"First of all, congratulations on finishing the second exam," Anko announces as we stand in lines in front of her, the Hokage, a bunch of Chunin, and the Jounin sensei's. I, of course, get to be the awkward one who stands in her own little row because we're a team of four instead of three.
"I'm really hungry," I hear Chouji whine.
"What a drag," Shikamaru complains. "There's so many left. This is such a pain." He's right, of course, eight teams made the cut and that makes twenty-five people here.
"Looks like Tora and her team have passed too!" Ino says happily.
"Well of course they did," Shika drawls. "After all the trouble we went through to keep them safe, they better have passed." It's not like we asked for their help, besides if I hadn't been knocked out by my curse mark we wouldn't have even needed it! I look up at Kakashi and see the strange man in spandex having a mini freak out next to him. I have to cover my mouth with my hand in order to stifle my laughter. My eyes travel over the rest of the sensei's and pain flares in my neck when I see the Sound ninja sensei. Who the hell does Orochimaru think he's fooling? It's obvious to anyone who knows him that it's him!
"Hey look," Sakura whispers. "All of the Leaf Village rookies are here too."
"Whoa, everyone's here!" Naruto says. "Old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei, and even Bushy Brow! It looks like nobody got left out this time!"
"Hn, I don't have a very good feeling about this," Sasuke growls holding onto his shoulder with the curse mark.
"Alright now pay attention," Anko shouts. "Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you, you better listen carefully maggots!"
"She really likes calling us maggots, doesn't she?" I mutter to myself.
"Lord Hokage," She says with a bow. "They're all yours."
The Third takes a few steps forward and clears his throat before speaking. "First, before I tell you what the third exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, it's something all of you need to understand. I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjunction with our allies?"
"Don't know, don't care." I mumble.
"To raise the ability level of the shinobi and increase friendship between allied nations, to be sure. But it's important that you understand the true meaning. The exams are, so to speak, they're a representation between the battle of allied nations."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tenten asks in surprise.
"Now if we look at our history all the countries that we're currently allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location. That was how the Chunin selection exams originally began." The Hokage says.
"Well that's great," Naruto says. "But why do we have to go through these exams then? I mean it's not like we're doing this to pick Chunin to go fight!"
"Well actually, there is no question that part of these exams is to select shinobi worthy of becoming Chunin, that's just not the whole story," the Hokage explains. "These exams also allow for a place where shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their backs and fight against other ninjas for their very lives."
"The pride of their nation?" Sakura asks.
"Many leaders and people of prominence from their countries are invited to attend this exam as guests and also possibly to seek shinobi to work for them. This exam could determine the course of your ninja work from here on out. But more importantly those rulers will watch your battles and take note of the strengths that each ninja and each nation is developing. If there is a gap in power between the countries the strong countries are inundated with job request for their ninja and conversely the request to countries that are deemed week decline. Therefore the stronger our nation is, the better our position is when it comes to negotiating with neighboring countries. So it's important to show how much military strength our village has."
"Okay even so," Kiba shouts. "But why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?"
"The countries strength is the village's strength. The village's strength is the shinobi's strength and the true strength of the shinobi is only achieved when it is pushed to it's limits, such as in a life and death battle. This exam is chance for each nation to display the strength of it's shinobi and hence the strength of the nation itself. It's because this is an exam where your life is on the line that it has meaning and it's for this very reason that for the strength of the nation that your forerunners fought in this exam! It's truly a dream worth striving for!"
"But then why did you use the expression friendship before?" Tenten asks.
"But you've only remembered half of what I've said. You mustn't also have the wrong idea of the exam's meaning. This is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying. In the world of the shinobi, that is friendship. The third exam is a fight for your life, with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake."
"Any test is fine," Gaara says in a menacing voice. "Just tell me what the details of the exam are already. I can handle anything you throw at me."
"Very well then," He nods. "Now listen closely I'm going to tell you exactly what you'll all be doing on the third exam-"
"Lord Hokage," a man appears in front of the Third kneeling. "Before you do, please allow me, Hayate Geko appointed as proctor of the third exam to speak first."
"So be it," The Hokage says.
"It's nice to meet you all," the man, Hayate, stands up and goes into a coughing fit. "There's something I would like all of you…" More coughing. "To do before the third exam." And he coughs again!
"I think he's going to hack up a lung." I murmur quietly, but Tenten catches it and holds a hand to her mouth the stifle her giggles.
"Uh, we have to have a preliminary exam before we can move onto the real one." Hayate says.
"That sounds like fun," I hear Luna say.
"Preliminary!" Shika shouts. "What do you mean by that?"
"I'm sorry sensei, excuse me," Sakura says. "But I really don't see the point. What's this preliminary all about? Why can't we just move onto the third exam?"
"Uh, well you see," He explains. "The first and second exams might have been too easy. The fact is we never expected so many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chunin exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining."
"But is that fair?" Sakura asks.
"Well it is in the rules," I mutter.
"It's just that at this stage we have to speed things up a bit. As Lord Hokage said, a lot of important guest will be watching. We can afford to waste their time; they've come to see only the best. So if any of you feel you are not in top physical condition, now's the time to," he trails off into yet another coughing fit. "Sorry about that. As I was saying, any of you who don't feel up to this now is the time for you to bow out. The preliminaries will be starting immediately."
"Come on!" Kiba yells. "You mean right now?"
"Well, that is what people normally mean when they say immediately," I say sarcastically.
"We just barely finished surviving the last exam," Ino whines. "Don't we get a break?"
"Man what a drag." Shika complains.
"When do we get to eat?" Chouji asks. What a bunch of wusses! Don't they know that there are no breaks in the shinobi world?
"Oh yeah, uh, the winners will be determined by one on one combat sudden death. So like I said, if anyone doesn't feel up to it, now's the time to raise your hand." Hayate says.
I hope I get to fight Kabuto. He needs a good ass kicking, especially when he acts like he's better than me. Another wave of pain washes of me, but I grit my teeth through it. In front of me, Sasuke's doing the same and Sakura's whining about something, but I can't hear her through the throbbing in my head. Damn it, if I don't get it together soon I might end up losing my match! The pain recedes just as Kabuto raises his hand.
"Okay, you got me I'm out." He smiles.
"But Kabuto," Naruto says.
"Kabuto Yakushi of the Leaf Village right?" Hayate says. "Okay, you can go on and step back."
"Gotcha," Kabuto says and turns to leave.
"Damn it," I mutter as Naruto and him exchange a few words. "I really wanted to kick his ass."
"Good luck, Tora." He smirks as he passes me on his way out the door. "I hope you win."
"I hope you get impaled by millions of kunai and bleed to death," I spit back, but he only chuckles.
"You always were such a jokester," he laughs and continues on his way.
"I wasn't joking!" I call after him. "If I could I would kill you right now, but that would land me in shinobi prison!"
"What did that guy ever do to piss you off?" Kiba asks as everyone in the room stares at me.
"Don't worry about it," I shrug. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Hayate coughs and diverts everyone's attention away from me. "Now then, does anybody else wanna quit?"
Some drama happens between my team, but I just ignore it and daydream about the multiple ways I can kill Kabuto.
"Alright then," Hayate says when no one backs out. "We'll now begin the preliminary round. This round will consist of one on one individual combat, at full battle intensity. This is not an exercise, there are twenty-four of you remaining, so that means we need twelve matches. The surviving candidates from these twelve matches will advance to the third exam. As for the rules, there are none. You will fight until one dies or concedes defeat or is rendered physically incapable of continuing the contest. Naturally those who are losing are urged to concede defeat promptly to avoid a fatal outcome. Furthermore, as proctor I am given a certain amount of leeway in judging the matches." He coughs again.
"I might occasionally intervene if a match seems hopeless, to save as many lives as possible. Now it's time to reveal what fate has been chosen for you." He nods and a panel opens behind him to reveal a monitor. "The names of each pair of opponents are chosen completely at random. Before each match the names will appear on the monitor behind me. As there's nothing more to say, let's begin. In a moment the names of the first two opponents will appear."
We all look up at the monitor as names begin to flash across it in yellow print. The names stop and my eyes widen. Dosu Kinuta vs. Tora Uchiha. Yes I get to go first! But who the hell is Dosu Kinuta?
"Alright now, those whose names have been drawn come forward." I step forward and so does the Sound ninja that attacked Kabuto before the first exam. "You have been chosen for the first match. Dosu Kinuta and Tora Uchiha. Are there any objections?"
"No," Dosu says.
"None that I can think of," I say.
"Uh, alright then, let's begin the first match." Hayate coughs. "Okay everyone other than the two opposing candidates will now clear the area and move to the upper level."
Everyone makes their way to the balconies surrounding the arena. "Good luck Tora," Naruto calls to me.
"Please," I scoff. "I don't need luck to beat this guy." Especially since he's just one of Orochimaru's sacrificial ninjas.
"Just don't get too cocky," Kakashi says as he passes me.
"Don't worry," I smile. "I can take him."
"Try not to overdo it," he sighs and messes up my hair before going to the balcony. Once everyone's gone it's just Dosu, Hayate and I in the arena.
"Watch yourself little girl," Dosu sneers as we enter a stare down.
"Okay if you're ready," Hayate says. "Let the first match begin!"
Dosu charges at me aiming a punch, from what I know about his encounter with Kabuto just dodging back won't work. His fist flies towards me and I jump straight up into the air. A high pitched sound reaches my ears and I feel pain explode in my head. I drop to the ground in a fetal position trying to block out the noise.
"Tora!" I hear my teammates shout.
"Poor little girl," Dosu drawls. "You're so weak."
"Weak?" I whisper and push myself up despite the pain. Anger boils in the pit of my stomach and I close my eyes. Taking a deep breath I shout, "Nobody… calls me weak!" My eyes snap open and I race towards him.
"You can't beat me!" He shouts sending another sonic attack at me. There's nothing I can do but push through the pain. I sprint forward meeting the sound waves head on and ignore the excruciating pain pulsing through my body from both his attack and my curse mark. I aim a punch at his head, but he blocks it. Using my momentum I swing a leg forward for a kick, but he blocks it with sound waves and throws me back. I hit the wall hard and cough. Something wet trickles down my chin and I know its blood.
"If you can't even beat me," he smirks and walks over to me holding me up by my shirt collar. "How do you expect to kill Lord Orochimaru?"
"T-The fight i-isn't over y-yet," I say between clenched teeth.
"Oh but it is." He smiles menacingly. "I think I'll just kill you right now and then Lord Orochimaru will take your dear brother and use him as his next vessel. How does it feel to be helpless to save both yourself and your brother?"
"I'll never," I growl as anger grows in the pit of my stomach. I feel the curse mark start to burn and spread over my body and close my eyes from the pain. "Let him have my brother!" My eyes open and a clawed hand lashes out punching Dosu back into the wall across the arena. I feel my conscious retreat to the back of my mind as the demon takes over.
"It's been ages since I was let out," the demon says in my voice. "Oh and it seems Tora's let me out in an area with a lot of people. Quenching my bloodlust should be easy."
'No!' I shout from inside my mind. 'Stop! I didn't mean to let you out!'
'Oh, but Tora dear it's too late,' the demon chuckles, also in my mind. 'Now watch as I kill this man for you and then move onto killing all your friends.'
Kakashi POV.
"How does it feel to be helpless to save both yourself and your brother?" That Dosu guy asks, holding Tora against the cracked stone wall.
"I'll never," Tora shouts as black marks begin to cover her body. Her hands seem to grow larger as her finger nails are replaced my claws. Her hair changes to a deep shade of orange and grows longer and more ridged while two catlike ears appear on top of her head. Two of her top teeth elongate to form fangs, similar to those of a saber-toothed tiger. A short coat of fur forms on her skin, the same shade as her hair with black marks like a tiger, and a tail forces its way from her lower back. "Let him have my brother!" Her eyes open to reveal her Sharingan and she lashes out at Dosu with a clawed hand, sending him flying back into the wall across the arena.
"It's been ages since I was let out," she purrs. "Oh and it seems Tora's let me out in an area with a lot of people. Quenching my bloodlust should be easy."
"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto looks back at me from his place at the railing. "Something's wrong, that's not Tora."
"I've noticed," I say. Tora may be sadistic, but she's not sadistic to the point of killing.
"So the beast finally comes out," Dosu says getting up from the ground. What does he mean?
"Shut up, human," Tora snaps. "As a thank you for being the one to get Tora angry enough to let me out, I will kill you first and it won't be as painful as the deaths of the others." Tora disappears from sight and reappears next to Dosu. She picks him up from the ground and tosses him in the air. "Tiger Art: Thousand Claw Strike!"
Tora jumps into the air after the Sound ninja and punches him multiple times. Her hands are a blur and I can't keep up with how many times she's hit him. She lands one final blow and Dosu shoots up and hits the ceiling before falling back to the ground. He stands up slowly and swipes his arm through the air, sending what I assume is another sonic attack.
"Silly human," Tora smirks. "You cannot beat me."
She walks over to him and kicks him in the chest sending him sprawling on the ground. "P-Please…" Dosu chokes out as blood runs down his chin. "H-Have mer-mercy!"
"I'm sorry," she smiles gruesomely. "But mercy is not in my vocabulary." The claws on her hands gleam as they tear through the air. There's a sickening sounds as they sink into Dosu's throat. He lets out one more weak cough before going still.
Tora pulls her claw from him and darts her tongue out to lick the blood. "Time for the rest of you." She turns around and her eyes lock onto me.
Tora POV
I can only watch helplessly as the demon tears into Dosu's throat with her claw. 'Please, stop!' I shout.
'Why should I stop?' She asks. 'I'm having too much fun.' She brings the bloodied claw up to her mouth and licks at the blood.
"Time for the rest of you." She turns and her eyes lock onto Kakashi. 'That one looks like a good first target.'
'No! Don't you dare touch my sensei!' I scream and struggle to regain control.
'Or maybe I'll go for the stupid looking blond kid standing in front of him,' she muses. 'No wait, the cute one with the black hair!'
'If you lay one hand on my brothers I'll-'
'You'll what? You can't do anything to me!' She laughs and starts advancing towards my family.
'I. Said. No!' I screech as my conscious overtakes hers, pushing her into the deed recesses of my mind.
'What are you doing?' She panics. 'No! I will not be overtaken by a child!' Her mind pushes back against mine and my body falls to its knees.
'I won't let you hurt the people I care about again!' I scream and with one final push my mind and body are my own again. I look down at my hands as the claws and fur recede and I feel my canines going back to their normal length. I look up at Kakashi as tears flood my vision. "I'm sorry," I whisper, but I know he heard it.
"Uh, the winner is Tora," Hayate says and coughs. "The next match will begin shortly after we clean the blood from the arena."
I shakily make my way to my feet and almost fall, but a strong pair of arms catches me. "Take it easy," Kakashi says as he helps me stand.
"Miss Uchiha," a Chunin says walking over to us. "The Hokage wishes to speak with you."
"I figured," I muttered. "Can Kakashi come with me?"
"Actually," the ninja says. "The Hokage requests that all the Leaf's Jounin sensei's are there."
"Okay," Kakashi says. "We'll be right there."
Instead of helping me walk there, because it would be too slow, Kakashi picks me up bridal style and carries me out of the arena to a privet room at the top of the tower. When we enter all the Jounin stare at me as if I'm a monster, but I guess in a way I am. Kakashi carries me over to a couch across from the Third and sets me down gently before taking his place among the Jounin.
"Look," I say taking a shaky breath. "I know why I'm here."
"Good," the Hokage says. "That's makes it easier to ask you to explain what just happened."
"I-It's a long story," I begin. "But I have to start back at the beginning. Long ago there lived a monster; the people called it Kurai Tora, meaning Dark Tiger. She wandered around from place to place leaving chaos and destruction in her wake. One day a shinobi challenged her, he was known as the first Tiger Sage. He beat Kurai Tora and condemned her to life as a spirit, forced to wander the world with no body for eternity."
"How do you know all this?" The Third asks. "And what does this Kurai Tora have to do with anything."
"Well," I sigh. "You just met her. That… thing I transformed into was Kurai. Her spirit now resides in my body."
"Kind of like Naruto and the nine tails, right?" Gai asks.
"Yeah," I answer.
"But how did the spirit come to reside in your body?" Asuma asks.
"When I was held captive by Orochimaru, he gave me this." I say pulling my fishnet to the side to reveal the three black tomes that make up my curse mark.
"That's a curse mark!" Anko exclaims.
"Yeah," I mutter. "When he gave it to me, my body became weak and easy to take over. At the time Kurai was wandering around Orochimaru's lair, because she enjoyed watching all the suffering that went on there. When she noticed my weakened state she took advantage of it and tried to take over my body, but something happened and she fused with my curse mark. Now whenever I use the curse mark's power, she takes over my body and goes on a rampage."
"Then we need to seal your curse mark!" A woman with black hair and red eyes says, I think she's the Jounin assigned to Kiba's team.
"It can't be sealed," I say sadly. "Sealing a normal curse mark is difficult, but mine is stronger because of Kurai. Any seal put on it would be broken."
"Then how can we be sure she won't get out again?" Gai asks.
"You can't," I mumble. "I have excellent control over my curse mark and can easily block out its power. The only time she can get out is when I'm extremely angry."
"That's right," Kakashi murmurs. "That ninja said something about you not being able to save Sasuke before you lost control."
"The only time I ever lose it is when someone threatens my family," I say. "It's also how I gained control again. Kurai was going to go after Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke first. To tell you the truth, I've only lost control one time before this."
"What happened that time," the Third asks.
"I ended up killing my best friend," I whisper hoarsely as tears fill my eyes.
"I think we've heard enough," the Hokage says. "We'll deal with this later. We need to get back to the preliminaries."
"Yes Lord Hokage," everyone says and we go back to the arena. When I reach the balcony everyone stares at me with fear filled eyes.
"W-What are you?" Sakura asks her entire body trembling.
"She's a m-monster," Chouji says. I feel my chest constrict at that word. Monster. That's exactly what Yumi called me, just before Kurai cut off her head.
"S-Stay away f-from us!" Kiba shouts. Tears threaten my eyes once again.
"Please," I whisper. "Let me explain."
"No!" Tenten shouts. "Just get away from us, you freak!"
"Sasuke," I whisper and my eyes look to my brother, hoping to find some sort of kindness, but all I find is a nasty glare.
"You're no better than Itachi," he says in disgust. "Murderer."
Anger boils up inside of me at his mention of Itachi. "Fine," I growl between clenched teeth and storm off. "I should have just let Kurai kill you!"
"Tora wait!" I hear Naruto shout from behind me, but I just ignore him and keep going. I make my way across the arena to the balcony across from them.
"Hey Tora," Suzume says as I walk up the stairs. Luna and Hikari take me by surprise and hug me from both sides.
"We heard what they said," Hikari starts.
"And just want you to know that they're jerks for treating you like that," Luna finishes.
"They should have at least heard your explanation, before judging you." Suzume says.
"Yeah, it's not your fault that stupid spirit's inside of you." Hikari adds.
"Wait, how do you guys know about the spirit?" I ask.
"I told them," a woman with shoulder length black hair and dark brown eyes says. "I'm Kira, their sensei."
"Oh," I mutter. "So you were there to hear my explanation."
"Yeah," she says. "I hope you don't mind me telling them, but they seemed pretty worried about you."
"It's okay," I smile.
"Personally, I think it's pretty cool that you have a blood thirsty demon inside you," Luna says.
"Thanks," I laugh.
"Don't worry about those idiots," Kira says pointing to the other balcony. "I'll have a long talk with Ino about how she treated you when we get home."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I'm her aunt," she answers. "I actually want to thank you for telling her to quit obsessing over your brother. I was starting to get sick of hearing about Sasuke."
"You're welcome," I laugh.
"Oh," Suzume says. "Just so you know, we don't call her Kira-sensei. We call her Sadistic Apricot-sensei!"
"You call her what?"
"Okay," Hayate shouts, gaining everyone's attention. "We will now begin the second match!"
"I hope it's me," Suzume mumbles. A bunch of names flash across the screen before stopping.
"The next match will be Yoroi Akado versus Sasuke Uchiha!"
Aren't the Leaf genin such jerks? All except Naruto... Anyways sorry it took a while to update, but school starts soon and I have two study halls I can write in and I can write during class. I hope you like this chapter, let me know what you think. Enjoy.
~Tora