CH 14 The scroll, The Pillar, The mystery.
Sun fell on Konoha, letting the cool wind rise. The wind bought with it the musk of earth and dead leaves as it travelled through the village. It travelled through empty grounds and busy streets, mixing with people and cooling their stress.
"It's a good day to have some sake."
"You can say that again Choza, with Ino gone, I can finally drink to my heart's content."
"You make it sound like we have it better." Shikaku said, taking a sip of sake from his cup. "Man, families can be such a drag sometimes."
"Your kids are no trouble at all. Raising a daughter is a tough job."
"I'll make a trade any day." Choza said, stealing some tempura from Shikaku's plate. "I never thought the day of their chunin test would come so soon."
"Ha, they even got past Ibiki. What do you think of their chances of passing the second test, Shikaku?"
"If Asuma put forth their name, I believe he must have seen something in them."
"They pass few chunins as it is. Remember Choza when we were promoted to chunin? They were making chunins like no tomorrow."
"War. It elevated some fools to the top."
"And pushed them off of it, too." Shikaku said, drinking his sake. "I'm glad we don't have to raise our kids in those muddy waters."
"Inoichi, is it the sake or are you smelling sandalwood in the air, too?" Choza asked.
"What? Sandalwood–Fuck!"
"This is troublesome. When did that priest come out of retirement?" Shikaku said, rising from his chair and opening the door of the bar they were sitting in.
"Look at those clouds over there. Isn't that where the second exam is being held?"
"So it is that bastard priest using his jutsu." Choza said, looking over towards the training ground forty-four. "All the sandalwood is making my nose itchy. Guess it is time to call it an evening."
"It is night, really." Inoichi noted.
"Same thing."
"What a drag." Shikamaru said, sticking his hand out of the small cave, only for it to be pelted by heavy rain. "These clouds are not letting up."
"And we are not anywhere close to finding a scroll." Ino said, warming her hands on a small fire. "Least we have some fire."
"And food, too." Choji said, raising a pouch of chakra pills.
"No, we must preserve those. If the weather continues to be this harsh, we'd need them for emergencies."
"At least we don't have to worry about water." Ino said.
"You guys, what do you think that pillar is for? Pretty odd thing to be in a forest."
Choji and Ino diverted their attention to the pillar Shikamaru's finger was pointing at, noticing a strange red pillar near the trees. It was ten feet high, with two dark eye-like holes.
"I'm pretty sure I saw one near the entrance."
"Something tells me this test is going to be a lot more troublesome."
Team 7 was stranded in the same weather condition as team 10. It was just their luck that was down in the gutter and they found no shelter, so they had to improvise to survive the rain.
"Hey boss, you think you can squeeze me in?"
"No, no, let me in. I'm about to die in this rain."
"I think I'm about to catch a cold."
"Is there any ramen, boss? I feel hungry."
"Naruto, can you shut them up?!" Sakura said, squatting under a sheet that was stretched over her head and held in place by eight Naruto shadow clones.
"Hey, it is a hard job holding the sheet, ya'know."
"Everything is hard for an idiot like you."
"Then why don't you hold it, bastard?"
"Because I have a better way." Sasuke said, standing up carefully under the canopy and pointing at a tree. "That one is dead. If we try, we can-"
"Hey, the rain stopped." Naruto's shadow clone exclaimed.
"What-scoot your leg over, let me see."
"Hey, don't move your head. It tickles."
"I'm not doing anything, I just want to-uh, uh, woah!"
One of Naruto's shadow clones tried seeing the sky, only to fall and ruin the shelter. It disappeared in smoke followed by seven others and finally the bed sheet too disappeared.
"There is something wrong here." Sakura said.
"Yeah, the rain started abruptly, and then it stopped abruptly, leaving a clear starry sky." Sasuke said, checking his equipment and gear. "Now that I think about it, there was no wind while it was raining."
"Uhm, do you think it is something to do with the ribbons floating in the sky?" Naruto asked.
"Huh, ribbons? When did you see them?"
"I don't remember, but I'm sure I saw some colourful glowing ribbon in the sky."
"Hmph, useless."
"What was that, you bastard!"
"I think we should come up with a secret code." Sakura suggested. "It was in the books."
"Whatever you say, Sa-ku-ra." Naruto said in a sweet voice, making Sakura groan.
In the section of the woods that was still under the heavy rain, team Kurenai was hiding in one of the best bases out of any candidate, except Gara. They had dug a hole in the roots of a giant tree. Akamaru even went the extra mile to dig a fire pit, which Kiba was all too excited to light up.
"Hinata, let your eyes rest. There is no use straining them."
"Kiba is right, Hinata. We should wait out the rain and then move in full force."
"All right, if you guys insist." Hinata said, settling in her position and relaxing her eyes. Akamaru barked, jumping in her laps, and Hinata obliged the pup with a belly rub.
"Did you catch anything useful?" Kiba asked.
"No, the rain is making it really hard for me to see anything."
"Yes, my insects fear this rain. This should not happen. Why, you ask? Because my insects are trained to brave rain and worse weather."
"No one asked you anything, you bug loving freak."
"Why don't you try them, you mutt?"
"Yeah! Why don't we-"
"Guys, I think I do have something to report." Hinata said, trying to break the tension. "A while ago, I caught a glimpse of these weird creatures in the sky. They had a censor hanging from their neck that was emitting some gas and chakra in the air."
"And?" Kiba urged.
"I think there is a hint of that chakra in this rain, such that it interferes with my byakugan. Overwhelming it with tiny bits of chakra."
"You don't think these creatures have the scrolls, do you?"
"Highly unlikely, the sky is off limits for many teams. They would not put it somewhere so out of reach." Shino said.
"If… if… it is not on the creatures, is it near them?" Hinata asked.
"Hey, that's a great idea. We should wait for the rain to let up before exploring those areas."
Team Guy was already on the task, braving the heavy rain to search an area that was devoid of any creature in the sky.
"Hope our logic works out." Ten Ten said, covering herself under a buckle shield.
"Hope is what youth is all about, Ten Ten." Lee said, bobbing his head so hard that the shield tied to his head almost fell off. "I'm sure Neji's reasoning would work. These rain making apparitions are probably avoiding the predators of the forest."
"Byakugan!" Neji said, activating his eyes. "There are traces of something under that pond, something big. It has a scroll-like thing in its mouth."
"So we have to wait?" Ten Ten said.
"Most likely." Neji said.
"Great, then I'm taking out the big guns." Ten Ten said, unfurling a scroll from her side-hostler. She draped blood on the scroll, weaving through hand signs and slamming the scroll on the tree branch.
A domed shield big enough to hide all three genins appeared on the branch; it was so heavy that it was even straining the branches of the monstrously large tree. Lee held the domed shield up, letting Ten Ten and Neji inside before sliding inside himself.
"Don't you think a tent would've been a better choice to pack, Ten Ten?"
"Who would need a stupid tent in a test?"
"Then why pack this giant shield?"
"I like it. I wish more missions come our way from the land of Artisans."
"They are a snobbish bunch." Neji said.
"But we get cool things like these in return." Ten Ten said, banging her fist on the domed shield.
"You're right, Neji, that place has no youth!"
"Why do I hate it when you guys agree on something?"
Far away from the team Guy, the sand trio were sitting under a shelter made of sand. Rain in their area had stopped for some time, but the land under their feet was still mired with puddles of water.
"All this rain, wasted." Kankuro said, clenching his fists. "These leaf shinobi have no idea how precious water is."
"They've gone fat by sucking our blood and running our land dry. It will change after our mission." Temari added, running her finger in a puddle of water.
"Shut up, you two." Gara said, playing with a pure white scroll with no marking on it. "Why is this scroll not named?"
"Maybe it is a decoy." Temari said.
"I don't think it is. Remember how well it was guarded in that sealing formula. No genin is skilled enough to undo them. Maybe we need two scrolls to reveal their name."
"Do you think everything will be that simple, Kankuro?" Gara said, tossing the scroll to Temari and shattering their sand shelter. "There is more to this unnecessary test, and it is making me hungry. Let's go."
Kankuro followed Gara as they manoeuvred through the wet forest, wondering if Gara was hungry for food… or blood, and people wonder why he hates kids.
"These kids are not bad, eh Izumo?" Egoro said, raising his censer to the chunins face, making the drowsy man inhale the whiffs of sandalwood.
"Urg! Oh, what do you want this time?"
"Where is Anko? I have not seen her for quite some time?"
"She went out to investigate a genin team, three corpses found near some Jizo statues. Horrible affair… skin ripped from the face, poison and to do those things near a sacred place."
"It's midnight, and she's still not back? I thought she was better than this. What's kept her out? I need her here for the next part."
"I don't know. She'll be back when things are done. If you need something, why don't you tell me?"
"I need some Alms for my shrine."
Izumo held his nose, backing away from the fake priest. He bit his finger, disrupted his chakra network, just so to make sure he was not in a genjutsu.
"Hey, what is this behaviour?" Egoro said, mildly hurt at the distrust his own village chunin showed towards him. "Honestly, the youth these days is so unreliable."
"Says the man who robs others."
"Young man, there is a difference between compelling someone and robbing them."
"Just stay away from me, and tell me from there what you need."
"A better company, clearly." Egoro said, rising from his position near the miniature forest of death. He walked towards the window, banging his shakujo.
One of his summoned animals appeared near the window of the room just as Egoro reached it. The priest jumped out of the window, landing on his summon and rode away in the midnight sky.
"Skinning people near my shrine. What if people stopped coming there? What would happen to my donations? Unacceptable."