After her disastrous introduction to higher-ranking missions, Minato had returned to D-ranks for a whole week, before she even felt remotely ready to tackle another C-rank. The first step, though, had been to acquire some body armor, she really had wanted a better sword, but the truth was, that her cheap academy one, was good enough and the only proper step up would be a chakra conducting blade that cost ten times more than what she had. Besides, she needed chuunin clearance to buy the weapon, and to learn the techniques involved in using such a weapon.
This left Minato with more available money than she needed, and instead of getting a better sword, she started looking for armor. Better protection would have helped on her mission; she would probably have cleared the blast range if the shuriken hadn't penetrated her skin. Thus, she decided to spend a day shopping.
Besides stocking up on dark blue ninja grade shirts and pants, Minato also found a haori made from a dark red fabric with a simple black flames at the bottom, it just screamed nine-tailed demon fox of fire, so she quickly added it to her pile. For her armor, she bought a basic leather and mail chest piece, much like what she had seen the ANBU wear, except hers was a black. Another problem was applying make-up in the field, so she added a fabric half-facemask to her purchases; it even had the added benefit of protecting her sensitive nose.
After having spent a few days getting used to her new gear, Minato headed back to the mission office early in the morning, hoping to pick up a C-rank, when she heard something that derailed her plans. "…dammit, why'd the idiot have to go and get himself injured today, and just when the chuunin exams are held here in Konoha!"
The voice was accompanied by several agreeing dog yips, and Minato wondered for a moment how she could tell that, but really, being a canine, even one with nine tails and made from fire, she should be able to understand a distant relative, at least partially. "Hana, calm down. This isn't a sprint, you will get to be chuunin in due time, troublesome girl. Besides, it isn't like there are competent available genin hanging around the mission office or anything."
That was something interesting, Minato had considered the ways to make chuunin, and while learning under a jounin-sensei would be good, she couldn't just pass up a chance like this. Taking a quick look at the group, she saw a jounin leading a girl with several dogs, and a boy with pale eyes. "Umm… actually, sir…"
"…troublesome…" The jounin managed to utter just that word, and his genin seemed to take it as open invitation and pounced on her. Before Minato could even react, the girl with the dogs was holding her down, while the ankle biters were, biting her ankles. "…kid, you're a genin corps right? Show me you can keep up with these two, and the three of you are going to the exams."
"I'm Hana, the little ones are the Haimaru brothers, the stick-in-the-mud is Kou, and that's Suzaku-sensei, the laziest jounin in Konoha! He got promoted because Hokage-sama found him sleeping in archives." The girl laughed at her sensei's groan, and Minato wondered what was up with the team, Kou seemed to be staring intently at her. "Minato, I just graduated three months ago, though I have done a C-rank, and accidently a B-rank, which had me running from ninja for three hours straight."
"I like this one sensei, can we keep her, she's housebroken and everything!" Although the dogs had let go of her, the Hana still held her tightly. "Well… Kou, your thoughts?"
"I think Minato-san graduated along with our class. At least there was another person at the exams, someone with large chakra reserves." Minato nodded. "Yeah, I didn't really want to graduate that early, but the teachers had run out of material, and it was an opportunity to further my studies with the genin library instead. I hadn't actually planned on making chuunin for at least another year, but opportunity, again. Besides, the genin library sucks, unless you want to be a medic-nin."
"Cautious, but takes opportunities when presented, let's head to training ground seven and test your skills." With his piece said, the jounin leisurely strolled towards the training grounds, at around the pace of a geriatric man with a broken hip. Minato raised an eyebrow at the sight, it seemed almost impossible to move that slowly, but the sighs from Hana and Kou, told him that this was normal.
"That's enough kid, come here and let's talk." The jounin had been sitting under a tree, while Minato ran laps, tossed weapons, and used her limited ninjutsu. As she sat down in front of the jounin, he quickly whipped out a file, from… somewhere. "Minato, ten, female, genin, 012389. Glowing reports from the academy, graduated with a hundred out of a hundred on every test, noted for extreme chakra reserves, transferred directly into the genin corps, without being shown to potential jounin."
"Yes, with the most recent early graduation being more politically motivated, I didn't want to risk a jounin babying me, or having teammates much older than me, either would be detrimental to teamwork." The jounin nodded at her words. "That is very perceptive of you, well, you have what it takes to be a proper genin, and even a chuunin, though if you pass the exams you should still wait a year or two before jumping in on the B-ranks, they're much more dangerous."
"Yeah, but I am out of material from the genin library, except boring stuff." The jounin gave a commiserating nod, "it is… pathetic. Well, we'll do some training and D-ranks together, and if you fit in on the team I'll send the three of you off to the chuunin exams."
Working with Hana was a lot of fun for Minato, the girl was enthusiastic, and her three ninken were cute. Kou, on the other hand, was a stick-in-the-mud, uptight, and utterly annoying, though he seemed to respect her skill, as she could hold her on in their spars. By the fourth day, Suzaku-sensei had confirmed their application to the chuunin exams, and her genjutsu abilities had grown tremendously as she now had training partners.
"You took tracking? Are you any good?" They had been done with their daily training and integrating her in the team was coming along nicely. Kou too, gave a minute twitch of his eyebrow, on his otherwise stoic face as a subtle indication of interest. "After two years my teacher said my senses were almost on par with an Inuzuka, she was quite impressed, taught me a few secret techniques to enhance my senses as well."
"Wow, that's pretty awesome, was your teacher from my clan?" Minato quickly nodded. "Yeah, her name was… Tsume, I think. Kinda scary at first, but super nice once you got over all the growling and barking and wetting yourself."
"Wow, mom taught you? For two years? And you're alive?" Suddenly Hana got a strange look in her eyes, "…you are alive, right?" Minato just rolled her eyes.
The haphazardly renamed Team 7-A, stood in front of the academy, their original member, an civilian boy with very little skill in anything, was still in the hospital, and from what Minato could understand, it might be for the best if stayed there for the remainder of his career.
"Ladies, shall we?" With a team suddenly composed of three very competent individuals, the prickly Hyuuga boy had mellowed out, and even started babying Minato, much to her annoyance. Still, it made teamwork a breeze, they all had their abilities, and they could work well together, perhaps, if they all made chuunin, they could work as a team in the future, the prospect enticed all three of them. Hana quickly added her own comment, met with eye rolling from the two. "Yeah! Watch out world, Team 7 dash A is coming!"
The classroom had a tense atmosphere, just shy of a hundred genin each trying to emit bloodlust certainly felt awful, though for Minato it was no more than a spring breeze compared to what she'd felt on her first C and B-rank missions. Before Hana could do something foolish and draw unwanted attention to them, she grabbed the girls hand and led her to a quiet corner.
Holding back her laughter turned out to be the hardest part of the first exam, at least as far as Minato was concerned. Ten questions, cheating is encouraged, and you just need one correct answer to pass, the questions were certainly tough, a genin wouldn't be able to answer them fresh out of the academy, though any chuunin should be able to get a few right.
"Maggots! It is time for the tenth question! There is a new rule for this question, if you stay and take the question your teammates lose their chance to compete at the exams, permanently. Get it wrong, and you lose your chance at taking the exams ever again as well." This was actually more difficult than Minato had expected, if she hadn't liked Hana and Kou, she would probably have stayed, even thigh there was something fishy about it. Either way, that was neither here nor there, and she quickly left the classroom behind.
"…ahh, too bad. I like you guys too much to do something like to you, even though we've only known each other for a week." Minato gave a big sigh, it was a bit of a disappointing end, but then, she had made some good friends, which was really worth more than the promotion. "Yeah, sucky test, throw your friends under a wagon on a maybe, or just bail out. Besides, I want to be a veterinarian and medic-nin, most of the stuff I need is in the genin library and with a recommendation from Suzaku-sensei I can get in to the med-program. So there is no hurry for me."
"Same, my rank in the Konoha forces doesn't matter as far our clan techniques are concerned, I'll learn them when my skill is sufficient, no earlier and no later." Kou added his own thoughts to the situation, and Minato nodded along. "Yeah, I know. I have years, before I'm even at the ordinary graduation age, and I'm picking up on my genjutsu and elemental transformation on my own, they'll take time, and being a genin is probably better I terms of training time."
Just as team 7-A were leaving the academy the burly looking exam proctor pulled them into a classroom. "Congratulations maggots, you have passed the first exam. Not sacrificing your comrades on a maybe, was the correct answer, now wait here with the other winners."
In the end, six teams passed. Two from Konoha, and one each from Ame, Kiri, Tani, and Kumo. They were standing in front of a large fenced off area, with plenty of warning signs. A small stand held the proctor for the second part. A man that Minato thought looked vaguely familiar. "So, six teams huh… not an impressive showing this year. Anyway, on with the show! My name is Aoba, I'll be your proctor for this phase of the exam, now here are the rules…"
Half an hour later and team 7-A was standing in front of gate forty-four. "So get a pair scroll, high-tail it to the tower, don't peek? Did I miss anything?"
"Nah, you got it in one, Minato-san." Kou deadpanned. Hana was still shaking slightly, and her three ninken were looking a bit more green than grey. "You guys! Can't you hear what's in that forest? It's a deathtrap; literally I can smell death coming from the place!"
"Chill, Hana, we'll make good time, besides, we have some competition to knock out, and we're a tracker team, filled with combat specialists, if we can't survive a stroll through a forest, we have no business being chuunin." Her attempt at bolstering Hana's confidence would have gone a lot better if she hadn't sounded like such a scared little girl, this forest reminded her too much of running from enemy ninja.
Between Kou's Byakugan and the five available super noses, team 7-A quickly found their first target, the Kumo team. With a quick rush attack, they had the team captured and tied up in seconds, the Hyuuga's gentle fist making it an easy endeavor. "See, easy as pie, now where is their scroll… ah! dammit, Kou! It's an earth scroll!"
"Sorry, I was certain it was the heaven scroll…" Minato narrowed her eyes at their teammate, she knew it was bullshit, but something made him very pissy about Kumo. Something personal, so she decided not to enquire further. "Fine, where's our next target?"
It took them eight hours to reach the next team, but by early nightfall, the Kiri team was well within the senses of all members of team 7-A, or at least they should have been, but the chakra laden mist blocked Kou's enhanced sight. This left him at a disadvantage, as he had to rely on his ordinary hearing, "remind me to train my other senses once this is over." With that, Team 7-A spread out and entered the mist, heading for the sound of sleeping ninja.
It seemed too easy. That was Minato's first clue, the enemy was apparently sleeping, though she couldn't quite tell if it was two or three of them. Really, the mist should have tipped them off, it was a ninjutsu, and required a constant supply of chakra, though thin it provided more than enough cover at night.
They hadn't even taken a second step, when the sound of sleeping disappeared, and the area went quiet. Still, the other team underestimated them, thinking them helpless in their trap. Though quiet, Minato easily heard the sound of approaching footsteps, then a swirl in the mist, and she quickly dodged the kunai aimed at her throat, again thanking the sadistic Mizuki-teme.
"Bloodline users! Kill them!" The shout came from where Kou would be, and it got Minato nervous, she wondered why they hated bloodlines. Still, she had no time to ponder, as a figure burst from mist, holding a kunai ready to stab her. "DIE BLOODLINE BASTARD!"
For a moment, the world froze, and all Minato could see was the snarling expression on the Kiri ninja, an expression that left her in no doubt about his intentions. She was going to die. The ninja was planning to kill her, unless she did something. There was only one appropriate response. With a single fluid motion, Minato drew the short blade from her back and dragged the tip across her opponent's throat.
The world returned to normal, and Minato stared at the strange sight in front her. The guy was clutching his throat, trying to stem the red liquid leaving his throat. In the distance, she could hear the muffled sound of kunai clashing, shouts of anger, and yipping of dogs. Still, she couldn't take her eyes off the guy in front of her, he was trying to speak, and looked at her with such hatred that it sent chills down her spine. A hatred that reminded her of a time before the academy, of a time where she wasn't herself, a time when she… "MINATO!"
A hand roughly shook her from her thoughts, and Minato regained her focus, around her, everything was quiet, the guy was lying on the ground, nonliving. Hana was next to her, hands firmly clasped on her shoulders, shaking her. "…are you hurt?"
No, she wasn't hurt, she was fine, she hadn't even been touched, there was nothing. A slap across her face, brought Minato from her stupor. "Mina-chan, are you hurt anywhere?" She shook her head no, and Kou stepped in, forcing her to look at him rather than the nonliving person on the ground. "Was this your first kill?"
The words jarred her enough, and the strange cotton-like sensation in her mind disappeared. "…yeah… I- I killed him, I just and then he was there bleeding and he was dead…" Her voice was hoarse, barely a whisper, and felt like she had been screaming, but she hadn't, she was sure she hadn't. Hana gently wrapped her arms around her, hugging her, and Minato relaxed.
"Let's head to the tower, other teams have heard the fighting and are heading here." At Kou's words, they set off, the boy guiding them directly to the tower, and to safety and a bed. That was all Minato could think about, a bed, and a shower, she needed a shower, to wash of the filth, she felt dirty.
It had taken most of the second day to bring her out of her depression, but the stoic and calm Hyuuga and the warm and fuzzy Inuzuka easily managed it together, never leaving her alone, but giving her quiet. By the morning of the third day, she was back to normal, or as close to normal as she would ever get. "Does it get any better?"
"Not really, it sucks, but with time, it gets easier to handle, easier to deal with. You get used to it, this is my third kill, it was easier, the guy wanted to kill me so badly, leaving me with no other option than to do my best, and which killed him." Beside her, Hana nodded at the words, then added her own. "To protect your king, you sometimes have to strike at the enemy's. The king, what you would die for, and for those that would die for you, to protect them, you kill. Sensei's words, I thought them more fitting than the Inuzuka one's."
"What do the Inuzuka's say?" Minato looked at the girl expectantly. The words had been good, but they lacked something, they didn't quite, fit.
"Everything for the pack." They fit.
"Everything for the pack." Minato parroted, the words, they fir her, she liked them, they were right, they felt true. Everything for the pack, she wasn't sure what her pack was, but Hana and Kou, they were something. She wasn't sure what yet, but maybe that is what pack should feel like, hopefully something like it. Taking a deep breath, she felt the stress finally leave her body; she was a bit more broken, but it would heal with time.
By the fifth day, Team 7-A was going a bit stir crazy, they couldn't leave the tower, and they couldn't train properly, there was no entertainment, nor was their much in the way of food, unless you counted the various ration bars. Mush with curry, mush with pepper, mush with sugar, mush with something Minato couldn't identify, but that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
By the fifth day, the surviving teams were called down to the assembly hall, where the Hokage, and the respective jounin-sensei's waited for them. Just two teams had passed, Team 7-A had forgotten all about the extra earth scroll, but it was obvious that with that, there could only be one other successful team.
Letting his gaze sweep across the room, Hiruzen took note of the remaining candidates, six, it was a rather low number for this year's chuunin exam, but at least it also meant no preliminaries, he had better things to do than watch children trying to kill each other. His gaze landed on the smallest of them, a young orphan with a rather unfortunate, or could it be fortunate, name, Minato.
The child had come to his attention years prior as a possible Uzumaki survivor, and as luck would have it, one of his jounin had been on gate duty at the time. Aoba had recognized the potential political ramification and made certain the situation didn't hand Danzo another pawn, a trait that had made Hiruzen offer the man a promotion to full jounin, which he had turned down, sadly.
Just thinking of his old friend made his blood boil, Hiruzen was certain that the man had taken little Naruto. Even now four years later, their little shadow war was still ongoing, at least with time he had stripped away Danzo's little puppet soldiers and most of his power. With a shake of his head, he let the thoughts of the secret war fade and returned to the job at hand.
"Congratulations! You six have passed the first two stages of the chuunin exams; the trails that led you here have been long and arduous. This is but a glimpse of what you will have to face in the future as chuunin…" Hiruzen let the words flow, by now he knew the speech inside out, having held it well over thirty times in the past.
The words continued to leave his mouth fully independent, and Hiruzen considered the Naruto situation. The loss of their Jinchuuriki was, not a small matter, but not too big a blow considering they never publically had one before. The political capital he had been hemorrhaging to keep the child alive and out of Danzo's claws, well, without that flow… a small smirk played on his lips.
Two of the Ame genin dropped out, smart kids, Hiruzen conceded. All of the members from the Konoha team were chuunin material and would be promoted, and though he wished they could spend longer as genin, it just wasn't an option. 'Maybe he could skip on the Uzumaki child?' A traitorous thought entered his mind, but he quickly squashed it, the child was the top pick for chuunin.
'Time to conclude this', Hiruzen thought as the remaining four genin each drew a number. "This ends the second stage of the chuunin exams, the final stage will take place a month from now at the stadium, you may spend this month to train or relax, as you see fit, you can see your jounin for details later. Good luck to you all, and may Kami bless you."
"Well kids, you did slightly better than I expected." Suzaku yawned as he looked the three of them over. Minato smiled, even though she had only known the man for a week, she had already realized that he could predict anything with a very high accuracy, and to perform above his expectations was near impossible. "Now, for the next month, I assume your mother will help you most days Hana, and Kou, your grand-uncle will help you?"
It wasn't really a question, but both of them nodded, and Minato watched as Suzaku turned his gaze to her. "That leaves just you, Minato-chan. I will help you train four days a week, and I'll call in a favor to get some extra help for you. Kou, you get Mondays and Hana gets Tuesdays, now remember, these are exhibition matches, when up against your comrades, help them show off. I don't want to do this troublesome thing again."
"Ah… Suzaku-sensei," Minato interrupted their teacher before he could go back to napping on the grassy field. "I have something I want work on for this month, I don't know how long it will take, but I won't need help right now, so where can I find you later?"
"Minato you wonderful student… I'll be at the Nara clan compound; do you know where that is?" Minato shook her head in response, she really needed to see a map of Konoha. "it's in the northeastern area, just look for the place with a bunch of people sleeping on the grass."
Minato and her teammates laughed, even Kou seemed amused by this. "We'll meet here the day before, for some last minute talks and preparation, now let me go to sleep already." With his piece said, Suzaku dropped to the grass and closed his eyes. "Shall we have a late lunch? Sensei is clearly more interested in sleep than food, but I for one need something other than ration bars."
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