Chapter 68 - 61

"I see that all of the contestants are here except for Kinuta Dosu, but that matters not. The Kages and I have changed the rules of the finals. Young Hikaru here has challenged all of the contestants present here for a one versus all. If he wins the fight, he will be promoted to chunin straight away and you guys guys will not be promoted to chunin, unless your Kage deems you worthy of being a chunin. But, if you guys were to win against Hikaru, he will not get promoted and instead, all of the ones who will survive the fight against him will be promoted to chunins. But those who've been knocked out, I'm sorry, but they will have to retake the exam next year." Hiruzen stops his speech and stares at the people down in front of him for people who will be against this idea. He saw none, and continued his speech.

"All of you will have 5 Minutes to plan your attack, and Hikaru will be handicapped. He cannot use his chakra, or any other powers he has against you guys. He will be blindfolded so that he cannot use his eyes. These were his personal rules that he set for himself, do not worry about it. After all of you finished planning your strategy, you will have 30 Minutes to fight Hikaru."

Hiruzen turned around to go back to the Kage Stands but not before saying, "Good luck, all of you. Trust me, you will need it." He then returned to Kage Stands.

In the middle of the arena was Hikaru, sitting calmly while eating another bar of chocolate.

Up where the contestants are, they seem to be chatting with themselves.

"Really? We all have to fight Hikaru-kun while he's handicapped? That's a load of bull! This is unfair, even for Hikaru-kun!" Hinata complained.

"No, if you think about it, it's not really that unfair, considering his strength. He could still slaughter us even if all of his limbs were cut off." Sasuke said as he thought about it.

"Hm, yes, Hikaru's very strong. I'm even starting to be nervous with just the thought of fighting him." Shino said with a very nervous voice.

"Hmph, I just want to avenge the defeat of my brother, that's all." Airi said.

"Guys, this is no time for arguing. We need a strategy to defeat him. Right now he can only use his raw strength against us, not his other powers, which is a very big advantage for us." Shikamaru said but his voice this time is serious, very unlike him.

"So what do you suggest, you lazy bastard?" Temari said to Shikamaru.

"Troublesome, let's go with the old tactic, protect and attack. From my own assumption, Airi here seems to be an Uzumaki, am I right?" Shikamaru said to the others.

Airi nodded her head.

"Then you know a lot of Fuinjutsu, right?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm a level 6 Fuinjutsu Master, if that's what you're talking about." Airi replied.

"Really?! That's amazing! Now i get my plan to work. Listen, Airi will be our main weapon against Hikaru. If we can get her enough time to prepare a seal that can bind Hikaru, then we have basically won by then. Our heavy hitters are going to be Sasuke, Azumi, and Gaara. The rest will protect Airi until she finishes the seal. I will serve as a distraction for the heavy hitters, as I am the only one here who can manipulate shadows. All of you got that, right?"

""Yes!"" ""Roger that!"" "" Of course"" They all said in unison.

"Soo, I should use [Fuinjutsu: Art Of Binding]?" Airi asked.

"Yes, but can you make it stronger than normal?" Shikamaru replied.

"Of course, who do you think I am? But you will have to buy me 20 Minutes of time. It's easy to alter a Fuinjutsu technique if you have enough knowledge about it." Airi said.

"Great! It seems like the time is up, let's fight Hikaru!"

"Wait! I should tell you something about Hikaru first." Azumi suddenly interrupted.

"Hmm? What is it?" Shikamaru asked.

"He can hit tenketsus, just like the Hyuga does." Azumi said gravely.

"What? That doesn't matter, he has his blindfold on. Even if he can hit our tenketsu, he can only probably use it when he can see." Sasuke said.

"No, he doesn't need his sight to do that. He perfectly knows where each and every tenketsu is. I think he spent some time studying medical ninjutsu for a while back when we were all in the academy." Azumi said with a grave look on her face.

"Well, this is a problem. Troublesome." Shikamaru said, as if he has a lot of problems right now.

(A Few Minutes Later)

All nine of them finally went down to fight Hikaru after planning their strategy. They had to make a plan B, in case everything goes down.

Hikaru stood up with a smile on his face. When he did that, all of the people in the stadium sensed a pressure unlike any other. But it was not directed to them, it was directed towards the other contestants. They all kneeled down due to the pressure, they can even see the ground under caving in due to the pressure he is emanating.

'First step, break down their confidence. Let's see how they fight against this.' Hikaru thought with a smile.

But, suddenly, they all turned into Azumi before they disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Huh, what?" Hikaru was flabbergasted.

"Behind you!" This time, he can clearly hear Azumi's voice.

"Oi! I haven't started the fight!" Hayate yelled, but he suddenly felt a stare coming from behind him. He turned around and looked up. He saw the Hokage gesturing to him to let them go. He was smiling, as if enjoying Hikaru's pain.

'Heh, brat. Now you will see the wrath of a Kage. Hahahahaha!!' Hiruzen laughed evilly inside his head.

Hikaru dodged a kick towards his head by crouching down slightly, but another kick came downwards, it was aiming for his legs. He dodged it easily by jumpin up, he landed on the ground and he was met with a punch on his face along with a giant fireball coming towards him.

He crashed on the ground because of that punch, it was aiming to immobilize him even for just a single moment for the fireball to hit him.

"Hmph, your futile efforts are nothing." He backflipped and landed on his feet. He then slapped the giant fireball away, dissipating it easily.

"Good work, Gaara, Azumi, and Sasuke. But that wasn't nearly enough to take me down." He stood his ground with that annoying smile on his face never leaving him.

"Tch, we nearly had him." Sasuke cursed under his breath.

"Don't forget our goal, Sasuke." Gaara reminded him.

"Yeah, I won't forget."

Sasuke and Azumi then charged towards Hikaru with Gaara's sand backing them up.

Punches and kicks, Hikaru dodged them all very easily. He would sometimes point out their mistakes, it was as if he was coaching them.

As he continued dodging their attacks, he was suddenly immobilized by something. It was just for a fraction of a second, but it was enough for the other three to take advantage of it.

Sasuke sent three shurikens towards him before multiplying all of them. From three, it went from a hundred shurikens. Hikaru, sensing that countless objects were currently flying towards him, only stood his ground.

But Azumi was already behind him with a rasengan on her hand.

"I'm sorry, Darling. Rasengan!" Azumi attacked him from behind, launching him towards the shurikens.

BOOM!!

Hikaru was launched towards the shurikens before he crashed on the walls of the Arena.

Great amount of smoke appeared when he crashed onto the wall. Yet, when he came out of that smokescreen, he was unscathed.

"What!? How did he live through that!" Sasuke yelled in shock.

"Impossible!!" Gaara muttered.

If a regular shinobi was hit with that kind of attack, they would've been dead by now.

"How disappointing. I thought that you 4 would be stronger than this. Did I overestimate you all?" Hikaru said harshly as he dusted himself off.

On the other side of the arena was a dome made of bugs. Just outside of it were the others, they were guarding it.

"And if I'm not mistaken, that bug dome over there is where the rest of your plan is? The only Uzumaki who's not here is Airi, knowing you, you would've made her create a fuinjutsu to bind me or seal my movements completely. Do you think that would work? Shikamaru?" Hidden all along was Shikamaru, he was the one who stopped Hikaru's movements earlier for a fraction of a second.

"Tch, you sure are strong. But don't be full of yourself just yet. I have other strategies to beat you!" Shikamaru yelled.

"Hmph, come and try." Hikaru taunted them. He then added, "But now, it's my turn."

Hikaru suddenly vanished.

The four of them looked around trying to find them. Yet, he just appeared behind Shikamaru.

"Boo." With a flick of his finger, Shikamaru suddenly found himself hurting all over. Hikaru, with a flick of his finger, made Shikamaru crash towards the wall.

"Shikamaru!" Sasuke yelled, trying to help but he was swatted away by Hikaru.

"I shall let you see how much disparity there is between us."

Hikaru appeared in front of the already weakened Shikamaru and kicked him deeper in the walls of the stadium. The ones who were close were shaken due to the impact of that kick.

Hikaru looked inside the hole he just made and saw Shikamaru bleeding all over. He turned around and ignored him before going after the others.

But then…

"Who…said…You…could…leave?" Shikamaru crawled out of that hole, bloodyed.

'Ho, such willpower. But that's nothing in front of absolute strength.' Hikaru was just about to kick him again, this time to knock him out for sure, but Azumi, Sasuke, and Gaara suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his path.

"Don't just focus on him, there's still us." Sasuke said.

"This time.... I will beat you." Gaara said as he went into his stance.

"Don't try to run, Darling! This time… this time, I will beat you! Believe it!" Azumi announced with her sunlight straight sword in hand.

She will not face Hikaru as her lover, but as a shinobi!

Truth be told, Hikaru can finish this in a flash but this is important for Azumi's growth. If she can scratch him, even just slightly, then he can say that she has grown powerful.

Hikaru chuckled before it slowly turned into a full blown laughter.

"Hah hah hah hah hah!! Interesting, interesting! Let's see how you can beat me, I'm curious!"

The faces of the trio grew even more serious, this time Hikaru may not go easy on them.

Meanwhile, up on the stands…

Hikaru had summoned him here to watch the fight, but he didn't think that his friend's lover would have the same sword as him.

"Ah, my friend. You must be cherishing our friendship very much." Solaire said as he wiped his tears of happiness.

Thanks to his friend, he made another friend here and his name is Might Gai! The most youthful person in this village!

"Aren't I right, Gai my friend?" Solaire asked the dude who's wearing a tight green spandex.

"Of course, Hikaru is one of the most youthful people in the village! I would even hear him training in the middle of the night while Lee and I were doing our nightly training! I would even hear Azumi-kun training too! Hahahaha!" Gai laughed and Solaire laughed with him too.