Part 1: Saikyo's Story
When Naruto pushed the front gate of the tower opened, he was taken aback as not only Haku's team, but everyone of the Konoha 12 was all there.
"Ah, it's Naruto and his team," Shino said flatly. Naruto gaped.
"What the... how could you guys get here so fast?"
"Somehow we all found the forest littered with unconscious genin, with kunai, shuriken, burned explosive tags and many other things scattered around them," Shikamaru answered with a shrug. "It made everything less troublesome a little bit, though."
"Yeah, mmmm," Choji added, while chewing on his chips. "The one we found our scroll on looked like he took a kitchen sink and a toilet seat to the head, mmmm. Poor him..."
The other members of Team 7 shot glares at Naruto.
"What?" the blonde protested. "It's not like they were my fault! That just proves that my idea worked like a charm!"
"IT WAS YOU?!"
"Gah!"
Everyone hurriedly moved to pull Kiba away from Naruto when the Inuzuka's hands closed around the blond boy's neck and squeezed.
"Let me go! Let me go you idiots! Let me kill him!" Kiba screamed hysterically while struggling like crazy against the arms of Choji, Shino and Lee. "Release me! I order you! Release meeeeee!"
"What's wrong with him?" Sasuke asked Hinata, who was looking at her teammate with worrying eyes. The Hyuuga girl shook her head.
"Oh, Kiba-kun suffered quite badly with those traps," she explained. "He was stuck in a sheet of cloth drenched in glue, covered in tar and chicken feather, blasted in the face with a cloud of pepper and thrown into a river with all those on his body. Oh, and he ate a stink bomb by mistake."
"LET ME GO! LET ME AT HIM! I'LL KILL HIM!"
Everyone winced. "Poor him," Haku said sympathetically.
"Even to Kiba, that was still too much," Shikamaru added.
"Hmph," Neji, from behind, spoke up with a sneer. "Relying on petty tricks like that... How pathetic. That was the only thing a dead last like you was worthy of."
Naruto ignored him.
"LET ME GO! DAMN YOU! I SAID... guh."
That last sound was due to Sakura chopping him at the back of his neck, sending him into the land of unconsciousness.
"What the... what did you just do?" Ino gaped in horror. Sakura shrugged nonchalantly.
"Well, he's too loud; I just made him sleep for a while."
Meanwhile, Naruto was staring at Hinata as if she was an alien.
The Hyuuga girl blushed. "Um... what's wrong, Naruto-kun?"
"You just completed a very long sentence without any stuttering. That was awesome, Hinata-chan! You finally got rid of your bad habit!"
Hinata's blush deepened, but she didn't say anything else.
"Uh, guys," the voice of Tenten suddenly rose behind them. "What do you think we should do with these?" She held up the two scrolls.
Naruto grinned. "Open them up, of course!"
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "But didn't that proctor say that we couldn't open them?"
"That crazy lady only said that we couldn't open them until we get to the tower, right?" Naruto answered with another grin. "Now we're in the tower, why shouldn't we open them?"
"But what will happen if we open them?" Haku asked worriedly.
"Who knows? But that will make it more fun!"
Everyone shuddered. Naruto's definition of 'fun', after the forest event, has become something utterly dangerous in their point of view.
"All right. Here goes nothing..."
All the scrolls were opened at the same time. When exposed to the air, the inside parts of the scrolls started smoking.
"Wah!"
Startled, everyone threw their scrolls to the ground as if they were made of acid. The scrolls, lying on each other, smoked even more, and started glowing red. Everyone braced themselves, preparing for a fight when the scrolls exploded and covered the room with a cloud of white smoke.
When the smoke cleared, the genin were all treated with a bizarre, but pretty funny scene.
In front of them were their jonin sensei, well, most of them, sprawling in a clusterfuck on the ground.
Zabuza was at the bottom of the human pile; his face was planted to the ground by Asuma's butt. The latter was lying back first on the huge Kubikiribocho, facing Kurenai in a position that made their... ahem... rather private parts rubbing against each other, and her well-endowed breasts landing right on his hands (not that he minded anyway). And on top of them was Gai, lying across Kurenai's back with a dazed expression on his face.
The only one standing was Kakashi, who had his favourite orange book on his hand as usual.
"Well, that's weird," Kakashi noted in an amusing tone when realizing what happened to his fellow jonin.
"Owww..." groaned Gai. "What the heck happened? Why are we lying on top of each other like this? This is so unyouthful!"
A lusty moan from Kurenai answered him. It was because Asuma just squeezed her breasts.
All the genin blushed.
"Ew," Ino winced in disgust. "This is definitely not something I want to see."
Kakashi chuckled. "Kurenai, Asuma, would you mind if I say you should leave your intimate moment till you get back to your bedroom? Because you are scarring our students over there. Besides, I don't think Zabuza appreciates it very much."
"Mmmmmmpppppphhhhhh!" From below Asuma's behind, the Devil of the Hidden Mist screamed (or at least, tried to) in agreement.
Kurenai's face immediately reddened, and she jumped away from Asuma, so fast that she threw Gai off her back. The taijutsu master was flung away, his bottom slammed hard on the ground and his body skidded a few meters before stopping at a wall nearby.
Disturbingly, on Asuma's face was a happy, dazed expression.
"Uhh... what are you doing here?" Tenten asked hesitantly. Immediately, Gai flipped back up as if his back had a spring under it, and brandished his trademark youthful thumb-up.
"Ah, don't worry my youthful students! We are here to greet you and congratulate you for completing the second part of the Chuunin Exam!"
"Yosh! We finally did it!" Lee pumped his fist to the sky and hollered. Gai also howled, tears started falling from his eyes like two tiny waterfalls.
"I'm so proud of you Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Ahh! What was that?" Haku's teammate, Chojuro, screamed when the "sunrise genjutsu" started forming on the background. Tenten sighed.
"Trust me, you don't want to know. Just ignore it."
"It's still kinda disturbing, though," Naruto winced. "How is it that I, the one completely immune to genjutsu, can see it so clearly and is completely unable to dispel it?"
"You're immune to genjutsu?" Shikamaru glanced at Naruto questioningly. The latter shrugged.
"It's a long story."
"Still," Asuma said, finally managed to get a hold of himself, "getting through the Forest of Death in just half a day is quite an accomplishment. How did all of you manage to do that?"
Everyone glanced at Naruto.
"Oh, come on! Why are you all glaring at me as if I was a criminal?!" Naruto protested, and Sasuke snorted.
"Because you are the one that caused all of this, that's why."
"Fuck you, Sasuke!"
"So you failed to capture Orochimaru."
"We're sorry, Hokage-sama," the ANBU captain with the owl mask bowed his head. "We tried our best, but Orochimaru ran away too fast. What we didn't understand was the fact that he ran away right after he saw us. Considering his ability, he might be able to hold himself against us for quite a while, or even outright defeat us."
"It's alright, I forgive you. But," the old Hokage continued in an amusing tone, "if you look at this, you will understand why Orochimaru had to run away."
The ANBU captain looked behind his Hokage's back, and his eyes widened. Had he not wearing a mask, everyone could have seen how many teeth he had in his mouth.
"Holy crap... what kind of jutsu can make this kind of damage?" he stuttered, pointing at the ridiculously large crater which he clearly remembered didn't exist in the forest the previous day. Lying inside it were fragments of something that looked suspiciously like a thirty-inch-thick door of a gate.
And that's why you don't mess with a jinchuriki with full control of his Tailed Beast, coming back from the future, Orochimaru, Sarutobi thought with a slight smirk.
Naruto was bored out of his mind.
No one had ever told him that he had to stay in the tower until the second task was over. It's not like they didn't have enough for him to live here, but seriously, it's so boring! They didn't even have ramen in the menu!
Right now, he was sitting on the bed in his team's room. Sasuke and Sakura had gone to the main hall for a spar. Having nothing else to do, he ran through the process of constructing a blueprint for Creation of All Things once again.
It's worth noting that Naruto couldn't do the technique with the original instruction from the Beasts. It's just too complex, too abstract for a slow brain like his to follow. So Naruto did something no one could ever expect: he copied the steps of a similar technique in a certain novel he had read to replace what the Beasts taught him.
And, surprisingly, it worked.
He concentrated on the image of a kunai in his head.
Judging the concept of creation. Hypothesizing the basic structure. Duplicating the material. These steps were easy. The kunai is so familiar a tool to shinobi that he didn't even have to wrack his brain for it. A knife. Steel. Twenty five centimeters long. Pointy at the tip, with a double-edge blade. Cloth wrapped around the handle.
Imitating the processes of its making. He struggled briefly as his brain attempted to recall every process perfectly. In his mind, the image of a blacksmith slamming his hammer down on the anvil flashed.
Sympathizing with the experience of its growth. Reproducing the accumulated years.
Naruto winced. These steps were always the most difficult. This is the main obstacle which hinders him from creating objects, or rather, recreating already existing ones. Try hard as he might, he couldn't seem to grasp all events the knife on his hand, or everything he wanted to create, had experienced during their lives. It was a step that was just beyond his ability. Because of that, he could never create anything which could be considered 'perfect'. Even the clothes he was wearing right now would just disappear after a month at best, and a few minutes at worst.
And he has to learn everything, yes, everything about the object he wants to create by heart if he wants to recreate it. The structure, the materials, the history, everything. It's not like he has an infinite library which can record everything he sees in a blink of an eye, anyway.
Luckily for him, he had managed to find a way around that. By altering the design of the thing he wanted to recreate slightly, for example, making a sleeveless and orange jacket instead of an originally black and sleeved one with similar design, he turned it into a completely new creation that never existed before, and thus had absolutely no history in its life; basically giving the creation the history it never had. Thanks to this, creating a blueprint became much easier for him.
Well, only if the design in his head was, fortunately, unique, anyway. There might be a chance that the design was used without his knowing. Therefore, his Creation of All Things didn't always work as it should be. And if he couldn't even do something like creating inanimated things properly, the higher levels like modifying his body, or creating living things would be next to impossible.
He sighed and relaxed, and the half-completed blueprint in his head faded away.
'Good job onii-chan, you already had a grasp of it,' Saikyo smiled her satisfaction.
'Yeah...' Naruto sighed. 'But this is still nowhere near perfect! If I cannot use it perfectly, how can I hope of creating awesome living things like the Sage or old man Hashirama?'
Not noticing the cringing of the slug at mentioning of the name, Naruto blurted out what he just remembered. 'Speaking of old man Hashirama... Saikyo-chan, how did he die? He is so incredible his power was enough to subdue Madara, and he also had someone like you with him... Saikyo-chan? Saikyo-chan, are you there?'
No answer. The connection between Naruto and the slug was completely cut off.
Naruto started panicking. What the heck had happened to her?
'Do you even have to ask? You screwed up. BIG.'
The voice of Kurama suddenly rising in his head made him jumped from the bed.
'Kurama! What do you mean I screwed up?'
The vixen sighed. 'Come into your mindscape and I will explain.'
"So what did I do wrong, Kurama?"
The vixen didn't give a straight answer. Rather, she asked.
"Do you know about the Uzumaki clan, Naruto?"
Naruto was startled. The Uzumaki clan... it was his clan. The clan with exceptional mastery in fuinjutsu. The clan with the powerful chakra and life force, together with incredible longevity. The clan which has the deepest alliance with the Senju clan and Konohagakure since the beginning of the village. And the clan which was wiped out sometimes after his mother, Kushina, settled in Konoha.
But what does it have to do with Saikyo...?
As if understanding what Naruto was thinking, Kurama said. "The destruction of the Uzumaki clan and Uzushiogakure is very famous. However, there is another battle involving the Uzumaki clan which was never shown in any historical document. It was the battle that took the life of Hashirama."
Naruto's curiosity was aroused. "What happened there?"
Kurama closed her eyes. "It was during a visit of Hashirama and his wife to Uzushiogakure when he was still the First Hokage. In this day of destiny, an alliance of Kumogakure, Iwagakure and Kirigakure decided to attack the village. Being the ally of Uzushiogakure, of course Hashirama and Mito went to help. With the assistance from the man called as the God of Shinobi, Uzushiogakure managed to hold them in a stalemate, and nearly turned the table..."
"Wow! Old man Hashirama was awesome!" Naruto cheered happily, pumping his fists.
"...until Madara appeared."
Naruto's hands froze in midair. "What?"
"You heard me," Kurama nodded bitterly. "Madara was the one behind the attack. And unlike before, this time he had awakened the Rinnegan from the piece of DNA he took from Hashirama during the battle at the Valley. Like that wasn't enough... he also managed to seal me into him. Yeah, Hashirama didn't reclaim me after the battle at the Valley as many had mistaken."
Blood in Naruto's veins went cold after this declaration.
"That's right," Kurama continued. "With the Rinnegan and my chakra, his power finally surpassed Hashirama. He would have completely flattened Uzushiogakure with his Chibaku Tensei had Hashirama not taunted him to lure him to the sea outside of the village. And they fought."
"Then? What happened next? Did old man Hashirama win?" Naruto asked in thrill, and Kurama nodded with a sigh.
"Yes, he did. Even overpowered, Hashirama managed to defeat Madara, again. But that victory came with a heavy price. Right before he could land the killing blow on Madara, he hesitated. I didn't know what he was thinking, but his hand just stopped before his final jutsu landed on Madara. And that's what that despicable Uchiha had been waiting for. He took the opening Hashirama made to impale him and tried to pull his soul out with the Human Path. But Hashirama's extreme willpower, or maybe Saikyo inside him, I don't know, somehow held his soul back long enough for him to perform a jutsu that ripped me off Madara's body."
If Naruto's shock and awe had been great before this, it was nothing comparing to how he looked now. The expression in his face was a mixture of horror, amazement and curiosity.
"Then..."
"He died," Kurama answered curtly. "That final jutsu took everything left in Hashirama's body, and his soul was pulled away. But that didn't make Madara the winner. You already knew what would happen if a Tailed Beast was ripped off the jinchuriki. Madara, thanks to his Rinnegan and Hashirama's DNA, didn't die, but his body was so messed up that he couldn't even use another simple jutsu just to take himself out of there. Even the Rinnegan couldn't fix his body after that. Had it not been for me... well... going rampage after that, and someone rescued him, he would have been killed by Mito and the Uzumaki clan. I'm sorry," she added with a hint of embarrassment and regret in her tone.
"So that's how Mito-baachan became your jinchuriki..." Naruto mumbled, and Kurama nodded.
"Yes. After that, leaders of the five Great Shinobi Villages and the Uzumaki clan had a meeting. The Mizukage, the Raikage and the Tsuchikage didn't want to admit their fault. They were too embarrassed to admit the fact that not one, but three Kage of Great Villages were tricked and controlled by one man so easily and effortlessly. After three days of argument, they finally came to an agreement that the event would not be recorded into history, and no one would ever speak about it again. That's why only very few people knew about it, and most of them were dead already."
"I see... But what does that have to do with Saikyo-chan anyway?" Naruto asked in confusion.
"Because Saikyo thought that it was her fault Hashirama died."
Naruto jumped. The other beasts had come behind him since who knows when.
"After she revived, she was nothing like the Saikyo we knew any more. She became shy, withdrawn and cold to nearly everyone. When she was with Utakata, she seemed to open herself a little bit... but now, after his death... I don't know..." said Matatabi sadly.
"How did she work that one out?" Naruto asked, horrified.
"Well, she was together with Hashirama-san when they fought Madara, right?" Chomei shrugged... well, sort of. "I think she feels that if only she had worked more perfectly with the old man, Madara couldn't have murdered him."
"Yeah," Kokuoh agreed. "And I think that's why she can't use her power like she used to. It's just like... she's having trouble with it. Before, whenever we went rampaging, she would always be there to stop us. After Hashirama's death..."
"Really? I thought she's awesome as she is now. Didn't she use her Wood Style to restrain Kurama and Chomei before?"
Kurama rolled her eyes. "She used to make the whole forest around Konoha together with Hashirama. Now she could only make mere vines. Is that what you call 'not having trouble', Naruto?"
"That's right," Matatabi added. "And that's only when she's in a good mood. When her mood's down, she couldn't use her power at all. It just doesn't manifest, no matter how hard she try. Poor girl..."
Naruto's brain went numb and frozen. If what the beasts said was true, he really did screw up.
"No, no, wait," Naruto suddenly waved his hand while shaking his head frantically. "That doesn't make sense at all! If that's the case, why should Saikyo-chan worry about it? It's not like it's her fault, right? She couldn't do anything about it!"
The Tailed Beasts looked at each other awkwardly.
"Naruto, that's exactly why she blamed herself," Gyuuki shook his head. "It is survivor's guilt, you know. I think you of all people would be the one who understand this best. Do you remember when Neji died to protect you? Do you remember when Hinata and Sakura were impaled while trying to save you? You were there, looking at them dying, and couldn't do anything to help. Have you ever feel hopeless and regret that you were alive, but all the other ones close to you were dead right before your eyes? Worse, when they die because of you?"
When Naruto nodded dumbly, he nodded and continued. "Well, Saikyo is the same. Tailed Beast or not, she is still a girl. And you cannot expect a girl to take it as well as a boy. Come to think of it, being a Tailed Beast only makes it worse. Tailed Beasts usually don't have friends. Almost everyone treats us as monsters or weapons; even other animals are scared of us. It is very rare for us to have someone who cares for us, or treats us as equal. And Saikyo got two of them killed right in front of her eyes. Do you think that will not leave a scar to her mind?"
Naruto couldn't find any word to reply. What Gyuuki said was true; when the old man was killed by Orochimaru, he wasn't even there to help. He didn't even know that his grandfather figure was killed until after he subdued Gaara and returned to the village. After that, despite not expressing his sadness out in the open, he hadn't been able to sleep at all for over a month. And that's when he was still a kid.
And after his precious people were murdered by Madara in that final battle of destiny, isn't it true that he lost all his will to fight and let himself be captured by the mad Uchiha?
Naruto suddenly bolted up from his sitting place.
"What are you doing, Naruto?" Isobu asked. Naruto answered him with a serious expression.
"I'm going to find her. I screwed up; I will have to fix it."
Saikyo, in her human form, was curling up inside a cave on a mountain in Naruto's mindscape, crying her heart out.
It's not like she wanted to do that. But whenever the name Hashirama was spoken of, horrible memories of that day immediately rushed back into her head.
Different from humans, Tailed Beasts do not age. They were created with the mindsets of different ages right at the beginning. They stay in the world as long as there is still chakra; yet their minds stay the same, no matter how long they exist. Because of that, although having knowledge and power, Saikyo was still just a twelve-year-old kid in mind.
And a kid's mind, no matter how old she is, is no way enough to stand the trauma of having her most precious person, the first person after her Father who treated her as family, being killed right in front of her. Just like Sasuke had suffered when Itachi killed his father and mother. Even Utakata-niichan, the one who acted as her brother figure later, couldn't replace him in her mind.
But Saikyo isn't Sasuke. She isn't a boy. She didn't go around spouting nonsense about revenge. Instead, she curled up into a ball and cried.
Being named "the strongest" by Father and her siblings, she was blessed with the power to give lives and solve conflicts. Yet she is just a pathetic kid who couldn't do anything to save the people she loves.
Burying her face on her knees, Saikyo continued crying, even harder than before.
"Saikyo-chan! Finally found you!"
She lifted her head, and realized that she was looking into a pair of blue eyes.
"Onii-chan..."
Naruto sat down next to her and grinned awkwardly while scratching his head. In his smile, there was a hint of sadness and regret.
"Um... Saikyo-chan... I'm really sorry for hurting your feeling before... I didn't know that you had to suffer so much..."
The slug girl didn't answer. Instead, her face sunk even further into her knees.
"No, no, please, don't cry again!" Naruto hastily said, waving his hands. "Looking at you crying hurts me so much... I don't want to see you like this... please..."
He sighed in relief when she only let out a slight sniffle.
"But Saikyo-chan... I know I'm not in the position to tell you this, but please don't blame yourself too much about it," he continued. "I don't think Hashirama-jiji will be pleased to see you like this. How can he rest comfortably in heaven if he knew you tortured yourself whenever you thought about him?"
"You don't understand..." she murmured quietly, and Naruto nodded with a sigh.
"Yeah, it might be true that I cannot understand what you have been through. But I know what it feels when my precious people die. When the Old Man was killed... I wasn't even there to help him. It's not better than being unable to do anything to help. And... I was devastated. I felt that I was useless; I couldn't even protect the person I loved the most in this world. It felt like the world was collapsing around me. He was... well, the first person in this world who had been nice to be, and the closest one I have for a father and a grandfather. I couldn't stop crying for a week."
Saikyo's eyes widened under her bangs. Naruto-nii-chan... he was just like her.
Naruto stopped and took a deep breath. "But then... When I finally managed to calm myself down, I started thinking. No matter how much I cry, he is never coming back to us. But his death was not meaningless. He offered his life to stop a very dangerous person who tried to destroy our village. He faced death at will for the sake of the village. That was something which must be honored, not mourned about. So I pushed my sadness away. I thought that if I continued torturing myself like that, it would just be the same as spitting on his efforts. And all the others who had died for me... well, I used to lost myself when I saw them dying in front of me, but now, when I think of them, I feel like their powers are flowing through my veins. They gave me their strength, and their hopes for a good future, and I won't let their efforts wasted."
The images of Neji, Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke and all the other people who died in the final battle flashed across his eyes. He had to close them to stop the tears from spilling out.
"I'm not trying to tell you to throw the image of Hashirama-jiji out of your head, Saikyo-chan," Naruto continued. "But please remember, he is not the only one who loves you in this world. You still have your brothers and sisters, and you have me, too. Seeing you like this hurt me so much. I cannot say that I will be the one who replaces Hashirama-jiji, but I swear on my life that I will do everything I can for you, and I will protect you with everything I got. After all, an older brother protects his younger sister, right?" he added with a grin.
The slug's eyes widened even further. Protecting his younger sister...
"Saikyo, no matter what you did before, you are still the one I consider my little sister. And I will not let you be taken by those Akatsuki! I will do everything to protect you, even if it cost me my life!"
Utakata-nii-chan had said that to her when they're facing Pain. He's the same... as Naruto-nii-chan...
"Waa?"
Naruto was startled when Saikyo suddenly grabbed his shirt and cried her heart into it.
"Please onii-chan..." she whispered between hiccups. "Please don't leave me again... Everyone who is close to me all left me... I can't take it anymore... If you leave... I.... Please, stay with me... Don't leave me..."
Naruto couldn't say a word for a while. Then, he smiled and hugged Saikyo, while patting the girl's hair gently.
"It's okay... I'm not going anywhere... I'll be here for you, always..."
In the real world, the sun was descending down the horizon.
"First of all, congratulation on passing the second task of the Chuunin Exam!"
The voice of the Third Hokage boomed around the hall.
It's the end of the fifth day, and now, all the remaining competitors were gathering in the great hall of the tower.
Naruto looked around. This time, there were also 21 competitors left, including all the Rookie 12 of Konoha and the Sand Siblings. Though, Kabuto's team and the team from Sound couldn't make it this time. Replacing them were Haku's team and the team of the redhead from Kusagakure.
He zoned out from the speech of the old man about the exam being a life-risking battle, a form of war for the allied villages, blah blah blah, and Hayate announcing the preliminary.
'You know, I've been wondering. How could it be that the ones who got pass the forest in our time were all rookies? Isn't this forest a hard challenge even for experienced chuunin?'
'Yeah, but that's because your creator said so. Besides, you guys are main characters. If the main characters were excluded, what would the story become?'
'Well, now that you said...'
Stop demolishing the fourth wall, you two!
""Yes, sir...""
Kabuto walked out of the forest with a smile. His mission as a spy was completed. He had researched the village thoroughly during his time here, and known all about every shinobi of all ranks in the village. Now, everything was in their place for the invasion to start...
Although, he couldn't find any other information about the mysterious Team 7 lead by Kakashi, except for the old ones from their first A-rank mission to Waves. But no matter... he will get them later. They're just genin, so how hard can it be?
His train of thought was cut abruptly when Ibiki Morino appeared in front of him, with ten ANBU surrounding him.
"Kabuto Yakushi, under the order of the Hokage, you are under arrest for traitorous actions against Konohagakure!"
Crap.
Sakura Haruno vs. nameless Grass mook #1
"Ha! As if a pathetic little girl like me can do anything to me! This jutsu of mine will... HIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
The Grass ninja foamed at the mouth and collapsed to the ground after letting out a girlish scream, his eyes rolling back into his head. At the same time, all males in the room cringed and suddenly had the same urge to cover their crotches.
"W... winner, Sakura Haruno!"
"Sa... Sakura..." Naruto sputtered when the girl arrived at the place where Team 7 was standing on the balcony. "Why did you do that?"
"Oh, that," Sakura answered nonchalantly. "Anko-sensei taught me that the most effective way to fight is to aim for the most delicate and mortal place on the body, and launch one decisive strike. And one of those positions on a male's body is his crotch."
Sasuke and Naruto unconsciously inched away from Sakura.
And Kakashi now started regretting his decision of leaving his student on the hand of a sadist like Anko.
Shikamaru Nara vs. nameless Grass mook #2
"I still have to fight? What a drag..."
The ninja from Grass looked at the pineapple head in front of him with wary eyes. His teammate was taken down by the Konoha kunoichi in one hit. So he couldn't afford to be careless against those Konoha shinobi.
"Start!"
That brat looked quite weak physically. He decided to launch a taijutsu move at him to test.
Shikamaru dodged, then turned tail and... ran away.
"What the...?"
That's what every genin except for Naruto and Team 10's members chorused when they saw what was happening.
"Damn it, brat! Stop running away and fight me!"
"No, that's too troublesome," was the only answer.
"Is he always like this?" Kiba asked when Shikamaru and his opponent started chasing each other around the arena. Chouji nodded while chewing.
"Mmmm. But I think he has a plan. There is always a plan in his head, mmmm."
Then suddenly, the Grass genin stopped dead on his track.
He found that he couldn't even move a muscle.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu, success." Shikamaru said in a bored tone.
"How...?" the Grass nin croaked out the only word he could mutter.
Instead of answering, Shikamaru looked up. The Grass shinobi's head rose with the motion, and his eyes widened.
"No way... the balcony..."
"Yes, the balcony," the Nara boy smirked. "Because of the light of this room, its shadow is pretty large. I ran away just to lead you into its shadow, and use that shadow to extend my own shadow until it reached yours."
"Shadow jutsu of the Nara clan," Asuma smiled proudly. "Specializes in immobilizing enemies. Very effective in team fights, but only for the people with sharp mind and quick thinking, just like Shikamaru."
"Wow, Shikamaru is awesome!" Kiba exclaimed.
Shikamaru reached out his hands and did some motions behind his head. At the same time, the Grass genin's headband dropped to the ground with a loud "clang".
Then he proceeded to smash his poor opponent's head against the wall.
After five minutes, the Grass jonin managed to croak out his forfeit, then fainted.
Sasuke palmed his face. "I really don't know what to say about this match."
"Winner, Shikamaru Nara!"
Rock Lee vs. Ino Yamanaka
"Gai-sensei, I cannot fight her! She is a girl! Hurting a girl is unyouthful!"
Ino's forehead popped a vein. "What do you mean when you say I am a girl?"
"Never say that my youthful student! The person in front of you is not a girl now! She is a youthful opponent, and by defeating her, the power of youth will explode once again!"
Another vein popped on Ino's forehead. "Okay, now what do you mean when you say I'm not a girl?"
"Yosh! Then I will let all the power of my youth explode! Leaf Hurricane!"
"Wait, wha..."
BAM! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Sakura winced. "Poor Ino..."
"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "The power of youth is definitely not something to be underestimated."
"Winner, Rock Lee!"
"Three matches are done. That was fast," Naruto blinked.
"Yeah, but they cannot be considered 'matches'," Sasuke shook his head. "Sakura literally broke her opponent with a kick to the nut. Shikamaru did almost nothing other than running away. And the bushy brow's match... no, just no. Seriously, is this the Chuunin exam or a joke?"
"So to you, only a fight with flashy explosive jutsu is good?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. Sasuke turned slightly red.
"I didn't say that!"
"Then it's your chance now," Naruto smirked, and pointed at the name board. Sasuke followed his finger, and also smirked.
Sasuke Uchiha vs. Shiro Ichigaki
"Who is Shiro Ichigaki?"
From the other side of the balcony, the white haired teammate of Haku jumped down to the arena.
"A member of the new Seven Swordsmen of the Mist... equal to Zabuza..." Sasuke's grin became wider. "This is a good chance to show the fruit of all the training I did last month!"
Then without another word, he jumped across the banister.
'That Sasuke... He might not be the one obsessing with revenge like before, but his thirst for power is still there...' Gyuuki said worriedly. 'If Madara can get a hand on him in the future...'
'Don't worry Gyuuki,' Naruto interrupted him in a firm tone. 'This time I am here. If Madara wants to get to him, he will have to face me first. I will not let Sasuke fall into the hand of evil again. I swear on my life.'
"Sasuke Uchiha-san," the boy gave a slight bow. "I've heard about you from Zabuza-sensei and Haku-san. You are a formidable opponent, and I cannot let my guard down against you."
"Big words from the one who doesn't even have a sword," Sasuke taunted him, but the expression on the Mist swordsman didn't even faze a bit.
"It's true I don't have a legendary sword of my own. But that doesn't mean I do not have my own sword to fight with."
With two loud pops and a burst of smoke, two short, broad swords fell into Shiro's hands. Sasuke smirked, and drew his own katana.
"Then let's see how good you are with those swords."
00000
"Two swords?" Kakashi looked at Zabuza. "You are training him to wield Kiba?"
"What does he have to do with me?" Kiba asked in confusion. Kakashi shook his head.
"Not you, Kiba. Kiba is the name of a pair of swords in the seven Legendary Swords of Kirigakure. They are called the sharpest swords in existence, not only because they can boost the power of their wielder to the utmost limit, but also because they can transform the nature of their owner's chakra channeling into them into lightning, enhancing their cutting power greatly to the point that almost nothing in the world can survive a slash from them. As far as I know, they also allow the wielder to manipulate real lightning freely with only a little bit of chakra."
"Just as expected from Kakashi of the Sharingan, always has the information in his brain, eh?" Zabuza smirked. "This boy is not the strongest shinobi in Kirigakure, but his potential is incredible."
"I see," Kakashi gave a furtive smile from under his mask. "But my student is not someone to be underestimated either, Zabuza."
00000
"BEGIN!"
With a kick to the ground, the white haired swordsman dashed forward.
"That's not going to work!"
His charge was stopped. Sasuke was a natural in swordfighting. His katana was longer than Shiro's short swords. And the reckless movement of the Kiri boy had too many openings. With the Sharingan, they were easy to see.
A thrust was aimed at Shiro's exposed stomach.
CLANG!
Steel met steel. Sasuke's thrust was smashed away by one of the shorter swords. The shortswords don't have the length, but they have the mass. Sasuke could feel his hand shaking lightly from the collision.
The other one, at the same time, swung at Sasuke's neck.
And with the Sharingan, Sasuke could see the real threat behind it. The descending sword was coated in lightning chakra.
"Tch...!"
The Uchiha boy ducked, letting the lightning-imbued sword soar over his head.
Very well, if you want to play that game...
The katana in Sasuke's hand started glowing with electricity. He struck again; this time at Shiro's chest, where there was no protection, and showing another glaring opening...
His katana was swatted away again, by another lightning-coated sword.
"Damn it..."
00000
On the balcony, Kakashi was staring at Zabuza with a horrified eye.
"Zabuza, why did you teach that boy this kind of fighting style? It is too dangerous for a boy that age!"
Zabuza smirked. Without his old bandages, everyone could see the menacing shark-like fangs in his mouth.
"Kirigakure has different ways of training shinobi from Konohagakure, Kakashi. Besides, I am not the one who taught him that sword style. He created it himself."
"He... created it himself...?" Kakashi's visible eye widened.
"That's right," Zabuza nodded. "He has been longing to be the wielder of Kiba since he was a child. No one in Kirigakure had experience of fighting with twin swords, and he couldn't hope to access the Mizukage's vault for the secret of Kiba's swordplay. So he just practiced that absurd style again and again, and after 10 years, he finally managed to perfect it enough for a real fight."
"After 10 years... wait. How old is he right now?"
"Fifteen."
"Since 5... so he is a genius..." Kakashi muttered. But Zabuza cut in.
"Genius? Oh please, he is anything but a genius. He is just a normal genin as any other genin in this world. He is not good at genjutsu; his ninjutsu and taijutsu are just adequate. The only thing he can be called 'good' at is kenjutsu. It's his dream to become the strongest swordsman in the world that pushed him to the limit, making him the one he is today. Unlike Konohagakure, Kirigakure does not need geniuses" he sneered in the 'geniuses' word, "to keep it strong... in the reign of our new Mizukage."
Kakashi couldn't find a word to say.
At the far corner, Neji Hyuuga snorted. There is no way a nameless normal person can ever catch up to a true genius. It's their destiny to fall against geniuses like him.
00000
Sasuke was frustrated. There was nothing special about that guy's fighting style. It was crude, reckless, and full of holes. Yet, he couldn't even find a way to land a hit on him.
It's just like... he let him see the openings on purpose. No matter how fast he struck, the short swords were always there, blocking his attacks completely.
His Sharingan allowed him to avoid all the attacks from his opponent, but if he couldn't even land a hit on Shiro, all the fighting would be meaningless. In fact, he was being pushed back, further and further, by the advancing Shiro.
Who could possibly think that Sasuke Uchiha, a member of the Uchiha clan, possessing the fully unlocked Sharingan and a natural mastery of kenjutsu, was being overwhelmed by a nameless genin in close combat?
He gritted his teeth. If kenjutsu didn't work, he would have to try another way.
He jumped back a few steps, throwing his sword to the sky and weaved through hand seals.
"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!"
A fire ball, much stronger than what Sasuke could have used before, shot out from his mouth towards Shiro in a very fast speed. It seemed Shiro was too surprised to do anything against it. A loud 'boom', and the room was covered in smoke.
"Is it over?" Haku asked worriedly. Zabuza shook his head.
"No; not yet."
Thirty seconds passed, and Shiro emerged from behind the smoke. His body was full of scorching marks, but he wasn't injured.
"How is it possible? We all saw him being hit!" Ino exclaimed in surprise.
"He drenched himself with a water jutsu right before the fireball hit," Kakashi answered her. No one had realized him pulling his headband up. His Sharingan now glued to the battle in the arena with unusual interest. "It decreased the power of the fire jutsu considerably."
"You are a very powerful opponent, Uchiha-san. I don't want to do this, but with an opponent like you, I cannot afford to hold back anymore. Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
'Say what?!' was the shared thought of all Team 7 and Team 8 members right now.
Mist started to gather inside the room. Sasuke cringed; subjected to this jutsu once, he knew how deadly it could be, and what would happen if he could not find a way to counter it.
00000
"Why did Sasuke-kun retreat like that?" Sakura questioned when she saw Sasuke jumped to the corner of the room and stayed there.
"That's the only thing he could do, Sakura," Kakashi answered. "Within the mistscreen, visual is useless. He cannot see where his opponent is, so he has to retreat into the corner to limit the directions Shiro can attack him from. Quick thinking."
Then he threw a dirty look towards Zabuza. The Mist swordsman only smirked.
The jutsu finally covered the whole arena, blocking the vision of everyone from the two combatants. What they could see now in the arena was only white mist.
Neji activated his Byakugan, then winced and shut them immediately.
"I... can't see anything. All I can see is chakra. What is this...?" What in the world can block the vision of the Byakugan?
"The Hidden Mist Jutsu is the secret jutsu of Kirigakure. It can block any type of vision; even the three Great Doujutsu cannot see through it!" Zabuza boasted.
However, Kakashi could feel a very slight hint of worry in Zabuza's voice.
Could it be...?
"There! They started!" Sakura yelled, and everyone turned their head to hear the sound of steel clashing against steel again.
Wait a second...
"How could it be?" Zabuza startled, his hands gripping the rail unconsciously squeezed it. "How could he fend off Shiro when they're inside the Mist?"
"Once again," Kakashi chuckled, "you underestimated my student, Zabuza. The Uchiha clan... their doujutsu is only one thing that made them the most powerful clan of Konohagakure. Fighting is in their genetics. Even without the Sharingan, their abilities in combat are still the most terrifying in Konohagakure. They don't always need their eyes to fight."
Zabuza's eyes widened. "You mean... the Uchiha boy is fighting my student only with pure instinct!? That's impossible!"
"Ah, but that's the truth!" Kakashi gave him an eyesmile. "Luckily I trained him to fight without depending on his eyes for a whole month before the exam!"
"Why didn't you teach me that, sensei?" Naruto pouted. Kakashi shook his head while chuckling.
"You were trained by Jiraiya-sama, Naruto. Isn't he way better than a mere jonin like me?"
Naruto wisely shut up.
00000
Hidden Mist Jutsu is the core element of Kirigakure's famous Silent Killing assassination technique. It completely blocks the vision of the target, allowing the user to close in when the target is still confused and panic of losing their sight and deliver a decisive blow. It is what made the name of the Devil of the Hidden Mist, as well as all the other members of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist.
However, the technique has three glaring weaknesses.
First, despite the fact that the Hidden Mist can hide the user from view, and Silent Killing can eliminate the sound, the user can still be tracked by smell. A tracker using the sense of smell, such as Kiba, can easily track down the user with his incredible nose. And a sensor can also follow the user, although with more difficulty as the mist is made from chakra.
Second, the technique blocks the vision of the target, but it also means that the vision of the user is also blocked. Because of that, the technique only works if the target is panicked and stays in one place, or the user is a good tracker of smell or sound himself. Zabuza is a master in mind assault, so it is not hard for him to keep his targets in one place just by words alone. But with other people... it's not that easy.
And third, it costs a humongous amount of chakra. Because of that, users of the Silent Killing technique usually tend to find ways to finish their fight as fast as possible.
And that was the problem for Shiro at the moment.
An apprentice of the Devil of the Hidden Mist or not, he is still a genin. And a genin only has a limited amount of chakra. The Hidden Mist Jutsu is his final trump card; when he uses it, he must make sure that he can finish his opponent as quickly as possible.
However, he couldn't. He didn't expect the Uchiha boy to fight back so valiantly and stubbornly, even under such a huge disadvantage. Almost all the attacks he threw at him were blocked. It's just like the Uchiha's instinct had manifested a third eye which could see through even the mist.
And he could feel his chakra level dropping quickly.
But it's not like he couldn't do anything to the Uchiha. Even though the sword of Sasuke had been blocking most of his strikes, there were two or three strikes that went through and managed to injure him. He didn't know which part of the boy was struck, but he could see blood on his blades. There's no way the raven-haired boy could prolong this fight further with all those injuries. If he continued pressing on, he would win for sure.
But the matter was... how long further could he press on?
His chakra was only enough to maintain the Hidden Mist Jutsu for about three more minutes. It would not be enough to force the Uchiha to lose. There was only one choice...
He jumped back and focused, pushing more chakra into the jutsu. The mist screen now became so thick that even if they stood face to face, they wouldn't be able to see each other.
He will put everything into this last strike. Even if he must kill Sasuke, he has to win...
And his instinct screamed at him to dodge.
He leaned to one side, right before a shuriken soared pass his face.
From inside the mist, shuriken after shuriken was flying out every direction.
He hastily stepped back and swung his swords to smash away the projectiles flying around him. What was his opponent doing? Sure, it might be easier hitting him in the mist that way, but he could block everything of that level.
His back touched something that felt like a string.
"Finally got you! Lightning Style: Shocking Web!"
Immediately, Shiro felt like there was a thousand volts of electricity running through his body. He gasped in pain; his lungs felt like they were being grilled in a blast furnace, and all of his muscles felt cold and numb. The Mist swordsman's body started losing its senses, and he felt like his heart stopped for a moment. He dropped his swords and collapsed.
Then it stopped. Only then he could feel the wires cutting into his skin.
"How...?"
The mist started clearing, and everyone in the room, except for Sasuke, all gasped in chorus when they saw what happened.
A whole corner of the room, where Sasuke had jumped into to protect himself from the assault of Shiro, was covered in shuriken. And each shuriken had a ninja wire tied onto it. They were, right now, forming a metal web, which the Mist ninja was now trapped in. And judging on the jutsu Sasuke had just yelled the name, this web was full of high voltage electricity just about one minute ago.
And Sasuke's katana was now pointing at Shiro's neck.
"Forfeit, or I will have to hurt you."
Everything was decided. Shiro's limbs slumped down on the net tying him.
"I forfeit."
And with that, the fourth match of the preliminary was concluded.
"Winner, Sasuke Uchiha!"
"You're so awesome, Sasuke-kun!"
Sasuke winced when the voices of Sakura and Ino slammed into his ears at the same time. The blonde glared at Sakura, but the pinkette ignored her.
"Hmph," Neji sneered. "A lowly commoner like him does not stand a chance against a genius. That's his destiny to lose."
Everyone glared at the Hyuuga. Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who raised his voice first.
"Didn't you see what happened? I nearly lost out there," he scowled.
"No way. You're Sasuke-kun! How can you lose?" Ino dismissed him with a swoon, and Sasuke didn't bother to answer her. Instead, he unsheathed his sword. It was full of scratches, chips and cracks. After leaving the sheath, the blade crumbled.
"Great, now I need a new sword," he groaned in annoyance.
"Uhm, I don't want to interrupt but..." Hinata's voice rose from behind them, "...you're bleeding, Sasuke-san. I think you should go to the medic..."
True to the words, Sasuke's right arm was having a pretty nasty cut on it. Blood was leaking out from the gaping wound.
"I'm fine," Sasuke shook his head. He didn't want to show weakness in front of anyone.
"Don't worry, I got it," Sakura suddenly said. She put her hands on Sasuke's wound, and they started glowing green. Immediately, the wound started closing.
"You learned medical jutsu?" Naruto quirked an eyebrow, while Ino glared at Sakura's hands with extreme jealousy. Sakura smiled happily.
"Yup! Anko-sensei gave me a scroll of medical jutsu during my training. She didn't have any use of it, so she dumped it to me. But it's kinda fun! I learned many things in that scroll, mainly basic healing jutsu and stuff. It's useful for surviving in the forest, you know."
"Bookworm," Naruto muttered, and received a bop to the head.
"What's wrong with being a bookworm, huh?"
"Uh oh," Kiba suddenly muttered in a worried voice. "This is not good."
"What's wrong Kiba?" Naruto asked in confusion. "What is not goo... oh, crap."
The screen was now showing the names of the combatants for the next match.
Hinata Hyuuga vs. Neji Hyuuga
'There are things that cannot be changed, even with time traveling,' Kurama shook her head sagely.
----------
Definition
Lightning Style: Shocking Web
Classification: Ninjutsu, Shurikenjutsu
Rank: B
Class: Offensive
Element: Lightning
Range: Close to Mid-range
A lightning style ninjutsu developed by Sasuke Uchiha under the instruction of Kakashi Hatake. Using a combination of shuriken, kunai and ninja wires, the user might either create a web of metal strings around his enemies, or tying the enemies up with the ninja wires. After that, the user channel a large amount of lightning-element chakra through the wires, shocking the enemies with high-voltage electricity. This jutsu is similar to the Uchiha clan's Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu, only replacing the fire stream with a stream of electricity.
Instead of the ninja wires, the user can use this jutsu on any electricity-conducting objects, such as metal pipes, water, etc. However, as electricity is very hard to control, there might be a risk that the jutsu will hurt other people if they touch the object.