As it turns out, I will fight last. Fight number 8. Rina was actually first. She met that Kumo guy C.
That match hadn't lasted long. C knew that he would be tired and ganged up on if the match lasted. So, It was basically Rina and Shiro dodging while he charged. And when they did strike together. The brute tanked the hit from Shiro and took Rina out. Ending the match.
But suck recklessness cost him. He was too injured to continue.
One of the Kumo Taijutsu experts fought Souta in the third match. Where, after a long and sweaty battle. Souta demonstrated Hyuga dominance. Even with only one Byakugan.
It was a bad round for Kusa, though. One of them fought Seito from Iwa. The other one got a damn Uchiha. Seito's was a fight. Uchiha Shinzo, on the other hand, had been an executioner. Yeah, we had noted the names. Uchiha Shinzo And Uchiha Hakanai.
Slowly, as the seventh fight ended. I realized something was wrong. Hakanai hadn't fought. As the field was reset, I looked at the Hokage. His gaze found me. Apparently, the rest of the selection really was random. Because no way I would beat a Uchiha.
What about our plans for an amazing opening?
But the dice had fallen. "Uchiha Hakanai and Kurosawa Ren!"
As I walked up, the crowd started chanting. "One shot! one shot! one shot!" They were always rowdy and screaming random stuff. But this one-tone chanting was a first. Then I realized that there had been swift fights. But no one shots. Huh, I guess I did make an impression. Although it was going to go down the drain soon.
"I will blow you out in one jutsu. Imagine the upset!" Hakanai chuckled.
He could, or could he? I quickly provoked him. "I don't think so, if you get me to look you in that bloody eye of yours, maybe."
"Oh, really. Very well. Let's see if you can escape." He grinned smugly as we took our place. But I knew he was provoked into casting a big jutsu. And that was enough for my special seal.
Ah yes. I never told you what my special seal did, right? Only that it works on elasticity. Well, here it is. As soon as the match started, Hakanai gathered a massive amount of Chakra in his mouth and neck. The lightning sense told me so. And I removed the cloth from my left arm. I had on a brown bracer studded with seals. 2 weeks of suffering for 6-7 uses more or less. But those 6-7 hits were gonna be so wild in Chunin. I activated it, and a shield spread out in front of me. But it wasn't a normal shield. It was an almost transparent rectangular Chakra Shield. It was held in place by a web of chakra lines emerging from my bracer and coalescing two and a half feet in front of me.
You ask me why I keep the shield so far? Usually, they are kept close in combat. Answer - It was not a shield, it looked like one. The great fireball grew larger in my vision as I dashed forward.
It roared into my chakra trampoline and strained it. For a second, the movement of the jutsu paused, then reversed. Yes. That's it. Using my knowledge and Yami's. We had created a seal that, on use, could reflect incoming Jutsu below B rank. I could make a seal for that, too. But it was cost-inefficient. It would be better to dodge and cast your own. It took me only half the Chakra Hakanai used, and bam. The Great Fireball reversed its way and blew Hakanai out. He didn't expect his jutsu to reverse track. And with me dashing to bring it to him as the direction reversed. He had been left with even less time. He dodged just not fast enough.
The crowd was stunned again. But this time the Shinobi were too. Conversations turned to chaos as the results were announced. "Kurosawa Ren Wins."
I met the Hokage's gaze. He was smiling proudly and gave a small nod.
This has gone way smoother than expected. "Blue Flash Ren! Blue Flash Ren!"
I had gotten a nickname. I felt like I had stolen something. But all they had seen was me dashing forward, and the match was over. My lightning had been blue in the last round. My lost mirror (the reflecting shield) had been blue, and my uniform was blue. It made sense.
But it was temporary, I knew. A name that was completely different from my play style won't last long.
And after some rest, the third round started. They were rushing this. Getting ninja-killed was kind of a failure for us. And Suna was fanning the flames for it while the other villages ate popcorn and helped.
Lots were drawn.
Left were me, Souta, Shinzo, Seito, and that kid from Suna. 1 Iwa and 2 Kumo, I didn't know.
Hakanai and Shinzo were glaring holes into me. "C'mon, were shinobis from the same village aren't we?" I tried to chuckle. They just kept on glaring.
The second last round started.
Souta fought the ninjutsu plus speed-based opponent from Suna. A nightmare for him. He was slowly tired out and beaten from the range. But the people sympathized. It was a bad matchup. And the Suna guy had Chakra to spare.
The Kumo shinobi fought the Uchiha. The result was as expected. But this time Shinzo hadn't held back. Blasting him out of the arena. And then he glared at me like I had insulted his mother. I understood that the Uchiha reputation was struck hard since I blew one out in one move. But such hostility? They definitely deserved their name of Lunatics.
Seito, I weirdly remember his name. Maybe because he was the first to fight, he won his fight too.
I was left with the other guy from Iwa.
The chanting began again. "Blus flash! Blue flash!" The Yami talked in my head. "You are getting popular now. Without my help, no less!" I chuckled and spoke in my mind. "What can you do? Your physical strength is barely enough for two chunin-level stabs." Two stabs at the right time are worth twenty at the wrong time. "True," I commented. Only to realize that even though the conversation was internal. The chuckle was not. And now my opponent was enraged.
As the match started, he instantly released a lot of smoke bombs covering the whole area. A plethora of Jutsus found their way to me. He was moving fast and I couldn't reflect them all. Or at least I didn't want to waste a use only to hit air. The effectiveness of the technique was reflected, so I dodged. And increased lightning sense. He was a sensor too. That's how he knew where I was in the smoke. But I froze and jumped back as Lightning sense activated.
He was right beneath me using Headhunter. He emerged with a vehemence and slashed at me. I was disoriented; he was closing the distance rapidly. My arm was too far to defend. So instead, I stabbed him. I saw the mocking glint in his eyes. His attack would land first. Jolting and disorienting mine. I saw his eyes widen as the Yami used one of his precious moves to defend me. And the pain as he realized I had stabbed him in the stomach. Not fatal, but enough damage for the match to end. Especially since we both knew that I could have stabbed his heart. And if we knew, then so did the referee with his Byakugan.