The jukebox kicked to life as it inserted a random old disk onto the platform as the needle slowly descended and began playing music while a lone figure sitting at the table poured himself a glass of whiskey. "Okay," the figure began, his eagle shaped mask, white hair and red overcoat began his story. "So I'm in this boring meeting with the Interrogation Team about...something, I don't know. Wasn't paying attention and BOOM!" he gestured. "It was like an ugly fashion contest where everyone was a winner!" He dramatically exclaimed. "This one guy was like 'Attack for Lord Orochimaru!', so I installed my Archer card, shot him with an arrow"
Scene was changed to Storm's memory as he was in his Archer class as he skewered the mentioned leader of the squad with an arrow. "Then I shot this other guy sneaking up behind Ibiki." Storm turned to see Ibiki with his back exposed as Storm conjured another arrow and fired it at the enemy's skull as he fell dead. "Then I shot a few more with a bit of extra firepower behind them just to be safe." Storm jumped in the air, manifesting several arrows that he notched and overcharged with prana as they fired off like comets as several explosions, screams of agony, and flying corpses fell to the ground as Anko laughed at the sight.
"I actually did a lot of shooting with my bow that day to be honest-then...!" Storm made a dramatic explosion sound effect as he continued his story. "This enormous and ugly ass snake summon appeared and destroyed my favorite store!" Storm paused as he began to correct himself. "Second favorite actually, there's this spicy ramen shop-I'm getting sidetracked. Look the bottom line is, I get busy, in that mood where you're like 'I got this!' ya know? But man...I so did not have it." the Servant mused as the janitor merely blinked as he began sweeping up the broken glass on the floor.
"Heh, better if you were there." he sighed as a kunai pierced the machine, silencing the room as the janitor looked up, startled as the wall began falling down. "Well," Storm began as he picked up his bow from the table as Konoha was currently dealing with an invasion as ninja were fighting. "Better get back to it." he decided with a nod as he finished his drink in one swing and began making his way out, casually avoiding the incoming projectiles like it was nothing. "Storm, any day now!" Ibiki growled out with irritation. "Geez, can't a guy get a drink? I'm coming!" the Servant retorted as he began shooting enemies down left and right.
*A Month Ago*
"...You want me to what?" Storm asked in a very calm and controlled voice as Naruko looked sheepish with her request. "I...wanted you to join Konoha as a registered shinobi." she told him as Storm crossed his arms as the Servant was boring his eyes into her very soul. "I don't trust Konoha, Naruko." she winced at the use of her name. It meant he was very serious about his answer, and he had some bad blood with the Hokage for some time. Even after the public announcement that she was the daughter of Minato Namikaze, people where indifferent to a degree to her although some saw her in a better light.
Zabuza and Haku were on probation, Haku having a lighter sentence for good behavior while undergoing some therapy to check his mentality. Zabuza was a different story however; he was under surveillance at all times with no sense of privacy, even in the bathroom. But since he too was on good behavior (and that he didn't want to deal with all of Konoha hounding him) they were being a little lenient with some of his places to shop as long as they weren't weapon shops.
Team 7 have been assigned to more D-ranks, which in Naruko's opinion were a bit of a refresher from that A-rank mission as the stress levels were severely reduced. Although Naruko was punished with a week of no ramen by Storm for her losing a Command Seal and she was still suffering a bit from a ramen withdraw. "Why must the world be so cruel?" she thought as the food of the gods was out of her reach with this strict Servant of hers. "Please Storm, can't you do it for me?" she asked as Storm stared at her as the mask did not show anything of his face. "How about making it as an order?" she asked.
"...Fine, you are the Master after all. But I will have conditions to this, if they're broken. I'm not working as an ally of Konoha." Storm responded, a tone of resignation and irritation in his voice as Naruko inwardly cheered in her victory. "Naruko-san dai shori~!" she inwardly cheered.
Kakashi and all of the other teachers of their teams have been gathered by Hiruzen Sarutobi for an important meeting. It was that time of year again that has been carried out through generations of their time, the trails for their Genin teams to climb up to the rank of Chūnin. Many of the teachers were hesitant about entering their students, but Kakashi was not one of them. "I nominate Naruko Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno to join the exams." he told the Sandaime, surprising many of his colleagues by that bold move. "Then I nominate Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuga to join the exams." Kurenai stepped in, once again surprising everyone as Asuma scratched the back of his head and bit his unlit cigarette. "Alright I'll bite, I nominate Shikamaru Nara, Chōji Akamichi, and Ino Yamanaka for the exams." he spoke up.
Now all of the other teachers were in a bit of frenzy as a man in green spandex, orange leg warmers, a bowl shaped haircut, and the bushiest brows ever seen laugh. "Very well then, I nominate my team for these youthful exams!"
Now this unnerved Iruka quite a bit, three of those teams were from his class back in the Academy and had a level of fondness of them; hearing that they were going to compete in the Chūnin Exams actually made him worried. Just when he was going to make his objection, the door opened revealing Storm walking in. "Sorry if I'm interrupting something, but old man, Naruko request me to aid you as a fellow shinobi of Konoha." Storm spoke as the Sandaime bit his pipe a little. He had an edge for now against this spirit of old, "But there are a few conditions I like to add. If those terms are acceptable, then I will lend this village my strength."-Well, a bit of an edge actually.
Naruko hummed to herself as she groomed Leo and Elo on her lap, the lion cubs practically purring under her touch as Sasuke was reading a book while Sakura was examining her tool pouch for anything missing or that the team might need. They were once again waiting on Kakashi, but they learned to kill time and enjoy things until he showed up, so this was a proper bonding moment to them, all relaxing and just enjoying the moment without a care in the world. When they heard a puppy barking, they turned to see Team 8 and Team 10 walking towards them.
"How's it going guys?" Kiba asked with a friendly grin as Ino walked up to Sakura as the two friends and rivals got into a conversation of how things been. "Things have been well Kiba," Sasuke answered as Naruko ran up to Hinata with a concerned expression. "Hinata, are you okay? I thought your injury would have healed by now." she asked. "I'm alright Naruko," Hinata replied with a small smile. "I just needed a bit more time for my eye to heal, that's all." Naruko stared at her for a moment before nodding her head as she walked up to Shino who merely nodded his head. "It's been a while Shino, found any cool bugs to add to your collection?" she asked.
"I have, but only those that have breeding capabilities with the ones I have. I'm attempting to crossbreed a new species." Shino told her as Naruko nodded her head in agreement. "I heard crossbreeding is a hard challenge, but knowing of your clan and your determination, I'm sure you'll succeed in the long run." Naruko told him as she saw one of the rare smiles he had underneath his collar. "Thank you, I know I will succeed in my endeavor." he replied. Shikamaru merely had a small smile as he laid back on the ground, gazing up at the clouds while Chōji sat beside him, eating a bag of potato chips.
Today was a relaxation day for these rookie genin, all unaware of the calm before the storm.
"I'm so excited! My sword hand twitches at the thought of powerful opponents to clash in the battle of epics!" and Iwa genin exclaimed with excitement in his eyes as the redhead twin-tailed girl looked at him with irritation. "Gawds Owain, can you give it a rest already? We're here for the exams, not pick a fight or make bad blood with Konoha!" she snapped, as her third teammate was busy flirting with a girl to a nice cup of tea, only to be brutally rejected within two words. "My, my, these girls here are certainly quite the beauties. I'll have to try harder then," the third teammate mused as the sensei merely chuckled at his students from under the hood.
"Those three...Mother would enjoy feasting on their blood." a red haired boy with the kanji for love on the side of his forehead muttered while his two teammates began praying for the shinobi of Iwa's peace in the afterlife. Whenever someone does draw his interest, they could only feel pity for them and hoped they would not haunt them for not stopping him. They should at least get a photo and their names to make a memorial shrine for them.
"It is time, time to show these greater nations that we of the Sound are not to be trifled with." Spoke the leader of the team as the other boy of their team flexed his arms, revealing the holes on the palm of his hands as he grinned viciously while the lone female of the team smirked. "We'll show Konoha who will come out on top."
"Hm, this is an interesting place for ramen. It's no Ichiraku, but hey, it's got its own twist on things." Storm mused as he ate the spicy ramen while Anko and Ibiki looked at him, well, more like Anko was eating the store's spicy dango and chatting in agreement on the twist on the food while Ibiki was trying to mentally break Storm with his glare. "You both know we're going to be the proctors of the exams and here you are goofing off when work is supposed to be done." he growled as Anko snorted, "Please, it's not going to start until another few days! What else can we do but relax until then?" she asked. "See, even she gets it." Storm agreed, "Relax first, and then when business starts, get busy with the serious and bloody stuff that we'll have to take care of. No need to be serious now, Ibiki-kun~." he teased as the head of interrogation was boring holes in Storm's skull with his glare.
/Day of the Exams/
On the day the Chūnin Exams initiation began, the nominated teams of Konoha were making their way up and Naruko was excited for the chance to climb up the ranks. "I'm not sure Naruko," Sakura spoke up as they walked through the hallways. "I've heard people have died in these exams before. Are you sure we're ready for this? I mean we've only just graduated some time ago and only experienced one A ranked mission. We're practically walking in the proverbial lion's den." she reasoned as Naruko smiled at her teammate. "Come on Sakura! Have some faith in your teammates and their skills, and in yourself." Naruko told her with reassurance. "I mean you're the one with the knowledge of pretty much everything here in Konoha, you'll be able to help us in places that we're not specialized in."
"Yeah, you're more of the 'swing sword first' and think later type of girl." Sasuke commented as Naruko looked at him with a frown. "Excuse me?" she demanded as Sasuke sighed. "I mean without Storm monitoring you, you're hotheaded enough to pick a fight with something you might not be capable of handling. Borderline reckless with your chivalrous attitude at times." he explained as he recalled several flashbacks of Naruko's 'knightly duties' when it came to helping someone out. He didn't want to, but he'll have to act in Storm's place in keeping Naruko's hot-blooded nature in place; in the words of Shikamaru, how troublesome.
"Yeah, I can actually see that now that you mention it." Sakura nodded her head in agreement as Naruko pouted at her teammates. "Really? I'm not that bad am I?" she asked as the two stared at her. "You challenged Zabuza one-on-one in a sword fight and had a minor mental breakdown on a word that had traumatized you." Sasuke stated flatly as Sakura nodded her head in agreement. "Yup, and we're going to make sure you don't do that "it's the most honorable thing" habit either. We're shinobi; fighting fair isn't in our line of work of spying and assassination." Naruko frowned at that, there was some logic to that, but she had her own shinobi way of dealing with things, and it involved including the code of chivalry to it like any honorable knight would.
As they walked up the stairs to the assigned floor, they saw their sensei waiting at the door with a gentle look in his eye. "I see you've all decided to show up." he noted as the trio were all confused. "Kakashi-sensei, what do you mean when you say it like that?" Sakura asked as he eye smiled at the three. "Well, if one of you didn't show up, the rest of the team wouldn't be able to participate in the exams. I couldn't tell you guys that because it's your choice to enter or not. Plus Naruko and Sasuke might have pressured you into joining." he added as Sakura merely sighed. She had two battle addicted junkies on her team and of course they would definitely pressure her if they found out that they would need a full team to enter. She was happy with the concern from her teacher for that.
"All I can wish you all now is good luck and watch each other's backs." he told them as he stepped aside for them to enter. "You will die if you're not careful in these exams." he warned them as the trio nodded their heads and walked in.
The moment of fate has begun to unravel, the very event that would change not just the lives of Team 7, but the lives of everyone else as well.
