Hello everyone,
Once again, it seems the chapter was well received. Even with me changing some things about Shikamaru and his attitude towards ninja duties. I, like almost every fan of the franchise, have wondered what could have been for Shikamaru. I think I might take a swing at that in this fic. I already have the motivation behind it worked out in my mind. We'll see if it's adequate.
Anyway, enough rambling. On to the chapter.
Follow me on instagram at wtmcdonald. One of these days, I'm going to finish my fantasy book and I'll most likely post on there.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Found you, bitch.
I smiled, as I caught sight of the sound ninjas back. It was very distinct, the cloak he wore, and the hair hanging out of it. He looked like an idiot. I smiled, as I drove a kunai into my thigh.
I didn't even falter as the memories fell into place in my mind. I planted on a tree branch, turned twenty degrees to the east and pushed off again.
"Find something?" Sakura asked in response to the change in trajectory.
For an onlooker it would have been extremely impressive. My teammates didn't miss a beat when I paused on a branch and leapt. They followed immediately.
"Prey." I told Sakura with a smile. "Lee?" I asked, as something came to mind.
"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Lee asked as he sped up beside me. He was still so far ahead of me physically. Even if I was rapidly approaching the upper levels of Chunin, he still spanked me in all of our spars. Of course, I didn't use any of my deadlier tricks. But then again neither did he.
So it made me wonder. "Why do you let me take point?" I asked, genuinely curious. By some standards, he was the clear choice for leader. He had an entire year ahead of me in experience. He was stronger, faster, and would most likely win in a fight to the death. Why had I become the shot caller?
"It suits you, Naruto-kun," Lee said.
I looked over to see a serious look on his face. He wasn't teasing me, as I initially thought. He really meant it. He also seemed slightly somber as if he knew he should be the leader. Yet still he allowed it? My respect for my teammate rose.
"Never change Lee." I muttered as I pumped a little more chakra to my legs. I felt Sakura do the same behind me to keep up. Lee didn't even flinch, and kept up the speed beside me.
Ten minutes later, I felt them, moving ahead of us at a slower pace.
I flexed my chakra and without the use of hand seals, two shadow clones appeared next to me in the air. When our feet hit another tree branch, they split off and sped into the forest in either direction. They had their orders.
"Immediate confrontation. Lee, you first, go for debilitating strikes and I'll follow up. Sakura, cover our asses." I barked out the orders quickly, because the chakra signatures were rapidly approaching. Had they discovered we were following them?
"They use sound, so cover your ears if you need to. Be wary of their arms." I added just as we were about to come within fifty yards of their position.
My teammates did not offer any confirmation, but I knew they heard me and were preparing themselves. This type of fighting was best suited for Lee and I, and to a lesser extent, Sakura. Hit them hard, fast, and don't let them recover. Take out at least one, get the advantage, and clean up as a team afterwards.
There was the ringing of bells that hit all of our ears. With it, came the fainted amount of chakra that tried to enter my system. I disrupted the unformed genjutsu without any problem, but knew that at least one of my teammates would have a problem with it.
My hands reached out to both of them. It was a testament to their trust in me that they allowed the action. I sent a jolt of lightning chakra through their systems to disrupt any of the genjutsu. Not enough to hurt them, just enough for a small shock.
At the same time I felt the Sound Three rapidly moving towards us, before slowing down once they realized the genjutsu didn't take. They planned on using the same avenue of attack that we had. Hit them hard before they knew what happened. Now that I thought about it, that was probably very common.
"Genjutsu, through sound. Make sure and flush your system frequently." I told them, mainly looking towards Lee.
His eyebrows furrowed, but he nodded at me. This next battle would be difficult for him. While he could mold enough chakra to dispel a genjutsu, it was painful and almost impossible to do simultaneously.
"Must be a sensor." I heard in front of us, as the Sound Three appeared on a tree branch about twenty feet ahead.
I felt my two shadow clones close in from the sides.
"I could hear you following us a long time ago. I was hoping you were a different team, would have made it easier than searching them out. But alas, it is not meant to be." The one in the middle stated. He had spiky hair with a sound forehead protector on. He had a wild look to him.
Daku? If my memory serves me correctly. And the girl… Kim?
"So you're looking for my comrades? Keep talking please, I won't even have to torture you for information at this point." I said condescendingly. Who the fuck annonces their intentions like that? The arrogant, no doubt.
"Doesn't matter, you won't get the oppor…"
Daku's left leg reached out and kicked his female teammates legs out from underneath her. She fell on her ass, surprised by the sudden action.
'Clang'
My shadow clone had raced in, choosing the girl as the weak link. He was right in his assessment, it just seemed like Daku was more capable than initially believed. My shadow clone had a black blade, a copy of the one on my wrist, locked with a kunai that Daku had drawn and blocked with.
I summoned another shadow clone beside me. As soon as I had released that jutsu, My shadow clone beside me and I began speeding through a set of hand seals.
Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. All of them done in a matter of two seconds. I inhaled and captured the chakra in my body to my lungs. When I spewed them out of my mouth, a small application of fire chakra from my fingers ignited the fumes, causing a massive fireball to appear in front of me, flying towards the Sound Three.
My shadow clone beside me also exhaled, completely overpowering the great breakthrough and expending all of his chakra on the technique. The wind hit the back of the Great Fireball that just exited my mouth and amplified it by ten while speeding the flames towards them.
I knew that wouldn't kill them, so I focused on my sensing ability, waiting for them to jump out, or to use a replacement technique.
As it turns out, I was only two-thirds right. The girl, whose name I knew wasn't Kim but couldn't think of her real name, did not make it out of the way of the flames because she had just had her legs kicked out from underneath her and didn't have the reaction time to keep up with the rest of us.
She took the combined Great Fireball and Great Breakthrough on her upper torso. And let me tell you, it did not long for the screams to erupt, because the fire was not hot enough to kill her immediately, but it was definitely hot enough to melt skin and catch her on fire…
Her screams were ...nightmare inducing.
I forced myself not to pay attention to them and focused on my sensing again. Daku, and Dosu reacted predictably. They both fled to the forest floor, within all of my team's eyesight.
All three of us leapt towards them immediately.
My shadow clone beat us to Daku, once again wielding a black blade. This was a common strategy I had come up with that I would use for a long time on my opponents until it was no longer viable. The first group of exchanges I would begin with my enemy I wouldn't use wind or lightning manipulation on my blade. That was so the second exchange I had with them, they would be unprepared.
So when Daku used the exact same kunai to block my second shadow clone, this time there was a sheen of wind chakra on the edge. It sliced straight through the kunai, and continued to the upper right torso of Daku.
It was a gruesome sight that saw his right arm, and much of his chest barely hanging on to his body by just a few muscles and skin. My shadow clone was merciful, however, and quickly decapitated the boy before he could realize what was happening.
At the same time, Lee and I were approaching Dasu, the last member of the team. I could feel Sakura's chakra going towards the screaming girl on fire not twenty feet away.
Dosu extended both of his hands towards Lee and I. Lee's feet were already on the forest floor, and would be able to dodge the blast that was heading our way. I would not be able to.
But, I had an out.
When learning the replacement technique in the academy, Iruka stressed how important it was to replace oneself with a mass that is almost equivalent in nature. Or else the chakra cost could kill you.
What if one had a perfect equivalent in nature?
So without hand seals, my chakra reached out to my clone, who allowed himself to be replaced, and I executed the jutsu. I was slightly disoriented, as I immediately saw the world about ten feet to the right of where I used to be.
Lee moved to his left, just as Dosu released the chakra in his arms. My Shadow Clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke immediately.
And then Lee's foot connected with the boy's ribs.
I winced, as I saw Lee kick with almost full strength. There was no doubt in my mind that he had just shattered the boy's ribs. Especially considering the weights that were attached to his shins.
Dosu buckled, with both of his arms dropping to hold his ribs. The screaming behind us stopped. I didn't have to look behind me to know that Sakura had put the girl out of her misery.
Time seemed to return to normal, where as before it was moving extremely fast. It couldn't have been more than a minute since the fighting had started. That was something I was still coming to terms with. The speed with which things happened in this life were unfathomable. It made complete sense to me that the most dangerous people in the universe were also the fastest.
Examples: Tobirama Senju, Minato Namikaze, A the Fourth Raikage, Anime Naruto, Anime Sasuke.
I had to become that fast also. How? Well I had some ideas but we'll just have to see.
"Where is your scroll?" I asked calmly as I walked over to the decapitated body of Daku.
Daku coughed up a significant amount of blood, and wheezed for a moment before answering. "You burnt it to a crisp, along with Kin." He answered between coughs and wheezes as I rummaged around Daku's body on the ground. Nothing but kunai and shuriken.
"So you have it then." I said, deducing the answer. "You would never have given it to your weakest member, and this one obviously doesn't have it." I continued.
"Give it up, and I'll let you live." I said calmly. "Decide in three seconds."
I sent chakra to my wrist, where chakra metal sat with a single fuinjutsu symbol. I felt the seal activate and I closed my hand around my black chakra katana.
"One."
I walked towards him calmly, intimidatingly.
"Two."
I sent wind chakra down my blade. The blade was so conductive it was almost easy to complete the task. Sending chakra into regular metal was like trying to drive your hand into the ground, without chakra. Sending it through chakra metal was like shoving your hand in water, it slid through easily.
"Three."
I raised my blade, fully intending on going through with my threat. Dosu, however, decided to do something stupid.
"Die!" Dosu yelled as he extended both arms towards us. One for me, one for Lee.
Lee barely flinched, and his fist was impacted the back of the boy's head, causing him to go limp immediately. A loud 'crack' rang out through the clearing, signaling a cracked skull at the least. In reality, the boy would die in the forest, because I would not carry his ass to get medical attention.
Lee reached down to search for the scroll. However I caught a bit of ink on the inside of his jacket, as he fell to the ground.
"Wait!" I told Lee. He froze. "I saw ink, it could be booby trapped." I said. It would be crazily advanced for a genin, but possible to create a suicide vest with fuinjutsu. In fact, I designed a basic seal for such a thing right there as I thought about it.
Lee and I jumped back at least twenty feet simultaneously and waited. Nothing happened.
I flexed my chakra in an oh so familiar shape, and a clone appeared next to me. His orders were simple, search for the scroll.
He approached the body, and without fear, he flipped it over while pulling on the collar to look inside.
"Explosive tags are lined all around the inside of the coat. It looks like it is tied to the …." He maneuvered the body and looked around a little more. "...zipper it looks like, can't really tell though."
I was about to speak, but he beat me to it.
"Dumbass just left it one of the coat pockets, though. Ah, there is a trigger there also, but, that would only work if I was scared of death." My clone said with a grin.
He reached inside the coat pocket of Dosu, grabbed the scroll and yanked. He moved quickly and in the same motion that he yanked, he threw the scroll before the explosive tags could combust.
This was a risk, as it was possible to make explosive seals to be instantaneous. But if Dosu linked it to regular tags, then it would be on a three second delay. Sometimes even longer. He didn't have instant explosive tags, but he had something close to one second, because my clone couldn't get away fast enough.
I pushed away the memory of my clone with practiced ease.
Sakura jumped into the air and grabbed the heaven scroll before it could land anywhere. Another risk, as I would have checked for more explosive tags first, but it happened before I could warn her.
Luckily, when she landed, nothing exploded.
"Naruto." She said as she looked at the scroll.
"Hmm?" I asked, with raised eyebrows.
"You're a fucking monster."
The tower was actually not that far away, and since we had both scrolls, I saw no reason to tempt fate and Orochimaru. With the way people died in this version of Naruto, I was staying far far away from that mother fucker until I was at least S-rank. Sasuke and Neji could have fun without me.
However, as I approached the tower, a chakra signature made itself known quickly. Or rather, it shone so bright that I couldn't help but notice it.
Gaara.
The problem was that we were already out of the tree line, halfway between the tower and the treeline, there was no turning back and hiding. With the speed that Gaara was moving too, it would be very difficult to make it to the tower without an encounter.
Fuck. I said as I stopped in place and turned around.
The Sand Siblings all body flickered into existence about a hundred feet away from us. By this time, Lee and Sakura had both noticed my stopping and turned around.
All six of us stood there for a moment, unmoving, staring at each other. Gaara and I locked eyes for what had to be two minutes. Eventually, the nerves got to Lee, and he made a step forward.
I reached my hand out to him, and grabbed his chest. He stopped, obediently, although I knew he wanted to attack.
I turned to him slightly, although I kept my head on the three that still stood there staring at us. "Let's get inside." I said, urgently and pushed them along.
There was no way I was taking on Gaara at my current level. I made some strategies just in case, but knew they would fall short. I only had about three-quarters of my chakra from all the shadow clones and jutsu I had used. Which sounded impressive for a genin, and was impressive unless you compared it to the son of a kage and jinchuuriki.
Luckily for the three of us, Gaara deemed us insignificant enough to kill, and did not pursue us. I don't know why, and couldn't explain how, but I would take the outcome.
I couldn't get us into the tower and open the scrolls fast enough.
"You have done well."
I am ashamed to admit that I nearly jumped out of my clothes in surprise. Although I am proud to admit that I didn't make a sound doing it. It was equally as bad when Kakashi let me sense his chakra in the same moment that he decided to announce himself.
I was currently on the second floor of the tower, overlooking the grounds that would serve as the preliminary battle grounds. I had already heard many people grumbling that there were too many teams that were surviving the forest and we would have to have one. No surprise there.
"Thank you." I said, not sure of how to take the praise from the kage level shinobi. "Have they made it in yet?" I asked, trying to change the topic to something he would care about. Neji, Sasuke, and Tenten had yet to make it in.
Apparently, my team was NOT the team expected to make it to the tower first. We were definitely not the team expected to shatter the record at around an hour and thirty something minutes. That didn't mean shit to me, as it was mostly luck. First of all, who knew that Team Dosu actually had a heavens scroll? That was a fifty fifty chance. Secondly, we didn't encounter another team the entire time we were in there. That was extremely lucky.
"Not quite, but should be any minute now." Kakashi answered lazily. His face was buried in his smut book, once again. Such an odd thing to see from such a respected and powerful man. We all have our vices, though some manage to hide theirs better.
"They tell me you have taken an interest in kenjutsu." Kakashi commented once again. What was the point of this small talk?
"Yes sir. I was gifted an extremely useful and expensive sword. It seems to fit." I answered confidently. The metal band on my wrist that held my katana felt eerily cold then.
"And where is it?" Kakashi asked. He closed his book, and a subtle change in his tone told me that the conversation had taken a different path. It wasn't necessarily an interrogation, but he expected an answer as my superior.
I stood a little straighter before answering. "Sealed on my wrist. Am I in trouble?" I asked, respectfully.
"No you're not. Hokage-sama has yet to hear a report of your advancement in fuinjutsu. We assumed that you hadn't made any. That was apparently wrong." Kakashi said, getting to the point. "Show me."
I held my hand out immediately and channeled chakra to the appropriate spot on the wrist band. The next moment, there was a sword in my hand, safely pointed away from the jounin.
"Impressive. Does it always summon in the same direction?" Kakashi asked, prodding further.
"No sir, I can summon it in reverse grip also." I answered. I was proud of that part, as it increased the difficulty of the seal by about ten fold. Not only did I have to specify where on my body, with crazy accuracy. But the two functions also had to work together in the same seal to make it work. The last part was the trickiest part. I had countless memories of the sword stabbing me all over my torso before I got it to work.
Kakashi hummed intrigued. "That is very advanced Naruto." He praised.
"I work hard." I said, nodding to him and smiling for the praise.
"Yes I see that. You have also added some jutsu into your arsenal. One would question how you had enough time in the day…"
Well fuck…
"How many?" Kakashi asked then, once again cutting to the chase.
"I am following the rules Hokage-sama told me to.."
"How many?" Kakashi interrupted, sternly. He did not appreciate the back talk apparently.
"12 training for 8 hours a day, 6 sleeping for the same amount. They are dispelled strategically so as to not interfere with my real life." I answered him truthfully. I had promised to ramp up my training when I returned from Wave, and I meant it.
Kakashi inhaled deeply. "The fact that you can even summon that many is impressive. My own reserves are only slightly above such a feat." Kakashi commented.
"I'm an Uzumaki…" I retorted, as if it would explain everything.
"So you are…" Kakashi muttered.
We fell into a bit of a silence after that. "I am proud of you. At first I thought you were compromising sleep, which would be absolutely detrimental at your age by the way, but it seems I am wrong."
"You're still angry." I said, reading his body language. Or at least, reading what he allowed me to read.
"Yes." Kakashi answered. "Depending on your performance in this exam, I was going to recommend you for Anbu…"
That floored me. Anbu? Me? At thirteen years old?
Crazy thing is, I would have accepted in a heartbeat. Anbu was an extreme honor. Those who wore the tattoo on their shoulder commanded a lot of respect, inside and outside the village. They were bad motherfuckers, that's all there was to it. It would have been an amazing way to gain the experience I needed to become S-rank. It certainly seemed to work for Kakashi, Itachi, and Shisui. Even Yamato, now that I thought about it.
"And now?" I asked, pushing my luck a little too far.
"That was before we knew you were taking fuinjutsu seriously." Kakashi answered. "We will not risk such an asset before it is allowed to mature."
My eyebrows furrowed. "I don't understand." I said, before thinking about it.
"Anbu is dangerous, and has a tendency to burn out shinobi, but at the end of the day, some of your classmates would do well in it also. What they can't do, is design a seal intricate enough to store a condom, let alone accomplish what you have. That is something the village will not put in jeopardy." Kakashi told me, walking me through it.
"All of shinobi life is dangerous." I retorted, not really buying into his argument.
"Anbu is also a tool we like to use to instill discipline into young men and women. It is a reality check for most, that will lead them to taking this life seriously. That is not something that you lack. No, the risk is too much for you to join." Kakashi said.
The entire conversation, it seemed like Kakashi was still pondering the idea of recommending me for Anbu. Now, with that last statement, it was obvious that he had made up his mind. I would not be joining Anbu…
But at least I would still be going with Jiraiya. I would never have been able to join Anbu anyway, it would have interfered with my training with him.
"So I get to walk in the light then." I muttered, mostly to myself.
Kakashi snorted, as if it was a grand joke. "It's not all sunshine and rainbows, Naruto." He said as he laid a hand on my shoulder.
"Whether you advance or not, I have something for you when we have sometime to speak alone." He said casually, yet the grip on my shoulder told me it was something important.
Before I could answer he had disappeared.
A commotion caused me to look in the direction of the noise. It was Team 7, or rather what was left of it. Sasuke had Neji's arm slung over his shoulder, and was obviously carrying most of his weight. Tenten was nowhere to be found. Neji was alert, and looking straight ahead with a sort of dead look in his eyes but if my meager medical skills told me anything about the bone sticking out of his shin and left hand, was that Orochimaru had fucked him up. Fucked him up bad enough that it would be a miracle if he continued in the chunin exams.
Perhaps he was only barely aware of what was going on around him. I threw away that theory when I saw the veins on the side of his head bulging, signaling the activation of the byakugan.
Kakashi arrived and escorted them away quickly. No doubt to assess the injuries of Neji, and the black seal-like markings that covered half of Sasuke's body.
The lack of Tenten told me everything I needed to know about her fate…
I couldn't help but sigh, and hang my head in remembrance of the girl I had only ever met once in this life, and crushed over in my last.
"Unfortunately, the second phase of the Chunin Exams isn't finished. An abnormal amount of you untalented sacks of shit made it out of the Forest of Death. So we're going to weed a few out. Preliminary style, one fight for each of ya."
I was surprised to see Asuma presenting the information for us. Wasn't it another jounin with a coughing issue in the anime? Asuma gestured to the board behind him, which quickly lit up with names.
"Here is the list. Find your name, and prepare yourself for your match."
My eyes searched the list, ignoring almost everyone else but my own.
'Uzumaki Naruto vs Akimichi Choji.'
My eyes widened. I had fully expected to fight Kiba in the preliminaries. I wasn't particularly upset at the opponent, as I was confident in my ability to win against the clan heir.
What I was worried about was how that affected the rest of the placements.
'Uchiha Sasuke vs Akado Yoroi.'
'Gaara vs Inuzuka Kiba.'
'Hyuuga Hinata vs Hyuuga Neji.'
'Temari vs Aburame Shino.'
'Kankuro vs Nara Shikamaru.'
'Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino.'
'Rock Lee vs Yakushi Kabuto.'
My eyes found who Lee was fighting, and who Kiba was fighting, and I could only think of one thing.
"Fuck."
A/N: Boom!
So that is the second part of the Chunin Exams. Let's be honest, did the Sound Three really even stand a chance? They were way too cocky, and had extremely easy to counter skill sets.
Plus there should be something illegal about having this Naruto and Lee on the same team. Sakura is once again becoming a background character, although that might change in the future.
So we got a couple of changes in the exams. Tenten is dead, Sasuke has a snake bite, and Neji got absolutely fucked up by Orochimaru. We see the affect that death, and the deaths of the Sound Three have on the preliminaries now. Kabuto hasn't forfeited and will face Lee.
And Kiba is facing Gaara… We all know what might become of this…
Anyway, let me know what you think!
Let's talk in the reviews!