Reborn!

35: On Your Stage

The next match was displayed on the board.

Nara Shikamaru VS Kin Tsuchi.

"The sixth match begins now," said Sōjirō.

Once again, he won with strategy.

There were other ways for him to win, but this was the most simple. Shikamaru attached his shadow to hers while Tsuchi was distracted and tricked her into knocking herself out with a wall. It was a simple, no-frills fight. She also used a sound-based genjutsu she did not have a chance to bring out during the previous timeline, but it felt like an inferior version when there was Ino's world of flowers as a comparison.

The unconscious kunoichi was brought away by medic-nins on a stretcher, and the next match was displayed.

Uzumaki Naruto VS Inuzuka Kiba.

"Crap... Hey, Naruto, you don't happen to be as good at genjutsu as Ino, right?" Kiba asked warily.

The jōnins, sans Kakashi, gave Kiba a weird look.

Since when could jinchūriki be good at genjutsu?

The two other members of Team 7 sweat-dropped and averted their gaze.

"Don't worry. We'll have a fair fight. I'll match every one of your techniques with one of my own, okay?" Naruto assuaged Kiba's fears with a chuckle.

"Don't go back on your word, Naruto!" Kiba exclaimed, bounding down the stairs.

Naruto jumped off the railing and landed lightly on the stage.

"The seventh match starts now," spoke Sōjirō, retreating to the side closer to his Master.

Akamaru whined in Kiba's ear, causing the boy's eyes to widen.

"Hold on a sec -- your eyes are closed?" Kiba questioned, not moving from the spot.

Naruto touched his closed eyelids and smiled. "I don't need my eyes in a fight against you, Kiba. It doesn't count as a handicap."

Naruto said those lines in solemnity, but Kiba obviously felt insulted.

"Kakashi, why are your genins so special?" Gai asked, feeling dumbfounded.

And that was coming from him, the most "unique" among Konoha's jōnins.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head.

Not in the mood to play tricks on Gai, he replied, "I want to know too."

Firstly, there was Sasuke and his refusal to use chakra. Secondly, Sakura and her initial reluctance to fight. Thirdly, Naruto, whose countless restrictions on himself went above and beyond a mere handicap.

Kiba brought out Akamaru, so Naruto took a puppet of a similar size from a storage seal to play with them. Kiba transformed himself and his dog to look identical, so Naruto made a shadow clone and discarded his puppet to the side. When Kiba and Akamaru attacked with their bestial taijutsu, the blond went as far as to flawlessly mimic the Inuzuka clan's taijutsu -- the achievement so astounding that the spectators could only compare it to the ability of the Sharingan.

Kiba did not seem to think so, however.

"This isn't much! You just spied on me during taijutsu practice!" Kiba accused Naruto, dizzy after colliding with Naruto's Gatsūga.

"You do realise that even if he watched you practising, to be able to copy it to such a degree of perfection is still commendable, right?" Kurenai said with a sigh, wondering where she went wrong in training her genin team.

How was Kiba so naive?

It was not Naruto's main taijutsu style, yet he could execute it to such a degree of finesse that it surpassed the original user of the technique. It was an impressive feat, no doubt. Moreover, his eyes were closed the whole time. He has been relying on his other senses to track Kiba and Akamaru throughout, without making a single mistake. Even with the legendary perception of the Uzumaki clan, this was absurd. Such outlandish talent...