Naruto: Lost Arts
Chapter 9: Preliminaries
AN: What's up been a while huh? Anyway as you can now see neither I or this fic are dead so no worries. Anyway I've been busy with life so yeah my story updates are taking longer but oh well those are the breaks. Anyway the manga has actually been surprising me lately, it seems Kishi is actually coming up with his own ideas, as a plus the truth about the Kyuubi attack has finally come out though many of us had guessed at least that much. Anyway here's the chapter.
Oh yeah, anyone who hasn't head to my profile and check out the challenge i'd love to see it taken up.
Start Now:
Team eight stood quietly as they looked into the darkened woods that made up the Forest of Death, the stage of the second test of the Chuunin Exams. Each of the three were using the time to either reflect on the previous test or figure out a plan for the current one. The first exam had been an experience none of the gennin of team eight had any desire to find themselves repeating anytime soon.
Morino Ibiki had proven himself as being scarier than hell with but a simple ten question written test. Naruto had gotten through it only thanks to Shino who had used his bugs to literally spell out the answers for the blonde to copy. In the end only 49 people had remained in total. This however had led to their current predicament the second exam which promised to cut the number in half at the least.
Each gennin team was given a scroll with either the word 'heaven' or 'earth' printed upon it. They were tasked with taking the scroll and delivering it to the tower in the center of the forest. However to make things harder they also had to obtain the opposite scroll from another of the gennin teams as well. After securing the scrolls the teams had to make it to the tower completely intact or fail. If they opened the scrolls they failed and if they didn't reach the tower in the allotted time, five days they failed.
"Ok I'm thinking we should go after either the sound or that Kabuto guy's team." Said Naruto after a few minutes of silence.
"I understand going after the Oto gennin but why Kabuto-san's team?" asked Hinata.
"He rubbed me the wrong way." Answered the blonde shortly receiving a raised eyebrow from his girlfriend.
"His entire demeanor was wrong for the situation. This is an exam where everyone but your team is an enemy, yet he offered us information for free. Not only that but he knew we're rookies, theoretically easier to pick off than the other teams yet he went out of his way to help us, complete strangers. After failing six times previously he should be looking for any advantages he could get, not helping people.
On top of that he had information on the competitors something no gennin should have access to, our mission records. No one outside of Iruka-sensei, Kurenei-sensei, the old man, and I should know I have 2 successful A-rank missions under my belt but he did." Finished the blonde clenching his fist.
"You think he's a spy." Said Shino in his monotonous tone.
"Maybe not a very good one but yes after all he did have Naruto-kun's mission stats wrong on top of letting out he had the information. Still it would be a perfect cover. Gennin are not held under as much scrutiny as the chuunin and nowhere near as much as jounin. Failing the exam so many times could've been done purposely so he can maintain his cover." Said Hinata thoughtfully.
"If that is the case it would be inadvisable to go after his team." Said Shino drawing their attention.
"If he is a spy his whole team may be compromised. To remain under the radar for so long would require skill as well most likely surpassing those of a chuunin. If they were weak their jounin would not be giving them this many chances. We should go to the tower and inform the proctors or whoever is waiting to our suspicions." Explained Shino.
"Fine we'll do it your way. We'll hit the first group we come across at our level or under and move on. After that we head to the tower double time." Said Naruto getting nods from his teammates.
"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS THE TEST BEGINS…NOW."
As Anko's words came from the speakers the gates shot open with team eight dashing in just as quickly. Barely ten minutes in and Shino alerted his teammates to the fact that another team was approaching. Five minutes later their trap had sprung and they had an older Konoha squad at their mercy.
"Ok here's the deal give us your scroll or those leaches up there get to feast on you."
At the blondes words each of the elder gennin looked up only to pale upon seeing another net holding a large amount of leaches ready to be dropped on them. Catching the tossed scroll Naruto nodded before the three young gennin took off a Kage Bunshin of the blonde letting them out ten minutes later. Barely an hour into the exam and team eight was within the safety of the tower, the first team to arrive after having shattered the previous record arriving at the tower all of forty-five minutes into the exam, beating the Suna team by fifteen minutes.
Upon opening their scrolls the trio of gennin had been surprised by Iruka popping up out of the scrolls. Apparently Iruka had been chosen as one of the chuunin to explain the purpose behind this test to the examinees. After listening to his speech concerning the second exam and the meaning behind the scrolls the three had taken the opportunity to inform the scarred chuunin of their suspicions. Almost immediately the scarred chuunin's gaze had darkened at the mention of the suspected spy.
After the situation with Mizuki the scarred chuunin had developed a new level of intolerance for traitors and spies. The fact that Mizuki had actually been able to fool just about everyone especially didn't sit well with him nor did the fact that the traitor had bested him in combat. It had in turn made Iruka pick his training back up with the help of a few of his old friends. As the three gennin finished their explanations on the suspected spy and their reasoning behind their suspicions the scarred chuunin led them to the rest wing before leaving them to their own devices though he informed them he'd check into the situation.
Haruno Sakura could only look on wide eyed at the strange grass nin that stood before her. Just by looking into the eyes of the older kunoichi Sakura had seen her death in such gruesome detail that the air had frozen within her lungs and her entire body locked up. Beside her Sasuke faired no better his body broke out in a cold sweat refusing to listen to his commands. To make things worse Kiba was nowhere in sight having been caught off guard and blown away by a massive force of wind not two minutes previous.
As the long haired grass nin approached them Sasuke's body finally responded slamming a kunai into his leg and breaking the rest of his body from the spell. Ignoring the pain from the action the Uchiha turned grabbing his pink haired teammate and leapt away. Chuckling at the action the grass nin watched him go for a moment before sinking into the ground. Settling down within a tree the Uchiha dropped Sakura on the branch near the trunk as he tried desperately to catch his breath his eyes still wide in fear.
Looking forward Sakura felt her blood run cold and pulse quicken in fear as the grass nin appeared in front of her on the next tree over. Without warning the grass nin launched herself forward towards the two gennin only to be sent flying backwards by a kick to the chest as she made it half way. Recovering quickly the kunoichi managed to land on her feet and snarled before looking up eyes widening in fear. Standing between the grass nin and the two leaf gennin was a male that appeared to be about 17 or 18 wearing the standard jounin uniform for the Hidden Leaf the hitae-tae resting calmly upon his forehead. The teen also had black hair that was pulled into a ponytail with a few bangs in front of his face. It was the eyes however that put fear in the grass nin as she gazed into the scarlet red orbs with three tomoe markings held within them.
"Targeting him was a mistake, Orochimaru."
The voice that spoke was calm and emotionless one that the grass kunoichi knew all too well. The voice also had the effect of snapping the young Uchiha back to his senses causing him to spin around quickly.
"Uchiha Itachi."
The name was spat out through gritted teeth as Orochimaru glared at the teen. Reaching up Orochimaru ripped the flesh off the face exposing another obviously male face beneath it almost as if wearing a mask. Then Itachi was gone his form simply flickering out of existence and Orochimaru's yellow slit eyes widened.
Five days later found all those who passed the second exam standing within the central tower in the Forest of Death. Amazingly enough all three of Konoha's rookie teams got through, as did Gai's team and Kabuto's team. To finish things out the Suna team and the Oto team had all managed to make it as well. All in all there was a grand total of twenty one gennin much to Anko's disappointment as while she'd cut the group of test takers to less than half she had been aiming for a single digit number.
"Alright gaki's congratulations for making it this far you've successfully passed the second exam." Stated Anko before stepping back so the Hokage could step forward.
As the old man stepped up and began his speech about the truth behind the chuunin exams Naruto found himself tuning him out. With as much respect as he held for the old man his lectures still tended to be as dry and sleep inducing as Iruka's to the blonde. Finally after about ten minutes of talking the old man stepped back as the next proctor stepped forward thankfully on the ground. In all honesty the man looked as if he should be in the hospital not out in the middle of a forest but looks can be deceiving. Even though he looked hella sick, Naruto couldn't pick up the scent of sickness from him and as such recognized it as a subtle genjutsu.
"Before we can-cough- move on to the third exam-cough- there is something we must do. Seeing as how we still have so many people a preliminary round will be held before the third exam. This preliminary will take place now, so if there is anyone who would like to quit now is the time."
After the proctor, Hayate, if Naruto remembered right, said that several of the gennin spoke up mostly about why a prelim needed to be held and why right then. The answer was actually pretty simple there would be lots of important people watching the prelims and they didn't have time to see a bunch of gennin beat the crap out of each other, even if they wanted to. Also some people might not deserve to be in the third exam as they could have rode through on the strength of their teammates and as such would be weeded out now. In the end only Kabuto bowed out and Naruto honestly wasn't surprised.
Once Kabuto was gone a part of the upper wall behind Hayate slid away revealing a large television screen. Almost immediately it lit up with a jumbled picture before it settled showing two names Tsurugi Misumi and Aburame Shino. Seeing this Hayate dismissed everyone but those two to the stands. As the remaining two faced each other Shino saw the Misumi was a member of Kabuto's team and like his teammates wore majority blue and grey. Kabuto it seems was the odd man out as he was the only one who didn't wear a mask over his face and like Kabuto Misumi wore corrective lenses. Almost immediately after the match was announced to start Misumi pounced somehow extending his limbs and entrapping Shino within them who still had yet to move.
"Give it up gaki or I break your neck." Threatened Misumi.
Shino said nothing and a moment later a loud 'snap' rang out through the room as Misumi followed through. Before anything else could happen though Shino fell apart his body turning into a mass of bugs which descended on the other gennin without wasting a second.
"It seems the one who should've given up was you." Said Shino as he emerged from the shadows behind the statue in the room shocking all but his teammates and sensei. A few moments later the bugs left Misumi flowing to Shino and disappearing under the sleeves of his coat leaving Misumi behind only his twitching showing him to still have life.
"Winner Aburame Shino." Said Hayate after witnessing what would have to be the shortest match in the history of the Chuunin Exam.
As Shino reached his team and received his congratulations on the short battle the medics had retrieved Misumi and the screen had once again begun cycling through names. Finally the board stopped on Akado Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke. Almost immediately as the match started Yoroi like his teammate before him leapt forward Sasuke however shifted to the side allowing the older teen to sail past him harmlessly before turning towards him with his scarlet red eyes with two tomoes in each.
"I'm in a bad mood so for your sake you'd better be stronger than that teammate of yours."
With that said Sasuke sped through seals before breathing out a massive fireball. Dodging to the side Yoroi launched himself at the Uchiha only to miss as the youth ducked under him and planted a kick into the teens jaw that send him soaring upwards. Leaping upwards the Uchiha appeared over him already in mid flip before slamming his heel into the teen's stomach launching him back towards the ground. Running through a few seals he took another breath before exhaling sending a force of wind slamming into the teen causing him to speed up drastically and slam so hard into the ground his body caused it to spider web though there was no crater.
Landing on his feet the Uchiha scoffed seeing the older teen out cold before turning his back and walking away. As the board once again began to shuffle through names Naruto made a mental note to find out what had happened in the forest from Sakura, after all spending five days in that place would've definitely given the teme a boost to his arsenal with that blasted eye infection he called a bloodline. Finally the shuffling on the screen stopped showing the names of Abumi Zaku and Rock Lee.
"YOSH IT'S FINALLY MY TURN!"
With the exclamation Lee leapt over the railing to land lightly on his feet surprising several of the leaf jounin with the action. Finally Zaku, the spiky black haired gennin from Oto made it down a cocky smirk gracing his features. As the match started Zaku immediately acted throwing one of his arms forward palm open and firing a blast of chakra enhanced wind at the green clad gennin.
Eyes wide Lee jumped to the side barely avoiding the blast. Laughing Zaku pointed his other palm towards him sending another blast at the teen. Pushed back by the blast of wind Lee managed to flip himself so that he landed on his feet instead of his back. Smirking despite himself Lee launched himself forward surpassing his previous speed easily. As the green clad youth neared Zaku let loose yet another blast only for the boy to dodge to the side not slowing in the slightest. Firing with his other palm he was rewarded with the boy taking to the air once again as he flipped over the attack. Wide eyed Zaku barely managed to jump to the side and evade the heel drop that would have left him seeing stars.
Regaining himself Zaku fired another blast at the boy who despite barely landing still somehow managed to dodge the attack. Following the boy Zaku managed to aim both palms at him and fired a blast far more powerful than the previous ones. Seeing it coming and unable to slow himself Lee could only look on wide eyed as the blast slammed into him.
"Heh, that'll do it."
"Really now." Said a voice behind Zaku causing him to go wide eyed.
Turning he was just able to make out Lee vest less form before his foot connected with his chin launching him into the air. Leaping up after him Lee managed to grab him from behind before flipping around and throwing him towards the ground at double the speed. Zaku hit the ground hard his mouth opening in a soundless scream of pain and he could only look on in fear as Lee descended upon him with yet another heel drop only to be intercepted at the last minute by Hayate who somehow managed to snatch the boy out of the air and place him on the ground without harm.
"This match is over, Abumi Zaku can no longer compete, Rock Lee is the winner." Said Hayate after a moment.
With the match declared Lee took several deep breathes as the adrenaline was still pumping through him so much so he could not hear the rather…enthusiastic praise being given by his sensei.
"Neji-kun did Lee seem a bit different to you?" asked Tenten from the stands eyeing the green clad gennin.
Neji said nothing merely giving her a uninterested stare with his milky white eyes causing the girl to sigh in frustration.
'Honestly couldn't I get one normal person to work with? Instead I get two guys who are obsessed with the color green and the word 'Youth' and a guy with all the personality of a stick with an obsession with fate.' Thought the girl
The next few matches were rather quick and one sided. Following Lee's fight his teammate Tenten was pitted against the Suna kunoichi Temari. Despite her rather impressive ability with things sharp and pointy Temari still beat the younger kunoichi rather easily her wind attacks nullifying the other girl's weapons with every try. Kiba surprised everyone by forfeiting after being paired with Sabaku no Gaara.
Choji however followed Kiba's lead and quit after drawing Hyuga Neji. While Shikamaru with much reluctance from his end was pitted against the sound girl Kin, who he managed to outmaneuver rather easily on his part. Hinata also won her match rather easily being pitted against Sabaku no Kankuro and winning with one strike as she disabled him after finding him hiding within the bundle he carried and revealing the other to be a puppet.
Finally came the match between Ino and Sakura which at that point surprised no one, though Shikamaru would admit it to be a troublesome one.
"You know I didn't think I'd end up facing you Ino." Said Sakura as she stared at her rival and best friend.
"Regardless I'm not fighting you over Sasuke." Continued the pink haired girl as she slid a pair of gloves onto her hands.
"Finally admitting defeat forehead." Said Ino tauntingly.
"I'm admitting unattractiveness. Him using me as a sacrifice to escape harm during a fight kind of killed it."
"HE WHAT!"
Several people winced at the girls tone as a fierce killing intent came from the blonde who turned a murderous glare to the raven haired boy.
"Don't worry about that, Naruto-kun took care of that in Wave. I never thought I'd be happy to hear the sounds of his bones breaking as much as I was." Said Sakura causing the other girl to calm.
"Tch, I'll deal with him later." Said Ino twirling a kunai around her finger before running her tongue along it.
"Right you can do that right after I beat you." Said Sakura surprising everyone from her class by taking a stance outside of the academy's basic one.
"Get real forehead, will never happen." Said Ino following her example and getting into a stance as well.
"Hajime." Said Hayate before leaping back towards the wall and out of the way.
Suddenly Ino shot forward surprising Sakura with the action and causing her to step back in shock. Jumping back Sakura hurled a kunai at the other girl only for her to slip herself under it her form folding itself back while she turned to the side. As her hands touched the ground she pushed of and spun surprising everyone.
"Spiral Arrow." Called the girl turning her body into a drill.
Reigning in her surprise Sakura jumped up with a slight application of chakra which allowed her to dodge Ino's attack. Despite the missed attack Ino rolled as she hit the ground before tossing a trio of shuriken towards the pink haired girl. Seeing them coming Sakura deflected them with a kunai before tossing it and blurring through seals before disappearing. Dodging the kunai Ino scoffed before pulsing her chakra outward cancelling the genjutsu and revealing Sakura as the girl was running up.
What she wasn't prepared for however was for the girl to jump and kick out while spinning a full 360 degrees.
"Naruto-kun wasn't that…" started Hinata only to be interrupted.
"No, merely an imitation, though an admittedly good one. Her style as I'm sure you've noticed has a similarity to mine. This is mostly because she based it off of my own. Still its not bad considering it's a work in progress." Said Naruto eyeing the battling kunoichi.
"Wait you're saying the two of you are still developing her style?" questioned the Hyuga heiress unknowingly brining attention to the two of them from the various jounin and gennin surrounding them.
"No. she's developing this style all on her own. I'm there simply to give her a body to work against. In fact I've only given her one instruction and that was to use no chakra with the style." Explained the boy, seeing his girlfriend's confused expression however he continued.
"While taijutsu styles that use no chakra are generally seen as weak and meant for civilian usage they are actually quite powerful if the right one is chosen. For example the Yondaime's taijutsu style was one that used no chakra at all yet he was the strongest shinobi Konoha has ever seen. This is because a style that uses no chakra forces you to adapt to it toughening your body for its usage. However the greatest benefit of such a thing is that it makes the Sharingan useless." Said the boy making several people either wide eyed or in Kakashi's case causing him to nearly drop his book and focus on him.
"The Sharingan works by allowing the user to see chakra used by an opponent. In taijutsu specifically it allows the Sharingan user to see the chakra shadow, sort of like a projection showing where and how an opponent will move so that the Sharingan user can act accordingly. As a side benefit however this also allows the Sharingan to copy the move as it is copying the chakra pattern for later use.
By using a style that does not revolve around chakra usage you negate that benefit. Thus rendering a Sharingan user unable to see your future movements nor are they able to copy what you do. It's why I dedicated myself to learning such a style in the first place even if it takes more effort to make them good for shinobi life." Finished the blonde.
As Naruto finished it was just in time to see Sakura and Ino nail each other in the face with their fist resulting in Hayate calling a double knockout.
"Thank Kami." Said Shikamaru quietly at the matches ending catching Choji's attention.
"Don't look at me like that Choji. We both know how Ino can be, if she won or lost we'd have never heard the end of it from the troublesome woman." Muttered the ponytail wearing gennin causing his friend to snort in agreement.
"Next match Kinuta Dosu vs. Uzumaki Naruto."
Hayate's voice snapped everyone not paying attention back into reality. Seeing the worried look in Hinata's eyes the blonde gave her a confident grin and a wink before leaping over the railing and landing lightly on his feet. Once Dosu made it down the stairs Naruto took the time to look over this opponent. While his face was wrapped in bandages leaving only a single eye visible he was dressed in what Naruto figured to be Oto's BDU though his sleeves were longer than his arms. A scarf was wrapped around his neck with the same camouflage pattern as his pants and he wore a large what looked to be straw…thing on his back.
"Begin."
As soon as the word was given Dosu charged forward swinging his right arm in a punch. Naruto simply leaned back and readied a counter for the missed attack before suddenly jumping back with a surprisingly large leap only to land unsteadily and fall to a knee.
"Impressive despite the pain you managed to leap away and only took a small amount of damage." Stated Dosu as he straightened allowing for the hole filled gauntlet on his arm to be seen.
Suddenly he was in front of the boy again sending his gauntlet clad arm forward. Still disoriented from the first attack Naruto could do nothing as the attack landed and he was sent tumbling back several feet. As he stopped the blonde's body shook as he was wracked by a coughing fit before spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"You know this isn't as satisfying as I thought it would be. I mean I've been waiting to get back at you for that lucky shot you got since the first exam." Said the Oto gennin as he calmly walked up on the boy who was still trying to compose himself.
"And your supposed to be among the leaf's elite, a tree huggers really are overrated. Oh well it's over."
With that Dosu moved to swing again only to suddenly find himself doubled over Naruto's arm his fist embedded into his gut before he was sent sprawling by a punch to the jaw that gave an audible crack.
"That ought to shut you up." Muttered the blonde as he stood to his feet a pair of cold slit blue eyes staring down at the other gennin.
"No wonder you guys are called Hidden Sound, all you do is make noise" stated the blonde with a smirk as he continued to eye the recovering gennin.
Out of nowhere Dosu was rushing towards him again swinging his gauntlet only for the blonde to catch it with his left hand.
"H-how." Muttered Dosu in shock.
"This toy of yours, it works by manipulating the sound waves caused by your arms movements which you then amplify by use of chakra. The problem with this is the range is incredibly short which is why you have to be right on your target when you attack. It also isn't until then that you use your chakra in the attack."
As the blonde spoke his grip on the metal gauntlet increased until such a point that he was actually denting it causing Dosu to visibly wince and grunt in pain while his eyes showed fear.
"Look at you, your shaking. What happened to all bravado from earlier. Then again it most likely evaporated with your chances of winning once this little toy of yours was disabled. After all you Oto nin's apparently have no real strength all of your relying on some outside help. Hell the kunoichi is obviously the strongest of your team and even she is a one trick pony while your friend with the tubes was obviously the weakest."
By now the metal gauntlet had been crushed around the teens arm and Dosu had been forced to his knees due to the pain. Finally the teen was no longer able to take it.
"Enough I give up!" exclaimed the teen prompting Hayate to step forward and Naruto to release a foxy grin.
"Well its about damn time. For a second I was actually contemplating hitting him again." Said the blonde causing Hayate to smirk as he watched Dosu be escorted out by the medic nin.
"Damn it; is there anybody that can get that kid to fight seriously!" exclaimed Anko causing the Sandaime to chuckle.
"Right then-cough- would those who one there matches –cough- please come down." Said Hayate before stepping back as the Hokage took his place.
"Congratulations to you all who won there matches and thus earned your spot into the third exam." Said Hizuren as he looked upon the gathered gennin.
"Before we can go any further however there is one more thing to do."
As the old man spoke Anko appeared before the gennin holding a box in hand. One by one she went by the gennin motioning for them to take a slip until all of them had one.
"Now then would everyone please give there number starting from the left.
"One." Stated Neji calmly.
"Nine." Shino
"Four" Temari
"Eight" Gaara
"Three" Shikamaru
"Six" Sasuke
"Five, Yosh!"
"Seven" Naruto
"Two." Hinata.
With that done a board was presented showing everyone's names placed into a slot a lot like a tournament matchup.
"As all of you can see the third exam is set up as a tournament. Though it is a tournament it in no way means that only one person gets promoted. Promotions are given based on scores given to you by a panel of judges who will be watching the matches. Meaning all of you could be promoted and also that none of you could. However the further you progress in the tournament the more the judges can see you and the better your chances for promotion.
The tournament will take place eight weeks from now. This is because many of the various daimyos will be in attendance as well as several other people. This window of time will give them a chance to make the journey. However it also doubles as training time for all of you. Many of you have shown all you can do today while others haven't. This will give all of you a chance to better prepare to face your foe and add to your own ability. Are there any questions…no then you are dismissed. I look forward to seeing you all compete." With that said the Hokage disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Turning back towards the board each of the competitors couldn't help but look forward to the day ahead.
Match One: Hyuga Neji vs. Hyuga Hinata.
Match Two: Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari
Match Three: Rock Lee vs. Uchiha Sasuke
Match Four: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Sabaku no Gaara
Match Five: Aburame Shino vs. Winner of match four.
AN: That's it chapters done. I know it took a while but this one was hard for me. Anyway thanks for reading and please review. Later.
