Chapter Ten: Jonin Exams Part III
The ten remaining jonin hopefuls listened intently to Shikaku's instructions on the next phase in the jonin exams. The parameters of the exam was simple enough: half of them would receive scrolls, while the other half would remain empty-handed. The ten shinobis needed to survive five days within the Land of Fire and emerge with a scroll by the end of it to be considered successful.
Yet, the mission was a lot harder than it seemed.
For one, the Land of Fire spanned a vast amount of territory, which put the ones without a scroll at a disadvantage, unless they had some tracking skills. It gave the ones with a scroll a lot of options to hide out until the five days were over. However, assuming most of the shinobis had expected the exam to finish within the day, no one really thought to pack any provisions. At the very least, that would force the ones with scrolls to come out of hiding if they wanted to survive.
Secondly, there were a lot of variables to consider. Undoubtedly, those with the scrolls would have the burden of protecting it for five days. It didn't matter who held onto the scrolls for the longest duration, but rather who was in possession of it in the end.
"Sometimes a predator can easily turn into prey and vice versa," Shikaku told them. "You must be able to adapt to changing circumstances on a whim."
The third complication was the uncertainty of unspoken alliances in this round. It was true that the alliances hadn't really done much for them in the previous rounds, but this stage seemed to lend itself to teamwork. Or possibly betrayal because the odds of all members of a team possessing a scroll were minimal. Even Rin was beginning to have doubts on whether this would be the round where she would be pitted against Itachi.
Minato would transport each shinobi to a different location in the Land of Fire, one by one, with his teleportation technique. An ingenious idea to ensure no one could start out with an alliance or know who was in possession of a scroll.
Itachi and Rin hovered at the back of the group, while Minato went to work, already transporting three of them, and coming back for a fourth.
"Use your sensory skills to track me down," Itachi whispered to her. "I won't move."
Only four shinobis left, two more aside from them.
"Wait." Rin bit her thumb, forming the sequence to activate her summoning. A very small form of Katsuyu appeared and Rin quickly ordered for her to split into two. Pocketing one of the Katsuyu, Rin handed the other half to Itachi, who took it warily. "We can use this to communicate."
That was all that Rin could tell him before Minato grabbed Itachi's arm, whisking him miles away. Barely fifteen seconds later, Minato returned, this time grabbing onto her own arm, jerking her along. Minato had taken her to an empty clearing, trees surrounding her from all sides.
A soft expression graced Minato's features.
"Good luck," Minato told his former student. "I'm so proud of you."
Without giving Rin a chance to respond, Minato whisked away, landing once more at the front gates of Konoha five seconds slower than his usual speed. Any longer than that, Minato might have been suspected of foul play and favoritism.
The Aburame clan had been especially helpful for this portion of the exam, lending their insects to be implanted with cameras. After letting their bugs loose to cover the vast territory, the higher ups would be able to see what went on in the forest and assess which chunin showed the capabilities to be promoted.
"It'll be a long five days," Shikaku sighed as he entered the control room, where ten grainy screens showed various images of different locations in the Land of Fire. The bugs were still moving, trying to lock on to the ten chunin's chakra signatures.
Meanwhile, back in the forest, the first thing that Rin did was pull Katsuyu out from her weapons pouch, asking her if Itachi had any updates on his whereabouts. Katsuyu replied with a negative. Rin concentrated, feeling for any signs of another chakra signature, but felt none.
Resigning herself to her fate, Rin tore off into the trees, looking to find a landmark so she would where to begin reuniting with Itachi.
A brief notion of not meeting up with Itachi if Rin was one of five to receive the scroll did cross her mind, but even that had just been enough to evoke an enormous amount of guilt. The clan heir had been nothing but kind to her and proved to be loyal to a fault and here she was, with thoughts of betrayal on her mind. And Rin even suspected Itachi had only decided to participate in this jonin exam because either Shisui or Kakashi tipped him off on the advantage of having an alliance.
Shaking all thoughts of betrayal out of her mind, Rin focused on her task at hand, doubling her efforts to find some sort of landmark.
From her shoulder, Katsuyu informed Rin that Itachi had found his way to the Uchiha hideout right as she spotted a lake. Plucking open one of the pockets in her flak jacket, Rin caught the tiny scroll that fell out. Rin unrolled it, spreading it on the ground, using two rocks to hold the map into place while Katsuyu relayed Itachi's description of his location to her.
"My sensory skills have a range of about five kilometers. If I am correct about your current location, then I am about fifty kilometers away from you."
Just her luck, to be placed in the center of the forest while Itachi was close to the edge of. However, if her understanding of Fire's territory served to be correct, then the Uchiha hideout was located somewhere near Kyoshi Pass, where Rin had been stationed for the last bit of war. Just as well, as Rin knew there were some provisions that Konoha left behind after the war ended.
After instructing Itachi to stay put, Rin began taking off in the northeast direction.
Back at the Hokage Tower, the spectators had been thoroughly impressed by Itachi and Rin's coordination and trust in each other. However, they would soon find out whether or not the trust held once Rin figured out Itachi was in possession of a scroll while she was not.
"That was on purpose, wasn't it?" Kakashi questioned. "For Itachi to have a scroll, while Rin doesn't?"
"Well they made it glaringly obvious that they were a team since the first stage," Shikaku grunted. "I wanted to test how far their loyalties will go."
"Then shouldn't it be the other way around?" Jiraiya questioned. "The Uchiha is stronger than the girl, so the girl would be foolish to attack him. If she was smart, she would take advantage of her alliance with him to help herself obtain a scroll."
"That's not necessarily the case," Shisui interjected. "Itachi's fighting style is very conventional of an Uchiha's. Rin's fighting style is unpredictable and she has many wild cards up her sleeve. Look how quickly she was able to figure out how to counter the Hyuga's technique. Besides, Itachi's has pledged his loyalty to her ever since Rin saved his life. He would give up his scroll if she asked."
"Guess we'll find out soon, won't we?" Shikaku commented, gesturing towards the screen, where Rin had just arrived at the remnants of Kyoshi Pass. After saying something that they couldn't hear since the Aburame bugs were only equipped with video and not audio, Rin bent down to the dirt. Her fingers trailed against the dirt, leaving a faint trail in its wake.
It was somewhere around here, Rin remembered, having been one of the ones who was ordered to bury their supplies. It had been a last minute order from their commander, who was already preparing for their retreat from the post upon receiving word that an army of Iwa nins would reach them in ten minutes. With most of their forces consisting of the injured and medic personnels, they didn't stand a chance.
Rin recalled her dilemma as she worked with her comrades to bury Konoha's remaining supplies. Abandoning the post would mean leaving their injured comrades behind to die since there was no time to evacuate them as well. Rin desperately wanted to stay behind back then, to share her final breaths with the shinobis who fought valiantly in the war, but one of her superiors tugged her along, as the well abled turned to flee.
If she stayed behind, Rin certainly would have died as she was a nobody, a kunoichi with no particular talents save for her medical ninjutsu. She wasn't the Yellow Flash, who could single handedly wipe out an entire Iwa force.
After the invasion, Rin had went back once, to find everything burned to the ground. The entire area was deathly silent.
Coming back five years after the end of the war, Rin felt guilty for all of the comrades that she had abandoned. The comrades that she had left to die. Their bodies had been reduced into nothing but a pile of ashes, their names nothing more than a small etch on the memorial stone.
As if a reminder of the tragedy that took place, the grass never flourished again. Instead, all that remained was a barren space, save for the occasional weed or two that sprouted.
She found it. Rin began digging the spot with her bare hands, piling the loose dirt to the side. Less than a meter deep, Rin found the wooden box. Using chakra to aid her, Rin grabbed the edges of the box, lifting it easily out of its hole. Rin had moved to open the lid when she felt a chakra signature heading her way, quickly.
On instinct, Rin pushed the box back down into its hole, haphazardly pushing the dirt to cover the box once more. Three seconds later, Rin had a kunai in hand as the nin hopped down into the dirt.
Asuma Sarutobi, the Third Hokage's son.
"Rin san," Asuma greeted politely, clearly having remembered her from their academy days. Or perhaps it was because of Rin's association of Kurenai Yuhi, who had been on the same genin team as Asuma.
Rin returned Asuma's greeting with wariness. What did Asuma want with her? Rin didn't have a scroll to lose, but it was possible he would fight her for the provisions that she found.
"I don't have a scroll if that's what you are after," Rin told him.
As expected, Asuma didn't believe her. "You could be bluffing. We may have been classmates; however, I can't show you any mercy." His apology was left unspoken as Asuma darted forward, his two chakra blades already looped through his fingers. A blue hue coated the metal, forming a sharp edge that was as deadly as her own chakra scalpels.
The clang of metal permeated through the air, kunai against his chakra blade. Rin ducked out of the way as his other chakra blade came slashing down at her, nicking her in the shoulder, but doing nothing more than skin damage. Rin backflipped away from Asuma, noting the cut that his blade made into her kunai.
In that case, Rin couldn't risk using her flute and letting it become damaged.
Rin felt the buildup of the wind style attack in Asuma's chest before she saw it. In preparation for the jutsu, Rin began crafting a genjutsu, one where it would show her being heavily injured in his jutsu. She had successfully launched the genjutsu right as Asuma blew a gust of wind, strong enough to blow enough dirt into the air to create a miniature sandstorm.
Within the chaos, Rin hastily tied a cloth around her face before shielding her face to avoid the worst of the storm. Navigating blindly in the sandstorm, Rin dropped down to where she had left the box, yanking it out of its hole once more. Grabbing an empty scroll from one of the many pockets in her flak jacket, Rin quickly unrolled it, paintbrush already in hand to draw the necessary seals.
Rin felt Asuma's chakra shift, indicating that he had broken through the first layer of her genjutsu. What he saw now was the landscape, except Rin was nowhere in sight. Even so, the genjutsu wouldn't hold long, not when Asuma had been training with Kurenai, a genjutsu specialist, so Rin had to hurry.
In under twenty seconds, Rin finished the seal. Tucking the paintbrush back into her weapons pouch, Rin made the necessary hand seals, slamming her hand down onto the paper at the end. The box disappeared and a kanji appeared in the center of the circle. Rolling the scroll once more, Rin tucked it back into her pocket before casting one more genjutsu, to cover up the gaping hole in the ground.
Then she fled, just as the sandstorm settled and Asuma broke through the second layer of the genjutsu. Still by then, Rin was gone, leaving him to stare at the barren landscape once more.
While she travelled through the trees, Rin shook the dirt out of her hair, brushing the dirt off of her arms and clothes to the best of her abilities.
Five minutes away from Kyoshi Pass, Rin detected Itachi's chakra. It was faint, so either he was suppressing his chakra or he was far away, but at least he was somewhere in a five kilometer radius.
Rin continued to head south, feeling Itachi's presence to be a bit stronger the more distance she covered.
"Tell Itachi that someone is heading in his direction, coming from the south." The other chakra signature didn't seem to be hunting down Itachi, but rather it seemed that the person just happened to be wandering in the area. If that was the case, then this was their chance to see if they could obtain one of the two scrolls that they needed.
The chakra signature passed Itachi's location. At this rate, Rin would run head on to the chakra signature in approximately four minutes, if she continued to move at her current speed. She felt Itachi's chakra signature dim down as it moved closer to the other target, closing in from that person's east side.
"I'm going to engage," Rin told Katsuyu, who would undoubtedly relay that information to Itachi.
That had been the plan, until Rin felt Itachi's chakra signature appearing next to the unknown person. Two seconds later, both of their chakra signatures flared with such intensity, indicating that they had engaged in battle. Rin remained perched on a nearby tree once she reached the battle location, ready to step in if needed.
But who was she kidding? Itachi Uchiha didn't need her help, not when he was capable of finishing the battle in under three minutes, emerging victorious with a scroll in hand. Itachi made quick work of bounding the unconscious shinobi and tying him against the trunk of the tree as Rin hopped down to the forest floor, joining him.
"Took you long enough to find me," Itachi commented.
"Ran into a bit of trouble," Rin responded, by way of an explanation, not that Itachi truly cared for an answer. Time wasn't the limiting factor in this stage as they were only nearing four hours into the seventy two hour long exam.
Rin followed Itachi to the Uchiha hideout, where he claimed would be safe for them to hideout while they discussed battle strategies.
"Step only where I step," Itachi instructed, his Sharingan spinning to life. "Anywhere else will set off the traps."
Rin nodded as Itachi took the first step into the cave. With each step Itachi took, he always made sure to turn back to check if Rin was ready and had memorized the location, before moving on.
It was a slow and arduous process. At one point, Rin had almost set off a trap by almost landing a few millimeters too far to the right, but Itachi caught her in time, shooting her a warning glare in the dark. Since then, Rin made sure to extra careful.
At the back of the cave, Rin almost wanted to collapse against the cave wall. Forty five minutes just to enter the cave, another forty five minutes to exit which made Rin consider not leaving the cave until the end of the exams. That was impossible, since they needed food and water, as well as another scroll.
"Did you start off with a scroll?" Rin inquired, upon realizing that she had just assumed Itachi didn't have one, just like her.
"Ah," Itachi responded, lighting up a torch on the wall with a quick fire jutsu. "I managed to steal another one earlier, if you need it."
"In that case, all we need to do is survive the next four days or so. I managed to snag some supplies from an abandoned post from the war, but I'm not sure how much food there is. We'll definitely have to leave to secure water." As she spoke, Rin opened the scroll once more, releasing the seal. The box poofed into existence on top of the scroll and Rin flipped the lid open, setting it onto the ground next to her. After lighting one more torch, Itachi joined her on the floor, peering into box.
"Medical supplies and dried provisions," Itachi stated as his hand riffled through the contents of the box.
"Probably all past the expiration date," Itachi mused upon inspecting the worn label of a can of dried beans. "Did you bring any supplies?"
"Only enough to last for a day," Rin admitted. "But if I am correct on the location of the Uchiha hideout, there should be a river about two kilometers south of here." At that, Rin pulled out her map of the Land of Fire once more, handing it over to Itachi.
Itachi accepted the pro-offered paintbrush, marking out the original mark Rin made on the map. He made a new mark, slightly southwest to her original mark.
"The ninneko of the Uchiha clan reside here," Itachi informed her, as he moved to stand up. "They won't appear in the presence of an outsider, but I can go see if they have some provisions to spare."
With Itachi disappearing into the shadows, Rin took the time to sort through the contents of the box. Most of the medical supplies had been soiled by the dirt that managed to fall through the cracks of box, but Rin managed to salvage them by cutting away the dirty outer layer of many bandage rolls and tapes. Sorting through the provisions, Rin noted that most of them were past the expiration date, save for one or two cans. She sealed them back into her scroll along the box, writing a note next to the seal to toss it out after the exam was over.
Itachi returned with two canteens of water and a few packets of dried provisions. Rin eyed the two cats that trailed stealthy behind him, one light gray with a ring of white around its left eye, while the other was light brown, with the outer tips of its ear a dark brown color.
"At birth, each Uchiha member is assigned a ninneko who can turn into our summoning animals if we wish. Momo is Shisui's and Akemi is mine," Itachi explained. "Momo, Akemi, this is Rin Nohara, my comrade."
Momo and Akemi padded both of their way towards Rin, jumping onto her lap before settling there. Rin was uncertain on what to do; if there was anything she learned from Kakashi's ninken, it was that they hated being treated like normal animals. Pakkun was especially vocal about that particular fact.
"You can touch them," Itachi informed her. "They have taken a liking towards you."
"But I'm not an Uchiha," Rin stated, while her fingers brushed lightly against Momo's fur.
"You once saved their master's lives. Their loyalty now extends towards you."
"So you have a summoning contract with them?"
"No," Itachi responded. "Both Shisui and I use crows as our summoning. Not many Uchihas use ninneko as their summons, so most just stay here. Akemi and Momo will return to Konoha with us, but for now, they will help us pass the exams."
Spying on chunins wandering around the forest was a surprisingly boring affair. For the most part, most chunins have opted to become lone wolves, rationing their supplies before taking off towards the rivers to hunt for fish and gather water.
A quick skirmish between an Inuzuka and a Akimichi happened in the first hour, where they ran into each other at a river. After accusing each other of possessing a scroll, when neither of them did, they engaged into a quick fight. Having been evenly matched, both of them were left with scores of cuts and bruises. The Akimichi made the wise decision to retreat and the Inuzuka did not bother to pursue.
Predictably, those with a scroll scouted for a decent hiding spot. Once their spot was established, they quickly began to set up traps in the vicinity. Two had chosen to leave their scrolls behind, one burying it into the ground, while the other stuffed it into a hole in the tree, before setting out to seek provisions.
A smart move in Shikaku's opinion. Even if they were faced with opposition, at least they wouldn't lose the scrolls. And few would think that they would hide it away from their person.
The third carried the scroll on his body, but was able to successfully defend it from the grasps of one of the scroll less competitors.
Shikaku knew that the stars of this particular jonin exam consisted of the Uchiha clan heir and the younger Sarutobi son. The Hokage was secretly rooting for his own student, but it seemed that as the exam progressed, the medic was gaining more attention from the other jonins.
First, she stood out to him when Shikaku realized she was the only one who had actually completed the exam. And made a perfect score in such time limitation. The second time was when Shikaku witness her beating a Hyuga from the main branch, having figured out how to counter his gentle fist technique. Even now, no one was able to figure out how she had done it, save for Itachi who tracked her moves with his Sharingan.
Clearly Shikaku wasn't the only one who had grown to be enraptured by the unpredictable kunoichi. That much had been made clear when the various jonins serving as spectators commented on her every move.
It had started off with Jiraiya pointing out her summoning of Katsuyu, using that as a method of correspondence between Itachi and herself. Then it had been Inoichi who complimented on her preparedness, to have a map of the Land of Fire on hand.
Shikaku's eyes did flickered to Itachi's screen. The boy had simply settled in front of a cave, choosing to mediate, only moving slightly to respond to the summoning on his shoulder.
The jonins were hopeful that Rin's move to Kyoshi Pass would ensure a battle with Asuma, who was in the vicinity. As fun as it was analyzing everyone's strategic moves, it got boring after a few hours and the jonins hoped for another battle to keep it interesting.
Yet Rin was successfully able to capture their interests as she dug out a wooden box from the ground. Right as their curiosity of the contents of the box peaked, Rin shoved it back into the hole, moments before Asuma appeared in front of her.
Finally, the fight they had been hoping for. Except, the fight didn't last more than five minutes, as Rin effectively escaped within the sandstorm that Asuma had created. Asuma was left opponent less once more and took off to track down his next target.
The fourth shinobi who carried a scroll still hadn't found a decent hiding spot. It was his bad luck that he had to cross paths with Itachi Uchiha, who certainly had been tipped off by Rin, and was easily dealt with. It was hardly a battle worth watching, as it was clear who the victor would be from the moment Itachi dropped down from the trees.
It wasn't until Itachi and Rin made their way inside of the cave did the jonins realize that Rin had been able to retrieve the box. And it was then did they find out the contents of the box, supplies.
Like the ten participants, most of the jonins turned in for the night, save a few who remained on duty just in case anything exciting happened.
The next three days were dull, but that was expected. A couple more fights broke out, but none of it was remarkable, in Shikaku's opinion. The fights lacked strategy and were full of flashy jutsus rather than smarts, which made for a boring fight, especially having seen the same moves in the second round.
Itachi emerged from the cave to hunt for food and gather water once a day. All three times, Itachi didn't meet any trouble.
Asuma had successfully managed to invade one of the shinobi's hiding spots, disabling all of their traps and engaging into a fight for the scroll. He emerged victorious and his position quickly turned into that of a prey rather than a predator. Asuma sought refuge for the night in the highest tree that he could find.
At least Shikaku could count on Rin to keep him entertained. The group of jonins, including both the current and former Hokage, had been thoroughly caught off guard when the camera showed them what Rin was working on. Shikaku assumed it was another seal, but it turned out to be a message. For them.
I know you're there.
Rin's hand paused, almost like she was debating whether or not to write more.
On a scale of one to ten, how troublesome is it being the proctor of this exam, Nara san?
In that moment, Shikaku decided that Rin would be promoted, scroll or no scroll. That cheeky brat was a lot more perceptive than he had anticipated.
The fifth day, Itachi and Rin finally left the safety of the Uchiha hideout, on their way to return to Konoha. It was the last chance for the others to get the scroll, so both of them were on high alert, yet Rin couldn't pass up another chance to send another cheeky message to the ones who were monitoring them.
Today's the day you can finally stop stalking sixteen year old girls.
Itachi merely shook his head at her childish antics. For a twelve year old, Itachi was a lot more mature than Rin, but she didn't care. War had taken her childhood away from her and she wanted to enjoy some of it. Even if it was many years too late.
Itachi had noticed the bugs a lot earlier than Rin did, having seen them with his Sharingan, but figured it was part of the exam. It wasn't until Rin met up with Itachi, and felt two bugs with the same chakra did she finally figure out they weren't ordinary insects.
The two of them took their time nearing Konoha. The exam wouldn't end until another few hours and the closer they got to the gates, the riskier it was for their scrolls to be taken. Using her sensory skills, Rin took care to steer them away from the fights and other chakra presences, taking long detours.
In the end, it was inevitable they would have to run into someone. Except that someone happened to Asuma Sarutobi who tensed at their presence. His reaction could be attributed to two things: he now had a scroll to risk losing and he was outnumbered by two opponents that would not be easy to take down. Scratch that, he wouldn't be able to take them.
"Relax. If you don't attack, we won't attack," Rin stated, making a show of putting her kunai back into her holster. Rin jerked her head at Konoha's gates, which were right in view. Deciding to trust her, Asuma darted towards the gate, alongside them and the two cats that followed them.
They were the first to make it past the gates, three minutes before the exam was set to end.
Three minutes later, the seven other contestants made it through the gates. It wasn't clear who had the scroll and who didn't, but none of it mattered. While it was true that failure to obtain the scroll or losing the scroll was marked as a failure of the mission, what was more important was how they went about tracking down a scroll, surviving without the necessary supplies, and the strategies that they made.
Four of them passed. It was finally over.
"I'm so proud of you," Minato told her.
Hearing those words come from her sensei's mouth had never made her happier.
Finally, she had made something of herself.
A/N: Hi again!
Well this is my recreation of the Forest of Death stage except probably not as adrenaline inducing lol. Anyways, as I am writing, I have to constantly remind myself that Itachi is still a kid, which is super hard, since he's so mature for his age. (and I even made him older than he was in the original timeline).
This is it for the jonin exams. I know some of you may be wondering when the real parts begin, like the Kyuubi attack or the Uchiha Massacre and I wish I could write the interesting arcs one after another, but build up is necessary otherwise I would be going from Point A to Z. Like I said though, this story won't necessarily follow canon (so some canon arcs might not even happen :). But also, I also have thought through so many versions of how the Kyuubi attack will go (does it even happen, does it follow canon, does one die and not the other, does someone else who didn't die originally die?) that I will most likely write bonus chapters to entertain the scenarios that don't make it into the story.
Next chapter, we do have an Anbu infiltration mission coming up, so hopefully that'll be interesting? Plus the next chapter will lay the groundwork for a lot of things down the road. It's going to be called Team Ro - Complete.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing your opinions!
-MM