The first match consisted of Yoroi Akado and Sasuke Uchiha.
Despite Sasuke being visibly exhausted from the mark he attained, he still went on to fight. The fight began one sided whereas Yoroi Akado was beating down on Sasuke pretty heavily.
Yet Sasuke was able to hold on somehow even with all the pain he was dealing with inside. Yoroi Akado had Sasuke Uchiha pinned against the ground and was slowly sucking away his chakra.
However, with a swift counter, Sasuke quickly escaped the grip of Akado. Yoroi Akado kept on attacking Sasuke with chakra covering his fists as Sasuke evaded each attack carefully.
Suddenly, Sasuke replayed the scene where Lee had taken him down, and his body moved instinctively. He quickly lowered himself causing Akado to miss his attack and kicked him upwards with his left foot.
As they were in the air, Sasuke rotated himself allowing his right foot to gain momentum, and slammed it down on Akado's stomach causing him to fly to the ground.
Erza was surprised at what just happened, including everyone else. She didn't expect Sasuke to have that level of taijutsu within him.
'Though, I guess that's to be expected of the Uchiha clan.'
"And the winner of the first match is Sasuke Uchiha!" the announcer said. "And for the second match, Misumi against Erza!"
With a sign, Erza went down onto the platform where he was waiting. Her opponent did not seem special at all except for the certain parts of his body that seemed to function in different ways.
"I'm not careless with kids, unlike Yoroi." Misumi said. "However, once I perform my technique, I recommend you to give up."
Erza ignored Misumi and kept eye contact with Misumi the entire time.
"Match, start!"
"This will be quick." Erza muttered to the announcer before dashing forward.
Her fist was met with Misumi's elbow as they pressed against each other, fighting for dominance. Suddenly, something changed. Misumi's arm had twisted around her arm like a snake.
Misumi grinned under his mask, "It's over for you, give up."
"I see, so this was what it was." Erza said.
Misumi noticed Erza's unfazed expression and was the one who was surprised. Normally, his opponents would freak out, and give up. However, she already knew about it?
"Seeing your surprised expression, I guess you didn't expect this. You should've done your research on the participants." Erza said.
She covered her arm with ice which caused Misumi's arm to slip off of her. Similar to Yorai, but instead of chakra, Erza covered first with ice, and punched Misumi's stomach as hard as possible.
This caused him to spit out some blood as his eyes widened from shock. He couldn't tell which was worse, getting punched in the stomach or his back slamming against the wall.
However, Erza wasn't done yet. She applied chakra over her hands and hit the vital points on Misumi that caused chakra flow to interrupt each other.
This would cause internal pain on Misumi and he also wouldn't be able to use chakra at all.
Erza quickly unsheathed her blade and was about to stab Misumi right on the arm until someone appeared in front of her and a hand grabbing her wrist.
"The fight is over, what do you think you're doing?"
Erza glanced to her left, "Kakashi sensei, I wasn't going to kill him. I was just going to render his arm useless for life."
Kakashi slowly let go of Erza's wrist and nodded towards the announcer. She quickly sheathed her blade and that was when she noticed the silence on the platform.
"And the winner of the second match is Erza Koyama!" the announcer says.
Right as Erza was about to leave, what she heard next caused her to turn around with her eyes widened.
"What?!" Erza questioned.
"The third match will consist of Erza Koyama and Kankuro." the announcer repeated.
This caused muttering between the participants, however, no one seemed to have a problem with it - presumably because it was Erza.
If Kankuro managed to defeat Erza, they wouldn't have to fight her later on in the finals which sounded like a luxury to them.
"Gaara…" Temari muttered.
"Hmm." Gaara frowned, "Kankuro will lose."
"I see." Temari said.
Despite the relationship he had with Kankuro, he knew the differences in power between people. When he first saw Erza, he himself felt as if there was a wall in between.
Moreover, Kankuro was feeling nervous before the match had even started.
"Match begins!"
Immediately, Kankuro jumped backwards, and clutched the bandages that covered his puppet. On his other hand were strings applied with chakra to control the puppet.
From what he had seen in the last match, Erza was really strong, and had dominated the match against Misumi entirely. He was worried she would try to do the same thing, that was why he jumped back immediately.
However, she wasn't doing anything this time.
Erza watched Kankuro who was deep in his thoughts. She could already tell he was overthinking every move she could do within a split second.
Erza put a foot forward, however, it was a quick step to see Kankuro's reaction. And just like she had expected, his entire stance changed, and was ready to be his puppet anytime.
"Are you nervous?" Erza asked. "If so, then this match will be over quickly."
Kankuro gritted his teeth, he knew she was right. This was the first time he's felt nervous unless it was Gaara. There was something off about the girl in front of him.
A tear of sweat dropped down from his forehead causing his eye to focus on the tear for a split second. As tears disappeared from his vision, Erza was nowhere to be found.
"What the-" Kankuro looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, he felt a force coming from his back.
Erza appeared behind Kankuro and kicked his puppet causing him to stumble forward. But it didn't end just there, she intended to finish this match quickly.
"Ice Release, Yuki Onna."
The ground began to freeze up as Kankuro's winning percentage seemed to drop faster and faster.
"In the end, you were just for show."