The Crystal Serpent [Naruto X Oc] |Book 1

Chapter 36: The First Match Begins

Third person P.O.V

Akira stared at the screen with widened eyes before looking at Kei.

'I knew. I just knew it! My instincts are usually almost always right. The worst thing is for her to be chosen first with her pain and matched against this Takuma Yamamoto person. By the name, I had never seen that name before. So he must be from a different village.' Akira thought as she continued to look at Kei, who was rubbing her shoulder.

Kei sighed as she felt eyes on her. As he moved her hand away from her shoulder to see Naruto and her teammates looking at her, concerned about her fighting first.

'For peace's sake, can they stop looking at me? It's not a big deal that im going first.' Kei thought, annoyed.

"Those whose names were displayed step forward," Hayate ordered.

After taking a few minutes to try and calm the pain in her shoulder, Kei stepped on forward with another sound of footsteps following suit. She stood in front of Hayate and turned to face her opponent, and took in his appearance.

Takuma Yamamoto was a shinboi from the Hidden Waterfall village. He was a tall, muscular, slightly tan-skinned male with hazel eyes and short dark green, and he seemed to be about two years older than Kei and her teammates. He was dressed in a black turtle-neck shirt and an orange and white male kimono with a blue belt around his waist and black pants. To finish off the outfit, he had on red haori and black ninja sandals.

(It matches the 4th outfit, but the haori is from the first outfit in the picture I used to make his out design in my head)

"You have been chosen for the first match. Any objects?" Hayate asked.

"None here," Kei replied.

"No," Takuma said in a slightly deep voice.

'Here she goes, time to see my daughter's true potential. From my three young spies, her skills are impressive shame they didn't make it to the third round, but they got enough of a report on her for now.' Orochimaru thought, smiling as he looked at his daughter while in disguise.

'Kei, you better be careful out there.  I don't want you getting hurt. I might act like I like Sakura, but the truth is I like you, but you just never seem interested with the way you always smile at Kaito. What is so great about his flirting is that girls fall on heels.' Naruto thought, annoyed, looking at Kaito, who was giving Kei a thumbs up, making her smile slightly.

'I'm not sure if it's just me, but Kei seems different. There is some strange emotion in her eyes. Could Orochimaru have done something when she stayed behind to protect us?' Sakura thought, noticing a strange look in Kei's eyes as she looked at her opponent.

Kei winced slightly as a sharp and burning pain hit her in the shoulder once again, making her eyes widen briefly. Her opponent looked at her, curiously catching the wince she just did.

"We will begin the first match," Hayate coughed once. He then lifted his left hand up, gesturing to the two balconies as he continued."The rest of you that aren't the two fighters head up the stairs to the waiting area until it is time for your match."

Everyone began to walk towards the stairs and up to the balconies, except for Kei's teammates and Naruto. Sakura realized that Naruto didn't follow them and waited for him while Sasuke continued up the stairs, followed by Kakashi.

"Kei, good luck," Kaito said, giving Kei a friendly hug and being careful not to hurt her shoulder.

Kei smiled slightly from the hug Kaito was giving her, taking her nerves off of the burning pain in her shoulder, but she couldn't help but feel like someone was watching her intently.

She looked at the balconies slightly as Kaito ended the hug to see a Sound Jounin looking at her.

'There is something I don't like about that, Jounin.' She thought, looking back at him and making the man smile at her.

'She has my sensory skills able to detect I was watching her her while none of these other fools haven't realized I'm here in disguise.' Orochimaru thought, looking at his daughter, impressed with her level of skill currently.

"Thank you, Kaito," Kei replied, focusing her attention back on her blue hair teammate.

Akira walked over towards Kei with a reassuring smile on her face."Hey, don't be so uptight snakey okay? Losen up and start acting like yourself, and kick this guy's butt for sure."

"Thanks for the suggestion, but you don't need to worry," Kei replied, resting a hand against her ninja pouch.

Kei then turned to look at Naruto, who had eagerly awaited his turn. He has had his signature goofy smile on his face while staring at her with that concerned expression still on his face from earlier.

"What is it?" She asked with her head tilted to the side. 

"Um," The corner of Naruto's mouth lifted up into a smile."I want to see what see how much you have gotten stronger. So don't lose to this guy Kei and please be careful out there!"

Kei nodded her head with a faint smile on her face. That's right. I have to win this battle no matter what. For my team, my friends, and my deceased mother, my big brother, even my father, who I found out was one of the Sannin, and for Gaara. That right, Gaara would be proud of how much I have grown, but more importantly, I have to prove to myself that I'm worthy of being a shinboi!'

"Kei," Mizuko-sensei said, walking over towards Kei with her hands on her hips."I suggest that you don't use your kekkei genkai," She said in a serious tone.

"Huh?" Kei asked, looking at her sensei confused.

"It will trigger the curse mark, and if it gets out of control, it could endanger your life," She stated.

"I know," Kei replied.

"If it gets to the point where it looks like it's out of control, I will be forced to drag you out of the match," She said. "Anyway, good luck. We deal with this more after the match," She said before she walked away to catch up with her two other students. Naruto had already gone up to the balcony with his team.

"Let's go, you two," Mizuko-sensei said to Kaito and Akira.

Kei turned her attention back to Takuma as she rested a hand against her shoulder, seriously thinking about Mizuko-sensei's words. Takuma started back at her with a smirking plaster on his with a, hardened expression on his face. Kei and her opponent both waited for Hayate to announce the start of our match.

Kei could literally feel the eyes of everyone watching her in complete silence. However, she just ignored them and kept her focus on her match but was having a hard time getting the smile of the Sound Jounin out of her head as she felt his glance the hardest on her.

'Kei, don't do anything rash. Your teammates don't have to tell me, but I can tell something is different since you encountered your father and got his Curse mark.' Mizuko-sensei thought, looking at Kei with her arms crossed.

Hayate glanced at both opponents making sure they were both ready. Once confirmed, he spoke up."Now then, you may begin!"

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Hey lovely readers! I finally got chapter 36 of The Crystal Serpent completed and written. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to let me know in the comments what you think of the chapter.

Q: How do you think this match will play out?

Q: Who do you hope for Akira and Kaito to face off against?

Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1322