"You're strange Daiki." Shin accused me.
It wasn't the worst thing I've ever been told, and not far from the truth either.
...
We crossed another team along the way, they were setting an ambush of some kind, we didn't bother engaging them.
Nine hours later we reached our objective, Hana unnaturally developed sense of direction was more than enough to guide us the right way.
We stopped before a tall stone gate, Immediately noticing the three podiums where we were to place our honestly earned wooden chips.
"Hey before going on, can we play a prank on the competition?" I offered, grinning madly.
Hana, sweet Hana, smiled mischievously in my direction.
"Am I the only one who thinks we are vastly overpowered to attend the exams?" Shin asked rhetorically out of the blue, but he was already taking out a scroll from his pouch.
"So, I can set 15 lethal traps, 12 non-lethal ones, or I can rearrange what I have to make up eight very embarrassing ones."
Obviously, we all agreed on the last option.
"Wait! Let's make one where they have to get drunk to obtain a chip!" Hana suggested.
"Shouldn't we thin the competition?" Shin objected.
I shrugged. "Eh, the more the merrier, besides, if the first stage was about gathering information, the second about... survival, I think? The third will likely be a tournament. The more the opponents the more chances Konoha has to show off."
And so, we spent another three hours making humiliating traps that held a wooden chip as a prize, Shin started snickering halfway through and we had to stop to regain our composure.
During our work, Hana and I followed Shin's instructions to the letter. It wasn't like we weren't able to make a trap of some kind, but ours were mostly obvious and brutal, while Shin guided us to create insidious and invisible ones.
At the end of our work I placed the three wooden chips on their respective podiums and the stone gate opened for us.
The proctor greeted us with a cold tone that did nothing to hide his annoyance at us. Hey, we were being fast tracked to Tokubetsu Jonin, it's not anyone's fault. I sarcastically commented in my head.
"In the next hall there is food, there is a staircase that will lead you to the lower floors, where there are free rooms if you need to rest. You cannot leave this building for the next five days."
We all nodded, the orders were quite simple. "Can we go on the roof? You know, fresh air..." I couldn't contain myself.
The proctor turned on himself and walked away without another word.
...
Five days later
We spent the days in a comfortable routine. Once chosen the biggest room available, we left it together only for eating. One of us would keep guard on the door, one rested, and one performed light exercises or meditation.
It was difficult for me to train my fire or wind natured change without a leaf to check on my results, but I made do with scraps taken from scrolls.
Why natured chakra was important? After all both Itachi and Sasuke were able to spit fireballs without going through the change of their chakra into a fire natured one.
The ability to change your chakra into an elemental natured one came with three important perks. First, you could go and try to craft your jutsus, or simply use fire natured to lit a candle, just bringing it to the tenketsus on your fingertips and brushing the wick.
Second, it was way cheaper performing elemental jutsus in terms of chakra spent.
Third, it opened the road to ninshuu, which was some hazy strange shit that I didn't understand.
Since the third day, genins started trickling in, most of them were a bit skittish, and the way they reacted to the sound of a wire snapping was hilarious. It confirmed that Shin's traps had hit true.
They herded the teams that managed to pass the stage into a great hall, where the proctor explained the third stage.
A tournament after a month of vacation. Duh.
"But first there will be preliminary matches. You win, you get to the tournament. Lethal force is allowed, however, you'll stop at the moment the referee says so, or you will be stopped." The proctor dropped the 'not-news' on me with a bored tone.
We proceeded to the extraction, and one again, I picked the number seven.
Now, this makes me think it's rigged. I realized.
My suspicion was strangely confirmed by the fact that Kurotsuchi, of all people, was to be my opponent. Either because the Sandaime told Onoki about my reticence about killing, or they watched when I said I didn't want to kill children. Anyway, she and her team were not ready to be chunin, at least skill-wise.
When I let my eyes run over the posted names, I froze. Yugito Nii.
Bloody fucking hell, that's why she looked familiar. Only in the anime, she appears... eight years from now? Something like that.
I gulped. What was terrifying was that I knew what kind of bat-shit crazy stuff a jinchuriki could throw around, and from her I could feel nothing. I didn't dare press my chakra around her to get a feel of how her chakra worked.
I had learned that while it was something everyone with sufficient awareness of their chakra could do, it was also very easy to spot for those experienced enough. And the equivalent of 'copping a feel'.
Kakashi had been the one to explain it, giggling madly. I suspect that the total absence of any kind of shame annoyed him.
I got that it was rude, and since then I used it only sparingly, but as long as it gave me an idea of what the person was like, I wouldn't ignore it.
Hana picked Shin. And that confirmed once for all the whole 'rigged' business. It wouldn't do having a single team from Konoha reaching the finals and monopolizing the show. So they played to reduce the risk.
When we regrouped, Hana was looking a bit... defeated?
Ah, she probably wanted some time to shine. She is fast, and definitely no pushover, but one hit kills are hardly a way she can truly see how far she can go.
"We all know that Shin is stronger." She pouted.
"More like 'better suited for open combat', I think." I gently corrected.
She huffed. "Ooh, fuck off, I don't need pity." But her hand gestured ~Kind~
In that contest, it was a 'thank you'. We used that to indicate when we took a non-lethal approach to an ambush, so I'd take that as a victory.
Shin had a bored expression on his face. He didn't care one way or another. His preferences were traps, money, and more recently sake. The thought of surrendering to Hana didn't even cross his mind. Nor hers, for what mattered.
We had to win the whole thing, Hokage's orders. He will have a stroke when he finds out about the jinchuriki. Ha!
An idea wormed its way through my brain before I could stop it. We know that I'm the most well rounded of the group, and frankly, the one who has pushed himself further. So the lion's share of the job was mine already...
"I'll win it." I sighed.
And my teammates turned towards me.
"I'll win it," I repeated. "So Shin can be lazy and sit this one out, while Hana can be her usual competitive self and play with the other genins."
Shin's eyebrows rose into his forehead, while Hana's moth formed a cute 'o' .
I could relate with their surprise, I honestly could. It wasn't like me at all to promise to do something not necessary. Even less so that one teammate could 'play'.
"But you'll owe me. Both of you." I added. I could as well try to win something out of this. "And Hana, you're the one who'll explain to sensei, I don't want Shin to be hanged on a golden rope made of youthful exuberance because he chooses to not participate."
Their expressions relaxed when I added my conditions, I made deals, not favors, they were more used to it. Then we shared a good laugh on the youthful image I had suggested.
"Besides, there aren't many genins strong enough to give us a run for our money." I reasoned.
We didn't know that, obviously, but we and the jinchuriki were the actual monsters here, which were the possibilities of a giant unseen threat? Some genin would undoubtedly be good, but without kidding anyone or inflating my ego, my lovely team 10 was downright scary.
7 teams passed the second stage. And while nobody pulled a Kabuto, 5 people were not in a condition to continue. By the way, where the fuck is he? But again, the chunin exams are held twice each year, so maybe he'll start from the next one. Or the butterfly effect is already at play here.
We were 16 ready to go ahead, which meant that the tournament would be composed by 8 contestants. And if I remembered correctly, in the manga the last stage had seen one from Oto, the three from Suna, and seven from Konoha.
Now, three teams from Iwa had made it, Yugito's team had made it whole, another from Kiri, one from Suna, and finally my team. That was before the five wounded or exhausted ones went to the infirmary.
The matches started, and I carefully observed the competition.
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