Takeo's first real fight is a battle with Sasuke that goes down to the wire. The civilian born ninja does well in the first two rounds, just not well enough to overcome his opponent's advanced Taijutsu and Sharingan. When Sasuke stops to give a bit of premature Unsportsmanlike Gloating, however, Takeo makes him severely regret it by Flash Stepping away to the river, summoning a tsunami of sticky Syrup to blind his opponent, and then hitting Sasuke with a surprise water bullet from his flank, decisively launching the Last Uchiha through the air and out of the fight.
[Sasuke] is hurled backwards, the gunshot exploding against him with an angry clapping sound, as if Tobirama Senju himself aggressively slapped his own thigh in approval whilst watching from the afterlife.
When Team 24's first C-rank mission takes a turn for the worse, Takeo is the only one in his group that remains aware enough of his surroundings to realize that they aren't simply being ambushed by bandits and promptly yells a warning to his sensei regarding the enemy assaulting the front of the caravan, giving Hoheto just enough time to swoop in and save Totagi while Takeo immediately immobilizes and disposes of the other nukenin assaulting their rear.
The final rounds of the Konoha Chunin exams are chocked full of these.
In terms of character growth, the match between Gaara and Sasuke is quite impressive. The former is entirely unable to nonlethally incapacitate the latter and so, rather than potentially jeopardizing both the life of Konoha's last Uchiha and the Konoha-Suna alliance, Gaara chooses to surrender.
Takeo's match against Jinzo is simplicity itself. Jinzo attempts to charge Takeo directly only to be punished for his haste with a water bullet to his face. This distracts him just long enough for his opponent to let loose a second, far more powerful, water bullet to the Kiri nin's center, shattering Jinzo's guard and his ribs in an instant.
A Suna candidate makes the unfortunate decision to attempt to capture Rock Lee with the Headhunter technique. After grabbing his ankles, she has a single moment to realize the magnitude of her mistake as the green beast launches them both ten feet into the air before grabbing his opponent by the wrist and subsequently using them to carve a new trench into the arena floor.
In the battle between Takeo and Kankuro, the puppet-user gets absolutely dismantled. His salvo of poisonous needles is easily avoided, his puppets are quickly outnumbered by Takeo's Water Clones, said puppets' joints are then clogged by Takeo's Syrup Field with Kankuro himself then quickly being ripped from his creation and pinned to the ground.
The fight between Naruto and Lee was highly anticipated among the audience, but it came to an incredibly swift end. Lee Speed Blitz's Naruto before he can form a single hand sign and embeds him into the arena's wall so quickly that the blond has no choice but to immediately surrender.
Takeo vs Temari is arguably the Chunin exam's most enthralling match as each village's most powerful candidate finally stops holding back.
Takeo uses a Water Wall to entirely No-Sell Temari's one and two star swings, giving himself enough time to call forth his summon and a number of clones to take on the Suna Heiress.
Seeing the momentum that her opponent is building, Temari finally puts her all into her three-star fan and blows away Takeo's Water Wall and clones with a single swing only to then follow up on her success by summoning a localized tornado.
At the sight of Temari making use of her strongest technique, Takeo decides to do the same and uses the Exlploding Water Colliding Wave in perfect combination with Baketsu's Water Torpedo to overpower Temari's cyclone and lock her in a powerful waterspout. Trapped and losing air, Temari is forced to reveal that Takeo isn't the only one with access to a powerful summon.
Temari and Takeo match themselves against each other once more, Killer Storm Wind Technique and Exploding Water Colliding Wave impacting each other with such force that an artificial rain begins to fall on the entirety of the arena. Finally, the superior piercing power granted by Baketsu allows him to break through the storm and land a decisive blow on Kamatari as it defends its summoner.
Even with her summon defeated and her loss inevitable, Temari still refuses to give up and continues to fight till the end.
"I am the daughter of the Yondaime Kazekage," Temari speaks, pausing to take in a deep breath before she continues, loud enough for everyone to hear her, "I will not walk away from any fight defeated. I will walk out victorious, or I will be carried out!"
Takeo vs Lee essentially becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse with the former having to both continuously avoid the bone-shattering blows of his foe while also attacking him from a distance and the latter being forced to make use of a higher and higher number of gates in order to land a decisive hit on his evasive enemy. Once Lee actually does manage to catch Takeo and subject him to a brutal beatdown via Hidden Lotus, the Otter Summoner is still able to continue fighting thanks to his incredible endurance and having landed in the lake their fight had created while Lee, due to having used the Gates for too long, is only able to put up a token resistance before being knocked unconscious.
Takeo emerges as the victor of the Konoha Chunin exams, earning him the admiration of all those in attendance as well as the title Greatest of the Golden Generation.
Due to the Academy's lackluster teachings on the fundamentals of operational security, Danzo's first impression of Takeo is that the boy is a lucky and reckless idiot that may also be a danger to everyone around him. Takeo manages to entirely reverse this impression when they next meet by not only breaking out of the Sharingan-enhanced genjutsu the Konoha Elder had placed the rest of the class under, but also by not revealing any information when subjected to a torture session at the hands of Morino Ibiki himself. Two months into the lectures, Danzo even goes so far as to approach Takeo outside of class in order to offer him guidance as a prospective mentor.
From beginning to end, Takeo and Sugishi's infiltration of Ame is amazing.
The destruction of the Ame bridge sets the tone for the rest of the mission. A disguised Takeo and Sugishi manage to get the jump on one of the three chunin guarding said bridge and would have silenced a second if it hadn't been for the sudden appearance of an unknown, second jonin. Sugishi manages to briefly handle both shinobi in front of them, giving Takeo enough time to utilize a Rising Water Slicer Barrage on the occupied guard house, thereby causing the entire structure to collapse in on itself and kill the hostile jonin and chunin inside. Takeo then quickly dispatches the last of the three chunin by blitzing past him to drive a kunai into the back of his skull while Sugishi uses a Hardened Water Drill to drive a hole right through her foe's armor, fist, arm and upper torso for a brutal finisher. The demolition they conduct afterwards destroys the bridge so completely that almost no signs of its existence remain.
Bridge? What bridge? You mean that single rock in the middle of the river?
Takeo and Sugishi seek out jobs as part of their mission to attain information on the current state of Ame. Sugishi actually manages to attain a position as a singer at one of the local shinobi bars, giving her a finger on the pulse of Ame's shinobi population. Takeo does her one better by attaining a job at the shinobi academy as an illiterate janitor, giving him access to all the written intel he could ask for.
When a potential uprising begins in Ame, Takeo summons Hige who is able to overcome the sensor-inhibiting rain that is falling over Amegakure and locate the three battlefronts throughout the city while also determining the approximate strength of all the combatants.
Takeo heads to the hospital's battlefront and eliminates three of the enemy faction's shinobi without being noticed. The fourth does notice him, but only manages to get out a brief warning before he and two of his comrades are pulped by Water Fang Bullets. Seeing that they have foes on both sides, one of the two tokubetsu jonin, one specialized in taijutsu, charges Takeo to engage him in hand-to-hand. Takeo, who has been training extensively with Taru during his time at the Ame border, matches the opposing specialist blow for blow before getting them in a decisive hold and snapping their neck. He then proceeds to attach an explosive tag to the corpse and hurl it into the midst of the remaining enemies, killing one more and forcing the other two to quickly surrender.
Takeo quickly breaks away from the hospital and retreats out of Ame at Sugishi's signal. Said signal comes in the form of Ame's central tower being destroyed with such intensity that a shockwave travels throughout Amegakure, blowing out innumerable windows and shaking the hospital to its very foundations.
After the Ame infiltration mission, Sugishi and Takeo are called back to Konoha where the Hokage informs them that their actions in Ame actually managed to postpone the start of the next Great Shinobi War by a number of years. He then proceeds to layout the composition of the enemy forces they'll be facing when said war does come and calls upon them both to step up and become the villages elites. Takeo answers with a resounding yes* Dave put the matter to a vote with 64 voters electing to Answer the Call and not a single person voting against..
When Takeo asks Kakashi to instruct him on the Lightning Release in preparation for the upcoming Bootcamp, the silver-haired sensei places one hand upon Takeo's shoulder and demonstrates to him one of his personal favorite moves: Lightning Rod. Takeo, having only ever used Water Release up to this point, takes a moment to process the sensation of electricity coursing through his body, places one hand upon his own shoulder, lifts the other to the air, and calls a bolt down from the sky.
Sutsu vs Takeo rematch, the long awaited fight to put one of the other in place. Sutsu never stood a chance as Takeo outclassed him in every way, even taking his blows in a move reminiscent of the great Senator.
Takeo, after no-selling Sutsu's attacks: "Stop trying to hit me, and hit me!"
The second trip to Ame is just as awesome as the first.
His meeting/date with Temari and Sakura; Dave had said multiple times that any relationship during the quest would be strictly monogamous. Cue threenatural 100 in a row, themselves having been preceded by several high rolls between Temari and Sakura. The three of them end up in a polyamorous relationship with each other.
The team battle. Having proven Konoha's strength in one on one spars, the questers elected to pick the option that would see them fight against an Ame team, only for it to turn out to be a 3 on 1 battle against Hanzothe Salamander. What follows is a battle of epic proportions.
Sasuke is taken out early, with Sakura quickly following. However, their presence allows Takeo to build up some momentum until he is rivaling Hanzo due to the latter getting exhausted.
Takeo's new summon Kotai takes down one of Hanzo's major summons, and even gives the legendary ninja a Freak Out when he comes close to hitting him. In answer, Hanzo brings out his boss summon Ibuse. In answer, Takeo summons the Otter Clan's own boss summon, Boss Yi.
In the end, Takeo manages to get through the fight thanks to his new Signature Move, Cloying Bog, and defeats Hanzo basically one on one. Hanzo is so impressed that he does something he hasn't done since fighting the Sannin decades ago: he acknowledges Takeo's strength, naming him the Numanin of Konoha.
Barely a few hours after the fight above, Mano, a pro Iwa Ame ninja decides to rebel against Hanzo, and deserts with many ninjas in tow. Both the Hokage and Kazekage refuse to send men after him, but allow Takeo and Kakashi to ride with Temari on her fan to harry the fleeing ninja. What follows is a Curb-Stomp Battle of the highest order, with Takeo absolutely decimating most of Mano's followers, and Kakashi finishing off the remaining ones, as well as the man himself. What was supposed to be a small attack ended up absolutely obliterating the rebel forces.
Following the Ame diplomatic mission, the Hokage receives reports of shinobi teams disappearing, and decides to send the bootcamp graduates and several elites to track down the culprits, expecting disguised Iwa ninjas. As it turns out, there was only one culprit: Kakuzu the Mercenary, one of the deadliest ninjas to ever live.
The threat is quickly dealt with however, as Kakuzu quickly becomes another victim of the dice, and gets absolutely destroyed by Sugishi, Kurenai and Takeo (with Shikamaru and Shino struggling against their respective opponents). What was meant to be a massive threat ended with Kakuzu not even managing to escape, losing all of his hearts in the span of a single battle.
Jiraiya's interlude. Having spent quite some time tracking down Orochimaru, the two finally face off. What follows is a battle between two Living Legend using their strongest techniques and summons. Jiraiya manages to get the upper hand thanks to Sage Mode, only for Orochimaru to reveal his own ace in the hole: a set of Sharingan, revealing the fate of Itachi Uchiha in the process.
Dave's reveal of the background rolls make this even more awesome. At this point, Orochimaru was so strong that, even if he had a bad performance and Jiraiya a good one, he would've still killed him. So, what happened? Jiraiya rolled a nat 100,while Orochimaru rolled a nat 1.
The mission following the above interlude. With Iwa and Kumo starting the 4th Great Shinobi War, a taskforce of elites is sent to Oto to deal with Orochimaru before he becomes a bigger threat. The members of this taskforce? Legends like Jiraiya, Tsunade, Guy and Kakashi, as well as three bootcamp graduates: jonins Sasuke Uchiha, Neji Hyuuga and Takeo Chiba, firmly cementing the latter as equal to the geniuses of his generation.
What follows is yet another Curb-Stomp Battle. Takeo, Sasuke and Neji (and Totagi) are sent in as a distraction for the Oto Mooks, while the elites deal with Orochimaru. They end up slaughtering all of them, including the Sound 4. Without anyone getting injured.
Meanwhile, the elites engage and kill Orochimaru, without a single casualty of their own. Dave later revealed that the rolls were massively in their favor, while Kabuto and Orochimaru rolled very badly themselves.
In short, what was meant to be a long Suicide Mission ended up being a one sided slaughter which completely annihilated Oto in a few days.
