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|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XXIV] ||
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Ok, ok! Think! These questions are exceptionally difficult to be asking Genin about…although any shinobi worth his salt would ideally know about elemental recompositon; it is the sort of thing only covered when developing a jutsu…so what’s the point of asking it here..?
And creating such tension by if one fails so does the team…as well as allowing cheating, albeit with a penalty but still…even the questions… I’d have to use my knowledge about my own elemental use to answer them – or at least some with any accuracy.
Oriko could sense she was close to an answer, but was still racking her brains… cheating…points…elemental use…knowledge…proud shinobi…a few pencils were scribbling down on the sheets, but they weren’t many – how much I would like to know what they’re writing! …I can answer the questions on wind easily because I am a wind element user…
But if anyone saw my test they’d instantly know what elemental user I was and I’d be failed…but…that would also be true for the others here, if they’re scribbling so much then I would do doubt be also to find out valuable info about them.
Oriko thought back to what she’d read about elemental use from the books in the library, specifically about the relations to each other, and their endless chain of weakness and strength relations.
She decided that writing something rather than noting would be valuable – as well as the fact that no one could possibly decipher what element user she was just from those few sentences.
A lot of information sprang to mind, but so much of it was to do specifically with elemental recompositon and the uses of wind element only; she could also detect that the sounds of more and more pencils being put to paper – where they being as careful about what was said as I am being? Asano better!
She thought in fury, not quite as worried about Sakura, knowing how intelligent that girl was; it occurred to Oriko, that if she knew what she was facing next it would no doubt help her in making a decision about how to answer the questions.
But she too knew that she couldn’t hand in a blank or scant test paper and expect to pass…the tapping of pencils of the observing shinobi seemed to be getting more and more frequent…cheaters? Have to be…but there seems to be so many and if the infraction is that obvious that an ‘enemy’ could take notes then why let them get away with it?...
Unless…hmm…perhaps being a wind element user could provide me with a useful advantage… Oriko subtly allowed hand to drop to her lap as she began gathering chakra into her hand, wouldn’t it be convenient for me if a sudden wind blew open the window and flipped up some of their test papers for me to accidentally ‘see’?
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Anko allowed a large yawn to escape her as she rose from her desk, having gathered and sorted all of the release forms for the second part of the Chuunin selection exams [forms for participants to sign acknowledging the danger and that they accept responsibility for themselves in case of death]. It was well into the afternoon and Anko knew that she’d soon ‘have’ to burst in and lead all the students away before they knew their fate with the first test…
She couldn’t help but wonder how her friend Oriko was doing and if Ibiki had managed to frighten her yet, not likely! If that girl can both survive a kidnapping and even make friends with the bastard, then no one and nothing would scare her out of her wits!
But Anko still couldn’t help worrying, Ibiki was a master of interrogation and torture – and Oriko was still a stranger to much of their world…no matter what brains someone may have, it can’t always compete with the value of sheer experience.
Deciding that moping here would do her no good, she thought that a short visit to the KIA stone to see her brother would be a good idea – he always did like the Chuunin selection exams – albeit for his own twisted reasons of making them sometimes impossibly difficult. The walk wasn’t far and it was down quiet, narrow streets on her way to visit somewhere she was all-too-rarely seen.
Anko kneeled in front the small memorial, quickly finding the name of her brother, Mitarashi Ichida, she placed her hands together in a small prayer, briefly telling her brother ‘Ichy’ as she sometimes used to call him, about her new friend’s involvement with the Chuunin exams, and her trouble with Kakashi – the prayer was short, but a blessing to her brother’s memory.
“It’s rare to see you here, Anko, had you lost someone?” The kuniochi snapped her eyes open at the greeting from a rather unexpected male friend,
“K-Ka-kashi…I…yes, my brother, Ichy-chan I-I mean Ichida, some years ago,” She spoke, tripping over his old nickname as she found her feet,
“Oh! Ichida-kun! Yes, I knew him quite well, actually…very skilled in genjutsu,” Kakashi returned as he stepped towards the memorial, next to Anko, surprised to find her praying there,
“Yea…who are you here for Kakashi?”
“…An old friend,” Kakashi responded slowly, seeing Anko immediately directed his thoughts to Oriko, knowing that she would be at least halfway through the first test by now, hoping that she’d pick up on the more unusual aspects and use them to her advantage.
He could resist the small stab of irritation that he’d managed to get back from his mission about an hour ago, but with too little time to see Oriko before the test began.
He also felt a tad uncomfortable next to Anko, knowing what her general motives (in social hours) had been for the past few weeks, and he really didn’t want to put her in a bad mood right before the second test he knew she’d be running, should Oriko pass and then have to face Anko’s wrath.
He sighed gently, wondering what he was supposed to do, he wanted Anko to leave so that he could be alone, literally, with his thoughts, but he also didn’t want to be so rude.
“K-Kakashi…may I ask you something?”
“Hmm?” He responded,
“I-I assume that you’ll answer me honestly, right?”
“That’s right,” Kakashi nodded, feeling uncomfortable enough to want to pull out Icha Icha and pretend he wasn’t listening – or even there,
“W-Well…am I right in thinking that you …er…like Oriko?”
“Eh?!” He stuttered a little, not expected quite that question, or to be seen through so easily; feeling, ironically enough, like an open book; “Uh…well…I…err….”
“It’s alright, I won’t say anything to anyone, I just wondered if that was the case from the way you act around her,” Anko’s perceptiveness surprising Kakashi again, as well as irritating him slightly, disliking feeling so…open,
“Uh…I’m…sorry?” He responded, suddenly feeling guilt for reasons unknown.
“Ehehe, it’s alright, ya know, it wasn’t exactly a shock or surprise to me,”
“But…really?”
“Yea; I was only kidding when I said that we should go on a date way back when Oriko first arrived and sat with Asuma, Iruka and us that night in the pub, but unfortunately, I started to over think things,” He could hear the laugh in her voice very clearly – it wasn’t 100% genuine, but neither could he hear anything intended falsely, “Haha, I’m sorry for making you feel so uncomfortable…”
“…It’s…alright,”
“Nah, it wasn’t really fair…but anyway, if you want Oriko, I’d hurry up with the charm and all, that girl makes friends quickly and easily with people, surprisingly enough…and there are plenty of lookers in this village,”
Anko shot Kakashi one of her signature childishly joyful grins before turning away, “But I’ve gotta go and terrify some of the more useless Genins, see ya,”
Have I…just been given a blessing to date someone by the very woman who was…‘after me’ per se..? Kakashi rolled his eye as he turned back to the stone, his thoughts lingering on his student, still, she did have a point…
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Oriko’s wrist was beginning to ache, as she glanced at the clock and found that she had exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds left to finish – finding that she ‘knew’ more about other types of elements than she realized.
The observing shinobi had been scribbling almost as much as the examinees and she couldn’t tell if she’d been caught, even after using a flashy move to cheat, she hadn’t been called out nor had any of her team and so had to continue as though nothing was happening other than a standard test.
“Stop writing.” The clatter of numerous pencils sounded as they were all dropped nearly simultaneously, Oriko glancing discretely over her shoulder, seeing easily over three quarters of the original numbers had been cut – she’d heard some leave and numbers being called out, but had taken rather little notice.
Ibiki stood staring over the Genin in the room sternly, as though trying to look inside each one to read how jangled their nerves were or how lose their resolve was as shinobi. Ibiki eventually opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could get a word out, the door burst open, with enough force to nearly drag it off its hinges and a gleefully grinning kuniochi rushed into the centre of the room,
“Yosh!” She cried, catching Oriko’s opened mouthed amazement from the corner of her eyes,
“Anko! You’re here too early, I had a few more things to say,” Ibiki interrupted, clearly not impressed by her entrance or by her dismissing wave and *not-listening* expression,
“Ah so what, Ibiki, you old goat, you’ve already gotten rid of the numbers as asked by the quota and then some, besides, I’m itching to test the skills of this lot!” She grinned, looking over the room, very happy to see Oriko still among the numbers and with a test paper covered in writing.
“Ok you guys! Who’s really worthy of the title of Chuunin? Not many, that’s for sure, I’ll cut your numbers at least in half by testing how well you’re capable of using the info you’ve already gathered,”
“What?” Some of the students raised their hands or simply shouted out, admit rather dumbfounded expressions,
“Geeze, you lot are stupid! Why else would questions which would so easily reveal your skills be asked? Or why you’ve been encouraged to cheat? Think you morons, you should all know quite a lot about the skill levels of those around you – or of someone at least, depending on how smart you’ve been,”
Oriko couldn’t resist a tiny smirk, well, I was on the right lines earlier then! Now, I wonder if I can remember what info belonged to whom…
“Let’s go!” She shouted punching the air with her fist, in an obviously very good mood, Oriko’s last thought as she found her feet with the rest of the room was Anko, you joker!