"Well, as exciting as that match was, it destroyed the tower, so I suppose the other matches will just have to get used to the change of scenery, because we don't have enough time to fix it." The proctor said.
The scoreboard started flashing through names. Many of the genin looked with hopeful eyes at the scoreboard.
Nawaki Senju
vs.
Kaze Aburame
"Alright! My turn!" Nawaki yelled, jumping down into the arena, or what was left of it anyways.
Kaze simply walked down the stairs and into the middle.
"Your match begins... now!" The proctor yelled, jumping back.
Nawaki knew about the Aburame clan, they specialized in using chakra consuming bugs to drain your body. But because of this, they were long range attackers, meaning they were weak in taijutsu. Nawaki however, was pretty good a taijutsu, so he decided this is where he would start.
Nawaki charged towards Kaze. Kaze released his bugs and told them to attack Nawaki. Nawaki was prepared for this though, and quickly did what he knew would defeat Kaze's bugs.
"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Nawaki yelled as he spat fire at the bugs, killing most of them. Kaze of course hadn't known that Nawaki could do this, and now was beginning to fear for the outcome of the match.
Nawaki kept running towards Kaze, now that the bugs were out of the way. He started throwing punches and kicks at Kaze.
The Aburame was able to block and dodge some of them, but got hit several times. Nawaki and him were exchanging blows when suddenly, Nawaki saw an opening.
Nawaki squatted down and quickly threw a punch up, through Kaze's arms and hit the kid in the jaw.
Kaze was thrown several feet up into the air and landed on the ground. He got up, but you could tell it was a hard punch, since he was shaking now.
Nawaki quickly charged forward, ready to make the final blow. Kaze sent out the last of his bugs towards Nawaki.
Nawaki was interrupted by the bugs, and was swatting them away, still trying to get to Kaze. He jumped back a few steps, and took a chakra propelled jump up, over the bugs, and right next to Kaze.
Nawaki pulled back his fist and slammed it into Kaze. Said boy flew back into the wall. Unfortunately, for him anyways, head first because of the way Nawaki had hit him. The proctor walked over to Kaze.
"Kaze Aburame is unable to continue. Nawaki Senju is the winner." He stated.
"Yeah!" Nawaki cheered. He jumped back up into the stands, ecstatic that he was in the finals.
"Alright, prepare for the next match." The proctor said. The scoreboard started flashing through names again.
Kurenai Yuhi
vs.
Rin Nohara
Rin and Kurenai made their way down to the arena's center. They looked at each other for a couple seconds, then Rin was the first to speak.
"Kurenai, no matter what, no hard feelings?" Rin suggested.
Kurenai smiled and nodded her head.
"This match now... Begins!" The proctor yelled, jumping back next to the Hokage.
Kurenai took out a couple of kunai and threw them at Rin. For her part, Rin simply dodged them while forming hand signs.
Her hand glowed Blue and she called out. "Medical Scalpel!" And rushed towards Kurenai.
Kurenai and her engaged in hand to hand combat. Kurenai had sensed the danger of Rin touching her, and was dodging the girls' attacks while trying to land a hit on her as well. Kurenai realized she couldn't and jumped back and started forming hand seals of her own.
"Suffocating Water Jutsu!" She called out. Rin felt her neck suddenly get tighter and felt as if she was underwater holding her breath.
She struggled for a minute and realized it was a Genjutsu. She but on her lip, hard. It took her out of the Genjutsu, and she stood up.
"Gonna take more than that Kurenai." She said. Rin then poured chakra into her fist and slammed the ground.
It broke into pieces, randomly sticking up all over the place. Kurenai lost her footing and fell down, her eyes widening. She got up when Rin threw kunai at her. She scrambled out of the way and took out her own kunai and threw them at the ones Rin had just thrown. They hit with a clang and landed on the floor.
Rin didn't know what to do. She could use her strength, but she didn't really want to kill Kurenai, after all, she was her friend. She thought it over and remembered a jutsu that she had started learning at the hospital a while back, Christina had even helped her with it during team practice. She started forming the hand signs and felt the feeling at her fingertips.
Rin rushed towards Kurenai and did a Replacement with a kunai that she had thrown at her. It was at the base of Kurenai's feet.
Kurenai's eyes widened in fear, but Rin just tapped her hand on her friend. Kurenai freaked out as she felt herself fall to the ground and onto her butt. Rin back up a few steps.
Kurenai tried to move her ankles and legs so that she could get up. But found her right shoulder her thumb on her left hand move. She tried again, but the same things happened. She tried to move her right hand, but instead, her right big toe moved.
"W-What's going on? Why am I not moving right?" She asked, her eyes widening to the size of saucers.
Up in the crowd, Christina smiled. "Nice move Rin, it's hard for even medical nins to figure out which joints move other joints to be able to actually seem like your moving normally. There's no way that Kurenai will be able to figure it out." She said.
"Wait, what?" Naruko asked.
"You've seen this before. You remember when you told me about that fight between Kabuto and Tsunade? Where he couldn't move right for a few minutes? Well, Tsunade used this jutsu. It sends an electric shock through your nervous system. It goes haywire, and what your brain tells your body to do, is misinterpreted. It's different everytime too. An example is if when you mean to move you right ankle, but instead, you hips move. You told your body to move your ankle, but since the nervous system is messed up, it moves the wrong body part." Christina said.
"Oh! I get it! So if Kurenai tries to stand up, her torso might move instead!" Naruko said.
"Exactly." Christina replied.
Meanwhile, Rin was explaining what had happened to Kurenai to Kurenai herself.
"Ne, Rin, could you come and give me some help?" Kurenai asked.
"Why?" Rin asked.
"I just need your help to raise my hand." Kurenai said.
Rin went over and helped Kurenai lift her hand.
"Proctor, I forfeit this match. There's no way I'll be able to figure all of this out. Rin could have killed me by now anyways if she had wanted to." Kurenai said.
"Alright. Kurenai Yuhi has admitted defeat. Rin Nohara is the winner." He stated.
"Way to go Rin!" Naruko and Obito both yelled from the balcony. They had wanted to do it for Neji too, but he had refused, saying that even though he wasn't like he was at the last Chuunin Exams, he still didn't want to be screamed at, even if it was congratulations.
Rin smiled up at her team. She jumped up there and Neji and Christina congratulated her as well, just not as loudly as their fellow teammates.
"Well, the only one left on our team is Christina." Rin said.
"I'm sure she'll win, just like the rest of us!" Obito said. "We'll be considered the greatest team in the whole tournament once Christina gets through too! After all, it's not so common that everyone on the same team gets through!"
Minato smiled down at his team. There was no doubt in his mind that Christina would get through. He was so proud of his team, they had managed to get so far. Even though three of them hadn't really had his teachings being the reason that they were so great, they still had learned things under him. And Obito, Rin, and Kakashi were all of his work, and look how great they turned out to be! He was starting to wonder if the kids on his team would be this generation's Sannin. He was smiling fondly at them when he zoned back in and heard them starting to say good luck.
Minato's eyes shifted up to the scoreboard and he smiled.
Christina Maini
vs.
Asuma Sarutobi
This kid was tough. After all, he was trained by the third himself, the boys own father. But Christina would beat him, no doubt about it. Just like the other two time travelers beat their opponents. They had years worth of experience, they had been in a war. They were ANBU and A Sannin/Hokage to be.
It would be nearly impossible for any one of them to have failed this test. If they had, well, that would have shown what the standards in the future were for such high ranking people.
Christina jumped down into the arena, as did Asuma, who, since he was too young to smoke, only had a lollipop in his mouth.
"This match will now... Begin!" the proctor yelled, jumping back.
Asuma took out some kunai and threw them at Christina. She quickly deflected them with some senbon that had seemed to appear in her hand.
"Wait, your hand didn't go to your pouch, where did you get those from?" Asuma asked.
Christina lifted up the sleeves of her jacket. She had on two dispensers that had rows of senbon in them. There were 4 entries/exits on the dispensers.
"These are senbon dispensers. Like them? I forged them myself. When I put my arms at a certain degree, the senbon will shoot out. I then catch them by squeezing my fingers together and flip them so they are in the natural position. It only takes me a few seconds to be holding a ready senbon, making my reactions a lot quicker." Christina said.
"You aren't the only one with a weapon that isn't so commonly used." Asuma said, reaching back into his pouch and pulling out some trench knives.
"Trench knives huh? A pretty good weapon, I'll admit. They can be used very well, especially if paired with wind nature chakra." Christina said.
"Let's do this." Asuma said. They rushed towards each other and got into a fight of weapons. Asuma and Christina used their weapons in a very similar way, ending that part of their battle in a stalemate.
Christina threw some senbon at Asuma. He deflected them, but realized that those were a decoy. She rushed behind him at her high speed and threw some senbon at him. 5 of them landed in his back.
Asuma started going through hand signs. "Wind Style: Divine Wind!" He yelled. A wall of wind pushed off from him and pushed Christina towards the wall.
He ran towards the wall along with his jutsu, ending up in front of her a few seconds after she hit the wall.
"Looks like I win." he said, holding his trench knives towards her throat.
"Guess again." Christina said.
Asuma's eyes widened when he felt a pain shoot through his body, he fell to his knees on the ground. He wrapped his arms around his torso ad started shaking.
"H-H-how?" He asked.
"Those senbon I threw at you. They were coated with a fast working poison. It has now spread threw your body, and, if I chose to let it spread, will kill you in no less than 24 hours. The medical staff at the hospital has no antidote for this poison, only I do. Of course, since you're a fellow leaf shinobi, I'll fix it after the match." Christina said.
Asuma raised his hand. "Proctor, I give up." He said.
"Winner: Christina Maini." The proctor said.
Christina took a vial out of her pouch. She crouched down and stuck the antidote into him, it would fix the poison. She used her medical jutsu and sped up the spread of the antidote. Within the next two minutes, Asuma was back to normal.
Christina extended a hand to him, which he gratefully accepted. She helped pull him up and shook hands with him.
"Even though you didn't win, you should be proud. You fought well, had I been in other... circumstances, you most likely would have won." Christina said.
"You fought well too, I'm proud to know that I was defeated by someone as strong as you. Instead of making some stupid mistake. Good Luck in the finals." Asuma said, they both then jumped up to their respective teams.
Maito Gai
vs.
Kankuro Sabaku
"YOSH! IT'S MY TURN! WATCH AS I SHOW EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU MY FLAMES OF YOUTH! THE POWER OF YOUTH BURNS BRIGTLY IN ALL OF US!" Gai screamed.
"Jeez. There's another one?" Kankuro said, thinking back to Lee.
Gai jumped down into the arena screaming more about youth. Kankuro sighed and jumped down into the arena as well.
"This match... Begins!" The proctor yelled.
Gai decided to do a direct approach.
"Leaf Whirlwind!" he yelled, then slammed into Kankuro. When him and Kankuro flew back, the last thing he expected was for wooden arms to surround him.
Kankuro's puppet landed and started crushing Gai. Gai grunted and tried to fight back, but the puppet wouldn't break.
Kankuro got out of the wrappings on his puppet's back.
"Well proctor, you can either name me the victor, or I crush this kid, your choice." Kankuro said.
"Kankuro Sabaku is the winner of this match!" The proctor yelled.
Kankuro released Gai and jumped back up to his team. He then wrapped his puppet back up, still annoyed because Gai started wailing about how his flames of youth were not yet strong enough.
Temari Sabaku
vs.
Anko Mitrarashi
"Alright, here we go." Anko said, jumping down into the arena. She was a bit scared. Based on the performances of this chick's teammates, she was bound to be pretty tough. But she was trained by Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, she could do this!
"Hmph, hope this chick is better than the one I faced last time." Temari said, jumping down into the arena.
Up in the stands, Naruko was thinking, and thinking hard. Temari would most likely win, so she had no doubt about the outcome of this match. Anko was good, but not good enough to beat a Jounin of Suna while still being a genin.
Naruko was wondering what they should do next. They had relaxed enough for the past few weeks, they still had a lot to do. She wasn't sure how many of the Akastuki members had gone bad yet, if any. Or if, now that Madara was dead, that the Akastuki would ever even exist, just under another's rule. She thought about it, there were few people who were even able to control that many missing nin. The only one that came to mind as Nagato. She would have to search Ame for them, she would as the Old man about that later.
Then she came to other problems. Like they had talked about they came back, they needed to tell Christina and Neji's parents. There was no doubt that Neji's father was getting suspicious after that little outburst of hers. And Christina's family as a whole would be freaked out if they found out that somebody else had their kekkei genkai, and happened to look like a certain member of their clan. Of course, there was that problem with Neji as well.
It also wouldn't be bad to get Christina's village, Semagakure, to ally with the Leaf Village. Plus, they could use the information from Christina about attacks in the future to their village. They would be a powerful ally, since like Suna, they focused on the quality of Shinobi rather than quantity. Although they weren't small in numbers either, their number of shinobi was probably somewhere in the middle of Konoha and Kumo.
She zoned back in when she heard.
"Temari Sabaku is the winner!" The proctor had yelled this. Now, everyone who won their match, get down here."
The ninjas all met down at the middle of the arena.
"Now, I need you to pick a number out of this box. Since there are ten of you, that means that there will be 5 matches in the first round, and so on and so on with the winners of those matches. Please, pick a number out of this box, and no cheating." The proctor said. "Read them in order from 1 to 10 once you all have them."
"1" Naruko said.
"2" Obito said. Him and Naruko looked at each other and grinned.
"3" Temari said.
"4" Kankuro said.
"5" Nawaki said.
"6" Yugito said. (Sorry, didn't feel like writing a match for her.)
"7" Gaara said.
"8" Neji said.
"9" Christina said.
"10" Rin finished.
"Great, here are the pairings for the matches, just in case you couldn't figure it out." The proctor said.
Naruko Namikaze
vs.
Obito Uchiha
Temari Sabaku
vs.
Kankuro Sabaku
Nawaki Senju
vs.
Yugito Nii
Gaara Sabaku
vs.
Neji Hyuga
Christina Maini
vs.
Rin Nohara
"Alright, the exams will happen in one month. You will be given this next month to prepare for the finals. See ya." The proctor said, shunshining away.
The genin then all got together with their teams and headed back to their own destinations.
Team 7 decided that they would pick up Haku and Kushina from the Namikaze residence and would all go out for a team + child + sensei's girlfriend lunch!