Hope SOMEONE's still there. ;P
Chapter Ten-Preparations
Plip.
Plip.
Plip.
"Wake up, kit." said a rumbling voice. Naruto shook himself as he came too, seeing a large room, a sewer. One side was blocked off by immense bars-and red eyes glowed beyond it.
"Kyuubi." said Naruto in shock. Until then, he'd never been sure about the revelation given to him by the sandaime, but it seemed pretty guaranteed now.
"You have no idea how bored I've been for the last twelve years." complained the bijuu. "You get enough power that only a jonin is gonna bring me out, and then don't get into any strong enough battles. Then, when you finally do, you match yourself with one of the Densetsu no Sannin. Do you not know how annoying it is to filter poison?"
"Um…"
"Of course you don't. Stupid little boy..."
"Wait, what have I done? I'm not the one who invaded the village."
"And when I find out who was behind that, someone's going to pay. And by pay, I mean die in a slow and fiery agony."
"…uh."
"What is it?"
"You didn't want to invade?"
"Of course not. If I was going to invade a damned village it'd be a small one like takigakure where I wouldn't get sealed into some smart ass kid who goes and trains to the point of almost boring me to death, and then picks a fight where we're almost killed to death."
"Hey, wait a second-"
"If I have to work with you, you're going to give me some fun now and again, you understand? Pick a fight with someone tough, and then draw out some youki chakra and show me a good time."
"I don't trust you."
"Why not?"
"You're a demon fox."
"A sensible point. But I mean it. I'll even promise not to take control and kill all your friends."
"…thank you?"
"Damn right. Now go away and let me sleep 'til something interesting happens."
Naruto opened his eyes slowly.
He seemed to still be in the forest.
He looked around. The entirety of the Sequoia Wolves were there, unconscious, or sleeping. He couldn't tell which.
"You're awake." said a voice from behind him.
He whirled around. There were the three kumo-nin, 'befriended' by Tenten and Shikamaru.
"You're still here?" asked a confused Naruto.
"I already lost. There's no honour in running now." said the Kumo-nin.
She stole a glance to the sleeping Hanma, and then sideways to her teammate, Hanabi.
"Besides. I have a lot of questions." she added quietly.
There was an awkward silence.
"What are your names?" said Naruto, suddenly.
"Kirino Seichi." said the boy.
"Kumoma Hanabi." said the young girl, and Naruto blinked. She was clearly a Hyuuga.
"Kusari Daiga." said the other girl, and Naruto realised what the problem was.
"Oh." he said lamely. "Oh…"
There was nothing he could say.
Daiga nodded slowly.
"Exactly."
A long silence, as Naruto sat up, looking around. They were camped underneath a large overhang, rain pouring down just metres away.
He winced at the movement, a mass of sore spots, leftovers from the many bites he suffered, covering him with a lash of pain.
"How long have I been asleep?" he asked.
"Almost a day." replied Daiga shortly.
Another silence.
"Why do you have my sister?" asked Daiga, suddenly.
Naruto was caught off-guard.
"Uh. Well… stealing Kekkei Genkai is pretty common, and…" he started, trailing off at her smouldering expression.
"My sister is more than a bloodline." she said, stonily.
Naruto gulped.
"I know…she's a good friend. A little strange, but…"
There was a moment when he had no clue how she'd respond to that, but she smiled slightly.
"Yeah. She is." agreed Daiga. "Part of our heritage. Sometimes, a child is born who all but stops growing up. When they get to seven or so, that's pretty much it. Hormones kick in eventually and all, but other than that… but she's still my sister."
Naruto nodded slightly.
"She's like a sister to me too." he said simply. "They all are. That's what makes us strong."
Quiet again, as the two thought. The only noise was breathing, and the sound of falling rain.
"I didn't know where Hanabi came from…" said Daiga. "I… didn't think of it. She must be a Hyuuga, it makes sense, but… I thought our village was better than that."
"I think she was taken first." said Naruto. "Our retaliation left us angry, but square, so they say. That's why we have peace, and we work together, sometimes. It's how we can be here talking, and how you can still see your sister, if not as often as is right."
No reply for a moment.
"The rest of your team should be waking soon." she announced suddenly, standing up. "..except him. We don't know what's up with him." she added, pointing at Sasuke.
"You don't know?"
"Well, none of us are medical experts, but I do know a bit… and that's nothing like anything I've ever seen…"
"Do we attack?"
"No. They'd wake up partway through, and we'd be heavily outnumbered. We'll get our chance in the next stage."
"Is anyone there?" came a voice from outside their perimeter.
Within bare moments, they were all armed and ready, most of the team having woken some time earlier, but it was an older, white haired boy appeared, hands held flat upwards in a sign of friendship.
"I'm not here to hurt you. But, I'm a medic-nin and I noticed you have someone down with something weird. Leaf ninja have to stick together, right? I'm Kabuto."
Shikamaru gave a half nod, followed by Ino. With their confirmation that he seemed to be sincere, they dropped their guard.
"He's in here." said Ino quietly, pointing to where Sasuke slept uneasily. Kabuto nodded, and went over to him.
The moon was just rising when Sasuke finally awoke.
There was a huge surge of unpleasant chakra.
Ino shivered. Finely tuned senses only bought pain in cases like this.
"Sasuke?" asked Naruto, cautiously.
Red eyes snapped open, orange-red markings spreading over his face.
"Sasuke!" he shouted. "What's up with you?"
Naruto and Ino were walking slowly closer, Kabuto and the kumo-nin backing away in fear-the rest of the Wolves unsure what to do.
Sasuke looked at them in confusion, eyes narrowing as he saw Kabuto, the only one he didn't recognise.
What were they doing? He was fine. Why weren't they fighting him? That was what mattered. He should attack that guy, now.
He drew a kunai, licking it, drawing blood from his tongue, not caring.
Naruto gave a helpless shrug to Ino.
Ino cast around for something she could do.
She embraced him.
"Sasuke-kun… please calm down." she murmured.
No change for a moment.
And then the chakra started to fade.
"You'd think a group of… what, 16 of us? would draw more attention." said Shikamaru, dryly.
They had reached the tower-and rather quickly as well. The loss of a day had ruined their chances of setting a record, considering that bloodthirsty psychopath who had likely finished the previous day, but they had nonetheless surpassed the old record.
"Scrolls." said Shikamaru, bored. "Everyone got theirs?"
There was a series of nods, each of the groups having the necessary pair.
"Well, we'd best go our separate ways." said Kabuto, happily. "Nice to meet you all."
"Yeah, thanks." said Ino.
"It's good to know you." said Sasuke quietly.
"We owe you big." agreed Naruto.
Waving, Kabuto entered the building, to a chorus of goodbyes.
"What do you have for me, Kabuto?" came the voice of Orochimaru, caressing him with its sound.
He took a moment to enjoy it.
"Well, Sasuke seems to be resisting…"
The Wolves gave no cheer for the successful second task. They were tired, worried, not to mention bored. They had been confronted by a bloodthirsty psychopath powerful enough to fight three of them off, an angry, vengeful Cloud Ninja who had every right to be so (And was currently following them), a team of Rock-nin hunting Ino-and the single most powerful missing nin to have come out of Konoha in the entire history of the village.
But… the task was over.
"Now… we can finally open these stupid scrolls." said Shikamaru.
A total of ten scrolls appeared almost instantly, hidden and packed away in various places.
"Open them on three." he said. "One, two, three!"
Five loud puffs of smoke.
"You made it!" said a delighted Iruka.
"Huh. Didn't see that coming." said Anko, cleaning her nails with a senbon.
"Everything went well? asked Tsume.
"YOSH! I NEVER DOUBTED THAT MY FINE STUDENTS COULD EMERGE VICTORIOUS!"
"Who are they?" asked a dark-skinned woman, with long black hair and a Kumo headband-apparently the Kumo-nin's jonin sensei.
Five jonin stared at each other.
"Aaaawkwaaaaard." murmured Naruto.
"The exam is over." said the proctor, Tenshi Sayna. "Whoop!"
Utter silence.
"Geez, way to be unresponsive." she said. "Well, normally we'd have a set of preliminary exams to cut down the numbers…I mean, there are thirty six of you! Are any of you gonna quit?"
There was another brief silence, as people looked around the stone chamber. It looked like the psychotic boy was here… and the Iwa-nin who were after Ino.
"I am. I just had to work really hard in this test. Besides, there's always next time." said Kabuto, with a smile and a shrug.
"Okay." said Sayna, after a pause, in which the medic-nin left. "Thirty five. Now, the feudal lords and the kages desire a series of battles greater than any other. So, we're going to give you… I think two weeks is enough time. Two weeks to train and prepare, and then. Then you fight." she grinned. "Good luck. We'll see you there. Now go, and try not to die on the way out of the forest."
…huh. No fight scene this chapter, and therefore no moves... No wonder it bored me so much.
Taken me a while, hasn't it? I'm real sorry. Life's been pretty non-shiny, and I've had SO MUCH drama work…I finish drama in… eight hours, max. 8D Should update faster then… also, a PM series has given me one hell of a plot for this fic. Stay tuned.