Like a good little follower, the female examiner gave a valiant attempt to restore the Hokage"s honour by trying to trick Fuzen with her questions.However, it didn"t work, and with each failed attempt to confuse or misguide, he could see her frustration build to higher levels.
After an hour of near non-stop questions, Fuzen saw all four examiners leafing frustrated through the pages in their hands.
Their collective desperation to find a question they hadn"t yet asked was hilarious to watch.
"What that it?" He locked eyes with each of them before delivering the finishing blow to his examiners. "Well, that was easy..."
Putting one hand in his pocket, Fuzen turned around and gave a big thumbs up to Osamu and Minoto sitting far back in the crowd.
Hiruzen knew Fuzen all too well, and wouldn"t let himself get goated by these minor antics of his. The examiners though was another matter entirely.
Speaking for the group, the female examiners stood up and pointed to Fuzen. "We can"t let him pa.s.s. He"s not material worthy of being a shin.o.bi in our esteemed village." Pausing she surveyed the crowd, "Can"t you see? Look at him! He"s an outsider. He doesn"t belong here, and we can"t trust him."
Fuzen c.o.c.ked his head to the side and observed the erratic woman. He didn"t speak a word and directed his attention to Hiruzen, waiting for him to say something.
"Let"s not make things personal here." Disregarding the female examiner, Hiruzen turned to one of the others. "I a.s.sume the boy pa.s.sed?"
The examiner in focus squirmed in his seat and hesitated to speak. "We"ve asked him everything, and he has answered them all correctly. But –"
"There"s no buts. Fuzen pa.s.sed the exam fair and square, and I see no point in questioning his allegiance to our village."
Hearing the Hokage"s directive, the female examiner slumped down dejected and looked at Fuzen with resentment.
Disrupting the ongoing murmurs in the audience, Hiruzen rose from his seat and corrected his clothes.
"With the first part of the exam completed, we"re now going to move onto the last exam, the practical." Letting the crowd wait in antic.i.p.ation, he lighted his pipe once again.
"Don"t be a drama queen, old man. Just tell me who I"ll be facing, and we can get this finished up real quick."
Putting out the matchstick, Hiruzen brushed off the attempt to ruin the building he had going and corrected Fuzen.
"If you"re expecting an easy opponent, you"re in for quite a surprise."
As if it was a cue, a man with long black hair and sickly white skin that had hidden amongst the crowd stepped down to stand beside Fuzen.
A proud Hiruzen puffed out his chest. "My student, Orochimaru, decided to volunteer after hearing of this event, and knowing you"d love to have a challenge I simply couldn"t refuse him."
The magnanimous tale didn"t fool Fuzen and knew it most likely took quite a bit of convincing to have Orochimaru partake in this. Orochimaru didn"t strike him as one who"d concern himself with something like this. The exception was if he"d garnered Orochimaru"s interest, which was unlikely since they"d never met until now.
From everywhere within the crowd excited whispers were exchanged. A satisfied smile plastered Hiruzen"s face, and he had to use his hands to reinstate silence.
"The same rules apply as any regular spar. Exit the circle." He pointed to a large circle drawn on the ground. "You lose. If the opponent incapacitates or gets in position to deal a lethal blow, you also lose."
Observing the crowd, he continued. "Yet, Fuzen doesn"t have to win. All he needs is to demonstrate is enough combat ability to be of value during missions outside the walls of the village. Of this, I"ll be the sole judge."
Fuzen met Hiruzen"s eyes, and for once there was no humour hidden beneath. He"d always come across a somewhat jovial person, and Fuzen couldn"t remember ever seeing Hiruzen this serious before.
"If you each of you can take your positions we can start the exam."
After doing the Seal of Confrontation Orochimaru and Hiruzen went to opposite sides of the 70 feet circle.
"Put up the barrier!"
By the Hokage"s order, four Anbu members appeared to form a square and after performing a string of hand seals constructed a protecting barrier.
"With this, you can fight as you please without worry of harming anyone besides yourself. Are both of you ready?"
Vigilant, Fuzen looked at his opponent. "If you try to grab me with that tongue of yours I"ll have to cut it off," Orochimaru observed with him with his snake-like eyes as if Fuzen was some strange creature.
To punctuate his point, he gestured towards his body as if it"d explain everything. "Only beautiful women are allowed to have a taste of this magnificence."
Not bothering with Fuzen"s quibbling, he clapped his hands. "Begin!"
Even though Hiruzen had initiated the spar, neither of the two moved from their initial positions.
Deciding to make the first move, Orochimaru threw a quick shuriken that followed by a short series of hand seal multiplied and came to resemble an insurmountable wall of small spinning blades, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu".
The wide range of the attack left little to no s.p.a.ce to dodge within this enclosed area, and Fuzen suspected it was an attempt to force him to use "Shadow Walk" and attack during the time he rematerialized.
Using his left hand, Fuzen grabbed a kunai and let his "Sea of Darkness" spread like a wave around him causing the gravitational downforce within a radius of 20 feet to rise several degrees bringing the speed of the approaching shurikens down.
With a kunai in hand, he disappeared from his original spot an confronted the wall of death head-on. Like a formless shadow, Fuzen effortlessly glided past and arrived before Orochimaru using "Body Flicker".
Not wanting to give him a chance Fuzen went for the finishing blow, however, before he was within proper range, Orochimaru outstretched his hand and out came several snakeheads, "Striking Shadow Snakes".
Seeing the fast-moving snakes coming down the length of Orochimaru"s arm, Fuzen flicked the kunai held in his hand towards Orochimaru"s eyes and changed direction mid-step thereby avoiding the attack.
He could see Orochimaru"s head whip back from the impact and thought he"d succeeded, but as he landed a few feet away, Orochimaru turned to face him with a manic grin. A single snake could be seen crawling out from between his lips holding the kunai he"d just thrown between its sharp fangs.
"That"s so disgusting by the way, and I can"t believe you"re not gagging."
Taking the kunai from the snake mouth, Orochimaru held it in front of him and inspected it like it contained a key to a secret.
"Interesting. Interesting." He honed in on Fuzen once again. "I"ll take my time to see how strong you really are!!!"
Tapping into the large reserves of his chakra, Orochimaru caused a surge of powerful wind and the ground beneath him to crack.
Caught by slight surprise, the emitted pressure made Fuzen take a step back, yet he couldn"t help grinning through it all.
Looking down at his hands, he could see them tremble. Not in fear, but in excitement. He could both feel and hear his lifeblood coursing through his veins, faster than ever. This was the part that had been missing.
Meeting the challenge, Fuzen imitated Orochimaru and let himself fully go releasing a pressure strong enough to cause cracks in the barrier maintained by the four Anbu under the direct supervision of the Hokage.
Stunned voices from those present could be heard in the background.
A visible dark haze of pure chakra emanated from Fuzen"s body.
"Yes! More! Show me more!" Orochimaru encouraged.