24 Chapter 24: Third Stage

18 May- year 13 AK

The vast arena of Konohagakure no Sato was impressive, a little patch of forest here, a river barely a meter wide running on one edge, grass that had battled against an unwelcoming rock in the center. It was truly a wonderful example of an impartial setting, and the cloudy sky, while it was promising rain, shielded the crowd from the heavy touch of Hi no Kuni' sun.

Choji was sitting with his clan, enjoying the portable grill that had been set up in the area reserved to them.

His father Chōza leaned forward him, handing over a skewer he had just lifted from the grill.

He shot his son a knowing glance: "Are you upset because your sensei stopped you at the preliminaries and let your teammates go on instead?"

Choji shook his head, his eyes taking in the dozens of shinobis and kunoichis from Konoha' Clans amassed in their area of the bleachers. At least the ones that had managed to not be on duty on the day of the Third Stage. The numerous civilians rich enough to be able to afford a ticket and the various delegations from the Elemental nations were otherwise spread around, almost casually, but the Daimyō's delegations had been reserved the first rows on the stone bleachers on the other side of the arena. The genin scoffed. Nobles.

"Sensei told me I didn't need to spread my wings already, but that skills-wise, I am close to a chunin." the genin Akimichi answered. "He explained that in a straight fight between me and Gaara I would end up dead. It was a bad match up."

Chōza placed his hand on his son's shoulder, trying to reconcile the serious but largely unbothered tone with what he had just been told.

"It's okay dad, it only means that I need to get stronger." Choji grinned, slurping up the delicious meat "It's only a pity than uncles Shikaku and Inoichi are on duty, Shika and Ino are going to pull all the stops."

"Oh? You three have come up with new skills along with the families' techniques?" Cjoza asked, happily noticing that Daiki-sensei had kept training Choji even if he had to focus on his other two students.

"I'm not gonna tell, you'll have to wait and see." He smugly suggested.

Like Daiki-sensei had thaught them, Choji selectively listened to the Hokage introductory speech and the referee warnings, only picking up the key information. No need to keep track of the bullshit around a simple sentence. Focus on facts, and how they hare expressed. The first will give you the context you'll need to work in, the second will tell you what is the position if the one reporting said facts concerning their context.

Even while he was barely listening, however, his eyes lingered on the Kage's booth, where the diminutive form if the Tsuchikage was perched into his seat, and the Kazekage was there too, hiding his face beneath a white veil. He spotted Shino, Naruto, and Sakura near Daiki-sensei kōhai, Ten Ten, sitting near each other with both Guy-sensei and Kurenai-sensei. It was unfortunate that the Aburame Clan disliked crowds and rowdy places, forcing Shino to come to watch the third stage alone, but again, Choji would have loved to seat close to Daiki-sensei if only he could spot him. That man managed to turn everything into a lesson, and while Choji didn't necessarily enjoy the nightmare-inducing stories, he started to understand his reasons, and nobody could deny how much he had grown under his tutelage.

He shook himself out of his reverie to watch into the arena, where Neji Hyuga, another of sensei' kōhais, was staring down Shikamaru. Or trying to, since his teammate was hardly bothered by the harsh glare those pale eyes were inflicting.

Choji actually chuckled, before explaining to the quizzical expression of his father: "After surviving Daiki-sensei shell-shock treatment, intimidation isn't really the way to go about psychological warfare."

Chōza's eyes returned to the arena, his eyebrows suddenly rising on his forehead: "Is that..?" he guffawed "A Nara with a sword! Now that's quite a surprise! Shikaku will have a fit! Since when..."

"A wakizashi, to be exact. And since the beginning of the month." Choji answered before his father could complete his question, secretly enjoying the dismay of the Akimichi Clan's head. Nobody, it didn't matter how gifted, could learn how to properly use a blade in less than a month, at least not beyond distinguishing the handle from the steel.

The proctor signaled the start of the match, and the once lazy Nara hastily retreated, flicking several smoke pellets in front of himself. Both contestants soon enveloped in a thick purple-gray cloud.

"But that's..!" Choza frowned, before noticing Choji's smirk and replicating it.

Neji retreated, an arm in front of his mouth to try and not breathe any more poison than necessary. Sadly, the first lungful, enough to inform the Hyuga prodigy of the nature of the smoke, was also enough to heavily impact his ability to stay awake. "Nobody ever said that Shikamaru actually used the wakizashi." Choji smiled.

Neji stood in the middle of the arena, slightly wobbling on his feet, but exercising every silver of his will to stay awake. Shikamaru emerged from the smoke with a scarf tightly woven around the lower half of his face, the fuinjutsu on it working overtime to seal away the poison and letting the air pass through. It was a selective-storage seal, kept in function by the Nara, who kept feeding chakra to it, effectively filtering the air. Fuinjutsu was awesome.

Neji wobbled on his feet some more, and fell to the ground, the poisonous gas overcoming the natural resistance of a body with an active chakra network with relative ease.

Chōza looked at the Nara heir, a belly laugh bubbling out of him. It was a rare thing seeing genin who never experienced war use misdirection in such a way. Shikamaru, bringing a sword in the arena, had declared that he was ready for a melee, successfully tricking the proud Hyuga.

"Even a Kage can die of carelessness." Choji quoted, clapping loudly while the proctor declared Shikamaru the victor of the underwhelming fight.

The following match was soon called, Kiba landing in a crouch after having jumped down from the genin booth, while Sabaku no Gaara made his entrance with a dignified and slow walk, his killing intent washing over the Inuzuka like a wave, with his face a blank mask.

When the referee gave the start, Akamaru dashed in a wide arc around the redhead, Kiba mirroring him on the other side, raining kunai with paper bombs attached to the hilt one the Suna genin.

Gaara did not move, he didn't even blink, his eyes following the shinobi, clearly classified as the bigger threat. The sand rose from the uncorked groud in a thick wall wich swallowed Kiba's probing of his defenses.

Then Gaara smiled. His chakra skyrocketed, the sand swirling around himself and digging into the ground,

Kiba bounced back, running along the walls of the arena until he had regrouped with Akamaru. Once he had secured the dog, he ran another lap on the wall, his rhythm irregular, dodging and avoiding the crushing waves of sand, often by less than an armlength.

It surprised everyone when he shouted: "I surrender!"

The referee immediately yanked the Inuzuka out of the arena, somehow the man seemed to know that Gaara wasn't going to stop.

Somehow, the killing intent let out by the Suna genin managed to grow even more.

"Why is he clutching his own head?" Choji wondered. The redhead looked almost in pain, but he managed to drag himself back into the genin booth, the sand he had so terrifyingly wielded fell on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, while some of it returned into Gaara's gourd, corking itself inside.

Choji looked at his father, who had a dark frown on his face. He knew that frown, he was the same he had assumed after he had recounted the genjutsu Daiki-sensei had thrown his team in on their very first day. The young Akimichi kept his observations for himself however, knowing that if and when his father wanted to share his thoughts on the matter, he would.

Soon it was Lee's turn, facing the strange Iwa kunoichi that apparently had spared Shino's team during the second stage.

The girl looked around 15, maybe 17years old, was dressed with her country colors and had a dangerous looking katana strapped at her side.

"LEE!" Choji snapped his head in the direction of the sound so quickly that he almost gave himself a whiplash: Guy-sensei, who had been Daiki-sensei's senseis ( and Choji was glad that his own teacher hadn't picked up anything beyond skill from him ) was standing, his hands resting on his hips and chest bulging outwards: "TAKE THEM OFF, LEE! IT'S TIME TO SHOW THE POWER OF YOUTH!"

Choji shuddered a bit. Looking horrified, the image of his own sensei doing the same briefly flashing in his mind before being shut down and hidden somewhere deep in his subconscious where it would never come back from.

Willing himself to focus on the match, erasing his surroundings from his senses, trusting his father to keep an eye out for possible dangers.

He watched with curious eyes as Lee shot back in the genin's booth and returning, his orange leg warmers suspiciously absent, revealing white wrapping around his calves.

Choji looked at the genin booth in time to see Ino shouting: "You're much manlier without the orange, Lee-kun!" he didn't need to see Shikamaru to know that he had pinched his nose, having taken up the mannerism from their sensei.

Choji looked again in the arena, seeing that Lee was... preening? under Ino attention. The young Akimichi guffawed.

Lee took his stance: an arm bent behind the small of his back, his weight on a bent leg, while the other was straight, ready to be used as a strange single meteor-hammer.

His opponent had a suspiciously slumped stance: the katana, no longer secured to her waist, was still in its scabbard, held limply in her left hand.

When the referee gave the signal, Lee vanished from sight, only to reappear in front of his opponent, a straight kick slamming with the force of a rolling boulder on the surprised Iwa kunoichi.

Choji quickly circulated chakra through his coils, enhancing his senses and becoming able to actually follow the movements in the arena. He wouldn't manage to reach those speeds anytime soon, but at least he managed to see.

Kurotsuchi was wielding her katana ungracefully, almost using it like a mace or a baton which, considering it was still sheathed, was exactly what it was.

Lee's kick impacted with the katana held by both arms of the kunoichi.

Kurotsuchi sported a grin, and heaved. Lee was hurled back, all his momentum absorbed and countered.

He closed in, a haymaker closing in on her face. She tilted sideways, her leg jabbing at the calves of her opponent and the katana slamming like a mace on Lee's raised forearm.

She spun, one hand letting go of the scabbard to shot forward with her fingers extended, her sharp nails, clearly treated with some toughening nail varnish, trying to cut away Lee's eyes.

He bent backward, his right hand clamping on her wrist and tugging her out of balance.

Then she escalated the fight: taking a step forward to avoid having Lee sneaking under her center of gravity, she shaped her chakra. No handseals, no words, pure nature manipulation. The ground under Lee softened, just enough to reduce his leverage, before slamming her katana against the unprepared genin, who jumped backward, performing an impossible number of backflips and taking again his initial stance.

Choza looked at his son with surprise etched on his face: "You can see their movements?"

Choji grinned, not taking away his eyes from the fight: "Technique and skill will not help you if you can't see the opponent, if you're slow, you're either a tank or dead. None of you is strong or old enough to be a tank right now. So suck it up." He quoted.

Choza snorted, and was about to reply when Guy's student shot forward again, only to be met by a sudden wave of lava.

He distanced himself, running in a circle. He was a taijutsu user, period, meaning that either he faced his enemy in close quarters, or he ran circles around them to tire them. Ninjutsu was a demanding branch of the shinobi arts, not only chakra-wise, but also mentally. Especially when using elements that could backfire spectacularly.

During his second lap around the arena a hand shot up from the ground, grabbing Lee's left foot.

He didn't even notice. He ran away so quickly, that the fingers around his foot crumbled into dirt. It had been a tsuchi-bunshin, likely sent underground under the cover of the lava ninjutsu.

That spoke a lot for the mind behind the pink eyes of the Iwa kunoichi. From her place in the center of the arena, she shot again towards her opponent, the scabbard left behind, and using her body to hide the telltale gleam of sharp steel.

She stopped in front of Lee, the katana drawing an upwards arc in front of her. The green-clad genin twirled on himself, the blade grazing his black hair, ruining the perfect bowl-shaped haircut. He stood inside her guard and levied a haymaker at the kunoichi's head, only to be intercepted by a forearm encased in stone.

When did she have the time to do that? Choji frowned, before smiling widely when a crack resounded in the arena.

The stone had been sturdy enough to protect her bones, but not enough to resist Lee's spectacular strength with impunity.

Kurotsuchi began to wield her katana with her left hand only, her right ready to grab her opponent. She snapped a punch to Lee's throat while swinging her blade to keep away the dangerous kicks of Lee.

However low kick to the shin was enough to unbalance her, quick as lighting, Lee's hands shot forward and clamped the armed limb of his opponent.

Instead of twisting or trying to gain leverage against the green-clad genin, Kurotsuchi let her katana fall, embedding itself in the ground.

Without a single second of hesitation, she jumped, her left foot landing lightly on Lee's right tight and her knee slamming solidly against his chin, hurling him back.

The Iwa kunoichi blurred through handseals, whispering too low to be heard.

A second later, Lee dodged to the left an attack that never came.

Kurotsuchi took up her katana once again, leisurely walking towards her target.

Choza smirked. "That isn't your common C-rank genjutsu." he said, earning himself a confounded glaze from his son.

Why does he sound proud about it?

Lee kept twirling and dodging, occasionally punching empty air, until Kurotsuchi came close enough.

While undoubtedly trapped in an illusion, Lee wasn't pulling his punches, he wasn't predictable, and as such Kurotsuchi was waiting for an opening.

Lee twisted out of the way of an attack nobody but him could see, and Kurotsuchi lunged forward with the katana.

Mid-twist, Lee sidestepped and was immediately inside of the surprised kunoichi's guard. Crouched on the ground, his right foot slammed under her chin, both his legs snapping straight, while his fingers plunged into the articulation of her wrist, forcing her to abandon the sword.

Instead of following her flying figure, Lee straightened his back, crossing his arms in front of his face, his muscles tightening. Bringing them at his sides like his hands were tied to an impossibly heavy weight, he thundered: "Kaimon, Kai!"

Immadietely after, he grabbed the katana, and with a potent movement of his shoulders, he embedded it up to the hilt between two of the square stones that constituted the wall of the arena.

Then he became a fucking whirlwind.

"He pretended to be trapped in the genjutsu. Smart." Choji nodded.

"The smart part is choosing to leave behind the katana as bait instead of pursuing her. Guy truly has surpassed himself with him, he deflected the flat of the blade every time, look, he hasn't been cut once." Choza corrected him.

Choji had completely lost sight of him, he reappeared for brief instants.

The scarier thing? The Iwa kunoichi was keeping up.

When a punch clipped her on the shoulder, she exploited it to twirl on herself, her hands forming handseals.

When she was facing Lee again, her cheeks bulged before she spat a bucket of lave from a point blank range.

Faster than ever before, Lee pushed: "Kyūmon, Kai!" and disappeared from the Iwa kunoichi, only to reappear on the other side of the arena.

Kurotsuchi charged, a half Tiger seal held in front of her mouth as she spat balls of lava like they were confetti.

None came even close to land on Lee.

Twenty seconds later, he retaliated: righting himself after having ducked, he flung a pebble he had caught from the ground.

It flew faster than should have been possible: behind it the force of the whip-like movement of his arm, the fluid power of his shoulders rotating, the complex mechanism of his pelvis and all the leverage his legs managed to exercise on the ground.

When the pebble impacted the following ball of lava, it exploded.

Then, maybe not so surprisingly: "Seimon, Kai!"

Kurotsuchi had just lost the advantage of a long distance battle. Every shot of lava that she spat exploded less than three meters from her, and after the first two, she was forced to keep an eye out from the projectiles Lee was hurling back.

Suddenly, "Konoha Senpuu!" and the whirlwind was on the Iwa kunoichi: a veritable rain of kicks, punches, knee and elbow thrusts.

Three hits so heavy that they would have broken bones, four that came as light as a breeze, then again, in an irregular pattern. Without thinking, she classified the blows in base of their target, their strenght, and the follow-ups that they would allow.

Kurotsuchi defended those hits that would have brought the fight to an immediate end, tanking the others. A kick aimed at her head landed heavily against her shoulder, she defended against a powerful punch targeting her throat with her forearm, her defense cracking but not breaking, a knee thrust that would have shattered her ribcage found only the tightened muscles of her abdomen, earth natured chakra enforcing her body.

She tried to maneuver for space, but Lee could not be denied. She had no time for handseals, no time to flicker away, no time for her eyes to find a target for a kawarimi. No time, no time, no time, no time.

What she had working for her, however, was experience. After the initial freak out at having a kid only a year out of academy dominate her in close combat, her mind had turned calculating. She never outright blocked, knowing that his hits held enough strenght to crack stone,

Then her eyes widened: Here.

A flare of doton chakra swarming the ground while the genin was in one of his belowed Konoha Senpuu, changing its consistency.

When he landed, his right foot sunk, forcing him to bring down his left in order to kick himself out of the trap.

However, his left leg should have been swiping at the midsection of the Kunoichi, keeping her away.

Kurotsuchi closed in, her left hand coming in a wide hook.

Lee didn't think, his torso bent forward, his arms and hands reacted to the grievous mistake like they had been trained to do. Right hand on her elbow, left on her wrist: twist and crush.

Dislocated wrist and elbow joint, linear fracture on the humerus, ligaments of the shoulder strained.

It was then that her right arm, encased in stone, fell on his vagus nerve.

Le crumbled on the ground, out cold. Kurotsuchi hissing through her teeth.

"Rock Lee is unable to continue!" the referee declared.

"That girl is a ringer." Choza grumbled.

"What?" Choji whirled on his father, tuning out the crowd and the very loud Naruto.

"She does not specialize in taijutsu, what does it tell you?"

The young Akimichi turned on the arena, seeing the Iwa kunoichi walking towards the med nin on stand by, her left arm swinging limply at her side: "That Lee managed to force her... she wanted to beat him at his own game, didn't she?"

The Akimichi clan head nodded gravely: "She has left behind her katana. That's another message: I don't really need or use that blade, I brought it only to show that I could."

"Sensei told us he had met her at his chunin exams, five or six years ago. She was ten-ish then, and she never participated again, she's the Tsuchikage's granddaughter." Choji recalled.

"It happens that the brightest of their generations are held back, just to be showcased in the exams, your sensei is a sharp one, he reminds me of Shikaku sometimes, with a stubbornness that could match a mountain." the older man sighed.

"We can only be grateful that she chose to show that she is so superior that she doesn't need to kill her opponent." The Akimichi Clan Head frowned.

The referee called the next match, both the genin that had just competed being treated by the med nins.

The crowd wasn't going to stop shouting its approval anytime soon. Onoki's granddaughter had just won in a taijutsu exchange with a taijutsu specialist, while showcasing, along with Yoton, a precise and effective control over earth natured chakra. She showed off kenjutsu, before discarding it without a thought.

More than that however, she gave up an arm to overcome the enemy. It indicated a level of quick thinking and planning far from common.

Several minutes later, Ino made her way in the arena trembling, her hands desperately clutching a couple of knives. If Choji hadn't known better, he would have thought she was scared for the impending conflict. A sly grin made its way on the young Akimichi's face.

Then the feathers fell and Choji dropped back in his seat, asleep.

Half a second later, the situation became Fucked Up Beyond All Reason.