Chapter 4: The Chuunin Exam Part 1
Kiyoko arrived at the chuunin exams early. There were people from all over in attendence, but her own team was late. The young konoichi wasn't worried, she trusted her friends not to blow it. She turned to a boy on her right with odd, purple facepaint and a large object strapped to his back.
"This is taking forever. Shouldn't it have started already?" she asked in attempts at relieving her boredom. He smiled slightly. "First time taking this test?"
"Yeah," she answered. As far as I know, anyway. "I'm Kiyoko."
"Kankuro. Here's a bit of advice, since you're new. This whole test messes with your head, especially this first exam. You have to think beyond the obvious. Otherwise you'll be flattened."
The doors opened, and everyone flooded in. Kankuro smirked and said, "See you around, Kiyoko. If you make it past the first test, that is."
"Oh, I will. Don't you worry."
She was joined inside by her team. Hinata looked more nervous than ever, but Kiba and Shino seemed to be in good spirits. Kiyoko could hardly wait for the test to start. Finally, a good challenge. Bring it on! Fortunately, the examiner arrived shortly and Kiyoko could relax.
"My name is Morino Ibiki. I'll be you examiner for the first test," said the scarred, slightly creepy man. He instructed them to all choose a number and sit in whatever seat they chose. Kiyoko drew a 47, which was near the center of the room. When everyone was seated, several chuunins passed everyone a paper. A written test?! Man, I thought the first test would be a bit more exciting than this! The examiner explained the rules, which were simple enough. The test consisted of nine questions and would end 45 minutes after he signaled everyone to start. After that, the final question would be given. Everyone started out with ten points and lost one point for every question answered incorrectly. They would be monitored by the chuunins sitting around the room, who would be watching for anyone cheating. Each time caught cheating earned you a two point deduction. Anyone who loses all their points by being caught cheating or not answering a single question right would fail along with their team. Passing would be determined by their team's cummulative score.
"You may begin now."
Kiyoko flipped her test over. Okay, all I have to do is answer as many as I can. We have a slight advantage because our team has four people. First question.
The parabola, B, represents a shuriken's maximum throwing distance of the enemy ninja, A, from a height of 7 meters. Figure out the trait of the enemy ninja that can be observed from the ellipse formed by the shuriken, and determine the maximum throwing distance on flat ground. Explain you reasoning.
Yeah, I don't think so. Moving on. The next question was a complicated code to decipher. She skipped that one. As Kiyoko read through the rest of the questions, she became increasingly nervous. This is impossible! How is a genin supposed to be able to answer these! She took a quick breath and told herself to calm down. Okay, there has to be a way to solve this. I'll just go over what I know. One, these questions seem to be made to be extremely difficult, if not impossible for a genin to answer. Two, the scoring system makes no sense. If this is such an important test, then it would be logical to fail someone immediately rather than just give them a two point deduction for cheating. That gives you five opportunities to cheat. Then it came to her. Based on the difficulty of the test questions, the deduction system, and the way it was set up, Kiyoko deduced that the object was not to answere the questions corre to gather information without being discovered. In other words, cheat without getting busted. But that must mean that someone in the room has the answers. They must have a few chuunins in the room with the answers.
"Number 27, eliminated!"
"What?!"
"You heard me. You were caught cheating five times.You and your team fail."
The team was kicked out. She risked a glance to her nearest teammate, Hinata. She saw that her byakugan was activated, which meant that she was right about the test. Hinata would never cheat without a damn good reason. All Kiyoko had to do was find a way to cheat. She saw Ino slump on her table. Kiyoko smiled, wondering who the victim of Ino's mind-switch was. Knock it off and concentrate! You can solve this one, Kiyoko. Just think. She felt her stomach drop when she realized that she had no jutsus even remotely useful for this particular task. Then she noticed a bee buzzing just outside the window and got an idea. Reaching into her pocket, Kiyoko took out a small pebble and placed it on her desk. She touched her finger to the stone and infused some of her chakra into it. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the chakra within the pebble, then dropped it to the floor. Kiyoko guided it across the floor to Shino's desk and made it jump up onto the surface. She twitched her finger to make the pebble run little circles around Shino's paper and hoped he could take a hint. He stopped the pebble's motions with his finger and began writing something. A minute later, one of Shino's bugs flew across the room and deposited a tiny, rolled up piece of paper on her desk. She unrolled it and quickly copied the answers onto her sheet. Then she wrote, "From Yoko," which was Naruto's nickname for her, on the back of the paper, rolled it back up, and gave it back to the insect.
"Give this to Naruto, and tell Shino I owe him one," she instructed the bug.
"Your forty-five minutes for the first nine questions are up," announced examiner Ibiki later. "This tenth question is the most important one on the entire first test. Before I give you the question, however, I have one thing to ask all of you: Will you answer the final question?"
"Of course we'll answer it!" called out a couple people, and Kiyoko agreed, but couldn't help thinking that there was more to this final question than he was letting on. The scarred examiner silenced the room. "This final question is the most important one. If you answer it wrong, you will lose all your points and your team will be banned from entering the chuunin selection exams next year, or any other year."
There was a murmur of protest and several people shouted their objections, saying that he couldn't do that or that it wasn't fair to put so much weight on one question.
"I can and I will, don't question my authority," he growled, and the room immediately fell silent. "I ask you again, will you answer the final question? Those who wish to forfeit now and lose all their points may raise their hands now."
For a moment, no one moved. Then a few people raised their hands. Kiyoko frowned at them, assured in her decision. A true ninja faces life and death situations every day. If I can't brave one little question, then I deserve to stay a genin. Once everyone who decided to give up had left the room, there was less than half left. Examiner Ibiki smiled.
"For all of you who remain," he addressed them. They all waited with bated breath. "Congratulations on passing the first test."
"What?!" Kiyoko found herself shouting, along with many other people. Ibiki explained that a ninja must learn to risk everything, including their life. Whether it be for the mission or for their comrades lives, no matter what the cost.
"So the test questions where completely pointless?!" asked someone.
"No. A ninja must also be skilled at gathering information without detection. The paper test was a way to weed out those too stupid to avoid being caught. Those of you who remain are both clever in retrieving information, and are willing to take the chances a ninja must take to complete a mission. I wish you the best of luck, though I know that I will be seeing many of you again next year. The next test will take place at sunrise tomorrow. Your senseis will inform you where to meet."
"So that's why you guys wouldn't tell me about the test, you losers!" Kiyoko laughed at Icharaiku a few hours later. All three teams in her little circle of friends were present; her own team plus team Naruto and Sakura, and team Ino-Shika-Chou, even though Shikamaru was already a chuunin.
"Yeah, that's right, Yoko. Gotta let the rookies figure it out on their own," Naruto told her.
"So what's the second part like?" asked Kiyoko.
"Well, if it's the same as last year, it's sort of like an extreme game of capture the flag meets death-trap survival. Each team gets either a Heaven scroll or an Earth scroll. The object is to get a pair of both scrolls by taking your opponent's and making it to the building at the center of the woods within the five day time limit," Kiba explained.
"Last year a team made it back in a few hours," said Ino. "It was that Gaara kid's team. We saw them take a team's scroll. He pulled some freaky sand move and the other team got so scared that they just gave them the scroll. Then they killed the whole team anyway!"
"No way, you're kidding!" Kiyoko gasped. Hinata shook her head and whispered "We saw him too. Akamaru said that the sand in his gourd smelled like blood."
"They're here again this year, too. So if you see anyone from that team, get outta there as fast as you can," advised a pudgy boy named Chouji from Ino's team. Kiyoko raised her cup. "Well, here's to the second test. May we all not die a horribly painful death."
They all laughed and raised their own glasses. "To living!"
"I say we make a truce," Sakura suggested. "Let's agree not to go after each other until the last two days of the challenge. After that, it's every team for itself."
"That's a good idea," Ino nodded, and the rest of the group agreed. Naruto laughed. "Wow, you two are actually getting along! It's a miracle!"
"Must be because there's no more Sasuke-kun for them to fawn over and come between them," Kiba said, making an exaggerated kissy-face, complete with sound effects. This earned him two punches in the head from the two girls. Sakura's strength training with Tsunade was obviously paying off, judging from the lump on Kiba's head. After a few more hours of joking around and talking, they all decided that they should all get home so they could get a good night's sleep.
"See you all at the buttcrack of dawn," Naruto called, waving to the group as he and Kiyoko headed off home. She remembered what that boy, Kankuro, had said before the exam. This whole test messes with your head, especially this first exam. You have to think beyond the obvious. Otherwise you'll be flattened. Kiyoko vowed not to let herself get flattened. No mere test was going to get the best of her.
"The test will start as soon as every team turns in their consent forms and recieves a scroll," announced Anko as the remaining test participants stood outside the gates of the 'Forest of Death'. The fact that they needed to sign consent forms in the first place was a bit disconcerting. They said that people died in this exam every year. It wasn't until now that Kiyoko realized the truth in this. She signed the form without hesitation anyway. She looked around and saw that many teams looked extremely nervous. The tension was driving her insane so she walked up to the closed gates with the sign saying, "WARNING: YOU MAY DIE," and placed her hands on her hips. "Bring it on, bitch! I'm not scared of some stupid forest!"
The crowd laughed, and a couple even clapped. Kiba put her in a headlock and proceeded to give her a 'ninja-noogie' as he called it. "You're crazy, you know that?"
"Kiba! Lemme go!" Kiyoko laughed. The gates creaked open and their playful banter ceased immediately. She hugged Ino and Naruto, her two best friends in the world, and wished them and their teams good luck. "Promise you won't get killed."
"Stop worrying, Yoko," Naruto told her. "I'll see you in five days, m'kay?"
She nodded and sped off into the woods with her team. They leapt from branch to branch until they were a good kilometer from the gates before stopping.
"We need to lay out a strategy," Shino said. "We have 120 hours to find a team posessing a Heaven scroll to go with our Earth scroll, defeat them and take their scroll, and get to the tower without getting picked off by the other teams."
"We should avoid the tower until we have both scrolls," Kiba added. Kiyoko agreed and drew a large circle in the dirt to represent the gated area of the wood with an X in the center representing the tower and a squiggly line running through the circle for the river.
"If we still don't have a scroll by the fourth day, we should head to the area surrounding the tower and try to ambush the teams on their way to the tower. This would be more of a last resort, though, since there will be many teams with the same plan. We should stay within about one kilometer of the river, but no closer," she suggested. "The river is the only source of water, so every team will need to go there eventually. I think we should split into two groups and survey the teams we see to try and find one with a Heaven scroll. We don't want to waste time and chakra blindly attacking the first team we cross and then find out that they have an Earth scroll."
"I agree. We'll head over towards the river, find a place to meet, and then split up," Shino added. "Hinata, you'll go with me. I'll need your byakugan. Kiba, you go with Kiyoko. She'll need yours and Akamaru's noses."
They all nodded and leapt back into the treetops to begin their trek to the river.
"The river's nearby, we should stop," Hinata said half-an-hour later. They found a large pile of boulders they could use as their base of operation.
"Before we split up, we need to figure out a password," Kiyoko pointed out. "Don't trust anyone who doesn't know the password. They could be an enemy using a Henge no Jutsu. Here's the password."
She leaned in and whispered the code. Before they split, Shino held up a finger. On it was a small bug. "I'll leave one of these with you. If you need us, use it as a messenger to reach us. If we need you, I will send some of my insects to find you."
"How will we know they're yours and not just a regular swarm of bugs?" Kiyoko questioned. Kiba answered, "Me and Akamaru will both be able to smell the difference."
"Okay, we'll meet back here at sunset, agreed?"
"Hai, good luck."
Hinata and Shino disappeared into the foliage. Kiyoko turned to Kiba. "Let's get going."
"Hn. Akamaru, mark this area so we can find it again," he instructed his furry companion. Akamaru ran around and shot streams of pee at a few of the trees. Kiba tucked him in his jacket and sniffed the air a few times. He pointed north and said there was a team less than a kilometer in that direction. Minutes later, they spotted their targets. It was a group from the hidden rain.
"We need to figure out which scroll," Kiba whispered. "I say we wait for one of them to seperate from the others and detain them. You're better at Henge no Jutsu than me, so you'll transform into them and go find out which scroll they have."
"Good plan, but we don't have time to wait for one of them to get seperated. While they're filling their canteens, I'll make some kind of noise to hopefully get them to send one of the group to check it out," Kiyoko replied and Kiba nodded in agreement. Kiyoko took out a kunai and threw it so it knocked over a pile of rocks. They both let out a sigh of relief when one of the group went to investigate. They quietly crept across the tree branches until they were directly above the black haired rain-nin. Kiyoko gave Kiba a curt nod and they dropped on the unsuspecting boy with hardly a noise. Kiba gagged the shinobi with his own forehead protector and tied him to a tree with some of his wire. "I'll watch him, now hurry."
Kiyoko performed the transformation jutsu and became the mirror image of the struggling boy. She started to walk away, but stopped when she spotted a rabbit hiding amongst the leaves. She threw a kunai, killing it, and picked it up by the ears. Kiba gave her a questioning look, and Kiyoko whispered, "My cover story."
She jogged over to the two waiting rain-nins.
"What was it, Taro?" asked the taller of the two. Taro, gotta remember that. She held up the lifeless rabbit. "Breakfast."
"Good, I haven't eaten all day," laughed the short, skinny one. The tall one cuffed him in the head. "God, Eiji, you're such a damn pig. The sun hasn't even been up for two hours."
He turned to Kiyoko. "Why so quiet all of a sudden, Taro?"
Shit.
"Just thinking about the test is all," she quickly lied. "I was thinking about what might be written on the scrolls."
"Yeah, it probably has to do with the third exam," suggested Eiji. "What do you think, Kioshi?"
Kioshi, who seemed to be the leader, shrugged and pulled a scroll out of his pocket. She kept her face as unrevealing as she could when she saw that it was the scroll of Heaven. Kioshi turned the scroll over in his hands, looking for some clue as to what was inside.
"Oi, lemme see that thing," Kiyoko said casually. Forget just observing possible targets, this was an absolutely perfect opportunity. Kioshi tossed her the scroll. She didn't waste a second in performing a series of seals and encasing them in her Iwa Kinbaku (Stone Binding) jutsu.
"What the hell, Taro?!" shouted Eiji. Kiyoko smirked and released her Henge no Jutsu. "Thanks for the scroll, boys. This Stone Binding technique will release itself as soon as me and my team are out of range. Your friend Taro is tied to a tree over there."
Kiyoko ran off to meet Kiba. She almost laughed as she heard the two rain ninjas cursing after her.
"Get back here, bitch! You'll pay for that!"
Kiba looked expectantly at her as she approached, but raised his kunai. "Password?"
"Know thy self to know thy enemy," she recited and Kiba lowered his weapon. "Did you find out what scroll they have?"
"Better," she grinned and pulled out the Heaven scroll. Kiba clapped her on the shoulder. "Great job! Let's find the others and get to that tower."
Once they were a good distance away, they stopped so Kiba could use his impeccable sense of smell to locate the other two.
"I got it. It's faint, but it's coming from the east."
"Hai, let's go."
A few kilometers later, Kiba stopped and started sniffing around on the ground. He looked up, confused. "They should be right here. I don't get it."
"Oh, they're here all right," Kiyoko stated. "Look up. How often do you come across two branches with chakra?"
"Ha, you're right. I didn't even think to sense for their chakra," Kiba laughed, looking up at the two branches in question. "Oi, Hinata-chan! Bug-Brain!"
The two said branches disappeared with a pop, and their two comrades dropped to the ground. Kiyoko held up a hand to stop them. "Password? Just to make sure."
"A shinobi has no fear of death," Shino answered, reciting their group's password. Kiyoko nodded and pulled out the acquired scroll.
"You guys got it already?" Hinata questioned.
"We were lucky to run across a group of rain village rookies," Kiba explained, then told them the whole story. They started for the tower, eager to get out of the forest. When they came across the river, they took a break. They were all hot and tired, and they had plenty of time. Kiyoko dunked her whole head in the cool, clear water and drank like a dehydrated camel. Her relief didn't last long, though. Akamaru growled and started barking.
"What is it, boy?" Kiba asked, sniffing the air. "Shit, we got company. Hinata, use your byakugan to try and see them."
"Hn. Byakugan!" Hinata looked around, then frowned. "I see them, over there in the trees. Mist nin. Two of them."
"Where's the third?" Shino questioned. Hinata shook her head. "I don't know. I don't see the third one anywhere."
"Stay sharp, guys. Number three is around here somewhere," Kiba instructed. They all took out their weapons, waiting. Kiyoko shifted impatiently and said, "Come on. Come out, come out where ever you-GYAAAH!"
She screamed as something grabbed her by the legs and hurled her into the air. It was a giant tentacle of water, coming from the river.
"Don't just stand there! Get me down from here!"
She didn't have to wait long, however. The water tentacle let go, flinging her through the air. Shino leapt up and caught her, depositing her safely to the ground. Just then, the two mist nin burst from the woods. The water tentacle shrunk and the third ninja rose up from the water.
"Give us your Earth scroll and you can walk away unharmed," said the one in the river. Kiyoko answered for the group by flicking them off and smirking, "Bring it on. You're not getting our Earth scroll."
"So be it."
The two others jumped into the river, and all three disappeared into the water. They were at a severe disadvantage as long as the mist ninjas had the river. Kiyoko swore when a huge wall of water rose up from the river and started rushing for them. Then she realized something.
"Stand your ground, it's an illusion!" she shouted, praying she was right. As the massive tidal wave dropped down, they all flinched but stayed where they were. The water passed through them like smoke and disappeared.
"How did you know it was a genjutsu?" Hinata asked.
"Summoning a tsunami is an A-level technique, way too advanced for someone taking this exam. Plus, if it was real, it would destroy the scroll as well as us."
"Very good, girl. You saw through our attack. You have the brains, but do you have the jutsus to defeat the best genin team in the Village Hidden in the Mist?"
"You bet."
Kiyoko turned to her teammates. "Let's kick their asses."
Finally, a battle! I was going to be disappointed if we made it out that easy, she smiled. One of the mist nins shouted, "Raining water needles!"
Kiyoko made a wall of earth to cover them, then leapt at the water. Chakra in her feet, she stood on the water facing the one who had flung her around. He was gonna pay. Kiyoko hated heights. She performed her seals.
"Doton: Maruishi Tounyuu!"
She focused on the large boulders on the bottom of the river. They exploded out of the water right under the surprised ninja. When he jumped to avoid them, Kiyoko quickly did her Stone-Glove Blade and threw herself at him. She stabbed him in the arm and the mist nin cried out. She heard one of her teammates scream. Hinata. Something inside Kiyoko snapped. No one hurts my friends! No one! She lashed out at her opponent viciously, using her Stone Blades as a katana. Delivering a powerful kick to his head, Kiyoko watched the mist nin slump against a tree, unconscious. She raced to help her friends. Hinata was bleeding from a gash in her leg, but was still fighting fiercely.
"Kiyoko! Behind you!" shouted Shino. She barely dodged a spinning Water Fang attack that would have pierced right through her. These guys were serious. They were really trying to kill them. She hurled boulders at the remaining two, but they were quick. One of them hurled a water attack at Kiba and Akamaru, hitting the puppy right out of the air.
"Akamaru!" shouted Kiba, turning to catch him. The mist nin used this opportunity to attack.
"Triple Water Swords!"
As three sharp blades materialized from the water and launched themselves at Kiba like bullets, Kiyoko watched in horror. Time seemed to slow down. She raced towards Kiba in what seemed like slow motion and called out a warning. He turned and saw the danger, but it was too late. Kiba put up his arms to shield his face and braced himself for the hit. It never came. He felt something warm dripping down his arms that were still shielding his face. Blood? My blood? No, it smells like...Kiyoko's blood!
"Kiyoko!" he cried as he lowered his arms. She was standing in front of him, arms outstretched to protect him from the blades. "Baka! Why did you do that?!"
Kiyoko turned and smiled weakly at him. "Had to...protect...friends..." she choked out, then fell to her knees, coughing out a mouthful of blood. She grimaced and yanked out one of the blades still stuck deep into her chest. Kiyoko summoned up all the chakra she had left to give her strength. In a strained voice, she managed to cry out, "No one hurts my friends! Doton no Jutsu!" ('Earth Jutsu')
As she shouted this, the earth surrounding her began to swirl around the wounded konoichi in a vicious whirlwind. Kiyoko directed it at the two mist ninjas and released it. One jumped out of the way, but the other was caught in it and flung against a large boulder. They retreated in a hurry, grabbing the still unconscious one that Kiyoko had knocked out earlier. Looking down, she realized that there were still two swords protruding from her. She took one in each hand and pulled them out at the same time with a strangled cry of pain. Her vision blurred and she slumped to the ground, bloodstained silver hair falling over her face. As the world darkened, the last thing she was aware of was Akamaru nuzzling her hand and whimpering in concern for his fallen friend. Then she felt nothing.
"Shino! Hinata! Kiyoko's hurt bad!" called Kiba. He looked at his dying comrade in panic. There was blood pouring from the three places where the blades had pierced her. That should be me, Kiba thought miserably. She's dying because of me. He put his hand over the wound that was bleeding the worst in an attempt to stop the flow. Shino and Hinata ran over and bent down.
"What happened?" demanded Shino. Kiba explained how she was just trying to protect him because he was stupid enough to turn his back on his opponent. Shino told him to shut up about it being his fault and take off his jacket. He did so without question. Shino laid it on the ground beside Kiyoko.
"Now, Hinata, help me get her onto the jacket. We'll use it to move her over to those trees. If we tend to her wounds out here in the open, we're sitting targets," instructed Shino. Hinata nodded and they slowly lifted Kiyoko onto the makeshift stretcher. They carefully dragged her to the shelter of the trees.
"Can you guys last without me for awhile?" Kiba questioned.
"She's lost a lot of blood. We can keep her alive for a few hours tops, if that's what you mean," Shino replied. "Why?"
"I'm going to find Team 7. Sakura has been training with The Fifth Hokage as a medicnin. If Kiyoko has any hope of making it the next four and a half days, she's our only chance," Kiba stated determinedly, picking up Akamaru.
"Wait," Shino said. Kiba opened his mouth to tell him not to stop him from going, but Shino didn't let him.
"Take a scroll. It might help convince them to help us," he suggested, handing him the Earth scroll from his pocket. "And be careful out there on your own. Those mist ninjas aren't the only ones willing to kill for a scroll."
"Kiyoko risked her life for me. I'm not dying before I find Sakura," Kiba assured him.
"You should hurry, Kiba-kun," Hinata told him. "Judging by her chakra flow, some of her organs have been severely damaged. My healing salve will help, but it can't repair a punctured lung."
Kiba nodded and sped off as fast as he could, sniffing the air for the scent of the pink haired girl that was Kiyoko's only hope. The only thing he could smell was Kiyoko's blood on his clothes and face and in his hair. Then he found it; the faintest whiff of floral shampoo and ramen noodles. Sakura and Naruto. He pushed even more chakra into his feet to speed up, and caught up to the pair in less than twenty minutes.
"Naruto! Where's Sakura-chan?" he demanded as he came upon the blonde.
"She went to go 'relieve herself'. What do you want her for?" he asked.
Just then Sakura emerged from the bushes, and Kiba ran up to her.
"Kiba-kun, what's wrong? You're covered in blood! Are you hurt?"
He shook his head. "Not me, it's Kiyoko. She's dying, and it's all my fault. Sakura-chan, you're the only one with mednin training that we can trust. Please save her," he practically begged. Naruto looked Sakura in the eye and said in a voice that left no room for arguement, "We're going. Kiyoko's the closest thing I've ever had to a sister. I won't let anything happen to her. Lead the way, Kiba."
"Hai, lead the way," Sakura nodded.
"Shino, Hinata, I'm back!" Kiba called as the trio raced over. Sakura leaned over Kiyoko and lifted the makeshift bandages to inspect the wound and cursed when she saw the extent of the damage. "This is worse than I thought. I need you all to give me some room. Gather some wood and build a fire. I may need to boil some herbs later," she commanded, and they hurried off to fulfill her order. Sakura concentrated on everything Tsunade had taught her and went to work. Two hours later, Shino, Hinata, and Kiba were sitting around a small campfire, silently waiting for Sakura to give them the news.
"Kiyoko? Can you hear me?" Sakura asked softly. Kiyoko stirred slightly, then slowly opened her eyes.
"I'm alive? How did I manage that?" mumbled the silver haired shinobi. Sakura laughed in happiness. If she was feeling well enough to be sarcastic, she would be fine. She called the others over to tell them the good news.
"Yoko! You're okay!" Naruto exclaimed, carefully wrapping his arms around her with tears streaming down his face.
"Ow-ow-ow-ow, careful, that's tender," Kiyoko laughed. "Now quit your crying, dobe. I'm okay!"
Sakura managed to pry him off, and handed her a cup. "Here's some tea, make sure you drink the whole thing."
Kiyoko took the cup and took a sip. She immediately spit it out and made a disgusted face.
"I thought you said this was tea!"
"It is tea...with some herbs added..." Sakura admitted. "You still need to drink it, though. It'll help with the pain."
Kiyoko reluctantly drained the cup. She was right, it did help a bit, but it was still nasty beyond belief. Sakura turned to the group and said, "Since it's already dark, we'll camp out with you guys tonight. We'll have to head out in the morning, though. We still have a scroll to get, after all. Kiyoko, you may be able to move by morning, but don't push it. You were really close to dying."
"Wouldn't be the first time, nor will it be the last. That's the way this job goes," Kiyoko pointed out. "But, don't worry, I'll take it easy. I'll only be a burden if I try to make it to the tower before I'm fit to fight. Now, who has first watch?"
Kiba agreed to do the first shift of nightwatch. Kiyoko could tell he was still blaming himself for this. She agreed that it was his fault, but she wouldn't have it any other way. Her friends were safe, and that the only thing she cared about. In the morning, they said goodbye to Naruto and Sakura, wishing them good luck. Shino asked if she was ready to move on or not.
"I'm still hurting pretty bad," she said. "I'm not going to be able to make it today. I'll be ready for sure by tomorrow, though."
The team spent the day resting, and in Kiyoko's case, exercising. At first, she needed help walking. Kiba, who had been following her like a lost puppy (no pun intended) since morning, would hold her hand so she could take a few wobbly steps. She quickly regained her strength and was even able to perform jutsus again by mid-afternoon. She suggested that they all take a quick nap so that they could get going by nightfall. They were less likely to encounter enemy teams traveling by night while everyone else slept.
"We'll just have to watch out for snipers around the tower," Hinata remarked, meaning the teams who laid in wait for the teams heading to the tower with both scrolls. They agreed and were off by dark. They all breathed a proverbial sigh of relief when they made it to the tower doors only having to shake off one attack.
"This is it, you guys," Kiyoko grinned. "We've made it this far. We're over halfway there."
They pushed the doors open and walked in. It was a large, empty room. There was a big scroll hanging from one of the walls.
"'If you do not posses Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not posses Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe ones. This is the secret of.' that's weird, there's a letter missing in that column," Kiyoko said, pointing to the blank place where the sentence was missing its final character. "'It shall lead you on your way.' That's what it says."
"Heaven and Earth, that must be talking about the scrolls. It's telling us to open both scrolls, I guess," Shino said. Kiba took out his Earth scroll, and Kiyoko took out her Heaven one. They unrolled the papers and looked in confusion at what was written on both. There was a weird circle design with symbols around it. In the center of the circle was a single kanji for the word 'human'.
"Human? What does that mean?" Hinata questioned. They all shrugged. Suddenly, smoke started seeping out of the center of each circle. Shino snatched the scrolls out of their hands and threw them away from them.
"It's a summoning scroll," Shino explained. "Stay alert for whatever comes out. It could be another part of the test."
A figure appeared amongst the smoke. As it cleared, Kiyoko realized what it was.
"Hey, it's Genma! Hi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i Genma!" Kiyoko called out cheerfully, waving energetically. The stick-chewing, long haired chuunin grinned. "Hey, Kiyoko. Glad someone's happy."
"Hey, man. What're you doing showing up through a summoning techinque, anyway?" Kiba asked.
"I was assigned to deliver a you a message," he explained, then smiled. "Congratulations on passing the second exam."
Shiori's Blurbs:
Thanks much to everyone who reviewed! Sorry that this chapter took longer than the others. I had to rewatch all the chuunin exam episodes. Man, I haven't watched the first few seasons in forever! Plus this chapter's really, really, REALLY long (I started writing and got a bit carried away). Thanks to:
AnimeKaiser
Centurious The Azure
Strawberry9212
for reviewing chapter 3! Hopefully I won't go as writing-crazy-obsessive next time.
Shiori: Meeeeeeh, my brains are goop! I spent the entire day writing the rest of this part.
Kiyoko: And who's fault is that?
Shiori: Shut up, you don't even really exist.
Kiyoko: I'll throw rocks at you.
Naruto: Can I help? I wanna pelt the author with rocks for not giving me a bigger part in this one. I'm the main character! Believe it!
Kiyoko: Quit saying 'believe it' like you're in the retarded english version. You sound like an idiot.
Naruto: Believe it! I'll say whatever I want! BELIEVE IT!
Kiyoko: Aiyeee! ::throttles Naruto::
Shiori: Make the voices stop::fetal position::
Naruto: Ow! That hurt! Believe it!
Kiyoko::finished tying Naruto to tree:: Stay tuned for the next chapter: The Chuunin Exam Part 2