I do not own the Naruto universe. Or the Naruto characters. I'm not entirely sure I even own these characters since they seem to have developed minds of their own. Blast you, Shiroi Akuma!! You were meant be a simple background character! A name, nothing more! Who gave you permission to become important?

Wow...I'm so sorry about that...Sometimes I go a little crazy...


Chapter Seven

I want to hurt you just to hear you screaming my name.

Rei had separated from her teammates at the bathhouse. Contrary to popular belief, Rei was actually faster than her male teammates at getting ready. When she was finished bathing, she decided to just continue on to the meeting place for the third portion of the test instead of waiting for the others. She left a message at the bathhouse's front desk and exited the building.

When Rei reached the edge of the Abyss, she was greeted with a sign. Attention all continuing genin: The location for the third exam has been moved to the main stadium next to the town's central spire. Report there immediately. With a shrug, Rei did as ordered.

Rei found Akuma waiting for her outside of the doors to the stadium. She smiled, genuinely glad to see him. He stood and walked with her into the building.

"They are having difficulties locating all of the genin that went into the Abyss." Akuma answered Rei's question before she could even ask it. "It was decided to move the final exam."

Rei glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "Is this an unusual occurrence?"

"Apparently not," Akuma replied. "Certainly no one seems to be too surprised and preparations for an alternate third exam went to place quickly."

Rei chuckled. "Akuma, when do you sleep? If you had rested before the first exam, you probably would have passed."

Akuma flushed slightly, whether with anger, exasperation, or embarrassment, Rei didn't know. "Come on, Rei, you know I'm bad with illusions."

"What did you do?" Rei asked curiously.

Akuma sighed. "I failed because I killed my teammates." Rei looked over at him and looked back at her with blank eyes. They had bit of a staring contest.

Rei finally laughed. "You're serious, aren't you?"

Akuma blinked. "Would I joke about something like that? What was your first reaction when you saw your team turn on you?"

"Dodge." Akuma rolled his eyes at the girl's response.

Rei and Akuma finally reached the area the rest of the finalists had gathered in. Rei leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor. After a moment, Akuma followed. Rei leaned against the boy and closed her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Akuma sounded amused.

"Last minute resting," replied Rei without opening her eyes.

Akuma slid an arm over the girl's shoulder and glared at the genin giving them amused looks. Most of them looked away. After a moment, Akuma nudged the girl slightly. "Hey."

Rei raised her head from the boy's shoulder and blinked at him sleepily. She really had started to fall asleep. "What is it?"

Akuma reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out an opaque vial. "Here. You may need this."

"I hope not." Rei took the vial and slid it into her own weapons pouch despite her words.

"Ah, Chidarake. Shiroi. There you two are." The two genin looked up to see Asahi approaching them, Sakuya and Fuyu trailing behind. "Glad to see you both made it. Chidarake, Namida, and Mikazuki, you three need to head down to the center. Shiroi, you can come with me to the balcony."

Akuma pulled himself to his feet and offered his hand to Rei. She gave him a quick hug before walking away with her teammates.

"Good luck," Akuma called after the three. Rei raised a hand and waved over her shoulder.


Rei, Sakuya, and Fuyu stood in a row at attention as they listened to the proctor of the final exam.

"We were hoping to do something more unusual for the third exam," announced the woman. "Events during the second part, we've been unable to do so and instead decided to stick to the traditional tournament format." The woman looked over the group. "There are twenty four of you left. At most, twelve of you will go on to be chuunin. The rest of you may be lucky enough to live and come back another year. If you're not so lucky, you're carried off in a bag. All pairings are random. You could wind up fighting anyone from a total stranger to your best friend. Go to the balconies, to your teachers and teams. Stand together. Wait. And be prepared for anything."

The genin obeyed.


Tsubasa stood with Akuma and Asahi and watched the first four fights. No one said anything to each other. The fourth fight finished quickly, a tall blond woman easily mopping the floor with her shorter brunette opponent.

"Fifth fight," called the proctor. "Tentai Arashi versus Chidarake Rei."

Rei's hand convulsed around Akuma's. Akuma squeezed back. "It'll be okay," he whispered. "Good luck."

Rei took a deep breath and sprang lightly over the balcony's railing. She landed on the destroyed floor with the grace only a Kagemusha trainee could pull off. She rose from the half crouch she landed in and looked across to the young man facing her with cold eyes.

"Nice to meet you," said the young man with a slight bow. "My name is Tentai Arashi from Takigakure."

Rei blinked, surprised at his courteous greeting. She inclined her head slightly, not taking her eyes off of him. "I am Chidarake Rei from Shimogakure. It is a pleasure to meet you and an honor to fight you."

On the balcony Akuma chuckled slightly. When Sakuya and Fuyu gave him a questioning look, he explained, "It's a traditional Kagemusha first time greeting. Rei's old habits die hard."

"Fifth fight," repeated the proctor. "Chidarake from Frost versus Tentai from Waterfall. Begin."

For several long silent moments, the two simply stared at each other. Neither blinked. Rei fought the near hysterical laughter bubbling in her throat. It seemed so ridiculous, like some ten year-old's staring contest. The tension in the room clearly said otherwise.

Tentai's arm twitched, that was it. The earth around Rei exploded. What the... Rei sprang up into the air and landed carefully on the balcony railing.

"It's my bloodline," explained Tentai. "Control over earth and soil."

Rei felt hands on her back and she was pushed off the railing. When she touched the floor, the ground rippled and grabbed onto her ankle. With a quick flip of her wrist, Rei sent kunai and shuriken flying across the room. They all connected. Then the golem crumbled into dust.

Rei's main objective was accomplished however. The ground released her. She jumped again and disappeared. Silence fell.

Fuyu groaned. "And now for the stock of the ninja life. Hiding. This could go on forever."

"He'll give up before Rei does," said Sakuya. "She's good at this sort of thing." Akuma nodded in agreement.

Just they predicted, Tentai morphed out of the ground long before Rei reappeared. He walked carefully out to the middle of the floor. Still nothing from Rei. He turned in a slow circle.

When Rei finally moved, it all happened so quickly that some didn't even follow it. It wasn't until Rei went flying through the air and Tentai clutched a newly bloodied arm that they realized that the girl had revealed herself.

"Damn," swore Tentai. "Where'd you come from?"

Rei didn't answer, just shifted her grip on the bloody kunai. She pushed her shirt sleeve up above the edge of her glove revealing fine white lines carved into her arm. She set the blood covered edge of the blade against her arm and drug it across.

"What the hell are you doing?" demanded Tentai as blood began to trail from the self-inflicted wound. Rei seemed hypnotized by the blood traveling across her arm.

Tentai stomped the ground causing the earth to ripple toward Rei. Right before the ripple reached her, Rei stamped her foot, sending out a ripple of her own. Where the two distortions met, the earth shattered.

"How...how did you do that?" asked Tentai nervously.

Finally raising her eyes from the blood, Rei smiled. "It's my bloodline, the power of the blood bond. My cells instantly duplicate the parts of your DNA that give you your unique talents."

Stones flew the air at Rei. She sent earth up into a wall that the stones shattered against.

"Some are more difficult than others mind you. They require actual changes to the body, like the famous Konoha Byakugan. Total eye replacement is not easy."

Kunai flew through the air at Rei, only to hit the same kind of golem Tentai had used earlier.

"It can be tricky, using someone else's bloodline," Rei said conversationally. "Don't worry, though, I have plenty of practice."

Even as Rei watched, Fuyu fell before the enemy. As they all turned their attention to Sakuya, Rei nervously gripped her roll of garrote wire and prepared to join the fray. Just as she reached Sakuya's side, he fell.

One of the enemies turned to Rei. She managed to catch the blade he lashed out with. The blade was covered with the blood of her teammates. Jerking it away, she gave the few remaining opponents an evil glare.

She pushed her sleeve up and cut herself with the bloodied edge. As the opponents flew took a deep breath, ran through hand seals, and trapped them in the Demon Mirrors of Ice.

"I had to use my teammates' once to save us from one of our sensei's lesson."

The sound of flesh striking flesh echoed through the mike. "God gave me permission when he gave me this power. I have it and I use it."

Rei looked below again. Sakuya and Fuyu were trying to hold out against five...monsters. There was really no other way to describe them. They looked like men and woman but moved like wild animals. It was impossible to have mercy on them because as long as they could move, they did. Even as Rei watched, Sakuya and Fuyu teamed up on one of them and killed it. Blood splattered them both. A tiny corner of Rei's mind noted that they were much better at working together.

Something dripped onto Rei's face. She reached up and touched it. What the..? She looked at it. Blood...

Rei took the blood and rubbed it in a cut on her hand. She then concentrated on reversing the soul transfer.

"I used it again to save us from sensei's sister. She was a little crazy you see."

Stones flew again, fewer in number and slower. They fell from the air before they even reached Rei.

"Tired?" Rei asked. "A side effect of my bloodline. I copy you, you see. Your body thinks that every attack I make you made by you. I'm draining your chakra."

As soon as they were out of the room, Eien removed her arm from Rei. She turned a death glare on the younger girl. "Whatever it was you did, NEVER do it again. Do you realize how DANGEROUS chakra depletion is?"

A knock sounded at the door. The doctor walked in with a smile. "Good to see you finally awake. I'm a little upset with you, though. We discussed the fact that you need to cut back on the use of your bloodline until the baby was born."

"Give up," advised Rei. Tentai attempted to attack again. "You have no chance. I don't have to do anything. You are defeating yourself."

After a few more attacks and blocks, Tentai simply fell over. Rei was declared victor.

Without even glancing up to balcony, Rei walked to the stairs. Akuma looked over to the shell shocked remainder of team Tsubasa. He exchanged a look with Asahi then went to head the girl off.

"Fight six..."

As the fights below continued, Fuyu looked over to Asahi. "What the hell was that?"

"The Chidarake bloodline," replied Asahi. "Weren't you paying attention?"

Sakuya nodded. "Yeah, but why haven't we ever heard of it before?"

"Rei is the first Chidarake to figure out a way to use her bloodline in battle," explained Asahi. "It was actually first used for shinobi who fell in love with or had to marry civilians. The Chidarake blood bond was used to bind the shinobi to the civilian, for the protection of the weaker party. Not to mention the fact the line only runs through females and kunoichi are relatively new to Shimogakure. We were one of the last villages to allow women to be ninja."

"So what? She was afraid to tell us she had a bloodline?" asked Sakuya.

"No, someone once mentioned she had one," Fuyu said thoughtfully. "They just never said what exactly it was."

"She was under orders not to tell you," Asahi told them both. A genin flew through the air and slammed into the wall behind him.

"Fight seven..."

"Under orders?" asked Sakuya. "Why would it matter if she told us she had a bloodline?"

"She was to use it on you," Asahi said casually.

"WHAT?" Fuyu sounded strangled.

"She was to use it on you," Asahi repeated. "Oh, she managed to talk the elder council out of it. She told them that it would only weaken both of you. With the coming war, that would serve no purpose."

"So she really was a spy for the council," whispered Sakuya.

"I wouldn't think of her as a spy." Asahi seemed wrapped in his own thoughts. "She wouldn't do anything to harm the two of you. You're probably the closest thing to friends she's ever had."

"Friends don't spy on friends," hissed Fuyu.

"Besides she has Shiroi," Sakuya pointed out.

"Shiroi was her partner in Kagemusha." Asahi smiled at the two boys. "He came to me and begged me to figure out some way to get her out of that program. He never gave an explanation just thanked me when I got her put on a regular genin team."

"But why would he want her out of Kagemusha?" wondered Fuyu.

Asahi shrugged. "Who knows? Everyone involved with that group is insane. Even my darling niece."

"Fight eight..."


Akuma found Rei sitting on the stairs wrapped around herself. He sat down next to her and hugged her.

"Are you okay, Rei?"

Rei laughed shakily. "Am I okay? I've never been better." Her laughter faded and she made a disgusted noise. "I hate it, Akuma."

"I know you do," Akuma said softly into her hair. "But hey, you're a chuunin now. Congratulations."

Rei lifted her head off of his shoulder and stared at him for a second. Then she laughed again, this time like she meant it. "Yeah, I am, aren't I?"

And now well beyond the grip of the Kagemusha, Akuma added to himself.

"You'll have to try again next year," Rei continued. "It's no fun being a chuunin alone."

"You don't think Namida and Mikazuki will pass?" Akuma asked surprised.

"Oh, I'm sure they'll make it," said Rei. "I just can't imagine them wanting to have much to do with me..."

"I think you're wrong," replied Akuma.

Rei gave him that obstinate look that meant she wasn't listening to him anymore. Akuma sighed. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know." Rei leaned back onto Akuma. "Maybe I'll go back into Kagemusha. The elder council only pulled me to spy on Fuyu and Sakuya. Not that I did much for them."

"Don't do it." Akuma's arms tightened around the girl. "Stay out of Kagemusha now that you're out."

"Well, I can't just leave you," protested Rei.

"I can take care of myself," Akuma told her. "I'll get out, don't worry. I can't just leave you out there in world alone."

Rei laughed again. "Right. Who knows what kind of trouble I could get myself into?"

Akuma sat with Rei for a long time. "We should go back up."

"I don't want to see them," Rei answered.

"I don't understand your problem with your bloodline," said Akuma.

"I steal people's life force and use it against them," Rei replied. "I'm like some kind of energy vampire."

Akuma rolled his eyes. "You're not an energy vampire."

Rei smacked at him. "Don't patronize me!" She sounded more amused than upset though.

"Fight eight: Mikazuki Sakuya versus Shingetsu Taka."

Rei finally sighed and stood. "I guess we really do need to go back up. I don't want to miss Sakuya's fight."

Akuma grabbed her hand and walked with her up the stairs. "He'd hate for you to miss it too."

Rei rolled her eyes. "Whatever..."


Yes it was a cheap cop out of a fight scene. I'm really bad at them. At least we figured out Rei's thing. We did figure out Rei's thing, right? If anyone is still confused let me know. I'm a little "eh" about this chapter. I have no problems doing a rewrite, no problem at all...

I occasionally get what I call writer's wall. Sooo...if anyone's willing to climb over the twenty foot wall covered with spikes and broken glass, infiltrate the writers death camp, and help me out past the attack dogs and killer ninja and through the Forest of Doom... I'll be eternally grateful. Seriously.