Chapter Ten - The Chuunin Exams prt. 2
"Alright! I know those caves by the back of my hand!" one excited snow-nin shouted. "This'll be easy!"
The other forty-four genin looked at the boy and sweatdropped, the examiner rolling his eyes with exasperation. He finally clapped his hands, regaining the attention of the gathered genin.
"There are a few instructions I must give you all before you are allowed to venture into the Ice Caves of Doom. First; everyone of you must sign a waver before entering the caves"
So as it were, everyone quickly signed their forms and waited for further instruction. The jounin held up a glowing white stone the size of a bar of soap.
"Second; the object of this second exam is to locate the Glow Stones. Each team is required to collect four stones, one for each direction, in order qualify for the final exam. Third; only one member of each team is allowed to retrieve them - "
Those words met a lot of angry shouting. Seishouku just ignored them all, baring his teeth instead. When everyone finally calmed down, he began to speak again.
"Think of this as a mission gone awry - you are attacked by enemy nin while the valuable items you are to return to your village are scattered. During the fray, one of your teammates has been separated from you, and its put to the others to find him or her. Suffice to say, said missing teammate is the only one who knows how to find the missing items. Do you understand?"
There was a unanimous nod.
"Good. So now it gets more complicated. One genin from each team will be singled out and transported to different areas with the caves. You'll only have seventy-two hours in which to navigate the caves, recover the fours stones marked with the symbols for North, East, South and West, and be reunited with your teammates within the allotted time period to pass. If you and/or your teammates do not possess your Glow Stones, you'll be disqualified. Once you have your Glow Stones, they will give you the directions to the center most point of the caves, in which you will then be transported to the coliseum atop Mt. Eba-Hawaito"
More nods.
"Also I must warn you that if someone who goes against they're given duties, then they and their teammates will be automatically disqualified"
Mutters and groans wafted through the crowd.
"But how will the one of us that gets transported into the caves be chosen Itazuki-san?" a waterfall-nin ask.
"Good question" Seishouku nodded, and retrieved a small bag that was strapped to his back. Reaching in, he withdrew a trio of scrolls. "One these are scrolls has a built in transportation jutsu. Each one of you will receive a scroll, but only one of you will get the one that'll transport you into the caves"
It took five minutes for the teams to receive their scrolls. Gathered together, the nine from Konoha gazed down at their unopened scrolls.
"So," Kiba finally asked, "Which one of us do think is going to be 'chosen'"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and shock his head. "No clue mutt"
Kiba blew Sasuke a raspberry. All anxious to see who would be the one to collect the team's Glow Stones, the nine friends took deep breaths and unfurled their scrolls as fast as they could.
Nothing happened.
Naruto frowned, blonde eyebrows knitting together. "What the hell was that supposed to - "
The blonde was suddenly cut off as he disappeared, Harry and Hinata vanishing with him.
Sasuke, Sakura, Ron, Hermione, Kiba and Shino stared at the spot were their three companions that recently be standing. Glancing about, they noticed that crowd of genin had depleted slightly. Sasuke noticed that out of remaining he recognized were Risika, Shoushin, Taiyo, and Lulu, not to mention the twins Azuke and Nuke that Naruto had pointed out earlier. As a matter of fact, he swore he caught sight of Gaara and Kankoru from Sand.
A genin from Mist village sighed. "That wasn't so hard…"
Those words only caused the examiner to burst out laughing.
"That's what you think kid. The Ice Caves of Doom are complexly riddled with booby traps, secret passages and a wide assortment of dangerous creatures that lurk in those dark depths. You'll also have to fight each other to protect your teammate with the Glow Stones, while that teammate might just have to fight off others trying to usurp them of the stones. So I am regretful to say that I doubt even half of you will make it back alive. Have fun!"
Seishouku disappeared in a poof of smoke and the gates to the caves opened, leavening the remaining genin to enter at their own risk.
- Within the Ice Caves -
72 hours to go...
Akumu groaned. His eyes watered as he rubbed his tender head, his stomach reach to lurch. Gazing about, he noticed that he was in one of the dimly lit ice chambers that had to be at least fifty feet below ground. As the young vessel of the Gobi no Houkou got to his feet, the walls shimmered and danced with his refection - hell, he had been in these caves hundreds of times and it still reminded him of a carnival funhouse!
"Damn…" he muttered sourly. "What do I do now?"
The white haired boy shifted uneasily on one foot and looked towards the darkened tunnel to his left. Sighing, he pushed up his sunglasses and began to follow his noise. His heightened senses could make out various distant smells and sounds.
As he entered the tunnel, and traveled for a stretch, he noticed that it branched off into a dozen different tunnels. Just great.
"Hey whelp, follow the one that smells like orange rind. It overlaps another scent that seems familiar, but I can't seem to make it out"
'And why should I do that baka houkou?'
"Because I said so brat! Now do it!"
Akumu rolled his eyes. Of all the Biju he had to get stuck with, it had to be the Gobi. That damned wolf was the bane of his existence - literately.
'No'
"WHAT?"
Apparently the stupid demon still thought it ruled the roost.
'Shut up Gobi. Its your own fault that your inside of me - had you not sealed yourself…'
The wolf growled. "You know damn well that it wasn't my fault - I was only trying to get revenge on that miserable clan of yours"
The white haired boy didn't bother to answer. The demon was right that. The Tsukiaoi clan had had a grudge with the five-tailed wolf over a century. Tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye - that was how it all started. The great ookami had been both respected and feared back in the olden days. There had been one golden rule though, and that was to not trespass up it territory.
But many Tsukiaoi back then, as they still were today, were as daring as they we're daftly prideful. It only took the heads of the clan to ventured down into Gobi's territory and defiling its ancient resting place to awaken a now enraged wolf demon. And so the bloodshed would continue on, and then end just shy of ten years ago.
Akumu had been only three years old the day that the Gobi no Houkou launched its last attack upon his clan, voluntarily sealed itself inside his body out of spite. The voluntary sealing had caused the pair to merge, giving the white haired toddler a tail, claws, fangs, transformed eyes and heightened senses. It had been both victory and failure that day. On one hand, Akumu was the only remaining pureblood clan heir was tainted; on the other, the clan relentlessly tormented the boy.
And until the day he had become genin a little over a year and a half ago, the village had not known about his curse. Having spent years of having abuse after abuse inflicted upon him by his own clan and forced to be concealed within the most complex of genjutsus to hide what his parents called his 'monstrous appearance', Akumu had been a nervous wreck that had day by day wished for death. It was only in being teamed up with Hara no Risika and Nadare Shoushin that saved him...
'Alright, alright - don't sulk'
"I am a mighty demon!" Gobi bellowed with their head. "I do not sulk!"
'Sure…'
After that, Akumu tuned the annoying wolf out - it was worse then a little brother at times. But as asked, the wolf-boy followed the sent of orange rinds. It only took him ten minute to navigate following the scent when he finally stumbled into another cavern. Unbeknownst to him, he was unprepared for the sudden drop into another cavern below.
For a few moments, nothing happened, but a flare of bright light issued revealed that there was a Glow Stone nearby! But then his wolfish instincts suddenly went wild from the sent of fox, causing the young demon vessel to attack.
Within the darkness, his eyes made out the form of another genin, the very source of the orange rind and fox scent that was also attacking, whether it be for the stone or because he was being attacked, but Akumu found that he was unable to control the demonic power that now flowed freely through him.
Claws lashed out, ripping into clothing and flash, the retaliator doing the same. Unable to fight with bran itself, both fighters moved something more.
"Akumu Houkou!"
"Kitsune Kaji!"
The large passage was filled with two blinding lights of indigo and aqua at the same time as. The to attacks clashed mixing and suddenly turning to a soil lump of ice the glow ethereally, lighting up the passage even more. Licking their wounds, the two genin planned to attack again, but stopped dead in their tracks as soon as the got a good look at each other.
Akumu stood frozen, his mouth hanging open as he stared at the genin before him. If his eyes weren't deceiving him, then it was a boy who had a pair of furry yellow ears poking out of spiky golden hair. But the thing that struck him most wasn't the obvious accessory of the ears, but the eyes - a pair of wide blue orbs with black slitted pupils.
So much like his own eyes - those unique orbs with dark gray irises and white triangle pupils…
Demonic eyes.
The eyes of a half merged Jinchuuriki.
Shaking his head, he watched as the blonde rubbed his own eyes. Looking back at him, Akumu realized that the boy had noticed tail, which had become unwrapped during their attacks.
Finally, the blonde broke the silence.
"Y-you're Jinchuuriki aren't you"
Inside him, Gobi snorted with disgust. "As if it wasn't obvious…"
Akumu ignored the five-tailed wolf's comment, sufficing in giving the demon a quick mantle jab. Right now all he was more concerned with the fact that he had just met someone who was like himself.
"Then that means you are too"
"Damn… the spell wore off…" he muttered, hands reaching up to feel his own ears and the moments later grinned. "Yatta! What demon do you imprison?"
Akumu couldn't help but laugh, the tenseness in the air lessening. There was something about this blonde boy that reminded him of himself and it wasn't the demon that he carried.
"I'm a Tsukiaoi Akumu and my freeloading parasite is the Gobi no Houkou"
"Hey! I resent that!"
'Good! If it wasn't for you, my life would be soo much better!'
He watched with satisfaction as the boy's face pinched as if he smelt something stinky, his eyes half glazed as he apparently spoke telepathically with his own demon as he just had with Gobi.
"Well at least you're luckier me" he finally said, feline eyes twinkling. "All you have to do is have to deal with is a pathetic little whiner, I have to deal with a grouch who's got more ego then a peacock. I'm Namikaze Naruto and my pestilence is the Kyuubi no Kitsune"
"Kyuubi?" Gobi suddenly howled with laugher, the sound echoing off poor Akumu's eardrums. "That little excuse for a ninja cages Kyuubi? Oh of all the nine Biju, he deserves being sealed in such a pathetic human host!"
Both boys winced, apparently having heard close to the same thing.
"Ouch… parent/teenager relationship…" they snickered at the same time.
"Bite you tongue whelps!"
Although he hadn't been able to hear it, the nine-tailed fox must have echoed the five-tailed wolf's seething retort. Feeling happier then he had in along time, Akumu smiled.
"So…" Naruto grinned foxily. "Sorry I attacked you"
"Don't worry about it. It was my fault in the first place and its better then what Risika always does"
"Risika? You mean you're the other teammate of that crazy princess chick? Oh man - Sasuke-teme has such a crush on her!"
"Does he have black hair and, I shall quote, 'a no surrender look'?"
The blonde nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, that's him. She just so happens to be that damn ice cube's first crush too!"
"Ooh…" Akumu winced. "I pity that poor bastard…"
"Why so?"
"The only way to classify Risika is 'evil'. To her, men are toys to be punished - she likes to break them completely, but they still come back for more. She has a good memory so she can always get revenge, no matter how lame the mistake; she sometimes lapses into murderous rages that only a kitten can bring her out of; and she also has a wicked bloodline limit known as the Kamiomoi. She's actually driven a few people crazy with it too…"
Naruto snickered.
"A perfect match for the morose Uchiha"
"A Uchiha? As in the Sharingan?"
"Yep" he shuddered then. "Could you imagine the children?"
Akumu burst out laughing so he had tears in his eyes. Seeing those images could make any man die happy.
"So, what do we do about this Glow Stone?" he frowned, bending down to pick of the shimmering stone that was marked 'Minami' or 'South'. "We fought and tied after all…"
"Well," Naruto pondered. "Kyuubi thinks I should have it since it's a demon of the South. How about we look for our team's stones together? Double the man power! Two cool dudes cursed with wicked demon powers - we'll kick ass!"
And it wasn't a bad idea at all…
"So, how do you think your students will do?"
Kakashi looked up from his trusty orange book to see that one of other jounin present had apparently become bored with the chattering conversations (he hadn't been interested in the first place since he had some catch up with his book to do and Obito was busy talking to Kurenai…)
The other man didn't look entirely interesting, dressed the basic of snow jounin uniform, but with his impractical two-toned white/blue knee length hair that was braided and befit with senbon needles (most likely poisoned) like a whip with fangs, almost unearthly skin tone and bright fathomless ice blue eyes, he was quite formidable.
"Not a clue" Kakashi replied nonchalantly, eye glancing back to his book before snapping it shut. "But I daresay the have what it takes to pass. Hatake Kakashi, and you are?"
The other jounin smirked. "My, my - the Copy Nin. It's a pleasure. Kita no Toushou"
"Frostbite of the North. I should have known"
"Seems our reputations precedes us ne?" Toushou chuckled, nodding approvingly.
Kakashi rolled his eyes, a small smirk of his own forming under his mask. "So who makes up your team?
"Hara no Risika, Nadare Shoushin and Tsukiaoi Akumu"
The silver haired man snorted. "So that wintry girl belongs to you?"
The snow jounin burst out laughing.
"Ah so you've met the 'fair' Risika. Yes, she's mine alright - although I sometimes wish it wasn't so. She's also known as the no. #1 most dangerous woman under the age of twenty, so stay as far away from her as you can. Highly skilled in all sorts of manipulation - not even Rikkakage-sama can restrain that one. She's a double-edged blade with bite and takes much pleasure in causing not only her enemies, but her comrades pain"
"Reminds me of too many women I know"
"And isn't that a shame! Then there's the other two. Shoushin, due to his clan's unique heritage of muteness, tends to lean towards stealth and genjutsu - one of the best in his age group. Akumu… well the boy has his problems. How about you? What's your team like?"
"Well…" Kakashi began, wondering how to describe his students without giving anything away. "There is Haruno Sakura, who is innate with advanced neural pathways; Namikaze Naruto, my late sensei's child - he umm... has problems of his own as well; and Uchiha Sasuke, as of now, one of last three users of the Sharingan"
Although he hadn't said anything that could have warranted for the next question, Kita no Toushou had perked when he had mentioned Naruto.
"He's one of the Jinchuuriki isn't he?"
- Within the Ice Caves -
70 hours to go...
Elsewhere, Kinezumi Kinomi breathed a sigh of relief. Anywhere was better then being with either Azuke or Nuke. The stone-genin massaged her temples, ever so happy to be away from her monstrous teammates. Since she had entered the caves a little over two hours ago, she had locate the 'Nishi' or 'West' stone.
Glow Stones, she had to find the three more stones.
Looking around, she realized with distain that she was lost and that she was being watched…
"Hello?"
Her voice echoed back to her. Taking a deep breath, she headed for her cavern's only tunnel exit. It was dark and nearly impossible to see, and the cave walls were so far enough apart that she couldn't feel her way along.
It lasted for what felt like hours, the same slow haul that went on and on. Where would the stone she needed to find be? Would she ever find it? It was only then did she really begin to feel so very alone. Her thought went to that of her sisters, eight years long gone. She missed the earthen scent of Uxinta's long chestnut brown hair; Aki's morbid hobby of collecting animal bones; and Natsu's knack for breaking all the rules.
What she wouldn't give to have all that back.
A scream suddenly rocked Kinomi back to her senses as she crashed into someone, the ground suddenly giving out beneath them.
She and the other unknown genin clutched each other in fear as they tumbled down what had to be some sort of ice slide. She could barely hear the sounds of their screams as she banged her head shapely against the icy wall.
"ITAI!" she wailed, her temples throbbing.
Pulling out her stone, its bright light illuminating the icy slopping passage. But the light was bright, signifying that there was another stone.
"Y-you!" the other genin gaspingly stuttered as she turned to look into the other's eyes, the girl holding up the 'Azuma' or 'East' stone.
White-eyes…
"I-its you!"
"Me? What about me?" Kinomi yelped, struggling to stop the movement that was starting to make her sick.
"You're t-the one who's taken m-my Naruto-kun!"
"Hunh? Naruto? What about him? He's like the brother I've never had. Do you like him or something?"
The indigo haired girl with the pale eyes blushed, clapping a hand over her mouth. Kinomi grinned wickedly.
"You soo do!" she laughed loudly, clapping her hands. "Then you have to be the girl he about! You're Hinata right? You fit his descriptions perfectly. Dark hair, white eyes, demure, and you also have the sweetest smile"
"A-ano? He s-said that about me?"
"Yep! I'm Kinomi by the way"
Hinata looked about ready to say something while she leaned back against the tunnel wall, only for it to give way. With a scream, the ashen haired girl fell backward, the indigo haired girl reaching out to catch her hand only to be dragged along. Screaming, the two dropped.
They handed in a slopping passage, one so icy that it acted as a slide, pulling their bodyweight downwards. Clutching each other tightly, their joint screams echoed through the many caverns as the slide cut short, causing them to drop a good ten feet.
The landing was suspiciously soft, causing both Kinomi and Hinata to look down as a pair of groans were issued moments later.
"Naruto!"
"Naruto-kun!"
The two girls leapt off the squashed orange boy, only noticing then that there was another boy, this one dressed in blue, squashed as well. The two boys twitched in pain, their eyes welling up with tears.
"Hinata-chan? Kinomi-aneki? Am I dying?"
Unable to help it, the two girls blushed and giggled.
"N-no silly" the white eyed girl, Hinata, smiled weakly, a pink hue blossoming on her pale cheeks as she dropped to her knees to inspect him.
"Are... you my guardian angel then?" he slurred, his eyes still spinning. "You... look really pretty. Hinata... my sunny place in the sun..."
Hinata's face back a new species of tomato.
The other boy pouted as he struggled to sit up, his eyes spinning. "What am I? Chopped liver?"
Kinomi rolled her eyes. Hey, he was kinda cute! Looking more closely, she noticed that the white haired boy had a tail! Her eyes widened and looked back to Naruto. It was only then that she realized he had cat ears! Not to mention that their eyes were weird!
"What are you?" she gasped in awe, rushing forward with a schoolgirl-like squeal to pet and scratch at the tail and ears.
Doing so caused Hinata to gasp as well, her pale eyes becoming as large as saucers.
"N-N-Naruto-kun? W-why do y-you have ears l-like that?"
Naruto winced, looking at the floor. Noticing the blonde's distress, the tailed boy smiled grimly.
"Yo… I'm Akumu" he waved, and smiled weakly. "I must warn you, there is a really long story behind all this. It all starts with the Nine Legendary Biju Demons; the Ichibi, the Nibi, the Sanbi, the Yonbi, the Gobi, the Rokubi, the Shichibi, the Hachibi and the Kyuubi…"