Chunin Ninja Exams (Eight)

Half an hour passed quickly. The proctor opened Gate 40 in front of Yin Xiang. At Anko's command, Yin Xiang slowly walked inside. Everyone else rushed in, knowing that the farther ahead they got, the greater their advantage.

"Flying Thunder God." Yin Xiang raised two fingers in front of the proctor, then vanished before his eyes.

"Sp... Space-Time Ninjutsu?" The proctor stared in utter shock.

Yin Xiang appeared right behind a ninja, and the Chidori in his hand pierced the man's heart.

"What!" The two surviving ninjas jumped in fright. Where had this guy suddenly come from?!

All three of them were Waterfall Ninja.

"Sorry, your luck isn't very good." Yin Xiang stood up from the ground. At his feet lay the ninja he had marked.

"Damn you! How dare you look down on us!" The two Waterfall Ninja grabbed their kunai and charged at Yin Xiang from opposite directions.

"Lightning Release." Two kunai slid from the sleeves of Yin Xiang's left and right arms and shot out at incredible speed. To the two men's shock, they pierced their heads.

Yin Xiang searched their bodies and found a Scroll of Heaven. He also took some Military Ration Pills, Explosive Tags, and kunai. This was only the beginning.

"Ah!!!" A scream rang out from the forest. Yin Xiang looked toward it and smiled. "If Orochimaru weren't here, this exam would be a lot of fun for me."

The scream had come from Kiba's team. They had used the blood-sucking insects in the forest to kill another team of ninjas.

Naruto's group had also started fighting. Their opponent was a Rain Ninja, but he was alone and was soon driven off by Sasuke and the others. Before long, though, Orochimaru came looking for them.

Yin Xiang quickly ran toward the center of the forest, intending to take out another team. To keep the teams balanced, he needed to eliminate three: the first two to get their scrolls, and the third so he could take their place.

Yin Xiang soon caught up with another team, a group of Grass Ninja. The three seemed to notice him approaching and spun around, leaping backward. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" All three used the technique against Yin Xiang at once.

Bang!

The Yin Xiang struck by the Great Breakthrough turned into a log and disappeared before their eyes.

"Shadow Secret Technique." Behind a tree, Yin Xiang tried using the Shadow Secret Technique, but nothing happened. "I forgot I'm in the middle of a dense forest. The shadows can't get out." He shook his head.

"Flying Thunder God." Yin Xiang turned and infused his Flying Thunder God Kunai with Lightning Release. In an instant, the kunai landed at their feet. They had only just spotted it when Yin Xiang appeared before them.

"What!" The three ninjas' eyes widened, and they hurriedly retreated. One of them was too slow. Yin Xiang grabbed him by the collar. "Rasengan."

Yin Xiang's Rasengan struck him squarely in the stomach. The man spat blood and flew backward, a scroll tumbling from his robes. Yin Xiang reached out and caught it.

"Lucky me. It's a Scroll of Earth." Yin Xiang smiled and put it in his Ninja Tool Pouch. The two surviving ninjas looked at their fallen teammate, then warily turned their eyes to Yin Xiang.

"I've got the scroll, so I won't attack you. Leave." Yin Xiang sat on the tree trunk beneath him and looked down at the two ninjas.

The two Genin exchanged a glance, then immediately left. They could tell they stood no chance against Yin Xiang.

"Go on, and spend the next five days barely scraping by." Yin Xiang watched them leave, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. With one teammate dead, they could no longer complete the exam. The rules required the entire team to make it to the end.

"But..." Yin Xiang's smile quickly faded. "What should I do about Naruto?" He sat in the tree, his eyes filled with worry.

Whoosh!

The sound of something cutting through the air rang by Yin Xiang's ear. He immediately leaped away from where he stood. Three kunai stuck into the tree trunk. Yin Xiang landed on another tree and looked at the three figures approaching from behind. They were Hidden Sand ninjas.

"Hand over your scrolls and we'll let you live." The three landed around Yin Xiang, surrounding him from three directions. In their eyes, one against three left Yin Xiang no chance to fight back.

"You came right to me. Fine by me." Yin Xiang pulled two scrolls from his Ninja Tool Pouch. "Want them? Come and get them."

"You've got two scrolls! That saves us a lot of trouble!" one of the ninjas laughed. He leaped straight at Yin Xiang, bringing his kunai down over his head. Yin Xiang vanished from before his eyes.

"Such a fast Body Flicker! Where is he?" The ninja who had attacked Yin Xiang widened his eyes and searched for him. When he finally spotted Yin Xiang, a kunai was pressed against his teammate's throat. "Move, and I'll slit his throat." Yin Xiang narrowed his eyes and smiled. The grin sent a chill through them.

Cold sweat streamed down the ninja pinned beneath Yin Xiang's kunai.

"D-don't do that. We'll give you our scrolls. Just let him go," said the ninja who had attacked Yin Xiang.

"Oh? Did you forget? I already have two scrolls." Yin Xiang kept smiling.

"Then what do you want?" another ninja asked.

"I just want you to stay still," Yin Xiang replied with a smile.

"Fine, fine. We won't move..." the two ninjas said hurriedly.

A moment later, Yin Xiang spoke again. "You know, even if you don't move, I'm still going to kill him. Blame yourselves for messing with me in the first place." As the words left his mouth, he vanished. A cut appeared across the throat of the ninja he had held at kunai-point. Blood sprayed as the man fell straight to the ground.

Yin Xiang, meanwhile, used Flying Thunder God again just to look cool, returning to the corpse he had marked earlier.

"I've used Flying Thunder God three times, and I barely feel the strain. My chakra's grown again." Yin Xiang sensed his chakra and felt satisfied. Even so, he swallowed a Military Ration Pill, just in case.