Chapter 49:
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GunBlade2018: Thanks friend and as for ages, this actually took me a while to figure out. I have two timeline documents for this fic but one hasn't been updated in a long time, much has since changed and is now of little use and the second is even worse. Thankfully I changed the age of very few characters so to the best of my knowledge at Chapter 49:
Tri/ Itachi/ Naruto: 17
Sakura: 15/16
Rezano/Rookie Nine:13
Minusha: 10/11
-(*)-
The Chūnin Exams Begin
Nervous? Yes, he was nervous, why wouldn't he be? He'd never competed in the Chūnin Exams before. But he'd swallowed his nerves and steeled his resolve last night and made his decision, filling out the application form there and then.
And now here he was, stood before the Academy he'd graduated from not six months earlier, form in hand. There were many others milling around, a variety of Hitai-ates on display, all here for the same reason he was. Rezano couldn't help but notice that they all seemed a little older than him.
Looking around the crowd he eventually spied his two teammates waiting by a tree. Sasuke leaned back against the branch, arms folded, glaring at just about everyone who looked his way. And Meshikamaru gently swaying back and forth on a simple swing hung from a large branch.
"Yo!" he greeted with a wave walking over to them. Sasuke looked away, "Hey! Glad you decided to join us," Meshikamaru said cheerfully greeting him in return. "Yeah, I'm still a little nervous still but we've never done this before so I guess that's normal. So here I am."
"Here you are. Shall we get going?" she suggested jumping out of the swing seat, "I wanna get a look at the competition."
Rezano and Sasuke fell in behind her as they headed for the buildings main entrance. Rezano noticed they were getting quite a few looks there way, none of them seemed too friendly either. Passing through the double doors brought them to a simple hall with three corridors branching off it. In the hall was a desk manned by a pair of Konoha Chūnin. Handing over their application forms confirmed their participation.
Taking the left-hand corridor soon brought them to a tight, narrow staircase squeezed into the corner. It would take them to their destination, Classroom 301. While ascending the stairs they heard a commotion behind one of the doors, without a word of warning Sasuke went through the door, his curiosity peaked.
"Uh, Sasuke, that's only the second…" The door shut behind him, "Why do I bother?" she quietly asked herself as she and Rezano followed their enigmatic team member.
Stepping into the corridor all three of them noticed the sign above a classroom door, it was labelled 301. "How can that be room 301?" Rezano leaned in to whisper to the Nara. "It's because it isn't," Sasuke surprisingly answered. "He's right," Meshikamaru nodded, "We're only on the second floor, that's room 201."
The sound of a fist striking flesh reminded Sasuke why he'd been drawn here. There was a crowd of people massing around the door to classroom 201. Sasuke pushed a path through the crowd, Rezano and Meshikamaru following in his wake.
Pushing their way to the front they were greeted by the sight of two older Shinobi standing in front of the door and a kid dressed in a green jumpsuit, Konoha Hitai-ate around his waist, flat on his ass seemingly having been knocked over, a mean looking scuff mark on his cheek. A girl with her hair tied up in two buns took a few steps forward, "Please… We're begging you… Let us in."
*SMACK*
Her head recoiled to the right, one of the two baring their way had backhanded her with some force. She landed on the wooden floor hard next to the kid in the jumpsuit who was quickly back on his feet to see to her, 'In the same team I guess,' Rezano assumed.
"Don't misunderstand us," the one who'd struck her said, "We're doing you a service, you should be thankful. The Chūnin Exams will be the most difficult thing you've attempted so far, we should know, this is our fourth attempt. We've seen careers ended, limbs crippled and lives lost."
"Besides that," his companion picked up," Chūnin are expected to be commanders, they're expected to lead others. Any and all failures and fatalities rest upon their shoulders and they must be ready to accept such responsibilities. We're just saving some the trouble by weeding out the truly hopeless beforehand."
"That's all well and good, in theory. But there are those of us who aren't the usual riff-raff," Sasuke arrogantly declared. "Nor does it answer the obvious question," Meshikamaru followed up. Both of the older Shinobi glared at a smug Sasuke, "And what, little lady, might that be?" one of the asked, their eyes never leaving Sasuke.
The Uchiha snorted, "No wonder this is your fourth attempt, you're standing beneath an illusion. It says 301, yet we're still on the second floor."
"Oh, so you noticed that huh? Don't get too cocky, just seeing through it isn't enough.
He'd barely finished the final syllable when the unnamed Genin made his move, planting his hands to the floor he swung his leg horizontally at Sasuke. The Uchiha brought a leg of his own up to block.
Neither leg connected, however, both were stopped dead – by the kid in the green jumpsuit. In just a split second he'd appeared between them and blocked both their kicks. 'Okay, that was an impressive display of speed,' Meshikamaru admitted.
'He blocked my kick… But what's up with his chakra?' wondered a bewildered Sasuke, normally one used chakra to soften blows by focusing it on the zones of impact, in this case, jumpsuit kid's hand. It meant you could feel the chakra softening the hit but Sasuke couldn't feel any.
"Lee. What are you doing?" a new demanded to know, they sounded annoyed whoever they were. The now named Lee released his grip the two Genin's legs and stood from his squatted stance, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"Wasn't it you who insisted on playing it low key and not drawing attention to ourselves?" This latest arrival was clearly a Hyūga thanks to the large white-Violet eyes their clan was instantly recognisable for. The girl with the hair buns placed a hand on each of their shoulders, "Alright you two, let's get out of here, we're going to be late otherwise."
The Hyūga looked away as he shook her hand from his shoulder, his white-Violet eyes meeting the black of Sasuke's. "What are you looking at, Uchiha?" he challenged. "You and your sorry looking teammates, Hyūga," he spat. The bun-haired girl scowled at him but otherwise held her silence.
Rolling her eyes Meshikamaru gave Sasuke a firm push on the shoulder blade. Turning his head to look at her, "Wind your neck in and start walking, lest you want to be late," she ordered. Begrudgingly Sasuke complied pushing his way through the crowd once more. "Rezano, let's go," the Nara barked at him. With a nod, he followed too.
"Rezano? So that's the Hokage's son?" Tenten said aloud, loud enough to get the crowds collective attention, a series of hushed words and whispers broke out as the crowd finally began to disperse. "Neji, Lee. We'd better go too or we'll be late… Lee, where are you going?" Tenten finished with a sigh. Why were her teammates so difficult to keep an eye on?
"The Uchiha?" she asked Neji, "The Uchiha," he replied. She sighed again.
-(*)-
"So where are we going exactly?" a bemused Kurotsuchi asked. "I already told you, the Jōnin Standby Station," Naruto replied. She blinked in surprise, "You mean you weren't joking? Am I even allowed in there?" she questioned him given she was a foreign Shinobi.
"Yeah, you'll be fine," he reassured her, "Besides it's just the Standby Station, we're hardly dropping by the ANBU building in which case neither of us is getting past the lobby," he laughed.
"Good point… But someone will kick up a fuss, surely?"
"Maybe. But you're a guest under my care and a Jōnin in your own right. They have no legitimate reason to deny you access."
Slowing to a near stop he turned to look her in the eyes, "If anyone does give you any trouble then tell me." She looked about to complain but he silenced her by holding up a hand, "I know full well you are more than capable of looking after yourself but I don't want you to get yourself into trouble because some moron wouldn't shut their mouth so you decided to shut it for them."
"Oh come on, I'm not that bad," she complained.
"No, not all the time. But I'll be damned if my charge gets harassed on my watch."
"You know, Naruto-san, you're taking your duties very seriously. Are you sure that's the only reason you're being so… protective?" she asked all too sweetly, an innocent smile to go with it. "Not the only reason no," he grinned. "And what might those other reasons be?"
Lowering his voice to a whisper he answered, "Well, I want to make a good impression. The Iwa Kunoichi they've got me looking after is an absolute babe." She snorted in laughter and she playfully pushed him, "Shut up."
-(*)-
Meshikamaru really tried, she honestly, truly did but she couldn't stop herself from laughing as the kid in a jumpsuit, who'd introduced himself as Rock Lee, seemed to rather easily smack the Uchiha around a bit.
And the words he'd used to initially get Sasuke's attention. 'Hey, you with the scowl… Wait up!'
'Ha! Brilliant,' she chuckled as Sasuke was forced to raise his arms in an X in front of him to block another kick.
'This Lee guy is definitely quick though.' He'd introduced himself to Sasuke and then immediately challenged him to a fight and Sasuke being the arrogant baka that he was simply couldn't refuse. 'Perhaps we'll get lucky and this'll teach him humility…' she spotted his eyes spinning up his Sharingan, 'Or maybe not…,' she bemoaned as Sasuke went on the offensive.
*BAM*
'Or maybe yes…' she quickly changed her mind.
One moment Lee had been stood still, his left hand tucked unseen behind his body, his right hand held out flat, palm up, in front of him. The next he was crouched down within Sasuke's guard, the sole of his right sandal connecting heavily with the underside of Sasuke's jaw. The Uchiha's head snapping back violently, the impact lifting him clean off the ground into the air.
Lee flickered from view, instantly reappearing beneath a still rising Sasuke. The Uchiha was confused, how had he gotten that hit off so easily? "You're probably wondering why your Sharingan isn't helping you, right?" Sasuke tensed, his eyes had seen the attack coming but…
"It is true your eyes allow you to understand and see through Ninjutsu and Genjutsu but you realise already, this is neither. And yes it's true your eyes allow you increased perception, but it doesn't matter. Your body simply can't react fast enough to act on what your eyes see," Lee explained.
As he spoke Lee had loosened the wrappings around his left hand, it now trailed beneath him for several feet. He was just about to wrap it around Sasuke when he felt a sudden jerk. Searching for the source he found what looked like a Senbon with a paper windmill on the end, it had pinned the end of his wrappings to the wall.
Lee paled, he recognised that kind of Senbon. "That's enough, Lee!" a deep voice shouted. Looking over he saw a giant tortoise.
'Wait, a giant tortoise… Why is there a giant tortoise?' Meshikamaru questioned, her and Rezano looking blankly at one another. It's shell segments had swirl patterns and it wore a Konoha Hitai-ate around its neck.
With his attention torn elsewhere and the end of his wrappings anchored to the wall below Lee and Sasuke found themselves falling as gravity reasserted itself. He rapidly unwound the remained of the wrappings before pulling his legs in spinning several times and landing safely on his feet.
A still dazed Sasuke wasn't able to do the same, Rezano shot forward worried he'd land head first on the stone tiled floor. Sliding across the floor he just managed to get himself between Sasuke and the floor, the impact greatly reduced.
Although still dazed he stood and pushed Rezano away, he swayed from side to side a little uneasy on his feet. Meshikamaru let out a deep breath, this whole affair had delayed them at least another five minutes and she highly doubted they'd be allowed to compete if Sasuke had cracked his head open on the ground like an egg.
Meanwhile, Lee kneeled before the very irate looking tortoise, "You know the rules, Lee. That move is forbidden, and for good reason!" it chastised him, Lee's head was bowed. "I…I,"
"Silence! You think I care for whatever feeble excuse you can conjure up!" it said gruffly before taking a deep breath.
"You know how dangerous that technique is, it's why you are banned from using it," is said in a calmer voice. "And did you even stop to consider the repercussions of your actions? You happily explained away your advantage, flagrantly giving away your advantage." Lee winced in realisation.
Lee looked like he was on the verge of tears, 'What a disgrace… Losing to… to that!', Sasuke grumbled as the grogginess continued to subside.
"I hope you're ready, Lee."
"Y-yes sir," he quietly said. "Alright then, Gai-kun, he's all yours."
*Poof*
Atop the tortoise's shell, a large cloud of smoke appeared from nowhere. With a wave of an arm from whoever was within the smoke was scattered revealing…
"Okay, that's just scary," Meshikamaru uttered. "The hair… The eyebrows… The Jumpsuit…"
"The Leg Warmers…" Sasuke finished for Rezano.
They were disturbed because this adult looked identical to Lee, or Lee looked identical to him. The three of them continued muttering to one another. That Lee got completed floored by one hell of punch from who they presumed was his Sensei didn't even register.
"S-Sensei…" Lee said quietly, his voice brimming with emotion. "That's enough Lee," Gai said kneeling down in front of his young protégée. "We all make mistakes, Lee. And to learn from mistakes you first need to make them. I understand you're young, the same thing happened to me when I was your age."
Gai stood, Lee along with him. "But you broke one of my big rules and you will be punished for it, but that can wait until after the exams, understand?"
"Y-yes, sir." With a firm nod, Gai looked over at Team 7. "Say, you three. How's Kakashi-kun been lately?" They all blinked dumbly for a few moments, caught a little off-guard by his addressing them. "Uh… Fine, I guess," Meshikamaru answered, "You a friend of his?"
She blinked… And he was gone.
"Hmm, while yes, it would be more accurate to call us rivals," his voice said, only now it was directly behind them. They each stiffened, slowly turning their heads to find him rubbing his chin between his finger and thumb. Gai laughed at the looks on their faces, "The score is 50 to 49 – in my favour," he said pointing his thumb at himself.
"Apologies for my over-eager Genin, sometimes he gets a little carried away.." Then he was gone again.
"You all might want to hurry up now, the Exams start shortly," he said now atop the tortoise once again. Striking a ridiculous pose he shouted, "Youth!" before being shrouded in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared he and the tortoise was gone.
Meshikamaru recovered first and practically dragged her two comrades along with her but not before she noticed Lee replacing his wrappings around his left hand. Quickly reaching a flight of stairs she spoke, "Either of you two see Lee-san's hand?"
"Yeah…" Rezano replied. "And? So what?"
"It's the condition they were in, looked scuffed and bruised to hell, I think I even saw a few stitches behind the knuckles. Do you have any idea how hard you have to train to leave your hands in that condition and still maintain full mobility in your fingers?"
Despite his tendency for arrogance, Sasuke kept quiet. He could at least understand the point she was making.
Finally reaching the third floor after their delays they were surprisingly greeted by Kakashi who seemed to have been waiting for them. "Ah, there you are," he chirped, although he raised the eyebrow hidden behind his Hitai-ate at the scuff marks on Sasuke's clothing. 'What happened there I wonder?.'
"I glad to see you all decided to compete. Remember I wouldn't have put your names forward if I didn't think you were ready." In the back of her mind, Meshikamaru doubted that.
"So get in there," he said hiking a thumb over his shoulder at the plain double doors behind him, a sign with 301 above them, "And impress," he said finally.
Stepping to the side his three Genin walked past him. Meshikamaru, either boy stood either side of her, pressed a hand on each door, "Okay you two, let's do this," she said before pushing them open.
The doors swung closed behind them, a light wooden thump as they shut again. With a quiet, deep breath Kakashi shunshined away.
-(*)-
"Huh, you know, this place is a plushier than ours, Kurotsuchi remarked looking around the open circular room. As a whole the room was rather plain, circular rows of sofa's occupied most of the central space, a large, healthy plant dead centre. A wide outer ring was devoid of any furniture or furnishings.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "It is?" he asked looking around the mostly threadbare room, how bad must their Standby Station be? "Oh yeah, yours isn't situated within a hollowed out spire of rock with everything made from stone. There's no insulation too, do you have any idea how cold winters can get in Iwa?"
"Uh… No," Naruto replied. His mind replaying his memories of Konoha's winters, how brief they were, how mild they tended to be. It could go three, maybe four years without snow. The village was situated far enough south to avoid the weather fronts that came southwards from Yuki no Kuni (Land of Snow).
Sure there was more than enough moisture to drive smaller inland storms but they didn't get much chance to build either. The terrain of Hi no Kuni was blanketed with trees, trees which were amongst the largest in the world, and occasionally the mostly flat terrain was broken up by sudden changes in elevation. The winds never got a chance to build into storms.
"I didn't think so and you don't want to, it's absolutely freezing but of course we're a Shinobi run village so simple things like insulation go ignored…" She actually sounded pretty annoyed Naruto thought given her tone of voice.
Their discussion on winter differences was stopped there as Naruto heard his name. "Hey, Naruto-san! Why don't you two come join us."
Looking over he could spy Kurenai's distinctive bright red eyes set against her black hair, she was waving them over. Naruto always wondered how, despite it being black, her hair seemed several tones lighter than Tri's or Itachi's.
"What the general rule of thumb for interacting here?" Kurotsuchi quietly asked him as he led them over. "Fairly informal, if we know each other well enough we tend to dispose of Honorifics. I'd suggest you stick with 'san', however."
"Ok, thanks."
"Kurenai, how are you?" he asked with a slight nod of the head. "I'm well, thank you."
"And you, Asuma?" he asked the Sarutobi sat next to her. "I'm good, kid," he replied, a lit cigarette in his mouth. "Is it just you two?" he next asked taking a spot of the sofa opposite them.
"Kakashi and Gai will be here eventually, I think they wanted to stop by the Academy to make sure their teams got there alright. The Exam is about to start so they shouldn't be much longer."
"Fair enough… Anyway, introductions. Kurotsuchi-san, this is Yūhi Kurenai and Sarutobi Asuma, two Jōnin-sensei whose squads are taking part today."
The Iwa Kunoichi briefly shook each of their hands, she also slightly eyed up Asuma, something he noticed. Naruto leaned in, "Yes, he's the son of 'that' Sarutobi," he said in reference to the Sandaime Hokage. Her eyes dropped as a little flush of embarrassment crossed her face, "Sorry," she muttered sitting down next to Naruto, Asuma just chuckled.
"Don't worry about it, besides I'm hardly the first relative of a Hokage you've met. Speaking of which, from one Hokage's son to another, where's your brother, Naruto? I thought he'd of been here or something considering how mind-numbingly bored he said he'd been."
"I'm not entirely sure where he is, to be honest. He did mention something about the second test, maybe he's keeping an eye on it or something."
"Masked?" Asuma asked, Naruto shrugged, "I wouldn't have thought so, there's plenty of them around already."
"Well he's hardly the most predictable of Shinobi is he," Kurenai grinned, Naruto and Asuma's grins joining hers. Kurotsuchi felt like she was missing something, "Okay, I'll bite. What inside joke am I missing?"
"She's referring to how unpredictable Tri-kun can be," Naruto answered. "Even though he planned meticulously he has a spontaneous streak, particularly when he's emotional."
"Spontaneous how?" He thought on that a few moments before something came to mind.
"Okay, so a few years ago Tou-san wanted to see how far me, Itachi-kun and Tri-kun had developed after our stints in the Jūnishi."
"And he wanted to trial run the new stadium," Asuma added. Naruto pointed at him, "Yes, that too. The three of us had one on one spars against prominent village Jōnin. I had Yamato-san, Itachi-kun fought Kakashi-san and Tri-kun fought…"
"Me!" Asuma whooped before Kurenai playfully clipped him around the head, much to the younger Jōnin's great amusement.
"Yeah… So cutting the story short, Asuma here was able to beat Tri-kun and then Jiraiya-sama said something that insulted Genma-sensei."
"Why?" she asked wondering how one of the Sannin fitted into this. "Firstly, you need to understand, Tri-kun and Jiraiya-sama hate one another."
"Wait… Really?" She had not been expecting that. "Oh yeah," Asuma said, "Properly loath each other."
Naruto nodded, "It was real hate at first sight… Anyway, despite losing to Asuma here, Tri-kun didn't appreciate him insulting Genma-sensei, so he immediately challenged Jiraiya-sama."
"He… actually challenged a Sannin?" she asked incredulously. "Uh huh, and at times he made Jiraiya look a right fool, Tri-kun is very good at dictating fights and Jiraiya-sama rather stupidly let him dictate it."
"H-he didn't actually win, did he?"
"No, no. Tou-san ended it when they started getting out of control."
"What do you mean out of control?"
"They were seconds away from flattening the entire arena..."
Her eyes bugged out a little. "Tri-kun had managed to get a chakra drain seal on Jiraiya which forced him to resort to Senjutsu in a bid to end it immediately. Tri-kun's reply was to resort to a Jutsu I and Itachi had forbidden him from ever using. After everything calmed down, Jiraiya-sama got one hell of a telling off and Tri-kun got suspended."
"I… Wow, I – what is that rumbling?" The others lifted their ears to listen and indeed there was a rumble growing steadily louder. "Oh, that'll be Kakashi and Gai," Asuma said. "Sounds like they're doing another challenge."
"Challenge?"
"It's something Kakashi and Gai do," Naruto leaned in to explain, "They're one another's rivals even if Kakashi won't admit it. Every now and then they do some sort of challenge, this would seem to be the latest one."
The doors leading out onto a balcony to the Standby station burst open and in flew the mask-clad Kakashi a mere fraction of a second before Gai did. Kakashi skidded to a halt stopping just before the sofa while Gai's momentum took him into and then over the sofa barely missing Asuma as he landed on the floor.
"I win Gai, that makes the score 50 to 50," Kakashi declared hopping over onto the sofa lightly landing next to Kurenai, his little book already in hand.
Gai stood again and flamboyantly pointed at Kakashi, "Don't you worry, next time I'll best you and retake the lead my dear rival!" After a few moments Kakashi calmly looked up from his book, "Sorry, Gai, you say something?"
"Oooo, Kakashi" You and that hip attitude!" Gai shouted, his enthusiasm unwavering.
Kurotsuchi simply watching on baffled by everything she'd just witnessed, 'This is so fucking surreal.'
-(*)-
'Well… Don't I feel popular right now,' Meshikamaru thought as everyone turned their heads to stare at the latest arrivals. In return, she carried a blank, emotionless expression on her face not wanting to show the small bout of nerves she currently felt. Her teammates held similar expressions. 'This is why I wanted to get here early. So I could do the staring,' she griped.
Casting her blank gaze across the room she spied Konoha, Ame, Suna, Taki Hitai-ates amongst a few others she couldn't make out. Amassed in one corner were the teams from Iwagakure, positioned as far away from the plates of metal signifying Konoha and Suna Genin.
"Sasuke-kun!" an all too familiar female voice cheered, a blur of platinum blonde clashing against the Uchiha's jet black as she practically jumped on Sasuke's back, all too eager to nuzzle her head against his. 'Oh joy, I have to deal with Ino already too…,' she bemoaned her poor luck so far this morning.
Yamanaka Ino had been Sasuke's number one fangirl back in the Academy, at times she was utterly unbearable so as amusing as the scowl on Sasuke's face was Meshikamaru kind of felt sorry for him. He'd had to put up with Ino sat next to him every day at the Academy and heaven forbid if you took that seat instead of her…
"If you could stop trying to glue yourself to my teammates Ino-san. I'm going to need him at some point," she drawled. Ino and Sasuke both scowled but for differing reasons while Rezano quietly snickered. Sasuke hated the glutton of fangirls he'd been borderline harassed by at the Academy and Ino was the worst offender. The long-haired girl, of course, was too busy trying to nuzzle him to notice she was the source of his ire.
"I see you eventually managed to find your way… Was expecting you to be the first here," a bored voice said to her. Turning from the sorry sight of Sasuke trying to get rid of Ino she answered, "And if my teammate here wasn't so damned popular with apparently everyone… Then we might have been," she replied to a boy with his hair tied up giving it the appearance of a pineapple.
He snorted in reply, "Why? Your popularity weigh you down or something?" he asked sarcastically, his hands stuffed into his pockets as they usually were. "…That's not entirely inaccurate," she admitted looked back at her two fellow cell members, both the sons of highly important clans in the village, sure she was a Nara but her clan could be considered a step down from the Uchiha and such.
"But if my late arrival is a surprise to you, then you're turning up at all is a surprise to me," she verbally jabbed at him. To others it might have appeared they were bickering but that wasn't the case, the twins got along very well, the sarcastic, back-and-forth and seemingly rude manner in which they spoke to one another was just how they interacted.
"Eh, I thought about it but if Kaa-san found out she'd yell at me and it's just too much trouble to deal with – Mendokusē." His words were intermittently punctuated by the sounds of eating, an ever-present noise where Akimichi Choji could be found and Choji could always be found at Shikamaru's side.
A giggle drew their attention back to Ino who was now trying to hold Sasuke's head against her upper torso which at 13 years old was just weird. Sasuke himself looked like he about ready to give up on life.
A short, high-pitched yapping noise made Meshikamaru's shoulders sag, "Mendōkusai…," she muttered under her breath, Shikamaru laughed, he always found it funny when she borrowed his catchphrase especially since she didn't do so lightly.
The yapping came closer announcing the arrival of yet another headache for her – Kiba. "So you guys are here too, good, wouldn't want people to question who the best of the 'rookie nine' is if only six of them take part," he said, that trademark toothy grin on his face. Kami how she hated that grin and his empty bravado, all talk – little action.
Inuzuka Kiba was flanked on either side by his two teammates, both of which she thought quite highly of. The first, Aburame Shino she considered a friend, he rarely spoke preferring instead to listen and only occasionally weight in on matters but rarely with his actual opinion and usually only when directly asked. She gave a polite nod in his direction, he reciprocated the action.
The second was Hyūga Hinata who may have also been the shyest person Meshikamaru had ever met, like Shino she got along well with her but she was more a 'friend of a friend' thanks to her strong friendship with Rezano. And speaking of Rezano she still struggled to hide her crush on him judging by the red tint on her cheeks.
"H-Hi everyone," she quietly greeted, so quietly in fact that several of the nine simply didn't hear her. Rezano wasn't one of them giving her a bright smile and a wave, actions she returned amidst a deepening blush.
Meanwhile, Kiba had started poking fun at Sasuke since he still hadn't managed to get free of Ino. All in all the collective noise the nine of them were making was steadily increasing.
"Hey, would you all kindly do the rest of the room a favour and shut the hell up," an older voice said abruptly cutting them all off mid-sentence.
Detaching from what looked like his own team and walking up to them was a Konoha nin with glasses, Hitai-ate around his forehead. Judging by appearances he was a few years older than them, perhaps sixteen or seventeen.
"You lot really need to pay attention, so I'd suggest you all wise up and fast."
"And why's that?" Sasuke challenged having used this newcomers distraction to finally break free of Ino's deceptively strong grasp, it seemed to have really strained his patience though because a fair amount of anger slipped through in his voice.
They held their hands in mock surrender, "Hey, I'm just trying to give you a heads up," he said. "It's not me you need to worry about but all of them," he said pointing at the rest of the room. Followed the direction his hand pointed they found pretty much the entire room glaring menacingly at them.
"Watch out for those right in front of you," he said walking closer deciding to have a little fun with them, "They're from Amegakure and are notorious for having short fuses."
"Uhh… Thanks – I guess… Who are you?" Rezano asked. "Names Kabuto and as I said, best open your eyes quickly lest this lot lose what little patience they have. This ain't no school trip so I thought I'd give you a heads up, wouldn't one someone to snap and beat the crap of you."
"I take it your speaking from experience then?" Meshikamaru asked with a straight face. "Why y… Oh very clever you almost caught me out there," he commended. After what he'd just said her question had a double-entendre answer. "Yes in the sense that I've taken the Exam before, not in that someone took their frustrations out on me," he said in clarification.
"Guessing by your age this is your third, fourth attempt?"
"Afraid not, this is my seventh…"
"Seventh…?" many of them repeated in disbelief. "Yup, twice a year for nearing four years. Suffice to say, I know what I'm talking about."
"Is that right? Any titbits you care to share?" Meshikamaru asked. Kabuto stared her down, she held his gaze without issue. "You know what, sure. Maybe it'll make the difference and get you through these Exams in one piece."
He knelt down, his hand fished around in his hip pouch and pulled out what looked like a deck of enlarged playing cards. "Gather round newbies I'm gonna share a few things with you. It's taken me years to mass the information held in these cards, you should consider yourself lucky, I don't exactly show them to everybody."
Rezano managed to catch a glimpse of one of the cards, "Uh Kabuto-san, are your cards supposed to be blank?"
"Blank you say, are you sure?" he asked placing one face up on the ground and lightly tapping it with his fore and middle fingers. Ink began appearing on the card, the ink formed into lines and words and soon enough a miniature map of the Elemental nations greeted them.
"Invisible ink?" Shikamaru guessed, Kabuto chuckled. "Wrong answer but right idea."
"Is it chakra? Ya' know since you only touched the card." This time he nodded, "It is indeed chakra. The information I've gathered over the years I transform into symbols and burn into these cards with chakra. Without chakra, the information remains secret but only my own personal chakra signature acts as the key."
"So it's some sort of Fūinjutsu?" Rezano presumed, Kabuto having mentioned symbols. "Yeah, pretty much."
With his explanation complete they all looked down at the card, the map of the Elemental Nations was underlined by a few brief bursts of text. Each was a village name and was followed by a number, the corresponding number detailed how many Shinobi that village had sent:
Iwagakure: 27
Sunagakure: 30
Amegakure: 21
Kusagakure: 6
Takigakure: 6
Konohagakure: 87
Otogakure: 3
All in all there was one hundred and eighty Genin participating.
"As you might expect, Konoha being the 'home team' means they have the larger number of participants but it's a big turnout this time around, certainly the largest of the seven I've been to. I've info on how each village tends to train its Shinobi, certain techniques, common styles…"
"Kabuto-san," Meshikamaru partially interrupted, "Do you have cards on individuals as well as entire villages?" she wondered. He was a little surprised by her request so it took him a moment or two to respond, "Sure, I should have something on most of the competition. Do you have anyone particular in mind?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I do," Sasuke butted in, "Rock Lee from Konoha and Gaara from Sunagakure."
"Oh good, you know their names, that greatly simplifies matters." Shuffling through his cards he soon fished two out and placed them on the ground.
Quickly tapping one of them, implanting a small amount of chakra revealed a picture of Lee. "Ok, first up Rock Lee. Graduated last year so he's a year older than you lot. To date has 78 completed missions, 67 D-Rank and 11 C-Rank, a decent tally for a year. He's primarily a Taijutsu user with almost no notable skills in other fields, that's kinda odd. Sensei is Maito Gai and teammates are Tenten and Hyūga Neji."
Unseen by any of them, Hinata flinched at the mention of Neji's name.
"Only Taijutsu…" Sasuke grumbled, the frustration of being beaten by Lee morphing into something more akin to shame. "Yup," an oblivious Kabuto chirped, "This is also his first exams, despite being considered a standout he and his teammates never applied," he added before tapping the second card.
A small picture of the same boy Sasuke had stared down last week appeared. "Alright, Gaara or Sabaku no Gaara if you prefer, a nickname I guess."
"Just get on with," an impatient Sasuke grumbled, Kabuto shot him an irritated look but didn't say anything. "
At the top left of the page was the symbol of Sunagakure indicating his village affiliation, next to the that was the emblem for Kaze no Kuni. A picture was flanked by info detailing age, graduation age, teammates amongst other things. Below the picture was a textbox, empty apart from a gourd similar to the one Gaara wore.
Most of the space that remained was dominated by a large pentagon split into five equally sized sections. Each section was individually titled: Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Ninja Tools, Genjutsu and Kekkei Genkai. This was where the two info sheets greatly differed, the pentagon on Lee's sheet was partially filled in easily highlighting his skill in Taijutsu whereas Ninjutsu and Genjutsu were almost empty. Gaara's, on the other hand, featured only a question mark.
"I guess it's harder to find info on foreign Shinobi?" Shikamaru asked and Kabuto nodded, "Yes, especially when they're still in the early stages of their career, despite that I think I've done quite well."
And finally tucked away at the cards bottom right-hand corner was the Shinobi's mission tally divided by mission ranking.
"Mission total is unknown," Kabuto said looking down at Gaara's card. "But I was able to find out he and his team have completed 8 C-Ranks and a B-Rank, to be fair that B-Rank is actually impressive. Teammates are his brother and sister who are one and two years older respectively. Also says here that Gaara has returned from every mission unscathed."
"What do you mean 'unscathed'?"
"Unscathed as in he's never been injured," he bluntly answered the question.
Looking up Kabuto looked across the room, "Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Iwa and Oto. Every village has sent the best of their next generation."
"What do you know about this Otogakure? I've never heard of them."
"A brand new hidden village from what I can gather based in Ta no Kuni (Land of Rice Paddies) which is strange in and of itself, Ta no Kuni is little more than a backwater."
"Hey, Kabuto-san…" Kiba began as he continued to look at the cards, "I was wondering. Do you have info cards on other Shinobi, ya' know, ones not competing in the Exams."
"Maybe… If they're well known enough, care to be more specific."
Kiba grinned as he roughly wrapped his arms around the necks of both Rezano and Sasuke, earning him the irritated grumbling of both. "I wanna know what the standards I have to surpass are and these two's brothers set that standard." The moment he said 'brothers' Sasuke demeanour immediately darkened while Rezano rolled his eyes.
"Names Kid… I need names," Kabuto said. "Uchiha Itachi, Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto and Uzumaki Tri," Kiba said, his voice boisterous as it normally was, so much so that some of the other nearby Shinobi heard him speak the names, their curiosity perked up as a result. "The so-called Prodigal Three, eh? Fairly famous Konoha Shinobi, I should definitely have something on them."
Picking up Gaara and Lee's cards Kabuto shuffled them back into the deck before beginning his search. Meanwhile, Shikamaru leaned in close to his sister, now stood next to the quiet Hinata. "What with the look on their faces?" he asked referring to Rezano and Sasuke.
Meshikamaru was actually beaten to the punch in answering by Hinata, "Rezano-kun doesn't like being compared to his brothers," she quietly explained, something Kabuto silently found very curious as he logged that little scrap of info away for another day. "And Sasuke?"
"Sasuke just doesn't like his brother…," Meshikamaru answered as Kabuto fished out the last of the three cards.
"Ok, who do we have first?" he wondered tapping the card. The card soon possessed a picture of Naruto, "Naruto it is then. Jōnin, graduated aged ten, Chūnin at eleven – that's impressive, then became a Shugonin Jūnishi for three years," Kabuto said reading off details.
Below Naruto's picture, the textbox was filled with the picture of two swords, "Holds two swords of growing renown, Kagizume and Kuchibashi. Highly skilled in Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu, possesses the Mokuton Kekkei Genkai…" Kabuto ground to a halt.
'How the fuck did I miss that!?" he mentally screamed in alarm, 'How did I miss the fact that the Hokage's son! Has Mokuton. Does Orochimaru-sama know?' So many hours went into planning and they had somehow overlooked a detail as important as this one, what else had they possibly missed?
'I need to look over all the Konoha cards I have in detail, just in case there's something else we missed.'
"Mission record is impressive for his age," Kabuto said picking up where he left off seamlessly. "63 D-Rank, 51 C-Rank, 37 B-Rank, 22 A-Rank and a single S-Rank."
Some of the arrogance had fallen from Kiba's face, the number of D-Ranks Naruto had completed in around the same time-span whilst being two years younger substantially outnumbered his own. Up till now, his team had only 12 D-Ranks, where had they found the time to do so many missions in-between training sessions?
Kabuto moved on to the next card, with the other two said to be in ANBU Kiba wasn't sure he wanted to see their records anymore. "Next up is Itachi," he said. "Same as before, graduated at ten, Chūnin by eleven, three years as a Jūnishi. That's one full graph, guess he ranks highly across the board." Sure enough, the pentagon was nearly completely filled in. "In addition possesses the Sharingan and also has a pretty stacked mission record, less C's and B's but far more A's and S-Ranks."
No one interrupted with anything to say so Kabuto tapped the third card to reveal Tri's picture. "And finally Tri, same early years but did a fourth year with the Jūnishi. Overall highly skilled, not to the extent of Itachi it seems but is considered by some to be a Fūinjutsu master despite his young age. Possesses two Kekkei Genkai, a true rarity both the Sharingan and Shakuton. Jeez, his mission record is even more top heavy… Twenty t… How has he completed Twenty-two S-Ranked missions!?" he asked in astonishment.
Meshikamaru looked at Rezano to see if he had an answer but he shrugged his shoulders, he didn't know.
Shikamaru was glancing across all three cards when he noticed something, "Kabuto-san, why does Naruto-san have a number next to total missions but the other two just have a question mark?" Pulled out of his astoundment he looked down and he was right, Itachi and Tri's records had a question mark whereas Naruto's read 174.
Kabuto thought on it a moment, patting a finger against his lips, "It may be classified missions."
"Classified missions?" Hinata quietly repeated not understanding. "Yeah, does anybody know some of the rules behind the dispersal of missions in Konoha?"
"All missions must be listed on a Shinobi's record," Meshikamaru said reciting a passage she recalled reading on rules and regulations. "Exactly," Kabuto said.
"But if they have to go on record, how are they classified," Hinata asked. "And you've hit upon the crux of the issue, by their very nature classified missions must remain secret but as sanctioned missions must also be listed on a Shinobi's record. As you can tell this leads to a contradiction."
"But by putting a question mark on the total mission tally you can fulfil both requirements by hiding it in plain sight," Meshikamaru said in as it clicked in her head. "Bingo," Kabuto grinned although in his mind it was a different story. 'Missed Kekkei Genkai, undertaking classified missions… Properly investigating these three should be one of my main priorities.'
"Would anyone oppose to our having a little fun with him?" a Shinobi quietly asked his two teammates. "Mm, that does sound like fun. After all, he was rather rude and his little information dossier seemed… lacking, referred to us as a backwater too… Let's make his ears ring."
As Kabuto picked up the cards and shuffled them back into the deck he stood. Putting them back in his pouch two of the three Oto trio made their move, a move that went unseen by most but not Kabuto who was fully aware of their true purpose in Konoha. They, however, were utterly unaware of his presence or purpose so while he saw them make their move he would do nothing.
Even after realising he was the target he would still do nothing, his cover had to remain intact, in fact, it would only strengthen his cover as one jumped high, the other stayed low weaving through the crowd of Genin separating them.
The one who'd gone high launched two kunai that looked more akin to thin daggers struck the floor just centimetres in front of him making him back. It also had the secondary effect of taking him out of his defensive stance leaving him wide open to the second. Time seemed to slow down for Kabuto as they were able to well within striking range. Pulling back his oversized sleeve revealed his entire lower right arm covered in some kind of metal device.
Whatever it was, it was swung at Kabuto's head but ultimately missed as he was able to lean back just enough to evade.
Knowing what to expect he wasn't surprised when the lens of his glasses cracked and shattered, thin shards of glass falling to the floor although the look on his face suggested otherwise as was intended. He was in the midst of taking his glasses off when the attack truly hit him.
His senses all at once went haywire, his ears began ringing, drowning out any other noise. His vision distorted until the room was spinning while his balance was thrown out of whack forcing him to drop to his knees. Then came the worst part as his stomach began to churn, 'I hate this part…,' he thought as his breakfast made its unwelcome return splattering over the floor.
As quickly as it had struck him normality returned to Kabuto's senses and he was able to hear voices, concerned voices calling his name. "Kabuto, hey Kabuto, you alright?" someone asked. "…Yeah, I-I'm fine," he replied. While some expressed concern for him, others were already analysing the attack.
"What the hell just happened?" Meshikamaru wondered, "Maybe he grazed him on the nose?" her twin suggested. "Maybe… But that doesn't explain why he threw up."
'He dodged that, I know he did, so what happened? Why did he throw up?' Sasuke wondered.
"Wow, little wonder you've been doing this for four years, you're hopeless ain't ya?" one of them sneered.
Before anything else could kick off they were abruptly interrupted by a huge plume of smoke that engulfed nearly half the room. A deep, booming voice cut off any remaining chit-chat, "Would everyone kindly look this way and shut the fuck up!"
The smoke cleared to reveal a cluster of new arrivals, they were clearly older than the vast majority of the Genin in the room. They each wore identical clothing even down to the black belts around their waists. And front and centre of this group was a huge man with a full-length black Trenchcoat, black gloves and a black bandana, his Hitai-ate attached to the front. His face featured several long, deep scars that all together made for one intimidating appearance.
An evil grin crossed his face, "Sorry to keep you waiting. My name is Morino Ibiki and I'll be your Proctor for the first Exam."
End Chapter