Wow I am suuuuuper surprised to see that my last chapted actually got good reviews, I expected complaints, but thank you all! :D
Now as promised, chapter 9, enjoy!
It was a quiet day at the gates of Konoha as the two Chunin gate guards, Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane were sitting peacefully to the side of the road. They were half asleep, and mumbling to themselves about needing better jobs, and just looked like they were going to leave their post and never come back. These two shinobi were dubbed as the Eternal Chunin as they had never managed to get a promotion, failing their Jounin exams on multiple occasions, and to their distain, it meant they were stuck with the worst job, guard duty.
As their eyes began to close and they began to zone out they never noticed the group that had just entered the village. Kakashi sweat-dropped at the Chunin while Okami actually face-palmed. Sighing, Okami threw two blunt kunai in their direction, causing the two metal projectiles to bounce off of their heads.
As the sound of the metal knives hitting the floor was heard, both Chunin jumped up with a groan. "What the hell!" Kotetsu shouted out angrily as he looked around angrily for the person who dared to attack him while he was unprepared, but when his eyes reached the two Jounin he froze and became silent.
Izumo snickered at his friend as he watched the scene unfold, before beginning to talk. "Ah, team seven, and team eleven, I'm glad to see you have arrived. Lord Hokage is expecting you right away, so I wouldn't leave him waiting you guys."
Okami nodded and turned to walk, as the two Chunin looked to the back of the group to see the A-Rank missing ninja, Zabuza Momochi, beginning to shake with fear. As the group moved passed the two guards they were suddenly stopped as a squad of Anbu appeared before them. "Kakashi, Okami, we have been ordered to retrieve Zabuza Momochi while the Hokage makes a decision on what to do with him. You may lead your teams to his office now, with the girl. We will be taking the swordsman back to HQ." The feminine voice of the purple haired leader was heard throughout the group.
The students of team eleven looked shocked that Zabuza wouldn't be able to accompany them, while Haku seemed scared to be separated from the man in an unknown place. Okami seemed to sense their discomfort, as he began to speak up. "Neko, if the Hokage has ordered Zabuza to go with you, then it can't be helped. But if any harm comes to him, your unit answers to me, am I clear?"
His voice seemed calm, but he was speaking with authority and despite their training, both Kakashi and Okami could notice the Anbu begin to tense a little at his words. The captain then bowed her head. "Understood Okami, Zabuza will be unharmed." Zabuza rolled his eyes before walking towards the Anbu squad, ruffling Haku's hair as he passed her.
"Neko, can one of you please bring Sakura Haruno to the hospital please, she requires medical attention immediately." Kakashi said professionally, to which the Anbu captain nodded, gesturing one of her subordinates to take the girl. One of the other Anbu shinobi walked ahead before taking the injured Genin from Sasuke and Sai, and vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
"I'll be fine, go with them Haku." Zabuza said reassuringly, causing Haku to ease up slightly as he exited through the front of his group, before being surrounded by the Anbu. As the captain placed a hand on the missing ninja's shoulder the all vanished in a swirl of leaves.
"Let's not keep the Hokage waiting, let's move on." Kakashi said lazily as he began walking ahead, everyone quickly catching up to him as they headed towards the large Hokage tower, Naruto placing a reassuring hand on Haku's shoulder to tell her that Zabuza would be okay in the care of the Anbu black-ops.
After entering the Hokage tower, they quickly headed up the stairs towards Hiruzen Sarutobi's office, passing a few random shinobi on the way there. Hiruzen was in the middle of a large pile of paperwork, and he looked like he had seen better days. The mountain of paperwork just never seemed to decrease no matter how much he completed, it was like a Genjutsu he could never escape from.
He almost cheered when he heard the knock on the door. 'Finally a good reason to ignore this damn paperwork, Damn you Minato for dying!' Coughing to clear his throat he quickly shouted. "Come in!" As the door opened he saw the two teams he had previously sent to Wave, and he happy to see them alive. "Team eleven, team seven. It's good to see you have returned safely, I trust the mission was a success." He said with a kind smile on his face.
"Yes lord Hokage, we completed the mission and freed Wave from the hands of Gatou, although there were some unexpected changes to the mission." Okami said cautiously, trying to choose his words correctly. Hiruzen looked intrigued, and gestured for him to continue. "During the mission, our previous enemy Zabuza Momochi and his allies were attacked by fellow hired shinobi. With two of his allies dead and one bleeding out in his arms he came to us for help."
Okami looked to Kakashi, and the copy ninja took it as a sign to start giving the report alongside his fellow Jounin. "Gatou had hired two more men, but they weren't like Zabuza. These were two S-Rank shinobi. They wore matching cloaks of black, with red clouds decorated on them. Zabuza and the only remaining comrade fought alongside the students of team eleven against one of the two S-Ranks while we faced the other one on the bridge."
Hiruzen nodded along for them to keep talking. "After some time of fighting, they both fled for reasons we do not know of. We suffored no casualties, but Sakura Haruno was severely injured. She ran towards the shinobi we were facing despite us telling her to stay back at all costs, and received a large gash on her face. The shinobi then somehow used the blood in some strange ritual, as Sasuke and Sai sent a combination jutsu towards him, but something strange happened. We do not know of what he did, but somehow the damage he suffered from the attack was transferred to Sakura." Okami said in a professional tone, not allowing emotions to affect his report.
Hiruzen had wide eyes from what he had heard. "She has been taken to the Hospital by an Anbu operative from the Zabuza retrieval group." Kakashi informed his leader, while lowering his head slightly. Hiruzen sighed, he knew the shinobi life was dangerous, which is why he wished the council would stop undermining him. They could have actually sent Sakura to her death if it wasn't for the added support.
Hiruzen then looked over towards the students of team eleven, who had just been standing quietly alongside a girl he had not seen before. Making eye contact with Naruto he began to open his mouth. "Naruto, what happened with the shinobi you encountered with your team?"
Everyone turned to the dark haired boy, who seemed unfazed by the attention he was now getting as he met the Hokage's gaze. "He was a strong shinobi, despite all five of us we still could not keep up with him. We were the first to encounter the S-Rank after he kicked down the door to Tazuna's house. In an effort to get him away from the client's family, we attacked him, and were moved outside. After some time of fighting Zabuza and Haku here entered the battle, with Zabuza managing to distract the man for some time. No matter what we did however, he kept coming back and hitting harder. He had strange stitch marks over his body, and somehow managed to disconnect his limbs and reconnect them. He left before finishing us off."
Okami looked impressed at Naruto's professional attitude, and how he managed to calmly give the Hokage his report. Hiruzen simply nodded before turning towards Haku. "You must be Zabuza's associate, Zabuza will arrive shortly." He said with a smile, shocking Haku momentarily with his kindness before she bowed in respect.
"What do you plan on doing with Haku and Zabuza?" Shinsuke asked out of nowhere, causing Hiruzen to turn to him. "They did help us fight; we would be dead without them." He said hoping to convince the Hokage that they could be trusted.
Hiruzen sighed before looking at the students of team eleven calmly. "Zabuza Momochi is an A-Rank missing ninja who had to flee his village after an attempted assassination on the Mizukage backfired. We must prove that he can be trusted through time, so we will be putting him on house arrest for the time being, under constant watch. Haku was never a registered shinobi however, so she won't receive the same treatment. She will be placed into the shinobi ranks after an assessment of her skill takes place." Haku was shocked and seemed to bow deeper.
Tokiro, Shinsuke and Naruto smiled slightly for their new comrade as the Hokage suddenly addressed the two Jounin in the room. "Okami, Kakashi, I will need to speak with you about something once your students leave. It is time for that." Both of the ninja had their eyes widen suddenly, understanding what the Hokage meant by his words, but not thinking it would be so soon after a mission. "The rest of you are dismissed."
Sasuke and Sai immediately left, while the students of team seven walked out slowly, glancing back at Haku and then the Hokage. As the door shut behind them there was a swirl of leaves next to Hiruzen, before Zabuza appeared standing alongside the Anbu captain that had escorted him back to HQ. "Neko will escort you both to you new apartment, and Zabuza, do not make me regret this." The Hokage spoke with an intense tone, causing Zabuza to sweat slightly. Haku walked over to the two as Neko placed a hand on both of the newcomers, and like that all three of them vanished in another swirl of leaves.
Hiruzen was now left with the two Jounin sensei's as he clasped his hands together and began to stand. "Follow me you two, the others are waiting after all." And with that the two subordinates followed their leader out of the office.
"It feels strange to be back already, after our first proper mission outside of the village." Tokiro said to his two friends with a slight sigh, as the group were walking through the streets and ignoring the stares. Shinsuke yawned loudly next to the Hyuga without breaking his stride.
"I know what you mean, but I don't feel like we're home. I felt far better out of the village than I have in a long time, far from all of the glares." The swordsman said with a sigh. Naruto and Tokiro nodded in agreement, it did feel nicer out there. As they carried on walking they heard something that they couldn't quite make out from their distance.
"What was that?" Naruto said as the three boys began to listen closely, not hearing anything at first, but then they did. It was a loud scream, a cry for help. "That isn't far from here, let's go." The three boys began to run towards the noise.
Konohamaru was a well know boy among the people of the leaf, referred to as the honourable grandson of the third Hokage, he had a lot of expectation that weighed down on him. He was trained not only in the academy, but also by a private trainer from the Jounin ranks. He wanted nothing more than to be the Hokage, and often attempted what he called surprise attacks on his grandfather.
For such a well respected boy nobody would have expected him to be such a troublemaker, often getting himself into trouble with pranks in some stupid attempt at getting people to call him by his name, instead of just the honourable grandson of the leaf's Hokage.
His pranks and attitude never usually got him into trouble as nobody wanted to mess with the family of lord Hiruzen, so nobody in the leaf actually reprimanded him for anything. However he went one step further and began to make fun of visitors from other villages. That is why he was now being lifted off of the ground by the collar of his shirt and his scarf.
A teenager dressed in what appeared to be a cat uniform, with a large bandaged object on his back, and strange makeup was now holding the boy in the air aggressively, showing almost no struggle with lifting the boy up. Behind him was a girl around his height, with a dull blonde hair tied in four pigtails. She wore a shirt that revealed her shoulders and a matching skirt, with a dark cloth belt connecting them in the middle, and she had fishnet underneath. Both of them had shinobi headbands, but they weren't of the leaf, instead they represented the sand village.
Sighing, the girl spoke to the boy in a bored, disinterested tone. "Put him down Kankuro, we don't have time for this." Konohamaru was shaking in fear at this point, while trying to fight against the older boys grip.
The now identified Kankuro snickered arrogantly, looking back at her over his shoulder. "Relax Temari, I'm just having fun. This little brat just needs to learn some manners, that's all." Behind Konohamaru were two other kids around his age, both of them were scared and frozen, unable to help in any way.
Konohamaru suddenly twisted his body awkwardly, before clamping his jaws onto the wrist of the shinobi in front of him, causing Kankuro to drop him with a slight thud. With a slight scream of pain and annoyance, Kankuro raised his fist and prepared to attack the boy. "You little shit!" as he prepared to hit the child however, team eleven entered the small street which attracted the attention of the two ninja instantly.
"Shinobi of the hidden Sand village enter the leaf freely and choose to repay us by beating children? No wonder you are the weakest of the five." Tokiro said as the three walked a little closer, their distraction giving the children enough time to run away.
"Go home and build a sand castle, before you lose the ability to go home at all." Shinsuke said mockingly as he pulled his blade from its sheath on his back. Kankuro growled at the comments before glaring at the ones responsible for the brat getting away.
"You just ruined my fun, I guess nobody in this idiotic village has any manners towards their guests." The sand Genin shot back as he cracked his knuckles in an attempt to intimidate them, which they took no notice of.
Naruto then decided to speak up, glaring towards the boy before him. "Why are you here? I doubt you are only here to beat up the grandson of the Hokage, so tell me." His eyes slowly began to morph into the Sharingan as he stared down the two sand shinobi.
This time it was the girl who decided to speak up, having been quiet during the encounter up until now. "You don't know? How stupid can you be? We're here for the Chunin exams, which your own village is hosting this year." She spoke in a tone that told them she didn't respect them in the slightest.
The three boys of team eleven looked at each other from the corners of their eyes as they asked each other if they knew anything, which neither of them did. "Keep breaking our villages rules, and I can assure you that you won't live to see the exams." Tokiro said as the veins next to his eyes enlarged, indicating that he had activated his byakugan.
"Is that a threat?" Kankuro responded as he suddenly slammed the bandaged object on the ground next to him with a loud crashing noise, while Temari pulled a huge metal fan over her shoulder, as it was affixed to her back.
As the shinobi began to stare each other down, team eleven were caught off guard by the sudden swirl of sand that appeared next to the other two sand Genin. Temari and Kankuro froze as the sand slowly began to form a short boy around the same age as the leaf Genin.
The boy had a dull reddish brown mop of hair, and stood with a slight hunch. His arms were folded over his chest, while his cold eyes were held into a permanent glare. He had the symbol for love tattooed onto his head, and his skin was extremely pale, while he had black rings around his eyes as if he hadn't slept much in his entire life. He had a dark red shirt, with a large white piece of cloth from his right shoulder to the left of his waist. Dark green shinobi trousers, and on his back was a huge gourd.
His glare was aimed towards Naruto, who met it with the glare of his Sharingan. Kankuro and Temari were visibly afraid, to the point they were shaking. "Gaara... we..." Kankuro tried to say but the newly introduced Gaara cut him off by turning his glare onto the boy in a cat costume.
"Kankuro, you are a disgrace to our village. Disgrace us again and I will kill you." Tokiro raised an eyebrow at the boy's words; he spoke to his own ally in such a threatening manner. Gaara then turned back to Naruto, tilting his head slightly as if confused. "Mother wants your blood."
He said this in his cold, dead tone making Naruto feel threatened, causing him to unsheathe his sword on instinct. Relaxing himself he met the boys gaze once more. "I dare you to try and get it for her." The cork to Gaara's gourd suddenly popped open an wisps of sand fired around the air frantically, while Naruto's sword exploded into a shower of sparks, as electricity covered the blade.
Both boys looked ready to fight right there and then when suddenly both of them heard a coughing noise. Looking to a nearby building they could see three individuals standing on the roof. The obvious leader of the group had shoulder length black hair and pink eyes, and her skin was pale. Her lips curled into a confident smirk, and her posture screamed confidence. She wore a single sleeved red shirt, with a baggy sleeve that hid her entire arm perfectly.
To her left stood a tall muscular boy with dark tanned skin. His hands were buried in his pockets and he had no hair, and his eyes were a dull yellow. He wore a dark brown vest and even darker brown trousers. To the leaders right stood a boy of average height, with spiky brown hair. He wore gloves on his hands, and had multiple pouches, too many for mere weapons. He wore a form fitting green shirt with a high collar, and his eyes were bright blue. He had grey trousers, and stood ready to fight.
Each of them wore a shinobi headband with the symbol of the hidden stone village on them. "Hey, we didn't miss the party did we?" The girl said arrogantly as they too jumped down onto the road. "Should we save this for the exams, or just have it out right here, right now?" She taunted further, drawing a sigh of annoyance from Tokiro.
"And there are Stone ninja, as if we didn't have enough idiots here already." The young Hyuga said as he rolled his eyes. The situation was seconds away from escalating; everyone was tense and prepared to attack at any given moment. While all of this was going on Naruto and Gaara reverted back to glaring at each other.
Moments before anything could happen between any of the Genin three separate swirls formed between them all, and created three people. The first was the typical water and lightning combination that Okami uses, as the leaf Jounin was visibly on guard for a possible fight.
The second was a swirl of pure air, which slowly began to reveal a tall man dressed in the typical Jounin gear of the sand village. He also had some kind of face scarf which covered the left side of his face. He stood before the team of sand Genin, to the side of Gaara.
The last was a swirl of what appeared to be fire and rocks, reveal a strangely dressed man with a powerful aura. He wore brown head piece, and had a red beard. Over his nose was a black armour piece, going from one side of his face to the other. He wore a purple long sleeved shirt with matching trousers, and around his waist was a satchel holding brown armour pieces at either side of his waist. He stood before the team from the Stone village.
The three Jounin level shinobi had a short stand off before they began to talk. "Roshi, Baki. Keep your students under control in our village, or there will be consequences. We have rules here, and they are not to be broken." Okami said with a commanding tone, as he lowered his stance slightly.
"My students will cause you no more trouble Okami of the leaf, and I apologise on their behalf." The shinobi named Roshi responded respectfully, as he too lowered his stance. Both of the Jounin then looked towards the last one, who stood stubbornly with a slight glare towards the both of them.
Baki then dropped his stance. "Same here leaf ninja, they won't do it again." He said with a forced professional tone which Okami took notice of but ignored it for the time being. "We will be on our way." Baki turned and began to walk, followed by Temari and Kankuro. Gaara however remaned in a staring competition with Naruto.
"I am Gaara of the Desert. What is your name?" He said with the same tone as before. Naruto remained quiet at first as he pondered on the boy's question, before finally answering.
"Naruto."
"I will kill you Naruto." Gaara said, before he too began to leave, following his team as the cork was pulled back into his gourd. Roshi then escorted his team in the opposite direction, the girl making eye contact with Shinsuke on the way passed him and winking, causing the boy to raise an eyebrow.
Visibly relaxing, Okami turned around to his team to see them slowly turning to him. "Seriously? I leave you guys for ten minutes." He said jokingly before carrying on with his words. "I'm sure you have now heard of why Genin from all around the world are coming to Konoha, the Chunin exams are upon us, and we are hosting it. This gives Genin a chance to prove that they are ready for a promotion. The exam is broken into stages, and if you reach the final stage you get judged to see whether or not you are ready for the next rank."
They perked up at the sound of possibly getting a promotion, but remained quiet as their sensei kept talking. "It just so happens that I think you are all ready, and I have told the Hokage that I am placing you into the competition. I'd say take time to think of whether you want to enter or not, but I already know you have made your decisions. So instead I will say good luck."
In the training ground given to team seven for training purposes, Sasuke and Sai awaited their sensei. They figured he'd expect them to head here to wait for him to finish his meeting, unsure of what they were going to do now that they were one man down. They couldn't help but blame Sakura for her stupidity, and there was no such thing as a team of two Genin and one Jounin.
In the distance they could see their sensei approaching slowly, accompanied by a young girl. She had long brown hair, reaching her back. Her eyes were a light shade of brown, and held a somewhat contempt look. She wore a light pink kimono held together by a pink sash around her waist. Sasuke and Sai were confused as to why she was there and didn't even notice them arrive. Coughing, Kakashi got their attention. "Now then, after the tragic events of Wave, and losing Sakura, we were in need of a new member of the team. I would like you to meet the new member of team seven, Yakumo Kurama, and I would like you all to train together hard for the next three weeks, because I entered you into the Chunin exams."
I hope it was up to your expectations guys, I worked hard on it :) Sorry for the wait, my new puppy has me drained but I will keep doing my best okay? Please drop a review and give me your feedback, and yes. I replaced Sakura like Kakashi should have done in cannon after she didn't help at all during the Wave mission, but that's just my opinion. thanks for reading guys and girls! XD I'll see you next time on Rainfall.