Disclaimer: Sheesh, do I have to do this? Yes? OK then. I own nothing except Ayame and Sasame Kusajishi.
Last time: Naruto and his team are on the search for the scrolls, when Kakashi shows up with a proposition. Naruto is to take the bell test again. If he wins, Kakashi will hand over the scroll the team needs to complete the exam. If Naruto loses, then he has to hand over their scroll.
This time: More fighting!
Naruto's eyes widened when a hail of shuriken burst from the foliage straight ahead of him. The blond skidded to a stop and sent a surge of chakra into his feet, shooting him straight up into the air. Now he pulled a single kunai from the middle pouch on his belt, before snapping his wrist, sending the kunai into the leafy spot.
Kakashi did nothing as the kunai whizzed through the leaves. His Sharingan had told him that the deadly weapon was no threat to him. The jounin heard the knife clunk into the wood behind him and he forgot about it, reaching into his pouches for his next assault. Naruto knew he was here, true, but he still couldn't see the jounin.
A hissing noise made Kakashi dive from cover without a second thought. Just in time too, because the place he'd just been hiding blew up with an explosion that rocked the tree the two were fighting on. The blond chuunin candidate blurred into existence before Hatake. The shinobi knew that he wouldn't be able to stop in time, but perhaps he could turn his momentum into an advantage.
Kunai seemed to appear out of thin air in both of the warrior's hands, and they met in a cacophony of ringing steel and showers of sparks.
'Dammit!' Naruto cursed as he was knocked off balance and spun around by Kakashi's momentum. The only bright side was that the jounin was now on a collision course with the tree trunk that had been behind the Jinchuuriki. The eagerness in seeing his former captain slam headlong into the trunk was short lived, because the masked man rolled in mid-air and landed in a three point crouch, one hand helping to absorb the impact, the other, with the kunai firmly in its grasp, was flung wide, preparing to snap back into striking position. The blond had just enough time to register his mentor's pose before his vision was filled with a mask, silver hair, and mismatched eyes.
Kakashi's hand snapped forward, the kunai held horizontal as it raced for Naruto's throat. The other shinobi showed surprising speed and thoughtfulness that was seeming more and more his style as the battle went on, and his left hand dropped to the pouch on his leg, whisking the kunai there out with the subtle whisper of metal rasping against leather. At the same time, the kunai Naruto had already been holding came up and the blonde's two knives came together in an X shape, stopping the jounin's attack cold. He still went skidding back though, powderized bark kicking up around the genin's feet as the force of Kakashi's blow sent the duo backwards.
Naruto grunted and increased the amount of chakra flowing into his feet, trying desperately to stop the momentum before they both went over the edge of the branch. He succeeded just in time. The blonde's face went a shade lighter as he felt his heels rocking over open space. If Kakashi had managed to put out a little more chakra into his rebound, then this would've turned into an aerial battle real fast. Now it was just a matter of throwing off this rather persistent jounin.
Kakashi was grudgingly impressed. He really wanted to believe that he was still stronger than his former pupil, but it was looking like that wasn't the case the more this little match dragged on. Now both of the shinobi were in a stalemate, the three kunai clicking and clinking as they shook against each other, both from Naruto trying to throw off the masked shinobi and from each trying to maneuver their own kunai into a more advantageous position.
The jounin's eyes widened slightly when Naruto seemed to quit caring about finesse and went for brute strength, drawing on one of his greatest strengths, his inhuman stamina. With a yell both of the genin's kunai increased pressure against Kakashi's lone one and the result was the elder man being launched back a respectable distance. He was forced to flip over in the air, taking his gaze off his opponent for an instant. Hatake knew that he was taking a big risk in doing that because now he was certain that Naruto had the skill to pull off an attack in that crucial moment.
The blonde's gaze sharpened when he saw his former teacher's eyes leave him. Now was the time to attack! Naruto poured so much chakra into his feet for the strike that he left imprints of his feet in the tough bark as he launched at Kakashi like the proverbial bat out of hell. The masked man tensed as soon as his feet touched, bringing his kunai into a guard position.
A senbon flashed in from above, embedding in the tree, forcing both shinobi to bounce back, Naruto just managing to avoid being hit.
"Aww!" A voice lamented. "I missed!"
Kakashi and Naruto turned and looked up.
"Oh, shit." Naruto murmured making the Copy-Nin look at him quickly before returning his gaze to the two figures up on a higher branch.
"It's okay, Sasame," Kusajishi Ayame said, looking down at the two warriors with a cold and arrogant smirk. "It wouldn't be fun if Naruto-chan just rolled over and died."
"Oh, okay! I see now!" Sasame giggled, before pointing down at Kakashi. "Hey, what about the old guy?"
Kakashi's eyebrow twitched. Old? Who, him? He wasn't old! Hell, the jounin wasn't even thirty yet!
Ayame crossed her arms beneath her breasts, looking into the canopy as if wondering what to do. "Hmm." She glared down at them with one crimson eye. "Well, I guess we can kill him too."
"Yay! I hope they can at least put up a good fight!" Sasame threw one arm into the air, red sleeve flopping back to reveal senbon held between her fingers. She giggled, almost innocently, and hurled the deadly needles down at the two shinobi.
Kakashi and Naruto jumped out of the way in separate directions, their own battle forgotten in light of the arrival of the Twins.
Naruto's eyes went wide with shock when Ayame suddenly fazed into sight right in front of him, bent low with a smirk plastered on her face as she trailed one hand across the ground, turning her own momentum into force as she brought one foot around in a wide arc. The former missing-nin had only enough time to raise his arms to block before the foot connected. The Jinchuuriki grunted as the kunoichi's blow sent him flying out into space, just before he slammed hard into another tree trunk, the speed at which he'd been moving great enough to put a depression around his body.
Naruto felt himself begin to tip forward and he poured chakra into his right hand and feet, anchoring him to the side of the tree like an oversized gecko, his free hand shooting into a belt pouch in the same instant, reaching for a knife to replace the one he'd dropped to counter Ayame.
The blue-clad woman smirked before lunging at him again.
Over on the tree, Kakashi and Sasame were going at it. There was a constant ringing filling the air as senbon and kunai bounced off each other. Sasame thrust with her senbon at Kakashi's face, but the Sharingan saw the move coming and the silver-haired jounin leaned to the side, the needle passing inches from his mask. He countered, his knife held in reverse, skimming just inches under Sasame's arm as she overextended and Kakashi took advantage of that to strike, fully intending to bury his kunai between her ribs.
The knife flipped over, allowing the point to come in for a stab instead of a slash.
"Whoops!" the kunoichi chirped as the threw her right leg back behind her, allowing her body to follow the motion and get out of the way of the incoming knife. Hatake, caught completely off guard by the girl's moves, stumbled past, off balance and completely open to a counter. He braced for the pain of senbon embedding themselves in his back.
It never came. When Kakashi looked around, Sasame appeared to be more interested in checking her dress for rips than in fighting him. The former ANBU was nonplussed. Why the hell wouldn't she take advantage of what happened and counter-attack? Was it some sort of plan, like what Shikamaru would do? Or was it just that the woman was more interested in her appearance, like Sakura used to do? Or was it possible that she was just as unpredictable as Naruto? The possibilities made even the genius Kakashi's head spin. He tended to be a fair judge of character, mostly getting right, but he did screw up occasionally, like he'd done with Sasuke. This kunoichi, though, was a complete mystery. Hatake privately thought that even the Sandaime, known for his jutsu knowledge and his intuition about people's character and true motives, would be thrown for a loop.
The jounin decided that he would test the waters first and see just what this perky girl (it was somehow hard to think of this person as a woman) could do. He returned his kunai to its place in his leg pouch and began making hand seals, finally catching the attention of Sasame, who just looked on, tilting her head and wonder at what Kakashi was going to do clear in her eyes.
Naruto grunted as he managed to soften a blow to his midsection, but still taking damage and being pushed away all the same. He crouched low, dragging his hand along the bark, the other hand protectively covering his stomach. The blond finally managed to stop himself and he stood up.
Across from him, Ayame stood from the semi-lean she'd been in when her fist had crashed into him. The kunoichi crossed her arms with a huff, looking at Naruto with an annoyed glare as he wobbled back upright.
"Wow. You're pathetic aren't you." She said simply. Naruto stiffened at her words. Ayame went on, "You're not Uzumaki Naruto. Uzumaki would've at least scratched me by now. You've done nothing but run away." A cold look settled over her. "Fight seriously, otherwise I'll kill you now."
Naruto growled low in his throat, returning the kunoichi's glare with one steely blue eye, the other hidden by his long hair. The thing was, he would've loved to go all out against Ayame, but the problem was Kakashi.
'Why in the nine hells are you worried about him of all people?' Kyuubi asked, speaking for the first time in awhile, having just been lurking in the back of Naruto's mind watching the fight progress. Now Ayame's threat had the fox worried, not for Naruto per say, but for his own continued existence, since if Naruto bit it, the demon would die as well. Both of the two in Naruto's mind knew that Ayame was more than capable of killing the blond in that moment.
'He's fighting Sasame,' Naruto replied simply, making the demon cock his head in puzzlement.
'So? It's not like the Copy-Nin would fall so easily.'
Naruto flicked a quick glance at the demon. 'Think furball. Remember what happened last time we fought Sasame?' The genin felt a ripple in fox's youki, the chakra responding to the demon's surprise.
'Damn,' he swore, 'I did forget.' The massive beast looked down at the man who was almost a carbon copy of the blond bastard who'd put the demon here in the first place. 'What're you going to do?'
'I can't fight Ayame full-on right now because that would drain me of chakra, and I'm already a little tired from fighting Kakashi.' As if to illustrate his point, the bell hanging from the man's belt jingled as a gentle wind passed through the massive trees in the forest. 'Besides, if it comes down to Kakashi knocking Sasame out, I'm gonna need all the chakra I can get.'
Kyuubi sighed, grinning slightly. Naruto, his attention elsewhere, didn't notice. 'Fine then.' The fox said, raising himself up off his massive haunches. The former missing-nin looked up, puzzled as his tenant moved forward, one long tail coming down to brush him back. 'If you're so worried about the red bitch, I'll deal with this one.'
'Kyuubi?' Naruto asked. It was the first time this had happened. Normally Naruto would just hand control over, or the demon would tell the blond ahead of time that he wanted to come out to play. Never before had the Nine-Tailed Fox just randomly decided to take over.
'Shut up, brat.' The demon said roughly, his sarcastic manner back in place. 'Why should I let you have all the fun?'
The haze of chakra swirling around the pair's ankles shifted, blue human chakra sinking below the angry red of the youki.
Outside, Ayame watched with one eyebrow raised as Naruto's head lowered, throwing his eyes into shadow. "So, you're not going to fight seriously then?" She asked. One hand tensed and curled, a series of audible pops filling the air as the bones in her fingers cracked. "Well then," the hand raised, the blue nail-polish glinting in the filtered sun, "I guess it's time to say good-bye!" Ayame charged, her hand drawing back to spear through Naruto's throat.
"Sorry. Neither of us is ready to die yet."
Ayame's eyes went wide when Naruto's hand snapped up and caught her wrist in a vice. She didn't even have time to wonder at what had happened before the blonde's other hand began moving, becoming a faint blur as he drew back and landed a crushing blow in her stomach. Ayame flew back, blood bursting from her mouth just before she crashed to the ground in a heap a few feet away.
Naruto stood up, raising his head to reveal slitted red eyes and thickened whisker marks. When the blonde's mouth parted again, the brief glint of fangs could be seen.
"Get up, wench," the fox growled with Naruto's mouth. "I'm going to make sure that you suffer."
Ayame's crimson eyes went wide as the sudden change in Naruto's voice and demeanor.
"Just who are you?" She asked, having never met the true Kyuubi, only knowing Naruto when he was crazed on the demon's chakra and the base instincts that came with it.
Kyuubi cackled menacingly. "That's right. We've never been properly introduced." His head tilted back and to one side, red eyes lighting up with an insane light that was reflected in his grin, which only stretched wider. "Hello, my name is Kyuubi."
Ayame only had time to gasp before the form before her simply vanished.
Kakashi's hands stopped flying and he held his right hand straight down, gripping it with his left. Now they were going to see just how good this girl was.
"CHIDORI!" Kakashi roared, lightning flaring to life in his hand, the signature chirping noise that gave the justu its name filling the air.
"Wow! That's pretty good, Kaka-jii!" The red kunoichi cried, actually leaning forward to get a better look at the jounin's one and only original jutsu as it sparked and crackled.
Kakashi's eye twitched this time. 'Again with the old comments!' He thought annoyed. Seriously, did he really look that old? Must be the silver hair. He shook off the thoughts and returned to the task at hand, namely running this girl through!
"Oh WOW!" Sasame said happily as she casually jumped over Kakashi's thrusting arm, even using it as a boost to jump even higher. She spun around in the air as the jounin from Konoha skidded around, raising his hand in preparation for another pass. "That's a pretty good jutsu!" the happy girl commented. She folded her arms, hands vanishing from sight in her baggy sleeves. Kakashi wasn't fooled. His Sharingan was picking up odd bulges in the fabric that pointed to hands making seals.
Sasame continued, "Still, it won't save you!" the missing-nin threw her arms backwards. "Senbon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The sleeves came forward and Kakashi's mismatched eyes showed his shock as a veritable hail of senbon shot from the sleeves and streaked for him, visible only because of the glints in the air as the sun reflected off the weapons. Sasame stopped her attack and folded her hands behind her as Kakashi's needle-ridden body, looking more like a mutant cactus than a human, thudded to the ground.
The girl looked put out. "Aww," she groaned, her green eyes showing genuine dismay. "He's done already? I thought the Copy-Nin would put up a better fight." Sasame shrugged. "Oh well. Better check on Sis." With that she blurred out of sight.
Ayame looked frantically around for the possessed shinobi she was fighting. Somehow she knew that this wasn't going to be easy. There was no hide or blonde hair of her opponent in sight.
"Know what?" A brassy voice asked in her ear. "I'm not over there." Ayame flinched and whirled, but Kyuubi was already gone. A small noise made her look behind her, but there was no one there.
The blue-clad kunoichi could feel her pulse beginning to quicken, pounding against her ribs like a caged bird that wanted out.
A twig snapped.
Ayame hurled a shuriken and hit nothing but leaves.
Kyuubi's voice rang out again, seeming to come from everywhere at once. "Now where did you get that I wonder?" Ayame hurled another star in the direction she thought the voice was. Cackling filled the area. "I see now. You're using seals on the heels of your hands, just like that Uchiha bastard does. Clever, but the seals aren't as complex as that brat's are. Yours must draw from a stash somewhere, almost like a summoning seal."
"SHUT UP!!" Ayame shouted as she brushed her fingers across the almost unnoticeable seals and brought forth enough shuriken for a whole volley, wasting no time throwing them in every direction.
Hidden on a branch that was only large enough for one person, Kyuubi watched with his chin propped on one hand, smiling in a not-so-pleasant manner, and sitting Indian style. The smile turned into a smirk when one of Ayame's shuriken whizzed past him, lodging with a 'clunk' in the trunk just inches from his cheek. The fox chuckled softly at the woman's desperation as she fell deeper into the web he was spinning for her. Unlike Naruto, who was more of a tank than a stealthy strategist, Kyuubi preferred to break his opponents by spooking them until it drove them mad. If that didn't work, then, and only then, did he crush his prey with his power.
Ayame couldn't keep her cool any longer. Her eyes were darting to every noise in the forest, sounds that she would ordinarily ignore, aldrenalin flooding her systems, making her heart beat faster than ever and making her breath come in short, rapid, gasps.
There was a way to force the fox demon out, but she didn't like to use it because it meant that she would be laid up for weeks. Not to mention that Ayame would forfeit control during that time and more than likely destroy everyone and everything in the area. Not something that she wanted to do if she didn't want the whole of ANBU coming down on her like a ton of bricks.
She growled in frustration and, though she wouldn't admit it outright, a little fear, as another of her shuriken whizzed off into space. Laughter from the demon filled the air.
"Wow," he commented, and though Ayame couldn't see it, cat-like eyes following the spinning weapon's progress. "Keep this up and you might actually hit me!" He paused for a second then added, "Or make me die of laughter, I don't know which."
Kunai appeared from thin air as Ayame shifted the way her chakra interacted with the seals, allowing her to draw on a different type of weapon. "Dammit, show yourself already if you're so confident!" She hurled one of the knives, succeeding in only abusing the air. Again. "Or are you too chicken!?"
Kyuubi's hand twitched as Ayame's remark hit his one true weakness. His ego. All demons were notorious for being proud of their power and combat skills, so the surest way to get one mad and make a mistake was to piss him or her off. Of course, that was a double-edged sword as a mad demon tended to kill the offender in a gruesome manner. And the offender's mom and dad, aunt and uncle, grandma, and the third cousin three times removed, and anyone else who happened to be in the vicinity at the time.
"Chicken?" he repeated softly, as Sasame arrived next to her sister and the two began conversing in hushed tones that even the fox's sensitive hearing couldn't pick up. "Me? The greatest of all the Bijuu? Chicken?" Rage erupted inside of the demon, making his chakra, until now so carefully controlled and hidden to better spook Ayame, begin to leak out of him.
Inside the shared mind, Naruto sighed and shrugged helplessly. 'Oh boy,' he thought to himself. 'Now she's gone and done it.' Kyuubi was most certainly a fierce fighter, and he usually had an extremely tight control on his anger and other emotions, but when it came to his pride, it didn't take much to piss off the fox. Sometimes he was worse than Naruto when he'd been a kid, or Chouji whenever someone called him fat.
Ayame and Sasame abruptly stopped talking after they both sensed a powerful and ominous chakra nearby. They looked at each other, grinning, both now knowing where the demon was hiding. Sasame's sleeves came together again, bulging here and there as she made various hand seal while Ayame brushed her fingers over the seals on her palms, bringing out another set of shuriken.
Being sisters, and thus able to read each other like a book, no signal passed between them. Both just launched their attacks simultaneously. Senbon spewed from Sasame's sleeves like rain and mingled with the shuriken that Ayame had thrown. Both girls smiled, one more of a smirk, the other so cheerful it was scary, but the smiles quickly faded when a roar boomed from the spot, the undertone of a higher shriek making their hair try to stand on end.
A massive pulse of power erupted from the branch that concealed Kyuubi, blowing all of the senbon and shuriken away in one massive strike. The women braced themselves against the shockwave as it blasted over them, making the flaps on their dresses ripple and snap. A shadowy form dropped down and landed in a crouch before straightening up.
Red chakra began to swirl around the Kyuubi's borrowed body as he prepared to show these insolent girls why he was known as the strongest of the Bijuu.
Killing intent slammed into the Twins like a hammer, knocking the wind from them just by being touched by it and Kyuubi spoke, his voice hard and cold, containing none of the sadistic pleasure that a predator derived from playing with its prey. Now it was serious. "I hope you've both filled out your wills." The fox growled softly, the waves of killing intent streaming from him like a hurricane-tossed ocean becoming even stronger.
The chakra, before now just a nebulous vapor, took on the shape of a fox, the most prominent features being the tail and ears. The tail lengthened until it was visible behind the demon. Then the tail bulged in the middle, becoming wider and wider until a gap appeared and the tail split in two. That was followed by the chakra around Kyuubi becoming even more defined.
"Sis…I don't like this!" Sasame cried to her sister. Ayame could only nod, her red eyes wide with fear. The last time she'd fought Naruto, four tails had appeared and the blond had gone completely berserk. It had seemed to her that the boy had, at the time, not had a full grasp of how to use the demon's youki. Now she was facing the demon himself, who knew how to use his power. Something told her that this was going to get rough.
"Don't be nervous, Sasame," the kunoichi said with a confidence she didn't feel. "There're two of us and one of him."
"So why not even the odds?" A new voice asked calmly.
All three looked at the tree trunk behind the angry demon and saw the bark on the trunk ripple as Kakashi strode forward from behind his genjutsu.
"Huh?" Sasame gasped, pointing a finger at the jounin, apparently at a loss for words. She whirled and looked down at the area where she and the masked man had been fighting. Where Kakashi's corpse should have been, there was only a needle filled log.
Kyuubi watched passively as the Konoha-nin strode up to stand beside him. The demon snorted, turning back to the two kunoichi,
"Naruto's always bitching about how late you are. Guess you stay true to form, even in battle."
"Be quiet." Kakashi bit out. He had no problem in dealing with Naruto, but the lanky man had no patience for the demon who'd stolen his friend and mentor away for good. He snorted, knowing that the blond would be able to hear him. "Besides, I had a good reason this time."
'What?' Naruto asked, Kakashi heedless of his wondering. The blond genin looked up at the massive demon. 'Hey furball, tell him it's about damn time!' The fox sighed, not liking having to play the messenger boy.
"He says that it's about damn time." The fox repeated, looking over at the masked ninja. That was when he noticed what had taken Kakashi so long. He let off an amused chuckle. "I see. So that's what took you so long, huh?" The Nine-Tails snickered again, one fang glinting in the filtered sun.
Kakashi nodded. "Sadly I haven't been able to find a way to shorten the time it takes to bring it out."
"Well, just don't overdo it, Scarecrow. I don't want to have to lug your dead weight to the tower because you over used the Mangenkyou Sharingan." A wind passed through the area at the Kyuubi's words, as if heralding an ominous outcome.
Both of the kunoichi were frozen with the Kyuubi's pronouncement.
'A Mangenkyou Sharingan,' Ayame though in something close to awe. She'd only heard rumors of the legendary form of the Uchiha Kekkei Genkai. 'This isn't good. We're facing a demon and a man with a Sharingan of unknown abilities. Kyuubi is death in physical form and Kakashi isn't a slouch either.' She let out a sound that was almost a growl from deep in her throat. 'Dammit! I've heard rumors about that thing. A Mangenkyou Sharingan and the Kyuubi. It's too much, we'll have to continue this another time.'
"Sasame!" The red kunoichi looked over at her sister.
"Yeah?"
"We're pulling out. This has turned against us." The two turned their backs and prepared to leave. Ayame pointed a threatening finger over her shoulder. "Don't think this is over, bastards!" A flicker of chakra and the two were gone in a Shunshin no Jutsu.
The other pair, one shinobi and one demon watched without any sign of wanting to give chase.
Kakashi spoke, "I'm surprised that you didn't go after them."
Kyuubi snorted in derision as his chakra faded from sight. "Keh. It was never the plan to take those two on at once. Naruto wants to wait until the Third Exam when he can get them one-on-one."
The lanky jounin shrugged as he made a peculiar hand seal and brought it up to his eye for a moment before dropping it and revealing his usual Sharingan. While that happened, Naruto's hair lost its wild look, his fingernails returned to a more acceptable length and his eyes bled back to blue, the pupils becoming circular again.
Kakashi smiled as his former subordinate stretched and arched, letting off a sigh of contentment when a series of audible pops filled the air.
"Ah. That's better," the genin said happily. He looked over at Kakashi with mischievous eyes. "Now, where were we?" Before Kakashi could answer, shouting cut him off.
"Hatake-san! Naruto-san!" Tessai and Kisuke appeared moments later, Moegi and Konohamaru on their backs. "Are you two alright?"
"Yes, why?" Kakashi asked.
"We felt immense chakra coming from here, so we decided to come and investigate! Where's the enemy?"
"Gone, for now." Naruto answered as he walked forward a few paces from his place at Kakashi's side. He turned around, drawing a kunai from the holster on his right leg, grinning at his former mentor. "Now how about we get back at it?" Naruto's eyebrows raised a moment later when Kakashi did nothing but examine the back of his gloved hand. "Hey! Kakashi-sensei! I said are you ready?"
"Sorry Naruto," the jounin replied lightly, the tone in his voice screaming at Naruto that something was up. The silver-haired man had used that tone before when Team Seven had first formed, and it usually meant trouble for Sasuke, Sakura, and him. "This battle's over." To illustrate his point, the masked shinobi held up his right hand.
Dangling from it was a tiny silver bell with a red cord.
"Wha…?" Naruto looked down at his belt loop. Sure enough, the little noisemaker was gone. He whipped his gaze back to Kakashi. "How?"
Kakashi gave him an eye-smile as he pulled his hirai-ate back into its usual place. "Just now when you popped your back," he said cheerfully. He moved his wrist, making the bell jingle. "Looks like you've still got some training to do Naruto."
Moegi and Konohamaru could only look on at their idol's face, looking distinctly forlorn and downcast. Kakashi stepped forward, his sandals clunking dully on the wood of the branch. "What did I tell you, Naruto?" He asked. "A shinobi must be aware of his surroundings at all times."
Everyone looked at the blond quizzically when he grinned suddenly. "That's true," he said, still keeping his head down. "But you also told me something else. Way back during our very first bell test. Remember?"
Kakashi thought back through the years until he arrived at the memory Naruto was talking about…
Twelve-year-old Uzumaki Naruto dangled upside down, caught in the rope trap Kakashi had set for him, using one of the coveted bells as bait. The impulsive child had seen the bell and gone right for it, landing him in his current predicament. Now he was busy swearing up a storm using words that no child should've known and putting said words together in strings that would singe the ears off a sailor.
"Y'know," Kakashi said conversationally as he picked up the bell from the ground and tied it back to its place at his hip. "You're not very good at this are you?"
"Screw you!" Naruto shouted defiantly.
Hatake chuckled, the kid reminding him a lot of his old friend Uchiha Obito. "Sorry Naruto, I don't swing that way." The remark set Naruto off again, his swearing growing even worse. Kakashi just watched him with an amused look in his eye. "Remember this, though, a shinobi must see through deception."
"A shinobi must see through deception," Kakashi murmured, wondering how that phrase applied to this situation.
The answer almost seemed to be a signal because the bell in Kakashi's hand exploded at that moment and the Copy-Nin felt his arm be grasped and immobilized by something. When the smoke cleared, Hatake couldn't believe his eye. A Kage Bunshin was latched firmly onto him and was showing no sign of letting go. The real Naruto walked casually over and, just as easily, sliced the bell free from the jounin's belt. The son on the Yondaime retreated a few paces out of reach and only then did the clone dispel.
Naruto laughed softly at the look on his former mentor's face. "Sorry Kakashi-sensei," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "You lose this one."
The jounin quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? And how do you figure that? You only have one bell." He pointed out. Tessai and Kisuke, having seen the test appear to be over, let Naruto's two teammates go.
"True," Naruto admitted, "but the other bell is in the area. Closer than you might think, too."
"So where is it?" Konohamaru asked.
Naruto's face broke into a fox grin. "Check your pocket." The other genin did so and, to everyone but Naruto's surprise, withdrew a tiny silver bell. The blond took the noisemaker and held it up, giving it a ring. He waited for Kakashi's confirming nod before he tossed the two bells back to his former mentor.
"Impressive." Kakashi said as he stowed the bells in his pocket. "When did you switch them?"
"Right after our battle started."
Everyone present just gaped. Konohamaru made a sudden noise of understanding. "So that's what you slipped in my pocket just after that one guy threw you!"
"You got it," Naruto answered, nodding.
"And that's why you took you cloak off," Kakashi said in a sudden realization. "It was to let me see the bell so I wouldn't have suspicions about a switch!" Naruto's repeated fox grin was all the confirmation he needed.
"So what about the smoke bombs?" Moegi asked.
"Simple," Kisuke answered, now seeing the full scope of Naruto's plan. "It was to hide the fact that he made a Kage Bunshin and had it use a Henge to turn itself into a bell. Naruto-san planned to let Kakashi get his bell in the first place so he could take Kakashi's!"
"You got it!" Naruto crowed. He looked over at the dumbfounded jounin, who was having trouble believing he was outwitted by someone who'd never been one for strategies. "Now, about that scroll you owe us…"
"Wow, Naruto-aniki, that was really something!" Konohamaru exclaimed, looking at the Heaven Scroll that Naruto had taken from Kakashi as he reward for winning the bell test.
The blond just grinned happily before putting the scroll in the pocket with the Earth Scroll. "Amazing what five years of traveling will do, isn't it?" Now the three were moving through the forest, on their way to the central tower to claim their spot in the Third Exam. Naruto was once again in his cloak; having retrieved the garment from the forest floor after Kakashi and his jounin squad had left. Ayame and Sasame were nowhere with sight or sensing distance, so Naruto, for the first time since the exams had begun, was allowing himself to relax.
Another day passed and the three shinobi finally arrived on the threshold of the massive tower that sat in the exact center of the Forest of Death. It hadn't been an eventful travel. After acquiring the scroll they needed from Kakashi and his team, Naruto had set a hard pace, moving only at night and sticking to the shadows, driving his team to the brink of exhaustion more than once. Konohamaru had questioned why they just didn't take a straight route in instead of going in circles like Naruto seemed to be making them do. Naruto's answer had been short and to the point,
"I don't wanna lose the scrolls."
That had been more than enough reason for the other two and they followed on without much more complaint. Now the three, two too tired to even think about standing anymore, and the veteran of the group, who'd done this more than once over his five years from Konohagakure and didn't seem the least bit bothered. Naruto looked back at his two companions and his eyes, until now the hardened blue steel of a missing-nin, softened and he grinned.
"Well, you two ready?" The rookies nodded, their throats suddenly dry. What awaited them on the other side of this door? An ambush or a vicious monster, something…worse? The answer turned out to be relatively tame. It was a simple room, nothing but bland dirty white walls, with balconies high up. On the wall was an inscription and, after reading it, Konohamaru decided that he couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"What's it mean, Naruto-aniki?" Moegi asked for the both of them. The blonde's only reply was to pull out the two scrolls from the zippered pocket on his pants, where they'd remained since coming into the team's possession.
"Why don't you two find out?" he asked, holding the twin rolls of parchment out to them.
The pair looked at each other before shrugging and taking one apiece. They looked at their teammate with puzzled glances.
"Now what?" The Sandaime's grandson asked.
"Open them."
Moegi protested. "But that crazy jounin said…"
"Not to?" Naruto finished, to which both nodded. "I know. Just trust me and open them." The couple exchanged one more apprehensive look before Konohamaru shrugged and broke the wax seal on the Heaven Scroll. When the world didn't end, Moegi followed his lead.
"Huh?" the pair said together, looking at the weird kanji written on the inside of the scrolls. "What's…." Konohamaru trailed off when the seals on both Heaven and Earth scrolls began smoking.
"Throw them over there," Naruto instructed, hoping that whichever poor bastard was called by this would decide to pop out while the scrolls were airborne.
'You have to admit that it would be funny.'
Naruto just shrugged, a small smile on his face at his tenant's remark. The genin had to admit, it would be pretty funny, he had to admit. Maybe if he failed this exam, he would try it and see what happened.
The scrolls fluttered to the floor with a gentle rustling and the smoking grew worse.
"Naruto-aniki…" There was a worried tone to Konohamaru's voice as he grew more and more against the idea of opening these scrolls by the second.
Naruto just nodded at the smoking paper. "Just watch."
As if on cue, the scrolls exploded with a loud 'BANG!' and the shinobi smoke intensified and expanded. Moegi and Konohamaru coughed and hacked as the smoke washed over them, but Naruto just waited to see the shape in the fog he knew was there. Slowly, as if time was lagging, the figure in the smoke became clear. For a fleeting instant, Naruto wondered if the person greeting them would be Iruka-sensei, like it had been the first time he'd taken the exam. Those thoughts were cut short when he recognized the figure in the smoke.
A figure with a short spiky ponytail that stuck straight up.
Naruto grinned and yelled his friend's name, "Shika!"
And thus endeth Chapter 10. Thank you all for being so patient with me. I know it took me way longer than normal to update, but what can I say? School's a bitch, especially with college mid-terms. Wow. Seventy-one reviews so far for the story...I have to admit, I never thought this thing would do so good. The number of reviews isn't that huge, but it's still a solid number, and so to all you, the readers, I give you my thanks and please keep up the good work. So what to look forward for? Well, I've hinted at some hidden abilities for both Ayame and Sasame. Sadly, you will have to wait a while to find out. . Oh, one more thing, my Japanese sucks, so if I completly butcher something, please correct me. In a constructive way of course. I have decided that there shall be NO Prelims for the Third Exam. I want to get past this thing and move on with the story. I think that's it. Glossary time!
Glossary:
Mangenkyou Sharingan: The highest form of the Sharingan. Usually obtained by killing one's best friend. After obtaining the eye, the user's eyesight begins to deteriorate at a rate that only gets faster with usage. The only way to stop the deterioration and restore eyesight is to take the Mangenkyou Sharingan from a sibling. The Mangenkyou Sharingan grants the weilder a whole plethora of ablilities. Uchiha Itachi can summon black fire, torture you in genjutsu, or do other things that I'm not gonna explain here. Kakashi's Mangenkyou can transport a victim into another dimension, however this comes at a high cost in both stamina and chakra. It is unknown if he has other techniques.
Senbon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Senbon Shadow Clone Technique/Skill): An original jutsu that is almost exactly like Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu except it uses needles. It also takes less chakra to use because senbon are smaller than shuriken and there are more of them. Not sure if this is only unique to Sasame or what. Whether it is or it isn't remains to be seen.