ϟ—Chapter Fifteen — Konoha—ϟ

Ka'rai had never seen so many trees in one place before. It was an actual forest. So much flammable material… In the middle of that forest, down the dirt road was a massive gate. Yowui took a deep breath, wiping the sweat of his brow with a chuckle.

"Man, I missed this warm weather. It's just like my old farm…" he mused nostalgically.

Ka'rai tilted his head. "Well, I'm sure it would've been hotter if it weren't for…" He pointed up to the overcast sky above.

"Hotter than this?!" questioned Hane, who was not taking well to the heat. "I can barely imagine…"

"I thought you were looking forward to the warm weather?" asked Ka'rai.

She shook her head and let out a dejected chuckle. "I overestimated my heat tolerance."

"I should've trained you up more," he half-joked with a huff of fire.

Hane half-heartedly shrugged. "Maybe."

A sudden gust of cool wind knocked her hair out of place.

"Better?" asked Cirru, his hand next to his face and blowing a consistent steady breeze.

She chuckled—a bit relieved, actually. "Wait, keep doing that!"

Cirru rolled his eyes before fanning her with his wind. She let out a breath. "That's much better…"

Ka'rai scoffed and walked a bit ahead of his teams. His impatience was starting to get to him. I can't wait until the exams start.

⁑ —ϟ— ⁑

After the two teams were granted entry into Konoha, they were instructed to walk toward Konoha's Shinobi Academy. It was… odd… to Ka'rai, at least. If the exams were in Kumo, they'd go straight to Nibasu! Or maybe even one of the many other camps they had. But, no, they were going to the frickin' academy.

At the front of the Academy, Cee and Kay looked upon their two teams with an equally neutral expression. "Okay, you six," began Kay. "I wish you all the best during the exams."

"Remember what we taught you," Cee continued.

"And what we told you," Kay finished with a knowing look.

The Genin nodded in response.

Kay tilted her head and smiled at Ka'rai. "Most importantly, don't do anything stupid."

"Mhm," agreed Cee, looking directly at Cirru.

The boys scoffed and huffed in offense.

Kay and Cee waved one last time before flickering away. The six turned to walk into the academy, where they were further escorted into a building. In that building, they needed to head to the third floor. The Konoha bastards tried to trick them with a Genjutsu… Yowui and Clowui caught it.

They went to the actual third floor, and inside there was a slew of other Genin. The villages that stuck out were Konoha— obviously—Suna, Iwa, and even a team from Taki. The vast majority were kids from Konoha. But, immediately, the Nibi spoke up in his head. Blond boy, to your far right. I sense the Kyuubi. Across the room ahead of you, the girl with blue hair. I sense the Nanabi.

Ka'rai laughed out loud, drawing attention from everyone nearby. "So, that makes four, eh?"

"Four what, you clown-faced fool?!" Cirru exclaimed.

"Jinchuriki," Ka'rai said with a smirk-curled grin.

Yowui would've reacted, but he didn't even care anymore. "I don't know what else I was expecting."

"More friends for you…?" Hane asked, forcing a smile. "Well, that Gaara kid wasn't so friendly."

"True, but I'm a friendly Jinchuriki! So, there has to be more of em, right?!" he asked with a smile.

Cirru crossed his arms and huffed. "Yeah, go mingle with your fellow demon-folk and get out of my hair."

"What hair?" asked Yowui.

He rolled his eyes. "It's an expression, farm-boy."

Ka'rai didn't hear the rest of the conversation. Instead, he made his way toward the Nanabi girl. Naruto… the Kyuubi… He was probably going to die. It was best not to think about it or get attached. So, he delayed that feeling by talking to the other one! It really was pure luck that the Nanabi Jinchuriki was here. She needed to fix the sky, according to Bee-sensei. Nibi confirmed it as well!

Her teammates stood a distance away from her. She looked down with faded and glossed over orange eyes. Her short cyan hair spiked over her face, resembling a bug's exoskeleton. Oh no, not another sad girl. Ka'rai walked up to her and grinned. She looked at him suspiciously.

"What do you want?"

"Nanabi!"

She sighed and looked away. "Of course… Who even told you?"

"Nibi!"

"Oh, you're one too?" she asked, seeming a bit less hostile.

"Yeah! And the world needs your help," he declared with a serious yet enthusiastic expression.

She tilted her head, suspicion growing. "Okay…? What the hell are you talking about?!"

"So, you know how it's been really cloudy for the past couple of months?" asked Ka'rai, pointing upward.

Her eyes narrowed as she shook her head. "No, not really. I don't get to see the sky all that much."

Ka'rai's brows furrowed. "Odd… Well, anyway! That's because a big volcano erupted! Because a whole lot of bullshit happened, Bee-sensei and Hachibi weren't able to control the eruption to its correct level.

"And I also kinda had to stop Hell from destroying earth—but that's not important! What is though, is that since the Nanabi's domain is the sky, you kinda need to go up there and fix the weather! Storms have been really bad and things have been really cold."

"You sound insane."

"What do you mean? You're a Jinchuriki, this is Bijuu stuff! You should know about all of this, right?"

"Bijuu are monsters, and Jinchuriki are weapons. What else is there to know?" she said with a huff. Nibi's fire rumbled within Ka'rai.

The boy groaned. "Oh know, I have to teach you about all the actual Bijuu stuff. So, like, first things first, Bijuu are human! Well not human exactly—"

Ka'rai's explanation was interrupted by a laugh from her. "Do you seriously expect me to believe bullshit like that?!"

"It's not bullshit! It's true! Do you talk to Nanabi?"

"It can't talk."

"Yes, she can! All Bijuu can talk! Nibi talks to me all the time!"

"Are you a schizophrenic?!"

"No! I'm not insane!" Ka'rai stuck out his fist. "Look! I'll show you!"

The girl looked at him unamused and almost angry. "Get out of my face."

"No—please! This is important!"

"Leave me alone!"

Ka'rai's fist fell and he frowned. Well, that was a dud, he murmured before walking off. Maybe Naruto's going to be easier to talk to… Actually, I think it'll be better if he's an asshole. I'll feel less bad about him dying.

There was only one way to find out as he approached his clanmate. He had a determined look on his face, standing ahead of his team and looking right at him. Ka'rai put on his usual smirk. "Hello, Kyuubi," he greeted with a giddy grin.

Naruto stepped back. "What the hell—? You can't go around saying that! How do you even know?!" His eyes darted around like a scared kitten.

Ka'rai paused. "Oh—is it a secret here in Konoha or something?!"

Naruto nodded incredulously and tilted his head toward his teammates. "Let's take this somewhere else…"

"Oh… Sure!" He huffed out blue fire and followed Naruto to a more discrete location. "Anyway~" he continued, before pointing to himself. "Nibi."

Naruto shivered. "Oh, so you have one too."

"Yup!" exclaimed Ka'rai with an excited laugh. He played himself up to hide the guilt. "The Kyuubi is the strongest Bijuu! So, I was really excited to meet you! And the other Kyuubi Jinchuriki? I still don't know how that works—"

On the Kyuubi's seal… I sense remnants of the Reaper. It's likely that it was used to split the chakra of the Kyuubi, creating two halves. That is my theory at least.

"Ohhh! Thanks Nibi! Now I'm not confused anymore."

"Are you okay?!" sputtered Naruto.

He laughed. "Yeah! Nibi told me what she thought was going on, so yeah…"

"It talks to you, eh?" Naruto chuckled. "Must be scary."

"Yeah, sometimes, but Nibi's nicer than you think once you get to know her!"

Naruto's brows furrowed. "You're talking about a Bijuu like it's a human being."

"Well, because they kind of are? What's that word again? Sent… Sin…?"

Sentient.

"Yes! Sentient!" He thanked Yugito under his breath. "They have names, personalities, and everything else that we have!"

"You're lying!" accused Naruto with a pointed finger.

Ka'rai boy tilted his head. "I'm not…? Why would I lie?"

"I don't know," admitted Naruto as he huffed. "Just seems… wrong. The other Jinchuriki always told me it was an irredeemable monster."

"He," corrected Ka'rai. "Kyuubi's a he. Also, the Bijuu aren't monsters. They're just mad at humanity since we kind of enslaved them all… and destroyed the natural order of the world and stuff…"

"What?" asked Naruto, even more confused.

He pointed to the sky. "Y'know how it's been cloudy for months straight?"

"Yeah…?"

"That's because the weather got fucked up, and Nanabi's unable to fix it because she's trapped in a Jinchuriki."

"Oh." Naruto let out a disbelieving breath. "I don't know… it just seems like a lot to take in…"

"It is?" questioned Ka'rai.

Naruto nodded slowly. "Yeah… what's your name?"

"Oh I never told you—" he spattered. "Ka'rai! Ka'rai Uzumaki!" Fuck, I never told Nanabi's Jinchuriki my name… I don't even know her name! Dammit!

Naruto grinned and puffed out his chest. "Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto and Ka'rai stared into each other's eyes, giddy with shared excitement. As Ka'rai looked, the claws of guilt gripped his throat tighter than ever. Damn… he's not an asshole. He's really fucking cool. It took great effort for his smile not to fall apart. He needed to change the subject.

"So…" started Ka'rai with a smirk. "How much of the Kyuubi's power can you use?"

Naruto's smile faltered. "Only a bit… when I'm really mad."

"Damn…" he muttered. "So, you can't basically…"

"No…"

"Well, that's disappointing."

Naruto frowned. "Sorry."

"Eh, it's fine." Dismissively, Ka'rai waved his hand. "There are other Jinchuriki I can fight."

"There are?!"

"Yeah!" Ka'rai pointed his thumb back. "Redhead from Suna, Shukaku—or Ichibi. He's… weird. Blue-haired girl from Taki, Nanabi! She's… sad."

"How do you know?" asked Naruto as he shifted his hand into his hair.

"Nibi tells me!"

"How good are you at sealing jutsu?" asked Naruto immediately afterward with an intense gaze.

"Uh…" Damn, I always forget the Uzumaki are supposed to be good at that. "I can only mess with the Nibi's seal, making it looser or tighter." Then he pointed to his Jigoku Blade. "My sword has seals on it too! I can mess with those a bit."

"HA!" shouted Naruto triumphantly. "I'm better than you at seals! I can blow shit up."

"Oh! I can too!" Ka'rai grinned his eyes shut. "My chakra is unstable! So it just… wants to blow up all the time."

"Cool… How many clones can you make?" asked Naruto with a glint in his eyes.

"Oh, I don't know any clone jutsu," said Ka'rai. "I can barely control my own chakra because it explodes whenever I use it."

"AHA! I can make a thousand clones!"

"Oh shit—" Ka'rai sputtered. "How much chakra do you have?!"

"A whole lot! Plus, it's orange and really really strong!" He stuck out his palm and raw orange chakra spewed from his hand.

Ka'rai beamed. "Woah! Cool! You're really cool, Naruto!" he felt the need to say. It only reminded him of his impending doom. Damn…

"So are you! My brother's really cool too!" Naruto surveyed the room for him. "Where… is he?"

"You have a brother?!" Ka'rai crossed his arms and huffed. "Lucky…"

Naruto smirked. "Yeah… He's the best."

"I bet you don't have a girlfriend, though!"

"..."

Ka'rai smirked triumphantly.

"Fuck you."

Ka'rai cackled at his response. From there, they talked a bit longer, mostly about dumb shit to keep the guilt at bay—he just felt terrible. But, no he didn't, He was making a new friend! Another new one came as well!

"You're a fucking Jinchuriki!" exclaimed a boy, pointing at Ka'rai. His hair was red, like his. His skin was dark, like his. He also had two swords chained to his waist. What was weird, was that Nibi's power rose a bit when he came close.

Naruto let out a breath. "Where the hell have you been, Shinrai?! The exams have to start pretty soon!"

Shinrai… Ka'rai's heart dropped. He's the other Uzumaki… Well, at least he's probably not going to die! So I won't feel as bad talking to him!

"I told you I can't say, Naruto," he said as if he's said it a thousand times. Shinrai then looked at Ka'rai. "Who are you?"

"Ka'rai! Uzumaki!"

Shinrai laughed. "Oh shit! Nice! I barely see any other Uzumaki besides Naruto and Ms. Miya…"

In his blade… the black one. There is a soul. Release it.

Ohh! Okay! Ka'rai cleared his throat. "Yo, Shinrai! In your sword, the black one, there's a soul in there."

He froze—taken aback by his words. "What—?"

"Yeah! Nibi wants me to release it because things like that aren't supposed to happen." Ka'rai reached his hand out to grab it, but it was quickly slapped away. A glare from Shinrai accompanied it.

"Touch her and I'll fucking kill you," he threatened with both a glare and a smile. The weight in his glare held not an ounce of a lie.

Ka'rai chuckled. "But… she's not supposed to be there."

"She chose to be there," he said, his smirk contorting as his glare intensified. "She stays."

Ka'rai pulled at the collar of his armor. "But, it goes against the rules of nature. And Nibi doesn't like it—"

"Well, Nibi and the rules of nature can both kiss my fucking ass."

Her chakra burned within Ka'rai and he chuckled. "You made Nibi mad."

"I already said it can kiss my ass," Shinrai reiterated, stepping back and placing his hand on the hilt of his black blade. "She stays."

Naruto was confused out of his mind the whole time.

Ka'rai shook his head. "She, by the way! Nibi's a she—"Fuck! I'm getting tired of explaining this all the time.

Shinrai titled his head bemusedly. "Odd… never heard of that before."

"Well, ask your brother about it because I've had to explain this like a hundred times today and I don't feel like doing it again."

Shinrai shrugged. "Fair enough. So she like… talks to you in your head or something?"

"Yeah exactly!" confirmed Ka'rai. "She also likes to keep the souls of her past Jinchuriki with her! So I have the one before me talking to me in my head! So there are like, two girls inside me all the time! You'd think it'd be the opposite!"

Yugito snorted.

Shinrai laughed.

The joke went over Naruto's head.

Nibi let out a long and deep sigh.

Shinrai then placed a hand on his chin. "I wonder if the Kyuubi ever talks to Ryu…?"

"Ryu? Is he the other one?" asked Ka'rai.

Shinrai opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself. "I feel like I'm not supposed to say that. Since you're from…" Shinrai looked at his headband. "Kumo, and all." He chuckled. "Y'know, Kusari probably really doesn't like us talking to you…"

Naruto hummed. "Oh yeah! You're probably right—"

"I mean, she's part of a clan too, so she'd understand, right?!"

Naruto shrugged.

Shinrai looked back, Ka'rai traced his eyes to look at a girl… her eyes looked familiar—oh! She's a Hyuuga! Not the one that needs to be kept alive though… I won't kill her. Since Shinrai and Naruto seem to care about her…

What if she becomes a threat to the invasion plan? Asked Yugito.

I won't kill her, said Ka'rai adamantly. Plus, she's just a Genin. What the hell is she going to do?

Yugito went silent, but her intent sent something of a headache through his head. For once, he didn't feel bad for making her feel bad. Suddenly, a hand wrapped around his neck. Shinrai grinned, between his brother and Ka'rai. "Kusari said it's fine! Let's fuck around until the exams start!"

"Great idea!" agreed Naruto.

Ka'rai let out a guilty chuckle. "Yeah…!"

I hate this feeling.

⁑ —ϟ— ⁑

It all made sense why they were in the Academy now. They were taking a fucking exam. Mama made him study math a bit, but it was only so he could learn how to use his Jigoku Blade… not to actually do math. Nothing on the paper made sense, and Ka'rai couldn't help but grab his hair as he stared at the paper. No! No! No! No!

The answer to the first question is seventy-six point ten seconds. That is how long it would take the kunai to go from point a to point b, assuming it's not interrupted and is thrown by the average Chunin, answered Yugito.

Ka'rai gasped. You know all of this?!

Yes. You need to make rough calculations like this all the time as a Shinobi.

Tell me everything!

A warmth filled Ka'rai's head. I'll explain them to you as I go, so you'll have a better grasp on this in the Shinobi world.

Alright!

With that, the rest of the test was an utter breeze.

⁑ —ϟ— ⁑

Yeah… I don't know anything on this test. Hane bit her lip as she twirled the pen in her hand. How the hell is anyone supposed to know this?! This is like Kage-level math! She groaned and resisted the urge to slam her head onto the table.

Well, if I can't answer this myself, then someone else oughta do it for me! Not willingly, of course… Hane snickered as she scanned the area for someone to cheat off of. She seemed to have struck gold. Right next to her, a pink-haired girl from Konoha was answering the test no problem.

Immediately, she discreetly eyed the proctors of the exams. I have to make it not obvious. If she covered her face with her hair, then they couldn't see where her eyes were looking. Hane gave into her urge to slam her head onto the table, and her blonde locks were knocked out of place. When she picked herself up, she didn't fix her hair back into place.

Her ear created a strategic part in her hair that allowed her to look directly at the paper of the girl next to her. She copied her answers, but changed them up just enough to where it wouldn't be a carbon copy. The girl obviously finished her exam before her. But, when she finished, the girl flipped her paper over.

Dammit! She only managed to get five out of the nine revealed questions answered. Hane couldn't bring herself to care about answering the remaining five… Ka'rai was fine, he didn't have the brain to answer the questions, but he had other methods of copying someone else. Yowui had his Genjutsu… and now, she just had to wait out the clock. In the mean time, she took a much needed nap.

All she could dream about was the impending death and destruction.

⁑ —ϟ— ⁑

The questions on this test were unanswerable. By him, at least. The dude next to him, that Ka'rai was talking to earlier had just finished. Shinrai Uzumaki, one of the targets. Then he elbowed him and asked him to wake up when the tenth question was revealed. Then never went back to sleep and started working on some sort of Sealing Jutsu.

Copying off of his open test would be waay too obvious. He'd get caught and then all his points would be deducted and then everyone on his team would fail. So, Yowui decided to use his Genjutsu instead. But, on who. What Genjutsu would he even use?! Cee-sensei taught him a couple, and he'd fix his mouth to say that he was good at it.

What if he made someone blurt out the test answers? No, that would cause too much of a ruckus. Plus, he needed to weave a few hand seals for that one to be affective. He'd get caught in a heartbeat. What else was there…? He could make an illusion of the answers, but he'd have to know the answers.

But, Shinrai's test was right next to him. Very exposed. If he put himself under a Genjutsu and made it look like Shinrai's test answers were on his test… all he needed to do was trace. The proctors wouldn't notice one glance and a single half seal. Not if he was fast enough.

Yowui took a deep breath before putting his plan into action. He laid his arm on the table, preparing for a half Ram seal. Next, he spared a lightning-quick glance at Shinrai's paper and made the half seal. He felt his chakra shift under the effects of his Genjutsu.

When he looked back at his own paper, the answers were as clear as day for him to trace. He managed a victorious smirk. Yes! It didn't take him long for him to copy everything down. Afterward, he just needed to wait out the clock. Thirty minutes passed, and the head proctor dude at the front started talking. Yowui forgot his name already.

"Hey… you don't need to wake me up, by the way!" said Shinrai with a smirk.

Yowui nodded slowly. "Uh huh… totally didn't notice that."

The proctor dude cleared his throat—it was loud. "Ok, and now… we will begin the tenth question." About a beat of silence passed for the Genin to stand at attention. "Now, before we get to it, I'd like to add some additional rules for this question."

Yowui tilted his head curiously.

"These are the rules of desperation," he continued. "You decide whether you want to answer this question or not. If you decide not to, then your points will be reduced to zero, and you will fail the exams alongside your teammates."

"That's bullshit," murmured Shinrai.

Yowui scoffed in agreement. At the same time, a whole lot of the Genin there roared outrage at the proctor dude. It made sense… the question was indeed bullshit.

"If you decide to take it, and you get the question wrong…" He paused to allow the weight of silence to crush the Genin. "Then you and only you will fail, and you forfeit the right to ever take the Chunin Exams again. As far as you're concerned, you'll be a Genin for life."

"That's double bullshit!" yelled Shinrai.

If the outrage before was bad, then this one was outright terrible. Yowui had to cover his ears. But, that only made his thoughts louder. All he could think about was utter failure. How he'd be a Genin for life if he got this question wrong. Would that mean all he went through was for nothing?! If he was still a Genin—then he'd…

He'd be fine.

If he became a Chunin, then he'd be thrown onto really dangerous missions. Did he really want that?! Well, if he was strong enough then fine. But, being a Genin for life didn't seem terrible. He could still take C-Ranks then retire when he felt like it.

If he bailed out, then Ka'rai and Hane would be bailed out and the whole mission to destroy Konoha would fall apart. On top of that, if he got the question wrong, then he'd be guaranteed safety for the rest of his Shinobi career. If he got it right, then he'd move on or something, he didn't really care.

Some two loudmouths started arguing over being Hokage. Both of them were targets, funnily enough. They'd probably never get the chance to become Hokage. It made him kinda sad, but again, he couldn't bring himself to care.

Finally, the proctor dude said something worth listening to again.

"Alright… has everybody decided?!" he asked.

The remaining Genin stared at him with determined looks.

He smirked. "Then… I congratulate all of you for passing the first section of the Chunin Exams!"

From there, Yowui was left utterly baffled.

ϟ—Chapter End—ϟ