I had to rewrite this three times because I was getting tired and frustrated… Sorry if it's not your idea of spiffy. D':
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES! I also do not own any of the OCs introduced within this fan fiction, except the following:
Tsukuyomi Clan
Nero
Daiki
Miyuki
Botan
A/N: Ruriko's POV~
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Chapter Sixteen: To Trust or Not to Trust? Time to Get Serious!
June 24th was a nice warm, summer day with the final round of the Chuunin Exams coming the next day. A festival was in full swing, vendors selling sweets and whatnot to children, families, and shinobi alike. A pretty damn good day.
Up until one point.
I was heading down the street, my arm still bandaged, but out of the sleeve, thank the gods. I was planning on meeting up with Kin and Osamu for some dinner at Ichiraku, but I was jerked by my sore arm into an alleyway. Yea, cliché, right? That's why I thought as I shoved into a wall. I started to yell, then found myself staring up at Daiki, who was smirking.
"Look at you, little niece. You've seemed to have gotten quite a few wounds." He mused, scanning me over. I glared, jerking my arm away from him, wincing a little.
"Shut up! Cut to the chase already." I muttered. Daiki shrugged.
"Fine. I was going to make small talk, but if you're so eager… Looks like the exams are coming to close, hm?" He asked. I scowled.
"That's not the point."
"Nero and Akira. You promised to give them to me once the exams were over." He stated, looking at me seriously. I paused, giving him a sort of 'uh huh, whatever' look before I slowly smiled.
"Of course, I did. I'm a girl of my words. But I meant after the entire exams are finished, not juts the preliminaries. You're going to have to wait for Nero and Akira to be beaten up before you get them." I explained. Daiki smirked.
"Smart girl… But so cruel. You'd really give up your teammates for information?" He asked. I shrugged.
"I gotta do what I gotta do." I answered casually, looking back into the street to see a family of five run by, the children laughing. I frowned. Daiki glanced in their direction before looking back at me with a smug grin.
"Family sounds good right now, doesn't it?"
"Fuck off. I don't need a bunch of worrisome people telling me what to do," I retorted, shoving him away so I headed to the end of the alley before pausing, "I'm my own family. I don't need other people to make me feel special."
"Well said." Daiki said quietly before I left the alley. I frowned to myself, heading back down the street. It was a random meeting that I honestly didn't expect until later on… I sighed, putting my hands in the pockets of my vest as I walked down the street, approaching Ichiraku to find Kin and Osamu already eating. I huffed, taking a seat between them.
"Thanks a lot for waiting, guys!" I retorted. Osamu slurped up his noodles in my face, flicking juice in it and making me twitch angrily before ordering as well as giving him a smack upside the head. I rolled my eyes, then beamed at my noodles, slurping them up while mumbling past them how both the boys were doing.
"Exhausted." Kin deadpanned.
"Bored." Osamu puffed. I smirked, then dropped my chopsticks in an empty bowl.
"It's a festival. Don't you guys have, like, girlfriends or something to fool around with?" I asked, glancing at both of them, but they both looked in opposite directions. I sighed, shaking my head.
"What about you? Don't you have a boyfriend?" Kin asked, raising an eyebrow. I felt my face grow hot and looked back at my ramen dejectedly.
"Haha, knew it." Osamu laughed. I wanted to smack him, but I got a surprise hug from behind, making me spew my ramen across the counter. This time, Nero came up behind me with a somewhat sad sort of smile, like he was lonely.
"I can fix that problem~" He sang. I twitched and threw his arms off me, huffing.
"To hell you can! Get off me, you pervert!" I retorted. Nero sighed, but kept that same smile on his face, which had me slightly concerned, but before I could ask anything, Osamu spoke first.
"I didn't know you liked guys." Osamu stated with a wide grin. Nero went pink and I felt my face grow hotter than before.
"What did you just say, you jackass?" I yelled and leapt from my seat. Osamu laughed and was already taking off as I bolted after him, hearing both Kin and Nero sigh behind me.
That jackass was dead.
EXAM TIME!
The day finally came. I let Kazuya lead the way to find some seats while Akira and Nero went down into the stadium. It still pissed me off that I wasn't down there, kicking ass too, but Osamu was right.
I could become Chuunin anyway I wanted. I didn't have to pass these stupid exams. Kazuya took a seat by Kotori, who seemed to be sitting with that Eiji guy. On my other side, I found myself sitting with Koyuki and Kasumi. The crowd was a buzz with excitement, people making bets left and right. Even Kazuya joined in the bets, the moron. I hope he knew that we were running out of money…
Oh well, he'll find out sooner or later.
"I wish Hioshi was here," I muttered, huffing in my seat as I peered over the railing at the gathering finalists, "Then he'd get to see Akira kick ass. Nero too." Kazuya sighed. Kotori blinked, as if recognizing the name.
"Hioshi? He's still alive?" She asked. I sweat dropped. How did she know Hioshi? Kazuya laughed a little, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Ah, yea. He's a Special Jounin in our village now… But he's locked himself in our house. He's agoraphobic." He explained. Kotori huffed, folding her arms over her chest.
"Don't feel the slightest about of pity for that brat. I can't believe he bit me like that." She snorted.
"I think it's called battle for a reason." Kazuya tried, but Kotori just harrumphed, making him sigh. Well, from what I could tell, Kotori and Hioshi was definitely not on good terms if Hioshi bit her. He only attacked those that really aggravated him. I smirked at the thought of them fighting now that they were older.
Hioshi would so lose.
Yea, I'm not backing up my brother on this one. He probably used to be, you know, stronger back then and faster, I guess, but now he didn't even get up to get his own glass of water, let alone defend himself in a battle!
"So you kicked my brother's butt?" I asked Kotori, who smirked.
"Course I did. Taught him a lesson. He was unconscious after the battle."
"We're going to get along."
"Ruriko!" Kazuya scolded, giving my ear a little tug. Kotori snickered, earning a frustrated sigh from Kazuya. The mood wasn't as depressing as I thought it would be, sitting in the stands. I was kind of eager to watch the fights go on. I was sort of pissed, much like Osamu, that I had missed everyone else fighting in the preliminaries. I peered back over the railing, just as the final round proctor turned to the audience as well as the Hokage.
She was just like the rumors said. A busty blonde with a bitchy attitude. Why she ever became Hokage was beyond me, seriously.
"Welcome the Final Rounds of this year's second Chuunin Exam," The proctor, Shiranui Genma, announced, "We have nine finalists with us today. There are no rules for this portion of the exams! The first battle…! Saki Osamu and Matsuki Sora!" I watched as the others retreated to a little balcony sort of entrance in the second floor of the stadium.
"What're your thoughts on this?" Kazuya asked me suddenly, making me jump. I glared at him.
"What's that supposed to mean? I hope Osamu gets his ass kicked for making fun of me!" I huffed, making Kazuya sigh in exasperation. Even as I said it, I still didn't quite know who I was rooting for. I was very thankful of Sora for helping Akira back during the second round of the exams. I respected her a lot for it. As for Osamu… We've rivaled each other ever since we met. He beat me during the exams. He pissed me off so badly that I'm no longer eligible to take the exams anymore.
And he gave me a slight little spark of hope that I may be able to become Chuunin despite that.
I folded my arms over my chest and watched as Genma relayed some information to them. It was hard to hear unless you bent over the railing a little. I annoyed Kazuya by doing this, but I did it anyway. I could see the smug smirk on Osamu's face, his fists clenching and unclenching eagerly. Sora looked pretty excited too, definitely on her toes.
"BEGIN!" Genma declared, arousing shrieks and cheers from the crowd. Right away, Osamu whipped out a series of hand signs. Sora leapt back, doing the same. In an instant, two huge tornados of hot, screaming flames clashed, shooting up out of the stadium. I winced at the sheer heat of it.
Sora looked like she was ready to burst into flames herself, using her interesting bloodline, but Osamu was faster and flung a stream of shuriken at her. Sora tore out a kunai, knocking them back. Osamu made more hand signs. This time, Sora didn't bother to move as the wall of flames swallowed her up. I waited, leaning on the railing eagerly.
As expected, Sora became a moving ball of fire as she bolted forward. Osamu smirked and that's when something familiar happened. A huge gust of chakra seemed to swirl outwards from Osamu's side, blasting at Sora, who winced and hit the ground to roll. Her fire went out, much to her surprise. The blast of chakra seemed to hold Sora down like a butterfly trapped in a kid's fist.
"You need air to have fire," Osamu stated aloud, smirking, "Nice try, though." Sora gritted her teeth and she managed to grab her kunai, flinging it at Osamu, who jumped out of the way, releasing the cup of chakra. Sora immediately lit back up again with fire and went to tackle Osamu, but he jumped out of the way, only catching the edge of his jacket on fire. He winced and smacked his hand at it, making it go out, but completely missing the shuriken that were blazing toward him. He winced and ducked one, but two got him in the arm, one slicing his cheek open. He whipped around, swinging his good arm around to fling a kunai, jumping back.
Sora easily knocked it back, running at him. Osamu smirked again, but it didn't last because as soon as he released that nifty trait of his, Sora leapt back several steps to avoid it before landing on the side of the stadium wall, pushing off with all her force. Osamu winced and went to grab some shuriken, but was kicked in the face. He flew back into the ground, knocking up rubble and dust.
Sora landed on her feet in a crouch, before bolting after Osamu again, two kunai in her hands. She slashed at Osamu, who ducked, but slammed into the wall behind him. Sora kept making sharp stabs at him, but he ducked each and every one before pushing up off the ground to stick to the wall by his shoes, swinging his fist forward.
He punched Sora in the nose, making her skid back across the ground, holding her bloody nose. Osamu pushed off the wall and slammed right into her, knocking them both to the ground. I winced to myself. That'd hurt.
Osamu rolled across the ground, struggling to get to his hands and knees. Sora was doing the same, getting to her feet first. I was wondering why Osamu was shaking at first, then I realized why. I saw the front of his jacket growing red with blood and then it hit me.
His wound wasn't completely healed from our battle before! Shit, that put him at a big disadvantage. Sora caught it and immediately swung her foot up, kicking Osamu in the stomach, making him gasp out loud, blood splattering on the ground. I flinched.
"What the hell, Osamu?" I couldn't tell if he could hear me, but I knew some of the spectators did. Osamu grimaced. Sora went to grab him by the back of his jacket, but an unseen force caught her like a fist and threw her backwards, crashing into a wall and knocking rocks and dust around. Osamu managed to get to his feet, wobbling a little before he whipped around quickly, making hand signs.
Fire burst forward, slamming into Sora. I frowned a little. Didn't he learn that she was already fire resistant? I waited to see what was happening before the flames cleared to reveal Sora still clasped tightly in the fist of chakra, gasping for air. She was mostly sucking in smoke, making her cough and gasp.
I looked at Osamu, who coughed up a little smoke up at first too, breathing hard before he ran at Sora, releasing her from the jutsu. Sora stumbled a little, grasping at her chest and for air, but she was kicked in the stomach, probably knocking all that smoke out her lungs as she skidded back. Osamu went to kick her again, but his foot was grabbed and thrust upwards. Osamu fell backwards, yelping before Sora kicked him in the back, throwing him backwards. Osamu skidded and rolled across the ground, his arm over his gut before he scrambled back to his feet. Sora blinked, then frowned and she lit up again, but I could tell she was getting pretty tired. She was bruised and cut up, almost as bad as Osamu.
"Did Osamu even plan his battle?" I heard Kazuya ask Kotori, who shrugged, huffing.
"I told him to get his butt to training and I've seen him. He was doing good… He's probably got something going on up there." She replied.
"Well, he better hurry it up!" I retorted, then looked down to see Osamu and Sora clashing again, the sound of their kunai and shuriken clanging and echoing. I frowned, watching. There was a lot of fire going already and I hoped they would put it out before the whole stadium burnt down.
I heard a loud explosion that shook the whole place and it brought me back. Osamu and Sora were both blown backwards. There was pretty much silence for that split second and I felt weird. Maybe worried? I don't know, but it was eerie that the only sound was the crackling of the flames in the arena. Genma glanced at both parties, probably assuming what we all were assuming.
Sora was sprawled limply on the ground, her long scarlet hair hiding her face and some cuts in her clothes. Osamu was pretty much in the same position, but more on his stomach, his hand dug into the ground. I saw him twitch and I was standing up.
"Ruriko, sit down!" Kazuya ordered, tugging on the back of my vest, but I smacked his hand away and looked back down into the arena eagerly. I was literally on my toes, staring into the arena. Osamu was moving, slowly lifting himself up on his hands and knees. He was struggling, kind of swaying and coughing up a little bit of smoke. The front of his jacket was dripping wet with blood.
I sighed a little, then looked at Sora, seeing her body twitch slightly. Eventually, she pulled herself to her feet, blood dripping from her mouth as she used the last of her strength to weave one last ninjutsu.
Fire blasted forward. Osamu looked up, wincing and stumbled out of the way, falling on his ass. The fire managed to catch his jacket again, this time his entire left arm. He yelped and the adrenaline rush caused him to hurriedly tear his jacket off, throwing it across the arena. He panted, glancing at Sora, who slid to her knees, breathing hard as well.
And that was the end of it. Sora collapsed on her side, exhausted. Genma smiled a little and nodded, holding up a hand.
"Winner… Saki Osamu!" He announced, causing a wave of cheers to erupt like a thunderstorm in the arena. I heard Osamu groan and fall on his back. That was the end of that. Another battle that's enough to wipe him out. I smirked. I'd have to make a note and visit him in the hospital before we headed back to Sunagakure.
"He won," Koyuki whistled from beside me, "He's pretty tough."
"Sora did good too," Kasumi put in with a nod, "I'm surprised that last that long without passing out."
"I'm proud of him." Kotori stated with a confident nod. Kazuya smiled, tilting his head at her.
"I would be too. Osamu's a strong boy. I'm impressed." He replied. I huffed, turning my back on the arena, folding my arms over my chest.
"Yea, he was okay. That was an okay battle." I got unconvinced stares, then rolled my eyes. In the process, my eyes caught a familiar trio sitting in the last row of seats up above. I stared at Daiki, who stared back with a smirk. Miyuki was being as silent as usual, headband hiding her eyes. Botan was squirming in his seat uncomfortable, obviously complaining about something. I grimaced and whipped back around.
Yea, I promised to give up my teammates in exchange for the information I got from Daiki… But I just hoped that Daiki was patient enough to wait until we were heading back to Sunagakure to avoid making a scene.
I lowered my eyes to the arena, where Genma was looking at the balcony. I guess the other match had already been chosen. I watched as Ryuuko and Akira exited the balcony, my eyes widening. Oh, this was going to be interesting.
I leaned in so I could hear what was being said as they approached each other.
"I've seen you fight," Ryuuko said, "You're not bad. It's going to be a good fight."
"Definitely," Akira smirked, putting a hand on his hip, "I hope you know, though, that I won't give up even if you've got my intestines hanging out."
"Wouldn't doubt it." Ryuuko responded dryly, his eye twitching at the thought. I smirked, then watched as Genma gave the signal.
"BEGIN!"
Ryuuko made hand signs quickly, a huge roar of water rising up and rushing at Akira, who smirked, following up with a series of hand signs of his own. A hot blast of air swirled outwards, whipping around with the water and causing it to splash everywhere. In that moment, Akira made another hand sign. I saw his fingertips glow blue.
Beside me, Kasumi seemed to gasp in recognition. I smirked. Looks like Akira knew how to make an impression. Akira bolted forward, aiming to strike Ryuuko in the chest, but Ryuuko swung his arm around to block. Akira frowned and brought his other hand forward to catch Ryuuko in the stomach, but Ryuuko used his free hand to grab Akira's wrist and jerk his hand downwards. Akira yelped and Ryuuko brought his knee up, hitting Akira in the face, knocking him backwards. Akira stumbled, bringing his hand up to his nose, which was obviously broken. Ryuuko frowned.
Akira's fingertips touched the sides of his nose, glowing blue as he healed the broken bone inside. Akira smiled.
"Don't let me stop and have time to do that." He told Ryuuko and ran at him again. Ryuuko swung his foot up, knocking another jab from Akira and twisting himself around to grab Akira's ankle. Akira flinched and he was torn off his feet into a circle through the air before he landed on his back. Ryuuko whipped around and went to kick Akira in the leg, trying to be quick about it, but he just wasn't fast enough. Akira reached up and caught Ryuuko's ankle in his hands.
Ryuuko's eyes flashed, widening as he clenched his fists to jerk his leg back, but Akira smirked and squeezed. There was a loud snap sound and Ryuuko barked out in pain, tearing backwards. He stumbled a little, catching himself just barely. He grimaced and looked up as Akira zoomed around to his feet, kicking up dirt as he skidded across the ground on his knees, catching Ryuuko around the waist and pulling him along with him into the wall, causing it to crash inwards slightly.
Akira jumped back out of the dust, Ryuuko stumbling back as well. Akira went to make hand signs, but Ryuuko flung a kunai at him before quickly making his own hand signs.
Fire shot out from Akira's palms as huge torrents, only to meet Ryuuko's powerful water dragon once again. The fire was doused and Akira ended up soaking wet as he pulled his hands from his face, having been knocked on his back. Ryuuko jumped up and came down at him with a kunai. Akira winced and rolled out of the way, scrambling to his feet and swinging his hand around to connect with Ryuuko's ribs.
Ryuuko coughed up some blood, gasping in the process as he stumbled, holding his ribs before he whipped around, ignoring the painful ripping inside his chest as he kicked Akira in the face.
I would have to pay Ryuuko some serious cash for doing that.
Akira flew back and slammed into the ground, yelling in pain before he scrambled back to his feet. He went to heal his wounds, but Ryuuko had learned by now and was already throwing kunai at him. Akira flinched and dodged as many as he could, one pinning his foot to the ground. He cursed out loud, scooping the kunai out and bringing it up to hurriedly block a close range attack from Ryuuko.
They pushed off together, both skidding across the ground. One on a bloody foot and the other on a broken ankle. They both looked like they were in utter agony, but they weren't stopping. It made me wonder if everyone in these exams was really trying to kill themselves!
They ran at each other again, the kunai clanging. At one point, Ryuuko swung his fist up, getting Akira in the jaw. Akira flew up and Ryuuko pushed off the ground after him, getting him hard in the gut, chest, and face with his fists and feet. Akira managed to block just a bit, even using that medical ninjutsu of his to cause some serious gashes in Ryuuko's cheek, arms, and legs.
After a moment, they landed on the ground, both breathing hard. Akira finally smacked his hands together in a hand sign. At first, it seemed like nothing happened until I noticed Ryuuko looking a little dizzy, like he was going to pass out at any minute. I assumed it was from exhaustion, until I noticed his eyes looking a little glittery.
Definitely a sign of one of Akira's favorite Genjutsu.
Probably one the most annoying Genjutsu to get out of. Ryuuko was probably seeing stars, some bright pastel coloring, and black dots. It was Akira's idea of confusing someone. It also had a pretty bad after effect, leaving the victim to be temporarily blind.
Finally, I saw Ryuuko's trembling hands touch together in a release sign and he gasped, his hair fluttering slightly at the sheer force of breaking it. Akira smirked and ran at him. I hoped Ryuuko could hear Akira's feet on the ground as he scrambled to his feet. He looked blind to me, grasping for his kunai.
Conveniently, he ducked his head just in time to avoid a stab in the face. Akira went to hit him, but Ryuuko caught his fist in his hand. Akira blinked in surprise as Ryuuko blindly tore him to the side. Akira hit the ground pretty hard, his kunai being knocked from his hand.
Ryuuko took this chance to rub at his eyes, as if trying to rub the blindness away, but it wasn't working. The genjutsu had tapped into his sense of sight. It was like having someone stick you in the dark to battle. Akira got to his feet, his hands glowing again, and he struck Ryuuko in the back hard.
Ryuuko jolted, gasping out loud as blood flew from his mouth. He grimaced a little before flipping back and kicking Akira in the face.
And that was the final blow. Akira flew back, skidding on his back until he came to a stop, panting for air. Ryuuko struggled a little to stand, hugging his arms around his gut and wincing as he looked up at Akira, who sat up a little, trembling.
"I'm all out." Akira murmured, exhausted. As a final attempt, he threw a kunai at Ryuuko, which was easily caught in his hand. Akira sighed and fell back on the ground, unconscious. I wanted to cheer, but of course, I'd get my ass kicked by Kazuya, so I just fidgeted, smirking.
"Winner… Kawaguchi Ryuuko!" Genma proclaimed. The crowds shrieked and screamed, whooping and throwing things from flower petals to full out flowers. They were a lively bunch, I'd give 'em that. Ryuuko just sighed, ignoring the fuss so he could relax onto his knees as the medic team rushed out to tend to them.
"That guy did pretty good for being blind in the end." Koyuki noted.
"He won't be blind for long," I assured, "It's just the jutsu that Akira wasted his time using." Kasumi gave me a funny look.
"Exactly what jutsu is that?" She asked. I smirked.
"Akira's favorite Genjutsu. He sends you into this tipsy world of pastel colors, black dots, and stars. It'll make you feel like you're drunk or something and then he releases it, making you blind for a few minutes after. It took up most of his chakra, though. That's why I think he wasted it." I explained.
"I think he did well," Kazuya commented, "Akira normally would've tried to cut it short and from the looks of it, Ryuuko wanted it to be short, but since they were both determined, it lasted longer than intended."
"I think Akira did great!" Kasumi declared, folding her arms over her chest with a huff.
"Just because you-" Kasumi clamped her hand over Koyuki's mouth, flailing a bit comically.
"Be quiet, be quiet!" She yelled. Koyuki grinned at her. I smirked. I'm surprised Kasumi would even like Akira after he made that perverted comment at the end of their battle… Or maybe that's what she liked?
The battles were sending chills up my spine. I was eager to watch the rest, eager to see who really became a Chuunin, and eager to ditch Daiki for good.
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A/N: Gots two battles in this one since I'm trying to make these longer for you guys! Now, I hope you know that the Chuunin Exam rules for this are the same as in the show. That means even if a character lost, that doesn't necessarily mean they don't become Chuunin. Just letting you all know! The Shippuden is coming up, everyone! I'm warning you guys again to hurry and send in those updated bios. Although, the beginning of the Shippuden may allow for more time since it's mostly blabber… xD So, thanks for reading, hope the OCs are in character, and your reviews are loved!