Chapter 31 - Kankuro's Mistake

“We will have two matches today. The participants names will be on the board momentarily (koff).” Hayate’s words turned the crowd’s attention to the big scoreboard on the wall.

Ekyt vs. Gaara
Rock Lee vs. Chakaro Tamaki


Everyone in the crowd knew the story behind Ekyt and Gaara. Ekyt could feel every head turn toward him. For his part, he straightened his vest, then looked at his friends.
“Some guys have all the luck…I wanted to draw Gaara! Oh well, someone has to beat him and it’s gonna be you! Believe it!” Naruto shouted.
Ekyt couldn’t help but feel a little more confident after Naruto’s display.
“I believe it.” He and Naruto hit fists. With a quick look at his support group, Ekyt leapt to the floor.


Gaara appeared in a flurry of sand. In his hand, he was holding a sand eye. He crushed it. The crowd looked over at Ekyt for a response.
Ekyt felt his ruined eye, clenching his fist in anger. So it’s finally happened…Gaara, it’s time for you to pay…

Begin!


Ekyt ran straight at Gaara, throwing a hard right hand. He followed with a left elbow, a sweep kick, a crescent kick, a side kick, then a low roundhouse, followed by a high roundhouse.
Gaara’s sand had blocked it all. He hadn’t moved at all. His sand leapt toward Ekyt in a wave, forcing him backward. Ekyt slid backward, dodging to the side of the sand, aiming an elbow at Gaara’s face. The sand blocked easily.
Time for a change in strategy… Ekyt thought. When you do a jutsu often enough, the hand signs can be skipped over. Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Four Ekyt’s leapt at Gaara from different angles. Two went high, two went low. Gaara’s sand blocked their attacks, knocking them all backward. This time, Ekyt’s handsigns were visible.
“Dragon’s ember jutsu: Clone Instigation!”
The four clones used the Dragon’s Ember Jutsu. As Ekyt thought, the sand became a solid as the heat reached it. Ekyt himself leapt up, brining his leg into an axe kick, shattering the solid material. His foot tagged Gaara on top of the head. Ekyt leapt backward. Unfortunately, the sand caught him. Four clones and their jutsus took A LOT of chakra to maintain…Gaara had caught his leg with a second surge of sand. Ekyt felt a sharp pain, but kept his focus.

“It’s almost over now…”

The chunin exams. For Ekyt, they were. No matter how much he trained, or what little bit of luck he caught, something always caught him. This time, it was Gaara’s sand. The sand’s stench of blood had increased, every time Gaara felt “alive.” Now, it was holding Ekyt by his leg.

“Desert Coffin.” Summoning the last dregs of his strength, Ekyt flipped backward, breaking the sand’s grip. Upon landing, he back flipped away, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in his leg. His own sweat and blood was stinging his good eye, making vision nearly impossible. Ekyt had only one more trick he could think of.
He disappeared.
“Where’d he go?! Did he quit?!” Naruto was shouting all this in Shikamaru’s ear. Shikamaru’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
“No way…man, that takes guts!” he said, showing more enthusiasm than normal for him.
Sakura had eaten through every nail on her hand. He’s got to survive…Ekyt…be careful…
Slowly, everyone figured out what he was talking about.
Gaara’s gourd was on the floor where Ekyt had been. Behind Gaara’s back was Ekyt!
The sand couldn’t reach Ekyt’s first strike, a vicious kick to the knee. Next, Ekyt threw off his vest…revealing another one!
“I’m sorry to steal this from you Lee!” Ekyt shouted down.
The vest hit the ground with impact, creating a small crater.
“How much did that thing weigh?!” Choji exclaimed.

The big surprise was Ekyt’s leap from the crater. Another body replacement jutsu! His Konoha Whirlwind kick hit Gaara in the temple, knocking the sand ninja backward. Gaara’s expression hadn’t changed at all.
Ekyt grabbed his vest again and threw it high in the air above Gaara. The sand crashed down on Ekyt a millisecond later.
Hayate looked closely, sure that the match, if not the boy’s life, was over. He gasped as he saw Ekyt’s vest under the sand. That meant…
Ekyt sailed down through the air, bring his elbow down on Gaara’s head, then kicking at his leg again, before using the Body Flicker Jutsu to evade Gaara’s sand one more time.

“Ekyt! It is time to use it!” Lee shouted to him.
Ekyt’s gaze reached Lee. He nodded slowly.
“GATE OF OPENING!” Ekyt shouted, opening the first chakra gate. His pupils disappeared, leaving only an eerie whiteness in his eye. A red aura surrounded him as a wind that had no source blew his hair and clothes around, adding to the menacing image.

“Guy, did you teach him that?” Kurenai asked in surprise.
“I’d love to take credit, but it was actually Lee here who taught him. You see, Lee wants Gaara to be beaten, and he knows Ekyt’s vendetta against Gaara. So, Lee decided to help him out. He had my approval.”
“Yes…but is Ekyt aware of the risks? You know what this can do Guy, and Ekyt isn’t Lee, he hasn’t trained like him. Maybe as fervently, but not in the same way…” Kakashi spoke while lifting his headband. He wanted to see this.
“Ekyt took the oath, and he’s aware of the risks, trust me. He questioned me about everything…looks like he made his decision.”


“Damnit! Gaara might be beaten! Time to take matters into my own hands!” Kankuro muttered to Temari.
“Stay out of it Kankuro…Kankuro?”
Temari had wasted her woods on a puppet. In panic, she looked up to the stands.

Kankuro grabbed Sakura and Ino roughly from behind.
“HEY!” Kankuro shouted to the floor.


Ekyt, in the process of opening the first gate, turned to look.
“You bastard! Leave them out of this!” Ekyt snarled.
Kankuro smiled and pulled on Sakura’s hair. “Unless you like your kunoichi dead, you’ll surrender the match now!” He moved his kunai closer to Ino’s throat.
“Anyone else who thinks of interfering: If you do, I’ll kill them!” Kankuro warned.


Ekyt finished opening the gate, but looked at Hayate.
“I forfeit the match,” he said hurriedly (though very sadly).
Hayate had no choice but announce it. “The winner of the match is Gaara, by forfeit.”
Bastard…Wait, where’d Ekyt go?

Kankuro smiled; Gaara had advanced. He had done his job. Still, he had hostages to pay attention to.
“Damn you!” Sakura shouted at him. He jerked her hair hard, smiling widely.
“Nothing personal,” Kankuro replied.
“I hope you rot in hell!” Ino added, but could do no more.

Someone else could do more, however.

Opening ANY of the gates required an oath…to preserve your Shinobi way, to protect yourself, or to protect those precious to you. Those were the three conditions that warranted opening the chakra gates. All three pertained to Ekyt right now, so he didn’t close the gate. He intended to use the power he had just unlocked…

WHAM!

Ekyt landed in front of Kankuro. Before he could move, Ekyt had stabbed his arms. Kankuro let go of his hostages in shock. In the same motion after stabbing, Ekyt kicked Kankuro with a series of five sidekicks. Low, low, high, high, low, followed by a Konoha Whirlwind to the jaw. As soon as his heel connected, Ekyt re-appeared behind Kankuro. Grabbing him around the leg and neck, trapping his arms in the process, Ekyt leapt backwards off the balcony. With the extra height, it was easily a sixty foot drop.

BLAM!

The stone floor shattered when Kankuro’s back hit the ground. Ekyt had let go some ten feet ago, leaping high, then falling back down, planting both feet in Kankuro’s chest just before he landed, adding more power to the already devastating move. As he landed, he picked Kankuro up again and threw him in the air, leaping up to follow him. He scissored Kankuro’s head between his legs, then rolled sideways. He drove Kankuro’s head into the ground. He did everything but kill or cripple him with that strike.

Ekyt sensed Gaara’s sand coming.
“From the back? Alright!” Ekyt was long gone by the time the sand arrived. He was standing behind Gaara. So was Ekyt’s clone. Together, they hooked Gaara in and picked him up. Shouldering him and running so quickly the sand was trailing uselessly behind, Ekyt and his clone threw Gaara into Kankuro. Their skulls cracked together, leaving two of the sand ninja lying.

Ekyt leapt up next to the two kunoichi.
“Everyone okay?” he asked.
As the two stunned kunoichi nodded, Ekyt closed the gate, returning to his normal self. He tensed up, apparently in pain. He slid down the wall next to them, a hand on his quadriceps.
“Just a pulled muscle,” he said to the worried faces. Of course, the fact that he was bleeding from multiple places belied his words.


Temari didn’t go check on her brothers right away. I can’t believe Kankuro did that…well, he got what he deserved anyway. And Gaara…was he off today? Because that Ekyt kid can’t be THAT strong! The way he fought Gaara was smart…I’d better check on those two idiots. Still…Hope that kid is okay. He’s an interesting one. It would have been a shame if they had killed him…What the hell?! Damn, that kid MUST be good if I’m thinking nicely about a Leaf Villager… Temari thought with a sardonic grin.

Sakura didn’t know what to say. He forfeited the match…to protect Ino and I…but he could have won! Why am I so useless?! No wonder Sasuke never notices me…I’m going to show him someday! CHA! Sakura shook herself out of her stupor.
“Let me see your leg…” she said aloud to Ekyt. He obediently stretched his leg out while a medical-nin checked his ribs.
“Just bruised, you’ll be fine,” the medical-nin told Ekyt. He nodded his thanks.
“Ekyt…your leg is broken!” Sakura exclaimed.
“Huh?”
“How the hell did you NOT know you had a broken leg?!” Sakura shouted.
Ekyt shrugged. “Didn’t think of it. Too caught up in the moment, I guess. Probably had something to do with opening the chakra gate. You’re supposed to heal more quickly.”


Ino was tapping Sakura nervously on the shoulder.
“What?!” Sakura snapped.
“Look at the board Sakura. You’re not going to believe this…” Ino pointed at the board that announced the competitors.

The following matches will take place next week:

Rock Lee vs. Tamaki, Chakaro
Temari vs. Mike
Yamanaka, Ino vs Donalds, Kayla
Haruno, Sakura vs. Uchiha, Sasuke


Oh dear…if I know Sakura…she’ll forfeit immediately…I can’t stop her… Kakashi thought sadly.


“Sakura…this is your chance to get Sasuke’s attention,” Ekyt said from the ground.
“But…I can’t keep up with him!” she protested.
“Yes you can. You can control your chakra like no one else. If you just give up, Sasuke won’t respect that. It’s your choice…and I’d be willing to help, if you need me.”
“But why would you help me? I mean, we’re not on the same team!”
“We’re friends Sakura. I’m out of the tournament. And I’m not on anyone’s team. Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji are still a team, I was just filling in,” Ekyt answered, taking the crutch offered to him. He had his leg bandaged heavily, although the healing process had already started and was rapidly progressing.

“I’ll do it” Sakura leapt to her feet. “I want to do it. But how can you help? I mean…you’re injured…”
“Don’t worry about that. It’ll be you doing the work. I’m just going to give you a tool to help. Besides…It’s not really MY help you need…you’ve got all the ability, I’m just going to give you something to do with it.”

As Ekyt limped off, Sakura stood there, stunned. H-How did this happen? It’s my fault he didn’t win the tournament, and now he’s helping me…against Sasuke? But I can’t win! Wait…what he told me…I’ve got to try, otherwise I’ll never get Sasuke’s attention…and no one will respect me. Sakura’s mind fired up! CHA! Watch out Sasuke, here comes the killer kunoichi! Here we go!

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