!"
One of the more difficult Strength Knacks to master, it allowed the user to apply the full physical force of his musculature to a single part of their body, which in this case meant that that finger lightly brushing against Gaara's skin might as well have been a full kick to the face.
--
What is this sensation? Gaara thought as he was sent flying back. This...something on my cheek? I don't like it. Is this...pain? Did this Scion manage to hurt me?
While emotionally scarred by, well, a lot of events, physical pain was a new sensation for him. The thing inside him had always kept him safe. Now, this other thing, this Scion, had managed to hurt him. Him.
Calling on more of Apophis's energies, flint-like scales started to form all over his skin. Six of his fingers started to stretch outward, though he kept his neck from turning into the Seventh Head. He did have some control, after all.
--
Oh, this is bad, Baki thought, not really certain as to what he should do. Gaara going on a full rampage when Hekau and Sacrifice's forces weren't ready…and if he stopped the match, that meant it would be harder to justify getting Apophis to where he would be for the most important phase of the plan.
Really, there should have been a contingency plan for this, but he supposed that no one actually thought Gaara would have ended up facing an opponent that actually stood a chance against him. Glancing to Temari and Kankuro to see if they were prepared, he found them just as confused as he was, which he really couldn't blame them for.
Then, his panic was slightly alleviated when he saw that Gaara's neck wasn't growing. The boy wasn't calling on all seven Heads. This might be salvageable.
--
Lee had no idea how his opponent had just turned into a snake monster, but figured it was a weird Mummy power and focused on getting out the storm of flint. That proved to be more difficult than expected when Gaara intoned "Rouse Apophis," and the ground beneath him started shaking.
Most would have struggled to keep their balance, but Lee found he had little difficulty with that until the snake-fingers started lashing at him. He could avoid the snakes. He could keep his balance with the shaking ground. He could weave and duck to minimize the damage from the flying rocks. He could not do all three at once.
Even as he channeled more Ichor into his Stamina Knacks to keep his resilience to damage as high as possible, the damage kept coming. A snake bit on his left arm. A bruise formed on his left cheek as a flint-stone rammed straight into it. An attempt to dodge out of the way of another snake right as the shaking got more violent caused him to stumble to the ground, where all six of the snakes converged and bit into him mercilessly, ripping at his arm, tearing into his flesh, seeming to enjoy it as his blood spilled out onto the ground.
--
The proctor was about to surrender on Lee's behalf, not because of the boy's state (though that was an additional consideration) but because the Hekau kid's earthquake-technique thing was about to bring the whole building down if it didn't stop soon, but it actually stopped when the Scion fell down, and then Lee screamed that he would not surrender, that he would continue to fight and prove himself today.
He wasn't inclined to force the decision on someone who was explicitly asking him not to, but he also really didn't want to see the kid die.
While he was hesitating, the Mummy seemed more certain, as the kid screamed "Interment," and the flying bits of flint stopped flying and instead convulsed upon Lee's body, crushing his right arm, crushing his left leg…
"I surrender on Rock Lee's behalf. Gaara is the winner." The just-named victor did not seem to hear him, as he continued to send rocks to the boy's left arm.
"The match is over! Continued aggression will result in disqualification!" The proctor shouted as Maito Gai leapt from the stands to oversee and probably protect his charge.
Although Gaara seemed not to have heard him, his own Mentor also ran down from the balcony, gripped Gaara's shoulders, and ordered him to remember why they were there. There were a tense few moments where the boy stared at his Mentor, then at the rest of them, especially his opponent, and then the snake-like features vanished and the boy walked away, saying nothing.
--
"Lee! Are you alright?" Gai demanded.
His student was too weak to give a proper answer, merely coughing up blood. The medics were trying to get between him and his student, which, in his current emotional state, he couldn't allow. The boy was in trouble, and Gai had to save him…
"Gai, if you want him to live, let the medics do their work!" Kakashi shouted, and he swallowed his anger at the situation, letting it channel into worry instead.
"Will he be alright?" He begged of one of the people poking and prodding at his student.
"Prognosis is too early to tell; he needs immediate treatment." And that was all he got before they carried him away.
--
The end of the Rank Exams, even for the victors, was not very celebratory in mood. While Gaara himself seemed apathetic to his actions, and the other Mummies just admonished him for 'getting ahead of himself,' the others stared at him with both disgust and not a little bit of fear. Gaara's lack of response to those looks only intensified them.
Still, this was not the time for a confrontation, and thus they stood and waited for the proctors to give them further information, which only led to shock when it was, in fact, the Great God-on-Earth that showed up to give them their final speech.
"In one month's time, you will show yourselves at the final stage of the Rank Exams. This is an opportunity to prove yourself, both to your Village and to the surrounding world. Remember, the world is watching. They already know what your Villages can currently do; here is where you show them what your Villages will be able to do. You are the future. Make the mortals, and your leaders, see that it's a bright one."
With that out of the way, he gave each of the victors a piece of paper with a name on it.
"On this paper is written the name of your first opponent, chosen mostly at random. The final exam next month will be a tournament style exhibition, where those who win the first round of fights will go on to face the next opponent, and so on until one remains. That one will not be guaranteed a higher rank, though it certainly helps your odds. Myself and the leaders of the other Villages with candidates in the finals will be watching, evaluating your performance and seeing if you're fit for higher duties. It is possible to make it to the last round and fail. It is possible to lose in the first round and succeed. This is about performance, not results. Remember that as you prepare over the next month. I know I've already said this, but make your Villages proud."
"Now, foreigners may return to their Villages for the month or remain here, where we'll have a dedicated training ground for you and you'll of course be free to check out the mortal-accessible areas, while those from Legends will be able to travel within the Village as normal. I want no international conflicts this month; we will be watching."
With that, he dismissed them to rest and figure out strategy. Naruto was too excited to do either at the moment, for when he looked at his paper, he saw 'Neji "Quirinus" Dodekatheon' written and could not wait to prove that jerk wrong.
--
Techniques Used:
War Purview: Battle Cry-supernaturally enhances the emotional impact of a shout or boast in battle
Dominate Discipline: Command-forces the target to obey a one-word command. Can be resisted through sheer willpower
Obtenebration Discipline: Shadow Play-warps existing shadows
Obtenebration Discipline: Arms of the Abyss-turn existing shadows into tentacles
Obtenebration Discipline: Black Metamorphosis-collect nearby shadows to form into unnatural armor and tentacles surrounding the user
Taiyi Purview: Yin-Yang Destruction-creates the opposite, negating force of whatever is harming the user. For example, a user surrounded by fire might create water.
Taiyi Purview: Five-Cycle Conjunction-uses a technique fueled by the 'energy' of a different technique
Strength Knack: One-Inch Punch-through intense Ichor concentration, put all of the potential physical force the user can muster into a single extremity