Chapter 5

Kakashi walked between the two groups and held up his hand to get their attention.

"It has been decided by the Hokage and Kazekage that I shall be the referee for these matches so I will explain the rules.

1. There will be 5 one on one battles. It is not the best 3 out of 5 since this is supposed to be a friendly exchange. So while the matches will have winners and losers, there will be no losing group.

2. You all can go all out without worry. We have both of the 4th Kages here that can help in case of any emergency so fight like your lives are on the line and with the intent to kill. That is the only way you will be able to show your true strength.

3. Both sides will take turns deciding who the fighter will be first. This means if the Leaf chooses their shinobi first, then Suna will choose whichever one of their shinobi in response. This shall switch between rounds and the first to choose first has already been decided by a coin toss with Konoha's loss.

4. No outsiders are allowed to physically interfere beside me or the 2 Kage. If anyone else takes part in the match, directly or indirectly, it will count as the other side's loss and the person who interfered shall have one of their arms crippled. At least. If their interference is deemed severe, their punishment may be heavier.

If no one has any questions, we can begin the first match. Konoha, pick your first genin."

No words needed to be exchanged, Konoha had already decided their lineup the previous day.

Choji walked forward and was the first member to take the stage. Since he was the heir of one of the 4 Noble Clans and was the weakest of the heirs, it was decided that he would go first to see how strong.

Kotaro looked at his siblings and nodded before walking forward. Stepping into the small sparring circle, Kotaro pulled out a small scroll before summoning out his puppet.

Sitting on the ground in front of him, was Chucky. It was a small puppet that was about 1 foot tall and looked very human. The puppet looked less like a puppet and more similar to a doll. It had red hair and overalls with a knife in its hands.

'What the hell is with that creepy-looking doll?' Choji thought as he put up his guard.

"Both of you can start whenever you're ready," Kakashi said from the side

'Multi-size Technique! Human Bullet Tank!'

Choji made the first move since Kotaro's puppet made him feel unnerved. Choji made two handsigns before he expanded and became a ball like the little girl from Willie Wonka. Choji tucked his body in before he began to roll towards Kotaro at a fast speed.

These were 2 of the key techniques of Akimichi clan. The former would increase his size while the latter was a unique taijutsu of the clan.

Kotaro watched as Choji approached but did not make any major moves. Instead, he connected 5 chakra threads from his left hand to Chucky before sending the doll flying forward to the approaching boulder.

As the two figures were about to clash, Chuck's face opened up to reveal several mechanical components beneath it. 4 antenna extended from this new opening before a blue barrier appeared in front of the doll.

This was a secret technique/upgrade that only Chiyo's family knew how to add to their puppets called the 'Mechanical Light Shield Block'. It created a barrier out of pure chakra that could be used to block very powerful attacks.

For Kotaro to have a doll that could use it, it meant that Chiyo either trusted him enough to give him a puppet that could use it or she had even entrusted the method of engineering it to him. Either way, this spoke of how close of a relationship the pair shared.

Kotaro did not have Chucky clash with Choji head on. Instead, he had the puppet go low towards the ground and collide with Choji from below. So instead of colliding, the barrier was used as a ramp that sent Choji flying outside of the arena.

Choji ended up crashing into the Academy walls, destroying a part of the building. But with him leaving the arena by such a large degree, it was obvious that this was his loss. Which is exactly what Kakashi announced.

"Winner is Kotaro. Let's start the next round as soon as possible," the masked man said

But Kotaro didn' step down. Instead, he stood in the ring with his puppet floating next to his head.

"A few of your genin look unwilling to accept that loss. I'm more than willing to take on someone else if they want," Kotaro said as he looked over the group of 8 genin

"Good! I'm going to show you just how that little trick of yours is useless," Kiba said before jumping into the ring with a dog in his hoody

Kotaro studied him up and down. He recognized the ninken in the boy's hood as the signature partner of the Inuzuka family.

"You call my puppet a 'trick' but doesn't your entire clan rely of mutts to make up for their weak combat prowess themselves?" Kotaro questioned aggressively

Although he didn't really like using the Puppet Technique, it was a personal favorite of his teacher and a signature style of his village. He wouldn't let anyone look down on it, especially those that had similar fighting styles.

Kiba was fuming hearing his partner being called a mutt. Without even waiting for Kakashi to start the match, Akamaru leaped out of Kiba's jacket while the latter kneeled on the ground. Akamaru then landed on Kiba's back while kid made a handseal.

"Four Legs Technique! Human Beast Clone!" Kiba shouted

Kiba's teeth and nails began to elongate and sharpen while Akamaru transformed into a clone of Kiba. These were two of the signature techniques of the Inuzuka clan.

Kotaro looked at the pair impatiently before moving his hand slightly. Both of Chucky's hands flipped backwards as they exposed two barrels within his arms. The puppet fired two senbon at the human-dog pair.

Caught off guard, the two senbon were about to stab into his and Akamaru's arms. Before they could touch him, Kakashi appeared in front of Kiba and slashed away both of the senbon with a kunai.

"No need for that, little kid. We will count this as Suna's victory," Kakashi said while looking at Kotaro with praise in his eye

"What the hell?! So what if two small needles hit us? Me and Akamaru are not that weak!"

Seeing that his fight had gotten interrupted before it really began, Kiba wanted to argue.

The jonin of Konoha all looked disappointed at Kiba. He couldn't tell that for Kakashi to interfere, that meant the situation was dire.

"Enough, Kiba! This match was your loss. This is Suna and he is the disciple of the Lady Chiyo," Kiba's sensei, Kurenai, reminded him

When he heard this, Kiba sobered up a bit. They were warned before they arrived about Suna's 3 major techniques: Puppet Technique, Poison, and Wind Release.

And Lady Chiyo mastered two of the 3. She would definitely make sure her disciple learned the basics of both at least which meant those senbon were most likely covered in a deadly poison. Even if they had only grazed Kiba and Akamaru, the Konoha jonin were unsure if they could save the genin without Chiyo herself getting involved.

'He took Kakashi's words seriously and didn't hold back. Good. This kid will be a big threat when the Chunin Exams roll around,' Minato thought to himself as he silently compared Kotaro to the genin of Konoha. And in his opinion, only 3 of the genin present stood a chance.