Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Between Deception and Truth ❯ Chuunin Exam ( Chapter 17 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Lord Archive 
Ai takes the Chuunin Exam and finds that some things aren't the same.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 12.24.2010 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 559 | Status: Completed
Ai takes the Chuunin Exam and finds that some things aren't the same.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Martial Arts / Hentai / Drama | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 12.24.2010 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.1K | Visits: 559 | Status: Completed
Between Deception and Truth
Chapter 16 - Chuunin Exam
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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Ai held onto her wiggling baby as she stood next to Jiro.
"You two have come to an agreement?" Tsunade questioned.
Jiro nodded. "After Ai completes the initial chuunin exams, I will go to see the jounin to learn the advanced Kage Bunshin."
Tsunade gazed at the girl. "Is this true?"
Ai looked away. "I still don't like it, but I understand it is something Jiro and Hinata have to do."
"I see. I will give you the needed information for your mission when it's time for you to leave," Tsunade informed. "As for you, Ai, you need to get some rest. You've got a long week ahead of you."
Ai smirked. "I'll have the Forest of Death done in two days."
"Oh? Not going to try to beat the record set by Gaara?" Tsunade wondered. "He finished in less than a day."
"I'm sure I can beat Gaara's time alone, but what good would it be for my teammates if I did all the work for them?" Ai shot back.
Tsunade blinked and then smiled. "I see teaching has changed you as much as motherhood has. Good luck."
"Wish that luck for the others, because I'm going to kick their asses!" Ai pledged, eliciting an excited coo from her daughter.
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"Uh, Ai, we're supposed to go to room 303," Katsuhara noted, pointing at a door sign above a mass of young ninja trying to get in.
Ai glanced at Yoshie. "You care to explain it to him?"
Yoshie giggled. "It's genjutsu covering the door. We're still on the second floor."
Katsuhara grumbled. "Why do they make everything a test?"
"You have to be ready for anything on real missions, especially against enemy ninja," Ai retorted.
Yoshie pouted as she looked upon a handsome genin marked from the Hidden Village of Stone. "Though it sucks meeting people that we may someday have to kill in battle."
"That's a price we pay with the job," Ai growled, finally arriving at the correct room. Sliding the door open she saw a sea of unruly genin. She bit back the urge to challenge them, but knew doing so would put a target on her. The only people that she could recognize was Shikamaru and Temari sitting at the front of the room.
"If this is Shikamaru's test, keep it simple, stupid," Ai warned. She then smirked seeing a familiar group of sand-nin enter the room.
Fifteen minutes later Shikamaru motioned for the door to be sealed. Temari then randomly placed the names of each genin at a seat.
Once the seating was completed, Shikamaru dragged himself to stand in front of the classroom. "You are about to be passed out a test to take. You are to finish all ten questions to the best of your ability. You have sixty minutes to complete it. If one member of the team fails to pass, the entire team fails. Get caught cheating and you fail immediately. Make a single noise, ANY noise, you fail. There will be no questions."
Tenten walked into the room from a side door, holding a scroll. Cracking it open, she summoned numerous tests each attached to a kunai and promptly threw each of them to land in front of an examinee.
"You may begin now," Shikamaru announced.
Three pencils were heard hitting wood. With a tug from Tenten's fingers, six tests were pulled away.
"What?!" cried out a few of them.
"I meant any noise." Shikamaru barked. "Now all of you get out."
While the six genin grumbled as they left, three more tests were pulled.
Ai didn't need someone else to explain the 'no noise' rule. It was a test of stealth. She gazed at her test and was surprised to note that she had some idea how to answer a few of the questions. After a few more teams with nervous genin were kicked out, the room took an eerie silence.
A sneeze not only caught one genin's team, but the guy next to the sneezer made a noise as he jumped costing his team as well.
Ai shook her head. She actually suspected this test was easier than the one she had last time. She tried to relate her answers to her experience in fighting. To one question, she might not have the proof, but she was sure of the answer.
The next to go had to have been a cheater, as no noise had been heard. Then came the ripping of a paper and another group was removed. Ai spotted the issue. There were nine questions on face of the paper, the tenth had to be on the back. Giving up on the front, leaving a couple questions completely blank, she set herself to flip over the paper, however the kunai imbedding it in the desk would not let her read it. She would have to free the paper to get at the last question. She could only pray her teammates had a trick to get at the paper without making a noise.
A quick flare of wind chakra at her finger, she sliced the paper with a sharp gust of wind. Carefully, turning over the paper she had to smirk at the question. 'What is your ninja way?'
Ai quickly wrote her answer. 'Never give up. Never go back on your word. Never betray what is important to you.'
The next twenty minutes was hell to Ai. She could not think of any way to answer the remaining questions and the inability to make a sound was grating on her. By this time, various methods to turn over the test had been employed. Some of which failed, which came to the relief of at least one of the failed students who promptly went into a long vulgar rant about hating tests and Konoha. Though for some reason Yoshie seemed rather embarrassed from it.
"Times up!" Shikamaru announced.
Ai was among a few test takers who let out screams of relief.
Shikamaru's shadow raced out and collected the tests. "You may mingle with your teammates."
"That sucked," Katsuhara grumbled. "And honestly, who the hell came up with the ninja way crap?"
Ai smirked. "I might've had something to do with that."
Yoshie glanced nervously as Shikamaru went over the tests. "I'm surprised I didn't get caught cheating. I couldn't mask the sound of ripping so I made it sound like that one guy with the mouth ripped his."
Ai chuckled. "The first time I took the test was all about not getting caught cheating. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were other cheaters who made it through. If you're not caught, you didn't do it."
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Ai was surprised to note the front did have meaning to the test. The more you got wrong, the more weight the tenth question had. From the way Shikamaru was talking to Temari, it would seem she was the one who made the first nine questions count.
"Three right and an essay on the back? This is a failure," Shikamaru intoned.
Temari nodded as she looked over the back. "There is no way anyone could live by these ideals. Failure confirmed."
"Inuzuka Noriko, you fail. Take your team and go," Shikamaru intoned.
A girl with a growling dog perched on her head stomped off. "This whole test is fucking stupid."
Ai wondered if the girl was Kiba's little sister or cousin, not that it really mattered.
"Six right, but he's got the best ninja way I've ever seen," Shikamaru commented. "I say he passes."
Temari scowled. "'Keep it simple, stupid?' What kind of ninja way is that?"
"One you can live by. And if he adheres to it, he may just live to retirement," Shikamaru retorted.
Ai looked at the boy on her team.
"What? I couldn't think of anything," Katsuhara whispered defensively.
"Four right and with deep yet simple ninja way," Shikamaru noted.
"Oh, it's her." Temari smirked. "Surprised she got the four right. I say pass."
"How surprisingly kind of you... She's Konoha. How do you know her? I don't even know who she is," Shikamaru wondered.
"It's because you don't know, I can't say," Temari returned.
Shikamaru shrugged. "She passes on the ninja way."
Ai shook her head. "Looks like it's all up to your test, Yoshie."
Yoshie pouted. "You only got four right."
Ai laughed. "I'm surprised I got that many."
"Love before war? Does she want a boyfriend more than being a ninja?" Shikamaru growled.
"Doesn't matter. She got eight right. She passes," Temari intoned.
Yoshie folded her arms. "What's the problem with wanting to find better ways to avoid fighting? I'd rather have a fun night with that Stone-nin than fight him to the death."
The Stone-nin in question stared at her with wide eyes.
Ai folded her arms. "Well, we all passed. Now we got to wait to see how many others get to fight in the Forest of Death."
"Forest of Death?" Katsuhara questioned.
"It's a forest filled with huge animals that would love to eat you. And that doesn't even count the fact that other ninja teams are out to defeat us, and that they will be free to use lethal force," Ai explained.
Katsuhara shuddered. "Makes me wish we were taking the test in the Hidden Village of Stone again."
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There was definitely something up when you had two Chuunin and a Jounin from another village proctoring a test. Tenten had acted as a tie-breaker when Shikamaru and Temari couldn't agree if the test had passed. Then there was the one in charge of the Forest of Death.
Neji stood on a platform as he laid out the rules of the test. They were the same as the last time she had taken the test as Naruto. Get a hold of Heaven and Earth scrolls, take them to the center of the Forest and open there, and only there. There were no other rules, and Neji was explaining things in far more detail than needed, as if he was trying to weed out more of the twenty-five teams that passed the test by either scaring them that they could die or bore them to death.
In the end, every team signed the no-fault paperwork in the case of severe injury or death during the test.
Ai wasn't sure if she liked the number they got: twenty-eight. It was the early morning hours of December twenty-eighth that she had lost her virginity, which still filled her with mixed feelings.
There was no reservation as the gates opened, Ai led the way leaping into the dangerous forest.
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Katsuhara scratched his arm. "Where's the huge animals? I don't see any, but I feel like something is ready to eat me."
"That feeling is from me," Ai replied. "I'm leaking chakra to scare away predators."
"And any other creature. I haven't even seen a bird or a squirrel," Yoshie commented.
"Why would you do something like that?" Katsuhara demanded. "You're going to attract enemy ninja. Not to mention waste energy you could use fighting them."
"She's got more than enough chakra to spare," a voice called out to the side of them.
Ai smirked at the three sand ninja standing on a hill. She quickly recognized them as Gaara's students. "Figured I'd run into you three here. How is Gaara?"
Matsuri pouted. "He's been busy ever since he became Kazekage."
"Really? He got approved?" Ai clenched her fist. "Good for him."
"And how have you been with your partner?" Sen questioned.
"I'm fine, but our daughter is likely driving Jiro up the wall by now," Ai joked.
"Daughter?" Matsuri clapped her hands. "You're a mother?!"
"Yep." Ai nodded.
Tetsuo looked disturbed through his bandages. "Gaara-sama said you were really-" A pebble to his forehead interrupted him.
"Don't finish that," Ai growled.
Katsuhara grabbed Ai by her shirt. "Are you a Sand-nin spy?"
"Don't be stupid. If I was, we would be avoiding each other." Ai motioned toward the sand ninja. "They helped bail me and Jiro out of a bad situation on my long mission."
"You can report any suspicions after the test." Sen folded her arms. "The only question that's really important now is: Earth or Heaven?"
"Earth," Ai replied simply.
"Thank the sands," Matsuri sighed with relief. "I certainly didn't want to fight Ai."
Tetsuo nodded. "Even if they had Heaven, I wouldn't want to face someone who can fight Gaara all out."
"Gaara won that battle," Sen pointed out.
"And I beat him the first time, so we're one-and-one on the record." Ai folded her arms. "Don't fancy a rematch, though. There's a lake where we fought last time."
Katsuhara gave her a disbelieving look. Then a yelp caught him by surprise. He turned and saw Tetsuo's arm shake violently. Slowly Yoshie faded from behind Ai and appeared in the grip of the sand ninja.
"What are you doing?" Tetsuo demanded.
"Making sure you weren't lying," Yoshie defended, finally freeing her arm. "Yeah, they've got Earth, too. No need to fight them."
"Well, it's nice seeing you again, hope to meet you at the end of the test. Best we stay separated to avoid stepping on each other's toes." With that Ai leapt away, quickly followed by Yoshie and Katsuhara.
"What was all that about?" Yoshie questioned.
"Top secret bullshit that I can't tell you about," Ai replied. "Feel free to report that talk. Tsunade-bachan knows all about the time I met them."
Yoshie blinked repeatedly. "Tsunade-sama is your grandmother?!"
Ai laughed. "Technically, no. But we do have that kind of relationship."
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"How can they walk so casually through this forest?" questioned a small girl, wearing the mark of a Stone-nin as a belt.
"They don't even look like they've seen any trouble at all," added the handsome Stone-nin that had caught Yoshie's eye before. "They've been here a full day, and they don't have a single scratch on them."
"Something doesn't seem right with them," growled a tall, muscular Stone-nin.
"To be honest, I should've passed this test a long time ago. I was unable to take it," Ai commented.
The three Stone-nin jumped back defensively.
Ai folded her arms. "First question, Heaven or Earth?"
The girl and the handsome Stone-nin looked at the muscular member of the team, who did not immediately offer any statement. He gazed intently at the girl in front of them and then at the the ninja walking below them. He frowned before answering, "Heaven."
"Then we are in dispute. We've got Earth." Ai cocked her head. "How about we make this more fun. One of you verses Katsuhara, then another one of you verses Yoshie, and finally the remaining one of you and any victors against me. Winner of the last match gets the scroll."
"Cocky, aren't you?" the little girl hissed.
"How can we be sure you will uphold your end of this challenge?" the large stone-nin grumbled.
"I swear on my word as a ninja," Ai avowed. "That is my ninja way."
The pretty boy Stone-nin scowled. "What is it with that whole 'ninja way' crap?"
"Who can be expected to follow all the ninja rules that's spouted at us? You can be loyal to your village, but the one you need to be true to is yourself," Ai explained.
The large Stone-nin laughed. "You have my word as a ninja to abide by your challenge."
Ai nodded. "So, who's first?"
"Me!" the little girl cheered. "I'll take on that shuriken-boy."
Ai nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
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Ai stopped suddenly and announced, "Katsuhara, you're up."
"Huh?" the boy looked at her strangely.
A small girl jumped out of the trees. "Come on, shuriken-boy. You're the first to fall."
"Her team has the scroll of Heaven. We beat them, we get their scroll. You fight her first. Then Yoshie gets her boyfriend, and I play clean-up," Ai explained.
Katsuhara looked disbelievingly. "I'm supposed to fight her?"
The girl in questioned went into a complex set of seals. When she finished, the ground erupted around her and launched her into the air. When the rumbling came to an end, the girl was encased within stone and dirt, standing over five meters tall. "You are going down!"
"I'm supposed to fight that?!" Katsuhara complained for an entirely different reason.
"If you can't deal with her, you don't deserve to be Chuunin," Ai shot back.
Katsuhara scowled at her before dashing away. "You want to fight me, then follow me."
"Oh, I will, little mouse," the girl's voice echoed from the earthen body armor as she slowly marched after him.
Ai frowned as she watched Katsuhara run from the girl. This was going to take some time while Katsuhara came up with a plan of attack. Yoshie was being a little too quiet. She wasn't about to let the girl cheat. "They're going to be a while. Why don't you take turn now as well?"
A thud came from behind Ai.
"I thought you were going to wait for me," Ai commented.
"I am," the large stone-nin commented. "The girl decided to start her match against Ishi already."
"Ah. So that's where she went." Ai shook her head. "I only hope she can get serious enough."
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Ai watched the battles from a lofty position in the trees. She had a few clones strategically placed to keep a good eye on everyone, particularly the bored shadow standing next to the Stone-nin team leader.
Katsuhara ran wildly around the trees randomly launching kunai at the stone encased girl. Ai hoped her assessment was in error and that her teammate had some sort of plan and wasn't just being a panicked fool. She couldn't be sure, but the stone-armored ninja was certainly buying into it repeatedly calling Katsuhara a bug to be squashed.
Yoshie's battle was more interesting at the moment. Various images of her stood scattered around the forest, while the handsome Stone-nin seemingly swam through the ground only to surface to launch spears of rock at the images. Technically, this fight only looked cooler as both boys were seemingly fighting ineffectively against the girls, while the girls looked for their own chance to finish things. The real interest was in the banter between Yoshie and her opponent.
"I've never had that before," Ishi commented.
"Oh, you'll love the dango," Yoshie almost squealed even as her image rippled as stone shot through her. "You sure you won't be upset when I beat you?"
"As long as you promise not to be mad if I defeat you," Ishi replied.
"I have less to be worried about there. Even if your team manages to beat Ai, I doubt we'd have much trouble regaining the scrolls we need," Yoshie replied confidently.
Ishi surfaced once again, launching three stone spears at three images. Before he could submerge again, a kunai was poised under his chin.
"Give up," Yoshie told him softly.
"That's my line," Ishi replied behind the girl.
Yoshie squeaked in surprise as she pitched forward as the guy she was hugging was a statue that grabbed her arms and pinned them painfully to the ground. "Damn it."
"Do you surrender?" Ishi pleaded.
Yoshie squirmed as small spikes began to emerge from the statue under her. "I... give up. You win."
Ishi released the girl who immediately sat up cross-legged and huffed.
Some distance away, Ai commented, "Pretty boy just beat Yoshie."
The brutish Stone-nin nodded. "Now we have to wait for Chiko to squash the boy."
The stone encased girl entered a clearing in before them.
Ai smirked. "You were saying?"
The Stone-nin shook his head in dismay and disgust.
"You might want to head for cover," Ai noted before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Where did that cockroach go?" Chiko demanded. She noticed her team captain jump into a ditch. "Huh?"
There was an Earth shattering explosion right behind her as numerous explosive tags attached to kunai that had been embedded in the stone armor's back. The giant fell forward crumbling apart as it crashed to the ground revealing a battered and bloodied little girl.
Katsuhara peaked out from where he was hiding. "I didn't kill her, did I?"
"Fucking cockroach," Chiko muttered. "I'll get you next time."
Ai leapt down from her perch, landing next to the girl. "Any of you trained for healing?"
The brutish Stone-nin shook his head. "Nothing beyond the basics."
"I've got some ointment that'll help her bruises, but I could use some help bandaging her," Ai told them.
"Sorry, Kizu," Chiko moaned.
"Learn from your mistakes," Kizu intoned. As he bandaged his fallen teammate, he commented, "You Leaf have more honor than I've heard about."
"The same can be said about you," Katsuhara returned.
"I never bothered much with history," Ai commented. "Too many names to remember and why they were supposed to be important. All the important stuff being absent."
"You mean like the reason that last great ninja war was fought because Konoha broke it's treaty?" Kizu suggested.
Yoshie looked confused. "Actually our history books said it was the Stone Country that broke it."
"I wasn't talking about either." Ai grinned at them. "They left out describing the cool jutsu used in battles!"
Chiko let out a pain-filled laugh. "Girl after my own heart."
"Try not to do that," Ai admonished. "And, besides, who was to blame for past mistakes will get us no where in the future. We should only learn from them so we don't repeat them. Most of the morons responsible for the last ninja war aren't in charge anymore and it's up to all of us to make sure such wars never happen again."
Ishi nodded. "I certainly don't mind the idea of making love not war."
"Yoshie, you better keep your pants on," Ai advised harshly. "It's dangerously easy to become pregnant."
"Yes, Mommy-Ai," Yoshie half-teased, half-mocked.
Kizu frowned. "You're a mother?"
Ai nodded curtly. "Doesn't matter if I am. You have no chance against me if you hold back."
Kizu shook his head. "It's more reason NOT to hold back. The most dangerous ninja I know is my mother."
"Don't worry, Kizu, we'll beat Mom yet," Chiko promised.
"All eight of us haven't done it yet," Kizu muttered.
Ai laughed. "This will be a good fight then."
Kizu ruffled the girl's hair. "You should just rest now, little sis. I'll take care of getting the scroll we need."
"Don't get your hopes up too much as it's not quite two on one." Ai smirked as she raised her hands. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Five copies of the girl sprang into existence and all six versions of Ai jumped into the trees.
Kizu pulled out a scroll and six ceramic jars appeared on the ground before him. "You know what to do with these."
Ishi nodded as he slowly submerged into the ground, dragging the pots with him.
Kizu frowned before he leapt up into the trees.
"Not your form of fighting, is it?" Ai questioned behind him.
A small flask appeared in Kizu's hand which he immediately threw where he heard the voice. A fiery explosion erupted but the Stone-nin could not be sure if he hit a clone or missed entirely.
"What, no special jutsu, just summoning explosives?" Ai taunted just out of sight.
"Just because my sister has all the talent doesn't mean I'm not a threat," Kizu returned.
"I know you are. That's why I'm taking you out before dealing with pretty boy and the explosives you gave him," Ai replied seriously.
"Why don't you try me face-to-face?" Kizu taunted.
"Tempting, but the jutsu impaired either go for their brains or brawn, you've seemed to have done both," Ai shot back.
"My, aren't you the flatterer. No wonder you landed a man so quickly," Kizu commented.
"Only because I know that a girl needs to be as subtle as this!" Ai emerged from hiding in a flying kick, aimed at the stone-nin's face.
Kizu ducked under the attack, and left a surprise. An explosion took out the clone.
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“This isn't good at all,” Ishi muttered.
“Why don't you go and join your teammate?” Yoshie wondered.
Ishi frowned deeply. “My jutsu is all Earth based. I'd be worse than useless up there.”
Another explosion rocked the tree canopy, causing large burning branches to fall. Katsuhara covered Chiko's body with his own and was hit in the back as a reward.
“I'm not weak,” Chiko muttered with a blush.
“But I did hurt you,” Katsuhara moaned out.
Yoshie and Katsuhara didn't quite catch what was being yelled, but Ishi reacted immediately and raised an Earthen dome over everyone.
“What's going on?” Yoshie demanded.
“Kizu was working on this move for the tournament. Ai must really be running him ragged up there,” Ishi replied.
Before another question could be asked, the ground shook and they were deafened as a massive explosion occurred above them.
Chiko giggled dementedly. “Kizu won.”
“I wouldn't be to sure of that,” Katsuhara replied. “Ai ain't normal.”
Ishi poked his head out of the Earthen dome he created to shield them and did not like what he saw. The canopy had been cleared of leaves, making it hard to hide. However it was Kizu who needed to get out of sight as a hundred copies of Ai were demanding that his team leader surrender. What was worse all the explosives he had set on the ground had gone to waste, detonated by falling debris.
Kizu pulled out the scroll he held. “How are you this strong? I've fought jounin who weren't half as strong as you.”
“Can't tell you,” Ai replied simply.
Kizu shook his head. “A curse of our job. You win. Doubt Ishi would put up any real fight. I'll need our team healthy if we're going to get both scrolls.”
Ai nodded as she caught the scroll her opponent threw at her. “Good choice, and good luck.”
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"Do I even want to know what happened up there?" Yoshie questioned after they were a good distance away from the combat zone.
"Hide and go boom, mostly." Ai let out a ragged sigh. "I kept using clones to draw his fire. His big attack nearly got me and would have if he didn't call it out to warn his teammates." She rubbed the back of her neck and laughed sheepishly. "Good thing he surrendered the scroll. I still haven't figured out how I would've gotten at pretty boy hiding in the ground."
Katsuhara shook his head. "So that last bit was just posturing?"
Ai grinned sheepishly. "Sometimes bluffs work the best."
Yoshie blinked as a squirrel ran past them. "You're not leaking chakra anymore?"
"I used up a lot of it fighting Kizu and I have no intention of drawing any attention to us now," Ai replied. "We're almost at the tower, and I'm ready to see my daughter and take a nap if she lets me."
Katsuhara laughed. "A nap does sound good."
Yoshie glanced to her side. "What should we do about the Rain-nin?"
"Huh?" Katsuhara emitted.
"Nothing unless they force us," Ai replied. "I doubt they're ready to face any team that has made it this far already. Especially a team as uninjured as we are."
"At least we've got a nice strong man to help us," Yoshie squealed suddenly hugging Katsuhara's arm.
Katsuhara's immediate response was to slam his fist at the girl's groin, who immediately crumpled into a heap and shifted into a guy holding his privates.
Ai groaned. "You know I hate genjutsu."
"Tell me about it," Katsuhara muttered. "Where's Yoshie?"
"You'd have a better idea than I would," Ai shot back, wishing Jiro was here to see through the crap.
"Surrender your scrolls or she gets a new smile," a dark man threatened.
Ai gritted her teeth.
"When was our first kiss?" Katsuhara questioned.
"We never kissed!" Yoshie cried out. "Save me already!"
Katsuhara glanced at Ai. "Still a fake."
"Figures." Ai pulled out a kunai and set to throw it when the captive and captor both suddenly collapsed.
Yoshie faded into sight behind them holding an iron rod. "How sexist are these guys?"
"Very." Ai groused.
"And to answer the question, when we were five." Yoshie glanced at Ai. "Katsuhara has lived next door to me all our life."
Katsuhara nodded. "It's her."
Yoshie riffled through the bag of the one who played the role of the captor and pulled out a scroll of the Earth.
Ai grinned. "Well we don't need it, but let's see if we can help another team." She took the scroll and with a little wind chakra sent it flying.
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Once in the tower, Katsuhara and Yoshie broke the seals on the scrolls and activated them.
A cloud of smoke erupted and Tsunade appeared in front of them.
Ai smirked. "Told ya I'd have it done in two days."
Tsunade nodded. "I didn't have any doubt in that. How did things go in the Forest?"
"Yoshie is scary good with genjutsu, and Katsuhara is reliable when he needs to be," Ai praised.
"I'd go into the whole speech about Heaven and Earth, but I've got other things to deal with. Ai, you can show them the back way out," Tsunade informed them.
"Excuse me, Tsunade-sama." Katsuhara bowed. "While in the forest, Ai seemed to be on rather friendly terms with a group of Sand-nin."
Tsunade grinned. "Oh, I'm well aware of the time Ai spent in their company. That she was even naked in front of their Kazekage."
Ai flushed madly. "I wasn't naked! My clothes were ripped up from battle!"
"Is that the same battle where there's supposedly a lake?" Katsuhara wondered.
Tsunade nodded. "It's even been named Lake Ai."
"Wonderful," Ai groused.
"As I said, I'm rather busy and I'm sure Shinobu is missing her mother," Tsunade stated before disappearing in another cloud of smoke.
"Come on." Ai waved at the to follow her. "I'd like to get home."
Katsuhara nodded. "No arguments here."
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Author's notes:
Coming next:
Chapter 17 - Splitting Soul
Jiro and Hinata begin their quest to learn the advanced Kage Bunshin from an insane jounin.
I hate these long dry spells. It takes forever to get back on track, especially with other story ideas nipping at me to be written. Let's hope the next chapter doesn't take nearly as long.
Chapter 16 - Chuunin Exam
By: Lord Archive
Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, all rights reserved. I'm only borrowing them.
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Ai held onto her wiggling baby as she stood next to Jiro.
"You two have come to an agreement?" Tsunade questioned.
Jiro nodded. "After Ai completes the initial chuunin exams, I will go to see the jounin to learn the advanced Kage Bunshin."
Tsunade gazed at the girl. "Is this true?"
Ai looked away. "I still don't like it, but I understand it is something Jiro and Hinata have to do."
"I see. I will give you the needed information for your mission when it's time for you to leave," Tsunade informed. "As for you, Ai, you need to get some rest. You've got a long week ahead of you."
Ai smirked. "I'll have the Forest of Death done in two days."
"Oh? Not going to try to beat the record set by Gaara?" Tsunade wondered. "He finished in less than a day."
"I'm sure I can beat Gaara's time alone, but what good would it be for my teammates if I did all the work for them?" Ai shot back.
Tsunade blinked and then smiled. "I see teaching has changed you as much as motherhood has. Good luck."
"Wish that luck for the others, because I'm going to kick their asses!" Ai pledged, eliciting an excited coo from her daughter.
----------------------
"Uh, Ai, we're supposed to go to room 303," Katsuhara noted, pointing at a door sign above a mass of young ninja trying to get in.
Ai glanced at Yoshie. "You care to explain it to him?"
Yoshie giggled. "It's genjutsu covering the door. We're still on the second floor."
Katsuhara grumbled. "Why do they make everything a test?"
"You have to be ready for anything on real missions, especially against enemy ninja," Ai retorted.
Yoshie pouted as she looked upon a handsome genin marked from the Hidden Village of Stone. "Though it sucks meeting people that we may someday have to kill in battle."
"That's a price we pay with the job," Ai growled, finally arriving at the correct room. Sliding the door open she saw a sea of unruly genin. She bit back the urge to challenge them, but knew doing so would put a target on her. The only people that she could recognize was Shikamaru and Temari sitting at the front of the room.
"If this is Shikamaru's test, keep it simple, stupid," Ai warned. She then smirked seeing a familiar group of sand-nin enter the room.
Fifteen minutes later Shikamaru motioned for the door to be sealed. Temari then randomly placed the names of each genin at a seat.
Once the seating was completed, Shikamaru dragged himself to stand in front of the classroom. "You are about to be passed out a test to take. You are to finish all ten questions to the best of your ability. You have sixty minutes to complete it. If one member of the team fails to pass, the entire team fails. Get caught cheating and you fail immediately. Make a single noise, ANY noise, you fail. There will be no questions."
Tenten walked into the room from a side door, holding a scroll. Cracking it open, she summoned numerous tests each attached to a kunai and promptly threw each of them to land in front of an examinee.
"You may begin now," Shikamaru announced.
Three pencils were heard hitting wood. With a tug from Tenten's fingers, six tests were pulled away.
"What?!" cried out a few of them.
"I meant any noise." Shikamaru barked. "Now all of you get out."
While the six genin grumbled as they left, three more tests were pulled.
Ai didn't need someone else to explain the 'no noise' rule. It was a test of stealth. She gazed at her test and was surprised to note that she had some idea how to answer a few of the questions. After a few more teams with nervous genin were kicked out, the room took an eerie silence.
A sneeze not only caught one genin's team, but the guy next to the sneezer made a noise as he jumped costing his team as well.
Ai shook her head. She actually suspected this test was easier than the one she had last time. She tried to relate her answers to her experience in fighting. To one question, she might not have the proof, but she was sure of the answer.
The next to go had to have been a cheater, as no noise had been heard. Then came the ripping of a paper and another group was removed. Ai spotted the issue. There were nine questions on face of the paper, the tenth had to be on the back. Giving up on the front, leaving a couple questions completely blank, she set herself to flip over the paper, however the kunai imbedding it in the desk would not let her read it. She would have to free the paper to get at the last question. She could only pray her teammates had a trick to get at the paper without making a noise.
A quick flare of wind chakra at her finger, she sliced the paper with a sharp gust of wind. Carefully, turning over the paper she had to smirk at the question. 'What is your ninja way?'
Ai quickly wrote her answer. 'Never give up. Never go back on your word. Never betray what is important to you.'
The next twenty minutes was hell to Ai. She could not think of any way to answer the remaining questions and the inability to make a sound was grating on her. By this time, various methods to turn over the test had been employed. Some of which failed, which came to the relief of at least one of the failed students who promptly went into a long vulgar rant about hating tests and Konoha. Though for some reason Yoshie seemed rather embarrassed from it.
"Times up!" Shikamaru announced.
Ai was among a few test takers who let out screams of relief.
Shikamaru's shadow raced out and collected the tests. "You may mingle with your teammates."
"That sucked," Katsuhara grumbled. "And honestly, who the hell came up with the ninja way crap?"
Ai smirked. "I might've had something to do with that."
Yoshie glanced nervously as Shikamaru went over the tests. "I'm surprised I didn't get caught cheating. I couldn't mask the sound of ripping so I made it sound like that one guy with the mouth ripped his."
Ai chuckled. "The first time I took the test was all about not getting caught cheating. And I wouldn't be surprised if there were other cheaters who made it through. If you're not caught, you didn't do it."
----------------------
Ai was surprised to note the front did have meaning to the test. The more you got wrong, the more weight the tenth question had. From the way Shikamaru was talking to Temari, it would seem she was the one who made the first nine questions count.
"Three right and an essay on the back? This is a failure," Shikamaru intoned.
Temari nodded as she looked over the back. "There is no way anyone could live by these ideals. Failure confirmed."
"Inuzuka Noriko, you fail. Take your team and go," Shikamaru intoned.
A girl with a growling dog perched on her head stomped off. "This whole test is fucking stupid."
Ai wondered if the girl was Kiba's little sister or cousin, not that it really mattered.
"Six right, but he's got the best ninja way I've ever seen," Shikamaru commented. "I say he passes."
Temari scowled. "'Keep it simple, stupid?' What kind of ninja way is that?"
"One you can live by. And if he adheres to it, he may just live to retirement," Shikamaru retorted.
Ai looked at the boy on her team.
"What? I couldn't think of anything," Katsuhara whispered defensively.
"Four right and with deep yet simple ninja way," Shikamaru noted.
"Oh, it's her." Temari smirked. "Surprised she got the four right. I say pass."
"How surprisingly kind of you... She's Konoha. How do you know her? I don't even know who she is," Shikamaru wondered.
"It's because you don't know, I can't say," Temari returned.
Shikamaru shrugged. "She passes on the ninja way."
Ai shook her head. "Looks like it's all up to your test, Yoshie."
Yoshie pouted. "You only got four right."
Ai laughed. "I'm surprised I got that many."
"Love before war? Does she want a boyfriend more than being a ninja?" Shikamaru growled.
"Doesn't matter. She got eight right. She passes," Temari intoned.
Yoshie folded her arms. "What's the problem with wanting to find better ways to avoid fighting? I'd rather have a fun night with that Stone-nin than fight him to the death."
The Stone-nin in question stared at her with wide eyes.
Ai folded her arms. "Well, we all passed. Now we got to wait to see how many others get to fight in the Forest of Death."
"Forest of Death?" Katsuhara questioned.
"It's a forest filled with huge animals that would love to eat you. And that doesn't even count the fact that other ninja teams are out to defeat us, and that they will be free to use lethal force," Ai explained.
Katsuhara shuddered. "Makes me wish we were taking the test in the Hidden Village of Stone again."
----------------------
There was definitely something up when you had two Chuunin and a Jounin from another village proctoring a test. Tenten had acted as a tie-breaker when Shikamaru and Temari couldn't agree if the test had passed. Then there was the one in charge of the Forest of Death.
Neji stood on a platform as he laid out the rules of the test. They were the same as the last time she had taken the test as Naruto. Get a hold of Heaven and Earth scrolls, take them to the center of the Forest and open there, and only there. There were no other rules, and Neji was explaining things in far more detail than needed, as if he was trying to weed out more of the twenty-five teams that passed the test by either scaring them that they could die or bore them to death.
In the end, every team signed the no-fault paperwork in the case of severe injury or death during the test.
Ai wasn't sure if she liked the number they got: twenty-eight. It was the early morning hours of December twenty-eighth that she had lost her virginity, which still filled her with mixed feelings.
There was no reservation as the gates opened, Ai led the way leaping into the dangerous forest.
----------------------
Katsuhara scratched his arm. "Where's the huge animals? I don't see any, but I feel like something is ready to eat me."
"That feeling is from me," Ai replied. "I'm leaking chakra to scare away predators."
"And any other creature. I haven't even seen a bird or a squirrel," Yoshie commented.
"Why would you do something like that?" Katsuhara demanded. "You're going to attract enemy ninja. Not to mention waste energy you could use fighting them."
"She's got more than enough chakra to spare," a voice called out to the side of them.
Ai smirked at the three sand ninja standing on a hill. She quickly recognized them as Gaara's students. "Figured I'd run into you three here. How is Gaara?"
Matsuri pouted. "He's been busy ever since he became Kazekage."
"Really? He got approved?" Ai clenched her fist. "Good for him."
"And how have you been with your partner?" Sen questioned.
"I'm fine, but our daughter is likely driving Jiro up the wall by now," Ai joked.
"Daughter?" Matsuri clapped her hands. "You're a mother?!"
"Yep." Ai nodded.
Tetsuo looked disturbed through his bandages. "Gaara-sama said you were really-" A pebble to his forehead interrupted him.
"Don't finish that," Ai growled.
Katsuhara grabbed Ai by her shirt. "Are you a Sand-nin spy?"
"Don't be stupid. If I was, we would be avoiding each other." Ai motioned toward the sand ninja. "They helped bail me and Jiro out of a bad situation on my long mission."
"You can report any suspicions after the test." Sen folded her arms. "The only question that's really important now is: Earth or Heaven?"
"Earth," Ai replied simply.
"Thank the sands," Matsuri sighed with relief. "I certainly didn't want to fight Ai."
Tetsuo nodded. "Even if they had Heaven, I wouldn't want to face someone who can fight Gaara all out."
"Gaara won that battle," Sen pointed out.
"And I beat him the first time, so we're one-and-one on the record." Ai folded her arms. "Don't fancy a rematch, though. There's a lake where we fought last time."
Katsuhara gave her a disbelieving look. Then a yelp caught him by surprise. He turned and saw Tetsuo's arm shake violently. Slowly Yoshie faded from behind Ai and appeared in the grip of the sand ninja.
"What are you doing?" Tetsuo demanded.
"Making sure you weren't lying," Yoshie defended, finally freeing her arm. "Yeah, they've got Earth, too. No need to fight them."
"Well, it's nice seeing you again, hope to meet you at the end of the test. Best we stay separated to avoid stepping on each other's toes." With that Ai leapt away, quickly followed by Yoshie and Katsuhara.
"What was all that about?" Yoshie questioned.
"Top secret bullshit that I can't tell you about," Ai replied. "Feel free to report that talk. Tsunade-bachan knows all about the time I met them."
Yoshie blinked repeatedly. "Tsunade-sama is your grandmother?!"
Ai laughed. "Technically, no. But we do have that kind of relationship."
----------------------
"How can they walk so casually through this forest?" questioned a small girl, wearing the mark of a Stone-nin as a belt.
"They don't even look like they've seen any trouble at all," added the handsome Stone-nin that had caught Yoshie's eye before. "They've been here a full day, and they don't have a single scratch on them."
"Something doesn't seem right with them," growled a tall, muscular Stone-nin.
"To be honest, I should've passed this test a long time ago. I was unable to take it," Ai commented.
The three Stone-nin jumped back defensively.
Ai folded her arms. "First question, Heaven or Earth?"
The girl and the handsome Stone-nin looked at the muscular member of the team, who did not immediately offer any statement. He gazed intently at the girl in front of them and then at the the ninja walking below them. He frowned before answering, "Heaven."
"Then we are in dispute. We've got Earth." Ai cocked her head. "How about we make this more fun. One of you verses Katsuhara, then another one of you verses Yoshie, and finally the remaining one of you and any victors against me. Winner of the last match gets the scroll."
"Cocky, aren't you?" the little girl hissed.
"How can we be sure you will uphold your end of this challenge?" the large stone-nin grumbled.
"I swear on my word as a ninja," Ai avowed. "That is my ninja way."
The pretty boy Stone-nin scowled. "What is it with that whole 'ninja way' crap?"
"Who can be expected to follow all the ninja rules that's spouted at us? You can be loyal to your village, but the one you need to be true to is yourself," Ai explained.
The large Stone-nin laughed. "You have my word as a ninja to abide by your challenge."
Ai nodded. "So, who's first?"
"Me!" the little girl cheered. "I'll take on that shuriken-boy."
Ai nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
----------------------
Ai stopped suddenly and announced, "Katsuhara, you're up."
"Huh?" the boy looked at her strangely.
A small girl jumped out of the trees. "Come on, shuriken-boy. You're the first to fall."
"Her team has the scroll of Heaven. We beat them, we get their scroll. You fight her first. Then Yoshie gets her boyfriend, and I play clean-up," Ai explained.
Katsuhara looked disbelievingly. "I'm supposed to fight her?"
The girl in questioned went into a complex set of seals. When she finished, the ground erupted around her and launched her into the air. When the rumbling came to an end, the girl was encased within stone and dirt, standing over five meters tall. "You are going down!"
"I'm supposed to fight that?!" Katsuhara complained for an entirely different reason.
"If you can't deal with her, you don't deserve to be Chuunin," Ai shot back.
Katsuhara scowled at her before dashing away. "You want to fight me, then follow me."
"Oh, I will, little mouse," the girl's voice echoed from the earthen body armor as she slowly marched after him.
Ai frowned as she watched Katsuhara run from the girl. This was going to take some time while Katsuhara came up with a plan of attack. Yoshie was being a little too quiet. She wasn't about to let the girl cheat. "They're going to be a while. Why don't you take turn now as well?"
A thud came from behind Ai.
"I thought you were going to wait for me," Ai commented.
"I am," the large stone-nin commented. "The girl decided to start her match against Ishi already."
"Ah. So that's where she went." Ai shook her head. "I only hope she can get serious enough."
----------------------
Ai watched the battles from a lofty position in the trees. She had a few clones strategically placed to keep a good eye on everyone, particularly the bored shadow standing next to the Stone-nin team leader.
Katsuhara ran wildly around the trees randomly launching kunai at the stone encased girl. Ai hoped her assessment was in error and that her teammate had some sort of plan and wasn't just being a panicked fool. She couldn't be sure, but the stone-armored ninja was certainly buying into it repeatedly calling Katsuhara a bug to be squashed.
Yoshie's battle was more interesting at the moment. Various images of her stood scattered around the forest, while the handsome Stone-nin seemingly swam through the ground only to surface to launch spears of rock at the images. Technically, this fight only looked cooler as both boys were seemingly fighting ineffectively against the girls, while the girls looked for their own chance to finish things. The real interest was in the banter between Yoshie and her opponent.
"I've never had that before," Ishi commented.
"Oh, you'll love the dango," Yoshie almost squealed even as her image rippled as stone shot through her. "You sure you won't be upset when I beat you?"
"As long as you promise not to be mad if I defeat you," Ishi replied.
"I have less to be worried about there. Even if your team manages to beat Ai, I doubt we'd have much trouble regaining the scrolls we need," Yoshie replied confidently.
Ishi surfaced once again, launching three stone spears at three images. Before he could submerge again, a kunai was poised under his chin.
"Give up," Yoshie told him softly.
"That's my line," Ishi replied behind the girl.
Yoshie squeaked in surprise as she pitched forward as the guy she was hugging was a statue that grabbed her arms and pinned them painfully to the ground. "Damn it."
"Do you surrender?" Ishi pleaded.
Yoshie squirmed as small spikes began to emerge from the statue under her. "I... give up. You win."
Ishi released the girl who immediately sat up cross-legged and huffed.
Some distance away, Ai commented, "Pretty boy just beat Yoshie."
The brutish Stone-nin nodded. "Now we have to wait for Chiko to squash the boy."
The stone encased girl entered a clearing in before them.
Ai smirked. "You were saying?"
The Stone-nin shook his head in dismay and disgust.
"You might want to head for cover," Ai noted before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Where did that cockroach go?" Chiko demanded. She noticed her team captain jump into a ditch. "Huh?"
There was an Earth shattering explosion right behind her as numerous explosive tags attached to kunai that had been embedded in the stone armor's back. The giant fell forward crumbling apart as it crashed to the ground revealing a battered and bloodied little girl.
Katsuhara peaked out from where he was hiding. "I didn't kill her, did I?"
"Fucking cockroach," Chiko muttered. "I'll get you next time."
Ai leapt down from her perch, landing next to the girl. "Any of you trained for healing?"
The brutish Stone-nin shook his head. "Nothing beyond the basics."
"I've got some ointment that'll help her bruises, but I could use some help bandaging her," Ai told them.
"Sorry, Kizu," Chiko moaned.
"Learn from your mistakes," Kizu intoned. As he bandaged his fallen teammate, he commented, "You Leaf have more honor than I've heard about."
"The same can be said about you," Katsuhara returned.
"I never bothered much with history," Ai commented. "Too many names to remember and why they were supposed to be important. All the important stuff being absent."
"You mean like the reason that last great ninja war was fought because Konoha broke it's treaty?" Kizu suggested.
Yoshie looked confused. "Actually our history books said it was the Stone Country that broke it."
"I wasn't talking about either." Ai grinned at them. "They left out describing the cool jutsu used in battles!"
Chiko let out a pain-filled laugh. "Girl after my own heart."
"Try not to do that," Ai admonished. "And, besides, who was to blame for past mistakes will get us no where in the future. We should only learn from them so we don't repeat them. Most of the morons responsible for the last ninja war aren't in charge anymore and it's up to all of us to make sure such wars never happen again."
Ishi nodded. "I certainly don't mind the idea of making love not war."
"Yoshie, you better keep your pants on," Ai advised harshly. "It's dangerously easy to become pregnant."
"Yes, Mommy-Ai," Yoshie half-teased, half-mocked.
Kizu frowned. "You're a mother?"
Ai nodded curtly. "Doesn't matter if I am. You have no chance against me if you hold back."
Kizu shook his head. "It's more reason NOT to hold back. The most dangerous ninja I know is my mother."
"Don't worry, Kizu, we'll beat Mom yet," Chiko promised.
"All eight of us haven't done it yet," Kizu muttered.
Ai laughed. "This will be a good fight then."
Kizu ruffled the girl's hair. "You should just rest now, little sis. I'll take care of getting the scroll we need."
"Don't get your hopes up too much as it's not quite two on one." Ai smirked as she raised her hands. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Five copies of the girl sprang into existence and all six versions of Ai jumped into the trees.
Kizu pulled out a scroll and six ceramic jars appeared on the ground before him. "You know what to do with these."
Ishi nodded as he slowly submerged into the ground, dragging the pots with him.
Kizu frowned before he leapt up into the trees.
"Not your form of fighting, is it?" Ai questioned behind him.
A small flask appeared in Kizu's hand which he immediately threw where he heard the voice. A fiery explosion erupted but the Stone-nin could not be sure if he hit a clone or missed entirely.
"What, no special jutsu, just summoning explosives?" Ai taunted just out of sight.
"Just because my sister has all the talent doesn't mean I'm not a threat," Kizu returned.
"I know you are. That's why I'm taking you out before dealing with pretty boy and the explosives you gave him," Ai replied seriously.
"Why don't you try me face-to-face?" Kizu taunted.
"Tempting, but the jutsu impaired either go for their brains or brawn, you've seemed to have done both," Ai shot back.
"My, aren't you the flatterer. No wonder you landed a man so quickly," Kizu commented.
"Only because I know that a girl needs to be as subtle as this!" Ai emerged from hiding in a flying kick, aimed at the stone-nin's face.
Kizu ducked under the attack, and left a surprise. An explosion took out the clone.
----------------------
“This isn't good at all,” Ishi muttered.
“Why don't you go and join your teammate?” Yoshie wondered.
Ishi frowned deeply. “My jutsu is all Earth based. I'd be worse than useless up there.”
Another explosion rocked the tree canopy, causing large burning branches to fall. Katsuhara covered Chiko's body with his own and was hit in the back as a reward.
“I'm not weak,” Chiko muttered with a blush.
“But I did hurt you,” Katsuhara moaned out.
Yoshie and Katsuhara didn't quite catch what was being yelled, but Ishi reacted immediately and raised an Earthen dome over everyone.
“What's going on?” Yoshie demanded.
“Kizu was working on this move for the tournament. Ai must really be running him ragged up there,” Ishi replied.
Before another question could be asked, the ground shook and they were deafened as a massive explosion occurred above them.
Chiko giggled dementedly. “Kizu won.”
“I wouldn't be to sure of that,” Katsuhara replied. “Ai ain't normal.”
Ishi poked his head out of the Earthen dome he created to shield them and did not like what he saw. The canopy had been cleared of leaves, making it hard to hide. However it was Kizu who needed to get out of sight as a hundred copies of Ai were demanding that his team leader surrender. What was worse all the explosives he had set on the ground had gone to waste, detonated by falling debris.
Kizu pulled out the scroll he held. “How are you this strong? I've fought jounin who weren't half as strong as you.”
“Can't tell you,” Ai replied simply.
Kizu shook his head. “A curse of our job. You win. Doubt Ishi would put up any real fight. I'll need our team healthy if we're going to get both scrolls.”
Ai nodded as she caught the scroll her opponent threw at her. “Good choice, and good luck.”
----------------------
"Do I even want to know what happened up there?" Yoshie questioned after they were a good distance away from the combat zone.
"Hide and go boom, mostly." Ai let out a ragged sigh. "I kept using clones to draw his fire. His big attack nearly got me and would have if he didn't call it out to warn his teammates." She rubbed the back of her neck and laughed sheepishly. "Good thing he surrendered the scroll. I still haven't figured out how I would've gotten at pretty boy hiding in the ground."
Katsuhara shook his head. "So that last bit was just posturing?"
Ai grinned sheepishly. "Sometimes bluffs work the best."
Yoshie blinked as a squirrel ran past them. "You're not leaking chakra anymore?"
"I used up a lot of it fighting Kizu and I have no intention of drawing any attention to us now," Ai replied. "We're almost at the tower, and I'm ready to see my daughter and take a nap if she lets me."
Katsuhara laughed. "A nap does sound good."
Yoshie glanced to her side. "What should we do about the Rain-nin?"
"Huh?" Katsuhara emitted.
"Nothing unless they force us," Ai replied. "I doubt they're ready to face any team that has made it this far already. Especially a team as uninjured as we are."
"At least we've got a nice strong man to help us," Yoshie squealed suddenly hugging Katsuhara's arm.
Katsuhara's immediate response was to slam his fist at the girl's groin, who immediately crumpled into a heap and shifted into a guy holding his privates.
Ai groaned. "You know I hate genjutsu."
"Tell me about it," Katsuhara muttered. "Where's Yoshie?"
"You'd have a better idea than I would," Ai shot back, wishing Jiro was here to see through the crap.
"Surrender your scrolls or she gets a new smile," a dark man threatened.
Ai gritted her teeth.
"When was our first kiss?" Katsuhara questioned.
"We never kissed!" Yoshie cried out. "Save me already!"
Katsuhara glanced at Ai. "Still a fake."
"Figures." Ai pulled out a kunai and set to throw it when the captive and captor both suddenly collapsed.
Yoshie faded into sight behind them holding an iron rod. "How sexist are these guys?"
"Very." Ai groused.
"And to answer the question, when we were five." Yoshie glanced at Ai. "Katsuhara has lived next door to me all our life."
Katsuhara nodded. "It's her."
Yoshie riffled through the bag of the one who played the role of the captor and pulled out a scroll of the Earth.
Ai grinned. "Well we don't need it, but let's see if we can help another team." She took the scroll and with a little wind chakra sent it flying.
----------------------
Once in the tower, Katsuhara and Yoshie broke the seals on the scrolls and activated them.
A cloud of smoke erupted and Tsunade appeared in front of them.
Ai smirked. "Told ya I'd have it done in two days."
Tsunade nodded. "I didn't have any doubt in that. How did things go in the Forest?"
"Yoshie is scary good with genjutsu, and Katsuhara is reliable when he needs to be," Ai praised.
"I'd go into the whole speech about Heaven and Earth, but I've got other things to deal with. Ai, you can show them the back way out," Tsunade informed them.
"Excuse me, Tsunade-sama." Katsuhara bowed. "While in the forest, Ai seemed to be on rather friendly terms with a group of Sand-nin."
Tsunade grinned. "Oh, I'm well aware of the time Ai spent in their company. That she was even naked in front of their Kazekage."
Ai flushed madly. "I wasn't naked! My clothes were ripped up from battle!"
"Is that the same battle where there's supposedly a lake?" Katsuhara wondered.
Tsunade nodded. "It's even been named Lake Ai."
"Wonderful," Ai groused.
"As I said, I'm rather busy and I'm sure Shinobu is missing her mother," Tsunade stated before disappearing in another cloud of smoke.
"Come on." Ai waved at the to follow her. "I'd like to get home."
Katsuhara nodded. "No arguments here."
----------------------
Author's notes:
Coming next:
Chapter 17 - Splitting Soul
Jiro and Hinata begin their quest to learn the advanced Kage Bunshin from an insane jounin.
I hate these long dry spells. It takes forever to get back on track, especially with other story ideas nipping at me to be written. Let's hope the next chapter doesn't take nearly as long.