Dokushu Chapter 13 (Patreon)

Hello friends and fans, Kairomaru is here with another chapter of Dokushu the Poison Master. This chapter Naruto finishes up the preliminaries and we move on to the month of training. Thank my patron Daniel Williams for using his Tier Reward to get this story updated again.

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Chapter 13 – Preliminaries End, a Month for Training

“Are both combatants ready?” Hayate asked getting a nod from Naruto and Sai. “Final match of the preliminaries, Uzumaki Naruto vs. Sai, begin!” Hayate started the match before jumping back to a safer distance.

“I’ll try harder to win this time.” Sai fake smiled as he drew his scroll and brush holding both at the ready. 

“You do that.” Naruto replied as he took his stance in front of his opponent. 

“As you say, Naruto-san.” Sai’s responded while having various ink beasts emerge from the scroll in his hands. The eight beasts that emerged from his scroll started rushing towards Naruto. Naruto’s unamused look was somewhat amusing for Anko as he quickly jumped away from the beasts and let several senbon fly from his hands.

“What the hell kind of technique is that?!” Kankuro questioned from the balcony as he watched the ink beasts try and dodge the multiple senbon from the blonde shinobi.

“Ninpou: Choujuu Giga (Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitation) by applying chakra to his drawings Sai can make them take physical form and attack his opponent.” Kakashi explained vaguely for everyone to hear. “As soon as they’re created they can act independently from Sai and surround the target until they can no longer escape. After the target is trapped it becomes an unending wave of attacks from the beasts.”

“Thanks for the summary, Kakashi. But your Genin will need more than numbers to beat Naruto.” Anko spoke up from her position. “Especially since they don’t seem to be the fastest of creations.” To support her statement three of Sai’s ink beasts had been dispersed by the hail of senbon Naruto had thrown while the remaining five started circling him from a distance.

“He’s drawing again.” Karui mentioned watching Sai quickly make more images on his scroll from the other side of the arena. Samui simply nodded at Karui’s statement her cool gaze taking in the match below.

Naruto was calmly observing the five beasts circling him and waiting for one of them to make a move. It wouldn’t matter how long this match took, time was only an advantage for the move he’d already made. The sound of stone grinding against something from behind him alerted him of the incoming attack. With a quick sidestep and a swipe of a kunai another of Sai’s beasts splattered back into ink.

Two more rushed in from opposite directions and attempted to pounce on Naruto. The blonde jumped back from the pincer attack and back flipped over the sneak attack from a third beast. The sneak attacker was destroyed when Naruto landed on the creation’s back and stabbed it with his kunai.

“Five down, three more to go.” Naruto muttered to himself as the last three were rushing him from different directions.

“Why doesn’t he use any Ninjutsu? Does he not know any like that green kid?” Temari questioned as she watched the blonde fight against the ink beasts.

“He knows plenty of Ninjutsu, Fan Girl, Naruto just doesn’t need it to beat this technique.” Anko replied with amusement as she watched Naruto take another kunai into his left hand and stab the center beast in the face. A quick jump and Naruto threw a kunai into each of the other two remaining beasts causing all three to splatter into ink. “See?”

“So it would seem.” Temari muttered looking annoyed at the double meaning of Anko calling her Fan Girl. If she was just referencing Temari’s weapon of choice it wouldn’t be a problem. But the term also had the meaning of a kunoichi that didn’t take her career seriously and was just trying to impress a shinobi they fancied. Temari was anything but a fangirl, she’d trained hard for years to master her chosen style, damn it!

“What about all of those?” Sakura asked as Sai revealed multiple Sumi Bunshin (Ink Clones) of himself as well as multiple lion, wolf, tiger, and even bird drawings surrounding the opposite side of the ring.

“This’ll just be interesting!” Anko grinned as she watched Naruto blitz towards one side of the menagerie of ink creations.

Almost a dozen senbon had left Naruto’s hands before he’d even left his position splattering four beasts immediately. As the pack of beasts began to move towards Naruto to intercept him they found themselves bunched up and having trouble maneuvering to attack their target. A ball of explosive tags was tossed into the jumbled mass of drawings by Naruto as he jumped back. The blast rocked the arena splattering more than half of Sai’s creations and creating a brief smokescreen.

“He’s got a decent amount of intelligence at least.” Samui remarked as the smoke started to disperse. “When dealing with multiple opponents getting them to crowd together is an easy way to limit their movements. This makes it easy to take them out in mass.”

The remaining beasts and Sumi Bunshin warily looked around the arena trying to locate their opponent. Naruto reappeared behind a Sai clone and kicked it in the side. The clone flew a few meters away before bursting into ink.

“Not that one then.” Naruto remarked as he dodged another clone’s sword swing and stabbed it in the outstretched arm. The clone’s dispersion into ink showing the lack of real damage being done to Naruto’s opponent.

“He’ll eventually tire out and be overwhelmed if he doesn’t find the real one.” Kankuro analyzed as he watched another beast get slashed and disperse.

“That’s funny.” Anko giggled at the Suna Genin’s statement. Kankuro only grew more confused when he noticed the other three Konoha Jounin smirking or chuckling themselves.

“Did we miss something?” Karui questioned as she watched Naruto block another Sai’s sword swipe causing the pale shinobi’s arm to bend at an unnatural angle before it burst into ink. 

“Naruto-san doesn’t get tired easily. He has both incredible stamina and massive chakra reserves. His chakra regeneration rate is far higher than most other’s as well.” Kurenai responded as she watched a tiger-like beast pounce at Naruto only to be blocked by the blonde’s arm. The beast’s two front paws almost compacting against the Genin’s unmoving arm before it too burst into ink.

“How the heck did that happen?” Ino questioned loudly having watched the ink beast crumble against Naruto’s defense.

“Tetsugoei Ryu (Iron Guard Style).” Gai answered the Yamanaka. “It’s an absolute defensive Taijutsu style that relies upon extreme conditioning of the body and chakra augmentation. Striking a proficient user of this style will see you in pain and the user without much damage. Clones are the worst sort of match up against Tetsugoei Ryu since most of them can’t use chakra augmentation to strengthen their bodies. It’s about as effective as throwing dirt clods at stone by comparison.”

“No kidding…” Shikamaru trailed off as he watched a wolf-like beast charge at Naruto only to meet an elbow block head on and splatter.

“You’re starting to run out of creations.” Naruto spoke to the remaining beasts and clones on the field, still unsure as to which Sai might be the real one. “Won’t be long now.”

“I can always make more, Naruto-san.” All the Sai’s said at the same time.

“Can you, now?” Naruto questioned with a raised eyebrow as he blitzed two Sai’s and struck both of them hard across the face with Hebidageki Ryu strikes. They both dispersed into puddles of ink as Naruto spun and delivered a powerful Raikoumutei Ryu kick across the wide open jaw of one of the beasts. It splashed into a mist of ink from the force and Naruto re-entered his Tetsugoei Ryu stance.

“What does he mean by ‘Can you, now?’ did he do something to the pale guy?” Karui questioned not having seen the ink user take a single blow the whole match.

The last four beasts on the field met their end at the fist, feet, and kunai of Naruto before he turned his attention to the spread out Sai clones. The Sai’s all withdrew their tanto and started trying to slowly encircle the Uzumaki.

“They’re going to gang up on him from all sides. How does he plan to deal with this?” Samui wondered out loud noticing the copies of the black haired shinobi trying to surround the blonde.

The answer came quickly when Naruto rushed to the right and kicked through the clone that tried to intercept him. With all of the Sai’s now in front of him six kunai with attached explosive tags quickly cleared out the remaining copies in a series of explosions. The dispersing smoke showed a panting Sai with his scroll and brush still in hand, watching as Naruto walked slowly towards him.

“Why can’t I control my chakra? What did you do exactly?” Sai questioned as his hands and legs began to tremble. It appeared that the pale shinobi was having problems keeping himself upright.

“Because I’ve been attacking you since this match started.” Naruto replied as he continued to close the distance.

“But you haven’t hit me once, how did you mess with my chakra and body without ever coming into contact with me?” Sai asked as his scroll and brush fell from his hands and clattered onto the floor.

“What’re you talking about? You’re being attacked by me with every breath you take.” Naruto responded as he stood three meters in front of his opponent.

“When? How? You didn’t use any jutsu this whole time.” Sai’s confusion was matched by many of the Genin watching.

“Just because I didn’t use hand seals or announce my technique doesn’t mean I didn’t use one.” Naruto explained as he waved his hand around slowly in the air. “No color, no smell, no taste, and light as air. I’ve been producing this from my pores since the match started. All my moving around and your stalling with your creations just spread it all over the field.”

“What is it?” Sai asked as he collapsed onto his knees.

“Issankatanso no Hana (Carbon Monoxide Flower) gas, or at least the closest copy I was able to recreate with my bloodline. Had to really study the plant and break down how it produced the carbon monoxide-like poison it releases to kill and eat bugs. Also had to expose myself to it to make sure my bloodline created immunity for it. Not lethal to humans because the plant isn’t very large, but I only need a little for my bloodline to break it down and create immunity.” Naruto explained before stepping up to Sai and gently tapping him on the forehead sending him sprawling backwards unconscious.

“Winner by knockout, Uzumaki Naruto!” Hayate announced as medic-nin moved onto the field to take the unconscious Sai. 

“Ingenious, Issankatanso no Hana is a carnivorous plant native to Southern Hi no Kuni. To think he was able to create a similar toxin just by studying the plant.” Sarutobi remarked as he watched the winning Genin be led down to the floor after assurances from Naruto that he was already removing the gas from the air. Normally even if you had dozens of the flowers in an enclosed space and were literally huffing them. The worst a human would get was disorientation, some muscle weakness and they may pass out for a short time. But the plants were so small and produced only enough poison to kill small insects so they weren’t actually fatal to humans. Naruto had taken their toxin and made it into a potent weapon with his bloodline limit. The future clan head was showing great promise for the future of Konoha. 

“That blonde kid is one to watch out for.” Samui commented to Karui as she left the balcony to head down to the arena floor.

“No shit.” Karui muttered back looking towards Naruto in trepidation. No sound, no smell, no taste, no hand seals and yet he is still making every breath an attack. “That guy is going to be a monster if there is another war between the villages.”

“Geez Naruto, why are you always so troublesome?” Shikamaru groaned as he made his way down to the floor.

“Would Gaara’s defense be able to protect him from something like that?” Kankuro whispered to his sister as they followed a few meters behind Gaara while walking down the steps to the floor.

“How would I know? I’ve never seen someone that can use a jutsu like that.” Temari whispered back.

“No matter your ability I can see the chakra in your poison. You won’t catch me off guard. Your fate is to fall to me should we meet in battle.” Neji quietly declared as he stood in front of the Hokage and the other proctors.

The Hokage stood up to greet the remaining Chuunin hopefuls after their performance in the preliminaries. There had been quite a few talented Genin this year, and Sarutobi regretted that so many of them wouldn’t be able to represent their villages in the final round. Unfortunately, with clients as high ranking as Chihou Ryoushu (Regional Lords) and even the Daimyo of Hi no Kuni in attendance, they had dictated that only a certain number of applicants could proceed to the final round. All the Genin who passed the preliminaries would go on to the finals and their matches would be determined by drawing lots. Since there was no free pass in shinobi life there would be no bye for anyone. Therefore a three way match would take place first and then the remaining matches would leave four semi-finalists and two finalists so that one overall winner could then be determined.

With a breath Sarutobi addressed the assembled crowd. He explained the true nature and history of the Chuunin Exams, of the façade of inter-village cooperation behind which simulated wars were waged in the form of the Chuunin Exams, of how the villages depended on their Genin to display their power in order to ensure their village was properly funded by the Daimyo of their country and a sustainable amount of missions continued to come to them.

Sarutobi also warned them of the danger of relying on only one jutsu. Some of the Genin had displayed their best techniques during the preliminaries, while others tried to conceal their abilities as much as possible. While the preliminary rounds had been about juggling the unknown variables that their opponents presented, the finals were different as the Genin would now have some prior knowledge of their opponent’s abilities. This would allow them to prepare and train accordingly. In a similar fashion, some would have to account for their opponent’s knowledge of their abilities and train to counter such a disadvantage or, if possible, turn that knowledge to their benefit. For these reasons, and also to allow enough time for all interested parties to arrive, a month of respite was provided before the finals began. Sarutobi then revealed that the order of the matches would be determined by a random drawing of lots.

“We’ll start from the right and move to the left. When it’s your turn to draw you’ll step forward and show us which number you’ve pulled after that you’re to return to your place in line. Am I understood?” Aoba questioned the line of Genin.

“Yes sir.” All of the Genin replied as Aoba motioned for the first person to step forward. Shikamaru stepped forward and placed his hand into the box containing the lots.

“Hmm, I’m number four, troublesome.” Shikamaru sighed as he headed back to his place in line. Shino stepped forward next to draw.

“Number eight.” Shino stated in a monotone as he returned to the line. Temari stepped forward next.

“Number three.” Temari announced while throwing a sharp look at Shikamaru. The Nara just sighed and muttered something she couldn’t hear. Temari slipped back into her previous spot as Kankuro stepped up.

“Number nine, going to wait a while.” Kankuro grinned as he went back to standing between his siblings allowing Gaara to step forward.

“Number seven.” Gaara said flatly before walking back to the line. Neji strode forward to pick next.

“Fate has given me the number five.” Neji informed the proctors before returning back to the line. Naruto walked forward with a grin as he put his hand into the box and pulled his number.

“Well look at that, number one already.” Naruto stated with a cheeky smile as he headed back to his place in the line. Samui stepped up and chose the second to last lot in the box.

“I’m number two.” Samui coolly stated as she eyed Naruto who gave her a slight nod.

“That means Uchiha Sasuke is number six.” Aoba declared as he directed the Genin to look back towards the Hokage.

“Now that you all have your numbers I’ll explain how this nine person tournament will be held. As there are no free passes in shinobi life there will be no bye for any competitor. So we shall have a three way match first to make an even four for the semi-finals. The Genin who drew lots one, two, and three will be the ones in the three way first round bout.” Sarutobi explained causing Naruto, Temari, and Samui to look between each other warily. “Please direct your attention to the board behind me to see your match ups for the final round.”

The Genin all looked at the board once more as the matches for the finals appeared.

Match 1 – Uzumaki Naruto vs. Samui of Kumo vs. Sabaku no Temari

Match 2 – Nara Shikamaru vs. Hyuuga Neji

Match 3 – Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara

Match 4 – Aburame Shino vs. Sabaku no Kankuro

Sarutobi then informed the Genin of the time and location of the final tournament. After wishing them all luck in the finals he dismissed all of the gathered shinobi to return to the village.

“So, what kind of training should I focus on Anko-hime?” Naruto questioned as they were heading back towards the village.

“We’ll definitely work on your Taijutsu some more. You’re good but we can always make you better. Some more Ninjutsu added to your arsenal wouldn’t hurt either.” Anko replied as they jumped between trees.

“Yeah, I was able to keep most of my Ninjutsu, Bloodline Jutsu, and my Summoning under wraps. But having a few new ones to try and deal with both Raiton and Fuuton will be necessary. Plus everyone got a pretty good look at my Taijutsu and Bukijutsu (Weapons Technique) so I’ll have to be ready for that. Man, this month is going to be busy, huh?” Naruto sighed as he realized how much training was going to have to be packed into the upcoming month.

“Oh don’t worry, Naru-koi! Your sexy and beloved Anko will be there with you every step of the way!” Anko smiled at him before leaning close and purring in his ear. “Especially to help you relax at night.”

“You definitely know how to motivate a guy, Anko-hime.” Naruto grinned back as dirty thoughts flooded his head.

“You have no idea, Naru-koi~.” Anko teased as they touched down outside of the Forest of Death.

“I’m looking forward to finding out.” Naruto growled as he pulled Anko into a hug and kissed her. Anko gave a small moan at the contact before deepening the kiss and adding tongue. The two lovers stood there for a full minute making out before pulling away from each other. “So what do you want to do with the rest of our day, Anko-hime?”

“Hmm, we should get something to eat first. I’m hungry and need to eat properly for the baby. So take me somewhere with some good food.” Anko said as she intertwined their fingers and started walking towards the village proper.

“Whatever my Anko-hime desires.” Naruto laughed getting a pout from Anko. The two lovers continued to walk looking for a good place to eat. Eventually they found a nice restaurant that served a variety of dishes and quickly sat down to order. A waitress came over quickly to serve them and asked what they’d like to drink.

“I'll have some Ryokucha (Steamed Green Tea), please.” Anko told the waitress who nodded while writing it down and then turning towards Naruto for his drink order.

“I'll have the same.” Naruto said while the waitress nodded as she wrote it down. After the waitress left to get their drinks both Anko and Naruto looked at the menu while chatting. 

“Ryokucha seems different for you Anko-hime, what’s the occasion?” Naruto asked as he looked at his lover.

“It has much less caffeine in it. Kurenai and I have been looking at books about what is and isn’t good for pregnant women. A cup or two of weaker green tea is ok and helps my health during pregnancy. I’ll mostly be drinking water, milk, and low sugar drinks that have little or no caffeine in them while I’m pregnant.” Anko explained with a smile.

“You’re already becoming an amazing mother, Anko-hime.” Naruto smiled as he held her hand across the table. Anko practically lit up at the praise while also blushing from it. Naruto thought she looked adorable. The waitress returned with their tea a short time later and asked if they had decided on their meal. 

“I'll have the Salmon fillet with sweet potatoes and broccoli on white rice.” Anko stated as the waitress nodded. She then turned to Naruto for his order.

“I'll have the Soba meal, please.” Naruto said as the waitress nodded. After the waitress left the two made small talk about the upcoming month. As their meals were placed in front of them Naruto and Anko thanked the waitress and began eating. Between bites the two would continue to talk about the upcoming month and start planning out Naruto’s training. After the two had finished their meal and paid the couple continued to make their way through the village towards Anko’s apartment.

“Alright Naru-koi, I’ll see you tomorrow morning. We’ll start with practicing your control while going through your Taijutsu. If you can make it through your Taijutsu practice while maintaining water walking then I might just have a reward for you.” Anko winked at her lover.

“I’ll take that challenge!” Naruto exclaimed with his fist raised.

“I thought you might like that.” Anko giggled as they stopped in front of her apartment door. “But you’ll have to earn it tomorrow~.” She teased.

“Why don’t we both go to the hot spring after training? It’ll be good to relax and unwind after training, especially when I get my reward right after a soak.” Naruto teased right back. Anko sighed as they held each other in front of her apartment before agreeing to go to the hot springs after training.

“It feels like you’re getting two rewards though. Maybe I should up your training?” Anko smirked before kissing his cheek and entering her apartment. “Good night, Naru-koi.”

“Night, Anko-hime.” Naruto grinned as he walked back towards his place. He’d train harder than ever to ensure his promotion. Once he became a Chuunin his Clan could be made official and he and Anko would be given a plot of land in the village to build their Clan’s home. Then they’d be living together and marriage would happen soon after, especially if Anko had her way, which she would if he had anything to say about it. With happy thoughts of the future Naruto made his way home for the night.

-End Chapter-

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So what did you think? Good? Bad? Let me know with a review! 

I hoped everyone enjoyed this chapter and the ending of the Preliminaries. Plus Naruto and Anko had another couple’s moment! Did it give you the Warm and Fuzzy Feelings? If so, awesome! If not, crap I have to try harder!

Until I get your feedback, later!