AN: Hello! Long time since I updated :( but I have faced the writer's worst enemy the writer's block! So expect very slow updates for the next few chapters *sigh*
Sara Pov
"You really need to rest" Yoshio told me as I drank tea.
We were in the dango shop, both of us had decided to meet there after yesterday's meeting, since usually we were too busy lately to manage a talk at home.
"You're pushing yourself" He told me after sipping his own tea.
I knew he was right, but It's not like I could sleep, the nightmares were getting worse, so they kept me up all night and between dealing with the clan problem and helping the girls for the chunin exams and training myself, I barely rested these past two weeks.
"Aha" I replied not finding the energy to argue. Yoshio had been helping two of his team members train, which wasn't easy, but time like this he was glad he could use the shadow clone jutsu, but then there were the clan problems that was getting worse.
Especially with what happened recently, which just made any progress we made into naught. The clan kept it a secret for now, only a select few knew about it from the village.
"You two are going to end up running yourself into the ground" Kakashi said as he walked up to our table "Yo"
"You're late!" We both said at the same time
"I…"
"…got lost on the path of life" We finished for him
"Actually it was…" He started again
"…a black cat so had to take the long way" We finished again making him sweat drop. Kakashi had gotten out of the hospital finally, but he was still not allowed on missions.
"I take it you're not in a mood for excuses" He said taking a seat opposite to me beside Yoshio. "So what's so important?"
Yoshio looked at me again before he gripped his cup tighter, He was completely against this, but he knew it was the best solution we could come up with giving the short time we had, things were just getting worse faster than we could handle.
Then to deal with the consequences from it we needed Kakashi's help.
"The elders, Takashi and Keiji, were both murdered" Yoshio whispered loud enough for just us to hear.
Third Pov
Later that day, in a hospital room in Konoha, Manami finished checking on Kazuki, Yoshio leaned against the wall with crossed hands.
"I am sorry Kazuki" Manami apologized "Your rips are still healing, you're in no condition to be in the third exam" Kazuki clenched his fists
"Sorry kid" Yoshio told him "It's okay you can just try again next year" He nodded stiffly he knew that, but he also knew that both his teammates were, Masumi especially wasn't going to let him swallow this.
"He's not the only one out" Manami told them, all of the genins that passed the second exam had come in to get checked, only one team were completely uninjured. "Moegi and Udon from team Ebisu, and one of the genins from the sand team too."
"So now it's down to eight genins" Yoshio noted
"Masumi is going to like this" Kazuki said "More chance for him to be against Konohamaru"
"You're right about that" Yoshio agreed smiling
"I am heading home, see you later sensei" Kazuki said leaving the room.
"So any news on who did it?" Manami asked as he shook his head. "You haven't been sleeping she noted looking at him, honestly you and Sara are pushing yourselves too hard, even…"
"It's our responsibility" Yoshio interrupted her swallowing hard "And we're not doing that good of a job at it" He let a dry laugh out before sighing
"You're doing the best you can" Manami told him putting a hand to his cheek "Just rely on other around you more, you two seem to forget to rely on others and just carry everything yourself" Putting his hand on hers, he didn't reply, relying on others meant for them to carry this burden too, something he didn't even want Sara to do, he couldn't bring himself to do that to others too.
In the training grounds, Sara and Erika sparred as the twins rested, what would surprise anyone was that Erika's eyes weren't the usual red they were, they were a light violet now.
Erika was from the Chinoike clan, or at least as far as they can guess she was somehow related giving her kekkei genkai, she usually tried to keep her kekkei genkai on to scare others, although on Sara's request she stopped using it.
Sara knew how exhausting it must be to keep it on all the time, also that stopped her from honing her skills without it, which was why they were sparring without it now.
Another thing Sara found out was like the sharingan, she could cast genjutsu with her eyes, although for some reason she didn't like using genjutsu and just stuck with using it to control blood.
Sara couldn't find records of the clan with more details, so she had to rely on only what Erika told her, she was glad though that the girl was starting to trust her more.
Sara crouched avoiding the punch, before she gripped her hand and flipped her on the ground. Like Sara thought without her Ketsuryugan, Erika's reflexes were slower…much slower.
"Honestly…." Erika said taking Sara's extended hand "I should just use it"
"I already told you, there are situations when relying on your kekkei genkai won't be possible" Sara argued back "You need to be able to handle things even then" Erika huffed, but they both knew Sara was right, after all she got beaten by an obviously exhausted and tired Sara just because Erika couldn't react fast enough, she usually relied on her eyes to read their movements and thus giving her enough time to react.
"Let's wrap up for today" Sara announced "The exam is in a couple of days, we should be careful you don't get injured till then."
"It's going to be a piece of cake" Natsuko announced grinning
"I don't know though, fighting in front of a crowd" Natsumi said nervously
"Fighting is fighting" Erika told her "Crowd or no crowd…it will be embarrassing to lose to a bunch of newbies, so you better win you two"
'At least, I don't have to worry about those three' Sara thought to herself 'just have to worry about the snake'
The next couple of days passed quickly and came the day of the third exam, the stadium started to fill with people.
"Stop sulking already!" Sakura told Naruto as they made their way into the stadium.
The blonde was upset he had missed his chance to enter the exam, now he was stuck as genin for now.
"But Sakura…" He whined
She sighed "We were going on missions nonstop, we got so wrapped up in it"
"Oi…Sakura! Naruto!" Someone called them as they saw Ino waving for them with Choji beside her.
"You guys came to watch too?" Sakura asked as they took the seats beside them. Choji was munching on his chips.
"Well, we needed a breather, besides apparently Sara's team made it to the third exam" Ino told her
"Wait! Sara is in charge of a genin team?" Sakura was shocked to hear
"If you guys stayed in the village a bit you would know" Tenten said as she approached them with Neji and Lee.
"They're quite strong too" Lee commented as they took the seats in the row above them.
"We've been missing lots of stuff" Naruto flailed annoyed
"I was surprised when we heard you didn't join the exams" Neji said
"Guy sensei not coming?" Sakura asked
"No he's left on a mission yesterday with Kakashi sensei and Asuma sensei" Tenten told her
Sakura and Naruto were shocked that Kakashi was already out of the hospital, they still haven't told him about Sasuke and now he was on a mission.
The cheering got louder as they looked down to see the 8 genins lined up, and up in the side sat both Garaa and Tsunade, Shikamaru and Temari beside them.
Down in the field, was a very excited Natsuko, and a nervous Natsumi especially with the fact she didn't know Garaa was going to be watching.
Erika had her kekkei genkai on but she was honestly bored and wanted this to be over and done with, Kohana was determined to make it to chunin, she had to.
Masumi and Konohamaru were both glaring at each other with sparks flying between them, one of the sand genins was a short girl that looked young, she had her sandy blonde hair in two pigtails and her brown eyes was measuring her opponents. The guy beside her looked bored, almost like he just didn't care. He had brown messy hair and light blue eyes.
Yoshio and Sara had met up with Kazuki, Sara led them through the rows till they reached the others.
"Hey" She greeted them, as they greeted her back, she took seat beside Naruto while Yoshio and Kazuki found seats in the row under them. "Haven't seen you in a while, Naruto, Sakura"
"Grandma Tsunade have been working us nonstop" Naruto told her "And I need to train!"
"Shut it Naruto!" Sakura shouted at him "Going on missions is as important as training"
The first match was quickly announced to be Natsumi versus Kohana Hiroshi.
"So how strong is Natsumi?" Yoshio asked Sara as they watched the other genins get out of the arena.
"Just wait and see" Sara said "Although I have no doubt that my team will pass"
"Kohana's not weak you know" Kazuki said from beside her with narrowed eyes, Sara just smiled.
"I wasn't talking about strength" Sara told him, she wanted Kohana to pass, but reality wise… "They are far more experienced than the rest of the genins, by all means this is unfair to the rest"
That was probably the only thing she could say without saying too much, because if they survived so long under Orochimaru, those exams are going to be a piece of cake for them.
"We noticed that during the spars" Neji noted
"Natsumi wasn't the best at close combat though" Tenten said
"She's just better at something else" Sara told them vaguely
Ino, Choji, Sakura and Naruto were a bit intrigued about Sara's new team since they haven't' met them.
Down in the arena, Natsumi and Kohana stood facing each other, waiting for the start signal.
"Ready?" Genma asked looking between the two as they nodded "Go!" He jumped back.
Kohana immediately threw three Kunais at Natsumi, before they exploded right in front of her, the latter emerged from the smoke throwing senbons dipped in paralysis at Kohana who dodged.
Natsumi was a disadvantage since her chakra element was water, and with no water around her ninjutsu wouldn't be as strong.
Kohana was already setting up for what she hoped would be here explosive win. She threw more kunais with attached explosive as Natsumi ran out of the way, before jumping at the last moment to avoid an explosive that went off where she stood.
"Explosives?!" Sara was surprised as Yoshio smirked
"Her specialty" Yoshio said "She made them herself too"
"Well this is going to be interesting" Sara said as Naruto looked her with a confused look "Both of them are long ranges that way it would be finished by a KO trap"
Smoke covered the arena from all the explosives, as Kohana held a kunai careful of her surroundings. as the smoked disappeared she was surprised to find Natsumi gone, but she was used to doing that herself, so if one thing she knew standing in one place would be too dangerous.
Not a moment after moving darts were coming after her one after the other, from the direction of the trees to the side. She threw a flash bomb for cover, before taking a long way around to the trees.
When the light faded, she had managed to reach the tree line, although she couldn't spot anyone there.
She held her kunai lightly looking around in all directions, Natsumi was definitely good at hiding, there was no sign of her even there.
So despite her guard being up, Kohana was surprised when two one on each side of her flew right by her as she saw the explosives attached at their ends.
Although she managed to jump to get away, she did get hit by it. She didn't stop though, her opponent would get her if she did, it was obvious by now, there wouldn't be close combat between them, and while she couldn't see Natsumi, Natsumi could see her.
She was running while minding to set explosives just for when a chance came. Darts came at her again, as she jumped she guessed the direction and threw the kunais with explosives attached.
She did manage to force Natsumi out of hiding, when the explosive hit. She was surprised when she Natsumi summoned her Naginata, with the blade chakra coated, Natsumi moved towards Kohana.
Kohana moved left and right to avoid the blade from hitting her, although as she retreated, she managed to pull Natsumi into a set of explosives she had set before.
Kohana jumped back, and so did Natsumi but she had gotten hit, although she used the chance of triumph Kohana thought she had, to pull her senbons before throwing them at Kohana.
The latter jumped to try and avoid them, but she wasn't fast enough and her leg got scratched by one of them.
"It's over in a few seconds, the paralysis will take effect" Natsumi told her and Kohana could already feel it.
But she wasn't going down that easy, she released all of the explosive she had set around the arena. With so much explosives the entire arena was covered in smoke. The crowd couldn't see anything, the smoke eventually dissipated to reveal Natsumi was a kunai being held by Kohana to her neck.
Although the earlier was unfazed and just like that, the kunai fell from Kohana's hand, just as she fell as well. Her body was paralyzed and she couldn't move a finger.
Genma walked forward, "The winner is Natsumi" He announced as the crowd clapped politely, considering everything it wasn't a very exciting fight.
"She finished it with one senbon" Ino was shocked "It was one small scratch"
"It must have been coated in one hell of a paralyzer" Sakura said as they both looked to Sara with everyone else
"That's Natsumi's specialty" She told them "Poisons, paralyzers and medic ninjutsu, she's not strong in close combat but she's strong in her own way"
"Kohana is going to be very disappointed" Kazuki stated frowning as they watched the medic carry her away after Natsumi gave them the antidote, before heading up to where the rest of the contestants waited.
"Disappointed is an understatement" Yoshio said scratching the back of his neck.
