Restoration of Faith

Karrafear

Summary: SEQUAL to Faith in Humanity; Naruto OOC; PG-13. After Sandaime's death, Naruto made a promise to himself to defy his own destiny and pursue a future that will lead to freedom and happiness. Chapter Twenty-Six: Chuunin Exam - First Phase V

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"Demon's talk", /Thoughts/, "Speech", 'Speech emphasis', (FLASHBACK), Titles,  (Author's interruptions)

Warning: Not much happening in this chapter at all. A lot of talking and describing but that’s about it. No action this time. However, I do hope you guys like my descriptions of the Kuunoki village. ^_^ You can even find a link to a picture I drew of the entire village on my profile’s page. I hope you enjoy.

I’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank the following people for supplying the Original Characters that will be showing up from here on out (yes, you know who you are): Hitomi no Ryu, Sam, Reeki Shadowstar, and Bryan Terran! Thank you all very much for the creations of the OCs, and now, they’re finally mine to butcher and maim as I see fit. Hee hee! This will be fun!

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Chapter 26

Closing the thick book she had been reading, Sakura coughed at the resulting dust that came floating up into the air due to her action. Glancing over the worn cover of the book she wondered who had been the last person to have touched these ancient looking books besides herself. By the layer of dust that covered all of them upon the old wooden shelves, she felt that it must have been at least several years since they were last touched.

/Judging by age, Seiko was probably the last person down here./ Giving a heavy sigh, Sakura couldn’t help but compare her progress with that of the child prodigy of the Dokudes clan. /I’m thirteen years old, struggling to handle the concepts of something Seiko probably learnt when she was what? Four? Five? It’s so ridiculous how weak Konoha’s knowledge of medical theories are compared to the Kuunokis, no wonder Tsunade-sama is such a damn Medical guru. She must have looked like she could heal anything with the knowledge she holds on the concepts written in these scrolls.../ Another heavy sigh left Sakura as she mentally went over the parting moment between herself and her teachers back in Konoha. /I miss them... I miss home.../

Sakura’s sombre thoughts were cut off abruptly by the door to the chamber opening slightly, a young but regal looking woman entered the room quietly but gracefully. She walked towards Sakura with a gentle but calm expression upon her pale face, violet eyes gleaming in the candle lit room. Folding the violet flowered, Kimono sleeves, the women gracefully sat across from Sakura (and her pile of books on top of the low table), with a small but gentle smile on her face.

"Good afternoon, Ryoko-sama (1)." Sakura gave a respectful bow before the woman, disregarding the cramp she felt from sitting too long on her knees.

"How are your studies going, Sakura-kun?" The woman’s voice was deep, powerful, but at the same time gentle.

"It’s... going well. I’m half way through the books you had given me on the concept of DNA Sequencing, or Deoxyribonucleic acid (2)." Sakura stated calmly even while eyeing warily the huge pile of books and scrolls that had been handed to her the moment she had met her designated sensei.

"You are having problems understanding the theories." This was a statement, not a question. "What exactly are you having problems with?"

Sakura blushed. From a very young age, Sakura had always been prided for her book smarts, and very rarely had she ever had to ask for help regarding a concept or theory. She usually just absorbs everything she reads and memorises it. Now she finds herself having to ask for explanations that should have been obvious to her due to the fact that she had undergone some Medical training, and under Tsunade - the greatest Medical Ninja known through out the world as well. It was embarrassing and humiliating at the same time. Why couldn’t she understand it - this question was eating her alive.

However, like all great students, the goal of learning surpasses her pride and preconceived self-consciousness. And as such, Sakura pushed away her pride in order to answer the seemingly innocent question.

"I just don’t understand how DNA can be manipulated after it has already been developed." Sakura finally answered. "I mean, I’ll understand it if we’re dealing with the DNA of an unborn baby, let’s say... The DNA sequencing of an unborn baby has not been completely confirmed, and therefore can easily be manipulated by the addition of extra genes or chromosomes. But a fully developed man or women would have had all their (normally) 23 pairs of chromosomes and mitochondrial DNA (3) developed all the way to adulthood. How can we change that during such a late stage of life?" Sakura explained with a doubtful expression on her face.

A long pause followed Sakura’s questioning, before the Dokudes leader deemed ready to answer. "Anything that is born can die. Anything that is formed can be broken or destroyed. Even DNA... can mutate. And it is the art of cell mutation that you will learn. With forced cell mutation, you are literary breaking the very fabric of the human DNA sequence, regardless of age or conformity." Watching Sakura’s still doubtful expression, Ryoko continued to explain. "When you perform a healing jutsu, what exactly are you doing to the DNA of your patient?" She asked.

Sakura frowned in concentration as she thought about her answer. "I’m using my chakra to encourage the patient’s cells to regenerate and heal over the injuries or wounds."

"And is that so different to cellular mutation?" Ryoko asked with a lifted eyebrow. "You’re just using Chakra to force good, living cells into multiplying and taking away the rotting or dead cells in the body. Cellular mutation goes one step further." Sakura’s blank face met Ryoko’s explanation.

"A cell's basic machinery separates the DNA double helix, and uses each DNA strand as a template for creating a copy of the previous strand. Errors that occur during the creation process are called mutations. Mutations are the results of the cells' attempts to repair chemical imperfections that occurred during the process. For example, when a base is accidentally skipped, inserted, or incorrectly copied, or the chain is trimmed, or added to – these are all categorized as mutations. On rare occasions, wrong pairing can happen as well. Mutations can also occur after chemical damage (through mutagens), light (UV damage), or through other more complicated gene swapping events. (4)"

"You also have to remember that cells die and regenerate constantly. As such, mutations can occur regardless of a person’s age. For example, if an adult comes into contact with radiation, his or her DNA is easily mutated by the properties exhibited by the radiant, regardless of their age or physical development. Mind you, children are more susceptible to genetic changes, but mutations occur all the time and through out their entire lives. It simply doesn’t matter at what stage of development the mutation occurs."

"Taking that into account, chakra can be used to simulate any of the mentioned mutations I have listed previously. But you have to remember; even a small change in the DNA strand will have catastrophic results. As such, you must have extreme precision, perfect chakra control and an expert knowledge over the human genome to even attempt anything on someone’s live DNA sequence. A very difficult combination to achieve." Ryoko concluded as she slowly got up into a standing position. Turning away from her student, the regal woman made her way towards the door once more.

Sliding it open, Ryoko paused in mid stride towards the outside world. "Take a break, Sakura. You’ve been cooped down here in the Dokudes Library too long. You should take some time out to meet your friends. By the way, there are only a few more days left before the Chuunin exam participants make it here. So relax a little." The older woman said before completely stepping out of the room and leaving a contemplative Sakura behind.

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Folding the wooden door inward and sliding it towards the side, Sakura tentatively stepped through the threshold to meet the sunlight she had not known she’d miss. Pausing to close the old, Chinese style sliding door (5) behind her, Sakura took a deep breath of fresh air before scanning her surrounding for anyone she knew. Looking from one side to the next, Sakura concluded that she was alone in the Dokudes residential district.

This wasn’t unusual, as most of the Dokudes members she had met were similar to the Hyuugas but far more isolated. They each had their own lads in order to work in, or they were responsible for the general running of the village itself. For example, she had met a few Dokudes members who were in charge of maintaining the seals that handle the water purification plant, separating the raw sewerage and filtering them again and again until the water was reusable once more. It was a fascinating tour that Sakura and Shikamaru had been introduced to on their first day arrival to the Kuunoki village.

[FLASHBACK]

Blinking in order to get use to the bright sunlight, Sakura shivered slightly at the cooler air that suddenly surrounded her. Having spent most of her life living in the Fire nation, she was not use to the cool (almost cold) air that circulates the Kuunoki. Not only that, but as a medic nin, she could instantaneously tell the difference in air pressure as well as the thinness of the air itself, in which she breathed in with every breath.

Watching her having trouble breathing, Naruto quickly calmed her as best he could. "It takes a while to get use to the thin air. But you must calm down Sakura. Take a deep breath; hold it for 5 seconds, and then release. Do this again and again until your heart calms down. The key to getting use to this place fast is to breathe as deeply as you can. Whatever you do, don’t panic and start panting; that will make you breathless and with a lack of oxygen you may pass out."

Following her old team mate’s instruction, Sakura soon got use to the thinness of the air. Nodding back in affirmation of her calmed state, the foursome (Sakura, Shikamaru, Naruto and Jubei) started moving forward towards their destination. And it was during this time that Sakura and Shikamaru caught the first glimpse of the ancient Village hidden in the air.

The Kuunoki village didn’t really match their expectations to say the least. It was sparse and lonely looking, the buildings were old by very much still in top shape, the roads were worn and perfectly flat. It was disconcerting to say the least when comparing Kuunoki’s silent, almost frozen disposition against Konoha’s lively atmosphere. Amused by the expressions on the faces of the two newly promoted Chuunins, Naruto decided to give them a brief description of what the Kuunoki village is like, while Jubei led them silently towards the Council’s tower.

Clearing his throat, Naruto began to describe the Kuunoki village as he remembered it. "For a village built on top of one of the tallest mountains in the world, the hidden Air Village is much smaller village than Konoha. Roughly a quarter in size to Konoha, much of the land here is simply open plain and bricked pathways, sprinkled with a few really old trees here and there. As you can see, the buildings are all straight cut, made mainly from wooden pillars and floorboards, red mud bricks and grey curved tiled roofs (6). All the accommodation houses are built into units stretching many metres in long straight lines, instead of the roundish architecture style that Konoha is famous for. Each unit of houses either belongs to long standing clan, like the Dokudes, or are conjoined together to create one large community housing area, shared between several families."

"Many things within the Kuunoki village are community based as well." Naruto explained. "For example, there is no such thing as a private bath within any of the houses. As such, everyone attends the public bath houses. It is the same with eating arrangements; there is a massive town hall building in which everyone arrives together during meal times. Chores and various community based tasks are also shared - like the multitude of agricultural fields that have to be harvested, the hunting of meat, the maintenance of power from the wind mills and water mills, the maintenance of the water purification system, the maintenance of the gas house as well as other necessary utilities; even chores that deal with the general cleanliness of the village as a whole is a shared responsibility between all the villages. Pretty much the only people who don’t have to do all these menial things are the members of the Uzumaki family. Since they are the traditional rules of the Kuunoki, they are exempt from these day-to-day routines."

"You will find very little individualism here, other than the fighting styles and specialities of each individual person you will come to met. The Kuunoki is a very tight-nit community." Naruto concluded before mumbling under his breath. "That’s one of the reasons why they are so heavily controlled by the council and detest outside influences."

Crossing over a zigzagged wooden bridge over crystal clear running water, the three Chuunins and one Gate Guardian cross over the seemingly small stream onto an island within a large lake located right in the heart of the Kuunoki village. Stopping in mid-step, Jubei turned around to face the Chuunins before him. "Well, this is as far as I take you guys. Naruto-sama, you will have to show them to the 7 Councillors first, and then after that, I’d suggest giving them a tour of the place, before bringing them to their authorised sensei’s. I’m gonna have to leave you guys now as I’ve still got the Chuunin exams to proctor. So yeah, see ya!" With those words, Jubei summoned forth one of his teleportation rings and disappeared, leaving the three teenagers before him alone in a seemingly desolate village.

Giving a heavy sigh, Naruto trudged on. "Come on."

"Um... Naruto? Who is my sensei? From Jubei’s tone of voice, it seems as if you already know. And why is it I have to go to this person; isn’t my sensei going to at least introduce themselves while we meet the council?" Sakura asked in curiosity as she followed in her team-mate’s footsteps. 

"You have to understand something, Sakura. We may be guests, but more than that, we are outsiders. We have to work to the schedules of the locals, not the other way around. If my guess is right, you’ve probably been apprenticed to, Seiko’s mother who is the current head of the Dokudes Clan. She’s also the most powerful medical ninja in the Kuunoki at the moment. And no, we’ll have to go find her; she won’t be making any effort in finding us. That’s because we haven’t proven ourselves worthy yet of the apprenticeship. Well, that is, you haven’t, Sakura." Naruto answered rather timidly, hoping that Sakura won’t be disappointed by his explanations.

Sakura, having taken some time to think over Naruto’s words, finally nodded in confirmation. "I understand. I’ll just have to work really hard to impress her, yeah?"

Smiling, Naruto was glad that Sakura hadn’t taken his words the wrong way. This time it was Shikamaru who sighed in tiredness that drew the other two’s attention. "Man, this is so troublesome. Meeting the council first thing, man they really want to eat us alive don’t they?"

Naruto’s smile immediately disappeared the moment Shikamaru mentioned the Councillors. "Guys, I’ll give you some hints as to how to act in front of the Councillors. Rule number 1, you must NOT speak unless spoken to. Rule number 2, you must show ABSOLUTE respect to each and every member of the council 7. Rule number 3, you must NOT contradict the council’s ruling, or else you will find yourself in a very painful situation. This also means that you have to follow everything the Councillors say. Trust me, it’s the easiest way to deal with them. Just go in, bow, stay quiet and show your respect, listen to every word they say and follow their rules. If you do all that, then you’ll be fine. Do not EVER go against the councillors; because if you do, not even I or Aunt Ruri can protect you from punishment. And usually, punishment in the Kuunoki is death. Everyone got that?" He asked sternly.

Sakura gulped in apprehension but nodded succinctly. Shikamaru only sighed heavily before nodding in confirmation as well.

It didn’t take long for the three Konoha Chuunins to reach the large red bricked building before them. Naruto took it upon himself to knock on the golden handrails connected to the large, intimidating doors. A second later, the doors moved on their own, opening without needing any assistance at all. The atmosphere instantly became tense with fear and apprehension; the air heavy with pressure, pressing on the shoulders of the Chuunins while they took their time walking silently into the building. Once they crossed the threshold, the doors behind them slammed shut without any warning. If the three hadn’t been so tense in the first place, they would have found it funny that their entire situation mirrored that of a haunted house to the ‘T’.

Walking as nonchalantly as possible, Naruto led his two comrades to the council chamber. Passing the multitude of curtains and walls of fabric separating the outer doors with the inner chamber, the three Konoha Nins soon found themselves in the heart of the building.

Directly in front of them stood a golden throne of some sort, where Ruri sat straight as a pillar. Her eyes were sharp, mouth thinned to a straight line and face impassive. Beside her, Kaga also stood in a straight posture – not intimidating but not really welcoming either. However, it wasn’t Kaga or Ruri that caught the attentions of Shikamaru and Sakura; it was the seven cloaked forms sitting in a straight line on high cushions on left side of the room that made them feel uneasy. All seven forms were cloaked under a large layer of white cloth, covering everything from their toes to their fingers to their faces and even their hair. The seven were of different sizes, some were small, others were tall, but each looked unnatural in their own way as if nature was never meant to look... well... this ‘white’.

Forcing their attentions away from the seven intimidating figures, the three faced forward and concurrently bowed deeply towards Ruri as a show of reverent respect, dropping straight down to their knees in the effort.

"Name." Ruri’s voice was stone cold and it sliced through the thick tension in the air.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto answered succinctly.

"Nara Shikamaru." Shikamaru’s voice never wavered even under the intense scrutiny.

"Haruno Sakura." Sakura’s voice however, by comparison was softer and slightly nervous but she answered none the less.

"Proof of invitation." Ruri’s voice rang through out the silent chamber once more, confusing Sakura and Shikamaru instantly. Luckily for them however, Naruto quickly retrieved from his pocket the original invite scroll given to them by Jubei – the same one that Tsunade had read previously. He placed the delicate looking scroll onto the floor before the three teenagers and bowed once more.

Kaga stepped forward and retrieved the scroll in silence. Unrolling the scroll slightly, he read through the inscriptions written on it, before rolling it back up. Turning towards the council 7, Kaga nodded once as confirmation. With that done, he turned his back onto the teenage ninjas and trudged back to his original spot beside the Lady Oracle.

"Acknowledged." Ruri finally answered, confirming their introduction into Kuunoki society. It was then that the first of the councillors spoke. Her voice was old and ephemeral, flowing and yet unnatural. It was an eerie voice that brought chills down all three Chuunin’s spines.

"Welcome to the Kuunokigakure no Sato. To stay, you must abide by these rules. Remember, breaking of any rules will result in death of torture. Number 1, NO killing without authorisation of the 7; number 2, No stealing... period; number 3, never disrespect any member of the Kuunoki, number 4, ..."

The next 2 hours were spent listening to the droning of that first member of the seven high councillors. It was shocking how there were so many rules and regulation to live under if you wish to stay in the Kuunoki. Both Sakura and Shikamaru were so bored that they had to fight hard not to fall asleep on their cramped knees as that would be disrespectful of the councillors. Naruto too, had his mind drifted off to some other issue completely different to their current situation. Suffice to say, all three were grateful when the councillor finally concluded her speech by ending with: "And the final rule, number 1477, never practice chakra control on the mountain sides of Mount Tenju. That is all."

It was only a minute later that found all three Chuunins yawning and stretching their legs outside the council tower. "Man. That was boring and soooo troublesome." Shikamaru whined.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Naruto refocussed on what they were to do now. "I should give you guys a tour of the place. You won’t be expected to join your senseis until night fall anyway. I bet you’re all pretty hungry too so we can go to the food hall to grab something to eat while we’re at it."

With that conclusion in mind, Naruto led the two new arrivals towards the food court. Once they have actually reached the food court, Sakura was surprised by the small number of people actually in the building having lunch. Sure, Naruto had warned her that the Kuunoki only had a total population of around 5 to 6 hundred people, but it was still shocking for her to see such a sparse and yet empty village. "Naruto. Where is everyone?" She nodded to the dozen or so people sitting around the food court having a variety of meals for their lunch.

"Most people here only eat twice a day – breakfast and dinner. So it isn’t unusual to see so few people during lunch time. Come on." Naruto led the way towards the food counter and collected some food for himself and his fellow Konoha Chuunins. There were mainly vegetarian food that both Shikamaru and Sakura found to be very different in taste to the foods of Konoha but it still tasted rather good none the less. At the same time, Naruto did his best to introduce the new arrivals to a few of the people that were present. There were some Dokudes members, two from Tori’s family, and the rest were an assortment of various small clans that Sakura and Shikamaru had never heard of, let alone knew about.

Sitting down on an empty table somewhere, Naruto lowered his voice as he continued his explanations to his two comrades. "We’re given the silent treatment at the moment because they don’t know how to deal with us yet. Give them a bit of time and they would generally become friendlier. Though don’t expect to make any real friends here. They may be tolerant, but they will never see us as anything but apprentices to their own people." Naruto warned.

After lunch, Naruto showed them the water mills and wind mill farms on the Eastern end of the village, the various housing complexes to the south, to the gas stations and water purification plant on the west, to the massive stadium and tall towers to the North. He also indicated the stairs that led to the Uzumaki palace at the top of the Kuunoki village, but did not take them here.

By the time they had finished their tour it was dinner time and once again, Naruto led them back to the food hall for some food. Just as Naruto had described, Sakura and Shikamaru found themselves to be more welcomed than during lunch time. Rumours of their arrival had obviously passed through most of the Kuunoki population but even then, the three still found themselves sitting together on an empty table of their own, either for comfort or due to the high intensity stares aimed their way.

Suddenly, Naruto spotted someone on the other end of the massive building. Tugging on Sakura’s sleeve, he pulled her along as he walked his way (passing many people) towards the person he had caught a glimpse of. Stopping before an elegant looking woman with long, dark violet hair tide into a top bun, brilliant violet eyes and perfectly smooth, pale skin, wearing a deep, violet flowered kimono; Naruto bowed in respect followed by Sakura. "Dokudes Ryoko-sama. This is Haruno Sakura, my comrade from Konoha." He answered and introduced.

The Dokudes clan head bowed demurely in front of Naruto before giving Sakura an analysing glance. "She has potential." She pointed out without much explanation. And that was the end of the conversation. Naruto bowed once more before pulling Sakura back to their original seats where Shikamaru was still hibernating.

"What the hell was that about?" Sakura whispered urgently to Naruto.

Naruto shrugged. "She’s your sensei for the next couple of months, I think."

"WHAT?!" Sakura’s surprised shout could be heard through out the entire Kuunoki village. And the rest was history.

[END FLASHBACK]

Sakura sighed. After that humiliating first impression, Sakura managed to scrape up some self-esteem and followed her new sensei back to the Dokudes clan house (which was more like a mansion to her). Once there, she was shown her room, the training room, the labs and most importantly, the Dokudes Library. The next days began her one and half week of study training within said Library, in which her sensei had given her a mountain of books to read, understand and memorise. Not an easy feat to say the least, but she did complete most of the readings.

Now, as she walked among the deserted streets and pathways around the Dokudes compound, she couldn’t help but wander what had happened to Naruto and Shikamaru while she had been holed up in the dusty Library. Almost as if summoned by her thoughts, Shikamaru suddenly slithered out of a near-by shadow beneath the shade of a giant tree right in front of the Dokudes clan house.

"Yo." Shikamaru waved haphazardly in welcome. "Haven’t seen you around for a while, didn’t know whether you were still alive or not?" He muttered even while he yawned and scratched the back of his neck.

Sakura gave a resigned shake of her head before replying back. "Same to you. How have you been lately? And where’s Naruto?" She looked around them, hoping to see her old team mate, but no luck.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Spent the last week and a half getting comfortable with the Shadow world, learning what I can and can’t do while inside that plane of existence." Seeing Sakura’s confused look, Shikamaru explained in more detail. "The Shadow world is the world in which Kaga-sensei draws his powers; think of it as a special summoning contract slash bloodline limit. People born into the Shadow-master clan have that special summoning embedding into their very blood. As such, for someone like me – an outsider – to try and harness the same technique, it’ll definitely be a lot harder if not impossible to do so. As a result, I need to go the Shadow world and find out to what extent I am able to manipulate it." Looking away, Shikamaru glanced straight up at the clouds the surrounded them. "So far, I’m able to travel through shadows, summon shadows to form shields and weaponry, trap people in shadows. But I’m still having a lot of trouble creating shadow objects on my own; I need an existing shadow to manipulate before I can do anything."

Again, Sakura frowned in confusion and Shikamaru sighed before continuing. "Look, Kaga-sensei has the ability to summon shadows where there aren’t any. Black substances just...kinda... appear out of no where for him to manipulate. I can’t do that. I need the use the shadows beneath my own body, the shadows of this tree or something that is already there, in order to perform my jutsus. This means that it limits the flexibility of my shadow usage and it also limits the number of shadow jutsus I can use. Unfortunately, there’s no way around that, so I’ll just have to learn to live with that handicap." Pausing for a moment, Shikamaru looked back at Sakura. "What about you?" He asked in curiosity.

Sakura shuddered as she remembered her time in the dusty and old Dokudes Library. "I haven’t done any real training at all, just a lot of reading and studying. Ryoko-sensei had me read through some of the more advanced books on DNA and human genome..."

"Wha-what?" Shikamaru interrupted, having no knowledge what-so-ever on what Sakura was talking about.

Sakura shook her head before trying to explain it again in layman’s terms. "Basically, I’m learning how to change another human’s body from the cellular level up. I learning how to break the bonds that hold a person’s physical body together and playing with it like a child with a toy."

The succinct explanation left Shikamaru’s throat dry as he thought about the implications of Sakura’s words. "That’s... that’s quiet... eh... dangerous." He finished lamely.

Sakura could only nod in return. "It is. It’s very dangerous to play with a person’s DNA like that, but that’s what I have to learn if I ever want to be as good a medic as Tsunade-sama or Ryoko-sensei. Did you know that once you master this, you could literary grow a new arm for someone who had lost theirs in whatever accident they went through. There’s so much research put into human biology and development here that it’s amazing the rest of the world is so far behind the Kuunoki’s theories and concept of human genealogy. Almost everything is possible once someone is able to master stem-cell development. But here’s where we hit a roadblock. Everything is theories and concepts, no one has ever had the courage to go out there and try it. Even Tsunade-sama and Ryoko-sensei (though they’ve memorised and even wrote most of these books) have only experimented with these concepts on a very small scale, simply because they can’t predict the outcome and also because there’s only two of them. I’m going to become one of only a handful of specialists who can and will work on these theories."

Shikamaru could only smile warmly at Sakura’s enthusiasm when it comes to her passion on medical arts. Waiting patiently for Sakura’s random rambling to finish, Shikamaru finally decided to answer the last of her original questions. "I haven’t heard from Naruto at all since we first parted. However, from what I’ve heard from Kaga-sensei, is that he’s concentrating on mastering the rest of the Tenkun no Buki."

Sakura winced as she remembered the terrifying powers of those dreadful weapons, and she couldn’t help but worry over the health of her team mate. "I hope he’s okay."

"Don’t worry about it." Shikamaru interrupted. "He’s got the Lady Oracle on his side, and she’s about as good a Medical ninja as Tsunade and Ryoko-sama from what I’ve heard."

Sakura nodded silently. Indeed, being the Lady Oracle, she must have had knowledge over millions of jutsu, medical arts included. Naruto couldn’t have been in safer hands. But that doesn’t mean that Sakura could stop worrying. "I just don’t understand why he has to use those god-awful weapons in the first place."

Shikamaru shrugged again for what seemed to be the hundredth time. "It’s his birthright. I once asked Kaga-sensei about the origin of the Tenkun no Buki. And although he didn’t know much about it, and refused to tell me the secrets that he does know, he did mention that every Uzuamki member will eventually need to summon at least one, if not all of the weapons at one point in their lifetime. The Tenkun no Bukis (Weapons of Heavenly Warriors) are 10 incredibly powerful weapons from the ancient times. Many ninjas have fought and killed in order to try and find them but they never succeeded. This isn’t because the Tenkun no Bukis were kept safe here in the Kuunoki, but because no one can access them other than the members of the Uzumaki family."

"In actuality, the Tenkun no Bukis are scattered all over the world, hidden in places so heavily sealed and protected that only people with the summoning contracts (that is, the Uzumaki family members) are able to summon them and un-summon them when they are needed. That’s why no one outside of the Uzumaki family can use them." Shikamaru finished.

Sakura nodded in understanding. "But what if the Uzumaki family don’t know where they are either, how come they can summon them in the first place? I mean, I know that Naruto doesn’t know where they are placed, so how can he summon them?"

"Summoning contracts don’t work like that at all." Shikamaru answered succinctly. "You’ve never had a summoning contract before so you don’t know. But regardless of where the summoned item or subject is, it is simply pulled into where its user wants it to be, and that’s that. Location, distance and velocity is thrown out the window, all you have on your hands is an instantaneous transportation technique that activates via the summoner’s blood. That’s how it works."

Not being able to argue against Shikamaru’s point, Sakura gave up trying to interrogate the lazy ninja for more information. Instead, the two found themselves spending the rest of the afternoon and night together just chatting about inconsequential things while looking up at the blue sky turned starry night.

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"We’re FINALLY here!" Kiba cheered as he looked upon the entrance to the Raishin mountain range, which would lead them all the way up to the Hidden Air Village.

"According to the map, we just have to follow the mountain range path and make it to the top, and then we will have reached the gates of the Kuunokigakure no Sato." Hinata murmured as she looked over the opened 3D map once more for confirmation.

"Hey! Why don’t we just run up the cliffs of the mountain with chakra? Then we would save even more time and maybe become the first group to reach there?" Kiba jumped up an down in excitement, wanting to be one of the first few teams to reach the Kuunoki, like how they were one of the few teams to finish the second part of the Chuunin Exams held in Konoha.

"I don’t know. There was a warning that appeared on the map when we reached the entrance; it stated that we should not do any chakra control exercises on the surface of the Raishin mountain range." Hinata stated as she looked worriedly at her teammate.

"It’s not like they can stop us or anything. Come on, I just don’t see why they would forbid something as simple as walking up the mountain slopes. And it’s not like we’ve never done it before, right? Akamaru?" Kiba asked his four legged companion, remembering the time they had to climb their way up a steep mountain slope in order to rescue his precious dog.

Akamaru barked enthusiastically in agreement.

"And if by breaking the rules, we get disqualified? Unlike you, I will not risk our chances of being qualified for this Chuunin exam just for the sake of cutting some time." Sasuke snapped back irritatingly. Having been one of the few people in this group that had tasted the consequences of breaking rules, Sasuke had become wary of anything that would get him into more trouble than he already is.

"Ah! Shut your face, Uchi-freak. Whose gonna listen to a traitor like you anyway, you coward?!" Kiba snapped back, frustrated and tired of the Uchiha’s superiority complex that had returned a few days after the Tokage incident.

"Kiba-Kun!!!" Hinata scolded her canine-loving team mate.

"What did you say, dog-breath?!" Sasuke growled lowly, his eyes brilliant with suppressed fury.

"You heard me! Or are you deaf?!" Kiba retorted without thinking.

"Guys! STOP IT!" Hinata yelled commandingly. And when Hinata gets as irritated as she was right at this moment in time, both Kiba and Sasuke knew that they better behave or else the consequences were not going to be pretty.

"Why am I not surprised to find the two of you at each other’s necks so early in the morning?" Ino sneered coldly at the last Uchiha, her eyes literary burning with hate and malice. She and her teammates (Chouji and Shino) walked slowly towards the other group from the dark forest in the Southern direction. Behind them appeared three more Shinobis, none of whom the members of team Kurenai recognised.

"Shino-kun! Ino-san! Chouji-san! You all made if safe and sound, I’m glad." Hinata immediately reverted back to her charming and shy persona, feeling a bit flustered at being caught shouting in such an unladylike manner.

"Eh. Who are those people behind you?" Kiba, ignoring the presences of Ino, Shino and Chouji, immediately asked about the three new comers.

"Ohayo! My name is Naja Daiku!" The cheerful red head waved one hand wildly in greeting. He then pointed to the boy behind him (the one he was currently carrying). "This unconscious one is my best friend, Yuse Samure." Directing a thump towards the cold, almost glowering short figure beside him, Daiku continued the introductions. "And this little lady right here is Gojou Hikon. We’re ninjas of the Hidden Snow Village, travelling all the way here to participate in the Kuunoki Chuunin Exams. It’s a pleasure to meet you."

While the members of team Kurenai took some time to scrutinies the newcomers, Chouji took it upon himself to introduce the Snow Nins to their allies. "Daiku-san, these are some of the other exam participants from Konoha. The one in black is Uchiha Sasuke, the bowy with the dog is Inzuka Kiba and his faithful dog – Akamaru. The young lady is Hyuuga Hinata." Hinata blushed and bowed formally in response, while Sasuke just snorted in welcome and Kiba bared his teeth under the sunlight.

"Pleasure to meet you." Hinata replied shyly.

Sasuke snorted again and Ino glared back heatedly.

"Why were you all standing around not doing anything?" Trust Shino to get to the root of the problem.

As if snapped back into remembrance, Kiba started jumping on his feet once more. "Yeah, that’s right! We were arguing over if we really needed to spend hours following the official pathway towards the Kuunoki or if we should take a shortcut and climb straight up the mountain cliffs with our chakra. I don’t see why we shouldn’t using Chakra to speed up the process. After all, we’re ninja, not civilians! And it’s a good idea to boost up our chakra capacity and stuff." Kiba heartily argued his point. Behind him, Hinata could only shake her head in embarrassment while Sasuke refused to look at his foolish team mate any more.

On the other hand, Shino frowned. "I do not believe that’s a very good idea." He stated flatly.

Brows knitting together at being shot down so effectively, Kiba challenged Shino to explain why it was a bad idea. After all, both he and Akamaru thought it was a great idea.

"Because even my kikai bugs are wary of the mountain surface. I believe the mountains itself exhibit some properties similar to my Kikai bugs. If you would, Hinata and Sasuke, take a look at the mountain with your Doujutsus and tell me what you see." Shino asked in a calm manner.

Doing as they were told, Hinata activated the Byakugan while Sasuke activated the Sharingan, both taking their time looking over the huge mountain range before them. What they saw was something awe inspiring.

"My god!" Hinata whispered, even Sasuke’s jaws dropped in amazement.

"What!? What!? What did you see?" Kiba couldn’t contain his curiosity.

"Chakra! ... Tonnes of it! ... Almost an unlimited supply of Chakra... hidden within the earth of this mountain!" Hinata could not help but stutter as she finally realised what it was they were actually standing on top of.

"This entire mountain range, the whole Raishin mountain range is nothing more than a giant Chakra absorbing... entity. It’s amazing!" Sasuke’s eyes turned painful as he tried to trace all the intricate Chakra lines all over the mountain range. There were millions of lines, billions perhaps... and it was only the first layer he was actually seeing. The entire concept was mind boggling and he wouldn’t have believed something like this could exist until he had actually seen it with his very eyes.

"What the hell does that mean?" Frustrated at the distraught explanations, Kiba would not settle for anything less than complete understanding.

"(7)The Raishin mountain range is a natural phenomenon that acts like a collection reservoir for natural chakra. Basically it slowly absorbs chakra from its surrounding - the trees, the birds, all life that lives on top of it or around it. As time moved on, it continued to suck in chakra. After thousands, no hundreds of thousands of years, this is what it looks like now. Think of it as a living mountain, it grows as it slowly but surely absorbs chakra into itself. That’s why no one is allowed to perform any chakra enhancing or chakra manipulation exercises upon the mountain, unless you want your body’s chakra to be sucked up by the mountain itself." A new voice softly but calmly explained the phenomenon before them.

Turning back to look at the Snow Shinobis, they were surprised to see Samure awake, though he still looked terribly exhausted. Undaunted by the gazes set upon him, Samure continued his explanation. "I’ve heard that the Raishin mountain range is the only one of its kind in the entire world. No wonder the Kuunoki village was build on top of Mount Tenju, the heart of the Raishin mountain range. With a natural chakra absorbing barrier like this, it would be suicide for the other Ninja villages to attack the Kuunoki." Samure concluded, leaving the other Genins stunned at his explanations.

A few long minutes of question and answers later, both teams of Konoha and the team from Snow decided to take the cautious path and follow the worn trail on the map, indicating how they should proceed with travelling on the Raishin mountain range in order to reach the tip of Mount Tenju. 

"So, I bet I can race up this mountain path faster than any of you can!" Having nothing better to do, Kiba challenged Ino to a race, wanting to distract her murderous thoughts towards the last Uchiha. If he hadn’t needed Sasuke due to the fact that they were teammates, Kiba would have probably thrown the arrogant boy straight into the clutches of Ino.

"You wanna bet, dog-breath!" Already in a foul mood, Ino did not appreciate being challenged. Suffice to the say, the race was on, and the rest of the team members had to start running also just to keep up with their wayward team members.

Five long and gruelling hours later, all the genins decided to stop to rest for a while before going on their way again. Each were exhausted, having kept up running the entire way, and most were shooting Ino and Kiba glaring looks, as if blaming the two for their exhaustion.

However, their desire to reach the mountain top before night fall spurred the Genins to rest for only a half hour before they were on their way once more. Another six hours passed before they finally reached the top where they found a clearing of some sort. There, they also saw most of the other Chuunin Exam participating teams sitting around idly.

"Eh! So many teams made it before us?!" Kiba cried in surprise. Due to the fact that he hadn’t seen any other teams while they were climbing up, he had assumed that they were the first to have reached the Kuunoki. This scene however, did nothing to boost his ego and confidence. In fact, he was down right downtrodden when he found out they were one of the last teams who made it.

"About time, I thought you guys might have made a wrong turn or something." Tenten huffed gruffly, even while giving off a bright smile towards the newcomers to the clearing. "Even Neji was starting to get worried that you guys had gotten lost." She taunted good naturedly.

"Heh. With me and Akamaru in the lead, as if we’d ever get lost!" Kiba taunted back, not wanting to look like a weakly in front of the elder girl.

"Right..." Tenten was all ready to continue the barrage of insults when she was cut off by Neji.

"Enough, the both of you! We’re here for the Chuunin exams or have you already forgotten." He commanded as he walked slowly towards Hinata. Giving her a slight nod of approval, Neji smiled gently. "I’m relieved that you finally made it here, Hinata-sama."

Hinata blushed and replied back shyly. "I’m okay, thank you for your concern, Neji-niisan. But I should be the one to call you Neji-sama, as you are now ranked higher than me (8)." Surprisingly, her eyes did not show any shame or discontent with that fact. On the contrary, she was very happy that her cousin had been appointed heir apparent for the Hyuuga clan. With him leading the clan, she knew that he would do a great job.

"Yosh, and may I enquire as to the new additions to our group of comrades!" Lee’s enthusiastic yelling pretty much drew all the attentions of the competing genins (from all over the world) towards the three Snow team members.

This time, Chouji stepped forward again to begin the introductions. "Guys, these are our new friends from the Hidden Snow village – Naja Daiku, Gojou Hikon and Yuse Samure. These are all the genin teams sent to participate in the Chuunin Exam from Konoha. They are (in order) Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji, and Tenten."

"Yosh! It’s a major honour to meet you all and I hope that your powers of youth shine through magnificently in the future ordeals that will be dealt and HMPT!" Lee’s passionate praising was cut off abruptly by Tenten slamming her fist into his wide opened mouth.

"Please ignore him, he’s clinically insane." She answered sweetly while all three members of the Snow team simply sweat dropped.

"Yo. Guess we meet once again, Dog-breath." Another familiar voice piped up as Kiba turned around, only to face the painted face of Kankurou.

"You guys are here also?" He asked, slightly fearfully, knowing full well the strengths of the Sabaku siblings.

"Of course, can’t have you weak Konoha ninjas give the sand-leaf alliance a bad name, can we?" Kankurou taunted. But he was cut off abruptly when Temari turned out and knocked him on the back of his head.

"Will you be quiet?" She snapped angrily.

"Che. You’re just annoyed because you’re boy-toy is already a Chuunin and you can’t harass him here since he’s not here." Kankurou muttered under his breath.

Temari’s eyes blazed in a haze of fury, and before Kankurou knew what was happening, his head was knocked down by a powerful swing from Temari’s battle fan. "OWWWWWW!!!" Kankurou immediately ducked beneath another swing from Temari before running off with his life, followed closely by his furious sister.

"They are both clinically insane, please ignore them." The dry nasal reply from Gaara, who suddenly appeared out of no where, scared most of the Konoha Genins more than the display of sibling rivalry between Temari and Kankurou. This all happened while the Snow Shinobis continued to sweatdrop at the drama happening all around them.

After a while, the commotions died down and 2 more teams joined the larger group in waiting for the time limit to pass. Looking around them, the Konoha teams were surprised that so few teams made it in the first place. During their first Chuunin exam experience (back in Konoha), 18 teams had passed the first exam. Now, there were only 10 teams who have managed to reach the Kuunoki, and the first official exam haven’t even started yet. How many Genins were going to be knocked out of the running for Chuunin, will they even be able to reach the standards of Chuunins here in the Kuunoki village?

These questions haunted the minds of the Genins even while they mentally categorised of which country’s team had made it and which haven’t. There were the 3 teams from Konoha (which had the largest contingent once again in a Chuunin exam), 1 team from snow, 1 team from Sound (here Ino glared heatedly at them), 1 team from Mist, 1 team from Stone, 1 team from Cloud, 1 team from Grass and 1 team from Sand. Overall there were 10 teams that had made it to the Kuunoki by the end of the 2 weeks time period.

Once the sun finally settled into the evening, a rustling sound was heard from one side of the clearing. All the Shinobis tensed in anticipation, each pulling out a weapon in case these was an enemy attack. But instead of their imagined enemies, all that emerged from the surrounding bushlands were none other than the Exam proctors themselves – Jubei and his entourage of Gate Guardians.

The leader of the Gate Guardians swept his gaze across all of them before an undisguised sadistic smirk appeared on his face. "Welcome Genins, to the Kuunokigakure no Sato. You guys are the best of the best that your villages are able to offer and for that, I congratulate you on actually finding your way here. Now is when the fun begins. I hope you’re ready because there’s no going back from now on. Come!"

End.

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(1) Ryoko Dokudes, Seiko’s mother and current leader of the Dokudes clan. You can find a brief outline of her character on my website. She’s not really an important OC other than the fact that she’ll become Sakura’s main teacher through out her stay in the Kuunoki.

(2) Yes, that really is the full name of DNA. I got it off Wikipedia. By the way, I don’t know whether the Naruto Universe have any insight onto human or animal DNA sequencing, but in this story – IT DOES.

(3) Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA sequences inherited from mothers only. It help distinguishes your heritage because it can be used to trace who your great great grandmothers are and where they come from, literary.

(4) This entire paragraph was copied off Wikipedia.org and then changed slightly by me. Please give all credits to the original writer of the Wikipedia article.

(5) I’ve got a photo of what I’m describing; links are on my website.

(6) I’ve got a photo of what I’m describing; links are on my website.

(7) If any of you are wondering why there are so many names, think of the Raishin Mountain Range like the Himalayan Mountains. It is literary a place littered with different mountains clustered all together, and only one of those mountains (the tallest mountain in fact) is called mount Tenju. A bit like Mount Everest being the tallest mountain in the entire Himalayan Mountain range.

(8) Neji was proclaimed the new Hyuuga heir apparent some chapters ago, as both Hinata and Hanabi abdicated from their positions.

Here you go. I know it’s been a long wait, but since you guys got 3 chapters all at the same time last time, I’m allowed a little break. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter – the 1st official stage of the Chuunin Exam starts!

IMPORTANT note – I’ve drawn up a picture (yes, this is a drawing) of what the Kuunoki looks like, please go to my profile’s page and find the link there. I’ve labelled the various places on the map, and I’ve also done up a second version in colour. This will give you an idea of where the characters are at any one time during the rest of their stay in the kuunoki village. Enjoy!