Painless (A Naruto Fanfiction) [Completed]

Chapter Five: First Test

'How exactly did this happen?'

Kazue scanned the crowded classroom with her eyes, picking out her teammates and their friends. Closer to the front, Jun had ended up next to some kid that she faintly recognized as a rookie. What pointed him out was the small dog sprawled out on his head. In a separate part of the room, Noriaki had ended up near Lee, and the two were peering around the single figure between them, quietly talking to each other. Neither seemed that concerned.

Of course they weren’t. Jun was smart, a written test would be easy for him, or at least moderately easy. Noriaki had the benefit of being near Lee, she doubted that he wouldn’t take advantage of that and find some way to help himself to whatever Lee used to pass, seeing as their they shared equal levels of intelligence and were rather good friends.

Where had she ended up? Next to some silver-haired Konoha kid whose name she doubted she’d ever heard. The person in question offered her a polite smile when he took his seat and she’d resisted the urge to react much like Hisoka might have done- drop her head down on the table and groan. Instead, she offered an equally polite smile in return. Seeing as she didn’t know him, it might have been a bad idea to possibly insult a person who might have some sort of connection to her family.

That done, she turned her head away once again and studied her hands, allowing her hair to drop between them like a curtain. Why couldn’t she have ended up next to Noriaki? Just the small distance between them had an uneasy feeling creeping down her spine. To make up for it, she moved her head just enough so that she could peek at him between the strands of hair hanging between her and the stranger.

His silver-hair was just a bit longer than her brothers and pulled back in a neat ponytail, which kept it from blocking view of his black rimmed glasses. Bangs framed the sides of his face, cut short enough to give full view of his onyx colored eyes. Overall, not a bad looking guy, not that this bit of information was of any use in the current situation. She doubted that the shinobi’s looks would be the answer to a test question.

“You’re the Asari girl, right?” he questioned, cocking his head to the side and bracing it on the top of his hand.

She blinked, then sighed, realizing that being the first girl to have her family’s bloodline limit in a long time, of course her name would be well known throughout Konoha.

“Kazue,” she corrected. “And it’s polite to give your name when you ask for someone elses.”

His polite smile twisted into a slightly apologetic one.

“Sorry. It’s Kabuto,” he informed her.

Taking in this bit of information, she pursed her lips slightly, debating between simply turning her attention to the front of the classroom in hopes of coming up with an idea to combat the exam and actually continuing a conversation with the stranger. Her uneasiness around new people urged her towards the first, her curiosity over the events she’d observed while waiting prior to this beat it out, however.

“You’re the one who talked big and got attacked,” she observed.

This time his expression was obviously rather sheepish.

“You saw that?”

She snorted.

“Obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t be mentioning it.”

He rose a brow, never pulling his head off of his hand.

“You’ve got a bit of a smart mouth, don’t you?” he observed and she instantly turned her head slightly, closing off the spot between strands of her hair that she’d been using to look at him. “Not that, that’s a bad thing.”