Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, atm!

Chapter 17: I will win!

Bolt looked taken aback. "Are you serious!?" Ziara strapped on some red fingerless gloves, and unwrapped the chains wrapped around her arm. She carefully undid her chinese braid, letting her hair hang loose all the way till her back. "Of course I am, you aren't scared are you?"

"Of course not! I just get the feeling…" Bolt trailed off. "That I didn't fight Salada seriously." Ziara finished his sentence, pulling out two small butterfly swords. "Wait, you're gonna use those!?" Bolt panicked. Ziara giggled. "You have your ninja tools, and I have these! Now, are you ready!"

Bolt gulped, shakily nodding his head. "Y-Yeah. I'm ready." Ziara grinned and got into a chinese fighting stance, which only made Bolt more nervous. He slowly settled into a ragtag stance. Shikamaru just shrugged and raised his hand. "Begin!"

Ziara took off to the side, and stopped, waiting for Bolt to make a move. Bolt took a small step forward, drawing a kunai. "I won't be afraid of you!" He threw the kunai at her with great speed, but she easily deflected it with her weapon. "Pafekuto Bara!" Ziara's eyes glowed, and out of the ground sprouted the giant rose.

"I remember this!" Bolt grinned, running towards her. Ziara didn't even take out her scroll. "Well try and counter it."

"That I will!" Bolt closed in on her, charging in with a right hook. Ziara sidestepped, sweeping him with a swift kick. As Bolt fell to the ground, she grabbed his collar, tossing him into the rose. Bolt realized the situation and quickly ran away from it.

Ziara's left eye glowed blue and she smiled. "Come on Bolt, do something special!" Bolt grinned. "Alright I got it. Byakugan!" The boy activated his kekkei genkai, now intently staring at Ziara. "Ehh… You have some strange chakra Ziara, but that won't matter." Ziara narrowed her eyes, taking a few steps forward.

Bolt once again rushed at her, trying to strike a chakra point. He barely used the Byakugan because he was very inexperienced with it. Even Himawari could use it way better than he could. Ziara ducked low to the ground, slashing at him with the small, dagger like swords. Bolt moved out the way, running to the side.

Ziara quickly spun around and kicked him square in the chin from her sitting position on the ground, giving credibility to her flexibility. As Bolt fell back, Ziara banged the swords together and exclaimed, "Shining blade recital!" She started running and jumped into the air, spinning rapidly with her blades by her side.

After a second she resembled Kiba's fang over fang jutsu as she quickly approached Bolt. Bolt rolled out of the way, and found himself running from the attack. "How are you doing that!?" He cried out. Suddenly the attack stop and Ziara pounced onto his back, sending them both crashing into the dirt.

Bolt stood up and spit out some dirt. "Gross!" Ziara stood up laughing and smiling. "Well, I thought my jutsu would last longer." Bolt smiled and took a few steps back. "Are you ready?" Ziara sneered, giving a nod. "Born ready!"

Her blue eye glowed as the rose shot dozens of petals high into the air. And then they froze, falling back down. Bolt twisted and turned, trying to avoid them, but he was unsuccessful as they rained down on him, inflicting a good deal of damage.

Clenching his fist, a veil of chakra covered both of his hands. Bolt rushed forward, quickly jabbing at her chest. Ziara swiftly evaded, landing gently on the rose. Her red eye glowed intensely, and the giant rose rose up and drew closer to Bolt.

"Is this thing alive!" He shrieked, ducking low to the ground. Ziara curved her fingers and the rose followed her movements. "Spore!" Bolt felt himself being blasted into the air, and he let out a scream of fear. Ziara launched off the ground and grabbed the back of his jacket, while palming the back of his head forcing him out of his jacket.

"Whaa!" Bolt exclaimed as he crashed into the ground face first. Ziara landed besides him and tossed his jacket besides him. "I knew you wouldn't know how to react if I did that, and would crash into the ground." Bolt growled, quickly reaching for her leg. But Ziara was one step ahead, lifting her leg up to thwart his attempt.

"Ha!" A shadow clone latched on to Ziara from behind, dragging her to the ground. "What the!?" Bolt grinned and stood to his feet, digging in his pocket for a kunai. Instead he pulled out a shuriken. "Ehh, whatever!" He threw it directly towards the stem of the rose. "If I get rid of that, surely I'll win."

Ziara felt her heart drop as the shuriken made its way towards her rose. "No. No!" Desperately, she tried to intercept it, but couldn't get to it in time. The tool struck the stem, and it sounded like someone had rang a gong in Ziara's mind. "Didn't cut it in half, what is that thing made of, metal."

"Ack!" The Tokigashi bent over in pain, clutching her chest. She looked devastated as she sunk to the ground. "Ziara… are you alright." Bolt cluelessly asked, starting to walk closer.

"Don't come closer!" Ziara shouted, looking up at Bolt with a death glare. "I can continue, I'm fine." The Uzumaki boy only shrugged, stepping back into a stance. "I guess I'll have to finish this quickly, before I pass out." She huffed. Bolt raised his hand angrily. "What's that supposed to mean. That you can beat me whenever you want huh?"

He poofed up a shadow clone and started charging a rasengan. Ziara's eyes glowed intensely as she observed him for a bit. "Copy." Suddenly her eyes stopped glowing and she clasped her hands together. "Paste." Besides her appeared a shadowy version of Bolt, charging up a rasengan. "What the hell!" Bolt exclaimed.

"What kind of jutsu does that girl possess, and at such a young age. I wouldn't be surprised if she's on par with us." Naruto raised an eyebrow, carefully observing the justu. Sasuke shook his head. "No, we are still greatly her superior. That is, until she awakens the last stage of that Soul jutsu. The Tokigashi clan, I doubt she's the last left, they could become a real problem."

"Eat this!" Bolt charged forward with the jutsu. Ziara raised a hand, and the shadowy Bolt took off towards the real one for a rasengan clash. "I'm not afraid of no fake." He grinned. Ziara trembled, her legs giving out on her. "If only I was older, my body could take this!"

Bolt passed right through the shadowy Bolt, but didn't question it and kept charging. Ziara sighed. "I guess fate doesn't owe me a victory." And then the attack connected, sending Ziara crashing into the stadium wall.

Shikamaru didn't even need to check, as he knew even above average people didn't get up from those. "Winner, Bolt Uzumaki." And the crowd cheers began as Bolt celebrated another victory.

Sasuke could only shake his head. Naruto smiled. "Well, that's my boy!" "That girl, it seems either her good heart or that jutsu is the thing keeping her from winning. Whatever, dobe it's just mine and your's now."

Naruto grinned. "How much we betting?"

"Ugh, I don't want to get up. All that talk about not holding back, and in the end I lose. So much for being thought of as the top of the class." Ziara slumped up against the wall, deactivating her jutsu, letting the rose submerge.

"Hey Ziara! You owe me an ice cream for this win!" Bolt called as he ran towards the waiting room.

"Hey! When did we bet on this!?" Dropping her swords, she ran after him without haste.

Writers block is bad, just bad. This chapter is so rushed you can taste the unprepared beef in it. But whatever. I wanted to do more with this chapter, showcase how strong Ziara could be but I couldn't find any way to do that without Bolt getting rekt all match and some how still win(Which still kinda happened).

But I promise, next chapter will be so much better. Next chapter is a little Ziara/Sasuke/Naruto/Orochimaru confrontation which I've already started writing, and the start of Bolt vs Salada. So stay tuned, and as always until next time, buh bye.