Sasuke, Sakura and I were waiting at our agreed meeting spot for Naruto, he isn't late but he sure is cutting it close.
Yesterday, Kakashi-sensei finally told us about the Chuunin exams and that he had nominated everyone for it and even gave us our application forms.
"Though this is just a nomination, whether to take the exam is up to each of you. Those of you who wish to take the exam needs to sign those papers and hand them over at Room 301 by 4pm tomorrow."
Naruto became so excited that he quickly ran over and jumped onto Kakashi sensei, wrapping his arms around his neck and hugging him. He caught Kakashi-sensei off guard but he managed to get Naruto to release him.
He waited for us to ask him any doubts, but since it was pretty straightforward, no questions were raised. "That is all." He then left.
"Hey!! Sakura-chan!! Akiko-chan!!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs, he was running while waving at us. "Good morning guys!"
I lifted my hand in greeting "Osu." "Yeah... Good morning...." Sakura greeted unenthusiastically.
"Sakura.... do I write my name here?" "Huh? Can't you read?" Naruto asked Sakura for help in filling out his application forms.
"Sakura's acting a bit weird today." Sasuke whispered to me, "Hm? Hmm.... I guess so yeah, a bit. I'll talk to her later." Wow, Sasuke noticed?
"Sakura..." I started once we began walking back to the academy, the boys ahead of us, leaving Sakura and I walking together. "What's on your mind? And don't lie, I can tell you're troubled."
Sakura attempted to dismiss my worries but after what I said, she faltered and had a sad look on her face, she spoke softly "I'm not sure I should take the Chuunin exams.... You and Sasuke both said that I needed training... I can't catch up with Naruto even... I don't think I'm ready for this."
I pursed my lips as I thought of what to say, "If you feel that way then... sorry to say but.. why are you here then? Kakashi-sensei said it's up to us right?"
She was quiet so I continued, "Since you're here you must have SOME confidence in yourself don't you? Sure, you may not be that good in some areas, but you excel in others. Nobody is perfect."
"But you and Sasuke are the best in the academy..." "Okay, let's not talk about us, point is you're smart too and you passed the graduation exam didn't you? Have some confidence in yourself, you've been doing fine in our last few missions."
Sakura was still quiet but I could tell she needed those words of encouragement from me, "I'm sure the Chuunin exams aren't starting so soon, if you want to train more to learn new jutsu, just say the word and I'll be there, okay? We'll pass this together!" I patted her on the shoulder and she smiled at me gratefully. "Thanks, Akiko."
We have already reached the academy and sure enough there were so many people gathered there.
We were walking up the stairs and had reached the 2nd floor when we see a large crowd gathered in front of a door. "Hm? What's going on? That isn't where we're supposed to go, right?"
"It's not, let's go check it out." Sakura agreed with me.
We walked up to the crowd to see a girl with brown hair tied up in 2 buns, kneeling next to a boy with black bowl-cut hair and a green jumpsuit, standing next to them is Neji. I'm guessing they're his teammates.
"The Chuunin exams isn't easy, we failed it 3 straight times. We've seen many times people quit being a shinobi as well as being disabled for life just because they took this exam." There were 2 other ninjas standing in front of the door 301, one had brown hair that is combed down and another had black spiky hair with 3 bandages on his face.
301? This isn't right, I'm quite certain we're on the 2nd floor! Unless... could this be a test? Is Genjutsu involved? But why hasn't anyone noticed?
Everyone in that hallway fell silent as they listened to what he said, some started to fidget, obviously starting to feel scared after learning of these possibilities.
"Also, a Chuunin often become leaders of a team. Mission failures, death of a comrade, it's all part of the responsibilities of the leader."
I didn't know about that, looks like this Chuunin exam is more serious than I thought it was, a Chuunin's responsibilities is a lot more compared to us Genin.
"A brat such as this.. a Chuunin? What's so bad about weeding out those who won't pass anyway?!"
"A fair argument. But...." Sasuke spoke up as he pushed past the crowd and walked to the front with us following close behind indicating that we're a team. "You will let me pass through, and also remove this surrounding created with Genjutsu."
Everyone fell silent after hearing what Sasuke said, I tried to hide the smirk forming on my face. So I was right after all.
"I'm going to the 3rd floor." The other genins around us started whispering to each other, "What is he talking about?" "I don't know...."
The 2 ninjas in front of us smirked, impressed with Sasuke "Well, well.." "So, you noticed, eh?"
Then, Sasuke did the most unimaginable thing, he turned his head slightly to look at Sakura "Sakura, you must have noticed it first right?"
Sakura who wasn't paying much attention to what was happening snapped back to reality when she heard her name "Huh?"
"Your analytical strength and Genjutsu know-how has improved the most in our squad, so...." Well, never thought I would see the day where Sasuke would care for somebody else in our team other than me, especially Sakura.
"Sasuke-kun...." Sakura was taken aback and smiled sheepishly to herself, she must be thanking Sasuke internally for that boost of confidence. She looked at me so I smiled back at her and gave her a small nod, encouraging her.
"Heh, of course." Sakura faced the front again, with a confident smile on her face "I noticed it a while ago. Because this is the 2nd floor." "Yup!" Naruto nodded his head, smiling.
The genjutsu affecting the floor disappeared and sure enough, the number 301 turned out to be 201. These people were wasting their time trying to get into the wrong room.
"Well, not bad.... but all you did was see through it! Right?!" The guy placed his palms down on the ground to support himself as he brought his leg up to kick Sasuke. Sasuke reacted pretty quickly by bringing his leg up too, but before they could even hit each other, the guy with the bowl cut in a green jumpsuit appeared suddenly in between them, stopping the fight by grabbing their legs.
"Woah.. he's fast.." I muttered softly, the guy then let go of both Sasuke and the black haired kid who both backed away.
Neji and the girl with the buns walked up to us, "Hey, what happened to our plan?" Neji didn't sound too happy, "You were the one who said you didn't want to carelessly attract attention and be watched."
"But...." The bowl-cut guy turned to look at us, though I am pretty sure he's looking at Sakura. He held up his clenched fist and... is he... blushing??? At Sakura???
"Oh no....this again...." Their female teammate shook her head, seems like this happens a lot.
He walked over to us and stopped in front of Sakura, I was right, he WAS looking at Sakura. He was taller than us, looking closely, he had VERY thick eyebrows. Usually I think it's unfair that guys have nicer eyebrows or eyelashes compared to us girls, but in this case, he can keep it, no thank you.
"Hi... my name's Rock Lee. You name's Sakura, right?"
"Huh?" Sakura was wondering how did he know her name.
"Please go out with me! I'll protect you until you die!" He declared as he gave her a wink and a bright smile, so bright his teeth was shining.
"Absolutely....not. You're too... intense." Sakura seemed to be very irked by Lee and rejected him straight. Lee looked so hurt by the rejection, I almost felt bad for him. Almost.
"Hey, you there. What's your name?" It was Neji's voice, he was walking towards Sasuke with the other girl, it seems that Sasuke has piqued his interest. Naruto noticed it as well and I swear he had fire in his eyes.
"When you want to know someone's name, you should give yours first."
"You're a rookie right? How old are you?" "I don't have to answer you." Sheesh, these 2 boys trying to act cool there, asking each other questions with their hands in their pockets but not even answering any of it.
"What?" That didn't sit well with Neji, time for me to step in before another fight starts. "Come on, aren't you going to say hi to your friend huh? Hyuuga Neji." I voiced out, letting Neji's name slip on purpose.
"Hmph, I was going to say hi to you next, just so you know." "I'm sure you were." "So, this is your team, Akiko?"
"Yep, the only 4 man squad in my year. What's your friend's name?" I nodded at the girl next to him, "I'm Tenten! Nice to meet'cha!" she smiled.
"Akiyama Akiko, come on, since we know their names now, give them yours." I nudged Sasuke who was listening quietly "Fine... Uchiha Sasuke." He gave me a look that says 'Who's this guy? How do you know him??'
"Uchiha huh, that much I could tell from the logo on your shirt. Good luck for the exams." "Same to you guys."
"Now then! Sasuke-kun, Naruto, Akiko, let's go!" Sakura said cheerily, her mood improved after what Sasuke did for her earlier on. She grabbed Naruto's and Sasuke's hand who then grabbed onto mine and pulled us with her as she walked towards the 3rd floor.
"It's alright Naruto..." I tried my best to comfort a demotivated Naruto on the way there, "Take it this way, now you can prove them wrong for underestimating you!"
"Eh.... can I really though, everyone is only interested in Sasuke and you, Akiko-chan.... It's easy for you to say..." Erk.... he's really affected by this. Not knowing what else is the right thing to say, I settled for a pat on his shoulder.
We had entered a hall when a familiar voice called out to stop us, "Hey you, guy with the bad attitude. Hold on."
"Huh?" The 4 of us stopped in our tracks to turn around, it was Lee from just now. He was standing on the floor above, looking down at us.
"Oh!" "Eck!" "What do you want?"
"I want to fight, right here and now." he declared, and he didn't look like he was joking.
"You want to fight me here and now, huh?" "Hai.", he vaulted across the railing and landed in front of us.
"My name is Rock Lee." he then pointed a finger at Sasuke, it was hella clear now who he wanted to challenge. "You said it was common courtesy for a challenger to give his own name first, right? Uchiha Sasuke-kun."
"You know mine, and I know yours." He then got into his fighting stance, "I want to fight you."
"Everyone is always talking about the Uchiha clan and how great they are. I want to see if it's true. I want to test my techniques against you. And also...."
Uh oh...
He turned to Sakura and WINKED. AT. HER.
Needless to say, Sakura needed to bleach her eyes after that. "IYAA!!!! THOSE EYEBROWS CAN'T BE REAL!!! NO!"
She wrapped her arms around herself shuddering, I can imagine she's having goosebumps from this "That hairstyle is so lame, and those eyebrows are so bushy!! You're such a weirdo!"
"You are an angel sent from heaven." he complimented her before sending a flying kiss which made Sakura scream even more, she ran and hid behind my back in an attempt to dodge that imaginary flying kiss.
Lee of course didn't want to give me that kiss meant for Sakura by accident, so he stopped.
"You've heard of the Uchiha clan, yet you're challenging me? You must be even more crazy than you look, if that's possible." Sasuke was clearly looking down on Lee, which I don't think is a good idea to do.
First of all, he's from Neji's team who's a year older than us. Meaning, they've got way more experience in fighting than us rookies. Secondly, did Sasuke forget how he stopped the fight just now? He was obviously good. And lastly, I really don't think there was anyone who knows about the great clans and would be dumb enough to challenge them without being good enough to think they can win.
But if I said that, will Sasuke listen to me? I don't think so, then again would I be the same way if somebody challenged me? I hope not.
"You're about to learn what this name means, thick brows."
"Bring it on." Lee smirked, confident with himself. I do not have a good feeling about this.
"Sasuke - I don't think you should -" I still tried to stop him anyways but Sasuke held out a hand to cut me off, focusing intently on Lee, wanting to show him just how superior the Uchiha clan is.
Sigh... don't say I didn't try to stop you. I thought to myself.
"Wait." Naruto looks pretty annoyed, and I can guess why. "I'll take care of him, this weirdo is mine. Just give me 5 minutes."
"No, thank you. Right now the only one I want to fight is Uchiha."
"Yeah? Well I've got some news for you! I'm sick of hearing about Sasuke!!!" Naruto started charging at Lee, before he could even punch Lee, Lee deflected the attack easily, causing Naruto to fall onto the ground.
"Leaf Hurricane!" Even though Naruto followed up on his attacks, Lee defeated him easily. Sorry Naruto, but pretty sure we all saw this coming.
"Naruto!" I went over to Naruto who had banged his head against the wall, checking to see if he had injured his head badly, thankfully he didn't. "Ughhh," he groaned, slightly dazed.
Lee resumed his original stance and declared boldly, "I'll say this. You are absolutely no match for me. Because, right now, I am the strongest Konoha Genin." That is not going to sit well with Sasuke.
"Hmph, interesting. I'll do it." Sasuke smirked, very interested in this challenge.
"Sasuke.... don't." I warned him, he better not come crying to me later on with a bruised ego after I tried to warn him!
"Oh.. don't do it Sasuke-kun!" Sakura tried to stop him as well, "We only have 30 minutes before the registration ends!"
Despite both of our efforts, Sasuke didn't listen to us. "Don't worry, I'll be done in 5 minutes." he said coolly before rushing at Lee. Before Sasuke's hit even landed, Lee had disappeared before reappearing above Sasuke.
"Above you Sasuke!" If Sasuke isn't going to listen to me, then I might as well help him.
"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee's attacks just kept on coming, not giving Sasuke any time to defend or dodge his attacks.
"Sasuke-kun!!!!" Sakura cried out when Lee managed to land a hit on Sasuke.
I stayed quiet, trying to analyze what I had just saw. I clearly saw Sasuke had his arms out to block Lee's attacks.... But Lee still somehow managed to land a hit.
As I was deep in thought, Sasuke stood back up, ready to continue fighting. But he looked confident, I then noticed that he had activated his Sharingan. Looks like he has decided to finally take Lee seriously.
If its a ninjutsu or genjutsu that Lee happens to be using, Sasuke will be able to see through it. But, those who know of the Uchiha clan would know the Sharingan and its abilities. Lee wouldn't be that dumb to challenge Sasuke head on with a jutsu like that..... so that would leave....
Taijutsu. Sasuke doesn't practice taijutsu with me as often
"Sasuke, your Sharingan won't work, it's taijustu!" I tried to warn Sasuke but it was too late. Lee and Sasuke were in mid-air, Lee behind Sasuke as if he was his shadow. "That is.... shadow of the dancing leaf!" I recognized it immediately, but even if I did I had no idea what he might do next.
"Huh? SASUKE!" Naruto was finally back to his normal self after hitting his head and couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"This is bad..." I muttered, judging from Lee's speed on attacking, his taijutsu skills are way higher than me and Sasuke's. We don't stand a chance in a taijutsu fight.
The bandages on Lee's arms were starting to loosen, about to execute his next move, I need to stop it! I quickly took out a shuriken from my pouch and threw it at the bandages, hoping that would stop him.
Both my shuriken and a pinwheel like shuriken pinned Lee's bandages to the wall at the same time. "Huh? Who's one is-" I looked towards the direction where it came from to see...
"That's enough, Lee!" A giant red ninja tortoise that can talk?! There's no way a tortoise can throw that shuriken. But I didn't spend too much time thinking, Lee couldn't proceed with his next move and dropped back down onto the floor in front of the tortoise, leaving a stunned Sasuke falling onto the ground.
I quickly slid over and caught him just before he touched the ground. "You alright?" But Sasuke didn't answer me, his gaze still fixated on Lee. There were new bruises on his face from where Lee hit him. I've never seen any other Genin who was able to land a hit on Sasuke, so this was quite a shock to all of us.
I knew I had a bad feeling of Sasuke agreeing to it.
"Lee! That technique is forbidden! You know that!!" The tortoise shouted at Lee who was looking down, all traces of confidence was gone, it was replaced by guilt. "Sumimasen! I didn't mean to..."
Prohibited? By who? What was the technique that he planned on using? Was he planning on beating Sasuke up until he would need to get admitted or something??
As Lee tried to defend himself, Naruto ran up to us. "Hey, hey! That thing... it's a tortoise right...? Right?" He pointed at them. "Yeah..... what about it?" I wasn't sure where he was going with this.
"So... can a tortoise become a ninja? And a sensei?" "What kind of a.... we don't know!!" Sakura was dumbfounded by his question. A tortoise? As a ninja? I can't imagine bring trained by a tortoise.
......But could it really be his sensei though??
"Fool! You think you can get away with an excuse like that?! You should know very well what it means for a shinobi to reveal his techniques!" The tortoise had a point there.
"Have you prepared yourself" "Y-yes sir..." "Alright, if you will, Guy sensei!" Oh, so he's not his teacher after all?? Wonder what Neji's sensei is like.
A puff of smoke appeared on top of the tortoise, to reveal a man with a bowl cut, thick eyebrows.... and wearing the exact same jumpsuit as Lee..... He was posing weirdly as part of his grand entrance too. "Geez! You guys are the epitome of youth!"
Oh... my... god....
"ACK!!!" all of our jaws dropped open, no words to describe how we felt upon seeing this guy.
Neji, I feel so sorry for you. I'm so so so so grateful I have Kakashi-sensei now.
"WHOA! THIS GUY LOOKS EVEN MORE INTENSE!!" "Super intense... the extreme bowl cut..." "Those are some incredibly thick eyebrows... I've never seen anything like that in my life." Naruto and Sakura didn't hold back in voicing out their opinions of this guy.
"Are they... father and son?? The similarities are too much..." I whispered it, so that Lee wouldn't hear it. But he heard it anyways and shouted at us, clearly offended that we insulted his teacher, "Hey! You guys! Stop insulting Guy sensei!!"
"Oops, sorry heheh." I gave him an apologetic look. "SHUT UP! ALL THESE FREAKS KEEP APPEARING! HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO REACT HUH?!"
"NANI?!!" Lee and Naruto were about to start fighting when Guy sensei decided to step in, "Hey, Lee! Drop it!" he gestured for Lee to get closer before punching him across the face so hard Lee had a nosebleed. "BAKA!!!!" Needless to say, his actions surprised the 4 of us once again leaving us speechless.
Guy sensei knelt down in front of a fallen Lee, "Lee, you... you.." tears were flowing down his cheeks. "S-sensei....." LEE WAS CRYING TOO.
"That's enough Lee, you don't need to say it." "SENSEIIIII!!!" Lee started bawling and they both shared a hug.
"HUHHHHH??!!!" "What kind of drama am I watching....." "I lost to a guy like that??" This must be the weirdest duo I've ever seen in my life. Why did Neji not tell me about these 2 before? As Guy sensei was talking to Lee, I noticed him stealing glances at us.
Sakura and Naruto noticed it as well, "Oh no! He's looking this way!" "Hey, you guys!" Guy sensei raised his voice so we could hear him, "How's Kakashi sensei doing?"
"You know Kakashi?" Sasuke asked back, "Idiot," I nudged him in the side "They're both jonins, of course they would know each other!".
"I know him all too well." He chuckled to himself, "People call us... eternal rivals." "That's a lie!!!" Sakura and Naruto wouldn't believe it, frankly I wouldn't too. Why would Kakashi be rivals with someone like him??
"What're you saying?! Guy sensei really is -" "Well, that's fine." He brushed it off "Actions speaks louder than words anyways." In a blink of an eye, he was behind us, "With 50 wins and 49 losses..."
"Huh?!" "When did he-" "Faster than Lee..."
Guy sensei had a confident look on his face as he declared that he was stronger than our Kakashi sensei. "How about that?! Guy sensei is awesome, isn't he?" beamed his number 1 fan, Lee. "Lee caused trouble first this time. I swear to this beautiful face that it won't happen again, please forgive him." He apologized to Sasuke with a dashing smile, I'm pretty sure his teeth were shining. But Sasuke wasn't listening at all, he was glaring at the floor.
"You guys and Lee should head over to the classroom." He threw a regular kunai towards the shurikens pinning Lee's bandages to the wall, hitting it and causing it to fall onto the ground. As Lee began to wrap his bandages around his arm, I noticed the scars and bruises on his hand.
And I'm sure the rest saw it too. After wishing Lee good luck, Guy sensei and his tortoise left, leaving us Genins. "Sasuke-kun." Lee started, he told Sasuke about how he had lied being the top genin, and that he had joined the chuunin exams to defeat that person. He hinted that the genin was someone from his team, it was obviously Neji.
"And, you're one of my targets. Be prepared for the exam!" And with that, he left. Sasuke was clenching his fists tightly as he watched him leave, still not over the battle I guess.
"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura tried to comfort Sasuke who had turned away from us. "Oh well, I guess the Uchiha clan isn't worth much these days huh?" his hands behind his head. "Naruto!!" "Now's now the best time Naruto..." I poked him in the side.
"Shut up! I'll beat him the next time..." But Sasuke was still glaring at the floor. "Sure... but you just got your ass kicked...." Sakura tried to stop Naruto from saying anything further to provoke Sasuke, Naruto looked at Sasuke before shifting his focus to the ground. "You saw it too, didn't you? His hand.. that bushy brow probably trained hard every single day. More than you, that's all it is."
"Sasuke trains hard everyday too." I defended Sasuke, Naruto wouldn't know how much he trained compared to me, his training partner. "But I guess that just means we would have to practice more taijutsu, won't we, Sasuke?" I glanced at him with my hands on my waist.
Sasuke was silent as he returned my gaze, did he not expect me to defend me or something? Why isn't he saying anything? Finally, he smirked, there was fire in his eyes. "Hmph, the Chuunin exams are starting to get interesting!"
"...Yeah!" the 3 of us couldn't help but smile at his remark, "Let's do this, Akiko, Naruto, Sakura!" "Hell yeah!!" Naruto cheered, hyping us up as we made our way to Room 301.
A familiar figure with shite spiky hair was standing outside of the door to the room 301. "I see, Sakura, you came too." Kakashi sensei greeted us. "Now you can formally register for the Chuunin exam."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked as Kakashi sensei mentioned her name only, it sounded as if he were implying that we wouldn't be able to register for the exams if Sakura wasn't here.
"The truth is that only three-man squads could apply and take the exams. But since you're a four-man squad, all 4 would have to be present." Sakura was taken aback by this, questioning Kakashi-sensei if he had lied to us as he initially told us that it was up to us individually whether we wished to take the exam or not.
Kakashi sensei then explained to us that he had lied to prevent Sakura from being peer pressured by us to take the exam, he wanted Sakura to take the exam for herself, and not because of us.
"Then what if only the 3 of them had showed up?" "Then I would've stopped the exam here for them, they wouldn't get to progress any further." I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that we had boosted Sakura's confidence in herself to take the exams with us, or we would have had to go home after getting our hopes up with what had happened just now.
"But.. you guys came here on your own free will." he gave us a smile before continuing "I'm glad that all of you came. I'm proud of this team." He stepped to the side "Now then, go on!"
"YEAH! LET'S GO!!" We pushed the doors open and entered the class, immediately taken aback by the amount of genins in the classroom. It was full, and they were all from different villages. Not to mention... there were a lot who looked older and much more stronger than us. Are we the youngest??
"Wow...." "W-what's this...?"
I was starting to feel slightly nervous when someone jumped onto Sasuke from behind, "Sasuke-kun, you're late!!!!" It was Ino, seeing how she was on Sasuke and flirting with him pissed Sakura off and the 2 started to insult each other as per usual. They both haven't changed at all, I see.
Our tiny group became a larger group as we were soon joined by both Ino's team (Team 10) and Kiba's team (Team 8), there was a lot of bickering as we haven't seen each other since the day we got separated into our teams. We must've gotten pretty loud at one point cause someone told us off, "Oi you guys, you should be more quiet."
All of us looked up at the same time. The one who came over to shush us was a man with ash-grey hair that was tied in a ponytail. He too had black-coloured irises, he was wearing a pair of black rimmed circular glasses and the Konoha headband on his forehead. He wore a dark purple shirt with a high collar that is similar to the Uchiha clan's on top of of a white shirt underneath. He had matching purple pants with a white coloured cloth waistband, and wore the same shade of purple fingerless gloves with metal plates over his knuckles.
"You guys are the 'rookie 9', fresh out of the academy, right? Screaming like schoolgirls... geez." I couldn't help but stare at the rest who participated in the bickering at that comment. "This isn't a field trip you know."
That didn't go down well with the rest, Ino demanding to know who he is for talking to us that way."I'm Yakushi Kabuto. Anyway, take a good look around you." I didn't had to look around again to guess that everybody else in the room was getting annoyed by us 'rookies', judging from the silence, everyone was feeling intimidated.
"They're from Amegakure (Village Hidden in the Rain), they have short tempers. Everyone is tense before the exam, you guys should quiet down before you cause a scene." Kabuto told us nicely. I looked up at him and gave him a polite smile, "Thank you Kabuto-san. We'll be more mindful from now on, won't we guys?" I turned to look at the others as I said the last part.
"Yes...." they mumbled, but loud enough for me to hear them. Kabuto returned the smile, "I understand though, it can't be helped. You're all clueless rookies, you guys remind me of me when I was younger."
"Kabuto-san... is this your second time?" Sakura asked warily, "No, it's my 7th time." he answered nonchalantly as if it wasn't an embarassing thing to say. He quickly continued after seeing the surprised looks on our faces, "The Chuunin exams are only held twice a year, so this is my 4th year."
"Then that means you know a lot about these exams?!" Sakura exclaimed, as if she hit the jackpot. "Kind of...."
Kabuto then decided to share with us some information on the Chuunin exams and those who are participating in it to us, claiming that he's doing it as a senior helping out his fellow juniors. Sasuke of course immediately took the chance to ask about Gaara and Lee.
Not going to lie, I wasn't surprised at all upon finding out how good both Gaara and Lee are. But Gaara not getting injured from a B rank?! That's insane, we almost lost our lives on that Zabuza mission! I could see Sasuke clenching his jaw, thinking hard about the new information that was given.
"The rest of of the hidden villages are filled with talented ninjas."
"Uhn.... that kind of makes you lose your confidence...." Hinata said quietly, her face full of worry and self-doubt. "Hey, why are you saying that now?!" Ino must have felt called out too.
"In other words... all of the applicants who have gathered here..." Sakura started, "Yup!" Kabuto answered before she could finish her sentence. "It's not just Lee and Gaara, everyone are the top elite genins from their nation."
"This isn't going to be easy." Kabuto smirked. "Nobody said it was going to be," I spoke up again. "But we're not cowards. We'll show everyone our skills." I hoped that this would boost everyone's confidence. While it may sound scary, but I don't think we should doubt our own skills as well. After all, we've made it this far.
I looked behind me to see everyone smiling back at me confidently, even Sasuke was smirking.
"RAAAGGHHHHHH!!!!" I jumped in surprise at Naruto's sudden behaviour.
"I am Uzumaki Naruto, and I won't lose to any of you bastards!! Got it?!!!!??" He declared it loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear.
"Hey!!! What's with him?!" Ino complained to Sakura who was taking deep breaths before she proceeded to attempt murder by placing him in a chokehold. "What the hell are you doing?!" "But I was just speaking the truth!!!"
Even I facepalmed, "This guy... just placed a huge ass target on himself... I'm his teammate... oh my god...." Hinata who was standing beside me patted me gently on the shoulder, unsure of what to say.
"E-everyone, that was just a joke. This guy's quite an idiot, you see....." Sakura tried to defuse the tense atmosphere, chuckling nervously. "You can just ignore him, haha.... good luck for the exams, senpai!" I smiled apologetically and grabbed Naruto's arm tightly, warning him to not say anything else as we backed away from their glare.
"Naruto, I'm not going to step in if Sakura kills you this time, you know, you deserve it." "Heh???? But Akiko-chan, I didn't do anything wrong!" While Sakura continued to lecture Naruto, a genin took the chance to attack Kabuto while we were distracted.
The ninja threw some kunais at Kabuto's direction which he dodged only for another ninja, his teammate to appear in front of him. He tried to land a punch on Kabuto but missed as he dodged again. Just as we thought it had ended, Kabuto's glasses' shattered into tiny pieces.
"Eh? What happened?" I looked at Sasuke who was confused as well. "I see," Kabuto looked unfazed as he took off his glasses, "it's that kind of an attack eh?"
"He probably grazed the tip of his nose." Shikamaru told us, "Tch, it's what he gets for acting like a big shot."
All of a sudden, Kabuto's eyes widened and he fell onto his knees and puked. "Ah, he threw up!" "Kabuto-san?"
Naruto and I quickly rushed over to check on him. "Kabuto-san, are you alright?" I rubbed his back gently. "Yeah.. I'm alright." Kabuto reassured us as he got up slowly.
"How pathetic. Even though he's a veteran who's been taking the exams for 4 whole years." said the ninja who has bandages over his whole face, except for his left eye and eyebrow. It was then that I noticed the headband with Otagakure's symbol on it.
Oh, so that's what this is about. They didn't like what Kabuto was talking about their village.
"Write this on your card. The 3 from Otagakure, definite future Chuunins." the other ninja with black, spiky hair added on.
The atmosphere quickly became tensed again, both sides glaring at the other. Everyone else was trying to understand how did Kabuto get affected when he didn't get hit.
"QUIET DOWN, YOU WORTHLESS BASTARDS!!!!" A huge puff of smoke appeared at the front of the room. It subsided to reveal a large group of adults, wearing grey or blue uniforms. In the middle stood a tall guy, who was wearing a blue coloured uniform with a black coat and gloves. His head is covered by his forehead protector which is tied around his head, like a bandanna instead of a headband. He also had 2 nasty scars on his face.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," he had a smirk on his face. "I'm Morino Ibiki, the proctor for the first test of the Chuunin exams. He lifted a finger and pointed at the ninjas who attacked Kabuto, "You guys, from Otagakure! No doing as you please before the exam! Do you want to fail already?" he gave a stern warning.
"Sumimasen. It's our first time taking the exams, so we got a bit carried away..." The guy in the bandages apologized, but it didn't sound sincere.
"Hmph, this is a good opportunity, so I'll say this. There will be no fighting without the permission of the proctors. And even if you did get permission, killing your opponent will not be tolerated."
"Any pigs that disobey me will be disqualified immediately. Got it?" I could sense a few people in the room becoming nervous, shifting on their feet. It can't be helped, this guy sounds and looks intimidating.
"We will now start the first test of the Chuunin exam! Turn in your applications, take one of these number cards in exchange and sit at the assigned seat." He held up some number cards for us to see.
"After that, we will hand out the papers for the written test!"
"Written?... Paper?...." Naruto asked aloud to himself.
Oh no... Sakura and I both shared a look of dread. "A PAPER TEST?!!!!???" There it is, it finally clicked in his head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We were all separated. Once we took our numbers, we couldn't discuss with each other on what number we've gotten, we had to sit down immediately. Sasuke was on the right side of the room, Naruto and Sakura were in the middle, with Sakura being a few rows behind him and I was on the far left, with Kabuto.
"You seem to be worried, is it about Naruto?" Kabuto asked me, noticing that I had been staring at Naruto's back for some time.
"Yeah, Naruto isn't good with his studies, so a paper test is hell for him." "Oh.... then I'm afraid this isn't going to be good for your team."
"What do you -" "Do not start answering your questions yet and listen closely to what I'm about to say." I was cut off by Ibiki who was standing in front of the blackboard, about to explain the instructions.
Basically, he explained how the test uses a subtraction system, with each of us starting at 10 marks, we will lose a mark for every question we answer incorrectly. As this is a team test, our scores are combined, and we have to compete with the other teams on who has the highest score. If anyone was caught cheating, 2 marks will be deducted for every offense, those who have lost all of their marks will have to leave. And finally, those who have lost all of their marks or have answered every question incorrectly, will fail the exam along with their teammates.
And since that my team is the only 4 man team, to make it fair to everyone, our team's total marks is 30 as well instead of 40. Which means each of us has a total mark of 7.5, and each incorrect question would cost us 0.75.
At first, I thought that as long as Sasuke, Sakura and I do our best, we could easily make up for Naruto's 7.5 marks, however once Ibiki mentioned the last rule, I understood what Kabuto meant now.
In short, we are doomed if Naruto doesn't get at least 1 question right.
God, help us all.