Chapter Nine
It was a long journey to Kaminari no Kuni; the sights of the countries they passed fresh in Naruko's memory. The world, she decided, was beautiful. She was happy she had decided to become a ninja, knowing that travelling was a large part of that. Jiraiya led their team down the winding road that would take them directly to Kumogakure no Sato now, their journey almost complete.
Rounding out their three man cell for the upcoming Chuunin selection exam was a female Genin named Shiho. She wasn't an especially talented Genin in terms of ninjutsu or taijutsu, but had talent in genjutsu and was remarkably bright. When the team had come together a week ago Shiho had told them she had wanted to join Konoha's Cipher Division because of her love of puzzles and code breaking.
Shiho's teammates had not wanted to take the exam yet, thinking they were unready for that position, but because Jiraiya had needed another Genin for his team he had asked around looking for one Genin who wanted to try.
Team Gama was the only team from Konoha joining the exams this set. As every six months there was a Chuunin exam, and the next set would be in Iwa, the chances of Konoha sending any of their inexperienced young Genin into somewhat hostile territory was unlikely. As it was the Hokage had only approved of this team going to Kumo because Jiraiya would be there.
Upon arrival at the Kumo Gate, two guards checked their papers as another ninja arrived to escort them to their hotel.
The Jounin introduced himself as Darui. He looked to be in his late teens with dark skin and shockingly white hair. He wore a high collared, sleeveless uniform with loose fitting pants, bandages on his wrists and a white, one strap over one shoulder flak jacket. He also had the characters for water and lightning tattooed on his right and left upper arms.
Darui reminded her of Shikamaru. He carried himself with a lazy demeanor, had a lazy expression on his face and used very similar expressions; where the Nara said 'troublesome', Darui would say 'dull'.
They took their time walking through the village, making their way to the hotel. Much different than Konohagakure; which was surrounded by an abundance of trees with their lone Hokage Mountain, Kumogakure was surrounded by all mountains; many clouds obscured the tips of these mountains making it hard to tell how high they were. In the distance the Kage's office could be seen; a bright blue building built into the highest mountain surrounding the village.
All the while their escort would point out certain things; their ninja academy, prominent shops and restaurants, he pointed in the vague direction of the training grounds as well.
"All of the teams from other villages will have their own private training ground while here. I'll show you yours tomorrow. You are not allowed to venture through other training grounds, no exceptions."
The hotel was nice, not too overdone, but welcoming. They had one large apartment like room, with smaller rooms; three small bedrooms, a kitchenette and a small living area along with a bathroom. Jiraiya claimed a room, and so did Shiho, leaving the other for Naruko and Shikamaru to share. At this point in their pseudo relationship they were okay with that.
Shikamaru found himself lazing on the bed some time later, eyes closed and to the world he would have looked asleep. Jiraiya-sensei had given him very specific instructions during their time in Kumogakure; knowing him as well as he did, Jiraiya had told the Nara to pay close attention to his surroundings at all times. The Chuunin exam was a perfect opportunity to gather information from the Great Five Villages. It wasn't often that Konoha sent a Genin team for testing to anywhere but Suna these days, due to the strained relationships with the other villages. As far as Shikamaru knew Kiri was in the middle of a civil war, Iwa hated Konoha with burning passion and Kumo wasn't to be trusted due to their treachery a while back involving the Hyuuga clan.
Later, he and Naruko lay down, Naruko nestled in Shikamaru's arms, "tomorrow," he said.
"Yeah," the blond replied. "Let's go wild." She chuckled. Shikamaru let out a snort of laughter.
"You're always wild, troublesome blond."
The next morning brought the return of Darui; he led team Gama to their training ground and left again. The exam was set to start right after lunch, so the Genin performed their warm up exercises all morning.
With all the gathered Genin, there were none from Iwa, for which Jiraiya was grateful; two teams from Suna, eight from Kumo, and a collection of Genin from other minor villages. There was a false wall placed at the room the Genin would perform their first test. The Genin couldn't see their Sensei, but the Jounin were all present, waiting for it to begin.
Naruko watched as a woman walked into the room. She had dark skin, and light grey hair, despite her young appearance. She had green eyes and was well dressed. Behind her, filing in quietly and standing around the room near the walls were about a dozen other people, whom she guessed were additional proctors.
"My name is Mabui, and I shall be the Proctor for the first portion of the Chuunin Selection Exam. Everyone please take your seats, one team to each table."
The Genin did as they were told.
"The rules for this test are the following; first Rule: No talking aloud. Second Rule: Each team has one piece of paper on their desk. This will be your test; the goal is to break the code in order to pass. Only one of your teammates is allowed to look at the paper. And that team member is chosen by the number on the back sheet. A corresponding number will be on your chairs as well. Do this now, but it is not time to begin yet."
There was much shuffling around for each team to find their numbers and slide their papers in the directions of the right people. Mabui waited a few moments and then began again, "Shinobi are required to have many skills to complete various missions. One thing of note is that not all missions go according to plan, and you won't always be on a team where you know everyone personally. As Genin you are just expected to follow the orders of your superiors. As a Chuunin you will be expected to lead missions of your own. You have one hour. Begin."
Naruko wasn't sure exactly how they managed to pass the first exam. She knew enough to know that without Shikamaru and Shiho on her team she would have failed.
A week later Naruko woke bright and early, nuzzling into Shikamaru, as she became aware of the lingering soreness from the past week catching up to her, she groaned.
Their second exam had started the evening their first test ended. They had been led to a place their examiner had dubbed 'Turtle Island'. Seven days in that place had been one hell of a workout. Sore, starved, and sleep deprived Team Gama had made it through the forest, managing to survive the other teams; managing to get their required scroll and even escaping mostly unharmed from the inhabitants of that island. Animals should not grow to be that large. Just thinking about them made her shudder. Shikamaru pulled her closer, burying his face in her neck and breathing deeply.
Their third and final test was set to begin in two weeks. A tournament pitting the remaining teams against one another in one on one combat. The worst part of this was the fact that they would be fighting for an audience.
The Hokage was set to arrive the day before the tournament, along with many other nobles looking to watch the up and coming generation of Shinobi and in turn, the Shinobi showed their Genin talents to snag prospective clients. It was an ever going circle of commerce.
Of the many teams from various countries to have entered the Chuunin exam this turn around, only two teams were left standing. Team Gama of Konoha and a team from Kumo.
Hours later in the stadium prepared for the exams both Genin teams were visibly anxious for their tournament to start.
The Jounin Naruko and her team had met before, Darui, stepped into the center of the stadium and raised a hand asking for silence from the numerous crowd.
"My name is Darui, and I will the proctor for this exam. Each of the six Genin have already drawn lots on who will go first. Will Shikamaru of Konoha and Karui of Kumo remain here. The rest of you go and wait in the spectator box set up for you."
Both competitors remained in the arena, eying each other up. "Are both competitors ready?" Receiving a nod from each, he slashed his hand down between them and jumped backwards out of the way. "Begin!"
Up in the Kage box, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat along with the Yondaime Raikage, A.
"I find it surprising that you sent a team this year, Hokage." A said, bluntly.
Hiruzen chuckled, "Ah, well. Konoha and Kumo aren't enemies, after all."
A snorted, "true enough."
The Raikage was a large man, built with thick corded muscles, you could compare the size of his arms and legs, with that of small trees. His white blonde hair was slicked back, he wore only a pair of black pants with a white haori, his chest exposed for all to see. The Hokage, in comparison was rather frail looking.
As the fellow Kage sat and watched the start of the tournament, A looked at each of the Genin from Konoha. "Is that the Nara clan symbol?" he asked.
If Hiruzen was surprised with A's question, he didn't show it. "Yes, a very promising young ninja, too."
A furrowed his brows, didn't the Nara clan usually work with two other clans; Akimichi and Yamanaka, wasn't it? one of the blondes of the team could have been a Yamanaka he supposed, but neither for sure could be an Akimichi, too slim.
The team from Kumo, he knew had been trained by his own brother in all but blood, B. He knew they were all but chuunin already, lack of experience and this being their only chuunin exam so far, the only thing holding them back. Well, aside from Samui, she had a lot more experience than the others. Her first genin team and jounin sensei being slain by enemy ninja two years ago. She seemed to be coping however.
Both genin began their bout with taijutsu, weaving around one another, neither gaining the upperhand, until Karui grabbed the katana strapped to her back and added it to the mix of thrown limbs.
Shikamaru jumped out of her range quickly. Taking a breather and a moment to think. Karui didn't give him the chance to, however, and attacked again, katana raised with deadly precision.
Feeling that he was beginning to tire, Shikamaru, grabbed the next chance he could and performed the hand seals for his family justu, quickly.
Karui, not knowing what to expect, and not knowing anything about the Nara clan of Konoha was caught. Her body freezing up on its own accord.
"Kagemane no jutsu, complete." Said Shikamaru, reaching down with one hand and forcing Karui to do the same. Her body trembling, trying to break the jutsu. Shikamaru forced her to grab a kunai out of her own pouch and raised her arm to her neck, the blade drawing a slight trickle of blood. "Forfeit," he ordered calmly.
The yellow eyed girl had no choice, "Proctor, I forfeit," she said through gritted teeth.
Darui called the match and Shikamaru relaxed his hold on the jutsu, shoving his hands in his pockets and slouched away, back to the competitors box.
Naruko greeted him with a tight hug and kiss on the cheek which made him blush, pleased with her praise.
The proctor waited a few moments for the cheering to die down and called out the next match, "Shiho and Naruko, both of Konoha, enter the arena."
"We'll do our best, Shiho-san!" called the cheerful jinchuuriki.
Both girls knew Naruko would win the match, but Shiho knew that she still had the chance for a promotion if she gave a good showing. And so she did with a combination of average taijutsu, layered with subtle genjutsu for misdirecting purposes.
After their match team mates Omoi and Samui fought, an impressive showing of various kenjutsu skills. Samui becoming victorious.
"Next match, Shikamaru and Naruko, both of Konoha."
Once the match began Naruko initiated a taijutsu bout. "Hey, Shika, which of us should take on that Samui?" The blonde asked in between easy strikes, and parries.
"Its too troublesome fighting women, Naruko," was his response. Naruko giggled.
They continued their mock battle of taijutsu, more of a spar really, slowly heating up. Both members of Team Gama knowing exactly how to couter the other after years of knowing one another, plus the last couple of months training along side one another.
All of a sudden, Naruko jumped back, forming seals, "Fuuton: Daitoppa."
Shikamaru dodged the worst of the wind attack, still coming away with small scratches on his arms and face, "Troublesome," he repeated. Grabbing a kunai and attaching an explosive tag he let it fly at Naruko.
Seeing the tag attached, Naruko prepared to dodge left, belatedly realizing the Nara had thrown two, one to each side of her, forcing her to dodge backwards, but still being caught mildly in the explosion.
The pineapple haired ninja then used the opportunity to send his shadow binding through the smoke, he searched a few moments, felt the tell tale tug of catching his opponent and held her still waiting for the smoke to clear.
Just as he thought he had won, he felt a presence behind him, too late he realized, he must have caught a shadow clone. Naruko placed her arms loosely around his shoulders, playfully tapping his neck with the hilt of her kunai.
He sighed, "I give up," once again, Naruko giggled, putting the kunai back in its holster.
"Interesting genin, you've got, Hokage," A commented lightly.
"And yours as well, Raikage, with such a good showing I would recommend them for chuunin." Sarutobi responded.
"Aye, after I have them running laps around the village for a week for losing!"
Sarutobi chuckled, sitting back, puffing lightly on his pipe to watch the last match.
"The last match for this year's Chuunin selection exam is between Naruko of Konoha and Samui of Kumo!" Darui's voice called over the din of the crowd. Seeing both blondes ready, he slashed his hand down for the last time, "Begin!"
It's been a long time since I've updated this story... Hope you guys enjoyed it!
