Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one
Chapter 9: - Lion's Barrage!
"What's the deal no one is here?" Naruto asked. He looked around confused, I was also confused, but more so concerning the large message that hung on the wall in front of us, Sakura was helping Sasuke into the tower, as he was still weak.
"It's ok Sakura I can manage," Sasuke told the pinkette, as he pulled away from her.
"Oh sure," Sakura complied, but I could tell she was annoyed.
"I don't get it what happens now?" Naruto asked. He was still confused, it was then that Sakura pointed out the message on the wall.
"Hold on a second what is that?" Sakura asked. I read it over in my mind, but I was still confused about what to do.
"It's a message, I'll recite it," I told the three. They all looked at me as I cleared my throat and quickly skimmed it again. "If qualities of Heaven are your desire then acquire wisdom to take you mind higher, if Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are open together the perilous path will become righteous forever. This… something, it the secret way is what guides us form this place today," I recited from the board, however there was a blank spot, and I didn't understand.
"This what? Or is that a secret to?" Naruto asked. I shook my head and turned to the blonde.
"No there's a blank spot, meaning something but I don't know," I replied.
"It's about the scrolls. I think we're supposed to open and read the Heaven and Earth scrolls now," Sakura added in. I pulled out the scrolls, Sakura took Heaven and Naruto took Earth.
"Ok here goes nothing," Naruto stated, nervousness thick in his voice. Tension quickly thickened the air as the two opened both scrolls at the same time only to reveal, something that I immediately recognised, the symbol in the centre rose up as smoke began to pour out.
"That's a summoning circle! Get rid of them!" I cried out. They immediately threw the scrolls away from us and they crossed over perfectly as the smoke continued to seep from the scrolls, a banging sound was heard and when the smoke clear a man was standing before us.
The man was of average height and build. He has brown hair that was kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals, and flak jacket. His sleeves were also rolled up about ¼ way.
"What it's you?" Sasuke asked. I looked at the three as they all seemed to recognise the man before us.
"Hey long time no see," The man greeted. I looked around and decided to wait for someone to clue me in as to who this man was.
"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asked. From the suffix, I guessed he was a previous teacher of the three.
"Looks like you've gone through a lot, in this test," Iruka stated. I kept my eyes on the man wary for any sort of tricks that might occur.
"Hey, wait. What's the deal with the surprise entrance? Why are you appearing with the summoning?" Naruto questioned the man.
"At the end of the second exam, we Chūnin are supposed to welcome the test takers back. And well it was just good luck that I got to be the one given the important task of being the messenger for you guys," Iruka explained.
"The messenger?" Sakura asked confused. Iruka reached into his pocket and pulled out a clock.
"And you made it just in time, and now congratulations you passed the second exam. To celebrate I would love to treat you all to some Ichiraku Ramen but I-," Iruka began to say but Naruto cut him off as he jumped forward.
"Ramen! Seriously, that's so cool, so cool," Naruto cried out. He hugged the man tightly, filled with love.
"Wait I'm not done. Let go," Iruka protested. However the blonde wouldn't listen to him as Naruto danced about and celebrate, I saw a soft smile appear on Iruka's face, I softened upon seeing it, knowing that this man could be trusted.
"Where does he get all this energy," Sasuke wondered. He and Sakura collapsed to the ground, I followed shortly after, the tension of the past five days practical washed off of my body.
"All right. Well I can see you're still has hyperactive as ever, Naruto," Iruka stated. I shook my head and held down a chuckle at this fact.
"Now I see. So if we had looked at the scrolls in the middle of the exam, what would you have done to us Iruka-sensei?" Sasuke asked the Chūnin. He looked at us surprised by his question.
"As usual Sasuke, you're as sharp as a tack. You have figured out the secret, part of this exam was to test how well you could see a difficult mission all the way through. Simply put, you knew that opening the scrolls was against the rules of your mission and if you had tried to open one," Iruka began to explain but he fell silent before he finished the sentence.
"What, what would have happened?" Sakura asked. I also wanted to know what would have happened.
"If a scroll was opened we were ordered to knock out who ever opened it, some ninja found that out the hard way," Iruka answered.
"Huh. It's a good thing you didn't open your Naruto," Sasuke taunted the blonde. I cracked a smile at this, the other two froze up in complete stillness.
"I owe you one, thanks a lot Kabuto," Naruto called out. Sakura was also relieved about not opening the scroll.
"Oh yeah sensei. What does that writing on the world mean?" Sakura asked, as she pointed at the message on the wall. "The parchment the letters are written on is kind of eaten away, so it's difficult to read it, we can't understand it," Sakura explained.
"Oh please. Look we passed didn't we, that stuff doesn't matter now," Naruto told Sakura, who had a dark look on her face.
"Well actually, explaining that is another one of the duties I've been sent here to take care of," Iruka informed us. I looked at him and the message trying to discern it myself.
"What seriously?" Naruto asked, not believing what the man was saying.
"That's right, it's serious business. Give it a good read, they're instructions Hokage-sama recorded as principles that Chūnin should follow," Iruka explained.
"They're instructions?" Naruto asked, confusion evident on his face.
"Yes, Heaven stands for you mind and Earth stands for your body. If qualities of Heaven are your desire then acquire wisdom to take you mind higher. Get it?" Iruka asked, when he liked the two realms to physical things, I understood the first part of the message immediately it was only the part with a missing phrase that I didn't understand, however Naruto didn't understand.
"Alright I'll explain, in other words if your weakness lies in your intellect – Naruto – then you have to make doubly sure that you work hard to learn all the information and skills that you need to prepare for your missions," Iruka explained. Naruto wasn't impressed that he had automatically singled him out, Sakura laughed at this fact
"And you, if Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. So if your weakness lies in your physical strength – Sakura – then you have to make sure that you work on your physical conditioning every single day so that it improves all the time," Iruka explained. Sakura immediately went shy after what Iruka said.
"When Heaven and Earth are open together the perilous path will become righteous forever. Meaning if your mind and body are working together as one, even a very dangerous mission can become an easy one," Iruka finished explaining.
"So what about that spot with the missing letter?" Sakura asked.
"Well that part is meant for all of you to fill in. Do you see that symbol on the scroll, it's the character for person, a reference to you Chūnin. You see these five days of survival were to test your abilities as Chūnin to see if you'll be any good at it, and I got to say you guys really did magnificently. A Chūnin is a leader, a guide, it's a Chūnin's responsibility to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of those surviving under him and to know what skills and training those ninjas are going to need to succeed on a mission. You did an excellent job on this mission and I want you to remember these instructions on your next one. Well that's it that was everything I was supposed to say to you," Iruka congratulated.
"Got it," Naruto replied. I smiled at the blonde, he had truly grown during the exam, even I could see that.
"You must be Ami," Iruka's voice sounded. I looked up to see the Chūnin was looking at me. "I'm not quite sure what to say to you, to be honest," Iruka admitted a sheepish look on his face.
"You don't have to say anything," I responded. Iruka seemed surprised but he nodded. He then attempted to give some advice to the other but Naruto convinced him not to by giving an inspirational speech, we were then sent on our way to the main room.
The main room was large, with two balconies on the sides, and the ground floor was completely clear of any obstacles. In front of us was a wall with blue panels on it, a statue of the hand sign for Ram in front of the wall. We lined up with the other team of which were Kabuto's team, Dosu's team, Gaara's team, Lee's team and all of the Rookie Nine. In front of us were the senseis of the qualifying teams, Ibiki-sama, Anko-sama, some other ninjas and Hokage-sama.
"First of all congratulations on finishing the second exam," Anko praised us, but she looked concerned about something.
"What a drag there's so many left," I heard Shikmaru complain. I looked around and noticed that Kabuto's team was another four man squad.
"Sasuke and his team have passed to," Ino called out, joy soaked each of her words.
"Well of course they did, after all the trouble we went through to keep them safe they better have passed," Shikamaru responded, annoyance in his voice.
I continued looking around and my eyes landed on Lee, I was glad to see that he was alright, I just hoped he had fully recovered from the Sound ninja's assault.
"Hey look all of the Leaf Village rookies are here to," Sakura told us. I nodded confirming I had seen
"Wow, everybody's here. Old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei and even Bushy brow, it looks like absolutely nobody got left out this time," Naruto exclaimed.
"I don't have a very good feeling about this," Sasuke stated as he gripped his neck. I was concerned about the Curse Mark.
"Alright now pay attention! Hokage-sama is going to explain the third exam to you and you better listen carefully maggots. Hokage-sama, they're all yours," Anko called out to us, before bowing respectfully. Hokage-sama then stepped forward.
"First before I tell you what the third exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself, listen closely now, it's something that all of you need to understand," Hokage-sama called out to us. This caused a wave of confusion to wash over us. "I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjuncture with our allies?" Hokage-sama asked. However no one gave any answer.
"To raise the ability levels of the shinobi and increase friendships between allied nations, to be sur. But it's important that you understand its' true meaning. The exams are, so to speak, they're a representation of the battle between allied nations," Hokage-sama declared. I raised an eyebrow confused
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tenten asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"Now if we look at our history, all the countries that we're currently allied with were once neighbouring nations that continuously fought with each other for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location. That was how the Chūnin Selection Exams originally began," Hokage-sama explained.
"Well that's great but why do we have to we have to go through these exams then? I mean it's not like we're doing this to pick Chūnin to go fight," Naruto question.
"Well actually, there is no question that part of the point of these exams is to select shinobi worthy of become Chūnin, that's just not the whole story. These exams also allow for a place where shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their back and fight against ninja for their very lives," Hokage-sama explained.
"The pride of their nation?" Sakura questioned. I was also confused by this fact.
"Many leaders and people of prominence from various countries are invited to attend these exams as guests and also possibly to seek shinobi to work for them, this exam could determine the course of your ninja work from here on out. But more importantly those rulers will watch your battles and take note of the strengths that each the ninja and each nation are developing. If there is a gap in power between the countries the strong nations are inundated with job requests for their ninja and conversely the requests to nations deemed weak decline. There for the strong our nation is, the better our positon when it comes to negotiating with neighbouring nations, so it's important to show how much military strength our nation has," Hokage-sama explained.
"Ok, but even so, why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?" Kiba asked. I wished everyone would shut up so that we could get on with this exam.
"The country's strength is the village's strength, the village's strength is the shinobi strength. And the true strength of the shinobi is only achieved when it is pushed to its' limits, such as in a life and death. This exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of its' shinobi and hence the strength of the nation itself. It's because this exam where your life is on the line that it has meaning and it's for this very reason that the strength of the nation that your forerunners fought in this exam. It's truly a dream worth striving for," Hokage-sama continued on.
"But then why did you use the expression friendship before?" Tenten question. I bit my tongue to prevent myself from lashing out at anyone, the waiting and continuous questioning was beginning to get on my nerves.
"But you've only remembered half of what I said. You also mustn't have the wrong idea of the exam's meaning, this is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying, in the world of the shinobi that is friendship. The third exam is a fight for life with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake," Hokage-sama finally finished. Then Gaara asked by the third exam, claiming he could handle anything… which wasn't a boast.
"Very well then. Now listen closely I'm going to tell you exactly what you'll all be doing on the third exam," Hokage-sama began to say but suddenly another ninja dropped down in front of him
"Hokage-sama before you do, allow me Hayate Gekkō appointed as proctor of the third exam, to speak first," The ninja requested.
"So be it," Hokage-sama complied. The man then stood up.
"It's nice to meet you all," Hayate greeted. He then began to cough and he turned to face us. Hayate had short brown hair and dark markings under his eyes, even though he was a young man, he had pronounced lines under his eyes. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with a forehead protector that he wore as a bandanna, flak jacket and regular shinobi sandals.
"There's something I would like all of you to do before the third exam," he told us before coughing again. I wondered if he was fit enough to be the proctor.
Hayate went on to explain that due to the high number of candidates, a preliminary exam had to be held to thin the number down a little, the exam would be held in one-on-one sudden death match-ups. If anyone didn't want to take it then they could drop out.
Sakura attempted to get Sasuke to drop out, During this argument, I noticed that Hokage-sama, Ibiki-sama and Anko-sama were having a discussion and I saw Anko raise her hand to her neck and look at Sasuke. I wasn't sure what to make of those gestures but it put me on edge a little. It was at this point that after a while Kabuto announced that he wanted to drop out. When he gave his explanation I was sceptical, I watched him as he walked away.
Sakura and Sasuke continued their disagreement and his reasoning was that he wanted to fight some of the people gathered here, and he told her not to tell anyone when me and Naruto attempted to intervene Sasuke told us that he wanted to fight us as well.
Hayate told us that the matches would be arranged by random choice, a screen appeared behind one of the panels and, as if in a cruel twist of fate, Sasuke was selected for the first battle to fight against someone called Yoroi Akadō. The rest of us were ordered up to the balconies, I noticed that Kakashi-sensei spoke with Sasuke for a short time before joining us.
I looked down at Sasuke's opponent and noticed that he was a member of Kabuto's team, his appearance was greatly concealed by the mask he wore around his mouth that hung to around his neck, sunglasses that obscured his eyes and forehead protector which he wore like a bandanna. He also wore what appears to be the standard attire of his team consisting of a high-collared, sleeveless, navy-blue shirt with a short-sleeved, white one underneath, a simple obi around his waist, pants, sandals and fingerless gloves.
We all waited in tense silence, I was worried about Sasuke and that Curse Mark. Hayate started the match, Yoroi threw shuriken at Sasuke who blocked them with a kunai and sent them right back, however he suddenly became unbalanced and fell to the ground.
Yoroi dodged the shuriken, and appeared in front of Sasuke, he punched at Sasuke, but Sasuke was able to dodge the blow and he was able to knock Yoroi to the floor and pin him there.
However that's when things went bad, Yoroi twisted his hand and it became surrounded by chakra. It stopped after a short while, but I saw that Sasuke was unable to move and Yoroi slammed his hand onto the Uchiha's chest and then he jumped back.
Sasuke still couldn't move and Yoroi moved into attack again, Sakura cried out and that snapped Sasuke out of his stunned state and he sat up. However before he could dodge, Yoroi managed to attach his hand to Sasuke's head and he was forced back down, as he struggled against his opponent, but then he went limp and I understood that Yoroi was draining Sasuke's chakra.
"My chakra, you're stealing it from me," Sasuke called out. This caused his opponent to laugh
"You finally caught on," Yoroi taunted. Sasuke's energy was being completely drained away and his was growing weak, I saw that it was causing him pain as he cried out.
"Get off me!" Sasuke yelled out. He was then able to kick Yoroi off of him, Sasuke then struggled to sit up.
"So, you've still got some strength left. Impressive, for a guinea pig," Yoroi taunted. Sasuke was struggling to breath after have both his physical and spiritual energy drained. "Don't worry little man, I'll make it short and sweet," Yoroi added on.
Toroi then charged, his ability already activate, however Sasuke dodge the blows but Yoroi was able to catch him slightly and he became weak as he stumbled out of the way.
"What's the matter? Is that really the best you can do?" Yoroi taunted. Sasuke launched a kick at him but Yoroi dodge out of the way.
"Hey Sasuke, come one man what was that? And you called yourself an Uchiha," Naruto called out to the ravenette. This angered Sasuke, as he turned to lgare at the blonde. "You're going to let this dude walk all over you. Come on, stop messing around and get it in gear!" Naruto yelled at the boy.
"I'll teach you to turn your back on me. Big mistake and your last," Yoroi called out to Sasuke, as he charged at him. Sasuke dodge the blows, then he disappeared.
'Did he just?' I thought, as Sasuke reappeared and slammed his foot into Yoroi's chin sending him into the air. He then jumped up and used Dancing Leaf Shadow to get behind Yoroi, I smirked realising that he had copied Lee's movements.
Sasuke was about to attack but he suddenly froze up, I saw that the Curse Mark was beginning to spread over his body. Things became tense as time seemed to slow down instantly, and then all of a sudden the Curse Mark began to recede.
'He controlled it?!' I thought in my mind, as I stared in shock at Uchiha.
"Here we go," Sasuke stated. He placed a hand on Yoroi's back, he then went to kick at him but Yoroi blocked it. He then went to attack with his other leg but it was a bluff as he slammed his fist onto Yoroi's shoulder, sending the ninja flying down.
Sasuke punched him again and then he swung his leg into Yoroi as he neared the ground forcing the ninja to land with a harsh crash into the ground.
"Lion's Barrage!" Sasuke cried out, naming the technique. They both went sliding backwards, but Sasuke was able to stand up and he was declared the winner.
I smiled at the Uchiha proud of what he had accomplished, despite the odds, I looked around to see the different reactions, then my eyes landed on the Sound Jōnin, he shivered with excitement and then he lciked hislips but his tongue was longer than normal.
'Orochimaru!' I identified the man in my mind. He felt my eyes on him and he looked at me directly a smirk plastered on his face. Kakashi then took Sasuke away, I could only guess that the purpose was to contain the Curse Mark's powers.
Naruto asked us if we saw anything on Sasuke's neck, but we lied as Sasuke had asked us not to tell Naruto. I looked up to the panel to watch as the second match was decided it declared that Shino and Zaku were to fight next. I looked at the Sound ninja and saw that his arms were still damaged from what Sasuke did to them.
I watched as the Sound Jonin vanished, I thinned my lips unhappy about this as I returned my gaze to the fight before me.