The Tale Of Three Outcasts Chapter 7: The Chuunin Exams Begin!, a naruto fanfic

The Tale of Three Outcasts

Chapter VII: The Chuunin Exams Begin!

By: Del'Cera Osirin

Haku and Akira walked home, somewhat confused by their new sensei's actions- he'd never given them a day off before, so why was today different? Oh, well, whatever, they had figured. This just meant that they had more time to hang out with Arashii. Akira thought it was strange how the little girl grew on him- he'd never been the greatest with kids before, but there was just something about her that struck a chord with him. Deciding that whatever made him like her was unimportant, he turned his attention back to the road in front of him, just in time to see a small blue-haired girl with pale eyes dart behind a tree. Noticing that he was right in front of Ichiraku Ramen, Akira asked if Haku wanted to stop for lunch. She agreed, and they went into the small stand.

Akira noticed Naruto sitting down in front of a steaming bowl, and walked up to the counter.

"I'll have whatever he's having," Akira said to the waitress. Haku mimicked Akira's statement, and the waitress disappeared into the back of the stall, presumably to take their orders to the chef. Naruto glanced over to see his new eating buddies, and smiled.

"Akira! I haven't seen you in forever! How're you doing?"

"We're pretty good, Naruto," Akira answered. "How about you?"

"Same old same old."

"So, being stalked is normal?"

"Hunh?" Naruto's incredibly intelligent statement made the former Mist-nins chuckle.

"There's a girl outside, with darkish blue hair, and she's following you."

"How do you know she's following me?"

"'Cause there's three people besides me and Haku in this stall; one is old enough to be her father, maybe grandfather, one's a girl old enough to be her elder sister, and then there's you, a boy her age. I assume she was in your graduating class?"

"Yeah. Damn, I thought she'd given up on me by now."

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Akira and Haku asked, in one of their strange moments of completely synchronized speech.

"Well, see, she's got a crush on me, but if we got together, then people would start to hate her, and her home life would get even worse - her dad already hates her, and she doesn't need to worry about his opinion of ME on top of all of that."

"Is that why you were always bugging Sakura when I was on your team?"

"Partially. Originally, I was trying to make Hinata give up on me, but it just sorta became a habit."

Haku spoke up. "Naruto, I've got to tell you, this seems like a REALLY stupid idea. I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt because I don't know you OR this new girl very well, but this just doesn't seem right."

"Haku, I agree. I hate to do this to her- she's a really great person, and I do sorta like her, but mixing up with me will just leave her hurt in the end."

"So?" Haku continued. By this time, their bowls of ramen had been delivered and had grown cold. "Shouldn't that be her decision, not yours?"

"Haku, what are you-" Naruto began, but he was cut off, again, by Haku.

"I'm saying that you should let her make her own decisions and mistakes, instead of you deciding things for her. That's all."

Naruto looked over at Akira, wordlessly pleading for help, but the redhead simply shrugged while slurping up a few noodles, as if to say 'you're on your own, buddy.'

The normally-hyperactive genin sighed. "Maybe you're right. I'll-- I'll think about it, okay? I'm still worried for her, but, well, I'll think about it."

With that, Naruto put a few coins on the counter and walked off, a thoughtful expression on his face. Akira and Haku picked at their ramen for a little while longer, before they too paid and left. As they neared their apartment, which was near Konoha's forest, Akira split off, claiming that he wanted to look for something. Haku kept going, and was soon having fun with Arashii, who had taken to calling her 'Ha-kun' instead of 'Haku-niisan'. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about the change of address.

Akira came back a few hours later, dozens of bundles of small leafy plants in his arms and a big smile on his face. He walked over to the table in the kitchen where they typically ate, put the bundles on the tabletop, and then started rummaging through his coat's pockets.

"C'mon," he muttered softly, "I know you're in here somewh-- aha! There you are!"

With that, he first pulled out a small black book, and then a ceramic cylinder, rounded on one end and tapered up near the top. He then pulled out a ceramic bowl with small stubby protrusions that acted as feet. Humming to himself, Akira pulled out a length of fishing line and a few dozen paperclips, and began to hang some herbs to dry. Others he crushed with his mortar and pestle.

Haku, meanwhile, was somewhat surprised. The fishing line and book she could see fitting in a pocket; maybe even the pestle if she stretched a bit. But a full-size mortar as well!? She was absolutely shocked, and said so.

"Aww, c'mon Aisu-chan, Airi-chan would be so upset that you didn't remember her."

"The hell are you talking about?"

"Airi-chan? You know, kinda tall, blonde hair, green eyes, typically wore a skirt over a pair of jeans?"

"Yes, I know Airi-chan. We used to hang out when we were kids, remember?"

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, she helped me with my coat. I ran into her when I was traveling around. Turns out she's really good with seals now, and she sewed some into my coat's pockets. This one here," he said, tapping lightly on one over his right bicep, "has all of my 'packets'. I've got stuff for a quick little energy boost, painkillers, stuff for various diseases, hell, I've even got what amounts to a dried soldier pill! She also put a seal on this one," he patted his left hip, "to keep a mortar and pestle so I can make more packets. I also keep a couple-dozen books in the pocket on the opposite hip if you ever want something to read. Just let me know. Anyway, can I get back to work? These herbs are kinda sensitive." With that, he went back to crushing his herbs, arranging them into little piles on a paper towel he grabbed, and labeling them with a pencil he pulled from yet another pocket. He then started measuring various amounts of the different piles into little paper packets, sealed them, and then stored them in what he called his 'packet pocket'.

The next day, Naruto woke up, stretching as the morning sun poured in through the windows next to his bed. Was it that day already? It felt like they had just gotten back from Wave Country yesterday. Still, Naruto dragged himself out of his bed, nearly falling over when his feet touched the floor. The cold wood sent a shock up his feet, right to his spine, and he immediately pulled them up to the warmth of the covers. He reached down, grabbed some slippers that had obviously seen better days, and made his way into the small portion of the room that made up his kitchen. His apartment was essentially four rooms- the toilet, the bathroom, the training room, and the bedroom/kitchen/living room. He grabbed a loaf of bread out of a cabinet, idly noting that he needed to go get some more soon. Putting it in the toaster, he waited a few minutes, making a glass of chocolate milk while he did. As soon as the toast popped up, he grabbed it, and began to eat. Minutes later, he set his glass in the sink, and made his way to the team's training grounds. Sasuke and Sakura were already there, and they were holding small pieces of paper- obviously the entry forms for the Chuunin exams. He grabbed his own out of his pocket, and uncrumpled it. He met up with the other preteens, and they made their way to the Ninja Academy. Walking inside, and up a flight of stairs, they saw a large commotion. A boy clad in all green was trying to force his way through a door that was guarded by two kids, who looked about seventeen. Sasuke about to ask them to drop their genjutsu, seeing as they were only on the second floor, even though the door said "301", but then decided against it- anybody who could fall for a simple genjustu like that wasn't worth fighting. Leading his team down a small side corridor, and to another staircase, he was met by that same boy in green. Up close, they were able to realize that his eyebrows were absolutely HUGE!

"Fight me," the strange boy said, "I have wanted to test my mettle against the last of the great Uchiha clan."

Sasuke agreed, and the fight began. It was quickly proved, however, that even Sasuke's Sharingan, which he had recently achieved through training with Kakashi, could not beat the boy- he was just too quick. The fight was soon ended, though, as a giant tortoise threw a pinwheel, trapping the boy's bandaged hands to the wall. Another man in green popped up, standing on the turtle's back. He had a bowl cut, just like what was obviously his student, and he had eyebrows. Big ones. Bigger than the boy's! It was like they were alive! He began to berate the boy, who he revealed to be named Lee. He yelled something about youth, and punched Lee in the face. Then, he turned to Naruto's team, and smiled a giant smile, light bouncing off of his teeth.

"You three must be Kakashi's students! My hip rival has truly imbued you three with the fires of youth! However, your flames must be stoked- they are not large enough! My student here can help you with that! What do you say?"

"Ummm..." Sakura began, "thanks for the offer, Sir, but we are sort of in a hurry. Can we get back to you on that?"

"Of course! Should you ever want to find me, just ask for Maito Gai!"

As the two spandex-clad men walked off, Naruto turned to his two teammates.

"That..." he began, "that was the most disturbing thing I have ever seen."

Sasuke and Sakura could only nod in agreement.

It was mutually decided to lock that memory away forever, never to see the light of day ever again.

They walked through the door, and saw an absolutely enormous room, filled to the walls with prospective Chuunin. Naruto looked around, and spotted a few familiar faces, but the first person to come up to them was definitely not somebody he was looking for. Yamanaka Ino leaped onto Sasuke's back, spouting some nonsense that Naruto could not bring himself to care about, while her teammates simply watched with thinly-veiled annoyance. Naruto greeted them, and then noticed Hinata, Kiba, and Shino walking toward them. He greeted each of them in turn (and silently vowed to talk to Hinata after the exam was over), and then saw Akira and Haku leaning by the doorframe, smiling quietly at Sasuke's predicament. Naruto greeted them, and introductions were shared between the two teams that the siblings did not know. They shared some small talk for a few minutes, before a boy with silver hair and glasses walked up to them with an advisory that they stay as inconspicuous as possible. Akira immediately got a bad feeling about him, and voiced his opinion in low tones to Naruto, even as Sasuke asked about a few people taking the exam.

Kabuto pulled out his cards, and quickly gave a rundown on the stats of the people Sasuke asked about. He also went into a little detail about how many teams were from where. He made a rather snarky comment about Otogakure, and its only team decided that they would defend their village's honor by attacking Kabuto. He quickly dodged out of the way of their attack, only to have it hit anyway, thanks to the strange technology that one team member had. Kabuto went down hard, and the Sound team was about to press its advantage when the proctor for the first exam showed up.

He introduced himself as Morino Ibiki, and told them that they had less than five minutes to find their seats. In the mad rush to get there, everyone made it, but it was rather close for some. Ibiki quickly went through the rules of the first exam, and explained the points system. Then, double-checking the time with his watch, he started the test.

Haku soon noticed that a handful of people were answering the questions a little too quickly, and the meaning of the test quickly came to her-- it was a test of their information-gathering abilities. Making some discrete handseals under the desk, she condensed the water in the air around her into a small mirror, no larger than a contact lens, right on top of her eye. Thankful that, because of her bloodline, she could deal with extremely low temperatures, Haku created another mirror on the ceiling above the plant's test. Again, it was no larger than a contact lens, but that was all she needed. She quickly signaled Akira, who used his bloodline to send a small, hair-thin tendril of paper and link his test with Haku's. Once that was done, she began to copy the plant's test, and whatever Haku wrote appeared on Akira's sheet as well. Once all nine questions were answered, they began to wait.

Others found out the secret in short order as well; Sasuke started copying a plant with his Sharingan, Lee and his only female teammate used the mirrors mounted on the ceiling, Hinata used her Byakugan, etcetera.

Eventually, it came time for the tenth question. Ibiki explained the 'take-it-or-leave-it' system he had put in place, and deflected the complaints with ease. After a few teams had left, Naruto raised his hand, as if he wanted to resign, when he suddenly slammed it down on his desk, and spouted some nonsense about how he would become Hokage, even if he was relegated to Genin forever.

Akira could only palm his face in a strange mix of amusement and embarrassment. Did nobody on Cell Seven use their brain? Naruto had just increased the competition exponentially! Sure, it sounded good, but it also made their jobs just that much harder. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'what's done is done.'

Suddenly, a cloth ball burst through the window, which quickly opened to reveal a cloth banner proclaiming the arrival of somebody named Mitarashi Anko and a woman in the most provocative attire Akira had ever seen while still being decent. Whereas Ibiki had worn black clothes, and black bandanna and a trenchcoat, Anko had on a khaki-colored skirt and coat. And that was it. Shin guards and a fishnet bodysuit completed her ensemble. For crying out loud, the coat wasn't even buttoned!

Anko quickly did a headcount, and was surprised at the results. "Twenty-something teams, Ibiki? Either this is a damn good crop, or you're losing your touch. And I would hate to hear that the head of the torture and interrogation division can't scare a bunch of genin."

"What can I say? It's a good crop this year, Anko," Ibiki replied, with a pointed look at Naruto, who had the decency to look sheepish.

"Well, whatever. Follow me, kiddies!" Anko yelled before she leaped out the same window she entered.

Twenty-something teams leapt out the window, and by the time they were through, Ibiki was swearing under his breath that he would not be the one giving the area a new paint job.

Maybe he would leave it to Anko.

"So the rules are that simple," Haku murmured, taking off into the forest without so much as a second glance. She instinctively knew that Akira was behind her; his chakra signature was hard to miss - at least, it was hard for her to miss.

"We have an earth scroll," Akira sighed, easily catching up to his sister. "We need a heaven scroll though..."

"One of the easiest ways to get one would be to make friends, fight rival shinobi, and steal the scrolls," Haku replied, stopping after a full minute of full-tilt ninja running, which amounted to nearly a quarter-mile. "Of course, you don't make friends well, and I don't fight well in a group." Taking a short breath, she began to run through the branches again. Akira swore softly at her speed again and followed her.

"So what are you suggesting? That we still team up with some of the Konoha genin?"

"No," Haku replied, flashing him a wicked smile. "We go after the Konoha genin." Straightening her new Konoha hitai-ate, she paused, as if listening for something, and motioned for silence when Akira began to ask what was going on. Then he heard it, too.

"Neji, do you see anyone around?" That had to be Tenten. Nobody else in Konoha sounded quite like her.

"There are four teams around us, all of them belonging to Konoha," the Hyuuga boy replied, obviously having engaged his Byakugan.

"Shall we attack our Konoha rivals in order to prove our strength?" Akira assumed it was Rock Lee; having met the kid's sensei, Maito Guy, he new that any kid who spoke like that had to be under the strange jounin's tutalage, or maybe be related. He opted for the former in this assumption.

"There are two of them coming towards us," Neji replied. As he did, a senbon of ice struck a tree trunk next to him.

"Rising twin dragons!" Tenten had pulled out her huge scroll of weaponry and had begun to spin around as the weapons flew at them -- specifically at Haku. Haku, in turn, raised her mirror walls, protecting herself and Akira from the barrage. As she was dong so, she was slightly distracted, and didn't see Lee flying through the cracks of the walls until he landed a kick to her shoulder.

"I am your opponent!" The boy proclaimed, although Akira was too busy warding off Neji. It took him only a second to realize that this Konoha team had an earth scroll as well.

"Nevermind," Akira called, beginning to walk off. "Sorry to trouble you!"

"Onii-chan?"

"They have an earth scroll," he replied, shrugging. "Sorry, guys."

Tenten, Neji, and Rock Lee never saw them leave when they took off into the trees in search of a heaven scroll.

"You're sure that these guys have a heaven scroll?" Haku asked for the hundredth time. "I haven't seen a single scroll on them once."

"Don't worry, they have one," he replied, somewhat confident.

Since fighting Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee, the duo had fought about three other teams, receiving minor injuries each time, and each time, they were rewarded for their efforts with earth scrolls. Haku had started offering them to the weaker teams as if they were party favors; they didn't need three extra earth scrolls. However, by this point, Akira was fed up with the constant dance between shinobi, and moreover, his chakra was beginning to run out. Forming a few hand seals, he pulled out a sheet of paper and formed it into a leaf-like shape. Letting it go, he gently blew it into the area where the rival shinobi stood, and chuckled softly when it latched onto the leader's clothes.

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Haku whispered, mindful of their target's proximity. Akira promptly nodded once, and then began to weave more hand seals, willing the leaf to slowly inch down the genin's clothing until it fell into his pocket. Of course, the genin hardly noticed this, having already noticed the leaf and deemed it a non-threatening object. Therefore, it was promptly ignored.

"Bad choice there," Akira snorted softly, weaving the hand signs for retreival. As he did, the paper latched itself onto the scroll and promptly flew away.

The other ninja never noticed.

"Good job, kids," Zabuza rumbled, patting Haku on the head much like he had when Haku was a child. "You're the third team to get here."

"Who else is here?" Akira asked, curious enough to get a feel for his rivals.

"Some Sand-nins and a team from Sound," the special jounin replied emotionlessly. "Doesn't matter; you're free to go."

"Arigatou, Zabuza-sama," Haku replied, bowing. The two siblings then walked through the door behind their sensei, hoping to get a little R&R before the exam continued.

Sasuke's foot caught his opponent in the chest, and the boy fell to the ground, his sunglasses flying off as he landed.

"Winner, Uchiha Sasuke!" Hayate, the referee, cried, strangely lacking his customary cough.

The names on the board cycled again, displaying "Akira vs Haku".

"Well," Akira said, "that's kinda weird."

"No kidding, Onii-chan."

"So, shall we?" he asked, offering his hand.

"Thank you," Haku replied, smiling softly, and together they walked down the stairs, hand in hand, just like when they were little children.

After Hayate confirmed that they were ready, his hand sliced through the air, and he yelled "Begin!"

Haku opened with a volley of senbon, which Akira dodged, replying with two kunai of his own. "Hey, Aisu-chan. Care to make this interesting?"

"Interesting how?" she asked, dodging the two kunai with a rather impressive cartwheel.

"How about adding a few rules of our own?" Akira jumped into the air to avoid a poison-dipped senbon.

"Like what?" Haku continued, leaping away from Akira's fist.

"No ice, no paper? Just a straight fistfight?"

"Hmm," she murmured, stopping altogether as if considering the idea. "Sounds fun. Let's do it." Haku sprinted forward, her fist drawn back into a punch, when she suddenly leaped away at a complete right angle.

Akira watched in horror as a low-powered explosive tag detonated at his feet, singeing him mildly, but completely disorientating him. He cursed as Haku zipped behind him and landed three solid punches before kicking him in the spine. He flew forward, tucked into a ball, and rolled to a stop in front of the strange statue that adorned the arena. It was shaped like two giant hands in the ram seal, and Akira leaped off it, trying to regain the small advantage he'd held at the beginning of the fight. Reaching into his coat pockets, he withdrew two knives, and slipped them onto his fingers. They were shaped like brass knuckles with a blade on the opposite side of his hand from his thumb. Haku ran at him, senbon in hand, and Akira met her charge. He swung his blades, and watched as she blocked them with her senbon. Taking the chance he saw, he lashed out with his foot. Haku, however, managed to hook his other leg with one of hers, taking him down as she flew away.

Both combatants slowly got to their feet, and settled into their most comfortable fighting stances. With one final charge, the two siblings drew back their fists, each knowing that this would be the final blow. They closed on one another, and then the world cut to black.

Akira awoke an indeterminate amount of time later to see Haku standing over him. He was in what was obviously a hospital room. Looking out the window, he saw thick trees, which meant that they were still in the tower in the forest.

"Who made it to the finals?" He asked. Akira smiled in his mind-- his voice wasn't scratchy, so he wasn't out for too long.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Shino, Neji, a genin from the Sound team, and all three of the Sand team."

"Wow. They weren't kidding about culling numbers."

"No, they really weren't."

"So, did I miss the finals?"

"No, you've only been out for about an hour. The finals are in a month to give the candidates time to prepare."

"Good. I can't wait to see the finals."

"Neither can I."

The next month was a trying time for all of the contestants. Hinata had been beaten severely by Neji, and Naruto swore to beat him down in the finals. Akira and Haku silently cheered him on; anybody who could do that to his own family deserved whatever beating Naruto saw fit to give.

Zabuza had also been training his students even harder than ever. He was disappointed that neither of them had made it to the final round. It was after one particularly grueling session that Akira made up his mind. Waiting until Arashii was asleep, Akira spoke to Haku.

"Aisu-chan? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, Onii-chan, what's up?"

"I've got something for you." With that, Akira pulled out the same pair of knuckleduster knives that he used in the chuunin preliminary fight.

"Why are you giving these to me?" Haku asked as he handed her the blades.

"Because they don't fit my fighting style, and because Kenta-aniki told me that he wanted you to have them.

Haku quickly gave the blades another, more thorough look and, sure enough, a name was engraved at the very base of each blade. 'Kenta', it read. She looked up at her brother with teary eyes, and he nodded, confirming her worst fear. Their older brother, their true father figure, was dead.

Haku bolted from the room, and headed straight for the bathroom. Akira heard the water run in the tub, and went to lay down in his room. It was a strange quirk that his sister had picked up during her travels with Zabuza-- whenever she had strong emotions to process, she would take a long bath, and then come out completely better. Akira wished that he could do something similar; he still had nightmares sometimes.

Sighing, Akira slowly bedded down; he had a feeling that tonight was going to be a rough one.

End of Chapter

A/N: So, new chapter. Hope it's worth the wait-- over ten pages (and forty-five hundred-plus words without the note) this time! That's a personal best. The next chapter should be out decently soon-- it's already partially written. Also, chapters should be posted sooner on my homepage, Ritsuku Karasu, than here. Typically it's not much faster, but still... anyway, there you have it. Chapter Seven is now complete.