Forked Shadows

Chapter 6

While Sakura pinned Raicho down with her unconscious body, Raicho heard fighting, muffled talking, and plenty of heavy thuds. Minutes later, she watched Sasuke and Kakashi come into view, several meters away in a nearby clearing. Thankfully, (although not completely useful) both Sakura and Raicho were mostly hidden by the thick bushes and overgrown trees that crowded around the clearing Kakashi and Sasuke were fighting. It seemed Sasuke was off to a great start, using his clan's fire ball technique to give Kakashi the element of surprise--

Kakashi Sensei didn't look surprised that a young Genin could use such an impressive technique. In fact, he had anticipated the boy's actions and retaliated with water.

Raicho recalled something from her research...Kakashi's ANBU team members.

Uchiha Itachi.

Oh! The Uchiha protégé, Sasuke's older brother.

The Uchiha Clan have always strived to become better and stronger, emphasizing this point in young children. More often than not, Uchiha children dominated the school system and learned impressive techniques a young age. Sasuke must have followed this path, a path his brother had blazed and impacted his ANBU captain, Kakashi, who expected Sasuke to follow after his brother.

That's why Sensei wasn't the least bit startled. Although he did admit that Sasuke was different in terms of mentality and skill.

But even the great Sasuke-kun couldn't bring Kakashi Sensei down or get a bell.

To end the fight, Kakashi Sensei pulled Sasuke underground until only his head was above ground. Then, in the next millisecond, he left him, stranded.

"Looks like we're all stuck," Raicho called out to him.

"Tch!"

"Complaining won't do you any good," she said cheerily. "As soon as I regain some of my feeling I'll help you out."

Sasuke stayed silent, as Raicho tried to wiggle her fingers and toes. A lot of the muscle control over her limbs seemed to have gradually returned. After another grueling ten minutes, she pushed her body up, forcing Sakura to topple off her back in a heap on the ground. She groaned and blearily opened her eyes.

"Where are we?"

"Not too far where we first started," Raicho replied, sitting up. "Look, Sasuke is over there and--"

"Sasuke-kun!" As soon as her brain recognized his name, she leaped up and ran towards the direction Raicho jerked her thumb at and gave a ear-breaking scream. Raicho watched helplessly, still a bit disoriented from Kakashi Sensei's attack earlier, as Sakura collapsed on the ground...again.

"Sakura--! We just fixed this," Raicho sighed resignedly, walking over. "Hi." Raicho dragged Sakura's body over to the side and turned her attention to her other teammate. "How am I supposed to get you out?" She asked the bodiless Sasuke.

"See if you can dig me out."

"Sure, sure," Raicho said, grabbing two kunai and trying to dig Sasuke out without stabbing him. "Is this working?"

"The progress is slow," he replied, twisting his head. He tried to loosen the dirt around his neck to help speed up the work, while she jabbed at the dirt around him, breaking up the larger pieces to get him out. Eventually, the two managed to uncover his neck and got him to pull his left arm out. After a little more wiggling, he removed his right arm, planted both hands in front of him and tried to pull himself out. 

"There we go," she remarked, standing back to let him remove the rest of his torso and legs out of the hole. "What time--"

RINGGGGGG!

The two jerked their heads towards the starting point, where Kakashi Sensei had set up the timer to notify them all when their time was up.

"Looks like we're done. Maybe he'll give us a second chance?"

"Hn."

Sakura woke up seconds later, so they all arrived at the meeting point, noticing Naruto was tied up against one of the wooden posts. Kakashi had them sit beside Naruto, and soon, his evaluation of their exam began.

"Hey, you know what?"

Suspicious of his cheerful tone, Raicho's eyes shot up towards his face. By his words, she knew his mouth was forcing a smile. Anyone can sound happy if one just upturned the corners of his mouth. Even if she couldn't see his mouth properly, Raicho could tell he was faking happiness.

"What?" Naruto asked warily.

"You guys aren't going back to the Academy!" He beamed at them all.

"Wait, really!? Sakura gasped, her face construed in a little confusion. "All I did was faint."

Three times, Raicho thought absentmindedly.

"Right! You guys should just quit being ninjas!"

Although Raicho was expecting something to blow up in their faces, she wasn't expecting that. Raicho swiftly recovered from Kakashi Sensei's angry scoff and furrowed her eyebrows slightly. There was something more emotional, something deeper to Kakashi Sensei in this situation.

"First! You, Naruto, walked into all the traps I set and broke rules but trying to eat before lunchtime," Kakashi Sensei said, snapping a finger at Naruto. "Break the rules, you fail the exam."

"Next! Sakura, you didn't care about Naruto at all. You did mind Raicho to an extent, but you fawned all over Sasuke more than the other two. Because you didn't see the main point of this exam, you failed."

"Sasuke! You told me you were different from the rest of them, in terms of strength and skill. You're not wrong. However, you didn't look for help from anyone else, aiming to prove your worth by going in solo. It was your arrogance that caused you to fail this exam."

"And finally, Raicho." His tone had gone slightly darker. He was probably the most disappointed in her. "You knew what the exam was for, yet you still tried to lead Sakura astray. Instead of helping a teammate, you purposely led her in the wrong direction and made a decision that destroyed the point of the exam."

"There were only two--" she began, but a hand chopping motion stopped her.

"Don't play me as a fool," he warned, holding her gaze.