Chapter 65. Competition

Deep inside the Death forest.....

Orochimaru was kneeling on the ground, panting. Kabuto stood beside him with a scroll in his hands.

He helped Orochimaru stand up " Lord Orochimaru, what happened?"

Orochimaru weakly said " A monster has appeared in leaf village."

Kabuto was confused and surprised. From what his lord said, it seemed like whoever battled him can be classified as monster.

He was advancing through the forest when he sensed huge chakra signatures. He identified Orochimaru's instantly, even after sometime, the battle didn't end, instead Orochimaru's chakra got weaker.

So he used a reverse summoning Jutsu to get Orochimaru.

Orochimaru " We need to leave. Leaf should have noticed."

Kabuto nodded.

...

Naruto and his team were moving towards the tower. They had gathered the earth scroll required to pass this test.

Sakura was already awake, she got over her fear. When she recalled what happened, Sakura was ashamed to be a burden for the team. She vowed to become strong.

Sasuke was worried " That man was dangerous. I wonder if senior is alright?"

Naruto replied carelessly " It's fine. My brother is far stronger than you think. That snake won't be able to touch him."

Sasuke was a bit skeptical but chose to believe his words. Sasuke was not the same as in the anime, the care Naruto and the rest showed him slowly brought him out of his shell.

....

Sarutobi and his Anbu were standing before Ryu.

Ryu " Old man, don't be so tensed. Everything is fine. "

Sarutobi was annoyed " Fine?....

He looked at a dead snake and all the destruction around him " From what I see, i don't think so. What happened Ryu?"

Ryu " A snake got inside."

Sarutobi was startled when he heard that. He quickly ordered to look for Orochimaru's trail.

Ryu " Old man, just continue with the exam. I will take care of the rest."

Sarutobi agreed. He was aware of how strong Ryu is.

....

Team 7 reached the tower. There was a lot of team that passed.

When qualified teams were gathered, Sarutobi spoke " Since a lot of team passed this phase, a second exam will be conducted to further reduce the numbers.

The second phase will be an elimination through battle."

The competition was simple to understand. Every contestant will be paired with another, the winner moves onto the final phase.

The pairing was same as in the story.

Hayate Gekko was the proctor for the exam.

" First match, Sasuke Vs Yoroi "

Sasuke and Yoroi took the stage. Hayate placed his hand between them.... he looked at them for confirmation " Start!!"

Yoroi started with a frontal attack, he was able to make contact and steal some of Sasuke's chakra.

Sasuke retreated, he quickly analysed his opponent. He made a few hand signs

" Fire style : Dragon flame Jutsu "

Huge flames were launched from Sasuke's mouth. Yoroi was surprised when he saw this, he dodged but Sasuke was waiting for him.

He kicked Yoroi's leg making him stumble, then crouching down, he kicked Yoroi upwards.

Sasuke appeared above, his hand formed a fist " Lightning style : Lightning burst."

The moment Sasuke's fist made contact, lightning burst out like a balloon. Yoroi got slammed into the ground.

Hayate checked Yoroi before declaring " Winner, Sasuke!"

Everyone in the hall was amazed. It didn't even take five minutes before the fight was finished. Sakura and Ino were cheering at top of their lungs.

Sasuke got back to his team, he gave a high five to Naruto and Sakura " Don't lose."

Naruto and Sakura nodded with determination.

The next match was Shino's. It was pretty hard for Shino considering his opponent was in full health rather than one functional arm like in the story. But still Shino won, albeit barely.

The next fight was as expected, Kankuro won.

The fourth match was between Sakura and Ino. Sakura and Ino knocked each other out. Hayate announced the battle to be a tie, both Sakura and Ino will be eliminated.

Hayate announced the next match " Temari Vs Tenten."

Tenten walked up to the stage, she had scrolls inside her pouch, while Temari had a fan. Hayate gave the signal.

Tenten stood a fair distance away from Temari. She threw a few shurikens towards her opponent.

Her attack missed, Tenten was startled. Her attack never misses, she attacked few more times to determine why she missed.

Each time her attack got close, a slight wind occured. Tenten was wise enough to understand what's wrong. She couldn't beat her opponent head on. She summoned a lot of weapons and threw them at Temari.

Temari spread out her fan " Whirlwind attack "

A strong gale blew over knocking every one of Tenten's attack away. Temari was floating using fan. She got down and took the same stance

" Whirlwind attack "

The whirlwind trapped Tenten inside, Neji was checking the wind attack with his eyes

Neji " That wind has chakra embedded in it."

Tenten couldn't move. She wasn't like the others, she only knew one style of attack and that failed.

After a few seconds, the wind dissipiated. Tenten was falling to the ground, Temari placed her fan right below her but before Tenten touched the fan, a figure caught her.

Every looked towards the one who caught Tenten. Naruto seeing who it was yelled " Big brother!!"

Ryu checked Tenten's condition, most of her injuries were superficial but a few of her boned were broken.

Temari was angry that someone interfered, she scowled " Who the heck are you? Why did you interfere? Is this how the leaf village is, randomly interrupting a match?"

Ryu turned his head to look at her, the moment Temari saw his eyes, she shuddered. His eyes were like a beast looking at prey.

Ryu said with cold voice " The match was finished, she couldn't continue, so i got involved. If you have a problem then.... come at me."

Hayate seeing this scene announced " Winner, Temari!!"

Temari snapped back, she was angry but at the same time scared. She snorted and went back.

Ryu converted his energy to pure wood energy and mended Tenten's bones. Her superficial wounds also closed but she was still asleep, the battle took a good toll on her.

Guy was worried for her, he was relieved seeing Ryu using wood chakra to heal her.

The matches continued.