A/N: Greetings from the time capsule of doom! Sorry, I haven't been around lately but, you know how it goes, lol.
Dedication: Pencils, I wrote the story on paper in pencil first, and used none of it.
Disclaimer: People would suffer mentally if I owned Naruto! –evil laughter-
Note: Ridiculously long chapter ahead. Improvised fights included! Fights that do not include our main characters will not be described very well. Also, because of the way I manipulated the plot; certain fights like Sasuke's, Naruto's, Sakura's, and Nikkie's will be shorter (but longer than everyone else's). If you don't like it; deal; it takes too long to write out and my parents' yell at me for the amount of time I'm on the computer as it is. I omitted plenty of the Temari vs. TenTen, since there isn't much info on that fight. I hate fight scenes so most of them will include a lot of speedy explanations.
Begin!!
Test Run
Chapter Six: Chuunin Exam 2 ends, Preliminary begins!
I can feel myself coming back, regaining consciousness.
"Ms. Nicole? Are you awake?" The voice is fuzzy, almost like its under water, still I snap my eyes open and jerk upward to defend myself. This action is fruitless and I fall back to the floor face first, my entire body is in pain.
"Yes, I can imagine that you must be in a lot of pain from all those wounds and severe blood loss."
Staring up, I note that the entire room is dark, except for the luminescent figure approaching me. I slowly sit up on my knees, rubbing my head to will away the massive headache I have. I look at the figure; a tall, medium build, grey haired man, in a white lab coat stands a few feet before me; a cane is his support.
"Who are you?" the man smiles at me and limps the rest of the way over to me, then sits down beside me.
"I am the Chief and Producer of this program, Mark Clear."
My face falls.
"So you're the one who got the crazy idea to put me in this hell hole."
"Er…yes, I am. Now allow me to explain your current situation." He waits for me to nod and then continues. "Well, there is a vast problem that we were hoping would not happen…" He pauses, looking down at his folded hands.
"Which is…?"
"Well, since you had entered the system so late at night, which we weren't expecting; no one noticed that you passed out on the floor at your register at work and thankfully the people I had monitoring you noticed but…" I feel dread fill me inside.
"Well instead of you're mind only entering the program to complete the task which would cause the chemical to release and you return to your original state…um. You can't anymore. The exact amount of time spent inside the program, will equal to that of real world time."
Dread vanishes and anger explodes.
"EXCUSE ME!? That should not be happening! I'll miss 4 years of my life! Reverse it now! I want to go back home!"
"We can't…it will kill you to just pull you out of the system; your body wont sustain the shock from it. We weren't even planning to tell you, but after that attack we decided that it was crucial to inform you." He frowns at me.
"So what are you going to do about it?" I ask, glaring at him.
"You must complete the story to leave the program. We are caring for your body with the best medicine money from our company can buy. We are monitoring your status, and we'll take care of injuries you sustain but try not to get yourself killed again; it was very hard to reverse that set back. Since you have such a common blood type; it's in short supply and replenishing your blood repeatedly is difficult."
I nod, staring at him tiredly; my body is killing me. We sit there silently for a moment as I regain my strength; then something hits me.
"How are you able to talk to me like this? and through that book?" Mark scratches his scalp and sighs.
"That is way too difficult to explain…lets just say we got someone working for us."
"Hn." I look away from him and curl my knees to my chest, resting my chin on them. A wave of depression hits me as I think of my family. Even though he is talking I'm barely listening.
"Since this project has become so dangerous for you, we've decided to adjust the system and give you high level ANBU skills; after you adjust you'll be able to use the skills/speed/strength/jutsu of a Double S ranked ninja by following the same procedure as last time but chakra increase will be automatic…are you listening?"
"Yea, Double S ranked ninja…" I sigh heavily. "You do know that just because I HAVE those abilities, doesn't mean I'll have mentally adjusted to them so don't be surprised if I suddenly kill myself…again."
"Yes, we thought of that, and I recommend that the first chance you get to train, do so. I'm sure that…your animated lover wouldn't mindhelping you." The glare I shoot him stops his smiling and he continues. "Anyway; just focus on getting through this story; we have everything else under control."
"What about my family? What do they know or believe?"
Mark sighs and uses his cane to stand up; his back is to me.
"You're dead. We told them you died in a fire in the back room of Wal-Mart; you were charred to a crisp. We had our agents do all the covering up; no worries." Mark begins walking away.
My eyes widen and then tears form in my eyes.
"How could you- Now we have the fricken Secret Service or what not involved!? How could you do this to me!?" Mark keeps walking away; and as I keep yelling after him my voice becomes quieter and I see nothing but darkness again.
-
"N-Nicole-san?" my eyes slide open and I blink tiredly; looking up at a fuzzy pink figure and my vision clears.
"Y-yea?" The poor girl appears exhausted and quite shaken.
"I-I felt a sudden energy shock from you, like when we were in Mist country. What happened?" I unravel the bandages around my shoulder and smirk at the dark red scar where a fresh wound should have been, Mark did something right I guess. "Wh-what the. How did you heal so fast? That's impossible!"
I roll my eyes and stand to stretch; looking outside from the huge tree gap we resided under. It was growing towards dusk, nearing the time when the Sound shinobi should be arriving. I look back at my 'friends,' Sasuke and Naruto were on the ground with their head protectors off and wet cloths on their foreheads. They look awful.
I pull out my manga and flip to the inside cover, pressing my finger on the metal strip and close my eyes. My body burns and all the information Mark promised me floods my mind, quickly and painfully filing itself away. When the sensation stops, I open my eyes and look at Sakura; she looks scared again; I guess my power spiked a second time as from before I woke up.
"How long have I been out?" Sakura shakes lightly, her long pink hair is rumpled and drooping; light bruises on her face and visible limbs. Has it really been 3 days?
"Only about two hours; w-why?" Quickly I make two kage-bushins of myself and then have them pick up Sasuke and Naruto. Sakura stands quickly, her body shakes slightly.
"We need to get out of here, head to the tower; it's about 5 miles from here."
"We can't! We don't have either of the scrolls anymore, that snake-man took ours."
"I've got a set for both of us ok? Let's move before we get attacked," again I look her over, feeling weary of her appearance. "Do you think you'll be able to make it?"
She nods once, and my clones and I prepare to launch into the trees.
'Perfect time to try out the skills I was given,' I thought to myself.
"Let's go!" Sakura, my clones and I dart up into the trees, speeding through them as if it were nothing; we appeared to be running on air. Alas, Sakura was struggling to keep up so we stopped and with out warning I picked her up and had her on my back piggy-back style and continued sprinting high speed the rest of the way. Sakura held onto me for dear life.
-
I basically stumbled into the clearing before the tower, Sakura jumped off my back as I bent over with my hands on my knees gasping in air.
"God, I think that was the most I've done at once in my entire life…" I chuckled as I breathed heavily. After a moment I regained my breath and stood up straight, doing a deep cleansing breath and then turned to Sakura.
"Ok, here are your scrolls and this is your door. Just go in with the boys, my clones will dispel and then open the scrolls. Make sure you get Sasuke to Kakashi and a medical squad as quickly as possible. Can you do that?"
She nods and enters the doorway with my clones following. I head off to my entrance and meet up with Kabuto and Akado.
"Where were you?" Akado growls out "We've been waiting for three hours."
Kabuto fixes me with a hard glare and I enter the door, the tape ripping apart.
"I had some business to take care of, so deal."
"Were you giving away our scrolls?"
"I was just playing with the other kids mommy! Please don't ground me!" I smirk at Kabuto's annoyed face, he doesn't like my bratty kid act either…hm, and my parents thought it was hilarious.
"You are getting on my last nerve wench." My eyes darken and I sneer at him, opening the scrolls and toss them to the floor. Shortly a puff of smoke appears and when that clears, Orochimaru is standing on the scrolls.
"You're early Kabuto-kun. Did Sasuke-kun's team finish as well?"
"Yea, because this irritant helped them out by giving our scrolls away." Orochimaru looks from Kabuto, to me, and then snaps at his right hand man.
"You did not inform me that this woman was to be your other teammate!"
"Well it was last minute and the Konoha board just assigned us someone since our other teammate was hospitalized." Orochimaru hissed, he is adorable when angry…is that weird of me to think? I don't think so…
"She killed one of my best summons! Either she repays me or you'll be suffering for not watching her!" I glare and stand in front of the older man, glaring down at him; like everyone else, he is tiny compared to me.
"Excuse me but I don't owe you shit! You're the one who attacked my friends' in the first place! If you want the Uchiha's body for your own needs then fine! Leave Sakura and Naruto out of it! And don't think I forgot about the chakra seal you put on me, you'll regret it!"
Through out my whole rant, my temporary teammates were watching me, and Orochimaru growing angrier by the second (which is my fault since I don't know when to keep quiet). He lashes out at me and I'm on the ground bleeding from a deep gash on my chest and a painful bruise forming on my stomach. The older ninja holds a kunai in his hand and I stupidly try to launch myself at him, Kabuto and Akado grab my arms to stop me and they succeed only after I drag them to a foot from Orochimaru. I may be strong, but my new power hasn't been "unlocked" yet and I'm already in a weakened state.
"You've grown to be much more powerful in one day, your chakra level is amazing and I can actually feel the sheer power radiating off of you. Tell me wench, where did this power come from?" I glare at him and he crosses his arms, calculating for a moment.
"I'm a freak of nature, what do you expect? Normalcy? Keh." I scoff and he smirks at me; Kabuto's grip tightens on me.
"Orochimaru-sama, you're not going to do that are you? I know that look in your eye!"
The Sanin chuckles deeply and begins forming hand seals. My eyes widen and I start to thrash, trying to get away from my teammates, they are holding onto me strongly though and I don't think I'm strong enough to escape.
"Let's find out how truly powerful she is, if she can sustain my mark then she could truly be beneficial for my next body if Sasuke-kun isn't ready for my transfer. This will be her way to repay me...that is, if she lives." His neck extends and he bites into my neck though I tried to jerk away, and I'm injected with his mark. I'm screwed now…I slump to my knees clutching the place were the mark is formed.
"Let's see how well you work with that." I feel so much pain coming from it and it hurts my body so badly.
"Orochimaru-sama, I have the information you needed." I stand as Kabuto give the snake an orange info card. I punch Orochimaru in the face and stumble away, to the exit, wanting to find the infirmary or Kakashi even. Kabuto stops Orochimaru from attacking me.
"Please Orochimaru-sama, she isn't well behaved."
'Damn right I'm not.'
-
My body feels like it's humming as I slowly wake. When did I pass out? I don't know, but I'm guessing I did because my eyes open to a clean white room; I'm hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor.
"Feeling better?" My head tilts to the side, Kakashi is in my line of view and he seems to be indulged in that book of his.
"Yea, I guess…what happened?" I try to sit up and suddenly realize I'm strapped to the bed. "Um…Kakashi-kun?" He notes what page he's on and looks at me. The ANBU on the inside next to my door looks over at us momentarily, he uses something on his neck to alert the person on the other end; he tells them that I am awake.
"Well, I found you passed out two days ago and yesterday you went through the final stage of the mark that you have on your right shoulder; and tried to kill everyone. It took three ANBU to finally pin you down and we have chakra restraints holding you. So, why did your power level raise to a Double S Ranked ninja?" How can he be so calm? I glance at the ANBU again and then back to Kakashi, throwing caution to the wind.
"Well, we both know I'm from a different dimension right? The person who put me in here did something to my body on the other side to raise my power level." I scoff. "He actually thought I understood how to use the Jounin power I acquired back in Mist. The fun part was when he gave me some jutsu from other villages…Just when do we expect me to use them?" I sigh lightly, and try to move again but fail.
"You sure are something Nikkie…but when we have more time, we should discuss this." He smiles and opens his book again. I notice a white bandage on his left temple; I guess I attacked him and I now feel bad.
"How is team 7?"
"I sealed off the mark on Sasuke, since we both know why and Naruto and Sakura are getting ready for the finals today. Sasuke is going to compete too though. You're well enough to compete, right?"
I smile at him and nod.
"Of course you are, what was I thinking? By the way…do you want to tell me where you got most of those wounds?" His eye follows the words on the pages; he doesn't seem too concerned…since I told him to not freak out a lot about my health.
"My teammate gave me most of them and I'm just clumsy; that's about it. Hey, which volume is that?" I try to read the cover of the book, but it's out of my line of vision.
"Make-Out Paradise Volume 2, did you finish the first one?" He asks me in mock seriousness.
"No…" I pout like a child.
"Then you can't read this one yet."
"But Kakashi…"
The scarecrow leans over and kisses me gently with his mask still on; then the door swings open. Another ANBU with a rabbit mask comes in.
"We can release her, but Hokage-sama ordered a strict watch guard on her at all times. You'll be in charge of that Kakashi-san."
I roll my eyes; as if I'm going to do anything…
"That'll be fine." The ANBU nods and walks over to me, with the guard from the door following. They look at each other and then do a jutsu to remove the chakra bonds.
I sit up slowly; happy to note there is no pain in my chest from the attack. I begin unraveling the bandages on my chest, stopping just above my breasts; there is a dark red mark where the gash was, I feel surprise from the ANBU overwhelm me.
"How are your wounds healed like that? We didn't have anyone perform a medical jutsu." The ANBU in the rabbit mask asks me.
I shrug and look around for cloths to wear; Kakashi pulls out a bag from beside my bed and places it in my lap.
"I brought you some cloths to wear; they may not fit but I can't be too sure."
I smile and take the bag in my hands.
"How long till finals?"
"Half an hour."
"Ok…" I look up at the pair of ANBU; they are staring. "Get out."
They pause momentarily but I glare at them and they walk out. Then I stand and begin changing not caring that Kakashi is in the room. He turns his head away politely and I smile. Such a good boyfriend. He brought me a pair of his black jounin pants and one of his black long sleeved shirts; there are also some bandages in the bag so I pull that out.
"Wanna help?" I smile and hold out the bandages, he takes them and I sit on the edge of my bed with my legs draped across his lap. He smiles and begins wrapping my arms up slowly and gently.
When he finishes, I sit in his lap, looking out the window and at the closed door; he watches me carefully as he wraps his arms around my waist. Then I close my eyes and pull his mask down, giving him a deep, passionate kiss that he returns willingly. After a moment or so we pull away, putting his mask back in place and then I slipped my eyes open and smiled.
"Thanks, Kakashi-kun." He nuzzles his head against my chest and I pet his hair; causing him to start 'purring'.
"No problem." I lick my lips and sigh happily. I've never felt more loved by someone; too bad this isn't real world.
- (A/N: Skipping Hokage's speech because it is soooooooo boring.)
"Good to meet you everyone, I am Hayate, Gekko –cough-. Uh…before we start the exam, I must ask you all to do something for me. Ummm you see there as some preliminaries to the exam proper…and whether you proceed to the main exam is contingent on how well you manage those."
"Preliminaries!?" I hear a few people yell out, I guess they don't like the idea of that.
"Why preliminaries sensei? Can't all of the applicants just proceed to the next exam directly!?" Sakura calls out? She doesn't sound tired, she actually looks real relaxed and her wounds aren't too bad. Maybe she'll win her fight!
"Well, I don't want to say that the first two exams weren't demanding enough, but…we still have too many applicants. Under -cough- the traditional –cough- rules of the exam, we have to have a preliminary test –cough- to reduce the number of applicants who'll proceed to the third exam." Hayate begins coughing hard for a moment, but it subsides…should he really be here?
"As Lord Hokage mentioned, a number of honored guests will be observing you during the third exam, so we –cough- need to make the exam intense, tight, and fast-moving."
"So that means…" Someone begins; I can't tell who it is though.
"Hmm, so anyway, now that you know something of what it's really all about, anyone who doesn't feel up to the challenge physically –cough- or mentally can walk away. Just take one step forward. Because the preliminaries start now!"
"NOW?" Rings out through the room, I clutch my hands over my ears; they are hypersensitive lately…so… OW!
"Well…I guess I'm outta here." Kabuto voices nonchalantly.
"What!?" Naruto screams. "K-Kabuto?"
"Fine, you may go." Hayate marks something down on his note pad and I blow a piece of hair from my face moodily. "Anyone else want to leave?"
I'm vaguely sure that Naruto threw a fit with Kabuto…so I zoned out momentarily, my fresh curse mark happened to be burning my skin like shit. I'm pretty sure I have a fever, and I try griping the mark hoping to ease the pain. Kabuto turns to walk away, I glare at him and he smirks.
"I'll see you in a while wont I?" He continues smirking and simply jams one of his acupuncture needles into my side; causing me to bite my lip in pain.
"You will, but you'll die then." Akado chuckles behind me, and I twitch in anger. How dare he laugh at me? This is between Kabuto and myself!
"Damn it, I've had enough of you! Shut the fuck up bitch!" I turn around and punch Akado in the face; he staggers backward clutching his masked face.
"You broke my nose!" Tears leak out from behind his sunglasses and I smirk, chuckling to myself. A couple of the genin near me took a few steps back, in case a fight broke out. Akado raises his arm to retaliate but Hayate poofs in front of us, causing Akado to stop.
"Anymore fighting, -cough- and you both will be disqualified."
"Hn, no one laughs at me and gets away with it." I growl out at Hayate, then yank out the acupuncture needle, tossing it to the floor. "Fucking ignorant bitches…" I shove past Hayate and Akado, going to the upper deck.
"Hmmm so it looks like no one else is going to bail, -cough- so we'll start our first match." I notice Sakura and Sasuke quietly squabbling about something…Sasuke is clutching his mark as well even though it's sealed…hmm, this will prove to be interesting.
"These –cough- preliminary matches will consist of individual combat matches as though this were part of a tournament. As there are a total of twenty combatants remaining, we will hold ten bouts. Ummm and the victors –cough- of those bouts will advance to the third exam. This is no-holds combat. Each pair of combatants will fight until one of them is dead, unconscious or admits defeat. I will proceed to stop the battle if it's obvious you cannot defeat your opponent, and save your life. From here on out, the key to your fate is held in an electronic score board." I see the scoreboard appear on the far wall on the left.
"Before each battle two names will appear on the board and those two combatants will fight. So to begin, we'll have the first names appear."
The board scrambles the names and then it stops. Uchiha, Sasuke vs. Yoroi Akado.
"Will the two individuals competing please appear on deck? The rest of you please proceed to the upper deck on either the left or right side of the arena."
Sasuke and Akado stood about eight feet apart from each other, Hayate in between; five feet away. For some reason I began calculating the best way to stop the match if Sasuke's mark acted up… I have yet to really figure out why my mark hurts so much; but it sucks.
Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura come up and stand with me. Kakashi has his arm around my waist; Naruto and Sakura give us looks and then get over it.
"Alright, please begin!" immediately after Hayate's command; Akado activated his chakra sucking jutsu and throws three shuriken, simultaneously Sasuke whips a kunai at him. Sasuke narrowly missing the shuriken and in a flash Akado tries to grab his head, instead making a hole in the ground where he once was.
The two ninja Taijutsu it out for a couple minutes, Sasuke pins down Akado. Akado pins down Sasuke and sucks out some of his chakra. Words are exchanged and Sasuke is angered; mean while I am inwardly rooting for Sasuke to kill Akado. My teammate still has his blood on his hands, face and cloths. I'm pretty sure he is in so much pain from me breaking his nose.
Thankfully, Sasuke has had a chance to rest and is at full strength; he can use his Sharigan and is then able to smash Akado into the ground. It's obvious that Akado is out cold; Sasuke wins. Duh.
Hayate goes over to my teammate, checking him to make sure he's down for the count. Sasuke is a few feet over on one knee, panting lightly.
"Winner, Uchiha, Sasuke."
A cheer goes up from Sakura and Naruto and Sasuke allows a boastful smirk to set on his face. It wasn't even a challenge for him really… He makes his way up to the second level with team seven and I. Akado is being carried off on a stretcher; I don't even care.
Naruto jumps on Sasuke's back hugging him tightly; Sasuke blushes a very light pink and smiles momentarily. Then he gives a look of annoyance and half-heartedly tries to get Naruto off. I can help but smile. Naruto congratulates his best friend again; and releases his hold on him.
"That was a freakin' awesome job Sasuke-teme." Naruto beams at the black haired boy; he too has a tiny blush on his cheeks. I swear something happened that I should've known about.
"Hn." Sasuke nods to the blonde.
I smile at him while giving him thumbs up.
"Congrats Uchiha." He eyes me warily for a moment and then nods.
"You'd best win your match as well. You too Naruto, Sakura." All three of us smile. Kakashi grins under his mask at our sudden ability to get along.
The screen makes a noise and then names appear on the screen.
"Abumi, Zaku vs. Aburame, Shino is the second match. –Cough- will the combatants please come down to the deck." Hayate coughs into his hand again; Shino and Zaku get on the floor.
Zaku's arms are in perfect health, mind a couple bruises but nothing like when Sasuke was supposed to break them.
"Begin."
At first they just stand there and then they begin the fight. Zaku attacks Shino's face, we 'freak out' when bugs seep through Shino's face blah, blah, blah. Suddenly Zaku grows angry and proceeds to use his wind jutsu in his hands…and they explode (and I simply think it's hilarious…)
There is plenty of shock, a lot of confusion and many annoyed angry people.
In the end, Shino wins; hooray; no one cares. Done.
"Winner, Aburame, Shino."
Yay…
Zaku is escorted off and taken into the infirmary. Hayate says that the next match is to be announced immediately. Wait…. SHIT!
"Next match is DeTota, Nicole vs. Sabaku, Kankuro."
I sigh heavily and lean against the railing with my head on it.
"Do I have to? My mark is burning…" Kakashi pulls back my shirt and peers at it then pats my back gently.
"Just get it over with; I'm pretty sure with your recent power spike, you'll beat him."
I smile and stand up straight, kissing Kakashi on the cheek; Team 7 stares wide eyed at us. Then I vault over the side and onto the floor, walking to meet my opponent.
"Hello, Kankuro-kun." I smirk devilishly; he grimaces. "Long time…no see, eh?" I smile playfully at him and he seems confused. "You're going to regret what you did to Konohamaru." Then I set into my fighting stance gathering a large amount of chakra for an instant spurge of power. Though it's causing my mark to attempt to spread I do it anyway and it spreads out a little but stay at the base of my neck and on my shoulder. I just pray that I'll get a perfect hit now.
"Battle number three –cough- Begin."
I sprint like hell leaving behind a dust trail, towards Kankuro; he doesn't have enough to time to get his crow off his back as I ram him into the wall. There is a loud crash and giant cloud of cement powder dust in the air. When it clears I am pleased to see Kankuro K.O.ed, lying on the floor. I am sure I cracked his head in the right spot.
"Hm…not much of a challenge." I cross my arms, waiting. The arena is silent.
Hayate walks forward and observes Kankuro's body; and stares at me in surprise.
"You nearly killed him." I shrug and flick my hair over my shoulder uncaringly.
"It was a cheap shot, but I don't play nice." Hayate calculates me with his dark, exhausted eyes carefully.
"Winner of this round…DeTota, Nicole."
I do an about face and go back up to my place in the upper level.
"At least something good came out of this…" I chuckle lightly and stand beside Kakashi and team 7. They stare at me in shock; especially Sasuke.
"What the hell." Uchiha comments.
I smile lightly and grimace as the pain from the mark grows. I then look over to a dimmed corner of the arena and spy Orochimaru; he has that power happy, Oh-My-Goodness-I've Struck-Gold look on his face. (What does he think he gave me that power?) He smirks at me, I nod to him in acknowledgment; he raises an eyebrow at me and I smile, blowing a kiss to him. He appears more confused and looks around suspiciously.
I chuckle; Kakashi looks down at me questionably and then shrugs. He knows my little weird world enough to figure out most things or to not over think it.
I look back to Orochimaru and he is paler than usual, I make a 'call me signal' and wiggle my eyebrows perversely to him and he takes a step back in surprise. Now looking around nervously and then randomly (or not so much) poofs away. I choke on hysterical laughter that comes out in tiny gasps.
"You worry me sometimes," Kakashi comments lightly. I look over to him and smile widely.
"It's muh j-o-b."
"Match four will be between Haruno, Sakura and Yamanaka, Ino." I turn to Sakura and grasp her shoulders tightly but carefully not bruising her.
"Ok, Sakura, we are two-for-two right now, I know you can beat the irritating blonde girl, so let's make it three-for-three. She is NOT better than you; do not think it, KNOW it. Use that tough girl who knows what she wants and will get it, that I know you have inside you; use Inner Sakura!" Sakura stares up at me in shock of my motivating words and then smiles boldly and makes a power fist.
"Got it!" She walks down to the battle deck looking strong, well rested and most of all, confident. The rest of team 7 stares at me in shock; like I grew a second and third head.
"What? Being mean all the time is a lot of work!"
They look out to where Sakura and Ino stand; Hayate orders for the fight to begin. Kakashi again pulls me to him, I nuzzle my head against his and he slips one hand under my shirt (well his) to rest on my stomach teasingly. I'm a little surprised at his forwardness but don't mind; I like the attention.
"Well, Sakura, you look pretty confident, think you'll beat me? I doubt it." Sakura simply smirks and pulls out a kunai. Ino mirrors the pink girls actions.
"I'm going to beat you Ino, for once and for all." I see Inner Sakura slip out to full strength in Sakura's eyes.
"Is that a challenge Sakura?" Ino coos; Sakura smiles in a feral manner, this causes the blonde to adorn a tense look.
"No, it's a promise." And so the battle ensues; I watch intimately; noting that Sakura is landing far more blows from her punches and kicks than Ino. Ino is obviously already tired, since her team just arrived a mere hour before the competition.
This goes on for maybe five minutes, and the blonde seems to be about done; I ALMOST feel bad. They are now holding each other off with their kunai scraping together; Ino seems to be giving out.
"Well look at this Ino, we're nose to nose and I seem to be winning." Damn…Sakura is arrogant in competition.
"I will not lose!" Ino cries out, she has sweat rolling down her temple as her muscles shake; her legs will probably give first.
"Yes, you will!" In a swift move, Sakura lands a dirty shot right to Ino's left temple, knocking her back several feet. Sakura watches her long-term rival skid to a halt, not moving; Sakura looks worried for a moment and then notices her chest moving up and down slowly. Sakura smiles and I feel proud.
Hayate approaches Ino, and claims her to be unconscious momentarily.
"Haruno, Sakura, winner of round four."
Sakura smirks and crosses her arms in pride; she has every right. Naruto screams out his excitement to her loudly. Sasuke grins smally and nods his head once to himself. Asuma then goes down and retrieves Ino, bringing her back to the upper deck, whilst Sakura slowly makes her way back up.
"That was amazing Sakura-chan!" Naruto offers a high five, which Sakura politely accepts.
"Good job, Sakura." Sakura squeals quietly to herself as she receives a compliment from her obsession.
"Perfect. I knew you'd win, Sakura-chan." Sakura smiles up at me.
"Thanks, you really gave me confidence. I guess you're not always malevolent."
I look away while blushing lightly. Kakashi strokes my hip and chuckles lightly in my ear. I can feel Sakura's knowing smile aimed at me.
"Hn."
"Next match TenTen vs. Sabaku, Temari." I zone out and subtly flirt with Kakashi, during that fight; it's over in less than four minutes.
"Winner, Sabaku, Temari." TenTen is 'delicately' hanging off of Temari's fan, till she is thrown at her teammate; Lee. Lee throws a fit, and tries to attack the blonde sand ninja and is stopped; Gai intervenes and the whole damn thing is a waste of time.
"Next match is…" The screen begins flipping names and then they stop on "Nara, Shikamaru vs. Tsuchi Kin. Combatants please come to the lower deck."
"Begin." Hayate coughs, why doesn't he just see a doctor or take a nap even?
Shikamaru and Kin fight. Shika quickly figures out the senbon with and without bells trick Kin is performing. Within a flash Kin is caught in his 'Me and My Shadow' move and Kin is basically finished at this point. He does his little trick with the shuriken and Kin is knocked unconscious from hitting her head against the wall.
"Winner, Nara, Shikamaru."
"Go Shika!" Ino screams out. Shikamaru sighs and comes back up to meet back with his teams.
Quickly the screen begins flipping through the next names and lands on;
"Next match is Uzumaki, Naruto vs. Inuzuka, Kiba."
"YATTA!!" I cover my ears tightly and groan.
"NARUTO! My ears are ringing!" I give him a look and he stares back and nods. The blonde then chuckles, folding his arms behind his head.
"Well it's about time! I am defiantly gonna win!"
Sakura sighs and then smiles.
"Go Naruto!"
Sasuke puts a hand on Naruto's shoulder in confidence and then the blonde jumps to the lower level racing up to Kiba and Hayate. The blonde looks at Akamaru and was about to open his mouth but shuts it, smirking with confidence. This should prove to be interesting.
I move away from Kakashi, who releases me slowly and I lean against the railing.
"With out a doubt, Naruto-kun will win. I bet it won't take five minutes; especially after what I taught him back in mist." Sasuke and Sakura eye me curiously; I give them a smile and close my eyes.
A couple days before we left for Konoha, I secretly took Naruto into the forest.
(-Flash back-)
"It's like three in the morning Nikkie-san. What are we doing out here!?"
"Shh! I don't want to attract any unwanted predators!" Naruto crosses his arms tiredly, his walrus nightcap and ramen pajamas make him look like a little kid.
"Well what are we doing out here?"
"I have been trying to get you out here alone all week to teach you something. Something simple," Thats a lie... "but it will put you ahead of Sasuke and them."
Suddenly Naruto looks excited and full of energy.
"What you gonna teach me!? I'm always up for something new!" He causes me to smile.
"I'm going to teach you my way of self defense. My older brother taught me this when I was about eight or nine years old and it's worked since then. I am going to teach you how to use every single one of your opponent's pressure points against them."
"Pressure…points…?" He blinks his bright blue eyes at me in confusion.
"The most vulnerable parts of the human body. My favorites are the wrist twist and the jaw hinge. I'll show you the rest though."
"How do they work?"
"Give me your wrist." The blonde holds out his right wrist and then I twist it outwardly he falls to his knees automatically. "It does not matter if you are a civilian or an ANBU, you can not train your body to resist it. You falling to your knees, is an automatic response to the pain." I twist more and he starts whining and I release him, he holds it gently.
"That hurts!"
"You saw the way I took out that ninja that attacked us in the beginning of this mission right?"
"Yea, you just had him in a normal headlock, I thought you did something else."
"I used his jugular pressure point on him, by pressing against it with my arm; it stops the direct blood flow to the brain. It takes eight to ten seconds to work and you can do that in more than one way. You won't even need to do much fighting for you to win against your opponent."
"But I still don't understand how to do it."
"Well, I'll show you all the ways to use them and each one. I guarantee it will work if you use them in techniques and different ways to confuse your opponent's body with them. But, these are very dangerous techniques and its very easy to kill someone with most of them."
(-End flashback-)
"Match seven, begin."
"I'm going to take you down Naruto! But don't worry, I'll be kind and finish you off fast instead of dragging it out."
"Keh, I doubt it."
Naruto makes 4 clones of himself and they attack Kiba, distracting him. Kiba fights with vigor, being cocky as he destroys the clones one by one and Akamaru sits back, not doing anything.
The real Naruto hangs back and then makes two more clones of himself and they lunge at Kiba. Each clone grabs the dog-nins wrists twisting them outwardly and Kiba falls to his knees, pain etched on his face. The real Naruto however uses his fingertips under his jaw near his ear lobes, pulling up, and Kiba cries out; his body trying to reach to both attacks. I see Naruto use his ring fingers to press on his neck just behind the ear and down an inch; the jugular.
"I win." Kiba groans and suddenly falls backward, his dog running up to him and whining. Naruto crosses his arms cockily.
"Go Naruto," I yell.
Hayate checks Kiba and blinks.
"Winner, Uzumaki, Naruto."
Everyone's jaw is on the floor.
"THAT WASN'T EVEN A TWO MINUTE MATCH! HE CHEATED!" I hear someone yell out. I think it was either Ino…or someone.
"What did you teach him Nikkie-san?" Sakura asks me, still in shock. I smile at her.
"It's a secret." Sakura and Sasuke twitch and look away.
"How do you know all of those pressure point techniques? Those are usually known by jounin rank and higher or medical ninjas. They are very difficult to learn, how'd Naruto learn it that quick?"
"I learned when I was little; my big brother taught me. Naruto is a fast learner…but he kinda suffered through it."
"Really? I didn't think Americans knew ninja techniques."
I smile and laugh.
"We basically created a lot of the things the Japanese Civilian Military use. My brother is at a military war right now, not much unlike ninja wars. So, I guess I've kinda been training my whole life. Rough-housing with your older brother and his friends does that."
"Ah. Well, who do you reckon will fight next?"
"Hinata and Neji." I reply easily. A mere second later, the board reads just that. Everyone snaps to look at me and I smile at them. "Psyschic."
We all turn back to the floor where Hinata and Neji had gathered. Neji begins putting Hinata down and we all grow irritated. Hayate begins the fight and Neji continues his cruel mental torment.
Naruto screams to Hinata to not listen to Neji, Hinata grows more confident. Neji nearly kills Hinata, he wins and tries to attack her after fight is over. Neji is stopped by the Jounin and then Hinata is rescued by the medics. The end.
"Well…that was…invigorating." I say, and sigh heavily. "Poor Hinata…she really needs to learn confidence."
Naruto approaches Neji, and vows to win with Hinata's blood in his palm. Everyone watches like they couldn't believe the blonde; he isn't an idiot…jeeze.
Kakashi and the rest of ninja come back up to the balcony; I look to the board as it begins flipping the last few names. I stare at Naruto and Sasuke as they stand side by side and smirk.
"You know, Sasuke, Naruto…you two would make an adorable couple."
They stare at me wide eyed, and blush darkly, turning away; not denying nor accepting my statement. Kakashi laughs lightly.
"Next match, Sabaku, Gaara vs. Rock Lee." I groan and cover my face with my hands; this is not going to go very well…
"Finally!" Lee jumps down to the floor, Gaara simply teleports there.
The fight proceeds when Hayate gives them the go ahead. Gaara is easily stopping Lee's attacks with out movement for the sand does it by itself. Eventually Gai-sensei tells Lee to take his weights off and scares everyone with the amount he is wearing. The fight becomes more intense and Lee lands a hit or two but the sand amour does nothing.
The primary lotus doe not work. Lee is exhausted and can hardly move now. Then Gai, being insane, tells him to use that other jutsu and he opens 3 of his inner gates and attacks Gaara like a mad man. Guess what…it doesn't work and Gaara uses his sand on him when he tries to get away, destroying his left arm and leg.
I close my eyes and say a short prayer to my god. Gai goes saves Lee from Gaara's sand. The whole battle deck is destroyed and mangled. I watch sadly as the little warrior is taken away. I grab Naruto before he jumps to go down, Kakashi stops Sakura.
"There isn't anything either of you can do." I whisper quietly; they stare at me and then down at the arena.
"Winner, Sabaku, Gaara."
Everyone looks over Lees mangled limbs remorsefully as he is carried away. Truly depressing, it really is, I don't care though, and later on Tsunade will come and save him. So I don't care.
"Next battle, Kinuta, Dosu vs. Akimichi, Chouji."
The two opponents jump down. The battle ensues. Chouji gets a few good hits in but alas, he looses. The sound ninja was too powerful, you cant exactly fight like you aren't a giant ear I guess. I smile to myself at that.
"Well, that was…interesting." I giggle. Team seven stares at me like I'm crazy.
-
"One night and one more time thanks for the memories even- HEY! I was listening to that!" I snatch back the head phones of Xiander; my beloved mp3 player from Ibiki, glaring at him.
"Well, you're listening to myself and Lord Hokage now. You can't sing anyway; even if it's in a different language." Ibiki turns away, walking back to his spot.
"Bite me." He stops and turns glaring at me darkly. I know I cant sing, so you don't have to say anything about it!
"You best watch your tongue brat." I smirk and cross my arms haughtily; then put on a fake apologetic look.
"Oh I'm sorry, was I disrespectful? I so deeply beg for your forgiveness for my insubordination." He growls and walks off. I smile proudly to myself.
"Well, I see you made it this far, Nicole-san. Honestly I did not expect that."
I give him a thumbs up and a smile.
"Eh, I did; plenty of work though, like back at home. This is much more fun though; fewer rules." I grin.
"Well then, I shall begin explaining the finals. As I mentioned earlier, you will conduct your final round battles in front of everyone. Each of you represents the battle strength of your respective lands, so we want you to exhibit and fully showcase your talents. And, the finals will commence one month from now."
"Why not now!?" Naruto voices loudly.
"We call this the requisite preparation period." Hokage answers calmly.
"What do you mean?" Neji asks.
"We use this time to get the Kage rulers from each land to know the results and they will need time to get here. You applicants will also need time to prepare for your next fight since you all know what each other is capable of. You use this time to gather intelligence about yourself and the other applicants; and get new tricks up your sleeve as well. So you have one month, so get some rest and train hard."
All of the other ninja around me looked surprised, or calculating. I look over Sasuke, who is sweating; his Curse Mark is glowing red and I unconsciously grip my own on my right shoulder. Mine hurts too.
"Hey!" I snap out of my trance and look down at Anko; she is holding a box. "Take one." I reach into the box and pull out a piece of paper; she passes out the rest.
"Now, if you would all read your number aloud one at a time."
"Nine" – Dosu
"One" – Naruto
"Seven" – Temari
"Five" – Me
"Four" – Sasuke
"Three" – Gaara
"Eight" – Shikamaru
"Two" – Neji
"Six" – Shino
"Ten" – Sakura
"Good, and I will now reveal the match order for the finals."
"WHAT!" Naruto screams. My ears are bloody ringing again. Ibiki holds up a piece of paper listing all of the battles.
Naruto vs. Neji. Sasuke vs. Gaara. Myself vs. Shino. Temari vs. Shikamaru. Dosu vs. Sakura.
"Now you all know your opponent; train hard to win."
"May I?" Shikamaru raises his hand.
"Go ahead." Ibiki answers.
"Well, with that set up, if there is one winner, only one person becomes Chuunin?"
"No, it is to test your skills, depending on your battle(s) even if you loose, you'll become Chuunin. There is a chance, also, that you will all become Chuunin or none of you will."
There are quiet murmurs around the room. I'm already figuring out my training schedule.
"Well, you are all dismissed till one month from now. I wish you well."
I walk away my teammates follow me slowly.
"Looks like we have a lot of work to do." I put my head phones back in to ignore their responses. After all, I don't really care.
TBC
A/N: I HATE LONG CHAPTERS!
Review…if you have any complaints; please file them in a polite and orderly fashion.