Sorry for the long wait. Life just got in the way and I'll leave it at that. So it's been brought to my attention that a Beta may or may not be required so if anyone is interested in the position, please let me know. Also, some people want a sketch of what Sorana looks like. I'm a writer, not a artist so she looks most closely to Terumi Mei, except with black hair that only goes down to the small of her back and Sorana wears a different outfit. If anyone wants to give it a try drawing her, I would definitely appreciate it.
So some of you did not like the way Shino was portrayed in the last chapter. And I answer this with a question: Did any of you like Neji when he was first introduced in the anime/manga? Of course not. He was an idiot who almost killed his cousin and preached about fate. Now though he is a pretty cool guy. That's how Shino is going to be. Not every character can be sunshine and roses at the beginning. Because as a writer, where else can the characters be improved? So this chapter is the second exam and it also gets into where Shino got his offensive views from. Hope you enjoy and remember to review!
Naruto, Sorana, and Naruto's Kage Bunshin sat alone at the gate that they had been assigned by Anko. She had arranged to not have a Chuunin instructor at their gate so they could head in early and set up some traps.
However, they were still awaiting orders from Koharu-ba-chan, who had said that she would send a caterpillar summon to them.
A rustle from underneath their feet alerted the duo to the presence of something. They both jumped backwards, pulling out a kunai in the process.
Then a small hole appeared where they had been standing and a cute little mandible appeared. The mandible was followed by a foot-long body with thousands of little legs propelling the centipede summon towards one of her summoners and the blonde boy standing next to her.
"Hi there," the little centipede said bubbly. "I'm Kashitan, and Koharu-sama sent me to give you your orders." The little centipede's tone changed from bubbly to serious in an instant. "She said to burn your scroll and then to go take out 3 teams of examinees. You are to burn their scrolls and ensure the genin are knocked out for the rest of the exam. After you have taken out the three teams, you are to locate the genin Kabuto. After he has been located, you will summon Anbu using this seal."
With that, Kashitan spat out a seal and Sorana picked it up, finding it surprisingly dry.
"Homura-sensei realizes how strong you are, but she doesn't want to take any chances and is sending a whole Anbu squad after Kabuto. You two will be responsible for capturing his teammates. You may not kill them, and you have full control over what you decide to do with that team's scroll. You now have 15 minutes before the other teams are released into the forest. Have fun!"
The caterpillar summon disappeared with a small poof of smoke. Naruto and Sorana nodded to each before entering the gate and splitting off in opposite directions. They were going to bobby trap every entrance and meet each other on the exact opposite side of the Forest of Death.
Naruto chuckled silently. This was definitely the best assignment he'd ever had and was likely ever to have. First he got to play with the little genins' minds during the first exam and now he got to scare them a little and show the genin how big some fish could get in the ocean.
Naruto was currently on his third of nine gates that he had to trap. "Doton: Iwagakure no Jutsu," he whisper. He melded into the stone of the large wall that encircled the Forest of Death.
He went around the large gate that one of the genin teams from Ame was currently waiting at. His hand appeared out of the wall and placed paper bombs on the hinges of the gate. They would explode when the gate opened and maybe even land on the baby genin.
He moved on to the next gate, keeping his jutsu active. He strung extra-thin ninja wire across the entrance. When any of the wires were tripped, they would launch dulled kunai at the place where the line had been tripped.
Naruto was having the time of his life. He was basically being paid to prank. The next gate he dup a trap pit and the one after that he tied a gigantic log to a wire. The log would fall and aim towards the gate once it was opened.
After five more minutes of trap setting, Naruto headed to the rendezvous point. Sorana was already there, sitting on the top of the wall with her legs swinging.
"What took you so long Naruto-kun?" she asked.
Naruto sat down next to her. "You know how I am, Sorana-chan. I was having fun. You should of seen some of the traps I set up. If I wanted to make the traps deadly, they could probably kill a jounin."
"That's quite impressive Naruto-kun."
Naruto squirmed a little bit before opening his mouth, and then closing it again. He tried one more time, before finally managing to spit out his words. "Can I ask you something, Sorana-chan?"
"Of course, Naruto-kun. I can tell that something is bothering you."
"Sorana-chan, what happened to Shino? He's not at all like your parents. They're so nice and he's...not."
Sorana sighed. She had wondered when Naruto's curiosity would run out. She was honestly surprised that Naruto hadn't pulled her aside as soon as Shino started being so rude.
"Well, Shino was raised by the Aburame Council almost exclusively. As you know, Mother became deathly ill three years after my birth. Father's time was split between caring for my mother, running the clan, and developing a new breed of kikai that he is still working on. Shino and myself were both given nannies."
"My nanny was an elderly Aburame woman named Shiya. She was a little standoffish but raised me until I turned five where I was so busy with training at headquarters that I didn't require a nanny and just lived with my parents."
"Shino did not get so lucky. Shino was nannied by my grandmother and, unknown to my father until just recently, indoctrinated by my grandfather. My grandfather is extremely traditional and basically brainwashed Shino."
"Now before I go further, I have to explain my grandfather's rhetoric. He believes that having Aburame women on the field is a waste. He feels that their abilities are much more useful in the hives. He has evidence that the kikai mature and evolve much faster in female Aburame than in male Aburame."
"Therefore, grandfather believes that the female clans members should stay in the hives to improve the abilities of the kikai. He is also against females in the field because of this advanced maturation of the kikai in their bodies. He feels that if a female Aburame is ever captured or even found dead, their bodies will reveal much more information to the enemy."
"He has only recently created a seal that will utterly destroy an Aburame corpse once the clan member had died or is captured. Grandfather has recently began pushing more females into the field if they so wish it, and some males have joined the breeders because they do not enjoy battling."
"Shino of course took this rhetoric and put a horrifying spin on it. Even with the new seal that grandfather has created, Shino still doesn't believe that I belong in the field. He believes that that the Aburame women can best serve their purpose in the Clan compound. He does not, however, believe that Kunoichi are worthless. Kunoichi have a purpose, besides even seduction, he just does not agree with Aburame kunoichi."
"Shino believes so strongly in logic and every "insect fulfilling its purpose in the hive." I too strongly believe in logic, but my interactions with you have taught me that there are more than one way to solve a problem logically. Shino has not yet learned this lesson, and if his way is logical, then it is the only way."
"But I hope to someday change that. Someday, Shino and I will truly be brother and sister, someday..." Sorana trailed off wistfully.
"I'll help you, Sorana-chan," Naruto said softly. "Now I think we've given the other team enough of a head start. Let's go knock some genins out."
Sorana laughed quietly, glad that Naruto was trying his best to cheer her up. Sorana hopped up from her sitting position on the wall and pulled Naruto up to stand next to her.
"Okay, Naruto-kun, but I get to take out the first genin team all by myself," she said, adding a little growl to intimidate Naruto.
"Sure, sure," he said. "Whatever you say." Naruto definitely wasn't going to risk pissing his partner off. He had done it before, once to be precise, and it definitely wasn't going to happen again if he could help it. Sorana was also a very level-headed person, so Naruto knew that he would've definitely screwed up big time to tick off his amazing partner.
The Kawa-nin hopped into the trees, propelling themselves threw the branches with their chakra. It was only about two minutes of tree-hopping that Naruto spotted a few signs of ninjas passing.
Naruto shook his head slowly. He had been trained to track the paths left behind by jounin-level ninjas, who barely left any evidence at all of their passing, and now he was tracking genin. The difference is skill levels was quite astonishing. There were bent twigs and scuffle marks on the branches, as well as pieces of ripped clothes on some sharp thorns.
Judging from the type and quality of the ripped clothing on the path that the duo were currently following, the genin hailed from Kumo. Naruto and Sorana sped up their pace, catching up to the Kumo genin within five minutes.
The genin in question were sitting in a clearing, clearly planning their next move. They seemed to be quite smart, for they had a set of clones hiding in a nearby tree. It was a nice bit of reverse psychology. The genin would attack the set of clones first, thinking that the genin in the clearing were clones. There was also quite a bit of chuunin-level traps around the clones, and only a couple trap pits surrounding the real team.
It was quite a shame that the Kawa-nin had stumbled across the Kumo-nin. They had all the callings of a great chuunin, they just didn't have good luck. And that was the message that the Sandaime was trying to get across. No matter how strong you are, there is always someone stronger than you.
Naruto held back, while Sorana headed forward. What came next was the classic example of why genin were kept from fighting high-level ninjas. Sorana appeared behind one of the Kumo nin and slammed the ring of her kunai into his head, knocking the shinobi out instantly.
It was only when their comrade hit the ground that the other two shinobi noticed someone attacked them. By then, though, it was much too late. Sorana had already slammed the backend of her kunai into the kunoichi of the group and the last conscious member of the team was giving Sorana's kikai quite a feast.
While the kikai finished eating the last dredges of the boy's chakra, Sorana began searching for the scroll in the ninja's pouches and clothing. Surprisingly enough, the scroll was hidden in the kunoichi's ninja pouch.
She pulled the scroll out and set it on the ground away from the Kumo nin. "Katon: Shitai Konzetsu," she murmured. The scroll disappeared into ash and her chakra didn't even spike. It was quite a useful jutsu.
Not far from the clearing, Naruto and Sorana stumbled fortuitously onto the scene of two genin team duking it out. The team from Ame was currently kicking the Suna team's collective ass.
Sorana, still in the middle of a bad mood, called the Ame team, who looked like they could take a little punishment. That meant Naruto only got to knock out the already suffering Suna team.
It was honestly very easy. Naruto appeared behind the poor souls, two kunai twirling into hands. He slammed the kunai, ring end down, into the heads of both males on the team. The kunoichi spun quickly to see who had just taken out her teammates, but not quick enough to stop the chop to her neck that sent her into darkness.
Naruto looked around to see Sorana standing around her own three unconscious victims. She was sending a glare his way, and Naruto remembered what he was supposed to be doing instead of sight seeing.
He started ruffling through the Suna nin's gear, finding it in a scroll on the smaller male's body, hidden in the ruffles of his flowing shirt.
He destroyed it, before his head shot up. His Kage Bunshin had just popped somewhere. Naruto had had it scout the area for Kabuto but it had been caught in a wave of sand, but before it had the clone had seen something.
"Sorana-chan, where is Shino right now?" he asked, the urgency in his voice stopping Sorana from chewing him out for bringing up her brother again so soon.
"My kikai smell his hive only about half a mile away, to the northeast. Why?" Sorana asked, deadly serious.
"My Kage Bunshin, 'Ryuuyi', just got dispelled by a gigantic wave of sand. Before it did though, it saw a fluffy white dog. I'm assuming the little puppy is Akamaru, so Shino should be close by. And this sand-user is quite dangerous. We need to get Team 8 out of there, and then we can track down Kabuto."
"Alright, Naruto. Follow me."
The partners took off, charging through the forest. Naruto was determined to save Shino so he could kick his ass for treating Sorana so badly.
They arrived just in time. Team 8 was currently dodging wave after wave after wave of sand, but they were obviously being herded somewhere. The sand-user, who Naruto now remembered as Gaara from Kabuto's information cards, was standing still and letting his sand use all the work. His teammates were just watching.
Naruto ran through some handsigns, while uncapping one of his water bottles. "Suiton: Hachi Shokushu." Water poured out of the bottle and formed around Naruto's back. Eight tentacles formed out of the water and stood waving.
Naruto jumped down to the lowest branch in front of where Team 8 was being corralled. They jumped right in front of where Naruto was, and three tentacles grabbed the team around the waist, hoisting them up into the tree line. Sorana ushered them away, barely making eye contact with the brother whose life she had helped safe.
Gaara sent sand at the tree that his prey had escaped up. His attention was quickly taken though as a blonde boy that he had been watching in the first exam jumped in front of him.
Gaara grinned fiercely. Here was some worthy blood for his mother, not the cowardly stuff that would have only held her over for a day.
Gaara sent a wave of sand at the newest opponent to his existence. Naruto flipped over the attack handily, before speeding towards his red-headed opponent.
Yet again wave of sand tried to halt his progress, but a whip of water whacked the wave. The water was absorbed into the sand and slowed it down enough for Naruto to shoot past it.
Naruto was basically playing a game of cat and mouse and for once he wasn't the cat. Not that Gaara would beat him, Naruto was too stubborn to allow a one-trick pony to kick his ass, but Naruto wasn't the one determining the flow and tempo of the battle like he was used to.
Naruto sidestepped another wave, using another water tentacle to slap the pesky thing away. Naruto pulled a kunai out of his pouch and tied an exploding tag onto it. He chucked it at Gaara's face.
A huge wave of sand appeared, catching and covering the kunai about 5 feet from the Suna-nin's face. As Naruto had hoped though, the sand blocked Gaara's view of him and Naruto would definitely capitalize on the opportunity.
Gaara was definitely skilled, Naruto thought scornfully, but he didn't have the combat experience required to take out a truly-skilled shinobi.
Naruto used Shunshin to appear behind Gaara, surujin poised to wrap around Gaara's skinny neck. A tendril of sand appeared and knocked the surujin away, before turning into a spike aimed to puncture Naruto's abdomen.
Only the swipe of one of the tentacles still attached to Naruto's back saved him from such an injury. Naruto jumped backwards, his thoughts racing onto how Gaara had stopped him.
The only way that Gaara could have stopped him was an autonomous technique, which were extraordinarily rare. They were all A- or S-ranked techniques and required a ton of chakra, which Gaara simply did not have access to as a genin.
This of course meant that Gaara was not a genin and was a Suna plant who had been entered into the exams to spy on Konoha and her secrets. Naruto's visage hardened. Before, he was just going to stall for enough time to allow Team 8 to get far enough way with Sorana before he would hall it back to his partner.
Now though, he had to capture Gaara, as well as his teammates/siblings for questioning, Ibiki-style.
Gaara seemed to have stopped playing with his food and sent an enormous tsunami of sand towards Naruto. Again, the sand blocked off Gaara's view of Naruto, and Naruto used this advantage to create two Mizu Bunshin out of the water tentacles on his back, who proceeded to shunshin out of the way and towards the other two member of the Suna team.
Naruto breathed in deeply, pulling out one of the scrolls on his belt. "Eremento Sanmai," he muttered. Instantly, all of the sand that had been swirling towards him, bent on his utter annihilation, was sucked into the seal.
The seal began glowing brown, and Naruto took a step towards Gaara. With each step that Naruto took, more sand was sucked into the scroll and the more fear that occupied Gaara's face.
Finally, Naruto stood only a foot away from Gaara, and sand was being pulled off of Gaara's very skin. When the very last particle had been pulled away from Gaara, Naruto intoned, "Fuin."
The seal flashed one last time, and Naruto calmly rolled up the scroll. He had of course practiced rolling it up and placing the scroll back in its place on his belt in less than a second, but taking it slowly showed a cockiness that would instill even more fear into Gaara.
It showed that Naruto knew he could kill Gaara anytime that he wanted to, and he was deciding if he really wanted to. It was quite intimidating.
Gaara was backing away slowly. He had clearly never been so outmatched before. Naruto shook his head slowly. There was a reason that fuinjutsu was considered the strongest of all the shinobi arts. Basically, a ninja could develop a counter to every other ninja branch out there with a simple seal.
Naruto unraveled another scroll, plucking out a simple tag as soon as it was fully unrolled. He pushed it onto Gaara's head, and he collapsed immediately. Naruto smirked slightly. Gaara hadn't even tried to run once his sand had been sealed up. Of course, Naruto would've caught him easily but it really ruined some of the Kawa-nin's fun.
Naruto glanced down at the seal on Gaara's head. It had worked perfectly. It froze all chakra within the victim's body and then knocked them out. It worked quite well and there was no chakra spike like in the Nemuri no Jutsu.
Naruto glanced over to his Mizu Bunshin. They were currently hauling their packages, Temari and Kankuro, over to where Gaara lay. They had been knocked out the good old fashioned way, the blunt side of a kunai to the head. The siblings had been so at ease, knowing that no genin could ever beat Gaara that the Mizu Bunshin had easily knocked the two out.
The Mizu Bunshin threw two scrolls towards Naruto, who caught them reflexively. They were an Earth and Heaven scroll, respectively.
Naruto placed another seal on Gaara's back that would summon the Anbu hovering around the edge of the Forest of Death. There was also a short written summary of what had happened, provided by one of the Mizu Bunshin who had apparently had nothing to do while waiting for Naruto to get his showboating over with.
Naruto activated the seal, and then turned to the Mizu Bunshin, who dispelled themselves. Naruto caught all of the water in the canteen that he had previously emptied.
He then left the clearing, following a small kikai that Sorana had thoughtfully left behind. Sorana and Team 8 were hidden in the roots of a large tree about 15 minutes at a chuunin-level speed.
Naruto hopped into the small hole that was hidden from the tree level, still following the kikaichu. Sorana was standing, while Team 8 sat huddled together and shivering from the massive bloodlust that Gaara had been capable of exuding.
"Kiba," Naruto said. The dog-boy looked up, tremors still visibly wracking his body. "Gaara has been taken care of and has been disqualified from the exam. You will not have to worry about him in the finals."
The Inuzuka nodded gratefully and looked to be about to turn back into his team's huddle but Naruto's voice halted him. "Hokage-sama wants to talk to me and Sorana about something we saw in the forest earlier and so we're being pulled out of the exam. Ryuuyi is already talking to the Hokage right now and we need to get over there."
The lie was a little weak but he knew the little genin would take it hook, line, and sinker. There was no reason why they would suspect him so they wouldn't even bother to think about his excuse. "Our team already had both scrolls, and I didn't feel like destroying them or anything, so you guys can have them."
Naruto threw them to Kiba and he caught them, tucking them both safely into his jacket. "We've got to go now though. You can stay here as long as you want, but I'd suggest you just get to the Tower as soon as possible and rest off the stress there."
Naruto nodded at Team 8 before heading out the exit. Even from outside though, Naruto could still hear the goings-on of the hidey-hole. Especially Shino's life. "Sister, thank you for rescuing my team and I. Perhaps your purpose is not to be a breeder. I need to think over my logic."
Naruto's face was slowly covered in a grin. Yeap, he had known that saving Shino had been a good idea.
Sorana exited Team 8's hiding spot. There was a slight smile on her face, and one distinct tear track coming from her right eye.
"C'mon, Naruto," she said, her voice bright with hope. "It's time to go find Kabuto."
Jutsu List
Doton: Iwagakure no Jutsu [Earth Release: Rocking Hiding Technique]
Rank: C
Description: This jutsu allows the user to blend in and merge with surrounding rocks. It allows the user to move unseen, which assists in attacking and escaping.
Katon: Shitai Konzetsu no Jutsu [Fire Release: Corpse Extermination Technique]
Rank: B
Description: This is the skill ANBU use to eradicate corpses, for various reasons like containing important secrets. The jutsu creates a small, hot-burning fire that releases no smoke. It quickly consumes a corpse.
Bunshin no Jutsu [Clone Technique]
Rank: C
Description: Sorana uses a Mushi Bunshin [Bug Clone] while Naruto uses a Mizu Bunshin [Water Clone] and the occasional Kage Bunshin [Shadow Clone].
Suiton: Hachi Shokushu no Jutsu [Water Release: Eight Tentacles Technique]
Rank: D
Description: A skill in which is used to give the user additional limbs. Gathering chakra into the water, the user can create up to eight arms upon their back that resemble the tentacles of an octopus. The tentacles are approximately six feet in length, and are capable of attacking in all directions.
Eremento Sanmai Fuin [Elements Absorption Seal]
Rank: A
Description: A seal that can absorb any kind of elemental ninjutsu. There is no limit to the amount of jutsu that the Seal can absorb, but only one element can be absorbed at a time. Naruto has around 10 of these Seals all inked onto the same scroll that he carries around on his belt.
Nemuri no Jutsu [Sleep Technique]
Rank: D
Description: A Genjutsu technique where the ninja places their hand on their target's shoulder and forces them into a deep slumber. A useful technique when subterfuge is involved with a mission, but utterly useless in combat. The technique only works when the target is already injured or exhausted.
So that's the end of that. Let me know what you liked, what you didn't, and what you would like to see next time. Of course, next chapter is the fight with Kabuto and I will definitely try to make it interesting. Your reviews are what keep me writing, so keep them coming. And again, I need a Beta!