naruto ch 17

Chapter 17

 

 

 

Standing n the room filled with the Jounin that would be testing the Chuunin hopefuls Naruto nodded as Kakashi and Kurenai walked in, “Now the first part of the exam will be starting in two hours and I want to introduce Yuuhi Kurenai, the Jounin sensei of team eight from Konoha. She will be shadowing proctor team two as her students plus Sasuke take the exam, and since we have the two observers from Konoha with us this morning I’ll let them know the purpose of the first test is to test the candidates informational gathering skills and teamwork, both with familiar teammates and with strangers.”

 

Naruto let his eyes roam around the gathered candidates; he could see their excitement and determination. Smiling he stepped up to the front of the table and it suddenly got quiet, there were ninety six candidates this time around, the biggest group since he his ninth birthday, four years he mused as he looked at the hopeful expressions. Grinning he decided it was time to start phase one, “Welcome to this year’s Chuunin exam, I’m not going to give you some boring speech, just the outline of the first part of the test. You and your team will come up to the mission desk and accept your mission scroll and you have ten minutes to discuss it between yourselves before you must act. You have exactly one hour to complete the first part of the test, this year the first part of the test is in two parts, so if you fail one part you have a second chance, unless one of the proctors tags you as dead. Now line up and get your missions as you now have ten minutes before the clock starts.”

Kakashi noticed the proctors had spread out, handing each team a scroll and stepping back but watching the planning stage carefully, ‘intriguing’ he thought. Moving over to Naruto he stood next to him and glanced down, “So what is the goal of the first test, the last exam Konoha held Ibiki was the head proctor and his tests are designed around cheating, or as he calls it unobserved informational gathering, he then usually adds some mental twist to cut down the numbers.”

Raising an eyebrow Naruto glanced up over his shoulder, “Sounds like a sadistic crock if you ask me. Watching the groups rush out of the room he sat on the edge of the table so he could easily look at Kakashi, “the first part of the test is a simple information gathering mission. They were given a scroll with a target location and a scenario. They will have to plan a reconnaissance mission around the scenario and gather live intelligence from the volunteers who will be playing their parts; if they are unlucky they will be spotted and will have to retreat with what information they gathered without getting tagged as disabled or dead. Once they return they will be given a half hour break and then the scenarios will change, we will still be testing them on their information gathering skills, but this time under a war time condition scenario.”

“How many do you expect to pass?” Kakashi had to admit that was a much better way to test for gathering skills than a written test.

Standing up and grinning Naruto moved over to help Haku set up the room for a war time scenario, “I would be surprised if any of mine failed this part.”

Staring at Naruto's back in thought Kakashi thought back to the Dragon exam he witnessed and then some of the training that the Genin teams were put through, and then the Chuunin’s he had seen were doing intensive training too. Narrowing his eyes he did not like his conclusions, then again after reading the scroll Naruto handed him from the council he was so relieved to find out his village was still standing, “Naruto are you planning to declare war, is that why everyone here is training so hard?”

“NO…You know Kakashi there is a reason why this village will be the last one standing if the world outside goes crazy and kills each other off,” Naruto glanced up at the clock, “That does not even begin to consider that Iwa started testing us by attacking our Shinobi teams while in the field, crossing into other countries to do so. No, we train so hard and become the strongest not to dominate, but to protect our people from the madness that is building up outside our borders.”

Naruto almost sounded as if he knew things, maybe things the Hokage did not know and should, “You might be well hidden but I’m sure a well supplied army can cross the mountains to get to you.” Shaking his head as Naruto broke into laughter he had to be missing something.

Clutching his side as he coughed several times from laughing so hard Naruto knew this information needed to get out, “to enter the top third of the mountains surrounding the caldera valley means instant death. My father along with several summons created death seals they placed on top and through the middle of the mountains, anything with chakra once they enter the area will have it instantly drained away. And without chakra nothing can live, and the chakra taken reinforces the seals, the more attackers that hit the seals the stronger they get.”

“But the only things powerful enough to create those type of seals are…” Kakashi trailed off as he saw Naruto smile.

“Dragon summons, my families summons,” Naruto smiled as Kakashi shivered.

 

Nodding as he took the scroll Sasuke looked at team eight as he read it out loud, “This is a B-ranked surveillance mission. Travel to the pub at the end of dog lane in the land of apples,” looking up from the scroll he glanced at Naruto who was smiling, “leave it to my smart ass Senpai to come up with ridiculous names.”

“If we were in the field those could and would be used as codes to tell us where to go, my father has shared some of the ridiculous phrases used in coded messages with me as I grew up,” Shino placed his hands in his pockets and calmly watched Sasuke get his point and nod.

“There is a bandit that frequents the lucky three legged dog bar,” Sasuke stared at the paper in horror, in made no sense, “What does a three legged dog…How…”

Hinata cleared her throat, “Um…” looking down shyly she mumbled, “A three legged dog is missing one leg, so maybe it means the person we are supposed to find is missing a leg.”

Nodding as he thought about it Sasuke looked at the paper in a new light, “This thing is a test, to find out where and what we are supposed to do we need to decipher the clues. And if our bandit only has one leg that means if he is lucky he likes to gamble.”

‘Rawr…woof…bark’.

Kiba looked down at Akamaru in confusion, “What do you mean that…Oh, Akamaru says a dog lane is a road that turns, so this pub is located on a corner.”

Sasuke smiled as he nodded, “Well done, now let’s see what the last bit means.” Looking back at the paper he continued to read, “There is a trader that likes to stop by for a glass or three and gossip. Your mission is to pick out the juicy bits of gossip before meeting for the next festival.” Looking up he frowned as he looked at the clock, “the rest just has a map of this city and a spot marked out, so that must be our target pub.”

“I think I shall enjoy watching my father squirm as he tries to figure out this riddle. I may win the family betting pool for the most intriguing coded message,” Shino smirked at the thought; the illogic of the logic puzzle would drive his father nuts.

Kiba frowned as he scratched behind Akamura’s ears, “So something is supposed to happen at some type of festival and we are supposed to go to where the bad guys hang out and see if we can find out their plans. Unless we plan to write down everything they say,” looking at his team, ‘Do any of you have any idea of what type of information we are supposed to be discovering?”

Sasuke thought about it as he read through the mission real fast, “Wait,” excited he tapped the paper, “The first clue is on the first line, bandits, now if you add that to the word Traders and festival…well I think our target is part of a bandit ring and they plan to attack the next group of traders that will be coming to the festival.”

“It makes sense,” Shino pushed his glasses up, “the easiest time for a group of bandits to attack traders is before they get to the city where security will be in place.”

Glancing up at the clock Sasuke grinned, “If we leave now we will have sixty three minutes to complete this mission, an extra three minutes could mean everything.” Leading the group out the door they missed the smiles on the proctor’s faces.

Watching her team depart to start the next stage of the test Kurenai muttered, “Damn I hope Ibiki never hears of this test, the sadistic bastard would probable gleefully adopt it so he could fail more students.” Following the chief proctor of the test out of the room she grinned as she read passed next to the first line, pride in her students started to give her hope they just might pass this all the way with flying colors.

 

Naruto grinned as Sasuke and his team came bouncing in the room, all of them were highly excited, looking closely he could not see any sign of red paint anywhere on their body, he would ask the proctor what happened after the second part of the test started. “All right everyone, the second part of the first test will commence in half an hour. As you came into the room your proctor gave each of you a number, use that time to find and introduce yourselves to your new teammates for the last part of the test. You will be given a scroll in thirty minutes time and taken via summon circle to the outpost in the Wilds. Once there you are to secret yourselves from view and open and follow the mission on the scroll, but in general you will be infiltrating an enemy camp to retrieve the information on the golden scroll. Then you have to return to base, the outpost. You’ll have two hours to accomplish this phase of the test.”

Catching team two’s proctors eyes Naruto made a sign telling her he wanted a report, moving back towards the wall as the Chuunin hopefuls moved around finding their partners he looked up as she approached, “How did they do?”

“From what I was able to get out of Kurenai, this team of four has only been working together for two days, other than being classmates,” Kai smiled as she looked at her clipboard, “Old man Kiamichi was the volunteer for their test and he was completely fooled. At first he stumbled trying to start the scenario without any participants, but then he shrugged it off and acted true to character of the remainder of the time of the test. He came out of the building at the end all confused, but as soon as he spotted one of my team observing he laughed at being had.”

“So how did they get the information then?” Naruto was intrigued.

“It was by them leaving three minutes early, they got there before team came in to start the test, they were able to infiltrate the bar before the testers arrived and throw a Genjutsu over part of the hallway making it look like a wall, then the Aburame boy used his bugs to create small holes in the wall so they could listen in to the conversation. The restaurant kept the corner cleared for the testing proctors to use so it was easy to figure out where the group would sit.” Kai pointed to the group now that it was broken up, “It will be interesting to see how well they work with other teams, the Kiba boy is headstrong and tries to be the alpha male at times, though he controls it well.”

“Thank you Kai,” Naruto smiled and let her go back to work. Glancing at his shadow he quirked an eyebrow at Kakashi, “Well…”

“I’m surprised frankly, I never would have believed Sasuke could act as part of a team, even when I noticed the changes in him after Wave, I never would have thought he would act like a part of a team. To my mind and from what I saw it was such a foreign concept to him…how did you change him?”

“Can I trust you with what amounts to an S-Class secret, to keep this even from your Hokage, if I give you my word that by knowing it, it will not endanger your village?” Naruto finally looked over at Kakashi.

“I can, unless lives are on the line that information will help save, and then they will not know how I got the information,” Kakashi turned to face Naruto so he could see the earnestness in his face.

Nodding after a moment Naruto lowered his voice, “Sometime in the past the Uchiha clan crossed a demon and he…for the lack of technical terms he touched all of them with darkness. I used my mother’s family’s resources and cleansed the demon taint from him; his Kekkei Genkai is now back to where it is supposed to be.”

Reaching up and touching his Hitate that covered his Sharingan eye Kakashi relaxed as Naruto whispered over to him, “Relax Kakashi, the demon’s taint while affecting the eyes of the Uchiha was based in there DNA so your safe.”

Letting out his breath Kakashi tried to smile, “Well without your father here, you are the only expert on demons we have. And it helps being the jailer of the most powerful.”

“Ex-jailer,” Naruto grinned as he pushed off the wall, it was time to get the next phase underway, “The Kyuubi was finally killed two days before all of you arrived when I applied the third seal set and it was totally destroyed.”

Kakashi’s heart skipped a couple of beats as he processed the news Naruto shared with him, he was ecstatic and the Third would celebrate when he heard. Realizing he was being left behind he rushed to catch up.

 

Sasuke found the two people who were supposed to be his teammates on one side of the room, nodding as he approached, “team eleven?”

Nodding the taller of the two teens held out his hand, “Moshito Takai, weapons specialist, wind elemental affinity, my senpai is Tonaka-san.”

Nodding Sasuke smiled, “Uchiha Sasuke, hmm I’m not sure I have a specialty yet and I have a fire affinity and my Senpai is Naruto-sama. He will become my full time Senpai once my first child is born.” More information that was needed he thought, but he got a funny feeling in his chest as he repeated his first child being born.

Eyes showing his surprise and respect their last teammate introduced themselves, “Tannaka Hadori, I also have not specialized yet, other than my clans Kekkei Genkai of metal crafting, and like the rest of my clan I have an earth affinity, my Senpai is Yoshiro.”

“I probably should tell you I have a Kekkei Genkai too, I have the Sharingan,” Sasuke admitted as he followed his new team to one of the tables to get to know each other.

 

Spotting the tent in the distance Sasuke signaled the others to stop and pointed towards tent, scanning the trees around the clearing he was looking for those huge ass plains cats. Not seeing any he signaled the coast was clear before moving closer, where the hell those things Takai called cats come from and why were they the size of a cow. Wiping the sweat off his forehead Sasuke inched closer, as he glanced up above him scanning for those monstrous felines, there was some pretty fucked up wild life around here.

About to move forward he still as he felt the presence of the roving patrol coming closer, doing his best to mask his chakra like Kakashi taught him Sasuke tried to become one with the branch as he hardly dared to breathe. Eyes not moving he saw the fabric move on and he breathed as sigh of relief before sliding under the branch and dropping to the ground silently. Quickly making his way to his teammates he grabbed on to Hadori’s arm as he took the three of them into the ground. Appearing moment later rising out of the ground inside the tent Sasuke smiled as he looked around, moving towards the table he activated his Sharingan and held his arm up whispering, “Trapped.”

His team moved around the table inspecting it from every angle, yet they could not see a way to remove the scroll without setting off the traps. Hadori looked at the scroll in disgust, “If we could get close to the table we could unroll it and at least copy it.”

“I could try a small breeze,” Takai whispered as he bit his bottom lip in concentration, “I’m not sure I have that type of control of my wind yet though.”

Foot sinking into the sand Sasuke stared at the table itself it seemed it was made of metal, moving to eth side he winced as a small pebble lodged itself in the side of his shoe…wait a minute small pebble? Sasuke’s head snapped up as he looked around before dropping to his knees as he picked up some of the pebbly soli and let it slip through his fingers. It just might be possible he thought.

Takai checking the outside for guards whispered back, “What are you thinking Sasuke?”

“If I can unroll it, can one of you copy it from this far away?” Sasuke whispered as he let some of his chakra seep into the soil to see if his idea was possible.

“Yes,” Hadori pulled a blank scroll out of his pouch along with a pen, moving over to the edge of the line they set as being safe from the traps he climbed on top of a chair and nodded, “I can see clearly.”

Sending more chakra out into the soil Sasuke concentrated on sending it up the table leg, this was going to be very hard, “Once I do this I might need help getting out of here, I’m using a lot of chakra.”

Takai moved closer and looked at the sweat beading on Sasuke’s face, he did not know what he was doing but…”You open that scroll without setting off the traps I’ll carry your skinny ass out of here.”

Nodding Sasuke closed his eyes as he sent more chakra out, feeling the weight of the table in the back of his mind he ignored it as he concentrated on feeling for the scroll, finally feeling a connection to the scroll he pushed more chakra out, instead of causing the object he was linking his chakra to rise and circle him he was causing it to unroll.

Hadori saw the scroll start to unroll and quickly started copying as fast as he could, sparing glance at his teammate he saw the back of his shirt was getting sweat soaked, he must have been using an incredible amount of chakra.

Hand sliding deeper into the sand Sasuke felt a hand steady him, “Quickly I can’t hold on …for…long.” Even with his eyes closed he was seeing spots and feeling the rush of heat in his hand from releasing that much chakra.

Jumping off the chair Hadori rolled the scroll up and secured it, “I’m done…Sasuke you can release whatever you’re doing now…” not getting a response Hadori moved over and whispered “Takai…”

Sending his senses out Takai found no one around yet, but the guard would be here in a few minutes and they needed to leave. Leaning down he blew gently in Sasuke's ear causing him to lose his concentration. The two froze as the sound of the scroll rolling itself back up sounded loud in their ears, their comrade collapsed between them as soon as the scroll returned to normal.

Moving quickly Hadori grabbed on to his teammates again and slowly sank into the ground, paying attention to erasing the evidence that they had been there as he used his skill to swim them out of the clearing. About to rise back to the surface he felt the roots of the tree they were hiding in tremble, waiting until they stilled he quickly brought them to the surface.

Air…plentiful wonderful air. Taking very shallow breaths so as not to be discovered they spent a few minutes getting their breath back and making sure Sasuke was breathing before moving on.

Takai picked Sasuke up, placing him over one shoulder before nodding at Hadori, jumping into the trees they moved away as quickly as possible, only stopping when they were halfway back to the base camp.

“He’s not as light as his skinny ass looks,” Takai gently lowered Sasuke to the ground.

Chuckling Hadori dig through his pouch, “Ah I knew I packed one of these in here just in case.” Taking out a small white pill he pried Sasuke’s mouth open and placed the pill between his teeth before gently closing the mouth and crushing the pill releasing the contents.

“Soldier pill,” Takai nodded, “It will get us through this section of the exam, just make sure he eats as soon as possible when we get back to the base.” Hearing some groaning Takai looked down as Sasuke stirred.

Blinking his eyes Sasuke grabbed his head, “OH, note to self need more chakra practice before trying that again.” Sitting up he wearily looked around and saw they were on the edge of the plains, cringing at the thought of those cats again he looked at his teammates questioningly, “I take it we got what we needed?”

“Thanks to you,” Hadori smiled, “just what did you do back there anyway?”

Still light headed Sasuke felt his energy returning to him quicker than it should be, “How…” lifting his arm he looked at it and saw the shaking slowly stop.

“A soldier pill,” Hadori looked around; they needed to move out, “We need to get moving were halfway back and only have a short amount of time left.”

Standing up Sasuke felt strength returning to his body, clenching his fists he nodded, he would not let his teammates down.

Jumping a small boulder Takai glanced at Sasuke running next to him, the base camp in sight in the distance, “When we get to the base you need to make sure you eat. Otherwise the soldier pill will start using your body to fuel the restoration of your reserves, and if that happens you’ll lose muscle that you will have to rebuild through time and effort.”

Wincing at that explanation Sasuke nodded before sprinting towards the safety of the base camp. Spotting some of the tall grass moving he raised his hand and hissed, “DOWN.” Activating his Sharingan he looked around for chakra signatures, Naruto had given him a scroll on some of the useful aspects of his Sharingan his clan had overlooked or forgotten. Spotting chakra outlines in the distance he whispered to Hadori and Takai who had made their way over to him, “Two of those damn cats, young ones most likely to be that stupid to come this close to the outpost.”

Picking his head up Hadori gauged the distance to the door and nodded, it was just doable, “If we can’t go over the ground, why not underground.” Grinning at he smiles he got back Hadori flipped through several hand seals and they melted into the ground.

Launching themselves up from under the earth team eleven rushed the last few feet to the door and entered safely with smiled of relief. Handing their scroll over to the proctor who had sent them on their mission they laughed in relief as the adrenalin left their system.

Sasuke spotting a table set up against the back wall nudged his teammates and headed for the food.

Naruto watched as the teams slowly trickled in, half an hour before the end of the first test Sasuke trailed in, laughing and joking around with his temporary team. So unlike how he used to be in Konoha he thought wistfully, friends his age were so few and far between that he missed socializing with his age mates at times. Eyes roaming around the room he spotted Shino examining something in a clear cage, must be some new bug he found, looking over to the window he saw Hinata leaning heavily against the frame with her eyes closed. She needed to work on her stamina and chakra it looked like. Looking around he did not spot Kiba anywhere, glancing up at the clock he saw there was still time. A few minutes later he heard a yelp from outside and chuckled as the last team entered the room slamming the door behind them with Kiba mumbling about damn cats.

Chuckling as Kiba handed a gold scroll to the proctor by the door, still bitching about damn cats and freaking hard tests as he headed for the table with food, Naruto looked at the score card he had been given. It looked like everyone passed the first exam, “Alright if I can have your attention for a moment,” he called out. When he saw everyone looking at him including Hinata through tired eyes he grinned, “Congratulations on passing the easy part.” Grinning evilly as he received a scowl back from Kiba, “For the next two hours you can rest and eat lunch…eat as much as you want to help replace your chakra reserves. Because in two hours Hell will be brought to Earth and all of you will be going through it.” Laughing evilly Naruto motioned for the proctors to follow him out of the room.