As Naruto looked up at the screen he paled slightly and instantly gulped.
HAKU
VS
KABUTO
'Crap crap crap! Kabuto, I swear, if you so much as do one Jutsu over Chuunin level, I WILL kill you!' Naruto thought angrily as he glared daggers at the silver haired nin
"My my touchy aren't we?" Kyuubi said, trying to lighten the blonde's mood. "Calm down and stop leaking killer intent everywhere. Just watch closely and make sure that Haku isn't in any deadly danger. Don't go jumping in without even thinking. I know what you're feeling towards this man, but just remember that he hasn't done anything YET." Kyuubi said thoughtfully.
'I know, I know, but it's just so infuriating knowing I can't do much of anything to help... well, at least not without drawing in further suspicions...' Naruto closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing to try to calm himself down. He heard someone sit down beside him and opened his eyes to see Hinata. Naruto looked down to Tsunade who nodded as he motioned questioningly to Hinata. 'At least she didn't get as beaten up this time...'
Kakashi come up behind him and Sasuke was inching closer to him as well. Naruto looked to everyone in confusion and was about to say something when the examiner shouted for the competitors to begin. Naruto shot a quick glance to Shikamaru before glaring down towards the match.
Kabuto and Haku instantly jumped back away from each other. Kabuto threw a kunai towards Haku, who simply bent back to dodge. Kabuto jumped forward and tried to kick Haku, thinking the boy had let his guard down. As Kabuto's foot lashed forward, Haku went into a handstand. Haku quickly flipped around and kicked Kabuto in the head as he righted himself. Kabuto hit the ground hard but grabbed another kunai and blocked an incoming senbon from Haku.
"I would like to finish this quickly." Haku said as he jumped back from Kabuto.
"The feeling's mutual." Kabuto grunted as he sprung forward.
'He's not even trying! That's a relief...' Naruto thought as he sighed out a breath he didn't know he was holding.'They both seem to be holding back, although they're still putting forth a small bit of what they can really do.' Naruto watched as the two blurs collided every now and then, sending sparks and dust before they seemed to vanish out of sight again.
The air began to grow steadily dryer as the battle raged on. As Kabuto and Haku broke apart, Kabuto panted slightly while Haku had begun doing his hand signs and water appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Kabuto watched looking somewhat confused as ice started forming around him. "Crystal Ice Mirrors!" Haku called as his image appeared on the inner sides of the dome.
Sasuke shuddered at the site of the dome. Naruto smirked now feeling a little more relaxed knowing that Kabuto was hiding his true strength. "Remember Sasuke, what happens in the ice dome stays in the ice dome!" Naruto sung.
Sasuke twitched as his blush reappeared. "Sh-shut it!" Sasuke stammered.
Haku had begun to explain the nature of his bloodline and was tossing the odd senbon at Kabuto as he did so. "-and there have only been two people who have escaped from this Jutsu: Naruto and Sasuke, due to...umm, well, I promised not to say what happened, but my teammates were the only ones who ever escaped." Haku finished, all the Haku images going shifty eyed at the fact that even bringing it up he would probably get yelled at... or questioned. Depending on who got to him first.
"Quite a nifty little thing this..." Kabuto said looking around at the mirrors. "Thing 'bout ice though... fire melts it." He said as he made a few hand signs and blew a fireball towards the nearest mirror. The mirror had a single bead of water roll down it which refroze before it hit the ground. "Wh-what? How?!" Kabuto asked, stunned.
