Koutou kept staring at the board, speaking just before Onoki crossed the threshold to leave. He kept moving the pieces. "She was brave Ryoutenbin. Praise her for it." -Crack-
"Also." -Click- "I've done you a kindness. One day I will expect one in return." -Crack-
"Is that all?" Onoki asked.
-Click-
"One more thing."
-Crack-
"Don't throw your games."
The kage turned looking over his shoulder where he could see his queen before the king in a perfect checkmate.
He turned and left.
Koutou stood after a moment, groaning as his back cracked after so many hours.
"Never liked this game anyway." He muttered before heading inside himself.
-0-
Naruto woke by the time midday was already approaching, blinking curiously as the memories of his clone assaulted him, bringing him to full wakefulness with a pounding headache.
It was one of the reasons he was so hesitant on using his once signature jutsu.
Brain damage wasn't exactly something he could just bounce back from without Kurama's help.
If he overloaded himself here he could very easily die.
He had sent out ten clones and had one dispel every hour on the hour to avoid an overload of information.
As it was this was his seventh clone and the headache was getting to the point of needing an aspirin. The next two would probably be migraine inducing.
He began to sort through the memories. Random strands of thoughts and emotions flitted through his minds eye as he recalled the clone's night search.
His eyes snapped open. "Lucky number seven." He muttered.
"Whazzat?" Ryoko muttered eyes still closed as she sat by the fire trying to pull herself free of the last vestiges of sleep. Her hair was a mess. Clearly she was not a morning person.
Naruto pulled the smile off his lips. "Oh...uhhh...nothing. So I'm thinking we should head uhh." He paused, looking down the slope a bit. "That way." He pointed.
"Why?" Ryofu asked blinking in genuine curiosity.
"I got a good feeling." Naruto replied simply.
-0-
It was with some coaxing (insistent whining) that Naruto managed to convince his teammates to go with his suggestion.
Tracking the gennin after they reached the spot where Naruto's clone had been dispelled was a bit trickier.
Naruto was never a tracker. But with some nature chakra he was able to sense all the teams around them and decided to make a bee line to the closest one in the direction that they'd been heading when his clone had seen them
They ran into three other teams and were losing daylight by the time they finally came across their targets making camp.
"These assholes have kunai!" Ryoko hissed.
"Shh."
"Survival test my ass! That proctor sabotaged us!"
Kyofu grabbed the girl by the shoulder, pulling her down and looking at both her and Naruto. "Yes, irritating. We get that. Now we need a plan." She muttered, eyes growing pensive as she dared another look around the boulder. "Ok...they're obviously setting up camp now, they'll be setting up their traps soon."
"Hit them before they do?" Naruto ventured leaning up and over. Tactics were never his strongest suit...Sakura used to come up with them. He would drop into the place and start cracking heads. Discovering an enemies weakness mid fight he could do. Using the terrain, predicting movements, reactions well in advance, not so much.
"No." She muttered. "Right now we don't know anything about their physical abilities so..." She dared another glance, the gennin were beginning to dig the pit for the fire while two others kept a lookout. She narrowed her eyes.
Idea...
-0-
"You know." Madoka cursed as his kunai was used as a makeshift spade, digging into the ground to carve out a rough ditch. "I aint doing this again! It was your turn this time Tomo!"
"Quit whining." another, Tomo perhaps, replied. "I get to keep watch and rub those two goddamn sticks for the fire for a whole hour before it actually takes. You really wanna do that?"
"Stop complaining both of you. We haven't found our targets yet and we have no idea who could be looking for us. So stop acting like this is a back yard camp!"
Tomo snorted, Madoka grumbled.
Finally, the pit was dug and the two traded places while the third went to begin setting up the traps around the camp.
Tomo rubbed furiously is hands rolled one stick between them as its tip dug into the kindling to try and light it.
Smoke rose in a gentle gossamer thin string the kusa gennin leaned in close to try and blow the embers into flames.
His hands worked and worked, calloused grips growing sore with the dry tinders stubborn refusal to hold a light.
"Come on!" He growled leaning in to blow once more.
Then the fire exploded in his face and the wind batted the embers into his eyes.
"AAARGH!" He screamed bloody murder, clawing at his eyes as the burning tinder blinded him.
"Tomo!"
"What happened!" Both gennin screamed rushing towards their crying teammate.
With one's back exposed, Ryoko exploded from the shadows of the rocks, a stick in her hand, a crude wind blade glowing across its surface!
The two gennin turned their attention to her, allowing Naruto to leap out of the shadows."
"Dynamic entry!" He cried just before his six year old frame was latched around one Gennin's head, coiling his legs around his neck while his hands beat furiously on his head with the blunt end of kunai he pilfered off from where they were slipped on the boy's shoulder holster.
Many adults would call the fact that he was laughing at this violence rather disturbing.
The last standing gennin floundered, not knowing where to turn his attention before Ryoko was on top of him.
He brought his kunai to bare, only for the wind blade to slice them cleanly, leaving the confused boy with nothing but the hilts before that same stick, with the chakra enhanced blade, now absent, breaking over his head.
The girl grabbed him by the hair, bringing his face down on her knee as he reeled. Then she punched him once, grabbing him by the collar before he could fall and punched him two more times for good measure before she ripped his shuriken pouch off his leg and let him hit the ground.
"Take my goddamn weapons from me!" She muttered, cursing under her breath as though the gennin was the guilty party here.
Naruto was still giggling "Say uncle!" He demanded, choking the red eyed young man and hitting him over the head with the kunai when he tried to raise his arms to strike him. Key word being tried. Naruto moved to dodge the blows easilly and absorb them where he couldn't. "Come on! Say it!"
"He can't say anything Naruto." Kyofu chided as she stepped out from wherever she'd been hiding. "One needs air for that.
The gennin fell to his knees and Naruto finally relented in his grip, springing off his target leaving the Konoha team standing amongst three pitifully groaning enemies.
Kyofu marched up to the one best suited to speak at the moment. Seeing as how one was crying with burnt eyes and the other was most likely sporting a concussion, or skull fractures.
"Where's your token?" She asked.
The gennin gulped coughing as he tried to force air through his abused throat. "To-tomo has it."
The purple haired girl looked to the one with the burnt out eyes.
"I'll get it." Naruto offered, marching forward and looking through the pockets. "Don't worry buddy." He consoled. "The stinging stops after a bit and there shouldn't be scarring once a med nin sees ya."
He hoped that last part was true anyway.
He patted through the multiple pouches and pockets in the teens camo jacket.
A movement caught Kyofu's eye and she turned in time to see the gennin Naruto had been choking reach into his own pocket and toss the token down the side of the mountain.
"No!" Ryoko roared.
Kyofu's finger snapped out, and a thin blue chakra string latched onto the thing before yanking it back to her hand.
She winked down at the writhing gennin. "Nice try."
"Where the hell'd you learn that?" Her silver haired teammate questioned. "Sensei didn't teach us that!"
Kyofu giggled. "Did you forget I had a team and sensei before joining yours? Come on. Maybe if we push down the mountain we could even make it to the village tonight and avoid our hunters altogether!"
-0-
They did push on through the night. With Orochimaru's endurance training they were able to keep a furious pace, climbing down the mountain and rushing through the surrounding forest at speed.
By the time they reached the gates, they were exhausted, but happy. The chuunin guards at the entrance could barely contain his curled lip when he let them through.
They found out later why that was.
They were the first team down the mountain.
Evidently, they'd just set something of a record.
.
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