Kumogakure Ninja
Posted: 02-03-11
Updated: 28-06-11
CH14: Team Kirabi Embarks
(Kumogakure Docks)
Team Kirabi stood on a platform by the Kumogakure docks on the foot of the mountain the village was build on, ready to board the ship that would take them to Hi no Kuni , the land where Naruto originally hailed from and where the Village Hidden Amongst the Leaves was settled. Naruto clenched and unclenched his fist in both barely contained excitement and anxiousness. How would it go, he wondered. Would people still recognize him or would they have forgotten him? Though he furiously wished the exams weren't in Konohagakure, a part of him didn't mind at all. Naruto supposed it was his need for closure. To let the ignorant bastards of Konoha know he had moved on and found a place where he belonged. Where he was accepted and cared for. Naruto took a deep breath.
"What's taking so long?"
Yugito turned to look at him, "We've got to register ourselves first. Darui-sensei and Shi-sensei are taking care of that." Yugito looked back in front of her, eying the other genin teams that stood spread across the platform. Yugito frowned.
"You look worried," Hari observed, "What is it?" The young shinobi followed Yugito's line of sight and nodded. "Competition seems pretty tough."
Naruto looked over the five teams spread across the platform and recognized a few. The first was obviously Team Manako: they had grown particularly fond of their seniors over the past months of training. They had been tactful enough not to show any of their techniques yet, due to the fact they would have to face each other during the tournament. From what Naruto had gathered, Kenji was the kenjutsu specialist of the team, Taiko was somewhat proficient with the sword and had some genjutsu talent. Kenichi was definitely the enigma of the team. One day he would be a mediocre swordsman, the other he would be using taijutsu exclusively.
Naruto's eyes drifted to the far right of the platform. Standing close together was Team Nadara, an unusual team consisting of all three sisters; Shira, Tira and Lyra. The girls were roughly three years older than Team Kirabi and were beautiful, exhibiting exotic beauty with pale skin, pearlescent white hair and ruby eyes. Their luscious physique and their tight, revealing kimono made them appear rather desirable.
Save to say Naruto's thoughts on the all girls team were impure.
Hari nudged Naruto and pointed to a group of genin standing by themselves. "There's the guy Kenji was talking about, Ryūsa Hideaki. Kenichi told me they've had a rivalry practically since birth." by themselves.
Ryūsa was a tall teenager with a muscular build, dark calculative eyes and black spiky, gravity-defying hair. He wore black shinobi garb with a sleeveless flak jacket and carried two ninja-to in an cross on his back. Ryūsa's most prominent feature was the vicious scar that ran across his face. Ryūsa.
Naruto looked at both teenagers and frowned, "Rivals, huh? Hideaki looks like he wants to kill Kenji." Naruto noticed the glaring match he had with Kenji across the platform. picked up something else, "Look at his teammates. They're like statues."
Flanking Ryūsa's sides were two teenagers roughly the same age. The female was petite and had pale skin and hough Naruto could not say she was unattractive, she carried a sense of lifelessness that seemed to diminish her beauty. The male teammate was a freakishly tall and muscular teenager who could have passed for an adult. On his back, the adolescent carried a huge, cleaver-like sword, three times the width of Naruto's arm. Naruto got a strange feeling from looking at the brawny genin. He seemed just as lifeless as the female, but something else was just off about him.
"They look dangerous," Yugito stated, it more or less stating the obvious but neither of her teammates cared to comment on that. "We should be on our guard around them at all times."
Naruto nodded and looked across the platform. There were two teams from his years present, team Hitaro and team Kodama.
Team Hitaro consisted of two boys and one girl: Nobori, Tokashiji and Miyabi. Nobori was a lanky teenager with a light tan, shoulder length, spiky brown hair and gray eyes and a an perpetual provocative smile and carried a butterfly sword on the small of his back. Tokashiji was a shorter than average with silk-like black hair and brilliant green eyes. Despite his short stature, Tokashiji was known for his viciousness in taijutsu and skill with fire based ninjutsu. Miyabi was a pretty brunette with soft, creamy skin and green eyes. Miyabi was very much developed for her age and was somewhat skilled with a tantō.
"I just noticed something," Hari looked at his teammates, tearing his eyes from his former fling, "Only people from our graduation year actually put on the uniform."
Yugito shrugged it off. "They'll probably change on the way to Konoha. It's gonna be a seven day journey after all."
Naruto grinned broadly with barely contained excitement, "I can't wait till we can leave!" Naruto looked over the dock and sighed in relief as he saw the group of jōnin teachers drawing nearer as they followed a tall figure.
"That must be the Shinobigashira, Gekkō Genryūsei," Yugito identified the newcomer. "Apparently he's a jōnin veteran who served for twenty years. He's very powerful according to Kirabi-sensei."
And Gekkō Genryūsei indeed seemed to be powerful, standing tall at 6'6 tall, with a lean build and vicious scars over his face, calculating eyes and mop of brown spiky hair. Genryūsei wore the typical jōnin gear, aside from the blood-red flak jacket assigned only to Shinobigashira exclusively.
Naruto noticed how Genryūsei's appearance drew suspicion from his fellow genin; the man's reputation obviously proceeded him if he could get a noticeable rise out of a group of genin who normally would not be knowledgeable enough to know the names of Kumo's more notable jōnin.
"He looks strong." Naruto felt the urge to voice his thoughts. "I mean, we're standing at least twenty feet from him and I can practically feel his strength," Naruto almost shivered, "It's incredible." Naruto remember how he could feel Kirabi's presence similar to all those year ago- though that had faded over time due to their constant close proximity.
Yugito observed her teammate for a brief second and nodded, "I know what you mean."
"I know him from somewhere," Hari told his teammates.
"Gekkō-sensei?" Yugito asked intrigued.
Hari opened his mouth but quickly closed it as the jōnin rejoined their students and Gekkō coughed to call their attention.
"Welcome," Genryūsei's voice radiated with authority, "My name is Gekkō Genryūsei. I am the Shinobigashira in charge of this convoy to Konohagakure no Sato where you will all participate in the Chūnin Exams." Genryūsei shot them all a friendly smile. "Let's all get along and do our best to represent Kumogakure with pride and dignity."
The genin shared looks whilst their jōnin sensei remained impassive and continued to pay attention to their superior, although they probably had been briefed on the journey weeks ago.
"I would now like to take the time to further explain what we are doing," Genryūsei looked over the group once and then continued. "The convoy shall consist of eighteen genin, you, your six jōnin sensei as well as my own group, consisting of five additional jōnin and eight chūnin. Of course the vessel comes with its own fully staffed personnel, of which I will be taking control for the duration of the arriving in our designated harbour city, we shall go to Konoha by foot. This part of the journey will take little over a week." The Shinobigashira paused for a moment, allowing the stream of information sink in before he continued.
"In Konoha, we will be staying in one of the luxury hotels. Because you have the natural disadvantage of having to travel for so long and far, I have made sure the ship we have been assigned by Kaminari no Kuni's Navy comes fully equipped with its own training areas though I do advise to limit the usage of ninjutsu. We have scheduled our arrival roughly a week before the Chūnin Exams commence and this should be plenty of time to get used to the environment, collect intel on your potential enemies and hone your skills."
Naruto's eyebrows furrowed as he absent-mindedly clenched his fist tightly whilst Gekkō Genryūsei continued his long speech.
-ooo-
(Onboard the Todō)
Nearly an hour later, the convoy had boarded the Todō. The boat, or freighter rather, was enormous. It came with a fully staffed crew, two-hundred-and-thirty-six to be precise, six large training areas, a fully equipped gym, libraries, mess hall- practically everything they would need was available for their usage aboard the Todō.
Ten minutes after being shown the mess hall and their quarters, Naruto wandered the long, shallow halls with his teammates to explore the freighter further. Every so often they would see one of Kaminar's Navy officers who would not even look at them as they briskly walked past them.
"They don't seem to like us that much," Naruto frowned at another Navy personnel who walked past them with an irritable expression. "What's their problem?"
Hari shrugged indifferently. "Who knows?" The brown haired genin looked to Yugito who usually would know the answer to everything.
"They're Kaminari no Kuni's Navy. It's only natural from them to dislike us," Yugito told them. "The other military branches often despise us."
"Why's that?" Naruto asked her, not quite understanding why it would be 'natural' for military branches despising them when they served the same country.
"Who knows? Perhaps they are frustrated they cannot manipulate chakra. Perhaps they know what we are capable of and it scares them?" Yugito offered with a shrug. "I do not care either way. The Navy has practically become redundant in these times of peace."
"Such shinobi arrogance."
Team Kirabi turned around to see a teenage girl, roughly three, maybe four years older than them. The newcomer was about 5'8, had green eyes and long, wavy brown hair which she wore up in a ponytail. She wore the standard white Navy officer uniform that did her otherwise stunning figure no justice.
"Excuse me?" Yugito locked eyes with the girl as she turned around. "Who are you?"
"Oh forgive me for my rudeness," the brunette said with dripping sarcasm. "I'm petty officer Aosa Kurione, and whom might you three snot-nosed brats be?" Kurione folded her arms and leaned against the wall.
"Nii Yugito."
"Seido Hari."
"Uzumaki Naruto."
Kurione glanced at the three genin, her eyes clearing sizing them up as if she were about to get in a fist fight with them. "Tche!" Kurione turned on her heel and walked down the corridor. "Don't let any of the more experienced personnel hear you. They won't be as kind to ignore it as I am."
"What's up with her?" Hari asked his teammates, unaware of Naruto's stupid gaze.
"Who knows and I don't feel like finding out- Naruto what are you looking at?" Yugito glared at her teammate, quickly noticing he was appreciating the petty officer's backside. "Pervert."
Hari quickly looked over his shoulder, but unfortunately the young petty officer had already turned around the corner and disappeared. Yugito shot Naruto a look that was mixture of a glare and disgust before she sighed and continued to walk down the long halls of the Todō.
…
After ten minutes of exploring Hari looked at his teammates, "We can finish exploring later. I want to get unpacked before all the good bunks are taken. Besides, I want to see if we can pick up anything interesting from our fellow genin." Hari grinned mischievously.
"And there's Miyabi..." Naruto added.
"And Miyabi," Hari repeated, not bothering with denying it. "Let's go."
Yugito sighed audibly and followed her teammates down the hall, "Perverts."
"Why do always say that, 'perverts'?" Hari asked playfully. "I mean, it's not like we drool over every girl we see."
"Forget it."
"No, come on!" Naruto encouraged, matching Hari's grin.
"Can we just drop it?" Yugito knew where this was going. Her teammates had gotten a new hobby lately: pestering her about her love life- or lack thereof, as Naruto had put it. "Did you hear that?"
"Oh, come on. Don't change the subject," Hari said with a laugh.
"No, I hear it too," Naruto suddenly said. "Sounds like Kenji... it's coming from down there."
"What, now you guys have super hearing or something?" Hari was still thoroughly confused with the powers that came along with being a jinchūriki. Sure, he understood the more obvious attributes such as incredibly large chakra reserve and enhanced physique but sometimes his teammates would share knowing looks. It was as they see something he couldn't. "Wait, did you say Kenji?"
"Yeah, it sounds like he's shouting..." Naruto started to quicken his pace as he half-ran and half-walked to source. As the voices started to get louder, Naruto ran faster, leaving his teammates behind him.
…
Sure enough, a minute later they stumbled upon an interesting scene. Team Minako was standing opposite Ryūsa Hideaki and his teammates. The tension in the air was obvious and from the looks of it, a fight could break out any second now Naruto noted.
"Hey, Kenji!" Naruto shouted, hoping to distract the two parties from each other. "What are you doing- oh, am I interrupting something?"
Kenji turned to Naruto and shot him a tense smile. "No, of course not," Kenji looked back to Ryūsa. "We were just talking."
"What's this, more trash, Saito?" Ryūsa spat. The heir to the Ryūsa clan did not even look at Naruto, rather choosing to continue glaring at Kenji. "How unsurprising of you to associate yourself with these bottom feeders."
"Hey, what was that?" Naruto's hand shot for his ninja-to, he didn't take that kind of talk from anyone and he sure as hell wasn't going to start now. "Who're you calling trash, limp dick?"
No sooner had the tip of his fingers touched his hilt, had the female to Ryūsa's right appeared in front of him, with her own blade drown, aimed for Naruto's neck, separated only by Kenji who moved in the blink of an eye to appear in front of Naruto, bodily defending him with his arm in front of Naruto to protect him from the drawn blade.
Kenichi and Taiko appeared next to Kenji and faced Ryūsa's female teammate with intense glares.
"Back off, bitch," Taiko growled, her hand gripped the hilt of her sheathed blade. "Or I'll chop your fucking head off."
The silent giant to Ryūsa's right went for his massive blade, but Ryūsa held up his hand. "That's enough. Don't bother with these filth." Ryūsa turned his head to the door when Yugito and Hari appeared and sneered. "How many cockroaches do you plan to associate yourself with, Saito? It's pitiful."
Naruto growled and disappeared with a Shunshin too fast for Kenji or his would be assailant to stop and appeared in front of Ryūsa, shooting forward his right fist and intent on delivering a solid punch to Ryūsa. Naruto's fist thumped against the thick blade that appeared in front of Ryūsa's face, blocking Naruto's attack. The enormous genin was faster than anyone anticipated.
Naruto clenched his fist, forming a Shippū Shūren around his arm, but Kenji intervened before he could execute it and grabbed Naruto by the collar and threw him back towards Kenichi, who caught Naruto bodily grip, locking the younger genin's arms.
"That's enough, Naruto!" Kenji raised his voice, and then turned to Ryūsa. "Get out of here, Hideaki."
Ryūsa merely sneered mockingly, scoffing as he turned on his heels and left with his silent bodyguards following without a word. "See you around, weakling."
Naruto frowned, seeing Kenji glaring daggers in Ryūsa's back. "What's that guy's problem-"
Yugito gave Naruto a dirty look and planted her fist in his skull.
"Ouch! What the fuc-!"
"You idiot," Yugito said furiously. "We haven't been on this ship for longer than ten minutes and you're already picking a fight?"
"Technically it's been over thirty-" Naruto wisely chose not to finish that sentence. By the look Yugito was giving him, he decided it was best to leave the cheeky comments for later. "Alright, I'm sorry?"
Yugito sighed exasperatedly, "We can't let you out of our sight for a second can we?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm real sorry," Naruto's tone was unrepentant and he waved off her rant. Then turning to Kenji he asked, "What the hell did he want?"
"Nothing. Just forget about it." Kenji unclenched his fists, seemingly regaining control of his temper. "We should go back to our part of the ship."
Naruto shrugged and followed his fellow genin. "What a dick."
-ooo-
(Hours Later)
It was night time when Naruto woke up after further uneventful day that had consisted mostly of unpacking and getting tours off the ship. It was about three in the morning, the dark blue and purple hue of the night was lit by the stars over the vast ocean. Scratching his chin as he groggily left his cabin, Naruto stalked down the hall in his sleepy wake Naruto headed to bathrooms for a drink of water.
Naruto had always liked ships, though he rarely had made us of them and had never before been a battle ship, he enjoyed the idea of literally sailing through life. Naruto cupped his hands under the water tap and splashed his face. 'Guess I could get some early training in. The training areas should be void now,' Naruto thought as he exited the bathroom and went back to his cabin to retrieve his gear. It was sad to say, but the genin were all wary of each other and didn't like to show their techniques as they prepared for the Chūnin Exams, as they didn't want to give up the element of surprise or allow their jutsu to be analyzed and have a counter ready for them. Everyone here was a potential enemy and they all knew it. Naruto didn't care much for secrecy but had promised his teammates he wouldn't show off his skills.
A few minutes later Naruto arrived at the mid-section of the Todō. The cargo hold that was once here had been remodeled into a training area. It came with a fully equipped gym and other facilities for them to make use of. Naruto realized how fortunate they were. Had he been unable to train, he would have been at a disadvantage and he knew this without a doubt. Naruto shouldered his duffel bag as he turned around the corner and opened the massive double doors to the training hall. To his dismay, the hall was already occupied by the three girls from Team Nadare.
'Guess I can forget about training in peace.' Naruto looked at the three girls sparring viciously, unaware of his presence. Deciding he wouldn't get any worthwhile training in now, Naruto turned on his heels and was about to leave when he heard a voice call him.
"Who goes there?" It was Shira that called, the oldest of three girls if Naruto remembered correctly.
Naruto held up a hand, "Don't mind me, I was just leaving."
"A moment, if you will."
Naruto turned to face the girls, not bothering to hide his annoyance. "What is it?"
"You're that Uzumaki fellow, aren't you?" Shira called to him. "Kirabi-sama's student, correct?"
"That shorty's the great Kirabi-sama's student?" said Lyra, the youngest of the three. "No way."
Naruto callously flipped her off. Girl or no girl, he wasn't going take that from anyone. "Look, you're obviously busy and you were here first, so I'll just go."
"You fear we'll try and analyze your techniques? How pathetic," Shira said with disdain, a scowl gracing her otherwise beautiful features. Shira raised a hand, elegantly brushing her silky white hair behind her ears, "I would've expected the student of Kirabi-sama not be such a coward."
Naruto scoffed. "And that's why you're training in the middle of the night? You're just as reluctant to give away your techniques as I am, so what business do you have ridiculing me?" Naruto began to turn on his heels again, "See ya."
"Wait."
"Fuck me, what now?" Naruto didn't even bother turning around now.
"How about a friendly spar, Uzumaki-san?" Shira proposed. "If you win, we'll leave and you can have this area all for yourself. If I win... hmm, I'll have to think about what I want."
The competitive side in Naruto was too strong. "Alright, sounds reasonable. What are the rules?"
"No rules. Everything is permitted, including lethal moves." Whether it was on purpose or not, Naruto didn't know but Shira's blood red eyes glowed eerily as she said it.
"You're on," Naruto said without hesitation. 'She must be screwing with me. As if she actually will throw in any lethal attacks.' Naruto walked over to Shira as her sisters moved away to watch. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just cause you're a woman." Naruto grinned cockily.
Shira let out a small, condescending laugh. "Oh, please. Save it for someone who actually cares for your macho bravado."
'Bitch.'Naruto took his stance. "Whenever you're ready, sweet cheeks." Throwing in a sexist jab was so not below him.
"Oh, I'm ready." Shira's eyes seemed to intensify with that last remark.
Naruto reached for his ninja-to, figuring his mediocre swordsmanship would have to do in a spar, rather than having to go serious on the girl. He had barely touched the hilt when he had to side step a crossbow bolt narrowly streaking past his face. Naruto launched himself back with a chakra enhanced jump and swiftly cut up the following bolts Shira shot at him with her pitstol-esque crossbow. Naruto back flipped once to avoid three more arrows and side stepped to dodge another barrage. 'How is she shooting those things so fast?'
As this went through his mind, Naruto noticed the glove Shira wore was glowing with every burst of bolts she sent at him. 'I see... clever girl. 'Naruto had to give it to her, that was quite ingenious. The glove was rigid with a seal that stored arrows for her to fire without the need of a quiver. Sealing artists referred to these types of seals as 'pocket seals'. Pocket seals were pretty basic in most cases, but involved a lot of calibration and precise calculations to create an dimensional pocket to store items. Shira had managed to fit one in her glove, quite a feat for most seal creating novices. Additionally, the way she configured it saved her time of having to attach the arrows to the miniature crossbow. "Not a bad seal indeed." Naruto waited for her to fire another barrage of arrows and then begun his counter attack and performed a short distance Shunshin to appear next to her with his blade poised to impale.
"A Shunshin on such a close distance?" Shira was now on the defense as she was forced to let go of the crossbow, which was cut in half. "Not bad, Uzumaki!" Shira jumped a few feet in the air, performing and elegant back-flip and landed in a crouch. "But your completely wrong if you think that's all I can do."
Naruto flashed her a confident smile, "Bring it." Naruto raised his blade, taking on a defensive stance Hari taught him for mid range attackers.
Shira came at him with her wakizashi unsheathed resulting in stalemate Naruto broke clash to avoid a bolt of iron that ricocheted off his blade as his opponent pulled out another handgun-sized crossbow. Naruto dashed to his left, batting away another two bolts before resuming his guarding stance. 'Where did that come from?'
"Not bad, Uzumaki, but I've just started!" Shira showed him a beautiful smile and leveled her crossbow at him. 'This one is mine! Issen Sashijō!' The seal etched on the one-handed crossbow began to glow white for a brief moment before metal projectiles began to pour out at a rapidly increasing rate.
(Jutsu: Issen Sashijō – One Thousand Crossbow Bolts!)
Hard pressed, Naruto began to back up as he manoeuvred his blade left and right to deflect the incoming crossbow bolts. 'Shit!' Naruto spun on his heel, collecting what little wind he could to wrap himself up in a weak Daitoppa that blew the incoming projectiles off course. Naruto held up his blade with his left hand and aimed his other directly at Shira. "Akkai Genshuku!" The burst of wind disarmed his opponent of her fun-sized crossbow, leaving her wide open for Naruto to Shunshin behind her to rest the blade to her neck.
"Don't move," Shira said calmly to her sisters who had moved to intervene. Her smile was a mixture of pleasant surprise and being impressed as she conceded. "You win, Uzumaki."
Naruto lifted his blade and sheathed it. "Guess you're happy you got to see my jutsu, aren't you?"
"Mhm," Shira made a distinctly giggle-like sound. "Don't get too cocky, Uzumaki. I was holding back throughout the fight. Had I not, you would've been at my feet."
"Whatever," Naruto opted not to goad her. "I win this one, so scram."
"Of course." Shira turned to her sisters and merely nodded, then turned around and made her way out of the training hall with her teammates in tow. "See you, Uzumaki-kun."
Naruto frowned, staring at her back. "Yeah, sure." There was something off with this genin, something very off. Naruto couldn't help but suddenly grin. 'First that Ryūsa guy and his teammates, and now these three. Everyone entering this tournament seems to strong.' Naruto chuckled with genuine mirth. 'Looks like this exam isn't going to be a cake walk. There'll be dozens of different shinobi, all with their own strengths and weaknesses... And despite the enormous pressure I can't help but be excited.'
"Can you feel it too?" Naruto asked out loud, turning to see his teammates stand behind him with apprehensive expressions. Over the months they had spent together, they had familiarized themselves with each other and their chakra signatures, Naruto didn't need to be a sensory-type ninja to tell they were close.
"Yeah," Hari said with an grin of his own. "The pressure is unreal."
"We cannot allow ourselves to underestimate anyone. That fight was reckless, Naruto, but now we at least have a clearer picture of what we're up against." Yugito crossed her arms. "I doubt she showed even a tenth of what she's really capable of, but neither have you. This… this exam will be interesting to say the least."
"Yeah," Naruto said with a nod, "And I gotta tell you, I haven't been this excited ever."
Author's Notes
Apologies for the wait, but I've been busy with college - specifically exams. I'm settled into college now, so I'll be able to get back to the writing. A forewarning: quite a few OC's are introduced this chapter and I apologise in advance if that confuses you.
A special shout out to ICB-RAIDEN for his Team Nadare's appearance! I will try my best to ensure all of the characters I approve show up at some point in the story and though originally planned their appear in the Chūnin Exam arc this does not necessarily have to be the case. There will be other, new and original arcs that will take place after the Chūnin Exams arc. See y'all in a few and don't forget to review!
Jutsu Used:
(Jutsu: Issen Sashijō - Thousand Bolts!) - C rank, offensive, short to mid range. This jutsu is used by Shira to send a large amount of bolts which she fires off with her crossbow at her opponents. Not much is known about this jutsu other that it relies solely on a tiny seal scribed into the crossbow.