Naru' eyes drifted open. Blue orbs gazed into a rather dim sky, clouds soaring over-head.
It didn't take any prompting for her to remember that today was the registration for the Chunin Exams, when the First Exam would be playing out. The rumor circulating the ranks was that the Second Exam was supposed to happen a day after the first one had occurred, while the Third Exam would happen a sometime after the second had finished.
The Genin were asked to bring all they wanted to the exams short of their sensei or backup, and they were allowed to try and research what they would be getting themselves into. Of course Naru hadn't bothered trying to uncover the secret, especially since it would take too much work with Morino Ibiki being the one to set up the damn exam. Such a small part of her life did not deserve that much attention, hence her choice to relax until noon when she would be pressed to actually do something once more.
Her spar with Shikamaru had been very enlightening, especially when it ended in the two of them tying, Naru's blade at Shikamaru's throat while he used his shadow possession to press her throat against the blade. A two way slaughter that could destroy the both of them at the same time. Kakashi had stopped the spar then, shocked at just how far the two had gone before they were traded out for the next pair of Genin. Neither of the Konoha Genin minded much, used to one another by now, including the way their skills matched against each other quite well. Naru was slightly saddened at the thought that Shikamaru's techniques complemented her better than either of her teammates, even after her extensive training alongside Sasuke.
Sighing, the blonde closed her eyes again, ignoring the insistent sun beating down on her warm skin. She really didn't want to deal with today at all.
"Resting like this won't help you get better, Akihane." A voice spoke up from above her, which caused her eyes to open again of their own accord so that blue gazed into amused brown.
Naru's body shot upward and her legs launching her form to her feet and forward before her brain even fully registered the man above her.
"R-Raidou!"
The young Kunoichi shouted aloud, her voice ringing across the clearing with happiness as her arms interlocked behind the man's neck, his broad limbs encircling her as he chuckled, his scarred face scrunching up with the rattling movement of his chest. The former ANBU operative held her close, relaxing after his long mission, enjoying the warmth that his younger sister had. Akihane never failed to make him feel at home.
Raidou closed his brown orbs, his light brown spikes brushing against the ivory locks below him as he leaned down to kiss the girl's forehead. He was honestly shocked with the rather open greeting from the Uzumaki, used to the gentle smiles and the hinted hugs. He supposed being gone on a month long mission for the first time since he met Akihane took a toll on the girl's strong hold over her emotions. Raidou breathed in his imuto's scent once more, taking in the lavender and water mixed smell, before he pulled away to gaze in the bi-colored gaze.
"You've grown a bit, huh Naru? I bet Iwashi can't get enough of you." Raidou said with a gentle laugh.
Naru blushed gently, pulling away from Raidou's embrace as her emotions were placed under wraps once more. The girl still fidgeted, obviously not wanting Raidou to leave her for too long, but she also didn't seem to want him too close either.
"I-I guess…Iwashi was on a mission with Genma-San, and he got injured so Hokage-Jiji placed him on bedrest. I haven't been able to see him since Kakashi-Sensei has us training for the Chunin Exams." Naru told the man as she looked away for a moment
Raidou hummed, nodding at the girl as he stepped beside her, the two of them starting to walk toward the village from where Naru had been sleeping. The young Uzumaki had chosen a particular spot, one nestled close enough to the ANBU barracks and Training Ground 44 that no one was really there, but far enough away so that she didn't get reprimanded.
She already snuck into the ANBU headquarters on occasion to 'train' them with one of her simple pranks, such as the water ones she loved to get Kakashi with. The Water pranks with Kakashi were only for the scarecrow, however, and no other ANBU officer had ever gotten one such prank all to themselves.
Raidou himself had been subjected to one or two round-house and fire pranks that also tested Naru's beginner knowledge of explosive tags and sealing scrolls. It turns out that when you placed an explosive seal over a normal storage scroll the creation resulted in a time explosive that used whatever was inside the scroll as shrapnel. To this day ANBU officers were still trying to get Naru's mystery 'goo' out of their hair and armor.
"So have you gotten revenge on anyone lately, Hime?" Raidou asked, adding a teasing edge as he spoke the girl's nickname
Naru blinked and blushed at Raidou again as he used the nickname, her heart beating a little franticly as she thought about her 'scarecrow watering' and other such shenanigans, including the one she had pulled on Shikamaru after their spar yesterday.
"Yes, I managed to get Kakashi-Sensei again for being late, several times. Sasuke also stole some tomatoes from my garden without mentioning it, so I am currently planning his demise, and then there's Shikamaru-San, who just happened to be in the wrong place wrong time."
Raidou paused at her words, his pace slowly considerably when he heard Shikamaru's name. The Jonin glanced down at Naru, whom tapped her chin as she spoke up.
"He decided to walk home with me after one of our joint sessions…just yesterday actually. He wanted to ask me about a technique I used with my swords. As we were walking I remembered the prank I had thought of while meeting foreign nin, and in the process I took it out to show Shikamaru-San, as well as test it. Shikamaru-San ended up falling for it…and so he took a paper seal from me, which activated upon switching chakra signatures, triggering the gravity seal I placed on it for Chakra linked to the yang affinity."
Raidou narrowed an eye on the young girl before him, thinking over the whole situation, before it donned on him what Naru meant about the whole situation. He revealed as much aloud. "So you used a Chakra seeking seal in order to figure out what nature he was, and then linked that to an activation seal that triggered a certain reaction based on the feedback it gained from the chakra sensed by the other holder. Quite complex…and a little ingenious. Say you had a water affinity…"
Raidou glanced down at Naru, the girl's eyes twinkling as she continued off his sentence.
"Then earth chakra or an earth technique would be summoned via the storage seal layered behind the other seals, disrupting the users flow or weakening them based on their naturally opposing element. I also figured out that Yang Chakra does not do well when faced with compression, and Yin chakra does not do well when faced with tension."
Akihane raised her hand, listing off her facts on her fingers. The girl was quite enthusiastic when it came down to her creations.
Raidou's gaze softened, his thoughts drifting off to the Uzumaki's father, a bright man who was constantly discussing creative uses for seals with his men and with his equally enthusiastic wife.
Naru was truly the Yondaime's spawn, as well as the daughter of Uzumaki Kushina. Only their child would find swirling lines this entertaining.
Raidou knew a thing or two about seals, but he also knew that the ideas coming off of Akihane's tongue were very creative and certainly helpful. Perhaps, he should notify the Sandaime so that Hiruzen knew just what to be prepared for. A seal like the one Naru was working on could very well aide the village in TI, as well as combat and infiltration.
"-Of course the gravity seal malfunctioned and let Shikamaru-San go, just before the Storage seal cracked and weights fell at our feet."
Then again Raidou should also tell Hiruzen so that the man could get Naru somewhere safe to practice her seals, otherwise someone was bound to explode or something. Raidou had seen Kushina's faulty heating seal that resulting in the largest fire in Konoha's history, counting the 'Jutsu Battle of The Uchiha Clan' back when Uchiha Madara was a founder.
"-Shikamaru-San ended up coming over and helping me with the seal. Sasuke and Hinata were out training or with their family, so I just camped out in the living room with Shikamaru-San."
The thought of that day made Raidou's throat clench while his body shook, shivers racking his spine.
Akihane observed her still acquaintance, sighing as she looked at her nails.
"-We slept together."
Raidou turned his head sharply in her direction, his eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.
Akihane gazed up at the Jonin with a straight face as he seemed to change colors, his eyes twitching while his hand reached for the handle of his blade.
"WHAT?!"
Naru hummed, a slight smirk tilting over her lips. "You need to pay attention. I said that Sasuke's new summon cat Miyu slept with me in my bed. What did you think I said, Raidou-San?"
She tilted her head, giving an innocent light to her eyes as the Jonin froze, his mouth opened slightly as his cheeks colored.
The Uzumaki shrugged her shoulders and turned away from the man, leaving him to try and formulate a response as she waved. "Bye Raidou-Nii, I have to go sign up for the exams."
Raidou could only half-heartedly sputter as he tried to take back his rage over what he thought Naru had said. There was no way his Imuto would do that at her age, anyways.
Also, had she just called him what he thought she did?
I~~~~I
Naru arrived at the sign in desk in time to meet with Sasuke and Sakura, the raven ignoring the slightly solemn Pinkette while the Ivory girl simply settled on Sasuke's left side.
Sasuke cast Naru a glance, a gentle smile transferring to the Uchiha from the Uzumaki.
"Raidou-San made it back."
Naru commented idly, causing Sasuke to chuckle gently.
"I told you that you were worried, Akihane."
Naru gazed calmly at Sasuke, before turning away and replying with a stubborn, 'tsch'.
Sakura frowned at the two, opening her mouth to demand who this 'Raidou' man was, her mouth slipping closed once more as they entered the Academy Building.
School had been called off for the week for the students, giving the entire building to the young Genin now making their way up to the assigned room 301. They all gathered together, silence descending as they started walking up the flights of stairs.
Naru's eyes drifted closed, her head leaning closer to Sasuke's shoulder with every step. The Uchiha only reached up to cart his fingers through the freed bangs decorating the Uzumaki's face, ignoring the murderous glare Sakura sent his Naru.
Naru ignored them both for the most part, simply resting her eyes while Sasuke led her upward so that she could scan the perimeter with her sensing pulses.
She sensed the gathering of students up above, her hand reaching across to draw letters across Sasuke's back, the Uchiha stiffening for a moment as he deciphered the code, before he glanced back at Sakura.
Sakura nodded at him, her eyes much more alert after she saw the message Naru had drawn on her teammate's back.
She supposed inwardly that she could forgive Akihane this once if only because the girl was using Sasuke so she could help them all out.
The three arrived at the second floor, each stopping for a moment to survey the chaos. A thin film of chakra was concentrated near the center, and with a quick scan Akihane identified the culprits.
Izumo and Kotetsu were both disguised as students, their trademark grins easily spotted at the doors of the disguised classroom, 201, that read 301 at the top of the door.
Naru inwardly scoffed and her right brow raised slightly into the air as she shared looks with her teammates, silently conversing with Sasuke through looks and his grunts about how stupid Ninja really were these days.
Sakura caught the edge of their conversation, adding a single 'heh' to their noises, before she abruptly stiffened.
The other two teammates turned around, facing the Pinkette in time to watch two separate hands descend on the girl's shoulders. Behind Sakura two figures grinned down at Naru and Sasuke, one with sharp spiky raven hair, a slanted headband, grey T&I Chunnin Attire, black eyes, and a bandage strewn across his nose. The other one was similar to Hayate, his brown hair tucked under a bandana headband, though only one brown eye was revealed and he wore the same thing as Kotetsu.
Izumo shifted to the side to dodge a punch from an angered Sakura, Kotetsu chuckling as he turned, placing his arm on Naru's shoulder instead. Izumo followed suit, gaining glares from the other two parties while he and his partner smirked down at the blonde between them.
Naur only shook her head while her lips twitched, her white locks brushing against their shoulders.
"Kotetsu-San, Izumo-San. I trust you've been giving those kids hell?"
The two Chunin grinned broadly at their adopted sister, commenting in union, quite creepily if Sakura and Sasuke had any thought in the manner. "Well of course. We can't have so many Genin dying because they don't know better. Should have seen the crowd we had earlier. Most of them gave up or figured it out finally."
Naru closed her eyes, stopping herself from rolling the orbs while the two Chunin traded high-fives above her head.
"I'm a little surprised that you are here this early. After all, Raidou-San just got back from his mission. He misses you both."
The two froze in place, their eyes drifting down to the now smirking blonde, the girl's glinting maroon orbs meeting their own darkly colored gazes.
"You might want to go say hello before he goes to visit Genma-San. After all…it had been a month, neh?"
The two turned sharply to one another, sharing their own looks, before they nodded and vanished in puffs of smoke. Two clones stayed behind to redirect the children still trying enter the wrong room, leaving Team Seven to stand alone.
Naru turned to smile gently at her teammates, grabbing their arms before dragging them up the stairs.
"Come on, I sense Team Nine is in that mix…And I honestly do not want to hear Neji's rant or Lee-San's proposals to Sakura."
I~~~~I
Team Seven ascended the last flight of stairs, exiting the range of the Genjutsu, only to meet the face of their Sensei up ahead.
Kakashi waved to them all, giving an eye smile. The Jonin was reading his favorite book again, his finger slipped between the pages to keep his place.
The moment that the Scarecrow spotted them he placed the book inside his back pocket, ignoring the glare that his lovely Genin had narrowed at his head.
"I take it you three met Izumo and Kotetsu?"
Kakashi commented idly, glancing to Sakura as the girl opened her mouth to comment, her eyebrow twitching. The girl was cut off, however, by Naru's own answer.
"Yes, very lovely, now then Sensei can we go inside already? I don't want to deal with this game right now. I already know you were watching the exchange and that you want us to be the last team inside."
Kakashi reached to scratch the back of his head, coughing into his right hand as Naru narrowed her maroon eyes on his covered face.
"And just so you know, I know Raidou-San and Genma-San because of Hokage-Jiji."
The ivory girl stalked forward, bypassing her sensei with only a light tap on his arm, an alert that she felt something off, before she was followed by the others.
The Jonin watched his Genin enter the Exam Room, his eye opening with a somber look inside it as he thought about the tap Naru had given him. The Ivory male presumed that Naru had used her sensory abilities, which had increased quite a bit over the week of training with the others, in order to scan those inside the room. The tap meant something was off, or someone had done something, before the Exam even started.
Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves as he pondered his student's message, as well as the guarded expressions over Sakura and Sasuke's faces. He wondered what message the blonde had sent her teammates when her fingers had traced across Sasuke's back. His angle hadn't been good enough to get the view of the girl's long fingers as they 'wrote' the message on Sasuke's back, so he didn't know.
Kakashi appeared in the room filled with Jonin Instructors from Konoha, the foreign instructors getting their own room so as not to cause a ruckus.
Asuma, Gai, Kurenai, and a few other Jonin waved to him, the mentioned three calling him to their spot next to the screens showcasing different angles to the room his Genin had just entered. He centered his dark orb on his look-alike, keeping most of his attention on her while providing the minimum to his other students. This situation called for close examination of the Uzumaki, especially after her cover up involving the whole Dance of the Crescent Moon and knowing Raidou, Genma, Izumo, and Kotetsu so well.
I~~~~I
Naru pushed the door open, lowering her chakra levels to be perceived as almost non-existent, Sasuke and Sakura managing to do the same.
Ahead of them they spotted the other Rookies.
Once upon a time the twelve of them may have all gathered in the front to greet those they knew, to have familiarity. Now, after the drills they had run through, they simply went to find seats close together, but not close enough to be seen as odd.
Most of the eyes in the room trailed after them, soft whispers floating around about their team, the one that contained the Last Loyal Uchiha and the mysterious Kunoichi with odd hair colors and appearances in general.
Sasuke wore his normal attire, while Sakura had managed to change her dress out with a black skirt and a blouse form of her normal red top, fishnet leggings pulled up to her thighs, while black, high-heeled, closed-toe ninja sandals adorned her feet.
Naru wore her jacket paired with the same set of sandals as Sakura, her Uzumaki swirl decorating the back of her jacket in dark blue, while dark brown cargo pants covered her legs. Her hair was tied up as usual, however her headband was drawn around her neck this time, and she wore her necklaces doubled against her wrists.
The tags were tucked under the chain, pressing comfortingly against the outside of Naru's wrist, which was covered by the long sleeves of the black jacket.
The team was a bit mismatched on Naru and Sakura's end with the clashing blue and red, but adding Sasuke to the mix blended both colors, completing them.
The other rookies wore their same attire, save Hinata, who had gone with tying her hair into a bun with her bangs framing her face, while her shirt was changed to black, her jacket a darker grey, her sandals the same as Sakura and Naru's.
Also, Naru's ever present blade was missing, leaving behind an empty spot where her sheathe usually rested at her back.
No one but the other eleven Genin noted the differences, having witnessed Naru without it during training, or the day after.
Now, they would get to test whether the knowledge crammed into their bodies and minds was truly worth it, or if they would all fall to the might of Konoha's Exam and the other contenders.
Just as their thoughts shifted back to the test, black smoke rose from the front of the room, a booming voice calling out.
"Alright Maggots! The Chunin Exam has started, and if you value your careers you'll listen to everything I say!"
The smoke cleared slowly, settling at the booted feet of the dark skinned male surrounded by Chunin.
Morino Ibiki glared at them all, his dark eyes narrowed, his head creasing under his bandana-headband while his lips settled into a scowl.
He wore a dark trench coat that reached his ankles, black pants slightly covered by an opaque shirt.
Scars decorated the seasoned veteran, frightening those not used to seeing such things, or those who simply didn't understand.
Naru's lips twitched and she leaned forward on her desk, her maroon eyes twinkling while she placed her elbows on the desk, her chin resting on her hands.
Morino's eyes glanced toward her own, and when they met, her nodded at her.
She nodded respectfully back, her ears tuning out all other noises besides the T&I Head in the room, awaiting the first task.
I~~~~I
And that's a wrap. I can't believe I've been typing this much. I haven't done so much writing since I first started with this whole thing. I finished this back in spring break, the last week of march, but forgot to publish it and just decided to wait. Here it is now!
Omake-Little Interrogator
Hiruzen was scaring Ibiki.
The Old Hokage finally seemed to have lost his damn mind.
Ibiki grumbled as the man smiled.
Before them both, Namikaze/Uzumaki Akihane Naru stood before a trembling man, her eyes lit up in a crimson hue as she let loose a chilling aura.
"Now then…shall I continue, or do you want to spill?"
The man before the Uzumaki looked ready to give in, but held off with a hesitant shake of his head, managing to spit at the young Kunoichi.
Akihane sighed, sidestepping the spit.
The girl then looked down, and began speaking again.
"No! Please, dosth thougth truly spare me the pain, the everslasingth pain!"
The verse, quoted from that insufferable book Akihane had found Months ago, was spoken in the mot posh accent that Akihane dared to use, such skill gained from her hours spent in Uchiha Sasuke's presence, dealing with his fangirls.
The poorly written story grated on Ibiki's ears, and the way Naru over emphasized every verse, tossing her white hair over her shoulder with that horrid voice mocking him, made him incredibly tense.
"I am still yet unbrokenth, cast aside but yet not forgotenth…"
Ibiki shut off the speakers to the room, trying not to collapse as he heard his Hokage giggle like a damn school girl!
The man looked to be regretting his decision, closing his eyes as he tried to hum over Akihane's eccentric voice.
Akihane just continued smiling.
