*Mandii's POV*
It was almost time for the 3rd stage of the Chunin exams to begin, and all the shinobi who has managed to survive through the Forest of Death were gathered. The instructors and senseis were gathered on a platform before us, as was the Hokage.
"Because there are more of you than we expected there to be, we will be holding a preliminary round," Anko, the second instructor, said. "So we can drop the number of shinobi going through to round 3." There were a couple of mutters of displeasure, most likely from the weaker of the ninjas. I chuckled, and looked around at the group gathered. My team, which consisted of Fureiya and Jesshika, were obviously still here. The other group of three I knew were also still gathered; Arisu, Keitii and Jenifaa. Both of our teams were consisted of my closest friends, and we all came from Shinzuigakure to take part in the Chunin examinations. I also recognised Ino, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, some of the ninja of Konoha, the chosen village for the examinations this year. Ino was, as Sakura called her, a pig, who was constantly fighting with Sakura over Sasuke. He was a ninja genius, and the only remaining after the Massacre of his clan; the Uchihas. He loathed his brother, Itachi, because it just so happened to be him who was the cause of his constant depression. Naruto, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of the raven-haired teen. His hair, for one, was blonde and spiked, his eyes were blue, no onyx, and he was a complete idiot. His 'nickname' was Dunce, and all he ever went on about was becoming Hokage or beating Sasuke. He had a mega crush on Sakura, who had a mega crush on Sasuke, who just didn't give a damn. Anko coughed loudly, and everyone turned her way.
"We know most of you will be tired and injured after you little adventure in the forest of death, so, as usual," she grinned down at us evilly, "You'll be given the chance to drop out."
I smirked. It seemed Anko liked watching people chicken out, because her grin became even wider when some of the contesters dropped out. When nobody else raised their hand, her grin faltered and she sighed heavily. She muttered something about not having any fun, and then straightened up once more.
"And so, we will start of the preliminary round with the two names chosen by the randomiser." As she said that, one of the 12 boards on the wall behind them was removed, showing a large black screen. Names began appearing and disappearing, leaving no clue as to which name had been there and gone. The tension rose, and I felt Fureiya quiver slightly. She obviously didn't want to be first. Arisu, on the other hand, was grinning and shaking in anticipation. She reminded me ever so slightly of Naruto and the way he wanted to prove he was the best. Finally, after what seemed to be an age, two names settled, glowing green against the dark background.
"First up we have Uchiha Sasuke and Gurei Keitii!" Fureiya instantly relaxed, sighing in relief. Arisu grumbled, scowling down at her Zori. Anko told us to go up onto the stands to watch, and I had to drag Arisu, which wasn't easy. Luckily Jesshika helped along, as did Jenifaa. When we got onto the stands, the proctor started the match. We were stood next to three sand shinobi, the only three remaining; Temari, Gaara and Kankuro. They were also known as the Sand siblings, and were incredibly skilled ninja. Temari caught me looking and smiled, waving her hand as well. I grinned at her and waved. She was also a somewhat close friend, even though her brother Gaara gave me the creeps. I wasn't the only one, and if he caught you 'looking at him wrong', you were already dead. He was the possessor of Shukaku, also known as the ichibi; the one tailed beast. Down on the field, Keitii had already started off by throwing some kunai and shuriken, but only 2 or 3 out of about 20 of them hit. Sasuke was smirking, as usual, and was slowly closing the distance between them both.
"Fine then, I guess I'll just have to get started on some Ninjutsu, hmm?" Keitii sighed. She had always preferred throwing weapons over Ninjutsu skills, resulting in a high stamina, yet a low chakra level. She began creating hand signs, starting on the bird and ending on the tiger.
"Katon: Hokitsune Suisei no Jutsu!" She yelled. She brought her right hand to her lips, forming an 'o' an inch or two away from her lips. Within seconds she was firing fox shaped balls of fire at the Uchiha, who was having more trouble dodging these than he had with her weapons. He was singed slightly, nothing to serious, when her foxes stopped shooting after him. He began running clockwise around Keitii, picking up speed until a circle of dust had risen and hidden his location.
"He's sending chakra to the balls of his feet, to increase his speed, isn't he?" Jesshika questioned. Fureiya nodded and pointed down at the slight glow of blue in the midst of the cloud.
"If you look closely enough, that blue light shakes a bit," She explained. "Each time it shakes, one of his feet hit near that spot." I looked down and watched the line vibrating. He must have been going extremely fast, because they were shaking almost every second.
"Will you stop running around and fight me, you idiot!" Keitii yelled. She brought her hands together, forming the bird hand sign, and was just about to move onto the horse when a white wire lunged towards her. She leapt back, but another had wrapped itself around her arm, one squeezing her legs together, and one around her waist. The one she had dodged flicked towards her again, trapping her arms completely.
"I'm not an idiot, I'm a tactical expert" he chuckled. Keitii growled and struggled against the wires, successful only in cutting herself slightly. When the cloud of dust had fallen, and the blue glow had disappeared, he was standing directly before her, the wires knotted at the ends of his fingers.
"Now I'll get the chance to see your face twist in pain!" he sneered. There was a dark look in his eye, and it didn't sound like he was lying about her face about to 'twisting in pain'. He tugged the wires, forcing the cuts to deepen. Keitii winced, but a grin soon took place.
"You'll have to do better than that, chicken head!" I heard Arisu and Jenifaa laugh loudly beside me, earning a vicious glare from the maddened Uchiha.
"Who'd you think you're looking at, freak?" Arisu demanded. He smirked, and then looked back at Keitii.
"Time for the fun to begin" he said, laughing darkly. He slammed his hands together, and then began a list of hand signs.
"Snake, Dragon, Rabbit, Tiger, oh god, he's using Ryūka no Jutsu isn't he?!" Fureiya gasped. Sure enough, he called out the words.
"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!" He brought the strings up to his mouth, and then breathed out a stream of bright orange fire, with the slight appearance of a dragon's head. Keitii watched, appearing unaffected by the roaring flames racing towards her. Jesshika and Jenifaa both screamed out her name, and I just managed to see Sasuke wince, and a pattern of small, flame shaped black marks climb up the left side of his face. I knew in an instant that it was a cursed mark, most likely given to him by Orochimaru. But somehow, he managed to resist, and the marks subsided.
"Did you see that, Sasuke had a—"I didn't manage to continue, because a sudden blast of cold air whipped at my face. I closed my eyes and shielded my face with my arms. When I looked down, Sasuke was unconscious on the floor, flames burning away on his clothing. However, Keitii was nowhere to be seen.
"Look, she's up on the statue!" Fureiya beamed, shoving an elbow into my rib. I looked up, and saw her stood with her arms crossed, scowling at the limp body in the arms of the medics.
"Did you seriously think you could hit me that easily?" She laughed, knowing perfectly well he couldn't hear her.
"Typical of Keitii, isn't it?" Jenifaa laughed. I laughed alongside her, and grinned when Keitii winked at me.
*Arisu's POV*
I watched the screen, and laughed when I saw a crazy looking Konoha Genin ranting about how he wanted to be next. It took a little while for the randomiser to pick the opponents, and I presumed it was because of the large number of people here. When Keitii came up, Mandii walked straight up to her.
"That was a great strategy, Keitii; using an Air pressure Clone to send the Dragon fire jutsu back at him," She smiled. "I'm impressed."
"Ha, you make her sound stupid, Mandii!" Jesshika chuckled, wagging a finger at the dark haired kunoichi. I chuckled, and looked back up at the screen. It was still flicking through names, so I crossed my fingers hopefully. However, the names that appeared were far from what I'd wanted.
"Fureijia Fureiya and Yamanaka Ino, could you please take your places on the field!" The proctor yelled. Instead of walking down the stairs, like Ino was, Fureiya grasped the metal rail before her and flipped over it, landing beside the proctor perfectly. I smirked when I saw the astounded look on Ino's face.
"Hey, smart blonde VS dumb blonde, I wonder how it'll turn out?" I laughed. Mandii and Jenifaa snickered, loud enough to make the already anxious kunoichi even more nervous. Fureiya looked in her direction and raised an eyebrow. Ino wasn't moving, and she was sweating already.
"She's probably nervous because of how quickly you finished with the Uchiha, Keitii" Jesshika said. Ino gulped, and finished her descent, walking extra slowly towards the now angry blonde waiting for her.
"Will you hurry up woman, I haven't got all day!" Fureiya growled. Ino flinched, and scurried over to her, facing her directly. The proctor stood back, and told them to begin the match. When Ino didn't make a move, Fureiya sighed and raised her hand, directing the palm towards the terrified blonde opposite her.
"Fushou" Fureiya said, and the air between the two rippled. Ino, now able to move again, crouched down and hurled a batch of kunai, along with 5 or 6 shuriken. I laughed, along with Mandii, who also knew how stupid her move was. The air had stopped rippling, and the weapons had stopped mid-flight. They weren't falling, but were spinning instead, facing their owner. Ino's eyes widened, as her weapons darted towards her at an incredible speed. She looked right, then left, and then dived down. Just as she hit the floor, the kunai smashed into the wall, followed by the shuriken.
"Now you should realise, using weapons against me won't work" Fureiya yawned, examining her nails. Ino rose, and gulped before thrusting her hands forward.
"So now you're going to try the Mind transfer Jutsu on me, hmm?" she asked. When Ino didn't reply, and had closed one eye to aim, she sighed. She put her hands together, forming the ram hand sign, and I noticed Ino's face scrunch up. She began coughing rather violently, lowering her hands. Mandii, Jenifaa and Keitii also began coughing, along with Temari and Kankuro. Gaara looked like he was fighting with all his might not to cough. I giggled at the look on his face, but turned away quickly when he looked in my direction. I didn't dare turn back, in case he was still looking. Mandii stopped coughing, followed soon by Jesshika, and finally Keitii.
"What the hell was that all about?" I asked. Keitii looked up at me, her eyes watering slightly with all the coughing.
"I think...she's using...air pressure...clones..." She wheezed. I looked towards Ino, who was wiping away a trickle of blood from her chin. She obviously was the one who got the most damage.
"But how come nobody was coughing when you used the clone technique?"
"I made mine...before the...preliminaries," she muttered. "Nezumi recommended...thinking ahead." Nezumi was her older brother; who was currently one of the Jounin elite. He had passed the exam after about 5 tries, so he knew quite a lot about them. Ino had her hands pointed towards Fureiya again, but Fureiya wasn't doing a thing to stop her.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino called. Just when the words left her lips, there was an eruption of smoke. Ino's eyes went wide, and her body went limp, falling to the ground with a thud that echoed around the silent room. Everyone wanted to know one thing; had Fureiya been caught with the jutsu? There was a new voice that spoke up, however. It caused a lot of people to jump, especially the Konoha Genin.
"Shintenshin no Jutsu, more commonly referred to as the Mind transfer Jutsu, as an extremely dangerous, and difficult to control jutsu. The user transfers their soul to another, taking control of their victims mind and body, yet misdirection can be fatal. If the attack misses, the soul cannot return to the hosts' body for several minutes," The voice was lower than both Fureiya and Ino's, but not low enough to be a male's. "Such a shame you missed, Ino." The smoke disappeared, revealing three figures, two clones and one real. But Fureiya wasn't their; she had been replaced by someone- no, something. The figure was human, but there was an odd chakra surrounding it, a dark chakra that swirled round, creating a disturbing humming sound. The chakra appeared solid, so I took a guess that it was condensed. The chakra had also formed features that no human should have; a curled tail similar to that of a horse and a fox's combined and ears that lay flat against its head. The voice was somewhat muffled, as if the teeth in its mouth were too big. But the chakra wasn't the only change, and neither was the elongated fang protruding from its lips. It was also holding something, something that looked like a globe.
"What the hell is that thing?!" Keitii whispered in a panicked tone. That it struck me.
"It's a Shishi" I said. She looked at me like I was bonkers, than finally asked, "What's a Shishi?"
"It's a spirit that's said to bring light to darkness," I said. "It's a Shinto belief; it's supposed to be a lion, a dog or a deer."
"So that's why there's the weird chakra..."
"I couldn't explain where the chakra came from or why it's there even if you asked me..." I muttered.
"It looks similar to the Bijuu chakra, you know, like that time we crossed paths with Yugito," Mandii whispered. "The Nibi's chakra looked just like that!" I gulped.
"If this is another Bijuu, we're toast" Jesshika cried. I looked down at it, and watched as the chakra pulsed. I took a deep breath, looked from Jenifaa to Mandii, Keitii and Jesshika.
"Excuse me, Shishi?" I yelled down at it. It turned towards me and, surprisingly, it smiled.
"How can I help you?"
"W-where is Fureiya, Shishi?" I asked, feeling my heart pounding against my ribs.
"Oh, do you not wish for me to stay around for a little while longer?" It asked. "What a shame..."
"No, it's not that, it's just," Jesshika stammered. "We're kind of in the middle of the Chunin examinations, Shishi..." Mandii and Keitii were staring at us both, shocked and glad. Jenifaa was waving at the Shishi spirit below. It smiled again, waved back at Jenifaa, and then the chakra began to fade away. When the glowing blue had disappeared, everyone was chattering away, except the Hokage, Anko, Ibiki and a few other Jounin were smiling at Fureiya, who was standing in a daze, wobbling on her feet.
"Yamanaka Ino is unable to fight, Fureijia Fureiya wins" the proctor coughed. I sighed in relief; luckily, nobody had gotten hurt. Yet.
*Fureiya's POV*
I wavered on my feet, trying to make sense of what had just happened. All I could remember was switching places with my clone, the clone getting hit by the transfer jutsu, then nothing. I decided not to linger on it, and smiled when my victory was announced. Ino was annoying, so I was glad to give her a piece of my mind. When I got up the stairs, I was greeted by Jesshika and Jenifaa jumping on me, yelling rubbish about something called a Shishi.
"She won't remember anything about it," Arisu said. "When a mortal is possessed by a strong spirit, like Shishi, it's incredibly rare for them to remember anything." She was staring up at the screen, obviously longing to be the next one up. She sighed suddenly, and turned away.
"It won't be me, I'm telling you..." She muttered. She was right, and instead of her, it was Hyuga Neji against Hyuga Hinata. She began muttering and cursing under her breath, and refused to watch the match. I shrugged and watched with the other four, fascinated by Neji's exceptional abilities. I watched each move closely, and soon figured out exactly what was going on. They were both aiming for the others chakra points, the links that held together the circuit that allowed chakra to move through a person's body. Whenever they hit a chakra point, it would cut them off and prevent them from using chakra in the area above the chakra point. For example, if they were to fit a chakra point in the wrist, the joint would become broken, cutting off the hand.
After the match, whom Neji won by far, within minutes, Arisu was still in a huff.
"Come on; don't be so depressed, you might get next!" Jesshika beamed. Arisu snorted, and struck her nose into the air. I felt someone tap my shoulder, so I turned to come face-to-face with Kankuro; the puppeteer of the three sand siblings.
"What's up with her, mad she hasn't got a turn yet?" He laughed. I chuckled, and he nodded up to the board.
"Well, she mightn't be very happy with that either!" he muttered.