Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Return of the Bijus ❯ Rookie 9 Reborn ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

By: Specula

A/N: Yo! It's been a while since I updated this fic. At the end of last chapter, I wrote `meet at the Hokage Office tomorrow at 8am'. I knew I had something planned, but now I can't even remember what it was… I've even slipped out of the mindset I needed to be in to keep Naruto in character for this fic. That's how long it's been. Also people, if you're not going to read my topic on NarutoFan, then let me sum up the Original Post for you:

No, I am not abandoning this fic, or any others for that matter. I've simply been going through a time of dramatic change. Big fight with family, moving out of home, starting full time work, and working on all four storylines at once would mean that I've been somewhat… Busy as well as tired, to say the least.

Thanks to Kyuubi no Yoko 9 for Beta'ering.

Legend:

'...Thoughts...'

“...Japanese...”

“...English...”

'...Bijuu Thoughts...'

“...Bijuu Talking in Japanese...”

“...Bijuu Talking in English...”

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The Return of The Bijuu:

Chapter Seven:

Rookie Nine Reborn:

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Next Morning, 8am:

All three Genin turned up to their training ground to see Naruto waiting for them. He smiled at them and waved.

“Hey guys.”

“Ohaiyo, Naruto-Sensei.”

Naruto created two Kage Bunshins and sent them to stand next to Kouji and Daichi. Naruto smiled and looked at the one next to Kouji.

“I need you to take him to Tenten's family weapon shop.”

The clone nodded and left with Kouji while the real Naruto turned to the one with Daichi.

“And I need you to stay here and help Daichi train.”

Daichi turned to Naruto with a rather annoyed expression on his face.

“Naruto-Sensei, why do Kouji and I only get a clone?”

Naruto smiled at Daichi.

“Because if I sent a clone to do a job for me that involved my wife, she wouldn't exactly be happy with me.”

Naruto smirked as he thought of the was she would have `tortured' him if he had done that. Daichi nodded and turned to the clone as they began some simple Taijutsu sets to war up. The real Naruto turned to Hibari.

“Let's go.”

Hibari nodded and followed Naruto through the streets to the wealthier part of town. Naruto stopped outside a house and opened the door with a key.

“Yukiko-Chan?”

Hibari could smell delicious scents wafting from what she assumed was the kitchen when she heard a feminine voice.

“Yes, Naruto-Kun?”

Naruto lead Hibari into the kitchen where Yukiko was slicing up some vegetables. Hibari froze when she saw her. This was Naruto's wife? As if to unconsciously illustrate the point, Naruto walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her stomach leaned his head on her shoulder. She was possibly the most beautiful woman Hibari had ever seen. Her skin was tanned and her muscles showed she was not a slacker by any stretch of the imagination. She was well endowed in all areas that `mattered'; Hips, chest and thighs. Her aqua blue hair came down to her waist and was done in a pony tail. When she turned to face the third person present, Hibari's eyes widened. Like Naruto, she had slits for pupils and fangs. However, this just gave her a more attractive look that would definitely invoke a dark carnal reaction in men similar to what a succubus could. Yukiko raised an eyebrow at Hibari.

“You weren't kidding when you said she was malnourished… I don't know how she could torture her body like that.”

Yukiko smiled and showed off her fangs before putting the vegetables into the pot and turned the heat down to let them boil slowly. She turned to Naruto and gave him a look. Naruto nodded.

“I'll be upstairs working on seals. Call me when you've finished.”

Yukiko nodded and Naruto left the two women to talk about things. Yukiko turned to Hibari and sighed.

“Let me guess. You want to `look good' for a certain guy, right?”

Hibari blushed slightly and nodded.

“Trust me on this; trying to diet to `look good' will have the opposite effect on guys. Only the really shallow ones will go for you.”

Hibari nodded and listened to everything Yukiko said; blushing slightly at how frank she was when she mentioned certain parts of the female anatomy like it was just a regular conversation. After the talk, Hibari still had slight doubts. Yukiko seemed to sense this and motioned her to follow her. Once they stepped outside, Yukiko looked around and then smiled at Hibari.

“You may have perfect chakra control, but without stamina, you will never be able to do something like this.”

Yukiko closed her eyes before thrusting her fist forward and extending a wave of chakra infused wind to rip along the ground and hit a tree, completely decimating it. Hibari's eyes bulged. Yukiko hadn't even used a hand seal to do that, or even announced the jutsu, and it had more chakra packed into it than Hibari had when her reserves were full! Hibari stared at Yukiko who was frowning.

“I'm really getting rusty on the basics…”

Hibari face faulted. Basics? Rusty? After Hibari recovered, Yukiko turned to her.

“It's unlikely you'll ever get a body like mine… Like Naruto-Kun, I had some… Assistance in getting it.”

Hibari was naturally curious.

“Assistance? Like a jutsu or something?”

Yukiko shook her head and released a small fraction of her demonic chakra. Hibari's eyes widened and Yukiko cut off the chakra.

“Apparently, Naruto-Kun, Sora and I have earnt the title of the Konoha Demon Trio or something like that. On the day we were born, all three of us had a greater demon sealed within us. On our fourteenth birthday, we absorbed them. As well as gaining their chakra, we gained several other things…”

Yukiko formed a slight look of annoyance before she returned to her usual calm look.

“Such as fangs, slitted pupils, greatly improved physique, a secondary chakra source…”

Yukiko grimaced and formed several hand seals before touching her palm to her head and looking somewhat relieved and annoyed at the same time.

“And an annoying voice in your head that doesn't know when to stop demanding you kill people left right and centre as well as make extremely perverted suggestions that involve a certain blond.”

Hibari sweat dropped and Yukiko turned to her, smiling as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

“Well, Hibari, I suggest you get back to your team. I might have some spare lunch for your team. I generally make more than I have to.”

Hibari nodded as they went back inside. Once Hibari had started walking, Yukiko repaired the damage she had done to illustrate her point with a small Mokuton jutsu before following her. If anything, this next year would prove interesting indeed…

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A Year Later:

The year that followed was rather interesting for all of Konoha's newest recruits and their Senseis. All of it was spent either training or doing missions. Naruto had taken a particular interest in Sasuke's Cursed Seal. Although it was a disgusting seal, Naruto handed out credit when it was due. The seal was a damn masterpiece. Even Naruto's extensive knowledge of seals gained from his Ingan couldn't provide a complete counter to it. He even remarked to Sasuke that if Orochimaru had the Ingan when he invented this he probably would have gained the fourth level from it. Still, Naruto had promised Sasuke he'd fix it. He'd spent the next five and a half months researching as well as trying to combine different parts of seals in an attempt to reverse the Cursed Seal's effects. Half way through the year, Naruto made a rather significant breakthrough when he inspected Mitarashi Anko's seal with Yukiko's help. It seemed that both seals somehow created some sort of `organ' in a sense that ripped chakra out of the person's system and converted it into the disgusting purple chakra seen when the seal was activated. That led to the next problem. Seals were not able to perform medical procedures. Sure, they helped medics perform them with greater ease, but by themselves, they were not capable of it. However, they were capable of sealing off chakra sources in living beings. The only problem was that sealing a chakra source tended to have rather negative effects on the target. If they only had a single chakra source, it usually meant death or something that usually left them wishing for it. Even if he sealed the Cursed Seal, it'd probably mean would have to relearn her chakra control from scratch. Since Sasuke's was sealed before it ever took root properly, it wouldn't be as hard or have the kind of side effects that Anko would have. And then there was the final problem. Orochimaru had left a very small part of his own soul inside the seal as a safety measure as well as giving the barer whisperings of promised power. By the end of the year, Naruto had the answer. If he could seal off the curse seal's chakra converting power, and then the part of Orochimaru's soul at least temporarily, he would be able to perform a simple seal to remove the seal from its barer all together. It took him twenty four hours to combine all three seals into one. Now all that was left was to perform it. However, from the amount of power that would be released, it would probably be best to perform it in a wide open space. A few mornings before the Chuunin Exams were due to begin, he appeared before Tsunade.

“Tsunade-Obaachan, I finally figured out the cure for the Ten no Juin.”

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at Naruto. It was not exactly a closely guarded secret of Konoha that Naruto was working on a cure for the seals.

“I suppose you need something from me.”

Naruto nodded.

“I need a wide open space like the plaza square and enough ANBU to stop people interfering.”

Tsunade looked shocked. Getting rid of the seal would need that much space? Still, Naruto did not make requests unless it was absolutely necessary. Tsunade nodded and got out of her chair.

“I'll have the ANBU there in 15 minutes. I want to see this for myself.”

Naruto nodded and dismissed himself to find Sasuke and Anko to get things underway.

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15 Minutes Later, Plaza Square:

People had seen all ANBU forces mobilise and head towards the centre of town, which was rather unusual. There had been no explosions or chakra spikes, which would mean that something big was happening. The majority of people, including those visiting for the Chuunin Exams since Konoha had insisted that it be allowed to host once again, decided to see what was up. What they didn't expect to see was that the entire plaza square was ringed by ANBU. However, what really caught their surprise was what they were blocking. They could see a group of Kage Bunshins setting up some sort of barrier of seals around him. In the centre was probably the real one along with someone they recognised as an Uchiha. The Uchiha had no shirt on and the blond with him was discussing something with him. The blond looked up from his discussion and caught the Kage Bunshins' attention.

“How much longer, guys?”

Most of them indicated another few minutes, but one grunted at him.

“Do you know how hard this is? I'd like to see you do this!”

Another clone smirked.

“Ha! I've got talent, unlike you guys!”

The real Naruto turned to see that the particular Kage Bunshin had completed his preparations and gave him a deadpanned look.

“How can you have more talent than us? You are us.”

The Kage Bunshin looked rather sheepish.

“Good point…”

Every single person present sweat dropped. After another thirty seconds or so, the Kage Bunshins that were walking around turned back to the real Naruto.

“We've set up the containment barrier.”

Naruto nodded.

“Activate it.”

They all nodded and formed a single half ram seal as a shield of chakra formed around them. Some got slightly worried glances but one of the Kage Bunshins who set up the barrier looked unconvinced.

“Is this barrier really going to work?”

Naruto looked at him.

“You tell me. You created it.”

It seemed that around his clones, Naruto was a rather different person. The clones huffed and the ones that created the barrier dispelled, leaving the real Naruto with five Kage Bunshins spaced evenly around the perimeter. Naruto looked at them.

“How's the elemental manipulation going?”

All of them gave the go ahead to show they were ready and Naruto nodded, closing his eyes.

“Sasuke, this will probably hurt quite a bit. Hold on, ok?”

Sasuke nodded slowly as the five Kage Bunshins formed a Hebi Seal and began focusing chakra for their part of the jutsu. In front of each clone, a different coloured human sized flame appeared. People noticed it was the colour of each of the five main elements. The real Naruto began forming a long chain of hand seals, many of which no one recognised. Naruto's eyes shot open as he formed the final seal and announced the jutsu.

“Fuuinjutsu Ogi: Juin Jouin!”

Everyone's eyes widened considerably as the five flames almost doubled in size and then began to form lines of strange flaming runes that were the same colour as the fires they originated from leading to each of the other flames as well as towards Sasuke. Sasuke screamed in pain as Naruto put his palm onto the crook of his neck and purple smoke began to stream out from under Naruto's palm. The amount of smoke quickly doubled as Sasuke was surrounded in a purple aura that exploded off him, making everyone stumble back as it collided with the barrier, which buckled under the strain. The purple smoke left by the explosion finally cleared to reveal that the intricate lines of runes as well as the fires and the Kage Bunshins were no where to be seen. Everyone saw Sasuke fall to the ground, unconscious as Naruto straightened and released the barrier. Tsunade and Jiraiya quickly rushed in to check on both participants. Tsunade immediately check on Sasuke to make sure he was still alive while Jiraiya stared at Naruto.

“Naruto, not even Arashi knew that one with his fourth level-“

Jiraiya stopped mid sentence as he saw Naruto's level three Ingan begin changing. The three existing triangles made way for an emerging fourth one. Once it had fully formed, the four of them were connected by a blue ring and they began spinning. Jiraiya's eyes widened. He'd been assigned missions almost constantly for the last year, so he had not heard of Naruto's endeavours to remove the Cursed Seal.

“You invented that?”

Naruto nodded slowly.

“Yeah… I guess I'm the third to get the fourth level, huh?”

Jiraiya nodded and smiled putting a hand on Naruto's head.

“You're so much like your father it's not funny.”

Naruto smiled at the compliment before turning back to Tsunade.

“How is he?”

Tsunade without looking at Naruto told him her findings.

“He's suffering from near complete chakra exhaustion and is unconscious at the moment. Apart from that, he's fine. I can't detect any traces of the Cursed Seal.”

Naruto nodded and smiled.

“Good to hear.”

By now, the crowd was talking excitedly amongst themselves but stopped when Naruto looked up at the Hokage Monument, or more specifically the head of the Yondaime with a smile on his face.

“I've surpassed you now, right Otousan?”

Jiraiya smiled as Naruto's Ingan deactivated and he fell to one knee, finally showing his exhaustion. Manipulating five elements as well as holding up a barrier of that strength shouldn't be possible for normal people, but he'd learnt long ago that with Naruto, anything is possible. After a few moments, Naruto had recovered enough stamina to stand again. He saw Anko looking at him hopefully and he sweat dropped.

“Anko-San, I don't have enough chakra to repeat that again right now…”

Anko gave him a somewhat hurt look but smiled.

“No problem.”

Tsunade smiled at Naruto. It wouldn't be long before he was ready to take her place. Once he did, she would be free to gamble and drink with no restrictions… She couldn't wait. A pair of Medic Nins came up and placed Sasuke on a stretcher before moving towards the hospital.

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3: 45 pm the Next Day, Outside Room 301 at the Academy:

Kouji, Hibari and Daichi saw the door the first test of the Chuunin Exams was to take place in. They were ready for this. They pushed open the double doors and felt everyone's gaze focus on them. Just behind them, the other teams led by Sora and Yukiko came in and nodded in acknowledgment at their friends. A team from Suna walked up to them and the captain of the team extended a hand to each of them.

“You would be the three Genin taught by Uzumaki Naruto, would you not?”

They nodded and took his hand. The boy had a brown `mop' hairstyle that hid a fair part of his face, but they could see friendly brown eyes in the small parting in the front. He wore clothes similar to what Gaara wore before he became Kazekage. Kouji nodded and smiled.

“Yeah! You wouldn't happen to be Hotaru-San's team, would you?”

The nodded. The leader of the Suna team introduced themselves.

“I'm Hojo Kousuna. To my right is my younger brother, Hojo Fusanari.”

The boy nodded and flashed a smile at them and they had to stop themselves from flinching when his teeth sparkled. The Suna team seemed to notice this.

“Is something wrong?”

True to form, Gai from Yukiko's team pumped his fist and his eyes exploded into the dreaded fires of youth.

“Yosh! Fusanari-Kun's fires of youth burn brightly!”

No one had anything to say to that, but both his team mates gave him a smack to the head. Daichi turned to Fusanari and whispered to him.

“If you don't want to end up in clothing like that, talk endlessly about `springtime of youth' and do 500 self imposed laps of Suna on your hands for losing a game of Jyu-Ken-Pou, I suggest resisting the green spandex of youth disease and those who are infected by it. We need to contain the virus to Konoha at all costs.”

Those who heard it unconsciously shuddered. Going back to the introductions, Kousuna indicated to the green eyed brown haired female on his left.

“And this is Sabaku no Rina.”

Rina smiled brightly at them. It wasn't that rare for people to either forsake their family names for various reasons or adopt a name that identified them as a ninja of their village if they never had one. Daichi introduced himself and his team mates.

“I'm Katayama Daichi. To my left is Matsumoto Hibari and to the right is Hayashi Kouji.”

Once the Suna team had met the other two teams from Konoha, they turned back to see others glaring at them. Kousuna looked unimpressed and decided to show the others just how little he was concerned by their death glares. He turned his head towards Konoha's Team Seven.

“So, how many A rank missions have you been on since you graduated?”

Daichi smiled and picked up on the hint. He looked thoughtful.

“Well, the only one we got was to dispose of one of the former Seven Shinobi Swordsmen and his minions. Kurosuki Raiga was his name I think…”

All of the Kiri Genin in the room flinched. Raiga was known to be extremely strong and at least an upper A rank ninja. These kids had defeated him? This was insane! Kousuna smiled.

“Not bad at all. We were sent on a supposedly C rank mission which turned out to be an upper A. Some loser from Rain called Aoi showed up with your Nidaime's chakra sword. He was a joke.”

The Ame Nins knew Aoi. While he wasn't anything special in terms of personal skill, he was fairly infamous for managing to steal Konoha's Nidaime's sword. They heard an explosion of smoke at the front of the room and a rather cold voice come from within it.

“We apologise for keeping you waiting. I am Hyuuga Neji, heir of the Hyuuga Branch Family and also the main examiner for this first test of the Chuunin Selection Examinations.”

The smoke cleared to reveal a row of Chuunins in grey coats with a Hyuuga in a white Gi in front of them. He smirked at them in a way that made everyone who was not from Konoha shiver.

“All of you will come and get one of these tabs from me. The colour of the tab will indicate your row and the number will indicate your seat. Take one and get to your seats now.”

Neji's cold tone of voice and slight smirk left no room for arguments. Once people were seated, the other examiners began handing out papers. Naruto had told them that the first test was always a paper test.”

Neji tapped a piece of chalk on the board behind him.

“Listen carefully. I will say the rules for this test once and only once. However, for those of you who are incapable of remembering them, I will also write them on the board in the hopes that you are literate instead. I will not accept questions at any time during this test, is that understood?”

No one said anything so Neji began writing them on the board.

“Rule one: Each of you will start with 9 points. This test works via a subtraction method of marking. For example, if you answer one question wrong, you will have a single point deducted. Five questions wrong and you lose over half your points. Rule two: The overall pass/fail is determined not by your individual scores, but by the combined score of your team. Rule three: If you are found to be conducting any suspicious activity that could be associated with cheating, you will have two points deducted. Meaning, even if you get all the answers right, but are caught five times, you fail. However, we will not announce whether you fail or not until the end of this test. Just a piece of advice: If one of your team mates fails, so do you. This test will be done in the over the course of the next hour. Take your fate into your own hands. Now, BEGIN!”

Not a single person failed to comply. They turned over their papers and began writing, or in the case of the majority of people, staring at the pages in disbelief. What the hell kind of a test was this? They doubted any of the Genins in this room would be able to answer this! Obviously, some did and were writing without hesitation. The scribbling of several pencils increased two fold at exactly the same time. Team Seven looked at the examiners scribbling furiously on their notepads. Daichi realised instantly what was going on. They had set a small penalty for being caught cheating which would normally have you failed instantly yet they weren't going to call out those who failed until the end. It was a rough theory, but he decided it would be smart to risk losing two points each to ensure they passed this test. He noticed that neither of his two team mates had cheated yet, so he tapped his pencil on the desk three times, which his team mates picked up on. A Chuunin marked them down once each and then went back to the others. The time ticked by and eventually, everyone stopped writing. As the hour expired, Neji went back to the front of the class room. He looked over the examiners and then smiled at the Genin.

“Instead of telling you which teams failed, it seems it would be much easier to tell you which teams passed.”

This struck a cord with everyone. If the implications of that were true, the majority of them had failed. The examiners stood up and called out from their clipboards.

“Team 7 of Konoha, Team 1 of Kiri, Team 10 of Suna; Pass.”

“Team 3 of Kusa, Team 5 of Taki; Pass.”

“Team 8 of Konoha, Team 2 of Suna; Pass.”

“Team 4 of Kiri, Team 6 of Konoha; Pass.”

No other examiners spoke up, so Neji turned to them.

“Those who have failed, get out.”

One boy from the Falls Village spoke up.

“How the hell do you know if we failed?”

Neji smiled smugly at him.

“Because you have been caught cheating 16 times alone. Even if you hadn't, you disobeyed the first rule, therefore you fail anyway. Get out.”

The boy couldn't believe his own stupidity, nor could anyone else. Everyone else who had not been told they had passed trudged out. Once the door had closed after the last person left, Neji's mood brightened considerably.

“Congratulations on passing the first test. As some of you figured out quickly, this test was set up to entice you to cheat to get answers few of you should know. To make this more believable, we planted two Chuunins in the room as a source to steal the answers off. However, those of you who looked deeper saw that no matter how well you `cheated', we still caught you. The pass or fail of your teams relied on you `seeing underneath the underneath'. Those who were unable to do so were failed as they lack the qualities required of a Chuunin. A Chuunin is a commander class officer who will be responsible for his or her team mates lives. A Chuunin must be able to decide if it is safe for his team to proceed or not, based on their observational and analytical abilities. All of you have so far proven that you possess some of the traits needed of a Chuunin. I wish you the best of luck in the next two tests.”

At that point, the doors to the room opened and everyone turned to see a boy in black battle armour over a black long sleaved shirt and pants riding in on possibly the biggest dog they had ever seen. The boy jumped off and smirked at them, showing off his massive canines.

“Good work in cutting out the mutts, Neji. I'm Inuzuka Kiba, the second examiner of the Chuunin Selection Exams. Meet at the South Gate of Konoha at 8:30 am tomorrow morning, or I'll track you down and feed you to my companion, Akamaru.”

To illustrate his point, Akamaru growled and roared at the students, who shrunk back. Neji smirked as Kiba left the room and the Genins cautiously followed out after about thirty seconds, hoping they wouldn't run into that scary guy and his beast of a dog.

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8: 30 am Next Morning at the South Gate:

The Genin Teams that had passed the first test had assembled at the South Gate by 8:30 am as they had been instructed. At 8:30 on the dot, the second lot of examiners appeared before them, led by Kiba. He smiled ferally at them.

“Good to see you all made it. Alright, I've never been one for long explanations, so I'll give it to you short and sweet. Each team will be given one of each of these-“

Kiba held up two pieces of what looked to be some form of fluoro green and pink cloth.

“Behind me are some of the best tracking Chuunin in Konoha. I have instructed them to track you and each time they catch you, take one of these tags. Once your team loses the two tags, you will be disqualified. Each Genin team will be given a half day head start. After that half day, the examiners will begin the hunt. These are your objectives-“

Kiba put the bars away and help up a finger.

“One: You and your team must survive in the forest around Konoha for 3 days.”

Kiba held up a second finger.

“Two: In order to successfully pass, you need to keep at least one tag in your possession by 9am three days from now.”

Kiba put up a third finger.

“Three: You must keep the tags visible at all times.”

Kiba held up a fourth finger.

“Four: You will be given a watch per team. These watches have been synched as of 30 seconds ago and will sound an alarm when the test is over. We will know if you try to tamper with them so don't bother.”

Kiba smiled at them.

“Here are the things that will disqualify you. If a team mate becomes unsalvageable through serious injury or goes missing, you fail. If you leave the fire country, you fail. If you are caught hiding either or both of your tags from plain view, you fail.”

Kiba smirked at them as he pulled out a bunch of forms and handed it to the Genin along with the watches.

“These are consent forms. There will most likely be deaths in this. Personally, I'd rather not get blamed by your parents for being responsible for you kids being careless.”

All of the Genin quickly skim read the consent forms and signed it, handing them back to Kiba. Kiba smirked at them confidently.

“This isn't a rule, but just a piece of advice. If you're a ninja, then act like a first rate one. You have half an hour to get your team's tags and get ready to leave. At nine am, the second test will begin.”

Each team took their strips of fluoro cloth and separated them amongst their team mates in a discrete fashion. Team Seven sat down in a group huddle and discussed their plans.

“Any ideas on what to do?”

Hibari thought for a moment.

“Naruto-Sensei said that there is a hidden meaning in each part of the exam…”

Both Kouji and Daichi nodded in agreement. Jounin Sensei's were allowed to give tips and advice on the Chuunin Exams, but they were not allowed to tell them exactly what to do, even if they knew. All three of them were deep in thought when the meaning of this test hit him like a ton of bricks.

“If you're a ninja, then act like a first rate one…”

That was enough to tip Daichi over the edge as well. He smirked.

“So the aim of this test is to trick everyone. Ok guys, here's what we'll do…”

They discussed their plans for the next 25 minutes before Kiba called out to them.

“All right, 5 minutes until the exam starts. Take your positions.”

All of the teams got up and went to the edges of the path leading south. Kiba looked at his watch and counted down the last 5 minutes. Right as the watch indicated it was 9:00, he looked up.

“GO!”

Not a single Genin failed to comply as all of the teams vanished from sight, leaving Kiba grinning at the prospect of chasing them down.

“And so the hunt begins…”

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30 Minutes Later with Team 7:

Team Seven had quickly decided that with a group of Kage Bunshins from each of them, they could form a lot of decoys that should throw the pursuers off for at least a while. Kouji smiled. The Kage Bunshins had been his idea and the other two had readily agreed that it was a good idea. Hibari, having the smallest chakra capacity of the three was only able to produce 4 Kage Bunshins and still keep a decent supply of chakra. If she hadn't taken Yukiko's advice, she wouldn't be able to even produce one. The real Team Seven ordered their clones to separate into groups of Team Seven look alikes, so that there was 5 Team Sevens in total, including the real ones. After that, the groups split up and went their separate ways.

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11 and a Half Hours Later:

Kiba smiled as his examiners set of into the forest, the Genins' half a day head start now up.

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A Day and a Half Later:

It was now 9am on day two of the second test. Three of Team Seven's decoys had been defeated, leaving just the real ones and one decoy group. The Chuunins had dispatched them with surprising ease and efficiency. The look on the tracker's faces when the first member of the first dispatched decoy team exploded into smoke was absolutely priceless. If they had made more decoy groups, the Chuunins would have figured out which one was the real one by the chakra spikes and also the fact that one trail split up into new groups while the others didn't. The real Team Seven could tell that there was a Chuunin behind them and they couldn't afford to stop for a rest until the exam ended. Kouji's eyes narrowed as he smelt something nearby. It was faint, but very easily recognisable. Fresh blood. Kouji shouldn't have really cared, but it unsettled him greatly. Kouji indicated the direction to his team and they changed corse.

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Not to Far Away:

Hotaru's Genin Team had been spotted by the Ame Team. However, this Ame Team was not your average Genin Team. They had taken care of her two team mates with unnatural ease and turned to her.

“Rina, right? Our leader has asked us to bring you back with us to the Rain Village. Why not make this easy and just come with us willingly?”

Rina scowled at them.

“After what you did to my team? Not likely.”

The leader of the Ame Team sighed and threw a hail of kunai and shuriken at her. Rina dodged and noticed too late that one of the Ame Team had disappeared from beside his team mates and was now directly behind her with a kunai in hand, ready to hit her with the pommel on the back of the neck. She shut her eyes and resigned herself to whatever it was they wanted to do with her at Ame when she felt the boy behind her stiffen. She opened her eyes to see that one of the Konoha Genin from Team Seven had done to him what he had planned to do to her. The Ame Nin slumped to the ground unconscious while the remaining two went on guard.

“Who are you three?”

Daichi gave them a deadpanned look.

“No point in telling you.”

Daichi formed a single unusual hand seal and took a deep breath in, exhaling a stream of purple gas which filled the area. Both Hibari and Daichi picked up one of the disabled Suna Nins while they motioned Rina to follow them, which she did not hesitate to do. Kouji was right behind them, leaving the two remaining Ame Nins to try and get out of the poison cloud before they were caught by the examiners. The examiners in the general area had been drawn by the chakra given off by the poison smoke screen as well as the fresh scent of blood they left behind. Rina turned to them with a look of worry on her face.

“Why did you save us? It's unlikely we would have escaped, but at least you could have!”

Hibari shook her head.

“That's not it.”

Rina looked to Hibari with a `please explain' expression while Kouji continued.

“Not only are our countries allies, but that's what friends are for, right? To help each other out when they're in trouble.”

Rina smiled.

“Arigato.”

Daichi smirked.

“No problem.”

Kouji looked at Daichi with a playful smirk on his face.

“Let's kick this up a notch.”

Both Hibari and Daichi nodded. Kouji came up beside Rina and smirked at her.

“How much faster can you go?”

Rina looked at him.

“With my current stamina, about twice this speed for another 5 hours before I need to rest.”

Kouji sighed but kept smiling.

“We need to keep going for at least another 11… Hop on.”

Rina looked at Kouji with a questioning look. Hibari looked back at Rina.

“Kouji has more stamina than both of us combined. Trust me, you'll see why.”

Rina shrugged and hopped onto Kouji's back. All three members of Team Seven formed a half ram seal and dispelled the chakra in their weights to dispel the weight effect.

“KAI.”

All three rocketed forward, much to Rina's shock. To be able to move this quickly after taking some weight off meant that the weights were at least 100 kilos in total. The trees flashed passed them in a blur of brown and green. Kouji closed his eyes for a second before opening them.

“We're losing them. No one in front or to the sides that I can sense.”

Both of them nodded in acknowledgement. One of the first things Naruto had tried to teach them was to concentrate chakra to their senses. When they got around to focusing chakra to their noses, Kouji was the only one who was able to do so beyond what was to be expected from someone of their skill level. Kouji was their team tracker because of it and they quickly learnt never to doubt his judgments when he did so. Hibari's eyes narrowed.

“We're getting close to the border.”

They nodded and changed corse slightly in the direction Hibari indicated. Even with this speed, they wouldn't be able to keep up this pace for 24 hours with their… Cargo. Kouji turned to Rina.

“You wouldn't happen to have some soldier pills, would you?”

Rina nodded and reached into her ninja pouch, pulling out a small container and flipping the lid open, offering one to Kouji who took one out and threw it into his mouth, chewing several times before swallowing. He felt his energy reserves skyrocketing as he smiled.

“Thanks, Rina.”

Rina smiled sweetly at him.

“No problem.”

Rina passed the small container to her team mate on Hibari's back, who had returned to consciousness not too long ago. He grabbed one out for himself and then another for Hibari before passing it to the last pair who repeated the process before chucking the container back to Rina who pocketed it. Kouji checked the watch they were given at the start of this test. It was now 10 am. Only 23 hours to go…

&&&&&&&&&&&&am p;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Back at the South Gate:

Kiba was lounging against a tree, receiving reports from every tracker when they had an update through a head set that each of them had that was connected to the one Kiba wore. Apparently, there were again some infiltrators into this exam. However, unlike the last two times, these were from the Falls Country and not Oto. The first pair of trackers to find them had subdued them and was taking the trio in for questioning as to their motives. According to the reports, it seemed that the Falls' target had escaped with some help from Naruto's Genin Team and had even left the trackers eating their dust, much to the amusement of Kiba. He told all trackers to be on full alert and notify him immediately if something happened.

&&&&&&&&&&&&am p;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

10 Hours Later With Team 7:

The effects of the pills were beginning to ware off and their chakra capacity was getting dangerously low. Daichi signalled a stop for a rest. Kouji groaned as he dropped to the floor and went straight for his pouch to reveal several bags of chips. He handed them around and everyone ripped them open and ate hungrily. However, after ten hours of pure travel, they were tired and hungry. The chips did little to change that. They couldn't afford to go hunting and at most had the luxury of a single hour to rest and eat. Rina reached into her pack and pulled out her supply of ration bars when Kouji smiled widely.

“I knew this would happen, so I brought my secret weapon!”

The others looked at him as he brought out a scroll and opened it before palming the symbols to reveal all sorts of high energy, high fat food. Right now, they didn't have the luxury of a proper meal and they needed a lot of sugar, fat and energy as a temporary replacement for the healthy food until they could sit down to a proper meal. Hibari looked at Kouji with an accusing expression.

“Kouji, where did you get that?”

Kouji grinned and chuckled.

“I saw Naruto-Sensei making them. He had a pile of them, and I asked if I could have one, so he gave me one.”

Everyone nodded and dug in. If Naruto had condoned it, they weren't going to argue. After they had finished, they started taking a power sleep. Long ago, people had found that few ninjas on missions had the luxury of getting a full night's sleep, so they began experimenting with sleep. It baffled them that a short nap of up to an hour could give as much benefits as an entire night's sleep if need be and it was quickly adopted by ANBU and filtered down from there. Every ten minutes, the person on watch would wake the next person up to take over the watch. By the end of the hour, the trackers were getting closer. One of the other advantages of a power sleep is that you didn't wake up half asleep. The power sleep relied on waking up before the body entered too deep a sleep so they were up and off in under a minute. They had half a day left until this dreaded test was over…

&&&&&&&&&&&&am p;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&am p;&&&&&&

6 Hours Later:

Kouji's head shot up as he recognised a familiar scent. It was that of the members of the other Konoha Team and they were close by. Kouji smiled.

“Seems the others are still in this as well.”

Everyone looked to Kouji as he changed course towards the other teams. From what he could tell, they were resting. They jumped into the small clearing and smiled at the others. Gai pumped his fist.

“Yosh! The other-“

He didn't get to finish the sentence as Daichi clapped a hand over his mouth.

“Not now, Gai. There are trackers not far away. Even if we didn't stop, they'd go after you. We have to leave and now.”

The other Konoha Team nodded and got up. Together, the 12 teens jumped up into the trees and tried to survive the last 6 hours of the test.

&&&&&&&&&&&&am p;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&am p;&&&

Four Hours Later:

By now, they had realised that it was unlikely for any other teams to be in this general area. They had 8 trackers on them, so they could fail all four teams if they caught up. Kouji grunted in frustration. At this rate, they would lose before the end of the test. The trackers were gaining rapidly on them. Kouji reached into his pouch and pulled out a handful of explosive notes. Hibari and Daichi were doing the same. They handed one tag each to the others. Hibari explained.

“These aren't ordinary explosive tags. Regular explosive tags rely on a remote pulse of chakra to start a timer or a remote pulse to trigger a proximity detector. These use the second type to release a very thick gas smokescreen that will slow them down for a bit and confuse their senses.”

Fusanari wrapped his around a kunai.

“So in other words, one we trigger them, anything that gets close will make them activate?”

Daichi nodded.

“Yeah.”

Kouji held his up and smirked. This was going to be hilarious. He'd made some slight modifications to his own tags.

“Let's do this.”

All of them threw their kunai with the tag wrapped around the handle backwards and armed them as soon as they hit the trunks. They turned around and kept going. Only a few moments later, they heard the hiss of a large amount of gas escaping from a confined area. Everyone heard strangled cries of things like `oh god' and `what is this smell'. Daichi looked confused.

“They shouldn't smell.”

Kouji grinned.

“Yours shouldn't.”

They turned to Kouji as he burst into laughter.

“I filled mine with a mixture of methane and sulphur.”

Everyone burst into laughter as they kept going; now leaving the trackers struggling to breathe.

&&&&&&&&&&&&am p;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&am p;&&&&&&

With Kiba:

Kiba heard the warning of `explosive tags' over the head sets and then the familiar hiss of a tag activating. It exploded and the Chuunin began gagging and choking, making Kiba worried.

“Oi, what's going on?”

“This smell… `Cough' Oh god, the bastards used a rotten gas bomb! `Coughcough'”

Kiba cringed. Among the trackers after the Konoha and Suna Teams were some Inuzuka trackers. Smelling what was essentially a concentrated fart with normal smelling wasn't pleasant, but with a sense of smell that is 1000 times more powerful than a regular person's, it's the worst possible agony. However, Kiba had to hand it to the kids. He did after all tell them to act like first rate ninjas and they'd taken his advice to heart. There was no doubt about it; these kids were going to pass no trouble.

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8:55 am Day Three:

All four teams were looking at their watches, counting down the final few minutes until they all passed. They had left the 8 trackers after them far behind, but they kept moving just in case. In unison, the Genin counted down.

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1-“

All three watches started hissing, much to the Genin's surprise. They took them off and threw them away as the watches were covered in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, they saw one rather familiar person there.

“Iruka-Sensei!”

Iruka smiled at them.

“Yo. It's good to see you guys again. News of your little prank has been circulating through the Chuunin and Jounin. Naruto asked me to congratulate you Kouji; he said he couldn't have made a better prank himself.”

Kouji beamed as Iruka smiled at him.

“Well, congratulations guys. When you left the academy, I was worried for you, but it seems that I was worrying over nothing. As of now, all of you pass the second exam. Congratulations.”

Kouji groaned, making everyone look at him.

“Now we have to go all the way back…”

They chuckled but Iruka put a pulled out his headset and put it on.

“This is Umino Iruka. I have the three Konoha and one of the Suna teams with me. All of them have passed.”

Iruka got an acknowledgment and he looked at them.

“Hold still for a second guys.”

They looked at each other in confusion but felt themselves been pulled and they disappeared from the forest and instantly reappeared surrounded by smoke. Once it cleared, they saw that they were back in Konoha. Next to the Konoha Rookie 9 and Team Suna was a Kiri Team which they identified as Team 1. They looked extremely beat up, with multiple wounds and grazes. In front of them were the first two examiners, the Sandaime and Godaime Hokage as well as the Jounin Sensei's of each passing Genin Team. Each Jounin was looking at there team, smiles on there faces. Tsunade stepped forward and looked over each of them.

“Congratulations on passing the second test of the Chuunin Selection Exams. Some of you relied on your stealth and quick wits to escape while others relied on their sense of humour.”

Tsunade gave a pointed glare at Kouji making everyone snicker. Tsunade waited for a moment for everyone to get over it and continued.

“The numbers are at the maximum upper limit that allows us to progress straight to the main matches that will be held in one month from now. If you wish to quit now, please let us know now.”

No one made a move so Tsunade nodded.

“The screen behind me will randomly decide on the match ups from those of you present.”

The screen behind Tsunade flashed yellow before a ladder appeared. It was a three and a half bracket ladder. The names at the bottom of the ladder started flashing before eventually stopping. Everyone saw the matches and burned them into their memories.

First Round, First Bracket:

Hayashi KoujiVSHyuuga Hanabi

Katayama DaichiVSIchijoSigur e

First Round, Second Bracket:

Matsumoto Hibari VSWashioSuien< /u>

Rock GaiVSHojo Kousuna

First Round, Third Bracket:

Konoha no RenVSHojo Fusanari

Sabaku no RinaVSSuzukiTatsu ya

First Round, Fourth Bracket:

Katsuragi AkinaVSShimizuMurasa me

First Round, Fourth Bracket Winner VS:

Inokuma Naoko

Tsunade smiled at them.

“All of you will be expected to turn up at the stadium at 8am exactly one month from today. Are there any questions?”

Apparently, there was none so Tsunade sighed.

“Well, good luck. Until next month, you are dismissed.”

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A/N: I really don't believe how hard it is to pull names out of a hat like this… I'm running out of names. If anyone could give me a PM with a link or a site name that has lots of unusual names like you see in the anime and manga, I'd love to hear from you. Anyway, until next time.

Ja na,

Specula.