On to the Next

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Kakumei – Arc 3: Naruto Next Generation

.

Chapter 73 – On to the Next

.

A few days after the first part of the Chunin exam, the participants are still in the Land of Wind, waiting for the right day to go to the Land of Earth by train. The second part was delayed a bit for revisions after the unexpected outcome of the written exam in room 1.

Except for those of Suna who simply went back to their homes in the meantime, all the young ninjas were conducted to assigned dorms for them to wait until the train departure.

In Iwagakure, the Five Kage are already gathered for a meeting with some representatives of this event to debrief the first part and to plan the next step. These representatives are Shikamaru and Temari Nara as ambassadors and main organizers, and the Daimyo of the land of Earth, as owner of the land.

Before going on to the results of step 1 and the setting of step 2, they take a look back at the written exam's progress.

"Raikage, you do know that Jonin teachers of a participating team are not allowed to take part in the exam's organization, right?" Shikamaru calls out.

"Yes I know." simply answers Darui, having guessed what the Hokage's advisor will mention.

"Then why did you allow Atsui to be among the guards in Room 2 if he has a genin squad registered for participation?"

"I'm sorry, it was a mistake." Darui prepares to explain. "Maroi, Narui and Saeko denied Atsui's invitation at first, so I hired him as guard. But since the registrations closed after we selected the staff, the team had time to change its mind and I noticed this problem too late."

Shikamaru doesn't add anything. Darui's honest and simple explanation shouldn't be blamed. But since he still feels a grudge against the Raikage's arrogant behavior at earlier councils, Shikamaru doesn't want to give up. It is when he feels his foot being violently stomped on by his wife's high heel that he changes his mind. Termari, who saw his attitude coming, does so to send him a message. Shikamaru hides his pain and just keeps his grudge inside to let the council go.

"No problem, Raikage." says Naruto with a friendly tone. "Anyone can make mistakes. I had one of my students' parents as proctor so I'm not all clean either."

"About that, Hokage, has it been decided what will be done about Izuna Uchiha's case?" asks Chojuro.

"I'm his sensei, so I shouldn't be the one to judge." answers Naruto. "But I think the organizers discussed this with Sai and Gaara."

Chojuro turns his head to look at the Kazekage and waits for details.

"We interrogated the proctor and his guards." responds Gaara. "It seems like Izuna did not break any rule. He simply played with them. No one was hurt. He and his team mate even made sure the proctor would be fine after the mind possession. Moreover, he answered correctly to the 10 previous questions."

All the Kages look at him and wait for a precise verdict. Gaara notices this and does so to satisfy them.

"So we decided not to disqualify him." he says. "He'll go on with his teammates to the next step."

"Ok for him…" says Darui. "But we still have a problem with the fact that the whole room got a free pass to success with this."

"Not really." says Gaara. "About 25% of them still failed because of their answers to the basic questions. It makes 75% of this room who passes, in comparison to the 10% or less in the other rooms."

"Don't worry, guys!" says Kurotsuchi. "The survival part will fix this overpopulation problem fair and square!"

"Is it really that hard?" asks Naruto.

"Oh, you have no idea." she adds confidently.

"HmHm…" the Daimyo of Earth clears his throat to get the council's attention. "And this is what justifies my presence."

"Of course, Lord Daimyo." says the Tsuchikage who sits straight and professionally, and speaks to her colleagues. "We'll use one of his numerous great monuments as the field for this exercise."

"And I'll account for this in my tax income from Iwa." grumpily says the Daimyo. "Also, this piece of art may be made of the strongest architectural material in existence, it is not completely safe from damage. Any need for reparation will be at your expense."

In reality, the said architectural piece is made with the toughest practical material for construction. It isn't a metal or a chakra based matter. It doesn't compare to the most durable materials such as the rare super alloy of the samurai land of Iron, but it still should be too tough to be damaged. It would take at the very least a Kage level strike force to pierce through its walls.

"Come on, Lord, chill!" exclaims Kurotsuchi, to all the other Kage's surprise, speechless that one of them would address its feudal lord in such a manner. "All the ninjas in the maze will be teenagers and under qualified genin. Don't expect any of them to be able to damage this place. And about the taxes, it's in the exam's budget so it's fine."

Naruto and all others look at the Daimyo to see if it's actually as fine as Kurotsuchi makes it seem. The feudal Lord sighs and shrugs, used to the Tsuchikage's childish personality.

.

Meanwhile, in a small village close to Suna, the former classmates of Konoha's last generation of genin are gathered in the boy's dorms, waiting for precise results. Boruto and Metal Lee are having a friendly hand-to-hand battle in the middle of the room. Inoue calmly sits on Izuna's bed while the Uchiha is being teased by Rebekka.

"What went through your mind Uchiha boy?" the hyperactive young woman says while holding Izuna down with her arm around his neck. "Was that just desperate improvisation or is this dumb head not all that empty after all?" she adds as she starts to scratch her fist against the top of his head.

"Stop that! Let him go!" complain Misora and Megane who stand up from their seats on their teammate Shiba Inuzuka's bed.

Izuna just makes a blank face and lets Rebekka have her fun, unbothered. He catches a glimpse at the two girls sitting in front of him and focuses his attention on them, as he notices something. Misora, who sees Izuna's black eyes staring at her, holds her breath and waits for him to say what caught his attention.

"Where did Shiba go?" he asks. "He was there before all you girls walked in."

"Ah…" says Misora, disappointed by the question that isn't about her. "I don't know. Who cares?"

"He left because we came in." explains Megane. "He's kinda shy. He doesn't like gatherings."

"But where does he intend to sleep?" adds the young Uchiha, acting concerned about his former classmate's well being.

"Dunno, in some random dog house probably." says Misora, uninterested in this topic, who stands up and walks around. "Dude never speaks, so why would I care?"

"He still gave us the answer for the last question." says Megane.

"About that…" Inoue asks Megane and Misora. "What room were you in? And how did you get the color?"

"Room 3 with this creepy tall long haired proctor." answers the girl with glasses. "A boy from Kumo accidentally projected the answer on the wall and Shiba saw it. His sneaky little dog brought it to us then."

Boruto, who keeps dodging all of Lee's hits, listens and tries to answer Izuna's earlier question about Shiba that only got a rude answer by Misora.

"Shiba will just come back to sleep there when all the girls leave." he says while staring at Lee's annoyed face.

"Who said we're leaving?" says Misora who went to stand in front of Inoue on Izuna's bed. "Stand up, I'm taking that spot now."

Inoue just looks up to her with a bored face and an eyebrow raised, as to show the little regard she'll give to that request. Rebekka, who's still holding Izuna, turns around quickly and tosses him up toward her teammate Namonaki's empty bed.

"If we're staying, I'm taking that empty place for the night." she says as she lifts the Uchiha up and throws him away.

Up too far, Izuna smoothly lands both his feet on the wall over the bed and sits there. Megane stares agape, amazed by this stunt. Misora lets herself fall back out of surprise, forcing herself on Izuna's bed.

"What about him? Where's Namonaki?"asks the Uchiha about who should be on the bed he was thrown to.

"Well, he's upset because he needed your help to pass." answers Rebekka. "That's stupid. Honestly, without your trick, he would have just failed. Anko-sensei may be cut for data collection, but we're not."

"What are you cut for then?" asks Boruto, still in action against Lee.

"We're learning Fuinjutsu." she responds. "I'm focused on wide area seals, Namonaki is more on a Space-Time related use of seals, and this dancing ape is on Taijutsu, which is totally unrelated." she explains, referring to Lee at last.

"Namonaki learns Space-Time Ninjutsu?" asks Boruto. "I wanna do Space-Time stuff! But not boring things with scrolls and summoning. Actual Space-Time shit like instant teleportation. That could surprise Takeshi."

"Focus on the battle!" yells Lee who almost lands a hit on Boruto's face.

The Hokage's son activates his Byakugan and carefully looks at Metal Lee's body to locate a few points. In a second, with his hands easily sliding through Lee's offensive, he strikes 10 times and gets him down.

"AAHHH! Lost again." complains the young Taijutsu specialist before going silent and thinking. "I had to have a Hyuga rival that would humble me like my dad…"

"What do you mean?" asks Boruto, intrigued by this statement.

"My dad often tells me about a rival from the Hyuga clan who was super talented and was like a goal to reach for him." explains Metal. "This dude became Jonin at 14, can you believe it?"

"Takeshi became Jonin at 14 too." comments Izuna, which bothers Boruto.

"Well I could have done that too." exclaims the yellow haired boy. "With another Hokage in function, I'd be teaching my own genin team already!… Say, Lee, what's that Hyuga's name?"

"I forgot." answers Metal. "I'm not good with names…"

"You know his name, Boruto." says a voice at the door.

They all turn around and see Naruto Uzumaki standing at the room's door. Lee jumps up to get on his legs and stands straight in the presence of the Hokage. Izuna lets himself fall from the wall he's sitting on and does the same. Misora also does so and leaps off Izuna's bed.

"It was your uncle Neji." adds Naruto as he walks in and comes to the group.

"… You're right. He was a jonin" notes Boruto. "What about me? Can I be a jonin immediately after this exam?"

"Are you gonna talk about the assessment's outcome?" asks Inoue before Boruto can get his answer.

"Right!" says the Hokage. "You and Izuna… You really did something there!"

Izuna makes an awkward face, suddenly feeling bad for what he did. Inoue keeps a serious face, not having any regret, regardless of the consequences. She just hopes this won't lead to disqualification for Izuna, since he did this for her.

"I'm glad they did, though." comments Lee, who passed thanks to this.

"Heck I am!" yells Rebekka. "Without this little help, I'd be heading back to Konoha and thinking of a career in prostitution instead."

"Rebekka!" exclaims the Hokage, embarrassed. "Who taught you that word?"

"Lord 7th, I'm 17." she soberly says to justify herself.

Naruto widens his eyes, thinks, and eases himself. Having known her since she was a child, and having been around as often as he could via clones, he saw her growing up together with her classmates and sometimes forgets about the age difference that he is just reminded of now.

"Anyway, what about Izuna?" asks Boruto. "Is he disqualified? Along with everyone who profited from his trick?"

"No. On to the next! Everyone gets to part 2." answers Naruto who then sees the happiness on everyone's face in the room except Boruto. "What's up? It's not just me who says it. I had no word in this decision. Why aren't you at least glad?"

"Why would I?" brags the Hokage's son. "I didn't need this to get the answer. I found it before by myself… About that, I got it from a dude with a sun symbol on his headband. A lot of people from this village got the answer but I don't see how they did. Isn't that weird?"

Naruto now becomes serious and thinks of what Tsubai Minamoto told him about right after the exam.

"Yes, one of the proctors warned me about that in his room too. They're from Hikarigakure. A guest nation invited by the Kazekage. We sent people to find and enter the village to meet with the leader."

The Shinobi Union was unaware of the village's exact position until Sasuke provided it along with other information he got. Now that Naruto thinks of it, why did Sasuke put this as part of his reports? Does Hikari have anything to do with his secret? After all, this city was supposedly the hideout of Momoshiki. To find out, Naruto can only wait for Shino to return from his mission.

.

.

At this exact moment, on the other side of the southern ocean, two elite ninjas pass the gate of Hikari in the lands or Heart. They're Baki from Suna and Shino Aburame from Konoha. Using the intel they were given, they could get through the Genjutsu that hides the village and reach the entrance. Their mission is to identify the ruler that succeeded Gozen Tomoe, and ask him about his participants in the exam.

Since nobody is there to note down in and out of the village, they directly go to wander through the streets. The two coated men silently walk around, analyzing their surroundings. Despite having been occupied by Momoshiki Otsutsuki and then the Daitengu, this place seems pretty peaceful and prospering.

"I had never seen this village before. But I did meet the former sovereign, Lady Tomoe." says Baki. "If the village is in such shape, we can suppose her descendants took the lead… If they're like her, this scenario would be arranging…"

Baki, former sensei of the Sand siblings of Suna, has been significantly softened over the years, just like his student Gaara. The cold ninja he once was has become a cheerful old man serving his village to ensure peace and communication with other villages.

Shino listens to his colleague's words, but doesn't answer. He remains quiet and looks around. Nearing the center place of the town, he sees a specific tall white building that looks like a hospital. Two details catch his attention.

In the courtyard before the main door, a 3 or so meters tall statue of what looks like a divinity is lying broken in the grass while children play around it. Above the door is the pedestal where the great statue was probably standing before being knocked over.

Instead of the statue, there is a painting of a symbol. 3 identical shapes, that look like magatama, gathered in a circle with their tails along the circle's border rather than pointing up like in the Sharingan's pattern. It is commonly called a mitsudomoe symbol.

Baki turns around and sees the same scene. Together, they get closer to the building. Shino looks for anybody else than the playing children, not wanting to scare them with questions. Baki looks around and sees one little alone, away from the other children. Since she doesn't seem busy, he steps forward to interrogate her.

Before he can reach her, another kid runs up to them to get in their way. This one, a short brown haired boy who looks older than the others, just stands before them silently. Judging from the headband he's wearing, Shino and Baki guess that he's a young ninja. The elder one tries to engage in dialogue.

"Boy, do you know where we can find your leader?" Baki asks the boy who stays completely silent.

Shino, seeing the absence of an answer, tries a different approach and asks about the current place before getting to the main topic.

"What is this statue?" asks Shino. "Why has it been knocked over?"

The boy now raises his hands and signs something that neither of them can understand. This must be sign language, but it's different from the one they have on the continent. The two messengers look at each other awkwardly, thinking of how complicated communication will be.

"Nah, you're an idiot Imi!" yells the little girl who was playing alone, as she climbs up her friend and munches on his hair. "What if they're terrorists? Or child predators? Look how they dress? They could kidnap us and sell our organs! Who knows?"

The boy shakes to get the girl off his shoulders and signs something again, which she understands.

"Why should I be friendly?" the little girl complains. "What are you even doing there, Imi? I thought you went to the exam. Did Kawa-bro ask you to look after me?"

The boy, Imi, shakes his hands and answers with sign language again. The two Jonin stay silent and look at the girl, amused by her cleverness. She's also wearing a headband, despite her apparent very young age. She has light green eyes, freckles and ridiculously dark hair. Seeing their conversation stop, Baki decides to reassure the girl.

"We are messengers from the Shinobi Union." he says to the girl. "We're here to see the leaders of the village and speak about the exam you just mentioned. Right now, we were just asking about that statue."

Imi signs the same thing as earlier at the girl, asking her to translate it to speech for the strangers. She squints mistrustfully, but does as her senpai asked.

"It's a statue of Naobi-sama. The goddess of fortune, purity and whatever. People put it down when they lost their faith in her."

"Lost their faith?" Baki remarks, intrigued, to which Imi replies again.

"Yeah… Gozen Tomoe was murdered by evil gods who took this city's freedom years ago." the girl translates for them. "This goddess, Naobi-sama, was supposed to protect this place but she didn't interfere. Instead, it's the young lord and his friends who freed the land. He's our guardian now, so he destroyed the statue because we shouldn't trust careless beings who don't have the slightest interest in their people. We've put his symbol on the wall instead, because he's our god now."

Baki and Shino keep listening to the girl's tale while looking at the boy's signs.

"Ummm…" the girl adds on her own to complete. "But not everyone lost faith in Naobi-sama. The sacred shrine is still standing and frequently visited, just not as much as 5 years ago or so."

Shino looks up to see the drawing that she referred to as the leader's symbol. As he looks up, he notices the towers of a beautiful castle in the background. Very quickly, he understands that such an outstanding place has to be the leader's hideout. Baki, who's still chatting with the children, asks about the hospital.

"This building looks like a hospital. What is it now?"

"It's still a hospital. Why not?" answers the girl who now makes conversation on her own.

"Really? Why are there no patients and nurses around then?"

"We don't need much of them." she explains. "The power of the young lord is apparently enough to heal us. Medicine can't compare to this. It would be useless."

Baki turns around and looks at Shino. The two men just stare at each other to exchange their feelings for a moment before Shino breaks his silence to ask about the dark castle he sees.

"Is this castle the leader's mansion?" he says, to the little girl's surprise.

"What? Can you talk?" she exclaims. "I thought you were mute like Imi. You were just standing there and looking around!"

"I guess Imi is your friend's name." Baki answers, to ask the girl a question. "What is yours?"

Why the hell would I tell you? What is yours?" she exclaims before Imi hits her on the shoulder, telling her to be more friendly. She gets the message. "Ugh.. Fine! My name's Minako. Mi-Na-Ko. And no Mi-No-Ka. Okay?"

"Who's Minoka?" Baki asks now.

"Some creepy girl for the leaders' team." Minako replies. "She's the head scientist or something. She should be at the castle right now."

"This village has a head scientist?" Baki questions.

"Konoha has Shiho in that role." Shino comments, not sure to understand Baki's remark.

In Konoha, just as Shino said, the scientific department is led by Shiho who formerly specialized in cryptography. He doesn't know her very well, since she's just as shy and reserved as him. They simply walk into each other sometimes in the Hokage mansion's hallway, but for some reason, he felt like he had to mention her.

Shino looks at the castle that Minako just quietly confirmed to be the place where they'd find people of importance. Without a word, he turns around and leaves to go there. Baki sees his colleague leave and has to follow him.

"Good bye, children. We have to get back to work." says the Suna-nin before joining Shino.

Shino doesn't tell where he's heading to, but Baki understands it. As they walk quietly, Shino breaks his silence again.

"Last time a hidden village was taken over after a heavy crisis by a new leader worshiped as a god, it turned out to be the HQ of Akatsuki." he says.

"It's true they call him a god…" questions Baki. "Seems like the leader isn't a descendant of the Tomoe clan after all… Judging by the timing, it's more likely that he's an heir to the Daitengu or to Momoshiki… Could he be hostile?"

"We'll find out right away. But I hope not."

As they reach the castle, they pass through the gate widely open for them and take a few steps in. While they're in the middle of the first hall, they see two people coming down stairs to them. Fuyuko and Minoka, who are the only ones still in town, come to greet the messengers. Before they say anything, Shino analyzes the two people to identify them.

Fuyuko has tainted his hair in black during the 5 years he spent with Oshio. So Shino mistakenly finds him matching with the description of the young boy who fought Konohamaru in Ryuka back then, who was actually his sister (formerly brother) Akiko. He keeps his suspicions silent however, unaware of what the consequences of such a call-out might be.

"Ninjas of Konoha and Suna?" asks Fuyuko.

"We are here as messengers of the council." says Baki who takes a step forward. "In Suna, we had good relations with this land by the time of Gozen Tomoe. Could we meet the one who leads the land nowadays?"

"There's no leader present currently." he says. "As the ruler of the whole continent, he can't be expected to stay at one single place. If you want to see a leader, go to Ketsugakure and find the Tomoe clan ruler."

"I doubt you'll find this village." completes Minoka. "Even if you do, you won't be allowed inside."

"Well, if this land doesn't belong to the Tomoe clan anymore, Ketsugakure won't be of interest for us." Baki says.

"May we at least get to know the name of the new leader?" asks Shino.

Minoka looks up to Fuyuko, hesitatingly, not knowing what she should say or not.

"Of course. His name is Oshio." confidently says Fuyuko. "Mine is Fuyuko. I am one of his associates. And this girl is called Minoka. She's from our research department. Could I know your names as well?"

"… I am Shino Aburame, head of the Aburame clan of Konoha." he says.

"And I am Baki, the Kazekage's advisor… Are you aware of your country's participation in the International Chunin Exam?"

"Of course. We also got word of the results of the first part. We may have good results, but we're still not the most competent nation, I suppose."

Shino thinks. It's true that even though some teams in each room integrally passed, most of the Hikari-nin still failed. There is no reason to question the village's power. What they should do is just deliver the message they came with and leave.

"We're here to remind your leader that his presence will be mandatory during the last part of the exam, and this with or without any remaining participant of your country." says Baki.

"Understood. He'll get the message." simply says Fuyuko. "Have a good day. Do you need to be accompanied back to the exit of the village?"

"No. We'll be fine." says Shino who turns around to leave, understanding that the welcomers don't expect them to stay any longer.

Baki looks at his colleague. He faces the two young people, still standing on the stairs, and bows to salute them before joining Shino's side. Walking side by side through the village to exit, they share their thoughts.

"They seem to be allies with the Tomoe clan of Ketsugakure." says Baki.

"But they were at the Daitengu's service." adds Shino. "The man we just met killed Konoha-nins under his command."

"I don't think they have any bad intentions regarding this exam." answers the Suna-nin. "There is no sign of any political opposition to the Kage council. This new leader seems to be rebuilding after disasters, but not to diverge from Gozen Tomoe's ideals."

"Time will tell, I guess. For now, we can only hope to see this leader at the final part of the chunin exam."

.

In the castle, Fuyuko and Minoka return to the throne room together silently. There, a black circular portal appears and Oshio Uchiha steps out of it.

"You didn't tell any of my last names. Good." he says to Fuyuko. "Neither did you tell yours."

"Should we be worried?" asks Minoka. "What does the Union's Kage council want?"

"Peace. That's all." answers the young leader. "Whether we'll be enemies or not depends on them. What party will they take in our conflict? This is the question."

"The final tournament of this exam requires your presence." says Fuyuko. "You won't be able to hide longer. You'll have to show yourself."

Oshio sits down on his throne and looks up, reminding himself of the words Meinu told him when he decided to rule over this land.

"They say whoever wields this eye, in a time of disorder like this one, will either bring peace or destruction to the world. I, wielding the eye of the gods, have the power and right to choose for the whole world."

He then stares at his two friends standing before him.

"I cannot offer my path to true peace to the world without revealing myself. For now, all we have to do is wait and watch the exam that Kawaki is taking part in."

.

.

Several days later, in the Land of Earth, the genin squads who passed the first step of this exam are gathered in front of a strange monument that, seen from outside, looks like an enormous flat building. Only 10 meters high, but several kilometers in length and width. Plenty of doors to enter are all around the building on the walls. On each door is a number and a symbol representing the index and village of a team.

Aoki Yotsuki, the daughter of the Raikage, is here with her teammates. She looks at the doors for a moment.

"There's about 300 genins here, and we're from over 100 different squads." she says. "If these tags mean what I think they mean and each team has to get inside by a different door, then this building needs over 100 entrances."

"Don't worry about that." says a stranger girl next to her with her team. "It has way more doors than that."

The girl who just spoke is Kaza Kamizuru of Iwa. Having already visited the place once, she knows what is inside, but this doesn't give her any advantage regarding the completion of this exam. Next to her, her teammates Genki and Abachi stare at her surprisingly.

"You already came here?" asks Abachi.

"I thought it was a restricted area." adds Genki.

"Restricted, yes. But nobody is here to keep it anyway." she says. "Whatever, I didn't do anything stupid and just stayed close to the entrances."

"I'm sure there will be lots of skeletons lying around inside." says Abachi.

Aoki, confused about this discussion, looks at her teammates who are just as lost as her. She decides to join in and learn about it.

"How can this building really have 100 doors? I mean, yes, lots of doors are easy, but they can't all lead to a different place inside."

"Yes they do." says yet another person behind them.

Aoki, Yukai, Kaza, and all of the two teams turn around to see Boruto with Izuna and Inoue. The Hyuga boy has his Byakugan activated and uses it to check the inside of the fortress.

"Oh, Boruto, long time no see." exclaims Aoki, happy to see another Kage child.

"Hello Aoki." he says as he deactivates his Dojutsu, and goes on to introduce his friends. "You never met Izuna or Inoue before, did you?"

"Never, Hello you two!" she says. "I'm Aoki, the Raikage's daughter. I know Boruto from the many times we had to hang around together during Kage councils."

"Well, I'm Inoue. And this is Izuna. We're Boruto's teammates." says Inoue.

"Nice to meet you. Here are my friends, Yukai and Ru." Aoki answers to introduce them to each other.

Boruto, sensing Yukai's oddly white chakra, walks up to him confusingly. The Kumo-nin, trying to be friendly, raises his hand for a handshake.

"Hello, I'm meet you, nice to Yukai… No wait…" says the Kumo-nin, with his tongue tangling, a bit nervous about meeting the God of Shinobi's son.

Boruto just looks oddly at him while Izuna just nods at everyone, including the Iwa team, to say hello.

Their collective meeting session is interrupted by a ninja shouting to get silence and attention. Sagan, a sensory Iwa jonin veteran of the 4th Great War, stands on a platform with Tenten, a Ninja Tool and Space-Time Ninjutsu expert from Konoha. Once every participant is focused on them, Sagan lets Tenten introduce what is to come.

"Young genins, for some of you, soon to be chunin, from around the world… Welcome to the Labyrinth."

.

End of Chapter 73– Next Chapter: The Labyrinth