Chūnin Exams I

## The Chūnin Exams Begin

Thousands had gathered in Kumogakure to witness the first rounds of the Chunin Exam's battle phase. Shinobi and spectators from various hidden villages had come all this way in close anticipation, intent on seeing what the new generation had to offer.

In a dome with a rocky and earthen terrain was where the battles were to take place. There were dead trees present in the arena along with a small pond and lots of larger rock formations and boulders.

Situated around the dome on a higher elevation was where the audience was seated. Among them were the other participants who were awaiting their own battles, as well as other shinobi from the hidden villages.

A proctor slowly made his way onto the main stage. He was a rather large man, quite a hefty one at that. He required help to have his round figure fit through the main doorway; several shinobi were required to push his back to squeeze him through to the other end.

He was constantly munching on chips; when the crunching sounds from his mouth came to an end, the audience accordingly grew silent. The proctor looked up to the stands and spoke out to the audience.

### Round One: Nobu Hyūga versus Akira Hōzuki

"As designed, the first battle will be between Nobu Hyuga of Iwagakure and Akira Hozuki of Ki--I mean, of Kumogakure. Please, both of you, get down here."

Nobu slowly made his way into the arena after throwing one last uncertain glance at his teacher, Shimizu Matsumura who stood behind him by the entrance to the dome. The time had finally come for him to prove his mettle as a member of the Hyuga clan, and to defend his pride as well as that of his teacher, he had no idea what powers this Akira Hozuki might possess or how he would stack up against a son of such a powerful clan but now at least he had something to fight for.

It was with this uncommon resolve that Nobu increased his pace noticeably, his confidence in himself rising by the second until he focused his chakra into his eyes and awakened the power of the Hyuga Clan. His veins bulged around his eyes and his pupils turned a featureless white as the Byakugan stirred and saw everything. Its gaze piercing stone, chakra and even flesh - the stadium fell away into nothing under it and he could plainly see more than a kilometre past the walls of the dome at a 350° angle. It was an indescribable experience, but for now, he needed to focus his gaze upon his surroundings or it would not do him much good.

Thousands of images receded at once from his mind, and all of that visual prowess was focused upon this future battleground of his. Nobu was ready.

Not long after the Hyuga member entered the arena, Akira would follow suit and walk right into the arena, fully unprepared with a bowl of ramen and a pair of chopsticks in his hands. He could feel the looming presence of the spectators as he walks in, the hatred from their eyes and cocky smiles from their faces. Akira knew fully well that not many of them liked him, and that he was most likely gonna lose.

As one final action, Akira looked up at the crowd and saw his friend Hayato with a sign, the sign said; Do the thing; with a water drop right next to it. As his friend cheered him on, Akira took his stands and was looking like he was ready to fight, but still had the ramen in his hands. He was ready.

In attendance among various other higher ranking shinobi, Shimizu Matsumura was appalled by Akira's presence. He oddly resonated with the slob... his decision in coming so visibly unprepared to an otherwise highly important matter was somehow respectable. He grimaced uncomfortably, with no choice but to praise the boy for his antics.
"Goddammit... that's kinda... badass..."

Another pair of eyes, however, was not nearly as forgiving, Fuyuki Hozuki had arrived here with Ski Hoshigaki and when his gaze fell upon Akira his face hardened with cold fury. The boys' escape from the Hozuki Clan had resulted in a scandal and to this day Fuyuki had no idea how he had accomplished it, but the truth of the matter was that his body contained the secrets of the Hydrification Technique even if the boy not yet knew it.

His brother's death was a hassle, but even though Akira was his nephew he held no familial sentiment for him at all, especially now that he'd betrayed their legacy. An assassin had already been summoned and if all went to plan this would be boys first and last Chunin Exam.

The proctor awkwardly eyed the bowl of ramen in Akira's hand. He blinked several times, utterly dumbfounded. Throwing a few more chips into his mouth, the proctor said nothing until several more seconds of crunching ensued. Finally, after swallowing, he spoke up.

"Now that the two of you have gathered here... let the first round of the battle phase commence. You two may begin!"

As the proctor's voice reached Akira, he stood still for a moment to see if Nobu would attack. If plan A didn't work, Akira would have to think of a plan B.

"So, I have heard you're pretty strong, you don't look strong."

This was Akira's plan B, to taunt and annoy Nobu into attacking him and using his moments against him. This, however, was a risky plan and Akira knew that he would have to be precise with every move to win this battle.

"Can those eyes of yours do like a genjutsu and stuff. That would be pretty cool but if not, that's kinda weak. I mean think about it, what else is the Hyuga Clan good for, they don't do anything but complaining and brag about having the ultimate defence and stuff. They're so annoying."

Nobu's reaction was unexpected as the older man actually blushed at being called strong, rustling his hands awkwardly through his hair, clearly taken aback by the fact that anyone had heard about him let along considered him like that, the insult portion barely fazed him however as he briefly turned his back on Akira before swivelling back to face him all flustered.

At that moment a rustling rushed through the dead trees carrying dead leaves through the air between the two combatants to be, it swept past the two of them and should Akira pay attention to them he would soon see shapes and colours amongst them, colours would become images and images would become dreams and dreams would turn into nightmares and shape the world as he saw it by painting the things he feared the most onto the canvas of reality, and assault him with horrors drawn from his own mind through chakra.

Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique was its name, and through his exceptional chakra control Nobu had been able to cast it earlier by briefly forming the Rat Seal as he spun around like an embarrassed damsel. As it was only a D-Rank Genjutsu the effort it demanded was practically unnoticeable and that allowed him to press his advantage further as he streaked across the battlefield to rush past him with a couple meters distance in-between them, quickly formed a curious-looking hand seal and extended his hand with a sudden gesture as a wave of air seemed to issue out of his palm towards the hopefully distracted Akira.

As the leaves slowly turn into images, Akira would utter the words, "Mom, dad". His worst nightmare had become real and his now-dead parents seemingly surround Akira, freezing him in place and dropping his bowl of ramen.

In a quick act of moments, Nobu manages to hit Akira, knocking him back onto the ground. Still in the genjutsu, a new act of terror would arise, his only friend dropped dead on the floor with blood leading up to Akira and a sword in Akira's hand.

As the Gentle Illusion conjoined with the Demonic Illusion, Nobu saw his opening as his opponent was momentarily drawn into a trance assailed by visions of a nature that Nobu couldn't see, but the contents of Akira's words made it all the more clearer to him, his Genjutsu was throwing his senses into disarray and although it would not last long it provided him with the opening he sought as he aimed to use Akira's current confusion to his advantage, using his larger and stronger body he aimed to tackle Akira into the ground, restrain him in a quick fashion, withdraw a Kunai and press it against Akira's throat without harming him to hopefully make the proctor decide the fight quickly in his favour or make Akira surrender the match to him. The illusion would, after all, last only a short time longer, so he had to incapacitate him before then.

As Akira stumble back onto the ground, Nobu tackles him, grabs a kunai, and presses it against Akira's throat. As the only action that Akira could have done without conceiving to defeat, he popped into smoke and appeared behind the Nobu. Akira had seemingly flipped locations with his ramen and left the ramen in his place. This was the Body Replacement Technique, one of the two jutsus that Akira actually know.

Nobu was surprised as his opponent vanished in a puff of white smoke, leaving behind the wet splatter of ramen to soil Nobu's clothing, for a moment the young man merely glanced at the broken bowl dumbfounded before he regained his composure and rose to his full height, no matter, the bowl was ruined now and could not be reused for this purpose again. It was time to press his advantage, his opponent should still be under the effect of the Demonic Illusion, though he'd evidently acclimated somewhat to its nightmarish visions it would probably negatively affect him regardless, as the visions of his dead family and friends loomed always at the back of periphery of his visions and reentered it constantly to remind and distract him like foul spectres of a tragic past.

Forming the Tiger Seal with his hands and stamping his right foot into the ground, Nobu's form melted away into nothing and was swept away into the air like flickering motes of dust and gravel that vanished from sight in an instant, this was the Body Flicker Technique performed according to the specifications of Iwagakure. Nobu's speed already significantly outstripped his adversary from the get-go but when he utilized this that chasm widened even further.

He formed the Mind Seal in middle of the movement and in the very same instant his hand shot down towards Akira's exposed back as he repeated his use of the Empty Fist Genjutsu and sought to layer an additional use of it atop the previous to greatly reduce his opponent's ability to best his Genjutsu by convincing his body that he'd suffered internal damage at the hands of the Gentle Fist and had an additional thirty-six Tenketsu forcibly sealed.

As the battle was coming to an end, Akira knew from the start that he had no chance. The least he could do was give his best, and he did. As the Hyuga member flickered around Akira, he raises the chopsticks in the air.

"I give up. I dropped my ramen in the middle of the battle and I'm kinda hungry"

As one final action, Akira would look for Nobu in the middle of the flickering, point his hand at him.

"What you say Nobu, want to go eat some ramen after this?"

Nobu's palm stopped inches from Akira's chest as he realized the battle was over, much to his surprise, his opponent must have taken pity at his incompetence and decided to give him the win knowing what it meant to him and Shimizu-sensei. That was the only reasonable explanation, undoubtedly Akira had a wealth of powerful Ninjutsu at his command ready to be unleashed at his whim and will! With that in mind, Nobu was convinced that he'd been let off easy.

He smiled at the offer though, he'd never had ramen before, could be a fun way to end the day.

"Sure! Ramen sounds great!"

Munching ensued.
The proctor, after swallowing the rest of his mouthful, signalled the conclusion of the fight.

"The winner is Nobu Hyuga of Iwagakure."

In the stands above, Shimizu was seen wearing a gleeful smile.

"Eehehee! He did it!!" He exclaimed, amazed by the show his student had put on. And here he thought Nobu was going to drown to his death being pitted against a member of the Hozuki clan.

"I can't believe my eyes! He actually did it! He won!"

Down below, the proctor was met by another shinobi who poofed onto the scene. He whispered some things into the proctor's ear then vanished.

Munching ensued.

"It seems our second match has been cancelled. Due to Amai failing the written portion of the exam, she will be unable to carry on to the battle phase. This means that Jazz Lee is the winner by default and will be moving onto the next round."

Due to the way that the bracket was structured, Nobu and Jazz were now set to meet in the next round.

### Round One: Amari Uchiha versus Hayato Uchiha

Munching ensued.

"We will now be moving onto the third battle. Uchiha Hayato, Uchiha Amari, please step down to the arena."

From excitement alone, Amari vanished from his place in the audience in a showing of his speed. He appeared in the arena in a moment's notice, poised and ready to showcase all that he had come to know since graduating from the academy.

He was however still 5 years old and the youngest participant in the Chunin Exams by a wide margin.

Hayato enters the arena, more excited than he had ever been before and with a smile on his face. Hayato looks into the crowd looking for his father, his father is nowhere to be seen. His smile turns into a frown.

"You can do it Hayato!" Exclaimed a voice from the crowd, it was his best friend Akira who cheered him on as Hayato did in his battle.

Hayato then looks at his opponent and says "Hmm... You are smaller than I thought you would be. Well, you are 5 after all" as he proceeds to move his hand into a pouch on his leg and takes out a kunai. "Well then, are you ready?"

Amari nodded, then smiled towards his opponent. “Yes! I’m excited to meet you. Do you know my brother, Yoshirou?”

The proctor flung his hand forward, signalling the start of the match.

“You may now begin.”

Amari’s hand shot back, clipping open his weapon’s pouch. He dug his hand inside, holding it behind his back.

"Yoshirou you say? No, I don’t think I have heard that name before but would love to meet him one day"

Hayato begins to walk closer to his opponent, still with the kunai in his hand.

He begins to do 5 hand seals and claps his hands together. This was the Gale Palm technique.

"Enough talking, let's fight already!" says Hayato and throws the kunai towards Amari at a tremendous speed. While the kunai is still in the air he proceeds to run towards his opponent and uses another technique, this being the Clone Technique. Two identical clones appear beside him while still running towards his opponent.

"!!!"

Amari was forced to activate his Sharingan right off the bat as Hayato began to form hand seals. Amari's red eyes spun to life, and he was able to make out each individual hand sign at his own pace. He could see the buildup of chakra in his opponent, analyzing it to be far more potent than anything he wanted to deal with upright. It wouldn't be good for him to be struck by anything like that.
Amari readied himself as his opponent forged his hand signs. But even as fast as Amari was, he was unable to avoid the kunai outright; it struck his shoulder, drawing blood.

Gritting with his teeth clenched, Amari formed his own set of hand signs. The clone technique wasn't going to trick his Sharingan. Either way, his next attack would span the distance of both the original Hayato and his illusionary clone.
Concentrating chakra from his belly up to his mouth, Amari with his superior speed lunged towards his opponent to meet him halfway. And while Hayato was still moving forward, stuck in linear movement, Amari unleashed the Fire Release: Great Fire Ball technique from near point-blank range.

With the use of his Sharingan, Hayato was able to observe his opponent's hand seals and make a move. Hayato managed to partly dodge Amari’s fireball with half of his body burnt, the pain was almost unbearable.

Hayato is now laying on the ground.

"Wow, That one got me good, kid. You're faster than I thought"

Without waiting around to show his opponent any sympathy, Amari charged towards his damaged target with his full speed. As Hayato was laying on the ground complimenting him, Amari swooped in with a hard kick aimed at his stomach. Because Hayato was severely damaged by his fireball, and because he was on the ground struggling to get up and was clearly distracted by his words, this was a good chance for Amari to land a finishing blow.

"What did you do that for?!!" exclaims Hayato as he just got kicked in the stomach.

Hayato begins to slowly stand up and says "Fine... I surrender, is that what you want to hear?"

Hayato thinks to himself "Man if this kid is this strong I can’t even begin to imagine how strong his brother is"

Amari blinked, confused. He hadn't expected to win this fight, truth be told. He just wanted to give it his all. He anticipated Hayato to be as strong as Yoshirou.

Munching ensued. The proctor swung his hand at Hayato's surrender.
"And the winner of this match is Amari Uchiha. Amari Uchiha will advance onto the next round."

The audience boomed as the 5-year-old Uchiha clansmen, and one of the last Kumo-nin left in the tournament moved onto the next round.

Amari approached Hayato, bowing his head at the older boy.

"That was a good match. I learned a lot from it, thank you so much!"

More munching ensued as the proctor emptied a new bag of chips down his mouth, hurrying the Uchiha boys off of the stage in light of moving things along.

"The final match of the first round will begin shortly! Ski Hoshigaki and Ouken, please make your way down to the arena."

Ski took a step forward, his fish-like frame poking from within the crowd.

"I-i'm ready!"

The munching intensified as another figure dashed across the arena like a living shadow, whispered something into the proctor's ear and then left in a hurry.

"So Ouken is unable to continue due to a bad case of tummyache, so Ski wins this match by default and we are very impressed with his performance! We'll be moving over to Round Two the and the first match is Nobu Hyuga versus Jazz Lee! May the contestants make their way to the arena please?"

### Round Two: Nobu Hyūga versus Jazz Lee

"I don't wanna be here..." Jazz Lee walked towards the arena, with slow, almost regretful steps, as if with every step, he wanted to crawl back into the hole that was his abode. He swayed from side to side, his eyes half-opened, a tinge of annoyance noticeable from his expression.

Though it all changed, once he arrived at the actual stage. Jazz paid no mind to anyone else, anyone else but himself, the announcer, and of course, Taiga. The former took priority, and as the announcer mentioned his name, he couldn’t help but blush.

“Awww….jeez, stop, you’re embarrassing me.” He said, pawing at the air.

Up in the tribunes stood his teacher, Taiga Senju, Jonin of Konohagure and he was armed not with kunai or shuriken but with a giant poster in pink that read BEST STUDENT EVER in oversized neon letters. Laughter erupted all over as Taiga shouted down at Jazz.

"Remember all that I taught you Jazz Lee! You carry the Will of Fire within you my boy even though its more like Will of Embers right now it will blossom into an all-consuming pyre that will CONSUME all trials in your way! YUSH!"

"I-" Jazz couldn't help but look at the ground in defeat, his knees bending as he scratched the back of his head. "I'll do my best...Taiga-sensei, now let that poster go..." he muttered more to himself, than to his teacher.

When Nobu stepped into the arena for the second time his first action now as then was to awaken the Byakugan to size up his opposition, despite the lazy drawl with which this Jazz spoke he was on a whole different level than Akira. At once Nobu felt a plunging sense of unease, would he be able to prevail against someone like this? He could only hope so, Shimizu-sensei had put his trust in him, and if he knew him well enough, he'd also swear that Shimizu had bet money on him, not because his teacher cared at all about such frivolous things of course, no he was a far better man than that.

If he had done so, he'd done so to spur his student to greatness by gently nudging him forwards with reassuring reminders that if Nobu were to fail that he'd be making his favourite teacher broke! He did not doubt that everything that Shimizu-san did was ultimately for the benefit of himself and others.

As he rose his hands upfront of him, balling them into fists, Nobu greeted his opponent to be with a hesitant nod. But Nobu wasn't the only recent arrival in the ring, for accompanying him was a sweet scent akin to flowers and summer that seemed to permeate the air as soon as he raised his hands.

"Hoy... who the fuck does this guy think he is..?" Shimizu grumbled too himself at the despicable sight that was Taiga Senju. He had stuck around because Nobu, his own student and star pupil to be, had dominated his first round matchup and made it into the semi-finals. He had high hopes for Nobu now; certainly, he would not be one to disappoint him again. So just what was with that bizarre poster?
Seated a few rows ahead and below of the chanting Senju, Shimizu turned around to have a word with him. "Hoy, pipe down over there! Enough of your nonsense. The victory of this bout shall be MY student, Nobu Hyuga!!!"

Shimizu turned back around, gritting his teeth. His eyes blared over this 'Jazz Lee' character. Shimizu was a sensory type Shinobi capable of sensing the chakra stored within others. He had a bad, bad feeling about this kid.

"Hoy Nobu... I've bet more money than your head holds in the Bingo Book..! You can't lose this one, goddamit..!" He mumbled to himself under his breath as a nervous bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face.

There was no warning behind Jazz's movements, Nobu walked into the stage, and from his pouch, with a swing of his right arm a shuriken escaped from his location. It wasn’t the most accurate of throws, as there was no specific aim aside from hitting Nobu somewhere. What it did carry was strength, and notable one too, and it’d likely pierce straight through his opponent if left unchecked.

Jazz followed the weapon, nearly blurring from sight with incredible speed. Speed that most Genin could only achieve through the usage of chakra. He reappeared at Nobu’s side, his body spinning in the air as he aimed a high hook kick with his left leg. It was one of the many forms of Jazz’s most basic Taijutsu.

“Leaf Whirlwind.” He chanted, and much like the name, the strength of his kick slightly pushed gusts of wind away, gusts that would hopefully erase the presence of that peculiar aroma.

Though it appeared as if Jazz was excited, or that he was giving it his all, truly, he simply wanted to end the fight as soon as possible.

”I’ll be able to slouch soon…”

Amari, who was also present in the audience, was eagerly spectating the ongoing match. Should he emerge victorious in his next bout, he would then be pitted against one of these two. It was definitely worth scouting them out at the very least.
“That guy’s really fast..!” Amari uttered to himself. “But wait, did the proctor even say to start the match?”

The Proctor had indeed said as much, although since he was talking with his mouth full it had been muffled to every ear aside from the two that mattered the most. After he'd munched his due however he spoke again.

"The match has begun and stuff.

More munching soon ensued.

Nobu's form danced to the side in a blur as he expertly avoided the incoming barrage of shuriken while he simultaneously formed the Rat Seal, that although thrown with tremendous strength were not aimed with much in the way of skill. Still, the force they generated rendered that meaningless, even a stray blow could be dangerous. Unfortunately, diversions of that nature could not fool the Byakugan, and even as the foe followed the Shuriken, Nobu remained fully aware of every single movement he made, down to the way his muscles flexed and tensed and the precise flow of his chakra.

His speed was extraordinary, but so was Nobu's own and while Jazz was faster, the difference was ultimately relatively negligible, especially at this distance. Nobu ducked just as the other boy approached and the force of his kick flying overhead caused his locks to dance atop his head, what obscene strength his opponent possessed.

The peculiar scent would remain though, apparently unaffected by the raging gusts of wind that Jazz's mere movement propelled through the air. Quite bizarre to be sure, instead as he drew closer the scent would intensify, a distinct smell of sunflowers if he'd ever encountered them, albeit with no visible source.

From Nobu's crouching position he used the brief lapse of his adversary's movement to perform the Tiger Seal; his form instantly dissipated into the empty air to reappear at the opposite side of the stadium, courtesy of his proficiency with the Body Flicker Technique. His eyes focused at his foe as the exchange had barely been visible to the spectators given the speed that both combatants possessed.

Then the battlefield became shrouded in a whirl of leaves, apparently kicked up by Jazz's movement, this was the Hell Viewing Technique that Nobu had swiftly performed when he avoided the shuriken prior. Were his foe to glance within those leaves, they'd form horrifying imagery and reflect the deepest and greatest horrors of his psyche and pull them into reality as haunting visions to distract and possibly torture him psychologically.

Jazz’s kick swiped clean through the air, missing his opponent’s mark, his nose inadvertently inhaling the smell of sunflowers that had initially assailed the arena. Nobu disappeared from sight, and as he cast his next technique in the form of leaves, Jazz landed on the ground, his back still facing his opponent.

Though peculiarly, Jazz made no attempt in attacking again, or even turning around, instead, he found comfort in the ground, his body moving somewhat slower than usual as he dropped the floor. The cold, hard floor, only snuffs could be heard as he swiped tears with his right arm sleeve.

“I tried so hard….and he still managed to dodge it…what even is life?” He pondered to himself. “He kinda smelled good though…what a nice guy.”

Should Jazz open his eyes even briefly through his bawling, he would be greeted by visions both wondrous and bizarre as the soil in the arena burst apart to reveal dozens upon dozens of thick stems and large leaves that towered into the air at twice the height of a man grown. All at once, their large flower buds unfurled into breathtaking golden petals, revealing themselves to be quite unsurprisingly, sunflowers.

Soon they'd formed something of a circle around the weeping Genin and thereby obscured Nobu from view; looming over the little clearing like an encroaching fairy tale forest. All the while, the strange scent from before would be getting more robust, more intense and noticeable as it continued to waft towards him. Possibly continually reinforcing the illusion unless he took steps to protect himself as Jazz's lack of action had given the Genjutsu Specialist free room to manoeuvre uninterrupted and deepen his hold over his mind.

Other things happened as well, for sunflowers had emerged from the earth around Jazz as well and were gradually entwining themselves around his arms, legs and feet which was the apparent reason for his earlier slowing down. Possessing unusually thick stems they moreso resembled thick veiny serpents than flowers at a glance, with only the selfsame vibrant yellow revealing them as what they were, or rather what they were meant to resemble. None of this was real, and to the outsiders on the tribune, it would seem as though both combatants remained entirely still, although to skilled users of Dojutsu the reason would be much too apparent.

Hidden in a large field of illusory flowers, Nobu remained unmoving and silent as he briefly considered his next course of action. Jazz Lee was a foe to be respected despite his eccentricities, in a straight-up fight Nobu could at best evade him for a while, but eventually, he'd be overtaken and beaten into a pulp. Meanwhile, he could tell that while Jazz had the strength of a shinobi if he wished to exercise it, his chakra was poorly harnessed; instead, it had never truly been harnessed at all. Usually, Nobu would assume this was due to some rare genetic defect, but in Jazz's case, he got the sinking feeling that it was merely out of laziness.

Nobu was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth though, especially when Shimizu-sensei had put that much faith in him that he risked becoming poor to stir him to victory. Jazz Lee had never known the glory and wisdom of Shimizu Matsumura; it was most disheartening really to understand how lucky he had been with his sensei while others languished under lesser men.

Usually, he would be careful about attempting this technique but given the enormous threat that Jazz posed to him if only he could get up from his lazy ass and break out of his genjutsu. And the perfect opening he'd been given he knew there was no better time to attempt so than now.

He focused his attention and eyes cleanly on the crying boy and with impressive alacrity he wove the following hand signs in sequence: Dog, Snake, Monkey, Ox and Tiger and then he held it briefly and spoke quietly to himself. Because this was a powerful B-Rank Genjutsu, its use was much more flexible and required chiefly uninterrupted focus and a clear line of sight to the target. Naturally, the fact that Jazz was already under an illusion made it much more manageable as the sunflowers sought to restrain his mobility.

"Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!"

Should Jazz be caught in its thrall, the landscape would change radically and dangerously as sunflowers thickened massively in girth and began to converge upon the Genin en masse. Their enormous veiny tendrils seeking to bury Jazz underneath their weight and fully ensnare and crush all air out of his lungs, as it sought to convince his brain that he was suffocating and make him blackout and thereby hand the match to Nobu.

Jazz felt victim to the effects of Nobu's first genjutsu, his eyes opened amidst his crying, and several roots embraced his frame. "Wha-, what's going on?!"

Time passed, and the effects of the flowers only got worse, their massive tendrils attacked Jazz time and time again, limiting any exposure to the light and even as he screamed loudly, nobody heard him. He screamed and kicked helplessly, until finally, his movements stopped, and the world, had become black.

"Bahahaha!! What did I tell you, what DID I tell you?!" Shimizu proudly boasted, turning around to have a look at Taiga Senju while flailing both arms high over his head. Truth be told, he was shocked beyond belief that Nobu had defeated Jazz to reach the final rounds of the Chunin Exams. Taijutsu was not Nobu's strong suit --nor his own-- and he could've sworn that Nobu would go on to become a disappointment just like everyone else.

Nobu was surprising him more and more with each passing day... what was he going to do next, win the entire damn thing?!

"Jazz Lee is unable to battle," the proctor announced, his mouth free of any munching, "the winner is Nobu Hyuga, who shall now be moving on to the final round of the Chunin Exams battle phase."

The audience broke out into a flurry, reacting wildly to Nobu's incredible prowess.

Amari Uchiha himself was wildly amazed. "B-But I read that the Hyuga Clan are taijutsu users!" He thought aloud to himself. "He beat that fast guy without even laying a finger on him... what kind of a jutsu was that?"

Ski sneered "I-I hate Genjutsu..."

Nobu's knees buckled under him, the battle had been a short one to be sure but even so, he had expended a great deal of Chakra... Jazz Lee had required him to pull out all the stops from the go if the battle had gone on his loss would've been certain and it was only thanks to his opponent taking pity on him and allowing himself to be ensnared by his genjutsu that he'd even been victorious at all.

Meanwhile, Taiga Senju stood at the tribunes and glared angrily at Shimizu; never had he anticipated that Jazz Lee would face off against a Genjutsu Specialist; hardly any Genin had the raw ability necessary to use such Jutsu at a competent level. It was deeply unfortunate that his student had encountered his achilles heel from the start in this manner.

"Don't worry, Jazz, you made me proud regardless."

"A Genjutsu specialist," Amari pondered under his breath, reaching the same conclusion over Nobu's display of powers as Taiga and Ski before him. But he had little time to further his analysis of Nobu's skills, as the proctor soon signalled the beginning of the next match.

### Round Two: Amari Uchiha versus Ski Hōshigaki

"Ski Hoshigaki. Amari Uchiha. Please step down to the arena for the next match."

Amari nodded. However, rather than leap down like he had ahead of his first match, he instead took the long way around, up through the rest of the bleachers and then down a long hallway to reach the entrance of the arena. This way he would have more time to himself. More time to think; to analyze Ski and to conclude his thoughts over Nobu.

In due time, the young Uchiha clansmen arrived in the arena. The crowd roared for its hometown prospect. He was the last remaining Kumo-nin in these exams. The village wanted nothing more than to see one of their own bring home the victory.

On the other hand, Ski was very direct. He simply leaped from his place onto the arena, and awaited the Uchiha's arrival. He was small, young, but skilled. Perhaps he was everything that Ski wanted to be....successful, prodigal even. The Hoshigaki nervously tweedled his fingers.

"L-Let's make this a good fight!"

Standing opposite to his opponent, Amari went wide eyed. He had yet to activate his Sharingan. He had a knack for reading people, especially of their emotions and the way they felt. Judging by Ski's body language and as if his facial expressions weren't a dead giveaway on their own, Amari had the gut feeling that Ski was a bit nervous. Of what he didn't entirely know. Was it because he was fighting on a public stage before so many people?

"Relax." Amari smiled, trying to comfort his opponent in an awkward twist of fate. Sure he wanted to win, but not without seeing what his opponent was capable of.

"We'll both give it our all! Let's give everyone here a real show, yeah?"

Nobu was sitting in the tribunes watching Amari and Ski intently and placed his hands together to pray softly to himself whilst staring at Ski's back.

Please defeat the Uchiha, please defeat the Uchiha.

Genjutsu had always been Nobu's main road to victory and the Sharingan was an effective countermeasure to genjutsu, it was not so much that it prevented them outright but rather that the increased powers of perception they gave the Uchiha meant that only the most powerful of genjutsu could place them into a state of hypnosis; genjutsu of a level that Nobu did not yet possess.

Sitting beside his star pupil, Shimizu put his hand on Nobu's shoulder. "Ah, thanking the Six Paths for your victory today? You're a real cutie, I'll tell ya that much, kiddo." His hand slid down before slapping Nobu's back. The louder the slap, the prouder the sensei.

"But keep your eyes on the prize, Nobu-san. One of these two is bound to be your next opponent. You want to learn about them as much as you can while you have the chance to."

Ski nodded "I-indeed!"

He slid his hand onto the hilt of his blade.

What was he showing any sympathy for? Amari knew better than anyone why shinobi existed. His father Shigeo, as told by his mother, had birthed him for the sole purpose of producing a powerful heir to the most powerful clan in the world. Amari's purpose was simply to be strong. It was not to be loved by his parents or by anyone else, for that matter. Just as he had shown no mercy to the giant scorpion on his last mission, he saw no further reason to comfort Ski.

Ski would be a method for Amari to test his prowess. He would shown him where to train next, where his tactics were currently lacking. He was born in this world to be strong, and so he planned to be just that.

Munching resumed. "Now if you're both ready... you may begin!"

Amari reached into his weapons pouch, grabbing three shuriken. He kept his distance from Ski and hurled them in his direction with great precision, intending for them to stick to his body like darts.

Fuyuki observed Ski silently from atop the tribune and attempted to catch his attention, he would then nod solemnly to the Jinchuriki a blessing on his part to unleash the full force of his abilities in the stadium, Fuyuki didn't care if others were put in harms way as long as it demonstrated the reach of Kirigakure and the backing of the most powerful clan in the world; the Hozuki! Out of some measure of courtesy on his part he took a moment to observe Amari and while he noted that the boy held power far beyond what his age would suggest Fuyuki was ultimately a difficult man to impress.

The Sharingan's extraordinary power of insight was something he could at least respect and its luster was truly beautiful, indeed, Fuyuki had taken the eyes of the Uchiha he'd slain in his last mission and kept them preserved as a trophy in his office; others would seek to implant and use them for themselves but Fuyuki considered the Sharingan a crutch for lesser men.

Crush him. Ski.

Ski literally couldn't even believe the speed at which Amari launched his shuriken, probably because he could hardly even react. The moment the shurikens were launched, and by the time he blinked, they were already in front of him. He turned his body slightly, lifting his sword upwards slightly to adjust, but even that wasn't enough. Yet, this small contortion spared his vitals...the first of the projectiles struck onto his shoulder, and the second followed suit to his thight, and the third...well, that one deflected off the third, pushing that one slightly deeper into his flesh.

"Ahh.." Ski groaned, taking a step backwards as he was bombarded. Yet, the look on his visage indicated one thing; discomfort, nervousness, but no real pain. He had been blessed with an incredible physique, including his durability. Still, he couldn't sit on the defense for too long. Not now at least.

Ski literally couldn't even believe the speed at which Amari launched his shuriken, probably because he could hardly even react. The moment the shurikens were launched, and by the time he blinked, they were already in front of him. He turned his body slightly, lifting his sword upwards slightly to adjust, but even that wasn't enough. Yet, this small contortion spared his vitals...the first of the projectiles struck onto his shoulder, and the second followed suit to his thight, and the third...well, that one deflected off the third, pushing that one slightly deeper into his flesh.

"Ahh.." Ski groaned, taking a step backwards as he was bombarded. Yet, the look on his visage indicated one thing; discomfort, nervousness, but no real pain. He had been blessed with an incredible physique, including his durability. Still, he couldn't sit on the defense for too long. Not now at least.

"Y-You'll p-pa.."

He couldn't even finish his phrase before he took a step forward, the very flex of his muscles pushing the shuriken out of his flesh. He lifted his sword up and charged, intent on slicing horizontally the moment he came into range.

"What incredible durability...!" Amari thought to himself. He barely grimaced from being struck head on by two shuriken. They were direct hits and yet Ski didn't seem to be in any harm. Just what was he made of?
Amari didn't want to risk consuming any of his chakra just yet. Especially with how slow Ski was reacting to his movements, he didn't even see the need to activate his Sharingan just yet. He waited until Ski had flung with his sword to react; with his superior reflexes, Amari evaded Ski's sword swing by jumping skillfully into the air, as if it were effortless to him.
Then, twirling in the air above Ski, he aimed a vicious kick at his opponent's face, using the momentum of his airborne spin to shove his sandal against Ski's nose and mouth.

"E-Even his body is this fast?!" Ski briefly thought, before being interrupted by Amari.

The force of his foot slammed directly into Ski's face, directly smiting him where he had intended. Yet, in the time that he did, Ski dropped his blade but for a moment, reversing his grip on the hilt of the sword so that he could counter with a quick slice in the opposite direction diagonally.

It seemed no matter what Ski did, his efforts were simply in vain. Amari landed on the ground following his kick, and reading Ski's movements perfectly, the young Uchiha clansmen simply side stepped to evade the incoming swipe. In the opening he found, Amari pulled a kunai from his side pocket and lunged in towards Ski, going to thrust the kunai deep into his stomach.

Ski flinched, turning slightly, catching the kunai into his hips, rather than his stomach. He flinched in pain, and grit his teeth. Yet, using the adrenaline that coursed through his veins at that moment, he flung his head forward, intent on headbutting Amari the moment that his attack went through.

Amari was late to react as the kunai was literally stuck inside of Ski. This provided Ski with a momentarily lapse in which he could catch Amari before he was able to slip away.

Ski's head banged against Amari's; fortunately their forehead protectors clashed, leaving Amari a bit more defended. He backed up nevertheless, using his speed to distance himself from Ski. He was left with a little bit of a headache.

"What are his jutsu? Is he unable to use ninjutsu? What about genjutsu? Even his taijutsu is subpar at best... he seems to specialize in kenjutsu."

Opting to keep conserving his chakra, Amari pulled six more shuriken from his weapons pouch, taking three into each hand. He then blitzed around, running circular laps around Ski as he recovered from being stabbed by the kunai from before. All the while shooting the six shuriken at him from different directions.

"T-This is b-ba--"

There were no more words in his mind as he was struck by the kunai from all over, despite his attempts to dodge. Amari was simply too quick. He was far too fast; his movements, to his projectiles. There was absolutely nothing that Ski could do except pray that he survived the blitz and that Amari tire himself out. Yet, within the first initial movements, he had done absolutely nothing to damage the child. Even now, he looked onwards, blood dripping from the edges of his mouth as he stared at the Uchiha. His sword fell from his blood-riddled arm, the same area that he been struck by several shurikens.

"He's so fast..."

Ski fell to one knee.

"S-Shit!"

Amari stopped ahead of his enemy as he took a knee. He glanced between the proctor and Ski, wondering why the battle had not yet been stopped. But then he shook his head and glared ahead. He wasn't here to sympathetic. He needed to stop caring so much.

Amari bursted forward once again, lunging towards the fallen Ski with all his speed and all his strength. He aimed a hard elbow into the fishman's throat, to hopefully drop him and finish him off, as far as he knew.

“You’re losing……you trained all this time, and even sought me out. Why are you not using it? Are you that proud? Do you hate me that much?”

The voice was deep and raspy. It was filled with arrogance and laced in condescension. It was a voice that he was all too familiar with: The Six Tails.

Ski turned around to face the chained beast.

“I-I can win this without you!”

The slug chuckled. “Without me? Foolish human…I AM you. You are nothing but a vessel to hold my strength…our strength. Your body is mine, for the taking, and I WILL take it…”

“N-N”

Saiken leaned forward, rattling the chains with ferocity. “You are me…”

Ski lifted his hands up, catching Amari’s elbow with a single arm. He lifted his head, revealing his bloodshot eyes.

“Ahhhhhh!!!!” he shrieked, leaning forward, intent on throwing the much, smaller Uchiha with his newfound strength.

He succeeded in throwing Amari backwards. Amari's eyes widened as he was utterly surprised by the way Ski had suddenly reached a new level of power. Amari soared through the air, but quickly caught himself mid-flight; he unpocketed a kunai and stabbed it into the ground until he had properly re-balanced himself.

At this point, Amari finally activated his Sharingan --the two tomoe spinning to life. He was amazed by what he saw.

What was this power? Chakra reserves comparable to his own... a rare sight indeed. But even beyond that, there was a type of chakra churning within Ski which Amari had never seen before. What was he?

Ski was physically stronger than him now. Amari could feel their difference in strength just by the way he had been flung before. Suddenly he was grateful for all the chakra he had saved. He may be needing every bit of it now.

Upon the tribunes Fuyuki's gaze hardened as once again Ski proved himself to be a disappointment at this rate he would make a mockery of Kirigakure and that was simply not something that the Hozuki Heir could allow under present or any circumstances whatsoever so he slowly walked around so that the Saiken-possessed Ski could clearly see him and detect a whiff of his murderous intent, a reminder of the beasts true purpose and what Fuyuki threatened to do if the creature did not comply with his demands.

Ski mattered less than dirt to Fuyuki, he was merely a suitable vessel to contain and easier harness the Tailed Beast inside him, he was a weapon for Kirigakure and more importantly, he was HIS weapon. It was a clear signal, Saiken would be permitted to go all out if necessary, even if it meant destroying Ski in the process.

Rather than say anything, Amari decided to see for himself what this new power would enable Ski to do against him.

It may have been a stupid decision, but there was Uchiha blood coursing Amari's veins. He loved the heat of battle. He was desperate to see more.

He flung the kunai at Ski, then reached into his pocket for another immediately afterward.

Nobu's Byakugan had been watching every moment of the fight and so he'd grown acclimated and accustomed to the flow of their chakra and the way their bodies moved; but as he peered within Ski's Chakra he saw something looking back at him, briefly he saw the vision of an enormous monstrosity with a well of chakra so intense that when he saw it his stomach lurched and he fell forwards and puked from shock and horror.

"Shimizu-san.. urgk.. the boy, he's.. he's one of THOSE!"

Ski gathered himself onto his two feet, before lunging forward, his newfound speed aiding him ever so slightly in their battle. Whereas earlier he struggled to even perceive the projectile, his speed aided him. Even if he perceived the kunai at the same speeds as before, his raw speed allowed him to dodge it, making it appear that his reflexes had gotten quicker.

As he lunged forward, he caught the kunai in his hand, and swiped forward towards the hand in which Amari moved into his pouch.

”He’s gotten faster..!”

Amari was able to retrieve the kunai from his side pocket just as Ski lunged forward. He clashed his kunai against the one in Ski’s hand, but he was soon overpowered by the Jinchuuriki’s superior strength.
Amari skid backwards. His kunai had been broken in the clash. He discarded whatever was left of its handle, never losing composure.

It seemed his opponent had finally surpassed his shurikenjutsu prowess.

Amari regained his balance, eyeing the Jinchuuriki confidently with his Sharingan. There wasn’t anything Ski could do that Amari wouldn’t be able to see.

He reached into his weapons pouch one last time, flinging kunai in every direction. These were not intended to harm Ski, but rather scatter across the battlefield.

Then as they scattered, he immediately performed several hand signs in quick succession, preparing a jutsu. He kept his eyes on Ski, waiting for him to act. He was still twice as fast as him; he would still be able to close the distance between them and maintain his advantage.

“I don’t think so!!” Ski yelled, flinging his kunai towards Amari, intent on interrupting his handseals in the meantime. He could not afford to have him casting any jutsu; as he needed to end this fight as quickly as possible, while he remained in control.
Even now, Ski could feel Saiken’s influence creeping onto his mind. Although a short amount of time had passed since awakening to its chakra, he knew that he only had a few minutes, at most, utilizing this before he succumbed to the beast’s superior will.

He took a step forward, his foot rebuking the earth the moment he took a step, creating a small crater as he sent himself hurling forward in chase of Amari.

Just as he wanted. Ski was so caught up in what was overtaking him that he had never even bothered to take the kunai out from his hip. It was still there, stabbed into his waist. Amari eyed it with his red eyes, and as bursted towards him, Amari, using his superior speed, perceptive ability and overall reflexes, sidestepped to evade the kunai and then again to narrowly avoid Ski. It was a showing of impeccable timing on Amari’s behalf, but the Uchiha prodigy had yet another trick up his sleeve.

He had avoided Ski’s attack. But the hand signs he had formed before suddenly worked to spark a powerful flame around Amari’s closed fist.
Then in the next instant, he was gone. Using the body replacement technique to switch places with the kunai stuck inside Ski’s waist, Amari appeared within point-blank range of his opponent —undoubtedly catching him off guard.(edited)

“Uchiha Style...”

In the small opening between dodging Ski’s attack, Amari had suddenly bypassed his senses AND defenses to be within point-blank range of the jinchuuriki. Now using his better speed and reflexes, he went to deliver a powerful flaming fist to the open wound on his hip, which the kunai had created before.

“Hiken!!!!”

Ski felt the force of Amari’s punch directly into the wound created on his hip, sending him skidding across the ground within the arena. He flinched at the attack, before flipping backwards, having been protected ever so slightly by the chakra strengthening his already immensely powerful physique.

Yet even that attack left him temporarily dazed.

“W-What the heck?! Y-You’re so strong!!”

Temporarily dazed was one way to put it. Amari knew the damage he had dealt to his opponent. Even with all this newfound chakra and increased speed, the wounds would work in his favor by sharply decreasing the Jinchuuriki's mobility.

As Ski remained dazed by his attack, Amari slipped in close, snaking in from Ski's flank. Hand signs readied, he launched a sizable cloud of great fire at Kiri-nin, hoping to claim him within the blast and put him to bed.

Ski had no chance…even the demon beast that dwelled deep in his psyche knew what would happen next. Yet, it could not do it. Not now…Ski was not ready for the immense surge of power that it could grant, and therefore, just as Amari leapt forward, its powers lessened, leaving him void of the strength it had just granted.

Ski glanced upwards briefly and……

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just, darkness.

Amari, denoting his opponent defeated, deactivated his Sharingan and took in a calm breath.

It was over... for now. But Amari was left passionately curious of what was inside of Ski.

And thus began the young boy’s everlasting fascination.

“Ski Hoshigaki is unable to battle. The winner is Amari Uchiha.”

The hometown crowd broke out into a wild celebration.

Amongst all of the important people at the event one would hardly be expected to notice a blonde mother of tree in the crowd but ever since Amari had stepped unto the battlefield something had been amiss with her, her eyes had spontaneously turned from their ordinary shade of blue into a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan, her face had remained passive and her body rigid under the entire battle although in the darkness her family members had not taken notice of this change. Once Amari proved himself the victor however her eyes abruptly returned to normal and she seemed to sink deeper into her seat with ragged and confused breaths.

Somewhere else.

Shigeo Uchiha calmly finished off the solo remaining enemy as he deliberated upon his son's highly impressive performance which he had witnessed through the eyes of his witless proxy, but the feeling he felt was a hollow one. It was not as though he disliked Amari per se but his existence was a constant reminder of all the things he'd been forced to give up and so Shigeo had no real desire to meet him.

Even so, he was glad to see that he was improving into a worthy asset of the Uchiha Clan. Yet this brief respite for reflection was all the time he had to offer as the ANBU Captain vanished to join his comrades on their hunt.

### Exam Finals: Amari Uchiha versus Nobu Hyūga

A week had gone by since the conclusion of the last round of the battle phase. The final battle was saved for another day, and when it became apparent that the match would be between a user of the Sharingan and a user of the Byakugan, the event drew even more attention than before.

Thousands of more guests stormed to Kumogakure to be in attendance for the final round. High profile guests, even, had come around to see the battle between Amari and Nobu.

Even Shinobi who had been present for the prior rounds of the exam lingered in Kumo for an extended period of time, simply to see these two Shinobi in action. They may end up becoming enemies sooner than later so it was best to learn of their abilities in a more comfortable setting such as this.

The Hyūga Clan of Iwagakure.

The Uchiha Clan of Kumogakure.

Munching ensued as the two participants stood opposite to one another in the arena, thousands as spectators roaring around them.

Munching ensued as the two confronted each other.

Awaiting the proctor’s signal, Amari already activated his Sharingan. He learned from his battle with Ski that it was best not to drag a battle on.

Nobu Hyūga had been really disappointed to learn that Amari would be his opponent, in the entire competition there hadn't been a single person better suited to handling him than his current foe, it was truly a match made in hell and another example of Nobu's Sixth Law, the Law of Suck: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and if circumstances allow that something goes well it will soon become apparent that it would be better if it went wrong.

He'd dominated his previous two matches without as much as a scratch and usually in less than a minute and it looked as though he was about to make a difference but this was what fate had always intended, he was gonna meet his worst matchup in the finals so that he could publicly embarrass the Hyūga Clan in front of the entire world. Fate was cruel to Nobu at the best of times but this time she'd bent him over her knee and spanked his cheeks silly.

Amari possessed the kind of brilliance that Nobu would have loved to possess in his youth, the kind that would have made his clan proud although he bitterly noted how the kid possessed the Sharingan and in a fit of internal spite Nobu refused to acknowledge Amari past it. The Sharingan was the entire reason for Amari's success he decided, anyone would become a genius if afforded that level of insight.

The Sharingan's Genjutsu prowess was something that Nobu had long envied, he'd observed the young Uchiha from afar before even approaching him utilizing the telescopic sight of the Byakugan and so he'd taken an effective precaution and arrived in the ring with his eyes closed to prevent Amari from establishing direct eye contact, for with the Byakugan his gaze easily penetrated his own eyelids.

Amari smirked, seeing Nobu take countermeasures against his Genjutsu by closing his eyelids. At last, a worthy opponent who had studied the arsenal of his opponent just as extensively as his own.

"You may now... begin." Munching resumed.

* Amari reached into his side pocket without taking his eyes off of his opponent. He took a single kunai into his grasp and hurled it with great precision towards the far older Hyuga, all the while keeping him within his gaze to study his style of battle even more thoroughly. \*

Should Nobu move from his place and evade the kunai with his speed, then Amari with his superior reflexes would already have a half dozen shuriken aimed at the spot that Nobu would move to in order to evade it.

Watching from atop the arena his arms hanging over a railing, Jazz's fist tightened at the sight of Nobu. He bore no ill will at his opponent, no, rather he simply disliked the embarrassment he had suffered during their bout. To lose a battle that had barely even begun? In front of all those people? It was the most embarrassing thing Jazz had witnessed and so, with a loud gulp, he cheered on Nobu's opponent.

"You got this, lil' dude!"

Nobu's Byakugan permitted him an extraordinary view of the battle at a near 360° angle. So plots within plots and distractions were of significantly lesser worth against the All-Seeing Eye of the Byakugan.
a
He sidestepped the incoming kunai with practised ease; it was thrown with much greater velocity and precision than what he could muster. Still, the difference in speed between him and it was significant, particularly when he could see every single motion leading up to the throw itself. Simultaneously he also witnessed Amari preparing his future ploy and adjusted his stance for freer movement so that he was ready to move again at a moments notice.

As he moved a strange scent began to fill the arena, at once sweet and fetid. It was an intense aroma, difficult to ignore and highly distinct, and should Amari inhale even a whiff of it he'd find himself assaulted by plant-like javelins shooting up from the earth to impale him through the chest and legs.

Ski bit his lip and took a deep breath, barely able to fight back his tears as he watched the two engage in battle. He wanted to be there, not for himself, but for his village, for his family, and for his mentor, who had dedicated time to him. But, he wasn't strong enough. Not now. So, he would watch. And he would learn.

Employing shurikenjutsu before any other means of combat was Amari’s way of testing his opponent. Unlike Ski before him, Nobu had effortlessly evaded the thrown projectiles, showing that it was going to take more than a volley of kunai and shuriken to fall him. He indeed was worthy of being an adversary in the final rounds.

As Nobu’s movement did not quite span the distance Amari had predicted, there was no need for another assault of projectiles. He pocketed the shuriken into his pouch in the same moment Nobu had stepped to the side.

The Byakugan was a tough matchup. This was Amari’s first time battling against it. Nobu has taken countermeasures against Amari’s genjutsu so it was only fitting that Amari return the favor.

With his Sharingan he was able to see the incoming odor filling up the arena as a mass of chakra. He had seen what it had done to Jazz, and while he was confident in his capacity to dispel it, he figured it would be wiser to avoid its effects altogether.
Amari moved his hands backwards, adjusting the headband bearing the insignia of the hidden cloud from around his forehead and fastening it around his nose and mouth.
[8:37 PM]
This would keep him from inhaling the scent for some time. Eventually, however it was likely that in order to breathe the headband would have to be undone; even if temporarily.

But this would pressure Nobu to keep the odour running. Meaning to keep it active he would have to be expending his chakra continuously while also keeping his Byakugan active on top of that. Nobu, as far as his Sharingan had perceived, did not possess the chakra reserves he did. If it came down to survival of stamina, Amari would win.

Amari formed the clone hand seal, spawning a second replication of himself. Both he and his clone —their nostrils and mouths covered— raced towards Nobu from different angles. As fast as he was, Nobu was not that much faster than Amari. He may be able to avoid the physical attacks of one Amari, but another Amari would be right there, ready to predict his movements with his superior perceptive ability.

Punches and kicks, the two bodies of Amari lunged at Nobu from different angles, one from each side. A punch was aimed at Nobu’s face, a hard kick to his stomach.

Nobu visibly grimaced as Amari figured out his trick so quickly, he supposed it was to be expected since Amari had witnessed his fight against Jazz. His Byakugan's sight proved itself to be a tremendous boon immediately even as the two Amaris crept upon him. It permitted him to view each of them with perfect clarity and adequately assess and determine their angle and their most likely route. More importantly, it unveiled all of the different places he could go to back away from their assault altogether.

Spinning slightly around at an awkward angle, Nobu used his arms and shoulders to hide the two seals that he wove from the prying eyes of the Sharingan. Thanks to his Kekkei Genkai, he could both disguise his movements and observe his opponents at the same time.

If Nobu was caught by the two of them for even a moment, he knew he would lose. Moments before they were to reach him a whirlwind of dust and gravel rose around him and disguised his movements. As Nobu once again performed the Iwagakure variant of the Body Flicker Technique; though Amari outsped him regularly when he employed this technique that all briefly changed for an instant.

Nobu reappeared some distance away and assumed a Hyuga-like pose before thrusting both of his hands forwards towards the two Amaris as he yelled: "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palms!"

The air seemed to ripple and puncture around his arms as two surges of flowing illusory airwaves issued out of his palms towards the duo. Each aimed at one or the other because as Amari had divided himself evenly, Nobu could not easily distinguish between them even with his Byakugan.

Nobu was the best Amari had ever seen at employing the Body Flicker —even better than his own brother Yoshirou who had taught him how to use it. But by running away from him, Nobu was only prolonging the inevitable. And Amari wanted him to understand that.

The eyes of the Sharingan were so perceptive that falling to a genjutsu of this caliber would not work against Amari. But even more so because he had produced a shadow clone to aid through his assault. Before he even had the chance to see Nobu’s illusory air palms, Amari first and foremost saw the disturbance in the chakra patterns of his clone, indicating to him that it had fallen under genjutsu. He had kept the shadow clone moving ahead of him for this very reason; it fell prey to the genjutsu before he did, and because Amari could visibly see the disturbance in the clone’s chakra, he was able to dispel the genjutsu with precise control before it even fully reached him.

The clone was momentarily stopped in its tracks, but Amari was not. He bursted ahead at full speed towards the Nobu who had hoped to catch him in his genjutsu.

Amari lunged for Nobu’s legs, going to skid his foot into his ankles to knock him off balance so that he would not simply be able to body flicker away again. Not long after did his clone rejoin him; and the two of them together would yet again attempt to pounce on Nobu and give him a brutal beat down with their fists alone.

No one understood Nobu's shortcomings better than Nobu himself and so he was fully aware that it was all likely inevitable. At this stage, he didn't fight to beat Amari; rather, he fought to preserve the honour and respect of the Hyuga Clan that he was currently representing against their ancient rival.

His options were limited, given how effective Amari's mastered Sharingan was at countering genjutsu of his level. The Body Flicker technique did not consume much chakra to use. So he could technically keep running away from Amari and his clone for quite a while if need be, but that was not an option because the image of an Uchiha chasing a witless Hyuga around in circles in the Chunin Exam Finals would make a mockery of everything that he stood for. While he could certainly use the Shadow Trigram, it would not do much to aid him in this situation given the fact it merely increased his offence and was largely melee-oriented, honestly, why had he even invented that Jutsu?

For once, Nobu wanted to make a lasting impression, for once he would pretend that he wasn't a failure. If all he could do was lie, he wanted to lie to the entire world.

Nobu narrowly avoided Amari's ankle at the last second by leaping backwards, exploiting the distance he needed to travel to optimal effect, but he would flee no more. In the next instance, he exuded a second cloud of scented mist and inhaled all of it at once.

This one carried a Genjutsu of a wholly different sort; it was similar in principle to that of the Shadow Trigram, but it was far more dangerous, Nobu was a well-read individual, and he had known of the existence of the Eight Gates for many years. Nobu's last Genjutsu washed over his brain and convinced it thoroughly that he possessed the requirements to open the Gate of Opening. His body was deceived and unlocked those restraints by force even though it was far beyond his ability to withstand.

Nobu's form vanished at speeds much surpassing even his Body Flicker as the air cracked with the force of his movement and the raw strength that he now possessed. Then he practically burst into motion, reappearing behind Amari with his leg outstretched and his skin glistening crimson and accompanied by a sickening crack of his bones fracturing under the weight of his muscles.

Adrenaline shot through him as he attempted to kick the true Amari, who had made his true self known when he used his clone to shield himself against Nobu's Genjutsu moments prior.

By the time Nobu had avoided Amari's ankle sweep, Amari's clone had caught up to him and now stood at the ready beside the original. The two watched from varying perspectives as Nobu conjured yet another high-level genjutsu; given the number of Body Flickers he had used along with the high-level Genjutsu, not to mention keeping his Byakugan active at all times, Nobu had certainly exhausted much of his chakra reserves. So then why was his chakra suddenly spiralling so out of control? Amari could see with his eyes that the moment Nobu inhaled his own Genjutsu that his chakra had flared wildly. Was he one of... those? Like Osamu... like Ao... like Ski... could it be that he too had a monster sealed within him?

Precautions were needed to be taken. And fast. What Nobu had just done to himself seemed reckless from the surface, but Amari's eyes warned him of the coming danger. However fast Nobu became, he was still not faster than what the Sharingan could perceive.

Somehow Nobu had managed to tell between he and his clone. But in the time Nobu used his genjutsu, sucked it all in, and then received the benefits of the First Gate, Amari wasn't just standing around. He formed various hand seals, making sudden use of the Body Replacement Technique as he had against Ski to swap places with his Shadow Clone just as Nobu's kick landed against him. The clone was destroyed with a single blast, creating a large cloud of smoke from which Amari quickly escaped.

He remained strikingly calm. His battle with Ski had taught him to always remain on guard even amidst a dire and unexpected circumstance. If he was hit by this transformed Nobu, it was all over for him.

He immediately began to form several more hand signs. Forced onto the defensive, he readied a fire release technique, knowing that Nobu was desperate to claim victory. He would stand where he was, waiting for Nobu to attack him from any angle; and with his reflexes he'd be able to turn at the very last second and release his fire just when Nobu was close enough.

He couldn't risk to miss. Nor could he risk creating another Shadow Clone. A B-ranked technique would be too much even for him. If he was going to be forced to use a jutsu of that level again he'd need to save his chakra for his fire fist. But currently chakra was already climbing from his stomach up into his mouth.

Shimizu Matsmura, who was spectating from the stands was gravely shocked by his student's rash decision. Sure he hadn't ever trained with him much to begin with, but he knew such a technique was out of Nobu's skill set. He could sense the large spike of chakra accumulating in him and for once Shimizu found himself thinking about someone else other than himself.

If this carried on any longer, Nobu would jeopardize his future as a shinobi. And at what cost? Was Nobu sacrificing himself for Shimizu's sake? Shimizu stood up and gripped the railing in front of him. Someone needed to stop this match before Nobu self destructed from the inside out.

Nobu's senses were in complete disarray; he did not truly realize what he was doing, adrenaline rushed through his body and distorted his train of thought. His resolve was the only thing that mattered, dying for his clan was what he'd been groomed forever since he was born, breaking to protect its memory and place in the world.

When he landed after destroying the Shadow Clone, however, his body refused to cooperate as he impacted the floor with two sickening cracks. Nobu's legs curved upwards and away from the ground until he collapsed onto the side with his right leg bent up towards his ear, and his left leg was flailing limply about only attached by muscles and skin at this point, as he rolled across the floor, his gaze blank and empty. It was only the fact that he blacked out at that moment that kept him from feeling the sort of unimaginable agony that would accompany such suicidal behaviour, though in the months to come he would undoubtedly become intimately familiar with it.

For good or ill, Nobu had at the very least ended the match his way, and he never succeeded in approaching Amari for a second blow.

"...!!"

In silence, Amari watched as his opponent fell to his own mishaps. A split second had decided this battle. If he had not learned the shadow clone technique the night before, advanced his sharingan into the third tomoe level, or thought to swap places with his clone, then this battle would have gone entirely different. Nobu was the toughest opponent Amari had ever faced. And while he was much harder on himself than he needed to be, he had certainly earned the respect of a 5 year old --if that even meant anything to him.

"Nobu Hyuga is... unable to battle --the winner is none other than Kumo's very own, Amari Uchiha!"

The crowd erupted into a triumphant roar. It was impossible for one to hear himself think with how loud it got.

Amari bowed his head, clapping his hands together as his red pupils turned black.

At only 5 years old and mere months after graduating from the academy, he had managed to win the Chunin Exams. Kumogakure had quite the prodigy in their hands. The young boy couldn't help but wonder... wherever his father may have been, would news of such a victory be enough to reach him? How would it make him feel to know that his progeny, whom he spent no time to know, could accomplish so much without his involvement?

Amari was still dissatisfied. He was more pleased in the moment of battle when he knew he would be facing a worthy adversary. Victory meant nothing to him... it did not quench his thirst for power. He still sought more. More and more. This was not at all where he wanted to be.