Chapter 8

Rumi and Harry were escorted to a large conference room on the third floor of the Suna Academy. Pausing in front of the door, their Chunin escort opened the door and motioned for them to enter. Walking through the door, both Genin, held their breath, uncertain and excited at what they would find in the room. Walking in, the pair immediately did a preliminary scan of the room, noting all of the possible exits and hazards. Looking over the opposing teams they nodded, it was like the Hokage had said before they left, since the war the villages had focused on quality over quantity. Everyone looked calm and composed, as if they were taking a walk in a park instead of a vital step to advance to another rank. The Genin were talking amongst their team or their village, meditating or were watching the competition. After their initial scan, Team Three waved to the other Konohagakure teams, they had all come at different times, each team having a last minute pep talk with their Sensei. About to walk over to the rest of the teams from their village, Rumi and Harry stopped and changed direction when they saw a team from Kiri that they knew well. Ai Haibara, Ran Mouri, and Shinichi Kudo, were the Genin team under Miwako Sato, the only current, female member of the New Swordsmen, and the wielder of the twin swords, Kiba. The two teams had done couple of C-rank missions together and Ai and Harry sparred together occasionally.

As Team Three neared their Kiri friends, the Kiri team noticed them walking over and they were greeted by the ever enthusiastic Ran. "Harry-kun, Rumi-chan! The Hokage sent you guys too? This is so exciting. I really hope we become Chunin. I wouldn't want to have to do this again in a couple of months." Beside her Ai and Shinichi started to snicker at their teammates usual energetic behaviour.

"Yes Ran, we were given permission to participate in this Chunin exam. It is why we are here" said Harry dryly. "Besides the fact that we are here to participate what is new back in Kirigakure? How is everyone?"

Before Ran could open her mouth Shinichi smoothly began to answer the Konoha teams questions. "Everyone is doing well, they miss you guys though. Kagutsuchi has been complaining about a lack of Fuinjutsu masters in Kiri and wants you to come back. The Mizukage-sama is still pissed at you Rumi for throwing the fish at her." Rumi had the decency to blush and look down, embarrassed. "Other than that, not much has changed. We've done a couple of large C-rank missions but nothing major. Even better was the fact that nothing went wrong on on those missions, unlike the ones we took with you."

"Oh shut up Shinichi, at least we aren't like you, and don't have multiple homicides following us everywhere we go" injected Rumi.

"Hey! That's not my fault" he protested as his teammates and Harry laughed.

From the main entrance walked in a Suna Jonin, he took a brief look around at the Genin waiting to start the exam. Nodding his head at their apparent good behaviour he smirked and raised a large air horn before letting it off. All of the Genin teams jumped and turned to the source of the noise, ready, if need be, to retaliate. Even so, several teams threw projectiles which the Jonin was forced to dodge. Shaking his head, the man pointed them out to several Chunin that had entered the room after he blew the horn. "Those teams that had a member throw something fail, please escort them out of the building." As protests erupted from around the Suna nin the Jonin once again fired off the air horn. "Quite" he yelled into the shocked silence. "On missions there is every possibility that you will be approached by allies in suspicious environments. Being a Chunin means you have the ability to determine friend from foe almost instantly. Something than no shinobi ever needs in the field is friendly fire, it breaks trust in your team and leaves you with injured teammates. We have no need for those traits in our ranks."

The Genin absorbed the lesson given to them as the teams that had thrown something were escorted out of the building, disqualified until the next exam. The Jonin in charge spoke again when all of the expelled teams had left the room.

"I am Abe Kakeru, Suna Jonin and exam Procter. It is my job to start weeding out the week and worthless from amongst you. When the exam starts you will proceed into the next room, there you will be direct to a seat at which you start a written exam. You will have exactly one hour to answer sixty questions. After the hour limit is up I will be collecting the exams. You have two chances if you are caught cheating before you will be tossed from the exam." Abe motioned to a chunin who walked around the room assigning number to individual genin who then went into the next room to sit at their assigned desk.

Harry and Rumi were assigned numbers rather far from each other. They recalled the stories that the Hokage told them of his own chunin exam and realize that this was likely to be very simile Both were well prepared for this aspect of the exams. Rumi with her byakugan, she had activated it in Kiri and gotten training for it when she had gotten back to Konoha. Harry on the other hand had several options, he could use the mirrorscape to see out of, he also could try with legilimency which he had been praticing with Anko. They both found the test surprisingly easier than they had expected it to be but figured it was because of the natural advantage they had.

Every once in a while the Procter would single out a group and toss them from the exam, eventually lowering the number of participants. Then the time was up and the chunin was collecting the exams. While that was going on a Suna Kunoichi walked into the room that was familiar to both Harry and Rumi, it was Temari. She gave a small smile as she noticed the two looking at her before walking to the front of the room and turning to address everyone left.

"Congratulations on making it through the first exam. I am Temari and I will be the second exam Procter. Meet me at the village entrance tomorrow morning at 6." With that she walked straight back out of the room. It took a moment before the genin realize they had been dismissed and began to get up and leave. Harry looked over to Rumi who indicated they should wait for the rush to leave to finish. Quickly they were the only ones left and they got up and began to walk out of the building together.

"What do you think, survival test?" Harry asked.

"Likely, it does so far seems to be very similarly structured to Dad's exam." Rumi agreed. "Also, even if it is not, having a supplies on hand is never really a problem especially if they are sealed away.

The two members of team three met up with their sensei who agreed with their thoughts about the second exam. Before going back to their rooms and relaxing the team went out an got supplies for a week in the desert.

It was Five thirty when Team Three arrived at the gates, deciding that being there early was probably the best option for them. They waited around by themselves for a while until they were joined by the other Konoha teams and eventually the Kiri teams as well. Talking and trading jokes made the half hour pass by quickly and before they knew it Temari was catching everyone's attention.

"A ninja should always be prepared for any eventuality," began Temari. "One never knows what they might be called upon to do. Such as a week long search and rescue in the desert." Harry noted with some amusement that a few teams actually paled and started to get nervous at this announcement. He wasn't worried, both Rumi and him were prepared even before adding his magic into the equation. "We have hidden several puppets out in the desert within a three days run. Your jobs are to find a puppet and protect it until the end of the week at which point you will find a stadium somewhere in the desert where the third task will take place. You will all receive a tracker, if at some point you give up or need medical assistance send up an alert, the desert is a dangerous place and the purpose of the exams are not to kill you but rather to strengthen you all. Good luck to you all". With that she handed a receiver to each team as they passed her on her way out of the gate.

Team Three was already near the front of the crowd so they got out of the village quickly. Harry took out a kunai and while it was covered by his sleeve palmed it in his hand and muttered a spell. "Point me puppet". Instantly the kunai shifted and pointed slightly to the left. Nodding to Rumi they veered off into following Harry's directions. By the time night fell they had run a large distance from the village and only recently found the puppet they were looking for. As they were looking for it they found more traditional trails that they erased to make it harder for others to find them.

Once they found the puppet Rumi suggest that Harry seal it away, making them appear as if they didn't have one. Agreeing he did so before they decided to set up camp for the night. Rumi was very grateful that he had taken to getting as may spells as he could learnt wandlessly as Harry set up minor wards around them to alert them if anyone was coming near as well as hiding them.

"Lets use that spell of yours to find this arena of theirs" Rumi suggested when they woke up the next morning.

"Sure" Harry agreed easily. "Should we try to enter the arena? Its probably the safest idea, outside is going to turn into an all out free for all on the last day."

"Lets do it. We will find a room and hide it like you did last night, then on the last day lets just appear in the doorway in case they have any instructions."

It was surprisingly difficult to enter the tower Team Three found but between their individual skills they managed and hid in a room for the remaining days. On the last day they made their way down to the entrance and quickly opened and shut the door. Very quickly Temari appeared before them. "So you guys are the first to appear, Congratulations. Where is your puppet?" Harry unsealed the puppet and handed it to her. "Cleaver. Go down this hallway to the arena."

Every team that had made it through the desert was now gathered in the large building that they were instructed to find after surviving for a week. Standing at the base of a rather large arena were nine teams, two from Konoha, three from Suna, one from Kiri, one from Kumo, one from grass, and one from Taki. The gathered Genin looked up into a balcony that overlooked the arena. Standing on the balcony was Gaara, the Kazekage, who watched the Chunin hopefuls as they waited for further instructions. Having enough, he got up and began to speak.

"Around two decades ago, I, like your selves right now, stood in front of a kage as a Chunin hopeful. At the time the situation in the Elemental nations was vastly different than what it is today. When the Hokage stood to address us he told us the truth of the world as it was then. We, the Genin, were sent out to the Chunin exams as representatives of our respective villages to take part in the exams not get promoted but rather to show off our villages prowess and kill off the competition. The Hokage revealed to us that despite what we heard about treaties and alliances, the Elemental Nations were stuck in a cold war state, just waiting for a spark to ignite the ticking time bomb that we were.

For three years after our exams, the tensions grew to unbelievable amounts. We all knew something was coming but we weren't sure what exactly it was. Then Akatuski moved into the open and the spark was ignited. They started by capturing all of the jinchūriki. As their assault continued we found loyalties were called into question, true allegiances were revealed and traitors abounded. Across the nations, loyal shinobi were found to betray their villages. Here in Sunagakure we were betrayed by my brother Kankero, who felt that I was my Biju and had killed his brother, and our sensei Baki, who lusted after my sister Temari and desired her as a prize for betraying us. In Konohagakure, Hatake Kakashi decided to abandon his village to train his student , in misplaced desire to repay his teammate for giving him his Sharingan. He was joined by Sakura Haruno, a delusional girl who believe she was in love with the said student, her body was eventually found raped and throat slit by the very boy she thought she loved. In Kumogakure, both of their jinchūriki were betrayed by inside sources, the eight tails, by his own student, who felt that it was the path of least bloodshed and the two tails by the several members of the merchant guilds in Kumo who had been rebuffed by the girl and wanted revenge. Those are just some of the biggest betrayals we faced, their spies were imbedded everywhere on every level of our system.

Despite all of the difficulties we faced, we persevered and slowly, one by one we defeated our enemies. We even managed to regain some of the people we had lost, thanks to our opponents fascination with forcing us to face our loved ones. First to fall was Madara, the final blow being given by Tsunade, it was then when we learned another horrible truth, Madara had just been a front, a diversion, for the real chess master, Obito. The same Obito who had given Kakashi his eye, had faked his death and left to bring about his twisted version of world peace. For all of his brilliance, Obito was the next to fall, Using a combination of brute force and fuinjutsu our army led by Naruto, myself and all of the revived ex jinchūriki managed to disrupt the sealing process when Obito was attempting to make himself into the jinchūriki of the Juubi. Interrupting the process enabled the allied shinobi forces to mimic the same prcess done by the Rikuda Sennin centuries the process enabled the allied shinobi forces to mimic the same process done by the Rikudo Sennin centuries ago. The Ten Tailed beast shattered like a pane of glass being blown open. Chakra shards rained down of the field filled with warriors and slowly reformed into the eight stolen tailed beasts, Naruto still had the nine tails contained within him. The regular human Chakra mixed with the Tailed beasts' demonic Chakra burst through Obito's body, frying him instantly, his body not able to deal with the massive amounts of corrosive energy with out being adapted as it would have been had the beast been sealed within him.

It was then we felt the war was finally over, casualties from every village were enormous, despite the amount of people that were resurrected. Everyone was exhausted, including all of the Tailed beasts. Then appeared another foe, Like the scavenger that he was, appeared Orochimaru with his subordinates Kabuto and Sasuke. Sasuke came to kill Naruto in revenge for killing his brother and Orochimaru came to destroy the exhausted Konohagakure. Once again we despaired but none the less took up arms for the third time in several weeks. The regular shinobi of the Allied forces faced Orochimaru's experimental army while the Kage's and the ex jinchūriki's teamed up with the Biju to fight the leaders. I myself fought alongside Naruto and Shukkaku as we faced off against Sasuke. In the end after another long battle we won and discovered just how disturbed Orochimaru truly was. He had split up his soul to allow himself to be immortal. It was this discovery that truly led to a true alliance and the peace that has managed to survive until today.

Now, a inter-village system set up, always sharing information and monitoring and helping each other out. No longer are we stuck in a cold war, worried about a spark that will annihilate our village. Instead we now share a glorious future of peace. You are here because while we may not be at war right now, peace is something that is always worth fighting for, no matter what. Who knows what comes in the future to challenge us. That why these exams now are about working with other villages as well as working to the best of your abilities. You are all here because you are the best your villages have to offer. As so many of you have made it two this round we will be having an elimination round before having a final tournament in a week. Does anyone feel that they are unable to continue?"

The gennin looked around at each other before the the other Konoha team and the team from Grass decided that they were to injured or tired to continue. Both teams were escorted out of the arena and presumable to get medical attention.

With that sorted Gaara continued. "We will be randomly selecting names to fight against each other and we will be narrowing the contestants down to half. Please go to the side and watch the screens."

Everyone went to the side and watched the screens. The first two called were from Suna and Taki, It was a pretty quick fight, the Taki nin was still pretty tired and in bad condition while the Suna nin was better off. Up next was Rumi and a Suna nin. As she walked up Harry whispered to her. "Try not to reveal too much. Leave a surprise for the final matches." She just grinned and walked into the arena.

Standing on her end Rumi studied the Suna nin walking up to her. He was waking with a swagger. His team probably got off lightly getting in the tower and figured that home advantage would give the match to him. Rumi smirked, she knew just how to deal with this match both not revealing too much and at the same time making a good impression. Before the match even started she form several chakra chains and channelled them down into the ground through her feet. She stopped them just underneath her opponent. The official calling the matches looked between the two of them making sure they were both ready. At their nods he raised his hand and started the match. Her opponent opened his mouth to thrash her but she didn't give him a chance before her chains burst through the ground encircling him and tightening in until he surrendered. Banishing the chains she sauntered off towards Harry who smiled and gave her a high five.

Next up was Ai who dominated her fight against a Suna genin. She used her superior speed and her sword to keep away from her opponent dealing glancing blows until her opponent wasn't able to stand anymore. A Suna kunichi beat a Kumo Shinobi followed by a Suna nin beating a Taki nin and a and another Suna beating his fellow villager. Soon it was Ran's turn, she was a taijutsu specialist who was scary strong. She crushed the Suna gennin she was against sending him to the infirmary with cracked ribs.

Finally Harry was up. He was fighting a Taki gennin who was at least twice his size and probably several years older as well. Not wanting to reveal to many of his abilities Harry had a idea he wanted to try. As the official started the match Harry locked eyes with his opponent and glared, focusing both legilimency and killing intent directly at the poor Taki gennin who immediately began shaking in fear. Combining the killing intent and the accompanying death visions with the legilimency to find and use the genin worst fears was nearly immediately effective. Harry just had to ask polity for the genin to surrender and he did so immediately, rushing to get away from Harry. Harry just walked calming back up to sit next to Rumi smirking as she fist bumped him.

The next match was Shinichi who engaged his opponent, a Kumo genin in jutsu battle. He used mostly water techniques which he had no worries running out of thanks to the seals that Harry had helped make while in Kiri. This put his opponent who was strangely a fire element at a severe disadvantage. The battle didn't last long before Shinichi caught the Kumo genin in a water prison and the genin surrendered. The last battle was Kumo and Suna genin with the Kumo coming out victorious.

After all the matches had been completed the genin once again gathered before the Kazekage. "Congratulations to all of you who have made it this far. In one weeks time we will gather here again for a final tournament to decide your ranks. Prepare yourselves.

So this has been a long time coming. Thanks for waiting for it and for everyone in the meanwhile who followed. Big thanks to Yumi Edogawa for the pm just for that extra burst of energy. Its just been a fairly long past few years and very little creative juices but thankfully I'm back at writing stuff. Got a few things I'm working on such as this, a hp/LoZ crossover, novelizing some music albums, and my own original novel. Oh and School, just started that. So ya, I'm not dead and have no plans to abandon anything I ever write, it might just take a while to get to it. Fair warning I don't have a beta or anything so this is just me checking over it so mistakes may be made, feel free to correct me, nicely please Also, obviously this is AU and its been planned long before the series ended, so ignore most of it. So y'all hang in there and read and review.

2015-10-02