The Crystal Serpent [Naruto X Oc] |Book 1

Chapter 37: Kei's Inner Strength

As soon as those words were heard from Hayate's mouth. Kei began to pull her legs apart and brought her right hand and up, bent slightly while the other one was lower and more towards the ground, getting into her battle stance. Takuma narrowed his eyes, studying her body movements. Kei's golden eyes closed slowly as she took a deep breath.

"What is she doing seriously? That stance always confused me," Ino commented, recognizing Kei's signature stance in Taijutsu class.

"Through It does kind of fit her," Choji remarked.

"But it's still going to be troublesome," Shikamaru lazily said."Despite the stance fit for her body structure, she is not the best in taijutsu. She is excellent at almost everything else, but with it being her weak point, she won't stand a chance if her opponent is faster and better at taijutsu than her."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and focused his attention on Kei. He had to agree with Shikamaru. Kei was definitely one of the best students back in the academy. Still, he had never seen her do that great in taijutsu except for beating Sakura and Ino, whom she often matched against in taijutsu lessons.

'If this Takuma guy is nearly as fast as Rock Lee and skilled in taijutsu. Then she will not be able to land a hit if she starts with taijutsu. He will then use that to an advantage. So what is Kei going to do?' He thought, watching Kei, who was possibly the next best from the Academy.

"Well, are you going to make a move?" Takuma questioned."Or are you just going to keep your eyes closed because we don't have all day?"

Kei simply kept her eyes closed."Why don't you make the first move unless you want me to end this quickly by going first?" She said with a smirk on her face showing her snake fangs.

"Fine, I'll make the first move," He said, reaching into his holster."I'll show you who is the strongest!"

Takuma narrowed his eyes, hearing those as he threw three kunais simultaneously, and he quickly followed the last one sprinting toward Kei with another kunai in his hand. Kei just continued to smirk, getting on Takuma's nerves.

'It seems that Kei is up to something with that smirk on her face. Let's see what exactly she is up to.' Orochimaru smirked, waiting for Kei to move.

Kei then crouched down low and twisted her body around, avoiding the incoming kunais as she ran toward Takuma constantly and swung a leg out, kicking Takuma.

"What was that movement? It was nothing like her old movements!" Naruto shouted in surprise.

"It's the true display of Snake taijutsu," Kaito said."Kei's body has always been built like a snake. Still, she lacked the training to correctly use her build slithering and twist of a snake due to not having guidance, but our sensei over there taught her how to twist her body right by giving her advice from the last snake taijutsu master she knows."

"Snake taijutsu, I always knew her movements were like a snake," Sakura muttered.

Just after she said that Kei backed away from Takuma and made quick hand signs, and a massive gust of wind from her mouth sent Takuma crashing hard onto the ground.

"No way that justu was amazing!" Rock Lee exclaimed.

"Not surprising that is one of her best wind tyle justu," Akira said.

Takuma slowly started to get up from the ground, covered in bruises and blood dripping down his forehead from the crash. Kei's eyes widened as a sharp pain appeared in her shoulder.

'Ugh, not now, not when I'm in a match.' Kei thought, wincing from the pain.

"Having used a justu that strong seems to put a strain on Kei, and taking that hit definitely much hurt for her opponent," Rock Lee's voice trailed off as Takuma started to get up to his feet with a hand on his forehead.

Takuma's eyes were blurry due to the dizziness he was starting to feel from the crash. He disregards the troubling pain in his head as he runs forward, his eyes narrowed at his opponent, trying to adjust the sight. With some effort, his eyesight recovered.

He gave her a blank look as he had thoughts running through his head. 'I didn't expect for this rookie to have such powerful chakra to create a just that strong. Dang it, thanks to that crash. The world is spinning slightly, and my forehead is in pain. I can't surrender our I never make Chunin. I need to think of a plan...'

"You know, if you want, you can give up on now," Kei said, removing her hand from her shoulder."It would help if you had medical treatment. I can tell that your having a hard time focusing as well."

"Oh no, we're getting started," Takuma stated, his lips forming into a smirk as an idea popped into his mind. He then charged forward using his chakra to increase his speed but still nothing compared to Rock Lee.

Kei swiftly jumped back and pulled out a scroll bringing out her sword and placing it into her mouth as Takuma had reached her. At this point, everyone was wondering how Kei would handle the situation as her opponent got closer. Her classmates have seen her movements improve but not how her hand-to-hand combat improved. Are seen her use a sword.

Their eyes widened as soon as Takuma had swung his fist at her in an attempt to punch her face, but they failed as Kei twisted her body and avoided it effortlessly. He threw another fist at her, and once again, she dodged, bending her body back. Takuma couldn't deny the fact she was good at dodging attacks with he snake-like movements. She was bobbing like a piece of cake until she nearly lost her footing, feeling the pain in her shoulder.

He smirked, aiming another punch until she surprised him and slid out of the way onto the ground.

"Woah she avoid every single punch!" Naruto shouted in surprise.

Kakashi glanced at the woman standing three meters away from him and his team with her two other students. "Mizuko, I guess you're the one who taught her to move that fluid."

"Your right Kakashi. She always had the build of a snake due to what I know of her heritage, but her issue was always how to move correctly. So taught her how to move to by watching wild snakes," Mizuko said."How that girl has more to her than you know.."

Takuma's eyes widened when he saw Kei charge at him with the sword in a tight grip and swing it forward in an attempt to stab Takuma's arm. He immediately stopped trying to punch her and jumped back, gaining a safe distance.

He narrowed his eyes as the golden snake-eyed girl relaxed her body posture, resting her swords against her side. Takuma gritted his teeth and ignored them. He didn't land a hit on her yet. 

"Alright, time to bring out my specialty," Takuma mused with a smirk.

Kei furrowed her eyebrows slightly when her opponent started to make hand signs. He took a deep breath and tilted his head back; without warning, a massive bubble came out of his mouth and floated toward Kei. Her eyes widened at the speed of the bead and its size.

Kei leaped back but lost her footing as another wave of pain hit her, causing her to slip onto the ground, panting.

"Kei, no!" Akira screamed in fear.

Kei let gasped as she sat up, but her eyes widened as the bubble got closer to her and exploded, creating a massive cloud of smoke and making her let out a loud scream of pain.

"Ah," Kakashi, one visible eye widened, hearing the scream of pain from Kei as the explosion hit her.

'No, Kei.' Naruto thought, worried, looking at the smoke.

Takuma laughed."You thought you had me, didn't you?" He mocked.

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Hey lovely readers! I finally got chapter 37 of The Crystal Serpent completed and written. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feel free to let me know in the comments what you think of the chapter.

Q: What do you think of the match so far?

Thanks for reading!

Word Count: 1403