Chūnin Exams (XII).

Outwardly, Yukio kept his cool as he walked towards the middle of the arena where his opponent was already waiting. He wouldn't give her, nor the cheering crowd for that matter, the satisfaction of seeing him fidget like a beginner fresh out of the academy.

Still, even with that in mind, he needed to swallow the lump in his throat when he came closer.

Yugito Nii, he knew, was a formidable opponent and probably the strongest participant in these exams. It had been easy to ignore during the second stage when they had been allies, but now that all her attention was focused on him, things were different. She wasn't even openly hostile, but that would actually have been easier to handle. instead, she was perfectly calm, observing him with gleaming eyes like a predator did with its prey. He knew he would probably lose, he wouldn't deny that no matter how much it bothered him, but that didn't mean he would simply surrender.

No, he would try to force her to show as much of her strength as he could so that Anko and Itachi had a chance to observe her. That way, they might actually be able to come up with a strategy that could ultimately beat her.

He glanced towards the stands; most of it considered of a faceless crowd that meant nothing to him. Their cheering was nice, or at least he guessed it would be if it were directed at him. As it was now, they mainly cheered simply because they were excited that the spectacle was about to begin.

Yukio suppressed a scowl at the thought that they would start cheering for his opponent as soon as they saw her beating him.

To his right was a podium on which the Hokage, the Raikage, the Kazekage, and the Tsuchikage sat side by side. On any other occasion, the sight would have put him in awe, the thought of four of the strongest Shinobi alive being so close sending shivers down his spine, but right now, not even the bulky stature to the Raikage affected him.

He didn't turn around to look at the other Genin that were still waiting for their turn in a room behind him.

"Are the participants ready?"

He nodded, an action that was mirrored by his opponent in front of him.

"Begin!"

He instantly jumped backwards while also throwing a bunch of kunai with explosion tags towards the blonde girl.

The arena was nothing but a flat plain with two small bodies of water on one side, giving him no cover whatsoever. That was problematic, considering he wanted his opponent to show what kind of techniques she could use; his teammates wouldn't learn anything new if all she needed to do was to rush at him and knock him out.

The tags exploded, momentarily obscuring their view of each other. Deciding to use the time he had, he instantly weaved the hand seals to create a mud clone, but before he could sink into the underground with the Moguragakure no Jutsu (Hiding Like a Mole Technique) to switch places with it as he had intended, Yugito shot out of the dust. Fast.

She wasn't quite on the level of his sensei, but her speed was still greater than that of both of his teammates and any of his other friends he had ever sparred with. One moment she was still a fair distance away and the next thing he knew was that she was right in front of him.

Yukio raised his arms just in time to block the punch towards his chest, the power behind it nearly knocking all the air out of him, before jumping further back to evade her follow-up attack. She visibly tensed to go after him again, but was forced to abandon that plan when his clone jumped at her from her right; the roundhouse kick at her head failed just like the following swept at her with a kunai, and a moment later, his clone got destroyed when she retaliated with a kick to its torso.

Only, rather than just collapsing back into a bunch of dirt, it exploded.

Not wasting any time, he weaved hand seals once again:

"Doton: Chikyū no hahen!" (Earth Release: Earth Shards)

At his command, hundreds of sharp clumps of earth flew towards the cloud of dust that had been stirred by his exploding clone, hopefully doing some damage to his opponent.

That hope was crushed a second later when a storm of lightning flew out of it and towards him, destroying every earth shard in its path and hitting the place he stood just a moment earlier.

"Smart," a voice behind him said. "Hiding an explosion tag inside your clone. Smart, but ultimately useless." He had no time to react before a kick to his back catapulted him through the air, making him fly until he finally hit the wall of the arena that had been almost twenty meters away.

He groaned when he sat up, forcing himself to keep his eyes on his enemy even though his vision was blurry. That will bruise, he thought with a wince, but at least I'm pretty sure that nothing broke. Kami, fortunately I was able to enforce my body with chakra before the impact or I would have already lost.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)

His eyes went wide as a gigantic ball of fire flew towards him, bigger than anything he had seen Itachi produce with the same technique ever since he joined his team.

"Doton: Doryūheki!" (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)

He put as much chakra as he could without totally exhausting himself into the technique before using the rest to finally vanish into the underground while leaving another clone behind.

Barely a second later, he felt Yugito arrive in front of the remains of his wall, breaking right through it before continuing her attack. Using the opportunity, he broke through the surface the moment she passed above him and took a second to survey the situation:

Yukio's clone had managed to momentarily trap her, just as he had hoped. One of her arms was pushed through its chest, but as the attack didn't blow it up, it was still able to fight and thus grab her arm to keep her in place. Knowing he couldn't let that chance go to waste, he rushed towards her with a kick that was aimed right at her head.

The good news was that his attack connected.

The bad news was that the moment he should have blown her away, her body dissolved into electricity and fried him and his clone both.

He opened his mouth to scream, but no tone escaped from his lungs. The pain lasted only a few seconds, but even after it was gone, he couldn't move as he laid face down on the ground. His entire body felt sore, the smell of burned flesh filled his nose, and he was pretty sure he was smoking. It took everything he got to slowly move his arms until they were angled in a way that would allow him to push himself up, but he felt a weight on his back before he could even attempt such a thing.

"You're not the only one who can use clones for a trap, you know."

He had not enough energy to talk, let alone turn around to look at her, so he stayed mute.

"Don't worry, I put just enough energy into the technique to put you out of commission for a while. There will be no permanent damage, but you will not be able to continue this fight. Honestly, I'm actually impressed that you're still conscious at all!"

She was right, there was no denying that. There was no way he could continue this fight, even if he somehow managed to get up. No, this match was over.

Yukio would have laughed if he could. So much for making her show what kind of abilities she is hiding, he thought sarcastically. All he could make her do was to use some pretty standard techniques, none of which would be one of her trump cards. At least we now know that she can not only use Fire Release but Lightning Release as well. Somehow, that thought didn't comfort him at all.

"The winner is Yugito Nii from Kumogakure!"

"Seems like my shinobi won, just like I said." Hiruzen didn't need to look at the muscular man to know he must have a very satisfied expression on his face right now. "As I told you before, don't expect any of your Genin to win against her. Yugito is on a completely different level."

"Pah," Oonoki scoffed. "Don't act as if that means anything. She's a Jinchūriki, of course she would dominate these fights. Let's wait and see how her teammates do, that will show us how talented your shinobi really are."

"You're fishing for excuses, Tsuchikage-san. She didn't even use any of her Bijuu's power, so you have no reason to complain."

"Irrelevant. Her strength and stamina are still greater than that of every average shinobi, even if she isn't actively using her Bijuu's chakra."

"Complaining about such a thing is the same as complaining about someone that uses a Kekkei Genkai. Do you also think your victories are worthless just because you used your famous Jinton (Dust Release)?"

"The one happens naturally while the other is artificial, that are two entirely different things!"

"And both still lose if its wielder faces enough enemies. Talking about that, it's such a shame that there aren't more participants from your village in the finals, isn't it? Especially considering you sent so many of them into the exams this year."

Hiruzen stopped listening to their squabbles at that point, choosing to instead look with sad eyes down into the arena where Yukio was being carried out right now. He had fought well, but it had been clear that he was outmatched from the very beginning. No even clever traps could change that.

He sighed. The injuries he received weren't too bad, meaning he would soon be recovered, but the blow to his pride and confidence was another thing entirely.

Only time would tell how this loss would affect him.