Chapter 14: Finals

Riku got up at his usual time to start his training. With only a month before the finals he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to beat Neji (not beating Sasuke was not a thought that entered his mind). From what he knew of the boy, Riku was quite a bit at the disadvantage in close quarters. Should Neji reach him, he knew that he was done for. The basic taijutsu style of the academy couldn’t hold a candle to the gentle fist, Riku was very well aware of that. At the same time, the dirty blonde didn’t have any jutsu allowing him to win at a distance. Sure, he has his shurifuins but those were lethal and while he found acceptable maiming the ‘bastard’ killing him was a line he didn’t want to and will not cross. That left him a bit in a bind. Hinae had agreed to give him half an hour of sparring a day so he could familiarize himself with fighting an opponent using the Juken but not more. He understood why such a limit. She had to train two students for the finals after all. That she agreed and didn’t outright say no, made Riku feel good. It wasn’t often that someone actually helped him in such capacity. Not even Izumo and Kotetsu were that involved.

After washing his face and brushing his teeth, he dressed up in his training clothes and exited his home. Just as he opened the door, he was confronted with a familiar Anbu with a neko mask and long purple hair. While he wasn't 100% sure, he was almost certain that behind the mask was Hayate’s fiancee, Uzuki Yugao. Purple hair was just uncommon in the village but not rare.

“Ah! Good morning Neko-san. How can I help you?”

“Warudo-san, Lord third summoned you.” she stated and Riku nodded in acknowledgement.

“I’m on my-”

“No. Hokage-sama is not waiting for you at the tower. I will bring you to his location.”

“I… see.”

A bit confused, Riku closed the door of his home and let himself be a tag along to Neko’s shushin. After a few stops to shushin again, the pair arrived at what looked like a training ground. A secluded one. Riku had no idea where they were but from the short stops he gathered it was near the Hokage Mountain. Every thought about location went out the window when he saw a dozen feet away from him, the Hokage himself in his battle gear.

‘What the fuck?!’

Apparently he said out loud his thoughts because Hiruzen laughed, and Neko hit his shoulder with her hand as if saying ‘Mind your language in presence of Lord Third.’

‘I… have so many questions right now and the only one I have an answer to is… Am I about to have my butt handed to me? And I’m pretty sure the answer is ‘yes’.”

Hiruzen laughed some more and even Neko let out a very unprofessional but deadly cute snort.

“You’re correct. It’s time for you to have a proper teacher to guide you and I found myself the most apt to the task.”

“No offense, Hokage-sama but… Really? I’m sure there are plenty of jonin out there qualified for the job. And wouldn’t that be kind of cheating that you…” Riku began but stopped himself and shook his head as if he was removing some cobwebs. “Nevermind, you’re the Hokage, you do whatever you want and cheating is a shinobi skill.”

“Exactly! Besides, it’s been a while since I had a student, even if temporary.”

“Why me, though?”

“You… don’t know?”

Hiruzen lost his cheeky smile and replaced it with bewilderment. He had thought that Riku would have understood why.

“Can’t say I do, Hokage-sama.”

“Because you’re a prodigy.” the old man replied bluntly in a ‘Duh’ tone.

“ME?! I mean sure I’m smart but there is smarter. I just work hard.”

“You are, I assure you. In my almost 65 years of career as a shinobi I only met four individuals who had as much talent as you do. You’re the fifth.”

Riku, who had wide eyes ever since Hiruzen’s statement about being a prodigy, slightly leaned toward Neko who was still at his side. His eyes still fixed on his leader he whispered something outrageous.

“Neko-san, did someone switch Lord Third’s tobacco with drugs?”

Her answer was swift. A fist punching the top of his head.

“No, nobody switched my tobacco with drugs. I’m utterly serious. Such potential, your potential, can’t be wasted anymore.”

“I…” Taking a big breath, Riku spoke his mind. “Honestly I doubt it but as I said, you’re the Hokage so you do whatever you want. If that’s training me, then so be it. I won’t spit on a helping hand anyway. I just hope you won't regret your decision, Hokage-sama.”

“I don’t think I will.”

Signaling to Neko that she could go, Hiruzen approached Riku.

“What is your plan for the coming month?”

“I was thinking of a way to counter the Juken. As I am now, I have no way to soundly beat Neji. Learning a new taijutsu style would be foolish as a month would not be enough. I did schedule half an hour with Hinae-san to get used to it. Ninjutsu on the other hand seemed like a good idea. By using some jutsu in combination with my non-lethal shurifuins and seal I was hoping to… well, perhaps seal Neji inside a barrier and remove the air inside of it to make him fall unconscious. At least that’s the plan as of a few minutes ago.”

“Hmm… You’re right about the taijutsu part. Neji had been practicing the gentle fist for years and is a prodigy at it, you would stand no chance. Well thought about sparring with Hinae.” replied a pondering Hiruzen, not bothering to ask why Riku was fixated on Neji and not Sasuke who was his first opponent. The odds of Kakashi training Sasuke to be a match for the young man in front of him were low in his opinion.

“I also was thinking of increasing my speed by increasing the strength of my resistance seal.”

“What resistance seal?” inquired a confused Hiruzen.

Riku opened his green vest and lifted his grey shirt to show him a seal placed on his stomach.

“This one. So far… well in terms of weight I'm at 2.5 mine and I weigh 40Kg. It’s not really weight though but-”

“I know, I’m familiar with the seal, no need to explain further. Did you have it on you during the exam?”

“Yes. If the situation became dire I would have deactivated it.”

“I see. Anything else?”

“I have two jutsus I want to learn specifically…”

___________________________________________________________________

Izumo and Kotetsu were making their way towards Konoha’s stadium. Today was the day of the finals of the Chunin exam and they wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world. After all, their little kohai was competing. They congratulated him for passing the first two stages and had pressed him to know about his training and how he was going to deal with the ‘Last Uchiha’. Riku’s answer has been a simple ‘kick his ass like I always do’ and didn’t elaborate further about it. Neither on his training. That frustrated both chunins to no end, especially the little smug smirk that Riku was giving them each time. Hayate and Yugao didn’t have better luck either, though they suspected the latter to know something, simply from the barely contained amusement in her eyes. They had tried to rope in Anko’s help, who was all in about teasing a young pre-teen with a lot of lewd flirting but she was rebuffed by a ballsy ‘Begone, thot!’. That started the most epic chase across all over Konoha to the group's hilarity. Sadly those happy days came to a tragic end when a few days later Hayate was found dead on one rooftop. From what they heard the sight had not been pretty. The body presented multiple deep cuts and lethal one from his left shoulder to his right hip. They had yet to find the murderer. To add salt to the wound Yugao and her team had been the one to find him. No one had seen her since but everyone knew that she was broken. Hayate had been everything to her. Riku had not taken the news well either. He had few friends and he considered Hayate one of them after all the time spent together on missions and outside of it. The funeral had been a somber affair and their kohai too disappeared. Knowing him, they knew it was because he went to train even harder. It's been three weeks since then and they hoped Riku had recovered.

“Izumo, Kotetsu.”

Turning to the side, the duo saw Iruka making his way towards them.

“Iruka, man! It’s good to see you!” Kotetsu greeted him.

“We thought you’d be stuck teaching your little kids.” added Izumo.

“I… gave them the day off. There was no way I would miss this.”

“You gave them the day off? Damn! The world is going to end Izumo.”

“It’s not that bad. The classes today were History, taijutsu and shurikenjutsu. Not something that would be detrimental if they miss it once.”

“Fair point.”

“We were going to the gambling booth before finding a seat if possible. Interested?”

“You bet I am! As if I would miss out on easy money! Naruto is a financial black hole when I’m buying him ramen!”

Iruka said it as a joke but Naruto’s stomach really was a bottomless pit when ramen was involved. That made his friends have a good laugh while they walked to the gambling booth.

“Holy shit! Look at the odds!?”

“100 to 1 in the Uchiha’s favor. Clearly the bookers have no intel on Riku.”

“It’s even more easy ryo than I thought.” Iruka commented.

“Senpais! Iruka-sensei!”

Being called out, the three chunins turned around to see the contestant on who they were planning to bet and make a shit load of money.

“Kid! Finally showing your face, huh?”

“It’s good to see you again, Riku.”

“You too Izumo-senpai. And Iruka-sensei… I wanted to do it once I had some results to show but thank you for sending those two my way.” Riku said bowing deeply to Iruka whose lips turned upward.

“Think nothing of it. You deserved better.”

““Hey!””

“That’s true, sensei.”

““HEY!””

“Shinobis, sirs, if you’re not making any bets, I would ask of you to please stand to the side.”

Having their conversation interrupted, the four turned toward the booker behind his booth.

“Holy shit! Those are the odds for my match?! Can I bet on myself?”

“Your match? Don’t look like an Uchiha so I presume you're Warudo, hum? Regardless, yes, you can bet on yourself there are no rules against it as long as it is on your victory and not your loss.”

“100 000 ryo on myself, please.” Riku announced as he picked his book of seal and pulled out from storage the said amount.

“W-wha.. A hundred thousand ryo? Are you sure kid?” the booker asked for confirmation. “It’s the Uchiha you’re fighting.”

“I am! The question is, can you pay up if I win?”

“Oh, confident are you? Yes I can pay, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“It’s ten millions.”

“It is.” the booker replied nonchalantly.

“Maybe I should stop being a shinobi and become a booker.” Riku joked.

“Good luck with that. Some bookers are sponsored by nobles.”

“I see…. Still, I’m going through with my bet.”

“Very well.”

The booker took the many rolls of ryo, used a machine to count the money and once he was sure that the 100 000 were all there, gave a voucher to Riku.

The dirty blonde put the voucher inside his vest inside pocket, saluted his comrades and left but not before answering Kotetsu’s question.

“Will you hold back?”

“Absolutely not. I’m going all out right from the start. Intimidation tactic, you know?”

With a nasty grin on his face, Riku left.

“Booker-san. 50 000 on him.”

“Me too.”

“Me three.”

For an instant the booker wondered if he wasn’t making a mistake taking those bets. But then again, it was not his money they would get if they won so it wasn’t his problem.

Receiving their vouchers the trio went up nearby stairs to find a good place to watch the matches. As they walked Iruka found Gai, Asuma, Kurenai and Anko behind a rail on the top floor. Taking the seats right below them were their students.

“Hello, everyone.”

““““Iruka-sensei!””””

That all of his former pupils greeted him made him happy.

“I’m glad to see that everyone is doing well.”

“I should be among the ones fighting!” shouted Kiba, who was followed by Naruto.

“Me too!”

“Better luck next time.” he said with a smile and joined Izumo and Kotetsu who were talking with Anko.

“...50 000?! Really?!” the purple haired Kunoichi exclaimed.

“If I tell you.”

“Damn! You’re all crazy! It’s one thing to get away from me, it’s another to win a fight. You sure the kid is up to snuff?”

“Anko, that match is easy money.” Iruka cut in.

“Yeah, you should place a bet before the match starts.” confirmed Izumo, more because Anko would finally be able to pay for her dango addiction than to help her.

“You always win when you bet on Sasuke-kun!” Ino exclaimed after having heard the conversation.

“Besides, Sasuke-kun had awakened his sharingan. Riku is strong but he can’t do anything against it.” Sakura added.

“If the sharingan was omnipotent, Sakura, Konoha would have had an Uchiha as a Hokage long ago.” Iruka commented and Gai gave a few more words.

“A kekkei genkai is just a tool. Useful, advantageous, true but a tool nonetheless. It doesn’t make you invincible. Look at the Hokages, out of the four, only the Shodai had one. The Niidaime, Sandaime and Yondaime didn’t and were stronger than any Uchiha with a sharingan.”

That deflated Sakura a bit. She knew that the sharingan wasn’t invincible. She had witnessed it plenty of times between Kakashi and Sasuke but Riku, while good, wasn't a prodigy so she still hoped.

“Back to topic! Are you sure betting on the kid is a sure bet?” Said Anko.

“““YES!”””

“The kid is going to kick the Uchiha’s ass!”

“In less than five minutes.”

“I’d say one.”

“Really Iruka? One minute? I say you’re pulling my leg.”

“Riku said he was going all out and I believe him. Tell you what, if he doesn’t win, I’m paying you back twice your loss on the bet.”

“DEAL!”

With that said, Anko sushined away.

“You bet on Riku, sensei? Not Sasuke?” inquired Ino in disbelief.

“I don’t like it but I think Iruka-sensei is right, Ino-chan. Sasuke stands no chance.”

“Shut up, Naruto! Just because you got your ass handed to you means that Sasuke will lose!”

“Don’t bother, Naruto. She’s in fangirl mode, you can’t reason with her.”

“You said something, Shika!?”

“Yeah, troublesome.”

___________________________________________________________________

Riku met Karin in a room on the first floor of the arena. Contestants were to wait here until the beginning of the event and then would sit into a section reserved for them. When he saw her, a bright smile appeared on his lips.

“Karin! It’s been a while, how do you do?”

“Hello, Riku! I’ve been fine.” she replied with a smile of her own. “What about you?”

“I trained like hell! But it was worth it. I believe my odds of winning this thing are the best. Are you ready?”

“As much as I can be. I don’t think I’m going to win my match, you know I’m not much of a fighter but I'm sure to make a good show.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, you never know what may happen.”

“That’s… kind of you to say.”

“Do you have time after the finals or do you leave immediately?”

“Oh, I have all the time in the world because I’m staying in Konoha!” she revealed with a happy grin.

“Really?! How?! I mean, that’s great!”

“The Hokage summoned me for a talk and offered me to stay in the village if I wanted to. I’d be on probation for a few years to make sure I'm no spy but afterwards I’d be a proper Konoha citizen. In the meantime I will have to be confined in the village but that's fine with me since I want to join the medic-nin program but anyway I’d be a Konoha kunoichi.”

“I’m happy to hear that. I wonder how he got Kusa to agree to it though.”

“Threat, mostly. Ever since the fall of Uzushio, Uzumaki belonged more or less in Konoha. The fact that Kusa treated me like shit and that Senju Hashirama’s wife was an Uzumaki gave him leverage. In the end the agreement was that I participate in the finals as a Kusa kunoichi and afterwards any ties to that blasted village are severed.

“That’s really great. Do you already have a place to stay? I own my own house, inheritance from my parents, and I have a free room for you if you want. You won’t have to pay rent.”

“That’d be… That’d be great thanks. I won’t have to spend the money the village lends me on rent; it would be easier to reimburse it. Since I can’t go out on missions  that would have been difficult.”

“Anytime. If it’s money you need though-”

“I can’t ask your help for that! You already provided a place to stay, I can’t…” she quickly dismissed, waving her hands in front of her.

“Oh, no! I wasn’t…” Riku began to chuckle. “I was going to say that you should bet on me against the Uchiha. My odds are 100 to 1 that I win.” he explained.

“WHAT?!”

She didn’t say anything else and ran outside the room to go and make a bet. She hadn’t been impressed by Sasuke one bit during the second stage and she knew Riku was very powerful. It was a no brainer for her.

“Well, well, well. Did you see that, Gou? Little Riku is moving fast with his girlfriend. Or rather, moving in.”

Turning around, Riku saw Yuuna and Gou standing side by side with a Cheshire smile on their faces.

“How could I find a girlfriend when you own my heart, Yuuna-chan? Does my love mean so little to you?” Riku replied in a brokenhearted tone making Gou snort.

“Bleh! You’re too young for me. Maybe in a decade when you’d look like a real man and not a girly one?”

The trio laughed at the nonsense and discussed lightly about their training. Of course nothing was shared. Not when Gou and Yuuna were opponents right off the bat, so they simply talked about their lives outside training. When Karin came back, it was just in time. A chunin led them to the arena where they would stand in front of everyone. At the sight of another proctor than Hayate, Riku felt a pang of sadness but didn’t dwell on it.

“My name is Shiranui Genma and I will be the proctor today for the finals of the chunin exam. The rules are simple. When I say stop, you stop. When I say the match is over, it’s over. I will act if you disobey and you will be disqualified. Otherwise you’re free to maim or kill your opponent. Capiche?”

The round of yes and nods he got prompted him to continue.

“With the exception of Warudo Riku and Uchiha Sasuke, everyone leave the field.”

Karin and his teammate wished him good luck and left for their waiting area. Riku found himself alone with no Sasuke in sight.

“Damn, I hope Kakashi didn’t rub his bad habit on-”

Genma’s rant was interrupted when a swirl of leaves appeared in the middle of the arena. It revealed Kakashi and Sasuke back to back.

“We’re not late, are we?”

“Get out of here, Kakashi.”

With a nod, the open pervert looked around and found Gai (something not hard to do with how the man was dressed). Immediately he shushined away and landed right next to his eternal rival.

“Only ten seconds late, Kakashi. That’s a huge progress.” commented Asuma.

“Mah~ I couldn’t let my cute little student be disqualified because of me.”

“Not like that would have changed a thing. Those three bet that your duck butt haired kid will eat the dust in less than a minute.” Anko said pointing at Iruka, Izumo and Kotetsu behind her with her thumb. Naruto and Kiba snorted at the “duck butt” comment and both were punched by Sakura and Ino respectively.

“Is that so? Sasuke progressed a lot this last month. He may not win but I’m sure he will last more than that. Besides, you never know what may happen in a fight. It’s not always the strongest that wins.”

“Well, we’re about to see.” Kurenai stated.

Everyone looked down at the arena. Genma raised his extended arm to signal the start of the match and both opponents ran forward. To everyone’s shock however, Riku did more than just ‘move’ he moved so fast that he was almost a blur. Fast enough to punch heavily Sasuke’s stomach. Even with the sharingan active he had not been able to react to Riku’s explosive speed.

“Hot damn!” Anko exclaimed.

Riku’s assault didn’t end with this first strike, no. With his other hand he hit Sasuke’s jaw then began a flurry of heavy hits. The ‘Last uchiha’ quickly tried to counter attack with a feint which allowed him to jump backward and gain some distance. As he did so, he made the hand seals from a great fireball. With the distance not that big he was hoping to catch Riku with it. Unfortunately, for him Riku was quick on his feet and quick of wits. Hidden by the fireball, he used the opportunity to make a shadow clone and kawarimi away, before doing it again to position himself right behind Sasuke who was too busy believing his attack had hit. Crouching down, Riku pulled a tag from his pouch and held it between his fingers, which were making a tiger seal.

“OH MY GOD!”

Kakashi paled, thinking exactly like Anko shouted. He knew what Riku was about to do and prayed to Kami for his student. Up the kage’s booth, Hiruzen did his very best to not snort or facepalm.

‘I used it on him once! ONCE! I should never have done it!’

“ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!”

With a manic gleam in his eyes, Riku stuck his finger into Sasuke’s anus with so much strength that he simply flew. Sasuke’s body went up half a dozen feet and was propelled forward. He wasn’t able to scream, the paralyzing tag Riku left in his colon made him unable to do so. That was also why he wasn’t able to land properly but instead crashed badly against the ground and skipping a few more feet, rolling. Sasuke ended up head down ass up and couldn’t move. Because the paralyzing tag was easy to counter with a big burst of chakra, Riku didn’t stay still after his successful attack. He rushed forward and brought out his chakra scalpels, cutting Sasuke’s knees’ ligaments just like he did to Naruto in the preliminaries. He went further by doing the same to his shoulders.

“WINNER: WARUDO RIKU!”

Anko was rolling on the ground laughing hysterically at what she had just witnessed. Kurenai was doing her best to not laugh by biting her lips and trying to stop her friend’s antics.

“H-help!... I can’t… I can’t… “

Kotetsu took mercy on her (but not before taking a pic for potential blackmail) and just gave her a bitch slap.

“Owie!” she said and sent him a glare. He simply looked at her with an eyebrow raised and offered her a hand. She grabbed it and the glare went away. Once pulled up on her feet she couldn’t help herself and took a dig at Kakashi.

“Soooo. What was the time?”

“16 seconds.” Izumo replied, which almost sent her into a second laughing fit.

“Damn! I really like that kid! He’s crazy as hell!”

“If you’d excuse me. I have 5 Million ryo waiting for me.” Iruka said and took his leave.

““Ditto.””

“Wait for me guys! I have Ten Million to pick too!”

“T-Ten?! You bet a 100 000?!” Asuma exclaimed, totally flabbergasted.

“Well, yeah. Had I lost, Iruka would have paid me 200 000.”

“BITCH!” yelled the chunin, going down the stairs.

To the side, Gai was trying to verbally engage Kakashi.

“Kakashi? Are you going to be alright?”

“My student got the humiliation of his life in front of everyone… Meh, I’ll live.” he answered with a shrug.

___________________________________________________________________

“I expected a lot more from the famed ‘Last Uchiha’.” The Kazekage said behind his veil. If one was paying attention, they would have heard the frustration along with the disappointment.

“Sasuke is strong for a genin but the gap in strength was just too big.”

“You wouldn’t have used a ringer, Hokage-dono?”

“I assure you, young Riku is not one. In fact he was part of Sasuke’s class and graduated rookie of the year.”

“I see… Warudo. I don’t recognize the name. An unknown or small clan?”

“Not at all. Warudo is the name of his civilian father. His mother was a kunoichi though not from any clan or known shinobi family.”

“A relatively mixed background then. Impressive.”

___________________________________________________________________

“Nuh-huh. If you think I’m going to high-five you after your fingers had an intimate relationship with some dude’s asshole, think again.” Yuuna said, shaking her head, leaving Riku hanging with his hand in the air. The dirty blond turned to his other teammate who shook his head too.

“Nice showing though.” congratulated Gou.

“Thanks!” he said and took a seat next to Karin.

“That was… sick. Both good and bad.” the redhead commented. She did find Riku dashing and very cool even though the execution was distasteful. At least she had a good laugh.

“Oh, damn! I forgot!”

“What?” Yuuna inquired. “Picking the tag from between the Uchiha’s buttcheeks?” she joked and got a round of laughter.

“No! I need to pick up my money, I’m 10 Million richer!”

““WHAT?!””

“Oh! Yeah! I won a 100 000 too!”

“Then let’s go! It’s not like the next match is interesting. Neji will win.”

Both genin stood up and went back to the gambling booth where they met the few people who bet on him. Anko was upon him on the spot and tried to hug him to death against her breasts. Riku was faster and switched places with Karin.

“What the? Really? You’re really a shit, you know that?” the T&I kunoichi said with a deadpanned tone but never let go of the redhead who was trying to escape and breathe.

“And you’re a thot. Now please let Karin go.”

“Fine!”

Anko released Karin from her deathly embrace. The young girl had her face as read as her hair but the expression on her face clearly indicated that she loved the experience.

“See, that’s how good you would have felt!” the Tokubetsu jonin pointed at his friend.

“Probably but if I have to motorboat some awesome boobs, it will be because I take them in hand, not because they’re given to me.”

To the side, Izumo, Kotetsu and Iruka, couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Any further conversation was stopped by the booker giving them their money.

“Do you have ours?” Riku asked, pulling out his voucher, followed quickly by Karin.

“Yeah, give me a moment.”

The booker went back inside his booth and after a minute came back with a mountain of bills that was way too big for a regular bag.

“What If I bet everything back onto my victory in the next match?”

“Then you bet back everything. The news came in. The Hyuga won. The odds are 25 to 1 in his favor.”

“That’s 250 Millions.”

“Indeed.” the booker answered without a care in the world.

“... No one ever tried to rob you?”

“The stupid ones do. They don’t live long.”

“I see. Then Ten Million on me.”

“I’m betting back all of my winnings on him too!” Karin said quickly.

“Me three.”

“Me four.”

“Me…”

“Yeah, yeah I get it. You are all betting the total amount of your winnings on the kid.”

Afterwards, the group separated again. Riku and Karin got back just in time for Karin match to start. In fact she was a bit late because Kankuro had forfeited against his little brother Gaara. It was in a hurry that the Uzumaki got into the Arena.

“Good luck, Karin! Do your best!” he shouted and waved his hand at her. She smiled and waved back just before disappearing inside the building to reach the arena.

“You think she’s going to win?” asked Yuuna.

“... The odds are against her but not by much. Temari seems to be a long distance specialist with her big fan and looked more than competent in manipulating wind. I’d say 3 out of 10 are her chances of winning. Maybe four. But I’m making an estimate from what I know about them from a month ago so I can’t really say.”

“That’s not too bad.” Gou commented.

The match started and Karin tried to close in on Temari to restrict her in the use of her fan. Unfortunately, the blonde was faster and created a huge gust of wind. Karin barely had the time to dodge a wind blade that would have bisected horizontally. It did leave her with a deep wound on her waist, screaming loudly out of pain. She didn’t let the pain get to her however and popped a smoke bomb at her feet. Temari created a second gust of wind to dissipate the smoke but it was thick and was only pushed back some feet. It did the job however and relieved Karin’s position. Or rather previous position as she had moved and was nowhere to be seen. On guard, Temari searched her surroundings to find her opponent but found nothing. She was so focused at looking around that she didn’t notice the golden chains sprouting from the ground behind her until too late. The chains, with spikes on each link, warped around Temari’s body tightly.

“Forfeit!”

Karin’s voice came from the smoke that had been pushed away against the wall. As it dissipated it revealed Karin hiding behind a tree on the edge of the arena with her chains connected to her back and going into the ground. When Temari didn’t do as ordered, the chains around her neck tighten even more, drawing blood but more importantly choking her. Judging her captured and being at her opponent’s mercy. Genma acted.

“WINNER: UZUMAKI KARIN!”

Declared the victor, the redhead retracted her chains, got out of her hiding place and exited the arena. When she came back to take her seat, Riku congratulated her.

“Kekkei genkai are bullshit.”

That made her snort as it wasn’t what she expected him to say but she agreed. Ever since the Hokage had given her some information about her chains, she had been practicing with them. She didn’t care one bit that the chains were a rare kekkei genkai of her clans, what mattered to her was that it was another tie to it. Better than her special sensor ability or her other one. This one she kept quiet about it. She didn’t want Konoha to learn about it and use her like Kusagakure used her and her mother.

The next match was intense. Gou and Yuuna did their very best and actually went all out or at least Riku thought so. Yuuna tried to overwhelm Gou with fire but it didn’t work. To hers and Riku’s surprise, Gou, a taijutsu specialist, used water jutsus to counter her fire. One may have thought that the black haired girl was now at a disadvantage but it couldn’t be further from the truth. This time it was her turn to shock her teammates by going into melee. Gou may have been more skilled in Taijutsu but Yuuna was faster and dodged well. She fell for a feint and barely had enough time to block with her arms a heavy kick. She was sent flying away but quickly recuperated thanks to a flashbang she had bought from Riku and that she put on Gou’s leg when he hit her with it. With her opponent disoriented, she quickly made some hand seals for a genjutsu making Gou see things that were not there, mostly. With a burst of speed Yuuna moved behind Gou, and hit him in the back of the knees making him fall down. The match ended with a kunai against his throat.

“WINNER: TANAKA YUUNA!”

The girl pulled back her kunai and offered her hand to her friend. He took it and was pulled up to his feet. He didn’t seem unhappy to have lost. He had done his best and was happy with his performance. From the cheers and applauds of the public he knew it was more than enough for a promotion. When both came back from the arena, they came across Riku who congratulated them. He tried to high-five them but once again he was left hanging.

“You didn’t think we forgot where your fingers had been?” Gou simply commented.

“I take back everything good I said about you. You guys suck!”

That made them laugh and Riku continued on his way. A minute later he entered the arena.

___________________________________________________________________

“That was a good fight. Definitely chunin material.”

“In comparison to the previous matches, yes, it was entertaining.” the Kazekage replied to Hiruzen. “I look forward to the next match. The Hyuga prodigy against the surprising dark horse of the finals. Any idea of the outcome?”

“Now, Kazekage-dono, that would be telling.” the old Hokage replied with a knowing smile.

___________________________________________________________________

“Your student is going to get hurt really, really bad, Gai.” said Kotetsu.

Gai said nothing but hoped so. Neji needed a resounding defeat from someone who he believed to be his lesser. A good dose of humility would be a big step in his student’s progress. He had talked with Neji about the repercussions of his actions against Hinata and the young boy seemed to have understood his mistake.

‘Or pretended too.” he thought.

“How bad are we talking about here?” Asuma inquired, not dismissing immediately the idea of Riku winning as something ridiculous.

“Considering what Gai’s kid did to his own cousin…” Anko began.

“Kurenai-sensei, he wouldn’t…” Hinata, who was just below her teacher, asked, looking up at her.

“Don’t worry kid. Riku may hate traitors and consider your cousin one but…” Kotetsu cut in.

“Neji is still a shinobi of the leaf so he won’t take his life. That’s a guarantee.” added Izumo to reassure Hinata.

“Maiming on the other hand…”

“ANKO!”

“Sorry, nai-chan, but I met the shit a few times and…” she stopped herself when she noticed the look she was getting from her friend.

In silence they all looked at the contestants. Neji was the first to engage verbally.

“You should give up. It is your fate to lose to me today, why bother trying?”

“There is no fate but what we make ourselves.”

__________________________________________________________________

“Damn it! That was so cool!” Naruto shouted from his seat after hearing Riku’s response to Neji.

“Yeah! I’m totally stealing that line!” agreed Kiba.

“That kid is really too much!”

Ignoring the interruption from Anko and the genins, the chunins and the Jonins were hyper focused on what was happening down the arena.

___________________________________________________________________

“The expected answer of a clanless loser. Did your easy victory against the Uchiha boost your confidence too much? No matter, I will teach you your place. It’s at the bottom of my feet!”

Riku gave no answer but took a basic stance waiting for Genma to start the match. After a moment to let the tension build up the jonin did so. Immediately, Neji sprung forward, hands and fingers ready to strike. He crossed the half dozen feet separating Riku in a flash alas he wasn’t fast enough. The dirty blonde had enough time to make a series of five hand seals and clapped his hands. A huge wind impacted Neji full force and sent him twice as far as the distance the two genins started with.

“Gale Palm. Good choice.” commented Iruka.

“Yeah. It’s not as powerful as a Great Breakthrough but faster in its execution.”

“Why? What’s the difference between the two?” Naruto asked Asuma. As a wind user himself, he was curious.

“Gale palm only needs a clap of the hands that you are already using with the hand seals. GreatBreakthrough on the other hand, pun intended, needs you to take a deep breath to fill your lungs with as much air as possible and then release it which takes more time. The difference is only a few seconds but that would have been enough for Neji to hit Riku.”

Naruto nodded in understanding and turned back to look at the match. Riku had thrown a volley of shurikens at Neji. Some had a straight trajectory, some a curved one. The point of it was to trap Neji. If he dodged to the left or right the ones with a curve would hit him. If instead he chose to dodge backward, the straight ones would hit him. Neji was more or less forced to take a hit. Until he didn’t. The Hyuga spinned on himself at such a fast speed, he created some kind of dome and repelled all the shurikens. When there was no more he stopped spinning.

“This is Kaiten, the ultimate defense of the gentle fist. No attack can break it.” Neji explained smugly.

“Ultimate my ass. It’s the first time I’ve seen it and I counted at least six ways to counter it.”

___________________________________________________________________

“Bullshit! There is no way that’s true!”

“Every jutsu has a weakness, Tenten.” Iruka reminded her.

“Sensei, is it true?” Sakura asked Kakashi.

“Yes, every jutsu-.”

“I meant about what Riku said.”

“Hmm… Who knows?” he replied mysteriously, not wanting to confess that he only knew of two at the top of his head. He was curious if what Riku had said was actually true or not.

___________________________________________________________________

“Nobody believes in your obvious bluff. Kaiten is unbeatable.”

“Let’s find out shall we?”

‘Okay, that shit is annoying but easy to deal with. The byakugan is still the more dangerous threat. It’s really such a bullshit bloodline. Seeing through everything? What a hack! Nothing really changed though. I can’t let him hit me or bye bye my access to my chakra. I won’t even be able to activate any seals with my tenketsu closed. That’s not even the worst! Since he can see chakra he can… Wait a minute… That’s it! Option C it is!’

With a sudden plan in mind, Riku pulled out his book of seals from his back pouch. With one hand he quickly opened it to page 44, while with the other he made the hand seals for a Great Breakthrough. He had worked tirelessly to be able to use that simple jutsu without two hands under Hiruzen’s advice and now it may very well be what would give him victory. With Neji at a greater distance than the start of the match, Riku had no problem using the jutsu. This time however Neji used Kaiten to counter the pushing force and stay in his position instead of being pushed back further.

‘Even better than what I hoped.’

As he maintained the blowing wind, Riku used his free hand to unseal the shurifuins in page 44, but also 45 and 46. A second before he stopped blowing to breath, he threw all the shurifuins at Neji. Carried by the wind, their speed was even greater than normal. It didn’t matter to Riku, however. What mattered was their effect. Some of them were explosive, some were flashbangs. The last type however was the smoke type. Those ones, Riku threw them at his feet.

___________________________________________________________________

“Okay what the hell?!” Ino exclaimed. “First he picked up a book. A book! In the middle of the fight then he used a jutsu by only using one hand to make seals which should be impossible, then he threw some explosive shurikens. Shurikens! Shurikens are not supposed to explode! Nor let out a blinding light and a big boom sound! And certainly not release a cloud of smoke!” So I’m asking. HOW?!”

“The special shurikens are his invention.” Izumo answered and everyone, including the jonins, turned to him for a further explanation. “Don’t look at me for more intel. Hokage-sama made it an S-rank secret.”

“You’re kidding, Pops did?” Asuma inquired in surprise.

“Yep.”

“Make sense, that shit looks really nasty.” Anko commented.

“Oh, they don’t just look.” Kotetsu assured her.

“Hum… I’m sorry but how do you know that?” Hinata asked.

“We were there when Sandaime-sama decreeted it and we saw Riku use them enough on missions.”

“How come?” This time Shikamaru was the one to ask the question.

“Reporting for a mission.”

Before more questions could fly their way, something unexpected happened in the arena.

“WINNER: WARUDO RIKU.”