Sakura and Hinata found the environment quite unbearable. Whilst Kiba and Akamaru were having a deep conversation about what kind of food they would have. An ominous wind blew sand all over them. This part of Suna looked decaying and filthy.
"Hey princess why don't you come spend some time with me." said a rugged begger towards Sakura. The man had got up now and was at least twice as tall as her. As Sakura readied herself to knock the man out, a series of strong wind spewed sand wildly.
"I could just posses his body you know." a voice said.
"No this is my village, I'll do it. WIND SCYTH JUTSU." a girl screamed.
The man was carried by a strong gust of wind and was crashed through several old crates and barrels. Sakura looked up in surprise to see Temari and Shikamaru standing on a high building.
"Get on the fan."She told Shikamaru
"No it's embarrassing."
"Can't take a risk can you Shika." she said daringly to the boy.
"Troublesome, I'll take the stairs.
In seconds Temari glided on her fan to join team Haruno and Shikamaru joined them in a moments notice from behind.
"Sorry about that, every country has it's shares of asses and gentlemen." She said and everyone laughed except for Shikamaru, he was to busy watching the clouds.
"This is the bad part of the village, lets get out of here and grab a bite with me and Shika."
"But weren't we suppose to-." Temari had cut Shikamaru off.
"We can do that later ." she said softly.
1 Hour Later
The party had chosen a small and quiet restaurant in the village's square and began to order. Temari said that this was one of her favorite spots, but Hinata found the menu to be a little sickening. Temari ordered her usual gizzard with ox tail, Shikamaru ordered the spicy bouillabaisse, Sakura ordered the braised ostrich bis, Kiba ordered a chicken feet soup with a bowl of goat milk for Akamaru and poor Hinata had no choice but to order the mystery meat sandwich. The conversation varied from Sand Shinobi history to leaf village trends.
They discussed every day topics, the food and of course the exam. The meal overall was alright. It had to much different seasonings according to Hinata. The Leaf's meals are simple and delicious, but the Sand goes more for more flavorful and exotic foods. The group all had a round of the Sands special marshmallow and green peppers.
Shikamaru being the ambassador had to leave early to discuss chunin related matters with Tsunade but Temari was more than happy to escort them.
"Thank you." Sakura said giving a little bow.
"No problem but, If we meet in the exam am not going easy on you."she said with a laugh.
At night Sakura was really annoyed, she was still up studying when Kiba kept rolling over in that squeaky bed of his. No doubt that he was suffering from insomnia. Hinata too could not sleep , whispering softly the rules of disconnecting chakra points.
Sakura thought long and hard about putting this team together. Kiba and Akamaru's keen sense of smell will be perfect for finding or avoiding enemies. Hinata's Byakugan will surely pick up on every trap and her tai jutsu will come in handy. Hinata has also been studying with Shizune and knows healing nin jutsu. Sakura had no reason to second guess herself and the next time she woke up it would be her chance to to be noticed. The same way Sasuke was known as
a prodigy and Naruto the boy who improved the most. She would be the flower who blossomed.
8:00 am
There was no doubt that the first exam would be a written test. Team Haruno studied together and got up early that morning to eat their breakfast. "Would it be like the leaf?" they thought to themselves. No matter how hard it was Sakura was determined to pass it. Shikamaru picked them up within fifteen minutes and took them to a brilliant looking castle at the end of the village.
"I could've sworn that space was empty yesterday." Kiba said with a frown.
"It was." Shikamaru replied. "but the Kazekage and the sand shinobi constructed it of sand, water and stone jutsu."
The building was at least five stories with sand exterior and inside was just as nice. They were impressed to see it furnished so quickly with complete bathrooms and actual windows. Although sand grains were falling from the ceiling.
Shikamaru led them to the second floor where they registered and sat in a a large waiting room. Half of the competing teams were sand shinobi seeing that it was convenient for them. All of them seemed to worship Temari and Kankuro desperately trying to say hello or stand next to them.
"Hey Sakura." shouted a long blonde hair girl.
"Hey Ino, did you just arrive."
"Ya, Ten Ten and I came with Gai."
Ten Ten gave them a little smile and they continued to watch the ninja arrive. Hidden Rain shinobi looked upon then with disgust and they witnessed a strong looking Hidden Mist team insult a Snow village girl into tears. All of the freaks were here. Kiba thought to keep a close eye on a Rock Ninja team with grown men and a all female team from the Fire village. Finally the large Entrance door opened up and the Suna shinobi cleared a path immediately. Everyone else cleared a path immediately. It was the Baki, Kankuro and Temari sensei..
"Listen up you desert rats. This whole exam is based on a point system until the finals. Fifty points for this written exam, fifty for the survival exercise and fifty for the preliminaries." He shouted calmly.
"Thats absurd."someone shouted.
Every head turned to see who it was but after Baki cleared his throat they ignored the outburst and concentrated on what he had to say.
