Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Road to Chunin ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

 

“Ha! Winding up flat on your back over some mind trick,” mocked Ino.

 

“Couldn't help but notice a ton of broken blood vessels in your face,” replied Sakura. “Wonder how that happened.”

 

“It was hell for all three of us,” said Choji. “The only one who didn't come out of there looking like they'd been dropped off a cliff was Lee.”

 

The three of them were headed to Area 44. Thirty-six Genin in all had made it this far. When they arrived, Anko was explaining the Forest of Death to those who'd never been through it before. Anyone who had put up with it in a prior exam had nothing but bad memories.

 

“Well, glad to see so many smiling faces,” she said to the somber crowd. “Time to have fun in the good old Forest of Death again. Let's see what we have here… Two Sand teams, one Grass, one Waterfall (all rookie, might get eaten), and eight Leaf. What do you say we get those waivers signed?”

 

Everyone filled out their forms and picked up their scrolls. Whatever dangers they had faced last time were now coupled with freezing conditions. There was no snow but the temperature was well below zero. All these teams had been taught wilderness survival in all weather conditions before but learning it and actually doing it are two totally separate things.

 

“Now let's see,” said Ten Ten. “We appear to have an Earth Scroll. Now we haven't really talked strategy yet. That business of splitting up last time didn't work quite so well as we had hoped. What do you want to do this time Neji?”

 

Before Neji could say a word…

 

“Hey you ugly losers!” hollered Lee at the top of his lungs. “We have an Earth Scroll! Anyone who thinks he is tough enough, just you try and take it!”

 

Ten Ten was stunned.

 

Neji looked up. “Um, I'm sorry, Ten Ten, what were you asking me? I couldn't hear you over the sound of Lee shouting like an idiot.”

 

Ten Ten shook with rage. “I'm going to KILL him!”

 

“Now Ten Ten, Lee's approach does have a sound logical basis if you think about it. It actually eliminates unnecessary fights. And everyone is gunning for everyone else anyway so it's not as though he's necessarily put us in additional peril.” Neji paused for a moment. “Of course we COULD still kill him…”

 

---

 

“Alright,” said Kiba. “Last time we struck first and struck fast. What do you say we change it up this time?”

 

“What did you have in mind?” asked Shino.

 

“We head straight for the tower right away and when we get in the vicinity, we set up an ambush. If we're challenged on the way there, we fight. But if we get there unmolested, Hinata should be able to tell who's got a Heaven Scroll.”

 

---

 

“I don't know that there is any correct strategy for this,” said Sakura.

 

Ino nodded. “Trouble seems to find anyone who sets foot in there. Not as if we'll probably have to do much of anything except enter and wait. And hope that whoever comes after us has a Heaven Scroll.”

 

“And some food,” moaned Choji. “It was bad enough finding it last time. This time everything's frozen.”

 

“Is that all you ever think about?” groaned Ino angrily.

 

“Hey, when your chakra depends on calories and your jutsu all depend on size and strength, you tend to think about food quite a bit,” replied Choji. “I may not be much use if I get too hungry. No joke. And all I have to fall back on in an emergency are the three Akimichi food pills.”

 

“Don't take those,” warned Sakura. “We don't need a dead teammate on our hands.”

 

---

 

“OK,” hollered Anko. “What do you say we get this show on the road, shall we? Everyone to your gate.”

 

Sakura, Ino and Choji headed to Gate 3. Everyone waited nervously for the clock to reach 2:30. At exactly the same moment, the twelve necessary gates were opened and everyone entered. While Sakura and Neji's teams strolled leisurely into the forest, Kiba and his team raced as fast as they could towards the tower the instant they were let in.

 

Choji hummed a little tune to himself as he walked along. He was thankful to be moving at a relaxed pace. Running would have bothered him a great deal more than fighting for his life.

 

Everyone was thankful for a lack of snow this day. Snow would mean extra effort to cover one's tracks and no one wanted to worry about that. There had been a temporary warm spell just long enough to melt the snow but now the sky was gray, the temperature was below zero and the turf was frozen. Though it was not yet three in the afternoon, the forest was almost as dark as night. Very little light penetrated the treetops here.

 

---

 

Hanabi Hyuaga had her attention divided between scanning with her Byakugan and trying to warm her hands. Gloves were out of the question. She was not as of yet an advanced enough Gentle Fist user to make her jutsu work if her hands were covered. Her teammates were Hajime Akimichi, a younger cousin of Choji's, and Miyazaki Senju, a direct descendent of the First Hokage. This was the first exam for any of them but all three were talented enough to get permission to take the Exams.

 

“So, they did say there were rivers in this forest, right?” asked Miyazaki.

 

“That's what she said,” replied Hajime. “Let me guess. Any ground water here is frozen so you can't use your water-style unless we find a river. Am I right?”

 

“For heaven's sake, don't announce that to the whole world!” cautioned Hanabi. “We're in trouble if anyone knows we're at a disadvantage.”

 

“I thought you said you haven't seen anyone around,” said Hajime with a grin. “If that Hyuga eye is so wonderful, you shouldn't be worried.”

 

“I'm not worried, I'm just being cautious. Anything can be fooled, you know. Miyazaki, I'll certainly try to steer us towards the nearest river. We should be coming to one in about thirty minutes.”

 

“So, were you paying attention when they handed out scrolls?” asked Miyazaki.

 

“Yup,” replied Hanabi. “And offhand, we were unlucky to get a Heaven Scroll. It's hard to be inconspicuous while using Byakugan, so I didn't see every team with an Earth Scroll, but the ones I saw were tough.”

 

“Like who?” asked Hajime.

 

“Like my cousin's team,” she replied. “Like YOUR cousin's team. Like my sister's team. Like that psycho from the Sand Village.”

 

Miyazaki giggled. “Of course it wasn't too hard to figure out what scroll Team Gai had, now was it?”

 

Hajime stopped walking. “Wait, Hanabi… are you saying that Choji has what we need?” Hanabi nodded. “Well that's perfect for us. He's not exactly on the biggest or baddest team out there, now is he? And if there's anyone who knows how to fight an Akimichi, it's another Akimichi.”

 

---

 

“Hey Neji,” said Lee. “I do not know if this is important or not but I saw your little cousin checking us out with her Byakugan when they were handing out scrolls. Perhaps she thought I was lying about what we had.”

 

“No logical reason for anyone not to believe you,” replied Neji. “Wonder if we'll cross paths with Hanabi.” Neji paused a moment. “If that happens, just let me deal with her myself. I don't want her getting hurt.”

 

“Got it,” replied Lee. “Wow, no ambush yet. I am surprised. I thought I could eliminate any hunting on our part when I called out.”

 

“Gee, you mean you were actually thinking before you yelled out like that?” asked Ten Ten with a scowl.

 

Lee was about to answer but at that exact moment something startled the three of them so horribly it nearly gave each of them a coronary. An enormous black wolf jumped out of nowhere and pounced on Lee with all its might. Lee never lost his head for a moment. He pulled himself out from underneath it right away. The wolf tried to bite his leg but it broke its teeth on Lee's leg weights.

 

“Eat this!”

 

Ten Ten summoned a huge shuriken and tossed it at the wolf. It fell dead. But there was no time to celebrate because while their attention was diverted, they hadn't noticed two dozen more wolves approaching until they heard the growls.

 

“Is it a summoning?” hollered Lee.

 

Neji immediately scanned the area with his Byakugan.

 

“I don't see any human enemy,” he replied. “But I see even more wolves headed this way.”

 

“Who sent you?” yelled Lee.

 

The wolves did not seem capable of issuing a reply indicating they were wild and therefore not summoned. While their attention was certainly focused on Team Gai, many wolves seemed angry at each other and a couple nipped at each other.

 

“I'll bet they're hungry and our presence attracted two neighboring packs at once,” said Ten Ten. “Hope they'll fight each other to the death.”

 

No such luck. Almost at once they came charging, fang first. Lee, Neji, and Ten Ten were back to back fighting for their lives.

 

---

 

Ino, Sakura and Choji had been walking for about two hours now, following the banks of the large river that divided the forest in half. They still had trees and other foliage between themselves and the river so as not to stand out.

 

“Halt!”

 

Ino and Sakura stopped dead in their tracks.

 

“Choji, what is it?” asked Sakura.

 

In reply, Choji picked up a stone and tossed it at the path in front of them. It hit down, collapsing a concealed trap much like the one Asuma had left for them.

 

“Nobody move!” growled Choji. “There may be more. And watch for attackers.

 

In a set of nearby bushes, Hanabi and Hajime lay in wait. They had intended for their trap to be a diversion. Now they waited to see where their three intended targets would shift their attention. If their eyes went to the treetops, they would strike. If not, they would back off and wait for another opportunity. An ambush more often than not comes from above so the odds that they would look there were great.

 

“Where do you think they are?” asked Ino. “I don't see anything up there.”

 

Hanabi grew frustrated. Only Ino was looking up to the treetops. She could see that Sakura was scanning the bushes and Choji was looking for the slightest sign of earth disruption in case an earth style user was lurking below them waiting to spring up. Hanabi hadn't anticipated that they'd use this approach but this was the difference in experience between herself and the more seasoned Genin of Sakura's team.

 

“What about the river?” called out Sakura.

 

“Damn!” thought Hanabi to herself. That was where Miyazaki was laying in wait. She and Hajime could keep themselves hidden well enough but Miyazaki wouldn't be able to if they examined the water. There was no choice now.

 

As fast as a bolt of lightning, Hanabi leaped from her hiding place and went after Ino. On the other side, Hajime raced out at Choji. Sure, he couldn't come at him that fast given his weight, but then again, Choji was none too quick either.

 

Sakura saw all this happening around her but never let herself get distracted for a second. Her eyes focused everywhere and when Miyazaki came flying out of the water at her, his attack was hardly a surprise. She caught him in mid-air and sent him flying.

 

“Howdy there, cousin,” said Choji with a grin. He easily countered all of Hajime's attempts to punch him with a chakra-packed fist. Hajime attempted a Human Bullet Tank but his efforts to roll over Choji proved futile. Choji sidestepped the attack three times with ease and on the fourth pass, he stopped it with his bare hands. Hajime returned to his normal size and Choji pinned him to the ground.

 

“Ah, what's this? Treachery against a family member, Hajime? You know the standard Akimichi family punishment for that!”

 

“Oh no, Choji, you wouldn't!”

 

“Vicious tickle attack!” hollered Choji. A very embarrassed Hajime laughed hysterically as Choji tickled him without mercy.

 

“Hee hee… Oh you lousy… hee hee… Couldn't you please just beat me up instead?”

 

“Nope.”

 

Ino was having perhaps a bit more trouble. The Gentle Fist Hanabi was using terrified her. She'd seen what it had done to Hinata in her match last time. She was dodging well but not counter attacking. If only she could at least block Hanabi's hands but that would result in injury to herself. She thought about various places where she could try to strike Hanabi but if she didn't pull her hand back in time, it could mean loss of chakra circulation in the arm.

 

Ino yanked out a tear gas bomb and threw it in Hanabi's face. That bought her a couple seconds to think up a strategy. If the Gentle fist damaged, then perhaps… well it was worth a shot.

 

“Tora, Uma, U, Ne, Inu… Ninja Art: Mystical Palm!”

 

Ino's hands glowed with energy. But what polarity would work best? Positive polarity grew cells, negative formed a chakra scalpel. Ino decided to go with negative. The next time Hanabi attacked, an odd thing happened. Her hands and Ino's seemed to repel from one another like two identical poles of a magnet. They never came in contact.

 

After getting thrown by Sakura, Miyazaki got up. But before he could even form a hand sign to launch a water jutsu, Sakura had nailed his hands with a neural interference jutsu. He couldn't move them. In the absence of other options, he ran for it. He couldn't take any risks. He was the one with the scroll. Sakura didn't know this but from watching him hightail it away, she could make a decent guess that he was the team's scroll bearer.

 

Hanabi could see that they were beaten. She dropped to her knees, put her forehead to the ground and pressed her palms together in a display of submission. She knew these people would not kill her.

 

“Choji, let him up,” instructed Sakura. “Hanabi, rise.” Choji pulled Hajime to his feet and Hanabi got up. “OK, not bad for a rookie effort, I'll give you that. But if I were you, I'd find a safe place to hide and wait out the remainder of the five days.”

 

“I didn't go through all this just to give up,” objected Hanabi.

 

“If we'd been from another village, you could have been killed,” replied Sakura. “Well, that's only my advice. We won't harm you but you may want to catch up with your scroll bearer. He ran off and he still has no use of his hands.”

 

Hanabi didn't have to be told twice.

 

“Alright little man, time for you to scat,” said Choji to Hajime. “But you owe me a barbecue dinner when this is all over.”

 

“Oh I've never been so humiliated in all my life,” groaned Hajime.

 

“Eh, you're young yet. Now go.”

 

They watched as Hanabi and Hajime raced away with their tails between their legs. They couldn't help but get in a good chuckle at their expense. Maybe it wasn't so much at their foolishness but at how so short a time ago, they themselves had been that green.

 

“You do realize we probably let a Heaven Scroll just walk away,” said Ino.

 

“Oh I'd be just plain embarrassed to take it from them,” said Sakura. “It'd be like taking candy from a baby.”

 

“I just hope we won't live to regret this at the end of our five days,” replied Ino.

 

“Sakura's right,” said Choji. “If beating an eight year old prodigy and a couple ten year old kids is the only way for us to get our hands on a scroll, we don't deserve to go further.”

 

---

 

“My gosh, how many wolves live out here?” complained Ten Ten after a failed attempt at killing the wolves with Twin Rising Dragons.

 

They had already killed nine but the others didn't seem to take the hint that this was not some defenseless prey they were up against. Perhaps food was so scarce that they were willing to take any risk in order to get a meal. They were good at dodging shuriken so all three had to rely on close quarters combat.

 

“I have an idea,” said Neji. “Ten Ten, do you have a mace and chain you could lend me?”

 

“My hands are too busy right now,” she replied.

 

“Here is one,” said Lee picking one off the ground that a wolf had pulled loose from Ten Ten's grip. He handed it to Neji.

 

“Both of you up that tree,” commanded Neji. “Heavenly Spin!”

 

It worked like a charm. Neji cut through the wolves like a hot knife through butter. However, five were still left and showed no signs of backing down. One appeared to be the alpha male from the second pack to arrive.

 

“Leaf Hurricane!”

 

Lee jumped down and dispatched it. The other four were still snarling but starting to back up just a little. They seemed to be conflicted about what to do. Just then an earsplitting girl's scream from nearby startled them and they ran off.

 

Ten Ten jumped out of the tree. “Sounds close. Someone found themselves an enemy I guess.”

 

Lee laughed. “How about that? They wanted to fight but a noise scares them away. What a bunch of… Neji? Is something wrong?”

 

“I may be wrong,” he said, “But that scream sounded like Hanabi.”

 

Without another word he tore off in that direction. Lee and Ten Ten followed. Both of them were concerned that maybe they were being lead into a trap but they figured that pointing that out to Neji would be pointless.

 

The sight they were about to see was a heartbreaker. Hanabi was badly upset and shaking hard but otherwise alright. The same could not be said for Hajime and Miyazaki. They were both dead. The scroll was gone.

 

“Are you injured?” asked Neji frantically. Hanabi was too shaken to answer. “Hanabi please, pull it together just enough to tell me if you're hurt.” She managed to shake her head no and then started to sob uncontrollably. Neji wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. Annoying brat or not, this was nothing a young relative should go through.

 

Lee examined the bodies. He looked over to Ten Ten and silently signaled they were both indeed dead. They stepped out of ear range for a moment.

 

“Looks like an underground attack,” he said. “Very fast, very deadly. Although I am not sure everyone who sprang out was an earth user. The Senju kid looks to have fallen to a lightning attack.”

 

---

 

“Choji, is something wrong?” asked Sakura.

 

“He's probably just hungry, aren't you?” teased Ino. But Choji wasn't laughing.

 

“I… I just get this terrible feeling like something isn't right,” he said quietly. “Like something awful has happened.”

 

---

 

“Tell me exactly what happened,” said Neji.

 

“It was those Waterfall rookies,” she said. “They just appeared out of nowhere. Hajime and Miyazaki had literally no chance to react in any way.”

 

“How did you survive?”

 

“I… I just… threw myself into a Heavenly Spin right away when it happened. I stopped when they disappeared. I didn't see what happened. Then I found these two like this. I…” she started to cry again. “I don't want to be a ninja!”

 

Neji was completely silent for a moment. He looked worried. This could bring great dishonor to the Clan if she was serious. Hiashi had already bragged openly about her skill a great deal to anyone who would listen. Neji looked straight into her eyes and finally spoke. “If that's your decision, I'll do everything I possibly can to make sure your father doesn't force you into this. But at least think it over, though. Let me know at the end of the exams what you want to do.”

 

Lee looked over at the bodies again.

 

“Rookies did this? Neji, it does not seem possible.”

 

“Something odd IS going on,” he agreed. “But let's not discuss that right at the moment.” He took some blood from the bodies and used it to draw some symbols on them. He made a few hand signs. “Corpse Transport Reverse Summoning!” The bodies vanished in a puff of smoke. “I sent them back to the Village. Hanabi, you stick with us for the rest of this.”

 

End Chapter 5

 

© 2009 Joseph Kerner

 

Disclaimer: Naruto is the creation of Masashi Kishimoto