The Chunin Exams, Chapter 3

Everyone kept deathly silent at that revelation.
Torture and interrogation, huh?
Coren looked to the side, right at Yugito.
She would fare well; being able to see into another's soul should make that sort of thing dirt easy.
Though, knowing the way jinchuriki are ordinarily treated, he wouldn't be too surprised if she was the tortured one.
"The proctors will pass out the room assignments, and on the papers will be the name of the one being interrogated." The Raikage, A, had decided to take the stand, looking out over the groups. "A bell will ring in five minutes, and that is when you will begin. Those who are not in their designated locations will be disqualified."
"Good luck, everyone!" Minato tossed in, peeving A a bit. It was probably that Minato had practically ducked under A's arm to get at the microphone...
The proctors passed out the assignments, and when Coren grabbed his team's, he let out a breath of relief.
"Coren Keitaro is to be interrogated," it read.
Then, the breath was caught in his throat.
"...By Team Nii," he finished. "I'm being interrogated by Yugito Nii. And you two will be interrogating her partner Yarui; the silver haired guy." Coren turned to them, frowning deeply.
"...This's bad. Like, unbelievably bad," he muttered, beginning to pace around his team. "Bad, bad, bad, bad..."
Before his teammates could say anything, Coren pulled out a small piece of paper.
"I'll... Be getting the password," he said, before walking away, leaving his teammates a tad confused. "Good luck."

---

"...Interesting password," Coren said.
Anko nodded.
"We thought a pattern like that'd help keep the proctors from forgetting."
Coren nodded back to her, before lifting up the aforementioned paper and looking at it.
"Hey, what's that for?" she asked.
Coren smiled slightly, applying the paper to the top of his mouth for a few seconds before removing it.
"Anti-interrogation seal; anytime that I try to talk about what the password is, I get a painful jolt throughout my body."
Anko's eyes widened.
Those seals were banned from ANBU; how did he get one?
"...The only reason I'm letting you get away with that is because you didn't need to tell me."
"I know, I know. I'll be fine, though; you should stop worrying so much, Hebi-chan," Coren said with a light smile.
Anko returned the smile, though not without smacking Coren's head. "I told you to stop calling me that."
"I'll stop when you stop smiling."
The ringing of a bell suddenly filled the area.
"That's my cue," Coren said, walking through the door he'd been standing in front of.
As he closed it behind him, he felt the slight change in chakra in it.
Sound dampening seals.
Wouldn't want to unnerve the other students with the screaming, right?
"Take a seat," Yugito said, gesturing to a small chair. "We'll need you wrapped up nice and tight for this."
Coren chuckled.
"It's not every day a pretty girl asks for me like that," he said jovially, sitting down. Looking at the golden-haired Kumo-nin, Sen, he said cheekily "Not too tight, big boy; I don't want it to chafe."
For that, Coren's wrists were all but crushed clean off from the tightness.
Turning his eyes right back at Yugito, he said in a low tone
"Kinky."

---

Hanako and Jacob had gone into the room for the interrogation before the bell rang, as they were told, and found Sen already tied up in the chair, a sealing array beneath him.
"...Coren'd probably be able to tell what that is," Hanako said idly, reaching into her pack. "Alright JC, how do we go about doing this? I've got acupuncture, but you've got Byakugan. You wanna knock it out of him, or should I?"

"It's Jacob, not 'JC'; that just sounds wrong. Also, I'm more trained for taking out a guy quickly, tenketsu and all, and less trained in torture. You take point, but I'll back you up with my fists, a'ight?"

Yarui suddenly let out a loud laugh.
"I must've lucked out. An untrained wimp and some twiggy girl; I've got this in the bag."
His smirk disappeared as he howled in pain, a needle embedded in his right bicep.
"Alright; I'll take 'im on, JC, but you'd better help." Smirking, she brandished a second needle, this one dripping with an odd-colored liquid.

"That 'twiggy girl' you're talking 'bout happens to be very good at poisons; she's taken down jonin with the stuff," I said, remembering drunk Kuroi. "And the untrained wimp happens to have the Byakugan and is wholly capable of shutting down a damn lot of tenketsu before pumping you so full of my own chakra it poisons you, and it leaves you in incredible, agonizing pain for the next few weeks, if not months."
Taking another step forward, I put my face in front of his.
"That's just the beginning, too; we could so very easily tear that password out of you; the Mizukage said that as long as you survive, we're fine. That means that I could go ahead, and, I don't know,"
Whipping out a kunai, I drove it right into his thigh, making him howl.
"Cleave off your leg with this?"
Yarui glared, before spitting in my face.
"Shove that toy where the sun don't shine."
Frowning, I looked at Hanako.
"...Looks like we're doing this the hard way, then."

Hanako nodded, taking a step forward.
Yarui was about to shoot off a snide comment, but she just slid a senbon into the side of his neck.
His entire body went limp, and Hanako said
"Acupuncture; a great way to relax."
Another needle slid into another section of his neck, and the screaming damn near blew out Yarui's own ears.
"Of course, with enough training, it makes for a great interrogation utensil."
She then grabbed him by his hair and stared into his eyes, saying
"And being the daughter of the leader of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Corps certainly does pay off, doesn't it?"
She pulled out the needle paralyzing him, before driving it into another nerve cluster.
Another scream split the air, Hanako's face being as unperturbed as the cold steel of her weapons.
"What's the password?" she asked darkly. "Tell me, and I won't have Jacob punch these needles right in."
"Take your needles," he said, his jaw clenched tightly, "And shove them right up your-"
His jaw went limp as Hanako stabbed him again, sighing.
"Go crazy," she said to her partner.

"My pleasure; Byakugan!"
Focusing on his chakra points, I drove my pointer finger right into one of the tenketsu, forcing enough chakra into him that it damn near blew out his chakra system.
Needless to say, I'm investing in earplugs after this fiasco's finished.
Looking to Hanako, I said "Let him scream; maybe he'll tell us the password... If he can talk after this, of course."
Pushing even more chakra into his body, I cringed at the guy's volume.

Hanako shrugged.
"What, you think I'd stop you?" She just waved her hand nonchalantly. "As long as he's capable of talking, I don't care how you do it. Hell, I've even got a wine-bottle opener in case he really doesn't want to talk."
Shooting Yarui a smile that damn near froze his blood, she said
"But he's not that stupid, right? I mean, what kind of guy would let that sort of this near his genitals?"
His entire face paled.
It was at that moment that Coren, still being interrogated, cringed.
"Someone's genitals have been threatened," he muttered in the moments that Sen's fists weren't lodged in his face.

"You ready to tell me the password yet?" I asked him. "'Cause while I have no idea what a wine-bottle opener can do to a guy's genitalia, I think I can say that that is way to specific to be improvised."

Yarui closed his eyes, his entire body tensed up.
"...The password's Coren Keitaro; they're using your teammate's name because it makes it easier for the proctor to remember."
He sighed, slumping his head down.
"Just... Let me go, okay?" he said, gritting his teeth.
To be fair, the amount of pain he's in right now would've knocked anyone unconscious by now, and he really didn't want this horrific woman anywhere near his scrotum.
"Oh, goodie!" Hanako said, jumping onto her feet and clapping quickly and joyously, almost like a schoolgirl. "I was worried I might get blood in my hair!"
Yarui's entire body shuddered at that.
She walked over to the door, opening it and telling the proctor outside the password.
Sure enough, it was correct, and they were let out.
Yarui had to have the proctor carry him out, but he'd be able to continue his ninja career.
What was unnerving was the fact that all of the other teams were out, smirking at their victory, except for one.
Yugito Nii's team was still not finished with their interrogation.
Hanako looked at her teammate worriedly.
"Do you think he's okay?"

"He's 'prolly fine; there's no way he'd give up the password. He'd get Yugito to kill him long before then, with how infuriating he is."

Hanako frowned.
"That whole 'dying' thing is what I'm worried about."
Suddenly, as if on cue, Coren's voice shouted out
"I'M A GOOFY GOOBAH!"
"GOD DAMNIT!" another voice from inside screamed out.
Must be Sen.
The proctor who'd opened the door sighed.
"Do you have the password?"
Sen must've given it, because the proctor opened the door completely, letting everyone out.
Sen's fists had bone in plain sight from how hard he'd been beating Coren, and Yugito looked like she just went three rounds with the Raikage in hand-to-hand.
Coren, however, looked infinitely worse.
Stumbling out, his entire body was coated in blood, his clothes no longer the right color. Half of his face was missing its flesh, and the grin of bone that the lack of skin gave him was enough to get three kunoichi to scream and faint, and get two more people to start vomiting on the floor.
Not only that, three ribs were literally poking out of his chest frame, and could probably be used as weapons for a charging attack.
The only reason Coren's alive right now is because of his impossibly powerful healing factor.
Coren looked around the area with his one not-missing eye, before locking eyes with his teammates.
"Sorry guys," he said, his speech very impaired without lips. "They got the password out of me."
Hanako just looked at Coren with a look of horror.
"I... I have no words," was all she could say, looking at Coren's mangled visage.

"DUDE. YOUR FACE. WHERE IS IT!?" I yelled out, staring at his horribly mangled, bony not-human shape. "How are- You can't- DUDE, YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!? ARE THOSE RIBS!?"
I felt bile building in my mouth, staring at him.
"You- You should be dead; like, drop dead and get buried, or cremated, or get SOMETHING'D dead! You- WHAT THE HELL!?"

Coren groaned, pulling something out of what might've been a pocket once.
Downing a soldier pill, he began coursing his chakra through his entire body, even going as far as using a small bit of the Cursed Seal's power.
Sure enough, his skin actively began to sew itself back together before the eyes of everyone around, each thread of skin weaving itself across his face and body.
His entire body was in pain unrivaled right now, but he had something far more important to focus on; something that kept him from keeling over right now.
This wasn't the end of the Exam.
Everyone interrogated was privy to a bit of information that motivated them to keep quiet.
That's why Coren needed a new epidermis ASAP.
His team got the password, meaning they were moving on.
He reached his down, grabbing one of his ribs.
With a jerk, he tore the entire thing out of his chest frame, tossing it on the floor and repeating this for the other two.
His body began to put itself back together, ribs regrowing, and Coren walked forward, discarding his shirt so that it didn't get sewn into his body.
When he arrived in front of his team, his body was still mangled as all Hell, but he had his eye back, and his chest didn't look like a giant hole anymore.
"So," he said with a heavy rasp, having to break in new lungs, "Who else's ready for the real last part of the exams?"

"What- Hold on, what happened to you dude? Your body is... That. Also, scale of 1-10, one being running into a wall and ten being cut in half, what would you say your current state is?"
Desperately searching for something to talk about that didn't involve his face, or the earlier lack-there-of, I said
"Wait, what do you mean by the 'real last part'? You mean there's more!?"

Coren nodded, a bit of blood dripping onto the floor.
“Yeah, there’s one more part of the exam. I’m not sure what it is, but-”
He stopped for a moment, moving his tongue around in his mouth.
“…Talking with a new tongue is hard.”
“I can vouch for that,” someone said from behind Coren, walking up.
Yugito Nii was running her hands through her hair, trying to get it down and into its proper ponytail form.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy with a healing factor like you. A bonus from that hickey on your neck?”
Coren chuckled, turning around to look at her.
“It just bolstered what was already there. By the way, good job on finding the seal that fast; I must say, I’m impressed.”
“When you can see into someone’s soul, that sorta thing’s dirt easy.”
Coren chuckled again. Hadn’t he thought those exact words earlier?
“I suppose it is, isn’t it?”
Outstretching a hand towards the girl, he smirked.
“…If you think I’m shaking that bony mass of hamburger, you’re crazy.”
He held it out for a second more before she laughed, shaking her head and his hand.
“Actually, to endure what I did to you, you really can’t be sane, can you?”
“Of course I’m not!” he said with a laugh. “Sane or not though, good game, kitten. I almost had Sen, but you helped rein him in.”
“Well, I couldn’t go interrogating a ball or scorched meat, now could I?” she asked jokingly.
“Indeed.”
Coren drew his hand back from hers, smiling.
“I don’t suppose-”
“Six,” she said, cutting him off. “Only six teams are eligible for the next part; all of the teams that represent the main villages made it, and apparently, so did Taki’s jinchuriki.”
…Well.
Let’s take a look at the teams, hmm?
There’s Coren’s team, who really don’t need to be talked about.
Yugito Nii’s team, the leader of the three being the container for the Nibi no Nekomata.
Subaku no Gaara’s team made it, and he’s the bloodthirsty container of the Ichibi no Tanuki, Shukaku.
Then there’s the container of the Nanabi from Taki, and the group that has one of the Seven Swordsmen of the mist leading point.
And then the Iwa team was a complete wildcard; Coren’s info on them was precisely equal to the great and powerful number of zilch.
“…Well, that’s somewhat disconcerting,” Coren said idly, sliding a hand into his pocket. “May the best ninja win?”
Yugito nodded, shaking his hand again.
“See you later then, Kei-kun.”
She then turned on her heel and left the team alone, leaving Coren to sigh.
“Ten minutes, and she already has a pet-name for me..? Maybe I should tone down my sexiness.”

"So do you know where the 4th exam is, or what we're going to have to do when we get there where ever there is?"

Coren turned to look at Jacob, a frown plastered on his face.
"I already said I didn't; all I was told was that there would be another part of the exam, so I shouldn't let them cripple me... Though crippling me isn't quite something most people can do, if today's example shows anything. Anyway, to figure it out, all we need to say is the magic chant that makes the plot advance."
Turning to look at the groups of people around, Coren called out
"M. Knight Shammallama Ding-Dong!"
Everyone turned to look at him funny, but then someone walked in, sighing.
"Alrighty, we've figured out which teams are capable of continuing in the exams," Anko said, rubbing her forehead. "If your name is called, you leave the place, got it?"
As Anko started calling out names, Coren leaned over to Jacob and said
"M. Knight Shammallama Ding-Dong shall never betray me."

---

"Alright, so here's the deal," Anko said, the six final teams standing there before her. "Tomorrow, you 18 ninja will be taking the final portion of the exam. If you ask me, damn near all of you deserve to be chunin, but graduation ain't my choice; all I can really say to you is that tomorrow, you'll be fighting in one-on-one bouts, and the fights will be broadcasted live world-wide."
Several eyes widened, but Coren's blood is the only one who ran cold.
He hated being the center of attention.
"I'll just leave it at that, because you need as much rest as you can to take on each other tomorrow, so scram."
Coren didn't need to be told twice.
He nodded thanks to Anko for making it as short as could possibly be done, and promptly ditched his teammates completely via the use of a well-placed window.
Hanako sighed, shaking her head.
"I'm headed off to bed," she told Jacob. "You can go rest or go clubbing at Ninja-Mart; I don't really care. I need my beauty sleep."
With that, she ditched her ghost-eyed teammate.
Do you do anything special, or go to bed?

I sighed, shaking my head.
"I'm no stupid idiot; I'll just head to bed... Tomorrow's a big day, after all..."
And then, SHAZAM, I was asleep in my bed, like some sort of magical magic, or some shizzle like that.

Coren, having jumped out of the window despite being underground, dropped to the ground and burst out running. The tunnels would not hold back this swagtasmigorical individual, after all.
Tomorrow is the day that will determine the future of his ninja career, so there was only one thing to do the night before.
That's right; it's time to go be incredibly stupid and train before the final battle.
Because that's just how we roll.
It's time to light up the night...

---

That night, during training...

---

Coren walked up to his team, wearing his hunter-nin mask.
"Hey guys; you ready for a gauntlet of pain and agony, or flesh being rent from bone and battles against the strongest individuals in the entire exam? 'Cause I think I might've wet myself on the way."

"Dude, I think I can say the same," I said jokingly. "I seriously hope I'm not paired up with any of the jinchuriki; that'd bring my journey to an abrupt end, eh?"

Coren chuckled.
"I wouldn't doubt it. I've got a couple tricks up my sleeve, but there are some I just won't be able to keep up with, y'know?"
He looked towards door. Beyond that was an infinite quantity of cameras that would display every single tiny thing in the fight between all the combatants. This would be quite...
"...Exhilarating," he muttered under his breath, his entire body beginning to quiver with excitement.
His entire mind was plagued with fear of pain, loss, or even death, yet his body would accept only the thrill of the upcoming combat.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" the familiar voice hissed.
Coren didn't respond, but the fact that he didn't block it out was enough of an answer for it.
Coren could feel himself descending further into the darkness of the Cursed Seal, but there was something that should have worried him.
He didn't care.
He only wanted to get in trouble; to get in a fight.
There was someone stronger than him here; infinitely more powerful than he was now... And he might be able to fight him.
And that was simply grand.
"Let's go," he said, his smirk well hidden behind the mask on his face.

---

Anko recapped what had been said the night prior to everyone, saying that whole thing about how the entire world would be watching.
It's weird. Yesterday, that made Coren's blood run cold, but now it burned like napalm in his veins.
"Alright then, it's time to figure out who'll be fighting against who," Anko said, finished with her recap. "Let's take a look at the brackets, huh?"
She pointed up to a large screen beyond where they stood, allowing Coren a full view of the area they'd be fighting in.
The entire place was huge; it had a deep forest with foliage so thick you could lose an elephant, a lake of crystal clear water, and there were even large pillars of stone placed. It was the perfect place for a conflict.
And then, at the very top of the stadium was a screen, and the first two combatants names were shown.

[Coren Keitaro] VS [Fuu]

Coren smirked.
The Nanabi, hmm?
"How delightfully terrifying."
Looking to his team, the masked boy nodded.
"Good luck, Coren," Hanako said worriedly. "That's a jinchuriki out there."
"And there's a demon right here," was his casual reply, before making his way to the stage.
Right off the bat, Coren realized something simple.
Fuu didn't care much for this entire ordeal; if anything, she looked bored.
"Just forfeit now," she said, her tone reflecting her expression. "I won't hold back for even a moment."
"Then this fight shouldn't take long," Coren said, scratching the back of his head. "Though who'll win, I'm not sure."
Fuu snorted derisively. "Dream on, idiot."
Coren simply looked at his friend and proctor, who nodded.
"Begin!"
Sure enough, Fuu decided against holding back.
She was already in his face with her fist cocked back by the time the word came from Anko's mouth, and Coren could only barely dodge it.
Smashing his fist into her solar plexus, Coren followed up with an explosive headbutt from his mask, before driving his heel into her knee with a resounding shattering crack, before a rising knee met her face and she went flying backwards.
Needless to say, when she landed, she was positively shocked.
She wasn't hurt, not even a scuff mark on that face of hers, but she was definitely shocked.
"You... Hit me?"
Coren sighed. "Let's kick it up a notch; I don't have energy to waste on you."
Rattling off a flurry of hand-seals, he yelled out
"False Prophecy!"
With that, he felt his Byakugan activate, but was sure no one else knew about it.
Fuu, however, couldn't care less for his words, as she started collecting energy in her body.
Within moments, glimmering wings erupted from her back; they beat at an impossible rate, bringing her a foot off the ground.
"Take this!"
She blasted forward just as fast as her wings were beating, but Coren expected that much.
As her fist flew towards his face, he'd already finished a sixth seal, not even flinching as it drew closer.
"Shatter," was all he said as her hit landed.
A sound of breaking glass filled the area, and as Fuu's fist flew through Coren's body, her eyes widened.
His entire body erupted into black flames, receding into the ground.
She looked around frantically, trying to find the real Coren.
Unfortunately for her, just as she whipped around, he popped up behind her.
"Enough," he said, slapping a seal on her back.
She whirled around to hit him, but he caught her backhand with ease.
Her eyes widened even further. She had the Nanabi powering up her hit; buildings couldn't survive hits from her, yet he BLOCKED IT!?
"Chakra suppressant seal," he said blandly, before slamming his fist into her face, sending her flying into the thickets of the forests. "Your little beetle won't stop me from winning this fight, girl."
He followed her into the shrubberies, his Byakugan tracking her easily; his seal made her stand out like a sore thumb.
"This's game over."

---

Minato was staring at Coren intently; the boy was strong, yeah, but since when was he this strong? And that seal he used to suppress Fuu's chakra would take at least jonin-level sealing skills!
This kid was getting more and more interesting by the minute...
"Hmm. I like him; he's straightforward and to the point," A said. "He doesn't mess around."
"He seems to have a good handle on when to go all out," the Tsuchikage, O'onki added. "He still seems a bit headstrong, though."
The Mizukage smiled. "If he can back it up, does it matter? I personally think that he's ready for chunin; he and his team've made it to the final exam, and in record time."
"Let's just see how this pans out first," Minato responded, before returning his focus to the boy as he disappeared into the thickets.

---

Coren looked around, his Byakugan working overtime to keep an eye on everything in a near 360* degree field around him. Mind you, his visual range was all of three feet, but it was still something.
Fuu tore off the chakra suppressor moments earlier, but that didn't stop the boy from tracking her; the quantity of chakra she's forcing out was like a flash bomb to this eye.
The headache was already tearing into his skull painfully; he was using his eye far too much for the day just after the surgery.
But it jumped his reflexes exponentially, and it gave him a larger field of vision, but it was hard to focus right now...
"What, tired already?" Fuu asked, glaring at him from beside a tree.
"Not everyone has your stamina," he responded calmly. "I won't be able to fight at this level for much longer; I suggest you finish this quickly, or I'll have to resort to a... Different, power source."
Fuu's glare hardened a bit, but she couldn't see any changes in his facial expression. It's probably because of the mask.
"What do you-"
Before she could finish, Coren had already launched himself forward, his hands glowing with chakra.
She quickly dodged the precise, measured blows that the boy threw at her, but she didn't have a chance to throw her own hits. She usually didn't run away, but Coren landed several hits earlier, and she was no fool. If he can hit her, who's to say he can't hurt her?
Dodging a sloppy thrust, Fuu suddenly snap-kicked Coren right in his chest, the sounds of shattering reverberating throughout the entire arena before he flew through three trees before sliding out of the entire forest.
She chuckled, slowly following him out of the place.
"There's no way he's getting up from that," she said, smirking. " You might as well just call the-"
She screamed out in pain suddenly as something collided with her back.
"Take this!" Coren screamed out from behind her, his chakra being forced into a spiraling orb or energy. "RASENGAN!"
Minato suddenly shot up from his seat at that, leaning over the railing.
Before the move could finish, though, the Rasengan failed. Not the fizzled out kind, though.
No, it exploded.
The Rasengan expanded exponentially, incapable of holding all the energy, and enveloped the both of them before bursting completely, leaving a crater in the area and sending both combatants across the field, screaming.
Fuu's entire back was a bleeding mess, and her spinal cord was in plain sight as she slammed into the ground and skipped on it like a stone on a lake.
Coren, on the other hand, didn't even bother hitting the ground; instead, he flew right through the area and slammed forcefully into the wall of the stadium.
Besides one main problem, he was actually almost completely untouched.
Unfortunately, that problem is a missing arm; it was in over thirty pieces scattered across the field at this point.
Not that it mattered to Coren; he could still keep fighting.
Around the same time Fuu dragged her mangled body into a standing position, he pulled himself from the crater in the wall, panting.
"That... Could've gone better," he muttered, forcing his chakra to work overdrive in his arm.
He didn't stop the Byakugan, though.
Fuu had her hand to her back, and her expression practically screamed 'does not compute'.
"You... Cut me..!?"
"More like maimed, really," Coren said through gritted teeth. He could already feel his arm beginning to grow back, but that would take hours, not seconds. "I was actually hoping you'd stay down after that, but I guess that's just not in the cards, huh?"
Coren sighed, shaking his head.
"You... Hurt me..."
...
A thought then occurred to Coren.
A jinchuriki like her probably wasn't used to feeling pain; she'd taken a physical beating earlier and not even a scuff mark was on her face. If she had some sort of absolute defense, then she isn't used to being hurt.
Fuu's entire body began to tremble, and honestly, it scared the boy.
"You ASSHOLE!"
Shen suddenly shot forward faster than Coren could keep track of, even with the Byakugan.
And when she hit, Coren screamed in agony as her fist literally went clean through him.
She was panting heavily, her eyes dilated and a shimmering gold.
"...A beauty that belies the beast," Coren muttered, blood beginning to come out of his mouth.
"That's it, I'm calling the-"
"No," Coren said firmly, cutting off Anko. "This isn't over."
Fuu's eyes widened as Coren lifted his other arm.
"Rasengan," he said coldly, forming the orb in his hand again.
This time, though, he wasn't going for control.
"No... Spiraling Implosion sounds much more accurate now," he said.
She tried to pull her arm out, but Coren was using chakra concentration and sticking to her with his insides.
And then, it hit.
A blue light enveloped the entire area, the orb expanding until it almost covered the entire arena, before slowly shrinking down.
Finally, there, at the center, stood Coren.
But he wasn't hurt at all; not only that, but Fuu was right in front of him, untouched though unable to move.
"Release," he said, the injured Coren suddenly turning to ice and melting. "If there's one thing I know about jinchuriki, it's that they're weak against genjutsu; even a genin could outmatch you there."
Fuu's eyes widened.
"When I punched you and you broke like glass!"
"Indeed." Coren walked over, unsheathing his blade and pointing it at her throat. "I am a man of many talents, and one who applies these talents in many ways. Call the match, proctor; it's over."
Anko nodded.
"Winner, Coren Keitaro."
Coren nodded, turning on his heel with his blade again sheathed.
He made his way to his team, before sighing.
He didn't doubt that anyone with a good pair of eyes could see through the genjutsu, but that's not what matters.
As long as he could fake being good enough for the next fight, he was fine.
He downed a soldier pill, and began to get to regenerating.
He wasn't good at genjutsu, but he could at least make it look like he still had his arm.
Looking at his teammates, he calmly said
"So, any questions?"

"When did you learn the Rasengan?" I asked, confused. "That's one of the the Fourth Hokage's signature techniques, and last I checked, he doesn't tutor you."

Coren shrugged.
"It was a mess-up; I just stumbled on it during training one day, and shazam; I had a lethal weapon of mass destruction."
Hanako looked at the pony-tailed boy, unsure of whether she'd accept it.
And the fact that his arm was looking might-odd didn't help much. She couldn't see through the genjutsu, but she knew something was up.
That's the only reason she kept quiet.
After that, the second match was called.
Sabaku no Gaara versus the wimp from Fuu's team; the one who didn't look like he'd be able to fight his way out of a wet paper bag.
The outcome should be obvious.
The next three battles were between people that Coren neither knew, nor cared about; they were like those nameless ninja in the movies who's only purpose are to serve as placeholders.
[Sabaku no Kankuro] VS [Yarui]
Kanuro lost; Yarui ended up sending electricity through Kankuro's chakra threads, electrocuting the poor puppeteer in moments.
[Kenji Iwanako] VS [Sen]
Sen ended up with a pairing as bad as Yarui's was good; Kenji, being a Iwa nin, used stone techniques, and stone isn't known for being the best conductors of electricity.
[Seraph] VS [Aurorus]
Coren had no idea who these two were; all he knew was that Aurorus was on Fuu's team, and that Seraph was a Kiri-nin.
It was over almost instantly, as Aurorus dodged every water strike effortlessly before wrapping up Seraph in this black gunk and nearly crushing the life out of him before he forfeited.
One thing was for sure; Coren didn't want to fight him without his arm.
Altogether, that meant two Taki nin, one Sand nin, a Kiri nin, as well as a Kumo nin had all fallen so far.
The next battle made Coren sigh deeply.
[Yugito Nii] VS [Sabaku no Temari]
Coren sighed, putting his chin in his hand.
As much as Temari interested him, there was simply no way she'd keep pace with the jinchuriki.
Apparently, though, Temari knew this; she threw the match even before entering the ring. Her explanation was
"I've lived my life someone like her as my brother; I'm not stupid enough to pick a fight with her."
...Temari's smart.
But that means Gaara's the only Suna-nin moving to the next round.
The next battle made Coren nearly choke on his own tongue.
[Jacob Hyuuga] VS [Hanako Yamanaka]
Bull.
That's not right.
Two ninja of the same village fighting each other is a load of steaming hot dog manure!
"...Well, talk about luck," Hanako said, her eyes wide. "I guess it's better than being placed against someone we don't know, right?"
She turned to her teammate, an apologetic smile on her face.
"May the best ninja win?"

I nodded. "Yeah; no offence, by the way, but I really hope you lose."
I started walking towards the field, which, surprisingly enough, was repairing itself. Looking over at the Kage booth, I saw the Tsuchikage holding a handseal.
Kage of the Stone Village repairing the rocks.
Sadly, that makes more sense than anything I've ever heard in this whacked-out world.

"Can't really fault you for wanting to win when I want to as well, now can I?" she asked with a light laugh.
She followed Jacob and took her spot; the ground was nice and flat now, and the area seemed almost the same as before Coren obliterated the place.
Except for the grass, of course; there was no saving that stuff.
Taking her position, she nodded to Anko, who looked towards the Hyuuga.
"...Begin," she said, with a swift slash of her hand.
Hanako, being the faster of the two, leaped into action much quicker than her opponent.
Quickly hurling several senbon, she immediately rattled off a series of hand-seals, though as she ground to a halt, they didn't seem to do anything.