Chapter 50 – Chūnin Exam II
"Talk"
'Think'
Flashback
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei.
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A/N: Thank you crazby and Darkjaden for your supports.
Hokage Office
"Orochimaru may be planning something" said Shisui gravely to Jiraiya and Kakashi. He showed a file belonging to Yakushi Kabuto "Based on this file and Danzō's note, this person should be dead, either being killed by his foster mother or Orochimaru. Ibiki noticed him during the first stage of Chūnin exam. He was handing out shinobi's particulars which a mere genin could not have known"
"He's a spy?" asked Kakashi.
"Most likely, from his records, he made it to the second round of Chūnin Exam, on the last day before quitting. This happened seven times in a row" said Shisui.
"No one picked that up?" asked Kakashi incredulously.
"Different exams have different proctors, Kakashi. It was by chance that Ibiki happened to read files that were left by Danzō. On most days, he remained inconspicuous and under the radar" explained Shisui.
"Unfortunately-" Shisui continued "-we lost him. After he left during the second exam, I assigned an ANBU to tail him. We heard from neither of them since then" Shisui looked worried.
"You are right. I was informed that Orochimaru was seen in Ta no Kuni on multiple occassions. There're also rumours that he is gathering shinobi clans from Ta no Kuni" informed Jiraiya.
"What is your take on that?" asked Shisui.
"He was interested in learning all jutsus so he could lure them to study their secret jutsus. On the other hand, he could be planning something bigger. I'll leave tomorrow to check on that" said Jiraiya before shunshin off.
Shisui then turned to Kakashi and asked "How are they progressing?"
The following day
Naruto was walking towards the training ground, feeling a bit nervous. He remembered his conversation with Noriko many nights ago while they were in Uzu no Kuni.
"Did you tell Hinata about us…you know, being a jinchūriki?" asked Naruto.
"Yup" answered Noriko flippantly "I told her everything…well, almost everything. I didn't tell her about you being a jinchūriki"
"Why?" asked Naruto.
"Why what? Why I told her or why I didn't tell about you?" asked Noriko back.
"Both" answered Naruto promptly "Sasuke knows I'm keeping a secret. He asked a few times. I-I don't know whether to tell or not…what if he hates me after I told him?" asked a fretting Naruto.
"Then he's not your real friend" Noriko turned to Naruto "If he truly is, which I think he is, he'll accept you. I was worried about the same thing, but everything turned out fine. I also got Hinata to tell me her troubles. We ended up being a better friend"
"You're early" said Sasuke which interrupted Naruto's thought
Naruto grinned at him "You got a moment? I want to talk to you about something?"
Sasuke raised his eyebrows "I've got all day"
…
…
…
"You didn't tell me before…?" asked Sasuke.
"I was afraid that you might hate me" confessed Naruto.
"You think I was like those idiot villagers?" Sasuke asked indignantly.
"You would too if you spent you whole life being shunned and hated!" Naruto answered back heatedly.
"Sorry" said Sasuke.
"...you hate me now?" asked Naruto.
Sasuke punched him "What do you take me for? An Idiot?"
Naruto grinned "You are" and attacked Sasuke thus started their spar.
"I heard you have to fight with your cousin, is everything okay, Hinata?" asked Noriko.
"It could have been worse, but before the Chūnin Exam, our fathers called us and reminded us that we are families. That never happened before. I think they are planning something, I wish I knew" answered Hinata before asking "How was your training with the Kyūbi?"
"I'm getting used to his power although that was just a tiny portion. Then we have to go back because Jiraiya-ojiisan had to report to the Hokage. What are you doing now?" asked Noriko.
"All of us that participated in the Chūnin Exam are given time off. For now, I'm helping Shino-kun preparing for his final. How about you?" asled Hinata.
"I need to diversify my attacks" answered Noriko.
"What do you mean?" asked Hinata.
"We are up against S-rank nukenin. My attack mainly is using Katon, jūken, kunai and shuriken. Don't get me wrong, I like jūken, but I don't have anything that is mid to long range. For now, I use Katon for long-range and jūken for short-range but I would like to have more in my repertoire. When I was training with Tenzō, I cannot use jūken against him so all I can do was evade and Katon. That's when I realized I had limited jutsu" explained Noriko.
"How about Rajah?" suggested Hinata.
"He was more stealth-kill type, and short-range too. When we were at Uzu no Kuni, Jiraiya-ojiisan showed us his summoning animal which was huge, as big as the Academy. I was thinking, if I was attacked by something of that size, I cannot defeat it!" said a panicked Noriko.
"You are thinking too much again" said Hinata, trying to calm Noriko down "I've heard about a technique that I think you can use. It's mid-range though. I don't have enough chakra for it, but I don't think it will be a problem for you" Hinata smiled.
"Are you sure? You are sharing a technique to a non-Hyūga" teased Noriko.
"You are a Hyūga" said Hinata gently "I'm just telling you how it works, so technically, I'm not divulging a secret "Hinata grinned " This technique is called Hakke Kūshō… … …"
A couple of days later, afternoon
Noriko was grinning at the fallen training log. Hinata was right, the technique did used a lot of chakra. It took her many trials to figure out the method and many more trials to release the right amount of chakra for the training log to be dislodged and fell on the ground. Now she got to remember it and perhaps, increased it bits by bits.
"Now I know why I've got reports that the training logs were unusable" said Shisui.
End Chapter 50
Hakke Kūshō – Eight Trigrams Air Palm
Jūken – Gentle Fist.
Katon – Fire Release
Nukenin – Missing Nin
Ojiisan – Grandfather or Elderly man
Shunshin no Jutsu – Body Flicker Technique
Ta no Kuni – Land of Rice Fields
Uzu no Kuni – Land of Whirlpools