Chapter: 45

Good luck, buddy," I said, patting him on the back. Before, I would have doubted Chouji's chances against the elder Suna brother. Now though? With the surprises that my friends seemed to be pulling out of nowhere? I didn't know. It wasn't a bad thing when I wasn't fearing for their lives. Not that Kankuro was precisely a safeopponent to have, but I didn't think there was much chance of him killing someone fast enough that no Jounin would be able to stop him or help.

"Kick his ass, Chouji!" "You can do it!" Naruto and Ino shouted as the Akimichi made his way to the arena. I grinned as I saw his back straighten as he kept moving forward.

"Thoughts?" I asked.

"Difficult to tell," Shika shrugged. "We don't know anything about the other guy. Do you?"

"Nope," I denied. Sometimes it worried me how easily lying had come to be for me, after years of doing it.

"How many times will you have that conversation?" Naruto groaned. "Chouji'll kick his sorry ass and that'll be it for make-up dude," Anko and I chuckled at the 'make-up' part but otherwise, everyone shook their heads at the blonde.

'He isn't wrong though,' I thought to myself. It was difficult to try and guess how a fight would go here. It wasn't like in my old world, where you could check if someone was bigger, had more muscle or things like that. Here, looks were deceiving. The smaller guy could be twice as strong as the big one. A fat dude could be faster than a thin one. There was really very little to take from looks alone.

There was something that I could see though.

"Does the thing on the guy's back look like it has," I muttered, my eyes narrowing as I put up my act with practiced ease. "hair? It looks just like his too," I pointed out.

"That's true," Ino said, taking a better look herself. "Weird too."

"Begin!" Gekko called out.

Immediately, Chouji performed his Human Boulder technique, his body growing in size and then tucking himself into a ball before rolling at his opponent. I had been hit by that once and I had forever been grateful for the fact that I was easily fast enough to dodge. It packed a lot more strength than one would expect.

Unfortunately, Kankuro was also fast enough to dodge.

I was slightly surprised when Chouji didn't continue rolling. Instead, he cancelled the jutsu right before he hit a wall and turned around. Just in time to see his opponent tilt his head at him with an amused expression.

"You are not fat enough, kid!" The Suna nin shouted and I shook my head together with the rest of the group.

Our Akimichi friend, meanwhile, scowled at the other boy. Chouji wasn't as enraged as I had noted him to be at such insults, but he still hated to be called fat. It usually made him, at the very least, stop pulling his punches. If Kankuro wanted to use anger against my friend, he would have another thing coming.

Again, Chouji used the same technique.

"At least try something different, fatso!"

And try something different he did, actually. Our friend's attack had the same success it had previously had, but Chouji had obviously seen that coming. He stopped mid-spin right after passing where Kankuro had been standing before dodging. His body returned to normal instantly, leaving it spinning in the air and then he turned, still without touching the floor, sending another attack.

This time, he expanded his arm only. A partial size increase that I didn't know he was capable of. If my notes were right, he couldn't do that until later, but it seemed that I had changed that too, unsurprisingly. His augmented punch got Kankuro right after he had regained his footing from his dodge, sending the Suna nin straight into a wall.

"How does it feel to get smacked around by a fatso?" Chouji said, using his Human Boulder once again and rushing the guy before he could even slide back to the floor. 'It's a pity though, that he is hitting a puppet,' I mused, hiding a grimace. The real Kankuro, was wrapped on that white cloth. And right before the Akimichi could flatten him and his puppet against the wall, he had the latter throw him away.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Kankuro called out, showing the trick for what it was as Chouji deactivated his technique again. Turning to see just what he had hit with his jutsu, we all saw the puppet, now with its disguise crumbling to dust and leaving the wooden structure for everyone to see. 'I had forgotten how little it actually resembles a human body,' I thought with a grimace.

The thing had four arm-like appendages and two feet. It's 'face' had three eyes in a triangle shape. Also, while not obvious, one could easily see that under the cloak that it wore, one could see that where the torso should be, there was something completely different.

Taking advantage of Chouji's surprise, Kankuro made a motion with his hand and the puppet started moving. It snapped two arms up and instantly shot a small barrage of kunai at the Akimichi. The Konoha nin could barely make it to avoid the attack, jumping back.

Chouji then stood there, eyeing his opponent and his 'weapon'. Then, he seemed to come up with a plan, because he rushed towards Kankuro with a new Human Boulder attempt. I frowned as the Suna nin used his puppet to rain shuriken on Chouji's rolling body. 'Those were all poisoned, weren't they?' I recalled worriedly. They all bounced off of him, but there was a chance that they might have made small injuries. Nothing to worry about if they had been normal weapons, but poison changed things entirely.

Regardless of that, Kankuro had to dodge eventually, jumping aside. The Akimichi, for his part, used the same strategy as before, stopping the technique midway to use another. This time though, there was no size increase involved.

Instead, Chouji went through a few hand seals and cupped his hands around his mouth. With slightly wider eyes, I looked as my friend spat out a ball of fire. Then, my eyes narrowed, as I inspected the technique. 'Fireball Jutsu? It's too small to be a Great one… but it could be an overpowered Embers too...' I analyzed curiously. The flames weren't going towards Kankuro though, they were aimed at his puppet.

"Fuck!"

The older Genin snapped his arm to the side, sending his puppet flying in an attempt to avoid the attack. It succeeded… partly, at least. The flaming technique hit it, but it only seemed to burn one of its arms and part of the cloak, revealing the scythe-like blades that located on it's torso.

"Fuck," The Suna nin repeated, detaching two of the remaining arms and sending them flying towards Chouji. The wooden hands then pulled back and a pair of blades appeared from their wrists, making them into pseudo-spears.

The Akimichi, for his part, jumped to the side at the last second, making them hit the ground instead, and instantly retaliated with a Human Boulder. This time, Kankuro changed his dodging strategy again, jumping back but still staying right where Chouji was heading towards. 'Makes sense,' I thought with a grimace. 'Chouji hasn't continued in the same direction since the first attack.'

My friend though, seemed to be anything but predictable, since he didn't stop the attack at all. With another loud curse, Kankuro jumped away, not quite escaping the attack, much like his puppet hadn't the fireball from before. Chouji got him in the arm right before he could completely get out of his way.

It was, coincidentally, the same arm he had been using to control the puppet, which crumbled down to the floor.

Chouji stopped rolling once he hit the wall. There was something different this time. The way he deflated back to his normal size was slower this time. The boy then turned around and I grew concerned. His motions were sluggish, I noticed once he took a few steps towards a recovering Kankuro. He looked pale and his breath was labored.

That didn't stop him though. With a deep breath in, he used his Human Boulder once again. Kankuro, for his part, was barely getting to stand up at that point. One of his arms holding the other, the older boy could only throw himself to the side to dodge the incoming attack, pitifully falling face first against the stone floor.

Chouji was having none of that though, stopping his attack midway again. With his arm expanding this time, he smacked Kankuro against the floor. I leaned forward then, narrowing my eyes and trying to distinguish if the Suna nin was out. That, and to see if Chouji was doing alright. 'There was definitely poison in those shurikens from before,' I realized.

When the proctor didn't say anything, I grew even more worried. The Akimichi, for his part, stood there, looking weaker and weaker by the second. He stared at the downed boy, waiting to see if his fight was done or not.

And that was his downfall.

The Puppet came flying from the side, smacking against Chouji and sending him to the floor. In a quick movement, the thing pinned my friend to the ground with its remaining limbs. Then, its head snapped up and a long, thick needle appeared from its mouth before it pointed it at Chouji's head.

"Do you surrender, fatso?" Kankuro's voice asked and I turned to see the boy standing up with not a small amount of difficulty. A sad smile spread over my face. Chouji wouldn't surrender… Mainly because he had fallen unconscious.

"Winner, Kankuro," Gekko announced and I sagged a little where I stood.

"It was a great fight," Naruto said. He had a frown on his face but he didn't loom truly upset, only sad.

"It really was," I nodded.

"So, that guy uses poison too, huh?" Ino observed with a frown of her own.

"Hopefully, this will be done soon, to see how bad it is," Shikamaru mused, looking at his defeated friend. While many would have said that he looked just as bored as he usually did, I could see it. There was a slight tensing on his shoulders and expression. And I wasn't surprised to see that, considering that he was as close to Chouji as I was with Naruto.

"It is, what it is," I said softly and in a low voice, so that only Naruto and Shika could hear me. "Better to lose here than out there, right?" I added, looking at the Nara.

"Right," He nodded. "... It still sucks."

"It does," I admitted with a helpless shrug. A second later, the new match was announced. My eyes moved to the side, where Chouji was being taken out in a stretcher. 'Once we are done here, we'll visit, Chouji,' I promised in my mind. Then, I focused on the arena.

Akatsuchi vs Karui.

"We don't know anything about any of them," Shikamaru mused before turning to me. "Do we?"

"I don't," I shrugged, for once not having to lie. I don't remember much about any of those two. Granted, I hadn't checked my notes about them before coming, since they were from Iwa and Kumo and thus I didn't expect them, but I was quite sure that my notes didn't say much about them either way.

Then, the match began.

Right from the beginning, it proved to be an interesting match up, if only because it wasn't clear who the winner would be, much like Chouji's match. Akatsuchi was an Earth Release user while Karui was a Lightning Release one. The Iwa nin seemed more oriented towards strength and endurance, with a solid taijutsu stance. The Kumo nin, for her part, was much faster and skilled, if the proficiency she showed with the long katana she took out of a seal was anything to go by.

In my mind, I viewed this as a battle of Strength vs Dexterity. As such, while my friends expressed their doubts about who would win, I already had a favorite. I kept that information to myself though.

Back to the match though, Akatsuchi started the match with an Earth Jutsu that seemed to still require him to do a few hand seals. He then proceeded to spit out a freaking earth golem from his mouth. 'I don't even know why I'm surprised anymore,' I thought with a shake of my head.

Meanwhile, Karui had taken out the previously mentioned katana and taken her stance. Akatsuchi's construct was halfway done when the Kumo nin zapped towards him. Literally, since she used the Lightning Flicker too. 'Does everyone know that technique, for god's sake?' I thought, slightly annoyed. 'I have half a mind to pull a Shisui and make it a signature move, just to rub it in everyone's faces.'

If that became a goal, at least I had gotten started already, since I was the one to use it the most so far. Sasuke had only used it two times, after all. I narrowed my eyes to analyze how Karui used the technique.

Akatsuchi managed to pull out a kunai in time to block the attack. It made sense that he could react. He was a character that I remembered being important enough to be named. That alone spoke for his skills. Besides that, there was the logical assumption that someone from Kumo was more likely to use Lightning techniques. Just like people would expect someone from Konoha to use Fire techniques and so on. There was also the fact that, as stated, there were two previous participants that had used the Flicker already. It would have been disappointing if he was surprised by the technique.

With another Flicker, Karui put some distance between herself and Akatsuchi. Unfortunately for her, the Golem was already fully formed which added more danger to her should she get close. 'He isn't stupid,' I thought as I looked at the the Iwa nin put his back against the golems, facing agaisnt Karui. He knew that speed was his weak point, and tried to counter it leaving less openings for his opponent to take advantage of.

'Still, is he…?' I didn't even get to finish that thought before Karui dashed to the side. When she stopped, she turned around and did one single hand seal and extended both hands forward. Electricity sparked between her fingers for a split second before it exploded in Akatsuchi's direction. 'Electromagnetic Strike… I think,' It looked weaker than Electromagnetic Murder, to me at least.

'Yeah, that was too obvious an opening,' I thought amused. Karui had shot at the golem. After all, if Akatsuchi was touching the thing, it would conduct the attack right at him, which was why Earth was weaker against Lightning. 'I'm not sure electricity actually works like that, but, again, Naruto logic,' I thought with a small grin. The Iwa nin, though, proved once more that he was more intelligent than he looked, since he hadn't been actually touching the earth construct and thus, was safe.

There was a moment of pause between both contestants then. Probably because Karui was thinking of a way to get past Akatsuchi's defense and the latter was thinking of a way to hit the faster Lightning user. The first to act was Karui, dashing to a side, stopping and then rushing in from the side.

I narrowed my eyes. 'The technique was alright,' I thought to myself as I thought about why her use of the Flicker looked wrong. 'So… why did it feel like she was…slow...'

The Iwa nin, once more, blocked her attack and this time the golem was right there with a follow up counter. Its punch though, connected only with the ground as the girl Flickered right back when her attack failed. 'He has good reflexes,' I thought, giving Akatsuchi another look.

He looked less ridiculous than what I remembered him being, the image clear in my mind because I had drawings of everyone I had remembered in my notebooks. He was fat, yeah, but he didn't look like a ball turned into a person, at least. Furthermore, he was proving to be a very capable ninja too.

Karui then tried again, this time using one Flicker to change positions, another to get close to Akatsuchi and a third and fourth inside her sword's range to confuse the Iwa nin as for where her attack would come from. It was a sound strategy but… 'She can't keep up with her own speed,' I realized.

Everytime she stopped the Flicker, she had to use a split second to take in where she and where everything else was. Granted, everyone needed that time before they could anything but she needed a little longer than it should be normal for someone that had apparently mastered the technique to the point where she didn't need hand seals. 'She's never used the technique like that,' I thought then. It would make sense. If she had always used it just for the movement and now wanted to use it in actual battle, it wouldn't work out too well. That was evidenced by her performance at the moment.

Still, her strategy worked, although I had to wonder if it would do so for another time. Then she put distance between them again. Akatsuchi, for his part, held onto his left arm, which had received the sword slash unprotected. My eyebrows rose as I saw that he looked just as calm as when the match started. 'Does he have a plan?'

If he did, it wasn't enacted at that moment, since he stood there, simply staring back at Karui. Waiting, was my guess. For what? I didn't know, but that's the impression I got, at least.

In the end, the Kumo nin rushed in once again with Lightning at her feet. Once again, she used a few Flickers in close quarters to distract before her sword slashed at her opponent. Akatsuchi could barely deflect the blade enough to reduce the damage but he still got another cut on his left arm. His golem though, finally got another chance to attack. Unfortunately, the earth structure was too slow to connect the hit.

That didn't seem to be the plan though, because immediately after the girl got away, Akatsuchi put his right hand on the floor. A second later, the ground under Karui moved on its own, surrounding her feet and legs up to her hips.

"And… match," I said, with an impressed expression. "Huh, I expected her to win. She was much faster than him."

"She was too confident," Shikamaru explained. "She wasn't used to the Flicker like you or Sasuke are. She probably was trying to not look so bad after your performances though. That's what worked against her. If she hadn't forced the Flicker thing, she probably would've had better chances."

"Winner, Akatsuchi," Gekko announced once the Iwa nin's golem got close to Karui and she gave up.

"Pride, basically," I summarized with a shake of my head. Tilting my head as the last repairs were done on the arena, I looked at the new match participants.

Omoi vs Shikamaru.

"What a drag," The Nara grumbled as his head dropped down on his arms over the railing. The rest of us shared a light chuckle at his antics before I patted him on the back.

"Come on, the sooner you are done with this match, the faster you can be a lazy bastard again," I 'encouraged' cheerfully.

"Troublesome friends, troublesome exam," He muttered to himself as he stood up and cracked his neck before very slowly making his way to the stairs. I shook at him.

"Sometimes that guy's energy levels worry me," I said with a grin.

"You think he can win?" Naruto asked and I snorted.

"If he isn't done in, like, ten seconds, I'll be very surprised."

"That's not really an answer," Naruto replied cheekily. I had to give it to him though, he wasn't wrong. Either Shikamaru would destroy the guy with one tactic or another, or… he could just give up. One never knew with the lazy bum.

My eyes then moved towards his opponent. Once more, I regretted the fact that I didn't know much about this guy. Omoi was obviously a swordsman, considering the sword that hung on his back. But otherwise, I didn't have the slightest idea about how he fought. 'Best guess is that he'll be like Karui, Kenjutsu and Lightning Ninjutsu,' I thought with a grimace. After all, I was assuming, and that was always a bad thing.

"Begin!" Gekko called out once more.

Everyone was surprised to see the lazy Nara snap into action in a split second, sending a handful of senbon towards his enemy. A grin grew on my face at that. I wasn't shocked but I couldn't say I expected him to take it so seriously. 'I wonder, did you see something in him or do you just want to get it over with?' I wondered in my mind as I eyed Shika.

Predictably, Omoi took out his sword and skillfully deflected all projectiles easily enough. However, I wasn't so sure that was all. A useless attack as the antithesis of Shikamaru. He had to have had several reasons for that alone. Narrowing my eyes, I saw it after a moment and let out a chuckle.

"Eiji?"

"Well, this is done, get ready, Ino," I told her with a wide grin.

"Huh?"

Just then, the Kumo nin seemed to start getting ready for an attack. Or tried to, more like. Midway through the motions, he froze and I could see his hands twitching, as if struggling against something. Then, his hands let go of his sword, which came down to the floor with a resounding metallic echo. His feet separated and his fingers interlocked into a hand seal.

The Shadow Imitation hand seal.

Looking down, I saw Omoi's shadow moved sideways instead of how it should have, which was backwards. It then seemingly cut at one point. However, what really happened was that it then followed through the shadow of a senbon's ninja wire that had embedded itself on the wall behind the Kumo nin. Shikamaru had connected his shadow with his opponent's through the thin shadow cast by the thread. 'Kinda like in canon, but he did all that himself this time,' I thought, slightly amused by the coincidence.

'No real surprises here, I guess,' I added in my mind. I had known he could use senbon, since he had been one of the ones to take the extra work with me on the Shurikenjutsu class. Ninja wire was something that everyone knew how to handle, even if not everyone used it as much as me. And he had only used his family technique too. 'I have to wonder if there's anything up his sleeve now,' I thought, feeling a little competitive.

Then my eyes narrowed as I looked at my friends' opponent, who was now walking backwards, probably so that Shika could make him knock himself out against the wall. 'This means that Kumo is out,' I realized. 'I don't know if that's good or bad.'

What were the chances that the Land of Lightning would take offense, for this or something of the sort? My knowledge of that land was spotty at best, even more than with all the others. I didn't remember much about A, the current Raikage, but what I did didn't give me a reassuring picture at all. Especially since one of the few clear things in my head was how they had tried to kidnap Hinata. That was a great offense in my books by itself, but also had created no small amount of problems in the past and in the present.

'Here's hoping I'm just being paranoid,' I thought to myself as I waited for Shikamaru to come up to the balcony after his win was announced. Now it was Ino's turn against the Kiri nin that had all but challenged me for Nuibari.

"Good luck, Ino," I told her with a smile.

"I don't need luck," She huffed with a grin of her own. "I'll be done faster than Shikamaru, just you wait."

"That's the spirit," I nodded. "Then we can all go visit Chouji."