-Mysterious Girl-
Waiting and waiting. I always hated to wait. Always wondering the unknown of what is to come.
I sat with the clones I conjured once more, for appearances, inside the tower, waiting for this particular exam to conclude.
"Well, well, well, what do I see? I see a girl who has little to no time." I heard a familiar voice. I turn my head to the right; a tall man with thick, shoulder length flaming red hair that wore the same coat as I did, accompanied by a smaller man, but not much, with a mullet-like dirty blonde hair with several bangs over his cyan eyes. What are they doing here? I stared at them evil-like.
"W-woah! She has her scary face! I told you this was a bad idea, Axel." The cyan-eyed boy whimpered like a puppy.
"Calm down, Demyx," Axel narrowed his eyes at the frightened one, "She's not gonna attack us. The truce. Got it memorized?"
"Oh- Right..." He reminded himself.
The Truce brought peace between me and the organization they were a part of. The same organization I once infiltrated for a friend. The same organization's coat that I wore. As long as I gave them the darkness they needed, they promised to not target this village or myself until the time came.
I glanced at the clock the stood, "Welp, you guys should get on going. It's almost-"
"No."
Axel stared me down and I to him. After several minutes this way I reluctantly nodded. My clones disappearing as I did so.
I had a feeling I was going to regret this.
All of the teams had now gathered. Each in a single, three person line. The teams that had passed are as follows:
1. Team 7 or Team Kakashi(Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno)
2. Team 10 or Team Asuma (Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi)
3. Team Guy (Tenten, Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga)
4. Team 8 or Team Kurenai (Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and his ninja dog Akamaru and Hinata Hyuga)
5. Team... Kabuto? (Kabuto Yakushi, Yoroi Akado and Misumi Tsurugi)
6. Team Dosu (Dosu Kinuta, Zaku Abumi and Kin Tsuchi)
7. Sand Siblings ... Apparently. (Gaara, Temari, Kankuro)
The old man stood in front center of all of them, proctors to the left and right in an arc and the sensei's in a straight line behind him. I, along with Axel and Demyx, stood close to the Hokage, me on his right and the other two to his left.
"This is custom in which is preserved by fighting and dying. In the world of the shinobi, that is friendship."
It took me every ounce of will I had to not snort at this. We had different thoughts concerning friendship. However I couldn't say much about it for I had only three true friends at this time. But dying by each other's hand... That was not friendship. Not to me.
"The third exam is a fight for life with the pride of your village and yourself."
All of them seemed eager to continue to hear the rules of the next examination. However...
"Lord Hokage," a proctor kneeled in respect to the Hokage, "Please allow me, Gekko, Hayate, to speak before you."
The old man gave him permission and Hayate stood before the candidates.
"We have to give a preliminary exam before moving onto the next one."
His audience was in shock, one of the candidates even shouted, "Preliminary! What do you mean by that!?" As if he didn't know what a preliminary was.
Sakura curiously asked, "Why can't we just move on to the next exam? What's the point of the preliminary?" Both very good questions if you didn't know what would await you in the third exam.
Hayate gave an 'uh' sound before answering, "We believe that the first two exams were a bit too easy and didn't expect so many of you to pass. Any preliminary can be held within any exam to reduce the amount of candidates remaining."
"But why?"
That was when I spoke up without even thinking,"To speed things up. Many people, important people, are going to watch the third exam. It's not a good idea to waste their time with 21 different candidates versus the 9 we expected. The best of this year."
"That's another thing." Naruto pointed at me and my cohorts, "Why are the hooded guy still here? Didn't they fail?"
Axel laughed. Demyx fidgeted. I just stood there. Axel started speaking from that hell mouth of his, "Look kid, we're not exactly part of this place. And this one," He pointed at me, "Was the only one doing the work."
The sand girl, Temari, stepped up, "Then you're not qualified to be in the exams anymore. Or even in the first place. Your group leader should know not to be here. Why did you make him do all the work anyway?" More and more questions about me rose within the group.
"Her," Naruto added with Sasuke giving him a 'are-you-serious?' kind of look. As if Naruto was the one who figured out my gender. Ha.
Hayate looked over his shoulder, "Lord Hokage?"
The old man in the Hokage robes and hat explained, "This is Lyaxas. She's been working for me for the past three to four years. She and I have had a bet and she had to take part in the exam in order for it to commence. Plus she is already a chunin and is around your age."
After everyone calmed down about the hooded girl (me duh), Hayate continued onward, "If there are any of you who aren't in top physical condi-" he began coughing. Irony. When the coughing ceased he apologized, "If you don't feel up to it, you have the choice to leave. The preliminaries will begin immediately."
More roaring, "Come on! You mean right now?!" One exclaimed. Another whined about 'barely surviving' the second. Actually, that entire group complained. The lazy group.
"The winners will be determined in an one-on-one sudden death match," Hayate added.
Something felt wrong. He was telling me so. I searched with my eyes to see Team 7 in slight distress. In the middle of the line Sasuke Uchiha held his left shoulder. Sakura Haruno behind him was whispering to him, about what I wasn't sure. But something was going on. Because they were talking about it over here.
"It's just as I feared," Lord Hokage said.
"What do we do with him," Ibiki asked.
Anko answered in the most bitchiest way possible, "We take him to the Anbu and let them deal with him. Keep him locked up. We have to keep that seal under control or-"
"Or what?" Kakashi Hatake, Team 7's leader, cut her off, "You really think he's going to quietly go along with this huh?" He spoke in a soft, friendly, mocking tone. I loved it. "Huh? You forget, he's of the Uchiha clan." Hard-headed, stubborn guys.
She exploded, "I don't care what he is! If he stays, he's a danger to everyone here! If he gets stronger so does the curse mark! It's feeding off of his chakra! It's a forbidden jutsu that devours the one who bears it. It's amazing how he's still standing. By now, he should be dead."
"So should you," I added. She didn't very appreciated it.
A hand was raised. Kabuto Yakushi's to be exact.
After being instructed to move back, Naruto yelling in confusion, "Hey! What's going on?! Why are you stopping like this?"
It appeared to be that Kabuto, from the beginning of the exam. No - before the first exam, he couldn't hear at all in one ear. In a fight with people like those, yeah - I can see why he would want to end it here.
"I recall seeing him before. This isn't the first time he's dropped out before. What game is he playing?"
Before Anko could pull up his file from her clipboard I answered the old man, "Kabuto Yakushi. He's failed the exams six times in a row. This is his seventh fail."
"Background?"
"According to the files, he wasn't the greatest shinobi in the academy. Failed graduation exams twice, not that many missions - 16 missions total. few C but mainly D rank missions. However..."
He urged me to continue on, "he was the only living survivor of the Kikyo Pass incident." An incident that occurred at the end of the Third Great Ninja War between the Leaf and some unknown group.
The four of us watched him walk away, curiously and closely.
"Now, is there anyone else?" Hayate asked for the last time.
No one raised their hand. But the Hokage was still worried about Orochimaru yet allowed Sasuke to continue with the preliminaries. The only condition he had was if his curse mark would take hold of him, we would have to step in and stop it. Anko was anything but pleased.
"Alright then, we will now begin the Preliminary Round. This round will consist of one-on-one individual combat with full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There are 20 of you remaining, meaning there will be only 10 matches. The winning candidates will advance to the third exam. There are no rules: the match will end once someone dies, admits defeat or cannot physically continue. Of course, it will be better if you'd concede before a fatal outcome. Furthermore, as proctor, I will give certain leeway in judging the matches," Cough. " We will now see what fate has chosen for you."
A panel was then opened to reveal a screen, a pair of names were to appear on this monitor randomly. Each match was to be created at random and before each match, a new set of names were to appear.
The first two opponents were to be decided. The names flied around from one name to another with 30 milliseconds apart. The flying transformed into a landing.
Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado
A summary as to what had happened during the Prelims.
1. Sasuke vs. Yoroi. At first Sasuke had some trouble with the curse mark that caused him pain. Even so, it turned out that Yoroi could suck out chakra from others, ending with Sasuke having to use his new curse mark. But from his own sheer will, he was able to retract it and control it for a period of time. The curse mark was still something that could cause the young genin trouble. So Kakashi took Sasuke away to have his curse mark sealed. It was for the best. Victor: Sasuke Uchiha.
2. Shino vs. Zaku. Zaku only had one usable arm. At the time, I had no idea what happened to him. But I could feel a large amount of darkness from it. Anyway, Shino as well as the Aburame clan use parasites against his enemies. And they live inside them. Creepy, but useful. He commanded them against Zaku, leaving him defenseless. Zaku then revealed that he could use both arms with his technique. This technique with the air tubes inside the palms of his hands allowed him to control air pressure and creating supersonic blasts of air. Shino blocked the tubes in Zaku's arms making them explode. Victor: Shino Aburame
3. Misumi vs. Kankuro. This one was quite fast actually. Tsurugi-san had used his Soft Physique Modification, which basically means he can move his arms and legs like rubber, to choke Kankuro. While Misumi was choking him he came to the realization that he was fighting a puppet. The real Kankuro was disguised, controlling the puppet with the Puppet Technique. The Puppet Technique is when a shinobi uses his or her chakra to create strings to control a puppet. Kankuro then used his puppet, Crow, to crush Misumi that ended up defeated. Victor: Shino
4. Sakura vs. Ino. Rival friends, who sadly fight over one guy. These girls angered me so much I want to beat them to a bloody pulp. It took a while for the match to end, since they were equal in strength. But there was a turning point when Ino used Mind Transfer Jutsu on Sakura. Mind Transfer Jutsu is particularly passed down the Yamanaka clan, which allows the user to control/possess the victim. If though the user is hurt while inside the victim's body, then he or she will die as well. Ino used her jutsu well, trying to make Sakura forfeit the match. But Sakura's will is stronger than Ino thought. With her own will Sakura took Ino forcefully out of her body. From their exhausted chakra, they had one last attack. Both punching each other and ending up in a draw. No Victor
5. Tenten vs. Temari. This one was seriously fast. That Temari girl had skills. Oops spoiler alert. Anyway Tenten is more of a weapons user, so she used all her chakra on her Weapons Technique but the female of the Sand Siblings countered all of them with her Wind Release. Temari won without a single scratch on her. Victor: Temari
6. Shikamaru vs. Kin. Ohh this particular match struck me curious about the Nara boy. Shikamaru used his Shadow Paralysis Jutsu but the Kin girl dodged it perfectly throwing senbon. Senbon are metal needles with sharp points on both ends. Usually they serve as a medical purpose, but they can be used in combat as well. Such as throwing them on a vital spot in the human body. Anyway, these senbon had bells on it, some didn't have bells. She tried to distract Shikamaru but he managed to attach his shadow to hers by using the strings she was holding. Kin was matching Shikamaru's movements, so both threw a shuriken at each other, when they ducked Kin banged her head against the wall, knocking herself out. Well kudos to Nara. Victor: Shikamaru Nara
7. Naruto vs. Kiba. Naruto at first, sucked. Especially after Kiba's dog, Akamaru joined in the fight. Naruto came back by transforming into Akamaru then Kiba so when Kiba attacked Naru the second transformation as Kiba gave way to the first, as Akamaru, making Kiba attack his own dog. So then Kiba tried to keep Naruto from counterattacking but Naruto well... he broke wind in Kiba's face. Which being a dog like person himself is so sensitive to smell, it was waaay worse for him. Naruto then summoned shadow clones and used his new technique Naruto Uzumaki Combo. Which is a rip off of Sasuke's move called Lion's Barrage, which I found out was ripped off of Rock Lee. People stealing others' ideas. Victor: Naruto Uzumaki
8. Hinata vs. Neji. A battle between two family members but on different branches. You see, Hinata is part of the Hyuga's main branch, while Neji is from the Hyuga's lower branch, the ones who protect the main branch. Before fists were exchanged there was a battle of the mind. Neji used Hinata's fears on saying she had no way of winning. Naruto disagreed, strongly. Since Hinata was inspired by Naruto's courage she wanted to prove that she could be brave too. They fought using the Gentle Fist Technique, as well as the Byakugan, which is one of the three/four visual kekkei genkai like the Shimizu and Uchiha's Sharingan. Neji interrupted Hinata's flow of chakra. This is because the Byakugan can see the chakra flow inside a person's body and by hitting those pressure points, was he able to break said chakra flow. Hinata was now unable to even use Gentle Fist but she still tried to fight on. Something I admired about the girl, she kind of reminded me of myself. When I was a little girl. The only thing that stood in Neji's way of killing her was the exam proctor and the leaf chunins. Mostly Hinata's sensei Kurenai Yuhi. Thus, Victor: Neji Huyga
9. Rock Lee vs. Gaara. Since Lee is only able to use taijustu - his attacks did not manage to penetrate Gaara's Sand Defense. That is, until the leg weights came off. At first it seemed like nothing. But once he dropped them...It destroyed the floor that it fell on. The speed that was added had made Gaara unable to even understand where the hell he was going. And so, Gaara of the Sand was hit for the first time ever. And I mean EVER. Lee used his Front Lotus, then realizing it was a sand clone because his eyes were closed when he used it. Lee supposedly had no other choice but to use the inner gates, which gave him immense strength for a short period of time but still did injure him. Lee hit him; Gaara hit him back so on and so forth. But until Gaara used his Sand Coffin to crush Lee's arm and leg. The match had ended by the interference of Might Gai. Victor: Gaara
10. Choji vs. Dosu. The final round. And the most disappointing in my opinion. Choji thought that if he ears were covered and he didn't hear anything, then he wouldn't be affected by Dosu's attacks. A sound thought. Ha. Sound. Get it? Okay.. Anyway, Choji used his family's expansion jutsu that transformed him into what seemed to be a human boulder. Dosu dodged all of Choji's attacks and forced him to run into the wall and get stuck in it. With a single punch and flick of sound, Choji was defeated. Victor: Dosu
I sat next to Sasuke while he was still unconscious from the sealing technique. Watching him and thinking all at once. The winners of the preliminaries were given one month to prepare for the third match. Both Sasuke and Naruto are in it. Damn that old man.
"Sasu..." I whispered. I turned to the window, looking outside to see everyone who came to see the third exam. It was basically a tournament; yes it looked like there would only be one chunin selected but that's not the case. If they decide that you're worthy chunin material then you get to be a chunin. It was just a competition thing at this point.
I felt my body electrifying, my eyes reverting to see not what's in front of me, but what will happen. I could feel my eyes change into a different color, most likely violet. I saw destruction and sadness; ninja fighting each other. What does this mean? I wondered.
My vision reverted back to normal. Quickly, i move to the mirror, checking my eyes. My eyes' were no longer purple but the bright blue they are. What did I see? What's to happen to the village? I feared for the worst, thinking it was these damn exams.
But I shook the thought away, bringing my attention back to Sasuke and how lucky he was to survive the curse mark. But the vision was clear in my mind.
I sat there holding myself in a comforting embrace, "How can I protect the village, when I could never protect anything?"
