Saitou hurried and caught up with the others. Then headed down the hall
following Tenten's instructions. The room was about half the size of the
previous one. Inside stood a tall man in a Jounin uniform. He had his arms
crossed and his closed. He seemed to be waiting for something. He had short
spiked black hair and a scar across his right cheek.
Tapion, Hikari and Saitou joined the rest of the genins and took their seats. Soon all the genin took entered. Tapion looked around at them; he spotted Naomi and her team. He smiled and waved. She spotted him across the room and waved back. He also noticed that about a third of the genins were from the leaf. A lot of them were from stone, cloud and wave; all the major villages. Tapion then notice two cloud ninjas, he recognized them from when they went to the village. The big guy who was about to fight Saitou and the other one who stopped him. Tapion remembered the other guy solely because he couldn't since his approach.
When everything settled the Jounin standing in the front of the room opened his eyes and looked at everyone. He stood there counting. "Hmmm...90 people, 30 teams. This should be interesting." He said to himself. He held his hand up to his mouth and coughed.
"Hello I am Nara Shikamaru, you're examiner for the second test. Now before you take this part of the exam you are required to sign a wavier. During this part of the exam it is possible that you may be injured of worse killed. Signing this waver means that we are not responsible." He tapped on a stack of papers in front of him. "Now please if you would take one and think it over." Tapion and the others got up and got in line to get the waver.
Two floors up in the same building
Tenten walked into the room and sat down. Two other shinobi were already in there dressed in jounin uniforms. They all looked at Tenten. "So, how'd the first test go." Asked Sakura.
"Not bad about half of them passed." She looked over at Hinata who was sitting next to Sakura. "Yours and Sasuke's team passed." Hinata smiled wit relief. "Now they're up against Shikamaru."
Back in the room
Everyone signed the wavers and made a pile in front of the room. "Now that everyone is here would you please follow me to Akagahara." Shikamaru left the room. All the genins followed.
It took about an hour to get to Akagahara or better known as Area 44. Tapion looked up at the huge fence surrounding the forest. "Oh dude that's one nasty looking place. We're supposed to go in there?" He let out a whistle.
"Yeah, I totally agree with you on that one. This test is definitely going to be harder that the last one." Saitou nodded. They remembered the waver that had to sign.
Shikarmaru walked up to a desk just outside of one of the gates that led into Area 44. "Alright, here is the second part of your exam." He reached for two scrolls on the desk. "Each team will be given one scroll, either an Earth scroll or Heaven scroll. After that your team will go to an assigned gate. Then you will enter." He pointed to the forest behind him. "Your mission is to obtain both scrolls and enter the tower located at the center of the forest in five days. However there are a few rules." He paused and yawned a bit. "Rule 1. If you don't make it to the tower, with both scrolls within the time limit will fail. Rule 2. Those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed will fail. Rule 3. There is no quitting in the middle you will be in the forest for five days. And finally Rule 4. You must not look inside the scroll until you reach the tower. Now would all teams come up one at a time to this booth to receive a scroll and gate assignment."
Tapion, Saitou and Hikari walked up to the booth. A chuunin handed them a Heaven scroll and told them to go to gate 24 and wait for the signal to enter.
Near Area 44
Hinata and Sasuke decided to head out to see how their subordinates were doing. When Sasuke stopped as if something caught his attention. Hinata looked at him and was about to ask him why when he put his hand up to silence her and then silently walked over to the bushes. Hinata followed unsure of what he sensed. She crept up next to him and saw what had agitated him. Gouda. She'd recognize him anywhere.
They were at the top of a small hill. Below them stood Gouda, a man stand next to him and a man in front of them. The two strangers were glaring at one another. The one standing next to Gouda was in a cloak. The guy in front of them had short brown hair, green eyes. He wore a large red coat. He carried a flask around his belt.
Gouda tightened his fist. "Get out of our way." He began to make a hand seal when his companion stopped him.
"That's enough Gouda." Gouda complied and stood at attention. "Why are you here Vidina."
"I owed a favor, "Vidina grinned. "I don't know what your plans are Roosta but I won't let you harm this village." He reached in his coat and pulled out a wooden flute about half a meter long.
Roosta laughed. "Ah my dear friend, why the hostility. Its been such a long time why ruin this reunion with blood." He removed his hood to reveal his face that had a smile the size of the moon. "Do not worry, the village is safe for now." He and Gouda walked up to him. Roosta patted Vidina on the shoulder and left the area. Vidina left as well.
Up above Sasuke and Hinata looked at each other. "Should we follow Gouda and Roosta?" Hinata asked.
"No," He shook his head, "I wanna know more about this ally. Come on, I guess we'll have to check on our teams later." Sasuke jumped down the hill and headed in the direction Vidina went. Hinata nodded and followed close behind him, remembering Shino's words. She wasn't about to lose him.
Gate 24
"How long are we supposed to wait for this stupid thing to open?" Tapion walked up to it and kicked the Iron Gate. He soon fell feeling the pain from kicking the gate.
"Baka." Hikari shook her head.
"Be patient, they said they were going to open the gates one at a time every half hour. Ours should be opening anytime now." And right as Saitou said that, Gate 24 opened. Tapion shook off his pain and ran to the entrance, stopping one step outside.
"Come on the faster we get this over with, the faster we reach the next level." Tapion took a few steps into the forest. Saitou and Hikari followed suit.
The three of them quickly found a small niche under one the giant trees that reached the clouds. Saitou poked his head out of the cavern making sure no one some them enter.
He turned to Tapion and Hikari. "Okay I think we should split up and scout the area and meet back here in an hour."
"Splitting up doesn't sound like the best idea. Who knows what's out there. We got 29 other teams, traps and a whole bunch of other nasty things."
"But what else do we do? We need to know the surrounding and complete our mission. We need an Earth scroll remember." Saitou pointed out and Hikari nodded in agreement; Tapion reluctantly agreed.
Each of them went a different direction. The forest was huge. Tapion had never seen such huge trees. He jumped from branch to branch, all his senses were on high alert. "Next time I come up with the plans." He said to himself.
Saitou decided to take the low road. The underbrush of the forest was not as thick as he'd expected. As he approached a clearing he heard voices. He slowed his pace to a crawl and sat in one of the bushes. He peered into the clearing spotting two shinobi. He smiled; he immediately recognized one of them. It was the cloud guy. What was his name again, Roko yeah Roko that was it; Saitou thought to himself. He watched the two converse, but was too far away to hear them. Then the other shinobi left the area. Now was his time to strike. He stepped out of the bushes. "Hello. I am Saitou of the leaf" He glared at him.
Roko nodded. "My name is Roko of the cloud."
Then the two started to walk closer but kept their distance from one another. Roko reached behind him and into his pouch. Saitou got into his stance waiting for Roko to make the first move.
Roko pulled out several shurikens from his pouch and threw them. Saitou pulled out his kunai blocked the first shuriken and dodged the other two. Roko matched him with his own kunai. Roko closed the gap and slashed at Saitou. Saitou blocked him with his own blade and at the same time punched him with his free hand knocking him down several feet away.
Roko quickly recovered and got back on his feet. He glared at his opponent and began to do several hand signs. His eyes began to glow and Saitou could have sworn he saw Roko's body give off an electrical discharge. Then he disappeared.
'Where'd he go' Saitou looked around. The next moment Saitou saw Roko appeared kneeled down below Saitou. He was too slow to move to block Roko double punching him in the gut and chest. Saitou flew backwards right into a tree trunk. 'That was no illusionary technique, that was pure speed' He thought as he let out a cough of blood.
Roko got up from where he knelt. Electrical current was surging from his body. Saitou jumped up as high as he could over Roko and landed behind him. He did a few seals and inhaled. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Saitou exhailed, releasing a huge fireball in Roko's direction. Roko put his hands up to block the fireball.
"Static Shield!" An electrical barrier formed between the Roko and the fire. He pushed his barrier with all his strength. Saitou matched him but was quickly running out of breath. At that moment Roko's shield began to weaken and then dropped. The fireball engulfed Roko. Saitou dropped to his knee to catch his breath. Roko fell as well stinging from his burned arms he used to take the blunt of Saitou's attack. Roko took a deep breath and slowly got back up to his feet. Saitou smiled as he wiped the spit from his mouth and got back into his stance. He then charged at Roko. Roko tried to get into his stance as well but soon dropped to his knee.
Saitou relaxed his arm allowing his chakra to flow through it amplifying his strength. He was about to strike when another shinobi appeared pulling Roko away from Saitou's attack. Saitou stopped his attack at that moment. Preparing for anything that might come at him at that moment.
Roko lay on the other side of the clearing. A shaggy brown haired boy stood above him. "Roko, you okay?" Roko nodded, "Good I'll take it from here." The boy looked at Saitou taking off his jacket and covering Roko with it. He had a green t-shirt on underneath. He then closed his eyes and held the ram seal. (A/n: The one they use in the show to channel chakra). His back began to extend outward. He reached behind him under his shirt and pulled out a sword. It was fairly long and doubled his reach. It was made completely out of bone. He held it pointing strait up in the air next to his head.
'Crap this can't be good," Saitou thought as he shifted from an offensive stance to a defensive one. The boy charged swinging his blade at Saitou's chest. Saitou jumped backwards to avoid the attack and then to the right of him. He took one more step back and hit another tree trunk. With his back pinned, the boy took the advantage and swung at his head. Saitou ducked and kicked him in the chest. The boy fell back giving his enough room to breath. He looked behind him; the boy had carved a chunk out the tree with that blow. He turned to face his opponent again just in the nick of time. The boy was charging at him again. Saitou moved but wasn't fast enough to completely dodge the attack. The blade grazed his left side. Saitou jumped back and performed several seals. "Seven blades no Jutsu!" A whirlwind engulfed the boy. Saitou held his hands out and then closed them. The whirlwind grew stronger and tighter. 'That should have hurt him' Saitou though. Suddenly at the center of the whirlwind a spark glowed and then exploded dispelling the whirlwind. Saitou covered his face and was pushed back a few feat from his position. When the dust settled the boy was at the center of the explosion.
Saitou was in shock. 'How the hell did he do that?" He thought. "Crap I'm almost out of chakra." He said to himself. "Oh well." The boy held his sword out pointing at him.
"Geez I can't take you anywhere?" At that moment Tapion dropped down from a tree and into the clearing.
"Tapion watch out, that guys tough." Tapion cut him off at that moment as he held out his hand.
"I'm getting a babysitter next time," Tapion then walked in front of Saitou. "What scroll do you have?" He yelled out toward the boy.
The boy relaxed a bit in his stance and responded. "Heaven!" Tapion smiled showing him the scroll.
"There's no need to continue this, we also have the Heaven scroll. This battle is meaningless." The boy relaxed and dropped his stance and showed them his scroll. They were the same.
"You're right. I will take my teammate and withdraw from the battle then." He walked over to Roko.
"Wait one more question. Who are you?" Tapion asked.
"Shinta." He replied helping Roko up on his feet. "Yours?"
"Tapion." With that Shinta and Roko left the area. He turned to face Saitou. "Hehe 'we need an Earth scroll remember'." He said mimicking Saitou's voice. "I swear could you ever put aside your ego for once. Come on we need to head back and meet up with Hikari." He turned and started heading back. Saitou followed.
"Hey back there I'd just have to say thanks. I'd admit I was about to get pounded if you didn't show up."
"Don't mention it. Something tells me that I this was just the beginning."
A/n: Finally, I was wondering if I'd ever get around to write this. More action and the plot thickens. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner.
Tapion, Hikari and Saitou joined the rest of the genins and took their seats. Soon all the genin took entered. Tapion looked around at them; he spotted Naomi and her team. He smiled and waved. She spotted him across the room and waved back. He also noticed that about a third of the genins were from the leaf. A lot of them were from stone, cloud and wave; all the major villages. Tapion then notice two cloud ninjas, he recognized them from when they went to the village. The big guy who was about to fight Saitou and the other one who stopped him. Tapion remembered the other guy solely because he couldn't since his approach.
When everything settled the Jounin standing in the front of the room opened his eyes and looked at everyone. He stood there counting. "Hmmm...90 people, 30 teams. This should be interesting." He said to himself. He held his hand up to his mouth and coughed.
"Hello I am Nara Shikamaru, you're examiner for the second test. Now before you take this part of the exam you are required to sign a wavier. During this part of the exam it is possible that you may be injured of worse killed. Signing this waver means that we are not responsible." He tapped on a stack of papers in front of him. "Now please if you would take one and think it over." Tapion and the others got up and got in line to get the waver.
Two floors up in the same building
Tenten walked into the room and sat down. Two other shinobi were already in there dressed in jounin uniforms. They all looked at Tenten. "So, how'd the first test go." Asked Sakura.
"Not bad about half of them passed." She looked over at Hinata who was sitting next to Sakura. "Yours and Sasuke's team passed." Hinata smiled wit relief. "Now they're up against Shikamaru."
Back in the room
Everyone signed the wavers and made a pile in front of the room. "Now that everyone is here would you please follow me to Akagahara." Shikamaru left the room. All the genins followed.
It took about an hour to get to Akagahara or better known as Area 44. Tapion looked up at the huge fence surrounding the forest. "Oh dude that's one nasty looking place. We're supposed to go in there?" He let out a whistle.
"Yeah, I totally agree with you on that one. This test is definitely going to be harder that the last one." Saitou nodded. They remembered the waver that had to sign.
Shikarmaru walked up to a desk just outside of one of the gates that led into Area 44. "Alright, here is the second part of your exam." He reached for two scrolls on the desk. "Each team will be given one scroll, either an Earth scroll or Heaven scroll. After that your team will go to an assigned gate. Then you will enter." He pointed to the forest behind him. "Your mission is to obtain both scrolls and enter the tower located at the center of the forest in five days. However there are a few rules." He paused and yawned a bit. "Rule 1. If you don't make it to the tower, with both scrolls within the time limit will fail. Rule 2. Those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed will fail. Rule 3. There is no quitting in the middle you will be in the forest for five days. And finally Rule 4. You must not look inside the scroll until you reach the tower. Now would all teams come up one at a time to this booth to receive a scroll and gate assignment."
Tapion, Saitou and Hikari walked up to the booth. A chuunin handed them a Heaven scroll and told them to go to gate 24 and wait for the signal to enter.
Near Area 44
Hinata and Sasuke decided to head out to see how their subordinates were doing. When Sasuke stopped as if something caught his attention. Hinata looked at him and was about to ask him why when he put his hand up to silence her and then silently walked over to the bushes. Hinata followed unsure of what he sensed. She crept up next to him and saw what had agitated him. Gouda. She'd recognize him anywhere.
They were at the top of a small hill. Below them stood Gouda, a man stand next to him and a man in front of them. The two strangers were glaring at one another. The one standing next to Gouda was in a cloak. The guy in front of them had short brown hair, green eyes. He wore a large red coat. He carried a flask around his belt.
Gouda tightened his fist. "Get out of our way." He began to make a hand seal when his companion stopped him.
"That's enough Gouda." Gouda complied and stood at attention. "Why are you here Vidina."
"I owed a favor, "Vidina grinned. "I don't know what your plans are Roosta but I won't let you harm this village." He reached in his coat and pulled out a wooden flute about half a meter long.
Roosta laughed. "Ah my dear friend, why the hostility. Its been such a long time why ruin this reunion with blood." He removed his hood to reveal his face that had a smile the size of the moon. "Do not worry, the village is safe for now." He and Gouda walked up to him. Roosta patted Vidina on the shoulder and left the area. Vidina left as well.
Up above Sasuke and Hinata looked at each other. "Should we follow Gouda and Roosta?" Hinata asked.
"No," He shook his head, "I wanna know more about this ally. Come on, I guess we'll have to check on our teams later." Sasuke jumped down the hill and headed in the direction Vidina went. Hinata nodded and followed close behind him, remembering Shino's words. She wasn't about to lose him.
Gate 24
"How long are we supposed to wait for this stupid thing to open?" Tapion walked up to it and kicked the Iron Gate. He soon fell feeling the pain from kicking the gate.
"Baka." Hikari shook her head.
"Be patient, they said they were going to open the gates one at a time every half hour. Ours should be opening anytime now." And right as Saitou said that, Gate 24 opened. Tapion shook off his pain and ran to the entrance, stopping one step outside.
"Come on the faster we get this over with, the faster we reach the next level." Tapion took a few steps into the forest. Saitou and Hikari followed suit.
The three of them quickly found a small niche under one the giant trees that reached the clouds. Saitou poked his head out of the cavern making sure no one some them enter.
He turned to Tapion and Hikari. "Okay I think we should split up and scout the area and meet back here in an hour."
"Splitting up doesn't sound like the best idea. Who knows what's out there. We got 29 other teams, traps and a whole bunch of other nasty things."
"But what else do we do? We need to know the surrounding and complete our mission. We need an Earth scroll remember." Saitou pointed out and Hikari nodded in agreement; Tapion reluctantly agreed.
Each of them went a different direction. The forest was huge. Tapion had never seen such huge trees. He jumped from branch to branch, all his senses were on high alert. "Next time I come up with the plans." He said to himself.
Saitou decided to take the low road. The underbrush of the forest was not as thick as he'd expected. As he approached a clearing he heard voices. He slowed his pace to a crawl and sat in one of the bushes. He peered into the clearing spotting two shinobi. He smiled; he immediately recognized one of them. It was the cloud guy. What was his name again, Roko yeah Roko that was it; Saitou thought to himself. He watched the two converse, but was too far away to hear them. Then the other shinobi left the area. Now was his time to strike. He stepped out of the bushes. "Hello. I am Saitou of the leaf" He glared at him.
Roko nodded. "My name is Roko of the cloud."
Then the two started to walk closer but kept their distance from one another. Roko reached behind him and into his pouch. Saitou got into his stance waiting for Roko to make the first move.
Roko pulled out several shurikens from his pouch and threw them. Saitou pulled out his kunai blocked the first shuriken and dodged the other two. Roko matched him with his own kunai. Roko closed the gap and slashed at Saitou. Saitou blocked him with his own blade and at the same time punched him with his free hand knocking him down several feet away.
Roko quickly recovered and got back on his feet. He glared at his opponent and began to do several hand signs. His eyes began to glow and Saitou could have sworn he saw Roko's body give off an electrical discharge. Then he disappeared.
'Where'd he go' Saitou looked around. The next moment Saitou saw Roko appeared kneeled down below Saitou. He was too slow to move to block Roko double punching him in the gut and chest. Saitou flew backwards right into a tree trunk. 'That was no illusionary technique, that was pure speed' He thought as he let out a cough of blood.
Roko got up from where he knelt. Electrical current was surging from his body. Saitou jumped up as high as he could over Roko and landed behind him. He did a few seals and inhaled. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Saitou exhailed, releasing a huge fireball in Roko's direction. Roko put his hands up to block the fireball.
"Static Shield!" An electrical barrier formed between the Roko and the fire. He pushed his barrier with all his strength. Saitou matched him but was quickly running out of breath. At that moment Roko's shield began to weaken and then dropped. The fireball engulfed Roko. Saitou dropped to his knee to catch his breath. Roko fell as well stinging from his burned arms he used to take the blunt of Saitou's attack. Roko took a deep breath and slowly got back up to his feet. Saitou smiled as he wiped the spit from his mouth and got back into his stance. He then charged at Roko. Roko tried to get into his stance as well but soon dropped to his knee.
Saitou relaxed his arm allowing his chakra to flow through it amplifying his strength. He was about to strike when another shinobi appeared pulling Roko away from Saitou's attack. Saitou stopped his attack at that moment. Preparing for anything that might come at him at that moment.
Roko lay on the other side of the clearing. A shaggy brown haired boy stood above him. "Roko, you okay?" Roko nodded, "Good I'll take it from here." The boy looked at Saitou taking off his jacket and covering Roko with it. He had a green t-shirt on underneath. He then closed his eyes and held the ram seal. (A/n: The one they use in the show to channel chakra). His back began to extend outward. He reached behind him under his shirt and pulled out a sword. It was fairly long and doubled his reach. It was made completely out of bone. He held it pointing strait up in the air next to his head.
'Crap this can't be good," Saitou thought as he shifted from an offensive stance to a defensive one. The boy charged swinging his blade at Saitou's chest. Saitou jumped backwards to avoid the attack and then to the right of him. He took one more step back and hit another tree trunk. With his back pinned, the boy took the advantage and swung at his head. Saitou ducked and kicked him in the chest. The boy fell back giving his enough room to breath. He looked behind him; the boy had carved a chunk out the tree with that blow. He turned to face his opponent again just in the nick of time. The boy was charging at him again. Saitou moved but wasn't fast enough to completely dodge the attack. The blade grazed his left side. Saitou jumped back and performed several seals. "Seven blades no Jutsu!" A whirlwind engulfed the boy. Saitou held his hands out and then closed them. The whirlwind grew stronger and tighter. 'That should have hurt him' Saitou though. Suddenly at the center of the whirlwind a spark glowed and then exploded dispelling the whirlwind. Saitou covered his face and was pushed back a few feat from his position. When the dust settled the boy was at the center of the explosion.
Saitou was in shock. 'How the hell did he do that?" He thought. "Crap I'm almost out of chakra." He said to himself. "Oh well." The boy held his sword out pointing at him.
"Geez I can't take you anywhere?" At that moment Tapion dropped down from a tree and into the clearing.
"Tapion watch out, that guys tough." Tapion cut him off at that moment as he held out his hand.
"I'm getting a babysitter next time," Tapion then walked in front of Saitou. "What scroll do you have?" He yelled out toward the boy.
The boy relaxed a bit in his stance and responded. "Heaven!" Tapion smiled showing him the scroll.
"There's no need to continue this, we also have the Heaven scroll. This battle is meaningless." The boy relaxed and dropped his stance and showed them his scroll. They were the same.
"You're right. I will take my teammate and withdraw from the battle then." He walked over to Roko.
"Wait one more question. Who are you?" Tapion asked.
"Shinta." He replied helping Roko up on his feet. "Yours?"
"Tapion." With that Shinta and Roko left the area. He turned to face Saitou. "Hehe 'we need an Earth scroll remember'." He said mimicking Saitou's voice. "I swear could you ever put aside your ego for once. Come on we need to head back and meet up with Hikari." He turned and started heading back. Saitou followed.
"Hey back there I'd just have to say thanks. I'd admit I was about to get pounded if you didn't show up."
"Don't mention it. Something tells me that I this was just the beginning."
A/n: Finally, I was wondering if I'd ever get around to write this. More action and the plot thickens. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner.