Chapter 7
"Oh, crap!" Gaku cried. The giant brought down his sword and caused a massive quake when it hit the ground. The audience coughed from all the dust and the enigma stepped next to the giant.
"Don't tell me you got killed, Gaku," he said, "One brags so much over a small rivalry, and then he dies. That's what I would say if you were dead…" Then he looked back and saw Gaku panting from a loss of chakra. "What did you switch places with?" The enigma asked, impressed. Gaku slowly got to his feet and grabbed his spinning head.
"A bug…I just tried switching with the nearest thing, which just happened to be a bug…" he answered. The enigma grinned and walked back to his seat next to Shino in the judge's booth.
"Thank you, Aburame Shino…" he whispered. Shino nodded his head and wrote something down on his scoring card. The giant began to fade away, and the small Aburame insect crawled out, unharmed. Daisuke rolled over on the floor, almost out of energy.
"Get up, you idiot!" Katsuhiro shouted furiously. Daisuke winked and sat up.
"What happened? Did I win?" he asked. Gaku stood behind him, with most of his stamina returned to him. He kicked Daisuke in the back and chuckled.
"You wasted all your chakra on that thing! You're so dumb! Now I can easily defeat you." He said.
Daisuke got up as fast as he could and faced Gaku, "I still have enough energy to waste you…" Gaku raised an eyebrow.
"Really now?" he asked, "Then let's go! Round two!"
"I know he's still here…what a fool that Jinchuuriki is." Itachi said as he led another robed man down a long hallway.
"How good is he a battling?" the man asked, calmly.
"Nobody knows, nor do they care. He won't be a problem for us…" Itachi replied. They entered a very small room with only one person inside.
"May I help you?" the person asked. Itachi and the other robed man stared this person down.
"You are the elusive Jinchuriki, the one who keeps changing his name and his occupations…" the man next to Itachi said.
"No, my name is…
A man and a woman entered the village. They wore tunics and straw hats as if they had been traveling, and they carried large bags. A Konoha gate guard smiled at them.
"Welcome, you two! I suppose you're here to watch the exam?" he asked. The traveling man had massive muscles all over his body and he towered above the woman with him. He looked down at the man with a scowl.
"Where is it?" he asked roughly. The guard calmly pointed north.
"You're a little late…" he said. The two travelers nodded and began to walk away. The woman glanced back at the guard and winked at him. He blushed and then widened his eyes. He pulled out a sword and stabbed himself in the stomach.
"Was that necessary, Satomi?" the muscular man asked.
"No, but I couldn't help it…he looked like such a push-over." The man pulled down his hat and growled. "Things are going to start falling apart very soon…" Then a young man ran around the corner and bumped right into the traveling man.
"Oh, sorry. I'm in a rush." The large man picked him up and stared at him.
"Don't touch me." He said. The young man grinned and slapped the larger man's wrist. He dropped him and shook his hand in pain.
"Sanjuro, what'd he do?" Satomi asked. Sanjuro, the traveling man chuckled.
"You're Saote, the Jinchuuriki with nine lives, aren't you?" he asked. Saote gasped.
"How'd you know who I am? I have nine aliases to hide my identity!" Sanjuro pulled his hat down again.
"You are very cat-like…just as expected." He said.
"Dang, man! How do you know all that!" Saote yelled. Then his ears twitched. He looked back and frowned.
"I gotta run…" he said, and with that, he disappeared.
Zanza slowly glanced at his clock. He then looked over at Katsuhiro. The two stood up and walked over to Tsunade. They whispered in her ear that they had to leave. Tsunade just sighed and let them go. Once outside the stadium, the two noticed Muchu sleeping against Korosuke.
"Muchu!" Katsuhiro shouted, shaking her. She moaned and opened her eyes.
"Katsuhiro? Yatsume? Is it time already?" she asked. Zanza nodded and removed the bandages around his face. Every feature he had was burnt off. Nose, ears, lips, and all. "You're looking better, Yatsume." Muchu said sarcastically.
"Shut it," he replied, "My burns are getting worse, and you know it." Muchu winked and slapped his shoulder playfully.
"I know, I'm just teasing you! But seriously, let's wait for Sanjuro and Satomi to arrive." She said. Just then, the two travelers came into view walking down the road toward them.
"There they are." Katsuhiro whispered. The five gathered in a big circle when Sanjuro and Satomi met up with them. "Alright," Katsuhiro announced, "The Jinchu Five is back in business!" They all nodded and disappeared. Korosuke was left confused.
Daisuke punched Gaku in the face, causing him to hit the floor. When Gaku tried to get up, Daisuke ran up and shoved his sword in his throat, but Gaku felt nothing. In fact, it was one of Daisuke's illusions. Gaku hurried up and began panting like a dog.
"I heard your Genjutsu was so good, people could feel the injuries left by an illusion…" he said, "You must be low on chakra." Daisuke tossed his swords at Gaku, which went by his head. They stuck out of the ground very far. "Your aim is off, too." Gaku added, grinning. Daisuke then rushed at Gaku, and they both fell to the ground. They rolled around, afraid to teleport away, because then they wouldn't have enough chakra to continue. Then Daisuke sat over Gaku and shot his chain kunai at his swords in front of him. The chain wrapped once around the blades, and back to his hand. Gaku furiously tried to push Daisuke off, but to no prevail. Then Daisuke pulled on the chain and jumped in the air, taking his weapons up with him. Gaku got up and watched as Daisuke brought the chain down, sending the blades down in an arc.
"Fang Guillotine!" Daisuke yelled.
Gaku grinned and made a hand sign, "Advanced replacement jutsu!" but before he could execute the technique, the swords multiplied by the thousands. The chains wrapped around Gaku and the blades flew back up in the air. Gaku screamed as they all rained down on him. He felt dead, so he collapsed.
"Just one of my illusions…" Daisuke said, also losing consciousness. Tsunade ran out in the middle of the arena.
"Kashime Daisuke wins due to a great Genjutsu trick!" she announced. The crowd roared and the judges wrote on their sheets of paper. "Alright! We're moving right on to the next one!" Tsunade cried, "And that's Sausuke Isshinta vs. Inouye Oiyoba!" Isshinta breathed in sharply. He looked out at his sensei. They stared at eachother until Isshinta finally got up. Oiyoba had already made his way to the center of the arena.
"Ohh, does the dog have a grudge?" Oiyoba teased. Isshinta tilted his head.
"What? I haven't even done anything." He said.
"What you've done is got the crap beat out of you by me two months ago!" Oiyoba yelled, taking to the sky. Isshinta noted he had four wings now. He ran under Oiyoba and made a hand sign. "Kagedokuryu!" he cried. His shadow lifted off the ground and chased after Oiyoba, who started flying around. "Stupid shadow! Take this!" Oiyoba yelled, throwing a bomb. It hit Isshinta, and caused him to lose his hold on his jutsu. The shadow disappeared, but Isshinta didn't seem hurt. In fact, he grinned. "What the heck you smiling at?" Oiyoba cried, throwing more bombs. Before Isshinta was struck, he became intangible and flew at Oiyoba. Oiyoba freaked out and flew up higher. He looked around and couldn't find Isshinta anywhere. Then the ground below became all black. "What the-?" Oiyoba said, curiously. He flew down twenty feet, and the black mass became a huge claw. It snatched Oiyoba and disappeared. Isshinta walked out from nowhere and sat down, waiting.
"Whoa, when did he get so good?" Saratobi asked in amazement.
"Folks, it looks like Isshinta has completely dominated this match so far!" Tsunade exclaimed. The crowd conversed for quite a while. Then, Isshinta stood up and took off his shirt, revealing his Sausuke tattoo. Oiyoba fell from the sky and was bleeding from head to toe. The Shinkan Okage reached out for its next victim, but Oiyoba gave up.
"Get him away! He's a frikkin psycho!" Tsunade ran out and blocked Isshinta and his shadow from going anywhere else. The boy put his shirt back on and frowned. He shook his head at Oiyoba and returned to the rest of the genin. The judges all quietly wrote on their notepads as Yukinari escorted Oiyoba away.
"Isshinta," Tsunade whispered, "Can I talk to you alone for a while?" Isshinta sneered and walked off to the waiting room followed by the Hokage. When they were both inside, Tsunade shut the door and locked it.
"So, what the hell do you want? I have other, more important, things to do than listen to your bitching." Isshinta said. Tsunade growled and punched him across the face, sending him to the floor.
"What happened to you? You were trying to kill Oiyoba, weren't you?" Tsunade snapped. Isshinta pressed his palm against his forehead and began laughing evilly.
"You humans…so careful not to hurt eachother and yet, so quick to jump to conclusions," He said, standing up, "But our clan knows…We all know…" Tsunade gasped and stepped back in surprise.
"It's you! Shinkan Okage!" she cried. Isshinta grinned and placed his hand on her cheek.
"Yes, I'm back, and with a new host body. It seems even that mind-reading dragon, Ryu, doesn't know I'm here." He said. Tsunade pushed his hand away and starred at him. "You know I love you, Tsunade," Isshinta said, sitting on the couch, "So I'm not going to hurt you…but tell anyone my plans, and it might be a dark life for you, if you understand that pun-like threat." Tsunade sighed and unlocked the door.
"Shinkan…" she whispered, "I should've killed you when I had the chance." Isshinta nodded.
"Yes, you should have." He replied as Tsunade went back out into the coliseum. Ryu watched as she shuffled across the floor to the judges table.
"What's up, Ryu?" Hitomi asked. Ryu closed his eyes and grinned.
"She has a strong mental block up…it's like a black storm cloud, so to speak." He said. Korosu and Saratobi looked back at the waiting room door.
"I wonder what Isshinta did? I mean he totally wasted that fat winged guy, but he didn't kill him, or anything." Saratobi said.
"Yes," Korosu muttered, "And I have a big suspicion that something terrible is going to happen." Saratobi quivered and a massive cloud covered the sun.
"This is getting too creepy!" she cried.
Saote kept on running until he reached a large clearing in the woods. He panted heavily as he looked back and forth. A figure was kneeling by a stack of children's building blocks.
"Yo, excuse me; do you know how to get to Sunagakure from here?" Saote asked. The figure stood up and faced Saote.
"Why don't you take the main road?" he asked back. Saote's ears twitched.
"Never mind!" he yelled, continuing to run. The figure opened an eye and blinded Saote by a radiant light.
"We should cancel the exams," Anko said. She and many other jonin stood in a room by the Hokage's house.
"She's right. We have way too many sightings of outlaws here right now." Ibiki agreed. Gensai, who had left the judges table after Tsunade talked with Isshinta, lifted a sheet of paper.
"Orochimaru and his two cronies have been seen wondering around. Same with the Akatsuki organization." He read. Just then, Tsunade appeared in the room, sweating all over.
"Shinkan Okage is back!" she cried. All the jonin gasped.
"So what should we do! It's like everything's spiraling down on top of us!" one shouted. Tsunade sighed and turned around.
"I'm going to let the Chunin Exams finish, but in the mean time, take all jonin and promising chunin to the gates."
Katsuhiro, Muchu, Yatsume, Sanjuro, and Satomi all waited in a dark alley until Isshinta and his jonin teacher ran up.
"Ready?" Katsuhiro asked. The two Sausuke clan members nodded.
"Art of Summoning: Shinkan Okage Shinigami!" the seven called. In an instant, a humanoid rose from the ground. Korosuke finally caught up and looked down at the summon creature.
"My goodness. The goodness belongs to me, but I'm sharing it with you all to express amazement…Amazing." He said.
Tsunade reappeared in the coliseum, smiling.
"Alright!" she said into the microphone, "Sorry about the wait! The next battle is between Hoashi Saratobi and Kashime Korosu!" The two friends gasped.
'Crap! I was hoping to out-smart my opponent! Korosu's a genius!' Saratobi thought. Korosu stood idle for awhile and then burst out in laughter.
"Korosu!" Saratobi exclaimed. 'He's never laughed before. I wonder what's up?' she thought. Korosu removed his glasses and wiped his eyes.
"Oh, that's a good one. But really, who am I fighting?" he asked. Saratobi scowled.
"This ain't a joke, I'm your opponent!" Saratobi yelled.
"Alright, if you insist…" Korosu replied, stepping out to the middle of the coliseum. Saratobi took a step back and gulped. "What? Let's go, I'd rather not wait." Korosu said. Saratobi shook her head.
"I…don't want to fight you." She whispered.
"Are you saying you forfeit?" he asked. Saratobi shook her head again. "Then, let's battle. It's not like I'm going to kill you." Korosu said, taking out a needle. Tsunade stepped in between them.
"A ninja," she began, "doesn't let emotions interfere with their skill." Saratobi nodded.
"Quit messing with your head and fight me!" Korosu cried, impatiently. Then he threw the needle around Tsunade. It pierced the wall next to Saratobi who grinned.
"Yes, let's go." Then she rushed him.
"Everyone, this is a very important matter, I guess. We're under attack by, like, every bad ninja in existence." A chunin teacher said to his cadets. Just then, one of the cadets raised his hand.
"What?" the chunin asked. The cadet lowered his hand and stood up.
"Let us fight, Shikamaru sensei!" he cried. The chunin, Shikamaru, grinned.
"You kids are getting so rebellious. You can't fight yet! You'd all die, you know?" Then a shinobi appeared in the room.
"Shikamaru, you have been required to fend for Konohagakure!" he said.
"Rock Lee, don't just appear like that…Okay, so I guess I have no choice…what a drag." The two walked outside and were greeted by many other shinobi. One with black, bird-like hair stepped out and snapped, making the ninja line up.
"I'm going to name your names off, and I want you to reply with a simple step forward. Let's get started…" he took out a clipboard. "Rock Lee…" A ninja with a bowl-cut stepped forward. "Nara Shikamaru," Shikamaru sighed and dragged his feet to take a step. "Hyuga Neji," A ninja with the same eyes as Hinata stepped forward. He seemed very serious. "Yamanaka Ino," A pretty normal-looking girl stepped forward. "Inuzuka Kiba," A ninja almost resembling Hayate stepped forward accompanied by a massive dog. "Sakura…" A girl with short hair walked by the ninja with the clipboard. "Shino, Hinata, and Naruto are all out doing something else right now. We'll be assisted by the other jonin of course. So split up!" the bird-haired ninja commanded.
"Wait, Sasuke, we should get in teams first!" Kiba cried. The ninja with the clipboard, Sasuke, turned away.
"You shouldn't have to do that anymore…"
Saote woke up and got to his feet. He looked around and realized all the buildings around him were made of blocks.
"You're up! Good!" Someone said behind him. Saote spun around and saw Raien, the shrinking and growing ninja.
"Hey, your eyes are closed!" Saote cried.
"Yes, I noticed this as soon as I was born. Thanks for reminding me." Raien replied. Saote growled and turned around.
"I gotta get outta here." He said. Raien walked up next to him.
"You're Saote, aren't you?" Saote's hair shot up.
"Gah! Everyone knows!" he screamed. Raien laughed.
"No, no, it's just…well, yeah, pretty much hit it on the dot." He said. Saote lowered his head.
"I got Konoha in a lot of trouble." He whispered.
"Yeah, the Akatsuki organization ran by last night, looking for a Jinchuuriki with a demon named Shueisha," Raien replied, scratching his chin. Saote looked back at him and frowned.
"So now what?" he asked. Raien's smile widened as he opened his right eye and caused them both to grow back to normal size.
"We're going to fight!" Raien cried.
Saote glared at him, "You're a loser, you know that?" he snapped.
"Yeah, you bastard, I know," then Raien lowered his head. "I know…"
Korosu crossed his arms.
"Your move." He said. Saratobi nodded and whipped a shuriken at him. He side-stepped it and scoffed, "The basic maneuvers won't work anymore." He said. Saratobi glanced at the judges table. Many seats were empty now. Yukinari, Zanza, Katsuhiro, Raien, the Sausuke guy, and Gensai were all gone.
'I wonder what's wrong?' she thought. Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for something, but she didn't know what. Korosu raised an eyebrow.
"Are you quite finished? I'm a trifle impatient, I'm afraid." He said. Saratobi flinched and stared at him.
"Korosu…" she whispered.
He sighed, "What?" She opened her weapons pouch and took out a thick book.
"I bought this for you." She held it out for him to take. The crowd remained silent the entire time. Korosu rolled his eyes and walked over in front of her and took the book.
"The Art of Assassinations?" he read, "Saratobi, I thought you did not approve of my brother and me killing. Why a change of heart?" She blushed.
"While I still don't want you to kill anyone, I will help you in any way I can, even…if it means giving up my life…" she replied. Korosu continued to stare down at her for a moment. Then he put the book in his pack and punched her across the face. She fell to the ground and spit out blood. Korosu turned away and rubbed his temples.
"If you want to help me so bad, than let's fight; all out, no holds barred," then he looked back at her surprised face, "Can you promise me that?" Saratobi got to her feet and stared at the floor. "Saratobi?" Korosu asked. She glanced at him and kicked him in the balls. He fell over and winced in pain.
"That's no holds barred." She said, taking out more shurikens.
Saote and Raien ran through the forest and ducked in Konoha.
"We need to pick up a friend of mine…" Raien whispered as they snuck around buildings.
"And," Saote added, "make sure Akatsuki organization doesn't find me." They entered a house and ran up a flight of stairs.
"Naruto! Let's go!" Raien yelled. A teen in nothing but a pair of boxers ran around the corner.
"What? What is it!" he asked obnoxiously.
"All out battling time, friend. This is about saving and taking lives; a survival of the fittest, a war between good and evil!" Raien screamed. Saote's ears shot back in pain. Naruto jumped and disappeared.
After a short moment, he returned, fully-dressed, "Then let's go!"
Korosu and Saratobi continued their battle with new enthusiasm. Saratobi ran at Korosu from all four sides, using cloning jutsu. Korosu jumped in the air to dodge the rush, but another Saratobi was already up there. She tried to punch Korosu down into the Saratobi mosh pit, but Korosu disappeared. Saratobi looked up and saw Korosu try to punch her in the mosh pit. She blocked the kick and grabbed his leg. Korosu just grinned. They landed in the crowd and Korosu made a hand sign.
"Dispel!" he cried. All the Saratobi clones disappeared in smoke.
"How'd you do that?" asked the real Saratobi. Korosu said nothing, but took out a needle. He tossed it at her, causing her to giggle. "You said the basics won't work!" she said, but then the needle exploded and out came a humungous carrion worm. Saratobi wet her skirt and got tackled by the massive summon creature. It tried devouring her whole, but she kept stabbing the inside of its mouth with weapons.
'When he said no holds barred, he meant it!' she thought. Korosu whistled and the giant worm slithered to his side.
"Had enough?" he asked, pushing up his glasses. Saratobi got up and blushed when she realized her skirt was wet.
"Um…NO!" she cried.
Korosu grinned, "Good." He dispelled the worm and made his way over to her. She stared at him as he smiled. "Warm, isn't it?" he asked.
"Huh?" Saratobi replied, confused.
"I'm talking about the weather…warm, isn't it?" Korosu repeated. She continued to stare at him. Korosu blushed and stepped back.
"What? I'm just striking a conversation." He said. She stepped towards him, still blushing.
"To talk to me like that after you tried to hurt me…it's so…" she stepped toward him again, "so…" Saratobi leaned into him and tried to kiss him, but he took another step back. "Korosu?" she asked. His eyes darted to the left as his brother Daisuke walked out of the resting room. Then Korosu jumped back over Saratobi and landed behind her. She shrieked in surprise and received one of Korosu's poison needles to the back. He let her drop and leaned next to her.
"Forgive me…I've something to take care of." He whispered. He pushed her blue hair out of her eyes and stood up.
"Korosu…" Saratobi muttered. Then she blacked out. Tsunade entered the center of the coliseum and raised Korosu's hand.
"Kashime Korosu wins!" she announced. The once silent crowd began cheering and raving. Korosu ran to his brother and looked away.
"What?" Daisuke asked.
"We're being watched by that Henshin failure, Korosuke." replied Korosu. Daisuke looked behind him and saw a massive figure in a cloak.
"Let's chase him. He'll defiantly lead us to Muchu." He said. Then the brothers dashed toward the creature, who ducked out once Daisuke saw him. Tsunade kept glancing at a clock as she read the next set of names.
"Bakufu Zawato vs. Shimasu Satsuma…"
Sasuke and Sakura walked around a corner and saw Katsuhiro enter a store of some kind.
"He's wearing an Akatsuki cloak." Sasuke said, heading for the store. Sakura tugged on his sleeve.
"What?" Sasuke asked. Sakura pointed to the trees. "Yeah," Sasuke whispered, "It needs to rain. They need the water…I don't understand why you don't talk anymore…" he walked in the store and looked for Katsuhiro. Nobody was inside. "Hello?" Sasuke asked. Then Katsuhiro walked around the corner with his arms crossed, as usual.
"Uchiha…Sasuke, I presume? I'm Kashime Katsuhiro, an accomplice of your brother." He said. Sasuke scowled at the thought of his brother.