46 - Tournament

Losing Kitanai was the most catastrophic thing that could happen to Sun Star? Why? Because he actually had a brain cell.

The sand manipulator was also the only one with the slightest sense of finances, which was a painfully low bar. Kyomu was blind, Rina was too impatient and violent, Kessho and Henka gave zero shits about anything other than their specialties, Yurei was No, and Hoka...

Well, let's just say everyone was still traumatized from the time she went to buy toilet paper, spent five times the budget, brought back a bunsen burner, fireworks, tree saplings, a fish tank, an entire katana, 46 boxes of mozzarella cheese, and no toilet paper.

"Nope, Makoto's completely disconnected," Kessho reported, standing up from his seat by the Ivory puppet. With Makoto's active attack, Kyomu did not listen to her warning and instead resumed investigating the puppet they had found before.

However, Ivory seemed to be a dead end.

"Based on the type of fabric used in this particular puppet, I think the outfit at least was made in the Land of Lightning. Of course, she could have simply sourced different puppets from different locations," Henka pointed out.

"Hey, sometimes I forget you're not completely a waste of space," Rina commented, earning a glare from the blond. "I don't contribute much compared to others, but I still do more than you."

"Fuck off, blondie."

'Yozora Tsuyoku vs Umiki' was displayed on the board in the proctor's hands. The match was held just outside the building on the mountain, with a slope dotted with a few gray-brown rocks and exactly one tall tree on the side.

Yozora stood on one side while the 13 year old indigo haired girl stood on the opposite side. Tsurestu cheered loudly from the sidelines, as well as yelling some random facts ("Studies say people who wear bandages for no reason are trying to look cool because they're actually weak!"), the other genin having cleared a circle around her.

"Begin," the proctor said, the other genin falling silent.

Umiki immediately flung a kunai, dashing forwards with a regular taijutsu stance. Yozora jumped out of the way, but his opponent smoothly twirled around and kicked him in the stomach.

Following Tsurestu's advice, he formed a few hand signs as Aquila appeared in a flash of blue light. Umiki was too fast to dodge, so he grabbed onto the starry bird to fly out of taijutsu range.

Taking a second to breathe, Yozora resorted to his 'drop balance scales on their head' technique, giant blue Libra clattering down.

Umiki tensed, dodging out of the way. The metal objects hit the ground with loud clangs, before vanishing in flashes of light. She leaped out of the way of another scale, whipping around and hurling a kunai at Yozora.

The purple haired boy urged his constellation summon into a dive. While Umiki rushed to attack him while he wasn't up in the air, an Ursa Major appeared behind her. The indigo haired girl whipped around, but the constellation managed to bowl her into a rock.

"Umiki is unconscious, the winner is Yozora," the proctor announced as the dust cleared. "Next, Haikei versus Nokori."

The blond boy stepped forward eagerly, his finger having finally healed. Opposite him, Nokori looked mildly less confused than usual.

Haikei began with producing two kunai from his holster and dashing forward.

Nokori formed a hand sign, taking a few steps back. "Genjutsu: Vertigo."

Haikei halted in his path, barely managing to avoid tripping as he shook his head to clear it. By the time he looked up, Nokori had his next hand sign ready. "Genjutsu: Befog."

"Haikei's a straightforward fighter, he's not good against genjutsu," Itera critiqued as her blond teammate stumbled around.

"Nokori shouldn't have any really high level genjutsu, he should be able to break it easily if he tries," Tsurestu commented, narrowing her eyes. "As long as he stays out of genjutsu, Nokori can't really do anything else."

Due to the genjutsu being genin-level, Haikei managed to clear this one as well. He quickly averted his gaze before he could get caught in the next one, managing to swing a blind punch that hit Nokori.

Like Tsuretsu had predicted, the black haired boy had absolutely no skills outside genjutsu, so he was knocked out pretty quickly.

"Winner is Haikei. Next, Jimen versus Sango."

Sango had medium length coral pink hair and ocean turquoise eyes, dressed in a teal blouse and shorts with a simple knife in her hands, and her Kirigakure headband strapped on her upper arm.

Jimen stepped forth as well, holding out a kunai due to his lack of specialty.

"Begin."

Both fighters lunged forwards, sparring knife on kunai at a roughly equal level. Things seemed to be at a stalemate until Jimen jumped backwards, casting a clone jutsu. Five clones ran at his foe, who took out three with shuriken.

One Jimen jumped, throwing a kunai. Sango deflected it back onto him with her knife, revealing it to be a clone. She quickly took the advantage to jab her weapon forward, which struck Jimen's arm before he could dodge.

The back and forth went on for a bit longer, but eventually Sango emerged victorious by knocking Jimen's weapon away and kicking him down.

"The winner is Sango," the proctor announced, stepping forth to end the match. "Next, Itera versus Modoru."

The archer brushed her charcoal hair out of her eyes, unslinging her bow as she took her spot. Opposite her, Modoru took his place as well.

As the match began, Yozora could make a few notes. For one, Modoru seemed to use chakra threads not to control, but just to hit people from a distance. However, when it came to range, Itera had him trumped by far.

Modoru managed to hang on by snatching her arrows out of the air. However, Itera didn't look tired in the slightest, so she could no doubt shoot faster if she wanted to.

The fight finally tilted when Itera dropped a bomb- metaphorically (for now), by lunging in and kicking her opponent hard enough to break his guard.

Oh, but of course there's a literal bomb too. Well, it's an explosive tag, but it probably counts.

"The winner is Itera. Next up, Kai versus Eto."

This one was over in less than 10 seconds. Kai didn't even have to switch on her Earth Jutsu, she literally just had to hit her opponent once.

Background characterness at its peak.

"...the winner is Kai," the proctor announced as the black haired girl hmphed and returned to the crowd. "Next, Tomo versus Sagi."

"She's pretty weak, you got this!" Tsuretsu cheered as her teammate took the field.

Sagi's eyes hardened mildly as she formed a series of hand signs. "Storm Arc."

Lightning and wind merged in the air, arcing towards Tomo. The bronze haired boy cast a quick substitution jutsu, letting a nearby rock take the hit and shatter into pieces.

He threw three shuriken at the girl, two which were deflected by another Storm Arc while the third missed, colliding harmlessly against the ground. He followed up with a clone jutsu, rushing forward with kunai.

"Storm Blast!" Sagi's Storm Arc shifted into a concentrated beam, hitting a Tomo which harmlessly poofed away. The real one punched her, knocking her back into the dust.

The blonde girl's eyes watered dramatically. "Do you know how long it took to get the dirt out of my hair last time?! Storm Blast!"

This time, the beam hit Tomo. He was pushed back, but thankfully he still had the energy to stand up. The bronze haired boy rolled out of the way of another Storm Arc to kick Sagi into a rock.

The girl's eyes widened in horror as she panickingly tried to dust off her clothes. "P-proctor, I forfeit! And I need a change of clothes."

The proctor sweatdropped as the blonde girl ran off. "Um... the winner is Tomo. Next, Tsuretsu Kigeki versus Katamaru."

Tsuretsu eagerly took her place, but Katamaru froze rigid. "Wait, what? I forfeit! I'm not a fighter!"

Tsurestu visibly deflated, her shoulders slumping as she returned to the sidelines. "What a killjoy. Who participates in the chunin exams with that attitude?"

The proctor coughed to return the crowd's attention back to him. "By default, the winner is Tsuretsu. The final match of round one, Samehada versus Hane."

"Good luck, try your best," Haikei encouraged as his black haired teammate walked onto the field. Opposite him, the gray haired Kirigakure genin stood, pulling a few summoning scrolls out of his bag.

"Begin."

Samehada immediately placed down his summoning scroll. "Summoning jutsu!"

Like Tsuretsu had explained earlier, two large moose appeared in a puff of smoke. With their horns pointing forward, they charged at Hane, who ducked out of the way.

He grabbed a kunai from his pouch, stabbing at the closer moose. Despite his lack of combat skill, he hit it easily enough, causing it to collapse.

The second moose whipped around, charging once more. Thankfully, these summons seemed pretty dumb. Despite moose being able to turn around, Samehada's summons had as much turning skill as a missile.

With both moose disabled, Hane turned to attack the summoner himself. Samehada tensed, grabbing his own kunai to counter Hane's attack. Unfortunately, the healer didn't have much skill, causing him to be at a slight disadvantage against the moose summoner.

While Hane was turned away, the first moose recovered and charged. Samehada stepped sideways just as Hane whipped around, but it was too late to dodge.

With a shout, the moose whipped his head, throwing Hane into a rock (why is everyone getting thrown into rocks today?).

"The winner is Samehada," the proctor announced. "Onto the second round."

"First fight. Yozora versus Haikei."