Chuunin Exams Part 5
This is before Madara begins to manipulate the third Mizukage.
(-)
The Chuunin who entered with him cleared his throat. "Your next test will be survival," he announced in monotone. There is a cave system outside of the village which you will be brought to. Each team will be given one of five plain metal coins, each engraved with the Kanji for one of the five primary Chakra natures. Your objective is to obtain a coin which your coin can defeat. For example, if your coin said fire, you would need to find a coin which said wind. If your coin says earth, you want to find a coin that says water. It doesn't matter how, as long as you complete your objective. You will be in the caves for three days and you will not be allowed to leave. The only rule is no killing. You will be monitored the entire time. If you do not obtain and retain your coin and the coin you need, you fail this test. Realistically, only about twelve teams will pass at maximum. There are forty teams total. To help you find the coins, each coin emits a small rhythmic chakra pulse. Good luck. Trust me, you'll need it. Follow me to the caves."
Leading them out of the village by the shortest route possible, the Chuunin walked fast enough some of the younger Genin found themselves jogging to keep up. The teams hissed strategies among themselves.
"If you can't see, you can't make seals!" Minato pointed out as soon as he made sure no one could hear.
"Are you sure the cave is going to be dark?"
"Yes."
"You can navigate in the dark pretty well, right?"
"I don't like the dark."
"Why? Scared of the monsters under your bed?"
"Not the monsters, the memories."
Kushina did not prod any further. "I could overpower that glow seal we use to work late without anyone knowing. It might not blind a Jōnin, but it'll get a Genin. You dive in and take the coin since you're the sensor."
"What about getting around?"
"No lights, but I can trust you not to run me into any walls, right?"
"Get those seals you talked about ready."
"I almost forgot to tell you, all of your belongings, save one item, will be replaced with a basic shinobi kit," the Chuunin smirked. "Don't worry, you'll get your things back as soon as the three days are over."
"What are we going to do about food?" Someone asked.
"It will be in the kit."
"Change of plans, I'll take the backup sealing kit disguised as a scroll on the theory behind the Kawarimi," Minato hissed in her ear. "We'll put all our stuff in protected scrolls so they can't go through it. I don't think we'll need anything beyond a basic kit, and sealing stuff, right?"
"Your kunai?"
"Right, can you bring one of those? Preferably one that has another sealed in the handle."
"Got it, I think the proctor is glaring at us."
"Are you two quite finished with your conversation?" The proctor asked politely.
"No, but we'll pause just for you," Kushina answered cheerfully.
"Boys, you're going to my right, girls to my left. Blondie, Redhead, and Team Thirty-One, you're staying here."
The Genin split off as they were told while the five asked to remain stood stiffly.
"Congratulations. You five have received an advantage for this round for your scores in the previous exam. You may keep all of your belongings. I hope you have food on you, because you will not be receiving any extra rations." He held out two small pouches. "These have your coins in them. We know what coins you have, so if you don't find the coin you need, you can't switch it with two others. I will return when it is time for you to enter the caves."
Each team took a pouch and backed away cautiously. While Kushina stood behind him and peeked at their coin, Minato assessed the other team. Their forehead protectors declared them to be from Kirigakure. Minato's sharp eye caught the panicked looks the team sent each other before they turned their backs to him and began to mutter among themselves. Quickly slipping his fingers into Kushina's pocket, he pulled out the seals which amplified his hearing and placed it just inside his ear. As soon as he activated it, he could hear the other team's whispered conversation.
"Who's going to hold onto the coin?" The largest of them, a dark-skinned boy with hair the exact same color tied back in a ponytail, asked his teammates.
"I vote for irony, Taichi has a lightning affinity and our coin says lightning," the girl smirked.
"Fine, I'll carry it," Taichi sighed. "We have a bigger problem. The only food we have is a handful of Ryouichi's energy bars, which certainly will not last three days if we have more than one or two fights, and we don't have a sensor to help us find the other coins we'll need."
"Minato," Kushina tugged on his arm. "Of course our coin is fire."
"Perfect," he answered with a grin. "I know exactly how we can breeze through this exam."
"Care to share?"
"Follow me." Minato pulled the seal out of his ear and marched up to the other team, Kushina on his heels. "I heard you guys have a problem," he started.
"What's it to you, Konoha?" The largest boy answered, turning towards the two of them.
"You need a sensor. I'm a very good one. You need food. We have plenty of it. Best of all, your coin is lightning, ours is fire. Your best bet would be to team up with us. What do you think?"
"What do you get out of this?" The girl demanded.
"As you can see, we're a two-man cell. Our victory is not certain should we face any three-man cell. If we team up with you, it increases chances of defeating any opposing teams we come across, as well as our chances at passing this exam. Also, if we team up, we will be able to hoard the coins and decrease the chances of other teams from passing."
"What about the signal they send out? Logically, the more coins we have, the stronger the signal becomes."
"I can temporarily neutralize the signal," Kushina inserted. "It's easy, just put them inside of this scroll. It blocks everything inside from being sensed."
Everyone stared at her, appalled.
"What?"
"That scroll is for carrying dead comrades," Taichi answered.
Minato shook his head. "Genin aren't issued corpse scrolls, why did you take it?"
"It's made of sealing paper. I wanted to know what was on it," Kushina answered defensively. "Besides, the seal makes everything inside of it completely undetectable, unlike a normal storage seal, which things inside of it can still emit a signal."
"Please excuse my teammate," Minato turned towards the Kiri team.
"What?" Kushina demanded.
"And you call me dense! Showing someone from a different village a corpse scroll is considered a death threat," Minato explained patiently.
"I didn't mean it like that!" Kushina squeaked, distraught.
"Considering you're the only two-man team to make it into the second exam, you seem worthy to team up with," the Kiri girl chuckled. "You obviously know about sealing and look like a tomato when you blush. To be able to overhear our conversation you must be a pretty good sensor, Blondie, even if you don't look like you can take a hit. We'll agree to the alliance." She held out a hand.
Minato and Kushina just glared at her.
She grinned and pulled back her hand. "I'm Yuki Naoko. The big guy is Saito Ryouichi and the other boy is Hashimoto Taichi."
"Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina," Minato gritted out.
"Konoha's been holding out on everyone! Those clans are supposed to be all but dead!"
"Shut up," Minato and Kushina snapped together.
Each of the teams assessed each other. On the Kiri team, Ryouichi was the only one built like a fighter. He wore armor and leather gloves with metal embedded in the knuckles. Strapped around his waist was an assortment of small, odd-shaped knives and a short tantō. A second tantō was strapped across his back. His feet were bare. The girl did not look like much, with pale hair framing her equally pale face. She wore a washed-out colors and a black jacket tied around her waist. She appeared more fashion-obsessed than serious about being a shinobi, but her surprisingly high chakra reserves indicated there might be more to her story. Taichi appeared to be part of Ryouichi's shadow, easily overlooked. Even his skin seemed to blend in to the larger boy's shadow. He wore only mottled dark grey and the entire outfit seemed specifically designed to disguise his movements. The entire Kiri team was at least three years older and a full head taller than Minato and Kushina.
"So what kind of food do you have?" Taichi asked curiously.
"Ramen!" The two Konoha Nin exclaimed happily.
"Ah, and how are you going to make the ramen?"
"Seals," Minato answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Anything else?" Naoko asked, tentatively.
Kushina shrugged. "Ration bars if you want them, but I would recommend the ramen, it'll give you more energy."
Naoko grimaced. "Too many calories, I think I'll stick with ration bars."
Kushina rolled her eyes as the proctor returned. "Follow me," he ordered, without even looking at them. They obeyed and followed him down a confusing maze of meandering hallways and stopped at a random point, touching the wall. "A door will open here in exactly seventeen minutes. You will have one minute to go through. As soon as the door closes the exam begins. There is only one rule, no killing. Kiri, stay here. Konoha, you're going through a different door. The proctor turned his back and walked away.
The two Konoha Nin turned to follow but Taichi darted forward and grabbed Minato's wrist. The blond turned toward him alarmed, automatically drawing his kunai.
Pressing his team's coin into Minato's hand, he whispered in the blond's ear, "Hide the coins in the scroll as soon as you enter the caves then find us."
Minato nodded and rushed to catch up to Kushina and the proctor as Taichi's teammates glared at him.
"You better have a plan," Ryouichi glared menacingly at his smaller teammate. Minato was out of earshot before he could hear the rest.
Ten minutes later, the proctor stopped and touched the wall. "In nearly seven minutes, a door will open here for exactly one minute. As soon as it closes, the exam begins. I hope you remember what I told the other team, because I'm not repeating myself." The proctor vanished in a shunshin, leaving only a few pebbles behind.
"Taichi-san gave me his coin, and said to put them in the scroll as soon as we enter the caves," Minato said as soon as he determined them to be alone. "He also told me to find them."
"Then we'll do as he says, he obviously has a plan and we don't."
"I think I have an idea what his plan is."
"Do geniuses have some sort of psychic connection now?"
"No, think about it. The proctor said the second exams will be held in caves. The coins can be sensed and there's coins hidden in the caves. Why would we need to sense the coins if we could just look for them?"
"Make it easier?"
"No, caves are dark. He probably figured out its going to be dark in the caves."
"Well, I doubt it will be pitch-black, I mean, standard shinobi gear doesn't come with flashlights."
"True, but the majority of higher-ranked missions take place at night, and it's pitch black or nearly that when it's cloudy out, especially so when you're not in a village."
"That means, Taichi thinks the same thing. They don't have a sensor on their team, and I guess he realized that none of them have any way to make a light. We don't have any light either and we don't know any fire jutsu. We'll be as blind as them!"
Minato flinched. "I don't need light to see."
"What do you mean? How?"
"I don't want to explain, just trust me."
"Fine. You'll tell me after this exam is over, right?"
Minato shrugged and they settled into an uncomfortable silence until the door opened. The two stepped through and waited for it to close. Sure enough, as soon as the door closed there was no light to be found.