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Last time: Team Seven is entered into the Chuunin Exams.
This time: The Exams.
Whatever Gohan had expected on the other side of the door, what he found wasn't it. Inside were upwards of a hundred shinobi, every single one of them glaring at the new arrivals. The saiyan glanced left, then right, knowing that this wasn't going to be a pleasant experience.
That feeling was intensified when his senses were slammed, as if by a hammer, by some monstrous bloodlust that stole Gohan's breath away. The warrior he was, the teen's gaze swept the room again and centered in on the culprit.
The source was a kid, looking to be about the same age as Naruto and the rest, with red hair and a brown outfit that was crossed by a leather sash, then again by a white linen one. The hirai-ate that identified the village the guy came from was tied to the leather sash and reminded Gohan of an hourglass for some reason. His most striking feature, though, was the kanji that was etched into his forehead and represented 'love' and his harsh teal eyes were ringed by dark circles, like he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in his life, a massive gourd propped on the floor beside him.
The guy caught his eye and the ki that he seemed to be leaking out from sheer desire to kill intensified almost double and the saiyan target felt his breath begin to shorten, heart begin to pound and adrenalin begin to flow, ramping up his senses into 'flight or fight' mode.
Then the shinobi turned and the spell was broken.
The dark-haired teen didn't know it, but he'd just gaped at Sabaku no Gaara and lived to tell about it.
"Sasuke-kun!"
The high-pitched cry split the silence of the classroom and a purple and blond streak flew from nowhere and latched itself onto the raven-haired Uchiha, whose face showed that he was less than happy about being glomped by a fangirl.
The attacker was a tall and wiry, but pretty, blond, with sea-green eyes to rival those of Mr. Creepy with the gourd was hanging from Sasuke's neck as if she and he were one and the same. The mysterious girl's gaze played over Gohan for a second and took in the chiseled arms and chest on him, clearly visible because of his gi and the saiyan thought he saw a flicker of interest in the girl's eyes.
"Ino-pig! Get your filthy hands off Sasuke-kun!"
Sakura's livid shout brought Gohan out of the daze that the guy with the gourd had placed him in. The pink-haired kunoichi was glaring daggers at this 'Ino' and if looks could kill, the girl would've been a smoldering crater in the ground.
But, looks couldn't kill and the girl just smiled confidently. "Oh, hey, Forehead. You made it into the Exams? Wow, your jounin-sensei must be pretty thick if he let a loser like you in here." Sakura made a noise like a cat growling, which made Ino smile all the wider and tighten her grip on fidgeting Sasuke. Ino's glinting eyes landed on Gohan. "Who's this, Forehead? You couldn't get Sasuke-kun so you got yourself someone else?"
Gohan opened his mouth to protest but he never got the words out.
"Ino, just shut up," a drawling voice murmured with a heavy lethargy. Ino bristled and released Sasuke, who slipped away without a sound to get Naruto and Sakura in between himself and the now-angry blond kunoichi. The speaker turned out to be a guy with a gray v-necked t-shirt with greenish trim and a circle divided in half by a line. His eyes were droopy and bored-looking, but Gohan was used to trying to see through strategies by eyes, and this boy's eyes were backlit by a sharp and analytical intelligence. The boy's mouth opened and his tone was just as lethargic as before.
"We don't have time for your Sasuke-fetish."
His teammate turned colors faster than Cell could move. "WHAT DID YOU SAY, SHIKAMARU!?"
Shikamaru winded at Ino's piercing tone and muttered something that sounded like 'troublesome women' before turning to the young saiyan, who was just watching. "You are…?"
Gohan stuck out a hand. "I'm Son Gohan."
Shikamaru looked put out by having to shake hands, but he did anyway, thinking to himself how troublesome it was. "Nara Shikamaru." Crunching sounded behind the genius genin and he stepped aside to reveal an obese boy who was happily shoving chips into his mouth. "And since his mouth is too full to answer, this is Akimichi Chouji. We're Team Ten. What's your team?"
"Seven."
"Seven?" Shikamaru's eyes flicked over the three original members of the team, then cast an appraising eye over Gohan. "What, you here to keep Naruto from being too much of a troublesome dumbass?"
"Hey!"
"Wait," Ino broke in. "If you're on Team Seven, doesn't that mean that they have four members? Isn't that kind of unfair?"
A new voice cut in, this one was as loud and abrasive as Naruto's. "What? A four-man team? What makes you guys so special?" The speaker was a kid with a gray parka with a fur lining that looked as if his hair was shaggy black and not the sandy brown it really was. Perched on his head was a small white puppy and there were red marks under his eyes that almost gave the impression he was crying tears of blood from his slit-pupiled eyes.
The puppy gave a sharp yap.
Kiba laughed rudely. "Say what?" His feral eyes looked over Gohan. He grinned, revealing longer than normal canines. "Akamaru says you smell like a monkey."
"K-Kiba-kun. T-that's not nice," a timid voice said from behind the parka-wearing genin and the other guy on Team Eight who was wearing a trench coat and sunglasses. The sunglasses kid stepped aside and revealed a girl with short hair and an oversized hoodie with a stylized purple flame stitched into the right arm of the garment.
"Hinata-chan?" Kiba asked. "You actually agree with these guys' four-man cell?"
"It's not our idea," Naruto said aggressively. Living with Gohan had been great, the two talking about life in their dimensions and other topics. At times, Naruto felt like Gohan was the big brother he'd never had. Sometimes he wondered if this was what having a family was like. "The Old Man put him on our team because he's got nowhere else to go!" The blond got up in Kiba's face. "So you and your yappy hairball can take it up with Old Man Hokage!"
Kiba backed up, a nervous look in his eyes, but was stopped from retorting by yet another new voice.
"You know, it would be wise to tone it down. All of us here are rather nervous and they wouldn't mind taking out a piece of you." The speaker was a guy with silver hair that was like Kakashi's and pulled into a tight ponytail and round glasses sitting in front of a friendly-looking face. True to the guy's words, the genin in the room were glaring bloody murder at the Rookie Nine, looking as if they would attack and shred them at any moment.
Everyone looked subdued, with the exception of Naruto, who got his usual defiant look on hopped up on the desk and shouted that he would beat all of them in the Exams and become Hokage. The looks, if possible, only darkened. Sakura clobbered him on the back of his head.
"Shut the hell up, you idiot! You want us to get killed!?" She yelled in his ear, throttling him at the some time.
Kabuto proceeded to show Sasuke some weird cards. "These have data on every shinobi in this room," he said with a distinct note of pride in his voice. "I know everything about anyone."
Sasuke looked intrigued, but he would never say it. "Well, what data do you have on Gaara?"
"Sabaku no Gaara?"
"Yeah."
Kabuto pushed his glasses up in a superior manner and swiped a hand across the deck of cards, one of which sprang into the air and floated to his grasp. He looked at it, then held it out for Sasuke's inspection. "Here you go, all the information on Gaara you could ever want." As the Uchiha looked over the card, Kabuto added, "It's odd. All the information I have on him says he's never gotten so much as a scratch on a mission. Why would you be interested in him?"
"I have my reasons." The ice in his tone was enough to get Kabuto to back off. Sasuke glanced over at Gohan and noticed that the raven-haired teen was off in his own world, not noticing what was happening in the world around him. Sasuke lowered his voice. "What information do you have on Son Gohan?"
"Son Gohan? Let me see what I have." Again he swiped the deck, but this time, no card sprang into the air. Kabuto was obviously puzzled. "I don't have anything on him."
The avenger scowled then thrust Gaara's card back to the bespectacled genin. "Thanks anyway," he said, rather rudely if anyone cared to listen in.
Across the room, a mummy-like shinobi with gray camouflage pants and a fur shawl or something similar, sneered at his comrades. "So, that guy thinks that he's hot stuff does he? Let's show him otherwise."
His kunoichi comrade, a rather plain-looking girl, sneered as well. "Yeah, let's."
The two others chuckled darkly then darted into the crowd of genin, slipping among them, nothing but soundless shadows that darted in three different directions, two to either wall, and one straight up the center.
Kabuto's eyes flickered, unnoticed by his companions or the onrushing Oto-nin. A small smile, no, more of a smirk, crossed his face.
Gohan caught a shadow of a ki spike, just as a something shot by him. In that moment, he knew that sensing ki would only take him so far in the shinobi world. The rest would take subtle observation. He had work to do. But first, he twisted and watched Kabuto spring back, dodging a deft right hook from what Gohan thought was a mummy. Then he realized it was a genin wrapped in bandages from head to foot.
Kabuto smirked as the fist passed harmlessly by his face, but the look faded as his glasses cracked. The movement had drawn the attention of everyone in the room and a few snorted at the sheer stupidity of the Oto-nin. Then the silver haired Leaf-nin dropped to his knees and spewed his breakfast all over the floor.
The mummy, Dosu, planted a heavy boot on Kabuto's head. "So, you know everything about everyone huh? So, did you see this coming?" The boot vanished and the genin stood up, wiping bile from his mouth and glaring the best he could with shattered lenses.
The other guy, a ruffian by name of Zaku, snorted and thrust at Kabuto.
A hand shot out of nowhere and seized his arm in an iron vice.
"That's enough," Gohan announced with a dark look on his face. "He didn't do anything to hurt you, so leave him alone!" The last word was spoken with a ringing force that had nothing to do with his voice and everything to do with ki, as he spiked it briefly and allowed it to lace his voice. The Z warrior allowed the shinobi to go, whereupon he retreated to his two teammates and glared at Gohan as he massaged his almost crushed wrist.
"Who're you?" Zaku demanded roughly.
"My name's Son Gohan."
Dosu chuckled darkly. "Son Gohan, huh. Well then, Son Gohan," He pointed a threatening finger at the fighter, "Now you're on our shit list. We'll meet again, and you won't get off easy next time." The trio turned and trooped back to their desks. Gohan simply scowled after them then looked at Kabuto.
"Are you OK, Kabuto-san?"
"Yes, thank you, Gohan-san."
There was an explosion at the front of the classroom and when the smoke cleared, it revealed a whole band of chuunin, led by a tall and imposing man who had his hirai-ate tied like a bandanna and a vicious scar running down his left eye, almost like Kakashi's.
"All right, you whelps! Shut the hell up and listen up, I'm Morino Ibiki and I'm the proctor for the first portion of the Chuunin Exams!" The attention of every genin in the room focused on him and the bare whisperings of some comrades vanished within the first few words. "Okay, come up here and take an number and wait for the instructions."
All the shinobi in the room took a number and sat down at their seats. Gohan found himself by another person that creeped him out. The man was tall, feminine, dressed ornately with a wide grass hat that had a dangling tag on it. The son of Goku wasn't sure what it was about this guy, but he was suddenly unnerved by the guy. He felt like a bird being watched by a snake.
Ibiki began explaining the rules and the man spoke with a tone that was high and girlish, but seemed even more sinister than if he'd had the same voice as Cell or Bojack.
"That was quite the display earlier," the man almost purred in Gohan's ear.
'This guy…' Gohan thought. 'This guy's dangerous!'
"Uh…Thanks."
"How'd you do it? Training, or…something more?" There was a keen interest underlying the purr.
"Uh…A brutal sensei."
That seemed to be the answer as the man looked slightly put out. "I see. Well, there's nothing like a good teacher to make one strong."
After that, there wasn't any more time for conversation, thankfully, because the tests arrived at that moment, forcing Gohan and this other guy to shut up. If the saiyan warrior knew that he was sitting next to one of the worst villains in Konoha's history, he would've either tried to stop him, or just run away.
"You may begin!" Ibiki called to the room. There was a shifting of papers then the rapid 'tak-tak-tak' of pencils hitting paper.
Gohan looked at the first question, which said 'Decipher the following code'. The code wasn't legible to the teen, so he skipped it and moved onto the next one. It was just as hard. 'If shinobi A throws shuriken B at an angle towards shinobi C at a height of ten meters, at what speed would he have to throw it to hit the target?' The young Z fighter grinned. This was the kind of problem that his mother pounded into his head on a regular basis. With a deep breath, he put pencil to paper and began to write.
Naruto was flipping out. This was a test? He sucked at tests! He was doomed. He was screwed! He was going to fail and Sasuke-bastard, Sakura-chan and Gohan were going to fail with him! How was he going to get out of this? The questions and what-ifs began building in his head, as he raked his hands through his scraggly blond hair with increased frustration.
'That's it!' he shouted to himself. 'I'm going to cheat so damn well, they'll never even know it!'
"Number fifty-four! Get out of here! That's the last cheating you'll ever do!"
The voice of the Chuunin proctor, loud in such a quiet room, made everyone jump as the disgruntled candidate stood and slouched out the door.
"Take your team with you, cheater!"
The shinobi's team also stood and headed out the door. As it closed, Gohan caught the man's teammates begin to berate him about his carelessness.
Naruto blanched. 'Well, maybe I won't cheat then.'
"Psst. Naruto-kun." The blond looked at Hinata out of the corner of his eye. "You can copy mine if you like. I'm already done." She slid her test toward him, hidden under her elbow. Naruto looked at the answers, then slapped himself mentally.
"I can't, Hinata! That'll get you disqualified too! I can't be responsible for that!"
Instead of telling the headstrong shinobi that that was the objective of the First Exam, Hinata instead went red with embarrassment and awe at Naruto's supposed valor.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was just as stumped as Naruto was. 'This is ridiculous. How do they expect us to answer these? These are chuunin-level questions for crying out loud! There's no way a genin could answer these, not unless they were expected…to…cheat!' The rules of the test, the chuunin proctors, the high level questions and the genin all seated so closely together…It all added up. The environment was designed to promote cheating. This wasn't an exam, it was a test of how well they could gather information without getting caught!
Sasuke smirked. He had the perfect way to gather information, and the best part was, it was completely invisible unless someone looked him straight in the eye.
'Sharingan!'
The avenger's eyes warmed as the Kekkei Genkai activated. Now all he had to do was find a suitable target. Hm, that guy who was writing like a madman would do nicely. Sasuke focused on the one genin and began to mimic his arm movements.
In the front of the room, Ibiki smirked at the movements of the Uchiha kid. None of the chuunin in the room would catch it. The brat had all but passed this exam, but Ibiki had worked with Kakashi for too damn long not to recognize the signs of Sharingan use when he saw them. He wasn't going to bust the kid. He wasn't a proctor, just a supervisor. Unknown to most people, the chuunin in the room were taking a test for the Jounin exam. Whether or not they passed this first exam was how well they caught all the subtle signs of cheating in the room, compared with what Ibiki saw. If they caught half the errors that Ibiki did, then they passed.
It was a pretty genius set up on Konoha's part. Promote their own chuunin without anyone noticing by using the Chuunin Exams as a front. The shinobi had to hand it to the Nidaime for coming up with this. It was sneaky and underhanded, just like a shinobi should be.
All around the room, signs of shinobi cheating began to crop up, some were more obvious than others, but only two, Uzumaki Naruto, and Son Gohan were taking the test in earnest, Naruto because he was too thick to notice otherwise, and Gohan because the distraction from Orochimaru had prevented him from noticing the subtle hints in the rules. However, unlike Naruto, Gohan was actually done with his test, simply because of his education at the hands of his mother. Now all he was working on was that code, and it was addicting, like a crossword or Sudoku puzzle.
"Alright, listen up you brats," Ibiki's rough voice cut through the silence, as the twin exams halted, and the ANBU interrogator took control of the exams. Now it was no longer a test, but a quest to root out the mentally weak. Ibiki grinned sadistically to himself. This was the kind of thing he was good and just loved to do. "Now I will give you the tenth question, and with it, since it's a special question, are a couple new rules. If you answer wrong, you're done, and what's worse, you will be stuck as a genin forever."
The scarred man took a feral sort of pleasure at watching them squirm.
'Wait for it.'
"What do you mean we'll be stuck as a genin! There are people here who've taken the exams more than once!"
Bingo. "It's just you're bad luck you got me as an examiner." He grinned. "Anyone want to drop now and not risk a permanent demotion?" A couple hands went up. That seemed to be all, then another few popped up, then some more and more. In no time at all, thirty genin had been dismissed.
Five minutes passed, during which time, Ibiki let the silence spiral horribly. Just as his own pressure could be horrible, so too could be the pressure from not saying anything.
Sure enough, five more dropped. Five times three per team, fifteen genin gone. Another five minutes passed. No one moved. Ibiki wasn't sure if anyone even breathed.
"I wonder what it would be like to be stuck as a genin. No respect, all that crappy pay and missions." Ha. Another couple of teams dropped.
Sakura was feeling the pressure. She didn't want Sasuke-kun to think she was a wimp, to be sure, but at the same time, the raven-haired avenger was the last thing on her mind. She was thinking of that blond knucklehead on her team. The kunoichi didn't want to deprive Naruto of the dream that he was working so hard for. If they answered wrong, they would be trapped as genin forever, and that would effectively crush Naruto's dream, and quite possibly, crush the blond himself.
'I'm sorry, Naruto, Sasuke-kun, Gohan-kun, but I can't just let Naruto's dream go because of his stubbornness.' Her hand trembled as she began to raise it. Naruto and Sasuke would be livid. Gohan probably wouldn't care seeing as he was so laid back about stuff.
Naruto's hand beat hers into the air.
Shock rippled through Team Seven.
Naruto's hand dropped back with a loud thud.
"Screw you and your question!" He shouted in his characteristic loud fashion. "I don't care if I'm a genin or chuunin or an Academy student! I'll become Hokage through sheer will if I have to! You're not going to stop me!"
Ibiki blinked in shock at the declaration, then he realized that the speech had galvanized the rest of the shinobi in the room. They wouldn't be going anywhere. He smiled. "Well, if none of you are going to leave…" the tension skyrocketed as Ibiki paused as if getting ready for the question. He grinned, only a little maliciously this time. "Congratulations. You've passed the First Exams."
Right as his words left his mouth, a mass of black passed through the window, shattering it, then the shadow expanded, setting all the shinobi on edge, as the banner was pinned to the ceiling with kunai, and a gaudily dressed woman, wearing little but a fishnet bodysuit and a trenchcoat to protect her modesty as civilized society demanded, stood before them, in front of the banner which read, 'Second Exam proctor Mitarashi Anko, sit down, shut up and pay attention.'
The Rookie Nine had one collective thought. 'She's like Naruto.'
"Alright, listen up you maggots," she barked, just as rude and abrasive as Ibiki. "Follow me to the training ground for your next exam!"
Still shocked from the abrupt entry, the genin lined up and trooped after her like ducklings. They left the village, heading out towards the walls, exited the village and arrived at a training ground that was used for mission simulations. The ground was fenced off, with massive trees that were scraggly and gnarled, their bark moist with slime and dew, curtains of moss hanging from the upraised roots. Even the leaves seemed more sinister somehow, as if they were a danger in and of themselves. Gohan even saw a Venus flytrap that was more massive and monstrous than anything he'd seen before, which told the young saiyan that the insects in the forest must've been either huge or numerous or both.
Spooky shrieks sounded from the dark and shadowy trees, then a massive snake, probably six feet high and eighty feet long, emerged from the trees, tongue flickering at the assembled ninja for a moment before it reared and snapped a haggard-looking falcon out of the air in a spray of feathers. The bird shrieked once then was silent. The massive reptile turned and slithered back into the shadows.
Anko grinned at the paling of several of the ninja. "Welcome to Training Ground Number 44, also known as the Forest of Death. This will be your home for the next five days. Now, before we get started with this fun little exam, you have to sign a waiver."
"Why?" Sakura asked. Anko smiled viciously.
"So Konoha won't be held responsible for your deaths." More than a few got even whiter, if that were possible. Anko held up a thick stack of papers. "Come and get one then wait until you're called to the tent to get your scroll. I'll explain while you fill these out." She thrust them roughly into Naruto's hands where the blond took one then handed it to Gohan and so on.
"Alright, now listen. This next exam is designed to test your ability to transport captured intelligence back to friendly territory. This ground is circular with gates stationed at regular intervals. You will take a gate then, on my signal, you will take your scroll into the forest and get it, and a second scroll that you'll have to take from another team, to a tower that is exactly in the center, some ten kilometers from here. During those five days, you must one, stay alive, two, get to the tower within the five days and finally, get the second scroll from another team."
"Rules?" It was the raspy voice of Gaara.
Anko grinned again. "None. Use every jutsu, trap, and strategy you know to get the second scroll. You've signed the waiver, so deaths will not be investigated, only bodies will be recovered." That seemed to excite Gaara very much. Temari and Kankuro exchanged nervous glances. This lady had signed more than a few genin's death warrant. "Alright, now, everyone get a scroll, and get ready."
Within the hour, with dusk rushing towards them, all the genin were in position. Anko's voice came over the radio that was on the hip of the shinobi that was escorting Team Seven. "Alright, listen up you maggots! The second exam has begun!"
The chuunin unlocked the padlock and the chain that kept the gate secured clinked to the ground and the four man Team Seven flew into the forest that was already dark, since it was a thick canopy.
Orochimaru and his team flashed through the trees as well, though their objectives weren't the scrolls, but a certain team with a certain Uchiha that was in possession of a certain Kekkei Genkai.
"Split up," Orochimaru hissed to his teammates. "Find Uchiha Sasuke quickly. We only have until the end of the Second Exam to mark him."
Behind him, the two disguised members of the Sound Four, Jiroubou and Tayuya, branched off and headed into the forest. They would locate Uchiha Sasuke then they would inform Orochimaru-sama of their results if he didn't get to Uchiha before they did.
Only a mile or two away, Naruto shouted "Stop!" Team Seven dropped to the forest floor, Gohan landing with easy grace. Since he knew that ki would be sensed by other shinobi, he'd taken the shinobi's approach and had been bounding behind them through the branches. It had been a nice change of pace for the fighter. He would've preferred to fly, but that took a decent amount of ki, enough that it would light him up like a torch in the forest full of enemies. Not something he wanted to do.
"Naruto, what is it?" Sakura griped, hoping it was serious otherwise she was going to clobber him into next week.
"I have to go to the bathroom," the blond replied, moving to unzip his pants. Sakura promptly cracked him over the head.
"Not in front of me you don't! Go find a bush or something!"
Grumbling, and massaging the new lump on his head, the loud genin moved into the foliage. The members of Team Seven waited for the blond to return, then there was scuffling in the foliage and Naruto reappeared, wearing his usual bright grin.
"Man, I had to go! I managed to write my name!" While Sakura once again berated the shinobi on his lack of tact, Sasuke and Gohan exchanged covert glances.
Sasuke nodded minutely, confirming Gohan's worries. This wasn't Naruto.
Gohan fazed out, reappeared behind Naruto and seized the genin under the arms and lifted into the air, holding the struggling and swearing shinobi ten feet above the floor of the forest.
"Hey! Let me go, you bastard!"
Sasuke blurred into the false Naruto's vision and landed a hard right into the orange teen's gut, making him spit up bile. He coughed violently, gasping for air, right as the teen holding him airborne let go and allowed the ninja to collapse in a heap. Sasuke and Gohan bracketed the fake and waited for him to stand.
"Gohan-kun? Sasuke-kun? It wasn't that bad was it?" Sakura asked. It'd happened so fast that one moment, Naruto had been in front of her, then the next, he'd been floating above her head by Gohan and Sasuke had landed the blow. "I mean, it was just…"
"This isn't Naruto," Sasuke said shortly. That shut up the kunoichi fast. "Naruto's not left handed." Sure enough, the kunai holster was on the wrong leg.
"And his ki is wrong," Gohan added. His eyes weren't friendly. This joker had messed with Gohan's friends, and that was one thing you did not do. Cell had found that out the hard way when the Z fighter had reacted violently to Android 16's death and had tapped his latent power, ascending to the explosive new level, Super Saiyan 2. "Sasuke's right, Sakura. This isn't Naruto."
Naruto's face split into a malicious grin. "So, you whelps aren't as easy to fool as you look." There was a burst of smoke and Naruto was replaced with a shinobi with a yellow wetsuit, shadowed eyes and a rebreather that made his voice sound like Darth Vader. "Looks like I'll have to kill you now."
He lunged, a kunai appearing in his grip and lunged for Sakura, who looked frozen with fear.
Gohan was in front of her, and caught the kunai on an open palm. The weapon strained to breach the Z fighter's skin, then it shattered into so many metal slivers.
The rain-nin's eyes widened. "Shit. I can't handle this! I'm out of here!" He leapt away, whipping another knife to cover his retreat. Sasuke was right at the end of the trajectory, lifted his foot, and caught the weapon on his heel, forcing it to stick to his sandal. His Sharingan blazed to life, the red eyes tracking the nin perfectly as he followed through and hurled the kunai back at the nin with a kick.
The assailant dodged it and tried to escape, Sasuke and Gohan chasing.
"Hey! A little help here!"
Gohan looked down and saw Naruto trussed up like a Christmas present, squirming to try and get some purchase against the ropes that bound him.
"Naruto!" He shouted, channeling a little ki into a finger and firing an exact blast that sliced cleanly through the ropes and freed the blond.
"Thanks!" The loud kid vaulted to his feet and joined the persuit of the escaping nin.
The Rain-shinobi stopped for a moment and looked back. There was no sign of the brats.
"Lost 'em."
"That's what you think." The enemy whirled and saw Gohan, hovering just a few feet away, hanging in thin air, as if it was something he did every day. Unlike actually moving with flight, hovering took only minimal effort and didn't alert everyone around.
The man turned to escape another way. Sasuke was there, smirking. "Going somewhere?" he asked.
Another turn. Naruto was there, arms crossed and a cocky smile. "Yo!" Behind the nin was just a tree trunk and he wasn't good enough with chakra to run up it without running the risk of slipping.
He was trapped. Like a rat.
Well, that shinobi's about to get it. Now, for a little ranting. Enough with the reviews yelling at me about how 'Gohan could destroy Naruto' or 'Naruto would destroy Gohan'. I DON'T want to hear it anymore. I'm well aware that Gohan would obliterate any shinobi, but honestly, what's more interesting, Orochimaru vs. Gohan in a massive all-out slugfest, like what's coming up fast, or 'Gohan went Super Saiyan 2, waved a hand, and destroyed the world. The End.' Personally, I like the first one. When I began this fiction, I swore to myself that I'd avoid making Gohan overpowered, and I've avoided it so far.
Now, also enough about Team Seven having a four-man team. That was the only way I could think of to get Gohan into the exams. So, just be quiet about it. Gohan's practically tied at the hip to Team Seven now, and will be for the rest of the fiction, so just deal with it. In both the manga and anime, Team Seven won't be together for much longer anyway. When Sasuke leaves the village, it'll be a three man team again, and therefore no longer an issue. If you write me about either of these things I've just ranted about, then don't expect a response. Now that that's over with, see you guys next chapter! No glossary again this time.