The rest of the Fatal Four-Ways flew by in a brutal blur of violence.
As I leaned against the balcony railing, I spent the time gathering intelligence on the survivors as they punched, blasted, and outsmarted their way into the next round.
The Konoha boys were mostly straightforward in their brutality. Kiba and Akamaru didn't even bother with tactics; they unleashed Fang Over Fang, bouncing off the four earthen walls of their quadrant like violent, razor-sharp pinballs and overwhelming their opponents before a single hand sign could be woven. Choji turned into a massive Human Boulder, relentlessly crushing his competition until his chakra was nearly spent, while Lee simply turned his quadrant into a high-speed Taijutsu clinic.
Shikamaru, true to form, complained the entire time. He actually pretended to get knocked out early by a stray attack, laying face-down in the dirt. He waited patiently until his three opponents charged each other in the exact center of the ring. With their shadows overlapping, Shikamaru snapped his eyes open, caught all three in his Shadow Possession Jutsu, and forced them to simultaneously punch each other in the face for a clean triple knockout—releasing the jutsu right before the impact transferred to himself, of course.
The Kunoichi, however, were forced to be far more creative.
Sakura played perfectly defensively. She let the other three foreign ninja wear each other down, and the moment they clustered together, she sprang a textbook-perfect wire and explosive tag trap.
Ino was equally tactical. She scattered poison-laced flowers to paralyze her targets and keep them at a distance. When two of them tried to flank her, she utilized a rudimentary Mind Body Disturbance jutsu—using strands of her own hair left on the ground as a medium—forcing the two to knock each other out before she dispatched the survivor.
But it was Hinata who genuinely surprised me. Backed into a corner by her three highly aggressive opponents, she glanced up toward the balcony in a panic and caught my gaze. I ended up raising my fist slightly, and gave her a firm nod. That was all it took. A spark of absolute resolve flashed in her eyes. She flared her Byakugan and unleashed a frantic, but technically flawless flurry of the Gentle Fist, disabling all three in a desperate burst of adrenaline.
Well I'll be damned. It really is just her confidence holding her back, I noted, a smirk tugging at my lips.
Tenten had an equally spectacular showing, surviving her chaotic quadrant by debuting two of the new weapons I had given her: utilizing the [Executioner's Cleaver] to block lethal strikes and the [Venomous Spear] to blanket the quadrant in a paralyzing green mist.
The foreign Genin had also really caught my attention.
The Sand Siblings were untouchable. Kankuro and Temari dominated from a distance, while Gaara simply engulfed his quadrant in sand and suffocated his opponents without taking a single step. The Sound Trio was just as lethal. Dosu ruptured eardrums with his mechanical gauntlet, Kin manipulated her opponents with her senbon needle genjutsu, and Zaku utilized supersonic blasts from the hollow air tubes in his arms.
Even though he's a dickhead, that ability is genuinely cool, I mused, watching him blast a Kusa ninja through a wall.
Other villages had their own monsters. Kaminari mowed down his quadrant with pure brute force, Gantetsu outlasted his opponents using a unique Earth armor, and Ajisai utilized complex sealing techniques. But the most effective was Chigiri. He blanketed his quadrant in the Hidden Mist Jutsu and used Silent Killing to systematically slaughter his opponents.
He had a massive advantage in a compact space like that, I mused, watching him dispatch a Kumo Genin.
In what felt like no time at all, the 144 Genin were rapidly whittled down to just 36.
The massive earth walls dividing the arena slowly rumbled and sank back down into the floor, leaving the battlefield whole once again.
Down in the center of the arena, Hayate coughed violently into his sleeve. "The first wave is now complete," he rasped, his voice echoing through the arena. "The remaining thirty-six of you will now be placed into twelve three-way matches. The last one standing in each advances to the finals."
A triple threat match after the fatal four way? I thought. They're really trying to cut down the participants, huh?
"Furthermore," Hayate continued, his dull eyes sweeping over the balconies. "Shinobi do not always get to dictate where they fight."
He raised a hand, signaling the proctors stationed around the perimeter.
The proctors slammed their hands onto the stone floor in perfect synchronization. The entire central arena violently shifted. Massive, jagged stone stalagmites shot out of the ground, completely replacing the flat dirt with a dense, claustrophobic stone forest. It created a maze of blind corners and incredibly long, overlapping shadows.
The electronic screen above whirred to life, stopping on the first block of names.
[MATCH 1: Shikamaru Nara vs. Kin Tsuchi vs. Fujimoto (Kusa)]
Hmm, so Shikamaru's first up this time, I mused, internally as the three participants made their way down. Those dark areas are definitely going benefit him too.
"Begin!" Hayate yelled, leaping out of the modified arena.
The three moved into areas covered by stalagmites, that hid their line of sight of one another.
"Man, this is so troublesome," Shikamaru groaned from his starting position, though his hands immediately formed a seal.
When the Kusa ninja tried to launch an ambush against Kin because she was the closest to him, Shikamaru didn't hesitate to exploit the terrain. He immediately extended his shadow through the dark crevices of the stone forest. He latched onto the Kusa ninja's feet mid-sprint and forced his new puppet to hurl a kunai straight at the Sound Kunoichi.
Kin cursed, dodging the blade and aggressively counterattacking the Kusa ninja with a volley of her bell-laced needles. But while her focus was completely locked onto the Kusa ninja, she completely ignored the shadows stretching across the ground. Shikamaru casually extended his shadow from the Kusa ninja directly into Kin's blind spot, capturing her instantly.
With a bored sigh, Shikamaru forced his two captured opponents to sprint at each other and violently bash their heads together. They dropped to the stone floor, completely unconscious.
Wow, I thought, letting out a low, impressed whistle from the balcony. He really is a flawless tactician. And I guess things do work out easier when you don't get targeted first either.
"Winner of Match 1," Hayate announced, "Shikamaru Nara."
The electronic screen above whirred back to life. The digital letters blurred before snapping into place for the second match.
[MATCH 2: Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka vs. Chigiri (Kiri)]
Oh yea, they're cooked, I thought, watching the Kiri ninja stretch like he was about to do some warmup exercises.
"Will the combatants please make their way to the floor," Hayate coughed, stepping back as the three Genin descended from the balconies.
Sakura and Ino glared at each other the entire walk down. Their rivalry was practically radiating off them. But the third participant didn't look at either of them. His eyes were focused entirely on the proctors.
The moment they stepped off the stairs, Hayate signaled the proctors again.
The jagged stone forest violently rumbled. The stalagmites sank heavily back into the earth, leaving massive craters in their wake. A second later, a torrential surge of water erupted from the grates along the arena walls. In seconds, the battlefield was transformed into a flooded ruin, with waist-deep, murky water dotted by unstable, floating debris and broken stone pillars.
"Begin!" Hayate shouted from a perch that formed on the wall.
Chigiri didn't hesitate. Before Sakura or Ino could even draw a kunai, his hands blurred through a rapid sequence of seals.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu."
A thick, unnatural fog instantly exploded from the water's surface, rapidly expanding upward until it completely swallowed the arena. From the balcony, the normal Genin began to murmur in confusion as the fog made it incredibly hard to see the fight.
I leaned forward, narrowing my eyes. The mist was infused with chakra, powerful enough to dull and confuse standard sensors for a brief period of time. But with my enhanced senses, I was able to pierce right through the veil.
Down in the water, reality was hitting the two Konoha Kunoichi hard.
Sakura and Ino stood back-to-back on a piece of floating stone debris, their petty rivalry instantly evaporating in the face of genuine, lethal danger. They were forced into a desperate, begrudging alliance.
Ino closed her eyes, forming a hand seal as she pushed her rudimentary sensory abilities to their absolute limit, trying to track the Kiri ninja's chakra fluctuations in the heavy mist. "He's circling us," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly.
Sakura nodded. "It's fine, all we have to do is stay close and watch our blind spots," she said, her face pale but determined.
"How would you know that?" Ino questioned.
"When we went to the Land of Waves, we encountered Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist," she responded. "He used something similar, but a lot more deadly, so it's not unbeatable. We just need to know where our blind spots are and counter him there."
Channeling chakra into her feet with flawless precision, she stepped off the debris and easily walked across the surface of the waist-deep water. She moved quickly, stringing incredibly thin, near-invisible ninja wire between the floating pillars to create a defensive perimeter trap.
Not bad, I analyzed from above. They're doing exactly what they've gathered on missions, so far. Secure the perimeter, use sensory techniques to locate the threat, and wait for the enemy to slip up.
The plan might have worked against any other random shinobi of their skill range, but Chigiri wasn't that. He was a cold-blooded killer from the Bloody Mist, and he had an environmental advantage.
He tested their defenses first. A volley of shuriken tore through the mist, aimed directly at their blind spot. Sakura immediately yanked her ninja wire, springing a trap that launched her own kunai to perfectly deflect the incoming attack. Without missing a beat, Ino hurled a cluster of her poison-laced flowers directly at the origin of the throw.
Chigiri stepped out of the fog just long enough to effortlessly swat the toxic petals away with the flat of his blade. He observed how they planned to counter him and immediately adapted. Using his Silent Killing technique, he completely submerged himself in the murky depths, masking his chakra signature by blending it entirely with the surrounding water.
Ino's eyes snapped open in panic. "Wait—his chakra! It just disappeared!"
Before Sakura could even turn her head, the water directly beneath Ino silently parted.
Chigiri erupted from the depths like a shark. With terrifying, clinical efficiency, he drove the pommel of his kunai directly into the back of Ino's neck. She went entirely limp, dropping toward the water.
"Ino!" Sakura screamed, abandoning her defensive perimeter and lunging forward with a kunai drawn.
Chigiri didn't even look at her. He caught Ino's unconscious body by the collar, effortlessly tossing her onto the floating debris so she wouldn't drown. Using the momentum of his throw, he spun underneath Sakura's wild, telegraphed strike.
THWACK.
A vicious, open-palm strike to Sakura's upper abdomen knocked all the air from her lungs. As she doubled over, gasping for breath, Chigiri delivered a precise chop to her neck.
Sakura collapsed onto the debris right next to her rival.
The thick mist slowly began to dissipate. As visibility returned to the arena, the crowd was met with the chilling sight of Chigiri standing silently in the waist-deep water, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of the two Konoha Kunoichi.
"He completely masked his chakra in an instant," I heard Kurenai whisper in disbelief from the Jonin stands.
He might be one of the Chunin disguised as Genin some of the other nations sent, I noted, watching the medics rush down to retrieve the girls. He was a little too precise. If I face him, maybe I might even break a sweat. I laughed internally. Nah, who am I kidding? He's light work.
"Winner of Match 2," Hayate announced. "Chigiri."
The electronic screen hummed, quickly resetting as the names blurred into the next matchup.
[MATCH 3: Tenten vs. Temari (Suna) vs. Kaminari (Kumo)]
Ohhh, so this match up gets drawn too, I mused. And they even added a dunderhead with muscles to spice things up.
As the three combatants made their way down to the floor, Hayate gave a signal to the other proctors. The flooded ruins from the previous match rapidly drained as the arena floor violently buckled upward. Massive, uneven rock terraces and sharp, jagged boulders erupted across the quadrant, creating a treacherous, but highly technical battlefield that restricted movement and forced precise footwork.
"Begin!" Hayate called out.
Kaminari, the towering Genin from Kumo built like a miniature tank, didn't want to waste time playing a tactical game. Channeling chakra into his legs, he tried to brute-force his way through the crags, leaping across the uneven terraces to close the distance on Tenten—who was the closest to him—and turn the battle into a more favorable close-quarters brawl.
Hmm, I'll be damned, I thought, watching the brute make his way towards Tenten. He's not all muscle after all. It's a decent strategy. However, there's only one problem…
Tenten didn't even flinch. There wasn't even a hint of worry in her eyes.
With a flick of her wrist, she whipped out the [Storm-Tethered Kunai] and hurled the kunai part of the weapon toward the brute.
Kaminari, for his part, sidestepped the attack and smirked. "I thought your aim was supposed to be top tier!" he bellowed. "That was pathetic!"
When I looked at Tenten, there was still not a hint of worry on her face. And that's because she was never aiming the weapon towards his chest. It embedded itself deeply into the stone just past him. She pulled on the electrified razor-wire tightly right across his path, catching his shin mid-leap. A blinding surge of high-voltage electricity violently discharged from the tether, shocking his nervous system.
"AHHHHHHH!" he screamed before dropping like a sack of bricks in front of her. His eyes rolled into the back of his head before he even hit the jagged rocks.
Oh shit! That's how it works?! I thought, seeing the smoke flow out Kaminari's mouth. Insane! That volt was intense too.
The crowd went silent. The Kumo brute had been eliminated in seconds.
Up on the balcony, I leaned back and crossed my arms as the surrounding Genin were whispering furiously, staring at Tenten with wide eyes.
"Where did she get a weapon with built-in lightning release?" I heard one say.
"Did you see that?!" said another with disbelief lacing their tone.
"Does Konoha build those kinds of weapons?" questioned another.
"Who's in charge of their weapon supply?"
"We have to report this back to the leader when we get back."
Ahahahahaha, I laughed internally as a wide, smug grin spread across my face. That's right, fools. Appreciate the craftsmanship. That's all me!
Down below, Temari narrowed her eyes at the fallen Kumo ninja. Realizing the battle might be harder than she expected, the Sand Kunoichi immediately unhooked her massive folding fan from her back. She swung it wide open, revealing two of the three purple moons.
"Let's see your little toys handle this!" Temari shouted, swinging the fan with brutal force.
A devastating, howling scythe of wind tore down the rock terraces, violently ripping the jagged boulders apart as it barreled straight toward Tenten.
To everyone's absolute shock, Tenten didn't try to dodge. Instead, she reached into a scroll and pulled out the [Gale-Force Iron Fan]. The metallic, collapsible weapon snapped open with a sharp, heavy CLANG.
"Such youthful use of weaponry!" Might Guy bellowed from across the arena, tears streaming down his face.
Then, planting her feet firmly on the uneven stone, Tenten swung the iron fan directly into the incoming jutsu. The fan generated a hyper-dense pressure wave that collided violently with Temari's in the center of the arena, creating a concussive boom that made the area quake.
Temari physically recoiled, her jaw dropping.
Using the massive dust cloud from the blast as cover, Tenten dropped the heavy fan and unsealed the [Twin Crescent Warblades], closing the gap between her and the Sand Kunoichi.
As Temari desperately raised her own fan to block the incoming assault, Tenten's hooked swords aggressively curved right around the Sand Kunoichi's guard. The blades bit deeply into Temari's forearms, drawing blood and forcing her into an unfavorable close-quarters struggle.
Tenten was relentless, weaving the warblades with terrifying speed, completely pushing Temari back. She used the hooked ends of her swords to continuously catch the rim of Temari's massive fan, yanking it violently off-center every time the Sand ninja tried to establish a guard. With Temari's defense constantly being ripped wide open, Tenten slipped inside her reach, delivering a spinning back-kick to Temari's ribs followed by a rapid flurry of slashing strikes.
Pushed to her absolute limit, bleeding and desperately backpedaling toward the edge of the arena, Temari realized she was about to lose. She desperately parried Tenten's descending strike with the steel base of her fan and kicked her backwards to where she dropped her iron fan. Then, with a wild scream, she opened her fan, revealing all three purple moons, and funneled every last ounce of her chakra into it, unleashing a highly dangerous blast of wind.
At the exact same moment, Tenten grabbed the discarded [Gale-Force Iron Fan] off the ground with her foot, kicking it up and swinging it with everything she had.
"YAAAAAAAHHHH!" both Kunoichi screamed as the two blasts collided.
An explosive shockwave ripped through the arena, launching both Kunoichi backward like ragdolls.
Temari flew backward and slammed hard into the flat, smooth surface of the arena's boundary wall. She coughed up blood, sliding down to her hands and knees, gasping for air.
Tenten, however, was launched in the opposite direction—straight into the jagged, unyielding crags of the modified terrain. She hit the sharp rocks with a sickening thud and immediately slumped over, unconscious.
I almost fell over the railing from leaning on the edge.
Ahhh! I thought, falling to my knees. That was a total photo finish. If they had been standing on the opposite sides of the terrain, Tenten would've won. Ain't that a bitch!
Down below, Temari shakily forced herself to her feet, clutching her bleeding arms as she stared at Tenten in shock.
"Winner of Match 3," Hayate announced, though even he sounded slightly surprised. "Temari."
That was a good match, I thought, watching as the electronic screen above blinked rapidly, shaking off the dust from the previous explosive bout. It's gonna be hard to top the excitement of that, I'm not gonna lie.
Names shuffled and finally locked into place.
[MATCH 4: Rock Lee vs. Gaara (Suna) vs. Dosu Kinuta (Sound)]
I blinked in surprise, leaning over the railing. No way! The undercard to my main event fight came this early? I mused, a grin spreading across my face. And they threw Dosu into the mix too? This should actually be pretty interesting.
Down on the floor, the medics quickly carried Tenten away. As Lee, Gaara, and Dosu descended the stairs, Hayate gave the signal.
The proctors slammed their palms into the perimeter walls. The jagged crags and terraces from Tenten's match violently crumbled, sinking back into the earth. But this time, no new obstacles rose to take their place. The earth kept stripping away, flattening out completely until nothing was left but a massive, unyielding plate of smooth, obsidian-like bedrock.
There was no cover, elevation,or water. Just a barren, unforgiving arena where hiding was completely impossible.
Ah, this is about to be crazy, I thought, anticipating the start of the match.
"Begin!" Hayate shouted, quickly leaping backward to get out of the danger zone.
Dosu waited for a moment and looked between his two opponents; I could practically see the gears turning in his head. When he glanced at Lee, I could see his highly analytical mind quickly dismissing him as the lesser threat between the two. Then, he locked his single visible eye onto Gaara and began calculating ways to go about getting past his terrifying sand.
He analyzes quickly, I noted, watching Dosu channel chakra into his mechanical arm gauntlet. He's gonna use his sound vibrations to try and travel through the sand and attack Gaara's body. He probably assumes that the shield of sand will be useless against attacks that it can't physically touch.
Dosu charged, his gauntlet emitting a high-pitched, screeching whine. "You're mine!" he yelled, thrusting his arm forward to unleash a point-blank sonic blast.
But Gaara didn't even blink.
Ever since I'd beaten my three opponents without the hint of a struggle, he had been tweaking. The dark, twisted hunger I had seen in his pale green eyes hadn't faded; it had boiled over. He was practically vibrating with pent-up, murderous aggression.
Dosu didn't even make it within five feet of him.
Before the Sound ninja could release his jutsu, Gaara's gourd exploded. The sand surged forward with terrifying speed. It violently wrapped around Dosu's outstretched arm and completely engulfed his entire body in a fraction of a second, lifting him completely off the bedrock.
"What?!—" Dosu choked out, his eye widening in sheer terror as the crushing pressure instantly snapped his arm.
Oh shit, I thought, watching Dosu scream in agony.
Gaara raised his hand, his face twisting into a manic, bloodthirsty sneer. "Sand Coffin. Sand Bur—"
But before Gaara could clench his fist and turn the Sound ninja into a bloody mist, Hayate Body Flickered directly next to the suspended ball of sand. "Stop! The Sound participant is completely incapacitated!" he yelled over Dosu's muffled screams. "Dosu Kinuta is eliminated! Release him!"
Gaara glared at Hayate, the sand trembling violently as if debating whether to just crush both of them. But after a tense, agonizing second, Gaara slowly lowered his hand. The sand dumped Dosu onto the bedrock. The Sound ninja was completely unconscious, his gauntlet shattered and his limbs twisted at sickening angles.
I raised an eyebrow from the balcony as the medics rushed in to haul Dosu away. Damn. Bro got squashed instantly. He didn't even get to fire off a single sound wave. I shook my head for a moment, then shrugged. Oh well, now that he's out the way, we got front-row seats to something that's about to be epic.
The entire arena fell silent. The Genin in the balconies stared in absolute horror at the sheer, effortless brutality the Sand Jinchuriki had just displayed.
Gaara slowly turned his head, his manic, bloodshot eyes locking onto the only other person left in the ring.
Rock Lee stood alone on the flat bedrock. A fierce, determined smile crossed his face. He reached down to his vibrant orange leg warmers and casually pulled them down to reveal heavy metal weights strapped to his ankles, unbuckling them and holding them out to the side.
There they are! I thought, gripping the railing so tight it started to vibrate.
"Now," Lee said, his voice echoing clearly across the silent, barren arena. "I can finally fight freely."
As he dropped the weights, I heard collective murmurs from other Genin.
"How old fashioned," Shikamaru muttered.
"Who does this lame looking guy think he is?" an Iwa ninja that lost in the first round said.
"Look at the size of his eyebrows," a Kumo ninja who had also lost in the first round laughed. "He might as well drop those too."
"Training weights?" Kankuro questioned disbelievingly. "How tacky."
Temari added into the skepticism. "What are a couple of weights going to—"
BOOOOOOOOM!
The moment the weights struck the bedrock, a concussive shockwave ripped through the floor, kicking up a massive cloud of dust as the unyielding stone completely shattered beneath the sheer, impossible density of Lee's training gear.
The entire arena instantly quieted down. I even heard Temari and Kankuro gasp, their previous confidence completely shattering.
AWWW YEAAAA! I grinned, leaning so far over the railing I was practically hanging off it. HERE WE GO!