Chapter 3: The chunin exams begin
After a week of recovery Karina headed straight up to the mission room early to report how the A-Rank battle went. Izumo had all ready done a report on the success but Karina wanted to requestr something of the old man. Sarutobi looked surprised to see her there. 'You're up early, did you sleep well last night'? Karina nodded smiling 'Yes sir, thank you again for putting me with such-' she paused, 'understanding team mates, it's thanks to them that I'm getting better' she said smiling happily. Sarutobi smiled back. 'that is good to hear. Now I want a full report on the mission.'
After explaining the details of her mission Karina talked about the villagers. 'A majority of the residents we're taken hostage and beaten up pretty bad, lots of the buildings were destroyed.' Karina looked down at him, her face slightly more serious. 'I think it would be best to send help to them, they need supplies and possibly medics.' Sarutobi nodded, his hat tilting downwards hiding his eyes. 'I'll see if we can spare anyone to go out and help, thank you for the report.' He looked back up at her, 'you may go, but before you do, don't forget to collect your uniform for the exam today.'
Karina's eye's widened. 'It's today? I thought the first test wasn't until next week'! The old man laughed at her, Karina's cheeks turned pink in embarrassment . 'Typical, you always were oblivious to your surroundings.' Sarutobi laughed and shook his head at the girl. Karina bowed her head and exited the room quickly after swiping her uniform up from the table.
Once Karina returned to her apartment she changed and opened her wardrobe to look in the full length mirror. She was wearing a short-sleeved grey button up shirt that was tucked into a pair of trousers in the same dull grey. Karina sighed at the dull colour and reached up to tie her hair back. She sat down on her bed and changed the bandages on her feet. Keeping her heels and toes free. Sighing she placed two fingers on the eye that was covered by bandages. She closed both eyes and slowed her breathing. She used this form of meditation as a way of calming her nerves. 'There are gonna be so many people at these damn exams, the stupid old man knows I don't like large groups. Dammit'! She gritted her teeth in frustration. 'At least Izumo and Kotetsu are-'Karina thoughts were cut off by a knock on the door. She stood and went to go answer it…That was until Kotetsu jumped up onto her balcony clad in his exam uniform. Karina yelled and stormed out onto the balcony, before Kotetsu could react she punched off it letting him fall to the ground outside. She jumped down and stood on the back of his head. 'What the fuck was that for'?! She growled. 'Mfffffmmmff' was all Kotetsu responded with. Karina removed her foot and allowed him to stand. 'Don't just come into my apartment without my permission'. Kotetsu grinned and brushed himself off. Just then a shout was heard in the distance and Karina turned to see Izumo running over to them. He was also wearing his new uniform 'What the hell did the idiot do this time'? He said said, exasperated. 'I knocked on the door but he said that you might be asleep so he was gonna go look. Then he ran off grinning like an idiot'.
Kotetsu was wearing that same grin again as he spoke 'I just wanted to check to see if she was sleeping or changing or-' he was interrupted by another punch in the face this time from a very angry Izumo. Karina glared at him, a vein popping in her head. 'fucking pervert' she grunted, stalking off.
The two soon caught up with her, walking either side of her. Izumo was refusing to look at his friend who now had several lumps on his head. 'Hey I said I'm sorry' Kotetsu said grinning again. Karina just glared daggers at him. Izumo looked towards the building where the exams are starting and smiled. 'I wonder what this years rookies will be like' he mused. Karina grinned 'Kakashi tells me there's a few interesting ones'. Kotetsu had a mischievous look about him. Karina looked at him warily 'What are you planning'?
'Oh nothing' he said, still looking mischievous. Karina's wary look turned into a glare. 'I don't trust that look…' Karina wondered ahead, gazing up at the huge building that the first exam was to be held in. She turned around to look at her two team mates to find them both smiling playfully. Izumo smiled at his best friend 'When you put it like that, it does sound like a good plan'. Karina scoped the two chunin, 'they're planning something'.
Karina shook her head at them, 'don't get me involved in you're plans' she said walking through the entrance. 'What room are we waiting in for the exam'? She asked Izumo. 'Uh.. 301 I think' he said. 'You head up there now we're gonna hang back a bit'. Karina nodded and walked away 'whatever, just don't be long, I don't wanna be by myself with a bunch of people I don't know'.
She walked up two flights and stopped in front of room 201. 'Dammit, I wonder what they're planning' she said out loud. Looking around she thought 'most likely a plan to punk the rookies, I wonder… Kotetsu ain't to bad at genjutsu, if they wanna scope out the genin they'll be most likely to stop them here before they reach the third floor..That's it'! Karina walked into the empty classroom 201, sat and waited. Before long she heard Izumo and Kotetsu's voices outside the door. 'I knew it'! She thought.
Before long there was a lot of noise outside the room. The genin had arrived and they had obviously been fooled by the genjutsu. Karina quietly moved closer to the door and listened. She heard a boys voice 'if you want to enter this exam room you'll have to beat us first'. Karina rolled her eyes, 'c'mon guys you can do better than this'. She heard another voice she didn't recognise. 'Tempting, but we don't need to beat you to get into the exam room'. Karina smiled, 'so someone's called them out huh'?
The voice continued 'Our exam room is on the third floor, this is only the second. Pretty shit genjutsu if you ask me'. Karina grinned and opened the door. Before the kid versions of Izumo and Kotetsu could react she punched both of the idiots on the head. Hard. They both yelped and with a puff of smoke, they transformed back into they're adult selves. She shook her head at them. 'What do you guys think you're doing, trying to punk the rookies'? she demanded glaring at the pair of them who were rubbing their heads in pain. 'You morons actually thought you would get away with that lame trick'? She looked around at the genin who were all staring at her and got nervous 'what do I do? They're all looking at me'. She looked around picking a few out of the crowd. She spotted the Uchiha kid near the front next to some bowl cut with huge eyebrows. She saw Naruto looking as determined as usual. And in front of her and her team mates was the kid who called out the genjutsu. His hair was blood red at the fringe while the rest was spiky and jet black. He stared back at her with mismatched eyes, one blue and the other green. They glinted with mischief.
Karina smiled. 'not bad kid. Even though their plan was lame you saw through it straight away. I'm impressed'. The boy grinned at her and put his arms behind his head. 'Thanks for the praise beautiful, it wasn't hard. A poor genjutsu like that would stand out a while away' he stated. The compliment definitely caught Karina off guard. 'What the fuck does this cocky brat thinks he's doing? Shit am I blushing. Fuck'! Karina was about to retort when she saw Anko walking up the stairs. The blunt woman had spiky purple hair tied back and a top that revealed way to much cleavage. She looked pretty pissed off as she stood next to the mystery boy, her arms crossed. 'Enough of the innocent virgin act Karina, let the maggots through'. Karina blushed and glared back 'what does it matter to her if I'm a virgin? Stupid pig'. Shooting daggers from her eyes she growled 'more innocent than you, snake whore'! The two of them stood face to face, sparks flying between them. The nervous genin started to wonder up to the third floor leaving the two angry jonin and the terrified chunin alone.
Karina huffed and hiked her thumb at the cocky brat who was making his way to the stairs. 'You're student'? She questioned grinning, still pissed at the virginity insult. Anko sighed and stopped glaring 'Yeah, that's Ryouske. The kid that showed up here out of the blue years ago, got an interesting kekkei genkai. He should do well in these exams.' Karina nodded and turned to the two disgraced chunin. 'I had a feeling you were planning a prank. If you're gonna do it, you might as well plan a decent trick'. Her team mates both grinned at her, making her smile back. And the three of them headed to the exam room.
Half an hour later Karina and several other jonin and chunin were sat around the room all holding clipboards and pens. Ibiki had already briefed them on what to do and all of them watched the genin pour into the room and take their seats. Ibiki stood at the front. He was a tall well built man wearing the exam proctors uniform under a black trench coat. He was wearing a black bandana instead of a headband and for good reason. Karina knew what was under that. He addressed the genin. 'Pipe down you brats, I'm the proctor for the first exam, Ibiki Morina and right now your assess are mine'! Karina smiled at his rough introduction. He continued 'now this part of the exam will be a written test. You will be given ten questions and the usual exam rules apply here, however there are two rules of my own. The first rule is that you will be given ten points to start with, if you skip a question or get it wrong you'll lose one point. Now you would have no doubt noticed the chunin and jonin sitting along the walls of the room.'
Ibiki motioned towards Karina and the others. 'These guys will be watching you and if they catch any signs of you cheating they will deduct two points from your score. If they catch you five times that's it. Your out.' The genin looked like they were about to object until Ibiki continued. 'The last question will not be given until ten minutes before the end'. The kids all looked pretty concerned. Karina grinned. She looked around at them and noticed that the cocky brat Ryouske was looking at her. She met his eyes and he winked at her. 'dammit, stupid brat' she thought, looking away.
'Begin'! Ibiki stated. Karina watched as many of the genin stared at the papers in disbelief and grinned. 'I wonder how many of them will work it out' she mused.
About ten minutes into the exam, Karina had been watching this one kid who kept peeking at a pink haired girls paper. Karina sighed at put a fifth tally on her clipboard. Quietly she pulled out a kuni and suddenly threw it straight at the Ryouske brat. He freaked as it headed towards him, Karina didn't aim for him though and the knife find its mark, hitting the paper of the cheater behind him who yelped in fear. Karina grinned at him with a hint of mischief. 'Sorry kid you fail. I caught you out five times' . The kid was escorted out. Karina sensed a threat and caught the kuni that a pissed Ryouske threw back at her. What she didn't expect was the tag attached to it. It activated at Karina was enveloped by yellow smoke. When it cleared, Karina looked down at herself to see that she was covered in yellow paint. She glared at Ryouske who shot her a peace sign. 'Cocky little shit' she thought angrily as she weaved hand signs. Droplets of water formed over her body washing the paint of and then evaporating. Weaving more hand signs Karina formed a shell of heat around her that made all the water on her body evaporate.
'It's times like this that I'm grateful to have certain abilities' she thought, getting back to work.
Soon they were in the final ten minutes of the exam Ibiki told everyone to put down their pencils. 'Whoever doesn't wanna take the the tenth question needs to leave now' he stated, provoking surprised faces in the classroom. 'You can take the exam again next year, however, those who stay and get the question wrong will be barred from ever taking the exam again.
This caused uproar. Many genin were complaining about the unfairness. A few left. Karina was surprised about how many people were still in the room. Karina spotted a raised hand in the crowd. It was Naruto 'what's he-' SLAM. The kid slapped his hand down on the table and started yelling at Ibiki. 'I AM NEVER GONNA GIVE UP, IF IT MEANS I HAVE TO BE A GENIN FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE THEN SO BE IT. I WILL BE HOKAGE!' His speech surprised Karina slightly but she smiled at his pure spirit. The room was silent for a moment. It was quickly broken however by Ibiki laughing. 'Well all I have to say to that is..you pass'.
Surprised looks were seen all over the room. Before anyone could say anything a black bundle shot through the window and unfurled to show a banner. Standing in front of it was none over then the snake whore herself. Karina laughed at loud at the stupidity of it and at Ryouske's reaction. The kid had slammed his head onto the desk. The sign read ANKO MITIARASHI, THE PROCTOR FOR THE SECOND STAGE!
Karina grinned, 'this part' she thought 'is gonna be fun'.
PHEW this one was a pain in the ass to write but please enjoy ^^