BSWS CH-46 The Chunin Exams XIV - Preliminary First Match
All the 18 participants were assembled in the giant training hall with the statue of a ninja's hands performing a hand sign. Along with the 18 participants, their respective Jonin Incharge, the Konoha Proctors, Sentinels, some key Chunin of Konoha, and the Hokage himself were present in the Hall.
"First of all, congratulations on finishing the Second Exam." Anko announced, "Now, don't waste your time in chatter and listen to the Hokage's announcement."
As the Genin looked at him with various degrees of excitement and expectation, Hokage took a small puff from his pipe before speaking.
"Before I tell you about the Third Stage of the Exams, it is important that you understand what Chunin Exams are all about. While they do have a goal of promoting friendship and understanding among the various villages, That is not the main goal."
"Chunin exams are a competition among the Villages to show off our battle capabilities to the various dignitaries that will be here to watch you. And since their time is valuable, the first few stages are a means to pick out the very best among you all in skill, power, and shinobi instincts."
"It is kind of astounding that 18 of you still made it so far after that harsh set of tests." Hokage said with an approving nod "However, as the time of the visiting dignitaries will be precious, we can't let them waste it."
"So, to cut down the numbers even further, we have decided to host a preliminary sudden death style combat match. You will all be randomly paired off and will fight. The fight will end when one of the two fighters is unable to continue fighting or surrenders out loud."
"There is only one rule to this fight, which is to win against your opponent. All lethal moves of any type will be allowed until the participant is dead, defeated or his Jonin in charge decides to step in and withdraw the contestant. Proctor holds the final authority, and if you ignore the proctor then you can be disqualified from the preliminary."
"Are the rules clear to all?" Hokage asked the Genin. Seeing no objection, he waved a hand lazily to call forth the proctor for the preliminary.
"Hello *cough* I am Hayate Gekko. I will be *cough* your proctor *cough* for the preliminaries." a man with a bandanna-type headband came forward while coughing.
"Now, the pairs for the preliminaries are as follows: "
"1st Match : Sasuke Vs Oboro"
"2nd Match: Sakura Vs Kankuro"
"3rd Match: Naruto Vs Choji"
"4th Match: Tenten Vs Ino"
"5th Match: Gaara Vs Lee"
"6th Match: Hinata Vs Neji"
"7th Match : Temari Vs Kiba"
"8th Match : Shikamaru Vs Mubi"
"9th Match: Shino Vs Kagari"
"There will be 5 minutes *cough* break after each match. The 9 winners *cough* from these matches will be participating in the Actual Finals *cough* that will be watched by the dignitaries." Hayate said.
"Participants of the first match *cough* prepare for your match. It will begin in five minutes. *cough* Rest all can retreat to the observations stands." Hayate announced.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Sakura watched Sasuke from the stands along with the others. He was currently facing off against the Rain Village Genin whom he would have beaten up anyway in the Canon. So Sakura was not worried for him.
In fact, due to Sakura's actions, she had changed the future enough to not be worried about a majority of the participants.
Hinata had become stronger and had interacted with Neji in the clan enough to mitigate at least a bit of his hate towards the clan. Neji had become more polite towards her when he saw her good nature and hard-working attitude. In fact, Neji often trained along with Hinata in the Clan's secret training grounds. Even Hiashi Hyuga's attitude was changing for the better towards them as a result.
Naruto was much better trained, So he should be able to face off against Choji without much difficulty. While she didn't know about Ino and Kiba, she was sure that the rest of Rookie 9 will be able to give a good performance in these matches.
The only one Sakura was truly worried about was Lee. Gaara was a loose cannon at the current moment. He was a Jinchuriki, an unstable one at that, even if Lee hurt the actual Gaara, it would just make the situation worse.
'I can't interfere in the match without getting disqualified. I can only hopefully manage to convince Guy to stop the match on time before Gaara goes berserk.' Sakura thought with clenched fists.
Meanwhile, Sasuke and Oboro were already prepared for their fight in the sparring area. With Hayate's signal, both of them rushed towards each other.
They began with some basic Taijutsu, testing each other's strength speed, and reflexes. Oboro tried inputting some feints and sneak attacks to catch Sasuke off-guard, however, he really underestimated the Sharingan if he thought such simple tricks would work.
"Alright, let's get this show off the road. Haze Clone Technique!!" Oboro finally backed off from frontal Taijutsu and started using Ninjutsu. A slight mist emerged from him and spread around the sparring area. His silhouette blurred and simultaneously, more versions of him popped up all around the place.
"Let's play some hide and seek, eh?" Oboro said with a smirking voice. He then silently cast a Genjutsu: Sly Mind Affect Technique. This technique confused the opponent's sense of direction, which worked perfectly with this Haze clone technique.
This was a combat style frequently used by Oboro. Haze Clone would be used to create illusionary clones to distract the opponent. Then he would use Sly Mind Affect Technique, to make opponents unable to judge the proper direction of his attacks. Finally, he would wear the opponent down by slowly whittling away with ranged attacks.
However, this time he had picked the wrong opponent to use this combat style on. Just as he thought that Sasuke was caught in his trap, Sasuke suddenly turned and looked right at him. Sasuke's three tomoe Sharingan spun in his eyes with a reddish glow, as he smirked in Oboro's direction.
"Never try such weak Genjutsu on a pair of Sharingan," Sasuke said as he swiftly wove hand signs for Great Fireball Jutsu and sent it towards Oboro. It crashed into him before he could dodge it, burning him severely and knocking him out.
"Moron," Sasuke said as he left for the stands. Hayate announced Sasuke as the winner and called for the next participants to prepare for their match.
"Nice job, Sasuke," Sakura said with a smile as Sasuke came and stood next to her.
"We have faced worse and survived. If I could not defeat someone like him then I will never be able to achieve my goals of the future." Sasuke said with a smirk.
"Well, you are done with yours. It's my match now." Sakura said as she stretched her limbs.
"Well, you call it a match, but has that Tattooed Sand ninja worried you for even a second?" Sasuke asked.
"Him? Nope." Sakura said with a grin as she moved towards the sparring area "I have much bigger things to worry about."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone