Jinchuriki of the Shadowkhan
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto or Jackie Chan Adventures.
The next morning, the members of Team 8 met at Training Ground 12 where Kurenai prepared to brief them on the details of the test she had planned for them. The training ground was mostly occupied by a thick forest nearby a small clearing and with a lake. When the three Genin had arrived, they had found Kurenai waiting there kneeling on the grass with a scroll in front of her and an alarm clock sitting on a log next to her.
"Good, you're on time," said Kurenai, "punctuality is a useful and valuable habit for a Shinobi."
Rising to her feet, the Genjutsu Mistress picked up the scroll in front of her and held it for the teens to see, "This will be your objective," she explained, "you three will be tasked with retrieving this scroll from me and bringing it back to this clearing. Use every advantage and ability at your disposal to track me down. I will not leave this Training Ground, but do not expect me to remain in the same place."
"Your test begins…now!" said Kurenai before she vanished with a quick Shunshin.
"Let's go!" said Naruto, before rushing into the forest, causing Shino to let out a quiet sigh at the blonde's impulsiveness. Nevertheless, the two followed his lead as he leapt into the forest.
Unfortunately for them, Kurenai had earned her rank as a Jonin and, even though she was holding back, her skill with stealth meant that the three Genin had no luck in tracking down their Jonin Sensei.
"Damnit," cursed Naruto as the three of them came to a stop, "we'll never find her at this rate."
"Perhaps," said Shino stoically, "that's the point?"
"Eh?" asked Naruto, "What do you mean, Shino?"
"Kurenai-sensei is a Jonin level Shinobi," explained the bug user, "even accounting for her limiting herself for this exercise, the three of us cannot hope to defeat her by ourselves."
"M-maybe that's the point?" put in Hinata softly, before shrinking into herself slightly as her new teammates turned their attention to her.
"What do you mean, Hinata-chan?" asked Naruto, causing the Hyuuga heiress to blush.
"W-well," she replied, "what if we're meant to work together to find Kurenai-sensei?"
"That does sound logical," mused Shino, "after all, there is a reason Shinobi operate in teams on complex missions."
"They make a good point," noted Tarakudo as he materialized next to Naruto, causing the blond to start and glance his way before catching himself, something that didn't go unnoticed by his male teammate, Shino's eyebrow raising behind his sunglasses, "you're probably expected to pool your skills and resources in order to accomplish the goal set before you. Even my Generals knew better than to send only a single Shadowkhan to complete a mission."
"That's right!" exclaimed Naruto, causing Hinata to 'eep,' "So, what kind of cool Jutsu do you guys have that can help us track Kurenai-sensei?"
"Ano," said Hinata hesitantly, "I have my Clan Doujutsu, the Byakugan. I c-can see several meters around myself and see through Genjutsu and other obstacles."
"Using my Clan's techniques, I can use insects as scouts," said Shino, "they can help us track down our sensei's position."
"That's so cool!" said Naruto.
"And what do you bring to the table, Uzumaki-san?" asked Shino.
"Heh," chuckled Naruto, "watch this."
Naruto quickly made a hand-seal and summoned several Ninja-Khan through his connection with Tarakudo, "These are my Shadowkhan. I have a contract with them and can summon several different tribes of them to help. This group is very skilled with stealth and Shinobi tactics and can literally hide in the shadows."
"Fascinating," mused Shino, "in that case, I may have an idea…"
xXsceneXx
After announcing the beginning of the exercise, Kurenai had situated herself deep in the forested area and camouflaged herself with a mind Genjutsu and a sheet of camouflage tarp while she watched and waited for her students to make their move. A quick movement caught her attention from the corner of her eye, but when she turned, she only saw a fern blowing in the wind and casting a moving shadow across the ground.
Frowning, Kurenai reached out with her senses. It wasn't often that a trained Jonin was caught off guard by a mere dancing shadow…wait. Like lightning, Kurenai's mind thought back to the mission report she had seen about Naruto's fight with Mizuki and the shadow warriors the blond was able to command…and she was barely able to leap clear as several hands reached out of the shadows she was hiding in and tried to restrain her.
Kurenai let a proud smirk play across her face. It wasn't often that she was caught off guard like this. Requesting Naruto for her Team was a good choice. However, they'd have to do better than that if they wanted to catch her.
Putting on a burst of speed, Kurenai leapt through the trees and immediately noticed several figures darting through the shadows, keeping pace with her. Smirking, she cast a quick Genjutsu to throw them off, but to her surprise, they weren't fooled and leapt out at her, revealing them to be two of the shadow beings Naruto had control over, these ones being the ones that looked the most human and dressed like old style shinobi. As they engaged her, she noted that they were quite skilled in Taijutsu, possibly high Chunin to low Jonin, though in fairness, her own skills in the area were lacking in comparison to some of her fellow Jonin, so her judgement may have been a bit skewed.
Nevertheless, she admitted that these beings were skilled, but if this was their best attempt to pass her exam, then they would probably be sent back to the academy for another year. Quickly palming a handful of Shuriken, the Jonin Shinobi threw them at Naruto's summoned shadow warriors. The Shadowkhan leapt back to avoid the thrown weapons and responded by throwing smoke bombs onto the ground, obscuring her view for a brief moment before she was able to sweep the smoke aside, revealing that the shadow beings had fled.
Sighing to herself, she leapt off into the trees again, musing about how she would be disappointed if this was the best her prospective Team would show. Especially since she had gone out on a limb and specifically requested Naruto for her team. She had hoped to create the first of many specialized recon and retrieval squads, but if this fell through, then she might not get another shot.
Before she could continue to muse about the situation, a buzzing black cloud flew out in her path, forcing her to abruptly change direction mid leap, lest she fly headlong into the swarm of Kikaichū that had obviously been sent by Shino. An interesting tactic, but alone, not enough.
As if in response to her thoughts, several new Shadowkhan leapt out of the shadows cast by the trees, these ones being the variety that had razor-sharp claws for hands and pointed spikes instead of feet. These beings began to attack from different directions, obviously trying to box her in for some reason. Kurenai allowed herself a small smile as she quickly drew two kunai and used them to parry the slashes from the Razor Kahn while also dodging attacks from Shino's Kikaichū swarm that tried to flank her.
This was it. This was what she had wanted to see from this exercise. Seeing her prospective students pooling their resources and working together against a superior opponent was exactly what she had hoped would happen. That only left Hinata…
It was at that moment that Hinata leapt from the nearby bushes and attacked Kurenai from behind with several precise Juken strikes, her Byakugan already active in her eyes. The Genjutsu mistress found herself effectively caught off guard, as her attention was focused on dodging Shino's Kikaichū and fending off Naruto's Shadowkhan so she was unable to counter in time and found her arms quickly rendered numb and useless by the precise strikes to specific Tenketsu in them. Hinata then quickly grabbed the scroll from Kurenai and tossed it towards the shadows, the hand of one of the Ninja Khan rising up out of the shadow to grab it before pulling it down into the darkness.
"I think I've seen enough," said Kurenai before moving faster than before and stabbing her Kunai into the Razor Kahn, dispelling their forms in defeat, before throwing a Kunai with an exploding tag attached at the Kikaichū swarm, driving it back. Promptly spinning around, she caught Hinata's wrist as she tried to attack and placed the edge of her kunai against the girl's throat, "this exercise is done."
Upon hearing that, Naruto and Shino leapt into the clearing and Kurenai regarded the three Genin with pride, "Excellent work," she said, "now, can any of you tell me the point of this exercise?"
"That would be, teamwork," said Shino calmly, "it would be illogical to assume that any Jonin level Shinobi could be overwhelmed by three newly graduated Genin, regardless of their skill level, and as such, the test must be for us to work together to complete this task. Just as Hinata-san deduced."
"I see," said Kurenai as Hinata blushed under the praise, "well, that is exactly correct. I honestly did not expect you to fulfil the main objective that I had laid out for you, as I have been doing this for much longer and have several years of experience keeping a target safe from enemies, but your teamwork seems to have blown my expectations out of the water as it were."
"It was all thanks to Shino's plan!" said Naruto with a huge grin.
"Oh?" asked Kurenai with an amused smile at the blonde's enthusiasm, "and what was said plan?"
"It was a simple strategy that played to our individual strengths," said Shino, "Hinata-san's Byakugan, we were able to locate you in this forest, and Naruto-san's summoned warriors to divert your attention while I snuck one of my Kikaichū onto your person. The female Kikaichū gave off a pheromone that males in my hive can track, and in addition, my Kikaichū are immune to any Genjutsu that you would cast, allowing us to keep apprised of your location. Once we determined that, we simply had to slow you down long enough for Hinata-san to retrieve the scroll and get it to Naruto-san's summoned warriors."
"Well," said Kurenai as she looked at them with pride, "I must say that you have passed your Genin Exam with flying colors. Congratulations. You are now Genin of Konoha and members of Team 8.
"Yataa!" cheered Naruto as he pumped his fist in glee.
"You performed admirably," said Tarakudo as he appeared in front of Naruto, "you've gotten better with summoning and controlling the Shadowkhan."
"Well then," said Kurenai, "how about we all go and eat out to celebrate?"
"Awesome!" exclaimed Naruto, "I know a great Ramen place! Follow me to Ichiraku's!"
Hello everyone and thank you for sticking around. I'm really sorry about the sporadic updates, or lack of them altogether for such long periods of time. I'm working with a lot of real-life stuff, namely limited free time due to work and martial arts practice. Also I'm working on several fiction pieces that are tied to a rp forum that I'm a part of on this site. They're available on my DeviantArt account by the way. I do have plans for this and many of my other fics, so they are not dead, trust me. I just have shifting motivations on which fics to focus on. Please continue to stick around, as I plan to keep these fics active for as long as possible.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Trace Carter.
