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Ryuu and I walked up side by side toward the proctor of the third round and the other participants. The competitors stood in a line behind him, each clumped together by their respective village. I could spot the leaf ninja like Neji, Shikamaru, and Naruto standing together. The sand shinobi stood with one another too, including that freaky ass redhead from the day before.
The proctor looked different than the last guy, so I couldn't help but wonder who this new person was, and what had happened to the old dude. Maybe he had finally coughed too hard and croaked—but who knows. Certainly not me.
"Hey, Kohana-chan!" Naruto waved in my direction, grinning. "You ready?"
I rolled my eyes as the other participants turned to look in my direction thanks to Naruto's loud ass voice.
"You seem awfully cheerful for someone who's about to get beaten to a pulp in front of their entire village, and Kage." I gave him a smug look, crossing my arms.
"Hey... that's not very nice." He muttered, scowling at me from the corner of his eye.
I moved to stand beside him and gave a small smile, tilting my head to the side. "I was just teasing. I'm sure... I'm sure you'll do great."
I glanced down the line to Neji, the lavender eyes Hyūga totally ignoring my presence alongside Ryuu's. I was honestly surprised he didn't make any pathetic jab about me being a dirty kumonin or a 'tengu'. The silence was better than insults though. But it would be nice to get riled up before the fights. Get my blood really pumping, yanno?
I leaned forward and cupped my hand around my mouth, whispering to him. "Kick his ass, okay? He deserves it."
I pulled away and shot him a smile. Naruto blinked at me, mouth making an 'O' shape, before he nodded his head enthusiastically, blonde hair bouncing around. "You got it, 'ttebayo."
I furrowed my brows, looking down the line again. Only this time, I didn't spot the Takigakure kunoichi anywhere. I didn't see that sound ninja either, which only made things more confusing. I knew two of the sound guys were completely destroyed during the prelims. At least, all but one. Dosu was his name, I think? Not that there was a point in even knowing it. He wasn't here, so something must had gone wrong. Something must have also gone wrong with that Taki ninja too, since she wasn't anywhere to be found.
In fact, I didn't see Sasuke here either.
"Say, where's the chick you're supposed to fight?" Ryuu furrowed his brows and leaned over, looking down the line of shinobi.
"I was wondering the same thing." I pursed my lips, looking over to Naruto. "Where is Sasuke?"
Naruto shrugged, but looked worried. "I've got no clue. It's not like him to be late."
"Hey, Hey!" Ryuu grinned, pointing to the balcony the Kage sat at. "It's Raikage-sama!"
I looked up, shielding my eyes from the sun. Sure enough, there stood the legend himself, decked in the golden hat of Kumogakure. It was a little strange seeing him look so professional and not breaking his office furniture in a temper tantrum. It was even more surprising he didn't call off Kumogakure participating in the chunin exams entirely. Initially, Raikage-sama thought the chunin exams was just a ploy to lure us out and then strike on the village when our defense was weak. Especially since the leaf and cloud hadn't been on good terms for a while.
I respected our Kage a lot—don't get me wrong. I just hoped his pridefulness wouldn't get us into some deep shit.
"Raikage-sama!" Screeched Ryuu, jumping up and down and waving up toward the balcony. "I'm gonna make you so proud! Just you wait!"
I turned away in disgust. "He can't hear you, idiot. They're all the way up there! Even with how loud you are."
When I didn't hear a response from him, I turned to look his way with a raised brow. Sure enough, he was not taking a single thing I said into account. Thick waterfalls of passionate tears streamed down his face, snot mixing with the waterworks. He clenched his fist, hand shaking from how damn tight he squeezed his fingers.
I rolled my eyes. "Drama queen."
The Hokage, after greeting the Kazekage and Rakiage-sama, stood from his chair and walked to the balcony. He announced to the crowd the chunin exams would now be starting, giving the cue to the new proctor to get the show started.
He turned to face us, holding a piece of paper in his hand. On the paper was the bracket of all the matches, and instead of seeing mine next to the Takigakure Kunoichi, I was paired up against someone named Temari.
He swirled a senbon around his mouth, giving the paper a quick shake to grab out attention. "Listen here. There's a been a few minor changes to the matches since two of our participating shinobi have not shown up. Take a look at your respective opponent, and then we can get started."
I glanced down the line, ticking off the shinobi and their respective names. I already knew a majority of the leaf shinobi's names, so they weren't this so called Temari. Then it came down to the three sand shinobi. Temari sounded like a girls name, and there was only one girl among the mix. So, bada bing bada boom—the one with the massive fan and four ponytails seems to be our winner!
I scowled at the sight of her fan.
This bitch was a wind user, wasn't she?
Just my lucky day to face off someone who had a stronger affinity than I. There was three other affinities she could have had, but of fucking course she had to be wind. Of course! Lucky me, man. She couldn't have had earth or something?
Kami really hated my guts, huh?
"Let's have those who are not Uzumaki Naruto, and Hyuga Neji, head to the balcony and wait for their respective match." The proctor gestured with his hand to the upper level, closed off from the stands of those watching.
I patted Naruto on the back and shot him a smug look. "Make sure you kick his ass, alright? I wanna fight you in the next rounds."
Naruto's eyes widened, mouth parting. He stared at me in shock, before giving a closed eye smile and nodding his head, blonde hair flopping up and down. "You got it, Kohana-chan!"
I gave him a firm nod, turning around and following the path the others took into the stadium and up the stairs to the balcony. Sure enough, once I made my way into the little alcove for competitors, I spotted Ryuu standing by the railing. He wasn't slouching over the railing our bouncing in excitement like I expected him to. Instead, he was trembling. I thought maybe he actually had been trembling in excitement, but that theory was squashed as I came to stand beside him.
I leaned over the balcony and eyed the fight about to begin below, crossing my ankles over one another so I could slouch comfortably. I waited for a moment to see if he would calm himself down, but nothing changed. So, I decided to take initiative.
Friends are supposed to do that, right?
"Are you alright?"
Ryuu jumped, hands tighting around the railing. He was thrown off by the sudden question, probably not expecting me to notice. Or if I did notice, for me not to care. But I wasn't like that now. Or I was trying not to be.
"Um... yeah." He swallowed. "I am."
"You don't have to lie." I didn't look over at him, keeping my eyes trained on the fight below. Naruto made some shadow clones and was attacking Neji straight on, but they weren't even making a dent in the Hyuga's defense. He swatted then away like mere flies.
"I get if you're nervous." I continued. "After all, this is a big deal. Fighting in front of a village that isn't even our own, not to mention the dozens of nobles watching us and deciding how weak or strong our village is based on the quality of your fight. If you suck and ultimately lose, they'll deem Kumo as a bunch of weaklings. That'll be on your head."
Ryuu's trembling increased.
"Oh, and you can't forget Raikage-sama." I rested my chin in the palm of my hand, sounding bored. "Definitely don't wanna mess up in front of him. You know his wicked temper. If he saw you screw up Kumo's reputation? Wow—would you be in a world of hurt."
He was breaching the point of pissing himself out of fear.
"Man are you good at these pep-talks." Shikamaru shot me a look, taking the opportunity to butt into a conversation nothing to do with him. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and lulled his head to the side, glancing over to my fear ridden teammate.
I rolled my eyes, practically talking into the palm of my hand since I was too lazy to move. "Oh shut up. I wasn't talking to you, and I hadn't made my point yet."
I sighed deeply.
"What I was trying to get at, before I was so rudely interrupted, is that even though there are all these pressures around us, I have faith in you." I turned my head, leaning my cheek into my hand and meeting Ryuu's shocked gaze. "You've got a lot of guts at times you don't need it. Yet when it comes to important shit like this, you clam up. You don't gotta be afraid. You're strong. But the moment you question your own strengths—that's the moment you weaken yourself. And I know you are not weak."
Ryuu stared at me shock, eyes wide and mouth agape.
I gave him a small smile, but it would have been barely noticeable if you weren't paying attention. But Ryuu was paying attention, and he knew I had smiled at him.
What I said wasn't a bunch of bullshit. I fully and wholeheartedly believed in him. He could be stupid. He could be thick headed. He could be extremely annoying. But he was not weak, and he wasn't a waste of space. Ryuu was a good ninja. If he wasn't a good ninja, he wouldn't have made it as far as he did. I could recognize that.
I was wrong about Ryuu Iwasaki. He was stupid at times, but he was not a bad shinobi, and certainly not a bad friend.
"Thank you, Kohana-chan." He gave me a warm smile, closing his eyes.
"You don't have to thank me." I turned back toward the fight. "I only said the truth."
I could feel Ryuu's eyes on me, but I didn't look over at him.
Neji and Naruto's fight was a lot longer than I had expected it to be. While I hadn't seen much of his abilities, I had faith in Naruto. It was strange having faith in people, and believing they could prevail when I had come from such a negative outlook on life. But there was something about Naruto. The way he acted, or the air he had about him; it made you want to believe in him. I didn't like gambling, since I liked to keep my money—but I think I would bet on him in a heartbeat.
I wasn't paying attention much, but that was until Neji pulled off his head protector, revealing a brand mark underneath. Otherwise known as, the Caged Bird seal.
I grimaced at the sight, knowing exactly what that terrible, terrible, thing was for.
Neji went into a deep explanation of his childhood, the foul practices of the Hyuga clan, and what happened the night Hyuga Hinata was 'kidnapped'.
The way he explained the situation made me nothing short of angry. I couldn't correct him, and I didn't think anyone would believe me if I tried. At least those not from Kumo wouldn't believe me.
I could only imagine how Raikage-sama is taking to the trashing of our villages name. Hopefully C or Darui was here to help keep him calm—maybe my old man was even up there with him, not even including the fact he was a high ranking jonin. He'd always been good at diffusing situations. I was only aware of our Kage's aggressive temper. Kumonin carried a ridiculous amount of pride, and Raikage-sama was no exception.
"I hate this." I grumbled, trying to ignore the pointed stares of the other participating ninja standing on the balcony. They were eyeing Ryuu and I with nothing short of distrust, and it made me feel sick. Sick, and extremely, extremely annoyed.
"They don't know what really happened." Ryuu shrugged. "Probably wouldn't believe us anyway."
Neji tied his headband back on, and the two leaf shinobi began the fight again. I was hoping they'd get a move on and someone would just lose already. Of course I wanted Naruto to win more than the bitter Hyuga, but I was coming to the point where I just wanted someone to drop dead or give in already.
I had began to doze off, not paying much attention to the fight down below. At least, until I felt a massive amount of chakra from said fight.
Narrowing my eyes onto Naruto, my gaze landed on this thick, orange chakra beginning to sprout from his feet. It climbed over him and coated his body like an orange-reddish cloak, sprouting up and licking at the air like flames.
The power it carried was so intense, I had to take a breath. Gripping the railing, I leaned over and squinted, trying to see if I was missing something.
"Do you sense that?"
Ryuu nodded. "Oh yeah I do. How could you not? It's freaking huge. It reminds me of Bee-sama's chakra. But more... intense. And malicious."
"That's what I was thinking. It feels like the eight tails."
Ryuu visibly swallowed, before turning his head and looking in my direction. "Do you think Naruto is a Jinchuriki? That's... that's a crazy thing to say, Kohana-chan."
"What the hell else could it be then?" I shot a nervous glance over my shoulder in the direction of the other ninja. They didn't seem to be paying attention to us anymore, their gaze set on the fight and probably just as in awe at the orange chakra coating Naruto.
"I dunno. I just... didn't expect someone like Naruto-kun to be a Jinchuriki. I only talked to him a few times, but he doesn't seem to be all that strong."
"Maybe he's been doing the same thing the rest of us have for the last month." I said. "Training."
Naruto sprung up from the ground, orange chakra coating his body. It seemed to be allowing his body to move even faster than normal. In fact, it was as fast as Momo Sensei when she wasn't using her swift release directly. One second he was there, and the next he was on a different part of the stadium. The ground, the walls, you name it.
Neji threw off Naruto's attacks with a Hyuga rotation, throwing shuriken at him once the attack finished. Naruto deflected the weapons, flashing to a different part of the stadium walls with a wisp of orange. The shuriken he threw lodged themselves into the wall where Naruto had stood.
The two threw kunai toward one another, weapons hitting and clattering to the ground before reaching their target. Naruto and Neji landed to the ground, sliding back and creating dust clouds.
"You like close combat, right?!" Naruto grit his teeth, before charging straight at Neji, hand pulled back in a fist.
Neji raised his hand to deflect the attack, but set off a massive charge, the orange chakra and Hyuga's pre-rotation creating a massive explosion.
"Holy shit." I stared mouth agape, gaze bouncing between the two body shaped craters on opposite sides of the clearing. I smacked at Ryuu's arm, not tearing my eyes away from the scene down below. "Can you sense their chakra?! Who's down?! Who is it?! Who?!"
"I'm trying!" Cried Ryuu, shielding himself from my frantic swatting. "I can't concentrate with you hitting me!"
Ryuu folded his fingers into a tiger seal once I backed off, closing his eyes. He was still for a moment, before his golden eyes popped open. "No way."
"What?!" I grabbed his sleeve, shaking him. "Tell me!"
"I can't believe he..." Ryuu blinked, eyes running over the ground. "Naruto-kun is really something."
Before I could ask, Neji crawled out of one of the craters, looking torn up and beaten almost to a motherfucking pulp. Disappointment settled in my stomach as I glanced to the other crater where a body of orange laid, practically sizzling.
"You got my hopes up." I shot Ryuu a look, but he only shook his head.
"Wait for it."
Neji smirked, eyeing the crater where Naruto laid. "A loser, is always a loser."
A blur of orange shot up out of the ground, fist colliding with Neji's chin in an uppercut punch. He went flying backwards, blood flying from his mouth. Neji collided with the dirt, sliding backwards flat on his back, before skidding beside the Third Proctors feet. The proctor counted to five, before he gave a shake of his head, and shot a smirk at Naruto. He raised his hand, gesturing in the Uzumaki's direction.
"The winner is: Uzumaki Naruto!"
I gasped, grabbing the short sleeve of Ryuu's t-shirt and pulled him around like a rag doll. "He did it! He beat him! He did it!"
Ryuu whined, head flopping around from my shaking. "K-Kohana-chan!"
I blushed in embarrassment, letting him go. Ryuu fell to the ground with an 'oof', before looking up at me with a raised brow.
"I don't think I've ever seen you get so excited." He shot me another weird look, climbing to his feet.
"Shut up." I snapped, crossing my arms. "I wasn't excited."
"Ok ok I get it—you're still tryna act all tough—"
Before I could land a hit on the human entity of irritation, the third proctor called out from below, allowing Naruto to head up to the balcony, and Neji to be taken away by medical ninja.
Naruto jogged up the steps, coming to stand in between Shikamaru and myself. He flashed me a grin and thumbs up. "I beat my opponent, Kohana-chan. I expect the same from you!" He glanced to Shikamaru with a knowing look. "Even you."
Shikamaru rolled his eyes with a scoff, but I could tell he was trying not to smirk. "Jeez. You're so annoying sometimes. You know that?"
Naruto didn't say anything. He just laughed.
"Say, isn't Sasuke's match next?" I turned to face the crowd, placing my hand on my hip. Those watching didn't seem to be in the brightest of moods, antsy for when the big bad Uchiha was gonna show up. Chatter and harsh whispers filled the arena as the seconds ticked by.
"Yeah, it is." Naruto leaned over the balcony, slouching between Shikamaru and I.
"Say, Naruto-kun!" Ryuu leaned around my from my opposite side, grinning at the blonde. "That match was super cool!"
Naruto returned the smile. "Thanks!"
"You're right to be worried about Sasuke though." Said Shikamaru in acknowledgment to me. "Is he not gonna show at all? What the hell could he be doing?"
"Perhaps he doesn't want to endanger himself." Spoke up a boy I didn't recognize. I squinted at him, eyeing his high collared coat and dark sunglasses.
Yeah, I didn't think I had ever seen this dude in my life.
"Of course Sasuke will show." Naruto shifted slightly, before settling again. "No doubt about it!"
A ninja from the Kage balcony darted beside the proctor, whispered something to him, before darting away and returning to the Hokage's side. The proctor sighed and gave a nod of his head, before turning and raising his hand to get the attention of the crowd.
"Since one of the contenders has not arrived yet, his match will be postponed until further notice. We will continue on with the next scheduled fight."
I snorted. "Special treatment."
"Man! Maybe I should have slept in a shown up late!" Ryuu pouted, slouching over the railing.
"You would have been disqualified." I rolled my eyes. "It's only because Sasuke is an Uchiha, he's getting this sort of treatment. Everyone wants to see him fight. It would be stupid for the Hokage to disqualify him."
"Aw man!" Shikamaru grimaced. "That means my match has been moved up!"
Ryuu looked over at Shikamaru and laughed nervously. "Yeah, that means it has."
I was interested in seeing how their fight would turn out. Ryuu's sealing techniques were pretty cool, and I was eager to see what he had been working on for the past month. Sealing wasn't something the hidden cloud was known for, or something that most cloud shinobi dabbled in, but Ryuu had always had a knack for it. He caught onto it quickly. Much quicker than he had other things. Apparently his mother was from a clan known for such a thing, but I wasn't sure what clan that could be.
His aunt, Masumi, tended to be pretty tight lipped when it came to Ryuu's mothers side of the family.
I didn't know what Shikamaru's skills were in battle, but he didn't seem to be someone geared for close combat, or really combat in general. I couldn't see the guy breaking out into a hefty taijutsu match, or busting out wild ninjutsu techniques.
I just hoped Ryuu would be able to adapt to the situation effectively and take him down.
"The next match is between Aburame Shino and Kankuro." Announced the proctor.
The boy who spoke about Sasuke avoiding the exams for his own safety shuffled forward. He was most likely Aburame Shino, since I knew the Aburame to be one of the four noble clans of Konoha. He was the only one with a Konoha head protector to move forward. The other Shinobi to move must have been Kankuro, one of the ninja of the hidden sand.
The sand shinobi looked all sorts of weird. He had this lump wrapped up on his back, some strange looking mop poking out of the top of the bundle. Not to mention his outfit was just as weird. Cat ears, ugly, purple face paint... it made me want to gouge my eyes out.
"I withdraw!" Called Kankuro while waving down toward the third proctor.
I raised a brow.
To come all this way, only to withdraw at last minute? What the hell was that about?
Ryuu twitched uncomfortably, looking between Shikamaru and the proctor. Throwing his head back into a loud groan, he hopped onto the railing in a crouch. He turned his head and shot me a grin.
"I'm just gonna get my fight over with! I'm sick of standing around and waiting."
I rolled my eyes. "You were next anyway, idiot."
He didn't answer me, flinging himself over the railing and skidding down the stadium wall, dust clouds kicking up under his feet. Ryuu landed on the ground and kicked off into a sprint, stopping a little ways from the proctor. He gave the leaf shinobi a large grin. "I'd like to have my match next!"
He raised a brow. "Well... it was next anyway... but alright."
Ryuu punched at the air and gave another whoop. He turned to look at the Kage balcony, sights setting on our kage. "I'll make you proud, Raikage-sama!"
I squinted toward the balcony trying to catch a glimpse of the burly man. I could barely see his face from down here, not even taking into account the Raikage hat was covering a large portion of it. He was either extremely thrilled at Ryuu's enthusiasm, or he was thinking of ways to pretend that wasn't a ninja of our village.
Probably the latter.
Ryuu turned toward the crowd, pointing to someone I hadn't noticed until now. "And you too Momo-sensei! I'm going to make you proud! You just wait!"
My orange haired Sensei was bouncing up and down with excitement, clapping her hands and squealing for him. Katsu sat beside her, looking extremely, extremely annoyed. He scowled with his arms crossed.
I rolled my eyes and slapped the side of my face.
This was so embarrassing.
At least with that small glimpse of Katsu, I knew he was doing alright. He may not have been talking to me, and I may have barely seen him much over the last month, but he looked to be in decent condition. He wasn't bleeding and he wasn't dead. Good enough for me. Even with how grumpy he looked.
Attention returning to down below, Ryuu unsealed something from a small scroll, a new item appearing from the cloud of smoke.
Surprise surprise, it was another scroll. Though this one was at least twenty times the size of the one it came out of. Ryuu set it up, the wound, deep blue paper reaching his waist, and as wide as his body. He leaned on it with his elbow, kicking his foot out and crossing one ankle behind the other.
He glanced over to the balcony, sights setting on Shikamaru, and gave him a little wave. "I'm all ready now! Thanks for waiting!"
Shikamaru clenched the railing to steady his shaking hands. I raised a brow at the dude, before looking back down to my grinning teammate, and then back to said ninja who looked close to puking.
I sniggered. "Have fun with that."
He grunted, shooting me a pointed glare out of the corner of his eye. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut out by a sudden slap on his back from Naruto.
"Aw yeah you got this Shikamaru! Go get 'em!"
Shikamaru tumbled over the railing and sailed toward the ground, screaming as he went. With a satisfying plop, he landed on his back, glaring up at the both of us. It was mostly directed to Naruto, but he was totally oblivious to the nasty look.
Ryuu winced. "Ouch, dude."
The Nara sighed, but didn't even move a muscle.
I grabbed ahold of the railing and craned over the side, gawking at him. "Is he not gonna do anything?"
"C'mon, Shikamaru!" Naruto cupped his hands over his mouth, screaming right beside my ear. "Get up and fight already!"
I gave him a hard shove. "Can you not do that right beside me?!"
Naruto gave me a sheepish grin.
I rolled my eyes.
"Man, if you don't get up I'm gonna come over there and get you myself!" Shouted Ryuu, pointing a finger at the lounging Shikamaru. He tossed the massive blue scroll over his shoulder, a black strap crossing his chest. Pulling five pieces of paper from seemingly nowhere, Ryuu raced across the yard and slapped three to the ground, propelling away in a backflip to evade the scene.
Instantly, an explosion rocked the area Shikamaru laid in.
I smirked.
Naruto gaped, before looking over to me for an explanation.
"Explosive tags." I stated simply. "Ryuu is rather skilled in Fuinjutsu. Apparently his mom hailed from a clan known for such a thing, but I'm not sure what clan that would be. Not that it matters. He's self taught, and his skill set helped him make his own explosive tags. Which he likes to use often."
"Is that what the massive scroll is for?" Asked Naruto.
I shrugged. "Not sure. Never seen that thing before, but I wouldn't be surprised. Ryuu has so many scrolls it's almost ridiculous."
Down below, the smoke finally cleared away. Only Shikamaru's body wasn't laying unconscious in the explosion sight. He stood a few yards above it, sticking to the wall.
"Man, I certainly wasn't expecting that." He sighed. "Even though it's a huge drag, I guess I'll fight you. Otherwise I would have to deal with a lot of nagging."
authors note:
yo! so the matches got switched up a bit.
though my shikatema heart is gonna hurt for
not allowing them to fight, i couldn't think
of who else to switch around so it
wouldn't fuck up the plot too much.
but oh well—Temari and Kohana would
hit it off pretty well anyway.
How do you guys picture Kohana's
appearance? I know I've given a few
gifs, and a few slight details, but I
try not to go over board so there can
be a little room for imagination, but just
enough information so you guys don't
think anything crazy. Like that she has
bright blue hair or anything yanno??
I picture her to be taller (obviously) with
short black hair, and straight bangs that
barely come over her eyes. Her eyes are a lot
like sasukes in shape, smaller and not as
round like narutos. She's got a bit of a
slimmer face, and olive toned skin too.
Maybe you guys don't picture her this way,
but that's cool! If you don't imagine her this
way, then I'd be really interested in hearing how
she does look to you.
hope you enjoyed!
-kat