( 15 April- year 13 AK )
TEAM 10
The day started well enough, sunny, the air completely lost the chill of winter, and team 10 survived 'the best' that Daiki-sensei had promised to give them 9 months before.
More than that, each genin of team 10 was acutely aware of how far they had come, and, trained by their sensei in how to figure out possible threats with a glance, each of them also knew that they were a jellyfish in a shark tank.
The detail which had really worried them, was that their former classmates, with the possible exception of Sasuke and Shino (the second only because was actually unreadable), looked like a tasty kind of goldfish.
Shikamaru carefully looked around from behind half-lidded eyes that screamed 'bored' to the ones who had enough experience or training to see. It was an intimidation tactic as good as any, even if from the smirk of the pink-eyed kunoichi he could tell that his bluff didn't work on everyone.
Choji absolutely blank expression had only unnerved their former classmates, who were clearly underqualified for the exam, while Ino carefree acting had only made people edgy anytime she shifted closer to them.
Maybe because every time her chakra fluctuated savagely a genin went crazy going on a killing spree.
But it happened at the strangest times, even when nobody killed anyone, so none could pin a single kill on team 10, even if, from some of the surprised and wary glances Shikamaru was spotting, they didn't fool everyone.
Whatever plan Shikamaru had, he had known that instigating the first conflict was akin to toppling a bucket filled to the brim.
Likely filled with shit.
Team 10 started it, the other sensible genins soon following their lead. After all, Ibiki forbade people from attacking the others, but he first had to find out who was manipulating who.
Konoha had lost several teams, among the ones left, mostly due to luck, there were the rookie nine, along with team 3, the one under the leadership of their sensei's sensei, and the one with the freakish grey-haired guy who just rubbed Shikamaru the wrong way.
There were several teams left from Suna, but everyone was looking out for the red-haired menace. Which kind of idiot tattooed 'love' on their forehead anyway?
The genins left the First Stage well either shell shocked, bloodthirsty, or disgusted by the bloodbath.
While they were being herded towards the following Stage by the... sexy and single... Mitarashi Anko, Shikamaru made an accurate headcount: From the 107 teams, they were down to 62. There were many minor villages that he didn't even recognize.
But he could count 9 Konoha teams, 13 Kumo, 7 Iwa, 10 Suna, 2 Ame, 1 Kusa, 1 Oto, 2 Taki, and among the minor ones he recognized only thanks to an old story, 1 team from Hoshigakure no Sato.
His prodigal mind abandoned the effort of giving a name to each symbol he didn't immediately recognize when the team reached the stage from which the proctor started to explain what they had to do.
But he wasn't listening, not really. He, like Ino and Choji, was looking transfixed at the giant, lurking forest they were about to enter, again. The training ground 44.
"I hate you, Daiki-sensei." the three genins of team 10 chorused.
...
( 17 April- year 13 AK )
Natural energy circulated all throughout the world, but it was imperceptible. Why?
Because any living being was part of the natural chakra present everywhere. Every bug, every blade of grass, every bacteria, somehow, every single living being contributed infinitesimally to the vast and incommensurable energy that permeated the world. The air and earth were filled to the brim with it.
If that meant that the world itself was alive, or just that the sacred tree from which chakra came from was part of a bigger scheme, I had no idea.
In order to use senjutsu, one must first learn to sense the natural energy in their surroundings and draw it into their body, which required becoming "one with nature" by remaining perfectly still. Why?
Because life is movement, simple as that. Because time is the measure upon which reality based itself, time was the measure of change, life was change, change was movement, which meant heat and thusly energy.
Every cell breathing, every synapse in your brain firing, every single beat of your heart. Stilling any part of that would have normally meant death.
That was were chakra entered the fray. Since chakra was, under every perspective, life force, it kept the body in a sort of stasis, and the practitioner staying perfectly still could perceive the world only through his chakra, which wasn't exactly still, but assumed a more quiescent feel.
However, being still, meant being 'dead'. A such, one could, by contrast, perceive the natural energy around him.
Becoming an actual sage meant not only drawing in some of the energy, but dilute it with one's own quiescent chakra in a ratio that did not turn you into stone and that was still enough to 'tinge' your chakra with 'life'.
Why did it turn you into stone? My best guess was that it forced a form of fossilization.
Senchakra cannot be absorbed 'drop by drop', there aren't unit measures for chakra, but to diluite enough even the smallest quantity of Natural Energy one needed a lot of chakra. So not everyone could do it.
Luckily enough, with my gates forcibly enlarging my coils during my development, I had enough chakra, with scary-good chakra control.
It took me all the spare time I had during my last year with the guardians, but I had managed it. It required me to keep open 5 gates, but it wasn't something that required a lot of effort on my part. Sadly, opening another gate when already in Sage mode was not something I was willing to experiment with.
Perceive ninja, or even civilians, was trivial while being in 'Sage Mode'.
That was why I was standing, eyes closed and arms crossed, on the top of the tower in the middle of the training ground 44.
I could feel my team springing their ambush on 6 unsuspecting genins.
I distractedly perceived how Shikamaru had covered their surroundings with paper bombs. I noticed how Kurenai's team managed to avoid any confrontation thanks to a combination of their tracking skills. I enjoyed Lee's shouts of youth while he hit like a battering ram unsuspecting teams spotted by Neji.
I felt how Gaara kept cutting through trees and humans alike. I recognized Kurotsuchi's team crashing against another, and I felt Omoi seriously slashing his way with his teammates across Hoshigakure's team.
More importantly, I felt Kabuto running circles around Team 7, disposing summarily of everyone who had caught up with the beacon that Naruto was.
I wanted to destroy the gray-haired fucker, but he was doing his job wonderfully, and I was waiting for the bigger fish. I didn't know if Orochimaru still planned to invade Konoha, but five days without supervision in training ground 44 were a juicy window of opportunity.
So, I had been standing still for the past two days, not that I minded, time is something that affects the living, and until I started moving, I was in a trance. The best part? Only another Sage could pick up what I was doing, and I didn't feel Jiraya roaming around.
Sure, he could have prepared some fuinjutsu shit to hide, but why not confronting me then? I would have asked another sage what the fuck he was doing in my village.
I was focusing my attention around Sasuke when I felt it, a ripple, and suddenly he was there. His chakra was cloaked, but such a terrifying speed in crossing the forest was telling, as well as his bloodlust, evident even in the little of his chakra that I could feel.
In the way, I perceived the world, among fireflies a bonfire had been lit.
Orochimaru.
...
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