Mothers Wrath

15

"Not fair!"

"We all passed the second exam; we must all be treated fairly. Why do we even get to fight while the others get a safe passage?"

The Sandaime Hokage merely smiled as he responded - his tone contained some steel in it. "Not fair?" The old man asked. "Teams who have the most scrolls fought the most teams and actually won those matches, no? Doesn't that mean that they are strong and ready for the finals? Teams with just two scrolls in the meantime were only able to defeat one team; this means that they had less competition. If we are talking about being fair, saying the teams who have just two scrolls have made the same effort as a team with 6 scrolls would be unfair."

Hayate took over from the Sandaime Hokage. "You were all given the same opportunities and the same playing field. Having just one scroll means you have barely just made it - even though that was the requirement for passing the second test. There are those who pass with flying colours and those who do just enough. We cannot simply put those two groups in the same room. Because your results show that you're not equal."

There were a few murmurs with the genins, but neither Hayate nor the Sandaime entertained them. The former merely continued with his job. "Team Baki: you came in first and had the second most scrolls, you're exempted from this round and Team 7: You came in third but had the most scrolls than any other team. We watched you executions, and you have been exempted from the preliminaries..." he paused for a moment and pointed at the balcony. "If you could just go and wait over there..."

Ino looked at Naruto with a careful eye. It wasn't that she was having any evil and naughty thoughts. No, she was just feeling slightly jealous that he gets a get out of jail free card while she has to fight. If she had been on his team, she would have been avoiding any fighting now, but because she was stuck with Chouji and Shikamaru, she had to grind through to get to the next point, it was really disappointing.

"You will not be fighting as teams but one by one matches. Know that right now, you don't represent your team, but actually your village and yourself. Those who will win their matches will go the finals. We will draw the matches for the preliminaries right now..." Hayate said.

The first match was drawn: Ino vs Sakura.

Second match Lee vs Kiba

There were other matches paired up. Hayate dismissed the other genins, and had them wait over at the balcony while Ino and Sakura stayed behind. He said he would call the other teams after each match is over.

Naruto watched as Sakura and Ino battled. It didn't last long, but he had never been so disappointed in his life. "Hinata," the blond said to his teammate, "If you fight like that, don't appear before me ever again. That was pathetic. If I was their sensei, I'd be ashamed to call myself even sensei. Why would anyone nominate such academy students to the chunin exams? The decision to put those children in this rings seems irrational and ill-advised."

All eyes turned to Kurenai and Asuma. "The next match is about to start," Asuma said rather quickly in a bid to have the attention turn away from him and back to the fighting.

Did Naruto had to put to so flatly though? If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that the blond was merely saying it to humiliate him and Kurenai.

"Naruto," Kakashi said to the blond. "Can I talk to you?"

The blond first looked at Lee curiously before nodding. There was really nothing for him to see down there. His team wasn't going to participate, so he could get away without watching anything. Besides, he did not wish to expose his eyes to another ridiculous crap called a kunoichi battle.

"Sure," the blond said.

Kakashi placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and the two disappeared in a swirl of leaves. They appeared in a room with the Sandaime Hokage present. "Kage Bunshin?" the blond asked, his eyes sizing up the old man before him.