NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
The Third Test Part 3
Preliminary Round 9…
"Well… it's confirmed that Kabuto is definitely dead," Anko informed her team and the rest of the Jonin and Genin standing on their walkway, hands in her pockets and looking quite proud of herself. "And boy… the clean up crew said that his body was the best damn corpse they had inspected so far…"
"How bad was it?" Kiba asked curiously, earning strange glances from his friends.
"Do you really want to know? Really? Kiba?" Sakura asked. "I mean, the guy got tossed around like a ragdoll out there and still managed to get up. What does that tell you? His insides are probably jelly by now…"
"Well, you're not wrong there, pinky," Anko exclaimed, rubbing the back of her head and grinning widely. "Actually, accounting for all of the major damage, his entire front body was deep fried like a Sunday barbeque, the organs inside his ribs exploded, and the entire inside of his head was reduced to nothing but juices. On top of that his bones broke like chopsticks and he voided his bowels. I have to say, it was not fun moving the body from this room…"
Choji took a second to walk over to the railings and throw up over the side, while everybody else turned several different shades of blue and white, including Asuma, who lit a cigarette to compose himself. Kiba held in his lunch, and Ino nearly passed on. On the other hand, Neji was lucky that Gai was behind him to catch him when he nearly fainted. The Sand Siblings, who had joined them several minutes earlier to check on their friend, were now feeling a little bit queasy from the description, except Gaara who was able to hold it together. The beating Kabuto received was perhaps the worst carnage the Rookie Nine had ever seen and heard of in their entire lives, and it was all thanks to one of them.
"Did you at least get the head for me…" a low groan echoed from below. Anko and everybody else looked down to see a now conscious Naruto lying slumped up against the wall. His head was awkwardly leaning to the side, yet a grin remained plastered on his exhausted face. "Hi all…"
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed, swooping down and embracing him in a tight hug. Sakura and Kin followed with the young Genin chuckling as he rested into their loving embraces. However, after a few seconds the three girls pulled away, puzzled.
"Man… why are you so slack all of a sudden? Your arms stopped working?" Sakura asked.
"Oh right…" Naruto replied while unintentionally looking down at his body when he suddenly slumped over. Kin slowly bent him straight back up so that he could look at everybody else standing around him. "Thanks Kin-chan… I… well… to be blunt, I can't move…" the blonde said.
Everybody stared as he looked around, his face being the only thing he was able to apply movement to. With great effort, the boy attempted to move his right arm, but was only able to move his fingers. The rest of his body was sore and numb all over.
"Seriously? You can't move?" Kiba asked, with Choji coming to stand next to the Inuzuka, wiping his mouth clean.
"Yup. I won't be able to move for the next twenty-four hours. The best I can do from here on out is rest it off," Naruto replied. He then noticed the lecherous grins from Anko, Sakura, Ino, and a lot of the other people who wanted to cause the by some grief. The blonde groaned in dismay, now wishing he hadn't said that. "Oh God… please no…"
"NARUTO-KUN!" Ino shouted, diving at him and kissing him full on, on the lips. The blonde went wide-eyed and nearly passed out again altogether, whereas everybody either looked away or just took photographs. Well, Anko did anyway, everybody else just waited awkwardly.
"Excuse me!" Ryoko called up to the group on the walkway. Everybody turned to see the red head glaring up at them for being ignored, and gestured over to the display board with the next two names on it. "Which one of you guys is Shino?"
Everybody parted a bit and let their quietest member step forward, his hands in his pockets and stoic expression in constant play. He looked down at the arena floor, making sure he was visible. The swordswoman smiled and nodded her head, and turned towards the other balcony, where the Kiri Ninja were standing. "Yo, whoever is named Miki, come on down…"
The blind girl from the Kiri team raised her hand. Slowly, with the directional aid of Eclipse, began making her way down to the arena floor via the stair case. Shino did so to, with everybody else watching as the girl tapped her way using the stick and the walls to find her way. Kiba snorted and folded his arms.
"This ought to be good…"
"Hey, go easy on her," Sasuke said, thumping the boy in the shoulder, hard. The boy winced and rubbed the bruise.
"She may be blind, but she was able to get through the Forest of Death without a scratch," Tenten said, analyzing the girl as she slowly walked down the stairs. "That's saying something about her actual abilities…"
"Or her teammates helped her," Sakura suggested, shrugging.
"Either way, this next battle should be interesting," Kakashi murmured. The teams returned to the balcony's railing, with Temari, Kin, Sakura and Hinata hanging back to take care of Naruto, and help him up to watch the next fight to come.
When Shino reached the center of the arena and waited patiently for his opponent, it took the girl named Miki about twenty minutes to actually make her way down the stairs, and navigate her way across the arena. It took the kimono wearing girl some time, but she eventually managed to find her place in front of Shino, and stood patiently, holding onto her staff, her parasol fixed on her back. Ryoko nodded as she looked between both of them, seeing Shino staring passively at his opponent, and Miki fidgeting nervously.
"Alright then… if we have no objections…" Ryoko raised her hand, and dropped it as per her routine. "Begin…"
Shino assumed a stance, watching as his opponent backed away a bit, looking away under his intense glare. Everybody at this point was having doubts about whether this girl would be able to put up a good enough fight, let alone a fight at all. Shino was incredibly strong, and a lot of the Genin knew that for sure, perhaps one of the strongest of the Rookie Nine next to Naruto. Even so, if this girl wasn't even going to attack, then they might get a limited scope as to how strong Shino actually was now.
The boy's glasses flashed as he stared at the girl. After about five minutes, everybody sort of lost interest, and began staring bored down at the pair. Since Naruto's battle, the remaining battles didn't seem like much at this point.
"If you do not wish to fight… you may throw in the towel," Shino stated, seeing the girl look in his direction. "I don't want to hurt you if you do not wish to fight back. Even then, I don't wish to cause you any unnecessary harm…"
Miki looked the by in the eyes or… well… stared, and smiled a few seconds later. Blushing lightly, she nodded her head.
"Y-You're very kind… I can respect that," she timidly replied. "Only really strong ninja can m-make such an assessment… and offer to a-act on it…"
Shino nodded back at her.
"Thank you…"
The white haired girl nodded, and closed her eyes. Her smile became an almost Sai like smile, and she gave her a final answer.
"Now, I'm afraid you're going to die…"
Shino was a bit caught off guard. But then suddenly, the girl exploded into movement. In the blink of an eye, the girl unexpectedly drew a long Iaito from her smooth cut bamboo walking staff, and lunged at him. The Aburame was unable to catch the girl's movements; she was so fast, able to cover the distance of thirty meters between them in a split second. Her body became a blur when she slashed out at him, aiming to slice his head off. Shino, quick as he could, ducked under the blurred slash and leapt forward; avoiding five more slashes she executed in just under a second. Miki's sword slashes were but flashes through the air. While she showed no movement whatsoever other then the last strike, she movements betrayed everybody's eyes due to her incredible speed.
The bug user, barrel rolled in his dive and leapt back to his feet, standing back up and spinning around, obviously startled. Cuts all over his jacket and a lone one across his cheek were a result of avoiding the girl's unexpected and deadly barrage.
"What?"
"What the hell just happened?" Kiba asked loudly, gesturing down at the arena. "Did I just have a stroke or what?"
"I think we all did," Sakura commented, helping to carry Naruto, who was looking down at Miki, stunned. In fact, everybody was in states of shock including the Sand Siblings, having not expected the girl to explode with such speed and movement.
"Yosh! She is incredibly fast!" Lee shouted. "Not even I could keep up with her!"
"She just ran forward, and lunged, but Shino looks like he just leapt through an electric pencil sharpener! What is up with that?" Shikamaru asked, looking up at Asuma who was also scratching his head.
"It was there, I could see it," Asuma stated, looking over at Anko and Kakashi, both of them now woken up by the girl's speed. Kakashi looked over at his friend and nodded silently in agreement, before looking over at Anko.
"That wasn't one attack, it was six," Anko stated, alarming the Rookie Nine.
"Six?" Temari shouted, trying to recall the attack pattern. But there was none. "I'm pretty sure it was one lunge!"
"No… it couldn't be," Naruto said, shaking his head, trying to wake himself up. He looked up at Temari, who was standing next to Hinata supporting his left side. "It was faint, but definitely, six attacks!"
"But that… can't be," Kankuro said, looking down at the blind girl incredulously. "There's no way that that is human movement!"
"Not even Lee can move that fast," Neji stated with absolute certainty, looking over at his teammate equally surprised teammate. "I caught it… six attacks exactly with just one sword, and she looked like she just did one…"
"Now that is impressive speed," Gai said, taking a better look at the geisha girl as she turned around, her blade flashing through the air as she straightened up, still smiling. "I believe you kids have grossly underestimated this girl…"
Ryoko proctoring the exam, also noticed the suddenly speed displayed by the girl. She furrowed her brow where she stood, suspicious of this Kiri Genin. "Strange… her movements are like Kariya's… but much more defined…"
"This is unexpected," Shino said, taking a stance with both hands held out. On queue, his bugs began crawling out over his skin, in preparation for the battle ahead. "I can now sense your chakra level climbing…"
"Oh… so you're a bit of a sensory type," Miki exclaimed, still smiling as she slowly approached her opponent, her blade's cutting edge crimson with his blood. "So am I. I can sense everyone's chakra in this entire building, including each individual bug of yours crawling around inside of your body." She stopped, allowing her sense of feel to take in her environment.
Everybody noticed the change in her tone of voice. In just a matter of seconds, it switched from a Hinata complex to a completely new, almost Ryoko or Anko persona. The white haired girl chuckled and flicked her sword, getting rid of the blood and holding it up towards Shino threateningly.
"I may be blind, but my sense of feel, hearing, smell and taste are so sharp, I have compensated for the lack of one far greater then normal. I also have high sensitivity to chakra and ki, so all in all… I have a total of eight senses…"
"Eight?" Shino coughed.
"Don't think that I can't see you," Miki hissed, running her tongue along her upper lip. "Your sweat gives you away…"
Not wanting to let this fight drag on, Shino unleashed his bugs, his insects rushing out of his sleeves like clouds, and charging down the girl. Miki acted immediately, leaping to the left and running a semi-circle as the cloud chased her. Gaining enough distance, she spun around and slashed at the cloud with her sword as they surrounded her and swarmed. In swift flashes of light, the girl began cutting down the swarm of bugs, effectively maiming each individual one of them by slicing off their wings. Shino noticed what she was doing and called back his swarm, the cloud parting and revealing Miki standing in the middle without a scratch.
Shino then changed tactics, having the swarm make strafing runs on the girl. But whatever direction they tried, Miki met them, dancing around on the spot and lashing out at the bug clouds, which moved and parted to avoid fatal damage to their individual members. No matter what direction they tried, even on the ground, the bugs were halted by the girls defensive attacks.
The audience watching with intent was visibly disturbed by Shino's inability to touch her, not to mention his sudden withdrawal of his insects had everybody thinking that this girl was way above his league.
The supposedly blind Kiri Genin turned towards Shino and smirked, looking down at the insects whose wings she had cut off, the wounded ones crawling back to their master. She noticed one lagging behind, and without a show of remorse or emotion, stepped on it, grinding it under her sandal.
"Your group has underestimated me completely," she hissed, looking back up towards Shino as his insect swarm hovered around him, and the wounded that managed to get away crawling back into his body, disappearing from sight. "My guise led you into a state of insecurity, and now it will cost you…"
"She's cold and calculative, just like her other teammate," Shino thought, now looking incredibly nervous. "None of my bugs can even get to her, no matter what maneuver they tried. Even on mass she was able to individually cut them down. What is she?"
The girl raised her sword up, running her tongue along its blade.
Shino frowned and drew a cluster of shuriken from his pouch. In one swift motion, he threw them straight towards the girl. Miki smiled and dodged left and right, while walking towards the boy, her katana gleaming. Missing his opponent, Shino then dashed forward, deciding to change tactics against this girl.
He punched out at her, only for the girl to side step and move back, before slashing out at him, the boy was struck right through his mid-section, earning gasps from the crowd, everybody thinking the Genin had bought it. But the Aburame then surprised everybody when his entire body suddenly transformed into an entire swarm of insects, all of them having been packed together to form the copy.
Miki blinked in surprise when she felt the beetles swarm up her sword, up her hand, then her arm, then swarm over her. Staggered, she stepped back and felt the colony of beetles swarm over her, and cover her completely. The real Shino appeared some distance away, glaring at the white haired girl as she writhed underneath might of his swarm. Aiming to support the onslaught, he threw both hands forward and unleashed more of his aerial troops.
Clouds of beetles flew out of his sleeves and charged the girl down, whipping through the air like a plague of locusts. Seconds later, they further engulfed the girl as she collapsed to her knees, the beetles sapping at her chakra, rendering her incapable of defending herself.
"Way to go, Shino!" Kiba shouted.
"Good move!" Anko admitted, smirking. "Being able to create bug clones that sap your chakra the moment they touch you must be a real advantage…"
"That's one of the reasons why the Aburame Clan is one of the most formidable clans in the entire village," Kakashi stated, smiling. "There ability to communicate with insects, the smallest of creatures in the world, is a big advantage for them. It's something very few ninja are capable of outside of their group…"
"That must feel so weird," Ino commented, watching as the black mass of bugs was crawling all over the girl's body.
Watching from afar, Shino examined his bugs' work closely, as Miki collapsed under the sheer numbers of his insects. The amount of bugs he dispatched to take her down would suck her dry of chakra within minutes. However, he immediately detected a rather disturbing problem, and took a cautious stance. Though he could see his bugs engulfing the girl, he came to a rather startling conclusion…
His bugs weren't sucking up as much chakra as he could sense…
Unexpectedly, the swarm suddenly exploded outwards in movement and scattered, as Miki leapt back to her feet and slashed out at the swarms. Her swift flurry of attacks appeared as streaks of light cutting through the air around her, numbering to a defense of a hundred sword attacks, though her stance in everybody else' eyes betrayed to any kind of movement whatsoever.
Shocking the audience, the blind girl drove off Shino's Swarm, even though they had completely engulfed her. Twirling her sword around, she sheathed it, a gust of wind echoing off of her. She then instead locked her sword in her belt, and drew her parasol instead. Flinging it out to her side, the parasol's handle extended into that of a staff, and at its tip, a spear tip appeared. Flashing on its draw, the white haired girl spun her staff around her expertly, before thrusting the end into the ground, cracking the concrete with her tap, as she locked her attention back onto Shino.
While his bugs floated and crawled back to him, Miki smiled at him.
"That's not going to work on me," she said, shrugging her left shoulder and readjusting her kimono. Twirling her staff again, she took it up into a single-handed grip, and jabbed the spear in Shino's direction. "The good thing about being me… is that I don't need chakra to fight…"
Shino furrowed his brow and readied for another bout, the girl twirling her staff around her as she marched towards the boy, the sounds of her footsteps being heard above everything else. The Rookie Nine were now more anxious then ever for Shino, wondering what the boy as going to do next in response to his opponent's immunity to his insects.
The Kiri Ninja's Jonin leader smirked as he observed his student closely, watching her slowly approach her target. "Miki Kageuchi is the most formidable Genin from Kirigakure. She may be of low rank, but her skills and strength excel to that of a Jonin in her own league." He looked down at Eclipse, then towards his other student, both of them watching the match intently. "She has no weakness, and has the most complicated personality, making her incredibly dangerous."
Miki smirked and dashed forward, the speed of her sprint causing her entire form to blur out of sync with time. Shino attempted to counter with a shield of insects to protect him, but the girl swiftly got by it and, with one slash of her spear aimed at his legs, tripping him up as she passed, throwing him face forward. Twirling her staff around, she then jabbed it underneath his stomach and threw him up into the air. The boy flew several stories up before beginning to fall. During which, Miki twirled her staff around expertly and, timing herself, struck out to her side, slamming the staff straight into Shino's chest and propelling him across he arena. He was effectively knocked out before he even hit the ground, his body boundlessly skipping across the concrete surface before rolling to a stop.
After a minute and Shino didn't get up, Ryoko called the end of the match, and those able bodied members of Shino's Team and the Rookie Nine hopped down to the arena to see if he was alright. Miki smiled when she heard his friends come to his aid, and retracted the staff of her parasol, the spear tip disappearing back inside the staff. Casually and care free once more, the girl opened up her parasol and held it above her head, humming to herself as she walked over to where Shino was.
Seeing the end of the round, the Kiri Jonin leader chuckled and folded his arms, nodding his head. "She was expensive to hire, but well worth it… even though she is Kariya's replacement…"
As Kiba, Kakashi, Sakura and Shikamaru checked the boy over, rolling him onto his back and looking to make sure he was really alright, they were suddenly accompanied by his opponent, the four of them looking up at her in surprise when she stopped beside them. That surprise then wore off to suspicion, with a bit of loathing from Kiba to follow.
"What do you want?" he snapped questioningly.
The blind girl smiled down at him and nudged her way passed Sakura. Kneeling down beside Shino, she placed her hand against his forehead, prompting Kakashi to try and stop her from what she was doing, but hesitated when she looked up at him.
"Don't worry… I'm just healing him…" Her hand unexpectedly became engulfed in green chakra as she began running Shino over in a quick fix up, a technique that surprised both Kakashi and Sakura. Shikamaru looked up at the girl with interest and mistrust, but wasn't able to get as far as simple staring when Shino suddenly coughed back into consciousness and looked up at the person healing him.
It was quite a shock for a ninja to actually find out that it was their opponent helping to bring them back to reality. But Shino managed to keep his disbelief in check.
"T-Thanks…" Shino groaned up, watching her run her green hand up and down his chest and head. "But my bugs can handle the rest…"
Miki smiled at him in understanding and stood up, taking her parasol in both hands and twirling it above her. The flower patterned kimono she wore waved about in the light breeze, a rather warming feeling falling over her, which didn't go unnoticed by Sakura or Kiba.
"I'm sorry about squashing your friend; I… may have gotten a little bit carried away. But you fought well…" she whispered. "You're perhaps the first Genin ever to survive my opening attack. There isn't a person alive today who has managed to last more then three moves against me. I can respect that…" Miki blushed lightly and smiled down at the boy. "You're cute. I really like you…"
Kiba and Shikamaru stared oddly at her, while Sakura and Kakashi responded in a reasonably incredulous manner by her sudden personality change from the cold, ruthless fighter she was just a few seconds ago. The white haired blind girl then turned towards Sakura, her empty eyes twinkling.
"May I have a word with you… its important…?"
Catching this, Sakura stood up and stepped towards her. Miki leaned in, with Sakura also leaning in so to hear what the girl had to say. The Kiri Genin smiled as she passed on the message she had to the member of Team 7.
"Tell your boyfriend… I have something I need to say to him, in regards to the swordsman Kisame Hoshigaki…" Miki said, causing Sakura's eyes to widen in surprise and pull back a little. The blind girl smiled at her. "Your team can meet me back in the village at Ichiraku's Ramen."
Sakura watched in quiet surprise as the blind girl walked away and back up to her balcony, this time ascending the stairs perfectly with no difficulty in navigation at all.
Kiba, shaking his head, looked back down at the boy, who had a trickle of blood running from his nose. The Inuzuka raised an eyebrow at his teammate.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked.
"She…likes…me," Shino replied, a little dazedly.
Kiba groaned and looked up to where the white girl was now, being greeted by her teammates and congratulated by her sensei. "Why do girls always go for the weird guys…?"
Final Round…
Temari stood before her opponent, glaring hard at the hooded Kiri Genin, who just stood where he was, silently staring back at her, lifeless. The proctor, the Third and everybody else looking down at the boy were beginning to wonder if was even alive and was being manipulated somehow. However, after a quick go over by those with the Byakugan, they determined that the boy was indeed alive and kicking… well… not so much as kicking, but definitely alive. His stare, however, was throwing off a lot of the competition.
"Next to that Eclipse guy, this one has to be the creepiest of the group," Shikamaru said. Asuma nodded in agreement, and looked up towards the Kiri Team, where he saw Miki humming to herself happily with her parasol still up, Eclipse glaring off to the side and the Jonin sensei of the group calmly staring down at the arena floor.
"It's their team leader that creeps me out the most," Asuma commented.
"Who is he anyway? Why doesn't he just take off that cloak he wears to fight?" Anko wondered.
"Who knows what anybody does these days?" Sakura inputted, looking over at Team 8. "I mean… why doesn't Shino take off his glasses? Why doesn't Kakashi ever take off his mask? We may never know…"
"Hey!" Kakashi looked over at Team 7, seeing the entire group and several other Genin staring in his direction curiously, including the Sand Siblings. "I can take off my mask whenever I want…"
"Then why don't you take it off now?" Anko asked, grinning mischievously.
Kakashi stared back, all of the Genin, including the other Jonin standing around the silver haired shinobi staring at him. Gai and everybody else paid particular interest to the man's face, as neither of them has ever seen Kakashi's real face, even during nights out at clubs whenever he was invited. Whether drinking or eating, nobody could ever catch him. Not to mention at the most important of ceremonies, the masked ninja never removed the cloth hiding the rest of his face.
Coughing into his hand, Kakashi turned away, looking back down at the arena. "Never mind it now… lets just watch the match…"
"Don't change the subject!" Anko snapped, marching over to her coworker, pushing past Sakura, who was holding up Naruto. The blonde groaned when his sensei nudged past, a sharp pain coursing through his body from his back, causing him to yelp. "Come on, Kakashi-baka! Show us what you're hiding! Is it buck teeth?"
"No…"
"Big lips?"
"No…Anko…"
"A mole?" Asuma asked curiously, peering over to get a better angle of his friend's face, seeing that the man was getting a tad bit flustered.
"Oh geez… no…"
"A beard!" Gai exclaimed.
The Genin around Kakashi actually came to agree on this guess, because if the Jonin did have facial hair, it wouldn't look good on him at all if it was ten inches long and hobo like. He would definitely have reason to hide his face then, but maybe not so much if it was just a bit of fuzz.
"For the last time, no!"
"The combatants of the final round of the preliminaries are Temari from the Village Hidden in the Sand and Takagura from the Village Hidden in the Mist!" Ryoko called out, looking between the two Genin, who were still glaring at one another, Temari with her fan in hand, and the hooded boy just staring through the shadows of his mask, his stitched eye twitching. Raising her hand, Ryoko readied herself, drawing the audience's attention back to the arena floor. "You may… begin!" She leapt away, giving them space.
Temari smirked and tapped her large fan against the ground, giving the boy her most intimidating grin. "Alright punk, ready to dance?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
The boy said nothing, which rather irked Temari by the fact that he didn't even do cross-talk in battle.
Clenching her face, the golden haired girl frowned. "Fine then! If you won't make the first move, then I will!" She sprinted forward, bringing her large fan around as she charged. The teams watched in anticipation as Temari leapt through the air and straight towards her opponent, taking her weapon in a two-handed grasp and holding it above her, readying to strike.
It was in that moment of Temari's initiation of her attack that Naruto suddenly caught a spike of chakra spark off of Takagura, alerting him to a second, dangerous presence. Gaara felt it at the same time and gasped in shock, with Shino and Neji also jumping at the sudden leap in the boy's energy level.
"That's…" Shino whispered.
"TEMARI! WATCH OUT!" Naruto shouted desperately, Sakura shifting a bit at the unexpected outburst.
Temari blinked, hesitating. That moment of pause in mid-flight brought her attention to cracks of splitting tiles moving out from the base of her opponent's feet. This was suddenly followed by a blast of debris, as jets of water suddenly shot out of the ground. Reacting quickly, the girl unfurled her face to the full three moons and hopped on. A gust of wind from her chakra propelled her upwards, avoiding the jets of water, and carried her away. The Suna kunoichi, as well as the audience, watched in surprise when water suddenly began filling every corner of the arena's surface, the boy just standing right in the middle of it as the water climbed about two feet, before stopping.
Temari hovered around for a bit, before hopping off of her fan and landing atop of the water's surface lightly, looking up at her opponent in surprise.
"Okay… you've got my attention…" Temari said, the boy continuing to stare at her.
"When did he summon water?" Choji asked. "I didn't see any hand seals?"
"I don't think he needed to," Sasuke said, glancing over at the rest of the Rookie Nine standing around him.
"He is a Kiri Nin, so it's understandable that his specialty should be water based techniques," Neji calculated, rubbing his chin in thought as his Byakugan analyzed the water's consistency and quantity. "It's about time a Genin from that village actually showed this ability. But it strikes me odd…"
"How come?" Lee asked, looking at his teammate.
"H-He didn't form any hand seals, but it is clearly indicated by his sudden rise in chakra that he brought the water into the arena somehow," Hinata said, filling in the blanks.
"He must have been at a disadvantage without it," Tenten said, nodding her head. "Now that he's filled up the arena, Temari has entered his turf…"
The golden haired girl glared at the boy as they both bobbed on the shallow water. After a minute more of staring, the girl grabbed her fan and flung it around, preparing for her next attack. She gritted her teeth as she glared at the boy.
"Alright Moby Dick! Let's see you handle this! Ninja Art!" She thrust her fan out and slashed it across in front of her, a huge gust of wind exploding out from her fan, and twisted and whipped its way towards its target. "WIND SCYTHE JUTSU!"
The blast of wind covered ground in seconds, and cut a huge trench through the water on its approach. However, Takagura did little more then just stand where he was when suddenly, a wall of water shot up between him and his opponent, the wind crashing headlong into the shield. It may have bent it and caused it to ripple violently, but the shield effectively absorbed the force of the attack, and reflected the rest of it in every direction. Temari blinked in shock, while everybody else watching was dumbfounded.
"No hand signs?" Kankuro spoke. "Just who exactly is this guy? That water just jumped up like Gaara's sand!"
"It's the Water Encampment Wall Technique," Kakashi said, folding his arms. "Apparently, in his element, he doesn't need to use hand seals… well… so far anyway…"
Temari gritted her teeth, clenching her fan tightly. "Oh yeah… try this one! YAH!" She attacked again with a powerful blast a wind, the tornado whipping out and charging her target down. However, it was stopped once again by a bigger wall of water that jumped in front of the boy, who glared at her through the barrier. This pissed the girl off a lot, since none of her attacks were able to get through. "DAMMIT! Come on!" She tried again and again, the blasts of wind from her attack forcing the crowds to cover their faces from the debris and water being splashed about.
Each blast marked a new wave and cut new grooves in the shallow water, which evened out seconds later. But again and again, every attack that blasted its way towards Takagura was repelled by his shield, which absorbed the force of her attack every time. However, what pissed her off more then her attacks being incapable of taking down the boy, it was his constant, silent stare. It was starting to unnerve her and the rest of the crowd.
"He's just standing there doing nothing!" Sakura said, Naruto nodding in agreement as he analyzed Temari's opponent. "I mean… it's like he doesn't even care…"
"That brat!" Kankuro growled through gritted teeth, gripping the gauze of his puppet strapped on his back. "I ought' a…"
"Don't interfere…" Baki spoke, looking down at his student, who glared up at him. "Let Temari figure a way around it…"
After countless tries which tired her out, Temari then opted for a different approach. If her blasts of wind couldn't get to her opponent, then maybe something physical will get him to respond. Taking her fan and clamping it, she took it into a two handed grip and dashed forward, deciding to take him on head to head. The audience watched as the girl leapt forward and swung her enormous fan at the boy, aiming for his head. With a loud yell, she struck home, the blow echoing out with a loud bang.
Everybody winced when her weapon connected, and leant in over the bars to see whether her attack had any effect. Temari grinned as she glared at her opponent, knowing that must have done some damage. However, her grin fell and her expression became one of shock. She did manage to hit the boy, even knocking his hood off, but was shocked to find that her attack was stopped by, not an arm or a weapon, but something on his face.
Looking at Takagura's face, plainly unveiled from his hood, the girl saw that his once pale skin of his left cheek had become plated and grey, like an armored shell had just appeared on the side of his face. It was cartilage, definitely, but it wasn't artificial… it was his own, and it just grew through his flesh to defend him from the blow. What's more, he wasn't even fazed by the attack.
"What in the…" The girl began, but was unable to finish. The kunoichi's body shuddered for a brief second when she was propelled off her feet by an unexpected, unknown force, blood spurting from her mouth as she was sent flying across the arena. Temari bounced across the shallow water three times before hitting the wall on the Rookie Nine's side, her collision marked by a loud thud and the cracking of the concrete wall. Crying out in agony she collapsed into the shallow water, a splash accompanying her landing.
"TEMARI!" Kankuro shouted, leaning over the side to look under. Gaara was also shocked, but not as much as the rest of the Genin.
"What was that?" Tenten asked.
"Good question…" Sakura responded.
Everyone looked towards Takagura, wondering if it was his water technique that sent Temari packing. However, when they looked in his direction, they were astounded to see that his right arm was extended into a fist, but not an ordinary one. Looking closely, the group saw that his arm had also become armor plated, with webbing between the fingers like an amphibian and spines growing out of the armored shell of his forearm. The Genin and Jonin managed to catch this sight before it, and the side of the boy's face, reverted back to normal human flesh and form before their very eyes. The arm in question was then withdrawn and hid back underneath the folds of his cloak.
Getting a better look at his face, Ryoko was astounded when she distinctly recognized the person who 'was' Takagura. Her expression showed both shock and terror.
"T-That's… Yagura… Mizukage-sama…" she whispered, unable to doubt her words. She was familiar with the young male's pale face, silver hair and the scar running down from under his eye, ultimately defining the jinchuriki's appearance.
However, she heard years ago that he had died. But here he was, standing right in front of her like a ghost.
However, Ryoko was unable to dwell on or confirm the person in mind when the boy lifted his hood back up and hid his face under shadows, before turning and leaving the arena. During which, the water filling the rectangular chamber receded, leaving Temari lying in a crumpled, unconscious heap underneath the walkway.
The swordswoman proctor, shaking off her astonishment, quickly called the end of the round and went over to see if Temari was still alive, knowing that any ninja who had fought Yagura in the past had a slim three percent chance of crawling away… alive. The rest of the Rookie Nine joined her, while 'Takagura' returned to his companions waiting for him on the other side.
Looking the unconscious girl over, Ryoko then glanced up as Sakura, Hinata, Kakashi, Baki, and the Sand Siblings joined her and knelt beside their fallen friend, with Naruto hanging onto Sakura's shoulders and looking down at his friend with worry and concern.
"She's alive… thankfully…" Ryoko informed.
Sakura held her hands over the unconscious Sand Sibling and began healing her with her Mystical Palm technique. After a quick rundown of the older teen's body and her condition, the kunoichi immediately gave her analysis to everybody standing around her.
"A few broken ribs, muscle damage, a dislocated right shoulder, and a broken left arm," Sakura said, gritting her teeth. "All from one blow…"
"That's insane strength," Kankuro said, glaring up towards the balcony where the Kiri Team stood, staring down at the group gathered around the fallen girl. "Those ninja are not normal…"
"Don't worry about them now, worry about your older sister," Naruto groaned, his head slumping back and forth on his neck as Sakura hobbled around Temari with him hanging off her and Hinata's shoulder. "If I could move, I'd do something about this."
"Well, unfortunately you can't at the moment, Naruto," Sakura sighed, standing up. The teams parted as the medical staff came rushing through. They laid Temari out on the stretcher and marched her out, leaving the remaining Sand Siblings and everybody else quarreling over her defeat and how that Kiri Nin she was fighting was able to do it.
"Just who the hell is he?" Kankuro asked, glaring up at the hooded boy, wanting nothing more right now then to rush up there and tear his arms off. "To be able to beat Temari with so little effort…she's tougher then me, and still got her ass handed to her…"
"Hey, nobody cross-dresses better then you, Kankuro," Naruto said, glancing up at the boy with a snide grin. "But that doesn't mean even your style of fighting will be able to beat that guy's techniques, even if you did have your way with him…"
"HEY!"
"Uzumaki-san is right," Gaara stated, glaring up at his older brother, who looked about ready to impale his fist through Naruto's skull. The blonde grinned cockily from where he hung from Sakura and Hinata, both of them giggling outright. "That Takagura is no ordinary shinobi…"
"No he isn't," Ryoko said, joining the small group in a circle. She looked into the faces of Team 7, the three members of the Sand Team present, Kakashi, Lee and Tenten, all of them now turning to the proctor, giving them her full attention. "That boy, Takagura, is not a Genin and sure as hell isn't a normal Kirigakure boy at all… he's the fucking Mizukage of my former village!"
Kakashi, Baki and a lot of the Genin who knew of her village looked at her in shock.
"What?" Baki choked out.
"The Village Hidden in the Mist's' Kage?" Tenten mellowed over, eyes blinking.
"That boy is Yagura, jinchuriki of the Three-Tailed Giant Turtle and the former, undisputed leader of the Village Hidden in the Mist," Ryoko repeated, her expression reflecting a look of bewilderment of her own. "I'd recognize that scarred little fuck anywhere, even if he was bandaged up and bleeding on a hospital bed. I had to respond to him directly for a while after Kisame deserted the village, right up to his sudden disappearance. His abilities and looks are uncanny!"
"A jinchuriki?" Gaara whispered, looking down at his hands shakily. Trembling from head to toe, he then looked over at Naruto, the boy also looking astonished. "A…A demon… like me?"
"Like both of us," Naruto replied, before looking around at everybody else. "He's like me, holding one of the tailed beasts. I'm not afraid to admit this, because now there are three of us standing in the same room!" The blonde gritted his teeth then looked over at Ryoko, not surprised by the fact that he was now able to move his head about now with little difficulty. "Are you sure it is Yagura? I mean, him being a tailed-beast carrier isn't surprising due to his abilities, but… the Mizukage in the flesh…?"
"I'm not sure if it is him, a doppelganger, a long lost twin or his f&8ing corpse brought back from the dead, it doesn't matter… but if he is my village's jinchuriki, then you've got one tough round on your hands if one of you Genin have to fight him in the Third Stage of the Exams," Ryoko sighed, rubbing her forehead protector and looking around at those Genin who have passed into the next stage of the exams. "With the preliminaries over… and in light of these circumstances… I'm not sure if we should proceed or not…?"
"Keep the exams going," an old, raspy voice spoke up, catching the group's attention. Everybody turned around to see the Third Hokage walking towards them, pipe wedged between his lips and blowing out puffs of smoke. The proctor stepped back and bowed, as did the Jonin as Konohagakure's distinguished leader walked up to the group and looked at them. Taking the pipe from his lips, the old man blew out whatever smoke he had in his lungs and nodded his head. "I see no direct threat to the well-being of the Leaf Village or its people at this point in time, so the continuation of the exams from here on out will bear no ill fruit…"
"But old man," Ryoko spoke up, looking up at the Hokage. "If that brat is the Mizukage from my village, isn't it against the rules for him to participate?"
"Any ninja registered to take part in the exams may compete for the title of Chunin at their own risk and consent. It is by law and sacred tradition that the shinobi villages continue with the exams when within acceptable boundaries or otherwise risk unsettling the peace established between friendly nations, particularly in the case of denying a certain candidate's participation under unsupported grounds of accusations and assumptions. Furthermore, there is no evidence to support that he is the Yagura you claim he is Ryoko, as his identity is registered as the name he signed up as. Not to mention there is substantial evidence from your former village to support the fact that he is indeed a Genin from Kirigakure. The current Mizukage herself confirmed this," Hiruzen said, looking from Ryoko and to the Jonin and Genin present. "If any of you do not wish to continue with the exams may step forward now… if not… we may proceed with the line-up…"
When no Genin stepped forward and no Jonin chose to protest, the Third Hokage nodded his head in understanding and looked at Ryoko, who was looking at Sarutobi with concern. Noticing her displeasure, he leant in and whispered into her ear.
"If you feel uncomfortable with that boy's presence, then I will have an ANBU team keep a close eye on him," he whispered. This earned an affirmative nod from the red-head, to which she then pulled back and turned to the teams present.
"All those who have won their bouts in the preliminaries may stay. Those Genin who have not passed may take their leave. But you don't have to leave if you wish to see the line-up. You may wait patiently on the sidelines while we make the ballet…"
The Hokage, accompanied by the Jonin and the proctor proceeded to the statue, and balanced themselves on whatever stable ground there was around it. It took several minutes, but eventually the Genin who made it through lined themselves up in front of the staff in charge of this part of the exam, and amidst the torn up state of the arena and under the eyes of friends and comrades, stood proudly before the Hokage. Of course, some of the Genin couldn't. Naruto was still being held up by Sakura and Hinata, with their sensei considering to get a broom a prop the by up like a scarecrow. However, his two teammates didn't mind, and the three of them stood together, smiling all the while.
Anko smirked, seeing as that all three of her teammates made it through, before looking over the rest of the competition.
"Hmm… 10 brats made it through: all three from my team, two from the sand team, two from the Kiri team, one from Gai's team, one from Asuma's team and one from Kakashi's team… not too shabby. Looks like all the best made it through," Anko thought, slipping her hands into her pockets. "Those who work hard and have suffered throughout their lives have proven their worth here today, and shall continue to prove themselves far into the foreseeable future…"
"Had fun, Ryoko-chan?" Anko smirked over at her friend, the red head shrugging her shoulders and half-smirking back.
"Loads… although honestly, I was expecting more bloodshed," Ryoko replied.
"Maybe later tonight," Anko licked her lips at her, the woman grinning back. The proctor turned back to the group of Genin, and went on with proceedings.
"You have all fought well today. Those of you who have made it through have demonstrated your strength, ingenuity, and have also shown great resolve on the arena in front of your teammates and fellow shinobi… somewhat." She emphasized the 'somewhat' by glancing in Ino's direction, which the girl responded to by sticking her tongue out and rubbing the back of her head, sheepishly. "It looks like you all desperately want to become Chunin then, eh? Let's see how far you're all willing to go from here on out," Ryoko chuckled, looking at the faces of the ten successors, before pulling a cardboard box out from behind her. "Well, from this point onwards, things will only be getting harder for you lot. Your fates will be decided by a ballot draw! This draw will determine your placement in the Third Exam to be held in Konohagakure's Public Exam Arena, where distinguished village leaders, Lords, wealthy businessmen and shinobi from across the five great nations will gather and watch your matches."
"Huh? Distinguished diplomats?" Ino queried, blinking. "Are we like… being judged publically by these people?"
"It is to raise awareness of other villages' shinobi and how strong their ninja are individually," Ryoko stated, looking from one face to another as she spoke. "You see, sometimes the quality of an individual shinobi can make a huge difference in battle. Whether it is a powerful soldier or a patient general, the excellence of a ninja in the field is determined by the skills they are able to contribute to the mission, breaching the line between success and failure. Hence, you will prove your strengths further by fighting the best of the best: those of you who have passed!" She glared at the ten faces, earning glares back from Gaara, Ino and Kankuro, smirks from Sakura, Hinata and Naruto, and a cheerful humming from Miki, who was still twirling her parasol behind her.
"These will be public matches held in front of hundreds of spectators, where you will be really fighting for your villages' sakes, and for your own honor!" Ryoko continued, walking forward and holding the ballot boxes out to the first person in line. She moved down, each person reaching in and drawing a number.
Ryoko couldn't help herself but stop at Naruto and watch him struggle to grab his number with his face. The swordswoman grinned at his failed attempts to stick his head through the hole in the box, with Sakura, Ino, Kankuro and even Gaara snickering on the sidelines at the boy's cursing.
"Come on, Naruto-kun! You can do better then that!" Ryoko laughed.
"I'm getting there!" the blonde snapped back. He then attempted a different approach.
Sacrificing movement coming back to his left leg, he moved it to his right arm, and he was successfully able to hunch it over and pick a piece of paper out of the box. Shaking her head, Ryoko moved on. Once everybody had made the draw, she stepped back and, setting the ballot box down, pulled out her notepad and pen, and looked up at the participants as they looked down at their numbers.
"Announce your numbers!" Ryoko shouted, "Starting from you, happy!"
She was clearly referring to the ever cheerful Miki.
"I'm number uhh…" She weighed the piece of paper in her hand carefully. "Uhh…umm…! Ten! Ten! I'm ten!"
"Number two!" Ino said, holding up hers.
"Six!" Gaara grunted.
"N-Number nine," Hinata piped.
"Hold on!" Naruto groaned, still trying to unfold his piece of paper with one hand. Eventually using his teeth to aid him, the blonde managed to unfurl it and held it up. "Seven!"
"I'm number five!" Sakura said, waving hers.
"Why is there a drawing of a penis on mine?" Kiba asked, holding up his piece of paper questionably. This earned a snort from Kankuro, a smirk from Gaara, and laughs from Naruto, Sakura and Ino. Anko also burst out laughing, while Asuma pretended to cough on his cigarette to cover up his laughter. Those Jonin standing around Ryoko without a sense of humor, including the Hokage, glared at the red head, the woman grinning back sheepishly, before walking over to the distraught boy.
"Sorry, that was a gag one. I was wondering if any of you was going to be the lucky one to pick it up," Ryoko said, allowing Kiba to make a second pick. He reached in and, after fumbling about for the last slip of paper, withdrew his arm and looked down at it.
Smiling, he held it up proudly. "Three!" Akamaru barked in excitement, tail wagging.
"Number one! YOSH!" Lee exclaimed, thrusting his up with a fist punch in the air and a twinkle in his eye.
"I'm four," Kankuro announced, holding his up before tossing it away. "Geez… second round…"
Takagura looked down at his questionably, before looking up at the woman. "I'm number eight…" he spoke in a husky, very attractive voice. The young teen speaking actually had everyone in the line jump and turn to stare at him in shock. Even the Jonin looked at him in surprise.
"Wow… and I thought the cat got your tongue," Ryoko said, stepping back into the formation of Jonin. "That's not Mizukage-sama's voice at all… maybe I'm just tripping…"
"Alright then, now that that is settled, here is the tally up…"
Round 1: Rock Lee vs. Ino Yamanaka
Round 2: Kiba Inuzuka vs. Subaku no Kankuro
Round 3: Sakura Haruno vs. Subaku no Gaara
Round 4: Naruto Uzumaki vs. Takagura
Round 5: Hinata Hyuuga vs. Miki
"Heh! A very interesting tally!" Ryoko said, stepping away from the whiteboard before turning to the Genin standing behind her and grinning wildly. "This ought to be fun…" She wagged her eyebrows in emphasis to her excitement.
"Alright you brats! You can get lost now!" Anko said, stepping out of the crowd of Jonin, smirking. "You've got one month in preparation for the third and final stage of the Chunin exams… so use your time wisely! While you train or do whatever you have to do to get ready to fight your opponents in the ring, the officials and staff will be getting ready for the day as well, prepping and cleaning up the arena, and gathering the guests during the countdown. This is going to be a big one boys and girls, so don't hold your breath."
"Tournament style, huh?" Kankuro exclaimed, shrugging his shoulders. "Heh… this might turn out to be fun after all…" "Although… if I win… I'll be fighting against the green brat!" He glanced nervously over at Rock Lee, who literally had flames dancing in his eyes and a wide grin in play as he stared at the white board. "Damn…"
"I'm done for!" Ino cried out, staring in grief up at her name. "I'm in the first round! To top it off, I'm fighting against Lee!"
"YOSH!" Lee shouted, bounding his way over to Ino and standing in front of her, giving her the thumbs up and the characteristic Gai grin. "This will be a most youthful confrontation between friends! Train hard Ino-chan! I want to see your flames of youth burning brilliantly as we clash fists!"
"Y-Yeah…" Ino replied, smiling nervously. "Ditto… Lee…" "Heh-Heh-Heh… I'm going to die…"
"So we're against the puppets!" Kiba surmised excitedly, clenching his fist and shaking it. "Perfect! I get to fight the cross-dresser and balance out the scores!"
"It's a traditional bunraku suit you cheeky fuck!" Kankuro shouted, grabbing his black hood and pulling it off, while stomping up to the boy, pushing past Lee and Ino. "SEE!"
"I'm fighting Gaara, eh?" Sakura glanced over at the red head. The sand user was looking back at her with equal interest, scoping out his opponent by appearance and memory of her battle beforehand. The pink kunoichi smirked. "Fine by me…"
"We'll see who's the better, Haruno-san," Gaara chided, obviously satisfied with the match up.
"Well, don't underestimate my teammates, Gaara!" Naruto exclaimed, holding up a fist in declaration while ignoring the lack of feeling throughout the rest of his body. "We'll be training hard to face you in this part! You can count on it!"
"Counting on it," the sand Genin replied, a small smile crossing his lips. "I'll be looking forward to our battles…"
"Who am I fighting?" Miki chirped up, walking over to the board and touching it gently. "I can't… really tell…"
"Y-You'll be fighting me!" Hinata called out, alerting the Kiri girl. The blind kunoichi walked over to the purple haired Genin and leaned in, surprising Hinata and her two teammates when her face came within an inch of the Hyuuga's. Sniffing, Miki tilted her head and smiled, pulling back.
"You seem strong… this will be exciting!" Miki declared in her happy, care free manner, before glancing over at Naruto hanging off of both of his teammates. "And… are you fighting… Takagura-kun?"
"Yeah, and I'm absolutely terrified," Naruto replied jokingly, glancing round to where the hooded boy was. He wasn't surprised when he saw the ominous boy in question glaring back at him with great intensity, earning a grin from the whisker-marked Genin in return. "I really want to fight that guy!"
"Well… good luck, Naruto-kun," Miki said, twirling her parasol around and closing it. "I know you will do well!"
As soon as Miki walked away, Naruto looked between his two teammates, both of them just as anxious and excited about the coming final part of the exams as he was.
"So… who's up for some ramen?"
"You're kidding right?" Sakura asked, looking with an incredulous smile at her blonde teammate. "You can't move and your body is all limp, and all you can think about is food?"
"Just prop me up on the stool and feed a straw to my mouth and I will be fine," Naruto instructed. "But one of you will have to feed me the solids."
"I…I can feed you, Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed.
"Like hell you will!" Ino said, pushing past and up to the three of them. She leaned into Naruto, coming so close their noses literally touched. "You guys have had your fun with him! Now it's my turn!" She giggled happily.
While Ino nuzzled Naruto, Sakura leaned in to him and whispered into his ear.
"I forgot to tell you, that girl Miki wants to meet up with you at Ichiraku's. I figured you would want to get your strength back before you do…" Sakura whispered. Naruto, frowning, nodded his head.
"I think tomorrow would be best. I guess I can hold up on ramen for a day…"
After a bit of groveling between the Genin, as well as some friendly socializing between teammates and alike, the groups were eventually dismissed by the proctors, and were lead out by their senseis. Reuniting with the rest of their friends, the teams hiked their way back to Konohagakure, leaving behind the memories of their battles here.
The cracked walls and floor, and the dried up blood stains all over the place, marking the end of a chapter in their journeys forward…
However, later that night… the tower was infiltrated by an ominous presence, who focused all his attention on the arena where the battles had taken place earlier that day. Walking around, Orochimaru, still disguised as a Konoha Jonin, chipped the dry blood from the floors and walls, getting everything he could and placing them in separate chemical vials. He taste tested each sample, identifying every subject by their blood type.
It was when he came to one of the last samples of the night, he paid particular interest towards it when he recognized it to be Sasuke's. Licking the chips of blood from his tweezers, Orochimaru chuckled and pocketed the sample he collected.
"Kabuto may have failed me… but the exams have provided me with such juicy information," the Snake Sannin exclaimed. Glancing around, he was soon accompanied by his two lackeys Yoroi and Misumi, both of them appearing from the shadows, fully healed and unmasked. The two of them formed up behind thier leader, with the Sannin turning to them with a wide grin on his face. "I understand you were able to acquire some more useful Intel for me?"
"Yes Lord Orochimaru," Misumi said, holding up vials of blood from his pocket. "These are what Kabuto was able to pilfer from the hospital on his last trip; old blood samples taken from the Nine Rookie Genin and the others during their physicals. Guess he left us with a parting gift before he decided to go R.I.P, eh?"
"Hmhmm… oh yes," the Sannin hissed, walking up to the two and collecting the vials. Looking at them closely, the snake then put them away in a special leather case, before glancing over at Yoroi. "With Kabuto gone, that means you can replace him?"
The black eyed man smirked and bowed to the disguised Sannin. "It will be an honor, Lord Orochimaru…"
"Very good," Orochimaru replied, a snide smile crossing his lips. "In light of certain circumstances, we may be in need of some more muscle if we are going to be taking down Konohagakure in the coming month." He looked between his two lackeys, both of them listening eagerly to their master. "Summon the Sound Four and gather the attack forces Misumi!" He then focused attention on Yoroi as Misumi bowed to the Sannin and disappeared in a shunshin to complete his task. "Yoroi, your first mission as my new right-hand-man; I want you to go to the Land of Rice, and find Guren for me. Tell her… I am moving her up the ladder. Then, go to the Land of Grass, and hire the mercenary Kisarabi. I require her services once again…"
Orochimaru chuckled. After watching Yoroi bow to him and take off quickly to complete his task, the Snake Sannin turned towards the broke statue at the end of the Arena, marveling at how it was still able to stand after over a hundred years of punishment in this tower.
"Out of all the rogue shinobi and scum I have hired, I can always count on Guren and Kisarabi to complete a difficult mission for me…"
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Note: Harem stats update (I may have forgotten some girls)
Girls include: Sakura, Hinata, Ino (now I'm definitely sure), Kin, Tayuya, Temari, Tenten, Isaribi and Anko (I'll... figure something out down the line). Then there is Mia, Ryoko, Princess Kasumi, Karui, Samui and more...
Furthermore...
A lot of people are still curious as to where everybody is in terms of strength and skill, especially Naruto, since he's been fighting people many times his strength and beating them. I'll just clarify them here.
I'll be listing people in the story so far using the Ranking Classification. Although it is a bit arbitrary, it will give people a better idea of where everybody stands so far, and defined between low and extremely high. The list includes all those who participated in the exams (not including Jonin, Sannin or other Ninja, as they are in a different league).
Key (lowest-to-highest): D-Rank, C-Rank, B-Rank, A-Rank, S-Rank, SS-Rank (a.k.a Double S-Rank), SSS-Rank (a.k.a Triple S-Rank/Super S-Rank)
D-Rank:
Choji Akimichi - High
Ino Yamanaka – High
Shikamaru Nara - High
C-Rank:
Kiba Inuzuka – Low
Sasuke Uchiha – Low
B-Rank:
Naruto Uzumaki – Extremely High
Hinata Hyuuga – High
Sakura Haruno – High
Shino Aburame – Low
Neji Hyuuga – High
Rock Lee – Extremely High
Tenten - Middle
Subaku no Kankuro – Middle
Subaku no Temari – Middle
Yoroi – Middle
Misumi - Middle
A-Rank:
Subaku no Gaara – Low
Eclipse – Low
Kabuto - High
S-Rank:
Miki (a.k.a new Hurricane of the Hidden Mist swordswoman) - High
Takagura (a.k.a Yagura) – High