AN: I'm so sorry that this chapter was so late! It took longer to plan then I thought it would, I was trying to make it so that the plot of Naruto didn't change too much but that means I had to do in depth research about everyone who was participating in the Chunin exams. Including the ones that failed the first and second stage. Again so sorry I'll try to have the next chapter up soon and I want to start the Shippuden series before I start Uni at the end of this month so fingers crossed.
Lucy was sitting at a desk in between two unknown shinobi in the middle back of the room with a test sheet in front of her, Haku was towards the front of the room next to one of the rookie 9 and Gemini or Futago was in the left back corner,
'Miss Lucy, it seems that we are sitting next to a Chunin,' Gemini said silently to her through their key,
'A Chunin? What's a Chunin doing here?'
'it appears like they were planted around the room because the test has questions that normal Genin can not answer,'
'so, the aim is to gather information without being detected? Do you have any ideas on how to get this information to Haku?' Lucy and Gemini continued to converse as Lucy slowly filled out her test,
'maybe through one of his ice mirrors but we would need to signal him somehow,' Gemini suggested, Lucy started to tap her pen on the desk, ".... .- -.- ..- --..-- / .. - ... / .-.. ..- -.-. -.-- .-.-.- / --. .- - .... . .-. / .- -. -.. / ... .... .- .-. . / .. -. ..-. --- / .. ... / - .... . / -.- . -.-- .-.-.-" (Haku, it's Lucy. Gather and share info is the key,)
Not long after she heard tapping from across the room," ..- -. -.. . .-. ... - --- --- -.. "(understood,) it was then that an ice mirror appeared above her head and Lucy quickly finished her test before she moved it into a place visibly accessible to the mirror and waited,
'Miss Lucy, we are done,' Gemini said through their key
-.. --- -. . (done,) Haku tapped out on the table from across the room,
'Gemini, before the next exam begins, I want you to copy the proctor but only tell me about the conspiracy that Kakashi mentioned before, there's a familiar presence in this room that I don't like,' Lucy projected to her spirit,
'Yes Miss,'
"Okay, it's been 45 minutes, it's time for the 10th and final question," Ibiki called out in a gruff voice as, "but before that, I'm going to add one more rule," before he could continue Kankuro from the hidden sand village came out of the bathroom, "you're in luck, looks like the time you've spent playing with dolls wasn't completely wasted," Ibiki mocked and Lucy held back a smile at his not so hidden meaning, "let me explain, this rule is absolute," he finished and a couple of the Genin swallowed a lump in their throats.
With the Jonin instructors
"It seems that with our students in the exams we've got some free time," Kakashi said to Kurenai and Asuma whom were sitting in front of him, "it's not like we can go on training missions without them," he continued, his tone of voice bored, like he was waiting for something to happen but wouldn't care even if it did,
"Don't worry, we'll probably be busy again before you know it," Asuma said, in his mouth was his usual smoke,
"Why's that?" Kakashi questioned,
"as it would happen, this year the first proctor is Ibiki Morino," at Asuma's words Kakashi felt his shoulders sag and his bored expression turned into one of displeasure
"That sadist? Why did it have to be Ibiki?" Kakashi questioned again, 'at this rate only Lucy will make it through the first test,'
"Sadist?" Kurenai asked and broke Kakashi out of his thoughts,
"Ah that's right, you haven't officially met Ibiki have you? You're still quite new to being a Jonin," Asuma said to her,
"Why? What's he like?" Kurenai felt her curiosity show on her face,
"to put it simply, he's a pro's pro,"
"A pro? At what?"
"Torture and interrogation," Asuma answered and took his some out of his mouth and blew out a stream of murky white and grey clouds, Kurenai's face change into one of shock. "That Ibiki, he understands a human's heart completely, that what makes him so terrifying. He uses those insights to mercilessly manipulate his enemies, bringing their weaknesses to the surface and uses them to make them crack. Trickery is no defense against his skills as an interrogator,"
Back in the exam
After Kankuro sat down all of the Genin were sitting there waiting for Ibiki to explain what the new rule was going to be, "First you must choose, whether to accept or reject this tenth question," Ibiki announced and everyone was either confused or shocked,
"Choose? What if someone doesn't accept the question?" Temari of the hidden sand asked,
"If you reject the question and don't even try to answer it, you'll lose all of your points immediately and fail. Not only that but both of your teammates fail as well," at Ibiki's statement the Genin burst out in protest, while Lucy, Gemini and Haku remained silent but were curious nonetheless,
"Why would someone choose to reject it?" someone yelled out over the top of everyone,
"because of the next part of the rule," at this people started to quiet down, "if you try to answer the question and you get it wrong, you will never be allowed to apply for the Chunin exams again, not ever,"
"you can't be serious, that's ridiculous. There are ninja here who have taken the exams already, we know there are," Kiba burst out in anger, Lucy looked at each of the rookie 9 and saw that half of them were shaking and the other half were angry, Shikamaru was just dozing off.
"Too bad for you that you have me as your proctor this year, all the other years there have been others less intimidating than me," Ibiki said smirking slightly at everyone in the room, "so you can either take a failing grade now and try again later or you can risk your entire ninja career on just one question," everyone looked tense as Ibiki continued, "Those who choose not to accept raise your hands, once your number has been confirmed, you can leave the room," at that Ibiki paused and waited for everyone to make their decision, but after a couple of minutes and hands started going up and people started leaving the room. Lucy began to wonder why Ibiki was waiting so long for people to make their choice,
'is your choice the answer? Is this actually the final question? Ibiki you sly sadist,' Lucy thought to herself and let out a smirk before she started tapping on her desk with her pen and spoke silently to Gemini through their key, "- .... . / -.-. .... --- .. -.-. . / .. ... / - .... . / ..-. .. -. .- .-.. / --.- ..- . ... - .. --- -. .-.-.- / -.. --- -. .----. - / .-. . .--- . -.-. - / - .... . / --.- ..- . ... - .. --- -." (the choice is the final question. Don't reject the question)
Their replies came not a moment later, "..- -. -.. . .-. ... - --- --- -.." (understood,) Came from Haku,
'Yes Miss,' Came from Gemini,
Lucy had lowered her eye lids slightly and put her lips into a neutral position, her teammates followed suit and Ibiki let his eyes wander over whoever was left in the room. When his eyes reached Lucy, he felt his lips curve slightly into smirk, 'so the brat has figured it out and she used Morse code as a way of communication. I don't even think half of the people my age know Morse code, only those in the ANBU would have had to learn it,' his gaze made it's way to Naruto who was shaking like a leaf and he smirked as he saw him raise his hand, Lucy had to physically hold back a gasp at what she was seeing,
'this isn't the Naruto I know, no matter the pressure he's under he never gives up. Even when he should,' Lucy thought desperately but she saw his hand swing down fast upon the table in front of him and it made a loud bang that resounded throughout the room and got everyone else's attention,
"Don't you underestimate me, I don't quit and I won't run," Naruto shouted, a majority of the Genin were looking at Naruto in shock as he continued, "I'll accept your stupid question, even if I end up a Genin for the rest of my life, I'll still become Hokage. Even if I only make it by pure stubbornness I don't care, I'm not afraid of you," he glared up at Ibiki, Sasuke felt himself sigh in slight disappointment at Naruto's lack of thought in his teammates but still managed to smirk, Sakura was smiling slightly at Naruto's words. Sakura might never admit to it but she really admires Naruto's strong will despite him being an idiot. Lucy forgot about her nonchalant mask and smiled at Naruto fondly,
'he reminds me so much of Natsu sometimes its crazy,' Lucy thought to herself and she let her mind run back to the speech that Natsu made during the Grand Magic Games, during the chariot battle when he and Gajeel got motion sickness along with Sting.
"I'll ask you one last time, this is a decision that could affect the rest of your life, quit now while you still can," Ibiki said and broke Lucy out of her thoughts,
"I never go back on my word, stubbornness is a part of my ninja skill set," Naruto said confidently and smirked back,
'Interesting, he seems to have cast out everyone else's doubts with just his words alone, there are 81 Genin still left although it's more than I expected but it's not like anyone else is going to quit now,' At this thought Ibiki glanced at the Chunin who were situated at the sides of the room observing the contestants for cheaters, they all nodded their heads in agreement, "So everyone in this room that is still here, you've just passed the first exam," Ibiki declared and a whole lot of Genin's looked shocked,
"What do you mean passed?" Sakura shouted over the room, "when did that happen, what about the tenth question?"
"Lucy, you understand right?" Ibiki asked knowingly with a smile and everyone turned to look at her,
"I'm meant to be laying low," Lucy grumbled to herself as she began to explain, "There is no tenth question, not technically anyway,"
"What do you mean Lucy?" Sakura asked,
"Then why did we have to suffer through the other nine questions?" Temari shouted, "That was a total waste of our time,"
"did you think they were just going to make it easy for you? These are the Chunin exams, everything they do is for a reason, there was no waste," Lucy sighed exasperated, "those questions had a purpose, they were there to test our information gathering skills, that's why they had put a limit on the amount of times you could be caught cheating,"
"Gathering information?" Temari said,
"Remember the rules in the beginning? We have to pass as a three-man squad, with that playing in our minds they pressured us to think that anything we did wrong would bring our teammates down with us," Lucy said,
"Huh, I figured that was it," Naruto bragged before Lucy could continue,
"However," Lucy said loudly trying to draw the attention back to her so she could explain, "the questions are beyond the level of regular Genin, so most of us here would have realised that and had only one way of passing the test, which was to cheat. In other words, the test was set up under the assumption that we'd cheat and they placed two Chunin leveled ninja in this test who already know all of the answer's to ensure that we had someone to cheat off of," at the last part of Lucy's explanation the two Chunin who were a part of the test tensed in surprise,
"why am I not surprised that you figured that part out?" Ibiki asked hypothetically,
"Yeah of course, any idiot could have figured it out," Naruto suddenly declared as he put his arms behind his head in a carefree matter,
"Anyone who cheated in a clumsy way failed, of course," Ibiki carried on with the explanation in place of Lucy, "because there may be circumstances where being caught in an act of espionage can cost you more than just your life," Ibiki took off his headband and bandanna, a whole lot of the Genin gasped at the sight of the burns on Ibiki's head and half of his face, "you pay in ways that can be taken from you little by little, time and time again, when many lives hang in the balance. The information you gained can't be trusted if you can't keep your presence secret from the enemy. Learn that and learn it well, if you if you bring back intelligence from a suspect or a compromised source , you'd only be doing your enemy a favour by putting your own at risk, that's why we pushed you into a position that would make you use those skills to cheat, it was the quickest way of weeding out the students whose skills weren't up to scratch,"
"what was with the tenth question then?" Temari asked skeptical,
"the tenth question was the first real test on this exam," at everyone's confused look Ibiki begun to explain, "the tenth question was a choice between two options that were both difficult and dangerous, those who chose to reject were failed and their friends along with them. Those who chose to accept and couldn't answer the questions lost any chance of ever even trying again. It was an unfair, no-win set of options. So, the question is, why did I present them? Let's suppose you all go on to successfully attain the rank of Chunin, you are assigned to steal a vital enemy document, knowing nothing about the skills, development, military preparedness or your foe. You may have to cross a territory that has been heavily mined and set with traps. Now, do you accept your mission? Or do you reject it? Rather than place your own life or the lives of your comrades in danger could any Chunin get away with only taking on the safe jobs? Of course, not, no matter how dangerous the risk, there will be missions that you cannot decline. A ninja must demonstrate fearlessness that inspires those around him, helping all to overcome their fear. This is the talent that we most value in the captain of a Chunin team, those who can't gamble with their own fate who would trade today's certain for tomorrows risk, never taking the chance that lies before them are weaklings who only make weak decisions, in my opinion, they don't belong in the ranks of the Chunin at all." At Ibiki's words, Naruto started to smirk, "by choosing to accept, you answered the almost insoluble tenth question correctly. You've passed the first hurdle of the Chunin selection exam is now finished,"
"Yeah, we did it," Naruto shouted and at that moment one of the windows on the side of the room shattered and something flew through it,
'this presence feels familiar, oh no, not her, anyone but her,' Lucy thought to herself desperately and looked towards Ibiki with a look of despair, only to be met with a shame filled nod in return. Lucy led her head fall to the table with a loud smack and startled the person sitting bedside her, who was now looking at her like she was the weirdest person they had ever seen,
"None of you are in any position to celebrate," the eccentric black-haired lady with a short orange skirt and fishnet shirt yelled out, her trench coat billowed around her from her excessive movement and settled back at her sides, "I am the second proctor, Anko Mitarashi, now time's a wasting, let's go, follow me," Anko shouted and put her hand in the air,
"Can't you sense the mood in here?" Ibiki asked her and Anko started to blush,
"She reminds me of Naruto," Sakura said out loud,
"Why do I surround myself with these people?" Lucy whined,
"eighty-one are still here? Ibiki, you passed twenty-seven teams?" Anko asked, "you went way too easy on them,"
"This year we have some exceptional applicants," Ibiki smirked at her,
"Yeah right, I'll cut down the number of teams by half before the next exam if finished," Anko let our her sadistic smile and let a dark look pass over her eyes, "I'm getting excited just thinking about it, I'll explain everything in detail as soon as we get to the next location so follow me," with that everyone got up and followed Anko to the next exam sight.
Walking behind everyone Lucy began to converse silently with Gemini, 'It appears that Lord Hokage didn't want to tell you but Orochimaru seems to have infiltrated the village and is now posing as one of the Genin competitors, they suspect that his team is also in allegiance with him for now there is no further information,' Gemini said and Lucy had to force her panic down,
'the Hokage knew about this and still sent me into the exams? Has he forgotten where I was found? What is he thinking? Why doesn't he just postpone the exams for a month or something?' Lucy's mind started to race and her heart started to pound in her chest. Not many things seem to scare her anymore but just the thought of Orochimaru and Lucy had to force herself not to panic. Lucy started to remember about the trouble she had settling in to the village, she woke up almost every night from a nightmare and tried to scrub her hands clean. She always ended up going to the roof of Kakashi's house and try to calm herself under the stars, it always seemed to work on Earth Land but for some reason it never worked for her in the village. Kakashi always seemed to wake up and be the one to calm her down enough for her to go back to sleep, like she does for him sometimes.
"This is where the next exams will be held, training ground 44, otherwise known as the forest of death," Anko said and broke Lucy out of her conversation with Gemini,
"It looks really creepy in there," Sakura said from her place behind Naruto,
"Trust me, it's worse than it looks," Lucy spoke up from behind them,
"And you're about to find that out for yourselves," Anko took over, "why they call it the forest of death," Naruto started to mock Anko and Lucy sighed in exasperation and rubbed her forehead,
"I want to just get this second exam over with, I really need to have a word with the Hokage," Lucy grumbled next to Haku and he turned to look at her with confusion swimming in his eyes, "lets just say that it's not a happy word," at this he looked at her slightly worried but she waved him off with a smile and tried to extinguish his doubts, it didn't work.
Especially because Lucy swallowed deeply looking at the Kunoichi with the long tongue giving Anko back her kunai knife from when she threw it at Naruto. Lucy watched the whole exchange between them trying to hold back her fear, when the grass kunoichi turned around as Anko started explaining the consent forms she froze. The kunoichi lifted up her hat slightly and looked at Lucy before licking her lips with her overly long tongue and smirked before turning around to pay attention to Anko.
'Gemini, keep an eye on that Grass Ninja and her team, I think it might actually be Orochimaru. I'd know that sick look anywhere,' Lucy said silently to her spirit,
'Of course, I'll try to get as much info as I can,' Gemini replied,
'thank you, do you think you could copy Kabuto as well? I find it weird that he's taken these exams so many times and his Genin teacher hasn't pulled him from them yet,' Lucy added on,
'Yes Miss Lucy,'
"Lucy?" Haku called out to her and cut her off from conversing with Gemini, when Lucy looked over at him, he held out a consent form for her to sign and told her about the purpose of the second test to her and the rules, "are you sure you're okay?" he asked her once he finished,
"it's almost time to distribute the scrolls," someone called from behind a covered shack that Lucy hadn't noticed before,
"I'll fill you in once the second test starts," Lucy said in a hushed tone as people started to walk towards the shack and one team at a time went in and came out, none of them appeared to be hold the scroll and all of them tried to cover up how nervous they were.
"So, when she said that more than half of us wouldn't make it, it's because the thirteen teams whose scrolls where stolen will fail," Sakura realised out loud,
"You bet, and there's a time limit, you have 120 hours in which the complete this exam, exactly five days," Anko said and Choji started to freak out about what to do for food, "That's your problem, the forest is full of animals and plants but it's also filled with man eating animals, deadly insects and poisonous plant, there's no way thirteen teams will pass this. As the time shortens, the trials will come harder and faster with less recovery time for any mistakes, accidents or injuries, you'll be surrounded by enemies at all times so you'll have to sleep with one eye open," as she finished speaking the teams started making plans for who to aim for first, naturally everyone was aiming for the rookies, even the rookies were aiming for each other. Lucy sighed,
'if they were smart, they'd join forces for this match and make a well-guarded and secure base, leaving one or two teams at a time to go and get scrolls, aiming for every and any scroll. At the end they could distribute them evenly and if anyone is missing out, they could ambush the teams that would rush towards the tower on the last day,' Lucy thought to herself, "Haku lets aim to take out the more experienced ninja this round, that way we only have to deal with the rookies for the third test," she whispered towards Haku and he nodded in agreement.
"Alright everyone, follow your proctors to your respective gates, then wait half an hour for the signal to sound, the exam will begin then," Anko shouted as the last team got their scroll, Lucy was walking behind the proctor and her team behind her, Haku had the scroll on display for everyone to see and all of the Genin eyed him hungrily. However, the proctor who gave them their scrolls smirked and chuckled behind his hand.
"Alright, we have thirty minutes to come up with a plan, should we finish quickly or make sure we cut the competition down?" Lucy asked as the proctor unlocked their gate,
"Let's do both, aim to finish before the second day begins and take out a couple of teams," Gemini or Futago said and both Lucy and Haku nodded,
"Okay, Ge I mean Futago, what information did you get on the other teams?" Lucy asked
"from what I could gather there are a lot of teams that are here on their third attempt and I gathered information on the ones that I thought were more dangerous than the others, based off of the amount of chakra each hold, the jutsu's that they know, genjutsu abilities and taijutsu training. I believe that we should go after one of the Waterfall teams, a Rain team and a Grass team. These ones in particular," Gemini started to explain, Lucy and Haku listened carefully, not paying attention to the impressed and slightly scared look of the proctor standing in front of their gate.
"The second stage of the Chunin exams starts now," Anko yelled and the gates opened, Lucy and her team shot through the gates and went to track down the first team they were going to defeat. When all of a sudden, they heard a loud scream coming from with in the forest, further in than they were but not too close to the tower,
"It appears that people have started setting up traps closer to the tower, do we have a plan on getting to it without being caught in any?" Haku questions his other two teammates,
"I suppose we could go above them," Lucy muttered,
"Above?" Haku wondered out loud,
"Yes, I've been working on a new jutsu, it's not really for traveling purposes but with Gemini's help it could get us there," Lucy continued on running at a normal pace, to conserve energy and chakra.
"Well we have that sorted, now remember the plan, our first targets is the grass team," Gemini said over the top of them,
"Right," both Lucy and Haku said,
"Wait, Lucy you said you were going to tell me something once the test started," Haku reminded her and Lucy sighed before turning to look at him,
"I did say that didn't I? Okay, well I asked Gemini to copy some of Anko's memories and before you ask it has nothing to do with the exam. Someone has infiltrated the village and I wanted to know who it was and how they got in, they posed as a Genin and are currently taking the Chunin exams with us," Lucy said,
"Who is it?" Haku asked,
"Someone from my past, someone I never wanted to encounter again for as long as I lived. He goes by Orochimaru, he was one of the three legendary ninjas of the Leaf back in the day," Lucy said sternly, she felt herself frown as she looked forwards and away from Haku,
"Wait, he's a rogue, isn't he? How is he a part of your past?"
"because he captured me one year before I came to the Leaf," Haku looked at Lucy in surprise but stopped with the questions because of the cold look on her face, he's never seen that look on her face before. Lucy was always so vibrant and naïve, or so it seemed to him anyway,
'Maybe I don't know Lucy as well as I thought I did,' Haku thought to himself as Lucy signaled for him and Gemini to stop running and she jumped into a tree above them, Gemini hid in a bush while Haku started to walk towards the opening that held the unsuspecting Grass team.
With Team 7
"Did you hear that? This place is scaring me," Sakura said with a worried tone,
"Don't worry Sakura, this place is no big deal," Naruto bragged before he paused, "Uhh, I got to pee," he said and started to unzip his pants while facing a tree,
"Not in front of me you don't" Sakura yelled and punched Naruto into the direction of the bushes that were not too far away,
"Ahh that felt good," Naruto said as he came into the clearing once again but Sasuke frowned at him while Sakura started to scold him once again, Sasuke suddenly punched him in the face and quickly turned to kick him into a tree in front of them,
"S-Sasuke, I appreciate the chivalry but that was going too far," Sakura said,
"What have you done with Naruto," Sasuke said, ignoring Sakura completely,
"I'm right in front of you," Naruto said while rubbing his cheek,
"You're wearing your shuriken throwing stars on your left thigh, Naruto is right handed and you forgot the cut that Naruto got from the proctor before the exam started. You're even worse at disguise jutsu than the real Naruto," Sasuke explained at this Sakura looked at what appeared to be Naruto in realisation before the unknown ninja undid the transformation technique,
"Since you've forced me to come clean why don't you do the same? Which one of you has the scroll? Unfortunately, you've forced me to be direct," the ninja said, he had a type of gas mask on and a forehead protector showing that he was from the rain. The Rain nin started to dash towards Sakura while Sasuke jumped into the air and started performing hand signs,
"Fire style: Phoenix flame jutsu," he said and took a deep breath before and letting it out towards the masked Rain ninja, the rain ninja started to dodge the fire balls that were coming towards him and Sasuke used this moment to go find Naruto. Locating him not too far into the forest Sasuke threw him a kunai and the Rain ninja decided to attack once again,
"You left yourself open," he rasped out and threw three kunai towards Sasuke, Sasuke grabbed onto the branch and lifted himself over it where the kunai knives landed and stuck into the branch. Sasuke was about to sigh in relief when he spotted a piece of paper hanging off of one of the kunai knives,
"An exploding tag," Sasuke said out loud, having no time to move the tag exploded and Sasuke landed on the ground with burns and bark scratching him,
"One wrong move and I'll kill you, now hand over the scroll," the rain ninja said as he appeared behind Sasuke,
"Sasuke," Sakura shouted as she finally caught up and landed on a branch not too far from them, Sasuke suddenly smirked as a kunai started heading towards the rain shinobi and the ninja had to jump in order to dodge it,
"You're not getting away that easy," Naruto yelled and Sasuke smirked at him before stepping on the kunai knife that landed behind him and adding chakra to that foot,
'Chakra will hold this to the sole of my shoe,' Sasuke thought to himself before he swung his leg and extended his foot, the kunai came flying off of it and embedded itself into the Rain ninja, Sasuke ran after it and appeared in front of the kunai only to shove it further into the Rain ninja's arm.
"Sasuke," Sakura shouted in disbelief,
"he gave me no choice; now move we don't know where his teammates are. You got that? Keep standing there and you'll end up dead," Sasuke shouted back, once Sasuke finished shouting the Rain ninja jumped back into the trees and retreated.
With Team Lucy
Lucy was observing the Grass shinobi from her place in the tree as Haku walked into the clearing where they were standing, Haku pretended to be shocked that he found the team and started to look around nervously,
"Well, well, it looks like this one is without his team and he has a scroll, how unfortunate for him," giggle the grass kunoichi, she had a surprisingly soft voice, like she could put you to sleep if she sang a lullaby,
"Just give us your scroll kid and you won't be hurt," said the tallest shinobi standing in the back, he had muscular arms and legs, his long hair tied behind his head, Haku shook his head nervously while clutching the scroll to his chest and the shinobi sighed, "Look, it's three against one so why don't you just hand over your scroll and go back to your team," he said growing impatient,
"Enough standing around let's just take it," the short male said and he started to perform hand signs, "Earth style: flying stones jutsu," he shouted and slammed him hands onto the ground, rocks started flying towards Haku but he jumped out of the way and landed on the tree opposite Lucy. Lucy then jumped down and landed in front of the only female in the Grass team,
"oh? What's this? So, it was a set up from the beginning?" the Grass nin cooed softly, she made the ram hand sign, the basis of all genjutsu techniques and attempted to put Lucy under a genjutsu, Lucy felt slightly dizzy but as soon as the Grass nin took a step towards her Lucy gathered chakra into her fist and slammed it onto the ground, creating a large crater in front of the kunoichi. All of the Grass ninja took a step back at the sight and it was at that time that Haku and Gemini decided to make their appearance and both landed besides Lucy.
"Would you mind saving us the trouble and handing us your scroll?" Lucy said tauntingly and became amused at them taking a defensive position, "Suit yourself," Lucy said before she nodded towards Haku and Gemini. Haku and Lucy put their hands together while Gemini jumped back into the trees, ready to try and locate the Grass ninja's scroll,
"Water, Ice style:" both Haku and Lucy shouted together as they started to combine their jutsu's, "Crystal wall jutsu" Haku yelled at the same time as Lucy yelled,
"Water wall jutsu," Ice started to formulate all over the area while Lucy made water appear in front of them before pushing it forwards, Haku's jutsu making the air cold enough that the water started to freeze whilst it was moving. Creating a frozen wave, covering the grass ninja and freezing them in place. Gemini jumped down from their place in the trees above while Lucy was scratching the back of her head, "I honestly thought they were going to last longer than that," she sighed out and activated her dojutsu to look for their scroll, "the kunoichi has it, maybe they figured it would be safer with a genjutsu user," she wondered out loud before walking towards where the female was frozen in place. Gathering a small amount of chakra into her fingertips she punctured the ice three times before it shattered around the kunoichi, the kunoichi scrambled back in fear,
"Please don't hurt me, I'll give you our scroll just leave me alone," the kunoichi cowered as she showed them their scroll, Lucy snatched it off of her before scowling at the genjutsu user,
"funny how you only beg for your safety while your teammates are frozen," Lucy said sternly and her tone caused the kunoichi to flinch, "Earth style: head hunter jutsu," Lucy shouted and went underneath the kunoichi and pulled her into the ground, leaving her head above it so she could breathe. Then she walked over to the two shinobi and freed their heads out of the ice, so they could also breathe, "We'll be taking our leave now, good luck getting out of our ice and the ground," Lucy called out to them as herself and her team walked away.
"oh, they had an earth scroll, the same as us," Lucy sighed out before putting the scroll into her ninja pouch, "that's one team down and two more to go," she said brightly and they started to make their way towards the Waterfall team they were trying to track down.
AN: okay that's it for this chapter everyone and again I'm sorry about it being late. What do you think about the Chunin exams so far? I was hoping to get further than this in this chapter but I had made you guys wait for song long already so I just posted this instead. Hopefully I'll at least get to the end of the preliminary round next chapter, that's the goal at least. Well Bye for now!