Disclaimer: Naruto and every character of the Naruto universe belongs to Kishimoto Masashi and companies, I don't know.
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Original upload date: 12th of August, 2013
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Chance for a Prophecy
Chapter 19. – Déjá Vu
The brawny form of Kitsuchi had been shrouding most of the sight of the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato from the curious eyes of the four genin teams standing patiently behind the commander, listening to their interaction. One young teen fidgeted from foot to foot to finally get a closer look at the feared village leader, but the only thing he could see behind their giant escort was a glimpse of the man; his form, face and body were obscured continuously by the enormous back. Every time the young ninja's brown eyes had a slight chance to finally have a look at the Hokage's face, Kitsuchi moved and the opening was immediately gone. After ten minutes of constant trying he lost his patience and interest, and so instead left his eyes rest on their escort's back, unfocused.
The guards hidden in the room were obviously stressed and tense from the amount of Iwa shinobi in the middle of the Hokage tower; however, the calm and composed attitude of their Kage helped to lighten the mood, despite the many hateful glares he received from the foreign genin who were fortunate enough to stand at a position whose angle allowed them to actually see him.
"I'm pleased to see this many applicants for the exam. I'm glad the Tsuchikage agreed to finally participate." A small, almost invisible smile appeared on the commander's mostly stern face. Minato clapped his hands, making some of the genins flinch by the sudden noise.
"Ok, one of my jounin will show you your accommodations. A training ground is reserved for your teams; he will also show you which one. During your stay, you may move freely throughout the village, but I must warn you, fights outside the exam won't be tolerated." The commander and most of the genins nodded. Minato gestured to the corner and a figure stepped out from the shadows, greeting the teams from Iwa with a small nod. Before they could leave the office, Kitsuchi stepped forward.
"Hokage-sama. With your permission, I would like to meet with Toroku-kun." Minato observed the well-built man in front of him for a long silent moment with an unreadable face, and in the end nodded.
"Permission of course granted. I won't forbid interaction with any shinobi from Konoha." Minato's eyes flashed with a dangerous glint before he continued. "Of course if there are any incidents, there will be consequences."
The Iwa shinobi nodded and left the room, silently following their guide. However, as soon as they step through the doorway of Minato's office, several shadows fell in line behind them, lurking behind dark corners, under bushes or between the thick crown of emerald green trees. ANBU guards walked in their shadows the entire way throughout Konoha.
Most of the teams settled down surprisingly quickly, despite their unknown surroundings. When Kitsuchi finally had the mindset to leave the restless genin alone, he left the room to look for the person he was currently the most interested in. He wandered the streets casually, not sure where he was actually going. His experienced eyes, however, swept his surroundings and an invisible map of Konoha already started to form in his mind. The commander shook his head when one of his genin tripped over something. The one who had been trying to follow him unnoticed ever since he had stepped out from their accommodation.
The Commander let out a long sigh, then slowly turned around to face the corner of a house where a second ago the boy had peeked over.
"Come out Shiko!" The boy's shoulders slumped from being caught and slowly trekked toward his leader, his movement shadowed by their perfectly hidden ANBU guard.
The commander watched the boy, who was in his early teens, nervously fidget from foot to foot. "Why are you following me?" His chocolate brown eyes looked down to his feet in shame, shaded by his brown bangs, even though they were pointing straight toward the sky, defying gravity and every law of nature.
"I'm bored…" His answer was so simple and sincere that Kitsuchi only shook his head once more and waved an inviting hand to the genin to just follow him. A little while later he finally spotted what he was looking for. Four shinobi- one of them with a bright blond mop of hair and a pout on his face trailed after an older man with pure white hair as two more figures, a young man with gravity-defying silver hair and a girl with short, mousy brown locks, watched their argument from behind. They were heading to the outer part of the village, probably to the training grounds. They were quite far away, but he still could hear their loud argument.
"It was a fair bet. You lost. Just admit it old man!" Jiraiya snorted and folded his arms across his chest dismissively.
"I don't care. And I hereby close this argument. Plus we've got company." The Toad sage pointed toward the Iwa commander and his companion with his head, but Naruto didn't care. He had already sensed Kitsuchi minutes ago. He just continued to mumble about untrustworthy old geezers and perverts until they were faced with the giant form of the Iwa commander and the young genin at his side. Each of them shared a quick restrained nod as a greeting, only Naruto grinned and beckoned enthusiastically.
"Hey ojisan. How was your trip?" Kitsuchi raised an eyebrow at the honorific, but in the end only shrugged.
"Eventless."
"I hope you brought your best genin with you, because we're giving them a long, tough run during the second phase." Naruto grinned at Shiko, who was observing him from head to toe suspiciously, not really caring that he was continuously leaking out a small amount of killer intent.
"You are one of the examiners?"
"Yeah, thanks to the sissy and his abuse of power." Naruto mumbled with an irritated pout. The Iwa commander frowned in his confusion, while the silver haired jounin fought to restrain his chuckle.
"Naruto…Behave. These are foreign ninja, not the man you once fought alongside. Don't just joke around. Plus you are abusing Minato's reputation." The blond chuunin let out a perished sigh. The fox was right and he was acting like a ten year old kid again, not thinking about the Hokage's status. Naruto finally gathered himself and cleared his throat.
"So what brought you to me anyway? I won't tell you any details about the exam. I want fair play."
"I don't really know actually." Kakashi sent a sharp and suspicious glance toward the giant man, while Jiraiya and Rin watched the interaction with calm, but observant eyes from the side. The huge man never looked at Kakashi directly in the eyes, always just somewhere near eye level. Probably to restrain his urge to do something he would regret later. Kakashi sent a sharp and narrow glance toward the young genin, who was still staring at the blond. The piercing look instantly washed away the killing intent from the boy's direction, who in response changed the focus of his attention to the young jounin, glaring daggers at him. Naruto shook his head at the scene and ruffled the silver locks of Kakashi, to his great annoyance.
"We were heading to the training grounds for a small spar. You can join if you would like to." Before the genin could retort, Kitsuchi nodded, following the small team toward their destination.
The Iwa commander and his sulking young companion settled down at the edge of the clearing, not too far away from the rest of the team, watching as the blond chuunin sent an annoyed glare when the Sennin whispered something to him. The blond shook his head, folded his arms across his chest and started sulking like a ten year old child, even stomping his feet to the ground. The battle of wills didn't last long, and in the end the young shinobi gave up and nodded in his acceptance, flinging his arms high into the air in defeat, though the irritation never left his face.
Jiraiya slowly went to Rin's side and also settled down along the tree line, with a distance between them and the foreign duo. Her face was calm, but her eyes observed them suspiciously.
"What did you say to Toroku-kun, sensei?" Her voice was as soft as a whisper to hide their conversation.
"To hold back and not show off. The less Iwa knows about his abilities the better. His rank as a chuunin makes everybody underestimate him. I told him to let Kakashi win." Rin nodded and turned her head back to her comrades.
The spar was light, their movement fluid, both of them aware of the calculating eyes from the edge of the clearing. However, Naruto was annoyed. He had prepared a good move just for Kakashi this time, and because of the pervert he wouldn't be able to pull it out. Or maybe if he… He shook his head in irritation, dismissing the idea, as he restrained his instinct to deflect a kick from Kakashi. He didn't even have to concentrate on the battle; Kakashi was also holding back. Naruto made one more annoyed grimace. The whole fight was starting to become pointless, they were just toying with each other and he became more and more frustrated as he let Kakashi land a hit on his spine. And to let Kakashi beat him? He snarled angrily from the thought.
Kitsuchi watched the duo from his spot and restrained the urge to narrow his eyes. His gaze was locked on Kakashi who was obviously holding back, just playing with the blond in the light spar. He noted the increasing frustration in his previous captive's eyes when the jounin managed to land more and more hits. The blond suddenly blocked a well-aimed kick, and Kitsuchi's eyes widened for a second when he noted that the boy wasn't even paying attention to the fight, his blue eyes drifting to the Sannin from time to time to send a set of imaginary daggers toward him. Moreover, he winced when he deflected the attack. He was frustrated because he had to hold back. But they were fighting on chuunin level. It made no sense to him. Why would a chuunin level fight irritate a chuunin? Not only that, the blond had noted a successful deflect as a mistake…The Iwa shinobi narrowed his eyes when realization hit him.
"The Sissy sucks…" Kitsuchi didn't answer the genin's remark.
It wasn't the jounin who held the upper level. It was Toroku, who swept the attack to the side as easily as it was just a child's plaything. It didn't matter how much he tried to hide it. He was holding back. And not just by a little. From the moment he realized this, the commander watched the fight from a new, calculating perspective.
When they finally stopped the spar with Kakashi on top, pointing a kunai at the obviously angry and frustrated blond, the sun was already high above the horizon, closer to the end of the day then to the beginning. Kitsuchi and his young companion trailed after the still annoyed chuunin soundlessly, the larger man's eyes fixed on teenager's back, still eagerly calculating the real strength of the blond, while his genin was still glaring daggers.
They reached the city center soundlessly. Jiraiya and Rin excused themselves fairly quickly and left, but the Sannin sent a warning glare to Naruto before his departure. The chuunin rolled his eyes in answer, then stretched his arms behind his neck and let out a satisfied moan when one of his joins popped back to its proper place.
"I'm starving."
Kakashi rolled his one visible eye in annoyance. "You are always starving."
Naruto shrugged casually and an evil smirk appeared on his face. "Hey Kakashi. It's your turn to pay."
The named jounin narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why would I?"
"You can propitiate me for my wounded pride." The silver haired teen snorted at the dramatic voice, and shook his head enthusiastically.
"I haven't got that much money." The teen shrugged, accepting his defeat quite quickly and glanced up to the huge Iwa commander.
"Are you hungry Kitsuchi-ojisan? I know a good place." Shiko snorted, forcing the blond to move his sight to the small and angry form of the young genin, who sent another set of imaginary daggers toward the blond.
"Like we would eat with you." Naruto's head slipped to the side, watching the child with a wondering expression on his face.
"And why would you say that?"
"Because you are who you are." The child sent a narrow and hateful glare.
"And exactly who am I?
"Are you an idiot? We are from Iwa. You are from Konoha. The Leaf killed hundreds of our comrades in the last war. The same goes for Iwa. Why are you doing this? Why don't you want vengeance for your dead comrades? Where is the 'eye for an eye'? Why are you acting so friendly?" Naruto stayed silent, carefully observing the child in front of him. His eyes burned with hatred for everyone who carried the lLeaf insignia. Finally he opened his mouth to answer.
"An eye for an eye is the same as the spiral of death... An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. Do you want to become blind to? Don't you want to instead see the future?" the blonde chuunin said quietly, but his words were still strong even in its low tone. Then his seriousness was gone in the next second as he suddenly tapped the commander on his back in a friendly and casual way.
"That's why I don't care that you are from Iwa. And you shouldn't either. We are all the same. We are shinobi." The genin's eyes widened, his mouth falling open in his shock. The stunned commander made an amused snort and a small, half smile appeared on his face.
"So be it. Lead the way, Toroku-kun."
A satisfied wide grin appeared on Naruto's fine features and he grabbed the still shocked genin to drag him through half of the village, not concerned in the slightest by his struggle, his threats, his killing intent or his pathetic attempts to attack him and force him to let him go. Naruto simply dragged him all the way in a headlock until they reached Ichiraku's Ramen Stand, where he finally let the teen free. The entire way only the younger teen's displeased shouting, groans and bitching could be heard. Kakashi and Kitsuchi trailed behind them silently, each with an amused expression on his face.
Naruto hopped down to the counter and five minutes later he dug deep into a steaming bowl of ramen. The commander watched from the corner of his eye as his genin and the blond chuunin continued their bickering when they finished their bowl, each in their own manner. His genin sulking and pouting, while Toroku ate as if he was slurping the food of the Gods.
It was odd. The scene was so pleasant it almost unnerved him. Shiko was in the process of absolutely forgetting that he was talking to a foreign shinobi, the one who he wanted to skin alive half an hour ago, just because of instincts. Their laughter filled the small stand and even the up till then restrained Hatake Kakashi joined in the conversation, but his one visible eye was on high alert every time he glanced at the brawny shinobi on the other end of the counter.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here. Bonding between the nations. I like that scene."
The commander tensed when the new voice reached him and another blond stepped into the small stand. He was close. He was too close for Kitsuchi's liking. Shiko glanced back at the newcomer with an annoyed expression on his face for interrupting their chat while the blond chuunin only grinned and waved.
"Hello, Teuchi-san. The usual if you would be so kind." Minato smiled at the named man, who nodded with a knowing smile on his face and made a bow behind the counter after his eyes traveled to the two foreign shinobi.
Minato casually sat down on the last empty seat between Kakashi and his relative, not concerned by the sudden silence and tensed muscles from the Iwa commander and the curious but also annoyed glance from the foreign genin. He acted informally, even his appearance was casual. He had left his white coat back at the office; only his normal jounin attire was on his body. Kakashi wondered if his sudden appearance and his looks were intentional. It was more than likely. His sensei never did anything without a reason.
As the Hokage's meal finally arrived and he started eating silently, the tension slowly died down and a light chat took over the previous heavy silence. Kakashi made a mental nod. His sensei was trying to ease the tension between the two nations. Before he could continue, a poke at his shoulder kicked him out from his musing.
"Hey Kakashi! Don't you want a spar when we finish? I want a rematch for my broken pride." Naruto's voice was low and cocky, but Minato could still hear it, raising a confused eyebrow from the words.
"Rematch?" Minato glanced back at Kakashi with a raised eyebrow, who nodded, but before his student could explain anything further and save an embarrassing unveil, the Iwa genin answered to the Hokage's question.
"He beat the Sissy to the ground during their spar."
"You beat Toroku? Finally Kakashi-kun, I'm so proud of you!" Minato clapped his student on the back, who simply slammed his palm on his forehead, shaking it slowly. How on earth could his sensei be this dense sometimes? It was so rare when he did that, but when it happened...It was always at the worst time.
"Sensei…" The jounin groaned and slowly shook his head in disbelief once again, watching as his leader's smile faltered, when his eyes traveled toward the commander and the genin at his side. In the end he simply terminated the awkward moment with a casual shrug.
Kitsuchi restrained a wide and satisfied grin. So he was right. The blond is the stronger one and his defeat was only to deceive them. The blond chuunin's loud laugh filled the small place, kicking out everybody from his own musing, earning an annoyed and confused glare from the Iwa genin.
"What's so funny? You suck. If every chuunin in Konoha is like you, then even I can kick your Hokage's butt." A sly but altogether cheeky smile spread across Minato's face as he leaned onto the counter to rest his chin in his palm and have a better viewpoint of his victim, eyeing the child from head to toe, unconcerned with the amused snort from his brother and his student, nor the widened eyes of the Iwa commander.
"Oh. You think so?" Minato asked with a sing-song voice, his free hand playing with his chopsticks, watching as the genin snorted, folded his arms in front of his chest and answered with a determined expression on his face.
"Definitely."
"I can arrange a spar with the Hokage for you." Minato continued playing with his chopsticks casually, and sent a warning side glance to Kakashi, who opened his mouth to scold the child. The genin also moved his lips to retort, when Minato sent him a sly, provoking smirk, but Kitsuchi's low, almost unnoticeable voice stopped the genin from answering to the challenge.
"Shiko-kun... You didn't seen the village leader when we were in the office did you?" The genin glanced up to the commander and shrugged.
"No. You were always right in front of me. But my uncle said that he once had met him on a mission before he retired some years ago. He told me that he fought while his hair was dyed pink. What Kage wannabe dyes his hair pink? He must be some fashion junkie pansy boy." His only answer was silence, forcing the boy to glance back to the frozen audience with a questioning look on his face."What?"
Naruto burst out with whining laughter as a response, continuously patting his frozen leader's back as Minato's sly smirk slowly slipped to the side, while Kakashi disappeared under the counter to hide his reaction. However, Naruto didn't have that kind of restraint. His guffaws filled the small ramen stand and most likely echoed around several streets in the district and he had to grab his side when it started to sting by the force.
"Oh! He IS a fashion junkie for sure!" He finally managed to choke out between two barking laughs.
"Hey!" Minato snorted and sent an angry and annoyed glare to his brother, who didn't look the least bit concerned about the Yondaime's narrowed eyes, defensively folded arms or the slowly increasing killing intent sent to his hysterical brother. Kitsuchi watched the scene with an open mouth. He struggled between fearing for his genin's life and being amused by the Hokage's obviously embarrassing situation.
"I was pranked by Kushina for crying out loud..." Minato grumbled behind his gritted teeth, but his voice was suppressed by Naruto's increasing laughter, which was very slowly dying down into small chuckles, while Minato's whole face turned bright red. Even his ears flamed in the crimson color.
"I remember that..." Kurama let out a loud snicker in his mindscape. "...She had sneaked inside his tent while he was sleeping."
'Hey can you show it to me somehow?' The fox slowly shook his head between two snickers, and Naruto made a disappointed mental pout. But he immediately brightened when an idea popped up in his head.
"We should repeat that! I want to see!"
"If you try, you will die." Minato answered back with a stern and emotionless face and also sent a cold glare, but his brother only winked with a cheeky smile. His threatening and stern expression wasn't as effective as Minato originally intended with that massive blush on his face.
The confused genin glanced back and forth between the shinobi in front of him, with a frown on his young face. However, before he could open his mouth to ask what the hell is going on, a man in chuunin attire stepped inside the ramen stand and made a bow, patiently waiting for Minato to pay attention to him. The older blond finally gathered himself and looked over his shoulder to let out a long sigh at the sight of the gate guard.
"Yeah?"
"The participants from Kiri have arrived at the gates, Minato-sama." The genin narrowed his eyes at the scene, observing it silently.
"Thank you. I'm coming." The Kage stretched his arms behind his neck, waiting for the familiar popping sound from his joints, then turned to his brother with narrowed eyes.
"I was serious. If you try it, you will be executed for treason. Even if you just think about it." The chuunin snorted, rolled his eyes, and turned away from his father with a pout on his face.
"Kitsuchi-san, I'm sorry I have to go." The commander nodded with a slightly open mouth as a farewell, still somewhat shocked, watching as Minato winked at the still confused genin and walked out from the stand, his hands casually buried deep inside his pockets after he sent one last warning glare to his brother.
"It would still be worth a try...He is just bluffing." The commander turned his head toward the muttering blond chuunin with disbelief on his face. He couldn't be serious could he? Pranking the Hokage? Then he thought back to the last few minutes.
Everything was so different than what he first thought when the Hokage had step inside the stand. He was carefree, friendly, cheerful and casual. He wasn't behaving like what the rumors had about him. He wasn't a cold hearted killer. He was powerful. He would never deny it. Even when embarrassed to death Kitsuchi could still feel the powerful aura hovering around him continuously. Like there were two different personalities in that man. Calm and powerful when he acted like a Kage, like during the Iwa nin's captivity, and now without his hat he was so casual and friendly, like anyone else. Maybe...Maybe they weren't as different as he first thought. Shiko's voice kicked him out from his musing.
"Who was that guy?"
Naruto burst out laughing again and waved a dismissive hand."My brother."
"Is he also one of the chuunin exam proctors?" Kakashi opened his mouth to answer, but Naruto silenced him by clapping his hand over his mouth with a cheeky smile on his face as he winked at the Iwa commander while he answered.
"Yeah, something like that."
Kitsuchi slowly shook his head and let out a long sigh. "Come on, Shiko, we should get back. You'll have a long day tomorrow." They left the stand, followed by Kakashi's narrowed gaze.
He and Naruto stayed there for a little while longer before they also departed toward the Hokage tower. They didn't speak until they reached their destination, only walked side by side silently in the late afternoon's crowded streets. But apparently Kakashi lost his patience and his composure as he let out his worrying thoughts.
"What's wrong with you!? Both of you were acting like nothing had happened. Like he didn't kidnap you, or try to kill us."
"Kakashi…Real strength isn't measured with strong jutsus. The real strength of a person is his willpower. He is stronger than you if he has the strength to forgive. You should also seek that kind of power." The jonin imperceptibly flinched, and stayed silentfor a long minute before he finally turned his head toward the blond teen.
"If someone killed your friend…Would you be able to forgive?" Naruto observed the teen cautiously, and he really hoped that the rollercoaster of his emotions couldn't be seen on his face. He had been able to forgive Nagato. Was he really ready to forgive Obito if he faced him? Was he ready to save him from the darkness? The blond chewed on his lower lips before he answered.
"I am willing to forgive and save any soul from the circle of hatred." Kakashi frowned. He hadn't actually answered in theory. It was a sheer statement. A declaration maybe to himself. A sudden new presence stopped the flood of his thoughts. He turned his head to the side to face three genin teams from Kiri, heading toward the Hokage tower. Obviously the teams the chuunin guard had informed Minato about.
Naruto glanced around them, observing the members carefully, one by one. 'So many young children.' His eyes locked on the smallest one and he had to restrain a gasp. 'He couldn't be more than ten. Probably less, maybe eight?' His eyes wandered toward the tallest one, the leader of the genin teams. Naruto blinked and only his last bit of self-control kept him from simply dropping to the ground and landing on his ass in his surprise with open mouth in a not very shinobi way.
His eyes were fixed on a half bandaged face and stern, stabbing eyes until his gaze wandered toward the Hitai-ate with the four waving lines. He couldn't help himself, he just stared directly into his face silently with an open mouth. The young foreign shinobi narrowed his eyes and stepped out from the group to stand in front of Naruto, leaning into his personal space until they were only centimeters from each other. The chuunin restrained an amused snort when he realized that the shinobi had risen onto his toes just to be at eye level with him, but the proper amount of killing intent waved away his amusement in the next second, though only for a brief moment, before it returned with increased strength.
"Why are you staring at me, Blondie?! You want something from me?" Naruto's eyes finally wandered away from his face to land on his jounin vest for a second, before he started to look for the familiar giant sword on his back, but it seemed he hadn't gained it yet.
"What are you looking behind my back for?" Naruto cleared his throat, to gather himself and to hide an amused snort, but he felt Kakashi's smaller hands between their bodies pushing them slightly away from each other.
"Sorry, but the Blondie is mine, shrimp."
"Confrontation between the genin outside of the exam is prohibited. I suggest you go and register your teams inside the Hokage tower instead of bothering named Blondie." Stern and cold black eyes wandered toward the newcomer, observing the young teen prodigy next to him for a long silent moment.
"Oh, I'm pleased. Spiky silver hair, half face mask, hitai-ate on his left eye. One of the youngest shinobi who managed to get into the bingo books. If the rumors and descriptions are true, you must be Hatake Kakashi. B ranked jounin." The named teen raised an eyebrow.
"And you would be?"
"Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist." The silver haired teen narrowed his eye, observing his opponent more aware than before.
"You were the last one who graduated by the old system. It was you who forced the Mizukage to reform it."
"I'm glad my reputation reaches this far." He leaned toward Kakashi, in the same way he had toward Naruto a minute before, but his movement froze midway when Naruto couldn't restrain himself anymore and burst out in a loud laugh. Anger rose inside Zabuza's chest, and he immediately turned toward the still almost girlishly giggling blond teen.
"Do you think it's funny?" Naruto only waved a hand, finally composing himself.
"No, of course not. I just got dejá vu." The blonde shrugged, waving a hand with a grin on his face and left the more surprised than angry Kiri jonin with Kakashi to head toward the top story of the Hokage tower. 'Maybe this is going to be more fun than I thought.'
Naruto glanced around the crowded room from next to the wall where he'd been sitting since the first round of the chuunin selection exams had started. His eyes wandered toward the dark figure of Makoto behind the desk on the large podium. It was strange. Everything seemed so damn familiar. The previous hour triggered the memories of his own exam, the nostalgia and the almost continuous déjá vu overwhelmed every single one of his senses.
He watched with foggy eyes when two instructors had distracted the genin teams and sent some of them to a wrong building, the bickering in the corridors between two boys from Leaf, and he had to restrain a loud snicker with a cough when a small girl with purple hair and a Leaf insignia hopped onto the table on the podium and challenged every single person inside the room with a loud roar. Oh Anko...
His reactions weren't missed by the head interrogator and Naruto was sure that after the second part of the exam was finished, he would be summoned for another short session with Inoichi, or at least a long talk with his father, which was more likely to happen. The named interrogator glanced toward him and their eyes locked for a second before Naruto sent a foxy grin toward him, the scarred man rolled his eyes in response. The blond chuunin turned his head back to the row he was assigned to watch and grimaced when a genin from Kumo made his last mistake and lost the chance to participate on the next session. With perfect aim his hand shot forward and in the next second a shuriken imbedded itself into the hard surface of the table in front of the shocked genin.
"Six, twelve and thirty-six are out." The three genin left the room, sending hateful glances toward him, the tingling sensation of their killing intent finally dying down when they left the room after one last stabbing look. Naruto shook his head and let out a sigh, while his eyes moved back to the gap-toothed row. Every genin had gotten at least one mark on the sheet in the first ten minutes, except one. The row on his clipboard for notes about the purple haired loud mouthed girl was still blank. Anko was damn good. He had to admit, Orochimaru did a good job with her training.
His mind wandered back to the past. When they had found the exhausted girl on the edge of the once proud Leaf village, they had thought she was dead. No one had known about her mission to follow Kabuto. After her recovery, she had jumped into the battles without hesitation. She fought like a wild tiger, vengeance burned her coils from within until the old reaper had finally claimed her during one of the last battles. A frown appeared on his face when an old mystery pushed itself into his thoughts. Her Cursed Seal of Heaven had simply disappeared from her neck without any trace of it ever having been there, but she hadn't been able to give any explanations for it. She had been unconscious for a long time after they'd found Kabuto and she never recovered any memories about what had happened. Maybe it wasn't his imagination? Orochimaru's chakra signature was really there? Naruto shook his head to clear his thoughts. None of that had happened yet. None of them were going to happen. It didn't matter now.
He restrained a snort when he noticed a small puddle of water, slowly rippling down from one of the higher rows toward its destination on the floor. His eyes swept around, trailing the wet line back from the puddle until he found the source. A boy maybe around fourteen, long black hair and with… a scuba mask? Naruto narrowed his eyes, when the puddle finally stopped under an almost identical looking boy. His eyes traveled back and forth between the two figures and when he noted the two similar iron claws on their hands, realization hit him like thunder.
He masked his laugh with a cough when he noticed a giant spot on the cheek of one of them, and thanks to another chuunin's sharp eyes, the Demon Brothers left the room in the next minute after a well-aimed kunai stuck into the wood of the table. He winked at the young boy from Iwa who he'd shared his ramen with yesterday, but he received only a snort and he immediately turned back to his paper. Naruto let out a sigh and continued his watch for opportunities to reduce the numbers.
Naruto channeled more chakra into his legs and leaped high in the air to land gracefully on a thick branch deep inside the Forest of Death to get a better viewpoint. It was already the third day of the exam, and his barrier and trap seals had caught more teams than he expected. After all, he had made them to be on a level where the teams could spot them and even counter them if they were sneaky enough. His experienced eyes watched as a genin team from Kumo fought their battle to defend their scroll from a Leaf team, the one lead by the very noisy Anko. Naruto grimaced as snakes shot forward from the child's arms to grab a foreign ninja and toss him to the ground, the scroll from his hand rolled out to disappear under a thick bush.
Naruto suddenly stiffened when someone revealed himself from behind his back. His instincts kicked in and with speed that even Minato would appreciate he whirled around with a kunai already in his hand to face the newcomer. He felt as a cold sweat slowly ran down his spine when he found himself face to face with one of the Sannin who was currently grasping his wrist to stop the attack only millimeters from his face, which was occupied with a smug smile.
"Jumpy aren't we?"
Naruto shook off the ice cold hand, and took several steps backward to gain as much distance as he could manage on the branch without falling off as his thoughts raced with insane speed. He hadn't felt him. Again. That damn bastard had been able to sneak up on him again. No one was able to do that when he is on high alert, only Minato and his time's Kakashi. Nobody else. Yet here he was. He'd been fooled again. He'd underestimated that bastard again.
"My my, suddenly so silent. By the rumors, that's not like you Toroku-kun."
Naruto narrowed his eyes, watching every movement of the Sannin carefully. "I'm not in the mood to chit-chat."
A half-smile spread across Orochimaru's face as he eyed his companion silently. In the next second he averted his gaze and glanced down to the battle at their feet.
"I just came to check up on my student." Naruto didn't move his eyes off of him, not even for a second to look down.
"She is doing well. The Kumo team has already lost, they just don't know it yet." At that moment, an explosion shook the lands at their feet and he couldn't restrain himself. Naruto glanced down to check on what was happening as debris shot up to where they stood. The trap Anko and her team had set up before the ambush finally triggered. After noting the scene below, he immediately glanced back to check on the snake, whose gaze was locked on him once again.
The Sannin turned and very slowly approached him. Naruto hadn't moved, his muscles tensed to the breaking point as the pale man came closer and closer to pass beside him on the thick branch. But the Snake stopped next to him to whisper into his ears.
"You are a very interesting young man, Toroku-kun." His lean fingers slowly reach toward his cheek to trace one of his whisker marks, and to touch a small trail of blood that flowed from a scratch by the debris Naruto wasn't even aware of. However, when he felt the cold touch on his skin, he immediately moved and twisted out from his reach. A sly smile appeared on the snake's face, but in the next second it disappeared as he turned to Naruto casually, a curious expression on his face.
"The human body is a fascinating machine." The Sannin trailed off for a second, his face becoming thoughtful as he glanced up to the sky, then he glanced back to his companion.
"I'm interested in some of your equally fascinating abilities, Toroku-kun. Especially in your increased healing ability that you've hidden well until now. Not the one everybody knows about, the one you've awakened only recently. The one that can grow new tissues in mere seconds." Orochimaru pointed a finger toward his cheek and Naruto unconsciously raised his hand to ease away the cold feeling that was still lingering on his skin. The small cut was already gone.
"When the second round of the exams is over I would like to ask for your cooperation in some of my research." Naruto felt as his eyes bulged out from his skull. He had thought the snake was going to attack him, try to knock him out to do whatever he was planning to do with him, but to ask him openly to cooperate? The blond narrowed his eyes and measured up the sannin suspiciously from head to toe.
"And why would I cooperate with you?"
Orochimaru shrugged casually. "I found some really interesting things about you which could give you some answers about your…lost past."
Naruto folded his arms across his chest dismissively and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not interested."
A sly smile spread across Orochimaru's gaze, before he shrugged and turned around to walk away.
"It's a shame. Then maybe Minato-kun will be more concerned with why his brother has a fifty percent match with his beloved Kushina-chan's DNA." A sudden rush of adrenaline ran through Naruto's veins as he reached forward to grab and stop the Sannin.
"Wait!" A low chuckle left Orochimaru as he slowly turned around and noted the worry in the azure blue eyes.
"Oh. It seems that this isn't a surprise to you. More likely it's worrying you." Naruto narrowed his eyes to slits and took a step backward to regain their previous distance. "Well, it seems your lost memories aren't as lost as everybody thinks. Am I right, Toroku-kun?" Another set of creepy chuckles bubbled out of Orochimaru at seeing the boy's telling wince.
"What do you want from me?"
"Some blood and tissue samples for my research. That will be enough for a time. If you cooperate, your little secret will be safe with me. Wait for me after the second round."
"How do I know that you haven't already run to Jiraiya or to Minato?"
The snake answered with a sinister smile. "You don't know." With this last statement the Sannin disappeared with a shunshin, leaving the still shocked teen alone with his disturbed thoughts and some slowly whirling leaves.
Naruto sank down on the branch as his knees gave up the battle to hold his weight; his legs hanging freely in the air while his arms clutched his head to ruffle through his blond locks in his annoyance and fury. Anko's team had left the clearing sometime during in the middle of their confrontation, the only thing which disturbed the unnatural silence around him was the rhythmical breathing of the unconscious team from Kumo. He murmured softly into the silent woods.
"What should we do now Kurama?" The fox stayed in silence for a long minute, gathering his own thoughts.
"Have you ever heard the saying 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer'?" Naruto snorted, and opened his mouth to respond, but he was silenced by a wave of an enormous tail in his mindscape. "The fact that he knows about your connection with Kushina is disturbing, but it also gives us an opportunity. We can keep a close eye on him and we can finally know about his hideouts. And don't talk aloud. Who knows who else can sneak up on us in this timeline? We can't make the same mistake twice."
'He thinks I have a bloodline or something.' Kurama nodded in his mindscape as a response. 'Why does he ask for my permission? Why didn't he simply try to knock me out and drag me along?'
"Don't you think it would be suspicious? The disappearance of one of the proctors would bring too much attention to him as the head supervisor. The Forest of Death is a dangerous place, but not for you and Minato also knows this."
'So I should just walk inside the snake's nest willingly and cheerfully?'
"Don't mince my words! Willingly, but prepared. We are strong. We can get rid of him easily, or at least mark his hideout."
'What if he tells them?'
"Why would he? Currently he thinks he can benefit more if they don't know."
Naruto let out a long and weary sigh, running his hand through his golden locks. His eyes wandered down to the unconscious Kumo team, when he heard a soft rustle behind the large bushes and the thick smell of a predator reached his nose.
Another sigh left his lips, then he jumped down gracefully just in time to face with the giant tiger at the edge of the thick woods who currently preparing to get an easy meal.
Azure eyes snapped to the sid when the pale faced exam supervisor turned his head and he felt the stabbing glance on his body. Orochimaru sent a sinister smirk down to Naruto from the balcony, who let out a low growl from the back of his throat and instead focused his sight on the genins who stood next to him, waiting impatiently for Minato to finally appear and close the second round of the exams.
He glanced up to the giant statue showing a hand sign. Sweet nostalgia rushed through him one more time and finally distracted him from his thoughts about Orochimaru's blackmail. His eyes lingered on the teams. So many children made it, just like back then. Seven genin teams stood straight and proud in the middle of the battle ring, unaware of the preliminary round that was surely to come. Their numbers were just too high; the final battles would last too long. Just like before.
Two squads managed to finish the second stage from Konoha and one each from Iwa, Suna, Kiri, and Kumo. Only one team managed to pass the second stage from the smaller countries, the squad from Takigakure. Naruto rested his eyes on a very small child from that team, maybe not more than ten. The girl suddenly turned around, she probably felt his curious gaze on her side. She looked so familiar. She even felt familiar. Shoulder length mint green hair framed her chubby and childish face, big orange eyes narrowed suspiciously when he sent a wide grin after being caught. She rolled her childish eyes in response and turned back her to previous observation.
"She is the container of Chōmei. The seven tailed beast." Naruto winced.
'She looks so young.'
"She just looks premature. She's always looked like a teen even when she was over twenty."
He felt a tug at his clothes, forcing him out from his musing to glance down. A weary looking Shiko looked up at him with obvious annoyance from behind the dirt and scratches on his face.
"When will your Hokage arrive? It's irritating. I want to finally see him. "
"Now."
Naruto rolled his eyes when he heard Minato's cocky voice behind his back and turned around to face his father, who had appeared just in time at his permanent seal to hear the genin's question.
The Yondaime stepped to the side and winked at the stunned Iwa genin once more, before he gracefully walked toward the small stage in front of the giant statue. His white long coat elegantly followed the rhythm of his fluid steps, while Shiko's eyes were frozen on the giant red kanji on its back, shouting away his true identity.
"Yon-Yondaime Ho-Hokage?!" The genin stuttered to himself.
"See? I told you, he IS a fashion junkie."
Naruto sent a reassuring grin to Shiko, who was stunned and shocked to his very core, and couldn't remove his wide eyes from the softly smiling Minato as the man watched over the genin teams from the raised platform. But in the end, Shiko still managed a slow, small nod in agreement.
The blond leader cleared his throat and started his speech about the alliance between nations, the peace, the war and also the importance of acceptance and forgiveness.
Naruto's mind wandered off, his eyes moving toward the jounin sensei and escorts of the teams silently standing at the background. His eyes narrowed when he spotted the black figure of Danzo, lurking in the shadows, his gaze lingering on the members of the two Konoha teams.
"He is probably looking for new potential recruits for Root." Naruto made a mental nod, but he had to stop any further thoughts as shocked and angry murmurs ran through the genin. A wide, nostalgic grin spread across Naruto's face. Oh yeah. The same reaction as ours when we were told about the preliminaries. When the murmuring finally died down and the mood settled into a determined waiting, none of the genin volunteered to leave the exams.
"The fights will start after a ten minute break. Let me remind you one more time. I don't want any unnecessary and pointless deaths. All of us have suffered enough loss in the war. During the matches you must either knock your opponent out or he must forfeit. If you kill your opponent you will be disqualified. Think of it as a mission you could be appointed when you become a chuunin. Assassination is the rarest kind of mission your Village will give you."
After Minato's announcement the crowd slowly started to move up to the wide balcony and he felt another tug. Naruto let out a sigh before he looked down at the angry Shiko.
"Why didn't you tell me who he was? I made a complete idiot of myself!"
Naruto sent back a cocky smile. "It was just too hilarious to watch. Don't be afraid. He doesn't bite." The cocky smile morphed into a smirk "…Mostly" The genin grimaced, and they moved together up the stairs.
"Hey Shiko, if you pass the preliminaries I'll pay for your ramen later." The genin snorted and passed the Hokage with flaming red ears, his thoughts wandering back to a week ago, while Naruto stopped and stayed in the background to have a word with Minato before the preliminaries started. As soon the Hokage gave his last order, Naruto moved closer to whisper into his ears.
"The small girl from Takigakure has the seven tails sealed inside her." Minato glanced back with a calm face and sent back a soft smile.
"We know about her. We were informed in advance so we wouldn't take it as a threat, but thanks for your concern." Naruto nodded and hopped down to the middle of the battle ring to announce the first fight, only to a minute later move back to the balcony to watch from a distance, prepared to interfere if necessary. Unfortunately, he wouldn't have to wait too long. The first fight was over in five minutes and the next two finished almost equally fast. These genin were strong. They were more trained and experienced than his generation was back then. But it was most likely because of the war. Finally it was a familiar head's turn to face her opponent.
Anko hopped down from the balcony to land in a graceful crouch to face the Sand genin. The first part of their fight was most likely fooling around, based on the sour grimace on Orochimaru's face. Anko was playing with the boy in his early teens and, to his annoyance, the small girl deflected his every attack with ease.
Naruto made a grimace when Anko finally decided to attack seriously and a set of familiar snakes shot forward from her arms, twisting around the terrified boy. But in the next blink, the boy was gone in a puff of smoke, his body was replaced by a wooden chair, and the panting boy reappeared in the chairs previous place next to Naruto and Minato on the balcony.
"Get down here you pansy! I'm not finished with you!" Anko's harsh but childish voice sent a shiver down the boy's spine and after a second of consideration he simply gave up the fight. He made the right decision. His reserves were running low, not to mention the multiple wounds on his body from the previous five days in the woods.
Naruto watched as Shiko knocked out his opponent in the next round with a flashy earth jutsu. To the child's great annoyance, Naruto gave him a pat on the back as he passed by after the fight.
As the end of the fights came closer and closer, Naruto became more and more nervous, and he began to send more and more sidelong glances toward Orochimaru. Each fleeting second seemed to pass by unbelievingly fast. One more round. Naruto forced his senses back to the battle at his feet.
Two boys were fighting, one from Iwa the other from Kumo. Naruto narrowed his gaze when the flames of hatred dulled the Cloud nin's eyes when the genin trapped Shiko's teammate, a kunai already at his throat, threatening to slice through his flesh.
"Give up!"
The jeopardized boy narrowed his eyes, he obviously wouldn't forfeit willingly. Naruto let out a sigh at the stubborn child, but his eyes widened when the Kumo boy pressed the blade closer to the struggling boy, painting a thin red line across his throat with his dangerous metal brush. Shiko's teammate froze, his eyes widened with horror, when the winner leaned closer and pressed the blade even further and started talking. Most likely only Naruto's sensitive ears picked up what he whispered into the boys ears.
"I was really hoping you wouldn't forfeit, son of Sarumara Unkei. I will get my revenge on you for my father. I will make chuunin in the next exam." The Cloud genin's muscles tensed, his nerves already sending the signals to move his arm, kunai in hand, to the side and make a perfect slice, but before his muscles could obey the direction, a strong hand wrapped around his wrist, stopping him in his attempt.
"The winner of this match is you Takagawa Takiji. Now release him," Naruto stated coldly, his hand still gripping the genin's tensed wrist, eyeing him with narrowed eyes. The boy snarled back in his anger and sent a furious glare in reply. After a long silent moment the Kumo nin finally took a step backward and only then did Naruto release his grip and let the boy disappear.
The Iwa genin closed his eyes and slumped to the ground, gripping his bleeding neck, his eyes staring in front of him unfocused as the adrenaline suddenly rushed out of his body. When the medics arrived, together with a worried Shiko and Kitsuchi, the boy finally gathered himself enough to glance up to his savior.
"How-How did you know he was going to kill me?" Naruto shrugged.
"I heard what he told to you." The boy nodded and made a small bow.
"T-Thank you." Naruto grinned back and returned to the balcony to discuss his interference with his father, his steps were followed by the curious eyes of Kitsuchi.
When everything settled down, the crowd started to disappear as Minato announced the date and pairs for the next and final round and disappeared within the next blink. As the teams were also leaving one by one, Naruto glanced around nervously, looking for the Snake, but he couldn't find him. He walked to the side and leaned against the wall, waiting patiently for the last shinobi to leave the place while he utilized the opportunity to have a decent plan as to what the hell he was going to do.
Before any useful plan could be forged in his mind, he was kicked out from his mindscape when pale and lean fingers dropped onto his shoulders.
"Shall we go, Toroku-kun?" When Naruto opened his eyes, he was faced with Orochimaru's excited and predatory smile. That was the last thing he saw, before they disappeared from the middle of the Forest of Death with a swirl of leaves.
Author's Note:
Cliffhanger. Yeah! I warn the late joiners in advance, I adore them. I think those who have been with me from the beginning have already realized that fact ;)
So, this is MY favourite chapter :) I have to admit, I really enjoyed writing it. Especially the ramen scene. Shiko is my original character.
Sorry, no recommendation this time :( I haven't got time to read any new fic. :( I got lost on the road of life. ;)
Well, I received divided welcome on this chapter. So to clear some things:
Why didn't Naruto simply kick Orochimaru's ass? - The Forest of Death is highly monitored, thanks to the chuunin exam. So if he would act there, he wouldn't be able to act freely, nor he has any evidence against the sannin.
So why did he let Orochimaru bring him somewhere? - To get some evidence...
But seriously. You are really thinking that going undercover to get evidence against him is a stupid decision? Or that Naruto is weak or stupid by doing so? Just think about it...Crime story. If the cop knows (suspects) something about someone, but he/she have got no evidence will he/she just shoot him on the streets in daylight? No. He/she will follow him or infiltrate the organization or whatever.
Naruto hasn't got a plan? - You know he is not alone. Fluffy tenant... ;)