Okay, before I start I just want to assure you that there won't be too much trouble with the Chuunin Exam and the fact that teams are now five-maned. When I finished making team 7 and noticed it consisted out of five gennins, I made changes in other teams as well. That resulted in the fact that you should prepare yourselves for many (and I mean MANY) OC's appearing in the coming chapters, but the Chuunin Exam was changed in the way it'll be suitable for five member teams.
ANNOUNCEMENT: okay, so one of the readers decided to draw few chapter covers as well. If you wanna see it, then here's the deal: I placed the link on my profile page (along with the link to the previous one) so all you need to do is go there. It's also the place were I'll place the links to all the chapter covers that'll be drawn (but I'll inform you if new one appeared). Go check it out and if you're an MT member, do leave a comment under it.IMPORTANT NOTE: my exams are coming and I REALLY need to sit down and study, so I don't know when chapter 29 will be release (it probably will take longer then a week, sorry), especially since it'll be longer then those you read so far. Sorry for that, but I'll do my best to submit AT LEAST one more chapter before Febuary.
Now, lets go to the show:
Chapter #28: The Arrival – part II
Chapter Cover: simply Hinata eating ramen at the Ichiraku
"There's no way we're gonna believe that excuse, Naruto-sensei!" yelled Kusari, as he pointed a finger at his teacher. "You're late!"
"I'm telling the truth…" assured the blonde jounin. "I've decided to sign you guys for the coming Chuunin Selection Exam… here are your application forms…" and with that he handed them five sheets of paper.
"You think we're ready, Naruto-sensei?" asked Kumiko a bit troubled. "I heard that this exam is really hard… you may even lose your life…"
"Both from the above are true…" nodded the whisker-marks. "But I'm confident in your abilities… I'm sure you'll do fine… however, you won't be the only, talented shinobies at the exams, so keep your guard up…"
"We're so gonna rock!" announced Kai as he raised his hands to the sky.
"You're too confident…" reminded Ibuki. "Did you already forget what Naruto-sensei just said? Many, skilled leaf-nins are gonna take part too…"
"Not only shinobies from Konoha are gonna participate" informed the blonde. "Gennins from allied countries will come to take the exam as well. You can expect teams from the Sand, Grass, Rain, Waterfall, Moon… well, I could count few more…"
"This sounds interesting…" announced Takaru as he took his fill-in form.
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Takai aimed his scythe at Funbo's head; the leaf-nin however instantly picked out his stick and blocked the attack with it. The sand-nin backed away his weapon and attacked again, just to find his assault blocked once more.
Their weapon clashed few more time, before Funbo counter attack. Takai was able to block it, but the impact was so great that it send his scythe back. That was all the leaf-nin needed.
He immediately propped the top of his stick in the ground and jumped into the air. He then launched a kick at Takai's face which connected and send the sand-nin flying back.
The black-hair used the blade of the scythe to stop and safely landed on the ground few meters away. He gave the leaf-nin both a death and happy glare as he slowly stood up again. "Yes… you'll be a good add-on to my collection…" he announced.
"What's with that freak?" Taki asked herself as she stared at the black-haired sand-nin.
As Takai charged at Funbo once more, Hitomi appeared between them and going into her fighting stance, she called out: "Jyuken po Hakke. Rokujuyonsho!" and with that she launched two attacks on the sand-nin, both aimed at his tanketsu points.
"Hakke Nisho!" called out Hitomi as her attack connected and her speed increased. "Yonsho! Hassho! Jurokusho! Sanjunisho!" her attacks kept getting faster and more painful. "Rokujuyonsho!" and with that last call Takai felt back and rolled on the ground for few meters.
All of the four sand-nins stood there in shock, seeing their teammate being defeated rather easily.
"I just closed all of your tanketsu points…" announced the white-eyed girl. "You won't be able to use your chakra for a while, not to mention that you'll have trouble moving…" but her words froze in her throat as everyone observed Takai getting back to his feet with easy. "How is this possible? He doesn't seem to be hurt at all!"
The black haired boy started laughing as the leaf-nins noticed white chakra coming from every part of his body. Once the sand-nin raised his head, Konoha shinobies saw his eyes, which were now shinning red.
"That's impossible…" the one with light, blue hair said to himself. "Did Hitomi miss his points? And what's with that chakra? It's like…it isn't human!"
"Dammit!" yelled Taki as she grabbed her boomerang and ran right at the scythe user. But then she felt her arm being grabbed from behind.
"It's not nice to interfere is someone's battle…" came a voice and as she spun around to hit the one who grabbed her arm with her boomerang, she noticed it was the sand-nin, the one in bandages.
Taki's eyes widen as she saw how the sand-nin avoided her attack. He bended back in the way his body from his belt to the top of his head were now parallel to the ground.
"In most cases your spine would broke after performing something like that…" figured the light blue-haired leaf-nin. "Who are those guys?"
Just then the bandaged one bended back even more, propping his hands on the ground. A moment later his feet left the surface and kicked the boomerang that Taki was still holding, out of her hand. The weapon flew into the sky.
"You guys are pathetic…" announced the one in bandages. "I was hoping for something more… guess we'll just finish this…" but then he felt a kunai being placed near his throat. It was the one called Akira.
"How do you like it, when someone attacks you from behind?" asked the leaf-nin, his eyes still closed. "You come all the way from the Suna and start a fight with us… do you really want us to get serious?" and with that he nodded in Taki's direction.
The girl just held out her hand to the sky and surprisingly to everyone, her boomerang just flew right back to her hand. She aimed her weapon at the sand-nin's head and threw it, but it never reached its target.
Both the Leaf and Sand shinobies turned their head in the direction of a nearby tree, under which stood a man that intercepted Taki's boomerang. He had black hair in an afro-like haircut and his eyes were hidden behind round sunglasses. He was wearing light green overcoat and had a huge scroll attached to his back. He had the headband with the Leaf symbol on his forehead.
"Since you're from the Hidden Sand, I figure you're here for the exam…" announced the man, looking at the sand-nins. "That makes you Konoha's guests… shouldn't you play nicely then? Those kids you picked a fight with are going to participate in the exam as well, so why not wait with the fun until the exam begins?"
"And why should we listen to you?" asked Takai, giving the man a death glare.
"Because if you won't listen to me, I'll be forced to knock you out… and you'll be banned from the exam… the Kazekage won't be happy if that happens, would he?"
The black-haired stared at the man for a while and then placed his scythe on his back once more. "Tarakudo, let's go!" he called the bandaged one.
As the sand-nins walked away, Takai turned around to the leaf-nins and announced: "This was just a warm up… I'll see you during the exams…" and with that he was gone.
Once the sand-nins were out of sight, Funbo's eyes turned to the man who was still holding Taki's boomerang. "Why did you interfere… Shino-sensei?"
"Funbo, the exams will start in few days…" replied the one called Shino. "You should save your strength for then… besides, it's not wise to reveal your secrets to the enemy. Now those sand-nins know about Hitomi's abilities and can think off a way to withstand it…"
"That black-haired seemed to be immunite to it anyway…" reminded the white-eyed girl.
"Yes, that is strange…" nodded the jounin. "But don't worry about it now… let's begin your training…"
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Kakashi was walking through Konoha streets along with Iruka. The Leaf leader observed many, foreign shinobies that already reached his village.
"So, how many teams will participate this year?" asked the Rokudaime and the chuunin instantly reached for his notebook.
"Let's see…" he began. "Along with the three, rookie teams, there'll be twenty five teams from Konoha, fifteen from the Sand, ten from the Rain, six from the Hidden Metal…" the scar face kept going but at that moment the Hokage stopped listening.
Kakashi turned around after the six, hooded man who just walked pass them. He sensed that their chakra was unnatural. And surprisingly strong.
"Kakashi-sama, is everything alright?" asked Iruka, noticing that the Leaf leader wasn't listening.
"It's… fine" replied the Sharingan user still not turning to his chuunin companion. "That chakra just now… what was it?"
Just then the tallest one of the six, hooded man raised his head, thus revealing his yellow, cat-like eyes. He didn't bother to look back at the Rokudaime. He just smiled under his nose and whispered to himself: "So, you'rrrrrre expecting something, arrrrren't you, Kakashi? Too bad you can't do anything just yet… and once the exams will starrrrrrt, it'll be too late…"
And that ends chapter 28. Hope you liked it. Please leave a review once you're done. It'd mean a lot.
Now for a quick, jutsu encyklopedia:
Hakke Rokujuu Yonsho (Sixty-four Points Hands) – jutsu used by the Hyuuga clan. Using a highly advanced form of Byakugan, the user is able to see the Chakra Holes on a person's body, and using the Gentle Fist - closes the Chakra Holes with quick blows, stopping the flow of chakra through one's body.
And that's that I believe.
Hope that this year that came will be better then the previous one for you all.
Keep warm and hopefully till the next update.
