(The epic Chunin Exam Arc is underway! In the Thirty Eighth Chapter of the arc, the final match of the Chunin Exams has concluded and Kuroda is victorious. What will happen in the aftermath of his win? 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!)
With the results of the final match of the tournament now official, the Tsuchikage leans over to the Hokage and says, "It seems your Genin is not just cocky. He is at a much higher level than any of the other Genin. I wonder how such a strong ninja is still only a Genin? I haven't heard any news that the Leaf Village had such a talented shinobi in its ranks."
The Hokage eyes him and responds, "I am offended that I would be asked a question about the internal affairs of my village. However, I will give you a bit of information as a gesture of faith. Kuroda has not been on active duty for a while so that's why he was relatively unheard of. And he is still a Genin because of instances like today where he acts out of turn and doesn't respect the rules of conduct that shinobi are supposed to abide by."
The Tsuchikage replies, "I understand your reasoning. A ninja who won't follow orders can end up getting his comrades killed. However, because of these exams you will have no choice but to promote him to Chunin. People will want to hire him for the skills he has demonstrated in the exams."
She sighs, "You are right, I guess. How troublesome."
He laughs and responds, "Being the leader of an entire village isn't supposed to be easy."
"I wish someone had told me that before I took the job," she responds.
He chuckles again then stands to make an announcement. The Tsuchikage's voice booms so all of the audience can hear it, "Congratulations, Kuroda Taishi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Your victory was most impressive, but I must remind you that just because you won doesn't necessarily mean you will become a Chunin."
Kuroda doesn't show any sign that he cares at all if he becomes a Chunin. The crowd however begins to break out into discussions on what should happen.
"Well, now it seems my source's prediction was entirely accurate," says the smug noble dressed in blue-and-gold, "The Leaf Village had a grand day indeed. Sorry to inform you, Miss Inuzu, but it seems you and the Tsuchikage were overly confident in the abilities of his daughter. She is strong indeed, but against someone of Kuroda's caliber she is no match at all."
Chiasa stays quiet and keeps her anger and irritation inside.
"He hardly even had to move at all and he was low on chakra, but he absolutely crushed her," thinks Yamashita as he analyzes the match, "He is excellent in strategy, strong in Taijutsu, knows a variety of Ninjutsu, and has strong Genjutsu defense. That alone makes him a top-class ninja and a serious threat. But if you add in his unpredictability and the mysterious Jutsu he used in the Forest of Lost Souls that makes Kuroda Taishi a very dangerous man."
"Well, it seems that I have lost our bet," admits the noble dressed in purple robes as he stands to leave, "The money will be sent to you within the week."
"I look forward to testing my luck against you at the next exams," says the other noble.
"Yes, yes," he replies as he walks away, "You won't be so lucky next time though."
"This was an exciting few days don't you agree, Miss Inuzu?" says the first noble.
"You could say that," she replies, wishing to leave his company as soon as possible.
"My lord, may I ask you something?" inquires Yamashita.
"Go ahead," says the noble.
"Just who exactly was the source you kept referring to?" asks the young rock Genin.
"Well, since I am in such a good mood I will let you in on my secret," says the blue-and-gold clad noble, "My source was none other than Kuroda himself."
"This is why I despise nobles," thinks Chiasa as she tries to hold in her anger.
The Tsuchikage announces, "Seeing as the tournament has ended a day sooner than planned, we will move everything up. The official ceremony to announce if any Genin will become Chunin will be held in two days. Once again I thank you all for attending, and please enjoy the festivities." A final cheer erupts from the arena as everyone celebrates the end of the tournament.
"Wait, so what happens now that the fighting is over?" asks Yui.
"The Tsuchikage, Hokage, other high level ninja, and important nobles will meet over the next few days and discuss who they think should be promoted," explains Yoshikuni, "Once they come to a consensus they call all the candidates who made it to the third stage to the ceremony. At that point they will give their recommendation on who should be promoted."
"Recommendation? They aren't automatically promoted?" asks Naoko.
"Well, ultimately the decision to promote someone to Chunin rests in the hands of the Kage or in the case of the smaller villages the Head Ninja," says Tousen, "But it is pretty much standard that anyone who is recommended by the council will be promoted."
"Wow, everything is so complicated," comments Kenta.
"That is politics for you," says Tousen, "A little advice to all of you young folk. Whatever you do in life, don't get caught up in politics."
"You are only saying that because your pervyness would make you look bad," mutters Rame Tsu.
"Come on, Sakura, let's go congratulate Kuroda," says Kayo as she stands to leave.
"Okay, Sensei," says Sakura standing to follow, "Coming, Jando?"
"I'm not going to praise that guy for making me look like an idiot," says Jando.
"Fine, see you later then," she says.
"When did Mazuma leave?" inquires Kenji as he puts his arms behind his head and relaxes.
"Right when Tatsuki ended the match," answers Chiaki, "I guess he didn't feel like anything else important would happen."
"So do you think he will contact us if he finds any more info?" asks Kenji.
"He will be at the ceremony so if he doesn't say anything there we can assume the Hidden Grass doesn't have any more information on Kuroda Taishi," she replies.
"So, Chiaki, what are you doing later?" asks Kenji.
She sighs and replies, "Can't you just give it a rest already?"
He looks straight into her eyes with his deep green ones and says, "I'll stop when you say yes."
Chiaki brushes her bangs out of the way so he can see both of her brown eyes. She leans in close to him and then flicks him right above the nose. "Not going to happen," she says before turning to leave and drawing the attention of every male in the vicinity.
"You keep saying that, but I know you really don't mean it," he says quietly as he stares after her. When she is out of view he turns to look up at the clouds, but finds something more interesting to look at back down on the field.
The crowds start exiting the stadium and Kuroda makes his way to an exit. As he walks away Tatsuki gets a strange feeling and wonders, "What is this? It's like I'm being drawn towards that kid. But why? Did he do something to me? It feels… it feels like I miss being in his presence." She even starts to walk after him, until she realizes what she is doing and stops herself. "What am I doing? What am I thinking? I must be tired or something. Me, missing that guy? How foolish. I can't wait until he leaves so this feeling goes away," she thinks. She looks around for a moment then jumps away.
When Kuroda gets outside he sees Kayo and Sakura waiting for him and walks over. Kayo starts to say "You are in a lot of trouble…"
but Kuroda cuts her off, "Save your lectures for Jando, Sensei. I don't feel like dealing with them today."
Kayo says, "I know that it is pointless to yell at you. You are just going to do whatever you want anyway. So I won't bother yelling at you, but I did really want to ask you a question."
"I suspected you might," he replies, "Before you start, follow me. So the Rock Ninja tailing us won't hear." They start walking in a random direction, then take a number of different twists and turns until they slip into an alley.
Two Rock Ninja appear in the nearby street. "Damn it, we lost him again, and this time he had two other people with him. The Tsuchikage is going to be furious about this," one of them says.
"We have to report this anyway, if we don't we will be in more trouble," says the other.
"Fine, let's go then," says his partner. They head off back towards the main part of the village.
"What was that about? Why were they following us?" asks Sakura.
"They have been following me since the second exam ended," explains Kuroda, "Don't worry about it. Now what was your question, Sensei?"
Kayo asks, "Did you make the Tsuchikage's daughter sign one of those contracts?"
Kuroda isn't surprised and compliments, "Very good, Sensei. I knew you would notice it."
She tells him, "I recognized what happened to Hoshi at the start of the match, when she tried to attack you. I don't know any other way she could have been afflicted like that, so I figured that you somehow got her to sign."
Sakura interjects, "Now I understand why you didn't want me to fight Hoshi. You were not just concerned about me accidentally summoning you to help, but since Hoshi also signed a contract she must have also received a seal and if I tried to kill her then you would be summoned to save her too."
"Precisely," says Kuroda, "I don't want anyone who I can't control knowing about my ability, so having to use it in front of so many people would be a problem."
Then Kayo asks, "But when exactly were you able to get her to sign? Sakura said it was in the Forest of Lost Souls."
Kuroda replies. "Yes, I assume that Sakura told you about when I went off on my own during the Second part of the exam in the Forest of Lost Souls. I learned that because of my actions in the first part of the exam, a number of Rock Ninja were given a secret mission to target our team specifically. I was also able to determine that they were going to set up an ambush on the path that our team was taking. Once I learned of the plan I decided to go ahead on my own and take care of the problem. I easily slaughtered almost all of the enemy ninja with my secret technique. But then I recognized Hoshi as the daughter of the Tsuchikage. I thought that instead of killing her it might be a good idea to have a spy to tell me anything I wanted to know about the Village Hidden in the Rocks. So I convinced Hoshi to join me and left her and her team alive."
Kayo comments, "How ingenious. Not only do you have a spy in an enemy village, but she is none other than the leader of that village's own daughter. Now you control someone deep inside an enemy organization. You can get secret information and potentially even assassinate its leader and no one would have a clue how it happened. But why won't you show your true powers to the Hokage? Please, Kuroda, reveal all of this to the Hokage because it would be vital information and put you in her favor for once."
Kuroda harshly responds, "I have no intention of telling the Hokage about any of this, and I really don't care if I am on her good side or not."
Sakura quickly changes the subject by asking, "But if you didn't want to risk getting summoned to aid either me or Hoshi, then what was the point of fighting her today?"
Kuroda explains, "After so many forfeits in the tournament, it would be very suspicious if either of us decided to forfeit. However, there is another reason also that I did it. I was not able to fully evaluate her abilities during our encounter in the forest, and I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't have to come to her rescue every time she encountered an enemy."
"So you wanted to make sure she was strong," says Sakura.
"Yes," replies Kuroda.
When the get to the end of the road Sakura says, "Well, we were planning on going to visit Ichimaru in the hospital and tell him what happened. Do you want to come with us?"
Kuroda says, "I will be going tomorrow on my own. I will see you later." They part ways and Kuroda wanders the streets for a while then heads back to his sleeping quarters.
(That is the end of the chapter, what did you think? Who will be elevated to Chunin rank and what mischief will Kuroda be up to in the meantime? 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.)