( 17 April- year 13 AK )
DAIKI kage bunshin
Ino had required some stitches, and Shikamaru had simply exhausted himself, but beyond that team 10 had succeded with time and scrolls to spare.
They had spent the past 2 days recovering and sorting through everything interesting Choji had taken from the Suna nin.
Shikamaru had taken up a tanto with a grim expression and had secured it horizontally at his waist, while Ino appreciated the bundle if senbons coated in a poison that Choji savaged from the shattered puppet.
The various teams which had managed to pass the second stage had been herded into a big circular room with a balcony that ran around it.
I toned out Sarutobi during his speech and from my advantage place, I took in both the senseis and the genins in the room.
As I had suspected, butting in int the second stage had disqualified team 7, and while I took some heat for it, mainly in the form of enraged glances from Konoha's council, which was eager to show off the jinchuriki and the Uchiha, the fact that I had bitch-slapped Orochimaru had reigned them in.
I even refrained to point out that while combat-skill-wise both Naruto and Sasuke could make chunin, neither had the mentality for it.
Surprisingly, Kurenai's team (number 8) somehow made it, along with Guy's team (number 3), and obviously my team. I was just happy that they were still alive, keeping them safe would be much easier, I could make them forfeit in case they picked the wrong opponent.
My eyes trailed over Gaara and his cute little siblings, his killing intent washing over me without finding any kind of purchase.
Killing intent had always been a fascinating concept. It was the equivalent of the moment if fright a sudden growl from a rabid dog caused in any civilian, only magnified.
Controlling it consciously was something instinctive for most. I had no idea how it came to be, since, from what I understood, I only mimicked it. It's probably because I do not wish to kill people. I reflected.
I spotted Kurotsuchi's team, and wiggled my fingers in a mock salute at them, noticing Kurotsuchi's eyes widening in recognition.
Otogakure's team made it, along with Kabuto's one. I carefully didn't let my eyes linger on him for a moment more than necessary. The plan was collecting the bespectacled shinobi's team after the preliminaries, Ibiki was going to have a party with them.
Otogakure's team was safe, for now, since we couldn't break the chunin charter, but any Konoha's nin could be taken in for interrogation if a higher up determined there were enough motives to be concerned.
And after my debriefing with Sarutobi, the Sandaime himself had authorized it.
The genins joined us big kids on the balcony, bar the first two facing each other in the preliminaries. They were the two teammates of Kurotsuchi.
I snorted. The Hokage is taking revenge for the stunt he pulled at my exam. I almost laughed out loud. "The higher you climb the power ladder, the more your politicking gets to resemble the behavior of a spiteful pampered kid." I muttered, knowing very well that every single jonin could pick up what I said.
Guy got the reference, if his split-second grin was anything to go by.
I smiled when Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji made their way towards me, I had kept an eye on them, but contact with the sensei for the duration of the second stage had been forbidden. I grinned, finding tired but matching smiles ones on their faces.
Faster than they could react, I ruffled their hairs: "I'm sorry you had to go through this," I whispered "But you've done well ducklings. Keep it up for today, breakdowns tomorrow, ok?"
I received nods as answers and Shikamaru spoke: "It's been horrible sensei and Ino..."
The Yamanaka slapped a hand on his mouth glaring at him fiercely.
"I know." I said in a soothing tone "I've been watching. But now scout the competition."
I stopped watching the spar between the Iwa shinobi to look at Kurotsuchi. She was near her sensei, a bulky built guy with a square jaw and black hair. He was the typical Iwa jonin, even if I guessed he was present more for keeping up the facade of his genins needing him.
Say what you want, but Kurotsuchi survived her first chunin exam when she was ten, and since then she had four years to grow in her role. I had no doubt she was going to be a ringer, very much like my team had been.
Shino Aburame, of all people, had walked up to her, and if the frown on Kurenai's face was anything to go by, he did so without her permission.
"You are an Iwa kunoichi, and yet you spared us in the second stage. Not only that, but you let us go with the extra scroll your team had. Why?" He said.
Wow, straight to the point. But asking the enemy for information is hardly the shinobi way to go about it.
In the same way, every jonin had heard me before, everyone with polished enough hearing turned their attention toward the Aburame kid. It was nothing as obvious and crass as turning heads, but glances ran between him and his female sensei with a curiosity barely hidden.
Not only for Shino's surprising revelation but also, and maybe more, to find out if his teacher was on board with it. She wasn't expressing her disapproval, but the fidgeting of her other two students gave it all away.
Well, I too didn't teach my kids how to gather information, hammering them into a survival-worthy shape had required all the time I had with them. I considered.
Kurotsuchi tilted her head and looked at me while answering: "I didn't come to Konoha to kill children."
I mimicked a clapping motion and nodded to Onoki's grandaughter. Not every good action gets punished it seems. I thought.
I took out a cigarette and lit it, distractedly looking at the genins ducking it out in the arena below.
It was already Kiba's turn, and he ended up picking one of Kabuto's teammates who didn't retire. You delayed your interrogation by half an hour. I singsonged in my mind.
It was an attrition fight, the masked Konoha nin had to exhaust the chakra of the Inuzuka before either Akamaru or Kiba landed a crippling injury. The gatsuga was rightly feared.
"His sister was my teammate you know." I wistfully told to my team, "She used a combination of clan techniques and doton, very well polished for her age. He falls short in comparison, but we had years to become proficient."
I received some surprised looks from them, while Shikamaru's turned into one of... pity? Or something like that. But their eyes almost immediately returned to the fight, correctly identifying that my reminiscing was a lower level priority than scouting the competition.
I nodded to myself, they had picked up prioritizing well.
I watched, occasionally offering a comment on the several fights that followed, and soon it was Ino's turn.
She had been paired with the crazy guy with the wind blowing shit in his arms from Oto. In half a second, she had him with her clan technique and made him surrender.
"Well, that was underwhelming." She grinned at us when she skipped her way up."Do you remember the three flags I had you collect around the village?" I asked raising an eyebrow. Her blush and the flinch of her teammates were wonderful answers. Can't have them getting a big head now, can I?
"But yes, well done. Now, shush and watch." I added.
Sadly, the match between Hinata and Neji had been clearly set up in canon, and it got its repeat.
In this way, not only Konoha gets to showcase only the better Hyuga, but we can claim that there hasn't been tampering when Onoki will whine about his two genins clashing with each other. I reasoned.
It went basically like in canon, only without Naruto's cheering from the balcony. Still, Hinata kept getting up, and that was something I could respect.
Neji was all kinds of batshit crazy, I had only met Lee thanks to the hand-running around the village, but I had hoped that his character was somehow fucked up only in the manga. Sadly, it wasn't the case.
Where Hinata was hesitant, Neji was ruthless. Where she was fast, her cousin was faster. Where her hits almost landed, his blows were like a battering ram. The gentle fist is clearly the most terrifying kind of taijutsu in Konoha.
If Guy wasn't the kind of Beast he was, any Hyuga could duke it out with anyone.
It wasn't only the 'I'll kill you with a tap on your heart' thing, but their immunity to genjutsu basically erased the main weakness of melee fighters, who since they passed most of their time working on their bodies, tended to be less aware of their own chakra and as such more easily ensnared.
When the moment came, along with the other four jonin senseis from the leaf, I intervened to stop the fight.
...
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