His Gift to Her (Mary Sue Series)

Chapter 23

"Good luck, Qui!" Naruto and Sakura shouted.

Naruto may not know Qui well, and Qui definitely wasn't Sakura's favorite person. Yet Qui was still a teammate and when up against someone else, these two loyal teammates shouted encouragements to her as the girl headed down to the ground floor to meet her opponent.

Upon seeing her opponent, everyone could tell Qui was taller than the boy and it was clear who was scared and who was not. Tanzo was a dear in the headlights, and Qui stood in front of the boy, confidence hardly wavering.

As both parties assessed each other, Qui slipped her hand into her pocket, clutching the puzzle device her father had built for her.

"Alright. Begin!" Proctor Hayate Gekko shouted, crossing his arms for them to begin. After an uncertain moment's pause, Tanzo leaped into action, and Qui followed suit.

Five minutes in and it was clear to Qui that Tanzo was nowhere near ready to fight. The boy stammered and dropped a variety of objects in a feeble attempt to swing items at her. However, a moment, the boy seemed to regain some confidence and formed a jutsu, trying to fight back more intently.

Qui responded by taking out the puzzle contraption and in a few swift moves, opened the puzzle. However, she didn't reveal the secret inside and instead said, "Have you run out of things to throw?"

"Um, yeah--I mean no!" Tanzo shouted back, correcting himself with a lie. Qui only looked back in disdain.

"Really? Because I can tell if you're trying to pick up your weapons from before or not."

"You're just running away! You're not even fighting!" Tanzo retorted, gathering the kunai on the floor while keeping an eye on his opponent.

"Running away? I'm just putting together a little something," Qui answered casually. "You? You're only repeating moves that I've already memorized. Now then. ready or not, here I come."

In the next instant, Qui dashed towards Tanzo with an obvious intent to kill or attempt at least. The strange contraption in her hands vanished and suddenly appeared, gripping onto Tanzo's dominant right wrist.

Tanzo screamed, the device's grip clutching so painfully, the sharp "teeth" punctured right through his skin. Strangely enough, however, no blood was spilled.

"The nice thing about this puzzle is it messes up your nerves while incapacitating you," Qui mused, her voice soft. Tanzo looked up, just as Qui gripped his left arm and clamped another device on him.

Tanzo screamed again. Qui studied him from behind, then decidedly covered his mouth with a rag, muffling his screams.

"The structure is unique because if I leave it on too long, you can possible be paralyzed in certain parts of your body. Ah, that would also depend on where it's placed. Since the structure also prevents you from moving your hand, you're going to have to resort to kicking. Oh, and--" she reached over and flicked the contraption and Tanzo screamed.

"I aimed towards the nerves. So even if you suddenly became a leg-kicking expert, you'd still be in a lot of pain. that being said, I should just aim at your arms and make you suffer until you surrender."

Qui removed the rag, and instantly Tanzo cried out, "I give up!"

Proctor Hayate Gekko stepped forward and said, "Winner: Kurisani Qui!"

"Get this off me!" Tanzo screamed, unable to claw away at the device that was causing him so much pain. Qui gave a twisted smile as she unclamped the contraptions, slotted them back together, and headed back towards her team, her team erupting in hesitant cheers.

"Don't you think that was a little cruel?" Sakura asked as Qui rejoined them.

Qui glanced back at the arena, watching with a pitiful expression. "Yeah, I was pretty cruel. To be honest...I had darker intentions during that fight."

"What were you going to do?" Sakura asked slowly.

"Make sure he could never weave a hand sign again."

"You didn't need to be mean!" Sakura exclaimed, glaring at her teammate. "There's no need to go that far!"

"If you're determined to become a true ninja, I suggest you toughen up. It's just going to get a lot more bloody in the near future," Qui said, changing her point. Sakura only glared back defiantly.

Sakura wouldn't understand why Qui wanted to stop Tenzo from becoming a ninja.

Qui gave up reasoning with Sakura. "This is why the Konoha education system is so irritating. It forces you to become something you never asked for: a heartless weapon. There's no mercy in life and passion for death."