Still Don't Own Naruto!
Chapter 42: Time Off
The return trip proved to be easy for Naruto, with Kurotsuchi's Yoton they were easily able to create a path through the maze and were out by midday of the second day.
"Congratulations on returning, I take it you have have your medallions" the proctor said as team Gai and Kurotsuchi arrived at the finish.
"Yes" both Naruto and Kurotsuchi said and both took out there pendants. Well Kurotsuchi took hers out Naruto smeared blood over a seal and removed there teams.
"So what now, there is still three days of this task left, do we just wait around" Naruto asked the proctor.
"that wont be necessary, you just have to go through the door and register your team for the final's then make your way to the Tsuchikage tower to find the date of the final exam" the proctor said.
"Sounds easy enough, lets go guys" Naruto said and went through the door to register there names into a large computer, Naruto guessed it was to decide the matches for the finals.
Team Gai walked over to the Tsuchikage's tower with Kurotsuchi, they chatted happily as they walked which seemed to shock the villagers that Oonoki's granddaughter would be seen talking so care free with the son of there greatest enemy.
(With Sasuke)
Sasuke ad fallen unconscious not long after they left the battle with Naruto and Itachi. It was for this reason they were currently carrying the beaten Uchiha hastily across the land of Earth to Orochimaru's hideout.
As they approached the entrance to the underground lair that Orochimaru used for his experiments in this country they ran into Kabuto.
"Well well, looks like you guys failed, Orochimaru-sama will not be pleased. And look at you Sasuke I thought you were an Uchiha, you know... the elite and yet here you are looking like you were just thrown around like it was nothing" Kabuto said smoothly.
"Fuck you, some blond haired Naruto guy that Sasuke knew from Konoha showed up, and then Sasuke's brother. That Naruto guy is tough took out me and Karin like we were nothing" Suigetsu said.
"My isn't that a story I will enjoy hearing what Orochimaru-sama has to say about it" Kabuto said with a smirk while the two conscious Oto ninja paled.
"They were both way out of our league what could we do, that leaf ninja took out Sasuke and it didn't even look like he was trying" Suigetsu said knowing he was going back in the water tube.
"We will just have to see, wont we" Kabuto said and walked inside leeting the other two carry Sasuke.
They walked through a small underground passageway and came out into a large chamber. Orochimaru was siting at the far end in a high backed chair awaiting there arrival.
"I see you have returned, where is Kurotsuchi" Orochimaru asked calmly.
"Well we don't have her" Suigetsu said.
"And why not" Orochimaru said annoyance hinted in his voice.
"We had her Orochimaru-sama, we even tied her up and were leaving. But we were prevented taking her with us by a ninja from Konoha" Karin said almost pleadingly.
"It appears it was Naruto Namikaze" Kabuto said with a smirk.
The arms of the chair that Orochimaru was currently holding snapped under the pressure of the snakes fingers. "It seems that boy has proven to be quite the thorn in my side" Orochimaru seethed quietly trying to contain his rage at missing out on his latest test subject. "Tell me what happened" Orochimaru demanded of Karin.
Karin went on to explain to Orochimaru about how Naruto intervened in there capture of Kurotsuchi and Itachi showing up to try and capture Naruto and the events that she had witnessed up until Naruto hit Sasuke with a rasengan and they dragged him away.
"Kukukuku, well that will teach Sasuke that he is not ready to kill his brother yet" the hebi sannin said casually.
"Uh so as it wasn't our fault you cant punish us right" Suigetsu asked.
"That wouldn't be fair would it, but I will anyway, Kabuto return Suigetsu-kun here to his tank, in fact make it a smaller one, and Karin you are to return to the southern base at once when you get there you are not allowed out until I say otherwise" Orochimaru ordered.
Suigetsu looked ready to complain at this but Kabuto easily removed his weapons and trapped him in a large jar.
"Oh and Kabuto, once you have finished with Suigetsu go check on Sasuke I wold have to have him die on me" Orochimaru said cooly.
"Of course Orochimaru-sama" Kabuto replied before he left.
(With Naruto)
Team Gai and Kurotsuchi entered the Kage tower and began to head towards Oonoki's office. Naruto took note on his way there that while the outside of the tower was nowhere near as grand as the Kage towers in Konoha, Suna or Kumo, the inside was fare more spectacular than the others combined, gold and marble lined the walls and large gem stones scattered the wall. In various locations.
"Wow look at this place, its like a Dynmo's treasury" Tenten said in awe.
"Well we are the land of earth so gemstones and minerals are far more common, what we don't have is the wood for large grand houses like in Konoha" Kurotsuchi said as they approached a large stone door with a golden handle.
Kurotsuchi knocked twice and waited. "Come in" came the elderly voice of Oonoki from the other side.
Naruto came through the door first followed by his team and finally Kurotsuchi.
"I see so you have passed already have you... Kurotsuchi-chan what happened to your team" Oonoki asked when he saw his granddaughter allone.
"They're dead. Killed by Sasuke Uchiha and his team. They were trying to capture me and take me to Orochimaru but Naruto saved me" Kurotsuchi said.
"I see, tell me what happened if you will Naruto" said Oonoki, he still hadn't taken his eyes from his granddaughter. 'So, he's no longer just the Namikaze huh'
Naruto went on to tell the edited story of his fight with both Itachi and Sasuke leaving out the parts where Naruto and Itachi talked obviously.
"Then I guess my thanks are owed to you, it is a shame I cant do anything about that snake Orochimaru or the Uchiha as it was in the exams and everything is allowed" Oonoki grumbled.
"You don't owe me anything old man, I would never let anyone be taken by Orochimaru if I could help it" Naruto said.
Oonoki grumbled at the old man comment but other than than that seemed pleased enough. "I guess yo will be wanting to know the date of the exams and the reason for the finals" he said.
"Well I guess there mainly for the promotion of the villages strength like the chunin exams" Naruto guessed.
"Mostly yes, however unlike the chunin exams the jonnin exams are not the only way for promotion to the rank, they are however the easiest way, it is this reason that a ninja may only appear in three jonin exams before they are forced to complete the necessary high ranked missions and age requirement's, that is why the only prerequisite to enter these exams is to be a chunin for at least six months" Oonoki said.
"So even if we fail three times or never take the exams again we can still be promoted, that's good" Naruto said.
"I don't know what your worried about, if your not promoted there would have to be something wrong with Konoha" Kurotsuchi said.
"Indeed. Now the finals will be held in only two weeks, as opposed to the month you were given in the chunin exams, at the main arena, this will give time for representatives from the other villages competing in the finals to arrive, I believe Jiraiya-dono will be representing Konoha in the Hokage's place" Oonoki informed them.
"Guess that makes sense cant leave Konoha without four of its top ninja, we would be severely weakened missing Jiraiya, Gai, Kakashi and Baa-chan" Naruto said.
"Anyway you will have the next two weeks off to do what you like, congratulations on making it to the finals" Oonoki said and signalled for them to leave.
After they left they made there way back to the hotel and Naruto went to find Yugito.
Yugito had been spending the day walking around Iwa looking for something nice to remember her trip when Naruto was able to sneak up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist.
"Well hello there beautiful, what are you shopping for" Naruto whispered in her ear.
"Naruto! I didn't think you would be done yet, exam that easy" she asked.
"No just we were fast, but we still ran into a certain Uchiha teme and his brother" Naruto said.
Yugito froze at this "Itachi showed up in the exam...You told me that Sasuke was here but for Itachi to show up. What happened are you alright" she said turning in Naruto's arms to face him.
"Never better now that I am back here with you" Naruto said.
"I'm serious, for the Akatsuki to try and capture you in the middle of the exams is serious" Yugito said.
"Nah like I would get captured by a genjutsu master, although I have to admit that Amaterasu packs one hell of a punch, it was pouring and those black flames still didn't stop burning" Naruto said impressed by the attack.
"You really are irresponsible you know" Yugito said attempting to scald her fellow blond but was unable because of his light hearted carefree attitude.
"Aw come on Yugi-chan I was able to chase him away and stop Sasuke-teme from kidnapping Kurotsuchi, that sounds like a win to me" Naruto said with a smile.
"That may be, but you are going to come with me and tell everything to Jiraiya-sama. And no complaint's" the Nibi jinchuuriki said.
"Yeah we could do that, or I could buy you something shiny from that jewellery store" Naruto said. 'That's right Yugi-chan not even you can resist the power that shiny objects have over women... and canneries but that is beside the point' he thought really not wanting to explain what happened again.
"That does sound better, ok so we will go there and you can buy me something then we will go see Jiraiya-sama" she said eyeing a small nacklace.
'NOOoooooooooooo, how could I have not thought that she would just make me talk to sensei afterwards' Naruto screamed internally in mental anguish as he looked on with a smile as Yugito tried on a pair of silver diamond earrings. He really did not want to go over what happened in the second task again and certainly not to someone like Jiraiya who might be able to tell if he was lying about something. He also didn't enjoy the prospect of having to lie to Jiraiya about anything.
(One Empty Gamma Wallet and Very Happy Yugito later)
Naruto left the store with a small sniffle as Yugito left with her new highly expensive earrings in her bag, the only thing that made him feel better about loosing all his money on small useless pieces of silver was the fact that he likes seeing Yugito happy.
"So Yugi-chan I have two weeks off, what do you want to do, I was thinking of some training with Jiraiya sensei, I thought you might like to join us. He could teach you some of his hair jutsu, there not much use to me, but because you have such lovely long hair they would be perfect for you" Naruto suggested.
"You really think he would teach me some of his prized jutsu" Yugito asked disbelievingly.
"I don't see why not, and its not like you can use any of the toad style jutsu he uses, so it wont be like he is teaching you all of his special jutsu" Naruto reasoned.
"Fine but your asking him" she said merrily still happy about her new purchase.
"No worry's, I can get him to teach you then we can train together while I prepare for the final's" Naruto said confidently.
"Do you really need to train, you are already one of the strongest people there are, and your fighting a bunch of chunin granted talented chunin but there not on your level" Yugito said as they walked back to the hotel.
Naruto and Yugito entered there hotel and found Kakashi and Jiraiya sitting in the lobby talking to Lee and Tenten.
"Heya kiddo, I hear you had some trouble with the Akatsuki in the exams" Jiraiya said happy to see Naruto was safe.
"Nothing I couldn't handle just a teme trying to kidnap the Tsuchikage's granddaughter and his brother trying to take advantage, but I think I took care of them both well enough so they wont be bothering me again for awhile, at least not alone" Naruto said.
"Wasn't Kisame with him" Jiraiya queried curiously.
"No, I guess with the members that I have killed they needed to split up or something" Naruto said.
"So you three and Kurotsuchi are the first people through, lets just hope the others can get through, so what are you going to do before the finals" Jiraiya said.
"Well I was kind of hoping you would train me" Naruto said.
"Of course thought you would never ask, what do you want help with, sealing, taijutsu, ninjutsu" Jiraiya asked eager to help Naruto.
"Well I was going to leave some clones here to work on my sealing so I was hoping you could help me with some Toad ninjutsu. Oh also would you be able to teach Yugi-chan some of your Hair ninjutsu, they would be really useful for her" Naruto asked hopeful that his sensei would agree.
"Alright for you. But you owe me spar's once a day, and no sage mode. I don't want people to see me with a big nose and warts" Jiraiya said.
"Deal, I say we start tomorrow, that ok with you Yugi-chan" Naruto said turning to Yugito who nodded.
"Yes that will be fine, now if you will excuse us Jiraiya-sama, Kakashi we have work to do" Yugito said and dragged Naruto away.
"Work?, What could they possibly need to work on" Kakashi queried.
Jiraiya didn't say anything but he began grinning a very familiar grin and took out his note pad and began taking notes.
(The Next Day)
Naruto, Jiraiya and Yugito were currently standing in the same training ground Naruto had been teaching Iwaka only a few days ago.
"So Yugito you want to learn some hair related jutsu's to make use of your lovely long hair, you know I always wanted Naruto to grow his out, that spiky hair is perfect for hair jutsu, but he likes his hair short" Jiraiya said finishing with a pout.
"That's fine I like him with his hair that he has now. But I would love to learn some myself" Yugito said happily.
"Well anyway first I want you to learn to grow your hair and control it using chakra, once that is done I can start teaching you how to harden it then we can start learning the jutsu's. Naruto you want to work on Toad style ninjutsu, well we can start with your collaboration jutsu's, you only have two at the moment the Toad water bullet with Gamatatsu and and the Sage art: white flames of the heavens. I suggest working with Kichi to create less deadly jutsu then try using your Suiton with Kichi's Katon to create steam" Jiraiya said giving his pupils there tasks to work on.
By the end of the day Naruto had managed to create a new jutsu for escaping or to attack undercover, a steam cover collaboration jutsu with the help of Gamakichi. He also worked on summoning the fire mountain toads oesophagus and turning things into toads to various levels of efficiency.
"That was fun boss, you going to summon me back tomorrow" Gamakichi asked.
"Yeah most likely Kichi, I will make sure I have snacks for you then, might even bring Tatsu along" Naruto said and gave the large red toad a wave before he dispelled himself back to Myobokuzan.
During this time Yugito was working with Jiraiya on getting her hair to lengthen and bend with chakra.
She had managed the first part and was able to lengthen her hair as long as she had chakra running through it, the hair would always return to normal length, she had been worried at first that she wasn't doing it right but Jiraiya assured her that her hair was supposed to return to normal length once the chakra is removed from the hair.
This continued for the next three days, on the second day Shikamaru's team came in after they passed the second task, this left only one day. Naruto was beginning to think nobody else would have made it when Kiba barged through the door of the hotel shouting about how he would make jonnin easily now.
Naruto was pleased for there team but couldn't help feel for a scouting and tracking team they should have been able to get back sooner, Naruto could only conclude that they must have had trouble from other team's.
The day ended and Naruto guess that none of the other teams that were staying in the hotel had made it when team Samui showed up.
"Phew we made it, now I get to compete in the finals... but what if some poor Iwa girl fall's in love with me when she witnesses just how good I am in the finals and then when I leave to return to Kumo she follows me and it starts a war with Iwa because we took in a missing ninja" Omoi said.
"Loving the day dreaming Omoi" Naruto said with a small laugh as he went to congratulate the team from Kumo.
"Kami Naruto-kun don't encourage him" Karui said but gave a defeated sigh when Naruto joined in throwing out possible outcomes to Omoi competing in the final's "Yugito-chan how do you put up with him, sure he's nice but does he have to encourage Omoi" she said turning to the jinchuuriki.
"That's just who Naruto is, he seems to be able to get along with everyone by just understanding how they think, I mean he got A-sama to like him. He even tried to rap with Kirabi, guess he is just likeable even if it annoys you from time to time" Yugito said fondly as she stared at Naruto who was currently agreeing with Omoi that should he win all of his matches in the finals it would most certainly lead to the forth great shinobi war, and therefore promised that should they fight Naruto wold make sure he won to prevent such a thing from happening.
Later that night a letter was delivered to all the teams that had passed the second task.
Congratulations on passing the Second Task and making it to the Finals of the Jonnin Exams.
The exams will be held in 10 days in the main arena and will consist of a tournament of single combat matches much like the Chunin Exams.
The matches will be as follows:
the first match will be Chojuro of Kiri Versus Choji of Konoha.
Second: Omoi of Kumo Versus Tenten of Konoha.
Third: Shikamaru of Konoha Versus Kiba of Konoha.
Fourth: Shinoi of Kumo Versus Lee of Konoha.
Fifth: Naruto of Konoha Versus Chukichi of Kiri.
Sixth: Shino of Konoha Versus Kurotsuchi of Iwa.
Seventh: Hinata of Konoha Versus Bye...
Team Akatsuchi from Iwa and Team Ao from Kiri, both lost members either to failure, disqualification or death in the first rounds and as such will only be able to enter those who were able to complete the second task.
In attendance will be the Dynmo's from Earth, Water and Fire countries. Jiraiya the Toad Sannin will be representing Konoha. Iwa will be represented by Sandaime Tuschikage: Oonoki of the Twin Scales. Kumo Will be represented by Yondaime Raikage: A. Kiri will be Represented by Godaime Mizukage: Mei Terumi.
We once again congratulate you and your team for progressing this far and wish you the best of luck in the finals.
Yours truly: the Sandaime Tuschikage Oonoki.
'Well this looks like it could be a lot of fun' thought Naruto as he absorbed the information and what match he was in. 'So I'm in the fifth match against someone from Kiri, now I wish I knew some Raiton, could always make some Raiton seals with Kakashi sensei's help I guess' he thought as he walked into the bedroom to get some sleep, he needed to be up to begin training again in the morning.
End Chapter!.
What do you think of the match's, sort of set it up for Naruto Vs Chojuro final. He will still have some good fights before he gets there promise Naruto Vs Lee at least.
However with that said I cant see Naruto having much trouble with anyone in the exam if he is able to bitch slap Sasuke the way he did.
Thinking one more filler chapter before the finals sorry, have to think of a way to make them both believable and so every fight doesn't last a whole chapter.