The Other Jinchūriki - A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 45

All that appeared on the scroll was a sign.

"That's what we risk our lives for?!" Rizaki exclaimed with frustration. "A goddamn sign on the scroll?!"

"No, that's a Summoning Jutsu!" Sasumi exclaimed. "All of you, drop the scrolls!" The four scroll-holders quickly did as told, throwing them on the floor as a bubble appeared and smoke blasted out of them. When the smoke disappeared, everyone gasped.

"What?" Sasuke said in surprise. "It's you?"

"Iruka-sensei?" Sōma questioned. The one who was summoned smiled a bit.

"Long time no see! You guys have been through a lot, haven't you?"

"Waitttt a minute, what's with the surprise entrance?!" Naruto exclaimed, stepping up to his teacher. "Why are you appearing with a Summoning Jutsu?!"

"Well," Iruka began to explain, rubbing the back of his neck. "At the end of the second exam, we Chunin are supposed to welcome the test takers back. And, well, I just became the lucky one who'd get the important task of being the messenger to you guys."

"Messenger?" Rizaki asked, tilting her head. Iruka nodded and pulled something out of his pocket.

"And you made it just in time too. So now—congratulations! You passed the second exam!" They were coupons to two restaurants. "To celebrate your passing, I was originally going to take you guys to Ichiraku and Sunakuu—"

"ICHIRAKU/SUNAKUU?!" Naruto and Rizaki yelled in unison, stars in their eyes. "FOR REAL?!" They both jumped up and hugged Iruka, one on either side of the poor sensei.

"W-Wait!" Iruka sweatdropped. "I-I'm not done!"

"I haven't been to any restaurants in so long," Rizaki said, drooling a little. The duo would not let go.

"Let go, guys."

"Believe it!" Naruto chirped.

"Look you two—"

"Ramen would be awesome right about now!" Naruto yelled in excitement, finally letting go. "Especially all the bugs and plants we've been eating for the past couple of days!"

"The fish isn't enough for my survival!" Rizaki added. "I need rice balls! And dango! And ramen! And rice balls!"

"Where did—no, where do they get all that energy?" Sasumi sighed as the troublemakers chanted about food. "Weren't they just exhausted an hour ago?"

"Can you two shut up?!" Sakura growled, the said duo immediately following her command and letting go. "Yeesh!"

"Seems like you guys are as hyperactive as ever, Naruto and Rizaki," Iruka chuckled.

Now I see," Sasuke said. "So if we had looked into the scrolls in the middle of the exam, what would you have done to us Iruka-sensei?"

The sensei bent down and picked up an Earth Scroll off the ground. "As usual, Sasuke, you're as sharp as a tack. You have figured out the secret. Part of this exam was to test how well you could see a difficult mission all the way through. Simply put, you knew that opening the scrolls was against the rules of your mission and if you had tried opening one—"

"What would happen?" Sōma asked quickly. He had thought about doing it the few days before and just wanted to know what would happen if he went with it.

"If a scroll was opened, we were ordered to knock out whoever opened it. Some ninja found that out the hard way."

"Thank god I decided not to do it then..." the male Haruno mumbled, his female counterpart quickly turning to glare at him.

"You shouldn't even have thought about it!" She scolded.

"Oh, don't act like you wouldn't have done the same thing! You probably would have actually gone with it!"

"Whatever!" Sakura rolled her eyes before looking at Iruka. "Oh yeah, sensei?"

"Yes?"

"What does the writing on the wall mean? Like, at least the blank part? The parchment the letters are written on are kind of eaten away, and it's difficult to read it. We can't understand it."

"Oh please!" Naruto dismissed it completely, making Sakura give him an angry look. "Look, we passed, didn't we? That stuff doesn't matter now, dattebayo!" Iruka crossed his arms.

"Actually, explaining that is another one of the duties that I've been sent here to take care of."

"Maji?!" Rizaki exclaimed, before whining. "But we just went over this earlier with Sōmaaa!"

"You at least need it confirmed." The blunette groaned but reluctantly nodded. "Good. Heaven stands for your mind, and Earth your body. If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. Get it?"

"Ehhh?" Naruto made the 'so-so' motion with his hand. "Keep explaining it, dattebayo." Rizaki nodded in agreement.

"Alright," Iruka sighed. "I'll explain. In other words, if your weakness lies in your intellect—you two—then you would have to doubly make sure that you work hard to learn all the information and skills you need to prepare for your missions."

I feel personally attacked by this, Rizaki thought with embarrassment as Naruto just groaned.

"Okay fine, we get your point." Sakura giggled, but Iruka didn't stop there.

"And you; if Earth qualities are what you lack, train your body, prepare to attack. So if your weakness lies in your physical strength, Sakura, then you have to make sure that you work on your physical conditioning every single day so it improves all the time." The pink-haired girl stuck out her tongue and rubbed her neck sheepishly, Sōma letting out small, soft chuckles. Luckily she didn't hear him this time.

"When Heaven and Earth are open together," Iruka continued. "The perilous path will become righteous forever. Meaning, if your mind and body are working together as one, then even a dangerous mission can become an easy one."

"And..what about the blank spot with the missing letter?" Sasumi asked.

"That part is meant for all of you to fill in. You see the symbol on the scroll, right?" He held up one of the scrolls with the said symbol. "It's the character for a person, a reference to you Genin. You see, these five days of survival were to test your abilities as Chunin and see if you would be any good at it. And I got to say, you all did magnificently.

"A Chunin is a leader, a guide. It's a Chunin's responsibility to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of those serving under them, and to know what skills in training those ninja are going to need in order to succeed in the mission. You all did an excellent job on this mission, and I want you to remember these instructions on your last one." He smiled. "Well that's it. That was everything I was supposed to tell you." Naruto saluted him with a grin.

"Got it!"

"Uh...okay, one more thing." The Chunin frowned. "For the third exam, don't take anything too far. Especially you, Naruto and Rizaki. I worry for—"

"Iruka-sensei." He looked down at Rizaki as she grabbed his sleeve. "I stopped being a student when I got this headband. You don't need to worry about me or Naruto at all. I mean, like, not anymore! The headband proves we're full-fledged Shinobi, right?" She grinned. "You gave them to us. Us two may be hyper, but we got each other's backs, as well as our teammates'! Not to mention we aren't kids anymore. We got through the second exam, and we're going to pass the third exam, just you watch!"

Iruka smirked a bit and rubbed her head. "Yeah, your right Rizaki. Sorry about that." Naruto just laughed wholeheartedly.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
1250 words

Team Combo officially finished the second exam! Now I'm going to cry in a corner cuz I still gotta do the third exam—I mean prelims-

Like dammit they take so long to wRiTe! Is this how Kishimoto felt or did he feel more motivated than me? He must have felt motivated cuz I could never write such an original masterpiece like him-

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the chapter! <3