The audience watched silently as two teams battled it out for a chance to be promoted to chunin. But it was obvious that many of the observers had little to no interest in the fight taking place. Most people were there to watch three legendary ninja fight a team of 13-year-old misfits.
Sakura's heart rate increased in anticipation as she watched an Iwa team fight team 9. The pink haired kunoichi stared down at her hands when the proctor announced that the match was over. Their battle was next, and Kakashi hadn't even shown up.
Then their battle was announced, and Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke were told to get in the arena. So there they were, Sasuke and Naruto standing directly across from Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, while Sakura sat on her block of tungsten in front of Tsunade.
"Holy shit! This is really happening dattebayo!" Naruto said while jumping on the balls of his feet, earning a smack on the shoulder from Sasuke.
"Shut up Dobe. Now isn't the time,"
"Both of you, just stick to the plan." Sakura whisper-yelled. Sasuke looked at her with a panicky-irritated look.
"What plan? We didn't make one!" Hearing this, Sakura sighed,
"Begin in three,"
"One v. one, we'll pull a Naruto," The pinkette said.
"Two,"
"This is gonna get us killed," Sasuke growled, making Sakura smirk slightly.
"One,"
"Naruto's still alive isn't he?" The ravenette rolled his eyes.
"Begin!"
As soon as Hayate gave the signal, Naruto charged at Jiraiya while summoning several shadow clones. But it was all a waste since the Toad sage used his Needle Jizō technique, causing all of Naruto's clones to disappear with a poof.
Sasuke wasn't faring much better. He wanted to use his mangekyo as a last resort, which only left him Taijutsu and a bit of Ninjutsu...making him realize how dependent he actually was on his Kekkei Genkai. The ravenette growled, he had yet to land a blow on the snake Sannin, but Orochimaru was extremely fast.
Unlike her two teammates, Sakura was on the defensive. She silently thanked Gaara for his grueling training, if it wasn't for him she wouldn't have been able to keep up with Tsunade. The pinkette jumped as Tsunade tried to kick her legs out from underneath her. But then Sakura looked up to see the slug Sannin lace her fingers together and bring her arms down.
Without thinking, the pink haired kunoichi brought her forearms above her head, willing her tungsten to make a shield. The good news: It worked for Sakura. The bad news: It also worked for Tsunade.
The Slug Sannin's hands made contact with Sakura's shield with a loud "clang". The pinkette instantly felt a tingle rush through her arms and throughout her whole body. She didn't think much of it at first. But when Sakura went to move her arms back to her sides, her legs moved instead. And when she tried to lift herself to her feet, her arms reached in front of her.
Tsunade chuckled at Sakura's what-the-hell face. "What you're experiencing now is my Body Pathway Derangement Technique. I've disrupted the signals sent from your brain to the rest of your body. I suggest you forfeit."
Sakura staggered, there was nothing she could do fight Tsunade in her current state. She couldn't weave hand signals, her taijutsu would be a joke. But there was one thing the pinkette could do...
The Slug Sannin's head snapped to the tungsten block as she saw it crack down the middle. The two halves of the metal cracked in half as well, and then those halves split in half. Soon enough. The once large block of metal had broken into several shards, about the size of Sakura's forearm.
The metal suddenly shot up into the air. Tsunade got into a protective stance as each shard shot in her direction. But instead of hitting her, the shards went towards Sakura. They fused together, forming a crude suit of armor around the pink haired kunoichi. Covering her entire body save for two openings on the face, one for her eyes and one for her mouth.
Sakura's body lay limp in the protective tungsten shell around her. But when she willed her metal hand to clench and unclench, it worked, albeit a bit sloppily as she was still getting used to using her Kekkei Genkai.
She slowly and carefully willed the metal to lift her back onto her feet. And as she took a few hesitant, experimental steps forward, the audience went silent. Making everyone stop fighting to stare at her wide-eyed. The only noise coming from the metal creaking slightly as Sakura moved.
Tsunade stood frozen as Sakura's slow walk turned into a jog, and then turned into a full out sprint. The audience erupted, mixed shouts of disbelief and cheers were heard as Sakura neared Tsunade. And the Slug Sannin snapped out of her daze just in time to dodge Sakura's outstretched fist. Tsunade blocked Sakura's next attacks with little effort. The metal would scratch her skin, but she was able to heal them quickly.
Sakura knew this was going to happen. Skill and power wise, she could barely hold a candle to Tsunade. But what she did have was stamina, and since her body was limp in her metal armor, she wouldn't get physically tired. But the same couldn't be said for Tsunade, she would eventually get tired enough to leave an opening for Sakura.
However, it was clear that Tsunade wouldn't get tired anytime soon, and Sakura prayed to Kami that she would be able to hold up long enough.
The two remaining Sannin and members of Team 7 were still standing and watching the two kunoichis. And Jiraiya reeled back in shock when he saw the genin girl fight in a metal suit. How the hell could a genin do that? "Orochimaru! You never said anything about one of them possessing that kind of power! Where is that girl anyway?"
"She didn't use it before! How was I supposed to know?" Orochimaru shouted, before turning back to Tsunade. It was a pretty even fight. "How is that gaki even moving?" The Snake Sannin muttered, just as Sakura was flung into the arena wall.
Sasuke sucked in a breath and Naruto was rooted to the ground in shock as Sakura's armor shattered, leaving her body to land awkwardly on the harsh ground. Naruto was sure he heard a few bones crack. The jinchuuriki was about to run over to her until the shattered metal shot Tsunade once again. The shards fused together mid-flight to form a large blob that hit Tsunade dead on.
Sasuke and Naruto, watched in shock and amazement as Tsunade was pushed into the wall opposite Sakura by the metal blob. It didn't knock her out though, it only pinned her to the wall. And whenever the Slug Sannin broke through it with a chakra-infused punch, it would reform and push her back to the wall. So eventually she gave up and just stood there.
And while everyone was still processing what had just happened, Sasuke decided to take advantage of his opponent's unguarded state and charged at Orochimaru.
When Sasuke activated his Mangekyo, he earned several gasps from the audience. The ravenette smirked. It was time to show those stuck-up Uchiha he was better than all of them. His Sharingan took up almost half of his chakra, but he still had enough to get by. Now, to use Kurama's bijuu bomb logic: Go big or go home, "Amaterasu!"
This earned several more gasps, but Sasuke was careful not to look anywhere but Orochimaru. The Snake Sannin was no stranger to this technique and was fast though to stay out of Sasuke's vision, but there was a trail of Amaterasu flames behind him.
As the flames began to cover most of the ground around the two of them, Sasuke stuck his foot out. Hoping to either trip Orochimaru or slow him down. The Snake Sannin jumped over Sasuke's foot, but during that split second he was in the air, Sasuke managed to catch the edge of his shirt on fire.
Orochimaru let out a string of curses and hesitated, before taking off his shirt. He threw the flaming article of clothing as far away from him as he could, and it just happened to land on Naruto.
"Ahhh! Creepy snake pedo! I don't want your shirt! Get it off! Get it off!" Sasuke made the flames disappear as soon as the shirt hit Naruto, but the mental scarring had already occurred. Naruto flung the shirt away from him and Bijuu Bomb-ed it mid-air, creating a huge cloud of fire and dust.
Naruto shivered, wiping imaginary dirt off himself. Though he really should have been paying attention to Jiraiya, who had summoned a rasengan and was charging towards him.
"Naruto! Watch out!" Sakura shouted, Tsunade's Body Pathway Derangement had worn off a few minutes ago, and Sakura was making sure she hadn't done too much damage to the Slug Sannin.
The blonde jinchuuriki turned around and stared wide eyed as Jiraiya charged at him. He tried to move out of the way but his feet were rooted to the ground. Instinctively, he held his arms in front of his face and closed his eyes, waiting for the impact.
"Naruto! Get out of the way!" [A/N: I bet you can guess who said that ;)]
_______________________________________
Questions? Comment? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Constructive criticism is welcome :)
Thanks!!!
_izoy_