Chapter 5
Exams x Fox x Revelations
Chrollo took a seat in the booth but all eyes were trained on him and his guards. Mostly due to how young the man looked in comparison to others, hell even Minato was shocked by the age of the man. He seemed to look a little bit younger than himself when he became Hokage of the village.
Minato also noticed his group was an interesting mix of people with one being a very seductive looking woman, the other being a samurai from the looks of his clothes and way he carried himself, and finally the last one matches the report he got of the man Sasuke stabbed. If that was the case then the rumors of the Troupe working out of Meteor village had some merit then. Jiraiya had informed him that is as close as he has come to marking down their locations of their operations and if that was the case this became a new problem. Especially since technically the country did not have a population of any kind thus they were operating as they please. The Daiyamo's would not want to cause a scene there given that the land is considered neutral territory and thus invading or attempting to launch operations there would be consider conspiracy against the other nations.
"Well it is about time you showed up brat!" Chrollo smiled at the Raikage,
"Apologizes I had a bit of a distraction back at home that required my attention. More so, I had some would be assassins aiming for my life." The group was shocked,
"Who were they?" Mei was curious about the teen in question as he seemed to carry himself with some kind of an aura. One that commanded respect and loyalty that others did not seem to have not even her fellow kages.
"Not sure, though I guess it does not matter to me, their employer is most likely dead at this junction." He smiled, not a total lie when word got out about the 'leader' of Meteor was planning on leaving for this exam he did have someone come after him. Not to kill him for this but for them to give their master an interesting person to interrogate for his own purposes. More so, Danzo had tried to claim him for his own but sadly it all backfired. Thus Naruto and his followers slaughtered them and planned to use their bodies as black mail if Danzo dared to pursue him after this event.
"I see, well I'm happy that you were able to attend." Chrollo smiled at Minato,
"Much appreciated Hokage-sama." Chrollo looked down at the stadium floor, "Quite the assortment of fighters we have for this exam no? I'm surprised that all three of mine made it to this round."
"No faith in your shinobi?" Chrollo shook his head at the Kazekage,
"No, I have absolute faith they would proceed but no idea how they would dominate so effortlessly. Makes me wonder the seriousness of the other villages when it comes to fighting. Tell me are your shinobi down there blooded?" Naruto remembered his first time, he killed at an early age when he was a genin. The times seemed to change and that they were all going easier on things then they were supposed to. More, it seemed that the Leaf wants to hide the truth about what it comes from being a shinobi in the Leaf.
"Of course I wouldn't send those brats into this exam if that was not the case." Raikage puffed his chest out proud of his students making it to this round. While true he only had two in this round he was still proud of the team making it this far.
"I wouldn't allow my niece or her team to compete if I did not have them know what it means to see blood on their hands and continue on this path knowing what they must do sometimes." Mei narrowed her eyes at the Hokage and Kazekage whom both responded,
"My children are capable of killing when the time comes for it so nothing to fear for me." The group narrowed their eyes slightly, the rumors about the Kazekage referring to Gaara as a monster had made the rounds in their villages. So to hear him call Gaara his child was something they would look into.
"Well I know my own children are blooded but I can't speak for the other students." The group was shocked by this confession, "I would never allow my children to become shinobi if they do not know the truth about the path they plan to follow."
"Indeed reminds me of a man that I fought a few years back. He spared my life claiming that he would not kill me as I did not hold any real malice to him. In fact, that man reminds me a lot of you Hokage-sama." The group was interested now while listening to the crowd cheering about all the people in the arena minus a certain Uchiha who was with Kakashi at this time.
"What was this man's name?" Chrollo smiled,
"Naruto I believe it was." This caused Minato to shook to his feet and his ANBU to stand rigid.
"Where?" He shook his head, he had to play this carefully, his father was a smart man and he knew this from living with him. His father would figure out his ruse if he was not cautious about the hints he drops. So, he had to remain vague but give enough information to ward off suspicion.
"I met him about 5 years ago I think it was, he and I met and clashed. He was in my village so I was curious why he was found murdering some men in the street while in front of a woman. While normally I would not involve myself in such matters this proved to be for the best given I could sense his strength. Before I knew it we fought toe to toe but he managed to land a critical blow with two fists in front of him and send me flying back with great force. Naturally, I thought he would kill me on the spot," he laughed, "But instead spared me and explained the reason he did what he did to those men."
"What was it?" The Raikage was interested now, to think the eldest child of his rival, someone he did not know existed at this point, was this powerful that even this young man admitted his strength. This piqued his interest while Mei was making thoughts of maybe meeting this teen herself and snatching herself a powerful husband for the future.
"He protected those women from the men as they were planning on raping her. Sadly, the women in question was a victim of a prostitution ring that was running in that district. So with my blessing I allowed him to destroy the ring and honestly I was surprised with how efficient he was. Not only killing the official members brutally he also brought evidence of their torturous actions against those innocent women. So I was able to arrest who was left."
"Interesting, that sounds like him." Minato smiled, "My son was always through about things like that and was always one to make sure the innocent were safe by all means. I'm surprised you let him go." Chrollo smiled brightly,
"To be honest, I wanted to recruit him but sadly he said he had no interest in joining a village claiming he was just happy wondering the world and learning new things. Training when he wants to train, hunting who he wants to hunt, and becoming powerful to stand on his own. I understood this and asked if he could help me train my own skills and to my shock he did. Personally I owe that man a lot of things that to this day I feel have not covered everything he is owed." Chrollo laughed, "He would have made a great Kage."
"Indeed." Minato smiled, "My son would have made a great successor, something I was hoping for but alas he fled." Chrollo watched as A gave him a solid nod, Mei smiled at Minato, and his wife was holding his hand slightly to the side smiling at him. Chrollo sighed,
"You should know we talked about a lot of things and there is one thing he told me that was important. He never left all of you for selfish reasons he would have stayed if he could have." The two parents were shocked,
"Then why did he leave?" He smiled at Kushina,
"I can't tell you all of the reasons but one of the reasons he gave, simply put he wanted to uphold his highest belief of freedom above everything else. You two always taught him that was the greatest trait of all Uzumaki's no? The pursuit of freedom?" They nodded and he smiled, "That is the way he felt, he wanted to have absolute freedom; go where he wants, do what he wants, and be who he wants. But he never forgot the family he left behind pursuing this is always checking in to make sure they are safe." The parents smiled accepting this while Chrollo himself turned to the arena, "It would seem the fights are starting."
The matches in the arena were starting with all the competitors minus one were ready for their bouts. The first bout was announced and it was a shock to some that the fight orders were randomized to keep things spontaneous. The field cleared with Genma standing there watching as Menma was glaring down Neji who just sneered at him. Honestly, the teen in question annoyed him, being the brother of the disgraced shinobi that left their family because he wanted to. They worshipped him, he and his sister, and treated him as their goal in his eyes worshipping someone pathetic.
"Alright you two know the rules: when I say stop you stop or I will have you disqualified is that clear?" He glared at Neji and so did many of the competitors already hearing about what he had done.
"Crystal."
"Yes sir." Menma and Neji took a step back and he stared at the Hyuuga and what he was planning on doing to the fool.
"You should surrender, nothing you do now will change your fate. Your nothing but a loser and losers will remain this way." He smirked seeing the teen bristle at this and said,
"At least I'm not a two face bitch that cries when he doesn't get his way or tries to murder his own flesh and blood." The crowd saw both teens tense while Neji counter,
"What about it? You're the brother of a disgrace shinobi who was too cowardly to stay in a village that he was not worthy of." Menma felt the Kyuubi leaking now and quickly suppressed it knowing that his actions will show his true strength and the strength of his family.
"Funny, then tell me if my brother was such a disgrace why was it that the Hyuuga clan lost all the time to him and my father? How come there was never a Hyuuga Hokage? Oh that's right you're too weak to achieve this dream or understand the importance of this position in the village." He spat on the ground, "Talk shit about me is one thing but when you dare to disrespect a man I aim to surpass that is where you cross the line Hyuuga."
Chrollo ignored the teen, honestly Neji's remarks about him didn't bother him in the least. Why should he care for a child that he barely knows about or cares to register as a threat? Although it touched him that his brother was so protective of him. If he was his brother's goal then he was more than willing to be that goal as in his mind he too believed his siblings could surpass him.
Soon Menma took a stance and Naruto's eyes immediately shot through the roof. He mastered it?
"Minato is that?" Kushina was shocked and her husband nodded his numbly,
"Yes." He was too shocked and couldn't believe that Menma was using that stance. Something that she had only seen one other time, that is when Naruto fought in an all out fight against Gai all those years ago.
"Hokage-sama if you don't mind me asking what stance is that?" He looked at Mei and responded,
"It is one of my son's ultimate fighting forms: Fox Shadow Style." Looking at Menma he had his hands spread out for all to see and he had his eyes trained on his opponent. "Naruto created this fighting style to deal with powerful opponents quickly but sadly he only ever showed two moves of this fighting style."
"Only two doesn't sound that impressive." A grunted at the thought of creating a style that only has two moves that one could use as a whole.
"You shouldn't dismiss this style, trust me when I say that this style alone could easily overwhelm even the strongest fighters. Gai, our strongest Taijutsu users can't use this form due to his rigorous training in the Strong Fist style. At the same time, he fought Naruto when he first used this style and nearly killed him with those two moves." Minato frowned, "I just hope he knows what he is doing as while I don't like the Hyuuga boy for what he said I can't just have him kill the man."
"Interesting so you are okay with what he said about your son?" Turning to Chrollo he growled,
"Far from it, I'm furious but as Hokage I have to maintain a certain amount of decour with the job." Chrollo laughed lightly,
"What's so funny?" Chrollo waved his hands at Kushina,
"Apologizes but this is why I have no council. They believe they are required but in all honesty I find them more of a pest. So when someone tried to take control through this means I eliminated all parties involved."
"While that might work in your country ours has a stricter requirement for having the need to give the civilians the voice they need." Chrollo shook his head,
"True they need a voice but that does not mean they can control you. After all isn't it written that the Kage's have the final say when it comes to Shinobi affairs? I mean surely you can admit that this is a shinobi affair and thus if the council wants to raise a fuss they can deal with it or get out." Chrollo smiled, "But alas I'm impressed that your son is using the same style that even Ban here struggled against when he fought alongside me against Naruto." The man smiled,
"Yeah thing hurts like hell when fighting that way."
"What is the moves exactly that hurts so much that even you can feel it Ban?" Turning to Pakunoda he smirked darkly,
"You'll see, as it is something that done with enough force and practice you can stop someone's heart in an instant killing them in a single move."
In the arena the Jounin were shocked to see the stance, none more than Gai who was with his student.
"Yosh to see it again, it is most intriguing."
"Gai-sensei what is this stance exactly?" Looking at Lee he smiled,
"This is Naruto's answer to the Strong Fist Style and other styles that have complicated movements. A style that centers on two moves and with them can become unstoppable when fighting those with larger structures." He smiled, seeing Menma taking this form makes him proud. Naruto's styles were still being used to this day and continued to show that his influence is carrying on in the next generation.
"Really Gai-sensei?" He nodded his head, rolling up his sleeve and showing a dark bruise that was on his shoulder,
"That is the remains of when I last fought Naruto years ago with this same style. It almost killed me back then and now I believe he could kill me without trouble thanks to his years of perfecting it."
The other genin and Jounin watched with bated breath as one of the legendary styles is returning.
Menma at this point had his hands at his side with his arms spread wide and a blank look on his face.
"Come then, let this fox show his true strength." Those words,
Everyone saw another person standing there with blond hair and dark blue eyes and whisker marks on his face.
"Hm, very well prepare to fall to fate loser." He activated his Byakugan but his eyes widened, "How is this possible!"
Menma smiled,
"Trade secret from my 'worthless' brother asshole." Neji snarled and the Jounin raised his arm and brought it down,
"Begin!" Neji charged at Menma but he quickly moved to the side of the strike and put his finger to his head.
"Nice try that was too slow."
"Damn you!" Neji spun on his heels before forming a sphere of blue chakra. "Heavenly Rotation!"
Hiashi was shocked, his nephew learned a move that most Hyuuga never master or those that are part of the Branch family never have the chance to see. 'Neji you managed to surpass most branch members and even rival some of the best experts among the Main branch. Sadly if you hadn't let your anger swallow you then I might be more than willing to forgive you for your sins.' Hiashi knew he was a lot of things; a clan head, leader of the main branch, a father, a husband, and a uncle but he had failed in most other aspects of his life. More importantly his daughters, he had failed to raise them right to be the children that their mother would want them to be. More in the case, Hinata was more soft hearted than her sister was and thus he failed to give her a different career path to follow and allowed the elders and other members of the clan to bully her for her beliefs. Hanabi was starting to act more like one of the other nobles in their clan and thus treated Hinata like dirt. Neji, well he never told him the truth about why his father died and the reason that he chose to go instead of letting him go. If he could he would have made his brother the leader of the group as he was a man with a big heart and someone that he personally cared for. But damn traditions separated them for the rest of their lives.
However, he was hoping this fight would be the thing to bring Neji back around from his arrogant attitude.
Menma disappeared again from Neji when he came in close to land a strike to his chest, which would disrupt his chakra. However, upon this moment he then appeared behind him and hit him in the back of the head with a solid punch. Neji would then turn and try to strike him with another barrage of strikes but Menma kept dodging and then disappearing on the spot and appearing at another side of him.
Back in the Kage's booth the group was shocked how one sided this fight was becoming.
"What the hell are you saying this is the fighting style!? He is able to move as if he was using your signature jutsu!" Minato smiled at A's shocked expression and Mei's confusion,
"Yes this is the style that Naruto made over the years and passed onto his siblings. Quite honestly I did not know that Menma was to the point that he could do most of the moves that his brother did at his age."
"How interesting." Chrollo was smiled, his brother was doing amazingly well with the Fox Shadow Style, he knew that was the best one for him as he was more about speed than his sister. The other style he left behind for her he was hoping to see her use it in her fight.
"Indeed," Mei turned to Kushina and Minato, "Is this one of those moves that he created? The one that allowed him to disappear in a moment's notice?"
"Yes but that is all I can reveal. Confidential information and all that." Mei nodded understanding the reason he would not elaborate more on the move before them.
Back in the arena, Menma was growing more bored. He had prepped for this fight too much and it was starting to become extremely embarrassing.
'Nii-san I hope you are watching me right now. I'm going to show you something you did not do.' "Neji," the boy glared at him, "I'm going to end this fight now." He then dashed at him but within seconds was gone in a blur leaving everyone wondering where he went. Neji fearing the worst waited until he could sense his presence again. When it appeared to his right he smiled,
"Got you!" He flung his fist out that way but found he hit nothing but air.
"Got who?" Menma was behind him and smiling as he had his hand on his chest. "You should know that my brother created only two moves with this set but I created a third move expanding on one of the moves. I like to call it Flashing Blink. You see I know someone was going to figure out where I was going to be at some point after seeing the move a few times so to fix this problem I found a way to hide my presence. Thus allowing me to appear behind them or at another direction from them rather than being in the first place that I picked." He moved his hand on his chest and Neji growled,
"You fucking bastard! Your nothing more than a coward like your spineless brother!"
"Lets finish this." He then put his hand on chest and suddenly it contorted causing him to spit up blood all over the ground and fall to his knees. "Enjoy the eternal torment with that Neji and know this is the same style that 'coward' used." Menma was about to walk away before he turned to him and lift his chin up to see his dark red eyes with slits in them. "You ever disgrace or talk ill of my brother again, I will fucking end you got it!" The man in question feared the look and coughed up more blood before passing out from the pain. "Call it protector." Menma proceeded back to the booth with Genma shouting,
"Shosha! Winner Menma Uzumaki Namikaze!" The audience cheered while medics took Neji back to the medical room.
Hiashi left his daughter in the care of her sister to go and talk to his nephew to hopefully put him on a better path now. Hinata hoped that Neji would finally open his eyes to the world around him and start treating other better. Hanabi couldn't believe her powerful cousin managed to be beaten by an unknown style. This contradicted what the Hyuuga Elders told her for years that their style is the greatest in the entire village.
Minato smiled,
"It would seem that he truly carries his brother's will with him." Kushina smiled with tears in her eyes,
"They both do." Kushina remembered the time when her children were united, all three smiling and laughing together. Naruto would take them out for the day and return with them all tired from their day of training and exercising. She would cuddle them and make sure they clean up before dinner when Minato would come home and just relax with them and even talk to his son about different arts they could study.
A was impressed making notes to make sure to tell the other ninja's to leave the child alone. His strength was terrifying and this made him wonder; if this is the basic of what the youngest boy could do what kind of monster was the oldest child among the family? It sent a shiver down his spine thinking there was another Namikaze running out in the world without a care in the world and doing what he wanted. Yeah he was going to make sure none of his shinobi were stupid in trying to confront him.
Mei was more impressed with how strong the child was and how talented he was. She could see her niece was eyeing and licking her lips at the thought of teen. This brought a smile to her face thinking that maybe her niece could finally find a boyfriend in him and it was not out the realm of possibility.
Chrollo on the other hand was smiling proudly to Menma. Not only did he master the Fox Shadow Style with what he had at the time but he improved it. While he could see one critical weakness in this new move of his he could respect he expanded on the original set.
'Impressive Menma you truly are an Uzumaki. I hope to see more from you as the exams progress before the invasion.'
"Got to admit that was impressive." Ban smirked, he had been hit by that last move and it hurt like a bitch. While he did heal from it, the move still left an impression but compared to the boss, it was weaker but that was fine given age. In time he would master it to the point that he could explode limbs off the body and even cause the heart to explode inside of the chest with the smallest touch.
"Indeed that kid is going to be a force in the future." Nobunaga was scratching his chest and watching the tournament progress. Days like this made him glad he was no longer following the same road as most when it came to the path of the sword.
"Yes but lets hope he has more tools otherwise now everyone knows what to expect in the near future." Everyone nodded at what Pakunoda said at this point and soon the exam continued on from the last fight.
"Will Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara no Subakuu please come down?" Gaara teleported to the middle of the arena, but sadly Sasuke was not there. This annoyed the audience and the Kages who were waiting for the boy to answer the call but failing. Soon, A slammed his fist on his chair,
"Disqualify the brat! He doesn't have the guts to show up on time then he does not belong in this tournament!"
"I agree," Mei frowned, "Bloodline or not he does not have the right to disgrace this tournament by making us wait for him."
"I must agree with my fellow Kages on this." Chrollo looked on bored, "If this was a real war situation and this happened when he was shifted to start then he would be court martialed for his actions." Minato sighed,
"Kushina inform Genma Sasuke is disqualified." The Kazekage spoke up,
"Wait Hokage-sama why not postpone the fight until the last bout I mean it was announced that the fights would be random did they not?"
"Regardless he should have showed up on time if he can't do that then he has no place in this tournament. Disqualify him." The other kages agreed and soon Kushina went to inform Genma who frowned,
"Due to Sasuke Uchiha failing to show up, he is disqualified from the exams and thus Gaara wins by forfeit." The teen grunted before heading back up to the booth with people in the audience booing. One of the audience member even threw something at Chrollo thinking he was responsible for the decision. The item was a heavy soda that dosed him from head to toe.
The kages (minus Minato) were shocked with how the people were acting and to think to even assault a visiting Kage even from a minor village was shocking. Many of the royal nation leaders were furious about this man's actions but the most angry was Minato who looked at the person responsible. He was a member of the civilian council's family branch and thus he believed he was entitled.
"Ha! Serves that fake ass Kage." Soon more people were standing up and planning to throw more at Chrollo but before they could
BANG!
Pakunoda was aiming some kind of weapon at the man and without warning it fired a chakra bullet into the skull of the man that talked. This led to him falling over dead and the audience going quiet.
Ban was twitching he was wanting to kill these fools, Nobunaga was radiating bloodlust and had a vein forming on his head. His sword was calling for blood and Pakunoda while not showing it was furious about the man's audacity.
In the booth Feitan was glaring at the crowd and having to suppress his power while Machi was barely holding back and Envy glaring at the audience wondering what he should turn into to eat them.
Phinks, who is in the audience was waiting for someone to try something so he can kill them on the spot.
"Enough!" Everyone turned to the Hokage, "I'm absolutely disgusted you would dare treat someone of a visiting nation like this no less a Kage. Rest assured the man's family will be stripped of their positions and forbidden from holding office ever again!" He then glared at the rest of the civilians, "The decision to disqualify Sasuke Uchiha was my decision along with the other Kages and thus if you want to be angry at Chrono-dono then you have to do the same with us! I absolutely dare you to try the same thing with me and not see me execute you on the spot!" The audience quieted down from this and quickly took their seats not wanting to anger the man further.
Chrollo sighed, using some wind chakra he erased the sticky substance covering is body and clothes.
"Well that was most unpleasant. Pakunoda," turning to her leader she saw him with a blank expression, "Please refrain from doing that again. The less you show the better." The woman had the decency to blush and nodded her head sending her weapon away.
'Interesting ability she's got wonder what else this woman could do,' A was looking at her with a pensive expression,
'Dangerous, that is the only word that can describe her,' Mei was watching her with a hawk and saw the others were still on edge.
'Note to self: keep an eye on this woman and be weary of what is shared with her. Something about her screams danger.' Minato and Kushina made their note and motioned for Genma to continue the tournament.
"Next Match: Machi of Meteor vs. Samui of Kumo!"
Chapter End