Yo, CaptainPrice here with the next update for 'SOTEB' (Shinobi of the Ebon blade). I'm gonna come clean here okay. I didn't start the chunin exams in this chapter, but next chapter for sure it will begin. Now I got some reviews from my last chapter about the fight with Gato. All the reviews were positive, the only thing that was a little embarassing for me to read was the correction about the phylactery for a lich. I mean I SHOULD know that because I play the game (not as much as I used to but still...) I thank you guys for the corrections. Anyway on with the chapter, read and review when done please!
Bold-Inner Sakura/Kyuubi/Jutsu/Death Knight Powers
Italics-Thoughts/Letters/Flashbacks
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto or WoW, I DO however own the OC's (Grimes, Gaz, Mac), the story and the idea of the story itself. You got nothing on me lawyers! HAHA!
Team Seven and Eight returned to Konoha in high spirits now that they have just completed an A-rank mission. The two teams went to the Hokage's office for their report. Hiruzen went ballistic at hearing the mission turned A-rank and they didn't decide to return to the village. Naruto, Mac and Gaz took the blame for them not returning, saying they wanted to test their skills and help the client after hearing his troubles. Hiruzen sighed and dismissed it with a wave of his hand and smiled.
"Don't worry about it, you did your duty and I am very proud of you all for that," he said looking at them.
"So what should we do now?" Gaz asked.
"Well, your teams have the rest of this week off for a break to use however you wish. So all I can say is go relax until next Monday,"
"Hai Hokage-sama!" all the genin replied before exiting the room.
"Is there anything else you needed of us, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked looking up from his book.
"No, that's all I wanted to know for now, you're all dismissed," Hiruzen replied returning to his paper work.
Kakashi and Kurenai left the room, but Grimes stood in front of Hiruzen's desk with a troubled look. Hiruzen noticed this and looked up at Grimes with some concern. He pointed to a chair in front of his desk and Grimes sat down pulling out a cigarette.
"Allow me," Hiruzen said shooting a small ember at the tip of the cigarette lighting it for Grimes.
"Thanks," Grimes said putting the cigarette in his mouth.
"So what's on your mind?"
"There's something I left out of our confrontation in Nami no Kuni."
"Oh? What would that be?"
"Remember that council meeting that happened two months ago?"
"Vividly."
"Well, Gato was given the powers of a powerful necromancer known as a lich."
"What?!"
"Let me explain, this will take a while."
Meanwhile at the Ichiraku Ramen stand, the three Death Knights sat on their stools eating their food. Naruto just finished his seventh bowl and demanded another.
"Old Man, I missed your ramen so badly!" Naruto grinned patting his belly.
"Glad to hear it," Teuchi replied grinning back at him.
"So did any of you get injured on your mission?" Ayame asked looking at them.
"It's called wounded Ayame. Injured is when you fall out of a tree or something," Gaz replied with a smirk.
Ayame blew a raspberry at Gaz and turned around to wash some dishes. The three of them continued to eat their lunch with some humor and the stories of their adventure in Nami no Kuni. The three of them left the stand after thanking Teuchi for cooking their lunch and walked outside to go and lounge around their house.
As they walked down the road, they noticed a square rock following them. All of them sweatdropped at the rock knowing it was a fake.
"Konohamaru, you do know that rocks aren't square with eyeholes on the side, right?" Naruto asked not looking back.
"Ah, just to be expected from my rival!" Konohamaru exclaimed with enthusiasm.
The rock began to glow white which made the Death Knights stand back cautiously. Gaz had his eyes screwed shut and was muttering what sounded like, "Don't blow the fuck up, don't blow the fuck up." The rock then stopped glowing making them lower their guard and Gaz sighed in relief. It then exploded sending them to the ground in surprise.
"Too much gunpowder!" Konohamaru coughed.
"Sorry!" another wheezed.
"Which one of you cocksuckers just blew that thing up?!" Gaz asked with barely contained rage.
"Let it go Zano, they're just kids," Mac replied trying to calm his short tempered friend.
"Fine, but if they do that again they're going to be in a shit load of trouble."
The smoke cleared revealing three children, two boys one girl. One of them was Konohamaru, the grandson of Hiruzen Sarutobi. The second boy had glasses with black hair. The girl had a permanent blush on her cheeks with flaming orange hair which was tied into two buns. The three of them got into a ridiculous pose and stood in front of the Death Knights.
"We are the Konohamaru Corps!" the girl beamed.
"Okay, but what are you three doing here?" Mac asked looking at them.
"Hey, boss, you promised you'd play ninja with us today!" Konohamaru stated with a pout.
"Did I really?" Naruto asked not having recollection of doing that.
"Yeah, but you we're a little tired when you gave your answer,"
"Well, I guess I can play for a while,"
"A ninja playing ninja? That's truly pathetic!" said a familiar annoying voice.
"Well I got nothing else to do right now Sakura," Naruto replied.
"Hey, boss, is she your?" Konohamaru said holding up his pinky.
Naruto's face went deathly pale and he could've sworn he just lost part of his soul at that remark. He bonked Konohamaru on the head lightly and smirked.
"Hell no, Konohamaru, she is not my girlfriend."
"Just as I could expect from my rival! You made the right choice, she has no boobs and her forehead could be used as a bulletin board!" Konohamaru said with a nod.
Naruto turned his head a little to see Sakura shaking in anger. She cracked her knuckles and was walking over to Konohamaru. Gaz and Mac were rolling on the floor laughing at the comment that Konohamaru made.
"You might want to run," Naruto muttered.
He gave a terrified cry as the crazy harpy began to chase him. Naruto began to follow them barely holding back his laughter. He decided to cut Sakura off by taking a shortcut, so he hung left a corner early. Naruto began climbing jumping over fences and through backyards. He passed through the laundry mat and came out holding a black lacy thong. Naruto glanced at the thong and grinned broadly at the name written in it, 'Hinata Hyuuga'.
"Awesome," Naruto muttered pocketing the thong in his side pouch.
Naruto hopped over another fence landing directly between Konohamaru and Sakura. He stuck his leg out and 'accidently' tripped Sakura. He gave a sigh in relief of saving his surrogate little brother from the harpy's wrath. He was about to leave but stopped when he heard Konohamaru's voice.
"Hey, let go of me!" Konohamaru demanded.
"That hurt you little gaki. I'm gonna teach you a lesson!" retorted another.
Naruto turned to see a sand shinobi in a black bodysuit with a catlike hat on his head. The other sand shinobi was a kunoichi who was quite attractive. She had sand blond hair tied into four buns and an ample bosom hiding under her fishnet shirt. He shook his head to focus on the situation at hand.
"Hey, kitty!" Naruto called out.
The boy looked at him with an angry glare and sneered at him. Naruto glared back at the make-up wearing shinobi in front of him.
"What the hell do you want?" snapped the sand nin.
"I would suggest you put him down for your own safety," Naruto warned.
"Kankuro, just put the kid down, it was just an accident. Besides, we don't want to make 'him' mad," the girl muttered.
"This kid bumped me. I need to teach him a lesson! Besides, he isn't here right now Temari!"
"Fine, but I'm not involved in this,"
"I won't ask you again, put him down," Naruto stated with authority.
"Why don't you make me?" taunted Kankuro.
No sooner had the taunt left his mouth, Kankuro found a razor sharp blade at his neck. He glanced to his right and saw the blond haired boy holding a sword at him. Kankuro's grip tightened a little at the sudden turn of events.
"I can end your life with one swipe of my blade. Put him down," Naruto said glaring at Kankuro.
Kankuro dropped Konohamaru in fright as Naruto pressed his blade against his neck drawing some blood. Konohamaru ran off with his friends to avoid any further trouble. Naruto sheathed his sword and walked back down the road.
"Don't turn your back on me!" Kankuro shouted grabbing the bandaged weapon on his back.
"You're going to use Karasu?" Temari asked in surprise.
"He humiliated me. I need to teach him a lesson!"
Kankuro quickly gripped his wrist in pain as something small struck a pressure point. He dropped this weapon and began to curse angrily. Kankuro finally found where the pebble came from. Up in the tree was Uchiha Sasuke tossing another pebble up and down.
"What are you sand shinobi doing in our village?" Sasuke asked.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried with glee, causing the others to flinch at her voice.
"Hmm, local hotty," Temari thought looking up at Sasuke with a light blush. She then turned to the blond boy and her blush grew. "But this one is smoking hot!"
"I'm going to get you for that brat!" Kankuro hissed.
"I don't think that's a good idea," Naruto interjected.
"Oh yeah? Why is that?"
"Because the red headed one in the tree looks pissed at you,"
Kankuro and Temari visibly gulped and turned to the tree. In the tree standing upside-down was a red headed sand shinobi with a tattoo kanji on his head read 'love'. He was glaring at everyone below him.
"Kankuro, that's enough, you're an embarrassment to our village." the red head deadpanned.
"I, Gaara, they started it." Kankuro stammered.
"Shut-up or I'll kill you."
"Right, my mistake."
The red head used a sand shunshin and appeared between his two teammates. Naruto observed the sand retreat back into the gourd on the red head's back. Something was a little off about it but he shrugged it off for now.
"Apologies to you guys," the red head said with a blank look.
"No sweat," Naruto replied waving his hand.
Gaara nodded and turned on his heel beginning to walk away. His two teammates followed suit. They were stopped when Sakura decided to speak up about something.
"Sunagakure and Konohagakure may be an alliance, but it is illegal to be in each other's village without a passport…" Sakura started but stopped when Temari waved her off with her hand.
"Talk about living under a rock. We're here for the Chunin Exams and I have my passport right here," Temari replied holding out a photo ID.
"What are your names?" Naruto asked taking a step forward.
Temari turned around and pointed at herself with a light blush on her face.
"You mean me?" Temari asked.
"Yes you, and your teammates," Naruto replied with a grin.
"Sabaku no Temari," Temari said with smirk.
"Sabaku no Gaara," Gaara muttered.
"Sabaku no Kankuro," Kankuro said with a glare.
"I am interested in your names as well," Gaara said looking at Sasuke and Naruto.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said with a raise of the hand.
"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke said with a smirk.
"I hope to see you both again in the Chunin Exams,"
With that the three sand shinobi walked off, leaving Naruto alone with Sakura and Sasuke. Not wanting to be around them, Naruto shunshined to his house. Sakura realized she had Sasuke all to herself and went forward to ask him out on a date.
"Sakura, if you have time to ask me out, why don't you use it for training? I hate to admit it but Naruto, Gaz and Mac can pull their own weight. Work on your skill to be a better kunoichi so you don't get in our way," Sasuke said walking away, leaving a confused Sakura behind.
The week of relaxation came to an end very quickly, causing team seven to come back to their meeting place. As the five of them waited for Kakashi and Grimes they all kept wondering what the Chunin Exam was like. It would be sweet if they could partake in it, but they knew only their captains could do that. There were two loud cracks as Grimes and Kakashi appeared on the bridge in front of them.
"Holy shit, he's actually on time." Gaz muttered.
"Team Seven, we have two things to discuss with you," Kakashi said folding his arms.
"What would that be?" Sasuke asked looking at them.
"First, we decided to sign you all up for the Chunin Exams." Grimes said looking at his students. "Second, the team is being split in half,"
"Huh?" Naruto asked.
"I asked the Hokage to let me form a new team so we don't have one big team. So as of now, Naruto, Mac and Gaz are released from squad seven and placed under my squad."
The Death Knights noticed Kakashi's hand was shaking so hard from his clenched fists. The genin didn't know why Kakashi seemed upset about this, but Grimes knew the reason.
/Flashback/
A couple of hours ago in the Hokage's conference room, all the Jounin stood in front of the Hokage. They were discussing the topic of which teams were entering the Chunin Exams this year. But before they began to talk about the exams, Grimes stepped forward after gaining permission to speak.
"Hokage-sama, if it isn't going to put you into too much of a bind, I would like to resign as sensei for Team Seven." Grimes said
Whispers broke out between the Jounin, the three who were shocked the most were Hiruzen, Kurenai and Anko. Kakashi wasn't paying attention to Grimes and continued to read his book, to many women's displeasure.
"May I ask why, Grimes?" Hiruzen asked.
"I feel it is in the best interest to train Naruto, Mac and Gaz since I have known them for many years. I also have taught them before they joined the shinobi ranks."
"Okay, but this doesn't have anything to the behavior of the other members or your team does it?"
"Sir, with all due respect," Grimes began as he looked Hiruzen in the eyes. "You could have got someone intelligent for the position of team seven's sensei, but instead, you pick the guy with the leadership qualities of a fucking gerbil,"
"What has been done since team seven's formation?"
"Teamwork exercise training, low ranking missions and that's about it,"
"Have they learned any chakra control exercises?"
"Yes, when we were on the mission in Nami no Kuni we did do chakra control training."
"So what seems to be the problem?"
"My problems are having one student who is a lovesick puppy and a bat-shit crazy, power hungry Uchiha who belittle their comrades and know nothing of the creed Kakashi gave them. My second problem is that when I offer training to Sakura she denies it saying Sasuke will save her. I don't bother teaching Sasuke since he's a nut, but I don't worry about him either because Kakashi has been training him in ninjutsu secretly."
"Has Kakashi taught the others anything?"
"No, sir."
Hiruzen sighed and looked at Kakashi with a harsh gaze. He apparently was paying attention after Grimes insulted his leadership qualities.
"Very well, Grimes. I'll place your students in your care under a new team and Kakashi will keep custody over Sasuke and Sakura," Hiruzen said with a nod.
"Thank-you, Hokage-Sama." Grimes said with a bow.
"Come talk to me when the meeting here is done so we can register your team,"
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Hokage-Sama, who will be our third member for squad seven?" Kakashi asked.
"Kakashi, after hearing what Grimes said I am starting to question if I should disband team seven and relieve you all of your shinobi licenses. But since the council is too damn stubborn to let the Uchiha be granted what he desires, I can't do that. But I have one rookie that is fresh from the batch that will be your replacement. He'll meet you tomorrow morning."
"Hai, Hokage-Sama." Kakashi muttered.
/Flashback End/
"Come on boys, you need to get some shut-eye to be ready for the exams tomorrow," Grimes said leading his students away.
"What is our team?" Gaz asked.
"We're Team Thirteen,"
"Unlucky thirteen, eh? I'm starting to miss being, lucky number seven." Mac said with a laugh.
Team seven watched as they saw their four former teammates leave the squad in high spirits. There was silence before Kakashi broke it by clearing his throat.
"Well, meet at the academy tomorrow to enter the exams. Our new replacement will meet you both there...Don't be late." Kakashi said before disappearing in a shunshin.
"Finally free from those losers!" Sakura cheered.
"That's not good Sakura." Sasuke said with a glare.
"What do you mean?"
"They know a lot of information on us, so if we face them in the exams we might have some problems. I hope for your sake you have done some training Sakura because if you haven't I honestly don't think you'll make it through these exams."
Sasuke turned on his heel leaving Sakura alone on the bridge. She looked down and began to shake with realization. These exams would not be a walk in the park, and now they're going against their former teammates. It seems payback is a bitch.
Well, that's the chapter! I'm sorry if this one seems short but the next one will be longer, I promise you that. I will try to get the new one up next Friday but I gotta work everyday except Friday adding up to 24 1/2 hours for a 17 year old high school student may push me over my limit. So what I'm sayin is don't count on a new chapter for another 2 weeks. Before I go I would like to wish everyone a good weekend. Quick little question, I've been pondering with pairing Anko with Grimes and Kurenai but I don't know. I'll make the decision on depending on what you guys say, you're entitled to your opinion =P lol. Later guys!-CaptainPrice