Chương 35: Chapter Twenty-seven: Cat in the Mist
Disclaimer: I do not and will not ever own Naruto or any of its Characters!
-In the Arena Medical ward -
After losing his battle against Naruto, Neji was brought to the medical ward by the medics where they treated him for his injuries.
After a few minutes the medics finished treating most of Neji's injuries.
"Luckily there is no serious damage done to your internal organs with the exception of some bruising, so you should be on the mend in a couple of days. The best thing you can do right now do is rest and move as little as possible, as your body is still mending and you have used up most of your Chakra in your battle…"
As the medics were talking to him, Neji's mind was on other things where he thought back to what Naruto had told him during and after their battle.
Soon after, the door to the ward opened up and they were surprised to see the head of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi entered the room.
"Hiashi-sama" said one of the medics in surprise when he saw the Hyuga Clan head enter the room.
"My apologies, but if it is not too much trouble would you mind leaving us alone for a moment?"
Surprised by this the two medics did not know what to say, "Eh…But…eh"
"Please, it won't take long"
"Hai, very well"
"Thank you"
After the medics had left, Neji slowly but painfully lifted himself up, so that he was sitting up on the side of his bed. His body was fairly stiff and swore despite the pain killers the medics gave him.
"What business do you have?" Neji asked his uncle in a neutral tone, since he had no real wish to talk to his uncle.
"I came here to tell you the truth of that day."
"What do you mean?" Neji asked with a frown.
For the next few minutes Hiashi explained how after Kumo demanded his body as restitution for the death of their head Ninja. He was prepared to sacrifice himself to prevent a war between Konoha and Kumo. But before he could, the Hyūga elders proposed that Hizashi be used instead; as his body double. In addition to protecting him, Hizashi would also keep the Byakugan's secrets from being discovered.
Hiashi then went on to explain how he tried to prevent this, but Hizashi had already agreed and disabled Hiashi before he could stop them. He then explained that Hizashi told him he was not doing this to preserve the Hyūga's structure, but to save his (Hiashi's) life, to prevent war, and to choose his own fate for the first time in his life.
When Neji heard this he of course did not believe it and thought that his uncle was lying and that he was making up excuses for the head family. But before he could say anything, Hiashi took out a scroll from his robes and handed it to him.
"This is from your father, he told me to give this to you when I believed you were ready to hear the truth of what happened that day, it will confirm everything that I told you."
When Neji saw the scroll, he first thought it was a fake, but when he looked at it more closely he recognized his father's handwriting on the cover of the scroll which "To Neji."
Quickly taking the scroll, Neji opened it and began to read it.
As Neji read the letter, it confirmed everything that his uncle had told him. But the thing that stuck out most to Neji, was what his father said at the end of the letter. "…Overcome destiny Neji. Destiny has to be taken in your own hands."
When Neji had finished reading his father's letter he was shocked to see his Uncle on his knees with his head to the ground.
"This is the truth" the elder man said with clear regret in his voice, while keeping his head down, "I'm sorry."
After seeing this, Neji did not known what to say, as he never expected his uncle to be on his knees bowing before him. He also found he could not be angry at his him anymore, especially when he was like this.
Eventually Neji asked his uncle to get up and then asked him to leave, saying he wanted to be alone for a few minutes, so to digest everything he had learned.
After Hiashi left the room, a sort of calmness and peace came over Neji. As if finally knowing the truth of his father's death and reading his final words to him, gave him the closure he needed to move on with his life.
Soon after Neji turned to look out one of the small windows above him and thought about what he planned to do with his life now.
-In the Kage stand-
"The crowed seems to be very eager, your son's battle was very exciting Tsunade-sama" the Mizukage commented as she looked at the elder woman.
"I agree" added the Kazekage, "Your son has qualities that would indeed make him a fine Chunin. He was able to analysis and effectively counter not only the Hyuga Clan's Hakkeshō Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven). But also find the Byakugan's blind spot, both of which are no small feats."
Both Sarutobi and the Mizukage agreed with the Kazekage assessment of Naruto, as they had been very impressed with how Naruto fought Neji.
Tsunade was of course very pleased with Naruto since her son had defeated the young Hyuga without revealing any of his other abilities to everyone. She was also very pleased with how well Naruto had grasped the value tactics. When he was younger, it had been quite hard to teach Naruto to plan ahead and learn to analysis things, since like most young boys his agee he believed in charging head on and simply beat his opponent.
Eventually Tsunade was brought out of her line of thought by the Kazekage, who was just finishing speaking to the Sandaime
"… I believe the next battle will be just as exciting."
"If I am correct, I believe the next battle involves your daughter Kazekage-sama?" the Sandaime Hokage asked.
"Yes Temari is a highly skilled and competent Kunoichi, I'm certain she will perform admirably."
After the Kazekage said this, Jiraiya frowned since it was unusual for the Kazekage to speak so much. Not to mention he was rather surprised by how much the Kazekage was praising his daughter. The last time Jiraiya saw the man was when he went with Minato to sign the new alliance treaty between Konoha and Suna, which funny enough sparked the whole incident between Minato and Tsunade.
During that time, Jiraiya found the man to be a rather cold individual who distant himself from his family and put his duty as Kage and leader of Suna first, above everything else, including his family.
Sure it was possible that he could've changed over the years, but Jiraiya highly doubted it. Since for some reason he felt that there was something off with the Kazekage and he decided to keep a closer eye on him.
-In the Finalist Box-
After defeating Neji, Naruto walked up to the box, where the other finalists were watching from.
When Naruto arrived he was greeted by some of the other finalists. Some like Haku, Yugito and Omoi congratulated him on his win, while others like Samui and Shino, simply nodded in acknowledgement.
Shortly after, their attention turned back to the arena, where Genma called down Temari and Shikamaru so that they could begin the second match.
Once Temari heard her name being called out, she quickly took her large fan out from behind her back and opened it up and then swung it in a wide arc, creating a large gust of wind. She then jumped out of the finalist box and hopped on the large fan and used it and the wind to ride down to the arena.
"Ah man she's a lively one, I hate lively women, this is so troublesome" Shikamaru muttered. "Why do I have to fight a girl? Better yet why do I even have to do this annoying exam? I prefer to just give up, it's just too much of a pain to do."
But before he could even try and give up, Naruto walked over to him. "Ah come on Shikamaru don't say that, now go down there and show her what you're made out of."
After saying this, Naruto then gave him a hard slap on the back, sending the young Nara flying head first into the ground at the other end of the arena, before slamming into the arena wall.
"Was that really necessary Naruto-san?" Shino asked as he had been standing next to Shikamaru before Naruto sent him flying.
In responce Naruto just smirked and said "They say lions push their cubs off a cliff to test their worthiness, I was just giving Shikamaru the push he needed."
"Yes, I understanding that, but I was just wondering, was it necessary to use your inhuman strength when you pushed him?"
"Some people need a harder push than others" Naruto replied with a bigger smile, making the young Aburame raise his left eyebrow up and wonder if the blonde Senju was right in the head.
-In the Arena-
"Damn you Naruto…you jerk" Shikamaru thought as lay on the ground. "This is such a drag, I don't care if I become a Chunin or not, I prefer to lay down and watch the clouds go by. Maybe if I just lay down here they'll just let me quite and I can get out of this troublesome situation."
Seeing that Shikamaru hadn't moved at all, Temari decided to make the first move, where she charged forward and attempted to club him with her massive fan.
Acting quickly, Shikamaru stabbed two Kunai into the wall and used them as stands to avoid Temari's attack, as well as to look down at her.
"I don't really care if I become a Chunin or not…but a man can't lose to a woman. So I guess I'll fight."
Angered by this, Temari swung her fan again to create a large gust of wind. But when the dust died down from the attack, Temari found Shikamaru had disappeared.
"Hmph, looks like he ran away" the Suna Kunocihi thought with an arrogant smirk, where she then started to look around for Shikamaru.
Near where Teamri was, the young Nara hid behind one of the trees, trying to think on what his next move should be. "Man this is such a drag, a man can't lose to a woman, but then again, a man can't really hit a woman. Not to mention I don't want to get hit, either."
Eventually though after enough time of studying the arena and everything around it Shikmaru came up with a plan
When Shikamaru began to send out his shadow to capture Temari, the Suna Kunoichi backed away further and kept her distance. She of course knew what Shikamaru's primary attack was, thanks to seeing his pervious match, and knew how it worked and made sure to stay out of his shadow's range. But despite this precaution on Temari's part, Shikamaru used various tactics to increase the distance of his shadow's reach. This forced her to retreat further back and buying time for the sun to set and give him more shadows to work with.
Temari later realized that Shikamaru was simply buying time for the sun to set, furthering the range of his shadow. After discovering this, Temari attempted to finish the match before that happened, by hiding behind her large fan and then planned to use a Clone to distract Shikamaru long enough to allow her to finish him with one blow. But before she could perform her plan, Shikamaru caught her with his shadow from behind.
Once Shikamaru caught her in his shadow, he revealed that he had been manipulating her into a position in front of the exit to a tunnel which was dug out by Naruto during an earlier match, where he could guarantee that she was caught by his shadow from behind.
But instead of finishing the Suna Kunoichi off, Shikamaru forfeited the match, claiming that he had exerted too much of his chakra when capturing Temari and would be unable to fight later battles. Moreover, he said he did not like to hurt or hit women.
-In the Audience-
When the audience heard that Shikamaru forfeited the match many were left stunned as Shikamaru had obviously won the battle, but forfeited the match.
"I don't believe it, what a waste!" Ino cried in disbelief before she turned to her other team-mate Choji and grabbed him by the collar and began to shake him.
"Why?" cried the blonde girl angrily, "He had the match won and had a good chance to become a Chunin!"
"He's just being himself" Choji replied with a knowing smile, as he expected this to happen from the start as he knew Shikamaru better than anyone.
"Man what a drag" moaned Anko, as she was rather disappointed with how things turned out.
"Really…I can't tell if he's being serious about this or not…" said Kurenai
"I don't understand either…" commented Asuma
"Regardless of whether we understand or not, it's obvious his intelligence and strategies aren't Genin level" Kushina said as she joined the conversation. "If a basic platoon had carried out a mission like this and followed his plan, they would've won easily. If we were to look at the qualities expected of a Chunin, that kid possesses the most important attribute...leadership."
After Kushina said this, both Kurenai and Asuma nodded their heads in agreement, since they knew what Kushina said was true.
At the same time the, former red headed ANBU captain couldn't help but smile at the young Nara, as the boy acted almost exactly like his father, back when she was in the Academy. She also thought about trying to organise some more joint training exercises between Naruto and team ten. In the hope of Shikamaru's calm demeanour rubbing off on Naruto, since she knew how reckless her student could be at times especially in battle. Sure Naruto's recent battle with Neji showed that he could analysis and formulates effective tactics against opponents. The problem with Naruto was that he could get too emotional at times, which in turn would affect his ability to make rational decisions.
"It's unfortunate that he doesn't seem motivated…" Asuma thought with some disappointment. "But in exchange, he didn't lose his head and panic during the battle. That's why he was able to retreat calmly as he determined that the situation was bad. That comes from a clam discussion-making ability, which is vital as a team leader."
"Most impressive" muttered the Fire Daimyo as he rubbed his chin, as he was rather impressed with the way Shikamaru fought.
"Same old Shikamaru" Iruka thought with a smile, as he looked down at the boy, ignoring the moaning and groaning from his students who were annoyed when Shikamaru gave up. But still, he had hoped that after seeing Shikamaru's battle, his students would see the value of making a plan and not rushing in head first into battle.
"Hmph I don't know whether to call this guy a genius of an idiot" Mai thought, as on one hand she was amazed at how Shikamaru defeated Temari. But on the other hand she was infuriated by how he simply gave up, just when he had won.
"Loser" Kurotsuchi muttered with a frown, after hearing Shikamaru gave up.
"It seems you were right Kazekage that was an interesting match, wouldn't you agree Jiraiya, Tsunade?" said the Hokage as he turned to his former students.
"Yea, despite forfeiting, that Nara kid did pretty well" Jiraiya replied, "That Sand girls didn't do too badly either."
"Agreed, he certainly has qualities that would make him a good Chunin and team leader and the girl shows some promise as well" Tsunade answered.
Most of the other Kages of course agreed with what Tsunade said about Shikamaru, since in attributes for a team leader Shikamaru understood the need to protect his team from danger over simply completing the mission.
Even the Raikage had to grudgingly complement the Nara heir, as he was impressed with Shikamaru's strategic abilities and his ability to calmly analysis the situation and make a successful plan.
-In the Finalist box-
After Shikamaru declared that he forfeited, Naruto was of course as surprised as everyone else, since it was obvious that Shikamaru would've won had he just finished Temari off. Also like everyone else, Naruto had been amazed by Shikamaru's strategies and tactical brilliance which clearly outshone his own.
"Hahahaha…oh man I should have known he would do this…hahahaa" Naruto laughed as his surprise finally wore off.
"What the hell are you laughing about Senju?" Karui asked. Who had moved next to Naruto and Shino at the railing along with the rest of her team, so that they could get a better view Shikamaru and Temari's match. "That idiot just threw away the match right when he was about to win."
"I'm laughing because this is just like Shikamaru" Naruto said with a smile. "He's the most unmotivated person I've ever met in my life. He doesn't care if he becomes a Chunin or not, in fact, he probably believes this whole exam is too troublesome to try."
"Then he's an even bigger idiot than I thought" Karui muttered.
"I wouldn't be calling this guy an idiot if I were you Karui" Omoi replied as he analysed Shikamaru carefully.
"What?" said Karui is surprise.
"I agree, in fact he is far from an idiot" Samui added.
"What do you mean?" Yugito asked, although she already had an idea what Samui and Omoi were getting at.
"Obviously his excuse of not having enough Chakra is a lie" Omoi said as he looked down at Shikamaru, who was making his way back to the finalist box. "Even given the length of the match and the number of times he attempted to capture Temari-san. He should still have enough Chakra to finish her off. But instead he chooses to give up. My guess is that he was thinking further on ahead, since if he had won he would've gone against Naruto and my guess is that he knows what Naruto is capable of and doesn't believe he can win or that he simply didn't have enough Chakra to last him in the second round. So he decided to forfeit the match."
"Agreed" added Samui, "It would be folly to enter a battle that you know you cannot win. He is clearly someone who remains calm under stressful situations and analyses all possible situations. The way he defeated Temari-san should prove this without question, even if he lost the match."
When Naruto heard this, he could not help but smirk at how quickly Samui and Omoi had figured out Shikamaru's reasons for forfeiting. But still they had been mistaken about one thing; Shikamaru had given up not because he knew what Naruto could do. He had given up because he knew too little, Shikamaru was the type of person who would avoid fighting an opponent for as long as he could. At least until he figured out what they could do and since his information on what Naruto could do was limited, he could not come up with an effective strategy to defeat him.
After listening to her team-mate explanation, Karui could only frown as she knew her team-mates had a point and what they said did make sense. "Yeah will I still think he was an idiot to give up so easily, he could've just finished the match and forfeited later."
"Maybe, but trust me when I say this Karui, Shikamaru is not someone you should take lightly" Naruto said as he joined the conversation. "I've fought Shikamaru before and if you underestimate him, you'll regret it later."
When the Kumo team heard this, they all raised their eyebrows in interest, since for someone like Naruto to say that, Shikamaru would have to be a dangerous adversary .
-Outside the Arena-
Standing at the entrance of the arena two Chunin guards listened to the shouts of the crowd, who were yelling for the referee to begin the next match.
"Sounds like things are getting really exciting in there" said one Chunin.
"Yea" replied his partner, "Wish we could go in a watch it."
Nodding in agreement the Chunin guard was about to reply, but before he could he saw two figures slowly walking towards them.
"Hey is that…" the Chunin said as he pointed to the two figures.
"Yea it is" his partner replied as the two figures walked closer and saw that they were none other than Maito Gai and his student Rock Lee, (who was using a crutch to walk).
"Welcome both of you" the first Chunin guard greeted.
"If you wish to watch the next match please hurry to the stands, as it will soon start" the other Chunin guard said.
"Hai thank you" Lee replied with a salute.
"Okay Lee let's go" said Gai as he did one of his ridiculous poses.
"Hai"
"The first two matches of round one have just finished and they're just about to start the third match, between the Kumo Kunoichi Nii Yugito and the Kiri Shinobi Chojuro" the second Chunin guard said.
Surprised by this, Lee quickly turned to the Chunin, "What about Naruto-kun and Neji's match?"
"From what we've heard, that match turned out to be very interested, Senju Naruto won without the Hyuga even being able to hit him or injury him much" the first Chunin guard answered.
When Gai and Lee heard this, the two of them were of course surprised by this, as they had expected the match to be a close match, given Naruto's inhuman strength and Neji's Juken (Gentle fist) fighting style.
"Neji-kun lost…and he could hardly even injury Naruto-kun" Lee thought in shock, while at the same time feeling slightly envious of Naruto defeating Neji. Something he had always dreamed of doing.
Eventually though Lee got over it and smirked, "Is that so…well done Naruto-kun."
Seeing this Gai of course could only smile with pride at how mature his student was.
-In the Arena-
Once both Temari and Shikamaru had left the arena, Genma called down both Yugito and Chojuro.
Both Genin quickly made their way down to the arena and once they were opposite one another, Genma began the match.
As soon as Genma yelled "Go!" Chojuro started things off, where lifted his large sword from his back and loosed the bandages. After which he then jumped up into the air and yelled "Hiramekarei Kaihō (Hiramekarei Unleashing)!" Where the sword then emanated a large amount of Chakra and took the shape of a large hammer, which Chojuro swung down on Yugito.
Seeing this Yugito quickly jumped back, where Chojuro then hit the spot she had just been standing in a moment ago and made a small crater in the ground.
Surprised by this, Yugito realized that she would have to make sure that she didn't get hit by the sword. But before she could make any kind of counterattack, Chojuro used his sword again, this time having it take the shape of a long-sword and swinging it horizontally at her, cutting her in two.
But just when Chojuro thought he had won, "Yugito" turned into a piece of wood.
Realizing that Yugito had replaced herself, Chojuro began to look around for the female blonde. But before he could find her, he was forced to bring his sword up to shield him from a hail of shuriken that he saw flying towards him from his right.
After blocking the shuriken, Chojuro lowered his sword in an attempt to see where Yugito was. But as soon as he did, he was greeted with the sight of Yugito's foot slamming him in the face and sending him sliding across the ground several meters away.
Picking himself up quickly, Chojuro was just able to block Yugito's katana, which she had drawn as she raced toward him and attacked him with it.
After Chojuro blocked Yugito's attack, a battle for dominance began, where the two of them each tried to push the other back. After a minute or so Chojuro gained the upper hand and started pushing Yugito back, but before he could press his advantage further, Yugito fell backwards and rolled away from Chojuro. Who immediately chased after her and had his sword change into a hook and attempted a sweeping slash.
Before Chojuro's sword could hit her, Yugito quickly used her advance speed to her advantage, and disappeared in a blur. She then reappeared behind him and swung her katana at his now exposed back.
But luckily for Chojuro, thanks to several months of training under Zabuza, the young Kiri Genin was able to avoid Yugito's slash and jumped away from her. Although for his trouble he did receive a slight slash on his back, but thankfully it had just cut his clothes.
Despite not wounding Chojuro, Yugito remained confident and pressed her attack, using her high speed to her advantage, Yugito unleashed a series of fierce sword attacks on the younger boy. Unable to do much, the young Kiri Genin was forced on the defensive and pushed further back into the arena wall.
Realizing he needed to do something, Chojuro had his sword once again take the shape of a hammer and slammed it into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. This forced Yugito to move away so not to be caught in it. But as soon as she jumped away, Chojuro emerged out of the dust cloud with his sword still in hammer form, directly above her.
"Shit" Yugito thought when she saw Chojuro falling towards her with his sword hammer ready.
Wasting no time Yugito quickly jumped forward to avoid the attack, where Chojuro's sword hit the ground, causing another crater and a large dust cloud.
After Yugito avoided his attack, Chojuro quickly deactivated his sword and spun around to face the blonde girl. But as he spun around he saw the blonde Kunoichi racing towards him at high speed. Knowing he couldn't bring his sword up in time, Chojuro moved to his right to avoid Yugito's slash. But unfortunately he was unable to avoid it completely and received a shallow cut to his left side.
"Hmph, not bad" Yugito commented, as she turned to face Chojuro again. "You were able to avoid both of my slashes without much harm, despite being caught off guard each time, you have pretty good reflexes."
"Thank you" Chojuro replied as he fixed his glasses, which had fallen forward during the fight. "I have had much practice avoiding deadly sword slashes ever since I started training under Zabuza-sensei."
After saying this, Chojuro thought back to the numerous training matches he had with the Kirigakure no Kijin (Demon of the Hidden Mist) and couldn't help but shudder slightly. Since each time the blue haired boy had sparred against his sensei, he had barley come out of it alive.
Soon after, Chojuro focused his attention back on the match at hand and pushed the thoughts of his hellish training under the Kirigakure no Kijin away. He then had his sword take the form of a long sword and jumped into the air and attempted another downward slash.
Like the last time, Yugito jumped forward to avoid the attack, but before she could turn around and strike back at Chojuro. The young swordsman in training spun around and swung his sword in a horizontal slash, while at the same time channelling a large amount of his Chakra into the sword, allowing him to increase the reach of his sword and cut Yugito.
But when Chojuro finished swinging his sword, he was surprised to see that Yugito was gone.
As Chojuro looked around for any sign of the Kumo Kunoichi, he suddenly heard a familiar female voice say "Looking for me?"
After hearing the voice, Chojuro quickly turned to the direction of where he heard it from, where he was surprised to find Yugito kneeling on the end of his sword.
Before Chojuro could attempt anything, the blonde Kunochi quickly jumped off the sword and landed a few meters directly opposite the student of Zabuza.
"Your pretty good I'll give you that, and you can use that sword of yours well. But sadly for you it is a rather limited weapon to use, even with your sword's ability to take different shapes. Due to its weight and size you must either swing it down or to the side, making it extremely easy to predict. Not only that, but given the amount of Chakra it takes to form it shapes, I would say it also takes a toll on you, meaning the longer this battle lasts, the weaker you become.
-With the Audience-
Sitting up in the stands, the infamous Kirigakure no Kijin, Momochi Zabuza watched as his student fought the blonde Kumo Kuniochi.
As the two watched the battle unfold, Zabuza frowned slightly when Yugito revealed the weaknesses of Hiramekarei. Since like she said, due to its large size, Hiramekarei could only be swung in certain ways when attacking. Also given its weight and the amount of Chakra it takes for it to change shape, the sword was not the ideal weapon to use in a drawn out fight. Even though Chojuro's stamina and strength had improved from when Zabuza first started training him. The young Genin still had limits, which he was showing now as the blue haired boy was panting slightly and a few beads of sweat were falling from his face.
Zabuza was of course not surprised by this as Chojuro tired easily from using the sword multiple times, due to both its weight and the amount of Chakra it took to use it.
"The girl is pretty observant, in only a few minutes she has already found the key weaknesses of Hiramekarei" Zabuza thought.
"It's not looking good for Chojuro, Zabuza-sensei" Saito commented, who was seated next to Zabuza on his right.
"No it doesn't…but still, don't count Chojuro out just yet" Zabuza replied, "He still got some moves left."
Nodding at this, Saito turned back to watch the fight.
-Down in the Arena-
After Yugito revealed the weakness of his sword, Chojuro knew he had to finish this fight quickly, knowing that the longer the battle dragged on, the more it favoured Yugiro.
"It seems that I have no choice but to use it" the spikey haired boy thought before he formed a single hand seal and used a large portion of his remaining Chakra to perform this Jutsu.
"I don't know how long I can maintain this; hopefully I can finish this fight before it eats up all my Chakra" Chojure thought before he said "Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist technique)."
After Chojuro said this, a Mist began to form around the arena and quickly began to thinken, obstructing everyone's view of the fight.
-In the Finalist Box-
"Crap this could be trouble for Yugito-chan" Naruto thought with a frown. "If Chojuro is using the Kirigakure no Jutsu, then that means Zabuza has most likely trained him in Sairento Kiringu no Jutsu (Soundless Murder Technique), and if that's the case Yugito-chan is at a serious disadvantage."
-In the Arena-
Realizing what Chojuro was doing, Yugito quickly moved forward to attack, but before she could reach him, Chojuro disappeared within the mist.
"So, he's trying the same kind of tactic that loud mouth Inuzuka used, he trying to obscure by vision so I can't fight properly." Yugito thought, as she raised her Katana and fell into a defensive stance. "Not a bad plan, I'm also guessing given how his sensei is the infamous Kirigakure no Kijin that he has been trained in using Sairento Kiringu no Jutsu, so he can find me by sound alone. If that's the case I probably try the new technique Sensei thought me last week."
Hidden in the Mist, Chojuro silently thanked his sensei Zabuza for teaching him this. Zabuza had of course been listening carefully to what Naruto said about Yugito and her team during the preliminaries. So when it was announced that Chojuro was facing Yugito, Zabuza figured that the best way to help Chojuro stand a chance against her was to teach him the Kirigakure no Jutsu and the Sairento Kiringu no Jutsu.
Zabuza of course knew that the best way to defeat an enemy that was stronger than you was to put them in a situation that favoured you and put them at a disadvantage.
Needless to say Kirigakure no Jutsu was the perfect weapon to use, as it took away an opponent's ability to see fully and by using the Sairento Kiringu no Jutsu, you could find your opponent through sound alone and sneak up and kill them without making a sound.
Using what his sensei thought him, Chojuro silently moved through the Mist and listened for any sounds that his opponent was making.
After a minute or so careful listening, Chojuro picked up on the sound of someone moving and heavy breathing, only a few meters away from him.
Realizing that it was Yugito, Chojuro activated his sword again and used it to take the shape of a large board sword. He then silently moved through the Mist intending to finish the blonde Kumo Kunoichi with one move.
Like a silent phantom Chojuro appeared directly behind the blonde girl and with one swing of his sword, he severed her upper half from her lower half.
But just when Chojuro thought he had won, "Yugito" reverted into Lightning, which travelled through Chojuro's sword and into him.
"AAAggggaaa!" Chojuro cried as the Lightning travelling through his body and electrocuted him.
After the Lightning faded, Chojuro dropped his sword and fell to his knees, panting heavily and his body shaking from the pain.
But before he could even try to recover, the real Yugito appeared out of the Mist and delivered a stronger kick to his side, sending the young Kiri boy skidding across the ground and crashing into the arena wall.
Soon after the Mist began to fade and the arena finally became visible again to the spectators, where to the surprise of the Zabuza and the other Kiri shinobi watching. They saw that Chojuro was badly injured and slowly getting back on to his feet, while Yugito was unharmed, standing not too far from him
"Damnit I was careless" Chojuro thought as he slowly picked himself up and stared at the now smirking Yugito. "She must have created a Lightning Clone to lure me out and disable me, making it easier for her to take me out."
At the same time Yugito silently thanked her sensei Killer Bee for teaching her Raiton: Kage Bunshin (Lightning Style: Shadow Clone), which had proven to be a useful technique.
Seeing that Chojuro could barely stand and was now without his sword, Yugito moved forward to finish the younger boy off.
Unwilling to give up just yet, Chojuro formed a single hand seal and thought "Suiton: Teppōdama (Water Style: Gunshot)" after which he spat out several large glops of water from his mouth.
"Shit!" Yugito thought when she saw the large balls of water flying towards her at high speed and dropped to the ground narrowly avoiding them.
After avoiding the attack, Yugito quickly picked herself up off the ground and began to form four quick hand seals before thinking "Rankedama (Flaming Hairball))!" After which she then shot out several flaming balls of hair from her mouth.
Seeing the flaming hairballs, Chojuro quickly fired several more balls of water from his mouth, hitting the flaming projectiles dead on and extinguished the flames. But to his surprise the hairballs themselves continued flying towards him and before he could try and avoid them. They hit him and pinned his arms and body to the wall.
When Chojuro tried to move he was surprised to find that he could not, "What's going on? What is this this stuff? Why can't I move?"
"I wouldn't try to move if I were you" Yugito replied, gaining the boys attention. "The hair that is pinning you to the wall is very strong and dries within seconds of making contact with a person, where it becomes as hard as cement." (A)
"Now then do you surrender or do want to continue?" the blonde girls asked as she took out several Kunai and prepared to thrown them.
Realizing he was in a hopeless situation Chojure nodded his head and said "I surrender."
"Wise choice" Yugito responded as she placed her Kunai back in her pounch.
As soon as Chojure said he gave up Genma ended the match. "Chojuro of Kirigakure (Hidden Mist) has surrendered…the winner is Nii Yugito of Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud)!"
As soon as Yugito had been declared the winner and round of applause could be heard from the crowed.
-In the Kage Box-
"What a shame" the Mei said with a disappointed sigh, as she had been rather hopefully that Chojuro would pull out a win. But sadly Yugito had proven to be too skilled for him in the end.
"A well fought match, wouldn't you agree Kazekage-sama?" the Sandaime commented as he turned to his fellow Kage.
"I do, both Genin fought quite admirable, I was especially impressed with how the Kunoichi Yugito was able to defeat the boy despite being at a disadvantage in the Mist."
"Hmph, that was nothing to Yugito Kazekage-sama, you have yet to see her true skill. She is one of our most prominent Genin and the strongest Kunoichi our village has produce in years. I dare say she is the strongest Genin in this exam" the Raikage said.
When the Raikage said this, both Tsunade and Jiraiya frowned, since any doubts they may have had with what Naruto told them about Yugito had now been settled. Since they knew that the Yondaime Raikage would not boost about someone like Yugito unless he was certain of her skill regardless of her staus as jinchuriki.
"That is high praise for such a young girl Raikage-sama" Tsunade commented. "But I would not go and declare her the winner already. My son Naruto is more than capable of handling himself and has yet to show his true abilities either."
"I must agree with Tsunade-sama Raikage-sama, as my son Gaara is also a very capable Shinobi and is one of my village's strongest Shinobi" the Kazekage said as he joined the conversation.
"I would not count my village out either Raikage-sama, as Yuki Haku has yet to fight and like your Kunoichi Yugito. Haku is one of my village's most prominent Genin and Kunoichi and it would be unwise to underestimate her" the Mizukage added.
Narrowing his eyes the bulky Kage just grunted.
Seeing the tension building but between Tsunade and the other Kages, the Sandaime decided to ease things by changing the subject. "Ahem, So Kazekage-sama perhaps you could tell me your opinion of the match and do you think either Genin deserve to be promoted."
"Although both Genin fought quite well and showed impressive skill in both Swordsmanship and good use of Ninjutsu. I find I cannot recommend either of them for Chunin, since due to the Mist we could not see how exactly Yugito-san was able to overcome her disadvantage in the Mist and defeat the boy. Also with the exception of his fighting skill, the boy Chojuro, failed to show any other qualities that would make him a good Chunin."
When the Sarutobi heard this the old Hokage could not help but nod his head in agreement, since due to the Mist blocking their view of the closing part of the fight, they could not make a fair assessment of both Genin's skill.
"I'm afraid I too must agree with the Kazekage's statement" Mei replied with a touch of disappointed.
Surprisingly even A agreed with this assessment and stated that neither Yugito or Chojuro showed any attributes that would make them worthy of becoming a Chunin in their match.
"So who match is next?" Jiraiya asked, seeing Yugito leave the arena after Chojuro was free and taken away by the medics.
"I believe it's against another Kunoichi from your village Raikage-sama a girl named Karui, if I'm not mistake" the Sandaime said as he turned to the Raikage.
"Yes, that is correct" the Raikage responded.
"May I ask who she is facing against" the Mizukage asked.
"A young boy named Sai" the Hokage replied.
At the mention of Sai both Tsunade and Jiraiya displayed guarded looks, since they had heard from both the Sandaime and Naruto. That Sai was a member of Danzo's ROOT organization, and that he had been assigned to team seven to observe both Sasuke and Naruto, whenever he worked with team seven.
-With Naruto-
"Nice!" yelled Karui as pumped her fist after seeing Yugito had won.
"No real surprise there" Omoi commented with a smile, where his female teammate Samui nodded, as like her teammates she had been certain Yugito would win.
"Not too shabby" Naruto thought with a smirk after Yugito was declared the winner, since he hadn't been too sure if Yugito could win after Chojuro used Kirigakure no Jutsu.
Haku on the other hand, (who was standing not far from Naruto) frowned, since she had been surprised when Yugito defeated Chojuro after he used Kirigakure no Jutsu. She had been there when Zabuza started training Chojuro is using the Kirigakure no Jutsu and the Sairento Kiringu no Jutsu. Knowing how deadly the two techniques were in combination, Haku had been certain Chojuro could defeat Yugito using them. Even though he was nowhere near the level of their sensei, Chojuro was still quite skill in using them.
After Chojuro was freed from the wall and taken away by the medics, Yugito made her way back to the finalist box.
Once she arrived, she was greeted by her teammates who congratulated her on her win.
Even Naruto went over to her and commended her on winning her fight.
"Nice going Yugito-chan, you did great."
"Thank you"
"Also just curious, how did you beat Chojuro when he used the Kirigakure no Jutsu?"
At this question Yugito just smirked and said "You'll find out eventually Senju" after which they then heard Genma call Karui and Sai down for the next match.
Seeing this as her chance to further show everyone the strength of Kumo, Karui quickly made her way down to the arena, while Sai. Who had been quietly sitting in the corner painting, simply put his things away and calmly made his way down to the arena.
-In the Arena-
Once both Genin had arrived and were facing each other, Genma asked them both if they were ready.
Naturally both Genin nodded, where Karui drew her Katana out from behind, while Sai remained perfectly still.
Seeing this Genma nodded and raised his arm up and yelled "Then let the fourth Round of the Chunin finals Begin!" as he swung his arm down.
As soon as Genma began the battle Karui made the first move my charging forward yelled "Kumo-Ryū Omotegiri (Cloud-Style Front Beheading)!" where she performed a forward slash in an attempt to sever Sai's head.
Seeing this Sai quickly leapt into the air and over Karui where he landed several meters away from the dark skinned girl.
"Looks like you missed" Sai said with his usual fake smile as he landed back on the ground.
Annoyed by this, Karui quickly spun around and charged at the young ROOT agent and slashed at him again. But like before Sai leapt into the air to the avoid the slash, but as he flew in mid-air Karui quickly took out a Kunai and threw it at him.
Luckily though for Sai, he was able to draw out his Tanto and used it to deflect Karui's Kunai with it. After he landed Karui then charged at Sai again and tried to cut him in two, but once again the dark haired boy avoided the slash.
Undeterred Karui followed after Sai, where she then made yet another attempt to slash at Sai but like before she missed, where Sai used Sumigasumi no Jutsu (Ink Mist Technique) to avoid the slash and disappear.
Seeing that her opponent was gone, Karui quickly began to search for him. But before she could find Sai, she suddenly heard the whistling sound of something flying through the air.
When she looked up, Karui immediately spotted several Kunai flying through the air from above, acting fast, Karui skilfully deflected the incoming Kunai. But as soon as she did, several small Ink birds appeared and flew down at her.
With only a moment to act, Karui wasted no time and swung her sword in a single, large, crescent moon-shaped arc and yelled "Kumo-Ryū Mikazukigiri (Cloud-Style Three Days' Moon Beheading)!" After performing the large arc all three ink birds were destroyed instantly.
But as soon as they had been destroyed, Karui suddenly sensed danger coming from behind, and quickly spun around to block a strong downward slash from Sai, who had just appeared.
"Oh, it looks like you do have some skill after all" Sai remarked with his trademarked fake smile.
Grinding her teeth in frustration Karui tried to force Sai back, but sadly the undercover ROOT agent proved stronger than her and she was forced to jump back a few feet.
Seeing this, Sai relaxed his guard and smiled again "I have to admit you're not bad, but you seem to let your emotions get to you. I suggest that you learn to control them better."
"Tsk, as if I would take advice from a Konoha dog" an annoyed Karui replied as she readied her sword.
"You know you remind me a lot of my so-called team-mate, I believe you fought her at the preliminaries" a still smiling Sai remarked.
"Don't you dare underestimate me!" Karui yelled angrily, "I'm nothing like that weakling!"
"Oh no, I wasn't saying that you were weak like her at all" Sai said calmly as he waved her off. "I was saying you're alike in other ways…you're both ugly, loud, irritable, violent, not to mention you both seem to have rather large foreheads and you are both… Pettanko."
-In the Finalist box-
As soon as Naruto heard Sai say this, the blonde Senju slapped his forehead and thought "OOhhh Boy!" although had to admit as well, that Sai did have a point as Karui did share many similar traits with Sakura.
At same Omoi rolled his eyes and thought "This is not going to end well."
Samui on the other hand simply closed her eyes and shook her head, while Yugito just covered her eyes with her right hand, knowing what would happen next.
-In the Arena-
After Sai had finished explaining the similarities between Sakura and Karui, the young Shinobi artist could hear the angry cries of his pink hair team-mate. Who was currently being held back by Asuma, Kurenai and Yamato, preventing her from jumping down into the arena, and beating Sai to death.
As Sakura struggled to break free from the hold of the three Jonin, the pink haired girl started yelling about how she was going to kill him, once she got her hands on him.
Sai for his part simply ignored the girl's rants and focused his attention on his female opponent. Who right now had her face lower, preventing him from seeing it , although he could see a murderous red aura around her. He also figured, given the way her sword was shaking in her hand right now, that she wanted nothing more than to use her katana to cut him into a million pieces.
Feigning an innocent smile, Sai simply said "Did I say something wrong?"
-Enter Naruto OST Anger-
When Sai said this Karui raised her head began to chuckle darkly.
"Heh…heh…heh…heh, something wrong you say? No you didn't say anything wrong…IF YOU WANTED TO DDDIIIEEE!" Karui roared as she charged forward with her sword, ignoring the cries of her team-mates, telling her to calm down.
"Heh, idiot" Sai thought with a cold smirk, where when Karui charged at him, five ink Snakes appeared out of the ground behind her and went to strike at her from behind.
Seeing this Omoi and the others yelled out to warn her, but Karui seemed too focus on killing Sai to hear their voices or notice the Ink snakes coming from behind her.
Just as the Ink Snakes where about to bite her from behind, Karui suddenly spun around and yelled "Kumo-Ryū Uragiri (Cloud-Style Reverse Beheading)!" where with single swing of her Katana, Karui severed the heads of all five ink snakes, causing them to revert into puddles of ink.
Seeing this, Sai was of course surprised, as he had expected Karui to be so angry that she would lose focus and fail to pay attention to her surroundings and not notice the ink snakes.
Once the ink snakes had been dealt with, Karui immediately turned back around to face Sai, where before the pale skin boy could even attempt to move away. She slashed his head off with one quick motion.
"I told you not to underestimate me" Karui said coldly as she watched Sai's head fall from his body. But to her surprise, "Sai" reverted into a large puddle of ink.
"Shit…a clone!" Karui thought in surprise, realizing she had been duped.
"And I told you, that you should learn to control your emotions better" the real Sai said who was hiding behind one of the nearby trees and had just finished drawing several ink lions and sent them to attack Karui.
Seeing the ink lions coming towards her from the corner of her eye, Karui quickly spun around and channelled her Chakra to her Katana and converted it to Lightning.
Once the ink lions were close enough Karui then engaged the large beasts and skilfully defeated them without much effort.
As soon as all the ink lions were destroyed, Karui then took out several Kunai with exploding notes tide to them and threw them at the tree Sai was hiding behind.
After the Kunai hit their target, Karui activated the notes, causing them to light up and explode, destroying the tree. But just when Karui thought she had dealt with the pale face boy, she saw a large dark figure shoot out from the cloud of smoke caused by the explosion, at high speed.
Before Karui could figure out what it was, she was force to the ground, by a large gust of wind.
Quickly regaining her bearings, Karui began to look for the source of the wind and the dark figure she had seen a moment ago. When she looked up, she was surprised to see Sai sitting on a large ink bird, flying directly above her. She then quickly realized that the figure she had seen shooting out of the smoke was the ink bird, and the wind the forced her to the ground was caused when the bird when it flew up into the sky.
Once Sai was high above the Kumo Kunoichi, he began to draw a dozen or so more ink lions and sent them down to attack her.
Wasting no time, Karui quickly went on the offensive and attacked the ink creatures, knowing that if she didn't, they would surround her and attack her from all sides.
From above Sai careful watched as Karui easily destroyed his ink beasts, using her advance Kenjutsu style which was enhanced thanks to her Lightning covered katana. He was also surprised to see her throw several Kunai, which were enhanced with Lightning Chakra, to destroy his last three remaining ink lions.
"Hmmm, her skill in Chakra flow skill is pretty good and her swordsmanship skill is just as impressive" Sai thought with a small frown. "I should finish this quickly as I can't afford to have this turn into a drawn out battle."
After destroying the last ink lion, Karui stared up at her opponent, who remained safely up on his ink bird.
As she looked up at the large ink bird, she suddenly saw the large creature dive down at high speed and head straight for her.
"SHIT!" Karui cried as fell to the ground, narrowly avoid the ink's bird's claw and struggled to keep from being blown away by the backdraft of the bird as it flew back up above the arena.
"Damn that Bastard!" Karui cursed angrily. "I'm at a serious disadvantage here, I need to think of a way to get to him or at least bring him back down here"
But before she could attempt anything, Sai threw down a small wave of Shuriken and Kunai at her.
"Shit" Karui thought as she moved around the arena, dodging and deflecting the projectiles with her Katana. But after deflecting the last Kunai, Karui noticed that several of the Kunai that had stabbed the ground near her had exploding notes tide to them.
Seeing this, Karui could only think "Motherfucker" after which she tried to move away from the exploding notes as they exploded.
After the notes exploded, a large cloud of smoke and dust covered most of the arena.
As the smoked filled the arena, Sai had his ink bird fly down low before dispelling it and dropping down into the middle of the cloud of smoke and dust.
Soon after, a slightly singed Karui emerged out of the edge of the cloud, covered in dirt and coughing heavily from the smoke and dust, but other than that looked relatively unharmed.
After a few minutes the smoke and dust began to dissipate and Karui began to make out a lone figure standing in the middle of the arena.
Realizing that it was Sai, Karui charged forward with here sword, intending to finish the battle once and for all. But just when she had crossed half the distance between her and Sai, a large group of ink snakes suddenly erupted from the ground underneath her.
The snakes then quickly wrapped themselves around Karui's body, causing her to drop her katana and pinning her arms and legs together, preventing her from moving.
-End Naruto OST Anger-
When Karui hit the ground the dark skinned girl struggled to free herself from the binds of the ink snakes. But sadly they were too strong for her to break.
Realizing that she couldn't break free from the snakes by herself, Karui crawled over to her katana, (which she had dropped after the ink snakes wrapped themselves around her). But before she could reach her blade, Sai appeared in front of her pointing his tanto in her face.
"Looks like I win" Sai said with his usual fake smile, which irritated the Kumo Kunoichi.
It was at this point that Genma, (who had just appeared next to them), ended the match and said "This match is over…the winner is Sai of Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf)."
As soon as Genma declared the match over, a thunderous applauds could be heard from the stands, as people cheered over the well fought match and Sai's win.
Once Sai had been declared the winner, the undercover ROOT agent sheathed his tanto sword and made his way back to the finalist box. But before he could get very far, he suddenly heard Karui call out to him.
"Hey!"
"Yes?" Sai asked as he turned around to face Karui with his normal fake smile
"Aren't you going to get these things to let me go?"
"No!" Sai replied simply.
"Why the hell not?" the girl asked angrily.
"Because I don't help ugly old hags" the boy replied simply with the same fake smile before turning back around and walking away. Leaving a furious Karui behind him, who preceded to scream out in rage, swearing she would get him back for this and that she would kill him.
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