Hello, no the story is not dead: I got some messages telling me I ripped ideas from others autors...I like reasoned flames. The thing is that I wasn't given names nor did thoses autors contact me... so I took a break until I wasn't disgusted anymore by foolish and cowardly people. On that note, I give all my thanks to you who've helped me to pursue the story with your encouragements. So, here we go ^^.
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He ran, as fast as his legs could take him. Across the swamp, long turfs of grass bended as he speed by under the moonless night. Was he followed? No, the man didn't think so. Still, one couldn't be too sure. Two paper tags left his hands to stick to a rock. As soon as they actived, they bended with the surroundings, becoming grey. A dojoutsu would have seen a tread of chakra connecting the two objects. His pursuers didn't: the explosions took out the full squad. He didn't bother to check: he had to go home. He had to tell his boss that war was coming. There! The sea at last! He bite his thumb. In a massive puff of smoke, he was standing on a giant turtle.
"What do you need, Gai-sensei?" Asked the reptil.
"Please, take me to Fire Country. Make haste, because time is running out." The turtle sealed the man on her shell and dived as corals grew around her.
Sand to your left, sand to your right, sand in your sandals...yup: welcome to Wind Country! Three Konoha teams walked in Suna for the chunin exam: Team Asuma (Ino, Chouji and Kin), Team Kurenai (Hinata, Haku and Kiba), Team Gai, lead by chunin Naruto (Lee, Neji and Tenten). They were greeted by Baki, the council's representative. The sensei were pointed to a lodge where they met with the other jonins-sensei. Each genin team was directed to a room made of sand, without roof. Half and hour later, a voice boomed:
"Welcome to the chunin exam. To be promoted, you will have to pass 3 parts. The first one is really straightforward: survive for 3 days! We counted 117 teams. Show us your worth or give up like a trash."
The doors closed with a snap, leaving the genins boxed in a 4 by 4 meters' space. Well, with temperatures going around 40°C at day, to 3°C at night... we can only hope the teams came ready for everything.
"WHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT!" Or not...
Fuinjutsu use had greatly blossomed in the leaf thank to the little Uzumaki-Nara shop. A wide selection of pre-made seals and medicine quickly became mandatory for any out-of-the-village mission.
In Team Kurenai's box, Haku used water from her gourd to make a frozen igloo, while Hinata and Kiba unsealed food and warm clothes.
The same event could be seen with Team Asuma: Ino and Kin pitched a tent while Chouji manned the freshly unsealed barbecue to expertly cook a litle mountain of pork and beef ribs. Curses came from the surrounding boxes.
Team Gai had a fuinjutsu expert as temporary sensei. A tent was already pitched, Lee was doing push-ups, Tenten sunbathed while Neji was reading, eating an ice-cream he took from the unsealed fridge.
The examinators sweetdropped. Life was unfair; deal with it.
Sixteen teams survived the first part of the exam. Er, no. The others weren't dead: most suffered from thirst and dehydration, others gave up the first night (that lot were near team Asuma). Let's see...The 3 from Konoha, 9 from Suna, 1 from Kumo, another one from Kiri, 1 from Iwa and the last one from Hoshi (Star village).
A mummy (...or is it a heavily bandaged man?) greeted the genins.
"48 of you... only 8 will go to the third part. For this exam, each team will have to choose the member only member who will go to the last part." The teens roared in outrage.
"Shut up, you punks!" The mummy's killing intent shushed them at once. "You're ninja! Follow the orders or get lost!" His eyes sweeped over the crowd. "A chunin is a team leader who may have to trust his team to give him time to complete the mission. That's why the 2 other teamates will fight the other teams to give a pass to their comrade." He let the silence stand for a moment. "You have 10 minutes."
Suna's exams were harsh, Naruto learned from the other ninjas. Looking down on the arena, she spotted her friends as they huddled up. A quiet chirp forced the girl out of her mind, to look across the stand. Blue eyes met black ones. A blond woman watched her like a predator. She was a woman in her twenties, with long, straight hair bound with bandages and dark eyes. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of blue beads around her left hand. She also wore the standard Kumo headband, sandals and kunai holster which was strapped to her right thigh, bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist.
The red-head nudged Asuma.
"Ne, sensei? Who is that jonin?" The chain-smoker followed her eyes, only to narrow his own.
"Her name is Nii Yugito" he whispered, "she's the Nibi's Jinchuriki". Naruto stared.
"She's like me?"
"No, Naruto!" She had never seen the lazy jonin so serious before, but all his being, from his gritted teeth to his tightening fists showed the ex-Fire guardian that he was. "No, Naruto" he said again, "you don't rely on your biju, while she revel in her beast's power." He took a small breath, put his hand on her chin. "Please, never compare yourself to her. I fought with her 4 time, in the past. To be honest, I don't know who I duelled with because in her case, I didn't find a difference beetween jailer and beast", he finiched gravely.
The girl nodded once and felt Samehada chirp again in her hat. The Kumo-nin was still fixated on her. Fortunately, our little heroine's attention went back to the arena when she heard a call for Team Gai. Lee and Tenten faced off two Suna-nins, a puppeteer and an axe-user. As soon as the "hajime" command was given, a hail of senbon went for the Konoha taijutsu specialist, passing through his afterimage as he appeared behind the puppet user to deliver a crushing Konoka senpu to the boy's head, sending him to crash in the arena wall.
Lee caught the other genin's hand before the sword could reach his face. He had voted for Neji to be the one to advance. The Hyuga trusted them to win here, he let his fate in there hands. Lee cried: not so long ago, Neji would never have done that show of faith. Now, Rock Lee would prove his worth at all cost. He had already discarded his weights and opened two of the Hachimon gates. Gai-sensei said he could do that to protect his way of the ninja. Today, he did it to protect his teammate's. He sent his second adversary to the wall where he was pinned with kunais, courtesy of Tenten who gave the same treatment to the puppeter.
Neji smiled as Lee raised his fist to him. He did the same. His friends showed how much trust they gave him. After this exam, he will be a chunin. This was his promise to them, and, if Naruto-sensei taught something it was that a ninja don't go back on his words. He looked over Hinata as her team entered the arena to fight yet another sand team. The match would end quickly as the ice-girl literally froze their opponents solid as they tried to avoid two clawed tornadoes. Again, a simple strategy, with ninja that had the abilities to pull it off. In Neji's eyes, the four Konoha ninjas deserved the chunin title. Hinata, Chouji and himself didn't have another choice: they will become chunins. Byakugan actived, he looked over the sensei's balcony. To his anger, a single eye stared back.
Naruto cringed as Temari and Kankuro destroyed the Iwa team. As of now, Neji, Hinata, Hotate (genin of Hoshi), Bankipu (from Kiri), Samui (from Kumo), Shura (from Suna) and Gaara were selected for the last task. Chouji got the last place, when the last Suna team surrendered, courtesy of Ino's Shintenshin no jutsu. As per tradition, the last exam would be a tournament held in a month time. Opponents would be drawn before the task, so, the genins had to prepare for anything. Teams and sensei regrouped. With the Konoha-nins, all the faces darkened as Neji spoke.
Konoha, village hidden in the trees. The faces of her firsts protectors shaped in the Hokage monument. Five stone figures wath over leir beloved people.
"I was sure I did this buck of paperwork yesterday! Raido!" Jiraya bellowed. This particular task was never-ending!
"You called, Hokage-sama?"
"I rejected thoses propositions at least 4 time this week! And we're only wednesday! Who the fuck put it back in the pile?"
"Half of those forms come from the council, sir. The rest are from the administrative intendents in charge of enforcing the law since the extinction of the Uchiha police force." Jiraya massaged his temples.
"Call a Shinobi council meeting."
"Yes Hokage-sama".
The toad summoner censed a disturbance in the form of a small turtle on his desk. In a puff of smoke, Uzumaki Karin appeared, bloody and beaten.
"Anbu! Get Tsunade NOW!" A shadow jumped through the window. "Shit!" He put the girl on his desk. her hand shot for his own.
"Kage...s...ma... Gai...sensei...captured...help..." she fainted as Tsunade came and dove for the girl. Jiraya was livid. He turned to his other Anbu.
"Tenzo. Bring me Kakashi."