Author Note: The story's moving again. Apologies for the delay. I'm going home for spring break, I miss my cats. I'll still update during the break, but only when I can internet.
I increased the number of total teams from 48 to 64. Sorry, but it works better for my purposes.
Here you go, Chapter 11, on schedule...sorta. Read and review my precious...gollum (Slaps himself). Sorry.
This would have been up earlier, but my bro didn't leave his USB drive out for me to transfer this file, so I had to wait for him to come home. I shall pummel him for you. I will bite him, with teeth! OF FURY and BITING and (Slaps self again.) Gomen...
Chapter 12 is being started, completely outlined, just needs filling in.
Chapter 11: First Challenge, Confrontation!
"What did I do? That's a very foolish question. I'd say the answer should be quite apparent." Aira swept his hands in a circle. "I killed them."
Naruto gritted his teeth."There wasn't supposed to be any killing."
"Naive boy. Killing is not permitted during this stage of the exam, at other times killing is encouraged. I just got ahead of myself a little."
Footsteps from behind Naruto told him that his teammates had arrived.
"Naruto! What-" Shikamaru stopped short when he saw the blood. "Aw man, this is bad."
"Why-?" Sakura gaped.
Aira kicked his sandals off and stepped into the pool of blood. A look of bliss came over his face. "I enjoy the feeling of blood on my roots. It's good for growth."
His hands balled into fists, Naruto looked on the verge of throwing himself bodily at the madman. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
"My name is Aira," he told them. "And I suppose I will grant you the honor of seeing my true face." His face split in a taunting grin, he began to change. Grabbing his green shirt, he ripped it off, tossing it aside. His thin and muscular torso had a number of faint plantlike symbols and seemed to be writhing with a life of its own. Then, the entire right side of his body began to darken. He was a man perfectly bisected, his left half pale as a corpse, his right as black as tar. His white eye and gleaming teeth stood out on the skin. Topping his head was now a head of stark white hair, cut fairly short. The hair was spiked in a way that reminded Naruto of Gaara's hair. Above Aira's green hakama pants, his sides began to rustle, then split. Two enormous leaflike objects began emerging from beneath Aira's skin. They rose up past his head by over a foot. Naruto thought they looked rather like jaws. Shikamaru, however, had a better explanation.
"A venus flytrap."
"Correct. These plants are, you might say, a part of me. I have always had an affinity for them." The jaws of the plant opened widely now, allowing Aira to stretch his arms out to the sides.
"Well," he asked them, popping his neck. "Care to have a little fun?"
"Murdering bastard!" Naruto shouted. "I won't let you get away with this!" Naruto flung himself at Aira, eyes blazing. Aira simply smiled, taking a step back and turning, one of the flytrap's jaws moving of its own accord to bat Naruto away. Naruto found himself behind the murderer. He righted himself and turned to face his opponent.
Aira turned to face him. "Such a direct attack," he shook his head sadly. "Have you learned nothing?" he paused, then smiled. "That won't work on me."
"Is that a fact?" Shikamaru's sardonic voice came from behind him. "How about an indirect attack? Like, for example, the Shadow bind?" Sure enough, Shikamaru's shadow now gripped Aira's tightly, and was now slithering up him towards his neck.
"When I said that wouldn't work, I was referring to your attempt, Nara." Aira's eyes widened madly, and with a surge of chakra, Shikamaru's jutsu was dispelled. "I'm way above your level."
He laughed, then pointed an arm at Shikamaru. "And even if you were strong enough to hold me, the plants would defend me." Aira's palm burst open, discharging a pair of large thick vines, which lashed out at Shikamaru, slamming him backwards into a tree. "Just as they always have."
"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto yelled, creating at least twenty copies of himself. They attacked en masse, supported by Sakura. Aira lazily ducked and back, idly smacking away clones. He landed a quick brutal kick to the center of Naruto's chest, then spun to face Sakura. Seeing her throwing a punch, he snorted, accepting the hit.
CRACK!
Aira was sent skidding backwards by the force of Sakura's blow.
"You're strong," he told her. "I've underestimated you. That actually hurt."
"Oh yeah?" Naruto breathed. "Then this'll hurt even more!"
Aira peered backwards. Behind him stood Naruto, bathed in orange flamelike chakra. His whiskerlike birthmarks had deepened and he had developed a feral cast to his features. He leapt at Aira, a swirling orb of chakra and air in his right hand, his left hand behind him.
"Rasengan!"
Moving quickly, Aira intercepted Naruto's wrist, the Rasengan mere inches from his chest. He whistled.
"Close, very close."
Naruto swung around his other arm, revealing a second Rasengan. Aira's eyes widened. Quickly releasing Naruto's wrist, he leapt back, trying desperately to get out of range. Even so, Aira's left leg was struck. Aira stumbled backwards and Naruto closed in.
"No, no, no!" Aira laughed, a manic grin still on his face. He clapped his hands together, then slammed his palms into the earth. "Ki akki no jutsu! (Tree devil)" A small tree sprouted directly beneath Aira's feet, propelling him upward. Writhing thorned branches erupted from the trunk, repulsing the Konoha shinobi.
Aira glanced down at his injured leg. "You wrecked my pants!" he said indignantly. He cocked his head. "And my leg, I suppose."
"Don't think I'll stop there," Naruto growled.
"No, I think you will," Aira said. "I must admit I've enjoyed this little encounter, Uzumaki Naruto. However, I have things to do." He glanced at the people in front of him. "As do you, I imagine. You don't have forever to complete this exam."
Aira bent down and performed a quick jutsu. Small vines shot from his fingers and wrapped around his injury, completely healing both Aira's leg and pants. "That's better." He glanced up again. "Don't look like that. I'm sure I'll see you again soon enough. This was just a warmup. Now that I know what you are capable of, I shouldn't need to hold back anymore. He began sinking into the tree. The last thing Naruto and the others saw were his pale eyes as he vanished completely.
"We'll be seeing you, Naruto-kun," echoed the shinobi's voice.
"Man, that guy was strong," Shikamaru mused. "Who the hell was he?"
Naruto's chakra subsided as he calmed himself. "I'm not sure, but I don't like it. He was just playing with us."
"When he said 'we'll be seeing you', he made it sound like he'd be bringing along friends."
"Friends as strong as him?" Sakura scratched her chin. "Could he be with Orochimaru?"
"I doubt it," Naruto said. "He seemed focused on me. I think he was with Akatsuki."
"Akatsuki?" Sakura blinked.
"Akatsuki...of course!" Shikamaru shook his head. "I've heard Asuma-sensei talking about them. Apparently they're all S-Rank criminals who abandoned their villages to seek power. No one really knows much of the organization or its goals."
"Sasuke's brother Itachi is one of them. He was the one who put Kakashi and Sasuke in the hospital."
"Why?"
"They got in his way." Naruto said morosely. "I don't know much about them, but I do know one thing they were after."
"And that was?"
"Back when they hospitalized Kakashi and Sasuke, they were after me."
"You? Why would they be after you?"
"It's...complicated." Naruto looked up. "Let's hurry, we're running out of time." He grinned. "We wouldn't want to lose when we've almost won, ne? We'll worry about other things later." He shouldered the prisoner and sprinted away.
Sakura and Shikamaru glanced at each other, eyebrows raised.
"Dajan-san! They're here, just like those kids said!" the Chuunin called.
Hida Dajan approached with three other Chuunin, his face grim. "I see." He looked up from the gruesome sight. "All right, you lot don't need to do anything more here. I'll investigate this."
"Hai, Dajan-san."
"Have Keihiko-san take over for me as proctor. Keep the examinees coming. I'll be taking care of this personally."
"...Are you sure you won't need anyone to assist you sir?"
Dajan glanced down at Arato's severed head. "No, I'll be able to handle this on my own," he said distantly. His eyes gleamed coldly.
"All right," the Chuunin turned to his fellows. "Let's go."
The four departed quickly. One of them, a woman, turned to her comrades.
"Oy, Renshi, you sure about this?"
"Trust me, Oyumi. Getting in Dajan's way in this case is a sure way to end up six feet under." He glanced back. "You saw his eyes, didn't you?"
Dajan just stood still, staring at the bloodstained ground. He could hardly believe what had happened. Those kids from Konoha had told him that they had found one of the members of team 1 standing above the bodies of Arato's team, and that he had admitted to the deed. The evidence available supported that story. The wounds on the victims' mutilated torsos were consistent with those caused by plant-based techniques.
A tear came unbidden to the Jounin's eye. Dajan had been the boy's Jounin sensei back when his team had first become Genin eight years before. To see such three such promising shinobis' careers cut short pained him. Someone had killed not one, but three of Dajan's important people. He unsheathed his blade and ran his finger along the edge.
"Someone has much to answer for."
Despite the disruption caused by the death of team 25, the exam continued unabated.
"Yo, boss! Ready to go get that scroll?"
The Tsuchikage's nephew Duragu Buradi glanced at the little man. He stroked his pleated beard and laughed uproariously, his stomach quaking.
"Niku, you little fool. Of course we're not going to get the scroll. I'm easily the strongest ninja here, but the three of us are about as stealthy as a pack of drunken badgers."
The third teammate was completely covered from head to foot in a heavy suit of armor. He shrugged.
CLANK.
"But how are we supposed to win then, Buradi-san?" echoed the man, adjusting his helmet.
"I already know where the prisoner is, Yamago," Buradi told them. He tapped the weighted point of his spear against the cavern floor. "Special considerations."
CLANK.
Yamago scuffed the ground. "Isn't that cheating?"
"Only technically. Think of it as leveling the playing field for those of us who lack stealth."
"Yeah," Niku jumped to Buradi's arm and sat upon his shoulder. "And we'll make up for it by working twice as hard in the next two exams!"
And the exam rolled on...
Discorujia glanced at the wall. "Look's like we're next," she purred softly.
She pointed at another wall, where pictures of the winning teams could be seen. "Looks like the Konoha losers made it."
Nameless clapped his hands together lazily. "Then we'll have to do our best then, won't we?" He began loping towards the door. "We'll have a prime oppurtunity to take them out during the second exam."
"Come on Nhaki," Discorujia called.
Nhaki popped his neck, then followed his teammates. "What a pointless exercise," his voice buzzed.
"Not bad Nhaki," Nameless said, surveying the results of Nhaki's attack. The opposing team lay on their backs, stunned. Their clothes still had trace amounts of flame licking over them, and they smoked like chimmneys. "You sure they're alive?"
"Completely," Nhaki's response was punctuated by a sharp click as the grille of his mask folded back into place, covering his mouth. "I hid knockout needles in the flames, simple trick, but they'll be out for two hours."
"Speaking of being out, let's get this finished," Nameless pulled out a set of cards. "None of our competition is anything compared to us, and the guards aren't even shinobi." He raised an eyebrow at Discorujia. "Crank up the amplifier, girl, and end this in just one more move. Checkmate."
The lavender haired girl raised a hand to her throat and began turning a dial. "Ready for my big solo," she sneered. "You guys move on. Don't forget to dispel when you start feeling woozy."
"Right." Nhaki and Nameless took off at a run.
"See you when we're done!" Nameless called back.
Discorujia just stood there, twisting the dial. When she was satisfied, she took several deep breaths to prepare herself. Removing a tuning fork from her pouch, she struck it against a tree, nodding at the clear tone. Taking another breath, she began to sing. A hauntingly beautiful melody emanated from her, amplified by the machine. The acoustics of the cave enabled the sound to permeate the entire cavern clearly. Everywhere, guards and ninja alike blinked confusedly as the first strains reached their ears. Those with the training utilized the dispel technique, but the vast majority fell into a deep sleep from Discorujia's lullaby. Nameless and Nhaki would find no obstacles on their quest to retrieve the prisoner and win the first challenge.
And it continued...
"I can take it from here," Gaara told his siblings simply. The three stood atop the slanted roof of the central castle. Gaara glanced down at the torchlight below. "I'll be quick."
"But Gaara," Kankurou protested. "How will you find the scroll in there?"
"Maybe I'll get lucky."
"Nyurr?"
Gaara smiled and gave Temari and Kankurou the thumb's up. "Lucky."
"I guess Nyurr could make a good distraction and pathfinder," Temari admitted.
Nyurr shook himself, then sneezed, leaping to Gaara's shoulder.
Gaara shrugged. "Let's see what happens."
He vanished in a cloud of sand.
Deep inside the fortress, two guards were standing at attention beside the door to the guard captain's room. Even so, they were managing to hold a philosophical discussion while they did so.
"No shit, existensialism?"
"You got it."
The first took a draw on a cigarette and scratched his rough beard. "So what is it that makes us human, then?"
"You got me. Maybe it's...hmmm...maybe it's-"
"Nyurr."
"Nyurr? What the hell is Nyurr?"
"Nyurr!" came the more urgent response.
"Eh? A kitten..." the smoking guard looked Nyurr over. "Oh, god, it's so CUTE!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
The guard looked up from where he was kneeling and teasing Nyurr with his fingers. "My mother never let me have a kitty when I was a kid."
His partner cocked his head. "Oh-kayyy..."
Nyurr was busy sniffing at the first guards fingers. He pondered them for a moment, blinking his green eyes. Flicking his eyes towards his distracted playmate, Nyurr seemed to come to a decision. Leaning his head out, he opened his mouth wide and bit down. Hard.
"YOWCH!"
The other guard laughed uproariously, then suddenly noticed something strange when sand began dribbling onto his head from the ceiling.
The injured one smiled. "Cute. What do you think I should call him?"
"Nyurr..."
"How about Nyurr?" came a voice from above. "That's what I call him."
The dimwitted guards gaped, staring upward as a wave of sand, crested by a red-headed teenager smashed towards them. It propelled them backwards through the door into the office. Pressed up against the wall by sand, they stared into Gaara's intense eyes. Nyurr perched atop Gaara's head, matching Gaara's stare.
"I see the resemblance," the smoker wheezed, looking at the black-ringed eyes. "Now what?"
WHUMP! WHUMP!
A solid block of sand smashed each guard once, knocking them out. Nyurr leapt to a table, then back to Gaara, a scroll in his mouth.
"Excellent." Gaara turned around, noticing a large group of guards congregating. "Let's clear a path." The Sand shinobi surged forward, a veritable battering ram of sand leading the way.
A minute layer, a huge geyser of sand smashed out of the castle, cascading into the courtyard. Kankurou sweatdropped.
"I think he's done."
Hours later...
"Let's just make this a quick, quiet snatch and grab. No noise if we can help it."
"Teeheehee!" Maiyuu giggled, then blanched under the stare of her teammates. "What? I'm getting it out of my system before we get started."
She began drumming on a jug strapped to her hip.
"No," Nazo told her firmly, jabbing her hand with his staff. "None of that."
"I wasn't gonna drink it now."
"Only in emergencies, Maiyuu-chan," Edo sighed, slipping his mask into place.
"All right, Edo-kun," Maiyuu yawned widely and settled down.
The wall presented no obstacle to the three shinobi. They vaulted it with little fanfare, attaching themselves to the wall. Climbing quickly, they made their way up the wall. Edo raised his hand suddenly.
"Wait." He knocked at the wall, then gave a satisfied nod. He performed a number of seals and breathed mist onto the wall. Edo then brought up his nekode claws, stabbed the wall and moved his arm quickly in a circle. The weakened section of wall fell inward. Maiyuu moved quickly, catching the section with her bouken. Nazo breathed a sigh of relief.
Five minutes later, scroll in hand, they began crawling down the wall. Edo was crawling down the vertical wall face, digging the claws in when he needed support. Nazo had his staff strapped to his back, gripping the wall with a tenacity that was almost monkeyesque. Maiyuu was simply walking straight down, her body perpendicular to the castle. Everything went smoothly until they were no more than thirty feet above the courtyard. A shrill whistle split the air. Edo and his companions flattened themselves against the wall.
Edo cocked an ear towards the growing gaggle of voices. "It's not us. They found one of the other teams coming over the wall. Getting out may be a bit tougher than we expected."
"Just so long as they don't see us." Nazo eyed the large crowd of guards that was forming below. "No one make a sound."
Maiyuu's nose twitched. Her black streak of hair was dangling in front of her nose, tickling it. She wrinkled her nose and sniffed. Nazo turned a horrified gaze on her. Edo groaned.
"ACHOO!"
Suddenly they had the attention of dozens of guards.
"More intruders!"
"Move in!"
"Quick, you two! Drop!" Nazo cried. The three dropped down, landing lightly with their backs against the wall of the castle. The guards closed in, trapping the three of them.
Edo stepped forward, hands already flashing in a string of seals. "Kosuishuuha! (Lesser Water Wall)" Pounding his claws into the earth, he expelled chakra downward. A large burst of water sprung from the earth, knocking back a large number of the guards, others were knocked to the ground, cursing. Water covered the ground three inches deep. Other guards began began stepping through the water. Performing an additional three seals, Edo performed another technique.
"Stunning Shock!" he crowed. The technique he had just used, under normal circumstances, possessed enough power to stun an adult human. However, this version used additional chakra, which conducted through the water was enough to knock down the second group of guards. There was now an opening in the ring of wooden spears. "Run for it!"
They charged through the opening, Nazo striking down several of the more alert guards with a barrage of erratic single-handed blows of his staff. Giving a quick spin, he tripped five at once. Maiyuu grabbed him and pulled him along as she passed.
"No time, no time, Nazo-chan! Time to save the prisoner!"
"Nazo!" Edo called. "Which way do we want?"
The young man unrolled the scroll while running. "Let's see..." He pointed to the southeast corner. "That way!"
"Alright, then. Maiyuu-chan, clear us a path!"
"Right!" Drawing her bouken, Maiyuu began charging at an accelerated speed. She began running along the wall, braining the mercenaries as she passed. Leaping and flipping, she left a trail of bruised and groaning guards in her path.
Even so, there were those who got through the mad assault of Ke Maiyuu. They adopted a defensive stance in front of the other two.
"That's useless!" Edo boomed, slashing with his nekode. Pieces of spearshaft fell like rain as the spears' owners gaped. Pivoting, Edo snatched the feline idol off his back, swinging it at shoulder height and knocking the shocked guards heavily into the wall. Nazo and Edo scaled the wall at top speed, following Maiyuu closely.
"Whoo, that was fun!" Maiyuu laughed.
"Next time we need stealth, Maiyuu-chan," Nazo gasped. "Please tie all your hair back."
Maiyuu blushed and stuck her tongue out, sheathing her wooden blade in one smooth motion.
"Yo, Nazo," Edo adjusted his overcoat and regarded his claws. "Those new claws done yet?"
"Not yet. Me and Maiyuu're still having trouble with the chakra activation work. It's still sluggish. It'll be a couple months, at least."
"Fine," he glanced at his weapons. "Nekode are nice, but I would prefer that my claws feel a bit more natural."
"Talk later, sillies," chided Maiyuu. "We have a challenge to win."
The three vanished swiftly into the trees.
And finally, the first test comes to an end...
"Well, Keihiko-san, how did the first exam turn out?"
"Very well, Tsuchikage-sama," The female jounin bowed to the woman before her. "There was a victor in every single competition. There will be a full complement of teams for the second exam." Seppun Keihiko smiled wryly. "Don't worry Tsuchikage-sama. Your nephew was one of the winners."
Duragu Zanako, the Tsuchikage, was quite a young woman for someone in her position. At 27, her own nephew Buradi was only one year her junior. Despite this, Zanako commanded a great deal of respect in the hidden village of Stone.
"I hope it doesn't go to his head." Zanako turned serious. "What about the death of Team 25?"
"Dajan-san is investigating it, but it looks like the culprit was a member of Team 1."
"From Grass."
"Yes, but according to eyewitness accounts, he wasn't who he appeared to be."
"A henge?"
"I believe so. A modified henge at the least."
Zanako frowned, biting her lip. "I hope Dajan-kun is careful. I don't like this at all."
"Nor do I."
"This was no accidental killing. There was malice in it. It's like he killed them merely because he could." Zanako inclined her head. "Anyway, send Imura-san in. He's proctoring the second test and I have some matters to discuss with him. Get some rest, Keihiko-san. It's been a long couple of days."
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama." Keihiko bowed and flitted out of the room.
Zanako closed her eyes and awaited her next appointment.
Next Chapter: Labyrinth
Though I didn't cover all the groups, you can still assume that Tetsu's group and Kaigen's group passed. I wouldn't have created them only to get rid of them. They will play more of a part in the next couple of chapters.
All right, as it stands, there are about 16 teams left in the exam:
Team 43 (Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru)
Team 3 (Gaara, Kankurou, Temari)
Team 55 (Discorujia, Nameless, Nhaki)
Team 36 (Edo, Nazo, Maiyuu)
Team 11(Kaigen, Takame, Raina)
Team 22 (Tetsu, Gusuta, Jo)
Team 30 (Buradi, Niku, Yamago)
and nine other teams.
Only 8 out of these 48 people will move on to the finals. Any guesses on who the lucky eight might be?
Trust me, next chapter, Nyurr may freak you out. Just a bit. Fear him.
All righty, even more OC's. I'm debating giving Dajan, Zanako, and a few of the new Stone-nin a bigger part later in the story. I have a backstory for them I kinda like.
OK, couple of questions for you lot: Is Aira's skin really two different colors? It looks like it in the manga, but I'm not sure.
I'm also just winging it on the translation of Kosuishuuha. If anyone has a better translation...
