Chapter 62 – Chūnin Exam in Iwagakure IV

"Talk"

'Think'

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei.

The moment Team Gai landed on the ground, they knew something was wrong; emerging from the ground was ten wolves which bodies were made entirely from the earth. Fighting the wolves was relatively easy for Team Gai but what made it difficult was that they kept regenerating themselves.

"What a youthful challenge this is!" cried Lee passionately while kicking and punching the wolves.

Tenten unrolled her scroll and shouted "Bakuryūgeki!" and large flaming dragon emerged from her scroll and exploded upon contacting the wolves.

"We need to stop them from regenerating or we'll lose from chakra exhaustion" said Tenten, now wielding her bō.

"Byakugan!" said Neji and looked around. "I see" he said and pointed to his left "A seal was concealed there. It is chakra-sensitive, the moment we enter this area, we triggered it into releasing the wolves. The seal also collected chakra from its environment, namely us, thus allowing the wolves to keep on regenerating"

"Go Neji! We'll cover you" said Tenten while Lee gave his thumb up pose.

Neji nodded, he ran towards the seal when three wolves moved towards him, only to be stopped with "Dynamic Entry!" from Lee.

Neji looked at the seal with his byakugan, trying to find the line with the least amount of chakra and hit it with jūken. He turned and saw that the wolves were still around. Nevertheless, they did not regenerate when being hit by Lee and Tenten.

Neji gave a sigh of relief when he sensed an incoming danger. He turned and saw an earth-based needle was coming at him. He immediately cried "Hakkeshō Kaiten!" and released chakra from his tenketsu while spinning his body, resulting in a semi-circle chakra barrier to protect him from the attack.

"Tch" said a voice. Neji turned and saw that it belonged to a shinobi wearing Kumogakure hitai-ate in a bandanna-style.

"Not bad Konoha" said the shinobi from Kumogakure. His eyes widened when he noticed Neji's eyes "Ah…a Hyūga. Interesting" He smiled

"What's interesting?" asked Neji.

"It was my uncle who was executed for kidnapping your heiress-"

"So you want revenge?" asked Lee as he jumped in between Neji and Kumo shinobi while Tenten jumped next to Neji with her bō.

"Nah, not really. My uncle's demised caused my father to become the Head of our clan-" he explained while scratching his chin "-and me, once I've proven my worth, so it would be interesting if I could beat you, you see" he smiled.

"Save that for tournament, Sekiei" said a female voice. The kunoichi from Kumogakure had short brown hair with blue eyes and a tantō strapped to her shoulder

"Right now we need their scroll" said another voice. A stout man with brown eyes and a bald head appeared.

"You're right Ran, Ōkami" said Sekiei "Although it's 3 vs. 3 now. There's no reason why I cannot fight a Hyūga, right?"

"Tch" said Ōkami while Ran just rolled her eyes.

Ōkami, Ran and Sekiei were staring at Team Gai who returned the stare. Wind was blowing and a small gravel was rolling.

The moment the gravel stopped, Ōkami did hand seals and pressed both of his palms on the ground. Then, the three of them jumped backwards as more wolves emerged from the ground.

Neji immediately activated his byakugan, trying to find the seal 'He must have put it when I was talking with his team mate' thought Neji. His search was distracted when Sekiei attacked with his Doton: Doryūha along with two of the wolves.

While evading, he saw that Lee and Tenten was fighting the rest wolves and two members from Kumogakure, 'Smart, the talk implied 1 on 1 but they divide and conquer' Neji analysed the situation.

Neji collected chakra at his feet and landed in front of Ōkami which took him by surprise.

"Run Ōkami! Don't engage a Hyūga in close-combats!" yelled Sekiei.

"You are within my range, Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!" said Neji "Two palms! Four palms! Eight palms! Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Sixty-four palms!"

Ōkami landed on the ground, out cold.

Snarled, Sekiei began to attack him with his Retsudo Tenshin but was stopped by Lee. Lee kicked Sekiei at his head who attempted to use Doton: Kage Bunshin as replacement but failed due to Lee's speed.

Wiping the blood of his mouth, Sekiei saw that Ran was tied down by the Kusarigama of the girl from Konoha who took their scroll from Ran's pouch.

Sekiei smirked.

"Tenten! Let the scroll go! It's a trap" said Neji whose Byakugan was activated. He had noted the look on Sekiei's face.

Tenten noticed that the scroll was getting warmer. Making a quick decision, she threw the scroll back towards Sekiei who screamed followed by a loud blast.

A moment later, Tenten turned and saw Lee laid an unconscious Sekiei lying on the ground. In Lee's left hand was a Heaven scroll.

"Is-is that a real scroll?" asked Tenten.

Neji checked the scroll with his Byakugan and nodded, "It's real".

Tenten smiled and shouted "We've got it!"

"Yosh!" cried Lee.

Neji just look stoically.

Team Gai then moved to return to the hall.

End Chapter 62

A/N: During Konoha's Crush, Sekiei and his partner kidnapped Hinata. I just gave him his name as Ōkami. Ran is a kunoichi from Kumogakure.

Bakuryūgeki – Dragon Bomb

Doton: Doryūha – Earth Release: Mud Wave

Doton: Kage Bunshin – Earth Release: Shadow Clone

Hakke Rokujūyon Shō – Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms

Hakkeshō Kaiten – Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation

Hitai-ate – Forehead Protector

Jūken – Gentle Fist

Kumogakure – Hidden Cloud

Kunoichi – Female ninja

Retsudo Tenshin – Mud Needle

Tenketsu – chakra point