The second exams, ready to go. Now, I'm gonna be following my own little storyline here, in that Team 7 won't be the focus team, but the Sand Siblings will. So I hope you enjoy :)
Chapter 7: The Second Exam 1
Temari stood in a field of bright white light. The light slowly dimmed, and revealed the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. She was surrounded by a lush field, miles of flowers of every type growing everywhere. There was no one in sight, and she loved the isolation. She explored the area, picking up her favorite flowers and smelling them. Roses, chrysanthemums, daisies, even the rare desert lily was there. She remembered her childhood hunts for the flower and her excitement as she showed them to the villagers. They'd smile and pat her on the head, or say something like 'very pretty Lady Temari', or 'Such a wonderful plant'. But when they thought she couldn't hear them their attitudes were completely different.
'That brat continues to pluck those flowers as if they are infinite in number.'
'She's gonna ruin the most beautiful thing about this dry land.'
'How could she even be allowed to do that?' these were the things the elderly women discussed on their porches when Temari wasn't around. At least when they thought she wasn't around. But being the sister of Gaara had its advantages. He'd ask her about the comments, and she'd remember who said what and plan revenge on them.
'Father did say that my drive for revenge was the only thing that made me like him.' Temari bitterly thought, holding one of the lilies.
"Temari? Do you like it here?" a voice asked from behind her. She turned to see her favorite Konoha ninja standing in the center of the field.
"Naruto. I love it here, it's so beautiful." she breathed. In a flash, Naruto was in front of her, cupping her chin.
"Just like you Tema." and he closed the distance between them. It was a gentle, but needy kiss. Almost as if Naruto had been away for months. The kiss quickly heated as Naruto began to run his hands over her body. She gasped, and looked into his eyes. They seemed... darker than usual.
"Naru-kun?"
"Shh. Don't talk. Just stay here, with me, forever."
"But wait... this isn't the real world." whoa, since when did this dream become so real?
"But it could be. Imagine you and me, spending the rest of our lives here." Naruto dreamily sighed.
"Naruto, I can't. I can't leave Gaara and Kankuro, and the exams. Oh no, that's today!" Temari shouted, looking for a way out. Naruto sighed heavily.
"Too bad. You could've died happy." a demonic voice said. The voice of Meian. The image of Naruto melted into a black pool of nothingness, which then began to spread over the land, turning everything into nothing. Far below, Temari could see a mighty pit of fire with Meian fighting to escape the chains that bound him there. Although the flames danced dangerously close to the surface, Temari felt a chill go down her spine.
"Meian! Stop this!" she pleaded as the only area left, about a 3 feet diameter around her, was slowly consumed by the dark. She began to panic. If this land disappeared, she'd become Meian's sacrifice to return to full power, no doubt about it. 2 feet diameter. Temari thought over and over again: 'Why is there so much hate in Meian?' 'Why him?' 'Why me?' 1 foot left. She was ready to resign herself to her fate, to give up.
'I'm sorry Gaara, Kankuro.'
'I'm sorry Baki.'
'I'm sorry... Naruto.' she whispered, and she fell.
It was a short fall, because Temari woke up, screaming. She realized that she was no longer falling, but safe in her room, and relaxed a bit.
"Temari... are you okay?" Gaara's calm voice asked from beside her. Temari turned to fully face her little brother.
"Y-yeah. Um... did you-" Temari started. Gaara simply nodded and she understood.
"How exactly did you save me? You don't have pure chakra."
"Yeah, but I can manipulate gold dust. Remember before you could control your pure chakra the kazekage used it to calm Shukaku." Gaara explained.
"I see... Thanks. I'll get dressed now. We do have the second exam today." Gaara nodded once again and left, glancing at Temari again as if afraid she'd vanish into thin air. Temari shakily stood up and forced herself to move.
'I'm still shaking. It was worse than I thought.' Temari thought. She sighed as she tried to steady the kimono in her hands. After a few seconds of no results, she threw the clothing onto her bed and sat down.
"Baki!" she called. It took Baki no longer than 30 seconds to show up. He immediately entered the room and observed Temari's hands shaking.
"Meian?" he asked. She nodded and he got to work. He formed a few handsigns and placed his hands on either side of her head. Immediately Temari felt relief as her shaking began to stop. Next she felt chakra entering her head, penetrating deep into her subconscious mind.
"No, not this technique again!" Meian growled. Was that a hint of fear in his voice? The chakra reached him and he howled in pain as chains shot out of the ground and pinned him down. Meian struggled greatly against the chains, but Baki's jutsu was more powerful.
"Damn it!" Meian snarled as he lay flat against the ground.
'Is this what happens every time that jutsu is used? No wonder Meian wants to kill his hosts and seek vengeance.' Temari couldn't help but think. She wanted to do something, but she didn't know what would happen to the current technique if she interrupted it. Would Meian break free anyways? Temari tuned out the sounds until Baki was finished.
"Thank you Baki. Now, I must get dressed." Temari said. Baki nodded and quickly left the room. Temari picked up the kimono and headed into the bathroom.
Naruto was an excited little ninja. The exams didn't start until 10, but he had gotten up at 5 to bathe, eat a large breakfast composed of oatmeal and the various cereals he owned, and get an hour of training in. He was more than ready to go and show them all his techniques, the ones he spent the past weeks learning. Naruto decided to wear something familiar. He wore a jumpsuit just like his normal one, only it was all black with an orange stripe on the outer side of each pants leg. He wore his hair the normal way as well. Satisfied with his look, Naruto locked up and headed toward the Forest of Death.
'Hey kit.'
'What's up Kyuu?'
'Be particularly careful today. This will be the most challenging of the exams. The forest of death isn't to be taken lightly. There are creatures in there that you think only exist in nightmares, but they are real as we are. I also feel dark chakra.'
'Got it. Don't worry though Kyuu. I'm more than ready to do this. I got one of mom's and dad's techniques. I can take on anything they throw at me.'
'Good. Remember your training.' Kyuu said as Naruto burst into the clearing. There were already a few ninja waiting there, but none from Konoha. Maybe they got an early start so they wouldn't get lost on their way and end up late. Naruto stood off to the side and waited for his team to arrive.
By the time it was 9, nearly every ninja was there. Sasuke and Sakura stood on either side of him, waiting for Anko to begin talking. Sakura would move closer to Sasuke every once in a while, but Sasuke would shoot her a glare and she'd move back to her place. Naruto chuckled softly at his friend's discovery of how to keep those fangirls at bay. He spotted the sand siblings and he knew he had to talk to Temari. He made his way toward them, even ignoring the glares he got from Gaara and Kankuro as he neared their sister.
"Hey Temari." Naruto said. Temari smiled and hugged him. As soon as she did though, Naruto felt several red flags go off in his head. There was a huge source of dark chakra, coming from the blonde beauty. He immediately grabbed her hand and led her away.
"Naruto? What's going on?" Temari demanded. Then she felt it. Naruto's chakra was going crazy, trying to enter her body. But Naruto was keeping it at bay. The realization sunk in quickly. He knew about the dark chakra in her! Naruto led her well away from the others and stopped. He let go of her and took a couple of steps back.
"Why is there a huge source of dark chakra coming from you?" Naruto asked, not beating around the bush. Temari sighed before telling him the story of Meian.
"Are you gonna kill me?" she asked quietly when she finished. The fact that Naruto hesitated hurt. "Well?" she asked a bit more irritably.
"I'm sorry Tema. I was just thinking. I was born to eradicate dark chakra. I don't know what will happen. I don't want to kill you, but if you pose a threat to the village then I have to. I hope you can understand." he explained. Temari masked her face before answering.
"Yeah, I totally understand. But Meian would have to take over my body first, and I told Gaara to kill me if that happens." she said without much emotion. She turned to walk back to her brothers.
"Temari, I'm sorry. I wish I could avoid it, but even now my chakra is going crazy. I don't know what would happen if I-"
"Naruto. We should be getting back. Anko-sensei will start talking any minute." and without another word she left. Naruto groaned before returning to his teammates. Sasuke looked at him with confusion. Thankfully Sakura had gotten distracted by something else.
"I have pure chakra. I was born to destroy dark chakra sources. Temari has a half dark chakra, half pure chakra being sealed into her. I told her if she posed a threat then I'd have to kill her." Naruto said. Sasuke just looked at him before sighing heavily.
"Naruto, you are about the biggest idiot I've ever known. Never, EVER, tell a girl you like that you may have to kill her. Even if she has dark chakra. Ever look at yourself dobe? You have some of that dark chakra yourself with that fox and all." Sasuke explained. Now that he heard it, he felt like the biggest idiot in the universe. Sasuke was of course right. There was a nice amount of dark chakra in him as well. How could he not know that?
"Damnit!" Naruto groaned. When would he get this right? Just then, everyone fell silent and Naruto turned to see Anko standing up on the roof of a small cart. She commanded attention, and it was given to her.
"Hey! Nice to see everyone alive. I can guarantee that will change after today though. Anyways, this is the second chuunin exams. The objective here is to collect two scrolls and safely get them, and your entire team to the building roughly in the center of the forest. There are 26 scrolls, so only 13 teams can pass. Each team will receive a heaven or earth scroll at random. You are to take the other scroll from another team by any means. Now, you see those tables around? Go to the ones on the left of me to sign release forms stating that we aren't responsible for your deaths, blah blah blah. Then when you're done, go to the tables to the right to sign your team in and receive your scroll." Anko said. Everyone ran to the release form tables, then to the scroll tables as instructed, then back in front of Anko. Naruto looked at the symbol on their scroll. They had the Heaven scroll. He looked around for anyone who might have had the Earth scroll. He spotted several teams, and a weaker looking one from the grass village. He also noticed that the sand siblings had an Earth scroll and made a mental note to not cross their path. He had the feeling they wouldn't hold back on him for all his mistakes.
"Okay. Everyone go to their designated gate around the forest and get ready! And one piece of advice: just don't die!" Anko demanded. The sand siblings made their way to Gate V and stood there in silence. Kankuro took notice of his sister's silence and sighed.
"The hell did he do now?" Gaara demanded before Kankuro could ask.
"I told him about Meian. He was apparently born to destroy dark chakra, and he said that if I pose a threat to others, he may have to kill me." Temari said as if it were nothing.
"Meian? What's that?" Kankuro asked, and Temari realized she hadn't told Kankuro about the demon. She sighed and gave a quick version of the story, carefully gauging Kankuro's reactions. Shock, anger, pain, more anger.
"I swear if I see that brat in here, he's first on my list." Kankuro growled.
"Just focus on remembering our training. We should be done in no time at all. This seems almost too easy." Gaara said.
Team 7 made their way to Gate K and waited. It was five minutes from 10 now. Five minutes until all of his training would be put to the test. Naruto took several deep breaths and did a few jumping jacks to loosen himself up.
"Nervous?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded a bit.
"Well, as long as you've put everything into your training, we should be fine. I think we can make up for Sakura's slack." Sasuke said with great annoyance.
"Sasuke that's mean. I have been training." Sakura pouted. Sasuke clenched his fists, but loosened them.
"With all of your stalking, how did you manage anything? What exactly did you learn?" Sasuke asked.
"Well I have great stamina and chakra control."
"Sakura, it takes more than that to be a ninja. Any techniques?" Sasuke asked. Sakura thought for a while.
"Hmm, maybe I should've learned a few... Ooh! I can do the substitution technique."
"But no offensive skills?" Sasuke asked through his teeth. He got up and started to pace. "Sakura, you're dragging this team down. Either you act like a ninja or I'm gonna leave you in that forest to fend for yourself. Not a single technique? Jeez, we'd be better off with Ino and her clan's techniques." Sasuke growled.
"It's okay Sasuke. The only thing you'd better be worried about is when I'm gonna surpass you. I've been training my ass off, and I can't wait to show my new skills." Naruto snickered. Sasuke glared at his rival before smirking as well.
"You're on dobe. Let's see if you can keep up with me."
'How sweet of you kit. Diverting Uchiha's attention away from her like that. Don't tell me you still have a thing for her.' Kyuu teased.
'Kyuu, shut the hell up. I don't have a thing for her anymore. I just don't want our team falling apart before the damn exam even starts! But it wouldn't kill her to learn a few techniques.' Naruto admitted.
'You're right. She wouldn't be worthy of bearing your kits.'
'Kyuu! What the hell?' Naruto yelled, turning beet red.
'Well that's how we are. We look for mates who have good traits to pass on to the next generation.'
'Well I'm not a fox, so leave me out of that process.' Naruto said with finality. Kyuubi laughed and went to say something else, but an alarm sounded and the gates opened. Naruto immediately shut the communication off as he sped into the forest, Sasuke and Sakura on either side of him. How he wished he could show off his new skills...
-3 days earlier-
Naruto was bored, and he'd done everything in the scrolls so far. So his impulsiveness took over. He picked up and opened the second scroll from his father and read it.
'Naruto, if you've followed my directions in the first scroll, then you should have an incredible amount of stamina and chakra control by now. Now I can tell you how to do it. The Flying Thunder God Technique is how I got the nickname "The Yellow Flash". Now, I kept all of my specialty kunai inside of this scroll, to hide from unwanted eyes. If you flip the scroll over, you'll see it. Inside of this scroll are 5 of my kunai. Study the markings. Memorize them so well that you could say them in your sleep. Being an Uzumaki already gives you an advantage in sealing, but only one with the blood of a Namikaze can do this. Once you memorize those markings, try to touch something and feed your chakra into it. At the same time, try to send those markings with it. Just visualize it exiting your body from the point of contact. Once you've done that, concentrate and get ready to be transported. It will happen only when you want it to happen, so it's really handy. One thing though. You must be ready to strike. Some stronger enemies may not fall for it twice. But on the off chance you can't do the touch method, you can always use my kunai. But if you do, never, EVER, leave those kunai behind. I have many enemies my son, so the kunai cannot fall into enemy hands. Even if only Namikazes can do it, they'll probably devise a counterattack against it. Good luck in your training Naruto. And between me and you, I stopped writing in my journal after the first one. So I had to improvise a bit. I did as best as I could in recalling techniques in my training, but it was frustrating. So I basically have the training part as a journal entry, and how to do the technique as a normal scroll like this. Well, see ya next week. Oh, and being my son you probably opened the scroll ahead of time didn't you? Well, don't tell your mother I said this, but you can read ahead, but only if you've mastered every detail from the previous scroll.'
Naruto chuckled at his father's actions, but then he got serious. His father was right of course. His mom's scroll told him how to do really cool things with symbols and markings. How to make it so only certain people could even see the symbols, and how to make symbols with just one touch. He opened the scroll all the way then turned it over. Sure enough there were the markings of a sealing scroll. Naruto unsealed the scroll and five oddly shaped kunai lay before him. He picked one up, examining the three sharp points on it. He then looked at the handle and found those markings his dad was talking about. They were a bit complex, but nothing Naruto couldn't memorize. He sat down on his bed and got to work memorizing them.
-the next day-
Naruto had studied the markings for 4 hours straight. He was sure he got them, but he kept studying to make sure. When he finally stopped, he immediately moved on to the next step. He touched his bed and fed some chakra into it. Next, he tried to get the markings onto the bed. It was working! Naruto got the first half of the markings onto the bed but he got too excited and his concentration broke. The symbols vanished. Naruto groaned and started again.
After a pattern of almost doing it and getting too excited, Naruto finally succeeded in getting the markings onto his bed. Naruto then ran to the other side of the room. He focused on that one place and formed the ram handsign. He immediately felt space being manipulated around him and he crouched down a bit, kunai in hand. In 3 seconds he was by his bed, kunai ready to stab the stuffing out of it. He relaxed and stood up, immensely proud at his accomplishment. He couldn't wait to show everyone. He looked at the scroll and saw there were some words he skipped.
'Naruto, please don't use that technique unless you are on an assassination mission, or as a last resort.' Naruto groaned. Last resort? Probably because the enemy would know he has a connection to his father and come after him. Naruto reluctantly accepted the terms.
As soon as the gate opened, the sand siblings took to the trees, immediately searching for a victim... opponent, who had the heaven scroll. All three were ready and itching for a fight.
"Gaara, you getting anything?" Kankuro asked. He knew Gaara would use his sand and his third eye technique to locate a team.
"There's a team to the right of us. They're a group of rain village ninja. Easy pickings." Gaara said in a slightly bloodthirsty voice. Temari glanced at Kankuro in uncertainty and he just shrugged.
'I really hope it's not "him" again. I thought Gaara could suppress him.' Temari thought.
When they landed in a small clearing, a group of three stood at the opposite end.
"Well well, what do ya know? A group of Suna ninja. Oh, and they were so kind as to bring us the Earth scroll. Now kids, if you would be so kind as to set that down in front of us, we may even let you live." The one closest to then said. Obviously the leader. The sand siblings stood in a triangle formation, Gaara closest to the enemy. Gaara stepped up, arms folded across his chest and completely silent.
"Hey kid. Are you deaf? Drop the scroll or I won't hold back!" Gaara remained silent. "Fine! If that's how you want it." the ninja pulled out several senbon needles and hurled them at Gaara. He smirked as they sped toward Gaara, but was utterly shocked as a small wall of sand rushed to Gaara's aid. It effortlessly blocked the needles, and they fell to the ground.
"Shigure! Use it!" another teammate called out. So the leader's name was Shigure. Shigure smirked and pulled three umbrellas out of a holster on his back. He tossed them into the air and performed several handsigns.
"Senbon shower!" he yelled. A shower of needles descended toward the battlefield. Gaara simply looked at the onslaught of weapons and smirked. Shigure was proud of his work and smiled in triumph when they hit Gaara. But of course, they didn't work. When the black screen of needles cleared, there was a ball of sand in the middle of the field. Gaara stood in it, glaring at Shigure as the needles stuck out in various places in his shield.
"So I see you made it rain needles. I have a better idea. Let's make it rain blood instead." Gaara snarled. Shigure took a few steps back.
"B-but how?" Shigure asked, horrified that his techniques didn't work.
"Because you idiots, that's Gaara's ability. If he's threatened, the sand will always rush to help him. Weapons won't work on any of us really. You were dumb to try a second time when you saw how it turned out the first time. Now you're gonna die." Kankuro teased.
"Sand coffin!" As if on cue, Gaara sent his sand to Shigure, where it proceeded to wrap him tightly, to the point of immobility. Gaara held his right arm out with his hand making a choking motion. He slowly lifted his arm, raising Shigure off of the ground. He walked over and picked up all three umbrellas, tossing one each to his siblings before opening up the third over his own head.
"Sand burial!" Gaara said, squeezing his hand shut. The sand crushed Shigure, sending his blood raining down on the battlefield. The red liquid stained the grass, the trees, the umbrellas, and his teammates.
"Don't worry. It was a quick death. I used more force than necessary. The corpse's crimson tears flow into the never ending sand, feeding the chaos within me." Gaara said. The one who'd spoken before stepped up and put the scroll down.
"Please, let us go. We're giving you the heaven scroll, see? Please let us go." he pleaded, stepping back.
"Idiots. Like we'd let you live." Temari said, stepping up. The two frightened men seemed to get a grip when they saw Temari step up, and they both drew senbon.
"You're underestimating us! You think this girl can beat us? We'll show you. For Shigure!" they threw the weapons at Temari. They harmlessly passed through her body, as if she wasn't even there. She turned and picked up two senbon from the ground and threw them. The needles sailed through the air and pierced a leg of each of them. They hissed in pain before removing the bloody weapons.
'Time to end this.' Temari said, phasing into the very air itself. Her opponents frantically looked around, searching for her.
'Yes, let's see some bloodshed. Make their worthless bodies cry crimson tears like Shigure's!' Meian growled.
'Yes, that sounds wonderful.' Temari materialized behind one of them and grabbed him in a stranglehold. He fought to get free, but to no avail against Temari's sudden monstrous strength. She took a senbon from his pocket and began to drag it along the surface of his skin. Small droplets of blood collected at the slits before sliding down and dripping to the ground. The smell of his blood excited her, and Temari cut deeper. The other rain ninja could do nothing but watch as his screaming teammate was tortured. He knew he could do nothing against this girl, this... demon. No one dared to stop Temari as she slowly sliced up her prey's skin. She continued for only a couple of minutes, but by the end of it, the skin was unrecognizable. The fighting and clawing slowed and the cries of pain died down. Temari dropped him only when his entire body went limp.
"The pain was so great he died..." Kankuro whispered in horror. Even Gaara was silent, he wasn't even moving. Temari kicked her first victim aside and turned to the other. She stalked toward him and he backed up with every step she took.
"Please, have mercy. Please."
Temari snickered manically and reached for him. But something beat her to it. Gaara's sand enveloped the man and immediately crushed him, the blood splattering on Temari. She turned and snarled at her brother, she even took a few steps toward him. But apparently the shock of having her prey taken away forced her back to normal. She fell to her knees, clutching her head.
"Tema!" Kankuro called, running to her. Temari felt like her body was on fire, like she was falling into an endless pit. She could barely move, almost as if chains were wrapped around her, absorbing every drop of her willpower, her strength and her happiness. And to top it all off, she felt like someone was trying to tear her apart, molecule by bloody molecule. She screamed a horrifying, bloodcurdling scream.
"Temari! Just hold on okay?" Kankuro said frantically, trying to remember what Baki told him to do in case something bad happened to Temari in the exams.
"K-Kankuro. No, l-let me handle this. I can't let you do that to him." Temari managed before screaming in pain again. Gaara stepped up, moving Kankuro out of the way.
"Kankuro, go keep watch. Temari, what do you mean 'him'? That thing's trying to take over your body! Let me stop him." Gaara tried to reason.
"Gaara, every time he's suppressed, he comes back twice as angry and strong. I understand why he's so angry and wants revenge. It's because of Baki's clan. They've used that technique on him for years. And I'm sure that even the gold dust and the variation of that jutsu that Baki taught Kankuro will hurt him. I don't to hurt anymore, and I don't want Meian to hurt anymore." Temari said.
'You hear that Meian? My dad pisses me off just as much as he pisses you off, so I don't want you to hurt anymore. I won't allow anyone to hurt you anymore. Hell, if it pisses my father off, sign me up.' Temari said. Meian was silent for a second.
'I don't need your protection woman!'
'And you may be right. You're immensely more powerful than I am, but I want to help you. I want to help you get rid of all of that hatred that you feel. I want to get revenge on my father for what he's done to you, and me and my brothers. Let's just work together.'
'And what's in it for me?'
'Well for one, you get a free ride. Well not exactly free, but you get my point. We can get to my father a lot easier than if you were alone. And three, the gold dust technique has no effect whatsoever on me. One of your weaknesses.' Temari explained. Meian thought it over for awhile. It really wasn't that bad of a deal. He remembered when he heard Temari groan in pain.
'Hmm, fine then. I'll accept your offer girl. But if this goes wrong, you're dead.' Meian snarled, retreating from Temari's soul.
'Of course big guy.' Temari smirked.
'This is the first time someone actually stopped that damn technique for me. Maybe, just maybe, I've found that destined host that mother told me about.'
Temari found herself on the ground, looking up into the worried eyes of Kankuro. She rose up and looked around. The first thing she saw: blood, and lots of it. She was covered in it as well.
"Did I do this?" Temari asked. Kankuro nodded.
"Well, you did that over there." Kankuro said, pointing to a shredded corpse. "Gaara killed that one out of mercy." Kankuro lightly teased. Temari couldn't believe it. She'd done that? She didn't remember a single thing, only that the sight of Shigure's blood excited her.
"Where's Gaara?" Temari asked.
"He's over beyond those trees, keeping watch and locating the tower. I came back and told him to. I can look after you myself." Kankuro replied. Gaara walked back into the clearing and, upon seeing Temari up, ran to them.
"Are you okay?" Gaara asked. Temari nodded.
"Good. I've found the tower. Can you stand?"
Temari immediately got up and moved around a bit.
"Yup. I'm all good to go." she said. Gaara nodded and led the way.
When they reached the tower, they noticed that no one else was around. When they went in, there was no one there either.
"Jeez, are we first?" Kankuro asked with a bragging tone. Temari couldn't help but smile a bit. They looked at their scrolls, knowing what to do. Kankuro took one, and Temari took the other. They opened them at the same time, and smoke began to leak out of them. They threw them down just as a cloud of smoke overtook the room. When it cleared, Baki stood there, face impartial.
"Good. You made it through alive. Did 'he' give you any trouble?" Baki immediately asked, turning to Temari.
"Did he ever. Demon tried to take over, and it was worse than the others."
"I can see, judging by the coating of blood on you. Did Kankuro do what I told him to?" Baki demanded. Temari shook her head.
"Nope. I wouldn't let him or Gaara do anything. And before you say anything, I won't let you do it either. I'm not gonna let anyone else hurt Meian. Ever think he is so angry because the technique hurts him so much?" Temari asked a bit harsher than intended.
"Temari, he's a demon. Demons can't be trusted. I need to make sure he won't try to take over during the exams."
"Like I said, no. Now, don't you have something to tell us?" Temari said, closing the discussion.
"Foolish child. Kankuro keep an eye on her. Here," he said giving Kankuro several slips of paper. "if something happens, put one on the ground and unseal it. It'll bring me to your location and I'll suppress him. But anyways, due to the skill level of the contestants this year, there may be a preliminary round before the third exams, so rest up for it." Baki said, disappearing.
"Kankuro, give me those tags." Temari ordered. Kankuro hesitated, so she snatched them from him, giving him a glare that said "try to get this back if you want" and threw them into the air. She snapped and a small vortex of wind shredded the paper until it was nothing. They walked around the building, trying to find more clues on what to do next. They did run into Team 8, and nothing was said as they passed, but Gaara could sense the pure terror they felt toward him, and Temari. Had they seen what happened in the forest? Gaara dismissed it and turned his attention back to looking for hints.
After an uneventful search, the siblings found an area with several doors. Upon further inspection, they found that they were rooms, for the contestants. They each claimed a room and went in. There was a fully functioning bathroom, a queen sized bed, electrical appliances, and a fully stocked refrigerator. Temari chose to shower first and wash her clothes/dry them with some wind manipulation. She stood under the shower for an hour, washing the blood off of her skin and out of her hair, then she did the same for her clothes, washing them in the tub until they were spotless, then she sat on the bed and ate a pack of instant ramen she found beside the microwave, after cooking it. Her brothers chose to eat first, sleep (or rest in Gaara's case) then shower.
A couple of days later, everyone stood in the large gathering room, waiting for further instructions. With the exception of the sand siblings, Team 8, and a couple of other teams, everyone looked pretty worn out. Apparently, only the teams that arrived the first day could sleep in the rooms. So everyone else had to find room on the benches or on the floor and none of those teams could freshen up, but they were still fed adequately well. A jonin made his way up to the stage, stopping every 10 steps to cough. It was even more annoying when he began to talk, because he had to stop every other sentence to cough.
"Well, all of you here have made it past the forest of death. Meaning, you've passed the second exam." he paused here to cough. "But unfortunately, there are way too many of you here. We will have to have a preliminary exam before we start the third exam." he stopped to cough again. "The prelims will start immediately after this. And I will be your proctor. Now, I believe Anko has something she'd like to say." he said, stepping aside. Anko walked up to center stage.
"You forgot to introduce yourself fool. Kids, this is Hayate Gekko, your proctor for the preliminary exam. But this is designed to cut the contenders down by at least half. It will be a series of one-on-one battles, the winner obviously being the one to advance. There are rules though. There is no winner until the opponent is either unconscious, dead, or until Hayate declares the battle as over. If you don't listen to his decisions, then you will be immediately disqualified. Would anyone like to back down?" Anko asked. It was completely silent, until one raised his hand.
"I've had enough. I'm going home." the silver haired kid said. Temari could see him and Naruto argue his decision, but Naruto fell silent after he said something. He stopped to talk to a couple of ninja wearing leaf headbands, and Temari didn't like his face when he did so. It was malicious, as if he'd just threatened them both. She'd have to remember that face.
"Now, if Lord Hokage would like to... everyone, get down!" Anko suddenly screamed. A second later, an explosion destroyed some of a wall and shook the building. There was screaming and confusion, and Temari heard someone yell "it's the Kumo ninja!"
"Gaara! Kankuro!" Temari screamed in the dust cloud. As soon as the explosion happened, the three had somehow gotten split up within the crowd of people. She felt around, frantically searching for her brothers. She bumped into a familiar figure.
"Naruto? Have you seen Gaara or Kankuro?" she immediately asked.
"Um, no. Have you seen Saku-"
"Tema?" Gaara called out. Temari immediately ran toward the voice until she bumped into him. She held onto him tightly.
"Where's Kankuro?" she demanded.
"I don't know." together they searched for Kankuro. But nothing. The dust began to clear, showing many shinobi and kunoichi engaged in battle. When the room was dust free, the two siblings ran to a group of kumo ninja, who were surrounding another ninja. Gaara quickly killed them and they looked at the fallen ninja more closely. The siblings felt they were going to be sick.
"Kankuro!"
Mwahaha, don't you love cliffhangers? Please review. Just press that link down there and leave a comment, I really don't bite. But anyways, this has over 20,000 hits. I love you all!
Until next time :)