Disclaimer – Kishimoto owns Naruto and the characters therein.
.
Memories Of Others
Chapter 32
A Genin's Plans
.
Tenten shifted her feet slightly, sinking into a low stance as her eyes measured up her opponent. His larger sword would allow him to deliver blows too powerful to block, but its size would limit how fast he could swing it, allowing her to intercept and redirect it. The odd two-handle design would aid with slashes and blade-twists, but would cut down on precision.
Of course, with the sword being one of the famous Seven Swords of the Mist, precision was probably not that high on the list of required attributes for wielding it.
"Final Match." Hayate declared. "Begin!"
Chojuro sprinted forwards, spinning to build up momentum and the Hiramekarai slashed through the air on a path that would have bisected Tenten, had she not countered with a rising slash that deflected the larger blade just enough to let her roll underneath it, rising to slash at Chojuro's flank. The blade missed as Chojuro used the momentum of his sword to help him leap sideways, opening the distance between them again.
"Tenten seems to be enjoying this." Naruto commented. "She doesn't have much chance to practice her kenjutsu, it's normally shurikenjutsu at the training sessions that I've attended."
The clashing of metal verses metal interrupted him as Tenten pressed home the attack while Chojuro shifted his grip, releasing one handle in order to place his hand against the flat of the blade, allowing him to use it like a shield. After several seconds, Tenten disengaged in a whirling flurry of steel that denied him the chance to counter-attack.
"His blade is full of chakra…" Hinata murmured as below them, Chojuro shifted his grip again, then his sword was suddenly surrounded by a chakra aura.
"What the…" Tenten began, but she was interrupted by Chojuro as he swung the Hiramekarai.
"Hiramekarai Kaiho!"
The chakra suddenly extended outwards, tripling the length of the blade and Tenten launched herself into an aerial somersault to avoid the unexpected slash, barely dodging the chakra blade before landing in a three-point crouch.
"Right." She growled, then she paused as something hit the ground beside her. All eyes moved to look at the shredded ribbon, then Tenten slowly reached up to touch the ragged ends that had once been her left hair-bob.
"You… bastard!" She shouted, stabbing her chokuto into the ground and somehow filling her hands with multiple kunai and shuriken. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to find a hairstyle that let me have long hair without it holding me back?!"
Chojuro didn't answer, being too busy trying to shield himself against the veritable horizontal rainstorm of metal that Tenten was sending his way.
"I couldn't even wear it loose, because I'd look like Neji!" Tenten ranted as her hands blurred. "Sure, he's a dish, but I'd rather not look as if I'm his sister! From how he treats his cousin, I know he doesn't have that fetish, so I can't use that to get him into my bed!"
Neji turned bright red while Hinata sought refuge in Naruto's arms, biting her lip to stop herself laughing.
"Now I'll need a haircut to get it looking even again!" Tenten continued unabated. "And if Gai-Sensei or Lee even think about suggesting a bowl cut, I'll use my Rising Dragons on them!"
Both males in question seemed to shrink back without actually moving.
"I'm sorry!" Chojuro shouted and the barrage of bladed weapons suddenly stopped. Carefully, he peeked out from behind the shield of his sword, only to get send flying backwards as a kunai's pommel-ring slammed into his forehead.
"Bastard." Tenten grumped.
"Winner, Tenten." Hayate confirmed while trying to hide an amused smirk. "If the winners could all *cough* please come down and form a line?"
Naruto noted with amusement that the still-blushing Neji made certain that he was on the end of the rapidly-forming line that was furthest away from his team-mate.
"Naruto!" Tenten called up. "Once this is done, can I borrow a dozen clones?"
Naruto bit down on a laugh as Tenten indicated the drifts of metal that would need to be collected, sorted and re-sealed.
"Sure thing!" He called back. "However, I think Anko-san wants your attention!"
Tenten jolted back to face front and stared at Anko, before realizing that the elder Kunoichi was holding a box. With a sheepish smile, she reached in and extracted a small ball.
"Okay, if you can let me *cough* see the numbers?" Hayate asked, then he scribbled the names of the winners down onto his clipboard before turning it round.
"In one month, you will participate in the final exam." He said, before breaking off to cough. Anko filched his clipboard while he was fumbling for a handkerchief and took over.
"The first match will be Uchiha Sasuke versus Higarushi Tenten. The second will be Haruno Sakura against Inuzuka Kiba. The third is Temari against Tsuchi Kin while the fourth will be Hyuuga Neji against Yuki Haku. The fifth will be Gaara of the Desert against Aburame Shino.
"The winner of match one will fight the winner of match two. Same thing for three and four. The winner of match six will fight the winner of match five with the victor going up against whoever won match seven.
"Sheets showing the match-ups will be given to your Jonin-Senseis by the end of the day. Stage two is now finished. You will be escorted to the boats and given a ride out of the Forest of Death unless you have alternate transportation already arranged. Dismissed!"
"I really need to talk to Shino." Naruto mused, then he turned slightly.
"Kurenai, any word on what happened to the other teams?"
"I haven't heard anything about most of them, but I spoke to Asuma-k… ahem, Asuma-san just before coming here and he mentioned that his team sought medical attention for Choji on the second day, but they're all fine now."
"Thank goodness." Naruto sighed, then he frowned. "I wonder what happened to them? Ino's getting very good with her trapping skills…"
"You can get the story later." Kurenai shrugged as Shino and Kiba rejoined them.
"A meal." Naruto suggested. "Somewhere where we can talk. All the teams… I think it's probably time they found out…"
Hinata looked at him, then hugged him as tightly as she could.
"Interesting…" Shino mused. "I surmise that the meal will be… educational."
"I know a good restaurant." Kurenai supplied. "It's run by a former ninja who knows all about the need for privacy, I'll ask him for one of the back rooms."
"Thanks." Naruto smiled as Teams seven and nine moved to join them. "Alright, let's find a room to use and I'll whisk everyone to one of the training fields. Which one's the most private?"
"I recommend my team's ground." Gai suggested. "The tag is in an area shielded from casual observers."
"Sounds good." Naruto said, summoning a quintet of clones who ran out of the hall. "I'll see if I can get Ino or Shikamaru to meet us there, find out what happened to them."
"Then what's the fifth clone for?" Kurenai asked.
"I needed to inform Jiji about a certain person..."
.
.
"Naruto." Shikamaru yawned as soon as everyone had appeared in the training ground.
"Shika." Naruto replied. "You didn't make it to the tower. What happened?"
"Exploding squirrels which until then, I thought were just a silly rumor." Shikamaru supplied, causing Tenten, Neji and a still-groggy Lee to nod in recognition. "We were setting up an ambush ahead of one of the other teams when one triggered the trap early. Choji got hit by several of the senbon, then the squirrel detonated and knocked him over, landing on Ino's kit. We decided to get help rather than risk the various poisons interacting badly."
"A wise decision." Gai smiled. "The health of your comrades is of paramount importance!"
"How is Choji?" Sakura asked and Shikamaru smiled.
"Almost completely recovered, he'll be out of hospital by the end of the day."
"Tomorrow?" Naruto asked Kurenai, who nodded.
"Tomorrow? What about tomorrow?" Shikamaru queried.
.
.
"Hiashi-sama." Neji bowed and Hiashi looked up from the paperwork that he was perusing.
"Neji." Hiashi replied. "I heard that you have made it into the final exam. You have something on your mind?"
"Have you heard how I qualified?" Neji asked and Hiashi cocked an eyebrow.
"No, only that you did. I admit that I had assumed that it was your prowess in our fighting art that secured your victory… am I mistaken?"
Neji paused for a long moment. "No… but you are not correct, either. The elimination match was between Hinata-san and myself."
"As I half-expected." Hiashi nodded. "It is an open secret amongst those who have attained the rank of Jonin that the names chosen are only partially randomized. The match-ups are occasionally adjusted to either eliminate repetition that would cause the audience of the final stage to become bored, or to give a genin an easier path through if they have a reputation that would lead to Konoha's international standing being reduced should they fail. Since genin from the other hidden villages are not well-known enough to be used in the matches in question, the selections tend to pit the Konoha genin that should advance against one who is nowhere near strong enough to be allowed to advance."
Neji stared at his uncle for a moment, his sense of betrayal obvious, before he managed to get his expression back under control.
"So… I was to be sacrificed for my cousin to advance?"
"I believe it was meant to be the other way around." Hiashi gently corrected him. "My daughter would not use the one move that would have granted her victory, her heart is too gentle for that."
As he spoke, Hiashi's hand briefly formed the seal that would let him activate the Caged Bird Seal on Neji's forehead, then he dropped his hand back onto the desk, knowing that Neji had caught his meaning.
"So… how did you win?"
"Hinata declared that she was not yet skilled and experienced enough to seek the rank of chunin, so she forfeited in order to allow me to continue." Neji replied.
"…my daughter is wiser than she knows." Hiashi mused. "Naruto has truly been good for her."
Neji cocked his head questioningly as Hiashi refocused on him.
"What are your feelings on her actions?"
"I… do not know." Neji admitted. "Finding out that the fight between us was manipulated rather than fated… that I advanced because of her choice, that she thought I would make a better chunin than her… I… I just don't know…"
Hiashi nodded approvingly. "It is when we admit that we do not know everything that we can truly start to grow."
"I started learning that after the first few times my team went up against Naruto-sama." Neji admitted. "I found that he could use against me everything I didn't know."
Hiashi stared at him, then nodded as if he had made a decision.
"I will train you personally in the full ways of the Jyuuken." He declared, causing Neji to stare at him in shock. "There are still things you do not know… and not all of them relate to our art…"
Neji looked at him, then frowned as a new thought occurred.
"Wait, if the matches are adjusted, how did Uchiha Sasuke end up facing a foreign ninja? Should he not have faced a Konoha shinobi weaker than him?"
"That is a puzzling question." Hiashi allowed.
.
"Just here, Lord Hokage." The Tech-nin said, pointing to a small device embedded in the computer. "It looks like a one-shot unit, use it once before it burns out, but it let someone change one of the settings."
"Interesting." Hiruzen mused, crouching to get a better look. "Of course, the question was, who was it aimed at? Did someone want to stop Sasuke from proceeding to the final stage? Did they want the Sound-nin to fail? Did they think the Sound-nin could stop Sasuke, or were they counting on him failing?"
"And who." The Tech-nin added. "Oto is the obvious candidate, but…"
"Indeed." Sarutobi said as he straightened up, suppressing a wince as his back twinged. "New village with several strong shinobi that no-one's ever heard of before, accepting nuke-nin into its ranks… an easy choice for a victim to frame if you wish to distract someone. No, they're too obvious… but that leaves only Suna and Mizu, unless it is a plan by someone who believes that they should be the Hokage and are seeking to set up a series of events to discredit me… See if you can find out anything else about that device."
The tech-nin nodded and carefully prised the half-melted piece of technology away from the circuit board that it had been attached to.
.
.
.
.
.
Authors Afternote – Shinobi may know of Occam's Razor, but their natural sneakiness often mitigates against using it…
As for the matches, they are –
(1- Sasuke vs Tenten) (2- Sakura vs Kiba) (3 - Temari vs Kin) (4 - Neji vs Haku) (5 - Shino vs Gaara)
(6 -Winner 1 vs Winner 2) (7 - Winner 3 vs Winner 4) (8 - Winner 5 vs Winner 6)
(9 - Winner 7 vs Winner 8)
I promise the finals will have longer matches.