Chapter 28: Stop the Show

What followed was a mass of wind so powerful it split the tsunami in two, with each half harmlessly passing by on either side of Kannin. The wind was so forceful it redirected the rain for a few moments, and nearly knocked off all the headgear from the onlookers, drying their eyes and clothes. The slash hitting the wave created another, finer mist to settle in the air for a while.

Everyone, Team 4, the other Team 6 members, Hanzo, and certainly any poor animals nearby were in shock at the display of power. First the tidal wave, and now a wind slash unlike anything they had seen before. It seemed like both of these shinobi were quite powerful

But for Kannin, it was a risk. That attack drained most of his remaining chakra, and he had to bet that his shadow clone would pull through and catch her unawares. But it didn't seem necessary; it looked like Kannin hadn't figured what would happen to the rain-nin, who stood in the direct path of the slash behind the tidal wave. Her clothes had all but dissolved, obliterated by the maelstrom, and her skin was covered in friction burns. She had a look of pure shock on her face. The silence was palpable. The rain-nin dropped the kunai she held in her hand, and it hit the ground with an audible clunk--followed by the sound of her body thudding as it collapsed to the ground.

Shin covered Tetsu and Warai's eyes to protect the modesty of the rain-nin, but even she couldn't believe her eyes. She never thought a kid could generate so much chakra with so much focus. Just then, Kannin's legs buckled beneath him, and he had to support himself with Koseki. Shin rushed over to Kannin, just as other rain-nin came over to treat his opponent, and she helped him walk back to the sidelines.

"What the hell did you just do, Kannin?"

Kannin looked up at his sensei, and with a near delirious smile, he said "I have no idea!"

-

The aftermath of Kannin's fight was a little longer than Warai's, as both him and his opponent, who he learned was called Hitori, required serious medical attention. Kannin was suffering from a near critical lack of chakra, and his opponent...Well, his opponent was in rough shape, but the medical-nin were confident that it would have no lasting effects.

It had a deeper effect on the onlookers. While nothing the kids had done was truly extraordinary, all of them had seen upper level shinobi easily exceed the scale these two fought at, it was the proportional scale. From what Hanzo knew, the Konoha kid wasn't a year out of their academy, and just recently a genin. And as for Hitori, he had never seen her release that great of a water release either. His expression became serious, and with furrowed brow, ordered a detail to pay special attention to the kid from here on out.

Shin was in a similar state of disbelief. She knew Kannin had a lot of chakra, but the way he used it to his advantage was reckless, dangerous, and utterly spectacular. She overheard the other two ask him as he was lying down,

"How did you do that?"

Kannin took a moment to think over what he did, as in the moment he just did what seemed right. After a thorough contemplation, he looked over and said, "I gathered my full focus into my sword, and fused my slash with the largest amount of wind I could muster." He looked down at the legs he still couldn't fully feel, and added, "I can't say it didn't work, but the drawbacks were a little extreme. I don't think I'll try it again any time soon."

It was all stares on the Ame side as well, with each shinobi trying their best, and usually failing, not to stare at the kid. The awkward air hung for a few moments, before Hanzo cleared his throat and called for the last fight to begin.

Tetsu walked over to the now tattered and nearly washed away chalk line that used to delineate the boundaries for the fights, and centered himself. Opposite him was the last of the rain-nin. He was a man, a head taller than Tetsu, wearing deep blue Amegakure clothes, and a forehead protector over his blonde hair. His ears were studded with piercings, and he had strange tattooing over his eyes and nose.

The two shinobi readied themselves, and the rain-nin, who the moderator called Oya, took a taijutsu stance, and Tetsu did the same. Seeing this, the rest of Team 4 got a clue as to what Tetsu had worked on the last couple of weeks. He had removed his overcoat for battle, revealing slightly more toned musculature, and together with his stance, it seemed like he had developed his taijutsu.

Tetsu looked at his opponent, and the both of them nodded in recognition of the other, and just after they heard "Begin!" come from the mouth of the moderator, and they started. It seemed to Tetsu that while Kannin had learned a wide number of jutsus, and Warai had worked on developing her Sharingan, he had focused on two things: taijutsu and body enhancement.

He turned his body into a living weapon. He was faster than before, stronger, and knew how to close distances. Much like how a samurai's iai was able to take out a shinobi's ability to weave hand signs, Tetsu's style aimed to interrupt his enemy before they could finish any ninjutsu or genjutsu.

This style, however, wasn't perfectly suited to fight other taijutsu specialists, and he was eager to see how it held up. The two first crossed with each throwing a kick with their right legs. The speed at which they fought was so quick that Warai had to use her Sharingan to keep up--Kannin couldn't see it at all--at least not until their legs met with a crack.