Naruto : Venom

He kept moving at crazy speeds and slammed into this tree. He probably needs some serious medical attention after that.

”Hmm.” Sasuke eyes the prone dog. No, he’s not a dog yet. He’s still a puppy. ”Doesn’t seem worth it now.”

....

”GET AWAY FROM HIM!” Kiba roars in beastly fury as he moves so fast he’s a blur. He stops above Akamaru, one foot protectively on either side of his best friend. ”LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Kiba has a kunai in his right hand and makes use of it. He slashes at Sasuke with every intention of spilling his guts all over the ground.

Sasuke lazily takes a step back. He’s belittling Kiba with the ease of his actions. He’s not taking Kiba as a threat at all.

”I WON’T LET YOU HURT HIM!”

”Keep the mutt.” Sasuke spits out. ”If it can’t even take that hit then it’s useless to me.”

Kiba’s fury soars to new heights. His limbs are trembling with rage, he’s no longer a shinobi. Now he’s a wild beast. A raging untamed wolf that’s decided Sasuke is his prey. ”I’m going to kill you.”

Kiba doesn’t roar those words. They’re spoken at a normal volume, but the weight of them is much heavier than when he was shouting. This isn’t an idle threat, it’s a promise. Kiba has every intention of following through with his words.

Sasuke eagerly flicks his sword, cleaning off the minute amount of dust and fur that has settled on it. ”Then come and attack me!”

With a mighty bellow Kiba sprints at Sasuke. He’s forgoing all techniques, he’s even abandoning planning. He’s just a beserker right now.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous. His fingertips are sharp and pointed. His canines elongated. Over all he looks more animalistic, more primal. With this physical change comes more strength. His blows leave rents in the ground and dents in the trees. But they don’t once connect with his target.

Even with this beserker power up he still can’t land a blow on Sasuke who just dances out of the way.

”Is this all the Inuzuka Clan can offer?” Sasuke taunts. ”I expected more.”

Sasuke’s last comment pushes Kiba further into his fury fueled beserker rage. All traces of logic are gone, he’s running purely on instinct and the desire to kill.

”RAAAGH!” Kiba’s roar is loud and long, deafening all other noise. He lunges at Sasuke and swings wide to rake his claws across the crimson mask.

He’s wide open.

CRACK

Sasuke’s blade slashes through the air once more and solidly connects with Kiba’s temple, instantly forcing him into unconsciousness.

Within the same instant Eito is standing behind Sasuke, who is looking down at the unconscious Kiba.

”Well then.” Eito’s voice doesn’t startle Sasuke. ”That’s the end.”

”It is.” Sasuke idly agrees with the proctor. ”It’s a shame. I thought he would last longer. He gave in to his rage so quickly and it turned the fight into a beating.”

Eito gives Sasuke a quick once over. ”You Oto shinobi are kinda assholes, aren’t you?”

”Better not let Midori hear you say that. She’s been playing nice the entire time.” Sasuke shrugs. ”You could say that. We’re just used to a higher threshold of combat. In our training dirty tricks are encouraged. We are taught that there is only one true rule to shinobi combat: Do not fight fair. There is no tactic that is off limits, even in our sparring the only things that are forbidden are lethal attacks. Anything else goes.”

”Well...” Eito turns his gaze onto the prone Konoha shinobi and his furry companion. ”I can’t deny that it works.”

Then Eito turns to the crowd and yells, ”Winner: Red of Otogakure!”

The crowd doesn’t clap. It doesn’t cheer. There’s only hushed whispers. They didn’t like how that fight went. They didn’t like that Sasuke manipulated his opponent into a beserker state and coldly defeated him like it was child’s play.

They don’t like Sasuke at all.

...

”Your teammate is a dick.” Kankuro loudly says to me from across the gazebo as Sasuke and Eito are talking over the downed Konoha shinobi.

”Well you’re not wrong. Some would say he’s a dick, while others would say he’s efficient.” Okay, I’ve lost everyone. No one quite understands what I meant by that if all of their blank looks are anything to judge by.

”Why do I have to explain everything?” I whine to myself. ”Okay, so what he did was mean.”

”More like deplorable.” Temari mutters and she gets a few nods in agreement.

”Like I was saying.” I cut her off from continuing. ”What Red did was mean, rude and underhanded. I know that, he knows that, hell everyone knows that. But what he did was exactly what would have happened in the real world.”

”What the hell are you going on about now?” Tenten yells from her seat. Her and the rest of the Konoha shinobi present are much more unfriendly towards me right now. I didn’t think it was possible, but with Sasuke’s abuse of Akamaru we’ve made them hate us more.

”Simple really, one of the tried and true strategies of shinobi warfare is to remove the opposition’s best weapon. Since Kiba is an Inuzuka, his best weapon is his partner. Not only did it make it a one on one fight but it drastically lowered Kiba’s threat level.” I’m getting blank looks again. ”Oh my Kami how do you people not know these things?! To use his higher level jutsu he needs his partner! Red cut his usable jutsu in half, and the half Kiba was left with was his weaker half! The Inuzuka work in pairs for a reason, it makes them better!”

”These Exams and this Tournament are meant to showcase shinobi skills, it’s the whole reason we’re here. So far, Red has shown that he’s the best shinobi here. He’s manipulative, he’s skillful, and he hasn’t revealed anything about his skills. Think about it, we’re shinobi. We live in the shadows, we thrive in secrecy, we excel at trickery and misdirection. Look at everyone else whose here.”

I turn to Noboru. ”Noboru of Iwa, you’re an up and coming seal user of notable skill. That means that seals are your bread and butter, to beat you one has to either wait till you’ve exhausted all of your seals or avoid them and defeat you from long range. Sorry, but nothing else about you is worrisome or noteworthy.”

I gesture at the still bound Hiro. ”Hiro of Taki. Wielder of the Jiongu, Earth Grudge Fear. Let’s you take in organs of others to enhance yourself, but once the heart is destroyed his battle prowess is drastically lowered. Either stab out his heart, or stab the mask/head of his monster thingies.” I’m purposefully leaving the explanation about the Jiongu vague, after all there’s no need to further expose my own weaknesses.

I point at Lee next. ”Lee of Konoha. Taijutsu specialist, uses the Eight Inner Gates to enhance his combat efficiency. His whole combat style is meant to cause massive blunt damage, meant to break bones and crack skulls. Can not use ninjutsu or genjutsu, and thus is exceptionally weak to genjutsu. It’s advisable to use that against him to end the fight quickly or get ready for a beating.”

I turn to Hinata. ”Hinata of Konoha. Has the Byakugan, which renders hiding almost impossible. Best method is to whittle down her energy using long range attacks, whether jutsu or weapons depends on the users own skills. Under no circumstances should one engage in close combat with her, the Gentle Fist can end the fight in one hit.” I subtly tap the back of my head and Hinata’s and Neji’s faces both drain of color. I let them know that I am aware of the Byakugan’s blind spot.

I point out to the field where Tsunade is looking over Kiba. ”Kiba and Akamaru of Konoha. Again, another taijutsu type. Relies on his partner for stronger attacks, best way to defeat the pair is to remove the weaker one first, whether it is the dog or the man depends on each unique pair. That will limit the other and could potentially make them abandon logic.”

I gesture to the last Konoha shinobi in the tournament. ”Shino of Konoha. Uses beetles as his main form of combat. He is exceptionally weak to fire ninjutsu, and under the correct conditions lightning. Best method to win is to use wide area of effect ninjutsu to lower his swarms. He excels against those with a small chakra supply and does well in prolonged fights since his beetles eat chakra.”

”Tenten of Konohagakure.” Everyone is shocked that I’m going to someone not in the tournament next. ”Weapons Mistress. She’s damn good at long range and lethal at close. Her major weaknesses are any kind of skill -jutsu or other- that can knock her weapons out of the air or limit her maneuverability. Wind and Earth jutsu are good ways to counter her, or just pure speed.”

”Neji of Konoha. Another Byakugan wielder, same thing applies as Hinata but he’s more dangerous. He’s hailed as a prodigy, one that appears in only a few generations.”

”Gaara of Suna. Arguably the most dangerous one here. Jinchuriki of the One Tails, and has command over sand and is rumored to have an automatic defense, some call it an ultimate shield. His weaknesses are genjutsu and water. Genjutsu is notably hard for jinchuriki to detect, but not impossible so don’t rely on it to win you the fight. Water won’t win you the fight either, it will slow his sand down and make it more cumbersome. Lightning and it’s natural piercing attribute is effective to get past any barrier of sand he has in place, but again it can only do so much. Don’t bother to try and remove his sand or to make him chase you to another battlefield, he can make more sand wherever he is. Save your energy, you’re going to need it.”

”Temari of Suna. Already one of the better Wind users that Suna has to offer, uses her giant fan to enhance each jutsu’s effectiveness. Best way to beat her is to attack from below ground where there is no wind to use or to remove her fan. That last one won’t win you the battle, but it will make it easier.”

”Kankuro of Suna. Puppet master and poison specialist. He’s crafty, most consider him the weakest of the Sand Siblings-”

”Hey!”

”-but in reality that is his greatest strength. If everyone sees him as weaker, then it’s that much easier for him to use one of his numerous puppets to poison you. Unfortunately he relies on said puppets too much and his own skills are slightly below average, so the best way to beat him is to sever his connection to the puppets and use long range to avoid his poisons.”

”Sachihiro of Kiri. Uses a huge sword and has a fighting style that incorporates his wind nature to make him more deadly and give him ranged attacks. Similarly to most taijutsu types he’s weak to genjutsu. Focusing on the body so much means that his awareness of his chakra is lower than a ninjutsu or a genjutsu type shinobi. To beat him, either outlast his stamina since using his massive sword tires him out quickly or simply send in clone after clone to use up his energy. Special note: Modeled his sword after Kubikiribocho, one of the Seven Legendary Swords of Kiri. Is possibly being scouted for a new version of the Seven Swordsmen or trying to prove his worth by showing that he could use one of the Legendary swords should it ever be recovered.”

”Leiko of Kusa. The person I have the least information on. She’s a poison specialist, and should already be a chunin for all intents and purposes. Relies heavily on her poisons to win her fights, her taijutsu is lackluster at best but her use of kunai and other shinobi tools is exceptional. Always assume that her weapons are poisoned and dodge -not block- her attacks. Likes to use pellets to make poison gas clouds and can apparently tailor them to each opponent if given the time.

Best way to beat her is to end the fight quickly by any means necessary so she can’t use her poisons. The longer the fight goes on the more time she has to get a poison into your system, then it’s game over. She likes to boast, so if you find her monologuing and need a breather it is okay to let her talk.”

”Earlier, Leiko gave her estimate of my skills. You all remember that, yes?” I get a fair number of nods agreeing with me. ”What about Red? What do you know of him and his skills?”

”He uses his sword and genjutsu.” Temari says confidently.

No one else says anything.

...

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