Chapter 3

The next morning, I woke around 3 AM and tiptoed around the dormitory, trying to avoid waking Nariko. I'd spoken with her the night before; as we'd expected, she'd decided to drop the exam, and her teammates weren't especially happy. But because it was my Team's duty to guide them home, they'd have to stay in Waterfall until our guard duty was over. Nariko had also mumbled something about "watching the final exam round," which Juro-sensei assigned the team as preparation for a future exam. Apparently the final, third round of the exam was open to all watchers. It was to be held in a week. Until then, her team was to patrol the woods, like ours.

We received the Second Exam specifics from the Waterfall Jounin as he led us to our post outside the village. It was a five day survival test, as Nari-chan had said, and was held in an enclosed space outside the village. We'd be guarding the perimeter. Inside the area, the three-man teams were competing against each other to procure a matched set of scrolls, and bring them to a tower in the center of the five-mile-radius area. Each team had been given one of the two kinds of scrolls and needed both to succeed. In other words, at least half the teams would fail.

I badly hoped Aiko's team was one of them. But I also knew that their teamwork was top-notch. Not difficult, of course, when the two cronies did everything Aiko said – but it was teamwork nonetheless.

The Waterfall nin dropped us off at our starting point and gave us our final instructions. "You'll be out here for two and a half of the five days. At that point, meet me here for transport." He saluted, and disappeared. Sutiibu checked our supplies, handed out our radios, and we split up to scout, promising to check back in an hour.

A day and a half later, we had already encountered three groups of enemy ninjas. None of us had gotten much sleep, even taking shifts as we had. Breakfast had been edible plants – sparse, not so tasty. My stomach was aching for lunch. But there were other things to worry about at that moment. From my perch in the trees, I had just spotted a Rain nin moving in the direction of the Exam enclosure. That wire fence wouldn't hold a quality ninja for long; it was more of a boundary marker than a border, and anyone could tell. The exploding tag barriers likely wouldn't hold them long either. I clicked the button on my radio.

"Sutiibu-sensei. I've got a Rain nin by position eight."

"Rain?" the radio crackled back. "They have students in the exam."

"Not this one," I whispered at the radio as I the nin's forehead protector caught a ray of sunlight through the trees. There was a large slash through the engraving. "This one's a Missing Nin."

Silence greeted me, then finally, "Don't you dare make a move until we all reach you." I knew why; Missing Nins, to survive, had to be able to outsmart village ANBU on a regular basis. This guy wasn't like the raiding parties we'd met so far. Just because he was alone didn't mean he'd be an easy take-down.

"Hai."

"Garuki, Katana, to position eight as quickly as possible," the radio crackled once more. I cringed – I'd accidentally hit the volume. It was only a fraction louder, but the Missing Rain ninja, ten yards away, turned sharply in my direction.

I froze.

He pulled out a kunai knife, and then it was lodged in the tree beside my ear. I jerked away from it, gaping at its speed, and the ninja sneered a smile.

Too late. I'd have to fight.

Too bad I ran out of chakra like, yesterday.

I tried to think of everything I'd been taught about distance battle. Distance combat meant one thing – genjutsu. And as Aiko-san never failed to remind me, I couldn't pull off a decent genjutsu on a full chakra tank, let alone now, let alone one good enough to fool a missing nin. Close combat was more my style, if I had a style. And Rain nins, with their genjutsu talents, normally weren't close-range fighters.

So I decided to do the one thing he wouldn't expect. A full-on charge. I pulled my shuriken from their holster, dropped from the tree, threw the shuriken in a wide arc pattern at the nin, and sped straight toward him.

He blinked, laughed, avoided all six shuriken, and pulled a large, thin sword from his belt in less than a heartbeat. I ducked under the blade, sliding along the ground feet-first, and jammed my right leg into his chest from below. The impact felt great; I'd taken him off-guard, I'd gotten him!

The man exploded into a thousand and more pieces, a blast of hail that ripped my skin as I fell back to the ground. An exploding clone. I scanned the area frantically, wide eyes searching, but he'd used the diversion to hide himself. Knowing what to expect, when the dizzying touch of genjutsu swept my mind like a feather, I'd already steeled against it and was able to dispel it before it had fully taken over. Stalemate – I couldn't get him, but he hadn't gotten me either.

Still, he was at the advantage. He knew where I was. And Rain ninjas are very, very good with needles.

I readied myself for an attack, senses heightened almost to breaking point, but I could already feel it. The hail had torn at me pretty badly, and my energy was draining with the seconds. I cursed my endurance as I waited for the enemy to move.

And there they were! A flash of light in my peripheral vision, all the warning I had. No time to move –

A giant shadow shuriken swept from the trees, faster, and knocked the needles out of the way. It embedded itself in the tree nearest me.

"Baka," Katana said airily as she stepped from the trees. A cloud of butterflies overhead dropped Garuki-kun out of the air. They'd been closer than Sutiibu-san; he was still nowhere to be seen.

"You're the idiot," I muttered, propping myself on one elbow and then scurrying to my feet. "Why'd you show yourself? Now he knows where all of us are!"

"Maybe." She smirked, speaking quietly, staring intently into a dense brush ahead. "But I saw where those needles came from, when he threw them. And now," she grinned even wider, "he's looking straight at me."

Garuki and I made a protection formation around Katana, clueless but trusting, as she made a series of hand signals. "Genjutsu: Eyes of Ligeia!" Suddenly the whole forest was enveloped by her eyes, dark now instead of green, all-encompassing. I couldn't move….I couldn't move….

I shook my head and dispelled the jutsu's hold on me as Katana prepared the long needles in her hands and held her arms out like wings. I was unable to decide why to scream at Katana first: for being so careless with a genjutsu as to let it take hold of comrades as well, or for being so stupid as to try genjutsu and needles on a Rain ninja. There was no way he'd fall for it.

One look at Garuki told me he was still dazed. I lunged at Katana to get her out of the way, but the Rain nin was too quick, and the needles hit her right shoulder and side.

Better than her neck, where he was aiming, I considered, but she was staring wide-eyed at her arm and right leg and I knew they had lost feeling. The needles were rarely lethal, but they had a deadly penchant for shutting down the nervous system.

"Garuki!"

The attack had dispelled the jutsu, and Garuki was thinking clearly again.

"You'll have to take this – I'll get her out of the way!"

He nodded and pulled out a scroll, biting his thumb. "I'll call the butterflies and Akira," he whispered tensely as I lugged Katana into the nearby bushes.

"Akira…and the butterflies at once? You're insane, Garuki! You know you can't control both giant summons! Just wait for sensei!"

But it was too late – the butterfly cloud had already dispersed into the trees to locate the Rain ninja.

"There's …no other…way," he said, trying to focus enough chakra for the second summon. "I can't…find him, otherwise. Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Ookii ookami Akira-sama!"

A gigantic clothing-clad wolf appeared, forcing a clearing in the trees due to his size, and peered down at Garuki as I hid with Katana in the bushes.

"That's Akira-dono to you, kid," he rumbled skeptically. Then he looked about. "What's the deal? Why am I here?"

"I…need you to…find the Missing…nin…" Garuki attempted, breathless, but it was too much. His grandmother's special double-summon had several limitations; one was that calling either a large cloud of butterflies, or the giant wolf boss, required an immense amount of chakra. Both at once simply wasn't done.

Garuki wobbled in place, and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Akira stared down at him. He knelt, poked Garuki's limp body, and shrugged. "Whatever. You kids are on your own." And with that, he disappeared.

"Sensei. Sensei!" I spoke into my radio, hoping I wasn't loud enough to be heard by the ninja. "Where are you?"

"I'm…..occupied….Oni ninja," the radio crackled unevenly. He was good, I knew the battle would be quick. But I didn't have time.

The Rain ninja, for good reason feeling confident, stepped out of the bushes and moved toward Garuki. I looked from Katana to my fallen friend, wondering who I had more duty to protect.

Who am I kidding? I can't protect either of them! This is my fault all over again…I led them here…I provoked him…

The Missing Nin prodded Garuki with his sword tip much the way Akira had moments earlier. He gave a malicious grin in my general direction, but his eyes hadn't locked onto me yet. I was hidden, for the moment.

"Well?" He sliced a line down Garuki's left leg. "I know you're out there, little one. Aren't you going to come rescue your friend?"

I twitched, but didn't move. If I moved, he'd know where Katana was too.

"Oh?" The sarcasm was dripping. "He'll save you, but you won't save him? How quaint." He traced the sword along Garuki's body, tearing through the hooded sweatshirt as it went. "I suppose I'll have some fun with my art, then. It would be fun to make a carving out of this one…"

Anger, boiling in my fingertips, began to move through me; warmed my blood.

I mean that literally.

I felt my chakra renew in my center with every second of rage, and it filled my veins with a warmth unlike anything I'd ever felt. Not like the Warmth no Jutsu in which all Snow nin were trained. This was harsher, painful, concentrated in my fists as I clenched them and charged at the man once more.

"Do what you want to me; you will NOT hurt my friends!"

I will not be the one responsible for their deaths. I will not get in the way!

As I reached the ninja and swung my right arm at his head, fire sprung from it and lashed out at the man. His hair and clothing caught fire as I swept past him, and he grappled at his scalp, screaming. Only once he was distracted did I grasp the concept.

I'm on fire.

My arm, my flesh, literally on fire, and it had caught onto my clothing too. I saw a flash of silver flack-jacket pass in front of me and take down the Missing Nin in a single sweep before I passed out from the pain.

Garuki was sitting on the edge of my hospital bed when I came to.

"What…happened?"

I felt heavily medicated, so my brain was hazy, but something had obviously gone wrong. I tried to blink the fog from my eyes, and saw Sutiibu-sensei in a chair across the room.

"Some sort of jutsu mishap," sensei said, still reading a magazine. "You caught on fire."

I remembered, then. Looking down at my arms, laying above the sterile hospital sheets, I saw the burn marks all over. The right arm was heavily bandaged, wouldn't bend at the wrist. I figured it should have hurt more, but the drugs and treatment seemed to be counteracting it.

"How'd you learn a fire-element jutsu, anyway, Hotaru-san?" Sutiibu asked, looking up then as if he'd only just considered it.

"I…don't know any, sir."

He raised an eyebrow and went back to his magazine. A shiny red hot-rod graced the cover.

"I'm just glad you're awake. It's been five days."

I coughed. "Five?"

"It took a lot of work for the healer ninja to mend the damage the fire caused," Sutiibu said mildly. "You were also nearly completely out of chakra. Any less and you'd have died." He looked at me then, and I saw the caring behind the nonchalance in those crystal blue eyes. "Don't mistake my lack of concern, Hotaru-chan. We've had five days to hear repeatedly that you will make a full recovery. We are glad you are all right. It was….a close call." His eyes moved downward. I didn't want him to feel guilty for what had been my fault, but I wasn't sure what to say. It was true that he had come late.

He stood. "I need to visit Katana-san." He glanced over his shoulder at me as he left the room. "She's next door. No permanent damage, but her leg is still numb, so no walking." He grinned. "It'll be an interesting trip home, don't you think?"

Mere moments later, a large group of medical ninjas and nurses crowded into the room and laid a person in the empty bed beside mine, closing a curtain between beds. Garuki peered around it.

"No use, I can't see. Oh, Nariko-chan!"

It took the both of them several minutes to calm me once I realized he wasn't referring to the injured ninja. Nariko had been at the stadium watching the final matches – the last round of the Exam was a tournament. When the ninja was injured, she'd helped to carry her to the hospital. The front desk had informed Nariko that I was awake, so she came to visit. She sat on the bed's foot opposite Garuki.

"It's Aiko-san," she said quietly, after establishing that I felt fine, if a little groggy.

"What happened?" Garuki asked.

"She was really cocky when her group passed the Second Exam," Nariko explained. "Said that no one from 'the historic and powerful Tsukiki clan' had ever failed, and she certainly wouldn't."

"And?" I prompted.

"Her first round match was against a Konoha ninja named Hyuuga Neji. The elite clan of Konoha, people said." She shook her head. "Aiko was so full of herself she wouldn't take him seriously. He's got a Bloodline Limit, guys, he can see tenketsu."

Garuki looked puzzled.

"The tiny holes in the chakra system," I explained, "where chakra leaves the body. Also connects chakra to internal organs. It's like acupuncture – if those tenketsu are hit, it can alter chakra flow, damage organs."

Garuki grew pale.

Nariko nodded. "That's exactly what happened. While she was standing there going on about her family, he moved in on her. He'd shut down her entire chakra system in a matter of seconds." She shook her head. "Frightening, how fast that boy could move. In any case, the 'historic Tsukiki clan' has nothing on the head clan of Konoha."

It seemed a horrible fate even for Aiko.

"Is she going to live?" I asked tepidly.

Nariko grew quiet for a moment, and I realized she was listening to the chatter behind the curtain. "She'll live. But her heart was damaged. She'll be weak for awhile."

Garuki shuddered. "Remind me never to fight a Hyuuga." Then he stood. "Look, I know you just woke up, but I haven't eaten in hours and I'm still trying to replenish my chakra supply."

"Don't worry about it," I said, and he took off, carefully skirting around the busy nurses on the other side of the room.

"So, your clothes are totally ruined," Nariko began, smiling. "You can borrow some of mine until we get home, if you want." She shifted a little. "Anyway…I heard what happened. I know what everyone says, about some fire jutsu gone awry, but…"

"But I don't know any fire jutsu!"

"Exactly. None of us do. That's Konoha stuff."

I blinked. "So?"

"So I think I know what happened, Hotaru-chan. Your family, they aren't ninjas, right? So who knows?"

"Who knows what? Stop being so enigmatic, Nari."

"Who knows – maybe it's a Bloodline Limit."

I spent hours that night pondering what Nariko had said. If anyone knew anything about Bloodline Limits, it would be Nariko. And it's true that with my family history, a hidden ninja talent simply wouldn't be known. We'd never been ninjas.

But how had we developed some "hidden ninja talent" without ninja training? Why had this fire thing never happened to Ryuro in his Academy years?

Still, I had no better explanation.

I stared down at my bandaged right arm. It didn't matter what it was, really. It had allowed me to save my friends, for once.

"I'll train it. I'll use it. I'll never be a burden again," I said to myself. "I'll use it to save them, whatever it is."

"Are you talking to yourself?" came an annoyingly familiar voice from the bed beside mine, but it wasn't quite as sarcastic as usual. There was an odd tone of…kindness…about it.

"Aiko-san. You're awake. I'm glad."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get all sappy on me. I know you don't care for me so you don't need to pretend."

"Okay."

There was silence.

"Look…I'm sorry."

Pause.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm…sorry. I've sort of thrown my clan name around, ever since the day we met, as some sign that I was better than you because you were from a farming family or whatever."

I said nothing. What was there to say? It was true.

"Well, I did that today and sort of got it fed back to me."

No kidding.

"Look, I don't need us to be like, buddies or something," she said with a tone of distaste. "I'm just saying, maybe clan isn't everything. You're some big hotshot hero now, and I lost my match in thirty seconds or less." The curtain was still pulled between us, but I could practically hear her rolling her eyes.

"You…heard about that?"

"Of course. Everyone has."

"I'm not a hero. I almost died too."

"Whatever, like I care."

More silence.

"Fine," she said. "Let's just leave it at this, shall we? Prove yourself better than me, one of these days, and maybe I'll give you a bit of respect, famous ninja clan or not."

I laughed inwardly at how she managed to contradict her own apology so effectually, but somehow I understood that as far as Aiko went, such an offer was kindness.

"Deal."