Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), some moderate Dumbledore bashing (he's more manipulative than evil but mostly just stubborn), and who knows what else.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter 5: Life Goes On
Satoshi's eighth birthday found Team Twelve traveling towards Suna to participate in the Chuunin Exams. The past ten months had wrought a considerable change in the once happy and carefree boy and if his friends and former teammates could see him now, they'd be saddened by the rather stone-faced and unemotional shinobi that had risen out of the ashes of his grief. As it was, Satoshi rarely saw anyone outside of his father, brother, and current teammates because of how busy everyone had been since the Kyuubi's attack. The entire village had struggled to present a strong front during those same ten months to avoid being painted as an easy target to their enemies on top if their efforts to rebuild what had been damaged during the attack.
Over the course of the nine and a half months after their formation, Team Twelve learned to work well enough together, though the older three members of the team often wondered if Satoshi was emotionally attached to the team or not since he never displayed any emotion. Aoba had, at first, hesitated over nominating his team to participate in the Chuunin Exams but he knew the older two had more than earned the chance to attempt the exams and signed them up at the last minute. The fact that Satoshi had previously participated in an exam meant that there was no real reason not to allow the eight year old another shot at the exams as well.
They had missed out on the chance to take the exams in Konoha as they'd been out on a escort mission at the time and because Aoba was not aware of the agreement Kushina had previously made with Shibi about Satoshi's next attempt at a promotion taking place within the village, he put his team forth for the exams in Suna the night before the teams were due to leave.
Shibi wouldn't learn of their acceptance into the exams until after they'd already left for Suna; Satoshi had left him a note when they missed each other by mere hours on the day the teams left Konoha. Shibi was less than pleased that there had been little to no warning about his son heading off to his second attempt at the Chuunin Exams and silently cursed Aoba for not speaking to him first. He then went to his supervisor and promptly demanded to be given at least five weeks off so that he could join his son in Suna and train him if he should pass the first two portions of the test.
He was granted the time off with little hesitation and Shibi spent the next two weeks taking care of anything that wouldn't be able to wait. Two weeks after the five teams participating in the task had left the village, Shibi made his way to Suna with a few other Jounin and a small handful of Chuunin (including Kotetsu and Izumo) who were interested in watching the elimination rounds after the second task and help train those Genin from Konoha that made it into the Tournament. Safely strapped into a carrier on his back, Shibi carried an eighteen month old Shino; three year old Shinichi had long since returned to the care of his mother after she'd been released from the hospital five months earlier.
Unaware that his father was pulling strings in order to follow him to Suna, Satoshi entered the Suna Academy alongside his older teammates and the three of them slipped into the classroom where the written portion of the test would be held with little trouble. The protocol for the exam was nearly identical to what it had been when he'd participated in the Kumo Exams and Team Twelve had no problems completing the written portion of the exam in record time; and they hadn't even needed to resort to cheating. The trick question at the end involved Suna's Jounin administer stating that they would be required to face their fears in order to pass; the proctors of the exam claimed to have gathered detailed information about each Genin's fear from their Jounin sensei over the course of their stay in Suna before the exams actually began.
Satoshi saw through the bluff immediately because he knew that Aoba had no clue about his greatest fear since he'd not exactly opened up to his new team and he was the first one to stand up to accept the challenge with his two teammates scrambling to follow his lead. The moment the door closed behind them after they walked into the room where they were to face their fears, screams rang out; though the members of Team Twelve never opened their mouths. As he'd guessed, the threat had been a bluff and the three of them passed the first portion of the test because they'd been willing to face their fears in order to continue the 'mission'. The screams had actually been one of eight random recordings that were played the moment the door closed in order to shake up those Genin that were still on the other side of the door; a rather cruel psychological attack designed to weed out the weak-willed and weak-minded.
Of the sixty-seven teams that had entered the Chuunin Exams, only thirty-three would be participating in the second task and of the five teams that had been sent from Konoha, only four of them had passed the first portion of the exam. Out of the ninety-nine Genin moving onto the next task, Satoshi was by far the youngest at eight with the next youngest being an eleven year old boy from Suna by the name of Otokaze. Once the final passing team stepped through the door, the ninety-nine Genin were informed that they were to present themselves at the entrance to the village at eight o'clock sharp the following morning in order to participate in the second task and that those who were late would be disqualified.
Satoshi was up well before dawn the next morning and he took a quick sponge bath, pausing for a few minutes to stare at the five diagonal scars that marred his torso before he dressed in his usual dark red pants, turtleneck, knee high boots, and blood-red high collared jacket. He secured his hitai-ate above his left knee and replaced the dark red bandana on his forehead; a fond but bittersweet memory of the day Obito had given him that particular bandana crossing his mind briefly before he began strapping his various weapons and storage pouches into place.
He had two cases of senbon attached to his right thigh, another case attached to his left thigh, two utility pouches hooked onto the back of his belt (one holding kunai, pre-made exploding tags, a medical kit, and storage scrolls containing a survival kit, camping equipment, and a large supply of food and the other pouch containing blank seal tags, blank scrolls, several bottles of different colored ink, paintbrushes, pens, pencils, an eraser, a penknife and a small bag of drying sand). Lastly, strapped crosswise across his back was the matched pair of wakizashi blades that Kushina had given to him a year earlier on his seventh birthday.
The eight year old glanced at his reflection one last time before he returned to the hotel room he was sharing with the rest of his team. He settled himself on the window sill while he waited for his teammates to wake, focusing on his Kikaichu to make certain they were prepared for the upcoming trial; his swarm only numbering around nine thousand individual bugs because he hadn't fully replaced all of those he'd lost during his first Chuunin Exam. His water bugs were currently unhappy at being in the middle of a desert but they were otherwise healthy since they remained safely tucked inside of his body. The rest of his swarm was in top form; including the five hundred or so that he'd sent out to explore the village the moment they'd arrived.
His teammates would rise at exactly six-thirty to prepare for the day and Satoshi only paid them half a mind as he continued to monitor the Kikaichu that were exploring the village. Once they were ready, he would follow along behind the two teens as they met up with the other three Konoha teams that had passed the first task. The twelve Genin then traveled through the village towards the assigned meeting point in a single group in order to reduce the risks that another village's team might ambush them to knock them out of the running before the second task even started.
The four Konoha teams participating in the task would be the third group to arrive at the meeting place, those teams from Suna being the first and two teams from Kusa being the second. At eight sharp, a dozen Sand Jounin arrived and escorted the thirty-three teams out of the village (none of the Genin teams daring to be late because they hadn't wanted to be disqualified). The Jounin led them north along the manmade cliff that surrounded Suna for several miles, until half an hour later the entire group came to a stop overlooking an oval canyon where they could see a huge circular construct taking up the middle of the canyon floor. Around the outside of the strange, squat building were huge sandstone doors; each one with seven deadbolts locking them in place.
"Welcome to the Caverns," the same Sand Jounin from the day before announced with a feral grin and far too much excitement. "The second task of your Chuunin Exams will be taking place within the maze that was built inside of the Caverns. The objective of the task is to collect four stone tablets…" The man held up a square tile made from quartz with the kanji for air carved onto it, a granite with the kanji for light on it, a square tile made from sandstone marked with the kanji for earth, and a fourth square tile made from coral with the kanji for water.
"…of which there are exactly fourteen of each type scattered throughout the maze. In order to pass this part of the exam your team must have one of each tablet, all four tablets must be undamaged, and all three members of your team must be alive when you reach the center of the maze. You will have fourteen days in which to find your tablets and navigate your way to the heart of the maze. In two weeks time, if you have not collected a set of tablets and reached the center of the maze, your team fails this task."
A flurry of worried murmurs broke out amongst the gathered Genin; a number of the older shinobi shifting nervously as they stared down at the ominous looking building sitting at the base of the canyon. Satoshi thought the Caverns sounded suspiciously similar to the Circle of Death; meaning that the maze was filled with deadly creatures and hidden traps with the added element of dead ends and confusing turns added in for fun. The fact that they were being given a total of fourteen days (instead of the seven that had been given to get through the Circle in Kumo) meant that it was much harder to navigate the maze than it was to travel through the seventy miles of caverns and tunnels beneath Kumo's Administration Building.
Unless the extra days were because the tablets were well hidden and they wanted to give everyone a fighting chance to get all four. Before Satoshi could give the matter any more thought, the Jounin had continued speaking and he turned his attention back to older man.
"A word of caution to those of you who enjoy causing explosions," the shinobi solemnly intoned. "Once you enter the maze you will be underground and any explosion that weakens the structure of the maze will bring the entire thing down around your ears. Likewise, those of you thinking to use a doton jutsu to make shortcuts are advised against trying to shift the walls of the maze since you will weaken the supports keeping the ceiling above your heads. Any questions? No? Good… for those of you who are considering quitting, now is the time to do so; once you are inside of the maze there is no backing out of this task. If you are prepared to start the task; please step forward with your teammates to sign the waver and your team will be escorted to an entrance."
There was never any hesitation in any of the twelve Genin from Konoha about backing out at this point and the lot of them stepped forward at the same time in order to collect the waivers. Once they had signed the forms, Team Twelve was led down into the canyon to one of the huge doors built into the structure. The closer they got to the round building the larger it got until the walls of the building were looming above their heads ominously. Satoshi silently wondered if Obito would have been nervous if he'd faced the same challenge three years earlier instead of earning a field promotion before he ruthlessly shoved the thought out of his mind as their guide began unlocking the seven deadbolts that held the door shut fast.
"Go ahead and step inside; the inner gate will open at exactly nine-thirty signaling the start of the task."
The moment they were all the way inside, the man behind them closed the door, shutting out the only source of light as the sound of the deadbolts being shoved home filled the room. Satoshi immediately dug into the left hand utility pouch on his belt, pulled out a flare, and activated it so he could check out their surroundings with his two teammates doing the same a heartbeat later. The three of them then spent several minutes inspecting the gate blocking the entrance to the maze as well as every inch of the small rock and dirt room they found themselves in.
"Cozy little room," Nanami declared sarcastically as she wrinkled her nose at the dank smell that permeated the room.
"Smells like mold," Toshiro added and Kariudo woofed disdainfully in agreement as the ninken sniffed around the gate leading deeper into the Caverns. "See anything worthwhile on the other side?
"No; the walls are sealed to prevent anyone from seeing beyond them but there are no barriers to prevent anything from passing through the holes in the gate," Nanami replied with a huff as she activated her Byakugan in order to scan the area beyond the gate and immediately found a barrier had been erected to prevent her from seeing beyond the room in which they'd been locked.
"Not really surprising," Toshiro replied as he leaned against the wall and turned towards the youngest member of their team. "Satoshi-kun, can you…?"
"They're already inside," Satoshi murmured in his now standard quiet monotone; referring to the fact that he'd already sent a number of Kikaichu through the gate to explore the maze without waiting for the others to tell him to do so.
"How long until the gate opens?" Nanami inquired as she turned away from the gate.
"Fifteen minutes."
Toshiro and Nanami then spent the time remaining debating the merits of hunting down a set of tablets verses laying traps to steal some other team's tablets while Satoshi monitored his swarm's progress. They'd just decided to hunt for the tablets and ambush only if they couldn't find all four within the first seven days when the gate squealed as it began retracting up into the ceiling. Uncertain if the gate would stay open or close after a certain amount of time, the three Genin and one ninken quickly stepped out of the room.
Once inside of the maze, the quartet paused just long enough for Satoshi to point them in the direction they would need to travel in. Nanami scanned the tunnels every five to ten minutes to check for threats (both living and non-living); though she could only scan the tunnels they were traveling through since the Byakugan could not see through the walls of the maze due to the composition of dirt, rocks, and minerals that made up the walls. Toshiro and Kariudo continuously scented the air for pockets of poison, dangerous gasses, and hidden enemies that escaped Nanami's hindered eyes.
Satoshi in the mean time played navigator as his Kikaichu flew and crawled through the maze unseen by both the denizens of the Caverns and their competitors. It only took Satoshi's swarm three hours to discover there were multiple levels to the maze with each level representing a different element. Once they had that information, it didn't take them long to figure out that the four tiles that were required to collect had been hidden in the level that represented the element that had been carved onto each tile. The four of them then systematically moved through the levels to find and gather the tiles while doing their best to avoid the other teams.
Team Twelve would set a new record for Suna's Chuunin Exam as they cleared the deadly maze in less than seventy-two hours; mostly thanks to Satoshi's Kikaichu and Nanami's Byakugan. That gave them eleven days in which to rest and train, plenty of time to assess the other thirteen teams that passed the second portion of the exam, and enough free time that they could explore the underground oasis that made up the heart of the maze. The three Genin were careful not to reveal exactly how they found one of each tile so fast or made it through the maze so quickly since they didn't want to give up any advantages.
The majority of shinobi just assumed it was Nanami's Byakugan that allowed them to clear the maze while Kariudo's nose led them to the tablets; few of them believing that Satoshi could have contributed much to the task due to his age and size. Aoba was just thankful that the three of them had made it through the task without getting injured; the Jounin well aware of just what kind of creatures lived within the maze and just how cruel some of the older Genin could be in their efforts to win.
There had been a few encounters with some of the deadlier inhabitants of the Caverns, namely the leeches in the underground lakes on the lowest level, the sand worms within the maze itself, the giant lizards on the third level, and the giant rocs in the uppermost caverns but the three of them (plus the ninken) managed alright. Satoshi used his water bugs to neutralize the leeches and his affinity towards creepy crawlies meant that the sand worms (which were actually a species of giant centipede) didn't bother them overly much while those that did were quickly and easily dispatched.
The giant lizards and birds of the upper two levels, on the other hand, had been a bit more of a pain though Toshiro and Kariudo dealt with both quite adequately while Nanami helped them to avoid most of the overgrown creatures with her Byakugan. Satoshi mostly hung back during those encounters; both creatures well known for being carnivorous and he was still small enough to make a tasty treat for the enormous creatures; leaving him to provide backup from a distance through his Kikaichu and some of his mid to long ranged jutsu (like the water whip).
On the fourteenth day, at exactly twelve o'clock in the afternoon, all fourteen teams that had passed were asked to gather beside the manmade lake in the center of the underground oasis so they could be given the details regarding the third and final task of the Chuunin Exam. Only one other team from Konoha had made it through the second task and the six Leaf Genin stood together off to one side of the other teams as an unfamiliar Sand kunoichi stepped forward to address them.
"Congratulations," the woman called out as she let her eyes take in all fourteen teams. "You have each shown that you have the resourcefulness or ruthlessness necessary to successfully navigate your way through the Caverns within the time limit. However, only thirty of you may continue on to fight in the Tournament and that means you'll be required to fight in a series of preliminary rounds in order to determine which twelve of you will be eliminated from the exams."
There was a bit of grumbling that broke out over that revelations from several of the participants but Satoshi had expected it since he well remembered the preliminary rounds that he'd been forced to drop out of during the last Chuunin Exam he'd taken part in. He was mildly pleased that he and his teammates had had eleven full days to relax and that none of them had been injured during the task (not counting a few scrapes and bruises); though you couldn't tell just by looking at him.
"We will be dividing you into three groups with one person from each team being placed into each group," the kunoichi continued once the muttering had been died out. "You will then face one opponent, who will be randomly selected, from each of the other two groups. You will be awarded points for technique, power, creativity, the number of hits landed on your opponent, how quickly you dispatch your opponent for each of the two battles you will participate in, and ten points for each match you win. The thirty people with the highest scores at the end of the three rounds will be the ones to participate in the Final Tournament. Are there any questions? No? Then please find your teammates and line up in a single line, three to a row, so we may assign you to your group."
Team Twelve ended up somewhere around the middle of the line due to the pushing and shoving taking place by the older Genin from the other villages. Ten minutes later, Satoshi accepted a folded slip of paper with his group assignment on it and opened it to find he'd been placed in the B group with Nanami being assigned to A and Toshiro ending up in C. A year and a half ago, Satoshi might have been concerned about facing one of his teammates in a spar but the eight year old hadn't really grown attached to his new teammates like he had been to Kotetsu and Izumo despite the fact that they'd been together nearly a full year now.
Splitting off to join the other Genin that had been assigned to the same group as him, Satoshi nodded cordially to his two teammates; an equivalent of any other shinobi wishing the two of them good luck. The other Konoha Genin in his group was unknown to Satoshi so the two of them didn't gravitate towards each other as some of the other Genin from different villages tended to do. In fact, the eight year old stood separated from the rest of the shinobi in the B group by a good five feet and instead of feeling uncomfortable or singled out; the eight year old stoically accepted the fact that he was once again alone.
Rather than allow himself to become nervous while he waited, Satoshi used that time to study the Genin in the other two groups while all of them waited for the preliminaries to start. He paid extra close attention to those individuals that were from villages that had hostile or rocky relationships with Konoha; such as Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri. He also did his best to categorize each of his potential opponents by fighting styles based upon their visible weapons and uniforms as well as their village of origin.
Forty-eight minutes later, Satoshi faced a seventeen year old Sand Genin from the A group on the sandy beach just beside the manmade lake that sat in the center of the oasis. Their match lasted less than ten minutes as Satoshi used an earth jutsu that the Sandaime had taught him to block the teen's wind jutsu before using the water whip Kushina had taught him to pull the teen off his feet while his burrowing Kikaichu burst up out of the ground and drained the teen's chakra. During the entire time, Satoshi hadn't said a single word and had not moved a single muscle except to form the needed hand signs for both jutsu and use the whip to trip up the other Genin.
He was awarded eight points for technique (he had used two different elements in his attacks alongside his bugs), eight points for power (his age contributed to this score as the two jutsu he'd used were considered high C ranked jutsu), seven points for creativity, only a six for number of hits (since he'd technically only landed two hits on his opponent), a nine for time (his match the shortest match so far), and ten points for the win; giving him a total of forty-eight points. It was not the highest score so far but it was still high enough that he had a good chance of making the cut to participate in the Tournament so long as he won and scored equally as well in his second match.
As Satoshi stepped off the battle field after he had received his scores, he was surprised to learn from his Kikaichu that his father, brother, and a number of other familiar faces were in the audience and if anyone could have seen behind his dark sunglasses, they would have seen his green eyes briefly light up in pleasure; the only sign of emotion he allowed himself. He sent several Kikaichu to greet his father and Shino even as he took a seat a short distance away from the other Genin in group B and turned his attention back to the matches in order to continue assessing the other Genin.
Not long after Satoshi's match, Toshiro would lose his first match and end up with a score in the low twenties while Nanami would win her match and earn a score several points higher than Satoshi's score. Satoshi was not surprised by either outcome; Toshiro had gone into his match overly confident because he'd been facing a kunoichi and Nanami had in turn faced an over confident shinobi that thought he'd have an easy win against a girl. The eight year only shook his head in response to both matches because he knew better than to underestimate an opponent regardless of their gender; that was a lesson that Kushina had taught Team Four during their first year together.
The eight year old's second match was considerably harder as he faced a twenty-three year old Genin from Kiri whose arsenal and mastery of water jutsu far exceeded Satoshi's. That match ended up being the longest match of the preliminaries, lasting nearly forty-five minutes as the two of them practically went toe to toe; the older Genin hitting Satoshi with everything he had. Satoshi's speed and agility stood him in good stead though as he avoided all but a handful of hits from the attacks that had rained down on him.
He ended up in a rather brutal and mostly one-sided kenjutsu battle towards the end of the fight which is where he took more than a few hits. Luckily, most of them nothing more than slight scratches though he did end up with a stab wound in his left thigh and a few nasty bruises from the punches and kicks that had been landed during the sword fight. His winning combo used a smokeless replacement jutsu to swap out with an insect clones that he had formed beneath the ground that he allowed the Kiri Genin to 'kill' before pulled off the Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu.
The moment that the other Genin had been buried up to his neck in the sand, Satoshi's swarm converged on the trapped man to drain his chakra once the older Genin could no longer use any suiton jutsu to fling them away. He earned a rather generous fifty-six points for that match which brought his total score up to one hundred five and guaranteed him a place in the Tournament. Nanami would also be moving on to the final task as she'd ended up with a total of one hundred ten points. Toshiro's total score fell in the seventies; meaning he would most likely be one of the twelve Genin dropped from the Tournament even though he'd managed to win his second match.
Once the final match had been fought, the names of the twelve Genin who would be disqualified were announced and the date of the Tournament was revealed. Unlike the Tournament Rounds in Kumo and Konoha where they were informed which Genin they would be facing in the first round, they learned that the finals would proceed in much the same fashion as the preliminaries had; with the Genin being split into six random groups and the first round consisting of five battles (each) that would be scored using the same criteria that had been used for the preliminaries.
Each Genin would need both a minimum score and at least three wins to pass into the second round which would then fall into the normal Tournament style of one-on-one elimination matches until only one person remained undefeated. The reason Suna did their exams this way was to give all of the Genin participating more of a chance to showcase their skills in order to make a more informed decision on which individuals should be promoted instead of leaving it to guess work after only watching each Genin fight once or twice.
All thirty Genin participating in the Tournament would then spend the next four weeks endlessly training in preparation for the Tournament. Satoshi happily trained with his father during that time; though you wouldn't know it to look at him. The main focus of his training was to get him comfortable traveling over and fighting on loose sand to negate the risk of a misstep during a match costing him his life. His father also taught him two new clan techniques now that he'd lost the element of surprise after the rest of the Tournament participants had seen him using his swarm.
Izumo and Kotetsu eagerly helped with his training and though the pair was saddened when Satoshi didn't show any of his former enthusiasm, they did their best not to let his emotionless façade get them down. Aoba in the mean time trained Nanami with Toshiro's help since the Inuzuka had indeed missed the point cut off by fifteen points and had therefore been one of those dropped from the Tournament as Satoshi had predicted. The twenty-three year old Satoshi had faced in his second round had managed to make it into the third task of the exams due to the relatively high score he'd received for giving a good accounting during the match against Satoshi even though he lost.
On the day of the Tournament, the thirty Genin that would be participating met inside of the Suna Stadium at six-thirty in the morning where they were handed yet another slip of paper with both a letter and a number written on it. The letter represented which group they had been assigned to while the number indicated which individuals from the other groups they'd be facing during the matches (those bearing the same number facing each other). Satoshi was placed in the E group and assigned the number two which meant that his first match would take place in the third set of the first round (A vs. B first, C vs. D second, and E vs. F third).
The rest of the matches would play out as follows; A vs. D, B vs. E, C vs. F, B vs. D, A vs. F, C vs. E, A vs. C, B vs. F, D vs. E, B vs. C, A vs. E, and D vs. F. The order of the matches had been designed to allow each Genin a chance to rest for at least on match in between their assigned fights in order to give each participant a fair chance at moving on to the second round of the Tournament. The other four numbered groups would follow the same schedule for simplicity's sake.
To manage the large number of matches more efficiently, the stadium had been divided into five equal sections with a sixth section in the center where the Genin would wait between matches. That would allow for five matches to take place simultaneously with each match having a time limit of fifteen minutes to insure no one match upset the schedule of the entire Tournament. At the end of the fifteen minutes, if there is no clear winner, the participant with the most points earned during the match would be given the win for that match.
There would then be a five minute break in between each match to allow for the fields to be cleaned and repaired so that no one Genin was placed at a disadvantage before they even stepped out onto the field. All told, the first round of the Tournament would see a total of one hundred and fifty matches fought over the course of approximately seven and a half hours.
With five arenas to watch, only four Konoha Genin participating, and a total of ten Jounin and eight Chuunin present; the higher ranked shinobi drew lots to determine their assigned duties for duration of the first round. Five of the Jounin were assigned to monitor the five arenas; one Jounin focusing on each arena to observe all thirty matches that would take place in that arena. The next four Jounin were each tasked to observe one of the four participating Genin through all five of their first round matches.
The final Jounin would be stationed in the rest area to make certain their Genin weren't attacked between matches by another participant. And all eight Chuunin would be split up into pairs to watch over the eleven Konoha Genin that had not made it into the Tournament (to make certain they stayed out of trouble). The reason for splitting themselves up in such a way was so that they could monitor the competitors from other villages, keep an eye on all fifteen of their Genin, and insure that the four Genin participating in the Tournament were evaluated by at least two sets of eyes.
Shibi made it perfectly clear that he would be watching his son when the assignments for the Jounin were divvied up and no one dared argue with him. Genma, who'd made the journey with Shibi, managed to get himself assigned to the same arena so he could see for himself how much the little bug had grown over the years. Izumo and Kotetsu fully intended to watch their former partner and cheer for him during his matches while watching over a trio of Genin; the two pranksters even managed to somehow wrangle front row seats in the stadium right above the arena where Satoshi would be battling.
Satoshi fought his five battles with as little effort as needed to gain the win, though he lost his fifth and final match because he'd just been too exhausted and hadn't had enough time to rest in between his fourth and fifth fight. He'd done remarkably well though; receiving a total score of two hundred fifteen out of a possible three hundred which earned him a place in the top ten scores at number seven and only one of eight Genin that won more than three matches. Only two participants had won all five of their matches; one was Nanami (her Byakugan and her clan's Juuken Ryuu style taijutsu seeing her come out on top each time) and the twenty-three year old Genin from Kiri that Satoshi had faced during the preliminaries.
After the first round of the Tournament was over, the twenty Genin that would move on to the second round were given the remainder of the day to rest and recoup and told to return to the stadium no later than eight o'clock the next morning or they would be disqualified. Satoshi would spend most of the afternoon and all night sleeping under the watchful eye of his father after eating an early light supper so he could be well rested for the second round. When they returned to the stadium the next morning, they found the individual arenas gone since the rest of the matches would be fought one at a time.
Once the clock struck eight, they were told to pick a slip of paper out of a hat to determine who they'd be facing first and in what order they would be fighting. Satoshi drew the number five as did a Kumo shinobi; meaning that the two of them would face each other in the fifth match of the second round. Nanami drew a number one and would face the Kiri Genin that Satoshi had defeated during the prelims. Nanami would lose her match in short order; the Kiri Genin had too much to prove because he was still smarting over his loss to an eight year old in the preliminaries.
The next three battles saw Genin from Suna, Kusa, and Taki winning their matches against opponents from Kiri, Suna, and Suna respectfully. Satoshi then won his match against the Kumo Genin, who'd been injured the previous day during the first round making it a rather easy win for Satoshi who'd not been injured. The remaining five matches saw one Genin each from Ame, Yuki, Kumo, and two more from Suna passing onto the next round. That concluded the second round of the Tournament with the next round due to take place later that afternoon.
Satoshi exited the stadium knowing that he'd be facing the Ame Genin that had beat him in his fifth match of the first round for a second time later that afternoon and he was determined to win this time. Tension was high when they reconvened that afternoon as the ten participants of what would be the third round of the Tournament met in the stadium once more. The twenty-three year old from Kiri once again won his match (which happened to be the first match of the afternoon) while the second match ended up in a double knockout as the Genin from Kuso and Taki knocked each other out after a forty minutes intense ninjutsu battle.
Satoshi then wiped the floor with the Ame Genin he faced as the guy had gone into the battle feeling cocky because he'd won the match the previous day simply because Satoshi had been exhausted at the time. The two battles after his match saw the Genin from Yuki winning while the older of the two Suna Genin facing each other in the final round won. The end of round three marked the end of the second day of the Tournament as there had been no time limits on the elimination rounds.
Satoshi was actually glad that he'd be able to get another night's rest as he would once again face the twenty-three year old from Kiri in the first match of the fourth round. The eight year old was actually very worried about the upcoming match; he'd seen the seething glares and cruel sneers the older Genin had directed his way throughout the first three rounds of the Tournament. Shibi hadn't missed the looks that the Kiri Genin had been giving Satoshi either and his father made a point to let Satoshi know that there was no shame in forfeiting if at any time his life was threatened. Satoshi acknowledged his father's words but made no comment on them.
At eight o'clock for the second morning in a row, Satoshi was standing on the stadium floor; waiting calmly on the sand as he faced the twenty-three year old. The angry Genin's whispered promise to send Satoshi home in a matchbox was not unexpected, given the man's behavior over the past two days, though Satoshi showed no outward sign that he'd even heard the Genin's threat. Inside, Satoshi was torn between forfeiting and making the Genin eat his words; fear and anger battling against the calmness he was maintaining by sheer willpower alone.
He wasn't about to give the older shinobi the satisfaction of drawing any kind of reaction from him; he was too stubborn and proud.
That match was just as brutal as their first match; if no where near as long and once again Satoshi squeaked out a win against the older Genin. This time it was due to his magic coming into play in order to save his life. He'd been blasted by a violent water jutsu (the blow breaking several of Satoshi's ribs and bruising him from neck to knees when it hit) just ten minutes into the fight and he'd ended up stuck in the mire of quicksand that the arena had turned into as a result. In pain and having trouble breathing, Satoshi was resigned to forfeiting the match knowing he'd never last through another sword fight in his current condition.
He never had a chance to speak out though as the Kiri Genin bore down on him intending to behead him with his katana and Satoshi had desperately used Doryuu Heki to throw up a protective wall around him. His magic, reacting to his pain and desperation, had lashed out to transform the dirt wall into concrete at the last second and the Kiri Genin slammed into the cement wall hard when his powerful water jutsu failed to wash the hastily made mud colored concrete wall away as expected. The impact had knocked the man out cold and breaking both of his arms (his hands had been out of front of him holding his sword when he crashed into the wall at a full out run that had been chakra enhanced).
The unexpected upset of the predicted outcome of the match soon had the entire audience speculating over the revelation that Satoshi apparently had a never before seen Kekkei Genkai that allowed him to create cement. Technically, the transformation from dirt to cement had been caused by accidental magic and not a true bloodline limit but there was no one present that was aware of that fact. Not even Satoshi really understood what happened; he just knew that other power inside of him had protected him once again.
The second match of the morning saw the Genin from Yuki burying the final Suna Genin up to the neck in ice crystals after thirty minutes of hand to hand combat coupled with exploding tags and thrown weapons. The final match between Satoshi and the Snow ninja was then set to start at two o'clock in the afternoon; giving the final two combatants the remainder of the morning to rest and recuperate from their earlier battles. A trip to the Konoha medic that had traveled to Suna with Shibi saw Satoshi's ribs partially healed and taped before he slept off the extreme exhaustion that had washed over him after the accidental outburst during his match.
Much to the disappointment of the audience, Satoshi forfeited the final match after the first six minutes due to lingering exhaustion, excruciating pain from his still tender ribs, and after he'd lost another quarter of his swarm to the Yuki Genin's ice jutsu (the first quarter had been lost during his morning match). Satoshi wasn't willing to lose any more of his bugs and he knew he was not in any condition to fight a drawn out battle. The other Genin, in a fit of anger over being denied a true win, ended up sucker punching Satoshi in the chest two minutes after the referee called the match; re-breaking three of Satoshi's former broken ribs and puncturing his left lung.
That move actually saw the older shinobi being disqualified and Satoshi named the overall winner of the tournament despite the fact that he'd forfeited the final match.
Immediately after the disqualification was announced, Shibi Shunshined down to the stadium floor to whisk Satoshi off to the medic for a second time before he gave into the temptation of putting the Snow Genin's head on a platter for the rather cheep shot. An hour later, Satoshi was once again standing in the middle of the stadium as he was awarded a small cash prize and a small, eighteen inch tall golden trophy. The trophy was a two handled goblet with a pair of sand worms wound around the cup set onto a three inch square base made of pink and gold marble with the dates of the Chuunin Exam etched into the small silver plaque on the front of the base.
Satoshi originally wasn't going to accept the trophy or the prize money (since he had technically forfeited the final match) but his father talked him into it; saying that to turn down the win would insult Suna and potentially create a rift between the two villages.
The large group of Konoha shinobi walked through the main gates of their village six days later and Satoshi quietly slipped away to the Aburame Compound to rest (as his ribs still ached a bit) while the remainder of those who'd attended the exams reported to the Hokage. Three days later saw Satoshi, Nanami, and one of the other Konoha Genin that had participated in the Chuunin Exams and made it into the Tournament standing before the Hokage along with Aoba and the Jounin sensei of the third Genin. Satoshi was a bit confused as to why he was there as he didn't believe that he'd done anything that warranted him being singled out by the Sandaime.
"Out of the fifteen Genin sent to participate in the Chuunin Exams; the three of you performed above and beyond our expectations," Sarutobi intoned as he stood in front of the three Genin. "All of you are to be commended for your fiery determination and physical abilities that saw you passing the first two tasks and going as far as you were able during the third and final task."
"It takes more than just bravery, skill, and power to lead a team though," the Sandaime continued after he paused to study each of them for a moment. "A leader also has intelligence, ingenuity, and initiative; the ability to think on his or her feet, to turn those thoughts into viable plans, and the determination to set those plans in motion. A good leader works with his or her teammates utilizing the collective skills of the team to accomplish the mission. A leader will put the health and safety of the team and the client above the need for glory or money."
"A true leader also acknowledges his or her own limitations and strives to move beyond them without placing the entire team at risk. He or she accepts that one person can't do everything alone or be everywhere at once and plans accordingly; never hesitating to ask for help. The three of you have shown that you have what it takes to be a leader. Therefore, in recognition of the leadership skills the three of you demonstrated during all three portions of the Chuunin Exams it is my pleasure to announce that all three of you have been promoted to the rank of Chuunin. Congratulations."
Caught completely off guard, Satoshi stared up at the Sandaime Hokage in complete confusion for a full minute as the elderly shinobi held a green flak jacket out to the eight year old. He probably would have stood there frozen for several minutes longer if not for the gentle nudge Aoba gave him to get him moving. Even so he was numb and off balance because he truly hadn't been expecting to be promoted since he hadn't really thought he'd performed that well during the Tournament.
That had been the most emotion he'd shown since the day of the Kyuubi's attack on the village even if it wasn't patently obvious. Once he reached out and accepted the padded green vest, Satoshi bowed low to the Hokage and thanked him in his soft voice that was just the slightest bit hoarse with emotion before he slipped the slightly too large vest on over top of his red jacket.
They were dismissed a few minutes later and Satoshi wandered the village aimlessly for several hours as he tried to wrap his mind around the idea that he'd actually passed the Chuunin Exams this time around. He ended up in Training Ground Sixteen where he'd spent the first two years of his shinobi career training with Kotetsu and Izumo under the watchful gaze of Kushina. Despite being completely wrapped up in old memories, Satoshi was aware enough of his surroundings to avoid the hand that had reached out to grab him and the fist that had been aimed at his face as he spun around to face his assailant and recognized the teal haired Rokushou Aoi.
"I've been waiting for over three years to find you on your own without your ever present body guards," Aoi spat as he glared down at the younger, shorter boy. "I can't believe that they promoted a weak little runt like you to Chuunin; you are utterly pathetic and helpless without your friends protecting you."
Satoshi said nothing as he watched his fellow Chuunin's body language intently while discreetly sending his Kikaichu out into the surrounding grass so they'd be in a position to attack the moment he had a clear opening. He was thankful that the teen (who was in all actuality probably at least twenty or twenty-one now) had cornered him on the empty training grounds since it meant that there were no innocent civilians that could potentially get hurt if they ended up fighting. At the same time he was frustrated because the fact that it was just the two of them there alone meant that there'd be no witnesses if the older Chuunin managed to seriously hurt him and no one to stop the man if he wanted to kill Satoshi (if he managed to defeat the eight year old).
The next ten minutes were spent in a brief but fierce taijutsu battle in which the two of them exchanged a number of blows, dodged handfuls of thrown weapons, and Aoi alone spewed forth a steady stream of insults. Satoshi did his best to avoid taking any hits, though his newly mended ribs were still giving him just enough problems that he wasn't quite able to dodge all of Aoi's attacks. After those ten minutes, the two of them broke apart as they were both rather winded and both of them sported more than a few bruises. The older Chuunin used the opportunity to taunt Satoshi once more, looking to anger the younger Chuunin enough to make a mistake that would leave him wide open.
"Still have nothing to say? Is it because you are too stupid in addition to being too weak?"
Satoshi merely pointed a single finger at Aoi's feet where the Kikaichu he sent out earlier were currently converging on the older shinobi. The moment the man looked down, Satoshi activated a low level genjutsu to make the man believe that his Kikaichu were sticking hundreds of miniature exploding tags to his clothes as they swarmed up his legs and over his entire body. In truth, all the Kikaichu were doing was draining his chakra at an advanced rate as the man had frozen in place out of fear of setting off the hundreds of tiny, illusionary tags.
Once the older Chuunin was completely trapped in the genjutsu, Satoshi took out two blank tags and drew a pair of low level exploding tag seals. The seals used on the tags were training seals that he'd personally designed during his lessons with Jiraiya over a year earlier and when activated, they would create a bit of heat, generate a massive amount of soot and smoke, and make a loud noise as they exploded. They had been designed to be used during training exercises to simulate the standard exploding tags without any the risk of getting seriously injured during a friendly spar.
As soon as he finished prepping the tags, Satoshi carefully affixed one to Aoi's chest and the other to his back before returning to the exact same place he'd been standing moments earlier while calling his Kikaichu back. The moment his bugs were clear, Satoshi released the genjutsu and softly addressed the other Chuunin for the first time since the teal haired main had accosted him, "Rokushou-san?"
"What," Aoi snapped as he glared at the eight year old now that he realized he'd been tricked by a low level genjutsu.
"Boom."
The resulting dual explosion would be heard for miles and the smoke seen all the way from the Hokage's Tower; though it had left Aoi relatively unharmed if slightly singed and covered in soot with his clothes lightly smoking from the heat generated. Satoshi then calmly gathered the senbon and kunai he'd used during the short fight and walked away without looking back as his fellow Chuunin toppled over backwards from chakra exhaustion and extreme shock. He would be long gone and any trace of his presence completely wiped away (thanks to his swarm) by the time the AnBu Guards that had been dispatched to investigate the explosion arrived to find a gibbering and cursing Aoi still sitting on the ground with his head in his hands.
One gray haired shinobi wearing a dog faced mask had immediately recognized the effects of Satoshi's custom made exploding tags though and wondered what Rokushou Aoi had done to piss off the young Aburame enough to provoke the eight year old into attacking. Kakashi became suspicious when Aoi wouldn't say what had happened as the Chuunin staggered away from the three AnBu that had turned up to investigate the explosion; the smoking man still muttering curses incoherently beneath his breath.
The fifteen year old Jounin made a mental note to stop by the Aburame Compound later to check up on his unofficial little brother to make certain he was alright before he vanished in a swirl of smoke to make his report.
It would be another six days before Kakashi managed to make time to visit Shibi, Satoshi, and Shino and he was more than a bit shocked at the changes the past year had wrought in the younger genius. A year over which Kakashi had not once stopped by to check up on his honorary little brother due to work and his own deep seated grief. Guilt ate away at the fifteen year old as he found nothing but a dim shadow of the lively child he recalled from his memories. He was also surprised to learn that Satoshi had been promoted to Chuunin recently. Kakashi hadn't known that he'd been entered in the exams for a second time or he'd have made it a point to be there to watch them (the older prodigy had been out of the village on two back to back missions when both Satoshi and Shibi left).
Kakashi ended up staying for several hours; Shibi had invited the teen to join them for supper in hopes that his presence might bring Satoshi out of his shell a bit. Unfortunately, the Jounin wouldn't get a chance to draw the younger boy out that night as Satoshi vanished into his room soon after the meal to read through a scroll on fuuinjutsu that he'd checked out from the shinobi library just a couple of days earlier. Kakashi stuck around any way to hear the details of Satoshi's Chuunin Exam as well as to ask the older man if he knew what had happened between Rokushou Aoi and Satoshi at the end of the previous month.
Shibi was shocked to hear that there had been an incident; Satoshi had never said a word about a run in with the older Chuunin. The Head of the Aburame Clan absently recalled that Aoi had been nursing a grudge against Satoshi since the day his son had graduated from the academy and wondered if the man had tried to get revenge. After the teen left later that night, Shibi confronted his son about the incident with Aoi after tucking Shino into bed.
"Satoshi, why didn't you tell me about the run in you had with Rokushou last week?"
"I had already dealt with the matter," Satoshi replied as he glanced up from the scroll he'd been using to practice one of the new seal arrays he'd memorized from the borrowed scroll. "I saw no need to mention it since I walked away from the confrontation unharmed and you have been busy catching up on your paperwork."
"You still should have informed me about the incident," Shibi lightly admonished with a soft sigh of exasperation as he dropped his chin so he could meet Satoshi's gaze over the top of his sunglasses. "No matter how busy I am, I will always have time for you and your brother. I know that I've said this before but even if you remember the words, I think it bears repeating. Family always comes first no matter what. The only time I might not be available is during a village wide emergency and even then I would move mountains to get to your side if you or your brother needed me."
"I know that, tousan."
"Good, then you also know that I fully expect you to inform me in the event that Rokushou attempts to accost you a second time; regardless of whether or not you deal with the matter."
"Wakatta," Satoshi responded with a resigned sigh.
Each night, for the next seven nights, Kakashi turned up at Shibi's home to spend time with Satoshi; the silver haired Jounin stubbornly pestered the eight year old until he gave in and played at least one game each night with the teen. The game they played would differ each night; though it was always Shougi, Go, or one of four card games (Cribbage, Blackjack, Bullshit, or War) with Shibi often watching or joining in depending on which one they played. By the third night, Satoshi stopped trying to get out of playing and merely set up the board or shuffled the cards after the evening meal though he rarely ever spoke during the course of the games.
On the eighth night, which also happened to be the one year anniversary of the Kyuubi's attack, Kakashi showed up at his usual time only to learn that Satoshi had vanished sometime around midnight the night before and hadn't been seen since. Shibi's Kikaichu hadn't been able to find hide nor hair of the eight year old and while he was concerned, he wasn't actually worried due to the simple fact that the Kikaichu from Satoshi's swarm that had left behind showed no signs of distress.
Satoshi's vanishing act had actually been methodically planned out three days earlier when he'd noticed the village's preparations for a festival at a time when there had previously been no festival and it didn't take a genius to figure out that the village intended to hold a fair to celebrate the defeat of the Kyuubi one year before. The young shinobi wanted no part in any festivity that celebrated the loss of so many people that had been close to him (even if he logically knew that they were celebrating the village's triumph over the demon fox and not the many deaths). So while the village planned their fair, Satoshi planned his escape.
The first thing he'd done was hunt out a quiet, out of the way place where he would not be easily found. He'd then meticulously drawn a barrier seal array to secure his chosen location and to prevent anyone from finding it or him. Once that was done, he'd put together a pack containing everything he thought he'd need to honor his fallen friends and family (including the long absent Obito). With his preparations complete, Satoshi only needed to wait until fifteen minutes before midnight on the night of the ninth when he quietly gathered his pack of supplies, removed all Kikaichu that did not belong to his swarm, and snuck out of the house.
He made only one detour on the way to his private sanctuary (to place flowers on the graves of his missing loved ones) before he slipped through his barrier as the clock struck midnight. The eight year old then set up one candle for each missing loved one (including his birth parents, his godfather, and his honorary uncles from his life before his adoption) and spoke each of their names out loud and told them how much he loved and missed them as he lit their candles. Satoshi then allowed himself to cry and grieve for the first time since the day the Kyuubi attacked, releasing all of the pent up emotions he'd spent the last year burying deep inside of him.
Once he let out all of the negative emotions, he spent the rest of the day simply talking with those that were missing, telling them everything that had happened over the last year and talking about his fears and insecurities. He also expressed his anger and sadness over how the world could keep on going without them because it didn't seem fair that the world never noticed their passing. Satoshi talked himself hoarse that day as he knelt on the ground surrounded by the slowly burning candles for exactly twenty-four hours; not even stopping to eat or drink throughout his vigil.
When the clock struck midnight once more, Satoshi told everyone good bye, blew out the candles, and silently cleaned up the melted wax before he slowly made his way home; his heart feeling just a little lighter after the purging of his emotions. His father and Kakashi met him at the door when he returned home and he simply hugged them both before he disappeared into his room to sleep.
To those who were not very familiar with the eight year old, they would have seen no difference between his behavior before the first anniversary of the Kyuubi's defeat and his behavior afterwards. Those that were close to Satoshi soon noticed that the tenseness that had been present in the boy for the past year was gone and that the stiffness with which he'd previously held himself was missing.
He still hid his emotions and maintained his stony silences but there was now a measure of peace and acceptance that hadn't been there before his twenty-four hour vigil and private homage to the fallen.
Translations: Japanese to English
Amegakure (Ame) – Hidden Rain Village
Doryuu Heki – Earth Style Wall
Juuken Ryuu - Gentle Fist Style
Kekkei Genkai – bloodline limit
Kirigakure (Kiri) – Hidden Mist Village
Konohagakure (Konoha) – Hidden Leaf Village
Kumogakure (Kumo) – Hidden Cloud Village
Kusagakure (Kusa) – Hidden Grass Village
Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu – Double Suicide Decapitation Technique
Sunagakure (Suna) – Hidden Sand Village
Takigakure (Taki) – Hidden Waterfall Village
Wakatta – I understand/understood
Yukigakure (Yuki) – Hidden Snow Village
Notes:
Yukigakure no Sato – yes, I am aware that the Hidden Snow Village (or the Village Hidden in the Snow) does not actually exist in canon. I needed another village to participate in the Chuunin Exams though and picked Yuki out of a hat (so to speak). If it helps, you can see Yuki as a village that is comparable to Takigakure and Kusagakure; in that they don't have a Kage and they aren't really all that big or powerful and they aren't all that important in the grand scheme of things.
Satoshi's use of jutsu vs. his swarm – for those of you who are sticklers for canon, you will have noticed that Satoshi is using far more jutsu than the rest of his clan. This is intentional and there is a logical reason why Satoshi has enough chakra to spare for ninjutsu despite the fact that he is hosting a swarm. The short answer is magic. The long answer is that only 1/3 of his swarm is actually drawing on his chakra reserves; meaning that his Kikaichu are not consuming as much chakra from Satoshi as the swarms of other Aburame consume from their hosts. IE, Satoshi has chakra to spare that can be used for ninjutsu without risking his life or his swarm.