Chapter ten
Petitefeeme: Wooohooo! I got my exams! I got my exams! I got my exams! I got…
Kara: How long do you think she's gonna do that?
Tenten: I don't know dear. As promised, two chapters this day.
Kara: read and enjoy!
Kara listened distractedly as the Hokage explained the rule of the preliminaries, glancing from time to time at Kabuto.
The man perplexed her greatly. She had to recognise that he was smart and talented. He even helped them get their second scroll, and without him they wouldn't have went this far (heck, Naruto would have been dead). During their partnership he was the epitome of politeness and even she had to admit he made a good teamate.
So why couldn't she shake off the feeling that something wasn't right?
She felt his gaze on her numerous time, and saw him scrutinize her teamates like an hawk when he though she couldn't see him. His gaze gave her shivers, he looked positively predatory.
And there was that time when they got attacked by those ame ninjas. They had gathered around Kabuto before stepping back suddenly, frightened.
'This boy is surrounded by mystery.' Though Kara.
Indeed, how could he have taken seven times the test and still failed, as skilled as he was?
She was startled out of her thoughts by the proctor, whose name she learned was Hayate Gecko, who began explaining the preliminaries.
"Let's make it easier" the coughing man said "The preliminaries are beginning now. Those who wish to give up can. It will not affect your team."
There was a tense silence before Kabuto raised his hand.
"Excuse me." He said with an apologetic smile "I wish to give up."
'Nani?' though Kara, bewildered.
"Kabuto!" yelled Naruto "Why are you giving up?"
"Sorry Naruto, but since I received the punch from the Oto Nin, I cannot hear from my left ear. Fighting in this condition isn't possible."
Kabuto only waved before walking away.
Kara was quite perplexed. During their partnership she didn't detect any behaviour showing he couldn't hear with his left ear, but unfortunately she couldn't be 100 % sure without a medical check out.
'This is really weird.' She though 'When I checked him briefly at the first exam I didn't detect any problem.'
She was forced to forget her train of thoughts when Hayate began explaining again.
She waited for the names to appear and became worried when she saw one of her teamates' name.
"Be careful." She whispered to Sasuke "You're almost out of chakra. If you use it again you may collapse."
She wished she had brought more chakra pills (they had used them all to recover after the sound ninjas' attack), but the raven haired boy just threw her a smirk before advancing to the proctor.
Kara rolled her eyes at what seemed to be Uchihas' pride and climbed up the stairs with Naruto and Kakashi.
She leaned against the railing and took out a notebook with a pen.
She didn't have a lot of memories with her father, but the few she had she treasured them.
One of them was the advice he gave her when she was still a little girl.
"You see sweetheart, your enemies won't walk up to you and tell you their strong and weak points. This is why you have to use any occasion, even the tiniest one, to gather any information you can. Some would appear useless at the moment. But perhaps later you can use them at your advantage."
She also learned that ninja techniques weren't taught if you just asked nicely (she doubted Kakashi-sensei would teach her his 'thousand birds' technique if she asked, even nicely). This is why she was going to note every technique she saw. That might give her ideas to create her own techniques and like that she would be prepared if she was to fight against them.
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Sasuke's battle filled one page of Kara's notebook. She wrote about Yoroi's chakra stealing technique and draw Sasuke's newfound technique 'shishi rendan'.
She described every fight with accuracy, describing techniques and tactics, drawing when necessary. Some of the information were pretty useless (she couldn't fight with bugs for example), but she knew these informations would come in handy sometimes.
Her mind was already making plans as how she could use the techniques she saw with her own style (she couldn't wait to try to make chakra strings or things that could appear only with her chakra for examples).
She was disturbed from her writing by Kakashi who put his hand on her shoulder.
"Look at the board." He simply said.
She complied and saw her name. She was going to fight against Ino.
"Good luck Kara-chan!" yelled Naruto.
The girl smiled and closed her book, sealing it with light sealing seal (the only one she had mastered for the moment) before walking down the stairs to face Ino who was smirking.
"I will defeat you in no time little girl." She said, taunting.
Kara took no notice of it and went into a fighting stance.
She knew Ino's special jutsu to take one's mind and body. So her principal problem would be to avoid being possessed. She also knew from memories that Ino had a good punch. She couldn't let the blond reach her right side as it was still sore (a punch she knew could result into a broken ribs).
"Begin!" the proctor announced.
Ino dashed forward, but Kara was ready.
Ino had made half of the way to her when she threw a smoke bomb.
The entire arena was filled with smoke and Kara create one bushin before hiding herself with a light genjutsu she (secretly) copied from Kabuto when they were in the forest of death (it was a bit daring and she knew she couldn't hold the illusion long, but she was happy to succeed at the first try).
She knew she couldn't let the fight drag on for long. She had little chakra left and couldn't afford using another jutsu.
She made her clone fight and waited.
When she saw Ino make the familiar hand sign of her clan jutsu, she knew she couldn't have another opportunity.
When she saw that Ino was fully concentrated on her technique, she threw a few senbons that paralysed her.
Kara caught her gently before she could hit the ground and told her, knowing that the blond could hear her:
"It will only last a few minutes don't worry."
She carefully removed her senbons and let the medic Nins take her away.
"Winner Kara Tashio." Said the proctor, motioning at her to leave the battle ground.
"That was awesome!" yelled Naruto, hugging her.
"I'm proud of you." Simply said Kakashi, patting her head.
"Arigato." Blushed prettily the girl, not used to receive such compliments.
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Kara stood beside Naruto, listening to the Hokage's speech.
After her own fight she continued taking notes of her friends fight.
She couldn't help but be tense during Naruto's fight with Kiba. She felt like punching the brown haired boy when he began insulting Naruto, clearly underestimating him, but in the same time Kiba was her friend, so she felt a bit guilty when she felt happy when Naruto won.
She yelled with Naruto during Hinata's fight with her cousin. When she was able to land a few hit on her cousin that left him hissing in pain, she felt extremely proud of her and her newfound resolve.
Unfortunately at the end Neji had hit her heart and Kara stayed beside her best friend until the medic nin took her away, promising her to visit soon.
Even if Neji at the moment made her blood boil in anger, she couldn't help but feel pity for the imprisoned boy he was.
Hinata confided the dream of a united Hyuuga clan without any curse mark to her one time. Kara new Hinata would never blame her cousin even if he tried to kill her (which she suspected had actually tried to do during the fight), more like pity him. She decided to honour her friend.
She cried when Lee fought against Gaara. She was one of the first near him to check him up.
What she found made her cry even more. Most of his muscles were ripped and his bones were not in their best form either. But what worried her the most were his left arm and leg, literally crushed.
What the medic nin said confirmed her thoughts, Lee would never be a ninja ever again.
Before she buried her face in Naruto's shoulder, seeking comfort, she met Gaara's eyes.
What she saw mixed her growing anger with pity. He looked completely lost, as if not able to understand the love bounding two people together.
It looked like he had never experienced any type of love before.
"Please take a piece of paper from this box." Asked Anko, interrupting Kara's thoughts.
After some tense moments they were finally released for one whole month.
Naruto was long gone, yelling something like having to question Kakashi-sensei, leaving his sister figure to walk home alone.
While making a detour for grocery shopping, Kara was already planning her training.
The most important thing was to find a way to defeat her opponent, Kankuro of the desert.
She knew very little of him, apart that he was a puppeteer.
'I'll have to do some research.' She thought remembering an old saying that to defeat an enemy, you had to think like him.
She entered the grocery store, still deep in though.
She also wanted to train to improve her taijutsu. With what she saw during the first two part of the exam, she had some ideas.
As for her ninjutsu and genjutsu, she wanted to unlock at least the water seal to train a bit, and perhaps train a bit with genjutsu, though she didn't had a lot of idea on this one.
And let's not forget her chuunin medic exam that was in one week!
She sighed, feeling overwhelmed, reaching for some instant noodles for Naruto until a hand beat her to it.
"Yo." Simply said Kakashi, putting the cup in her basket.
"Kakashi-sensei." Greeted Kara "What are you doing here?"
"I found you a sensei to supervise your training." Smiled the white haired jonin "I want you to meet him at Konoha's park in an hour."
Being trained by someone she didn't know didn't sit well with Kara.
"Kakashi-sensei." She asked hesitantly "Is it really necessary? I can train alone you know."
"I know that you don't like new people and you would rather train alone." Sighed her teacher "But trust me, you'll like her."
'It's a woman?' though surprised Kara.
But she didn't have time to question her sensei further, for he had already disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Kara sighed and finished her shopping before paying and heading home. She didn't have a lot of time.
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"Hana-chan!" exclaimed Kara, happily surprised when she saw her friend standing at the meeting point "You're my new sensei."
"Yep!" exclaimed back the brown haired woman "Kakashi was asking around and I volunteered when I heard your name. Plus I have some experience of puppeteers."
"Really?" replied happily "Thanks that would surely help me a lot!"
Hana led Kara to a clearing and they began planning.
"Puppeteers are quite sneaky." Began explaining Hana, scratching one of her dogs "They can hide everything into their puppets from gas to weapon. Against them what you have to work on is your ability to detect the chakra strings. Once you know where is the puppeteer, you can attack him."
Kara nodded, concentrating on her while petting one of Hana's dog who whined for attention.
"But it isn't that easy." Continued the woman "A puppeteer will use numbers against you, since a good one can manipulate a hundreds of puppets at the same time. I don't expect your opponent to of course, but he might use one or two. So we will have to work on your speed and time reaction."
"I thought also of learning how to make chakra strings." Tried Kara, unsure.
"That's an excellent idea!" approved Hana "You're on the right path girl. A good ninja have to know its enemy."
She got up from her sitting position and smirked, sending shivers down Kara's back.
"Shall we begin?" Hana asked, getting out a kunai.
"S-Sure." Smiled nervously Kara, feeling like she made a pact with the devil itself.
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"And this is why I train with Hana for five hours straight each day." Finished Kara "Each day she make me dodge her, her weapons and her dogs, and I have to run so that they can't reach me. Then she make me detect chakra with a sort of hide and seek game, using as little chakra as possible. Then I have to master chakra strings and to know how to cut and use them efficiently."
"I-Impressive." Smiled Hinata.
"I wish you were out of the hospital." Smiled back Kara "I miss our daily spar."
"M-Me too." Said mournfully Hinata "And h-how is your 'o-other' training?"
They decided to call 'other' training, exercises including her bloodline limit."
"I'll soon open the water seal." Said proudly Kara "Apart from that I'm trying to develop my own taijutsu technique and I practise some genjutsu."
"A-And about your chuunin medic exam?" asked Hinata
"Well…" trailed Kara, smiling mischievously "You have in front of you a newly appointed chuunin medic."
"W-Wonderful K-Kara-chan." Exclaimed happily the blue haired girl "I'm h-happy for you."
"Arigato." Smiled Kara.
There was a silence before Hinata got the courage to ask:
"A-And h-how is N-Naruto?"
Kara smiled, seeing her best friend playing with her finger as a nervous gesture, before explaining:
"He is training with an old hermit he calls a pervert. From what I understood he is one of the three legendary sanins."
"R-Really?" asked Hinata, surprised.
"Hai." Nodded Kara "I met him once while bringing Naruto his bento he forgot. The moment he saw me the old man began fussing around me, saying something about an angel. I didn't really understand and the moment after Naruto was yelling something like paedophile at him."
Hinata giggled. Kara smiled and joined her until the door slid open to let enter a nurse.
"Tashio-san." She said "We cannot allow you to see Hinata-sama any longer. The girl need to rest."
"I understand." Smiled Kara, standing up before turning to Hinata.
"I hope you will get better soon." She said "I'll see you later."
Hinata nodded and waved at her best friend before closing her eyes.
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It was two in the morning. Kara walked at the centre of the lake.
She chose a waterfall because as her clan book said, the more water the better.
She breathed deeply before going through a series of handsign and activating the seal.
It expanded, glowing a soft blue colour. Kara's hairs moved softly around her as she did the last hand seal.
"Water seal: release!" she exclaimed.
The seal spun wildly, the glowing getting brighter.
Kara felt something snap in her and she felt raw power rush through her vein. It was so powerful it was almost painful.
Water around her sprung to life, forming a column around her.
She felt it, this connection. It was something wonderful and powerful at the same time.
She was the water, and the water was her. She suddenly felt happy and laughed, tears of happiness flowing from her eyes.
She felt whole.
With a last caress the water settled back, and suddenly very tired, Kara had barely the time to get to the bank before collapsing on her butt.
But this time she was ready. She took out a chakra pills and swallowed it, immediately feeling better, if not slightly tired.
She sighed in happiness. She could still feel the connection. She grazed her fingers on the water, and felt it ripple underneath them, responding.
She smiled before getting out her i-pod and walking back at the centre of the pound.
To exercise her control over water, her clan book had a simple yet ultimately complicated exercise.
It was dancing.
While moving, you had to make the water follow your movements. For that you had to be perfectly synchronized with it. You had to be fluent yet in complete control of your movement, exactly like water.
The music began playing, Kara began dancing. The water around her sprang to life, following perfectly her moves.
She felt at peace.
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"Is he awake?" asked Kara, poking her head inside of the hospital room.
"Sorry, no." replied lazily Shikamaru.
Kara sighed, the third part of the exam was tomorrow and Naruto was still sleeping.
"Thanks for looking after him Shikamaru." Smiled the girl.
"No problem." Smirked the black haired boy, moving a piece across the shoji board "I have nothing better to do."
'How about training?' thought the girl, dumbfounded.
She shrugged the thought off and announced:
"I'll go visit Lee-san."
"Hm." Grumbled the Nara, letting her close the door.
Kara walked to Lee's room and entered to find Gaara beside the boy's bed.
Her first instinct was to run very far away, but she pushed it down and smiled at him before walking to the bed.
While putting the alium she brought in a vase, she peeked up at the red head's jade eyes.
'So lonely.' She thought sadly, deciding to try to start a little conversation.
"You know you remind me of Naruto." She said, sitting on a stool near the bed.
His eyes fixed on her; those cold jade eyes that made her feel like a prey.
"I met him at the orphanage." She continued bravely "I remember like it was yesterday. He was alone in the corner of the class, trying to read a book."
She smiled tenderly at the memory.
"I've seen him before, trying to get noticed by goofing around and yelling. But he would always get punished and the teachers would tell us he was a monster. That he would hurt us should we go near him."
She turned to look at the blue sky outside, memories rushing forward in her head.
"But every time I would look at him, I couldn't see the monster they were talking about. All that I could see were those lonely blue eyes looking enviously at the children playing ball, flinching in deep sadness every time someone would send him a hateful glare."
"I neared him and proposed to play with him." She laughed lightly "He was so surprised and the moment after he smiled so brightly I though I announced him that he was the new king of the world."
She calmed, still smiling: "We became fast friends. How could I not? He has this talent to get you attached to him with that goofy smile of his. He also helped me a lot. Making me laugh every time I was sad and comforting me when I had a nightmare. I don't know where I would be without him. I owe him a lot."
Kara looked back at the red head who looked at her with incredulous eyes and smiled gently:
"And that baka now wants everybody to recognize his existence, so he decided to become Hokage. Can you believe it?"
She laughed before calming and ending in a soft tone:
"But I'm sure he can do it. After all, little by little, I see him getting recognised and respected by more and more people, proving them his strength. And I'm fully with him."
She seemed to notice Gaara's stare and blushed before getting up.
"I'm so sorry I rant and I'm probably annoying you." She said hastily, bowing in apology "I will go now."
She almost ran to the door, slamming it behind her and walking quickly outside the hospital.