~Scroll 7~
"You three gangs of would-be hotshots are all Genin, right?" Asked the gray-haired Konoha-Nin with a hand on his hip, "Kids barely out of the local ninja academy? All wet-behind-the-ears and runny-nosed! This isn't a school field trip, you know."
"Who the heck do you think you are?" Ino demanded, not liking a stranger telling her how to behave. While everyone looked at the stranger suspiciously, Naruto looked at the older Nin in horrified fascination.
"Name's Kabuto. So what?" Kabuto dismissively stated as if he was unimportant. Then again, amongst the crowd of current applicants, Naruto suspected that they all were unimportant. "You kids need to open your eyes."
"Why?" Sakura asked then noticed her otouto thumbing behind him but never wavering his seraphim blue orbs from Kabuto.
Sakura and several others followed the blonde's pointed direction and looked behind them, only to instinctively take a step back from the forgotten crowd of local and foreign chuunin-applicants. Sakura found herself giving the crowd a weak smile, which none returned, not that she was really expected them to.
"Watch out for the group behind you." Kabuto warned with a knowing grin. "They're Amagakure - Those-who Hide-in-the-Rain - and they've got very short fuses."
"Oh." Sakura gulped.
"Everyone's on edge, waiting to take the exam." Kabuto continued, "I wanted to give you a heads-up before someone snaps and beats the crap out of you."
As the other nine rookies shifted to accept Kabuto's words and moved closer to the gray-haired Nin, Naruto blinked in confusion. A slight frown marred his face as he had been listening to the older Nin's words.
~Naruto-dono?~ Ka'a called out as he sensed his Kit's disconcertment toward the gray-haired youth.
~Nothing…~ Naruto mumbled quietly more to himself than to Ka'a.
~Naruto-dono?~ Ka'a persisted once more, not believing that his Host was being dismissive toward the ancient demon on purpose. For the great Fox-spirit could sense that something about this new stranger greatly troubled his beautiful houshi.
"But it's probably unavoidable." Kabuto sighed good-naturally, "Like all rookies, you think you already know everything. I remember what it was like."
~No, he doesn't.~ Naruto muttered to Ka'a with a mental frown.
The Kitsune sat in his cage, his many tails twitching in agitation by his houshi's lack of forth-coming information. However, Ka'a did not press for he knew that his Host would answer him when the time was right. And right now, his petite blonde-kit was still gathering information on the gray-haired stranger.
"Kabuto?" Sakura's tone was questioning.
"Yeah."
"Are you saying this is the second time you've applied?" The pinkette asked nervously, slightly concerned about the exams' difficulties.
"Not second…" Kabuto replied, which caused the others to prematurely relax, "Seventh."
The others were gobsmacked.
"Twice a year…" Kabuto continued with casual ease, "Hm, going on four years now."
"Wow -" Sakura exclaimed, although not certain if she was impressed by the level of challenge that the exam provided or by Kabuto's determination to keep trying, "Then you've got a lot of experience with what we can expect!"
"I guess so."
At that admission, the eight rookies grinned at one another as they mentally thanked their luck of having some inside intelligence. Kabuto smirked as he noticed the Genin grinning, but he did take notice of the blonde Genin from Kakashi's team, who stared at him critically.
It did not take a genius to figure out who the blonde was. The petite shinobi was Uzumaki Naruto, the container of the Nine-Tailed Fox-Demon. Kabuto found it interesting that the young man had forgone the former bright orange attire for something more subdued in color and something definitely more flattering to the teen's petite and lithe physique. The blonde wore a pair of dark charcoal linen-trousers with the hem rolled up to mid-shin and secured by two straps on either side of the teen's legs. The trouser also sat low around the blonde's hips, innocently revealing the slight hollows of the youth's hips, which was partially hidden behind the blonde's unique top.
Naturally, Naruto wore a mesh undershirt, and over the mesh undershirt, the blonde wore a unique single long-sleeved top. The top looked more like a long piece of autumn orange clothe wrapped around the petite blonde's torso and was secured tightly in place by a deep ocean blue sash that was tied across Naruto's left shoulder. Kabuto did have to admit that the natural orange and deep blue colors did contrast one another beautifully and that the whole new attire suited the teen nicely.
Kabuto smiled at the blonde container, who in turn arched a blonde brow. The gray-haired Nin fished through his pouch on his hip.
"Okay…" Kabuto smiled again, "The least I can do is give you sweet little babies some vital intelligence on what you're in for…"
Then the older Nin pulled out a deck of cards.
"With these Shinobi skill cards."
"Shinobi skill cards?" Sakura curiously asked as she eyed the stack of cards in Kabuto's hands.
"To put it simply, they contain information about the skills we use, transformed into symbols and burned into the cards using chakras." Kabuto explained as he tapped onto the top card, "It took me four years to collect all the intelligence needed for this exam. In all, there are almost 200 cards." Kabuto then playfully flipped the top card over and over between his fingers. "They look blank, don't they? The only way you can read the data on the cards…"
"What's he doing?" Ino whispered as they watched the gray-haired Nin focus on the card on the ground.
"… is by using my own personal chakra. Each set is linked to its possessor. For example, cards like this one…"
ONNG…
The simple blank card expanded and became a large map of the Shinobi World.
The map revealed the five great Lands, including a tiny unknown village. It also showed how many representatives that each village sent and the grand total of chuunin-applicants there were. There were a grand total of one hundred and fifty-three hopeful applicants. With the exceptions of the Sound Village, or Otogakure, each Land had sent representatives from either their capital '-gakure' or a sister '-gakure'.
"It's some kind of combination map and bar graph, in three dimensions!" Sakura gasped in glee, "What kind of intelligence is this?"
"It shows how many applicants each shinobi nation is sending to this session of the chuunin journeyman ninja exams." Kabuto explained.
The Genin gathered closer to see, and noticed as the Host of the Chuunin Exams, Konoha had the most representatives at a healthy set of 87. Sunagakure, the Hidden Village of Sand, as Kaze no Kuni's capital '-gakure' had sent 30 applicants, and Naruto had to lightly smile as he remembered Sabaku no Gaara and his two companions. After Suna, Amagakure, a sister '-gakure' to Kirigakure of Mizu no Kuni, had sent 21 applicants. While Kusagakure of Tsuchi no Kuni and Takigakure of Kuminari no Kuni, each had sent 6 applicants, and Otogakure sent only 3 applicants.
"Do you also have dossier cards?" Sasuke demanded, which caused Naruto to roll his eyes as he could suspect as to whom his brooding teammate wanted to know about. "Cards for each individual applicant?"
"Ha ha…" Kabuto laughed, "Why? Someone here you have a particular interest in?
"I'll admit these are far from complete, but I've burned a set of dossier cards for the current pool of applicants…" Kabuto then pointed looked at Sasuke, "including your team."
Naruto narrowed his eyes as he sensed the gray-haired Nin was trying to convey something to the Uchiha heir.
"If you share any data you have on this person who interests you, I'll be happy to look up and let you know what I have so far."
"Gaara, from Sunagakure - Hide-in-Sand, and Rock Lee, from Konoha." Sasuke said.
"You know their names?" Kabuto smiled, "No sweat, then!"
Kabuto swept his hand over his deck and pulled two Shinobi skill cards.
"Let me see them." Sasuke demanded while Kabuto was looking at them casually.
"First up is Rock Lee." Kabuto said, "He's a year older than you there. Missions to date: 20 D-ranked, 11 C-ranked. His team's mentor is Maito Gai… and his Taijutsu physical skills have grown exponentially this past year. He has no other talents worth mentioning.
"He was considered a standout among last year's Genin… but he didn't apply for the Chuunin Exam. He's a first-timer, like you three. His teammates are named Hyuga Neji and Tenten."
Naruto quickly glanced at Hinata, who fidgeted nervously at the mention of her kin. The blonde had to frown at the shy girl's sudden mournful note to her Heart Song. It was as if she was both sad and ashamed, but as to why, Naruto did not know.
"Next is Gaara of the Sand… Desert Country…" Kabuto mumbled, "Eight C-ranked missions… one B. Wow! Not many rookie shinobi get B-ranked assignments!
"Since he's from way out in the desert, I have less on him… but it's interesting. He's come back from every mission completely unscathed. Without a scratch…"
Sasuke was silent then glanced at his dobe. Even though the blonde was on his team, Sasuke really did not know the true level of skills that Naruto possessed. Yes, they have sparred against one another, but never at the same level of intensity as they had fought Haku, back at the Land of Waves.
"Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki, Oto…" Kabuto continued, "This year, every Hidden Village has sent outstanding junior-level Genin here to compete. I don't know much about Oto, the Village Hidden in Sound. It's part of a new, small nation, so intelligence on it is lacking.
"Every other competing village is well-represented, home to some formidably powerful shinobi…"
"Anybody besides me suddenly feeling kind of outclassed?" Hinata whispered.
"What you're trying to tell us is…" Sakura cautiously said, "Everyone here…"
"Oh yeah." Kabuto grinned, "They're all like Lee and Gaara… Elite, hand-picked shinobi, the best young ninja in the world. They have to be! The test is pitiless!"
Kabuto then started gathering his skill cards.
"Wait!" Sasuke suddenly blurted out, catching everyone's attention.
"Yeah."
"There's one more I want you to check out." Sasuke said with a dark smirk.
At this, Naruto and Sakura looked at one another curiously. They could not think of who else could have caught their teammate's attention, and thus, they listened to see who else Sasuke desired to challenge.
"Okay, who?" Kabuto asked with a hand over his cards.
"Konoha no Yoko." Sasuke proudly stated.
At hearing the Uchiha say his self-proclaimed Hidden Name, Naruto just stared dumbfounded at his friend.
Sakura felt her jaw drop when she heard Sasuke say Naruto's other name while everyone were looking at one another, trying to see if one of them knew who the Uchiha was talking about.
Kabuto, in the meantime, just stared. He had never heard of Konoha no Yoko but found himself intrigued. There were not many secrets in Konoha that he did not know about, and yet here was one, presented to him by the raven-haired teen.
"Is he any good?" Kabuto had to ask. He needed to know.
Sasuke smirked. Of course, his dobe was good. The blonde belonged to him, and the Uchiha possessed only the best!
Kabuto's eyes widened at Sasuke's silence.
Naruto suddenly snapped his attention back to Kabuto when he faintly heard it… a faint, faint melody of a Heart Song, which made Naruto shiver in fear.
~Naruto-dono, what is it?~ Ka'a demanded.
~His Heart Song…~ Naruto quietly whispered, still shivering.
Instinctively Ka'a wrapped his warm, many-tails around his Kit to ward off the sense of dread that seemed to grip the young houshi.
~What troubles you, my Beautiful One?~
~It's… silent…~ Naruto whispered.
However, before Ka'a could ask for an explanation, Naruto stilled as he heard three familiar and very ominous Heart Songs among the crowd. His brilliant sapphire blue orbs immediately began scanning the multitude of faces.
"Dobe." Sasuke called as he noticed the blonde become alert and was scanning the crowd.
Meanwhile hidden in the crowd…
"So… according to this dossier, our town is an unknown little village in a backwater country." Sneered one of the three offended Oto ninja.
"Mortifying, isn't it?" Cooed another.
"Want to have some fun with them?" The third suggested.
"Sounds good!" Replied the second Oto-shinobi, who was also the group leader. "That twit, treating Oto like some kind of afterthought. Let's give him a little data for his dossier. His understanding of we-who-hide-in-sound is… unsound.
"We'll see where the intelligence is lacking…" The Oto-ninja cackled with madness glittering in his eyes.