"Alright, kids. The match begins!" The proctor exclaimed while stifling his chuckling and swung his arm before jumping back.
Personally, he wouldn't have minded if they kept on bantering. The Omoi kid had some wild ideas. Unfortunately, they did not have infinite time.
As the match started, the easy-going atmosphere between Omoi and Choji disappeared. Omoi instantly rushed at Choji, his sword already in his hand and now sparkling with the infusion of lightning-natured chakra. Choji, however, instantly snapped out of his sheepish state as his eyes narrowed into slits and he hyper-focused on the fight.
If there was one thing combat lessons with Ino taught him, it was to pay proper attention in a fight. Anything less leads to pain and loss, which is bad.
Distraction was evil!
And evil was punished by Ino eating his snacks in front of him while he was tied against a tree by a rope.
Fire burned in Choji's eyes as Omoi neared him. For the sake of his poor sacred snacks, he could not get distracted! They shall all end in his belly!
He settled into a defensive stance, his hands joining together in a hand seal while his voice rumbled, "Gomu gomu no...!"
Omoi came to the slashing distance of Choji, and the lightning around his sword changed, "Lightning Dragon Slash!" He exclaimed as the lightning solidified into a dragon's head, its potency and threat increasing while he swung his blade at Choji's torso.
"Balloon!" Choji finished his technique, and the following actions happened in a flash.
Choji's body expanded like a balloon in all directions, kind of like during his preparation for the Meat Tank Technique, only several times bigger. It happened so fast that Omoi could not react as he was slapped away by Choji's fat, his sword, and the lightning around it pushed back.
Omoi regained his wits only when his sore body was already flying through the air. A moment later, he impacted the ground, hard, and mostly on instinct, he rolled with the momentum for a few seconds until he managed to use it to push himself back on his feet. Breathing hard as a bruise started forming on his left cheek, Omoi frantically put his sword in front of him in preparation for a follow-up attack... but much to his surprise, it was unnecessary.
Back in the audience area, Ino was shouting and cheering up on Choji from the contestant booth, and Ren almost facepalmed when he heard her scream, "Yes! Show them the power of One Piece! Woooo! Bounce, my boy, bounce!"
He started to wonder what the girl was teaching him and Shikamaru during their training. But somehow, as he stared at the big expanded ball that was Choji, standing in the arena on his stubby legs, he couldn't help but smile.
He didn't regret telling Ino and Hinata tales about One Piece. He even wondered how far Ino went with transforming Choji into a Luffy cosplayer.
Back in the arena, whisps of blue chakra started to seep from Choji's rotund frame. He scrunched his face, disliking how he could barely move his small arms and legs. But unfortunately, for what he was about to do next, expanding them was a pointless waste of chakra.
Only by becoming a ball could he roll over his enemies!
"Gomu gomu no Bouncing Ball!"
Choji muttered and let himself fall back as he felt his invisible chakra wrapped around his body like a blanket. His enlarged posterior hit the ground. And instantly made his whole body slightly bounce into the air.
Similarly to his Meat Tank Technique, Choji's arms and legs retracted into his ball-like body, gently bouncing on the ground.
He was ready.
His beady eyes fell on Omoi, who had just finished calming his breathing and was now cautiously waiting for Choji's next attack, looking for a weakness to exploit.
Choji inwardly snorted and focused his chakra.
As he was about to bounce against the floor again, his round frame was suddenly catapulted forward with force and speed that many could not catch.
Omoi's eyes widened, and if he wasn't channeling a small amount of lightning chakra through his system, he would have been unable to react. But he was and managed to throw himself to the left, barely evading the human wrecking ball passing by him.
Choji flew until he impacted the wall of the arena, creating several cracks on it from the force of the impact. But Choji didn't feel a thing as his body jiggled, squishing against the wall like a spring, before it bounced back straight at Omoi at the same astonishing speed.
Omoi, already on his feet, turned solemn. He sidestepped to the right, but caught off guard, he knew it would not be enough. So, he gripped his sword in both of his hands in a guarded position and braced himself for the impact.
Choji slammed him, sending him violently crashing back as if he had just experienced a meeting with a speeding truck. Fortunately for Omoi, it was not a head-on blow. Only a glancing one.
The Kumo boy managed to land on his feet, sliding a few meters back, and winced as he felt the whole left side of his body becoming one big bruise.
But he didn't have the time for a pity party. Lightning chakra surged on his sword and inside of him, even more violently than before, as he hastily turned around. And indeed, Choji was once again barreling straight toward him after bouncing off another surface.
For the next several minutes, Choji bounced around the whole arena like a meaty human pinball, creating small indents and cracks wherever he landed while Omoi at first struggled to evade, but eventually, he started to get better and better at it under the cheerful encouragement of the audience.
Ren had to admit that it was an impressive technique, but its biggest flaw was that it could go only in a straight line.
Feeling his confidence return after several successful high-speed dodges, Omoi decided it was time for an offensive again. He hoped his opponent expended a considerable amount of chakra with this technique, and now that he had gotten the rhythm of his attacks, he had enough time to consider other things than dodging.
Sidestepping yet another wrecking ball of an Akimichi, Omoi slashed with his sword, but despite it being clad in lightning, his eyes widened in mild surprise when his sword just bounced away from Choji's body without piercing it.
He even had to stabilize his footing because of the recoil from that bounce.
Omoi's brows furrowed, but his focus did not waver. Choji quickly bounced back toward him and used to his ridiculous speed, Omoi once again jumped to the side. This time, instead of slashing, he concentrated as much lightning chakra as he could into the tip of his blade and stabbed at Choji as he was flying by.
With bated breath, Omoi watched as the side of Choji's belly dented inward, the tip of his sword sinking into his folds. Omoi pushed with all his might for that stab!
But a moment passed, and despite Omoi's best efforts, the sword was repelled, springing back with considerable counterforce. After adding to that the momentum of Choji's speedy flight, Omoi was actually launched into the air with a loud, 'Whoooaaa' before he landed on his back and slid several feet on the ground until he came to a stop with a groan and feeling as if somebody tanned his hide.
For a second, he just lay there staring incomprehensibly at the clouds with a blank face, but then reality rushed back to the forefront of his mind. Quickly flipping over, he pushed himself to the side, evading being flattened by Choji, who descended on top of his previous position with the weight of an elephant, creating a small crater underneath him before he bounced away once more.
A bead of cold sweat rolled down Omoi's temple, and he gulped as he saw the crater, realizing that he could have been squished into a paste right there and then.
His lips pursed. The previous stab was not for nothing. It uncovered that Choji had a thick layer of powerful chakra, most likely a yang-aligned one, condensed in his expanded fat.
Omoi still had a hard time believing the insane defense Choji had thanks to that despite experiencing it himself.
But he had to admit, despite being strong, he was still a genin. His combat prowess was maybe low-chunin level. His lightning coating technique was great among his peers, but to the true elite? He was lacking.
There was only one technique in his repertoire that just might do the job of penetrating his opponents' defenses, however.
Deciding to try one last thing, Omoi, feeling like an exhausted and abused horse, sidestepped Choji's bouncing body again. His fingers quickly started weaving hand seals for the strongest lightning technique in his repertoire.
One that was so draining for the current him, Omoi felt very reluctant to resort to it.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!" Omoi exclaimed just as Choji was coming back at him after bouncing against the arena wall. The gathered lightning chakra around his hands suddenly condensed into a thick lightning before it shot straight toward the incoming Choji.
The audience went quiet, anticipating the hit. Omoi's breath quickened. There was no escape! Choji showed he could only bounce in a straight line and was about to clash with the B-rank lightning technique, specializing in piercing through defenses, head-on!
'Got ya!' Omoi rejoiced, his lips curving into an expectant smirk.
Choji and the False Darkness technique neared each other and were about to collide...
When Choji seemingly bounced against the air underneath him and completely changing the trajectory of his flight. He was propelled upward, the False Darkness technique harmlessly passing underneath him as he once again bounced against the air behind him, launching himself straight at the bewildered Omoi, who stared at him with his jaw hanging wide open.
Omoi's eyes widened even further as he realized he was in danger. He barely managed to scramble into an uncontrolled body flicker, ending up doing somersaults on the ground a bit further from his previous position as the technique ended.
But he let out a relieved breath. He managed to dodge at the last second. Pushing himself back on his feet, he helplessly watched as Choji's ball-like, massive body surprisingly didn't bounce back at him. Instead, it stayed slightly embedded in the ground after that last attack.
For a moment, Omoi felt rays of hope filling him. Maybe his opponent ran out of chakra? Determination filled him and chased away his hopelessness as he gripped his sword tightly in preparation to strike the second Choji's highly defensible body deflated.
Suddenly, Choji's body started spinning in place in resemblance to his Meat Tank Technique, and Omoi's determined look froze on his face, transforming into an incredulous grimace.
"You got to be shitting me." He involuntarily whispered, fright seeping into his eyes as the spinning ball of doom started releasing screeching sounds from its friction against the ground underneath it.
Then, it sprang forth, rolling toward Omoi like a tank.
Realizing the threat, Omoi didn't hesitate to turn around and run as fast as his legs could carry him. The rolling ball was gaining on him, and even if he turned or changed direction, it actually followed him!
This was ridiculous! It was not fair! How was he supposed to fight this!?
Omoi jumped and landed with his feet on the wall of the arena, running on it, hoping that Choji wouldn't be able to follow, only for his hopes to be dashed when Choji simply started rolling on the wall as if it were the ground.
Omoi jumped down, landing in a crouch and rolling with the momentum back to his feet. But Choji, still madly spinning, bounced against the wall and changed his trajectory to fly straight at him.
Omoi's eyes bulged out, and he started running all around the arena, followed by Choji's wrecking ball of doom no jutsu while screaming like a little girl. "No! Stop! I give up, you freak! You hear me!? I give up! I'll happily marry a chubby Akimichi girl! Just stop chasing me! Aaaaaah!"
Unfortunately for him, if there was one issue with the technique Ino helped Choji develop...
It was that, in this state, he perceived the world via chakra, and thus, he could not hear Omoi's surrender.