Chapter Eight

Death for the Hokage

The last few weeks before the Chuunin exams final battles went by quickly. Zemaria ended up in the hospital a total of five times in the process of training with her father. Finally the day came. Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen. Lord Hokage was sitting high up and next to him sat the Kazekage from the Sand Village.

Zemaria's match against Neji was up first. They stayed on the battle field while everyone else went up to the bleachers. Genma was the proctor for these matches. He said they could begin. Zemaria fell back several paces away from Neji to gather herself and get her plan in motion for attack or defense.

She was ready for his style of attacks. The first thing she did was create an army of clones. Some were regular Shadow Clones and others were Immortal Clones. She snapped her fingers and a massive amount of Kunai flew towards Neji. He used rotation to deflect them.

Immediately following the first batch of Kunai, she followed up with another. This time some of them had paper bombs while others had thin string attached. Once again Neji used rotation to deflect. His rotation however was halted because of the kunai with string attached to them. They string entangled his body making it hard for him to move.

"How clever. You used the same attack twice but switched things up the second time by adding paper bombs and string to slow me down," Neji observed her tactics.

"For the entire month, I had been training specifically for this battle. I know about your gentle fist style of attack. You focus Chakra at any point in your body and can use it to close one's Chakra points rendering their attempts to use Ninjutsu and Genjutsu useless," Zemaria said.

Neji smirked, "So you did your homework. Good for you. That doesn't mean you'll win against me."

He used his ability to cut the strings binding him. He went into the eight trigram stance and attacked her.

"Eight trigram, 64 palm. Two palm! Four palm! Eight Palm! Sixteen... Palm!" He yelled as he hit each of her Chakra points.

He counted up until he hit 64 palm and slammed his two fingers straight into her chest. She dropped to her knees and coughed up a fairly good amount of blood. She was injured and weakened significantly but not finished. Shaking badly, she forced her body to stand up.

"You're lucky," he said, "with that attack you shouldn't even be breathing right now."

"You are underestimating me horribly," she told him.

She snapped her fingers and flicked her wrist. The clones she had made attacked Neji. Some of them disappeared while the immortal ones stayed. He couldn't figure it out. Why weren't they all disappearing as he attacked them back?

Neji asked her, "How are your clones still standing? Only some of them disappeared."

"That's because I use a Jutsu no one else can. It's a forbidden technique only I know called Immortal Clone Jutsu. They won't disappear until I release the Jutsu or die. In addition, they can use all of the techniques I can and don't make a move without my say," she explained.

He scoffed, "They won't attack unless you say?"

"Watch," she simply said.

She held up three fingers and put them down one at a time and then snapped her fingers. Three clones threw kunai at Neji who quickly stopped them from hitting him with his hands. One used Water Style followed by another using lightning style. Neji didn't deflect fast enough and ended up getting wet and then electrocuted from the lightning style and water conducting electricity.

Neji tried his eight trigram technique again. Zemaria dodged all of his gentle fist attacks. She retreated to catch her breath. Doing hand signs she used water style Tidal Wave Jutsu.

"No way. You shouldn't be able to use Jutsu! All of your Chakra points had been blocked!" Neji said shocked.

"You never actually blocked them. I created a barrier protecting my Chakra points using a natural poison that flows through my blood. It prevented you from even touching my Chakra points," she said proud of her plan.

Angered he asked, "Who exactly are you?'

"I," she started still a bit out of breath, "am the daughter of two of the Legendary Sannin Orochimaru and Tsunade!"

"This pairing wasn't even close to being a fair fight! No Gennin can create water style Jutsu without having some type of body of water close by yet you were able to do a Tidal Wave Jutsu," Neji said.

Zemaria walked over to him but kept her distance, "Believe me, I'm playing fair right now. I also possess the ability to create, control, and manipulate vines with thorns. I'm not using them thus far into the battle. In addition to that, I have the ability to use a paralyzing Genjutsu which I am also not using. In reality, I'm being extremely nice right now."

"But why? If you can use those two aces of yours, why aren't you?" He asked.

"Because I made a promise. I promised a friend and comrade that I wouldn't kill you today. He was mad and disappointed that he wasn't the one to fight you here and he asked me to promise him I wouldn't kill you as I did Zaku one month ago. That's why," she said narrowing her eyes.

Up in the bleachers all of the Jounin were watching this intently. They were amazed at how well Zemaria was doing and taken back by her advanced abilities.

"I had no idea she could use water style without any water actually present," Asuma said, his eyes locked on Neji and Zemaria.

They continued on with the fight. Neji threw a few kunai at her. She blocked with her arms. They ruined her arm covers she had made.

Zemaria ended it finally using her vines to restrain him. The thorns to the vines this time were facing away from his body which was another thing she could do. If she didn't intend on killing someone with her thorns and poison, she could specifically face them away from the person's body. She moved at a great speed and was in front of him. Her claws were out and drenched with poison. Using both hands, she clawed Neji's chest leaving a total of eight claw marks in an X. It was over. She won the first battle.

Genma called it. The medical Ninja quickly ran to help Neji as Zemaria released the vines from his body. She removed a syringe with a black liquid in it from her back pouch. As she started to walk toward him, Genma stopped her.

"He's unable to fight, leave him be," he told her.

"I can't. If I do, he'll die. The poison I injected into his body will kill him within ten minutes unless I give him the antidote only I possess," she said.

He reluctantly let her continue toward Neji. He was on the stretcher barely conscious. She gave him the antidote and something more. Placing a hand over his wounds on his chest, she healed them. Zemaria was also keen in Medical Ninjutsu which she taught herself.

"You know medical Ninjutsu too?" He asked weakly.

"Ssh. I'm not a person driven by murder and hate. The least I can do is heal you myself as much as I can," she said.

The ninja took Neji to the infirmary. One of Zemaria's vines came out of the wall, wrapped around her, and bought her up to the bleachers near the Sand Ninja. Kankuro had tried during the preliminary rounds to cozy up to her after her battle but it hadn't worked out very well. He decided to try again.

"Hey, I thought your arms were injured from those kunai. They look healed already," he noticed.

"That's none of your business," she rotated her arm covers so the rips were facing away from him.

Sasuke still wasn't present. The Kazekage insisted on adding an extension before disqualifying him and to move on to the next match. Genma asked Kankuro and Shino to come down as Dosu wasn't there either. Kankuro forfeited giving Shino the win. Naruto won his match automatically since Dosu wasn't there. In fact, he wasn't living anymore. Gaara had taken care of that soon after the preliminary rounds.

The match that was left besides Sasuke and Gaara was Shikamaru and Temari. Shikamaru refused to go down. Naruto helped with that with a simple push over the railing. Temari glided down on her giant fan. The crowd booed and threw things at Shikamaru for being so lazy. He stared at the clouds and wondered why he couldn't just be a normal kid and grow up to one day have a nice family and not be a Shinobi. It was way too much work for him.

"Man, of all things I have to fight a girl... again," he complained.

Temari made fun of him for his laziness and decided to attack first. The match was slow starting but nonetheless was very entertaining and kept everyone on their toes. Shikamaru was always ten moves ahead of Temari and got the best of her. He ended the match after catching her in his Shadow Possession Jutsu. He used the holes left by Zemaria's vines in order to trap Temari.

Just when everyone thought he would win the match, he gave up. The crowd and Temari were shocked. Genma called it. Temari was the winner. Shikamaru released the Jutsu because his Chakra was running low. Zemaria jumped over the railing and smacked him right across the face.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" She yelled.

"Ow! What was that for!?" He yelled back.

She scolded him, "You ass monger! I wanted to fight you myself! Sure you may be the laziest person in the entire Village but you're super tactical and- and-"

"And what?" He asked making a pouting face.

"...I wanted to end up fighting you..." she said in a small voice looking at the ground.

He smiled and gave her a hug. She blushed. They went back up to the bleachers together. Genma was about to disqualify Sasuke when he and Kakashi made an overly dramatic entrance. Zemaria was back at her spot near Kankuro while Shikamaru sat on the steps going up to the infirmary with Naruto.

"Sorry we're late. We're still in the exams right?" Kakashi said.

Genma looked at his watch, "You made it with one second to spare."

Kakashi closed his eye and smiled, "Good to hear."

He disappeared up to the bleachers. Gaara came down and the match began. Zemaria couldn't help but feel like the Kazekage was really Orochimaru. What was he up to? The battle didn't last too long before Orochimaru put his plan into action. Kabuto put all of the people in the bleachers to sleep using a Genjutsu. Sakura, Kakashi, and Gai released the Jutsu. He was there with Lee who was recovering from his match with Gaara the month before. He had severely damaged his leg and arm.

Naruto and Shikamaru had tried to warn Kakashi that Gaara wasn't fighting to become a Chuunin but to have intent to kill Sasuke for sheer pleasure. The two of them were also knocked out by the Jutsu. There was an explosion where the Hokage was. Zemaria without hesitation had a vine wrap around her and slingshot her across to the building's roof the Hokage and Kazekage were now standing on.

Four Sound Ninja put up a barrier around them. A few Anbu hurried to Lord Hokage but got there after the barrier was placed. The Ninja setup a barrier on the inside protecting them from the Hokage and attempts to break the barrier from the inside.

"Zemaria, please tell me you are not involved in this and that you are here to help me defeat Orochimaru," he said to her.

"Lord Hokage, I will tell you what I told Kakashi after his talk with me. I walk no path of good or evil. Instead, I walk the line between the two. I will neither protect you or father nor will I allow one of you to die here," she explained.

Orochimaru removed his false face, "Zemaria I didn't think you'd be quick enough to come over here."

"So you've come to kill me have you, Orochimaru?" Sarutobi asked him.

Orochimaru laughed lightly. That was his intentions of course. He removed the Kunai from Sarutobi's throat. They revealed their battle clothes. Zemaria took Orochimaru's side but not before creating an immortal clone and sending it to Lord Hokage's side. She told him not to worry that the clone was there so she could protect them both at the same time.

Sarutobi nodded and Orochimaru did hand signs before using his reanimation Jutsu. He summoned the first, the second, and Sarutobi stopped the third using shuriken. They were coffins. As they opened two bodies walked out. One was the First Lord Hokage and the second was the Second Lord Hokage. Both had been dead a very long time.

Not only did the Hokage have to battle Orochimaru and his daughter but now he had to worry about the First and Second Hokage being reanimated. Orochimaru placed kunai with sutras attached to them inside of their heads. This was bad. The Hokage battle royal began. While the two undead Hokage attacked Sarutobi, Zemaria was instructed to get involved.

She used water style tidal wave followed by electric current to shock the Third. All the Anbu could do was watch. There was no way in or out of the barrier. Sarutobi did what he could to fend off the two former Hokage. In the bleachers, Kakashi and Gai were fighting enemy Ninja. Sakura woke Naruto and Shikamaru up at Kakashi's orders. They along with Pakkun Kakashi's dog he summoned were ordered to go after Sasuke who had left to chase after Gaara.

Gaara was taken away by his brother and sister. Kankuro and Temari were his siblings. They all had their encounters and battles. The Third was struggling with his. Zemaria was fighting the Hokage while her clone was protecting him from the two former Hokage and Orochimaru.

The First had created a huge tree with multiple trunks. Sarutobi was weak but was able to summon Enma his animal summoning. Enma was a monkey and also a very long staff. He created a sort of protection cage around the Hokage to prevent further damage before transforming into his monkey self. He scolded the old man for not getting rid of Orochimaru years ago when he caught him performing experiments.

"Enma, let's finish this now!" He said to him.

Enma nodded, "This time kill him so he can't hurt anyone ever again."

Zemaria released the clone. For this battle, she chose to help her father. She was serious now. They engaged in battle. She didn't let either of them near Orochimaru.

"Zemaria! Stop! Stop before you get killed!" Orochimaru pleaded with her.

She ignored him and imprisoned him putting up four walls made from her vines and a barrier under and over him so he couldn't get out. Her attention went back to the Hokage. He didn't go easy on her. A little bit later, she was bleeding and badly injured. She also hadn't fully recovered from her match with Neji.

Sarutobi was panting, "You are a bigger threat to this Village than your own father! Because of that, I will stop you!"

He prepared himself to use the same Jutsu the Fourth Hokage used to seal the Nine-Tailed Fox spirit inside of Naruto, Reaper Death Seal. Zemaria unsteadily brought herself to her feet. She ran straight towards him. Her hand had electricity searing through it. She planned on using Lightning Palm on him.

Too late. Sarutobi grabbed a hold of her at the shoulders. He had used the Jutsu through two clones to get rid of the First and Second Hokage. Orochimaru needed to do something before he killed his daughter. He removed his Grass Blade from his mouth and directed it with his hand in the direction of Sarutobi.

"Just because things are ending this way, does not mean I've chosen the wrong path. I'll always care about this Village and the people in it. That also included you," she said losing strength.

Sarutobi activated the Reaper Death Seal. Zemaria's soul started to be pulled out of her body. She fought back as much as she could to keep her soul. He too was almost out of Chakra. Orochimaru's sword struck Sarutobi entering from his back. Enma who was so badly injured he couldn't stand, quickly grabbed the sword.

It was still able to pierce the Hokage. The struggle between him and Zemaria lasted almost five minutes before Sarutobi grew too weak to take her whole soul. The Reaper was hungry for a soul.

"Give it up. You don't have nearly enough energy or Chakra to take my entire soul," Zemaria told him.

He winced from the added pain of the sword, "You're right, but I'm not giving up yet. If I can't take you with me then I'll take your arms instead!"

The Reaper cut her soul arms from her body. "The seal is set!" were the Hokage's last words. The same seal on Naruto's stomach appeared on his stomach as he fell to the ground. Zemaria's arm from the shoulders down to her fingers turned a pale dark purple. She was unable to move them anymore.

"Zemaria!" Orochimaru yelled in fear for his daughter's safety.

The thorn walls around him came down. Zemaria stood in absolute shock and disbelief. She really couldn't use her arms anymore. Orochimaru ordered his Ninja to release the barrier. He rushed over to his daughter and was about to embrace her to bring her with him but she had her vines protect her.

"Leave me alone!" She shouted at him.

Across the way in the bleachers Kakashi and Gai noticed the barrier had been removed. Nearly all of the enemies they had fought were down for the count. A vine ascended from the exam battle ground, wrapped around Zemaria's waist, and carried her halfway across the field before tossing her the rest of the way. She landed in front of Kakashi and Gai.

Kakashi looked shocked, "Zemaria? What happened over there?"

Gai quickly asked, "What happened to Lord Hokage?"

She didn't answer only ran off and jumped out through the hole made from the enemies. She kept running through the forest towards the border. Kakashi left to find available Anbu. Gai saw Orochimaru high-tail it out of there with his four Ninja.