Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road to Chunin ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter 8

 

Day two of the exam came and went much like the first. Team Gai and Team Kurenai got to spend the night in the tower with a few creature comforts while Sakura, Ino, and Choji still had yet to encounter a team with a Heaven Scroll.

 

“Do you still stand by your decision?” asked Ino.

 

“What decision?” replied Sakura. “You mean not taking the scroll from Hanabi? Of course. And if we lose on account of it I'll still stand by it.”

 

“Hmmph. I just hope your pride doesn't kill our chances.”

 

“At least I have some pride!”

 

The two glared at each other angrily. They looked over to see if Choji would intervene but he was too busy cooking the rabbits they had just caught. He had been rather detached almost since the first day in the woods. Something was bothering him but he couldn't put his finger on it.

 

“Aren't you worried someone's going to see the smoke?” was all he said.

 

“I hope they do,” replied Ino. “They attack and we may get a scroll.”

 

“But we shouldn't spend the night in this area,” added Sakura. “After we eat dinner we should put some distance between ourselves and this place before we go to sleep.”

 

That night Choji used his expanded hands like shovels and dug out a pit in the ground. They covered most of it leaving only enough of an opening to get in and out. The used the pit as a sleeping shelter. Sakura still wasn't worried. But when two more days came and went without them encountering so much as one more team, that all changed.

 

“You made us lose!” hollered Ino.

 

Sakura didn't even bother responding. Mostly because she was finding it increasingly difficult to disagree with Ino. She was seriously starting to wonder if she was at all worthy of being a Chunin. The days when she had nothing useful to bring to a fight when she was with Naruto and Sasuke were fresh in her mind.

 

“Let's head over to the tower and try for an ambush,” she said at last. “We still have eight hours. Someone is bound to head that way if anyone is still left.”

 

---

 

The teams who had made it were gathered in the tower's large assembly hall. This was where they had fought their preliminary battles six months ago. Very few of them had pleasant memories of this room; not even those who had won their fights.

 

Lee remembered all too well how his career as a ninja very nearly ended there. He wished he'd been pitted against Dosu. Lee had no doubt at all he could have beaten him after seeing and experiencing his technique already and that guy was a jerk whereas Gaara was a decent person these days.

 

Everyone heard doors open. Another team was coming in. Everyone assumed it would be Sakura. To their shock, the Waterfall Team strolled in. Hanabi's first instinct was to hide behind Neji but that would have looked bad. Gaara looked them over carefully. He leaned over to Kankuro and whispered something in his ear.

 

“Are you sure?” asked Kankuro.

 

“Yes. These are definitely the ones who attacked us. They had two scrolls then. I'm not sure why they waited until the last minute to arrive here.”

 

The Waterfall team was doing some whispering as well.

 

“Oh man, you mean he was here the whole time?”

 

“And you had us walking around the woods looking for him for days on end?”

 

“Well how was I supposed to know?”

 

Over on the far end of the room by the statue, all the sensei and proctors as well as Tsunade herself (yes they let the outfit out) were waiting. Temari spotted Shikamaru and walked over.

 

“Well, you must be very relieved not to have to spend time in those woods again,” she said. “Such a pain, such drag.”

 

“You might find it wise not to insult the proctor for the final exam,” he said with a grin. “Not if you want me to stay impartial.”

 

“Oh but of course I want you to stay impartial. Stay completely impartial. Don't take into account at all the fact that I saved your life or that I'm the sexiest Genin in the room.”

 

“You really are shameless, aren't you?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Wanna go see a movie when we get back to town?”

 

“I thought you'd never ask.”

 

---

 

“Five hours left, Sakura. I am NOT liking this!”

 

“Not helping,” grumbled Sakura.

 

No one had headed towards the tower all day. It was starting to look hopeless. Just then, Sakura, Ino, and Choji heard a loud bang. They looked around to see the source but saw nothing. Then they heard two more.

 

“Over there,” called out Choji. “Someone's shooting off flares in that direction.”

 

“Are they TRYING to attract attention to themselves?” asking Ino in disbelief.

 

“They might be,” replied Sakura. “We're down to the wire now. They may be in the same situation as us. We're in a desperate place, too desperate for us to not go and check this out.”

 

“What if it's a trap?” asked Ino.

 

“So what if it is?” replied Choji. “Five hours. This could be our last chance. Let's go.”

 

---

 

In the woods about half a kilometer away from the tower, a group of three Grass ninja was shooting off flares. They'd had nothing but bad luck since the moment they'd set foot in the Forest of Death. Now they were desperate enough to try and bring someone to them.

 

One was wrapped in bandages like a mummy. Only his eyes and mouth were exposed. The second kid had bushy eyebrows and spiky black hair. The third was a girl with a long, blonde ponytail. They were older. All looked about nineteen.

 

The girl fired off the last of their flares. The three sat back and waited. They didn't have to wait very long.

 

“Alright, we can hear you!” called out the mummy kid. “Come on out.”

 

Sakura, Ino, and Choji emerged from the woods nearby.

 

“What kind of scroll do you have?” demanded the mummy kid.

 

“You tell us first,” replied Sakura.

 

“What do you say we put all our cards on the table at once?” said the girl. “On the count of three, each team shows their scroll. Agreed?” Sakura nodded. “One, two, THREE!”

 

The Grass team had a Heaven Scroll.

 

“I suppose we should introduce ourselves,” said the spiky haired kid. “We are members of the infamous Fire Tribe of the Village Hidden in the Grass. It's the strongest clan in the village and the village leader is a member. The three of us are constantly used for less profitable C-ranked missions. Hundreds of them. We haven't had a chance to take the exam since we were twelve. Guess we're a little rusty. No one with an Earth Scroll has come our way. I'd say you three are in the same boat.”

 

“Pretty much,” admitted Sakura.

 

“Then I'd say our only option is to fight for one another's scrolls,” he replied. “We can do this anyway you want. Pick the terms. It's fine by us.”

 

“Can we confer amongst ourselves for a moment?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Sakura, Ino, and Choji talked amongst themselves. Finally, they turned back to their opponents.

 

“One of you versus one of us, same rules as an exam match. Death or forfeit wins it. No proctor to stop it. We roll a die to determine the combatants.”

 

“Very well… wait, what the…”

 

Everyone looked up to the treetops. An ANBU agent was seated in the limb of a tree watching them.

 

“Don't mind me,” he called down. “I'm not here to interfere in any way. We were just making rounds of the forest to see who was left. You are the last two teams left alive that are still out here.”

 

“Who made it?” called out Sakura.

 

“I can't tell you that,” he replied. “All I can tell you is that there are four teams assembled in the tower. As soon as one of you teams enters with both scrolls, the competition is over. Provided of course a team makes it intact and within the time limit. Shouldn't be a problem.”

 

“Well then, let's do this,” said the mummy kid.

 

“Care to inspect our dice?” asked Ino.

 

“We'll trust you,” he replied. “Let's roll.”

 

The die was rolled and Sakura and the spiky haired kid were chosen to represent their teams.

 

“I assure you, we in the Fire Tribe don't forfeit for anything. You want the scroll, you'll have to kill me for it.”

 

“Say when,” replied Sakura.

 

“When.”

 

Immediately Sakura tossed a kunai. He dodged it but there was another one in its shadow with a tag wrapped around the handle. The blast knocked him down. Sakura leaped into the air, gathered chakra in her fist, and prepared to finish him off. He rolled away at the last possible second. She hit the ground hard and caused some serious damage to it. Everyone present was impressed including the ANBU who hadn't left the tree yet. He wanted to watch the fight.

 

The Grass kid began forming hand signs. Sakura recognized the pattern immediately.

 

“Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!”

 

Sakura dodged the various fireballs with some difficulty and then charged at him once more. The kid responded by grabbing two kunai and slamming them into the ground. This was something Sakura hadn't seen before. A second later, a huge fireball shot upwards out of the ground right where she had just been standing an instant ago. She just barely dodged it. She threw herself backwards in anticipation of a second one. As expected, another ball of flame shot out of the ground.

 

Sakura spit out two poison senbon while she was jumping. The kid saw them coming.

 

“Fire Style: Fire Lash!”

 

He hadn't used a hand sign! But a long whip made of pure fire emerged from a kunai he was holding. He easily nailed the senbon with it. He tried to lash Sakura several times but she was very fast and very agile. He tried one more time and seemed to nail her but it was a substitution. The real Sakura emerged behind him with a drawn kunai. He managed to avoid getting stabbed but she smacked his wrist hard with her other hand and knocked his kunai loose. The second it lost contact with his hand, the lash disappeared.

 

“Mi! Hitsuji! Saru! I! Uma! Tora! Fire Style: Great Fireball Release!”

 

Sakura knew how to deal with this one too. She slammed the ground hard and the wind that it kicked up deflected the fire. The ANBU watched with concern. He had thought that Great Fireball was strictly a Leaf technique. He wasn't thrilled to see another village using it.

 

---

 

The Waterfall Sensei entered the assembly hall. No one could help but notice him. He was seven feet, two inches tall. He wore no shirt under his ninja vest. Everyone could see his enormous biceps. Everyone wondered if that was the reason for the lack of sleeves.

 

He walked over to the group of adults.

 

“Greetings, Lady Hokage. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

 

Tsunade looked him over. “I don't believe I've met you before, have I?”

 

“Hashirama Tonko of the Waterfall. I believe that's the same first name as your grandfather. If that's not a good omen, I don't know what is.”

 

This guy came across like a used car salesman. Already Tsunade felt he was insincere and disliked him but didn't show it.

 

“Your team made it here relatively unscathed,” she replied. “They're over there.”

 

Baki had kept silent up until now. He had even less reason to like this guy. Gaara had told him what his team had done in the forest. Now he decided to speak.

 

“Yes, speaking of your team, I was wondering…”

 

“Yeah, wonderful, aren't they?” he interrupted. “Best bunch of rookie Genin I've ever had the pleasure of working with. That masked boy is Nobuo, the girl is Michiko, and the brown haired boy is Osamu. Great kids, I tell you. Well, you have to excuse me for a moment, while I go confer with my team.” He walked away.

 

“Yeah, great bunch of kids,” muttered Tsunade. “Great bunch of kids who killed my cousin's grandson along with an Akimichi.”

 

“And attacked my team with no cause,” added Baki.

 

They all waited. After a few minutes, Kakashi walked over.

 

“OK,” said Tsunade. “Did you read his lips while he was talking to his team?”

 

“I did,” he replied. “He smiled the whole time as did they but his question to them was `What went wrong out there?' and they made excuses. Then without ever losing his smile he threatened to kill their families if they didn't accomplish their goal. He made no mention of what that goal was.”

 

“Great,” muttered Tsunade angrily. “Can't we hold just one of these without something like this going on?”

 

---

 

Sakura and her opponent were still going at it. Now they were starting to get a little tired. The battle had been intense. Suddenly the Grass kid whipped into a series of hand signs Sakura had never seen before. It was odd because the pattern used the “Saru” symbol five times in a row at one point. She'd never heard of a seal that did that. Suddenly blue flame sprouted from his hands.

 

He raced at Sakura. She slammed the ground again but he easily avoided it. Within moments, she found herself running away from him. All of the sudden she stopped dead and ducked down. His momentum sent him crashing over her and falling to the ground. In the blink of an eye, Sakura nailed him in the chest with a Chakra Scalpel before he could get up. The boy coughed up some blood. He was still alive.

 

The mummy kid ran in right away.

 

“We give! Take the scroll! Just don't let him die like this. That was medical ninjutsu you just used. That means you can save him too, can't you?”

 

Sakura nodded. She signaled to Ino and the two healed his wound. They helped him to his feet.

 

“You're making me look bad,” he muttered to the mummy kid. “I said no surrender, didn't I?”

 

The Grass girl handed Sakura the scroll. “You guys are young still. We've been a team for eight years now. When you trust your life to the same people day in and day out for eight years… well it just matters, you know what I mean?”

 

“I think I understand,” she replied. “I hope you three make it next time.”

 

“Heh. If we're even available next time. Took us years to get a break in our schedule to take it again.”

 

With that, the three of them disappeared back into the woods and headed back to the gate they used to enter. The ANBU descended from his perch.

 

“Well, that's everyone. What do you say we head back to the tower? Still plenty of time left.”

 

“Ino, could you please heal my hands a little?” asked Sakura. They were badly bruised and swollen from all the ground punching she had been doing.

 

Ino sighed. “When this is over, we're buying you some sturdy gloves. Your hands are a mess.”

 

---

 

“Well, look who's here,” said Shikamaru with a smirk as Sakura, Ino, and Choji walked into the hall. “Thought maybe you guys had killed each other out there.”

 

Neji walked over. “Choji, I need to speak with you privately for a moment.”

 

Tsunade looked over the group of Genin. “Well, just one question remains. Do we hold a preliminary round right now to cut the number in half?”

 

The proctors and sensei talked it over. All except Asuma. He was looking over at the conversation that Choji and Neji were having. He could see Choji getting upset and his face turning red.

 

“Uh oh, um… Lady Tsunade…”

 

“Just a second, Asuma. As I was saying…”

 

“Lady Tsunade!”

 

“What is it?”

 

All of the sudden from across the room…

 

“YOU BASTARDS!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!”

 

Neji tried to restrain Choji but he was easily thrown aside like a rag doll. Choji shot like a torpedo straight towards the Waterfall team. He had one hand in his pocket reaching for the Red Chili Pepper Pill. He was ready to kill all three of them and nobody was close enough to stop him.

 

At the last moment, Shikamaru's shadow snagged him. However, Choji was struggling so hard that Shikamaru was having severe trouble holding him. Thankfully it bought just enough time. Within seconds, Kakashi, Gai, Lee, and Sakura were holding him back.

 

“You sons of bitches should die!” he hollered furiously.

 

“Sorry about your cousin,” replied Michiko. “But we were just doing what we were supposed to.”

 

Choji broke down sobbing. “How am I going to tell his parents? How am I going to tell MY parents? They were crazy about that kid. So was I.”

 

Shikamaru walked up. “It's OK, let him go. Come on Choji. Let's go talk somewhere.” He lead Choji away and attempted to comfort him.

 

“Lady Tsunade,” said Asuma. “May I suggest we not do any matches today? There are only fifteen. We could stretch out the matches for two days in the arena if need be.”

 

“Damn right we're not doing any matches today,” she replied.

 

Tsunade began to randomly draw names out of a hat to plan out the rounds of fights to come.

 

“OK, listen up everyone. I have come up with the pairings. Look up to the electronic board for fight assignments.”

 

The board read as follows:

 

FIRST ROUND

 

Match 1-Gaara vs. Osamu

 

Match 2-Shino vs. Michiko

 

Match 3-Ten Ten vs. Kiba

 

Match 4-Lee vs. BYE

 

Match 5-Choji vs. Kankuro

 

Match 6-Hinata vs. Ino

 

Match 7-Temari vs. Neji

 

Match 8-Sakura vs. Nobuo

 

 

QUARTERFINALS

 

Match 1-Winner FR1 vs. Winner FR2

 

Match 2-Winner FR3 vs. Lee

 

Match 3-Winner FR5 vs. Winner FR6

 

Match 4-Winner FR7 vs. Winner FR8

 

 

SEMIFINALS

 

Match 1-Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

 

Match 2-Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4

 

 

FINALS

 

Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2

 

“A bye?” whined Lee. “I do not want a bye.”

 

“I have to go last?” moaned Sakura.

 

“No complaints,” said Tsunade. “The first round and quarterfinals will be held one month from today. The semifinals and finals will be held the next day. All of you had better train hard. I don't want any of you training together either. You'll be relying on the element of surprise here. As always, it's how you prove yourself, and not whether you win that determines whether the Feudal Lords will promote you.”

 

Shikamaru lead Choji back in. He had calmed down a little.

 

“I have something to say,” he said. “I'm making Chunin this year no matter what it takes. I swear it on my life. For Hajime.”

 

“That's the spirit,” replied Tsunade with a grin. “Good luck to all of you. You are dismissed.”

 

Baki approached his team. “Alright, you guys are all winners. You proved it time and time again to our village. And now you're going to prove it to the world. Shigeru will be training Gaara. Kankuro, you will be with Yura as usual. Temari is with me.”

 

“Sensei, about what happened…”

 

“Yes, Gaara. We all need to keep our eyes wide open.”

 

Author's note: This chapter is dedicated in loving memory to Connor Simko. He too was 10 years old, he too was someone's son, cousin, and nephew. And he too was loved and will be missed terribly.

 

 

End Chapter 8

 

© 2009 Joseph Kerner

 

Disclaimer: Naruto is the creation of Masashi Kishimoto