[GUtW]—❈—55:: Sixteen Down: Sixteen To Go [III]

…and then the sealed package that I’d thought was Kankuro’s body this entire time (because what else could it be?) opens, and a giant centipede with a red, metal carapace and scythes for legs crawls out.

“What the fuck is that?” Sakura asks.

—❈—

I can’t help but agree with Sakura’s sentiment; what the fuck is that?

Where’s Kankuro?

Is this another one of the things that’s different from the story? Even if it is it still doesn’t answer the question, where is Kankuro?

To my eternal embarrassment, it’s Naruto who points it out to me.

“That bastard,” the blonde says angrily. “He’s hiding inside that monster puppet.

“Boo! Come out and fight!”

Oh. Oh, right, Kankuro is inside the puppet, I think to myself, feeling a little foolish. I mean, of course he’s inside the puppet. Where else would he be?

On the field, Dosu seems to be reconsidering things, mind running a thousand meters a second as he tries to figure out how dangerous this new puppet might be.

Very, it turns out, and Kankuro is more than eager to show it.

A long, scorpion-like tail uncoils itself from the rear end of Kankuro’s centipede puppet, and, moving so fast it has to be going four, maybe five times the speed of sound, it strikes at Dosu over ten metres away, the curved, foot long ‘stinger’ at the end, aiming for the Sound-nin’s stomach.

Dosu’s reflexes are lightning fast, and his reaction is almost immediate.

A blast of sound erupts from the device mounted on his right hand; a concussive wave so powerful it knocks the stinger aside. But even as Dosu makes a move to capitalize on it, I can already see the truth; he’s lost.

Moving remarkably fast for something of that size, weight, and with that many limbs, Kankuro’s centipede rushes at Dosu.

Dosu immediately tries to flee, accurately recognizing that fighting that heavily armoured, scythe-limbed monstrosity in close quarters would be a death sentence for him, but before he can create the space he needs, the stinger is back, thrusting and slashing almost faster than Dosu can keep up with, but most importantly, giving Kankuro the opportunity to meet his opponent in close quarters.

What follows is thirty seconds of Dosu’s valiant efforts to stop the inevitable. He holds nothing back, using every trick, every skill, pushing his body past what is safe, but in the end, the outcome is the same.

You can’t beat an opponent that you can’t harm.

Finally, slow and bleeding, Dosu is knocked on his back by Kankuro, and the Sand-nin brings his stinger down into the sand beside the Sound-nin’s head; the message is clear.

“I win,” Kankuro says, his voice coming from somewhere within the centipede.

“A decisive victory for Kankuro,” the announcer cheers. “What a turnaround.”

Naruto scoffs. “What are they cheering that bastard for?” he asks scornfully. “He didn’t even do any of the fighting himself.”

Sakura swats the blonde. “Don’t badmouth a ninja for his fighting style,” she says.

“But it’s true,” Naruto argues. “If it wasn’t for that second puppet Dosu woulda totally kicked his butt.”

“Maybe,” Sakura allows, “but even so, it’s still Kankuro who put in the—no doubt—thousands of hours of practice needed to achieve the skill to control that puppet. He won fair and square.

“How would you like it if someone told you you’re a cheat because your reserves give you an advantage over most people?” Sakura asks finally, and to that Naruto has no reply.

Finally, with a petulant pout, he mutters; “I still don’t like him.”

Sakura can’t help but roll her eyes. “We know, Naruto. You’ve made it very clear.”

On the field, one of the most heavily armoured parts if the centipede slides open, and Kankuro climbs out.

The Sand-nin looks exactly like the puppet version of himself, only he has no face paint on, and instead of the regular Sand-nin uniform his puppet double is wearing, he’s in some sort of tight, black bodysuit that is reminiscent of a leotard.

Actually, I think it’s exactly that, a leotard.

Dosu, bitter from his loss, rises to his feet and exits the arena, brushing off the attentions of the medic-nin who approaches him for treatment.

Up on the loge with us, Dosu’s sensei rises silently and walks out too.

“Hey,” Naruto calls before the jōnin can leave, and she stops to stare at the blonde. “Tell Dosu I’m gonna keep our promise, alright?” Naruto says.

The jōnin cocks her head at Naruto contemplatively for a few seconds, before finally, she replies him with a simple nod and walks out.

Back on the arena, Kankuro reseals his centipede puppet in it’s bandage wrap, the utter bullshit of fuinjutsu making the Sand-nin able to enwrap a ten foot long centipede puppet with bladed legs in twenty feet of bandages, and end with said enwrapped centipede the size of a body pillow.

Kankuro hoists the wrapped puppet onto his shoulder, then uses chakra strings to gather and carry the pieces of his puppet double.

With all his gear recovered and in hand, Kankuro exits the arena.

“Why is Kankuro probably the most dangerous contestant in this exam?” Kakashi asks suddenly.

We stare at him, but it’s Sakura who answers; so promptly in fact, that I suspect that she was already thinking about it beforehand.

“Because we will likely never really know what to expect from him,” she says.

“What do you mean?” Naruto asks.

“Kankuro just pulled out a dangerous puppet out of thin air,” I say, answering for Sakura. “Nothing’s stopping him from having a dozen more.”

Well, maybe not quite a dozen more, since I imagine it takes a lot of time to master moving such atypical bodies so smoothly.

But even so, Kankuro just beat the second round; however far he goes in this exam, he will not be needing more than three more puppets.

“Sasuke’s right,” Sakura says, at Naruto’s wide-eyed look. “Not to mention, destroying the puppet might not even make him as defenseless as you might think.”

“Cause he could just pull out another one?” Naruto asks.

“Well... yeah,” Sakura agrees, “but also because chakra strings can do a lot more than control puppets.”

A whole lot more.

Kankuro returns to the loge, and the next names are announced; it won’t be any member of my team’s turn for a few more matches yet.