Baki barely got his kunai up in time to block the roundhouse kick aimed at his skull.
"You picked a bad day to pick a fight against the Leaf, you Suna-nin… get ready, because your opponent is the handsome blue beast of the Leaf himself—Might Guy." Guy struck a handsome Might Guy pose.
(Very Handsome)
"Time and opponents are not a choice when your village is starving," Baki answered, and pressed the attack again.
"OH… such youthful words, to burn oneself for his village and comrades… I'll be damned. I must burn my youth even brighter." Tears trailed down the green spandex man's eyes as he avoided another punch coming at him and threw a roundhouse kick of his own.
A rooftop away, Kakashi too was facing a mist that had rolled in far too fast to be natural, and a voice he hadn't heard in months cut through it like a blade.
"Been a while, aye Kakashi..."
Zabuza's silhouette resolved out of the fog, Kubikiribōchō resting against one shoulder. Grinning like he had come to settle a personal debt after a long time. Which very well was the case for him.
"Didn't expect a third round this soon."
"Can't say I was looking forward to it either. I don't like beating a defeated foe again, let alone for the third time." Kakashi's hand drifted toward his headband, but he didn't remove it from his eyes.
Zabuza's smile stiffened quite a bit, anger bubbling up. "Surely, Kakashi, didn't take you for the smack-talking type…"
"I'm usually not… at least until I'm looking at a third-time loser."
That seemed to do it. Zabuza launched himself toward Kakashi with his sword, which Kakashi barely blocked with his kunai, his shoulder getting slightly grazed by the massive blade, drawing a thin line of blood.
"You could've stayed out of this, you know. I thought you left the Mist."
"Could've," Zabuza agreed, and vanished into the mist without finishing the thought.
"But I got a score to settle, don't I?"
"Yes… it seems to be the case." Kakashi finally opened his headband. Since the Binding Vow was fulfilled, he couldn't use his Sharingan until someone drew his blood, but in return his Sharingan became much more efficient.
A simple Binding Vow Sukuna made for him, but that small change had changed how he fought almost completely.
And now, since blood had been drawn, it was time for the Copy Ninja to do his magic.
Not far from them, Haku moved through the chaos with none of the enthusiasm his opponents' banter carried. Senbon flew in precise, restrained arcs—enough to disable, never enough to kill, even now.
"I'd rather not do this," he said quietly, dropping into a defensive stance across from Naruto and Sakura.
"Then don't!" Naruto shot back, already forming a clone.
"It isn't my choice." Haku's expression didn't change. Beside him, Suigetsu grinned with too many teeth and cracked his knuckles.
"Speak for yourself, I've been dying to kick that annoying loudmouth's ass for months." He surged forward, blade already liquefying at the edges, and Sakura barely got her lightning-charged glove up in time to deflect it.
"I'm your opponent, idiot…" Sakura poured more chakra into the gloves, and the lightning intensified.
While Naruto, being Naruto, had already forgotten that he couldn't beat Suigetsu without having something like Lightning Style on hand, she remembered exactly why that boy was so tricky to fight.
'I gotta show my appreciation to that idiot for these gloves later…' Sakura looked at the gloves and just wondered what it would be like if she didn't have them. Then her face flushed lightly as she wondered how to make it up to her idiot brother.
'Hmmm~ not now, Sakura. Focus.'
"Hm, Sakura-chan, why are you blushing?" Naruto asked in confusion.
"Why else, you idiot? Can't you see she's facing a handsome, strong swordsman like me? It's a natural reaction." Suigetsu shamelessly said.
"Impossible, Sakura-chan will never blush because of you. It must be because of my improvement, yes... has to be. Right, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura's light blush turned into a raging inferno in a matter of seconds…
"Shut up, you idiots…" She appeared magically beside Naruto and landed her Punch of Love right onto his head.
"Stop fooling around and go left side!" she shouted, and he was already moving, shadow clones scattering to flank Haku before the ice user could pin them down with mirrors.
Across the collapsing training field, Sasuke faced Kankuro with the flat, assessing calm he brought to everything, Sharingan already spinning.
"That puppet's not going to help you," Sasuke said, watching Crow's joints twitch with poison-laced blades.
"You'd be surprised." Kankuro's fingers moved, and Crow lunged.
Unfortunately for Kankuro, Sasuke wasn't in the best of moods after getting disqualified from the exam, so he was in for a rough time.
Above it all, Karin crouched on a rooftop with her eyes closed, chakra senses spread wide across the entire district. "Sasuke's holding, Naruto and Sakura might need backup near the east wall, Gai-sensei—" she paused, frowning, "—is engaged with someone I don't recognize."
Nearby, Naoya, wearing Neji's face with none of Neji's restraint, had thrown himself into the fighting uninvited, cutting down an enemy chūnin with brutal efficiency and a smirk that didn't belong on a genin.
Not because he was saving others; he just wished to fight and iron out his technique in this new body of his, and he couldn't find a better place than this all-out battle royale.
"Byakugan," he muttered, eyes flaring, "was wasted on someone as weak as this one."
Strangely enough, Byakugan and Projection Sorcery went together like butter on chicken.
Delicious.
The man had turned into a ghost, taking down anything that came into his sight, even some Konoha shinobi, as he hardly cared.
Good thing Gentle Fist doesn't directly kill enemies.
Deeper in the district, Tsunade had arrived at a dead run. Her contract with that old man, Sarutobi, wasn't this damn it.
It was strictly healing others with no blood involvement. Not facing a village-wide invasion.
She came nonetheless.
Because even after all her jabs and denial, her heart resided in this village. She couldn't let it be destroyed because of those Suna and Kiri bastards.
She alone took down the majority of the enemies around the hospital side.
However, that stroke of heroism didn't last very long; large-scale battles are often covered with blood after all.
The moment blood sprayed across her vision from a fallen Konoha shinobi, her whole body seized—legs locking, breath catching, decades-old fear rising up exactly when she couldn't afford it.
Now there was no doubt that she had improved a lot over the last few months, partly because that pink-haired brat forced her to adapt to blood whether she liked it or not.
"If blood does that to you, how do you even survive your periods… oh wait, you're too old to have them, forget I said anything."
That day she swore she would have flattened the entire Land of Fire if Shizune and nine other nurses and doctors hadn't held her back.
Needless to say, he practically forced her to face blood. She was much better now, but not quite enough to completely overcome it.
So when she saw it, her phobia acted up. She wasn't rendered into a helpless, quivering damsel in distress; however, her earlier fighting spirit was broken.
An enemy jōnin saw the opening and took it, kunai already flashing toward her throat.
He never reached her.
Because the incoming enemy shinobi was sent flying the next second.
By an equally delicate-looking fist like hers. Tsunade's eyes flickered to her savior and a scowl immediately appeared.
"Why, grandma, shit's getting too difficult for you to keep up?" She actually had the audacity to look into her eyes and wink.
Tsunade's legendary temper directly went into top gear.
Another enemy came, and Izumi's fist was already moving, connecting with his ribs first, Star Rage folding the very nature of mass and physique around her knuckles, and the man was thrown backward through a wall hard enough that he didn't get up again.
"Don't worry, grandma… leave this to the young people. Just go inside and take care of the kids. I got this." Izumi laughed, definitely getting back at the old lady who used Ninja Make to look half her age and who had been responsible for tormenting her with absolute boredom before.
The ground beneath the Slug Sannin shattered with, 'Oh, she was teaching this brat today how to behave toward her seniors,' but to her irritation she was already moving.
Leaving another tick mark on Tsunade's forehead.
Izumi herself darted her eyes toward the Kage booth. Most enemies were no match for her, but those two Kages were an entirely different matter altogether.
She might as well see how strong Kages were now that she had gotten a chance. So with a casual grin on her face, she darted toward where the three Kages were duking it out.
xXx
A/N : Just wish to show what's going on around the village, no wonder it took me 200+ chapters to just reach upto Chunin Exam. Damn...
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