Chapter 6: Teams

"WHAT?!" I screeched at the white-haired jonin crouched in front of me.

"It's not that big a deal, Haruka. A chunin needs to know how to lead a team and that requires being on a team in the first place. Besides, you should feel lucky. You're the only four-man team. That gives you an advantage!" Kakashi tried to placate me, but I wouldn't have it.

"It's not an advantage when you're stuck with emo kid, drama queen, and ramen king!" I could almost see the others' veins popping out of their heads.

"Now, now, I had to get special permission from the hokage for you to be here. Besides, the others are pretty strong."

"Yeah, that's why Sakura hit her head dodging Lee's winks and Sasuke and Naruto got their butts handed to them like they were little kids. I'll do better on my own," I insisted. Kakashi's eye narrowed.

"Too bad you can't be on your own. You'd best get used to being on a team, Haruka. The hokage has noticed your improvement and has been thinking about putting you on a team full-time like the other genin."

"A true shinobi doesn't need anyone else!"

"Perhaps, but a true shinobi should also know when they need help or can't win. Both of those apply here." Kakashi ruffled my hair and stood up, signaling the end of the topic.

"I have to team up with a bunch of kids who can't even stand a minute against bowl-cut boy," I grumbled.

"We're the same age as you, Haruka!" Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and made a face. "We're not kids!"

"We're the same age, but we're not the same level. I'll team up with you; just don't drag me down." I could tell the other three were annoyed, but I could care less.

Kakashi moved away from the door to the real room 301. "Good luck, you four. One could never ask for a better team."

You call this rag-tag group of misfits a team?

"And, Haruka," Kakashi turned to me, "Maybe you should take this as an opportunity to learn how to cooperate with people."

I growled. That damned Kakashi never gave up on me becoming a team player. The others opened the door and I followed the others as they walked through it.

The four of us came face-to-face with what must have been at least thirty or forty other teams. They all looked nasty and some of them had the chakra to back up their looks. I could tell Gaara was in here too. I gulped.

Well, maybe some help would be nice... I stuck my hand in my pocket and held onto the little maneki neko statue. Maybe I'll actually need this...

My thoughts were interrupted by a blonde girl glomping Sasuke. The look on his face was priceless and the fight between Sakura and the girl, Ino, was entertaining.

"I knew this would be a drag," a boy with slumped shoulders and hoop earrings complained.

"Looks like all three stooges are here!" Naruto jumped in.

"Why you, pipsqueak-! Aw, forget it, you're a waste of time."

"Don't start a fight, Naruto. Save the energy for later." I glanced at the boy. "You're Shikamaru, right? The kid who always slept in the back of the class?" I turned to the boy eating chips. "You weren't in my class, but you're an Akimichi, right? You look like one at least."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The Akimichi looked mad.

"You're fat."

The Akimichi fumed. Shikamaru held him back when it looked like he'd attack me.

"Calm down, Choji. She's always been like that, likes to rile people up."

"Actually, I just like to tell the truth, but I suppose it's important to your family's particular jutsu to be a larger than average ninja and eat more."

Choji deflated and looked at me like he wasn't sure if he should still be insulted or not. I yawned.

"Looks like the whole gang is back together!" Another boy from my class, Kiba, approached with his dog. Hinata, a Hyuuga girl who most definitely had a crush on Naruto, and a creeper named Shino followed him.

"Long time, no see, dog-breath," I said.

"And you got mad at me for what happened with the sand weirdos?" Naruto pouted.

"Long time, no see, weird-eye," Kiba retorted. My eye twitched and I clenched my fist.

"I scolded you for yelling. I never scolded you for being mean. Being mean makes me hungry, though. Maybe I should have some grilled canine." I focused on Akamaru. "I heard it's pretty lean meat."

"Don't you even think about it!"

"What happened to not starting a fight, Haruka?" Sasuke finally spoke. I just smirked.

"Hmph, looks like this exam'll be interesting- at least for those of us strong enough to make the cut," Kiba looked to Sasuke.

"Careful you don't get overconfident, Kiba."

I decided to tune out at the point when they started to argue over who trained more. However, I tuned back in when a foreign chakra approached. I searched it out and found a white-haired ninja with glasses.

There are seriously ninja with glasses? He even looks pathetic, though his chakra says otherwise...

"You guys should quiet down. You're the rookies, fresh out of the academy, right? You're making a spectacle of yourselves. This isn't a class field trip." He warned. I glanced to the other ninja and noticed them staring. Four-eyes was right.

"Who asked you?" Ino yelled. "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi. You've made quite an impression on the others."

Finally, the rest of the rookies took notice of the staring ninja.

"This exam makes everyone tense, and you're not helping," Kabuto added.

"He's right," I said. "We've been making fools of ourselves."

"I don't blame you. You're just rookies. You actually remind me of myself."

"This isn't the first time you've taken the exam?" Sakura questioned.

"No... it's my seventh," he admitted. "They're held twice a year, so this'll be my fourth year."

What a loser. He's failed six times?

"You must be an expert by now!" Sakura exclaimed.

"You can give us all the inside tips!" Naruto noted.

"Tips on how to fail?" I mumbled. His chakra wiggled. He'd heard me.

"Well, seventh time's the charm, right?"

"I think it's third time," I deadpanned.

"I guess all those rumors about how hard the exam is were true. Man, this is gonna be a huge drag."

"Aw, shut it, Shikamaru. It just makes it more interesting," I told him.

"Yeah, interesting for you maybe. It's still troublesome for me."

"Maybe I can help you guys out a little," Kabuto reached into his hip pouch and pulled out some cards, "With my ninja info cards."

That caught my interest. He explained how they worked and showed us a map of the village distribution. The number of leaf ninja was pretty high up there, but that was to be expected since the chunin exams were taking place here in the leaf itself.

"Do those cards have info on other candidates?"

"Have someone special in mind?"

"Maybe."

"I can't promise my info is perfect, but I've got info on just about everyone. That includes all of you."

"I want to know about Gaara of the Desert, and Rock Lee while you're at it."

I sneered, I could tell you more about Gaara than this guy.

Kabuto swiped his hand over the cards and used his chakra to make Lee and Gaara's information appear on the top two cards.

I didn't bother listening to his information on Rock Lee. I knew he was a taijutsu specialist, he'd said so himself and proved it. I wanted to know what he could possibly have on Gaara.

Gaara had apparently not done many things, but he'd come back from a B-rank mission and a bunch of C-ranks. I shook my head at his lack of knowledge.

"He survived every mission without a scratch on him," Kabuto explained to the group.

"That's all you have? I could tell you more about Gaara and his team than your cards."

"Oh, that's right, you were Gaara's friend before you came to the leaf!" Naruto announced.

"What do you know?" Sasuke pressed.

"It won't matter. The most important thing for you to know is to run if you face him, not that it'll do you much good, but you might get away alive."

"Is a short kid like that really so scary?" Naruto wondered.

"Terrifying if he's in the right mood. Just leave him to me. He wasn't showing even a fraction of his strength the other day, so just let me handle him. You won't be able to touch him with his ultimate defense. You know, the sand that protected him before. It acts on automatic, he doesn't have to lift a tendril of chakra. It has chakra of its own."

The rookies gaped at my words.

"No way," Sasuke said.

"All the villages have sent exceptionally strong ninja. Then there's the sound village, it's small and has just sprung up recently. The three from that village are a mystery."

I wondered why I'd never heard of the sound village before. It must have still existed before, but I'd never read a damn thing about it.

"Is it a new village altogether?"

"I don't know. Like I said, they're a mystery. We've got our work cut out for us this year. I've never seen a crop of candidates with this much potential."

I pulled at my turtleneck. Even Naruto seemed nervous now that Kabuto had put it in perspective. At least, it seemed that way until Naruto whirled around to yell at all the other candidates.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'll beat all of you! Believe it!"

My eye twitched. Naruto, you imbecile, don't threaten people stronger than you! It didn't help that Ino and Sakura started to argue again. Naruto smiled, but the other genin didn't seem amused.

The rest of the rookies seemed even less amused. I couldn't blame them. I sighed as the others scolded him and Sakura put him in a choke-hold.

If she shows that kind of strength on the battlefield, then perhaps she won't be so bad- was that a chakra spike? I scanned the room, but the chakra was moving fast and towards the group. It seemed it was a team, three separate chakra systems were getting excited.

The sound ninja suddenly attacked Kabuto. The kunai and punch missed, yet it still broke his glasses and made him vomit. I gulped; the exam hadn't even started yet and people were already being taken down.

I snapped out of my thoughts when a resounding poof broke the tension and revealed a scar-faced guy. Apparently, he was the proctor, and he was not happy about the sound ninja attacking Kabuto.

Ibiki Morino, huh? This guy's got very chill chakra, it hasn't even vibrated. If it's moving at all, it's too little for me to notice, unlike the others with their chakra getting all fired up and nervous. I wonder if I can really beat all these ninja... I suppose if it's a battle of skills I should be fine.

"We'll start the written test once you're all seated."

Written test? Well, shit.