Akari Uchiha

Ch. 58 Fuu of the Hidden Waterfall

"So, how come all these rookies passed your weird ass test?" Temari commented slyly, making Shikamaru's eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

"They're just good at it."

"Oh yeah?"

"That over there," he pointed towards Akio. "Is the prodigy of the latest batch of rookies. And that's a Yamanaka on his team. He probably figured it out, and communicated it throughout his team through Sara."

"And the other ones? How come all your rookies passed your test? You already going soft?" Temari smirked.

"That, over there, is Ibiki Morino's apprentice," Shikamaru gritted out, pointing towards Oda. "And Ibiki practically designed the last time's written test. Mind games are his thing."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "But how did they communicate? I heard that while all the other teams that passed didn't write anything on their sheets, all of them answered 'me'."

"I know. I thought about it a lot. That girl over there, you see the one who just tried a test seal on a random Suna-nin and is now getting dragged away by her teammates?" Shikamaru pointed as Temari sweat-dropped, taking in the scene.

"Yeah..."

"That's the half Uchiha, Kakashi-sensei's apprentice. I half-expected her to write something like 'me'. The other guy, the one with brown hair, is Haru Mizuhi. They have a strong bond between them, so I figured that he might write 'me' to protect his best friend. Oda, however," Shikamaru sighed, folding his hands. 

"That boy is getting better and better at these mind games. He probably figured the entire point of the test himself, along with figuring out what Akari and Haru were going to answer for the test."

Temari blinked. "I distinctly remember you saying something about them being the worst batch to ever graduate..."

"Well... turns out not having famed clans or parents does not necessarily make a batch bad, I guess," Shikamaru muttered.

Temari shook her head before proceeding to take over the next part of the test.

----------------

"That was crazy!" Haru panted, as all three of them lay down on the sand, trying to catch their breath.

"It was fun!" Akari proclaimed, fist-pumping, which would've been seen as energetic if she had not been laying down on the ground herself.

Oda huffed from where he was sitting on his knees, catching a breather. "Yeah. Running for three says straight. Fun."

"Turns out dodging snake babies every day makes for excellent stamina," Haru muttered sheepishly.

"Scarecrow sensei's strength training now makes sense," Akari added.

"Now I get why Ibiki sensei keeps annoying me about stamina training... I almost got you guys held back," he muttered, sighing.

"Hey! Don't worry about it! And besides! If you hadn't been with us in the first round, we would never have been here in the first place!" Akari exclaimed, immediately sitting up, giving him a glare.

"Wait, we wouldn't?"

"No, Haru," Akari sighed. "He obviously figured what you and I were going to answer and altered his answer accordingly."

"Woah! Man, you're awesome!" Haru exclaimed, glancing at Oda, as both of them looked at him with stars shining in their eyes.

Oda shifted uncomfortably.

"...stop that," he sweat-dropped.

"Hey, is that Akio over there?"

Both Akari and Oda glanced up to see Akio in a heated argument with Asuma sensei, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere along with Kurenai sensei and Gai sensei.