A Senju Tale: Change of Fate - 22 The Finals Part 1

The month flew by. Everyone trained themselves to death. Minato went off with Jiraiya to train at Mount Myoboku. Fugaku trained with Shunsui in their clan’s training grounds. Nawaki focused primarily on his kenjutsu with the occasional help of Sakumo.

Finally, the day had arrived. The arena was at capacity with every seat full. In the VIP box sat the Hokage, Mizukage, and Kazekage. Everyone was eager to see the matches. This time around, there were some truly exciting prospects.

Once all the participants arrived, Koharu said to the group, “Welcome to the finals of the chunin exams. You all know what the deal is. Each of your kage is here as well as potential employers. Put on a good show for everyone. Follow me.” She turned and led the group of genin out into the arena. When they reached the center, they all stood and faced the crowd.

Hiruzen then stood up and said, “On behalf of Konohagakure, I would like to welcome you all to the chunin exam finals. After witnessing each of these candidates, I can guarantee that you are all in for quite the treat today. Without further adieu, I will hand it off to the person in charge of the finals.”

Koharu then spoke up saying, “Hello everyone. My name is Utatane Koharu. I am going to start by introducing each of the candidates. From Konohagakure, we have Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Fugaku, Senju Nawaki, Hyuga Hiashi, and Hyuga Hizashi. From Kirigakure, we have Terumi Mei and Hoshigaki Kisame. From Sunagakure, we have Rasa. This first match will be between Terumi Mei and Rasa. If all the other candidates would make their way up to the observation deck, then we can start.”

Everyone was excited for this first match. Rasa is quite well known. He is from the Kazekage clan. He also had a kekkei genkai called the magnet release. He manipulates gold dust to crush his enemies. On the other hand, Mei was not very well known. In fact, most of Kiri’s ninja were not too well known. They were a very secretive village and kept to themselves. However, everyone had found out that she also has a kekkei genkai called the lava release. This would truly be a battle of monsters.

Once the arena had cleared aside from the two genin, Koharu said, “Ready, fight!” As the match started, Rasa surrounded himself with a vortex of gold dust. Seeing this, Mei weaved some hand signs and said, “Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu” (Water Bullet). She fired a barrage of high speed balls of water into the vortex but none of them broke through.

Mei sighed as she realised that she would have to get serious. With one hand by her chest and the other up in the air, she said, “Kirigakure no Jutsu” (Hidden Mist). The arena was covered by a dense fog. In response to this, Rasa formed his gold dust into a fan and swung it. The gust of wind blew the fog away but the trap had already been set.

Through the fog cover, Mei used her lava release and covered the ground. Rasa was now stuck in place. Seeing that her plan worked, she started weaving hand signs to quickly finish off her opponent. She had one jutsu that she knew would finish this quickly but it required a lot of signs.

While she was weaving hand signs, she suddenly couldn’t move. She looked down and saw gold dust starting to swallow her. It covered her entire body and left only her head exposed. Rasa compressed the ball a bit and Mei screamed out in pain. Her entire body was being crushed. She felt her bones about to break and she couldn’t breath.

Mei then yelled out, “I submit!” Rasa then released her from the encasing and she fell down to the ground. She was bleeding all over and was in extreme pain. A team of medic ninja rushed onto the field and carried her off to receive treatment.

After seeing the match, the Kazekage and Mizukage glared at each other. Hiruzen laughed and said, “That was a great match. Both genin were quite formidable. It was interesting to see them using their respective kekkei genkai.” He had successfully diffused the situation as the two Kages turned their attention back to the ring.

Koharu walked out and said, “The winner of the first match is Rasa. The next match will feature Uchiha Fugaku and Hyuga Hiashi.” Of all the matches, this was the one that the Konoha civilians were most excited to see. It was a showdown of two legendary dojutsu. The Uchiha’s Sharingan vs the Hyuga’s Byakugan. Everyone wanted to see who would come out on top.

The two genin took the stage and stood facing each other. The pressure was on. The pride of their respective clans was on the line. Whoever won would gain a huge boost of reputation for their clan. The two stood opposite each other and got into their stance. Koharu then called out, “Ready, fight!”

Hiashi settled into the gentle fist stance. His palms were extended out in front of him and he activated his byakugan. Veins popped out of his face as his eyes went white. Fugaku quickly weaved some hand signs and said, “Katon: Housenka no Jutsu” (Phoenix Flower). A barrage of fireballs flew through the air towards the Hyuga.

Without breaking a sweat, Hiashi fell into a relaxed stance and said, “Hakkeshou Kaiten” (Revolving Heaven). A glowing blue dome formed around Hiashi. It blocked all of the fireballs. As Hiashi stopped rotating, Fugaku was right in front of him. They started a taijutsu brawl.

Hiashi skillfully targeted Fugaku’s tenketsu. He jabbed at them in order to inhibit his chakra flow. Thanks to the sharingan, Fugaku parried and threw counters in response to each jab. In a similar fashion, Hiashi would deflect the strikes and continue his assault.

To most people, the fight was mesmerizing. The blur of their fists and kicks moved like lightning. Upon close inspection, one could see that Fugaku was slowly gaining the advantage. He blocked more and more of Hiashi’s attacks and started to throw out more counters. Soon, he was forcing Hiashi backwards.

After several minutes of exchanging blows, Hiashi suddenly froze. Fugaku had caught him in a visual genjutsu. Hiashi broke out of it in an instant but it was too late. Fugaku landed a kick to the side of his head and then held him to the ground before putting a kunai to his neck. Realizing he lost, Hiashi said, “I give up.” Koharu stepped out on the field and said, “The winner of the second match is Fugaku. Up next, we have Senju Nawaki against Hoshigaki Kisame.” Fugaku helped Hiashi up and supported him as they walked off the field.

Rather than taking the stairs, Nawaki and Kisame jumped down into the arena and quickly got into position. As fellow swordsmen, they were eager to cross blades. As if they had come to an agreement, the both unsheathed their swords and assumed their stance. Koharu stood back and then said, “Ready, fight!”

In a single leap, the two genin dashed towards each other. The loud sound of their swords clashing rang through the arena. From the first hit, Kisame could tell that he was overwhelmingly overpowered by Nawaki’s sage mode. He fell into a more defensive style.

As Nawaki swung his huge sword, he made quick and precise slashes at his opponent. This was no problem for someone of Kisame’s caliber. He skillfully parried each and every strike with ease. He carefully observed his opponents movements to identify flaws in his form.

Kisame noticed a pattern. Nawaki’s attacks came in threes. After every third swing, there was a brief opening. Without hesitating, Kisame capitalized and pounced on the opening. He thrusted at Nawaki with his sword. Just in time, Nawaki sidestepped the strike but it still left a deep cut in his side.

Nawaki jumped backwards to create some space. With his sage body, the injury quickly healed. He and Kisame locked eyes. Nawaki then said, “How about we skip the BS and get serious.” Kisame smirked and then said, “Mind if I even the playing field? I don’t want you to get bored.” Nawki smiled and then replied, “Go ahead. Be my guest.”

Kisame inhaled a huge breath of air and then spit a huge amount of water all over his half of the field. He turned to Nawaki and said, “I’m ready.” As he said this, they both blurred through a long set of hand signs. As they both finished, Nawaki said, “Mokuton: Mokuryu no Jutsu” (Wood Dragon) and Kisame said “Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu” (Water Dragon).

Two gigantic dragons emerged from the earth and curled above their respective casters. Simultaneously, the two dragons sped towards each other and collided in the middle of the arena. The two dragons repeatedly crashed into each other and turned away only to attack each other again. After several minutes of this, the wooden dragon crashed through the water dragon and destroyed it. Just as this happened, the wooden dragon fell to the ground with all the damage it took.

Kisame and Nawaki were staring each other down. They were having the time of their lives. They were both on the same page. With one final jutsu, they would try to take each other down. As they locked eyes, Kisame started weaving hand signs. He planned to use the rest of his chakra to take down Nawaki who was waiting for him to finish. Once he was done, he said, “Suiton: Senshokuko” (Thousand Hungry Sharks).

Nawaki smiled. He knew this was the last showdown. He raised his hands into the air and then slammed them into the ground saying, “Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Koutan” (Deep Forest Emergence).

Two monstrous jutsu built up in front of the casters. From Kisame, a towering wave of sharks crashed forward. From Nawaki, a wild and dense forest exploded. The two jutsu crashed in the middle. There was a huge explosion as the sharks crashed into the forest. It took a whole minute for the struggle to end.

Once the smoke cleared, the outcome was clear. Kisame had collapsed from exhaustion and Nawaki remained standing but was no longer in sage mode. Nawaki walked over to the collapsed Kisame and said, “Thank you Kisame. That was a lot of fun.” He then stuck out his hand.

Kisame smiled and took Nawaki’s hand as he said, “And I thought I was a monster. You remind me of the stories about Hashirama.” Nawaki pulled Kisame to his feet and said, “Well he is my grandfather.”

Kisame laughed and said, “That makes sense. I look forward to facing you again in the future when we have both grown stronger.” Nawaki smiled and said, “I look forward to it as well.” They shook hands. Kisame then turned to Koharu and said, “Match is over. He wins.” The two cheerily walked together back to the observation deck.

Seeing this, Koharu came down and announced, “The winner of this match is Nawaki. For the last match of the quarter finals, we have Namikaze Minato up against Hyuga Hizashi.” Hizashi walked down to the field. On the other hand, Minato threw one of his kunai into the ground and teleported to it.

Upon seeing this, the crowd cheered. It was a super flashy jutsu and it looked so cool. Once the two genin were in position, Koharu said, “Ready, fight!”

No one was ready for how fast this fight would end. Minato held his hand out and a blue swirl of chakra started condensing in his hand. Nawaki’s eyes lit up and immediately knew what it was. The legendary rasengan.

No one else had ever seen this jutsu used before. It was brand new and developed by the yellow flash himself. Rasengan in one hand and kunai in the other, he charged towards Hizashi who did the same. As they approached each other, Minato threw the kunai. Hizashi easily dodged it as it flew by his head. As Hizashi was about to land a jab to block off one of Minato’s tenketsu, Minato teleported to the kunai. He twisted his body in the air and slammed the rasengan into Hizashi’s back.

Minato had just displayed the Flying Raijin Second Step. With this one attack, Hizashi was out cold. Fortunately, the rasengan was pretty small so it was not lethal. The crowd roared. No one had ever seen anything like it. No one could believe their eyes. Some no name ninja just took down a Hyuga. On top of that, it wasn’t even a close victory. Minato had completely wiped the floor with Hizashi.

After snapping out of her daze, Koharu jumped down and announced, “The winner of the final match of the quarter finals is Minato. We will take a 15 minute break and then resume the tournament with the semi finals.” A team of medic ninja rushed onto the field and retrieved the Hyuga. Minato disappeared in a flash and teleported back up to the observation deck.

As he arrived, Nawaki was waiting for him with a huge grin. Seeing this, Minato smiled and said, “What do you think? I invented two of those techniques myself. I still have a few things up my sleeve for you.” Nawaki smirked and said, “Don’t think you’re so special Minato.” Nawaki raised his hand and formed his own rasengan. Minato was confused. No one should be able to use that jutsu aside from him. After thinking for a moment, he was no longer surprised. Nawaki was a special kind of genius. With his sensory capabilities, he should easily be able to reverse engineer the technique.

Minato then said, “I guess I’ll have to go all out to even have a chance against you.” Nawaki laughed and said, “Don’t discount yourself Minato. I feel the same way. I’ll see you out there.” The two of them nodded and went their separate ways. Nawaki knew he’d have to be really clever in this fight. He could not afford to lose. He wanted nothing more than to face Rasa.