Chapter 11: The Forest of Death…Round 2
AN: My appologies for the absurdely long delay in getting this out. A lot of things have happened, since I went into college. However, worry not, even though it will take longer than I thought, I do intend to finish this. I'm grateful for everyone's patience.
"I know you're there. Come out." Kiba gulped nervously at the sound of Sarutobi Sasuke's voice.
"Does he really know we're here?" asked Shino.
"It seems like it," muttered Kiba.
Sasuke appeared to be getting impatient with them. "Well," he said, "If you won't come out then I'll go ahead and come to you."
Both Kiba and Shino shuddered and tensed. However, Hinata appeared to be unusually calm, given the situation. In previous situations like this, it was normally Hinata who would be the most nervous. However Shino noticed that she merely remained where she was, with her Byakugan activated.
There was a soft rustling above their heads as three people dropped down to confront Sasuke. Sarutobi stopped his approach as the new arrivals landed in front of him. A smirk appeared on his face. "I was wondering if I was gonna have to drag you out."
Both Kiba and Shino let out relieved sighs. "I thought he had spotted us," breathed Kiba. From inside his jacket, Akamaru whimpered in agreement.
Shino remained silent and looked sidelong at Hinata. Now I understand, he thought, With her Byakugan, she spotted the three others in hiding and realized that Sasuke was talking to them.
The three ninja assembled in front of Sasuke. They were dressed in identical black and gray outfits. Each of them carried a large sword on their back and their headbands indicated they were from Kirigakure village. The largest of the three, most likely the leader of the cell, drew the enormous sword he carried on his back and leveled the weapon's broad and long blade at Sasuke. "You did pretty good to spot us kid. I guess the Sanada are almost as good as they say."
Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. "You're too stupid to be a ninja. You shouldn't just come out like that. I could have been bluffing for all that you know."
"You brat!" snarled the leader of the group. He tensed, seeming about ready to charge, but his teammates stopped him.
"Don't let him get to you," hissed the man on his right.
"He's just a kid, we can handle him easy," added the one on his left, "It's nothing worth getting worked up over."
At this, the leader of the group seemed to calm down and collect himself. "You're right," he admitted to the others. Easily lifting the enormous blade, the mist-nin rested it against his shoulder as he glared at Sasuke. "But I'm going to make sure that you regret being smart with me you bastard."
Sasuke sighed and shrugged. "How boring," he muttered.
The ninja smirked before lifting his blade off h shoulder and bringing it down in an overhead strike. The blade slammed into the ground with explosive force, sending rock and debris flying and creating a v-shaped cloud of dust through which Sasuke was still visible. "Before you die brat, I just wanted you to know that the three of us are candidates to join the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure. You should consider it an honor to die by our hand."
"Is that so?" muttered Sasuke, "I can see why. You have the same penchant for posturing that Zabuza and Kisame have."
Hearing themselves compared to two deserters from Hidden-Mist was apparently too much of an insult for the three shinobi to bear. The other two followed the example of their leader and drew their swords as the three of them charged Sasuke. Sasuke remained motionless as the three of them approached.
Hinata moved to attack but felt a gentle hand restrain her. Looking over, she saw Shino, who shook his head. Hinata slumped as she understood his reasoning. Even if she did try to help Sasuke, there was no guarantee that he was an ally. It was better for them to wait until they were sure. They didn't want to give up their position before then. But still, thought Hinata forlornly, I want to help him. After all, he did save Naruto-kun, Hanabi and I when we were in danger.
The three charging ninja were right on top of Sasuke now. Their leader in the center position swung his enormous blade from overhead while the other two slashed in from the side. Hemmed in by the three giant swords, Sasuke made his move. The sound of metal biting into flesh filled the air as did several screams of agony.
Hinata and her teammates blinked in horror at the display. Sasuke, flew through the air, his sword in front of him, coming out of a series of rapid forward flips that had turned him into a razor-edged pinwheel. His attack had been so fast that none of his observers had been able to see more than the first strike. Behind him, the lifeless bodies of the three Mist-nins, their eyes still wide open in surprise and terror, flew onward, carried by their own forward momentum. Each of their bodies had been bisected vertically with a single, clean strike. Finally, their energy expended, the three corpses fell to the ground in a sad heap.
Akamaru whimpered softly from within the confines of Kiba's jacket. Kiba patted the dog's head sympathetically as he tried his best to contain his own fear. "I hear ya' boy," he whispered in reply to the dog's whimpering, "I just about wet myself."
"His skill and power are truly something to behold," agreed Shino, gritting his teeth.
Hinata was simply speechless. After seeing Kyo and Akira, she had to admit that Sasuke wasn't near as bad. However, she still wasn't comfortable seeing someone who killed so casually. While he certainly didn't have Kyo's horrific presence or Akira's deliberate malice, it still chilled her to the core to see Sasuke kill without a second thought.
"I guess we had better give up on trying to take him out," grunted Kiba, "That guy's out of our league, I think."
"He is very impressive," agreed Shino.
"Indeed," admitted Soujiro, "Sasuke-kun is quite strong isn't he."
"I couldn't agree more," said Kiba, "So we had better clear…out…of…" His voice trailed off as he realized who was crouched down next to him.
…
…
…
In the brief span of seconds it took the three members of the cell to realize that someone other than their teammates was in their midst, their demeanors changed from awe at Sasuke's prowess, to silent contemplation as Soujiro's presence registered in their minds. When the fact of the matter finally sunk in, the entire group yelped and leapt way from him. Unfortunately, their leap carried them out from under cover and into the clearing, where they landed in front of a nonplussed Sasuke.
The amber-eyed-lad's look of boredom from his fight with the Mist-nins was replaced with an expression of surprise as the three Konoha ninjas landed in front of him. For a brief moment, he simply stood their blinking at the three of them.
Hinata was the first member of the group to realize their blunder as she realized that Sarutobi Sasuke was now behind them. In front of them, Soujiro stepped out of the foliage where they had been waiting in concealment. Looking between Soujiro and Sasuke, she gulped nervously.
Soujiro was the first to break the tense silence. His voice was casually pleasant, as always, "Well well, Sasuke-kun," he remarked, "I'm surprised that you didn't notice them. You're usually so alert"
"Shut up," growled Sasuke, "That's why you're here isn't it." His cheeks flushed slightly like a little child caught in the midst of bad behavior.
Soujiro chuckled in amusement at Sasuke's attitude. A moment later, chuckling gave way to heartfelt laughter as Hinata and her cell stared own, baffled by this turn of events. "Uh, you mind telling us what's so funny?" Kiba ventured in all curiosity.
"I'm sorry," answered Soujiro as he recovered from his amusement, "It's just that I haven't seen anyone catch Sasuke off-guard like that in a long time."
"Shut up," retorted Sasuke, seemingly out of insults now that he was the one at fault. The two of them continued to banter back and forth with Soujiro teasing and Sasuke snapping off insults in return.
Hinata, Shino and Kiba remained unmoving between the two Sanada ninjas. Seeing that the two were preoccupied, Kiba carefully tapped Shino and Hinata on the shoulders and turned try and escape.
"And where do you think you're going," said Sasuke sharply the moment Kiba moved. The three Konoha ninjas froze.
"Um, well," muttered Kiba, "Seeing as you're obviously quite busy, we'll just go our way and…" He came to an abrupt halt as Sasuke caught his eye and held the canine-like ninja in place with an intense, amber gaze.
"You'll leave when I say you can leave," said Sasuke coolly, "If you leave at all." Breaking his gaze away from Kiba, Sasuke turned his head around and spat something at the three corpses behind him. Hinata noticed a purple spark in the air. When it landed, the three bodies burst into violet flames. The fire burned itself out, leaving no trace of the three dead Mist-nins that Sasuke had disposed of.
The corpses dealt with, Sasuke turned his attention back to Hinata and the others. Kiba and Shino tensed in anticipation of a fight as Sasuke's gaze once again came to rest on them. However, Hinata reached out with an arm and stopped the two of them. Both Shino and Kiba stared in surprise at Hinata as she stepped towards Sasuke. Neither of them had ever seen Hinata act this calm and confidently before.
"You don't really mean to kill us, do you," said Hinata. It was an observation, not a question.
Her remarked prompted another round of chuckles from Soujiro. "Well, now," he said, "I'm quite impressed. I must admit, I didn't think to see you improve this much since the last time I saw you, Hinata-dono."
Sasuke snorted. In a single swift movement, his sword disappeared into its sheath on Sasuke's back. "It looks like I was right about you after all, Ne-chan," remarked Sasuke, a small smile gracing his lips. "You'll do quite nicely." Stepping forward, He began to walk towards Soujiro, stepping past the Konoha-nins. He paused briefly, standing next to Hinata. "You should be careful though," he said to her quietly, "Yukimura isn't the only one who's interested in you right now."
Hinata blinked in surprise as Sasuke continued to walk towards Soujiro. When the words registered in her mind, she spun around. "What do you mean by that?" she asked as she turned, only to see that the two Sanada ninjas were already long gone.
"What the hell was all that about," growled Kiba, now that they were alone.
"I don't know," replied Shino, "And it's quite possible that we'll never find out."
Now that they were out of sight, Sasuke and Soujiro paused and sat down, relaxing as they waited for Kotaro to report back. "Are you sure you should have told them that?" asked Soujiro, smiling at Sasuke.
"It doesn't matter," replied Sasuke, "I didn't tell her anything that she didn't already know, really. If she can't survive this though, there's no point in staying interested in her."
"Do you think that they'll try to make their move under the cover of the second-phase?" inquired Soujiro.
Sasuke lifted an incredulous eyebrow. "Well duh," he retorted, "Do you actually think they would try it during any of the other phases of the exams. After this will be the preliminaries, then the third and final phase of the exam. And both of those will be under the eye of the Hokage and probably a good number of Jounin and ANBU. This is the only phase of the exam in which they could get away with carrying out this kind of operation."
"And do you think that Hinata-dono is up to the task of defeating them on her own?"
Sasuke snorted again. "She's not alone. She has her two teammates with her. But if she can't make do with them, then she's not worth bothering over and she's better off left for dead."
Soujiro's smile seemed to take on a sly appearance as he looked very closely at Sasuke. "That's what you say Sasuke-kun. But part of me has trouble believing that that's what you think."
"Just shut up," growled Sasuke as he leaned back against a nearby tree trunk and closed his eyes. "Wake me up when Kotaro gets back. We'll decide what to do then."
In the darkness of the forest, the shadows shifted ever so slightly. "We've located the target," observed one.
"It appears that the jutsu is working. The Byakugan has yet to detect us," added another.
"We still need to be careful," remarked the third, "Even if the Hyuuga can't see us, the dog user and the bug user are both still too much of a risk. We need to wait until the right moment to move in."
"They're just genin, all we need to do is wait and they'll let their guard down eventually."
"Our last attempt ten years ago failed, but this time we will succeed. This time, her father will not be here to stop us."
"We will finally be able to retrieve a specimen for our village. And with that we will be able to create our own Byakugan."
"But for now…we wait." And wait they did.
Tsunade groaned as she set down the last stack of sheets. At long last, her paperwork was almost finished. Maybe, once this was finished, Shizune might be willing to let her go out and have a little something to drink. Shizune had been particularly adamant as of late that Tsunade finish her work as Hokage and had done everything in her power to keep Tsunade from skipping out of or sleeping through her official duties, everything short of chaining her to the desk.
This last stack was a report from one of the intelligence divisions. It was the typical security background check on all the candidates for the Chuunin exam. Tsunade cross-checked the report with a list of the examinees who had passed the first exam. Those who didn't make it past the first exam Tsunade marked in order to review their profiles later. She also put similar marks on the most familiar names on the list. This cut down the amount of work she had to do immensely.
As she was looking through the last of the profiles that the intelligence division had assembled for her, Tsunade heard a soft knocking on the door to her office. "Come in," she said, hesitantly. Please don't let it be more paperwork! Please don't let it be more paperwork! her mind screamed frantically.
The door opened admitting Shizune. Tsunade heaved a sigh of relief that for once, her young assistant's arms weren't loaded down with piles upon piles of paper.
"Tsunade-sama," said Shizune, "You have a visitor. He's a rather unusual fellow."
"Did he give you his name?" asked Tsunade with a raised eyebrow.
"He said his name was Kanato."
Tsunade's other eyebrow went up. Kakashi's reports on the mission to retrieve Zabuza's sword mentioned encountering a man by that name. According to the report, Kakashi strongly suspected the man was associated with the Sanada clan.
"Show him in," instructed Tsunade.
Before Shizune could hasten to obey, a loud call sounded from outside the office. "TSUNADE-CHAAAAAAAAAAAN!"
Tsunade blanched, her eyes widening to ridiculous proportions. I know that voice! Not him! Anyone but him!
Before she could retract her previous order; her guest came skipping around Shizune and straight into the office. Tsunade groaned loudly, immediately recognizing that long black hair and almost feminine look. "Sanada Yukimura," she groaned, "What are you doing here?" Her remark provoked a gasp from Shizune, to whom it had just registered that she had allowed the head of the Sanada clan into the Hokage's office. She was even more shocked that Tsunade would take such a disrespectful tone with the head of another village, the head of the Sanada in particular.
"Well," remarked Yukimura, his voice as smooth as silk and his tone playfully teasing, "Some of mine are examinees, so I thought I'd stop by and see how they were doing."
"They're in the middle of the second exam right now," growled Tsunade, "Right now you're a month and five days too early. Most heads of state don't show up until the commencement of the final portion of the exam."
"Oh, but I just couldn't wait that long to see you again, Tsunade-chan," replied Yukimura smoothly, "You have no idea how much I've missed you. And it's been so long since we've last seen each other."
"Not long enough," muttered Tsunade, rubbing her temples. Color was coming back to her face, which was now turning an angry red. Pushing her chair away from the desk, she stood up. If she was going to face this most frustrating of men (he put even Jiraiya to shame, especially since Jiraiya was much easier to punish), she would much rather do it on her feet. "By all rights I should tell you to get out."
"That's well enough," replied Yukimura, "I was about to tell your lovely assistant all about that wonderful time we went drinking together. Why I remember everything from that evening."
"Y-you do," stammered Tsunade, her face paling again. She only remembered one thing about that evening and that was one should never try to out-drink Sanada Yukimura. The man had a seemingly limitless tolerance for alcohol.
"Why yes," replied Yukimura, "I seem to remember you telling me something very interesting." He whispered the remainder of his statement into Tsunade's ear while Shizune strained from the doorway to listen in.
Tsunade's face once again switched extremes, going from pale white to angry red to a positively murderous purple color. "YOU!" she shrieked, it being the only word she could articulate. Her hand immediately lashed out in a backfist, slamming into Yukimura's stomach and knocking him across the room into the wall.
Shizune's jaw dropped in shock. She had never seen Tsunade show this much anger or embarrassment. Yukimura plainly knew something very scandalizing about her teacher. She was even more stunned when the man calmly stepped out from behind Tsunade as though he had been standing there all along. But she had been absolutely certain that the Hokage's last blow had slammed the man into the wall. It had to be a substitute or shadow clone for him to do that.
"Now now, Tsunade-chan," chided Yukimura, "You shouldn't get so agitated, you'll give yourself wrinkles." His remark provoked a fierce glare from the Hokage. Yukimura chuckled. "That said I also came to deliver some very interesting information that my people gathered for me." Withdrawing a sheaf of papers from within his kimono, he set them gently down on Tsunade's desk. "Well, it's been fun," he remarked, with a smile, "We should really go drinking again, Tsunade-chan."
Turning, he stepped toward the door with that strange, graceful step of his. Shizune couldn't help but notice that the man moved as though he weighed nothing at all. Clearly there was more to the leader of the Sanada clan than what she had thought initially.
As he stepped past her, Yukimura turned to look at Shizune, "Please inform me when the second exam is finished," he remarked calmly before striding out of the office.
Shizune turned to see that Tsunade was somewhere between trembling in embarrassed rage and just plain nervousness. Looking over, she examined the hole left in the wall. "What jutsu did he use to do that," she asked.
"He doesn't use jutsu of any kind," replied Tsunade, "Because he's not a ninja."
"He's not!" exclaimed Shizune.
Tsunade nodded. "Sanada Yukimura is perhaps one of the strangest people I have ever met. He's also simultaneously one of the kindest and one of the most ruthless people I've ever known."
Shizune gulped nervously. "But what is it that he gave to you?" she asked, pointing to the small stack of paper that he had sat on her desk.
Tsunade picked up the paper and leafed through it. "This is…" she muttered, her eyes going wide. She whirled on Shizune. "Get me an ANBU squad immediately. We have to hurry. Hyuuga Hinata's life is in serious jeopardy!"
Naruto yawned as he sat up. The sun was already well up over the horizon. In front of him, a fire crackled. Three fish, speared on sticks of wood anchored to the ground slowly roasted over the flames.
"It's about time you got up," muttered Sasuke as he reached to turn the fish over the fire.
"Shut up," snapped Naruto, "You could've woken me up, you know."
"He did," replied Sakura, sitting across the fire from Naruto, "He tried everything short of beating your brains out. I swear, you can sleep through just about anything."
Naruto grinned widely. "It's a gift of mine."
Sakura glared at him while shouting, "THAT WASN'T A COMPLIMENT YOU IDIOT!"
The second day of the exam had begun it was shaping up to be an easy one. In his earlier reconnaissance patrol, Sasuke hadn't encountered any other cells, meaning their area was fairly secure. That could all change, of course. The smoke from their fire might draw other teams looking for an easy score. On the other hand, Sasuke wasn't so sure that was a bad thing. Played properly, a fire would be the perfect lure to bring inexperienced teams into a trap.
After a moment of listening to Sakura rant and Naruto protest, Sasuke spoke up. "We need to decide what we are going to do today. Keep in mind that everything we decide to do should be considered along the lines of how it will help us be one of the first six teams to reach the tower."
Sakura, always a good thinker and planner, looked thoughtfully at the fire. "We could use the smoke from the fire to lure in other teams," she remarked, echoing Sasuke's own unvoiced idea.
"That sounds like a pretty good idea," agreed Naruto.
Sasuke nodded as well. "We'll have to find some green wood to increase the smoke output. We need to make it more visible, but not obviously so."
Sakura nodded in agreement. "Otherwise even complete rookies will be able to tell it's a trap."
"But just what kind of trap should we set?" mused Sasuke. To his surprise he heard an almost evil chuckle from Naruto.
"Leave that to me," answered Naruto, behind his widest grin yet. It was time for Konoha's number one most surprising ninja to get to work.
Kakashi glanced over the document Tsunade had handed him. "And you're sure this information is reliable?" he asked, raising his only visible eyebrow.
Tsunade shrugged. "There's no way we can confirm in the amount of time we have," she answered, "But regardless, we need to act to make sure."
Kurenai took the document from Kakashi and looked it over. "I don't like this at all," she said as she read. She had every right to feel troubled. One of her subordinates was the one at risk, after all.
"We should have anticipated something like this," muttered Shikamaru, "The second exam would be ideal cover for such an act."
"Damn," hissed Tsunade, "I can't believe those bastards from Kumogakure would pull a stunt like this."
"A stunt like what?" Everyone in the office looked up as Hyuuga Hiashi swept into the room. Currently, the group consisted of Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma and Shikamaru. Despite being the lowest ranking person present, Shikamaru's thoughts and opinions were heavily sought after by the more senior members of the group in light of his excellent tactical abilities.
"I'm afraid that ninjas from Cloud are going to attempt to kidnap your daughter again," answered Tsunade, knowing that lying to Hiashi about the danger his heir was in would be a very bad idea.
"How?" asked Hiashi, surprisingly calm.
"The three examinees that came from Kumogakure are, in fact, Jounin who have disguised themselves as Genin taking the exam. Their intent is to use the second exam as cover in an attempt to capture or even kill Hyuuga Hinata in order to secure a sample of the Hyuuga bloodline," answered Shikamaru in a level tone.
"I see." Despite this news, Hiashi remained seemingly unfazed.
"We are taking every possible measure," explained Tsunade, "I'm having an ANBU team prepared immediately…"
"There will be no need for that," interrupted Hiashi with such certainty that Tsunade snapped her mouth shut, "Simply make sure that all possible exits for the perpetrators from the examination grounds are blocked and that they have no means of escaping."
"But if we don't act now, those elites from cloud might kill your daughter," protested Kurenai.
"If so," replied Hiashi, "Then she deserves no less. If she is killed, then Hanabi will take her place as heir. So long as the enemy spies have no opportunity to return to Kumogakure with any samples they might take, there are no other measures that need to be taken."
"How can you be so callous with the life of your own daughter?" demanded Gai, anger filling his voice.
"As you all know," answered Hiashi, "I have had my doubts about Hinata's suitability as the heir of the Hyuuga clan for some time. This is a suitable way to test her. She is my daughter and this is the business of our clan. I insist that you not interfere."
Tsunade slammed her fist down on her desk, splitting it in two. Shizune winced and made a mental note to requisition yet another desk. "Now just a damn minute," Tsunade growled, her voice dripping with pure fury, "Your daughter's life isn't the only one at stake. The lives of her teammates as well as many of the other examinees are at stake. In fact, the entire examination process has been jeopardized by the actions of these enemy spies. Therefore, nothing you say will stop me from making sure that I do what it takes to protect out ninjas and ensure the viability of this exam."
"If you don't mind, Tsunade-chan, perhaps you could let me handle this problem." Everyone jumped at the sudden appearance of Yukimura in the Hokage's office.
"What are you talking about?" demanded Tsunade, already somewhat upset over Hiashi's callous attitude.
"For one thing," remarked Yukimura, "I am confident in Hinata-san's abilities. And for another, my people will be there to take care of things should the situation get out of hand."
"This is none of your business," snapped Hiashi, glaring at Yukimura.
Yukimura merely shrugged and smiled. "Say what you will, but my people already have their own ideas about the matter and I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to dissuade them at this stage."
Kiba sniffed the air, looking around suspiciously. "There's something wrong here," he growled. Akamaru, his hackles up paced in front of Kiba, growling angrily.
"What's wrong, Kiba-kun?" asked Hinata.
"The wind just shifted and now I'm catching something real strange," replied Kiba, "I think someone is stalking us."
"I haven't seen anything," admitted Hinata.
Shino lowered himself down and placed his ear on the ground. "I don't detect anything out of the ordinary," he added, "However, my insects have become agitated lately. If someone is stalking us, then their skills are beyond Genin level."
"Where are they?" asked Hinata nervously.
"No idea," replied Kiba, "I just got a whiff of their scent, but neither me nor Akamaru can figure out exactly where they are."
Hinata halted then activated her Byakugan. Her field of vision expanded dramatically as she began scanning for any sign of their mysterious shadows. Her eyes quickly picked up different animals and plants. However, she saw no sign of any ninjas in the immediate area. She shifted her vision so that she could see what had been in her blind spot. However, she still saw no sign of any enemies.
"I can't find anything," she said simply, "There's no one here that I can see."
Kiba slowly looked around. "I know that someone's there. I just can't figure out where they are."
"Whoever they are," murmured Shino, "They'll make their move eventually. We'll just have to wait until then."
"I don't understand," muttered Hinata, "Why can't I see them?"
"That is unusual," mused Shino, "The Byakugan should be able to detect any living thing within its range. If our enemies have somehow found a way to thwart the Byakugan's abilities, it would mean that they deliberately planned for it."
"And what does that mean?" asked Kiba.
"It means that their target is most likely, Hinata," replied Shino.
Hinata looked away from her two teammates. If that's true, then that mean's they're in danger because of me.
"What should we do?" asked Kiba, "If they're after Hinata, then we can't exactly ignore them, can we."
"We should avoid getting too worried about this," said Shino, "The Hyuuga clan is well known outside of Konoha. It's quite possible that these people are examinees who took the existence of the Hyuuga into account and created some sort of jutsu to hide from the Byakugan in case they had to fight against the Hyuuga in the exam."
Kiba shrugged, "Yeah, that could be it. But I don't think we should sell them short."
"True," agreed Shino, "We must monitor the situation carefully and make sure that we aren't caught off guard."
"I say we set up a nice little surprise for them," muttered Kiba. Jumping onto the top of his master's head, Akamaru barked his agreement."
"I don't think that will work," replied Shino, "We know that they are present and nearby. However, we haven't been able to pinpoint their precise location. They may be spying on us even now. And if that is indeed the case, then they will probably be able to see any traps we put up."
"If that's so, then what do we do?" inquired Kiba.
"Our enemies are most likely waiting until we lower our guard," replied Shino, "We can use that fact to our advantage."
Eiji couldn't believe their luck. Some sucker had given away his cell's position by lighting a campfire. Who would be stupid enough to enter the Genin as examinees when they didn't even know the first thing about stealth? Didn't these guys have any idea how to operate in a hostile area? He was barely able to keep from chuckling, which would have drawn a scolding from his teammates on either side of him. Together, the three Genin descended towards the other team, all three members of which were hunched around a fire.
"Lets do this quick," he hissed to his fellows, "Before they have a chance to realize we're here." Slowly, they continued to close with the enemy cell.
When he was sure that they couldn't miss, Eiji lurched out of his cover, hurling a shuriken at the orange-garbed figure in the center. His two teammates followed suit, hurling their own projectiles at the other two opponents. Eiji's weapon struck home with a satisfying "thunk." That was followed by two more thunks as the other two shuriken found their marks. Eiji could barely contain his glee as he closed with his target. This had been too easy.
All of a sudden, Eiji paused. Wait a minute…"thunk!" That's not the right sound. Eiji's train of thought was distracted by a new sound coming from the still motionless figure he had attacked. But this time, it sounded like buzzing.
With a burst of smoke, the three substitutes evaporated. The two on either side had been replaced with ordinary logs, however, the one in the middle had been switched with something else. Where an enemy ninja had sat only an instant before was now a nest full of angry hornets. The buzzing increased in intensity as a cloud of the dangerous insects boiled out of the nest, highly agitated by the feeling of impact by the thrown shuriken.
Their original reason for being there forgotten, the three Genin threw caution to the winds and dashed off, doing their best to stay ahead of the swarm of enraged hornets. As they rushed through the forest, the ground suddenly lurched under their feet and a cry echoed through the foliage as the three Genin were yanked into the air, now caught by a net cleverly laid in the path of their escape.
"We've got another one," commented Uchiha Sasuke as he and his teammates climbed down to inspect their latest catch. He had to admit, he was duly impressed with Naruto's plan. With Sakura's help, Naruto had managed to plant a hornet's next to the fire and cover it with an illusion. Sasuke had then plotted the most likely path of their escape and laid the net to trap them. What was amazing was that this was the third scheme Naruto had come up with. He changed it every time they successfully captured an enemy cell. And Konoha's master prankster didn't appear to be running out of ideas any time soon.
"That worked really well, Naruto," complimented Sakura as she sized up their captives.
"Thanks," replied Naruto, who had gotten the idea from Hinata when she had told him about how her team had passed the second exam their first time around. "Now it's time for the next one."
"So it's decided then," said Sasuke as he and Soujiro reviewed the information Kotaro had brought them, "We'll just cull the losers so that we don't have to worry about them later."
"Are you certain that's a good idea?" asked Kotaro, "That's going a bit beyond our mission parameters. It might cause more trouble with the other villages.""Yeah right," snorted Sasuke contemptuously, "They're too afraid of the Sanada clan. Besides, even if they did want to start something, they have no idea where to find us. The Sanada clan village is the only one that really is hidden."
"You're so confident," commented Soujiro cheerfully.
"That's not the right response!" protested Kotaro, "What he's suggesting is way out of line. Yukimura-sama wouldn't want to start a war with the other villages."
"But we have so much time and so little to do," replied Soujiro.
"That's no excuse!"
"Now now, under the guise of the Chuunin exam we don't have to worry about political recriminations." Soujiro waved his hands placatingly.
"Why me," groaned Kotaro.
The days seemed to fly by as the different teams fought one another and worked to stay alive in the unusual and rather hostile environment of the forest. Finally, after four days, the exam was almost over. The sun had gone down, leading into the fourth night as Kiba, Shino and Hinata prepared for the morning of the last day.
"We will have to move quickly," explained Shino, "However, by setting this trap now, we can be assured that if our opponents are above our level we will still be able to escape into the tower if they threaten to overwhelm us."
"Akamaru can't smell them anymore," announced Kiba, sniffing the air himself.
"Don't worry," replied Shino in a low tone, "I've been spreading my insects around us and I have an idea of their location. They'll warn me when our opponents make their move. In the meantime, we should get some rest, we don't want to be caught tired and uncoordinated."
"Alright," agreed Hinata. Kiba settled down into a sitting position as Akamaru took his customary position, curled up in his master's lap. Hinata settled down next to him and reached out to scratch Akamaru behind the ears, eliciting a pleased sound from the small dog. Shino sat down on Hinata's other side and immediately went still. Slowly, Hinata let her eyes close and she drifted off to sleep. Beside her, Kiba and Akamaru did the same.
"They're sleeping," remarked one of the observers as they watched from afar, "What kind of amateurs let down their guard like that? Even for a bunch of genin that's just plain stupid."
"They might just be pretending," suggested the second one, "It's probably a trick to lure any would-be attackers out."
"Don't be so sure," announced the third, "They probably really are sleeping. On the other hand, it's foolish to assume that they've let their guard down. It's clear that they've been onto us for days now. They're resting with the realization that we'll be making our move soon and they want to be fully prepared for it."
"Do you really think they know we're out here?" asked the first one skeptically, "I mean they're only genin."
"You idiot," the third berated him, "You shouldn't assume that they're that ignorant just because they're genin. They've been up to something ever since their run in with that Sanada kid."
"Just to make sure," said the second one, "We'll attack just before dawn."
Soujiro sighed and leaned back against a tree as he watched Sasuke work. This time he was up against two cells that had decided to team up in order to increase their chances of passing the exam. However, Sasuke was making short work of them nonetheless. His sword cleaved through one of them, separating torso and waist in one fell swoop. Not pausing, he ducked down to avoid an attack from behind and turned about, bringing his sword in an upward sweep and slicing his assailant in half from pelvis to skull.
Soujiro took out a water container and took a slight sip as he continued to watch. "My my," he muttered, "Sasuke-kun certainly enjoys killing."
"I have to disagree," said Kotaro.
"Oh, you're back," remarked Soujiro, "And you don't believe Sasuke enjoys killing, even though you were the one who commented that he was going way out of his way to do so."
"It isn't that he enjoys it," replied Kotaro, "But rather that he feels that he needs to do it."
"What makes you say that?" inquired Soujiro, raising an eyebrow.
"Until four years ago, Sasuke had to fight and kill constantly just to simply survive," explained Kotaro, "After Yukimura took him in, Sasuke had less opportunity and even less need to fight and kill. But for someone who had been doing just that for most if not all of his life, it was a major shift." As Kotaro spoke, Sasuke beheaded another combatant and impaled a fourth. Grabbing the impaled ninja's shoulder, Sasuke swung him around to intercept an attack from the remaining two.
"It's something of an illness really. Because Sasuke was so used to killing, when circumstances no longer required that he constantly fight and kill, he feels uneasy whenever he's not fighting for his life."
"But I know that he does enjoy killing sometimes," protested Soujiro.
"Not killing. What he enjoys is fighting, especially against difficult opponents. He's like Kyo and Yukimura-sama that way. But the killing isn't something that he enjoys, it's something that he feels compelled to do." In the meantime, Sasuke finished off the two remaining ninja.
"Hey," he said as he turned around, sheathing the sword, all before the bodies of his final opponents even hit the ground, "What are you two talking about?"
"It's nothing really," Soujiro replied.
"Right," replied Sasuke skeptically.
"I've found out that the cloud ninja are preparing to attack just before dawn," announced Kotaro, stopping the discussion in its tracks, "I figured that you would want to observe."
"That's a good idea," said Sasuke, smirking, "Let's go."
Hinata was awakened by a faint buzzing in her ear. She remembered that Shino had told her that would be the signal to wake up. They're coming, she thought apprehensively. Her eyes slowly opened as she looked over to Shino, who lay on the ground next to her. "They're approaching from the south."
"Okay," Kiba hissed from her other side, "Let's get started then." His statement was accompanied by a soft yip from Akamaru.
"There they are," whispered the first of the Cloud shinobi.
"Heh, look," remarked the other in amusement, "They're still asleep."
"Not for much longer," remarked the third, "The fact that they're this close to the tower means that they intend to head out at dawn."
"Let's go," stated the first, "Make it quick. Kill the other two but try to take the Hyuuga girl alive if possible."
"And if she proves to be too much trouble to keep alive?" asked the second one.
"Then kill her," replied the first.
"Begin," said the third.
The three shinobi leapt from hiding, hurling their kunai at the sleeping genin.
Before the weapons had traveled half the distance between the attackers and their targets, Hinata leapt to her feet and immediately went into a spin, expelling chakra from her body as she did so. Hinata's kaiten knocked the kunai away, one of them was actually sent back towards the man who had thrown it. It was the second of the three ninja from Kumogakure. He dove to one side, but the kunai impaled itself into his shoulder.
With a hiss of anger, the wounded man pulled the weapon from his shoulder and leapt to attack as Hinata finished her spin. As her spin slowed, Hinata settled into her Jyuuken stance, preparing to meet her attacker head on. However, she was shocked as Kiba threw himself into the line of attack. Unable to mount a defense in time, Kiba took the man's Kunai in the chest, its point sinking into his ribs. "Too bad dog-brat," growled the shinobi.
"Yeah," Kiba replied with a cocky grin, "For you." Even as he spoke, his body began to dissolve into countless insects. The Cloud ninja could not contain his shock as he watched the swarm of destruction bugs crawl up his arms. Even as he tried to move back, he felt his strength draining away as the insects devoured his chakra.
"No!" he exclaimed as the bugs enveloped him.
"Dammit, growled the third of the trio as he moved towards Shino who was climbing to his feet. The man quickly began to form signs as he closed the Shino. However, he was unable to complete his jutsu.
"Gatsuuga!" The unsuspecting shinobi was slammed from both sides as Kiba and Akamaru, whirling like miniature tornadoes attacked.
Hinata ducked as the leader of the group threw a swift punch at her face. As she did so, she lunged forward, trying to catch the man with an open palmed attack. However, the cloud ninja used the momentum of his attack to leap over Hinata's head and plunge into a diving roll behind her. Even as he came out of the roll and up to his feet, he hurled a kunai at her back. However, thanks to the Byakugan, Hinata saw the attack coming and sidestepped it even as she turned to face her opponent again. However, the man was slowly retreating, forming seals as he did so. When he finished, Hinata was shocked to see him vanish before her eyes.
That must be how they managed to keep me from seeing them from before, she thought as she tried to figure out which direction the man would come from. Settling into a defensive stance, Hinata decided to try and wait her opponent out. Even as she did so, she used her Blood limit to keep track on how her teammates were doing.
Shino had successfully subdued the second member of the group, his bug-clone of Kiba having served as a very effective decoy. Kiba himself was double-teaming the remaining Cloud shinobi with Akamaru, who had transformed into a copy of Kiba. The third ninja had been badly wounded by their initial strike. However, he was managing to avoid any further attacks. Fortunately, his wounds and the constant onslaught from Kiba and Akamaru kept the man from forming any seals and prevented him from using any kind of ninjutsu. Even as he evaded their attacks, Kiba and Akamaru were slowly but surely maneuvering the man into another group of Shino's insects, lying in wait for their target.
Hinata couldn't get a fix on her opponent and was even beginning to wonder if he was going to attack at all. Abruptly, she felt a surge of murderous intent directed at Shino and realized immediately what was about to happen. The man apparently had decided to eliminate Hinata's allies before attacking her himself. Hinata acted automatically after that.
The man did his best to move silently as he closed in behind the shinobi from the Aburame clan. Once again, he checked to make sure that the Hyuuga girl was still using her Byakugan. The genjutsu the man had employed rendered him invisible to the Byakugan, but did nothing to conceal him from people with the normal range of vision. However, he wasn't a Jounin for nothing. His skill at stealth had enabled him to close in behind his target without Shino noticing. The bug ninja was so absorbed in directing his insects to trap the man's teammate that he failed to notice the coming attack. The man smirked as he performed a set of seals to prepare for his next attack. As soon as he finished, the chakra began to build up in his hand. This technique had been developed after careful study of the Hyuuga clan's own infamous Taijutsu style.
Since he lacked the Byakugan, the man had no idea how to target the inner-coils system, which would allow him to do damage to his opponents organs. However, with this next technique, such precision was unnecessary. The compacted chakra would be forced into his opponent's body before exploding, like pushing an explosive tag under Shino's skin. The technique would undoubtedly do severe damage to Shino's internal organs when it landed.
The man attacked. However, at just that moment, Hinata leapt between him and Shino. The ninja from the Hidden-Cloud village was shocked. Her Byakugan is still active, he thought frantically, How did she know I was going to attack here?
Even as his fist closed in, Hinata expelled chakra from her forehead as she placed it squarely between the man and Shino. Her chakra stopped the punch cold. However, even as she blocked the blow, Hinata still felt a surging pain around her eyes, making it impossible for her to maintain the Byakugan. As she released it, the man appeared before her. Without even thinking, Hinata began to mold chakra in her hand as she thrust it towards the enemy ninja. The man could only gape as Hinata plunged the whirling sphere of razor sharp chakra streams into his stomach.
Hinata's version of the Rasengan quickly carved a hole in the man's abdomen. Even as it did so, Hinata allowed the ball of chakra to unravel. The strings, still whirling about the center of the sphere even as they stretched out like whips, slashed and cut the man to pieces inside and out before unraveling altogether, slicing the enemy ninja into miniscule pieces.
The noise of Hinata's defense and counterattack made Shino suddenly aware of what was going on behind him. Forgetting about the trap he had been setting up, he spun around to see the bloody remains of Hinata's opponent falling to the ground. Even Kiba and Akamaru halted their attack when they realized what had just occurred, turning to stare at Hinata and the remains of her enemy.
So shocked was he by the result of Hinata's attack, the third ninja of the cloud trio didn't even think to take advantage of his opponents' sudden vulnerability. "How can this be?" he exclaimed, "How could a little Hyuuga bitch manage to defeat a Jounin."
Forgetting momentarily about the mess Hinata had made. Kiba spun around to stare in shock at his enemy. "Wait a minute!" he exclaimed, "You guys are Jounin! What are you doing here?"
Glaring at them, the last ninja from cloud vanished as he retreated into the forest.
"Hey!" shouted Kiba, "Get back here!" He moved to pursue, however, Shino's voice stopped him.
"There's no time for that," said Shino sharply, "It will be dawn shortly, we need to make our way to the tower."
Looking at her handiwork, Hinata was suddenly overcome with nausea. The strength disappeared from her legs and she collapsed to her knees even as her stomach rejected its contents. Hinata was horrified. This was the first time she had ever used her new attack on a living person. It was horrible. Now she knew why Tsunade had declared her Rasengan an S-rank ninjutsu.
Kiba looked apprehensively towards Hinata and then back towards where the Cloud ninja had been standing. "Damn," he muttered as he turned towards Hinata. "Hinata, you okay?"
After she had finished throwing up, Hinata looked up at Kiba, smiling slightly. "Yes, Kiba-kun, I'm alright," she said faintly.
Shino noticed a faint trickle of blood running down from her forehead. She must have received that wound protecting me, he realized, If not for Hinata, I might have died.
"You did pretty well, Ne-chan." Sasuke's voice echoed around them. Shino and Kiba looked around frantically. However, Hinata merely looked over wearily at the space where Sarutobi Sasuke suddenly appeared.
"What are you doing here?" growled Kiba as he glared at the boy.
Sasuke merely smirked as he held up the head of the third and final ninja from Kumogakure. "I figured you three shouldn't have to worry about this guy anymore, so I took care of him."
"You knew didn't you," said Hinata softly, "You knew who they were and why they were here."
"What do you mean?" asked Kiba, looking at Hinata in surprise.
"It is clear that the only reason these Shinobi were here was to capture Hinata for the Byakugan," explained Shino, "That explains why they were jounin masquerading as gennin and why they had genjutsu specifically designed to evade detection by the Byakugan."
"You're right of course, Ne-chan," said Sasuke in response to Hinata's accusation.
"Then why didn't you do anything?" asked Hinata.
"Well," remarked Sasuke with a shrug, "I suppose I could give some excuse like that we're still enemies after all and I was under no obligation to help you…but the truth is, I wanted to see what you were capable of. And I've got to say, you've really exceeded my expectations." Sasuke smiled at her. It was the first time Hinata had seen him give anything even remotely close to a sincere smile.
"There's no time for this," interrupted Shino, as Hinata was about to say something back, "It's time to go to the tower. We have to be one of the first six teams there or all of this will mean nothing."
"There's no need to worry about that," said Sasuke, tossing the cloud-nin's head aside. "There are only six teams left anyway. We took care of the rest of them."
Shino raised his eyebrows at this. "I won't bother enquiring what you did," he said, "But we should go anyway."
Sasuke merely shrugged, "Suit yourself." Walking over, he picked up the last of the three Cloud-nins, the one that Shino had subdued.
"What are you going to do with him," Kiba asked.
"I'm going to take him with me to the tower," replied Sasuke, "I'm willing to bet your intelligence people would love to get their hands on this guy." With that, he took off in the direction of the tower.
Shino and Kiba looked at each other and then at Hinata. Hinata nodded and got to her feet. "Let's go," she said. Together, the three of them headed towards the tower at the center of the forest.
"Here we are," announced Naruto as his team emerged from the foliage surrounding the base of the tower. He grinned as he looked up at their destination. "I bet we're one of the first groups here.
"Stop staring you idiot!" shouted Sakura as she smacked Naruto's head with her fist, "Lets get in now." She and Naruto moved to the base of the tower, where they opened the door. Upon entering the room, Naruto opened up the scroll and threw it to the floor across the room. With a burst of smoke, Kakashi materialized in front of them.
"Well done you three," he remarked, even as he leafed through the latest book in Jiraiya's series.
"Has anyone else made it yet, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi closed his book and slid it into his equipment pouch as he looked at his students. "Kurenai's team is already here, as well as the team from the Sanada clan. The two groups arrived together," he announced, "But they're the only ones so far.
"Hinata-chan's team made it!" exclaimed Naruto, grinning widely, "That's great!"
"Let's get to the assembly room," interjected Sasuke, glancing around, "If six teams actually make it through the exam, they'll have to hold a preliminary round again." Also, there's something I would like to confirm.
"Very true," agreed Kakashi, nodding sagely. He gestured toward the door at the other end of the room. "Shall we?"
Through the door was a hallway. Following the hallway around the circumference of the tower, the group went through another door into the massive chamber at the center of the tower's bottom floor. At the far end of the chamber were two hands carved from stone in the shape of a seal for ninjutsu. Just bellow the hands, Tsunade was already waiting. Assembled in front of her at the bottom of the steps leading up to the platform where she stood, were Kurenai's team and the team from the Sanada clan, their third member conspicuously absent. Shizune stood to Tsunade's right. Behind her and to her left waited Kurenai. Uchiha Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he spotted two black-hooded and masked members from the ANBU. I thought that something strange was going on, he mused as he looked the two ANBU members over, There were some sneaking around outside the tower too.
"What's going on," he whispered at Kakashi.
"There was a security breach," Kakashi muttered back, "Apparently, a group of Jounin from Kumogakure disguised themselves as Gennin and infiltrated the exam."
"What for?" Sasuke asked.
"I can't tell you that," came the reply.
Sarutobi Sasuke looked up as Team 7 lined up next to his group. "So you made it," he commented as he smirked at Naruto, "Not bad timing."
Looking over, Naruto smiled cheerfully at Hinata. To his surprise however, Hinata did not blush or hide her face. Instead, she smiled slightly back at him. Unused to this reaction, Naruto was a little confused. Then he noticed the bandage around Hinata's forehead. She was apparently the only member of her team that was wounded. However, before he could ask what had happened, Naruto was distracted by the arrival of someone new.
"OHHHHH SASUKEEEEE!" someone shouted from the back of the room. Naruto's eyes narrowed in confusion. That voice sounded familiar. Next to him, Sarutobi Sasuke appeared to be turning an exasperated shade of blue.
Spinning around, the group stared as a familiar figure approached them. "K-Kanato-san!" yelped a shocked Hinata, "What are you doing here?"
Oh that's right! Naruto exclaimed mentally, That's the guy we met in the Land of Waves. I thought he was familiar.
"Yeah," deadpanned Sarutobi, "Just what are you doing here…Yukimura?"
Naruto looked over at Sarutobi. "Who?" he asked.
"His real name," explained Tsunade from her place at the front of the room, "Is Sanada Yukimura, the head of the Sanada clan."
The young ninjas who had met him only once before could only stare in shock. This man was the leader of one of the most powerful Shinobi organizations in the world. Naruto couldn't stop himself from shouting in shock.
"I'm so happy to see you all again," announced Yukimura cheerfully as he approached the group, "I'm so sorry our first meeting had to occur under false pretenses. I hope you don't mind."
"Whatever," interrupted Sarutobi Sasuke, "What are you doing here. You're not due in this village for another month."
"I'm sorry," apologized Yukimura sheepishly as he drew even with the group. "I was just so eager to see how things were progressing I just had to come and find out." He stepped past them to join Tsunade on the platform. "I suppose now we just wait until the other teams arrive or the deadline passes," he remarked easily.
A few minutes later the Sand Siblings arrived. Gaara traded a nod with Naruto as his team lined up. About half an hour after that, Gai's team arrived. Gai, quite naturally, couldn't help but try to provoke Kakashi.
"Oh my most worthy rival," he shouted, "You must be so proud that your team made it here before mine. However, I will soon prove to you that the power of my team's youth will win the day. They have truly grown since the last exam. I'm afraid the path of your team ends here.
"Huh?" Kakashi looked up from his book for a moment, "Did you say something Gai?"
"Gah!" shouted Gai, "As always you are cool and collected my eternal rival!" Both Kakashi and Kurenai couldn't help but sulk at the thought that they might have to put up with this for the rest of the day. Tsunade simply gritted her teeth and made plans to admit Gai to the emergency ward, hopefully with some sort of injury that would inhibit his ability to speak.
However, Yukimura chuckled at Gai's antics, "I like him," he remarked amusedly.
"You can have him," muttered Kakashi softly.
Not much later, the six and final team arrived. It was a group from Iwagakure. They too took their places before the platform.
So six teams made it, thought Uchiha Sasuke, looking around, That mean's there will be a preliminary round.
Seeing all six surviving teams assemble, Tsunade nodded towards Shizune, who departed quickly. As she did so, Tsunade addressed the teams that had passed the second phase of the exam.
"You have all done very well," she announced, "Congratulations on passing the second exam. In a month's time, the third exam will commence. This exam will be a display of your combat capabilities in a public form. Various dignitaries from many countries will be coming to watch you compete. Your performance in this final exam will reflect upon the village you represent. Please keep this in mind.
"Now, before you are dismissed, because there are too many people who have passed the second exam, we must hold a preliminary round. This will take place immediately as soon as your examiner arrives. The victors of this preliminary tournament will go on to participate in the third exam."
As Tsunade finished, a figure dropped down in front of her. The Gennin from Konoha stared as Shikamaru turned around to face them. "So many people passed the second phase," he remarked, "How troublesome. Let's get this preliminary round over with.
AN: Because I'm evil, I'll leave off here. The preliminaries might take one or two chapters (possibly more). Then I intend to mostly gloss over the intervening month so that we can get straight to the action with the final round of the Chuunin exams. Once again, I'm thankful for everyone has stuck with me through this not-so-brief bout of hiatus and I hope you are looking forward to this. It is my plan to have the next chapter out a good bit faster than this last one.