Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters, they belong to Kishimoto *glares at him* However, I do Ryatsu and Dok'Jenara, so if you want to use them in further projects of your own, ask me first, k?
"Talking"
'Thinking'
'Reading'
"Demon Speaking"
'Demon Thinking'
"Jutsu"
Time/Location Transition
Chapter 12.5 - The Chunin Exams Begin
The Next Day, 5:45 AM
Ryatsu's eyes slowly opened as he lazily gazed around the walls of his room. He had arrived to the apartment late at night so his brothers were already asleep at the time. He rose slowly to a sitting position on his bed as he rubbed his eyes with his arm. He managed to sleep somewhat but he had dreams about his encouter with that giant snake entrapped in the orb. He still had no idea what exactly it was or where exactly that field was, but he had a deep feeling that he knew where it might have been.
"Was...was that real at all? What was that Serpent, why was it trapped in that orb?" He spoke to himself as he stared into his palm, "and how exactly did it know my name?"
He shook his head as he reached for the counter at his left and grabbed his sunglasses. He got out of the bed and stowed them into his pocket as he got ready to start his day. He tried to forget about what happened in Yuki, mostly so he could finally put his past behind. He finally pulled his grey jacket back on as he exited his room, leaving the door ajar for Jenara to follow. He brings his arms over his head, streching as he yawned silently as he stops, opening one of his grey eyes open lazily.
"Um...Bro...why the hell are you up so early, shouldn't you be sleeping or something?" Ryatsu asked the awake Sasuke who was smirking at him from the table.
"I would ask you the same, but in truth I just felt like it" he replied calmly.
Ryatsu sweatdropped as he looked at him deadpaned. Sasuke's smirk grew as he took a sip of his cup of tea. He had planned to wake up early enough just for such an occasion. He knew of Ryatsu's insomnial sleeping patterns thanks to Itachi telling him one day. The fact he managed to get up before him was a miracal in his mind.
'I feel sleepy as hell...but at least I got to see you not acting so cool, eh Ryatsu?' he thought smugly to himself, taking another sip of his tea.
Ryatsu sighed to himself as he slowly waked over to the one-eyed Uchiha, collapsing onto the chair in front of him. This brought a raised brow to Sasuke as he lowered his cup down. Ryatsu brought a hand to his face as he lowered his head towards the table's surface, muttering something to himself. This got Sasuke's attention as he slowly leaned closer to him.
"Ryatsu..whats the matter?" he asked as his only eye watched him.
Ryatsu smiled under his hand as he quickly got up, grabbing the back of Sasuke's head. The one-eyed Uchiha managed only a quick shout of surprise as his face was then properly greeted with the wooden surface of the table. The shock was quickly taken over by pain as he recoiled up, holding his face as he shouted in pain. He paused as he heard a very smug giggle. He lowered his head, his sole eye glaring at Ryatsu as he finally laughed out loud, holding his side while pointing at him.
"Oh Sasuke-san, you have NO idea how long I've been waiting to do that to you!" He managed as he laughed out more, bending over slightly.
Sasuke felt a vein above his eyebrow twitch in aggravation as he promptly slammed Ryatsu's face into the table in retaliation. Ryatsu hit hard as he stayed face glued to the table, before rising up and crying in pain, holding his nose.
"WHAT THE HELL MAN!" He yelled at Sasuke as he saw him smirk smugly.
"Thats for doing the same to me, baka.." Sasuke swiftly replied.
"That doesn't give you an excuse One-eye!" Ryatsu shouted as his hands slammed onto the table.
"You want to go, Serpent boy!" Sasuke retorted as he did the same, leaning close.
The two shinobi continued the near pointless banter as their foreheads pressed together tightly, their eyes glaring at each other as lightening could be swore to be seen arcing between them. The door to their apartment open as Itachi walked in, his eyes shut with a stick of pocky in his mouth. He hummed to himself as he finally stopped, opening his eyes halfway to see his younger brothers acting up again. He gave a small idea as he got an idea to shut them up. He walked slowly to their sides as he brought a hand each to the back of their heads slowly.
"Ryatsu-kun...Sasuke-kun.." He spoke evenly.
"What?" they turned to face him.
He smirked more as he grabbed both of their heads before they turned, slamming their foreheads into each other. They shouted in pain as he separated them, then promptly slamming both of their faces onto the table's surface. their shouts of pain quickly began muffled groans of pain. Itachi let them go as the fell back into their seat, closing his eyes as he nibbled on his pocky again.
"Well good morning to you two as well" He commented as he sat down on the empty seat, smiling in a sarcastic manner.
They look up and give him a betrayed look, causing him to chuckle lightly as he finishes the pocky stick, "Don't give me that look, you both deserved it."
They both groaned as they rose up slowly, nursing their injured faces. Itachi just watched on with slight interest, placing another stick of pocky as he hummed to himself again. He felt much better since he finally decided to stop taking those damn pills the Hokage tried to put him on. Sure he still had some slight tendencies, but they came so infrequently nowadays that he felt like he could start living life normal again. He eventually waved goodbye as he saw Ryatsu and Sasuke grab the last of their gear and head out.
'Those two...they may fight occasionally, but they have really gotten better with time. I knew it was a good decision to introduce them to eachother.' The elder Uchiha thought to himself as he continued to relax, chewing his pocky.
Konoha- Training Field 44 (Forest of Death), Two hours later...
Blades clashed as Ryatsu and Sasuke passed eachother, sunglasses staring at eyepatch. The two raced at eachother as Sasuke unsheathed his second blade, cross slashing at him. Ryatsu blocked quickly, bring his sword in front of him to catch both blades. The two struggled as they smirked. They quickly looked up, pushing eachother back as a scythe crashed in between. They raised a brow as Ryatsu laughed lightly in good nature. Tenten smiled as she spun at him, arcing her scythe blade at him. He ducked quickly as he sweeped at her feet, hoping to knock her balance off. She flipped backwards as she slashed outward with her scythe. He forced it away with a quick slash of his blade. She suddenly stabbed the weapon into the ground as she brought her hands into her pockets, leaping into the air as she quickly started rotating quickly in the air. Sasuke and him looked up as suddenly weapons flew from her form after them. They quickly dodged as well as deflected what they could as she quickly landed on a handstand, spinning herself on the palms of her hands. The weapons the flew at them suddenly stopped as they became to return to her, spinning around her like a cyclone. She continued her rotations as the cyclone grew thinner and faster by the second before flying up into the maelstorm.
"What do you think she has in mind?" Sasuke asked?
"I..don't know honestly, pretty impressive though, wouldn't you say?" he replied as the weapons stopped spinning.
"Ninpou - Hagane no Ame" She shouted.
She pulled her hand up as her scythe flew up to her hand, catching it with ease. She then span in quick circles, sending each of the weapons at once falling at them with blinding speed. They both widened their eyes as they did their best to survive the rain of death. Above them, Tenten slowly brought the scythe's blade above her as the black blade began to glow.
"Kama geijutsu - Tsuji Giri!" She then shouted.
The two knocked away and avoided the last of her weapons when they heard her. Looking up as she slashed down, creating a large black wave racing at them. They both dropped their jaws in panic as they rolled out of the way of the wave as it crashed into the ground, making a deep fissure in teh ground.
"Trying to kill us much Shizuka-chan?" Ryatsu asked weakly, sweatdropping as she finally landed.
"Sorry about that, guess I got alittle carried away Rya-kun" She admitted with a slight laugh, "Beside, I wouldn't try something new if I didn't think you two couldn't escape, right?
Sasuke shook his head as he laughed lightly, "I think Anko has all rubbed off on us, wouldn't you guys agree?"
They all smile and laugh lightly, letting their weapons each touch the ground. What Sasuke said probably couldn't have been any closer to the truth than anything. Training with Konoha's Snake mistress had helped them out alot. Sure they had all agreed that she was bat shit insane and psychotic, but in that same way she was a great teacher. Due to her many psychotic episodes whenever she felt like challenging their capabilities helped prepare them better. She showed them their strengths and weakness and showed them ways to improve. And in that, she became much more than just a teacher for them, Anko sort have became their psychotic older sister.
"And what to you mean by that?" a sickenly sweet voice echoed around them as three knives stabbed into the ground before them.
They froze as their teacher appeared in front of them, grinning like a madwomen. She slowly brought a hand into her coat, making them all bring their guard's up. She suddenly moved in a blur as something flew at each of them. They tensed to block as the object reached them, before suddenly floating limply to the ground. They looked down each to find a simple peice of paper, causing Anko to laugh her ass off in essence.
"That was good on my part, you should see your faces now!" She laughed more as she pointed at them.
"Umm...what are these for then Anko-sensei?" Sasuke asked, shaking out of the shock as he picked it up.
She calmed down as she coughed slightly, "Right, basically The Chunin Exams are coming up. And seeing as I have seen you all grown extremely fast, I thought you three qualified to play with the big boys."
Ryatsu raised a brow as he looked at the paper, reading it's details, "What's the catch Anko?" asking honestly.
"Don't you worry little Ryatsu" She commented childish as she ruffled his hair, "Theirs no catch, other than if you all do not come at once tomorrow at the academy, you won't be able to participate in the right of passage so to say."
They all looked at her and nodded, looking down at the paper they were given, reading the instrucions that she clearly wrote down in a hurry. 'Meet at the Academy, Room 321. The applicates will be there. I will warn you now, keep your heads down for now, do not draw attention to yourselves. I believe their is something the old man isn't telling. See ya bakas then ~Anko'. Tenten looked up to ask her another question before seeing nothing, sighing as she realized her teacher vanished on them.
"Well...what do you guys think then?" She turned to them.
"hn...I think we should do it...We'll be facing against shinobi from across the nations afterall." Sasuke commented with a smirk.
"So..in essence we have a way to test our capabilites without having to worry about hurting eachother?" Ryatsu asked as he saw a nod from them, "Then I say lets do it...Lets show Konoha and the world how We of Cell thirteen can kick ass."
They all grin in eager anticipation as they sat down to plan out what they would do, as well as predict the exams. a bit aways on a tree, their teacher watch them with a proud smile.
'You Three...I can just tell that your going to rock these exams' worlds. I'll see you guys around those times then.' She thought as she vanished in a puff of smoke.
Flashback
"Mitarashi Anko, Jonin Sensei of Cell Thirteen, reporting Hokage-sama." She spoke casually as she saluted to him.
The Sandaime looked up as he nodded at her, "Welcome back Anko-chan, how did your mission in Yuki go?"
She sighed as she had a feeling he would ask eventually. He saw her face as he grew grim, "What happened then Anko.
"We went to Yuki as the mission's client detailed. During the trip their, Ryatsu grew more and more distant, looking back toward Konoha. I know he ran from the north, but it seemed like he was afraid to return to the frigid North." She started retelling her report, getting an understanding nod from the Hokage, "Once we arrived to the villiage, Ryatsu told me to lie about his name when we met the client."
"Why would he want you to do that?" He questioned as he layed his pipe down.
"I'm getting to it Hokage-sama." She whined as he apoligized, "Anyway, we met the client, Motonari. I introduced us as the shinobi he hired. I even introduced Ryatsu as "Asura" to keep my promise. Motonari seemed like an ok person, he even went to speak with Ryatsu alone. He heard a panic from ryatsu as we came in to see an insane madman ready to kill him. He even told us that he hired us to kill ryatsu, who he called simply a demon."
The hokage's eyes narrowed in anger, but kept quiet, "Continue"
"He went mad when we refused, opening to door as two Nuke-nin from the village, Kisaragi Aneko and Honnoji Kei. I was ambushed quickly by Mengestsu Makato..." she continued, stepping back as he leaped up from his seat in anger.
"WHAT!" HE shouted, "He hired missing shinobi, killers to assassinate you all for not agreeing to his demands!"
"He did...but he failed." She spoke as she grinned, "Even if Makato gave me a workout, I shortly took him out. Sasuke dispatched Kei with a clever trick he developed before we arrived and Tenten killed Aneko with ease. In the end Ryatsu killed our client, who we found out was his father, I don't know what all happened because they were done when I finally knocked out Makato."
He looked startled at the news. He almost couldn't believe that mear genin killed two A-ranked Nuke-nin. He couldn't help but feel proud though of the will of fire in those three.
"that is all I have to report sir, other than I brought Makato to T&I for interrogation." she commented.
"Very well Anko, I job well done. You have taught your students very well." he spoke as she bowed in respcet.
"ONe more thing though old man, I know it may not be in my position to do it, but I want to add my cell for the Chunin exams. and before you say anything, I know they have what it takes to deal with them." she spoke as she looked at him determined.
He picked up his pipe and took a huge drag from it as he sighed heavily. He was growing too old for this he thought to himself, "Very well...I shall allow it. It would seem that all the New Genin will all be in this"
She grinned as she vanished in a plume of smoke, leaving him alone to ponder.
End of Flashback
"Hijutsu-CLiffhanger-no-Jutsu!"
And this concludes the full chapter twelve, sorry for the long delay and having to split it up like this ^^;. I prmose that this will be the only time in this story that I will do that. Anyway, join us next time as the Chunin exams begin as Cell Thriteen becomes reaquantted with old familar faces and some new ones. Find out what happens in the next edition of A Tale of Pain: Genin Reunion, The Exam of Torment.
Untill next we meet.
Mata ne
~Orochi-no-Tsukiyomi