I stared at Baki, my mouth hung open in shock. "What!?" The entire class screamed in unison. I could feel the looks of everyone rest on me. Even Iori looked between Baki and me in confusion, but the Academy Principal had made up his mind. A flicker caused Baki to disappear before his body blocked out the sun in front of me. His firm hand gripped my shoulder, making me realize right away that I had no choice in this. Shaking, I looked over to Yuko, who desperately avoided my eyes.
In a flash, I was on the field before Iori Sensei, a gasp escaping my mouth as my brain caught up with the speed. My lips trembled as Iori met my gaze. She looked. . . apologetic, as if she pitied me. Baki stood between us, explaining the rules to both us combatants and the onlooking class of exam participants and failures. Even a couple of passing ninja had decided to peek in on the spectacle about to unfold. "Genji, I don't expect you to do any real damage to Iori. She has more experience, power, and skill over you."
I could hear a couple of snickers as Baki drilled into me about how inadequate I am. Iori Sensei seemed to shrink in place, wanting to be any place but there at that moment. "Gee, thanks, Baki Sensei. I appreciate your honesty." I grumbled under my breath.
"Another important factor in Ninja missions is endurance. Survive for 3 minutes without being pinned by Iori. Because this is a special exam, if you fail, you will repeat the academy year."
"WAIT WHA-" I began, but an exclamation mark flashed into my peripheral.
Ping
Quest Generated! Survive! Last three minutes against Iori Sensei! Extra Quest! Land a hit against Iori Sensei for an extra reward!
My nails dug into my palms, and my teeth ground together. I wanted to complain. A special test? For me? I don't want this! But the other version of me, the me who grabbed fiercely at the chance of receiving a good reward from the quest, was much stronger. The battle of inner turmoil between wanting an easy life and wanting to be the most powerful being on the battlefield was intense but brief. Swiping my hand down my face, I saw Baki smirking at me between my fingers, which cemented my decision even more so.
All during the week while I was training, Kankuro and Gaara had both come to my door to force me to go to class. Both, at first, thought I was playing around and that I wasn't taking training seriously, but over time, they felt my chakra grow and saw the effort I was putting into learning the Clone Jutsu, and they let me continue without further complaint.
"I understand, Sensei!" I yelled resolutely. At first, I wanted to be a strong ninja to spite Kankuro and Gaara, but over time, I strived to be a strong ninja for another reason. I stood steadily, my eyes locked on Iori Sen- no, my enemy, and I made the Seal of Confrontation. I will become a strong ninja for myself.
Baki met Iori's gaze and nodded slightly before going to stand with the students viewing the spar. Iori's gaze hardened, and she made her own Seal of Confrontation. Baki held his hand up and looked between both of us slowly. "Begin!" he shouted, swiping his hand through the air.
In that instant, I jumped back, my memories doing the heavy lifting in conjunction with my instincts. Digging into my pockets, I threw two shuriken at Iori. One went directly at Iori while the other curved at a rough angle parallel to the ground. I was aiming for her blind spot, but it didn't matter. Iori rushed at me, causing my curving shuriken to miss by a mile, and the other shuriken that was right on target, she casually side-stepped as if it was a mere annoyance. I clicked my tongue before landing on the ground again. "Fine, I thought, if shuriken won't work, then I'll use my fists!" The decision was obvious, the thought of an inexperienced fighter, but I didn't care. Pushing off the ground, I threw a fierce left at Iori's jugular. I didn't think it would land, but I thought she would continue with her no-hit tactic and dodge. Instead, she grabbed the back of my wrist, instantly pinning my arm.
My mind raced for a solution. Any solution. It was as if time stilled for a second, adrenaline and pure stubbornness driving my instincts up a gear. Iori's left arm went to grab my waist, trying to solidify her hold even more. My muscles screamed as I forced my legs to work with the force they didn't have. Throwing my legs backward, I wrenched my arm out of Iori's grip and kicked my legs out. My feet met her chest, and I pushed off of her, gaining distance and launching myself high into the air. As my hands passed over the pockets, the stitched seals within them produced two kunai. I threw one at Iori's left leg. She was still off balance, so it wouldn't be easy to dodge, so she should block it, I thought. I smiled as I threw my second kunai right behind the other, slightly off course, aimed at Iori's torso. "Checkmate!" I yelled!
As the first kunai met Iori's leg, a puff of smoke instantly came into existence, and as that smoke quickly dissipated, the kunais struck a wooden log one after the other. My eyes widened as I frantically searched the field for my missing opponent.
As soon as I felt the pressure on my shoulder, my body went cold. I was forcibly turned to face a smiling, curly-headed face steeped in shadow. "Grit your teeth, kid." Genji's eyes settled on the Chakra-laden fist that was hurtling towards him.
Poof
Iori's fist went straight through the clone as it started to deteriorate in an explosion of wind. But behind the wind clone, I stood weaving signs as quickly as I could, "Rat, Tiger, Dog, Ox, Rabbit, Tiger." Taking a deep breath, I felt the heat fill my chest as the chakra fluctuated within me. "Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Turning my fingers into a spout, I shot three small chakra-filled fireballs at my clones' backs. As the fireballs curved around the clone, Iori widened her eyes in surprise.
BOOM
The fireballs collided with the wind clone, and the combination of chakra natures triggered an explosion. I bent over, hands on my knees, heaving for air. No matter the outcome, my Chakra had completely bottomed out. I'm done. As soon as I had pushed myself into the air, I had already produced the wind clone. I had tried to be four steps ahead, running in my own clone's shadow to avoid detection, but the amount of Chakra it took was essentially everything that I had in one go. My Chakra reserves weren't nearly where they needed to be in comparison to the other students'.
Out of the explosion, black smoke billowed high into the air. But I could see it, the air currents shifted, and a large cloud of smoke washed over me. Coughing, I swiped my hands wildly through the smoke, attempting to clear it out of my immediate vision. "Checkmate, Right?" The hard, bitter cold of steel pressed against my neck, and I swallowed. Behind me, Iori held a handheld fan to my neck; her other hand was in the wind release seal.
It was a dangerous silence. The tension was so disruptive that some nearby Chuunin and Genin unconsciously released Chakra, the pressure causing the learned subconscious actions of more inexperienced ninja to stutter in their continuity. Holstering her fan, Iori helped me to my feet, frowning as my heavily weakened body leaned against her. Twisting me, she and I turned to face Baki, who was stone-faced. Baki started to walk towards us. I felt the pressure get heavier with each step. I choked under the weight of the Chakra that he was giving off, each step feeling as if he was grinding me into the ground.
"Genji," Baki started. His voice was barely above a whisper, but it was almost as if the wind picked up the words from his breath and set the vibrations loose in my ears. "When did you learn the Wind Clone technique and the Phoenix Flower Jutsu. Just last week, you didn't even know how to do a clone, and now you can do three of them? Along with these other Jutsu?"
I stared at Baki, and at first his intimidation worked; the fear made me shiver all the way to my bones. But under his gaze, I saw the hint, the faintest quiver of his lip. Then I knew, I knew the exam was still ongoing. I pushed myself off of Iori and stood on my own two feet. Struggling to stand up straight, I took on Baki's gaze and told him the truth. "Baki sensei? I studied. I studied every day until yesterday-"
"Inside your home, I'm aware." Baki had now stood directly in front of me. His pressure was immense, crashing down on me like water from a hose. "But that doesn't explain the fire style," Baki leaned down as if to tell me that he knew every secret that I had.
Swallowing, I offered a smile and croaked out, "To be honest, I practiced at night on my roof. Small ones only." Now I felt Iori staring at me from my side. Suddenly, the pressure I felt dissipated, and I took heavy gulping breaths of open air. Baki wasn't done with me yet, however. With a swift punch, my head gained another bump to replace the others that had finally gone away. "What the hell, Baki sensei!?"
"Why would you practice such a dangerous Jutsu in a populated area, you fool!" Baki wiped a bead of sweat off his nose as he looked down at me with a look that I can only describe as disdain. Then, something happened that completely caught me off guard. Baki's gaze softened, and he chuckled lightly. Once again putting his hands behind his back, Baki nodded to Iori in recognition. Looking past Baki, my eyes caught the awestruck eyes of the other exam participants. Most of their mouths hung open in utter shock, but Yuko was smiling ear to ear with pride. I gave her a weak smile and nodded. Unfortunately, that nod was the tipping point that sent me off balance. As I fell towards the ground, the light in my eyes faded, and I passed out on the spot.