Walls at least five stories high surrounded the field. On top of them, an enormous audience was seated around the arena. Opposite of the arena’s entrance was where the Raikage sat, along with an elite shinobi on each side as guards. Upon arriving, the genin were told to line up facing the Raikage as a new examiner was introduced.
“My name is Darui. I’ll be calling the shots for the tournament.” The man stated rather blandly before holding out a piece of paper. The matches for the tournament were written on it, allowing us to get a quick reminder of how things were going to work. “People didn’t come to fall asleep, so let’s try to keep things interesting.”
With that, the first two shinobi were called to the center of the field while the rest made their way to the audience. The first match was Neji against Ganjou. I wasn’t sure who would win, but I knew it was going to be an interesting match. Ganjou was swift and his footwork was phenomenal, but Neji had the help of his Byakugan. For both of them, striking one another would be a hard task. After a fight full of the two genin taking turns going on the offensive, an exhausting battle finally ended with Ganjou as the victor. He caught Neji at his blind spot and managed to drive his blade through Neji’s shoulder. It was cringe worthy, but he was recovering well in the infirmary.
The second match was between Naruto and Tenten. It was no boring match either, but with Naruto being more of a short-range fighter and Tenten being a long-range type, the kunoichi beat down the hyperactive blond. Her victory didn’t come easily, however. She has much less stamina than Naruto, but has more brains and managed to conserve her energy while making Naruto jump around and get tired. Her accuracy is also something to be feared and thus, Naruto’s dozens of clones didn’t stand a chance. Naturally, the blond was rather loud about being beaten, but a harsh scolding from Sakura and a punch in the head from Sasuke got him to shut up.
Sasuke and Lee faced off in the fourth match. Their battle was so fast-paced, it seemed like only Kakashi-sensei was able to keep up, and he had to use his Sharingan to do so. With Lee’s weights removed and Sasuke’s Sharingan allowing him to keep up with the older genin, all we could see were blurs and the sounds of punching and blocking. Occasionally, one or the other would be knocked away or be stuck in a stalemate. Bursts of flames would come from the Uchiha and Lee would be seen jumping in the air several times. In the end, Sasuke won with the help of his Sharingan. Both of them were left with a number of bruises and I’m sure there were some fractured bones here and there.
Finally, it was my turn to beat down Tsura and pay him back for all that he did. Once our names were called, my teammates wished me luck. I glanced over to Kakashi-sensei briefly, but he said nothing. He simply gave me a small nod and I returned it before making my way to the arena by taking the stairs. Tsura, on the other hand, decided to put on a little show by flipping over the railing and sliding down the side of the wall. Already, he was getting the audience on his side.
“Are both combatants ready?” Darui asked as we approached one another. Tsura had a smug look on his face. I remained calm and continued to give him a disinterested stare. It appeared to amuse him, but I ignored it. After a few moments of silence and a nod from both of us, the examiner lowered his hand before jumping out of arena.
“Begin!”
Tsura wasted no time in getting me to move. We both knew he had far more chakra than I did, but I had a feeling my new techniques would surprise him.
“Wind Release; Vacuum Bullets!” After taking a deep breath, he quickly began to exhale several blasts of wind at me. The attack had a wide range and I quickly learned the bursts of wind were strong enough to pierce my skin. I dodged and blocked, wincing each time I was struck. I knew I had to counter his attack quickly or I would end up defending the entire time.
“It’s a shame that I’m forced to tarnish such beautiful skin.” He chuckled while running towards me, hand seals already being made. If he thought he was going to get to me like that, he was horribly mistaken.
“Fire Release; Flaming Grip!”
Just as he threw his hand out to strike, they erupted into flames. I leaned back just in time to dodge the flaming punch and leaned to the side, slamming my forearm into his side.
As he stumbled, I slid around him and swung my legs into the backs of his knees, causing him to collapse and fall onto the ground. I was not only stronger, but also much faster than before. The surprised expression he wore told me he wasn’t expecting this.
“I’ll fucking tear you apart.” I murmured before getting ready to generate some lightning around my hands. I didn’t want to give these tricks too early, so I made sure to keep my chakra steady enough so that there wouldn’t be any visible signs of lighting.
He rolled to the side before I could hit him again and kicked back up onto his feet. Just as I began to turn around and face him, he was already beginning another jutsu.
“Wind Release; Gale Palm!”
Upon clapping his hands together, wind was compressed and a powerful gale was formed. Riding the wind were several projectiles, such as shuriken and kunai knives. Not only was I sliced in several places, but his attack knocked me off my feet and into one of the patches of trees that bordered the arena.
Cheering came from the audience just then. I could only imagine the looks my comrades had, but I had more than just speed and power on my side. It was time to show them the new techniques Kakashi-sensei taught me.
“That can’t be all, Riku!” I heard Tsura shout as I hid in the trees. “Already resorting to hiding? I thought an interesting girl like you would be able to put on a far more interesting performance than that! Didn’t you say you were going to tear me apart?”
Without him or the audience knowing, I formed a few hand signs and I release a subtle wave of chakra. With a genjutsu in place and his patience running low, my plan was running smoothly. Of course, said genjutsu caused no visible changes as I waited for his next move.
“If you won’t come out, then I guess I’ll just have to smoke you out!” I peeked out from the side and saw him forming a new series of hand seals, this time exhaling a large ball of fire. “Fire Release; Great Fireball Technique!”
It didn’t take long for the trees to burst into flames. That was the signal for me to put my strategy into play. Silently, I slipped out from the trees and with my genjutsu, made it appear that I exited in another direction. Once he and the audience believed that I was caught, I began to manipulate the arena to my liking.
With another wave of chakra, the flames began to spread from the trees and towards Tsura at an alarming rate, catching him off guard and startling him. Soon, the flames grew and began to spin around him. By letting my chakra flow towards him, I made him believe the flames were real, having him feel the heat of them and all.
“Since when do you have a fire affinity?!” I heard him shout as the cyclone of flames closed in on him.
Just as the flames engulfed him and his scream of pain ripped across the stadium, I released the genjutsu to reveal that the trees were still in flames and that Tsura was perfectly fine. As he winced, still feeling the pain of being burnt, I stood before him silently.
“You… So you learned a trick or two…!”
“That wasn’t anything new.” I answered plainly as he shakily pushed himself up, already getting over the pain. As he stumbled a bit, I decided to use one of the new techniques Kakashi-sensei taught me. “This, however, is.” I said while forming hand seals. “Lightning Release; Blinding Darkness!”
“What the—augh!” While he fought to overcome the temporary blindness, I charged at him with a kunai in each hand, returning the cuts that he dealt on me with his previous jutsu.
“Surprise, surprise. The genjutsu specialist knows some ninjutsu.” I murmured, amused by his stunned and pained expression. “I bet you’re just dying to know what else I’ve got in store for you.”
Gradually, he began to block more and more as the effect of my jutsu began to fade until finally, he countered with a strike of his. I dodged to the side and with the kunai in my right hand, sliced across his shoulder. Blood flew from the wound and splattered across the grass, but he quickly ignored the wound and struck my wrists, causing me to lose my grip on my weapons.
As he winced from his new gash, I formed new hand seals and focused chakra to my right hand. Soon enough, lightning sparked and stretched from my hand, taking the form of a hound. “Lightning Release; Lightning Running Beast Technique.” With a swift motion, the lightning hound lunged towards Tsura at great speed and knocked him down, sending a surge of lightning through his body. He cried out in pain once more as I sprinted towards him with lightning-coated hands, ready to take him out.
“Wind Release; Funnel Barrier!”
A burst of chakra swirled around him and a strong gust of wind spun around him violently, pushing me back. I cursed under my breath as I flipped back to avoid getting knocked down by it, giving him time to get back onto his feet. “You’d be far more alluring if you weren’t such a nuisance.” He growled, now getting angry. His mocking tone was gone and it was clear he was dead serious now.
“You, on the other hand, just lack any sort of charm at all.” I responded, jumping back as he tried to slice at my stomach with a kunai of his own.
Before I knew it, something tightened around my wrists and pulled me towards the bastard. I caught a glimpse of a strand of wire and quickly realized that he was using it to trap me. Struggling only caused the wire to dig into my skin, however, so simple tactics was out of the question.
I didn’t have time to plan an escape because shuriken tied with wire were thrown around me, pulling me back and tying me around a tree. I cursed under my breath and began to bite at the wire around my wrists, hastily trying to free myself before Tsura could do whatever he planned to do.
“Fire Release; Dragon Fire Technique!”
Flames streamed from his mouth and rode down the wires that kept me tied to the tree. I couldn’t get my hands free quickly enough, so in a matter of seconds, I was engulfed in flames. The heat made a scream rip from my throat, but the burning sensation afterwards made it that much worse. The wires were burnt off and I fell to the ground, clothes charred and ashes drifting around me.
“Oh, what’s this?” I heard him taunt as he slammed his heel in between my shoulder blades. “You’ve got something interesting on your back. I wonder what that could be. Kind of looks like a target. Does that mean I should hit the bullseye?”
Although it wasn’t enough to cause any severe injuries, I clenched my jaw as he dropped a kunai right onto my seal. I hadn’t realized that the back of my shirt was torn, but considering the sort of attacks he was using against me, I should have expected as much. I cursed under my breath but thankfully, he didn’t seem to realize that the mark on my back identified me as a Shurikane. Whether or not that could be said for anybody else in the audience, however, was unknown. I was still wary about the risk of word spreading one way or another, even if it was only the rogues that were after the Youkugan.
“Get… off of me…!” I snarled and began pushing back to get off the ground, but soon found that it was unnecessary to do so, as Tsura had already pulled me off the ground by the front of my shirt.
I could only manage a raspy groan and cough. I’ll admit that it wasn’t my post prideful moment.
“I can assure you that real flames hurt a lot more.” He hissed, glaring daggers at me. “I expected something a little more real from a so-called genjutsu specialist!”
“You want something real?” I growled, my voice still raspy from the previous attack. “Here’s something you’d wish was fake.”
It was now or never. At this rate, I’d just continue being tossed around by him and my comrades would be pretty bummed out of all I did was dodge his ninjutsu. Kakashi-sensei surely wouldn’t be too proud of that kind performance, either. I had to show them that I had improved within the past month – that I’m just as much of a genin as they are.
Before Tsura could try anything else, I quickly made a series of hand seals before throwing my arms out. Two rows of flames immediately lit up the stadium, with one on each side, burning straight towards the genin before me. He tried to jump back and use a power wind jutsu to blow out the fire, but I simply changed its trajectory before having the flames spiral upwards.
“Rebirth of the Ancient Phoenix!” The flames erupted in the air like the wings of an enormous bird before spiraling into a funnel, crashing down towards Tsura.
“You think you can use the same trick on me twice?!” He shouted over the flames as my fire surrounded him. “I’ll admit that you’ve got presentation, but a little showy genjutsu won’t get you anywhere!”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” I answered as the flames continued to spin around him, watching as he tried to dispel it. “This isn’t a genjutsu.” As the flames flickered violently around him, I smiled as his panicked eyes locked with my patterned eyes. “It’s a shinjutsu.” I snarled, lifting the flames over his head. “Real enough for you yet?”
The risks that came with using the Youkugan in Kumogakure were still there, but I refused to hold back on Tsura. Even if the entire world found out about my bloodline and who I am, so be it. I couldn’t bring myself to care anymore. I had a score to even out, and there was a lot to pay back for.
I was using every last bit of the markings of my Youkugan to maintain the flames, so it was a short moment later that I felt the strain in my eyes and pressure on my head that forced me to dispel the shinjutsu. As the flames disappeared, I approached the charred Tsura who lay on the ground just a few feet away from me. The flames didn’t burn long enough to end the match, but it was more than enough to show that I wasn’t going to let him toy with me anymore.
“What the hell…is with…those eyes…?” He gasped, wincing as he recovered from the flames.
“You’re a fine piece of work, you know that?” I stood over him, ignoring his question. “Keeping me tied up in a cave overnight… Threatening to blow up my legs… Forcing me to betray my comrades. You said you were being smart,” hatred began to drip from my words as I began to focus chakra into my right hand. “but you’re nothing but a filthy piece of trash. No values, no honour, and no morals to uphold.” Slowly, he pushed himself up, but I stood my ground. “I may not be nearly as strong as you, or have been a shinobi for as long as you have, but between the two of us, apparently I’m the one with the common decency, the respect of a shinobi, and a fucking sense of dignity!”
My coarse voice echoed off the stadium I shot my hand out and grabbed his injured shoulder, digging my fingers into his wound. Naturally, he immediately tried to pull away, but it was already too late.
“Lightning Release; Lightning Veins!”
In a split second, my hand sparked to life and was covered in lightning, but this technique didn’t stop there. It didn’t take any longer than a heartbeat for his screams to start ripping across the stadium. His entire body began to convulse and his grip around me was released completely, whereas I made sure to continue digging my fingers into his shoulder.
His body twitched and arched at unnatural angles, as if he were possessed. It was only when smoke began to rise from his wound that I let go. For the second time, he collapsed on the ground and remnants of my lightning sparked as silence fell over the stadium.
“Anybody can sink down to the level of a twisted sadist like you, but I actually plan on respecting my sensei, my comrades, and my village by using what they taught me to kick your disgusting fucking ass!” I spat while wiping my bloodied fingertips on my jacket.
“W… What the hell…?!” His voice was hoarse and his body was trembling. With a heaving chest, he shakily pushed himself into a kneeling position and glared up at me through his bangs. “What the hell did you do?!”
I couldn’t help but smile victoriously, feeling great pride in the fact that I reduced him to such a state. I probably would have looked a lot better if I wasn’t still coughing and charred from his ninjutsu as well, but the success was all the same.
“Blood is a salt and water solution with quite a bit of iron in it.” I started while watching Tsura struggle to get back onto his feet. “That makes it an awfully good electrical conductor, don’t you think?”
Kakashi-sensei only explained to me how this technique works. It wasn’t very complicated, but I had to send a constant stream of lightning and actually have the sort of contact I did with Tsura for it to work. It sure gave some intense results but after being burnt and thrown around, I no remorse. Especially not after he stuck explosives on me.
“Tch… Don’t even think for a moment that I’m through with you…!” Tsura growled while getting onto his feet. “I don’t need some amateur preaching to me!”
“Fucking bite me.” I shifted my foot back and readied myself for whatever he might throw at me. We were both in a weakened state, so it has become a battle of efficiency and speed.
With a monstrous shout, he lunged towards me with a kunai in each hand, engaging us in hand-to-hand combat. I blocked and countered as much as I could, but his movements were a mess and unpredictable. There hardly any form or pattern to his attacks, so keeping up was difficult.
I had no time to form any hand seals or generate any lightning while trying to defend myself, so I had to resort to enduring the assault until I felt the wall of the stadium against my back.
“I’ll shred that pretty little face of yours.” He snarled while slashing one of his kunai at me.
“Too bad somebody already beat you to it.” I answered while counterstriking his wrist in defense. I could have sworn that I dodged the second swing, but immediately after seeing his sinister grin, I felt my cheek and right shoulder beginning to sting and burn. I noticed then that he was using his chakra to coat the blades so that they would be longer and sharper.
I tried to punch him in the gut with my free arm but found myself at a loss when my arm wouldn’t respond properly. His grin widened.
“How does it feel to have your tendons sliced?” My eyes grew wide and I tried to move my arm again, but to no avail. “Oh, you didn’t notice? Here, maybe this will help!”
My eyes began to water the moment he slammed me against the wall once more. A scream was caught in my throat before it filling the stadium and I began to feel my body grow weak. I was getting dizzy as the agony coursed through my body, not once letting me catch a break.
When the pain finally began to turn into a dull, numbing sensation, I pulled myself together and matched his gaze. It was too early to back down. I was still breathing and I was still conscious, which meant I could still fight.
“Don’t make me laugh.” I groaned. I still had chakra in reserve, so I began to generate it into lightning.
In a blink of an eye, my entire body except my right arm began to spark violently. I lurched forward and slammed my head into his jaw. The lightning from my hand began to scratch at his wrist and caused him to let go of his kunai. While he was recovering from the strike, I kicked his other wrist as hard as I could to disarm completely disarm.
The motions caused my right arm to swing about and the agonizing pain from my wounds came back in sharp bursts, but the adrenaline rush helped numb the pain. I gripped my shoulder to help stabilize my limp arm as I faced Tsura. My breathing was still heavy and shaky, but I could still move. I could still win.
“I didn’t think you were a masochist, but I guess everybody’s entitled to their own tastes.” He jeered while forming another set of hand seals.
The moment he began to move, I charged towards him as well. I sent small bursts of chakra to my feet in order to make myself faster and in a heartbeat, I was only a couple of steps away. If I could just grab a hold of him one more time, I could finish him off.
I threw my left arm out and grabbed his shoulder, gripping it tightly as I prepared my jutsu. In the time it took for him to form another hand seal, my body was already showing signs lightning. Time seemed to slow down as I tightened my grip. The moment I felt my fingertips dig into his wound, I knew this was it.
“Wind Release; Gale Palm!”
My body felt light. I could no longer feel my hand holding onto anything. My entire body felt bruised and battered and I was short of breath. The loud howls of the wind blew past my ears. I could hear the faint shouts of someone in pain, but they didn’t last long. I was thrown into the wall and the pain that erupted from my shoulder forced a shriek out of my dried throat.
I could feel the blood running down my arm as I gripped it tightly, as if it would reduce the constant throbbing. I heard a loud crack when I hit the wall. I dared not to look at my shoulder to see what further damage had been done.
Through blurred vision, I saw Tsura collapse only a few meters away from me. I could see lighting flashing across his twitching body, but before I could determine whether or not he was conscious, I blacked out.
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Chapter notes: In which Riku reveals her new deck. Figuratively speaking. I mean she's gonna show off the new shit she learned and kick ass with it.
Chapter end notes: Moral of the story: Don't be on the receiving end of Riku's anger. Thanks for reading!