Chapter 96:

Now that Kimimaro had defeated Hattori, with each of them once and for all settling their rivalry. He headed back to his base, hoping that Iseto had been able to defeat Gogi and make it back with the flag they captured from Chika.

Finally, he arrived back seeing Iseto who seemed to be shouting at Yuri for simply gifting their flag to Hattori. Yuri, on the other hand, did not seem overly bothered, keeping her arms crossed and her face hidden behind her scarf.

"That's enough Iseto," Kimimaro said as he landed back onto the ground, surprising both of them.

"Hey, you made it!" He said, forgetting about Yuri for a moment as his eyes spotted the flag on his back.

"Whatever the reason, she gave him the flag and that is her business," Kimimaro said as he unclipped the flag and placed it next to their other one.

"Well yeah. But still, she could have put up some kind of fight!" He said in protest.

"You defeated Hattori?" Yuri suddenly asked as she walked over to Kimimaro, looking him in the eyes already knowing the answer.

"I did." He said, getting a strange vibe from her for a second, feeling as if she was about to attack.

Yuri, nonetheless, turned her back to him before she walked off without saying another word.

"I'm going on a patrol." She then said before she jumped off, leaving the other two behind before they could even say anything.

"What's her problem?" Iseto asked as he watched her go.

"Hattori is still her squadmate, it must not be easy hearing that one of your comrades has been defeated," Kimimaro explained.

"I guess not." Iseto then said after thinking about it for a moment.

"Anyway, what next?" He then asked, looking at both the flags they had captured.

"Having two flags puts up in the lead. We should wait until Yuri gets back and calms down before going out again." Kimimaro said, knowing that once Chika recovered she would be coming for them.

Meanwhile...

"Alright you two, I can see another squad not far from here and they have two flags. If we can take them down we will pass for sure." Takajima of the leaf said as he watched Haku and the others from a distance.

"Adagai, once I distract them, take them out with your explosive scythe jutsu," Takajima said, making sure that Haku and the others had not yet noticed their presence as he watched them from the long grass.

Takajima then looked at Ebinaka of the rain, another of his temporary squadmates.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Ebinaka said through his rebreather as he pulled out a fist full of shuriken, marked with a seal.

"Alright, it's showtime." Takajima then said.

"Go!" The three of them said amongst themselves as they gave the signal to engage in their ambush.

Ebinaka dashed down from his hiding spot suddenly appearing in a small cloud of smoke, taking the three of them by surprise.

"Surprise!" He shouted as he threw the shuriken in both hands, scattering them in a circle around Haku and the others.

"Alright, it's done!" Ebinaka shouted as he quickly jumped back into the air.

Takajima quickly made his hand signs activating his jutsu.

"Paralyzing jutsu!" He shouted as the shuriken started to react to his hand signs, binding and trapping anyone who was court in the circle.

"What is this!" Seno shouted as she felt her body become stiff.

Tomo and Haku had also been trapped and were unable to move as they watched helplessly at what was about to happen.

"Now Adagai!" Takajima shouted, giving his teammate the signal to unleash his attack.

"Alright, here it goes!" Adagai shouted as he quickly jumped into the air from his hiding spot.

Adagai was holding a large two-handed scythe with three blades all connected together.

"Now, exploding scythe jutsu!" He shouted as he swiped the scythe through the air, letting all three blades unattached and fly towards Haku and the others, covered in explosive tags.

-BOOM-

The blades covered in explosive tags hit all three of them, with one blade hitting Haku, Seno and Tomo, creating a massive cloud of black smoke as the fire from the explosion faded.

"It's over," Takajima said as he watched the smoke clear, seeing that there were no remains of the enemy.

"Let's get the flag and get out of here," Adagai said as he landed next to Takajima, also not seeing any sign of them.

"Looks like my jutsu was so strong it blew them off the face of the earth," Adagai said laughing, getting a chuckle from the other two.

"Whose jutsu was too strong?" Haku suddenly said as he appeared behind both of the leaf ninja, taking them by surprise.

"What in the!" Takajima shouted as he tried to spin around to react.

Adagai did the same thing as his eyes opened wide before a senbon needle hit him in the neck, dropping him to the ground.

Haku then kicked Takajima in the chest, sending him back through the air before he flipped and landed back on his feet.

"How the hell did this guy survive our attack?" He said, looking to his teammate who was now down and out.

"Tomo now!" Haku shouted, giving the signal for his teammate to attack.

Tomo suddenly burst out from under the ground, gripping Takajima's foot.

"Earth style, underground trap!" He said as he pulled Takajima underground with him, only leaving his head above so he could breathe.

"That just leaves one." Haku then said as he turned around, looking at Ebinaka.

"How did this happen?" Ebinaka said to himself as he slowly took a step back, knowing there was no way he could fight them now.

"You should have been killed in that surprise attack! How did you survive!" He shouted, not excepting it.

"That's simple," Haku said with a smile.

"Seno over there is a sensory ninja, she could tell you were coming before you even got close. Giving us time to swap out with clones and watch your little surprise attack from a safe distance." Haku explained as he started walking over towards Ebinaka.

"Y...You mist scum!" Ebinaka shouted as he pulled out more shuriken in an attempt to throw them at Haku, letting them rip into the air towards him.

Haku watched the shuriken come towards him before quickly throwing two senbon needles that hit two shuriken, starting a chain reaction that changed the direction of both shuriken and caused them to hit the others, changing their direction before they were knocked back around and now flew at Ebinaka.

"H-How!" He shouted in utter shock as he could do nothing other than protect himself with his arms from his own shuriken.

The shuriken hit home, slashing and stabbing into him as he was forced to absorb the blow with his body.

"I need to escape!" The rain ninja thought as he bit through pain, trying to turn and run away.

"It's over for you." Haku then said as he quickly dashed behind him, getting a surprised look before he chopped the pressure points in his neck with a knife-hand, dropping Ebinaka to the ground unconscious.

"Flag defended successfully." Haku then said as he looked at both of his teammates, smiling at them.

Seno was amazed at just how strong he was, with the flashback of him putting all this into plan in an instant replaying in her mind before the enemy had even gotten close to them.

"So now what Haku?" Seno asked, crossing her hands behind her back.

"We should press on the attack. I have a good feeling that others squads will have suffered casualties by now, giving us the advantage." He said.

Tomo agreed as he walked over to them.

"I will come with you this time." He said, giving Haku a thumbs up.

Haku agreed and looked at Seno.

"Using your sensor abilities we should be able to find another flag before anyone else can find ours. Let's move in fast and get back safe."

"Right!" Both Seno and Tomo shouted as they agreed on his plan before they then followed him and dashed off, leaving their base unprotected.

A few moments passed by after they left, revealing prying eyes.

"Looks like they are gone." Muse of the hidden rain said as he slowly released his camouflage jutsu.

Horime also appeared as the camouflage faded around her.

"That stupid Seno, she thinks her sensory abilities are so good. I knew she wouldn't be able to find us with your jutsu." She said with a smug look on her face.

"Anyway..." Muse then said as he looked over to both of the flags.

"We should take those and get back to Chika." He said, snapping Horime out of her little trance.

"Yeah, you are right let's take them and get back." She said.

"I cant wait to see the look on Seno's face." She thought before the two of them jumped down to steal the flags.

Far in the distance from where the genin were currently battling among one another, Fugaku Uchiha, who was the head examiner watched like a hawk from above, using his Sharingan so that he could see all.

Both the Hokage and Fuyona also stood atop of a large cliff, looking down at the battleground as they watched everything that was going on with their keen senses.

"My, my lord Mizukage, your genin are very impressive," Sarutobi said as he had watched Haku turn the tables in an instant.

Fuyona had also watched Haku and was of course impressed by his ability, expecting nothing less from him. Fuyona had also watched the battle between Kimimaro and Hattori, paying close attention to their abilities and strengths.

"Thank you, lord Hokage. I wish I could take credit, but honestly, they possessed the potential all along. I simply helped guide them along the way." He admitted, being humble.

"That may be so. But if not for your guidance and rule, who knows what would have become of them." Hiruzen said before taking a large puff on his pipe.

Fuyona knew that was true. Both Kimimaro and Haku should have been living completely different lives right now. Haku should have been with Zabuza, undergoing his training and Kimimaro should have been with Orochimaru, compelled to die in a few years due to his illness.

As for Hattori and the others, Fuyona had never heard anything of them, thinking that they might have never made it past childhood under the fourth Mizukages rule, or perhaps due to the many civil wars they had avoided thanks to his rule.

"Still, the battle is not over just yet." The Hokage then said as he could see something interesting about to happen in the distance.

Fuyona looked up as he let his eyes zone in across the land, paying close attention to what the Hokage was getting at, allowing a small grin to spread across his face.

"Very interesting indeed."

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That's the end of this chapter thank you for reading!