Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
-Winston Churchill
Chapter 35: End of the Beginning
The crowds cheered as the three genin entered the arena. Naruto grinned widely and waved at the crowds as he bounced towards the center space. He pointedly ignored how the cheers quieted as soon as he started waving and grew louder once he stopped. He was too used to it by now for it to really affect him. He glanced over to the side to see Hinata beaming up at the crowd. She waved stiffly as sudden flood of attention was directed on her. Oh, how she hated being the center of attention.
Gaara looked over at the other two genin before looking away. They were of no consequence to him, though he did wonder how he was to go about this. Baki had ordered him not to kill anyone or break any bones of people they knew were allies. That meant he was severely restricted in his fight with Naruto. The purple-haired girl, they knew nothing about. That meant he was allowed to do whatever he wanted with her save for killing her. That was good. Gaara exhaled and bowed his head slightly. This would be a nuisance. He could already hear the slight ringing in his ear, signaling that the Ichibi would voice its displeasure soon.
"The first semi-final match will now start! Due to the strange player distribution this year," Gaara snorted, "this match is a three-way between Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure and Sabaku Gaara of Sunagakure. Once one contestant is down, jounin will retrieve the downed genin from the arena to receive medical attention. The other two genin will fight until a winner is decided. The match will now start. Genin, get into your positions." Hayate coughed weakly into his fist before peering down from his perch. "The match will begin in three, two, one, begin!"
Hinata was off like a gunshot. She didn't even know what she was doing in this match. She was a close-range fighter against one person who had an impenetrable defense and another person who had an endless stockpile of energy. She had been strategizing this match for weeks in advance and hadn't come up with that much in regards to plans. One of her only ideas was to run and wait for the other two to tire each other out. Unfortunately, that would only work if they didn't follow her. "Byakugan!" Hinata jumped up into the treetops and let her eyes wander through the grayscale scenery.
Gaara and Naruto hadn't moved from their original positions. Naruto swallowed anxiously. Inoichi had specifically told him to try and drag out the match as long as possible. The semi-finals match was scheduled for 12:00, just when food was being carted into the Kage box. That meant it was highly likely that the rebellion would start during this match when the box was vulnerable. If Naruto hurt Gaara or vice-versa, it would just mean that they damaged their chances of defeating the rebellion swiftly.
Naruto and Gaara had talked about the match during one of the many days during the month long break.
"What are you doing?" Gaara asked coldly. The moon was already making its journey along the sky by the time the blonde-haired boy had come to visit. Naruto had crawled up the balcony to Gaara's room. It wasn't as if the red-head had been asleep, but he loathed the intrusion in any case.
"I need to talk to you about the semi-finals match." Gaara quirked an eyebrow. It wasn't even guaranteed that they would meet each other. Naruto would have to beat two opponents, and Gaara would have to beat one. If either of them lost a single match, they would not meet. "I'm fairly confident that I'll make it to semi-finals, and I think I could say the same for you." Naruto wiggled through the window before dropping silently onto the carpet. He dragged a chair over from the table and flopped down on it. "So, that is why I'm here. You were at Inoichi-sensei's meeting, right?"
Gaara nodded. The Suna delegation had been invited to the strategy meeting a week before the chuunin exams. Gaara had been relieved to see so many ninja packed into the small room. It was a miracle they had compounded enough ninja together to be prepared for the rebellion. There had been at least six Konoha genin scattered about the room, which was calming. It would have made Gaara's job much harder if there were hoards of rebelling genin.
"At the meeting they told us to try and avoid each other too badly, but I don't know how we're going to make it convincing unless we really fight." Naruto rocked the chair backwards and stared up at the ceiling.
Gaara looked at him pensively before saying, "Who says we can't act?"
Gaara lifted his hand up and held it out towards Naruto. "Goodbye." The cork on his gourd shot out into the air, and sand swirled out of the gourd. It curled around Gaara's arm before flying towards Naruto.
Naruto leaped away from the incoming sand and yelled out, "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" A tingling feeling filled his throat as he breathed in and blew out. The wind howled as it roared out from his throat, smashing the sand away as it dove at Gaara. The Suna genin crossed his arms in front of himself, bringing a clump of sand before him as a shield. The sand sprayed around the arena as the fuuton died down, and Gaara brought his hand up.
The small brown particles shot up from their positions on the ground and scraped against Naruto. Naruto yelped as the sand scraped against his skin. No matter how many times he told himself that this was all scripted, it didn't change the fact that it hurt. Naruto reached behind his back and brought out a fist of kunai with paper bombs attached to them. He threw them up in the air and jumped back and repeated his jutsu, "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" The kunai tumbled down through the air just as Naruto blew out. The jutsu struck the kunai, sending them towards Gaara.
Gaara gritted his teeth. This was going to be the most difficult part. Gaara waved his arms before him and punched out with his right arm. A huge cloud of sand rose up above him. Gaara counted the seconds. One, two, now! Gaara waved out his other arm and the sand shield lurched. The edges of the shield peeled forward and wrapped around the paper bombs.
"You're joking! If we try that, we'll get killed!" Naruto exclaimed, shooting forward in his chair.
"Idiot. That's what we want them to think. If we do something like that, then no one will think we're together. Just calm down. We'll time it with regular kunai, and then we can do it with paper bombs for the real thing. Don't mess up, and we'll be fine."
In retrospect, it had probably been a bad idea to try this trick with only four days before the exams. Gaara had to stop himself from covering his ears as the six paper bombs detonated. He hadn't had time to completely seal the sand dome. His arms shook as he forced himself to keep the sand dome together. His first instinct was to let it fly apart, but he couldn't do that right now.Stupid, brat! You're letting him get away! I don't care what pathetic reasons you have to keep each other alive, but the Kyuubi ismine! Stop being so weak!
Gaara growled at the Ichibi and made his right hand into a fist. He didn't have time to waste arguing with the beast right now. The sand condensed down to a small floating ball, about the size of dinner plate. Gaara looked down to see Naruto fleeing into the trees. They were on schedule. He lowered his fist down so that it was aligned with Naruto, and he flexed his hand. The ball flew after Naruto, smashing into four trees as it went. Wood splintered as the trees groaned before collapsing to the ground, broken off abruptly at the trunk. Gaara clicked his tongue in mock disappointment before striding calmly after Naruto.
From her tree, Hinata blanched. How on earth was she going to survive? She couldn't disappoint her father, but... She was going to die if she even tried to compete! Hinata focused in on Naruto and started. He was running in her direction! She pulled a paper bomb out from her pouch and held it between her fingers. She'd have to use it if he came any closer.
-TSUME-
"You were too flashy. Did you want to draw attention to yourself?" Ino tumbled back into the wall, clutching at her now red cheek. She looked down towards the ground, away from the man who had taken her in as a pupil. When her sensei had looked down on her and her father had vanished from her life, he had supported her. But now, it seemed as if she had been built up to be knocked back down again. It was as he said. She had been given an opportunity, but she continually wasted it.
"No, sir. I apologize. I wasn't thinking properly," Ino murmured quietly. Honestly, she didn't know what she thought about the man. Over the past few months, he had been her savior, her tormentor, and her protector. Even if he was cruel now, she couldn't let him go. Not when he had helped her so much. And where would she be without him? All alone. She couldn't face that again!
"Obviously not," the man growled. "All of those months ago, I took you under my wing. Despite all the work I do keeping this miserable country afloat, I still spent time to mentor you." Danzo looked down at the blonde disdainfully with his lone eye. "I would have at least expected you to learn the basics, but no! I was wrong. You continually show how very possible it is to miss my expectations. Perhaps that is a unique ability of yours I missed when I first saw you."
Ino flinched. "I chose you because of your unique potential.Potential, not talent. Don't equate it for the same thing, girl," Danzo snapped, seeing the faint glimmer in the girl's eyes. "You have an important role to play above all the others only because I could not get another one of your relatives to do it for me. Realize that when I saw you, I did not immediately lose hope. You have little to recommend yourself with, but it'll have to do." Danzo crouched down in front of her and grabbed her by the head and force her to stare at him.
"Just remember: I can abandon you just as easily as I picked you up. You'll have no one then. You can try to fool yourself into thinking that you have friends, but you really only have me. A mother who spends more time with flora than her daughter and a father who spends more time with his team than with his family, do you really think they would support you like I have? You'd have to be deluding yourself to think so." Danzo dropped Ino and the girl's head drooped down to the ground. Her eyes stared listlessly at the ground as Danzo turned and walked away.
-TSUME-
"It has been awhile, hasn't it?" Shikaku said as he walked up to his two longtime friends. He patted Chouza's spiky red hair and looked over to Inoichi. The blonde haired man had a pleasant smile on his face, but it was a bit too pleasant. Shikaku's eyes narrowed. Had Inoichi found out something bad? The smile on his friend's face was just a little too wide. "All three of us haven't been able to talk together for a long time."
"You're right," Chouza agreed. He moved Shikaku's hand away from his hair and looked at the other two parts of the old Ino-Shika-Cho team. "The clan council meetings cannot really be considered conversations. I do believe the last time we really had a chance to talk was over a year ago. Inoichi-san has gotten quite busy now that he has his own genin team." Chouza laughed jollily, "I'm sure they're providing you quite the trouble too, Inoichi-san."
Inoichi laughed alongside his friend. "They could be worse, Chouza-san. I probably ended up with some of the smartest of the bunch. It's a bit disappointing I couldn't have reformed the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho, but I am glad regardless. They are good kids." Inoichi smiled a tired smile. Shikaku raised a questioning eyebrow, and Inoichi shook his head slightly. They couldn't talk about it here. "So, how is your son doing, Chouza-san? I haven't seen him for a while now."
"I'm glad that he made it into the final part of the exams, you know? I'm just a little bit disappointed that he lost in the second round. You have two genin in the finals, correct? It's no wonder that you didn't see Chouji's battle. You must have been consulting your genin in-between rounds." Inoichi chuckled guiltily. He had completely forgotten that Chouji had even made it to the finals.
"He didn't have to win all of his matches to become a chuunin. The Hokage could still appoint him if he thinks that Chouji-kun did well enough," Inoichi offered.
"True," Chouza said with a nod. "This also gives me the chance to see how Chouji can improve himself. I already have a few things in mind, and I look forward to testing them. I am sure that Sarutobi-sama will work with me on it after the exams are over."
"It is good that you already know what you are going to do. I have yet to know what to do about Shikamaru," Shikaku said with a sigh. "Maybe I will just play shogi with him more often. That sounds about right. It's less troublesome that way. In any case, would you like to continue this conversation over lunch? There's a small place near here that I'm sure you both would like."
Inoichi opened his mouth to accept, but was immediately cut off by Chouza. "I can't go right now. I'm going to go to the stands. You two should join me as well." Shikaku hid a frown. It was unlike Chouza to reject food. If Chouza was acting out of his normal personality set, then there had to be something important he had to stay for. Chouji had already lost, so why did he have to stay?
"We should or we have to?" Inoichi asked, the laughter in his eyes already fading. A footstep sounded from around the corner, and Inoichi's head snapped over to see a green clad ninja stepping out. Chouji's brown hair hid his face as he stood before Shikaku and Inoichi.
"I was afraid you would ask something like that," Chouza said with a sigh. "I can't ever hide anything from you two. It's a pity you had to ask that though. I was hoping that we wouldn't have to confront one another for a long time yet." Chouza reached behind his back and brought out his bo staff. He twirled the staff in his hands before slamming the end on the ground. "It seems that this will be unavoidable though." Chouza smiled sadly, "Ino-Shika-Cho will always stay together even when it's against each other that we fight."
-TSUME-
Jiraiya hummed as he sauntered down the hallway. The handy thing about the chuunin exams was the fact that it meant that the hallways were nearly always deserted during the match hours. He didn't have to deal with any little brats, he had gotten enough of that in the past few weeks to last him a lifetime, or sneak around with his head down to gather information. Now, he could just relax for a bit. Jiraiya looked up at a clock on one of the walls.
Well, he could relax for an hour or so. The time was ticking. The exams had already progressed to the second rounds and only five genin remained. There was the Yamanaka girl, the red-haired one, and the three genin that were in a three-way even as he walked. Jiraiya recalled Naruto talking to him earlier about how he'd have to fight two opponents at the same time if he won his battles. Jiraiya stopped. That meant he was missing one of Naruto's battles! Jiraiya groaned and whacked himself in the head. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about something so important! "I have to get there!" He mumbled under his breath as he sped down the hallways.
Jiraiya was about to turn a corner when he stopped. He had just heard something strange. "The leader gave the signal. We have ten minutes before it begins. I have to go find the others and relay the message. You stay here, Shigure-san." A boy with hanging brown hair was whispering loudly to his comrade. The other boy, a taller boy with two scars running down his face, hit him companion upside the head.
"Don't be so loud, idiot. Just go and do your job. You said we have ten minutes, right? By the time you get there, it'll be five. So shove off!" Shigure growled as he crossed his arms again. His face was set in a glower as he leaned back against the wall. He hated all of the waiting around. He had waitedmonthsfor this day, and ten minutes just seemed too long to wait.
"R-right!" The shorter boy said as he clutched the back of his head. "I'll go now!" He began to scramble away when a kunai shot past him, embedding into the wall just in front of him. Thin strands of his dark brown hair drifted down to the floor as the two Ame ninja looked to where the kunai had come from.
Jiraiya was leaned against the wall, his legs crossed and a Cheshire smile on his face. "Now where do you think you're going, boys? Tell Uncle Jiraiya all about it and maybe I can help you." Jiraiya had already sent a toad summon off to find the Hokage. He didn't need to confirm anything else. Amegakure was not on their side.
"I don't think we have to tell you anything," Shigure said gruffly. Shigure reached under his arms and snatched fistfuls of senbon. He twisted them between his fingers and waved them threateningly at Jiraiya. "Get out of here if you know what is good for you."
"Oh really now? I think I know what is good for me. However," Jiraiya slowly started walking towards the two ninja. "I think what is good for me and what is good for you don't coincide. Both of you are coming with me. Katon: Dai Endan!" Jiraiya started flying through seals and took in a deep breath. A gurgling warmness made its way into his mouth before he spat out glowing red globs of oil. The oil spattered the ground behind Samidare and Shigure. Samidare jumped back as the oil ignited, causing towering flames to spiral up towards the ceiling.
Shigure clicked his tongue and turned back towards Jiraiya. "It looks like we're stuck with you now, aren't we?" Shigure grinned. It looked like he was going to get the action he had been craving. He was slightly disadvantaged by the small hallway, but he would just have to work around it. Shigure glanced over to Samidare then back to Jiraiya. "Samidare-san, we have eight minutes to relay the message. It will take you four minutes to get over there. So let's take this old man down and go." Shigure snickered, "I do my best work under pressure."
"You're a cocky brat, aren't you? One, it would take the very best ninja to defeat me in four minutes. Two, you aren't that ninja.Rasengan!" Jiraiya rotated his hands in the air, a small blue ball of chakra forming between his hands.
Samidare groaned and yelled, "Suiton: Teppodama!" He spat out six water bullets which went diving towards Jiraiya. Shigure flattened himself closer to the ground as the bullets shot ahead, forcing Jiraiya to move out of the way. He threw the senbon in his left hand towards Jiraiya, herding him to the other side of the corridor. Shigure jabbed at Jiraiya as he neared, but the Sanin easily dodged him. Shigure hated that carefree light in the other man's eyes. This was just a game to him!
Shigure threw the senbon at Jiraiya before falling back. He snapped out one of his umbrellas and jammed the hilt against his fist. An edged senbon appeared at the tip of the umbrella. Jiraiya could see a tinted green reflection off of the needle, poison. Shigure charged at Jiraiya, stabbing with the umbrella. Jiraiya swerved out of the way of all the incoming needles before suddenly lashing out with an arm, shattering the umbrella into pieces. Shigure yelled in frustration and yelled, "Mizu Tatsumaki no Jutsu!"
Jiraiya's eyes widened as the broken umbrella pieces were sucked into a swirling vortex of water. The shard scratched against his skin as he raised his arms up to protect his face. The water blew him back against the wall. Jiraiya cringed as he felt some of the splinters dig deeper into his back. Those would be a pain to get out later.
"What do you think you are still doing here?" Jiraiya twitched. That voice, it was familiar. The flames at the end of the hallway burst apart, flickering away as a figure stepped through them. The black clad woman strode calmly up to the two ninja and cast a glance over towards Jiraiya. "I should have suspected that it was you. I found something of yours." The woman took something out from behind her back.
The orange toad flailed as it was dangled by its two hind legs. It looked apologetically towards Jiraiya and said, "I didn't get there in time, sir! This woman caught me before I could reach the Hokage!" Jiraiya glared at the woman.
"Who are you?" Gamakichi was loudmouthed and bratty, but he also took his job seriously. Jiraiya knew that the toad had probably concealed his chakra signature and would have moved from outside ledges to avoid attracting attention. How did she notice him despite that?
"It is of no consequence to you," The woman said coldly. Her voice was condescending, as if Jiraiya was a little bug that she wanted to squash. She pulled her hood tighter around her face as she spoke to the smaller brown haired ninja. "Samidare-san, go find the others. Because of this troubling thing," she glanced back towards Jiraiya, "there is no time. The plan begins immediately."
Author's Note: I hope you all had a great holiday season! I got to see all of my extended family again, so I'm quite happy right now. I'm slowly getting back into my work schedule (I wasn't really supposed to take two days of break this week, but I did. Now I need to double time it. ), but I hope the rest of you have a great rest!
Thanks to Pokepikachu1 for betaing! :D