Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Chronicles of Kakashi & the Kunoichi from Thunder Country ❯ The Second Exam ( Chapter 9 )

 

The Second Exam

 

The next day, the genin who passed the first exam gathered by the Forest of Death for the second exam. Large danger signs and warnings hung on the chainlink fence surrounded it. Soon they were met by a feisty kunoichi with purple hair tied back in a short ponytail. She wore a tacky fishnet shirt which left little to the imagination, but luckily she had the decency to cover it up with a beige trenchcoat.

 

`Not too many left this year,' second examiner Anko thought in satisfaction. `Let's see, I'm pretty sure we've restocked the leeches, bugs, and predators and threw in a few new exotic snake species - my cute little pets.'

 

She proceeded to explain the rules of the second exam. “Each team gets a scroll, either heaven or earth. You must get the complementary scroll from another team and reach the tower in the middle of the forest. Each team will be assigned an entry gate position, 10 km away from the tower. You have five days to reach the tower with all your team members alive. Anything goes, so be prepared. As for food, live off the land, just watch out for the poisonous plants and bugs, and just a few really big predators.” Some of the genin, including Takeo, did not look too happy to hear about the limited, and dangerous sources of sustenance. “Sign these consent forms and exchange them for your scroll at that tent.” The mention of consent forms, a euphemism for life waver, made them even less happy.

 

As the other genin reviewed the consent forms, Rikako thought furiously, looking at all the teams around them.

 

"Some of these guys look very dangerous," Takeo remarked as a guy with scars, bandages, and a big sword walked by.

 

"We'll just have to fight back twice as hard," Kenji replied confidently. This was something he could handle, and understand.

 

Their teammate shook her head. "Fighting should always be the last resort. There's usually another way." She dropped her voice and whispered to Takeo, “Can you make a couple of decoy scrolls good enough to fool someone?”

 

He nodded, “Yes, the scrolls we have for our notes are the same color. I just need some paper, ink, and a brush to duplicate the calligraphy.” He quickly ran off to complete his assignment without asking why. He knew she had a good reason and a plan.

 

Rikako now turned her attention to her remaining teammate. "Go around and get a feel for the guys from other villages," she ordered. He nodded and moved to obey. Then she looked around and saw her old classmate, Shigeru, the boy whose hand she hurt during the first week at the Academy. She walked over to the tall towheaded boy while formulating her plan.

 

“Shigeru-kun,” she smiled and bowed, “I'm glad to see that you have made it this far.”

 

“Rikako-chan,” he smiled back at her, “I see spending an extra year at the Academy hasn't deterred you at all. How have you been?” What he really wanted to know was whether she had a boyfriend yet. The guys on her team were nowhere as attractive as himself.

 

“Good, good, we can catch up later,” she replied, a bit brusquely. “Right now I have a proposition for you. How would you like a 95 percent guarantee of passing the second exam?”

 

“95 percent? That's very good. What do you have in mind? It's not cheating is it? Even if it is, I'll consider it. I hear many genin don't make it out alive.” Their sensei reveled in telling the team the abysmal statistics of survivors.

 

“I propose an alliance.”

 

“An alliance?”

 

“Yes, the other teams will be expecting one on one fights. If we band together, with another team, there will be nine against three during a fight. The odds will be vastly in our favor.”

 

“Great idea Rikako-chan! I knew it would be coming from you. You were always the thinker. We could have been on the same team together if you...” He would've leaped praise upon the pretty little kunoichi no matter what the plan, but she didn't seem to appreciate him at all.

 

“We need another team. There's Gai-sensei's rookie genin team. I know them. They're strong, but cocky. They won't feel they need help. Do you have any suggestions?”

 

“Hmm, Asuma-sensei's team is pretty cool. You remember Tomoyo, Seto, and Takeshi?”

 

“Yes, good choice,” she nodded.

 

“All right, let me just discuss this with my teammates first. I'm sure they'll agree.” He smiled at her, but she had already turned her attention elsewhere.

 

Despite Shigeru's advocation of her plan, the other team and Shigeru's teammates had their reservations.

 

“What if we get into a fight on our way to the rendezvous point? Our entrances may be far apart,” pointed out Seto, a thin boy with brown hair that nearly covered his eyes.

 

“Good point, in that case, if you die, then we won't wait for you. If you win and get the scroll that you need, then you're no longer under any obligation. Just remember that even if you get the scroll you need, you still have to make it to the tower and there's always safety in numbers,” Rikako replied.

 

“Isn't this exam a test of our survival skills? Won't we be losing the benefit of experience if we pass this easily?” asked Touya, boy with flame red hair. He had never liked her. `Know-it-all-bitch, I remember you from the academy.'

 

“The second exam is just an obstacle to the third exam. You can always go camping some other time.” Rikako was trying hard not to be caustic, but she was losing her patience. “Besides, you'll see enough action even if we proceed with our plan. These traps may only delay the enemy, so there will still be fighting.” `Fight all you want you blood thirsty bastard, just agree already, we're wasting time!'

 

Finally, the teams approved of the strategy with some negotiation. After all, fighting and testing your strength was nice, but the whole point was to get to the finals where they could really show off their skills. And by working together in a temporary alliance they would be familiar with each other's strengths and weaknesses when the finals came.

 

The three teams handed in their wavers and received their starting positions. Luckily, they were not too far apart and were able to decide on a rendezvous point.

 

On the way to their gate Kenji asked his teammate, “Are you sure we can trust them?”

 

“Sure enough, if they try to betray us, we'll give them a counterfeit scroll,” replied the little kunoichi confidently.

 

-…-…-…-…-…-

 

At the rendezvous the teams divided up as agreed in the negotiations: “We'll mix up our teams, one member from each team. Team A will monitor trap A, Team B will monitor Trap B, Team C acts as the scouts, decoys and messengers. I'll be on Team C, with the fastest runners from each of the other teams. Okay, that's Takeshi, and Seto. At least one strongest member at each trap. Shigeru you're with Takeo and Anzu at trap A. Tomoyo, Kenji, and Touya at Trap B. There are fifteen teams spread out over 44 gates, if they're spread out evenly, that's an area of about three gates per team. They will all be headed toward the tower, but if we put our traps too close to the tower, they will be more wary. Instead, we can set up an ambush and lure them to the traps. They won't be expecting a three on one fight.”

 

Before dawn, Rikako and her mixed team began to scout for potential victims. They had already used half a day getting to the rendezvous point and working on the traps at Takeo's direction. There were likely teams who already had a set of scrolls.

 

“Remember the plan, I'll show myself and they'll follow me. You guys cover me. If they need a scroll they'll follow. Of course there might be some teams who will follow us just to fight even if they already have two scrolls. We have to be more careful with guys like that.”

 

They soon spied a Rain team in their ugly beige jumpsuits with strange breathing apparatus over their mouths. Rikako acted as the bait, showing herself to them, then running away. As expected, the enemy followed, but they were suspicious of an ambush and traps.

 

First it appeared their prey disappeared from sight. Confused, the rain genin stopped and carefully approached. “Trip wire,” observed one, “a trap.” But right before they stepped over the trip wire, they noticed an almost invisible chakra thread. Only the morning mist had rendered it barely visible. "Another trap, let's pass this area via the trees." But as they neared the trees, hidden chakra threads under the foliage activated. Roots suddenly emerged from the ground, entangling and ensnaring the three. They hacked at the hardened roots with their kunai, but then shuriken rained from above and they had to deflect those first or be ripped to shreds. The roots wound their way around their bodies and constricted until they passed out.

 

“Whew,” Takeo muttered, “I was hoping they'd trip the wire. That took a lot more chakra.”

 

“But it worked, didn't it?” said Anzu, a tall well developed girl who was able to control plants with chakra. She did not have the First Hokage's ability to make plants grow or create wood from her body; she had to rely on existing plant life. Konoha's forest was perfect for her jutsu.

 

-…-…-…-…-

 

The ambushes worked smoothly and within the day the three teams had all the necessary scrolls. They hurried together toward the tower, with Rikako and Anzu scouting ahead for enemy traps and ambushes.

 

“How lucky is that, two teams, and exactly the scrolls we needed!" said Kenji as he leaped from branch to branch.

 

“Yeah, and no one got hurt!” Takeo was happy because he didn't have to fight.

 

“That was too easy. I sort of wished we had an all out fight,” laughed the larger boy.

 

“I wonder if anyone has done this before,” mused Takeo, who was trying hard to keep up with his overly enthusiastic teammate.

 

“Probably not, we're all supposed to be competitors. But Rikako-chan has always been good at analyzing problems. I'm glad she approached us,” said Shigeru, “or we could've ended up like Gai's team!”

 

Gai's team already had two scrolls, but wanted extra scrolls for insurance. They were strong, and the alliance team had to resort to all the back up plans, but the exploding traps were also infused with paralysis gas and sleep powder, and in a 3 to 1 fight, they were finally overcome.

 

-…-…-…-…-…-

 

The exam proctors watched the monitors as the teams entered the tower. There were cameras installed throughout to mark their time and to prevent any trouble. They noted that Kakashi's, Asuma's, and Kurenai's teams had made it to the tower at the exact same time.

 

“Strange, it seems they've been working together,” said Kotetsu. He scratched his spiky black hair.

 

“Yes, I saw Otori Rikako approach the other two teams before the exam started. She must have made an alliance with them. Is that legal?” asked Izumo, his ever present partner.

 

Kotetsu shrugged, “Well, there's nothing in the rules against it as far as I know.”

 

“This isn't fair to the stronger teams. Gai's team was the favorite. Not all these genin deserve to have a chance at being chuunin.” Izumo shook his head in disapproval.

 

“Well, sometimes being smart and lucky is better than being strong. It'll be interesting to see how they do in the finals.”

 

-…-…-…-…-

 

There were originally 34 teams taking the first chuunin exam, then fifteen teams taking the second chuunin exam. Now there were only four teams taking the final exam - the three Leaf alliance teams and one team from Thunder Country's Hidden Cloud Village. After the match-ups, they were given a month to prepare. Rikako had unfortunately drawn a Cloud shinobi. She was hoping for one of the other Leaf genin. She knew them and their strengths and weaknesses. The Cloud shinobi and their jutsu were foreign to her.

 

Later, the team met up with their sensei who had been lounging around with the other jounin, each waiting inwardly anxiously for the outcome but outwardly confident and unconcerned. Kakashi congratulated them, but when they asked about training for the final exam, he casually informed the team that he'd only be training with the boys. “Rikako-chan, I'm sorry I won't be training you for the finals. As you know, Takeo and Kenji need more help. Their strengths and weaknesses are complementary so it makes sense for them to train together. I've spoken to your father. He can train you just as well. You're already very strong. I know you'll do fine.”

 

Rikako was not happy with this arrangement, but she knew protesting would solve nothing, and Kakashi was right. She would just be a third wheel, impatiently watching her teammates fight physically and verbally. She bowed respectfully while saying, “Well, Kakashi sensei, although I am sincerely disappointed, I'm sure your judgment is sound. I hope to meet your expectations and will train diligently with my father on a regular basis. I'm sure this will work out for the best. It will be more efficient to train with my father since we live together and I won't have to worry about him being late.”

 

'She sure likes to take digs at me, but I can't blame her for being upset. It does seem like I'm neglecting her, but she doesn't need anyone to train her. She just needs a bunch of scrolls with high level jutsu and she can figure out what to do by herself. Maybe her father will be a better motivator.'

 

Kakashi smiled fondly at his three genin, not worrying about what was to some.

 

-…-…-…-…-