A Life of its Own, Interlude
Such is Life
Uzumaki Naruto - The Exams
I don't normally make notes at the beginning of chapters, but there's something important I have to note: this'll be shorter than the prologue, what with it being called the interlude and all. Including this one, there'll only be four chapters. In addition, we'll only get to what we'd consider Shippuden/Part 2 with Act 1 of the story, which should be up within a month or two, once I'm done with this. The reason I'm making a point of this is because this isn't really essential reading to understand the majority of the story - if you want, you can move straight on to Act 1 from the prologue.
That being said, I very much recommend reading this, as I won't really touch on what's covered in here again, and it gives important context to certain things in the future.
Thanks for reading. On with the show.
"Are you sure we can't go back and get her? Or like, help her or something? She'll be all by herself!"
"No, Naruto. She received a personal mission request directly from a daimyo. It only makes sense that she would agree. Who knows what he might've done had she said no?" Naruto turned away from the older shinobi, sulking. Kakashi sighed at his charge's childish behaviour. "I've already sent word back to the Hokage. If he sends word back before we reach the village to get her, we'll turn right around and do it, okay?"
This seemed to appease the boy, who went back to tending the fire at their campsite. Kakashi didn't have the heart to tell him that even if Hokage-sama did want Sakura back – Kakashi hoped the man would see sense and order her to return, unlike the girl herself or that presumptuous child of a warlord – his decision would be made long after they had already returned to the village, and likely even if a team were sent to get her, they wouldn't be a part of it.
Sasuke had seemed to pick up on the silent subtext, as he was sulking in his own way, not doing anything overt yet refusing to speak to Kakashi and being snappier with Naruto than he had been in weeks. She really was the glue holding the team together in a way. A lot like you were, Rin… Especially because I feel like this was my fault again too, for whatever reason. Kakashi sighed again. I don't need this headache right now.
The journey that had taken more than a week by caravan only took two and a half days on their return journey. Sasuke bet they could've done it faster too, but Kakashi was trying not to push them too hard. Where once he would've been furious that the man was babying him, Sasuke actually quietly appreciated it from the man. It allowed him some time to himself, and to think.
Sakura didn't even think about the decision she made. As soon as that daimyo had asked the question, she said yes. She only even started considering the amount of time she'd even be on the mission for after she'd already accepted it. If she were only a little dumber, she might've inadvertently accepted it for life…
The thought that she was so ready to accept it without those considerations though… That bothered him more than he would like to admit. And the fact that that bothered him frustrated him to no end. She was just a girl who he was on a team with. Who he had known for half his life. Who he had almost died with. Who he admired, on some level.
He was meant to be an avenger, he was meant to live his life alone, gain power, and kill his brother. And then what? He wasn't meant to care about other people. And why not? He shouldn't be… worried… that she might be in over her head, or she might get hurt without any back-up. She's your teammate, that's exactly what you should feel, right? And most of all, he shouldn't feel hurt that she had just thoughtlessly decided to accept the mission without considering his feelings. She's your friend, and she messed up. It happens. Just call her out on it later, and you'll be good.
On second thought, he didn't appreciate Kakashi leaving him to his thoughts. They were turning mutinous.
And… they weirdly sounded like…
Naruto just… didn't get it. How could she have just left like that? Like, it was a cool mission and stuff, and she'd probably save princesses and kiss a prince or something, but… She just left them. Didn't that bother her. If Naruto was in her position, there's no way he could've just gone on the mission, not at least without saying goodbye to everyone first.
Maybe she was going to write a letter? That's something smart people did, and Sakura-chan was like. The smartest person… ever! Except Shikamaru, but that guy's so lazy that Naruto bet at some point he'd die because it was too much effort to keep breathing.
Hmm. Maybe he should hang out with Shikamaru and Choji again. It's not like it'd been super long since he'd seen them last, what with their whole joint team training… thingy, but it had been a while since he just went cloud-watching with them.
Shikamaru was smart, right? Almost as smart as Sakura.
Maybe he could explain what he was feeling. And why she left.
The day after they returned from the mission protecting Chichiatsu, Naruto found himself wandering the village. Kakashi had given them a day off, and Hokage-jiji hadn't told them to go back and get Sakura-chan yet. Naruto was sure he would, eventually. He just had to do all that paperwork stuff for it first, right? Then they'd go get her.
"Hey, Naruto-kun!" The blond turned around, seeing a familiar face calling him, and he broke out into a huge grin.
"Rinka-chan!" He shouted, rushing over to the older girl. "You okay!?" He said excitedly, wrapping the girl in his arms and lifting her up off her feet. She laughed at his over-enthusiasm, sounding like a bell, and smiled warmly at him. He wanted to show his affection, and she was very happy to accept it – it was something that they both desperately needed.
"I'm doing just fine, Naruto-kun." She replied giggling, the two girls with her that he hadn't noticed originally – that he now recognised as Ami and Aya the Nosebreaker – grinning back and sighing respectively. "I should be asking you how you're doing. How was the mission?"
"It went great!" He exclaimed, placing Rinka down as he did so. "We ran into some bandits, but apart from that it was business as usual!"
Rinka laughed again, causing Naruto to feel warm down in his chest, and for Ami to grin even wider. "Careful there, Uzumaki. You already got one of the girls in our class pining over you – don't want to give her any competition, do ya?" Rinka flushed, swiping at Ami who skipped out of the way, laughing.
"Hinata-chan staked her claim long before I even met you guys." She grumbled under her breath. "I'm not stepping on her toes. It's girls like her you should be scared of getting angry."
"What're you guys talking about?" What does it mean when someone… 'stakes their claim'?
Rinka giggled. He was so oblivious, it was adorable. "Never you mind, Naruto-kun. Anyway, I'm glad I ran into you, and so's this one-" She paused to point over at Ami, who blushed herself and turned away. "-even if she's doing everything she can not to show it." Naruto blinked at the girls, who were only confusing him more by the minute.
"Uhhh… okay? What's the problem? She sick or something?" He asked, pointing at Ami.
He really doesn't get it. Rinka smiled tenderly at her friend, lightly shaking her head. "No, she's not sick. We were just wondering if you knew were Sakura-chan was. We'd-"
"You say we, but you dragged me here without my consent." Aya snarked, speaking for the first time in the entire conversation.
"We'd like to catch up with her." Rinka continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, but not without a swipe at Aya, who could've easily dodged but simply chose to take the light thump on the head. Naruto's face darkened at the question, and all three girls immediately knew something was wrong.
"Naruto?" Ami asked, cautiously. "What happened?"
"What the FUCK do you mean she's gone for three years? THREE!?" Ami screamed, distraught at the fact. Naruto bristled, getting in her face and screaming right back.
"You heard me! She's protecting the daimyo or whatever!" Aya was silent as usual, but for once it was from genuine shock rather than simply not wanting to speak, while Rinka's hand covered the lower half of her face, her mouth shaped into a silent O.
"And she's just gone!? Just like that!?"
"Yeah, just like that! And there's nothing… nothing we can do about it." Naruto's voice dropped, as the reality of the situation began hitting him for the first time. Ami looked at him in shock, before dropping her head and chuckling darkly.
"Figures. Fucking figures." She said, scratching her face with her right hand. Naruto noticed that she was wearing some sort of glove now, with a cloth palm and plated metal fingers that seemed more like claws than traditional human digits. "I knew it was too good to be true. I came out and told her everything, and then she runs away the first chance she-"
A dull thud resounded in the air. Ami sprawled backwards and fell on her ass, placing a hand on the cheek that had been hit. She looked up in equal parts surprise and shock to Rinka, and then to her outstretched hand that had slapped her. She blinked, surprise growing as she looked back to Rinka, this time seeing the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.
"Don't you dare talk about her that way, and don't you dare say something you'll regret either. You know that's not why she did this. She would never hurt anyone like that, least of all you." Rinka said firmly, her voice not wavering whatsoever. Anyone just listening would never have thought she was anywhere even close to breaking down.
Ami didn't respond for a few seconds, placing her head in her hands. "Yeah." She mumbled, the word barely audible, before pushing her hands up her face and through her hair. "Yeah." She said more resolutely. "Knowing her, she just heard the prospect of an S-rank and thought 'Hell yeah I'm doing that' and nothing else." She tried to smile, but her mouth wavered, and the light didn't reach her eyes. "That's our Ku-chan, right?"
Rinka's tears began to fall, and she dropped to her knees, wrapping her friend in a tight hug, which Ami returned, while Aya uncharacteristically fell to her knees as well, and placed her forehead against the other two, lightly stroking their hair and whispering to them both. Naruto looked the incredibly public yet intensely personal show of affection and felt guilty after watching for less than a second, and so decided that it would probably be best if he left them to deal with the news in their own way, even as the extremity of how they reacted only made him feel worse.
Naruto wanted to take his mind off things, but didn't really know how. There wasn't really anyone he could think of that he could hang out with that the topic of Sakura wouldn't come up with. But at the same time, he didn't really want to hang around by himself… Maybe Sasuke's not doing anything.
Naruto's hands instantly grabbed his face and he screamed in frustration. How can Sasuke be his best option!? Anyone else'd be better, he wasn't going to deal with that mopey bastard now!
"Hey Boss!"
Naruto turned around, seeing three little kids running towards him, and a grin broke out on his face. He'd forgotten about Konohamaru and his friends. They'd met Sakura once or twice, but they wouldn't think to ask about her, at least he hoped. He could play with them for a bit. That'd help, definitely! "What's up, Konohamaru?"
"Wanna play ninja?" asked Moegi excitedly, the three kids just about managing not to trip over themselves as they skidded to a stop in front of Naruto. "We haven't played in ages!"
"Didn't I play with you before my last mission?"
"Yeah, and that was two weeks ago." said the snotty one – Naruto always forgot his name. "That's like, almost a month."
"Well…" Naruto coughed and preened, making a show of pretending to check his schedule and think about what to do. "I guess I can spare some time for you brats. I can play with you for a little bit."
"Yay!" The three kids cheered, before Konohamaru began to run off. "You're it, boss! Catch me if you- oof!"
"That hurt, you brat." Konohamaru was instantly lifted off the ground by his scarf by... a guy in his pyjamas? He was wearing really weird clothes, and Naruto noticed he had paint or make up or something on his face. And some weird bandaged thing on his back, too. "I hate little brats like you."
"Hey, leave him alone!" Naruto cried out, before charging the other boy, who simply flexed his fingers before the blond suddenly tripped. "The hell?" He wondered aloud, quickly rising to his feet.
"You're a little short brat too… Someone like you is good enough to be a ninja here? Sheesh. Konoha genin really are weak." The painted pyjama boy's attention turned back to Konohamaru, who's face had contorted into one of fear. "But I need to punish this entitled little one before I deal with you." The pyjama boy raised his fist, causing Naruto to panic and charge him again.
"Stop!"
A rock flew through the air, slicing the top of Kankuro's hand and making him flinch back from hitting Konohamaru. He looked up angrily at where the rock had come from, spotting another annoying brat lazily reclined in a tree, tossing another pebble in his hand as if it made him look cool. Kankuro scowled. "Another brat that I instantly hate…"
"What the hell are foreign genin doing in our village?" Sasuke asked simply. The Suna boy didn't bother to answer, simply dropping Konohamaru, pulling that thing from his back and placing it on the ground front of him. The girl with him smirked.
"Whoa there, Kankuro. You're really gonna fight now?"
"Someone needs to teach these brats respect, Temari."
Sasuke and Naruto's senses screamed at them, and both of their gazes flashed to right beside where the Uchiha was perched. Not a moment later, a red-haired boy with a huge gourd on his back appeared, stood upside-down on a branch. "Stop it, Kankuro." The boy said softly, but his tone brooked no argument.
Kankuro began to sweat instantly. "H-Hey Gaara, I was just-"
"Shut up. I don't care. Stop, now."
"Okay. W-Whatever you say." Kankuro holstered his puppet, thoughts of punishing these entitled Leaf children completely forgotten. Temari seemed just as shaken up as he, and as Gaara disappeared in a swirl of sand, the two of them also disappeared in their own shunshin.
Naruto blinked in shock, and met Sasuke's gaze. They both nodded to each other, and Sasuke disappeared into the wind as Naruto gathered up the three scared kids and tried to calm them down.
"So what's this all about, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, curious what they could be doing if they weren't training or taking a mission.
"Well, there's something I wanted to ask the two of you. The Chunin Exams are in a couple of days, right here in the village, and I think the two of you are ready for them. So, I wanted to ask if you wanted to take them."
Both boys seemed to get excited at the prospect, and so Kakashi felt as if he needed to temper their expectations before they got too big. "But… before you make the decision… there's something I need to tell you. Just because I think you're ready doesn't mean you actually are, for one. There's no guarantee you'll make it to the third stage, let alone be promoted… but more importantly…
"The Chunin Exams are a three-person exam. You take them as a team. And, I'm sorry to tell you this, but at least for now… Hokage-sama has decreed that Sakura-chan will remain on her mission. There's no chance she'll be able to take it with you, and if you decide to take it, you'll have to find a third member. Though I think Ami-chan or Aya-chan both would make excellent replacements, but still. It's something you need to know."
The excitement had completely faded from the boys, an air of melancholy now surrounding the group as the news that no, they really wouldn't see Sakura for three years hit them. They were both silent for a while, before Sasuke quietly spoke up. "Do you have to be a chunin… to take higher ranked missions?"
Kakashi blinked at the question that had seemingly come out of nowhere, but easily answered it. "Not technically. Of course, it's very uncommon for genin to get anything higher than the occasional B-rank, but there isn't actually any limit to what missions they can take. Technically, you both've completed two A-ranks. But those were special circumstances. For a genin to be assigned those missions under normal conditions, they'd have to be a chunin or higher in all but name."
"But it's possible, right?" A strange glint had entered Sasuke's eye, and upon looking at Naruto, Kakashi noticed he had the same look, despite them not saying anything to each other. Not for the first time, Kakashi was amazed by the instinctive understanding the two of them had with each other. They fought like he and Obito once had, but really, their relationships were nothing alike. What Kakashi would've given to have had that with his old friend. Maybe then, things would be…
"Yeah, it's possible. It'd be a very odd situation, but-"
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, before saying in unison, "We're not taking the Exams."
Kakashi sighed. He'd seen this coming once Sasuke had asked that question, but it still completely threw him for a loop. "You sound pretty sure about this. How come you don't want to take them?"
"Well, if you can take higher ranked missions despite your ninja rank…" Sasuke began.
"…Then we can just spend our time training and getting super strong! And take chunin level missions anyway. And then when Sakura's back…" Naruto continued, before they finished together.
"We can all take the Exams and ace them together."
The training ground was silent for a while, before Kakashi sighed, putting his head in his hand and smiling into it. Yeah… I don't know how I managed it, but I think I cracked it, Sensei. This is what you wanted us to be…. It's a pity we realised it too late. But these three… "Fine." Kakashi said, raising his head and looking hard into the two boy's eyes. "If that's what you want, that's what we'll do. But this won't be easy."
"The Chunin Exams last for a month, as I'm sure you both know. Because of that, for the entire month, we don't have to take any missions to account for you taking the exams if you want or helping with village security against the foreign nin here for the exams if you don't. So we'll spend this month training, hard. You two are borderline chunin-level already. By the finals, we'll make that solidly chunin-level. Then we can ease off training and start higher-ranked missions. Got it?"
The boys nodded, and Kakashi smiled back, but it seemed more sadistic than normal. "I advise not eating breakfast for the next thirty days. You might puke."
For the first day of their training, Naruto and Sasuke called Kakashi's bluff, thinking it would be like the last time Kakashi had told them not to eat.
Once they had both emptied their stomachs within an hour, they quickly rethought that decision.
While their peers – excepting Aya, Ami and Rinka – all entered the exams, and all were shocked upon not seeing them there, they spent their days training their bodies hard, and both preparing to learn one technique each that Kakashi thought would suit each of them incredibly well. To that end, Naruto began to practice his control by learning water-walking, while Sasuke was made to increase his speed immensely.
Upon seeing that Sasuke, beyond all their plans and wildest dreams, was not involved in the exams, a certain silver haired Leaf genin and a raven haired Grass kunoichi both bit their lips. They would have to account for this… annoyance.
Five days had passed, and Naruto was completely exhausted. The training for his new jutsu was one thing – he had no idea how he was meant to make this damn water balloon pop, and was starting to think that Kakashi-sensei had tricked him, despite the man telling him it'd be worth it in the end. But no, that wasn't the worst bit – that was all the physical conditioning he was doing! He thought Sasuke was the one who needed to get fast, so why was he getting chased by the dogs as well!?
It didn't help that they never seemed to run out of energy… He'd never met… anything with more energy than him before.
Maybe he should get a dog.
Lost in his thoughts as he was, he barely paid any attention to where he was going other than making sure it was in the general direction of his apartment, and so found himself walking straight into Kiba as he rounded a corner, the both of them falling back on their asses.
The two hotheaded ninja jumped straight back onto their feet. "Hey!" They shouted in unison. "Watch where you're going!" The two of them blinked, now recognising each other, before both of them broke out into grins.
"Hey, Naruto! Should've realised it was you, there's no one else that solid who's also that short. The hell were you? You got nominated for the Exams, didn't you?" Naruto chuckled, scratching the back of his head, just now noticing that Hinata and Shino were with Kiba, and all three of them looked beaten up and exhausted, Hinata especially. Shino seemed to favouring one arm, too…
"Hehe, yeah, we got nominated. But we turned it down. Been training this whole time instead."
Kiba looked the other boy up and down, both noting that he looked even more exhausted than he or Akamaru felt, and that somehow, he looked like he'd gained a not-insignificant amount of muscle and tone since they'd last seen each other. Whatever they were doing seemed like it was working. He even smelt a little different… Tougher. "Yeah, I can see that… But still, how come? Thought you'd want to get promoted as soon as possible, considering all that Hokage shit, and all."
"Yeah, well…" His hand dropped from his head. "Dunno if anyone told you, but Sakura-chan's not in the village anymore. She's staying somewhere else for a couple years. So Sasuke and I, we decided that we'd take the Exams when she was back, and pass together. We're meant to be a team after all, so…"
"Huh…" Kiba looked at his friend, seeing him in a slightly different light. Shino readjusted his glasses, while Hinata silently pressed her fingers together, wishing she had the courage to try and comfort the now seemingly sad Uzumaki. Kiba grinned after a moment, clapping Naruto on the shoulder. "Well, that don't sound too bad to me. Just make sure you don't wait too long, or I'll make jonin before you even get your first promotion!"
Kiba chortled at his own joke, while Naruto instantly got mad, shouting at the Inuzuka, who stepped up to the challenge and began angrily shouting back. Hinata sighed to herself, the moment lost. Rinka would be disappointed in her… She was so weak. She wanted to promise to herself she'd say something next time… but deep down she knew she wouldn't.
Over the next month, Naruto and Sasuke trained – in some cases harder – than their friends who had made it to the Chunin Exam finals. Kakashi only allowed them one day off a week – though when this day came, he insisted that they not train on it whatsoever, and instead take the time to themselves to relax and recharge. Naruto found himself on one of these days, two weeks into the month of training, playing with Konohamaru again.
He would've preferred to be hanging out with someone his own age, but Kakashi-sensei was keeping them on a constantly changing schedule – meaning the only person sure to be available was Sasuke, and playing with the brats was way better than spending time with that bastard.
Plus… It was nice, hearing the kids look up to him as they did. It made him feel… special.
The kids ran through the streets, giggling, and Naruto half-heartedly chased after them, quick enough to keep up, but slow enough that it would extend the game for a few minutes. He didn't even notice that they were near the bathhouses, nor did he see the giant of a man who seemed to be peeping into them, running straight past him as he went to catch the academy students.
Jiraiya watched him go, a calculating look on his face. He would've taken him in now, started his apprentice training… but it looked like for whatever reason, Kakashi had decided to get off his ass and start training him seriously. From what he'd heard, he was even learning the Rasengan, and was close to finishing the second stage.
He still wasn't entirely sure why he wasn't in the Exams… He'd rounded on Sarutobi-sensei and Kakashi for not nominating him, but the fact that it'd been him and his teammate's decision to not enter had thrown him for a loop. Perhaps he was less like himself than he realised. He'd assumed he'd gotten Minato's looks and Kushina's brain, but… maybe it wasn't that simple.
Jiraiya sighed, packing up his small telescope, as the shadow clones he'd placed in the baths as his 'subjects' dispersed. He'd hoped to at least run into the boy now… But that could wait. After the Exams… He had more important things to do than mope around about his failings as a godfather. Quiet as a whisper, he disappeared in a body flicker.
"Hey, d'ya know who outta our class is in this thing or what?" Naruto asked his teammate as they began moving towards their seats.
"No. I haven't seen any of them since we got back from our mission."
"Figures you wouldn't, antisocial bastard. I didn't ask, but I'm pretty sure Kiba's team passed. I saw them when their month break started."
"You know it's one-on-one fights now, right? And they already had preliminaries. There's no guarantee their whole team won." Sasuke scoffed.
"Well yeah, I guess…" Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head, scanning the crowd as they walked through the stands.
"Sasuke-kun!" The last Uchiha groaned, as a blonde head of hair appeared over the crowd, held aloft on a familiar big-boned boy's shoulders.
"What do you want?" He asked grumpily, as Naruto grinned, walking over to them.
"Hey, Choji! What's up?" The large Akimichi smiled at his friend as he let Ino down, his job done now that she had spotted Sasuke. She ran to speak to him, as Choji fell into easy conversation with Naruto.
"Not much, really. It was fun watching Shika being forced to train for the last month, though. What's up with you?"
Naruto's grin became wider, as he rubbed the underside of his nose. "Hehe. Let's just say you should be glad I wasn't in the Exams, or I'd have knocked you out in the first round!"
Choji chuckled. "I think you might've struggled with that, considering it was a written test."
Naruto's face paled, and he quickly thanked whatever higher being there was for him having sat out this year. It would've been so embarrassing if he had failed the first part of the exam. Quickly changing track, he asked "Where's Shika? Thought he'd be with-" before his brain caught up with the rest of what Choji had said. "Wait, don't tell me… He's in the finals and you guys aren't? How the hell'd that happen?"
Choji simply shrugged. "There was this team from the year above us, Team 9 I think. All three of them are in the finals. Me and Ino got matched up with two of them, and it was like we were fighting actual chunin. Couldn't do anything against them. I fought a weapons user, and Ino had to fight a Hyuuga – last year's rookie of the year. We just got unlucky. Shika's opponent wasn't that strong though, this guy called… Akado Yoroi? I think that's what his name was. Didn't seem like much."
"Huh. If all three of them passed, they're probably pretty strong. Who'd the other one fight?"
"Shino. He was so fast, Shino's bugs couldn't even catch him, and he just knocked him around like a pinball. They're all super strong."
Naruto grinned, excitedly. "Man, now I wanna see what they can do! I can't wait for this!"
Choji smiled warmly again. "Do you have seats yet? There are a few of us rookies over this way if you've not got any."
"Sounds good! Hey, bastard! Let's go sit over here!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke, who was seemingly making a point of just ignoring Ino talking at him. He muttered something under his breath, but made his way over quickly, seemingly grateful for the save, while Ino trailed behind, still chattering away.
Hinata fidgeted slightly. She couldn't believe that her father had allowed her to sit here… She would have to thank Rinka. She'd do it now, but… She fidgeted more, blushing deeply as she stole a glance at the cheering blond beside her, before curling into herself and pressing her fingers together nervously. She tried to open her mouth to say something, but was drowned out by the crowd. She shut it with a click, instead flicking her eyes up to the battlefield, where Kiba seemed to be running rings around Shikamaru.
"Heh! Can't keep up, can you Shikamaru!" Kiba shouted, he and Akamaru literally in the process of running around the Nara, who sighed, hands in his pockets.
"You know that's the third time you've said that in the last five minutes, right? It's getting a bit repetitive, even for you." He said boredly, taking his eyes off of Kiba and looking up at the sky instead. "I know you're not the wittiest, but surely you've got better trash talk than that considering how much you practice it." He took a hand out of his pocket, lazily scratching the side of his head. "Especially considering that despite all your bluster, you haven't even hit me yet."
"Who needs trash talk!? I'll just-"
"You, apparently."
Kiba grit his teeth, hearing the crowd begin to laugh at him. "I'll just end this now! Let's go, Akamaru!" He shouted, the dog jumping onto his back and transforming into a clone of him, as a cloud passed over the sun. "Fang Passing-"
The boy and his dog dived out of the way of the kunai that had been flung at them so suddenly, and were caught off guard as it detonated, sending the both of them tumbling across the ground. A black shadow snaked across the ground, first attaching itself to Kiba's shadow, before extending to Akamaru's.
"Shadow Imitation success." Shikamaru said, lethargically walking forwards, Kiba and Akamaru following his movements exactly. He slowly pulled out two kunai from his weirdly placed holster, holding them to both their necks. "Sorry Kiba, but I gotta avenge my team in the next rounds. Can't afford to play around with you. C'mon, forfeit."
In the competitors stand, Tenten grinned, as Kiba accepted his loss below. So the Nara boy was holding a bit of a grudge was he? Cool, she'd never seen or heard of a Nara who was bothered about anything. She had felt a bit bad about completely embarrassing his teammate a month ago, but now she was glad she did if it meant this kid would actually try against her. "Let's see what you've got, Nara."
Neji scoffed beside her, while Lee cheered at the conclusion of the fight below. "That was an excellent display of youth there! I believe you'll have your work cut out for you in the next round, Tenten-chan!"
Team Gai heard a scoff from behind them, looking over their shoulders to see a black-haired Oto genin. "That's if princess over here can beat me. And I don't see that happening."
Tenten's grin only widened, confidence bolstered by her opponent's arrogance. She leaned back against the railing on the viewing platform before replying to the other girl. "Well, we'll just have to see about that won't we, Kin-san?" She smirked, before flipping over the railing and into the battlefield below. Kin scoffed, before taking the more traditional route down through the stairs, passing Kiba and Shikamaru by on their way up.
Genma sighed. He didn't want to be roped into this… proctor business. This was all Hayate's fault. Why did he have to go and get himself killed? Well, I guess it's probably for the best, harsh as that sounds. Without him, we wouldn't know anything weird was going on here. It's still probably some foreign jonin acting on an old grudge, but I don't blame Hokage-sama for taking it so seriously, even if it'll probably end up being nothing.
He took a look at the two girls in front of him, who stared back expectantly at him. The panda-looking one is one of Gai's kids, right? I should catch up with him at some point. Haven't really kept in contact since he started outranking me… I should get Ebisu in on that as well. Maybe get him to stop being so up his own ass. His face was completely passive, not betraying his inner thoughts whatsoever. The Tokubetsu jonin raised his hand. "Ready?" The two girls nodded.
All of Gai's kids are in this actually, now that I think about it. And the way the bracket's set up, if she wins this fight and her next, and the other two win each of theirs, they'd fight each other for a three-way final. That'd be a first. He chopped his hand down, as he barked at them to begin. I'll buy Gai a drink if that happens. It'd be the proof that his crazy training really does work. Especially considering one of 'em would hafta beat that Suna kid… He's definitely Rasa's kid alright. He's creepy as fuck.
The two girls separated instantly, leaping back, as Tenten immediately released a hail of kunai and shuriken at the other girl, who quickly pulled out senbon and desperately tried to block and dodge the Konoha genin's attacks. "I still don't really get how your whole sound genjutsu works, but I know that the very least, you've gotta throw your senbon to make it work!"
Kin was already panting heavily as the barrage of weapons abated. What the hell was that!? She hadn't had that kind of speed in the prelims, nor nearly as many weapons. She looked up, seeing that Tenten had laid two scrolls out on the ground. "And not to mention, you beat Hinata-chan. And if she's anywhere near as strong as her cousin, that means I can't take any chances fighting you. So sorry, but I'm ending this now!"
Tenten leapt up into the air, twin dragons of smoke flying up and twirling around her. As the smoke cleared, they revealed the two scrolls she had placed down before, now unfurled. Kin's eyes widened as she realised that they were storage scrolls, and as countless weapons began to pour out of them, she raised her senbon in a futile attempt to block what was coming, even though fear crept into her body.
"Soshoryuu!" Tenten cried, throwing a frankly ridiculous amount of weapons at her opponent, the Rising Twin Dragons giving her a seemingly endless store of them. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as he saw the technique for the first time, closely watching it and looking for any potential weaknesses. A cloud of dust obscured Kin where the barrage of weapons had impacted the ground, and after a few seconds, once Tenten's attack had abated, it cleared to reveal Kin, impaled with several of the weapons in a pool of her own blood.
A gasp filled the stadium from horrified civilians, even as the forest of weapons created by Tenten's jutsu began to fade away, the weapons disappearing in clouds of smoke. Quickly, Genma rushed over to Kin, discovering she was still alive, and in quite good shape too, considering how lethal the attack had looked from the outside looking in. He looked up at Tenten, seeing the sparkle in her eyes, and instantly understood what had happened.
Even in all of that, she had the presence of mind, skill and accuracy to make sure she didn't hit any vital areas… I know people my rank who couldn't do that. She really is one of Gai's… Ah, damn, I'll get him a drink anyway. He deserves it. "Winner, Tenten!"
The next match had been a bit of an anti-climax, with Temari forfeiting before she or Gaara even left the stands. With Neji also having received a bye to the second round, that only left the final match in the first round – Rock Lee vs Kinuta Dosu. As word spread around that Lee was on the same team as the girl who had just fought, and that he was fighting another Oto genin, the crowd began to excitedly murmur, wondering how Lee would completely destroy the foreign nin like his teammate had.
Dosu scoffed. He'd seen this kid in the preliminaries, and while he was pretty fast and pretty strong, that was all he had going for him. Apparently he couldn't even use jutsu. Kin was a weakling for losing to his teammate, especially so quickly, but he'd known that already. He'd just use this opportunity to show Orochimaru-sama how far above those other two he really was. Though it's not like being better than Zaku really mattered at this point.
Rumour has it they were still finding bits of him in the sand at the preliminary grounds.
His opponent stood in front of him, screaming something about youth, and a good match, and all that? He didn't particularly get it, and his voice was starting to annoy him. Whatever. He'd be eating his words once he showed everyone what a weakling he was. He nodded at the proctor to show he was ready to begin, and the green boy in front of him also settled into his stance. Dosu smirked underneath his bandages. It's not like it would matter. One good hit from the Melody Arm and-
"Begin!"
Dosu crashed into the wall of the arena, knocked out completely in a single hit from Lee. "I am sorry, my opponent, but my real fight begins with your defeat!" He said solemnly, bowing to the unconscious Sound ninja as Genma declared his victory.
I don't really have any plan, other than to use her weapons against her… But the ones from that big jutsu dismiss themselves. I'd need her to use more permanent ones if I want to use the idea I've thought of… But how to get her to do that? Shikamaru droned to himself, as he barely leaned out of the way of a sword swipe, half-heartedly chucking a shuriken at the older girl, which was easily blocked. He used that time to scramble away and make some space between them, as Tenten lobbed more weapons at him.
The projectiles sunk into a tree trunk as Shikamaru dove into a bush, as Tenten growled in irritation. She had thought that this guy really wanted to fight her! "Why are you running around like a cornered rat and acting like you'd rather be anywhere else but here!?"
The weapons she had thrown to punctuate her statement hit nothing but air, as Shikamaru popped his head out from the bush he was hiding in, looking at her with an eyebrow raised. "Am I meant to enjoy some crazy bitch throwing the village's entire weapon stock at me?"
"I thought you said you wanted to avenge your teammates?"
Shikamaru's eyebrow only rose higher. "No, I said I had to. My gorilla of a female teammate wouldn't take no for an answer. How she gets anyone to believe that she's a lady I'll never understand." Shikamaru could feel rather than hear Ino's outraged squawking already, and knew he'd be in for an earful later, but he pushed that aside. He already had a troublesome woman to deal with as it was.
Tenten's frustration only grew, feeling like Shikamaru wasn't taking her seriously. The confidence that had bubbled within her at how Kin had acted before the match and how quickly and easily she had defeated her began to fade, as the Nara's lack of interest made her feel, yet again, that she wasn't good enough. Like she always did.
"Fight me properly, you asshole!" She screamed at him, almost to the point of tears, launching a barrage of weapons at him once again. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed again, instantly being able to tell that the situation had changed, perhaps for the worse. Without even trying, he'd made her emotional, and while that'd make her wilder and more unpredictable, it'd also make her sloppy.
He dove out of the way of that flurry of weapons, keeping track of their locations as he was doing for every other piece of weaponry she had thrown, making a clear mental map of them. He briefly thought about trying the Kagenui. He'd just about gotten his shadows to move at a speed where he was comfortable using them in combat, after all.
He dismissed the idea quickly. It might not work, and his lack of mastery of the Shadow Sewing would only increase the chance of that. Add in the chakra it'd take because of said lacking skill with it, and the below-average stores he had as it was, and it just made the burgeoning plan unfeasible, and so he dismissed it, though he stored the idea in his head, thinking that it might be useful at some point in the future.
He leapt away from another barrage, the kunai slicing his leg and nicking his bicep, deciding he'd stick with his original plan. He flicked through handseals, alerting Tenten that he was up to something, causing her to throw another barrage as he landed. He winced in anticipation, but knowing that this would be the best time for his plan, he went ahead with it, charging straight forward and through the weapons.
Tenten recoiled in shock – Nara were meant to be smart! Why would he do something so reckless? Yet despite his foolhardiness, Shikamaru emerged from the weapons not as a pincushion like everyone had assumed he would become, but in actuality barely damaged at all, having only taken a glancing blow to the shoulder that had torn his vest.
Tenten instinctively leapt back, wary of his shadow shooting out and ensnaring her, but was shocked as she saw it instead shoot out to the side. She watched in horror as it touched many of her discarded weapons, even ones that she had forgotten she'd thrown, using their shadows to elongate itself, and couldn't do a thing as she saw it stop exactly where she was about to land. "Dammit!" She cried out, throwing her head up towards the sky, before it was forced back down towards Shikamaru as the Kagemane jutsu completed.
"Phew. That took longer than I hoped it would…" Shikamaru sighed, walking towards Tenten as he had done to Kiba and Akamaru earlier. The older girl's eyes were distraught, filled with frustration and disappointment, seemingly all focused on herself. She began to open her mouth to concede, before Shikamaru interrupted her. "I forfeit."
She looked at the boy incredulously, waiting for the other penny to drop. "What-"
Two incredibly loud voices interrupted her from the stands. "-the HELL SHIKAMARU!?" The boy in question looked up at the spectators, using his hand to block out the sun, and spotting two troublesome blondes that he knew better than he wanted to, and what looked like unbridled, unending fury in both of their eyes.
He caught eyes with Asuma-sensei, sitting near where the outraged duo had risen to their feet, and the older man looked at him with mirth in his eyes and a smile on his lips, before shaking his head and shrugging. "Traitor." He muttered, dropping the Shadow Imitation, letting Tenten collapse to her knees like a puppet with its strings cut. He began to walk away to the stands, before Tenten called at him to wait.
"Why… did you-"
"I don't have enough chakra to fight the kind of people I'd be going up against if I went any further, nor do I have the physical ability either. You've got a shot though, so I thought I might as well show off what I can and then let the better fighter go through." He stopped for a moment, before saying one last thing. "Oh, and when you throw your barrages, you leave a consistent open spot in them to the right, especially when you're angry. That's how I got through without getting hurt. Might want to look at that." At that, he put his hands in his pockets and wandered off, dreading the telling off he was no doubt about to receive.
With Lee receiving a bye to the finals, it was already time for the second-to-last match in the tournament, Neji vs. Gaara. Despite this, it was both of their first fights, and both of them were ready and raring to go. "I'll show your mother what it means to be fated to lose, Suna nin." Neji said simply, before he began to descend the staircase. Gaara simply grunted, disappearing and reappearing in the ring with a swirl of sand.
"Ready?" Genma asked what was no doubt the two most powerful genin here. The two of them could give some tokubetsu jonin a run for their money. Both nodded, not feeling in the mood for words, and Genma found himself nodding as well. "Alright… Begin!" He shouted, quickly getting out of the way as Neji dashed forward with incredible speed.
Gaara stared at him impassively, arms crossed, as his sand rose unbidden to protect him from Neji's quick strike, and a second tendril lashed out to attack. Neji easily slipped away from the attack, spinning into another attack that was also blocked by Gaara's automatic sand shield, before he disengaged, flipping back.
"Your sand is a powerful defence. I can see why you've made it this far. Unfortunately for you, however… It is not unbeatable." Neji reached down, unclasping the small weights that were attached to his ankles, and removing the wristbands he had been wearing. "I spent the last month preparing for this battle… and fate has seen fit to grant me the power to win it."
At that proclamation, he threw the weights behind him, the sheer mass creating a crater and kicking up a cloud of dust. While he was disappointed he hadn't been able to build up his weights to the level that Gai, or even Lee used, he was certain he wouldn't need them. The increase to his movement speed, and especially to his already blistering hand speed would be more than enough to defeat this foreigner.
"You cannot fight fate, Suna nin. Prepare to face the might of the Hyuuga clan!" He cried out, before charging Gaara, Byakugan blazing. Sure enough, as he had predicted, while his overall speed wasn't enough to beat his defences, Neji's hands easily sped past Gaara's comparatively sluggish defences, and Neji's palms crashed into Gaara's chest, piercing through his sand armour and closing two of his tenketsu.
Gaara staggered back, unused to the distinctly unpleasant sensation of whatever his opponent had done to him. He angrily looked up at the now smirking boy, Mother's cries to kill and rend him limb from limb growing stronger and louder by the second. He raised a hand, causing his sand to fly towards the white-eyed boy in an attempt to capture him in a sand coffin, but he easily dove out of the way again, and touched him thrice more, making him feel that sensation once again.
Gaara's rage was beginning to boil over, and Temari and Kankuro both began to sweat profusely, terrified at what they could both tell was going to happen. It wasn't time to start things yet, but they knew that Gaara didn't care – he'd do whatever he wanted. Temari only felt sorry for the kid fighting him. He had no idea what he was in for.
As the blind boy continued to do more things to him, Gaara became confused. He could hear Mother less and less, but every time he did hear her, she was more violent than he had ever heard her, to the point she was almost splitting his head in two. His sand became more sluggish, and slowly began to stop listening to him. He didn't know what was happening. He didn't understand. What was this sensation!?
Confusion gave way to anger.
Neji smirked, watching as the sand was barely able to even touch him. He'd closed enough tenketsu that he could barely defend himself, and Neji could tell this boy had never used his hands to fight anyone. "This match is over." He declared, lowering himself into the Eight Trigrams stance, daring any of those bastards from the Main House to stop him. "This will finish things! Two palms!" He shouted, planting his hands into Gaara's chest, before attacking again, faster and faster. "Four palms! Eight palms!"
Mother? Mother, where are you!? I can't hear you any-
"Sixteen palms! Thirty two palms!"
Mother!
"Eight Trigrams… Sixty four-" Neji was blown back by a veritable tsunami of sand, cracking his head against the arena's wall. Blood trailed from his skull as he slipped into darkness, and was seemingly swallowed up by the sand, which now covered the entire arena. Gaara had been replaced by a half-human, half-sand monster, the whites of his eyes turning black and his irises burning a deep gold. His former opponent forgotten in his rage and anger, he charged out of the arena into Konoha's surrounding forest.
Back in the stands, as Gaara's transformation had begun, feathers descended upon the gathered crowd. Every single one of the rookies in the spectator area's eyes snapped open, completely alert, and as they saw the sand monster run out into the forest, Naruto and Sasuke both instantly charged forward, chasing it.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata called after them, though they didn't hear her cry. She hesitated for a moment, unsure of the situation, or what she should do, but then Rinka's words came to mind. I have to… stop hiding!
"Hinata, wait-" But the girl ignored her sensei and her friend's cries, chasing after her first love and his teammate, just as the hidden Oto nin in the stands descended upon them, preventing any more of them from trying to chase after the three.
In the Kage's box, Orochimaru and Hiruzen Sarutobi stared each other down, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Out of the corner of his eye, the Snake Sannin saw the group of genin chasing after the Ichibi jinchuriki, and smiled. "There's your target, Kimimaro. Go. Don't disappoint me."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama." The last surviving scion of the Kaguya clan stated simply, cutting down the chunin who tried to bar his path with a sword of bone and giving chase to the children. He would not fail his master. No matter what.
What do you guys think? For anyone who's curious by the way, the prelims went like this:
Zaku vs Gaara - Gaara wins (kills Zaku)
Hinata vs Kin - Kin wins
Tenten vs Choji - Tenten wins
Temari vs Misumi - Temari wins
Yoroi vs Shikamaru - Shikamaru wins
Neji vs Ino - Neji wins
Kiba vs Kabuto - Kiba wins
Lee vs Shino - Lee wins
Kankuro vs Dosu - Dosu wins