Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 15: Final Round!

There is something else, though...

'So our 'I-won't-trust-human' Kurama has finally opened up enough to believe in others?' Naruto smirked inwardly.

Creepy silence for a few seconds.

'...So, do you want to feel a little bit of my trust, Naruto-kun?'

Naruto could feel everyone inside his head inching away from the nine-tailed vixen.

"Now, with the exclusion of Sasuke Uchiha and Haku Momochi, would the competitors return to the fighter's box above so that we can begin the first match of the day?" Hayate's voice rose again, and all the other combatants jumped back to their box, leaving Sasuke and Haku facing each other on the field.

"Are the two fighters ready? Then, the first match of the final round... BEGIN!"

"Finally, our rematch. This time I'll not lose to you," Sasuke said with a smirk.

"We'll see about that soon," Haku answered with her own demure smile.

Then, from both sides of the field, projectiles were launched. From Sasuke, they were five shuriken, and from Haku, there were five senbon.

The senbon soared across the air to meet the shuriken on the air... and flew pass them, cutting the nearly invisible ninja wires tied onto the throwing stars. Being pulled back by the force, the shuriken lost their momentum and fell to the ground in front of Haku harmlessly.

"One trick doesn't work twice, Sasuke-san~!" the ice girl sang.

As I thought, it didn't work... So...

In a blur, Sasuke was in front of Haku, his left hand on the hilt of his new katana in a reverse grip. With only a quick draw, the blade was already cutting through the air, aiming at Haku's exposing neck which seemed defenseless...

...or so he thought. A sword made of ice, harder than any kind of metal, suddenly appeared out of thin air and blocked the blade, which was imbued with lightning chakra.

But striking her wasn't his intention in the first place.

Their eyes met for an instance. And even a mere instance was enough.

The Sharingan's power is fully unlocked through three steps, corresponding to the three tomoe. The first tomoe grants the user the ability to see the color of chakra, and to see movements of his enemies in slow motion. The second one blesses the user with the power to break genjutsu with his eyes, and to record the motions of everything in sight into his brain. Because of this ability, the Uchiha clan members were infamous for their reputation of being "ninjutsu thieves", due to the fact that they can record the hand seals of their opponents, as well as the movement of chakra in their bodies.

And the last tomoe, the ultimate state of a normal Sharingan, besides boosting all the above powers to the maximum limit, grants the user the ability to cast potent genjutsu with just a glance of his eyes. It is this ability which made the Uchiha the most fearsome force on the battlefield, just because of a simple fact: very few people can fight without looking at the enemies' eyes. Especially in close combat.

From a distance, it is possible to negate the Sharingan's ability of casting genjutsu by looking at his feet. But in such a close range, there's no way Haku could avoid his eyes...

But in less than a second, Sasuke knew something was wrong.

His body suddenly felt numb. He couldn't even move. It's as if he was completely bound by something, but at the same time, there was nothing there.