Naruto Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Kurama in Narutoland ❯ Chapter TwentyFive ( Chapter 25 )

Kurama in Narutoland

Chapter Twenty-Five:

After the rather gruesome show, the first part of the Chuunin Selection Exam began when their examiner showed up.

With a bunch of other shinobi in a large poof of smoke…

Kurama watched the show with an amused expression.

(A/N: Disclaimer: copying text from scanlations posted on narutochuushin.com, none of it is mine till I say so)

"Thanks for waiting…" a man with scars on his face said, the other shinobi standing behind him. "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the chuunin selection exam's first test." He pointed a finger at the group of hidden sound that had attacked Kabuto and said, "Hidden sound guys, stop doing as you please before the exam. Do you want to fail already?"

"I apologize… this is our first time… We got a bit carried away…" the sound-nin with bandages wrapped all over him said.

"Here's a good opportunity to say this… There will be no fighting without permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Those pigs that disobey me will be failed immediately. Do I make myself clear?" Ibiki said with a rather creepy expression.

"Heh, this exam is sounding easy," the sound-nin with spiky hair said cockily to his teammates.

"We will now start the first test in the Chuunin Exam. Instead of your current seating arrangements… you will pick one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you. We will then hand out the exams," Ibiki said, holding up a tab with `1' on it.

There was a pause of silence before Naruto burst out, "WHAT!?!! A PAPER TEST?!!!!?!!"

(A/N: End of copying)

Kurama stared at Naruto with a calm look. Paper test? That couldn't be too hard, right? Seems that the blond idiot didn't think so…

After picking their tabs, they sat down in their seating arrangements. Kurama listened absently as Ibiki explained about the rules to the test. The first examiner explained that each shinobi would start off with ten points. The test was made up of ten questions and each is worth a point. The test used a subtraction system… Kurama quickly got bored. Basically, if a person got any wrong it would be subtracted from their total… To Kurama's surprise, Ibiki said next that it was a team test, and that the combined scores would decide if you passed or not. The next little bit caused Kurama to perk up instantly.

"The third rule is that during the exam, anyone caught cheating will have 2 points subtracted for each offense."

Kurama stared with slightly wide eyes at the examiner. Maybe it would be a little more interesting than he initially thought… `So if a person is caught cheating, two points are subtracted… but what happens if you're not caught?' Kurama thought slyly to himself. It seemed that his experience as a thief was going to be of use AGAIN. Kurama tuned in again to catch the last bit.

"…Be proud ninja."

`Right,' Kurama thought sarcastically, `Be a proud ninja WHO DOESN'T GET CAUGHT. That's the meaning behind your words, isn't it? Read between the lines… I wonder how many people will catch on to this?'

"The final rule. Anyone that loses all their points during the test and anyone who doesn't answer any questions correctly… Will be failed along with their teammates."

That caused Kurama to blink in thought. Would Lee and Neji be able to handle it? Neji of course would be able to, since he can see through solid objects… but how will Lee do? He knows no ninjutsu or genjutsu… Let's hope he can answer the questions.

"The exam will last one hour. BEGIN!" Ibiki said.

Kurama looked at the first question. It was a cryptograph. Looking it over carefully, he quickly answered the question and went on to number two.

`Line B, seen in the picture, is the greatest possible distance shinobi can throw his shuriken from a tree of seven meters. For enemies who appear within the circumference of the shuriken's range, explain the attack options using this distance. Show your work.'

Kurama stared at the question for a moment. `This definitely affirms my suspicions that us genin are SUPPOSED to cheat. Very few here could answer these questions correctly… Oh well, time to get to work. It's not that hard… for me at least.' After answering the question, he continued on to number 3.

Neji closed his eyes and left his paper untouched. He planned to wait until they had 20 minutes left to copy down all the answers from someone who was already finished. Five minutes after that the tenth question would be revealed. It was a piece of cake. He trusted that Kurama would be able to answer, and if he couldn't, then he'd be able to cheat easily.

Lee frowned, staring down on his paper. He couldn't answer any of these questions, and since he didn't have any secret techniques that he could use to cheat, he was pretty stuck. How could he catch one of his teammates attention to help him out?

Kurama quickly finished the test and laid his head down on his arms. He was bored. Frowning, Kurama closed his eyes and searched with his senses for Lee… He found a very confused and nervous wreck of his teammate trying frantically to think up an answer for at least one of the questions. `So, Lee DOESN'T have book smarts. I'd better help him out then…' Focusing his chakra, Kurama made one of his seeds fall out of his hair and land on the ground. Lee was sitting a little ways behind Kurama, slightly to his right. Putting a little bit of chakra into the seed, Kurama made it grow enough that it could move around. He made the seed pull itself over to Lee and crawl up his clothes. Once it reached Lee's chest, Kurama made the vine grow slowly underneath Lee's clothes and out of sight.

Lee jumped when he felt many strange somethings moving along his chest under his clothes. Taking a calming breath, he waited. Soon the strange string-like something had wrapped itself around his upper torso and was wrapping around his right arm. When it came to the edge of Lee's clothes, a tiny green thing poked out. Lee stared in wonder at what appeared to be a VINE. The little vine inconspicuously wrapped its way across the inside of Lee's hand, sticking on snugly. Lee relaxed his arm and pretended he knew what he was doing. `It's probably Kurama. But what kind of jutsu is this?' Lee thought to himself as he watched his hand pick up the pencil and start writing down the answers in neat and delicate writing.

Once Kurama was done copying all the answers to Lee's paper, he made his vine's ungrow at a quicker speed, snaking across Lee's skin, causing the green beast to shudder at the feeling.

Soon the vine was just a seed once again, with a single little tendril poking out of it. Kurama made the seed return to him, and it climbed back up his leg and made its way to his hair. Once there, Kurama raised an arm to snag the seed and properly place it at the base of his hairs.

Neji had watched the whole thing happen with shocked eyes. How in the world could Kurama do that? He HAD said something about plants being his forte, BUT THIS WAS REDICULOUS! Neji quickly copied down the answers of one of the chuunin that was hidden in the exam and made sure that Kurama had them all right. The redhead did, so Neji just closed his eyes again and waited for the tenth question.

"Ok, we will now start the tenth question," Ibiki said out of the blue. "Now… before we get to it… I'd like to go over the added rules for this question."

Kurama waited patiently for rules to be explained. Maybe he shouldn't have retracted that seed from Lee just yet…

"I'll explain now, these are the rules of desperation…"

`Enough with the suspense already…' Kurama thought absently to himself.

"First, for the tenth question, you must decide whether you will take it or not." (A/N: everything that Ibiki says is copied from narutochuushin, I take no credit)

"Choose?!! What happens if we choose not to?!!" a girl with dirty blond hair in four short pony tails exclaimed.

"If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero… YOU FAIL! Along with your two teammates. And now, the other rule."

Kurama resisted the urge to roll his eyes. During the time that Ibiki had been talking, he had rewrapped his seed around Lee, who had relaxed, knowing that Kurama was with him in more ways than one.

"If you choose to take it… and answer incorrectly… That person will lose the right to ever take the chuunin selection exam again."

That was surprising. Kurama's eyes widened slightly. Was that guy serious? Feeling Lee's determination through his aura, Kurama relaxed, knowing that his teammate wouldn't give up.

"WHAT KIND OF STUPID RULE IS THAT?!! THERE ARE GUYS HERE WHO HAVE TAKEN THE EXAM BEFORE!!!" a boy with a dog on his head yelled, pointing a finger at Ibiki.

Ibiki merely laughed and answered with a freaky look, "You guys were unlucky. This year it's my rules. But I am giving you a way out. Those that aren't confident can choose not to take it, and try again next year."

That was a shocker.

"Now, let's begin… the tenth question. Those that do not wish to take it, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave."

A man stood up with his hand raised, announcing that he wouldn't take it. Kurama watched as one after another, many of the shinobi began to leave the exam room, taking their teammates with them.

Kurama watched as the boy named Naruto from earlier raised his hand slowly… and then slammed it down on the table!

(A/N: everything Naruto says here is not mine)

"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!!! I WILL NOT RUN!!!!" he shouted, a determined look on his face. "I'LL TAKE IT! Even if I am a genin forever! I'll will myself to becoming Hokage anyway, so I don't care! I AM NOT AFRAID!!"

Kurama watched in amusement as steam was blown out of Naruto's nostrils. `What an interesting guy… it would be nice to get to know him… Reminds me of Yusuke…' Kurama frowned when slight homesickness washed over him. `My old friends and partners… I wonder how they're doing…'

"I'll ask you again. You life is riding on this decision. This is your last chance to quit," Ibiki said.

"I follow my unbending words… That's my ninja way…" Naruto said, a look of utter seriousness on his face.

No one after that point was willing to give up, and 78 were left.

"Good decisions. Now, to everyone still remaining… I CONGRATULATE YOU ON PASSING THE FIRST TEST!!!"

Kurama facefaulted. `WHAT THE HELL?!' Kurama listened as the first examiner explained everything, not really paying attention. Before he knew it, someone came flying in through the window, shattering it.

"THIS IS NO TIME FOR CELEBRATING! I AM THE EXAMINER FOR THE SECOND TEST!! MITARASHI ANKO!! NOW LET'S GO!!" the woman who came through the window shouted.

Kurama blinked at the crazy woman who made a very… interesting… entrance. `This is our second examiner? Weird woman....'

Everything after that was pretty uneventful. The Anko woman said something about cutting the surviver's numbers in half, but Kurama was unconcerned. They were lead out of the building to the place of the second exam.

Anko explained to all of them the second exam and told them that when they got their earth or heaven scroll, they would also sign papers that said that if they died, it was not the responsibility of the hidden leaf. Or something like that. Kurama wasn't paying attention. He was absolutely BORED out of his mind.

They lined up and received their scroll after they signed the form and were lead by a jounin to a gate into the Forest of Death.

They waited for around half an hour before they were finally released inside the forest. Kurama lead the team a little ways in at a straight out run, before stopping once they were out of anyone's sight.

"Now, we're going to have to make a plan," Kurama began, motioning his two teammates to form a circle, "We need to get an earth scroll, but how are we going to go about it? I think the best course of action is to wait it out until the last day, then we can hit a team while it's weak and tired from traveling and fighting. In the meantime we need to find a good shelter that we can hide out in and conserve our strength for the first four days. Neji, would you please do a search for shinobi?"

Neji nodded his head and activated his Byakugan. He found that the two teams closest to them had shot ahead, trying to get to the center of the forest as quick as possible. If anything, they were the only ones in the whole area. "There is no one nearby, they have all traveled into the center of the forest. We are the only ones in this area so close to the gates."

Kurama nodded his head and smiled. `Perfect.' "Please search for a hide out that we can easily fortify for a temporary head quarters," Kurama ordered with that soft and calm voice of his.

Neji immediately searched. To his surprise, he found absolutely nothing that could help them. "Nothing," he said with annoyance in his voice.

Kurama looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "Where is the biggest tree that is close to a water source?"

Confused, Neji wondered why Kurama would ask such a thing while he looked. He found one a third a kilometer away with a large and sturdy trunk right beside a small creek. "Follow me," he said, running forward at a rather slow pace, considering how fast all of them could run after the training Gai put them through.

Kurama smiled when he saw the tree. It was perfect. It would take10 adults to spread their arms around the trunk as a chain. Smirking slightly, he prepared to shock the wits out of his teammates. Focusing his tainted chakra, he used increadible concentration to make the tree expand slightly to acomidate a hollow space inside and prevent his sick chakra from killing the thing. After it was large enough, Kurama made the bark split so they could enter. Once he was done, he opened his eyes, breathing slightly heavier than before. `This chakra is becoming irritating. It is so weak compared to my regular chakra, and I can't manipulate plants like I used to because I don't want the evil energy to kill the plants!! What a damn handicap!' Kurama raged to himself, rather pissed off that it took so much concentration and energy to do such a simple task.

Pushing his teammates inside, Kurama eyed his handiwork. It had turned out quite well, although the floor wasn't perfectly even, it dipped slightly at the center. The `ceiling' was just high enough for them to stand completely anywhere on the `floor'. Exerting a bit of his evil chakra, Kurama closed the crevice behind them, and they were encased in darkness.

"This is rather freaky, Kurama," Lee said uncomfortably. "There's no light at all…"

Using a bit of his chakra, Kurama formed a light over his shoulder. Normally it would give off green light, considering his chakra's colour, but now it was blackish purple and gave of a purple glow. Looking irritated, Kurama glared at the light.

"Why is your chakra black and purple?" Lee asked, staring at the ball of light with an uneasy look.

"Because of my damned curse seal that Orochimaru gave me," Kurama said with a cold look on his face and rage colouring his tone.

Lee gulped as Kurama revealed the curse seal to their eyes.

"Now, let's not worry about that right now. We have things to do, like gathering food and keeping an eye on our surroundings so we are not attacked by surprise. Neji cannot keep his Byakugan activated forever without wasting all his chakra, and one of us will have to keep watch at night. I will keep watch at night, and you two can trade during the day while I rest inside." Kurama smiled absently and commented, "I'm becoming nocturnal," with amusement.

Lee grinned at the comment and Neji only shook his head slightly. "Almost no one would be able to detect us in here, so Neji will just have to check with his Byakugan now and then while Lee can go out and check for traps and such now and then. It'll work. Since I'll be having night shifts, I'm going to bed. Would you two keep an eye out and search for food to sustain us for four days?" Kurama asked, not expecting objection.

Of course he received no objection, and cracked the trunk open again to let them out. "When you're done, run your finger down the opening of the trunk in the shape of a sakura petal."

They exited the trunk and watched as it creepily closed behind them again like a zipper.

"That is really freakish," Lee commented softly, shuddering slightly.

"I didn't know he could control plants. What about you?" Neji asked.

Lee only shook his head and the two of them separated to look for food.

The four days passed quickly, and the three of them camped out in the large trunk of the tree, having an abundance of food and not a single team within the area.

Finally the fifth day had come, and the three of them packed up their things in preparation. They would find a weary team and take their heaven scroll. After that, they would head to the tower.

Well. This is OFFICIALLY the last chapter before I leave. I love you all and I'll miss you! I'll be back in September, remember, and I'll write another chapter then as soon as possible. Man, didn't I end it in the worst spot? (evil laugh)