The Calm II. Test. Test. Test.
“I have decided to nominate you all for the Chunin Exam.” Kakashi-sensei repeated.
Sasuke and I stood there, stunned, while Naruto merely looked at Kakashi-sensei confusedly.
“What’re the Chunin Exams?”
I slapped myself on the forehead while Sasuke managed a look between disgust and confusion. Kakashi-sensei merely huffed in what seemed to be irritation before he looked at Naruto.
“They are exams that you need to take to become a Chunin.” Sensei told him.
“Really? Then I’m totally on board, believe it!” Naruto exclaimed.
“Here are the application forms.” Kakashi-sensei said, holding out a trio of leaflets. “Do note that these are just nominations, whether you want to take the examination is up to you.”
“Yeah, sensei. You rock!” Naruto yelled as he flung himself at Sensei, catching him in a hug.
“Get off of me.” Sensei deadpanned as he pushed the offending genin off of him before looking at the rest of us. “Now if you want to take it, you should sign those papers and turn them in at Room 301 at 4 pm tomorrow.”
“But are you sure we are ready for it Sensei?” I asked, “we have only been genins for two months.”
“I do.” He replied, “but if you think you aren’t ready, you can just choose not to turn up.” He looked at me, expression unreadable. “Though I am sure that none of us will think any less of you if you choose not to.”
“No need to do that, Kyoku-chan!” Naruto reassured me, clapping me on the back. “You can definitely ace this exam!”
Thanks for the vote of confidence.
“I’d need more time to think about this,” I muttered. “Is that alright, sensei?”
“Sure.” He smiled. “You have one day to consider if you’d want to attend it. Think carefully!”
And with that said, he flickered away. Once he was gone, Naruto frowned as he looked at me abit, opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something before he closed it and grinned. “Don’t worry Kyoku! You’d do fine!”
“He’s right, you know.” Sasuke added in, to my surprise. “You should at least give it a shot.”
“Yeah, I should.” I replied, nodding. “But I’d like to think about it all the same, I’ll see you guys around?”
“Yeah!” Naruto nodded enthusiastically, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
I shrugged as I walked away, leaving the two boys behind as I left the training grounds.
Still, would I be ready for this? Sure, a promotion would mean that I would have greater clearance to information and that there would be a chance that I would gain a specialization in the Shinobi Corps, but I had heard of the tales about the Chunin exams, a series of trials so lethal that it could render the examinees horrifically injured or even dead.
The question then remains, was I ready?
I stopped at a deserted Training Ground, number seven, if I was not mistaken. It was hardly booked during this time, and as such made for a perfect spot to practice my spells, especially one.
I reached out with my hand, forcefully pulling the magic out as I constructed the matrix for one of my signature spells. Wrapping my kunai in it, I released the accumulated energy and with a flash of green light, it vanished, reappearing a few meters away, intact and whole.
Perfect, I smiled, though I did notice the sudden onset of fatigue that comes with the loss of mana. It was small, but noticeable.
“Right.” I muttered, taking a deep breath to steel my nerves. The next one would be a lot tougher, but I was slowly getting the hang of it. Crafting the spell matrix in my mind, I poured my mana into it, letting the magic from it infuse my very being, wrapping me in its intoxicating embrace.
And released it.
I felt the familiar sense of displacement that came with the teleportation spell, the feeling of being disassembled and reassembled on a molecular level. When my vision returned, I stumbled a little, shivering a bit from the loss of mana. The spell was… taxing. It took most of my reserves, leaving me rather tired.
And I was only six or seven meters away from where I last stood. A huge improvement, actually, considering that I had barely managed five meters when I had started using the spell on myself. Though I would not deny that I was a little bit frustrated at my lack of progress.
I heaved a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Judging from how I currently felt, I probably had enough power for two more before I’d run out of mana, by which I mean mana deprivation. I sighed indignantly, teleportation was one of my most proficient spells back when I was still a unicorn, I could even cast it dozens of times. The mana pool I possess right now was a joke compared to how much I had wielded back then.
But still, progress was progress, and it was the best I had. At the very least I had made more progress on this front than when it came to my chakra. The amount that my chakra coils could produce was growing, that was for sure, but it was at such an agonizingly slow rate that it was hardly an improvement.
“Annoying,” I muttered in frustration, venting my irritation by crushing one of the stones on the ground into dust telekinetically. Thanks to that… revelation that time, my magic had become substantially stronger and refined, and my mana capacity was growing at a faster rate now, but it was still a far cry from what it once was. And the other facet of power that I possess was growing so slowly that I couldn’t even call it progress.
I was stronger, yes, but would it be enough to survive the Chunin Exams? The last time rookies had entered was five years ago, and none of them had passed, while according to the records, more than one had died.
Could I survive this?
Not to mention that there was the fact that Shiratama-san would want me to maintain a low profile. Of course, it would be a piece of cake to do so in the exams, by just relegating myself to a support role so that Naruto and Sasuke could take the stage. But the easier route would be to not participate at all.
I sighed, and then blinked. When had it become so foggy?
Drawing my kunai in one hand and grasping a trio of senbons in the other, I watched my surroundings warily. Fog was not something that came easily to Konoha, and considering how fast it had seeped in, this was definitely unnatural.
And way too familiar a situation for comfort.
I scanned my surroundings carefully, before letting loose my senbon at one particular spot.
Bingo.
I smiled as a figure suddenly materialized and dodged out of the way of my projectiles, revealing himself to me.
He had a robust figure and wore enough clothing that covered all of him save the eyes. What caught my attention however was the umbrella slung behind his back and the hat that had a metal plate of four parallel vertical stripes on his head.
An Ame-nin? Here?
“State your business,” I growled, moving myself into a combat stance, kunai held out in front of me. “From the looks of it, you are an Ame-nin. Are you here for the Chunin Exams?”
“Chunin exams?” He laughed, his voice too muffled by the neck guard that stretched over his mouth to be distinctive. “Ha! I hardly care about that.”
“Oh? Then I suppose you are here without permission?”
“Damn right I am,” he sneered, drawing his kunai.
“So what do you want?”
“Your life!” He laughed, flinging his kunai at me, I braced myself to dodge, though I was surprised when it split into multiple copies midflight.
A Kunai variant of the Shadow Clone technique? I cursed as I realised that dodging out of the way would be impossible. Channeling the magic into my hand, I gestured, a green wall of green energy forming before me. Throwing the limb forward, I sent it into the kunai swarm, only to gasp in surprise as the kunais continued, passing it undisturbed.
That spell I used was solid enough to knock down a tree, and it had taken a good bit of energy out of my mana pool in the process. The only way that those kunai could have passed through it undisturbed meant that they were either capable of piercing through solid stone, or that they were not real.
Ah.
I scowled as I remained where I was, letting the kunai pass through me harmlessly. On the other hand, my spell continued forward and the Ame-nin jumped out of its trajectory before he would end up with quite a few broken bones.
“Genjutsu?” I muttered, more to myself than to him. Now that I thought about it, it did feel weird that this fog had no sense of moisture to it. Narrowing my eyes, I studied the Ame-nin as he pulled out a brace of shuriken.
“This one is not a genjutsu, however!”
I sighed. “You can stop it now, it won’t work.”
“What?”
“You are not real.” I told him. Sure, the get-up was convincing, the acting was definitely on point. But it was evident that what I was looking at was definitely a genjutsu. Certain areas were missing shadows, others were a little too flat to be three dimensional. And then there was the fact that the subtle Life-seeker spell I cast returned no life signs in front of me, but one right behind me.
Casually, I tossed my kunai in that direction. The figure dodged and the fog immediately dispelled. Guess it was a technique that required him to be standing still.
“Hello, Iruka-sensei.” I said as my former academy tutor smiled at me.
“Hi Kyoku-chan, I am glad to see you.”
Still, why would he be here, and using a genjutsu on me? Then I realised, there was only one reason why this would all be orchestrated.
“This is about the Chunin exams, isn’t it?”
“Excuse me?” He replied, a little surprised.
“A test, right sensei?” I gestured at the point where the illusionary Ame-nin had stood moments ago. “A foreign ninja wielding strong ninjutsu, someone that should outclass a genin like me.” Or he would have, if I did not have my magic. “You’re trying to convince me that the foreign ninjas are way better than me.” I felt a little indignant at that, it was as though they were telling me that I was not good enough.
“Got it in one, Kyoku-chan.” Iruka-sensei replied, though he looked rather concerned when he continued, “but on that note, are you sure you want to attend it?”
Yeah, he’s definitely saying that. I scowled, but did not let it show on my face. It was as if he thought that I would fail the test or something… It was like the world was telling me that it was too far out of my reach… just like...
“I can do it.” I declared curtly, looking up at Iruka-sensei in the face.
His face twitched, almost as if he wanted to grimace, but he forced out a smile in the end.
“Alright, since you had made up your mind.” He nodded towards me, “I’ll wish you the best of luck then.” He turned.
“Oh, and sensei?” I called out, causing him to look back at me, “mind if you kept my techniques a secret for now?” While I had no doubts that I would need to rely on my magic during the chunin exams, I would really much rather keep it a secret until it was absolutely necessary. Information was a crucial resource, after all.
He nodded and flickered away, leaving me alone in the empty training grounds.
[]
The next day, I spent the better part of the morning preparing my equipment. Shiratama, as per his recent behavior, hardly paid any attention to me, but he did at least arrange the cups in our usual cupboard in the way that told me to return alive.
It made me glad, somewhat.
Thanks mostly to the few C-ranked missions and that one A-ranked that I had completed, I had raked in enough ryous to give my equipment stores a major boost. Three storage scrolls now sat in my pouch on my waist, one for food, one for shuriken and senbons and the last one filled with wires and explosive tags.
I almost had an urge to pick up that useless diary from that dimensional pocket where I left it. But I resisted the urge. The thought of it still infuriates me, and I really, really did not want to have it in my sights for even a second.
Reigning in my anger, I left the house and made my way over to the Academy.
I arrived at the Academy an hour before the appointed time, and already I could see a multitude of shinobis from the other nations making their way inside. Taking a perch on the fence, I scanned the crowd carefully.
Majority were Konoha genins, that was for sure, some of them even looking as old as twenty, probably those that were still stuck in the Genin Corps. However, there were also plenty from Suna, a few from Ame that looked awfully like how Iruka had constructed his genjutsu the previous day. Kusa and Taki had at least one team each, and… Oto?
There were Oto-nin here?
Why were there Oto-nins here?
I looked at them as they walked into the building. Two boys, one girl, they looked awfully familiar. All of them were dressed in the standard getup of an Oto-nin, with a cloak and snakeskin scarf, though one of the boys and the girl had opted to forgo the standard issued facemask. The last boy also had his entire face bandaged.
They looked awfully familiar too… I grimaced. What could they be doing here?
“Kyoku-chan! You’re here!”
I looked back and forced a smile on my face when Naruto ran up, Sasuke following behind him.
“Knew you would turn up!” Naruto exclaimed.
“Yeah,” I replied, putting the thought about the Oto-nins to the back of my head, “glad I could make it too.” I lied a little, there was something fishy about this entire situation. Still, if there was a plan that would involve me, Shiratama-san would tell me. Considering that he hadn’t...
“Mmmh.” Sasuke nodded in approval, before looking at the academy, “shall we head in?”
The Academy was a huge building, but as the place where the Hokage’s office was located and where missions were issued, it was made to be a very defensible building to protect the secrets within its walls. The only proper way in was through the various doors and certain windows located on its perimeter and the inside was constructed to be like a maze, to confuse and delay anyone who attacked it. Back in the day when we were students here, we often had combat exercises executed within the academy itself to familiarise ourselves with urban combat. The fact that the walls and corridors were hardly damaged as a result of our fighting was a testament to how reinforced the structure was.
Still, as former students here, we navigated the place easily, though we did stop for a bit when we noticed a huge crowd outside a room on the second floor.
From the looks of it, it seemed as though a couple of kids were beating up some of the genins who had arrived. One of the genins on the floor, a boy with a bowl cut and dressed in some sort of green spandex suit, looked especially in a rough shape.
“Seriously,” One of the kids standing in front of the door scoffed, “this is the standard of the genins taking the exam this time?” He leered at the crowd, “all of you should just quit if that’s the case.”
What? What’s going on?
“Yeah,” the other added, “it’s about ten years too early for the likes of you to get past us.”
Get past them? But why? Weren’t we on the second floor? I looked around and then snorted when I noticed the sign on the classroom stating ‘301’.
Genjutsu. Right. Also, weren’t some of these genins originally from these Academy? How did they not notice that this was not the third floor? I eyed my teammates. From the looks of it, Sasuke had also figured it out too, though Naruto remained blissfully unaware of the actual situation.
“Please,” A girl said as she walked forward, “let us pass.”
One of the kids swung so fast that I just barely saw his moving arm, knocking her to the ground with a strike to the face.
“Horrible!”
“Aw, what was that?” One of the two mocked, “listen up, this is us being kind. Pack up and go home if that’s the level of skill that you are going to bring to the exam.”
“This exam is going to thrust you into many life or death situations.” The other added. “Even we had failed it three times straight. People that quit being shinobis after taking it, people that died during it, we’ve seen it all.” He sneered at us, “and are you sure that you’ve what it takes to be different from them?”
“Chunins are the captains of military teams,” the other declared, “the failure of a mission, the death of a comrade, those are their responsibilities. You sure you can handle it?”
“Yes.” Sasuke said as he stepped forward. I mentally sighed, should have known he would do something like this. A challenge to his ego was not something Sasuke would ever avoid, he was way too proud for that.
Though in hindsight, if he hadn’t stepped forward, I would have. So I suppose that makes me a hypocrite then.
“Now step aside, and let me through.” He continued, “I’m going to the third floor.”
“What is he talking about?” “Aren’t we on the third floor?” The surrounding crowd broke out in murmurs. The two kids in front of the door merely grinned.
“Heh,” One commented, “so you noticed.”
The world around us contorted slightly as the wide-area genjutsu was released, the illusion of the place being the third floor dissipating to reveal the class ‘201’ to the crowd.
“Well done.” The other said, “but all you did was see through it. You’ll still need to get pass us!” He leapt, launching a kick at Sasuke, who responded with one of his own.
Then there was a figure between them. I blinked as I noticed that it was the boy wearing the green spandex who was originally lying on the floor. His two hands out to his side were clutching the legs of Sasuke and the other genin.
That speed was insane, and the fact that he performed that feat at that velocity suggests that he was proficient enough to be that precise in his movements. That he could block two kicks with his bare hands suggests incredible endurance.
Looks like he was merely acting when he was knocked about earlier.
Sasuke smoothly slid his leg out of the other boy’s grasp, as did the one who initiated the attack, who quickly retreated with his companion. His look was analytical, as though he was studying the boy before him carefully.
“Hey,” Another boy wearing the Konoha Hitai-ate said to the spandex wearing boy, this one had the Hyuga’s byakugan and bore a slight resemblance to Hinata from our class. A close relative, perhaps? “I thought you said we shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves?”
“I know,” He replied as his eyes travelled to Sasuke, meeting the Uchiha’s gaze, “but there is something I want to do.” He pointed at Sasuke, “My name’s Rock Lee, and I want a showdown with you!”
Murmurs broke out in the crowd at this declaration.
“I am Uchiha Sasuke,” Sasuke replied, “And I accept.” That was when I decided that that was enough, reaching out to pull him back.
“No.” I deadpanned. “We’re going to classroom 301 now.” I nodded at Rock Lee coolly, “sorry, but a fight right now is not going to be in our best interests, but I won’t interfere if you choose to seek us out during the exams.”
And considering how confrontational the past Chunin exams were, that seems very likely.
“I agree with her,” The Hyuga said to his partner, “come, let us leave.” Rock Lee seemed to want to protest, but seemed to have thought better of it as he turned to follow his companion. The crowd following suit when there seemed to be nothing interesting left.
“I’d hold you to that.” He said to me before he left. I had a strong feeling that he meant it.
“Why did you stop me?” Sasuke said sulkily. “I could have taken him.”
“And reveal your techniques to an opponent that you hardly know anything about?” I countered, “not a good move. Besides we know that he’s proficient in taijutsu at the very least.”
“Very proficient.” Sasuke nodded.
“And all they know about us is that genjutsus are less effective on you.” I continued, “a good trade of information in our favor, I’d say.” I looked at him, “fighting him will only give him more information about you.”
“Fine.” He snorted, conceding to my side of the argument before smiling. I wouldn’t lie, it felt a little weird seeing him with such a content smirk on his face. “Still, it looks like this exam will be interesting.”
“Yeah, looks like it.” I muttered as Naruto nodded his agreement. My mind travelled to the group of Oto-nins that I had seen earlier.
Very interesting indeed.
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so this is the start. when will twilight come into play here??
repetition here
I’m not sure why those two were acting all high and mighty, especially since they failed three times before. Your multiple failures aren’t something you should use in an argument to belittle others. It could be the reason sure (I disavow that, but it makes sense), but not an argument to use to belittle others.
10257690
To be fair they aren't real genin, they are part of the exam and are meant to serve as an obstacle for those trying to enter.
10257943
Ah, thanks. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that episode, so I forgot.
10257602
I will call it now and say I won't be surprised if she becomes his girlfriend or sasuke's later down the line. As fo NaruHina, I think repeated exposure would probably force her to become more accustomed to speaking to naruto and might have led Hinata to confess to him earlier than in canon.
Will this story be as long as the manga it's crossing over with?
Why have you stopped replying to comments?
10330202
The part I was talking about didn't have anything to say about ninja-related stuff. It in reference to a game of shogi, followed by Sunset stating that Shiki is more significantly more intelligent than her, not anything to do with him being more knowledgeable.
Please update
Hello all,
Riposte here, sorry for disappearing like I did. Anyway, please refer to this blog for my current situation.