"Red." I call after him, causing him to stop halfway there. "Perhaps don't use genjutsu this time? Sure some shinobi know it's impressive, but to everyone else it's boring. No one wants to watch a intense stare down between two adolescent guys."
Sasuke scoffs and starts walking to his opponent again
...
"Speak for yourself." Tenten mutters to herself, but thanks to my enhanced hearing I can hear it as if she's talking at a normal volume. "Having two hunks of meat stare each other down to try and win your favor? Mmmm... me like! Hehehe! Boys there's no need to fight, there's plenty of me to go around. You can be Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays while the other can be Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. What about Sundays? Well a girl has to have some me time!"
"Tenten!" Neji's stern voice brings his teammate back to reality.
"Oh." Tenten sheepishly looks at all of the Konoha gennin. They're all staring at her with wide eyes and slack jaws. "Whoops? Was all that out loud?"
"Yes!" Neji hisses out. "You have got to stop doing that!"
Tenten's eyes glaze over. "But it's just so dreamy..."
"Fighters ready?" Eito's loud voice reminds us all where we are and what we should be doing.
"You betcha!" Kiba eagerly shouts with an accompanying yip from his loyal companion Akamaru.
"I am ready." Sasuke quietly says, but his voice carries an immense amount of self confidence.
I don't blame him for that. He definitely has the upper hand in this situation, he already knows the basics to Kiba's fighting style. Not to mention the whole Sharingan and being trained by Orochimaru. I hate to say it, but Kiba has already lost this fight.
"Begin!" Eito vanishes in a swirl of blades of grass.
...
Kiba vs Sasuke
Eerily reminiscent of my fight against Hiro, neither Kiba, Akamaru, nor Sasuke move as Eito puts distance between himself and the contestants.
"So..." Kiba opens up with a wide playful grin. "Want to make a bet like the last fight?"
Is this going to become a thing? I hope not, I have no idea what Gaara might ask for in the final round.
"What do you wish to bet on?" Sasuke humors his former friend. Besides, this way it will be a better show for the crowd if more than just a victory is riding on this fight.
"When I win I want your mask." Kiba's reply is instant, there wasn't a second to consider it. This wasn't a spur of the moment thing, he's been planning this. What is he getting at? Does he want to see Red's face?
"Why?" Sasuke growls out. "This mask is something I treasure. It means more to me than any kunai, more than my sword, more than any shinobi tool you could imagine. This is the one thing given to me by Orochimaru-sama. You dare to ask me to give it away?"
"I do." Kiba isn't phased by Sasuke's scathing tone, in fact it looks like he expected that result.
"I'll ask again." There's an edge to Sasuke's tone, it's past a warning. It's a promise of a beating if he doesn't like what he hears. "Why do you want my mask?"
"The Byakugan can't see through it." Kiba offers up with a halfhearted shrug. "I plan on giving it to Hinata to bring back to her clan for them to study and find a way around it."
"... You're asking me to give up my most prized possession to impress a girl?" Disbelief and shock. That's the only way to describe Sasuke right now. "For a girl?!"
"Uh... Yes?" Kiba squeaks out with a tinge of red on his cheeks, and I'm not talking about his clan markings. "Come on man! It's just a mask!"
"Then I want your dog." Sasuke demands in the next moment.
"WHAT?!" Kiba roars and Akamaru growls in anger at Sasuke.
"You heard me." Sasuke isn't phased by the sudden pressure of the combined killing intent of Kiba and Akamaru. "You are asking me to bet my mask, my most prized possession. It's only fair that you do the same." Sasuke levels a cold, hard, stare at Kiba. "I. Want. Your. Dog."
The watching crowd is silent, everyone is riveted to this show. No one wants to tear their eyes away from the drama that is unfolding before them.
"Never." Kiba's killing intent spikes higher, but compared to the others that Sasuke and I have been exposed to this is little more than a breeze. My stunt during the first task was way more impressive. Kiba's could barely pause another gennin, but to be able to actually direct killing intent at his age is impressive. Usually it is a chunin level skill, killing intent is the byproduct of battles. It takes time to learn how to even use a tiny bit of it. That Kiba can use this much speaks volumes about his skills.
I'm an exception to that rule. Since I've constantly been exposed to killing intent at a Sannin's level I've quickly learned how to harness it for myself. Plus it helps that I actually do want to kill Orochimaru and that I've... maybe sorta already went on a few bloodlust fueled rampages. So really you can't compare other gennin to me. It'd be like comparing a stream to a river. Sure they're both made of water, but they're in different leagues.
"I will never give away Akamaru." Kiba growls while turning more feral as each second ticks away.
"Then the bet is off." Sasuke says while firmly griping his sword.
"Yes. It is." Kiba falls into the Inuzuka Clan's taijutsu stance. He's bent over, ready to spring at his opponent at a drop of a needle or even fall down to all fours to utilize one of his stronger jutsus. "Then I'll just have to take your mask for myself!"
"Really now?" Sasuke's tone is frigid. Ice is more warm and welcoming.
"Come on Akamaru!" Kiba drops down onto all fours. "Fang Over Fang!"
Both Kiba and his loyal companion become twisting tornadoes, but instead of being made of wind it's made of claws and fangs. It's twin drills soaring through the air with every intent of ripping Sasuke to shreds. Kiba is taking this very seriously to be opening with one of his stronger attacks.
"Then you won't mind if I follow that same logic?" Sasuke's words are accompanied by one of the most vile and repulsive sounds in the world.
"Kukukuku!" Orochimaru is enjoying this.
As the two twisting drills near Sasuke, he does something that looks suicidal. He steps towards one of the drills, placing himself closer to it and in harms way.
Looks can be deceiving, because Sasuke isn't in any danger at all. He subtly spins his sword so that the dull side is facing outward and delivers one extremely quick slash.
CRACK
The drill that he slashed veers off course and rips into the earth, tearing up a long line of soil, before slamming into a tree.
The second drill continues to surge straight at Sasuke's unprotected back, it's eager to score what looks like a very serious hit. The drill doesn't meet flesh, instead it meets unforgiving steel. Sasuke used the momentum of his first swing to help spin around and place his blade protectively between him and the danger.
For three seconds the two forces fight. The twisting and tearing drill versus the resolute steel. Sasuke wins, not because his sword is unbreakable but rather that the drill couldn't sustain the needed rotation. Once the blur becomes clear again, we see Kiba emerge with fury on his face.
That means the one that Sasuke hit with his sword is Akamaru.
"You hurt Akamaru." Kiba accuses with malice marring his face.
"Yes." Sasuke simply replies. "And now I'm going to claim my prize."
Sasuke disappears in a swirl of grass. He must have copied Eito's style of shunshin.
"Wait what?" Kiba can't comprehend what just happened. "What prize?"
Sasuke re-appears by a tree. Not just any tree, there's a brilliant patch of white underneath the canopy. It looks like someone bleached some of the grass, but there's one thing that counteracts that hypothesis. The white grass is rising and falling, it's breathing. It's Akamaru.
Sasuke's slash was so quick a precise that he managed to land a knock out blow on the spinning dog. That was only the start of Akamaru's problems, just because he was knocked out doesn't mean that he lost any of his momentum from his Fang Over Fang. He kept moving at crazy speeds and slammed into this tree. He probably needs some serious medical attention after that.
"Hmm." Sasuke eyes the prone dog. No, he's not a dog yet. He's still a puppy. "Doesn't seem worth it now."
...
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