Chapter 89: Ch.88. Prelims pt.2

“Yahoo!”

“Here I come!”

*Bang Bang Pow Bang*

Naruto and Kiba collided as the two began to punch and kick at each other.

Shizuka slapped her forehead loudly and chuckled.

“I don’t know what I was expecting. I thought Naruto would clone immediately and trounce him.”

“Boys having fun, I guess. What do you think, Hii?”

“I’m calling it now. He forgot about it.”

“”……..””

Hii chuckled as he watched the two continued to strike at each other.

After a few more rounds of close combat, Naruto and Kiba jumped away from each other.

Kiba reached into his bag while Naruto turned around to fiddle with something.

“Hehehehehe!”

Kiba didn’t pay much attention to Naruto as he pulled out a food pill for Akamaru and a pill for him.

“Grrrr!”

Akamaru’s fur turned red as steam spewed from his mouth.

“Alright!”

Kiba weaved a few seals before activating his technique!

“Man Beast Transformation Jutsu!”

“Arf!”

Kiba and Akamaru activated their techniques at the same time!

*Poof*

Akamaru transformed into a copy of Kiba while the Genin himself turned more and more feral.

Naruto also finished his preparations as he looked at Kiba with a wide grin.

“Ah! Right!”

Naruto weaved his own technique as well.

Hii glanced at Shizuka with a smile as she shook her head.

“Shadow Clone Jutsu!”

*Poof Poof Poof*

Several clones of Naruto appeared and smiled at each other as they drew their kunais.

“Alright!”

“Let’s get em!”

“”Oooooh!!!””

Kiba snorted as he crouched down on all fours and tightened his muscles!

“Heh! Your clones are no match for us! Let’s go!”

Kiba and Akamaru clapped each other’s hands as they dashed forward.

“Fang over Fang!”

The two began to spin at high velocity, turning into two tornadoes flying straight towards Naruto!

“Dodge!”

“Get out of the way!”

The clones scrambled to dodge, but the spinning missiles honed in on them!

*Rip Poof Rip Poof Poof*

Kiba and Akamaru tore through the clones!

The two turned around and shot towards the crowd of clones again!

“Launch up!”

One of the clones ordered the others as they grabbed ahold of each other and tossed one another over the incoming attacks!

*Poof Rip Poof*

The feral missiles still attacked the clones, but fewer and fewer were getting hit! As the clones of Naruto jumped into the air, one of the clones used the Jutsu once more!

*Poof Poof Poof*

As more clones appeared, Kiba started to get angry and nervous.

“Grrr! You won’t get away! We'll tear through as many of these clones as we need to!”

“Arf!”

Kiba and Akamaru increased their rotation as they shredded through the crowds of Narutos.

“……”

Hii watched the fight silently as he marveled at the cutting power of Kiba’s technique.

‘How interesting. I wonder if I can apply that to my techniques…’

“Here we go! Hold the line!”

“”Ooohh!!””

A line of Naruto clones linked arms and held fast against Kiba and his dog.

“Nowhere to run now!”

The two finally whittled down the clones to just a few of them left.

“Alright! Let’s finish him off!”

They went to each side of the clones and started to shred through them towards the middle! Everyone grew tense as the clones disappeared one by one as the two tornados were closing in on the real Naruto!

“It’s over! Fang over Fang!”

Kiba accelerated towards him while Akamaru copied his speed!

With the intense spinning. However, Kiba wasn’t able to see the sly smile on Naruto’s face.

*Boom*

The two tornados collided against each other with force with Naruto in the middle!

*BOOM*

A bigger explosion suddenly went off, enveloping the two in a red liquid!

“Gyaaah!!!!”

*Whimper*

Kiba and Akamaru came out of the explosion holding on to their faces and screaming in terror!

After thrashing around to remove the liquid from their noses, they both stopped moving and passed out from the smell.

Everyone was shocked to see Kiba and Akamuru fall over!

That is, until the smell hit them.

“Woah!”

“Oh Kami-sama! What is that smell?!”

Everyone suddenly smelt an atrocious odor assail their senses!

“Ugh! It smells like peppers and dirty socks!”

“Hehehe! It’s my latest technique!”

Everyone looked up and noticed Naruto on the sealing, grinning with his fingers forming the peace sign.

“I call it the Naruto Surprise Bomb Clone! I just came up with it!”

Hii shook his head and marveled at Naruto’s creativity.

‘That unpredictability makes him very dangerous.’

*Cough Cough Cough*

It seemed even the referee wasn’t able to get away from the attack.

“T-The winner is… Naruto Uzumaki.”

“Alright! I did it!”

“Congratulations!”

Naruto was in the midst of cheering when he suddenly froze.

‘W-Why did that come from behind me?’

Naruto turned slowly behind him to see Shizuka smiling at him in a gentle fashion.

Naruto began to shiver as he remembered anytime he saw that smile, it meant he was going to get beaten.

*Crack Crack*

“Don’t run. Your sister has some problems with that technique of yours. Let’s go over them slowly, okay?”

************* ************

A brief intermission later*

Naruto was kneeling in front of Shizuka as she lectured him on why stink bombs in enclosed spaces was never a good idea.

The others decided to ignore them as they watched the Shikamaru try to dodge Kin’s Tsuchi’s Senbon.

*Swish Swish Ring Ring*

Shikamaru dodged the Senbon, but couldn’t seem to move after he heard the bells.

“Hey! Give me a break here!”

Kin smiled as she tugged on the wire connected to the bells.

“I can give you a break as long as you give up.”

“….No thanks.”

Maka yawned softly as she turned to Hii.

“He hesitated there. How lazy is he? Hey, do you think they will let us fight soon?”

Hii shook his head.

“No idea. I just hope I’m not the last fight.”

Shizuka came over to the two after finishing her scolding with a sigh.

“Geez! I can’t believe Naruto didn’t even think about everybody else when he used that move!”

“Well, it’s Naruto. We shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Haaaah.”

Shizuka leaned over the railing as she watched the fight.

“They’re still going at it? I thought Shikamaru would’ve already won against her.”

Maka shrugged and began to roll her shoulders.

“He might be too lazy to finish it quickly.”

“Hehehe! That sounds like him.”

The three watched in silence as Kin’s Genjutsu took a toll on Shikamaru.

“Hey. Do you think they’ll let teammates fight each other?”

The two looked over at Shizuka with puzzled looks.

“Why do you ask?”

“……”

Shizuka didn’t answer immediately and played with her front bang a bit.

“I just think… it would be cool if we could have the chance to fight each other as well.”

Hii and Maka both looked at each other and stared at Shizuka.

Shizuka started to curl up slowly as she avoided eye contact.

“Shizuka.”

Maka broke the silence and wrapped her arm around her shoulders.

“You are not going to fight him alone. We’ll kill him together. Your grudge may be bigger, but it’s not the only one anymore.”

Shizuka looked at Maka for a moment before feeling a hand land on her shoulders from the other side.

“I want a rematch with him. Don’t take that chance from me, alright?”

“…..”

Shizuka was silent for a moment before nodding slightly.

“Thanks.”

The two nodded their heads and noticed Shikamaru had somehow possessed Kin’s shadow.

“Oh? He got her finally.”

“Yeah. Let’s see what he’ll do to win.”

The team watched as Shikamaru and Kin both drew shurikens from their side holsters and took aim at each other.

Shizuka mouth grew wide as she turned to her teammates.

“He’s not gonna-?!”

Shizuka couldn’t finish her sentence as the two threw a shuriken at each other.

*Swish Swish Bang*

The three grimaced as they watched Kin hit the wall with force!

“That had to hurt.”

Shikamaru only rubbed the back of his head with a helpless expression.

“Sorry. I couldn’t afford to hold back.”

“Winner, Shikamaru Nara!”

Hayate called the match as the medical ninja all came in to assess the situation.

“She’s gonna feel that one for a while.”

Hii shook his head as he watched the medics carry her off.

“She should’ve trained more.”

Maka shook her head as she watched the screen for the next match.

“Not many of us left. These fights should be pretty fun.”

Shizuka cracked her knuckles as she also looked at screen for the next match.

“The next match has been decided!”

The screen continued to flash for a moment until a new pair was decided.

[Temari vs. Tenten]

“Hmph!”

“She looks tough. I might have to pull out the big guns.”

Temari and Tenten jumped down from the viewing area and prepared to fight.

“Hii-kun.”

Hii turned his head to find Lee looking over the battle next to him.

“Tell me honestly. Do you think Tenten stands a chance against her opponent?”

Hii looked over as the fight began and saw Temari unfold her weapon.

“At this point, I don’t think she stands too much of a chance.”

Lee looked surprised at Hii, but slowly refocused.

“Why?”

Hii pointed at Temari’s back with a frown.

“If my guess is correct, She specializes in Wind Style Jutsus. If that’s the case, Tenten won’t be able to do anything or get close.”

*Swish Swish Swish*

The two watched in silence as Tenten threw multiple kunai and shurikens at Temari, only for them to be blown away by a swing of her fan. Tenten grit her teeth and continued to swing her tools towards her opponent!

Hii nodded his head while Lee gripped the handrails tightly. “She’s resisting! This means she has a chance, right?!” “She always has a chance, but not a big one. She has to capitalize on all of her openings before Temari goes wild.”

Lee’s face grew serious as he noticed the fan had a purple moon drawn on the steel body.

‘It’s has not been fully extended yet!'

"Come on, Tenten!"

They watched as Tenten threw everything she had at Temari! By the time she was done, the floor was littered with all kinds of ninja tools laying about.

“Haaa! Haaa!”

Tenten tried to catch her breath as Temari looked over all the tools on the ground.

“Geez! You have everything in that scroll, don’t you?”

Temari smiled as she leisurely waited to see what else her opponent would throw at her.

“Haaa! Haaa! Don’t think you’ll win so easily!”

Tenten flexed her fingers, revealing long wires stretching from them.

“Hmm?!”

“Haaah!” Tenten jumped into the air, pulling all the connected tools with her using her chakra!

“Secret Technique: Heavenly Rain!”

*Swish Swish Swish Swish*

All of the weapons flew towards Temari like a storm!

“Tch!”

Temari opened her fan all the way as she swung her fan towards the weapons!

*Fwoooosh*

A gale of wind suddenly appeared, blowing the weapons away with insane force!

“Whoa?!”

“Watch out!”

Yamato formed a wood wall in front of the railing, blocking the rogue blast for the other Genin!

*Bang Bang Bang*

The sounds of multiple objects slamming into the wall echoed to the ninja behind it. After the sounds died down, Yamato slowly lowered the shield, showing the arena.

The Genin saw Temari panting softly while her fan was fully extended, showing three purple moons on its body.

The ground was swept clean. Eerily spotless.

“Where’s Tenten?!”

Lee grasped the rails as he searched for his teammate.

The others checked around too, but didn’t see her anywhere.

“…..”

Shizuka looked up instead and found all of her weapons embedded in the ceiling.

“….Ah. There she is.”

Shizuka pointed behind them, finding Tenten embedded in the wall along with several weapons around her.

Her head hung limply as she hugged from the wall.

“Tenten is unable to continue battling! Winner: Temari of the Sand!”

Hayate announced the end of the match, but most of the participants went to assist in getting Tenten out of the wall.

Hii gave an emergency treatment to her body before the medical ninja arrived.

As the medical team took Tenten away, Hii looked over at Guy.

“She’ll be okay. Surprisingly, she didn’t suffer too many wounds. It looked like mostly shock.”

Guy nodded his head and looked at me.

“Thank you, Hii. Your healing was most appreciated!”

“No problem. I’m always ready to help as long as it isn’t when you and Lee do stupid amounts of training.”

“Hahahaha!! That is what Youth is all about!”

‘You are not that young anymore, Guy…’

Hii wanted to say those words, but he decided to keep his mouth shut. The last thing he needed was a competition with Guy to show how youthful he still was.

The screen flipped through the remaining names rapidly as a decision was being made.

The remaining Genin watched the screen with ambitious passion.

They all wanted to prove themselves to be strong among their peers as well!

“The next match has been decided!”

The names on the screen stopped with the next pair.

[Sakura Haruno vs. Maka Uchiha]

Sakura grew stiff, but soon breathed in a mouthful of air and jumped down. Maka had also made her way down to the arena and started to stretch her muscles.

Sakura calmed herself and tried to focus on what she could do to win.

Maka nodded slightly as she watched Sakura.

“Don’t hold back.”

“Y-Yes!”

Sakura smiled as Maka slightly nodded to her.

“Ready?”

Both girls prepared themselves as they got into position.

“Begin!”

Maka and Sakura immediately reached for their shurikens and threw them at each other!

*Swish Swish Swish Clang Clang Clang*

Maka immediately dashed to the side as she continued to throw shurikens at Sakura!

‘Her Shuriken technique is too strong! I have to get close!’

Sakura dashed forward as she dodged the shurikens by sliding and rolling!

*Clink*

Sakura reached into her pouch and threw a ball towards Maka!

‘That’s!’

Maka quickly went to cover her eyes, but it was too late!

*Bang*

A bright flash caught everyone off guard as Sakura threw out a Flash bomb!

‘Now!’

Sakura quickly weaved hand signs before rushing over to Maka!

“Clone Jutsu!”

*Poof Poof*

Sakura quickly dashed towards Maka as two clones followed behind her!

Maka could barely see her approach as she braced herself for battle!

*Swish Swish*

Sakura ordered the two clones to attack Maka!

Maka attacked the clones before they got too close, but she soon realized it was a trap!

Her fists went through the clones of Sakura and put her off balance!

Sakura quickly came up to her and delivered a strong blow on Maka!

*Bang*

“Ugh!”

Maka grunted from the punch to her face, but quickly recovered and struck Sakura back!

*Bang Bang Swish Bang Bang*

The two battled each other in close combat, blocking and striking at each other at high speed! The two fought for a few more seconds before separating to catch their breath.

‘Maka really is strong! I only got one clean blow on her. I have to find another opening.’

Sakura watched Maka closely as Maka rubbed her cheek.

‘There’s no way Sakura could hit this hard before. This must be the training Hii told me about.'

Maka narrowed her vision on Sakura and rushed towards her! Sakura nearly panicked at her speed, but quickly weaved hand signs to stop her.

Too bad Maka already recognized those signs!

“Earth Style: Rock Wall!”

Maka weaved hand signs and sped up towards the rising wall and jumped over it!

“Wind style: Air Bullet!”

*Boom*

Maka jumped on top of the wall and fired a ball of air at Sakura!

Dust spread around the arena, but Maka couldn’t find her anywhere!

‘Where?!’

As the dust cleared, she was a hole going down through the floor!

*Swish*

"?!"

Maka suddenly heard noise behind her and jumped off the wall onto the other side, dodging a kunai!

Sakura weaved more hand signs before pressing her hands on the wall!

“Earth Style: Rock Launcher!”

Her hands began to glow with chakra as she pushed holes of earth towards Maka!

Maka’s eyes activated her Sharingan as she dodged the incoming chunks of rock!

Maka quickly made her way towards the wall while dodging the attacks, weaving hand signs along the way!

“Wind Style: Vacuum Bullet!”

Maka quickly sucked in a mouthful of air and fired it through one of the holes on the wall!

*Boom*

“Waah!”

Sakura was blown away from the wall by the blast and quickly tried to recover as Maka sped towards her!

“Tch!”

Sakura quickly weaved new hand signs and breathed in deep!

Maka quickly recognized these hand signs as well and weaved her own quickly!

“Water Style: Raging Torrent!”

“Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!”

*Fwoosh*

*Shuuu*

*Boom*

The two forces collided into steam as it covered the arena!

Maka tried to find Sakura in the steam, but the chakra in the air masked Sakura’s position.

“!!”

Maka suddenly felt a presence behind her as she ducked down from a haymaker by Sakura!

*Bang Pow Bang*

The two confronted each other again in close combat!

Sakura had an advantage with her surprise attack, but she was slowly losing to Maka after she got her bearings!

The two clashed against each other once more before separating a distance away from each other.

“Haa! Haaa! Haaa!”

Sakura tried to catch her breath while Maka also took a brief rest.

‘Ugh! I need to knock her out somehow!’

Sakura racked her brain as she tried to think of a good way to win when she suddenly noticed something.

The sound of her breath was loud.

Too loud.

She looked up at Maka and watched her breathing pattern for a moment.

Her eyes widened as she made a seal, but it was too late!

*Pow*

Maka punched Sakura hard in the gut as the other Maka panting for breath disappeared.

‘Genjutsu. I should’ve known…’

Sakura had bitter thoughts as she slowly lost consciousness.

“Winner: Maka Uchiha!”

“Phew!”

Maka breathed out slowly as she laid Sakura down on the ground.

‘She’s surprising to say the least. I never knew she could punch that hard.’

Maka frowned as she realized a problem.

She was getting arrogant.

‘I should fight with Itachi and Nii-san more. It seems like I had the idea I was as strong as them.’

Maka turned away as the medical ninja brought Sakura towards the infirmary.

“Aww! Sakura lost.”

“….Nee-san is too tough of an opponent for her.”

“But man! She really surprised us! Did you know she could do those moves?!”

Sasuke watched Sakura with a thoughtful expression as he shook his head. Kakashi smiled as he watched Sakura get carried away.

“I’ll go check on her. She should be up soon.”

*Shuu*

Kakashi disappeared after the medical ninja as Yamato nodded his head.

“She did really well. I thought she would’ve won if not for Maka training with her family all the time.”

Hii smiled as he nodded his head.

‘I see Mom really did teach her good moves.’

Hii turned to see Lee looking at the ground, deep in thought.

“Lee?”

Lee seemed to have decided something as he looked up and turned to Hii.

“I’ve figured it out, Hii!”

“What?”

Lee gave Hii a thumbs-up as he smiled with a shiny grin.

'What does he brush his teeth with to get them so shiny?'

“Don’t worry! You will see as well! I promise!”

“Huh?!”

Hii looked over to Shizuka for support!

“I don’t get it either.”

The two looked at Lee with a bit of concern as Hayate’s voice rang out once more.

“The next match has been-*Cough Cough Cough*!”

Hayate started to cough for a moment before he cleared his throat.

“Haah. It has been decided!”

Everyone turned to see the screen and saw the next match lined up.

[Ino Yamanaka vs. Shizuka Uzumaki]

“Sweet! I finally get to go!”

“Crap! I’m not too confident against her!”

Ino and Shizuka jumped down from the upper area and got into position.

“H-Hey. you’ll take it easy a bit, right?”

“……”

Shizuka only gave Ino a gentle smile as she readied her stance.

“….Great.”

Ino sighed and got into her stance as well.

The two looked over at Hayate as he slowly held his hand up.

“Ready? Begin!”

Ino quickly pulled out shurikens and threw them towards Shizuka!

“Oh! We’re starting already?”

Shizuka smiled as she ducked from the attack and placed her hands on the ground!

Ino continued to throw more shurikens at her as Shizuka began to run to the other side of the arena.

*Swish*

Shizuka threw a lone kunai at Ino and pressed her hand on the ground once more.

“It’ll take more than that to beat me, imposter!”

Ino dodged the kunai and dashed towards Shizuka!

Shizuka had a confused look on her face as she also dashed towards Ino!

*Bang*

The two clashed and began to punch and kick at each other!

“What do you mean by imposter?”

“Duh! You copied my hairstyle!”

Shizuka blanked for a moment before backing up and covering her mouth.

“Pfft! You think I stole your hairstyle?! How cute!”

This didn’t help Ino as she now started to glow red with embarrassment.

Shizuka brushed the bang on her face back with a provocative smile as she posed seductively in front of Ino.

“Are you mad I wear it better?”

“Tch!”

Ino hated to admit it, but Shizuka’s body was comparable to hers.

Definitely not better!

“I’ll give you a much better haircut once I’m done with you!”

Shizuka smiled and waved for Ino to come over and show her.

*Shuu Shuu*

The two clashed again with increased energy!

After attacking each other a few more times, Ino started to kick Shizuka at high speed!

*Bang Bang Bang*

“Wow! You can kick pretty well!”

Shizuka said as she backed up while shaking her hands.

“Hmph! Just wait until I drop you!”

Ino rushed towards her with a flying kick, but Shizuka evaded it with a cartwheel to the side!

Shizuka jumped back with a grin on her face as she pulled back a certain distance away.

“Keep your wits about you, girl. You don’t want to trap yourself.”

Ino was getting fed up with Shizuka’s attitude!

She decided she’d had enough!

“Ugh! You are so frustrating!”

She pulled out a kunai and grabbed at her ponytail.

*Slash*

*Gasp*

Shizuka looked genuinely concerned as she watched Ino cut off her hair!

She launched her hair up in the air as it scattered everywhere between them.

Shizuka looked at the scattered hair and slowly sunk to the ground on her butt.

“Are you crazy?! Why would you cut your hair like that?!”

Ino looked refreshed as a sneer formed on her face.

“Hmph! I just feel better getting that smug look off your face!”

Hii looked over at Maka with a questioning gaze above the arena.

“What is she doing?”

“…. Probably just having fun.”

Shizuka couldn’t seem to wrap her head around what Ino had done until she felt a tug on her leg.

She looked down and was shocked to see a line of hair binding her in place. It connected all the way to Ino, tying them together!

“Hehehe! You fell for my trap!”

Ino weaved a few hand signs and released a technique.

“Genjutsu: Mirage!”

A row of Ino’s began to appear beside her and all of them did a strange hand sign at the same time.

“"You won’t be able to escape now!””

Ino looked triumphant at Shizuka until Shizuka started to laugh out loud.

“Wow! We should hang out more! I didn’t think we had the same idea.”

Shizuka raised a hand and formed a hand sign.

Four points on the arena floor began to glow and connect to each other into a square!

“Sealing Art: Homing Bind!”

The lines of the seal shot up from the ground and wrapped up the real Ino!

“W-What?! How?!”

Ino struggled on the ground as the dark lines of the seal wrapped around her body like a snake.

Shizuka laughed as she could feel the rope of hair and chakra loosen. She stood up, dusted herself off, and began to walk over to her.

“You got watch out for where you put your feet.”

Shizuka smiled as she began to poke Ino with a kunai lightly on her side.

“Ah! Quit it! Ahn!”

“Give up then~! I’ll happily stop. Resist, and Sasuke will get an earful of your embarrassing sounds”

“Agh!” T

he others watching the match just shook their heads.

“She’s such a kid sometimes.”

Maka mumbled as Hii nodded in agreement.

“Winner: Shizuka Uzumaki!”

“Woohoo!”

Shizuka came back up to the arena excited as she wrapped her arms around her friends.

“Did I do an amazing job or what?!”

“Sure. You could’ve ended that fight easily. You just had to drag it out.”

Shizuka smiled as she let go of Maka and hung on to Hii’s back.

“You got to have fun when you can! Right, Hii?”

Hii rolled his eyes, but decided not to answer.

“Hayate Sensei!”

Everyone turned their heads to Lee who had his hand up in the air.

“Uh, What is it?”

“I have a request! I noticed that there can only be three more matches now between the participants who are left! I wish to request my own opponent for when I am selected!”

Hayate looked at Lee with a curious gaze.

“Why?”

Lee calmed down for a moment and began to explain.

“I have watched the battles of everyone here. Their sweat, tears, and blood have marked the arena! I wish to have my own battle of hot-bloodedness! To prove my ninja way. I must fight someone important to proving my way!”

“…Who is that?”

Lee closed his eyes and opened them with blazing hot determination as he turned his head.

“Neji Hyuuga!”

Everyone could see the passion in his gaze as he implored Hayate to give him the opportunity.

“….He is your teammate.”

“I know. He is also one of the reasons I have to prove myself! He is a true obstacle on the path of my ninja way. I wish to fight him now if possible. I would be eternally grateful!”

Hayate looked at Lee and slowly nodded his head.

“Your request has been heard, but it will be up to the higher ups if your request is granted.”

“Thank you very much!”

Lee bowed energetically as everyone could feel his passionate energy rising.

Neji simply glanced over at him with a shrug, filled with the pride of the Hyuuga clan.

*Bam*

Hii turned his head as he saw Shizuka frowning deeply.

“What’s wrong?”

“I could’ve requested a match?! I’m so stupid!”

“……”

Hii shook his head and decided to ignore her as he watched the screen curiously.

‘Will they actually let them fight?’

No one had fought anyone on the same team so far.

The screen soon flashed and everyone could see their decision.

“Youth!!!”

Lee jumped up with unbridled fervor as Neji jumped down with him calmly.

[Neji Hyuuga vs. Rock Lee]

“I can’t believe they gave it to him.”

Shizuka stood shocked as she looked up at the ceiling.

“Does that mean I could’ve done that too?”

Hii shook his head as he looked over to the two.

‘This should be interesting’.