Chap.25 Elimination round

I can hardly believe that the Third Hokage agreed to the adoption arrangement so easily. I spoke with Karin before meeting him and we raised various situations from best to worst and in the end it turned out to be an unnecessary discussion.

Although at least I warned her of the danger that ROOT posed and she knows that she must be vigilant and avoid dark alleys.

Since there were still a few people from the grass village left in the exam, Karin had to wait until we got out of the forest to be safe.

Well, as safe as you can be in a village with a Danzo.

So to avoid trouble, she used the transformation technique and assumed the appearance of a male ninja from the Leaf Village. Using my advice, she assumed such an ordinary appearance that no one paid any attention to her.

The perfect filler ninja.

We had to wait for the rest of the teams to arrive at the tower, which gave us a chance to recover to our best and explain to Kiba and Hinata everything I knew about the rivals they might encounter.

From there, the rest happened little by little as it should.

Gaara's fight with Lee.

Temari vs. Tenten.

Kiba vs. Naruto, with an embarrassing loss for Kiba.

Not necessarily in that order, but I think anyone who has seen the series understands what I mean. I was thinking who I would face and was very relieved when I dodged the bullet that was Gaara. I could beat the rest, but not him if I want him to freak out in the finals.

And that's when things went wrong.

"Next opponents!" Tony vs. Neji.

Yes, I couldn't believe it. I was drawn against the lord of fate, which means that unless he loses, Naruto won't face him and he won't start getting recognized. He was debating whether to fake it and narrowly lose, to do it for the greater good and the fate of the world, until I saw Neji's smug look.

Do you know what? Damn, I don't care about him.

It's clear that Neji needs to have his destiny slapped out.

Who am I to prevent him from opening his eyes and understanding that destiny is not written?

And if his eyes have to end up purple and puffy, I will. In the name of friendship.

Naruto has the plot armor, as he demonstrated in the fight against Kiba. I'm sure they'll find a replacement for his moving story, I'm not going to lose or fail the mission.

I went up to the arena and got into my position. Neji started talking about how my defeat was an undeniable fact and how he likes to wear a pink tutu while he's at the beach.

Or so I think, the truth is that I disconnected. He was sure that if he paid attention to his talk, Neji would not end well.

-Begin! declared the judge.

I think he should have that cough looked at.

"I won't be long!" Neji stated confidently.

I stared at him for a second as he assumed his stance and waited for him to pull me closer. A mistake you would regret.

"Gluttony: Egg Machine Gun!"

Tony stomped his foot hard and dozens of eggs started shooting out of the ground at Neji. As he expected, he tried to avoid the attack using this technique of spinning around at high speed.

It wasn't the smartest choice.

"Where is your honor as a ninja?" he protested as the whipped yolk and white mixture splashed down on him, drenching him from head to toe. It was laughable when he tried to run towards me and slipped on the egg on the floor.

If he will use a fire technique then he would have Neji's omelette.

Feel the arrogance, feel the destiny.

—Gluttony: Liquid gold!

What followed was a humiliating few minutes of Neji trying to get to his feet in a mixture of egg and premium olive oil.

Should he try using the hidden flour technique?

Neji's cake.

"That's enough," the judge declared when he saw that Neji was unable to continue and urgently needed a shower, "Tony Akimichi is the winner of this match!"

Three of them had to take Neji away as he screamed with a flushed face.

Now the question was: Why is everyone looking at me that way?

Why are the other teams sweating like this?

He could even see Temari with a pale face and bewilderment in Sakura's eyes.

Wait, the latter is normal.

I mean, I defeated my opponent with minimal effort and being a fellow villager, I didn't hurt him, break any bones, and didn't even bruise his skin.

It just needed a rinse and a lot of soap.

It was the perfect victory.

The fighting continued and soon the Third Hokage spoke again.

—All of you present have shown great potential beyond what would be expected from a genin and you are one test away from being able to become a chunin. But I also know that you are exhausted and you need to regain your strength in conditions, so the finals will take place in a month —he passed his gaze over all the finalists— Take advantage of this time to think of countermeasures for your possible opponents and do your best of you for the honor of your respective villages. Fired!

"Finally," Tony sighed. "The store's merchandise must be nearing completion, he needed to go tomorrow and restock." I also need to take care of Karin's business and talk to the clan." He paused for a while. "And maybe I should also prepare myself for the events after Sarutobi's death.