As soon as the samurai gets the first name of the Kumo team out, I look over to the hallway where Samui and her team had come from. My partner is already walking down the steps while her other two teammates break away from the small group of remaining Kumo nin and their sensei, and makes it to the bottom without a hitch. She's limping, but it's slight enough that I almost don't notice it. Still, the fact that it's noticeable at all isn't a good sign.
Samui and her teammates come down to stand across from the two Kusa shinobi, who are both wearing loose gray clothing along with long, dull green scarves that obscure their mouths. The two Kusa nin watch the team from Kumo descend with calm, unreadable expressions. When the two teams are face to face, the Kusa nin bow their heads.
"Good luck," The one on the right says, an odd lilt to his voice.
"We won't need it," Karui says gruffly.
"Do you really have to jinx us like that?" Omoi sighs. "I know you're not big on thinking ahead, but-"
"Be quiet, Omoi," Samui says quietly, and his teeth click shut. Karui smirks. "You too, Karui."
I snicker, watching the red-haired girl splutter in indignation while my partner sizes up the shinobi across from them. She slides her bad leg back an inch, but otherwise seems unimpressed.
"So, Naruto," Hatake says, giving me an arch look over his book. "Do you have any information for us on your partner?" Everyone turns to look at me, then, and I cough.
"I didn't see her fight that much," I admit, ignoring the twin gazes of curiosity and suspicion that my teammates are trying to bore holes into the side of my head with. "I was usually too busy with my own fights. But, uh, from what I saw she's really good at Kenjutsu." I leave out that she's also not that great at Genjutsu, because if the jonin sensei are going to focus on strengths then I will, too. Never mind the fact that her village and mine are on terrible terms, and one of my teammates might have to fight her in the finals when she beats this team down.
Now there's an uncomfortable thought. Who would I root for if she fought one of my teammates? I mean, I could never go against Sakura, and Sasuke needs at least one person rooting for his sorry ass. But could I really hope for Samui to lose, after how hard she had to work to get this far on that leg she busted up for me?
"That makes sense," Hatake muses while I silently curse international politics and friendship. "Given Kumo's love for Kenjutsu, as well as their sensei."
"Their sensei?" Sakura prods.
"One of Kumo's most prestigious jonin," Gai says. "It's said that he could fight even the Raikage to a standstill on the field of battle. He is truly a fearsome shinobi."
"He calls himself Killer B," Hatake explains. "But he's better known as Kirabi of the Seven Swords."
I almost choke on my own spit. "Seven swords? Like, all at once?"
"I'm told it's a funny sight to see," Hatake chuckles. "Up until he impales you in every vital organ at the same time."
"The seventh match, between Team 2 of Kusa and Team 11 of Kumo," The Konoha proctor announces down in the arena, finished with briefing the two teams. Omoi and Karui both reach up and grasp the hilts of the swords strapped to their backs, the Kusa shinobi ease their hands towards their pockets, and Samui stands and waits. "Begin!"
Omoi and Karui tear their swords free from their sheaths and rush forward, Samui crouches, and the Kusa nin pull a pair of pellets from their weapons pouches and toss them to the ground. They erupt into cloud of sickly green smoke that envelopes all five of the genin, expanding to the size of one of Sasuke's Grand Fireballs. Poison.
"So that's what the scarves were for," Sasuke mutters, and I bite back a curse. Come on, Samui…
A moment later the platinum blonde kunoichi bursts out of the cloud, a sleeve held over her mouth and nose. She touches down lightly and pulls her tanto out, holding it out in front of her. And while sounds of metal on metal ring out from the cloud of poison gas, she waits.
Hatake hums. "That's quite a tanto she has. Very high quality." I keep my eyes on the arena, absorbed by the faint sounds of kind-of-fighting and not at all afraid to look at my sensei. "It almost reminds me of yours," he says, then tilts his head, lowering his book. "Where is your tanto, anyway?"
It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out, and Sakura is pretty damn smart.
"Naruto, did you-?"
I tear myself away from the arena and scratch the back of my head sheepishly. "Yeah. She broke hers fighting some Iwa guys, so I let her borrow mine until the end of the exams."
Neji sighs. "That's an ANBU grade weapon, moron. You're never getting it back."
"Shut up," Sasuke snaps.
"Make me, Uchiha."
"That's enough." Gai drops a hand on Neji's shoulder, and the Hyuuga subsides with a scoff.
"I believe Naruto made the right choice," Lee speaks up, smiling. "Helping your allies is always the right choice, after all."
I grin back. "Thanks, Lee."
"Cloud Style: Front Beheading!" A loud, feminine shout sounds from the cloud of poison, pulling us back to the fight. There's the faint thrum of something passing through the air very, very fast, and then a cry of pain. Then Karui spins out from the other side of the cloud, gasping for breath, and Omoi appears close behind. While the two breathe in the clean air greedily, the cloud begins to dissipate.
The two Kusa nin are revealed in the center of it. One of them is clutching a bizarre combination of shuriken and brass knuckles in each hand, while the other has a kunai laying at his feet, being bled on by the gaping cut in his right arm.
"How did you see me?" The wounded shinobi asks, voice distorted by the scarf covering his mouth and the pain from Karui's cut.
"Our sensei made us learn how to fight blindfolded in the rain with one hand tied behind our backs," said kunoichi grunts, breath caught. She settles into a Kenjutsu stance. "Think we can't handle a little smoke?"
Before the shinobi can answer his partner explodes into motion, closing the distance between them and Samui's teammates and railing against them with his bladed knuckles. The wounded shinobi hops back, right arm hanging limp at his side, and starts contorting his left hand rapidly.
"Half hand seals, hm?" Hatake says. "Copy that one down, Sasuke. I'll teach you how to work the seals later." My teammate's eyes are already blood red and spinning, tracking each and every contortion of the Kusa nin's hand, but he's forced to jump away before he can finish when a half dozen shuriken are sent screaming his way.
He turns his attention to Samui, her arm still outstretched from the throw, and his eyes narrow. He belts out another chain of hand seals, this one much smaller, and yanks his scarf down. "Fire Release: Phoenix Fire!"
A volley of small fireballs shoot out of the Kusa nin's mouth, not unlike the jutsu Sasuke used during the first task, and Samui hastens to dodge. The fireballs careen through the space between them, each running their own erratic path. Some go straight, some veer into walls and the floor, and one of them turns down right as it's passing Samui's head.
She jerks to the side, avoiding the fireball, only for a trio of shuriken to burst out of it and whip around at her. Her sword flashes out, deflecting two in a single swipe, and in the same motion she plants her empty hand on the stone floor and throws her legs up into the air, away from the path of the last shuriken. Then she twists and uses that same hand to push off, throwing her up into a somersault.
Just in time, it turns out, as a flurry of kunai pass beneath her. She lands back on her feet right as the Kusa nin finishes his next chain of hand seals, finishing on a half tiger seal.
"Fire Release: Stream Breath."
True to the jutsu's name, a red hot stream of fire comes spitting out of the shinobi's mouth towards my partner. She dodges to the side, allowing the jutsu to break harmlessly against the far wall, but the shinobi swings his head around towards her and the stream follows. She dodges again and again, dancing across the arena to the tune of the Kusa nin's jutsu.
Until the other Kusa nin notices her and breaks off from his fight, slapping Omoi's sword swipe into Karui's path and buying himself enough time to put Samui between his bladed knuckles and the other shinobi's stream of fire.
...
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