Of Loyalty and Morals Chapter 6
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Chapter 6: Three Days in the Tower and the preliminaries.
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Team Tomo made it through the forest with only confronting a couple of giant insects on their way. They avoided any teams, especially since they were heading in almost a straight line through the forest instead of looking for any other teams. The tower standing in the middle of the forest looked empty, which made sense as Jack doubted that any team actually finished the exam before it started like they had done.
They settled done right in front of the tower to wait for the other Suna teams. Gaara had chilled down a lot, but he still managed to tear through any mission with ease, and Jack was sure that this time wasn’t any different. Team Toshiro might take a little longer, but Jack was also confident in their abilities.
True to prediction, Team Baki showed up within an hour. Kankuro scowled when he saw them waiting. “How did you get here so fast? Do you even have your two scrolls?”
“Of course we do,” Jack said. “We had a bit of a lucky streak.”
“Extremely lucky,” Vala said, preening over the compliment.
“So why haven't you gone inside the tower? You haven't finished until you’ve entered,” Temari asked.
“Because we wanted to be available in case our help was needed,” Jack said.
“Feh,” Kankuro said. He shook his head. “That’s the problem with you guys.”
“Hey, I firmly believe that no man should be left behind,” Jack said, standing up. “Besides, it’s not against the rules to help each other out if you haven't finished yet.”
“Though, we’re waiting until they ask for our help so that they don't get sour at us,” Vala chirped out. She bounced up and clapped Gaara on the shoulder. “Congratulations demon boy, your team is the first to make it through.”
“I have half a mind to wait for you guys to enter because I don't like thinks handed to me,” Kankuro grumbled. “But knowing you guys, you cheated somehow, and we won fairly, so we’ll win ahead of you.”
“It’s not a race and while the way we won might have been just a bit shady, it wasn’t cheating,” Jack said. “Nice to see that you made it though.”
“Thanks,” Temari said. She shook her head. “If you’re not inside by night time, I’m dragging you in myself, got it?”
“Got it,” Jack said with a grin and a nod.
Temari nodded in reply and Team Baki entered into the tower, leaving team Tomo alone once more. Luckily, they didn’t have to wait too long before Team Toshiro made it to the tower. Vala was the first to spot them and she jumped up to rush over to them.
“That was fast,” Jack remarked as Team Toshiro made their way over to where Team Tomo was standing.
“This time the guns actually worked,” Cam said.
“We ambushed a team, stunned them, and took their scroll,” Sam said.
“And I left behind a genjutsu’d scroll, so we’ll see if they realize it,” Jonas said.
“Team Baki’s already made it through the exam,” Jack reported. “Shall we go join them?”
“Let’s go before another team gets here,” Cam said.
Jack led the way into the tower and then stopped to look around. “Now what?”
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone to hand the scrolls to,” Sam said as she also looked around.
“Well, we must have to do something with the scrolls,” Cam said.
“That wall scroll has something to do with heaven and earth,” Daniel pointed out. “It’s the Chunin model for Konoha; I remember reading about it when I was preparing for the written test.”
“Right, a person needs both heaven and earth, wisdom and physical strength in order to succeed,” Jonas said.
“So, because there is nothing else to do, what do you say we open the scrolls up?” Jack suggested.
“I thought we weren't supposed to open them,” Sam said.
“Well, normally the mission would be over at this point, anyway,” Jack replied. “Besides, what harm could it do?”
“Sounds good to me,” Cam said.
“Oh, good, I’ve been dying to read what they say,” Vala said, the two scrolls that Team Tomo possessed appearing in her hands.
Sam pulled out the scroll that she had and Jonas pulled out the scroll that he had taken from the Genin team that they had ambushed.
“We’ll go first,” Jack said as he took one of the scrolls from Vala. He nodded towards her and together they opened the scrolls.
There was a pouf of smoke and the proctor that had escorted them to the gate appeared. He looked faintly surprised at the summon. “It’s only been seven hours since the exam started and you’re through already?”
“We’re good at what we do,” Jack said. It was very true, after all. “So I take it that we passed?”
“Yes, you did. Here in Konoha we think it very important for Chunin to know the tributes of both heaven and earth,” the proctor said.
“Wisdom and physical strength, right, Akio,” Jack said, grinning at the expression on Daniel’s face.
“That’s right,” Daniel replied.
“Very good. In any case, you can’t leave this tower in the next few days, but there are supplies and rooms to sleep in upstairs. We ask that you do not leave the tower’s property during those three days and that you do not fight with any teams that make it through this part of the exam,” the proctor said. He turned to team Toshiro. “You may wish to activate your scrolls soon, as I am only allowed to record down the team assigned to me.”
“We’ll do that,” Cam said. He nodded towards the other two members of his team. “On three?”
“Right,” Sam said. “One, two, three.”
With that, they opened up the scrolls. There was another pouf of smoke and the proctor that had escorted them to the gate appeared. He also seemed to be surprised at their time in making it through the exam and he gave them almost the same speech as the proctor gave Team Tomo.
Afterwards, both of the proctors left and the two SG teams wandered up the stairs to go find team Baki. They found the siblings in one of the rooms upstairs and they entered to greet them.
“I was just about ready to go out to drag you in,” Temari said.
“Well, look who also managed to get through super early,” Jack said as he motioned towards team Toshiro.
“How’d you do that? Did you steal a scroll like these guys did?” Kankuro asked.
“You do know that the whole point of this test is to steal a scroll from another team, right?” Jack asked.
“From a team within the forest,” Kankuro replied. “Not from picking their pockets.”
“Hey, we just got an early start on things is all,” Jack said. “Besides, it’s not like the way you guys do things is any better. A swift attack is just about the same as pick pocketing and this way we might have some entertainment later on.”
“You don’t think the team will notice that they’re missing a scroll?” Temari asked.
Jack shrugged. “This is Konoha we’re talking about, and it seems like half of them are just rookies.”
“You know, some people would consider us to be rookies,” Daniel pointed out.
“Yeah, but we have more experience than they do,” Jack said as he waved it off. “Besides, we could have done it last year if they had let us.”
“Probably a good thing that we didn’t,” Daniel said. “Because this time we can take it at a neutral spot.”
“Well, it won’t be neutral for much longer," Jack said with a frown.
“Don’t let their appearance fool you, Konoha really isn't as simple as it seems,” Temari said. “Yes, their Genin seem to be really foolish and some of their Jounin aren’t much better, but Konoha has some steel hidden away. Did you know that Orochimaru originally came from Konoha?”
“Why’s he attacking it now, then?” Jack asked.
“They kicked him out when they discovered some experiments on people that he was doing, but they didn’t discover that for a few years after it started happening,” Temari said. “And have you heard about the massacre that happened only a few years ago?”
“Where did you hear about all of this?” cam asked.
“My information network is quite good, I’ll have you know,” Temari said. “Vala’s built up a pretty good one, but most of her network has been a part of mine for years. And I have a longer reach than she does. I can give you all of the information that I have and then you can make your own decision.”
“I’d like that, thanks,” Jack said. He frowned as the situation caught up with him. For a while he had just been focusing only on the exams. Yes, he had observed some of the things, but for the most part he had to pay attention only to the exam in order to make it through it. Now he had three days to think about things, but at least he would get more information. In the end, it might be a good thing to attack Konoha, but he still felt like Konoha was less of an enemy compared to the Goa’uld or the Ori. He didn't even feel like it was the same as the war on Iraq that was happening on Earth although it could just be that he was biased. He understood Earth politics a lot better than he did the politics of this world. This was understandable, given how it had only been a few years since they had come to this world and they looked like kids, besides.
“Earth to Jack,” Daniel said, breaking into Jack's thoughts.
“Yeah,” Jack replied, before turning to Temari. “A massacre?”
“A whole clan was almost wiped out by one of their own members, the guy who committed the massacre and his younger brother are the only survivors,” Temari said. “That was a while ago, but it certainly didn't give off a good impression on the other hidden villages. Of course, there are plenty of villages that are worse than Konoha.”
“So, why would your father want to attack Konoha?” Jack asked. “I mean, it’s not like Konoha is particularly close to Suna.”
“If we manage to strike Konoha, we’ll become pretty famous for managing to win against them,” Temari said. “Of course, I’m not totally sure why Father has decided to strike now, although the Chunin exams are a good time for it.”
“A good time? When children are fighting,” Jack grumbled. He sighed. “So what else should we know about Konoha?”
“Almost all of their Jounin are insane,” Temari said before going into the detail on that and more involving Konoha. Learning about Konoha and training was how they spent the rest of the three days that they had before the exam truly ended.
Finally, the last day came when the last of the contestants came trickling in. Those who made it through the deadly forest were gathered up and brought to a huge arena, where they were congratulated and then informed that they were going to be fighting in a preliminary match up.
“Since there are so many of you, twenty-one people and twice as much as we had expected, you will have to fight based on a random selection,” the proctor announced in between coughing fits. “As there are an odd number of Genin, one of you will randomly be given a bye and allowed to go on to the next round without fighting anyone. And now we will start our first match.” The device on one of the wall activated and two names were shown. “Sasuke Uchiha versus Makoto Taji.”
With that, the arena was vacated and the first match started. It was a rather unfortunate pairing for Jonas, as every genjutsu he tried was useless against his opponent’s Sharingan eyes, which allowed the user to see through illusions and predict attacks. Jonas came close to winning, however, when he pulled out Team Toshiro’s signature stun guns and fired a shot at Sasuke. The energy bolt just missed the Konoha Genin as Sasuke dodged and then attacked. Jonas was knocked out and Sasuke was declared the winner.
Jonas was carried off the stage and Sasuke disappeared with his Jounin teacher in the same direction. Once the arena was cleared, the device started up again and another pair of names was shown. “Sora Taji vs. Zaku Abumi, please come down to the arena,” the proctor said.
“Good luck, Sam,” Jack said as she left the group and he was chorused by the rest of the teams.
Sam patted her weapons pouch and grinned at them before heading down to the arena. It looked like her opponent had a rough time in the Forest of Death, as one of his arms was bound to his chest. Still, the fight was difficult, as he used sound waves to attack. Sam fought with Kunai for the first half of the battle, dodging the sonic blasts and gauging Zaku’s abilities. During the second half of the battle, Zaku surprised her by revealing that he could also use his second arm. It was just after this, however, that Sam pulled out her stun gun and fired a shot at Zaku while dodging one of his sonic blasts. The energy bolt hit one of his arms and he cried out as they started to overload from the electricity. He collapsed and Sam was declared the winner of the battle.
Zaku was escorted off in a stretcher while Sam went back up the bleachers to join what was left of her team. The device activated and pulled up two more names. “Kankuro of the Sand and Akio Honda, would you two please join us down here.”
“Well, it could be worse, I could be fighting Yua or Gaara,” Kankuro muttered as he and Daniel left the balconies.
“Let’s have a good battle,” Daniel said when they reached the arena.
“Sure, whatever,” Kankuro replied.
Daniel darted forward the second the match started, attacking with Kunai while Kankuro fought with his fists. The battle raged on in earnest, with Kankuro taking out his poisonous weapons and Daniel countering with genjutsu. Finally, Daniel managed to slap a couple of seals onto Kankuro and the boy slumped over. The Proctor was about to announce the winner when it was revealed that the defeated Genin was a puppet and the real Kankuro had been bound to the back of the puppet. The fight resumed, the puppet lying forgotten, until Daniel got in a hit and Kankuro was knocked unconscious.
Daniel was declared the winner and Kankuro and his puppet were taken away to the infirmary. The fourth match was between two of the Konoha Genin, which quickly dissolved into a slapping match between the two girls. The match continued to be a letdown as the two girls ended up knocking one another out, leaving the proctor to announce that none of them passed on to the next exam.
The fifth match had Temari fighting against another one of the Konoha Genin. It was a good match up for Temari and she easily defeated the weapons throwing Genin using her wind techniques. Temari was declared the winner and the next match was announced: one of the Konoha Genin against one of the Oto Genin. This turned out to be a better match, as the Konoha used a jutsu to control the Oto nin through shadows and knocked her out by having her hit her head on the wall while dodging a shuriken. Shikamaru Nara, the winner of the match, headed back up to the balconies and the device activated once more.
”So, it's that kid, huh,” Cam said as the machine spit out the next two names. Shou Honda vs. Naruto Uzumaki. He watched as the cheerful blond kid talked loudly with his friends before heading over to the stairs. Cam gave the kid a head start before walking down after him.
The fight against the two went on for a while. Naruto seemed to be inexperienced in terms of fighting, especially against staff fighting. But, at the same time, Cam was having a hard time actually landing an attack on the Genin. Naruto was hard to pin down and was able to dodge Cam's strikes. Even when Cam landed an attack on Naruto, it turned out that it was simply a clone and the fight would start again. The Konoha Genin also was good at disguising himself; he ended up disguising half of his clone force into images of Cam. This momentarily unsettled Cam and finally the amount of clones were able to overpower him and he was knocked out.
“Winner, Naruto Uzumaki,” the proctor announced.
“Yes, I did it,” Naruto called out as he left the arena. The medics came out and took Cam away to the infirmary.
The device activated and the next two names were produced. Neji Hyuuga against Yuuta Honda. Jack clapped Daniel on the shoulder before heading down to the arena. The pupil less, white eyed Genin followed after Jack and came to a halt across from him at the arena.
“It would be wise for you to simply give up now,” the strange eyed Genin said and Jack narrowed his eyes at the tone. “You’re fated to lose against me.”
“Fate? I don’t believe in fate,” Jack replied. He readied his kusarigama, a chain and sickle, and pointed the blade at his opponent. “Besides, this is a simple fight, not a scientist convention.”
With that taunt, Jack launched his attack, literally. He tossed the heavy end of his chain, just missing Hyuuga as the Genin dodged. Jack’s words seemed to have annoyed his opponent, who attacked with earnest. At first Jack thought it was simple taijutsu and he fended it off with his weapon, but he discovered the Hyuuga’s trump card when the Genin managed to land a blow on Jack’s arm. Jack cursed as his arm went numb and he leaped back, whipping his chain around as he did so.
“Do you see why you’re fated to lose?” Hyuuga asked. “With my Byakugan I can see your chakra lines and I can disable them.”
“Thanks for the banter,” Jack called back as he took the time to catch his breath and shake off some of the numbness in his arm. “But all this means is that I can’t use my ninjutsu, it doesn’t affect my kenjutsu.”
“We’ll see about that,” Hyuuga said. He dashed forward and attacked Jack, harshly driving him back until he managed to disarm him. Hyuuga then took a step back and smirked at Jack. “What do you say to that?”
“I’ve faced worse odds,” Jack replied. “Remind me to tell you about the time I faced an Unus with no weapons and one friend.”
Before Hyuuga could say anything, Jack made his move. He attacked Hyuuga relentlessly, punching and kicking and using all of the tricks that he had learned through decades of training in his past life. He managed to drive Hyuuga back, but the Genin also managed to land some hits on Jack. Jack continued to attack Hyuuga even with the damage caused to his arms by his chakra being cut off, forcing the Genin to keep the fight going.
“There is no way that you can beat me,” Hyuuga sneered as he aimed a powerful jab at Jack’s heart, chakra shining on his fingers. Jack stumbled back and then found himself across the arena from Hyuuga in the proctor’s arms.
“I’m interceding; as it is obvious that Honda cannot continue at this pace, Hyuuga is declared to be the winner,” the proctor said as he put Jack down.
Jack scowled. “I can continue, now that I know the idiot wants to kill me.”
“One of the goals of the Chunin exams is not to cause permanent harm to our Genin, therefore I am putting a halt to this now,” the proctor replied before breaking out into a coughing fit.
“Fine, fine,” Jack said with a sigh. He allowed the medics to take him away, hearing the device start up once more. Just before he left the arena he saw that it was Gaara against the second to the last Konoha Genin: Rock Lee.
Just before Gaara went down to the arena, Daniel snagged his arm and reminded him to be careful about the damage to his opponent. Gaara nodded, giving Daniel half a smile before heading down to the arena. Rock Lee turned out to be a surprisingly strong opponent, capable of fighting the powerhouse that was Gaara. He had some technique that multiplied his strength and he was the first one ever to break through Gaara’s sand shield that was thought to be impenetrable. Even though Gaara was badly beaten, he was able to catch Lee with his sand and he came close to crushing him to death. Daniel called out to him at the same time that the Genin’s teacher rescued him from the sand. Lee was carried off on a stretcher and Gaara was declared to be the winner of the fight.
“The last match is between Chouji Akimichi and Dosu Kinuta, which means that Yua from Team Tomo has been given a bye,” the proctor announced after the device had made its selection.
“Lucky,” Vala called out as she struck a pose and Daniel shook his head.
“It figures that you were the one who managed to get the bye,” Daniel said.
“I hope this match finishes soon so that we can get out of here,” Vala said, leaning over the balcony to look down at the arena where the last Konoha Genin faced off against the last Oto Genin. She exclaimed as the Konoha Genin puffed out in size until he looked like a giant ball, which he tried to mow the Oto Genin with. But, the Oto Genin easily retaliated with a technique that used sound waves like a drill. The Konoha Genin was knocked out and the Oto Genin was declared to be the winner.
With that, the preliminaries ended and the proctor announced the ten people who were going to be participating in the finals of the Chunin exam: Sasuke Uchiha, Sora Taji, Akio Honda, Temari, Shikamaru Nara, Naruto Uzumaki, Neji Hyuuga, Gaara, Dosu Kinuta, and Yua. “You all have a month to prepare for the finals, to allow you time to heal from the exam up to this point and to allow you to learn some new techniques,” the proctor told them. He held up a lottery box. “And now is the time to pick out who your opponent is. Come forward and take a number.”
The Genin each took a number and the proctor told them how they matched up. Naruto Uzumaki against Neji Hyuuga, Gaara against Sasuke Uchiha, Daniel against Sam, Temari against Shikamaru Nara, and Yua against Dosu.
“And that concludes the preliminaries,” the Proctor announced before dismissing them all.
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Chapter 7
Chapter 6: Three Days in the Tower and the preliminaries.
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Team Tomo made it through the forest with only confronting a couple of giant insects on their way. They avoided any teams, especially since they were heading in almost a straight line through the forest instead of looking for any other teams. The tower standing in the middle of the forest looked empty, which made sense as Jack doubted that any team actually finished the exam before it started like they had done.
They settled done right in front of the tower to wait for the other Suna teams. Gaara had chilled down a lot, but he still managed to tear through any mission with ease, and Jack was sure that this time wasn’t any different. Team Toshiro might take a little longer, but Jack was also confident in their abilities.
True to prediction, Team Baki showed up within an hour. Kankuro scowled when he saw them waiting. “How did you get here so fast? Do you even have your two scrolls?”
“Of course we do,” Jack said. “We had a bit of a lucky streak.”
“Extremely lucky,” Vala said, preening over the compliment.
“So why haven't you gone inside the tower? You haven't finished until you’ve entered,” Temari asked.
“Because we wanted to be available in case our help was needed,” Jack said.
“Feh,” Kankuro said. He shook his head. “That’s the problem with you guys.”
“Hey, I firmly believe that no man should be left behind,” Jack said, standing up. “Besides, it’s not against the rules to help each other out if you haven't finished yet.”
“Though, we’re waiting until they ask for our help so that they don't get sour at us,” Vala chirped out. She bounced up and clapped Gaara on the shoulder. “Congratulations demon boy, your team is the first to make it through.”
“I have half a mind to wait for you guys to enter because I don't like thinks handed to me,” Kankuro grumbled. “But knowing you guys, you cheated somehow, and we won fairly, so we’ll win ahead of you.”
“It’s not a race and while the way we won might have been just a bit shady, it wasn’t cheating,” Jack said. “Nice to see that you made it though.”
“Thanks,” Temari said. She shook her head. “If you’re not inside by night time, I’m dragging you in myself, got it?”
“Got it,” Jack said with a grin and a nod.
Temari nodded in reply and Team Baki entered into the tower, leaving team Tomo alone once more. Luckily, they didn’t have to wait too long before Team Toshiro made it to the tower. Vala was the first to spot them and she jumped up to rush over to them.
“That was fast,” Jack remarked as Team Toshiro made their way over to where Team Tomo was standing.
“This time the guns actually worked,” Cam said.
“We ambushed a team, stunned them, and took their scroll,” Sam said.
“And I left behind a genjutsu’d scroll, so we’ll see if they realize it,” Jonas said.
“Team Baki’s already made it through the exam,” Jack reported. “Shall we go join them?”
“Let’s go before another team gets here,” Cam said.
Jack led the way into the tower and then stopped to look around. “Now what?”
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone to hand the scrolls to,” Sam said as she also looked around.
“Well, we must have to do something with the scrolls,” Cam said.
“That wall scroll has something to do with heaven and earth,” Daniel pointed out. “It’s the Chunin model for Konoha; I remember reading about it when I was preparing for the written test.”
“Right, a person needs both heaven and earth, wisdom and physical strength in order to succeed,” Jonas said.
“So, because there is nothing else to do, what do you say we open the scrolls up?” Jack suggested.
“I thought we weren't supposed to open them,” Sam said.
“Well, normally the mission would be over at this point, anyway,” Jack replied. “Besides, what harm could it do?”
“Sounds good to me,” Cam said.
“Oh, good, I’ve been dying to read what they say,” Vala said, the two scrolls that Team Tomo possessed appearing in her hands.
Sam pulled out the scroll that she had and Jonas pulled out the scroll that he had taken from the Genin team that they had ambushed.
“We’ll go first,” Jack said as he took one of the scrolls from Vala. He nodded towards her and together they opened the scrolls.
There was a pouf of smoke and the proctor that had escorted them to the gate appeared. He looked faintly surprised at the summon. “It’s only been seven hours since the exam started and you’re through already?”
“We’re good at what we do,” Jack said. It was very true, after all. “So I take it that we passed?”
“Yes, you did. Here in Konoha we think it very important for Chunin to know the tributes of both heaven and earth,” the proctor said.
“Wisdom and physical strength, right, Akio,” Jack said, grinning at the expression on Daniel’s face.
“That’s right,” Daniel replied.
“Very good. In any case, you can’t leave this tower in the next few days, but there are supplies and rooms to sleep in upstairs. We ask that you do not leave the tower’s property during those three days and that you do not fight with any teams that make it through this part of the exam,” the proctor said. He turned to team Toshiro. “You may wish to activate your scrolls soon, as I am only allowed to record down the team assigned to me.”
“We’ll do that,” Cam said. He nodded towards the other two members of his team. “On three?”
“Right,” Sam said. “One, two, three.”
With that, they opened up the scrolls. There was another pouf of smoke and the proctor that had escorted them to the gate appeared. He also seemed to be surprised at their time in making it through the exam and he gave them almost the same speech as the proctor gave Team Tomo.
Afterwards, both of the proctors left and the two SG teams wandered up the stairs to go find team Baki. They found the siblings in one of the rooms upstairs and they entered to greet them.
“I was just about ready to go out to drag you in,” Temari said.
“Well, look who also managed to get through super early,” Jack said as he motioned towards team Toshiro.
“How’d you do that? Did you steal a scroll like these guys did?” Kankuro asked.
“You do know that the whole point of this test is to steal a scroll from another team, right?” Jack asked.
“From a team within the forest,” Kankuro replied. “Not from picking their pockets.”
“Hey, we just got an early start on things is all,” Jack said. “Besides, it’s not like the way you guys do things is any better. A swift attack is just about the same as pick pocketing and this way we might have some entertainment later on.”
“You don’t think the team will notice that they’re missing a scroll?” Temari asked.
Jack shrugged. “This is Konoha we’re talking about, and it seems like half of them are just rookies.”
“You know, some people would consider us to be rookies,” Daniel pointed out.
“Yeah, but we have more experience than they do,” Jack said as he waved it off. “Besides, we could have done it last year if they had let us.”
“Probably a good thing that we didn’t,” Daniel said. “Because this time we can take it at a neutral spot.”
“Well, it won’t be neutral for much longer," Jack said with a frown.
“Don’t let their appearance fool you, Konoha really isn't as simple as it seems,” Temari said. “Yes, their Genin seem to be really foolish and some of their Jounin aren’t much better, but Konoha has some steel hidden away. Did you know that Orochimaru originally came from Konoha?”
“Why’s he attacking it now, then?” Jack asked.
“They kicked him out when they discovered some experiments on people that he was doing, but they didn’t discover that for a few years after it started happening,” Temari said. “And have you heard about the massacre that happened only a few years ago?”
“Where did you hear about all of this?” cam asked.
“My information network is quite good, I’ll have you know,” Temari said. “Vala’s built up a pretty good one, but most of her network has been a part of mine for years. And I have a longer reach than she does. I can give you all of the information that I have and then you can make your own decision.”
“I’d like that, thanks,” Jack said. He frowned as the situation caught up with him. For a while he had just been focusing only on the exams. Yes, he had observed some of the things, but for the most part he had to pay attention only to the exam in order to make it through it. Now he had three days to think about things, but at least he would get more information. In the end, it might be a good thing to attack Konoha, but he still felt like Konoha was less of an enemy compared to the Goa’uld or the Ori. He didn't even feel like it was the same as the war on Iraq that was happening on Earth although it could just be that he was biased. He understood Earth politics a lot better than he did the politics of this world. This was understandable, given how it had only been a few years since they had come to this world and they looked like kids, besides.
“Earth to Jack,” Daniel said, breaking into Jack's thoughts.
“Yeah,” Jack replied, before turning to Temari. “A massacre?”
“A whole clan was almost wiped out by one of their own members, the guy who committed the massacre and his younger brother are the only survivors,” Temari said. “That was a while ago, but it certainly didn't give off a good impression on the other hidden villages. Of course, there are plenty of villages that are worse than Konoha.”
“So, why would your father want to attack Konoha?” Jack asked. “I mean, it’s not like Konoha is particularly close to Suna.”
“If we manage to strike Konoha, we’ll become pretty famous for managing to win against them,” Temari said. “Of course, I’m not totally sure why Father has decided to strike now, although the Chunin exams are a good time for it.”
“A good time? When children are fighting,” Jack grumbled. He sighed. “So what else should we know about Konoha?”
“Almost all of their Jounin are insane,” Temari said before going into the detail on that and more involving Konoha. Learning about Konoha and training was how they spent the rest of the three days that they had before the exam truly ended.
Finally, the last day came when the last of the contestants came trickling in. Those who made it through the deadly forest were gathered up and brought to a huge arena, where they were congratulated and then informed that they were going to be fighting in a preliminary match up.
“Since there are so many of you, twenty-one people and twice as much as we had expected, you will have to fight based on a random selection,” the proctor announced in between coughing fits. “As there are an odd number of Genin, one of you will randomly be given a bye and allowed to go on to the next round without fighting anyone. And now we will start our first match.” The device on one of the wall activated and two names were shown. “Sasuke Uchiha versus Makoto Taji.”
With that, the arena was vacated and the first match started. It was a rather unfortunate pairing for Jonas, as every genjutsu he tried was useless against his opponent’s Sharingan eyes, which allowed the user to see through illusions and predict attacks. Jonas came close to winning, however, when he pulled out Team Toshiro’s signature stun guns and fired a shot at Sasuke. The energy bolt just missed the Konoha Genin as Sasuke dodged and then attacked. Jonas was knocked out and Sasuke was declared the winner.
Jonas was carried off the stage and Sasuke disappeared with his Jounin teacher in the same direction. Once the arena was cleared, the device started up again and another pair of names was shown. “Sora Taji vs. Zaku Abumi, please come down to the arena,” the proctor said.
“Good luck, Sam,” Jack said as she left the group and he was chorused by the rest of the teams.
Sam patted her weapons pouch and grinned at them before heading down to the arena. It looked like her opponent had a rough time in the Forest of Death, as one of his arms was bound to his chest. Still, the fight was difficult, as he used sound waves to attack. Sam fought with Kunai for the first half of the battle, dodging the sonic blasts and gauging Zaku’s abilities. During the second half of the battle, Zaku surprised her by revealing that he could also use his second arm. It was just after this, however, that Sam pulled out her stun gun and fired a shot at Zaku while dodging one of his sonic blasts. The energy bolt hit one of his arms and he cried out as they started to overload from the electricity. He collapsed and Sam was declared the winner of the battle.
Zaku was escorted off in a stretcher while Sam went back up the bleachers to join what was left of her team. The device activated and pulled up two more names. “Kankuro of the Sand and Akio Honda, would you two please join us down here.”
“Well, it could be worse, I could be fighting Yua or Gaara,” Kankuro muttered as he and Daniel left the balconies.
“Let’s have a good battle,” Daniel said when they reached the arena.
“Sure, whatever,” Kankuro replied.
Daniel darted forward the second the match started, attacking with Kunai while Kankuro fought with his fists. The battle raged on in earnest, with Kankuro taking out his poisonous weapons and Daniel countering with genjutsu. Finally, Daniel managed to slap a couple of seals onto Kankuro and the boy slumped over. The Proctor was about to announce the winner when it was revealed that the defeated Genin was a puppet and the real Kankuro had been bound to the back of the puppet. The fight resumed, the puppet lying forgotten, until Daniel got in a hit and Kankuro was knocked unconscious.
Daniel was declared the winner and Kankuro and his puppet were taken away to the infirmary. The fourth match was between two of the Konoha Genin, which quickly dissolved into a slapping match between the two girls. The match continued to be a letdown as the two girls ended up knocking one another out, leaving the proctor to announce that none of them passed on to the next exam.
The fifth match had Temari fighting against another one of the Konoha Genin. It was a good match up for Temari and she easily defeated the weapons throwing Genin using her wind techniques. Temari was declared the winner and the next match was announced: one of the Konoha Genin against one of the Oto Genin. This turned out to be a better match, as the Konoha used a jutsu to control the Oto nin through shadows and knocked her out by having her hit her head on the wall while dodging a shuriken. Shikamaru Nara, the winner of the match, headed back up to the balconies and the device activated once more.
”So, it's that kid, huh,” Cam said as the machine spit out the next two names. Shou Honda vs. Naruto Uzumaki. He watched as the cheerful blond kid talked loudly with his friends before heading over to the stairs. Cam gave the kid a head start before walking down after him.
The fight against the two went on for a while. Naruto seemed to be inexperienced in terms of fighting, especially against staff fighting. But, at the same time, Cam was having a hard time actually landing an attack on the Genin. Naruto was hard to pin down and was able to dodge Cam's strikes. Even when Cam landed an attack on Naruto, it turned out that it was simply a clone and the fight would start again. The Konoha Genin also was good at disguising himself; he ended up disguising half of his clone force into images of Cam. This momentarily unsettled Cam and finally the amount of clones were able to overpower him and he was knocked out.
“Winner, Naruto Uzumaki,” the proctor announced.
“Yes, I did it,” Naruto called out as he left the arena. The medics came out and took Cam away to the infirmary.
The device activated and the next two names were produced. Neji Hyuuga against Yuuta Honda. Jack clapped Daniel on the shoulder before heading down to the arena. The pupil less, white eyed Genin followed after Jack and came to a halt across from him at the arena.
“It would be wise for you to simply give up now,” the strange eyed Genin said and Jack narrowed his eyes at the tone. “You’re fated to lose against me.”
“Fate? I don’t believe in fate,” Jack replied. He readied his kusarigama, a chain and sickle, and pointed the blade at his opponent. “Besides, this is a simple fight, not a scientist convention.”
With that taunt, Jack launched his attack, literally. He tossed the heavy end of his chain, just missing Hyuuga as the Genin dodged. Jack’s words seemed to have annoyed his opponent, who attacked with earnest. At first Jack thought it was simple taijutsu and he fended it off with his weapon, but he discovered the Hyuuga’s trump card when the Genin managed to land a blow on Jack’s arm. Jack cursed as his arm went numb and he leaped back, whipping his chain around as he did so.
“Do you see why you’re fated to lose?” Hyuuga asked. “With my Byakugan I can see your chakra lines and I can disable them.”
“Thanks for the banter,” Jack called back as he took the time to catch his breath and shake off some of the numbness in his arm. “But all this means is that I can’t use my ninjutsu, it doesn’t affect my kenjutsu.”
“We’ll see about that,” Hyuuga said. He dashed forward and attacked Jack, harshly driving him back until he managed to disarm him. Hyuuga then took a step back and smirked at Jack. “What do you say to that?”
“I’ve faced worse odds,” Jack replied. “Remind me to tell you about the time I faced an Unus with no weapons and one friend.”
Before Hyuuga could say anything, Jack made his move. He attacked Hyuuga relentlessly, punching and kicking and using all of the tricks that he had learned through decades of training in his past life. He managed to drive Hyuuga back, but the Genin also managed to land some hits on Jack. Jack continued to attack Hyuuga even with the damage caused to his arms by his chakra being cut off, forcing the Genin to keep the fight going.
“There is no way that you can beat me,” Hyuuga sneered as he aimed a powerful jab at Jack’s heart, chakra shining on his fingers. Jack stumbled back and then found himself across the arena from Hyuuga in the proctor’s arms.
“I’m interceding; as it is obvious that Honda cannot continue at this pace, Hyuuga is declared to be the winner,” the proctor said as he put Jack down.
Jack scowled. “I can continue, now that I know the idiot wants to kill me.”
“One of the goals of the Chunin exams is not to cause permanent harm to our Genin, therefore I am putting a halt to this now,” the proctor replied before breaking out into a coughing fit.
“Fine, fine,” Jack said with a sigh. He allowed the medics to take him away, hearing the device start up once more. Just before he left the arena he saw that it was Gaara against the second to the last Konoha Genin: Rock Lee.
Just before Gaara went down to the arena, Daniel snagged his arm and reminded him to be careful about the damage to his opponent. Gaara nodded, giving Daniel half a smile before heading down to the arena. Rock Lee turned out to be a surprisingly strong opponent, capable of fighting the powerhouse that was Gaara. He had some technique that multiplied his strength and he was the first one ever to break through Gaara’s sand shield that was thought to be impenetrable. Even though Gaara was badly beaten, he was able to catch Lee with his sand and he came close to crushing him to death. Daniel called out to him at the same time that the Genin’s teacher rescued him from the sand. Lee was carried off on a stretcher and Gaara was declared to be the winner of the fight.
“The last match is between Chouji Akimichi and Dosu Kinuta, which means that Yua from Team Tomo has been given a bye,” the proctor announced after the device had made its selection.
“Lucky,” Vala called out as she struck a pose and Daniel shook his head.
“It figures that you were the one who managed to get the bye,” Daniel said.
“I hope this match finishes soon so that we can get out of here,” Vala said, leaning over the balcony to look down at the arena where the last Konoha Genin faced off against the last Oto Genin. She exclaimed as the Konoha Genin puffed out in size until he looked like a giant ball, which he tried to mow the Oto Genin with. But, the Oto Genin easily retaliated with a technique that used sound waves like a drill. The Konoha Genin was knocked out and the Oto Genin was declared to be the winner.
With that, the preliminaries ended and the proctor announced the ten people who were going to be participating in the finals of the Chunin exam: Sasuke Uchiha, Sora Taji, Akio Honda, Temari, Shikamaru Nara, Naruto Uzumaki, Neji Hyuuga, Gaara, Dosu Kinuta, and Yua. “You all have a month to prepare for the finals, to allow you time to heal from the exam up to this point and to allow you to learn some new techniques,” the proctor told them. He held up a lottery box. “And now is the time to pick out who your opponent is. Come forward and take a number.”
The Genin each took a number and the proctor told them how they matched up. Naruto Uzumaki against Neji Hyuuga, Gaara against Sasuke Uchiha, Daniel against Sam, Temari against Shikamaru Nara, and Yua against Dosu.
“And that concludes the preliminaries,” the Proctor announced before dismissing them all.
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Chapter 7