Chapter 68 - The Tournament Part 2

The tournament was to be held in the same hall as the chunin preliminaries. Each match would have two proctors; one male, one female. Hayate and Yukao were the designated two, as Genma was participating. Right now, the couples lined up to hear Tsunade’s speech. Tsunade was standing at the center of the arena, all eyes on her.

“The rules are simple: You fight until one member of the couple gives up. I will not allow death, so the proctors are authorized to stop the match at any time. Remember, this is a Leaf tournament. At the end of the day, we’re all comrades. So any bad blood you have can be settled out there on the arena floor. So, good luck to the couples! And if you aren’t a ‘couple’ yet, this is your chance at romance. Right, Shikamaru?”

Shikamaru turned his head, growling under his breath. He was standing still, arms crossed on his chest. “Damn troublesome women. Why’d she have to go and say something like that? She’s as bad as my mom!”

Hana chuckled wolfishly. “Sounds like my mom, too. And you boys are just as troublesome, so don’t kid yourself.”

Naruto, as always, had impeccable timing. “Look at this! Shikamaru, you finally find a girl that could tame you! HAHAHA!”

“Shut up, Naruto. I’m only here because my mom’s making me show.”

“Yeah, same with me!” Hana added, giving Naruto a smack in the head. “We’ll just see you out on the floor, won’t we?! If you make it to the finals, anyway!”

“DEFINITELY Kiba’s sister,” Naruto murmured.

“Focus, Naruto!” Sakura urged, tugging on her combat gloves. “Who are we facing, anyway?” Sakura flipped through the program, looking at the preliminary lineup.


Match 1: Iruka/Anko vs. Naruto/Sakura
Match 2: Kiba/Hinata vs. Shikamaru/Hana
Match 3: Yuushi/Kantai vs. Sasuke/Ino
Match 4: Neji/Tenten vs. Ekyt/Azami
Match 5: Asuma/Kurenai vs. Shizune/Genma
Match 6: Temari/Kimimaro vs. Lee/Linda


“Alright! I finally get to fight Iruka-sensei! Hehehe! This is gonna be so awesome! I’m gonna show him how strong I’ve gotten!” Naruto was practically falling all over himself at the thought of fighting Iruka. Now that Iruka hadn’t been drilling basics into him for a while, Naruto was sure he had a good chance of winning.

“I’m worried about his partner. Anko…she was that sadistic instructor, wasn’t she? From the chunin exams?” Sakura strained herself, trying to remember. She tried not to dwell on the old days too much.

“Mmm…Yeah, that’s right! I owe her for that cut she gave me, believe it!”

Anko was instantly at Naruto’s side. “Anyone I know?” she said, making a small cut on his cheek and lapping up the blood.

“GAH! NO MA’AM!”

--

Kiba was more than stoked now. He was always wired tight, but the thought of fighting his sister really excited him. All the years she had spent lecturing him, like she was a second mother. The time she had claimed Akamaru crapped in the house, when it was really her own dog…oh yeah! With Kiba, payback is a dog!

“You ready, sis? No half-assing this one! Me, Akamaru, and Hinata are gonna chew you up real good!”

Hana impatiently clicked her tongue. “Tk! As if! I was just gonna withdraw right away. But if YOU’RE mouthing off like that, I’ll stick around to beat you up, like old times sake! Haha, no noogies this time! We’re fighting fang for fang here!”

“You bet, sis!”

Hinata and Shikamaru both really wanted to be anywhere but in the middle of a sibling rivalry.

“What a drag…”

--

There was no bad blood between Sasuke, Ino, Kantai, and Yuushi. They really didn’t know each other all that well. Yuushi looked forward to the challenge of facing one of the last Uchiha elite, while Kantai was trying to decide if Ino was one of those cheerleader types, or if she just looked that way.

“WOOHOO! Alright, Sasuke! This round is in the back! Easy! Too easy! It’s like we’d be picking on these kids! Their ‘A’ game is out ‘D’ game! S-A-S-U-K-E! Haha!”

Kantai rolled her eyes. “I really want to beat her. She’s one of those dogy blonde types.”

Yuushi had already learned something about being an effective boyfriend. NEVER point out your girlfriend’s mistakes. Like the fact that Kantai was just as blonde as Ino. He enjoyed this new relation ship too much to say something that stupid.

--

Neji and Ekyt stared at each. They had clashed in the past. The question was this: was the past resting in peace, or did it want another go-round?

Azami and Tenten both placed warning hands on their boyfriend’s shoulders. But the two boys just kept moving forward, not breaking their glare. The girls were more sensible, giving each other a warm ‘hello’ and ‘good luck’.

“We will settle this out on the floor. Fair enough?” Neji said, straight to the point.

“Works for me,” Ekyt replied. His mask in place for the time being, his expression was unreadable. But he offered a courteous bow.
“I wish you both the best of luck. The past is the past. I’m just looking forward to a good fight between respectable warriors.”

With those few words, the tension was broken. Azami and Tenten exchanged mild smiles, but steered their boyfriends away before the two forgot about ‘respect’ and started hitting each other.

--

Asuma and Kurenai were to face Genma and Shizune. That was going to be one mellow match. Of them all, only Shizune was high-strung. She tended to quell that when she was with Genma, though. It was really her work that made Shizune such a worrier. Being Tsunade’s attendant had to be nothing short of hellish at times.

Asuma lit a cigarette. Genma chewed on his senbon. Kurenai closed her eye to focus. Shizune pretended she was calm. It was no big deal.

“No hard feelings either way, right?” Asuma offered. Of the four, he was the strongest, followed by Shizune. Then came Kurenai, and finally Genma. They were all close, this analysis was simply going by rank, and how long the rank was held. (Genma is a Tokubetsu jonin, while the rest are all jonin. Therefore, he’d be the weakest in terms of rank. Kurenai is a new jonin, making her only slightly ‘stronger’. Asuma and Shizune were close to evenly matched; the breaker was physical strength, and that was Asuma’s forte compared to Shizune)

--

Kimimaro and Temari vs Lee and Linda. Kimimaro and Temari were incredibly strong, and both Jonin. Lee was a newly promoted jonin, but the glaring fact that he was incapable on ninjutsu or genjutsu meant this would be hard for him. Linda was a wildcard- her fighting style was known only to Lee and Tsunade. So it would be interesting to see which pair would come out on top.

“Our last match was difficult, but I have gotten stronger! I look forward to facing you once more!” Lee was his typical ‘youthfully energetic’ self. Kimimaro just stared mildly, not really understanding what the fuss was about. All he knew was that he had to dull his bones so that he wouldn’t kill.

Temari and Linda just plain hated each other. Mostly because Ekyt once had a crush on Temari. Linda was out to ruin Ekyt’s life; therefore she hated anyone who might have made it pleasurable. As for Temari, Linda had simply pissed her off by making fun of her hair and fan. She didn’t know or care about Linda’s personal reasoning.

--

“Match one (koff) Naruto and Sakura versus Iruka and Anko.” Hayate made the announcement to the crowd. His ANBU-masked girlfriend finished the introductions.

“Participants to the center of the floor.”

Iruka stood across from Naruto, while Anko faced off against Sakura.

“Well, this is it, Naruto. The teacher and student have come full circle. You’ve really grown,” Iruka told Naruto in admiration. “But just because you’re older now, don’t be thinking I’m going to take it easy on you! There might just be a thing or two I can still teach you!”

“HA! I’ve been looking forward to this, Iruka-sensei! I’m gonna show you how much I’ve improved!”

Sakura bowed stiffly to Anko, who was still her superior. Anko just laughed and took up a kunai.

“HAJIME!” Hayate called out. He and Yukao leapt to opposite sides of the arena to watch.

“Alright, here we go! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Naruto took up his trademark handsign and cast his go-to jutsu. A hundred Naruto’s piled up in the small space, all charging.

“Damn it, how do we know which one is him?” Anko muttered to Iruka, batting a clone away.

“Keep an eye on Sakura, I have an idea! Clone Jutsu!”

Four Iruka clones took off running. These were the kind of clones that couldn’t do any damage, except serve as a distraction. It was the most basic of Shinobi techniques. But therein lied Iruka’s strength. He didn’t know flashy jutsus, but he DID know that the basics could topple even the strongest jutsu.

“Naruto, watch! The clones aren’t touching yours! Don’t let them distract you!” Sakura warned. Then she realized that Naruto had just created a trap for her by mistake.
Naruto, you jerk! We can barely move because there are so many stupid clones! Not only that, if I try to use my strength to knock Iruka-sensei and Anko-sensei off-balance, then I’ll just destroy your clones! You idiot! Agh, all I can do for now is watch!

“Striking Shadow Snakes!” Anko barked. She knew this particular jutsu of Orochimaru’s, having been a disciple of his at one time. She had survived his curse mark, making her very strong. She hated the damn thing, and never used it.

The snakes from Anko’s wrists tore through clone after clone, creating small puffs of smoke. That gave Iruka time to drop a smoke bomb.

“Huh? Where’d he go? I’ll find you! Time for another page from Naruto’s Ninja Handbook! Uzumaki Barrage, Modified!”

What’s that, you ask? The modified Uzumaki barrage is when Naruto and his clones throw each other in waves. When the clones are destroyed, they reveal the location of the enemy with the smoke from their destruction.

“Nice work, Naruto!” Sakura called out. She activated her chakra scalpel. Her powers of perception tipped her off- snakes coming from the right. With a shift of her weight, Sakura had cut the snakes. But she had to dodge rapid-fire as kunai rained in towards her.

Ugh! I gave away my own location! I can’t believe it! Sakura berated herself.

Meanwhile, Naruto was inadvertently walking into a trap.

“Gotcha!” came Iruka’s voice. He was stuck to the ceiling, using chakra control! Another basic move that neither Naruto nor Sakura had seen coming! “Naruto, don’t move. I say that for your safety. Just look around you.”

Naruto did- he gasped. There were exploding tags all around him! He had stayed toward the back while his clones attacked. Eventually, he had moved closer to the back wall and a little to the right. Iruka, amidst the smoke, planted the bomb trap on the two walls, plus three tags on the ground. Naruto had wandered right into range!

“Sealed Bomb Square Release! Now, Naruto, if you remember, those bombs activate when you move. Don’t worry, they’re small bombs that will only render you unconscious. But for you, this fight is over.”

“Damn it!” Naruto cursed. This is just like when he lectured me! I’ve gotta think of a way outta this!

“Naruto!” Sakura ran to help him, but was cut off by a kunai from Anko.

“Don’t forget that you’re not alone out here. You can’t ever drop your guard in combat!”

Anko’s kunai clashed against Sakura’s chakra scalpel. Sakura struck back, but Anko’s snakes wound around her hand, pulling her in. Sakura thought quickly and threw shuriken, hitting the snakes binding her arm. She kept moving forward, using her momentum to slash Anko’s arms with the chakra scalpel.

“Ugh!” Anko groaned, feeling her cut muscles groan angrily. She’s gotten good! Guess it’s up to you for now, Iruka. I need time to cast this next jutsu…

Iruka dropped down from the ceiling, landing behind Sakura. He held a kunai to her neck.

“You two lasted a long time, for facing two Tokubetsu jonin. I’ll treat all of you to ramen later.”

“Don’t count me out, sensei!” Sakura declared. PWOOF!

“A replacement?!” Iruka gasped. He felt a little trickle of happiness- his students DID remember their time at the academy. You can always rely on the basics! Good job! Now where are you…concentrate, Iruka! Wisely, Iruka backflipped away, until he was back to back with Anko.

“Here. I can only do first aid, but that should be enough…” Iruka held out his hand, ready to heal Anko. Just as he did, Sakura came flying in, smashing the ground with her fist. The ground twisted and heaved, and dust flew up, covering the arena. The spectators coughed and covered their eyes.

“HEY, IRUKA-SENSEI! GET AN EYE-FULL OF THIS!”

It was Naruto! “SEXY JUTSU!”

Just like years before, Iruka’s eyes widened, his jaw dropped, and his nosebleed sent him flying into the wall. He immediately leapt up, screaming at Naruto.

“CUT THE STUPID TRICKS, YOU LITTLE FOOL! THIS IS A SERIOUS MATCH!”

“No duh! It’s also over!”

The smoke cleared. Naruto and Sakura each had a kunai to the back of Iruka and Anko (respectively). Anko was still incapacitated, and Iruka’s bloody nose had taken some energy.

“How did you do it, Naruto?” Iruka wanted to know. “I had you trapped!”

“Yeah, you had me!” Naruto replied happily. “But you missed my Shadow Clones hidden on my back.” Naruto reached back and pulled off what looked like a giant shuriken. When he threw it, it became a clone. “So when Sakura smashed the floor with her monster strength ( “NARUTO!” Sakura yelled, hitting him with her free hand), my clones came out from behind me and destroyed your tags. I wasn’t sure that would have worked, but I had to try!”

Iruka was dumbfounded. Of course…That jutsu of mine focuses on ONE target- the REAL Naruto, in this case. Anyone else is free to enter and leave the bomb’s perimeter- including his clones!

“Well done, you two!” Anko said happily. “You DID say you were buying, Iruka? I prefer dumplings, but a free meal’s a free meal. The kids earned it, and so did we! What else from Kakashi’s students, right?”

Iruka sighed, but in truth he was happy. He had helped train two strong Shinobi.

“Winners: Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno!” Yukao announced. Hayate checked to see if there were any injuries. Once he was sure there weren’t, he called for the next participants.

“Hold on! Where’s the victory kiss, you two? New Leaf tradition: winners kiss each other!” Tsunade shouted down from her seat on the balcony. Naruto and Sakura happily obliged.

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