A/N: My apologies!! Gomen!! I had MEANT to update a full week ago!! But I got busy with work and heading back to college…Hectic no? Well, classes began today, but I've already got most of Wednesday's homework completed so I'll spend some hours on this for you.
XxOOxX
The news buzzed around the village. People heard different stories; slightly different versions of the story but the important facts were all the same.
There would be a Shika-Chou battle soon, the youngest Uchiha was facing off against the Kazekage's daughter and Kaiyou, who had disappeared, was to be fighting that creepy kid, the redheaded brother to Temari.
Nobody quite had the facts straight on where Kaiyou was. Some said she was training in the forest, others said she was staking out Lee's hospital room since her crush on Shikamaru (which everyone but Minato had known about for years) was obviously over, and the two were reported to have spent a fair amount of time with each other before the preliminaries of the chuunin exams. Other rumors claimed that the girl was with Kakashi on some high-ranked mission to help her gain experience, and that he had taken Sasuke as well.
Nobody guessed the truth. Had he spent any time in the village they would have guessed accurately, however Jiraiya had been in-and-out with his granddaughter in tow quite quickly. His blonde not-actually-related companion and her powerful father had made it quite clear to him that he was NOT to peep at the women in the bathing area. Kaiyou couldn't have her friends stared at like that, and Minato didn't want to have to make clones to deal with all of the extra paperwork Jiraiya would cause.
Jiraiya, for all he was a sage, couldn't get it through his head NOT TO GIGGLE. He was easy to catch, in a village full of kunoichi, when he giggled like a little girl. No, if Minato wanted to peep he was better of doing so alone, and if Jiraiya wanted to peep he was better off doing it away from Konoha. Not that Kaiyou would let him; she was quite willing to be underhanded and tell her father about his perverseness when he was supposed to be assisting her. The results wouldn't be pretty.
And so for a full month nobody in the village of Konoha, but for a few selected people, whom ended up laughing at the bizarre explanations that began to pop up, knew the location of Konoha's misunderstood princess. Kaiyou's friend and father weren't telling though; it was better for nobody to guess what she would be capable of upon her return to the village hidden in leaves.
XxOOxX
Jiraiya moaned and sighed, his strange warts popping out on his face. His hair shot out and protected his body, becoming a sharp wall of spikes protecting him from attacks in a full 360-degrees.
"Cool! That's the jutsu I want to learn! Then I'd really have spiky hair!" Apparently her quest for femininity was forgotten in her momentary desire to spike her hair and be a walking porcupine.
As his warts, and hair, receded Jiraiya looked at the girl. Her blue eyes were aglow, her red-streaked blonde hair flying in the wind. No matter how excited the girl was he could not teach her that jutsu yet. There were more important things for her to learn, and she would need offensive and defensive techniques in order to come out of the chuunin exams in good condition. Defensive would be useful, but offensive was the first priority.
The best defense is, of course, a good offense. (Though a good defense really is necessary!)
As he turned stern eyes on her, to tell her 'no' her lip stuck out of her mouth. "Please ojii-sama? I weally wanna learn."
Jiraiya fought the cute look she gave him, inwardly cursing about women and their wiles, controlling him. Really, it was their entire fault he peeked in at the bathhouses. But this time he would not give in, the cute look just wasn't as convincing to him as a sexy look….
"No, not yet. You have to be able to use Kyuubi's powers first."
Kaiyou's lip pulled back in and her blue eyes darkened as a scowl graced her face. "I've tried and I've tried and I've tried! I just can't get it! The chakra is so powerful……it's…rogue! I get a bit of it under control and it's really strong, but it hurts me to use it! I…I can't! Can't we do something else?!"
"Nope, you can learn how to control it. That's our goal…" He paused for a moment, and then an idea came to him, from something Minato had said to him just before Kaiyou pushed him out of the village…obnoxious gaki….
"She has to discover the key within herself. She is what's blocking her own control of the nine-tails. The seal isn't stopping anything. She owns everything of the Kyuubi—he has no body, she has his chakra. All that remains of it is its mind, deep within the seal.
"It is within her control. Her barriers are erected by her body and mind."
Jiraiya, wise in the way of men after years of traveling had a suspicion. All he had to do was teach her one little jutsu, and make some preparations then…he really hoped that he was correct.
XxOOxX
A week later Kaiyou was pleased to have finally summoned a toad that went up to her hips, which were admittedly rather low, compared to her classmates' but… it was a definite improvement! She knew that Shino and Sasuke wouldn't be able to boast the same feat so quickly. They had decent control, but their reserves weren't nearly as much as hers. Few jounin would be able to summon a larger toad multiple times in a day.
Yet, despite the happiness she felt over her accomplishment Kaiyou knew that she could do more. She was a jinchuuriki, a powerhouse of chakra! She ought to have Gamabunta easily. So eventually she went and found Jiraiya for help.
After he'd given her the jutsu he'd snuck off, and she had deemed it to worrisome to chase after him every time he headed for a bathhouse. The first night she'd posted a warning picture of him up in the bathhouses though…prevention was, after all, the more expedient solution. She found him, predictably enough, on top of a hill overlooking a waterfall (where she hadn't thought to post warnings) watching girls in bikinis.
"OJII-SAN STOP WATCHING THE GIRLS PRANCE AROUND IN BIKINIS AND.DROOLING AND TRAIN ME! I NEED HELP!"
Jiraiya roared out in shock, having not noticed the short girl, and ducked his head down. But it was too late, Kaiyou's voice carried and the girls squealed and ran for their towels. He scowled and glared at the girl a moment later. He hadn't anticipated his plan becoming quite so much of a vindictive pleasure.
He stood up and turned to her. "Can't summon anything worth its mettle in battle?" Kaiyou nodded, pleased that he had finally paid her attention. "Then it's do or die!"
And he picked the girl up by the ankles, squealing and laughing not believing him, and walked toward a chasm that led down to the rocks. Her giggles only stopped when he let go, to be replaced by screams.
Ten seconds passed, then twenty. Jiraiya begin to pace back and forth worried about the girl…. In his head he was repeating a mantra. 'I placed nets in genjutsu, I placed nets in genjutsu…oh shit did I forgot to place the nets…damn girls prancing around in bikinis!'
He ran to the edge of the chasm and was greeted by a big warty face.
"You let this little brat summon me?!" Jiraiya, before Gamabunta could even hit him on the head, passed out from shock and relief.
XxOOxX
Kaiyou was falling, falling. Her own voice, screaming in high-pitched fear, echoed through her ears, shaking off of the walls of the chasm, rocky and sharp, no place for her to grip.
Desperately her hands formed the symbols for the summon, something they did without her engaging her mind. Desperately her mind turned inwards searching for every last dreg of her chakra. Tugging and pulling at the chakra she felt a sudden release as the last sign was completed.
Gamabunta popped out of thin air, his long cancer-stick fouling the air as Kaiyou landed on his back, and her mind slipped into blackness. A few words haunted her mind as she blacked out, having exerted too much chakra in one day after hours of summons. Finally a little freedom, bitch.
XxOOxX
The rest of training went much more smoothly. A barrier had been broken by Kaiyou, freeing up more of her chakra, and releasing the Kyuubi's chakra that flowed in her system, which was hers by rights. The seal would not allow Kyuubi to control her, although Jiraiya warned her that she was right about the chakra—it was wild, feral. Using too much of that chakra would overwhelm her rationality.
The effects of unsealing the chakra her body had hidden away in her stomach were small and yet so great. Her canines, already fairly sharp now bore even more of a resemblance to an Inuzuka--longer than normal, and sharp even when she wasn't performing a jutsu. Her chakra was no longer bound in caging a portion of her, and thus was available for her use.
Jiraiya found himself too busy to peep on the women in the area again as he had to help Kaiyou train the chakra the Kyuubi had once borne. It was violent and dangerous, but neither of them nearly died again. (Gamabunta had lectured Jiraiya quite a lot about risking Minato's daughter in such a manner. He was a father and didn't like seeing kids treated that way, furthermore if Minato ever found out…"
It was quietly agreed that this was one event that Kaiyou would not hold as blackmail over her adoptive grandfather.
And so the month passed for Kaiyou.
XxOOxX
Konoha passed in a much more quiet manner. There were no peeping toms in the bathhouses, let alone peeping Sannins. The hospital went about treating Lee as best as they could, to Gai's enthusiastic encouragement, and declarations that their "youthful skills" would soon see his "fiery protégé" healthy again.
Sasuke and Kakashi had both left the village in order to train, and Shino was studying with his family. Hinata and Neji had spoken enough to make it clear they bore no hard feelings for the other, although Neji had yet to lighten up enough to be friendly.
Kiba told his friend, with his head drooping on his arms after a loooong day of training, that it would take Neji a while. He'd had a stick ten feet up for so long that he couldn't possibly be nice all at once. Heck, Neji probably didn't even know how to smile. Kiba didn't lately either—something was clearly on his mind, and the only time he wasn't preoccupied was when his sister and mother were training him for hours on end, handed back and forth between the two.
Chouji and Shikamaru just seemed to watch clouds most of the time…. Although, occasionally, their fathers did manage to drag them away to train. Shikamaru's mother seemed to have the most skill at that, offering a friendly smile to Chouji, telling them that friends especially should honor the opponent and train hard.
Neither of the boys, or Shikaku or Chouza knew quite how to respond to that statement.
Minato was very behind on paperwork, despite using a great many shadow clones in order to complete the work. The other Kage's had been steadily arriving, and he had to personally review all of the reports ANBU sent in, plus there was the regular administrative work that had to be accomplished….
Itachi and his ANBU comrades were kept busy about the village, providing a guard detail that was mandatory to help ensure the peace that reigned during the chuunin exams. In particular the elder Uchiha brother wanted to see it kept safe, as his younger brother, and his friends were participating in the tournament. Too many tragedies had occurred in his life to be willing to allow another one to happen on his watch.
XxOOxX
It was the last day of the month given. Jiraiya was lying in bed, dozing off, completely insensible to the world. After Kaiyou had gone to bed the night before, early, he'd snuck out and spent the evening with what would normally be termed 'hookers'. Kaiyou, looking at him, had painted a mustache on his face in permanent marker, along with a ramen bowl on his forehead near where his hitai-ate would normally be worn, before sneaking out to train.
Her training area was devoid of trees and all wildlife when Jiraiya found her at noon that day. The girl was scarfing down the instant ramen she'd stuff into her pack on the way out. All of her clothes and everything else she'd brought for the trip were below the ramen.
As he surveyed the battlefield he noticed the fire she'd already put out, and the three instant ramen cups already consumed.
"You painted on my face, gaki. I'm not helping you clean this up before we go."
"But ero-ojii-san! It's all your fault for going out last night… And besides, I can do something SUPER-COOL now!"
XxOOxX
The arena was already filling up, with spectators. Some of them were pondering whether the Kyuubi-girl would show up, with mixed feelings. She had never done anything wrong, besides the insufferable pranks, but still…. wasn't she evil?
Others, who knew Kaiyou better were eager to see her again, and wondered what she'd been up to. Sasuke worried that he wouldn't be able to defeat her now that Jiraiya had trained her. Although what could Jiraiya really teach somebody who barely had a brain that she used to pay attention?
Gaara was eager, bloodlust shining in his eyes, all the brighter for having had his attack on Lee thwarted. He had so wanted to kill the boy during the preliminaries as food for Mother, a tribute in the form of blood, lovingly given. The blood of a boy strong enough using only taijutsu to attack him…that would have made a wondrous sacrifice. The blood of the blonde would be even more fulfilling. There was something about her that resonated within Gaara, telling him she was powerful.
Kaiyou arrived only a teensy bit late, having been forced into helping Jiraiya out of a situation with a woman…dumb man had used her as a body shield. Anyways, she'd turned up only a moment late. She wasn't the last one to arrive.
Without her there to keep in line Kakashi had gone back to his late habits, if only mildly. He wasn't hours late to something relatively important, no he was twenty minutes late to something very important, showing up just as the first fight was beginning, having had the rules announced to the public! Not only had the rules already been announced, but so had the order of the fights. Kaiyou had been surprised to learn that 1 and 2, followed down the line weren't going first…That was actually lucky for Sasuke, although she had to wonder if her father and the Council had known that Sasuke would show up late and rearranged them purposely….
Kakashi had used a jutsu to arrive right in the middle of the arena, dead in the middle between the two preparing combatants, just before the proctor finished raising his arm to announce the fight. Quickly he ushered Sasuke to the stands muttering his apologies as he went.
Once the two were cleared of the arena the proctor raised his hand. "The first fight between Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji will now commence."
The arena was silent and then began to call out rudely in annoyance as both genin just stared at each other for a moment.
"Troublesome."
"I don't want to fight you."
Shikamaru, who had no real desire to have to fight at all, raised his arm. "I forfeit. Even if I wanted to fight Chouji I don't want to fight in the finals."
Chouji too raised his hand just as the proctor was about to announce his win. "I forfeit too! Same reasons."
The proctor just groaned. "You both can't forfeit. The only way for you both to lose is double KO."
The two boys looked at each other, Shikamaru cocked his head and Chouji nodded, hands reaching for the chips that weren't there. Instead his hand, seeking around desperately closed on his kunai case, as did his friends'. They rushed forward once, both showing surprising speed for lazy-bums, and held the kunai to each other's necks.
The proctor sighed and groaned. "Fine! You both are disqualified and will not move onto the final round."
Everybody in the audience was staring at the two, wondering if they'd actually planned out how to quit in advance. Shikamaru looked at the ground, wincing under the weight of his mothers' gaze.
Later in the evening he would be heard to be complaining that he didn't even want to be a chuunin yet, that it would be 'too troublesome'. Secretly his father agreed. Chouza just looked at his son and told him that any other fight he could have won, but fighting a teammate wasn't anything to brag about, although he could have treated it as a practice.
Chouji had looked at his dad and shook his head. "But one of us would have won and maybe become a chuunin."
XxOOxX
The rest of the matches, Kaiyou hoped, wouldn't be as uneventful. Kiba and Renji, the boy from Rain who had been so smug to have beaten one of the weaker Konoha kunoichi, would be battling next. Then it was her turn, which she was excited, but nervous about. She had new skills, but would that be enough to face the redhead who seemed so strange?
The audience was also hoping for a more exciting battle next.
A/N: Okay, I want to send out a thanks to whomever (I forget and don't care to read every review over again) had commented on me making Kaiyou have a clean mouth … that's a bit of me coming through, and I can't imagine ANY version of Naruto not using curse words. I would also like to thank EVERYBODY who has reviewed even once on this story. Thank you for helping me reach some statistics that I feel are quite incredible, as I doubt I'm a well-known author here. 74 reviews, 16,561 hits, 16 C2s, 54 favorites and 107 story alerts.
I would also like to warn you that updates are only going to be about once a week from now on, as I'm back at college. Some weeks may get none, others may get two chapters…but school is in session and I am NOT taking out loans to get bad grades.