Two Steps...Forward?
Naruto grunted as he attempted to channel his chains. They speared forth from his body, whipping around. Kushina smirked.
"Good work, now make them thinner."
"Why would I make them thinner," Naruto questioned. "If I did that wouldn't they be less durable?"
"Yeah they will be," Kushina stated. "But the upside of that is the fact that you'll be able to control more of them. Don't worry, eventually you'll be able to make them as large as you want while maintaining control, but right now it's better to have fine-tuned control over them rather than being able to hurl one big one at people. I also wanna try experimenting something anyways."
Naruto nodded, flexing his fingers and concentrating. Slowly, as if imagining a blade of grass being cut down by the wind, the chains withered down. Naruto smirked, before he let loose a pulse of chakra, releasing more of the chains around his body. He smirked, gladly whipping them around the room.
"Good, you can use the chains. Now I wanna try a little test. You see every member of the Uzumaki Clan possesses these chains, but despite us all sharing this Kekkei Genkai each persons chains have a special unique property about them that no one else has."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Kushina said. "For instance, my chains have the unique capacity to be good at restraining the Bijuu, as I'm sure Kurama is quite aware."
"Tch, troublesome woman."
Naruto chuckled, although he whipped his chains around. "Because you're my Kaa-chan mine will probably be along the same lines huh?"
"It's likely," Kushina stated. "There's a test we can do, but it would require a dummy, and I doubt we could find one in this city."
Naruto smirked. "Didn't Ignatius say there was a gladiator arena in Remano? I'm sure we could find some willing participants there."
Sai grunted as he saw the squirrel rush forwards. The boy cocked his head, a frown forming before he launched a kunai at the creature. With a yelp the squirrel dodged out of the way, leaping back into the brush.
"That didn't work," the kunoichi stated.
"I thought for sure that it would. Do you think he saw the paper bomb we put on the squirrel," came the question from a male shinobi with spiky hair.
"No," the other male shinobi stated. "That wasn't it?"
"Then what was it?"
"I'm thinking we need to go closer and find out?"
"Are you sure about that," the kunoichi warned. "I mean, even if one of them are injured, that's still a group of Genin that can easily be awakened. They outnumber us by quite a bit. And the majority of them are Clan Heirs. They also fought Orochimaru-sama and lived, we can't exactly underestimate them."
"Regardless, they're still weaklings, mere Konoha trash," the clear leader stated. "If we can't defeat them then we really haven't earned our place for Orochimaru-sama now have we? We just need to get crippling damage done early on in the fight, enough damage to make their numbers advantage useless. Your illusions, my sound, and Zaku's sheer power should be able to accomplish that. But most importantly, go for the kill on anyone that isn't the Uchiha."
"Got it," his two companions stated.
Sai's eyes widened as he saw the brush move. In a single fluid move he drew two kunai, one he launched at Shikamaru, slicing the boys cheek and getting a cry of pain, while the other he launched at the three intruders. The intruders blocked it and Shikamaru cried out indignantly, but quickly got Sai's message, waking up the rest of the group.
"Nice move," came the call from the mummified foreign shinobi. "I have to say it was quite impressive. Unexpected of Konoha trash."
The insult got no response from Sai, but that didn't mean that no one responded.
"What the hell does that mean you mummified freak! You better get out of here before we entomb you!" Ino raged.
"I'd like to see you try it girl," the kunoichi mocked.
"Either way," the mummified one stated. "It doesn't matter. Your desires are of no interest to me. We merely have one goal here. Wake Sasuke up, we want to fight him."
"You won't touch a hair on his head," Sakura muttered, drawing a kunai. Ino smirked, drawing one as well.
"Yeah! What Billboard Brow said! Sasuke-kun would destroy you freaks anyway!"
Shikamaru frowned. Ino's screeching was annoying, but it would be helpful in this instance. The louder she yelled, the more attention would likely be brought over to this area, and considering the majority of participants in this Exam were Konoha shinobi, it was much more likely that an ally would arrive rather than an enemy.
"What do you want," Sakura called. "What do you want here? I know it's not really to fight Sasuke. Orochimaru must have told you guys something. He's the one that sent you isn't he? What's that weird mark on his neck do?"
The foreign shinobi looked taken aback, glancing at each other before they nodded. Shikamaru frowned, drawing a kunai. They were clearly going to take this seriously. Troublesome, but manageable.
"Sorry Dosu but I can't stay quiet after hearing her to talk to us like that. First I'm gonna kill the pink-haired bitch, and then I'll kill the pasty silent one and the blonde banshee. They're annoying me too. When I'm done with that, I think I'll just go ahead and kill Sasuke."
"Wait Zaku," Dosu called, his eyes narrowed. Zaku glanced down at the team leader only to watch as Dosu placed his hands on the ground. "You guys should work harder on your traps. This is the color of dirt that's already been dug up. This kind of grass doesn't grow in a place like this. You know, if you're going to lay a trap there's no point unless you make sure it's actually hidden."
"Huh! So that's why he threw that knife, so that the squirrel wouldn't spring the trap? Such an idiot," Zaku exclaimed.
"Now we kill them," Dosu commanded.
The kunoichi made a handseal, and suddenly the squirrel was back, racing from the side this time, screeching as its back seared with fire until it exploded, blood and muscle splattering through the air as the explosion sent the Konoha group stumbling backwards. Dosu and Zaku immediately reacted, both leaping forwards into the fray, each prepared to take out a member of the group with one attack. It was not meant to be however, as Shikamaru dived towards the ground, cutting a string attached to a kunai.
A log swung down from the canopy, causing the duo's eyes to widen. "They also laid a trap from above? Better than I thought but not enough!"
"They can't avoid it, they're in the air!" Ino called.
"Nice try, little girl," Dosu called, placing a hand on the log before shattering it. The log ripped in half, only for Dosu's eyes to widen as he saw tags float in the air as the log ripped apart.
'Explosive tags!' Dosu realized. 'The log was filled with them!'
"Hn," Sai commented as he made a handseal, an explosion lighting up the dark forest, splinters shooting every direction.
"Did we get them," Choji called, only for Sai to shake his head. The silent boy gestured around the area.
"No blood."
Sai was proven correct as Dosu suddenly appeared in the center of the group, his cloak badly burned but his form otherwise fine. Two destroyed remainders of logs lay on the ground where Dosu and Zaku had been intended to die. Dosu swung his arm towards Sai, the Chunin-level Genin leaning back to avoid the blow only for him to wince as he felt something ache in his head. Dosu leaped back into the air just as Sai returned a shaky swipe back at him, but the damage had been done.
Zaku, appeared to the side of the group, smirked before raising his hands. "Let's see how you Konoha asswipes like this! Zankūha (Decapitating Airwaves)!"
The Konoha group was sent flying by the force of the attack, cuts appearing on their body as they smashed into a giant tree. Zaku smirked, cracking his neck as he stretched it. "Ah? Is that all you guys have? So weak, honestly."
Shikamaru frowned, grunting before he looked at Ino. The girl nodded, drawing kunai before launching them at three different spots on the ground. As soon as they connected, almost as if a switch had been flipped, tree bark peeled off of the trees and rushed towards the enemy shinobi, however Zaku's attack quickly sent them all flying. Dosu smirked.
"Ninja wire underneath the bark directed by an interwoven network of strings? I won't lie, whoever did that is intelligent, but I'm afraid it won't work on people like us."
Sai grunted, holding his head as Shikamaru stood in front of the group, a frown on his face. "Choji, what's the likelihood we can trap one of them in that trap?"
"Not high," Choji muttered. "They all seem individually stronger than us, and they seemed to do something to Sai that still has him reeling."
"Yeah," Shikamaru muttered, glancing back at the boy. He was there strongest member other than Sasuke and that Dosu guy crippled him in one blow, a blow that Sai should have dodged. It didn't make sense.
"Whatever happens don't let that Dosu guy get near you. He can hit you without touching you somehow. And that Zaku guy, he can user sonic waves to attack from afar. Try and get as close to him as possible and keep his hands closed. They seemed to be generated from there. Ino, Sakura, I'm leaving you two to handle the girl, we don't know her abilities, so try and keep her as subdued as possible. Choji, you should be capable of defeating Zaku with your fighting style, so I'm gonna let you handle him alone. Sai, or well whatever is left of him, and I will try and defeat Dosu, understood?"
Sai grunted, managing to stand and hold his kunai by his side. "Understood," Sai muttered, killing intent reeking from his body. All of the Genin near him were shocked by the intensity of the feeling. This was no normal Genin. "I'll kill him without a doubt."
The group nodded, and they leaped off to go engage their respective opponents. Shikamaru glanced at Sai as the duo landed. Sai was off balance, that much was clear. "Are you sure that you're ok? That blow looked like it did a significant bit of damage to you."
"Shut up," Sai stated. Shikamaru didn't bother arguing.
'Troublesome.'
"What did you do exactly anyway," Shikamaru questioned.
"Oh, you mean my jutsu? It's quite impressive really," Dosu stated, raising his arm to show off the gadget attached to it. "You can dodge my blows all you want, but you can't get away from it. After all, sound is really quite deadly."
"Sound," Shikamaru muttered, glancing at Sai. He was wobbly, off balance. But what did that have to do with sound? His ears were bleeding too. He had the pieces, but what did it all mean?
"What makes the ear capable of hearing things? What is sound really?"
"Vibrations," Shikamaru stated, and all of a sudden everything began to click together. Vibrations in the air created a sound wave, waves that the ear collected and directed to the eardrum. Too much sound could definitely mess up someone's balance, but that would at most cause vertigo. Definitely a useful jutsu, but nothing that would make Sai seem like he was in so much pain unless he had extreme motion sickness.
"I see you're putting it together. Allow me to explain. When vibrations are collected by the human ear, they go to the eardrum. The human eardrum ruptures at sound levels higher than 150 decibels. And if the deepest inner ear canals are upset by the sound wave, it becomes impossible for you to maintain your balance."
Sai snarled, glaring at Dosu. "Oh really, well then, that's not a problem," he whispered. The young Genin glanced at Shikamaru. "How many times can you split your shadow? And for how long before you run out of chakra can you maintain it?"
"Ten times is my maximum, and probably about five minutes if I burn myself out completely, why?"
"Simple," Sai muttered. "I need to regain my strength in order to be effective, and the only way for that to happen is to take some time off. In the meantime though I can't just let you die scrawny. So," Sai knelt, drawing his scroll and drawing the most generic creatures that he could that were human like. Humanoid blobs formed on the paper, as actual humans were too difficult to draw in his state. With a burst of chakra, ten humanoid ink monstrosities stood before him.
"Do what you can until I recover. I should be fine if you can last the whole five minutes," Sai stated.
Shikamaru nodded, weaving through handseals, however before he finished Dosu rushed forwards. It was only through the hasty action of a humanoid blob that Shikamaru wasn't hit by the attack, allowing him to finish the jutsu and connect his shadow to the other nine blobs.
"Alright, it's time to turn the tables I guess. What a drag," Shikamaru stated. "I'm gonna have to kill you too, you're to big of a threat. That's troublesome, especially considering Hokage-sama probably wants to interrogate you all."
Dosu grunted, placing a hand on his gauntlet. "Of course that means I'm going to kill you as well Nara Clan Heir."
Shikamaru grunted. "You know who I am. Troublesome, my reputation precedes me."
"Oh I assure you," Dosu stated, a grin forming on his face, not that Shikamaru could see it, as he tapped his gauntlet. "It won't for much longer."
Zaku grunted as he saw Choji walk towards him, flexing his hands. "Really? This is the person you all sent to fight me? Some bumbling fatass? You're really be underestimating me."
"Fatass!" Choji roared. "I'm not fat I'm just big boned you sound-wave freak!"
Choji quickly expanded his body, launching a massive punch at the Oto shinobi, only for him to raise his hands and release another wave of his attack, blowing Choji's fist backwards.
"Please! As if I'd let your fatass touch me. I'm not sure if it's contagious!"
"Bastard!"
Choji charged towards Zaku, his face red with rage as both of his arms expanded and he sent two massive punches towards his enemy. Yet they were far to slow, allowing Zaku to dodge out of the way, landing on a nearby tree with his arms raised. "Time to die fatass! Zankūha (Decapitating Airwaves)!"
The blast sent Choji flying, the Akimichi Clan Heir crashed into a tree, causing Zaku to smirk. "Wow, we've really got you Konoha brats outclassed. How the hell did you guys even managed to make Genin?" Zaku shrugged, drawing an explosive kunai.
"Well, that's really not my problem now is it," he muttered, launching the kunai towards Choji. The bladed weapon pierced his arm, causing a scream of pain from the Akimichi Clan member, only for Zaku to make a handseal.
"Time to die fatass!"
"Not so fast there bub!"
The kunai was ripped from Choji's flesh and directed towards the canopy.
BOOM!
The kunoichi frowned as she saw Sakura and Ino approach her. "Really, they sent you two weaklings to try and defeat me? That's ridiculous. Neither of you stand a chance against me."
Sakura and Ino both frowned, the duo both drawing kunai and rushing towards the kunoichi. The kunoichi quickly drew two senbon, launching them at the two girls, forcing them to block. However the foreign kunoichi moved in as soon as Sakura and Ino deflected the attack, appearing between the both of them with speed they were not expecting.
"Like I said, you two are way to weak to defeat me," she muttered, launching two kicks that sent the duo to the ground. The kunoichi drew a senbon, launching it towards Ino who screamed as her shoulder was pierced. The Yamanaka tried to move her arm, only for her eyes to widen in horror when she realized that she couldn't.
"What did you do to me?"
The kunoichi smirked. "Crippled you. The Yamanaka Clan Jutsu from our intel requires both arms to use. Not exactly much of a threat if you can't use both arms are you? I can already see that you're barely capable of being a shinobi at all. Sloppy taijutsu, poor reaction speeds, slow, it's pathetic really."
The kunoichi leaned down, stepping on Sakura's chest to prevent her from rising either. She reached downwards, grabbing the duos long hair, a smirk appearing on her face. "Yeah, of course, that explains it. Your hair is luxurious, both of you. Honestly I'm a little jealous. I don't have time to keep my hair that maintained. Do you want to know why?"
The two both struggled, trying to find a way to fight against the clearly superior kunoichi, only to find their hair tugged even harder, eliciting cries of pain from the two Konoha kunoichi. "Because I spend my time training instead of trying to look good! You two are swine. It's disgusting that people like you even exist in this world. Why Konoha would allow such pitiful excuses for kunoichi to join their force is beyond me. But it's their loss. And yours."
The kunoichi drew a kunai, reaching down to Ino's throat.
"Are you ready, Yamanaka bitch? This is your punishment for never even trying to improve yourself. A quick death at the hands your opponent." The kunoichi leaned closer in to whisper into Ino's ear, ignoring the tears that fell onto her own face for doing so. "I hope you at least got a quick fuck by whatever boy you wanted to impress so much."
The kunai descended.
"Konoha Senpū (Leaf Hurricane)!"
The kunai was stopped as Kin was sent flying, a teen in green clothing catching the kunai with ease.
Meri stood in behind a group of Konoha shinobi, listening as they spoke about the Chunin Exams. These Chunin were ordinary, nothing special about them. They lacked any form of special techniques, and none of them came from Clans. They were just run of the mill Chunin that were only important in the sense that they did the run-of-the-mill mission and helped the village stay operating as a whole. They probably had friends, loved ones, children even.
That was what made it so important to turn them to Danzo's side.
One could not persuade the populace of Konohagakure to their side through brute force. No, the Konoha shinobi were far to loyal to Hiruzen Sarutobi for that. They would not acknowledge Danzo as leader through their free will if he was not given the hat by Hiruzen. Of course there was the obvious choice of casting a genjutsu and making the village believe that Hiruzen did such a thing, but due to the fact that it was already public knowledge that Danzo was public enemy number one, the likelihood of anyone besides civilians believing that statement was unlikely, even with the Sharingan's powerful illusions.
It could be pulled off, but the scale of the scheme was grande, even for Danzo-sama. That left only one option. Minor genjutsu, slow working ones. They wouldn't take effect immediately, but they would sow discomfort and disillusionment in Konohagakure shinobi towards Hiruzen Sarutobi. Enough to make it steadily more believable that Danzo would be welcomed back as a hero who went on an undercover mission, and not a man who had tried to kill the Hokage.
In a flash it was over.
The three Chunin stopped talking briefly before they continued talking as though nothing had ever happened, Meri walking away from the trio. One could not change Konoha through the upper-echelon. It was simply impossible to convince them that Hiruzen was the enemy. They would all have to be killed. The only option that was available was to convince the common, average shinobi. They would convince the civilians easily enough. And when the civilians and the average shinobi were convinced, it would prove to be a serious problem for the elite.
The power of the majority, even in a world with such little parity as the world they lived in, was astronomical.
Naruto grunted as he looked upon the gladiator arena before him, frowning as he saw the elderly man in the center. The man was clearly practicing some formations, but Naruto didn't recognize the fighting style. The blonde watched the man curiously, only for his eyes to widen as he felt a hand clasp on his shoulder.
"Watchin' ol' man Shambal are ye! Not a bad choice lad!"
Naruto groaned. He knew that voice. Turning the boy saw Kezrah standing behind him, a grin on the large mans face.
"Wait a minute," Kezrah stated, eyes wide. "Aren't you the kid that tried to sneak into camp after we finished fighting those Parthevia soldiers? What are you doing here?"
"Observing," Naruto muttered, annoyance in his voice.
"Well ye can't observe from this far away lad!"
Kezrah grabbed Naruto, leaping into the arena in a single bound. As soon as they landed Naruto reacted, chains bursting from his hands to lash out at Kezrah, forcing the man away.
"Oh? Well aren't ye the interestin' little lad! You can use magic!"
Naruto frowned. There it was again. Magic. Scheherazade had called herself a magician, a Magi. That meant that she could likely manipulate magic, and that was what she used to defeat him. It was a product of Rukh, but everyone here thought he was a magician if they didn't know of the Elemental Nations. That only made him curious. Could he use magic? He could use Rukh, so theoretically it should be possible. He doubted he would find anyone to teach him though if this Black Rukh was truly so vile.
"Don't touch me," Naruto growled.
"Well aren't you the angry child," came a call. Naruto whirled, surprised to see the man Kezrah called Shambal glancing down at him. "You're definitely a bit more aggressive than most aren't you. More interesting too, with those chains. You're not even using a wand."
Naruto glared at Shambal, causing the man to grin. "Anger in ya huh?" Shambal glanced up to Kezrah who nodded, walking off back to the stands, while Shambal pointed his sword at Naruto.
"You know kid, I always find it that a good fight helps alleviate some of my anger. Maybe it can do the same for you?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes. The man had known Naruto was watching him. He had to realize that Naruto likely had the advantage, but if he was willing to fight Naruto would allow it. He had come to the gladiator arena to practice some techniques anyways. This just gave him the opportunity to try it on a living person. Chains sprouted from Naruto's body, before he wordlessly sent them flying towards Shambal.
The man grinned, deflecting each and every one of the chains in a flurry of sword strikes, grinning as Naruto's eyes widened.
"That all you can do kid?"
Naruto snarled, forming a handseal and creating three clones of himself, each with their own chains. Shambal's eyes widened before he smirked.
"Interesting. I've never seen magic as unique as yours before child. This will be an interesting spar," Shambal stated, his sword glowing with a red energy. "Come at me with everything you've got. Otherwise I might just end up killing you."
"Fine by me," Naruto muttered, his chains flying forth. Shambal grunted as they speared towards him, deflecting the chains with relatively little difficulty, a grin forming on his face.
"Is that all you can do kid? And here I thought you had more to offer."
Naruto grunted, and then he acted. The three clones sent their chains flying towards Shambal from all directions, forcing the man to leap out of the way lest he be cut to pieces. It did not matter however, as the original Naruto sent his chains towards the man. The man prepared to deflect the blow, only for his eyes to widen as the chains wrapped around his sword and suddenly pulled Naruto closer to him. Naruto smirked.
'Kusariton: Jikyoku (Chain Release: Magnetic Poles)!'
Naruto appeared in front of Shambal with a grunt, a vortex of energy swirling around his fists. With a roar cry he let the attack fly, only to see Shambal block the punch with his forearm. Despite that however the force was enough to send Shambal flying back to the ground, and Naruto by extension followed behind him. As the duo landed Naruto's clones launched a follow-up attack, their chains wrapping around Shambal's neck and arms in an attempt to restrain the man, their razor edge cutting into his skin.
Shambal grunted, feeling the chains attempting to restrain him. Naruto rose before him, his own chains no longer connected to Shambal's sword. Raising a hand, Naruto prepared to continue.
"Now is the perfect chance to test the chain's ability," Kushina voiced. "Try it. What drives you Naruto? What makes you tick? What makes you you?"
Naruto frowned, noticing Shambal stop resisting, the man curiously staring at Naruto. There was no doubt in the blondes mind that the man had the capacity to break free of the chains. He had to think quickly about this. What made him him? He was Naruto Uzumaki, he was caring, he was loyal, and he was determined to be Hokage. At least that's who he would have been before the betrayal.
Now?
He was vengeance.
Naruto's chains glowed a brilliant red before they seemed to roar, Shambal's eyes widening as he slowly dropped to the ground, his body feeling powerless.
"What the," the man muttered, only to see Naruto's chains in front of him, fire smoldering across them.
"Yield," Naruto whispered.
Shambal smirked, feeling the flames lick his skin as his strength was drained away. He had no idea how the kid was able to do it, but he wasn't letting him access his Rukh. Such an interesting child. Still, he was strong enough to break the hold the chains had over him. But that would be unnecessary.
Better to let the child think he had garnered a victory.
"I yield."
Kurotsuchi was irritated. First that Konoha team had attacked her, resulting in the defeat of her team and the loss of her scroll. Then as they recovered they searched to find another team, only to be forced to go away from whatever ungodly fight was happening in the forest with jutsu that no Genin would be capable of dishing out. The screams of terror only furthered that thought. Unless the Shinigami itself was a Genin whatever was going on in the forest was not normal. Therefore, she elected to go away from not normal.
That led her here, to the sight of a beat up Konoha group that had defeated her squad before hand, getting torn apart by some second-class shinobi. The insult to her pride had been drastic. If some no-name village could produce Genin that could beat Genin that could defeat her, what worth was she? How was she going to prove to her grandfather that she deserved to be the Tsuchikage when he retired?
There was only one way to rectify her damaged pride, and that was by saving the Konoha shinobi and proving that she was better than they were. Of course her teammates had objected to the idea, preferring to wait until both groups had tired themselves out to attack, but Kurotsuchi wouldn't let them. This was not a matter of fighting like a shinobi currently, this was a matter of honor and that could not be ignored. Iwa shinobi stood by their honor, their pride. When they made a promise they kept it. There was a reason there was no record of Iwagakure ever betraying another village, because it had never happened.
Kurotsuchi glared at the Oto shinobi who dared try and disgrace her by defeating the Konoha shinobi. She would not let him leave this battlefield alive.
"What the hell do you think you're doing huh!" Zaku cried. "I had him! You're gonna pay for that with your lives!"
"Yes," Kurotsuchi said, her damaged pride the only thing on her mind. "You are."