Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is purely for entertainment purposes, and I am making no profit off of this.
I feel cheated.
I know that I kind of expected this, but it still feels dumb.
The next stage of the Chunin exams was a survival test.
Now that I think about it, the entire freaking Chunin exam in general is a bad idea. Why the hell would you send your prospective ninja to a death trap like the Chunin exams? Wouldn't you want to keep your forces' abilities a secret? And keep them alive?
Unless the entire Chunin exams was more or less a giant attempt to catch the Daimyo's attention, throwing your best prospective Chunin out there to catch his eye.
It was probably also a big cash grab too. Lots of tourists came to watch the Chunin exams, specifically the third stage with the tournament, which encouraged economic growth and inflated the village's ego.
But other than those entirely sound reasons, there's no good reason to hold the Chunin exams!
Anyways, back to the Chunin exams. The area we were being tested in was called the, 'Mountain Range of Death.' What the fuck is up with that name? Or is it just the fact that Hidden Villages have absolutely zero creativity? Konoha had the 'Forest of Death,' and Kumo had the 'Mountain Range of Death.' I don't suppose that Suna's Chunin second stage Chunin exam area was called the 'Dunes of Death?'
Whatever.
"Alright, listen up maggots!" The proctor shouted, "This is the second stage of the Chunin exams! In a few minutes, you'll be… "
I fiddled with my hands. There was this stupid piece of dirt that was stuck underneath the nail of my middle finger, and it's pissing me off! I desperately tried to get it out from under, but alas, it was to no avail!
The proctor continued to shout, "Your objective will be to locate and… "
Stupid fucking piece of dirt! Just die! I swear to god, you stupid piece of dirt, I will get you out from under my nail, even if it kills you! Especially if it kills you! This Kami damn piece of dirt! Argh!
"... When you have acquired the sufficient amount of… "
Argh! I hate this! I hate this so much! How the hell did it get stuck so good in there! Wait… that could be taken out of context. I can't believe I'm cracking a sex joke, while the true enemy is right in front of me. This dumbass little…uggh!
Alright, fine. You want war, I'll get you war. I gathered lightning chakra in my hand. The sound of chirping birds filled the air. The Chidori sparkled into life.
I cackled maniacally, "Yes. Yes. Yes, yes, YES! Die! Die you stupid little fucking piece of shit! I swear to Kami, when I'm fucking through with you, you'll look and feel like you've been through hell! You hear me, you stupid ass piece of dirt! You hear me!"
I rammed the Chidori into the wall creating a sizable gouge in the wall. I lifted my hand out of the crater I had made and inspected my hand. I brought my hand closer to my face.
"Yes! Yes! Take that you filthy plebeian! You fucking-"
The proctor cleared his throat. I turned to him, killing intent on full blast.
"The fuck do you want!"
The proctor sighed tiredly. "You know what? Nevermind. Just… go. The second stage starts now"
Not a single ninja moved from their spots. All of them were staring at the clearly insane ninja in front of them. Daisuke and Ayano looked at me in a combination of bewilderment and embarrassment.
"Alright guys," I cheerfully said to my teammates, "I wasn't really listening to anything that dumbass proctor was saying, so… uh… what the hell are we supposed to be doing?"
If my teammates could be more ashamed of me, they would literally die from the excess embarrassment hormones that their brains were pumping out. I'm not sure if that's a thing, but in this case, that sort of reaction would be more or less valid.
Daisuke, cheeks bright red, answered my question in an uncharacteristically small voice, "Each team has been given a badge. Our job is to make it to a tower somewhere in the Mountain Range of Death with at least two badges."
I nodded sagely, "Of course, Daisuke, I already knew that. I was simply testing the readiness of our team. Since we're about to go through a perilous situation together, I just wanted to make sure that we were all sufficiently informed."
Ayano looks at me, "Idiot."
I am offended.
I looked at one of the other teams. I just one of the Kumo kunoichi on the team tuck their badge into one of her pockets. I considered pickpocketing it. On one hand, we could head directly to the tower, bypassing the need to fight.
On the other, I can't be subtle worth shit.
I'm not really a shinobi. A shinobi is a guy who can kill an army without anyone finding out. Me… well, let's but it this way: If I took on an army, people would really notice. I was less about actually being a ninja, and more about the flashy jutsu.
But come on! Did you expect me not to learn all the ninja magic that I could? That stuff was awesome.
So, anyways, it's not worth the risk for trying to steal the badge, especially because, for me, the risk is particularly high.
With that internal issue out of the way, into the Mountain Range of Death we go!
I still think it's a dumb name.
"Alright, so let's just head for the tower, then camp out there and ambush the first team that comes our way, yeah?" I propose a plan.
"Sure, the tower is a safe zone, so the minute we get another badge we're good." Daisuke agrees to my plan.
Ayano nods in agreement, then voices a suggestion, "If we walked up a mountain, perhaps we could spot the tower?"
"Good idea," I nod.
We walked up the nearest mountain in silence for an hour. Some parts of the mountain were so steep that we had to resort to tree-walking to scale the almost vertical surfaces.
We had just one blessed hour of peaceful silence. Just three friends-er… sort-of friends hiking up a mountain together.
Of course something had to go wrong.
A fucking laser beam of all things sliced through the air. It was only through months of Kakashi's legit training that we managed to duck under the beam before it hit us.
The beam of swept over us, then faded away as the jutsu ended.
"My, my." A smirking, a dark skinned Kumo shinobi with fair hair stepped out from behind a rock. The rock had a glowing red line running horizontally across it. He had fired the laser from behind the rock. Cunt. "Not many people could have dodged my Storm Release. You three must be something special."
His teammates stepped out from behind different rocks. One of them, a kunoichi seemed to be a Ninjutsu specialist, her hands were crackling with lightning. The other, a lanky shinobi, fingered a shuriken. He was probably a kunai slinger.
I made some hands signs behind my back. Kakashi had drilled the standard communication hand seals through our heads. The message I sent was essentially that I would handle the Storm Release guy. Finish the other ones and come to back me up later, if I needed it. If I didn't, I'd come help them out after I took out the Storm Release guy.
We assumed a triangular formation and prepared to fight. The Kumo nin didn't bother making a formation. They were confident that they would win.
I went through hand signs behind my back, the last sign for the Rat Tremor held. I went made another non-verbal signal that we developed.
My right foot slid backwards.
The minute it did, all hell broke loose from us. I was up to four discs now. The discs all homed in on the Storm Release guy. He blasted them with a few well-aimed laser beams,
While everyone was distracted by the fancy light show, Ayano threw a shuriken at the kunai slinger Shinobi. He didn't notice it until it was hardly a quarter of a metre away. He dodged it, but the shuriken clipped his shoulder.
Angrily, he threw several senbon at Ayano. I looked away. I had my own battle to fight.
The Storm Release guy charged at me. I made a lightning hound, making it bound towards him. He dodged the hound and went through some hand seals, launching another laser beam towards me.
I cancelled my lightning hound in favour of throwing four more Rat Tremor discs. I dove out of the way of the laser.
I considered hiding behind a rock for cover, but then remembered, 'Oh wait! The lasers fucking cut through rocks! Fan-fucking-tastic!'
I make a Chidori in my right hand and charge at him. Or at least I would have, had he not blasted my with a laser. I run diagonally, barely avoiding the laser beam. I'm not skilled enough with the Chidori to run any direction other than straight ahead, so with Chidori-enhanced speed, I dash forwards at a slight angle to the laser beam and end up about two metres away from the Storm Release guy.
I prepare for a lightning hound. I can do the hound sealless, and the distance between us was small. There was no way that he could dodge.
Several senbon made their way into my right arm, moving my hand and interrupting my jutsu. I spare a look backwards. Somewhere in the middle of my struggle with the Storm Release guy, Daisuke had been knocked to the ground. It had probably been Ayano against both of the Storm Release guy's teammates for a minute or two.
Not finding the need to have both of them focus on her, the kunai slinger broke off from the fight and went to help against me.
I made four more Rat Tremor discs and threw two of them in both directions. Two of them were tossed to the kunai slinger, and the other two homed in on the Storm Release guy.
The Storm Release guy blasted my discs away with his laser beams, and the kunai slinger waited until the last second, then dove out of the way. All four of my discs exploded harmlessly.
The kunai slinger threw several shuriken at me, which I ducked under. They shuriken spun over me, towards the Storm Release guy.
I stood up straight again, my eyes fixed on the kunai slinger. My hands went through hand signs, preparing for another barrage of Rat Tremors.
Shink! Shink! Shink!
Shuriken embedded into my back.
I turned around incredulously. The Storm Release guy had a smirk on his face, his hands pointing outwards as though he had just performed a jutsu.
Actually he had. The kunai slinger through his shuriken at me, knowing that if I blocked them, no harm done, but if they made it to the other side, they'd be sent back juiced up with Storm Release chakra, more deadly than before.
That's the difference between this team and mine. We were a team for barely more than four months, and we were all inexperienced in general. This team had probably been together for several more months than us, if not years. They knew and trusted each other and had combination attacks like that one.
The kunai slinger stayed at a distance, pelting me with all sort of projectiles. The Storm Release guy was benched for a bit, recovering from his chakra usage. Oh frickin' no you don't.
A sudden bright light flashed from his hands. I was wrong. He didn't run away to recover, he ran away to prepare another technique.
This beam was different from the wildly charged, wide beams from before. This one was brighter, more focused, and more deadly.
The laser flew across to where I was. I prepared another Chidori to charge at him, but the beam was too fast for me to begin running.
The laser collided against the dense lightning chakra of the Chidori, the two jutsu competing for dominance.
Lightning chakra and Storm Release chakra exploded in an instant of glory, ending each other in a draw.
The difference between our techniques, however, was that the Storm Release laser was long range, while the Chidori was performed in close quarters.
As such, the Storm Release guy was relatively unaffected by the explosion that the two jutsu generated, while I was blown backwards by the jutsu.
I flew through the air and landed near my fallen teammates. At some point, Ayano had been taken out by the Kumo kunoichi. She was lying on the ground next to Daisuke, who was looking rather like a porcupine, with countless senbon stuck through his body.
He was in pain.
Guess who generated power through pain?
'Not just my pain,' I realised, 'Through others' pain as well."
I shakily stood up and generated one more Chidori through my left hand. I normally used my right, but my right arm was rather badly burned form the explosion. My left arm would just have to suffice. This Chidori was tinged grey, feeding on Daisuke's pain.
The warbling sound of crows' calls filled the air as the Chidori crackled into existence.
Not just any Chidori.
The grey Chidori. My last resort. Actually, not grey Chidori anymore. It's the Grey Chidori, with a capital 'G.' If it's officially a jutsu and my last resort, it needs a proper name.
I shakily took a step in their direction. I lifted my left hand, Grey Chidori in hand. If this didn't work, we were boned. Boned hard. Boned in a potentially lethal way.
The Storm Release guy smirked and readied his laser thinking this to be the same situation as the last time. I took one more shaky step forwards.
His teammates openly jeered at me.
"He can barely walk! He thinks he can stand up to us?" The kunai slinger snickered.
I took another step forwards.
The kunoichi smiled, "I have to admit, they put up a better fight than I thought they would. But at the end of the day, they'll just have to die, huh? A shame. The white-haired one could be a looker in a year or two."
I shuffled forwards. I stumbled and fell to the ground, the Grey Chidori creating a crater in the ground where my left hand landed. The Chidori still crackled on, undisturbed by the ground.
The Kumo nin laughed even more at my fall. I paid them no mind and stood back up.
I took one more step forwards.
"I guess I'll just end it now, huh?" The Storm Release guy smirked, "Good fight, but it's time for you to learn your place." He sent the laser at me.
I took another step, this one faster than the last. I took another, faster than before. I went faster and faster, until I was at a full out sprint. Then faster than that, the Grey Chidori enhancing my speed.
The laser beam careened closer.
With a feral roar, I charged through the laser, Grey Chidori flaring. The Grey Chidori and the laser colliding in an explosion, not unlike the one made before, except for one crucial difference. The Grey Chidori came out on top.
I flew through the smoke cloud, snarling.
It wasn't enough.
The Kumo nin were surprised, but they were a team for longer. They knew each other and had automatic contingencies in place.
The Storm Release guy threw out another laser. This time, unlike the other lasers which were more just short bursts, this laser was sustained. The beam collided against my Grey Chidori, only slowing me down slightly.
Then, the Kumo kunoichi added her own lightning chakra into the laser, strengthening it, and giving it probably two or three times the destructive power as before. The laser beam flared outwards, easily five metres in diameter.
The Grey Chidori, upon collision with the laser, also flared outwards, responding to the laser's considerable width. Stray bolts of grey lightning flew in random directions.
At first, the loss in speed was rather negligible. But as time went on, the speed loss became greater. My running became laboured, as every step, even with the Chidori-enhanced speed, felt like wading through thick mud.
The laser and the Gray Chidori exploded. Exploded in italics. When I was blown backwards with a force that felt like several dozen trains, my smoking body streaking through the air. I landed on the ground roughly. Several areas of my body screamed in protest. I had probably broken several bones. Black spots danced across my vision as I fought to stay conscious. I was completely drained of chakra.
Lifting my head up minisculely, I watched the smoke from our explosion clear. There was an enormous smoking crater in the ground, easily reaching fifteen metres in width.
Looking up further, I saw the team of Kumo nin. The kunai slinger was down for the count. He was crackling slightly with grey lightning. He had been hit by a stray bolt of grey lightning from our explosion.
The kunoichi and the Storm Release guys were barely standing, the laser had taken quite a bit out of them. They were done for.
But so were we.
And we were more down for than they were.
No.
No.
A team form Iwa had come. They had probably been drawn here by the loud and bright jutsu. They had come to check things out.
Right now, both us and the Kumo team were easy pickings. It was a dream for the Iwa nin, and a nightmare for both us and the Kumo nin.
The Iwa nin stalked closer.
"Hey, Seidome?" Daisuke's hoarse voice reached my ears. I'm surprised. I didn't think that he was conscious still, "Are we gonna die?"
I stared up at the sky. It wasn't that I wanted to, it's just that I was too drained to bother looking anywhere else but the natural direction my head pointed, "Probably, yeah."
Daisuke took in a shaky breath, "Okay. I just wanted you to know that… well… I know we had some rough spots… but uh… "
I breath out from my nose, "It's okay, I got it."
The Iwa nin drew ever closer. They circled both us and the Kumo nin like vultures. I closed my eyes in preparation for death. I had been through it once. Another time couldn't be too bad.
I tried to call up everything I had experienced in this life, and even the life before this one. Who had I been before? The lines between my current life and the last one blurred.
I remembered meeting my team. Ayano, the aloof weapons user, and Daisuke, the hot headed brawler. They were annoying, and at times downright awful, but… they were good teammates. Sort of. Don't remind me of the shit attitude they gave me before. I don't want to think bad thoughts on my deathbed.
And Kakashi. The sensei who was ordered to consign us all to an early grave.
Kakashi's voice echoed through my head, "I expect you all to cooperate and support one another."
My eyes opened.
"You are a team"
I drew dark chakra in from the despair that permeated the air around us. Shakily, I got up into a kneeling position.
Daisuke cracked open one eye, "Hey, whatcha doin'?"
"Daisuke, I need you to think of your deepest, darkest thoughts."
"What?"
"Please, for the love of Kami, don't think of porn. We get enough of that from sensei."
"I can't believe this."
"You better believe it!"
"We're about to die," Daisuke droned out, "And you're cracking jokes about porn and our sensei!"
"Just think back to your darkest memories, come on man, it's not that hard!"
"Just fucking shut up and let me die!"
"Nope!"
"Will you just-"
"Thbbbbt!" I blew a raspberry at him.
That was the last straw for Daisuke, "I CAN'T FUCKING BELIEVE THAT YOU'RE ACTING LIKE FUCKING THIS, WHEN WE"RE ABOUT TO DIE! DON'T YOU HAVE…"
Oh, I was trying to get him to feel despair by making him remember his darkest memories, but I guess anger works too.
Drawing more from anguish from the Kumo nin, the Iwa nins' predatory intentions, and Daisuke's anger, I pumped dark chakra through my veins. I activated my pain reflex. Pain spiked in various locations around my body.
My veins turned black from the influx of dark chakra. I had never taken so much in at once before. I made a Chidori in my left hand.
This wasn't a Grey Chidori.
It was black.
I had absolutely zero normal chakra left to draw from, so instead, my body used dark chakra exclusively to power the Chidori.
I remember when I introduced myself to my team. I gave all that spiel about how my dream was 'To fully understand and subscribe to the Will of Fire.'
Black lightning crackled dangerously in my hand, giving off lethal discharges.
If this isn't the Will of Fire, then I have no idea what the hell is.
I mean, I was doing this with the help of a teammate.
Maybe friendship really is magic.
Black lightning filled the clearing, as an unbearable pain flared in my left arm.
A/N: I know it's rather cheesy to win things with the power of friendship, but whatever.
Feedback is, as always, highly appreciated. Thanks for reading!