1,148Wrath of a Woman Scorned
By: EDelta88
Rated M for language, violence, adult themes, and other such things not meant for immature readers
Chapter 18: Sasuke vs Kankuro
Training Ground 44, Tower of Death: Arena #1
Match #9, Arena 2: Tsuchi Kin vs Akamichi Chouji
"Would the two contestants on the screen please proceed to Arena 2!" the proctor called as the screen began to cycle through names for Arena 1.
"I don't think I want to do this," Chouji mumbled, staring miserably down at his half-eaten bag of chips.
Shikamaru put a hand on Chouji's shoulder reassuringly, "You'll do fine, don't worry."
"Yeah," Ino chipped in. "You've been working super hard. You'll—"
"Trying to console the fat ass?" someone sneered nearby.
Turning to where the voice came from, Shikamaru saw the girl from the Sound team who was to be Chouji's opponent. "Well, I was for a minute there, but that won't be a problem now," Shikamaru retorted with a knowing smile.
Kin blinked, then snarled at them before spinning on her heel and marching toward the doors to the second arena.
Almost unnoticed, Chouji followed a little ways behind her as he methodically crushed the last of his chips and tipped them into his mouth.
"That girl is screwed," Asuma muttered, shaking his head.
"Yes, yes she is," Ino agreed.
"What do you mean?" Kiba asked as he glared at the randomizer. He was itching for his turn. "And what makes you so sure that that girl is going to lose?"
"She called Chouji fat," Ino said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Kiba blinked. "Well… that wasn't very smart, but do you really think—"
"She'll be lucky if she doesn't die," Shino confirmed evenly.
"Wait, really?" Kiba asked, turning to face them with a worried look. Was Chouji really that touchy about his weight? Because Kiba had teased him more than a little bit in the academy and knew enough about the Akamichi clan to know he did not want one of them pissed at him.
"I don't think Chouji's that far gone, yet," Asuma mused as the board flashed the two names for the next match.
Match#10, Arena 1: Uchiha Sasuke vs Sabaku no Kankuro
"Would Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Kankuro please report to the floor!" the proctor called.
"Oh man!" Kiba whined as Sasuke started to walk down. "This is taking forever!"
"It's going to be an interesting match though," Asuma pointed out. An Uchiha versus a puppeteer certainly had the potential to be entertaining at least.
Kiba sagged. "Yeah, but—"
"Kiba—" Kurenai started to interrupt only for something from the second arena to cut her off.
"NIKUDAN SENSHA!"
"…Oh my," said a wide-eyed Kurenai as the building began to shake.
"As I said, she's screwed," Shikamaru told them with a satisfied smile.
"Poor kid," Asuma muttered as he lit up a cigarette. 'But really,' he mused as he took a long drag, 'what can you expect when you disrespect an Akamichi so openly?' Were the Sound Ninja not giving their kids intel on the other villages? Now, that's just sloppy. You should at least give them the cliff notes on the major players.
"Must you do that here?" Kurenai complained.
"Why not?" Asuma wondered with a shrug. "There's a whole list of things that will kill me long before this does."
Kurenai scowled. "And if it doesn't?"
"Then I won't look so pretty in a few years and you'll get to gloat about warning me," Asuma answered with another shrug.
Staring at the selection board Kankuro smirked, 'My turn huh? Finally,' he thought as he sauntered down the stairs.
Seeing this Baki frowned in barely concealed frustration, 'He's not taking this seriously.'
"Idiot…" Temari growled, palming her face as she watched her brother walk toward his position. "His status as the top puppeteer in his age group has gone to his head."
"Really? Oh, then this is going to be good," Tenten muttered with a wicked smile.
That gave Temari pause. "What? He's not going to go psycho too, is he?" she asked, nodding her head toward the shaking wall where it sounded like the Akamichi boy was demolishing half the building to try and get at his opponent.
"No, that won't be a problem," Tenten responded with a broad smile.
"Care to let me in on the joke," Temari prompted, quirking a brow at her new… acquaintance.
"Just that they both have big heads but can actually kinda back it up? I genuinely have no idea which way this is going to go," Tenten admitted with a shrug. "Both grew up in positions to receive special training. Uchiha has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve from what I hear. Your brother has all the resources to make some very interesting puppets. Sasuke even has his bloodline (I think). So, I just feel like it's going to be a really interesting match. If I had to guess—wait, how many puppets can your brother control?"
Temari grimaced. "Only the one for now," she admitted. It felt like a betrayal to give away that kind of information but Kankuro was close to being able to control a second puppet according to his tutors.
Tenten nodded thoughtfully. "Well, that might still be enough if he can keep it behind Sasuke but that leaves him open to a frontal assault."
"Yeah, he's not so good by himself," Temari sighed. It was a common problem with puppeteers, unfortunately.
Tenten offered the other girl a sympathetic look. "So, he's probably going to keep the puppet between him and Sasuke?"
Temari considered it for a moment before nodding. "If his tricks don't work? Probably."
Tenten hummed, considering that. "My money is on Sasuke then," she eventually decided.
Temari quirked a brow at that. "Really?" Not that she disagreed but she was interested in why.
"By all accounts, the Uchiha thrived in open combat," Tenten explained. "From what I've heard, Sasuke is no exception. Normally, that would give your brother an advantage, but their secondary specialty was always genjutsu. From what I read, they were tricky fuckers, and if Sasuke has inherited any of that… well." She shrugged. Really, the end result was pretty obvious, all things considered.
"He's that good?" Temari asked, giving her brother's opponent the once over as Kankuro and Sasuke squared off against each other waiting for Hayate to call the match.
"If half the rumors are half true then he's some kind of demigod," Tenten explained, her tone clearly skeptical as she rolled her eyes. "Which, well, this should burst someone's bubble either way," she snickered.
"Sabaku no Kankuro against Uchiha Sasuke, begin!" Hayate called before skipping back several paces.
Setting the bundle he had been carrying on the ground to his right Kankuro said, "Well let's get this over with." No sooner had the words left his mouth than he was forced to dodge a brace of shuriken that would have maimed his right arm, effectively separating him from whatever it was he'd been carrying.
'Damn, I was hoping he'd try and take it with him so I could injure his arm…' Sasuke thought, only mildly disappointed. It was a cheap trick, but he was wary of anything large and mysterious when it came to ninja. It was almost always some kind of trump card.
Which begged the question…
'The bundle… why did he abandon it so easily?' Spotting the inconsistency, Sasuke carefully reviewed what he knew of his opponent. 'Suna. Only basic weapons visible. Carries a human-sized bundle…' he analyzed. 'Puppeteer,' he concluded as he palmed an explosive kunai.
'Shit!' Kankuro cursed, leaping out of the bundle, where he had been hiding, just in time to avoid the blast from the tagged kunai Sasuke had thrown. 'How did he know I switched with Karasu?' he wondered, pulling his puppet in front of him as the sand transformation dissolved revealing its true form.
Sasuke quirked a brow at the puppeteer. 'So, he was hiding, creating the illusion that I was fighting him so that I'd be unprepared for the puppet,' he reasoned, pulling out another kunai as he continued to use probing attacks to test Kankuro. 'Considering Suna's history with poisons, I need to avoid getting injured by the puppet. The best option would be to avoid the puppet entirely but I don't know how many matches I have left. So, I don't want to reveal too much... how should I do this?'
For what felt like hours to the two combatants, Sasuke and Kankuro performed a deadly waltz of tactics and strategy, each attempting to force the other's hand while revealing as little as possible. On and on, like some kind of vicious dance, until Sasuke managed to get a little too close for Kankuro's comfort.
"Shit!" Kankuro cried, twitching his finger to release Karasu's poison smog.
'Poison fog?' Sasuke wondered, instinctively holding his breath. He could barely see a foot in front of his face! 'Perfect,' he thought as his eyes flashed red.
'Damnit! I've already shown some of the blades and the gas, I need to-' but that train of thought came to a screeching halt as he heard the familiar sizzling sound of a paper bomb. "Shit!" he cried, launching himself into the air with Karasu just a moment before half the arena lit up in a fiery explosion.
"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"
"Fuckin-" Kankuro hissed, instinctively pulling Karasu between himself and the fireball to block the attack. Not good. Not good. Not good! Quickly pulling out the scroll with his backup puppet and began to channel chakra to release it when he felt cold steel against his throat.
"Dead."
That one word, simple, monotone, and eerily similar to Gaara, sent a shiver down Kankuro's spine as he glanced over his shoulder to see Sasuke behind him. 'What the hell!'
"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!" Hayate called moments later as the last of the smog dissipated.
Temari blinked, staring down at the arena in bemusement. "Well, that was…"
"Anticlimactic?" Tenten offered.
"Short," Temari corrected.
Tenten shrugged. "Well, not every fight can be some dramatic, drawn-out slugfest. It's a fight, not a movie."
Temari sighed. "I suppose," she allowed. "I was just expecting… more?"
Tenten shrugged again. "I wouldn't be too worried. There's plenty of matches left."
"Speaking of…" Temari said, nodding her head at the announcement board. "Looks like you're up."
Match #12, Arena 1: Higarashi Tenten vs Shigeri
Tenten blinked. "Shigeri?" she wondered. Why did that sound familiar? Quickly scanning the gathered ninja she found a haughty-looking Kusa gennin preparing to enter the arena, and standing nervously next to him—
Karin…
Tenten's head snapped around, her eyes finding Hinata's as she silently asked for confirmation.
The Hyuuga swordswoman's mouth drew into a thin line as she nodded grimly.
Slowly, a vicious grin spread across Tenten's face. Oh, she was going to enjoy this.
Temari quirked a brow at her companion's reaction. "What's the murder face for?" she asked. Not that she really cared, she was just curious.
Glancing around to make sure she had time, Tenten explained, "A friend of mine had to rescue this guy's teammate from a dire bear because he sent her to get firewood alone. Apparently, it was 'woman's work.'"
Temari's eyes narrowed dangerously, her eyes flicking to the Kusa ninja in question before returning to Tenten. "Slow and painful or fast and humiliating?" she asked as ideas tumbled through her head.
"Slow and humiliating," Tenten replied in a tone that sent shivers down the spines of every man within hearing range.
Temari nodded approvingly as she pulled a vial of viscous, purple liquid from her utility pouch. "Coat some of your weapons with this," she whispered, subtly passing the vial to Tenten. "It won't kill him, even if you get him a few times, but he will wish he was dead."
With one last, conspiratory smile, Tenten turned and entered the arena.
"Uh… Temari?" Kankuro whispered, glancing nervously between his sister and the retreating Konoha kunoichi. "Was that the poison that Chiyo-basama gave you for-um-pushy suitors?"
Temari nodded. "Yes. Yes, it was."
Kankuro suddenly felt ill. 'Oh, that poor dumb bastard,' he thought, staring down at the waiting Kusa gennin with halfheartedly concealed pity.
A/N
Well, the good news is that I've managed to finally lay out all of the tournament (I think?). The bad news is that I've laid out all of the tournament and I suddenly understand why they only did one prelim round. Even with the way I'm doing so many of them offscreen and abbreviating many of them, the Chunnin Exams are about to take a lot longer than I originally planned. So... bear with me.
Shout out and special thanks to KingCed, ZeroKingofNothing, and Scarlet88roses for their continued support!