Okay, so sorry for the slow update. I was more than halfway through not too long after my last update, and then my computer just shut off! I thought I would be okay, because I had saved it, but when I tried to open it, it didn't work! All it gave me are all these retarded boxes. I was so pissed off! I had worked so hard on it, and it all went away. I don't think any of this is going to be nearly as good as the last one. I think I'm going to start saving it on two different files now, so I always have a back up!
I was atop a building as I thought about what to do. I was leaning on the railing of the roof, clutching it so hard my knuckles turned white. My gaze was hard and empty, not really staring at anything unparticular. I was thinking hard.
I wasn't sure if I really wanted to do the Chunin exams. If I didn't, the rest of the team couldn't participate either, although, that would save so much pain. Sasuke wouldn't get a curse mark, all that drama it caused wouldn't happen, and he wouldn't leave. Then maybe we...
...What am I thinking? Even if he stays, I wouldn't have the happy ending I want. Besides, I can't stop them. He and Naruto both want to participate so badly, I would feel horrible if I took all that away from them, absolutely not an option.
If I let them participate, Sasuke would get bitten, but who's to say that wouldn't happen anyway. They would want to participate next year, and I couldn't say I wasn't ready then. Orochimaru might be there, too. Then it would all happen again. It's an Eden, there's no stopping it. As much as I want to, I guess it's meant to happen...
...No. It can't. Just because we have to participate, doesn't mean it has to happen. I'll do all I can to stop it, whether I participate or not.
...But...
"Sakura!" A voice rang out, and ripped me from my troubling thoughts. I looked down to see Sasuke.
"Let's go for a walk, just you and me." he said. I knew this wasn't Sasuke, his chakra signature was different. He barely had a chakra signature, and I knew it couldn't be him. Also, since when does Sasuke want to talk to me? Regardless, I got down off the roof of the building and followed him.
We had been walking for a while before I decided to talk.
"Why did you want me to walk with you?" I asked. He stopped walking.
"I wanted to tell you," he began, "To forget about the Chunin exams. These ninja are brutal and won't hesitate to kill you." I stared hard at him, the supposed Sasuke.
"You're saying I'm weak...?" I inquired. He looked at me.
"I never said that. Sakura, I just want you to be safe." he replied. I laughed bitterly.
"What a sick joke..." I said quietly, he looked at me incredulously.
"Sakura..." he began.
"I don't know who you are," I began, "Or why you need to warn me about this." he looked at me for a while.
"Come here." I instructed.
"Sakura..."
"Just come here!" I snapped, he walked over. I flicked out a kunai which went through his chest. When I say 'went through' I'm not exaggerating, it literally went through his chest. There was no blood, no wounds, nothing. He was an illusion.
"I knew it..." I said quietly. "Whoever decided to play this sick joke on me, I knew it wasn't Sasuke!" I shouted, not really knowing who I was shouting to.
"Whoever you are, if you're going to try to trick someone, get your facts straight! This bastard doesn't gave a shit about any one of us; he would leave us all to die if it meant getting power, even though we would die for him. He doesn't care about me getting hurt. Whether it's because he thinks I can handle it, or he really doesn't care, he wouldn't stop me..." I trailed off, then whispered, "...He wouldn't care..."
I gathered Chakra around my hand and rested it on my head, healing the already apparent headache also sending the allusion away. I felt like screaming, but I held it back. Whoever had done that was most likely still watching, and I couldn't break down in front of them.
I wanted so bad for that illusion to be real, but, not only could I recognize an illusion on sight, I remembered this from the old life. I wished Sasuke actually cared. As much as I wanted to believe I didn't love him, a certain part of me did, and that part was slowly but surely taking over. I was losing my mind knowing I was falling for him all over again, and that he could, just like the old life, break me.
I was having an internal feud with myself, whether or not to give him my heart. On part said that he would simply take it with him when he left, slowly ripping it to pieces. Another side argued that love is love, and you can't just turn it down. The latter side was winning, and I could just see his grasp on my heart. It took me a while to realize that I had been standing in the same spot for so long, staring at nothing.
I was joining the Chunin exams, I decided. I couldn't just drop out, I needed this.
This is where my heart begins to break...
--
I was making my way towards the place our team was meeting.
"Sakura!" I heard Naruto shout, I looked ahead of me, instead of at my shoes like I was, and saw him standing with Sasuke. I smiled weakly, and walked up to where he was.
"I'm glad you came, Sakura-Chan!" he exclaimed, probably alluding to the panic attack I had when the Chunin exams were first mentioned. I smiled again, and we headed inside.
When we got inside, we saw two guys blocking the way to room 301, the one we had to get into. Although, I knew this wasn't it, this was the second floor. I saw Tenten, whom I had recognized from the past life, who had a mark on her cheek, meaning they had hit her.
"...delicate little girls don't belong here." I heard one declare, it was all I heard of their speech. I immediately spoke up.
"Well then, I guess you two should be leaving, huh?" I saw them both glare at me.
"Excuse me?" One said, Naruto was snickering. "I don't think you should be talking to someone like that when you know nothing about the,. They could be strong enough to crush you." One warned.
"I could say the same to you." I replied, then added. "Here's an example. My team and I know about your little trap, let us go on to the right floor, please? Release the genjutsu."
I heard someone in the crowd whisper; "what is she talking about, this is the third floor, the right floor."
The guys smirked. "Well, aren't you the smart one," he said, releasing the genjutsu. "Well, let's see if you can handle this!" He charged at me, swinging a kick, which I got ready to block. Sasuke jumped in front of me and sent one of his own kicks at the guy, about to counteract his attack. I raised my eyebrows, surprised he had done that, but figured he was just looking for a fight.
Before either one of them attacked, a green blur blocked both of their attacks. A boy in green spandex (insert shudder here) stopped them both. He had a bowl shaped haircut, unbelievable thick eyebrows, and huge round eyes. To be blunt, this boy was...Unique. It was the one and only Rock Lee.
"Lee!" a voice lectured. "What happened to the plan? It was your idea to lay low in the first place!"
"I know but..." he trailed off as his gaze shifted to me, making me feel immensely uncomfortable.
"My name is Rock Lee," he began as he approached me, not making me feel any better. "You are Sakura, right?" I nodded mutely. He gave me thumbs up as his teeth sparkled.
"Please be my girl friend! I promise to protect you with my life!" He offered as I stared at him, as Sasuke glared at him and Naruto was steaming mad.
"U-umm...No...Thank you..." I said, my sentences becoming broken up because of nervousness. Lee's face seemed to fall.
"Why?" he asked. I frowned. As nice as he proved to be...he was still rather...I don't know, creepy? Yeah, that seemed like a good word for him.
"Because...you just too unique for me..." I said quietly, hoping not to hurt his feelings too bad. Although, I knew I had to if I didn't want to be with him.
"Hey, you, what's your name?" Neji asked Sasuke. Naruto was seething with Jealousy, most likely at the thought of Neji not asking his name. I was just happy the attention was pulled away form me. I never liked attention.
"It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking others." Sasuke replied, in that smart ass, know it all tone. I rolled my eyes as I heard Tenten giggle. Neji glared at him for a while, then turned his eyes on me. I gulped at the sudden attention.
"What about you? What's your name?" He asked. I straightened my posture and glared.
"You need to know because why?" I asked, he simply glared in response.
"I simply find you two very interesting..." He said. I glared, and I guess he figured out I wasn't going to respond, because he sighed and turned away. I looked at Naruto, who was leaning against the wall muttering something about it 'always being about Sasuke, along with Lee who was Sulking about me calling him 'unique.' I almost felt bad, but I knew he got over it eventually.
I grabbed Naruto and Sasuke's wrists, pulling them along.
"Come on, there's enough of the drama, let's just go." I said.
"Okay, don't pull me Sakura." Sasuke seethed. I just rolled my eyes and kept pulling.
After we had been walking for a while, I stopped.
"Which was are we supposed to go?" I asked. I waited, but heard no answer.
"Well, you could at least say 'I don't know,' you don't have to ignore me..." Still I got no response. I turned around to find no one there. I frowned and figured they had kept moving when I let go, not knowing I had stopped.
Or they could have simply been annoyed. I thought.
I began to try to find Naruto and Sasuke, but after nearly twenty minutes of endless (not to mention result less) searching, I decided to rest. Sighing heavily, I leaned against the wall. Why did I always have to be forgotten? If I was always on their mind, they wouldn't have left me here!
I sighed heavily, and started to search again.
Sasuke's P.o.v
"Hey! You with the attitude! Stop!" a voice rang out. I stopped and looked back. I saw the weird kid from before standing on a balcony, staring down at me.
That's what happened not too long ago, the psycho wanted to fight me.
"And..." he trailed off, looking at something. "Hey, where is my Cherry Blossom?" I felt anger boil inside of me at the sound of the nickname, but ignored it. Then, paid attention to the question...
Where was Sakura?
Well, we didn't find out. Naruto tried to fight Lee, and lost miserably. I tried to, and...Lost. This was pretty embarresing. There was a strange moment with Lee and what I suppose was his Sensei.
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!" And then they both ran at each other, embracing one another in a hug. A sunset lit lake showed in the background.
I shutter just thinking about it. Now, the Dobe and I were searching for Sakura. Where the Hell was she? She couldn't' have just left, could she have?
Sakura's P.o.v
"Hey, Pinky!" I heard someone yell, I turned to face quite a grungy looking man. He looked to be about fourteen or fifteen; he had messy black hair and deep brown eyes. His skin was tanned, and he was fairly tall. I quirked an eyebrow questionably, as he advanced on me. With each step foreword he took, I took a step back, holding my glare. He smirked, he reached foreword and was about to grab my wrist, but I jumped back.
"You scarred?" he asked, almost innocently. I glared.
"Just what do you want?" I growled.
"No need to get feisty..." He said. I had a feeling i knew what this guy had in mind. "How about you and I…"
"I really don't want to have to kill you." I threatened; he smirked at me, again. Before I knew it, he was behind me. I whirled around and punched him; he stumbled, but grabbed my wrist. I gathered chakra around my wrist, burning his hand, and leaving a gaping wound on his palm.
"Bitch!" He seethed. With his hand that wasn't scorched, he grabbed both my wrists, obviously not learning his lesson. I went to punch him, but something stopped me. I saw a brown-ish color in front of me, stopping my punch. It wrapped around the man and lifted him off the ground. I recognized the brown substance as Sand, which could only mean...
"Gaara, Leave him be." I said, as calmly as possible. "I want to handle this." Surprisingly I saw the sand slip away, even though I figured he would kill him later. The man looked scarred to death, probably hearing about Gaara before. I walked up to him, lifted him off the ground by his shirt collar, and punching him square in the jaw. He hit the wall, knocking him unconscious.
I turned around, hoping to see Gaara, but I saw nothing.
"Gaara?" I called, hopefully. I still saw nothing. Then I heard the shuffling of feet, I turned and Saw Gaara. He was looking at the man.
"I expected Lee, even Sasuke or Naruto to help me, I didn't think you would!" I said, smiling, but he walked right past me and looked at the man on the ground. I frowned.
"How about you leave him? Sure, he's a bastard, but maybe you shouldn't kill him. I mean.." I was cut off by Gaara.
"Are you not scared?" he asked. I raised my eyebrows.
"Umm...should I be?" I asked, innocently. He turned to look at me, and a staring contest started, which seemed to last forever.
"Sakura!" someone called, along with another voice, calling "Sakura-Chan!" I recognized them as Sasuke and Naruto. I didn't break my eye contact with Gaara. I felt a hand on my arm, urging my to look at them, but I only gave them a quick glance, then looked back at Gaara. I could see Sasuke glaring at Gaara in the corner of my eye. Naruto was staring at Gaara, as if to ask 'What is he doing here?' They both looked at me.
"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked, I nodded, and he slightly pushed urging me to go.
"Come one," he said, "We have to sign up."
I tore my gaze from Gaara and started walking. This is how the Chunin exams started.
--
We had reached room 301 and Kakashi had given us that speach about the three of us all having to go in there at the same time. That we all had to be there, or we couldn't go. We entered the room after a 'good luck' from Kakashi. We saw there were many different faces. Some which were more friendly than others. They were all staring at us.
"Well...This is awkward..." I said quietly.
"Sasuke! There you are!" A voice said--No, screeched--from behind Sasuke. Ino jumped on his back. "Sasuke! I was hoping you would show up! You don't know how much I missed those brooding good looks of yours."
"Well, I can guarantee none of us missed you, Ino..." I mumbled, too bad it didn't go unheard by Ino.
"Forehead!" she screeched. "They let you in too? You still have those frown lines on your forehead."
"Yeah," I agreed, "And I see you still have those split ends, and you're putting on a bit of weight. Wow! Did you actually start eating, Ino?" I said, putting a hand to my cheek in mock surprise. She glared at me.
"You're lying! I have not!" She shouted.
"Maybe not..." I said, "But I'm not lying about that giant zit on your forehead." I said emotionlessly.
"What?!" She screamed, pulling out a compact mirror from her weapons pouch. "I do not!"
"Why the Hell do you keep a compact in your weapons pouch. Imagine pulling that out when you need a kunai. By God! You could blind them with their own hideous reflection!" I said. She glared at me.
"No one asked you!" I rolled my eyes; she knew it was true; it was silly to keep that in a weapons holster.
Kiba, Hinata, and Shino had all shown up. Kiba, getting into a fight with Naruto and Sasuke (mostly Naruto).
"Guys! Guys! Calm down! There's really no need for us to get into a fight over nothing!" I said, stepping in between Naruto and Kiba. Kiba stared at me for the longest time.
"Sakura?" he asked. I looked at him.
"Umm...yeah?" I said, unsure of what he could possibly want.
"That's really you? The flat, pink-haired girl with the short temper?" I rolled my eyes.
"I take offense in that..." I said quietly. He kept staring.
"Kiba! Stop staring at my Sakura-Chan!" Naruto bellowed, while pulling me near him.
"Hey! No one ever said she was yours!" Kiba retorted, grabbing my other arm. I pulled away from both of them.
"I'm not either of yours! Bastards!" I screamed walking away from them. I was beside Ino and in front of Shikamaru. I was wearing the same outfit I had worn the other day. Consisting of red, black, and white. Ino seemed to be crazy mad. Most likely at the fact that two boys were (technically) fighting over me, and no one was fighting over her.
"Hey guys!" a voice said. I turned to see the one and only Kabuto. I glared as hard as I could. "You might want to try keeping it down a little. I mean, no offense, but, your the nine rookies right, fresh out of the academy? I wouldn't go making a spectacle out of yourselves. Just cool it; this isn't a class field trip."
"Well who asked you? Who are you?" Ino, yet again, screeched.
"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, but really, look around you. You've made quite an impression." he replied, as we looked around to find nearly everyone was staring at us. quite a few guys staring at Ino and I. Kabuto explained that 'we don't want to rub them the wrong way' in his words. Saying that the Chunin exams made everyone Tense. He also explained that this was his seventh time taking the exam, and that the rumors about it being hard were very true.
"Maybe I can help you," he began, pulling out a deck of cards, "With my ninja info cards."
He explained to us how it worked, how he got the information. He also explained the reason they had all the villages together for the exams, to unite the villages, in a way. Also, to choose the same amount of ninja per village, and maintaining balance.
"Do those cards of your have any info on the other candidates?" Sasuke asked, stepping foreword.
"They might," Kabuto replied, "You have anyone special in mind."
"I might."
"Well, I can't guarantee my information is great or complete, but I have something on just about everyone." Kabuto stated. "Including you guys of course. So, what is it, tell me anything you want about them, a description, where they're from, whatever. Anything at all."
"He's Gaara of the desert, and there's Rock Lee of the Leaf village, while your at it."
"Aw, that's no fun, you even know their names, that makes it easy." He took out two cards and laid them on the ground. He placed his finger on one, and in a puff of smoke, the card was filled with information. He gave us Rock Lee's information. Next was Gaara, but there wasn't much on him.
I saw Naruto practically falling apart after Kabuto's comment on this being the toughest batch of candidates yet, and I knew what he was planning on doing.
"Naruto, I know what you're thinking, but you can't..." I was cut off by his screaming.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! And I'm gonna beat every one of ya!" Everyone in the room looked towards us, and I smacked my forehead, forgetting about the headband around it. A wave of pain shot up my arm but I didn't flinch, so many years of training taught me not to show pain.
"Naruto..." I growled, then sighed, "...You idiot..."
"What's he trying to do? Get us killed?!" Ino screeched. "Tell your boyfriend to keep his big fat trap shut!" I glared at Ino from the corner of my eye.
"You know what; you're not making it any better by..." I said quietly, and then yelled. "...Screaming in my freaking ear!"
"I don't care; just get your boyfriend to..."
"He's not my boyfriend!"
"Oh, I forgot, you can't get one!"
"Alright that's it!" I screamed and got ready to punch her, she just barely managed to dodge it and my fist was about to hit the wall. My eyes widened in realization that I was about to show everyone my abilities, or at least some of them. I pulled my fist to a stop, before it hit the wall.
"Hah! You missed!" She pointed out.
"Yeah!" Naruto yelled, apparently not hearing even a bit of our conversation. "I feel a lot better now!"
"Uuh, could you say that a little louder, I don't think I quite caught that." Kiba chuckled.
"You moron! Are you trying to get everyone here to hate our guts?" Shikamaru lectured, but Naruto kept on laughing. I stepped in front of him and his laughter took on a more nervous tone.
"U-Uuh...Sakura! Hey..."
"Naruto, what the Hell is wrong with you? That sudden blast of stupidity will most likely cost us our lives!"
"I...guess it wasn't my best idea?" he said, hopefully.
"No shit, dipstick!" I hissed, but the conversation was curtailed by blur racing by me, which I saw in the corner of my eye. It raced towards Kabuto, and he jumped back to avoid it. The blur, a sound ninja, took a swipe at Kabuto, which he dodged. He was fast; I'll give him credit for that. I'm pretty sure everyone else had something like that in mind. Out of the nine rookies at least.
Then his glasses broke, "Oh, I get it." he muttered, "So it's that kind of attack." He took his glasses off.
"Hang on! I saw all of that, he dodged that attack! How did that happen?" Sasuke demanded.
"I guess it came closer than it looked. Tch, look at him acting like it was nothing what a tough guy..." Shikamaru suggested. Kabuto's eyes widened, he doubled over and coughed up blood.
"Kabuto!" Naruto called. He and I ran towards him, helping him up. "Kabuto, are you okay?!" Naruto asked.
"Yeah...Yeah I'm fine." He assured.
"...Not such a tough guy after all, I guess..." One sound ninja, th one who attacked him, laughed. "Maybe that's why he's on his seventh try."
"Put this on your little cards, punk. The genin from the sound village, will be Chunin by the end of this." Another one said. There was a long silence, before something at the front of the room interrupted it. A puff of smoke appeared, and a voice called out.
"Okay, you baby face degenerates, Listen up!" A man appeared, with scars diagonally across his face. "It's time to begin; I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor. From this moment, your worst enemy..."
Alright! That's this chapter! I hope you all liked it, the Chunin exams will start, you know, for real, in the next chapter, sorry if you were expecting it to start this chapter, but I felt I wanted to do that on another chapter, so, sorry. I hope you liked it anyway! Thank you for reading!