Placement Exam: First Round
Karasu awoke before dawn the next morning to find Usagi kneeling on the floor beside him, her head over his heart as she slept. He knew she must have had another nightmare from the Nine-tails, as it was the only time she slept so close to him. He smiled as he remembered the first time it had happened, he had woken up to find her curled up beside him much as she was now. Karasu tried not to move so that she could get some sleep, but Sarada apparently woke up about the same time he did. He turned his head as he heard her door open, finding his cousin staring at him with a look of shock and embarrassment, as evidenced by the deep shade of red her face turned.
Karasu put a finger to his lips to signal her to be quiet, gently nudging Usagi to wake her. His teammate sat up groggily, feeling just as embarrassed as Sarada when she realized where she was. She quickly went to the young Uchiha girl and began whispering to her as they went back to Sarada's room to dress. Karasu stretched himself and stepped outside to find Inu.
He found his other teammate sitting in the branches of a small tree in the yard, watching the sun as it rose over the distant mountains, painting the sky a beautiful combination of gold and pink. Without a word, Inu leaned over precariously from his perch to pass a metal canteen to Karasu. Karasu accepted the drink happily, knowing that it likely contained the unique blend that Inu's clan had once used to remain alert for long stretches of time. The mixture contained coffee beans and a myriad of other ingredients meant to keep a person awake and alert, it helped that the tonic tasted incredible when Inu mixed in honey.
"Is there any left?" Usagi asked suddenly from beside Karasu as he downed a mouthful, nearly making him choke.
He passed the canteen to his teammate, noticing his cousin standing beside her with a downcast look on her face. He decided that it would be best to speak with her alone, as she kept casting worried glances at Usagi's back. He used his combined ocular powers to cast a Tsukuyomi on Sarada without alerting the others. Sarada gasped as she suddenly found herself standing atop a high mountain with her cousin, two large dragons flying circles above them.
"I take it you saw the scars on Usagi's back," Karasu said bluntly. Sarada answered him with a slight nod, her eyes glancing nervously overhead.
"They won't harm you. I only brought you into my mindscape so we could speak alone," he explained.
"What happened to Usagi to cover her in so many scars?" She asked him.
"She was taken from her crib by members of Root from the Foundation. They forced a piece of the Nine-tailed Fox into her shortly after, hoping to make their own Jinchuriki weapon. Unfortunately, Usagi's mind was almost torn apart by it, and they would lash her whenever she refused to comply with their orders. When I found her, she was naked and bound in heavy shackles in the lowest part of one of their facilities," he explained.
"I knew the Foundation was cruel, but to go so far," Sarada replied sadly.
"Inu and I have been helping her harness the Fox's chakra without it consuming her, but it still terrorizes her through her dreams. That's why you found us as we were this morning, she says it's the only way she can drown it out. I think they play a big part in that," he explained, pointing up at the dragons above them.
"What are they?" Sarada asked him.
"Much like the Biju and Jinchuriki, they and their sibling exist within me, lending me their power," he told her.
"So you are a Jinchuriki?" Sarada asked, her confusion plain on her face.
"To simplify things, yes," he said with a slight chuckle.
They stood quietly for a few minutes before Sarada exclaimed that they had to get back before the others noticed. Karasu laughed at her outburst, explaining to his younger cousin that the Tsukuyomi compresses time, that they could spend a week within his mindscape and only a second or two would pass in reality. All the same, he dropped his ocular genjutsu when one of the dragons warned that someone was about to approach them. Sasuke was walking out into the yard when Karasu dropped the genjutsu, the Hokage walking beside him.
"I have good news!" Naruto exclaimed with an enthusiastic wave as he approached.
"Naruto got the go ahead to perform a placement exam for your team," Sasuke told Karasu, earning a disapproving look from his friend.
"There is a catch, unfortunately, but I don't think it's a bad one. Due to the nature of your abilities, our choices for your opponents are limited," Naruto added.
"Karasu, since you are a mix of Uchiha and Hyuga, your best match would be Sasuke. Usagi, since you have a piece of Kurama in you, I'll be your opponent," Naruto explained.
"What about me?" Inu asked the Hokage.
"Well, that's a harder one. Sasuke tells me that you're way beyond the Inuzuka clan's capabilities, but they would probably be the best matchup for you," he answered with a pensive expression.
"Could you not pit me against their leader?" Inu asked, determined not to be the only one with a poor matchup.
"I don't see why not. Kiba did earn that title through his actions during the war. I'll see if he's willing to participate," Naruto said.
"Give him this as a token of my request to face him," Inu said, removing the primitive necklace he wore around his neck. Naruto looked at the teeth bound to the cord with a strange look in his eyes.
"They're not human, they're wolf teeth. If he recognizes this, I will know that the Inuzuka still carry on at least some of our traditions," Inu explained.
"What if he doesn't recognize it?" Naruto asked.
"Then I will have to offer you my apologies before beating some sense into him and taking his title," Inu said, his eyes becoming feral as he spoke.
Sakura had been watching from the door, jumping into the middle when she saw the look on Inu's face. In his feral state of mind, Inu prepared to attack her the moment she appeared before him. Karasu let loose a wave of dragon chakra as a warning to both parties.
"Inu, I will not tolerate you shedding the blood of my kin, regardless of the circumstance," he added in a tone that made the Leaf shinobi feel like they were in the presence of some ancient and terrifying monster, a monster that could have scared the Ten-tails into submission.
"I'm sorry, Karasu. It's my fault for jumping in ready for a fight," Sakura said apologetically.
"Sorry," Inu muttered to his teammate.
"Apologize to them, not me," Karasu said sternly.
Inu bowed deeply as he apologized to Karasu's relatives, an act that caught them by surprise. It made them realize just how powerful Karasu must be to be able to bring such ferocity to a halt before blood could be shed. Sarada looked to her cousin with admiration, hoping to become even half the shinobi that he and her father were. She knew that in an all out fight, even the combined might of her father and the Hokage might not be enough to stop Karasu.
"When can we do the placement exam?" Karasu asked, his tone once more polite as he addressed the Hokage.
"At first light tomorrow, if that works for you. I still have to deliver Inu's message to Kiba," Naruto replied, an edge of nervousness creeping into his voice with his last sentence.
"Thank you," Karasu said with a bow.
"Well, I'll let you guys prepare. Sasuke can show you to the Forest of Death in the morning, it was the only place Granny Tsunade would let me do this placement exam," Naruto said over his shoulder as he left.
Karasu and his team spent the rest of the day exploring the village with Sarada and Sakura, Sasuke having excused himself to assist Naruto in making the preparations for their exam. They met Sarada's teammates for lunch. Naruto's son, Boruto, took an immediate liking to them, while the other boy, Mitsugi, struck them as the type that didn't particularly like anyone. They returned to the house as dusk fell over the village.
"Are you sure you guys don't want to train a little before the match?" Sakura asked Karasu and his team as they sat down to eat.
"I don't think it would be safe for us to train for the battle tomorrow. Our abilities tend to cause a lot of destruction," Karasu explained.
"I'm not sure what else we could do to train, either. Karasu had us treat our assaults on the Foundation as opportunities to hone our skills," Inu added as Sakura set their plates down.
"We'll have to sit down one of these days so you can tell us about it. I'm very interested to know what you guys have been up to," Sakura said with a smile, Sarada chiming in that she wanted to as well.
They retired after dinner, each of them returning to where they had slept the previous night. They slept peacefully in the house, glad that they didn't have to remain as alert for an ambush while they slept. Sasuke woke everyone up an hour before dawn so that they could get ready. Karasu donned his mask and Aka's cloak before leaving, wanting to show just how far he'd come since he and Sasuke last sparred.
They arrived at the designated exam location before the sun began to brighten the sky, Sasuke becoming impatient as Naruto still had yet to arrive. Just as Sasuke was about to go find the Hokage, Naruto showed up with Kiba, both looking tired. Inu handed them his canteen as the two walked up, stating that he wanted to be sure they were all at optimal performance. Kiba was accompanied by a large dog that kept glancing nervously at Inu.
"We have to wait a few more minutes to begin, Tsunade and Kakashi want to be present. I already called both of them, they should be here shortly," Naruto said after downing a hearty mouthful of Inu's potent brew.
"Whoa! This works better than the special food pills my clan makes," Kiba exclaimed as he too downed some of the drink.
"This is what we used before making food pills. I might share the recipe with you later," Inu said, his tone causing Kiba to bristle with anger.
"Save it for the match, Inu," Karasu said warningly.
"Sorry," Inu muttered.
"So this is the fabled mixed-blood son of Itachi?" A woman's voice asked from the shadows.
"He certainly looks like his father," a man's voice added.
A second later, a woman with long blonde hair and a body that could have ended a fight before it began emerged alongside a man with grey hair and a mask over the lower half of his face.
"Glad to see you guys made it. I think we were about to have to start the exam without you," Naruto said.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Fifth, Lord Sixth," Karasu said with a small bow, surprising the former Hokages.
"Can we get started already? I'm itching to fight him," Inu asked impatiently, gesturing at Kiba with a clawed finger.
"Bring it on!" Kiba shouted angrily. Clearly their desire to fight each other was mutual.
"Why don't we let them go first? I can already tell that they're impatient to go at each other's throats," Tsunade said with an exasperated sigh.
Inu and Kiba took up ready positions opposite each other. Akamaru seemed hesitant at first, but quickly changed his attitude when Kiba threw him a food pill. As the pair performed the Inuzuka's man-beast clone jutsu, Inu used his transformation. Akamaru whimpered as Inu's transformation ended, knowing that he was facing a predator unlike anything he had ever faced before.
Kiba launched his fang over fang attack, intending to barrel through Inu. As the two went flying towards him, Inu stopped them with his hands before they could actually hit him. Their rotation based attack failed, Kiba and Akamaru attempted to leap away in opposite directions to gain ground. Inu gave chase, sniffing out Kiba to ensure he had the right target. Just as Kiba's feet touched the branch of a tree high above, the branch exploded into a hail of splinters. He turned to see Inu closer to the tree, one of his hands where the branch had extended out.
Kiba failed to block as Inu launched himself at the Inuzuka shinobi, his rage and disgust towards the "domesticated" branch of his clan fueling him above and beyond his usual ferocity. Inu spun his body around, delivering an axe kick to Kiba's abdomen that made blood spew out of his mouth. Dust and dirt exploded upwards as Kiba's body slammed into the ground, a second eruption occurring when Inu slammed into him. Inu began to pummel Kiba relentlessly, pushing him deeper into the ground. Akamaru was helpless to defend his partner, reduced to whimpering and crying from afar as he watched Kiba receive a beating unlike any he'd ever had.
"Do you submit?" Inu growled as he lifted Kiba by his throat.
Kiba responded by lashing out with a kick towards Inu's head, dread filling him as Inu caught the attack. Inu's face twisted into a feral grin as he crushed the bones of Kiba's leg in his grip, causing the hardened shinobi to scream in pain. Inu tossed Kiba to the ground, where he tried crawling towards Akamaru. Inu closed in and stomped on the back of Kiba's good leg, shattering his knee. Kiba cried out again, causing Akamaru to ignore the instinct screaming at him to stay away to help his partner. Akamaru launched himself at Inu, only to be knocked to the ground by a backhanded blow.
"Do. You. Submit?" Inu asked again, punctuating each word with a kock to Kiba's ribs.
"I submit!" Kiba cried as he felt his ribs cracking, coughing up blood after screaming his response.
"Maybe there's still hope for the Inuzuka to reclaim the glory of the clan they came from," Inu said as he reverted to human form and went to stand with his teammates.