__________ POV Narration __________
Ken and the leaders of the alliance weren't the only ones closely observing the situation from afar.
Takehiko, the Uzumaki Prodigy, was also looking at the fight and taking mental notes of everything, including the weaknesses of Tatsukio's techniques.
The only real problem was that taking advantage of the one-legged devil's technique took a certain amount of skill. A skill that one could gain only by fighting against said technique.
'I can't possibly know all of Number 1's tendencies and attack patterns from one battle... Especially when Number 2 seems to be suppressing his fighting style so effectively.'
Regardless, in Takehiko's eyes, Morita was shaping up to be an even more annoying opponent than Tatsukio.
At least the One-Legged Devil was easier to face in a straightforward battle, his attack patterns could still be studied, even if broadly. The Adamantite Sealing Chains could defend him from quite a few angles as well.
But Morita's fighting style was a lot harder to discern, as it seemed to change a lot depending on the opponent.
'He may already have a way to go against the sealing chains... At the very least he's likely to have paid attention to my previous matches enough to build up some type of strategy or plan.'
Of course, that applied to both Number 1 and 2, but at least Takehiko had some inkling as to how Tatsukio would fight him.
Morita seemed to be much closer to your usual shinobi, with so many tricks up his sleeve that it was hard to tell what he'd pull next.
Even the bubble release was somewhat unexpected.
'I don't even know what chakra natures he has, and how many transformations he's mastered... But it can't be more than one, right?'
Even the most talented Chunin didn't have more than one nature transformation, mastering an element to the point of being able to use a derivative technique of it was rare, especially so for someone in their age group.
Hell, Takehiko himself only knew some basic Jutsu, but he had some powerful ones in his arsenal too, thanks to being a favoured pupil of the Uzukage. But he was not yet a master in his chakra nature, which was also water.
'I guess I'll have to find a way to defeat either of them... At this stage is hard to tell who'd win.'
Back within the confines of the Arena, Morita and Tatsukio seemed to be stuck in a staredown.
At first, the one-legged devil thought about using projectiles to pop all of the bubbles.
'He'd just make more... But I guess that would be a way of draining his chakra a bit until he decides to go on the offensive, which he may do regardless.'
In an instant, the Number 1 assassin's instincts blared at him, and he immediately dashed to the side, just as a gigantic earth dragon rose from his previous position.
"Earth Release: Stone Dragon Bullets!"
Takehiko remained moving, dashing from one part of the arena to another as more and more dragons rose from wherever his feet touched the ground and continued to follow his trail.
But the dirt dragons moved slow, too slow to ever catch someone like Tatsukio.
The One-Legged Devil was dancing circles around them, able to easily even make them smash against one another and cancel them out.
Normally, the jutsu Morita used would make the dragons rise from the user's feet or an area near them. But it seemed that the number 2 assassin was somehow able to bypass that.
'No, rather, he's making the dragons travel through the ground and rise out right underneath his opponent...' Ken could easily feel the subtle vibrations within the ground, Morita had likely coated the dragons in water to make them travel more easily through the fragmented arena.
Tatsukio sweated a bit as he dashed around, eventually reaching a position in mid-air where around 10 dragons were all headed directly for his body, virtually from every angle, likely exactly what Morita had planned.
In an instant, the Number 1 assassin finished a basic jutsu with one hand sign.
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"Wind Release: Breakthrough!"
It was a weaker version of the 'Great Breakthrough', but the fact that it was performed with one hand sign was still impressive, it showcased a certain level of mastery, one that once again impressed Takehiko greatly.
Still, would such a jutsu be enough to break down a dragon?
Normally no. But at this moment, Morita had split up his chakra quite a bit, leading to the overall technique becoming quite a bit weaker.
The gouts of wind that Tatsukio spat out seemed to harm one of the dragons, cracking him slightly but not breaking him instantly.
The current also pushed the Number 1 assassin backwards slightly, which was what the one-legged devil was actually aiming for.
With an unnatural burst of speed, the assassin twirled around and passed in between two of the dragons that had been closing in on him, dashing forward with a smile on his face.
What he didn't expect, unfortunately, was for the area in front of him to be completely blanketed by water bubbles, which had moved in whilst he was facing the other stone dragons.
He didn't have the time to rearrange his course before hitting three different bubbles head-on. He only really had time to raise one of his hands to defend his face/mask.
The bubbles exploded immediately, and Tatsukio was blown backwards just as the Stone Dragons all collided together, creating another explosion of rocks that threatened to skewer the One-Legged Devil.
And for a moment, they seemed to be successful. Rocks broke into the Number 1 assassin's back and dust rose to cover the entire area.
"... Holy shit." The Raikage muttered, not quite expecting a fight between youngsters to be that engaging.
The previous two had been against Jinchuriki, and whilst they were impressive they hadn't quite gone to that level of planning and skill, as both Jinchuriki were quite inexperienced.
"Instead of a fight between Chunin, this feels more like a fight between Top Jonin contenders..." The White Fang of Konoha also couldn't help but express his shock. He gave Ken a look filled with respect as he spoke.
'To think he could foster and grow such talents under him... Not one of the performances of the Dark Brotherhood has been underwhelming.'
"The fight isn't over yet, however..." The Hokage also spoke out, huffing another smoke of his tobacco pipe.
'He really is addicted to it, isn't he? Welp, at least he isn't smiling opium... yet.' As Ken thought that, the smoke in the arena had finally cleared, revealing a rather strange sight.
Instead of a broken and severely injured Tatsukio, it was him, being mostly intact aside from his cloak being completely shredded and his back having a few bruises.
Only Ken really knew how Tatsukio had managed to achieve that. And it had a lot to do with a certain seal currently on the Number 1 young assassin's neck.
'A tweaked version of a chakra gathering seal... Instead of giving the user an accessible emergency pool of chakra usable for one jutsu, it gathers enough Nature Energy for an emergency transformation of a few seconds.'
It was something that Tatsukio himself had devised, with some minor pointers from Ken and their resident Fuinjutsu teacher, Uzumaki Kazue.
The seal itself was nothing too complex, but it was a lot more dangerous to use than the regular Chakra Gathering Seal.
It provided an instant boost in Nature Energy if one used it whilst not having enough chakra in their body they would just as instantly turn to stone.
In this case, the chakra and nature energy within Tatsukio's body were not balanced, and he grew scales much like his father would, shielding him from harm.
By the time the some dissipated the scales had also vanished, as the Nature Energy from the seal was fleeting, a flaw that Tatsukio hadn't quite managed to iron out yet.
Tatsukio immediately dashed towards Morita, who seemed quite winded from all of the Jutsu he had used, he was surely running out of chakra at that point or was at least closer to his limits than he'd want to admit.
They were all prohibited from using the chakra of their siblings during the competition, it was a move made to keep things somewhat fair at least, so Morita's natural reserves were all he had.
That and a few regular chakra-gathering seals, but only 3 could go on the human body before it messed with one's regular chakra network.
Morita still had some bubbles left, quite a few of them in fact, but they were quickly dispatched by a few dozen throwing knives, shuriken, and kunai from Tatsukio.
Rather, the explosions being in close proximity to Morita only helped make things worse. Thankfully he came out rather unharmed, if a bit wet.
Immediately, the Number 2 Assassin tried preparing one last jutsu, aiming to stop Tatsukio in his tracks for good this time whilst pushing the few bubbles he had left towards him.
What he didn't expect was for Tatsukio to stop right before reaching him and the bubbles, with his hands planted on the ground.
"Lightning Release: Spider Net Shock!"
It was at that point that the winded Morita knew things were pretty much over.
The shock from the ground was nowhere near enough to knock him out, but it was enough to momentarily paralyze his muscles for a second or two...
And a second was a lot of time for someone like Tatsukio, who dashed towards him like a bloodhound smelling fresh meat.
He easily sidestepped the few bubbles and reached Morita's side, with his tanto already resting on his opponent's neck.
And just like that. The fight was over.
"Winner, Number 1 of the Dark Brotherhood!"
The announcer wasted no time doing his job either, and the crowd immediately broke into claps and cheers.
Takehiko also smiled. 'I may not know how he withstood that attack, but at least I'll still have a better chance to win while fighting him...'
"The next fight will be the last... Determining the winner of the Chunin Exams." Ken smiled underneath his mask, somewhat anticipating the fight.
"Not quite the last one... We old-timers still have to put on a show." Mifune muttered, rolling his shoulder as he did so.
"Heh, of course! Don't forget that you have to fight me, Ken!" The Raikage smiled, a lot more excited about the prospect.
"We can always do a free for al-..." Yorihikko muttered as he looked at the Hokage and nodded.
"Bah! You two would just gang up on me..." The Raikage immediately shot the idea down, eyeing the two old allies with a cheeky smile on his face.
"Whatever, regardless of how things develop, they are bound to be entertaining..." The Hokage also gave everyone a calm smile, smoke coming out of his mouth as he spoke.
'Indeed... Let's see, just how much Takehiko can back up his arrogance.'