Chapter 18

They went down and stood opposite to each other.

"Ready?"

They nodded.

"Start!"

Kankuro moved towards Yoroi. He started off with a punch towards his face. But Yoroi dodged to the left and grabbed Kankuro's head.

'What!? Why can't I absorb his chakra?'

Seeing that Yoroi was distracted, Kankuro revealed the puppet and captured him.

'So that's why, It was a puppet. My luck is really bad. There is nothing I can do in this situation.'

Kankuro's puppet started crushing Yoroi.

"I give up."

"Yoroi Akado has given up, which means that Kankuro has won the battle."

Kankuro released his puppet and went back to his team. Yoroi also went back.

"Next match is Zaku Abumi vs Sakura Haruno."

'What, I need to fight against that guy! But I can't back down now. Sasuke and Ino pig are watching.'

They made their way towards the battlefield.

"Ready?"

They nodded.

"Start!"

Sakura took out a kunai and waited for him to come. Zaku had only one arm left he could use from his fight in the forest of death. He started moving towards Sakura and hit her with his palm.

<Decapitating Airwaves>

He shot out a huge airwave from his palm that sends Sakura into the wall. She looks to be in a really terrible shape.

'I almost feel sorry for her, but it's her own fault for wasting her years in the academy on Sasuke and not herself.'

The referee went to check on her.

"Sakura Haruno can't continue the battle. Zaku Abumi is the winner.

Kakashi took her to the medic, and Zaku went to his team.

"Next match, Shino Aburame vs Kin Tsuchi."

They got onto the field.

"Start."

Kin started throwing senbon.

'Hm, are those strings?'

Shino took out a kunai and cut the strings.

'Tsk, he noticed.'

Shino sends all his bug flying towards her. She started running around the battlefield to try and get behind Shino. But no matter what she tried, the bugs would get in her way.

'His bugs are really annoying.'

Suddenly she went on her knees.

'What happened, it feels like my chakra is drained.'

"You must be wondering what happened. It's simple really. I used my bugs to drain your chakra. Since you were only focused on me and the big group of my bugs, I was easily able to send a couple of bugs to drain your chakra.

'This is bad, I need to finish this quickly.'

She tried to stand up, but before she could the bugs had already swarmed her. They held her down, not letting her move an inch. The referee waited a little to see what would happen, but seeing her not being able to do anything he called the match.

"Kin Tsuchi isn't able to move. The winner is Shino Aburame."

They got off the field.

"Next match, Neji Hyūga vs Shikamaru Nara."

"Good luck, Shikamaru. Don't make our team look bad."

"What a drag."

When they entered the battlefield, I could see the arrogant look on Neji's face.

'Let me guess, he will start talking about fate.'

"Fate has decided that I will defeat you today."

'I'm too smart.'

"What fate? If you let your life be decided by fate, that just means that you're weak. I also believed in fate a little, but since meeting a certain annoying blond I have completely dismissed the idea of fate controlling my life."

"Don't worry after I defeat you, you'll know that fate is real."

"So what you're trying to say is if I lose fate is real? This is a drag."

"Are you two ready?"

They nodded.

"Start!"

Neji came in close and started to use his taijutsu, but Shikamaru didn't back down and started fighting back.

<Byakugan>

'If Naruto didn't force me to learn taijutsu, I would have had a hard time against him. At least now I will still have room to breathe.'

"Your good, but you'll never be able to beat me in taijutsu."

'He is right, but it's not my specialty, anyway.'

<Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu>

A huge fireball came flying towards Neji. But when he tried to get away, he realized that he was stuck in a corner.

'He is way better than I thought.'

Sasuke looked surprised and then looked at me. I just nodded with a smile. He nodded back.

'I wanted to keep this for the finals, but I have no choice now.'

<Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven>

He started rapidly spinning, creating a barrier around him. The fireball touched the barrier and got repelled. Shikamaru looked surprised, but he was still able to jump out of the way.

Looking at Hinata, I could see that she wasn't surprised at all. She must have already realized that he was a genius.

'This will get tricky. But I have the perfect jutsu for this.'

<Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique>

'What where did he go?'

Before he could find him, he stopped moving.

<Shadow Imitation Technique>

Shikamaru appeared from the ground away from Neji. You could see a hole with a shadow going through it, that connected to a hole next to Shikamaru.

"Your technique has a big flaw. You're completely unprotected from underneath."

(AN: I don't know if that's true, but just go with it. And if you were wondering where Shikamaru learned those jutsus, it's obviously Naruto.)

"How did you find that out so fast?"

"I'm from the Nara clan. It's normal for me to be able to think fast."

"But it doesn't matter. Even if you've got me immobilized, you can't hurt me without hurting yourself."

Shikamaru had a small smile on his face.

"Are you sure?"

'Thank you, dad, and Naruto. Even if the training was hell, I'm still thankful.'

<Shadow–Neck Binding Technique>

Neji's shadow turned into a hand and grabbed his neck. The hand started strangling him.

'Damn, what is this? I didn't know about this technique. I heard that the Nara's that just graduated only knew the Shadow Imitation Technique. To think I would be tricked so easily.'

"So, how is fate treating you?"

"Shut up! I will get out of this. Fate has decided that I will win."

"Haha, how can that be."

"What do you mean?"

"The one you call fate is me right now. I decide if you get to live or die."

"You bastard!"

"I have decided that you will die!"

'I have to step in if he's going to kill him.' thought the referee

"But I will spare your life if you give up."

Neji is trying to break out of it.

"I hope you're not waiting for fate to save you."

The shadow hand started to strangle him even harder.

'I can't go down like this!'