36. Chunin Exams Stage Three: Preliminaries Part 1
The journey to the center of the forest with my team isn’t worth mentioning. With my Parasitic Insects to scout and the Byakugan’s sight, evading unwanted enemies is trivial. My abilities even allow me to control the giant leeches and centipedes of the forest.
While impressive looking, these wild insects can’t compare to the years of selective breeding the Aburame clan put into the ‘basic’ Parasitic Insects I use. While my beetles are small, their chakra-consuming capabilities, flight, and the speed with which they replace any losses from combat give them a reliability that our clan has depended on for generations.
Hinata, Kiba, and I activate both the Heaven and Earth scrolls once inside the building, summoning an Academy teacher named Suzume. (In the Anime, Naruto’s team summoned Iruka.) We endure a lecture on what it means to be a Chunin, then move on to the waiting area. This room is where they’ll hold the Preliminaries; there’s a giant pair of arms carved from stone performing a hand seal on one end of the room and a viewing platform above the arena.
I sigh in relief internally as each of the Konoha teams arrive one after another. I’m glad the butterfly effect hasn’t caused a major issue thus far.
The Third Hokage gives another lecture on the political ramifications of the exams before handing proceedings to our proctor, Hayate (the sickly guy with bags under his eyes who coughs a lot). Basically, Konoha’s pride and reputation are on the line. Kabuto withdraws from the exam on schedule while claiming he’s afraid of potentially fighting to the death. In reality, Kabuto is also working for Orochimaru behind the scenes. It's too early for me to call him out, though. I can't beat him or catch him yet.
While waiting for the next stage to start, I overhear a discussion between the members of Team 7.
“Sasuke-kun, you’re in no shape to fight. I know that mark must hurt; maybe you should withdraw, dattebayo.”
I blink.
What??? Naruto just stole Sakura’s lines from the Anime!
“Shut up,” Sasuke says, “This pain is mine to bear… alone. I’m here to test myself against the best of the best. And the best opponents I could find are all around us, here and now.”
“Idiot! Why are you trying to act all cool?” the orange ninja replies.
“Naruto-kun, you’re one of the ones I want to fuck.”
“…”
“Fight! I meant fight!”
…Okay, maybe things are a bit different, but nothing serious.
“Akado Yoroi, Uchiha Sasuke… you two have been selected for the first bout.”
Good, good. Everything as expected.
Sasuke goes into this match handicapped, as Kakashi threatens to stop the match if the Curse Mark activates. As the Seal is activated by flowing chakra, ninjutsu is off the table for him.
Yoroi is a Genin in his twenties who wears sunglasses at night and a dark cloth mask to hide his nose and mouth. What a try-hard. His special ability is an unnamed jutsu that drains the enemy’s chakra with physical contact. Unfortunately, it’s not a Kekkei Genkai, so I can’t steal it with my Deep Dweller. Worse, I think it’s a chakra manipulation/control type ability that can’t be duplicated by the Sharingan. That said, there’s something else useful here for me to pick up.
“Begin!”
The two enter melee immediately, Yoroi activating his Chakra Absorption Technique to further weaken Sasuke while grappling. It would’ve worked if Sasuke didn’t have an overwhelming taijutsu advantage.
“Barrage of Lions!”
*Yoink!*
The Sharingan is such a dirty ability, copying anything conveniently in sight. This technique has the advantage of already being an adaption of Lee’s Primary Lotus that doesn’t require opening the first of the Eight Gates. The Preliminaries sure are great!
While I record his moves as if on camera, Sasuke kicks Yoroi into the air, jumps to follow, punches Yoroi back down from the peak of their height, and dropkicks Yoroi into the pavement an instant before landing, all while resisting the pain of his curse mark. What a devastating display!
After Sasuke demolishes his opponent, the Uchiha scion is taken away for treatment by Kakashi.
Next is Ino versus Sakura. The two girls stand opposed.
“Listen, Ino-chan. I’ve been thinking about it, and I want you to know I won’t be fighting you for Sasuke-kun anymore.”
“Ehhh?”
“I honestly think the two of you will make a great couple!”
“Sakura-chan, where the heck is this coming from?”
“Well… actually, I met someone…” In the middle of Sakura’s speech, Ino glares up at me. I feign innocence with a hapless shrug. “And I’ve already accepted their feelings. Plus, I think Sasuke-kun might prefer boys—not that you don’t still have a shot with him! Maybe, if you cut your hair, bind your chest, and wear a strap-on…”
There are definitely a few sidelong glances being leveled at Sasuke right now, but he stonily refuses to acknowledge them.
“Shut up!” Ino ties her leaf headband across her forehead, and Sakura does the same. “If we go another minute without punching each other, I’m going to scream!”
With that, Ino charges Sakura.
The pink-haired girl hurriedly creates a pair of clones to confuse Ino.
The blond girl throws a punch at the Sakura in the middle of the trio. Ino’s fist connects with Sakura’s face, sending the pink-haired girl stumbling back.
“H-how’d you know?” she asks while kneeling on the ground.
Ino stands over Sakura and cracks her knuckles before shrugging. “Lucky guess.”
Sakura throws a shuriken and rises to her feet. The projectile is deflected midflight by Ino’s thrown kunai. The two of them approach again, and each decks the other simultaneously.
They stagger away from the exchange to catch their collective breath. Sakura seems more winded than her opponent and rubs her bruised cheek. The pink-haired girl stares in shock at Ino. “Since when are you this strong?”
“I’ve been doing extra training for the past few weeks with… f-friends?” That last word came out as more of a question.
“Okay, that didn’t sound weird at all.”
“S-shut up, billboard brow!”
“Ino-pig!”
The two of them charge at one another once again. Two mighty blows land and both girls skid away from the impact site to collapse on the floor.
Only one stands.
Hayate clears his throat. “Yamanaka Ino is the winner by knockout!”
So, as I was saying about the butterfly effect…Nevermind, we’re definitely off the rails.
“The third match of the preliminaries will be Tenten-chan against Temari-chan. Please step forward.”
I meet Tenten’s gaze from across the room. I wink, and she nods. As she descends into the arena, Tenten stops to tie her shoes. It’s a brief pause no one seems to notice, except me with my Byakugan hidden behind my dark glasses.
“Begin.”
Tenten draws a handful of shuriken and throws them at Temari the wind manipulator.
The Sand Village kunoichi easily deflects them with a wave of her iron fan. Temari opens the fan by a third, revealing a purple circle. “This is the first moon. When all three are revealed, you’ll know this match is over.”
“Then let’s not waste time. Ninja Art: Rising Twin Dragons!”
Tenten withdraws two special scrolls and sets them on the ground. After performing the correct hand signs, a dragon of smoke appears around her and ascends skyward. The smoke dragon soon dissipates to reveal a double helix of unfurled scrolls.
At this point, Tenten leaps to the top of the helix and unseals a myriad of weapons in rapid succession: kunai, shuriken, flails, axes, kama, sais, claws, needles, and spikes. She throws each at Temari as they appear in a flurry of steel.
With a wave of her iron fan, Temari scatters every thrown weapon while revealing the second moon. “I was hoping for more.”
Tenten lands with a frown. “Tch, and here I thought I could win without this.” Then Tenten uses the hand seal I showed her. “Ice Release: Crystal Ice Mirrors.”
She slapped on my Ice Leech when ‘tying her shoes’ before the start of the match.
The crowd goes mad with whispers.
“Yuki clan!”
“Kekkei Genkai?”
“The cursed bloodline…”
Tenten ignores the noise to raise three icy mirrors from the ground scattered across the battlefield. “They cost a lot of chakra, so three is my limit. That should be enough to defeat you, cutie.”
My girlfriend winks playfully at the sand kunoichi.
“W-what? No, it doesn’t matter.” Temari scowls, dismissing her opponent’s flirting, and reveals the third moon of her iron fan. “This match is over!”
Temari waves her fan to produce a violent cyclone of wind as Tenten retreats into the mirror. The cyclone’s brutal blasts and severe squalls slice into the ground, but the mirror remains untouched.
“How???”
I scoff. Ice is a Kekkei Genkai combining Water and Wind. It’s a little much to ask a Genin’s Wind Release to break the ice mirrors when Sasuke’s great fireball technique couldn’t.
Tenten appears in the mirror behind Temari and throws a shuriken at the sand kunoichi’s back. Temari spins to block the projectile with her iron fan.
“Obviously, I knew you’d attack my blind spot. I see where this is going.” Temari waves her fan continually, creating a whirlwind around herself to defend against thrown weapons from all angles. “Do you really think you can defeat me in a contest of endurance? Your jutsu versus mine?”
An ice mirror appears below Temari’s feet. Reaching up, Tenten jabs the sand kunoichi’s leg with a kunai and retreats into the mirror before Temari can retaliate.
“I lied when I said three mirrors were my limit. It’s four.”
Temari kneels in pain and glares at Tenten’s reflections. “There’s a major flaw in your jutsu!” The sand kunoichi spreads her iron fan and hops atop it. Using a Wind manipulation technique, Temari rides the fan into the air. “Those mirrors are only useful if I let them surround me!”
Indeed, what’s the point of the mirrors if they can’t form an enclosing dome?
Tenten steps forth from a mirror in seeming defeat. Then she leaps into the air, hands raised. Each of her fingers connects to one of the weapons scattered about from her Rising Twin Dragons jutsu. Then Tenten pulls on the wires, and a storm of blades rises to attack Temari from all sides.
“You can’t defend and fly at the same time!”
Temari is forced to use her fan to create a defensive cyclone. She falls to the ground while deflecting the rain of weapons. The sand kunoichi lands on her wounded leg and collapses in pain. Before she can rise, Tenten is there with a kunai held to her neck.
Tenten lifts Temari’s chin with the blade. “Looks like you fell for me.”
The blond girl blushes.
“Tenten wins the third match!”