Kitara, the Fox Kunoichi

by krazyfelinelover

This is a fem Naruto! AU fan-fiction. In it the Kyubii was sealed into a girl, and also the Third Hokage never told anyone which child had the sealed kyubii, Naruto was named Kitara, and treated like an ordinary orphan. New material added to the chapters, but story is officially abandoned after Chapter 8

4. Chapter 4

Ch 4: Training and the third stage of the Chunin Exam

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series, or any money making series or work for that matter

Summary: Team Kakashi made it past the second exam, and learned that one on one fights would be in the third exam. Kakashi refused to train Kitara and Tomohiro, but suggested the Jonin observer and the representative taking the place of the Hokage.

A.N: Hey everyone, I have not updated in a long time, partly because I realized that I had no idea where this story was going, and partly because I lost inspiration. I have been watching Naruto anime episodes to gain inspiration, and plan to create a general outline as well.

After his suggestion, Kakashi and Sasuke took off to train. So Kitara and Tomohiro made their way back to the temporary village that Kirikagure had set up to host the Chunin exam and started looking for the observer, representative, or even Kabuto's team. Tomohiro followed Kitara, and without words even being spoken Kitara knew he would likely keep following her until they met someone to train them, since Tomohiro would likely not be able to find anyone himself. Kitara then started searching for anyone with the Konaha leaf symbol, with Tomohiro following her and searching as well. Kitara thought about what she needed to train the most in that could make a difference in three weeks, and what Tomohiro needed the most help with along the way.

Tomohiro needed to find some way to search for and gather information, other than flirting badly with girls, he needed bigger chakra reserves, better chakra control, and he needed to learn more genjutsu or some other skill to supplement his genjutsu. In other words, he probably needed much longer than three weeks if he would have any hope of passing the Chunin exam. Kitara thought that she needed to simply strengthen her skills, and perhaps work even more on chakra control, so that she could be ready to start seriously learning medical jutsu, which Kitara had decided was her priority after the exam, she had not liked being able to do so little for her injured teammates, Tomohiro especially since she had finally started liking and trusting him to some extent. She had the basics down of everything, and was good at academy skills and her wind palm thrust, she had even started to be able to vary the strength and how concentrated the wind thrust was. It also did not seem to hurt her to waste chakra and use jutsu multiple times as much as it did most people, so that might mean she actually had bigger chakra reserves than a chunin. Then again, it could be that her chakra reserves simply recovered much faster than most ninja. Kitara also wondered at her fast healing, for both physical wounds and chakra reserves. Kitara knew it was not normal, and wondered if one of her parents had some sort of bloodline, for that matter Kitara wondered who her parents had been period, since all she knew was that they were likely shinobi.

After a short time searching Kitara got impatient and created 20 kage bushin and sent them out to search for people with the Konaha leaf symbol, and to simply learn more of the layout of the temporary village's training spots. Kitara considered the kage bushin her best technique, since she could use it to scout, fight, train, and gather information. If she concentrated, she could gain most of the memories of her kage bushin, although she got headaches and became dizzy if she gathered the memories of more than 15 kage bushin at a time. For that reason when she trained she had the kage bushin dispel one at a time, and kept creating more kage bushin as each one dispelled if she wanted to learn very fast. Kitara usually could create 20 Kage bushin with ease, and she had even created up to 70 kage bushin at once and still kept going, although she had felt very odd, feverish, and slightly dizzy for a few minutes. Tomohiro could not create even one kage bushin yet, and did not want to even try, and Sasuke could create 3 at a time, but had to rest a bit afterwords.

After an hour of searching, Kitara found the Jonin observer, and both she and Tomohiro talked to him a bit. He did not specialize in anything useful to the two, but he was a Jonin so he knew a lot more than the both of them. The Jonin observer also knew a few genjutsu Tomohiro did not know, so Kitara agreed to continue searching for someone to train with or spar with while he trained Tomohiro, since as the conversation had gone on she realized she might be competing with Tomohiro in the future so it would not help much for the both of them to train together. When Tomohiro protested, saying she had a better chance at the chunin exam and needed the most training time, Kitara told him "For the most part I know what I need to practice, if I cannot find anyone to help I can train myself using my kage bushin." Tomohiro could not argue with that, and was slightly relieved to have someone to help train him anyway, so he and the Jonin observer went to one of the training spots Kitara had found, and Kitara continued searching. Once she had separated from Tomohiro, Kitara moved much faster and turned her search into training in stealth and speed as well as simply searching for information.

The temporary village was a strange mix of buildings and tents. The roads were dirt and usually muddy paths with occasional gravel to give it some semblance of shape. From what Kitara could see there were guest quarters for various dignitaries to sleep, looking more solid and larger than most of the other buildings. Stalls and tents were used by various vendors of food, cheap weapons, and souvenirs or trinkets. The vendors were also likely sleeping in those tents and stalls. There was the single public library, which looked to have been converted from some rich person's permanent and largish house, although why anyone so rich would want to live in such a small village that was said to practically wash away during rainy season, then donate their house to be a library Kitara did not know. Then again, that was just an assumption, maybe someone built a house intending it to become a library, or ordered a house built without knowing the exact location and surroundings. Rich people could sometimes act very oddly, Kitara thought to herself.

As Kitara was searching, she continued to mentally reflect, after all a Konoha ninja would be easy to see when she found them, plus she had sent out a few kage bushin. Kitara had already mentally listed her own skills, and the Iwa team. Now she wanted to go over what information she had on the Kiri team, find more information about the Kiri team, and listen in to see if she could find out what happened to Kabuto's team. Kitara knew very little about the specific Kiri team she had seen, and only rumors and history regarding Kiri ninja in general. She knew they favored water jutsu, many chose to wear odd mechanical re-breathers either due to constant mist or to maybe go underwater, she also knew Kirikagure in general had a ruthless reputation, what with the past infamous genin exam, the bloodline purges, the famous Seven Swordsmen, and the long period of civil war that continued in some parts of Kirikagure to this day. There were also a greater number of missing Kiri ninja that there were from other nations, which probably didn't help that reputation any.

The specific Kiri team that had passed the second stage of the exam was obviously confident and strong. The kunoichi seemed to be trying for the deadly beauty look. Kitara already knew her name from the scavenger information hunt and her kage bushin had observed her in detail. Masumi Katsumi was the name given by Hisoka. Her hair was in some complicated bun on top, but had real senbon needles sticking out at all angles. Her eyes were lined in kohl, and were a murky brown. The Kiri kunoichi wore what seemed to be a body hugging wetsuit, only using thin, nearly transparent material. The entire thing was a dark blue with wave shapes and swirls of black thread crisscrossed throughout as decoration. She wore a standard kunai and shuriken holster, but also had a pair of an odd forked knives, consisting of three needle like blades, only much longer and thicker than actual senbon needles. Kitara thought that type of blade was called a sai, but could not be sure. The kunoichi seemed to be a weapon specialist, perhaps a poison user as well, with knowledge of anatomy if she was actually able to use those senbon needle effectively, but that could also be a show to make opponents think she was merely a weapon specialist.

Hisoka Satoshi seemed to have changed his look slightly since the time she first saw him. He now wore slightly baggy, but of course water resistant clothing of a greenish speckled color mixed with blue. He also wore a re-breather over his face, and large faintly black tinted goggles over his eyes. He still had the face paint, but the tear drop seemed to have vanished. His hair was now dark brown and styled in dreadlocks rather than the reddish color it had been. He wore the standard kunai and shurriken holster, but it was sealed tightly shut and made of a rubber like substance rather than standard cloth. He also had multiple pouches and small pockets everywhere, although most seemed to be empty for some reason. His deck of 'special' cards might be in some of those pouches or he might have decided to leave the cards behind now that the chunin exam was more serious. He was thin, almost emancipated and unhealthy looking, but wore very thin webbed gloves over his hands, and odd flipper-like shoes. For whatever reason, he clearly changed his look to be more practical underwater, so he was likely a genjutsu water jutsu specialist, plotting and ambushing people rather than participating in direct combat.

The third was tall, strongly muscled with clothing that also clung to his body to show off those muscles. Hisoka had told her his name was Kenta Taiki. He wore a largish sword on his back, and a short sword sheathed on his waist in addition to the standard holsters. He had harsh looking grey eyes and quite a few tattoos and scars, with his head shaved bald and rubbed with some oil to make it shiny. He was obviously a kenjutsu specialist, perhaps even a master given Kirigakure's reputation. He might know ninjutsu as well though. He would be an obvious leader, except that intelligence and ruthlessness were more often prized in Kiri ninja. Plus all those scars could mean he lost often rather than an indication of vast experience. Kitara privately wondered if some of those scars were from Hisoka, who after all must have done something to make Kenta Taiki so submissive. Certainly Kenta had not seemed all that confident when she had tailed the team during the scavenger hunt. . .

Since the arena at the building used for the second stage had not been used for combat yet, only announcements, that was likely where the final exam was to be held, Kitara thought to herself. The arena floor itself had been covered in fine gravel to prevent the mud that seemed everywhere. There had been a few short shrubby trees scattered about, nothing that would support a person's weight easily. There had also been a single stone-lined pond with a wooden platform/bridge above it near the middle of the arena. That meant that the Iwa ninja would have something other than mud to work with, lots of stones and rocks but the Kiri ninja would also have a source of water. None of the trees could be used for anything other than cover and perhaps shrapnel if someone tossed an explosion tag at them. In a way, that meant team Kakashi would be the ones with the greatest disadvantage in terrain, although the trees could be used as fuel for a fire for Sasuke and cover for Tomohiro to hide behind. There had been no stands and only a few balconies in that arena though, and from what Kitara had heard many spectators liked to watch the finals in the exams, so maybe there was another arena hidden somewhere.

The village had quite a few people in it, but mostly it seemed to consist of merchants and vendors, bodyguards, and lots of Kirikagure ninja in uniform and in civilian clothes. There didn't seem to be a lot of tenseness or an atmosphere of danger despite all the people with weapons wandering about or rushing to some destination. It seemed more like a mini-festival or a bazaar, only everything was in muted browns, grays, blues, blacks, and greens rather than the bright colors commonly found in festivals. The merchants talked casually to each other and the vendors while the vendors called out their goods and prices, sometimes having somewhat humorous shouting contests with their neighbors on why their goods were superior to the others, but without any real anger. The bodyguards remained silent or grumbled complaints to each other under their breath, but seemed to be ignored by everyone else. There was also a constant sound of metal jingling or clashing, but there never seemed to be any serious battles behind the sound of metal clashing.

There didn't seem to be any order to the stalls, tents, awnings, or small buildings, other than always being on either side of the paths, and there were very few strait lines to the paths, most curving seemingly randomly or to avoid various shurb-like trees and large puddles of water. The merchants, plain-clothed shinobi, and vendors also shared a great deal of gossip and speculation with each other about the Chunin exams and contestants. Kitara was surprised to find herself and team Kakashi described, with quite a few comments on their rookie status, as well as their chances( usually very low) at the third stage of the exam. Surprisingly when the gossipers talked about Sasuke's chances they were equally low, and there was also quite a bit of derogatory words used in association with his bloodline, but then Kirikagure had just purged and massacred most of their own bloodline clans due to their fear and hatred of them. The Kirikagure team was of course praised and given high chances at doing well. It was during this that Kitara gained confirmation of their names in more detail and some of their history and skills.

The kunoichi was apparently called Masumi Katsumi, and was greatly skilled and precise in her attacks, also good at mind games to psyche out opponents, but called a cold fish or ice queen because she rarely if ever showed any emotion other than disdain, cruel amusement, and boredom. The ninja with flippers, webbed gloves, and underwater gear apparently acted goofy outside of battle, but became calculating and ruthlessly efficient in serious situations, some even speculated that he had multiple personalities or that the goofy attitude was a well crafted and constantly used mask. Given that when Kitara had 1st seen him he had worn a literal mask made of white facepaint with a tear under one of his eyes to look like a clown Kitara was most wary of him. He was called Hisoka Satoshi, he also seemed to be the leader of the team although was challenged often by the third member in casual situations. The third Kiri genin was of course a swordsman, whose stated goal was to hunt down and challenge the Seven Swordsmen who went rouge and return their swords to Kiri, keeping one for himself and becoming one of the new Seven Swordsmen in the process, of course. He was considered skilled with his swords, but nowhere near the level required to challenge the Seven Swordsmen, so was called arrogant, boastful, and cocky, but in a fond tone by the Kirikagure natives. He tried to call himself Katsuo Takeo, but was actually named Kenta Taiki a much less impressive name. Given the large amount of information, despite the potential danger Kitara considered her search successful, even if she had not found anyone to train her yet. She even briefly wondered if the merchants and gossip-mongers were actually aware of her presence and were throwing out misleading information for her benefit, but assured herself that not all of them could be aware of her, likely only the ninja themselves had any chance.

It was also listening to gossip that Kitara gained hints as to what happened to all the other teams, everyone seemed surprisingly well informed, making Kitara think there had been some group of ninja spying on the second exam, who had decided to talk about what happened and spread all the news, although clearly they had not learned everything. However, the basic events were talked about. There was the news that two of the Kiri teams had fought a viscous long running battle a few days in, only for the winners to be ambushed by those "nasty, sneaky, sons of bitches Konoha ninja." The luck and sheer balls of the Iwa shinobi to plan out an ambush and have to retreat in haste with their prize was laughed about. The lost wanderings and eventual rescue of the poor Kumo ninja was also joked about, as well as their amusing hallucinations after eating some mushrooms.

The local heroes, the very Kiri team that had pulled a surprise win sometime near the end of the second stage were also boasted about. The ruthlessly planned ambush of Kabuto's team, just short of their victory, was praised. The injuries of "that one bastard that covered most of his skin with cloth and wore sunglasses" were gloated over and described in loving detail, although the seriousness of the injuries seemed to vary, with most stories having him at death's door, dying in agonizing pain, but the few that seemed more accurate detailing lesser but still serious injuries. Kabuto was dismissed as a weakling of all things, "that idiot is lucky that he was not allowed to continue on to the third stage and die a foolish death in front of all the witnesses" was perhaps the kindest thing said about him. The third member was a mystery, declared missing, but with many gruesome deaths speculated about. Kitara had gotten very nervous and tried to be stealthier with every negative word about Konoha ninja spoken, realizing she might be mobbed if she was discovered without finding a Konoha ninja to back her up or reaching the sanctuary of the guest quarters.

This did make her even more bitter towards Kakashi, he should have warned Tomohiro and her about the apparent hatred of Konoha ninja by Kirikagure at the very least, not simply left them vulnerable and alone. She knew that Sasuke was most at risk given his bloodline, but that did not mean Kitara or Tomohiro were safe, since although to her knowledge she did not have a bloodline and she was not sure if the chakra stealing technique was a bloodline or not, but the Kiri ninja were not likeyly to care about those specifics. It also made her even more determined to do well, to prove the gossip-mongers wrong, and get the chance to get promoted in order to escape her seriously biased and neglectful sensei. Tomohiro had been the weakest and most in need of training member of their team, and as an orphan ignored by the populace and with very little support or resources Kitara herself could have used some help, but instead Kakashi had just left them in order to train Sasuke. For the first time in years Kitara felt somewhat jealous of Sasuke's fame as "the last loyal Uchiha" and the blatant favoritism he received. Kitara knew he didn't really want it, he would prefer his family to still be alive and be treated as yet another faceless member of the clan, but it still hurt to see the differences in how they were treated. Especially now, after hearing the hateful and gloating words spoken casually by the Kiri merchants, off duty Kiri ninja, and vendors. She had shivered in fear when the odds of the "rookie team" all dying or being maimed in the finals were spoken of and preliminary bets were made. The Iwa and others were spoken about in smug, superior, and condescending tones, but there was malice in the tones when Konoha was spoken of. One 'off duty' ninja had even made a bet that one or more of the "Konoha rookies would be raped, maimed, killed, or at least too frightened to even show up at the final portion of the exam" while casually looking around, pausing at Kitara's current hiding place. His tone and words, with a clear intention of perhaps being the cause of that terrified Kitara even more than she had been previously since although he was not in uniform it was clear he was a high level, bloodthirsty shinobi. Once he looked away Kitara hurriedly retreated to the public library to think.

Yet again Kitara realized that academy students were sheltered from the realities of life as a ninja, even when the teacher's had spoken of the many dangers inherent in the lifestye of a ninja, no one had realized just how much they had underestimated or misrepresented those dangers. Now, Kitara realized that even with her dedication, training, and experience with the shady side of life from her time wandering the streets as an orphan to find money, supplemental food, or jobs while at the academy she had still naively believed that as long as she was careful and followed instructions, she was safe. After all, that frightening incident when she was five had happened because she had not followed instructions and had a civilian mindset and body. After spending hours sneaking around, listening to the malicious comments of people around her, Kitara realized that she could die, not even as part of the exams but outside of them. Why had Kadashi abandoned Tomohiro and her? Why hadn't he at least warned them? Was all the work Kitara had done to never be helpless again useless? There were so many ninja, so many people that seemed to hate Konoha, that if Kitara made one wrong move she could be mobbed and killed with no chance of escape or survival.

After briefly looking over the library to see if there was any useful information she had missed and talking with the librarian to thank him for his earlier help Kitara decided to leave.

Starting to panic again and thinking paranoid thoughts once out of the relative safety of the library, Kitara hurried back to the quarters given to the participants of the exam, too frightened to continue searching for the Hokage representative, and wondering how safe it would be to use the training spots while alone. Kitara didn't think she would be killed simply for training, and wandering the temporary village, but how could she know for sure? That one ninja had made a bet and stood to lose money if she made it to the finals, so he would clearly be on the lookout for her or her teammates to ensure his bet fell in his favor. Sasuke had Kakashi's protection, and Tomohiro now had the Jonin observer's protection, but Kitara was all alone and vulnerable. Better not to risk it now, to retreat to the relatively safe ground surrounded by other Konoha ninjas and chunin candidates.