The awaited fight was literally over as soon as it started.
"Is anyone forfeiting?" the question was asked again.
But this time, somebody actually appealed to this choice.
Raising his two pale hands, Orochimaru said, "I forfeit."
...silence. Tsunade, who had gotten into a fighting stance, ready to take out Jiraiya's sins on her unfortunate opponent, tilted her head in a confused manner. Everyone else was confused as well, because they thought nobody would actually shy away from a fight.
Nakama nodded slowly and questioned curiously, "Alright, then. If I may ask, why?"
"I would lose. I don't know about ninjutsu or other aspects, but in taijutsu, I would definitely lose. I just don't see the point in wasting energy on a pointless battle that's going to end in defeat anyways."
He was stunned, Tsunade was angry that he thought it would be 'wasting energy' to fight her, and Akira was simply disappointed that he didn't get to see Orochimaru fight. Nakama chuckled at his explanation, shaking his head with a reminiscent expression.
"The winner is Tsunade!"
Cheers erupted from the students, and some boys who had serious guts that dared to stare at her face were swiftly silenced by a furious gaze. She had decided, since she had to hold back twice, plus her pent up anger from her annoying twin brother, the next person she would be facing will face her wrath.
Jiraiya had woken up, and due to plot armour or just the crazy regenerative abilities of this world, was good as new. This then allowed the previous match that was delayed to start. Akira completely forgot about his intent to watch Orochimaru, and daydreamed about clouds for the rest of the matches.
Some were boring, as the civilian kids only had the basic's of the basics foundations, but others were more intense, like the matches between clan kids. By the time Akira had snapped out of his daydream, the bottom ranks had already been all established, and he realised he missed Orochimaru and Jiraiya's fight.
'Damn it! Why the hell would I daydream about clouds right after my match anyways...' he cursed in his mind.
(A/N: ngl, I was just lazy to write a fight scene, plus I'm bad at those)
Looking at the screen displaying the rankings, he realised that Orochimaru did in fact beat Jiraiya. Scanning through the rest of the list, he found nothing notable.
'1. -
2. -
3. -
•
•
•
17. Kibe Yasuo
18. Hirata Hajime
19. Miyake Kazuhiro
20. Otani Mitsuo
21. Ozaki Katsu'
Somewhere in between were Jiraiya and Orochimaru's names, around the tenth places, which was already quite high up considering they were only civilians. Other than that one particular match, Akira wasn't very keen on watching the other fights, so he didn't really mind that much.
When it was his turn to fight, he would just end it with a kick or chop, as if they were nothing more than flies to him. Akira used a lot of force in that move, so if they didn't go down, which only happened with the clansmen, he would fight them more seriously.
He only really wanted to fight with his sister, because they hadn't fought for some time, and their parents often left the house, they didn't really face any challenges when they sparred. Soon, only five were left, while all the other rankings were already finalized.
The five were: Tsunade (obviously), himself, Uchiha Minoru, Hyuga Yutaka, surprisingly a branch family member, and Hyuga Hikaru, a main family member.
When the quarter-finals were drawn, Akira really couldn't help but feel this system was rigged. They had pitted the Hyuga main and branch family member against each other, just like with Neji and Hinata. And in this match, Yutaka was stronger than Hikaru, and though he couldn't harm his master severely, Hikaru wasn't an easy opponent either.
Luckily, Hikaru was a respectful person, unlike some other main family members, adding to the Neji and Hinata fight vibes. But in this case, Hikaru wouldn't be scared to fight Yutaka and would do so with his full strength.
If Yutaka forfeited, which was equally possible, Hikaru would win by default, but he didn't know if he could win against the others, so he decided to just go all out instead. Whether or not Yutaka would do the same, it all depended on his level of hatred for the main house. Hikaru treated everyone the same though, so he probably wouldn't, but he might still act out of hatred.
The fight started when Nakama shouted start. The two entered the exact same Hyuga stance, a mixture of power and elegance. Their long black hair flowing in the wind, pale lavender eyes locking onto each other. Though they were only very distant cousins, all the Hyuga looked like clones, with the same hair colour, eye colour, heck, even the same clothes and attitude!
Many could mistake another clan member for someone they didn't know closely, as it was seriously so hard to identify a single person. Perhaps if you sent a whole group of Hyuga shinobi and kunoichi, one might think they were all clones.
This was why when the two struck at the same time, at the same points, with the same strength, all everyone could see was two practically identical children attacking with seemingly gentle strikes. This was the famed Hyuga's 'Gentle Fist Style'. To see two five year olds master it to this degree of mastery is honestly unbelievable, but what part of this elite class was believable?
As the match continued, the intensity increased as well, though it could be clearly seen that Yutaka was still holding back on Hikaru. This frustrated Hikaru, as if it was like Yutaka was looking down on him, holding back his true strength. Frustration meant distraction, and his fellow clansmen knew an opportunity when he saw one.
Stopping his incoming strike with one hand, Yutaka used the other one to strike at his heart, effectively cutting off his tenketsu point and winning the match. Nakama could only stare speechlessly at this point. It was enough that despite how hard the entrance exam was, so many civilians managed to pass, but seeing freaking five years old fight like already graduated ninjas was too much.
His brain almost short-circuited before shakily declaring Yutaka as the winner. Then, he helped his master up before forming the seal of reconciliation and walking back to the seats. The crowd who were previously watching moved to make a pathway, murmuring in their little groups.
The display shown just now was unprecedented, but to the students, it was normal as they hadn't seen no better, so most thought they were too weak and strived to be better. In a way, this was good, but the thing was they were undermining their own talents too much. It was just that this year's academy rookies were monsters in their own leagues.
If they had seen a normal class, the students would realise that they were standing among geniuses, but they didn't which sort of made them work harder. It was a good thing of course, but it was never good to underestimate yourself too much, or you would lose your confidence.
The second last match before the finals was one between him and Minoru. Bets were placed on who would win, most of which were on Akira. They were called forward onto the centre of the field, one with an impassive face, the other with a slight smirk plastered onto his features.
After the 'forfeiting' question was given from their sensei, the two formed the Seal of Confrontation.
"Start!" Nakama yelled
Minoru didn't waste any time. He knew that while he could dominate the others easily, the one in front of him was someone he couldn't beat. He ran towards Akira, aiming to perform a series of kicks, each one that targeted vital areas.
Akira cracked his neck and a soft smile formed on his lips.
'Alright...time to get serious.' He had wanted to test both his own skills and Minoru's, as Akira could tell that he wasn't an easy opponent in taijutsu or whatever..
As soon as Minoru raised his leg, ready to strike his first kick, a battle plan had already formulated in his brain. He got this trait from his great uncle, I guess. Right before the kick landed on his body, Akira jumped up and did a backflip while returning the favour back, but this time it successfully landed on his chest, briefly making him lose his breath.
The girls, however, saw other things than the kick. They saw his long, blonde hair flowing in the wind, and his soft brown eyes flashing in the lights. Meanwhile Akira was performing another series of kicks, aiming at the same points Minoru had went for earlier, he noticed the gazes and rolled his eyes.
'Girls are so annoying. A flick of your hair and they go all crazy. I don't understand how Sasuke and Itachi got through all this... and it's only the first day...'
Minoru, who had lost his breath already, couldn't defend against the onslaught of attacks and finally admitted defeat, though it secretly hurt his pride. Some things just couldn't be helped against, he thought with a sigh.
Well now all everyone had to do was wait until the fight between the Hyuga and Uchiha before the main limelight appeared. The two siblings who were in this match were having a heated staring competition that scared even Nakama, who was an elite chunin. Everyone was just glad those icy glares were not on them.
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