𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐎 : 𝐬𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐡𝐚

(13) boom

saito jumped at jin's voice, snapping back to her current surroundings. shikamaru and temari's match continued, and she made eye contact with a concerned jin. "what's going on jin.. talk to me."

stunned by her bestfriend calling her by her first name, jin fell speechless. "i... i just feel like something is wrong, sasuke isn't here yet and gaara seems unfazed, his brother forfeited his match.. so i can't help but feel like those sand guys are up to something." she shrugged.

letting out a deep breath, saito made a stern eye contact with jin, inching towards her ear. "do you want to tell someone? we can go tell genma-sensei. the last time you said something didn't feel right we nearly died." she whispered.

the two girls stared at eachother, jin contemplating what she should do.

"GO! SHIKAMARU!"

both girls flinched as ino's voice grabbed their attention. losing focus on her conversation with saito, jin looked into the arena to see temari at her defeat, a slight grin growing on her face.

"oh my kami! he did it."

"good grief. i give up." shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"WHAT?!" they all yelled at once

the girls couldn't believe their ears.

"wait did he just give up his chance at becoming a chunin?!" saito questioned.

"that's different." oni huffed

—

time passed as the crowd yelled and cried for sasuke once again.

"i give up i'm going to the bathroom." jin groaned, aggressively getting up from her seat.

"stop it jin. let's just wait it out like everyone else." oni suggested as she inconspicuously nodded her head towards a praying sakura.

jin's eyes softened, realizing she wasn't the only one hopeful for sasuke's arrival, not for money, not for bets, but because she was genuinely worried.

"sakura has known you longer than i have.. i can't possibly care for you like she does." jin thought, letting out a sigh before sitting down.

guy and rock lee had both arrived. oni, sakura, and ino smiled and greeted them both.

"hey you guys.." lee spoke softly.

jin and saito turned around simultaneously making eye contact with lee.

"so this is the boy gaara nearly killed." saito thought.

saito glanced over at gaara in the contestant balcony, before returning her gaze to lee in his wheelchair.

"lee, these are my teammates, saito and jin. aori is sitting on the other side with kiba and hinata." oni smiled, introducing them.

"i do remember you, it is nice to see you awake." he smiled at jin.

"oh right! that's how you know oni.. you protected all of us." her eyes softened, analyzing him in the wheelchair. "the amount of willpower you must have is amazing." she thought making eye contact with saito who was basically at a loss for words, jin nudged her, catching her attention.