We stood in a line in the stadium. 8 Konoha, 7 Kumo, 9 Iwa, 2 Suna, and miscellaneous. There was a reason they called us the great villages. Amegakure and Kiri hadn't been participating since the start. Prelude to the blood mist, I guess. The Hokage was giving one of his famous long speeches. Anticipation hung over the crowd. The Daimyo had come for some reason. Bringing a lot of big names. And with the recent deaths, these exams were turning into a spectacle.
A lot of rich men watched as we each drew a white sheet. 6. And surprise, surprise. The Suna Shinobi got the black chit.
And just like that, the fights started.
(I know you guys might not like too much reading regarding the fights, as there are many. I'll try to sum this up fast in a few chapters.)
The first fight was between an Iwa shinobi and the other Suna Shinobi. They were both ninjutsu experts.
The crowd hushed as the referee, a Hyuga by the eyes, signaled the start of the match. A Hyuga Jonin as referee? The Hokage was really taking care now. The referee announced, "Seito of Iwagakure and Yashiro of Sunagakure."
Both shinobi were renowned in their villages for their mastery of elemental ninjutsu, but with contrasting styles. Seito, an Iwa ninja, was heavily armored in his Earth Release jutsu, having instantly encased his arms in thick, jagged stone. Yashiro, the Suna expert, stood lightly poised, weaving delicate hand signs to channel his Wind Release chakra.
The Iwa shinobi launched the first assault with raw power, slamming his stone fists into the ground and shouting, "Earth Release: Rock Bullet!" The rock flew straight and true towards Yashiro. But before the hit, Yashiro took out a few Kunai. "Wind Release: Gale Palm." It made the rock change its direction. Not much, just enough to miss and sent kunai with enhanced speed as a counter. The crowd gasped. That had been quite skillful. Judging the trajectory that precisely.
Seito dodged and released a smoke bomb. The Suna Shinobi leaped back to assess, just as Seito came charging through. Too obvious. A distraction? The Suna Shinobi struck the ground hard as a body was released into the air. The famous headhunter jutsu. Of course! But then the struck Seito disappeared in smoke while the charging one struck a stone-armed fist into Yashiro. Sending him flying out of the arena. "Iwa Wins"
The referee declared. A double bluff. He made himself look like a distraction. But the distraction was that he was not the real distraction. Well played.
The two matches were boring with no drama. Simple Taijutsu battles. All 4 of the guys chosen were Taijutsu guys. The 4th match, though. It was Iwa vs Kumo. The Kumo Shinobi called himself C. I think he was imitating A and B. His name seemed funny, but fighting him did not. He was big. Too big. And had a monstrous amount of strength. The other shinobi parried his swing only to fly off with sword and all. Soon it was my turn.
My opponent turned out to be a water user from Takigakure(Waterfall)
As soon as the match began, he covered himself with water. I had read about this trick. But he had chosen poorly. I saw that his clothes were wet. Getting wet in front of someone who uses lightning? I chuckled and charged Shogeki. Without lightning, it was trouble =some. He was faster, stronger, and actually pretty immune to air and fire. But he was from a minor village. Guess nobody gave him intel about me.
He ran at me while I unleashed an enhanced Shogeki. I had gotten quite a few insights over time. It hadn't evolved but was considerably more powerful now with the Yamigami's analysis skills.
He was prepared to dodge, but Shogeki is a short-range area pulse. He got caught right in and went down like a sack of bricks, rolling twice with momentum before stopping at my feet in a dramatic fashion. The crowd was stunned. The shinobis knew that it had been a bad match-up, and the guy from the minor village had been too stupid to note the lightning chakra. The civilians did not. All they saw was me taking down my opponent in one move.
The stunned crowd erupted into cheers. This had been their first one-hit knockout today.
The rest of the matches went by slowly until we saw a Uchiha take the stage. He dominated as this opponent tried to look away from his eyes and fight. Midway in the third exchange, he accidentally saw the two tomoe. He paused mid-battle and fell down. Trapped in Genjutsu. This was my first time seeing the Sharingan in action. They said right, Never face an Uchiha alone. You doubt at half range when fighting without reading the eyes. But those eyes were capable of trapping you in illusions in a single glance. I had a sudden urge to start collecting fragments. I had only one slot for Kekkei Genkai. And nothing short of Sharingan will do.
Then came Rina's fight. Her fight with the Kumo guy relied entirely on position control.
He was a kenjutsu expert. He tried lightning slashes and dashes while Rina and Shiro tried to surround him. He stood in a corner to prevent being struck from behind. If he took one of them out, the other won't win. But if he got flanked. He's done.
They tried to force him with kunai and shuriken, but he deflected them. They couldn't approach from the front. After a few back and forths, it culminated in an all-out confrontation with Rina charging on four limbs using the Four Legs Technique side by side with Shiro. The Shinobi defended well but was pushed out of bounds as a result. Marking his loss.
We won some, lost some. Another notable fight that went in our favor was another Uchiha. There were two of them participating. Then two of ours lost. While Souta won swiftly. He managed to close the gap against the ninjutsu expert. And that was that. Gentle fist for the win.
At the end of the first round, there were 5 Konoha, 6 Kumo, 4 Iwa, 1 Suna, and 2 Kusa left.
No wonder Sand refused the exhibition. There were fewer of them than in Kusagakure. This was beyond humiliating. Since there were 17, Surprise surprise, the Suna guy got another fall on. Was the Hokage trying to take him to the final this way?
Won't that be even more humiliating?