Allies of Kohona
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story except those I made up. I'll leave it to you to decide which are which.
Opening remarks: A few quick notes on power levels and character skills. Most of the characters I am fusing into the Naruto-verse might seem either too powerful or too skillful for their age bracket. Keep in mind, many of these characters are from serieses where different rules apply. That being said, I think I did a fairly good job converting them to Naruto rules. Also important: remember, when the Chunin exams are an "away" game, villages will only send their best and brightest. So not everyone from the "village they are from will be as strong or skilled.
Also, this fic is manga-only compliant, and even then expect some AU for later plotlines. The main plot starts in that nebulous area between the mission to Waves and the Chunin Exam
That being said...
FANFIC IS BEGIN!!
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Prologue.
Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, shinobi leader of the land of Fire was engaged in an epic battle against his greatest foe. This nemesis had hounded him for many years, relentless and implacable. Every time he felt he had the upper hand it seemed to come back even stronger than before. He leaned back, trying to take a quick respite from his latest clash with that terrible enemy: paperwork.
He sighed. 'Damn it Yondime,' he thought to himself, 'I still half think the only reason you let yourself be killed was so you wouldn't have to deal with the paperwork anymore.' His melancholy thoughts led him to gave out his office window at the Hokage monument, and the face of the Fourth in particular. 'But I can't complain, I knew what this job entailed when I took it back.'
He turn back to the mound of scrolls, folders and binders on his desk and returned to his unceasing battle against the forces of bureaucracy. He finished his current project, and actually perked up when he saw what the next item was. Well this was interesting. It was a request, in fact several requests, to send over teams for the upcoming Chunin Exams.
While not ususal in and of itself, it was however most unusual to receive four of them at once this soon, and from such faraway villages. He paged through the documents slowly, absorbing every detail, the written words and the unsaid information buried between the lines. Finally he sorted all the information into four piles, and took a deep draw upon his pipe as he began to ponder them.
The first appeared to be a rather straight forward request from a rather famous Jonin. Genkai, one of the shinobi world's five top chakra masters, requested that two genin teams, one directly under her, and one under a former student of hers, be allowed to travel to Kohona to represent the Village Hidden in the Canyons, from the Land of Hills.
Hill Country was a minor country, to the southeast of the land of Fire it was much closer to the land of Water, and it seemed far more logical for them to wait for the next Chunin exam to occur there, rather that make the month long journey to Hidden Leaf.
The stated reason was that most of the genin she was bringing had reached the point where a promotion was almost necessary, ant it would be another two years before the next Chunin Exam happened in Hidden Mist. After looking at some of the provided mission transcripts, he had to agree. Genkai's team in particular, had performed missions that were bordering on S-class, including a raid on a castle of Four A-class missing nin, destruction of an underground shinobi fighting tournament, and the defeat of the S-class missing nin criminal: Sinobu Sensui, the Dark Angel.
However as the Third Hokage looked underneath the underneath, he decided that Genkai wanted to get these young people out of Hill Country because she sensed something on the horizon. She wanted her team somewhere else when it happened, or at least better prepared to deal with it, and she felt that being chunin would, at least, be helpful. As he looked deeper, The Sandime was sure, however, that what ever troubles she was expecting, her team would be in the heart of it, and he had no reason to doubt it might follow them to Konoha as well
He took another glance at the dossiers provided. Under Genkai: Yuske Urameshi, a former trouble making punk turned nin and official heir to Genkai's skills. Hiei, outcast of the Koorime clan for being born male, left to die as a baby, returned after many years seeking his mothers clan and wielder of two bloodlines. And Suichi Minamino, a.k.a. Kurama, a former thief and extremely sharp young man with many secrets.
The second team was led by recently promoted jonin Shiziru Kuwabara, a competent, if unremarkable kunochi. The papers said that this was her first time as a genin team sensei. Her team included: Kido Asato, a rather unremarkable young man with abilities not unlike the Nara clan. Yukina Koorime, twin sister to Hiei, and one of only two member of that bloodline clan that would have anything to do with the outcast. And Kazuma Kuwabara, a punk with the heart of a samurai, younger brother to the team sensei, and former member of Genkai's four man team, who was transferred over after Shiziru's team lost two of its original members to make both teams compliant with Kohona exam rules.
The Sandime put aside this stack of files and turned to the next pile. The Village Hidden in the Cave, in Angel Country, wanted to send one three man team under jonin Misato Katsuragi, the infamous booze master nin. Sarutobi frowned trying to recall all the information he had on the Country of Angels, and the Village of Hidden Cave in particular. It was a northern country, insular and self contained. Surrounded by harsh mountains, very little came in or out. But he did know that they had a reputation for high technology, much like the land of Snow. In fact, he had heard some rumors about them recently producing sets of special armor the supposedly put Snow country armor to shame. Looked at in this light, their request was likely a method to display their new military strength and possibly seek to create profits from those who desired to have that strength as well.
Basically, they wanted to show off by proving that their inventions could best shinobi from the strongest of the elemental countries.
The information documents on the genin teams was fairly sparse. Shinji Ikari: likes violin music, cooking and cleaning, dislikes his father. Mid range support skills. Auska Shoryu: likes being the best and jonin Kaji Ryogi, dislikes spineless males and dolls. Close range combat skills. Rei Ayanami: likes nothing in particular, dislikes what ever she is ordered not to like. Long range combat skills.
Frankly, it was less information than was avalible on the standard Kohona academy graduate. Of course it was perfectly understandable that a small, isolated country would like to play thing close to their chests, but the Third's gut instinct told him that the village leader, Gendo Ikari, and the village council, known as the SEELE, was up to something that spelled bad news for Hidden Leaf.
Putting aside such fatalist thoughts, the Hokage switched tracks, concentrating on the third stack of documents. This pile came from the Village Hidden in the Crater, in the far western Land of Fields.
The Village council wanted to send three teams of genin to Kohona, and requested that the teams be allowed to arrive early in order to, quote "have as much opportunity to adapt to differing environs and develop better team dynamics and solidarity via inclusion into and unfamiliar culture." end quote.
Translation: "We want to get these kids out of town as soon as possible before they wreck the village with their squabbling."
Looking at the list of Genin and their senseis, Sarutobi saw a lot of names that rang warning bells in his mind: Kuno, Tendo, Hibiki, and Saotome.
Kuno meant Gaucho Kuno, one of the craziest men ever to be called shinobi. He was leading a team which included both of his equally crazy children and a young man named Gosunkugi. The entire team was case study in delusional psychology.
The Tendo name was once semi-respected, but had apparently fallen into disarray after the death of the last clan matriarch. Evidently the head of the clan, Soun Tendo, lost all professionalism after his wife's death. The documents also revealed that he had his youngest daughter placed on the genin team under him, a bad idea in the best of times. The other two member os his squad were Ryoga Hibiki, a member of a small clan known for their toughness and shockingly bad sense of direction, and Shan Pu, a warrior girl from a foreign culture with some rather disturbing ideals and proprieties.
And the worst of the lot was Saotome. It meant Genma Saotome, a leach, fraudster, petty thief, and embarrassment to nin everywhere; the dine-and-dash nin. He had carved a ten year swath across the elemental countries and their environs, racking up an impressive record of small crimes and unpaid restaurant and bar tabs in both his name, and the name of his son, whom he ostentatiously taking around the world to train. The Hokage doubted their was an law enforcement authority anywhere that didn't have a file and an active warrant on Genma Saotome. And while the file provided didn't list his name in particular, it did mention the name of his son, Ranma Saotome, who was listed as part of a genin team whose jonin sensei's name was suspiciously absent. The other two members were named Mu Tze and Ukyo Kumonji respectively. Sarutobi had serious reservations about letting a child of Genma Saotome within ten miles of his village, but his own compassion kept them in check. As with a certain blonde demon container, rumors were unreliable and negative, only by meeting the boy could he form an accurate assessment.
He shoved the whole mess aside and turned to the final pile. It was the most unusual of the four in that it did not come from any hidden village, but rather from a collection of very remarkable young people.
As long as shinobi have been in power, there have been those who tried to emulate that power. Sometimes people figured out how to perform ninja skills without the benefit of a academy education. Youths from rural villages who met passing nin and begged a demonstration or lesson off them, personal apprentices to reclusive nins, and children living with or near retired nins-in-hiding were all examples of people who developed ninja skills not officially affiliated with any Hidden village. While these weren't unheard of, they were fairly rare occurrences. But what was rarest of all was an entire group of these to appear, all working together.
From the Grand Isles, a loose confederation of island countries beyond the land of waves, came a shipful of unaffiliated nin-sailors who were requesting to join this years chunin exam. Six young people, who called themselves the Straw Hat Crew , claimed that they were attempting to gain official status as ninja in order to create their own ninja country: The Shinobi Sea. The Sandime almost had to laugh at the raw idealism and sincerity the was practically wafting off the paper. Six young people, not even official ninja, create an new ninja land? It was every bit as grand and impossible as the most despised and bumbling ninja of Kohona becoming Hokage, which was why Sarutobi was extremely tempted to give them his full permission to compete.
He looked over the names again, as there was little other information provided. He pondered them each, alternating between the foreign sounding names and the provided facial photographs: Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zolo, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Tony Tony Chopper. Two teams worth of completely wildcard ninja with nothing but their dreams to back them. The Hokage smiled. Such idealism was a testament to the will of fire and proof that passionate hearts were universal.
But that still left the problem of what to do with all these proposals.
He had a reason to deny each of them. What ever trouble that was following Genkai's students was not something he wanted in his beloved village. Hidden Cave's proposal reeked of hidden agendas and dangerous secrets. Hidden Crater was sending three whole teams of loose cannons, some of which had rather infamous names. And the politics of letting two teams of completely unregistered ninja into an official and important event like the Chunin Exams would be a nightmare.
But the problem was, if he denied any one of them, he'd have to deny them all.
To deny one would invite questions of why the others could attend while the one was singled out. Worse yet, to deny them all would be a sign of weakness, something no shinobi nation could afford. He sighed. It really boiled down to a single decision: deny them all and appear weak and afraid of minor nations, or throw open the gates of Kohona to all manner of foreign and domestic troubles.
The old man closed his eyes, for a moment, took a deep breath, and re-opened them to focus again on the great Hokage Monument. He stood and walk over to the widow. "What would you have done?" he asked the faces from the past. The sun over head burned molten gold in a cloudless blue sky, a few breeze born leaves danced quickly passed the office window. And he heard the words echoing pack to him from a past day, a conversation between mentor and student.
Where fire burns, leaves will dance. Where leaves dance, trees will grow. The will of fire will burn forever in the hearts of Konoha, lighting the way to a to a proud future. But never forget that the will of fire may be shared by all men. And as the flames grow, they will gather and become stronger by being together. And the trees that grow will be deep rooted indeed, and all the stronger for growing together.
"Thank you, Great First Hokage," the old man said as he remembered that long ago conversation. "May your wisdom continue to guide the village Hidden in the Leaves." He sat back down and took up a pen and parchment. Yes, he would accept these requests, but he would not do so blindly. With the speed of decades of experience, he quickly scribed four messages, giving the various groups provisional permission to participate in the Chunin Exams, with a face-to-face meeting with himself before full approval was granted .
Sarutobi, the Third Great Hokage, started to grin as he bound the message scrolls with authenticity seals. His decision made, he began to feel a great excitement welling up in him. Now that the course of the future was set, a strange anticipation of great and wonderful thing to come had filled his heart. Yes, The path of events was set. And the old man could not wait to see what would happen next.
Prologue End
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WoooHooo! we are officially off and rolling! Keep your hand and arms inside the fanfic and all times, it going to be a bumpy ride!
And just as a bonus here as a more comprehensive look ant the teams and their skills
-YYH
Team Genkai:
Jonin: Genkai (Spirit Master Genkai, the Discipline Master)
team's speciality: combat, tracking/hunting
Taijutsu/demolition: Yuske Urameshi
"Fire" support/tracker: Hiei Jaganshi (Koorime)
Tactics/summoner (foxes): Kurama (Suichi Minamino)
Notes: formerly a four man team, one member (Kuwabara) transferred to another under strength team for chunin exam compatibility.
Team Shiziru
Special Jonin: Shiziru Kuwabara
team speciality: infiltration, defense
Taijutsu/Kenjutsu: Kazuma Kuwabara
Medic/chakra specialist (ice): Yukina Koorime
Shadow User: Asato
Notes: this teams jonin was only recently promoted to special Jonin and this team is her first time as a team sensei. Two of the original member of this for man team, Yana, a transformation specialist, and Kaito, a strategist, were KIA by outlaw nin under the command of the S-ranked criminal Sinobu Sensui. Kazuma Kuwabara was transfered from team Genkai to make both teams compatible with the Konoha chunin exam rules.
-One Piece
Team Straw Hat (1)
Jonin: none (Luffy's former mentor: Fire-haired Shanks)
team speciality: combat, sailing, escort
Taijutsu: Monkey D. Luffy
Kenjutsu/chakra support: Roranora Zolo
Tactics/intel/acquisitions/chakra support: Nami
notes: this team is not actually affiliated with any hidden village, this team is made of self educated, unofficial nins organized by Luffy. They requested to attend the chunin exams as a first step toward gaining official status. Half of the original team of six
Team Straw Hat (2)
Jonin: none (Sanji's former mentor: Red Shoes Zeff, Choppers former mentors Kureha, Hiriluk)
Team speciality: infiltration, combat, transport
Taijutsu/chakra attacks: Sanji
Sniper/special weapons/equipment specialist: Usopp
hybrid human/medic: Tony Tony Chopper
notes: a team of unofficial nin educated outside of any traditional hidden village. Gathered by Monkey D. Luffy, they requested to enter the chunin exam as an attempt to gain official status. Half of the original team of six.
-R1/2
Team 3
Jonin: Unlisted (Genma Saotome (Dine-and-dash Genma, The petty theft nin))
team speciality: combat, infiltration
Taijutsu/chakra attacks/summoner (pandas): Ranma Saotome
Weapon user/ranged support/summoner (waterfowl): Mousse (Mu Tzu)
Weapon user/infiltrator/chakra support: Ukyo Kumonji
notes: this team was sent to the chunin exams as much to get them out of town as to attain rank. They have almost no team dynamic outside of combat, often fighting amongst themselves and other teams from the same village.
Team 4
Jonin: Soun Tendo (Waterfall Tendo, the Crying Nin, the Demonface Nin)
Team speciality: Destruction and confusion, combat
weapon user/taijutsu/poisons (unintentional): Akane Tendo
Taijutsu/chakra attacks/summoner (pigs): Ryoga Hibiki
Weapon user/taijutsu/chemical weapons: Shampoo (Shan Pu)
Notes: an extremely unbalanced team, the only reason Akane Tendo passed the genin exams is because her father couldn't bear to see his little girl fail. Unbalanced and prone to infighting with other teams from the same village.
Team Kuno
Jonin: Gaucho Kuno (Crazy Kuno, the Tropical Terror, Mad Island Kuno)
Team speciality: insanity
Kenjutsu: Tatewaki Kuno
Weapon user/chemical weapons: Kodachi Kuno
Genjutsu: Hikaru Gosunkugi
notes: this teams is as dangerous to their allies as to their enemies. Blatant favoritism is often shown toward them because of two of the members are the children of the team sensei, who is himself a high ranking official in town.
-NGE
Jonin: Misato Katsuragi (the booze master nin), PenPen (nin trained familiar)
team speciality: armor shock troops
Mid range attcks/beserker: Shinji Ikari
Close ranged attacks/weapon user: Auska Shoryu
Sniper/genjutsu: Rei Ayanami
notes: this team uses special chakra powered armor. It is individually fitted and has a limited use period (16 hours on minimum level, 5 min. on maximum level) most chakra techniques cannot be used while the armor is active, and when the armor is depleted, the user experiences a sudden, overwhelming fatigue (but will not feel any negative effects until armor is deactivated). Users must spend time recovering after prolonged use. Team dynamics is shaky and uncertain.
