42 Chunin Exams Part 4

Anko stood at the front of the crowd before explaining the rules of the exam.

Holding out two scrolls she told them it would be a race to the center of the forest, and they would be allowed inside once they managed to get a hold of both Heaven and Earth Scrolls. Lastly, she explained that they must arrive at the resting area before the 120-hour time limit is up.

There were 3 rules they had to follow. First, they must have both the Heaven and Earth scrolls before they arrive. Rule number two, if any member of the team can't go on, then the whole team fails, and lastly no looking in the scrolls.

"What happens if we take a peek?" Naruto asked.

"That's for those who open it to know, which brings me to the third rule, no peaking inside the scroll," Anko responded putting her finger in front of her lips.

She then gave them a final bit of advice "Stay Alive." before telling them to line up.

The exam overseers began then taking people into a booth with a black curtain that obscured all sight from the outside. There, they handed out the scrolls in divisions of 3.

After everyone had their scroll they took off into the forest.

For the test, Naruto and Kibo had to split up, but they agreed to meet up a few miles east of their starting point.

After they met at the rally point, they showed each other the scrolls, Naruto's group had the Earth scroll while Kibo's group had a heaven scroll.

Moments after they decided to work together, Naruto who was doing the 'I have to pee dance' ran away as he said, "Sorry guy's gotta use the bathroom."

After stepping around the tree, a few seconds later, a loud banging noise was heard along with Naruto yelling "God damn it! Do you guys even know about timing?"

A Ninja from Amegakure wearing a full-body wet-suit was slammed through the tree, showing Naruto on the other side zipping up his pants.

"Does he have a scroll?" Karin asked while she covered Hinata's eyes. Can't have her passing out in the middle of the exam.

Kibo checked over the body and smiled before declaring, "They have an earth scroll. Well, we're set."

Moments after storing the scroll in his inventory, Kibo sensed danger as a large explosion went off nearby, sending a gust of smoke into the air in large plums.

The group was blasted apart, flying from one another in random directions.

In response to the attack, Kibo activated his Tengan to track his team's Chakra, opened his Star Chakra Wings, and managed to catch them in the air by tying them up with a Chakra wire.

Knowing it was Orochimaru attacking, Kibo didn't bother staying around. He took the group and flew away at max speed.

He wouldn't let Orochimaru mark Sasuke. After all, Kibo plans to kill off Orochimaru but now wasn't the right time for time to face each other. Kibo still needed the Snake to survive, at least, for now, that is.

After getting far enough away, Kibo set the team down near a river.

"What was that?" Karin asked.

Kibo looked back and shook his head before saying, "Someone summoned a big and powerful Chakra Beast."

"Why'd we run?" Naruto asked.

Kibo laughed before answering with a lie, "They didn't have the scroll you need. Why waste our energy on a foe we don't need to fight."

"I suppose that makes sense," Sasuke commented.

"I agree with Kibo. Fighting an opponent that doesn't have a scroll is pointless and has nothing to do with the exam," Hinata followed up.

"Yeah, okay. I get it," Naruto said as he looked out into the forest.

"Now what? You guys have your scroll, but searching for a team that has ours will take a lot of time! Won't it?" Sakura asked as she crossed her arms.

"I'm working on that, just give me a second," Kibo declared as he activated his mind's eye and searched over the battlefield.

He located 3 nearby teams, and 2 had the heaven scroll.

Kibo laughed as he used his Wind Lord Step and appeared in front of the ninja Gaara was supposed to kill.

Kibo didn't know squat about this guy, but he needed his scroll, so he stepped out from behind cover and hit them before they knew what happened.

Kibo then tied them to a tree and took the Heaven scroll from their leader.

After returning to the team, he let them hang onto a thread of Chakra while he flew them all the way to the tower in the center of the forest.

Their time in completing the second stage of the Chunin Exam, was 17 Minutes and 8 Seconds.

"Well, that was easy," Sakura commented.

"I feel like we didn't get to do anything," Hinata followed up.

"What now?" Naruto questioned as they stood in front of a sign.

Everyone was a little dazed when Kibo said, "Open the scrolls."

"Wasn't the mission to get it here without reading them?" Naruto asked.

"And we've done that," Kibo explained pointing to the Kanji for Heaven and Earth that was written on the sign.

"I get it," Sasuke said as he peeled open the Earth Scroll.

Everyone followed suit, and as they opened their scrolls, Kakashi and Yamato appeared from the puff of smoke produced by a Summoning Jutsu.

"Congrats, Team 7," Yamato said, surprising everyone but Kibo.,

Kakashi then followed up by saying, "I have to admit, you guys just beat and set a record that I don't think anyone will be defeating, for a long, long time!"

"Where'd you guys come from?" Sakura asked.

"Kakashi and I wore summon seals directed at the scrolls," Yamato explained,

"If you guy's had opened them anytime during the exam, or at any other location than here, you would have been hit with a Gen-Jutsu before we would have knocked you out. Thus failing the exam." Kakashi finished.

"Well, we have around 119 hours remaining," Kibo said as he started heading upstairs.

"I'm going to go catch some sleep, you guy can do what you want." Karin followed after him and the two spent the rest of the time napping and enjoying each other's company.

Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke went out to eat.

A little less than 5 days had passed and everyone that was supposed to arrive; showed up.

They stood lined up next to each other while the Hokage and Jonin from the other villages stood beside across from them.

Sarutobi then began to explain the purpose of these shared exams.

They are to improve relations between the villages, present up and coming Ninjas to future clients, and create an opportunity for mingling between fellow Shinobi.

Because of having too many participants advancing to the next stage, the proprietor of the event and the examiners tend to run additional preliminaries to reduce the number of finalists.

Although the exams, specifically the final round matches, are designed for there to be an ultimate winner, success does not guarantee promotion, nor does failure preclude it.

If the observing ninja and Daimyō feel a Genin displays the necessary qualities for a Chūnin, then that Genin will be promoted regardless of how they place in the exams.

For this reason, it is possible for as many as all of the finalists to pass or fail.

Being victorious simply expands the participant's chances of demonstrating their qualities in the next match.

When it came time to start, Kabuto raised his hand and forfeited the match while giving Karin an automatic victory.

Kabuto then looked at Orochimaru who was in disguise. The Snake of Konoha was standing mere feet away from the Hokage with a smile on his face.

Kabuto sighed and as he was about to walk away, Naruto cried out, "Why? After so many times failing, you finally made it here!"

Kabuto waved his hand and explained that he took some damage, and won't be able to participate,

Naruto seemed bummed out about Kabuto losing his chance at a promotion before they dismissed him, and began putting up the roster.

A man walked up that had short brown hair, black-colored irises, and dark rings under his eyes.

Even though he was a young man, he had pronounced bags under his eyes as well as an unexplained chronic cough that plagued him.

He wore the standard Konoha Shinobi outfit complete with a forehead protector that he placed over his head bandanna. He also carried a katana with a rectangular handguard strapped over his back.

The Jonin coughed up a storm before announcing his name and position.

"My . . . 'cough' . . . Name is Hayate Gekko. I'll be your referee during the preliminaries. There is only one rule, no direct outside help."

Hayate then turned to the screen on the wall behind the podium the Hokage was standing on.

When two participants' names popped up Hayate shouted, "Kibo Hoshi versus Misumi Tsurugi!"

Kibo yawned as he walked onto the stage, while he did some mandatory warm-up stretches, the crowd murmured on the stands and balcony.

"That's the new clan, that moved into Konoha 8 years ago?" Baki, Gaara's team captain spoke out.

Baki was a very tall man. He had two distinctive red markings on the only visible part of his head. The rest of it was covered by his turban-like headgear and by a sheet hanging from it on the left side of his face.

His attire fit the standard uniform of a Suna-Jonin, complete with a forehead protector and flak jacket.

Kakashi smiled and said, "Yes and he's very strong. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who won the whole tournament."

Before Baki could say anything in his team's defense the match had started.

Kibo didn't want to waste time, so the moment the masked ninja attacked, Kibo used the most basic version of his Clan's Blast Technique.

A ball of Star Chakra appeared on his palm and he blasted Misumi into the roof. The enemy Nin's eyes then rolled back as he fell towards the ground.

Kibo caught him and threw him over towards his teammates, everyone except the Konoha Shinobi were surprised.

The Leaf Nin had seen the Hoshi Clan's attacks before and knew what would happen the moment the Star Chakra appeared.

The Shinobi from other villages, however, were all freaking out. Kibo's blast was like staring down the 4th's Rasengan again.

"Chakra so dense one could shape it. What a monster," Baki muttered under his breath.

As Kibo was declared victor he passed on a panacea pill to Hayate, before saying in a snarky and annoyed tone, "For your cough. What were you thinking, coming to an event while you're this sick?"

Hayate looked at the Hokage to see him nodding that it was safe to ingest the pill.

After eating it he felt a surge of vitality combat his illness.

Within seconds the bags under his eyes disappeared as he coughed up a clear looking liquid that was in his lungs into a handkerchief.

Hayate looked to Kibo in amazement and bowed once to show his gratefulness.

As the Kibo jumped up past the railing to join his team, Naruto gave him a fist bump.

Seconds later, the participants of the next round were called onto the stage.

"Sasuke Uchiha versus Yoroi Akado!"

The two contestants walked up to each other.

Sasuke began the match with a fireball Jutsu.

Yoroi managed to avoid the attack as he jumped to the side.

Unfortunately for him, Sasuke wanted to try out his new technique.

He placed steel garrote wires around Yoroi's body and sent a flood of fire Chakra into them.

As a blazing fire trailed along the surface of the wires, Sasuke shouted, "Fire Sakura!"

Moments before Yoroi's body burst into flames, Sasuke's attack showed a large sakura pattern from above the stadium.

Yoroi quickly performed his water Jutsu to douse the fire.

However, the sound of Sasuke chuckling before saying, "Thanks for the conductor." sent chills of danger down his spine. He tried to struggle out of the wires that were binding him, but it was too late.

Sasuke grabbed onto the wet strings and sent an electrical current throughout the surface of the wires, electrocuting his enemy in a pulse of amplified lightning.

Yoroi could only scream in pain as he fell unconscious.

At this very moment, Kibo looked over to see Orochimaru drooling with his eyes.

The looked brought back memories of something Orochimaru said in the Cannon, "Sasuke's my type, that's why I want his body, although it's still a bit immature."

Kibo shook in disgust as he thought about the snake's desires for the Uchiha.

"Zaku Abumi versus Shino Aburame!" Hayate called down the next challengers,

Zaku, the sound Nin, was overconfident. The match ended in a similar fashion to the original timeline. He ended up bragging for too long, giving Shino the chance to sneak his bugs into his wind tunnel, and like the moron he was, Zaku ended up blowing up his own hands.

Kibo winced in pain while Neji looked into Shino's body.

"Pretty cool right? He becomes the host for millions of insects working together in a symbiotic relationship." Kibo said, making Neji's eyes go wide.

"You could see them?"

Kibo smiled and activated his Tengan, "How many times do I have to say this to other Do-Jutsu users? You're not the only one with special eyes."

Neji gulped, he had met Kibo on several occasions, such as birthday parties and formal events, but this was his first time seeing the Tengan.

"It's a bit different from what Father told me," Neji thought to himself.

The Tengan mentioned in the report Hizashi read didn't have the same number of rings and coronas in it as it does now.

"It must have evolved again! It truly shares some aspects of the Sharingan's ability to grow. Worthy of joining the ranks of the great Do-Jutsus." Neji continued to ponder as the next names were called.

"Kankuro versus Sai!" The two Ninja walked down and faced each other before Ino suddenly called out, "You can do it Sai!"

Hearing the tone in her rival's voice made Sakura frown in confusion, and a bit of blush could be seen on Ino's face as she cheered.

Apparently, during the exam, something happened in a very different manner.

Because Kibo had taken Gaara's kill, his blood lust hadn't been sated, and during the scene that he was supposed to kill the Ninjas from the original cannon, he ended up discovering Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji hiding in the bushes near them instead.

In order to take out his frustrations on them, Gaara attacked them without mercy, causing Team 8 to almost lose their lives.

While team 8 fought to survive, Sai had come back from scouting out their scroll's location.

With Sai riding in on a giant Ink bird, he managed to save his allies and fly away. Though not before he took an attack from Gaara to save Ino's life.

As he covered her body, a small Sand Bullet Jutsu shot through his body and pierced flew out of his back. If it weren't for the sketchbook he kept inside his shirt redirecting the attack, the bullet would have destroyed his heart.

Gaara raised his hand to kill them but stopped. He was confused as to how and why Sai would willingly sacrifice himself for another.

The Sand Nin wanted to ask him personally before he killed him.

Letting them go, he continued on his way to hunt down the scroll he needed.

However, after healing up Sai with some herbs and newly developed pills, the way Ino looked at Sai changed significantly.

Especially after she heard his answer as to why he took the bullet, "I couldn't let the beautiful girl that I'm falling for getting hurt."

Sai had a straight-faced smile on his lips as he declared his love for her.

Ino could only turn red in response.

With a dull look on his face, Shikamaru said, "Fraternization within teams, how troublesome."

Choji and the rest of the team cheered them on.