Chapitre 51: CH_2.20 (051)

Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @

[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]

The link is also in the synopsis.

———

Takuma furrowed his brow as he twirled the shuriken in his hand as he tried to locate the target. The thick white mist obstructed his vision, hiding the painted wooden stump from him. It was so thick he wouldn't walk outside with the visibility he was left with in the fear that a car would run him over.

The quiet of the morning helped him focus as he tried to recall the position of the stump. But his mind had other plans as it let the thoughts of the tournament creep in. Less than two hours remained before he had to head to the training field for the tournament and fight like a prize fighter for the C-rank jutsu that was on the line. He was going to fight people who he had never seen fight before— even his academy classmates in other groups were an unknown as he had only ever seen them use taijutsu, rest of their combat style was a mystery to him.

He needed to face five(or four if he was lucky) people and win. He was worried… he had never won four fights in a row. His record was dotted with losses. Now he was going to face the best from each group and the chances of him winning five straight against the elevated opposition didn't look great.

But, he had to win.

Takuma threw the shuriken into the white mist and a moment later the sound brought back the thud of the shuriken hitting the wooden stump. He walked through the mist and reached the tall wooden stump with the red and white target that had no shuriken on it. He had missed the target by an inch. He sighed, the nerves were getting to him.

———

"See, I told you there was money on this!" suddenly Takuma was not feeling the nerves from before.

The training field which was usually full with only the genin in basic training was host to a small crowd of shinobi who were definitely not in basic training. All of them shinobi and from the color of their flak jackets, all of them were chunin.

"They're not even trying to hide it!" Takuma could see someone going from person to person with a laminated paper, collecting money.

"Do you think we can participate?" said Taro, a look of calculation flashing in his eyes. "Because I think if we work together, we can make some serious change."

"Are you talking about match fixing?" asked Nenro.

"I didn't say that, but if you want to put it that way, sure."

Takuma glanced across the field at the team from another group with their chunin instructor. Some distance from them stood another team with their instructor. All the teams had their chunin instructors with them which prompted him to ask the question, "Where's Yoshio?"

Masaaki pointed to a group of chunin and among them stood Yoshio's towering figure laughing with them.

"I… I think it's the first time I have seen him laugh," Ai said with a weirded out face. It was indeed a strange sight to see Yoshio laugh.

Takuma caught Yoshio's eyes, who then walked towards them. "I hope all of you're ready to show your best today," he said. "All of these people are here to see you perform. It'd do you good to put a good impression, and who knows, they might look at you favorably in the future."

What did that mean? In Takuma's eyes it was obvious all of those people were here only for fun. He couldn't think more about it as a shinobi walked to the middle of the field that had been left empty— clearly to be used as the fighting stage.

"Don't disappoint me," Yoshio said to them before walking away to rejoin the people he was previously talking to.

"Welcome all to another iteration of the rookie genin tournament," the shinobi announced with a charming host smile on his face. "Today, we will see twenty of best rookies fight for the tantalizing prize of a C-rank jutsu. Until yesterday, they were teammates, but today, they're going to clash against each other to prove that they're the strongest! Are you excited to see who rises to the top and who gets crushed behind."

There hoots and cheers across the crowd.

'God, it's like a gladiator colosseum,' thought Takuma. It also told him that this tournament was in no way official.

The announcer continued, "As there are twenty contestants, we will have to weed some people out to make a proper bracket. That's why the first round will be a preliminary consisting of four matchups.

The announcer then named the people part of the preliminary round. Two people from each team were chosen. From Team-5, Ai and Taro were called up.

"People with the worst records?" noted Masaaki, bluntly.

"At least, you're not fighting each other," said Nenro, "meaning both of you have the chance to move to the next round."

Both lost their fights.

"I did say that it was a clear possibility," Taro shrugged, unbothered about his loss as he rolled his shoulder that had been cleanly dislocated in the fight.

Ai did look genuinely down as Nenro consoled her.

Betting money exchanged hands in the audience before the announcer took the stage again.

"The genins fought valiantly and while some lost, they're winners are heart," the announcers said some nice words and then got boo-ed at from the crowd. He ignored the crowd like a deaf person and continued, "Now that we have a proper bracket in hand, we can get started at the real fun," he said and money once again begin to exchange hands.

"Let's begin with the round of sixteen," the announcer read from the slip in his hand. "The first game matchup is going to be Yoshio against Chinatsu, represented by Takuma and Ohta."

Takuma got slapped on his back by Masaaki as he stepped out, as did the Ohta from Chinatsu's team. There were hoots and cheers as they took the stage. Ohta was taller than Takuma, almost as tall as Masaaki, but was wider than him— Takuma could see Ohta growing into Yoshio's build if he hit the gym twice a day.

They faced each other as the announcer addressed them. "You know the rules," he said. "Don't kill each other or lop something off that can't be fixed. Stop the fight the moment I say so. As long as you follow that, you're good. Do you both understand?"

Takuma nodded while Ohta replied with a 'yes'.

"Good, then take it away, young fellas. Make the fight as entertaining as possible."

The moment the announcer moved away, Ohta started to speak,

"I heard you're a big loser."

Takuma was surprised by the sudden trash talk, but he indulged after a moment's thought. "Oh, yeah? Do you know what I heard? I heard you choke big time, so this fight is going to be really easy for me," he said. Ohta's team had two of his academy classmates, so he knew who must've said that about him.

"Oh, who said that?"

"Your mom did," Takuma grinned, "when I visited her last night… and you know what, she was doing the same thing as you," he then mouthed: 'choke'.

Takuma hadn't heard that since he had come to this world. But boy did it work like a charm. At first, Ohta was surprised, but anger soon overtook him and he rushed like a raging bull. Takuma quick-stepped out of reach, avoiding a kunai slash to the face, and countered with a front kick to the gut. Ohta folded in half as he flung backward, but he was as strong as he looked as he regained his balance before he hit the floor and landed with his feet dragging tracks on the ground.

Ohta snarled and rushed forward without skipping a breath. Takuma threw himself backward and Ohta's swinging kick sliced air, a handspan from hitting.

Following up, Takuma closed the distance, and Ohta, having being enraged by Takuma's comment, attacked with unadulterated aggression. Takuma blocked every swing and hit, and though he was ratcheting up the pace, he did it slowly. If he was to take advantage of Ohta's rage, he was going to do it thoroughly. He used no true attacks but blocked and countered with precision, while pushing the pedal on the pace.

Ohta's heavier build matched his fighting style, he wasn't a nimble fighter, and his heavy swings showed that he was power hit. The fighting style suited Takuma because he could actually keep up and control the momentum. Which was why even though he lost regularly to Masaaki, he found Ai more challenging.

The needle on the pace had moved to a point where Takuma felt rushed, and he knew that Ohta was slower than him. The rage and free space to attack was the only reason why Ohta hadn't noticed how unfavorable pace had become.

Takuma made his move. Ohta swung his arm wide, Takuma ducked under it before taking advantage of the Ohta's bodies moving momentum to step in and stamp a fist into the face. Ohta's aggression suddenly came to a panicked halt. Takuma danced on his feet, bringing himself to the side. He kicked behind Ohta's knee.

Ohta, forced to kneel, hurriedly turned his torso back to bring his hands in a better position to block. He caught the late glimpse of a kunai coming down until and then it was the pain that told him there was a kunai embedded behind his shoulder. The screams ripped through the gallery's cheers as blood spluttered out in the air.

Takuma didn't let his feet rest for a moment. He glided from Ohta's left to right and slipped two senbon into the base of Ohta's neck, pushing them deep into the resisting flesh, avoiding anything vital as to not kill. He had spun a full circle around Ohta and for the 'finishing blow' he grabbed Ohta's head and made him kiss his rising knee, caving Ohta's face in.

Takuma grabbed another kunai out to continue but he saw Ohta dropped to the ground on his back, falling on the kunai left in his back, digging it deeper. Ohta passed out before he hit the ground.

"And, that's it!" the announcer called the fight.

Takuma let the breath go he didn't know he was holding and took a couple unsteady steps back. He could hear his heartbeat as he watched the two young Iryo-nin in charge of injuries rushed in to take Ohta away. Takuma stared at Ohta's broken face and he stared at the pool of blood he had left behind as the announcer grabbed his hand to raise it as the victor.

"You did great, Takuma!" Nenro greeted him with excited slaps on the shoulder.

"The knee to the face? A great touch," Masaaki nodded in appreciation.

"How're you feeling?" asked Ai.

Takuma stared at his friend's face. What was he supposed to say? That it didn't feel real. Everything had gone by so quickly and smoothly. That he was expecting his plan to fail or at least face some hiccups along the way. That he had seen the fight go an entirely different way in his mind.

"I'm feeling…"

He thought about the last two months. He had worked hard. He had contributed to the team that had won in the group. He had been the first to complete the tree-walking challenge. He had won some tough fights which he didn't think he would've been able to win two months back.

The stunned disbelief gave way to something else as he thought about it.

"… confident."

———

Chat with me and the rest of the community on our DISCORD server.

The link is in the synopsis!

commentaire Commentaire 21

Voter

Chapitre 52: CH_2.21 (052)

Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @

[ https://www.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]

The link is also in the synopsis.

———

Nenro watched Takuma walk away with Ai to the medical tent to get the light bruising on his body treated. The fight had been interesting but not how he had expected it to go. Takuma exchanged words with his opponent, Ohta, who then seemingly went into a rage. The entire fight until the end was a barbarian swinging wildly and getting lead by the nose. Whatever the conversation was, it did wonders because the fight was fairly one-sided and effortless from the outside.

"I don't know about you all lovely people, as much fun as it's to watch a good ol' fashion bloody beat down, I wouldn't call that a competitive fight," said the announcer and stared at the paper in his hand. "So, how about we move to the opposite of the bracket in hopes of a more entertaining matchup."

'What bracket?'

They hadn't shown them the tournament bracket, which was a problem because he didn't know who he would fight until the last moment, and neither could he prepare for his next fight by studying possible opponents. But it seemed the spectators had been made aware of the bracket.

'I wonder if I can sneak a peek at the bracket….'

"Round of sixteen, the second matchup— Ryo versus Yoshio, represented by Kai and Nenro!"

Nenro narrowed his eyes. He didn't appreciate the way the announcer worded the matchup. He wasn't representing Yoshio. The tournament had nothing to do with their instructors. This was them competing to win and get the prize.

"Go knock him out," said Masaaki with a grin. Nenro gave him a smile before jogging out to the field and facing his opponent.

Kai had a wiry build with sharp features framed by his long bangs. Combat style unknown. But Nenro knew Kai was from the Leaf village and came from a family with shinobi, which meant that the chance of encountering a jutsu during the fight was higher than average.

But Nenro wasn't worried. Victory was inevitable.

'He looks tense.' Nenro raised his chin slightly and slowly stepped away from Kai. He made no attempts to hide or rush as he retrieved a kunai each in hand from his person. Kai reacted like a cat who had his tail stepped on and threw the kunai immediately after pulling it out. Nenro turned his body to let the kunai pass by and threw one of his kunai. Kai hurriedly moved to dodge, and the kunai could only get a lick at his cheek, leaving a thin curtain of blood trickling down from the shallow scar.

Nenro didn't let a beat skip and blitzed toward Kai. To his credit, Kai already had another kunai ready, and his arm was already halfway into throwing motion. Nenro, knowing a thrown kunai at short range was dangerous, reacted and dropped down into a slide tackle and took out Kai's legs.

Using the forward sliding momentum, Nenro pulled himself up to his ready to keep Kai on the ground, but Kai was already pushing off the ground towards Nenro. Blades met; sparks flew. Nenro swiped his other elbow, but Kai pulled his face back and grabbed the kunai with both hands to disengage and thrust it into Nenro's chest. Nenro twisted his body out of the way just in time to let the kunai prey on his vest rather than his flesh.

Neither chose to put distance between them, and the brawl ensued.

Nenro had to give it to Kai, he was nimble. His attacks weren't making enough contact as, at the last moment, Kai would slither away out of reach or out of the way. Nenro realized he was fighting a losing battle if he stayed close. The decision was quick. Nenro took a weak-side strike into the thigh as a sacrifice to get into a position and nailed a solid hit into Kai's side before disengaging and pulling away faster.

Kai, understanding his advantage and not wanting to give up, pushed ahead while keeping down the pain with gritted teeth and grunt— only to see a kunai spinning along its length in front of him— and tied from the hilt's loop was a red-bordered explosion tag.

His widening eyes shined with the glow of the explosion tag as he looked past it at Nenro with the ram hand seal.

*Boom!*

Nenro crossed his arms over his torso and tugged his knees inwards as the hot wave from the explosion tag collided into him. He hit the ground and skidded on the field on his side. He had been hasty. The timing on the explosion tag was too quick.

Nenro didn't linger on his mistake and got to his feet. His ears rang, but he ignored his impaired hearing and narrowed his eyes at the light dust cloud. Nenro couldn't even get steady on his feet when Kai appeared, sprinting out of the dust cloud. The vest on his arms and upper torso was torn apart, and the skin burnt underneath, and yet, Kai rushed towards with anger burning in his hand.

Nenro calmly raised his hand and formed the ram hand seal.

Kai's body suddenly froze and fell to the ground like a statue. His momentum skidded him forward until he stopped near Nenro's feet. Kai looked up at him with confusion and fear while trying to struggle to move as if there were ropes constricting his body.

Genjutsu Shibari (Genjutsu Paralysis)— complete.

Nenro knelt on one knee before dangling a kunai above Kai's neck. He looked up at the announcer/referee, who nodded back.

He had achieved victory.

Nenro stood up, and his eyes swept across the crowd. The chunin were exchanging money they had bet— some pissed, most happy. But his attention went towards the genin who were all gazing at him. The smart ones were observing, taking in every fight and their moves. With each fight, they knew more about their possible would-be opponents. He had given up one of his cards in the fight. They would use that knowledge in the future, beware of the tricks and techniques he was likely to pull.

Fights would only become harder—

He finally looked towards Masaaki, who stood with his arms crossed. There was the usual bright smile on his face, but Nenro could see the undertones.

—especially against someone who already knew him so well.

———

"Match-7— Yoshio versus Maki, represented by Masaaki and Kenta."

Kenta watched Masaaki walk into the field from where he stood with his team. Unlike him(and everybody), who walked straight to the announcer, Masaaki took a detour and waved his raised arm at the audience with a big smile plastered on his face.

"… Is he serious," muttered Kenta to no one.

He, however, got a reply from the announcer. "He looks confident in himself and his chances of victory in this fight, and he's showing it to the people. If they feel the same as he does, they'll put money on him— if they put money on him, they'll cheer for him— if they cheer for him, they'll boo you," said the announcer with a smile.

'What's that use for?' thought Kenta. And it didn't matter if Masaaki was confident. Mere few people would bet for an outsider when the opponent was from the Sarutobi clan. The country bumpkin, a fool, was just wasting time.

Masaaki eventually made his way to the center of the field, the broad grin still flashing on his face. The announcer quickly recounted the rules to them before walking away, but as he talked, Masaaki pulled out two knuckle dusters from his pouches and leisurely put them on. The shiny glint of the silverish-metal glimmered under the sun.

"Let's have a good fight," said Masaaki, still smiling.

Kenta narrowed his eyes. He didn't like that smile. Did he not care about the fight? Was he not taking him seriously? Was this all fun and games? Whatever it was, he didn't like the smile.

Kenta shoo-ed the thoughts away and wielded the combat stance with his bo-staff ready to strike. He was confident in his ability to win against Masaaki before, but when he saw the knuckle duster, he was more certain. The short-ranged knuckles were a poor match against his staff's extended reach.

This fight was going to be an easy win— a simple stepping stone to winning the tournament. Winning the tournament would show everyone that it was a mistake not to have been assigned under a jonin-led team. He didn't belong in the Genin Corps among all these people. He was from the Sarutobi clan, the Third Hokage's clan. They were among the great clans of the Leaf village. His talents were wasted in the Genin Corps, and he knew if given a chance, he could show what he could really do.

By winning the tournament, he would catch the attention of a chunin and have them consider him for their teams during some of the more important missions. If he couldn't get a jonin leader, then the best mission under the best chunin leaders was the lowest he was willing to go.

Kenta exhaled, and his breath seemed to boil. He poised his bo-staff and readied for a swift victory with minimal efforts wasted. He needed to save energy, there was still another fight on the first day.

The moment the announcer took a step back, Kenta took a quick fore-step and swung his bo-staff in a downward smash. He was planning to crack the shoulders to disable the arms before striking the legs to finish it off— quick and efficient.

Masaaki didn't attempt to dodge and instead raised his hand to catch the staff against his knuckle duster. It was like hitting an immovable wall with no give. Instead, Masaaki used his strength to push back immediately and took big steps to evade Kenta's personal area.

Kenta's moment of shock vanished as he felt the weight overwhelm him. He slipped the staff off Masaaki's knuckle dusters and tried to slip the staff below the raised arms to up-strike him in the neck. He didn't get the chance.

Masaaki's arms moved faster than Kenta thought possible, hitting him below his ear, snapping his head sideways, and sending him stumbling with half muscles in his neck wrenched out of place.

Head ringing and neck on fire, Kenta righted himself, only to be hit again. He raised his bo-staff, pointed it forward for cover and distance, and was struck in the shoulder by a vicious kick. He whipped his bo-staff at Masaaki's head through his shaky vision, slicing through empty air before taking a bone-numbing blow to the leg that swept his lower body with such force that he lost his balance.

He reeled and limped back, swinging wildly. Masaaki, out of reach and smiling, stalked him.

Kenta's heart hammered, and his breathing was unsteady. He attacked anyway, but the swing was ducked under. He swung again and was dodged again, a torso pull back. He heaved himself back, desperate to make space, and heard the noise of shouts.

He looked to the noise's source, and his heart sank. It was the chunin, they were cheering— cheering for him to be finished off, cheering for his opponent's victory.

It made no sense, he thought. He was Sarutobi Kenta— why were they cheering for someone who wasn't even from the Leaf village?! This couldn't continue. He was representing his clan. It was his duty to win, not to sully the Sarutobi name.

Kenta screamed as he pushed chakra into his bo-staff, which glowed silver. He charged forward to deliver a thrust for Masaaki's chest. The staff extended at the last second, suddenly extending the attack's range. Masaaki dodged, and Kenta corrected, his staff blasting back the other way, hitting nothing. He rebalanced, spinning low, whipping the extended staff to break Masaaki's shin. It didn't connect, so he adjusted, ready to strike, and was battered to the ground by the hard metal flats of two steeled punches.

He gasped. The pain was excruciating, and for a breath, he thought his back was broken. It wasn't, but as the feeling in his body flooded back, it felt like someone had whipped hot coals into his skin.

"Was that all the bukijutsu you knew?" the outsider said, his voice booming. "What a disappointment."

Kenta spat, tasting blood, and forced himself to his feet. He wouldn't be disrespected by the likes of the outsider. He surged up, staff first, screaming obscenities, and Masaaki simply side-stepped, and Kenta staggered past, crumpling, then collapsing beneath the pain and blow to his shoulder from Masaaki's downward elbow strike.

"I guess that's it," Kenta heard the announcer's voice.

He wanted to protest— to shout that he could continue. His heart burned to fight… but his everything else screamed mercy. He opened his mouth only to cough blood… and he couldn't get the words out, he chose not to get them out.

The last thing he saw before darkness overtook him was the smiling figure of the outsider waving his raised hand.

———

Chat with me and the rest of the community on our DISCORD server.

The link is in the synopsis!

commentaire Commentaire 17

Voter