(IC) The Life of a Shinobi (Chapter 2: The Chunin Exams Preliminary Round)

Hizana felt the wind getting knocked out of her, and was sent flying backward but regained her footing. "Darn it!" She considered herslef lucky; if that any had more power to it, or if that was done by anyone in the Main Branch, she could've been in serious trouble. Relax, stay focused, Hizana thought, trying to reassure herself. I can do this, I can do this. She suddenly had an idea; weaving one hand sign she says out loud "Kage no Justu!! (Multi-Shadow clone Justu) and a gang of shadow clones appear, surrounding Habashi.


"She doesn't seem sure of herself." Kazuma, who hadn't said anything in a while, surprised everyone when he actually spoke. "What'r'ya talkin' about?" asked Renji.
"Although she isn't as assertive as the both of us, there has been times Hizana proved she could hold her ground," he replied thinking back to the Forest of Death. Kazuma usually doesn't like showing concern for others, but when it comes to Hizana, it's an entirely different story, Renji thought with a roll of his eyes. Sanmaru took on a serious face. "I think you may be right. She may be the product of two highly skilled ninja, but her hesitation has always been her Achilles' heel, causing her to hold back." And in a battle between two Hyuuga branches, Sanmaru thought to himself, You have to stay focused and  on your toes, lest you may end up in a bad situation..

Habashi certainly wasn't expecting this. First he just had to focus on one Hizana, but now there were dozens. Habashi had fought shadow clones before, but never this many. Most shinobi couldn't create an army of clones like this. But she was the daughter of Naruto Uzumaki after all, so this wasn't a total surprise. Habashi was determined to win against Hizana, especially since he wanted to fight Kazuma later on. However, rather than taking another defensive stance, Habashi chose to go on the offensive. Using his gentle fist, Habashi gracefully began striking clones one by one.

As Habashi and the clones fought each other, Hizana stealthily made her way towards him. "I got you now!" Amplifying the chakrra in her body and hands, she rapidly made quick consecutive strikes at Habashi's body, releasing the chakra into the nodes in his body, and blocking some of his chakra flow, finally knocking him back with a high kick to the face.

"Alright! She's doing it!" Renji exclaimed with a fist pump. Sanmaru and Kazuma kept looking at the fight, surprise and satisfaction in their eyes.

Hizana jumped back to put some distance in between her and Habashi. "You know, I've always been shy," she began, "I was always nervou around people, I never liked fighting, I didn't even ask to be head of our clan." After a long pause, she added, "Because of that, I always found myself hesitating and holding back. But after the Forest of Death and the scary missions I've been on, I will no longer." She looked to where Kazuma was standing and smiled. "A certain someone showed me that." Turning back to Habashi with an intense look, she stood her ground and she said "I will show you what the product of The Uzimaki Clan and the Hyuuga Main Branch is capable of."

"Yeah Hizana," cheered Kaito, "Show him what the Uzumaki can do y'know"

"I can't believe she got into my blind spot," thought Habashi as he stood to his feet.  After hearing Hizana's speech, Habashi frowned.  "She thinks she's so great just because of who her parents are.  Well we'll see who the real winner is after this."  Habashi's frown soon turned into a smile.  "Well how about I show you what the Branch House is capable of," he said to her, "Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō (Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms!)"  Habashi threw out a technique he had recently learned. He began to take out the shadow clones at rapid speed.

Hizana made shadow clones again, and they all threw flash bombs at Habashi. Suddenly the clones attacked relentlessly and kicked him in the air. Hizana jumped in the air with a rolling front flip. Extending her leg out, she cries out "This one's for you, Dad!! Uzimaki Barrage!!" and drop kicks Habashi, sending him crashing back into the earth. The move surprised many people; even the Hokage  leaned foward in his seat, eyes wide with shock and awe.

Despite his efforts, Hizana's chakra reserves gave her the advantage. She created several more clones after her army was destroyed in the gentle fist onslaught. "Shoot! More clones?!" he thought, tired out from using the previous technique. Hizana's new clones quickly overpowered him and Hizana smashed his face into the ground with a drop kick. Habashi laid on the ground, his nose bleeding and his head throbbing. He tried to stand, but was way too dizzy.

After examining him, Rento made his decision. "The battle is done. Hizana Uzumaki is the winner!"

Excited over his sister winning Kaito leapted in to the area and gave Hizana a big crushing hug. "I knew you could do it sis nobody messes with the Uzumaki family, y'know," he says happily. Mugen watched as he stood next to Kazuma, "looks like you were able to teach her how not to hold back," he says, "I guess there's something that even I have to learn huh." Mugen and Kazuma never saw eye to eye yet had a certain amount of respect for each other. Mugen would never say it but he was grateful to him and his team for taking care of Hizana.

"Yeah well, it wasn't just me," he said nonchalantly, "she was taught to know her will of fire; something Sanmaru-sensei taught us." he turns slightly towards Mugen with a mocking smirk. "Goes to show you've still got some improving to do."

"You know, you sound like an old man," Mugen said jokingly. Else where just outside of the Chunnin exam, Akira meet with a shinobi known as Kitsune Kasai. "Well it looks like little Mugen's grown up a bit," Kitsune says, "good scores on the written exam or at least he wasn't caught cheating, the first team through the forest of death that couldn't have been easy for the two of them, and now the fight with an over powered cloud genin." Akira stairs at him angerly and says, "can it, you know why I called you here." "Yeah, the cloud guys right," Kitsune said now in a serious tone, "I've got some friends running back ground check on them. We'll know know if this will be a problem soon." Kitsune was once part of an ambu team before he joined Akira and Kaito's team.

"It may be a bigger problem then you think," says another Kunoichi. She was Yumi Saruwatari, Gaara's left hand and Kitsune's future wife, "If this goes wrong the Chunnin exam would be the least of our worries," she says gravely. "Don't worry I've got it covered it worst comes to worst we'll have every jonin ready for battle in 15 minutes," Kitsune says reassuringly.

"Now we shall begin the final battle of the preliminary rounds," said Rento, "Kazuma Ryuuga vs Chojin Akimichi."

"What the heck?!" yelled Chojin as he spewed out his chips, "How did I get stuck fighting this guy?!" "Well you are the only two who haven't fought yet," said Shikaru. "Don't worry Chojin," said Onsui, "just do the best you can and don't worry about what happens." "Okay," replied Chojin. He hopped into the stage and waited for the battle to start.

"Man, how did I get the short end of the stick?" Kazuma complained. Of all the ninja, he had to get THIS punk. "Well, beggars can't be choosers," chuckled Renji. "This is gonna be waaay too quick," Kazuma said. With that, he jumps off the railing and onto the arena. Hizana couldn't help but notice that Sanmaru was quietly laughing to hiimself. "Sensei," she began to ask "why are you..?" "Hehe, I can't help but feel sorry for him," he replied. "For who? Kazuma?" asked Renji. With a smirk, Sanmaru said "No.. for Chojin."

Kazuma stares down Chojin, disinterest in his eyes but focused. "Look, Akimichi, I rather not take too long. So let's get this over with," he says with his hands in his pockets.

Chojin may not have been as strong as Kazuma, but he wasn't a wuss like his father was at his age. Chojin was aggressive, and although he didn't expect to win, he wasn't going to lose without putting up a fight. "I don't plan on going down so easily," said Chojin, "After all, I'm the son of Choji Akimichi, the head of the Akimichi clan."

"If the combatants are ready..." said Rento with a slight pause, "You may begin!"

Hands still in his pockets, he stood there with a taunting smirk on his face. "C'mon, I don't have all day. Make your move, Akimichi." He's slow compared to me, but with that famous Expansion Technique from his clan, he can be overly aggressive, thought Kazuma. As long as I focus and play it safe for now, I can finish this quickly.

"Well here I come! ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!"  Chojin stampeded towards Kazuma and prepared to punch him, but before he got close enough to make contact..."Bubun Baika no Jutsu (Partial Expansion Jutsu!)" he expanded his arm, closing the gap between them in a second.

Ha, figures, Kazuma thought. Using Chojin's momentum, he dodged the attack and grabbed his arm, executing a judo flip and threw him over his shoulder into the ground. Hmm, I might not have to try hard at all today.

"Saw that comin a mile away," Mugen said bluntly, "he'll have to get creative if he's gonna give Kazume some go."

Upon landing on the ground, Chojin used the partial expansion jutsu again with the other arm, but this time instead of punching, he grabbed Kazuma and started to squeeze him.

"What the..?!?" Kazuma began to say before he was grabbed and Chojin started squeezing him to the point where he could feel his bones rub together. Luckily, he had enough room in between Chojin's giant palms to make a few hand signs and roared "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!!" (Fire Style: Fireball Justsu!!), causing a giant flamethrower attack to expel from Kazuma's mouth at point-blank range.

Responding quickly, Chojin swung his free hand (which was still expanded) in front of the flames. His hand was easily engulfed in the flames. "Ahhhhhhhh!!!" yelled Chojin. He quickly released Kazuma and began running around screaming with his enlarged hand burning. "I surrender! I surrender!" Rento quickly jumped into the arena, "Water Style: Raging Waves!" Rento hit Chojin with a torrent of water, putting out the fire on his arm. Chojin fell to the ground with a terribly burnt arm, which had at this point, shrunk to its original form. Rento looked at Chojin, "The battle is finished. Kazuma is the winner!"

Mugen laughed a little to himself, "The least he could of done was not look stupid during the fight."

"Well I guess I'm the only member of my team who gets to move on," said Shikaru, "Such a drag."

"Just like your old man, huh," Mugen says jokingly.

"Yeah, but sometimes I wish I wasn't the 'heir to the Nara throne', y'know? It gets to be a drag sometimes."

"Yeah I guess so," said Mugen. Since he doesn't know much about his own family, all he could really do was agree with Shikaru.