Another path

The preliminary exams - part 1

Tenten bent over her and picked her forehead protector.

" - You don't deserve to wear this. You're not a kunoichi. You're nothing more than a little girl playing around and waiting for her "prince charming" to notice her. You shouldn't be here. You're a disgrace to all the real kunoichi."

She threw the protector and saw Sakura made no move to retrieve it. Instead, she was glaring at the brunette girl. Tenten sighed and knocked Sakura out with a strong punch on her face that obviously broke her nose.

" - Winner, Tenten.

Everybody was speechless. Tenten made her way back up and was greeted by a delighted Naru, along with her team.

- Well done, Onee-san !

- Tenten's battle was so youthful !

- Good job.

- Your flames of youth burned as hard as a volcano !!

- Thank you everyone. Look, the second match has been decided."

Nara Shikamaru vs Tsuchi Kin

It was a quite interesting match : Shikamaru played his opponent well while she used some very interesting tactics. In the end, Shikamaru being the lazy-ass genius he is, won without doing much effort.

Uchiha Sasuke vs Aburame Shino

This one match was a tad disappointing : Sasuke was behind Shino the moment the match began and swiftly knocked him out, the bug master having no chance to demonstrate his skill.

Sasuke smirked with his conceited gaze right on Naru as if daring her to do better. She pointedly ignored him, adding to his frustration of a disappointing match.

The names appearing next were those of Temari and Ino.

The whole match was a walk over for Temari. The platinum blond had to wait for a good opportunity so she attempted to avoid the gusts of wind her opponent threw at her, sustaining much damage in the process. Eventually, she tried to use her clan's renowned jutsu but it failed and she was left defenseless for two long minutes.

When she woke up, she was already back on the balcony, being told she had lost.

The screen was scrolling the remaining names once more before it settled on these two :

Akadô Yoroi vs Uzumaki Naru

Naru jumped down without a word, her adversary doing the same. He gave her a conceited look, obviously disregarding her as a weak little girl. He didn't bother to try and sense her chakra. Had he done so, he would have taken her a lot more seriously...

" Begin !"

Naru was in front of him milliseconds after the signal and she punched Yoroi in the thorax, hard. He flew back in the wall, his ribs cracking in a sickening sound. He still got up though. He ran back at Naru who avoided his attacks the best she could. She felt strangely heavy all of a sudden. That's when she realised : she had lost much more chakra with that punch than she actually used. Did he...?

The Konoha genin managed to grab her arm and she clearly felt it.

" - You're draining my chakra...

- Oh, so you figured it out ? Soon, you won't even be able to move.

- ... Heh. Is that so ?"

A burst of chakra could be felt in the arena, literally suffocating half the genin present. Yoroi screamed in pain as the strength of the chakra flow burned his tenketsu and let go of the blond's arm. Just as he did this, she punched him in the jaw and used a hidden seal on her fist to immobilise him. It proved unnecessary though as the hit knocked Yoroi out.

" Winner, Uzumaki Naru".

Tenten, Lee and Chôji cheered for her, Kakashi nodding his head with satisfaction. He was still disappointed by Sakura's performance - or lack thereof - but Sasuke and Naru had done a very good job and he told them so.

Naru smiled, pleased by the praises.

Just then the second match was announced.

Gaara vs Abumi Zaku

Naru and Gaara's eyes met. And she knew. She knew what she was about to witness. She knew death was heading straight toward that living being and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

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< Second part of the matches in the next chapter ! Also, rejoice my friends for soon, I will introduce everyone's beloved Pervy Sage ! So have a nice day and take care !>