~I feel weird about how I wrote this chapter. I am just repeating part of what actually happened in the story from my perspective. Sorry if this chapter was a bit boring, anyways, enjoy!
Morning came fast again; it was the day of the chuunin exam! My team members were going to meet me at he exam building, so I could take my time getting there. 'They don't seam to be very sociable with me..' I hopped in the shower after slipping off the borrowed pajamas, I wanted to be clean for the exam in case it takes a couple days. Soon after my shower I started redressing myself back into the pajamas to go find my ninja gear. Right as I was about to pull over the dark green t-shirt, the bathroom door opened. I gasped as a man I didn't know stared blankly at a half-naked version of me. I let out a small scream as he slammed the door in embarrassment.
"Sorry!" He yelled through the door after catching his breath.
"It's.. Ok." I slipped the t-shirt back on quickly and opened the door. He was standing off to the side, red in the cheeks from scandalous scene. He had short medium brown hair with an odd metal helmet that shaped his face. His eyes were as dark as mine and had average looks. Nothing special about him and nothing particularly ordinary either, "Are you Kakashi's friend?" I asked, still freely studying his appearance.
"Yes.. Um. What are you doing here?"
"Staying the night for the Chuunin Selection Exam."
"Did you know.. This is my bedroom?" His voice got softer as he asked.
"Yes, but Kakashi said I could stay. He also said you wouldn't be back from a mission for a while, so I could sleep here." I spoke plainly.
"Did you sleep.. In my bed?"
"I did." I arched a brow in wonder of where he was headed with these questions.
His reaction was just a turn of the head and walked out of the room. The tops of his ears were red which said a lot. I smirked and followed him out to see Kakashi's face as his friend complains, "Kakashi.." The man searched for my brother and eventually found him in the kitchen eating breakfast and reading a book, "Kakashi, you knew I was coming home today, didn't you?"
"Oh, good morning Tenzou." Kakashi ignored his question.
"You even let her wear my clothes?!" The man began to get frustrated. I blushed when I remember these were not my clothes, "Who is this girl?!"
"She is my sister." Kakashi answered in a very calm and cool fashion, "Half-sister, really." He paused to clear his throat, "Tenzou, this is Reiko. Reiko, this is Tenzou my roommate."
"Nice meeting you." I bowed and looked up hoping for a better reaction than our first meeting.
"Yeah, same." He slightly bowed but looked away, "Can you go change out of my clothes?"
"Ah. Yes.."
"Weak." I heard Kakashi whisper to the man as I left the room. Afterward was a small chuckle from both.
I quickly changed and ran to grab my things to set off for the Second Exam. The man named Tenzou and Kakashi were still talking as I approached them in the kitchen, "Ready?" Kakashi asked.
"Yep."
"Alright, let's go." He stood and walked me to the door.
I quickly turned to Tenzou who watched us leave, "Bye-bye!"
"Bye." He smiled back at me. He had strange eye features that sculpted his eyes, it made for a strangely amusing smile. Nothing near Kakashi though, nothing can be compared to my brother's features. No wonder he wears a mask.
'It's nice and bright outside. The sun looks lovely popping above the trees,' I thought as I walked outside with my brother showing me the way. Along the way, I spotted Naruto walking around a corner up ahead. When I reached over there he was with three little children. I smiled and moved on past the street he had walked down to continue following Kakashi. As I continued I heard a squeal from the direction of the children and Naruto. I peeked around the corner of the fencing to see if everything was alright and there were two older kids about my age standing there. One of them that wore a black pajama like outfit stood holding one of the smaller children by their collar. 'Ugh! How could they? Are they bullying?!'
"Kakashi, I'll catch up with you in a little bit." I yelled as I ran around one of the fences so they couldn't see me on the other side.
I was about to make my move when I heard a thud. "Argh!"
I continued to listen from behind the fencing, "Sasuke-Kun!" 'I know that voice, it's Sakura.'
"What?!" 'Sounds like it hurt.. Go Sasuke!'
"Eeee! Sasuke is so cool!" I heard Sakura squeal.
"Kankuro.." A voice with dead harmony spoke. 'Another one?'
"G-Gaara" The older boy's voice was shivering.
"You're a disgrace to our village." The eerie voice spoke again.
"S-Sorry Gaara" 'Maybe.. I should make my entrance with a little spice of genjustu.' I giggled in my head then performed my best. A moment later I appeared on the fence above where I was previously standing by, hiding away. It should have looked as though a red ribbon was blown into their midst and wrapped around an invisible body which then became my true self to end my illusion.
"Good morning," I smiled in hope of lightening the mood.
"Nee-Chan!" Naruto yelled and ran over to the fence where I stood in my cool pose.
"Naruto, who are these people?" I examined their forehead protectors. They were ninja of the Sand Country. 'They are probably here for the Chuunin Exam. They look like a rough crowd.. Best be on my guard.' There was a boy hanging from the tree in front of me who stared at me. His eyes were outline with what looked like black paint, and the irises were sharp sea foam green. Very unpleasant.
A moment later he teleported next to the other two other sand ninjas, "You with the cute face" I pointed at the boy that had just teleported by a whirl of sand, "What's your name?" I smiled still giving my all to lighten the mood.
He didn't reply for a while, kinda bothered my remark 'cute' but eventually answered, "Gaara of the Desert." He looked at me with eyes that pierced my soul. 'He.. Is scary. I wonder if there are more scary people taking the exam like this boy?'
"You with the pretty face," I pointed at the female sand ninja, "And you with the artistic face." I pointed to the last of the sand ninjas, "What are your names?"
"I am Temari and this is Kankurou. These two are my brothers." She gestured to each of the boys standing there, pissed that she was acting cooperative with my questions. I had far too much confidence for my own good, and it showed.
"Are you here for the Chuunin Exam?" I ignored the red flags and my gut feeling that I should shut up.
"Let's go." The boy named Gaara spoke with his monotone voice then began to walking in the other direction.
"Yes" The other two followed.
I turned to Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto standing there. "You alright?"
"Yes.." Sakura spoke with a thinking face, as though she was replaying the last five minutes in her head in hope to understand it.
"Well I'm off." I turned to walk along the top of the fence to my original destination.
"Eh?!" Naruto turned to look at Sakura, "What's a Chuunin Exam exactly?"
"Baka-Naruto! Its where a gennin takes a test to become a chuunin. Remember yesterday at training?" Sakura's voice showed clearly she was irritated. I kept walking down the fence. Getting food was my top priority.
A moment later I arrived at a dango restaurant. Dangos and tea sounded brilliant this morning, 'Who cares about the fat? I could use the calories.' The waitress seated me at a four person table, and then took my order. "I'd like two dangos and lots of tea, please." I gave a cheesy smile.
"Yes." she giggled at me being silly, then went to get my food. I looked around the room admiring the morning crowd and noticed the three sand ninjas that I had met before were getting dangos here as well. 'Should I go talk to them? And formally welcome them to Konoha?'
As I sat there in discussion with myself whether I should go over there, the waitress brought my food and gave me my receipt. I handed her the money from my little coin pouch and ate quickly so I could go catch up with my teammates. 'But I would like to properly welcome the sand ninjas..' I finished my last bite then walked up to the three sand nin sitting together. "Long time no see."
"Oh it's you" Tamari shook her chopsticks at me after stuffing her mouth with another dango.
"I wanted to just say real fast, welcome to Konoha. Please enjoy your stay for the exam." I bowed. 'Maybe coming up to them to say this was a little too much? I'm not even from Konoha.' I laughed at myself inside.
"Thanks." Temari gave a warm smile that made me thank myself for coming to speak with them. It gave me the energy I needed for this morning.
Thirty minutes happened fast, I had run into Kakashi and my teammates on the way to the exam building. We were almost through the iron doors to wait inside the first exam room, Kakashi pulled me to the side. "Reiko, don't use 'that' power," He whispered then opened the door to let me and my team in, "Good luck." I turned back to him for a second to see him smiling behind his mask then walking off. 'Thanks Kakashi.'
Once in the room everyone stared at us. Their eyes were eyes that screamed the bloody desire to kill me. It was not a very welcoming place to be. 'But I guess this would make sense, because it's an exam and you have to prove your toughness, right?' I felt as though I was going fall into a pit of darkness if all those eyes kept watching me like they did for much longer. "Nee-chan!" 'I know that voice!' I turned to see Naruto running up to greet me.
"Naruto!" I smiled and placed my hand on his shoulder, "Let's do our best!"
"Yeah!" He agreed and ran over to his fellow rookies. They were talking to a boy who looked to be my age with glasses. He was holding identification cards. I had seen them once before in Kaminari no Kuni while working under the Raikage. I walked over to take a look at the cards he held out. He used his technique to turn it into a hologram, revealing the information.
As I walked over to view the identification cards, a boy rammed his shoulder into mine, hurting me a little, "Don't act so cocky and tough, trash." He insulted me. As I turned to face him, my eyes pierced him with my thoughts. In half a second his arm was bleeding, "Ah..!" He gripped it strongly and stared at me with trauma. My eyes never broke away from his as I watched the terror grow inside of him. He honestly didn't know who he was messing with.
"Reiko," Darui had walked over and placed his hand on my shoulder, "Let's find ourselves a seat," He pulled me away and broke my thoughts. I began to follow him over to a spot for us to sit when I heard a whooshing noise to my right. 'Eh?!' I looked over to see the boy with glasses from a moment ago had fallen to the floor and was throwing up. 'What just happened?!'
Poof! A justu sound came from the front of the room. Everyone's head turned to look and see a whole group of people standing there with clipboards. But to my surprise, in the front of all the people was a familiar man in a trench coat and scars all over his face. 'Oooh! I know him! He's uh.. Uh uh um.. Ibiki! I remember him from a mission I was on a while back.' I smiled at his arrival, he always had the coolest entrances.
Ibiki sternly looked into the crowd of contestants, "Everyone, I am your first exam instructor, Morino Ibiki." He paused to look at the back of the room, "Hey, you three from the Hidden Sound, don't think you can do anything you want before the exam. Do you want to fail already?" He ordered roughly. I sighed in happiness of his rowdy spirit, reminding me of my beloved master back in the Lightning Country, the Raikage.
One of the sound ninjas spoke up with an unnatural voice, "I'm sorry.. I was just getting a little excited since it's my first exam."
"Then let me say this," Ibiki announced, "You are not allowed to fight unless given permission by an examiner. And even if you are given permission by an examiner, you cannot kill the other. Pigs who go against me will fail immediately, understand?"
"This exam sounds too soft and easy!" One of the other sound ninjas blurted to sound tough; resulted in chuckles from the examiners holding the chipboards standing in the front of the classroom. I began to feel sweat secrete on my skin from the toughness around me. This was most definitely going to be a hard exam.
"We will now begin the first exam of the Chuunin Selection Exam. Turn in your applications, take a number slip, and sit where the number tells you to; then we will pass out the papers for the written exam tests." He ordered us.
We all listened to what he said and found our way to our seats after receiving a number. I was separated from my teammates and placed between a boy I didn't know and Gaara, the boy from earlier. I could feel a restlessness waft off of him, giving me shivers. I felt very uneasy and wished to be by some other person. It felt like all my energy was going to be sucked out, just from sitting next to him! I looked up and noticed all the examiners who stood in the front from before, found seats all around the room and held clipboards in their hands, ready to write critiques. A very intimidating thing to see, it didn't look good.
Ibiki reached for a piece of chalk and began explaining the exam, "I'm going to explain the rules and I won't accept questions, so listen up!" He barked, "First rule: each person is given 10 points from the start. The written exam is made up of 10 questions, each worth 1 point. This is a deduction test, so if you get a question wrong, you lose one point. Second rule: the pass-fail will be determined by your team total points." A gasp and worried murmurs covered the room; I guess there are some dumb people in here.
"Wait! The teams TOTAL points?!" I heard Sakura yell form across the room. Then I remember that Naruto isn't the brightest of ninjas, so they might have a little trouble passing. 'Poor Sakura..'
"Shut up!" Ibiki yelled at the confused young lady, "There are reasons for this, so listen." He continued,
"Now that you know that, if an examiner determines you cheating or something alike during the test, each action will cause you to lose two points. So some people will end up being forced to leave this place without their test ever being graded. Those who will try to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves. You are all training to become chuunin, so act like a first-rate ninja. If anyone on your team scores a zero, then the whole team will fail." Complaining covered the room again, but the instructor continued, "The last problem will be given 45 minutes after the exam begins, so now, begin!" he yelled and all of us flipped our pages over.
The tests consisted of 10 questions like he said. I scanned through them to see what I was dealing with and saw a few difficult and several very hard questions; question that I might have to think pretty hard about. At least I studied and paid attention in class; I wasn't super smart, but I knew a thing or two. I have an average success rate for the exam and I know my other teammates feel the same. Motion grasped my attention so I looked over to the right at the scary Gaara boy. He held out his hand and flying sand slowly gathered around it. The next step in this process was to make an eye out of the sand. I got a little freaked out as he did it, but it's not like I can do anything about it. 'This kid is weird!' I yelled to myself in horror. He crushed the eye in his hand and the sand dispersed through the room. Before long he started to write answers on his test sheet. I assumed that was his way of cheating and assumed he isn't that smart of a kid then. 'Oh well..'
30 minutes went by so fast. The number of contestants narrowed down by a lot over those few minutes. People were caught cheating and were forced to leave, along with their teammates. Thank God none of my teammates were caught.
I tried my best at all the questions and couldn't find myself to answer one of the questions. I slapped down an answer that could pass and moved on to review and look over my answers. I felt sort of confident but there's a chance I could have gotten some of them wrong. As I was studying my answers Ibiki spoke up again, "It is time for the final question. There is one last rule to add as well, though.. It is a helpless rule. First, you are all going to choose whether or not you are going to take this last problem."
"Eh?!" Temari yelled in frustration, "And what happens if we choose not to take it?!"
"Then your points will be reduced to zero." He paused, "In other words.. You will fail. And your two other teammates will fail with you." Murmurs started up again of complains and objections, "There is one other rule.. If you get the final question wrong.. You will lose the privilege to take the Chuunin Exam forever."
"What kind of stupid rule is that?!" A boy yelled from the back. There should be those here who have taken the Chuunin Exam in the past!"
"You were unlucky then.. This year, I am the rule. That is why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who are not confident can choose not to take it, and take the exam next year, or the year after that." There was a moment of silence before he spoke again, "Let us begin, those who will choose not to take the final question, please raise your hands. After we confirm your numbers, we will ask you to leave."
The silence broke as one boy raised his hand, "I quit! I won't take it!"
Then another hand raised, "Me either!"
"Me too! I quit!" As the ninjas left the room, their teammates followed and exited the exam.
"Screw you! Like I would quit this exam!" I heard a familiar voice yell out with confidence, "I'm gunna take this problem! Even if I become a genin forever.. I'm gunna become a Hokage anyway! I'm not scared!" A slam on the examination table followed after Naruto's rampage as he sat down.
Ibiki ignored Naruto and continued, "I will ask one more time, if you want to quit, now is the chance."
"I'm not going to take back my words, for that is my way of the ninja!" And as he spoke I felt a blast of courage perk me up. I wasn't the only one that felt it too; the whole room looked as though they were given a shot of energy and confidence. No more hands were raising at this point, so Ibiki announced to the room, "Nice determination. Then.. For the first exam, everyone here.. Passes!"
I could hear pencils drop from all around me. Sakura asked what we all were thinking, "What?! What about the final question?!"
"There was no such thing to begin with!" Ibiki smiled with a chuckle following afterwards, "Or you can call the two-choice question the final question." He continued to smile, making me smile as well. I loved that part of him, he was so unpredictable. Although, I'll have to admit, it was a weird psychological game he played with us, and I'm even a bit exhausted by it.
Temari yelled too, "Wait! Then all the other 10 questions were just a waste?!"
"No.. It's not. The other questions accomplished their purpose." He tucked his hands in his pockets, "Their purpose was to test each individual's information gathering skills."
"Information gathering skills?" She asked.
"First, this tests purpose lies in the first rule.. Your pass-fail decision is based on your three person teams. By giving you that idea, we have given you an unprecedented amount pressure to try and not be a nuisance to your team. But these test problems cannot be solved by your genins. So most of the people here should have come to the conclusion to cheat in order to receive points. In other words, this exam assumed that everyone was going to cheat. So we snuck in two of our chuunin that knew the answers to be targets of cheating. Bu those who cheated like a fool, of course, failed. Information can have greater value than life at times, and in missions and battlefields.." He untied his metal protector-hat covering, "Information is contested with the lives of people!" He removed the cloth that covered his head and revealed to us his scars. All over the skin on his head were scars, burn markings, and screw holes. Not to mention he already had two giant scars covering the front of his face. 'That's right..' I remembered, 'He was Konoha's ANBU torture and interrogation leader. Holy crap I never knew he had these kinds of scars and markings.' "The information that an enemy gets after being noticed by a third person will not necessarily be accurate." He spoke again while retying his head covering, "Remember this. Getting incorrect information can cause great damage to your teammates and village. So me made you all gather information in the form of cheating. We kicked out those that were lacking in the field. That's what went on." 'Eh.. Makes sense..'
"But I still can't agree to that last question.." Temari stated in disbelief. You could hear the fatigue in her voice from the mental stress of all this.
"This final question was the main question of this first exam."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked in disbelief as well.
"Let me explain, the final question was a 'take or not take' choice. Needless to say it was a painful two-part question. Those who did not take it, failed with their teams. If you chose to take it and could not answer it.. Your right to take the chuunin exam would have been taken away for forever. It was a very insincere problem." He paused to let us all soak in what he had just said then spoke again, "How about this two-choice problem, let's assume that you have become a chuunin. Your mission is to capture a secret document. The number of enemy ninja, their abilities, and armaments are unknown. And there may be traps that the enemy ninja have set up. Now, will you accept this mission or not? Just because your life and the lives of your teammate may be in danger, are you able to avoid dangerous missions? The answer is no. there are mission that carry heavy risks, but cannot be avoided. The ability to show your courage to your teammates when needed, and the ability to get through a bad situation.. That is what we look for in a chuunin, a squad leader. Those who cannot bet their fate in a critical situation.. Those who give up when given the chance because there is a next year, and let their minds sway over an uncertain future.. Fools who only carry a light determination like that have no right to become a chuunin. That is what I believe." Ibiki suspended to look around the room, "I am saying that you here who have chosen to take it gave the right answer to the final very difficult question. You can deal with the difficulties you will face you have broken through the entrance. The First Exam of the Chuunin Selection ends now. I wish you luck."
"ALRIGHT!" We all turned to look at the yelling Naruto, "Wish us luck! Alright! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
Within a second after that, a window toward the front, left of the room broke as something flew through, releasing kunai in four different directions. As the kunai hit the ceiling and walls around, a giant tarp displayed itself, blocking Ibiki who now stood behind it. "Everybody! There's no time to be happy." A girl had popped out of the tarp that flew open, spewing words of discomfort to us all, "I am the second examiner, Mitarashi Anko!" She gestured to the newly displayed tarp which had written kanji saying 'Second Examiner Mitarashi Anko is here!'. I recognized the woman who now stood before us in a fancy pose, she was with Kakashi a while back. I remember seeing her with him once, "Let's go to the next exam!" She commanded, "Follow me!" She threw her fits into the air with assurance but then paused as she took a glance at the speechless crowd before her, "78..?" She asked as Ibiki snuck out from behind the tarp that spread across the room, "Ibiki.. You let 26 teams pass? The first exam must have been too soft."
"Looks like there are a lot of excellent students this time." He answered her back with a tilt of his head and a smile tugging at his lips.
"Oh well.." The dark haired women sighed, "I'm going to make sure more than half of the teams fail in the next exam." Her statement send a horrifying shudders down our backs, 'More than half?!' "I'm getting excited.." She whispered to herself, and then announced, "I will explain the details tomorrow. We will go somewhere else, so ask your jounin teachers about the rally point and time. That is all. Dismissed!" We all slowly rose from our seats that held puddles of sweat on them. So gross.. We all met with our teammates and sighed with part relief and part exhaustion.
"We passed the first exam.." Darui exhaled.
"What the heck is that woman thinking?" Shee asked what we were all thinking.
As we walked down the hallway and out of the first exam building a ninja from before whose arm I had cut walked up to me with his teammates. He had a bandage on his small wound and anger in his eyes, "Were you the one who cut me?!"
"Didn't you see?" I teased, knowing there was no way he could have seen it. It was a chakra scratch, only few people can actually spot it when it happens. It was a fancy trick that Bee taught me since I hold the bijuu inside of me and at my disposal.
"Shut up! You're just messing with me! Let's fight!" He lunged forward with a kunai to lash at me. A second later again his other arm was cut, just by me avoiding his attack, "W-What?!" He gripped his arm in horror. He didn't see me cut him again. He desire and explanation, I didn't want to because it looks cooler if I don't.
Quickly afterwards Ibiki stepped up to us and grabbed his shoulder, "Stop this.. Right now, pig. You are not allowed to fight other contestants unless given permission to do so." He then looked over at me, "I didn't think you'd get into these kinds of fights, Reiko."
I felt like a toddler getting caught for sneaking a cookie from the cookie jar. I simply shrugged, "Me either, it just sorta happened on its own I guess. Pardon my actions.." I bowed.
"I'm going to let it slide today, but don't do it again."
"Yes sir."
"Yes sir.." The bleeding boy answered with an growl due to the pain.
I glared at the boy and passed him to go to Kakashi's apartment. It was time to rest, "Reiko.." I looked over at the raven haired Sasuke who stood not too far away leaning against a tree. 'Itachi's brother..' I reminded myself.
"I'll catch up with ya'll later, I need to speak with Sasuke." I spoke briefly with Darui and Shee before running over to the lounging Sasuke, "Hey there."
"You know my brother?" He asked in a serious tone.
"I do. He is my lover." I said boldly in hope for a good reaction.
"Lover?!" He yelled making my jump at the surprise, "Do you know where he is?!" He stepped forward to grab my shirt in his fist.
Startled, I answered him truthfully, "No. I haven't seen him in quite some time; he abandoned me."
Sasuke released his hold on my shirt to step back into his cool posture, "Tell me all you kno-" He stopped as he saw tears flowing down my cheeks.
"Sasuke.." I covered my eyes with my wrist, "I love him. Your brother.. I loved him!" I began to choke on the lump in my throat from my swelling feelings, and completely embarrassed, "He would come visit me when no other would. He held me when no other would and accepted me for who I was; even accepted my burden. Your brother means everything in the world to me and I love him so, so much..!" I sobbed. Sasuke didn't say anything but watched me cry with widened eyes. Then the most unexpected thing happened; I felt one desperate hand reach to hold mine. I looked forward to see Sasuke looking at me with comfort.
"I'm sorry.. But you know what he did, right? He killed my entire village. He isn't who he used to be, I have to kill him and avenge my clan." I couldn't form the words to say next so I just cried, and Sasuke kept comforting me through my tears. 'Thank you.. Sasuke.'
~I don't think Sasuke would have really done what I wrote he does, but there again it's just a fan fiction lol =_=