Hello Everyone...heheheh, sure has been a while hasn't it?
Also I said that Otter sage mode doesn't last as long as toad sage mode. It is just a technicality but I think that I am going to get rid of this feature of Otter sage mode and have it last as long toad sage mode (however long that is).
Kawarama headed towards the East Gate of the Hidden Leaf Village, alongside his teammates Minato and Hiashi. They were going to meet up with Jiraiya and the other teams taking part in the Chunin Exams. The upcoming Chunin Exams were being held in the Hidden Sand Village instead of the Hidden Leaf, where they were usually held. Kawarama presumed it was to solidify some sort of alliance or treaty between the two villages. Kawarama now bore two ninjato on his back instead of the usual one. One was almost identical to his previous blade, except for the golden engraving on the Senju clan symbol on the hilt of both the scabbard and blade. Jiraiya had assured Kawarama of the quality of this blade. The other, which Kawarama had been quite surprised to receive. It bore the kanji for otter, had a guard and lacked the ring pommel. The old otter Usoken had been quite insistent that Kawarama take the blade.
"We heard of your ordeal with Masamune, and so we had this made from some of the best metal we have available," he had said. "Usohime can also train you to duel-wield, seeing as she fights with two wakizashi." And so for the last few days before the Chunin Exams Kawarama spent the majority of his time training in Suihimitsu Lake.
As they approached the gate they noticed that teams three, four and five and their sensei were already present. Hitomi and Kushina were the ones to greet them first.
"Hey guys, how are you?" asked Kushina.
"Very good thank you, how about you?" replied Minato.
"We're fine thanks," Kushina replied. The pair smiled at each other.
"So, you guys ready for the Chunin Exams?" asked Hitomi. Hiashi scoffed.
"Do you really need to ask that, why would we be here if we weren't," he said. Hitomi frowned at him. Kawarama, for a second, thought he saw Hiashi flinch. He then disregarded the thought before bumping Hiashi's arm with his elbow.
"I think what he's trying to say is: We're way more than ready for this," said Kawarama. A smile returned to Hitomi's face.
At this point Mizuki decided to join in the conversation. There was a massive smile on his face.
"Good morning guys, I presume we're all ready to go," he beamed. Mizuki Toriyama, the third member of team Tsunade, had dark-silver hair that was flattened against his head and teal coloured eyes. Throughout the time that Kawarama had known Mizuki he had never really ended up talking to the guy much. But Kawarama did notice one thing that was always present in the way Mizuki acted; he was always so happy. Sometimes Kawarama couldn't believe that such a jolly person was a shinobi. He always thought that Mizuki would be better off working behind a till or bar, merrily serving people, giving them his best wishes, and so on.
Hiashi turned to Mizuki with a frown.
"Were you completely oblivious to what we were ta-" Kawarama quickly slapped a hand over Hiashi's mouth and gave Mizuki a reassuring smile.
"You bet we are," he said, giving a thumbs up.
"So who're we waiting on?" asked Jiraiya, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere, causing Hitomi and Kushina to jump.
"Just team two, Shikaku is probably still in bed," answered Tsume, accompanied by a yap from Kuromaru. Jiraiya sighed as he went to stand next to Tsunade and Orochimaru.
"Honestly, if that Kemuri was as smart as he is lazy, I'd be surprised if he wasn't a Nara, " he said.
"I'm sure they'll be along soon," said Sakumo as he went to stand by the Sannin.
"Hey Kawarama, Kushina told us you were going through some training with otters, what's it like?" asked Mikoto as she went to the small group.
"It's actually really cool-" Kawarama began.
"If you like being taught by rats," butted in Fugaku. Kawarama turned to scowl at him.
"Who the hell asked you?" he asked. Kawauso, who was sitting on Kawarama's shoulders, growled at Fugaku.
"No-one did, because no-one had to. I'm allowed to say what ever I want. I'm an Uchiha after all," said Fugaku, a hint of scorn in his voice. Mikoto sighed. Kawarama continued to scowl at Fugaku for a moment, then he stepped back.
"I'd like to hear you try and say that after this," he said before biting his thumb, performing a number of hand seals and then placing his hand on the ground. Sealing formula extended from beneath his hand before there was an eruption of smoke.
When the smoke cleared it revealed Usohime. She had grown quite a bit since Kawarama had first met her, she now stood at about the same height as Jiraiya. She also had two wakizashi strapped to her back. Her arms were folded and her brow was furrowed. Everyone stared in amazement at her, besides the rest of his team, as well as Kushina and Tsunade, who were aware of his ability.
"Impressive Jiraiya, you've already taught your student how to summon," said Orochimaru, who seemed both surprised and, somewhat sinisterly, pleased. Jiraiya chuckled.
"That's the best part, I didn't even teach Kawarama how to summon. He just learnt it on his own," said Jiraiya with pride.
"It certainly is impressive," said Sakumo.
"Woah, I didn't realise you could summon, Kawarama," said Mikoto, bemused as she stared in awe at Usohime. Usohime looked over the assorted Genin in front of her before turning to Kawarama.
"So, what's this all about Kawarama?" she asked. Her expression became softer. Instead of Kawarama, Kawauso responded with a number of annoyed squeaks. Usohime's attention then turned back to the Genin, her expression now full of anger.
"Alright, which one is Fugaku?" she asked, cracking her knuckles. All fingers pointed towards Fugaku, who gave out a slightly audible "meep" as Usohime approached him.
"What was that about rats?" she asked, her tone becoming menacing.
Before the incident could escalate any higher, Jiraiya stepped in between the pair.
"Ok, I think that's enough intimidation for now Usohime," he said, holding up a hand gesturing for her to stop. Usohime did as she was told. She had met Jiraiya before, when Kawarama was showing his team his skill with the Summoning Jutsu, and from what she was told of him by Usoken, she had developed a mild amount of respect for the man. She bowed slightly before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
Jiraiya then went to Kawarama.
"I see your summoning skills haven't dulled in the past few months. That's quite impressive kid," he said. Kawarama gave a confident grin.
"What did you expect? A hero's got to keeps his skills sharp if he wants to help people," he said.
"Oh that reminds me, here, it's the new book I was telling you about," said Jiraiya as he took a book out from his backpack. He handed it to Kawarama, who took it with excitement printed across his face. A little bit of his excitement disappeared when he saw the book cover.
"'Icha Icha Paradise'?" he said, giving Jiraiya a weird look.
"Yeah, you can read it during your stay in the Hidden Sand while you undergo the Chunin Exams," Jiraiya said with a grin. Kawarama put the book into his bag.
"By the way, you never actually explained what the Chunin Exams are," said Kawarama after a moment.
"Man, you can't even guess? You really are troublesome," came a voice.
Kawarama turned round to see team two approaching. Shikaku was walking along with his hands in his pockets, Choza walked next to him with a bag of crisps in his hands, and on the other side of Shikaku, Inoichi strolled along leisurely. Kemuri walked behind them, a lit cigarette in his mouth.
"Oh hey Shikaku, I take it you know what the Chunin Exams are?" Kawarama asked. Shikaku sighed.
"The Chunin Exams are a series of tests designed to show the worth of any candidates that are put forward to become Chunin," he said.
"Well that's the basics of it," said Tsunade. Kushina looked to her sensei.
"What more is there to it than that?" she asked.
"I'm sure the Kazekage will explain it all when and if you get past the second stage of the Exam," Tsunade replied. Kushina pouted at her which drew a chuckle from the Jounin.
"Well, now that we're all here, why don't we start heading towards the Hidden Sand Village?" asked Sakumo. Orochimaru nodded.
"That would be a good idea. It will be at least a day or two before we get there, what with the Genin and all," said the snake summoner.
"Alright then, let's go," said Jiraiya.
The four teams then began their journey towards the the Village Hidden in the Sand.
Kawarama always enjoyed travelling outside the Hidden Leaf. He liked to wander through the trees and feel the calm breeze brush against his face. The forest however, was rarely a quiet place. You would often hear birds chirping and may even see the odd fox or rabbit dash across the path. It was the little things that made Kawarama enjoy walking in such surroundings.
The sun was setting on their first day and they were nearing the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. The group was having a number of idle conversations about everything from Jutsu and combat strategy to a possible future relationship to be found between Kawauso and Tsunami. At one point, whilst explaining the origins of one such discussion to all those willing to listen and trying to fight off an angry Kawauso, Kawarama noticed Hizumi was slightly falling behind, her eyes focused on the ground in front of her. He didn't like the idea of her feeling left out so he slowed down in order to fall in beside her.
"Hey Hizumi, you feeling alright?" he asked. Hizumi immediately perked up at the sound of his voice.
"Oh Kawarama, yes I'm fine," she said, hastily. Kawauso gave a worried whine.
"Are you sure? You were hanging back here all by yourself, I thought maybe you'd be upset or worried or something."
"No really, I'm fine, these exams are just a bit daunting is all." She clutched her hands together and held them close to her chest. Kawarama chuckled.
"Oh, that's all you're worried about? I thought it was something serious," he said, smiling. Hizumi stared at him almost in shock. How could he treat her fear in such a way. Kawarama, however, wasn't finished.
"In all the time I've known you Hizumi, I have learned that not only are you kind, but you're also strong. If you ask me, you don't have anything to worry about." He then gave her a warm smile. Hizumi was amazed. She had been worrying about these exams from the moment she heard about them, her mind constantly being plagued by questions such as: "What will it involve? Will I be strong enough? What will the others think if I fail?" But in just a few words Kawarama had liberated her of her worries.
When she looked back she remembered that this wasn't the first time Kawarama's words had made here feel more confident. It had been similar with the genin tests. True, he wasn't the only one to try and support her, but by far he had the biggest effect; it was like he had some sort of relaxing or friendly aura, his words always seemed to calm her. She always wondered why he elicited such a reaction from her.
"Thanks, Kawarama," she finally said. "I really appreciate it, I'll be alright now." She smiled at him. Kawauso squeaked and hopped onto her shoulders prompting Hizumi to giggle. Kawarama was about to reply but he bumped into the back of Choza who had halted.
"Hey, Choza, what's the big idea?" he complained. The Akimichi turned to him.
"Sorry, it's just that everyone stopped," he said. Kawarama raised an eyebrow then looked ahead of Choza. What he saw amazed him.
The trees just stopped as if something prevented them from growing any further. Directly in front of the group, where the path lead, was nothing but open desert. If one looked down the border between the desert and forest it would be an almost perfect divide. This was the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. Somewhere, amongst the rolling sand and scorching sun, was the Village Hidden in the Sand.
Kemuri let out a large puff of smoke. He then turned to the rest of the group.
"Alright, we'll camp just here. There should have been a Sand shinobi here to guide us through the desert, however they don't seem to have shown up, we'll just have to wait until they get here," he said. Tsume frowned.
"Why don't we just go ourselves? If we just go in a straight line and with mine and Kuromaru's nose we should be fine," she said.
"If you wanna try and get across this desert without a guide then be my guest. But you'll be lucky if you ever get Hidden Sand, not to mention the fact that you'd undoubtedly get caught in a sandstorm," said Jiraiya. The confidence that Tsume tried to exert in her declaration was dashed by Jiraiya's dismissive tone.
The group set up camp just off the path. Anticipating this situation, Tsunade had brought along a number of sealing scrolls containing tents, cushions, sleeping bags and the like. Sakumo had done a similar thing for food.
When night fell Kemuri set up a stack of wood and swiftly sent it up in flames with a small fire-style jutsu. The rest of the Genin and their sensei sat around the fire, eating and chatting as if they were having a picnic.
Kawarama went to sit at the edge of the forest and looked out across the desert. He looked over the endless tracks of sand, glowing white from the glow of the moonlight. It looked beautiful.
"Hey Kawarama, what're you doing all the way over here?" He turned back to see Kushina.
"Oh, I dunno, it's just nice to look out over the desert is all," he said turning back to the desert. Kushina sat beside him.
"I guess, but do you not want to sit around the fire with everyone else? I mean even Kawauso is back there," Kushina said.
"Is he really?," Kawarama chuckled. Kushina leaned towards him.
"Yeah and I'd keep an eye on him too. He seems to be getting a little close to her." She said this with a somewhat evil smirk on her face. It didn't help that she extended the 'i' in 'little'. He slightly leaned away from her.
"Why are you saying it like that?" he asked, hesitantly.
"Oh I just thought you'd want to protect your girl is all," Kushina said innocently. However her face contradicted her tone. Kawarama went bright red.
"Wh-wha...I...I don't...w-w-wh-what do you mean 'my girl'?" he stuttered.
Saying Kushina laughed would be an understatement. She fell back on the floor and began to roll around. Kawarama just sat in place, his face as red as a rose.
Kawarama then noticed something in the sand. It was moving towards them extremely fast. So fast that it was kicking up a massive dust cloud. Kawarama's embarrassment vanished and he leapt onto his feet and into a combat stance. He didn't draw his ninjato however. This caused Kushina to stop and look at the speeding object. She too jumped up into a combat stance.
As the object moved closer, Kawarama hoped to get a better look at what it was, but the sand that was being kicked up made it a too difficult to make out.
Just as the object, whatever it was, was about to reach them it stopped just short of the trees. A split second later the sand that had been following it swamped the forest, and them. Kawarama and Kushina held up there arms to protect their eyes from the gritty onslaught.
When the sand finally settled they heard a voice say:
"Hmh, I was expecting the Leaf to send at least some kind of competition." Kawarama's arms dropped and his eyes opened. Standing in front of him was a young woman with short brown hair and brown eyes. There was a smirk on her face. It looked like she was wearing the normal shinobi gear, except for two major differences. Her headband bore an hourglass as opposed the the swirling leaf he was used to. Also her flak vest was a dirty brown colour and had long shoulder guards. He presumed she was from the Hidden Sand.
Before he could say anything he felt the familiar chakra signatures of the Leaf group next to him. He turned to see them all lined up, each in their own stance.
"Heheh, that's more like it." He turned back to look at the sand shinobi. All the sensei seemed to relax when they realised who she was.
"I take you're the one who's gonna lead us through the desert," said Kemuri.
"You assume correctly. The name's Taira, at your service," Taira punctuated this with a mock bow. Tsunade sighed.
"Well, Taira, it's nice to meet you. We'll just go pack up and then we can head off," she said.
"I'd be quick about it if I were you. I saw a sand up north as I was coming here and there's quite a strong southerly wind," said Taira.
"But surely we would miss it if we move at the right pace," said Shibi. Taira turned to him, her hands on her hips.
"Then you clearly have no idea how big the sand storms get in the Land of Wind, do ya' kid?" Shibi seemed to falter at these words.
"There must at least be somewhere along the way that will provide decent cover," said Kawarama.
"That's right, there is. That's where we'll be heading to wait out the storm. So come on, let's go," said Taira.
"Alright. Let's go," said Mizuki, cheerfully.
The group set off towards the Hidden Sand Village.
"Man, I'm so excited. Just think when we get back to the Hidden Leaf, some of us are bound to be Chu-ack!" said as he tripped and fell flat on his face. He quickly sat up and spat out a mouthful of sand.
"Hey, who did that?" he asked frustratedly.
"No-one did, it was down to your own idiocy," said Hiashi, blankly, as he walked past. Kawarama looked to where his feet were and noticed something sticking out of the ground. There was a jagged, slanted rock with a flat top. Upon closer inspection it was in the rough shape of a foot. Kawarama then looked in the direction they were currently walking in. There were a number of similar stones jutting out from the sand in a long line. His eyes fell on Taira, who was walking casually at the front, in the process of stretching out her arms.
'So that's how she did it,' he thought.
"Come on Kawarama, if you don't hurry up and stop playing in the sand, we're going to leave you behind," said Kushina, a cheeky grin on her face.
"I-I wasn't playing!" he yelled before running back into pace with the rest of the group.
It wasn't long before Kawarama could see the sand storm, rising up like a moving wall from the horizon to his right. It was approaching fast. In the night sky it made it look like the stars were being swallowed up.
"Um, we're gonna get to cover before that thing hits, right?" he asked. Taira turned back to him before looking at the sand storm. She frowned.
"Damn, that thing's moving a lot faster now, the wind must have picked up. We should do likewise and pick up our pace, there's still a little while to go before we get the shelter." She then broke into a run, the Leaf ninja quickly following suit.
It felt like mere seconds before Kawarama felt sand begin to sting his skin. He looked around just in time to see the wall of sand slam into his face. Immediately he threw his arms up to protect his eyes from the sand. At the rare moments when he could just about open his eyes, Kawarama could only make out a few figures near him, but he couldn't tell who they were.
Kawarama was very confused when as quickly as it arrived the sandstorm just seemed to stop. He hesitantly opened his eyes to find a large stone wall in front of him. He looked around to see the rest of his group and Taira crouched on the floor facing the wall, her hands spread on the floor in front of her.
"Alright, we gotta move, follow me!" She then ran off along the wall. Kawarama tried to close to the wall as he followed. They soon reached a small plateau. Taira ran up to the wall and placed her hands on the ground in front of it. Kawarama could feel her push chakra into the ground before an opening appeared in the plateau.
"Inside Now!" she ordered. The Leaf ninja quickly obliged.
When they were all in Taira quickly sealed up the opening. They all took a moment to catch their breath.
"Hey, where are Hitomi and Mikoto?" asked Kushina.
"Shibi and Sakumo-sensei too," added Tsume. Every one froze. Kawarama immediately ran to where the entrance was.
"There still outside! We have to help them!" he yelled. He was instantly pulled back by Taira.
"You are not going out there. If you do you're as good as dead," she said with a scowl. Kawarama looked at her, rage filling his mind.
"Do you expect me to just leave them out there? Even when I'm the only on who can save them?" he shouted. Taira momentarily flinched.
"What the hell makes you think you can save them, huh?" She then felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned round to see Jiraiya, a serious expression on his face.
"Trust me, if there is anyone who can save them, it's him." Taira looked stared into his eyes, then threw up her arms in frustration.
"Fine! But don't blame me if you end up with five dead rather than four." She then opened the entrance. Kawarama told Kawauso to remain in the cave before running out into the sandstorm.
When outside Kawarama focused his chakra and located each member of team three. He then put his hands into a cross seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Three clones then appeared and sped off towards each member with Kawarama.
Taira, leant up against the side of the opening, was looking out into sandstorm. Jiraiya stood beside her.
"Are you sure the kid can get them back?" she asked.
"No doubt," Jiraiya said bluntly. Taira sighed.
"You sure have a lot of faith in him." Jiraiya chuckled.
"I don't faith right now, only patience." Taira raised an eyebrow. Jiraiya leant towards her.
"He has sensory abilities." Now both of Taira's eyebrows rose. Then she chuckled.
"Well now. If he gets past the first stage of the exams, this could get quite interesting," she said.
It was about ten minutes before Kawarama appeared out of the mist of sand. Team three walked just behind him. Many members of the group rushed over to see if they were OK.
"Why don't you guys get some rest, surviving a sandstorm is no easy feat," said Taira. Team three muttered their thanks before finding comfortable places to sit down. Taira turned to look out at the storm.
"Besides, I can't see this storm passing anytime soon," she muttered. She then moved to close up the entrance.
"Hey, if you do that we won't have any light," said Kawarama. Taira did nothing but point upwards. There was a rather large hole in the top of the small plateau. Every now and then the wind would blow little wisps of sand into cave. Kawarama hadn't noticed that before. He decided that it was a good idea for him to also get some rest. After all, he had been the one to rush out into the storm and risk his life. He found a comfortable spot where he could lean against the wall of the cave and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Kawarama felt himself being roughly kicked awake. When he opened his eyes he found Taira with an amused expression on her face.
"Come on squirt, we're heading off," she said. Kawarama looked around and could see, faintly in the gloom, all the members of his group getting ready to leave. Curious as to the lack of light, Kawarama looked up at the hole in the cave ceiling. He could see stars. Kawarama, quickly collected his things, and went over to the group. Taira opened the entrance to the cave. What Kawarama saw could only be described as one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. The desert was glowing white as if they were walking on pure silver. When he looked up he could see the moon in all its glory, full and bright, the sky laden with uncountable numbers of stars. He was unfortunately interrupted in his admiration by a loud sigh from Taira.
"This is annoying, I was hoping to get you guys to the Sand before sunset, but thanks to that storm it doesn't look like we'll get there 'till just after sunrise." She then shrugged.
"Oh well, what's done is done." She then kicked off straight into a sprint. The Leaf ninja soon followed.
During the journey Kawarama ran up alongside Taira and fell into place beside her. Taira merely gave him a quick glance before returning her eyes forward.
"Hey...Taira? You mind if I ask you something?" Kawarama asked. Taira sighed.
"I guess," she said.
"Could you explain to me that earth style jutsu you used to run really fast?"
"Nope." Kawarama almost tripped and fell flat on his face, but managed to keep his balance.
"Why not!" he yelled at her. Taira chuckled.
"Make it all the way to the third phase of the exams and maybe I'll reconsider." Kawarama beamed at her.
"Really?!"
"Sure." Taira smiled at him.
'As if. Why the hell would I teach a shinobi from another village any of my jutsu let alone my rock step,' she thought.
After some time Kawarama began to see hints of red in the sky and noticed that the stars were slowly disappearing and it was becoming brighter.
'Even after running all night, we still aren't gonna get there any time soon. To think it's taken us an entire day and night just to get here,' thought Kawarama.
"Looks like my prediction was just about right," said Taira. Kawarama was just about to question her when his eyes fell on a large rock cliff. When he looked over the cliff face he noticed that directly in front of them, carved into the rock, appeared to be something akin to giant steps. There was also a gap splitting the steps at the centre. As they got closer to the structure Kawarama noticed a number of ninja on each level of the steps. They must have been some sort of fortification.
The group slowed to a walk just before they reached the steps. Taira nodded to one of the guards standing at the entrance to the path through the cliff. She then turned to the Leaf ninja and raised her arms gesturing to the outside fortifications on either side of them.
"Welcome, boys and girls, to the Village Hidden in the Sand."
Well that's it for this chapter. Hopefully I will be able to write the upcoming chapters with much less hindrance from life.
We shall see what happens won't we.