Part Seven: Second Exam, Begin!
"This is a piece," said Oriki, tossing their groups heaven scroll up and down. "No problem."
Ariki just sighed and stretched.
Tara glanced around the circle. Eight groups and only half of them could survive. Her eyes fell on the group to their right. The girl was trembling, and the boys were trying to look strong. It was no problem, as Oriki had said.
Shikamaru sighed and glanced at his wristwatch. "Begin!"
The gates exploded open and the teams burst into the forest.
Before they had even gained five meters, the Rock trio glided right, knocking directly into the other group.
Tara grabbed the girl by her hair and swung her into the nearest tree, shuriken and kunai shooting from her body, stapling the two boys on the team to trees as well.
Oriki laughed and said, "Holey fuck, Tara, you must want to get this done!"
The girl Tara had caught spun around, kicking Tara in the stomach. Tara let go, stumbling backwards, and the girl shot kunai at her, directly hitting her in the heart and chest.
Tara looked down at herself, as though in pain, and then her eyes opened and a grin spread across her face.
The kunai shot back at the girl, slicing her easily.
"Oy, Tara, we have the scroll," Ariki said, holding up an earth scroll. "You can stop now."
Tara lifted her fingers and a piece of glass shot at the girl. "You're not even worth my time," she muttered, walking away. "Not even worth the blood."
The girl sat, her blue eyes wide, her body trembling, and the glass above her head on the tree. She hadn't been in the exam for five minutes, and already her team had been eliminated. They had almost died, and that girl…she hadn't even suffered a scratch!
The Rock trio disappeared into the forest.
"Oy, oy, this is so boring!" said Daraka. He looked over at Yassa. "What now, eh, Yassa? We have both scrolls…"
"This test was boring," said Raga. "I expected those Leaf punks to put up more of a fight."
Yassa merely glided through the trees beside the others. They would make it to the temple soon, no problem. Their earth scroll matched nicely with the other teams heaven scroll. Though, he couldn't help but feel bad for taking it in such a violent way.
It can't be helped, he thought softly. We have to do what we have to do.
"Hurry your asses up, you morons!" shouted Arcin.
"Why'd we have to get stuck with her?" muttered Talani. "Why couldn't it have been someone else?"
"You know she's good," replied Riki with a sigh. "Besides, without her, we might not have retrieved the scroll as quickly as we did."
"How pathetic. The competition this year is no fun," said Talani. "I mean, at least we could have had the Uchiha or the Hyuuga boy join us, but no…"
"You know the Hyuuga is still recuperating from his injuries," replied Riki.
"Yeah, I know. That whole deal with Orochimaru's still in affect, isn't it?"
"I'm amazed their having the exams again."
"Me, too," Talani smirked and said, "I thought I saw the Hyuuga and the others watching us before."
"You're too sharp for your own good. I take it that's what made you think of them?"
She nodded.
"Well, what about them?"
"The Hyuuga's cute," she smiled.
Arcin paused and looked up at the sky, the scrolls in her hands. She frowned. "Did you just say a Hyuuga was watching us?"
Talani nodded. "Yeah."
"Interesting."
"What?"
"Why was a Hyuuga watching us?"
"Well, not us parse, but his eyes did come across us," she replied.
"Who was he watching?"
"The Rock group."
"Interesting," muttered Arcin, and she jumped into the air once more. "Very interesting."
Riki frowned.
"What?"
"It's not like her to be interested in this stuff," muttered Riki.
"I know."
"This might be an interesting exam, after all."
"Maybe."
