Chapter 5
Days later, the Chunin Exams where set up in the village hidden in the sand. All the combatants were back, full of energy. The battle arena was outside now, on a very large platform. The jonin that commanded Hayate's cell stepped forward.
"Attention! The Kazekage will make a brief speech before the preliminaries continue!" he shouted. The Kazekage came out of a whirlwind of sand. He had spiky red hair, and compared to the late Hokage, the Kazekage was very young. He also had rings around his eyes. "I speak on behalf of the Fire Shadow of hidden leaf village," he spoke with a calm and cool voice, "I hope all of you made it here safely. I also wish good luck to all ninja choose to do battle today. That's all…" he then made a chair out of sand and sat down. The Sand jonin held an umbrella over the Kazekage's head. A screen on the side of a building opened up to reveal two names yet again: Bakufu Zawato vs. Bo. Bo lowered his head.
'I've kept this charade on long enough. Without Elli, I don't think I can win.' He thought. Zawato jumped on the platform.
"Let's get this over with." He said, motioning for Bo to come up onto the battle arena. Bo shuffled up and got in a stance with his staff. Zawato immediately ran at his opponent and punched him in the chest. Bo slid back on his staff and turned the blow into momentum for a kick off his weapon. Zawato ducked at the last second and sweep-kicked the pole. It fell over along with Bo. Then Zawato jumped up and took out a mass of weapons. He swiftly tossed them all down all around Bo, who shrieked in fright. The weapons around Bo made the formation of a circle with lines coming out of them. Zawato landed and made a hand sign just as Bo got up. The weapons smoked and turned into a giant pair of jaws. Bo used his arms and legs to prevent himself from falling in, but the jaws kept trying to clamp shut. Zawato walked up to Bo and brought his fist down on his head. Bo fell in the jaws and they disappeared.
The Kazekage smiled and pointed at Zawato, "He wins." Bo shot out from the top of a building, confused.
"What y'all doing over there?" he asked baffled.
"Very fast." Daisuke said when Zawato jumped down off the platform. The screen quickly lagged and revealed more names: Hyuga Setsuko vs. Aikakaze Fuu. Setsuko spit and leaped on the platform.
"Come on, Waterfall girl. Let's finish this so I can have a real challenge." He muttered. Fuu clenched her fist in anger and jumped on the platform. She dived into the ground right away in frustration.
Oiyoba pressed his palm over his face and sighed, "She's using that already? That guy'll figure out the move and she won't be able to use it again." Setsuko grinned and made a hand sign.
"I'll figure it out now! Byakugan!" he called. His pale eyes flashed and veins pulsed out from the side of his head. While Fuu thought she was hidden in the ground, Setsuko saw through the technique and stared at an area next to him. Then Fuu popped out of that spot and was kneed in the face by Setsuko. "You can't hide from the Byakugan." Setsuko said, pulling out a shuriken. He tossed it at her when she was getting up, and it stuck to her shoulder. Fuu gasped in pain and slowly got up. Then Setsuko ran over to her and pressed his fingers into her temples. Fuu groaned from the pressure, but couldn't move. "Now's the time to give up. I won't go easy on anyone." Setsuko whispered. Fuu closed her mouth and disappeared. Setsuko blinked and turned around. Fuu came out of nowhere and kicked him in the jaw. He began to spin back, but Fuu continued kicking in circles like a helicopter. Setsuko spun over dizzily. Dazed, he hopped up and found Fuu to be missing again. But Setsuko could see her under the ground with his Byakugan. When Fuu jumped out of the platform again, Setsuko kicked her straight up into the air. Then he jumped after her, with a kunai in hand. He reached her and sliced her arm in mid-air. When they landed, Setsuko lifted Fuu by just the chin. They were the same height, so Fuu was only on the tips of her toes. Setsuko pulled his arm back and planted a punch to her face. She hit the floor and sweep-kicked him to the floor as well. "Just die already." Setsuko said, rolling back. They both got up and ran at eachother. When they were in fists' range, Fuu tried to punch him. He dodged, however, and used her arm to flip her over on her back, where he poked her in the throat. She gasped and went out cold. The Kazekage clapped and pointed to Setsuko.
"The Hyuga boy is victorious." He said. Setsuko groaned in disappointment.
"She was tougher than I thought. That means I've grown weak." He said to Sasuma jumping down off the platform. Everyone stared at the screen, which lagged the next names out so slowly, it went out letter by letter.
"I-n-ou-y-e Oiy-o-b-a vs. Sa-us-u-k-e Is-s-h-int-a," it read.
"Isshinta!" Daisuke cried. Isshinta fell to his knees in fear. He was breathing too heavily and wasn't looking at anything in particular. The Kazekage stared at Isshinta puzzled. He got up out of his sand chair and walked over to him. It was then that Daisuke noticed the Kazekage had a giant gourd on his back.
"I once knew someone like you. She was a lot less shy, but none the less, afraid to do most things. She wasn't afraid to fight, however. Fighting is one fear a ninja must overcome. So get up before you're disqualified." The Kazekage said. Isshinta looked up and nodded nervously. He stepped on the platform, standing across from Oiyoba.
"Oh, look. I get to fight the little whiny dog. Lucky me." Oiyoba said sarcastically.
"Don't take that crap, Isshinta! Show him why you survived that assault by the Kashime assassin and why he didn't!" Saratobi cheered. Isshinta opened his mouth and looked back at her. He blushed and went back to staring at Oiyoba.
"I'm no dog." He whispered.
"Ch, whatever." Oiyoba replied, grabbing four bombs. He hurled them all at Isshinta who just put his arms up, trying to protect himself. Then the bombs exploded on impact. Out of the smoke, seven kunai shot out. Oiyoba stood there and let the kunai hit him, just to activate his bomb defense. Oiyoba stood in the smoke smiling. 'He can't hit me either.' He thought. Then seven fists flew in and each punched Oiyoba in the face. "What the-? My bombs didn't go off!" Oiyoba shouted. The smoke blew away and Isshinta and six clones surrounded him. Oiyoba flew in the air and inhaled. "That was close." He said. Then he grabbed a grenade from his waist. "Haven't used these yet," he said quietly, "Bombs away!" He dropped the grenades and Isshinta dived out of the way a second to late. The much bigger explosion nicked his feet and he rolled away, the bottom of his pants smoking. Oiyoba took advantage of the moment and dived towards Isshinta. He grabbed the boy and lifted him in the air. Isshinta screamed in fear of being dropped. "I won't drop you if ya give up," Oiyoba said, hovering with Isshinta held beneath him.
"No! Don't do it Isshinta!" Saratobi cried. Isshinta looked down and firmed his facial expression.
"I dare you." He said. Oiyoba shrugged and let go. Before he started falling, Isshinta turned into a shadow and crawled all over Oiyoba. "Get offa me!" Oiyoba shouted, rapidly forcing his explosion defense to see if it would get the shadow to stop. Then Isshinta as a shadow took over Oiyoba's body.
"Mayday…" Isshinta whispered into Oiyoba's mind. Then he forced Oiyoba to spiral down at great speeds. Just before Oiyoba hit the floor, Isshinta jumped out of his body. Then all of Oiyoba's bombs went off, causing a great explosion. Isshinta sat down and lowered his head. "That saps a lot of chakra." He said.
"Whoo-hoo, Isshinta!" Saratobi cheered.
Oiyoba got up and screamed in anger, "How dare you! All my bombs are gone! Now I'm really gunna kill you!" He dashed at Isshinta and punched him in the forehead. Before Isshinta hit the floor, Oiyoba grabbed him and backhanded him again in the face. Isshinta rolled back and coughed out blood. Oiyoba teleported over and kicked the boy into the air. Then he did an upward frontflip kick, sending Isshinta crashing down. Isshinta lay face down, motionless.
"No!" Saratobi cried, reaching out for him. Oiyoba kneeled over Isshinta's back and grabbed him by his long black hair. He smashed Isshinta's head into the stone floor four times, but much harder the last time. Isshinta's head lay a few inches in the ground.
The Kazekage stood up, but was interrupted when someone called him by his real name, "Gaara!" the voice cried.
"If it isn't my older brother Kankuro. What is it?" The Kazekage asked. Kankuro wore a black outfit and wore his headband like a kefiyah. (A cloth worn on the head that covered the entire backside of the head, to keep sand out of one's hair and keep them cool. Oiyoba wears one as well.) His face was also covered in paint.
"We got a hostile and powerful shinobi at the gates. Our forces can't handle it alone," Kankuro said. Gaara, the Kazekage, stepped back.
"Impossible." The Sand jonin with the umbrella replied.
"It's true! Our sister Temari and two of my favorite puppets are out there now!" Kankuro continued.
'Puppets?' Korosu thought, 'Kankuro isn't holding on to any strings…is he?'
Gaara sighed, "Summon another puppet now to stall until I get there." he commanded. Kankuro nodded and took out one of the scrolls from his back. It opened and a large puppet shot out. The crowd of genin was amazed. Gaara turned to the kids. "Um…this battle has been discontinued until I kill this intruder. So just…talk amongst yourselves." Then he, Hayate's teacher, and Kankuro ran off. Oiyoba got up and cursed loudly. He walked away, his wings blowing in the sandy gusts. Saratobi, Fey, and Zawato rushed up on the platform to Isshinta's aide.
"Lucky he didn't loose," Zawato said, "He gets one more chance." Saratobi felt Isshinta's pulse.
"If he wakes up by then." She replied, worried. Fey rubbed her hands together and placed them on Isshinta's back.
"My healing arts will take some time. Let's hope its fast enough to wake him up in time." Daisuke and Korosu watched Gaara and his brother run off.
"Hey, Korosu…Do you think we'll ever get that good?" Daisuke asked.
"You're making assumptions again, brother. You don't know how good they are." Korosu replied, wiping sand off his glasses.
"Come on! One's the Kazekage and the other's a walking militia! You trying to tell me that isn't powerful!" Korosu simply shrugged to that remark.
Meanwhile, across the platform, Ryu sat covering his lack of hand from the sand.
"Why don't you wrap that up?" Hayate asked, looking somewhere else. Ryu grinned under his mask when his arm began shaking.
"This is why. It took longer than I thought though. I almost didn't think it'd ever happen…" he relied. Hayate looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. Ryu jumped to the middle of the platform and landed with a heavy thud. He stuck his arm in the air and the stub where his hand used to be began throbbing. Everyone watched as a new hand grew where the old one once was. Ryu drew it back in and winced in pain. "That also hurt more than I expected." He said. Then a young woman ran over to them all with a giant fan in her hand. She folded it and put it on her back as she got up on the platform.
"Wow, she's really friken' hot." Daisuke said, staring at her chest.
"I know…" Gaku agreed, coming out of nowhere. Saratobi ran over to them and smashed their heads together.
"My name is Temari! I'm Kankuro and the Kazekage's sister, and I'm going to continue these pointless preliminaries in place of my brother," She announced, "So…look at the screen." Oiyoba was actually relieved his battle didn't have to continue yet. The screen now read Kashime Daisuke vs. Watashi Gaku. Gaku got extremely confused.
"I fought him already!" he said.
"And he lost too!" Daisuke added.
"Yeah, thanks for that comment." Gaku said under his breath.
Temari grinned, "I don't care; just do what the screen says." Gaku and Daisuke both got on the platform after Isshinta was removed.
"Alright, Daisuke. Your cheap katars are gone, so what will you do if I got you in that hold again?" Gaku asked.
"Plan b," Daisuke replied, drawing his swords, "Come on." Then Gaku ran at Daisuke and did a running roundhouse kick to the torso. The Daisuke clone flew back and exploded in smoke. "So can I get a number, or what?" Gaku heard. He looked and saw Daisuke standing by Temari with a piece of paper and a pen. Temari laughed and grabbed Daisuke by the shirt and threw him back on the platform.
"Nice try." She said. Daisuke grinned and got up.
"Come on, Daisuke. This isn't time to flirt around," Gaku said, "But if you were more like me, you wouldn't have to." Daisuke raised his swords to his fighting stance.
"Why, because you're gay?" he asked.
"No!" Gaku cried, "Because the ladies come to me! How many times must I tell you that!" Daisuke shrugged and disappeared. He teleported above Gaku and slashed, but Gaku was already out of the way. He made two clones of himself and rushed in to attack the lone Daisuke. The two Gakus punched and kicked everywhere, causing Daisuke to guard like a little girl. Then after a few symmetrical attacks, both Gakus smashed Daisuke in the face between their fists. The clone disappeared. "There we go. I knew I could fight better than you." Gaku said, pulling up his sleeves. He grabbed Daisuke by the hair and lifted him up. Gaku has surprised when the seemingly stunned Daisuke kicked him in the face. "Dang it, Daisuke, don't trick me like that!" Gaku yelled, checking to see if his nose has bleeding. Then Daisuke made a hand sign.
"Alright, I'm bored now," he said, "time for plan b!" then the entire platform was covered in purple dust.
"What is this; poison?" Gaku asked. Then he fell to the ground, coughing.
"Sort of. Look up." Daisuke replied, making a different hand sign. Gaku rolled over so he was facing up, and he saw a giant spike coming down from the sky at him. His eyes widened and it impaled his stomach and drilled a foot into the ground, practically splitting Gaku in half. The genin all gasped.
Temari chuckled to herself, "He had me goin' there for a second. This kid's good." Then the dust faded away, along with the spine. Gaku was actually completely fine, but lost consciousness anyway from fear.
"I call that Genjutsu, my friend." Daisuke said, jumping off the platform. Korosu shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Good job, brother. Much better than last time. And yet, you still could've done better." He said. Daisuke simply shrugged and went back to standing by Saratobi and his brother. There was a long pause. "You know what, brother?" Korosu asked. Daisuke shrugged.
"What?" he asked back.
"Our parents are dead. We thought they were alive last night…" Korosu answered. Gaku's jonin teacher teleported on the platform, grabbed Gaku, and teleported away with him. The screen already had two more names on it: Hayate vs. Ryu.
Hayate growled and got on the stage, "I've already fought two times. Now here come my third…how annoying." Ryu cracked his new wrist and stepped on the battling platform. He didn't have to jump to get on, because he was so tall.
"Alright, Hayate, I won't use my foresight." Ryu announced.
"Good. And don't read my mind, either." Hayate added.
"How do I know you won't read my mind instead?" Ryu asked with a smile.
"Because you'd automatically be reading my mind when I get in your mind to read it." Hayate said. Ryu bowed his head in approval. Then he got in a stance.
"No reason to go easy on you." He said. Hayate ran over to his partner and threw a punch. Ryu caught Hayate's fist and squeezed it. Hayate winced and decided to try a sweep-kick. Ryu jumped over it, and used Hayate's fist to throw him. He landed steadily and ran back over to Ryu, who spin-kicked Hayate in the stomach. This time, Hayate landed on the stone floor. Ryu made an assault now. He tried stomping Hayate's face in the ground with his foot, but Hayate rolled out of the way and performed an uppercut to Ryu's chin. The dragon boy stumbled back and ripped off his mask. "Enough foolery, Hayate! Fire style: Fire ring jutsu!" he cried. Flames shot out of his mouth and formed around Hayate, who made a hand sign right away.
"Earth style: Groundhog Technique Decapitation!" he yelled. Hayate disappeared into the ground and the flames crashed together.
"Barely missed." Ryu whispered. Then Hayate grabbed Ryu from underground by the ankles and pulled him under until only his head stuck out. Hayate jumped out of the ground and laughed.
"I love that move! Unfortunately, it always makes me hungry." he said. Ryu broke out of the ground, causing most of the platform to crumble from Ryu's force. Temari sighed.
'Great,' she thought, 'now our battle platform's gone.' Ryu roared and jumped after Hayate, who was running down an alleyway between two houses. They clashed on the roof of one of the houses, and began rapidly punching eachother. Hayate did his sweep-kick again. Ryu purposely got hit by it so he could use the falling motion to smash Hayate down into the house with his fists. Ryu dived in after him and all was silent.
"Well…that's interesting." Kiyuta said after a while. A woman screamed and ran out of the house, followed by the two Sand genin. Then the house exploded with great force. Without caring, Hayate and Ryu continued fighting while running through the crowd of genin. They all dived out of the way as the two determined fighters charged to the other side of the destroyed platform. Ryu continued blocking and attacking with one hand as he drew the other one back. Hayate's eyes widened in surprise.
'How's he doing that?' he asked himself. Ryu let his fist fly, right into Hayate's face. But Hayate caught the punch…with his teeth. Ryu grimaced as Hayate continued to bite down on Ryu's new hand. Then Ryu swung the arm over him, bringing Hayate with it. The cannibalistic ninja fell to the ground, releasing Ryu's hand. Hayate jumped up and scratched Ryu across the chest. All that happened was Ryu's shirt ripped, but his rock hard pecks were fine. Hayate gasped in sacrament. "Those are some massive pecks!" he exclaimed. Ryu grinned and grabbed Hayate, covering his entire face with his hand. He hurled Hayate in the air, who threw four shurikens down right away. Ryu was stabbed in the shoulders and Hayate brought his leg down on him. Ryu hit the floor with great force, and remained motionless for a second. Then he teleported away, leaving the four shurikens behind. Hayate turned around and got slapped by Ryu's thrusting palm. For some reason, that attack was very powerful, so Hayate flew back quite far.
"Fire style: Ryukansen! (Dragon Spiral Strike.)" Ryu shouted. He dove at Hayate, spinning rapidly. Soon he set aflame and tackled Hayate to the ground. Ryu was about to follow his combo up with a punch, but Hayate poked him in the eyes.
"Ooh…combo breaker…" Temari said from the sidelines, "Those two fight dirty." Ryu got off of Hayate and stumbled around blindly. Hayate slowly rose and walked away quietly. Ryu rubbed his eyes and opened them.
"Where'd you go, fool?" Ryu asked. He looked around and saw only the silent genin bystanders and Temari. Then he noticed someone coming from far away. "Fire style: Flame rocket!" he cried. A large stream of flame blasted from his mouth at great speeds towards the person.
"Whoa!" yelled Kankuro, who dodged it by a hair, "Watch your aim down there!" Ryu scratched his head in confusion.
"Then where is Hayate?" he asked himself. Hayate slowly walked up behind him and bit Ryu on the head. "Get off!" Ryu cried, running around in circles. Kankuro watched with interest for a second and continued towards his sister.
"Temari. Gaara said he took care of it." He said, standing next to her.
"Good for him, now I can go home." Temari replied, taking out her enormous fan.
"Well, sure but you have to watch these fights and…" Kankuro started, but Temari got on the fan and flew away. "Fine, be like that. I'll just watch these pointless preliminaries." Kankuro shifted and watched Ryu bring his fist down on Hayate's blocking arms. Ryu followed up his attack with a knee to Hayate's stomach, causing the oldest genin, Hayate, to fall over backwards. Ryu cloned himself seven times, the most seen yet, and removed his mask.
As well as all the other clones, he yelled, "Fire style: Flame rocket!" The seven streams of fire blasted Hayate and burnt his flesh off. Ryu stopped and saw a note where Hayate once was. He picked it up and read it aloud, "Out to see your mother. Back in five days." Ryu crushed it and growled. "No one insults my mother!" Hayate appeared on a building, laughing.
"Got you with that stupid note!" he cried. Then he noticed Ryu was charging at the structure with eyes like flames.
"Mama Kusen's boy is comin' home!" Ryu roared, pulling his arm back. He reached the building and punched it so hard, it exploded and Hayate fell off.
"Geez, what the heck is their problem!" Kankuro yelled.
"They always get like this," Hitomi started, still watching her two partners, "when they don't read each other's minds." Kankuro scoffed.
"People can't read minds. One's probably an Uchiha or something." He said. Hitomi shook her head and stared at him.
"I can see that you are very jealous." She told him.
Kankuro shrugged, "So? My younger brother's the Kazekage. Why wouldn't I be jealous?" Hitomi read deeper in his mind.
"You once fought a boy from the Aburame clan…" she said. Kankuro widened his eyes.
"How'd you know?" he asked, very surprised.
"Hayate is like he is due to the Aburame clan…where can I find this guy you fought back then?" Hitomi continued, not paying attention to Kankuro's question.
"Shino? He probably still lives in Konoha." The puppet master replied. Then Hitomi dived into the mind of Hayate to tell him.
"Hey, Ryu," said Hayate, stopping in mid attack. "Are you reading my mind right now?" Ryu shook his head.
"No, I am not. Why do you ask?" Hayate thought for a while and realized Hitomi was in there.
'Hitomi! I'm in the middle of a fight here!' Hayate told her through telekinesis.
'I know, Hayate, but listen: Kankuro here just told me that a member of the Aburame clan, Shino, lives in the village hidden in the leaves.' She said. Hayate's eyes widened and he turned around to look at her. She nodded and got Kankuro to nod too.
"Alright, Ryu," Hayate said, facing him again, "It's time to quit screwing around. I've got to get back to the hidden leaf village, fast." Ryu closed his eyes.
"I agree," he muttered, "So let's go all out!" Then Hayate rapidly slapped Ryu across the face, inflicting no damage. "What was that?" Ryu asked. Hayate shrugged.
"I'm going all out. Don't question my methods." He replied.
"If you method is sucking, then you're doing a fine job," Ryu said, "Keep it up." Then he teleported behind Hayate and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Ultimate Jutsu: Head Crush Attack!" Ryu cried. He was about to bring his head down on Hayate when his face ripped open and spewed out blood. He fell back and screamed in pain. Hayate turned around and crossed his arms.
"Give up now, Ryu. There's no need to get hurt any more than that." He said. Ryu stopped yelling abruptly and stood up.
"Very interesting maneuver, Hayate." Ryu whispered, "But you forget: My body heals lethal injuries." Then Hayate jumped up and spin-kicked Ryu in the face, causing him to fall back over.
"Earth style: Groundhog Technique Decapitation!" Hayate cried, disappearing. When Ryu got back up, Hayate grabbed his ankles and pulled him underground again. Then he dived out of ground and punted Ryu's head, pulling his whole body out of the sand. Ryu spun back twenty feet and lay defeated.
"Um…did that guy win?" Kankuro asked Hitomi, who nodded. "That guy won!" Kankuro announced, pointing to Hayate. Leaving the beaten, oversized boy, Hayate walked back to the flock off genin. "Alright, I guess you should check out those names on the screen…Kashime Korosu vs. Hiroshima Kiyuta." Kankuro said. The two nodded and stood where the fighting platform once was. They both adjusted their glasses at the same time, the same way. Then they both flipped their long hair out of their eyes.
"Hold me, Saratobi…" Daisuke whispered, "I'm seeing double…" Korosu tilted his head and turned into nine of himself.
"The new record." Kiyuta noted, taking stance. Half of the Korosus ran in for a rapid beating on Kiyuta, while the others jumped up and started hurling needles. Kiyuta quickly drew a few kunai, about to block the needles and the Korosu clones, when the needles turned into Korosus too. Kiyuta scowled and was punched in a few places on his upper body by the extra Korosus. Before Kiyuta hit the ground, he teleported away and reappeared behind Korosu and quickly poked him in the back with a small kunai knife. The Korosu clone fell over and blew up in smoke. Kiyuta's eyes widened. "How'd he know?" Then he turned his head behind him and got backhanded to the floor by the real Korosu.
"You're very fast, Kiyuta." Korosu said, rubbing his chin. Kiyuta kipped back up and made a hand sign.
"I'm going to take you out just as fast!" he cried, "Air Baryta!" Because Korosu hadn't seen this move like everyone else had, he just stood there, and let the vacuum slam his feet together. "Don't try and escape it. You can't move!" Kiyuta yelled, dashing behind him. "Now let's try this again…" he drew a small kunai again, and was about to pierce Korosu's back, when a Korosu clone knocked it out of Kiyuta's hand with a poison needle.
"Stop! You're Ninjutsu is so annoying!" The Korosu clone said nothing and continued hurling needles. Kiyuta backed up, blocking each needle with the same small kunai. A Korosu clone behind him was going to stab the Waterfall ninja, but Kiyuta swiftly dashed behind it, and used it as a non-human shield from the barrage of spikes.
"You know what! I'm tired of your clones! Air Baryta!" Kiyuta shouted. The clone was stuck to the ground, and stopped moving. Another appeared, but Kiyuta continued his Air Baryta technique. Soon, about fifty Korosu clones were stuck to the ground and stopped moving.
"Watch your chakra." The real Korosu pointed out, hands in his pockets.
"Don't worry. This move consumes hardly any chakra. I could do it all day." Kiyuta replied, "So now what will you do? Throwing needles and doppelgangers are now useless." Korosu shrugged.
"Eh, just a little clan specialty." He said very casually, masking the nature of Henshin. Daisuke snickered on the sidelines, but Kiyuta didn't notice.
"Like what?" he asked, annoyed.
"Don't worry about it." Korosu replied, slapping his palms on the ground. The ground shook, and a giant needle flew out of the ground, and it rose up into the air. "Now what was it called?" Korosu asked, stepping out of the vacuum, "Air Baryta?" Kiyuta gasped and was stuck to the needle.
"How'd you copy my attack!" Kiyuta cried, struggling to get off the weapon. Daisuke continued to laugh.
"He didn't! He just made a needle with Kiyuta-attracting properties! The upside of Henshin, right there!" Kiyuta spat at Korosu, who sidestepped.
"Now, don't go insane." Korosu said, making a very unique hand sign. All the Korosu clones stepped out of the vacuum as well and adjusted their glasses in sync with the originator. "Needle storm!" they all yelled. Kiyuta gasped again and was pierced by thousands of needles. Then the giant spine ejecting from the ground disappeared and Kiyuta fell to the earth.
"That guy wins!" Kankuro announced, impressed, "Unique fighting style. It's like setting up traps with crap I didn't even know was possible!" A few of the genin applauded, but Oiyoba just laughed.
"He did it again." He snickered.
"Did what?" Korosu asked, suspiciously.
"He fought using a clone the whole time. He's probably out eating ramen right now."
Korosu scoffed and shook his head, "So he's a coward?" he muttered, "I thought as much." Oiyoba grabbed Korosu by the collar of his shirt.
"Listen, punk. Kiyuta could whoop your ass, given the circumstances." He warned.
"What circumstances? Last time I checked, our battling was required." Korosu said calmly. Oiyoba pushed Korosu back as Kiyuta walked up with a bowl of ramen.
"Good job, Kashime. I was watching the whole time, and my clone didn't get one good hit on you. You deserve more credit than what I heard." He said. Daisuke ran up excitedly.
"We have a reputation!" he asked.
"Well, I've only heard of Korosu. Sorry, Daisuke, but the people of my village only know of the silent assassin, Korosu." Kiyuta replied. Korosu said nothing and walked away. Daisuke fell to the floor and began crying.
"But…but…I'm just as good as he is!" he complained. Kankuro hadn't noticed that Kiyuta hadn't fought yet, because he was talking to Hayate's jonin teacher. He turned around and placed his palm over his eyes.
"Listen, kiddies. I gotta go take care of something. Somehow, my brother, the Kazekage, is actually having trouble. I'll be back." He said, running away with the jonin.
"What can the Wind shadow be having trouble with?" Setsuko asked, curiously. He took his cell and followed Kankuro. Saratobi watched them leave.
"Maybe we should go with them. If the Kazekage is struggling, I'm sure he could use all the help he could get." She said.
"Not like you to enter something you don't know about," Zawato stated, rushing after Setsuko, "Stay here with Fey and Isshinta. Let's go, Kashime brothers!" The two siblings nodded and followed Zawato. Hayate growled at them as they walked by him.
"Don't underestimate our leader." He whispered.
"Gaara! Quit messing around and kill them!" Kankuro yelled when he reached the main gates. Gaara slowly backed up, not a scratch on him.
"I would, Kankuro, but they have a defense as impenetrable as mine." Gaara replied, dodging a shuriken.
"What's going on?" Zawato asked, coming to a stop. No enemy was visible, because the sand was a heavy veil by the gates. Then a familiar figure approached.
"Is that--?" Daisuke began, but the disfigured man had already begun speaking,
"Kashime Korosuke. That happens to be my name. Call me by that name I just stated." He said.
"I totally blew your head off!" Daisuke cried, hysterically.
"Fool. That was a trick. I have tricked you, and you fell for it." Korosuke replied, stepping to the side to make room for another figure making its way into Sunagakure.
"Hello, my brothers." A girl's voice said. Daisuke and Korosu froze. "It's been so long. How have you been?" the girl asked, stepping towards them. She was about to put a glowing hand on their shoulders, but Gaara forced sand to rise up and block her.
"Don't touch them." He warned.
The girl laughed, "Please. I know these two personally. They are my younger brothers, Daisuke and Korosu," then she bent over and stared into their widened eyes, "Boys, do you remember me?" she asked. Daisuke and Korosu continued to glare into the empty space in front of them. "Boys? It's me…Kashime Muchu." She said. They snapped out of their trance and stepped back.
"No way! Where were you when we needed you back in the plague!" Daisuke cried, furiously. Muchu grinned and jumped on Korosuke's back.
"I was starting to make this." She replied, sliding her hand over Korosuke's rough chin.
"You made that?" Korosu asked quietly.
"Yes. It's amazing what a little bit of Henshin can do when you have hundreds of dead bodies to work with." Muchu said.
"Dead bodies? You mean…the whole Kashime clan is in that thing!" Daisuke screamed, pointing to Korosuke.
"Well, not the whole clan. You two and I are still here, right? Besides, be happy! I named him after both of you," she murmured, "so I wouldn't forget my little brothers." She closed her mouth and stared down at the ground.
"I see you still can't stay in touch with reality." Korosu said, drawing the rest of his needles. Setsuko and Zawato shrugged and backed off.
"This is a family matter. Best not to get involved." Setsuko whispered.
"But if they get in danger, we'll step in." Zawato finished. Gaara nodded in agreement.
"Very wise. Let's just watch." Daisuke teleported behind his sister, and kicked her off of Korosuke. The monster did nothing, as if he lost consciousness. Muchu flipped up and disappeared. She then reappeared in front of Korosu and began spinning wildly. Korosu got wrapped in the whirlwind and was ejected up in the air. Muchu stopped spinning a teleported in front of Daisuke. She grabbed his blades from his back and clicked her tongue.
"Still playing with knives?" then her hands glowed and the swords became a pair of rings, which she threw behind her, catching the falling Korosu in its trap. Then she glared into Daisuke's eyes. His eyes opened and he went pale. "Kashime clan special ability: Level two: Psychokenesis." Muchu said. Daisuke began walking towards Korosu. He aimed his arm as his trapped brother and shot a hideous claw.
"Daisuke, stop! She's making you use Henshin! Don't fall under her trance!" Daisuke did nothing, and the claw was stopped by Gaara's hand.
"Alright, these boys don't stand a chance." He said. The rings Korosu disappeared and fell to the ground.
"Step aside, Kazekage." Muchu said, jumping back on Korosuke, who opened his mouth and fired a few hundred needles at him. Gaara stood calmly and let all the spines collide with a sand shield he didn't even raise intentionally.
"You can't touch him!" Kankuro yelled.
"And yet, he can't touch me." Muchu added. Gaara grunted and unleashed a full assault of sand. Muchu put her hand out and stopped all the sand using Henshin on it, turning each sand grain into killer bees.
"What? You can't use Henshin to make living things!" Korosu cried.
"Hello! I made Korosuke! I can get Henshin to do anything." Muchu said. Gaara intently killed the bees, each with one grain of sand.
"This fight is useless. Leave now." He whispered. Muchu shook her head.
"Yes, I suppose I played with you all long enough. Besides, I have some business to take care of." She winked at them all and disappeared, along with Korosuke.
"Stupid girl." Gaara said, turning away. He and Kankuro walked off somewhere, leaving Hayate's jonin and the genin.
"Daisuke! Snap out of it!" Korosu cried, shaking his brother by the shoulders. Daisuke blinked and returned to normal.
"What the heck? Where'd she go?" he asked. Korosu sighed and removed his glasses.
"If she survived…do you think the other Jinchu Five did as well?" he asked. Daisuke nodded.
"Yeah, they all disappeared on the same day." He replied.
The preliminaries were delayed until the next day, because Gaara didn't feel like continuing then. Daisuke, Korosu, and Saratobi all sat quietly in a small room, given to all the genin in their groups.
"Besides Muchu, who else was part of the Jinchu Five?" Daisuke asked, in the small candle-lit room.
"I don't know any of them personally, but I believe their names were Sanjuro, Satomi, Yatsume, and…Katsuhiro." Korosu replied.
"Katsuhiro…" Daisuke repeated.
"Who's that?" Saratobi asked politely, but she received no answer. She frowned and lay down on the bed. "Well, if you guys are going to stay all dark and dreary, then I'm going to sleep." Then they received a knock on the door. Daisuke opened it and yawned.
"Zawato? What is it?" he asked. Zawato stood tall with his arms folded, as usual.
"I'm going to keep watch…The Kazekage didn't bother to protect you guys tonight with Black Ops." He replied. Daisuke shrugged.
"She won't be coming back. Not until we leave here at least. I know her, so go to bed. I'm sure you'll have to battle again tomorrow." He said.
Zawato shook his head, "Even without sleep, I will still be able to win a fight." Daisuke just grinned and shut the door. Then he and Korosu got in to their beds and instantly fell asleep.