Chapter 13
When they returned to the place where the first part of the exam would take place, Kakashi was waiting for them with an expression that said he didn't really have good news as he looked over all four of them carefully. His body language also said that something was wrong as he seemed slightly stiff.
He blinked slowly and slid his hands into his pockets. "So you've all come."
Nori frowned slightly. She had a bad feeling about this and she was positive she wasn't going to like what he was going to say. "Kakashi-sensei, is something wrong?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto nodded his head vigorously, also seeming to get uncomfortable with the heavy atmosphere. "Just tell us the bad news already!"
Kakashi let out a small breath as he closed his eyes in an attempt at gathering his thoughts and he wondered if he should say it bluntly or put it down lightly. When he opened his eyes however he saw the way that Nori was observing him, eyes sharp and not missing a thing. His felt a quirk of amusement when he realized that she knew it was something to do with her. "Only teams of three can take this exam."
It took a moment but the others seemed to realize what he meant.
"So one of us has to drop out?" Sasuke deadpanned with a twitch of his eye. "Aren't we supposed to be a team? That's not our fault it they have a faulty system because of their three man team rules." He narrowed his eyes at Kakashi as he waited for his answer.
Kakashi sighed. "I didn't say one of you had to drop out."
"Eh?" Sakura frowned in confusion. "Then... they're gonna make an exception?"
"Not really." Kakashi picked at his ear, "One of you just has to move teams."
Nori sighed softly and felt the thump of her heart against her chest when she realized that her feeling had been correct. "It's me." She spoke up softy gaining everyone's attention but Kakashi didn't look shocked, meaning that she was right. "There is a two man team and we have one too many here."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "A two man team?"
"Wait, Norio's going to a different team?" Naruto's arms fell away from behind his head and turned to stare at the red head at his side. "But she's supposed to be here with us, why she is leaving? Hm, Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi nodded. "Nori will be placed on a team with Noboru Mayuki and Noboru Hiiroyuki."
"EH?" Naruto and Sakura exclaimed at the same time as they turned to Nori sharply, finding that her expression was strangely neutral. Sakura looked back and forth between her teammate and her sensei in shock. "Noboru? She's going to be placed on a team with her family?"
"They're not my family." Nori suddenly said and tried to hide the slightly hurt expression from the whole situation.
Kakashi took this moment to explain. "Yes. The two don't have a third teammate and we have one too many due to the high rate of graduation from your class at the Academy, they made an exception then because they didn't want to fail a potentially good ninja just because the number wasn't even, but the chunin exams have strict rules. The Hokage figured that cause they're from the same clan they'll work well together and Nori will have a good chance at getting through easily." He finished his explanation and turned to the red haired girl. "Of course it's up to you, whether you want to do it or not but that would mean that someone from our team would have to drop out so Nori could take the test instead."
Nori frowned lightly and pushed aside her feelings before raising her head sharply. "I'll do it." Two voices said at once.
"Oh." Kakashi blinked in surprise and Nori turned with wide eyes to look at Sakura who also had her hand raised, both having said the same thing. Kakashi felt his chest warm at the sight of his students and he smiled through his mask. "Unfortunately, if you both drop out then Naruto and Sasuke won't be able to take the test as well."
Naruto shrugged. "Let's just not take the test then."
Nori sent Sakura a soft smile before turning to Naruto thankfully. "But that doesn't mean the same thing won't happen next time we try to take the test. Kakashi-sensei, I'll go with the other team and try my best." She turned to her teammates and felt her face turn hot when she noticed the looks of disbelief they were giving her. "This doesn't mean we're enemies."
"Good, then it's settled." Kakashi gave them another smile before moving away from the door he was standing in front of. "Make me proud to be your sensei, since you're all on my team. Now, go!" They opened the doors and stepped inside and for a moment, Nori thought that they had a cool entrance with their determined faces.
But the door slammed shut behind them like a prison cell and the sound echoed strangely loud across the room full of very intimidating ninja.
For a moment she was startled by the amount of ninja as she had been totally expecting just a few but this... Her shoulder blades hit a chest and it took her a moment to realize that she took a step backwards. Naruto leaned over her shoulder to stare at her curiously with wide blue eyes for a few moments and then he suddenly grinned.
"Are you scared?"
Nori blinked in shock before she shook her head slowly. "No." She shifted in place slightly and his fingertips brushed against the back of her hand and for a moment she thought that he was going to grab her hand again, but he simply gave her a small smile that she'd never seen on his face before. It wasn't the mischievous grin or a happy smile, it was more softer than that but before she could think about it any further Yamanaka Ino was heading their way loudly.
"Sasuke-kun you're late!" Ino jumped on the Uchiha's back with a grin, wrapping her arms around his neck and annoying Sakura in the process. "I was waiting for you since I heard you were coming! It's been so long since I've seen you!"
Sakura grumbled underneath her breath in anger before pointing at the blonde sharply, "Get away from Sasuke-kun you Ino-pig!"
"Oh look, it's Sakura with her wide forehead! You're still ugly I see!"
Nori frowned. Sakura wasn't ugly. She didn't voice her thoughts because she knew that it would only bring Ino's wrath upon her and considering the reputation she had as Sasuke's craziest fan-girl Nori wanted nothing to do with the girl.
"What a drag." Shikamaru stepped into their area with his hands in his pockets and Choji stuffing his face standing at his side. The lazy boy tilted his head as he looked at team 7. "You guys are taking this troublesome exam too?"
Naruto leaned over her shoulder once more, "Oh, look it's the idiot trio!" He commented casually and Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he took a step forward.
"Would you stop calling us that? It's annoying."
With Sakura and Ino still fighting over Sasuke and Naruto and Shikamaru bickering, no one really noticed that three other people were approaching as well until they spoke up.
Inuzuka Kiba grinned widely. "We found you guys!" He stopped with his hands on his hips and his dog laying over his hooded head as usual. Hinata and Shino stood behind him quietly, each having looked like they had grown a few inches taller. "I guess we're all here!"
Hinata looked down hesitantly. "H-hello..." Her greeting was barely noticed but Nori sent her a brief smile.
Kiba scoffed. "So I guess all the genin rookies made it." His eyes were suddenly directed towards the Uchiha boy in a challenge as his smirk grew larger by the second. "How far do you think we'll make it, Sasuke-kun?" His question seemed sarcastic and Nori noticed that he seemed to be more challenging than he was in the Academy.
Sasuke smirked. "You seem confident, Kiba."
"We trained like hell, we won't lose to you." Both of the boys seemed to be ignoring Ino in the background sending the dog boy death glares.
Naruto huffed loudly and his voice remained loud in her ear. "Shut up! Putting Sasuke aside, I won't lose to you either." Kiba suddenly turned his attention to the blond boy for the first time and stiffened when he noticed that Nori was there also. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Ya got it, Kiba?"
"Haah?" Kiba twitched in annoyance and his fists clenched tightly as he stared at Nori and Naruto. "What the hell, are you two together or what?" He tried to make it come out as mocking like he was making fun of them but the tremor in his voice said that he was angry.
Nori suddenly took notice that Naruto was still standing close behind her and had been talking over her shoulder the whole time and she realized that their close proximity could be taken the wrong way. She lightly stepped so that she was standing beside him instead. "We're not together." She informed him calmly.
Kiba suddenly looked very startled and the attention was turned to her. Everyone stared quietly.
Nori blinked in confusion and wondered if there was something on her face. "Is something wrong?"
There we're a few moments of silence and then Ino raised her hand to point at the red haired girl incredulously. "N-Nori, you talked..."
"Yes." Nori tilted her head.
Ino's finger jerked at her. "There you did it again!"
"Ino-pig!" Sakura slapped the girls hand down roughly, standing in front of Nori protectively. "Of course Nori talks you idiot! Stop pointing at her that's really rude." The two were suddenly fighting again and Nori was glad she wasn't in the middle of it.
Kiba observed the girl carefully, taking in the way she suddenly didn't blend quietly into the background like she always used to. Her hair was getting longer and her Konoha headband seemed to glint in the light. It looked good on her, he noticed with a jolt and attempted to avert his eyes away but he was suddenly drawn in by the curious glint in her eyes. She seemed so different, but she was also the same. And she talks now!
This Nori was very different to him. But he was kind of digging it--
"Oi, you guys!" A male with grey hair and circle glasses was walking towards them casually. "You guy's should quiet down a little. You're the rookies that just graduated from the Academy, correct? You guys are all walking around with such cute faces, this isn't a field trip."
Ino glared. "Who are you to tell us this?!"
"I'm Yakushi Kabuto." He gave them an expectant look as his dark eyes roamed over them. "Look around you."
Nori suddenly remembered that they weren't alone in the room and when she looked up she realized that everyone was staring at them in anger or something akin to amusement as they probably thought they were easy targets. Kabuto was talking again when her attention was drawn to something completely different.
Hiiro and Mayu sat a few rows down near the window, both watching her quietly. The two stuck out greatly in the crowd surrounding them with their gentle features and blue clothing. Noticing that she had her attention, Mayu slowly raised her hand in a gentle wave.
Nori wasn't sure if that wave was meant as an invitation or just a simple greeting but her attention was brought to Hiiro when he tilted his head, cold blue eyes scanning her from head to toe with a blank expression. Like he was sizing her up. She met his eyes and the two simply stared at each other, wondering who would break contact first.
Sasuke's sharp voice cut through her thoughts. "Gaara of the Desert and Rock Lee from Konoha." She glanced over her shoulder and noticed that the Kabuto guy had cards layed out on the ground and everyone was gathering around him. She watched carefully as he placed his finger against the surface of the card and suddenly information showed up
"First is Rock Lee." Kabuto picked the card up to show them. "He's one year older than you guys. His mission accomplishment is 20 D-rank and 11 C-rank. Sensei is Guy. His taijutsu skills have improved significantly over the past year but his other areas are terrible. This is his first time taking the chunin exams."
Nori blinked. "And what of Gaara of the Desert?" She remembered her brief encounter with him and his team and she became curious now that they had a source of information on him.
Kabuto smirked and picked up another card, placing his finger against it until information showed up. "His mission experience is 8 C-rank and wow, he did a B-rank mission as a genin! He's a foreign ninja and this is his first time taking the exam so I don't really have much information on him." Kabuto pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "But it seems like he's come back from all their missions unharmed."
A B-rank mission and he was unharmed? Nori frowned in worry as she thought about Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura having to fight him during these exams. It'd be best if they just steered clear of him.
AND THAT'S THE LAST THING I WROTE FOR THIS FIC, im sorry. The next chapter will be explanations.