Naruto: Shattered Destiny:
Chapter 6: The Exam
"Sea Otter!" Mei-chan shouts excitably, I snap my head around to the ocean pool.
A sea Otter climbs out of the pool cracking a clam on the edge, trying to break it open and get at it's yummy insides. "Can we go see the otter!?" I beg Goro.
"Technically you're not supposed to be here, I don't see why they can't." Zabuza-san tells his sensei.
"I don't see why not." Goro says after a moment.
"Yay!" Mei-chan and I both shout, sprinting out to the pool.
"Don't startle it." I warn her.
"Yeah, yeah, get to close and it'll run… Let's see how close we can get." Mei-chan wonders, grabbing my hand and almost pulling me off of my feet.
"Hey!" I say with a laugh and a large grin.
We slow down as we get close enough for the otter to look up at us cautiously. Once we stop and don't get any closer does it go back to cracking the clam open.
I sit down and drop my legs into the pool, watching the otter eat from a safe distance. "I love Sea otters." Mei-chan says in a whisper.
"You too?" I guessed as much given how excited she seems. "Sometimes Sea Otters will pass my house and I get to watch them swim."
"Lucky! I live inland on Kimi, so I don't see them that often."
"Kimi? Isn't that the island where the Mizukage's office is at?" I guess.
"Yup." She nods. "We don't see him as often as everyone says."
"Really? I'd thought that you'd see him all the-" A shark fin passes by my legs and I jump. "How'd a shark get past the barrier!?" I look at the barrier separating the academy from the ocean, it's intact.
The sea otter sees the shark and hisses at it, backing away from the water's edge. "Goro?" I call.
"Goro!" Mei joins me.
"Goro?"
"Goro."
"GORO!"
Together now. "GORO!" We shout at the top of our lungs.
"What?" he pokes his head out the door.
"There's a shark on academy grounds!" I point into the water.
The Jounin approaches and looks into the water. "Sure enough." He puts on a rebreather and jumps into the water.
Mei-chan and I are stunned speechless, well, almost. "He."
"What."
"Shark."
"Why."
"Huh!?"
"He's talking to it." Zabuza-san observes.
I jump at his voice. "Zabuza-san!"
"Why's he talking to the shark?" Mei-chan asks, watching them communicate.
"It's a summon, it wouldn't come inland unless it was important." Zabuza says.
"Summon?" That's one of my skills, are summons relevant to the skill?
"Can't summon's talk?" Mei-chan asks.
"Yes, they all can."
"It looks like a normal shark, how're you supposed to tell it's a summon or not?"
"If it decides to chat with you."
"If?" I pipe up.
"They don't feel bad about eating humans as we do eating fish."
"That's horrible!" mei-chan almost gags on the words, echoing my thoughts.
"How strong are you two?" Zabuza suddenly asks, changing the subject.
"I think I'm pretty good, especially with my fire." I hold a hand up and ignite it.
"I can beat him in Taijutsu." Mei points at me.
"For now."
"In your dreams."
"You wish."
"Compared to the others?" Zabuza clarifies.
"Why?" I ask. "Why's that so important, aren't we going to take some test?"
Speech has leveled to 5. +5 Character XP (101/100). You have leveled to 3 (1/125). Talent point available. One Attribute point available.
I glance at the notifications. "There is no test, it's a brawl."
"A brawl?" I ask, entering the stars.
Would you like to increase your health, chakra or stamina?
Just like last time. I increased my chakra last time, should I increase it again? But won't the other stats be way to low? I'll put it into health.
Health has increased to 110.
"Yeah, those left standing will pass the exam."
"Then what's with the math and japanese classes!?" Mei-chan erupts.
The stars form, I'm glad I can still chat with what I can't see. "I'm a first year, why am I going to fight my seniors for the right to become a ninja?" I furrow my brows.
"It's just how it's done." Zabuza gets cold. "Like it or not."
I look at the One Handed talent constellations and take One Handed Mastery.
One handed Mastery(1/2): One Handed weapons deal 50% more damage, and critical strikes with One Handed weapons will do 2% more damage per level of One Handed.
Sounds good, my tonfas use both one handed and taijutsu.
I walk alone down the hall towards the exam room, it's finally time to show off what I can do. I step up to the double doors, stopped by a notification.
Warning, you are about to finish the tutorial with unfinished quests, are you sure you want to proceed?
I put my hand on the door to push it open.
Pick your constellation:
Three constellations appear with names beneath them.
Warrior. Thief. Mage.
I'm no thief and I don't know what a made is… so Warrior it is.
Warrior constellation chosen, Combat class skills gain double experience.
What? Experience? I shake my head, this isn't the time to wonder, I'm almost late. The doors close and I see that I'm the last one here, Goro delayed me just to say he's sorry for the deception.
I don't think I can ever forgive him. We're in a large square room with very little markings on the floors, the seats for observers are suspended over the arena with adorned pillars, the Mizukage is up there with several jounin… Goro is with them and he looks anxious. He's talking with the Mizukage.
With a sigh, I approach the rest of the group. "Oh, it's fireboy."I'm greeted.
I'm one of the few first years in the exam, of course Junichi would be here. "Hey Junichi, ever hear the saying?" I put one of my tonfas away.
"What?"
"Play with fire and you're going to get burned." I ignite my hand and hold it out threateningly.
"You won't be allowed to use that." He snarks.
"Future Shinobi!" The Mizukage calls, demanding our silence. "You have been selected out of the rest for how remarkable you are, whether you are a prodigy-" Junichi grins. "Or have mysterious powers-" I grin. "Or have otherwise proven yourselves strong enough to become shinobi of Kirigakure." He clears his throat.
"You have been selected to go through with the Graduation Exam, however most of you won't be graduating, because you will fight one another."
I was expecting this, thank you Zabuza for the headsup.
"To the death!"
My heart stops and I nearly drop my tonfa. There is concerned murmurs in the crowd. "There are no rules, we will stop the exam when there are only a few left standing."
Quest Added: Life or Death:
Pass the Exam: (100/12)
"No one will leave until the exam is over, no matter how long it takes." He settles back. "Begin!"
I'm in shock, so are some of the others.
-5 hp.
A fist collides with my face, staggering me backward. Junichi punched me.
-8 Chakra.
I send a wave of fire in his direction, shooing him away. He yelps and it's as if a lid were popped off a jar.
-5 hp.
Someone hits the back of my head, I turn around and slug whoever it was with my tonfa.
+5 Taijutsu XP (10/325). +5 One Handed (5/300).
A glow shockwaves through both my arms and tonfas as I slug my assailant, knocking him back. Kunai are drawn and it only gets worse.
My assailant swings a Kunai at my face, instinctively I bring my tonfas up to block.
+10 Block XP (10/200) -2 health.
I still take damage from blocking, I nearly forgot about that. I duck the return stroke and shove a tonfa into his solar plexus, knocking the air out of him and onto the ground.
Does that count? Is he out of the fight? I didn't kill him. To my horror another student comes up and stabs the boy on the ground, in the neck. He pulls the kunai out and brandishes the bloody knife at me.
With a gulp I get into a stance and we circle one another. Something bumps my back and I jump. "Mei-chan?" I ask startled.
"Keiki?" She's equally startled.
I don't want to hurt my only fri- Knife!
-10 health.
The kunai sinks into my shoulder and I let out a yelp. My new assailant pulls out his kunai and I use my good arm to swing at him, he jumps back and out of the way.
I don't think I can use my arm anymore- nope it works just fine. The wound stings but that's about it.
The kunai comes back, this time for my throat.
Quest Updated: Life or Death:
Pass the exam: (90/12)
Tip: You are fighting a fellow Shinobi, use Sparks to drain their chakra reserves.
Sparks? Should I necessarily make myself a bigger target than I already am? I didn't notice the flames in my hand being replaced by sparking electricity.
I miss the block, the knife gets too close for my liking, instinctively I throw flames at him, except it's Sparks instead of Flames.
-19 Chakra. +19 Elemental Ninjutsu XP (33/150)
Electricity spreads across his body, my eyes go wide… when did I swap to Sparks!? "When did you learn to do that?" Mei-chan asks me, pressing her back against mine.
She's not going to try and kill me? Relief floods my system. "Right now." I tell her.
"Liar, you can tell me after… if we make it out of this." She hesitates as she stabs a student in the neck.
I look up at the Mizikage and Goro the moment I get a free chance. People have turned their attention to me because of the sparks in my hand, but then others kill them from behind and try to get at me. There is so much blood on the ground.
The Mizukage is watching without emotion, Goro is besides himself with worry. A knife slips into my neck.
-10 Health.
Tip: Get Critical strikes by hitting vitals.
"Ow!" I yelp, pulling the kunai out of my neck and pushing whoever's trying to put it back in away.
Pass the exam: (70/12)
Every time someone dies the number goes down, did we really start with a hundred?
The Mizukage is overseeing this, so this isn't wrong… right?
He wouldn't have us doing anything wrong, he's supposed to protect us and make sure we're not doing anything wrong… If he's here then that means that this isn't wrong, right?
+5 Taijutsu XP (15/325). +5 One Handed XP (10/325)
I slug the closest target, besides for Mei-chan. It's nice that I can trust her.
(65/12)
Is he moving? I know I hit him hard, but it's no different from my other strikes. My hands are -chan pressed hard into my back, pushing me forward with a yelp.
When did Zabuza arrive? He's sitting in the bleachers with the Academy instructors, Goro, and the Mizukage.
I grab my other tonfa and start dual wielding. I can feel Mei's weight vanish suddenly, I look back for just a moment.
Just a moment.
-10 Health.
Which is long enough for a kunai to slip between my ribs, how am I still moving?
Snapping my head around, I thrust my tonfa into my assailants solar plexus-
+5 Taijutsu XP (20/325). +5 One Handed XP (15/325)
-she staggers back clutching at her chest.
I follow by bringing both weapons down on her neck, she doesn't get up.
+15 Taijutsu XP (35/325). +15 One Handed XP (30/325)
(60/12)
This is fine, this is okay, if it wasn't the Mizukage wouldn't make us do this.
Right?
I can feel my heart pounding, it feels like it's trying to burst out of my chest. It hurts so much!
+10 Block XP. -3 Health. (20/200)
A katana clashes with my tonfa. With a quick motion it slips around my guard and across my chest.
-10 health.
I try to block again, but I'm overwhelmed.
-10 health.
-10 health.
My health bar is dropping very quickly, the panic is settling in.
-10 health.
Tip: warning, health low. Restore it by waiting for it to regenerate, eating food, or using Jutsu like Healing.
Healing? I glance at my hands. Nothing, I thought Tutorial was supposed to-
-10 health.
-80 Chakra. +80 Elemental Ninjutsu (123/150)
I fire two fire bolts straight into his chest, taking him by surprise and- If I wasn't scared before, seeing what I just did, did. The bow collapses to the ground, shock in his eyes, becoming glossed over and frozen for the rest of time.
My hands continue flaming as the smoke rises from the scuffle.
(59/12)
After a few moments my health starts regenerating, but it's painfully slow. I'm not watching that, I'm numbly staring at the corpse.
The rest are sleeping, I'm sure I didn't do anything lethal to anyone else… but him? There's no denying it, he's dead.
Someone jumped for me.
-8 Chakra. +8 Elemental Ninjutsu XP (120/150)
A little bit of fire has her keeping her distance. I'm so numb that I can't tell who it is, if I'd recognize her.
I threw a bit of fire here and there to keep people away, and before long they stopped caring about me altogether, but still occasionally-
-8 Chakra. +8 Elemental Ninjutsu XP (132/150)
I burn his backside, making him jump back into whatever's left.
(37/12)
I'm almost always out of chakra, my chakra regenerating as quickly as my health. Both painfully slow.
"Enough." The mizukage calls. "ENOUGH!" I can hear him enough to look up at our kage, he's snarling at the students still fighting.
Eventually the fighting stops.
Quest completed: Life or Death:
Pass the Exam: (37/12): Early Finish!
I let my arms drop and flames die. I scan the crowd, is Mei-chan okay?
Zabuza had jumped down and is helping her out of the arena, her arm is burned and she's covered in cuts. I'm as bad off as she is… minus the burns.
"Hey Keiki, are you okay?" Goro is by my side.
"Goro-sama?" I ask, looking up at the man I once trusted. "This is okay, right?"
"Yes Keiki, this was what you were supposed to do." He nods sadly, picking me up. "I told him you weren't ready, that you shouldn't take place in the exams, that it would defeat the purpose of the exams." He's getting increasingly angry.
"Was something wrong?" I ask.
"You were a first year in a class of third years." Goro says. "None of the training or conditioning that they've gone through."
"Were?"
"You graduated, you're a genin now, Keiki." He drops the news.
"I'm a ninja?" I wipe away the tears. "I did the right thing?"
Goro sighs. "Yes Keiki, you did."
I'm deposited by the Headmaster's office on the third floor with a view of the rest of the students on the ground floor. My chest is covered in bandages, I'm wearing cloths provided by the academy, my other clothes were torn apart.
When my healthbar filled up the pain stopped. Except for the one in my chest, that one is slowly fading.
"Keiki?" The door to the headmaster's office opens. "Please come in."
Wordlessly I enter. "Am I in trouble?"
"No, no." The headmaster shakes his head. "Congratulations are in order."
"Congratulations?" Shouldn't I be with the rest of the students? "But-"
"You're to be kept separate from the rest of the students, for your own safety." The Headmaster interupts me.
"Why did we have to kill each other?" I ask.
"There are a lot of missing nin, Keiki-kun, people who've abandoned thier villages and who've taken up banditry." The Headmaster begins. "This helps desentitizes you to what needs to be done." He says as if trying to convince himself.
"Goro said I was a first year in a third year class."
"That's…. True." He stiffens. "Someone influential knew what you could do, and was impatient to see it in action, hopefully this is the last time."
"Why's that?"
"Having the graduating students kill one another isn't good for bolstering shinobi ranks, especially in a war."
"War?" What relief I was feeling is now gone. We read up on the first and second shinobi wars, when did this one start?
"Yes, What happened down there isn't remotely close to what would happen if our enemies get into our village." The Headmaster picks up a bundle from off his table and hands it to me.
I unwrap the headband with my nation's symbol engraved into it, four slashes to indicate waves, crashing against a single foe. "A headband?"
"Put it on, wherever you want." The headmaster urges. "This marks you as a shinobi of the Hidden Mist, you'll be assigned your team… next week at the earliest."
"My team?" It still sounds foreign.
"Listen, you've been through a lot." He reaches over and pats my shoulder. "Rest, I know what it was like to be in that arena."
"Why weren't we told?" I ask.
"What do you mean?" He asks, suddenly confused. "Everyone knows our reputation as the Bloody Mist Village."
"I didn't!"
"Where do you live?"
Angry, I tell him. "You live outside the reef!" He exclaims. "Your family's probably never even heard about it!" He settles back in his chair. "No wonder you shut down after you burned a hole through Kaemon's chest!"
I'm speechless. "Your sensei will be made aware of your situation so he can personally train you, trust me when I say that you weren't the first one to shut down during the exam, and pass it."
Author's Notes: And done, sorry for the delay, I'm managing to keep it under two weeks per update so I'm more than happy with that! I swear someone's updating the wiki for everything revolving around the hidden mist as I find new things every time I go there -_-, regardless I hope this was a satisfactory conclusion to Keiki's time in the Academy. And as always thank you for reading this and the previous bits!