Naruto ch 19

I wrote this chapter while at work today, or at least parts of it. And I kept getting looks from people as I would break down into giggles as I built up some of the scenes inside this chapter. Of course the scenes won’t be expanded on until next chapter in the playbacks, but I will be willing to hang a no drink while reading warning on this chapter.

 

 

Chapter 19

 

 

Ah another quiet day the Third contemplated from the balcony of the Hokage tower, the sun was rising and the streets were quiet, the perfect time of the day…his smile froze as he saw Anbu rushing the west gate from all over the village. Dropping his head with a sigh he headed back to his desk and his viewing globe, putting it on top of his desk his eyes widened after tuning it to the western gate and seeing another one of Naruto's dragon warriors at the gate, this one was wearing dark green. Rubbing the side of his head he looked at the picture of the fourth up on the wall, “Minato I swear if you weren’t already dead…”

 

Kiba stopped moving as he spotted the sun start to rise, volunteering for last guard duty had been a spot of genius on his part. Or that was what he as telling himself as he went over to a tree and joined Akamaru who was lifting his leg for his morning ritual. Cracking his neck he went back to camp and quickly woke everyone up as he passed around some of the smoke jerked meat before handing the bundles of smoked and dried leftovers so his teammates could seal the leftovers in their scrolls.

Finishing his breakfast quickly Shino walked to the edge of the clearing intent on relieving himself. Finished and fastening his pants back up he spotted some movement out of the corner of his eye and froze in awe, shivering in anticipation of what he was witnessing.

Sasuke following the same path Shino used so he too could go to the bathroom before they set off was on his way back when he saw Shino frozen, his body was doing something strange. Moving closer he slowed down when he saw several hundred of very strange long nosed bugs coming out of their cocoon’s, looking closer at Shino he backed up, eyes wide in shock. No…tell me he is not…he is,” shaking his head Sasuke backed away slowly so he could give Shino some privacy, the last time he had seen someone’s body doing something like that was just after a serious session where someone had helped him out by rubbing a certain part of his body to the most heavenly pleasure. Shaking his head he slowly went back to camp, who would have thought the quiet logical boy was so kinky.

Ready to go and still no Shino, Sasuke got an evil grin on his face, “Hey Kiba can you go and get Shino so we can leave.”

Looking up from where he was playing with his pup Kiba grinned, “Sure thing, knowing Shino he probably spotted some new interesting bug and got sidetracked.

Shaking with pent up laughter Sasuke watched Kiba bounce into the forest, you have no idea Kiba, you really don’t. Giggling at the shrieking sound coming from behind them Sasuke waited until his two teammates returned, glancing down at Shino to see if he was going to need to change his pants. Chuckling at the sour look being directed at Kiba he shook his head, “Come one let’s head out.

 

Waiting patiently the Third lit his morning pipe as the Hokage tower came to life for the morning assignments, standing up he bowed his head slightly as his Anbu escorted their visitor into his office, “Good morning Dragon-sama, how can Kohona help you today.” And please don’t let it be as nerve wracking as last time one of your comrades was dispatched to my village.

Nodding Kaitsu held out a small package, “Greetings Hokage-san, I am known as the Forest Realm Dragon, and Uzumaki-sama has asked that I deliver this tape for you to watch, unfortunately I will have to return with it after you have viewed it. He also bade me to answer any questions that come up form what you might see and hear from this tape,” pausing to watch the small frown appear on the Hokage’s face he smiled and knew that his mask was following suit and it would look sinister. “I am also to pass along the message that Uzumaki-sama thanks you for considering his people for your upcoming Chuunin exams, and he will most likely send one or two teams to compete.”

Sitting down the Third relaxed before nodding with a smile, “I see, please tell Naruto-sama that I am happy that he will be sending some of his Shinobi to our exams, I will look forward to seeing just what his Genin’s can do against ours.” Hiding the fact the feral grin that crossed the dragons face left him very uncomfortable the Third stood up and motioned for his guest to follow, “There is a proper machine in eh council chamber we may use, this way please.”

Ignoring a few of the clan heads that had rushed to the council chambers when they heard that another one of the Dragon Warriors had stopped to talk to Hokage-sama Kaitsu palmed the original tape for the second one he had been given to play if the Third was not alone. Placing it into the machine he started it before stepping to one side.

 

An image of Naruto popped up on the screen and it waved, “Hey old man…” chuckling as the background around Naruto came into focus everyone in the chamber could see Naruto sitting behind a large stone desk with Kakashi and Kurenai off to one side.

“Seriously now Sandaime Hokage, greetings from Uzumaki of Whirlpool,” Naruto nodded as he sat back in the chair. “By now you must have realized that the Dragons of the Realms can get to most places in the elemental nations in hours if not minutes.”

 

“That is true I left Uzumaki-sama’s office forty minutes ago,’ Kaitsu nodded from next to the television.

 

“I first want to thank you for allowing Whirlpool to join this year’s Chuunin exam being hosted in Konoha,” Naruto smiled and waited a moment, “Our own Chuunin exam started yesterday and there might be a few of our Genin teams that will be disqualified due to injury, so I thank you for giving them a second chance by attending yours. “

 

They were amazed when the picture widened and they could see the vast city beyond the windows behind Naruto, several of the clan leaders looked amongst themselves and nodded, they had made the right decision for their clans.

 

“Now I probably should get to the point as I have more paper work than normal to get out of the way this morning,” Naruto pointed to the four very thin stacks of papers on the corner of his desk.

 

The Third narrowed his eyes as he studied the slim stacks and almost let the groan that bubbled up escape his lips, Naruto was both lord and Hokage, not only that but his city was almost three times the size of Konoha and that was what he considered paperwork.

 

“The reason for a video instead of a message is for the simple reason of having my proctors record the first phase of our Chuunin exam so you can see the quality and thoroughness of the test.” Naruto grinned from behind his desk, “And there is a very good reason, not the one some of you might think. I have allowed Team eight and Sasuke to enter this year’s Chuunin exams in whirlpool and if they pass I would like you to honor their achievement and promotion, and I know the only way this can happen is if you can see with your own eyes the quality of our test and for you to see how well your Genin’s do in the test.”

“The first exam had three phases; the first was to test their intelligence and problem solving capability by decoding a message coded in a riddle. The second phase then had the team take that information and use it in a real time scenario to gather and return with information from a enemy base.” Naruto smiled widely, “in this case the enemy they had to uncover was the kingpin of a local bandit ring and they had to spy on his meeting to find out the next target without getting caught.”

Crossing his hands on top of his desk Naruto looked eager, “The third phase was designed as a war time scenario, the teams were split up and paired into three man teams with people that have never worked with each other before and given a mission not infiltrate and retrieve the information on a scroll in the enemy commanders tent.” Chuckling Naruto tilted his head at Kakashi, “I’ve been told the testing area set up for ht third phase of the first exam would be equivalent to your training ground forty four, the forest of death.”

“The purpose of the first test was to let the hopefuls showcase their information gathering abilities in a real life test, along with their intelligence and teamwork.” Naruto leaned back in his chair, “The first exam took place over three hours. All of your teams passed well within and near the top of the range.” Pausing to give the rooms occupants time to mutter amongst themselves Naruto sat there with a grin his face.

After several minutes Naruto finished up, “Right now they are eighteen hours into the four day second exam. They are to showcase their survival skills by being thrown into our Wilds with limited and unfair resources and must travel from one side to the pickup point. This should showcase their tenacity and several other skills. When that section of the test is done I shall send you another video with highlights of your Genin over the four days period. Of course I’ll also let you know if they have passed that section.”

 

Kaitsu paused the tape before looking at the assembled group before addressing the Hokage, “The rest of the tape would be highlights of your Genin showcasing their skills. Do you have any questions before we move on to that portion?”

Surprised and secretly please the third glanced over at the assembled clan heads and noticed several interesting expressions, chiefly the confused and hilarious expression on Hyuuga Hiashi’s face. ‘I will reserve judgment for now, but if your test is adequate and our Genin prove skillful enough I will honor their promotions as if they had traveled to another village to take the test.”

 

“AHHHHH,” Kiba jumped back as threw another Kunai at the attacking animal. Ducking the blast of fire coming from another one of the animals he scooped up Akamaru and took to the trees along with his team. Dropping to the wide branch and panting heavily he looked over at his singed teammates, “What…What, are those things?”

“I don’t believe it,” Sasuke looked down in disbelief, “Their climbing the trees. How in all that is holy can something that big climb a tree.”

Sweating slightly Shino looked down before quickly grabbing a panting Hinata and leaping to the next tree, “Very…very…”

“Big ass ants,” Sasuke shook his head before helping Kiba up, “We need to be elsewhere.”

Looking skyward before he leapt to the next tree Kiba growled out, ‘Naruto I’m so going to punch your lights out when I see you.”

 

Chuckling Naruto sat back as Aki waved as he rushed off to the Academy for classes after giving him  a hug, watching the boy run down the street he looked over at Haku with a grin on his face, “We get some practice before our own kids…” stopping Naruto sat up and looked around.

“Is something the matter Naruto-kun,” Haku slid his hand down the side of the couch and into the hidden kunai pouch just in case.

“I’m not sure,” Naruto looked around before shaking his head, “It’s nothing, all of a sudden I had this sudden urge to sneeze.”

“Ah,” Haku giggled as he stood up, he needed to get with the girls for morning training, “Someone must have been talking about you.”

 

After answering everyone’s questions Kaitsu un-paused the tape and it picked up at the beginning of the test. They sat there in stunned silence as the team worked out the meaning of the note, the Third looked over at certain clan heads as they watched the tape seeing the undisguised pride on at least two of the faces. Turning back he noticed the group take off running out of the testing room several minutes early.

After watching a very impressive display the Hokage watched the end of the tape where Kakashi and Kurenai spoke up.

 

“Hokage-sama, from what I have seen and been told so far,” Kakashi leaned forward, “the Whirlpool Chuunin exam is a level above what we had planned to put the candidates through.”

Kurenai nodded as she glared from the television set, “Under no circumstances should Ibiki be allowed to know what happened in the first exam, if he would find out what happened the man would change his style to the point we would never have any Genin graduate to Chuunin.”

 

As the television was turned off the third openly chuckled as he nodded, “He would indeed find himself drooling and taking copious notes from watching this video, it is a good think you are not allowed to leave it Dragon-sama.”

 

Later that afternoon after looking at the stretch of desert from the forest edge Sasuke jumped back in horror as he saw the trees full of cow sized lizards and the things they were doing,  “HOLY MOTHER OF GOD…” seeing the looks on his teammates faces he yelled the only thing he could think of, “RETREAT….”

Half a mile further into the forest the team collapsed near a hollowed out group of gnarled roots. Hinata was still in a daze as she looked over at Shino who had taken off his coat, taking a sip of water she looked around not mothering to remember to be shy, “Were…were those lizards doing…”

Rubbing his eyes on horror Kiba yelped out, “No…No…No, please don’t repeat that. It was horrible I tell you…The things those lizards were doing…AHHHHH.”

Shino nodded as he looked at his teammates, “I did not know some of those sexual positions were even possible.”

Sasuke blushed as he shook his head, “I…I…give me a bandit any day, not this section of hell.”

“Indeed, I would have harsh words with Naruto once we made it back to camp, if not for the fact he did warn us we would be entering hell on earth,” Shino sighed as he shuddered from the horror he had seen.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead Hinata looked down and whispered out loud, “I never thought I liked naughty things like that.” Clapping her hand over her mouth she looked horrified as her head snapped up to see the shocked looks on her teams faces, she said that out loud.

Giving the girl a strange look Sasuke got to his feet, “I think this rates as an emergency,” throwing a look over his shoulder towards the edge of the forest he shivered. “Everyone pop a soldier pill and grab a ration bar and let’s get out of here.”

The group of four literally ran through the trees leaving a blur behind them, four hours later they dropped to the ground exhausted with the mountains in sight finally.

Panting Sasuke lifted his head, “H…Hina…Hinata, do you see anything close by.”

Pushing off the ground Hinata had to resort to using seal to activate your eyes, she was that tired and exhausted. “Um…Nothing…close by,” closing her eyes she fell backwards to the ground.

“Go…Good,” Sasuke still panting untied his canteen so he could wet his dry mouth, “We’ll stay here a couple of hours before moving on.”

Half an hour later and draining two canteens of water Sasuke froze as he heard a sound not far off, it sounded like something crashing to the ground. Looking at his tired teammates he stumbled to his feet and Kunai in hand went over to the bushes, slowly parting them he saw another one of the teams falling to the ground. Rushing through the branches he reached their side and quickly checked all three for a pulse. Finding one he let out s sigh of relief before he noticed one of the teens was covered in a whitish substance, sniffing the air he recognized that salty smell. Moving back to the bushes he stopped before moving back and arranging the exhausted teens so they would be comfortable and easily defended. Taking one of the canteens from off one of them he dribbled water into each of their mouths, emptying the canteen between them.

Satisfied he had done all he could for now and that it had only taken a few minutes he rushed back through the bushes before the proctors who had to be watching them decided he had taken too much time, after all they would need to be checked again shortly. Making his way back to camp he noticed Shino had sat up and was keeping watch, “Another team collapsed not too far from our campsite, they don’t look injured, but then again I’m not a medic-nin. And the one was covered is a salty…”trailing off as his mind finally told him what the smell was, and where he had seen the liquid before through a very vivid memory. “NO SHIT…” craning his head around back to where he had left the other team his eyes were wide in wonder. “We are so lucky to get away from those lizards.”

Without moving the rest of his body Kiba dug his hand into his pouch and pulled out a few white pills, “Maybe we should give them a soldier pill, if it worked for you Sasuke it should work for them.”

“Um…Well,” Hinata pushed herself upright, “the thing is…if they are to drained and unconscious how are they going to swallow them.”

“Crush them up and put it in the water,” Sasuke pulled his sealing scroll out, there had been some small cup like packages in eh first aid stuff they could use. “I was able to get them to drink some water pretty easily, so if we crushed them up and mixed them into water we could let them drink it. Then we can leave them the rest of our cooked rabbit to eat, we can hunt again later.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Shino pulled his canteen out after grabbing the three pills from Kiba. Crushing them into fine powder he mixed water into them in the small containers before looking at Sasuke, “how many minutes do you think you spent with them before returning?”

Thinking about Sasuke picked up one of the cups, “It couldn’t have been more than five minutes, so we should have around ten minutes to make sure this works. If at the end of that time one of them doesn’t start to rouse we’ll have no choice but to fire off their flare.”

Following Sasuke through the bushes and being careful not to spill the contents of the cups Shino nodded, “That sounds agreeable. And if need be I will stay until the rescue team arrives, that way only one of us will be disqualified since we have a four man team.”

Shaking his head Sasuke entered the clearing and went to the closest teen, lifting his head he started to dribble the liquid into his mouth, “I don’t think it works that way Shino. We were made a team, four people or not. We can always move out of the clearing and patrol until the rescue team meets up and tell them what we did without entering the clearing and being disqualified.”

“Agreed,” Shino looked at the teen he was tending and the sticky substance that was covering him, “Do you think this substance is poisonous?”

Giggling Sasuke shook his head, “Only if you swallow wrong…”

Throwing his dark haired teammate a questioning look as he finished pouring the restorative into the teen’s mouth, Shino moved on to the last teen as Sasuke pulled the last of the meat out of his scroll and set it up next to three canteens of water.

Hearing stirring come from behind him Sasuke felt relief, breaking off a small piece of the rabbit jerky he moved over and helped the disoriented Genin up, “Here, eat this. We had to use a soldier pill on each of you to wake you up, and we left quite a bit of jerked rabbit and three canteens of water for you. So remember to eat as soon as you can.” Looking into the eyes of the teen he nodded, he was awake enough just not functioning yet. “Remember to eat as soon as you can.”

Smiling as the teen took the meat, chewing it as fast as he could Sasuke nodded to Shino, “We’re still under our time limit and they look like they are going to recover.” Seeing the other two teens stirring he looked at the first who was watching him with clear eyes, “We will be in the next clearing for another hour, if you need further aide shout for us or use your flare.”

Waiting until the teen waved his thanks Shino and Sasuke rushed out of the clearing hoping they had not gone over the time limit. Making their way back to camp he looked at Hinata and Kiba who looked a little livelier, “I’ve been thinking we might be going about this the wrong way. We still have two days left until the end of the exam; if we finish as soon as possible we can rest up back in the base camp or Whirlpool, not here in the wilds. It would be easier to work on your Jutsu’s in a safe environment. But I’ll leave it up to all of you which way we go.”

“Safe,” Kiba answered quickly, “I’m all for doing things away from oversexed lizards and giant ants, and let’s not forget the man eating flowers.” Kiba’s voice had climbed higher as he finished.

“I…I agree,” Hinata looked up, “it would be easier to practice without worrying about the next attack or cuddly creatures morphing into monsters.”

“We can safely take one more soldier pill if we finish off the ration bars; we can divide the last three bars into four pieces.” Shino looked at the mountains and the green smoke in the distance, “We should be able to get to the pickup point and food in three hours if we leave now.”

Nodding his agreement Sasuke went back into the bushes and yelled out, “ARE ALL OF YOU OKAY NOW, IS IT SAFE FOR US TO LEAVE YOU.”

“GO ON…AND THANKS…”

Taking one of the small pills out of the bottle Sasuke gratefully accepted the piece of ration bar as he slipped the pill in his mouth and swallowed. Quickly munching down the bar with obvious distaste he washed it down with the rest of his water before looking at his teammates and smiling, “Shall we.”

 

Accepting the tape back from Kaitsu Naruto smiled as the Dragon guardian removed his helm, “Those things are so cool. Chakra reflective crystal makes those masks a work of art,” looking up at the grinning Kunoichi he tilted his head, “So, how did they take it?”

“Very well Uzumaki-sama,” Kaitsu took the offered seat, “The Hokage has accepted that if his Genin’s pass our test they will honor the promotion. He was mostly guarded and not forthcoming with much, on the other hand the clan leaders were very amusing to watch. Their expressions were comical,” Pulling a scroll out of her pocket she passed it over. “As I was leaving Aburame Shibi slipped me this scroll to deliver to you.”

“Thank you Kaitsu for a job well done, I think I’ll keep them guessing by sending Roka tomorrow,” Naruto chuckled as he put the scroll on his desk to read later, “Was there anything else I need to know about?”

“No Uzumaki-sama,” Kaitsu stood and bowed her head slightly.

“Alight then, enjoy the rest of your day,” Naruto waved before looking back at the scroll, wondering what was so important that Shibi would endanger himself this way.

 

Dropping to the ground in front of the group of Proctors Kiba huffed a few times before looking up from all fours, “Are we the first in?”

Chuckling the proctor got up from near the fire to look closer, “Afraid not, but you are second in, you missed the other group by ten minutes.”

Chuckling Sasuke looked back over his shoulder, “We ran into another team three hours hard run back that way,” he pointed over his shoulder, “Or I should say they practically dropped in our clearing in exhaustion. We did our best for them and they seemed to be okay, but I thought you should know.”

“What now?” Shino hobbled over to the fire, his muscles protesting any movement.

Pretty sure this group had overdone it on soldier pills the proctor nodded, “Now we send you to the dorms, there is a small hot spring there you can use to relax your abused muscles. And plenty of food to eat, I suppose the next two days are yours to relax and recuperate while the rest of the teams make their way in.”

Looking at his teammates Sasuke grinned and nodded, “Thank you, I guess it is time for us to go, we could use a long hot shower.”

 

 

 

Naruto ch 18

Chapter 18

 

 

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.

Walking out of the room Naruto started for the steps to the second floor where all the Jounin sensei’s had been watching the progress of their students so far. Stepping into the room he grinned like a demented fools as Kurenai was muttering to herself over in the corner by the window, “Okay people now that all of the teams have passed the first event let’s take a moment to talk about how they did and the weak points that your students need to work on. So who wants to go first,” Naruto pulled a chair around and sat his clipboard on the chair in front of him so he could take notes.

After hearing several of the Jounin ask the proctors to tell what and how their teams did Kurenai looked up, “Now I was with the team two proctors for the first phase, but how did my Genin’s fair during the war phase, I know from watching the door Kiba came in from the test last?”

One of the proctors moved from the wall, “I watched over team twenty nine which had your Kiba as part of the group, teamwork wise they worked stiffly together until they confronted danger, after that the teamwork meshed. I think it was a factor of the pack mentality your Genin has, I noticed the dog. Their trap detecting skills need work, if it was not for the dog who I believe is named Akamaru all three would have set off more than one trap. They relied too heavily on the canine aspect of the team, which if he was injured would be detrimental to the mission. Their tardiness came about from not only running into the plains cats once, but four times, I believe the cats were pissed at smelling a canine in their territory. One the plus side with the help of the canine teammate they were able to disable all the traps or find ways around them so they could grab the scroll, though I would have preferred them to copy the scroll and leave the original so no one would know the information was compromised, but that thinking has not set in yet with any of the Genin’s.”

Nodding with a smile Kurenai looked at Kakashi and motioned for him to ask about his student.

“Sasuke came in next to last of the group from Kohona, how did he and his team do?” Kakashi was curious and very surprised with how different the exam process was here, the Jounin sensei’s actually got good feedback on what worked and did not work during the test and they got to watch.

“I was the one who watched team eleven,” the proctor moved to the center of the group, “If we based the exam solely on this test all three of them would pass. Seeing the shocked and slightly pleased looks he nodded, “Sasuke has learned to use his Sharingan to sense chakra signatures, so we had to be creative in hiding from the team and still keep them protected.” Smiling at the one eyed Jounin sensei with amusement he nodded towards Naruto-sama, “They made good time, though they did come into contact with one small tribe of plains cats on the way, though I was wondering if your Genin Konoha-sensei would need to change his pants after coming face to face with one of the cats. From there they made good time to the clearing where they utilized excellent use of their skills. I believe the Tannaka boy surprised me next he used a earth based Jutsu to take his teammates with him from outside the clearing into the center of the tent. Sasuke used his Sharingan once more to detect all the traps and stopping them from setting off the traps.”

“Then he did something strange, something I’ve not seen before, in fact if I did not know better I would assume he was a Tannaka, your Genin used his chakra somehow to bypass all the traps and unroll the scroll, allowing the others to both guard and copy the scroll. Whatever technique he used though left him exhausted, Tannaka once again melted them into the ground and held them under as the sentry stopped to check the clearing before moving on, once they appeared back on the surface they needed a few minutes to catch their breath, literally before Takai picked up the unconscious Uchiha to the edge of the plains. A quick soldier pill later and the trio rushed to the base camp only to be stopped where we had Tori’s cubs staked out. Sasuke sensed them and once more they used the under earth technique to make it to safety.” Stopping to smile he looked over at proud sensei’s, “Instead of celebrating Takai and Hadori made sure Sasuke’s first moment inside involved eating to counteract the soldier pill. All in all what we want in our Chuunin’s, but we shall have to see what they do in the next two tests.”

Moving away from the wall one of the female proctors looked at Kurenai, “I was in charge of watching the team that had your Aburame clan member in it. While he appeared at time inattentive to his surroundings as he examined some bug here or there he proved otherwise when confronted with some tree jumpers making their way towards his comrades. He also proved useful using his companions to switch the scroll out with another. While the team did well working together efficiently they really did not show true creative thinking or many of their skills, hopefully further into the test they will truly show what they are capable of.”

“Which leaves me as the chief proctor of the team that had your Hinata on it,” referring to his notes as he moved to the center of the room, “overall the team performed well within Chuunin levels, though your Genin has some confidence issues. The type of confidence problem she portrays in my experience comes from an abusive home environment. It would be best to remove her from such and build her confidence up by positive reinforcement. That said,” he noticed the anger in the Jounin’s eyes she fights with her family style which does not suite her as it is the form for those that have a longer reach than she does, she instead should chose the female form, the form developed for the females of the Hyuuga clan.”

“I’ve never heard of another style with the Hyuuga’s,” Kurenai looked up, considering the assessment of her student she had to agree that Hinata’s reach did not match the style.”

Moving back to his place by the wall Kurenai tuned the rest of the reports out as she thought about how to best help her student.

 

Glancing up at the clock as the Jounin’s mingled with the proctors to get more in depth information Naruto's mind went back to the scroll that had been delivered from the Hyuuga clan, in effect it was offering Hinata as a, scrunching up in thought…he really needed to read that scroll again. The head of the Hyuuga clan was offering his oldest daughter up to be a vessel for his children; of course he used fancy words stating it was for the betterment of the two countries relationship. The problem was the Byakugan was a body based Kekkei Genkai and he could not allow that to infuse into his clans bloodlines, on the other hand was the report from one of the mind walker’s clan. The problem was what to do, maybe he needed…There had to be a solution Dammit. Looking out the window as the cubs were led away his thoughts drifted back to the scroll Shino had given him; there were branch family members listed there. What if he used underhanded tactics to rescue more of the branch family and set them up with their own compound, he would talk it over with Haku later tonight, it just might work.

Sighing as he glanced back at the clock he nodded it was time, “Okay folks the second part is about to start, the proctors for the second exam should be in place by now.” Leading the way down the stairs Naruto smiled evilly as he walked into the large common room.

Moving to the front of the room Naruto grinned as the silence descended in a wave, by the time he had reached the front everyone was silent and attentive, “Well since none of you decided to run away from my little warning let’s get started.” Tapping the map next to him he held back the sudden urge to cackle madly and rub his hands together, “As you can see we are located due west of the mountain range. In fact at the base of the mountain is a small cavern that we placed a summoning circle in, and to pass the second phase of the test you just need to get there. Of course that means you have to traverse a good portion of the wild to do so, it should take you about two and half days to get there if you run full out and don’t stop. Seeing as that is not possible for Genin or Chuunin we have given you four days to make the journey. Before you leave each one of you will be given a filed scroll and a flare, if you need to attract the attention of a proctor shoot up the red flare and help will arrive.” Moving to the side so everyone could stare at the map he grinned at their growing horror, and team eight plus Sasuke watched the others faces and became very fidgety.

“One final thing before I leave,” Naruto waited a moment, “We have a policy of no deaths during this test. If you fail to help your teammates if injured you fail. If you leave behind a teammate due to injury you fail. If you pass by a team in over their heads and on the edge of death and don’t call for help you fail.” Stepping forward he Growled out, “Which means that if you don’t give a shit for your fellow Shinobi your ass will be sitting in front of my integrations specialists explaining yourself…there is not a single enemy Shinobi in this test so do not, under no circumstances are you to allow a death. Oh and just so you don’t try to team up into one massive team and move through the Wild, you may not meet with another team except in an emergency for more than fifteen minutes every six hours. And when you are prepared you will be summoned to an area along the eastern branch of the river to start with, so your not to close together.”

Seeing everyone understood the seriousness of the test Naruto nodded, glancing at the clock he waited until the second hand went around one more time, “The test start NOW…” backing away from the table full of maps he smiled as the Konoha team glanced his way with worry in their eyes.

 

Gathering one of the maps Sasuke moved over to grab the sealing scroll of supplies and the flare, before moving to one side to wait for the rest of his team. Glancing down at the map he was not reassured when he saw the note near the coast, ‘Here Be Monsters’. Glancing back at his team then over to where Naruto was smiling that evil smile of his next to Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-sensei, nope not reassured at all.

Frowning at the map and the notation Kiba looked up at Sasuke who had the most dealings lately with Naruto, “You don’t think he means it do you?”

Snorting as he opened the door for his team, Sasuke rolled the map up and secured it, “Naruto might be many things, including the best prankster Konoha ever saw, but even I don’t think he would prank during an exam like this. Let’s go, once we get to the starting point we can take stock of what we were given in the sealing scroll and head out.”

 

“So…” Kurenai leaned up against the wall next to Naruto, “the next part of the test is a survival test? It seems a little tame sounding.”

The sound of laughter caused a lot of the Chuunin hopefuls to cringe in fright as they hurriedly grabbed their supplies and rushed out of the building, Naruto calmed down and looked over at Kurenai who was fidgeting, “Well, besides the terrain being against them, they will have to deal with all the wild life that is just a bit dangerous. Though they should live if they don’t run into the sand fields, this time of the year the fire lizards are breeding and it could get real ugly if they interrupt that.” Seeing the disbelief in Kurenai’s eyes he smiled, “the half grown cubs that were stationed near the base to be a distraction would be considered cute and cuddly compared to what they will have to fight their way through to get to the base of the mountain.

 

Looking at the spot the summoning circle had brought them to Shino sent a few of his scouts up into the air to get a report of if it was safe or not, “Since the scrolls should be uniform since they were all in the same box, it would save time if we only opened one.”

Nodding Kiba grinned as he quickly unsealed his scroll so they could look through it.

Sasuke leaned over seeing the supplies laid out, mostly water and some rations bars, though there was a fair amount of first aid supplies that had him wondering. Not seeing a single weapon or rope he felt uneasy. Uneasy enough he pulled his scroll out and unsealed it. Looking at the contents of his scroll he lowered his head, “of course it would not be that easy.”

Shino starred at Sasuke’s scroll as if the universe had suddenly shifted, his logical conclusion was so far off it was not even funny. Sasuke’s scroll only held some water and rope.

“I think we better open all the scrolls and find out what we have to work with exactly,” Sasuke looked at them seriously, hoping they had not been screwed.

After everyone had unsealed the content of their scrolls they divided it up into more reasonable piles, staring at the pile of rations bars, all nine of them Sasuke rocked back on his heels and looked around at his teammates, “Kiba how good are you and Akamaru at hunting?”

Startled out of his dark thoughts and mental grumblings Kiba looked up and scowled, before he said anything though he sighed, this really was Sasuke’s test and he was good enough to bring them in and give them this chance, so instead of the normal comment he would have barked out he thought about it for a moment, “Between the two of us I would say we are pretty decent. But won’t it slow us down to hunt?”

Dividing the ration bars up so Hinata and Kiba both had three and Shino had one, taking one for himself he left the last one alone before pushing it over to Shino, “We’ll divide the last between us Shino if it comes to it.” Looking back at Kiba Sasuke smiled which caused the teen to lean back, was he really such a broody bastard in the academy? “Well I think we might have more than a fair chance to spot something along the way, if you can find us game to take down as we go, we can spare a few minutes to bring it down and prepare it for travel. I have a spare sealing scroll in my pouch so we can keep it fresh, that will at least stretch out the ration bars.”

Nodding Hinata stared at the pile Sasuke had pushed in front of her, “Um…” looking down she stuttered slightly, she was trying very hard to overcome the problem, “Um…Yes…Sasuke-kin why did you give Kiba and me three of the ration bars?”

Nodding instead of giving her his normal are you stupid look, yep it flashed through his mind, he had been a gloomy bastard during his time in the academy. “Hinata you are our eyes, even though I don’t know how much chakra it takes to use your Byakugan constantly but both you and Kiba as our forward scouts and hunter need to keep your chakra reserves topped off, and food is the best way to do that. Shino has his companions to act as aerial scouts and guards, and I will be the first in fighter. But for this part of our test you tow are more important to our overall survival so you need to strong.” Looking up at the sky Sasuke dug through his pouch for the tube he had dropped in there after the last test. Holding it up so the others could see the four white pills he smirked, “Soldier pills, Hadori gave me one to help me recover from chakra exhaustion during the last test. The downside is you need to make sure you eat within a couple of hours after taking it, I picked up this vile from the commissary during the break when Hadori and Takai restocked.”

Chuckling Kiba dug into his pouch and pulled out a handful of pills, “Akamaru and I have our own; they’re the Inuzuka family recipe.”

“Damn…”Sasuke whispered before looking at the dog boy in a new light, “Do they work for non Inuzuka clan members or are they specific to your genetics? More importantly will they work for Hinata?”

Thinking about it Kiba slowly nodded, “The white ones will work just fine, though with as skinny as Hinata-kun is she probably should eat as soon as possible if she had to use one of mine.” Counting out and handing over four of the pills Kiba saw he still had quite a few left and handed some to Shino also.

“Thank you for sharing Kiba,” Sasuke got up and stretched as he gazed at the sky, “I checked the clock last night, as the sun started to set it was right around seven thirty so if we can make it to this stream on the map for the night we might be able to catch a fish or two to help with our food supply.” Double checking everything was secured he looked at his team, “Are we ready?”

Kiba grinned as Hinata blushed, “Bring it on…”

The proctor for this part of the test rose from the ground and took off the breathing mask as he watched the team disappear into the foliage at a rapid pace, making some notes he nodded, it was a good start to one of the more unique teams. Disappearing in a puff of smoke he grinned as he used the speed technique to reach the rest of the proctor team.

 

Two hours into the run Kiba turned his head sideways and tossed a kunai as he slowed down and stopped, signaling the others to hold up.

“Arf…Arf,Arf…”

Throwing another Kunai to make sure Kiba smiled ferally as he jumped to the ground, Kunai materializing in his hand he approached his kill.

“Kiba,” Shino called from his location in the branches as he watched his teammate stalk something in the brush, “What did you find?”

Looking at Akamaru as he whimpered and yipped Kiba frowned, “I hit a deer,” hearing the rest of his team land behind him he listened to Akamaru yip some more before taking a deep breath, sniffing the air. “Though for some reason it does not smell like a deer, Akamaru says it smells like a rabbit.”

The rest of the team watched Kiba push his way through some bushes. Sasuke jumped, Sharingan activate as he heard Kiba shout out several times, “KAI…KAI… Dispel Dammit.”

“Hinata,” Sasuke commanded as he looked around carefully for traps.

“Um…there are no Genjutsu’s layered around here.” Hinata slipped her kunai back in her pouch and raised her voice, ‘Kiba-san there is no illusions around, what you are seeing is real.”

Jumping out of the bushes backwards Kiba was freaked out, “No freaking way.”

Not sure what had Kiba so worked up Sasuke peaked into the bushes and froze, after a moment he looked back at his team, “I…We have our work cut out for us in butchering this rabbit.”

Frowning Shino looked at Sasuke and Kiba and sent a few of his bugs flying in the canopy as he pulled out his Kunai, they needed to get started. Pushing through the bushes he came up to the downed rabbit and his glasses almost fell off his face as he got the shock of his life. A shaky hand put his glasses back on his face as he stared at the deer size rabbit, “

 

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck as he sat behind his desk while several of the recording technicians removed the video equipment, staring out the window he called out before the last of the techs left, “I need those two tapes joined and back as quickly as you can please, I need to send it off as soon as possible.”

“Hai Uzumaki-sama,” the tech bowed as he rushed out of the room.

 

Jumping through the trees again Sasuke shuddered if that was the size of a rabbit he knew there were things in here that were going to be…to put it bluntly scare the living crap out of them. Thinking about something Naruto told him three days ago he called out, “Hey…I know we all have our clan styles in hand to hand and Jutsu, but do each of you know at least two other types of Jutsu’s?”

Jumping to the next branch Kiba looked over his shoulder as he landed, ‘Why would we need that? Our clan styles should be more than enough, right Akamaru?”

“ARF,” the pup put a smug look on its face as it looked up from under his master’s coat.

“Well,” Sasuke ignored the smug reply, “I was thinking about the tests and I remembered something Naruto told me. He told me I had to master two other Jutsu’s of non fire type before he would allow me to enter,” jumping to the next branch he gave them a moment to digest what he had said. “So if I need to have at least two non Uchiha Jutsu’s in my arsenal to pass, doesn’t that mean all of you should too if you want to pass?”

Signaling a halt Hinata deactivated her eyes and pulled her canteen around for a drink.

Landing next to her Shino thought Sasuke might be right, after all from what Kurenai-sensei said his team was allowed in the exam only to give Sasuke the numbers. It showed something he was not used to dealing with from the Uchiha if he was actively trying to help them pass the test too. “But do we have the time to master two new techniques in such a short time we have to complete this part of the test?”

“Well if we practice for a couple of hours each night when we camp, and if we make really good time tomorrow we can set up camp and spend almost a full day near the mountain cavern making sure you have them down enough to at least use them effectively.”

“To do that we should quickly find a safe campsite for tonight, we can then cook all the rabbit and then seal the leftovers for tomorrow’s use.” Shino looked at the others as he told them his thoughts, “If we stop in the next hour we can talk about what we can try to learn while we cook. Then two hours of practicing and six hours of sleep before we take off again, if we each take a soldier pill with supper tomorrow night we can effectively travel half a day further on before having to rest for the night.”

Hinata looked down, “Hmm…Um…Would it not be better to take the soldier pill at lunch time so we would have daylight to travel our fastest. If the dangers of this place are near what the map has written on it, would it not be better to travel during the light?”

Sasuke nodded, “Your right, both of you,” he stretched, “we’ll take the soldier pill with lunch and increase our speed during the day, if the rabbits around her are that big I would hate to see what same of the other creatures look like.”