44 Chapter 43

Chapter 43

"All right, let's go, Akamaru," Kiba jumped to the arena, excited for a battle. "I have been waiting for this."

Gaara used his sand to enter the arena and stood before Kiba and Akamaru. He didn't say a word and stayed silent. Kaen looked concerned for his student but kept quiet. He will interfere if Kiba's life is in danger at any moment. Otherwise, he will let the fight be as it is. It will be the first fight for Kiba against someone stronger than himself and in the same age group.

"I feel sorry for the guy," Kankuro commented. "I don't know what kind of moves he has, but he stands no chance against Gaara."

"A loser shouldn't judge others," Shino replied, to Kaen's surprise.

"What did you say, bug-boy?" Kankuro, of course, didn't like it.

"I said a loser shouldn't judge others," Shino repeated himself.

"Watch the battle, brats," Kaen interrupted Kankuro. "You might see something exciting."

Kaen had his complete focus on the arena. It should be the most exciting fight so far. It would have been better if Sasuke faced Gaara, as he had more chance of defeating Gaara. And while Kaen trusted Kiba's skill, and if he stayed on his toes and didn't underestimate Gaara, Kiba could push Gaara to his limit, but he knew how terrifying Gaara was. If he had better control over his tailed beast, he might even trouble Kaen.

"Begin," Gekko started the match.

To Kaen's surprise, Kiba took Gaara seriously and used Four Legs jutsu to enhance his speed and strength. To any other genin, Kiba moved extremely fast. Yet before he could hit Gaara, he was stopped by a sand shield. Kaen observed how Gaara kept calm and didn't even turn toward Kiba as he used his sand to block all the attacks from Kiba.

When Gaara counterattacked using his sand, Kiba had no choice but dodge. It seemed Kiba noticed that keeping a distance wouldn't help him, so he stayed close to Gaara even if he couldn't land a hit and constantly moved to dodge Gaara's sand attacks. To any other genin, it would be disturbing to see Gaara not even reacting to Kiba as he stood still, without even moving a muscle.

It didn't take long before Kiba was forced to back off as he was losing his footing. Yet it didn't save him from sand attacks, and Kiba had to back off even more to dodge them. It took only one slip-up for Gaara to catch Kiba with his sand and throw him at the wall. Kiba slammed hard and slid off the wall. But it wasn't the end of Gaara's attacks. He sent a massive wave of sand to crush Kiba.

"It's over," Kankuro concluded.

"Hmph," Kaen couldn't help but snort. "You should teach your students to watch their mouths, Baki."

"Keep silent, Kankuro, and watch," Baki seemed to agree with Kaen.

"Watch what?" Kankuro asked before Kiba silenced him, dodging the sand wave easily.

"You hit quite hard," Kiba said with a smile, and Kaen could see some excitement in his student's eyes. "But it is not nearly as painful as what my sensei put me through. Let's go, Akamaru, let's show how it is done."

"What is he going to do with a puppy?" It was Temari who asked this time.

"You don't know of the Inuzuka clan, do you?" Kaen asked.

"Never heard of them," Temari answered.

"I have to wonder what your village teaches kids nowadays," Kaen sighed. "Inuzuka clan isn't a very powerful nor famous clan, like Uchiha or Hyuga, but they are still respected and feared in Konoha. Do you know why?"

"No," Temari answered.

"Let's put it this way," Kaen began to explain. "If you ever became Konoha's enemy and we needed to hunt you down, we would send Inuzuka after you."

"Why?"

"Because they are natural-born hunters," Kaen said. "On their own, none of them are exceptional, but together with their ninken, they become predators to be feared. And Kiba shall show it to you."

To confirm Kaen's words, Akamaru became a perfect Kiba clone. Seeing that Gaara didn't attack them yet, Kiba put on the claws Kaen gifted him. Each claw had three blades running thirty centimeters long. They were sharp and made of solid material that didn't break easily. Kaen was excited to see what Kiba could do with them.

"Fang passing fang," Kiba used his clan's jutsu.

Kaen was pleasantly surprised that Kiba hadn't used it from the beginning. But it seemed he was testing Gaara and trying to get as much information as possible. Knowing Gaara's defenses, Kiba could only think of one way of attacking that would wield any result. By striking from two different places at the same, Kiba could overcome Gaara's defenses.

Kiba and his clone dropped to the fours before throwing two smoke bombs at Gaara. As the smoke exploded, Kiba and Akamara jumped to Gaara, and in the air, they rotated their bodies, turning themselves into tornadoes. Soon they pierced through the smoke, and the rest of the genin couldn't see what was happening.

"Even if Gaara can't see, neither can that brat," Kankuro commented.

"Kiba doesn't need to see," Shino explained. "Inuzuka clan are famous for their animalistic senses. Once they got scent of you, you won't be able to escape them."

Before Kankuro could ask anything else, Gaara flew out of the smoke. While in the air, two tornadoes rushed at him, hitting him higher into the air before separating into two directions. Kiba and Akamaru landed on the arena's walls before jumping again, turning into tornadoes. They hit Gaara multiple times by repeating that action, and Gaara couldn't defend against the two of them simultaneously before he was slammed to the ground.

Kiba and Akamaru landed on the ground not far from Gaara. Kaen noticed that they observed Gaara while regaining strength. Gekko haven't announced the end of the match, so it wasn't yet over. Kiba knew that, so he didn't let go of his guard. Everyone watched silently as Gaara stood slowly up, and sand started to fall from his skin.

"Oh no," Kankuro muttered.

"Oh yeah, that's what you get by underestimating us," Naruto said with a smile. "Your friend is getting beaten up."

"That isn't what I meant, brat," Kankuro replied, but without a smirk this time.

"Huh?" Naruto turned back to Gaara and saw that as the sand fell from his skin, it revealed that Gaara wasn't even a bit injured. "How is he still fine after that?"

"He used sand to make a protective layer on his skin, protecting him from most damage," Kaen explained.

They watched as Gaara started to breathe heavily through his teeth. And the sand on the ground gathered around Gaara before returning to him. Kiba looked disturbed, as anyone would, seeing that his best efforts amounted to nothing. Kaen could only watch as Kiba and Akamaru were battered by Gaara's quick and powerful sand attacks. There were too many attacks and too fast for Kiba to dodge them.

"It is over," Kankuro said.

"Common, Kiba, show that eyeliner bastard what we are made of!" Naruto didn't want to see his fellow Genin beaten up like that.

It didn't take long before Akamaru returned to his puppy form as he was thrown to the wall by a sand attack. Everyone thought that it was over. Even Shino and Hinata couldn't see Kiba turning the tables as he received more and more injuries. Yet Kaen didn't look too disturbed as he saw something no one could see.

"What a youthful spirit you student possess, Kaen," Gai said. "But he should give up before he receives severe injuries."

"Kiba doesn't know how to give up," Kaen said. "No matter how much he is beaten up, tired, or out of his league, he won't give up."

"His will is truly extraordinary, then," Gai replied.

"No, Kiba is simply too stupid," Kaen replied proudly. "He does not and can not realize when he is defeated."

"Heh, so he is an idiot," Kaen wanted to smack Kankuro for daring to speak to him so casually.

"No, he is a beast," Kaen instead smiled.

Nobody understood Kaen's words as they saw Kiba bounce a couple of times on the ground with blood flowing through his nose and bruises all over his body. Then there was one final massive sand wave coming for him. Gaara intended to crush Kiba with this attack completely. Gekko was ready to interfere, but Kaen's sharingan flashed and, using genjutsu, stopped him.

"He is dead," Kankuro said.

To deny Kankuro's and everyone's expectations as the sand fell on Kiba, he burst out from within it. Kaen saw Kiba using his claws to cut through the sand rather than dodge it, and now he stood again before Gaara. But something was wrong with Kiba. His eyes were dilated, and his breathing was harsh, and he got to his four rather than stand on his legs. Kaen could tell it wasn't his clan jutsu.

"What going on?" Kankuro wasn't the only one to be perplexed.

"Gaara might be a monster to you," Kaen replied with a manic smile. "But Kiba is a beast. A wild, animalistic beast. And now we shall see a battle between a beast and a monster."

True to his words, Gaara didn't take well on Kiba's appearance, and Kaen could hear him mutter something about blood. While Kiba using his claws and legs, started to leap away from Gaara's attacks with unbelievable speed. Every time Kiba moved, he left claw marks on the ground, not only on the floor but on the walls too.

"Unbelievable," Kakashi muttered, using his sharingan to watch Kiba move. "He is using chakra to enhance the strength of his body."

It was more than that. Kiba was using everything he got to make himself move faster. He didn't think, didn't plan. He only moved, leaving everything to his senses and instincts. Kaen has been pushing Kiba to this state since he started training him. Kaen wanted to make Kiba stronger as he got more desperate. Kaen was making him angry and hungry to push him to his limits. Now all his training has shown its fruits.

It wasn't a way a shinobi should fight. Kiba was cutting through Gaara's sand with pure force and no skill. He moved around Gaara without thinking and trying to cut him down. In other instances, Kaen might be disappointed, but the first time he saw Kiba, he knew that traditional methods wouldn't make Kiba reach his true potential.

Unlike Shino and Hinata, Kiba's strength came from his animalistic traits. Rather than pushing those traits away, Kaen wanted to let them surface more and more. Kaen didn't know what he would see and what it would do to Kiba, but he still pushed Kiba in this direction. And now he could see Kiba abandon any reason, and rather than fight like a shinobi, he fought like a beast.

Gaara's defenses were falling to protect him as Kiba moved faster and faster. His claws started to scratch Gaara's skin, cutting his defenses. Kiba was pushing Gaara back. Kiba never stopped. Using all he had, he leaped from one side to another, trying to catch Gaara. Yet it was still insufficient, and Kaen could see that Kiba was under too much pressure.

"His muscles are tearing themselves apart," Kakashi said, observing Kiba's body.

But even then, Kiba didn't stop as he evaded sand attacks and even got faster. Before the arena got quiet, when Kiba appeared behind Gaara and swung his claws at him, it was a powerful strike that Gaara barely managed to block with his arms and sand. But even then, he was sent flying to the wall, leaving a trail of blood in the way.

"This is bad," Temari muttered.

Kiba didn't stop as he got on his four and once again leaped at Gaara. But Gaara had already used his sand to encase himself in a ball, protecting himself from all directions. When Kiba tried to go for Gaara sand spike shot out of the ball, piercing Kiba multiple times. Then sand caught Kiba's limbs. Kiba wanted to free himself, but he could barely move.

"Die," everyone heard Gaara as he used his sand to tear Kiba apart.

"Grrrr," Rather than scream in pain, Kiba growled as he tried to free himself.

"That's enough," Before Kiba lost his limbs, Kaen appeared in the arena and broke the sand in mere moments.

"It isn't over!" Gaara yelled as he prepared to ignore Kaen and finish Kiba.

"It is," Kaen put one hand on the sand, and it fell to the ground. Gaara tried to lift it but couldn't. It didn't listen to him anymore.

"Kaen-san, because of your interference, Kiba is disqualified," Gekko said.

"It's fine," Kaen said. "Kiba has lost his consciousness already."

Looking at Kiba, Gekko found him still standing and growling, but his eyes had only whites. Kiba was moving and acting through his instincts alone. Kiba would have continued to fight if he didn't feel fear for Kaen's presence. Moving fast, Kaen hit Kiba's pressure points, dissipating his chakra and making Kiba fall into Kaen's arms.

"Well done," Kaen whispered into Kiba's ears.