Chapter 28 - Preliminary Part 3

Hayate-sensei gave him some advice and Jiro wished him good luck and as Taro was about to jump into the arena he is stopped by Ren who whisper in his ear "Be careful at close combat he could use the same jutsu of his teammate or could have some other ace after all they were genin for 10 years, and if the situation turn for the worse give up, it is better to be alive and try again then be dead just to have a small chance to become a chunin this year." hearing Ren's advice, Taro nod in acknowledgment and then went to face off his opponent.

Misumi's appearance is greatly concealed by the mask he wear around his mouth that is hung to around his neck and forehead protector which he wear like a bandanna.

He also wear the standard attire of his team consisting of a high-collared, sleeveless, purple shirt with a short-sleeved, white one underneath, a simple obi around his waist, purple pants, blue sandals and purple fingerless gloves, along with a pair of round-framed glasses.

As both the contestant were at the center of the arena Genma says "We will now begin the 3rd round".

Seeing his opponent Misumi says "Unlike Yoroi, even against little punks, I show no mercy, I'll say it now, if I put my technique on you it's over, give up immediately" then without waiting for Taro response he says "I'm going to end this quickly" and rushes at him.

Taro already prepared for the attack quickly does his hand seal and spit a stream of fire in Misumi direction "Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu(Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)" then without checking the result of his jutsu he does another set of hand seal.

Meanwhile Misumi was easily able to evade the fire jutsu used by Taro,and as he got closer he threw an overhand punch at Taro and was able to hit him, but he felt no resistence and soon thought 'Bushin no Justu(Clone Technique)'.

As soon as he realise that he felt the heat of another Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu on his back and so roll over the ground to evade it.

See it as a chance Taro rush in to the still down Misumi and hit in the stomach with a powerful kick, but Misumi uses the opportunity tha he his close to grab Taro's leg and start using his Nan no Kaizō(Soft Physique Modification) to warp himself around Taro's body and hold him in a submission technique then says "In order to gather information my body has been altered to be able to fit into any space, so I can keep squeezing until I break your bones, if you do not give up I'll keep squeezing harder"

Taro thinks about it for a few seconds then remembering Ren's words he says with a sigh "I give up" and Misumi put Taro out of his hold while Genma says "The winner of the 3rd mach is Tsurugi Misumi, now let's move on the 4th one"

As Taro returned to the upper level he was greeted by his brother and Ren and while they were cheering him up they were interrupted by Sakura who was now point at the scoreboard that showed.

Jiro vs. Kankuro

Before moving to the arena Jiro look at Ren and asks "Ren what do you think?" and Ren soon answer "You got no chance to win you are good at shurikenjutsu but he got puppets to defend himself and do not fool yourself that he only has one of them remember that exist sealing storage scroll and summoning ones, and for your wind jutsu it isn't strong enough to hurt him and he will be prepared for it, after all wind his Suna(Sand) speciality, so it better to give up then risk begin poisoned"

Jiro looked a little unwilling but then looked at Hayate-sensei and saw that he was nodding and chose to trust in Ren judgement as until now he never failed, so he directly said to the referee "I forfeit this match", Genma nods and declare "The winner of the 4th match is Kankuro"

Meanwhile the Hokage and the other jonin were looking at Ren as he didn't lower his voice while he was analyzing Jiro and Kankuro situation so everyone heard what he said, and to make the actual situation more peculiar is the look on Kankuro,Temari and Baki face, making obvious that everything Ren said was true or close to it.

What broke the death glare that Kankuro was giving, is the voice of the referee Genma that said "Let's move on the 5th match"

And our friendly neighborhood scoreboard showed.

Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino

Sakura and Ino soon face off and started provoking each other than as if reaching an agreement the took off their protector from their hair and put it on the forehead.

Soon the fight started with Sakura using the Bushin no Jutsu to create to clone to confuse Ino then she use her chakra control to move faster and take Ino by surprise with a punch to the face after hitting her Sakura says "If you think I'm the same cry-baby Sakura then you will get hurt, get Serious Ino!"

Then Ino clear the blood on her mouth and rush a Sakura and tries to hit her with a punch while Sakura does the same, then the both block each other punch and then distance themself to thow a shuriken and again Sakura does the same action and block it.

This situation of stalls continue for 10 min then Ino cut her hair, throw them in front of Sakura and says "I'm going to end this right now!! I'll make you say 'I give up' out of your mouth" and use the Shintenshin no Jutsu(Mind Body Switch Technique) but the weakness of this technique is that is easy to evade and leaves a beginner user defenseless that is why is manly used with a team.

Sakura easily evade but that is a faint made by Ino who instead use the Chakra Hair Trap Technique, after cutting her hair, Ino infuses the strands with her chakra to trap Sakura that came into contact with them.

Once immobilized, she is an easy target for her to cast her Shintenshin no Jutsu and so Sakura mind was taken over by Ino who started to use Sakura's body to give up "I, Haruno Sakura would like to..." but Ren yells "Wake up Sakura! you are stronger than that, I believe in you!"

Sakura starts struggling and the referee Genma ask "What is it? You want to forfeit?" and Sakura break the jutsu and yell "Like hell i'll forfeit!" then Sakura and the now conscious Ino start again at punching each other and in the end they knock each other out with a cross-counter.

'And so this become and Hajime no Ippo maybe I should teach Sakura the Dempsey Roll...food for thought'

Genma checking on both says "Both fighter are unable to continue, this is a double knockout the 5th preliminary match has no winner"