Towards the Sun

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The night before the second stage of the Chuunin Exams, the birds were restless, noisily expressing their discontent at the mischievous gusts of wind playing through the tree branches. High up in the inky sky reddish clouds had begun to gather, concealing any astral bodies with their expansive masses.

"Seems like a storm is coming," observed a masked shinobi, head tilted upwards at the cloudy sky. Some distance below, a streetlamp was casting a bright beam onto the deserted street beneath, the light reflected by the windowpanes on the opposite building outlining her slender, feminine figure. She was currently perched on a ledge atop a suburb apartment in the Hidden Leaf village. The wind suddenly picked up, blowing her short indigo hair away from her face, attempting to pry the white mask off its impassive owner in vain.

A slight rustle diverted the kunoichi's attention to a cloaked shinobi who had just landed on the rooftop where she was posted. "You're early," she said, her voice a mere whisper in the unrelenting wind. "How did it go?"

"The mission was successful. Here's the intel." The cloaked shinobi took out a scroll from under his shroud and handed it over, waiting for further instructions.

"Thank you. You're dismissed."

In the blink of an eye, the masked kunoichi was once again alone on the rooftop. Finally, she could let out a sigh.

Gingerly, she removed her mask and hooked the strap to her belt. After channelling chakra to her feet, she cautiously made her way down the building, each step softly thudding against the concrete. However, with the worsening weather, all sounds were drowned into the howling wind. At last she reached the first story and stopped next to an eastward window. Peering through a gap between the billowing curtains, she could distinguish a sleeping form on the bed in the room. Long time no see, she thought, feeling a bit awkward about what she was going to do. Again. But a mission was a mission, so she just got on with it.

Overhead, an ominous cumulonimbus was gaining in volume; it darkened more and more with each passing hour until, as the first rays of the sun finally broke through the horizon the following morning, the murmur of rain began to spread over the village of Konoha. Still, as the village gradually bloomed back into life, it could be observed that the inhabitants of Konoha were occasionally glancing up at the grey sky, their faces darkened in the dim light.

However, the common anxiety over the current weather condition paled in contrast to the excitement pulsing through the shinobi population concerning today's main event: the second stage of the Chuunin Exams were about to start! Those who had passed the first stage were now heading towards the Forty-Fourth Training Ground, also known as the Forest of Death, which was found in the outskirts of Konoha. Enclosed within a circular metallic fence, the Forest was home to a plethora of peculiar plant and animal wildlife which Sasuke and Naruto would be forced to encounter once more.

This time around, the number of three-member teams amounted only to half of the forty-four gates spaced evenly along the fence, since a fair portion of Genins had been upgraded to Chuunins for active participation in the Fourth Shinobi War. This automatically meant that the chance to succeed this stage was greater, yet finding the scroll of Heaven - Sasuke, Naruto and Hanabi currently possessed the scroll of Earth, which was safely tucked away to protect it from the ongoing downpour - might take much more time.

"Eh~ I had forgotten how really tall those trees were," said Naruto shortly after the start of the second stage. Guided by Hanabi's Byakugan, they were presently walking towards the river which passed through the training ground, whose location they had pinpointed beforehand. "More importantly... Sasuke, can't we change the strategy a lil' bit? I'm really in a mood to kick some ass as soon as -"