What is this Feeling?; Enter Akagahara ch 3
Title: What is this Feeling?
Chapter: 3 Enter Akagahara
Rating: R
This chapter: the friendly side of PG-13
Warnings: Swearing, spoilers for Naruto's parents, sexual harassment
This chapter: pick pockets, mild swearing,fights
Summary:Does this feeling have a name? Yes. Loathing. It came on fast, but I think it can last.
This chapter: Minato is the unassuming victim of a seven year old and Kushina's team starts the final leg of the chuunin exam.
The final part of the chuunin exam usually attracted a lot of attention, and if there was one thing Kushina loved, it was flying under the radar in a crowd. Outside the gates of Akagahara, among the many vendors, performers, small children, game booths, and fortune tellers, she was truly in her element.
True to her nature, Kushina had done her homework on the field, which was the traditional arena for the chuunin exam in Konoha. Because of this, many older ninja were eager to wax their death defying and stupendous feats to a pretty and eager-to-listen girl. Many of the tales had more ‘truthiness’ than she would like, but Kushina was sure she had at least the basics of Akagahara. Most of the stories had at least several common elements: there were booby traps on the ground, there were booby traps in the trees, there were booby traps in the stream, if it could be knocked over it was booby trapped, if you were likely to touch it then it was booby trapped, if you were likely to be within four meters of it, it was definitely booby trapped. Also, the outskirts seemed to be more heavily trapped than the center of the field.
As enlightening as the information was to the nature of Akagahara, it still wasn’t particularly useful. How was she supposed to get anything done if she had to spend the whole time dodging things? After some thought, Kushina had identified only two ways of dealing with the Akagahara trappings: avoid all the traps and therefore avoid all the dangers of the traps, or set off all the traps and then they would no longer be a problem. Neither plan had ever boasted a 100 percent success rate but no plan ever had, to Kushina’s knowledge. If any plan did boast a success rate that high, it was lying and she would beat the living tar out if its brains until it said as much.
After purchasing a light snack Kushina climbed a tree, sans chakra because she was conserving, and started to people watch. If you looked for long enough, you could tell who was a high ranking ninja and who wasn’t. High ranking ninja were watchful and fearless, always aware and ready to do what needed to be done. Kind of like headwaiters. She ate her snack in peace and finished it just as a little girl tried to win a goldfish and failed- that’s when she saw him.
Namikaze was there, speaking with the girl genially and smiling. Which meant that girl was probably his student- she looked pretty green for a shinobi. That could be his fault for not training her well or it could be that she really was green. Still, Kushina worried for the girl’s virtue. Kushina observed Minato’s interaction with the girl for a little while before she saw the small, dirty boy creep up behind them. She had seen that creeping walk before. It was sneaky and silent, but not the way a shinobi was silent. It was the way Mother had taught Kushina to be silent- this boy was a Gypsy. This boy was a pickpocket.
Kushina was torn between letting the scene play out and saving the kid from his own stupidity. It was true, shinobi frequently fell pray to common stealth tactics, especially if it was just one shinobi without a team to watch his back, but this was Leaf’s Yellow Flash. While it would be a wonderful entertainment, she couldn’t make herself fully believe that he could be easy pray for a seven-year-old pickpocket. Unfortunately, in her debate, she had lost the opportunity to act. She waited for the slip up as the boy reached into Minato’s pocket- and pulled out his wallet- and disappeared into the crowd!
Kushina was putupon. If it had been her wallet she would hunt that stilted bottom feeder down, and when she found him- she would probably let him keep whatever he was after, because that was impressive. However it wasn’t her wallet, it was the wallet of a man who could very well be the next Hokage. As much as she wanted to let it slip to everyone that Namikaze had his wallet stolen by a seven year old -because he was not the type to lose it- an incident like that could do some major damage to Namikaze’s reputation. As much as she hated him, he didn’t deserve that kind of press if he was as good as Jiraiya said he was. This needed to be handled with the sort of finesse Kushina normally did not use.
“Hey, kid,” Kushina called out to the dirty seven-year-old hiding behind a dumpster. “Whose wallet did you steal?” The kid turned to look at her with wide, fearing eyes. He probably thought she was going to rain down punishment or take it for herself.
The kid’s mouth bobbed for a second and Kushina was reminded of herself as a young girl.
“I don’t want the money; I’m just wondering if you know whose it was.” She smiled at him in a way that made her seem genuine and unthreatening.
The kid shook his head no.
“Good.” Kushina reached out and snatched the wallet from him. “Cause you aren’t about to find out now.”
The kid looked like he was about to cry, with his mouth still bobbing about.
“Don’t worry. That was a tough thing you did back there, so you won’t go without spoils, but it was also very dumb. Do you know why?” Kushina dug out her own wallet.
The kid shook his head no.
“Because that man was a ninja. A very strong ninja.” She didn’t feel good about what she was about to tell this kid. She pulled her face into a serious and contemplative countenance. “You think he doesn’t know you took his wallet? Cause he does. And right now, he’s waiting to do something about it. He’s busy right now, but he’ll come for it later. And for every piece of currency that’s missing, he’ll cut off a finger. And if his ID is gone? He’ll take you home and lock you in his basement or feed you to…” Kushina leaned over the small kid, placing one arm on the dumpster above him for effect, “his toad summons. Mmhm. No joke. I hear, these toads? They even have teeth, but they’re dull so instead of biting your limbs off they have to rip them off.” She pulled back and smiled again.
“Good thing I caught you! I can make sure he never finds you and that you’re safe, but don’t ever steal from ninjas again. Here’s some cash, ok? If anyone asks where you got that, just say you stole it from me. Now go home to your mother.” The kid was running before she was done. She headed out to the debriefing- she would have to find Namikaze there.
Kushina arrived at the debriefing area just in time to see Sandaime walk up on the platform. The area was packed with all kinds of people. The teams were in a block, all seven including hers. Her place was filled in by a clone.
“Contestants, congratulations on making it this far. This is the third and final part of this year’s chuunin exam. These are your directions.
“At the center of Akagahara is a small mountain. At the top of the mountain is the prize of the chuunin exams for this year. Your goal is to be the team to recover this item and bring it to this platform. Once the prize exits the arena, the exam is over. The center of the field will be sealed off at the beginning of the exam. It will not be unsealed unless four teams are eliminated within an eight hour time limit. If four teams are not eliminated within the time limit, the center will not be unsealed and the exam will end. You will have until this time tomorrow to complete the exam. Teams will report to their assigned gates in three hours and wait for the starting horn.
“Contestants, do your best!!”
Kushina was very sick of the plan. Yes, it was a good plan, effective so far, fairly safe for her team, and, most importantly, her plan. However, it required too much waiting around for her to be fully satisfied. They had eight hours to ensure that four teams were eliminated, and three of those hours had been spent just inside their gate of entrance waiting for Finn’s golem and her clones to finish clearing their paths through the field and setting up their own traps.
The plan was to clear traps in a circular grid radiating outward from the mountain, with the paths closer together as it got closer to the center. The grid had been pre-planned with the few outdated maps of Akagahara that Kushina had been able to find. The paths would be marked for identification and the traps would be set up at every intersection of the grid. This plan was a good balance of the two ways of dealing with traps. By setting off all of the traps in front of them, they were no longer a problem, and by sticking to the path made by all the sprung traps the live traps could be avoided. Once the grid was set up the team would separate and hunt down teams until the seal around the mountain dropped. Then they would meet at a point to be determined by Kushina’s clones and proceed to the prize.
Kushina was only sure this plan would succeed because of the dismal skills shown by the contestants in the tournament. The only unknowns were the leaf team she had impersonated and the sand team that had also observed the tournament.
Finally, some of her shadow clones were dispersing. The grid was far enough along that they could start. Kushina turned to Finn and Alera, watching for a moment as they talked about strategy and traps and the plan. She grinned.
“C’mon, boys. Let’s get there.”
When they turned to her their grins were wicked.
When her team had reached the half-way mark between the mountain and their gate of entrance, Kushina stopped them and dropped to her knee. Placing her left pointer finger on the ground, she felt for the chakra of the other teams. Oddly enough, she could feel Namikaze to the north east of their position. He was in the North West quadrant of their grid.
Standing, she issued her orders.
“Alera, there is a team stalled not to far from here. They are between rings 14 and 15 and between spokes G and F. Go knock them out, but don’t kill them if you can help it. The sand team is on ring 16 between spokes E and D; observe them and dispose of them as well, if you can. Finn, there is a team on ring 11 spoke O, and two teams between rings 9 and 15 spokes Q and T. That’s your job. I’ll go after the teams in the north-east quadrant. If there is any significant development contact your teammates by radio. If there is a team that causes problems for you, escape- do not take them on by yourselves. No heroes!! If there is a challenging team, we’ll take them on together; we’re also a challenging team. If you find yourself in a situation that you cannot extract yourself from, send a flare if it’s appropriate.
“Radio your teammates if you feel the seal go down; we’ll decide what to do from there. If you finish with your teams head toward the center and radio your teammates so we know you’re available as back up.
“All clear?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Finn pumped his fist in the air. “With a plan like this, there can be only victory!!” Alera grinned and chuckled.
“Alright, boys. Remember- no heroes! Now get there!!”
There were few social niceties that Kushina would hold herself to. Tact was one of those things. Honor was another. However, she found she could respect a person’s need to prove their grit when you had done wrong by them. It was partly for this reason that she chose to take on the leaf team she had impersonated. The other reason was that they hadn’t been able to participate in the tournament and could very well be in danger of getting their asses killed by a less courteous ninja or a misinterpreted trap. However, Sandaime had given them the go ahead, so they could be very strong. Either way, she needed to know. If they were strong it would be a problem, but knowledge of their strength would be an enormous help to her team. If they were weak and unprepared, Kushina saw it as her personal duty to incapacitate them and see that they were safe until they were removed- it would be her fault if they died because they were weak. However, they were still a ways away. She had to deal with the other team first.
The other team turned out to be one she had been rooting for in the tournament. The team was made of three guys, all with different specialties: traps, genjutsu, and long-range ninjutsu. The genjutsu specialist was an Uchiha, she was sure, and very capable. He would be the biggest problem. Kushina quickly put a blow dart in his neck. He went rigid and passed out; he was no longer a problem. He wouldn’t be a problem for several hours. The other two teammates zoned in on her location and immediately started their counter attack. She almost felt bad for them; crappy katon attacks and some trip wire were not going to beat her. She made a quick kawarimi with a deer carcass and got to work. The smell of burning flesh appeased them long enough for her to get inside their guard.
After a brief fight, only Kushina was left to clean up the area and prevent the team from further interfering. First, she removed all their weapons and placed them at the base of a sturdy tree. Then, she bound and gagged the boys and strung them up on the same tree in such a fashion that they could not escape. Finally, she set traps around their perimeter to keep them safe and rigged the rope keeping them up to drop in twenty four hours.
Kushina sighed and dusted imaginary dust off her clothes. Finally, it was time to go confront that leaf team.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AN: Whew!! We are done moving in to our house, so I have been able to write this chapter!! I still don’t have someone to edit my story, so I’m sorry if the grammar was lousy in places or some descriptions seemed unclear. If there was anything too bad, let me know and I’ll try to fix it! Self editing can only take you so far, you know?
At first I was planning on not the leaf team dropping out and asking Kushina to take revenge on Minato for ‘feeling up their teammate.’ But then I thought, if they’re taking the chuunin exam, they probably think they can handle themselves. Also, they probably love Minato since he is the village idol. So they will want to take revenge on Kushina, probably. And that’s how they ended up in the exam.
So, yeah. This story has gone through many revisions in my head. I have several scenes al ready written that won’t appear for several chapters, but I’m afraid they will be useless by the time I get there… *le sigh*
So, I don’t know why this pairing seems to be so unpopular, but it’s my fave!! Maybe it’s because they are a het pairing? Perhaps the small following is a good thing; since not very many people are going to read it, I don’t have to worry TOO hard about how good it is. I can just focus on making my writing better ‘personally’ and pleasing the few that read it.
Chapter: 3 Enter Akagahara
Rating: R
This chapter: the friendly side of PG-13
Warnings: Swearing, spoilers for Naruto's parents, sexual harassment
This chapter: pick pockets, mild swearing,fights
Summary:Does this feeling have a name? Yes. Loathing. It came on fast, but I think it can last.
This chapter: Minato is the unassuming victim of a seven year old and Kushina's team starts the final leg of the chuunin exam.
The final part of the chuunin exam usually attracted a lot of attention, and if there was one thing Kushina loved, it was flying under the radar in a crowd. Outside the gates of Akagahara, among the many vendors, performers, small children, game booths, and fortune tellers, she was truly in her element.
True to her nature, Kushina had done her homework on the field, which was the traditional arena for the chuunin exam in Konoha. Because of this, many older ninja were eager to wax their death defying and stupendous feats to a pretty and eager-to-listen girl. Many of the tales had more ‘truthiness’ than she would like, but Kushina was sure she had at least the basics of Akagahara. Most of the stories had at least several common elements: there were booby traps on the ground, there were booby traps in the trees, there were booby traps in the stream, if it could be knocked over it was booby trapped, if you were likely to touch it then it was booby trapped, if you were likely to be within four meters of it, it was definitely booby trapped. Also, the outskirts seemed to be more heavily trapped than the center of the field.
As enlightening as the information was to the nature of Akagahara, it still wasn’t particularly useful. How was she supposed to get anything done if she had to spend the whole time dodging things? After some thought, Kushina had identified only two ways of dealing with the Akagahara trappings: avoid all the traps and therefore avoid all the dangers of the traps, or set off all the traps and then they would no longer be a problem. Neither plan had ever boasted a 100 percent success rate but no plan ever had, to Kushina’s knowledge. If any plan did boast a success rate that high, it was lying and she would beat the living tar out if its brains until it said as much.
After purchasing a light snack Kushina climbed a tree, sans chakra because she was conserving, and started to people watch. If you looked for long enough, you could tell who was a high ranking ninja and who wasn’t. High ranking ninja were watchful and fearless, always aware and ready to do what needed to be done. Kind of like headwaiters. She ate her snack in peace and finished it just as a little girl tried to win a goldfish and failed- that’s when she saw him.
Namikaze was there, speaking with the girl genially and smiling. Which meant that girl was probably his student- she looked pretty green for a shinobi. That could be his fault for not training her well or it could be that she really was green. Still, Kushina worried for the girl’s virtue. Kushina observed Minato’s interaction with the girl for a little while before she saw the small, dirty boy creep up behind them. She had seen that creeping walk before. It was sneaky and silent, but not the way a shinobi was silent. It was the way Mother had taught Kushina to be silent- this boy was a Gypsy. This boy was a pickpocket.
Kushina was torn between letting the scene play out and saving the kid from his own stupidity. It was true, shinobi frequently fell pray to common stealth tactics, especially if it was just one shinobi without a team to watch his back, but this was Leaf’s Yellow Flash. While it would be a wonderful entertainment, she couldn’t make herself fully believe that he could be easy pray for a seven-year-old pickpocket. Unfortunately, in her debate, she had lost the opportunity to act. She waited for the slip up as the boy reached into Minato’s pocket- and pulled out his wallet- and disappeared into the crowd!
Kushina was putupon. If it had been her wallet she would hunt that stilted bottom feeder down, and when she found him- she would probably let him keep whatever he was after, because that was impressive. However it wasn’t her wallet, it was the wallet of a man who could very well be the next Hokage. As much as she wanted to let it slip to everyone that Namikaze had his wallet stolen by a seven year old -because he was not the type to lose it- an incident like that could do some major damage to Namikaze’s reputation. As much as she hated him, he didn’t deserve that kind of press if he was as good as Jiraiya said he was. This needed to be handled with the sort of finesse Kushina normally did not use.
“Hey, kid,” Kushina called out to the dirty seven-year-old hiding behind a dumpster. “Whose wallet did you steal?” The kid turned to look at her with wide, fearing eyes. He probably thought she was going to rain down punishment or take it for herself.
The kid’s mouth bobbed for a second and Kushina was reminded of herself as a young girl.
“I don’t want the money; I’m just wondering if you know whose it was.” She smiled at him in a way that made her seem genuine and unthreatening.
The kid shook his head no.
“Good.” Kushina reached out and snatched the wallet from him. “Cause you aren’t about to find out now.”
The kid looked like he was about to cry, with his mouth still bobbing about.
“Don’t worry. That was a tough thing you did back there, so you won’t go without spoils, but it was also very dumb. Do you know why?” Kushina dug out her own wallet.
The kid shook his head no.
“Because that man was a ninja. A very strong ninja.” She didn’t feel good about what she was about to tell this kid. She pulled her face into a serious and contemplative countenance. “You think he doesn’t know you took his wallet? Cause he does. And right now, he’s waiting to do something about it. He’s busy right now, but he’ll come for it later. And for every piece of currency that’s missing, he’ll cut off a finger. And if his ID is gone? He’ll take you home and lock you in his basement or feed you to…” Kushina leaned over the small kid, placing one arm on the dumpster above him for effect, “his toad summons. Mmhm. No joke. I hear, these toads? They even have teeth, but they’re dull so instead of biting your limbs off they have to rip them off.” She pulled back and smiled again.
“Good thing I caught you! I can make sure he never finds you and that you’re safe, but don’t ever steal from ninjas again. Here’s some cash, ok? If anyone asks where you got that, just say you stole it from me. Now go home to your mother.” The kid was running before she was done. She headed out to the debriefing- she would have to find Namikaze there.
Kushina arrived at the debriefing area just in time to see Sandaime walk up on the platform. The area was packed with all kinds of people. The teams were in a block, all seven including hers. Her place was filled in by a clone.
“Contestants, congratulations on making it this far. This is the third and final part of this year’s chuunin exam. These are your directions.
“At the center of Akagahara is a small mountain. At the top of the mountain is the prize of the chuunin exams for this year. Your goal is to be the team to recover this item and bring it to this platform. Once the prize exits the arena, the exam is over. The center of the field will be sealed off at the beginning of the exam. It will not be unsealed unless four teams are eliminated within an eight hour time limit. If four teams are not eliminated within the time limit, the center will not be unsealed and the exam will end. You will have until this time tomorrow to complete the exam. Teams will report to their assigned gates in three hours and wait for the starting horn.
“Contestants, do your best!!”
Kushina was very sick of the plan. Yes, it was a good plan, effective so far, fairly safe for her team, and, most importantly, her plan. However, it required too much waiting around for her to be fully satisfied. They had eight hours to ensure that four teams were eliminated, and three of those hours had been spent just inside their gate of entrance waiting for Finn’s golem and her clones to finish clearing their paths through the field and setting up their own traps.
The plan was to clear traps in a circular grid radiating outward from the mountain, with the paths closer together as it got closer to the center. The grid had been pre-planned with the few outdated maps of Akagahara that Kushina had been able to find. The paths would be marked for identification and the traps would be set up at every intersection of the grid. This plan was a good balance of the two ways of dealing with traps. By setting off all of the traps in front of them, they were no longer a problem, and by sticking to the path made by all the sprung traps the live traps could be avoided. Once the grid was set up the team would separate and hunt down teams until the seal around the mountain dropped. Then they would meet at a point to be determined by Kushina’s clones and proceed to the prize.
Kushina was only sure this plan would succeed because of the dismal skills shown by the contestants in the tournament. The only unknowns were the leaf team she had impersonated and the sand team that had also observed the tournament.
Finally, some of her shadow clones were dispersing. The grid was far enough along that they could start. Kushina turned to Finn and Alera, watching for a moment as they talked about strategy and traps and the plan. She grinned.
“C’mon, boys. Let’s get there.”
When they turned to her their grins were wicked.
When her team had reached the half-way mark between the mountain and their gate of entrance, Kushina stopped them and dropped to her knee. Placing her left pointer finger on the ground, she felt for the chakra of the other teams. Oddly enough, she could feel Namikaze to the north east of their position. He was in the North West quadrant of their grid.
Standing, she issued her orders.
“Alera, there is a team stalled not to far from here. They are between rings 14 and 15 and between spokes G and F. Go knock them out, but don’t kill them if you can help it. The sand team is on ring 16 between spokes E and D; observe them and dispose of them as well, if you can. Finn, there is a team on ring 11 spoke O, and two teams between rings 9 and 15 spokes Q and T. That’s your job. I’ll go after the teams in the north-east quadrant. If there is any significant development contact your teammates by radio. If there is a team that causes problems for you, escape- do not take them on by yourselves. No heroes!! If there is a challenging team, we’ll take them on together; we’re also a challenging team. If you find yourself in a situation that you cannot extract yourself from, send a flare if it’s appropriate.
“Radio your teammates if you feel the seal go down; we’ll decide what to do from there. If you finish with your teams head toward the center and radio your teammates so we know you’re available as back up.
“All clear?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Finn pumped his fist in the air. “With a plan like this, there can be only victory!!” Alera grinned and chuckled.
“Alright, boys. Remember- no heroes! Now get there!!”
There were few social niceties that Kushina would hold herself to. Tact was one of those things. Honor was another. However, she found she could respect a person’s need to prove their grit when you had done wrong by them. It was partly for this reason that she chose to take on the leaf team she had impersonated. The other reason was that they hadn’t been able to participate in the tournament and could very well be in danger of getting their asses killed by a less courteous ninja or a misinterpreted trap. However, Sandaime had given them the go ahead, so they could be very strong. Either way, she needed to know. If they were strong it would be a problem, but knowledge of their strength would be an enormous help to her team. If they were weak and unprepared, Kushina saw it as her personal duty to incapacitate them and see that they were safe until they were removed- it would be her fault if they died because they were weak. However, they were still a ways away. She had to deal with the other team first.
The other team turned out to be one she had been rooting for in the tournament. The team was made of three guys, all with different specialties: traps, genjutsu, and long-range ninjutsu. The genjutsu specialist was an Uchiha, she was sure, and very capable. He would be the biggest problem. Kushina quickly put a blow dart in his neck. He went rigid and passed out; he was no longer a problem. He wouldn’t be a problem for several hours. The other two teammates zoned in on her location and immediately started their counter attack. She almost felt bad for them; crappy katon attacks and some trip wire were not going to beat her. She made a quick kawarimi with a deer carcass and got to work. The smell of burning flesh appeased them long enough for her to get inside their guard.
After a brief fight, only Kushina was left to clean up the area and prevent the team from further interfering. First, she removed all their weapons and placed them at the base of a sturdy tree. Then, she bound and gagged the boys and strung them up on the same tree in such a fashion that they could not escape. Finally, she set traps around their perimeter to keep them safe and rigged the rope keeping them up to drop in twenty four hours.
Kushina sighed and dusted imaginary dust off her clothes. Finally, it was time to go confront that leaf team.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AN: Whew!! We are done moving in to our house, so I have been able to write this chapter!! I still don’t have someone to edit my story, so I’m sorry if the grammar was lousy in places or some descriptions seemed unclear. If there was anything too bad, let me know and I’ll try to fix it! Self editing can only take you so far, you know?
At first I was planning on not the leaf team dropping out and asking Kushina to take revenge on Minato for ‘feeling up their teammate.’ But then I thought, if they’re taking the chuunin exam, they probably think they can handle themselves. Also, they probably love Minato since he is the village idol. So they will want to take revenge on Kushina, probably. And that’s how they ended up in the exam.
So, yeah. This story has gone through many revisions in my head. I have several scenes al ready written that won’t appear for several chapters, but I’m afraid they will be useless by the time I get there… *le sigh*
So, I don’t know why this pairing seems to be so unpopular, but it’s my fave!! Maybe it’s because they are a het pairing? Perhaps the small following is a good thing; since not very many people are going to read it, I don’t have to worry TOO hard about how good it is. I can just focus on making my writing better ‘personally’ and pleasing the few that read it.