So, I am sorry for the lateness of this chapter. It took me a while because of what free time I had and this chapter was a bit annoying.
I wanted to get to the final part of the exam, and finish up the Chūnin Arc, and head into the Nightmare Arc (which will involve the Uchiha Massacre for those who wonder why I decided to name it that).
But it looks like there might be two or three more chapters before we head towards that and unlocking Naruto's bloodline. Also, at the end of the chapter will be some information on Naruto's clan taijutsu styles and techniques. Sometimes those sort of AN's will appear.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
.
.
.
Chūnin Arc.
Uzu no Musume.
Chapter 10: Journey To Sunagakure: Chūnin Exams Part IV.
.
"I suggest you surrender," Naruto snapped, her eyes narrowed and cold as she held one of her mothers katanas (Toyotama-Hime being the name etched into the blade below the hilt and guard) to the genin's throat.
If the girl moved it would be all too easy to slide the blade through the front of her neck and out the back, or take off her head among other things. She had even been working on pushing her chakra nature into her weapon – though she didn't claim to be very good at kenjutsu just yet. She was good enough to make a point.
Her nature type had been a surprise, most people of fire country had fire affinities, though earth and water were not so unusual. To find she had a very strong wind affinity with a fairly powerful secondary lightning affinity had been a surprise. On the other hand It had come as no surprise when Koji had a fire affinity, but the fact Kasumi had a water affinity had been slightly surprising. Inuzuka's usually had earth or fire affinities.
"They don't have the coin, Naru-chan," Kasumi said, sighing as she finished checking the two knocked out sand genin's on the ground.
"Look, you can have my coin..." the girl said, holding her hands up in surrender.
Naruto did not remove her blade though and looked to Koji. His charcoal eyes flashed as he nodded, and went about looking for the coin. He was careful to keep his hands from any part of the girl that would offend her. Naruto noticed how careful he was and had to withhold a snort of amusement, while Kasumi huffed and crossed her arms.
"Ah, there's two. An earth and heaven," he said while holding up the coins, and Naruto nodded.
"You'll let me go then.." The girl was interrupted when the the katana was removed with speed she barely made out, and then there was darkness.
Naruto had stabbed her sword into the ground below her, and shot forward quickly to press a pressure point that would knock the girl out. It all happened within a span of a few seconds, rather slow in Naruto's opinion. The girl hadn't seen it coming though. Naru was still working on her speed though, and she wasn't slow by any means.
Picking up the long katana, which had a green hilt with diamond like designs in a gold color, the blade itself made from chakra conductive metal; not exactly common for most katanas, she sealed it back into a scroll. Then placed it in one of the pouches on her thigh – it was amazing how with the right seal the smallest scroll could hold the largest item. Usually she would have simply held it at her waist with her black obi, but that would have given away an advantage in the exam.
"We never said that," Naru muttered to the unconscious girl.
It was best to leave them unconscious so as to not have them attack when they went to leave, they'd learned that the hard way with the Kiri team. They also didn't want to go around killing every team they met, and they'd met three or four in the three days they'd been there.
"It must be the lack of ramen, makes her cranky," Kasumi said, shaking her head.
"Hn." Koji nodded.
"Well, we should head out now. I think given the sand around here we should continue in that direction. The sun should help up pinpoint exactly where we are and which way Suna is," Naruto said, her face very thoughtful.
It was almost unusual for the blonde.
Koji and Kasumi nodded, and the three began their trek back towards the deserts of Suna and the Hidden Village itself, with three days to spare.
.
.
.
Two days later Team Seven found there way back to Suna gates, tired, hot, hungry, in need of water and injured. Compared to others returning or still out there they weren't too terribly hurt.
Naruto was mostly tired, most her injuries healing much quicker thanks to her Uzumaki blood and the added bonus of being a jinchūriki. Other than that there was mostly some cuts and bruises. Kasumi had been able to heal the more serious injuries, and was probably the closest to passing out.
"So, a Konoha team," the Proctor said when they got to the gate. "You're the first team from your village here, congratulations on making it."
"Hn," Koji grunted, rubbing his left arm where one of the teams to attack them for their coins had nearly broken it.
"Here are our coins," Naruto said, holding out the three silver coins.
Kaito nodded, took the coins and handed them off.
"Good, you still have your original coin," he said, and all three members of Team Seven raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean, Proctor-san?" Kasumi asked.
Kaito smirked, and chuckled.
"Well, there was one part of the test I didn't mention. Teams who do not return with their original coin, the one with their teams chakra signature absorbed into it, are disqualified."
"WHAT!?" all three exclaimed, Koji in a rather un-Uchiha like manner.
"Yes, it's too see how seriously you genin take this part of the exam. You see, the coins are like a scroll, sometimes a ninja will be tasked with carrying important scrolls, sometimes containing classified information between unified villages or even villages undergoing a treaty agreement. There will be enemies wanting to stop it, or take the scroll to read. If that happens the mission is compromised, and if not recovered before opened classed as a failure."
Team Seven looked grim as they realized what he meant.
"So in other words, if we can't keep the 'scroll', or in our case the coin, protected until we reach the location of delivery... then clearly becoming a chūnin isn't something we would be ready for," Koji said.
Kaito nodded, smiling lightly.
"Right. Not many understood the point, and why we didn't tell you before you left."
Naruto snorted, and said, "Clearly the exam isn't meant to be simple or easy, otherwise anyone could become a chūnin."
"Right," Kaito said. "You should head in now, if you need medical attention head for the hospital. Otherwise be ready tomorrow for the next phase of the exam."
They nodded and the three genin and one ninken walked through the gates, and headed for the hotel to relax and regain their strength from the last few days.
Kaito watched them go and looked at one of the jōnin next to him.
"If those three don't become chūnin, I'll be surprised," he said, and the jōnin nodded having thought the same thing upon there arrival and reactions to the news.
The one with the coins chuckled on his other side, and Kaito looked over to notice that the blonde hadn't given him three coins but four.
"Well, I'll be damned, they managed to get four coins instead of the needed three," he said, blinking in surprise.
.
.
.
Gaara was unsure if it was a good idea, showing up at Naruto's after hearing that the girl had finally arrived back in the village after passing the second exam. He wasn't sure how to explain his emotions over the last few days, or the day before it. She'd never showed any fear of him and even defended him once.
It made the odd feeling in his chest change and his stomach twist at times. When he'd told Yashamaru over the days she'd been at Area 51 he'd seemed surprised, but explained that the emotion he'd tried to describe sounded like concern or worry for the blonde.
He did know he had felt... happy to be able to see her again.
Gaara was pulled from his thoughts as the front door was opened by a familiar tanned blonde, and he noticed she didn't wear the kimono-blouse, obi, and skirt she usually did or any of her ninja gear. Instead she stood in a black tank top with an orange swirl on the front, probably her clan symbol, and pair of orange shorts.
Her hair was loose, completely, so the hair-clip holding one side away from her face was removed and it made her bangs a bit more unruly, and almost spiky looking in places.
"Hmm? Gaara!" Naru greeted, a smile coming across her face. "I'm glad to see you."
Gaara smiled slightly as well, something he'd never truly done often before and still wasn't used to. In his hands was a brown paper bag, inside was medical creams he'd gotten with the help of his uncle.
Holding it out to her he sighed in relief when she blinked and took the offered bag. He had feared she might not, seeing as the last time he'd done something similar the door had been shut in his face.
"Medical creams," Naruto mused as she peaked inside, and then she smiled. "Thank you Gaara. Koji, Kasumi, and I were about to have dinner... would you like to join us?"
Gaara realized during the whole interaction he hadn't said a word and flushed slightly.
"If it's alright," he said.
Naru chuckled, grabbed his hand in hers, and pulled him inside.
He was surprised by just how warm her hand felt in his, or the simple fact his sand hadn't made a barrier between them. Even days after the fact this still served to surprise him, since the sand usually stopped everyone from touching him. Sometimes it even stopped Yashamaru, though he wasn't sure why the sand let him through sometimes and at others refused.
.
.
.
In the end only eight teams passed the second phase, leaving twenty-four genin left.
"Congratulations on making it here," Mikoto-sensei told them as they arrived at the stadium practically behind the Academy. She was smiling in a proud manner, and Naruto, Koji, and Kasumi all smiled back, while Mizumaru barked twice in greeting.
"I'll be watching how this all goes, good luck you three," she said, and walked over to stand with the other Jōnin sensei's that were there for their teams.
The Proctor from before was there, and Naruto also saw Gaara and Yashamaru not far behind who she was sure was the Kazekage.
The Kazekage had hair similar to Gaara's dark red, yet was more brown at the same time. His eyes were darker, not the pale teal she liked about Gaara's eyes, but Gaara looked a lot like this man leading her to believe he was his father.
Smiling at Gaara, who didn't seem to like being part of a large crowed and in sight of so many people, she waved and caught the pale eyes of her new friend. She saw his face light up marginally, and she wondered if anyone else would notice. The Kazekage did notice, and his eyes trailed from her wave towards Gaara.
She expected nothing less from a ninja. She noticed a small frown and quirked eyebrow at the interaction. The Kazekage looked at Yashamaru, and muttered something before Gaara's uncle nodded.
She wasn't sure what was said but she really couldn't be bothered to care.
"I wish to congratulate everyone who's made it to the final part, or at least semi-final part, of the exams. Unfortunately there are still quite a few of your left, so there will be a preliminary fight that will decide who goes forward. The rules have not changed much when it comes to the fights. The waivers you signed hold up until the end of the exams, so killing is allowed, but unnecessary killing will be taken into consideration by those judging the exams. The Proctor – " The Kazekage motioned to Kaito who nodded from where he stood.
"Will have the power to interfere if he deems it, and call a winner before fatal force is used. If you do not stand down and kill anyways you will be disqualified. Fights will be chosen randomly, and show up on the board above the Kage box. If there are no questions then we will begin shortly," he finished.
It was obvious the man was very business oriented. He got straight to the point. No one bothered asking questions, it was obvious what was expected from them.
Nodding, the Kazekage looked to Yashamaru and Gaara before going to the box above the stadium, which would be where the Kazekage sat with anyone else of importance – like the Wind Daimyō or the Kazekage's ANBU guards.
It seemed Gaara was also going to be up there with two other children, both of which she couldn't see well but seemed to want to be far away from Gaara.
Up above the stadium was a balcony-like place for the genin's in the exam and jōnin sensei's, and below that were seats for civilians and anyone wanting to watch the tournament.
The board on the Kage box began to rolls at a fast pace before stopping on two names.
Uchiha Koji VS Ryouichi of Kumo.
.
.
.
"Good luck," Kasumi said, smiling over at the dark haired boy.
Naruto added, "Ditto. Kick his butt, Ko-kun!"
Koji's lips quirked up in a small smile-smirk, and he forced back an eye twitch from the shortened version of his name Naruto had come up with over the years. She didn't use it often, but when she did he always had the urge to twitch.
"Hn," he offered as a reply, and began his walk down to the stadium along with a boy with strange light blue hair, pale skin, and large pink eyes. A very strange individual indeed.
"He doesn't talk much anymore, does he?" Kasumi muttered, half talking to herself.
Naruto looked down, some of her bangs not held back fell to shadow her face, and she thought of the reason for Koji's turn of emotions.
Koji had suffered tragedy only months before, with his brothers supposed suicide. Koji had been unsure what to believe, but a strong part wasn't willing to believe his older brother had taken his own life. Some thought Itachi had kill his best friend, but that was something both she and Koji refused to believe.
Naruto couldn't bring herself to believe either story. She'd known both Shisui and Itachi for years now. Something had happened, something which was now making Itachi act strangely, but she had no idea what. If Mikoto-sensei did she wasn't talking about it.
"Death is never easy to accept," she muttered, barely loud enough for Kasumi to here. "But Koji is strong, he'll be more like his old self given time."
Kasumi bowed her head in understanding. She had heard of the death of Koji's older brother, it had shaken her friend (and crush, but she wouldn't admit that to anyone other than herself) so badly she was becoming concerned he'd never be his lazy, laid back self again.
It had hurt Naruto nearly as much. Sometimes she forgot that Naruto viewed the Uchiha as an adopted family of sorts. She had none of her own, and Koji and the Uchiha – well mainly Mikoto-sensei's family and Koji's, though Naru was on good terms with the whole clan – were her first bonds.
"I hope so," Kasumi muttered, and both girls turned as the fight between their teammate and the other boy began.
.
.
.
AN: So, I want to get some information about some things out there. Once I've revealed Naruto's bloodline I'll do the same for it. This is mostly for some techniques and her family taijutsu styles to keep everyone up to date and further explain it.
Uzumaki Clan;
Uzuken = Vortex Fist.
The Vortex Fist taijutsu style has been in the Uzumaki clan for generations, since the founding of Uzushiogakure. Though it can be learned by the branch family members as well.
The only reason the clan had a main family and branch family, similar to the Hyūga family was too help keep the family tree straight. The man family were the most close to the bloodline, while the branch family was mostly cousins and distant cousins etc. It was also another way to organize the family head of the clan and the clan itself.
The style relies on speed and agility, and was most suited for females of the clan. Though was adapted to work with only speed, if a member did not have the proper agility and flexibility because of their body type. It is more of an offense than defense, seeing as Uzumaki were masters of Fūinjutsu (seals) and Kenjutsu (weapons), depending on the clan member.
It works hand in hand with pressure points, mixed with lightning release, which was the most common elemental affinity in the Uzumaki clan. Later it became even more capable as a defense when a member learned more of human anatomy and was able to find even more pressure points that could temporarily cripple or paralyze.
Naruto herself has also added to the style, studying more about anatomy from medical scrolls to find a more in-depth search on pressure points. The style is even more offensive now thanks to the fact she found pressure points that could be fatal when hit (though she was sure it had not escaped Uzumaki's before, but for some reason they didn't believe the style needed to be more fatal).
Namikaze Clan;
Kazeken = Wind Fist.
The Wind Fist was created by an unknown party of the once larger Namikaze clan at an unknown time in history, but was one of the few things not lost to the soul survivors of the main family when they migrated to Konoha. It is more of a defense, but can also be offensive to nearly the same degree.
One of it's greatest defensive and offenses is mixing wind chakra to increase speed and strength, something later added by Minato by watching his wife mix her affinity with her clan taijutsu.
There is also a taijutsu ability called Kazeken, which while called the same as the taijutsu style is actually translated as wind blades. It takes a strong wind affinity and control, but is not classed as a ninjutsu because Minato had such control over his affinity he could use it similar to a Rasengan – without hand seals. It also uses very little chakra, but actual wind influenced by small traces of chakra. It is easier to master with a weapon, but can be done simply by movement of the hand.
The draw back is it can cause injury to the one doing the technique if not mastered and careful. It is not to be done without near mastery of a wind affinity. Another thing that made it extremely effective and dangerous was the Hiraishin, which of course only Minato could truly do having perfected the technique.
Raijūken = Thunder Beast Fist.
Raijū was also a legendary creature from Japanese mythology. Its body is composed of lightning and may be in the shape of a cat, fox, weasel, or wolf. The form of a white and blue wolf (or even a wolf wrapped in lightning) is also common. It may also fly about as a ball of lightning (in fact, the creature may be an attempt to explain the phenomenon of lightning). Its cry sounds like thunder.
Raijū is the companion of Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning.
The Raijūken is the style created by Naruto mixing her clan styles, and as such is very unpredictable. There is only a basic level for mastery as one must master the Uzumaki and Namikaze styles completely to really get the full worth of the Raijūken.
Once the basics of the equal mix of offense and defense, taken from the two styles is mastered, the style relies on the mastery of the Uzuken and Kazeken to be effective – as said before. It was developed with the idea of mixing Kenjutsu, so one would need a understanding of the art to use the style effectively, but it is not necessarily a requirement.
The style is so unpredictable it can confuse the Sharingan so that it can no longer predict the movements nor copy the style.
Toyotama-Hime = Katana blade. A green hilt with diamond like designs in a gold color, the blade itself was made from chakra conductive metal; not exactly common for most katanas, and a white silk ribbon around the hilt close to the guard of the katana. The name of the sword is etched onto the silver-like blade close to the guard in Kanji.
Toyotama-Hime (meaning luminous jewel), better known as Otohime, is a goddess in Japanese mythology. She is the beautiful daughter of Ryūjin, the god of the sea. She married the hunter Hoori and gave birth to a son, who in turn produced Emperor Jimmu, the first Emperor of Japan. After giving birth, she turned into a dragon and flew away.
Hitokiri = Katana Blade. It looks nearly identical to Toyotama-Hime, except it is a blood red (with the same diamond pattern yet in ivory instead of gold) hilt blade, with a much darker blade, also made from chakra metal.
Only the blade is not silver in hue, but closer to black and has a partially serrated blade close to the guard of the sword, though the rest of the blade is not serrated. Instead of a white ribbon it has a pitch black one. The name of the sword is etched in gold on the swords blade in Kanji.
Hitokiri means Human Slayer, though Person Slayer or Man Slayer are also pretty much accurate translations from what I can find.
...
Sneak Peak of one of Naruto's developed jutsu's that will appear next chapter;
Raiton: Raikou Kitsune; A Raiton (lightning) ninjutsu, created by Naruto. Most likely a B-Rank Ninjutsu seeing as it is not usually fatal, but can harm and do some considerable damage with enough force and chakra.
The Hand seals are Dragon – Ox – Tiger – Snake – Ox. It creates three large foxes made from lightning which attack the enemy given.
If combined with a water attack can cause some serious damage, but as Naruto does not have a affinity for water and has never been able to use water jutsu's right she'd have to have a partner to use this combination. Much like the combination attack she and Koji created.
And Chapter 11 Preview! :
Koji stared at his opponent without fear, though he was a bit nervous.
He had confidence in his abilities but he didn't know how this Kumo-nin worked, and he still only had two tomoe in his Sharingan after nearly three years of having it. He knew some Uchiha's thought it rather odd, and shameful – mostly the elders of the clan for the latter.
He suspected this boy might have some sort of bloodline, his coloring looked much to unique for him to be a normal ninja. Of course, he could be wrong, he knew there were some people with the most unique hair colors.
Hatake Kakashi had silver-white hair. The Haruno Patriarch and his daughter, who he'd seen in passing since the daughter of the civilian clan seemed to follow Sasuke around quite often, had pink hair. That crazy Anko woman Shisui once told him about had purple hair, as did one of the ANBU – Neko (cat) – he'd seen keeping an eye on Naruto over the years.
Ryouichi smirked as the Proctor called the match to a start.
"Ready to lose?" the blue haired boy snarked, and Koji narrowed his eyes and fell into a stance.
"Hn, I was going to ask the same thing," Koji said, and smirked before making the first move.
Some may think that was foolish, but Koji needed to know what the boy was capable of. What better way then to attack first? He just had to hope the Kumo-nin wasn't as skilled as his arrogant confidence boasted.
.
.
.
EDITED 7/4/15.
