Recap:
Hayate glanced at us both, making sure that we were ready. Once he did, he declared, "Begin."
***
Third Person's P.O.V
As soon as that word escaped the judge's lips, Ayuda lifted her left arm above her left shoulder in a calm and composed demeanor. Yushin narrowed his eyes, surveying every movement she made cautiously. The girl's purple orbs were fixed on him as she clasped her fingers around the bow that was attached to her back this whole time. She brought her bow forward as her right hand went to take an arrow out of the quiver.
"I have never expected she would choose bow and arrow out of all weapons," remarked Chouji.
Ino replied, "It kinda fits her perfectly, though. She has unsurpassed accuracy among us all back in the Academy."
"But it's going to be troublesome," Shikamaru doubted, "Despite having a great accuracy, she cannot shoot properly at a moving object. It will grow even worse if her opponent is running at high-speed."
Sasuke Uchiha focused his full attention back to the black-haired girl. He had to agree with what Shikamaru just said. He had never seen Ayuda shot an arrow at a high-speed moving enemy. He began to contemplate Ayuda, 'If that Yushin Ito guy has nearly the speed of Rock Lee's, then she will not be able to shoot him accurately. He will take that as his advantage. So... if that happens, what are you going to do, Ayuda?'
"Well, aren't you going to make a move?" Yushin spoke up, "We can't stand here all day, right?"
Ayuda wore an unexpressive look as she answered, "An archer like me rarely makes the first move."
"Fine then," Yushin's right hand reached to take kunai out of his kunai holster, "I will make the first move."
With that said, Yushin threw three kunais at a time and he quickly followed the last kunai he threw, sprinting towards Ayuda with it. The girl brought the arrow – which she held in her right hand – to her mouth and bit on the tiny wood with her teeth. She removed her fingers from it and her now empty hand flew to the kunai holster, taking out three kunais as well. She threw them at Yushin's kunais as she leapt backward.
Her three kunais clanked with Yushin's ninja knives accurately, deflecting them completely. Despite that, Yushin proceeded to run towards Ayuda with his right hand gripping a kunai in an icepick grip. Ayuda also continued to leap away from him across the floor as she began to prepare her bow and arrow.
Knowing that Ayuda will shoot him, Yushin brought his kunai to the front of his chest, preparing himself to block her incoming arrow with the ninja knife.
The purple-eyed girl effortlessly shot an arrow at him in which he deflected with his kunai so easily. But that's when he became aware of another arrow that was flying towards him faster than the last one. Luckily for him, he acted faster and cut the arrow – which was 7 inches close to his left cheek – into half with his kunai. He was just about to curl his lips into a victorious smirk when he saw one that was already forming on Ayuda's face.
Unexpectedly, the arrow that was cut into half – and it was 5 inches close to Yushin's left ear – exploded on a huge scale with a thunderous noise. White smokes were covering a huge spot around him, causing everyone to not be able to see him.
Ayuda landed three meters away from him and waited for the smokes to lessen with a straight face. Naruto, whose mouth wide agape with surprise, asked curiously to anyone near him, "Why? Why did that arrow explode? Is it one of her skills?"
"You could say that," Kaito elucidated, "Ayuda knew that her opponent will easily block, dodge, or cut her arrows if she uses normal arrows, so, in order to increase her advantages and decrease her disadvantages, she decides to improve them. The arrow she had just used on Yushin had five paper bombs hidden inside it and they will explode once the arrow gets close to her opponent."
"Five paper bombs inside one arrow..." Sakura muttered, "...so that's why the explosion was big."
Five seconds after Sakura finished her words, one figure finally emerged from the white smokes, rolling around across the floor until it had a safe distance from the smokes. It was Yushin who now had dirt and dark spots all over his body. Fresh blood was pouring out of his left ear down to his neck and to his left shoulder.
"Having an arrow that had five paper bombs exploded just beside your ear... he is definitely in pain..." Rock Lee's voice trailed away when Yushin got up to his feet with his left hand placed on the left side of his head.
Yushin's eyesight blurred due to the unexpected explosion that erupted just beside his left ear. He disregarded the throbbing pain in his head as he furrowed his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes at his opponent, trying to adjust his sight to get a better look at her. With a small effort, his eyesight returned to normal.
He gave her a black look as he thought, 'I did not expect that her arrow is capable of exploding. Dammit... thanks to that, I can't hear anything in my left ear. Some parts on the left side of my head are still in pain... but I cannot surrender here. I need to think of a plan...'
"If you want, you can give up now," Ayuda spoke up with an impassive look on her face, "You are in need of medical treatment after receiving an attack like that. I can see that your brain is having internal damage too."
"But we are just getting started!" Yushin hollered with his lips curving into a smirk as an idea sprung to his mind. He then sprinted towards Ayuda with chakra in his feet and consequently increased his speed. Despite this, his speed was still slower than Rock Lee's.
Ayuda swiftly took an arrow out of the quiver when Yushin finally reached her. At this point, everyone was curious about how Ayuda will handle the situation once her opponent is close enough to hit her. Most of them never saw her fights in hand-to-hand combat.
Their questions were soon answered when Yushin swung his fist at her in an attempt to punch her cheek but failed when Ayuda effortlessly dodged it. He swung another fist at her and once again failed to hit her when she merely tilted her head to the side. Ayuda had been leaping backward while dodging his fists. He couldn't deny the fact that she was very good at dodging attacks. She dodged them like it was a piece of cake. This very thought had made him furious.
"Wooaah... she dodges all of his punches!" Naruto was awestruck.
Kakashi glanced at the lady who stood two meters away from him and his team, "Shiori, I guess you're the one who taught her that, am I right?"
Shiori chuckled, "You're right, Kakashi. I taught her that because... Ayuda is very bad at taijutsu combat. If you take her bow and arrows away, she will be completely vulnerable. That's why I taught her one of my best specialties so she can dodge any hits directed to her, despite lacking in taijutsu skills. She refused at first because she wanted to spend her time with improving her kyujutsu (Bow Technique). After so many persuasions, she finally agreed..." she paused to sigh, "...that girl..."
Yushin's eyes widened when he saw Ayuda's right hand – that held an arrow in a reverse grip – flew towards his thigh, attempting to stab his thigh with it. Fearing that it was another explosion, Yushin immediately stopped thrusting his fists toward her and jumped backward, gaining a safe distance from her.
He watched as the purple-eyed girl relaxed her body when they were far enough from each other. The boy gritted his teeth, enraged about the fact that he still hadn't laid a finger on her. He mused, "I have to use this jutsu then..."
Ayuda's eyebrows arched slightly when her opponent started to form a hand sign. His chest rose up like he was taking a deep breath and he arched his back. Without warning, he spat out water ball towards her. The black-haired girl's widened in shock at the speed of the water ball.
Without any delay, Ayuda leapt away from her spot. When she landed at another location, she watched with curiosity as the high-speed water ball flew past her previous spot and splashed on the wall that was close to the area. As soon as the water splattered down on the ground, she noticed a small crack was formed on the wall where the water ball hit.
'I see...' Ayuda began to contemplate the crack, 'That high-speed water ball attack possesses just as much power to kill as an actual gunshot. If that hit me, I will be immobilized due to the strong force it has and Yushin will take that as an opportunity to strike me. I have to elude that water ball at all cost.'
Yushin smirked when he noticed the slight change in Ayuda's face. He took a deep breath once again, kneading the chakra inside him and converted it into water. He once again spat out the same condensed ball at Ayuda who began to make a move to steer clear of the attack.
Ayuda made a break for it while Yushin continued to spit out more condensed balls at her. This has caused Kaito and Kazuki to worry about her. Kaito spoke softly, "What will she do now...?"
"Huh?" Naruto turned his head to the green-eyed boy beside him, "What's wrong, Kaito?"
"Can't you see, Naruto?" Kaito clarified, "If Ayuda slows down her speed for a little bit, that water ball will hit her. She has to continue to run away from it until Yushin stop."
Naruto inquired, "Why can't she just use her arrows to destroy those water balls? She still has those exploding arrows, right?"
This time, Sasuke, who had his right hand placed on his left shoulder, spoke up, "She can't. Judging from the powerful force that condensed ball has, it will continue to fly straight until it impacts a strong solid like a wall. A thin arrow won't be able to deflect it even the slightest. Even if she uses her exploding arrows, the water ball will fly through the explosion as if it's nothing."
"So... she has to run until Yushin stop spitting the balls at her," Rock Lee joined in, "I hope she has enough energy to run that long."
Suddenly, Ayuda jumped high into the air and landed on the railing of the balcony where Naruto and the others stood on. She was literally standing on top of the railing in front of Naruto's team with her body facing them. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura blinked their eyes at her in confusion.
Seeing that she had stopped there, Yushin spat another high-speed condensed ball at her. That's when Ayuda leapt away from the railing. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura looked down to glance at Yushin, only to have their eyes widened in shock when they finally took notice of the water ball flying towards them.
Luckily, all three of them were quick enough to duck their heads and dodged the ball which now flew past over their heads and splashed against the wall behind them. Now that they were safe, Naruto jumped to his feet that instant with a throbbing vein appearing on his head. He waved his right fist at Yushin and bellowed, "Oi! Watch it! Were you trying to kill us before we could even fight in our matches?!"
Yushin had to stop spitting the high-speed water balls so he could correct Naruto about that, "I wasn't trying to launch it at you guys. I was trying to shoot it at-"
"Watch out!" one of Yushin's teammates warned him loudly, snapping him to the realization of the situation he was in at the moment.
The brown-eyed boy quickly snapped his head to look for his opponent. He froze when his gaze landed on Ayuda –who was still high up in the air – as she took one arrow out of the quiver and tossed it into the air above her. She swiftly combined her hands together to form various hand signs. The girl's teacher, Shiori, instantly recognized the hand signs she performed and the jutsu she was going to use.
After performing all of the needed hand signs, numerous arrows appeared out of nowhere around her. Without delay, she grasped three arrows in one hand and assembled them together with her bow; all three arrows were aimed towards Yushin who gaped at her. She then released the three arrows at once.
Yushin poured more chakra into his feet and scurried away in fear. He clearly detested getting another taste of Ayuda's arrows once again. The three arrows speared the floor where Yushin previously stood. Surprisingly, the arrows did not blast off like before. It remained still just like that. Of course, Yushin and nearly all of the audiences were baffled at this.
That did not stop Ayuda to grab more arrows and launched them at the boy. She was still hovering high up in the air along with the numerous arrows that surrounded her form. She seized more arrows, fired them, and then spun around while picking more random arrows, set them off, and spun around again to repeat the cycle. She did these all in marvelous speed and pleasingly graceful. Her movements were smooth and exquisite to watch. It's as if she had practiced this technique a lot and performed it like it's easy as pie.
Meanwhile, Yushin was panicking; he tried his best to make a break for it, evading all of the arrows. Ten seconds later, two arrows have successfully impaled on both of his thighs, causing Yushin to emit a sharp cry of pain while Naruto and Kaito chorused, "She got him!"
"She can multiply more arrows...?" inquired Tenten, her brown eyes displayed huge interest for the said skill.
Shiori answered, "That technique is related with Bushinjutsu (Clone Techniques) that create copies of the user."
"So it's just like my Shadow Clone Technique, right?" said Naruto as he turned to face Shiori.
This time, Kakashi spoke, "Yes, it is. You must know that the Bunshinjutsu not only produce copies of the user but also produce copies of their tools. This technique Ayuda is using is very similar to Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique; the only difference is the weapon. Remember this, the arrows that are produced by shadow clones are real and not illusions, so all the arrows that she launches are equally lethal."
Shiori continued, "I called this Arrow Shadow Clone Technique. I taught her this jutsu because I fear that the arrows she has prepared in the quiver will run out."
Kakashi glanced at the lady beside him, "But still... Compared to normal shadow clones, clones of weapons are said to be on a far higher level. That is an A-rank technique, and it seems like she has already mastered it. You have raised a splendid student, Shiori."
Shiori smiled softly to Ayuda who did not pay any heed to them, "I do what I gotta do to make her strong and make her dream come true. That is my job as their team leader."
Yushin collapsed to his butt that instant. Ayuda landed on the spot two meters away from him. The remaining arrows that she didn't use clanked on the floor behind her. She watched as her opponent's trembling hands went closer to her arrows, obviously attempting to wrap his fingers around the arrows that were stuck to his thighs and pull them out.
"Don't touch them," Ayuda interjected, causing Yushin to halt his hands' movements and gazed at her. Confusion was clearly dancing in his light brown eyes. The black-haired girl added, "These two arrows are currently injecting poisons into your body system. If you move them around, they will pour in a lot more poisons into you at a faster speed. It'd be best if you just remain still. In other words, surrender. You cannot walk or even run now since the poisons are now flowing inside your thighs."
Naruto's jaw dropped, "There are poisons in her arrows?"
"You..." Yushin seethed through gritted teeth as his hands rose together to form a hand sign, "You think this will stop me? I can launch my Suiton: Teppoudama (Water Release: Gunshot) technique at you without even moving!"
The boy instantly spat a bigger condensed ball towards her. Ayuda leapt into the air above Yushin with her bow and arrow prepared, aiming the tip of her pointed weapon at Yushin's shoulder. She then recalled of what Shiori had said to her.
"Try to transmit your chakra to your arrows."
She thought as she began to work on her chakra, 'I can release this arrow without transmitting my chakra to it, but I can just try. Even if I fail with this one try, I can still put an end to this match by stabbing Yushin's shoulder.'
With that thought in her mind, she launched her arrow right then and there. Her arrow was rotating around elegantly as it soared through the air and headed towards the clueless Yushin. What surprised Ayuda was the momentum it had. The speed the arrow had was remarkably fast. Faster than the ordinary speed her arrows usually have.
That's not the only thing that made Ayuda flabbergasted. When the arrow finally reached Yushin, a big blast occurred on that very spot. It's like, the moment when her arrow touched Yushin, it had erupted into one huge explosion. The power the arrow had was so astounding. The explosion was much bigger than the explosion of her exploding arrows.
The purple-eyed girl landed two meters away from the spot where white smokes covered the area. Her mouth was wide agape as she waited for the smokes to vanish into thin air. She genuinely hoped for Yushin to be alright after receiving an attack like that. She was still baffled, though. She was lost in thought, 'Why is that explosion... the arrow I just used was actually an ordinary one... no paper bombs, no poison, no tricks. So why did it explode...?'
Meanwhile, Shiori's lips twitched into a proud smile as she stared at Ayuda's dumbstruck look on her face. Kakashi stated, "It seems like she transmitted a lot of her chakra into that one arrow."
Shiori nodded her head in agreement and she thought, 'Ayuda... you are now one step closer to your dream.'
***
A/N: I'm sorry if you guys end up not liking this fight scene or this chapter. Anyway, I posted a status in my profile and wrote that I am not confident with this chapter. I have to say that I still lack of confidence when I'm publishing this. And about Ayuda's archery skills... I really tried not to make her skills look so 'god-like' because she is still so young and early to have strong 'god-like' jutsus. Like, imagine a 13-year old Sasuke already mastered Susanoo and the Mangekyou Sharingan. It's kinda ridiculous because he is still so young and he already has helluva strong abilities. That's one thing I really want to avoid. I don't want to make Ayuda look like a Mary-Sue, you know. By the way, I am so anxious to publish this lol. But I already posted on my status that I will publish this chapter either yesterday or this day. I will not break that 'kinda-look-like-a' promise. So yeah, I published this. Anyway, I will skip some parts in this preliminary matches.