Chapter 581: Team 7's Teamwork
Earth land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
May 27, x788.
Early in the morning, before the Genin still qualified to participate in the Chunin Exam had left their lodgings, Alfonzo, Laki, Wendy, Carla, Saeko, and Miyuki had gathered in the living room of their temporary residence.
"So, is everyone ready?" Alfonzo asked in a solemn tone.
In response, Laki and Saeko nodded their heads in confirmation. Meanwhile, Wendy wore a regretful expression, as she could not help with this operation, and Carla looked concerned. Miyuki, on the other hand, wore her usual expression. Though, if one were to look deep into her eyes, they would see that she was also worried.
"Okay, good." Alfonzo continued with a nod of his own. "Laki, you're gonna have to use your [Wood-Make Magic to create some clones of you and Saeko so that it looks like you haven't left the house. Can you do it?"
"I can." Laki replied. "But if anyone gets too close, they'll be able to tell the difference between the clones and the real thing. Then, they'll instantly know we're out of the house without our usual hidden escort."
"Besides, you only mentioned that Laki needs to make clones for her and I." Saeko added. "What about you?"
"Oh, I can take care of that myself." Alfonzo said with a grin.
*Poof!*
In the next instant, Alfonzo was covered in a cloud of smoke. Then, when the cloud dissipated, he was standing there in the same position as if nothing happened. Naturally, this caused everyone to be dumbfounded, as it seemed like Alfonzo had not done anything but caused a cloud of smoke to appear and dissipate. However, they eventually picked up an identical magic power signature to the Alfonzo in front of them. And it was standing directly between Laki and Saeko.
Turning their heads to the place where they picked up the magic power signature, Laki, Wendy, and Saeko were unable to see anything with their eyes. However, their [Magic Power Detection] was telling them that Alfonzo was definitely standing there.
A moment later, both Carla and Miyuki also looked in the direction where everyone else was looking. And they were just in time to see Saeko reach out and touch something.
"What did you do, Alfonzo?" Saeko asked as she wrapped her hands around Alfonzo's right hand. "I know you can turn invisible, but how are there two of you."
In the next instant, Alfonzo stopped bending the light around him with his [Electromagnetism Magic], reappearing between Laki and Saeko. Meanwhile, the [Shadow Clone] he created smiled at everyone smugly.
"I used one of the techniques I learned from that one guy, Danzo's records." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "It's called the [Shadow Clone Jutsu]. Lici can use it, too."
"But how?" Laki asked while patting both Alfonzo's with her hands repeatedly. "I've seen the shinobi use [Ninjutsu]. And they always have to make those hands signs."
"My magic power control is too good for that to matter." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "The hand signs are only there to direct the magic power in a shinobi's body in a certain way. But since I have such good control of my magic power, I only needed to memorize how each hand sign makes my magic power move. Then, I could do it on my own without them."
As the people in the room were some of the more intelligent members of the guild, they all immediately understood Alfonzo's explanation. Then, they found themselves curious to know what kind of things they would be able to do with the Jutsu taught in the Hidden Villages.
Understanding what the ladies were thinking, Alfonzo smiled.
"Don't worry, I made a deal with Hiruzen, remember?" Alfonzo asked. "I'll be able to teach you how to use [Ninjutsu] and Genjutsu] after the Chunin Exams end and the people from the other villages leave."
"Oh, you did say that before, didn't you?" Saeko said with a smile. "Well then, I'm looking forward to it."
"Actually, I'll probably end up teaching you about it early, though." Alfonzo said with a contemplative expression on his face as he turned towards Laki. "From what I've read, [Wood-Style] is the best there is when it comes to suppressing a Tailed Beast. And unfortunately, there's an unstable Jinchuriki in the village right now. And he's participating in the Chunin Exam."
"You don't mean Naruto, do you?" Wendy asked in a concerned tone.
"No, of course not." Alfonzo said while waving dismissively. "He's a kid from the Village Hidden in the Sand in Desierto. And an unstable Jinchuriki increases the chance of the Tailed Beast seizing control. So, I want you to be able to stop him should that happen."
"I understand." Laki replied with a nod. "I wonder how it will feel to make something as big as a Tailed Beast suffer."
Hearing Laki's last sentence, everyone could only smile wryly. Not long after that, Alfonzo made himself invisible again. Then, when Wendy and Carla left for the hospital, he silently followed them out of the house, leaving his clone there to throw off any suspicions, before making his way to the Forest of Death.
From there time flashed forward by about an hour. Currently, all the teams of Genin had been split up and taken to different entrances to the Forest of Death. Meanwhile, Alfonzo was floating in the air, watching Orochimaru, who had killed the female Genin from a team of shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Grass, and took her place in her team without alerting the other members.
"*Sigh* I'm kinda worried about Anko's intelligence." Alfonzo murmured quietly while he continued to watch Orochimaru. "I mean, seriously? Is there anyone else who uses their tongue like that? And even if there is, shouldn't you always assume it's that creepy son of a bitch first?"
Meanwhile, Orochimaru, who was still in disguise, suddenly started looking around warily. He could feel that someone was staring at him. Unfortunately, he was unable to tell where this stare was coming from.
Naturally, Orochimaru's strange behavior, of looking around cautiously, caught the attention of the two Grass Genin accompanying him.
"Hey, is something wrong?"" one of the Genin, a young man, asked in a wary tone.
"No, I'm fine." Orochimaru, using the voice of the young woman he killed, replied in an irritated tone. "Didn't I already tell you, don't talk to me if you don't wanna end up dead? Or… does that mean you're looking to have me kill you?"
Hearing their team mate's cold tone, the two young man who were on her team shuddered violently. For some reason, ever since this morning, their team mate had been in a horrible mood. And although they were used to her threatening to kill them for annoying her, there was never this much killing intent when she did so in the past.
Before the conversation between the Grass shinobi could continue, a smoke signal rose from the center of the Forest. And as soon as it did, the Leaf Chunin responsible for this team of Genin opened the gate leading to the Forest of Death.
Immediately after the gate was opened, Orochimaru and the two Grass Genin dashed into the forest. Naturally, Alfonzo followed them, as well. However, not even thirty seconds after they entered the forest, Orochimaru stopped and turned around to face the two Grass Genin with murder blazing in his eyes.
"What are you thinking?" One of the Genin asked in a scared tone as he took a step back.
"It's unfortunate, but this is where the Chunin exam ends for the two of you." Orochimaru said without dropping his disguise.
Before he could take action, however, Orochimaru came to a stop. Then, he looked around, getting the feeling that he was being watched again. Then, he turned back towards the two Grass Genin and snorted.
"You two should consider yourselves lucky." Orochimaru said as he turned around. "You'll get to live another day. But if I run into you again while we're in this forest, I'm definitely going to kill you."
After speaking his piece, Orochimaru dashed away into the forest at a speed much faster than any Genin could achieve, leaving the two Grass shinobi standing there dumbfounded and afraid.
'I got that same feeling again.' Orochimaru thought to himself as he raced through the forest. 'But there's no way anyone should know who I am. So, there's no need to watch an unimportant Genin girl from the Village Hidden in the Grass. I even used a [Secret Art] to change the feeling of my magic power to that of this girl.'
Unfortunately, the [Secret Art] Orochimaru was referring to only masked the feeling of one's magic power outwardly. But [Magic Power Detection] reads the flow of magic power inside a person or object. So, changing the way it is felt outwardly has no effect. And that's how Alfonzo was able to pick him out so easily.
About an hour and a half later, Orochimaru landed on the limb of a tree overlooking a team of Genin who just defeated an enemy team. And one of those Genin was his target. So, he used his abnormally long tongue to lick his lips in anticipation.
"You'll be the perfect new vessel for me, Sasuke Uchiha." Orochimaru basically purred as he watched Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura search through the belongings of the Rain Genin they just defeated.
Going back about ten minutes, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were running through the Forest of Death, searching for opponents so they could get the scroll they needed. And while they were running, Naruto's eyebrows twitched minutely.
"Hey, guys, can we stop for a minute?" Naruto asked in an embarrassed tone. "I was so excited for the test today that I forgot to go to the bathroom this morning. I wouldn't wanna have an accident while we were fighting an enemy shinobi, you know?"
Hearing what Naruto just said, both Sasuke and Sakura put on disgusted expressions. Still, they stopped so that Naruto could do his business.
In reality, however, thanks to their time spent with Alfonzo and the others from magnolia, the team of Genin had a much better relationship at this point than they did in the Canon version of this event. So, although they wore disgusted expressions, they were actually paying more attention to something else Naruto said. Namely, "fighting an enemy shinobi."
'So, there's one enemy following us, huh?' Sakura and Sasuke thought simultaneously as the group of three came to a stop.
"God, do you have to be so gross, Naruto?" Sakura asked in a disdainful tone. "Whatever, as long as you're gone, that just means I get a little more time alone with my Sasuke."
"Hmph!" Sasuke grunted unconcernedly. "Just hurry up, Loser. We still need to get that other scroll."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going." Naruto replied uncaringly as he walked away from the other two, disappearing behind a nearby tree.
At the same time, just as Naruto could no longer be seen by Sakura and Sasuke, a young male shinobi wearing a pair of goggles, a gas mask, and a forehead protector that signified that he was from the Village Hidden in the Rain carefully and silently snuck towards Naruto from high up in the trees. Then, when he arrived above Naruto and saw him peeing on the trunk of a large tree, he wore a sinister smile under his gas mask as he slowly lowered himself with a wire.
A few moments later, just as Naruto zipped up his pants, the Rain Genin was suspended behind Naruto with a senbon in his hand. Then, with a vicious expression on his face, the Rain Genin stabbed the senbon into the side of Naruto's neck, aiming to kill him in one hit.
*Poof!*
However, as soon as the killing blow was landed, Naruto popped into a cloud of smoke, greatly surprising the Rain Genin. In the next instant, before the Rain Genin could react, he felt a huge impact in the middle of his back.
*Boom!*
"[Rasengan]!" Naruto shouted as he slammed the violently spinning ball of Chakra he held in his hand into the Rain Genin's back.
In the next instant, the wire holding up the Rain Genin snapped and he slammed face first into the tree that Naruto's [Shadow Clone] was just peeing on. And with several broken bones, including his spinal column, the Rain Genin lost consciousness.
"Seriously, how rude do you have to be to ambush a guy while he's taking a pee?" Naruto asked as he stepped forward and grabbed the badly injured Rain Genin. "Well, I'll take this guy to Sasuke, he should be able to find out where this guy's buddies are with some [Genjutsu]."
Not long after that, Naruto, while dragging the Rain Genin, returned to Sakura and Sasuke. Then, he dropped the injured shinobi in front of them like a sack of garbage.
"This guy actually tried to ambush me while I was peeing." Naruto said indignantly. "but I made sure not to kill him. So, Sasuke, why don't you use your Sharingan to find out where his buddies are hiding?"
At first, Sasuke was suspicious about Naruto actually being the one who was beaten and captured while the enemy shinobi used the [Transformation Jutsu] to swap their appearances. But when Naruto mentioned his Sharingan, he dropped those suspicions immediately. No one from outside the village should know that he was the Sharingan, after all. Especially since no one has spoken his name since the exam began.
"Alright, Sasuke replied as he knelt in front of the Rain Genin with his irises turning red and three tomoe spinning in each. "Then, he took off the Rain Genin's goggles, opened his eyelids, and looked directly into the unconscious shinobi's eyes. "Where are your comrades waiting for you?"
Though he was unconscious, the Rain Genin answered Sasuke's question in a tone that sounded as if he was speaking in his sleep thanks to the [Genjutsu] he cast through his eyes. Then, after getting the information he wanted, Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and stood up.
"Alright, let's go." Sasuke said as he turned in the direction the Rain Genin pointed out. "One of the other two is holding the scroll. So we don't need this guy for anything else."
With that, Sasuke dashed forward. And when Naruto was about to follow him, he stopped and looked at Sakura who was kneeling down next to the Rain Genin.
"Sakura, what are you doing?" Naruto asked in a confused tone.
At that moment, a thin needle of magic power extended from Sakura's right index finger. Then, she jabbed it into several acupoints on the Rain Shinobi's torso. After that, she retracted her magic power and stood up.
"Just making sure he won't wake up for a while." Sakura replied. "he should sleep all the way through the rest of this stage of the exam, now. It will be up to luck if he'll be eaten by a wild animal or not."
Hearing that, Naruto could only shiver while thinking that Sakura was scary. Still, he delayed no longer in following after Sasuke with Sakura following him closely. Eventually, both Naruto and Sakura caught up with Sasuke, who was standing on a tree branch overlooking a pair of Rain shinobi.
"That should be them." Sasuke said once Naruto and Sakura arrived.
"How should we handle this, then?" Sakura asked while looking down at the Shinobi.
A moment later, Sasuke's Sharingan activated again. Then, he turned his head towards Sakura.
"Can you jump down between them and create a smoke screen that will not only block their visions but disorient them, too?" Sasuke asked.
"No problem." Sakura replied as she reached into her weapon pouch and put on a pair of gloves.
Then, as soon as both gloves were on properly, Sakura jumped from atop the tree branch, falling towards the place between the two Rain Genin.
"Cha!" Sakura shouted when she was less than half a foot above the two Rain Genin.
"Huh?" The two Genin exclaimed in confusion as they looked up.
*Boom~~~~!*
However, by the time they looked up, Sakura had fallen to the ground between them while using the [Magic Power Strengthening Technique] as she heavily smashed her right fist into the ground. As a result of the impact, the ground was cracked, causing the two Rain Genin to lose their footing. On top of that, a large cloud of dust and debris was shot up, obscuring their fields of vision.
Then, as soon as the dust cloud was kicked up, two dozen shuriken flew into the cloud of dust. Then, after the sound of metals colliding, the wires connected to the shuriken were all pulled taught. And if one were to follow the wires to their source, they would see them all wrapped around Sasuke's fingers from the tree branch above.
"Now, Sakura, move!" Sasuke shouted as he went through a series of hand signs. "[Fire-Style: Fire Dragon Jutsu]."
As soon as she heard Sasuke's shout, Sakura immediately fled from the dust cloud. Then, Sasuke spit a torrent of flames onto the wires connected to his shuriken. When the flames came in contact with the wires, they quickly traveled down them towards the shuriken. As a result, they ended up burning the Rain Genin, who were wrapped by the wires, severely.
A moment later, the flames produced by Sasuke's [Ninjutsu] died out and the dust cloud settled. Now, the only thing left were the burnt corpses of a pair of unlucky Rain shinobi.
"I really hope you didn't burn up the scroll too, Sasuke." Naruto said as he and Sasuke landed next to the corpses. "Otherwise, we're definitely gonna have to look for another team."
"Hmph!" Sasuke snorted. "We might have to look for another team anyway if they have the same scroll as we do."
"Yeah, I guess." Naruto said as he knelt down to rummage through the Rain Genin's belongings.
At that moment, not only did Sakura gather with the rest of her team after jumping away from the dust cloud, but Orochimaru also appeared on a tree branch overlooking the trio. On top of that, all four of them were unaware that Alfonzo was floating nearby, as well.
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