Chapter 07

*Umeji Yoriko POV* (2nd stage proctor)

"So, how was the 2nd stage?" said the Hokage in front of me

"Good enough. We cut the number of participants in half with only three teams left." I answered

"Which team and what do you think of them?" he asked

"The first team to finish was Team 7 who arrived the 2nd day, the way they found my Ninken was mostly luck thought...But they showed good fighting capabilities against fauna and knowledge about flora."

"Following them was Team 8 who arrived the 3rd day morning, they opted for an interesting strategy and could become great assets as sensor ninja or even...assassin."

"Then we have Team 4 who arrived the 5th day, they tried to fight for the nearest Ninken along with two other teams and ended victorious, but they had to run around a lot to catch him." I finished explaining

"Each team did it their way... Interesting, I'm sure the finals will be exciting to watch." he said before adding "You can go now, they need to know how the last stage will be."

====================

*Mc POV*

As the time limit for the 2nd stage was just expired we were asked to regroup at the main hall early.

Strangely enough, we were only nine Genin present, team 7 and our team 8 obviously but it seemed that only a single team out of the four remaining finished the test on time.

"Congratulations to all of you who passed the 2nd stage." said the same black-haired mature woman

"As you can see only nine of you passed this round but as a procedure, I will allow you to forfeit if you don't feel up to the challenge be it mentally or physically and it will not eliminate your teammates don't worry. So, anyone wants to forfeit?" she asked looking at everyone

But she was greeted by a long silence...

"Alright, this gives us nine finalists." she said first before adding "The finals will be held in two weeks to give you time to recover, it will be held in the village arena and watched by the Hokage, most Konoha clan leaders along with the Uzushiogakure's leader."

[A/N: the finals are not a month later because, in the manga, the reason is the time for the important figure from other villages to get the information and come. This exam only had Konoha's Genin.]

Oh? Interesting, maybe he is one of Grandma's relatives...

"Before letting you go I want you to take a paper from this box." she said before a Jōnin came before us one at a time to let us pull a paper

"Everybody got one?" she asked after some times

And once we all nodded she then asked again "Great. Now tell me the number written on your sheet starting from the left."

"I got the number 7!" said a black-haired girl with eyes the same dark color, wearing light blue clothing

"I-I have 6." said a frail red-haired boy with round glasses and a white colored shirt with the Uzumaki clan symbol behind

"Hmph got number 1." said a tall and pale pink-haired boy only wearing a grey pant

"I have the number 3." said Tsunade

"And I got the 8!" said Jiraiya

"Number 2." said Orochimaru

"Got the number 9." I said

"OH! I have the number 4!" said Dai

"5." said Shikuro

"Great, now this will determine your fighting order." she then declared

"Hehe, who is the one the great me will eliminate?" smugly said Jiraiya

And before he got any response the Jōnin who noted our numbers showed us the match bracket

Yabūchi Takimasa(1) vs Orochimaru

Tsunade Senju vs Maito Dai

Shikuro Aburame vs Takaji Uzumaki(6)

Jiraiya vs Yuichi Senju

Hisae Uchiha(7) vs Jiraiya or Yuichi Senju

Funny enough, when Jiraiya saw who he was against in the first round his smile disappeared but mine just grew bigger and bigger before saying "So you will win against me Ô great Jiraiya~?"

"O-of course I will! After all, we have two weeks before then so I can train under Hiruzen-sensei instructions!" he said with a mix of nervousness and determination

You should know I can also train no?

"I will enjoy tort- I mean fight against you then."

I said before turning away from him as we were now free for two weeks

*A week later*

As the day of the finals was getting nearer I could not hang out with anyone because they are all training like madmen.

I did train myself but not as much as usual because I don't feel the need to pass a new checkpoint in my abilities for the finals.

But as I was lost in thought late in the night in my bedroom I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

It was Tsunade in her usual Kimono outfit who entered.

"Hum Yuichi-nii sorry to disturb you but I have something to ask..." she said a little anxious

"You will never disturb me don't worry about that, what do you want to ask?" I said while looking at her

"It's about my battle against Dai, I do not know how strong he is now so I want your opinion." she asked

"Honestly, you are strong, really strong physically but against Dai...You would lose in a pure Taijutsu showdown."

"The reason is also that he has a fighting style while you mostly use brute force. He may not be the smartest but when it comes to Taijutsu he's a genius."

"And add the fact that he knows how to use the Eight Gates...He will also be faster than you." I finished explaining

"So I have no chance at all you think?" she asked not feeling offended at my statements

"No, I think you can win, you have far more stamina than him, and don't forget what your goal is because it will help." I hinted her

"To become the strongest medical-nin..?" she pondered

"Alright, I think I have an idea. Thank you Yuichi-nii your the best!" she said as she kissed me on the cheek before hurryingly fleeing from my bedroom

She's becoming bolder...What does Grandma teach her?

*A week later*

In the blink of a time skip, we are already the day of the finals.

All nine of us were at the center of the arena right behind the one who seems to be our referee.

It's funny how eager people are to see Genin fight, the number of spectators and the loud sound they are delivering makes the events a lot more animated.

As I looked in the direction of Tobirama I could see a red-haired middle-aged man to his right who I guessed was the leader of the Uzumaki clan.

But what surprised me was the presence of Grandma for the finals, she saw me looking at her and waved at me.

To my side I saw Dai fidgeting a bit, he seemed uncomfortable with the situation so I said to him "Don't need to be nervous Dai, they came here to see all of us, stand still and be proud of yourself."

"You just took the words out of my mouth kid. You are right they came to see how much all of you can do while being Genin, you are the stars of this event!" said the referee in front of us

And as the surrounding roaring stopped we could see Tobirama standing on the highest platform who started his speech "Ladies and Gentleman welcome and thank you for gathering here at the arena for the Chūnin selection examination!"

"We will immediately begin the matches of the final round between our nine candidates who passed the first two stages!" he announced before going back to his seat

"Alright listen to me because there are rules to this finals, you fight until one of you admits defeat or cannot battle any longer. I will stop you if you go for a kill do you understand?" the referee said to which we all silently noded

"Good. Now the first match is Yabūchi Takimasa against Orochimaru. The rest of you can go to the waiting area up there." he announced

"Beat him up but don't kill him Orochimaru." I said preparing a fist bump

"I will try Yuichi-san." he said as he replied to my action

This guy...Ever since we met each other at the Academy and hang out after, I realized how he already had sadistic tendencies and a thirst for knowledge for anything Jutsu related.

In fact, he came to see me a lot and exchanged ideas on some Jutsu and even some...Kinjutsu already.

As we were going to the watcher side I could hear them talk before the fight

"I will show you the difference between us girly boy." said Yabūchi full of confidence

"From someone paler than me to say that, I will take the compliment." Orochimaru replied with no emotions shown

"Alright keep the thrashing for later, match number one, begin!" told the referee

The pink-haired boy then took out a scroll and after a puff of smoke, a massive club-like weapon made of iron with spikes on one end appeared in his hands.

[Image here, it's called a Kanabō]

"Quite the big weapon, are you compensating for something?" said Orochimaru

"Huh? It's you who needs it you f*cker!" he replied to the taunt and started to madly run toward Orochimaru

Orochimaru threw a shuriken toward his opponent

which transformed in a flurry of shuriken using Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique to which Yabūchi deflected all of them with a strong motion of his weapon.

Without stopping his charge he then strikes at Orochimaru with a lot of strength but only for his weapon to hit the ground.

Orochimaru having evaded to the left then used Wind Release: Great Breakthrough toward Yabūchi to make him falter after evading the blow.

"Ugh." Yabūchi said as he protected his head with an arm while he kept his weapon in front of him until Orochimaru's attack end

To the surprise of Orochimaru, Yabūchi then slammed the ground in front of himself and send the earth projectiles made from the hit to his location forcing him to at least take some of them head-on.

This boosted Yabūchi confidence as he ran again toward Orochimaru and slammed his club on Orochimaru making contact but only creating a puff of smoke.

"Uh?" was all he could say as hands appeared from the ground and grabbed Yabūchi legs and as he lowered his head to see what happened he suddenly couldn't move nor mutter any word

'It seems Orochimaru used Temporary Paralysis Technique'

Orochimaru then entirely came out from the ground to stand before Yabūchi without a single scratch

He licked his lips and said "Until you forfeit let me use you as a guinea pig..."

And then started to take from his pouch a finger-sized iron needle before slowly puncturing him in different locations making him bleed all over his body.

But Yabūchi couldn't say anything, what could give the immense pain he currently felt was the fact that he was heavily sweating and his eyes seemed to lose their focus little by little.

"How resilient you are to not say the word that would free you from this match, guess you were not all talk." said Orochimaru while smirking before approaching his needle in front of Yabūchi's heart with a dangerous glint in his eyes

"Enough, Orochimaru is the winner of the first match!" said the referee who appeared between the two contestant

Even though the fight ended strangely a bunch of clapping sound was heard.

Some were wondering how could he not talk or move for so long because the Temporary Paralysis Technique is after all...temporary.

Each time Orochimaru attacked he sent small needles to slightly graze Yabūchi multiple times.

Some were hidden behind Shurikens, and others during the wind released.

Orochimaru then came up where we were and after we congratulated him Tsunade asked "What did you put on the needles?"

"Oh nothing much, we recently tried mixing different plants into a special paralysis poison with Yuichi-san." he said looking at me

'Shit, don't sell me you b*stard!'

"How did you get the ingredient? And what exactly are the effect?" Tsunade asked me while frowning

"Hum, we may have taken the ingredients somewhere in Konoha...But that's not important. The effect of this mixture is interesting, it does not have any effect alone but once the victim falls into either a paralysis technique or a Genjutsu, the toxin will affect the brain and begin a state of heavy paralysis and...better pain sensitivity." I replied

"So you took ingredients from Grandma huh? The same ingredients she uses to teach me? So it was both your fault if she punished me for some missing herbs!" she loudly said

"Hum, sorry? Oh look it's your turn to fight good luck!" was all I could say to avoid her fury

"Hmph!" was all she could grumble before going to the center of the arena

"Good luck too Dai!"

"Thanks! I'm all fire up!" he declared

Now the issue with the toxin we made would be that Yabūchi is the first human experimented on...who knows when he will no longer be incapacitated or if he will ever be able to speak again.

Once Tsunade and Dai have positioned in the arena the referee said "Match number two, Tsunade Senju versus Maito Dai, begin!"

[Dao of cliffhanger, fitting for a chapter showing Orochimaru fight ;)]