Within the Forest of Death, Megumin watched over an unconscious Naruto and Sasuke. It had been a terrible part 2 of the Chunin exam. The first thing that happened in the dangerous forest was Naruto getting separated and some odd ninja named Orochimaru from another village went after Sasuke.
Although Naruto found them and they all put up a fight, the ninja did something to Naruto and Sasuke, rendering them unconscious. Not only that, but the man took their scroll needed to pass the exam.
Her teammates had convinced her to leave her staff at home, and she still hasn't unlocked her explosion release to be anything else but a simple spark. She hadn't been able to use it since Zabuza strangled her. The best course of action, for now, was to let her teammates rest beneath the giant roots of the tree.
They should wake up at any minute…
She sighed, unsure what to do besides watch them. It's unbelievable, but she missed Kakashi. They better repay her for watching them all night.
"Hey."
Megumin flinched at the unfamiliar voice. A team of sound ninja she recognized from right before the written part of the exam.
"Wake up Sasuke," said the boy with bandages that covered most of his face and with sleeves so long that they hid his hands.
"No thanks," she said. "Move along."
"Move along? I'll move along after we kill you," the other boy on their team said.
"Wait, Zaku," the bandaged boy said as he took a few steps forward and pulled up some grass. "She has landmines all around."
"What a joke!" Zaku said. "Dosu, the patches of grass are so obvious!"
The sound ninja began to just walk around them - but Megumin pulled on a string, triggering each paper bomb. Although the sound ninja jumped away from them, and the landscape around was now full of holes, it pushed them back. Before the exam, she had bought bundles of the paper bombs, sticking them to kunai and shurikens.
"Figures she would have done that," Dosu said. "Now we don't don't have to worry about where we step."
They rushed at her again, but a green flash countered and pushed. Rock Lee with his great taijutsu - before the first exam, he had briefly sparred with Sasuke, outpacing him completely. All Megumin knew was that she wouldn't want to fight Lee.
"Rock Lee? Why are you helping us?" Megumin asked.
He gave a thumbs up. "We're leaf ninja comrades, and I couldn't just stand by and let my comrades get hurt by ninjas from a different village."
Megumin smiled at how cool Rock Lee was. He loosened his bandages and rushed at Dosu. Lee basically vanished the moment before he uppercut Dosu with a low kick. He jumped up and wrapped the bandages around the sound ninja, spinning him around like a drill as they both plummeted to the ground. However, Dosu's teammate softened the ground with a Jutsu and wasn't out of the count.
"Nearly took me out," Dosu said as he stood and pulled up his sleeve, revealing a gauntlet. Rock Lee was too exhausted from his lotus to dodge his attack and suffered a direct attack. "You're fast, but we use sound Jutsu. You can't be faster than that."
Dosu sprinted past Rock Lee and towards Megumin and her team. Rock Lee managed to get in his way but dodged Rock Lee's kick and used his gauntlet to emit a high-frequency wave, counting Rock Lee out of the fight.
"Get away from him!" Megumin yelled as she threw a shuriken.
"Dosu, dodge it!" Yelled the girl sound ninja.
He barely maneuvered himself to dodge the shuriken, which carved into a tree and exploded bark off it.
"She has a tenacity for explosions," Dosu said. "You better not throw any more or else your friends may get hurt."
Megumin was so tired, she could barely aim that shuriken alone. She pulled out a string of bombs.
"What is she thinking?! That's enough bombs to blow us all up!" Zaku said.
"You're going to kill us, anyway. I might as well get risky," Megumin said.
She wrapped the string around her body, sticking the bombs to herself. She used a hand seal to cover her body with a layer of chakra and ran at Dosu. Thanks to her Earth chakra nature, her chakra was sturdy - enough to make a shield around her, a technique Kakashi taught her.
"This girl is insane!" He said, jumping backward from Megumin.
Megumin peeled off a paper bomb from her body, threw it down at the ground, and hopped up. The explosion propelled her up and forward, letting her throw several kunai at the sound ninja. Zaku pulled his teammate out of the way, but Dosu got caught in the explosion. He used his sound Jutsu to push back some of the explosion, but his clothes were tattered - no longer were his sleeves too long.
"How troublesome," he said.
When Megumin's feet came to the ground, Zaku used his Jutsu to soften the ground beneath her. She lost her balance and her legs went through the dirt. When she was stuck, the girl threw senbon at her, which she barely had the reaction time to deflect.
Dosu was close range while the other two were long-ranged. She had hoped the girl was close-ranged like Dosu so they'd both keep away from her. They didn't want to risk attacking her, triggering the bombs on her skin, and blowing themselves up.
She clawed to get out of the soft dirt, but Zaku shot her with some kind of air blast from the tubes in his hands. It blew several of her bombs up, throwing her into the air. Although the chakra shield protected her, Dosu jumped up and grappled her, slamming her to the ground.
In a last-ditch effort, she tried to slap a bomb onto him, but he grabbed her wrist and twisted it. She screamed as she ate dirt.
"What a runt," Zaku said. "Hey, Kin, you wanna do the honors?"
The sound girl crouched down to talk to her. "Can't do anything without your precious little paper bombs, huh?" She grabbed her satchel and looked inside it. "She has enough bombs here to blow up the entire country!"
"Stay away from my friends," she said.
"Oh, that's too bad," Zaku said. "They're as good as dead, but hey, at least you don't have to watch."
As Kin pulled out a senbon and teased Megumin's neck with it, she shut her eyes. Her body felt hot. In fact, she was sweating all over. She stretched out her palm and released a blast from her hand, throwing Dosu off.
"What was that?!" He asked.
With her arm free, she aimed it at the Sound girl and released another explosion. She was unable to get out of the radius and got pushed to the dirt.
"She knocked out Kin!" Zaku said.
Megumin's palms sparkled like a lighter igniting. She stretched her hand out at them, her palm glowed red hot like a hot plate. "Explosion!" She yelled. A powerful blast shot out of her hand and shot at the sound ninja. Though Dosu got out of the way, Zaku's arms got scorched. The boy trembled and passed out to the ground.
With a glare, Megumin pointed her hand to Dosu. "So, you have some kind of explosion ability. No wonder you had all those paper bombs. But, there has to be a reason you weren't using that jutsu before."
He held his arm up and charged at Megumin. She released another explosion, but Dosu stepped around it. Before she could step back, Dosu released his jutsu, making Megumin dizzy and disoriented.
She held her head as she took a few steps backward. The world titled back and forth like a ship on some bad water, her vision blurred. When she tried to raise her hand up to release another explosion, Dosu punched her in the gut. Her knees hit the ground, all she could do was claw at the dirt as she tried to get back up.
"Now I can finally complete my mission," Dosu said as she stepped towards Sasuke and Naruto.
Megumin raised her trembling arm to Dosu's back, but her explosion didn't come out.
"What's going on?!" Dosu suddenly asked as he raised his arms over his head.
She slowly looked around, seeing Shikamaru had come to save them, along with Choji and Ino.
"Do you really think we'll just let you kill our teammates while they're asleep?" Shikamaru asked.
"What is this Jutsu? I can't move," Dosu asked.
"See our shadows? They're connected. It's called Shadow Possession Jutsu. Anything I do - you have to do, too. Monkey see monkey do."
"Not only am I unable to move, but I'm also outnumbered. Don't worry, I know when I need to surrender," Dosu said.
"Actually, I have a better idea," Shikamaru said.
"And what's that? Don't tell me you're going to kill me," Dosu laughed. "I know you leaf ninjas wouldn't do that to a defenseless person."
"No, but I bet Megumin's teammate wants a whack at you."
"Her teammate?" Dosu looked over at Sasuke, who had just stood up. Marks like black tattoos in the shape of flames covered his skin.
"Who is this…? Why is my teammate incapacitated on the ground?" Sasuke asked, his hands made into a fist.
The Shadow Possession Jutsu wore off, but Dosu took a step back - raising a hand like a white flag. "Wait! I've already surrendered, there's no need to fight any longer!"
"What have you done to Megumin? Why is she on the dirty ground?!" Sasuke asked, clenching his teeth as he reached for Dosu. When Dosu reacted by trying to use his gauntlet, Sasuke threw Dosu to the ground and stepped on his neck, unable to push him off.
"Not many people survive a crushed neck," Sasuke yelled.
Although incoherent, Megumin clawed at the dirt to get up. Unable to stand up all the way, she stumbled to Sasuke and pushed him off Dosu - though, it was too late. His arms had gone limp and he was unmoving.
"Megumin? What are you doing…?" Sasuke asked, helping her stand.
"Please… just stop."
The black marks that covered his face receded back to his neck. He fell to his butt and looked at his hands as if he had never seen them before.
"Damn… that really freaked me out," Shikamaru said, coming out of the bush. Ino herself looked shook, holding a hand to cover her mouth. "I didn't know Sasuke had it in him to do… that."
2
After Rock Lee's team had also come to help, they decided to let the rest of the sound team leave in exchange for their scroll. After the leaf genin squads departed, Megumin, Sasuke, and Naruto recuperated for a few days. It wasn't until the last day, when they met with Kabuto again that they decided to go toward the tower, with the objective of taking the heaven scroll from one of the enemy teams waiting to ambush teams for their scrolls. With Naruto's brute endurance with his clones, Megumin's explosions, Sasuke's sharp eyes, and Kabuto's knowledge, they took on an Amegakure team that used numerous genjutsu against them.
Once they came to their room at the tower, they opened the scrolls - which summoned Iruka. Better than Kakashi. The last face she'd wanna see after a long survival trek would be his - or, well, his eye.
Iruka gave them a pep talk, words of wisdom, and told them what the exercise was about - whether the team could carry out a mission and follow the objective. If they would have opened up the scroll before this point, Iruka would have knocked them out.
The teams that passed the exam lined up in rows in a large atrium, where the far wall the genin faced was a statue with two arms and hands making the tiger seal. The people who stood before them were Chunins, the Jonuin squad leaders, the test instructors, and the Hokage. It was Anko who congratulated them. Lee's team was there, along with the other two rookie teams from Konoha.
After the Hokage talked about the purpose of the Chunin exams, they started the preliminary exam before the third exam. There were too many candidates for the third one, and without so much of a break - they're gonna have to battle each other.
"If there's anyone who feels they're unable to continue right now, raise your hand, and you may be free to leave," the proctor said.
This entire time, Sasuke has been rubbing his neck, where Orochimaru placed that mark onto him. From behind, she grabbed his jacket. "Sasuke…"
He looked over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"You should quit."
"That's not an option," he said, rubbing his neck. "I need to keep going."
Megumin sucked in her cheek and glared at him. "You're getting worse. Your goals mean nothing if that mark kills you."
"Shut up, Megumin."
"How dare you tell me to shut up," she snarked. "I'll tell them myself that you're not fit to fight."
Sasuke made a low growl. "Stop it - you don't know me like how you think you do. Just leave me alone."
She thought back to how he crushed Dosu's neck. Megumin's lip twitched before she glanced away. "Whatever you want. Get yourself killed, see what… I care."
He sighed and looked into her eyes. "I gotta keep going, no matter what… I need to get stronger. No one can change that."
Megumin didn't look his way. "As I said, see how much I care."
"Megumin…"
The only person who quit right then was Kabuto, the one that helped them get to the tower in the first place. The proctor gave the instructions and there was only one rule, which was there were no rules within the one-on-one combat rounds. Either one dies, one concedes defeat, or is unable to go on. As a proctor, he may either give leeway or intervene at his own judgment in order to save lives. The opponents for each match were chosen at random.
The first match: Yoroi Akado vs Sasuke Uciha.
Before she walked up to the catwalk with the others, she came close to Sasuke. "If you think you're about to die, you better concede… dumbass."
All he did was make a soft smile.
She sighed. "You're hopeless, aren't you?"
3
Sasuke fought the match without his Sharingan nor using much chakra. He struggled for the better half of the fight, until Sasuke kicked him up in the air, mimicking Rock Lee's Lotus. After Sasuke kicked Akado to the ground, Kakashi took him away. Hopefully to the hospital.
Next was Naruto vs Shikamaru.
"Wow. Lucky," Choji said.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Naruto yelled, fist up in the air.
Shikamaru smiled. "Better than fighting a girl, I guess."
Megumin slouched over the railing. "You guys really underestimate him."
Shikamaru titled his head a little and repeated Naruto's words. "What's that supposed to mean?"
As they were leaving to walk down to the area, she grabbed Naruto's arm and whispered into his ear. "Start off with some clones, Naruto."
For a moment, he looked at her before he snickered. "Not sure why, but I'll go along with it!"
Naruto was asleep when Shikamaru used his Shadow Possession Jutsu. Similarly, Shikamaru has never seen Naruto's ability to produce a massive amount of clones. Him doing that alone will give Naruto an edge.
Once the two boys stood parallel, Naruto smiled and pointed at Shikamaru. "You're going down, Shikamaru!"
"Do you ever shut up?"
"Begin!" The proctor said.
First thing, Shikamaru hopped backward, right up against the wall. He probably expected Naruto to charge right at him. Instead, Naruto summoned several clones.
"Shadow Clones? Since when were you able to do that?" Shikamaru asked.
In formation, the clones cornered Shikamaru. When they were about to charge at him, Shikamaru pushed his hand into his satchel and threw down a smoke bomb. After it vanished, there were only Naruto clones.
"Where did he go?" One clone asked.
"He just vanished!"
"Wait, what if he transformed into me!"
One clone assaulted another. "It's you, isn't it?! You're Shikamaru!"
Clone after clone dispersed until only two Narutos remained - one who did a hand seal and captured the original with his shadow. Shikamaru's disguise vanished.
Megumin rubbed her face. "That moron… he got caught."
"What is this? I can't move!" Naruto said.
"I had to think fast there. Guess you really evolved since the last time I saw you," Shikamaru said.
Megumin looked with boredom, wondering what Shikamaru would do now. Again, he pulled something out of the satchel and threw it to the ground. A rope. He walked closer to it, making Naruto do the same - except, the rope was closer to Naruto himself. Although Naruto struggled not to mimic Shikamaru, he couldn't help but tie it around like how Shikamaru wanted, around his hands and ankles.
"So, that's your game, making me tie my hands up like this," Naruto said, annoyed.
"That's right. Nice and tight. My Jutsu isn't advanced enough to subdue opponents by itself, so I carry around tools that let me get the job done."
Once done, Shikamaru released the shadow possession and Naruto fell over. Sweat dripped down his forehead.
"It'll be faster if you give up," Shikamaru said.
"If he can't escape within twenty-five seconds, I'll have to call the match," the proctor said.
"That so?!" Naruto said, as he began to struggle to get out of the rope.
"It's no use. I wouldn't use some cheap rope you could easily escape," Shikamaru said.
Naruto struggled. Someone skipped the rope escape class at the academy.
"Just give it up," Shikamaru said, with his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, right! I didn't come this far just to let myself get tied up like this!" Naruto yelled. He just needed to loosen the rope enough to do a Jutsu, and then he could get out of it with a shadow clone - but the rope was tight, he couldn't break free.
"If I can't use my hands, then-" Naruto blinked hard as he stared at the hand seal statue. Although it was awkward, he tried his best to make the tiger seal with just his fingers. A pathetic clone, weak and pale, appeared to Naruto's aid.
Shikamaru gawked. "How? With just one hand?"
The pathetic clone, although slothful, took a kunai to slice the rope between Naruto's hands. Shikamaru acted fast by using his shadow possession Jutsu to capture him again, but Naruto made several, full-fledged clones with both his hands.
Shikamaru retracted the shadow and cracked a grin as he raised his hand. "That's it, I quit."
"What?!" Naruto screamed as he cut the rope off and stood up. "Just like that?"
Shikamaru smiled. "Even if I were to capture you again, my only rope was sliced. "
Naruto groaned before he raised a fist. "I was just getting started!"
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki," the proctor said.
"What a waste of time," Shikamaru said. "Don't tell me you've always been able to do a one-handed seal."
Naruto scratched his face. "It's something I heard about from one of our missions. This guy named Haku was about to do it perfectly."
"You just randomly thought about it?" Megumin asked.
"Well… no. Honestly, both me and Megumin have been working on it. It sure saved my butt, even though the clone was pathetic."
The next names showed up on the monitor mounted to the hand seal statue. Kankuro vs Gaara.
Kankuro raised his hand. "Yeah, that's not going to happen! I forfeit!"
"Well… so be it. As it is, though, someone having to do two matches is unavoidable as there's an odd number of people, so I'm going to set Gaara up with someone else."
The next names for the third match showed up. Shino vs Gaara.
Shino raised his hand. "I forfeit."
"What?!" Most of the leaf genin said, aside from Kiba and Hinata. Gaara glared at them from the other catwalk.
"Don't you embarrass us like that!" Naruto said. "Get out there!"
"Shut it, Naruto!" Kiba yelled. "You… you have no idea what that guy is capable of. I don't blame Shino one bit."
Their Jounin leader Kurenai eyed them. "What exactly did you three see..?"
Akamaru trembled within Kiba's hoodie. Hinata herself shied away.
"He killed a whole team by himself," Shino said, holding his arms. "It was brutal..."
"Yes," Hinata agreed, hugging herself and shutting her eyes.
"What?" Kurenai said before she made a crooked smile. "Guess it's good to choose your battles wisely…"
"Gee... it's like they got the same training Megumin got from Kakashi," Naruto said.
Megumin held and rubbed her arms as she looked at her feet and shivered. "I-I doubt a-anything could ever c-come close!"
Kurenai furrowed an eyebrow at Kakashi. "Just what is she talking about? What training?"
Kakashi chuckled. "It's nothing. She's just overreacting."
"I still have the burn marks on my ankles," Megumin whispered.
All the other leaf genin gawked and sweated as they side-eyed Kakashi, who made a nervous chuckle.
The Proctor coughed. "I see… guess that settles that. Onto the next one."
Misumi vs Neji. It was a fast match. Although Misumi was able to stretch around, he couldn't handle Neji's gentle fist, or even get near him. Within a moment, Misumi was unable to move properly and was taken away on a stretcher.
Temari went up against Kiba. Although he was ferocious, Temari was easily able to keep at a distance and use her giant fan to damage him from afar.
The next match was Ino vs Choji. Being on the same team, they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses well. After Ino did a fake-out, she used her mind-transfer Jutsu to put her soul into Choji and make him forfeit.
Tenten and Hinata came next. Even after Hinata struggled to fight off Tenten's mass amount of weapons, she eventually passed out - Tenten knew to stay away from her, having been on Neji's team and knew how to fight against her Byakugan.
Next came the last round. Megumin vs Rock Lee. She was barely able to concentrate on the last match, how on earth was she supposed to fight off the green flash? She was horrible at taijutsu, and her explosion release still needed work.
"This oughta be good," Kakashi said.
"This girl, she's the one who casts giant explosions, right?" Guy asked.
"She what?" Kurenai asked.
Rock Lee smiled. "Megumin! It's an honor to do battle with you!"
She smiled nervously. "Y-yeah, you too…" She looked away, wishing she had gone up against anyone else. Rock Lee would just step away from any explosion she made.
"Begin," the proctor said.
Rock Lee sprinted and began with his leaf hurricane, an overhead kick. She blocked it, although it almost broke her dang arm. He was relentless, too, already coming in for more kicks. She didn't want to, but she resorted to her new Jutsu, already. A small blast from her palm, making him get away.
"Since when has Megumin been able to use her explosion release like that?" Kakashi asked Naruto.
Naruto rubbed his chin. "Since she protected us from some sound ninjas in the forest."
"Ah, so her need to protect her friends unlocked it for her… hopefully she's able to use it without hurting herself."
From what Megumin has seen of Rock Lee, he doesn't have much ninjutsu or genjutsu capabilities - only extreme taijutsu.
Lee got into a stance out of Megumin's radius. "I see. You're able to use explosions in such a short range."
Megumin got into her own stance, with her fingers stretched out. "It's not just short range."
Her palm heated up before an explosion the size of a basketball shot out like a bolt. Lee acted fast to step out of the way. She blasted bolts of explosions at him, hitting him a few times, although fast bolts like that didn't cause much damage. One hit his torso, knocking him back and making him slow down. He gritted his teeth before he basically flashed, running behind her.
He wrapped his unwrapped bandages around her arms and pulled, making her next shot shoot to the ceiling. He then swept her off her feet with a down-low kick, making her fall to the ground.
When Lee was about to subdue her completely, she charged up an explosion and let it rip, blowing them both off the ground. Lee managed to land on the fingers of the statue, while Megumin panted as she pushed herself down from the floor and aimed her palm at him.
"Her Jutsu is so fast," Lee said under his breath. If this kept going, she would eventually win.
"Lee! Go for it! Take them off!" Guy said with a thumbs up.
"Huh?" Megumin looked confused before she pointed at Lee. "You better keep your onesie on!"
Lee saluted. "But, Guy-Sensei?"
Guy's thumb grew. "This is an exception!"
Lee nodded and slipped off the orange sleeves on his limbs, revealing his leg weights. Megumin rubbed her chin. "It's just some weights…"
When he dropped the weights, from the height, it caused two large explosions of debris as they broke the floor. Her eyes twitched. She could barely keep up before.
"Are you ready, Megumin?!" He asked with a smile.
She raised her hands up. "Come on, Lee! Show me the power of youth!"
He nodded - before he basically vanished. Before she could even process that he vanished, she was kicked in the back, kicked again in the gut, then thrown against the wall.
Lee stood before her. "You should give up now! I don't wish to hurt you anymore."
She smiled as she waddled her index finger. "No can do."
Out of her satchel, she brought out a thread with thousands of small paper bombs attached.
Kakashi smacked his face. "She brought that?"
"What is it?" Naruto asked.
"It's something she made… had to teach her an entire jutsu so it wouldn't kill her."
Megumin threw the thread so that the bombs would wrap all around her body, attaching to her before they faded and hid. With a hand seal, she applied a layer of chakra around her - protecting her from the explosions. Er, somewhat. Hopefully, it would work better than last time.
"You think that will stop me from attacking you?"
Lee ran around her. Her eyes tried to keep up with his speed, but it only made her dizzy. As she held her head to keep a balance, he threw a punch at her gut, throwing her to the wall. All the bombs on her back exploded, triggering all the bombs on the string, and almost collapsing the catwalk above her.
She fell from the crater within the wall and held her gut, but unphased from the explosion. "What a punch…"
Lee breathed hard, hanging the arm he had used to punch her. The bandages and first layer of skin were burned off.
"Lee…" Megumin sadly looked at him. "You're really trying to continue like that?"
He held his other arm into its stance. "I admit, you're a formidable opponent, but this is where we end this."
Megumin felt her chakra running out, but there was one last thing she wanted to try. Lee's arm was hurt, would he be slow enough to predict?
When he disappeared, time slowed down for her.
"Where?" She thought. "Where is he going to attack?"
Lee came right below her, kicking her up in the air. Akin to the lotus, but was just a way to perform taijutsu on her. She used an explosion release at him, but he twirled her around, making her miss.
He jumped back up at her for an overhead kick, but she used her explosion jutsu to open some distance between them. When he missed, she aimed her hands away, blasted an explosion, and kicked him right in the face. With the force of her explosion, he took a direct hit.
He stumbled a few steps back before he rushed at her again. With a good prediction, he used her explosion release to give her elbow a boost, elbowing Lee right in the gut.
As he grabbed his stomach, he took a few steps back and winced. "Your Explosion Jutsu surely is a sight to be seen, I would never have thought you'd combine it with your taijutsu. However, I refuse to give up here."
Lee once again ran around her, making his appearance something like a twister. She looked side to side, as if she was trying to cross a busy street but was unable to find an opening. After suffering a fury of barrages and missing explosion blasts, she made a soft growl and began to cast her explosion spell.
She didn't have her staff, so it won't be as powerful. "You've been bound for far too long, it is time to unleash your mighty power! I am Megumin, otherwise known as the law of destructive nature!"
"Wait, Megumin!" Kakashi yelled.
"The proctor said there were no rules!" She said, followed by an evil laugh.
"She's really going to do that?!" Kakashi grabbed his hair. "Everyone! Get out of the room!"
The Proctor gawked at Kakashi. "Wait, are you serious?"
The Hokage chuckled with amusement. "He sure is. We should probably get out of here."
Rock Lee kicked her hard, but she stood sturdy, still casting the explosion spell above her head. Lines of black and purple twirled around the black orb she was forming. Sparkles of glitter splintered out from it.
"Awaken from your slumber, and unleash chaos! EX~PLOSION!"
4
"I can't believe you did that," Kakashi said, hand against his face. Megumin stared at where the ceiling once was, looking up at the white clouds contrasting against the blue sky as a squad of birds flew over. The atrium was nothing but a crater now, even the statue was gone. And, of course, after the explosion, she was unable to move.
"You could have killed Lee," he said before he let out a sigh. "You're lucky he realized how destructive your spell was and tried to get away…"
Lee was thrown against the wall, and will probably wake up with a concussion. Everyone else had left the atrium before she finished casting it.
Outside the tower, the Hokage and the Jounin went over the final exam. Temari fights Tenten, Naruto fights Ino, Sasuke fights Neji, and Megumin… She fights Gaara. It's going to be held publicly - but unlike this time, there'll be a single rule. No explosion spell.
Sorry for the delayed publish, just didn't feel like editing this chapter lol. I didn't particularly like this chapter, except for the end. I love the next chapter. I'm just summarizing most of the wave and chunin exam, mostly because much didn't change from OG. If much doesn't change, those events get summarized. I'm calling every chapter set within the original Naruto series the "Prologue" arc. I didn't want to begin the play in the middle of things, we're setting the scene.