I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Chunin Exams, Again
Ryuu looked around in silence. It seemed like only a couple villages were taking part. The Hidden Sand, which was hosting the exams jointly with the Hidden Leaf, the Hidden Rain, and the Hidden Grass. Ryuu studied each shinobi carefully, also using his senses to gauge their chakra levels. Not many actually stood out as being very powerful, though he knew first-hand that Kekkei Genkai could change that, or unique fighting styles. Or Taijutsu.
One team that did was from the Hidden Rain. The seeming leader of the three was a girl with rust colored hair falling to her shoulders with a bundle of it tied up on the top of her head, hair sticking out from both sides of the knot of what could either be her hair or a matching piece of fabric, he wasn't sure. She had a calculating look in her pale green eyes not unlike his own, and wore a lavender kimono jacket with purple up the middle and around the collar, which stood straight up, had her sleeves rolled halfway up her forearms, blue pants, and had an orange length of cloth around her waist as a belt. One of her teammates had on a dark grey shirt with long, loose sleeves, a lighter grey cloth tied around her, trapping and concealing her right arm before hanging around her legs to her ankles like a dress, though he had seen dark grey pants through the opening on her left side. She carried an umbrella on her back, wore a yellow choker, and her black hair fell over the left side of her face from above her forehead protector. The other teammate had messy green hair falling from under her bandanna-style forehead protector to just past her shoulders, a cloth mask over the bottom half of her face, and a large dull grey poncho hung from her shoulders to her waist, concealing her shirt and her arms up until her wrists. she had bandages reaching from her wrists up under the poncho, and the lower half of a plain dark grey kimono hung around her legs, a yellow cloth around her waist.
Ryuu's eyes continued to rove the new faces. The hidden Sand had sent a few decently powerful shinobi. Though, no one that was likely to give himself, Fu, and Tayuya any problems. Judging by power and posture, however, he found one full team, and then one individual that stuck out. The team had a kunoichi with dark brown hair in a ponytail with bangs framing her face, a sleeve-less white kimono shirt with the top open to reveal a bit of cleavage, a dark red cloth around her waist with a rope around the middle of it, holding what looked like medicine bottles to her waist. She had on a pair of black short shorts, had a Suna forehead protector on each of her black forearm sleeves, and had open-toed shinobi boots with laces. The stronger of her teammates had a guy with messy blonde hair hanging in front of his right eye, a long-sleeved light grey shirt with no shoulders and the sleeves cuffed halfway up his forearms underneath a tight brown vest with his forehead protector on the back and a scroll and breast pocket on either side of the front, dark blue shorts, black boots that reached just above his knee, mesh armor exposed in the gap between the shorts and boots, and black gloves. The other teammate was extremely gaunt with dull purple hair hanging to his shoulders, his forehead protector where it was supposed to be, a faded yellow shirt with three-quarter sleeves, a dark blue scarf, and tight blue pants. He seemed strong, but from the way he was standing, Ryuu could tell he was actually more the sensor or ranged fighter.
The individual Ryuu had picked out from Suna wasn't strong, at least as far as his chakra implied. In fact, his chakra felt...incomplete. In the same way that Rock Lee's did. He wore a sleeveless dark green shirt with a collar, a pair of black pants and sandals, grey metal forearm guards, his forehead protector hung from the front of his shirt, and he had a yellow cloth around his waist. He had dark grey hair and had several scars on his body. One was on his left shoulder, one was on the left side of his jaw, and one was across the front of his neck. His general bearing was the same as Lee whenever Lee got serious and stopped being hyperactive.
Fu nudged him suddenly and nodded to a trio from the Sand Village Ryuu had passed over. "The brunette's Matsuri, Gaara's student that we went to save the day you..."
"Oh?" Ryuu asked.
He looked the team over. They were new and inexperienced. One of the three, a girl wit long black hair falling past her forehead protector and down her back to her waist with a bit over each shoulder and her bangs framing her face, black elbow-length gloves with splints on the forearms, an off-white, short-sleeved, midriff shirt under an equally small jacket vest, a pale purple skirt that didn't quite reach her knees, thigh-high stockings, and a pair of sandals, was talking with the other two about how excited she was to be representing the Hidden Sand village. Matsuri countered that it was too soon to get worked up. Matsuri had shoulder-length brown hair, a pink, shoulderless, short-sleeved shirt, her forehead protector around her neck, a pair of armored gloves like her black-haired teammate, a dark purple skirt, thigh-high black stockings, and black sandals. Their other teammate agreed with Matsuri. He had messy brown hair, large round glasses, a white sash diagonally across his torso from his right shoulder to the left side of his waist, a dark green jacket with a thick which strip around the bottom of his sleeves and the bottom of the jacket, and pants that were dark grey at the top and bottom, and light grey for most of each pant leg.
"She looks safe," Ryuu said, Fu giggling.
"Naruto and Gaara worked together to save her," Fu said.
"Oh, I have a question," Ryuu said. "While we're on the subject of that mission, did Shikamaru ever get that kiss I told him to?"
Fu giggled again, shaking her head. "Sadly, no. He chickened out."
Ryuu chuckled, shaking his head and looking around again. No one from the Hidden Grass looked overly interesting. Then, he reached the Hidden Leaf groups. Everyone from his class that was still in the village was present, barring Shikamaru since he was still Chunin. They all began to head over and Ryuu smiled. It was the first time he had been able to see most of them since he had gotten back, excluding the emotional reunion at the gate.
"Ryuu, how've you been?" Hinata smiled.
"I'm good," Ryuu smiled.
"You look good as new," Kiba said.
"All thanks to Kabuto," Ryuu smiled.
"Well, not entirely," Kabuto said, walking over. "You did a lot of the work yourself, once I showed you how."
Ryuu smiled. "What are you doing here?"
"Just came to wish you luck," Kabuto said. "Actually, while I'm here, I'd like to talk to you for a moment."
Ryuu nodded and they walked away from the others. "What's up?"
"Did Lady Tsunade tell you what the true purpose of these chunin exams are?" Kabuto asked.
"No," Ryuu said, shaking his head. "What's going on?"
"She hopes to draw out the Akatsuki," Kabuto said. "Keep a close eye on Fu. While you're in the village, you'll be safe, but the exams will be moving to the Land of Wind for the second stage."
"We'll be careful," Ryuu nodded. "Thank you."
"Also, we have yet to find the hideout where I believe Mhao was being sent from," Kabuto said. "You should prepare for a run in with at least one of him, maybe several. Just in case."
Ryuu nodded. "I can handle it now."
"I'm sure," Kabuto nodded. "That's the other thing. Try to keep the full extent of your abilities under wraps. At least for a while. Wouldn't want any unnecessary attention."
Ryuu nodded and walked back to the others, the three of them heading over to where Kotetsu and Izumo were sitting behind a table. Ryuu grinned. "Hey guys. What, no trying to make us think we're in the wrong place?"
"Nah, not this time," Kotetsu chuckled. "Most of the genin this time, especially those from our village, have been around the block a few times. You especially."
Ryuu nodded, handing the application Tsunade had given him to them, Kotetsu holding up a oddly shaped box with several rubber triangles hiding what was inside, three sticks poking out of it. They each pulled one out and saw that they had numbers on them from one to three. Ryuu groaned.
"Fuck you Shikamaru," Ryuu sighed.
"What?" Tayuya asked.
"We're being separated for the first test," Ryuu said.
"That's right," Izumo nodded. "Please return the lots and head to the classroom matching the number you drew."
Ryuu sighed, sticking his back into the box. "Well, two it is."
"I got three," Tayuya sighed.
"I'm number one!" Fu smiled.
"Yes you are," Ryuu smiled, Tayuya groaning as they walked away from the table.
"Just because you two fucked doesn't mean I want to hear about it," Tayuya said.
"That's not what we meant!" Ryuu and Fu both said, both blushing scarlet, Tayuya laughing.
Ryuu shook his head, following one of the chunin's directions to his classroom, finding Lee and Ino already present.
"Hey guys," Ryuu smiled just before the door shut behind him. He turned, resting a hand against it before rolling his eyes. "It's sealed shut."
Just then, an intercom turned on, a voice clearing their throat before a screen at the front of the room turned on, showing Shikamaru.
"I'm Shikamaru Nara," Shikamaru introduced himself as Ryuu sat down near the back of the room, everyone else taking their seats as well. "I'm the proctor of the first round of the chunin exams. Please take one sheet of paper from the stack on the teacher's desk, and then take any seat."
Ryuu raised an eyebrow, raising a hand and extending a chakra thread, pulling a sheet of paper to himself, setting it down and staring at it.
"Is everyone seated?" Shikamaru asked. "This is a drag so let's get right too it."
Ryuu's eyes flicked up to the concealed camera in the wall over the tv screen. He smirked. Shikamaru was as clever as always. He looked back at the paper.
"This is a drag for him?" someone asked.
"It's serious business for us," another said.
Ryuu chuckled, picking up his pencil and twirling it between his fingers.
"You guys are lucky, cause I'm the one in charge this year," Shikamaru said.
"No kidding," Ryuu smirked. "I'd hate to have Ibiki Morino again." He looked up at the screen where Shikamaru was clearly lounging back in his chair.
"This is a written test," Shikamaru said. "Read the questions closely."
Ryuu's eyes dropped again to the paper. There were only three questions, and all three were easy.
"The three questions are worth, from the top down, thirty points, forty points, and fifty points," Shikamaru said.
"Wait a minute, that's one twenty!" someone said.
"Shouldn't it add up to a hundred?" someone else asked.
Ryuu stared at the paper. There was a twist. It was Shikamaru, so there had to be a twist. He just had to figure it out. And hope Fu and Tayuya did too.
"Each of you will answer only one of the three questions," Shikamaru said, Ryuu's eyes narrowing further. "Your team's total points will determine whether you pass. If your team's total points exceeds one hundred, than the whole team will be disqualified. Then we'll average out the scores of the teams that remain and any who fall below the average will be disqualified too."
There it was.
"Average score!?" someone demanded.
"That's totally unfair!" someone else said.
"The exam starts now," Shikamaru said.
A buzzer sounded and his face was replaced by a thirty minute timer. Ryuu set his head down. They had to, as a team, get two thirties and a forty in order to pass safely. The problem was obviously figuring out who would do the forty and who would get thirty. Ryuu had no doubt that his team could each answer all three questions, but trying to decide who would do the forty without talking to each other was next to impossible. He sighed, standing.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ino asked.
"Were we told that we couldn't talk or walk around?" Ryuu asked. "They told us how to not get disqualified, and the board says 'No Unauthorized Fighting,' but when did anyone tell us we had to stay put?"
"True," Ino said. "So, is the test what I think it is?"
"You're smart," Ryuu shrugged. "You'll figure it out."
He walked to the window, leaning against it and staring up at the clouds, thinking. The windows were double-paned and were definitely not opening. There also weren't any vents in the room, or a single crack around the door. Shikamaru had planned for Shino as well.
"So, since we're allowed to talk, can anyone explain how we pass?" someone asked.
"As a team, get a hundred," Ryuu said. "Either get two thirties and a forty, or get two fifties and a zero," Ryuu said. "If you can somehow communicate with your team through a jutsu, you have a severe advantage."
"Anyone like that here?" Lee asked. "You can play telephone for the rest of us."
"If you trust them not to get you all eliminated," Ryuu said. "The safest thing would be to simply answer the thirty point question, and hope neither of your teammates answers the fifty. At least, until the average score is introduced. Then, assuming that any team gets above a ninety, anyone who did will be eliminated."
"What are you thinking?" Ino asked.
"There's more to this test than just this," Ryuu said. "Hard as it is, it's not as hard as Shikamaru could have made it."
"That's true," Ino nodded.
She sighed, closing her eyes and holding her hands together, in the Ram seal. Ryuu sighed, closing his eyes and thinking. Suddenly, he heard a ringing in his ears. He stopped, focussing on it. Then, it turned into a voice.
"Ryuu, it's Fu," Fu's voice whispered into his ear, Ryuu's eyes widening. "I'll explain later. Tayuya's doing the forty."
Then, the ringing was gone. Ryuu smiled, shaking his head and quickly writing out the answer to the thirty point question. Just as he finished, the inevitable happened. Everyone began to shout for their teammates. Ryuu chuckled, shaking his head. Had Fu not had it covered, he'd have probably been as screwed as them. Just then, there were five loud bangs, the impacts hard enough to shake the floor. Ryuu smirked. Smart. Whoever was signaling was telling their teammates, and therefor whoever was in the other classrooms, to get the two fifty point questions. Fortunately, Fu and Tayuya would have already done their questions. As if on cue, the ringing in his ears returned.
"The banging is in my room," Fu said before the ringing faded for a moment, two more sets of five bangs coming. "It's Neji trying to signal and a Hidden Sand ninja is trying to mess him up. Stick with the original plan. Tayuya does forty, me and Ryuu do thirty."
Then, the ringing faded again. Suddenly, the speaker came on.
"I made it clear, round one is a written exam," Shikamaru said. "Fighting is prohibited. Just keep quiet and finish the exam before the time runs out."
"Sounds like someone's not getting along," Ryuu said.
"Wonder who," Ino said, thinking for a moment. "Oh well."
Finally, after about fifteen more minutes of waiting, the clock finally hit zero and a buzzer sounded.
"Time's up," Shikamaru said. "Everyone flip over your papers."
Ryuu did as instructed.
"For the test's second part..." Shikamaru said, stopping to let everyone complain.
Ryuu's forehead bounced off the desk several times before he rested his chin in his hand. He hated being right.
"Question," Shikamaru said. "Your team is on a mission, and the enemy spots you. To shake off their pursuit, one team member must stay behind as a decoy. Who do you choose, knowing that the decoy faces certain death? Write down your answer on the back. To pass, all three team members must have the same answer. And the member who is named as the decoy will be considered killed and eliminated from the exams. You have three minutes. You may begin."
Ryuu stared at the speaker. Shikamaru was evil. He sighed, staring at the paper. He himself was the member who, in reality, would be the most likely to stay behind, as well as the one with the best chance of living anyway. At least, arguably. It was still up in the air if he had actually become stronger than Fu since they hadn't gotten around to sparring. That said, there was no way that Fu would let him stay behind alone again, so she would never write his name, just like he would never right hers. And from a tactical standpoint based on specific abilities, Tayuya actually would be a better decoy and better at delaying. Cruel as it was, both of the other girls would reach the same conclusion. Ryuu sighed setting his pencil against the paper before stopping, remembering Naruto's speech from the last test. Ryuu had sworn to save Tayuya. And she was a friend. He would die before letting a friend sacrifice themselves. In a situation like that, he would stay with them, and so would Fu. He lifted the pencil, staring at the paper before setting the pencil down beside it.
Just as he did, the ringing returned. "No one. Leave it blank. Tayuya is too."
Ryuu nodded. They would all pass or fail together. Just like they would in real life. A few seconds later, the buzzer sounded and the door swung open, Kotetsu walking in.
"I'll collect all of your papers," Kotetsu said. "Wait in your classrooms while they're graded. Those who passed will be called out to the schoolyard."
All of the papers were passed to the front and Kotetsu collected them, walking back out. Ryuu sighed, rubbing his temples. Shikamaru sure knew how to give him a headache.
"Who did you say for the last question?" Ino asked quietly, walking over with Lee.
"I didn't," Ryuu said. "In that situation, I'd be the best choice, but Fu wouldn't let me. And if Fu tried it, I'd hog tie her and drag her off with me. Tayuya would be the second best choice, but she's a friend, and a part of my family. So I couldn't sit by and let her sacrifice herself either. So, seeing as how there's no way I could let either of them do it, and I know Fu would never let me do it, I left it blank. According to Fu, so did she and Tayuya."
"Me, Sakura, and Choji did that too," Ino sighed.
"I left mine blank as well," Lee said. "I would never allow my friends to fight alone."
"And Neji and Tenten would never let you do it either," Ryuu nodded. "I guess the nine of us will either pass or fail together."
Lee and Ino nodded. Then, one by one, they were called out of the classroom. Finally, Ryuu was called and all three breathed a sigh of relief. Ryuu walked down to the schoolyard and found Fu and Tayuya waiting. Fu met him with a hug and he smiled.
"I'm glad you both saw things my way," Ryuu smiled.
"It took a bit of persuading," Fu said.
"I was sure you two would put my name down," Tayuya said. "After all, there's no way you two would put each other's."
"By that line of thought, you're right," Ryuu said. "For the purposes of this test, you would have been the most logical answer. But you're family too, Tayuya. So there's no way I'd ever let you sacrifice yourself. We either all succeed or we all fail. No matter which, we do it together."
Tayuya smiled and nodded. Then, Shikamaru and Temari both arrived, stepping up onto a small platform to be seen by everyone.
"Alright," Shikamaru said. "Those of you here have passed the first round, congratulations."
Ryuu looked around. There were a lot of teams there, but he could swear that a couple looked incomplete, like they had one person missing. But if that was true, then they actually did pass by leaving one behind, as long as they could agree on one. Just then, a Hidden Sand shinobi turned to them as Lee, Neji, and Tenten walked over, along with the other Hidden Leaf ninja from Ryuu's class.
"How come you all have all three members?" the Hidden Sand genin asked. "Wasn't the decoy supposed to be failed?"
"The rule was that all three had to have the same answer," Neji said. "So our team didn't choose anyone."
"Ours too," Ryuu said, the others nodding. "We all either live or die together."
"Wait, what?" the Hidden Sand ninja asked.
"We all turned in blank sheets," Lee said.
"What?" the Sand ninja asked. "All of you?"
"Yup," Tenten nodded. "There's no way we'd ever sacrifice a comrade. Like Ryuu said, he live or die together."
"Just look how many teams made it with all three members," Neji said, gesturing around.
Ryuu spotted Matsuri's team and smiled. He was glad they made it. Just then, Temari stepped up on the stand and slammed her folded up fan down, getting everyone's attention.
"I'm Temari of the Sand," Temari introduced herself. "I'm in charge of round two."
"Oh here we go again," Ryuu groaned. "First the boyfriend, and now his even more sadistic girlfriend."
"Too many teams passed the first round, so we're going to have to narrow things down even more," Temari said.
"What do you mean by that?" the Sand genin asked.
"First, round two is also a team battle," Temari said. "So any team without it's third member is disqualified."
"What?" the Sand genin's remaining teammate asked. "No way!"
"Furthermore, this upcoming round of the Chunin exams is to be held in the Hidden Sand Village," Temari said. "Although there's a clear route between the Hidden Leaf and Hidden Sand villages, it will take a Shinobi three days, no matter how fast they are."
"Bet," Ryuu smirked, glancing at Fu who grinned knowingly.
A jonin beside the stand sent a messenger hawk into the air, everyone watching it go.
"We just dispatched a messenger hawk to the hidden sand," Temari said. "It's message reads, after the first thirty, all who follow are disqualified."
"Piece of cake," Ryuu smirked.
"Finally, as in round one, fighting is prohibited en route," Temari said. "You can fight to your heart's content in round two. That's all."
"Lee, Tenten!" Neji said, the three of them taking off.
"As always, he's quick to assess the situation," Shikamaru said.
"What's wrong?" Temari asked. "I just said, that's all!"
Everyone stared at her for several seconds, except for Ryuu's former classmates, who all took off after Neji. He smiled. They had all been there at some point, so they all knew the easiest path. Hell, they all took the easiest path at least halfway when they went to save Matsuri.
"I get it!" one of the other Konoha genin finally shouted. "This means the elimination's already begun!"
Instantly, it was a stampede. Except, they all went in every direction, rather than following Ryuu's friends. He, Fu, and Tayuya watched them all go and sighed, shaking their heads.
"What are you still doing here?" Temari asked.
"So, you said no Shinobi can make it in less than three days," Ryuu said. "Wanna make a bet about it?"
"Okay, sure," Temari smirked. "What do you want if you win?"
"Oh not me," Ryuu snorted. "Shikamaru's been dying to take you on a date, but he's too chicken to ask you out."
Temari raised an eyebrow, turning to Shikamaru who turned scarlet.
"W-What?" Shikamaru stammered. "N-No, it's not like that!"
"If I win, you have to give him a big, sloppy kiss right in front of everyone," Ryuu smirked, both Shikamaru and Temari blushing. "Consider it payback for the headache Shikamaru gave me during the first test."
"Alright kid, you're on," Temari said. "And when I win, you have to take the rest of the exams in a skirt and bra, assuming you're not disqualified. And that's all you're allowed, too."
"Oh, so free-balling it, huh?" Ryuu nodded. "You're on."
"Wait, what?" Temari blinked. "No! You can wear underwear!"
"Nope, you said skirt and bra," Ryuu shrugged. "Not that it matters. There's no way I'm losing this race."
"I'd like to see you-"
She stopped as a pair of wings spread from Ryuu's back formed of glowing, light blue, chakra feathers. Then, the wings flapped once and Ryuu shot into the air, bringing Tayuya by the forearm before stopping, wings spreading out to the sides and holding him there.
"Coming Fu?" Ryuu asked.
Fu squealed in delight and surprise, extending her own wings and shooting up to him, grabbing him in a hug and spinning them all, Tayuya grabbing Ryuu's wrist in a death grip as they did.
"You can fly!" Fu cheered as Ryuu laughed, hugging her back.
"Yes I can," Ryuu smiled. "Finally. Oh shit, sorry Tayuya."
"It's fine," Tayuya said. "Let's just, not fly too fast, okay?"
Fu grinned wickedly, Ryuu winking to her. "Okay Tayuya. We won't."
Ryuu whistled and a moment later, Yomo arrived, burrowing his way into Ryuu's flak jacket and poking its head out. Then, Fu took Tayuya's other arm, both lifting her up and wrapping her arms over their shoulders before wrapping their inside arms around her waist, grabbing hold of her and putting one of their feet under hers. Then, Ryuu's wings flapped once and they were off, streaking over the trees away from the village, Tayuya screaming in fear as they both laughed.
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