Disclaimer: Really? I have to tell you this again? How troublesome... No, I don't own Naruto, but I own Naruto. In fact, everyone owns Naruto, except Naruto. See what I did there?
Author's Note: It's been a fun two week-! Wait... what? O.O Really? Y-You're serious? o.O No way! That can't be possible. Ah, whatever. Oh, right.
Well, then, it's been a fun eight weeks since my last update, though I think fell into a coma for a couple of 'em. But, then again, that's just an excuse I don't need to make. Why? Because I'm back, baby. And I'm going strong. I now have the whole entire story for The Devi's Blade worked out and down on paper. No, not each individual chapter, but each Act, which there'll be three of by the way. Oh, in my mind, the whole story sounds so epic and awesome, my head almost exploded.
But, I digress to more important things, like the feel of this chapter, which once again feels like filler. And I feel disappointed with it. There are some major and minor tweaks I could make to help it a bit, but, I don't feel like it. Now, onto a few things I'd like to point out.
One: This is the most important, right now anyways. Ahem! Naruto is wearing a different outfit in this one and is no longer wearing his Ichigo rip-off samurai clothing. But, and this is a big but, excuse the pun, Naruto by the end of act one, will most likely go back to wearing hakama, at least. So, don't fret, Naruto will at some point look samurai-ish.
Two: There is a scene during the chapter I am most unhappy with, but I think that is what you get when you write this in a day hyped up on caffeine and sugar. Yeah, alright. Back to the scene, it feels kind of mushy, in the romantic sense. Now, I don't want Naruto to head straight into love, I want it to bud and develop his character from the 'lone warrior who slaughters everything in his way' to the 'lone warrior who slaughters everything in his while protecting those he sees as important to him.' So, there shouldn't be that much of a change.
That's all I have to say for now. We'll talk more once you've read the chapter. Alright, you know the drill, see you at the bottom.
The Devil's Blade
An Epic reimagining of The Demon's Blade
By RisenInfection
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These so called 'Four Gods' interest me. They seem to be the pinnacle of power, but from what the Akuryou have told me, they are warped... both physically and mentally. I've only one idea of what they want: absolute power. But why would beings as powerful as these four have been made out to be, want more power? It doesn't make any sense. One should not want more power than one has. One should be content with the strength he has, especially if he can call himself a 'God', of all things.
That is something else I do not understand. Why do those with extraordinary power call themselves 'Gods'? They are only men, and that is what they will remain. It is like calling a small child who has a terrible power inside him a demon, when he is only a human and nothing more. It is ignorance and no small amount of arrogance to call that child a demon, when he has yet to do anything to prove the name right. But to call oneself 'God', you must be arrogant and ignorant. God's sit in their heavens doing nothing as we humans plunge ourselves into the chaos and anarchy.
But for this reason, I accept my title of 'Devil', even though I am human. All 'Gods' need their 'Devils', just like every beginning needs it end, every Alpha needs an Omega, every virtue, a vice. And these 'Four Gods'... are the same.
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Act I
The Devil Swordsman
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Chapter 9
The Final Question
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Naruto sighed as he sat atop the academy's roof, watching lazily as his sister and her team entered the building. He idly moved his mask between his fingers as he watched over the three, a slight frown on his face. Somehow, his father had tasked him with guarding Team Seven, specifically Natsuko, though the man had phrased it more diplomatically, citing that the swordsmen 'should watch over the exams in case anything happened'. Unfortunately for Minato, Naruto was a master at reading the underlying message: Protect my daughter.
The blonde sighed again, this time more angrily, evolving the exhalation into a growl.
"Looks like someone is having a bad day," a voice said from behind the killer samurai, making the blonde look behind his back.
"Kakashi-san, shouldn't you be waiting for your students or something?" Naruto asked as the grey haired man sat next to him, the jounin's nose stuffed within his smut.
"Probably," the older man replied noncommittally. They sat there in silence for a few moments, the quiet atmosphere broken only by Kakashi's occasional perverted giggles.
After five minutes, Naruto finally had enough. "Was there a reason you're here besides reading that trash?"
The grey haired shinobi raised his only visible eyebrow as he looked over to the blonde. "Actually, yes, there is a reason I'm here. I wanted to know why you are here."
"Father wanted me to look after the exams," Naruto replied lazily as he looked to the sky, his mask now held in one hand.
Kakashi shook his head. "Not that, every Konoha Jounin knows that already. I want to know why you are still here, in Konoha. You have to admit a samurai staying in a ninja village is a bit strange, isn't it?"
Naruto looked to the mask in his hand and frowned. "I suppose it is, but truthfully? I have nowhere else to go. My life, after that night, was nothing but loneliness and slaughter, a pathetic existence. Don't misinterpret what I'm saying, scarecrow," Kakashi frowned at the nickname, "I enjoy fighting, it's in my blood, but, I feel like I'm missing out on something. It's like a worldwide joke that everyone but me is in on. It's kind of annoying, really."
The 'scarecrow' smiled with his visible eye. "So, basically, you just want a place to belong?"
"Yeah," the 'maelstrom' answered, "but how I said it sounded more epic."
The two shared a slightly awkward chuckle before Kakashi suddenly looked up, noticing something off about the blonde. "What happened to your clothes?"
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the question and looked down. He was wearing a black hooded coat with red trim, baggy black pants, black open-toed and heeled boots, and black fingerless gloves. "My... mother got it for me, says I'll fit in with the ninja with it."
Kakashi chortled at the explanation, gaining an almost irritated look from Naruto.
"What's so funny, scarecrow?"
The man calmed, though his eye still held mirth. "So... little Naru-kun lets his mommy dress him? That's so cute."
Naruto sighed exasperatedly at the man's childish humor as he placed his mask on and tied it. He stood, grabbing Amaterasu from where she lay next to him and strapped her to his back by her chain. "Kakashi-san... one day, I'm going to kill you. I fear I may enjoy it far more than is healthy." And with a quick Sokudo, the blond was gone, leaving Kakashi to giggle to himself before he used Shunshin to disappear from the roof as well.
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Hidden Leaf Ninja Academy – Room 201
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Haruno Sakura, not for the first time, felt a small amount of fear as she glanced about the room the first test of the Chuunin Exams was to take place. She didn't know if Natsuko or Sasuke felt as nervous as she did, because if they did, they hid it very well from her. The pinkette was just about to try and start a conversation with her team, when the most vile and loathsome creature to ever be born launched itself at them.
"SASUKE-KUN!" A blonde haired girl squealed as she latched onto the Uchiha's back.
Sakura's eye twitched as she deadpanned. "Ino-pig."
"Forehead," Yamanaka Ino said smugly from her position on her crush's back. She stuck her tongue out at her victory over Sakura.
Sasuke's eye began to twitch as the extra weight stayed attached to him. "Ino-san, you have one chance to get off me before I do something I may not really regret." Getting the hint, the blonde girl quickly leapt from her crush's back and landed with a light blush on her cheeks.
"How troublesome," a lazy voice spoke as the rest of Ino's team approached.
"Shikamaru, Chouji!" Natsuko practically yelled as she waved at the two. "I haven't seen you guys in a few months, how've you been?"
"Meh," Nara Shikamaru grunted, uninterested. Akimichi Chouji waved before he started munching on his potato chips again.
A barking laugh caught the group's attention as another voice spoke up. "Well, look at this, we're all together again."
Team Seven and Team Ten looked towards the voice and found another trio of familiar faces. "Kiba, Shino, Hinata, I didn't know you guys were taking the exam too," Sakura said as she looked Team Eight over. 'They seem a lot stronger than before. So does Ino's team, I wonder if sensei's training did the same for us.'
Inuzuka Kiba grinned almost beastly. "Of course we are. I mean, Kurenai-sensei ditching us suddenly was a setback, but nothing's gonna hold us back from becoming Chuunin. Right guys?" His little dog, Akamaru, barked in agreement with his master as he poked his head out from under Kiba's hood. The dog boy's teammates, Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata, nodded their own agreement.
Natsuko raised a curious eyebrow. "Kurenai-san is your sensei. I didn't know that."
"How do you know Kurenai-sensei, Natsuko-san?" Shino asked.
"She helped us on our first C-Rank mission that turned to an A-Rank mission," Sakura answered for her teammate. "Speaking of which," she turned to the blonde girl, "Did Naruto-san ever pay for the mission?"
The blonde Uzumaki girl tapped her chin in thought. "Um, no, I-I don't think aniki ever did pay it. I'm going to ask him when we're done with these exams, he owes me." Natsuko looked to her teammates and raised an eyebrow at their looks of disbelief. "What?"
"DOG!" A sudden yell caught the attention of the Rookie Nine, and that of the rest of the room's occupants, who watched as Chouji lunged toward Kiba, though the boy's eyes were hungrily set on Akamaru, who whimpered and hid further under his master's hood. The 'big-boned' boy was stopped short however by Shino, who held Chouji's foot with an unyielding grip.
"Huh?" The Akimichi asked smartly, mirroring the rest of the group's thoughts.
"You almost stepped upon an insect," Shino said, pointing towards a small black ant on the floor. It quickly scurried away and Shino let go Chouji.
"Will you guys keep it down," an older Konoha genin with silver hair and glasses asked exasperatedly as walked up to the group. "You're breaking the quiet atmosphere, that'll just piss a lot of people off, like those Amegakure ninja over there. You do know about their bad tempers, right?"
The nine genin followed the older teen's gaze, their eyes landing on three men, all of whom were staring at the rookie's with contempt and exuding a fair amount of killing intent. Team's Eight and Ten were shaken by the stares, but Team Seven paled, as in their minds, a more horrific image overlapped the three Rain genin. One that depicted a murderous samurai garbed in black that had glowing demonic eyes and a sword dripping with blood.
Natsuko shook out of her fear first, knowing exactly who the man in her nightmares was. "I don't care if everyone in this goddamned room wants to kill me, I'll pass this exam and whoop everyone's ass until I come out on top."
The older genin raised an eyebrow at the outburst. "While that's very brave of you, girl, you're still too loud."
Blushing in embarrassment, the strawberry blonde whispered a slight apology, though she was glad to see her teammates snap out of their fear-induced shock.
"A-Ano, w-who are y-you, sen-senpai?" Hinata asked, shocking Team Seven and Team Ten with her slight increase in bravery.
"Me?" the older teen pointed to himself. "My name is Yakushi Kabuto."
"Is this your first time taking the Chuunin Exams, Kabuto-san?" Sakura asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Kabuto shook his head in the negative, a hint of pink on his face. "No, actually this is my seventh time taking the exam. Since the Chuunin Exams take place twice every year, this is actually my fourth year as a genin, something I'm not very proud of."
The Rookie Nine each looked to be thinking something depressing, but were interrupted as Kabuto pulled out a large deck of cards from... somewhere. "But through my four years, I was able to gather info on the Chuunin Exams and its participants, especially for this year. I stored the information on my Ninja Info Cards™, so if there is anything you want to know, just ask." To demonstrate his point, he flipped the top card on the deck over and applied chakra to it. The card lit up and showed numerous statistics.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed in thought. "Do your cards show information about individual genin?"
The silver haired genin nodded. "Yes, is there someone you would like to look up?"
"Two, actually," Sasuke replied, "Rock Lee and Gaara no Sabaku."
Kabuto's eyebrow rose. "So you know their names, huh? Well, that's no fun." Dutifully, the ninja shuffled his cards until he came upon the two he was looking for. He applied his chakra to the top one and watched as a picture of a green spandex clad teenage boy with bowl cut black hair and bushy eyebrows showed upon the card along with the boy's statistics in a ninja skill chart.
"Rock Lee," the ponytailed teen announced to Sasuke, "He's one year older than you and has completed twenty D-Rank missions and eleven C-Rank missions. His squad leader is Maito Gai and his teammates are Tenten and Hyuuga Neji. His Taijutsu has increased dramatically over the past year, though his other skills are beyond abysmal. This is his first time taking the Chuunin Exams." Kabuto cut his chakra from the card as Sasuke nodded, realizing why he had been beaten so easily by the older genin.
The glasses wearing shinobi took the second card and fed it chakra, watching as it did the same thing as the first, but this time showing a picture of a redheaded teenage boy with teal eyes and the kanji for 'love' tattooed over his left eye."Gaara no Sabaku," Kabuto spoke again," He's your age and has completed eight C-Rank missions and one B-Rank mission and... woah! That can't be right!"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed further. "What is it? Is there something wrong?"
Kabuto shook his head. "No, there's nothing wrong, I just can't believe what its saying."
"What is it Kabuto-san?" Ino asked, curious now too.
The silver haired shinobi pursed his lips. "It says that Gaara has always come back unharmed after every mission." In the corner of the room, away from the others, a blonde haired girl with four pigtails and a boy with 'war paint' wearing black cringed, though the redhead between them didn't show anything, other than looking slightly annoyed.
Kabuto cut his chakra from the card and looked at the nine rookies again. "Is that it, or is there anyone else you'd like to know about?"
"Actually, there is," Sasuke said. "Do you have any information on a man named Uzumaki Naruto?"
The silver haired nin shuffled through his cards twice before he looked back to the Uchiha. "Sorry but I don't have any info on anyone who isn't a genin."
"That's alright, I wasn't really expecting anything much at all," Sasuke replied, looking away as he found a wall to the side of the room more interesting.
Kabuto nodded and picked his nin-info cards up, placing them back... somewhere. "Well, if that's it, I'm going back to my team, but I'll leave you with a bit of parting advice. Keep your heads low and your guards up. Try to keep a low profile, a lot of these ninja are dangerous, though, I don't think you'll need to worry much about the genin from Otogakure no Sato. They're from a small country that only recently established a ninja village, so they shouldn't be much of a threat."
Somewhere amongst the assembled genin, a shinobi with brown hair and a hitai-ate with a musical note glared at Kabuto. "Not that much of a threat are we? Let's show him just how much of a threat we really are." His two companions nodded and silently, they dashed towards Kabuto, intending to show the older genin up.
The silver haired nin was answering a random question from Sakura, before his eyes widened, his danger sense tingling. Quickly, he jumped back, a trio of kunai taking his place. Looking up as he landed, Kabuto sidestepped to his left, dodging a right hook from a bandaged genin wearing something that looked like a haystack on his back and a steel gauntlet on his right forearm that had holes in it, like an instrument.
Kabuto smirked, believing he had dodged the attack, but it soon fell when his glasses suddenly shattered, broken by an invisible force. A wave of immense nausea took hold of his body and he fell to his knees, voiding his stomach of its contents as he violently vomited his blood intermixed with bile.
"That should show you," the haystack wearer spoke with a muffled voice, "Not to fuck with the Sound Village."
Suddenly, the front of Room 201 burst with chakra smoke which quickly cleared, revealing several chuunin in their dress uniforms and a large scarred man who wore a black trench coat over his uniform. "You Sound bastards, there will be no fighting in this portion of the exam, do I make myself clear?"
"Yeah, I guess we got a little antsy, sorry, sir," the haystack one apologized.
The large shinobi just waved it off irritably. "I hate excuses, yours especially." He turned to the rest of the chuunin hopefuls. "What I said goes for the rest of you little assholes. I will not tolerate any fighting whatsoever in this exam. If I find you fighting, your disqualified and out of here, got that? Good, now get to your seats, maggots." He watched with a pleased smirk as the greenhorns rushed off to their assigned seats. "Now that we're settled, I'll introduce myself. I'm Morino Ibiki, and I'm the proctor for this portion of the Chuunin Exams."
Ibiki snapped his fingers and the chuunin alongside him began passing out paper tests. "These tests are designed to test your knowledge in the ninja arts. You are not allowed to cheat and if you are caught cheating five times you will be removed from the room and disqualified from the rest of the Chuunin Exams. There are nine questions, which you will be given forty five minutes to complete. After the time is up, I will personally ask you a tenth question. If there are no questions, than you all may begin."
With that, the genin flipped their tests over and began.
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Somewhere in Konoha
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Naruto sighed for the umpteenth time that day as he lazily walked around Konoha. As it would turn out, the day was beginning to get boring. He actually wished one of the Akuryou would attack him or maybe even one of those 'Virtues' that the fishy one had spouted off about. On that train of thought though, Naruto wished he knew more about what he was facing. Though he was one who usually charged in head first and sliced everything up without a second thought, he was beginning to ponder on just what 'his Highness' was.
The blonde cut his reverie short as he came upon a highly ornate stone which had hundreds of names engraved upon its surface. Naruto looked around for a moment, wondering just how he got here when his crimson eyes landed upon a single name that stood out from the rest: Sarutobi Hiruzen.
His hand shot up to his head as a sharp pain lanced through his brain, leaving a dull ache. He shook his head, letting the colors of the world readjust.
"Paying your respects?" An indifferent, female voice asked the blonde. Naruto looked over his shoulder and into the dark eyes of the ANBU Captain from the hospital a few weeks prior.
He shook his head as the unmasked woman stepped up beside him. "Not exactly."
The woman nodded her head, though Naruto could tell that she was saddened about something, most likely a name on the stone.
"ANBU-san..." Naruto started, but was stopped as the kunoichi held a hand up.
"My name is not ANBU-san, it is Yuugao, Uzuki Yuugao," the woman introduced herself.
Naruto nodded, mildly embarrassed. "I apologize, Yuugao-san."
"It is alright, Naruto-sama," Yuugao smiled slightly, though it still held a large amount of sadness within it as did her eyes, something Naruto noticed the longer he stared into the dark irises. The kunoichi turned back towards the Memorial Stone, gazing intently at a singular name.
They stood there for a few moments, before Naruto decided to speak up. "It must be hard, losing someone close to you."
Yuugao turned to the blonde for a few seconds before turning back to the stone. "Yes, it is."
"Was he your lover?"
The purple haired woman looked to the ground. "He-He was my fiancé."
Naruto's eyes narrowed. "If I may be so bold, how did he die?"
Yuugao was silent for several minutes, sad thoughts passing through her mind. "On a mission... He died on a mission. It... It was several years ago, on the mission you inadvertently helped us on. He was protecting the client with another jounin, while my team and another were patrolling the area. By the time we got to the scene, the assassin was gone... and Hayate... was..."
"You don't have to continue if you don't want to, Yuugao-san," Naruto said, hoping it was comforting.
The woman only shook her head. "No, I need to tell someone." She took a breath and steeled her nerves. "Hayate was dead, beyond dead. There was barely a body left to bring home. The assassin had used a lighting-based jutsu that completely destroyed Hayate's nervous system, but, for some reason, it didn't end there. His body was destroyed from the inside out. If that jutsu hadn't been amped up, it would've knocked Hayate out and left him completely paralyzed for a few days, at least until we could have gotten him to a medic. Now, my only comfort is that he died a quick, painless death.
"It also brings me comfort to know that I was able to exact vengeance upon the one who killed him, thanks to you. If you hadn't massacred the Black Earth Clan, my name would be on that stone, alongside Hayate's," Yuugao finished her story as she turned to Naruto. "Thank you, Naruto-sama."
Naruto raised a hand. "Please, don't call me that. It makes me feel like you respect me when I've done nothing to earn it."
"But, you have. I... I owe you my life, Naruto-sama," the kunoichi explained, bowing to Naruto at the waist.
The masked blonde snorted as he gazed at her bent over form. "Please, don't ever bow to me and drop the '-sama', it makes me feel older than I am."
Yuugao stood straight and smiled slightly, a bit happier than she had been. "As you wish, Naruto-kun."
"You're quick to get over your 'Hayate's' death, aren't you?" Naruto asked, trying not to feel anything.
The kunoichi shook her head. "Hayate was special, so he'll always have a place within my heart, but he would've wanted me to move on, not dwell on what's been lost."
Naruto only grunted. "So... was there another reason you were here, or were you just paying your respects to the fallen?"
"Actually, the Hokage asked me to find you," Yuugao admitted, "He says he wants to talk to you about something concerning the Chuunin Exams."
The blonde swordsman sighed. "Huh, it's got to be better than walking aimlessly through the village. Let's go."
The ANBU Captain nodded and performed a string of hand seals and touched Naruto's shoulder. In a small twister of wind and leaves, the duo was gone.
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Hidden Leaf Ninja Academy – Room 201
Twenty Minutes into the First Exam
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Natsuko gulped as she stared fearfully at her test. The questions all sounded for the bookworm, like Sakura, but not for her. Had she spent more time paying attention to Iruka-sensei and less time sleeping or pulling pranks on her father, she might have had a clue on how to answer the questions she was given, but since she hadn't, she was shit out of luck.
"A-Ano, Nats-Natsuko-chan? W-Would you l-like to copy fr-from me?" Hinata asked from her place next to the panicking girl.
Natsuko almost violently shook her head. "No, I don't want to get you in trouble, Hinata. Thanks though."
Hinata nodded and turned back to her own test as the Uzumaki panicked even more. Then something caught her eye. Floating in the front row was what looked like an eye made of... was that sand? Shaken, Natsuko decided to look around some more and found, much to her dismay, just about everyone was cheating on their tests. Just as she was about ask Hinata if she could look at the shy girl's test, the proctor called time.
"Alright, maggots, pencils down," Ibiki ordered and heard a collective sigh of relief. "Now, I shall administer the tenth question, but before I do that, I need to tell you one special rule: if you wish, you do not have to answer the last question and your entire team will be dropped from the exam..."
"What!" One of the remaining genin yelled out. "Of course we would take the last question."
"But if you take it and fail, you and your entire team will be dropped and never allowed to participate in the Chuunin Exams again," Ibiki finished, smirking smugly as the arrogant bastards shut up.
"That can't be!" Kiba shouted over the grumbles of the others. "There are some here who have taken the exams numerous times, what about them?"
Ibiki chortled slightly. "That's well and good, but, this year, I'm the proctor."
After that proclamation, several hands shot up to decline taking the tenth question. Natsuko looked toward Sasuke, feeling slightly unsure, but the feeling faded to absolute determination. When she looked to Sakura, the strawberry-blonde haired girl faltered a bit when she witnessed the pinkette's nervousness. Deciding what to do, Natsuko shot from her seat.
"I don't give crap what you throw at me! I'll never back down from anything until I get to the top!" She yelled out, the exclamation steeling everyone's nerves.
Ibiki looked around at the room and found all the genin staring back at him with determination burning in their eyes. 'It just had to be the Minato's daughter, didn't it?' "Well then, if that's how you all feel... then, congratulations, everyone in this room passes to the next round."
Natsuko summed up everyone's thoughts as she intelligently asked, "WHAT?"
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The Hokage's Office
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"The fuck?" Naruto asked his father as the blonde leader finished his question. Yuugao nodded dumbly beside the blonde, her own curiosity piqued. What the man had asked almost explained why she was still in the room, though hearing it again would help.
Minato sighed. He really hated explaining things twice to people, though what he asked of his son and the purple haired woman next to him might just need a reiteration. "Alright, I'll say it once more. The council is afraid of you Naruto, plain and simple. They've even gone as far as to label you a Walking Disaster, something that has never been done before. They have asked me to assign you an escort while you are staying in Konoha. I can't spare a Jounin, in case what you say about Orochimaru is true and you and Yuugao seem like friends already, so the council now has their guard for you."
Naruto nodded, accepting the explanation. "I understand that part, your council is just looking out for the village, but what I don't get is the next part."
The Fourth nodded. "Yes, well, it's like I said. I need someone to referee the preliminaries, should it come to that, and the Final Exam, at least until I can find a replacement for you. So, I'm going to, by a decree set by the First Hokage, enlist you as a Tokubetsu Jounin, which basically means you're a specialist in one or two areas." He then turned to Yuugao. "Because of your new assignment, I have to temporarily demote you to Jounin. I'm sorry Uzuki-san."
Yuugao only bowed. "I accept my task full-heartedly, Hokage-sama."
Minato nodded again and turned back to his son. "If there are no questions, you and Uzuki-san may leave to the Tower in Area 44 when you are prepared. If there are preliminary matches, they should take place within five days after the Second Exam... Oh! I almost forgot..." the Fourth opened a drawer and took out a scroll and threw it to Naruto, who deftly caught it. "This should help you prepare for the Finals. It'll be sort of like a fighting circuit, and that should have rules for you to memorize." He sighed at Naruto's nod. "So you accept this, right? I know this is beyond short notice, but I've no one else to turn to, and you're the most qualified for something like this."
The blonde haired samurai-turned-shinobi snorted slightly. "Yeah, I accept. It'll at least give me something to do for awhile, I guess." He looked down at the scroll and seemed to think for a moment, before he looked back into his father's eyes. "I just have one question though."
"And what is that?" Minato asked. His son surprised him by how well he took this. He had thought, based on the murderer's attitude so far, that the masked man would decline and go into a short rant about 'no one being his master but himself' or something. Him accepting this task... was a shocker.
"Do I have to wear one of those silly headbands?"
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Room 201
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"The purpose of the first nine questions was to test your information gathering skills," Ibiki began to answer the rookie's question, but was soon interrupted.
"But what about the tenth question?" The girl from Suna with her hair in four pigtails called out, earning herself a glare from Ibiki.
"When I asked who would stay and who would leave, I had already given you the tenth question," the scarred man explained. "It was meant to see your loyalty, not only to your teammates, but to your village as well. In an interrogation, an enemy will torture you for information. The tenth question was to see if you would talk, or if you would remain silent. Those who chose to leave, would no doubt talk if interrogated, but those who have remained, would endure the torture, because they are-!"
A loud shattering of glass interrupted Ibiki as a small black ball gained the attention of the remaining genin. For a few seconds the ball didn't do anything until suddenly it exploded in a haze of purple smoke. The smog quickly dissipated, revealing a banner that read: The Sexy, Single Mitarashi Anko, and the scantily clad woman herself.
"The Sexy and Single, Mitarashi..." Anko stopped mid-sentence as she noticed how many genin were left in the room. She turned to Ibiki with her lips pursed. "The hell, Ibiki? Eighty-seven of the little fuckers? That's more than last time!"
The large man only shrugged. "Not my fault, Anko-san. I guess there's just more talent this year."
Anko sighed and then turned back to the genin, who scooted back in their chairs as they witnessed the kunoichi's predatory grin. "I guess it doesn't matter. By the time I'm done with them, more than half will be gone." The woman walked back to the window she had smashed through and turned to the genin. "Alright kiddies, let's go play!"
Translation(s): None that I know of
Technique(s): None used
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Author's Note: None whatso... wait a minute! I do have something to say. Ahem!
So you're done with the chapter, huh? Good, gives me the chance to make you read an Unnecessarily Large Author's Note of Doom! Yes, I have been watching Naruto Abridged. But that doesn't matter, what does matter is the couple of things I need to say and explain:
One: If you're having trouble imagining Naruto's new clothes, look up King's Alternate Outfit from Tekken 5. It looked badass and when I saw it while just randomly playing the game, I came to the conclusion that The Devil's Blade Naruto would look awesome wearing that. Oh, and when you look it up, try and picture a pair of hakama with the coat. That's a good idea, I should try that.
Two: Throughout the chapter, I tried to be a bit humorous. Do not expect this all the time. Though it would be awesome to make Naruto kind of sarcastic, this Naruto leans more towards the strong silent type.
Three: Originally, this chapter was supposed to include the Forest of Death scene and make it all the way to the preliminaries, but I decided to stop it where I did, concluding that where I stopped it was the best place to stop it. Oh, and here's another thing: The next couple of chapters will not focus on Naruto, but rather Team Seven and the other genin, so that I may give them character, and plot, and overall meaning to the story. Ha!
Four: I hope I didn't do that scene with Naruto and Yuugao to rashly. For right now, the women in Naruto's life are friends, though Anko might just be a friend with benefits. There will be a time later in Act I or some time in Act II where his relationships with the women will evolve into something more, but it is still too early for that, as Naruto is only just now starting to peek from his shell.
Five: Yes, Naruto is now a Special Jounin, if you have a problem with it, tell me in your review and I shall reply and explain it. And yes, Hayate is dead, like in canon, except this time, Yuugao already got her revenge. Oh, and yes, Naruto is taking Hayate's place as proctor.
Six: Seriously, are you still reading this? If you are, good for you, 'cause I still have more stuff to say.
Seven: So far, no one has gotten Naruto's spy yet, though you all did remind me of Tayuya and Kin, and have made me consider putting them in the story. And no, it wasn't Karin, I don't like her. I don't like any Sasuke fangirl.
And Finally, Eight: The BLEACH xover is on the back burner, though I have written half of the first chapter. It is not my highest priority at the moment. But I will have it up by the end of Act I of this, which will be soon if I get off my ass and right this. It is coming out, okay? Just not right now. Besides, it gives the manga time to get farther ahead so ideas don't sound completely ridiculous and I am then burned at the stake for some type of heresy or hypocrisy.
Alright, that's it. Holy crap! That was unnecessarily long. Eh, whatever. Alright sinners, read, review, and stay awesome.
Until next time, RisenInfection, out