Chapter 27: Devastates all that it touches
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"The third match of the chunin exam finals is between Yamanaka Ino and Uzumaki Fu." Genma announced and watched as the two walked down to the center of the arena both looking confident in their training. Taking a deep breath Ino smiled and nodded to the jinchuriki across from her who did the same.
"Begin." Ino wasted no time trying to put distance between her and the powerhouse. She knew there was no way that she could match Fu in taijutsu. There was no way not without immense training. That was something she just didn't have the time for. Weaving her hands into seals she took a breath and exhaled.
"Doton: Sajin Arashi!" A massive cloud of dust rose obscuring Fu's vision and hiding Ino from view. Nodding to herself Ino palmed several senbon and took a calming breath. She didn't really have the chakra stores to do jutsu recklessly and she had designed this one to keep her hidden. The dust was much heavier and harder to blow away then it otherwise would have been and as a result Fu would have to spend a few extra seconds if she wanted to get rid of it. Throwing her hand out she let several senbon fly in a slight arc.
Fu looked at the dust in annoyance. Though it should have been expected especially since she was primarily a taijutsu user. Clapping her hands she focused the chakra and then pointed them towards the cloud.
"Futon: Daitoppa." Fu watched as the jutsu barely caused the dust to move. Gritting her teeth she funneled more chakra into the technique and after several seconds finally managed to blow it way. However, her focus had been on the dust and as a result she almost missed the senbon flying towards her from the side. Jumping out of the way she grinned at Ino.
"You'll have to try harder than that."
"I will." Ino replied pulling something from her pouch as Fu vanished and reappeared near her. Ino's hand lashed out and from the pouch a long object flew towards Fu making her jump back. Blinking in surprise Fu glanced back at Ino and felt a small jolt of shock upon seeing the long dark forest green whip in Ino's outstretched hand. Even Inoichi felt himself blink in shock. He hadn't even known that she had that.
"A whip?"
"Yup. Perfect for a mid range combatant like me. I'm not that suited for taijutsu and it will be a long time before I can handle a prolonged ninjutsu battle. However, by keeping my enemies at a distance with the whip I can force them to fight on my terms. As for the long distance enemies, my ninjutsu covers that." Fu grinned at the explanation.
"A whip is perfect for you, in my opinion." Ino smirked and then flicked her wrist the whip speeding towards Fu's face once more. Forced on the defensive Fu was forced to look for openings in her friend's form while dodging the weapon that only seemed to get faster the more it was used. Jumping in the air Fu was forced to draw out her wings to try and get some distance and breathing room from the girl. Ino had become much more lethal and dangerous in just a month. Fu couldn't help but grin though. She was afraid that Ino was going to forfeit the match without trying because of the poor matchup.
'Well, that is one dangerous technique. Her form is nearly flawless but she has to slow the whip in order to change its direction. It's not by much but it is there and not for long. She hasn't mastered this yet. That is good for me, but I feel like she knows that the whip won't hold me off for long. What is the catch? I could just grab the whip and yank her closer to me, so why?' Fu thought to herself as Ino twitched below.
'Of course she would fly into the air for breathing room.' Calming herself she grinned. She had nowhere near mastered it or the chakra requirements to use the original technique but she had managed a weaker version that was perfect for this fight. Glancing towards the stands she caught both Naruto and her father's eyes and winked. Naruto beamed in confirmation and Inoichi's eyes widened.
"She couldn't have figured it out could she?!" He exclaimed catching the attention of his nearby friends.
"Figured what out?" Shikaku asked. Before Inoichi could answer his however a yell from the arena caught his attention.
"Mokuton: Kyanopi no Tate!" All of the attending spectator's stared in shock as the genin's cry was followed by the rapid growth of trees bursting from the ground and covering her from not only aerial assaults but also making any kind of flight dangerous within.
"Mokuton..." Shikaku breathed is awe.
"Ino has the mokuton?" Asuma choked desperately trying not to swallow his cigarette.
"Yes and no." Inoichi replied. "She said Naruto had a theory that the Shodaime's ability with the mokuton was because the element was a bloodline but because he was unnaturally skilled in Yang manipulation and merely stumbled upon the mokuton by accident. Naruto believed that was why no other Senju ever manifested the ability." Asuma and Shikaku stared down at the ground below silently.
"OH COME ON! NOW YOU HAVE THE MOKUTON?!" Fu yelled in frustration making Ino giggle.
"Careful Fu. This may just be a much smaller version of the Shodai's Jukai Kotan but it serves its purpose."
"No kidding." She said flying to the ground in annoyance. While she hadn't planned on using Chomei's power before she definitely couldn't now. Somehow she had to force Ino out of that little forest she had created.
"The mokuton! Such talented genin you have Hiruzen." Rasa gasped.
"I'll take it as you didn't even know this?" A said glancing to the side to see surprise all over Hiruzen's face.
"I did not. This class just keeps surprising me and I'm not sure how many more surprises I can handle." Turning their attention back to the match the kage could only ponder how this was possible.
"Okay then. Looks like I don't have a choice." Fu said cracking her knuckles. Jumping into the air she began to channel the chakra into her fists and then came back to the ground. The explosion of ground and wood made many think that Tsunade had returned. However, those that had seen her fight knew that Fu's version was rough and not nearly refined. Losing her footing as she dodged the debris temporarily Ino cursed as Fu appeared in arm's length of her. Fu's hand reached out and brushed her side just as she jumped away and lashed out at the kunoichi with her whip. Jumping apart both girls looked at each other and then started laughing.
"I forfeit." Ino declared without warning.
"Are you sure?" Genma asked.
"Yes. Fu managed to seal my chakra when she brushed my side. I can't fight her without it as I am now." Nodding to Genma he smiled.
"Winner: Uzumaki Fu." Ino smiled and handed Fu a small vial and pointed to her cheek as Fu gave a puzzled expression.
"My whip is poisoned and I managed to graze you in that last encounter. This is the antidote." Fu blinked and reached up brushing her cheek and groaning as it came away slightly smeared with red.
"Thanks Ino. Here let me undo the suppression seal." As they walked off of the field Genma couldn't help but shake his head. So far all of the matches had shown that all of the genin had the potential for chunin and had fought honestly despite being friends. In addition, they had worked on having an ace for the exams that their friends didn't know about.
"Next match." Genma called out and felt his eyes widen slightly. This was going to be interesting. "Hyuga Neji vs. Hyuga Hinata." As the cousins stepped across from each other they smiled.
"Hinata-sama, thank you. I can see now that you have only the best intentions for the clan despite popular opinion. I want to thank you for helping me to realize this and continuing to try and return to being family despite all of the cruel words that I have given you."
"No thank you Neji-nii for overcoming the hatred that had taken root after your father's death. Would I have been able to prevent it I would have. Now we can only move forward to ensure that he didn't die for nothing. In your father's memory I WILL unite the clan as it should have been from the start." She declared making quite a few Hyuga frown.
"I know." He said and slipped into his juken stance and watched as Hinata slipped into her modified version.
"Come Neji-nii let's show the clan just how much stronger we can be when we break the chains that bind us to 'fate'." She declared as Genma called for the match to start. Racing towards one another Hinata and Neji found themselves to be evenly matched. His more offensive and traditional juken being predictable and rigid. While her modified version was extremely flexible and defensive. In addition, Neji had never seen it before so it was an unknown. Jumping back for a breather he assessed her calm demeanor and lack external signs that she had even done anything.
"That style is interesting."
"Thank you. I found during my training with team seven that my problem with the juken was that I was to flexible and the style far to rigid. After some experimenting I discovered that technically, the juken is a nin/taijutsu hybrid meant to be used with doton users. A majority of our clan follows this alignment so there is rarely ever anyone that struggles. When someone does struggle they are just viewed as failures like I once was. However, we are not the failures. The failures are the elders and those that refuse to see how our traditions are weakening and destroying the clan. What I use now is not the juken but the juho."
"Gentle step..." Neji whispered and smiled. Then without warning he bit down on his thumb and released a seal on the inside of his wrist. A small puff of smoke that was dispersed quickly revealed he had unsealed a sword that he now held at the ready much to the clan's cry of outrage.
"So you did decide on kenjutsu for your weapon choice." Hinata giggled unsealing a bow and arrow. Leaping into the sky she quickly notched an arrow and let it fly. As it headed for neji she smirked.
"Aro Kage Bunshin no jutsu." The one arrow that Neji had already moved out of the way of suddenly multiplied into hundreds that rained down on him. Pulling his sword horizontally to his chest Neji did something that not even Hinata expected. He started to spin.
"Ten no Kaiten o Suraisu." He intoned and the arrows that had been about to hit him struck the dome and instead of bouncing off, were sliced into splinters.
"You modified the Kaiten?" Hinata asked in surprise.
"You were better at the ninjutsu portion of our training. In comparison I was better at the taijutsu. I realized that if I wanted to give you an honest match I couldn't rely on the juken alone. However, I couldn't match you in ninjutsu either. So I took the two things that I was comfortable with due to my team and up brining and combined them using what I could of ninjutsu to enhance it."
"Clever." Hinata said notching another arrow except this one seemed to be glowing.
"Taiyo no koka." As the arrow flew towards him Neji watched in fascination as it combusted. If the arrow came in contact with the kaiten the wind would only fuel the flames and trap him in a fiery tornado. Gritting his teeth he wiped some blood on the blade of the sword he was holding and did a quick release. Copious amounts of water began to spill from the seal and Neji quickly formed several hand seals.
"Suiton: Sakamizu keimusho." He called as the water sprung up around him in a protective dome. Gritting his teeth Neji began a second set of hand seals as soon as he finished the first leaving no time in between.
"Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu." The water serpent quickly formed and sped towards the Hyuga heiress who took a calming breath and notched a third arrow. Drawing the string she pointed it towards her cousin and smiled.
"Sorry Neji this fights mine. Kaminari Prizumu." As the arrow flew once more chakra coated the weapon but this time it was lightning natured. Blasting through the dragon and tearing it to shreds it continued forwards and true to the piercing nature of the element shot straight through the water prison just clipping Neji's shoulder and finally came to a rest in the wall behind him.
Neji gritted his teeth as currents of electricity shot through his body from the glancing blow he had received. What was worse was that the water he had been using to defend himself from her fire attacks was conducting the lightning and intensifying it. Resisting the urge to scream he formed one last set of hand seals and forced out the technique.
"Doton: Josho suru chikyu no domu." Hinata watched in fascination as the ground beneath Neji shot up at the same second he released the water prison bringing him above the water and enclosed on him protecting him from the charged water beneath as it came back down with a splash. After a few minutes the dome cracked and fell apart from the raiton nature chakra but by then he had accomplished his goal. Neji had removed the water that was amplifying her technique. Grinning at Hinata, Neji felt his legs buckle underneath him and Genma smiled at his nod.
"Neji Hyuga is unable to continue. The winner is Hinata Hyuga." Hinata ran to Neji's side as soon as the match was called and quickly began to heal him.
"Save your chakra." Neji whispered in vain knowing she would ignore him.
"I wish we could have prolonged that battle." She whispered making Neji nod in agreement. He would have loved to see the elder's faces if they had shown everything. However, with the invasion impending he couldn't risk it.
"We'll have an honest spar later, ne?" She whispered as he stood albeit a little shaky. "The tremors should stop in about ten to twenty minutes."
"Thanks." As they headed off of the field Hiruzen could only blink in surprise.
"Hyuga using weaponry and jutsu now there's a heart attack waiting to happen!" A exclaimed wide eyed.
"I agree, I knew that Kakashi wanted to teach a wide variety of things but seeing Neji stray from the Hyuga's traditionalist outlook was surprising." Hiruzen replied. Curiosity and a little dread growing. What had happened on that training trip to make them all change so much? How much of it was Naruto and Sasuke's doing? Why were they doing it? There were to many questions and the number of answers that he had found was relatively small.
"Next match. Uzumaki Naruto vs. Samui." Genma called and Naruto grinned jumping over the railing landing on his feet. Walking to the center he calmly waited for Samui to arrive.
"Tell me Hiruzen is this the other genin you were referring to earlier?" A Asked in curiosity.
"Yes. Sasuke's teammate."
"I find it interesting that for a dead clan two of them are here in Konoha." Rasa spoke up.
"Naruto and Fu's Uzumaki parents were not in the village when it was attacked and as a result they were spared the massacre. Fu grew up near Taki until Naruto found her and brought her here to Konoha." Hiruzen replied vaguely.
"Interesting."
"Are you two ready?" A nod from both blondes made Genma smile. "Begin."
"Sorry Samui but I need to end this fast. I have to save my chakra for the next fight." He said quickly weaving hand seals. As he finished the last one he pulled a small vial from his pouch and spilled the contents into his palm.
"Suiton: Yume no Kiri." He released a massive wave of water into his hand which combined with the substance and flew towards Samui. Halfway there the water seemed to dissolve into a fine mist that blanketed her entire half of the arena. Running out of the mist as fast as she could while holding her breath she drew her sword and made a beeline for the other blonde. Surprisingly he didn't move as she placed the sword to his throat. Before she could tell him to forfeit her eyes grew heavy before she collapsed onto the ground.
"Surprising. She actually lasted longer than Jiraiya did when I tested that on him. I even weakened the potency to account for the difference in height, weight and chakra reserves." Naruto tilted his head and then looked towards the stands. "What's the deal ero-sannin? She lasted longer than you did!" Silence met the arena as they took in what he had said.
"Brat you already said you weakened the jutsu!"
"The jutsu is always done with the target in mind you idiot! I told you that!"
"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto." Genma coughed as he got over the shock.
"Don't worry about her she'll wake up in about ten minutes." He said heading for the stands again.
"What was that Naruto?" Ino asked as he walked up next to her.
"That was a combination of poison and suiton jutsu." He said playfully. "I'll teach you later, ne?"
"You had better."
"I will."
"Definitely a surprising bunch of genin you have. I have never known Samui to be caught off guard so easily." A commented watching Naruto closely.
"Naruto is full of surprises. In all honesty he was this year's lowest scoring genin in the academy. At first I thought nothing of it until I found out at his graduation that he had been hiding his true skill so that he could get a team he knew he could work with."
"You mean he was failing on purpose?" Rasa asked in curiosity.
"Yes. I don't know why he decided to stop at the last minute but he did. He has been nothing but surprises since."
"Very interesting genin you have. It makes me wonder how the last one will fare against Rasa's youngest."
"Not well." Rasa quipped as they watched TenTen and Gaara take their positions. It seemed to Hiruzen that the genin were unnaturally tense in the match and that TenTen was determined and yet wary as if she knew something that he didn't.
"The last match of the first round will be Sabaku no Gaara vs. Higarashi TenTen. Both fighters ready? Good Begin..."
********T.B.C***********
A/N: Hi there! That is another chapter done. I hope that the matches didn't seem to rushed. They were trying to show the judges what they could do while conserving chakra and hiding their tactics and new fighting styles from their enemies. I hope I did a good job at portraying that. If not I will try to do better in the next few matches. In any event thank you for staying with me. The jutsu and their translations are at the bottom. Until next time! Ja ne!
Doton: Sajin Arashi – dust storm
Mokuton: Kyanaopi no tate – canopy's shield (meant to guard against aerial attacks)
Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kotan – deep forest emergence
Aro Kage bunshin no jutsu – arrow shadow clone jutsu
Ten no kaiten o suraisu – slicing heavenly rotation
Taiyo no koka – sun's descent
Sakamizu keimusho – reverse water prison
Suiryudan no jutsu – water dragon jutsu
Kaminari prizumu – lightning prison
Josho suru shikyu no domu – rising earth dome
Yume no kiri – dreamer's mist