Chunnin exams time! I'm just going to skip the written part because that's boring. Naruto noticed the fake Genin and used his fūinnome Sharingan to copy their movements like Sasuke. Boom done. Alright now on to the action. But first, a poem.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Shit I forget to study.
Fuck.
After Anko's rather rambunctious entrance, the genin had a day before they were to head to training ground 45, The Caves of Despair. The goal was to make it through the surrounding swamp, teeming with deadly wildlife, and make their way through the maze-like underground to the central hub within 3 days. After signing their liability waivers and receiving their scrolls, the genin headed off to their respective gates. After parting from the rookie nine, Naruto felt the prescience of a familiar and evil chakra. "Orochimaru's here," Naruto mumbled as he passed by Anko. She had noticed the chakra too, and would keep a close eye on the grass village genin she suspected was Orochimaru. The tongue gave it away. She knew that if the snake attacked Naruto, he would be okay. They didn't consider him a god for no reason.
The genin were now standing outside their respective gates, awaiting the message from the proctor to begin. Usually the second exam takes place in the forest of death. Because Naruto was here they had to change this. Naruto had practiced enough in the forest of death to know it like the back of his hand. In an attempt to make the exams more difficult, The third decided to have the exams take place in the caves instead. Naruto was quite bummed about this. He kinda missed the forest. Maybe he would go back and visit after the exams. He was broken from his reminiscing by a loud buzzer.
"Let's go, loser, we're wasting time."
"Yeah yeah whatever Sasuke," Naruto threw his arms behind his head as they began to move forward, "we've got three days."
"Naruto don't get so cocky," Sakura replied, "even though you spacing out back at the entrance probably won't cost us, you shouldn't get overconfident."
'I quite like her,'
'Is it just because she gets mad at me?'
'Well yes mostly. I like it when she hits you.'
Team 7 were jumping from tree limb to tree limb when they heard another team close by. They were pretty close to the cave entrance, so if they needed, they could run into the darkness of the cave for cover. Sakura was at the front, and she held back a fist, which signified 11 o'clock. Because they were trying to lay low, instead of coughing to acknowledge, the other two got in front of her and signaled back a thumbs up. They were quite proud of their system. Although it was created to silently track cats, it worked quite well when hunting the most dangerous prey.
"I can't believe we keep finding earth scrolls!" A far away voice shouted.
"I know it's so frustrating."
Team 7 had a heaven scroll. Naruto signaled for the others to follow his lead.
The three dropped down into a clearing, all back to back, and brandished their weapons. Naruto had Nuibari, Sasuke pulled out his katana, and Sakura sent chakra to her fists. "Come on out! We know you have an earth scroll!" Sakura shouted.
The three voices of the other genin seemed to come from all around them, "Your time is up, leaf dogs." The ground around team 7 began to shake. The ground opened up, revealing a large cavern, which they all fell into. All three of them sighed and looked up to see the three opposing genin standing over them atop the cavern. One of the boys raised his arms and clenched his fists, "Here, why don't you listen to some music?" And at that, sound waves began to pour from his arms. The three down in the pit all shrieked in pain as their ears were filled with intense pain.
Team 8 had set a trap. It was all Shinos idea. They set up a net right below a high concentration of vampiric slugs, and stood directly under the disguised net. It was incredibly simple and it worked surprisingly well. They had been also very lucky that the group that fell into their trap had a heaven scroll, which they needed. Team 8 recovered their scroll only to shoot up when they heard an extremely loud noise from far off. "What was that?" Kiba asked. He shrugged and began to walk towards the caves, "Welp, no use worrying about it now, we might as well just head to the cave." The other two nodded in agreement and followed behind him.
"Hinata, can you use your byakugan to see what's going on up ahead?" Kiba asked out of the blue, "Sure, Kiba. What's The matter?" She activated her byakugan. She saw 6 figures, presumably 2 teams, and she also noticed The three sand ninja up ahead. "Well Akamaru just smelled a strong chakra, so I wanted to check to see what's going on." Hinata nodded and signaled to follow her.
"We have an earth scroll," Gaara shouted to the opposing team, arms crossed, "if you have a heaven scroll, give it to us and we will let you go," the other shinobi scoffed at this.
"I don't know how you guys do it in the sand, but we're not about to give-" the boy was interrupted by a sudden shout and a blast of wind from behind them.
"EIGHT TRIGRAMS, AIR PALM!" The three hidden rain ninja were immediately knocked to the floor. Following that, two different shouts came,
"Fang over Fang!"
"Hidden jutsu: beetle sphere!"
Shino had drained the chakra from one of the enemy genin, and Kiba and Akamaru each knocked one out with their attacks.
Hinata found the scroll and Temari came running up to her, "KEHIBAN!" She shouted as she hugged Hinata.
Kiba tilted his head in confusion, 'That's not her name. And who are these people?' The sand ninja three and Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata had spent the entire week together after Gaara called off the plan. The second day they were in town, Hinata brought cinnamon buns for the entire group. Sakura explained her nickname to the others. Gaara and Kankurō were rather uninterested, although Kankurō remarked that it was cannibalism for Hinata to eat the bun. Temari, however, fell in love with the nickname, and had been calling her exclusively that for the entirety of their stay.
"We know these people?" Shino remarked.
"Yeah it looks like you two are maybe even a little more than friends," Kiba added, getting a fan to the head in response.
"Hello Hinata," Gaara turned to the other two as he spoke, "I don't believe we've met. I'm Gaara of the desert," he bowed.
Temari was still hugging Hinata as she handed the scroll over to the sand ninja and everyone introduced themselves. That was when another voice came from above them. They all braced themselves only to look up and see Sakura, "KEHIBAN!" She shouted as she latched onto the two other girls, causing Hinata to turn a bright red.
"Hey come on no fair!" Naruto leapt down from the tree, "When'll it be my turn?" He said with a fake pout. Sasuke and Shino simply looked at each other and nodded before looking away. They both considered the other as one of their closest friends.
A deafening sound is released. The three genin in the pit went up in smoke, "Now Sasuke!" Three shuriken fly around the sound ninja and wrap them in ninja wire, 'Pft, ninja wire, I'll just-' before he can finish his thought, he was pounded into the ground along with his two teammates. Standing above them was a pink-haired girl who had chakra surrounding her fist.
Before any of the sound ninja could move, they had all been sewn together, their earth scroll had been taken, and they were left in the pit. "I didn't really like that song," Sasuke shouted as he began to walk away, making Sakura swoon.
"Yeah I uh- I- you," Naruto stammered, "Nevermind," he hung his head as Sakura sweatdropped.
"Lord Orochimaru, what are you planning on doing?" Kabuto asked. They were both sitting in a nearby tree, cloaking their chakra.
"With Uzumaki there, there's not much we can do," Orochimaru paused, "and with the one-tail on his side as well, it will prove rather difficult to get anywhere near him." He was still mad about the Sand chickening out of the deal
"Don't you think it's rather hasty to be scouting him already? He doesn't even have the Sharingan activated yet," Kabuto looked at Orochimaru, waiting for a response.
"Oh, Kabuto... he does have his Sharingan. Losing most of your family will do that to you," the two watched on as the children all began to walk away. "We must stay away from that dirty fox." Whenever Orochimaru spoke of Naruto, there was a venom in his words that couldn't be found when talking about anybody else. He hated him. He hated the fox because he had thwarted so many of his plans in the past and there was nothing he could do. He didn't like it, but the Uzumaki was on par in strength with him. Even though Orochimaru could easily outlast the normal kid, he would have to deal with the kyuubi inside of him. It made him so angry that a child could be so powerful. He thought back to when the fox wiped out an entire hideout of his, leaving only a note and one person, Kimimaro. The note only contained two words, 'Fuck You.'
The nine genin decided that they would stagger their arrivals, just in case collusion amongst teams was somehow punishable. Hinata was able to easily locate the path to the center using her byakugan and team 8 went in first followed by the sand ninja an hour later. Then team 7. It was the night of the first day and team 7 was waiting for their turn to go to the center. "I'm going to the bathroom," Sasuke declared and got up walking behind the rocks, out of eyesight.
"Just be careful, duckbutt," Naruto shouted getting a wicked punch from Sakura.
"FOR THE LAST TIME, BAKA, TOP CALLING HIM THAT CHA!"
Naruto just laughed it off, "Are you hungry, Sakura-sama?" He asked mockingly.
Sasuke was now out of earshot of the two others. He couldn't pee if he could feel someone else's presence.
"My my Sasuke," he heard a chilling voice come from behind him. A wave of potent KI, stronger than Zabuza's, washed over him and he stopped peeing, "I suppose that that's average for someone your age."
'Ew.' Sasuke thought what we were all thinking.
"Sasuke pull your pants up," the half naked boy felt a wave of energy wash over him, expelling the KI and the rest of his pee. "Now's not the time for that."
"R-right, sorry," the Uchiha replied, zipping his pants back up.
"Damn filthy fox!" The voice behind Sasuke muttered. He turned around to see a pale man with long hair and purple markings by his eyes. "You're always spoiling my fun," the mans neck began to stretch towards Sasuke. He kept dodging back but the head kept moving toward him.
Naruto jumped in front of Sasuke and grabbed the head before throwing up a kunai. "Sasuke, katana!" The boy shouted as he teleported high in the air. The two had practiced this move during their training in the last year. Naruto swing the head around and whipped Orochimaru to the ground towards Sasuke, who readied his katana. The Uchiha leaped towards Orochimaru, slicing at the base of his neck, causing him to flop down to the ground. Naruto quickly activated Kakashi's mangekyō and sucked Orochimaru's head and body into the Kamui. Orochimaru had other ideas, and he was able to substitute with a log from the forest. "Damn it," Naruto exclaimed.
"Where did he go?" Sasuke looked at Naruto who replied.
"I don't know, but I think we're safe for now. You need to stay by me at all times from now on," Sasuke looked upset, "look, I know it sucks but just stay close to me until the exams are over, okay?"
Sasuke gave a grunt in return, "You and Orochimaru seemed... familiar. Care to elaborate?" Naruto began to speak before he saw Sakura came running over the hill.
"Later," Naruto mumbled.
"I went and got everyone like you asked," she gestured to the worried crowd. He waved her off, "Everything's all right, Sakura. Thank you."
The genin made their way down to the center in silence. They were all left to their thoughts, 'Why was Naruto so worried about whatever happened out there?'
Kiba broke the silence, "Well what happened, you two? You can't just leave us in the dark!" The others all nodded and agreed, except for Gaara and Hinata. Gaara spoke up first.
"If whatever happened out there was important to us, Naruto would have already said it," this stunned the others.
"I believe in your judgement, Naruto-kun," now Hinata. Naruto beamed as he poked her forehead, causing her to feel faint.
"No I suppose I should tell you all. Thank you Gaara, but it is kind of important," he paused, they all stopped and looked towards him expectedly. "Orochimaru of the sannin is after Sasuke."
Hey all!
If you couldn't tell already, I like the more strategically planned out fights more than the shooty shooty, Rasengan barrages. It's really fun thinking about how the characters would strategize in a real situation, so I really enjoyed creating the traps and stuff.
Anyway~
I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. I'm really happy with how the alternative chūnin exams worked out, and I hope you are too. Hope you have a good day/night (or else!)
Jerry out!