The arena was silent for a minute as the assembled genin looked amongst each other, wondering whether anyone would be giving up. Around the side of the arena, Naruto let out a sigh, as if anyone would give up after getting this far, if they were still able to stand then they should be willing to fight.
Even if the chances of victory is low, in a controlled setting like this they should be willing to push themselves beyond the limits. After all Minato said this was life and death, but honestly unless you were stupid or very unlucky it was unlikely that you would die.
...
Seeing that no one was willing to give up, Hayate nodded his head, coughing a couple more times before he continued his explanation.
"The rules for the preliminaries battles are simple. The matches will be one on one and there is no external help allowed, other than that though there are no other rules. The match continues until one of you dies, is knocked out, or declares defeat, if you don't wish to be killed then you should quickly acknowledge your defeat.
When the winner has been clearly established, I will jump in and stop the fight, if you continue to harm your opponent after the fight has been declared, you will likely be disqualified and may find yourself in the hospital." Hayate continued bluntly, not sugarcoating the consequences.
"And... the screen above you will decide who will fight." Hayate finished as he pointed to a now revealed, big black screen which was attached to the wall on the other side of the arena to where Minato was standing.
Looking up at it Naruto could say he was impressed, those screens were the height of modern technology and as such were absurdly expensive. No doubt this was just an attempt by Konoha to show of the affluence of their Village to their competitors.
"This electronic screen will randomly select two contestants to fight, now. Let's begin!" Hayate continued as he looked up at the board.
His eyes along with the eyes of everyone else in the arena fixed on the board as it flashed through the names of the many different contestants, each name bringing a dinging sound before a loud beep signaled the names of the first two contestants,
"Suigetsu Vs. Kin Tsuchi" Hayate read out as he looked up at the board. "Could everyone apart from those two please go up to the stands and wait for your turn to come."
"So looks like one of your brats are going to be fighting first." Asuma said as he glanced over at Naruto. "Do you reckon he has a chance?"
"Yeah he should do fine. Suigetsu might be a little shit, but he is a capable Shinobi." Naruto replied as he watched the genin leave the arena and filter up to the stands where he and the other Jounin were stood.
This left the arena below empty save for Suigetsu, a pretty Oto Kunoichi with long knee length black hair and Hayate. Leaning forwards, his arms idly resting on the railing in front of him, Naruto let out a slight sigh as he saw Suigetsu begin to posture, obviously either taunting or flirting with the attractive Oto Kunoichi. He really was a turd.
Kurenai turned to give Naruto a disapproving look as she heard that, no doubt not approving of either his vocabulary or his comments about his own 'genin' team. "Should you really be talking about your genin like that?"
"Tell you what, talk to Suigetsu for a minute and you will see why I think he is little prick." Naruto replied blandly, giving Hodan and Chojuro a nod as they approached him, with a number of the other genin following after them. Seeing them approach Naruto pushed himself off the railing and wandered over to them, aware that the other Jounin Sensei's were doing the same.
"You two are still alive then?" Naruto asked in a tone of feigned surprise as he turned his attention from the upcoming fight and instead looked at the two of them. Noting again that they didn't look at all affected by the second stage of the exam.
"Yeah, it was pretty easy. We only came across two teams. Both of them were quite weak so we just knocked them around a bit and hurried back here." Hodan replied with a grin.
"Got here about four days ago, just before the Suna team."
Naruto grunted in reply, irritated that they had been lounging around here in luxury whilst he had been slogging around the Forest of Death, on a wild goose chase, as he attempted to track down the long gone Snake Sannin.
"Good, I would have been embarrassed for you, if you had gotten beaten."
Once again Naruto felt Kurenai's eyes on him, no doubt she was once again disapproving of how he spoke to his genin. Ah well she can suck it.
"Nice to see you never change Pain." Hodan replied with a chuckle, as he idly leant against the railing. Enjoying his old friend acerbic tone.
Naruto chuckled slightly in amusement as he heard that, getting surprised looks from a couple of the nearby Konoha Shinobi. It was as if they didn't think he was capable of laughing. How rude.
Glancing away from Hodan, Naruto instead looked around and saw that all of the genin who weren't fighting yet were now all in the stands. All of them seeming to stay in their teams as they prepared to watch the preliminary matches.
Looking over Naruto could see how the other Jounin Sensei were breaking up and going to their respective teams, no doubt to give them a bit of a pep talk after their trials in the Forest of Death, as well as a bit of commentary on the fights as they continued.
Probably a little advise to on how they should deal with a certain Shinobi if they came up against them, it might be a little dishonourable, but Shinobi didn't give a fuck about honour.
Rolling his eyes at that, Naruto was about to turn back to the arena, when he saw Kushina Uzumaki trying to catch his eye.
Looking over at his mother, Naruto was surprised to see her give him a very slight nod of her head, and mouth the words "thank you" at him before she looked away.
Naruto smiled faintly under his mask as he saw that, it was no doubt his mother's way of acknowledging his help when it came to protecting her daughters from Orochimaru.
"Hey Pain the match is about to start." Hodan said, gaining Naruto's attention as he turned to watch the ongoing fights.
Honestly speaking Naruto wasn't that really interested in the fights, they were genin after all, for a Shinobi of his caliber the fights weren't too interesting or impressive. Still though whilst he was here, he might as well watch, after all the genin in this room may one day be his competition out on the field.
...
(Suigetsu Vs. Kin Tsuchi)
Naruto frowned as he watched the fight between these two Shinobi, not at all surprised at how quickly it ended. It started off with Kin throwing out a number of senbon, each of which had a very small bell hanging from the end.
Her style of fighting was actually quite interesting, it relied on casting sound based genjutsu using the bells on her senbon as a catalyst.
With these genjustu she could disorientate and confuse her opponent, leaving them open to a barrage of senbon, each of which would likely be thrown with pinpoint accuracy. Puncturing pressure points and disabling her opponent.
For a genin it was a very sophisticated way of fighting, intricate and subtle it would have allowed her a swift victory over the average genin. Naruto himself was actually quite impressed.
Of course Suigetsu wasn't the average genin, instead he was a member of the New Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, and was the wielder of Shibuki the 'Blastsword'.
The moment the match started and Kin through her senbon Suigetsu was already moving, his sword already in motion.
Suigetsu's blade Shibuki was an interesting one, it utilized various explosive tags, contained within a substantial scroll, in order to incorporate explosions into the user's own swordsmanship, which Suigetsu was able to use to great effect.
As Kin was making her move, Suigetsu was already bringing his blade down in the centre of the arena. Causing a large explosion and creating a small crater in the centre.
The shockwave from the explosion was enough to knock Kin backwards, and the sound of the explosion drowned out the sound of the small bells on Kin's senbon.
From there it was over very fast, Suigetsu using his Chunin level speed to close in on the girl, engaging the genjutsu user in close combat. Against a trained swordsman she didn't stand a chance, and was soon left unconscious, having been blasted backwards into the nearby wall.
It was a pity really, but sometimes you were stuck with a bad matchup.
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