Ayako's expression was filled with seriousness. Her sight peered past all the other heads, blurring them like tunnel vision to only have her eyes set on one person: her opponent, Sachida Takumore.
Now it wasn’t like a loving gaze as if she was staring at her crush, nor was it soft because they were friends. Those weren’t the cases at all. In fact, she could have sworn she saw red frame around him a little. A burning splint of anger arose in the pit of her stomach. She spoke to him once and she already couldn’t stand the kid.
*Flashback*
"Hey there, I'm Sachida,” a boy from Kusagakure introduced with a wide smile on his face. “What are a couple of cuties doing here?"
A disgusted look plastered onto all three of their faces as if he smelled, but Ayako was the only one to speak to him. "What does it look like?" she bitterly shot at him, not favoring his word choice.
"Looks like a few girls are in over their heads," he answered slyly, smirking down at her.
She scoffed in his face. “Please… it’s you who doesn't know what you're getting yourself into."
He chuckled at her statement, placing his hands behind his head. "Are you insisting you do?"
"Yeah,” she told him, not bothering to go into detail. “Now do yourself a favor and get out of my presence."
"Trying to act like a high and mighty princess, huh?" The boy began to become aggravated at her sour attitude.
She sneered. "Whatever…"
"Better be careful girl,” he warned. “Or else you may end up hurt in these exams. I hope you can hold back your tears."
Ayako’s anger was now hanging by a thread. "And I hope you can hold back your vomit when I punch you in the stomach in a few seconds.” Sachida suddenly burst out in laughter. His reaction only made her want to snap his neck right then and there. “What’s so funny?” She dared him to answer.
It took him a few seconds to gather himself back together. He wiped a single tear that formed in the corner of his eye before saying, “You actually think you can hurt me. Your hit would feel like a little poke. I mean, come on! You don’t look that strong.”
Her fists clenched tightly at the memory. She was going to make him eat his words, and his attitude. The way he stood there in the front of his line, not bothering to even acknowledge her seething stare at his back made her want to smack him upside the head. His tall and mighty stance made him ooze cockiness, egging her to tear him apart. He acted as if he owned the place, but she couldn’t wait to prove him wrong. She was itching to knock him off his self-built pedestal.
Fighting really brought out Ayako’s inner beast. Unleashing it, would be Sachida's greatest downfall, and she was more than ready for that to happen.
"Would the two people whose names have been drawn, please come forward," Hayate advised, breaking her out of her inner rant. She immediately calmed when she pulled her gaze away to look forward.
Yumika grabbed onto her shoulder, halting her movement. “Do exactly what I stopped you from doing before the written portion,” she whispered. “Kick his ass.”
Ayako chuckled at her instructions and patted her hand. “Hell yeah,” she responded, toughly.
She then slipped passed Etsuyo who nudged her arm with her elbow. She turned her head back to grin before walking up to the front with confidence in each stride.
Sachida was already standing next to the proctor as she made her way. His eyes closed until her footsteps were real close. He watched her come to a stop, facing him with her arms crossed over her chest and a sneer plastered on her face as once again her irritation sparked up.
Surprisingly to her, he grinned. "I couldn't have asked for a better opponent," he said calmly, copying her stance.
Ayako’s sneer grew as her eyes traveled up and down his body. Sachida's spiky dark blue hair was askew with strands sticking up at random places. His mint green t-shirt was ripped at the sleeves as well as his black shorts that had matching mint green triangles on the bottom hem. His white belt that had multiple pouches, slung off his hip and was discolored like the wrappings that traveled down his entire arms. His grass village forehead protector was scuffed like his black shoes. Compared to her, he was a mess.
She huffed, finally meeting his light brown eyes before retorting, "I could."
He scoffed, knitting his eyebrows together and grinding his teeth. Her comment definitely rubbed him the wrong way, and fast.
"You two have been chosen for the first match. Ayako Uchiha. Sachida Takumore." Hayate raised his hands up, gesturing to the two. "Any objections?"
"None that I can think of," Sachida quickly answered.
"Not at all," she stated.
"Alright then." The man coughed. "Would the other candidates, except for these two of course, please move up onto the upper level?"
They all followed the orders. The Rookie Nine moved to take the balcony on the right while those from Suna, Oto, and Kusa occupied the left.
The Jonin obeyed as well and joined their students up above. Ayako glanced up to find her entire team right in front of her. On the left of them, near the end of the balcony, was the Hokage, all the other proctors, and Team Ten, while to the right was Team Seven, Team Gai, Team Eight, and then Kabuto's team. Her eyes shifted back to the center to see Nishiya sensei, Etsuyo, and Naruto give her a big smile and a thumbs up. Sakura just smiled, Kakashi sensei kept his stoic expression, and Yumika and Sasuke grinned.
"Good luck, Ayako!" Sakura yelled down.
"Yeah you'll do great!" Naruto cheered excitedly.
"You better beat this guy, Ayako," Sasuke spoke coolly.
She gave them a stern nod and then straightened to have her stare level with Sachida’s.
"Okay, if you're ready." Hayate raised his right hand. "Let the first match begin!" He swiped his hand down and stepped back and out of their way.
But they didn’t attack right away. Neither of them moved a muscle as their eyes kept a tight hold on each other’s. Their bodies tense, waiting for the other to falter and make the first move. Their composure remained frozen for a few moments until Sachida…
Began to laugh.
His outburst caused her to become confused. What’s so funny? she wondered as his cackles slowly subsided.
He took one last deep breath before speaking, almost answering her question like he read her mind. “I was laughing because you’re too cute.” She grit her teeth at his statement. “I mean, I didn’t even think you would stay for the preliminaries let alone make it out of the forest.” He laughed a little again. “Well, you’ve got guts, I’ll give you that, but seriously, do you think you have a chance against me? Because I’ll tell you now, you don’t. So, go ahead, drop out while you can. I’ll give you the opening. This way I’m saved the trouble and you’re saved from a beating. After all, your little friend can’t help you here.”
At the end of his speech he placed his hand on his hip, looking like he was already bored with the whole situation. Ayako watched him with surprised eyes, but it was in an aggravated sense. She couldn’t believe he was that quick to judge her.
*Flashback*
“That’s it!” Swiftly Ayako slammed her palm on the desk and pushed herself forward. She was about to tackle the kid to the ground and pound the snot out of him when a hand wrapped around her arm to restrain her.
“Ayako, don’t.” Yumika sternly advised. Sachida turned his attention to her now, but she didn’t bother returning the action. “You already wasted your time on this guy, don’t waste your energy.”
With one, short exhale, her friend was calmed.
“Wow, your emotions can change in a snap,” Sachida commented, noticing the quick switch. “Maybe that’s your true effective attack.”
“Kid,” Yumika spoke before Ayako could open her mouth to defend herself. “I suggest you go back to your team and leave mine alone, or else you’ll be dealing with me.” To scare him off, she switched her eyes from yellow to green and gave off a vibe of danger.
Her attempt worked. Seeing her change and feeling the difference in the air around them, Sachida slowly backed away with a hint of fear on his face. “Fine,” he agreed. “I was getting bored of talking to her anyway.” He tried to regain his ‘cool’ with his words, but the two knew and were both amused at his reaction and relieved he finally left.
“I could’ve taken him, you know.” Ayako stated, watching him walk away.
“Yeah, I do. But proving that to him isn’t the goal…” she took a seat next to her friend. “Getting through the first round is. Everything else is unimportant.”
This time, that was the goal. Showing him she could beat the snot out of him was part of what mattered right there. Though, she definitely had to be smart about how. He was right on one part, Yumika wasn’t going to interfere, not that she needed to.
“Come on,” Sachida urged. “Don’t be shy. Tell the proctor you’re out and this is over. Don’t bite off more you can chew, princess. From where I stand, you’re not good enough and compared to me, you’re too weak.”
A pang of anguish overwhelmed her heart, forcing her eyes to tightly shut. The phrases echoed in her mind, but it wasn’t his voice saying them. She heard her father, her neighbors, and her fellow clansmen lingering within them.
At that moment she almost lost all her poise from the blind traits he gave her. She wanted to lash out at him for calling her such things that reminded her of her past. She wanted to do what she did to Kin, and more, but she fought against those ideas. Fought so hard she began to tremble, her knuckles lightened to the shade of white, because she realized what he was doing.
He was toying with her again, pulling at her nerves, and wanting her to snap. If she lost control, she’d get sloppy with her movements and he’d have the upper hand, increasing his chances of beating her. That’s his game, huh? she thought, wiggling her fingers and breathing deeply, trying to cool down. He thinks he has this fight in the bag, fine. I’ll let him think that for a bit. With one last exhale, all of the bad feelings he shoved into her were pushed aside. It wasn’t her clan determining who she was, it was a boy. Just a boy. Besides, she wasn't like that anymore. She was far from her old self and she was aware of that.
In a flash, faster than he could blink or comprehend what was happening, Ayako whipped out a kunai and chucked it in his direction. It shot through the space between his legs and landed a few feet behind him with enough force to jab into the ground. He wasn’t too taken aback at first, that is until a small, sharp pain pulsed through his leg. He looked down with wide eyes to find a cut on the inner of his thigh. She had a great arm for control, and a sharp eye for aim.
“Not so hilarious now, am I?” Her words dragged his eyes to look up.
Sachida growled and sprung into action. He jumped backwards and took out a red scroll from a pouch on his belt. Swiftly he threw it open revealing a large black symbol that read "senbon". A large puff of smoke erupted from it, and numerous amounts of tiny, sharp needles shot out at lightning speed, straight for Ayako.
She took out a kunai and charged full speed ahead. Easily, she dodged the senbon by jumping over, ducking under, and knocking them away with her knife, all while proceeding to move forward, bringing her closer to Sachida with each step. With one last spin in the air, avoiding an array of needles, she roared, swung her weapon downward, and cut the sheet in half. The needles ceased to flow out of it.
The boy stared in disbelief at the two halves of paper. Ayako smirked and did backflips, giving him space. Landing with her feet apart, she prepared herself for the next attack.
Sachida let the scroll drop to the floor, glaring. He ran to the girl, taking out his weapon of choice: a Tanto. Ayako mimicked his movements. They met in the middle, slicing at each other. Sparks flew from every collision. The sound of metal slamming together filled the quiet room. Both candidates had furious expressions on their faces as they groaned every time they sliced and missed.
They moved in sync like a well-practiced routine. When one jumped back, the other did the same. When one ran, the other copied. They perfectly dodged every attempt to land a blow. Gradually they shifted, bringing Ayako near the wall underneath the balcony.
Sachida again tried to slice down on Ayako. Swiftly, as his knife came, Ayako's went up, knocking it and his arm away. She saw an opening and retracted her hand to stab forward. Sachida stared at it with wide eyes as it came right for his stomach. She was only a few inches away and continued to get closer until he dodged it at the last second with a leap to the side.
He saw this as an opportunity to strike. Ayako lost her balance and continued to fly straight. He lifted his weapon and swung. She saw it happening and tried to twist away, but she was too slow, and took a hit.
Sachida's cut the front of Ayako’s thigh deep enough to make her wince in pain. Landing hard on her stomach, she slid a few inches away. She clenched onto her kunai firmly and waited for the affliction to subside.
Meanwhile, up above, all of Team Seven gasped at the scene.
There's no way that's really her, Sasuke speculated. She must've done a substitution jutsu before. But when he saw her body wasn’t replaced by an object, he was proved very wrong.
"What happened?" Naruto grumbled obviously too into the fight. He turned towards Team Shizen who showed no emotion on their faces. They stared intensely at Ayako, watching her carefully.
Despite the ache in her leg, Ayako stood up with her back facing her opponent. Nice… she praised him mentally.
"You see, that's why girls shouldn't play with knives." Sachida taunted waving around his Tanto.
She didn’t bother to give him a smartass verbal response. Instead, she briskly spun around and tossed her kunai at Sachida's knife. Easily, he avoided it by moving his hand to one side, letting it stab into the wall behind him.
The boy smirked. "Is that the best you've got?"
Ayako laughed. "Not really…" She had an edge to her voice as she jerked her arm back. The kunai jolted backwards, caught onto his knife and smacked it right out of his hands. Both drifted over to her.
He became shocked as the light on the ceiling revealed a wire that connected the end of the kunai and her wristband. "I've still got some tricks up my sleeve," she joked. It's a good thing I rigged my clothing. And that he's too stupid to notice I tied the wire when I was lying on the ground.
She pulled the rest of the wire out of her sleeve and let it drop to the ground. It was her move once again.
Ayako speedily picked up Sachida's own knife and flung it towards him. He leaped high into the air to avoid it. He spun forward once and then kicked out. Falling straight for her, she braced herself. At the last second she jumped into the air. His foot landed on the ground so hard, it cracked a bit.
She flew completely across the room to the other side. She arched her back and reached out her arms. Amazingly, she grabbed onto the railing of the balcony between Team Seven and her own. She balanced there for a second, doing a handstand with her long black hair hanging. She quickly eyed both teams and gave them a smirk.
Springing back into her game, she bent her legs and slipped through the space within the bars on the railing. The girl landed in front of Sachida and began to fight him with hand to hand Taijutsu. She punched, kicked, spun around in the air and on the ground, but he was able to evade them all and fight the same way.
To Team Seven, something was off about Ayako. She didn't seem to be as powerful as they imagined her to be. In fact, she seemed to have grown weaker at this point because Sachida was actually able to hit her. He was landing kicks to her stomach, punches across her face, and anything he could to harm her. While she looked as though she was losing it, becoming weaker with every hit. She just wasn’t going at the same effort as when she had a kunai.
Of course, Nishiya, Etsuyo, and Yumika knew she wasn’t fighting at her full potential. It was obvious to them what strategy she was using. Though, to everyone else it wasn’t too clear.
Just hold out a little longer! She encouraged to herself. Truthfully, she was getting a little exhausted and the soreness from the new developing bruises on her body were starting to take its toll. She had to admit, Sachida packed a punch. Just a little longer! He has to get tired sometime.
Obviously not in the loop of Ayako’s plan, Naruto couldn’t stand to watch her get beat up the way she was. He was getting heated from the sight and couldn’t contain himself.
"Come on Ayako!" he yelled at her. "What are you doing? I thought you were stronger than this!"
Seriously, Naruto. Not now! She ducked to avoid Sachida's leg from colliding with her head.
Sasuke glanced at his screaming teammate. He's right…what is she doing? He wondered as he observed his sister.
"Take him down already! I know you can!" he kept hollering.
She groaned in annoyance. Shut up! She punched, aiming for his gut, but he moved out of the way.
"Come on, Ayako! Show him what you're made of!" He wouldn't stop. Naruto continued to coach her from the sidelines, thinking it was helping when it only made her angrier and angrier. In her mind she had this blueprint of how she was going to handle her opponent, but because of his loud mouth, she lost her concentration and was distracted by her rage towards him.
With one last shout from Naruto telling her to fight back stronger, she snapped.
Sachida attempted to punch her with his left, but she caught it with her right. He tried again with his right, but she caught it with her left. To the boy's amazement, she lifted him into the air, growling in the process, and threw him across the floor, hurling him into the railing in front of Naruto.
The knucklehead fell onto his butt, scared out of his mind. He watched Sachida slip down and land face first onto the ground. Then, he diverted his eyes towards Ayako.
She pointed furiously at the blonde with crazy eyes. "If you say another word, Naruto, I swear I’m going to drag you down here and beat the snot out of you next!”
He gulped, pursed his lips, and nodded feverishly in agreement.
"Oh ho…" Sachida began to shakily get back on his feet. "You were holding back this whole time." Ayako shook out of her displeasure towards Naruto and brought it back to him. "Well, that doesn't matter… You’ll never be good enough to beat me." He grinned darkly. "I think it's time we finish this match," he stated opening his stance. "What better way to do that than with my ending move."
He's right on that part, she thought. We've been fighting for almost 15 minutes. But if he thinks I’m going to let him win this, he’s in for a treat.
Ayako focused on her eyes and awakened her Sharingan.
"Ooh, the Sharingan. I'm so scared now. I’m destined to be defeated" Sachida mocked her with his fake trembling voice. He laughed at the end. "Just kidding…I bet your clan would’ve been proud of you, though. Too bad you’d disappoint them at the end of this."
"This kid should really stop insulting her. She might actually kill him." Etsuyo leaned over the railing.
His taunt didn't just strike a nerve in Ayako. It struck deep into Sasuke too. How dare he say that about her.
“Yumika,” he uttered through clenched teeth. The girl next to him shifted her gaze. “When did she get her Sharingan?”
“Um…” she took a second to recall. “It was during her training in the ocean. I wasn’t there, but Nishiya sensei was. You’d have to ask her.”
Before he could, his sibling’s action caught his attention.
Ayako kept her mouth shut from saying anything regarding his ridicule and only started to make hand signs. All of which, was very familiar to Sasuke.
Her brother gasped. "What? She can do the Fireball Jutsu?"
"Are you kidding me?" Yumika snorted. He turned his head towards to girl. "She wouldn't even start, let alone look at another jutsu until she perfected it as much as she could. She said she wouldn't continue on until she had it because..." She connected her eyes with his and brought her voice down to a whisper. “A member of the Uchiha Clan is not recognized as full-fledged, until they can use the firestyle.”
Ayako finished with the Tiger hand sign and breathed in deeply, making her chest puff out. Raising her fist over her mouth, she blew out with force. Fire style: Fireball Jutsu! A large amount of fire escaped, heading straight for Sachida.
The boy was quick to retaliate. He made hand signs of his own and breathed in deeply as well. When he blew out, a water ball escaped his mouth and clashed with her fire. Water style: Water Bullet Jutsu!
Warm, white smoke erupted from the center as the two jutsu collided and engulfed them both, causing everyone who was watching to lose the two from their view. What could happen next, no one knew but the two opponents.
Ayako walked ahead blindly, coughing in her hand with every breath. The smoke stung her eyes making her incapable of seeing even with her Sharingan. But even though she couldn't see, she was still able to sense her opponents presence and walking a little bit more forward, she found him. Perfect…
Sachida appeared crouching only a few inches in front of her, sensing her as well. He speedily kicked her hard into the air, raising her above the smoke allowing everyone to see her again. She cried out in pain. He arose right above her with his hands clasped together, chakra surrounding them. He slammed down on her stomach hard, snarling as he did so. Her body flew into the ground with so much power the smoke blew away and into everyone else's faces.
They all closed their eyes until the debris was gone and when it was and they looked again, Ayako was lying on her back, knocked out with her hair over her face. The cement tiling underneath her was shattered and pieces were sticking up around her.
Sachida landed gently onto the ground out of breath and smiled happily at his work.
Up on the balcony, both Sasuke and Naruto clenched onto the railing ready to jump down but Yumika grabbed onto their wrists, stopping them. She stared at both of them with stern eyes. "Don't think it's over…" she muttered and let go. They both looked at her confused until she pointed down to Ayako's unconscious body just as it suddenly melted away into a puddle of water. The entire room filled with gasps. Especially, Sachida.
"What?" he questioned loudly.
"Well, well…" A female voice came from the shadow underneath the stairs of the other balcony. "That was you're ending move, huh? Very nice." Ayako walked out normally with her hands on her hips, Sharingan gleaming. "It's a shame that I'm still conscious, though, isn't it?" She faked a frown as she continued to walk closer and closer. Her jaw clenched and her eyes burned fiercely. "But when I finish this…you won't be."
"How is this possible?" Sachida was astonished. He choked. "In the smoke…" he answered himself. His eyes widened.
"You were too blind to see it because you focused more on beating me to a pulp. Too preoccupied to notice I let my chakra become absorbed by the water particles in the gust to make that clone." She pointed to the puddle, finally standing in front of him. "I planned this from the beginning." She smirked.
"Planned what?" he asked angrily trying to close the gap between them, but he was failing drastically. He was weakened from his attack and she could tell.
She merely laughed. "You really aren't the brightest… Listen closely. I let you hurt me to make you waste your energy. I also let you dodge and counter attack everything I did in order to make you believe you had the upper hand in this match. As you predicted in the very start." Ayako took a step forward. “You’re the type of person who toys with people. You lead them on, and continue to tug on their patience until they lash out at you because if someone’s distracted by their temper, they’re prone to making dumb mistakes. When you satisfy yourself by believing you won the fight, you think it’s all over.”
Sachida stared at his opponent in absolute confusion.
"That last combination drained you badly, I know. I saw how you did it thanks to my eyes.” Her red irises flashed. “You call it your ‘ending move’ because afterwards you’re left defenseless, though it’s not as bad as the opponent its used on. You focus a large amount of chakra into your hands and release it once you come into contact with the other person. The potency is so high, it could downright kill a person if it struck the right spot. I’m guessing it’s been effective before…just not today. You see there’s your problem. What you don’t understand is that you can’t always assume. Sometimes your opponent isn’t done when you are and they bounce right back up when you’re out of chakra."
Sachida grumbled, forcing himself to fight on, but he only mustered up the strength to grab onto her wrist.
Ayako effortlessly twisted out of it, brought her hand up and backhanded him across the face. He was shoved to the side. She then disappeared for a split second and reappeared next to him. Spinning around in the air, she kicked him in the ribs, making him fly to the other side. He didn’t even touch the ground before the Uchiha reappeared again and punched him upward into the air and copied what he did to her clone: She clasped her hands together and pounded down onto his stomach, but with not as much energy. He landed on his back hard. He was still conscious and the floor was intact.
The girl landed over Sachida's body with one foot on each side of his waist. He couldn't budge anymore for his body was experiencing side effects from his attack and hers.
"And you said my best wasn't good enough…" She took his words and threw them back at him.
Ayako raised her hand high into the air. Small particles of water lifted off the surfaces of the ground, the walls, and some parts of the balconies. They came together quickly, forming into a large, sharp spike above her head.
"How is she doing that?" Naruto wondered aloud.
"In the smoke there was some water floating around. Even after it dispersed, it left a little condensation on the surfaces it touched." Etsuyo answered without making eye contact. He turned his head towards her. "Because of Ayako's ability, she was able to pick out the small amounts of water." Naruto nodded and tuned back into the soon finished match.
“You don’t know me,” Ayako said. He locked his eyes with hers and for the first time, to his surprise, her expression was softened. “I’ve been through so much. All the sleepless nights, bloody knuckles, and tears, all the training I’ve done.” Her fists clenched at the memories. “From where I stand, my hard work will always pay off. I am good enough!” Without anymore hesitation, Ayako sliced her hand down quickly, aiming the spike straight for Sachida's face. He screamed in fear as it came closer, staring directly at its sharp point. He knew this was it.
The spike flew with great speed until it came to a sudden stop, inches away from the boy's face. He still screamed for a few seconds after and only quieted down as he passed out.
A moment of silence filled the room.
"The winner is Ayako Uchiha!" Hayate informed. Naruto, Sakura, Etsuyo, and Nishiya cheered from up top.
She smirked, walking off of Sachida, controlling the spike to shift away from his face. She let it melt back into water and dropped it all on the ground with a splash.
Ayako remained standing next to him and examined his body. For once, his appearance didn’t bother her. How could he, anyhow. She won.
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Chapter notes: A/N: Hey, look at this! I uploaded before one in the morning! Yay me! So I pretty much revamped this chapter a lot, considering it's the LONGEST ONE so far, but I'm actually really pleased with how it turned out. I hope I created a good fight scene with some recent flashbacks. Her past was brought into it a bit. More of that will definitely come in later. And... yeah. Read, review, and stuff. Enjoy!
Chapter end notes: A/N: Please let me know what you thought! The next chapter will be ready A.S.A.P. Thanks for reading!