"There's no one approaching," Hinata said. They'd spent the past half an hour running like the devil himself had been after them, but no snakes had gotten in their way and no creepy old man had cut them off.
"Alright... I think we can rest now," Shikamaru muttered. They all came to a stop against a huge tree. A light rain began to fall and they all got underneath a cave-like covering made by roots that were partly sticking out of the ground and dirt that had not been eroded on one side of them. Shino and Naruto spread their camo-tarp over the front of it to stave off any rain that might leak in.
"So, three guesses as to why Orochimaru is after me," Sasuke said, "because I can't think of a single one. I know my family has had no dealings with him, before or after his defection." One by one all of them denied having even an inkling as to why the previous events had just happened. "Great... I'm being hunted for some random reason." He sighed and ducked his head into his arms, which were resting on top of his knees.
"Does anyone else think it was really creepy when he shed that Grass ninja's skin like a snake?" Ino asked. "I swear, that's far worse than anything Anko-sensei has."
"Yeah, no kidding..." Naruto muttered. "I wonder if he ended up being able to do any of the tricks she knew before he killed her."
"Hm..." Shikamaru muttered. "You might be onto something there... let's say that's the case. What's the one thing Sasuke has that we don't?"
"The Sharingan," Hinata replied. "But what does a Sannin want with a pair of Sharingan eyes? Why not just get implants like Kakashi-sensei did?"
"An Uchiha has the correct chakra equilibrium to use the Sharingan effectively. With anyone else, it places a great strain on the user's chakra reserves," Sasuke replied. "I've often noticed it when Kakashi-sensei teaches me about how to use it effectively; the training doesn't last very long, and he often has it covered up unless he's teaching me how to see and copy jutsu."
"So he'd need not just the eyes, but the entire chakra system..." Shikamaru said. "Since he can inhabit the skin of another person, and given his current age, I can surmise that he probably knows how to inhabit a person's body, possibly by separating his soul from his body and possessing another person."
"Do you realize how powerful such a jutsu could be? You'd be able to live forever, just by jumping from one body to another," Shino remarked.
"If he's after immortality, then that would be his aim, I imagine," Shikamaru replied. "That having been said, I wonder why he would want the Sharingan at all. All it's really good for is copying jutsu and penetrating genjutsu- no offense."
Sasuke shook his head, biting back an arrogant reply. "There's more to the Sharingan than that, but those are its main abilities. Anyway, he was a student of the Hokage, who was also called the Professor. Supposedly he knows over a thousand jutsu, which is how he got that nickname. Maybe he wants to be able to know more without having to go through the work."
"Sounds feasible, but why you? Why not Itachi?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know..." Sasuke replied. "Maybe Itachi's stronger than he is... or maybe, if Shikamaru is right, the soul-binding process works with younger bodies."
"Is it a soul transfer, rather than someone projecting their will through their chakra?" Ino asked. "Our family's jutsu uses a similar technique in order to invade the mind and do many things to it."
"But your family's jutsu is not necessarily limited to your family, like how the Sharingan and Byakugan are," Shikamaru replied. "It's more like how my family's jutsu works. Anyone could, in theory, use such jutsu and possibly even develop their own variations on that jutsu."
"Talk about dangerous..." Naruto muttered. "If that Orochimaru guy could invade the mind and take it over completely, there would be no stopping him, especially if he could body-jump at will." Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Well, there's no use speculating about it now. It's getting dark out, so we should try to get some sleep," Shikamaru said. "We guys will set up a watch, and every three hours we'll switch. I'll stand the first watch. Shino, take second; Sasuke, third; and Naruto, you take the last." They nodded and everyone unpacked blankets that were dirt-colored so that they'd avoid being seen.
…
"It went off, but he escaped before we could reach him..." Jiraiya muttered. "He's gotten stronger. We have to continue the search. It looks like he followed a trail of footprints leading off this way; they must have been trying to get out of the forest so they could come get us." As Jiraiya silently prayed that he'd find his old teammate in time, he and the ninja team he took with him left to follow the trail left by Orochimaru.
…
The following day saw Team Seven and Team Ten resuming their trek to the tower. "We should be at the tower tomorrow at the earliest, if we can avoid unnecessary battles," Shikamaru said.
"Not likely," Shino stated. "The monsters here are hungry, and I can do nothing to influence them to avoid us. In addition, we must remember that there are still many other teams who will do anything to obtain a scroll."
"My Shadow Clones got eaten yesterday," Naruto commented. "I'm more worried about them than the other genin... it's not a nice feeling, you know. Hundreds of teeth piercing your body, or being swallowed whole and burning in stomach acid."
Ino shuddered. "Not another word about that, Naruto. Shikamaru's right; we need to keep moving, or else-"
Hinata spoke up just then. "Guys, stop. We're surrounded." Everyone came to a halt immediately.
"How many?" Shikamaru asked.
"Three. Looks like the Sound Squad," Hinata replied.
"Great." He motioned them all to get into a huddle and spoke out loud. "Let's decide on a password. How's this: 'A great ninja has three qualities: a keen mind, quick feet, and the Will of Fire.'"
Naruto sighed. "I'm never going to remember that," he muttered. Only when Shikamaru winked did he understand. "Well, whatever. I gotta go take a leak." He turned around and walked out of their sight further into the forest.
Two minutes later Naruto came walking out, saying "Man, talk about a relief! I've been holding it in since breakfast!"
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What's the password?"
"Oh, right! 'A great ninja has three qualities: a keen mind, quick feet, and the Will of Fire." Naruto responded, only to dodge several kunai. "What are you doing?!"
"Your disguise is good, but you made two mistakes," Sasuke replied. "One, Naruto's kunai pouch is on the other leg. Two, much as I love him, I know he's not capable of remembering the password we set." His Sharingan came blazing to life as he pulled out another kunai.
"Nice eyes," 'Naruto' replied before dropping the transformation. Zaku, the one who'd been transformed, was quickly joined by Dosu. "Dosu, let's show them the power of sound. Wind Cannon!" he shouted before swinging his arm. A whirring sound was made as the gauntlets picked up air and, as he extended his arm forward, the air mixed with his chakra and created a blast of air. It swept past the two Leaf teams, who'd dived to avoid the blast, and crashed into a tree behind them, creating a huge impact crater.
Soon they were each bringing a full assault on the teams, who could not even regroup and plan because each time they tried, a bell sounded and threw their equilibrium off. Only Shino, whose concentration was on the kikai bugs he'd planted, was able to shrug off the effects of the bells. He separated from the group and followed the signal from one of them to Kin, who was busy littering the area with her bells. "Clever jutsu, miss." Swinging his broadsword, he tried to cut strings that he thought were hanging from her fingers, but she simply moved her hands back and faced him.
"You can't figure out my trick, and you can't beat me," Kin replied.
"Actually... I already have, Kin Tsuchi." As Kin gasped, Shino walked forward calmly with his sword resting on his shoulder. "I already know much about you. You're an orphan from Wave who was taken to Sound and made to be a ninja for this new village. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but there is something seriously wrong when your teammates treat you like trash constantly. Surely someone like you deserves far better treatment, and not simply because you're a skilled ninja."
"H-How did you know?" Kin gasped. "Are you a mind-reader?"
"No, but I have good hearing," Shino replied. "We already know that Sound plans to invade the Leaf, and we're already setting up measures to counter them. Give up, and I give you my word that you'll get off easy, far more easily than you would if you went through with your leader's plans. I can already tell that you and your team are no more than pawns to him, and that is surely no way to run a country." Sheathing his sword, he held out his hand.
"..." Kin paused as she considered her situation. She could tell that Shino was used to carrying the sword around, and thus could easily cleave her in two. In addition, her previous uneasiness was justified in that she hadn't known anything about an invasion, which meant that Shino was right about her being a pawn. Taking off her hair-bag and looking at the sound symbol on the metal plate, she sighed and threw it to the ground. "I surrender."
"Good choice," Shino replied. "I have just notified the proctor; he'll escort you out, and given his own background he'll treat you well. He was formerly of the Mist, but is now a well-respected member of the Leaf Village Ninja Corps. I'll ask him to keep you safe and out of sight until after the Chunin Exam."
"Wait, I want you to promise me something else!" Kin replied. "Please save my sister, Tayuya. She's not my real sister, and is really rough around the edges, but she's the only person who cared for me since I was orphaned and kidnapped. Please?"
"I will do my best. What does she look like, and how strong is she?" Shino asked.
"She's about as tall as you, has red hair, and carries a flute as her weapon. She's far stronger than I am, especially once she uses the Curse Seal," Kin replied as she began recalling her bells. "She turns into a monster and can't be stopped by anyone except the other Sound Four members or our boss. You have to destroy the seal, too, or else our boss could end her life immediately!"
"That's a tall order, but I know someone who knows about seals," Shino replied. Just then, Zabuza appeared next to them. "Ah, proctor, please escort this lady to the Hokage. I do believe that such an area is off-limits to a noncombatant. Plus, she must be placed into witness protection to avoid repercussions."
"I'm no messenger, boy." Turning to the girl, he glared down at her, seeing the metal plate lying on the ground. "So, taking the same route I took, huh? Hm, smart kid." Picking her up, he quickly left the forest. Shino took his cue and rejoined the battle, which sounded like it was becoming fierce.
Zaku and Dosu had suddenly found themselves being backed up against the wall. "Hey, Zaku, what's going on? Why isn't Kin keeping them off-balance?"
"That brat, slackin' as always! I'll make sure she pays big-time!" Zaku replied to Dosu, but the momentary distraction cost him dearly. Shino came down in front of him, the broadsword gleaming red as fresh blood dripped off of the blade. Zaku staggered back, holding a stump that had been his left arm. "AUGH! My arm! You-" and he followed it up with a string of swear words as he reeled from the attack.
"Zaku, let's split! We already have our scroll; let's just pay them back during the later battles!" Dosu shouted. Zaku nodded back and the both of them ran as fast as they could.
"Hey, Shino, awesome timing!" Naruto shouted, giving Shino a pat on the back. "Nice move, too, chopping his arm off. Can't wait to see you use that sword more!"
"I hope to use it as little as I can, especially given how much of a novice I currently am with it," Shino replied. "Plus, carrying it around makes my back stiff."
"Hey, Shino, why'd you disappear all of a sudden?" Shikamaru asked. "Also, why did you reappear only now?"
"I was taking care of their third member," Shino simply replied, then turned and resumed the walk to the tower. Everyone knew that Shino didn't want to talk about it right now, so they all shrugged and continued on.
…
Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, Kiba was leading Team Eight expertly with his finely-tuned ears and nose. "Hold on, guys, there's a battle going on near here. We should check it out; maybe we'll find out something about one of the stronger teams."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, Kiba?" Chouji asked. "We have our pair of scrolls. Going near a battle will just make us a target."
Sakura adjusted her headband and said, "Not if we mask our chakra signatures like Kurenai-sensei taught us. I say we take a look." Chouji reluctantly nodded and the three of them crept over to the battlefield. In a small clearing (which wasn't much of one, though it stood out because of the density of the forest) stood the Sand team and a Mist team. Temari and Kankuro stood back while Gaara fought the Mist team, or rather, as the Mist team tried to attack Gaara. It quickly proved to be pointless, however, as two Mist members were crushed against trees by Gaara's sand and the third was completely engulfed by sand, lifted up into the air, and squeezed so hard that his blood dripped from the giant sand clump and nothing was left of his bones as the sand fell to the ground and returned to the giant gourd on Gaara's back. At this point Team Eight was in the middle of a hasty retreat, though Sakura thought for sure that Gaara had seen them.
Gaara, in fact, had seen a tuft of pink hair sticking out from behind a fallen log, but had decided to ignore it. 'Mother does not want her blood, so it would be a pointless waste of time killing her or her team.' Having seen her, though, his mind was once again consumed with thoughts of her, though at this point he had decided it was better to think of her than to hear the constant droning of "Mother". Temari and Kankuro wisely said nothing as they continued to make their way to the tower, though they were still perturbed about their teammate's odd behavior.
…
Teams Seven and Ten were among the last surviving teams to arrive at the tower, but because they had made it before the cutoff time they had a few days to rest. The Rookie Nine got together to discuss strategies that they could use in case they had to fight the teams from the other villages. It was unanimously agreed that fights against the Sand that involved Gaara were to be avoided at all costs, but that caution should be taken against the other two because they didn't know how Temari and Kankuro could fight. The Sound team was at a severe disadvantage, with them down a member and Zaku missing an arm. A Cloud team had made it, but likely because they had avoided the four Leaf teams and one Sand team. All in all, the number stood at twenty genin. According to Iruka, who had greeted Team Ten at the tower, a single-combat tournament was usually the final portion of the Chunin Exam; no-holds-barred, but death avoided when possible. With this information, they had to decide what to do if and when they got pitted against each other. The first decision was that there was to be no holding back, since no one wanted to lose the tournament (and they didn't know that promotion was action-based, rather than being based on wins). Also, they would try not to use highly-destructive ninjutsu like Sasuke's Grand Fireball jutsu, which could kill people instantly. Naruto was determined to fight only the guys in the group, citing chivalry that he'd learned about in a fantasy tale he'd been reading recently, until Ino punched him in the nose and made him swear to fight any girl he ended up fighting, "even Neji," Kiba jokingly added, to the amusement of the other guys, Sakura, and Ino; Hinata simply said nothing, though she did have to admit that Neji did care for his hair too much. Otherwise, it was a relaxing couple of days.
Finally, the cutoff date had arrived, and everyone stood in the main chamber of the tower. The Third Hokage stood in between several jonin and representatives from different villages and began his speech. "Congratulations to all who made it to this third round of this season's Chunin Exam! I am proud to look over each and every one of you, whether you are of Leaf or any other nation, for it is on your shoulders that the future depends." Neji mentally scoffed at this, but kept silent as the Hokage continued. "You should come to understand why this exam exists, and why it differs so much from the genin and jonin exams. You see, it was decided after the end of the last war that all the wars we were fighting were far too costly on our economies, so the leaders of the Elemental Nations came up with a 'non-war war' that would benefit the nations instead of draining their resources. Thus, the Chunin Exam. You all are the participants in a 'cold war' that exists to promote peace while at the same time providing your relative villages with a show of strength that will boost their business. That, in a nutshell, is why you're all assembled here. Now, because there are so many of you, we will have a round of preliminaries to decide who, in a month, will participate in the final portion of the Exam and be chosen to advance in rank."
"Preliminaries?" Chouji whispered, mostly to himself. "I thought that this would be the last of it..." He pulled out a bag of chips and began to munch nervously.
"Each person will fight one bout today to decide their placement," the Hokage continued. "After that, you will report to the arena in one month. Use it to train well. I now hand the table to the proctor of this exam."
A rather nondescript jonin stepped forward, or rather, he seemed ordinary until he began speaking. "*cough* Two people will be chosen *cough-cough* at random. Everyone who is *cough* not fighting has to stay *cough-cough-cough* on the platforms above the floor. You are *cough* to fight until you have incapacitated your opponent or if I call *cough* the match. If you continue anyway and kill your opponent, and I decide that it was not accidental, you will be dis-*cough*-qualified. All teams, *cough* move to the platforms and *cough-cough* wait for your turn." After everyone had moved to the top floor, inwardly wondering to themselves how he'd become a jonin if he was so sick, a screen was rolled out and began flashing through the portraits of all the contestants appeared. A few seconds later, both portraits stopped. "Yamanaka Ino vs. Niwa Kosuke. Both contestants, please come down."
Ino smirked as she sauntered down the steps and stood at the ready position. Kosuke, in contrast, quietly made his way to the spot where he was supposed to stand. "Hey, ready for a stomping?" Ino shouted.
"..." Kosuke merely stood still, not saying a word as he pulled a pair of brass knuckles out and slipped them on.
"The 'strong, silent type', huh?" Ino said as she pulled out a kunai. "Well, we'll see how long that lasts. I'm not just a pretty face, after all."
"..." This time Ino could see his lips move, and it set her on edge. She had learned to assume lips moving as a preparation for a jutsu use. As the proctor shouted the beginning of the match, Ino took the initiative and threw out three kunai as she quickly covered the distance between herself and Kosuke. The ninja dodged backward as he continued to mumble. Suddenly black wings sprouted from his back and he took flight. "Wind-style: Air Cutter jutsu!" With a flap of his wings, blades of air rode the gust toward Ino, forcing her to sidestep. 'How in the heck is he flying?' Ino thought to herself as she suddenly found herself on the defensive. 'This can't be a normal jutsu... can a bird lift a human into the air, though?' She ran up the wall in order to try and reach Kosuke, but he simply flew out toward the center of the room. Blades of wind continued to assault Ino, who barely managed to keep ahead of the attacks throughout the whole match. 'Crap, I was hoping to not rely on my family's jutsu, but I don't have much of a choice... I hope Anko-sensei forgives me.' Quickly weaving signs, she gathered chakra and leaped over a set of air blades, shouting "Mind-transfer jutsu!" Kosuke quickly fell to the ground as Ino took over his body. She quickly stood him up and, raising his right hand, said in his voice, "I give up."
"*cough* Niwa Kosuke has surrendered. Yamanaka Ino is the winner!" the jonin announced, to the rage of Kosuke's teammates and the applause of Ino's.
Ino sat up and looked around, grinning over the fact that she had actually won the match, but seeing the newly-awakened Kosuke turning with a dejected look, she felt badly about her conduct. She rushed up and shook his hand. "I'm sorry I took the easy way out of that match. You're a strong opponent, though, and I look forward to fighting you again."
"No need to apologize, Miss Yamanaka. I was wholly unprepared for your jutsu, and so the loss is, in fact, a legitimate loss," Kosuke replied softly, smiling a little bit. "Your agility is impressive. To be honest, I was beginning to wonder if I would've run out of chakra before you, since I couldn't hit you at all."
"Comes with being chased by a lot of poisonous snakes every day," Ino replied sheepishly.
"Hey, cheater, stay away from him!" one of Kosuke's teammates shouted out as she ran up to bring him back to their group.
Kosuke, however, turned to her and she immediately stopped as she saw the reproach in his eyes. "It is unwise to slander others. Her win is solid, so drop it." He turned back to Ino and said, "Thank you for the duel. I look forward to the next time... perhaps you can actually catch me." With that, he turned and walked up the stairs to his team, his wings folding around his body like a cloak. The girl stuck her tongue out at Ino before trotting behind Kosuke.
"Nice guy..." Ino said as she began walking back to her team. 'Good-looking and polite, too...'
Suddenly the proctor spoke up. "Next match: Higurashi Tenten vs. Aburame Shino!"
Both genin walked down the stairs and stood at their ready positions. After bowing, they quickly launched into their attacks. Tenten began unraveling scroll after scroll of stored weapons that poured out and launched themselves at Shino, who simply dodged one way and another. Seeing her strategy not working, Tenten pulled out a metal staff and began attacking Shino at close range. Shino, for his part, had continued to dodge since he knew that Tenten would beat him at a straight-up weapon match. 'Forgive me, Yuugao-sensei, but I must play my advantages...' Shino thought as he began sending out his kikai bugs. Clumps of them would form to block attacks while he would lash out with the deadly insects, forcing Tenten to back up and return to weapon-summoning. Unfortunately, Shino seemed to have already won, because by this time several kikai had latched on and were sucking her chakra dry. Tenten knelt down as Shino walked up to deliver the knockout blow, but fell backward and kicked Shino in the crotch, quickly disabling the boy. Tenten then used the last of her strength to pick up her staff and clobber Shino in the head.
"Shino is unable to continue the match. Higurashi Tenten is the winner!" the proctor announced. Quickly Shino and Tenten were escorted off the floor and the excess of weapons was cleaned up before the next pair appeared on the screen. "Uchiha Sasuke vs. Inuzuka Kiba!" the proctor shouted. "Please step onto the combat floor."
Sasuke and Kiba both made their way to the center of the arena and shook hands. "May the best man win," Kiba said. Sasuke nodded in agreement as they both took their positions. When the match started they both ran up to each other and attacked with kunai, making a sort of mock-sword-fight that lasted several minutes. Being that they were on the same team, they knew what the other was capable of, so they both unconsciously decided to make a show of it. It went back and forth for some time; Sasuke would appear to have the upper hand, and then Kiba would appear to make a comeback. Finally, they backed off from each other, breathing hard but smiling.
"It's as if they're simply sparring, not fighting," Temari commented. "These Leaf guys are idiots."
"... They're fighting as hard as they can..." Gaara mumbled. "But yet they enjoy it. Why?"
Temari looked over at Gaara, surprised to hear him talk at all. "Are they? They look like they're holding back."
Gaara looked over, his eyes glaring condescendingly, and said, "Of course they are, but this is just the beginning of the match. It's definite that they are fighting with all they have, not just at the end, but at the beginning; otherwise, they would be using every technique that they know to defeat each other. Mother says so..."
"Oh, well, uh, she's right, then!" Temari replied nervously, visibly relieved when Gaara turned his attention back to the match. 'What is going on with you, Gaara?'
Meanwhile, Sasuke and Kiba had gone into a throwing match. Kunai littered the floor and left odd patterns in the walls as the two of them literally emptied their pouches of their contents. Soon they were back to their original positions. "Hey, Sasuke, looks like this will have to be settled over jutsu!" Kiba shouted.
"It's about time," Sasuke responded. "Let's do it!" His Sharingan blazed to life as he finished his sentence.
"Beast Clone jutsu!" Kiba shouted. Akamaru disappeared in a poof of smoke, and when the smoke cleared two men stood. Kiba's features had sharpened as he took on more canine characteristics, while Akamaru looked like a mirror image. "Here's one jutsu you can't copy: Tunneling Fang jutsu!" The two Kiba began rotating around a central point between them and became a tornado that lanced out at Sasuke.
Sasuke immediately began dodging the drilling duo, which was only slightly easier because the Sharingan raised his reflex time by slowing down his perception of the world around him, but every time he tried to enter the whirlwind he was repelled. This went on for a minute as Sasuke tried to figure out a solution to this problem. 'Okay, I've never beaten this jutsu before, and I can't mimic it without a solid clone of my own. I can't focus on what I don't have, though...' His hands quickly flashed through signs and he shouted "Fire-style: Phoenix Flower jutsu!" He then spewed out a myriad of fireballs at the twirling twosome, but Kiba and Akamaru simply flew right through the blast and finally hit Sasuke. The raven-haired genin had twisted around to avoid a direct impact, but ended up getting knocked into a wall anyway. By this time his shirt had been torn up, so he simply discarded the rag it had become and flashed through hand signs again. 'I have to break them up somehow...' "Fire-style: Grand Fireball jutsu!" A giant fireball shot out of Sasuke's mouth and detonated as it hit the ground in front of the incoming Kiba.
"Whoa!" shouted Kiba as the explosion forced Kiba and Akamaru to separate. As soon as they broke the jutsu, Sasuke was on top of him, pummeling him with his fists. Finally, Kiba was sprawled out on the ground, bruised and bloody but definitely alive. "Nice job, Sasuke... thanks for not trying to hit us with that fireball."
"We agreed to try to not kill each other, and I'll admit that my jutsu repertoire is not as impressive as it should be," Sasuke said as he pulled Kiba into a sitting position. "Think you can fight some more? I know I'm spent; that Grand Fireball uses up a lot of chakra."
"Nah, I'm good..." Kiba responded, laughing. "It was a good fight. Maybe those Sand guys will think twice about underestimating us from now on." He fell back, succumbing to unconsciousness.
"Inuzuka Kiba is unconscious; Uchiha Sasuke is the winner!" the jonin announced. Medics came by to pick up Kiba and Akamaru, who had been knocked unconscious from the explosion's concussive force, and took them to a back room to treat them.
"Nice job, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as Sasuke climbed up to the platform. "I knew you'd beat him one day!"
"Thanks, Naruto," Sasuke replied. "It's too bad I had to use a lethal jutsu to do it, though."
They were unable to continue talking, though, because the screen had just announced the next pair. The fight was between Dosu and one of the Cloud members, Kuwabara Kazuma. This battle was a quick one, with Dosu quickly overwhelming Kazuma. "The only reason you're still alive is because your village hates the Leaf," Dosu muttered almost silently as he left the battered boy on the ground, clearly defeated. The next match, Zaku vs. the female Cloud ninja, ended in a forfeit by the girl, who stated that "Though I'd much like to avenge my teammate, it's beneath my honor to cross blades with a cripple." The only thing that kept Zaku from launching an attack at her anyway was knowing that he had to proceed with the exam if he was going to have another chance to kill Sasuke. And so ended the first half of the preliminaries. A half-hour break was slated for everyone to eat lunch, and afterward everyone returned to the main hall.