A/N: 'ello! so, i was in a very post-y mood today. ive been having issues with fanfiction lately (.net) n idk why... anyone else? anyone? it just WOULD NOT let me post anything. :P
so, here it is! hope u like! oh. if you read this, please just review. you might as well. i dont actually care what you say, just say something, plz?
well, another long chappy-ter. hope you enjoy! please review! xoxoxo
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"Oh hi, Kakashi-sensei," I told the silver-haired jounin as we rounded the corner. He was looking back at the door to the classroom as we walked up.
"Hello, Team 13. So you guys came too, huh?"
"Yep!" Iz grinned.
"Well, good luck and all that," he pulled out the orange book I'd heard so much about.
"Yeah… ja ne!" Sunai hurried us toward the door and half-shoved us inside. I blinked a little and saw that all our old classmates were getting reacquainted. Rather tensely, might I add? I almost shivered at the thickness of the air.
"Oh great, it's the kunoichi team," someone said. I glared at the general group, daring whoever had commented to step forward. Ino stared down her nose at me and I held myself back from smashing in her too-good-for-you face.
"Hey, it's you guys," Kiba came over and waved at Sunai, his best friend. We ran over to them, well aware of the leering faces of the competition. Eyeing them warily, I scooted to Hinata.
"Hey, is it just me, or are they pissed off?" I asked a little shaky.
"Y-yes. They p-probably aren't very happy with us…" we looked away from the large group.
"Ah, don't worry about it. Us rookies stick together. Even if we're not on good terms, we'll stand up for each other, right guys?" I asked the rest of my classmates.
"Sure," Izumi smiled at Hinata.
"I guess," Chouji shrugged and ate a few chips.
"See, Hinata-sama? We're all here for you!" I smiled. Before she could say anything in return, someone walked up behind me.
"You guys are the rookies, right? You might want to keep it down a little."
I turned to see a boy with grey hair and round glasses, wearing a Konoha headband and a purple getup. I didn't recognize him at all, but he seemed much older than me so I remained unsuspicious of him.
"Um, yeah," Sunai stepped forth, leading our silent group. "Who are you?"
"I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves. This isn't a class field trip," he replied.
"You didn't answer my question," Sunai's voice was getting dangerously low. I backed up a few steps, bringing Hinata with me.
"I'm Yakushi Kabuto," he replied easily. "But really, look around you." We did, and everyone else, namely Naruto, finally noticed the angry stares of the other genin. "You've made quite an impression."
I had to admit, the foreign ninja in the room were incredibly intimidating. I shuddered at the thought of some of these people fighting me, and instantaneously wanted to leave. I saw Neji, Lee, Tenten, and a few other people I'd seen around the village sitting in this room. I also noticed Gaara and his siblings, which made me look away. Other teams, less terrifying than Gaara but still frightening, were giving us cold stares like we were an epidemic.
"This exam makes everyone tense," Kabuto was saying, "and you don't want to rub them the wrong way right now."
"Uh-uh," Sakura muttered.
Kabuto closed his eyes. "You can't help it. I mean, how could you know; you're just rookies. You remind me of the old me."
"Kabuto, right?" Sunai seemed to be suspicious of the man. Izumi and I, knowing Sony's movements and ticks better than anyone, put up our guard and watched her carefully. "This isn't the first time you've taken the test?"
"No it's… my seventh," his embarrassment looked too forced, now that I was watching for it. My eyes narrowed. What could this guy be up to? Some kind of rookie trick?
"Huh?" Shikamaru grunted.
"You see, they're held twice a year, so this is my fourth year."
"That means you must know a lot about this exam!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Yeah," Kabuto replied.
"Wow, you must have a lot of information!" Naruto inferred.
"But he hasn't passed it," Shikamaru sighed.
"Yeah, you're right," Kabuto rubbed the back of his head.
"Tch. Is the Chuunin Exam that hard? This is getting more troublesome…"
"Jeez, is it just me or is he in a worse mood than usual today?" I asked Izumi.
"Don't ask me!" she replied quietly back.
"Maybe I should give my dear underclassmen some info then…" Kabuto reached into his pocket and pulled out some orange-backed cards. Sunai flinched, then returned to a tense stance. "…With these recognition cards."
"Recognition cards?" Sakura wondered. I stared at the cards. What was their purpose?
"Basically, it's a card with information burned into it using my chakra," Kabuto answered her. I've collected information on the exams for the past four years," He knelt on the floor. "There's about 200 cards total."
As Kabuto took a card off the top of his pile, I relaxed. He had given us the advantage—I really doubted he hadn't noticed our tenseness—by getting low and into a crouch. If he had done that, I didn't think he would be stupid enough to attack. He spun the card with one finger, and we stared curiously.
"It looks blank, but to get the information from it…"
"Wha are you doing?" Kiba asked.
"I made it so you can't view it without my chakra. Like this," he made a hand seal and the card released its form. A map appeared in its surface, with a three-dimensional image of a chart on each country.
"What is this?" Sakura asked, amazed.
"The total number of participants in the exam per country and village. Let me ask: why do you think we take the exams together?" he looked up at us. No one answered.
"Well first, it's to strengthen bonds between villages. It's also to strengthen the villages Shinobi. That's what they say."
"That's what they say?" Sasuke spoke up.
"Yes. The real reason is to regulate the number of shinobi coming from each village to try and keep the balance of power."
"Balance? Power?" Naruto looked completely lost. Which he probably was.
"And why do they go through such a troublesome task?" Shikamaru asked boredly.
"If they didn't do that, the weak countries would be invaded and dominated by the strong ones. So they check and restrain each other's prowess," Kabuto explained. I wondered idly how he knew so much, but stood so low on the rankings of Konoha.
As if reading my thoughts, Kabuto added, "That's… just my guess."
Sasuke stepped forward. "Are there any cards that contain detailed personal information?"
"Yes. Is there someone that interests you?"
"Yes," Sasuke glared.
"The information of this year's examinees are not perfect, but ive burned and saved them. They include the information about you twelve, as well. Tel me anything about the people who interest you. " Kabuto collected his cards and took one from the pile. "I'll look it up for you." I leaned forward in anticipation. Who did Sasuke want to know about?
"Gaara of Sunagakure, and Rock Lee of Konoha," the black-haired Uchiha replied shortly. I deflated. It figured that I already knew about both of them.
"Oh, you already know their names. Then it will take less time," Kabuto swiped his cards for a moment before showing us two from the stack. "Here they are."
"Show me."
"First, Rock Lee," Kabuto ran his chakra through the card. I tuned out of both briefings, leaning against a wall instead while I tried to ignore the other genin. Once, I peeked out from under my eyelid to glance a them, but I pinched it closed again once I saw the cold eyes. I was getting intimidated, and I didn't like it. I'd come in here with a meek enough outlook, I didn't need to get more psyched out. I was soon shocked back to the real world by a sudden yell, like a battle cry, from Naruto. I stared at him
"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO! I'M NOT GONNA LOSE TO ANY OF YOU!" he declared bravely, finally acting like his usual self. I smiled to myself.
"It's about time," I muttered almost silently compared to the reaction from Ino and Sakura.
"That felt good," Naruto sighed and grinned that stupid grin that made me more confident myself. Sure, they were all better than me, but Hell, I was on the Kunoichi team of Konohagakure! Not only that, but I'd been trained by Yagamata Mei. Screw everyone else here!
I could have sworn the room literally froze over.
The cold stares turned frosty. The gritting of teeth turned to noises in the back of throats. Murmurs spread around the room. I saw even Gaara paying close attention to the situation. For the first time since stepping into the room, I feared for my life.
"'I'm not gonna lose to any of you'? You talk big," Kiba had a smile in his voice, covered by his hand.
'That moron. He just made everyone in here his enemy," I heard Shikamaru mumble. Sakuro started strangling Naruto, and trying idiotically to 'explain' the situation to the clearly unhappy genin in front of us. I watched them carefully, back on my guard. I saw Neji's team watching us as well, minus the hostile glares. I almost breathed a sigh of relief knowing they would help us if we got in trouble. Well, my team.
Then something started and I settled into a stance, searching. I saw Izumi, Sunai, and Sasuke do the same, while Kabuto pretended not to notice. Badly, too; he was an awful actor.
Kabuto dodged two flashing kunai, sliding back toward the wall where I was. I scooted away toward my team, watching cautiously. A genin, looking akin to a mummy or animal of some sort, appeared in front of him with a hand seal already in place. I glimpsed at his headband; Otogakure. We all watched with wide eyes as the foreign ninja went for a right hook on our village mate.
Kabuto easily dodged the quick blow, moving backwards. They stared at each other for a second. Then Kabuto's glasses snapped and crumbled to the floor and we gawked in confusion.
"I see. So that's the kind of attack it was," Kabuto removed his frames. Sasuke stepped up again, just as lost as the rest of us.
"What's going on? You definitely dodged it; why did your glasses…?"
"It must have hit his nose," Shikamaru reasoned, bored as usual. Then he smirked angrily. "That's what happens for trying to look cool."
Kabuto's eyes widened with a slight gasp. He fell to his knees and puked painfully on the floor in front of him. Instinctively, I ran over to him, followed by Sakura and Naruto. I braced his back while he settled down.
"Kabuto-niisan!" Naruto said.
"Kabuto-san, are you okay?" Sakura asked in a panicked tone.
I could feel two things from touching his back: one, he was fine. I wasn't sure what had happened but nothing in his body was wrong; it got me curious. Was he a mednin? And two, Kabuto was tense against my hand. I wasn't sure if it was a shy-away from the contact or just a remnant from the sudden puking, but Kabuto didn't want to be touching me. I respected that and removed my hand, my brow furrowed and thoroughly confused.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered Sakura.
"Really?" Naruto asked quietly.
"You're not a good as I thought for a veteran who took the exam four years running," the mummy one rumbled.
"Write this on your card," the one who had thrown the kunai spoke up from the mummy's right, "the team from Otogakure will definitely become chuunin." A tense, cautious silence followed his declaration and both sides barely blinked.
I sensed the sudden presence right before anything happened. I almost fell over from the shock.
A steam explosion went off in the front of the room, surprising everyone. As it dissipated, several people appeared in matching uniforms with one man in the center with two thick scars on his face and a bandana. The whole room turned around to face the group, thoroughly distracted from the earlier conflict.
"Holy shit, do surprises ever stop in this thing?" Izumi panted loudly. I chuckled in agreement.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," the man smirked and I got a sadistic vibe off him. "I am the first proctor for the first test of the Chuunin Selection Exam, Morino Ibiki."
I kept staring. "Holy shit. Izumi, Sunai, save me! He means business!"
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A/N: R&R plz!