Chunin Exams Part 5

Hiroki and team eight were heading to the tower together now. After five minutes of going as fast as they could, they arrived. Team seven and ten were already there.

"Hirokiiiiii." Ino said as she jumped at Hiroki and hug him. She had some tears coming out of her eyes.

"I'm alright. No need to cry." Hiroki said with a smile. He felt happy to see Ino show such concern for him, but he knew that he didn't have the same feelings for her. He was polite and didn't push her away, but accepted the hug.

"I told you that he'd be alright. Hehe." Naruto said as he smiled. He went towards Hiroki and the two bumped fists.

"What happened to Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked.

"After the explosion, I fled. Orochimaru must have gotten away as the explosion would surely attract the exam proctors and anbu towards the location. Where he went I have no idea." Hiroki said.

"You fought against a sannin and you weren't even hurt. You are amazing, Hiroki." Ino said with a smile on her face.

"Not at all. I'm pretty sure that he wasn't even using half of his true power. Otherwise the anbu would feel his presence from far away. Anyways, do you guys have the scrolls you need?" Hiroki asked while looking at Shikamaru.

"No. Sakura said you would give us the one we needed." He answered.

"Which one do you need?"

"It's the heaven scroll." Shikamaru answered.

Hiroki took out a heaven scroll from his pouch and handed it to Shikamaru.

"Since we all have the scrolls needed, let's head inside." Hiroki said as he was the first one to walk towards the door of the tower. He was met with the same two chunin standing guard at the door.

"You're back again. Why did you not enter before? You could have beaten the record of fastest time, but another team came five minutes after you and beat the record after getting inside. Why did you return?" One of the guards asked.

"I had to help my friends. Even though we are taking this exam as teams that should only care about themselves, at the end of it all, we are friends and fellow shinobi from Konoha. That's what is important to me." Hiroki said.

"You arrived here before? When was that?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, right. When I faced the five teams at the beginning, I found out you have a family member. She is waiting for us at the tower." Hiroki said.

"Who was the team that beat the record?" Sasuke asked.

"It was a team from Sunagakure. There was a guy in the team that had a big gourd on his back." The other guard explained.

"How long did it take them to finish the exam?" Sasuke asked another question.

"They did it in one hour and thirty six minutes, but your friend here would have finished in ten minutes if he hadn't gone back." The chunin said.

"What?!!!!" Everyone asked at the same time and looked towards Hiroki.

"Hey, come on. No need for surprises. I only needed one scroll to advance and there weren't many teams coming after me." Hiroki said as he chuckled nervously.

"Anyways, let's not delay. I'm hungry and I want to take a shower." Hiroki said as he dismissed the subject.

"Will anyone show us our rooms?" He asked one of the guards.

"Ah, yes. There will be a person to assign you guys a room to stay until the exam is over. You guys can stay here until then. You are free to move around the tower except certain parts of it and you also can't get back outside to the Forest of Death. But first things first. You guys can open your scrolls when inside. Do that and you'll have a nice surprise." One of the guards said as he opened the doors for teams seven, eight and ten.

———

Once they arrived at the tower, each team were sent towards a specified room that they would stay for the remaining time of the second exam. They would have to wait a little over 100 hours until it was declared the end of the exam. Team seven opened their scrolls and what happened later was that Kakashi popped out after some smoke appeared.

"Yo. You're all here. That makes things easier. The first thing I have to say is that I'm proud of all of you for passing the second test. I know that this must not have been easy for you and chunin exams aren't easy." Kakashi said to his genin. He then walked over to a bed and sat down.

"I heard after the exam began that you would have a harder exam, Hiroki. How did that go?" Kakashi asked.

"It was hard on paper. Anko gave me the hell scroll. I was supposed to get to the tower and pass, but she added some extra conditions for the other teams as well." Hiroki said.

"Huh? Hell scroll? What conditions?" Kakashi asked as he didn't know what Hiroki meant.

"Didn't they tell you before the second test started? The hell scroll was a scroll that would grant test completion to me if I came to the tower, but if I lost it, the team who got it would use it as a joker and would only need to get to the tower without the other scroll they needed. Anko said all of this in front of everyone as she gave me the scroll. So everyone knew I had it even before the exam started." Hiroki explained to Kakashi. Kakashi on the other hand had a furious look.

"You guys wait here. I'm going to have a chat with Anko." Kakashi said as he got up and left the room. He then went directly to the office that had all the proctors observing the chunin exams. He opened the door and saw a few chunin looking over some footage and some anbu as well.

"Where's Anko?" Kakashi asked curtly.

"Ah, Kakashi. You just missed her. She went to the Jounin lobby to grab something to eat." The chunin said. Before he finished, Kakashi was already out of the door. He then directed himself to the Jounin lobby. Once he entered he instantly spotted Anko eating some dango.

"Oh, Kakashi. Congratulations for your team passing the second test." Gai said as he gave Kakashi his original smile and a thumbs up.

"Huh?" Gai sounded as he saw Kakashi just past by him and went straight towards Anko as his friend had an angry face.

Kakashi didn't even say anything and grabbed Anko by her neck and slammed her at the wall as she wasn't touching the ground because Kakashi was holding her up. Anko felt pain from the impact. She didn't understand what was happening right now. Her only reaction was to grab a kunai and stab, but before she could even move her hand to grab a kunai, Kakashi already turned around and slammed her to the floor.

"Aaugh. Kaka...shi!" Anko sounded as she wasn't able to speak from both pain and her neck being choked. She could taste the blood coming out from the sides of her mouth.

"Kakashi, what are you doing?" Gai asked as he pulled Kakashi away from Anko. The tokubetsu Jounin leapt up and massaged her neck.

"How dare you give my genin a suicide task? You're lucky that there's not even a scratch on him, otherwise I would kill you and I wouldn't even blink at the punishment." Kakashi said angrily.

Gai seeing his friend being so angry like that wanted to know what was going on. He looked at Anko and asked her what was this about.

"I gave his genin, Hiroki a different task from the other genin teams. He's alive so you should act like this." Anko said while still massaging her neck.

"Don't you dare brush it off as if nothing happened. You placed every genin team against him inside the Forest of Death. Everyone knows the dangers of the chunin exams and you made it many times harder for him. Be sure that the Hokage will hear about this." Kakashi said as he walked out of the lobby and Gai followed after him.

"Anko, did you do that?" Kurenai asked as she just arrived and saw everything happening. Anko just looked away as she continued to massage her neck.

"I can't believe you did something like that. No wonder Kakashi was so angry. I'm surprised he didn't kill you for doing that. We all know what happened to his team members in the past. I'm disappointed at you, Anko." Kurenai said as she looked at her friend.

Anko clicked her tongue and stormed out of the lobby.

———

"Where do you think Kakashi-sensei went to?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know. Maybe he went to confront Anko. I'm just guessing though. Anyways, I'm going to take a shower and rest." Hiroki said as he went towards the bathroom. He then looked back at Naruto.

"Naruto, there's someone you have to meet. It's someone that I found at the exam. You'll probably have quite a surprise. Hehe." Hiroki said as he chuckled and smiled at Naruto. He then continued towards the bathroom.

"Who is it? Who is it?" Naruto asked as he got curious, but Hiroki didn't say anything else as he closed the bathroom's door.

One hour later, everyone had already finished freshening up. Since Hiroki was the first one to take a shower, he had some time to rest while he took a quick nap. Naruto was the last one and once he was ready, Hiroki took him to see Karin.

"So... who is this person you've been saying? Do I know him?" Naruto asked as they walked inside the tower.

"Her." Hiroki said.

"Her?"

"Yeah. It's a girl."

"A girl. I don't know any girls other than Sakura, Ino and Hinata."

"Hehehe. Naruto, you're smart for some things, but for other things you are really dense. She's someone you've never met."

"Then how is it going to be a surprise once I see her?"

"Well, you'll know when you two talk. Just act normal." Hiroki said as they continued walking towards Karin's room.

*knock, knock*

"Hey, it's Hiroki." Hiroki said as he knocked on the door. A few seconds later, the two could hear sounds of foot steps coming from the other side of the door.

"Hiroki. You're already here." Karin said as she opened the door.

"Yeah. And as I said, I brought my friend." Hiroki said as he pointed towards Naruto. Karin took a look at Naruto and had a questioning look on her face.

"You said he is an Uzumaki." Karin said.

"And he is. Naruto, this is Karin Uzumaki. Karin, this is Naruto Uzumaki. There's a big chance you two are cousins." Hiroki said as he smiled.

"What? Really?" Naruto asked.

"You say he's an Uzumaki, but where's the red hair?" Karin said as she looked at Naruto's blonde spiky hair.

"Well, he doesn't have red hair like Uzumaki, but I'm sure his Uzumaki blood is stronger than yours." Hiroki said.

"How can you prove that?" Karin asked.

"Yeah, how can you prove that?" Naruto also asked, not really understanding what was happening.

"Hehe. Let's go inside and I'll tell you guys." Hiroki said as he ushered the two inside Karin's room. Once everyone was inside the room, Hiroki closed the door and placed privacy seals and sound isolation seals on the door, walls and windows of the room.

"You know fuuinjutsu?" Karin asked.

"Yeah, I know quite a bit." Hiroki said.

"You know that we Uzumaki's are the masters of fuuinjutsu, right?" Karin asked as she prided herself.

"I know. Why don't you show me some of your skills. I could learn a thing or two from you." Hiroki said to her.

"Well, hehe. I didn't really learn any from my mother." Karin said embarrassedly.

"Hahahaha. You're funny." Naruto said as he cracked up at Karin's expression.

"Shut up!" Karin said angrily as she threw a pillow at Naruto.

"Alright, alright. Let's calm down. So, Karin. Do you know about Mito Uzumaki?" Hiroki asked. He then looked at Naruto and told him to pay attention to the conversation they would have from now on.

"Mito Uzumaki? Mito-sama? Of course I know about her. She was the princess of the Uzumaki clan. She went to Konoha and married Hashirama Senju since the Uzumaki and Senju clan were distant relatives, but kept very close ties with one another." Karin said.

"That's is correct. What you might not have known is that she was also the first jinchuuriki of the kyubii." Hiroki said.

"What? She was a jinchuuriki?" Karin asked surprised.

"Yes. Uzumaki have special chakra's in them and Mito was no exception. On the contrary, her chakra was very special. She had what you call the adamantine chains." Hiroki said as he continued explaining what the chains did and how they could be used.

"No wonder. She was the best host for being the jinchuuriki of the kyubi." Karin said.

"Exactly. Once she would pass away, the kyubii would be set free from the seal and would destroy everything in it's way as vengeance for being locked away for so much time. So before the time came, she decided that another Uzumaki with special chakra like her's should become the next jinchuuriki." Hiroki said as he then looked at Karin, expecting her to know who it was and he saw that the girl knew a thing or two just by her expression alone.

"My mother used to tell me about a cousin of hers that had gone to Konoha when she was little. They used to play everyday and were very good friends, but my mother never saw her again after she went to Konoha." Karin said as she remembered her mother's words.

"Did your mother tell you that girl's name?" Hiroki asked.

"She told me that she used to call her Kushina-ne since she was younger than Kushina." Karin said.

"Kushina-ne. Hehe." Hiroki said as he chuckled and some memories were unburied and warmed up his heart.

'I miss you guys.' Hiroki thought.

"Ahem. So Kushina Uzumaki was her name." Hiroki said as he cleared his throat. He then looked at Naruto and saw that the blonde was processing what he heard in his mind.

After about two minutes, Naruto looked at Hiroki with expectations all over his face.

"Hiroki, is there any possibilities that Kushina is... you know, my mom?" Naruto asked as he started getting a little emotional.

"That is very likely, Naruto. One of your parents is an Uzumaki, otherwise you wouldn't have that family name. And there's also the kyubii. What we can do is confirm it with the old man." Hiroki said.

"The old man always changed the subject when I asked him about my parents. He never told me about them once. I don't know if he'll tell me this time either." Naruto said as he became a little downcast.

"Hey, no need to worry. We already got a name. I'm sure that if you ask him directly now, even if he doesn't confirm it, he'll show an expression of surprise if you say her name." Hiroki said as he comforted his friend.

"So if everything you guys are saying is true, then we are cousins?" Karin asked.

"Pretty much. Hehe. You guys should talk for a while. I'm going back to the room and let you two get acquainted. You are cousins after all." Hiroki said as he got up and went towards the door.

"Hiroki." Naruto called out to his friend as he got up. He then placed his arms around him in a hug.

"Thank you. This is very important to me." Naruto said.

"There's no need for a "thank you" or "I'm sorry" between us, Naruto. We are friends after all. Now go talk to Karin and know each other." Hiroki said as he walked out of Karin's room.

'I'm sorry for not doing this earlier, Naruto. But I'm happy that you can have at least one family member together with you. You will know the whole truth really soon.' Hiroki thought as he walked at the corridor of the tower.

———

Four days later, the second test of the chunin exams was finally over. The teams that passed were Team Gaara, Team Haku, Team Dosu, Team Kabuto, Team Seven plus Hiroki, Eight, Nine and Team Ten. It was a total of five teams from Konoha and one team from Sunagakure, Kirigakure and Otogakure, each. The teams and their respective sensei would need to be present at a gymnasium that was inside of the tower. The Hokage would come to explain how the finals will work to all of them.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Hiroki, are you guys ready?" Kakashi asked as he went inside his genin's room.

"Yes, were ready." Sakura said as she was the first one to respond.

"Good. Follow me to the gymnasium. The Hokage will explain the finals to everyone." Kakashi's said.

"Kakashi-sensei, would we be able to have a chat with the Hokage? Naruto has something to talk about with him." Hiroki said.

"You will have to wait for the Hokage's explanation to be over. Hokage-sama will be watching the finals and he will be grading each one of you to decide later on the finals who will be promoted to chunin." Kakashi said.

"Alright. We'll wait until the Hokage finishes." Hiroki said as he looked at Naruto, who had a smile on his face.

After five minutes of walking and going through some doors, everyone found themselves in the gymnasium. It was a big space that was used as a ring and had a big stone hand making a hand seal. There was also a big panel on top of the hands as well. There was also a stairs that went to a higher position that everyone would be able to see the matches.

The genin teams and their sensei positioned themselves and some Jounin proctors arrived together with Hiruzen as the old Hokage came out of the opposite door everyone had used to come in.

Hiruzen started talking about the friendship between shinobi alike through battle and what not and was about to explain the third part of the chunin exams to all genin.

"Hokage-sama, please allow me, who was given the task to judge, to speak first." The man said as he bowed down in front of Hiruzen.

"Ah, yes. I leave it to you Hayate." Hiruzen said as he smiled at Hayate.

"There's something I'd like all of you to do before the third exam. And that is a preliminary to the third exam with participation in the main battle on the line." Hayate said.

"Huh?"

"A what?"

"A preliminary? What do you mean preliminary?"

Were a few of the questions coming from the genin.

"Sensei, I don't understand the point of that preliminary. Why aren't we doing the next exam with the ones who passed the last test?" Sakura asked politely.

"This time around, perhaps because the first and second exams were easy, there safe a few too many people left, you see." Hayate said.

"Hahahaha. Hahahaha. Easy? Haha. Try having every team coming after you. Regarding the numbers of participants that passed, it is thanks to how high their levels are. Easy was when Konoha held its own chunin exams with only Konoha genin in the third shinobi war. At that time there wasn't any killing. Now that was easy." Hiroki said as he laughed, mocking Hayate's last sentence. He knew that Hayate would feel the sting since he was one to participate in the exams at that time.

"Yeah. It's not that the exams were easy. This only showed how much guts we have, how determined we all were to complete the two tests and be promoted." Naruto said as well.

"Ahem. Sorry about that. But even then, the preliminary will be held to reduce the numbers of the ones advancing. As Hokage-sama said before, many guests will be coming to the finals. We can't have long and pointless matches and out time is limited as well. Therefore, those of you, not in top physical condition, now is your chance to drop out, please speak up now. The preliminary will begin immediately." Hayate said.

Some of the genin that came last wasn't happy hearing this, but they had no choice in it.

"Oh, I forgot to mention this, but it will be individual matches from now on. Please raise your hands if you want to drop out." Hayate said.

"Excuse me, I'll quit." Kabuto said as he raised his hand.

Naruto, and the others looked at him a little worried.

"Let's see... Kabuto Yakushi of Konoha, correct? Then, you may step back." Hayate said as he looked at some papers in his hand.

"Hai." Kabuto said as he removed himself from the participating members.

"Don't take arbitrary decisions. You remember Orochimaru-sama's orders." One of Kabuto's teammates said as he communicated in a low voice to Kabuto as he grabbed his shoulder.

"You two are enough to do the work. Specially with your abilities, Yoroi. You shouldn't have any trouble against these kids. This is where you can show your strength, those of you who are irritated tha im ahead of you. Just be careful of that Hiroki. He's not someone easy as he looks to be. Don't underestimate him." Kabuto said.

"So you're Orochimaru's favorite, huh? Don't get all high and mighty, kid. Just watch how I'll deal with tha Hiroki brat as well." Yoroi said as he felt angry.

"I understand, Yoroi-senpai." Kabuto said as he left and looked at both Sasuke and Hiroki.

'Hehe. Stupid brats. Thinking that they are something just because of age. I just wish I could let loose and show everyone what I'm capable of. Sigh. Shit, I can't wait to fight for real.' Hiroki thought as he had heard the conversation between both.

"Now then, is there anyone else wanting to quit?" Hayate asked. He then saw no one raising their hands and continued.

"Now then, we will begin the preliminaries. The preliminaries will be one-on-one individual battles. There are now exactly 24 people, so we will hold 12 battles. The winners will be able to advance to the finals. There are no rules at all. You will fight until someone dies, collapses or admits defeat. And... please admit defeat right away if you don't want to die. However, in case I judge that a match is over, I will interven and stop the match or something to that effect." Hayate said to all genin standing in front of him. He then looked at Anko and she spoke to a communicator she had. The screen on top of the stone hand brightened.

"The name of two foes will be randomly selected and displayed on this screen. Now then, let's get straight down to it and announce the two names for the first battle." Hayate said.

Everyone then turned towards the screen and saw their names flashing very fast. It then stopped on two names.

"Yoroi Amado versus Sasuke Uchiha. The two displayed on the screen, come forward." Hayate said and the two walked to the front of the group.

"Do you two have any objections to being chosen for the first battle?" Hayate asked.

"No objection." Sasuke said as he had a confident look on his face.

"Same here." Yoroi said.

"Now then, we will begin the first battle. Everyone other than the two, please move to the upper area." Hayate said.

The genin teams started going up and their sensei did the same, only Hiroki was left behind as he walked up to Sasuke.

"Don't let him touch you. He can absorb your chakra and make you lose from chakra exhaustion. Use your speed against him." Hiroki said in a low voice that only Sasuke could hear.

"Please move to the upper area or you will be removed. I'm not going to ask again." Hayate said as he looked at Hiroki. Hiroki only gazed at him for not even half a second. Hayate seeing Hiroki's eyes, flinched.

'What was that? Did I flinch just by his gaze? That is not possible.' Hayate thought.

As Hiroki and everyone else was on the upper area, Hayate cleared his throat.

"Ahem. First battle, Yoroi versus Sasuke. Begin!"