章 42: The Second Stage.

Kurotsuchi smirked as he saw Team 7, the team that little brat was part of from Konoha get attacked by monsters in all sides. That would make her feel better for the humiliation he caused her.

Akatsuchi next to her frowned,"Don't be mean to some little boys!" Kurotsuchi just rolled her pink eyes,"The brat deserves it, he literally made me search for him all over Iwagakure! He made me waste my time."

Onoki coughed as he put the bag behind him down,"Your back is not working properly again, old man!" Kurotsuchi grinned,"Just give me the Kage Hat, I'll make sure to put it to good use!"

The third Tsuchikage snorted," I'm still young and powerful enough to hold this hat! You still need to wait for a few more years…"

Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes,"Let's look at the brats now, I want to see that brat suffer...BURN!"

"Lord Tsuchikage, there is a problem!"

Ryu sneezed,'Fuu must be thinking about me~' He grinned and slashed a weird insect with his sword. He then raised a hand and muttered,"Water Style - Water Wave!" And water surged out of his mouth to form a large wave, which blocked several of those monsters.

Yato slammed his foot into one of the monsters and did not even activate his Byakugan, a waste of Chakra, his pure taijutsu, Gentle Fist was more than enough to deal with those.

Ken wanted to use a Fire Style jutsu, but it would be a bad move, since they were surrounded by thick and tall trees, they could possibly catch fire and burn…

Ryu looked at Ken, who nodded, the Uzumaki then flashed through hand seals and shouted,"Wind Style - Great Breakthrough!" He performed this high rank Wind jutsu easily, sending several dozens of monsters flying away.

"That is enough for now, we need to seek that weird fruit, Yato, can you do us the favor?" Ryu cheekily said and pointed at Yato, who rolled his eyes and awakened his Pure Byakugan. He frowned,"The fruit we are looking for is at the middle of this mountain…"

Ryu noticed the look on Yato's face and asked,"What's up? Is there something wrong there?" The Hyuuga nodded,"It seems there are at least five shinobis around it. All high chunin level. There is something Iwa did not account into this."

Ken snorted,"So what, we can just smash them all together, we are the strongest there is! Don't underestimate us." Ryu rolled his eyes,"It seems someone wants to make this Chunin Exam fail."

"Can you look at their clothes, and tell us if they look familiar?" Yato snorted,"The Byakugan is not that overpowered dude! I can't do that. But judging by their chakra… They seem to be from Kiri."

"Kiri…? What the hell do they want in Iwa, only genins from Kiri came here, and if they are chunin it means that they are planning something… Very annoying and troublesome it seems." Ryu groaned.

Ken snorted,"They must be here to ambush the other teams, to try weakening all the other villages by cutting their future pillars. Either way, they must be coated in clothes which do not match their Kirigakure Shinobis status."

The trio decided to run around the corners of this 'mountain' and patrol. For now there was no use to rush the mission, and since they were going at around 85 kph they didn't have to rush, as the rest were left in dust.

Ryu looked around the opening to the cave where the Kiri Shinobi were inside of, the apple they were seeking was inside there. However, the team from Konoha wouldn't act yet… They'd allow others to test those shinobis first

He flashed through hand seals, and slammed his palms into the ground,"Summoning Jutsu - Bug!" An extremely small bug appeared in front of them, and flew inside the cave. "That will be our link to what happens inside the cave, if Yato is not enough."

Ryu said, and the other two nodded. That would be good. Ken decided to practice his EMS in the meantime. The boy grinned, and did several hand seals,"Earth Style - Earth Orb!" A large amount of mud covered him, thus his activities were unknown to the rest.

Yato snorted, it was getting late,"I Think we should just sleep, you can leave a Wood Clone just to be safe." Ryu nodded,' I can always also use a Soul Clone, since my reserves are almost comparable to 5 kages together.'

The peace in Konoha was pleasing. Minato was relaxing, after his son's Wood Clones continued signing the paperwork for him. Shadow Clones worked before, but they sometimes rebelled, and it was very annoying.

The Fourth Hokage was having a nice discussion with the Third, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The two were drinking tea, and talking about the recent information Jiraiya had given them, before going to Iwagakure.

Iwa was being too aggressive. They did not want to go to the table and speak about peace, they only wanted to fight. Even getting a simple peace treaty had been almost impossible due to Onoki.

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed,"Onoki was always stubborn like that, every time I saw him, he usually just wanted to fight, and boy… He was not weak at all. I must say that he is about the same level as me."

Minato laughed,"Naruto and Jiraiya also went to visit Ryu… Hopefully Onoki-san won't make a big deal out of it… Otherwise I will need to continue with what I left behind almost two decades ago."

No… He wouldn't even need to move, a certain redhead would destroy Iwa herself. There was no doubt about it, no one hurt her family, not even her brother or father, or even anyone else.

"Speaking of that… How is Mina? She is just about three months old, Kushina should still be tired dealing with her." Hiruzen said with a bit of concern. Kushina was someone he considered as his niece, if not daughter.

Minato smiled,"Thank for your concern, Mina and Kushina are both alright. The little baby is very active, less than Ryu but still comparable to Naruto and Yuki… The three gave her so many sleepless nights. I should go help her."

Hiruzen Chuckled