Kiba awoke, groaning as he rose.
"What the hell happened here..Mal are you okay." Malkeru was crying again, he had broken down.
"I...I couldn't save her Kiba..she trusted me..and I couldn't do it." Kiba noticed Hinata laying on the ground, not moving and moved closer to inspect.
"Mal..she's fine..just unconscious. Wearing her haiti-ate on her neck probably saved her life though. It's all scratched up. It must have slowed the blade. This wound is superficial at best."
"She...she's fine?"
"Ya..let's get her to the tower though, the two of us is not good numbers." Malkeru carried Hinata all the way to the tower. They made it to the tower thankfully without running into anyone. Malkeru figured everyone was still in the woods fighting, after all it had only been 32 hours since the test started. They found a bunch of sealed doors, and had no idea what to do.
"So..we pick one?" Malkeru asked his brother, still holding Hinata
"Uh.. I.. I guess so?" Kiba said, pushing a door open. The seal broke easily and Malkeru carried Hinata in and laid her down. Kiba closed the door behind them.
"So..what now?"
"I..I don't know Kiba.." Kiba worried about his brother, he was obviously torn up since his fight with that shinobi.
"Mal..you had to kill him..there was no other choice."
"I know...it was my first kill." Kiba understood. He had his first kill a few weeks ago during an escort mission. It stuck with you. Kiba looked around the room, he noticed a plaque on the wall. Squinting, he read it aloud to himself
"Without...heaven..." Malkeru had noticed and looked at his brother.
"It seems to be missing words."
"Do you think it has something to do with the scrolls? We were told not to open them until we got here but..we're here now so should we open them?"
"Not yet Kiba, you remember the rules don't you? All of our teammates have to be active when we pass the second test. Hinata is still paralyzed. It's been thirty-two hours, we still have eighty-eight hours, a little more than three days for her to wake up. Sadly, neither of us have medical experience so we have to hope she can fight this off." So they waited, making Hinata as comfortable as possible. Malkeru took his hoody off, making a pillow for her, and Kiba covered her with his jacket. Malkeru paced for what seemed like eternity, inside the room they had no way of keeping track of time. For all he knew they could have been sitting there for days, or weeks! After what seemed like years Hinata finally coughed, sitting up from her makeshift "bed." "Hinata!" Malkeru grabbed her in a hug before realizing what he was doing and letting go.
"Finally! Now we can open the scrolls! Akamaru!" Akamaru brought the scrolls to his master who tore them open. The room went crazy, wind seemed to be drawing them into the scrolls, making clouds of dust appear over the scrolls.
"Get back!" Malkeru yelled shielding Hinata, "It's a summoning technique!" Malkeru closed his eyes to keep dust from getting into them.
"Yo." A familiar voice said when it all ended.
"K-Kakashi?" Malkeru was looking up at none other than his sense, Kakashi Hatake.
"Ya, I figured if anyone should congratulate you, it should be me. After all, I am the one who sent you with a team you had never worked with before." Kakashi looked down at Hinata. "Is she okay?"
"Ya, she was just paralyzed for a while. She'll be fine." Malkeru had begun packing his things and put his hoody back on. "So what now?"
"Well, you guys are actually the first back..it's only been eighty-six hours amazingly. You still have thirty-four hours left. So head through that hall and wait in the main chamber I guess." Kakashi disappeared after that, leaving the team battered and torn, but alive.
"We did it!" Kiba was jumping up and down, a feat Malkeru didn't think he could manage at this point. "We passed guys!"
"Ya, we did." Malkeru forced a smile 'But at what cost' He thought looking down at Hinata. "Go on ahead and check us in Kiba, I'm going to help Hinata."
"Ya ya, whatever. Don't be too long guys, people will start getting Ideas" Kiba laughed as he walked out of the room
"That stupid baka.." Malkeru muttered as he helped Hinata to his feet.
"Mal..can we talk?"
"Hn? What's up Hinata?"
"Back during the fight. You begged him not to hurt me..you even offered yourself up..why did you do that for me?"
"I don't know Hinata." Malkeru paused for a moment as he thought, as he continued walking he said, "You mean a lot to me. I don't know where I would be without you. All I know is I don't want to see you hurt." Hinata blushed again, she always seemed to do that around Malkeru
'He really does care..' Hinata looked up at the boy supporting her weight. "I don't want to see you hurt either, thank you Malkeru."
"Huh? It was really no problem, there's no need to thank me, really." Malkeru helped Hinata into the main room where a medical nin gave her a look over. Malkeru wasn't very impressed by the room. It was basically a tile floor with rafters hanging above, presumably so that one could watch what was happening on the floor below without being hurt. Along wall was a statue of two arms, being brought together by the hands, which were forming the ram hand sign. Along the length of the statue stood many Shinobi, most Malkeru presumed were senseis as he saw both Kakashi Sensei and Iruka Sensei standing there. In the middle of them was the Hokage, which was when Malkeru remember what had happened in the battle with Sonji.
"Hokage, sir. Can we talk for a moment? ...in private?" Malkeru asked, approaching the old man.
"Malkeru, what's wrong?"
"It's about my eyes, sir." The Hokage seemed to react to that and led Malkeru to a side room. In the room was a small table with two chairs.
"Please, sit." The Hokage gestured at one of the tables, and Malkeru did as he was told "So, what do you need we need to discuss about your eyes?"
"How I really got them..and who my parents were." Malkeru gave the Hokage a cold glare without being able to control himself.
"I'm sorry Malkeru, I don't know any of th-"
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Malkeru slammed his fist on the table. "I KNOW THAT YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHO I AM!" Malkeru was surrounded by ANBU before he could even react.
"Boys." The Hokage was looking at the ANBU agents with kunai to Malkeru's throat. "Now, Malkeru, how do you figure that?" The ANBU had disappeared and Malkeru could speak freely again.
"The shinobi I fought in the forest..he had an ability. It allowed him to copy the kekkei genkai of anyone's blood he ingested. He did it with Hinata's Byukugan at first, but then..he managed to steal my Sharingan." The Hokage took a drag from his pipe before responding.
"I don't see how this relates to me knowing who your parents really are. So you have the kekkei genkai of the Sharingan? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Third, please...don't make me out to be some stupid kid. When you told me about the mutation I may have, I did some research. It's true, sometimes blood line abilities appear in people outside of the clan it belongs too. But, it never goes farther than the infancy stage, and, they never truly have the blood line limit. Meaning, it's just a jutsu. The man stole my Sharingan with his kekkei genkai, which means I posses the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha..which means.." Malkeru let the last part hang.
"I see..I suppose I can't hide it any longer, can I?" The Hokage took another drag of his pipe. 'These kids get smarter every year, don't they.' The Hokage took another look at Malkeru. "Yes, you are an Uchiha." Malkeru froze. He had hoped he was wrong, he didn't want to be an Uchiha.
"W-who were my parents..." The Hokage just sighed.
"Fuggaku and Mokoto Uchiha.."
"But..those are Sasuke's pare... Sasuke is my brother? But that's not possible we're the same ag..."
"I see it's clicking." The Hokage looked very solemn. "I hope you know you can never tell anyone of this. It's suppose to be a Hokage level secret, you were never suppose to know." Malkeru started to cry, it was too much for him. 'Poor boy..to know his parents gave him up but kept Sasuke..'
"W-w-why did t-they give me u-up?" Malkeru couldn't stop his stuttering. It hurt, he couldn't form his words very well.
"I don't know. Only the fourth and his wife knew that, and well.." The Hokage rose from his chair and embraced the boy. "But, I think we both know Tsume and her family love you more than enough for a family." Malkeru agreed with the Hokage and managed to calm himself.
"Ya..Hokage, sir, I'm sorry I yelled." The Hokage laughed.
"At your age and in your situation, I would have thrown more than words. Now come, I believe your team is waiting for you." The third led the boy back to the room, Malkeru thanked him and headed back to his team.
"What was that about?" Kiba and Hinata were sitting against a wall when Malkeru found them
"Hm? Nothing, just giving our report of what happened." Kiba eyed his brother suspiciously.
'Was Mal lying to me?' Kiba was worried about his brother, his eyes seemed cold and emotionless, not like the usual eyes he had. Hinata had noticed too.
'He seems so cold and distant.. what could have happened during that battle..' Hinata had been in and out of consciousness for most of the fight, the only things he really saw was Malkeru killing Sonji, and his plea for her life. "Mal? Are you al-"
"I'm fine." Malkeru's response was cold, devoid of all emotion, it scared Hinata.
"Clearly you're not Mal, something is up your ass so spit it out." Malkeru hit his brother, sending him flying.
"Mind your damn business Kiba." Kiba was about to retaliate when more Shinobi showed up. Had they been leaf shinobi Kiba would have pounded his brother into oblivion, but they were mist ninja and Kiba had to put up an act that there was no strife between Konoha ninja.
Groups slowly started to pile in as the hours dwindled down, allowing the ragged team eight to catch up on some much needed sleep. When they awoke everyone seemed to be there, Malkeru was even surprised. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto had made it through.
"Mal!" Naruto ran over to Malkeru giving him the thumbs up "You did it too, eh?"
"Ya.." Malkeru said, looking straight ahead. Naruto had also noticed Malkeru looked a lot more withdrawn than usual, before he could say anything though Anko began talking
"First about the second test. Congratulations on passing." Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, glad to be done. "Now, the Hokage would like to discuss the third test, so listen up maggots!"
"Thank you Anko. Before I explain the third test there is something I would like you to know. It concerns the true reason for this exam. Why do we have allianced countries taking the exam together? 'To promote friend among the countries' 'to raise the level of shinobi. I don't want you to be confused about the true meaning, this exam is a replacement for war among the allied countries. If you go back in time, the current allies were enemies. We fought each other over who would rule. In order to prevent wasteful fighting, the stage that these countries chose for battle is these chunin exams.
"Why the hell do we have to do that crap? Isn't this thing for deciding who's a chunin?" Naruto seemed to be outraged by what the Hokage was saying.
"It is true that these exams decide who will become a chunin, but the exam also has another side. One where each countries shinobis risk their lives to protect their lands prestige. Watching this third exam will be leaders and influential individuals from many countries who make up the clients of the shinobi. If the strength of a country is clear, that country will receive more clients. And conversely, if it is seen as week it will lose clients. So, you see, these exams show how much potential power a country has. Before this test begins I will tell you one more thing, this is not just a test..this is a life risking battle with your dreams and your country's prestige on the line." The Hokage paused to take a puff from his pipe. "Now the thir-"
"Actually Hokage, from here on as the referee will you allow me to, Hayate Gekkou, to continue?" A man had appeared in front of the Hokage, kneeling in respect.
"Of course." The Hokage took a step back, allowing the shinobi to step forward.
"Hello everyone, I'm Hayate. Before the third test we have to have a umm...preliminary test."
"A what?" seemed to ring out from everyone in the room.
"Er, well, because it seems the first and second test were too easy this year, we have a bit too many people remaining. As Hokage said earlier, there will be many important people here for this test, and the fights could take a long time. We are limited by time so we must cut your numbers down. So for those who are not feeling well, or those who feel like quitting, come forward now." Hayate waited for someone to step forward. Only Kabuto did. "Anyone else? I forgot to tell you it will be one on one battles to see who gets to move forward. You may raise your hand now based on your own judgment.
'No way I'm backing out now..even if I am weak at this moment.' Malkeru stood firm, eying up the competition. It seemed all the leaf genin had made it, as well as the sand genin. Some other randoms had managed to slip through, but Malkeru payed them no attention.
"Um right..no one else? Fine then, alright, this is a one on one battle as if you were in real conditions. Since we now have exactly 22 entrants, we will conduct 11 matches and umm..the winners advance to the first test. There are basically no rules, the fight continues until one of you dies or is knocked out or admits defeat. If you don't want to die, then I suggest quickly admitting defeat. Since we don't want you dying, I'll jump in and stop things if I feel the match is over. If I say a match is over, it's over. The electronic score board behind me will determine the matches randomly so..let's start." The scoreboard sprung to life, all the names of the entrants randomly flashing up. The first one to stop was some water nin and the second..
"..and Malkeru Inuzuka, please come to center stage, everyone else. To the rafters. Any interfering on the part of an entrant is immediate disqualification." Malkeru headed to center stage, bowing to the water nin when he reached the center.
'I don't know if I can win this one. His water style jutsu are going to counter my fire, and I don't have enough chakra left to manipulate this ground or use Rakiri. Guess I just have to rely on my new Sharingan...'
"I can see the doubt in your eyes, you know you're going to die here, don't you?" The water nin was taunting him.
"Hn." Malkeru closed his eyes, molding whatever extra chakra he could. Hayate stepped in between the challengers, holding up a hand.
"Begin!" he shouted. Malkeru jumped back, activating his Sharingan. He drew two shuriken and whipped them at the water nin, trying to get a gauge on his speed. The nin was barely able to deflect them.
'Good, I win in speed and awareness due to Sharingan. However, I am much more damaged from the second exam.' Malkeru rushed in throwing jabs at the water nin, his speed was really abysmal, Malkeru had managed to land nearly ever single blow against him. 'There's no way he made it to through the second exam with this level of strength, and his cockiness before I don-' out of nowhere, the nins speed increased. He grabbed Malkeru's fist and countered with a blow of his own, knocking Malkeru onto his back. The nin brought his foot up to slam down on Malkeru, but Malkeru managed to roll out of the way, using his arms to flip up to a kneeling position.
"Faster than you expected, huh? That's my ability, I use my chakra to increase my speed faster than my opponents. I let you attack me to see how fast you really were, and now that I know..it's over." The nin seemed to teleport behind Malkeru, thanks to his Sharingan he was able to block, but the blow still hurt. Malkeru was sure he had bruised the muscles in his lower arm.
'DAMNIT! WHAT THE HELL CAN I DO?' Malkeru didn't have time to react, he was hit in the stomach, causing him to cough up blood.
"DAMNIT MAL MOVE!" Kiba was shouting at him from the rafters "IF YOU'RE AN INUZUKA THEN PROVE IT DAMNIT AND MAUL HIM!" Malkeru kept getting hit, he just couldn't keep up with his torn body.
'I'm trying you bastard..' Malkeru dragged himself off the ground, staggering to his feet.
"Oh, you still have some fight in you? Good. I would hate for this to end so soon." Malkeru was hit by another barrage of blows, the worst part was he could see all of them coming before they did.
'I guess this is the curse of the Sharingan. I can see it coming but I can't stop it.' Malkeru tried to raise himself again, but his body felt cold and weak.
"MAL! YOU CAN DO IT!" It wasn't Kiba yelling this time, it was Hinata "BELIEVE IN YOURSELF LIKE YOU BELIEVE IN ME YOU BAKA!"
'She's right..I've given up..I can do this..' Malkeru managed to raise himself again, smiling "I am an Inuzuka of the hidden leaf village..I will never give up.." Malkeru started making handsigns.
"Nope!" The nin charged at him, throwing a punch. Malkeru drew a kunai and stuck it through the mans fist, blood spurting at him. Malkeru smiled.
"My sensei taught me something our first day of training, 'a shinobi must be able to look underneath the underneath'. I am not the fastest at handsigns, but, didn't you think it was weird that I was mixing fire signs with lightning signs?" Malkeru flipped over the shinobi something in his hands. When Malkeru pulled his arm back, the shinobis hand followed. Malkeru pulled down forcing the shinobi's hand and body down. Malkeru kicked the ninja under the chin, knocking his head back. Malkeru made a flourish of movements with his hand, almost making a circular movement with them, causing the shinobi's body to become rigid and stiff.
"What is this? Genjutsu?" Malkeru laughed.
"Nope. Just simple ninja wire." The nin looked down and could see the light glinting off the the metal wire.
"But wh- the kunai?"
"So, you saw underneath the underneath, eh? You were way too cocky about beating me, you'd thrown caution to the wind thinking my body was broken. After I stabbed you, I pumped chakra though my body, allowing me to move at high speeds shortly. By constantly keeping your attention focused on me with my flashy movements, I kept you from noticing the thin ninja wire attached to the kunai." Malkeru knelt over the shinobi, putting a knee on his chest. "Now, are you willing to die for this exam?" Malkeru had drawn a kunai to the nins throat.
"No..I yield." Hayate stepped onto the field.
"Umm..alright then.. Malkeru Inuzuka is the winner." Malkeru staggered, falling to a knee.
"It's a good thing you said that, because, I'm out of chakra. My body can no longer move." Malkeru laughed as medical nin came out to the field. Kakashi body flickered to his student.
"That was certainly an interesting move Mal. How did you come up with that?" Malkeru was being laid on a cot, unable to walk himself.
"Heh, I have no idea. It just came to me."
"Well, sleep now. You've earned it, you made it."