(IC) The Life of a Shinobi (Chapter 2: The Chunin Exams Preliminary Round)

The seventeen students were in the cafeteria eating a meal before the tournament in 2 hours.  Each team was seated at their own table, but the sensei were not present.  In two hours, these seventeen teenagers would be pitted against each other in a tournament.  Although efforts are made to avoid such an outcome, it is inevitable that some of these students will not survive the tournament.  This is the Chunin Exams.

As Kaori ate her sandwich, she looked around at all the other students in the room.  She didn't want to admit it, but she felt intimidated by a lot of them, especially the one team from the Hidden Sand Village.  "Some of these guys look pretty tough huh?" she said to Mugen.

"Chill out Kaori," Mugen said as he was eating raman, "It's not like we haven't beat tough guys before, right?"

"Careful, that kind of confidence here can attract the wrong attention," said a voice from behind him. Another shinobi from their own village stood there, a dango and rice ball in hand. He looked a bit older, and had fiery red eyes and a devil-may-care attitude. "Although, personally I admire your optimism, as irrelevant as it may be."

"Hey Kaori, can you pass me the teriyaki sauce?" says Mugen disregarding the boy's comment.

Geez, for a hot-headed ninja he sure can give the cold shoulder, thought Kazuma with a disgruntled look. Not that it wasn't to be expected, he was fully aware of Mugen's rep through his ninja info cards and from experience back at the Ninja Academy. Just then, he hears a shy murmur from his side. "U-umm, Kazuma... I-I tried finding Renji...but uh.. " It was his teammate, Hizana Uzumaki. Kazuma first knew of Hizana because of her parents; her mother, Hinata Hyuuga, part of the main branch of her clan, and her father, Naruto Uzumaki, the previous Hokage, and the ninja that saved this village on more than one occasion. He was a hero to everyone, his tragic end felt a little too early for many... especially Hizana, but they both try not to talk about it. "Don't worry about it, he'll turn up soon", said Kazuma, "probably trying to make a move on Lien and Nani again." She put a small smile on her face, and for a moment, he saw Hizana's mother in her (or at least from what he's seen in history scrolls). She tries to keep a low profile due to her pedigree, despite how little the effectiveness was back at the academy, not to mention how big of a target she was back in the Forest of Death. I barely had any rest that day..

"Oh... hey Hizana long time no see. How you been?" Mugen asked to Hizana. Mugen has known Uzumaki family since he was little, Naruto and Mugen's parents were good friends. When they died, Hinata took in him and his sister until they were able to move out when she became a chunnin. Mugen would still pay a visit to train and hang out, but since his last mission it has been a month since he could see her and her brother Kaito. "So how's you're brother doin still getting into trouble I bet."

"Oh! Hi, Mugen. He's okay, I guess," Hizana replied, trying not to look a little offended. "Well, I'm going to find us a spot, okay Kazuma?" Kazuma looks away, pretending not to care "Yeah, sure, do whatcha want." With a slightly confused look, she begins to walks off but then outta nowhere...

"You guys having a party without me??" Zashimaru Renji suddenly appeared in front of her, causing her to practically jump out of her skin. "Hahaha! what's up, Hizana, you look like you saw a ghost," he said with a devilish grin. And YOU look like a train wreck Kazuma retorted to himself, as he took note of the scrapes and and small bruises. Yeah, I can tell Thunder Thighs didn't take a shine to his usual antics.. "H-h-hey! Th-that wasn't very funny!" piped a teary-eyed Hizana. "Oh, lighten up," he said, and then takes a look at the group. "Well, well, well, we have the hottie tomboy, the mop-headed troublemaking bookworm, the shy purebred, and the passive-aggressive douchbag. What a colorful motley-looking set of characters here." His remark was replied by a sharp backfist to his head by Kazuma. "The only 'motley-lookin' one here is you, ya red-eyed rodent." Rubbing his aching head, he mumbles under his breath, " 'Red-eyed rodent?' Look who's calling the kettle black.."

"Well I see you haven't changed Renji, you're still a baka," says a sarcastic Mugen, "Hey Kazuma, Hizana I'm thinking of killing your teammate..." In the back of Mugen mind, he can still remember all the fun times they all had at the academy. From the pranks to the field training even the never ending rivalry between him and Kazuma. As Mugen was thinking two chunnin approached the group, "Can you guys ever NOT cause me a lot of trouble" one of them said to them.

She was Mugen's big sister: Akira Kakusu-Ken

And the other one was Hizana big brother: Kaito Uzumaki

Kazuma puts a wry smirk on his face at the sight of them. "Well look who decided to grace us with their presence," he said dryly. Hizana looks up and beams at Kaito. "Hello, big brother! I'm so glad you made it! And hello to you, too, Akira-sensei." Hizana and Kazuma both knew Akira Kakasu-Ken in their own way; Hizana, when she use to talk to Mugen and she would tease them of being "love birds", and Kazuma from the times he and Mugen recieved "parental correcting" from Akira whenever they would cross swords (sometimes literally). Being an orphan and knowing no other blood relatives (except maybe Renji, but that's just his suspicion) the only family he knew grewing up was his "father" Mifune, and Akira who acted like a big sister to him as well.
Well, a big sister who would kill me if I even so much as breathed wrong, he thought in a matter-of-fact tone. Seriously, she would be kinda cute if she weren't so scary.... He doesn't really know much of Kaito's story, just that he's a good guy if not a mischievous buffoon. A lot of people say Kaito is just like his father.

"Ha, all of you leaf shinobi think you're so tough," said a voice from a nearby table.  The voice came from Doske Getsuga, a shinobi from the cloud village who was here for the chunin exams.  Doske walked over to Mugen and Kaori's table where many of the students had gathered.  "You fools act so cocky.  And you squabble with each other about who's stronger as if us cloud and sand shinobi are insignificant.  During this tournament, we will teach you leaf shinobi a lesson."

"Oh yeah," says Kaito,"well my lil sister and Mugen are gonna kick your butt into next week!" Kaito's outburst got the attention of everyone in the room including the sand ninja sitting near by.

Yeah, just like his father alright, thought Kazuma with a grimace. This is EXCATLY what he was trying to avoid. However, just like Kaori, he's been eyeing these guys for a while; not only did they look intimidating, there was something...off about this lot. Like they seem to be out of place.. Regardless, Kazuma reluctantly stepped up and came in between the two. "Save your squabble for the exam, you two," he retorted. "You there, Cloud ninja. Unless you have significant business with us, you're wasting our time and yours. And as for YOU," he motions to Kaito, Hizana at his side with a nervous look, "you need to keep a cool head. Promoting your sister like that is asking for trouble, not to mention you are a jonin, you're supposed to set an example of what it means to be shinobi."

"Ha ha ha, that would true if I was a jonin," Kaito says jokingly just before Akira slugs him in the head. "The only reason you're not a jonin is because you're an idiot," she shouted at him. This makes Mugen laugh as he finished his raman, "what I tell you Hizana; boss is always causing trouble," he says while standing up. Mugen then walks to Doske and says, "sorry bout the noise, we didn't mean to offend you. I hope to meet you in the ring; I'd love to get a crack at that hidden blade you got there."

Before Doske could respond to Kazuma or Mugen, the door to the cafeteria opened and revealed a figure. It was Rento Aya, the facilitator of the chunin exams tournament. "Greetings young genin," he said as he walked in, "The tournament will begin in about an hour, so please finish your meals and make your way to the battle room across the hall."

An hour later...

All the students and their senseis were present in the Chunin Exams Preliminary Battle Room. This is where the first round of the tournament would be held. Those who win their battles would be moved onto the final round which will take place in the Chunin exams stadium where the entire leaf village can watch. Along with the participating teams, The 7th Hokage, Konohamaru was present. "Our tech team is having some difficulties with the screens, but we should be starting shortly," he said.

Kazuma, along with Renji and Hizana, stood against the railing overlooking the whole arena. "So. This is it," said Renji. Both he and Kazuma were analyzing the competition. "This could get interesting."
"THIS could be a drag," Kazuma said. "But, it would be interesting to see where everyone stands in skill."
"But what was the deal with that Cloud guy?" asked Hizana, "I thought my father and Kazekage Gaara help bring the nations together."

Renji simply said "Ahh, he was just being a jerk."
"I think there's more to him than meets the eye. What do you think, sensei?" Sanmaru went silent for a while and finally said " True, the previous Hokage took part in bringing the nations together. As a matter of fact, that's what this part of the exam is mostly for. But a lot has changed since then." Kazuma folded his arms in agreement, replying "different generation, different ideals." Sanmaru nods, "Exactly." But to be honest, I could care less at the moment, Kazuma thought to himself. My biggest concern of this exam is... He turns to look at Mugen. Beating him is his primary goal right now. He can't wait to show him what it truly means to have power, to show how stronger than him he was. His bandaged arm suddenly throbbed and then he heard AftEr aLL, wE WERE ranKEd in ThE Top 3... Suprised, Kazuma quickly turns around and asks, "Did any of you guys say something?" Renji half-heartedly gave a shrug while Hizana looked puzzled by his question. "F-forget it," Kazuma said as he turned around, trying to save face. Hmm..that was strange. I could've sworn someone was talking to me..

"That was reckless," Akira to Mugen as they waited, "couldn't you tell that he something was off about him." Mugen who was sitting against the wall said, "yeah I could, but I just wanted to let him know that I wasn't born yesterday." "I swear you're act just like dad sometimes," says Akira. Despite his carefree attitude Mugen had sharp senses and could tell how strong the cloud ninja was; but Mugen also loved to mess with people heads.

As the students waited for the tournament to start, Shikaru Nara walked over to Mugen. Shikaru Nara is the son of Shikamaru Nara, the current head of the Nara clan. He was in the cafeteria with the others but never came over to the table. "Hey Mugen, I heard you guys talking about those cloud shinobi and I have the same feeling. We should keep an eye on them and be prepared to take action if things get crazy."

Shikaru Nara was one of the few kids at the academy that didn't bully Mugen for his family being foreigners. Since Mugen himself was born in the leaf, Shikaru saw little point to it. "Yeah sure," Mugen answered, "I'd hated to go to war with my families homeland."

"Alright, the technical difficulties have been dealt with and we are ready to begin," said the Hokage. All the shinobi in the room turned their attention to the large screens on the wall. The pictures on the screen cycled through each student at random. Finally, the pictures on both screens stopped cycling and landed on a student's face.

The two students who will participate in the first battle are Zashimaru Renji and Inomi Yamanaka.

"Well, I guess I'm up," Renji said with a confident smirk. "Just stay focused. We don't need you trying to be flirtatious during your fight," Sanmaru said solemnly. Renji glanced back and gave a "I-can't-guarantee-you-that" look, and as Kazuma and Hizana wished him luck he jumped off the railing, landing onto the arena.

Hizana turned to Kazuma and asks, "You think he can win this one?"
Kazuma pauses for a moment and replies, "Well, if his romantic antics don't get in the way, this should just be like a simple warm-up."

"What do you mean?"
"It's Inomi we're talking about. She's so introverted the worst she can do is hurt a fly."
"What may seem like a blossom may very well be a Venus fly-trap," Sanmaru suddenly says. When both of his genin looked at him quizzically, he adds "What I am trying to say is that there can be more to this girl than is perceived." After all, he thought to himself, she's from a prominent clan, the Yamanakas. So I wouldn't be surprised if I saw a significant amount of potential.

"Looks like it's Romeo vs your girl," Mugen says to Shikaru, "who you think will win?"

"Ehhh...Inomi has never been too good at 1 on 1 fights," said Shikaru, "She's more of a supporter.  However, that Zashimaru guy has a known weakness for girls, so I really can't be sure how this thing will turn out."

Inomi jumped down into the arena.  She was quite nervous.  I mean, she's fighting 1 on 1 in front of lots of people.  Either she'll lose and be embarrassed or she'll win and have to move onto the next round where even more people will be watching.  So its actually a lose lose situation for her.  Rento Aya, the chunin exams facilitator, stood in the middle of Inomi and Zashimaru.  "There are no rules in this fight.  However, in order to save as many lives as possible,  I will end the fight if it seems necessary.  Combatants are also allowed to surrender by raising their hand and saying so.  With that said...combatants...you may begin!"

Renji smiled and simply said to his opponent, "Don't worry, I'll make this quick and painless, wouldn't want to damage that cute little face." He then winks and chuckles lightly.

Kazuma and Hizana both simultaneously frowned. Oh boy, there he goes again, they said to themselves.

"But first, a piece of advice on fighting," Renji said abruptly. While Inomi has a confused look, he continues. He puts up two fingers, as if he were giving a lesson, begins to say, "The most important thing to do.." Suddenly, a clone appears out of nowhere behind Inomi in mid-air and exclaims, "...is to THINK FAST!" While in the air, the clone does a spinning whip kick into Inomi's side, sending her flying toward Renji. He then does a backflip and catches her gut with his foot, flinging her 4 feet across the arena.

Although confused by Zashimaru's quick attack, Inomi managed to land on her feet. She quickly pulls out a kunai and takes a defensive stance. She really isn't sure how to go about this fight. As Shikaru stated, she is more of a support type and has little offensive experience, especially in 1 on 1 fights. "Oh man, what am I gonna do?" she thought to herself, "Maybe if I just focus on defending myself against his attacks then I can just look for an open opportunity to attack."

Sanmaru and Kazuma stood on the sidelines shaking their heads. "He came out the gates with that one, that flamboyant buffoon," Kazuma muttered. "More or less reckless," replied Sanmaru, "if he's not careful, there is bound to be an opening that girl can find and exploit."

Renji stood by his clone and visually inspected his opponent. Heh, this might be easier than I thought. "Hey, I hope I didn't hurt you too bad," he says to Inomi. With a sly smirk the clone adds, "Maybe when this is all over, you and I could possibly go somewhere together; movie, restaurant, your choice."