AN: So, the Chūnin Exams begin.
I want to thank you all for the reviews, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter as well. Also it has come to my attention I haven't mention what the title means. For those who have not figured it out themselves, the title means Daughter of The Whirlpool.
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Chūnin Arc.
Uzu no Musume.
Chapter 9: Journey To Sunagakure: Chūnin Exams Part III.
Naruto made good on her promise to Gaara, she met him the next day minutes before noon. She wasn't all that surprised to find him in the same place on the swing, and that he had the teddy bear she'd seen yesterday with him.
Now, someone else might think this laughable, a boy her age carrying around a teddy bear, but she didn't. She had a feeling that bear was the only company he really had besides Yashamaru.
It sort of reminded her of her fox, which she no longer carried around but still had in her room. That fox had been her only friend once upon a time, before she'd become a ninja.
Unfortunately, she only had one day to spend with him. The following day was the beginning of the Chūnin Exams, but she'd promised to make as much time as she could to see him. It wasn't charity or pity, it was understanding. Gaara was like her, and she knew from experience she would have given anything to have a friend.
She'd been lucky to find the ones she had now.
"I'm glad you three made it," Mikoto-sensei said as they entered the Suna Academy. "I was concerned you'd get lost."
"Nope," Kasumi said, smiling. "Naru-chan asked her new boy friend..." She trailed off, her smile was teasing, and her eyes mischievous while Koji covered a laugh with a cough.
Naruto blushed deeply, and glared halfheartedly at her friends.
"He's just my friend," she said, looking back to Mikoto who seemed amused. "Gaara showed me where it was this morning."
She hadn't been sure she'd find him this morning, but thankfully he'd been there waiting for her. Well, maybe not waiting for her exactly but he'd been there, and seemed only slightly surprised to see her.
She'd gotten a quick brunch with him – the exams didn't start till around two so she had a few hours – and asked him about where exactly the Academy was. He'd showed her after they'd eaten and then she'd taken him to meet her teammates.
It was brief but went better then she'd hoped.
What continued to annoy her to no end was the looks Gaara received. It had taken her only a few minutes to realize they were the same as the ones she reviewed back home. She didn't want to pry though, and so she never asked.
"I'm glad your getting along here," Mikoto said, and motioned for them to continue in. "Go on, and good luck."
Team seven nodded and with one quick glance at each other entered the room. The first thing Naruto noticed was the papers on each desk, and she saw the words written on the board up front – Written Exam.
'Kami, I'm doomed!' She felt herself shrivel inside at the realization she had to take an exam.
For every bit of intelligence she had, and as great a ninja she was... written exams were never her strong point. She wasn't sure why but she just didn't do too well under the pressure of a written test.
"You'll do fine," she heard Kasumi say beside her.
"Hn, she's right," Koji added, nodding.
Looking at both her friends she smiled and nodded.
"Right, I'll pass this stupid test – Dattebane!"
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Matsunaga Kaito was the unfortunate soul roped into being a proctor for the second half of the Chūnin Exam. Usually he was more than happy to be elsewhere. On a mission or even watching as some of the genin teams hoping for promotion floundered around like fish out of water.
There were never many promotions when exams where held in Suna, mostly because of the drastically different climate to other countries. Looking around at those that remained he shook his head, snorting.
"Fifty-seven, Yoshida?" he asked the proctor for the first exam, who shrugged.
"That's what I got from ninety hopeful," Yoshida said, and Kaito nodded and glared at the group of genin.
"Alright, listen up. This next test will be outside Suna, so you have an hour to pack essentials in one bag, no more no less and meet me at the gates."
With that the man shunshined away, shocking those few who didn't recognize the technique and others because they didn't expect the proctor to simply leave. Yoshida's eye twitched as the genin stayed seated for a minute or two... and he sighed.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, BRATS!" he yelled. "Go!"
It was instantaneously that the genin shot up and left, heading back to their hotels to pack a bag for the second part of the exam.
"So, what do you think?" Koji asked while they headed back to their hotel.
Mizumaru barked three times and Kasumi nodded as if she understood the ninken – which she did being an Inuzuka.
"Right you are Mizu-chan," she said. "We should separate what we pack concerning our strengths. I'll handle medical, and you and Naru-chan can handle the brute force and intelligence."
Koji nodded along with Naruto.
"That sounds good," Naruto said. "Since I can make storage scrolls I can carry more then you two. I figure we wont need to go all out though, and I'll be sure to bring a few blank scrolls in case we need them and tags as well."
With a plan in mind the three entered their hotel room to ready themselves.
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The Proctor (Matsunaga Kaito) looked at them all as they stood at the gates, all with bags somewhere on their person. Beside the proctor was four others. Three had bags in their hand and the other was simply there.
"Alright, first things first, these are waivers. You all must sign them or back out now. Be warned, if you do back out your team is disqualified."
"What's the waivers for?" a genin from what looked like the Waterfall village asked.
Kaito smirked and snickered as he handed the waivers to the jōnin beside him to hand out.
"Your deaths," he said bluntly, causing many to gasp, shriek, or back away shocked.
"What!?" nearly all the genin yelled, and Kaito snickered louder.
"Calm down brats," he said, shaking his head. "This exam isn't child's play. Shinobi way of life is life or death most the time, there is no room for hesitance. Those waivers are basically forms saying if you die in this exam then Suna isn't responsible for it."
"So... you expect us to kill each other?" a genin from Suna asked.
"It's unavoidable. This next phase of the exam is a Battle Royal of sorts," he began. "You will be taken to a place not far from here, which borders one of the dividers between Wind Country and the next country over; known as Area 51. It's the only place that isn't completely desert land in Wind Country."
Kaito stopped there and looked at the genin before continuing.
"You will trade your waivers for a coin from one of these three jōnin," he said pointing out the three beside him with the bags. "Each coin is different, they have different symbols. Wind, Heaven or Earth. You must collect one of each and make it back to Suna in six days. If one of your team is dead upon arrival you are disqualified. If you do not have all three coins then you are disqualified. If you don't make it back in time the same applies."
"Can we make alliances with other teams?"
Kaito snorted and shrugged.
"If that's what you want, but it'd be sort of foolish if you have different coins. And even if you do, even comrades can turn on one another," he said. "So, come get your coins. The one who passed out your waivers will take them back and blindfold you, seeing as we can't have you little genin seeing what direction we go in."
"Well," Kaito said a minute latter, raising an eyebrow. "Get to it!"
That was all that was needed for everyone to begin moving.
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"So, what do we have?" Koji asked, sitting against a tree not too far from where they'd been dropped an hour earlier.
Naruto pulled the coin from one of her waist pouches and turned it over. It was silver and the symbol was that of Wind.
"Wind," she said. "So what should we do? I'm pretty sure given the thickness of the forested area we're pretty deep inside."
Mizumaru barked, from where he sat by Kasumi's side.
"The closer to the exit of this dry place the more sand we should see," Kasumi said. "Did anyone pack a map?"
"I did," Koji said, pulling it from his bag. "Though this place, Area 51, may not be on it for all we know."
Naruto shrugged, putting the coin back in her pouch.
"We have to try, and Suna is nearly in the middle of Wind Country and they said it was only an hour or two out," she said and then sighed. "The problem is in which direction did we go?"
Kasumi bit her lip.
"Mizumaru may be able to track a scent back to the village. Ours or otherwise, but with so many shinobi about and the wind, heat and sand... it wont be easy."
Mizumaru whined, and his ears flattened against his head in agreement of her partners words.
Koji sighed, shrugging.
"Getting out is one thing, but getting the other two coins..." Koji began and stopped suddenly when they heard rustling.
Naruto's eyes widened, ducking just in time for a kunai to fly passed and bury itself into the bark of a tree where her head once was.
"You don't need to worry about that," a voice said, and three genin stepped out from their hiding places. "We will be taking your coin, Konoha-nin."
There were three, all dressed in darker colors and some form of camo in odd places in blue and white. Their hitai-ate's were of Kirigakure.
"Kasumi," Koji began, and they all stood ready for a fight. "Be ready as back up with Mizumaru."
Kasumi nodded, her eyes narrowed.
"Right," she said.
"Naru, what do you think?" he asked, looking over at her to find her in her more common Uzumaki clan style.
"We go wild," she said, and flashed a bright smile before becoming serious again.
"Pathetic," one of the Kiri genin spat. "What are you Blondie, six?"
Naruto's eyes grew dark as she gritted her teeth.
"I'm nearly nine, 'ttebane!" she growled.
Wasting no more time she jumped back to put more space between her and them, and threw shuriken at the Kiri-nin. That was all it took to begin the fight.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!" Koji said, and wasn't too surprised when the male genin he faced sent a surprisingly strong water jutsu back.
"Keh, you'll have to do better then tha – ack!" the genin said, and he was hit from behind by Mizumaru.
Meanwhile, Naruto faced two of the genin who had decided to gang up on the 'pretty blonde' as one of the male Kiri genin had told his teammate - a girl with short black hair and cold brown eyes.
Naruto was good, and at first had the upper hand as she used her agility to block, dodge, duck, jump and anticipate her enemies moves... but that got harder as they showed just how skilled they were at working together.
"Never seen a girl with whiskers before," the male said, smirking. "Wonder if she's one of those bloodline freaks?"
The female sneered, and used Naruto's moment of distraction to nail her in the gut and place her kunai against her neck harshly, drawing a line of blood.
"Has to be, I mean look at her," the girl sneered, digging the kunai deeper against the blonde's neck. "No one has marks like that and is human."
Naruto's eyes widened feeling blood trail down from the still shallow wound, and she gasped at those words; words of villagers coming back to her.
'Not human...'
'Demon brat...'
'Kitsune bitch...'
'Get out demon, no one wants you...'
'Can't be human, not with marks like...'
"Let go of her," Kasumi snapped as she punched the girl holding Naruto in the side of the head, a kunai drawn.
The girl was forced to let her go, and Naruto backed up slowly. Then she glared at the remaining genin, the male.
"Futon: Reppūshō (Wind Release: Gale Palm)!" Naruto said after going through seals at a fast pace.
The genin was hit by the violent wind and knocked back into his teammate who was fighting Koji and Mizumaru.
"Bitch!" the genin said, and Naruto snorted.
"Give us your coin," Koji said as the girl Kasumi had been fighting hit the ground next to her teammates. "Or me and Naru will show you something we've been working on for a while. If you're lucky you'll live."
"You'll have to kill us, bloodline trash," one of the males spat noticing Koji's Sharingan eyes.
"How about... not," Kasumi said holding ninja wire and giving one end to Mizumaru. It was no time before the three genin were bound together by the near invisible strands of wire.
"Ahhg, when we get out of here you're dead!" the girl cried, struggling.
Kasumi snorted and walked forward, searching through the genin's pockets and pouches for the coins. Her face was a mask of concentration in case they tried something.
"Found it," Kasumi said, holding up a silver coin and turning it slowly with a smirk. "Earth!"
"Dattebane!" Naruto cheered, jumping up, her fist hitting air in her mini-celebration. "We should go now, we need to find the last coin."
Kasumi who had walked over to hand the coin to Naruto nodded, and Koji grabbed his bag after stuffing the map back inside.
"Don't walk away from us," one of the genin said after getting free of the wire. The
Kiri-nin headed straight for team seven who were about to leave with a long thick sword in hand. Koji and Naruto were the first to react, and on instinct went into hand seals.
"Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)!" Koji called, and even though he didn't have a conductor of any sort for the jutsu to travel through, he knew Naruto's part of their combination attack would make up for it.
"Fūton: Atsugai (Wind Release: Pressure Damage)!" Naruto said.
The wind that was released was tornado-like, when it hit the fire from Koji's jutsu it was like a whirlpool-tornado (or many waterspouts might be more accurate) were created and began heading towards the Kiri-nin.
There was no escape for the three ninja, and team seven couldn't look away at the fiery masses which hit its target. There were short screams before nothing could be heard, but the smell was enough to bring tears to Kasumi and Naru's eyes.
Koji fought any back the same reaction. If they were all three dead Naruto, Koji and Kasumi didn't know, but the one who'd tried to attack them definitely was. The chance anyone had survived that, especially being genin, was slim to none.
"Yo-you two did say that new attack you'd been working on was... dangerous," Kasumi said, forcing down bile.
The three had killed before, being genin for so long it was rather unavoidable. Those had been bandits though, having done c-ranks other than the first c-rank which was more b-rank then c-rank once done and over with.
"We should go," Naruto said, forcing down her own emotions.
That attack had taken her nearly half a year to master as well she had, and another six or so months to safely combine it with one of Koji's Katons for the combination they'd just done. It was also her most powerful wind jutsu, if not one of her favorites.
Koji nodded and the three genin turned and ran in a direction they hoped would bring them closer to the third coin and the desert of Suna.
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EDITED 7/3/15.