Chapter 2:

The main arena in the city was about to burst with people due to the rather varied and crowded presence that had gathered this year, this would be the first edition which honestly no one remembered which edition it was, after all an annual tournament for a long time made people have the tendency to lose count, however it was still destined to be the best edition of the tournament ever held in history, given the quality and variety of its participants, as one could say that there were contenders from every corner of the world… quite literally.

The fighters were already in two rooms previously prepared for them, one facing east curiously to symbolize the rising of the sun and the one from the hidden nation was facing west to represent the setting of the sun, Koyuki was sure that this was some kind of message for the hidden nations but honestly she wasn't sure what the message was and Zeref since Naruto had been missing since the morning had told her that "he had no idea what she was talking about" returning to the subject, the fighters from the empire and those from the hidden nation, whose leaders by the way were truly frustrated right now since they were never able to find the other fighters, which caused them to be a complete enigma and couldn't come up with a real strategy to win this tournament.

Each of the shinobi powers with the exception of Konoha, had received a box of honor for their entourages, something that provoked a great feeling of indignation in a good part of the civil council of Konoha, since with the exception of Danzo, practically all of the high command of Konoha, together with the Hyuga council and the leaders of each clan, together with the Sannin, Minato, the Hokage's secretary and her family.

Likewise, all the feudal lords and Kages separately had been taken to VIP boxes for their enjoyment, being allowed a maximum of three companions per person, oh and now that the subject of the Namikaze family was touched upon, Mito and her brother were quite far from the Konoha entourage because they had not reached places with their mother, being close to the local public who was very hostile towards them, something they would never get used to in the least.

Now returning to the state, there were several lamps in a semicircular formation, as well as a platform that was waiting for the tournament to begin,

Fortunately for everyone, Koyuki arrived with her entourage, that is, Tsunade Shizune and Zeref himself, whom her younger brother had asked to act as Koyuki's personal bodyguard since he did not trust absolutely anyone, moments later the two queens of the empire entered with the young princess in gala clothes, however there was no trace of the emperor, something that made them feel a little apprehensive after all, it was not known what a man of his power could do if they let him move freely around the place. As for the two queens, both had an imposing presence, some even compared them to the presence of the dark magician himself, however, that mattered little or nothing to the two blondes who sat next to the Daimio.

-This year, our stadium has special equipment, as our people will be represented by the best the empire has to offer. The local daimyo began, smiling brightly as she hadn't done for ten years. - Without further ado, it's time to start the main event!

(Normally I'd be a shameless bastard and steal a scene from a group singing and use fireworks to set images of key moments in the story... and I'm doing just that, only with one of the few songs that actually touches my soul a little, if even I have a soul... Who would say no?)

With Koyuki's announcement soon a small group took the stage and some sort of rock ballad began to play.

Angel
Angel
Angel

Angel
Angel
Angel (ah, ah)

Time passes
and the memories
are fading away

We were angels
and from heaven
we gave seeds of love

The sadness of this world was erased
And seeing the blue sky
Friendship and love always shone and today they will too

I don't have my wings
They've already disappeared
But with me I still have the power

And in your pupil
The rainbow (friends)
Was reflected (listen carefully)
And love blooms in your heart (uh, uh)
Keep
having faith and hope that tomorrow will change (world of love)

This desert (your friendship)
Will transform (will shine)
Paradise is what will soon be (uh, uh, uh)
Open
Your heart, magic and love
Are true!

Time passes
And in your eyes
I can see Innocence

You are the same
From that memory
Of our beautiful childhood

And flying through the clouds you will
finally be able to touch the moon,
walking through infinite gardens for eternity

The magic is now ours
No one will ever break
The beautiful bonds of our friendship

And in your pupil
The rainbow (friends)
Was reflected (listen carefully)
And love blooms in your heart (uh, uh)
Keep
having faith and hope that tomorrow will change (world of love)

This desert (your friendship)
Will transform (shine)
Paradise is what will soon be (uh, uh, uh)
Open
Your heart, magic and love
Are true!

Hope (with my voice)
Will be reborn (listen carefully)
And tomorrow will bring great joys
Keep
having faith and hope that your dreams will come true (full of love)

I know that your soul (your friendship)
Will transform (will shine)
A light of life will be born in you (uh, uh, uh)
Open
your heart, magic and love
Are true! (angel)

AngelAngel

Angel
Angel
Angel, ah

The lights soon went out and following this the magically altered fireworks began to fly through the sky forming what to many seemed to be truly beautiful, though no less tragic, images, the first of which showed two men kneeling in the middle of a battlefield, the first was a man who had a broken look on his face and was holding the other man.

A black-haired man who was just as unruly as the other young man who was holding him, he wore blue shorts and had the ASCE tattoo on his right arm, but what surprised everyone the most was that even though the man had clearly died, he did so with a smile on his face. And beneath that image was a phrase. Or rather a quote.

"My only regret is not seeing your dream come true, but I'm happy because at least I know that if anyone can make that dream come true, it's you, my friend."

Portgas D. Ace.

As soon as that image disappeared a new image appeared, this time of an equally black-haired man with a goatee and wearing red and gold armor that was partially destroyed, along with half of his face which was partially burned. Like its predecessor it also had a last phrase.

"You can take away my house, all my tricks and suits, but there's one thing you can never take away from me: I am Iron Man."

Tony Stark.

The singer continued with his song, it was now clear to the spectators of the elemental continent that these men were each and every one of them heroes of the unification wars.

Soon another image appeared in the sky, this one being a rather small man, almost completely bald except for his crown, he has a thick mustache and due to age he has several wrinkles.

If with the rest of this old soldier's life I can create a bright future for these brats... well... then I know what I must do... my job is very simple"

Makarov Dreyar.

The next image showed a much larger man than the previous one, one who had a crescent moon for a mustache and was dressed only in white pants and black boots whose body was almost completely devastated except for... How had they managed to show both the front and the back at the same time?

"the will of the people will not die, and in the future there will be one who will rise up and challenge the world"

Edward Newgate.

A few more names and phrases were shown, finally the music stopped and a small part of the audience who were part of the empire of the rising sun stood up and began to applaud completely moved, several names were needed many more had fallen but there was no way to name them all, the war claimed thousands of lives, and these were those whom the emperor called not only friends, but mentors, brothers, and even some whom he loved romantically, all of them gave their lives for the dream of peace and with this presentation that the emperor had not witnessed choosing to mourn his friends in silence and private the man showed that his kingdom had been forged thanks to the blood of hundreds and that the world would never forget their names or their sacrifices.

As soon as the presentation ended, the group left and the spotlights came on, revealing that on the platform now stood a man, with dark blond hair combed back, wearing a black suit and black glasses.

-Ladies and gentlemen, I am the announcer, the referee of this tournament, as you know this year the rules were slightly modified in order to run the tournament in a more equitable way. Many wondered why he said "the announcer" and "the referee" separately, however, they did not have the time to do so, after all the man immediately explained the rules of this tournament, revealing that in the empire there was actually a place that belonged to one of the high commands of the empire and that the last 15 places were won in a tournament where more than a thousand people participated, something that completely overshadowed the elimination of 300 that occurred in the elemental nation.

The biggest elimination round in the history of the tournament, explaining how each of the finalists of each block would face their counterpart from the empire, then wishing each and every contestant luck and proceeding as is always done in these events... that is, explaining each and every one of the rules in the most thorough way possible.

XxxxX

-a few moments ago, VIP box-

-It's a pleasure to see you again Kazekage-dono. I greet you Mei Terumi who was the second youngest Kage around (I never understood why the hell she changed her age, she never did anything with her, not to mention she was still the second youngest because Minato was already like 40 and she was like 35 or something) – it's nice to see a friendly face in this place. The young Mizukage was of course referring to Onoki and the Raikage who, although they had no problems with her, they did have them with Minato who also had a few friends because he had the worst seats possible for his family… she found it terribly funny she was sure Onoki did too but her hatred for the man was much greater and she couldn't help but try to kill the younger man with her glare.

-Same here Mizukage-dono. Gaara returned the greeting as he took his place.

The young man had made one last attempt to get an audience with the emperor, without much success, however, a… strange black-haired man with clothes that were definitely feminine, a tattoo on his face and a white and red bandage on his eyes had told him, after asking him where the bathroom was? That he could go to the empire and request an audience, it was an odd encounter, especially since the man went in the opposite direction to where he had been indicated, but that was better than nothing.

-Imperials are very strange. He muttered to himself wondering if that encounter had been a figment of his imagination, after all the imperial wine was tremendously strong that it even gave him a bit of a hangover.

-What's wrong Minato? Life without luxuries is no life? The Raikage, ignoring the Kazekage's dilemma, couldn't help but pique Minato's pride as he continued to watch people throw all kinds of trash at his compatriots.

-Funny, as always Raikage-dono. Minato had to bite his tongue to keep from throwing an insult at his former rival.

-I just hope they're recording this. Onoki commented, who seemed to be enjoying this a little too much. - It'll give me something to laugh about.

-They are, there is an editing team that will work on a summary of the tournament for sale.

-Can I make a reservation? A nod was the only response from the black-haired woman. - Put me first on the list.

Minato could only grunt, the people of Konoha were definitely not going to like that.

-"Think about the prize, Minato, think about the prize" he repeated over and over again.

XxxxX

-Now let's begin with the first match. The announcer chose that it was time to officially start the tournament, he had waited for the emperor to return to start, but he had been informed that the man ended up leaving the stadium… that man definitely needed to work on his orientation. – Coming from the hidden continent, beauty and power come together in our first participant, coming from the Nadeshiko village… Shizuka!

The black-haired kunoichi entered the platform to cheers from the general public. The kunoichi was a woman with long, lustrous onyx-colored hair that she had tied back in a ponytail. She had green eyes and a stunning figure, large breasts, a heart-shaped butt, and long, shapely legs, all wrapped in a black outfit, with her village's bandana as a headband for her hair.

To the surprise of the two queens, she bore a facial resemblance to the pink-haired banshee, not that they were going to say it out loud, well Arturia wouldn't, Neal possibly would if he had the chance to ask the woman, she was an incredibly curious person and didn't know what discretion was... in fact there were rumors that she didn't know how to spell it.

-Now, coming from the lands of Greece, coming from the nameless island, born from the earth itself, the youngest of the three gorgons… Medusa! When the presentation ended, many heard the cry of "why did you bring her, suicidal lolicon emo!" Followed by a thunderous laugh.

Medusa showed herself to be a woman different from what many expected from a gorgon, she did not have a beastly appearance, she did not have snakes for hair, in fact she had beautiful purple hair, she wore a cover over her eyes, most likely to contain her mechanizing gaze, her sight should be completely blocked, although with what was seen ten years ago with Naruto Uchiha it was possible that the woman had much more specialized senses to detect her surroundings, after all she grew up in the empire, a wild land before the unification.

With both competitors engaged in combat, war drums began to sound as the announcer stepped off the stage, as the drums increased the speed at which they played until they suddenly stopped before the sound of a gong was heard to start the match.

Medusa, always silent, didn't say anything and simply launched herself forward at high speed, causing Shizuka to have to block a hook from her opponent before she knew it. She tried to quickly counterattack, but it was revealed that the woman's senses were indeed heightened to detect her surroundings as she gracefully jumped back and thanks to her natural flexibility, the woman managed to connect a kick to Shizuka's jaw at the same time that her opponent took a couple of steps back from the unexpected blow.

The gorgon landed less than six meters from Shisuka and launched itself forward once more without giving her the slightest time to recover, and because of that, it began to riddled its opponent with frankly terrifying speed.

-with the general public-

-Hit him harder! Mito couldn't help but encourage Medusa, while making gestures as if she were the gorgon's trainer, as if this would get her to pay attention, and it was a boxing match.

-Troublesome, that woman is tremendously fast and flexible, I highly doubt anyone on our side could even come close to touching her. The elder Nara mentioned, noticing how his wife was doing the same as Mito, she wasn't sure why I was too troublesome to ask so she left things as they were.

-That viper… she's not supposed to be the sensible one in her group. Someone from the east mentioned to his companion. The woman who spoke was a rather pale girl with blue eyes, quite light blonde hair that looked platinum, wearing a red and blue suit. Her companion was a young girl with black hair and hazel eyes who was dressed like… what they assumed was a magician's outfit. – I know that Riders tend to be quite temperamental, but she doesn't usually play with her opponents.

-Who knows? A man with a thick Eastern European accent commented. – Medusa has always been… strange… even for a Rider, but I don't think she'll drag this out for too long, after all unlike her older sisters, she doesn't like torturing her opponents much, I mean if it was Estheno or even worse Euriale, that girl would already be crying for her mother.

-"What kind of family is that?" thought the inhabitants of the hidden nation, if the woman who was using her as a punching bag was the least sadistic, how cruel would the older sisters be?

-back in the arena-

-Naseshiko style, Thousand Strikes. And with that shout, the future leader of the exclusive women's village began to deliver increasingly faster blows that the purple-haired woman continued to avoid without any problem, moving so fast that many of the blows almost seemed to go through her.

-Nice trick. The purple-haired woman spoke for the first time. However, she didn't say anything else before moving at high speed, completely destroying Shizuka's defense and began to apply a kind of full submission lock to her right leg, waist and shoulders, reminding many of a kind of snake because of the way she was holding her.

Shizuka just gritted her teeth trying desperately to break free from the hold, trying to hit him, however, although some of them managed to hit her due to the position she was in, they did not carry even a tenth of her strength, and even if they had their full strength, Medusa would simply tinkle their blows, after all she was one of the few people who had endured one of the Emperor's supernovas in the short time they were enemies.

-A true warrior understands when fighting is not an option. The purple-haired woman said in her stoic voice. – So please stop moving.

And with that said, the gorgon released her hold before delivering a powerful blow to the stomach that knocked the air out of Shizuka's lungs, she fell to her knees with a blank look on her face before finally falling forward, completely out cold, leaving the gorgon to wonder one thing.

-"A person with collapsed lungs... can they inflate them if they are unconscious?"

-Shizuka can't continue, the winner of the first fight of the tournament is Medusa. The announcer announced as the gorgon came down from the arena, she had to find the emperor before his orientation made him end up with the gods freeing her somewhere near Konoha, that was why she was acting so differently from her usual calm attitude, she was the only one with the speed and who would be freed soon that could find the man.

Finally, after Shizuka's body was removed from the arena, the announcer began to introduce the next two contenders.

-And now, we make way for the second fight, coming from a nest of traitorous vipers… no offense to the empire's snake tribe. The man was quick to correct himself after all that particular tribe was really vengeful. – Here we have a flea-ridden dog that only comes to infest our facilities… Kiba Inuzuka! The man said with evident contempt in his voice. A sentiment that was shared by most of the group, who began to throw bottles, food and… was that a golden battle axe? Straight at the Inuzuka's head, things that were accompanied by insults and curses, throwing Kiba off balance, especially since who the hell brought a damn golden axe to a public tournament? More like how the hell did they let him in with that?

XxxxX

-Why did you have to throw Ritha at him? Arturia complained as she looked at the axe of the sin of pride now stuck in the wall near the exit of the elemental continent fighters.

-You preferred that I throw your sword at him? The more developed blonde asked with a raised eyebrow.

-. . . Arturia didn't answer, she certainly preferred any weapon to be used other than her precious Excalibur, Mordred would need it when she was older after all, and she had a special affection for it, it was proof that Naruto loved her after all.

-I thought so. The other blonde simply smirked, ignoring Zeref and his "I didn't sign up for this" comment.

XxxxX

-Now, from the empire, hailing from the islands of the land of the rising sun, comes a calm and untamed beauty who wishes to sweep the tournament with her feline strength and speed, Shirone Toujo! And with that entered the white-haired girl who had been arguing with her older sister during the preliminaries of the elemental side, being much smaller than her older sister, with white hair and a much more athletic body, oh and it was already mentioned that unlike her sister who had her tails tied around her waist, she had hers swinging proudly behind her.

-VIP box-

-They shouldn't disqualify her for appearing with that henge. A asked Maria Hill who had been in charge of guarding this box and who had been the one who confirmed to Onoki that he could reserve the video of Konoha's humiliation.

-What is a Henge? Maria asked, really having no idea what a Henge was. After all, neither Lord Shanks nor the Emperor himself had ever mentioned anything about ninja techniques. – That's right, she's a Nekoshou, an entirely female race that sports feline features. She can hide them, of course, but Shirone is a girl who is proud of her heritage. Plus, those tails serve as a second pair of arms... and a couple of other things. She said this with a small blush. She had once found the sisters in a rather compromising position and since then she had chosen not to ask again what some people's extra limbs were for.

XxxxX

Shirone was already on the platform with her always stoic expression etched in stone on her face, however, upon seeing Kiba her expression went from stony to slightly annoyed, so much so that she almost couldn't wait until the drums stopped beating to start the fight, now that she thought about it, why the hell did they do the drum thing in every fight? That was a waste of time.

-I wonder if you'd spoil me if I cut you into pieces? The girl muttered in her stoic voice, however the way she told him, coupled with her expressionless face, made Kiba back off a little out of fear. This was a rather curious skill that Shirone learned from her master, intimidating without showing an instinct to kill, she was very good at it. Although the question was completely serious, and that's why it worked completely well.

-It'll be fun to see you try... kitten. Kiba quickly regained his composure and it was at that very moment that the fight began thanks to the gong.

Shirone unlike Medusa wasn't really in a hurry so she didn't bother rushing against Kiba, at least not at first as she soon moved in a burst of speed delivering a single precise swipe directly to the joints of his arms, liver and lung, if she was that good enough to damage those three points with a single swipe, as to why she chose those places precisely.

Well obviously an opponent without the ability to use his arms was a useless opponent, an opponent with a damaged liver was unable to use his full strength, and the lung was simply in the way. As for Kiba's reaction he could do little to nothing against the feline woman and her explosive speed.

-This chick is going to skin me alive. The Inuzuka thought as he jumped back just to avoid the woman's blow, although it wasn't in time as his clothes were cut by the woman's claws, who managed to draw some blood from his chest.

-That's the idea. And Shirone certainly wasn't letting the dog boy escape her clutches anytime soon.

Unfortunately for the woman who wanted to gouge his eyes out with her second blow, the dog boy began to cover her eyes, on the bright side that gave way to many openings in Kiba's guard, openings that allowed her to do whatever she wanted to him, and as proof of that she kicked him with the instep of her right knee forcing him to bend in the completely opposite direction from which he should have bent, causing a chilling scream from the Inuzuka upon receiving the blow that honestly hurt even more than his unnaturally bent knee.

XxxxX

-No Kiba! Tsume and Hana shouted when they saw the way the girl had hurt the bigmouth Kiba.

-Hahaha, oh yes that's it kitten, now hit the other one. The blonde from a while ago couldn't help but cheer, she liked to see people suffer pain, especially if it was at the hands of a seemingly harmless cutie like the youngest of the Toujo sisters.

-Harleen, lower your voice, you know she won't hit him twice in the same place, she's a damn cat, she likes to play with her food. The brunette's comment actually made the Konoha members shudder upon hearing that for the cat girl, Kiba was some kind of snack.

-back in the arena-

Kiba had miraculously returned his leg to its natural position even if that was more painful than its previous state, now he knew not to be overconfident, so he positioned himself to use his last ace up his sleeve once and for all, after all it was preferable to lose the element of surprise for later than to lose the fight.

-You will pay dearly for hurting me. He said as he stood up before getting on all fours, with his right leg noticeably weakened. – Inuzuka style, wild wolf. And with that he let out a chilling howl to launch himself into a head-on attack.

Shirone had to give it to him, even with her injured leg she became faster and more agile, no doubt, but that wasn't enough, she was her master's personal student, and say what you want about the emperor's methods but they were functional, Kiba was fast but she was much faster, more agile, stronger, and thanks to that she dodged his claws and all his kicks without overexerting herself, something that completely infuriated Kiba, who believed that using the four-legged mode of the Taijutsu style would give him a small advantage, clearly it was not like that so he began to use the movements in his clan's fighting style.

-Inuzuka style, great night wolf. To Shirone this attack actually seemed quite similar to the way Pickle used to attack to prey, head on in a single furious charge, unfortunately for the man she simply stopped the charge before sending him flying over her head. – Stay still so I can hit you! Exclaimed Kiba who was starting to get tired of giving his deadly blows to the Nekoshou especially since they were completely useless, and her landing a second blow on his other knee was not helping his plight.

-. . . that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life... and I've spent time with the Rose Empress. Mentioned the white-haired girl who had honestly heard all kinds of stupid things from the woman who was a Roman clone of Arturia. - What kind of person with a minimum of common sense would stand still to be hit head-on? ... then again you're from Konoha so I guess it makes sense that you think like an idiot.

She didn't think much longer about it, she simply chose to resume the battle and began to give a quick combination of blows to the chest and face of the now completely defeated Kiba who was unable to do absolutely anything against the complete combination of the feline woman, who lifted the old dog with a powerful Jab that completely fractured his lower jaw and had almost completely destroyed his teeth, all of this being received with cheers from the local public who were asking her to slice him into cubes and causing several shudders in Konoha at a similar scene in the distant past.

-Kiba Inuzuka can't continue anymore. The announcer said as he poked Kiba's unconscious body. He wasn't staining his new shoes with his filth thank you very much, however, he confirmed that the dog boy was completely unconscious. – Shirone wins the fight.

The girl simply began to leave the platform, although of course not without first turning in the direction of Kushina whom she had seen out of the corner of her eye and giving her an obscene gesture, something that elicited a small giggle from the announcer, yes that was definitely funny something that made him feel a little disappointed because the emperor had missed it.

But well he would be here soon if Medusa did her job which he was sure she would do after all the riders were the best trackers, well after Artemis' hunters, but they didn't count, they had an unfair advantage.

-Very well, now on the western side, a member of the honorable Hyuga clan, the one called by the rat's nest where he lives "Hyuga prodigy" and much to Konoha's surprise, although there had been no cheering from any member of the public, no one had insulted or thrown trash at Neji. - Now on the side of the empire, the son of one of the great kings of heaven, son of the first to side with the emperor after the great war of marineford, the son of the OGRE himself, BAKI HANMA!

End of chapter.