(The epic Chunin Exam Arc is underway! In the Thirteenth Chapter Team 3 meet heads towards Team 10's location. Will they receive a friendly welcome? Also, Hoshi Ishimaru and her Hidden Rock Squad arrive at the tower and report to their superiors. The Second Round of the Chunin Exams continue! What will be the outcome? I love feedback and constructive criticism, so please leave a review so I can improve my writing and storytelling skills. Enjoy!)
Team 3 travels quickly with Kuroda in the lead and Jando watching their backs with his Byakugan. With Pheobus as a scout they are able to avoid the dangerous predators lurking in the forest, human or otherwise. And since Apollo had already traveled through the area they are able to bypass difficult terrain like toxic swamps or massive waterfalls.
"Hey, Sakura?" calls Jando, after the team makes it through a patch of land that is covered in jagged rocks.
"What is it?" she replies.
"Can you explain to me how your butterflies work again?" he asks.
Sakura's white-and-blue dress flutters as she jumps from branch to branch and explains, "They have a link that allows them to communicate information."
"So is it a long range communication Jutsu?" he asks as he swivels his head around and keeps watch for enemies.
"No, it is a mental link," corrects Sakura, "Phoebus can think something, and then Apollo instantly knows what she is thinking. It works the same way if Apollo thinks something. They also have the ability to transmit images."
"Ohh, I get it," comments Jando, "But does one of them always know what the other is thinking?"
"No," replies Sakura, "They can move their thoughts into a separate area of their brain, and in that area the other one is not able to hear the thoughts. It would get kind of annoying if another person was in your brain 100% of the time."
"We are almost there," announces Phoebus.
A pair of forest green eyes are staring at the clouds in the sky. They watch the white smoke slowly form pictures of various objects, then disperse and reform into new shapes. One specific cloud shapes itself into an arrow pointing itself towards a large tower in the middle of a large forest surrounded by a tall fence on all sides.
"Looks like the skies are telling me something again," says the owner of the green eyes. Kenji Takimasu sighs as he lifts himself off the grass.
"I wish Chiaki was here," he thinks to himself, "She is way better to look at than the clouds."
Suddenly a hornet zooms up to Kenji and stabs him with its stinger. "Damn, now she has control over the bugs as well?" he says rubbing the wound, "Well, I had better head to the tower and check on how everything is going. I am the proctor of this exam after all."
It is noon on the third day of the second exam when Team 3 makes it to Team 10's location.
"Wait," whispers Jando. Sakura and Kuroda halt on a branch, and Jando stops next to them.
"An enemy?" asks Sakura.
"No, I can see the traps they have set up," explains Jando, "There sure are a lot of them."
"Can you point them out for me?" asks Kuroda stepping forward. A white puff of smoke appears next to him, and a duplicate of Kuroda is made. The clone has the same raven black hair, baby blue eyes and it wears the same black t-shirt with the collar sticking up, the long black loose fitting pants, and the tan weapons pack tied to the right leg.
Jando points to the first trap and the clone jumps forward to disable it.
Using this same strategy Kuroda is able to avoid all the pitfalls, dodge all the falling logs, and disable all the tripwires for the explosives. After several minutes of hard work and great teamwork all of the traps are neutralized. The team drops down from the trees and goes closer to the cave. Apollo rejoins the group and Sakura dismisses the twin butterflies.
"So where are they?" asks Jando.
Ichimaru appears behind the group and says, "Only you could have gotten past my traps that easily, Kuroda. However, I never thought you would resort to coming after another team from the Leaf Village."
Kuroda responds, "Ichimaru, that hurts my feelings. You know me better than that. My team already has our second scroll. But, we just happened to come across an extra one and wanted to know if you needed another."
"Are you serious?" questions Ichimaru.
"Do you really think we would waste our time to go and get a scroll from you guys?" Jando huffs, still annoyed by the decision.
"You don't have to be mean about it," comments Sakura.
"Yes, we are serious," says Kuroda, taking out the extra scroll and tossing it to his old friend.
"No way!" exclaims Ichimaru, "And it is an earth scroll, too. Just the one we need."
"Do I have to repeat what I said?" asks Jando.
Ichimaru comments, "I feel bad about not earning the scrolls on my own, but we do need another one so thanks."
"So, where is the rest of your team?" asks Sakura.
Ichimaru motions towards the cave, "In here."
Team 3 heads inside and finds Kenta keeping guard over the injured Yui. "What are you three doing here?" he asks, wary that this might be some sort of trick.
Ichimaru quickly whispers an explanation of the situation to his teammates.
Kenta asks Ichimaru, "Why would Kuroda give the competition a scroll?" Ichimaru gives the same speech about the strength of the village that Kuroda gave to Jando.
Kuroda and Ichimaru talk for a bit then announce, "We have decided to make camp for the rest of the night, and then we will all head to the tower the next morning."
"Jeez, we are never going to pass the exam at this rate," complains Jando, throwing his hands up in the air.
Hoshi, Naga, and Yamashita arrive at the tower just as the sun is going down. After entering and then combining their earth and heaven scrolls a large white cloud appears. A woman with long brown wavy hair materializes. She wears a white robe that goes down to her waist and has short sleeves, under it is long sleeved black shirt, and the lower portion of her body is clothed with short white shorts.
When she sees her three Genin the Jonin exclaims, "What the hell happened?"
"Chiasa-sensei, we need to speak with the Tsuchikage immediately!" says Yamashita.
A few minutes later the team enters a secluded room where Kenji Takimasu and the Tsuchikage are waiting for them. Kenji examines their battered bodies and their torn clothes, but doesn't speak.
The Tsuchikage asks, "Where are the other teams? Was the mission successful?"
"No," Hoshi tells them, "The mission was a failure, Father. All of the other teams are dead."
The Tsuchikage exclaims, "What? Are you serious?"
"Yes, Father," she replies, trying to maintain a calm composure.
"How could only one Leaf team beat our four strongest Genin teams?" He questions.
Yamashita steps forward and informs them, "We didn't fight with the whole Leaf team; we only encountered that tall one with the dark hair. The other members of the team were not there."
All of the elder ninja are shocked to hear this news.
"Don't joke around. Tell us what really happened," orders Chiasa.
"I am completely serious," replies Yamashita, "The only one we fought was Kuroda Taishi."
"Naga, Hoshi, is this correct? You only fought one boy?" asks Chiasa.
They nod their heads to confirm.
"Chiasa Inuzu, that is enough," says the Tsuchikage in an intimidating but calm voice, "I will be the one to do the questioning."
"I apologize, my lord," says Chiasa, bowing and taking a step back.
"Now, tell me everything that happened," orders Masato Ishimaru.
"Everything was going according to plan," explains Yamashita, "We decided to sprint ahead of their squad and set up an ambush. Our team was the last to arrive at the designated point, but something was off."
"And what was that?" asks the Tsuchikage, sitting back in his chair.
"He was waiting for us," replies Hoshi with a sickened expression on her face.
"What do you mean?" inquires the leader of the Rock Village.
"Somehow it seems he knew about the ambush. He must have overheard someone talking about our plan. It was a simple plan, so it wouldn't be that hard to calculate where we were going to set up the trap. So he came on his own and confronted us," explains Yamashita.
"And the others were not with him?" asks the Tsuchikage.
"I assume he left them behind, or they had their own objectives. Either way we never saw or detected their presence," replies Yamashita.
"It seems this Kuroda was very confident in his own abilities," comments Kenji.
"He was extremely confident," confirms Yamashita, "He was aware he was outnumbered and he literally taunted us into attacking him. It was unbelievable. He repelled all of our attacks, everything we threw at him he knocked away like it was nothing. Even our Jutsu were completely useless. He took on Hoshi when she was using her Stone Hand Blades and she didn't land one blow on him."
"Is this true, my daughter?" asks Masato.
"Yes, Father," confirms Hoshi, "He was able to elude all of my moves, and defeat my techniques."
"But there is more," comments Yamashita.
"Go on then," orders the Tsuchikage.
"He did all this without using any Ninjutsu of his own. It was all by Taijutsu, he was completely dominating us and he was only using the basic ninja techniques," explains Yamashita in an almost envious manner.
"No way, not possible!" interrupts Chiasa, "I know every Genin on those squads. Even a Jonin would have had trouble defeating all of you without using some Jutsu."
"I wasn't finished yet," says Yamashita.
"There is more?" questions the disbelieving brunette.
"Just let him finish," comments Kenji looking unfazed by all the news.
"Like I was saying, he was only using basic techniques," continues Yamashita, "He didn't even look that tired; he probably could have managed to beat us just going on like that. However he started to use a Jutsu. It is kind of hard to describe what it was. This Jutsu is a mysterious technique that allowed him to vanish and reappear somewhere else in an instant. He was like a monster, taking us all out in mere seconds, I have never seen anything like it. His speed was incomparable; I have never seen anyone that fast."
"Maybe you were just tired from the battle," suggests Chiasa.
"But it was more than just speed," replies Yamashita, "Naga and I tried capturing him in our combination Jutsu. I had him halfway in the ground, but he used his technique to escape."
"A transportation Jutsu?" wonders Kenji in the confines of his own thoughts.
"We woke up a day later and found that we were the only ones alive, so we decided to finish the exam and head straight here to make our report," finishes Yamashita.
"Leave us. Go and rest for the next portion of the exam," orders Masato.
The three Genin exit the dark room, leaving the adults to discuss the new events.
"What are your thoughts?" asks the Tsuchikage.
"That Jutsu sounds like a Body Flicker Technique, but I have never heard of anyone using it like he described," says Chiasa.
"No, it sounded more like some sort of transportation Jutsu," says Kenji, "But there is no way that a mere Genin has the chakra or the knowledge to use a Jutsu like that."
"Well, it seems the Leaf Village has been holding out on us," comments Masato.
Kenji comments, "It was unwise to go after such a powerful opponent, without proper information."
"Yes, I was too hasty in my decision," admits the Tsuchikage.
Chiasa questions, "How come we have never heard anything about such a talented Genin from the Hidden Leaf Village. We should have at least heard some rumors about him, even if they were trying to keep him a secret."
The Tsuchikage says, "I'm not sure, but I want to know everything about him. Kenji after you are done with this portion of the exam I want you to go and gather more information on this Kuroda Taishi."
(That is the end of the chapter, what did you think? Team 3 plans to help Team 10 pass this portion of the exams, but does Kuroda have an ulterior motive. Will they even be able to get out of the Forest alive? As usual, if you want more information on my characters you can see their bios on my profile page. Be warned, there may be some spoilers. Also I'm in the process of getting pictures drawn for the characters, but I have no idea how long that will take. If you're interested in drawing and have a DA account then send me a Message. Enjoy the next chapter, and please review.)