Two days after the Chunin Exams, Satoshi Uzumaki stands alone, atop the roof of a rundown building in a seemingly desolate ghost town with a red flag billowing in the wind behind him; the alert genin stands guard as it is his responsibility to protect this piece of glorified cloth; he has his Byakugan activated, keep a close eye on his immediate vicinity.
Keep calm and stay focused, Satoshi… The storm genin tries to assuage his own fears, he stands at the edge of the rooftop, overlooking the barren city with his arms folded. …Try to have a little faith in your siblings…
*KRA-KOOOM!!* *crumble* *rumble*
*rumble*
With his 360° field of vision the Storm Sibling spots a distant building, Northeast of his position, collapse, shattering into a pile of rubble. A pair of giant, spotted, brown snakes burst forth from the rubble, baring their fangs; two individuals can be seen riding atop the reptiles’ heads.
“Looks like it’s started…” The Byakugan user sighs, scratching his neck. …I know plans usually don’t survive 1st contact with the enemy, but I sure do hope that this plan’s salvageable…
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*KRA-KOOM!*
“That’s so not schway.” Mai sucks on a jawbreaker as she watches her snake demolish a nearby building with a swipe of its tail. “Hmm?!”
The storm kunoichi notices several kunai have just come flying in, lodging themselves into her snake’s mouth; there are multiple explosive tags attached to them.
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
*BOOM!* *BOOM!*
The instant the dust clears, Mai looks back and sees the leaf kunoichi Sumire running along the back of her reptile with kunai in hand, heading right for her; she responds in kind by quickly drawing a kunai of her own, imbuing it with chakra. The leaf ninja lunges, her arm winding down for an upwards slash attack while the storm shinobi swiftly moves to parry it; sparks shoot out the very moment their blades clash.
“A full-frontal assault? How juvenile.” Sumire taunts, trying to gain ground; a beat of sweat runs down her face.
Mai’s blank face slowly contorts into a sneer, “Lured YOU out, didn’t it?”
The Storm Sibling’s hint doesn’t fall on deaf ears; the leaf shinobi’s eyes widen with sudden realization; she leaps a few paces back while keeping an eye on Mai.
“Namida, go and help Wasabi! Quick!!” Sumire orders.
Her squadmate yells back, “R-Right!”
Through her peripheral vision, Mai spots the Leaf kunoichi’s timid teammate, Namida Suzumeno, make a break for it, dashing back to her team’s flag’s location. However, she is halted due to the sudden appearance of numerous floating fireballs which resemble phantoms, they revolve around her with hysterical grins.
“Did you forget about me~?” Takato sneers as the snake he’s riding rears its scaly head, looming over the leaf ninjas.
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“I’ll be taking that flag now…” Takato declares with a pompous grin, standing on top of a water tower with his arms folded; he looks down on his foe from his vantage point.
“What? How…?!” The startled Wasabi yelps in disbelief.
“It’s called a diversion,” Takato sneers. “...Or are you too smooth brained to figure that out?”
The kunoichi narrows her eyes, growling, “A WHAT now?”
“I’m callin’ ya SLOW, Leaf Ninja. Shock, learn to take some criticism, you talentless harpy.” The middle sibling continues to affront her with words. I wonder if I’m laying it on too thick with the smack talk…?
“You’re dead!” The furious kunoichi snarls, she pulls out a scroll and feverishly opens it. “Ninja Art: Cat Cloak!”
A brown chakra sprouts from her arms, legs, head, and lower back; this odd chakra develops cat-like characteristics in the form of claws, ears, and a tail. She pounces into the air, lunging for Takato, however, the discourteous storm ninja jumps down and uses her face as a steppingstone; he gracefully lands between her and her flag.
“I won’t let you!!” Wasabi yells, chasing after him; she thrusts her be-clawed hand forward.
The Storm Sibling quickly pivots to the left, letting his opponent run right past him; he draws a kunai and holds it aloft before swinging it down on her. Unfortunately, Wasabi is fast enough to avoid being hit, but not fast enough to save her belongings; the backpack she brought with her was hit, its contents spill out onto the rooftop they’re on; a dusty, old, maroon scroll rolls in front of him.
Curious, Takato picks up the scripture. “What do we have here…?”
The Storm Sibling unravels the scroll and reads its contents; he finds it fascinating; an extremely delighted smile grows on his face, from ear-to-ear.
“Let’s see here… Ooh, a jutsu!” An amused Takato mutters as he continues reading the scroll and disregarding his foe. “…The Cat God Possession: Monster Cat Beckoning technique…? What a weird-as-shock name for a jutsu.”
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Deeply offended, the leaf kunoichi stomps over to him, her chakra tail flicks and twitches. “Huh? AAAAAIIEEEE!!!”
Yet, before she can even reach out and grab him, a pair of hands blast out of the ground and grab Wasabi by her ankles, it’s a shadow clone; it uses the Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu to suddenly drag her down, submerging the opposing kunoichi with only her perplexed head sticking out, just above the surface; she is rendered completely immobile.
“Thanks! I got EVERYTHING I needed out of that scroll.” Takato chuckles, callously; he dismissively walks past her, tossing the scripture in her general direction.
“Taking another clan’s secret techniques? You should be ashamed of yourself!” The snarling Wasabi struggles to get out of her predicament.
“Oh, I’m not the shameful one here…”
“What’d you say?!” The kunoichi grimaces.
“Who’s really at fault here, the one who stole the jutsu…?” The storm ninja asks while grabbing the flag, he looks back and sneers, “Or the one who was so WEAK she couldn’t even protect her clan’s secrets? We win; you lose. Get over it.”
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“Ahahahahahahaha!!!” Clutching his gut, the laughing Jin tries to keep standing on his feet; he wipes tears of joy from his eyes. “No way, that’s AMAZING! …hahahahaha!”
Arriving at the Leaf Village, later that very same night, the Onikage finds himself in an impromptu meeting with Naruto and Sasuke; the Seventh Hokage opened up with Takato’s debacle during the second portion of the exams only to be met with an obnoxious, boisterous guffaws.
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“C’mon now… this isn’t funny, Jin.” Annoyed, Naruto’s left eye twitches.
“You’re right, this isn’t funny… It’s HILARIOUS!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…!!!”
“No time for fooling around. We have more pressing matters to deal with.” A stern yet stoic Sasuke speaks up, garnering the Uzumakis’ attention. “Jin, is it true that you encountered Urashiki on the way here?”
The Onikage takes a deep breath, collecting himself; his smile fades, replaced by a more serious expression. “Yeah, he appeared on the train… BUT Urashiki wasn’t after me, instead his target was Jaeger.”
“Why would he attack Jaeger?” The Uchiha queries.
“For the very same reason Bee was ambushed,” Folding his arms, Jin continues with, “The tailed beasts.”
Astonished, the Seventh Hokage asks, “Wait--you possess a tailed beast?!”
Jin shrugs. “We have SOMETHING like that.”
“This is something you should’ve told us during the summit!” Naruto argues, trying not to growl.
With casual indifference, the Onikage dismisses him by saying, “Naruto, the Hidden Storm may have just joined the Shinobi Union, but that doesn’t obligate me to go and divulge ALL of my village’s secrets.”
“What’s done is done. There’s no point in getting angry over it.” Sasuke attempts to diffuse the tension.
The Hokage sighs, “You’re right…”
“Any progress on that scroll?” Jin questions, changing the subject. …I doubt this part of the story’ll change, but I might as well ask…
“Deciphering it is taking longer than we thought.” Naruto answers, curtly.
Due to no one talking anymore, the Storm Village leader assumes this meeting is adjourned and turns to walk away; he is eager to see his kids and celebrate their progress, eager to tell them how proud he is.
Naruto quickly calls out, “Jin, wait!”
“Need something?” Curious, Jin stops and looks back.
“Are you really going through with it?” The Hokage queries.
“Going through with…?”
“Teaching a jutsu to the winner.” The chosen one clarifies.
The snake sage replies, answering with, “Yes, I am.”
“What made you want to do something like this?” Naruto continues questioning.
“It was a whim--nothing more.” A nonchalant Jin replies before walking off. “Just a way to motivate the genin.”
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*Roar* *Roar*
*Roar* *Roar*
The day is finally here, the Chunin Exam finals. The finalists are all standing within the shadows of either corridor, which are situated on either side of the stadium arena; the cheers of the roaring audience are heard in the background.
“It’s a shame Kurama and his team couldn’t make it to the final round.” A deadpan Mai pouts; she pulls out a chocolate bar and starts eating, slowly.
Takato rests a hand on his sister, reassuring her with, “Don’t worry, Mai. We’ll even the score for them.”
“Going forward, we’re rivals now…” Satoshi says with a friendly smile, he rests his hands behind his head. “May the best shinobi win.”
“Heh… Try not to lose TOO quickly, ‘Toshi. You’re one of the few I wanna fight the most.” Takato grins, folding his arms.
“The winner will be from the Sand Village.” Shinki interjects.
“We’ll see, won’t we?” Mai asks, snidely; her expression remains indifferent.
*Roar* *Roar*
*Hurrah!* *Hurrah!* *Hurrah!*
*Hurrah!* *Hurrah!* *Hurrah!*
*Hurrah!* *Hurrah!* *Hurrah!*
The crowd cheers erupt even further with thunderous applause when the Chunin Exam finalists all enter out into the arena, power walking to the very center; they eagerly get into formation and wait for the Exam Final’s proctor, Rock Lee, to make his announcement; the Six Kage all sit together in a MVIP suite, each with an aide right behind them.
“Round 3 consists of individual matches’ they will be held tournament style,” The taijutsu specialist explains, he stands tall with an air of professionalism surrounding him, his booming voice echoes across the stadium. “We purposely did not pit teammates against one another in the first bracket, but if you win, you may end up facing each other later. Please, make sure you verify what number your match is; there will be 3 divisions of matches! And then… Once those have been completed, the winners in blocks A, B, and C will battle in a 3-way final.”
The Storm Siblings all look up, into the VIP section, their father, Jin Uzumaki, gives them a warm thumbs up while Rito smiles and waves; they acknowledge that with a nod.
“Alright! Are you ready?” Lee puts forward.
““““““YES!!”””””” All twelve genin simultaneously shout before vanishing in a flicker.
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Lee announces the first match. “Boruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf versus Mai Uzumaki of the Hidden Storm! The 1st match… BEGIN!!”
With a fire in her eyes, Mai pulls out a kunai and rushes at Boruto, who does the same thing; sparks fly the moment their blades clash. The kunoichi pushes forward in an attempt to gain ground.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you psyched before, Mai.” The leaf shinobi remarks, pushing back. “It’s weird.”
“My dad’s watching. It wouldn’t be schway at all if I didn’t TRY my best.”
The crafty storm shinobi suddenly pulls back, forcing the leaf ninja to stumble forward; she quickly proceeds to kick him in the gut, sending him back. However, he performs a backflip, recovering from the feint attack.
Mai swiftly weaves the Bird, Snake, Monkey, and Ram hand seals. “Lightning Style: Lightning Ball.”
A multitude of blue glowing spheres of chakra generate around the kunoichi, crackling with electrical energy; they disperse, covering the arena with the ones farthest from their caster closing in on the Hokage’s son.
The leaf ninja goes to slash at the nearest lightning ball. “Isn’t this one of Sarada’s--Aaaaargh?!?!”
The orb Boruto just struck sends out an electrical discharge that sends him back while damaging him at the same time; his body spasms for a moment as the current goes through him, he’s forced to drop his kunai. Mai keeps the pressure on by sending more spheres after him; the recovering Hokage’s son reacts by immediately leaping back several times, all the while, making odd hand signs with his right hand.
“Try this on for size!” Boruto shouts, throwing a mysterious green shuriken which abruptly appears in hand.
Now that’s weird… Noticing this, Mai shuts her eyes and channels chakra into them, hurriedly reopening them; they’ve changed from brown to a glowing red with a single tomoe in each iris. …That shuriken is nothing, BUT chakra. Must be a jutsu of some kind--it’s the only explanation for it…
Eyes still fixed on the enemy projectile, the kunoichi evades to the right; the green shuriken ominously stops spinning and slows down for an extremely brief moment before instantly accelerating as it makes a sharp turn, in her direction.
The Onikage’s daughter is quick to imbue her kunai with fire chakra. …I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess it’s a wind jutsu…!
She tosses her weapon at the leaf shinobi’s jutsu making a B-line right for her; strangely enough, they cancel each other out. Once the immediate threat is out of the way, Mai turns her attention back on Boruto, he’s speedily weaved his way through the onslaught of lightning orbs, and created a shadow clone just to launch him the rest of the way; the kunoichi responds by darting right toward the leaf ninja, meeting him at the center of the arena once more, engaging in a battle of taijutsu.
Just before reaching Boruto, Mai spins her body around and uses the momentum to throw a roundhouse kick, but he blocks it; the storm kunoichi uses the leftover momentum from her attack to propel herself around him, sending a palm thrust his way, however, the leaf shinobi blocks again. The Hokage’s son counters with a right hook, but she ducks, avoiding it. He follows up by slamming his left fist down on her; the Onikage’s daughter nimbly and swiftly steps back avoiding it. Mai tries to elbow him in the face, but Boruto catches it; she throws a haymaker with her free hand; however, he grabs that too; they are now in a grappling match.
The crafty kunoichi gives the leaf ninja a fierce look with her Sharingan; he immediately shuts his eyes. Unfortunately for him, this is what Mai wanted; capitalizing on the opening, she pulls Boruto down, slamming a knee into his face. As the Hokage’s son reels back from the pain, the Onikage’s daughter maintains a tight grip on one of his hands, using it to quickly weave the Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, and Tiger hand signs.
Realizing what she’s about to do, a recovering Boruto winds his free arm back for another punch. “I won’t let you–?!”
“I just did.” Mai curtly interrupts, pulling him in close; she knees him again, in the gut, and proceeds to kick him in the head, utilizing the attack to launch herself in the air. “Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!”
The Onikage’s daughter expels a massive ball of fire down upon her foe, resulting in a massive explosion; a thick cloud of smoke is subsequently created. The very moment she lands, Mai feels a sudden strong gust of wind, going into the dust cloud, dissipating it; perplexed she peers into what remains of the swirling cloud and finds Boruto holding up a bright spiraling sphere of chakra, the Rasengan. Silent, the kunoichi concentrates lightning chakra in her right hand; her hand is coated in violet electricity, shaped like a blade.
“I’m not gonna lose…! I’ve come too far to drop out now!!” A stubborn Boruto roars.
“I refuse to lose to someone…” Mai grimaces upon noticing; the chakra in her cousin’s Rasengan isn’t coming from him, but something attached to his arm; it glimmers within the light of his jutsu. “Who has NO confidence in their own power and skills!”
Both genin go dead silent as they take their stances; this final clash will decide the victor of this match; without a moment’s notice, they charge forward, lunging at each other; the Sharingan user rips up the ground with her jutsu while dashing towards her opponent.
“Purple Lightning!!!”
“Rasengan!!!”
Sparks fly in all directions at the moment of impact with neither shinobi willing to give an inch. Undeterred, the kunoichi grits her teeth and finds the strength to push a little bit further; she leans closer to the leaf ninja and thrusts her hand forward; both shinobi are engulfed in a brilliant aura of chakra as a result.
