Chapter 65
The six genin from Konoha who had advanced to the Final Round of the Chunin Exam gathered in their designated training ground. Suna had provided each team with a separate training ground, though Konoha had chosen to use only one of the provided grounds as the six genin gathered in the clearing for a lesson.
Kurenai had expected a usual training session involving some sparring, chakra exercises, and so forth with their sensei, so she, along with her group, had been fairly surprised when Izuna Uchiha had appeared, carrying a chalkboard of all things.
The jounin in question was just a few years older than them, yet he had already fought in two wars and held an S-ranked bounty. His chakra was so dense and sharp, indicating a level of control that few shinobi could ever hope to achieve.
"Now, can anyone here tell me why I have gathered all of you here?" he asked, and they all looked at each other until she answered.
"Training," she guessed, and he chuckled.
"Of course, but what kind of training?" he asked, and when no answer came, he sighed as he turned around the board to show the other side. This side was filled with pictures of all the candidates who had passed the exam, along with what seemed to be a full report on their careers.
"Most shinobi think that being a ninja is all about flashy jutsus and fighting skills, but the truth is that more often than not, the fate of a battle is decided even before it takes place," he began.
"The best way to win against an opponent is to know their strengths and weaknesses, and prepare accordingly. Doing so in a war is near impossible, but in this current setting, this task is rather easy," and so he stepped forward and suddenly five clones appeared.
"So, for the next five days, you will fight me while I will copy the jutsus, techniques, mannerisms, and fighting styles of all your prospective opponents," and that surprised.
"Can you really do that?" Genin she may be, but she knew better than most how difficult it was to copy a single move, let alone an entire set of techniques, mannerisms, and fighting styles.
One of the clones stepped forward and looked straight at Kurenai, but his gaze was different. It was hostile and dangerous, as he opened his mouth and voiced.
"Why don't we put that to the test, red-eyes?" he taunted, before he wet his lips in the strange manner of that kid from Iwa.
"You dare doubt my art," he taunted, frowning and growing angry, as Kurenai found herself surprised, as suddenly, animals, earthen animals, came out of his sleeves and rushed at her.
""Art is—"
She jumped back on instinct, as the clone began to laugh maniacally.
BOOM!
"—an EXPLOSION!"
0000
IZUNA UCHIHA
People had different hobbies. Some painted. Others gardened. Some collected stamps or wrote novels. Izuna? He studied chakra. He had always been fascinated by the mysterious energy that was the lifeblood of all living things and was mesmerised by its applications.
He liked to copy the effects of different jutsus just as a hobby. It wasn't true copying. More like reverse-engineering the effect. Like making a dish from leftovers—it worked, but you wouldn't serve it to guests.
Both were edible, though you wouldn't serve a guest the latter. Just like that, he would never employ these techniques in battle, unless to startle and surprise an opponent for they simply were too inefficient.
But it was a fun hobby that helped him train the genins for the final round.
"You have strange hobbies," added Konan as she flew them to the outskirts of Sunagakure.
"It's no stranger than your hobby," he said, and she looked forward, not deigning to retort with a reply.
"Do you know how hard it is for a shinobi to develop a ninja technique? How long it takes someone just to develop one original technique," she whispered, and he nodded.
"Years," he replied.
"And you think that it is perfectly alright that you can copy, or nullify all that work in a few hours," and though it seemed cruel, it was not so easy.
"I am not copying their techniques," well, not always. He did copy techniques if he found them useful or helpful, like the kenjutsus of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
It was not his preferred method or style, but it had a certain wow factor that put shinobi off balance, forcing them to make mistakes they would not usually make. With his Sharingan, any mistake in front of him was fatal.
He clarified, "I am simply using what I know to replicate their effects," but Konan was not convinced.
"That Iwa shinobi, the one who uses exploding clay," and he had been surprised to see Deidara in the genin exams, but the boy was here, and might just face off against one of the Konoha six.
"He uses a special type of clay, and his body has been modified to mold it into the shapes he needs," but Izuna could not replicate his clay or his body. So, he did something different.
"So, I used Doton and a modified paper bomb seal to replicate his technique," he explained as he showed her his hand, as a rock morphed into the shape of an animal, before he applied a modified combustion seal to it with a finger.
Konan saw it and then looked up at him, her eyes narrowing.
You mimicked ten shinobi," she said, crossing her arms. "That's not normal."
"I could do it for a hundred shinobi," he boasted.
"Could you do it for me?" he asked, surprised, for he had never considered her paper ninjutsu.
"Well, I kind of do," he whispered, as he looked her in the eye, and in a second, his body dissolved into a pack of crows that flew out, as he appeared behind her.
"I can use genjutsu and my other techniques to do something similar to your technique," and she turned back, and shook her head as they landed on the ground.
"No wonder, the other villages hate you so much," she whispered, as he jumped off the paper bird.
"Well, it is all experiences mainly. I have been fighting in wars since I was seven, so I have seen nearly every technique, and with the Sharingan and good chakra control, copying techniques is quite simple," he justified his actions as he reached into his pocket and took out the three pronged kunai, and threw it into the ground.
"A child bred for war," and he turned around.
"What did you say?" and she shook her head.
"Nothing," Konan said as he shrugged and turned towards the Hiraishin Kunai once more.
"Well, this should be far enough," and so, he took out the other seal in his pocket and pushed his chakra into it.
And as he blinked his eyes, the kunai in front of him was gone, and the fourth Hokage of Konoha stood in front of him, dressed in his ceremonial garb, as he put on his hat.
"Minato-san," he greeted as the man smiled.
"Izuna-kun, Konan-kun, I hope you have been fine?" he asked as he nodded.
"Of course," replied Konan as Izuna asked a question.
"Tell me about Rin?" he asked.
"The procedure was a success..."
0000
OHNOKI—The Third Tsuchikage
"You will stop all this foolishness at once," he thundered at his jounin, who gritted his teeth at his tone and rebuke, but Gari was not one to back down easily.
"But we have an opportunity here," he challenged as Ohnoki felt a headache tear apart his head.
"We have to pay them back for humiliating us in Kusagakure. They were our allies, and Konoha attacked them without any fear. " Indeed, that whole incident had caused quite a humiliation for his village, but Kusa was not truly innocent in it all as well.
When Ohnoki learned of the reason for Konoha's rage, he asked Kusa to send its two Uzumaki kunoichi to their land. Yet Zosui and his council refused to accept his demand and died for it.
An Uzumaki, woman or man, shinobi or not, was a great treasure. Their chakra density and kekkei genkai made them very dangerous, and that was without taking into account their talents for fuinjutsus.
The woman and the girl would have been good resources for them, yet Kusa hesitated in parting with their treasures, and Konoha came and robbed them blind.
Kusa had always been a fickle ally—changing sides like a shinobi changed masks. Kusa was no true friend of Iwa, and he had no desire to shed blood because of them once more.
"What?" Gari backed off as Ohnoki's eyes narrowed.
"Do not mask your own desire for revenge with the humiliation of Kusa," he thundered, and Gari grew tepid as Ohnoki saw through the fool's attempts at trying to bait him.
He had been the Tsuchikage for years, and could see through such ploys in the blink of an eye.
"The Yellow Devil was responsible for the destruction of your unit, so your rage is justified," he added in a soothing manner.
"My own blood boils every time I see his face or hear his name," and now he would have to sit beside him, and breathe the same air as him. But Ohnoki was not blind to the consequences of any attempt on Namikaze's life.
War. Death. Destruction.
"Then why do you stop me?" Gari screamed at him, throwing his hands.
"Why do you stop me from ending his life!" and it was this naivety, and inexperience that he still wore the mantle of Tsuchikage while his peers had all retired or died. Iwa's next generation was too prideful and too filled with vengeance and rage to think critically.
Most of them wished to initiate another war, though Ohnoki knew that, as things were, starting another war would simply push them closer to the edge, for Konoha had only strengthened itself in the past years.
"Because attacking him like this is futile," he added, and Ohnoki was powerful. He had faced titans like Madara himself, and for decades, no shinobi had come close to the power of these titans, until him.
His power may not be as overwhelming as Madara's or Hashirama's, but he was no less dangerous than either of those monsters. Namikaze's teleportation technique made him a menace to deal with, for he was a shinobi you could not trap. He was a shinobi who could move through battlefields in the blink of an eye, making killing him nearly impossible.
"Trapping Namikaze is impossible, and so attacking him is futile," he said as he rose into the air and turned towards the door.
"You will cease this foolishness at once," he commanded in his most ruthless voice, as he pushed out his chakra, reminding Gari of his position.
"I know that you have been in contact with some criminals in this regard, but you will cease it all at once. I will not have you thrust us into another war!" for he had seen enough death.
"Do you understand, jounin Gari!" and he was angry, yet he nodded nonetheless.
"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama," and he nodded, and just as he was about to leave for the initiation ceremony, Gari called out again.
"You said that we were all your children," he whispered in an angry, frustrated voice.
"Yet you feel no rage at the slaughter we suffered, at the dead I had to bury," and he knew how difficult life had been for Gari, for he was the last survivor of the Explosion Corps, the one which Namikaze had slaughtered.
He was plagued with guilt and pain at the loss of his entire corps and wished to exact revenge.
"You are my children," he whispered without looking back.
"That is exactly why I must stop you from making a mistake..." he said, leaving the room and heading towards the booth prepared for the Kages.
Apart from him only Namikaze was participating in the ceremony, and was already there along with the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa of Golden Sand.
He did not deign them with a greeting as he floated towards his position and plopped down, as Rasa stood up and walked towards the edge of the booth, and made the declaration to a cheering and thundering crowd.
"Let the final stage of the Chunin Exams begin...."
And with that, the screen in the middle turned on, and the matches were all displayed, though Ohnoki was only focused on the one's involving the team from Iwa.
Deidara vs Kurenai Yuhi
Akatsuchi vs Maki Toribane
Kurotsuchi vs Saiko Uchiha
0000
Miles away as eighteen genin from different nations entered the ring to fight for their futures, Jiraiya the Sanin broke through the seal on the cave entrance after five days and as he entered the cave he found himself stunned at the sight in front of him.
For there it was, a massive statue and nothing could have prepared him for its sheer size, and as his eyes were taking that in suddenly he found his body grow cold, as his senses screamed at him to run far away.
His primal instinct was suddenly screaming at him to run away, as the cave was flooded with massive amount of chakra, and his eyes readily landed on the source of this chakra, and it was coming from a throne built in between the hands of the giant 'Gedo Mazo.'
A throne which was occupied by a shinobi, the whole world had thought dead for generations, yet as he sat there, he looked exactly as described in the texts of his sensei and his sensei's sensei.
"It cannot be," he whispered as he disrupted his chakra, thinking it all to be a genjutsu, yet it was not.
"I have waited weeks for you to show up," the voice thundered across the cave, as the man on the throne stood up and jumped down.
"It really is you," the white-haired shinobi gasped as he readied himself for battle.
"Now do not disappoint me, little monkey," he said, landing in front of him, as sweat dripped down his face, as the man swung back his gunbai and threw it over his shoulder.
"Show me!" the man said, eyes gleaming.
"The power of a sage from this new era."
0000
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