Chapter 32

The next morning we came into the cafeteria for breakfast. Sakumo has been wondering how many teams have arrived since we came. The answer was zero. There was not a single other Genin eating. At first, we thought that they were too exhausted and went to sleep. We would have slept as well, so we decided to train a bit and afterwards went back to the cafeteria, where we still found no one.

It was Ariha that decided her curiosity was high enough to ask the Kiri Ninja that gave out the food. "Have there been other teams yet?"

"Not that I have seen," answered the guy with a shrug.

"Is this normal or are this year's Genin weaker than usual?" Pressed Ariha.

He raised an eyebrow, clearly aware of what she was trying. But he must also have been bored, which is why he shrugged again and then explained. "Not always. There are some exams where there are no teams at all, those are rare. Then there are exams where the first team arrives after a day or late in the night.

Yours was pretty fast. Would have bet on two other teams, but you Konoha guys were always unpredictable." Ariha thanked him and the guy gave me my food. We sat down at a nearby table and were halfway through our food when the doors to the cafeteria were thrown open.

A large group of teams was coming inside, all of them still wet from the dive and looked tired, angry and annoyed. All of them. With the exception of a single Genin, he looked as if he was first tarred and then feathered. In addition to being tired, wet, annoyed and angry.

Of note was a team from Kiri, it was the one with the Kaguya. She was occasionally twitching and looked a little singed. She also had a few rips and tears in her clothes. She, like the rest, looked tired and annoyed.

And then there were two teams from Konoha. One was the team with the Hyuuga, no idea how he managed to survive the caves. However, the other Konoha team was way more important. After all, it was the team of my sister.

I waved at Tsunade and smiled when she spotted me. Her annoyed and angry look changed first into surprise and then a happy smile. She and her team grabbed their food and sat down at our table.

"What happened? You all looked quite miffed," Ariha asked once Tsunade has sat down. Jiraiya, who looked more asleep than awake, nearly fell into his food when he sat down. Orochimaru looked better, but he too was slower and more sluggish.

Tsunade looked at her, obviously surprised. "You guys didn't notice?"

Ariha looked first at Tsunade, then at Sakumo. He also looked clueless, so both looked at me. However, I too had to raise my hands in surrender. "Notice what?" Asked Ariha back.

"The traps," groused Jiraiya in an angry mutter.

Instead of reacting to him, as that would result in a conversation with Jiraiya, I asked Tsunade."Why not start at the beginning?"

Tsunade took a sip from her drink and began to speak after a moment of gathering her thoughts. "We had to fight three different teams before we got our tablet. And the moss, which is called Sleepy Moss, by the way, was causing trouble with its toxic fumes. I had to detoxify us every couple of hours. Which cut into my sleeping time tremendously," complained Tsunade. I nodded along at all the right places and listened how they fought this or that Genin team or how they had to trap their passage or the one time where Jiraiya got lost in a water passage and almost drowned, had he not summoned one of his toads. "And then we came close to the last room...." I noticed how the surrounding Genin teams had stopped eating and were silently cursing, some were even crying.

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Third Person POV;

It was around the time Kenshiro stood up for the day when another Genin team was still inside the tunnels and even a few hundred meters before the underwater lake. It was Tsunade and her team.

They were sneaking as fast as it was reasonable through the tunnels. Their clothes were wet, their bodies exhausted and their minds tired. Jiraiya's was even half drowned. They already had the stone tablets they wanted and now only needed to find the exit.

Easier said than done. So far they had no such luck. "But this time, I'm sure," announced Jiraiya for the tenth time that day. He was reasoning it to himself even. Usually, you get the worst possible outcome when you say 'what could happen', so he uses that and turns it around. Maybe if he believes it enough it will happen? Right?

If this hasn't been an important mission Tsunade would have hit him by now. She was tired and annoyed, what other reason does she need? It was bad enough that she hasn't slept for more than an hour. She had to heal them from the poisonous moss, sleep was not part of this treatment.

Of course, against Jiraiya's wishes, around the corner wasn't a neon sign with the large glowing words 'EXIT'. No, instead Jiraiya tripped over a wire and activated a hidden trap. The usually silent click of the trigger rung loudly through the even more silent corridor.

"Jiraiya you idi..." Orochimaru wasn't able to finish his curse before he had to jump to the side. Half a dozen Kunai had been flying at him and another three were coming at his new position.

Orochimaru pulled two Kunai out of his pouch. The first he threw towards Jiraiya, as he knew that the idiot would have his own three Kunai to worry about, while only being able to deflect one. He also knew that he had not enough time to deflect the second Kunai away from Jiraiya before his own three were upon him.

The first he parried with his own and deflected it upwards. He then grabbed the Kunai and parried the second with his now spare Kunai. He simultaneously twisted around and redirected the third Kunai with his first drawn Kunai. Once the twist was done he held his now two Kunai and surveyed the situation.

Tsunade has deflected the second Kunai of Jiraiya and her own three, which allowed Jiraiya to concentrate on the single remaining Kunai. "Thanks, guys," thanked Jiraiya. Had Orochimaru cared he would have identified the tone in his teammate's voice as self-loathing, but he didn't.

"Be more careful, Idiot. We are in the Chunin exam, just because we haven't encountered traps before does not mean that there are none," chided Tsunade in a hissed growl. She wouldn't admit that she too hasn't seen the trap. And she was relieved that her brother wasn't here, he would have noticed that she didn't notice and that would have been embarrassing.

Jiraiya nodded sheepishly and then frowned before he walked over to a wall. "I think I've found one of the Kunai launchers, it's well hidden. The mechanism is almost impossible to see within the cave walls." He pointed at a tiny hole within the wall from where the Kunai have come out of and then used his Kunai to break the rock loose.

Jiraiya whistled. "There's quite a lot of room. Who would have taken the time to form a hole in the wall, build the trap and then conceal it this well? However, the launcher looks strange. It's mostly made out of stone and only has a few strings and a rubber band for launching the Kunai. It's even part of the wall. Looks as if it is part of the wall, build into it even."

Silently Orochimaru admitted agreeing after seeing the launcher himself. It looked as if someone has made this thing to last more than a single use. No normal Genin would leave such a good launcher.

He wasn't surprised that Jiraiya has found the launcher. Orochimaru would always agree that the Idiot is an idiot, however, he also has to grudgingly admit that Jiraiya has a good eye for details. He was the one who spotted most lies and information during an interrogation or infiltration and it was him who was good at spotting traps. Not that he would ever tell him that.

"Must be part of the exam then. It also could mean that we are close to the end of this cave. Keep an eye open for more traps," said Tsunade. She hasn't looked at the launcher and instead was already inspecting the corridor for more traps. Already she had found five more trip wires.

Had she looked she would have identified the launcher as one that her brother has shown her. An application of his Chakra training. Instead, it was the beginning of how Kiri was the target of Tsunade's ire. An ire that began to develop right that moment and grew in size for the next hours to come.

After all, these traps were well placed and numerous.

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"What about you?" Asked Orochimaru during a point where Tsu-chan needed to breathe for air.

"It was fine, we used the codes given to us in the first exam and bought re-breather before the second exam started. The moss only gave us light and no trouble. We encountered only a single other Genin team from Suna, they also luckily had the right tablet. It was probably only luck that we found the middle of the grotto this quickly.

We arrived yesterday and I just woke up from a good sleep. The beds are okay, better than sleeping on stone," I retold briefly what happened to my team. Purposefully excluding that it was us who placed those traps. I know from the memories of my clones that they have made quite a few traps. I also obviously didn't speak about me killing the Jinchuriki of the four tails. The fewer people know the better, having my team knowing it was already risky. I tell Tsunade once we are back in Konoha and in Grandma Mito's secured study.

"Wish we had such luck," grumbled Jiraiya, he was really looking tired. His head was constantly dropping before he snapped back up.

Tsu-chan glanced at him but didn't comment. Instead, she turned back to me and continued her tale.

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Third Person's POV;

"Wait, can you hear that?" Asked Jiraiya suddenly. The group of three stopped and listened. Within the last hour, they had encountered over twenty traps. Some they were able to dismantle, others they had to spring and a few came dangerously close to getting them.

Orochimaru and Tsunade had already come up with the idea that the seemingly easy labyrinth was only there to lure them into a false safety. That this was the real test and that everything before was only there to tire them out. Had Tsunade known that it was all because a good hundred clones of her brother got bored and trapped the hell out of the place she might not have greeted him this friendly.

"Those are explosions." Orochimaru looked at his teammates, who looked at him. "It also means that someone else is in front of us. Maybe the exit?"

All three sighed in relieve but then had to focus again. Just because the exit was close, does not mean that it was now safe to be unguarded, the opposite even.

They staid alert and encountered half a dozen more traps before their tunnel got wider and opened up in a wide cave. There were other entrances and in the middle of the cave was a large lake with three crystal stalactites. However, they weren't alone.

Inside the cave was a large group of people. They all were in a similar tired state to them and in the middle of dismantling more traps. It was a perfect picture of teamwork between villages. They all worked together on getting through the exam.

The group of three was quickly spotted and two Genin came running over. They had their hands raised in a none aggressive gesture. "Don't attack, fighting here would be suicide. If you want to fight, then do it inside one of the tunnels. And trust me, you won't stand a chance against all of us," spoke one of the two.

"What is going on here? Wasn't this exam competitive?" Asked Tsunade, slightly stunned from what she was seeing.

"Yes, but then again, no one told us not to work together," answered the other Genin.

"Look, the whole place is trapped beyond recognition. I haven't been here since the start, but apparently, a few teams have decided that they should work together to get through this. If you lack your second tablet go over to the right side. There are teams who haven't gotten theirs. We are holding mock fights in a cleared tunnel for that purpose.

However, this area is out of limits for any fights." He was about to further explain when suddenly the large group of Genin at the front shouted out a warning.

A seal lit up from the ground and glowed in a red light. A second later a flaming whirlwind burst out of the seal and expanded in a circular motion. Genin from Iwa and Kiri both went through hand seals and raised earth barriers and water walls to counter the rapidly encroaching wall of death.

"It's enhanced by wind!" Shouted a Genin from Suna, just before the fiery wall hit their defence. The water got evaporated and weakened the flames enough for the stone walls to withstand the heat.

"See? This happens all the time. It is the sixth seal that has activated in the last hour. Some are more jokes than danger, but a few can quickly kill you," continued the Genin.

"Is there a place we can try our own luck?" Questioned Orochimaru. He was agreeable to help Konoha Ninja, however, not those from other villages.

Both Genin shrugged, before answering, their tone as if they had heard the question a few times already. "Sure, just take a bit of distance to our group. You can always help out, once you realise that the traps are too numerous."

"We might come back to that offer," agreed Tsunade diplomatically, she too wasn't much inclined to help other villages. The two Genin nodded before they went back to their group.

"What now?" Asked Jiraiya while eying the other teams. None of them was making any attempts on them, almost everyone was focused on dismantling the seals and traps.

"Can anyone see a team from Konoha?" Asked Jiraiya while looking over the gathered groups.

"No, but I'm sure Ken-kun will be alright," answered Tsunade. Jiraiya grumbled a bit about Tsunade's fixation on her brother but knew better than to voice them out loud. "Anyway, I have a plan, follow me."

The two boys looked at her, before silently following her back inside the tunnel they came from. Once they were out of sight she stopped and looked back. "I don't think there'll be traps inside the water, and if there are then they are less dangerous than those above ground." Orochimaru nodded in agreement, followed by Jiraiya, who nodded because Orochimaru did.

"Yeah, but we first have to get into the water, and I'm fairly sure that wall walking won't be helpful. These traps are too well made, there is no way they forgot such an easy exploit."

Tsunade nodded in agreement, as did Jiraiya, he did for the same reason as before. "That is why we will use a different approach. You two must have seen Ken-kun train his earth element."

Orochimaru's eyes widened slightly in realisation, while Jiraiya didn't get it. "Of course, we move through the floor. Why have the Iwa Genin not done this already?" Exclaimed Orochimaru.

"We all are mentally tired, slightly poisoned and exhausted. I'm sure that some of them are too focused on the traps ahead," elaborated Jiraiya with a glance back to the cave.

Still, Orochimaru was doubtfull. He would always admit that he was good, and yet. "Still, I'm not sure if I can get the same results as Kenshiro-san, he is, after all, a master in Chakra manipulation."

Tsunade smiled when she heard the praise for her brother but sill waved his concern off. "No problem, I may not be as good as him but I can still move the earth out of our way. It will be tight, but I'm sure that we can manage. All you have to do is harden the walls."

"Eh, don't you two forget something?" Piped Jiraiya suddenly up. The other two looked at him, one with a frown the other without emotion. "We have to tunnel ourselves into a lake, the moment we hit it our tunnel will be flooded. And I don't know about you two, but I can't hold my breath indefinitely."

"Yes, that will become a problem. Maybe we can get our hands on a re-breather? I have seen a few with them," mused Orochimaru.

"Hmm, didn't that guy say that there were still a few teams without a tablet? We might bet our own against a re-breather," suggested Tsunade after a moment of thinking. Neither of the other two could come up with a better idea, so they walked back into the large cave and over to the spot were some groups of Genin were waiting in a line.

They were quickly spotted and under curios or distrusting eyes. The three ignored the stares and singled out a group of three Genin from Rain, they were waiting a bit on the sideline.

It was Jiraiya that spoke first. While he might not be the strongest, most intelligent or fastest, he was still charismatic and got along well with quite a lot of people. "Jo, why are you waiting here?"

The three Rain Ninja had a silent conversation before their apparent leader stepped forward. "We need a blue tablet, what about you?"

"We need your rebreather, would you fight against us over them?" Asked Jiraiya. The leader gave Jiraiya and his team a once over, his eyes rested on the Senju crest on Tsunade's clothes for a moment longer. he then shook his head in no.

"No way, I have heard about you Konoha Ninja and especially you Senju. Why should we risk fighting a team that was obviously strong enough to beat another team?"

Jiraiya shrugged, not minding that his plan failed. "Okay then, would you be inclined to barter your re-breather over to us?"

This time the leader looked back at his team, both shrugged, he turned back to Jiraiya. "Sure, give us your blue tablet and you can have our re-breather." His two teammates laughed. Jiraiya however, smiled, thanked them and walked back to his team.

"And?" Asked Tsunade impatiently.

"We have to give them a blue tablet." Orochimaru wordlessly unsealed a blue tablet and gave it over to Jiraiya, who then went back to the Rain Genin.

"Here, one blue tablet." The three Genin eyed first the tablet, then Jiraiya, before one of them tried to dispell the none existent Genjutsu.

"Why?" Asked one of the three, he couldn't come up with a reason for why they would give away one tablet for three re-breather.

"We had to fight more than one team to get our hands on the needed tablet," explained Jiraiya with a grin. For once able to bath in the stunned looks of someone else. With Orochimaru and Tsunade in his team it was rare for him to be seen as very strong.

"Good that we didn't agree to fight you, well then, a deal is a deal," laughed the leader of the three with a suddenly happy expression. He took a scroll out of his pouch and unsealed a re-breather, his two teammates did the same. They exchanged the tablet with the re-breather. The Kiri Genin were happy to finally have the two tablets and Jiraiya was happy that he was able to provide something for the success of the exam.

"We'll have to be careful now, someone might have seen us handing over the tablet," warned Orochimaru while they walked away from the still hopefull Genin.

They waited for half an hour, in which Tsunade taught Orochimaru some of the Chakra exercises they would need to do. Meanwhile, Jiraiya was looking for anyone that was looking at them. Some did give them a curious look, but most were only brief. A few were scoffing at them for not helping with the effort, but none of them was openly hostile.

Once they were sure that no one had seen them they sneaked back into their corridor and began with their plan. Tsunade started to mould and move the earth, while Orochimaru made sure that their little tunnel wouldn't cave in.

It took them the better part of the day, however, they succeeded. Without warning the front gave away and water rushed in. All three had to use their Chakra to anchor themselves to the walls or else the stream of water would have pushed them back. It still wasn't a delightful feeling and all three were happy over their re-breather.

Once their little tunnel was completely filled with water they swam through the hole and found themselves inside the lake. They used hand signs to communicate with each other. Tsunade wanted to get up and find the crystal for orientation.

Orochimaru, however, pointed out that the other teams would quickly spot them and then will be able to find their tunnel. None of them wanted to give the competition a helping hand. Yet, before they could decide on a course of action they found themselves not alone.

Someone else has come through the tunnel. Luckily for him, it was a Genin from Konoha, as he found himself with a Kunai at his throat moments after coming out of the hole. °How did you find the tunnel?° Questioned Orochimaru in standard Konoha sign language.

The Genin answered quickly. °I have a Hyuuga in my team, he spotted you through the stone and we followed after you.°

Tsunade lowered the Kunai and swum a bit back, making room for the Genin and his two teammates. The Hyuuga came last, his Byakugan was active. °We have to hurry, someone else has spotted the tunnel and is informing the rest of his village teams. They will soon all come through it or fight over it.°

Had there been any air they would have heard Tsunade cursing. Instead, she facepalmed and gestured for them to follow her upwards. All six did so and broke through the surface. There was close to no one on the shore and they all could see and hear the sound of fighting coming from the tunnel they had come from. The peace has only lasted until there was a way out, typical.

"We have to hurry, some of them will be better than us in underwater fighting," urged Orochimaru the rest on. They hurriedly swam over to the crystals and then dived back down. On their way, the Hyuuga informed them about other teams that have reached the end of the tunnel.

On their way down they spotted some teams fighting each other, a few were already dead or drowning. They wouldn't have helped any of them, but for Konoha teamwork was essential. That it deteriorated this quickly was a sad sight for most of them.

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"And that's how we evaded the traps altogether and finished without the help of others," finished Tsunade.

I smiled at her and patted her head. She squirmed a bit, but I knew that she was happy. "Very good, Tsu-chan. I advise you to go to sleep as soon as possible, maybe a warm shower and then a good nights rest. The second test will go on for the rest of the day, you will have enough time to sleep a bit," I suggested before I stood up to bring my plate away. "See you then," I said in parting and left the cafeteria.

I was free for the whole day and didn't know what to do. I couldn't go into my mindscape and talk with the four tails, the lock I put on my seal made it impossible for me to access any Chakra of him. Which would be needed to go into the seal.

Ariha and Sakumo had left before me and said they would do some more light training in one of the many rooms of this facility. After asking around I found them and sat down in a corner. I had taken a bit of dirt with me to train.

The figurine was a good method to learn fine control, but I also need strength and speed. Which is why I was now hardening the dirt in front of me and then shooting it off with the most speed I could muster.

There is a Jutsu that works similarly, it is a C-Rank earth Jutsu. You mould your Chakra and then form an earth ball with it, the ball gets hardened and shot off. The stronger variation creates more balls and the one above that makes them faster and bigger.

What I am now doing is pushing my Chakra into the earth, then moulding the earth with it into a form and applying a basic pushing force on its side. The push is the same you'll have when you use too much Chakra when you tree walk, only with earth Chakra.

On first glance, you'd say that this is weaker than the Jutsu. The process is slower and you need more Chakra to get less result. But that is only now, once I have some training I can increase the speed and with increased control, I can lower the costs.

What makes this, and a lot of other control techniques stronger, in the long run, is its versatility. The Jutsu shoots off from your mouth, this can be activated from wherever my Chakra can reach. Which now is a thirty-meter radius around myself.

In a fight, I could attack my enemy from the front and then shoot at him hardened rocks from the side and back at the same time. The Chakra costs will always stay higher than the Jutsu, but the surprise effect will make that up. Also, the Jutsu always creates balls of stone, I can form the earth into anything I want. Needles, Kunai, balls or swords. And I don't have this bad taste of mud in my mouth.

"Hey Kenshiro-kun, do you want to spar with us? You against both me and Ariha-chan?" Asked Sakumo suddenly from the other side of the room.

I stopped my manipulation and looked up to them. They had finished their warm-up spar and looked expectantly at me. "Sure, I need to get used to my real strength anyway. I don't want to overreach or be too quick in a real fight," I agreed and stood up.

The mock-fight was good and helped to get used to my unsealed state. They liked it less the longer we fought. At first, they had some advantage but then it became clear that I am above them, by a lot. The massive Chakra increase I gained from sealing the four tails into me gave me quite a lot to work with and my overall attributes were close to double of theirs.

None of us did anything that would do more than light bruising, but they were still more exhausted than me when we stopped for the day. Ariha hogged the shower for herself and then Sakumo gave me the evil glare before slipping in himself.

I shrugged and went third, not that I cared too much about the order, as long as I got to take a shower. The revenge from their side came when I realized that they had used all the hot water. Their laughter and my cursing must have been audible even outside of our soundproof room.