For this chapter I recommend listening to Ashes by Stellar, Cold as Ice by Blacklite District, and Rise by League of Legends
Chapter 4: Test Part 1
After three days Musket was released from his cell as he was escorted by five ANBU operatives to a training ground in the middle of the forest surrounding the village. As he entered into a clearing he saw the old man with five other people around their early 20's, one of them being Minato who was smiling at him when he saw him coming out of the forest.
Musket looked to the others as he looked at their features. One was a woman to Minato's right who had a similar outfit to him with the only exception being that of shorter sleeves for her shirt and brilliant red hair in a ponytail with two strands coming to either side of her head just in front of her ears. The man to Minato's left had a face that always seemed to be in the expression of a scowl with a similar outfit to the others but with a fan symbol on the arms instead of a red swirl. The woman next to him had an outfit like the others but in a gray color instead of the blues of the others and red marks on her cheeks and above her eyes, but what surprised Musket the most was her large one eyed dog next to her. And finally a man next to the red haired woman with a similar outfit to the red haired woman and 2 large scars across his face.
As Musket looked at the group and took in all of them he then heard Hiruzen clear his throat as he began to speak.
"Ok then, may I introduce you to my helpers for this test. The woman at the far right of you is Tsume Inuzuka and her partner Kuromaru."
"Hey." She said with a smirk and wave
"The One next to her is Fugaku Uchiha."
Fugaku only looked at him, not letting go of his scowl.
"You have already met Minato Namikaze."
"Long time no see. Sorry about that hit from last time. My stomach still feels sore from your last move." Minato gave a smirk to Musket and the redhead next to him chuckled at what he said.
"The Woman next to Minato is Kushina Uzumaki."
"Hello, Minato told me about you and honestly would have expected a little more." She was looking him up and down as if she was expecting some sort of invincible monster rather than a blond in a white shirt and black pants and shoes with fingerless black gloves.
"Sorry to disappoint, I guess." Musket put a hand on the back of his head with a confused smile on his face.
"And finally the man to the very left of you is Shikaku Nara."
"Huh, troublesome." was all the Nara said to Musket who became very confused about the man's mannerisms
'He looks like he doesn't even want to be here' Musket thought to himself. "Um, well. Hello, the names Musket, nice to meet you."
Tsume started laughing at the name the man had given them. "Musket, what kind of a name is that? Sounds more like an object than a name."
"Well actually it is." Musket smiled at the confusion the group had on their faces as he then decided to bring out one of his muskets and sit the butt of the gun on the ground with him resting his hands on the top of the barrel.
Everyone except for Minato was surprised as the man somehow just flicked his wrist and had a large weapon appear out of nowhere. "How did you do that?" Tsume asked in amazement.
Musket chuckled at seeing everyone looking at him with the same spot of wonder. "Magic." he said while doing jazz hands for emphasis.
Everyone but Minato's face faulted while he and Musket were on the ground holding their stomachs in laughter.
As the two got up from their laughing fit Hiruzen cleared his throat again as he got the attention of the six adults as he began to explain what he had brought all of them here for. "Alright, now with introductions out of the way I would like to explain the test for today. Your test will consist of 3 parts. The first part will be that of your physical skills and abilities, along with your abilities with weapons and other equipment. The second part will be your mental skills and your intelligence. Usually I would have had a Yamanaka to help with a part of this test due to their skills with the mind but there are not any available at the moment so I will have to improvise a little. But I think we'll be fine." Musket sweat dropped as he was wondering what sort of powers these Yamanaka people could do.
"And your final test would be that of your unknown abilities that seem to emulate jutsu's, this test would have been that of your chakra abilities but that had to change since you don't have any chakra to test." Everyone but Minato was surprised by this news and were wondering how that was even possible. Fugaku's eyes became a red color and what looked like three tome' appeared around the iris on what looked like a ring where the pupil would be as he looked at Musket for a second before then blinking as his eyes returned to normal. Musket, who had seen this out of the corner of his eye, was very confused and a little startled at the sight for only a moment before he then recomposed himself, nodding to the old man. "So when do we begin?"
Hiruzen smiled at this as he looked at Tsume and Kushina as they stepped up and he explained the first part. "Ok now then, Tsume and Kushina have been ordered to use deadly force on you and they are allowed to use anything in their arsenals to kill you while you will only be allowed to use your bodies natural abilities and your weapons to defend yourself. You will have to survive against them for one hour, or until neither of your opponents can continue, for the test to be passed."
Musket thought about the rules before he thought he should explain some of his abilities to the man so he knows he won't be cheating. "Ok well i should probably then tell you that I have two different sets of abilities that I can use. My first ability is the one only I can do and only my body can perform while my second ability is able to be used by anyone that can use magical abilities so I'm going to use my first ability so that you don't think I am cheating and while it may seem like it's the second ability you will probably notice what separates them, as long as that's alright with you that is."
Hiruzen nodded at hearing this information. "Ok then thank you for the information and I will allow it. Now then let's begin the test." And with that him and the other three men disappeared into the forest as the two women looked at Musket with sadistic smiles on their faces.
"Well this should be interesting at least." Tsume said as she looked at her dog next to her
"Yeah, I haven't had much action in a while." Kushina said while unsheathing a katana from her hip.
Musket smiled at the two as he remembered the last time he had to fight a red head and remembered how hard that fight was even with two other people to help him. Now he had to fight two women and a giant dog as he felt like this was some sort of karma for that time. He sighed and then got ready for the fight by unclipping his gun on his hip as his hand laid on the grip, waiting for his three opponents first move.
As he waited for his opponents to make the first move he felt something at his feet as he looked down to see golden chains wrapped around his feet as he realized that Tsume and her dog had charged at him, Kushina seemingly having stayed in place and was most likely the one who was using the chains. Musket realized that he couldn't move away thanks to the chains keeping him in place as he then decided to slam his hands on the ground as bayonets came out of the ground in a wave towards his attackers.
Tsume and Kuromaru dodged out of the way before Tsume realized that the attack wasn't aimed at them. "Kushina, look out!"
Kushina had just managed to jump out of the way as her chains were dispelled. However she wasn't ready for what came next as once she landed Musket had slammed his hands on the ground once again as another wave of bayonets came towards her. She jumped into the air and threw some shuriken at the man as he dodged out of the way only to then be attacked by Tsume and Kuromaru.
They came at him from both sides as in a split second a black shine came across his body as he was hit by both of his opponents, a loud klanging noise sounded off throughout the forest as Tsume and Kuromaru were sent flying away.
Musket was trying to catch his breath as Kushina came after him with her katana, swinging at Musket's neck. Before his head could come off his neck, it shined black as another klang came from the blow. Sparks were seen flying from the blade as Musket remembered the last time he had fought a katana user.
Flashback
Musket was panting as he looked at his team leader Katana, a pink feathered female Aarakocra, who had two katanas in her hands. She gave him the Aarakocra equivalent of a smirk as they began to circle one another. "Tired already, and I thought you and Fu were the greatest on the team. Guess it's me and Fu now huh."
Musket smiled at his team leader as he looked down at the ground which made Katana look down as well. She saw the ground under her crack open as bayonets came out of the ground as she flew into the air to dodge the attack, looking at Musket who had brought out a musket with a design of a dragon on it as he was holding it out in front of him.
She realized what he was about to do as she smiled. "Oh so we're doing that now are we, ok." She sheathed her swords as she unsheathed a katana with the design of a multi headed hydra on its blade as she brought it out in front of her like Musket had, both of them saying the same word as their weapons started to shine a golden color that could outshine the sun.
"Activate!"
Present day
Musket looked at Kushina as he realized that he couldn't find Tsume or Kuromaru anywhere. He heard a shout from behind him as he saw two drills coming towards him as his body gained a black shine on it again as he crossed his arms over his chest to block the attack. "Fang Over Fang!" Tsume yelled as she and Kuromaru slammed into Musket, a large cloud of smoke filling the field as Kushina had started to weave hand seals. "Adamantine Grappling!"
The golden chains came out of her upper arms as they wrapped around Muskets legs as he was then sent flying into a tree. He staggered for a moment before then being brought towards Kushina who had her katana in her hands ready to slash at Musket.
Just before she slashed at him a bayonet came flying and blocked the slash as Musket punched her in the face, the chains dispelled once more.
"Sorry about that."
Kushina whipped the blood from her mouth as Tsume came to her side. "You're tougher than you look."
"Thanks, I'm not the easiest to kill so you're both going to have to try harder than that."
Tsume and Kushina looked at each other before nodding as all three of them ran towards him, Tsume and Kuromaru doing another Fang Over Fang while Kushina started to do some hand seals. "Wind Style: Gale Palm!" She unleashed her jutsu as it forced a powerful gust of wind at Musket who was sent flying as Tsume and Kuromaru drilled into Musket. He was sent into the ground with a loud thud as a large dust cloud enveloped the man.
Tame landed next to Kushina as they looked at the dust cloud wondering if that was enough to kill him. That was answered as they had to dodge bayonets flying towards them as the weapons floated towards both of them almost like homing missiles, all of them having to continue to dodge the deadly blades.
As Tsume landed she saw that the bayonets had stopped following her, all of them now heading towards Kuromaru and Kushina as she became confused at the weapons seemingly ignoring her, but she soon realized what was happening as she noticed the bayonets around her had started to float into the air as their blades pointed towards her. Tsume had just realized that the bayonets were floating around her as she began to dodge them one after another.
Just before one would have striked her heart she was able to block it with a kunai as she ran through an opening in the dome of bayonets, now being followed by the blades.
Kushina was using her katana to block any bayonets that got too close as she ran to see Tsume and Kuromaru running away from the bayonets behind them. She then looked to the dust cloud that had faded and now showed that Musket was waving his arms to resemble that of the way some bayonets would move.
Gaining an idea, she sheathed her sword again and performed a few hand signs. slamming her hands on the ground, a gust of wind flew around her as the bayonets around her and the others, who had come to her, were flown away from them in all directions. "Wind Style: Wind Dome Burst!"
She looked to her teammates and began to tell them her plan. They agreed as they began their attack. Musket saw the bayonets fly around the battlefield as he looked to see his opponents rushing toward him as they began to try to strike at him with much weaker strikes then they used at the beginning of the fight.
'What's going on here.'
As he dodged each of his opponents' attacks and blocked some with his bayonets, he realized they didn't seem to be all that tired to warrant their attacks being so slow and weak. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his upper left arm as he realized he couldn't feel it anymore. Looking to his left he saw a kunai in his bicep.
Tsume came in to attack him as in a panic he whipped his right arm at her, bayonets stabbing into her and Kuromaru as they suddenly puffed into smoke along with Kushina as he felt the pain again in his right arm now as he realized that two kunai were in his right arm now.
Kushina laughed at him a few meters away as the three stood together. "Looks like it worked. And without your arms you won't be able to have those knives attack us anymore. So let's end this." She started to weave hand signs as Tsume and Kuromaru ran towards him in larger drilling spirals, Tsume yelling out, "Tunnelling Fang!"
As they both barreled toward him, Kushina finished her hand seals as golden chains came out of her back and were rushing towards him, the chains becoming that of a golden drill. "Adamantine Drilling Embrace!"
Musket looked at the three drills of death coming towards him and for just a second a smile could be seen on his face as a wall of bayonets over three feet thick blocked the strikes as all three attacks were canceled out and all of the people watching what just happened gasped.
"H-How is that possible? I thought you needed to use your hands to do that." Kushina was allstruk that they're attack did nothing.
"No, actually that's not true at all. I don't need to even move any part of my body to do it. I just do it because it helps me concentrate more and gives my enemies the false idea you have just learned isn't true. Now, let's finish this!"
Musket had now used some of his bayonets to dislodge the kunai as he started to feel his arms once more, even if it was painful. He reached his right arm to his back as he brought out a musket with a dragon on its barrel. He held it out in front of him, yelling out.
"Activate!"
As the gun began to gain a golden glow that outshined the sun, all around had to block their eyes so as to not blind them from the glow. Suddenly the light disappeared as now two dragons could be seen out of what would be the barrel of the gun. They looped around Musket as he looked at his three amazed opponents looking at the spectacle in front of them.
"Um. I don't like this." Tsume said, looking at the dragons as they suddenly extended toward the group in a split second. All three had been coiled by the dragons as their mouths had fire in them, almost as if holding it back until given the order to fire at the prey in their coils.
"I suggest you should give up now because if you don't I won't be able to stop them from turning you into a barbeque."
Both women looked at each other before saying they gave up as the group of four other ninja came back to stand in the field. Musket let the women go as the dragons came back to a be around the size of a musket barrel, both now staying next to their master as he pet one of them on the neck, the gun now floating in the air next to him.
"Very Good." Hiruzen said, looking at Musket. "I'm very impressed with your skills."
Musket smiled as he brought out a red bottle from his pocket and drank it as most of his wounds faded away. "Thanks. Won't lie they had me there for a sec. If I had to move my arms to make my weapons float then I would have been done for."
Hiruzen smirked upon hearing this. "I noticed. But I do have one question. Why didn't you use the weapon on your hip or any of your larger weapons?" he said while looking at Muskets pistol.
Musket looked at the old man for a second before taking his pistol out of its holster and then firing at a tree to his right as three large bullet holes were seen through it before it fell down with a crash. Musket holstered his gun again in an action that only took a second to complete.
The group looked at the tree that just fell as they looked at Musket again before Musket spoke up. "That is my weakest gun and it only took three shots to bring down a 50 foot tree. I don't think we need to imagine the damage done to a human and I'm pretty sure killing my procters would be a death sentence so I decided not to use any of them."
"I see." Hiruzen said, still looking at the tree. "Well then I believe it's time for the second part of your test." he looked at Shikaku who had walked over to Musket. Sitting, he laid out a game board on the ground as he waited for Musket to sit.
Musket looked at the board with a confused face as he looked at the others who seemed to be waiting for him to sit. He looked back down at the board before sitting when Shikaku looked at him and asked "Do you know how to play shogi?"
Musket shook his head as Shikaku explained the rules before they began their game.
10 minutes later
Musket was looking at the board as if he was trying to interrogate it while Shikaku watched him with a smile on his face.
"Figure it out yet?"
"How did you do that?" Musket looked up at the Nara very confused
"It's a secret." Shikaku said while looking to Musket with a smile
The others around the two looked in shock as they looked at Musket as if he was some sort of monster.
"H-How did you?" Kushina said in disbelief
"What?"
Hiruzen looked to the man to explain. "You survived more than ten moves against the best shogi player in possibly all the Elemental Nations. Most can't do that. Although there are a few including me andMinato who can go on for longer. Though we haven't been able to beat him before. But the fact you could do it at all at least states you are a very intelligent man indeed, and the fact you said this is your first time playing is even more impressive."
"Honestly I'm pretty sure a bit of it was good luck."
Shikaku looked to his shogi opponent before giving a slight smile and taking the board.
"Hey Shikaku if you want to go again I'm game. Well after the test that is."
Shikaku looked at Musket for a moment with a smirk. "I hope so. Haven't had a challenge in the game for a while."
Hiruzen smiled at both of them before then looking to Minato and Fugaku as they stepped forward. "Ok now time for the third part of your test. For this one you will have to use your jutsu like abilities while Minato and Fugaku will be allowed to use deadly force on you. The passing conditions are the same as the first part of the test."
"Understood." Musket looked at the old man before looking a little embarrassed, looking at the dragon next to him "Um, is it alright if you watched this one then for me."
Hiruzen looked a little confused at this request before smiling and nodding as he and the others but Minato and Fugaku left the field. Musket got into a fighting pose while his opponents just stood still waiting for him to make the first move.
"Ok then. Let's begin."
End of Chapter