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(A/N:) Read me! sorry that this took longer than I said it would. Really, I an Sooo sorry. I made this humongous (by my standards) as compesation. I'm sorry if I don't respond to your reveiws. If you really want an answer to something, say it again this time, and I will be sure to reply via review resonse! XD Oh! The contest below is still going on.
Review Responses:
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On the Wings of Revenge
By: Zeida and Maria (Maria)
Warnings:Insanity, crack, violence, blood, gore, plotholes, randomness, lack of plot to begin with, language etc... Etc...
Disclaimer: I don't own it.
Summary: Zabuza finds Naruto after Haku, and takes him away. This is half crack nuttiness. Vengeful!Naruto. It's starting to look like a foursome to me but it's not? Just brother love? Gaara, Haku, Naruto and Sasuke...nuttiness. Shikamaru shows a lot too! Have I proved myself nuts yet? Inspired by my own nutty-ness.
NOTICE!: This one wants to hold a little contest! The prizes will be: A chapter dedication to you! and a (non-NC17, X, or R rated) Fan art drawing of your choice! (Yes, I CAN draw) Now, In this story, I seem to be being VERY nasty about/to Kabuto. He is very likely to die, really. But the trruth is he is one of my favorite characters! Weird, eh? The only Character that I can't bash is Shino, actually. Someday, I will make a story that ios nicer to the poor guy. But as for the contest: Me and Zeida were role playing once and we made Kabuto stalk(but was in LURVE with) a REALLY random character. Except in Canon, he was actually nice to said chara! I want you, loyal and sweet reviewers to try and Guess who it is! Guess! Go on, I dare you! You will NEVER guess! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Tries:
"It can't be Naruto, because he was a real jerk to him later on. It can't be Kiba, because he knocked him out. It can't be Sakura, he never really interacted with her. It could be Hinata, but she never interacted with him. That leaves two options, both equally disturbing. Kimmimaro or Baki. Kimmimaro was cruelly manipulated by Kabuto, so that doesn't work either. So it has to be Baki. That's certainly random." by RobotPirateNinja
Anyway, this contest will end when someone guesses the right person. I will update anouncing this no matter how much of mine chappie is done, so you are very likely to get one helluva weird chappie!
Thanks
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ChApTeR NiNe: The Cursed Seal
"Stand at the assigned gates. When they open, you may begin." Team 10 stared apprehensively at the doors, waiting impatiently. They had been here for what seemed like hours, even though Shikamaru's mind told him over and over that it had only been a few minutes. They were entering a forest where their lives would be in danger. Seriously in danger. And most of the genin in there had no qualms about killing a little tree-hugger Konoha nin, even some of the other Konohanians. That one silver haired genin still reminded him of that fly mushroom...
The doors finally creaked open, and the Nara boy reminded himself to look out for Sasuke, as he promised to meet up with him. They traveled a long time in silence, avoiding some of the worse battles. Ino and Chouji may have started a super training régime, and they might have dragged him into it, but it wasn't quite early enough to make a big difference.
Suddenly, a team came flying out at his right, aiming for them. Damn, he'd let himself be distracted. They weren't ready; they... might stand a chance. The group they were facing were fighting tooth and nail to get there first, and nearly crashing into a couple trees on the way. Fight happy idiots, that though they had found some easy targets. Well, team 10 would prove otherwise.
Shikamaru signaled for Chouji to get to higher ground. Nodding and okay to Ino (who made a quick little genjutsu to disguise Chouji's exit), he stretched his shadow out to their foes.
Or tried to at least. It seemed to be gathering other shadows as it went, and he certainly wasn't trying to do that! They connected with the enemies shadows, but he didn't fell the click as the jutsu took affect.
Looking up, the deer-boy knew he was correct, the arguing group was still moving. Ino looked at him sideways, cocking an eyebrow as though asking what was up. Shikamaru shook his head in confusion as the enemy nin lunged forward again. Ino and Shikamaru bounced to a high branch on the tree, Shikamaru still trying to make his shadows work with him!
Finally, they seem to obey, the enemy froze. Ino made the Shintenshin hand sign and delved into the body of the one who had the scroll hanging at their side. And missed as the nin, with very confused faces, stared swaying back and forth and all around. The blonde, getting back to her body, glared at her shadow teammate, who was staring horror struck at the swaying ninja. He wasn't moving.
Sweating with exertion, the deer boy tried again to reign in his jutsu, and failed again as the shadows broke away from their captives and out of the ground. The unfortunate nin squeaked as the shadowy darts pelted them.
Finally, team 10 gave in, and both teams yelled "Retreat!" and took off in opposite directions.
-:- -:- -:-
"To pass, get to the tower in the center of the forest. You must have both scrolls and all of your team."
This is so not helping me to get any better... Sasuke thought as he and his teammates sped through the forest in their disguises. They had been in here for at least half a day with no sign of anyone. They had to be avoiding him, it was the only possibility. No one in this damn village wanted him to improve, even if they were from foreign villages and countries.
But Shikamaru had promised to meet up with them (somehow dragging his team) and he wouldn't be avoiding them.
Then it must be a genjutsu. He sucked at recognizing those, so-
"It's not a genjutsu, Shika-kun." Haku said from his left. The pretty boy had seen his face and interpreted that he was getting worried. Idiot! He was letting people get close to him. They were just supposed to train him, that's it. Nothing more.
Sure as hell didn't stop them. He glared at Haku, who gave him a look of utter surprise for some strange reason. Then the ice nin turned to face the front again, a slight smile on his face.
They came to clearing very quickly, and decided to set up camp there. There was a stream near, so they wouldn't have to squander their own resources. No wind made it through the trees that could carry off their scent. Perfect rest stop.
Unfortunately, others thought so too. A fresh (well, as fresh as them, only a half day in and no fights, yet) team of rain nin came in, catching them by surprise. The fight started quickly, Gaara leaping from the water (where he had been trying to catch fish) and onto clouds of sand that had gathered, picking his target and attacking. Sasuke and Naruto vanished in a flash appearing behind the same boy and giving him a double back fist to the head. He collapsed with a sickening crunch in a heap and neither had anytime to worry whether they'd killed him as their kunoichi attacked in a fury. She had the both backed against the side huge tree before either boy had grasped the situation enough to retaliate. Haku caught her from behind, lodging a senbon in her vitals easily. Quiet again, Gaara hopped down and went after the fish. Haku helped Naruto clear up and searched the bodies. Sasuke cleared up the camp as someone could have heard even the thirty second near-silent ninja scuffle. They had to move out.
-:- -:- -:-
"This is the Forest of Death. You may not come out of this one alive, so sign that slip. It explains that Konoha is not responsible for any fatalities that may happen to you. You may only take this test in return for that signed sheet."
Sakura shuddered, thinking back to the words of the woman. She was scary all on her own, really. Worse than the battle scarred Ibiki. Kankuro looked over at her and attempted to comfort her with a smile. Have you ever had what looked like a depraved clown-slash-tribal warrior smile at you? The pink haired girl didn't find it all that comforting, but she knew he meant well.
"Calm down, Sakura. We could take just about anyone in this forest. They don't know what's gonna hit 'em." Sakura and Temari both snorted in amusement as the kabuki-painted boy made an exaggerated gesture and missed the next branch. Temari looked at him oddly afterwards, she knew he was skilled enough not to do that, at least. Was he trying to cheer their other teammate up? He wasn't just using her to reveal everything and get them all in a shit load of trouble?! The fan welding girl turned back away from her brother in a huff.
Temari shook her head, then shot to the left, signaling for her team to shut it. (Yes, shut it.) There are many hand signals in the ninja world, some more rude than others. It is, however, recommended that you use the more polite ones when on joint missions with nin from other villages, or when with nin that are stronger than you and are known for eating those they dislike. However, this was not the case with Temari as she knew that she was just as powerful as those around her, and wouldn't give a damn if the remark was to someone more powerful, anyway.
Kankuro and Sakura followed her quietly, sneaking up on an unsuspecting group of older genin. From the hitai-ate that could be seen, they were from Cloud. Hiding in the nearby trees, Sakura started up a genjutsu as Kankuro launched his puppet into the group. Just to worsen the initial damage, Temari sent a blast from her fan before helping Sakura by supplying her with chakra. After getting down the initial attack, both the sand nin had been helping their pink haired teammate with her stamina and reserves in case of a long winded fight, but she still wasn't quite ready.
The Cloud nin jumped in surprise as five or six air-blades flew at them, each shattering the ground. They were immediately succeeded by at least fifteen very frightening multi-armed... things, with too many eyes. The cloud nin to the far left lunged at one, hoping to stop it from reaching, and fell right through. He spun in surprise as it collided with the ground and caused a huge explosion. Several others fell short and blew up as well, lowering visibility, and showering them with debris. The nin that stared in the middle decided it had to be a genjutsu coupled with kunai and explosion tags. He spun to his closest teammate only to fall as she cut him down where he stood. Suddenly she shrieked, leaning down to check on him. He leapt up and attacked her, aiming for her throat, then suddenly stopping just before he hit her. Another puppet landed nearby and blew up. They could see their last teammate fall as a puppet that didn't blow up, slashed his chest and hit head at the same time. Four arms are better than two, apparently.
Distracted, they fell as Temari and Sakura hopped out of their tree and dealt their own decisive blows.
Kankuro came down soon after, searching the fallen nin for their scrolls. Finding it, they replaced nothing, retrieved their stuff (looted the Cloud team), and left.
-:- -:- -:-
A sand team stumbled through the woods tiredly. They had no idea where they were going anymore. They could be heading back out of the arena for all they knew!
The held the Ten scroll, and had been in three fights already. The three of them had beaten one of the teams, but it had already lost their scroll. The other two ended in draws in which both sides fled to avoid further tiring conflict. So far they hadn't gained any scrolls. This whole test thing was turning out to be a real drag. First they had been recruited to aid in invading the godforsaken place (Why? They will never know. This place sucked), next, after all that planning, it had been canceled. Yeah, canceled. So now they had to stand the stupid exam, because the stupid Oto leader had thrown a hissy fit and canceled!
And now this. The exams couldn't possibly get any worse.
Then a barrage of kunai shot towards them, causing many, although superficial, wounds on all three of them. Their kunoichi shrieked as a large boulder rolled toward them, and everyone leapt out of the way. It caused a huge trench in the ground, and on of the sand nin tripped into it, knocking his head painfully on a rock, he clambered out as fast as he could.
Suddenly, the other of the two boys slipped on a tripwire and went sprawling face forward. There was a terrifying yell from somewhere up in the trees and suddenly the shadows everywhere started to move of their own accord. The kunoichi stopped running and lifted her kodachi from her back. She faced the one guy who had fallen into the trench, but had come out again (speaking of which, the other guy hadn't gotten up again, did he manage to knock himself out?) and slashed at him. Her movements were fast and dangerous and the shadows were pulling out of the ground and tripping him up. There was a loud rumbling from behind them and the large boulder returned, heading right at the pair of them.
Again.
The one sane (in his own opinion) ninja left leapt out of the way as the thing hit his teammate.
"K'so! are you okay?" he yelled back to her.
She didn't move.
There was another horrible shriek from the trees then, suddenly, everything was black. His last fleeting thoughts pondered why such skilled nin were still genin...
-:- -:- -:-
Team ten waited patiently outside of the tower. This was the best choice they had. Although they had been training all week, they still weren't a spectacular group.
So they would use ambush. They would wait patiently for some unsuspecting (and probably tired) team to pass by, then take their scroll. All they had to do after that was run inside the tower. No problems, they wouldn't even have to fight all of them, if they didn't want to! Unfortunately, most of the universe knows what happens to those best laid plans o' mice and men.
The team all turned toward a patch of the woods as they heard the sound of people crashing through it. Shikamaru signaled Chouji to get in position and for Ino to check how tired they looked. It was just their luck, they were a couple of sand genin, and they were completely exhausted.
Ino came running back, suddenly flying through the air as she accidentally tripped one of their traps. Her momentum carried her out of the way, and the barrage of kunai instead peppered the unfortunate team below. Ino giggled weakly at her luck and Shikamaru just raised an eyebrow at her. They looked down below again to see that the team was for the most part unharmed. Shikamaru rang a tiny bell, the signal for Chouji to run them all over. Most would say that this was a foolish signal, as the other team may have the ability to hear the bell as well. However, the sound was a piercingly high frequency that Chouji was using a small device (resembling a watch) to pick it up, as he couldn't hear it himself. The most ingenious part of this was that if you were unfortunate enough to be able to hear such a thing, it would likely cause extreme pain, and a nasty hangover resembling head ach for a couple days afterward.
It is recommended not to use this signal when working with an Inuzuka, or an Aburame, or a clan with similar abilities, as they may never forgive you.
The rumbling was toned down for the most part, so the team shouldn't have noticed, but that goddamn kunoichi turned around and screeched! They all managed to get out of the way. Ino snickered however, when one of the boys tumbled back into the tracks.
Then she frowned in concentration, setting herself up for the Shintenshin no jutsu, looking at Shikamaru pointedly to tell him to paralyze one of them. He quickly performed the seals for the shadow bind... but nothing happened. His jutsu were acting up again. He turned toward Ino, but she had already left her body and all he could do was catch her. The deer boy looked down at her target. She might actually be able to catch him. Then, he tripped. On their trap. Shikamaru groaned, starting to think that maybe they shouldn't have set quite so many up.
Ino quickly returned to her body and immediately shrieked in anger. Her teammate, being right next to her, looked at her reproachfully as his ear drums were brutally murdered.
All of a sudden, Shikamaru could feel chakra leaving his body in a lurch. He looked down to see the shadows flying everywhere, and scaring the sand team even more. One particularly nasty one whacked the fallen boy on the head, knocking out quite effectively. Shikamaru groaned, and tried to cancel the jutsu. Ino looked at him oddly this time, before just shaking her head and giving her Shintenshin another try. This time aiming for the other guy. He moved, ducking down quick to check on his fallen comrade. The blonde girl over shot and hit the kunoichi as he rose again.
'Fine, whatever...' she thought, settling in the new body. 'I'll just use her, then. Girls are better anyway.'
She quickly tried to remember what the girl had for weapons, then pulled her kodachi of her back. She leapt forward, attacking the last teammate. He fell back, tripping over the roots and shadow tendrils that Shikamaru had yet to gain control of. He was barely looking at her anymore as Ino swung clumsily(but accurately) with the unfamiliar weapon.
Then, Chouji came back! Yay Chouji! He rumbled loudly from the place where he had exited last time, at the moment coming straight for the back of the last boy. The sand nin spun around upon hearing the noise and his eyes widened. He rolled out of the way, Chouji missing him again. Instead he hit Ino, right on. Flattening her poor temporary body into the ground and causing the girl to depart instantly. Up in the tree, she yelled again, expressing wordless anger at her teammates.
Shikamaru looked down from the tree again, rubbing his abused ear. The last one was rushing at the girl as Chouji vanished into the forest again. Sighing about troublesome everythings, he jumped down from the tree. The shadows swarming all over the ground calmed at his approach.
He glared at them.
Walking calmly behind the distracted sand nin, Shikamaru raised a kunai in the air, bringing down the blunt end on the genin's temple. He fell over unconscious and Shikamaru searched him for the scroll. Finding it, finally, he whistled for Chouji and the three members of team Ten made their very pissed way over to the tower.
-:- -:- -:-
Zaku looked in surprise from the camp he was helping to set up as he felt an unfamiliar presence. Kunai, shuriken, senbon, knives, sai, daggers and a hatchet flew at him and his team from all angles, forcing the tired team to move quickly to avoid being skewered. They could not avoid all the injuries. Dosu clutched his arm in pain, the thing hanging bloody and useless.
A gust of wind blew by and a green blur raced past Kin, the kunoichi barely dodging. Zaku continued to dodge the weapons coming from everywhere and nowhere to the best of his ability. They were focusing solely on him, now.
The group felt a blast of chakra and Dosu leapt back as Neji attacked him head on with Jyuuken. Zaku, finally hitting a low point in the weapons, aimed at Lee and blew him from his teammate. He lunged forward to attack but Lee was too fast, disappearing and leaving a nice new sandal print on the back of Zaku's shirt.
Kin vanished.
Zaku ran after and tried to continue the fight, but a long chain wrapped around him and yanked him forcefully into the foliage. It was just his luck, Tenten attacked him.
Dosu falls to his knees, gasping for air. Most of his Tenketsu are sealed despite his attempts to dodge. Neji smashes his head into the ground with a lazy kick, leaving the boy unconscious, or dead. He didn't care which. It was his own fault for trying to defy fate and become chuunin.
"I'll wait for you at point C." He said in a bored drawl, vanishing into the trees. Kin flew out of the bushes, barely landing in a half crouched stance, Lee close behind. She groaned to herself as the boy continued to rant to her. Something about Youth, the powers of Youth, not wanting to fight her, youth, more about not wanting to hurt her, valor, youth... and-
She can't take this idiot anymore. The sound nin gleefully sends a speedy senbon and the face of the talking boy. He cocks his head to the side lightly, dodging the weapon.
"That was an unyouthful sneak attack." he said with a bit of a pout. Suddenly he is beside her and dispatches her easily with a blow to the neck.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Zaku ran out of the bushes, shrieking and into another patch, still shrieking. He was clutching his crotch and tears were streaming down his face. Tenten watched him leave with a hint of amusement from the trees.
"Lee! Let's go meet Neji. Do you have the scroll?"
The green boy salutes enthusiastically. "Yosh! I do, teammate Tenten! Let us go meet Rival Neji!"
Tenten twitched, a fake smile glued to her face. "Err... yeah. You know, Lee, it's unyouthful to copy everything Gai-sensei does all the time..."
"It is?" Lee said, pouting in confusion.
"...Yeah! It is." she assured.
-:- -:- -:-
Hinata sat up from inspecting their victim. The unfortunate team had fallen quickly under the skilled Kurenai-trained shinobi. She was holding out a scroll, not unlike the one that they had started with, smiling slightly.
"It is the right one." She said softly. Kiba hooted and ran over to help her tie up the enemy, lest they want revenge. Or at least their scroll back.
"Yosh!" Kiba and Hinata spun in surprise to face their third teammate. Who was looking away innocently with a slight blush on his cheeks.
"Why do you look this way? I did nothing." Shino mumbled.
Kiba shook his head in amazement, a half smile stuck on his face. "If you say so, man."
Hinata just blinked him, then looked around. "We have retrieved our second scroll. We must make our way to the tower."
"Yeah! Then we can win this whole thing and go home Chuunin!" their hyper member grinned happily at his teammates.
"We must first find a place to make camp, and rest." Shino ordered.
"But-but!"
"We are not close enough to make it to the tower today, Kiba-kun." Hinata said, sounding slightly guilty.
The dog boy frowned, then grinned. Shino and Hinata looked at each other, a bit worried.
"Okay! The first person back with the best sleeping den is the best ever!" he yelled, then took off into the forest. His teammates sighed at his hyperactivity just after a fight, but follow suit. They were certain, however, that nothing was supposed to have that much energy.
-:- -:- -:-
The two grass nin stepped back quickly to avoid getting caught in their master's fury.
"Kuu kuu kuu..." the last remaining nin laughed as he stepped forward to face the three now very nervous mist nin. They tensed, then the first lunged. Orochimaru easily knocks him to the side with one hand. He looked on ahead as the other two split up and send kunai at him from both sides. He vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a log as the weapons hit. The disguised ninja appeared behind one of the mist nin, who made it to a tree, and pushed him on to the first one that attacked the snake sannin.
"Kuu kuu kuu!" he laughed again. Quickly he dumped the last of the group on top of the pile. The three scramble to right themselves just in time for a huge snake to erupt from the ground where they were, its deadly mouth snapping shut around a load of dirt. The air started to tinge purple and the unfortunate team felt it grow heavy around them.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The other two spin to their teammate as he screams. They back away in horror as snakes start to slither up his body. Then they ran to him to help, but Orochimaru appeared in front of them.
"Kuu kuu kuu kuu kuu." They stepped back again, trying to keep their distance from the terrifying nin, despite their teammates screams. The two able nin start a joint jutsu, attempting to gain favor by summoning a mist. The heavy purple aura quickly stomped it out.
Glowing yellow eyes out of nowhere were to only warning before the huge snake lunged and bit one of the mist nib's head not-so-clean off. Blood sprayed the other. Unconsciously screaming, he fled to his other teammate, to free him from the snakes. He was splattered with the blood as another far too large snake erupts from nowhere and crushes the nin in its mouth. He spun again and saw Orochimaru looking at him, and vicious smile in place.
"No! No! Please! Leave me alone! Here! Scroll- you can have-"he pulled it out of his bag and screamed again as his arm was ripped off by the man's tongue. The scroll was now in the snake nin's possession.
"No! Help ME! HELP! He-" Orochimaru just laughed and sliced him in half, the last of the nin's terrified pleading coming out in a blood strangled gurgle.
"Kuu kuu kuu kuu kuu."
Eyes wide in terror behind his glasses at the macabre massacre he had just witnessed, Shino fled back to the designated meeting place early.
-:- -:- -:-
The second test was finally over, and the remnants stood thus in front of the Hokage. All standing in a row were only Sasuke (as Shikaeshi), Naruto (as Arashi), Gaara (as their pet Suishu-shu), Haku (as Tane), Sakura, Temari, Kankuro (All looking very proud to have made it, though Kankuro was shooting worried looks at Orochimaru), Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji (still looking read to murder anyone that came near them, despite their current skill level.), Neji, Lee, Tenten, Orochimaru (not that anyone knew it was him), his two Grass teammates, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, (all three of which were looking disturbed at Orochimaru, who was ignoring it), three tough looking Stone nin, two skittish cloud nin and their other teammate who was currently glaring at them, and three Mist nin of very little importance.
"Before we continue," the Hokage began, "I must ask those that feel they cannot continue to forfeit."
The Konoha nin watched as two of the Stone nin reluctantly raised their hands. Now that they got a better look, all three were rather battered, no matter how powerful looking. The two skittish looking Cloud nin also left, earning a disgusted look from their teammate. None of the Kiri nin forfeited, and none of the Konoha nin did.
Four people sighed in relief as Orochimaru, smirking to himself, forfeited as well.
The Hokage looked on proudly at the remaining group, ignoring the village differences for the moment to praise them all on their success as so far. He went on to explain what the third and final test was. He made sure that they understood why they were taking the exams, and why it was and inter-village effort.
"Make it clear to yourselves. This is not just to improve relations.
"This is a substitute for war."
He looked seriously at the attentive young nin, his grandfatherly smile gone.
"Now, as there are so many of you, we will be holding a preliminary match right now. This man," He gestured to a jounin who looked like he was about to collapse where he stood. "Will be the proctor of this exam." He bowed to them and left to the Kage box. Lucky Kages, they get the good seats for only half price.
Hayate bowed to the group and wandered, coughing to the middle of the ring. "Tane of Mist versus Gyaku of Stone"
Both males walked in the ring calmly, and bounced back to the edges as Hayate gave the signal to begin. It was only after the Stone nin started yelling and running around in circles that the watching crowd, and Haku, realized that Gaara had come with him. He was, at the moment, plastered over the poor boy's face and scratching like it was the only thing left to do.
Laughing quietly to himself, Haku easily snuck up on him and knocked him out with a clean blow to the neck. No need to be fancy in the Prelims.
-:- -:- -:-
Tenten growled audibly as the chakra strings latched onto the sword now. She wasn't letting go, damn it! The weapons mistress smirked to herself as she saw Kankuro stumble forward a couple steps as she yanked back on her weapon. He glared at her, yanking his hands away again and taking her with them. Frowning, Tenten, yanked back again, the boy forced to take a step forward again. It went back and forth like that for several minutes, neither willing to let go and dukeing it out more like a pair of three year old over a stuffeded than well trained genin.
"K'so!" Kankuro glowered at her, "Leggo, damn it!" he pulled on the chakra strings again, hard.
"Nope." She retorted calmly, landing smoothly and yanking back just as hard.
"Fine" the black dressed Suna genin muttered, attaching all the strings to one hand. He held out the other one and twitched it oddly; odder than usual. Tenten stood prepared, waiting for the rather beat up puppet to move again. It didn't. Instead the ground beneath her shuddered, an entire concrete block trying to free itself from the ground. The genin kunoichi looked back at Kankuro with amazement, and saw that he was using both hands on it now, this was going to be all or nothing.
"Fine." she said herself, digging in her pocket to grab another summon scroll. But it was too late. She dove off of the heavy block to keep from being flung around. Turning the oriental dressed girl saw it heading straight toward her at high speeds. Tenten leapt over it, ducking again as it came back. Then she collapsed as another block hit her from behind.
That was why he was using two hands.
She heard an odd snap in one of her legs and knew something was broken. Ignoring the pain anyway, Tenten tried to rise again, only to find the concrete block hovering above her.
Kankuro was sweating heavily, beads dripping of his face to the ground. The stupid things weighed a ton and he had to move them fast enough to keep up with the little witch. "Give up!" he yelled to her, trying to keep control over the stone over her head. He saw her look at it, then him, than back at it again. Finally she shrugged .
"Aright. You win, this time. I don't feel like being crushed because you run out of chakra."
Kankuro smirked at her, now that was dignity. "Smart choice." he moved the block just barely out of her range before dropping it.
"Winner: Kankuro!" Hayate called, raising an arm in the boy's direction. Tenten rubbed her head, embarrassed and tried to get up from the ground. Unable to do so, she collapsed back down. Her teammate, Lee, leapt down from the stands and helped her to the hospital area set up for them. He looked back behind them to see that the other boy had fallen too, and handed Tenten off to Neji. Jogging high spiritedly back to the arena, he grabbed an unconscious Kankuro and slung him over his shoulder. Tenten may have been beaten, but it sure wasn't easy!
"Next: Kiri no Shikaeshi v. Kiri no Bonbon!"
Both boys jumped into the ring, facing each other as they waited for the announcer to designate the beginning. The other mist nin, Bonbon, looked at Sasuke nervously. He knew about their team, and boy would he be in trouble if he fought any of them. Maybe this one would go easy on him?
Sasuke's eyes narrowed at Hayate yelled go. He slid back into an offensive Taijutsu stance. No, this kid would not be going easy on him.
"H-hey." he tried, hoping to gain sympathy. "This is your first time in the exams, too, right?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, his paleish face still impassive.
"N-never mind." The boy looked away, feeling a growing annoyance, centered on him, coupled with an underlying want to fight. No, this was more like the Mizukage's; a need to fight. He wanted to beat him up, wonderful. Damn, why did the Mizukage's students all have to be so fight loving! It was just creepy.
Then again, the man like his fights as well.
Ah, screw it! "Hayate-san? I don't stand a chance, I forfeit." he said, looking nervously as the other boy out of the corner of his eye. He really hoped this wouldn't be taken out on him.
But Sasuke just eased out of his stance, shrugged and wandered back off stage.
Inside he was fuming at being cheated out of yet another fight.
-:- -:- -:-
Neji walked into the ring next, accompanied by one of the Grass nin that were with Orochimaru (not that anyone knew it was him). Both faced each other, giving of the same looks of contempt.
Coughing, Hayate brought his arm down in the signal to begin. Both jumped back, falling into their separate fighting stances. Almost at the same time, the two lunged at each other, up on the stands, several ninja muttered about the Hyuuga having finally met a twin of his own.
Strangely enough, the Grass nin seemed to be muttering the same about his own teammate.
On the raised part of the floor that was the arena (disregarding the two concrete blocks that raised the floor even more, and missing places that were now the same height as the outside of the arena), the battle was far from matched, twins in attitude they may be, but the Grass nin was no match for the Jyuuken genius. At first he had tried to block the attacks, losing precious mobility in return for realizing the extent of the attack. Now, unable to dodge as well as usual, the genin was falling fast.
"Hyuuga Neji is the winner." Hayate finally announced as the other genin finally collapsed. The pompous boy swept of the stage with a mutter about fate and losers.
-:- -:- -:-
Lee bounced happily to the center of the ring as the Jounin Procter called his, and some mist nin's names.
"Oh, how wonderful this will be!" he yelled to his very unfortunate opponent. "We shall have most youthful fight!"
The mist nin twitched impatiently. "Alright, be-"
"And we shall prove to the crowd the powers of Youth! Gai-sensei will be so proud!" The hyperactive genin interrupted. "It will be the dawning of a new Youthful decade! The world will see the powers of Youth!"
Hayate coughed, "Um, how nice...? Now, b-"
"Yosh! It is nice! And the newest Youthful generation will grow up to the power of Youth, and grow strong under the watchful eyes of Youth!" Hayate was starting to wonder if Gai's eccentricity was really a cult following for the as of yet unknown God of Youth.
"Yosh! That is it Lee! Show them your YOUTHFULNESS!" Gai howled from the stands. The three Jounin near him backed away quickly. The proctor decided that he must be correct.
"Gai-sensei!" Lee called from the arena.
"Lee!" his sensei bellowed from the stands.
"Shut UP!" the pissed mist genin screeched from right beside the very unlucky Jounin. He lunged forward, delighted to rip up the boy's throat.
But Lee wasn't there anymore. Confused the genin searched around him, finally finding the green clad boy standing easily behind him, and frowning.
"That was very unYouthful." he said reproachfully. "I shall teach you the true meaning of Youth!" Lee disappear again, reappearing for just a moment on the mist nin's side and scored a glancing, if painful, hit on him, before vanishing again. The mist nin spun around in surprise, missing the boy. This time on his other side, Lee appeared and attacked again. Again, the mist nin was just a moment too slow to catch a glimpse of the fast paced ninja.
After what seemed like ages of this, (the crown of peers had decided that Lee was an incredibly patient individual, even if he did worship some foreign god) the mist genin collapsed to the ground in a heap. The minor, although painful, injuries having added up.
"Winner: Lee." Hayate coughed, muttering something along the line of 'Hadn't said 'go'. Neither of them should have passed...'.
Next up was Shino and Chouji. Both stepped into the ring and bowed politely to the proctor. He nodded back. They turned to each other and politely greeted each other, although neither bowed and took their eyes off the other.
Hayate looked between the two in mild shock. 'Was there actually a fight where the two fighting didn't hate each other's guts?!' Shaking his head to clear it, he brought down his arm in a swipe to signal the fight starting. "Begin!"
Chouji leapt back to distance himself from his enemy, and to plan an attack, as per normal ninja procedure. To his surprise, however, Shino leapt forward with him as he leapt back. Before he could react, the boy had rushed past him. He now stood behind him, with a satisfied smirk on his face. 'Huh?' Chouji though. Shino had always struck him as a pretty emotionless guy. As had most Aburame, really.
Wait, was he showing off? Chouji frown and bent down in a fighting stance favored by the Akamichi clan. Shino spread his arms wide, preparing his own attack. A faint look of pleasure crossed his face as swarms of insects flew out of his sleeves at the pleasantly plump boy. He jump back and began to dodge and knock down some of the faster bugs. A few still made it on him and more would, but the insect user still looked frustrated.
"Stay still." he ordered.
"No!" Chouji said, scandalized.
"Why not?" Shino cocked his head to the side and seemed genuinely confused. Up in the stands, his team was looking at him with concern, Shino did not act like this!
Sucking in air, Chouji bellowed. "I don't want to lose!" He grew in size, his whole body inflating. "Baika no jutsu!"
Shino watched as the now massive boy rolled toward him at frightening speeds. The ninja from the audience yelled at the once-stoic boy to move. Hayate was about to call the match of when he noticed something. Just as the boy was about to hit him, he started to deflate rapidly, until he was just in front of his opponent, and normal sized again.
"Oooo, dizzy..." Chouji mumbled before collapsing from chakra depletion, right on top of the other boy. Shino's eyes went wide behind his glasses. He held on to the boy as best he could and peppered him with questions that he didn't expect or want answered, while helping him stagger to his feet. Both stumbled off the arena, heading over to the medical room.
"Winner: Shino." Hayate said unhelpfully.
Shino ignored him.
Hayate coughed.
-:- -:- -:-
The next fight was... interesting to say the least. Jounin teachers would talk of it for ages to come. After Hayate called Kiba and one of the Cloud ninja into the ring, he tried to say begin, he really did.
"Hey. Mr.Jounin-dude? Can we stop this for a moment?" Kiba asked innocently.
The man froze, one hand still in the air. "Stop? Do you forfeit?"
"No, no! I just wanna postpone this a moment. Aka needs to go. Bad." the dog-boy emphasized, holding up his puppy for a moment, before setting him on the ground.
Hayate stared at the puppy, reminding the authoress disturbingly of L. "Go where?" he asked.
"Y'know, go."
Hayate frowned, then coughed. "He should have gone before the match." He turned to the other nin, who had been waiting impatiently, then back to Kiba. "Begin"
Kiba leapt back on instinct, slipping in to a defensive stance. He looked down apologetically of Akamaru, only to find the puppy had stayed where he was. He whined, and the dog-boy ran forward again, forgetting the fight in favor of him partner.
Seeing a breach in defense and an easy win, the cloud ninja lunged forward. Kiba, crouching in front of his puppy didn't notice. Just as the cloud nin was about to attack, the boy stood again, lifting his puppy a little awkwardly. Glancing up, he stared at the ninja just in front of him, about to attack him.
Suddenly, both were distracted by a thin stream of yellow liquid arching onto the cloud nin. They stared, then the genin started to scream as the fact that the dog had just peed on him sunk in. He ran around in a full circle, then off the arena and down the hall way, still screaming. Everyone stared at the spot where he disappeared in astonishment.
"Kiba wins...?" Hayate seemed to ask.
Kiba spun to face him, a look of horror on his face. "What?! No fight?! But- but, Aka doesn't have to go anymore!"
-:- -:- -:-
Kiba glommed his teammate as she made her way back to the stands. "That was sooo not fair!" he whined as he nuzzled her. She blushed and tried to persuade him off of her. Shino solved the problem quickly, by grabbing the smaller boy's collar and lifting him away. Unfortunately, the affectionate boy merely latched on to him, next.
"She may be harmed, Kiba." he said in annoyed voice. Kurenai nodded and stepped forward herself, checking over her student carefully.
"I'm very proud of you, Hinata." she said with a small smile on her face. "You handled that Mist village kunoichi very well." She grinned to herself, giving mental thumbs up. The girl had impressed them all by coming out on top and defeating the other girl. It had looked a bit rough at first but her little baby had pulled through.
And with absolutely no Jyuuken. She couldn't wait to brag to that stuck up pig that called himself her father. Ah, sweet revenge.
"You didn't use the cool chakra kunai, though!" Kiba said suddenly. He pouted at his teammate, as though it was personal blow that she hadn't.
"A-ah. Gomennasai, Kiba-kun. I forgot."
-:- -:- -:-
"Nara Shikamaru." Hayate called again, coughing in annoyance. The boy had not come into the ring with the grass ninja, and it seemed he wasn't going to show at all.
"Nara Sh-"
"Get in there, you lazy ass!" came a shriek from the stands. Everyone looked up or over to see a blonde genin throw her surprised teammate over the end of the balcony and into the ring. Thankfully he landed with little to no injury, disregarding the heavy blow to his pride.
The pony-tailed boy slumped to the center of the ring, looking more like he had to take his mother shopping for clothing and then pay for it.
Shikamaru glanced at the two already there, and nodded slightly. Hayate nodded back, while his opponent completely ignored him.
"Begin." The grass nin sprang back with impressive speed, Shikamaru looking like he was about to do the same. It startled the small crowd when he instead looked down in surprise. The followed his gaze when it turned to that of horror.
His shadow was racing toward the grass genin, and from the looks of it, it wasn't the deer boy making to that. Frowning, the genius stomped on it, a futile attempt to try and get it to slow. When that didn't work, (in fact, it seemed to worsen the situation, as the poor boy lost his shadow in a very Peter Pan-esque moment) he chased it and jumped down on it. Needless to say, this was a very undignified thing for a ninja to be doing. The boy seemed to have forgotten that he was in a fight, instead chasing his run away shadow across the arena while everyone stared.
"Stay STILL!" he yelled at it, tackling the inky black patch on the ground in frustration. Suddenly, he wished he hadn't as the form ripped out of the ground in a long tendril, which he was hanging on to. It seemed to look around the arena for a moment, as though taking in the sights. Its gaze lingered on the enemy, then came to a stop, 'facing' Shikamaru, who scooted backwards, letting go immediately. It seemed to take this as an invitation, and dove back into the ground, swarming after the unlucky Grass ninja. It merged quickly with his shadow, the leapt up, engulfing the male.
Eyes widened all around as the sound of muffed screaming came from inside. Finally, Shikamaru gathered the nerve to walk over carefully, ready to bolt at a milliseconds notice. "Stop, now...?" he asked tentatively.
The shadow vanished, receding back to its rightful place, attached to the Konoha genin's feet. Where it once was, the Grass nin sat blubbering like an infant. He looked up in undisguised terror as Shikamaru approached.
"P-please don't hurt me!" He screeched, his voice several decibels too high, and causing Hayate and Shikamaru to wince. He quickly ran to the Jounin, begging to be let go. Hayate nodded confused, and the foreign genin bolted.
"It seems Shikamaru wins." The boy didn't notice as he made his thoughtful way back to the stands.
The rest of the fights we fairly unnoticed after that. Sakura and Ino got into a minor, very personal argument, and fought hard until they knocked each other clean out. It was deemed a tie, and lucky that it had happened now, and not the finals. Near the end of it, both girls had gotten rather erratic, and kunai were not hitting their mark nearly so often.
It was rather fortunate that their audience was trained shinobi, and even then there were still some close calls.
The next fight was a fairly short one, as ninja fights were supposed to be, between Temari, from Suna, and Naruto, in disguise as Arashi.
Naruto won, hands down.
-:- -:- -:-
Kakashi froze as he heard the voices in the alley hissing to each other. They were talking about his student. Did they know that he wasn't dead? Shit.
"The brat seems to have told them that it was me. They, however, got the information wrong and thought he was describing Sharingan Kakashi."
And now he's come into the conversation as well. What were they saying though? Someone thought that he had done something?
What had he done? Or rather been framed for by the young man in the ally. Lifting his hitai-ate, the Jounin identified them as a relatively tall boy, with silver hair and glasses speaking to another man. This one, from what he could see had long black hair under a wide brimmed hat. He seemed to be pale and wore a strange mutilation of a priest's and a samurai's yukata, tied with a belt of thick purple rope. The Sharingan caught slivers of enraged purple chakra coming from him.
Shit.
Orochimaru.
"How did they find out about the seal you used?" Orochimaru growled.
The other shrugged. "Dunno, I know I did a good job of it. The Nara brat must have figured out how to tell them."
Nara? though Kakashi. Nara Shikamaru? The boy that had just been attacked before the test?
They thought he did it?!
"Are you sure that the Jounin think that he did it? Even the sensei? They were close, right?"
"Hai. Sarutobi Asuma, and Jiraiya are the only two that heard him. They seemed to have told Maito Gai. All of them think it was him."
Asuma thought it was him?!
GAI Thought it was him!?!
The silver haired Jounin pouted at the injustice under his ,mask and stalked away to have a talk with his 'teammates'. Some rival Gai was, blaming him... And Asuma just knew better. And Jiraiya! The Sannin had known him since he was younger... This was a conspiracy!
Shit, it was a conspiracy.
Kakashi groaned and jumped to as roof top to try and locate the closest... 'teammate'. Buncha traitors, all of them.
-:- -:- -:-
Kiba walked quietly into his house, about to head into the kitchen when he heard laughing. Drunk laughing. There were at least eight voices, all of them yelling or laughing and the dog boy definitely smelled liquor. A lot of it.
He peeked in the door, being very careful not to get hit by a stray flying beer bottle like the last time his Mom had a party. He could see his Mom there, along with the Jounin examiner from the second test, Anko. They were laughing raucously, both with very little clothing on and very large cups of some alcohol or another. Near them seemed to be... Kurenai-sensei! What was she doing there-
in just her bra and panties. Kiba blushed. She was giggling and snuggling up to what looked like a very drunk, very happy Asuma-sensei. He had an arm around her and was talking animatedly to an oldish looking man with long white hair and a nose piercing. Sitting with them was the super freaky older version of the spandexified boy that he had met in the Chuunin exams. Drunk. They were all drunk. There were three more Jounin (or maybe Chuunin) that he didn't know the name of, sitting in the circle on the floor of his kitchen.
Drinking. Damn, he hoped that there wouldn't be as much trouble as there was last time.
"An-hic-and we finely got the li'l bastard!" Asuma shouted, finally saying something clear. "Looked jus' like the des- des- how m'boy said!" Kiba's eyes widened, man they were plastered!
The old man nodded drunkenly, agreeing. "We did hafta say sorry ta Kashi-chan tho'... We thought was it him!" There was laughter all around at that statement.
"Sowizzee dead?" His mom asked leaning in. Asuma-sensei's smirk widened, and he nodded.
"I tol' 'is dad, y'know Shikaku? Yeah, an' we found da li'l runt righ' where Kashi-chan said!" Several of the group winced at the mention of the boy's dad being involved as well. Kiba shuddered as he saw his sensei run a finger along the bearded jounin's chest whispering in his ear.
Hana looked at her little brother peering through the cracked door as she came down the stairs. Grinning, she snuck up behind him to surprise the brat. Just as she was in position, he spun around in horror and ran right passed her and up the stairs. The older Inuzuka child pouted but followed him up.
"Oh, Kiba!" she sang. "What were you doing eavesdropping on Mom's party again? I though you learned your lesson the first time." Hana peeked into his room, to find him in the bathroom seeming to be trying to scrub his eyes right out. "Geez, what was going on in there, kiddo?"
Her kid brother looked up at her, his puppy expression mimicking that of his puppy's. "Hana! Kurenai-sensei was in there!" Hana sweat dropped.
"Oh. Don't-"
"Umm, Do you know why they were down there?" Kiba interrupted, suddenly distracted as the implications of the conversation finally caught up with him.
"There was a traitor in the village. Have you ever heard of Orochimaru?" Kiba shook his head, both settling on his bed. "God, Kiba-chan, pay attention is school, would you? Any way his was- is- a man who was doing very wrong things in the village. When everyone found out, he abandoned the village and became a missing nin. You know what that is right?" Kiba nodded enthusiastically, as though this was a thrilling bed time story. "Well, he was spotted in the village several times recently, and was just found out to be working with someone from this village." Hana's little brother's eyes widened almost comically. "Anyway, the traitor was to one that hurt one of your teammates, Nara Shika something."
"Shikamaru." Kiba corrected automatically. So that was the person? It was someone from leaf? The dog boy recalled Kurenai-sensei telling them that the Chuunin exams were very dangerous, even before they started. That one of their teammates, on a different team, if that made any sense, had already been hurt. She told them that they should, now more than ever, remember that the two people standing with them weren't the only ones on the team, and to protect your friends and keep them safe.
"He was one of the people who spotted Orochimaru, and apparently learned a lot of valuable information." Kiba nearly jumped as his sister startled him from his thoughts. "Are you paying attention? Good. Well, they boy had a seal on him that wouldn't let him say anything, so they had to get that off. But when they did, they found out that it was booby-trapped!" Hana laughed as Kiba gasped. "And then the boy, Shikamaru? Told them as quickly as he could the description of the person that attacked him. But then he forgot everything that had happened to him."
"Oh, no!" Kiba whined, leaning on his sister and waiting for her to continue.
"Uh, huh, but that's not the worst part. The description he gave... fit none other than Hatake Kakashi!" Kiba gasped again, looking up at Hana. "Well, this startled the Jounin, Asuma-san, but he had faith in his student, so he thought that it was possible. He and the legendary Sannin Jiraiya, stalked Kakashi for many days, until one day they were spotted by Kakashi's Eternal Rival, Maito Gai. He's the one in green down stairs." Kiba nodded, still looking fascinated. Hana couldn't help making it sound a bit fantastical.
"Well, he nearly blew their cover so they took him away and explained what happened. That's when Gai decided to join them as well, although he didn't think that it was Kakashi that did it." Kiba grinned, proud of this person who kept faith in his team. "But then, one day, Kakashi was walking and he heard the traitor and Orochimaru talking. They had found out that everyone thought that Kakashi was the one that hurt your friend, not the traitor himself!" her little brother gasped quietly again, snuggling into her arm a little more. Hana continued with a smile, one hand waving around as though demonstrating, while the other was petting her little brother and his puppy.
"Well, Kakashi felt very sad that his friends could ever believe that he would hurt a Konoha genin, so he left to tell them the truth. Asuma and Jiraiya were very ashamed of themselves and apologized immediately. Then Asuma left to tell your friend's father that they had found out who had hurt his son." Kiba grinned again, bouncing a little in excitement before settling against his sister again, out of energy.
"So they both left to find the little traitor, and they made him admit what he had done." Hana looked down to see that he otouto's eyes were shutting. "Then they killed him, as was the code of the village. That's why you should never be a traitor. Now everything is all better." The younger dog user nodded sleepily, a small smile on his face. He muttered quietly, "I'm gunna protect my precious people too..." before finally drifting off to sleep, snuggled close to his sister.
-:- -:- -:-
"Did the Mizukage get taller?" Genma asked his old friend after catching up to him. It was a question that had been bothering him for quite some time. Well, ever since he had seen the man.
"You notice the weirdest things. Maybe they got a new one." Kakashi answered. He was a bit pissed that anyone would think he would attack a Konoha genin. He had students, damn it all!
"No, I would have found out." The younger man sounded genuinely stuck on this matter so he humored him, for now.
"Maybe it just happened." he guessed.
"They wouldn't just before an exam." Genma deadpanned. This was obvious as the genin wouldn't be up to top form having to get used to the idea of a different ruler. It also couldn't be that the old one had kicked the bucket, because then they would have heard, and there would be no Kiri genin here.
"Maybe he's wearing stilts." The silver haired Jounin joked. Hey, it made sense.
"Kakashi!"
"Heh heh. Don't worry about that. What you should worry about is I think I've met him... Maybe I'm related." He did think that he knew the man, and not just from an introduction on a mission. He also had a pretty bad feeling about him.
"Or maybe..." a voice from behind them spoke, startling both Jounin, "Maybe I'm someone who you feel likes to fight. Some who you met not long ago, and that you cheated out of a fight... "
Kakashi shivered invisibly as the tall (for he defiantly was!) man walked away. Genma stared at his friend, about to say something when they heard that the Mizukage seemed to be humming something.
"To-tal slaugh-ter, To-tal slaugh-ter, I won't leave - a single man - a-live, La da la - la de die, Geno-cide, La da la - la de lod, An ocean - of blood, Let's be-gin The Killing - time... (1)"
Genma and Kakashi stared after him, eyes wide. Genma seemed to have an odd half smile stuck on his face and you could see the whites all around Kakashi's one visible eye. All words were forgotten for quite a bit.
-:- -:- -:-
They found, upon entering the site for the second half of the fights, that the arena was one; much larger. It was also not missing random blocks of concrete. The space was huge, and decorated. Several of the shinobi muttered that they didn't see the point, it was likely all going to be destroyed soon anyways. However, their used became obvious as the stands fill, influential politicians and business owners making their way to the more protected stands. The ninja were seated closest to the center, as they could defend themselves, and the non-shinobi resided in the middle, cheering everyone on.
The fights started quickly, the same proctor as before, Hayate, ushering them in. (For those who are curious, Baki, now lacking his quintessential contact, Kabuto, instead went to comfort his new found friend Kakashi. Both woke with rather severe hangovers, and very little memory of the previous night. It was decided, when they awoke to find themselves in a rather compromising position, in a very compromising location, that the incident would never be spoken of again.)
"Hyuuga Hinata versus Hyuuga Neji." Hayate called. The crowd stared in alarm, or at least the ninja portion did. This was going to be rough.
Hinata bowed deeply to her cousin, but he just sneered at her. "That is so pathetic, you should not bow to your enemy." he said, looking down at her.
"St-" Hayate began.
"A-ano sa, Neji-niisan. You are not my ene-"
"I am." He interrupted, scoffing. "Never think otherwise. Someday, I will teach you what it means to resign to you fate. You should learn now, and forfeit." Hinata tried to speak again, but the stuck up genin interrupted her once again. "In fact, why don't you give up trying to be a shinobi all together. You aren't cut out for it."
"That's enou-"
"You're too delicate, too kind, too weak." he spat. "You could not make it far, you would die on your first big mission, you will just have to listen to fate. Yours is elsewhere."
"Now, now why don't you just-" Hayate tried to speak quickly, he really did.
"Huh, you can't even be good at infiltration, and that doesn't even require fighting. You chakra reserves are too low too. You should just give into your fate, give you sister the title of heir. She is fated to it."
"Start, already!" Hayate finally shouted. This was followed by a loud thud as Hinata full out punched her cousin in the face. He lost his balance in surprise and fell to the ground. Blood was running from his nose like he was an overdosed pervert.
"Neji-niisan! You should just... just shut up! Fate is an idiot's excuse for the unknown and unwanted." She squeaked at him, her voice growing stronger with every word. "You have your problems, I accept that, and I am sorry for your losses. You did not deserve the loss of your father, and that seal. The curse is wrong and immoral, and I wish it had never existed. But, cease to blame them on me!" She was pacing now, Hayate sidestepped to avoid her trampling him. It seemed she was lost in her own world.
"You push away those who want to help and cling to you wretched fate." Hinata spat the word. "That is pathetic. I am not pathetic, I have moved on. I realize that I may have gone about things wrong before, but I strive to fix them." It seems important to note that as this speech continued, Kurenai stared dreamily down at her student, looking like she had found new love in her life. (Asuma glared jealously, looking back and forth between them, and held and ice pack to his head.) Shino had grabbed Kiba and was currently dancing the tango with him.
"But you, you are wallowing in your negative emotions, and you fate. They will not help you. They do not care for you. They want only to pull you into their abyss.
"You were born with talent, but you squander it. You refuse to help others like you, born with a chance, and deem them lesser than you. How many dreams have you crushed, Neji-niisan?" She glared at him, throwing her arms down in frustration.
Neji just sat there, staring ahead of him. His nose was still bleeding. Hayate leaned down in front of him, and waved a bored hand in front of his face. Nothing. He didn't react in the least. Nodding to himself, he hoisted the motionless boy over his shoulder, and carried him off, muttering something about 'catatonic' to some of other ninja.
It was a long while before any tried to remove the still ranting Hyuuga from the arena, and a still longer while after before they tried again after the first brutal failure.
-:- -:- -:-
The shinobi decided that they would need memory modification. Everything in that fight was not supposed to happen.
"Aburame Shino." he had called, same as always. "Arashi of Mist."
Both had come to the center quickly, nothing strange. The mist nin even exclaimed a delighted hello at the sight of the boy.
Then, to the amazement of all Aburame-knowledgeable ninja in the crowd, including the boy's own father, he shuffled back. Shino shuffled back away from the bright, silver haired boy. He looked uncomfortable, and insecure. It was showing on his face. Suddenly, the mist genin leaned in, he looked just a bit embarrassed.
"Uh, real sorry." he mumbled. Shino cocked his head at him, confused. "I didn't know that you would react so, well, big!"
The bug user frowned at him, still obviously confused. Arashi just looked away and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like seal.
"Seal?" Shino repeated. Suddenly, as though something in his head clicked, he lunged at the other boy with alarming speed. His voice turned cold and threatening. "This is your fault?" Several of the senior ninja looked surprise at Kakashi, who looked a bit startled himself. The Aburame had sounded just like him, right then.
Shino latch on to his opponent, not relying on his kikai even once, and instead, grabbing Arashi, with one hand and pummeling every inch of him that he could reach with the other.
The mist nin wash pushed back ferociously, twice falling out of the ring, only to be yanked back in by the truculent boy. Finally, it seemed like the smaller boy had been defeated. Shino dragged the boy angrily to Hayate, who stepped back ever so slightly. The bruised and bloody boy was shoved in his face, Shino holding him by the hair. One of his eyes seemed to be swelling shut.
Next think people knew was there was a crash at the other end of the arena as the Aburame crashed painfully into the wall. A blur raced after him, smashing a knee painfully into his face and knocking the taller boy's head against the wall again. Hard. Naruto frowned worriedly as the boy slumped. He didn't mean to go so hard on him, but using the Kyuubi's chakra was the only way he could have won.
-:- -:- -:-
The crowd stared on in amazement. They were still not sure who had won.
Or what had happened.
Or anything really.
First, it was all fine and dandy. An unfair fight, consisting of the Inuzuka flunk, who had just barely passed the prelims, against the super-speed-and-power-cannon, Lee. That was where it all went wrong. Kiba was delighted to fight him, and even listened patiently to his speech.
They should have known there, that boy had no patience.
Then, impressed by this, Lee had told him that he would not hold back against him.
But he had! The damn fool... Like everyone else, he had known of the connection that the Inuzuka clan shared with their companions, but this... this.
They still didn't know who had won. Both had to be carried off, that was for sure.
-:- -:- -:-
Next, the fourth fight of the finals, was Shikaeshi of Mist against Kankuro of sand. The actual fight didn't last all that long. They had started by being called into the ring. Both boys curtly nodded to each other, never letting their eyes leave the other's face. Hayate, seeming glad fir a normal fight for once, called for them to begin.
And they fought, both seeming evenly matched, with a slight advantage to Sasuke, which was a bit muffled buy the use of Kankuro's puppets. Unfortunately for everyone, this merely lasted a few moments. Suddenly, a booming voice yelled something across the stadium. Something that struck fear into the hearts of Genjutsu users everywhere.
"KAI!" Sasuke felt a sickening lurch in his stomach as he felt the Genjutsu slip away. Kankuro froze in mid attack, staring at him. There was screeching from the stands, and quite a few of special Jounin even backed away from the furious pink haired girl.
"SASUKE!" This got through to most of the crowd, and suddenly, everyone was standing and shouting.
Then before anyone could react, a man was standing there, dressed in the Kazekage's clothing, yet his face was that of someone else entirely.
Orochimaru.
He grabbed Sasuke and yanked him forward, as Kankuro lunged at him, furious. The genin had worked too get his revenge for his father, (whether he liked him or not was something else entirely) and he wasn't just letting it go to hell.
"It's Orochimaru!" he yelled, to attract the attention of those still in shock. The puppet user flung his puppet, all accessories and blades sticking out dangerously, at the Sannin.
But it was too late; the man had sunk his fangs into the closed bit of his prey that he could reach, which happened to be his shoulder, as the boy was a survivalist with a mission, and not inclined to giving into random freaky old Kage impersonators. Especially when they wanted to bite him.
Sasuke's eyes went wide with the sudden pain and the shock, then he slumped over, unconscious. Orochimaru spun around to destroy the brat that dare hit him in the back, but found to his dismay, two very unfriendly faces.
The Hokage and the Mizukage had both leapt down to the defense of their very near joint subject, and common enemy. This was a very unsettling surprise, as Orochimaru recognized the Mizukage to be a very powerful (strangely enough, missing) nin that might actually mean he could die if they worked together. Then, as he felt his burden relieved from him, the snake Sannin spun to face several furious genin, in a growing crowd. The one that now held Sasuke was glaring blood and horrible fates at him, his shadow bubbling dangerously around him. Next to him stood both the boy who dared to attack him, looking like he would dare to do so again in the near future, and a large boy who looked to be getting larger by the second. They were joined quickly by two other mist ninja, and a bristling raccoon. Then two pissed as hell girls, and two very dangerous leaf Jounin.
This already large group was joined by more and more over protective ninja. Damn Konoha and its friendliness!
Dropping his plans for the moment, Orochimaru fled.
-:- -:- -:-Owari-:- -:- -:-
A/N: You all hate me, don't you?
(1) This is from Trigun. Sung by Vash. I love it, but no me ownie!
(2) oh, how tempting it was to write Ho ho ho Green Giant, or something along those lines...
(3) For those who don't know, akimbo means hands on hips.
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