CH 31
Tenten immediately brandished kunai and began tossing them out at Naruto. In the blink of an eye Naruto drew his blade and blocked the projectiles before rushing in to attack. Upon seeing him draw his blade Tenten pulled out a scroll and summoned her own sword to engage Naruto with up close.
As Naruto and Tenten clashed swords he had to chuckle, "A katana… You just wanted that spar you asked me for didn't you?"
Tenten smirked, "I have to see if you're any good at swinging that thing around."
Naruto returned the smirk as he began pressing her back. Tenten planted her feet but ended up being pushed through the dirt, 'Gah, this strength… It's ridiculous! He might be stronger than Lee!'
Tenten lashed out with a kick as she chose to break off their contact that Naruto slapped aside with the flat of his blade, "That's your leg Tenten. Don't be so quick to attack, it pays to be somewhat patient."
Tenten growled and ran back in to trade steel with Naruto again. Every stroke of her blade was blocked or parried and Naruto refused to take advantage of the openings that followed. Tenten disengaged and stomped on the ground in frustration, "Why are you so good at this? You just got that thing last month!"
Naruto stood straight up and looked at her, "I told you I was an old hand at this. You use a lot of weapons, but have you mastered any? I'm no master, but I was pretty good at this, plus I'm faster and stronger than you, so I can do stuff like-."
Naruto vanished and slipped behind her quickly to knock her out with the handle of his blade, "-This." He caught her before she hit the ground and set her down gently, "You should have stuck with the long-range stuff. You would have lost anyway, but up close is almost tantamount to suicide against a guy like me, unless your name is Rock Lee or Neji, they're the only ones that can hang with me up close."
Anko pointed to Naruto, "Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki! …Man I am getting sick of saying that…"
Naruto smirked at Anko, "Well then convince the other five genin to quit."
Anko shook her head, "You took your sweet time with that one gaki, why not just do that from the start?"
Naruto shrugged, "Hey, I get bored too you know. She had a sword, I did too, it clicked… or clanged. Who's left anyway?"
XxX
Asuma was dumbfounded as he watched yet another genin fall by his hand, "What is he? How could he possibly be so good? He was just playing with her the entire time. No genin could possibly fight like that."
Kurenai checked Tenten off of the list, "Five down, five to go, this is absurd. He's running right through them all. He hasn't had a single fight that lasted more than five minutes."
Kakashi had gotten used to Naruto whooping ass on the genin and was still trying to sort out just what made him this way, 'Did Jiraiya do this during the month he was with him? What am I missing here?'
Asuma threw his hands in the air, "Send out the next one, there has to be someone who can beat him."
XxX
Naruto was mulling his potential opponents around in his head when his next one entered. Naruto saw the unmistakable expression of one Shikamaru Nara coming his way.
Shikamaru took a lax stance in front of Naruto as Anko looked at his expression, "Geez kid, could you look any more excited to be here? The seventh match, Naruto Uzumaki vs. Shikamaru Nara! Hajime!"
Shikamaru scratched his head and made his rat seal, "That's because I don't want to be here. There's no reason to fight here. At least during the chunin exams I had to fight to avoid getting hurt, to get my team to the next stages, and if I had been motivated, fight to get promoted. There's no reason to fight you, there's nothing to gain or lose. This whole thing is so troublesome…"
Naruto put his hand on his neck and rolled it around , "So… quit."
Shikamaru shrugged, "Alright, later." Shikamaru turned and headed back up the tunnel waving over his shoulder.
Anko blinked a few times, "Wow kid. Just… wow."
Naruto blinked at Shikamaru's retreating form, "Holy crap, I just took a freakin' shot in the dark. I had no idea that would actually work, I'm awesome!"
Anko snapped out of her stupor, "Right, well… Shousa, Naruto Uzumaki!"
XxX
In the stands, Choza Akimichi and Inoichi Yamanaka sweat-dropped at the results of the 'fight'. Choza looked over to his longtime partner Shikaku, "Your boy is more like you than you care to mention Shikaku."
Shikaku shrugged, "Hey, have you been watching this crap like I have? He didn't have a chance to win and he knew it. Naruto gave him a way out. The kid must be getting tired of this."
Inoichi nodded, "We've already determined that he can wipe the floor with all of our kids so why are we still here?"
Choza chuckled, "Speak for yourselves. He still hasn't fought Choji yet. There are still kids that can fight. This isn't over by a long shot."
XxX
Tenten, who had woken up shortly after her fight with Naruto, looked at Shikamaru with a twitching eyebrow, "You quit…"
Shikamaru yawned as he made his way to the railing, "I didn't see any reason to fight."
Neji frowned at his attitude, "To prove yourself to all of the ninja and people in attendance. For your clan's honor."
Shikamaru looked over at Neji lazily, "There's no point. You might think all of that clan honor stuff is a big deal, but me, not so much. I didn't want to do this in the first place, and seeing how he's handled everyone else so far just solidified the fact that I really don't want to fight that kid."
Sasuke scoffed, "You're just too lazy to fight."
Shikamaru glared at Sasuke, "I did fight. I trapped him in Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Possesion Jutsu) the second the fight started. When he rolled his neck he didn't show any resistance at all. My control over the technique isn't enough for me to keep a hold over a certain amount of brute force, the light out here was too much for me to use it effectively, it's around noon, and he didn't even blink. That jutsu is all I had on him, I couldn't have won."
.
.
.
☕️Subscribe to me Ko-fi for more advanced content...☕️
☕️Read the complete novel in PDF, available at my Ko-fi Store!☕️
☕️https://ko-fi.com/abrahansmith☕️