After a number of mind-numbing D-rank missions they were finally saddled with the infamous Capture Tora D-rank, which was both a rite of passage and a punishment, depending on whether or not it was the first time a team received it. Previous missions had consisted of Tsuna doing the work quietly, Sasuke doing the work grudgingly, and Sakura moaning over the state of her hair, nails, and skin.
After letting Uchiha "Superior Species" Sasuke take a shot at it (and get nicely scratched up), and Haruno "Delusional Fangirl" Sakura try (and get nicely scratched up), Tsuna sauntered out with some tuna on a slab of wood, set it down, then backed up and settled into a crouch.
What they didn't see was him using his Mist Flames to box the cat in so it believed it had no other path to follow except to the yummy fish. While it ate he wafted Sky Flames at it to keep it calm, then carefully picked the beast up once it was done.
"There's a good girl," he murmured.
"Good," came Hatake's voice. "…Are we sure this is the right cat?"
Sasuke got close enough to see it properly. "Ribbon on the left ear… Yes."
"Then let's go turn this in. Lost Pet Tora, mission complete!"
Shortly thereafter he was at the mission desk, handing the poor thing over to Shijimi-dono, the Fire Daimyo's wife, who immediately squeezed the thing half breathless.
"Oh, my cute little Tora-chan. I was so worried!" she cooed as she pushed it into the carrier she had with her and trundled over to the mission desk to hand over payment, then exited.
"Now," the Hokage said, staring at a list of missions. "Team 7, your next duty is… Hmmm. Babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and helping with potato digging."
He was angling for the neighboring village shopping, as at least it would get them outside the walls, but Sasuke grunted and pulled a bitch face, which caused Sakura to look torn once again. She had a habit of deferring to authority (which meant anyone adult or above her in rank), which was not uncommon, so she was unlikely to ever push for a "better" mission on her own, and also unlikely simply based on her utter lack of skills.
"We can do a higher-ranked mission," Sasuke said flatly.
Iruka jumped up from his seat and pressed his hands to the table. "You're just a rookie! Everyone starts off with the simple duties and works their way up."
The Hokage's hand came up to make sure his hat didn't fly off and shot a sideways look at the chūnin, then said, "You only recently became genin. D-rank missions are perfect for you. But, I can see you're spoiling for something with a bit more complexity. So, I will assign you a C-rank to test the waters." He glanced down at one of the clipboards.
"It's a mission to protect a certain individual."
Tsuna put the book he had half-removed from his pocket back.
The Hokage nodded to Iruka, who rushed out and came back seconds later with an older man. Said older man had a high forehead, spiky grey hair, a rope tied around his head for no damn reason Tsuna could figure, and was holding a bottle of wine or some other alcohol, which he took a drink from before saying, "What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats. Are you really ninja, hey? I am the super bridge builder, Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."
"Very well," Hatake said, reading through the mission scroll. "We will meet you at seven o'clock sharp tomorrow morning, at the main gate."
Tazuna stumbled off, reeking of booze, which made Tsuna want to gut the man on principle.
"All right, my cute little genin. Let's go get our mission pay, and then you can go home to pack for tomorrow!"
xXx
"Does going in to the mind of a drunk person make you loopy?" he asked.
His Mists gave him one of those looks, the mostly fond indulgence mixed with a tinge of exasperation.
"No, darling. We're not that weak," Mukuro said. "It can be loopy inside, though. Depends on how much of a tolerance they have."
"Huh. Good to know."
"I'm going to assume you're referring to your latest client," Xeul said.
"Yep." His nose wrinkled in distaste.
"I'll find out," Xeul said, giving him a brief, cozy hug, then stepping into Between.
"My team is being good little genin," Sin said cheerily. "We're still doing D-ranks."
He eyed his lover suspiciously. "And Chuya?"
Sin rolled his eyes in concert with Daemon. "She's a bully and a fangirl, and neither of us are cute or mysterious or cool enough to catch her attention, thank kami. She at least does her share of the work, even when she clearly hates it or thinks it's beneath her."
"I wondered, round about our sixth D-rank, if we were supposed to be dreaming up ways to do them the 'shinobi' way, but of course most genin barely know anything beyond the academy three, and if they do they're from a clan, so that seemed somewhat unlikely. I also wondered if we were supposed to wonder that, and then ask questions about it. But then I looked at Hatake, giggling over his third-rate porn, and thought that he'd just slide past the question."
"Is any porn not third-rate?" Ken asked. "It all seems pretty thin to me, with barely anything resembling a plot."
That made Tsuna wonder just when Ken was slipping off to indulge in porn, but thought better of asking. He really didn't want to know, in the end.
Xeul stepped back in and took a seat. "Your drunken client is omitting some serious details about the mission, Heul. The delightful fellow currently dictating events in Wave, a man named Gato, has been killing off dissidents, has control of all shipping in and out of the area, and has hired nuke-nin to take out Tazuna so he cannot finish that bridge and bypass Gato's blockade."
"Awesome," he said flatly. "Any idea how many?"
Xeul shook his head. "I'm going to guess at least two, probably chūnin or higher. I could always take a trip tonight, now that I've seen what his little town in Wave looks like, scope things out, and bring back more information. I'd be back in more than enough time to brief you before you have to meet at the gate."
Tsuna nodded.
Xeul stepped Between again.
"So, I suppose I should pack," he said. "Though I plan to use sealing scrolls for a quite a bit of it."
"You do have those seals we worked out to expand a bag as a hybrid sealing scroll."
Sadly, the only truly secure storage was his storage. Seals placed on his skin could be disrupted, seals on items could be torn, and the same was true for clothing. The only known seal that stayed more or less forever was the one the Yondaime had used for his hiraishin, but that might be because no one ever noticed them. "I'll use pouches with seals to make them larger on the inside, but draw from storage.
"And I can use Cloud Flames to multiply any tools I use, though at first glance, with the mission as given, it'd only be bandits or thugs to worry about. Hatake hasn't taught any of us shit, so clearly I've been super sneaky in finding material to study on my own, both in the academy and as part of a team. Mist to disguise the fact that I'm pulling stasis meals out of my storage…"
Xeul stepped back in and took a seat. "Time turner," he said, to answer the unspoken question. "So, here's the deal. There are two chūnin-level nuke-nin lying in wait in a genjutsu puddle on your route to Wave. If you make it past them, a jōnin-level nuke-nin, one Momochi Zabuza, will be waiting, along with his apprentice.
"You already know who Momochi is, so I'll focus on the apprentice. Haku, formerly of Water, then more specifically Kiri, but never a part of their army. The kid has a kekkei genkai, Hyōton, and was orphaned quite young during the bloodline purge. The kid's mother also had Hyōton and when the father noticed, after Haku showed his mother what he could do, he and his buddies killed the woman, then went after the kid, who instinctively struck out and killed them.
"Momochi picked him up on his way out of town, and has trained him ever since as his tool. Haku will be playing the part of Kiri hunter-nin as necessary. So if you do manage to get Momochi to the point where it looks like he's about to lose, Haku will step in with his senbon and claim to have been after him, then get him to safety."
"Hunter-nin are suppose to lop off the head to turn in and destroy the body," Ken said, "so that should be a huge tip-off, to Hatake, at least. I doubt the other two would have bothered to pay attention to stuff like that."
"Wave is practically destitute," Xeul said. "It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to bring along pantry items—rice, grain, you know—so you can coincidentally offer some to Tazuna's daughter as a thank you for hosting your team. If you're to guard the man while the bridge is built, I wouldn't doubt she'd offer you house space."
"I imagine that fresh genin on their first C-rank wouldn't do half the things they ought to, and end up carrying a pack with a tent, a fuckton of ration bars, a couple of changes of clothing, and extra weapons. They'd expect to see bandits at most."
"Either the academy sucks more than I remember, or the jōnin sensei are expected to teach their genin how to approach C-ranks, which naturally, Hatake utterly failed to do. I'm curious to see how he acts during this mission. Hopefully by then I'll have a better idea how I'd consider trolling him."
xXx
Tazuna already had a bottle to his lips when they arrived, which made Tsuna's eye twitch. Iemitsu had left such a lasting impression on him when it came to drinking and drunks. True, the man was desperate to finish his bridge and get his town out from under Gato's heel, so he could understand wanting to keep his nerves soothed, but…
(That did not prevent Tsuna from occasionally wanting to take a sip from a bottle of Chambord, or have a finger or two of it in a glass, but he was never excessive.)
Moving at a civilian pace for the walk was annoying, but expected, and Tazuna kept taking pulls on that bottle of his. It made Tsuna wonder just how many more were in the man's pack.
"Um, Tazuna-san?" Sakura asked hesitantly. "You're from Wave Country, right?"
"What about it?"
Sakura looked at Hatake next. "Um, Kakashi-sensei, do they have ninjas in that country, too?"
'Book-smart fangirl doesn't even know that much?' he thought in disgust. 'I know it was covered in class.'
"No, not in Wave. But there are in most other countries. The culture and customs may be different, but hidden villages exist, and so do ninjas." Hatake then went off on a lecture about various things the girl should already know had she bothered to pay attention.
"But don't worry," Hatake said. "There won't be any ninja combat in a C-rank mission."
"Then we won't come into contact with any foreign ninja?" she said.
Hatake laughed lazily. "Of course not!"
Up ahead Tsuna could see a puddle and assumed it was the one Xeul had mentioned, which meant two chūnin-rank nuke-nin were hiding there. The two kids and Tazuna didn't so much as glance at it, but Hatake did, so at least he was paying attention to their surroundings.
Tsuna set a window on it in his-eyes-only mode and kept walking. It was after they had gotten a short distance beyond it that two figures rose up from it. They were connected by a spiked chain. One grabbed the other and threw him through the air at Hatake, and that chain was using to wrap around their sensei and bind him in place.
"What!?" Hatake said, which cued the others into stopping and looking back.
'This says horrible things for their level of danger awareness.'
"One down," said one of the two nuke-nin, then pulled.
Hatake's form was shredded, seemingly.
Then they went after Tsuna, probably because of Naruto's default dopey look.
Sasuke stopped imitating a statue and moved to attack, somehow managing to land with one foot on each head, and used a kunai to pin the chain down. Which was useless, sadly, as the two simply detached from it (Tsuna gave the kid mental points anyway) and aimed at Tazuna instead.
Tsuna sighed and finally acted, swiping forward with a wave of chakra, like a scalpel, to hamstring the both of them and cause them to topple over.
Hatake popped back into view with a surprisingly non-lazy look on the visible portion of his face. The two attackers were quickly shuffled over to a tree and tied against it, and not in a way that would be easily escapable. "Tazuna-san, we need to talk."
"W-What is it?"
"These two are chūnin-class ninja from Kiri, known to keep fighting no matter what."
"How did you even know we were there!?"
Hatake tilted his head to the side. "It's sunny out and it hasn't rained in days. That puddle shouldn't have existed."
"Why did you let the brats fight if you suspected something?" Tazuna asked.
"So I could see who their target was," Hatake said calmly. "Meaning, were they after one of us … or you. Our mission was to protect you from thugs or bandits, not shinobi. This mission has become at least B-rank. Had it been known there were ninja after you it would have cost you more to secure the services of Konoha. I'm sure you had your reasons, but that causes us problems. We're now operating outside of our duties."
Tazuna broke under the words and spilled everything, emphasizing the fate of his daughter and grandson on top of all the other troubles the people of Wave were experiencing. He was lavish in his descriptions of just how bad things were, a play for sympathy.
Sasuke clearly did not care about any of that, but looked eager in his own way to continue, probably at the idea of fighting. Sakura looked scared and ready to run home, but when she saw Sasuke's expression she straightened up and stepped a bit closer to him, showing her support.
"If we continue," he said, "and complete this, Wave would have the funds to pay the difference, would they not? Plus a fine for the mis-ranking. It might not be straight away, but…"
"Are you forgetting all the thugs?" Hatake said.
"Not at all. But they are thugs, and well within the capabilities of genin. We wouldn't be sent on C-ranks otherwise. If Gato himself is taken down, what are the odds we can take back what he's stolen from Wave, or the equivalent?"
Hatake shifted. "That's easy for a genin who's never killed to say."
Tsuna smiled serenely. "And what is a proper first kill, then? A C-rank with exactly three sleeping thugs, one for each of us? Sounds unlikely. I was under the apparently mistaken impression that shinobi use stealth—like those two started out with—so with stealth and the proper tools, how much of a gulf is there between three thugs and thirty?"
"And if it's three hundred?" Hatake countered.
"Better tactics and planning." He shrugged. "You're the leader for this team, so your decision goes. That you're even discussing this says you lean toward moving forward rather than heading back."
Hatake turned his gaze on the other two.
"I want to continue," Sasuke promptly said.
Sakura looked torn again, but showed her unthinking support of her dream man again and nodded.
Tsuna knew that no matter what happened he would come out of it safe on the other side, and would disappear if necessary. But he was curious as to what Hatake would do. He lost respect for the man the second he said they would continue the mission, but not for that. It was the failure to call for backup that did it.
The two nuke-nin, the Demon Brothers by the looks of it, were known associates of Momochi according to the last Bingo Book he had read, so while not guaranteed, the assumption should have been that Momochi could be involved. Thus, backup. Which was not happening.
xXx
Eventually they reached the coast and could see part of the bridge in progress. For the land they were living in it was quite the accomplishment. A boatman was waiting for them, looking exceedingly nervous about the whole venture, and quite grateful for the mist that was helping to keep him unnoticeable against the grey of the water.
The ride was silent as befit the mood, and after sliding under a smaller bridge (which seemed to function almost as a breakwater along the coast near the town) they were dropped off at a wooden dock. The boatman slid off again and out of view.
"Okay, time to get me home," Tazuna said quietly.
As they meandered along the coastal path Tsuna noticed a flash of white out of the corner of his eye, in the forest that lined the way, which was odd considering the season. "Why is there a white rabbit around at this time of year?" he said quietly.
"Get down!" Hatake barked, then crouched low.
A massive sword went spinning over their heads and lodged into a tree; before Tsuna could move to do something like seal it away, Momochi was standing atop the handle. His fashion sense was … suspect, though Tsuna gave him credit for using a camoflague pattern on his forearm and leg warmers.
"Well, well, if it's isn't Kiri's nuke-nin Momochi Zabuza," Hatake said lazily. "Everyone, get back. This one's on a whole other level. It'll be a little tough," he said, reaching up to take hold of his tilted hitai-ate, "unless I do this."
"You appear to be Sharingan no Kakashi," Zabuza said. "Sorry, but the old man is mine."
Sasuke went still, either in surprise, anger, or both, at the very idea of someone other than an Uchiha possessing a sharingan.
"Surround and protect Tazuna," Hatake ordered. "That's the teamwork here. Do not enter the fight." He focused again on Momochi. "Zabuza first," he said, then slid his forehead protector out of the way.
"No more talking," Momochi said. "I have an old man to kill."
'Why does that man have no brows?' he wondered as he moved into position to protect their drunk of a client.
Momochi reappeared atop the nearby water and "cast" one of his techniques, which exploded mist outward and concealed practically everything.
"He'll come after me first," Hatake said. "Momochi Zabuza, as a member of Kiri… He's a known expert in silent killing. You don't even notice until you're already dead. It's not like I can use the sharingan perfectly. You guys be careful."
'And what kind of a moron says in front of an enemy that he can't use the sharingan perfectly?' he wondered. 'Unless he's doing it as a feint…'
"Eight choices," floated out of the mist. "Liver, lungs, spine, clavical vein. Neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart. Which one should I go after?"
A wave of killing intent washed over them, strong indeed, strong enough to cause Sasuke's hand, tightly gripped around a kunai, to start creeping upward in a suicide move.
"Sasuke, don't worry," Hatake said calmly. "I'll protect you guys even if it kills me. I don't let my comrades die."
Tsuna very quietly created an unanchored Bounding Box to cover the client, though if anything was thrown at the man it would not protect him. That being so, he was ready with several windows in his-eyes-only mode to be able to use his Earth Flames to guide any kunai or shuriken he threw to knock incoming weapons off target.
Sasuke and Sakura spent more time watching the fight between Hatake and Momochi than they did making sure the client was safe.
And then Hatake was stupid enough to dive into the water to escape an attack, while fighting a man from Kiri and who used water clones. Momochi had the man trapped in a water prison in no time flat.
"You guys take the client and run!" Hatake yelled from his watery prison. "You have no chance of beating him. As long as he's keeping me trapped in this prison he can't move!"
"What an idiot," he muttered, much to Sakura's dismay.
"What are you saying!?" she screeched.
Tsuna pointed at the water clone Momochi had just made that was heading their way. "We can't beat him, huh?" he said as he lashed out again with his chakra wave, which disrupted the thing and made it dissolve in a splash. "Say we leave. The client is safe for only so long as it takes for Hatake-san to die in that thing, and then the real Momochi comes after us. How far do you think we'd get?
"Throw what you have to spare at him and try to disrupt his hold on that jutsu," he said, taking a look around, and wondering where Momochi's backup was hiding. To suit actions to words, he waited until they had aimed and thrown kunai at the target, then followed up with some of his own, using Earth Flames to force-guide them.
Momochi was damn good at deflecting one-handed, without any kind of weapon, but Tsuna slipped one through and pierced through the hand holding the cage, which caused Momochi to reel backward in momentary reaction. Either way, it was enough to free Hatake.
The look on Hatake's face, with both eyes visible, was enough to say without words that the man was upset with himself for his performance so far. He put that sharingan to good use and mimicked everything Momochi did, just a split second faster.
The next thing they knew Momochi had been slammed into a tree and had several kunai sticking out of him. Unfortunately, as Hatake went in for the kill, Momochi's compatriot struck, landing two senbon into the nuke-nin's neck.
Giggling alerted them to the new presence's location. "He's dead."
Hatake dropped off the branch he was on and knelt down to check Momochi's pulse, then got back up and walked over to the team.
The fake hunter-nin flickered over to the "corpse" and said, "Your battle is over, and now I must dispose of the body as per regulations." Another flicker and the two were gone.
Hatake replaced his hitai-ate. "We need to get the client home."
Tazuna laughed happily. "Super thanks, guys! Come over to my house and relax for a while!"
Hatake chose that moment to keel over.
xXx
Tazuna's house was on the water atop a pier of sorts. Tsunami, the man's daughter, showed them to a room where they could put Hatake, who was awake but barely able to move. Chakra exhaustion, he claimed. They were then treated to a lecture on hunter-nin which ended with Hatake suddenly buying a clue and coming to a realization.
"So you're saying something is wrong, then," Tsuna said. "You just said a hunter-nin disposes of the body on the spot, and that's not what happened."
Hatake nodded. "Having taken the body away, we have no proof Momochi is actually dead. There are attacks that can put someone into a near death state, where it's very difficult to tell that they aren't, and a neck attack like that is one of them. Even if Momochi is dead, Gato has already hired three nuke-nin. There might be more. While we wait for the next attack, you guys will be training," he declared.
'Training? From a man who hasn't bothered to train us in anything yet?'
"There's no way you can win against Gato," a small child said from the doorway. "You're all going to die. You should leave before that happens." Then he trundled back off to do whatever it was small children in coastal towns did.
"Tomorrow morning we'll get started," Hatake said, then settled down to rest and recover.
'This business where I can't just waste defects is really annoying,' he thought as he got up to go see if Tsunami needed any assistance.
xXx
"We're going to be learning how to climb trees," Hatake said cheerily, which had the expected results. "This is a chakra control exercise," he pointed out. "Even if you're able to release a large amount of chakra, unless you control it properly your jutsu will be weakened or not work at all. Of course, you'll also run out far too fast. You need to learn how to control it and use it effectively."
"What does climbing trees have to do with chakra control?" Sakura asked.
"Watch." Hatake crutched over to the nearest tree and placed a foot on the bark, then began to walk straight up it, crutches included. He came to a stop on the underside of a branch. "You understand now? Gather chakra in the bottom of your feet and use it to climb the tree. This is something you can do once you use chakra well."
"Wait a minute!" Sakura objected. "How is learning to climb a tree going to make us stronger!?"
Tsuna zoned out during the ensuing discussion because he could not be bothered to pay attention to Sakura's whining and clear evidence that she hadn't been listening to begin with, and had never in her life seen any of the Konoha nin walk up walls, nor was her thinking flexible enough to intuitively understand the lesson. That Hatake wasn't bothering to explain it in a way that made it attractive, or just flat out order them to do it, was something else.
He zoned back in when three kunai hit the ground in front of them.
"Use these kunai to mark how high you make it up the tree, then use that mark as a goal to surpass. You guys won't be good enough to just walk up the tree at first, so get some momentum and try running up the tree. Got it?"
Sasuke and Sakura grabbed kunai, focused on channeling chakra to their feet, then took off running. Sasuke barely got any height before he was blasted off, though he was well-trained enough to flip as he flew through the air and land properly. Sakura, on the other hand, scampered up fairly quickly and grabbed a seat on a high branch.
Hatake turned his gaze toward Tsuna.
He disdained the kunai and walked to the nearest tree, then straight up it, around the trunk, and back down again.
"…Okay!" Hatake said. "Sakura and Naruto can work on their stamina, while Sasuke works on getting this down. I mean, I thought the Uchiha Clan was better than this, but…"
"You shut up, sensei!" Sakura screeched.
"You'll be working all day on this, my cute little genin," Hatake said as he stumped back down to the ground. "I'll be back in a bit, so I better see some results."
Tsuna tagged the guy with a window, formed a shadow clone and swapped seamlessly with it, then stepped out to go hunting. Hatake stopped as soon as he was out of sight and fetched up against a tree to rest while still being able to keep an eye on the team.
Tsuna, however, went to even the odds some, by Edging into Momochi's hideout and putting him and his tool to sleep before shoving the monster sword into storage. The man was still plenty dangerous without the thing.
He was back swapped with his clone with no one the wiser (his family excepted) and back to "practicing" his chakra control via tree walking.
Later that night, while he was supposed to be sleeping, he waited until it was safe to do so before forming a normal clone around himself and stepping out. He could always use his time turner to make up the time if necessary.
"So?" he asked.
"Haku was brainwashed into being a tool and will do anything to protect Momochi," Xeul said. "I get the distinct impression that if Momochi died, Haku would fall into a suicidal depression."
Tsuna sighed.
"Momochi was very straightforward when he made the offer to take Haku with him, so it's not like the kid didn't know, but it's gone on long enough that recovering from it would take a long, long time. It might be safer just to kill the two of them and worry about the thugs Gato has instead. Hatake said it himself. They have no proof that Zabuza was killed, and no proof that he wasn't."
"Play hunter again, then, for the bounty on Zabuza. For Haku just do a clean kill and incinerate the remains. Leave nothing behind for anyone to fuck with. The very fact that they're working for a defect like Gato and targeting an innocent civilian…"
Xeul nodded. "They'll be handled shortly."
Tsuna gave him a hug, then stepped back to replace his clone and get some sleep.
xXx
Once Sasuke finally got down tree climbing, Hatake moved them on to water walking. For that Tsuna pretended to have some difficulties, but he spent more time secretly laughing over his two teammates cursing over getting dunked so often. He allowed himself to be dunked about half as often as those two, just so he did not completely outclass them.
Hatake was getting better and leaned less heavily on his crutches. Never having experienced chakra exhaustion, Tsuna couldn't begin to say if those crutches were even necessary, or if they were a feint to fake out any potential watchers. The man was still keeping a quiet eye on them during the time he expected it would take for Momochi to recover.
"Let's take a break," Hatake called.
Two of them waded out and gratefully accepted bentos from their sensei. Tsuna tottered off the water and onto land, then produced his own bento. Like hell was he eating someone else's cooking if he didn't have to. Hatake just shrugged and put one of them away.
"Same as always, my cute little genin. Eat, train some more, and at the first sign of danger, retreat to the house."
xXx
Kakashi felt well enough the next day to move their training to the bridge area so that Tazuna could get back to work. One of them stayed on land to help guard while the other two practiced on the water. Sakura, as expected, was getting the hang of it far more quickly than Sasuke due to excellent control. Of course, all the control in the world would be of precious little use if she failed to work on increasing her reserves.
She still spent most of her time fangirling over every minute iota of progress the Uchiha made rather than concentrating on her own training. She also complained that the contents of the bento given her were fattening and that she was going to gain too much weight.
Tsuna felt like spiking a few dozen senbon through her for that comment alone.
They got a wake up call the next day when Gato arrived, shaking his pimp cane angrily—which made Tsuna realize that no one had yet sipped anything angrily—and whined to his mob of thugs that Momochi had clearly failed (and wasn't it a good thing he had not planned to pay the guy anyway and instead backstab him) and they needed to do the job instead.
Tsuna looked at their surroundings. They were standing on a bridge that had no end (yet) and opened to water. Yes, the bridge was fairly wide, but it still served to narrow the avenue of attack. Only so many of those thugs could come at them at once, which would help.
The very first thing he did while Gato continued to rant away, shaking his pimp cane some more, was seed the entire land area in front of the bridge with caltrops and pressure-sensitive explosive tags.
Cloud Flames were super handy at times and helped to cut down on equipment costs.
Sasuke and Sakura raced up the side of the bridge and onto it, and both pulled out kunai … which … was not a terrible weapon against thugs and bandits. Sasuke was trembling in excitement and Sakura looked like she wanted to be sick.
Tsuna sidled over to Hatake and whispered, "You might want to avoid the land right in front of the bridge. It's not a nice place. Expect explosions."
Hatake gave him a weird, one-eyed look, and nodded. "Let them come to us," he said loudly enough so the others could hear. "Tazuna and any workers should stay back, out of the way."
Since Gato and his mooks are over your way, we thought we'd take a short holiday and clear his stronghold out of any loot.
Tsuna smirked and nodded slightly.
He could hear the sound of footsteps behind him, people shuffling backward. One came closer—Sasuke, of course—and the three of them stood ready to meet the incoming tide.
Tsuna pulled a set of trench knives out of nowhere, fitted them in place, and settled himself.
The first wave of thugs hit the seeded area and exploded. Tsuna was kind enough to have Earth Flames at the ready in case any caltrops got blown their way. Given how he had seeded the area, the one that did was easily dodged anyway, had it not been stopped early.
"Needs more cowbell," he shouted at their opponents and tossed out more exploding tags, some of them attached to senbon.
"Rawwwr!" the thugs cried and rushed forward, only to explode.
"They're not very bright, are they?" he asked no one in particular. "Maybe that's why they're thugs?"
In the background, Sakura was busy throwing up everything she had eaten that week due to the smell of burning flesh. The poor girl would probably never eat pork again in her life.
Sasuke, on the other hand, was being held back by Hatake. "Easy there, brat. Did you not see all those caltrops? You really want to embed those in your own feet?"
"I will end them!" Sasuke growled.
Tsuna looked over to see Hatake rolling his one visible eye. His expression said, "Why me?"
He was tempted to make a smart-ass comment about how if Hatake actually acted like a sensei and not their disinterested, porn-obsessed minder, his students might actually do something like an actual ninja, but thought better of it.
"Still not enough cowbell," he said mournfully instead, and tossed out another wave of exploding tags.
It was not until they got down to a reasonable number of thugs that he stopped so that Sasuke could sate his thirst for blood and show off what a big stud he was when it came to fighting. (Sakura continued to dry heave in the background.)
Shortly thereafter the thugs were dead and Gato was yelling incoherently and waving that pimp cane around like it would magically produce more cannon fodder.
Hatake sashayed over and lopped his head off, ending the rant. "Well, my cute little genin! Looks like we may have dealt with the root of the problem."
"We'd still fight Momochi if he showed up, right?" Sasuke asked (or more like demanded).
"Sure," Hatake said easily. "Though now that he's not likely to get paid, I'm not sure why he'd stick around."
"He could break into Gato's stronghold and clean it out," Tsuna said innocently. "It's what I'd do."
"Mm, excellent point. However, we are stuck here until the bridge is complete," Hatake pointed out, then glanced back over his shoulder. "You should grab a bucket and wash that off the bridge, Sakura."
The girl gaped and dry heaved again.
"We wouldn't want the workers to slip in that, tumble over the side, and drown, would we?"
xXx
The trip back to Konoha was nicely boring. Without a civilian along they could move faster, which was good, but they did not move much faster because … Sakura had no stamina. It took them almost as long to return as it did for them to get to Wave.
Hatake had written up most of his mission report while waiting for the bridge to be complete, so once they arrived at the mission desk he was able to hand it in and give a very brief verbal report. His brow disappeared up under his hitai-ate at one point, so Tsuna assumed that was a cue to say he'd be more verbose in private if necessary.
"I see," the Hokage said, then puffed on his pipe.
Also handed over was a document that Tazuna had signed, as proof that the client was satisfied.
"In that case, collect your pay and take three days off before you start up again."
Tsuna disappeared the second they were released from duty and reappeared at the Kuro compound. He bee-lined for the kitchen and immersed himself in baking—after hugging his stand mixer, which had been converted to power itself with runes.
He fended off the pawing hands of his family as they welcomed him home and set to making an impossibly moist chocolate cake and buttercream frosting. The icing was dumped into a container and left to cure for a good four hours—he had found that the vanilla in it tasted too raw when first made—and then made dinner.
"How much loot did you get?" he finally asked, snatching up some steamed vegetables with his hashi.
"Boatloads of gold, for one thing. Tons of ryo—a lot of which we left as gifts all around the town, for what little immediate good it'll do them—and a fair amount of food, which we also left with the townsfolk."
"…Were there any … loose ends?"
Xeul grimaced and nodded. "A bunch of women who were practically braindead due to being broken in preparation for being shipped out for some brothel or other. We put them out of their misery. We could have wiped all those experiences, but I know for a fact that it would only have left them scared to death of something they didn't understand and couldn't remember, and they'd have been barely functional. It's not like the average peasant has access to skilled psychologists or a Yamanaka."
He sighed. "And here I thought our original worlds were craptastic at times. I forgot about all the really nasty shit that went down in earlier eras, and the world we're in counts for that. Right, okay."
"On the brighter side, we got plenty of documentation, so if we're ever in the mood we can go dismantle other parts of Gato's empire with extreme prejudice."
He did brighten up at that. "Right, that reminds me. Hatake definitely needs a haunt of some kind. Fucker didn't call for backup when he knew his green genin would be running into more nuke-nin, and teaching his students tree climbing and water walking does not make up for that, especially given that he's basically taught nothing so far.
"And get this. In case you didn't notice, he revealed that sharingan at the start of the fight with Momochi! What a tool! Is he really so dependent on that eye that he can't fight a serious fight without it? He fought a Kiri nin and dove into the water!? The man desperately needs to get his act together."
"Have you considered that he's only killing time until he can push you three into the next Chūnin Exams—which are here in Konoha this round—and hopefully get rid of you?"
"Maybe, but that's beside the point. I bet the only reason he passed a team was because of Sasuke, and now he's spitefully refusing to teach anything as his only way to get back at the powers that be."
"Assuming your team is nominated for the exams, how do you think those two will fare?" Sin asked.
Tsuna rolled his eyes. "Sakura is worse than useless and Sasuke is all, 'Come at me, bro, I'll get stronger by defeating you.' Do we know what the exams consist of? I don't remember."
"Part one is a written test, but it's a trick. The skill they're testing for is information gathering, since the questions are well above chūnin-level and there will be plants in the room with the correct answers you can cheat off. The final question is also a trick. Anyone who refuses it fails, so a team that made it to the tenth question could still fail if one of their members wimps out.
"Part two is a survival test of sorts. Training Ground 44 will be used and each team will be given a Heaven or Earth scroll. The idea is that a team needs one of each, brought to the tower at the center, and opened there. Only full teams can pass that portion and a number of entrants end up dying in fights over the scrolls.
"If there are too many entrants who make it to the tower with both scrolls, they do a preliminary set of bouts to drop the number down to something reasonable, so getting to the tower early is preferable so you're at full strength if prelims occur.
"Part three is a set of one-on-bouts a month later, a tournament, in view of the villagers, honored guests, and kages from participating nations. From what I found, you don't have to win in order to get a promotion. You do have to prove you have the right mindset, the brains, tactics, and so forth. The next Chūnin Exams will be in September."
"What about the base we've been constructing? I'd say a Fidelius Charm, but then whoever was keeping the secret couldn't spend much time there. Lots and lots of runes, plus an anchor, then. Hm."
"The byakugan?" Chikusa said.
He nodded. "How deep can those things see, anyway? Or can they at all? There's got to be seals or runes we could use to block their sight, or fool it. It'd be just as suspicious if they saw what amounted to a void when near the tower."
"Very few people go in there. It's mostly Mitarashi Anko and ANBU, though there are Hyūga in ANBU. We'll spend some more time poking around in their heads, to get a more in-depth understanding of what they see—or how they see—with those eyes of theirs. We should be able to formulate a defense. We already know they can see the barrier around the village, but that shouldn't come as a shock."
"It lessens the risk, at least," he said. "Well, we have a few months, thankfully, so let's finish that up."
xXx
Hatake took them on another host of D-rank missions over the next few months, which suited Sakura just fine, as it gave her time to attend to her beauty routine and moon over Sasuke, who chafed under the "kiddie" missions and spread his emo glory all over the place. Sadly, his attitude was infecting the other Uchiha children who had been saved, which was sad, though not entirely unexpected.
He sighed. Not his problem.
They had just finished up with yet another exciting mission to paint a fence when he heard then saw a hawk circling overhead. Hatake saw it as well and immediately dismissed them for the day.
"I'm going home, then," Sasuke said as he did an about-face and started to walk off.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun, wait!" Sakura cried. "How about we work on our teamwork," she said, her hands rising up to clasp under her chin.
Tsuna held back a shudder after seeing Nana superimposed on his teammate.
"Just the two of us."
Sasuke stopped and looked back. "You're just the same. If you have time to bother me, practice a jutsu or two instead. Frankly, your ability has barely improved at all," he said scornfully, then hastened off.
Sakura wilted.
Tsuna became aware of an odd noise and looked back. A box with two holes was shuffling along toward him, though at least the thing had been painted to vaguely approximate a rock. "Rocks are never that shape naturally," he said. "Nor do they have eye holes."
The box lifted to reveal three small children packed in there, one of whom was the Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru, wearing that hilariously long scarf he favored. The other two were a boy (who was in desperate need of some allergy medication) and a girl who had her hair done up in two haystacks.
"That's the man I consider my rival!" Konohamaru stated.
"Dude, you three seriously need work on disguise techniques. Solid Snake you aren't."
The three kids looked very confused by that, not that he expected them to get the joke.
"Play ninja with us!"
His brow went up. He barely knew the kid, so why was he pestering him?
"Why would a ninja 'play' ninja?" Sakura asked. She had a storm cloud over her head, wetting on her.
'Maybe she's got a water affinity?' he wondered.
"Hey! Who's this girl!? …Oh! Is she your—!?" Konohamaru made a weird hand signal that completely escaped him.
Sakura understood, because she growled and loomed over the kid. "How dare you!?"
Konohamaru squealed like a stuck pig in fear. "That huge forehead! Is that even really a girl!?"
Sakura doubled in size, her entire demeanor showing she was on the verge of going nuclear. While Tsuna was not much concerned, as she was next to useless ninety-nine percent of the time, it was enough to scare the pixies out of the three kids.
"Run!" shrieked Konohamaru before he booked it in the opposite direction. His two friends hastened after him, periodically getting lashed in the face by that silly scarf.
Sakura made chase—pathetically, as she could barely keep up—right up until Konohamaru fled full-tilt into a teenager wearing kabuki makeup, a Suna hitai-ate, and a head covering that had pseudo-horns on it. On his back was some kind of container with a puff of what looked like a chibi-Reborn's hair sticking out of it.
"That hurt…" Kabuki said, staring down at the kid, who had landed on his tush.
Beside him was a girl with a Suna hitai-ate around her neck, plenty of mesh, and hair in four haystacks. Tsuna seriously wondered what was up with all these people and their bizarro hairstyles.
Children of the Kazekage, flashed up in front of his eyes.
Konohamaru squealed as he was yanked up off the ground by Kabuki (whose makeup made him seem like he was always smiling). "That hurt, you little piece of shit!"
"Don't," said Four-Haystacks. "We'll get yelled at later."
"Let's play a little before the boss comes," Kabuki said, giving the kid a little shake.
"Oh, wow," Tsuna deadpanned. "I had no idea foreign nin were so brainless as to threaten the grandchild of the Hokage. I guess maybe you think being the children of the Kazekage makes it okay? Some sort of social strata bonding?"
Konohamaru hit the ground with a thump and a muffled sound of pain, but he quickly recovered and scampered back out of reach.
"Kid, it's probably better if you three buzz off for now," he said quietly. "The Chūnin Exams will be starting shortly, so there'll be a lot of foreign nin around the village."
Konohamaru's eyes went wide. He nodded, hopped up, and ran off with his friends.
Kabuki was clearly prone to anger, as he removed the container from his back, allowing Tsuna a better look at it. It resembled a mummy, almost, with all those wrappings.
"Hey, what? You're going to use Karasu?" Four-Haystacks muttered disbelievingly.
"You're an embarrassment to our village," a new voice came.
Tsuna looked toward it to see a red-haired boy standing on the underside of a tree branch. He had thick, black markings around his eyes, like a toddler who went heavy-handed with mummy's eye liner, and had a massive gourd on his back.
Sabaku no Gaara, youngest child of the Kazekage, jinchūriki of the Ichibi, one of his Mists helpfully supplied.
"Ga-Gaara…" Kabuki said nervously.
"Losing control of yourself like that, how pathetic. Why do you think we came to Konoha?"
"Listen, Gaara, they started it and—"
"Shut up, or I'll kill you," Gaara threatened.
Kabuki quaked in place and kept his mouth firmly shut.
I'm thinking that Gaara's seal is nothing like mine.
Mm. His siblings look scared to death of him.
Gaara flickered down to the ground and said, "Looks like we got here too early. But we didn't come here to play around. Let's go."
"Wait!" Sakura called out. "Judging by your hitai-ate, you're from Suna, right? You may be allies with Konoha, but it's forbidden for shinobi to enter each other's villages without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go."
Tsuna eyed his teammate with disbelief. What, she thought the gate guards were daydreaming and just let anyone walk in, or that they had smuggled themselves past the barrier? And were then openly strolling about the village without a care?
Four-Haystacks pulled out her entrance form. "Are you clueless? Don't you know anything? Yeah, we're from Suna, here to take part in the Chūnin Selection Exams."
Tsuna rolled his eyes and wandered off after opening a window on Gaara, not able to give a damn that his teammate was a bookworm and yet so ignorant. If they ended up in the exams—a given—he would have to consider ways to keep the Ichibi's container off their backs, because sure as shit Sasuke would take one look at Gaara and think it'd be a fine idea to provoke a fight.
By the time he got back to the Kuro compound he was watching the three Suna nin discussing their plans in their hotel room. The two elder siblings spoke at length with their jōnin sensei, Baki, about the upcoming exams, but Gaara spent that time sitting on a window seat staring out over the village.
"Okay, so, we have Orochimaru behind this," Mukuro said, "using Suna as fodder, because their Kazekage is an idiot and doesn't understand maths, because repeated attempts to assassinate his own son somehow does not add up in his head to the Wind Daimyo taking offense and diverting missions to Fire. Well, clearly we need to track down the snake and get a window on him to see if there's more to it than just revenge for being driven off after his horrific, worse-than-Estraneo-level experimentation on people."
"The Hokage was a pussy to let him get away," Ken opined. "He should've pulled on his big girl panties and wasted the damn defect."
Nods went around the table.
"I love you guys to death and back, but if one of you went psycho on me, I'd be the first in line to rip your head off and piss down your neck," Tsuna said cheerfully.
"As it should be," Hayato said firmly.
"So, right, plan of action. I keep the two idiots alive in the forest and get them to the tower, preferably having stolen an extra scroll from some unsuspecting idiot before that part of things even starts. If Orochimaru shows up, one of you tags the fucker so we can find him later and spy, so we can make a more detailed plan about what to do regarding him and any spies he has here in Konoha."
"Village security is utter shit with this false sense of security they have going, but at least we should be able to clear out some of the dross."
"I'm not particularly in the mood to do a person by person survey of minds if it can be avoided."
"But we can if it becomes necessary."
He shrugged. "We'll see, though I doubt it'd be necessary."
xXx
Hatake waved three pieces of paper around, then handed one to each of them. "These are nominations for the upcoming Chūnin Selection Exam. Whether to take the exam is up to each of you. Those who wish to take it should sign their copy and turn them in at room 301 by four o'clock tomorrow."
"That's afternoon, correct?" he asked.
Hatake nodded. "That is all," he said, then sauntered off.
'I wonder if these two even realize we have to enter as a team,' he wondered as he headed away, already planning to get one of his Mists to mind-fuck the two of them to arrive by 2pm, in an attempt to beat the crowd.
xXx
He was waiting outside the academy when Sasuke wandered over and grunted his version of a greeting. Sakura was not far behind, though she looked decidedly nervous over the whole thing. Knowing ahead of time there was a five-day survival portion immediately following stage one, Tsuna had already prepared quite a bit to carry them through, not that he should need most of it.
They went inside and Tsuna adroitly steered the two past the genjutsu trap—he had a feeling if they had arrived later, when there were more people showing up, that Sasuke would have felt the need to show off by pointing the thing out—and up to the correct room. He wasn't the least bit surprised that Hatake was nowhere to be found, and pushed into room 301.
"I must have read my clock wrong?" Sakura muttered.
Tsuna fetched up against a wall and pulled out a book on the history of Kusa to read, as well as opened a bag of snacks in his pocket.
Sakura fluttered around Sasuke, who leaned against the adjoining wall and brooded.
A half hour later the first others showed up and the room slowly began to fill, with teams eight and ten showing up last of the Konoha teams. Ino squealed and darted toward Sasuke; the others followed much more slowly. None of them seemed to notice him standing there reading his book, which was excellent in his opinion.
There was a lot of complaining going back and forth between the rookie nine (bar him). Some were only there because their parents would flip a table had they not shown up (Shikamaru, Shino, Choji), and some were only there (Sakura, Ino) in the hopes of impressing a certain someone. Some (Sasuke, Kiba) seemed utterly convinced they would dominate the exams, and one person (Hinata) was there just to go with the flow, apparently. The poor girl seemed to have misplaced her spine along the way, even after they had pulled a fast one on the Hyūga and made them all a bit more equal.
A silver-haired genin with glasses trundled over to the group, staring at them disapprovingly. "Hey, you guys, you should be more quiet," he said as eight sets of eyes looked his way. "You guys are rookies just out of the academy, right?" One hand went to the pouch on his hip in a sassy move. "Screaming like school girls, geez… This isn't a picnic."
"Who do you think you are?" Ino demanded, glaring at the young man.
"I'm Kabuto. But instead of that, look behind."
Ino looked past Kabuto and widened her eyes. It was as if she only had eyes for Sasuke and failed to notice just how many genin were crowding the room, and near every one of them was sending looks of intimidation their way. Three in particular looked particularly menacing—to an actual rookie.
"Those three are from Rain; they have short tempers," Kabuto said. "Everyone is nervous about the exam, so quiet down before you cause a scene. I mean, I can't blame you. You're rookies after all. Kind of reminds me of how I used to be."
He pursed his lips at the smooth transition from disapproval to indulgence.
"Kabuto-san, right?" Sakura said.
"Yeah."
"So this is your second time?"
"Nope, seventh. The exams are held twice a year, so this is my fourth year."
"Wow," Sakura said admiringly. "So you know a lot about this exam."
"That's right," Kabuto said with a quiet chuckle. He pulled a set of cards out of the pouch his hand was on. "I'll share some info with you cute rookies with these, nin-info cards."
"…Nin-info cards…?"
"They're basically cards with information burned into them with chakra. I've got four years worth of info here, over two hundred cards, but you can't view them unless I use my chakra, like this." He flipped a card out and laid it on the floor so they could all see, then charged it. "This one has the number of those taking the exam and the breakdown of what country they're from."
Tsuna frowned and, when he saw a twinkle, wrote, Why would a genin have that kind of information? Bribing the gate guards? Staking it out? Or something more sinister?
"Do you have cards with information on individuals?" Sasuke asked.
Kabuto chuckled again. "There are some guys you're worried about? Of course, the info on all of this exam's participants isn't perfect, but I do have it. Even of you guys. Who do you want to know about?"
"Gaara of Suna and Rock Lee of Konoha."
Tsuna opened a window so he could see for himself, and watched as Kabuto flipped through his deck quickly, somehow selecting out two of them.
"Okay, first is Rock Lee," Kabuto said, but Tsuna wasn't listening.
The information on the card was too detailed in his opinion. It showed who Lee's teammates were and how many missions the team had gone on, which unless there was a public archive where that information was available, made no sense whatsoever. That he knew there was no such place made it all highly suspicious. Hell, the fact that Team Gai had only done twenty D-ranks and twelve C-ranks in a year and a half made even less sense.
I'm gonna meddle~!
"Next is Gaara. Since he's a newcomer from a foreign country I don't have much info, but… It seems he has the largest ever collection of teddy bears in the Elemental Nations, some of which are quite rare, like the sparkly vampire teddy bear from the Land of Forks."
As one all the rookies (Tsuna included) looked over at Gaara, who appeared to be rather surprised to notice that his gourd was now in the shape of a honey bear and there was a soft, squashy teddy hanging from his belt.
"…Land of Forks…?" Sakura muttered. "I don't remember that in our lessons…"
"What about Sakura and Sasuke!" Ino said.
"Oh? Hm." Kabuto put the two cards back and shuffled through to find the appropriate ones. "Says here that Sakura washes her hair twice daily with a puree of strawberries to keep the colour true and keeps an Uchiha doll under her pillow. Huh. As for Sasuke… Wow, he has an extensive collection of rubber ducks. Looks like Gaara has some competition."
Hinata poked her index fingers together and giggled quietly. "Neji," she said quietly.
"Hm? All right." Kabuto fiddled with his cards again and said, "Huh. Seems that Hyūga Neji uses a shampoo based on green tea, aloe, and rosemary, with water blessed by a priest, every time he washes his hair. I wonder how he can afford that on a genin's pay. Well, Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Oto… Many outstanding genins are here. Well, Oto is a small village created just last year, so there isn't much info, but the rest of the hidden villages are brimming with talented youngsters."
"Oto is a minor village? Is that so?" said one of the Oto nin, a grim look on his face.
"Let's play with them a little bit…"
"Good idea. Calling us leftovers… Let's help him add to his data. Oto nin can be quite vicious."
One moved to attack, doing some very flashy moves, and aimed a fist at Kabuto, who dodged. Oddly, one of the lenses in his glasses shattered. Kabuto removed his glasses to examine them, then dropped to the floor and threw up.
Clouds of smoke burst into existence up at the front of the room, followed by, "Quiet down, you worthless bastards!"
Some dude in a trenchcoat had appeared along with at least twenty other Konoha nin. "Thanks for waiting," Trenchcoat said, sending out a wave of killing intent that had half or more of the room gulping and sweating in fear. "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the first part of the Chūnin Selection Exams. And, Oto, don't be doing whatever the hell you please before the exam. Or do you want to fail before you even start?"
"S-Sorry… It's our first time here and we got a little carried away…"
Morino snorted. "There will be no fighting without the permission of your examiner, and even when that permission is given, there'll be no killing unless it's specifically allowed. Piglets who disobey will be failed immediately. Now, let's begin the first test. You will each take one of these numbers and sit in the indicated seats. Only then will we hand out the exams."
Tsuna ended up between people he didn't know, but that was irrelevant since he already had his plan to cheat ready. All he needed to do was identify a plant. There was a guy three rows up and four over who looked likely; he was far too calm and self-assured, and not in a falsely overconfident way.
Morino explained the rules of the test and how points would be taken—which caused Sakura to erupt with a question despite Morino having clearly stated he would answer no questions—and then the papers were handed out.
"The exam will last one hour total. After forty-five minutes have passed, you will be given the tenth question. Begin!"
Tsuna flipped his paper over and saw the questions were rather esoteric and nothing his team had been prepared for. Some of them he already knew how to answer, but only because he read extensively when he had spare time. The guy he had a window on had already begun to fill in the answers, with no hesitation, so he kept the window on him.
A glance at the front and sides of the room showed the nin who had come with Morino all had sharp eyes, scowls, and clipboards to hand, ready to note down any cheating. A second window was manifested so he could sample the answers other people were writing, to compare those answers to his target's.
He began to write, noticing as he eyed his window occasionally that a twinkle had developed in the corner. He assumed it was one of his Mists saying he had found a plant. The plant in question was steadily working their way through the nine questions, so Tsuna copied along, then flipped his sheet over and sat back.
Five seconds later a kunai went streaking through the room to hit the desk behind him.
"What the hell!?"
One of the spotters sneered. "You were caught five times. You and your team fail. Get out."
"No… No way…"
That started a wave of failures as people got more and more nervous. Tsuna just wished he could take out a book to read to pass the remaining time. Rather than do anything that might be taken as cheating he stored one window and moved the remaining one so it faced the room.
Gaara was doing something with his sand, Ino appeared to be sleeping, but Sakura had a shell-shocked look on her face. Shino was using his bugs to get answers, Kiba's Akamaru kept whuffing quietly, and the three dōjutsu users he was familiar with had their bloodline activated. One girl even managed to manipulate a mirror on the ceiling—puppetry?—chakra threads?
"Okay! Pencils down!" Morino finally barked. "It's time for the tenth question. Now, before we get to it, I'd like to go over the added rules for this question. These are … the rules of desperation. So first, for the tenth question, you must all decide whether or not you'll take it."
"Choose!?" Four-Haystacks said. "What happens if we choose not to!?"
"If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero. You'd fail! Along with your two teammates."
"What does that mean!?"
"Then of course we'll decide to take the question!"
"And now, the other rule. If you choose to take it, and answer incorrectly… Well, that person will lose the right to take the Chūnin Selection Exam again."
"What kind of stupid rule is that!?" Kiba burst out. "There're guys here who've taken the exam before!"
Morino chuckled lowly, darkly. "You guys are just that unlucky. This year it's my rules. But I am giving you a way out. Those who aren't confident can choose not to take it, and try again the next time the exams are held. So let's begin. Those who do not wish to take it, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave."
One of the male genin behind Tsuna wobbled up and raised his hand. "I … won't take it! I'm sorry Gennai, Inoho…"
"Fail!" a spotter called out, then called out his teammates.
People started dropping out, unable to bear the idea that they could never advance past genin, which reduced the numbers nicely. Once it slowed down and no hands had been raised for a while, Morino said, "I'll ask you again. Your career is riding on this decision. This is your last chance to walk."
Tsuna found it interesting that the Suna and Oto teams had looked just as nervous about getting answers to the questions as the rookies had been, which meant they had no idea exactly what to expect. Kabuto, on the other hand, looked quite calm, which only added to Tsuna's suspicion.
"…To everyone still remaining… I congratulate you on passing the first test!"
Tsuna zoned out the second he heard Sakura start questioning things again.
Then Half-Naked-Chick burst through one of the windows and landed, complete with a banner. She was wearing a mesh bodysuit that stopped mid-thigh, a micro-mini, and a trench coat. Whatever else she might be, shy was not one of them. "This is no time to be celebrating! I am the examiner for the second test! Mitarashi Anko! Now let's go! Follow me!"