(IC) The Life of a Shinobi (Chapters 3-4: The Chunin Exams Tournament)

"Kazuma!" exclaimed a voice from behind. It was Raiku. He noticed Kazuma leaving the bunker and chose to follow him. "Where are you going Kazuma?" he asked.

Back in the stadium, Sanmaru had arrived just as the remaining anbu confirmed Anon was dead. "Yes," replied Konohamaru, "We are alright." "Do we have any idea what is going on here?" asked Gaara, "An unprovoked invasion wouldn't make sense."

"It is to my belief that the Akatsuki are reunited," Sanmaru reported, "and they are still trying to achieve their original goal. Only this this time, they're in league with the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Even as we speak, Eight-Tails is on a warpath; given all this information, I fear that Kitsune, you, & even Lady Ayano are in grave danger."



"Don't even bother, sensei," Kazuma said in a barely calm tone. "Nothing you can say is going to make me turn back. I feel like I have to do this."

"Gaara," said Konohamaru, "You go find your daughter. Sanmaru, me and you are going out to assist Kitsune in his battle."

Before Raiku could respond to Kazuma, a Cloud shinobi intercepted them, landing on a roof right in Kazuma's path. "Hi!" said the shinobi as she waved at Kazuma, "Not sure what you 'needed to do', but my assumption is that you're trying to interfere with our plans. Well unfortunately I can't let you do that. Sooooooooooooo...you can either crawl back into that hole you just came out of or you can play with me for a little while until I get bored and decide to kill you. Which one will it be?"

"Interesting proposal, here's my counter-offer!" Kazuma dashed toward the kunoichi and then exceuted a rapid spin-kick aimed for her head

Kitsune and Gamakichi battle against Gyuki was turning out to be a draw. Gyuki overwhelming power, Kitsune's skill, and Gamakichi's battle experience clashed with no one giving in. Meanwhile back in the village, Mugen took advantage of sensei's distraction (thanks to Kazuma) to run off to battle. As he ran he picked a nice hiding spot once their he used he's scroll to summon what looked to be a smaller version of the Kunai launcher. "I haven't even got a chance to tested it yet," Mugen said as he load the weapon with nail like darts.

He down and looked out toward the battle, after spot a cloud ninja about to kill a young leaf ninja, Mugen steadied use aim and fired. The dart flew out of the barrel of his weapon and through the air at the speed of sound. When it hit the cloud ninja in the head he dropped instantly. Mugen smiled happily that his invention worked turned to look for more targets.

Having missed with his tailed beast ball, Gyuki became angry.  "Hold still you blasted frog!" he yelled.  Suddenly, a voice was heard in the distance.  "Doton: Otoshibuta (Earth Style: Buta Futa!)"  A massive pig lid dropped from the sky on top of Gamakichi, trapping him and Kitsune inside.  "Sorry I'm late," said Danji as he approached Gyuki, "I had to deal with a few pesky leaf jonin."  "Well this one is ten times as pesky," replied Gyuki.  "No problem," said Danji, "We'll finish this battle quickly."


Back inside the village, Kazuma attempted a spinning kick on Mienna's head.  However, Mienna simply smiled and quickly pulled out her swords to block the kick.  "Let's see how tough your legs are when they run right into my blades," she thought.

Elsewhere, as Mugen was testing out his invention, a cloud shinobi landed behind him. "Nice invention," he said, "Maybe after I kill you I could bring that back to the cloud and get it mass produced for our military."

"Oh crap!!" Kazuma noticed her pull out her swords at the last second and by using his other foot, rebounded off of them and backflipped away. Once he landed, he stood up and stared down his opponent. "Who are you?" he demanded, "why are you doing this?"


"I think we're almost there," Sanmaru said to Konahamaru as they sped towards the fight. "I highly recommend we hurry, Lord Hokage." In his head he thought, I sure hope those kids are doing okay...

"My name is Mienna," she replied, "As you can see, I'm a cloud shinobi. I'm fighting you because I'm loyal to my village. As to why my village is fighting your village, well you'd have to ask the Raikage. Anyway, enough about that. Let's fight!" Mienna rushed towards Kazuma with her swords ready to strike.

Konohamaru, Sanmaru, and the remaining anbu agent arrived at the gate of the leaf village and saw Gyuki in the distance with Danji on his head. Konohamaru noticed that the individual on Gyuki's head had an akatsuki robe on him. "You were right Sanmaru," said Konohamaru, "The Akatsuki have returned." Konohamaru then sprinted towards the fight, eager to make sure Kitsune was alright.

Mugen looked back at the cloud and smiled, "I hope you said your prays," he said before jumping off the roof. At the cloud ninja's feet was a explosive sticky glue with a paper bomb trap on it. Mugen knew that the sound of use dart launcher would tell people where he was, so the trap was the best idea he could come up would. The downside was the glue: it made an explosion bigger then Mugen wanted.

As he jumped, the blast blow Mugen across the street to the roof Kazuma and Mienna was on. He landed screaming between the two as they were rushing each other. "Ah man," said Mugen in pain, "I think I over did it alittle..."

The unsuspecting cloud ninja was blown away by the blast.

As Mugen landed between Mienna and Kazuma, Mienna stopped. "What the?" she said; staring at the genin.

Back outside the leaf village, Gyuki and Danji approached the pig lid. Gyuki placed his 8 tentacles like a cage around the lid as he waited for Danji to get rid of the lid. "He's not going anywhere now," said Gyuki. "We've got you now nine tails," said Danji just before he canceled the lid summon, causing it to disappear in a poof of smoke.

"Kakusu-Ken?!? What the hell are you doing? You're supposed to be with the others!" Kazuma was surprised to see Mugen; Raiku especially.


"Oh no, we're too late," Sanmaru said as he and the anbu agent went with the Hokage. "Listen, those Cloud ninja are still a problem. Let's deal with them and the Jinchuriki, but keep Lord Konahamaru safe."

Through the smoke, a pair of arms grabbed Gyuki and four rasengans hit him sending him flying. As the smoke cleared Gamakichi was gone and Kitsune was in the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. "surprise," said Kitsune, "nine-tailed rasengan special." It was by this time the hokage showed up, Kitsune quickly leaped to his side, "Lord Hokage," he said, "I glad to see you're okay."



Back In the village, Hiro was stopped by Rokku, "when about that," he said, "the Raikage's dead no need for me to get my hands dirty for no reason, right." Hiro began to walk away pushing Rokku aside. Elsewhere in the village Mugen stubled to his feet after his hard landing. "Y'know Kazuma, I could ask you the same thing," he said.

Hiro tried to push Rokku aside but the golem did not move. Rokku grabbed Hiro's shoulder, halting his movement. "If your village will not pay you then the akatsuki will," said Rokku as he began to squeeze Hiro's shoulder, "If you refuse then the akatsuki will be unhappy.  You wouldn't want the akatsuki to be unhappy with you now would you?"

Gyuki was caught off guard by the sudden attack, but his injuries were minor.

"And I'm even more glad to see you're okay," replied Konohamaru.  "Well isn't this a wonderful reunion," said Danji, "I guess this means the Raikage has been defeated.  However, I'm not about to allow this invasion to be a waste.  I'm leaving with that fox!"  Gyuki roared and began to stampede towards Kitsune and the others.

"Over my dead body!" Sanmaru exclaimed. Weaving only two hand-signs he hollered, "Kage Nui no Jutsu!!(Shadow Stitching Justu) and his shadow sprung to life in the form of thousands of giant black needles. They shot up from the ground and impaled Gyuki, restraining him from advancing any further. "I'll hold him as long as I can," he told Kitsune and Konahamaru, "in the meantime you need to get out of here. Find the Kazekage and Lady Ayano, and retreat back to the bunkers!"


Meanwhile on the other side of the village, Kazuma disregarded Mugen's witty remark. "Whatever. Right now it doesn't matter, go back now!" He looked back to Mienna "As for you, looks like you and I are going to be 'playing' for a while." And with that Kazuma pulled out two kunai, one in each hand and got into a battle stance

"What the heck?!" said Gyuki as the small needles impaled him and stopped his movement.  "That's one strong shinobi," thought Danji, "Being able to stop the movement of Gyuki by himself is no small feat." "We can't leave you here with this thing," said Konohamaru, "Even if we did, the bunkers would only hold out so long.  This thing will level the entire village if we don't stop him right here and now."  "You guys didn't forget about me did you?" said Danji from on top of Gyuki's head, "Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!)"  Danji shot a stream of fire towards the group, specifically Sanmaru. The anbu grabbed Konohomaru and jumped out of the way. "Sanmaru!!" yelled Konohamaru as he saw the massive flames approach him.


Back in the village, Mienna was happy to hear that Kazuma was willing to play with her. She began to charge her lightning chakra into the blades and then she jumped over Mugen and began to charge Kazuma again.

Mugen quickly turned in front of her with and fired a shot at her feet stopping her charge. "Well that's good it still works after a fall," said Mugen talking about the durably of his weapon. He walk toward Kazuma and said, "I don't know where you get off treating me like crap and I don't really care. Like it or don't, we're brothers in arms so you really need to chill out with hating streak you got on me."


Back at the stadium, Hiro looked at Rokku with great distaste, he like other ninja hated the akatsuki. "I've got on idea: why don't you take a nice long pointy rock...AND SHOVE IT," he shouted before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. From behind Hiro covers himself with electricity and slams both his fists onto Rokku. Fist Slam!

The shot from Mugen caused Mienna to trip and fall. She grabbed her foot which was oozing with blood. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!" she exclaimed.

The lightning punch made a huge dent in Rokku, however, the robe he was wearing soon turned to stone and the entire figure collapsed. Apparently, it was some sort of rock substitution. "You have made a very bad choice my friend," said Rokku from a few feet away. Rokku began to seep into the ground, similar to the way Zetsu would travel. "Getting on our bad side is not good," he said as he disappeared into the earth. "Sooo...I'm confused," said the sand ninja, "Who's side are you on kid?"

"Look,you arrogant punk," Kazuma growled, "I'll admit there's nothing about you that I like. But that's irrelevant right now. I work alone, I don't need your help right now." He pushed past Mugen and moved towards Mienna. "Looks like we're going to have to continue this some other time. Until then, stay outta my way...BOTH of you." And with that, he sped off.

Sanmaru noticed the flame attack heading straight for him, but couldn't decide what to do. Damn! If I don't move, I'm toast. But I do, the justu would be cancelled and Eight-Tails will be free! Seeing he had no other option, Sanmaru jumped out of the line of fire at the last second.

Now free, Gyuki turned his attention back towards Kitsune and began to rampage towards him.  Danji, however, jumped off Gyuki's head and landed nearby Konohamaru, the anbu, and Sanmaru.  "If it isn't my old friend Konohamaru," said Danji, "Enjoying your role as Hokage?"  "So I see you were so angry about what happened that you joined the akatsuki," said Konohamaru.  "Quite the sore loser if you ask me," the anbu added.  "To tell you the truth, I am a sore loser," replied Danji, "But as long as I'm a part of the akatsuki I can be a winner.  Once the tailed beasts are collected there won't be anyone who can stop us!" "IF you collect them all that is," added the anbu. Suddenly, Rokku popped up out of the ground behind the anbu and grabbed him. "Ahhhhhh?!" yelled the anbu in fear. Rokku squeezed the anbu tightly, crushing his rib cage in seconds. Rokku then dropped the motionless body on the ground.

Kitsune use the nine-tails speed to overwhelm Gyuki, zipping back and front hit every weak point on his body. "Come on...go down you over grown fish," said Kitsune.

Back at the village Mugen watches as Kazuma walks away, "Man..." he said, "what a dick." Mugen grabs Mienna and dresses her leg, "looks like you're coming with me then."

Kitsune's overwhelming speed kept Gyuki from landing a hit.  "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve nine tails," said Gyuki, "Fūinjutsu: Okutopasu Hōrudo (Sealing Jutsu: Octopus Hold!)"  Gyuki spewed out a large amount of ink from his mouth.  The ink soon turned into about 20 clones of D, rather than clones of Gyuki.  Although physically they aren't nearly as strong as the real D, they are much faster than Gyuki, and are capable of trapping any opponent they get their hands on by solidifying shortly after contact.  "Now attack!!!!" yelled Gyuki.  The 20 clones then charged Kitsune.

"Mugen wait," said Raiku, "I'll hold onto this girl here. You go after Kazuma. It looks like this fight is dying down but it's not over yet."

"Lord Konahamaru we need you to retreat! Get to the bunkers!" Sanmaru said as he threw a few kunai at Rokku with paper bombs.

Meanwhile somewhere back in the village, Kazuma was speeding to the edge of the village. "That Tailed Beast may be powerful," Kazuma said to himself, "but I think if I can stay sharp, I'll manage." Taking on a Jinchuriki by yourself? You've grown to either be brave or stupid. Maybe I'm starting to rub off on you.
Never asked for an opinion, especially not yours.
Well, color me impressed. Not too long ago you were freaking out from the very sound of my voice. Does this you remember me now? The voice said in a curious tone.Only bits and pieces, my memories of the past haven't been always clear. Then surely...you remember my NAME? Kazuma gritted his teeth, and gripped his sword. He paused for a while and finally, Yeah.. I do... But I won't say it!! He continued his way to Gyuki.

Rokku smacked the kunai away with his rock solid hands.  Although the paper bombs exploded shortly after, the kunai, at this point, were not close enough to Rokku for him to feel the full brunt of the blast.  "I'm sorry Sanmaru," said Konohamaru as he glared at Danji, "But I can't leave now." Konohamaru pulled out a kunai and rushed towards Danji, who in turn, blocked Konohamaru's attack with a kunai of his own.  "You shouldn't be worrying so much about your Hokage right now," said Rokku, "You should be worrying more about yourself.  Doton: Doryū Taiga (Earth Style: Great Mud River!)"  After using this jutsu, the ground beneath Sanmaru quickly turned into a pool of mud about 2 feet deep, throwing Sanmaru off balance.

Using Sanmaru's current state as an opening, Rokku rushed over and threw a rock solid punch at the jonin's face.

After lots of searching, Ayano managed to locate Yumi. "Yumi," she said, "We need to use our Jinchuriki powers to assist in the battle against Gyuki and Matatabi. Together we can finish this fight."