Summary: Recca, Kagero, and a SI are placed in the world of the Nine Tails
Crossover: Flame of Recca, Naruto, Hitman: Codename 47 and Contracts
Disclaimer: I don't own what other people do. I do own me, though.
Feedback: Sure thing... I like hearing how I can improve :) I also like hearing people's opinions on things. I have a fragile ego and low self esteem - please review?
Pre-fic Comments:
In the manga, Kin looks way hot. Haven't seen more than the first ep of the anime. Her affiliations are a true shame...
Again, if anyone knows of any general purpose Naruto fanfic mailing lists, I'd appreciate a link :)
mrasdfghj: Thanks for the compliment... I like SI fics, too, especially wellwritten ones (which I hope this one is.)
Alex DarkFire: That might not happen... I was planning on rolling up some random match ups for the prelims. (My own brand of random, where they get re-rolled until something interesting crops up.)
"See, it helps me to forget
That we're all born... to die."
-Bon Jovi, 'Dry County'
Shigeo looked up at the smith.
"Another order?"
"Yep. Metsugaara needs more bullets."
I yawned as Kakashi appeared in front of the door to Room 301.
"Another obstacle," I asked.
"Nope," the jounin said. "I'm here to tell you that the Exam can only be taken by teams of three."
"So," I responded. "I already knew that."
"Bro," Naruto said, highly disappointed. "Why didn't you tell me? Kakashi-sensei, why didn't you tell me!"
"What for," I shrugged. "Neither you or Sasuke would have backed down from the chance, and the Exam should be a nice change from our normal... duties, if you can call them that."
"Oh, okay," Naruto said.
"I wanted each of you to enter of your own free will," Kakashi smiled. "Now go!"
I saluted him flippantly as we went through the double doors.
"I didn't know there were so many genin wanting promotion," I said mildly.
The room was packed with genin from all of the ninja countries, and also many from the smaller villages like the Hidden Rain.
"Sasuke-kun," a pair of voices squealed. Loudly. "You're late!"
As both Yamazaki Ino and Haruno Sakura approached the moody genin to hug him (and wuv him and thqueeze him to itty bitty pieces!), they frowned at each other.
"Get away from Sasuke," Sakura shouted. "Ino-buta!"
"Shut up, forehead-girl!"
"You guys are taking this stupid test too," a lazy voice said. Ah, Shikamaru, trying to distract the two fangirls. "Don't die."
"Same to you," I said. "Funerals and the aftermath are too troublesome."
Shikamaru smiled slightly at that joke, then frowned. "Man... this sucks."
"It could be worse," I offered. "You could be pulling up potatoes."
And with that, the other two rookie genin teams from Konoha appeared, introducing themselves. Domon's team, and Recca's team, as I thought of them.
"Oi, you should be more quiet," a somewhat mousy man called out to us as he approached. He was dressed mostly in black, with a fair amount of white, and had glasses on. "You guys are rookies just out of the Academy, right?"
"And you are...," I trailed off.
"I'm Kabuto," the man said. "But instead of that, look behind you."
I sighed as we did. There was a group of guys who looked like Happosai would after having just been told that he had to live life with no pretty girls.
"Those guys are from the Hidden Rain, and have short tempers," Kabuto said.
"I'd be shitty with everyone too, with weather that crappy," I interjected.
"Everyone is nervous about the Exam, quiet down before you make a scene," Kabuto continued. "Well, I can't blame you. You're clueless rookies - you remind me of how I used to be."
"Before you grew old and got grey hair and wrinkles," I said.
"Stupid scarface," Sakura said, hitting me on the head. She never did truly forgive me for being in the same team as her Sasuke. "Kabuto-san... so this is your... second time, right?"
"Nope, my seventh time," he said gleefully. "This Exam is held twice a year, so this is my fourth year."
"Wow, so you know a lot about the Exam," Domon said.
"That's right."
"Sugoi... impressive," Naruto grinned.
"Idiot, you should have learnt how to work the Exam to pass by at least your fourth attempt," I sniffed.
"Maaatoraaaa," Naruto whined.
"Hehe... I'll share some info with you cute rookies," Kabuto said, fanning out some cards. "With these nin-info cards..."
Kabuto briefly explained that information was burnt onto the cards about the Exam and the candidates, and that his chakra was needed to reveal the information. He showed a card with a graph of the various countries' participants as an example.
"Do you have cards with information on individuals," Sasuke asked.
"Hehe, there are some guys you're worried about? My information isn't perfect, but I do have it. Even on you guys. Give me some names."
I didn't like that. Secrecy was one of the core nin concepts.
"Gaara of the Hidden Sand, Rock Lee of the Leaf, and Hanabishi Matora of the Leaf," Sasuke reeled off, eyes studying Kabuto as my face went slack, concealing emotion.
"Oh, you know their names, should be easy then," Kabuto said. His hand whipped three cards from his deck.
"Okay, first is Rock Lee," Kabuto said. "He's a year older than you guys. 20 D-Ranks, 12 C-Ranks. His sensei is Gai. His taijutsu has improved greatly, but nothing else is impressive. He got attention last year as a talented genin, but did not enter the Exam. On his team are Hyuuga Neji and Ten Ten."
"Your attention to detail is impressive," I allowed.
"Thank you, Hanabishi-san," Kabuto smiled. He pulled out another card, revealing the contents. "Next is Gaara of the Desert. Eight C-Ranks and... wow, a B-Rank mission as a genin. Since he's a newcomer from another country I don't have much info, but it seems he returned from all of his missions without a scratch."
Sasuke began to sweat, slightly, and Naruto was highly impressed.
"Either he's truly talented, or his sensei is very protective," I observed.
"And next is you, Hanabishi-san. Hmm. Hanabishi Matora. Twenty D-Rank missions and one C-Rank. Sensei is Kakashi. His skills are unknown to a large extent, but his ninjutsu and genjutsu are suspected to be high due to an abnormal amount of time spent in the Konoha nin-library. On his team is Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Highly distinctive scar on his face."
"Ma, ma, you could have learnt that just by looking up my public records," I yawned.
Kabuto observed that most of the genin present were the elite genin from other countries.
Naruto began to shake, and Hyuuga Hinata's hand began to rise to comfort him, when his head rose rebelliously, and he pointed at the rest of the room.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I won't lose to you bastards!," he roared. "Ow!"
The last was due to me belting him over the head.
"Ignore him," I called out. "His mouth works faster than his brain does. A lot faster."
Naruto promptly belted me over the head in return. "Bro! Don't be mean!"
"Truth hurts," I shot back.
"Quiet down you worthless bastards," a familiar voice roared as at the other end of the room, a large cloud of smoke appeared.
I groaned as Morino Ibiki appeared in the dissipating smoke. This is not good. Behind him were many chuunin, all with either neutral or grumpy expressions on their faces.
"Thanks for waiting," he said. "I am Morino Ibiki, the Examiner for the Chuunin Exam's first test."
I groaned audibly this time.
"What is it," Fuuko asked me.
"He's head of the ANBU Torture and Interrogation unit," I whispered back. "He's going to try and break us, you can rely on that. Everyone, keep your cool."
"Quiet," Ibiki roared. His face was forbidding. "There will be no fighting without the permission of the Examiner. Even if permission is given, killing your opponent will not be allowed. Those pigs that disobey me will be failed immediately. Do I make myself clear?"
"Heh, this test sounds easy," a boy smirked. His head protector had a musical note on it.
Some of the chuunin chuckled darkly at that pronouncement.
"We will now start the first test of the Chuunin Exam. Instead of your current seating arrangements, you will pick one of these tabs and sit at the seats assigned to you."
"Splitting us up, creating uncertainty," I muttered to my friends. "Remember, keep cool and think during this."
"We will then pass out the exams."
"WHAAAAT! A PAPER TEST," Naruto cried incredulously.
With that, we all took the seats assigned to us. I was at the end of a row, next to a Stone nin. Ibiki then told us the rules. They boiled down to 'one point per question' and 'Team test total scores will be taken'. He placed an unusual emphasis on the typical 'no cheating' rule, though, which immediately created a red flag in my mind. The last rule was that if any team member failed the test, his team mates would fail with him.
I sighed. As well as this stupid test, I'd have to pass the answers to Naruto with one of the subtechniques of the Mindrape, the purely visual one.
"Begin," Ibiki commanded.
I sighed again as I looked over the questions. There was no way that Genin verging on Chuunin could answer crap like this! (Not without some heavy duty study.) Time to break the rules, but not get caught doing it. My justification was that we were ninja, not samurai, and were expected to do sneaky stuff.
My hands beneath the bench, I started flashing through some handseals. Due to practice, I had become able to do this jutsu without collapsing. (Had to love stupid people like everyone else my age. Well, almost everyone.)
"Mindrape no Jutsu," I whispered, focusing it on a person who was frantically scribbling down answers. I didn't do it on one of the examiners since it was common practice, in my other life, for the examiners to have no idea as to the content of the exam. Hmmm... a bar, I decided, going by the age of the person.
-
The Chuunin plant to provide answers for the genin to cheat off blinked blearily. Oh yes, he'd done it, and was in a bar.
"Wake up, man," his friend advised him. I let the man fill in the details.
"Heh, stupid genin," the chuunin said. "Hehe, even if they skipped every question from one to nine, they could still pass."
That must mean that there is something special about ten.
"I know," his friend laughed. "Ibiki sure is sadistic, but that Question Ten is pure genius."
"Yeah, with agreeing to take it is an automatic pass," the chuunin laughed. Hey, he thought it was safe - it was after the exam, and he was having a few drinks, right?
-
"Wake up," one of the chuunin examiners commanded their plant.
My own eyes opened from that mental mindscape. Controlling the muscle signals coming from the target's brain added a bit of complexity to the Mindrape, but not very much. Time to tell the others.
I flashed through the hand signs for a subtechnique of the Mindrape. Sauron's Mouthpiece, as I had decided to call it.
"Mouthpiece no Jutsu," I whispered, focusing on multiple people rather than one for this technique.
Naruto was about to go into meltdown (or start cheating, one of the two) when a voice spoke to him.
"Hey," it said. "No, don't look around. No one else can hear me speak."
Naruto nodded slightly.
"Now, you can safely skip questions one to nine according to the private thoughts of the examiners, and deciding to take Question Ten is in itself an automatic pass."
A large, shit eating grin spread across Naruto's face.
This exam was his!
The same message was repeated verbatim to Domon, Hinata, Kiba, Recca, Chouji, and Fuuko. (Shikamaru's team could figure it out themselves - Yamazaki already had her technique she could use.) It was also sent to Sasuke - while I hated the guy, he was a team mate.
"Sir," I said out loud.
"What," Ibiki said in a forbidding manner.
I simply gave him a thumbs up and a wide, teeth-sparkling grin. "Nothing. Just like this exam."
Well, Morino Ibiki thought. He did figure it out... with pop's help.
This is going to be an interesting exam.