The events of the first round ended so quickly and smoothly that no one really got to see the extent of either party's abilities. It was clear both side showed plenty of power and skill, but the prey was obviously outclassed as soon as the fighting started. Danzo wasn't the only one complaining that the fight was too easy, those hollows were obviously weak. Disappointed faces and murmuring came from some of the leaf village's higher ups.
Yo didn't feel too bothered by this, he had a few simple games to let them show the difference in their group's abilities lined up. "HAHAHAHA! AS YOU SEE WE'VE RAISED UP SOME FORMIDIBLE WARRIORS TO COMBAT THE HOLLOWS! HOWEVER, IT IS TRUE THAT THOSE WEAK HOLLOWS WEREN'T ENOUGH TO SHOWCASE THE SHINSENGUMI'S-" He was interrupted by the excessively loud clearing of Hiruzen's throat. "THE SHINSENGUMI "AND" LEAF NINJA'S VARIOUS SKILLS. SO! I HAVE A FEW MORE CHALLENGES LINED UP FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT! NEXT IS CAPTURE THE FLAG!"
The summoner in the Shinsengumi comes and summons another cage with but one hollow. It looked like a large lizard with six long legs, and of course a hole in it's torso and a white mask. It seemed frantic and scared, shivering and darting around it's small enclosure. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" It repeated frantically clawing at the bars.
"THIS GUYS MAY LOOK A LITTLE COWARDLY, THAT'S BECAUSE HE IS! WHILE HE ISN'T THE STRONGEST, THIS ONE IS VERY QUICK! AND IF YOU'LL LOOK CLOSELY, YOU'LL SEE THAT THERE IS A SMALL FLAG TIED AROUND IT'S NECK, THE FIRST TEAM TO TAKE IT WINS! SWORDSMEN READY?!
Of the swordsmen who stood at the ready a new three step forward.
"Oh, are they going to switch out the lightning swordsman? His speed would have been very useful for this event." Hiruzen thinks aloud.
"Hollows are diverse creatures, and the Shinsengumi will often face opponents who's abilities may not be the best matchup for their own…nonetheless to be victorious we will do what we must to adapt. I refuse to send ill prepared warriors to a senseless death."
.
"I see…" the old man says thinking that the child far beyond his years. Kojiro carries himself like a noble and seasoned commander, already considering how his every move will effect his subordinates. Definitely something that he could appreciate in this upcoming generation…if only he was within the village's ranks. "Very well, let us see how they fare."
"ANTI-HOLLOW NINJA! ARE YOU READY!" Yo shouts to the other side where another duo of ninja he did not recognize took to the field. 'Who are you guys? Root? Super background characters? People who die before the story? Not that it matters, let's see if your names worth remembering today…at least they look cool…' Yo thinks to himself sizing the two up.
The first, a guy with a scowl etched onto his face, with sharp features and a scar running up from his left jaw to his cheek. Despite his rough appearance he himself is actually very handsome. His long wild rose colored hair was tied back in a messy braid down to his lower back, and he wore a standard leaf jonin uniform with a long black scarf around his neck.
The other a slender woman with flowing sleek silver tied back with her leaf village headband. She wore black lipstick, nail polish and eye shadow coupled with her cold yet alluring gaze she had a bewitching aura about her. She also wore a standard jonin uniform but she wore shorts and thigh high boots.
'Hmmhmm… Hanataro is the fastest combatant in the anti-hollow corpse, and Akari is our best sensors there's no way they'll lose together. This is mere child's play for them.' Danzo chuckles to himself as the two nod to him saying they'll be victorious. 'The Shinsengumi may as well have forfeited this round. This competition is all but won already.'
"Oh one more thing…" Yo says with a mischievous smile. "earth style x stone breathing: rumbling stone calamity!" Hopping onto the ground with a heavy stomp a massive shockwave ripples outward, causing the ground to shift and quake. Stone walls and spires rise everywhere completely turning the landscape into a massive maze of sorts. "Hahahahaha! Now the stage is set!"
Opening the cage the once frantic hollow timidly creeps towards the door, "go on little guy. You're free to try and run away or die by my hand right now." The hollow did not miss the instant killing intent coming from Yo, so it takes the easy option. In the blink of an eye the cage was empty, and with the number of obstacles now in the arena it is virtually impossible to tell where it went.
"Where is it?" A spectator asks scanning the field.
"I never saw it leave the cage," another says.
'Heheheh, I forgot to mention this one can hide it's presence…you'll need high level spirit energy sensing abilities to find it,' A giggling Yo thinks to himself. 'Probably should've mentioned the deadly corrosive poison though…'
"I don't see the damned thing anywhere," Hanataro sighs. "Akari you're up!"
"Right!" Performing a series of hand signs a few of which Yo didn't recognize (but he did memorize), Akari's eyes shone with a brilliant blue glow. "Yin art: Soul sight!" Suddenly she could see the entire concentration of spirit energy flowing around her almost like some sort of infrared vision. "Where are you hiding…" she says scanning the field until she notices something scuttling behind a distant corner of the arena. "This way Hanataro!" She announces dashing towards her target.
"Found him already? Good work!" Hanataro says rushing off in the direction she had started in. He takes off with blinding speed dipping and dodging through the maze going after his prey. "Found you!" He says kicking a rock away to find the hiding hollow cowering in fear, he goes in for a quick and easy kill with a natural energy infused blade short blade.
It opens holes on his back that release purple fumes, enough to completely shroud it.
"Hanataro look out those fumes are dangerous!" Akari shouts to him.
"Shit!" Seeing the surrounding rocks had started to melt from the fumes. He barely manages to stop his attack and retreats several paces, noticing the arm he attacked with had burns on it. Even his blade was warped a bit. "What the hell? It has corrosive gas too?"
Taking the chance to eliminate its distracted attacker the hollow spits a concentrated stream of the corrosive gas at Hanataro, only to be countered by an spirit energy explosion tag.
"Thanks a lot," Hanataro shouts ready to go on the offensive again, but when the smoke clears the target is already gone. "Akari where'd it go!"
"To your left!" She announces quickly relocating the hollow. Hanataro chases after it, but the hollows speed and agile movements made it hard to follow. Slipping under a rock, it vanished again and changed direction towards Akari. Seeing it coming she braced herself with a natural energy blade of her own.
Seeing how Akari readied herself to fight, Hanataro changed course towards her to intercept the lizard-like hollow. However, before it could reach her a ground splitting shockwave cut off it's path.
Everyone looks over to see that the Shinsengumi begin to make their move after observing the hollows movements. "Metal breathing second form: sundering earth!" A burlier member of the team with an axe announces as he lifts his blade again.
"Oh weren't all of your Shinsengumi swordsmen?" Hiruzen asks Kojiro.
"As I have said, we will do what we must to adapt and win against the hollows. Every so often a member of our group proves to be more effective with a weapon other than a traditional sword…I won't hinder such innovations if they produce results." Kojiro explains.
With that attack stopping the hollow's movements, a female swordwoman emerges from behind a rock with a graceful dance of sword strokes. "Flower breathing fifth form: Peonies of futility," her string of slashes flow smoothly one after the other yet she can't touch her target. It is simply too fast, but she doesn't relent in her attack.
Just as the hollow was turning to flee, Hanataro caught up and joined in on the assault. Even still just touching the creature was no easy feat. Planting all of it's legs on the ground it emits a torrent of corrosive gas all around it forcing both attackers to retreat.
"It's vanishing again!" Akari announces as the cloud settles.
"Oh no you don't! I've got your rhythm now!" The third Shinsengumi announces he makes his appearance, flying in from above with two blades connected at the handle by a chain held high. "Sound breathing first form: ROAR!" With the slamming down of his two blades a massive explosion rocks the ground. Though it wasn't a direct hit, it was the first strike to put the hollow off balance.
As the hollow tries to compose itself, kunai with seal tags on them land all around and are immediately detonated by Akari's hand sign causing a massive explosion of spiritual energy. This does much more damage, effectively slowing the speedy creature but it refuses to let anyone get close. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" The hollow shrieks as it releases a wave of spiritual pressure. Then it spits a volley of some sort of slime at them all before vanishing again.
Everyone manages to evade rather easily but the sheer number of them spit out overwhelmed Akari who is plastered to a wall and immobilized.
"Dammit Akari!" Hantaro yells as his 'eyes' have been taken out of the picture.
"He may be able to keep up with the elusive hollow, but he could barely sense it when it vanishes...this could be very problematic" Koharu notes from the sidelines.
"Still, it seems as though the Shinsengumi are in a similar situation, they didn't make a move until Akari was able to locate it." Danzo adds.
"Make no mistake, neither speed nor sensing the hollows were ever a problem for them. With a wily foe one mustn't rush in in a foolhardy manner. They were simply observing." Kojiro says to the old timers as if giving them a lesson (though they're all waaaaay too cautious to not be aware of this). "Shinsengumi, finish this!"
"SIR!" They all shout in unison. "Soul resonance!" At his command they activate a group soul resonance boosting their coordination and spiritual power drastically as their souls match wavelengths. Without any warning the three of them vanish from their spots.
Huh? They could teleport this whole time?!" An astounded Homura says with his eyes wide in shock.
"No that is pure speed…some sort of movement technique perhaps," Hiruzen corrects him while observing as closely as possible. "However, I've seen very few that even begin to compare to it."
'Heh, flash step and body flicker together let me create a movement technique in a class all of it's own. Hope you like my flash flicker, losers.' Yo smirks from atop the largest rock watching his subordinates prepare to go for the win.
As the creature rushes along at blinding speed seeking somewhere to hide the metal breather's ax swings straight at it's face. With sharp change of direction, the hollow dodges the slash that cleaves every boulder in range in two. Using its incredible agility to the maximum the hollow leaps through the flying rocks to escape but the sound breather is right there using his partner's ax as a steppingstone before unleashing a flurry of slashes with explosive beads in the mix. "Sound breathing fourth form: constant resounding slashes!" The high speed combo of spiraling slashes set off explosions all around doing heavy damage to the hollow and even took a couple of legs and it's tail.
In a desperate attempt to survive it tries to spew more poison but the flower breather suddenly appears from behind with her next attack. "Flower breathing fourth form: crimson hanagoromo," with a graceful slash that smoothly curves towards the hollows neck. The hollow jumps to avoid it with all it's might only to see the metal breather had jumped even higher.
"NOOOOO!" The hollow shrieks in terror.
"Metal breathing sixth form: Heavy execution!" With the momentum of a forward flip the heavy ax is dropped straight down on the hollow's midsection sending two halves crashing to the ground with a massive impact. Seeing Akari's bindings disappear it is clear the hollow had been slain, all that remains is to collect the prize. The three of them rush over to where it landed to retrieve the flag but when the smoke clears nothing is there. "Huh I was sure that hit finished it?" The confused Shinsengumi look around.
"Good job kids, Hahahahaha!" Hanataro laughs while sitting atop a stone wall. He's triumphantly waving the flag for all to see. "Nice working with you."
"What?! When did he-" one spectator says in disbelief.
"No way! I never saw him make a move," another says just as shocked.
Many of the more experienced warriors saw exactly what happened. When Hanataro realized that the Shinsengumi had taken control of the flow of battle he hid his own presence as best he could and waited for an opening…that final attack sent the hollow flying far enough away from them, creating an opening for him to go after the flag with a good head start.
"Hmmhmm, You see? Experience has a vital role to play on the battlefield. Hanataro may have had less abilities suited for this challenge, but his quick wits allowed him to pull the win right from under those whelp's noses." Danzo gloats with a proud smirk.
"Such a simple tactic, and they all missed it trying to show off…" Kojiro sighs accepting his loss. His swordsmen nodded to the victor and made their way to the sidelines. Kojiro didn't have to say anything at all, by the cold stare he gave as they returned, they all knew they were in for serious remedial training on fundamental strategy.
Though everyone was impressed with the Shinsengumi's ability to destroy hollows, the ninjas win showed everyone power wasn't the only factor in a real battle. More than anyone Benimaru was shocked to see this development. Wasn't everything Yo touched supposed to turn into gold? How could he lose? They put on an impressive display but in the end it meant nothing, they lost… If he felt this way, he knew the Peach tree brothers must be seething.
Down in the field Yo looks pretty calm, in fact he was actually smiling. "Hahaha! You guys did well against my trainees!" Yo genuinely applauds the winners though it still sounds like he's mocking the ninja a bit. He had hoped a specially trained jonin could beat his trainees, otherwise the leaf would have just completely disappointed him. On the other hand, even though he calls them trainees, they've gone through intensive training to even get there. Not just anyone can don that uniform.
What really tickled him was how everyone was going to react to the zodiacs. They'll shit themselves when they see the rumors aren't true. The stars Yo has gathered around him are the real deal. That is going to be a delectable moment he could hardly wait for.
"SO STRATEGY WINS OUT AGAINST POWER THIS TIME! GIVE IT UP FOR THE LEAF'S FINEST!" Yo calls for a round of applause for the victorious ninja. He was still happy to see the leaf have put at least a few satellites in orbit, however now they were about to be royally humbled. Performing the jutsu he used to rearrange the landscape like last round, Yo turns the arena into a large hill with odd rock formations creating a towering obstacle course rising high above the stands.
"So excessive…" Fugaku says looking up at the small mountain with a twitching brow.
"It wouldn't be Yo if it wasn't," Kushina chuckles.
"What kind of game is this going to be?" Naruto wonders.
"A climbing competition?" Sasuke guesses, and he wasn't completely wrong.
"NEXT UP WE HAVE KING OF THE HILL! A GAME WHERE EVERYONE SCRAMBLES TO TAKE THE PEAK AND HOLD THE POSITION FOR TWO MINUTES! BEWARE THERE ARE TRAPS HIDDEN ON THE WAY UP. KEEP IN MIND ATTACKING YOUR COMPETITION IS ALLOWED."
"Hey look someone is already up on the peak!" A spectator points out. Everyone looked to the very top to see a lone figure reclining comfortably smoking from a pipe. A young man with a mischievous grin reclines on the peak looking down on everyone. His medium length black hair was tied in a high ponytail, and he is dressed in loose fitting robes adorned with a sleeveless coat that bears the character 'Tiger' on it's back.
"What's up?" The new character says coolly.
Yo was giddy to announce the arrival of his hidden ace. "Prerfect timing, hahahahaha! WHEN I SAID THE OBJECTIVE IS TO TAKE THE PEAK, THAT MAN IS THE FINAL OBSTACLE! THE ZODIAC'S TIGER, AND RESIDENT SWORD PERVERT!"
"Sword pervert? Must be a weirdo..." Naruto comments.
"It is an odd thing to call someone," Toneri adds.
"He must really love swords…" Sasuke thinks that he obviously isn't committed enough to be the best just yet. He needs more dedication.
'Yoriichi doesn't seem to filter his thoughts much…' Kimmimaro thinks silently.
"ROAR TIGER! IORI SENGOKU!"
Iori takes a puff of his pipe and stands up, dusting his clothes his off. "So dramatic," he says with a chuckle. Then suddenly his hawk-like eyes narrow as he unleashes his spiritual pressure bearing down on everyone inside the barrier. The oppressive aura he gave off was taken the same way by both Shinsengumi and ninja alike. This is a challenge, climb up to me if you dare. Friend and foe alike felt as though a wild beast bared its fangs at them from above.
"Tiger?" That insolent ruffian is one of your zodiacs?" Danzo asked after he caught his breath when Iori stopped using his spiritual pressure.
"Yes, and despite his somewhat crude nature he is one of the strongest. You'll soon come to see why Yoriichi elected him the, how would he put it…the final boss." Kojiro answers them.
Hiruzen was already mostly convinced after just that display of spiritual pressure…and that look in his eyes. Iori Sengoku has the eyes of a man who lusts after battle. People like him revel in the thought of risking his life in combat. Hiruzen shudders remembering the monsters from the old days who fought with those same battle hungry eyes. 'What kind of warriors have you cultivated Yoriichi?'
A new group of three swordsmen stepped up. This time they are led by both Souma and Rana. 'Two zodiacs? Do they put that much stock on this Sengoku fellow?' Danzo speculates as he notices how the swordsman do not approach the mountain eagerly, yet their eyes show a fierce determination to prove something. An internal rivalry perhaps? However, he did note one who seemed entirely unfazable…the kind eyed 'dragon', Kenshin, who remained by his leader's side, was now giving off a subtle aura, like swords drifting all around.
If this is where the kage level swordsmen would be making their appearance the old men debate silently and simultaneously if this was the time for them to step in. Were the group of four jonin that they sent in enough? That brat had actually scared Homura and Koharu, they were sweating heavily and trying with all their might to keep from trembling.
'He has a powerhouse like that under his command?' Benimaru thinks in awe, Yo has truly surrounded himself with incredible people…trustworthy ones at that.
"Lord third!" The old timers were snapped out of their daze when Gai came up to them. "Is it possible that I could compete again? I don't think I got to do enough in that last round."
"I agree, and it couldn't hurt to take that Iori fellow down a peg too," Kakashi says. "Besides, I believe there is one more event. You should save your strength for that lord hokage."
Hiruzen couldn't help but chuckle at that same fire of determination in their eyes. They would not be intimidated either. "Very well, go on you two. Show them the power of our village's ninja."
"Understood."
"You got it!"
Kakashi and Gai go join the others preparing to make the climb.
With everything in place the next event was about to begin. "ON YOUR MARKS! GET SET!" Yo yells as everyone gets ready. "GO!"