Do you know what this chapter is?

This chapter is the answer to THE Answer. The answer to the Ultimate Question, of Life, the Universe, and everything!...

Forty-two.

...I'll get on with the chapter now.

Also, a character with a certain talking style enters in this chapter...I can't write how they talk properly, so...sorry about how much I butcher their lines, and I'm really hopeful you all enjoy this chapter, I'm very happy with it!

Chapter 42

"You three really think you're ready?"

Her Genin looked between themselves and all gave confident nods. "Alright, don't say I didn't warn ya." Akari handed her three Genin each a piece of paper. "All the instructions are on the back, if you get anything wrong don't blame me." With that, Akari left her three Genin at the training ground, vanishing into the trees so she could sit down, sighing.

Akari honestly wasn't sure if her team was ready. On one hand, they'd grown into being Shinobi well. Even if they were all still hesitant about taking a life, they understood that sometimes, that was what had to be done. They could all hold their own against bandits just fine, and though they had yet to fight a hostile nin without her help, she felt that her team could handle it.

But, on the other hand, she still felt as though the Chunin exams were going to be too much for them. Those exams could get pretty extreme from what horror stories Anko had spun for her. She knew ninety percent of it was bull designed to make her worried, but that ten percent still worried her a little. But her team was adamant, and in the end, she let them have their decision.

Besides, what was the worst that could happen? This exam was happening in Konoha, so they stood the best chance of survival against competing in Iwa or Kiri. In those villages, there was an extremely high chance of sabotage, especially Iwa. Despite the tensions between Konoha and Iwa though, Hiruzen still allowed the exams to go ahead, several Iwa teams being present along with Kumo, Kiri and Suna teams.

Of course, they were outnumbered by Konoha's genin teams, but it was still surprising how many Genin were present for this exam. Typically during times of tension, each village would send only a single team, just as a show of honouring the exams, whereas as home Genin would be 'field-promoted' to Chunin after taking selective exams. From what she could see though, it was almost business as normal for the other villages. Then there were the minor village teams. Some from Takigakure, from Kusagakure, even a team from Shimogakure.

With another sigh, she hopped off her branch, heading off in the direction of her home.

"Holy shit, Barava, good to see y-...what the fuck happened to your face?"

Spinning around as she spoke, the Kusa-nin took one look at Akari and bellowed out laughter. "Akari-chan, good to see you too!" His three Genin were arrayed behind him. From their expressions, it didn't seem like they remembered her. Then again, she only saw and scared them for maybe a minute before Barava had shown up, so they could be forgiven. "Oh, this little thing?" He gestured at his facial scarring. "A feisty missing-nin Kunoichi from Kaze no Kuni gave me this."

Humming, Akari watched his own eyes drift down to her orange arm. "Oh, and this? I...well, actually...-" Akari leaned in conspiratorially. "-it's the same wound from when I was a Genin, it just got made a bit...bigger, so I fixed it." She flexed her arm for emphasis. "But I can't...'hand' it out unfortunately." She ignored Barava's groan at her pun. "I mean, the amount of fine-tuning it took to make this damn thing work...I'd never see the light of day if I started replacing arms."

The man held his hands up in defence. "I wasn't going to ask." Akari let her gaze wander over Barava's Genin, coming to a stop on the redhead of the group. She stepped forwards into the girls personal space a little, a hand holding her chin as she observed her features. "Ahh, that's Karin, I believe you two met briefly?" Nodding, she stayed focused on the girls face as it steadily reddened from their proximity.

"She's an Uzumaki, isn't she?" The girl's eyes widened, as Barava took a slightly defensive posture. "Oh relax, I don't want her for much, I just want her to meet Naruto." Barava looked at her questioningly. "Wait, did I never tell you? Naruto's an Uzumaki as well. You know I adopted him! How did this never come up in conversation?"

Akari would have continued, but found her shoulders gripped by Karin, who was staring at her with rather scary intensity. "Where?!" Tipping her head to look at the tall Jonin of the group, she got a shrug, as if to say 'You work this out.' It was a testament to how much Barava trusted her to not do something stupid with his Genin that he didn't care what antics she got up to with them.

"Well, now that I think about it, where are you guys staying? Because if you want, you can bunk at my place, that way you can meet your...cousin? Clan-mate? I have no idea honestly, your fellow Uzumaki. I'm sure Naruto would be happy to meet another living Uzumaki as well." The man unrolled a scroll from somewhere and read it, eventually holding it out to Akari to read. "Oh okay, yeah, you'd probably prefer staying with me for the exams. Oh oh! By the way Barava, I have a team as well." The man blinked at her, then shook his head. "What?"

"Nothing, I just feel sorry for them."

"Naruto, you home yet?"

Yelling up the stairs as she entered her house, she ushered Barava and his team inside, shutting the door behind them and jumping up the stairs. After a quick check to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep doing anything, she wandered back down. "He's probably still on his way back, or possibly got distracted doing something with his friends. One of the other, take your pick. Well, the grand tour I guess."

She showed the four of them where the kitchen was, bathroom, the two bedrooms they were going to be using, all the things she needed to. "uhh, Akari-san, what are all of...those?" One of Barava's Genin who wasn't an Uzumaki piped up, pointing at the wooden planks all screwed into the walls close to the ceiling, with loads of holes going throughout the house.

"Oh, those?" Akari grinned, putting her arm close to one. "Kurama, can you come here a sec?" A few moments later the fox popped through one of the holes, climbing his way down her arm and slumping on her shoulders. "That's why those are there. This is Kurama, and who he really is is a tiny bit above your pay-grade kids, though I'm fairly sure Barava here knows who this is."

The man was certainly surprised to see Kurama, though he tactfully kept his mouth shut about what Kurama actually was. "Yeah, I'd agree that...Kurama there is certainly above the pay-grade of a Genin, and also Chunin and Tokubetsu Jonin." Smirking, she raised an arm in question, lowering it when Kurama mentally told her he'd rather stick around and watch the new inhabitants of her place.

It was at that moment that the downstairs door opened. Nipping past the four of them, Akari leaned around the corner to look down the stairs and watch Naruto tucking his shoes away. "Hey Naruto!~" He looked up in surprise at her, probably wasn't expecting her to be home before he was. "I've got another surprise for ya." He finished taking his shoes up then sprinted up the stairs to give her a quick hug, surreptitiously peering around her at the other people stood in the hallway.

Confused, he looked up at her. "But Kaa-san, I thought you said slavery was illegal." She had to slap a hand over her mouth to stop herself snorting, ruffling his hair as he grinned.

"No cub, they aren't slaves. Now, I think...did I mention Barava to you before?" he nodded, waving ah and at the large Kusa-nin, who gave a nod back. "Well, this is his Genin team. Now, who there looks like someone similar to a certain person I showed you?" His gaze wandered over the three Genin, locking onto Karin. Or rather, onto her hair.

He broke his hug with Akari, taking curious steps towards the Genin. he leaned to the left and right of Karin, then turned back around to Akari with a grin. "She looks like you!" Akari buried her face in one hand with a groan, while Barava laughed thunderously. She knew they tried to hide it, but it was clear even Barava's three Genins found it hilarious.

"No, cub, she...ugh, whatever. Get acquainted with her, her team too if you don't mind Barava, I'm gonna go hunt down my own team, so I'll see ya tonight. There's a bunch of cooked stuff in the fridge, if you want to make something you can, and by every power I possess if you make a mess of my kitchen, I will hit you with so many seals you'll be dreaming about my calligraphy." Her point made, Akari left the house with a nonchalant whistle, Kurama already going to sleep on her shoulders.

She had some Genin to track down.

After spending a few hours needling her Genin about their decision, Akari was on her way home when Kurama told her someone was following her.

Using a brief break in line-of-sight, she made a Shadow Clone, then sent it running the same way she was going, whilst she hid in the blind-spot, watching as..."Huh." She mumbled. It was a Suna Genin following her, presumably trying to do recon on their opponents. Chuckling as she realized the Genin might have confused her for one of her students thanks to her stature, she zipped over just as the Genin made the jump across another building, snagging them by their collar and pulling them away from the gap. "So, why're you following me little cub?"

To his credit, the Genin only looked worried for a few moments, relaxing in her grasp a little as he realized who she was. He'd probably been told by his sensei that if caught to just fess up, since he freely admitted that he and his team were trying to find any intel they could on the most worrisome teams, something which the Chunin Exams allowed since it fit the entire idea of being a Shinobi, as well as showed a good amount of foresight to try to gather intelligence on their opponents.

"Well, I'm sure that by looking at me you know how which team I'm a part of, huh?" He gave a hurried nod, stumbling slightly as she released him. "They might still be at their training ground, so just go there." The Genin looked at her in utter confusion. "What? If they don't realize you guys are spying on them then they've been slacking off. Now go on, get!" She waved her hands in a shooing motion, sending the Genin fleeing across the rooftops with a smirk on her lips.

It wasn't exactly like her team wouldn't know they were being watched after all.

"I didn't teach them that..."

Akari sat with her face glued to the window as they watched her Genin systematically tear apart a Kiri Genin team using a combination attack. Aiko was the one who caught their focus and aggravated them into the trap while Tachiko and Hikaru prepared their long string of hand seals, finally ending at the same time and casting a Katon and Futon Jutsu at the same time, using it to absolutely blast their opponents away.

It was also amusing watching them all spend five minutes digging through ashes trying to find the scroll before Aiko finally gave up and used a Futon Jutsu to blast away the ash, revealing the scroll, unmarred by the flames. She looked around at the disbelieving looks of the other Jonin-senseis, folding her arms. "I didn't! Hikaru is too sharp for his own good."

Her team had a pretty hard time with the first trial, since it was a subterfuge test, something Akari had very little experience in. They did manage to pass though, moving on to the second trial, where they had to survive travelling into the Forest of Death, take down an enemy team somewhere along the way to retrieve the opposing scroll, then reach the centre of the forest where the tower stood, upon which they would have to realize they were supposed to open their scroll, which would reverse-summon her to their location, a nifty little bit of Fuinjutsu which took quite a bit of setting up, far more than you'd think.

The fact that they were willing to take the lives of those Kiri Genin was a pretty good sign because it meant they wouldn't hesitate if they had to kill other Genin. Besides, those Kiri Genin would have done the same, and perhaps worse, if given the chance. It was a little worrying how none of them even hesitated slightly, but considering their line of work, that was pretty standard for any who lasted longer than a year, they found coping mechanisms and hung from them.

Dumping another stick of Dango down for Kurama to chew on, Akari shifted her crossed legs so they wouldn't stiffen up, missing a blast of wind knocking her Genin down. Unfortunately, while they could see the Genin, they couldn't hear any conversations, so they were resigned to watching the two hostile teams banter back and forth before...the other team tossed their scroll at Akari's team and fled.

She hadn't taught any of them how to use any kind of Killing Intent, nor a Genjutsu, so how they pulled that off, Akari had no idea. It was an Iwa team that fled as well, one of the least likely villages for teams to abandon the chance to kill Konoha-nin in a totally above-the-board way. But hey, if they wanted to throw away their win like that, it was just fine by her team, as they snatched the scroll, putting it into a storage seal that Hikaru was carrying, then continuing on.

They needed that scroll after all, as the Kiri team had the same type they had. She kept watching as they traversed the forest, using Hikaru's surprisingly sharp senses to their fullest to evade other teams and quickly make their way to the central tower, arriving just as the sun went down. "Well, that's my team done." Only one other Konoha team had passed so far, a pretty poor turnout all things considered, especially the fact that they had the home-turf advantage.

She felt the tug of a reverse-summons, letting it pull her to the ground floor of the tower where her Genin were. "Well done kits!" She chirped, then immediately got up and grabbed Tachiko and Hikaru around their necks, awkwardly giving each of them a noogie. "But you two should tell me these things before you embarrass me in front of all the other Jonin-senseis for teaching you things you shouldn't know!"

She released their necks after a final drag, smirking at Aiko as he hesitantly backed away. "You didn't participate, but you were in on it, so..." After she snagged the fleeing boy and dragged her knuckles on his head, she quickly snatched the other two Genin, giving them all a group hug. "But really, well done you three!" She could tell her Genin had just given up at this point as each of them returned her hug. "Now, I'm not supposed to give anything out to you guys until after the exams, but you deserve it, so shh."

She pulled out three little scrolls, handing one to each Genin. "If anyone asks, you just brought those in, yeah?" As they saw what was scribbled onto each scroll, they all nodded their heads, Aiko going further to try and catch her in a second hug. "Alright alright, now, skedaddle, you guys have...three days before the cut-off point for this stage of the exam, so rest up, get ready for your next fight, and don't slack off on your training." Her Genin all said their goodbyes and disappeared further into the tower animatedly talking to one another about the entire day. If they'd looked back, they would have seen the frown she was pulling as she looked back into the forest.

"Kurama...something's wrong." She mumbled softly. The fox spoke his agreement in her mind, hopping off of her shoulders and loping out of the tower with Akari following him. She'd learned a while ago to trust when her mind told her something was wrong, and right now she felt something was going horribly wrong somewhere...more than ever.

Deciding to not take any chances, she quickly called Kurama back and Hiraishin'd to her apartment to a very surprised Naruto who was sat on the sofa nibbling on food. he normally would have leapt up and greeted her, but from the fact her face was probably not in the most pleasant look, and the fact that Kurama was tense on her shoulders, he got up cautiously. "Kaa-san?"

"Cub, something's wrong. I want you to go to your room and activate those seals we made together to keep you safe, yeah? I'll be by again soon, I promise. Don't let anyone but me in, no matter what." Brushing his cheek with a thumb, she gave him a brief hug before he disappeared off to his room. A moment later she felt it become blocked off from her senses. "Okay, let's figure out what the fuck is going on, eh Kurama?"

As he turned to look at her, presumably to give her some kind of quip, they were both slammed with a wave of caustic Chakra, one familiar to the pair as Bijuu Chakra. Her seal was absolutely fine, so the only possible reason for Bijuu Chakra to be sensed within Konoha, especially in the quantity it was being unleashed...was a hostile Jinchuriki.

Shoving open the door, she quickly flipped around and sprinted up the side of her home, coming to a stop on the roof. On her shoulders, she felt Kurama's familiar body dissipate as he returned himself to her seal. If he was forcibly dispelled, his consciousness would take a little while to return, which meant it was safest if he just remained in the seal to help her. "Well, want to meet their challenge head-on?"

He didn't say anything, but she got the impression of a feral grin as he flooded her Chakra system with Chakra. Her Game popped a notification up in the corner of her vision, but she ignored it in favour of channelling Kurama's chakra, using it to blot out the hostile Chakra in the air. The Chakra the enemy Jinchuriki was emitting was practically dripping with Killing Intent. Against anyone who was not a Jinchuriki, they'd never be able to match it as she could, but since she could do so, she managed to stifle the oppressive blanket covering the village, immediately hearing battles begin raging as she released the majority of Konoha's nin from the paralyzing fear that the hostile, Bijuu-fueled Killing Intent would bring forward.

Kurama quickly helped her track down exactly where that Chakra came from, Akari vanishing in a blur as she charged across Konoha. As she traversed the village at top speed with her Sharingan whirling to give her total control over her speed, she saw countless scenes of brutality playing out between the attackers and defenders. From what she saw, she knew her enemies and allies. It was Kumo, Kiri and Iwa who were invading. Alongside the Konoha-nin fighting, there were also Suna-nin battling, though against the three villages who managed to take down Uzushiogakure together, it was a stalemate, even with Suna's assistance.

Gritting her teeth, she blasted over the final rooftop, her feet extending as she planted both boots straight into the side of the enemy Jinchuriki's head. She winced as she kicked off his head, rolling into a flip to land on her feet as he stumbled but quickly righted himself. She didn't have time for bullshit, immediately inspecting him and exhaling. Han, a level 87, Jinchuriki to the five-tailed beast, Kokuo.

The man took one look at her, his eyes widening fractionally before he slammed one hand into the gi he was wearing over his armour, drawing a miniature crossbow from within then pointing it up and firing it, all in one smooth move which, at normal speeds, would have been far too fast to stop. Her eyes tracked the projectile for a few seconds, though to Han it would have been far less than even a single second, before she kicked off the ground and snatched it out of mid-air.

She gave it a quick look before crushing it. It looked to be a flare of some kind, perhaps meant to tell anyone else where she was so they could try to deal with her. She snorted. Yeah, like they could handle her as she was now.

As she fell from her jump, she spun around and tossed several Senbon, though Han merely took them on his armour. One linked off his facemask, revealing that it was also just as hard, making her wonder how he managed to breath like that. She heard the large device on his back whine for a moment before he clenched a fist and settled into a stance. "Joki Bakushin!"

His voice called the name of his technique, which was dumb since it gave the game away. She casually sidestepped his 'Steam Dash', pivoting on her chakra-anchored foot to smash a high kick into his face as he charged, grunting at the impact dealt to her leg. 400 damage for a single kick, though it probably hurt Han a heck of a lot more, sending him hurtling backwards into the ground, cratering it with just as much force.

Since she was anchored in place by her foot, as well as her body being far harder to break now that it ever had been before, it was like running into a wall. As he came to a stop, Akari drew a knife, considering what the fuck she was supposed to do about this. She had Fuinjutsu supplies in her inventory, but she didn't know how to go about capturing a Bijuu or their Jinchuriki. "Kurama, a little help?"

He picked up on what she wanted, telling her, even if she could tell he wasn't happy about having to help her fight against what was practically his sister, how the other Bijuu could be captured. But, before Akari could put any thoughts of hastily writing a seal to hold Kokuo temporarily, she felt another wave of Bijuu Chakra a split-second before a fist tried to clock the back of her head.

She felt the familiar zap of lightning brush her neck even as she avoided the blow by sheer instinct, her eyes sweeping the form of the second Jinchuriki to enter the mix. Killer B, she knew him, since he was the one who held the eight-tails. "Yo big nine, you be looking mighty fine." Akari blinked. Did he really just. Narrowing her eyes, she bolted towards the man, swinging her foot at his midriff in a probing attack.

In response, he swept a blade in the path of her foot, forcing her to draw it back to avoid being sliced, while at the same time he stepped forwards with another blade being drawn, swiping downwards to attempt to cut her from collar to hip. She deflected that strike with her forearm guard, making space by hopping backwards several times. This time, he kept his mouth shut, evidently her speed had made him take the fight far more seriously than before.

She could feel the heat rising as the Jinchuriki behind Killer B began doing something. What exactly she didn't know, but she decided that having fun and games with two hostile Jinchuriki just wasn't on the cards today. if she was being forced to reveal her abilities, one of the few she didn't mind becoming public knowledge was a good place to start.

As she shut her eyes, she could hear Killer B's feet slam the ground as he blasted towards her, presumably with a blade outstretched to take advantage of her moment. That moment had long-since passed before he could get anywhere though, her eyes re-opening as she muttered a single word, just for emphasis. "Susanoo."

She'd gone straight for the highest level Susanoo. Sure, it drained her a bit, but against two hostile Jinchuriki, it was worth it, as the skeleton, then the muscles, skin and finally armour appeared around her. Recently, as she worked on her abilities, she'd noticed that her 100 Chakra per second cost for the Susanoo had been lowering for some reason, it was now only 93 per second. She immediately formed a Naginata and swept it downwards at Han and B, forcing the pair to move, which was exactly what she wanted, suddenly twisting the Naginata and slicing across the ground, the blade travelling faster than the blink of an eye.

Only, it didn't keep going when it hit Killer B. Why became clear as she looked down at him and saw his body wreathed with the Chakra of a Bijuu. She didn't expect him to have the physical strength to stop even her Susanoo strike, but then again, he was a Jinchuriki. His skin was crackling with Lightning, which was just too tempting to pass up. Deciding to try something she never had before, Akari drew her Susanoo back to its full height, taking just a little of Kurama's Chakra through herself.

Then, just as she had before, she forced it into the nature of Lightning, only this time, instead of forming a supermassive ball from it, she dispersed it evenly throughout her Susanoo, crackling red lines of lightning leaping out of her Susanoo as she glared down at Killer B. To his credit, he met her challenge head-on, his own Bijuu cloaking him in Chakra as he drew all...all seven of his swords and held them in possibly the strangest stance she'd ever seen.

Not one to underestimate her opponents too much though, Akari slammed a foot down, forcing the right fist of her Susanoo straight towards Killer B. A hiss of steam to the side saw her torso blasted by a spray of superheated steam, though the Susanoo was strong enough to ignore the attack, Han's attempt at a surprise ending up useless. her blow landed as Killer B swept his swords around himself, all seven clashing at once against her own attack.

She watched in surprise as her Susanoo's hand was forced upwards and away, which also made the main body of the Susanoo stumble from the sudden imbalance, though at the same time Killer B was sent skidding back a few feet, his feet carving furrows in the ground as he went. She was forced to dispel the Susanoo to prevent it from levelling several dozen buildings with its fall backwards, landing on the ground and shoving her hands into her pockets. "That's pretty impressive y'know."

Killer B sheathed all by two of his swords, a smile on his face even as his covered eyes looked towards her. She didn't know if he was looking into her eyes or not, since she couldn't use a Genjutsu against him anyway, not as a Jinchuriki. "'Course it was, fool ya fool!" She ignored his insult as she shut her eyes a second time.

"But...do you know what's probably just a tiny bit more impressive?" She opened her eyes to look at his confused face. "This." She spoke three names under her voice, three puffs of smoke emerging even as she staggered, seventy-five percent of her Chakra reserves gone in the blink of an eye. As she recovered, she relished the surprise on Killer B and Han's half-covered faces. "Grant free will." There before them stood Konoha's three other Hokages, Namikaze Minato, Senju Tobirama, Senju Hashirama...

...and they did not look happy.

Ooh snap!

Yes, that's right, Konoha just got attacked by Iwa, Kiri and Kumo. Akari is scary to them, sure, but between the three of them, considering the fact Konoha is supposed to still be quite weak from Kurama's attack, they decide they still have a good window to knock Konoha out.

I mean, these three villages took down Uzushiogakure. That's impressive. Akari just...breaks the rules more than they were expecting.

And that reveal. I think the time is right for Akari to begin using Megami no Mon more often. She won't rely on it for every fight, but right now, especially with how motivated the three Kage's will be to protect Konoha, she decided it was time to use it for her first public battle.

How do you guys think though? Do you like it? Think it's hype? Or think she's dumb for revealing it like that?

Reviews are so amazing, and thank you so much to everyone who leaves one!

Name: Akari Uchiha

Level: 112

Age: 17

Experience: 73,921/112,000

To Next Level: 40,268

Title: Sannin-slayer - Defeating one of the three legendary sannin is no easy feat, but you managed it. Future opportunities unlocked.

Secondary Title: Jonin - +25% Experience gained working with Genin

Health Points: 25,000 - (100 Base + (Vit x End)) x 5

Regeneration Rate - 4900/m - 81.6*/s - Vit x End - Halted when afflicted with bleed status.

Chakra Points: 41,000 - (100 Base + (Int x Wis)) x 5

Regeneration Rate - 8100/m - 135/s - Int x Wis - Halted when continuous chakra drain Jutsu in use.

Strength - 70

Vitality - 70

Endurance - 70

Intelligence - 90

Agility - 296

Wisdom - 90

Luck - 70