"And this next test..."
Everyone tensed up.
"Is a water gun fight!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What?" Yuma remarked, confused as to what Minato was on about.
The man with bags beneath his eyes, walked to the Hokage's side, catching his attention.
"I can take it from here Hokage-*Cough*- Hokage sir."
"Ah, yes, go ahead Hayate." Minato said with a grateful smile, allowing Hayate to take his place on the balcony.
Which he promptly jumped from, landing in front of the shocked Genin, before coughing into his fist. Yuma stared at the odd man in bewilderment, before sighing.
"This village is filled with weirdo's." He said.
"Tell me about it." Sasuke concurred.
The man finished his fit of the coughs, straightening his posture to greet the crowd of Genin. His eyes swiveled over the crowd, settling themselves on Yuma. Yuma saw the man staring at him, and glared at him, causing Hayate to avert his eyes.
"Hello to you all. I'm *Cough* Hayate Gekko, and i'm the *Cough* proctor of the third test. As the Hokage said, this test will be a water gun fight. But its not your run of the *Cough* run of the mill kind of water gun fight."
Hayate pulled out a pistol, roughly the size of ones foot. It had a large seal-like marking on its side, catching Naruko's attention.
"Oh, I get it!" Naruko muttered, catching Sasuke's attention.
"Wait...Don't tell me those are..."
"These are specially made pistols *Cough*, each custom made by the Hokage *Cough* by the Hokage himself. They have seals that hold over one hundred gallons worth of water in its confines as ammunition."
"Hehehe, this is gonna be fun." Naruko chuckled excitedly.
"Damn it all, I hate this. Your dad got this idea from when we used to play as kids didn't he?" Sasuke complained.
"What are you two talking about?" Yuma asked with an annoyed tone, not liking being out of the loop.
"When we were kids, we used to train together. We both hated the tactical and strategy training though, so her father came up with the bright idea of water gun fights. That way we would learn strategy and tactical methods of battle without being bored. Basically he tricked us into training by making us think we were just playing around." Sasuke explained.
"Oh. That's actually kind of smart." Yuma admitted.
"Each of you will get *Cough* will get a seal placed onto your backs. They will look like this." Hayate pulled out a round piece of paper that was the size an adults hand, marked with a seal.
"These seals will be your targets, and will be *Cough* and will be used to make sure no one attempts to continue fighting after being beaten. *Cough* To defeat another in the water gun fight, *Cough* you must hit their seal with water. Once hit, well...After that *Cough* after that happens, the seal will automatically summon you back here." Hayate explained.
"W-Why only once? Why not have a five hit limit?" Someone in the crowd asked.
"In battle, one hit can be the difference between victory and death. You only have one chance, so make the most of it. *Cough* Any- *Cough* Any questions?"
No one else uttered a word, the room silent.
"Good. Your Third exam *Cough* will be held in the forest surrounding the training grounds of the *Cough* of the village. Ninjutsu is not allowed, *Cough* however Kekkai Genkkai are an *Cough* are an exception. The exam will *Cough* will end when eight people are left standing."
Yuma felt relief.
'Doesn't sound that hard. I'll meld into the shadows and try to wait out the clock. It'll use up chakra, but its better to be tired then to fail.' Yuma thought.
"And for those of you who thought you could wait out the clock by hiding, you will not be allowed to *Cough* allowed to wait out the clock and hide. You will be required to take out at least three people to be a part of the final eight. If you choose to hide and remain hidden for at least *Cough* five minutes, you will be disqualified and forcibly summoned back here."
'Damn it.' Yuma thought, sighing in discontent.
All the Genin excluding Yuma looked relieved, thinking this test to be far less extreme then the hell they had just endured. Some cheered, but some remained skeptical, not believing the test to be as easy as it sounded.
They were right.
"One more *Cough* thing..."
Everyone went quiet, their celebration cut off by the mans interjection.
"In this test...Working in teams is forbidden."
Everyone froze.
Yuma's breath became caught in his throat.
"E-Excuse me, but uh...Does that mean...That even our teammates...We can't work with them or-!?" A random ninja from cloud tried to speak up, but was cut off by the Hokage from up above.
"That is correct." Minato stated.
Yuma stared up at the man in pure shock and terror as the reality of his words fell on top the shoulders of all the Genin attending.
"In this exam, even your teammates are enemies."
Yuma's whole body froze as he realized what this meant.
'...This isn't fair...He knows that too...That the two most likely to pass this...are Sasuke and Naruko.'
Yuma clenched his fists, red hot anger filling him up.
'He did this on purpose! He set this up so that his two golden elites will pass!'
Minato looked down at the crowd of shocked Genin with a sad look, specifically aimed at Yuma.
'I'm sorry Yuma, but Naruko and Sasuke must pass these exams. Forgive me.'
Yuma glared up at the mans pitying gaze.
'I wont give you the satisfaction you bastard. I will win! I have to!'
A flash of his mother crying while holding him in her arms in front of a grave flashed through his mind.
'No matter what!'
And with that, the stage was set.
"Now, follow me and we'll head to the training grounds for the third test." Hayate ordered.
*Cough*
Yuma stared at the forest before him with a mixture of surprise and nostalgia. He smiled fondly, as the memories came back to him. He gripped the water gun they had all been given, as he reminisced.
'It was here that Gai and Lee taught me the tree climbing exercise huh...One of the few good memories I have of my childhood.'
"Come on Yuma, let your youth run wild! I, the greatly incredible Gai-Sensei believes in you!"
"If Gai-Sensei says you can do it, then you can! Go Yuma!"
A glazed look settled itself in Yuma's eyes, the memories bringing with them feelings of an emotion Yuma rarely ever feels.
'Admiration. Yes, that's how I feel towards Gai and Lee, I admire them.'
"Yosh! Seeing this familiar sight fills me with the power of youth! Does it not do the same for you, my rival Yuma!" Lee exclaimed, running up to Yuma with a speed high enough to kick up dust in his wake.
'Speak of the devil and he shall appear I guess.'
For once, Yuma did not pull back in disgust at the fellow boys weird antics, a smile overtaking his features, surprising Naruko.
"Yeah, it sure does Lee. But I wouldn't go as far as to call myself your rival. I'm not that-!?"
"Nonsense! You are my rival Yuma! Do not underestimate yourself!" Lee yelled, getting up in Yuma's face, surprising him as fire burned in his eyes.
Yuma averted his gaze from the overly energetic Lee, overcome with weird sense of thankfulness.
"Thanks Lee, I needed that." Yuma said, reaching his hand out for a shake.
Lee, with a bright smile, took Yuma's hand and shook it with fervor.
"Don't mention it! Everyone needs encouragement every now and then! Yosh!"
"Lee, what are you doing! Get back here!" His teammate Tenten yelled out, causing the energetic boy to grin widely as he waved goodbye to Yuma.
Yuma smiled, waving bye, a gloomy aura still emitting from within his eyes.
Naruko smiled.
"You look happy." Naruko said, breaking Yuma out of his melancholic haze.
Yuma looked over to her with a small smile.
"I wouldn't go that far, but I am starting to feel better." Yuma responded.
"That's good. I was starting to worry about you." She said, a bright smile overtaking her features.
"Yeah, I'm-!?"
"You're um...too cute to be called something like that."
Yuma coughed, looking away from her quickly, hiding the blush now on his face. The words he spouted out without thinking back in the forest came back in full force as his memories returned to him. He looked up at the sky, trying not to be obvious.
"I wonder what Sasuke is doing right now!" He said suddenly, his voice at a higher pitch then normal as he tried to change the subject.
Naruko lifted a brow at his odd shift in behavior, but chose not to say anything. she put her hand up to her chin in thought.
"Knowing him, he's probably sizing up the competition." She said with a thoughtful look.
Yuma tensed at the statement. His demeanor now serious.
"Speaking of...Naruko?"
"Yeah? What is it?" Naruko asked.
"...I won't hold back in this upcoming test. And I wont lose to you." Yuma said, a dark look in his eye.
"W-What?" Naruko asked apprehensively, not comfortable with his sudden dark tone.
"I said I won't hold back. And I hope you don't either. I'm not the same weakling I was when we first became a team." He said, his hair falling over his eyes, making it hard to tell what he was feeling.
"O-Of course, I already knew that!" She said with a dismissive wave, trying to conceal her uncomfortable body language with posturing.
"Good, see ya. I want to be as far away from you as possible. That way I'll have a better chance at beating this thing." He said, beginning to walk away.
"Yuma! Wait!" Naruko shouted.
Yuma turned to her with a confused look.
"What?"
Naruko looked away briefly, trying to find the right words. After thinking it through, she finally looked back at him with a kind smile.
"Just so you know, I've never thought of you as a weakling. Not once. Make sure to beat this thing! I want all three of us to win! Even if we can't fight as a team, I want all of us to get past this together!" She said, making Yuma go wide eyed.
Yuma, caught off guard, finally got over his initail shock over her statement, allowing her words to sink in. He looked over to her with a small smile of his own, even though it was obviously forced.
"Thanks. See you after this exam is over and done, Naruko."
And with that, he walked away, leaning up against a small stump as everyone waited for the signal to begin.
'...Ever since the incident in the forest, his mood has been swinging non-stop. Its hard to tell how he's feeling...Yuma...'
Naruko shook her head, and slapped her cheeks. A determined gaze taking the place of her formally worried one.
'No! Now's not the time for that! I need to win this!'
Naruko smiled brightly.
"Don't worry Yuma! I will win this, and hold nothing back! That's a promise!" She loudly proclaimed, catching the attention of all the other test-takers.
Murmuring began, many not liking her braggadocio.
"We'll see about that, daughter of the yellow flash."
"Win huh, Not if we can help it."
"You're father has dug your grave."
She heard the whispers but paid them no mind, her words were not for them anyway. She looked back at Yuma, wanting to see his reaction to her proclamation.
And she was met with a smile.
She grinned back, happy to know her message did not fall on death ears.
And so they continued to wait for the signal.
Sasuke leaned against one of the many stumps littered across the field in front of the forest. He was quickly swept up in his thoughts, thinking over all that had occurred in the Forest of the Death.
He quickly shook the thoughts away however, trying to keep his eyes on the prize.
'No, now's not the time to worry about that! I have to win this. I am going to make brother proud. Failure is not an option!' Sasuke thought, filling himself with determination.
He began to survey his competition, looking over the crowd of Chunin hopefuls surrounding him. As his eyed the group of fellow competitors, he froze solid.
The eyes of Gaara were staring daggers into him, and he felt it. The murderous derision visible in the red headed boys eyes was enough to put Sasuke on edge. Not being one to admit fear, he glared right back, refusing to let Gaara get to him.
And then...
RING!
The loud sound of a bell going off broke the tension, as many rushed for the woods, while others immediately tried taking aim at one another. Sasuke quickly took to the trees, narrowly dodging the hail of water bullets launched at him by eager competitors. He dashed from tree limb to tree limb, trying to get as far away from the others. He looked behind himself to see if anyone was tailing him, and sure enough...
"Damn it, why him of all people."
Gaara of the Sand was hot on his tail, a demonic grin full of teeth was his look of choice as he chased down his prey. Sasuke cursed aloud, frustrated by his unlucky situation.
"Come on, quit your running, let me catch you!" Gaara shouted as Sasuke tried losing him by getting to ground level suddenly, and dashing as fast as possible.
He bobbed and weaved through all the limbs, making it to a clearing. Thinking fast, he spotted a group of ninja standing around brittle trees, and made his way their way.
'Sorry for this, but-'
Quickly, he slid beneath their feet before they noticed him, and knocked the trees to the ground with the force of a kick, trapping them in the clearing.
He continued running, even as he heard the sound of water guns going off and the manic and angry screaming of Gaara.
'Good, those guys can distract him for a bit while I get away.'
He made his way back to the tree tops, and continued making his way through the forest.
He spotted another group of ninja, and smirked. Jumping above them, he landed behind the two genin, landing a hit on both of them, creating a puff of smoke as they were summoned back to the arena.
Sasuke continued on, taking out any enemies unfortunate enough to get in his line of sight. He began to grin, thinking this test to be easy.
'If I keep this up, we'll be down to eight in no time.' Sasuke thought with confidence.
Suddenly, another volley of water began blasting at him. He tried getting away, but was kicked to the ground by an enemy ninja. Before they could blast him with water however, he rolled across the forest floor and took cover behind a trunk.
'Damn it! They're trying to get rid me right off the bat!? Just my luck! No teamwork my ass!'
"If we get him out of the game, the rest will be easy pickings! All we'll have to worry about then will be the Hokage's daughter! Keep firing!"
"B-But teamwork is-!?"
"I know that, but they never said anything about temporary truces! Now keep firing!" One of them, presumably the leader of the group shouted.
Before they could react, Sasuke ran out from behind his hiding spot, activating his Sharingan. Using his foresight, he bobbed and weaved through the ray of water shooting from their pistols,he tried landing a hit on all of the genin there, but was only successful at getting three of them, bringing their collective down to only five people left. He rolled into an underbrush, Sharingan fading from his eyes as he was left scowling as he had planned to get rid off all of them at once. Having failed, he now had only two options left.
'I could run, no, they'd spot me and shoot me down. What if I tried-No, they'd see right through that.'
Sasuke slammed the forest floor in frustration.
'Damn it, what am I going to do!?'
"No use hiding Uchiha, come on out and take your loss honorably." The leader said, smirking as all the genin trained their weapons at the spot Sasuke was hiding.
'If i'm gonna lose...'
Sasuke stood to his feet, about to charge in a final act of defiance.
And was left stunned as a volley of water hit all the backs of every genin present who had weapons aimed at Sasuke. Their reverse summoning created a huge puff of smoke, making it hard for Sasuke to make out his surroundings. He was about to make a run for it when he saw a shadow looming overhead, He jumped back just in time, as a water bullet landed where he was just standing.
Before he had time to make out who it was attacking him, the person dashed at him quickly, landing a kick into Sasuke's lower abdomen, knocking the air out of his stomach, he went rolling, his back slamming against a tree. As the smoke began to disperse, he was finally able to see who it was trying to take him out.
"Yuma what are you-!?"
Before he could finish his sentence, Yuma disappeared from his sight, he quickly spun around, trying to kick at Yuma just as he was rising from the shadows, Yuma caught his leg however, and arose completely, causing Sasuke to fall to the ground, he quickly, kicked at Yuma with his other foot, hitting him in the face. Yuma grunted in pain, dropping Sasuke's other leg.
Sasuke brought out his pistol, aiming it at Yuma. Yuma quickly gathered his senses, and tackled Sasuke to the ground. Sasuke brought his arms up in defense, but Yuma slammed his fist into Sasuke's face, breaking Sasuke's nose in the processs.
"Fuck! God damn it Yuma, what the fuck!" Sasuke cursed, in a surprising out of character manner, caught off guard by Yuma's barbaric behavior.
"I wont lose. I will win this no matter what." Yuma responded, an intense and scary manic look in Yuma's eyes telling Sasuke all that he needed to know about where Yuma's mind was at.
Yuma forcibly turned Sasuke over, revealing the target symbol on his back. Before Sasuke could try to fight him off, Yuma slammed his knee into his side, keeping him still as he held Sasuke's arms behind his back with one hand. He brought out the pistol, and held it at Sasuke's back.
"Sorry Sasuke, but I refuse to fail."
Sasuke clenched his eyes shut, thinking it was all over.
until...
Water shot out at the two of them forcing Yuma to jump off him. Sasuke rolled to the side quickly, narrowly avoid a hit.
"Hey, the Uchiha is mine!" Said a boy, surrounded by other Genin.
"No! He's mine."
"Who said you guys could call dibs!?"
Yuma scowled, immediately dashing away as the gang of Genin were arguing over who got to take out Sasuke. Sasuke looked at him in surprise, shocked at how fast he ran off, a dust trail being left behind him.
'When did Yuma get that fast?' Sasuke questioned to himself, before narrowing his eyes.
'Focus Sasuke, Yuma is not what I should be focusing on.'
He looked up at the ninja, still arguing over who got to take down the infamous Sasuke Uchiha, and smirked.
'I will pass.'
And with that, Sasuke jumped at the ninja, preparing for battle.
Yuma dashed from tree to tree, his eyes determined. His three pronged feet leaving a trail of broken tree limbs in his wake, as each tree hop was done so with force.
"Are you upset Yuma?"
"Damn right I am." Yuma responded.
"Why?" Yumito asked.
"Because Sasuke got away. I should've taken him out right then and there."
"But isn't he your teammate, why do you want to take him out so badly?"
"Its because he's my teammate that I know I should've gotten rid of him."
"Oh? And why is that?" Yumito asked, genuinely curious.
"Because he's too damn strong. Getting rid of him would've made the next exam easier."
"Why? And how do you know it would be more easier?"
"The next Exam is most likely the final exam, the tournament. Everyone in the village knows about it. Every Chunnin exams, a tournament is held as the final test for Genin in order to prove they are worthy of Chunnin. People from all over the ninja world come to see it."
"And?"
"And, that means I'm screwed. Even if I pass the first fight, sooner or later i'm going to have to fight against either him or Naruko. This exam is the only chance I'll ever get to realistically take out both him and Naruko. With Jutsu being banned, It limits what they're capable off. I could've taken him out of the game...But those assholes showed up, damn it!" Yuma seethed, rage making his vision go red.
"Calm down Yuma, the test isn't over yet. You still have time to take the two of them down. You just have to focus. With your legs having been removed, you now have shadows taking the form of your legs. Since they are made out of pure chakra, you can control its output easier, allowing you to go faster. With your new boost, I know you can do it."
Yuma breathed deeply, his vision going back to normal.
"You're right, thanks Yumito." Yuma said, finally calming down.
"No need for thanks, as long as you are calm, then thats all the thanks I require. I shall take another rest, don't want to waste your chakra, goodbye Yuma." Yumito said, yawing.
"See ya Yumito."
The golden light on Yuma's dark palm faded away, leaving Yuma alone.
'I just need to survive til eight are left. I already took more than three people down. All that's left is to try and track down Naruko or Sasuke and get them out of the-!?'
A shadow was cast, signalling someone was jumping at him from above. Thinking quickly, Yuma jumped to the forest floor, avoiding being blasted from behind. He rolled to a stop, regathering his bearings. Looking up, he saw who it was that had tried taking him out.
And immediately lost all hope.
"Oh, I remember you."
'No...'
"You're the guy Lee was talking to before the exams began, aren't you?"
'Why...Why him of all people?'
"I apologize, but it seems fate has decided that you will not be progressing forward. For you see..."
'Why did I have to be found by the worst person possible for this kind of test?'
"I, Neji Hyuga shall defeat you here. Fate has already decided that." Neji declared, His Byakugan flaring to life.
And with that, Yuma fell into despair.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! KingOfShame out!