Heavenly mirrors

It's as if the universe wants Sasuke to fail. I mean, currently, the boy is under the effects of receiving Orochimaru's Cursed Seal and will be unable to mold chakra for a short period, forcing him to give up the use of ninjutsu and genjutsu.

Using taijutsu against Kimimaro?

It's like asking Choji for the last potato in the bag; it just won't work.

Indeed, as expected from Konoha. Not to lose face, they still let someone in his condition try, despite knowing his slim chances.

"Both of you, come down to the arena for the match," called the referee, who could use a cough drop.

Kimimaro jumped and landed smoothly in place, while Sasuke seemed to have the same idea, but Kakashi took him by the arm and made him descend the stairs, surely not wanting others to notice Sasuke's condition.

"Let's get this over with quickly," Sasuke said, trying to maintain a strong front.

"Sasuke Uchiha..." Kimimaro looked him up and down and sighed. "I guess I'll have to restrain myself to not hurt you too much."

We all saw how the vein on Sasuke's forehead swelled; so, do these things really happen? I thought it was a myth!

Those from the village understand that Kimimaro is being kind to Sasuke solely because of Mikoto. Ameyuri may be his sensei, but their relationship is more about respect and some fear. Mikoto's motherhood, on the other hand, even in her state, was able to touch Kimimaro, and I think she even feels a bit of envy for Sasuke.

Well, being honest, almost anything was better than his previous state as a "weapon" of the Kaguya clan.

"I'm going to make you eat your words!" Sasuke growled.

At Hayate's signal, both started to fight. When they were only a meter apart, Kimimaro essentially turned into a spinning porcupine of bones, while Sasuke was caught off guard.

What kind of lunatic uses the bones of their body to fight?!

I'm sure he thinks something like that; it's written on his face.

He tried to move away and throw some shurikens and kunai, but Kimimaro's bones simply blocked them easily with the sound of metal clashing against metal.

It was only then that Sasuke seemed to realize that Kimimaro's bones were not white. In fact, this seemed to have caught the attention of Sarutobi, who was watching with great interest, and Orochimaru.

The fight really had no suspense. Sasuke still tried to face Kimimaro with taijutsu while holding a kunai, but the offense he received from his side was too aggressive, and he lacked means to counter effectively.

Added to his weakened state and driven by desperation, he tried to use the power of the Cursed Seal to try his new move: Lion's Barrage!

Hmm, let's say it wasn't a great idea. In the end, they took him away unconscious on a medical stretcher while he had several holes in his feet and legs, with no real permanent damage, but it is estimated that he will only fully recover within two months.

So... Sasuke is out, definitively.

Sakura and Naruto's screams followed immediately, but Kakashi scolded both of them on the head before leaving, surely to use the Evil Sealing Method on Sasuke.

Should I remove the Cursed Seal he has, as I did with Anko years ago?

I'll see if Konoha is willing to foot the bill after I meet with Sarutobi to settle scores for their attempted kidnappings in the village.

The next match was Shino VS Yoroi, with Shino's victory as in the canon.

Then came three more, identical to the story with Kankuro against... the guy who looks like Luffy, forgot his name. Followed by Sakura VS Ino's fight and ending with Temari's one-sided beating of Tenten.

I must point out that looking at her life trajectory, Tenten is the perfect example of a successful average civilian-born kunoichi.

Now, if everything were as in the original, the Shikamaru vs. Kin match would follow. Still, since the Otogakure team is out, instead of Kin, the person called was:

Shikamaru VS Haku

Both descended into the arena after being cleaned of Tenten's weapons, and they looked at each other. While Haku smiled and looked at him calmly, Shikamaru frowned and sighed heavily.

"Fighting against a woman is so troublesome..."

"You're right, so just surrender, and no one will be hurt," Haku nodded, offering him the opportunity to surrender gracefully and avoid the fight while everyone is happy.

"This..." Shikamaru's gaze wandered to the area where Sarutobi was, and he shook his head. "Forget it, if I surrendered now, my mom would be even more troublesome."

"Pity," Haku sighed, regretting having to go through with the fight.

"Why don't you surrender instead?" Shikamaru probed, using the same tactic as Haku. "We can avoid the fight; you don't seem very willing, either."

"In other circumstances, I would really like to accept your proposal," Haku nodded, before denying it afterward. "But someone has faith in me, and I don't want to disappoint them, so forgive me. You can rest assured I'll be gentle."

Shikamaru felt that those words weren't quite right for some reason, but he shook his head and adopted a more serious stance.

At the referee's signal, Shikamaru threw several shurikens at complicated angles, and his opponent dodged them easily. Haku took out a scroll and unfolded it to reveal the word "Water" inside. He injected chakra into the scroll and threw it into the sky, where a large amount of water exploded like rain on them.

Shikamaru frowned at the rain but didn't take his eyes off Haku to prevent any tricks when he was distracted. Throwing the scroll so high wasn't necessary and could be a method to redirect the enemy's attention.

Ino's father used to come to their house to drink with his father sometimes, complaining about how difficult it was to get information from Seimeigakure, so he didn't have much knowledge to work with and had to learn and analyze on the fly.

Haku performed a crossed tiger seal and shouted:

"Secret Jutsu: Celestial Ice Mirrors!"

Shikamaru watched in amazement as the water that had fallen in the arena under the opponent's technique cooled down and formed a dome of twenty-one mirrors made of ice.

Twelve on the ground, eight above the first twelve, angled toward the ground, and the final mirror is above the others and toward the ground.

These mirrors reflected light and were so thin that they didn't cast a single shadow, which was counterproductive for the Nara clan's technique.

But the worst part was when the opponent extended a hand towards the nearest mirror and seemed to enter it, only for their reflection to appear in all the mirrors, and Shikamaru couldn't locate the real person.

"Yuki Clan?" Shikamaru recognized Haku's Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, but it didn't stop, and he ran to try to get out of the dome.

"It's useless."

How could Haku allow such a thing?

Senbons began to appear in Shikamaru's body as Haku moved at great speed between the mirrors, but no one could see his real body.

"Hokage-sama," one of the jonins next to the Third Hokage called him.

"Yes, I noticed," Sarutobi looked seriously at Haku's movements. "His speed is so extraordinary that my eyes can't see his body; I only see a streak of light that doesn't even cast a single shadow that young Shikamaru could take advantage of. Perhaps only someone like Sasuke, who possesses the Sharingan, would have a chance to follow the movements of the other party," he sighed. "Too bad; it seems the chances of winning are quite small."

And as he predicted, the fight came to an end when Shikamaru was unable to move due to the large number of senbons in precise places on his body, causing the referee to declare Haku's victory.

"Don't worry; once I remove them, you'll be able to move in an hour," Haku reassured Shikamaru, crouching down beside him as he began to retrieve his favorite weapons.

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I know that the original technique is called Diabolical Ice Mirrors, but considering that Haku live on the sky island, Celestial Mirrors fit me more.

I just added some new stuff to my Patreon, maybe it'll pique someone's interest!