Naruto stirred. They'd searched him while unconscious? That wasn't very sporting.
"It looks like he's got three. We'll have to give the Kazekage one, as this WAS found in their territory."
Naruto felt a little relief as he struggled to open his eyes. They hadn't found EVERYTHING.
"Kid collects maps, eh? Sounds like a friend of mine, she's one of those 'no useless information' types."
Two weeks later:
When the second part of the chunin exams had started, it was down to: 2 Leaf teams, 6 Sand teams, 2 Grass teams, 2 Stone, and 2 Rain.
When the second part had ended, there was 1 Leaf, 3 Sand, 1 Grass, 1 Stone, and 1 Rain.
When the month hiatus between the second and third had finished, Rain had dropped out. Not everyone on all the teams was able to participate though. There had been two brawls, one case of food poisoning, a "personal reasons" drop out, and a shoplifting arrest.
"Let the third stage of the Chunin Exams BEGIN! Let's get ready to rruuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmbleeeeeeeeeeeee!"
"Hitomi Kisugi of the Village Hidden In The Stone. Miki of the Grass. Begin"
"A taijutsu expert," said Jiraiya, looking at Hitomi briefly as the two women circled each other. "Miki's going to win this one."
"You know that 'Miki' girl?" asked Anko.
"Not that way," said Jiraiya with a grin. "Her boyfriend is one of my contacts in Grass. Guy named Umibozu the Falcon. Umibozu's originally from elsewhere, was a jonin, now retired to open a small cafe in Grass. Still formidable though."
"Oh," said Anko. "What about that Hitomi girl?"
"Kisugi family," said Jiraiya. "Infiltration specialists. The clan head is Rui. Not familiar with the younger sisters. Just the way she moves indicates to me she's a taijutsu specialist."
"Hmph," said Anko, frowning as she watched the two go at it. Something caught her interest though. "Hey, she's-"
"Yup, over, she's caught in a genjutsu now," said Jiraiya with a nod as Miki stepped behind the now-unmoving Hitomi and struck.
"Hitomi Kisugi is unable to fight, Miki of Grass is the winner!" announced the referee.
Jiraiya looked around the stadium. "Not many people here."
"It's an open-air stadium, the temperature's going to pass a hundred," pointed out Anko.
"Point taken," admitted Jiraiya.
"Kotetsu's up next," said Anko.
"Yes, I'm interested in seeing his opponent," said Jiraiya. "In the case of him and Izumo, it all comes down to what kind of an opponent they draw."
"From Leaf," said the announcer. "Kotetsu Hagane of Leaf. Chiyo Mihama of Grass."
"You gotta be kidding me!" exclaimed Kotetsu.
"I- I- I won't give up!" said the very little girl. "Here I come. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh AHHHH!" (K-thud!)
"Chiyo is unable to fight. Hagane wins."
"I never thought I would feel so sorry for my opponent in the chunin exams," said Kotetsu as he looked at where the little girl had tripped over a rock and knocked herself out.
There were a few boos as Kotetsu went back to the Participant seating.
"The third genin in the Grass team must be formidable," noted Jiraiya. "The little girl was probably a ninjutsu or genjutsu specialist or an academic. Hitomi was taijutsu. So someone on their team would have to have some pretty good mid-range skills or be able to slow down opponents."
"I thought Kotetsu was going to face someone from Wave," said Anko.
"Wave doesn't HAVE ninja," said Jiraiya. "He likely meant Rain, and Rain dropped out."
"Oh, here's Naruto," said Anko, perking up.
"Let's hope this is a little better showing," said Jiraiya.
"Leaf - Naruto Uzumaki. Suna - Auron. You may begin!"
Naruto dodged, leapt, and otherwise kept his fragile skin from being neatly bisected by the guy after him. He vaguely resembled Kiba doing something like this when the first lifetime had had its Chunin Exam. Keeping him too busy surviving to pull off something impressive WAS a valid tactic after all.
He was REALLY wanting to engage in snappy banter and ask something that had been bugging him since the selection process for the Second Test, which was that this guy looked a LOT like one of the Aburame family. He even had the glasses. He just didn't have the bugs, using a Big Freaking Sword instead. Which reminded him more of that Zabuza guy than anyone else. Though frankly, Auron seemed way cooler.
To Naruto's way of thinking, being cool was just one of the many things in a proper ninja's job description. Being sneaky was way down that list. Unless you were on an ANBU mission, in which case the order was reversed. ANBU missions though, weren't fun. Better to be cool.
The odd thing was that the crowd (such as there was, it looked like the stadium could hold ten people for every one that was actually there) was mostly silent.
Finally the guy had to stop and catch his breath.
"Hey, are you an Aburame by any chance?" asked Naruto finally.
"I'm... no longer of that clan," said Auron.
"Okay," said Naruto, eyeing the warrior now walking around and quite obviously considering angles of attacks. Now that the banter was going on, he could start drawing chakra up to ready for the next jutsu. "That's cool, I know an Aburame. Shino."
Auron continued to remain silent, not giving any further details.
"Aw, c'mon, how am I supposed to keep a witty banter going with you not participating?" asked Naruto.
"I don't see the need," said Auron.
"We're being GRADED on this," said Naruto. "That's probably why you're so old but still a genin."
"Not quite," said Auron, raising the jug of booze suspended from his belt and taking a swig. Then he spit the stuff out over his blade.
Naruto was already going through handseals as quickly as he could.
"Tornado!"
"Kage Bunshin!"
"Power Break!"
"Rasengan!"
"Iron Wall!"
"Fuuton: Shinkuugyoku!"
"Huh, so he knows the 'Wind Release: Vaccuum Sphere' technique," mused Jiraiya. "If Danzo ever finds out, he'll be quite annoyed."
Anko snorted. "Naruto breathing probably annoys Danzo."
"Truth," acknowledged Jiraiya.
"So he's not using Summoning Techniques?" asked Anko. "I thought you had him sign on with the toads."
"He did," said Jiraiya. "The funny thing is, some of the toads acted like they'd already met him."
Anko glanced at Jiraiya as the old man got the thoughtful expression she'd caught on his face a few times since they'd met. "Something bothering you?"
"I have a theory about some things that have been bothering me about Naruto," said Jiraiya. "The problem is, the only thing I've come up with that answers all the questions is flagrantly impossible."
"'Impossible'?" asked Anko, thinking that fit Naruto pretty well.
"Too unthinkably bizarre and unlikely to even bear repeating," said Jiraiya.
"Mysterious much?" asked Anko.
"As a wandering novelist and one of the legendary three ninja of Konoha, I have to be mysterious," Jiraiya informed her seriously. "It's in the job description."
"Not going to tell me your theory?" asked Anko, thinking she could try torturing the information out of him later when they were alone and both could properly enjoy it.
"No, because if that impossibility turned out to be correct," said Jiraiya, "the repercussions would be... considerable. Also something that would cause me to go off by myself and get very very drunk before I could even begin to contemplate what it all meant."
"That bad?" asked Anko. "Worse than certain prisoners?"
"If I'm right, Naruto is the key to avoiding something worse to the extent my own mind wants to go find a place to hide from the thought of it," said Jiraiya, who could honestly be mysterious all day if it came to it.
Anko shuddered and found herself taking a step closer to Jiraiya, which put her right against his side. "That... sounds bad."
"Ah, Naruto's won," said Jiraiya, glad of the chance to change subjects that he'd really rather not examine while fully sober.
"Good," said Anko. "So we've given one treasure scroll to the Kazekage, that leaves one for the Hokage. You didn't say anything to Naruto about the one he was keeping hidden."
"He's a ninja, of course he's keeping something back," said Jiraiya. "Frankly, unless they screw up royally, I expect all three to make chunin."
"I'm putting in for Naruto not to make chunin," said Anko.
"Why?" asked Jiraiya as two more genin fought it out below them. "He has enough different jutsu, has mastered some of them adequately. He's got two elemental natures he's able to draw on. He has a summoning contract. Ability to plan ahead, though he doesn't always do it. He's a bit young, but there have been younger candidates in ANBU and reaching jonin."
"Actually, I'm going to suggest he make it to 'special jonin'," said Anko with a nearly feral grin. "Wants to give authorities like us problems? Well, why not make HIM the responsible one?"
"That's evil," said Jiraiya.
"Flatterer," said Anko.
"I like it," continued Jiraiya.
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(Posted Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:22)
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