Hey all, I know it's been a while since I uploaded, and that's because I was waiting for more people to read my Anime style story YOT (Abbreviation lol).

I sent a couple of messages to my fans about it, but not many people responded, which is actually very disappointing. I don't think I ask much of you guys :/ But anyway, at least a few of you responded :) Thanks very much to those who did!

You'll figure out what this gross thing is later lol  --->

Ashley’s POV

As soon as Areki announces the beginning of the Balance Challenge, one of the girls from the Sand Village drops from her Bamboo Plant, squealing as she falls. She lands on her back with a thump, before sitting up and huffing angrily, crossing her arms.

“Huh” a familiar voice scoffs. “How pathetic.”

Looking to my right, I find myself glaring into the face of an arrogant looking Nobu. She catches me looking at her and smirks, dragging a finger across her neck as if to tell me that I’m dead. I roll my eyes and look away, shaking my head. She could try all she liked, but she couldn’t intimidate me.

“Well, this is boring already” Shikamaru complains, standing on a plant about three metres to my left, right behind one of the girls from the Snow Village. I see the Nara look down at the ground thoughtfully and can’t help blanching.

“Don’t you dare jump off Shikamaru” I warn, causing the boy’s head to snap up. He sweat drops and sends me a sheepish grin.

“Wouldn’t dream of it” he assures he, rubbing the back of his head. We all suddenly look to our right, hearing a loud cry of fright.

I see a green haired girl, from the Grass Village, wobbling unsteadily on her flimsy Bamboo Plant, her worried eyes focused down on the ground.

“Stop that!” she demands, her plant swaying dangerously, before a kunai suddenly whizzes past the girl’s head. She reels backwards so as to avoid the hit, only for her foot to slip from the flat surface of the Bamboo.

“Chinta!” I hear Tozoku cry worriedly, balancing on a plant somewhere off to my right. I don’t even care enough to see where that crazy redhead is. Hopefully she falls off soon…

“Ahhhh!” Chinta screams, falling towards the ground and flailing her arms around wildly. She somehow manages to land on her feet, sighing with relief before casting a nasty glare over at the Sand Village Ninja that had been throwing the kunai.

“Time for some payback!” Chinta growls, whipping out the Katana she had attached to her back. The Sand Ninja brandishes two kunai, returning Chinta’s annoyed look.

“Fallen contestants are not allowed to attack each other” Areki’s voice echoes through the stadium, making the two girls below pause. “Unless you want your whole team to be disqualified…”

Chinta blinks a few times, before a devious grin appears on her face. She whirls around, head tilted back and eyes flicking between the contestants high above her.

“Uh oh….” one of the male Sand Ninja mutters, seeing the girl’s eyes focus on him. Chinta suddenly runs towards his Bamboo plant, Katana wielded in her two hands. She skids to a halt beside the plant, pulling her weapon backwards.

“You Sand Ninja are going down!” Chinta promises, swinging her Katana forwards and slicing the Bamboo down easily.

“Oh crap….” the Sand Ninja sighs, before suddenly dropping from our view as his plant topples to the ground.

“Ohhhhhh!” Areki cringes playfully as the male hits the ground. “That’s two Sand Ninja down for the count!......And it looks like Chinta’s going for another one! Will our fallen Sand Ninja hit back at the Grass Village?!”

Watching the three Ninja below running around, I see Chinta heading towards Kana’s Bamboo Plant, obviously having decided to only target the Sand Ninja. Glancing up, I see Kana’s bright green eyes narrowed and focused on the Grass Village girl below.

“I don’t think so…” she growls lowly, bending the knee of the leg she’s balancing on, as Chinta brings her Katana back to slice the plant.

As the Bamboo is chopped in half, Kana suddenly leaps up, flipping around in mid air and landing back down on another plant. It sways back and forth dangerously, with Kana struggling to regain her balance.

“Hn” I mutter, reminding myself somewhat of Sasuke. “At least she’s smarter than the other two that have already fallen…”

Kana leaps up again as Chinta follows after her, hacking away at the plants she lands on. I almost have a panic attack as Kana whooshes past me, making me sway slightly on my plant. I throw my arms out to my side, my eyes wide as the plant slowly begins to stop swaying.

Letting out a relieved breath, I cast my eyes over to the left, just in time to see Chinta viciously swipe her Katana through four Bamboo plants, trying to get Kana to fall. The Sand Ninja once again bounds over to another plant, as the Snow Ninja in front of Shikamaru suddenly falls towards the ground.

“And that’s our first four contestants out ladies and gentlemen!” Areki announces, as the crowd cheers loudly, clapping and shouting out encouragements to the team they’re supporting. “All of the remaining contestants are through to the next round! Now it’s just a matter of who wants to win the round!”

Shikamaru sweat drops, blinking down at the spot where the Snow Ninja had just been, before sighing and tilting his head back to stare up at the sky.

“Shikamaru!” Kakashi calls suddenly. “Better pay attention or you’ll be the next-”

Kakashi cuts himself off, as a blast of icy wind suddenly shoots up at Shikamaru, viciously knocking him backwards.

“-To fall” Kakashi finishes dryly, deadpanning as Shikamaru flips around and lands easily on the ground. The Nara shrugs uncaringly, probably happy that he’s been knocked down. At least he was through to the next round…

“Hey Shika-kun!” I call, making him look up and raise an eyebrow. “At least help us out while you’re down there!”

“Can do!” Shikamaru calls back, smirking as he salutes me and begins eyeing the thirty five remaining contestants up above him. Pulling out some kunai, he begins darting swiftly between the Bamboo Plants. I’m not sure who he’s targeting, but at least he’s got good aim.

Just as I think that, a kunai shoots up from the ground and embeds itself into the arm of one of the Mist Ninja, causing him to stumble backwards and fall. Three more kunai shoot up from the ground, knocking two Ninja from the Rain Village and another Mist Ninja to the ground.

“Good throwing Shikamaru!” I shout with a laugh, earning nasty looks from the remaining Rain and Mist Ninja. I return their glares and bare my teeth.

“What?” I growl sharply. “Just coz our team doesn’t suck doesn’t mean that you should-”

I cut myself off, as my Bamboo plant suddenly shudders violently, as if someone had kicked it. Feeling slightly annoyed, I cast my eyes down towards the ground, only for them to widen in horror. Racing up my Bamboo, is a giant fireball.

“Do you think that’s funny Leaf Ninja?!” one of the fallen Snow Ninja’s yells up at me smugly, obviously looking forward to seeing me either fall, or burn.

Quickly glancing up, I see Kakashi, Kyoku and Neji all watching me, eyes slightly concerned as to what I’ll do. I bend my knee and suddenly leap up into the air, just as the fireball shoots up into the sky, narrowly missing me. I pull a face, feeling the heat of the fire, before flipping around and landing on a plant close to Kakashi Sensei. As soon as my foot hits it however, the plant begins swinging around unsteadily, causing me to flail my arms around, tiny drops of sweat shooting away from my head.

“I hate these stupid plants!” I snap when I finally regain my balance, shoulder sdrooping.

I ignore Kakashi as he chuckles quietly, glancing around and quickly counting the remaining Ninja. There are now only fifteen of us left up on the Bamboo, with four of the remaining contestants being us Leaf Ninja.

“We’re doing quite well” I muse, just as Kyoku suddenly flips over to another Bamboo plant, right before a volley of fireballs is shot directly past where she’d just been standing.

“Not only do you need perfect balance” she says softly, flipping around on the spot and landing back on one foot to show off her amazing balance, “But you need to be paying attention to everything that’s happening around you……It’s a good challenge.”

Kakashi gives the young, blue haired woman an admiring glance, before nodding in agreement.

“Shikamaru could have done better” he adds, raising an eyebrow. “He just couldn’t be bothered.”

“You’re goin down Hyuga!” I hear Ita shout from the ground, making me look down. Neji glances down slowly as well, a smirk spreading across his face as he sees Ita glaring up at him determinedly. When she’d fallen, I have no idea.

“Looks like you’ve already gone down” Neji retorts in his arrogant way, Ita’s scowl obviously amusing him. The orange haired girl begins performing hand signs, as Neji readies himself to move if need be.

Beside me, Kakashi Sensei suddenly leaps up, easily evading a spray of shuriken that were thrown at him. I blink as he continues leaping backwards across Bamboo plants, using only one foot as his visible eye remains focused down on the ground.

“I think someone has it out for Kakashi Sensei….” I mutter, seeing the way volley after volley of shuriken are sent flying towards him. I can’t help staring at him with admiration. The way he’s able to move so fast and manage to land on a Bamboo Plant each time he jumps, not to mention using only one foot at a time, is amazing. Kakashi Sensei is amazing……Again, not that I’d tell him that.

“Dammit…..Out of shuriken” a rough voice growls, realisation dawning on me. Irazen. She hated Kakashi Sensei for some reason. Of course she’d be targeting him.

A huge boulder suddenly crashes up through the Bamboo Plants, smashing a lot of them to pieces and making the remaining Ninja leap out of the way. The boulder heads for Neji, who rolls his eyes and jumps up, easily avoiding the massive rock.

“At least try next time!” Neji calls down to Ita condescendingly. “That was way too eas-” The Hyuga is cut off, as a large sphere of chakra filled water slams into his back, sending him rocketing towards the ground.

“Ha!” Ita scoffs, as Neji flips around and lands in a crouched position beside her. “Good shot Irazen!”

“Nice of you to join me” Shikamaru smiles teasingly at Neji, helping the brunette to his feet and pointing up at the remaining competitors. “Now you can help me fend off any attacks that are directed at Kakashi, Kyoku or Ashley. I couldn’t do it by myself.”

Quickly surveying the half destroyed Bamboo Forest, I spot the young Snow Village Ninja, Zee, watching me through hooded eyes. He seems to be frozen, seeing as both he and the plant he’s balancing on aren’t moving at all. How can his balance be so perfect? Even Kakashi Sensei and Kyoku, as amazing as they are, are moving the tiniest bit when they’re trying to be still.

Zee breaks eye contact with me, glancing down as a fireball is suddenly shot up towards him. Moving as easily as if he were one with the wind, Zee bends his knee and flips over to another plant, immediately maintaining his impressive balance and watching as the fireball shoots up into the air and eventually dissipates. As I blink and stare at the young boy in wonder, a voice down below suddenly catches my attention.

“Summoning Jutsu!” Tozoku cries, before slamming her hand to the ground and becoming shrouded in a cloud of white smoke. My brows furrow at this. I hadn’t even realised she was a Ninja back when I first met her, so the very fact that she’s here is a little perplexing to me.

Looking back down as the Bamboo I’m on begins to shake, my eyes widen and my heart begins thudding against my chest in fear.

Scrambling its way up towards me, is a strange looking Spider that’s easily as big as Ace. Though, it looks really strange. For one thing, it’s only got four legs with spikes growing out of them. Not to mention it’s got shiny white skin, blazing orange eyes and fangs the size of kunai knives.

I can’t help letting out a scream as the Spider rapidly approaches me, before I spin around and dash awkwardly across the Bamboo Plants, wobbling dangerously when I finally come to a stop, breathing shakily.

“Ashley!” Kakashi Sensei calls, somehow spotting the fearful look on my face from all the way over where he is. “What’s the matter?!”

It must have looked a little strange to him, seeing me running away so desperately for those few seconds. And I don’t think he’s ever heard me scream either. I normally don’t! I mean, not much scares me…..But, giant Spiders……not to mention giant Spider that look like Demons…..Yeah, ever since I was forced to survive in the insane forest near the Land of Sound for two weeks, thanks to Orochimaru, I’ve been terrified of Spiders. Sue me, I’m human.

“Th-That’s what’s the matter!” I shout, jabbing my hand towards the Spider, as it crawls on top of the Bamboo Plants, each of its pointed feet resting a top a different one.

Third Person’s POV

Everyone’s eyes widen as Ashley races across the Bamboo Plants, her visible eye wide with fear. One of the giant screens shows a close up of Kakashi’s face as he calls over to the blonde, as another screen shows Ashley’s face.

The camera follows Ashley’s hand as she points at something, only for a giant, white Spider-like creature to fill up the screen, causing many of the people in the crowd to gasp in horror.

“Why did someone send that after Ashley-chan?!” Naruto cries, his blue eyes filled with concern, as Sakura grips his arm sub consciously. Her wide, jade eyes remain on Ashley, who has appeared on another screen. The blonde’s arm shakes, as she slowly lowers it to her side, eyes focused on the Spider’s every move.

“Angel…..” Kiba says softly, his heart rate increasing slightly. He knew she was afraid of even the littlest Spiders, so he could only imagine how scared she was of that deformed creature before her right now.

“Oh no!” Ino screams, as a glowing ball of fire begins forming in front of the Spider’s mouth. “It can create fire! Run Ashley! Run!”

Kiba watches with wide eyes and bated breath, as the Spider rears up on its hind legs. He knew Ashley was strong, and he hoped she’d be able to get over her fear just long enough to get away from the strange, fire breathing insect.

Third Person’s POV

Ashley flinches as the Spider screeches intimidatingly, its mouth burning with fire. She knows that she really needs to be paying attention right now, but she just can’t tear her eyes away from the Spider. It had her mesmerized and frozen with fear.

“That’s cheating!” an outraged Shikamaru shouts, with Neji scowling beside him. “There’s no killing force allowed in this Tournament!”

“Oh be quiet” Tozoku says snidely, resting a hand on her hip and flicking her long, red ponytail. “He’s not going to kill her, as nice as that would be. He’s just going to…..help knock her down.”

“Why are you sending a huge, Demon Spider after Ashley?!” Shikamaru snaps, not caring how nasty he sounded right now. This girl couldn’t do that to one of his teammates! “Why not send it after someone else?!”

Tozoku shrugs, her amber eyes sparkling as she smiles mysteriously at Shikamaru.

“I can’t control who he chooses to target” she informs the Nara, who stares at her coldly, before narrowing his eyes.

“You’re lying” he decides, to which a tinkling laugh escapes from Tozoku’s mouth as she turns away from him and continues watching her Spider Summon.

“She has a vendetta against Ashley” Neji speaks up lowly, as he takes up a fighting stance. “She’s probably going to be targeting Ashley because she likes Kiba, and Ashley’s in her way. We met Tozoku about three years ago.”

Shikamaru blinks, before slapping a hand to his face.

“That’s so stupid” he groans, tilting his head backwards. “Why are girls so petty and troublesome?....”

The Spider screeches again, before suddenly leaning forwards and shooting a powerful flamethrower from its mouth. Ashley jumps with fright, before throwing her arms out in a panic. As the fire is about to reach her, Ashley places her other foot down and pushes off of it, spinning on the spot and causing the stream of fire to follow after her movements.

As the Spider continues blowing fire at Ashley, it slowly builds up into a spinning dome around her, as she struggles to control it with her Katsuryoku. She was having difficulty spinning on such a tiny, unstable surface and to make matters even more complicated, she had to control quite a large amount of fire at the same time.

Fire was the most difficult Element for Ashley to keep control, as it hadn’t come to her as naturally as Wind and Earth had. Water and Lightning had taken a lot of practise to control well, but Fire was another story. She never liked practising with it, but the blonde was currently finding that she wished she had spent some more time on it…

As soon as she feels the Spider stop blowing fire, Ashley ceases her spinning and throws the fire back at it, sweating from being surrounded by the flaming Element.

The Spider screeches in pain, as one of its legs is hit by the stream of fire. The fire continues burning the Spider’s leg, as it focuses its orange eyes back on Ashley.

With a hiss, it suddenly shoots what looks to be a thick, white rope from its mouth.

Ashley pants from having to control the fire, when she sees the rope coming for her. Before she can move however, the white substance wraps around her legs, binding them together.

“Ewwwww!!” Ashley cries with disgust, feeling that the white rope is very sticky. Like a Spider Web.

Tozoku laughs delightedly as Ashley is caught, the Spider readying itself to leap at her. Shikamaru looks up as Kyoku walks over to him and Neji, having been knocked from the Bamboo by one of the Mist Ninja.

“Whatever we’re going to do to help her” the usually quiet Jonin says seriously, “We’d better do it now.”

Ashley’s eyes widen as the Spider suddenly leaps for her, its front legs reaching for her and its fang filled mouth open in a wide gape.

“Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!” Ashley hears a voice call, just as someone tackles her, sweeping her feet out from underneath her. Ashley blinks as she sees a concentrated wave of chakra powered air shoot up from the ground and slam into the Spider’s stomach, sending it rocketing up into the air.

The Spider screeches in pain, before suddenly disappearing in a puff of smoke.

“Damn!” Tozoku growls from the ground, stomping her foot and crossing her arms, casting Neji and irritated look. He returns her look with a smug smirk, while Shikamaru breathes a sigh of relief, shoulders slumping tiredly. H couldn’t wait for this dumb round to be over.

“Very impressive Neji” Kyoku compliments softly, watching with a tiny smile as Kakashi looks down at the blonde in his arms.

“Uhhh, Kakashi Sensei?” Ashley questions, blushing slightly at her Sensei’s closeness. Hey, Ashley may have had a boyfriend and Kakashi Sensei may have a thing for Kyoku, but he was still an incredibly handsome man.

“Oh sorry” he chuckles lightly, giving his student a closed eye smile. “I saw that you looked a bit frozen, and I wasn’t sure if you were going to move or not……Are you scared of Spiders or something?”

“None of your damn business!” Ashley snaps, pouting and crossing her arms, which causes her Sensei to laugh again. Kakashi knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t mad at him, she was probably just a little embarrassed that he now knew her fear. Weren’t most girls scared of Spiders though?

“In accordance with our rule of only one foot being allowed to touch the Bamboo at any given time” Areki speaks up loudly, “Both Kakashi Hatake and Ashley Minami are disqualified!”

“Huh?!” both Ashley and Kakashi cry, their eyes widening. Shikamaru face palms, as Neji’s eyebrow twitches and Kyoku laughs, a closed eye smile on her face.

Kakashi and Ashley glance at each other in disbelief, before they hang their heads, each releasing a sigh and sweat dropping. It seemed that Areki didn’t miss much…

“That means that as the only remaining contestant” Areki continues gleefully, “Zee Monomori is the winner! Congratulations Zee, for winning the Balance Round!”

The crowd explodes into loud cheering and clapping, as the Snow Ninja throw their hands in the air victoriously, shouting up their congratulations to their youngest team member.

Zee, seemingly oblivious to the praise, merely glances around the arena and blinks. He spots Kakashi and Ashley giving him strange looks, to which he inclines his head and suddenly flips down from the Bamboo Forest, landing easily on his feet.

“He’s a weird kid” Ashley speaks up, as Kakashi releases her from his hold. The silver haired Jonin nods in agreement.

“Yeah” he adds. “He’s one to watch.”

Ashley’s POV

“Alright contestants” Areki addresses the remaining thirty six competitors, smiling at them from the big screen, “Round Two is going to be the Strength Round.”

“Uh oh…” I hear the Waterfall Ninja, Chirin, mutter dismally. I don’t blame her. She looks as strong as a Daisy flower….

“The Strength Round will consist of all of you lining up and using your physical strength to break rocks in the shape of planks” Areki explains energetically, eyes sparkling. “At first, we were going to have you break planks of wood, but we decided that rock would be more challenging! Each time you break a rock wall, it will be replaced by another one, though the new one will always be one centimetre thicker than the prior one.”

“I get the feeling there will be some broken hands after this Round….” I can’t help muttering, making Shikamaru hang his head and slump miserably.

“Ughhhh….Just what I need” he sighs. “A broken hand. What a drag…..”

“You complain a lot” Neji informs Shikamaru irritably, making the Nara glance up and narrow his eyes.

“And you give your opinion when it’s not wanted a lot” he retorts, earning a raised eyebrow from Neji.

“Alright” Kakashi sighs, stepping between the two young males, “Simmer down children.”

“We have a few kind Grass Village Ninja that specialise in Earth Style Jutsu who are going to be helping us out” Areki continues explaining, bringing my eyes back up to the big screen. “They’ll be creating the planks of rock you’ll all be attempting to break. If our competitors could all stand back please, our Grass Ninja can come over and make the first thirty six rock planks.”

Kakashi ushers us to the walls of the arena, as twelve Grass Village Ninja traipse into the arena. They form a long line and place their hands together, simultaneously completing a set of hand signs.

“Earth Style: Mud Wall!” they all cry, sending their chakra out into the ground in front of themselves. Some people in the audience gasp as each Ninja creates three thin, two metre walls, as if they’ve never seen a Jutsu before. Seriously, it’s not even an impressive Jutsu either….

“Thank you very much Grass Ninja!” Areki cries, waving energetically, as the Grass Ninja make their way over to the wall opposite us and crouch down, obviously waiting for the next time they’ll have to create a wall.

“Could all of our competitors please make their way over to a wall and stand before it?” Areki asks pleasantly, watching as we slowly begin to do so, eyeing each other warily. I give Tozoku a dark look as she walks past me, to which she gives me a bright closed eye smile.

Though she’s surprised me by possessing Ninja skills, I highly doubt she’ll go far in this Round. Hopefully she’ll be so weak, she can’t even break the first wall…

Stopping in front of one of the rock boards, I see that Kyoku is on my right and one of the Rain Ninja, Okita Soujiin I think Areki said, is on my left. She catches me looking at her and returns my curious look with a serious one, her deep purple eyes hard. I can’t help rolling my eyes, before I turn back to face my rock wall. What’s up her ass?

“Alright contestants!” Areki barks happily, throwing an arm in the air. “There aren’t many rules for this round, though the few that exist are still important, so listen up! Weapons and any type of Jutsu will not be permitted! The only kind of Jutsu you can use is one that will enhance your own abilities. For example, a Jutsu that will make your hits pack more of a punch. Second rule! You can only punch or kick the rock wall! No elbows, knees, foreheads etcetera!”

I deadpan as Areki continues explaining. Why would anyone try to break a rock wall by smashing it with their forehead? That’s just ridiculous!

“Our third rule is” Areki blathers on, “You only get two hits per wall. If you can’t break it after two hits, you’re out! It doesn’t matter if you crack the wall or it almost falls down, it must be completely broken to count! And our fourth and last rule is, you must break the wall within thirty seconds. If you take any longer than that, you’re out!”

Areki pauses, before taking a deep breath. He suddenly leans closer to the camera, both hands gripping his microphone and his eyes wide. I can’t help sweat dropping. He’s a little…..strange for lack of a better word. He’s good at being a host though….I guess.

“And before I forget to say this” Areki adds, grinning brightly, “the first four contestants who can’t break their walls are out of the competition for good!”

“Oh great!” I hear Ita sigh, smacking her forehead against her rock wall and deadpanning. Well, looks like some people are dumb enough to try and use their foreheads to break their walls…..

“You’re not allowed to use your forehead Ita!” I hear Chirin whisper loudly, one hand cupped around her mouth. “And besides, he hasn’t even said go yet!”

“Okay competitors!” Areki announces, raising his arm, as if he were holding a flag. “Get ready to go, because I’m about to start the thirty second countdown!”

I slide one foot back and raise my hands, clenching them into fists and holding them close to my sides. I don’t think I’ll need to gather any chakra into my hands for the first rock plank, seeing as its only one centimetre thick.

I turn my head and see Kyoku staring at her wall, head tilted slightly to the side and her blue eyes hooded. Her eyes flick over to me, and I can’t help smirking as she gives me a closed eye smile. I’m not too sure how well Shikamaru’s going to do on this Round, but me, Neji, Kyoku and Kakashi Sensei are going to kill it! These other losers better watch themselves! Maybe, if I’m really lucky, Tozoku will get hit in the head by some rocks, if whoever is next to her completely smashes their wall. Maybe she’ll even die!

“Annnnnddddd…….” Areki pauses, before suddenly swiping his hand down, a digital timer appearing in the bottom right corner of the big screen, “Begin!”

I haven't done this for quite a long time, but I wanted to recommend a great book to you guys!

It's an Anime style story called Kuro: A Land in Eternal Night and it's by my good friend MichaelLimjoco. Honestly, his writing is SO amazing and the book is so beautifully written out, I was completely sucked in from the very beginning lol.

He's a very talented writer and I think a lot of you would enjoy his book. I'm not really big on recommedning other people's work, but I'm really enjoying this one and figured I'd share it with my lovely fans :3

Anyway, ciao for now!