Chapter Nine: Jonin Exams Part II
At a nearby tree, Jiraiya was already perched atop a branch, scribbling some last minute notes about ideas for his next novel before the match ups began. Below in the clearing, all sixteen participants were present, along with Shikaku who dropped a box onto the ground next to him.
"I think this part of the exam is self explanatory," Shikaku drawled. "Your matchups will be decided based on the names that are drawn out of the box." At that, Shikaku jerked his head in the direction of the white box on the ground.
"The battle will take place within this clearing," Shikaku continued. "You may use the first two rows of trees, but nothing past that. The east side will be off limits as that will be where the spectators will be located. The match will continue until one of you surrenders or is unable to continue. I reserve the right to call the matches as I see fit to prevent unnecessary deaths. Now-"
A flash of yellow appeared into the clearing, cutting off Shikaku. Shikaku shot an amused look at the man who appeared next to him, who wore a sheepish smile on his face, apologizing for his tardiness. A chorus of greetings of "Hokage sama" emitted throughout the clearing.
"Well now that the Hokage has arrived, we can begin the second stage of the exams," Shikaku drawled. He bent down, swiping the box off of the ground before tipping it in Minato's direction. Minato reached his hand into the box, rummaging around for a few seconds before drawing two pieces of paper from the box.
"Itachi Uchiha and Daisuke Uchiha," Minato called, after reading the unfurled papers. No one missed the vicious glare that Daisuke shot at Itachi, to which Itachi didn't give an outward indication that he noticed it.
But like everyone else present in the clearing, he definitely noticed it.
"Looks like bad blood," Asuma whispered. Two guys around him nodded their heads in agreement as their eyes were fixated to the clearing, where Itachi and Daisuke stood face to face, just an arms length away from each other. Minato gave the signal to start before teleporting away, landing right next to Jiraiya.
Neither Uchiha made a move. Itachi's eyes were closed, with his hands forming a ram seal, while Daisuke's eyes were open, Sharingan blazing red.
"Oi, why aren't they doing anything?" an Inuzuka whispered.
Right as those words left the Inuzuka's mouth, Daisuke moved, backflipping as he let a kunai sail with deadly accuracy towards Itachi right before he landed. Daisuke was in the middle of forming the hand seals for a fireball jutsu when the kunai drove into Itachi's heart, earning varying shocked expressions from the spectators. Moments later, Itachi disappeared, turning into a flock of crows that flew towards Daisuke, ready to attack his face. He unleashed the fireball jutsu, disintegrating the crows out of existence.
Daisuke's head jerked sharply around the clearing, trying to pinpoint Itachi's real location, but something in his movements were off. Rin reached out to feel his chakra.
"A genjutsu," Rin whispered in awe, upon feeling Daisuke's disturbed chakra network.
Another one of Itachi's clones appeared in the clearing. Daisuke's senses latched onto the presence immediately and moved to engage Itachi in a taijutsu fight. While Itachi's display of taijutsu was with fluidity, Daisuke's moves were jerky, leading him to failing to block the various cuts and hits that Itachi managed to land.
Upon closer inspection, a grin was present on Daisuke's lips.
The real Itachi Uchiha appeared before them, settling himself next to Rin. His sudden appearance startled a few people.
"Aren't you supposed to be down there?" the Inuzuka asked, his eyes flickering to the Itachi in the trees and the Itachi in the clearing, who was gearing up to put an end to the match.
"The battle will end in the next fifteen seconds," Itachi merely stated. Their attentions were turned back onto the battle in the clearing, where Daisuke was shouting something about Itachi's skills being overpraised. Clone Itachi released the genjutsu. Daisuke's head jerked backwards at the sudden change of scenes, undoubtedly his mind was reeling from processing an uninjured Itachi before him and the pain from his various wounds.
Clone Itachi raised a kunai at Daisuke, the sharp tip against his throat.
"Yield."
Seeing no other choice, Daisuke yielded and Shikaku called the match.
From two trees away, Jiraiya whistled in appreciation.
"Perhaps you are right Minato, there are some promising candidates in this batch," Jiraiya admitted. "His genjutsu skills are exceptional to the point where another Sharingan was unable to detect it…"
"Well, he did learn from the best," Minato mused as Shikaku called up the next two matches.
Three more matches had passed. Rin took the time to analyze each of their moves, mentally filing away the information in case she needed to fight them in the later stages of the exam. For the most part, the information that Itachi stole from the Hokage's archives were accurate, just slightly outdated. As expected, the questionnaires contained a mix of half truths and lies.
The combat stage of the exam was placed unusually early in the exams. Typically, it was always the last stage regardless of whether it was the chunin or jonin exams, which usually prompted them to showcase their true potential. But for them to place it as the second stage of the exam, those who revealed their true skills would be at a disadvantage in the later stages, if they made it through.
Rin finally understood why Itachi had chosen to defeat Daisuke with genjutsu. It was a known strong suit of Itachi, plus not many people could effectively counter it. Besides that, it still kept a lot of Itachi's skills a mystery: exactly how much mastery over the Sharingan did he have? Did Itachi know any ninjutsu other than the Uchiha's trademark fireball jutsu? Did he prefer the use of weapons or fists in combat?
She didn't have time to ask Itachi to confirm her speculations as she heard her name being called along with Ichiro Hyuga. Rin hopped down into the clearing, landing gracefully on her feet on the soft grass.
Without so much of a word, Shikaku began the match before disappearing off into the trees. Ichiro activated the Byakugan, the veins around his eyes becoming visible as he maneuvered himself into a typical Hyuga stance.
Being on the same team as the Yellow Flash and Copy Ninja meant that she was overlooked, but that also meant no one knew much about Rin's abilities, which worked to her favor in this instance. She would have to be careful to not reveal too much of her abilities.
"You should give up," Ichiro suggested, his tone reeking of arrogance. "A clanless nobody can never win against me."
Rin didn't rise to take his bait. Instead, her mind was running through her different options. According to the stolen information, Ichiro learned the Hyuga fighting style and relied heavily on it, which meant he was a close combat fighter. A long range battle would be in her favor, but Rin didn't really have any long range finishing moves. Not to mention, the Byakugan granted him virtually a 360 degree view of his surroundings. Surprise attacks were out of question.
Then…
Rin leapt towards Ichiro, forming chakra scalpels in both hands. She ducked to the left as Ichiro made the first move, jabbing two fingers that would have surely cut off chakra circulation to her left arm if it hadn't met air.
Her combination of training with Tsunade and Itachi helped her to effectively predict Ichiro's every move. Compared to Itachi and Shisui, Ichiro was surprisingly slow, which made her able to match his every move, blow for blow. Rin never let his gentle fist technique get too close to her chakra points, forcing Ichiro to retreat with every blow unless he wanted to be skewered by her chakra scalpels.
"You're not the only one who can see the chakra network," Rin told him through gritted teeth as she forced his back against a tree. Ichiro dropped to the ground, rolling out of the way right as her chakra scalpel made contact with the bark of the tree, sending pieces of bark flying. It left a cut three inches deep.
Spinning on the heels of her foot, Rin managed to slice through the nerves in Ichiro's right arm, while she suffered from his gentle fist technique slamming into the chakra point, effectively cutting off chakra circulation to below her left elbow. After exchanging blows, both of them leaped to create distance between them. Ichiro groaned in pain as his left hand moved to cover the bleeding wound.
The stinging pain from being jammed with his gentle fist technique was still there and Rin quickly hovered her right hand over the area to mitigate the pain while fixing the nerves and blood vessels that were damaged in the process.
"You won't be able to heal that," Ichiro told her, a smirk present on his face despite suffering greater wounds than she did.
"We'll see about that," Rin told him. Tossing a smoke bomb into the clearing, Rin darted away from the area, hiding in one of the nearby trees in the midst of the smoke. Leaning her back against the trunk of the tree, Rin mentally opened up one of her reservoirs of chakra, allowing the chakra to stream steadily down to her left arm, where the chakra block was.
The block remained intact, but Rin continued to pour more chakra through. Even the strongest dam could break under enough pressure and Rin believed the same principle applied to chakra blocks. Still, channelling the right amount of chakra to the chakra block to ensure that her chakra network didn't rupture from overload was no easy feat.
She got far enough to feel the chakra block budge a bit, allowing a slight trickle of her chakra to bypass it, before Ichiro shot three kunais in her direction. Rin hopped out of the tree as the kunais sank into the trunk of the tree with a loud thunk. Ichiro compensated for his useless right arm by fighting at an angle, so that his right side was further away from her. She traded a couple of blows with Ichiro before spotting an opening in his stance. Hooking her right foot around Ichiro's knees, Rin yanked, bringing Ichiro to the ground.
Undeterred, Ichiro aimed for the chakra point in her left calf. Tossing a kunai at the ground, it halted Ichiro's hand from making contact with her skin and bought her enough time to leap out of his reach. With senbons already lodged between the fingers in her right hand, Rin launched them at Ichiro. Ichiro got back on his feet in a record time, spreading his feet before moving to whirl in a rotation. The sphere of chakra that formed around him knocked back her senbon, letting them uselessly fall to the ground.
The block broke and Rin relished in the feeling of chakra flowing through her left hand once more. Once Ichiro stopped his rotation, Rin immediately darted at him, not wanting to give him an opportunity to see that her left hand was functioning once more. Ichiro countered her first blow easily, but he hadn't anticipated her to move with such speed to use the heel of her chakra coated palm to push his left hand away from her, sending it jerking backwards upon impact, leaving his body completely open.
Her left hand took advantage of the opening, once again forming a chakra scalpel. The tip of it was mere centimeters away from Ichiro's throat.
In the trees, low murmurs of speculations of how Rin was able to form chakra in her left hand despite having it blocked off pervaded the silence that had fallen on the group, as they had quickly become enraptured into the right. Itachi, who had his Sharingan activated the entire time, was the only one who understood exactly what Rin had done.
The Hyuga was right; no one expected the clanless kunoichi to win against a member from a prestigious clan. Yet there they were, watching Ichiro yield.
"How?" Ichiro asked through gritted teeth as Rin let her chakra scalpel fizzle out of existence. This time, her hands glowed green as she approached him, peeling off the hastily done bandages. "Medical ninjutsu won't undo the block."
"It wasn't medical ninjutsu," Rin told him as she began to reattach his nerves and repair the muscles that she had sliced through. "I merely only used it to heal some of the blood vessels that you ruptured."
"Then how?" Ichiro prodded.
"There, all done," Rin informed Ichiro. Although she could have healed him all the way, Rin had purposely left the skin wound unhealed. Perhaps the stinging pain would serve as a reminder of his loss today. "Change the bandages every couple hours; don't let it get reinfected."
With that, Rin left Ichiro in the clearing, rejoining the others in the trees. Out of curiosity, the other prodded for her secret like Ichiro did, but Rin firmly kept her mouth shut. Their attention on her quickly waned as the next matchup was called.
When the second round of the exams finished, all sixteen shinobis were called back down into the clearing. Shikaku rattled off a list of names, dismissing six more people from the exams.
"It's not only about winning, but about how you win," Shikaku lectured. "A jonin must go into a battle with a clear mind, not riddled with emotions. Sometimes, a functioning mind can make the difference between life and death.
"Now, the next stage of the exam will take place tomorrow morning. Meet me at Konoha's gates. Dismissed."
And then they were down to ten. The eight other participants had dispersed. Rin and Itachi moved to leave, to head back to her apartment and the Uchiha compound respectively, when Minato approached them.
"Kushina instructed me to bring the two of you over for dinner," Minato explained. Upon seeing Itachi's tense posture, Minato added, "Kakashi and Shisui will be there. Shisui has already informed your mother that you will be having dinner at my house."
"Alright," Itachi conceded. Rin agreed as well, and Minato turned towards his sensei for a response.
"I think I'll pass this time," Jiraiya drawled. "Good luck with the rest of your exams, you two." Shooting a fond look towards the both of them, Jiraiya disappeared in a puff of smoke, gone off to who knows where.
His sensei's words still rung in Minato's ears even after he was long gone.
The girl will make a formidable kunoichi in the future. Minato didn't doubt that in the slightest. Peering over at his student, Minato let a small smile grace his features.
Perhaps I am being too selfish by keeping her in the village, Minato thought to himself. Minato deluded himself into thinking that Rin needed to stay in the village to keep her safe, to keep the sanbi safe, but in actuality, Minato had simply been worried about sending her out on missions, especially after the last mission which had turned into a disaster.
Seeing her battle today, Minato finally realized that she could hold her own. Rin could protect herself. At that moment, Minato resolved to place her back on the active mission roster after Rin was promoted to jonin.
The promotion was inevitable, after all.
The house was so much more lively, with all of Team Ro in attendance, plus Rin. Upon seeing Itachi and Rin, Shisui immediately jumped on the opportunity to grill them on the details of the exam.
"You ask like you didn't contribute a few ideas for the exam," Kakashi commented wryly, saving Itachi from having to answer Shisui's barrage of questions.
"Well I wanted to see which one of my ideas were actually used," Shisui argued.
"And Minato sensei told you a fair bit of it were," Kakashi countered.
"No offense Hokage sama, but politicians tend to lie, a lot." Minato laughed upon hearing Shisui's comment, but Kushina took to whacking the top of Shisui's head. Shisui made a noise of surprise before his hand moved to rub the sore spot.
"You still keep these punks around?" Kushina questioned, gesturing with her ladle wildly in the general direction of the four kids. "You need to replace them."
"They're some of the village's best shinobis," Minato argued. "I can't just replace them. Besides, I know that you secretly love them all."
"I did like Rin until she lied to me." At that, Kushina pointed her ladle straight at her. Rin gulped, thankful that she wasn't sitting closer to Kushina. No doubt, Kushina wanted to hit her for tricking Kushina during her last visit.
"Ahhh, sorry about that Kushina nee," Rin apologized sincerely.
"Pfft, you better be. You're only forgiven because I heard you kicked Hyuga's ass today."
That instigated a barrage of questions from Shisui at how she had exactly done that.
It had been a while since Kakashi found himself to be this content, sitting down for a simple dinner with his closest comrades, trading occasional jabs with Shisui and Kushina, seeing the weariness on his sensei's face fade away as Kushina's energy was contagious. To even see the clan heir let down his stiff facade, something Kakashi hadn't seen since Shisui's almost death, was startling. As Anbu captain of Team Ro, Kakashi worked tirelessly, mission after mission, to make sure all threats were eliminated. Seeing Rin sitting in front of him, alive and safe, made it all worth it.
After all, he swore to Obito that he would protect her.
Tonight, Kakashi felt like he had a family and even felt a surge of happiness when Kushina announced that she was pregnant, earning a chorus of "congratulations" from the four younger ninjas.
Yet Kakashi was foolish, simply too foolish to have believed that it would have lasted. He had gotten his hopes up again, only for it to come tumbling down, leaving his heart shattered into a million pieces.
A/N: Hi again!
As you may know, my fight scenes typically are short because I find it really hard to write "talk no jutsu" lol. Like in the anime, there's so many openings that they could have taken advantage of (and end the fight quickly), but no, they have spend the time talking and that's why fights are so dragged out (re: the time travel arc in Boruto).
By the way, does anyone actually watch Boruto consistently? I usually forget it exists until a year or so later, then I just browse through the interesting arcs (cough* arcs featuring old characters). Anyone else?
Sorry for the short chapter (but I did update twice this week to make up for it :). I was going to combine part 2 and 3 of the exams together, but then the chapter would have turned out to be really long. Do you prefer long or short chapters? Most of the chapters in this story will be in the 3000 to 5000 word range.
As for a writing update, I think I'm getting close to the end. But as I say this, I'm probably going to end up writing more for no reason lol. There's one more major arc that I have to finish (maybe one or two minor ones if they come to me) and then I'll be done! I'm super excited to get this done, so I can post faster without worrying that I'll run out of content before I get around to writing. So far, it's looking to be at least a 150k word story and definitely 40+ chapters, so I hope that you guys are ready to continue on this journey with me.
Next chapter is called Jonin Exams Part III. Honestly, did you expect anything more creative than that from me? haha.
Thanks for reading! Until next time!
-MM