(Y/N) Uzumaki

Chapter 40

"Uh... We have to have a preliminary exam before we can move on to the real one." Hayate said. "Huh?" "A what?" Sakura asked. "Preliminary? Just what do you mean by that?" Shikamaru yelled causing me to jump. "I'm sorry. Sensei excuse me, but I really dont see the point. What's this preliminary all about? Why can't we just move on to the third exam?" Sakura asked. "Uh.. Well, you see, the first and second exams might have been too easy. The fact is, we never expected so many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chunin Exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining." Hayate said

"Uh but is that fair?" Sakura asked. "It's just that at this stage, we have to speed things up a bit. As lord Hokage said, a lot of important guests will be watching. We can't afford to waste their time. They've come to see only the best. So if there are any of you who feel you're not in top physical condition, now's your chance to-" he started coughing really bad again. "Talk about not being in top physical condition." Ino said.

After he was done coughing he said "Sorry about that. As I was saying, any of you who don't feel up to this, now's the time for you to bow out. The preliminaries will be starting immediately." "Come on, you mean right now?" Kiba yelled. "We just finished barely surviving the past exam. Don't we get a break?" Ino said tiredly. "Man, what a drag." Shikamaru said looking up. "Ayeeee. When do we eat?" Choji asked.

Well fine. If we have to pass by doing a preliminary exam. Fine, so be it. I wont let Naruto or Sasuke down. I'll win this. "Oh yeah. Uh. The winners will be determined by one-on-one combat, sudden death. So like I said, if there's anyone who doesn't feel up to it, now's the time to raise your hand." Hayate said. Why would anyone quit? After what we all went through just to get here, ha, no way we're going to quit. I heard Sasuke grunt a little bit so I turned my head to see he was grabbing his shoulder. Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

"Sasuke?" I asked worriedly. Naruto then turned his head. "Sasuke, listen to me. You have got to quit." Sakura said and it caused all of us to widen our eyes. "You've been like this ever since you tangled with Orochimaru. And it's getting worse" "It's that mark he put on you, isnt it?" I asked getting more worried. "You can't deny Sasuke." Sakura said. She seemed like she was thinking of something and then she started trembling with tears in her eyes. "please... Please, Sasuke, quit now before- I don't know what. I'm scared." She said wiping her tears away.

"Come on, you know as well as I do. We are in no condition to keep on fighting." "Shut up, Sakura." Sasuke said. "You think I'm blind or something?" Sakura said loudly. "Will you please be quiet?" Sasuke said trying to stay calm. "You think I dont see the suffering you're going through?" "That's enough, Sakura." " I'm sorry. I cant let you do it to yourself. I'm going to tell them about that mark. Then maybe you'll-" someone raised their hand.

Kabuto did. "Okay. You got me. I'm out." "But Kabuto-" Naruto said. Hayate looked through some papers and said "Kabuto Yakushi of the Leaf Village, right? You can go on and step back." "Gotcha" Kabuto said and he turned around and began walking. "Kabuto! Hold on a second. You can't quit. I don't get this. What's going on?" Naruto asked. "Oh, Naruto. I'm sorry, but my body's just too beat up. I can't hack it. The fact is, ever since orientation and that dust up with the sound village team, I've had no hearing at all in my left ear. And now to have to put my life on the line, to fight again right away without a break? I cant do it."

Naruto looked down with sadness. Kabutos teammate was whispering to Kabuto and I couldn't quite hear it. All I heard was Orochimaru and that was enough to spark my attention. I glared at them as I tried to listen. "Your chance..prove...wanted..my place...go for it" I just heard words from Kabuto but from the other guy I heard something important. "...Orochimaru's favorite..." I glared at them harder. Why would they think it's a good idea to talk about that here? He turned around and looked at us. He smiled and waved and walked off.