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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Posted: 1/18/13
Chapter 51: Close Encounter
"So how do you think they're doing?" asked Asuma. He, Shikamaru, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Gai were trying their best to keep themselves occupied while in Kumo. All five of them were aware that they were under surveillance from the Kumo ANBU, which didn't surprise them, but at the same time it didn't give them much time to train or do some sort of shinobi exercises to keep their minds from growing bored.
"Well, if I know Naruto, he's already drawn half the field to his attention" said Kakashi. The other three laughed at this.
"I'm not worried about my team, their youth will see them though!" shouted Gai.
"My team's come a long way, especially Hinata. She's really been pulled out of our shell, thanks that to that loudmouth of yours, Kakashi" said Kurenai.
"Naruto's always troublesome, but that's just who he is" said Shikamaru. "I have faith in my team, even if I'm not there, Ino and Chouji can pull through if they really set their minds to things."
Asuma let out a sigh. "It's not Ino or Chouji I'm worried about. It's Shinji. The only reason I agreed to take him on the team is because we needed a third, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. He clashes to much with the team dynamic, not to mention he's got that main branch Hyuga demeanour to him" he quickly looked over to Kurenai. "No offence to Hinata or anything."
"It's okay. Hinata's never been much of a Hyuga. Her father's made leaps and bounds, but I wish he had taken more notice of his daughter before. He and Neji are the only ones to have changed. The rest of the clan is still the same…arrogant as the devil and they just avoid her. I talk to her father on a weekly basis to update him of Hinata's progress and he shares the state of the clan with me. None of the main branch likes her, in fact, they hate her. The elders are trying to turn her younger sister into some heartless puppet of theirs that they can use to control the clan with. They are also constantly making excuses to have Hinata sealed" there was a bit of venom and anger in that last part of Kurenai's voice.
"But isn't Hiashi the head of the clan? Can't he do something?" asked Asuma.
"There's only so much he can do. He may be clan head, but when it comes to internal affairs, the elders do have a considerable amount of power. Not to mention, he's doing everything he can to keep the elders away from his two daughters and get, as I call it, the Hyuga complex out of Hanabi's mind. I still just wish he'd Jyuken their sorry asses though" said Kurenai. Everyone could feel Kurenai's temper rising.
"Now now, just calm down Kurenai" said Asuma. "Just look at it this way, if Hinata makes it through these exams and makes chunin, the Hyuga counsel will have no choice but to eat it."
Kakashi got a chuckle out of this and Gai's youthfulness began to burn brighter, that is until a tranquillizer dart came out of the shadows in the restaurant where they were getting breakfast, and knocked Gai unconcious. Kakashi looked over towards the shadows, where one of the ANBU was hiding.
"My apologies, but we were ordered by Raikage-sama, and your own Hokage, to keep the 'Flames of Youth' as your Hokage called it, in check" said the ANBU.
Team 10,
Ino sank to her knees in utter fear. They had encountered a group of Kiri ninja, all wearing masks, who were standing on top of a river bank looking down towards the river. Ino saw this as the perfect distraction to get off her Mind Transfer Jutsu, take control of one of them, and use him to take out the rest of the team.
Ino found herself in an odd sort of mindscape. Usually, when she took over someone else's mind, she was in a blank void and could control her opponent from there. This was different though. She was inside some sort of damp cave, trying her best to get her bearings.
"Where am I? I've never seen a mindscape like this" said Ino to herself.
She took a few steps around, trying to gauge where she was, but she still couldn't make out what was going on or what kind of mindscape she was in.
Suddenly, she felt a stinging sensation on her shoulder. She looked up to see another drop of a strange liquid land on her arm. Like with her shoulder, the liquid burned at her skin. "Acid? What is acid doing in someone's mind?" asked Ino to herself. "What the hell is going on?" Ino took a few steps backwards, hoping to get out of the drip of acid, or whatever it was. However, she backed into something coated in the acid as she winced and it burned into her back. Getting a quick feel of what it was that she backed into, it was soft and sticky. Ino ran a few steps forward, hoping to get away from the acid coated 'wall' as she collapsed to her knees in pain. "What the hell is going on here?"
It was then that she turned around and was able to get a better look at what exactly she ran into. It wasn't a wall, but rather… "Is that a slug?" she asked. "Why is a slug in here?"
"Well, looks like dinner has found its way to me this time" said the slug, who turned out to be the Rokubi.
"D-dinner?" gulped Ino. The slug lunged it's head forward at Ino, mouth agape is it was about to devour her mind. "Ahh! Release!" she shouted just as the slug crashed down on top of her.
As Ino awoke back in her own body, she couldn't help but let out a piercing scream, before going onto a cold sweat. "Ino! What's wrong?!" shouted Chouji, trying to snap her out of the terrified trance that she was in.
"I-it, s-slug" was all Ino could mutter before collapsing into a fetal position as she began shivering.
"What happened?" asked Shinji.
"I don't know. I've never seen her like this" said Chouji.
"Aww, did the poor flesh bag see something it shouldn't have?" said the same ninja who Ino had tried to switch minds with.
"Who are you and what did you do to her?!" shouted Chouji.
"Me? Nothing. It's not my fault she couldn't keep to herself. As for what she saw, well let's just say an image of your deaths" said the Kiri ninja.
Shinji activated his Byakugan, prepared to fight this foe. "Red?" he said in shock as his eyes picked up on the color of the ninja's chakra.
Chouji was the first to charge only for the Kiri ninja to crab his arm and stop him before his punch could progress any further. Chouji felt a burning sensation against his skin where the ninja was grabbing his arm. Because of this, he lost control of his footing, allowing the Kiri ninja to flip him and send rolling down the river bank. Thankfully, something broke his decent.
"Huh? What is this?" asked Chouji, trying to get his bearings and nurse his burnt arm as well. "And what did he do t my arm?"
When Chouji looked down to see what he was landing on, he nearly puked. Around him, on the bank of the river, and even sitting in the river, were about half a dozen corpses. They had all been killed from what appeared having the flesh stripped, or in this case, melted from their very bones. Some of the more freshly killed victims were partially lying in the river as the blood ran from them into the current of the water.
Chouji was growing increasingly fearful of the man they had just ran into. Had he really done this? Butchered half a dozen ninja? Chouji scrambled o the top of the bank away from the death-infested river. As he reached the top of the bank, that very ninja stood in front of him. Chouji gasped, but even the air that was sucked into his lungs burned.
"Hello, meat sack" said the Kiri ninja a Chouji couldn't help but cough on the poisoned air around him.
"Jyuken: 8 trigrams, 32 palms!" shouted Shinji as he attacked the Kiri ninja. However, he could only manage 8 strikes before his hands and lungs began to burn. It was like this ninja was made from acid.
"You think a measly attack like that's going to stop me?" snarled the Kiri ninja, taking his eyes off Chouji, giving the Akamichi time to retreat back to where Ino and Shinji were. "I am the ultimate killing machine. Everything about me was meant for the melting of flesh. Even my breath kills."
The Kiri ninja removed the mask he was wearing, took a deep breath and exhaled a thick green fog that enveloped Team 10. As the fog surrounded them, everything began to burn, their skin, their lungs, their eyes…everything. The acid in the cloud slowly began eating away at them. Chouji was the first one to go as he lost consciousness, followed shortly by Shinji. "W-what a-are you?" asked Ino weakly.
"Futon: Gale Palm!" a strong gust ripped through the battlefield, blowing the cloud away from the three suffering ninja.
Sand siblings,
"Where did he go?" asked Temari. When she turned to find Kankuro, he wasn't standing beside her. She looked back to see Kankuro rummaging through what was left of Gaara's last victim. "What are you doing you idiot?! We've got to find him quick!"
"You can't expect me just to let a good scroll go to waste" explained Kankuro. "Besides, thank's to Gaara's rampage, we've now got all our scrolls."
Temari sighed. "Baka. Don't you even care a little for your brother?" asked Temari.
"Well yeah. That's why the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can try and get Gaara some help" explained Kankuro.
"Never mind" said Temari, smacking herself in the face. The continued to follow the path of destruction until they came to a huddled Gaara, crying. "G-gaara?"
"Temari?" said Gaara in between the tears.
"Don't worry bro, we're here" said Kankuro.
"And we'd be here sooner if you didn't have to stop every two minutes!" shouted Temari.
"Do you…do you guys…hate me?" asked Gaara.
"Of course not. Why would we hate you. You're our brother and we love you. We hate what that monster inside you is trying to do to you, but it's not you" said Temari, showing a very rarely seen sensitive side.
"But the Ichibi and I are…"
"You're two different things. What just happened, was the Ichibi, not you" said Temari. "You're doing well in keeping it under control."
"But I killed" replied Gaara.
"True, but you didn't kill any friends. There was another Sand team back there who were afraid you were going to kill them, but you just passed them up" said Temari. "Your only victims were a team of Kumo shinobi and two teams of Ame ninja. Not killing your comrades is an improvement. Besides, there was something else last night that really triggered the Ichibi. It wasn't the full moon or anything, it was like there was a shroud of death over the entire mountain last night. That was what triggered the Ichibi I think, nothing you did."
"Yeah, now let's get out of here before whatever triggered the Ichibi gets us" said Kankuro.
"Coward!" barked Temari. "But you're right. We need to get Gaara out of here and away from whatever it was that set the Ichibi off."
"Temari…Kankuro…thank you" said Gaara, regaining his composure.
"Anytime, little brother" said Temari as the three Sand Siblings took off towards the base.
"Yes! Take that you bitches! We're Queens of the Mountain!" shouted Karui. Her team, consisting of herself, Omoi, and Yugito had managed to reach the base at the top of the mountain by the beginning of the third day, making them the first ones to reach the top and earning them the title of Kings (or Queens in Karui and Yugito's case) of the Mountain.
"Oh yeah. Made it to the top that you did, bakayaro konoyaro!" said Bee, appearing from the summoning seal on the three scrolls that the Kumo team placed in front of them.
"Bee-sama, nice to see you again" said Yugito.
"I'd say more celebration is in order, but brotha wants ta see ya, bakayaro konoyaro!" said Bee as he led the team towards the chamber where the Raikage was waiting.
"Yugito, Omoi, Karui" said the Raikage, who was resting on a couch in his temporary office for the duration of the exams.
"Raikage-sama" bowed the three.
"How are things out there?" asked the Raikage.
"We ran into a few other of our teams and they each had a scroll. I suspect it shouldn't be long before, although that could lead to our own teams fighting over a batch of scrolls and in that case none of them make it because they've beaten each other into the ground" said Omoi.
"Just stop it you!" shouted Karui.
"Anyways, something was definitely up last night, Raikage-sama" said Yugito. "I don't know how to explain it, but it definitely got the Nibi a little riled up. And then this morning, I don't really know how o explain it. All that I can say is that there was a lot of killing last night."
"Hmm" growled the Raikage. "Usually in exams like these, there are a few deaths, no more than a dozen and that's on a bad year."
"I can tell you for sure to expect more than that. I would be willing to bet that two dozen were killed last night, easily" said Yugito.
"What?!" shouted the Raikage, slamming his is on the couch and breaking the arm.
"I don't know how to explain it any other way, but it was like the Shinigami himself was on the battlefield last night" said Yugito.
Team 10,
"So more have come? I see. The more killing, the merrier" said the Kiri ninja.
Ino looked up to see who had come, the first thing she saw was a pink haze over her as her vision was weary and she was on the verge of unconsciousness with the rest of her team. "Sakura?..."
"Hold on Ino, we're here" said Sakura.
"No…you have to…he's a monster…he'll just kill…" with that, Ino lost consciousness as well.
Sakura was running a quick check on the rest of Team 10 while Naruto and Sasuke were staring down their opponent.
"So he's?" asked Sasuke.
"Yeah. The Rokubi's jinchuriki" said Naruto.
The Kiri jinchuriki just laughed. "I'm impressed. You know my little secret. How about I tell you another one. Those who know my secret are at my mercy. If you know my secret I can kill you whenever I want. And I want to kill you now!" The Kiri ninja ran at Naruto, gathering as much acid around his hand until it was practically dripping off him.
As the Kiri jinchuriki shot his acid coated fist at Naruto, the blonde caught it and winced at the initial pain. However, that pain soon faded as Kurama channeled a little bit more chakra to speed up Naruto's regeneration to the point where it could overcome the corrosive effects of the acid. "What?! Why aren't your hands melting?!" said the Kiri jinchuriki in surprise. The amount of concentrated acid should have begun melting his fingers off by now at the very least. And to make things even more confusing, Naruto wasn't coughing as most others should as the acid vapors should have been terrorizing his lungs by now.
Naruto looked up into the eyes of the fellow jinchuriki, his eyes red and his whisker markings a little darker. "You're not the only special one here" said Naruto as he threw his opponent back.
"I see" said the Rokubi's jinchuriki, now slightly intrigued. "It appears so. Well then, killing you will be well worth it."
Sakura was looking over Ino, Chouji, and Shinji. It was not looking good. They had lost consciousness from the damage the acid had done to them and she was nearly positive the acid had disrupted the pH balances in their blood as well. To make things worse, there was a decent amount of corrosion and deterioration both on the skin and inside their lungs as well. They needed treatment and they needed to get away so that she could give that treatment. "Naruto!" she shouted to her teammate. "We need to get them away so I can treat them!"
"Heh, if you think I'm going to let them get away, you've got another thing coming. You're all going to die here" said the Kiri jinchuriki.
"You got an idea?" asked Sasuke.
"Yeah. But be ready to move away and move away quick" said Naruto. Sasuke nodded and Naruto made a familiar hand seal. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In seconds, nearly 1000 Narutos popped into existence, all of them having a small amount of demonic chakra in them that would allow them to last slightly longer. With a loud yell, all 1000 clones charged the Kiri jinchuriki and Naruto gave Sasuke the signal.
Sakura grabbed Ino, Naruto grabbed Chouji, and Sasuke grabbed Shinji as the three of them used the clones as a distraction to get away.
By the time the Kiri ninja could defeat the clones, through a combination of a concentrated acid cloud surrounding him and even resorting to a one-tailed form once he realized the clones would be able to overtake the cloud, Team 7 and Team 10 were long gone, well beyond his sensing range. He was beyond mad. If he wanted to kill them before, he really wanted to kill them now, especially Naruto.
"Stop!" shouted Naruto as a few shuriken came flying out of the woods and into the tree just beside them. His was not good, they had just escaped a killing-crazed jinchuriki, had three injured comrades on their back, and now they were under attack.
On a tree branch in front of them appeared three Kumo ninja. One was a rather tall male, black hair, and the beginnings of a beard. Another was a shorter man who had a distinctive scar running across his face from his right check across his mouth. The third was a female, with brown hair tied up in a in a ponytail that ran down to her shoulder blades. "Well well Yakuro, look what we have here" said the female.
"A couple of Konoha ninja, and they appear to be carrying an extra burden" said the tall Kumo shinobi, who was most likely Yakuro. "They look pretty weak, and the ones they are carrying must be pathetic if they have to be carried by a bunch of weaklings like these guys."
"What?! Come down here and I'll wipe that smug look off your face!" shouted Naruto.
"Naruto, hush!" snapped Sakura.
"Pinky's right. You don't want your friends to get killed now do you?" said the scar-faced Kumo shinobi.
"Shamaru's right, you don't want anything to happen to your friends" said Yakuro. "What do you think we should do with them, Hami?"
"I say we just put them out of their misery" said the Kumo kunoichi, Hami. Sasuke sent them all a glare that basically said 'try something, I dare you.'
"Wait!" shouted Sakura. She didn't like this situation, but right now their number one concern was getting Team 10 to a safe place where she could begin treating their injuries. "How about we make a deal."
"Oh, a deal? Very well, what did you have in mind, Pinky?" asked Yakuro.
"My guess is you're looking for a scroll, otherwise you'd be at the base already. You let us go quietly, we'll give you a scroll" said Sakura. Both Naruto and Sasuke saw the logic in this, despite not liking this.
"Hmm, an interesting trade. Although we do in fact need a wind scroll" said Yakuro. "Very well, hand over a wind scroll and we'll let you go."
Sasuke growled, but none the less, took out the wind scroll he kept and tossed it towards the Kumo nin. "Hmm. Very well. Because you cooperated, we'll make your death nice and quick" said Shamaru.
"What?!" shouted Naruto. "Bastard!"
"Tsk" was all Hami said before the three of them jumped down, preparing to draw the swords on their back.
"Gatsuga!"
The Kumo ninja had just enough time to jump out of the way of the spiraling Kiba and Akamaru. A swarm of insects appeared behind them and Hinata took up a third position on the side.
"You have what you came for, I suggest you leave" said Shino from up in the tree.
"I say we just kick their ass" said Kiba.
"While I'd normally concur, we are in a rather complex situation" said Shino. "But we will attack if they make the wrong move."
"Hmph, everyone wants to spoil our fun" said Yakuro as he and the rest of the Kumo nin sheathed their sword. The three took off in the only opening that was left to them, the direction towards the mountain. Everyone relaxed their guard slightly.
"Naruto!" said Hinata, running over to the blonde.
"Glad to see you all, even you Kiba" said Naruto.
"So I guess this means we're even, right?" asked Kiba.
"You're not going to jab a kunai into my skull again, are you?" growled Naruto.
"What? What makes you think I would do a thing like that?" asked Kiba, trying to shake it off. "Anyways, what happened here?"
"Long story. We need to find a safe place so Sakura can treat their injuries though" said Sasuke.
"We've got a camp not far by" said Kiba.
""Wait!" said Shino.
"What now?" asked Kiba.
"Are we sure they are who they say?" asked Shino, holding up his palm, making the symbol appear. Everyone else did the same, except for Team 10 who was unconscious. "Very well, but we will keep a close eye on them until they can do the same."
Some cave just up the mountain,
Team 8 and Team 7, carrying Team 10 arrived at a cave, about a kilometer up the mountain side, which Team 8 had decided to make a camp out of. Team 10 was set down and Sakura immediately went to work, trying her best to stabilize the three members of Team 10.
"So what's going on?" asked Kiba.
"You remember that one guy we agreed to stay away from?" replied Naruto.
Everyone on Team 8 nodded. "Well, they kind of ignored my warnings and went ahead and tried to fight them" said Naruto.
"Whoa! So you guys ran into him?" said Kiba.
"Are…are you okay?" asked Hinata.
"We are, but I don't know about them. We needed to get them away, quick so Sakura could do her thing, so I just made a ton of clones to cover for us while we escaped" said Naruto.
"Smart" said Shino.
"And then we ran into those jerks" said Naruto.
"I'll say. Hinata saw you guys from a little out talking with them and giving them a scroll. It's a shame that they would stoop so low as to try and do that" said Kiba.
"We could have taken them, but as you can see, we didn't want to risk Ino or Chouji" said Naruto.
"And Shinji?" replied Shino.
"Meh" said Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba in unison.
"Naruto! Kiba! Sasuke!" protested Hinata.
"Hinata, can you come over here? I need your eyes" said Sakura as Hinata went to assist Sakura.
"So you lost a scroll then, bummer. I would imagine that it's going to become harder to get them starting soon" said Kiba.
Naruto just grinned as he and Sasuke pulled out all the scrolls they had on them.
"Holy crap! Where did you get all of those!" shouted Kiba. In total, Team 7 had a Wind scroll, two Lightning scrolls, and two Cloud scrolls.
Naruto sighed as he and Sasuke began to tell the story of the previous night and how they were ambushed by the Iwa ninja. To Naruto's defense, they left out the part about Naruto being a Namikaze and just attributed it to the grudge that Iwa has against Konoha in general.
"Wow…just wow…you're serious?" asked a dumbstruck Kiba. Shino merely raised an eyebrow and Hinata shot Naruto a worried look. Naruto looked down, sighed, and nodded. "Well, you guys did smell a bit like death when we found you."
"Kiba…" protested Hinata, seeing Naruto's reaction.
"It's okay. It wasn't something we enjoyed, but it happened. I wish it hadn't, but it did" said Naruto.
"It was either kill or be killed. As much as I didn't like it either, I wasn't ready for a repeat of that night" said Sasuke, referring to the Uchiha Massacre.
"Okay, I've done as much as I can for now. They should be stable, but I'll work on them some more once my chakra's replenished itself" said Sakura. Her and Hinata had just finished rubbing some of the medical cream that Hinata kept on her onto the members of Team 10. "Their lungs are mostly repaired and some of the burns are gone, but what they really need is a safe place to rest."
"Sheesh, taking over our camp now, are you?" asked Kiba, receiving a glare form Sakura. "I'm just kidding. Although if you want to thank us, we still need a Cloud scroll."
Naruto and Sasuke sighed before handing over the spare Cloud scroll that they had. It was more for helping out a fellow team, than payment for using the cave. Soon after, a loud growl was heard through the cave.
"Please tell me there's no bear in here" said a startled Kiba.
"The only bear here is that bottomless pit" said Sasuke, pointing to Naruto's growling stomach. Hinata giggled at that as Naruto took out their food scroll.
"Huh?...Wait, where are they? I thought I packed enough!" panicked Naruto.
"What is it now, Dobe?" asked Sasuke.
Anime style tears began flowing from Naruto's eyes. "I'm out of ramen."
"That's what happens when you eat three bowls for breakfast each morning, not to mention dinner" retorted Sasuke. "We've still got plenty of bento boxes and rice balls at least."
Naruto sighed in defeat and unsealed a box of 'lesser food'. As the sun was starting to set, Sasuke and Shino returned with a few handfuls of wood for a fire.
As night came, shifts were divvied up for watch, Naruto taking the first, Hinata taking the second, although the couple combined their shifts together.
"N-naruto, did you really have to…you know, kill those ninja?" asked Hinata.
Naruto sighed. She had seen that there was more to this than just a simple grudge. "Yeah. They found out about HIM. If we let them live, then that information would have gotten out and I'm pretty sure I'd have the entire village of Iwagakure on my tail the rest of my life. Not to mention everyone close to me would be in danger as well."
Seeing a little bit of distress in Naruto's head, Hinata snuggled her head into his shoulder. "I see. I'm sorry you had to do that."
"It's not your fault. We're ninja, it's who we are and I'd be lying if I said situations where we were forced to kill or be killed were never going to happen. Don't get me wrong, I don't like what I did, but sadly it was necessary to protect my friends, myself, and you" said Naruto. That only made Hinata snuggle into him a bit more.
"So…do they know? Sakura and Sasuke? Do they know about him?" asked Hinata.
"Yeah. They had heard enough from the Iwa ninja and Sakura's pretty smart, so I'm sure she was already starting to figure things out. It was only fair since they stuck by me through that mess that I told them the real reason why" said Naruto. "Now you get some rest. It's going to be a long climb to the summit tomorrow and I can handle these shifts."
"Naruto…so warm" thought Hinata with a smile and slight blush as she fell asleep snuggling up against Naruto.
Shino and Kiba had the next shifts respectively; needless to say not much was said. Sasuke had the fifth shift, although Sakura had gotten up around the same time.
"You should go back to bed. It's going to be a long climb tomorrow" said Sasuke.
"I know. But I'm just worried for Ino and Chouji" said Sakura as she gave the two of them a quick scan.
"So, how are they?" asked Sasuke.
"They seem to be okay. Still some small amounts of damage to their lungs, but I guess I could try and get the healed a bit more" said Sakura as she activated her medical jutsu. "What I'm really worried about is Ino's mind."
"Huh? Why's that?" asked Sasuke.
"Remember when Naruto told us that there are two personas in his head, his and the Kyuubi's?" Sasuke nodded.
"You're afraid she saw whatever's sealed inside that guy?" asked Sasuke. Sakura nodded.
"That initial scream we heard wasn't one of pain. It was one of terror, pure terror. And when we got there, it didn't seem like they had been fighting for that long. My guess is that she tried to use her Mind Transfer Jutsu on him and saw whatever the Rokubi is" said Sakura.
She finished up the healing on the three members of Team 10. "There, now all that's left are a few very minor external burns. All the internal damage is completely healed" said Sakura. She tried to get to her knees, but collapsed, only to be caught by Sasuke.
"You've really gotta stop with that diet stuff. You didn't eat that much last night and you've been using jutsu almost non-stop while you were awake" said Sasuke.
"I know. And don't worry, I've given up on the diet. I was just more concerned about Ino that I kind of forgot to eat" admitted Sakura.
"Forgot to eat?" smirked Sasuke. "You're almost as thick-headed as Naruto."
"Am not!" protested Sakura, only for her stomach to object. Sasuke grabbed their teams scroll and unsealed a few rice balls for Sakura, who began eating right away at a pace that would make Naruto proud.
"Sakura, I meant what I said back there. You really have come a long way" said Sasuke.
Sakura smiled, but before a blush could take over her face, something interrupted them.
"Mmm….Ramen" moaned Naruto as he got up from where he was sleeping and put a kettle on the fire.
"Is he?" asked Sakura.
"Just let him be" said Sasuke.
Both Sasuke and Sakura looked on as a still sleeping Naruto walked over to his pack, pulled out a scroll that read 'In case of emergency, use', unsealed the contents, being a kettle and a few bowls of instant ramen.
Both of the awake members of Team 7 watched in awe as Naruto successfully boiled water, poured it into the instant ramen bowl, and ate the ramen, all while asleep. After finishing the ramen, Naruto promptly went back to snoring as Sakura and Sasuke's faces faulted.
"You're kidding me, right?" asked Sasuke.
"Nope, afraid not" said a dumbstruck Sakura.
Dawn of the fourth day followed shortly after. With the events of the previous nights behind them, everyone nursed their wounds and those who still had yet to find scrolls prepared themselves for the remaining three days of the competition.
"Good morning!" shouted Naruto, waking the rest of them up. He looked around to see a few opened and unopened packages of ramen scattered on the ground. "Hey! Ramen! Where did this come from?!" shouted an excited Naruto, reaching for the nearest package.
"Baka!" retorted Sakura.
"What? What'd I do?" responded Naruto.
"You really don't remember, do you?" asked Sakura.
"Don't remember what?" asked an utterly confused Naruto.
"Never mind" said Sakura, face palming herself.
"You guys are weird" said Naruto.
Sakura was really trying to resist the urge to smack the blonde, but was snapped out of it when she saw movement from the members of Team 10.
"What? Where are we? Sakura?" said Ino, looking right towards the pink-haired kunoichi.
"About time you guys are awake" said Kiba.
"What happened?" asked Chouji.
"You guys ran into the one guy that you didn't want to run into" said Naruto.
Team 10 began to remember the events of the previous day. At the mention of that one mist ninja, Ino began to cower, but then she noticed that the injuries which she had from yesterday were gone. "Wait, if all that happened, then why am I not injured?"
"Because I spent all night healing you three" said Sakura.
"Bah! Yeah right. It must have been a genjutsu. Yeah! Everything must have been a genjutsu and Sasuke here came to save me from it!" shouted Ino, flinging herself at Sasuke. In just the nick of time, Sasuke used a substitution with Naruto, who was busy eating breakfast. Naruto found himself wrapped up in Ino's grasp, much to a certain Hyuga's displeasure.
"Eww! Get away Naruto!" shouted Ino, shoving Naruto away from her and into Hinata's arms.
"No Ino, I'm serious. The three of you nearly died" said Sakura.
"Yeah sure, trying to make yourself look good in front of Sasuke, Billboard-brow. We both know you're not that good" scoffed Ino.
"Let's go. It's already day 4 and we still need scrolls. We won't get them by hanging around these losers" said Shinji, glaring specifically towards Hinata.
"Ino…" said a concerned Sakura.
"Hmph. I'll see you at the top, Billboard-brow. And try not to make Sasuke do all the work" said Ino.
Reluctantly, Chouji joined his team. "I'm really sorry about them and thank you for everything" said Chouji, bowing to them before leaving.
Everyone turned to see Sakura on her knees crying. "Ino…why…why did we become like this? What happened…to us?" Naruto went to try and comfort his teammate, but instantly pulled away when he saw Sakura's fist clench. "Ino!" shouted Sakura as she drove her fist into the side of the cave they were in, leaving a massive crater and causing the six Konoha ninja to evacuate their dwelling or else be crushed by the following cave-in.
"Sakura? Are you okay?" asked Hinata.
"No…I want Ino back…the Ino I used to be close friends with…" said Sakura.
It took at the very least, two hours for Sakura to cool down. By the time the two teams had set out for the summit, Sakura had calmed down saying that she would figure out how to deal with Ino.
"So what do we do now?" asked Naruto. Teams 7 and 8 had arrived at the base, after a long climb up the mountain. After presenting their scrolls to the guard, they were allowed inside. "Is it just like the Konoha exams and we open them?"
"Beats me" said Kiba. "Why don't the three of you try and we'll see."
""Wait, you just want us to go first in case of a trap" objected Naruto.
"Well…not really…maybe" admitted Kiba.
"Just drop it, Dobe" said Sasuke as he unfurled the scrolls and placed them in a triangular pattern. A puff of smoke flashed and a scarecrow, which bore an odd resemblance to Kakashi, appeared out of the scrolls that had a note attached to it.
Hey,
Sorry, but you see there was this lady who really needed my help. I'll be there as soon as I can.
-Kakashi
"You can't be serious, right?" asked Sakura.
All three of their heads dropped in defeat.
Team 8 did the same things with their scrolls, only Kurenai appeared and not a scarecrow version of her.
"Nice to see the three of you" said Kurenai to her team
"Kurenai-sensei!" said all three in unison.
"If you're here, then I guess that means you three passed. Congratulations" said Kurenai. She then looked over to see Team 7 waiting impatiently by the Kakashi scarecrow. "You've got to be kidding me…"
"Wish we were" said Sasuke.
"You guys go on ahead, we'll be there in like two hours" said Naruto, earning a group sigh from Team 7.
About an hour passed and Team 7 was trying to kill time by using a deck of cards that Naruto had stashed in his pouch. The door to the base opened up as the team from Taki entered. Naruto instantly recognized the green-haired Fu, the jinchuriki of the Nanabi. Like Team 8's scroll, their sensei appeared while Team 7 was still stuck waiting for Kakashi. Before their sensei led the Taki team away, Naruto noticed a look in the sensei's eyes. It was an all too familiar look to him as it was the same scornful look that the villagers in Konoha used to give him. He honestly didn't see her in the first chunin exams to know her all that well, but he began wondering if she had been suffering and alone like he did.
Inside the base, the Taki team stepped into what appeared to be a rather large open room, with a large window overlooking the southeast side of the arena. Inside, there was nothing too fancy, a few seats and tables, but not much else. Their sensei instructed them that they would be staying here for the next few days, before taking the two male members of the team away somewhere with him and leaving Fu alone in the room.
As her team left, she heard footsteps coming from the hall opposite where the rest of the Taki team went. She turned around to see who it was. "Oh, it's just you" she said.
"I see you still remember me" said a monotonous voice.
"I don't really see how I could forget. You were the one who beat me last time and nearly…never mind" she said. The person she was talking to, being Shino, took a few steps closer. "So what do you want?"
"You intrigue me" said Shino.
"I intrigue you? What's that supposed to mean, bug-boy?" asked Fu.
"It means what I said. The last we met, you appeared to have severe entomophobia; however, I am not detecting any adverse emotions towards my presence" said Shino. One of Shino's bugs flew from him and landed on Fu's shoulder. She winced, slightly, but nothing much after.
"Well, when you learn that you can't escape them, you learn to get used to them" the green-haired girl said.
"I see. If I may ask another question" asked Shino.
"Okay…" said a slightly hesitant Fu.
"Your comrades, they appeared resentful of your presence. If I may ask so, why?" asked Shino.
"You seem like you should know! After all, you're partially responsible!" barked Fu.
"Me? If I did something to upset you, I meant no offence" apologized Shino.
Fu let out a held breath. "No it's fine. In reality, you had no play in the reason why they hate me."
"The Nanabi, am I correct?" assessed Shino.
"How did you figure out?" asked a surprised Fu.
"Them" Shino said, holding up a finger with a few of his bugs.
"So let me guess, you hate my very existence as well?" asked Fu with a hint of venom to my voice.
"Certainly not. I am an Aburame. My clan and I have a deep respect for all insects, whether they be my Kikaichu, or Nanabi itself" said Shino.
"So what is it that you wanted?" asked Fu.
"Nothing more. As I said, I am interested in you. I merely wanted to get acquainted" said Shino as he walked away.
"Okay…weird" said Fu.
After two hours of waiting, "Yo."
"You're Late!" shouted Naruto and Sakura.
"Sorry, this lady wanted me help get her cat out of the tree, but it turned out to be a black cat and I wanted to wait for the bad luck to wear off before accepting the summons. Can't risk being summoned to the wrong place, now can I?" said Kakashi, making an upside down smile with his one eye.
Both Naruto and Sakura groaned. "So do we pass?" asked Sasuke.
"Yes" said Kakashi, leading them into the rest of the base. "There are still about 48 hours left in the exam so the three of you are to stay here until the end of the second test. If I'm correct, they have a few training dojos here that you can use, if training is what you desire. However, fighting with one another, even sparring, is not allowed. So, how did everything go?"
"Is there somewhere private we can talk?" asked Naruto. Kakashi took a look at his team and immediately realized something was up.
"I see. Follow me then" said Kakashi as he led his team towards a room where they would be able to talk. As they entered the room, Kakashi activated a few silence seals that he had on him. "While I am confident of these seals, this is not Konoha. Whatever you have to say, I suggest being discrete. Now, I can tell just by looking at you three that something happened out there. You've killed haven't you?"
"Yes, what gave that away?" asked Naruto.
"Your eyes, they're a bit harder than I remember" said Kakashi. "Now why don't you tell me about what happened?"
"Two nights ago, we were attacked by a band of Iwa ninja, numbering 15. Their target was Naruto" said Sasuke.
"Naruto?!" said a surprised Kakashi.
"I don't know how, but somehow they made a connection between me and HIM. I think it was just based on how I look, but they attacked me, wanting to get revenge" explained Naruto.
"I see. This is troubling indeed. I assume you two know now as well" said Kakashi. Sakura and Sasuke nodded. Kakashi let out a sigh. "This truly was meant to be kept a secret, Naruto. But even if you didn't know before this, I have a feeling the same thing would have happened."
"But how did they find out, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto. "The only people I told were ones I trusted absolutely, and I even made sure no one else was around."
"You are aware of his actions in the Third Shinobi war, correct?" asked Kakashi. Everyone nodded, having learned back in the academy why the Yellow Flash was so feared in that war. "Let me get this straight. Iwa hates him and anything that has to do with him. Sasuke, imagine how much you hate your brother and their hate might even surpass that."
"What? That much?" asked Sasuke.
"Yes. That hatred has been passed down in Iwa and they are even bitter towards us to this very day. I would not be surprised if they would have attacked you, not knowing. They would have seen that you were Konoha shinobi and would have attacked none the less. Your resemblance only gave them more incentive and I think that that caused them to connect the dots. Hatred warps the mind, making you see what it wants you to see, only for that hatred to grow further. Naruto, that's why the villagers only saw you as the Kyuubi during your childhood."
"I see. But I feel like I'm making progress. It feels like I'm slowly wiping away their hatred" said Naruto.
"Yes, and I would agree. There are ways to quell and eliminate hatred, such as forming strong bonds with others, as in Sasuke's case, or proving that you aren't what people once saw you as, such as Naruto's case" said Kakashi. "Anyways, what happened to those Iwa ninja?"
"Dead. All of them" said Sasuke. "After they figured that out, we couldn't let them get away."
"I see. Sadly, that was the correct course of action. If Iwa of all people got a hold of that information, who knows what they would do. I am going to need to talk to the Hokage regarding this issue so that we can be sure that no other ninja know" explained Kakashi. "Now, is there anything else that I should know?"
"Yeah, there are five jinchuriki in this exam" said Naruto.
"What?!" Kakashi sounded surprised with this. "Who?"
"Gaara, Yugito Nii of Kumo, Fu of Taki, and this freaky Kiri guy" said Naruto. "But it's that Kiri guy that's the real problem."
"He nearly killed Ino and Chouji" said Sakura with a slightly bitter voice.
"We made it just in time to get them out of there. We had to find a place to get them to so Sakura could treat them, but we then ran into this team of Kumo shinobi who tried to kill us. We offered them an extra scroll we picked up from the battle against the Iwa ninja, but they went ahead and tried anyways. Team 8 interfered before we were forced to fight. We could have taken them, but…" said Sasuke.
"But you would have put Team 10 in danger" finished Kakashi. "What's up with Sakura?"
"Let's just say her and Ino are having a tough time in their friendship" said Naruto.
"I see. Well, I'll leave that for the two of them to work out" said Kakashi, not wanting to get in between two pubescent girls, especially when one possessed the potential to knock his head clean off his shoulders.
"Don't worry sensei, I think I know how I'll handle it" said Sakura.
"A bit rash, but sadly effective. Just make sure you don't kill her" said Kakashi, reading Sakura's expression.
"I won't. I just want my old friend back" said Sakura.
"Well, then I'll leave that to you" said Kakashi. "Any ways, I must say that I'm impressed with how well the three of you handled yourself out there. You were placed in a number of difficult situations and the choices you made were the correct ones. The three of you really have matured in the past year, don't you say? Regardless of what happens from here out, I believe you three are ready for the responsibilities that come with being a chunin, but you don't need that. I have faith you'll do just fine in the rest of the exam."
Author Notes
Okay, few things to say.
First, Fu. Yes, she has gotten over her fear of insects (at least started to). Anyways, I will be developing her further as the story goes on. She will get a little more screen time (if that's what you want to call it) outside of fights in this book and then won't reappear again until probably the third book.
Second, the Mist jinchuriki. Hopefully I didn't overdo him, but I am trying to make him out as a twisted, psychotic killer. Unlike Gaara, who was once an innocent child, this guy has always killed. As he said, he was basically born to kill. There will be no helping him like Naruto was able to do for Gaara. Also, he has some control of the Rokubi, nowhere near the same extent as Naruto or Bee. While the Rokubi doesn't like her jinchuriki, she will lend him a small portion of her power if he's going to kill. I think in the first few chapter, I made the Rokubi as rather bloodthirsty, almost as much if not more than the Ichibi.
Third, Ino. Yes, I know I'm making her look like a complete bitch. No, I do not hate her nor am I going to be continuously bashing her. This Ino will be resolved in the next chapter or two.
Fourth, Yugito. In cannon, I believe her age was 29 and she was a jonin. For the purposes of the story, she's a genin (kind of obvious though) and she's only 14 years in age.
Fifth, Bee. The phrase 'Bakayaro Konoyaro' is basically his equivalent of Naruto's –ttebayo. For those of you who don't know, it's translated as 'Fool ya fool' I believe.
Sixth, Gaara. The main reason Gaara lost control wasn't because of the full moon or anything. It was because, as said by both Temari and Yugito, death was practically in the air that night and that's what caused the Ichibi's bloodlust to skyrocket to a point where Gaara couldn't resist. However, he was still able to divert the Ichibi's frenzy away from allies.
Edit: Fixed an error regarding which war Minato was involved in
Hope you enjoyed.
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