Raijin

Chapter VI

So, we've had some good character development in the past few chapters. The Chuunin Exam arc is going to be a big one, though; possibly another six chapters, and then we have to cover some other stuff before Raijin is complete. That's good, I guess, but at the same time, I wonder if it's worth it. You guys should definitely leave me some big reviews so I can be convinced otherwise. Oh, and there is a definite twist in this chapter that may or may not blow your freakin' mind. =) Thanks! -Hangovergoblin

"Ah!"

Naruto made his way through the crowd of assembled Genin to a redhead who had been standing quietly to the side. "Gaara! It's good to see you again!" he said, shaking the boy's hand. Gaara returned the gesture firmly and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Likewise," he said, smirking. Naruto knew the facial expression was good natured; Gaara had not yet learned how to smile completely. The boy was probably still recovering from the Suna/Oto invasion of Konoha a little over a year ago. Naruto was glad to see that Gaara had the will to come back to the Chuunin Exams even though at this point it was a formality; Gaara had already been nominated to take up the mantle of Kazekage within the next year. He was just doing this to put some of the village leaders at ease, but mostly, he was doing it for Baki, his jounin sensei. "Your hair has grown longer, Naruto," Gaara deadpanned. It took the panda-like genin to finally put it into perspective for Naruto. He brushed the hair from his face consciously and tucked it behind his headband.

Naruto broke eye contact for a split second. That was it. He really didn't mean for his eyes to land where they did, but they moved on their own.

His eyes came to rest on a very large pair of breasts, owned by none other than Temari no Suna, Gaara's older sister. His eyes moved steadily up until they came to rest on her face. She made eye contact and winked, leaving a very stunned Naruto. He just couldn't let Gaara figure out what had happened.

"Hi," she greeted. Her hand came to rest on her hip in a very provocative pose. Naruto couldn't help but imagine her chomping his head off with those perfect pearly whites. What a maneater. He waved back to her dumbly, as if controlled by some retarded puppeteer.

Speaking of which...

Kankurou shot him a dirty look from out of the side of his eye. It seemed like the puppeteer still had a bit of a chip on his shoulder from the last time they had met. Naruto didn't even bother to greet him; some people just couldn't be dealt with.

It was at this point that Sasuke and Sakura made their way over to their fellow examees. Sakura waved to everyone, but it was Sasuke who actually spoke up.
"I didn't think I'd see you guys again," he said, extending his hand to Gaara. Gaara accepted it, even though Sasuke was the first one to make him bleed his own blood over a year ago. Sasuke decided he liked the newer, improved Gaara; the boy was much more affable than last time, considering he had wanted to crush Sasuke with a Sabaku Kyu when they had last seen each other.

"Yeah, well, we're here," the hooded boy beside Gaara spoke. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Kankurou was such a prick.

The sound of an airhorn blowing made them all turn in the direction of the stage.

The assembled Kages and the representatives for the Kages who could not be there were all standing on the stage. Jiraiya, of course, had taken Tsunade's place at the Chuunin Exams, and was acting as her proxy. Naruto waved at the man, but he made no response back. Naruto was actually quite impressed with the man. Dressed in robes that were copies of his old outfit, he had swapped out the garish colors for black and white. The scroll was gone from his back, and in its place sat a ceremonial katana. Now, if only he could get his sensei to dress like this all the time, he could walk around with the man and not feel embarrassed. Kakashi stood behind him, part of the bodyguard. He still wore his normal outfit, though, but looked just as regal as Jiraiya. Naruto was pleased to see the man's normally half-hooded eyes were wider than normal; they actually looked like a non-lazy person's eyes.

To his Jiraiya's left stood Baki, who represented the stewardship of the Kazekage, and to Jiraiya's right, stood...

Naruto's eyes widened as he locked eyes with the man. He felt Sasuke stiffen beside him, too. What the fuck? They had killed him only nights before!

Kabuto stood smirking, dressed in the ceremonial robes of Otogakure.

"Welcome to the annual Chuunin Exams!" the Kusakage bellowed. He was a large man with extremely tan skin and large hands. His only facial hair, a pair of long sideburns and a soul patch seemed strange to Naruto; no one wore that particular style anywhere in the elemental nations. It looked largely out of place with the other clean-shaven village representatives.

"We are proud to announce that we have a better turnout than last year's exams, and we plan to show the elemental nations that Kusa is indeed a perfect place to hold the exams!"

This was met from loud clapping on either side of the stage; they were in the main square of Kusagakure, and many buildings lined the streets. People had settled to occupying the balconies on the buildings because the streets had been cleared for a quarter mile so the Examees could all be within hearing distance of the stage.

"There are currently twenty teams enrolled, so we hope for an exciting exam. The exam, like always, will be held in three stages. The first stage is information gathering, but it will not be a quiz like last year." He laughed at this. "Oh, no, it will not be like last year. During the first part of the exam, you will be expected to retrieve bits of information from a cyphers hidden out on the great plains around Kusa. The whole area around our great city is fair game, all the way to the great rocks to the north, and the forests to the south. There are a total of twenty cyphers hidden within a fifteen mile radius from our city's walls. You have three days to find them."

Sakura leaned in amongst her two teammates. "That's one cypher for every team... If we find more than one, one team will be disqualified for each cypher we find-" She was cut off abruptly by the Kusakage's booming voice.

"The catch is," he said, "you have to decode the cypher before you arrive back at the gates; if you do not, you can't possibly hope to move on!"

This caused whispers to go out through the crowd. The implications to the danger of the first part was obvious; with twenty teams competing for twenty cyphers. There was definite danger in that. If one team found a cypher, they would have to decode it in the field, leaving them vulnerable for hours, or worse, more than a day. Either they would have to decode the cyphers on the spot, or find a place to hunker down and do it, otherwise, they'd almost immediately come under attack.

Naruto was already running through the groups he'd assume would make it through. There were the Suna siblings, of course; Gaara could make a place to decipher the codes with his sand. Lee's team, with their genin replacement for Neji's place, could possibly do it, if Lee and Tenten were smart to run interference. The unknown teammate was a variable that Naruto couldn't exactly count on. He knew his own team would crush anyone who got close enough to even think about trying to hurt Sakura while she was deciphering her codes. Team 8 could probably do it, too. Shino was a force to be reckoned with, and Kiba was no joke when he took his opponent seriously. Naruto snickered at that.

The other teams, he could care less about. If they weren't from Konoha, they'd be crushed easily. He had supreme faith in everyone who graduatated with him from the academy.

But there was still the problem of Kabuto. Was destroying his heart not enough? What would it take to finally kill the Oto Jounin? Naruto and Sasuke had watched the man die; they had watched the blood pour out of his gaping chest wound and seen the life fade from his eyes!

"... you have one day to prepare! The gates will open at six in the morning tomorrow. Do not be late; if you are, you WILL be disqualified."

The Kazekage poofed into a burst of smoke, along with the other Kages and representatives. Naruto and Sasuke rolled their eyes in exasperation. Why did they both feel like that little dramatic touch had been Jiraiya's idea?

Sakura was the first to speak as they disassembled.

"So, what do you think about this first test, and how do you think it relates to the second one?"

Honestly, Naruto had no earthly idea. Sasuke was the one who had already put all the thought into it.

"If the codes from the first exam have something to do with the second part, I think we can safely assume the second part of the exam will be based on information we find in the cyphers. That much is obvious," he said. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "There's a strong possibility the codes will help us in the second part of the exam. Maybe the second exam will be objective-based. Maybe capture of a high value individual or a high value object."

Naruto and Sakura both nodded.

"So," Naruto said, "I guess that just leaves us with the problem of finding the cypher in the first place. I wonder which gate we'll be let out of. That should dictate our area of search in during the first day. We should have the next day to find the cypher, too. We'll use the third to decode it, if we don't find it early."

Sakura frowned.

"That's true, but do you realize exactly how long we're staying out there? Three days, guys. We have to stay awake for three days, unless we can sleep in shifts; there is the very strong possibility that we'll be attacked at any time, if not all the time. The only thing on our side is the vast amount of area, so we may have a few moments here and there. Unfortunately, that also works against us. That is an incredibly large amount of area for us to find a cypher, even if there is twenty of them. And on top of that, I'm sure they are extremely well hidden, too." She sighed. "This is going to be more stressful than I had first thought."

Her two teammates agreed.

Naruto caught a flash of purple from the corner of his eye. Excusing himself from the group, he walked over to the store front and walked in. Hinata turned from the various herbs and spices she was perusing a rack and immediately went red in the face.

"N-Naruto! I'm so glad to see you're fully recovered! I-I-I was so w-w-worried about you!"

He flashed her a cheeky grin as she stuttered. Now that he thought about it, that was kind of cute.

"Hahah. It was no big deal," he said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Stuff like that happens to me more than you'd think."

Hinata offered him a small, shy smile, then lowered her head and started poking her fingers together. She hated it when she acted like this; she just didn't know what to say to the object of her affections.

"So," he said, breaking the silence, "what do you think about the first part of the exam? Are you gonna do well?" He folded his arms and smiled. "I'd sure hate to not see you in the second part!" he proclaimed.

"Ano... I-I-I think w-w-we can pull through," she replied, her face turning even redder. "I'm c-c-c-c-confident in my teammates... And in my self."

Naruto was thoroughly impressed with Hinata. It seemed she had made huge leaps and bounds over the past year or so. After her crushing defeat at the hands of Neji, Naruto wasn't entirely sure she'd ever pull out of her shell. Luckily, he had been proven wrong. And, strangely enough, that made Hinata seem just a bit more attractive than that shy, freaky girl he had left back in Konoha. Naruto had seen the metamorphosis in nearly all of his fellow graduates when he had finally met up with all of them at one point or another in Kusa, but Hinata truly was the most changed. Emotionally, mentally, and apparently, physically, too, as Naruto gave her a quick look up and down. He hadn't realized just how curvy she had gotten when they had sparred out on the plains. He guessed it was because of the way her body moved that hid her assets. She was as graceful as Sakura and just as agile. Her hands were faster than his pinkette teammate, too.

And her eyes... If only she kept them eye level... Her gaze would be just as intense as Neji's. And that would make her incredibly intimidating on the battlefield. Maybe that day would come, eventually. And when it did, Naruto wanted to be there to see the butterfly emerge from the cocoon.

"That's good," he said, grinning. She nodded back, smiling slightly. He put her in such a tizzy, and he didn't even know. She cursed herself inwardly for her shyness. She wished she could just reach up and kiss him.

"Well, Hinata, I'm going back to the hotel! It was great seeing you again. Thank you for being so awesome the other night, too!" He pulled her to him and gave her a quick hug.

"Bye, Hinata!"

She could barely form the thought to wave.

When Naruto arrived back at the hotel, he found a very bored Sasuke sitting on the couch, arms folded, doing absolutely nothing.

"Hey, man, hard at work or hardly working?" Naruto quipped as he sat down beside Sasuke. He looked down at the armor that was still laying beside the couch from the other night. He had yet to find a replacement for it, which really aggravated the boy. He had been able to keep the shin guards, and the arm guards were hidden under his sleeves. He was just happy he had managed to keep the metal-backed gloves. They really came in handy when he was using Byakaze; Naruto hated having callused hands. They were unavoidable in his line of work, but the gloves helped keep them at a manageable level.

Speaking of Byakaze... Naruto felt it was high time for another duel with Sasuke. He spoke his thoughts and was happy when Sasuke consented.

They made their way out of their room and to the top of their hotel, which was perfect for a duel. It was a large, open space shaped like a 'U', and was obstacle-less. All of the vents were located on the side of the building, oddly enough, so there was much free space to fight.

This reminded Naruto so much of the time he and Sasuke had it out on the hospital roof back in Konoha. That was the first time Sasuke had tried to kill him with the Chidori. Luckily, Kakashi had appeared and redirected the attack from destroying the blonde boy.

"You ready, asshole?" Naruto said, grinning, as he unsheathed Byakaze. The blue-silver blade hummed as it was drawn. It felt great to hold it in his hands again.

"Ready when you are, prick," Sasuke fired back, his face a smile, too. Sasuke never grinned, so Naruto always had to settle for a smirk or a smile.

They both entered their stances and flew at each other.

The first stroke left Sasuke surprised; Naruto's blade flicked out with impossible quickness and came within millimeters of his neck. Sasuke hadn't bothered with the Sharingan at first, because he didn't feel like the duel would be that one-sided that fast. Naruto, however, had quickly activated the Fuujin and had been on him in a few milliseconds. Now that he had the Sharingan active, Sasuke could see Naruto clearly. He was still moving fast enough for the Sharingan to only view him in normal time, rather than slow motion. It was amazing to see him move like that.

The White Fang cut through the air, singing as it aimed for a cross stroke over Naruto's chest. He sidestepped it and returned another stroke that would have 'struck off' Sasuke's head. The boy countered with an excellently timed block and went to sweep Naruto's legs out from under him. The teen hopped deftly over the white blade and jumped back. Running his hands through some handsigns that were extremely familair to Sasuke.

"Katon: Goukakyu!"

He spat a huge fireball at Sasuke who jumped over it, aiming at Naruto's head with his own Goukakyu. Naruto cut straight through it with Byakaze, reinforcing the blade's power with wind manipulation. It sliced cleanly through the fireball, redirecting the flames to his sides. When the last of the fire dissipated around him, he found Sasuke in his face with White Fang coming down across his torso in a diagonal motion. Byakaze shot up and ground Sasuke's advance to a halt. They locked eyes, both smiling at each other. They never had as much fun as when they were dueling. They were so evenly matched, this could go on for hours or for seconds. They never knew when the duel would come to an end.

Sasuke felt the wind kick up around him.

Suddenly, there was a tremendous force behind Naruto's sword; the bastard, Sasuke realized, was using strong winds to push him harder than Sasuke could combat. Giving one last heave, Sasuke managed to break sword contact and backflip several paces backwards. Sasuke used the slight respite to fling a couple of shuriken at Naruto. The Byakaze whipped out with that same supernatural quickness and batted them away, leaving a grinning Naruto.

"Had enough yet, bastard?"

Sasuke smiled as he sheathed the White Fang.

"Not quite," he said as he went into a taijutsu stance. Naruto copied the Uchiha, sheathing Byakaze and settling into his own stance.

They charged each other, intent on fighting like they had back at the Valley of the End; no swords, no jutsu, just their god given talents. Only, Naruto had one surprise left in his bag of tricks. His irises changed into a deep golden color as their outlines became jagged, leaving a bright sunburst of yellow in place of a ring of blue(1). The Raijin wouldn't offer him any help in manipulating lightning besides the basic abilities because he had not yet trained in it. But, Naruto knew that it would increases his reflexes tenfold; his nerves were already practically tingling from the excess electrical energy his body was beginning to generate. He would need those reflexes and the added speed to combat Sasuke in Taijutsu.

Sasuke's Sharingan noted immediately the change in how Naruto moved. He was fast, even for Sasuke's enhanced eyes.

Naruto's fist shot out and nearly cuffed Sasuke on the ear, but the Uchiha managed to duck just in time. He brought his knee up to strike Naruto in the sternum, but the teen's damnably fast reflexes allowed him to slap the knee back down with the fist that hadn't just whizzed past Sasuke's ear. That fist jerked in one direction, then another, as Naruto sought to bring his elbow down on Sasuke's shoulder: a move that would break the Uchiha's collarbone should it land.

Luckily, Sasuke had seen the blow coming and deftly twisted out of the way. He threw himself on his back as Naruto leapt at him in a Superman punch and caught the boy's outstretched arm. Using his backward momentum, he rolled and threw Naruto bodily behind him. Naruto twisted and rolled as well, negating what would have been a painful landing. They both leapt up at the same time and moved back towards each other, creating an infinitely artistic dance of pain as they went. They were an even match, Sasuke realized, in Taijutsu as well.

They continued on like that for an hour, never once managing to land a solid blow on each other.

"It seems you are more resourceful than I had given you credit for, Kabuto."

Aforementioned young man bowed deeply to his master. Orochimaru gazed at him deeply from his draped position on his throne. Kabuto had managed to bring himself back to life somehow; he hadn't gone into the details, but Orochimaru suspected it was because the boy's brain wasn't destroyed. If that was the case, Kabuto was more skilled in healing than Orochimaru had ever given him credit for. Admittedly, when Kabuto had pushed his way through those double doors leading into the makeshift throneroom, Orochimaru had breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't feel as if he was so backed into a corner now. Things could proceed as he had originally planned. There was still the matter of Kabuto's failed assassination of Naruto.

"You failed me, Kabuto."

The teen lowered into an even deeper bow than his first. "I apologize, Lord Orochimaru," he said contritely. "It was not our expectation to be blindsided by the Uchiha in such a way. I'm just glad he did not use the Mangekyou Sharingan on me-"

"He has the Mangekyou?" Orochimaru hissed. "Impossible! Itachi is still alive and active in Akatsuki!" He narrowed his eyes at Kabuto. "Do not lie to me, boy.I do not like being made for a fool!"

Kabuto shook his head. "On my life, my lord," he said, bowing again, "I saw the Mangekyou in his eyes before I got away. It is unmistakable."

Orochimaru leaned back in his throne. "If that is the case," he said, steepling his long, thin fingers, "then perhaps our priorities should shift away from our current plan..."

Kabuto shook his head once again. "I do not think that is advisable, my lord. Sasuke's Curse Seal has been sealed over by Jiraiya. I doubt we could unseal it without his own guidance, and we both know that will be impossible. It is a custom seal, and one of great intricacy."

Orochimaru frowned.

"Why is it that Jiraiya, or some part of his accursed legacy on this world, plague me constantly in my endeavours?" he mused aloud. "Can't he leave well enough alone?"

"Can't you leave well enough alone?" Sasuke asked.

Sasuke and Naruto both sat on the edge of the building they had been sparring one, and had seen the top of the teen's black hair before he had made it to the top of the roof. Akira appeared, the vanguard of the flunky brigade, with his two teammates in tow.

"No," Akira spat. His two teammates both hmphed at Naruto and Sasuke. "A little birdie told me you were like me," the emo said to Naruto. Naruto scoffed.

"No," he said, eyebrow raised. "I'm definitely not like you, Akira." He stood up and brushed himself off. "You," he said, pointing a finger at Akira, "are a prick. I'm not."

At this, Akira sneered. "Go fuck yourself. I meant you're a Jinchuuriki." This earned a flinch from Naruto and a curious look from Sasuke. So, Akira was a Jinchuuriki as well. Naruto wondered who would have told Akira about his condition. No one outside of Konoha knew he was the container of the Kyuubi. So how the fuck did this kid know?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto bluffed. He crossed his arms. He was gonna find out how the kid knew.

Akira pulled up his shirt to reveal a much less intricate seal than Naruto's, but he could still see the seal held considerable power. From what he could tell from his limited experience with seals, it looked like it couldn't hold anything stronger than a five-tailed demon, so he surmised the demon he contained was probably a little less powerful than that. From what Jiraiya had said, the Sanbi was still loose near Kirigakure, and the Nibi was contained in Kumogakure, and Naruto knew personally the Ichibi's container, leaving...

"You're sealed with the Yonbi no Soukou, the four-tailed cockatrice, then," Naruto said, pointing to the seal. Akira nodded at this.

"I am. So you know my pain. You know how I live."

"Yes," Naruto said, a hard edge coming into his eye. "But I don't wallow in it, like you do. I don't let it make me feel like nothing. And I sure as hell don't let it affect the way I dress." He rolled his eyes as Akira's expression went sour again.

"Just because of the way a few people treat you doesn't give you a right to act like you're the most hurt person in the world. You obviously have two friends," Naruto said, gesturing to Akira's teammates, "so it's not like you're completely alone. Stop being a little bitch. Stop fucking whining."

"What the fuck is with you Konoha-nin?" Akira asked angrily. He made an aggressive step towards Naruto. Naruto remained impassive, Sasuke, however, tensed up as he made ready for battle. This was going south quickly, and he needed to kick someone's ass today. White Fang made a noisy click as he prepared it for the draw. Naruto's hand went to his blade, as well. Byakaze hummed angrily in his hand like it did the other night when he had tried to kill Kabuto. The blade was spoiling for a fight.

Naruto spoke again, but this time, it was deadly quiet and laced with much more than annoyance.

"Do you really want to get your ass handed to you again, kid? Back the fuck off."

This caused Akira to pause in his slow, aggressive advance. He really did not desire a repeat performance of the House of Green Leaves. To save face, he threw his long hair out of his eyes and made a hmph noise in the back of his throat. He turned on his heel and brushed past his still-nameless teammates who soon followed suit. They left a very frustrated Naruto and Sasuke alone on top of the roof, both cursing the emo's existence. The fuck was with that kid, anyway?

Hmmm… Now that that affair is over with, I can return to work. ;D I can honestly say this chapter was a pain in the ass, because I couldn't really fit anything else into it. Nothing wanted to sit right in the general order of the story, but oh well. If you guys are interested in helping me along, feel free to bounce ideas off of me. That is greatly encouraged and wanted. Like always, people, read and review. Flames welcome, as well! Hope you guys enjoyed that little twist in there. -Hangovergoblin