Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 67: The Stretchy Man
"Uchiha Sasuke vs Misumi Tsurugi!" Hayate announced.
The rest of the genin were rushed upstairs, along with the other jonins and the Hokage. They could watch the matches from there.
Naruto was keeping an eye on Sasuke's opponent while he spoke with his other teammate.
Those two were on the same team as Kabuto, and if that one was suspicious, then they were too.
He couldn't pick up everything they were saying, but they looked a bit nervous and confused.
"I thought that…but wasn't I supposed to…"
"Shut up…Master…plan…"
Those were the only words Naruto could pick up before the teammate was asked to leave the fighting area.
Once they were all out of there, the only ones remaining were Sasuke, Misumi, and the referee, Hayate.
"He is going to be fine, right?" Sakura asked with slight worry. She knew how strong Sasuke was, but his opponent was much older and more experienced.
Misumi Tsurugi was a tall man, wearing a dark sleeveless jacket, a black fabric mask covering his face, and a pair of circular spectacles.
"Of course he will…" Naruto could not see anything worth noticing in this man. He just looked very average.
The only reason he even paid any attention to him and his teammate was because of Kabuto.
"What? You don't trust Sasuke?" Ino joined the conversation.
"What a terrible teammate you are…maybe we should trade places."
"Shut up! Of course I trust him!" Sakura got angry. She did not like being questioned about her loyalty.
"Try to be quieter." Kakashi appeared on top of the wooden railing.
"Focus on watching the match."
"Sensei!" Sakura exclaimed.
Naruto leaned on the rail next to him.
"What do you know about that team?"
Kakashi lowered his eye to peek at him.
"You mean Sasuke's opponent?"
After seeing him nod, Kakashi spoke again.
"Not much, to be honest. Even if they are from Konoha…I don't know every ninja, especially with older genins."
"They seem very low-key, huh?..."
"But you are not the only one who took an interest in them," Kakashi added.
Naruto looked up at Kakashi for a moment.
"To whoever is interested…tell them to be careful with that Kabuto…he is definitely dangerous."
"Mmm…I will." Kakashi seemed to smile for a moment before his attention was taken elsewhere. Sasuke's match had begun.
Misumi wasted no time running at Sasuke.
"He wants to fight up close with Sasuke?" Naruto did not know what to think about this Misumi, but he didn't strike him as a taijutsu specialist.
Sasuke remained in place and prepared to react to his opponent's next move. He was more than comfortable with fighting at close range.
Once Misumi was close enough, he pulled out a kunai and threw a very sluggish stab toward Sasuke's neck, which Sasuke blocked with little effort.
But the moment Sasuke made contact with Misumi's arm, he noticed something wrong.
Both Sakura and Ino, who were at Naruto's side, made some noises of disgust when they saw Misumi's arm start to bend at an impossible angle.
At first, they thought Sasuke had completely shattered his bones, but it soon became evident it was something more.
Misumi's arm bent and twisted around Sasuke's like it was a snake.
He then contorted his entire body, moving his other arm around Sasuke's left side.
His legs did the same. They bent and wrapped around Sasuke's own legs.
In just a short moment, Misumi had immobilized Sasuke by using his own body like a rope.
"Ew…" Ino said.
"Sasuke…" Sakura muttered his name.
"That technique…" Naruto was getting a bad case of déjà vu.
After completely blocking Sasuke's movements, Misumi approached the kunai on his right hand toward his neck.
"Surrender right now, or…"
As Hayate was watching this, his muscles were tensed and ready to intervene at any second if he felt that Sasuke was about to be killed.
Although, when he observed Sasuke's expression, he did not look worried at all.
"Is this all you can do?" Sasuke asked calmly.
"You have already lost!" Misumi tensed his limbs, increasing his grip on Sasuke.
"Give up!" He got the kunai a bit closer.
"Why? I can still move just enough." Sasuke turned his face slightly to look at his opponent.
He then began to move his right hand to form signs.
Misumi noticed this and tried to stop him by twisting his arm as much as he could.
But it was too late for that.
"No! Stop!" he screamed.
Sasuke's face was mere inches away from Misumi. And then…he opened his mouth.
"Fire Release…Flame Bullet!"
Misumi had no way to avoid this. The ball of fire hit him point-blank in the face. The flames spread across his skin and began to burn him.
He immediately undid his restraint on Sasuke and began to roll across the floor, trying to put out the fire.
The flames had spread onto his clothes and the rest of his body.
Because of his technique, Misumi had to dislocate many of his bones, and it took time to reattach them, so he was unable to control his body properly to put out the flames.
No longer willing to wait, the referee rushed at Misumi and used a water jutsu to save his life.
The medics hurried inside the room and carried the badly burned Misumi away.
Hayate glanced at Sasuke.
"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!"
"Yeah! I knew he was going to win!" Sakura cheered.
"Really? I saw you a bit doubtful a minute ago." Naruto commented.
"I didn't!" she defended.
"For the record, I never doubted him," Ino said with a smug smile.
Sakura was about to tell Ino something when she saw her expression change all of a sudden.
"What's wrong?"
Ino was glancing at the screen on the wall. The next match was about to be announced.
"Yamanaka Ino vs Zamu Abumi!"
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