Ch.2: Exercise
It was just barely light out when Hinata arrived at the village's southern gate. There was a light fog on the ground and even the sky was rendered gray by the dull light of the sun that had just barely begun to rise over the horizon. Even so, Hinata could tell by the mostly cloudless sky that the day would heat up quickly, and probably end up being a warm one. Not too hot she hoped.
Stopping at a bench just a short way away from the gate, Hinata sat down and settled in for a long wait. She was more than an hour early for the time Asuma-sensei had specified. She had spent the previous night tossing and turning, trying to get as much rest as possible despite her anxiety over the upcoming test. After waking up a couple of hours before the test was to begin she had given up on getting any more sleep and had decided to just go ahead and go to the meeting place early.
More than half an hour passed before the next member of Team 9 arrived. Chouji had also elected to arrive at the meeting place more than half an hour ahead of schedule, not wanting to risk being even a little late after Asuma-sensei's dire warning the previous day.
The two greeted each other a bit hesitantly, both clearly nervous about what was to come.
"So...you got here pretty early," Chouji commented. "Couldn't sleep well?"
Hinata silently shook her head.
Chouji chuckled, "Yeah, me neither. I'm really freaking out about this 'exercise' Asuma-sensei's got planned for us."
"I...I wonder if Naruto-kun got enough sleep…" Hinata said, looking back towards the village with a slightly worried expression.
"Ha! That guy? He's probably sound asleep right now! I bet he'll show up fifteen minutes late, still wearing his sleeping cap."
Hinata opened her mouth to protest, but had to close it. She may have admired Naruto, but even she had to admit that he didn't always feel the pressure when it was appropriate.
Another half hour passed, and Naruto didn't show up. Hinata was beginning to get seriously worried. There was hardly any time left before the deadline. Their sensei himself hadn't shown up yet, but she was afraid of what would happen if he arrived to find that Naruto still wasn't there. When talking to them yesterday, Asuma-sensei had implied that he could send them right back to academy whenever he saw fit. She would hate to see Naruto get sent back to the academy for such a reason after he had tried so hard to graduate.
A few more minutes passed, and finally Hinata and Chouji heard someone approaching from the distance. Specifically, someone was shouting, "I oversleeeeept!"
A moment later Naruto burst onto the scene in a streak of orange. Huffing and puffing and supporting himself with his hands on his knees, he gasped out, "Did I...huff...did I make it!?"
"Well, I stand corrected," Chouji said. "One minute to spare."
Suddenly a voice spoke up from behind them, "Good, you're all here."
The three genin nearly jumped out of their skins. Turning sharply they saw that their sensei was somehow standing right behind them already smoking a freshly lit cigarette.
Hinata was particularly chagrined. She hadn't even detected his approach! Even if she had been focused on Naruto, for a member of the Hyuuga clan to be so easily snuck up on was embarrassing. She hung her head. This was exactly why her father had no time to waste on her.
Naruto recovered quickly. Pointing boldly at Asuma he shouted, "There you are Asuma-sensei! Today's the day you're gonna acknowledge us as the awesome shinobi we are!" Ordinarily Naruto would only have to make such proclamations about himself, when facing down his many detractors, but today was different. He remembered clearly his sensei talking trash about the other two as well, which just didn't sit right with him. As someone who had experienced much the same for years, he couldn't help but speak up on their behalf.
Hinata and Chouji, in spite of their nervousness, both smiled slightly at Naruto's words. Hinata, in particular, felt greatly uplifted to be included in Naruto's proclamation. With surprising speed the cloud of her family was being swept away by Naruto's confidence. Subconsciously her posture straightened, and a small feeling of determination began to appear in her mind, battling her perpetual self-doubt.
For his part, Asuma simply shrugged casually, "We'll see."
Reaching behind his back, Asuma pulled out three scrolls and handed one to each of his genin. Taking them, the three opened the scrolls to find they contained a map of Fire Country, with a circular route marked out in red.
Naruto's face screwed up in confusion, "What's this?"
"This is the exercise you guys will be doing today. A foot race," Asuma explained.
Naruto, Hinata and Chouji's jaws dropped. This definitely wasn't what they had been expecting their test would be.
Frowning, Hinata looked over the map they had been given. The red line that likely marked out their intended course began at Konoha, then ran in a circle through the south of Fire Country, connecting to three dots marked 1, 2 and 3, before ending the circuit back at Konoha. The red-marked route followed roads along some of its length, but also crossed through forests, scaled mountains, and traveled along and across rivers.
"Um, sensei...this route…" Hinata began uncertainly.
Correctly guessing what she was worried about, Asuma nodded and responded, "The course is just over 200 miles long.(*1) You don't have to follow the red route exactly, though I recommend it, but you do have to arrive at each of the three numbered checkpoints in order. You will each collect a seal at the three checkpoints, and you cannot collect from checkpoint 2 without already having the seal from checkpoint 1 and so forth, so don't bother trying anything sneaky. Once you have collected all three seals you will return here. The time limit is 24 hours. You should return by 8 o'clock tomorrow morning."
"Whoah whoah whoah, what!? Two-hundred miles!? How are we supposed to do that in a single day? We'll practically have run without stopping the whole time!" Naruto interjected.
"What about food?" Chouji asked.
Asuma shrugged, "You guys are shinobi. Figure it out. Also, don't forget that this a race. You're competing against one another here."
"W-what do you mean, sensei?" Hinata squeaked in trepidation.
"I mean only two of you get to pass. Whoever returns last will be sent back to the academy. Also, one more thing…"
The three genin, already shocked by their sensei's announcement, stared at him warily, wondering just what else the test could entail.
"The 24 hours is a hard limit. Anyone who doesn't return to the village before 24 hours is up...will be removed from the shinobi program altogether."
At this Naruto exploded, "WHAT!? No way! You can't do that! Can you do that?"
"Well, I suppose you could run back and ask the Hokage if I can…" he replied, gesturing back toward the village and the Hokage tower in the distance. "Or you could go ahead and get started. I was serious about the deadline being 8 am tomorrow, by the way. The clock's already ticking."
The three paused, looking at one another for a brief moment, before turning and dashing through the gate and out of the village.
Asuma inhaled deeply to finish off his current cigarette, before dropping it and putting it out with his foot.
And so it begins.
Several hours later Naruto, Hinata, and Chouji continued to run swiftly down the road. The first part of the course they were to run followed a large open road straight south for more than fifty miles, before turning west and heading into the mountains, where the first checkpoint was located.
For the first few hours the three genin roughly kept pace with one another. Surprisingly, it was Naruto who began to flag first. Slowly but surely he began to lag behind his two teammates, until he was several yards back and struggling to keep up.
Hinata looked back at Naruto with surprise and worry lining her face. She had been fairly certain that Naruto, with his boundless energy and incredible stamina, would be able to run farther and faster than either her or Chouji, and would likely lead the pack for the entire race. Yet now he was falling farther and farther behind and was still slowing down even more.
As she ran, Hinata looked Naruto over and tried to figure out what was wrong. Strangely, the typical signs of fatigue didn't seem to be present. His face was neither pale nor particularly flushed, he wasn't sweating over much, and his breathing seemed well regulated. However, as Hinata watched she began to notice something. The way Naruto ran seemed to be slightly off. It was almost as though he was trying to manage his footfalls such that only certain parts of his feet would touch the ground. Looking at his face, she saw that he seemed to wince slightly with every step.
Coming to a decision, Hinata steadily lowered her pace, slowing down until she had come to a complete stop. Somewhat to her surprise she noticed that Chouji had elected to stop along with her. As the two caught their breath, Naruto slowly limped up to where they were, stopping just in front of them. By some unspoken consensus the three moved to the side of the road and sat down, taking their first breather since they began.
After taking out a water bottle and taking a long draught from it, Chouji turned to Naruto and asked, "You alright Naruto?"
"Yeah...I'm fine." In spite of his words, Naruto had a grimace written across his face. He sat back on the ground with his legs splayed out before him.
Suddenly, Hinata was in front of him.
"Naruto-kun, would you take off your shoes please?"
Caught a little off guard by her sudden appearance, Naruto recovered quickly and waved her off. "Nah, I'm fine Hinata. I don't think you really want that anyway. I'm pretty sure my feet smell," he said with a self-deprecating chuckle.
Undeterred, Hinata leaned in and trapped him with her gaze. "Please Naruto-kun," she said, more forcefully than before.
Blinking, Naruto looked at Hinata carefully. Though she was speaking just as softly as always, her voice had a slightly different quality to it and she had stopped stuttering for the moment. Her hands were held in front of her, but weren't fidgeting as they usually did. Most notable, though, was that she was holding eye contact, her gaze boring into him. Naruto was somewhat surprised by the depths that lay behind those pale white eyes. He got the impression that she wasn't going to relent any time soon.
Sighing, Naruto leaned down and began removing his shinobi sandals, wincing even more as he did so.
As Naruto's feet came into view Hinata and Chouji winced sympathetically, and Chouji let out a low whistle. Naruto's feet were a wreck. The soles of his feet were particularly abused, and were bleeding freely in some places.
Though in pain, Naruto was also embarrassed. Due to his limited money, and not being welcome in most of the shops in Konoha, he could only ever afford to purchase the lowest quality of gear, and that often at inflated prices. This particular pair of shoes had been heavily used before he even got them. He had been needing to get new ones for some time now, and after several hours of hard running, his current pair was now in the final stages of falling apart.
Clicking her tongue, Hinata reached into her pouch and pulled out a small cylindrical container. "Please put some of this on your feet, Naruto-kun," she said while shoving the container into his hands. Leaning over to where Naruto had placed his shoes on the ground, she picked them up and began looking them over.
Dumbfounded, Naruto looked over at Hinata, "Huh? W-what are you doing?"
"That medicine should help with your feet a little," Hinata said, nodding at the container still in Naruto's hands. "I can mend your shoes a little too. You'll need to get new ones, but I think I can make these last until we get back to Konoha."
"Wait...why? I mean, you remember we're supposed to be competing against one another here, right?"
Looking back at Naruto, some of Hinata's shyness seemed to return a little. "W-well...I just...I mean, I don't want you to fail. I don't want any of us to fail. I definitely don't want any of us to miss the deadline." Sighing, she looked away, and then said so softly he could just barely hear it, "I just wish all of us could pass."
Opening his mouth, Naruto started to respond that that was impossible, before pausing and closing his mouth without speaking. Honestly, he felt the same way. He really wanted to pass and finally become a shinobi, but he didn't want to do so at the expense of either Hinata or Chouji. The whole thing just sucked. He was really hating Asuma-sensei at the moment for forcing this kind of test on them.
"Um, in that case, could I maybe have some of that stuff too?" Chouji suddenly spoke up hesitantly, gesturing at the medicine container. His feet, while in nowhere near as bad a shape as Naruto's, were nonetheless very sore and seriously chafing inside his sandals. While he was in much better shape than his size would indicate to a non-shinobi, long-distance cardio was still not his forte.
Hinata smiled and nodded emphatically, "Of course, Chouji-kun. Just get it from Naruto-kun as soon as he's done."
Rubbing the cream into his feet, Naruto was amazed by how quickly the stuff seemed to be working. His feet felt miles better in seconds, and the bloody spots on his soles were already closing up. "Whoah Hinata! This stuff's amazing! Where did you buy this?"
"Um, I didn't buy it. That's just something I made myself."
Naruto's eyes widened, "Seriously? That's so cool! You're pretty amazing if you can just make something this good by yourself."
As soon as Naruto was done coating his feet in the substance, he passed the jar to Chouji. Chouji echoed Naruto's compliments, though close examination would show the medicine didn't work quite as well on him as it did on Naruto.
Hinata smiled and blushed at their words. Later, she would wonder just how her medicine seemed to work so miraculously on Naruto, when she knew quite well the limits of the substance's capabilities. But for now she was too warmed by their praise, especially Naruto's.
"Hey, I've got something too, actually." Reaching into his bag and taking multiple pieces of something out, Chouji handed some to both of his teammates.
Holding up what Chouji had given him, Naruto spoke, "Jerky?"
"Akimichi Clan Special Jerky!" Chouji said proudly. "This stuff's guaranteed to reduce hunger, and gives you an energy boost to boot! We make food pills too, but those usually have side effects we can't really afford right now...Anyway, have some. It should help!"
Thanking him for the gift, both Naruto and Hinata had a few bites of jerky and stored the rest for later.
Sitting there, eating some of Chouji's jerky, Hinata busily mending his shoes, Naruto was overwhelmed. He had never had someone go so far out of their way for him, especially considering that not only did they both not have anything to gain by helping him, but stood to be materially harmed by it instead.
Looking back and forth between his two teammates, Naruto's face slowly transformed into a mask of determination. He wasn't sure how yet, but he was going to find a way to pay both of them back. And if at all possible he'd make sure Asuma-sensei passed the two of them, no matter what.
From his vantage point, Asuma watched his three students. Instead of being forced apart by the condition he had added to the test, the three of them were still cooperating, and in fact seemed to be pulling even closer together.
He smiled. He couldn't stop watching them just yet. It was possible that since they were still near the beginning, that the reality of failure hadn't fully dawned on them yet, and would still come into play as they closed in on the finish line and time began to run out.
Time would tell.
"Are you sure we really need him?" Sakura asked Shikamaru again as the two trudged through the forest of the training ground.
Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm absolutely sure. It's the only way we're going to finish this test."
Shikamaru had had a bad feeling from the first moment that Kurenai-sensei had told them that they would have pass her personal test in order to become genin. Sure enough, the test they had been given was proving to be much more difficult than the academy exam.
The three genin and one canine of Team One had gathered early in the morning at one of Konoha's many training grounds. Kiba and Sakura had taken no time at all to continue their bickering from the previous day. Only when Kurenai-sensei herself had shown up did the two quiet down.
Kurenai-sensei had then explained that the test would be a timed test with a single objective, and that they would have until noon to complete the task. When Sakura had asked what the objective was Kurenai had simply stated, "Catch me," and then disappeared from right in front of them.
From there things had gone downhill rather quickly. Overeager to prove his superiority to Sakura, Kiba had taken off immediately claiming that he would finish the test himself, and launched a rude comment at Sakura over his shoulder. Angered by Kiba's brashness, Sakura had gone off after him, leaving Shikamaru alone in the clearing the team had met in.
For his part Shikamaru had simply sighed and walked into the forest at a more sedate pace. He was certain there would be more to this test than was immediately apparent, and he was content to wait and find out what that was before really putting any effort in. There was no sense in expending unnecessary energy before he even knew what the real challenge was. Once he had all the information, he could come up with a plan for passing the exam. That, or he could just give up if it looked too hard. Failure was always an option for him.
After thirty minutes of walking, Shikamaru still had not encountered Kurenai-sensei or either of his fellow genin. Figuring he must have missed them, he decided to turn back and return to the clearing they had begun the test in. It was as he was walking back that Shikamaru first noticed something was wrong. Though he was certain he had turned to go back the same way he had come, nothing he passed looked familiar, and he wasn't encountering any of the same landmarks.
Stopping in his tracks Shikamaru put his hands together in a seal, and with a muttered, "Release!" he forcibly stopped the circulation of chakra in his body. At once the scenery around him shifted as the illusion was cleared from his mind.
Ah. So that's the game.
Somewhere along the way Kurenai-sensei must have placed him in a genjutsu, or perhaps she had even done it at the very beginning of the test, when they were all together in the clearing. Either way, the illusion must have interfered with his sense of direction and caused him to wander around aimlessly. He doubted he had even been walking in a straight line, as he had thought.
Still, all things considered, this wasn't a bad thing. In fact, it was exactly what he had been hoping for. Now that he knew what the test really entailed, he could come up with a plan to complete it.
But first he would need to find Sakura and Kiba.
About an hour of searching later, Shikamaru finally came across one of his teammates. Sakura lay passed out on the ground, her body sprawled out where she had fallen. Shikamaru put his hand on her shoulder and sent a burst of his own chakra through her system.
Sakura awoke with a jolt to find Shikamaru leaning over her. "Wha...Shikamaru?"
"Relax. You're alright. Sensei must have put you in a genjutsu."
Sakura frowned. "Yeah, I know that. She's been putting me under various genjutsus since the moment I left the clearing."
Shikamaru's eyebrows rose slightly. "So this wasn't the first genjutsu she used on you?"
Sakura shook her head, "No. The first few were relatively weak but subtle. I wouldn't have noticed them if I hadn't felt the disturbance in my chakra. Those I broke out of pretty easily using the techniques for breaking genjutsu they taught us in the academy.(*2) But after that sensei kept putting more and more powerful genjutsus on me until there was one I couldn't break out of. I must have passed out."
Shikamaru mulled over Sakura's story for a moment. It was clear that their sensei was some manner of genjutsu master. It was likely that the closer they got to her, the more powerful the illusions she would use on them. Still, there was one other part of Sakura's story that had piqued his interest.
"You actually detected sensei disturbing your chakra when she put the genjutsu on you?"
Sakura seemed confused by the question. "Of course. Genjutsu is all about redirecting the flow of chakra in your opponent's brain to cause them to see all kinds of illusions…"
Shikamaru held up his hand to forestall the lecture Sakura was about to launch into. Clearly she didn't realize how incredible what she had done was. For a genjutsu user like Kurenai-sensei, trapping your opponents in illusions without them actually noticing at the time was vital. For that reason those who used genjutsu trained extensively to minimize the impact of their techniques on their opponent's chakra flow, so that their enemies wouldn't be able to detect the exact moment they became embroiled in the illusion. It had taken Shikamaru almost half an hour to realize he was in a genjutsu the first time, and he certainly hadn't felt his chakra being disturbed. For Sakura to have to noticed so easily would require extraordinary chakra control.
Shikamaru smiled as the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place. He now knew how they were going to pass this test.
"Alright Sakura, let's go find Kiba and Akamaru."
Sakura made a face at this. "What do we need him for?"
Standing up from where he had been kneeling beside her, Shikamaru explained, "Trust me. Sensei's way too good for any one of us to beat her alone. It'll take all of us to catch up to her and pin her down. But first, do you know the technique for removing genjutsus from other people?"
After taking a moment to explain the relatively simple technique to his teammate (Sakura had been surprised to learn that Shikamaru knew something that she didn't know), Shikamaru and Sakura set off in search of their final teammate and his partner ninken.
All of which led to their present situation.
"Are you sure we really need him?" Sakura asked Shikamaru again as the two trudged through the forest of the training ground.
Shikamaru sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm absolutely sure. It's the only way we're going to finish this test."
After another hour of searching (Shikamaru estimated that they had less than an hour left to finish the test) they finally picked up Kiba's trail, and found him lying next to Akamaru in a clearing, both of them passed out, twin trails of drool leaking from the corners of their mouths.
"Ugh, gross," Sakura said, deliberately steering away from Kiba and going over to Akamaru.
Shikamaru leaned over Kiba and placed his hand on his shoulder, repeating the process he used to awaken Sakura he sent a burst of his chakra into Kiba, removing the genjutsu that had been placed on him. Just to his right Sakura did the same for Akamaru.
"I got you now sensei!" Kiba yelled, bolting upright instantly and nearly knocking Shikamaru over. "Huh...wha...?" Suddenly coming to his senses, Kiba looked around in confusion, his eyes eventually settling on Shikamaru and Sakura.
"Sorry, buddy. 'Fraid that was just a genjutsu," Shikamaru said drolly.
Kiba groaned, "Dang it! I thought I had her…"
"Ha! That's what you get for running off like an idiot!" Sakura said smugly. "So much for finishing this test by yourself."
Kiba turned red with embarrassment and anger. "Sh-shut up, pinky! I doubt you could do any better!"
"At least I know how to handle genjutsu! You might have stood a chance if you hadn't spent the whole time in the academy goofing off!"
Kiba looked as though he was about to shout back, when Shikamaru finally cut in, "Shut the hell up, both of you!" Shikamaru's unusual outburst caught both Sakura and Kiba off guard, causing them to pause long enough for Shikamaru to continue. "Kiba, Sakura's right. You ran in half-cocked and got taken out easily. I don't know what you think you've been doing for the past few hours, but the real you has been laying here drooling the whole time. And Sakura…" Shikamaru turned quickly to his female teammate before she could start looking smug, "Kiba's right about you, too. You didn't do any better. You may have been able to get through some of sensei's genjutsu, but you weren't able to do anything with that. You couldn't catch up to sensei before she put a genjutsu on you you couldn't break out of. And don't forget you ran off after sensei by yourself, too."
Coming to the end of his diatribe, Shikamaru took a deep breath to calm himself before going on firmly, "Now, if you both still want to pass this test, you need to be quiet, quit bickering, and listen to what I tell you."
Both Sakura and Kiba had the grace to look embarrassed by Shikamaru's biting, but accurate, comments. Currently the two of them were looking away from Shikamaru and each other. Even so, Kiba still spoke up grumpily on being given an order, "Hey, how come you're suddenly in charge around here?"
"Because, I'm the only one who hasn't been knocked unconscious yet today," Shikamaru said acerbically, causing Kiba and Sakura to flush with embarrassment once again. "And don't forget I'm the one who woke both of you up. Now, if you're willing to listen, I have a plan to beat sensei in the time we have left."
Her embarrassment fading to only a small blush remaining on her face, Sakura spoke up quizzically, "What's up with you all of the sudden, Shikamaru? Do you even really care if we beat sensei?"
Squatting down on his haunches, Shikamaru's suddenly forceful aura dissipated, and he returned to being plain old, lazy Shikamaru once more. "Honestly? Not really. That is, I wouldn't really mind returning to the academy or anything. That said, my mom would never stop nagging me if I didn't pass, and that's way more troublesome than this ever could be. So since I'm here anyway I may as well just go ahead and pass this test and get it over with."
Kiba snorted at Shikamaru's attitude, but didn't say anything more in protest. "So then, what exactly do you have in mind?" He asked.
Putting his hands together in the familiar motion he used while thinking hard, Shikamaru began outlining his strategy, "First of all it's important to note that's sensei's way too strong for any one of us to win on our own. Even if we can detect and dispel her genjutsu, she can just use a stronger one on us before we can catch her. The only way for us to find her, get through her genjutsu, and catch her, is if we all work together and combine what we can do. Got it?"
He looked around at all his teammates. Both Kiba and Sakura nodded in understanding, this having already been proven to both of them. Even Akamaru seemed to agree with a bark.
"Good. In that case we'll use this formation: Kiba, you and Akamaru will go first. Your job is to use your tracking abilities to lead us all to sensei. I'll go after you, my job will be to catch sensei with my shadow possession jutsu once we've gotten close enough to her. Finally, Sakura will pull up the rear. Your job is actually the most important, since you're the only one who can sense when you are being put under a genjutsu, we need you to get us all through sensei's techniques. If you detect a genjutsu being put on us I want you to immediately use the technique I showed you for removing genjutsus from others on me. I will then do the same for Kiba and Akamaru."
His teammates all looked at him with barely concealed surprise. It was strange enough that Shikamaru was being so forceful suddenly, in complete opposition to how he usually behaved, but now he was suggesting strategies that not only seemed feasible but also well thought out and inspired. Kiba and Sakura were beginning to wonder how well they really knew their other teammate.
"If we do all of this, we should be able to locate sensei, get through her illusions, and then pin her down. That should be enough to pass the test. By my estimate, we've only got about half an hour left to do this, so we need to move fast. Anyone have any questions?"
No one did. Kiba and Sakura were finally starting to look focussed, and simply nodded in determination.
"Alright then. Let's move!"
The three genin and one canine took off at top speed, Kiba and Akamaru taking the lead as they picked up Kurenai's scent.
The die was cast.
"Alright! That's two seals!" Naruto held the paper seal up triumphantly.
More than half a day had passed since the genin trio of Team Nine had begun their exam, and they had finally acquired the second of three seals they needed before heading back to Konoha. The second checkpoint had turned out to be a small shack located at the top of a mountain. Inside they had found a box containing the seals they needed to collect from the checkpoint. As Asuma-sensei had told them, they had been unable to open the box and collect the seals inside until they had placed the seals they had gotten from the first checkpoint on top.
Now standing outside the shack the three took stock of their situation. Roughly fourteen hours had passed since the beginning of the test. The sun had long since gone down, and they were well into the night. Fortunately it was a clear night, and the moon and the stars offered a decent amount of light. Even so, they were now approximately half-way through the course, and had only ten hours remaining to run the second half. But that wasn't even their biggest problem.
Looking back at his teammates, Naruto spoke up encouragingly, "Come on you guys! We only need one more seal each, and then we can head back to Konoha. We can do this!"
Even though he said this, Naruto could tell by looking at his teammates that the situation was grim. Naruto himself fortunately still had quite a bit of energy left, but the same could not be said for Hinata and Chouji. The two were clearly out of stamina. Even though they had been stopped for several minutes, both had still not yet managed to catch their breath. Chouji was sprawled out on the ground, looking as though he wouldn't rise again, and even Hinata was slumped up against a rock, likely unable to sit upright without its support.
"Narut...Naruto-kun," Hinata gasped out between breaths, "we can't go on. We need rest."
Naruto frowned, "But we can't! There isn't time. We need to keep going if we're going to finish before the deadline!"
"I know," Hinata nodded sadly. "I just meant Chouji-kun and I need to rest. If you can keep going, you should go ahead Naruto-kun."
Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what she meant, but Chouji spoke up before he could respond.
"Yeah, go on ahead without us Naruto," He said, lifting his head weakly up off the ground and looking at Naruto. "If you've got the strength to keep going you should run as hard as you can, and try to make it in before the deadline. I don't...I don't think Hinata and me are gonna make it."
Slumping back down on the ground, Chouji looked over at Hinata despondently. He could tell from the look on her face, depressed and frustrated, that her thoughts were running parallel to his. More than anything the two wanted to get back up and keep running, but they simply didn't have the energy. Even with their shinobi training and chakra enhanced muscles, this test was simply too far beyond what they were capable of at the moment. However, even if they failed, they both desperately hoped that at least their orange-clad teammate would be able to succeed.
Tired as they were, Hinata and Chouji both jumped when Naruto shouted, "No way!" Naruto's face was set in a mask of stubborn determination. "There's no way I'm leaving the two of you behind! We're either gonna finish this all together, or not at all!"
Though Hinata's heart was warmed by Naruto's sentiments, the last thing she wanted was for him to fail because of her. Mustering up what strength she had left, she began to argue, "But Naruto-kun…"
Before she could finish, Naruto cut her off, "If you two can't run anymore, I'll run for you!" Putting his hands together into a seal, Naruto gathered his chakra and performed his newest technique. "Shadow-clone jutsu!"
The area around Naruto was suddenly filled with numerous explosions of smoke, which cleared to reveal more than a dozen Narutos surrounding the original.
Hinata's eyes widened. So he did learn the clone jutsu! Even though she was glad to see that Naruto had finally learned the jutsu that had held him back for so long, she wasn't sure how clones, even a bunch of them, were going to help them here. Struggling to her feet, she staggered over to the nearest clone and poked it in the shoulder, expecting that even this basic contact would cause it to dispel, as was typical for illusionary clones. Much to her surprise her finger met resistance as it came into contact with the very solid clone.
"They're real!" she said in surprise.
The real Naruto grinned proudly as he approached Hinata. "Yep! These aren't just any clones, they're shadow-clones! They're as solid as you and me. Well, unless they take any damage I mean, but still."
Sitting up, Chouji stared at the advanced clones in awe. "Are you serious Naruto? These are legit shadow-clones? Isn't that like, a really high-level jutsu?"
Naruto shrugged, "Apparently. Not sure why though, to be honest. These are a lot easier to make than regular clones."
Hinata pondered this. From what she knew of the jutsu based on theoretical knowledge, it wasn't the most difficult jutsu to perform, but the chakra cost was incredibly high. Even high-level shinobi generally couldn't create more than a two or three at a time, but here Naruto had created more than a dozen in one go! She wondered if that made him some sort of prodigy…
"Alright you guys!" Naruto shouted, getting the clones' attention. "Some of you guys scout ahead, find us the best route. The rest of you figure the best way to move Chouji. I've got Hinata."
Hinata squeaked in surprise as the real Naruto came over and knelt down in front of her, positioning himself as though to carry her on his back.
"Come on up, Hinata!" He said, completely oblivious to the girl's state.
Hinata for her part was caught between shyness, overwhelming embarrassment, and an unexpected part of her mind that was urgently encouraging her to accept the offer, which needless to say left the girl herself completely flummoxed. "Oh…I, uh…um...I mean...uh…"
Naruto looked at Hinata in confusion, "What's wrong, Hinata? We need to move!"
Naruto's encouragement putting her over the edge, Hinata stepped forward and placed her hands on Naruto's shoulders, allowing him to wrap his arms around her legs and lift her up on his back. It was a good thing that it was dark and her face was already flushed from running. Hopefully neither of her teammates would notice just how red her face had become.
Turning to where two more clones had lifted up Chouji between them, Naruto addressed his two teammates, "Okay. You guys go ahead and get some rest. I'll keep us moving all night!"
With that, all the Narutos turned as one toward the edge of the cliff and charged forward. Without any hesitation all of the Narutos, including the two carrying Chouji and the real one with Hinata, jumped off the side of the mountain and plunged down toward the ground, where they would continue following the course that would lead them to the final checkpoint.
As they fell through the air, Hinata shyly rested her head on Naruto's shoulder. At that moment, even falling off a mountain with the ground hundreds of feet below them, Hinata had never felt more safe.
For what felt like the hundredth time Sasuke struggled to move his body even a little. He thought he felt the dirt surrounding him shift a little bit, but he couldn't be sure he wasn't just imagining it. At the moment his entire body was buried in the ground up to his neck, the dirt and soil keeping him completely immobilized. He ground his teeth in frustration over his current predicament.
He had thought that no one could ever annoy him quite as badly as the class dead-last, Naruto Uzumaki, but his new sensei was definitely giving the orange-clad loser a run for his money. From the very beginning the man called Kakashi seemed to thrive on frustrating his students. The prediction Naruto's sensei had made on the day they were assigned their teams had turned out to be accurate, and Sasuke and his teammates had been left waiting in their classroom for several hours before the silver-haired man had finally shown up. Ino had been livid at his tardiness, and even Sasuke had been unable to completely conceal his irritation.
Their sensei had repeated this performance earlier that morning, after telling the three genin to arrive at five in the morning and then not showing up until less than two hours till noon. He then explained to them that they had until noon itself to take one of two bells from him, and that whoever was left without a bell at the end of the exam would be sent back to the academy. Unsurprisingly, with two bells for only three students, the three genin had all gone their separate ways from the moment the exam proper had started.
From there, everything had only gone downhill. Ino had apparently run out of patience first, and been the first one to launch an attack on their sensei. Kakashi hadn't even stopped reading his little orange book as he easily took her apart, eventually sending her flying into the nearby river. Attempting to take advantage of the distraction, Sasuke had then launched a brace of kunai at their sensei, which had been dodged almost effortlessly by the jonin. He had relocated as soon as his attack had failed, so he was unsure whether or not Shino had attempted anything. Either way Kakashi had still been wearing both bells when Sasuke ran into him again later.
Eventually, after more than an hour of playing cat and mouse with Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke had been left with no alternative but to face the man directly. He had gotten so close, too! After engaging sensei in a complex taijutsu combo, he had made a grab for the bells and had even managed to brush one of them with his hand, but somehow the jonin had escaped and managed to create distance between them. Sasuke had followed up with a fire-jutsu, but had only succeeded in giving Kakashi the cover he needed to vanish from Sasuke's sight. The next thing Sasuke had known, he was being pulled sharply downward, until his head was level with the ground. Kakashi had apparently used some sort of earth jutsu to pull most of Sasuke's body underground. After taunting Sasuke a little, the man had simply walked away.
That had been several minutes ago and Sasuke was still struggling to remove himself from the earthen trap. After several more minutes of useless struggling Sasuke heard the sound of someone rapidly approaching from the woods. Suddenly Ino came dashing through the clearing Sasuke was stuck in, and came to a sudden stop mid-step as she spotted Sasuke's head sticking up out of the ground. For a brief moment everything was frozen as Ino stared at Sasuke's head uncomprehendingly.
"Ino…" Sasuke began to speak, but before he could say any more Ino shrieked at the top of her lungs, and fainted dead-away on the spot.
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. The situation was testing his limits for absurdity. He briefly toyed with the idea of calling out to Ino to try and wake her up and get her to help him, but he quickly discarded that idea. The last thing he needed was to owe any of his fangirls a favor.
It was at this moment that Sasuke heard the sound of footsteps approaching from the forest, these not running as Ino's had been, but with a calm, measured stride. Sasuke turned his head as much as his trapped body would allow, and saw his third and final teammate, Shino Aburame, approaching, apparently drawn by the sound of Ino's screaming.
Neither Shino nor Sasuke said anything for a moment. Shino stared quietly at Sasuke's head sticking up out of the dirt, then turned to look at Ino lying passed out on the ground, then looked back at Sasuke.
Suddenly Shino turned his head to the side and coughed, though it sounded strange, as though he were trying to cover up another sound by faking a cough.
Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed angrily. Did he just laugh at me?
Before Sasuke could do or say anything else, Shino was already moving forward, his composure completely recovered after his 'cough'. If he had in fact been laughing, or if he found any amusement in the situation at all, his voice managed not to betray any of it as he spoke in his usual clipped monotone.
"Please remain still, Uchiha-san. My allies will have you dug out momentarily." As Shino made his way over to where Ino lay passed out, a swarm of insects were disgorged from his jacket and made their way over to Sasuke, where they immediately began digging into the dirt that surrounded him.
As discomforting as Sasuke found the insects that made their home inside his teammate's body, he couldn't deny their efficiency. Within seconds the dirt around him began to loosen to the point where he could pull his arms up out of the ground, and began working to pull the rest of him up as well.
"Why are you helping me?" Sasuke questioned Shino suspiciously. Try as he might, he couldn't see any benefit to Shino helping out his toughest competitor in this challenge, unless he was planning on proposing an alliance, in which case Sasuke had underestimated the quiet boy. He was at this point quite certain that this was a test that could only be completed individually. Even if two or more of them worked together to get a bell they would just end up fighting amongst themselves over the bells anyway. Not that Sasuke had any intention of doing that in the first place. The ideal situation for him would be for him to be the only one to graduate.
Shino, meanwhile, was looking over Ino for any injuries. "Why? The reason is simple. It is because it is required for this exam." He answered mysteriously.
As Sasuke was finally pulling himself free from the ground, Shino began lightly shaking Ino to try to wake her up.
When Ino opened her eyes the first thing she saw was Shino standing over her.
"Yamanaka-san…" Shino began formally, before being suddenly interrupted by Ino's screams.
"AAAIIIEEE! Shino! It's terrible! Sasuke's been beheaded!"
"Ino!" Sasuke snapped to get her attention.
In surprise, Ino turned to see Sasuke, covered in dirt but still very much in one piece, standing just behind Shino. Before anyone could say anything else Ino suddenly glomped onto Sasuke, clinging to him possessively. "Oh Sasuke-kun, you're alright! I'm sooo glad!"
"Get off!" Sasuke growled, extricating himself from the clingy girl.
"Ahem," Shino cleared his throat to get his two teammates attention. "Now that we are all in possession of our senses and mobility, I believe now would be a good time to discuss a strategy."
Sasuke snorted and began walking away immediately. "If you're suggesting teaming up, no thanks. There's no point in working together if we're just going to turn on each other later. And besides, I have to be strong enough to get through this on my own."
Shino readjusted the sunglasses covering his eyes. "In that case none of us will be able to graduate. Even if you somehow acquire a bell on your own, you will still fail."
This was enough to give Sasuke pause. Turning back toward his teammates, he regarded the stoic boy coolly. Of all the students in Sasuke's academy class, Shino was the only one he was completely neutral toward (which was as high as Sasuke's regard for his classmates went). He was hard-working and studious, and Sasuke wasn't so arrogant that he didn't recognize that Shino was at least somewhat intelligent. He decided he may as well find out what he meant by the odd statement.
"Oh? And what makes you think that?"
Shino replied calmly, "The reason is twofold. For one, as near as I can tell, this team was deliberately assembled to possess the three highest ranked graduates from our academy class."
Sasuke nodded just slightly at this. Though his own prodigious skills had always put him comfortably ahead of the rest, he was aware that Shino and Ino had been the top two ranked graduates aside from himself.(*3) Ino had spent the majority of their time at the academy competing with another of his fangirls, Sakura Haruno, for the position of top-ranked kunoichi. Though Sakura had always had the advantage when it came to written tests, Ino had proven the more skilled when it came to practical application, and in the end had edged out Sakura overall. For his part Shino showed an impressive balance of knowledge and skill, always ranking quite high whether the subject were theoretical or practical. Were he in any other year aside from Sasuke's, it was likely that Shino would have ended up genin of the year. Not that Sasuke considered the Aburame to be on the same level as him, regardless.
All that said though, he wasn't sure how that applied to the present situation at all.
Shino continued, "As for the other reason, it is clear that Kakashi-sensei is far too strong for any of us to take on on our own. Indeed, given what I have seen of his skills, it is quite possible that even all of us combined may not be enough to defeat him, if he uses all of his strength."
At this point Ino interrupted, "Okay, I get what you're saying...but how exactly does all of that mean that even if we get a bell, we still fail?"
Adjusting his sunglasses yet again, Shino replied, "Simply this...what would be the point of deliberately gathering the best genin from our class onto a team, and then giving them an impossible task?"
Thinking for a moment, Sasuke began to get an inkling as to what Shino was saying.
"If it's impossible for us to get the bells, and if we assume the purpose of the test isn't make sure we fail…"
"...Then there must be some other way to pass!" Ino finished Sasuke's thought.
Shino nodded, and prepared to outline his plan.
"If both of you are willing to listen, I would like to make a proposal…"
It was a just before dawn when Naruto himself finally ran out of steam.
Hinata still on his back, he slowed and came to a stop. Turning around, he watched as his last shadow clone staggered to a stop, let Chouji down to the ground, and then promptly dispelled in a cloud of smoke.
Practically jumping off his back, Hinata worriedly looked over Naruto, "Are you alright, Naruto-kun?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," he answered honestly. He knew that in a moment he would be mostly recovered. He doubted he could make any more shadow clones at the moment, but he was certain he could at least continue running. Unfortunately, they still had a huge problem.
"Darn it! We're still miles away from Konoha!"
Naruto had continued running most of the night, carrying the other two to allow them to recover as much as possible. With the others on back he had brought them to the third checkpoint, and then proceeded into the home-stretch. In spite of his best efforts though, they still had more than fifty miles to go, and less than two hours to run them.
Hinata did her best to try to think of something to say, something to keep her team's spirits up...but as usual she disappointed herself. Try as she might she couldn't see any way out of this situation. There was just no way they move fast enough to cover the remaining distance in the little time they had left. Bad enough she would fail the test, but she was certain she had ended up slowing down Naruto after all. It was all she could do not to let her despair overtake her.
Suddenly Chouji spoke, just barely loud enough for the other two to hear, "We're not gonna fail."
Turning to his final teammate, Naruto responded, "Huh? What was that Chouji?"
"I SAID WE'RE NOT GONNA FAIL!" Chouji suddenly roared. Taking what looked like a pill container from his pocket, the rotund shinobi opened one of the compartments and popped a green-colored sphere into his mouth.
Slamming his hands together into a seal, Chouji shouted, "Partial-Expansion Jutsu: Legs!"
As Chouji's jutsu took effect his legs began to grow, both in length and in size, until Chouji stood at least two feet taller than he had just seconds earlier.
Had their situation been any different, Naruto would have laughed at the sight of Chouji's squat body supported by two comically oversized legs. As it was he didn't have time to do much of anything, as Chouji suddenly dashed forward and scooped up his two smaller teammates and began carrying them at a shockingly fast pace in the direction of Konoha.
Now suddenly the one being carried, Naruto watched as the ground passed by in a blur beneath him. Chouji's legs, though funny-looking, were clearly getting the job done. With each large, chakra assisted stride Chouji covered large stretches of ground. They were now going at least twice as fast as they had been for most of the test. In spite of their still dire situation, Naruto couldn't help but smile.
His teammates were amazing.
Unfortunately for Team Nine Chouji had made a couple of miscalculations. For one, he had overestimated the amount of stamina he had regained after an uncomfortable night of being carried by Naruto. Also, he was still a novice when it came to his family's special food pills, and as such he had underestimated the deleterious effects of the green Spinach Pill.
Konoha had just finally come into sight when Chouji's jutsu suddenly ended. Dropping his teammates to the ground Chouji staggered a few steps forward and then collapsed, unable to move anymore.
Picking themselves up from the ground, Naruto and Hinata looked at the collapsed Chouji and then at one another. They silently nodded to one another. There was no need to even say anything anymore. Without a word the two walked over to their friend and lifted him up between them. With one of Chouji's arms slung over each of their shoulders, they set off for the gates of Konoha in the distance as fast as they could.
Thus it was that the three genin of Team Nine, exhausted, beaten and worn, finally staggered the last steps through the gates of Konoha on a brightly lit spring morning. Just inside the gate their sensei stood waiting for them, puffing away on a cigarette and looking as though he hadn't moved since they had left.
Letting Chouji down as gently as they could, Naruto and Hinata collapsed next to their third teammate, all three genin laying in a heap at their sensei's feet.
"Did we...huff...did we make it?" Naruto gasped out.
Asuma looked down at his three students. Taking the cigarette out of his mouth briefly, he responded, "No. You just missed the twenty-four hour mark by about thirty-eight minutes."
At once the worlds of the three genin came crashing down. After everything, after all their efforts, they had missed the mark by more than half an hour. Not only had none of them passed, but according to their sensei, they would all be removed from the shinobi program entirely.
Chouji slumped, depressed. He knew his parents would support him no matter what, but even so, he was sure his father would be disappointed he had failed to follow in his footsteps.
Hinata's thoughts followed a similar vein, though hers were marked by stark terror. Being a regular shinobi had been her father's backup plan for her, after she had proven unfit to be heiress. Now that she had failed at that too, what would he do with her? What would happen to her now?
Naruto, for his part, refused to accept it. Using what strength he had left he began to pull himself up from the ground to face Asuma, when suddenly his sensei started laughing. Face turning red with rage, Naruto opened his mouth to shout his sensei down. Before he could, however, Asuma's words brought him up short.
"Ba-ha-ha! You kids are incredible! I never thought you would actually get that close!"
Unable to fully comprehend his sensei's words, Naruto was left with his mouth hanging open. Not able to properly formulate a response, he could only let out an unintelligent, "Huh?"
Putting his cigarette back in his mouth Asuma began smoking again. Out of consideration for his student's shortness of breath he elected not to blow the smoke in their faces this time. "The Southern Fire Country course, which you all just got done running, is a special course used by jounin and ANBU for endurance training. There's no way a bunch of genin could run the whole thing in less than twenty-four hours."
Hinata blinked in surprise. "Then...you mean...the test was impossible?"
Asuma shrugged, "Well, the task I gave you was impossible. The test itself was something else."
Naruto, though still not sure what was happening, was nonetheless still annoyed by his sensei's nonchalance at the whole situation. "If we weren't supposed to finish the race, then what was the point of making us run the whole thing!?" he asked testily.
Finishing his current cigarette, Asuma responded calmly, "The point was to see how you would react when the chips were down. This test pitted you not only against an insurmountable task, but also forced you to compete with your teammates. When your backs were to the wall and you were faced with the prospect of failure, what would you do? Would you leave your fellow genin behind and try to pass on your own, or would you risk your own chances in order to help someone who could potentially take your spot from you? This whole test was set up to make you all face that decision. And without fail, you all chose to help one another, rather than succeed on your own."
Listening closely, the three genin were surprised by the force behind their sensei's words as he continued on, "That...is exactly how a Konoha shinobi should behave! There's a reason why shinobi operate in teams, a reason why you're put into teams of three from the moment you leave the academy. By combining your respective strengths you covered for each other's weaknesses, and in so doing you were able to accomplish something none of you could have achieved on your own. Running the entire Southern Fire Country course in twenty-four hours and thirty-eight minutes, for a team of genin fresh out of the academy, is quite a feat. You can all be proud of that."
As she listened to her sensei explain the real test, a spark of hope was born in Hinata's chest.
"So...so sensei…what you're saying is…"
For the first time since meeting him, Asuma-sensei showed them a true smile, his eyes gleaming with mirth and just a touch of pride.
"Welcome to the shinobi program. You all pass."
After less than a second of stunned silence Naruto was leaping into the air in celebration. "Wooohooo! We did it! Let's all go for ramen to celebrate!"
Apparently revitalized, either by their unexpected success or by the mention of food, Chouji was suddenly at Naruto's side. "No way, man. We went for ramen last time, it's gotta be barbecue for our victory meal!"
"Oh come on, ramen is the perfect meal to reward yourself after a job well done, everyone knows that!"
"That may be so, but barbecue is barbecue! You can't beat that!"
Before the boys could launch into another passionate debate about ramen and barbecue, Asuma cleared his throat and spoke for all of them to hear, "Whatever you decide, don't spend too long on it. You all desperately need to recover from what you just went through. I want you to spend the rest of today and tomorrow resting. We'll meet briefly tomorrow afternoon for some light teambuilding, nothing physically strenuous, and then the day after we'll all meet at the Hokage tower for our first d-rank mission."
Naruto, already thrilled to have passed, became even more excited at the mention of a mission. Dashing over to his surprised female teammate, he began speaking to Hinata very quickly, "Isn't this awesome Hinata!? We're finally real ninjas! We get to go on a mission! I wonder what it will be? Maybe we'll get to fight bandits, or save a princess or something! This is so awesome!"
Unable to restrain his enthusiasm, he, on impulse, picked Hinata up and spun her around.
It all ended up being a little too much for the dark-haired girl. Having ridden a roller-coaster of emotions over the last few minutes, coupled with being suddenly embraced by Naruto, she was unable to hold out any longer. It was fortunate that she had just been through a grueling physical ordeal. With any luck, her teammates would just think that exhaustion had finally gotten to her.
She passed out.
Chapter End
A/N:
Thanks for reading. Please leave a review. Even just a few words are highly appreciated.
Thanks also to all who followed or favorited last chapter. I'd like to particularly thank Kolsake, DownAnder, Novrier, DARX26, and Star0Dragon0Slayer for giving me my first reviews. I really appreciate the support and encouraging words. It meant a lot.
Anyway, that concludes the genin exam portion of the story. Moving forward I expect to focus more particularly on Team 9, as they are the main characters of this story. We will drop in occasionally to see the goings-on of the other teams, but it will mostly just be clips here and there until all the characters come back together again for the Chunin Exams.
(*1). How fast and how far can shinobi move? And for how long? It's never really made clear in canon. Certainly the characters move from country to country easily enough, and perform various feats of stamina that are impossible in the real world, but nothing is really specifically mentioned, to my knowledge. As a result, I waver back and forth as to whether 200 miles is too much, or too little.
(*2). This technique for breaking genjutsu isn't directly mentioned or explained until the beginning of Shippuden, though Shikamaru and Sakura are shown to be able to break out of genjutsu during the chunin exam arc. I state here that this technique was taught in the academy because it just doesn't make sense to me that such a simple (in concept, anyway) counter to one of the three major types of jutsu wouldn't be taught to students before they became actual shinobi. That's not to say that everyone knows it, of course. Naruto and Kiba being two excellent examples of students who slacked off during that particular lesson.
(*3). Aside from Sasuke being the number one rookie, and Naruto being the dead-last, it is never directly stated in canon how the other members of the rookie nine stack up against one another at the time of their graduation from the academy. This is, once again, simply my interpretation of these characters at this point in the story. Based on their backstory, and their fight in the chunin exam, it always seemed to me that Ino was ahead of Sakura, at least in the beginning. Her competitive nature, her own natural talent, and likely the advantage of being in a shinobi clan, all would lead her to edge out Sakura as top kunoichi, at least in my mind. As for Shino, he strikes me as someone who would thrive in a school environment. He's smart, focussed, hard-working, and in my opinion a bit of a perfectionist. His strength relative to the others is made clear in the chunin exam arc, but he never really gets a chance to show off his strength after that. In any case, these three members of Team 5 represent to me the top of their class, making them the opposites of Team Dead-Last.
Regards,
MD