Naruto: The Blind Swordsman

Chapter 165: Winner, Calling Dibs And Second Fight

_________ POV Narration _________

'How will you respond to that, Tatsukio?' Ken's senses focused on his star pupil, tracking him around the arena as he danced around the dangerous winds, sweat dripping from every pore in his body.

Even though Tatsukio was strong, he was now dealing with an attack that may as well have been dished out by a Kage.

An S-Rank Jutsu powered by the chakra of a Tailed Beast was not something that anyone would take on easily, it would even be annoying to deal with for some of the Alliance Leaders Present.

After all, not everyone was like the Raikage, who could likely just stroll into the middle of the cyclone.

Currently, the winds were so chaotic that many Jonin had to step up and put extra walls around the arena, extending it further as they tried to contain the damage as much as possible and protect the viewers.

Eventually, the attack ended and the battered extra walls were taken down.

After that it only took a few moments for the gigantic cloud of dust to clear up, only to reveal a scarred and ruined arena.

'Maybe it was a mistake to have this fight be the first one? Didn't know Kushina had that in her, honestly...'

Ken was genuinely impressed, but unfortunately, pulling off one powerful jutsu had not been enough to win the bout.

As the dust cleared up, the winner was revealed, the last person who was still conscious, albeit kneeling on the ground on his one knee. It was none other than Tatsukio, looking like a wee mess.

His robes were shredded apart, his mask was cracked and half missing, and his body was filled with cuts and bruises.

The powerful winds had not been kind to him, but in the end, he had managed to withstand them, he then took advantage of the smoke to swiftly take Kushina out, knocking her out in the instant the cyclone around her disappeared with a chop to the neck.

His body was filled with injuries that were bound to leave deep scars, but that was fine, they were going to serve as nice reminders of that battle.

Needless to say, the crowd of potential investors were all left flabbergasted. It was clear that many expected Kushina to win after pulling off that Jutsu, but at the end of the day, Tatsukio was just more experienced than her.

The Number 1 of the Dark Brotherhood was both older and had already seen an all-out war. His speed was also a speciality and an advantage he held over all of his competition. He was able to leverage all of those to survive and win in the end.

"Your daughter is pretty amazing..." Grudges and pride be damned, even the Raikage couldn't help but mutter that out as he stroked his beard.

Yorihikko was filled with pride as he looked at the unconscious form of his daughter. It was a shame she didn't win, but at least she wasn't badly injured.

The Hokage and Mifune were both seemingly stunned at the display, it was likely the first time they had seen a child use such a powerful Jutsu.

Indeed, Kushina had not just impressed Ken, all of the leaders present were shocked at her display.

Sure she had left her guard down after that large-scale attack, but the fact that she could pull it off in the first place was impressive.

She was also smart as she did not give Tatsukio any breaks, unknowingly she had prevented him from entering Sage Mode and ending the fight prematurely.

Of course, Tatsukio had also made a mistake by not gathering Nature Energy in the initial stare-off at the start of the match, but that wasn't inexcusable.

"W-well then, the Winner is indeed Number 1, of the Dark Brotherhood!" The announcer finally got around to doing his job.

Ken smiled as he felt the reaction of the other competitors in the Chunin Exams.

Fear, Anxiety, Admiration, it was a strange cocktail of emotions. But the most interesting was certainly that of Takehiko... Disinterest.

Indeed, the Uzumaki Prodigy found the bout uninteresting, and the jutsu that had even impressed the Kage didn't seem to garner any reaction from him.

' To be expected... I guess he's at the age where he thinks he is untouchable.'

It was inevitable regardless of what Yorihikko did. Overwhelming talent left unmatched for too long would almost always fester into pride and arrogance, it was merely a fact of life.

Unfortunately, no more battles were held that day, as they had to both rebuild the broken arena and make sure that it retained structural integrity after withstanding such an attack.

Many were disappointed but at the same time glad. They would all need some time to process the scene they had witnessed.

"What a way to start the semifinals..." Sakumo muttered as the arena was clearing out.

"It could have gone much worse honestly... Thankfully the Jutsu only really spread damage on the ground near the center of the tornado." Mifune mentioned as he looked at the shredded ground and the broken walls of the arena.

"It will be hard for the next match-ups to actually keep this momentum going... I guess we'll see tomorrow." The Raikage slowly stretched his arm and legs as he got up and started walking away.

"By the way, I call dibs on fighting Ken in the exhibition match, and I won't hear it otherwise...

This display's really got my blood boiling, I need a good fight by the end of the week to calm me down."

The Raikage's words were acknowledged. The Kage present just nodded.

For a moment, Mifune wanted to remind him that they had all agreed to draw slots for the battles, to make them random...

'But if he wants to fight Ken then that's better for the rest of us... Maybe I'll get to show off a bit this way too.'

The next day came by rather quickly, the Arena being rebuilt in record time with the help of the Anbu squad led by Sakumo.

Earth-style ninjutsu was used all over to patch up the arena, and their architects and builders made plenty of safety checks and assured the Hokage that the arena was indeed stable.

And as the Raikage had predicted, the following battles couldn't quite keep the momentum of the last one going.

Kushina had really set some unrealistic expectations in the audience, as the most impressive jutsu genin could usually perform was a C rank, and maybe a B-rank for those looking to actually get to Chunin, and not just competing for the sake of it.

Still, some children were able to give quite decent displays of Taijutsu, as well as inventive fights using special techniques, like the mind control of the Ino clan, or the shadow manipulation of the Nara clan.

Eventually, however, the next big battle came along.

"Coming up next we have Number 2, of the Dark Brotherhood. And Yugito Nii, of the Cloud!"

The announcer's voice broke the silence, and the expectations of the crowd immediately shot up, many sitting upright in their chairs as soon as the names were announced.

"Finally, something interesting!" The Raikage seemed to be of the same mind as the public.

The two competitors walked out.

Morita was dressed similarly to Tatsukio, and Yugito Nii wore rather simple clothes, with what seemed to resemble a grey Jonin vest.

Yugito was much younger than Morita, to the point where the Nr.2 Assassin felt a bit bad about the match-up.

Still, he was going to show respect to his opponent.

"I won't be going easy on you, as you have proved yourself by making it this far already..."

Morita's shoulders moved slightly, his actions hidden underneath his cloak as he seemed to either arm himself or rub his hands together.

"..." Yugito didn't respond, instead she merely prepared for battle, slowly lowering her body to the ground, and taking on the stance of a tiger.

"START!"

As soon as the signal was given, a flame-like blue aura flared out of Yugito's small body, cloaking her completely.

Morita started walking forward as well, marching towards her as the flames surrounding her took a strange form.

A flame-like chakra cloak completely covered the young girl's body, as she slowly stood up.

Two feline-looking ears adorned the coat, and two solid, fiery tails sprouted out of her back.

The scene managed to confuse all of the Kage present...

'She can unleash all of her Tailed Beast's chakra without transforming into it?'

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