64 BSWS CH-64 The Chunin Exams XXXII - Training Completion and Opponent Finalisation

In a rocky clearing, two figures stood glaring at each other. One was a pink-haired human girl in a tattered Kimono. The other was a gorgeous white-haired house-sized Arachne, her two human-like eyes and six spider-like eyes all focused on her opponent.

They both stood with their arms folded, but there was an intense battle going around them. They each controlled ten threads each with just their mental ability and clashed against the threads of their opponent with incredible power and speed.

At the moment, Sakura was on an all-out offensive while Jorogumo calmly defending against her attacks. Sweat dripped from Sakura's brow as she pushed her mental ability to its maximum to be able to break through Jorogumo's defense.

Nurarihyon and Tiamat watched from a few hundred meters away. Now that she was off her throne, Tiamat was of the same height as Nurarihyon. They stood side by side as they watched their newest prodigy.

"She is both the best and the most annoying student I have seen," Tiamat said.

"True," Nurarihyon said as he took a sip of his Sake "While she can grasp any and all combat technique instantly, her battle experience is lacking. She needs more and more battles so that she can hone the ridiculous amounts of abilities she has learned."

They watched as Jorogumo and Sakura had a stalemate for over half an hour. By this time Sakura was down by more than half of her chakra, but Jorogumo didn't seem tired in the least.

'Well, what else did I expect from someone who was here for millennia and is practically known as a God.' Sakura thought as she glared at Jorogumo 'I guess I can only try that, even if it is dangerous.'

While mentally maintaining the assault at a steady pace to keep Jorogumo busy, Sakura overclocked her mental power to coat her threads in her own original Ninjutsu.

"Water Style: Urumi!!" As Sakura muttered it in a strained voice, Water Chakra crept up her threads. It transformed her threads into flexible ribbon-like blades that immediately started getting an upper hand compared to Jorogumo's blades.

"Hmm," Nurarihyon and Tiamat looked at this development with a smile. Their contractor was finally using her head. There was no need to be worried about going out of control as they knew she had enough capability to pull it off.

Often she was so involved in achieving control that she forgot about power. Control without power was ultimately useless. She just needed to be bolder in her actions and have confidence in herself. The more she practices these kinds of stronger combinations, the more she would find her strength soaring.

As Sakura's threads transformed, Jorogumo gave a fierce grin. This was what she wanted to see from her contractor. She decided to finally show her contractor her hidden technique.

"Hidden Arts: Cloak of Spider Goddess!!" Jorogumo intoned with a bloodthirsty smile. Immediately, hundreds of threads burst out of her, completely shrouding her while fighting against Sakura's empowered threads.

Now it was Sakura on the defense, as even with her blade-like threads, she was trying to stem the barrage of hundreds of threads. However, as it turned out, this was not the extent of Jorogumo's technique. More accurately, it was just a side effect.

Suddenly, the Jorogumo's threads retracted from around Sakura. As Sakura looked up, She saw a tall gorgeous human-like girl in a flawless white one-piece silk dress, white ribbons gracefully draped over her bare limbs.

Her beautiful red eyes had three small eye-like markings on the side of both eyes. A translucent white silk cloak was draped on her shoulder. It had a design of a golden stylish skull with a black outline. It stood out in an eye-catching manner on the white cloak. White silk ribbons fanned out from the edges of the cloak.

Under Sakura's astonished gaze, the white-haired beauty smiled at her in a familiar way.

"Jorogumo .. ?" Sakura asked.

"Of course." the white-haired beauty said with a smile "Now prepare yourself!!"

The next moment, Sakura was blasted back by an unknown force that caught her by complete surprise. For the next few moments, she flitted around like a shuttlecock, thrown around by the unknown force that hit like a truck.

"Ugh!" Sakura spouted blood from the attacks. Frustrated, she ignored her injuries and used her chakra sensing with her entire mind. She finally found what was hitting her.

Jorogumo's white ribbons were actually dozens of her threads combined into one elegant piece. For some reason, they were now fast enough to escape Sakura's normal perception as they struck her again and again.

However, even though she knew what was hitting her now, she didn't have much she could do to stop it. All of a sudden, an idea struck her and she released her chakra from her tenketsu while activating Added Wight Jutsu in her released chakra.

As Jorogumo continued hitting Sakura, she found that it was getting more and more difficult to move the ribbons. In another few moments, she felt like she was moving mountains in the form of ribbons. As she lost control of her ribbons, She suddenly heard a tired chuckle of victory.

As she looked up, she saw Sakura walking shakily towards her, with her Urumi manifested in one hand. However, halfway through it, her body simply couldn't take anymore and Sakura fell unconscious.

Immediately, Nurarihyon, Tiamat, and Jorogumo gathered around Sakura. After seeing that it was just Chakra and Physical exhaustion, they relaxed.

Tiamat turned towards Jorogumo and admired her humanoid form "It has been a very long time since I have seen you in your second form."

"Well, I think she needed to experience what kind of enemies she would face in the future." Jorogumo said with a shrug as she crouched down and caressed Sakura's face "This child has such burdens on her shoulders. The more prepared she is, the easier it will be for her."

"Let her rest now." Nurarihyon said "She has trained enough for now. It will soon be time for her to go back, and she has to be in her top form."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As the time of the Chunin finals rolled by, the Finalists were gathered a day before the Finals to determine their opponents. As Sakura was still in the Altar of Titans, Karin requested that she be allowed to pick the name on her behalf.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was picking the name on Sasuke's behalf, as he had overstrained himself while training and was currently resting his eyes and body.

Finally, as everyone finished picking the names, the final match-up list was announced.

Pre-First Round:

1. Sakura vs Temari

First Round:

1. Sasuke vs Gaara

2. (Pre-First Round Winner) vs Shikamaru

3. Shino vs Tenten

4. Naruto vs Neji

Second Round:

1. (First Round Winner 1) vs (First Round Winner 2)

2. (First Round Winner 3) vs (First Round Winner 4)

Final Round:

1. (Second Round Winner 1) vs (Second Round Winner 2)

Shikamaru groaned on seeing his matchup. He would either have to face that giant fan-wielding maniac or Sakura, who had been getting stronger at a ridiculous pace every time he saw her.

Even if he somehow defeated either of them, he would have to face either Gaara or Sasuke in the next match. It seemed as if the superiors were deliberately putting him in trouble.

Naruto and Neji were pumped up as they looked at each other. While Neji was not the arrogant moron he was in the original timeline, he currently had grown protective of his little sister. He planned to thoroughly test if Naruto was capable of protecting her.

Meanwhile, Naruto was daydreaming about all the new techniques he learned from his godfather, who had come to meet him this month. He was especially excited to try out the Summoning Technique.

Gaara looked at the strong opponents he would be able to fight and he shook in bloodthirsty excitement. Temari did her best to calm him down and not let him go out of control here.

Shino and Tenten looked at each other with determined gazes. They were the most balanced matchup in a way and knew that they would have to work hard to win.

Karin was a bit worried about seeing that Sakura had the very first match of tomorrow and might even have to fight multiple battles. But, then she remembered how hard Sakura had been working and relaxed. Lee had been able to match Gaara when he unleashed the Eight Gates. Sakura would surely demolish her way through these battles.

Meanwhile, the others all had their own thoughts on how to defeat their opponents. They had been training hard these past few weeks and now it was time to see the results.