Chunin Exam: Phase 2 - Part 4

"How are they!? Are they still alright!?" Azumi asked, worry appearing on her face.

"Except for a slightly weakened chakra, the two are fine, at least for now. In any case, we should've seen this coming. Kumo has always wanted to covet the byakugan due to its ability to see in a nearly three-hundred-sixty field of vision. And now…"

"Is the time for them to take any Hyuga without any repercussions, or at least their eyes. Despicable bastards…!" Sakura finished, gritting her teeth.

Ren nodded, and said, "While strong, Hinata and Ino won't stand a chance against two teams from Kumo, and I doubt that those six are even genin-level in the first place."

"Then we can't waste any time! How far are they?" Azumi said, getting ready to immediately run outside of their make-shift cave.

"Well, they're pretty far. It'll probably take you five minutes, even at full speed, to reach them. And since I'm the only one here who can reach that place in a few seconds, I gotta go now," and then he disappeared again, leaving only the gust of wind.

"I'll go too…!" She yelled before she noticed that he was gone.

Sakura then held her shoulder, and said, "Let Ren take care of this. He's the only one who has the ability to get there in time, and it's not like we're going to be any help either. It's more than likely that they sent chunin-level genins, instead of regular ones. At the moment, he's the only one who can beat them, and as much as I hate to say this, we're pretty much baggage to him at this point."

Azumi was mad, not at Ren, but at herself. If only she was stronger, she would've been there to save her friends. If she was stronger, then she would not have needed to be saved by Ren again and again… If only things would go her way, just for once, maybe then she would be happy.

She went and sat at the corner, and brooded.

(Scene Change)

Maybe it was just fate, or her unluckiness, but to be ambushed by two genin teams in less than an hour after starting the second phase is just ridiculous. Obviously, they were targeting her. So far she's been able to fend them off with the help of Ino, however soon enough they would lose.

She's heard of Kumo's obsession with the byakugan but she never thought that they would go as far as to try and kidnap her, even though she is the heiress of the Hyuga Clan. If they ever succeed with this, they would know why Konoha is still the strongest village in the entire continent.

They're just trying to wage war at this point, and if they push any further, Konoha might break the cold war between the villages. She couldn't help but mentally chuckle, considering the fact that Kumo is like a puppy trying to poke the sleeping dragon.

They might see Konoha's hand for peace as a sign of weakness but they're only doing this for the sake of lessening the bloodshed and destroying war altogether.

Now that she remembers it, it's always been Konoha that wanted to offer peace to the world, and what did the other villages do? They spat, pissed, and shat in the face of every man and woman in the great leaf village. They never wanted peace; they only wanted power.

Once again, she chuckled but at herself. She reads too many history books.

Her expression grew serious as one of them lunged at her, with a speed that's capable of matching a chunin, but she had already seen this from a mile away.

It's foolish that they'd let only one of them to attack her, they must've severely underestimated her ability due to their advantage in numbers.

All of them were wearing black masks with holes in them to let them see and breathe, and this one is no different.

She could see all of the flaws within the masked shinobi's form, and as soon as he entered her range, she struck his abdomen; specifically, to his core. It caused him to gasp for breath almost immediately but she was not finished yet. She struck him for another 5 times, each of them targeting his weak spots. Eyes, chin, and throat.

And soon, the guy tried his best to stand up as he fell to the ground, but she made quick work of him by enhancing her foot with chakra and stomping down on his head, shattering his skull.

Using her byakugan, she noticed the other 5 already moving in to take her down, and now they were taking her seriously. She grimaced because she realized the first one was nothing but bait, but she waited.

It was a standstill, and behind her, she could see Ino sweating. The tension within the hallway was just too much, and she could understand her friend's plight. She also wasn't prepared to face people that wanted to kidnap her, and use her as some kind of breeding stock to birth more Hyuga for them.

It's so disgusting that she wants to gag but she can't lose focus now.

They didn't have time for idle talk, nor did they have any time to waste at all.

And suddenly, everything went silent. The tension dropped, along with the thuds of her opponents' bodies, and blood spurting from their headless necks.

She couldn't see it, even with her byakugan. It was nothing but a blur, a red blur.

Behind her, he stopped, and stood. She could see no chakra from him, only nothingness. It was weird, very weird, but she's used to it considering that he was her classmate back in the academy.

"That was reckless of you, Hinata," he said, as he stared at the five pieces of talismans within his hand.

Without turning around, alarmed, she said, "What are those? I can feel ominous chakra emanating from it."

"These talismans seem to have been dabbled on by a snake. I don't know how it works but since it's from him, then these things are very dangerous. In my opinion, I think these seals were going to be used to restrict a person but they have to be near to the person for it to work," he then turned his eyes towards her, "You could've been captured, and Ino would've died."

This is a very worrying scenario. Orochimaru is indeed working with somebody, and that somebody is Kumo. He doesn't know if Suna is with them but things are getting dangerous now. The cursed mark, which he had seen multiple times in the anime, is written here on these talismans. They're weak but if his theory is correct, then these things were supposed to be used to put a cursed mark into genins, however it's a bit different.

All five pieces hold a small piece of Orochimaru's soul, and if attached to somebody, it could be used to control them, effectively making them a puppet.

He's moving slowly and sneakily, and no one knows what he's up to. But the snake is smarter than that; he wouldn't reveal himself that easily, and his plans are probably to disrupt the chunin exams at best.

By controlling genins, he could use them to sneak attack against important figures, like an S-Class Jonin or the Hokage, or a Clan Head. As long as he could kill any of them, then he'd be satisfied, at least for now.

If that is true, then the snake is not a threat at the moment, but Kumo is. He should've left at least one of the Kumo genins alive to be interrogated but there's still 2 more teams from Kumo.

Right now, he has two options. Either he tells about this to the Hokage, raising their guard against their rival village, or he could not tell them.

The second option is the best one, since he could go and play hero for the village. If he is really correct about this, Kumo might try and invade Konoha. If so, they'd probably use Yugito to cause a massive mess in the village, and if Suna is with them, then Gaara is probably going to join in, causing the Ichibi to also run wild.

If he defeats the two of them, while in their transformed form, then his name would be heard far and wide. It would alert the other villages about his existence but that's a sacrifice he's willing to make. If he spouts bullshits like creating world peace or something, then they won't know what his real goals are, and would probably deem him as nothing but a fool.

And once he becomes the Hokage, creating a 1v4 between Konoha and the rest of the major villages would be easy. Maybe then he could have some fun. Messing with the world's state of order will surely be an interesting path to take, and as he grows stronger and stronger, the time for the gods' end will come soon.

"Ren, you're spacing out," Hinata called him out on his behavior.

He snapped out of it, and then smiled at her, saying, "Was I?"

"Yes," she said flatly.

He chuckled, entering a sudden good mood, and saying, "Alright. Now, where was I? Ah, yes, about you being reckless. But for now let's ignore that. Sakura and Azumi are waiting for you guys back at our makeshift base, and the only question now; are you two able to survive a whiplash?"

"What?"

"What?"

He shrugged, and said, "Well, good enough for me," and all three of them disappeared, not without the other two screaming.