Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Konoha no Aoikaen
Chapter 6
“All of you but the combatants please proceed to the balconies now so we can begin,” Hayate gestured to the pair of platforms lining opposite walls of the large arena. The genin swiftly complied, leaving the two stoic boys and sickly jounin alone in the ring. “Uchiha Sasuke versus Aburame Shino, are you ready?” The jounin received nods from both genin before speaking, “First match, hajime.”
The boys stood motionlessly, each waiting for the other to make the first move. The tension in the room rose steadily as their staring contest continued. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to the audience, Sasuke blurred into motion, showing exactly why he was crowned ‘Rookie of the Year’. Crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye, Sasuke launched a flurry of attacks into the Aburame, lifting him into the air. Shino let out agrunt as the air was forced from his lungs, before an almost unnoticeable smirk appeared behind his collar. A heartbeat later, Shino’s body exploded into thousands of small black dots that threw themselves at the Uchiha.
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The Aburame’s rather odd jutsu surprised most of the genin in the stands, who had never worked with any members of the Aburame clan. “Ne, Kakashi-sensei, what was that jutsu? How did Shino explode like that? And what are those things?” Most of the nearby genin looked to the cyclops at Sakura’s questions.
“The Aburame clan has dedicated their lives to fighting with aspecies of insect called the ‘Kikaichu’, or Destruction Bugs, which feed on chakra.” Kakashi explained to all the nearby genin, barring Team 8. “Long ago, they formed a special contract with the species, and in exchange for hosting the bugs within their own bodies and giving them a portion of their chakra, they are able to control the bugs in combat. Shino used one of their more popular techniques, the /Mushi Bunshin/, in an effort to get the Kikaichu onto Sasuke.”
“So Shino has all those bugs living inside him? And they /eat/chakra?! Bad ass!” Naruto exclaimed loudly, turning back to the ongoing fight. “Sasuke-teme! You better not lose to this guy, no matter how much cooler his techniques are than yours!”
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Back in the arena, the tidal wave of Kikaichu swarmed the Uchiha, who was hurriedly running through seals. “/Katon: Gokakyu/no Jutsu/!” came the call not a moment too soon. Hungry flames leapt from Sasuke’s mouth, eagerly devouring the cloud of insects. Jumping clear of the few charred remnants, the Uchiha looked to the stands at his teammate’s shout. Temple throbbing at the /probably unintentional insult, Sasuke gave Naruto the only adequate response, a single-finger salute, ignoring the blonde's indignant reply.
Returning his attention to the ring, the avenger began to search for his missing opponent. Sharingan active, he prowled the arena, his senses on high-alert. A light crunch behind him sent the avenger whirling around, to reveal more Aburame-free space. A few moments later, the Uchiha was beginning to lose his patience with Shino’s tactics, and voiced as much, only to be met with silence.
Catching a flash of grey in the edge of his sight, Sasuke threw himself to the side as Shino dropped from above, slamming a pair of kama down where the boy once stood. “About time you showed up,” Sasuke quipped when the small cloud of dust began to settle.
Shino did not respond verbally. Charging through the dissipating remnants of concrete dust, the Aburame began an intricate series of attacks that forced Sasuke onto the defensive, even with the Sharingan. The relentless assault left no room for a counter-attack. I have to get those damned kama away from him somehow. Sasuke thought to himself as he gave more and more ground. The Uchiha was not labeled a genius for nothing, however. While he continually retreated, Sasuke was swiftly learning the pattern of Shino’s katas. There’s a small opening between the third and fourth strikes. Once he starts that sequence again, I’ve got this won.
Sasuke gave ground as he waited for the opening he had found to reappear. Finally, after seeming ages, Shino began the flawed kata. When the third strike missed, Sasuke began his counter. Blocking the swipe of the fourth strike, Sasuke shot his kunai forward, slicing over the back of the bug user’s hand and most of the way up the bug user’s forearm. The kama was sent flying as Shino reflexively released it. Sasuke capitalized on the Aburame’s surprise, whirling around and slamming him into the ground in atextbook shoulder throw.
The bug user hit the ground with a solid slam, this time definitely not a /Mushi Bunshin/. The boy met Sasuke’s eyes a moment later and, for the first time since the match began, he spoke. “I win.”
Sasuke had less than a nanosecond to process what he had said when the floor around him erupted in a geyser of Kikaichu. Cursing vehemently, Sasuke tried futilely to wipe off the bugs swiftly draining his chakra. It soon proved too much for the prodigy, however, and his reserves were swiftly emptied. The Uchiha scion collapsed a moment later and the bugs vacated his body en mass.
The whole arena was silent at the rather unexpected turn of events, even the Aburame’s teammates. Shino turned to the examiner after a moment and raised an eyebrow. Hayate coughed into his hand sheepishly and began to speak. “Shousha, Abu-”
“I’m not… done yet…” Sasuke choked out as he struggled to his feet on shaky legs. “This… is not… over.” The examiner gave a skeptical glance at the struggling genin and shrugged before stepping back.
“Forfeit, Sasuke-san,” Shino advised neutrally. “You cannot defeat me in your current condition.”
Sasuke growled at that and his glare could have melted solid steel. “You have… no idea what I can do.” The boast sounded hollow, even to himself. Scowling angrily, Sasuke lurched towards the stoic Aburame. “I won’t lose here!” Throwing himself into an attack, a peculiar sensation overran the boy in mid-leap. Time came to a stop as color faded from the world. Avoice echoed throughout the chamber, seeming to come from everywhere at once.
I can grant you victory…
The voice rang through his skull, each echo becoming louder than the last. After a few seconds, it ceased as suddenly as it had started, leaving the boy utterly confused. A moment later, it spoke again.
I offer you a choice …
Choice? What are you talking about?! Sasuke yelled soundlessly into the void.
Do you desire my aid?...
Who the hell are you?!
Do you accept my power?...
What are you talking about, damnit?!
Do you want my strength?!
The last came as an incredible shout, silencing all of the echoes bouncing around his head. In the silence, a figure appeared before Sasuke, seeming to step out of thin air. The figure at once terrified and fascinated the avenger, for its appearance was hauntingly familiar. Standing before him was what could only be described as a ‘negative’ copy of himself. The two appeared exactly the same, even down to the scrapes and tears decorating his flesh and clothes. The only difference between them was contract in colors. Dark grey skin, white hair, black eyes with golden pupils, and a black four-pointed star spread across his face. The figure brought his face right before the frozen Uchiha and spoke once more.
Do you wish for victory?
The Uchiha felt a connection with this being somehow; something deep inside him was straining to accept the offer. Throwing caution to the winds, Sasuke forced himself to ignore his pride, silently shouting his agreement to the timeless and frozen world. A smirk of victory flashed across the other’s face.
Then you shall have it.
With a flash, color bled back into the world and time moved once again. To the audience, it seemed that something snapped within the Uchiha mid-leap. Markings resembling black flames erupted from the base of his neck and spread over his body, covering him completely in less than a second. A maniacal grin split his face as he slammed into the Aburame, catching the surprised boy in the head with the strongest punch he could muster.
Shino was sent careening across the floor and slammed painfully into the wall over 30 feet away, where he collapsed, unconscious. As soon as the boy settled, the black flames receded from Sasuke. With the marks gone, the Uchiha fell to his knees panting heavily. Hayate coughed then and raised his hand. “Shousha, Uchiha Sasuke.”
A flurry of activity met the pronouncement. Kakashi appeared in the ring, grabbed the Uchiha and disappeared while the medics ran out to retrieve Shino. Once the unconscious boy was lifted onto astretcher, the stunned genin managed to gather their wits enough to wonder what had just happened.
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“Oi, Naruto! What the hell was that?!” Kiba yelled to his acquaintance and quasi-friend. The blonde started out of his thoughts and he turned to the dog user.
“No idea, man. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“But you’re his teammate! He had to have told you something about it!”
“I just said I’ve never seen it before, dog breath! The stupid bastard never tells me anything.”
“Bu-” Kiba’s protests were cut short by his sensei’s hand landing on his shoulder.
“Drop it, Kiba. If that was what I believe it to be, it’s far more dangerous than you can begin to imagine.” Kurenai’s calm voice cut through the dog user’s objections. “It’s highly classified so I don’t know much, but if I am right, it is a seal from a very dangerous criminal. It can grant a massive boost in strength, but it destroys the mind. If he keeps using it, Sasuke will eventually end up as nothing more than a mindless automaton. Kakashi is likely dealing with it as we speak, hopefully permanently.” Naruto’s brow shot for the sky at her blunt words.
“Kami… Kakashi-sensei can fix it though, right?”
“I believe so.” Kurenai’s words soothed at least some of the worry coursing through the resident jinchuuriki. After amoment of silence, a vaguely annoyed cough sounded from the stage. The rookies gave a start at the sudden noise before giving their attention to Hayate as he began to speak.
“Sorry to break this up, but we need to get the preliminaries moving. Would Nara Shikamaru care to join us for his match?”
“Tch, this is such a pain,” the aforementioned Nara sighed as he shuffled towards the stairs. “Ah well, I can’t lose to a woman, that would just be embarrassing.” His opponent in the ring heard him and a vein in her temple began to pulse.
“Get down here and say that to my face, asshole!” she shouted at the slowly moving Nara. “I’m gonna kick your ass!”
A minute or so later, Shikamaru ambled up to the examiner and his impatient opponent. “Yeah, yeah, I’m here,” the Nara managed to say before a yawn escaped. “Can we get this over with already?”
His opponent scowled at the easy dismissal, fixing a decidedly evil glare at the lazy genin. “Nara Shikamaru versus Temari. Are you ready?” The withering glare from the female sand nin was more than enough of an answer for Hayate. “Then second match, hajime.”
As soon as the words left the referee's mouth, Temari burst into motion, swinging her fan around in a flash with a cry of“/Kamaitachi/”. A burst of wind erupted from the blonde, rushing straight for the now wide-awake Nara. Skikamaru barely managed to avoid the cone of cutting winds by diving to the side, landing in the impression left from Shino’s earlier missed attack. When he felt the winds calm, he immediately threw himself as far as he could from the hole. A second later, Temari appeared overhead, sending another wave of dicing winds where the lazy genin had lain.
This isn’t good. She’s a range specialist, my taijutsu sucks, and there’s nothing I can use at range except my shadow. The Nara thought, quickly analyzing his available options. Nothing else for it, may as well try. With the boy holding his hands in the seal of the rat, Shikamaru’s shadow shot after the unsuspecting blonde. A shout from her teammate in the balconies alerted Temari to the danger, and she launched herself into the air in response. Shikamaru let a slight smirk cross his face as he launched a trio of shuriken at the airborne sand nin. Whipping out her giant fan, Temari let loose a blast of air that sent the shuriken tumbling right back at Shikamaru, faster than the shadow user could dodge. The air burst also sent Temari flying away to connect and stick to the far wall of the arena.
Shikamaru pulled the single shuriken from his arm with care before turning his full attention to the wind mistress. So projectiles are out… Calm down and think. What other options are there?
“If that’s all you’ve got, give up now and save us both the trouble,” Temari called from her place on the wall. “You can’t beat me.” Now wearing a heavy scowl, Shikamaru surprised everyone present. Temari tensed for an attack as the lazy genin closed his eyes, sat back on his heels and formed acircle with his hands.
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“Ohoho, he’s getting serious now, this should be good.” Asuma chuckled in the stands as Naruto and Ino shouted at the shadow user to get back to fighting. The comment drew some odd looks from the nearby ninja that were paying attention.
“What do you mean by that? That doesn’t look like any hand seal I’ve ever seen,” Kurenai asked her colleague, her interest piqued. The bearded jounin grinned for a moment before answering.
“That’s because it’s not a seal; that’s his thinking pose,” Asuma replied, pride and anticipation thick in his voice. “He does that occasionally when I’m winning in shougi, and every time he does, I lose horribly.”
Kurenai’s eyes widened at the admission. “That’s… impressive.”
“He is. I had him take an IQ test disguised as a puzzle, and it turns out he’s a super genius,” Asuma told her seriously. “He has an IQ easily over 200.” The shock appearing on his friend’s face set him chuckling again. “Now let’s watch the match, I want to see how this plays out.”
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Down in the arena, Shikamaru was furiously going over his options for this fight. Analyzing the kunoichi’s attack patterns and what he had seen of her abilities, he found a workable solution. The rough outline of a plan formed just as she realized he was not forming an attack.
With a wicked grin, Temari whipped out her fan and once again sent ablast of cutting wind at the Nara. Shikamaru opened his eyes when he felt the air start to shift and reacted on instinct. The shadow user forced chakra through his body in an effort to lessen the impact. Fortunately, this meant the wind was unable to cut him in half as it should have. Unfortunately, he still took a full powered /Kamaitachi/to the chest. The winds bodily lifted him and threw him at the statue along the wall. Reorienting himself, Shikamaru attached himself to the statue with chakra and looked across at the sand kunoichi, waiting for her to make the next move.
The calm look of absolute boredom on his face enraged Temari. She released the chakra holding her to the wall, dropping lightly to the floor and began her assault as she moved. Shikamaru ducked behind the hands of the statue to avoid the scything winds directed at him. As the winds began to die down, he finally made his move. Sliding out from behind the statue, he launched a kunai at the wind mistress before ducking back behind cover. Temari simply sneered at him, not even bothering to move as the kunai passed well over her shoulder.
“Really? That’s it?” She called, completely unimpressed with the leaf nin so far. “Why must we continue this charade? You can’t even aim a kunai right.” Shikamaru quirked a slight grin, silently molding chakra as she ranted at him. A few seconds later, he began his real offensive.
The lazy Nara rolled out from behind his cover, his hands already in the rat seal. The boy’s shadow immediately responded to his will and shot towards Temari. The girl realized quickly that letting it hit her would likely be a bad thing, so she threw herself back, forgoing her charge. Weaving quickly, she managed to avoid the thin tendril of shadow until it quivered to a stop a few inches before her feet. The spike strained to move farther before slowly beginning to retract. Temari smirked to herself and slammed her fan into the ground, marking the maximum range of the shadow. “Like I’ve been telling you, you can’t win. Give up already.”
“Much as I’d like to, that isn’t going to happen,” Shikamaru called back to the girl. “I can’t lose to awoman; that would be far too bothersome.”
“Ugh… And here I thought you were smart,” Temari sighed heavily. “How about you give up, and I won’t break every bone in your body. What d’you say?”
Temari’s words sent a huge smirk across his face. “I think I’ll say… Boom”
A short hiss caused Temari’s eyes to widen in shock as she looked behind herself for the source. His kunai… No way! Denials screamed through her mind as the explosive-tag wrapped kunai detonated less than six inches behind her heels, forcefully throwing her well past her range marker.
Shikamaru’s shadow immediately latched onto the girl struggling to stay on her feet. Burns covered the back of her legs as he forced her to stand. Shikamaru forced her to follow his movements as he brought her fan into the air and then slammed it forcefully onto her head as he released the jutsu. Temari fell unconscious to the floor without the support of the shadow.
Hayate stepped forward and checked the girl. After he verified her state, he announced, “Shousha, Nara Shikamaru.” At that, Shikamaru tucked his hands back in his pockets and slowly made his way back to the stairs, eventually taking his place alongside his team.
“Nice job, Shika,” Chouji congratulated his friend as he arrived. “I was expecting you to give up a while ago, but you pulled it off. I’m impressed.” Shikamaru merely nodded at the praise and turned his attention to the ring, where the newest contestants were starting each other down.
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Hayate coughed into his hand to signal the beginning of the next match. “Sabaku no Gaara versus Tenten. Are you ready?” Tenten nodded at the examiner, far too nervous about Gaara to let her attention leave him for long. The sand nin stared blankly at the girl, waiting for the signal to begin. “Very well. Third match, hajime.”
Tenten exploded into action as the examiner retreated, launching aquartet of kunai at Gaara. Before the kunai could get within a foot of the boy, however, a wall of sand erupted from nowhere, knocking the kunai to the ground. The brunette quirked an eyebrow at the display, “Impressive…” Gaara remained motionless.
The girl withdrew several kunai from her pouch and prepared to attack again. She began by lightly lobbing several of the kunai over Gaara’s head, then unleashing a torrent of pointy steel towards the redhead. A few shuriken followed a different track however, and went straight for the kunai just beginning to succumb to gravity. The kunai in mid-air were redirected by the shuriken and sent straight towards Gaara from above, reaching him at the same moment the second barrage did. With waves of metallic death approaching him from all directions, Gaara did as he always does; stand there emotionlessly as walls of sand protected him from harm. Tenten’s eyes widened in shock as the sand dissipated to reveal Gaara completely unscathed.
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“Gai-sensei, how is that possible? He didn’t even make ahandseal!” Lee called to his mentor.
“I’m not su-” Gai began with a frown, only to be cut off by the nearby sand nin.
“That’s Gaara’s ultimate defense,” Kankuro said, both pride and a hint of fear evident in his voice. “The sand protects him from any attack, regardless of his will. Gaara is invincible.”
Gai’s eyes widened at the revelation, and he turned back to the match with renewed interest, and a hint of worry. “This will be an excellent chance for Tenten to unleash the passions of youth!”
“Yosh,” Lee agreed before starting a cheer for his teammate. “Tenten-chan! Show us the flames of your youth!”
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While the spectators were being informed of Gaara’s abilities, Tenten was becoming increasingly desperate. She had tried almost every attack in her repertoire and nothing had made the redhead so much as blink. Gaara simply stood where he had at the beginning of the fight, surrounded by several piles of now useless weapons.
“Gah! I was hoping I could save this for the finals,” Tenten groused as she pulled out a pair of scrolls. “I have to say, I'm impressed. Your defense is almost impenetrable, but you won’t be able to block this.” The weapon mistress kneeled then, setting the scrolls down on either side of her. After running through a brief gambit of hand seals, the girl threw herself into the air as the scrolls erupted into columns of smoke shaped like dragons. With a cry of “/Shoushouryuu/!” the smoky dragons charged for the ceiling, twining around each other in ahelix. As the swirling dragons passed Tenten, the smoke dissipated. In place of the dragons, long streams of paper were running the length of where the dragons had been. Tenten’s hands were ablur as she ran them along the scrolls, unsealing and throwing weapons of all sorts. Kama, kunai, shuriken, manriki, and even a few wakizashi rained down on the stoic Gaara.
Gaara finally moved in response. Shifting his hand, a sphere of sand, easily a foot thick, formed around the boy as the weapons rained down on him. Undeterred, Tenten peppered the sphere with as many pointy objects as she could lay her hands on. None of her projectiles were capable of piercing the sphere, however. After several minutes of continuous bombardment, the storm of weapons finally abated, leaving Gaara’s sphere, embedded in every possible place with a blade of some sort, yet still standing strong. Tenten fell out of her technique as her chakra gave out. Gaara’s shield dissolved a moment later, dropping all of the weapons and revealing the boy wearing a psychotic grin. The sand nin raised ahand towards the exhausted kunoichi as he spoke.
“You are a worthy sacrifice to Mother. Come, validate my existence!” Sand erupted from his gourd as he finished speaking, rushing straight for the barely standing Tenten. When the sand was almost on her, she released her trump card.
Tenten twisted her wrist and every weapon used in the /Shoushouryuu/came to life. Wires from her hands to each weapon caused them to jump towards the psychotic redhead. Gaara’s sand halted inches from the girl’s skin, turning and rushing back to defend its master. The sand had nowhere near enough time, however, and every one of the weapons embedded themselves in Gaara.
The reaction in the stands was deafening, to say the least. Most of the Konoha rookies began to cheer loudly, especially the weapon mistress’ green teammate, while the sand ninja were stunned into numb silence that someone had managed to defeat Gaara. The cheering did not last long, however.
Gaara, his body full of sharp steel, began to leak sand out of his wounds. After a heartbeat’s pause, he fell apart into a pile of sand and metal. Tenten stumbled as the shock chased the adrenaline from her system. The fall managed to be a good thing, however. A massive column of sand shot past right over her head less than a second after she collapsed to her hands and knees. The exhausted girl threw herself to the side as quickly as she could to avoid the follow up attack, barely managing to avoid it. She pushed her body as fast and as hard as she could before the inevitable happened. She tripped over herself trying to avoid a swipe, and her left arm was suddenly engulfed in sand up to the shoulder.
Gaara gave another of his psychotic grins and collapsed his hand with a whisper of “/Sabaku Sousa/”. Tenten screamed as her arm was all but destroyed by the titanic pressure. The sand moved to engulf the girl completely, but a green blur dispersed the cloud.
“That’s enough,” Gai declared, his face more serious than anyone had ever seen. “It’s over.” Gaara looked at the man with murder in his eyes.
“Why do you interfere?!” the boy all but screamed, clutching at the kanji for love tattooed on his forehead. “What has she done for you to protect her?!”
“She is my precious student,” Gai replied tersely, anger apparent in his stance. “I will not allow you to harm her further.”
“Tch.” With a final sound of contempt, Gaara brought himself under control and teleported back to his teammates in a swirl of sand. Gai picked up his fallen student and handed her over to the medics appearing in the doorway. After handing her off, Gai returned to the stands with a heavy heart to watch the rest of the preliminaries.
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After the arena was cleared of the remaining debris, the display rotated through names yet again. The board settled on the new combatants and a loud shout rose from the balcony.
“Hell yea! It’s my turn now!” Naruto cheered as he jumped over the rail, landing neatly beside Hayate. “This’ll be great!”
The blonde’s opponent worked his way down the stairs and gave asmirk behind his face-covering veil as he stopped across the ring from the blonde.
“Uzumaki Naruto versus Akado Yoroi, are you ready?” Hayate asked calmly. Naruto’s boisterous response and a grunt from Yoroi answered the question nicely. “Fourth match, hajime!”
Naruto burst into motion as soon as the words left Hayate’s mouth. The blonde started with an all-out taijutsu assault. Naruto launched a kick at his opponent’s head, but Yoroi ducked the attack. The jinchuuriki followed it with an elaborate combination, but overextended himself and Yoroi took advantage of the opening. The glasses-wearing genin tossed Naruto to the floor and pinned the blonde in a submission hold. Yoroi planted a hand on the middle of the boy’s chest and it started to glow.
Naruto glanced down at the offending hand while struggling against the hold. A second later, he did a double-take, transfixed by what his Higan revealed. Chakra was being forcefully extracted from his coils, and was pulled into the hand resting on his chest. Naruto began to panic as more and more chakra was drained from him. Yoroi chuckled at the boy’s intensified struggling.
“You can’t win this. My bloodline drains chakra from anything with the slightest touch and I have trained extensively in grappling. This fight is over.”
“Apparently nobody told you what the Higan does!” Naruto growled as he brought his bloodline to bear. Forcing himself to focus, the blonde slowly began reversing the drain. Yoroi’s unseen eyes widened behind his glasses.
“Im- Impossible!” the genin stuttered out as he felt his newly-acquired chakra wrested from his coils.
“My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and the impossible is my specialty!” Naruto smirked from underneath the man. Before the older genin could recover from his shock, Naruto bucked hard, sending his opponent flying. Finally out of the hold, Naruto jumped back to his feet and settled into a basic stance. “Now… let’s get this party started.”
Naruto brought his hands together into his favorite seal and with acry of “/Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!/” eight clones spawned. Gah! I was trying for 20 of the damned things! I’m still not back to normal. Note to self, talk to Jiji once this is done. Naruto thought to himself as his clones charged en mass.
Yoroi displayed a high proficiency in taijutsu as he systematically destroyed the blonde clones. Kabuto’s teammate favored open palm strikes and grappling holds for the most part, utilizing his chakra draining abilities to their fullest extent. For his part, Naruto never gave the man a good chance to drain his chakra again. The genin’s Higan burned fiercely as he combated the chakra drain the few times Yoroi managed to lay a hand on him. Naruto forced his chakra to remain in his own coils through sheer, stubborn determination, forcing his opponent to try more conventional attacks.
Fed up with his bloodline’s inability to drain the annoying blonde, Yoroi dodged one of the few remaining Narutos and began a new counterattack. Yoroi caught and threw the incoming blonde before he could land a punch, skillfully tossing it towards one of the last three remaining Narutos. When the boys collided, both exploded in acloud of smoke, revealing both to have been Kage Bunshin.
“Give it up kid,” Yoroi called as he eyed the remaining blondes. “You can't beat me like this.”
Naruto seethed at the taunt, but knew the veiled genin was right. Amoment later however, a smirk appeared on the blonde's whiskered face. “Sorry, ugly, but I ain't gonna lose today!” As he spoke, both Narutos leapt into action. The blondes charged at Yoroi, engaging him in a furius, but short and one-sided taijutsu bout. The veiled genin dispersed the clone attacking him head-on in short order, before grabbing the original and subduing him in an advanced hold. Wrestling a hand free, Yoroi planted it in the middle of the blonde's chest.
“Your chakra is mine now, gaki!” The grin on Naruto's face at his words planted a small seed of doubt in Yoroi's mind.
“It's all yours teme,” Naruto said before focusing his Higan on the flow of chakra out of his chest. “Let's see if you can handle it!” Before the words finished registering with the veiled shinobi, he felt a massive surge of chakra explode into his coils. More power than the genin had ever felt was flowing swiftly through his veins, and more was being pumped into him by the second. A smirk appeared behind his veil.
What power... With this much chakra, there's no way I can lose! Yoroi thought to himself as his inner coils filled with more and more of Naruto's chakra. A moment later, however, a sharp pain in his abdomen distracted him from his thoughts of easy victory. Said thoughts changed to panic when the pain began to spread. What the hell is going on?! The intense, burning pain spread through his veins like wildfire. The genin collapsed bonelessly as the sensation reached his head. Thoughts of victory, the fight, or anything else fled his mind before the all-encompassing pain. Thus, he failed to notice Naruto being declared the winner, nor did he notice the medics carrying him out of the arena.
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“What the hell just happened?” Sakura asked the room at large, not really expecting an answer. Hinata's quiet voice came as a surprise, then.
“Naruto-kun flooded Akado-san with his chakra,” Sakura turned to the girl and saw her watching the blonde in question with her Byakugan active. “Akado-san's chakra coils could not take the strain and cracked.”
The genin within earshot all went wide-eyed at the pronouncement. “Chakra coils can crack?” Kiba asked in surprise.
“Yes,” Kurenai answered simply. “As you know, everyone has a chakra reserve that we ninja use for jutsus and the like. This reserve fills naturally over time after it is used and can even be artificially filled through various items, such as soldier pills. What you probably don't know about that is that the body has no way to limit the chakra generated by foreign sources. If the chakra forced into the body exceeds the maximum amount the body can hold, a condition called 'chakra overload', the chakra system will begin to break down. Akado-san is lucky he stopped when he did, much longer and he could have exploded.” Dead silence followed the genjutsu mistress' explanation, until the jounin smirked lightly. “And that's why you should always be active for days after using a soldier pill.”
None of the gathered genin ever did find out why Kiba suddenly looked rather bashful.
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As a much quieter Naruto made his way back to his teammate, the display began rotating through names again. As it stilled, Hayate's voice rang out. “Kankuro and Misumi Tsurugi, please get down here now”
A/N – And chapter 6 is done. No idea when 7's coming around. It may or may not be another 6 months before I get around to finishing it.
“All of you but the combatants please proceed to the balconies now so we can begin,” Hayate gestured to the pair of platforms lining opposite walls of the large arena. The genin swiftly complied, leaving the two stoic boys and sickly jounin alone in the ring. “Uchiha Sasuke versus Aburame Shino, are you ready?” The jounin received nods from both genin before speaking, “First match, hajime.”
The boys stood motionlessly, each waiting for the other to make the first move. The tension in the room rose steadily as their staring contest continued. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to the audience, Sasuke blurred into motion, showing exactly why he was crowned ‘Rookie of the Year’. Crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye, Sasuke launched a flurry of attacks into the Aburame, lifting him into the air. Shino let out agrunt as the air was forced from his lungs, before an almost unnoticeable smirk appeared behind his collar. A heartbeat later, Shino’s body exploded into thousands of small black dots that threw themselves at the Uchiha.
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The Aburame’s rather odd jutsu surprised most of the genin in the stands, who had never worked with any members of the Aburame clan. “Ne, Kakashi-sensei, what was that jutsu? How did Shino explode like that? And what are those things?” Most of the nearby genin looked to the cyclops at Sakura’s questions.
“The Aburame clan has dedicated their lives to fighting with aspecies of insect called the ‘Kikaichu’, or Destruction Bugs, which feed on chakra.” Kakashi explained to all the nearby genin, barring Team 8. “Long ago, they formed a special contract with the species, and in exchange for hosting the bugs within their own bodies and giving them a portion of their chakra, they are able to control the bugs in combat. Shino used one of their more popular techniques, the /Mushi Bunshin/, in an effort to get the Kikaichu onto Sasuke.”
“So Shino has all those bugs living inside him? And they /eat/chakra?! Bad ass!” Naruto exclaimed loudly, turning back to the ongoing fight. “Sasuke-teme! You better not lose to this guy, no matter how much cooler his techniques are than yours!”
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Back in the arena, the tidal wave of Kikaichu swarmed the Uchiha, who was hurriedly running through seals. “/Katon: Gokakyu/no Jutsu/!” came the call not a moment too soon. Hungry flames leapt from Sasuke’s mouth, eagerly devouring the cloud of insects. Jumping clear of the few charred remnants, the Uchiha looked to the stands at his teammate’s shout. Temple throbbing at the /probably unintentional insult, Sasuke gave Naruto the only adequate response, a single-finger salute, ignoring the blonde's indignant reply.
Returning his attention to the ring, the avenger began to search for his missing opponent. Sharingan active, he prowled the arena, his senses on high-alert. A light crunch behind him sent the avenger whirling around, to reveal more Aburame-free space. A few moments later, the Uchiha was beginning to lose his patience with Shino’s tactics, and voiced as much, only to be met with silence.
Catching a flash of grey in the edge of his sight, Sasuke threw himself to the side as Shino dropped from above, slamming a pair of kama down where the boy once stood. “About time you showed up,” Sasuke quipped when the small cloud of dust began to settle.
Shino did not respond verbally. Charging through the dissipating remnants of concrete dust, the Aburame began an intricate series of attacks that forced Sasuke onto the defensive, even with the Sharingan. The relentless assault left no room for a counter-attack. I have to get those damned kama away from him somehow. Sasuke thought to himself as he gave more and more ground. The Uchiha was not labeled a genius for nothing, however. While he continually retreated, Sasuke was swiftly learning the pattern of Shino’s katas. There’s a small opening between the third and fourth strikes. Once he starts that sequence again, I’ve got this won.
Sasuke gave ground as he waited for the opening he had found to reappear. Finally, after seeming ages, Shino began the flawed kata. When the third strike missed, Sasuke began his counter. Blocking the swipe of the fourth strike, Sasuke shot his kunai forward, slicing over the back of the bug user’s hand and most of the way up the bug user’s forearm. The kama was sent flying as Shino reflexively released it. Sasuke capitalized on the Aburame’s surprise, whirling around and slamming him into the ground in atextbook shoulder throw.
The bug user hit the ground with a solid slam, this time definitely not a /Mushi Bunshin/. The boy met Sasuke’s eyes a moment later and, for the first time since the match began, he spoke. “I win.”
Sasuke had less than a nanosecond to process what he had said when the floor around him erupted in a geyser of Kikaichu. Cursing vehemently, Sasuke tried futilely to wipe off the bugs swiftly draining his chakra. It soon proved too much for the prodigy, however, and his reserves were swiftly emptied. The Uchiha scion collapsed a moment later and the bugs vacated his body en mass.
The whole arena was silent at the rather unexpected turn of events, even the Aburame’s teammates. Shino turned to the examiner after a moment and raised an eyebrow. Hayate coughed into his hand sheepishly and began to speak. “Shousha, Abu-”
“I’m not… done yet…” Sasuke choked out as he struggled to his feet on shaky legs. “This… is not… over.” The examiner gave a skeptical glance at the struggling genin and shrugged before stepping back.
“Forfeit, Sasuke-san,” Shino advised neutrally. “You cannot defeat me in your current condition.”
Sasuke growled at that and his glare could have melted solid steel. “You have… no idea what I can do.” The boast sounded hollow, even to himself. Scowling angrily, Sasuke lurched towards the stoic Aburame. “I won’t lose here!” Throwing himself into an attack, a peculiar sensation overran the boy in mid-leap. Time came to a stop as color faded from the world. Avoice echoed throughout the chamber, seeming to come from everywhere at once.
I can grant you victory…
The voice rang through his skull, each echo becoming louder than the last. After a few seconds, it ceased as suddenly as it had started, leaving the boy utterly confused. A moment later, it spoke again.
I offer you a choice …
Choice? What are you talking about?! Sasuke yelled soundlessly into the void.
Do you desire my aid?...
Who the hell are you?!
Do you accept my power?...
What are you talking about, damnit?!
Do you want my strength?!
The last came as an incredible shout, silencing all of the echoes bouncing around his head. In the silence, a figure appeared before Sasuke, seeming to step out of thin air. The figure at once terrified and fascinated the avenger, for its appearance was hauntingly familiar. Standing before him was what could only be described as a ‘negative’ copy of himself. The two appeared exactly the same, even down to the scrapes and tears decorating his flesh and clothes. The only difference between them was contract in colors. Dark grey skin, white hair, black eyes with golden pupils, and a black four-pointed star spread across his face. The figure brought his face right before the frozen Uchiha and spoke once more.
Do you wish for victory?
The Uchiha felt a connection with this being somehow; something deep inside him was straining to accept the offer. Throwing caution to the winds, Sasuke forced himself to ignore his pride, silently shouting his agreement to the timeless and frozen world. A smirk of victory flashed across the other’s face.
Then you shall have it.
With a flash, color bled back into the world and time moved once again. To the audience, it seemed that something snapped within the Uchiha mid-leap. Markings resembling black flames erupted from the base of his neck and spread over his body, covering him completely in less than a second. A maniacal grin split his face as he slammed into the Aburame, catching the surprised boy in the head with the strongest punch he could muster.
Shino was sent careening across the floor and slammed painfully into the wall over 30 feet away, where he collapsed, unconscious. As soon as the boy settled, the black flames receded from Sasuke. With the marks gone, the Uchiha fell to his knees panting heavily. Hayate coughed then and raised his hand. “Shousha, Uchiha Sasuke.”
A flurry of activity met the pronouncement. Kakashi appeared in the ring, grabbed the Uchiha and disappeared while the medics ran out to retrieve Shino. Once the unconscious boy was lifted onto astretcher, the stunned genin managed to gather their wits enough to wonder what had just happened.
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“Oi, Naruto! What the hell was that?!” Kiba yelled to his acquaintance and quasi-friend. The blonde started out of his thoughts and he turned to the dog user.
“No idea, man. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“But you’re his teammate! He had to have told you something about it!”
“I just said I’ve never seen it before, dog breath! The stupid bastard never tells me anything.”
“Bu-” Kiba’s protests were cut short by his sensei’s hand landing on his shoulder.
“Drop it, Kiba. If that was what I believe it to be, it’s far more dangerous than you can begin to imagine.” Kurenai’s calm voice cut through the dog user’s objections. “It’s highly classified so I don’t know much, but if I am right, it is a seal from a very dangerous criminal. It can grant a massive boost in strength, but it destroys the mind. If he keeps using it, Sasuke will eventually end up as nothing more than a mindless automaton. Kakashi is likely dealing with it as we speak, hopefully permanently.” Naruto’s brow shot for the sky at her blunt words.
“Kami… Kakashi-sensei can fix it though, right?”
“I believe so.” Kurenai’s words soothed at least some of the worry coursing through the resident jinchuuriki. After amoment of silence, a vaguely annoyed cough sounded from the stage. The rookies gave a start at the sudden noise before giving their attention to Hayate as he began to speak.
“Sorry to break this up, but we need to get the preliminaries moving. Would Nara Shikamaru care to join us for his match?”
“Tch, this is such a pain,” the aforementioned Nara sighed as he shuffled towards the stairs. “Ah well, I can’t lose to a woman, that would just be embarrassing.” His opponent in the ring heard him and a vein in her temple began to pulse.
“Get down here and say that to my face, asshole!” she shouted at the slowly moving Nara. “I’m gonna kick your ass!”
A minute or so later, Shikamaru ambled up to the examiner and his impatient opponent. “Yeah, yeah, I’m here,” the Nara managed to say before a yawn escaped. “Can we get this over with already?”
His opponent scowled at the easy dismissal, fixing a decidedly evil glare at the lazy genin. “Nara Shikamaru versus Temari. Are you ready?” The withering glare from the female sand nin was more than enough of an answer for Hayate. “Then second match, hajime.”
As soon as the words left the referee's mouth, Temari burst into motion, swinging her fan around in a flash with a cry of“/Kamaitachi/”. A burst of wind erupted from the blonde, rushing straight for the now wide-awake Nara. Skikamaru barely managed to avoid the cone of cutting winds by diving to the side, landing in the impression left from Shino’s earlier missed attack. When he felt the winds calm, he immediately threw himself as far as he could from the hole. A second later, Temari appeared overhead, sending another wave of dicing winds where the lazy genin had lain.
This isn’t good. She’s a range specialist, my taijutsu sucks, and there’s nothing I can use at range except my shadow. The Nara thought, quickly analyzing his available options. Nothing else for it, may as well try. With the boy holding his hands in the seal of the rat, Shikamaru’s shadow shot after the unsuspecting blonde. A shout from her teammate in the balconies alerted Temari to the danger, and she launched herself into the air in response. Shikamaru let a slight smirk cross his face as he launched a trio of shuriken at the airborne sand nin. Whipping out her giant fan, Temari let loose a blast of air that sent the shuriken tumbling right back at Shikamaru, faster than the shadow user could dodge. The air burst also sent Temari flying away to connect and stick to the far wall of the arena.
Shikamaru pulled the single shuriken from his arm with care before turning his full attention to the wind mistress. So projectiles are out… Calm down and think. What other options are there?
“If that’s all you’ve got, give up now and save us both the trouble,” Temari called from her place on the wall. “You can’t beat me.” Now wearing a heavy scowl, Shikamaru surprised everyone present. Temari tensed for an attack as the lazy genin closed his eyes, sat back on his heels and formed acircle with his hands.
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“Ohoho, he’s getting serious now, this should be good.” Asuma chuckled in the stands as Naruto and Ino shouted at the shadow user to get back to fighting. The comment drew some odd looks from the nearby ninja that were paying attention.
“What do you mean by that? That doesn’t look like any hand seal I’ve ever seen,” Kurenai asked her colleague, her interest piqued. The bearded jounin grinned for a moment before answering.
“That’s because it’s not a seal; that’s his thinking pose,” Asuma replied, pride and anticipation thick in his voice. “He does that occasionally when I’m winning in shougi, and every time he does, I lose horribly.”
Kurenai’s eyes widened at the admission. “That’s… impressive.”
“He is. I had him take an IQ test disguised as a puzzle, and it turns out he’s a super genius,” Asuma told her seriously. “He has an IQ easily over 200.” The shock appearing on his friend’s face set him chuckling again. “Now let’s watch the match, I want to see how this plays out.”
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Down in the arena, Shikamaru was furiously going over his options for this fight. Analyzing the kunoichi’s attack patterns and what he had seen of her abilities, he found a workable solution. The rough outline of a plan formed just as she realized he was not forming an attack.
With a wicked grin, Temari whipped out her fan and once again sent ablast of cutting wind at the Nara. Shikamaru opened his eyes when he felt the air start to shift and reacted on instinct. The shadow user forced chakra through his body in an effort to lessen the impact. Fortunately, this meant the wind was unable to cut him in half as it should have. Unfortunately, he still took a full powered /Kamaitachi/to the chest. The winds bodily lifted him and threw him at the statue along the wall. Reorienting himself, Shikamaru attached himself to the statue with chakra and looked across at the sand kunoichi, waiting for her to make the next move.
The calm look of absolute boredom on his face enraged Temari. She released the chakra holding her to the wall, dropping lightly to the floor and began her assault as she moved. Shikamaru ducked behind the hands of the statue to avoid the scything winds directed at him. As the winds began to die down, he finally made his move. Sliding out from behind the statue, he launched a kunai at the wind mistress before ducking back behind cover. Temari simply sneered at him, not even bothering to move as the kunai passed well over her shoulder.
“Really? That’s it?” She called, completely unimpressed with the leaf nin so far. “Why must we continue this charade? You can’t even aim a kunai right.” Shikamaru quirked a slight grin, silently molding chakra as she ranted at him. A few seconds later, he began his real offensive.
The lazy Nara rolled out from behind his cover, his hands already in the rat seal. The boy’s shadow immediately responded to his will and shot towards Temari. The girl realized quickly that letting it hit her would likely be a bad thing, so she threw herself back, forgoing her charge. Weaving quickly, she managed to avoid the thin tendril of shadow until it quivered to a stop a few inches before her feet. The spike strained to move farther before slowly beginning to retract. Temari smirked to herself and slammed her fan into the ground, marking the maximum range of the shadow. “Like I’ve been telling you, you can’t win. Give up already.”
“Much as I’d like to, that isn’t going to happen,” Shikamaru called back to the girl. “I can’t lose to awoman; that would be far too bothersome.”
“Ugh… And here I thought you were smart,” Temari sighed heavily. “How about you give up, and I won’t break every bone in your body. What d’you say?”
Temari’s words sent a huge smirk across his face. “I think I’ll say… Boom”
A short hiss caused Temari’s eyes to widen in shock as she looked behind herself for the source. His kunai… No way! Denials screamed through her mind as the explosive-tag wrapped kunai detonated less than six inches behind her heels, forcefully throwing her well past her range marker.
Shikamaru’s shadow immediately latched onto the girl struggling to stay on her feet. Burns covered the back of her legs as he forced her to stand. Shikamaru forced her to follow his movements as he brought her fan into the air and then slammed it forcefully onto her head as he released the jutsu. Temari fell unconscious to the floor without the support of the shadow.
Hayate stepped forward and checked the girl. After he verified her state, he announced, “Shousha, Nara Shikamaru.” At that, Shikamaru tucked his hands back in his pockets and slowly made his way back to the stairs, eventually taking his place alongside his team.
“Nice job, Shika,” Chouji congratulated his friend as he arrived. “I was expecting you to give up a while ago, but you pulled it off. I’m impressed.” Shikamaru merely nodded at the praise and turned his attention to the ring, where the newest contestants were starting each other down.
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Hayate coughed into his hand to signal the beginning of the next match. “Sabaku no Gaara versus Tenten. Are you ready?” Tenten nodded at the examiner, far too nervous about Gaara to let her attention leave him for long. The sand nin stared blankly at the girl, waiting for the signal to begin. “Very well. Third match, hajime.”
Tenten exploded into action as the examiner retreated, launching aquartet of kunai at Gaara. Before the kunai could get within a foot of the boy, however, a wall of sand erupted from nowhere, knocking the kunai to the ground. The brunette quirked an eyebrow at the display, “Impressive…” Gaara remained motionless.
The girl withdrew several kunai from her pouch and prepared to attack again. She began by lightly lobbing several of the kunai over Gaara’s head, then unleashing a torrent of pointy steel towards the redhead. A few shuriken followed a different track however, and went straight for the kunai just beginning to succumb to gravity. The kunai in mid-air were redirected by the shuriken and sent straight towards Gaara from above, reaching him at the same moment the second barrage did. With waves of metallic death approaching him from all directions, Gaara did as he always does; stand there emotionlessly as walls of sand protected him from harm. Tenten’s eyes widened in shock as the sand dissipated to reveal Gaara completely unscathed.
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“Gai-sensei, how is that possible? He didn’t even make ahandseal!” Lee called to his mentor.
“I’m not su-” Gai began with a frown, only to be cut off by the nearby sand nin.
“That’s Gaara’s ultimate defense,” Kankuro said, both pride and a hint of fear evident in his voice. “The sand protects him from any attack, regardless of his will. Gaara is invincible.”
Gai’s eyes widened at the revelation, and he turned back to the match with renewed interest, and a hint of worry. “This will be an excellent chance for Tenten to unleash the passions of youth!”
“Yosh,” Lee agreed before starting a cheer for his teammate. “Tenten-chan! Show us the flames of your youth!”
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While the spectators were being informed of Gaara’s abilities, Tenten was becoming increasingly desperate. She had tried almost every attack in her repertoire and nothing had made the redhead so much as blink. Gaara simply stood where he had at the beginning of the fight, surrounded by several piles of now useless weapons.
“Gah! I was hoping I could save this for the finals,” Tenten groused as she pulled out a pair of scrolls. “I have to say, I'm impressed. Your defense is almost impenetrable, but you won’t be able to block this.” The weapon mistress kneeled then, setting the scrolls down on either side of her. After running through a brief gambit of hand seals, the girl threw herself into the air as the scrolls erupted into columns of smoke shaped like dragons. With a cry of “/Shoushouryuu/!” the smoky dragons charged for the ceiling, twining around each other in ahelix. As the swirling dragons passed Tenten, the smoke dissipated. In place of the dragons, long streams of paper were running the length of where the dragons had been. Tenten’s hands were ablur as she ran them along the scrolls, unsealing and throwing weapons of all sorts. Kama, kunai, shuriken, manriki, and even a few wakizashi rained down on the stoic Gaara.
Gaara finally moved in response. Shifting his hand, a sphere of sand, easily a foot thick, formed around the boy as the weapons rained down on him. Undeterred, Tenten peppered the sphere with as many pointy objects as she could lay her hands on. None of her projectiles were capable of piercing the sphere, however. After several minutes of continuous bombardment, the storm of weapons finally abated, leaving Gaara’s sphere, embedded in every possible place with a blade of some sort, yet still standing strong. Tenten fell out of her technique as her chakra gave out. Gaara’s shield dissolved a moment later, dropping all of the weapons and revealing the boy wearing a psychotic grin. The sand nin raised ahand towards the exhausted kunoichi as he spoke.
“You are a worthy sacrifice to Mother. Come, validate my existence!” Sand erupted from his gourd as he finished speaking, rushing straight for the barely standing Tenten. When the sand was almost on her, she released her trump card.
Tenten twisted her wrist and every weapon used in the /Shoushouryuu/came to life. Wires from her hands to each weapon caused them to jump towards the psychotic redhead. Gaara’s sand halted inches from the girl’s skin, turning and rushing back to defend its master. The sand had nowhere near enough time, however, and every one of the weapons embedded themselves in Gaara.
The reaction in the stands was deafening, to say the least. Most of the Konoha rookies began to cheer loudly, especially the weapon mistress’ green teammate, while the sand ninja were stunned into numb silence that someone had managed to defeat Gaara. The cheering did not last long, however.
Gaara, his body full of sharp steel, began to leak sand out of his wounds. After a heartbeat’s pause, he fell apart into a pile of sand and metal. Tenten stumbled as the shock chased the adrenaline from her system. The fall managed to be a good thing, however. A massive column of sand shot past right over her head less than a second after she collapsed to her hands and knees. The exhausted girl threw herself to the side as quickly as she could to avoid the follow up attack, barely managing to avoid it. She pushed her body as fast and as hard as she could before the inevitable happened. She tripped over herself trying to avoid a swipe, and her left arm was suddenly engulfed in sand up to the shoulder.
Gaara gave another of his psychotic grins and collapsed his hand with a whisper of “/Sabaku Sousa/”. Tenten screamed as her arm was all but destroyed by the titanic pressure. The sand moved to engulf the girl completely, but a green blur dispersed the cloud.
“That’s enough,” Gai declared, his face more serious than anyone had ever seen. “It’s over.” Gaara looked at the man with murder in his eyes.
“Why do you interfere?!” the boy all but screamed, clutching at the kanji for love tattooed on his forehead. “What has she done for you to protect her?!”
“She is my precious student,” Gai replied tersely, anger apparent in his stance. “I will not allow you to harm her further.”
“Tch.” With a final sound of contempt, Gaara brought himself under control and teleported back to his teammates in a swirl of sand. Gai picked up his fallen student and handed her over to the medics appearing in the doorway. After handing her off, Gai returned to the stands with a heavy heart to watch the rest of the preliminaries.
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After the arena was cleared of the remaining debris, the display rotated through names yet again. The board settled on the new combatants and a loud shout rose from the balcony.
“Hell yea! It’s my turn now!” Naruto cheered as he jumped over the rail, landing neatly beside Hayate. “This’ll be great!”
The blonde’s opponent worked his way down the stairs and gave asmirk behind his face-covering veil as he stopped across the ring from the blonde.
“Uzumaki Naruto versus Akado Yoroi, are you ready?” Hayate asked calmly. Naruto’s boisterous response and a grunt from Yoroi answered the question nicely. “Fourth match, hajime!”
Naruto burst into motion as soon as the words left Hayate’s mouth. The blonde started with an all-out taijutsu assault. Naruto launched a kick at his opponent’s head, but Yoroi ducked the attack. The jinchuuriki followed it with an elaborate combination, but overextended himself and Yoroi took advantage of the opening. The glasses-wearing genin tossed Naruto to the floor and pinned the blonde in a submission hold. Yoroi planted a hand on the middle of the boy’s chest and it started to glow.
Naruto glanced down at the offending hand while struggling against the hold. A second later, he did a double-take, transfixed by what his Higan revealed. Chakra was being forcefully extracted from his coils, and was pulled into the hand resting on his chest. Naruto began to panic as more and more chakra was drained from him. Yoroi chuckled at the boy’s intensified struggling.
“You can’t win this. My bloodline drains chakra from anything with the slightest touch and I have trained extensively in grappling. This fight is over.”
“Apparently nobody told you what the Higan does!” Naruto growled as he brought his bloodline to bear. Forcing himself to focus, the blonde slowly began reversing the drain. Yoroi’s unseen eyes widened behind his glasses.
“Im- Impossible!” the genin stuttered out as he felt his newly-acquired chakra wrested from his coils.
“My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and the impossible is my specialty!” Naruto smirked from underneath the man. Before the older genin could recover from his shock, Naruto bucked hard, sending his opponent flying. Finally out of the hold, Naruto jumped back to his feet and settled into a basic stance. “Now… let’s get this party started.”
Naruto brought his hands together into his favorite seal and with acry of “/Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!/” eight clones spawned. Gah! I was trying for 20 of the damned things! I’m still not back to normal. Note to self, talk to Jiji once this is done. Naruto thought to himself as his clones charged en mass.
Yoroi displayed a high proficiency in taijutsu as he systematically destroyed the blonde clones. Kabuto’s teammate favored open palm strikes and grappling holds for the most part, utilizing his chakra draining abilities to their fullest extent. For his part, Naruto never gave the man a good chance to drain his chakra again. The genin’s Higan burned fiercely as he combated the chakra drain the few times Yoroi managed to lay a hand on him. Naruto forced his chakra to remain in his own coils through sheer, stubborn determination, forcing his opponent to try more conventional attacks.
Fed up with his bloodline’s inability to drain the annoying blonde, Yoroi dodged one of the few remaining Narutos and began a new counterattack. Yoroi caught and threw the incoming blonde before he could land a punch, skillfully tossing it towards one of the last three remaining Narutos. When the boys collided, both exploded in acloud of smoke, revealing both to have been Kage Bunshin.
“Give it up kid,” Yoroi called as he eyed the remaining blondes. “You can't beat me like this.”
Naruto seethed at the taunt, but knew the veiled genin was right. Amoment later however, a smirk appeared on the blonde's whiskered face. “Sorry, ugly, but I ain't gonna lose today!” As he spoke, both Narutos leapt into action. The blondes charged at Yoroi, engaging him in a furius, but short and one-sided taijutsu bout. The veiled genin dispersed the clone attacking him head-on in short order, before grabbing the original and subduing him in an advanced hold. Wrestling a hand free, Yoroi planted it in the middle of the blonde's chest.
“Your chakra is mine now, gaki!” The grin on Naruto's face at his words planted a small seed of doubt in Yoroi's mind.
“It's all yours teme,” Naruto said before focusing his Higan on the flow of chakra out of his chest. “Let's see if you can handle it!” Before the words finished registering with the veiled shinobi, he felt a massive surge of chakra explode into his coils. More power than the genin had ever felt was flowing swiftly through his veins, and more was being pumped into him by the second. A smirk appeared behind his veil.
What power... With this much chakra, there's no way I can lose! Yoroi thought to himself as his inner coils filled with more and more of Naruto's chakra. A moment later, however, a sharp pain in his abdomen distracted him from his thoughts of easy victory. Said thoughts changed to panic when the pain began to spread. What the hell is going on?! The intense, burning pain spread through his veins like wildfire. The genin collapsed bonelessly as the sensation reached his head. Thoughts of victory, the fight, or anything else fled his mind before the all-encompassing pain. Thus, he failed to notice Naruto being declared the winner, nor did he notice the medics carrying him out of the arena.
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“What the hell just happened?” Sakura asked the room at large, not really expecting an answer. Hinata's quiet voice came as a surprise, then.
“Naruto-kun flooded Akado-san with his chakra,” Sakura turned to the girl and saw her watching the blonde in question with her Byakugan active. “Akado-san's chakra coils could not take the strain and cracked.”
The genin within earshot all went wide-eyed at the pronouncement. “Chakra coils can crack?” Kiba asked in surprise.
“Yes,” Kurenai answered simply. “As you know, everyone has a chakra reserve that we ninja use for jutsus and the like. This reserve fills naturally over time after it is used and can even be artificially filled through various items, such as soldier pills. What you probably don't know about that is that the body has no way to limit the chakra generated by foreign sources. If the chakra forced into the body exceeds the maximum amount the body can hold, a condition called 'chakra overload', the chakra system will begin to break down. Akado-san is lucky he stopped when he did, much longer and he could have exploded.” Dead silence followed the genjutsu mistress' explanation, until the jounin smirked lightly. “And that's why you should always be active for days after using a soldier pill.”
None of the gathered genin ever did find out why Kiba suddenly looked rather bashful.
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As a much quieter Naruto made his way back to his teammate, the display began rotating through names again. As it stilled, Hayate's voice rang out. “Kankuro and Misumi Tsurugi, please get down here now”
A/N – And chapter 6 is done. No idea when 7's coming around. It may or may not be another 6 months before I get around to finishing it.
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