Once Again (A Naruto Fanfiction) (Sequel to Another Take) (Complete)

Ch. 7: Flawed Design

~And I will turn off, and I will shut down. Burying the voices of my conscience hitting ground~

Kiyomi's POV

There was a tense silence. As soon as everyone saw that two groups were both raising their hands, people just backed away. They must think shit's about to go down. They're probably right.

The Raikage's chuckle broke the silence. "Well, this is an interesting turn of events," the large man laughed loudly. "Guess we're going to have a mini preliminary round then, aren't we?"

Now chatter filled the area. Apparently this was interesting to people. Bloodthirsty bunch of savages...

"You two teams, come over here," the Raikage ordered, beckoning us with his finger. The other team immediately moved closer, and my team followed after a moment. The other team was from Kumo, meaning it made sense that they were so obedient to their Kage.

The Raikage raised his hand, and silence descended again. It's impressive that he's got this much control over his people. "Now, each team choose your strongest fighter. That person will fight the other team's person, and the winner's team will advance."

'Here we go,' Fenrir commented. 'This is interesting. Now, who from your team will fight? Cause I personally think you should.'

I sighed. 'That's a lot of pressure,' I argued. 'And it's not my decision. We have to decide as a team.'

'Well, my advice would be not to just choose which of you is strongest. Choose the person that has the greatest chance of winning.'

'What?' But before Fenrir could respond, an arm was draped over my shoulder.

"So Kiyomi, who do you think should fight?" Kadan asked curiously, leaning against me.

I shrugged, ignoring where his arm was. "Well, I think we should first look at the other team," I suggested, echoing Fenrir's words. "And we should choose our fighter based on who has the greatest chance against their fighter."

"That's what I was saying!" Naoko groaned, glaring at Kadan. "But no, my opinion counts for nothing."

"Just like you," Kadan quipped, smirking a little.

I rolled my eyes and pushed the red-head's arm off my shoulder. That was uncalled for. Then I turned to Gin, who'd been thinking the whole time. "Gin? What do you think?"

The older boy exhaled. "I'm inclined to agree with what you said," he murmured distractedly. "And by my observations, they're going to have that boy with the bandages on his hands fight."

I frowned, and looked over at the other team. Of the four of them, they were all male. One was really large and bulky, most likely a physical fighter. But he had a cloth wrapped around his head that was red with fresh blood, so he probably wasn't fighting. There was a petite boy standing beside him that had glowing green hands pressed against the larger boy's head. A medic, and not a fighter at all to judge by his build. The third boy was also pretty small, having a wiry frame that immediately made me think speed instead of power. This was the boy with the bandaged hands. And the fourth person was leaning on the third boy, one of his legs bent at a strange angle.

I must say, I agree with Gin's prediction. Of the two boys that weren't injured, one of them was a medic, and didn't have the appearance of a fighter. Knowing this, I studied the boy with the bandaged hands closer.

Upon a closer look, it was fairly obvious that he preferred speed over power. His weapons pouch was on his left leg, making me think that the guy was left-handed. That must give him some bit of advantage over an opponent who wasn't expecting it. As for those bandages on his hands... my first thought was an injury, but then again it could be something like Rock Lee from the Konoha exams all those years ago.