As the dust settled around the arena, Naruto staggered off of the stage and made his way to the exit, he was exhausted. He couldn't keep his eyes open, the dimming light of the sunset began to throw his shadow far in front of him. He could feel himself falling, but he just couldn't keep himself up. He fell to the ground with a thud.
Meanwhile, in another viewing are, Sasuke and Suigetsu had sat and watched the entire spectacle, the former with more silence than the latter. Sasuke had just watched, analysed the man who he had once called 'comrade'. Meanwhile Suigetsu had taken up the role of laughing and cheering whenever one or the other had landed a shot. Sasuke's fight hadn't taken anything out of him, nor had Suigetsu's. Although this was almost expected, them both being A – rank missing Nin.
"What do you think?" Suigetsu chirped up, piercing Sasuke's trail of thought.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted in reply "he's still a clown, and if he doesn't start taking his competition more seriously then he's going to get beaten."
"Yeah," Suigetsu responded "but he still pulled off a good move there, he could go just as far as you I think."
"If he's lucky, then maybe." Sasuke responded bluntly, smirking.
Naruto woke up in a hospital room, the room was dimly lit but outside the window the sun was burning brightly. Clearly he had been unconscious for some time. He looked to the corner of the room, where Kakashi was sitting reading one of his Icha Icha books.
"Kakashi sensei," said Naruto "did I win?" Kakashi looked up, ah, you're awake, good, the officials were worried they would have to withdraw you from your match. Yes you won, but you over did it out there, it seems like the excitement of the day and all the waiting for you fight really hit you." Naruto looked across the room where someone else occupied another bed, it was Hinata.
"H-hinata?" Naruto said, slightly shocked. "What happened to her?" Kakashi walked across the room to Naruto's bed "When you landed the final hit she fainted, and hit her head," Kakashi said calmly "a couple of hours later when she woke up to see you in the hospital bed opposite her she fainted again. She's resting now, she'll be fine to fight later."
Relieved by this, Naruto perked up again. "Wait a minute," he said slightly panicked "what time is it?!" He threw the bed covers off himself and jumped out of the bed.
"It's noon," said Kakashi "you missed quite a few fights. Sasuke's team mate was the first to fight hs morning, against the green fellow from the Sayain team, it was a good fight, but the Sayain fighter won. He's quite powerful. It seems they didn't have enough time to finish all the first round fights yesterday, they should be just about finishing them now."
Suddenly a message came out from the loud speaker "Will Sakura Haruno please report to the martialling area." Hearing this Naruto bolted to the door, until Kakashi stopped him. "Naruto, you still haven't changed."
He looked down to see he was still wearing his battle torn clothes from the day before. Kakashi threw him a fresh outfit as Naruto quickly began to changed. Just has he began to change his shirt he was interrupted by a small squeak and a thud from the other side of the room. Hinata had woken up again.
Sakura had just entered the small grey martialling room as the loud speaker blared out for her opposition. "Will Nappa please make his way to the martialling area." Hearing the name, Sakura couldn't help but smile slightly, what kind of a name was 'Nappa' anyway?
However moments later she could hear heavy thuds coming from outside, and suddenly the door swung open a giant stepped through the door. He msut have been 6' 10" tall and each of his arms were about the size of Sakura's torso, just the sight of him struck fear into Sakura, but she quickly swallowed it.
Suddenly the giant Sayain laughed "What? I'm fighting a little girl?!" He bellowed "This is too easy." He quickly slipped his armour off of his torso and threw it out the door into the hands of an official "I won't even need this." Sakura glared at him noticing a tail he kept wrapped around his waist. Although slightly surprised, she said nothing although she was slightly intrigued. Did all the Sayains have them?
They waited for only a matter of minutes before the door to the arena was swung open. The last fight of the first round was ready to begin.
After leaving Kakashi to tend to Hinata, Naruto sped through the corridors, only stopping to pick up a snack as he made his way back up to the viewing area. Once there, he arrived to see the rest the two teams who inhabited it fixed upon the stage beneath them in anticipation. The balcony did give the best view but from what Naruto could see, nothing was happening.
"Hey guys," said Naruto confused "what's going on?" His team greeted him but it was only Goku who came over to explain.
"Your friend Sakura is going up against Nappa," he said gravely. "So?" Naruto replied, still confused.
"Nappa is almost a monster;" Goku explained "he has wiped out entire villages by himself. He and Vegeta are partners and Nappa, he is not as strong as Vegeta or I, but he will go at any means necessary to win."
Naruto was shocked, and now fear began to set in. Sakura was in grave danger.
Sakura made her way down to the ring, alongside the behemoth Nappa. The climbed the steps to the stage then walked to opposite sides. She stood there, trying to stop herself from shaking. The sun bleached the entire stadium in its glow.
Suddenly the gong sounded, the crowd cheered, the match was underway. Nappa made no move, he didn't even look ready for a fight from his stance. "How about this," Nappa roared "I'll give you a chance. You can have one free hit." He laughed again, his bald head shinging in the sunlight. Sakura looked at her opponent closely. Why he needed armour she could not understand. He had taken it off before they had even left martialling and from what she could see, every inch of his body was covered in a shell of firm muscle.
She decided that she should just put all her strength in this first punch, see if she could end it before he could fight back. She began pouring chakra into her right hand. She clenched it and began to run. The crowd roared behind her, she got close; she jumped and raised her fist far behind her Nappa looked up at her, a smile lay beneath his pencil thin moustache.
Sakura threw her fist in, and caught Nappa with everything she had square in his cheek bone and Nappa crumbled as the brute strength she earned from Tsunade's training sent him flying away, the stage cracking as he went.
The crowd roared as Nappa was tagged with Sakura's viscous right hook. Up in the viewing area, the leaf team, especially Naruto and Lee, cried with delight. Whilst the Sayain team looked on aghast.
"Nappa you bald fool!" roared Vegeta, obviously angry with his partner. Yamcha smirked at the sight of Nappa struggling to get back on his feet.
The two teams could not eb sure what would happen next, all over the arena there was an air of uncertainty, this tiny girl had just threw the full blooded Sayain warrior away like he was a rag doll, all eyes were on Nappa, and his next move.
Nappa got back on his feet, and he wiped away the blood which slowly trickled out of the cut, which emerged from the force of Sakura's right hook. Sakura was dismayed, she hand landed on her feet gently and had kept her distance, awaiting for Nappa's next move, ready to counter.
"You're pretty strong for a little runt," grunted Nappa "looks like I had better take you a little more seriously." Suddenly Nappa began to dash towards her, his feet weren't even touching the ground, he hovered at a low level, much like the person Naruto had fought the previous evening. She readied herself, balancing on her toes, she couldn't let herself get hit, not even once. She knew any counter attack she would launch would have to come from evasion, so she prepared to evade. She watch his right arm arch back, ready to hammer home, it would be a severe downwards blow, aiming to hit her from the head and drive down, all she had to do would be evade.
He reached her and just like she expected, he swung down, his fist flying at such a speed that Sakura barely had a chance to react. She dove backwards, rolling onto her feet and then looking back towards Nappa. His fist had hit the arena floor and powered home through the stage, crunching through the heavy concrete tiles and sending shards flying in all directions. She was astounded, he was just as strong as her or Tsunade in terms of raw strength, and from what she could tell he wasn't using chakra to do it either, he was incredible.
He launched at her again, this time raising his left hand, she prepared to doge to her right. He came within range and swung again, and again Sakura barely managed to dodge and another explosive hit tore the stage apart. She panted to regain her breath, but he hadn't even broken sweat. They continued the process twice more and twice Sakura evaded, and the crowd continued to cheer as Nappa continued to aim devastating hits.
Sakura glanced at herself, she was covered in little scratches from the shrapnel of the stage, created from Nappa's hits. Nappa rushed again, he was clearly getting frustrated. He lifted the left arm back, he swung down, Sakura dodged right, but this time something went wrong, as she dove left, Nappa had used his right to grab her ankle as she attempted to evade, she looked down to find to find he hand swung his left down, only to use it to balance himself and rest his body on it. She, was still being held in the air, and suddenly she was slammed down, and hit the stage with a bang.
The entire Leaf team gasped, some looked away, and some couldn't take their eyes away. Nappa had smashed Sakura against the arena floor, and had her leg in his hands vice like grip. Vegeta looked on from the Sayain team, smirking.
The crowed were roaring and everything looked bleak for Sakura.
In the hospital room that Hinataa and Kakashi were in, a knock was heard at the door. Upon opening it, they were greeted with a welcome face. It was Naruto's mentor, Jiraiya.
"Master Jirayia," Kakashi said slightly surprised "how did you get here?" Jiraiya grinned mischievously and went on to explain everything.
"I had been on a mission tracking the Akatsuki for some time, as you are well aware," he started, Kakashi nodding in response "every now and then, I come back to the village to report to Tsunade on ym progress and check up on Naruto. I came back and find out that Naruto is in some far off land competing in a competition and I decided I'd come and check it out. So Tsunade called for an emissary and I just got here. I asked where Naruto would be but obviously he's already discharged himself."
Hinata had awoken as Jiraiya had come in, and silently sat up as the two talked. Kakashi noticed her "Hinata you're awake, are you feeling okay?" asked a concerned Kakashi. She nodded shyly. "Good," grinned Jiraiya "I suppose we should go an watch the fight then.
In the ring, Saskura lay on her front, her entire body hurt, she could barely move. She meekly moved her hands to her ribs and slowly managed to start healing herself. Her leg was still held in Nappa's huge grip. She was suddenly interrupted by a quick yanking motion as Nappa picked her up and swiftly threw her across the ring like a rag doll. She flew limply and suddenly, her head was grabbed, once again by Nappa who began to squeeze. How he was quick enough to catch up to her and get behind her she didn't know, all she knew was that an immense amount of pressure was being exerted on her skull. Suddenly that was all that hurt. She struggled trying find a way to wriggle out of the giants grasp.
She could feel things going black; she had only one way out. She gathered what chakra she could into her foot and then swung it back. She caught him in the leg and the force made him buckle. He dropped her and she rolled away. He feel to his knee's with a roar. Sakura stood up, feeling groggy and felt the separate places on his body, feeling for any broken bones. She felt some fractured ribs but otherwise it was mainly cuts and bruises that she had to worry about right now.
She healed her ribs as best as she could as Nappa got back to his feet. She was tired, and sick of being hit. And all she felt was anger right now, so she started storing chakra in her right hand again, and she stored more than she needed.
"I'm going to end this now you little punk!" he screamed. He sped at her, so quick that at any other time she would have been overwhelmed by his speed. But right now she had a state of fighting zen. Everything was calm, the roar of the crowd was gone, she wasn't thinking, she wasn't hearing. She just could see Nappa, and everything moved in slow motion. And as soon as he was in range, Sakura stepped right and with her right hand, she laid in a straight uppercut. He was hit square in the stomach and launched him up. He let out a roar of pain as he bounced across the arena and skidded on his side until he stopped well away from Sakura. She grinned. She might have just done it.
Up in the view gallery, Kakashi, Hinata and Jiraiya had arrived when things looked bleakest for Sakura, but now things looked better. Her recent resurgence might have just earned her the victory in a fight that looked all but lost. Naruto and the rest of the team screamed and applauded for her as Nappa lay motionless on the ground, meanwhile the Sayain team were silent.
Vegeta eventually spoke "Nappa is going to end it." This silenced the Hidden Leaf team, Kakashi turned to the short prince. "What do you mean he's going to 'end it'?" Inquired Kakashi, concerned for his student.
"It mean," sneered Vegeta "he's going to use a Ki based attack, and it will end the match. He's done playing around now, he's had his fun and now he's hurt." He turned his attention back to the stage, where Nappa was getting back to his feet.
Sakura could still barely stand up, she was out of breath and hurting all over and her worst fear was coming true. Nappa slowly, and very steadily got to his feet and turned to her slowly, anger emanating from him.
He began to laugh, deep and slow and then, yellow flashes of electricity began to spark around him. Pieces of rubble from the shattered arena started to hover, the earth shook and everything around Nappa seemed to jump to life, gaining energy. He began to roar, the yellow flashes became more constant and the crackles filled the air. The stadium was on its feet ready for the decisive move. Nappa hunched his back, his mouth wide open suddenly everything stopped.
"BREAK CANNON!" He roared. Suddenly, like lightning, a yellow beam exploded from Nappa's mouth, for a second Sakura stood, illuminated by the glow of the beam, but she found the strength to jump. The beam missed and hit the ground where her feet had been. The explosion was louder than the entire crowd, the shockwave shot out and hit Sakura, and swept her uncontrollably towards the edge of the ring and she kept going. She was on her back flying towards the ground. She couldn't see much, only her arms and legs flying above her. She hit the ground with a thud, and then everything went black.
Sooooooooooo, new chapter, it is the longest so far (2871 words) and I spent an entire day writing this. I hope you enjoyed it, it was a great chapter to write and I feel it was a good chapter. Chapter 12 will be coming soon, keep reading and keep enjoying. - Nick