Sasuke ducked under a punch and retaliated by sweeping Sakura's legs out from under her. Sakura rolled with the momentum of the fall used her chakra to push herself away from Sasuke. They had been sparring for fifteen minutes bow and both were panting; they were so loud I could hear them from where I was sitting on the lake, even passed Kakashi-sensei's distracting commentaries.
Sasuke got his breathing under control first and seemed to try for a lunge at Sakura. Sensei was suspiciously silent but I don't think it worked as well as Sasuke would have liked; I heard Sasuke stumble a bit wide of where Sakura was standing, trying to figure out where his attack would be.
Footsteps behind me dragged my attention away from my sparring teammates and even further away from where I was supposed to be keeping track of today's random jounin – poor Raido-san was running errands for the hokage while the gate keeper duo were out on a mission.
"Sensei," I said, moving my head towards where I last heard pages turning. "Someone's heading this way." I adjusted my attention to the interloper's chakra. Initial probing told me this person was barely out of the academy but something funky about the signature had me looking again. Eventually I was able to make out the sound of their gait enough to form a conclusion.
"I think it's Asuma-sensei but he's shielding his chakra and walking heavier than normal." I stood up and made my way to where Sensei was telling Sasuke and Sakura to take their blindfolds off. There was a giggle from probably-Asuma's shoulder. Now that I wasn't channelling chakra to sit on the lake, what I thought was poorly suppressed chakra was actually very well disguised jounin chakra and a large but underdeveloped signature. "I thought you were too old for piggy backs. You're almost a ninja, Konohamaru." Konohamaru giggled again before landing on the ground with a thump. It almost covered up the faint rustle that was paper passing between Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei.
"That was impressive, Naruto." Asuma-sensei told me, patting my head. There was a spike of chakra and gentle breeze that signified use of a shunshin as Asuma-sensei left, leaving me to return to my team for a post-training debrief. Was Konohamaru still here?
"Okay." Sensei declared. "Sasuke and Sakura first. What did we notice?" Kakashi asked. Damn sneaky bastard, going to make remember Intel I only half got.
"That sparring while blindfolded is hard. Why did we do that, again?" Sasuke grumbled. If he had his way, there'd be no such thing as a disability.
"Because Sensei is positively evil. He's probably got a terrible, devious smirk plastered all over his face." It wasn't a hard bet; Sensei's chakra was radiating smugness next to me.
"He's still wearing a mask, but his eye is doing that weird crinkly thing it does when he shows more expression than a paper bag." Sakura told me. There was a rustle that was her moving closer. "I think this is the one with the wrinkles that mean he's mocking you." There was a sharp snap as everything jovial left Sensei's chakra.
"Maa, maa," Sensei started to say.
"He must be evil if he makes you spar blindfolded. Just regular sparing is hard enough." Konohamaru put up from my other side. Why was he still here? "Does he make you do that too, Boss?"
I sighed. "I get worst, Kono." I told him. "He makes me do 'Youthful Training' with Gai-sensei and his team twice a week. That's worst." I felt Konohamaru flinch beside me. Everyone who was anyone knew who Gai and his protégé were. In some ways Lee was worst, any physical punishment Gai sets himself, Lee will do half again.
"Focus!" Kakashi-sensei growled at us, something steely creeping across his tone. Just what was Asuma-sensei here for?
"When Sasuke and Sakura are blinded, their stamina takes a nosedive." I could hear Sakura glaring at me – she likes to make sure I know I'm in trouble and draw out the words 'glare' while she shoots laser eyes at me. "But," I added, having something more to say than what no-one wanted to hear. "They had an easier time knowing where attacks were coming from, as far as I could tell."
"The ground is hard. And it's too hard to punch something if I can't see the point where I should release my chakra for maximum impact." Sakura said. She sounded like she was already thinking of a solution.
"That hand seals while blindfolded suck!" Sasuke was in a really bad mood, huh? This was going to take a while.
Attention: Hatake Kakashi
Memo:
Meeting regarding chunin exam entrants at 11am tomorrow. Be early brat. Or Else.
Signed,
Godaime Hokage.
AN
Please excuse the shortness of this chapter as it's only a pilot. (After putting in breaks, this is really only a single scene. A really short single scene... Damn.)
This fic is an AU of the chunin exams that happen during the three year training trip as I imagine they might happen following TwinTrouble's "Who I Am". I will be using elements from Who I am, canon and my own brain, but you'll figure out what's what – I'm not here to spoon-feed you. Spoon-feeding details in fics is one of my pet hates so don't even ask me too!
If you haven't read Who I Am, you don't need to but it is an absolutely brilliant fic.
I have tried to keep to TT's original fic style as much as possible and hope you guys think I have done them justice. The memo system from the original fic will be staying. I really like the memos and plan to use them to their full potential.
Please tell me what you think and give me a buzz if you'd be willing to beta read.