Chapter 98:

So far three hours of the exam had passed, meaning that there were only another three hours left to gain as many flags as possible.

Currently, Kimimaro's squad had two flags. Haku's squad had two flags that had now been stolen by Chika's squadmates, Muse and Horime.

Hattori's squad had one flag with Hattori being injured. While the other three squads had either been wiped out or retired from the battle, leaving only Rokuro left in his squad and Botan of the waterfall who was a member of Hattori's squad, each of who had been left on their own to guard their flag.

"Which way Seno?" Haku asked as he and his squad ran through a large meadow.

Seno was helping to lead the way with her sensory abilities, pointing them in the direction of another squad.

"I can sense three individual chakra's coming from different directions." She said unsure of where would be best to go.

"Hmm. Alright, we already know which way Rukuro's squad was, leaving us with two choices left.

Seno nodded to Haku and they decided to go left, taking them across a large stream that headed towards a cliff.

"The chakra is coming from just below this cliff," Seno said as they stopped to get a good look from their vantage point.

"That's Chika..." Haku said as his eyes zoomed in on his fellow mist shinobi.

"But it doesn't look like she is protecting a flag." Seno then said as she got a better look.

"No. Someone else must have stolen it. Let's head towards the next chakra signal." Haku said before they turned around and let Seno lead the way.

Back in the forest, Hattori and Yuri were still sitting in one of the large trees as Hattori continued to rest, letting the healing bandage do its work for as long as possible before he decided to fight again.

"Are you going to turn on your squad to help me?" He asked Yuri, turning to look into her eyes.

She nodded, not hesitating in the slightest.

"I owe you my life, Hattori, I will follow you until the end."

Hattori sighed before he lowered his head.

"I thought I told you that didn't matter."

"It matters to me." She then said as she pulled her blue scarf up a little.

Hattori looked at her scarf, only seeing the top of her neck for a moment before she covered it with her scarf again.

"I'm the reason you got hurt in the first place. If anything I should owe you." He then said with an ashamed articulation.

"No Hattori. You are the reason I still live." Yuri said as both of them remembered that disastrous period.

-Flashback-

Three years ago, Hattori, Yuri and Maiyko had all been in the academy together, finally graduating and being placed on the same squad as one another.

During his time growing up after his family had been slaughtered under Yagura's orders. Fuyōna had staged his rebellion, overthrowing the tyrant and bringing order to the village hidden in the mist, writing his wrongs as best he could.

Hattori had been restored to his position as a noble of the land of water, being made the head of his clan as the sole survivor once he had been discovered. Due to this Hattori had looked up to Fuyōna as a saviour to the people, striving to be just like him.

It was for this reason that he pleaded to be placed into the academy as he had now made his sister's dreams his own, with the inspiration of becoming like Fuyōna added, he strived to become a powerful shinobi who would work to make the village and land of water a great place.

The three of them had been assisted to a jonin instructor once becoming genin, it was the new order of Fuyōna who had changed everything. Including that all new genin be assigned to a jonin instructor permanently until promoted to chunin, rather than the old ways as using them as cannon fodder.

Their sensei was a woman by the name of Emi. She was a newly promoted jonin who had fought among Fuyōna's forces during his rebellion and had been entrusted with the three of them to help them mature into strong shinobi.

They had spent a good year and a half with their sensei, honing their skills as they continued to be sent on missions that were suited to their ability as genin.

Thanks to Fuyōna's new imposed rules on the nation's mission ordeals, there had been a large influx of missions that suited all ranks of shinobi. Fuyōna had lowered the cost that the mist charged for missions by such an amount that no other nation could match it. This had indeed worked, helping the nation to generate so much work that they almost didn't have enough shinobi to cover it. This meant that even genin would be out completing both D and even C rank missions as much as possible, doing their part to help.

Hattori and his squad had been busy, in fact, they had been so busy that they had missed the opportunity to attend the first chunin exam that had been held in the hidden mist by Fuyōna. Although they were disappointed, their sensei had reassured them that it would do them good to have more time to train and improve their skill.

Having completed missions from simple escorts, animal capture and bandit clearing. They had now been tasked with guard detail duty, classed as a C rank mission.

A noble had asked for a low-level escort as he travelled from his home to a country house in the land of fire.

The council of the hidden mist had determined that due to their established success rate on their previous missions they would be a perfect fit for a low-level C rank that expected no trouble.

Both Yuir and Miyako were both excited by the chance of proving themselves on a C rank mission. As was Hattori who also relished at the chance to prove himself.

Emi on the other hand was a little apprehensive of the mission details, wondering why a noble would only want a low-level escort rather than the adequate security for this kind of trip.

Still, she couldn't ignore her genin's excitement at the chance to excel. And she was sure with their abilities all would be well.

With that team Emi accepted the mission and reported to the appointed location so they could report for duty.

They had arrived and greeted the noble, who had in turned greeted them, as well as thanked them for their efforts.

The trip had gone off without a hitch, getting clear of the land of water with no hardship at all.

Soon they had crossed the sea to the land of fire, all in all, the journey taking around two weeks.

Miyako had complained the whole way, saying how she had expected some action by now. While Yuir had constantly told her to be quiet, saying that she shouldn't wish for that, and that they should hope for a quiet trip.

Hattori had remained quiet trying not to complain due to his boredom. He did, however, remain alert in case something occurred. But nothing did, causing his attention to dissipate throughout the trip.

It was the middle of the day now and the sun was coming to its highest point. Everyone could feel the heat getting to them, causing them to become sluggish and let their guard down, continuing to move in their caravan as the servants and staff hauled all of the nobles belonging through the road.

Even Emi sensei had let her guard drop a fraction due to the heat, lifting her arm to her head to wipe the sweat from it.

Suddenly a masked man with long black hair appeared before the caravan, seeming to appear from the very ground itself, causing the caravan to come to a halt at his manifestation.

"There you are." He said as he looked directly at the noble, who seemed to know what was about to happen.

"G-Guards!" He yelled as he started to panic, even trying to scramble out of his seat.

The masked man was Obito, little to everyone elses knowledge.

Emi and her squad quickly sprang to action as they created a formation in front of the noble, ready to defend him from the imminent threat.

"How cute," Obito said from behind his mask before he activated his Sharingan.

"Fools, fall into my genjutsu." He said with a simple wave of his arm, placing everyone who was watching into a genjutsu without trouble.

Obito could see that everyone there had fallen for his trap, seeing that he could do as he pleased with them.

"Time for you to die. After all, we can't have loose ends." He said as he approached the noble, slowly walking as he drew his sword.

Suddenly a kunai passed through his head as he phased out of the attack.

"I don't think so!" Hattori shouted as he tried to attack from behind.

However, he had not expected his attack to have no effect whatsoever, quickly sliding along the floor as he regained his balance, taking a fighting stance.

"You broke out of my genjutsu?" Obito said, interested in the boy.

"No matter." He then said as he raised his sword.

Hattori could feel his body become stiff as he felt the power difference between them, knowing he had no chance in hell.

"Hattori look out!" Yuri sudden shouted as she threw a bunch of senbon needles, targeting Obito's vitals.

Once again the attacks had no effect as they simply passed through him before striking a tree.

Obito was growing tired of these insects getting in his way and decided it was time to finish them once and for all.

Hattori could see him move quickly, too quick for Yuri to see. But Hattori possessed an ability that others did not. The swift style, allowing him to move at incredible speeds.

"Yuri look out!" He yelled, moving as fast as he could as he tried to save his teammate.

Obitos blade was but an inch away from taking Yuri's head off, with Yuri's eyes having realized that she was about to die.

Even at Hattori's max speed, he was not sure if he would make it in time. Moving across the ground as he reached his hand out, desperate to push her out of the way.

"Yuri!!!" He yelled as he hit her, pushing her shoulder just enough to knock her out of the way of his blade.

However, the tip was longer than he had judged it to be, cutting clean across the front of Yuri's throat before she dropped to the ground choking on her own blood.

Obito looked surprised as he had sworn that he aimed to take her head off.

"Did the boy really cover that much distance to push her out of the way?" He asked as he turned to face him again.

Hattori was in shock as he watched Yuri clutch at her throat as she tried not to choke.

"Y-Yuri!" He shouted as he ran over to her, trying to help put pressure on her neck.

"It's going to be alright Yuri, I won't let you die!" He said as tears started to form in his eyes.

"Foolish children," Obito said as he watched from the side, deciding to leave them to it as he turned his attention back to the noble.

"I don't think so!" Emi sensei said as she had also broken out of the genjutsu, quickly dashing in as she formed a water style whip in both of her hands, using them to attack Obito and bind him.

"That should hold you!" She shouted as she watched her water whips wrap around his arms and legs, binding him in place.

"I no longer have time for these childish games." Obito suddenly said as he appeared behind her, stabbing his sword through her heart as he finally got serious.

Emi's eyes opened wide in shock as she watched his body turn to smoke.

"A Clone..." She said with the last of her strength before she dropped to the ground dead.

Hattori watched as his sensei had also fallen to the masked man, feeling a fear he had never felt before.

"Sensei...?" He said in terror, as the night of his family's murder started to come back to him, causing him to freeze.

Now no one was left to stand in his way as he drove his sword through the noble's chest killing him in an instant.

Obito watched as the light faded from his eyes, making sure the work was done before he turned around to look at Hattori and Yuri.

"Seems you are already broken..." Obito said as he sheathed his blade.

"My work here is done." He then said before he slowly sank back into the ground leaving the battlefield.

Hattori was still frozen in fear, slowly trying to shake the terror from his mind. Meanwhile Mayiko was still under genjutsu, Emi sensei lead on the ground in a pool of her own blood while Yuri was choking on hers.

"Hh...aa-tt...ooo.ri..." Yuri said, gargling the blood in her throat as she tried to form the words.

The sound of her struggling words snapped him out of his fear, as he slowly looked down at her suffering form.

"Yuri..." He said softly.

"Yuri!" He then said as he sprang into action, gripping his blue robe and ripping a large length of it as he used it as a make shift bandage to wrap around her wound.

"I won't let you die, Yuri! I promise I won't let you die!"

-End of flashback-

Both Hattori and Yuri remained silent as they had both remembered the past, feeling the heartache that the memories brought.

"You saved my life that day Hattori," Yuri said softly as she broke the silence.

"If not for you I would have been left with more than just this scar." She said as she pulled down her scarf.

Hattori looked up at her, seeing the large scar across her neck that she kept covered with her scarf. The same blue part of his robe that she never took off. He knew she was right, but he still blamed himself for not being strong enough.

Yuri suddenly raised her head as she could sense a group approaching their location, snapping her out of their conversation.

"Enemies inbound at 11 o'clock." She then said as she pulled her scarf back up.

Hattori slowly nodded as he too stood to his feet, turning around to greet whoever was coming towards them.

"I guess our little break is over," Hattori said as he watch Haku and his squad appear from the distance.

"It's time to get serious." Hattori then said as he clenched his fist.

Haku could also see both Hattori and Yuri in the distance, seeing the bandages around Hattori's body, but also seeing the look in his eyes.

"Looks like we have a fight on our hands," Haku said as he landed and stopped on the branch across from Hattori and Yuri.

"We meet again. Hattori."

"We meet again. Haku." Each of them said at the same time as their eyes locked, creating a furious aura around them.

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Alright, that's the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, that's the full back story for Hattori complete, I hope that answers any questions about him you might have had.

As always thank you for your support and have a great day!