Systematic Shinobi - Chapter 36.1 (Patreon)

Now this was an unfortunate match.

And not only for Ino.

'This won't be fun at all.' Daiki groaned inwardly.

And not only that. But how was he supposed to show off, with an opponent he could beat in what amounted to a blink of the eye.

And it royally sucked for Ino.

He was literally her worst match up possible.

'Oh well, nothing for it.' he mused with a shrug, before hopping down. Nobody wished him luck.

Not even Hinata.

Because nobody thought he'd need it he was sure.

While it was a bit disappointing for him. For Ino, as she made her way down, trudging her way down more like, it seemed more as if she was headed towards the gallows.

Poor girl.

There was a massive grimace on her pretty face as she took her position in front of him and her shoulders were slumped.

"…This seriously isn't fair." the blonde pouted.

"At least you have the courage to actually face me," Daiki replied, there wasn't really much he could do here to console her, they both knew how this would end, "It's impressive on of itself you have the guts to stand against the strongest guy here after all."

"…I am pretty great," she agreed, her frown twitching into a brief smile, before she sighed, "No way I can beat somebody stronger than Sasuke-kun though."

"Don't feel too bad about it," Daiki shrugged, and spread his arms wide and let his voice become louder, making sure everyone heard him, "After all, there isn't a single genin here that can beat me, hell every other genin here could come at me at the same time and I'd still clap every single one of them."

"Yeah, why don't you say that to my face!?" he heard Naruto shout from behind him.

"Yeah, don't talk shit Daiki you prick!" Kiba agreed with him.

"I would be most interested in testing that Daiki-kun, such a youthful boast!" Lee added.

"I hate this kid." Kankuro's grumble was quite audible as well.

"That doesn't actually make me feel all that much better since I actually do have to fight you and not any of them." Ino pouted, "I don't suppose you'd be willing to throw the fight?"

"Usually, I'd be all for it if you made it worth my while," Daiki mused, voice lowering so it wasn't heard quite as easily, "Sadly, can't do that. It's my mission to go all Tobirama on this exam and make Konoha great again."

"…The second Hokage?" Ino raised an eyebrow at him, "Wait, mission?"

"I mean, you already heard back in the first exam along with everyone else, I'm the big bad ringer," he grinned, "I'm here to kick ass, take names and show off. Basically, since this is a dick measuring contest for all possible clients to see, the old man wanted me, the guy with the biggest dick of all to swing it around and clap cheeks."

Ino took a moment to process his words before nodding, "…That does kinda make sense with what Hokage-sama just told us," she nodded slowly, before snorting, "You should be careful with boasts like that though, what'll you do if somebody actually calls you out and asks you to prove how 'big' a deal you are?" she grinned.

"Depends on who's asking," Daiki shrugged, not missing a beat, "I mean, if you want me to prove it, I have no problem at all whipping it out gorgeous."

Ino blinked and was stunned into silence, face turning a crimson red.

Hayate sighed, "…Can we get a move on please?"

"Sure," Daiki shrugged, "And I'll be generous Ino, give you a chance to show off. I'll give you twenty seconds, I won't attack back at all, so feel free to come at me with everything you have."

"…Wait, seriously?" she blinked again and gaped at him.

"Seriously serious," He nodded, "I mean, you earned your spot here, it wouldn't be kosher if you didn't get the chance to prove your mettle and show if you're chunin material just because you're up against a guy that can slap around Jonin like little brats."

Ino bit her lip, "…Usually, I'd be insulted at this, but I saw how easily you dismantled that rain guy, this fight would be over in instant if you didn't." she grudgingly accepted.

She had her pride as well after all.

"Alright, enough of this." Hayate groaned and promptly declared the beginning of the match.

Daiki crossed his arms and smirked.

Ino took that as his approval for her to go right ahead. She visibly channelled chakra through her feet and propelled herself towards him with a burst of speed.

It wasn't the shunshin, but more of a rudimentary prelude to it. Not a bad idea either.

She rushed through a couple of hand seals, and a cloud of smoke erupted around her, and just like in the previous match, multiple blondes erupted from the smoke.

Each were holding handfuls of shuriken and quickly spread apart, spreading out from around his front.

Each let loose, slinging ten shuriken each towards him.

A hail of fifty shuriken shot towards him.

Only ten of them were actually real though.

The barrage of ten coming from his far left, Ino had switched her positions with one of her illusionary clones to try and throw him off.

A decent use of the academy clone jutsu.

Too bad he could see straight through them.

He side stepped them easily, allowing them to fly straight passed his body, and didn't even blink as the rest of the shuriken passed straight through his body as if they were never there.

All five Ino's grimaced noticeably.

"Damnit." the real blonde cursed, and the other clones disappeared a moment later.

She kept rushing him though, lunging into a thrusting knee strike, all her weight and strength behind it.

He juked slightly to the side letting her sail right past him. She landed a moment later and immediately whirled into a round house kick aimed at the back of his head.

He stepped forward and let it pass through empty hair.

He'd give Ino one thing, while she wasn't all that fast, she was quick mentally and immediately kept the attack up, aiming for a punch aimed at his kidneys.

Her technique was basic, but well polished and aiming for vital points constantly.

'Four.' he mentally counted as he spun slightly out of the way of her punch, even as she dug her feet into the ground and shot right back around to him, exploding into a flurry of punches and kicks that he weaved around or deflected.

"Your taijutsu isn't bad at all," he praised, "Though your conditioning could do with a little work, and you need more jutsu for sure, cuz you have no options beyond this with me, has your sensei not been teaching you anything?"

Honestly, what the hell was up with Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma, they didn't seem to teach their students jack shit.

'Seven…..eight.' he mentally counted as the match went on.

"Asuma-sensei is just as big a lazy bum as Shikamaru and Choji!" Ino grunted, not letting up at all, "He's only drilled us physically and taught us to attack as a team."

…That sounded familiar.

"Heh, you know, the more I hear about how the jonin are teaching you guys," Daiki mused idly as he deflected a punch over his shoulder by poking Ino's wrist with one finger, "The more I'm glad I never ended up with one, sounds like a total waste of time."

"Lucky…you!" Ino grunted, whipping her hand back to try and grasp his neck at the same time she jumped into a rising knee aimed for his chin.

He was fast enough that a simple diagonal step backwards allowed him to evade both and Ino grunted again in frustration.

Mid-air for only a moment, she grabbed a trio of kunai from her pouch, lobbing one with a flick of her finger aimed at his face.

He tilted his head to the side and caught it by the handle.

With his teeth.

"…That's just absurd." Ino growled, even as she switched one of the two kunai remaining in her hand to her off hand and landed, pushing off with a burst of chakra and dual wield slashing at him.

He clasped his hands behind his back at the same time, he block and deflected her blows using only the kunai held between his teeth.

And to think, Isobu thought he shouldn't have Roronoa as his middle name!

Time ran down quickly, and Ino was no closer to hitting him.

'Eighteen….nineteen.' he idly counted off.

Ino visibly ground her teeth together as he parried one of her slashes down with the kunai in his mouth, the force behind it actually forcing her to kneel on one leg.

She showed a surprising amount of skill though when she flicked her fingers up, letting the kunai in the hand he'd just parried shoot up towards his chin, at the same time she pushed back with her back leg and tossed the one in her other hand.

One coming up for his chin, the other straight for his heart. A pincer technique, cutting off any escape avenue beyond one side.

At the same time her hands came together in an unfamiliar seal as she shot back and landed, a square like space gap between her fingers.

"Twenty." Daiki declared aloud.

And then he moved.

He disappeared in a blur of speed and Ino's eyes widened. She never got the chance to fire off her special clan jutsu, because Daiki was suddenly behind her.

One hand wrapping around her waist and pinning her arms to her sides, while the other wrapped around her throat and pinned her bodily to his chest.

"And that's match," Daiki grinned down at the blonde, "Not bad at all Ino, you're a lot more skilled than I thought you were."

"…Easy for you to say when you danced around me like a child," Ino sighed, "Well, whatever, I already knew it would end like this."

"With you pinned against me?" Daiki asked, grin widening.

Ino tensed in his grip, suddenly realising their position before relaxing and tilting her head up slightly to grin at him, "Well it's not a bad position to be in," she shrugged, though only because he allowed it, "Did you want to show me you weren't lying about your boasts that much earlier?" she flirted, surprising him a bit and wiggled her backside against his hips.

….This could be bad.

While usually he wouldn't mind at all.

Currently, there was one girl specifically whom he was flirting with and preparing to possibly pursue a relationship with.

One girl whom was watching right now from above. It was one thing to flirt with other girls when he still wasn't in a relationship with Tenten.

It was another to do it in front of her.

'Wait, why do I feel four different killing intents?' Daiki blinked, confused.

Did somebody have a crush on Ino that he didn't know about?

"I mean, if you want to see it, just look me up after this exam where we can have some privacy and I don't mind giving you an up close and personal look." Daiki replied, and released her, stepping back.

"You tease," Ino pouted at him, even as she turned around and idly rubbed her throat, "Well, I'll keep that in mind."

With that said, the blonde turned to Hayate who was watching them drily, his gaze completely un-impressed, "So yeah, um, proctor guy, I give up, surrender and all that." she declared.

"Uh-hu…" Hayate deadpanned, before slowly lifting his hand into the air, "Yamanaka Ino has surrendered, the winner is Yurei Daiki…please quickly vacate the arena so we can choose the next match participants." he said, voice completely monotone.

He looked completely done with life.

As the match end, Ino visible shuddered, "Man, is it cold in here or what, I just had this shiver go up my spine." the blonde rubbed her hands together.