Children of Sorrowful Fate
AN: Naruto does not belong to me. But the children of the second generation (excepting for Asuma and Kurenei's kid, and again, educated guess on her) all came from my mind.
Book Two, Chapter Two
"Ow," Hitori rubbed her shoulder, "Sensei really trained me hard yesterday," she complained to Chozo and Shiro as they walked to the academy.
"You shouldn't back talk him so much," the Akimichi said, "But hey, you said you learned something neat!"
She nodded vehemently, "I'll show you guys it later, but I was up all night working on it," she grinned, "It was just too cool to leave alone."
"Hopefully you won't be too tired to take the test," Shiro said quietly, "I've heard the first part is written. And you almost always fall asleep during that sort of thing."
Chi cawed his agreement as he landed on Hitori's shoulder and she glared at the crow, "You never take my side!" a friendly peck at her cheek was the response and she huffed, "Don't try and sweet talk me now! Just see if I give you any of my onigiri."
"You shouldn't be too hard on him," Chozo commented as they went inside the academy and started up the stairs, "After all, he's only worried about you." the two boys had long ago accepted Hitori's often one-sided conversations with the crow, though it was a constant source of wonder to them that Chi seemed to be more of a mother hen than a partner to her.
"She still doesn't listen then," Taran's voice greeted them as the three reached the floor the class was on. The auburn haired youth stood behind a group of gennin.
"I listen fine," Hitori retorted, "Chi's just a stick in the mud," the remark earned her a peck at her ear, "Well, you are." She looked around at the crowd, "Hey, why are we on the second floor?" she asked after a moment, then glanced at her paperwork, "Our class is supposed to be on the third floor isn't it?"
"We are on the third floor you moron," snorted Megami as she crossed her arms and walked towards them, followed by Jin and Lian, "Or did that seal of yours damage your eyes?"
Shiro and Chozo glanced at each other, then at Hitori, "Are you sure?" they asked in unison.
"We only went up one flight of stairs," she said, "And everything's all funny around the edges... like something is screening what's really here." Chi cawed at her, and she marched through the crowd to the boy and girl in front of the doors, "You two!" she cried, "Then I know something's up," she glared at them, "Shika and Aiko! What's going on here? And why are you all fuzzy around the edges?"
"Geeze what a drag," the boy with spiked hair in a ponytail sighed, "Y'know that's the last time I do any favors for dad."
"Aww, it was fun," the red-eyed girl next to him smiled as she released her genjutsu and the hallway appeared normal and she and Shika became older. She flipped back her bouncy raven hair and smiled at Hitori, "I never could throw a successful one on you. That's Uncle Shikamaru's fault for not informing me that you were taking the test," she chuckled, "Though I suppose he was distracted since Auntie Temari finally came back to town."
"Stop talking about my parents like that," Shika sighed.
"Oh but Shika sweetie, you're going to most likely end up with a..." Aiko's mouth got covered by her companion before she could finish the sentence.
"Stop. Being Troublesome." he said then turned his attention to the gennin, "Well, since someone saw through the genjutsu, our mission's failed."
"I'm not the only one," Hitori pointed out, "Kiyomi and Kiyoshi are already on the third floor, right Taran?" he gave a slight nod, "So you knew too..." she grinned.
Aiko ruffled the younger girl's hair, "Alright go on, don't be late for your exam," she shooed the rest of the gennin, "And be on your toes, the entire test is something that'll try everything you've got!"
"One of these days you're going to have to tell me how you did that," Chozo said in awe as she rejoined her teammates.
"I don't know," she shrugged, "I suppose it has something to do with all the chakra exercises I had to do when I was younger." Chi ruffled his feathers, causing Shiro to glance up at him.
It was rather strange to see a smug expression on a crow, but he hadn't time to think on it when Hitori grabbed his hand, "Come on, we don't want to be late Shiro!" the three turned back to the stairs.
Taran noted that his friend who had seen through the genjutsu so easily simply didn't notice the dark glare directed at her from the Hyuga heir or the bemused stare coming from obsidian eyes.
Man they really spaced us out, Hitori thought glumly as she looked at where her teammates and Sand nin were, "I suppose they anticipated us making friends with them," she said as she played with her pencil. The only ones that were even remotely close to each other were Kiyoshi and Chozo.
"Hey that was really cool what you did upstairs," the green haired girl next to her said, "I didn't know Hyuga could see through genjutsu that well!"
"Oh that's probably more of Aiko playing small pranks on everyone since I moved here than any special abilities on my part," she tried to explain away, "She and Shika are kinda like older siblings to some of us." Really mostly just her and Chozo, but Jin and Shiro still had their share of love from Aiko at times. She always seemed to have time for the children of her parent's students.
Hitori had chalked it up to the fact that said students had always made time for Aiko.
"Yeah, but if that were true then wouldn't some of the other Konoha gennin have seen through it. Our information had you as a pretty close bunch." she leaned closer to Hitori, "Seemed like you were pretty close with the cutie from Suna too."
She wasn't sure if the indignant squawk was from her or Chi and before she could respond the proctor for the first part of the exam appeared.
"Name's Chouko," the girl winked as she whispered, "You're Hitori right? I bet we'll be real good friends."
Why does she seem so familiar? Hitori mutely nodded, then started to pay attention to the examiner as the chunnin helping passed out the papers for the test.
"There will be no questions asked," the scarred man in front of the room addressed the gennin, "You will be graded on a team basis. Questions one through nine count as one point for each team member. If you can make it to question ten... that one is worth seven points for each team member. To pass this portion you must have an average of seven for your team," he looked around the room, "If you are caught cheating, three points will be deducted from you, and if any one teammate goes below seven, then the entire team is disqualified. Question ten will be asked forty-five minutes from now." he looked at his watch. "Begin!"
Hitori looked down at the questions in front of her, Well the first three are easy enough, just basic knowledge we learned at the academy... but the ones after that... her eyes widened a bit, are really, really hard!
Chi pecked her ear and she looked up. Noticing that some of the students in front of her were Cheating? But this is a te... a slight smile came to her face, So that's how it is then...
A small amount of sand drifted up her sleeve and into her hand causing it to move, writing a small message on her paper, Need any help?
I got this. she wrote beneath it, You worry about your team. Feeling the sand drift away, she erased the words, and concentrated on the test, Byakuguan might be too obvious, so what else do I have? She knew Shiro would be alright, he had his beetles after all, Hmm... but what about Chozo? Maybe I should have gotten Taran to help him...
"Number 14, you're out," a chunnin said then, "That means 32 and 98 leave as well."
Hitori took the opportunity to look at where Chozo was sitting as the gennin all turned to see the chunnin who spoke. Debating at whether or not to use up a point to see if he was alright, Kiyoshi, who was sitting directly behind him caught her eye and raised her hand and open and closed it with a nod towards Chozo.
Catching her meaning, Hitori smiled and turned back around, So he's good too, and I'll have to buy Kiyoshi dinner or something to thank her. Now to figure out how to keep herself in the game, It's too risky to go for byakuguan... wish Uncle Neji had mentioned something about the chunnin exams, I could have worn a hood or mask or something.
But it was not allowed. Anyone's who taken the exams before couldn't speak of it with anyone who hasn't. Just for the pure and simple reason that the tests went through several cycles... but they did eventually repeat.
I'll have to hold out for the last question. That's all there is to it. Pale blue eyes focused on the jonin giving the test, Information gathering is the first half... I failed at that, but Chozo and Shiro have it covered... so I just need to solve the second part.
As the test went on, more and more gennin were asked to leave. Hitori chewed her pencil as she stared at the examiner, He's got a lot of scars... and he's one of the older ones, though I've never seen him before... I wonder if he knew Daddy.
Finally, finally, he cleared his throat, "Alright the ones of you that are left can choose to take the tenth question..." he narrowed his eyes, "If you leave now you can take the test again next year... but if you complete the test and fail you can never attempt the chunnin exam again."
Protests, but none from the Konoha or Suna teams, which the proctor answered.
"That's a shame," Hitori said standing up, "Some of these guys are pretty good, and you're going to keep them at the gennin level because they can't pass a test?"
"So are you going to leave?" he looked at her almost expectantly.
"Not on your life," she grinned, "Chozo and Shiro both are chunin level, so I'd hate to let them down. And I have a promise to keep, I can't go looking for him if I'm only a gennin. So I'm staying." Chi cawed in agreement.
He smiled, then looked around the classroom, no one else had gotten up since Hitori started talking, and the ones that were seeming to were giving guilty and apologetic looks to their teammates.
"Alright then... the ones left. You have all passed." he smiled as warmly as he could and turned to Hitori, "I have a confession. You guys have taken a version of the exam I haven't used in a very long time. Not since the chunnin exams that were held before the joint Sand/Sound invasion."
The proctor for the second examination appeared before he could say anymore, "Ibiki... you haven't left this many..." her eyes narrowed, "Alright you maggots! Gather your gear and meet me at battle ground number forty four in one hour. I'll brief you on the survival portion of the test then!"
Hitori stayed behind as the other gennin filed out. "Ibiki?" she asked quietly after all had left, "You said that you haven't used this version in a long time..." she chewed her lip, "It's just that... I think that was the exam that my parents took the first time."
"It was," he said gruffly, "As a shinobi you shouldn't be getting emotional though."
"Then why did you give us this version?" she asked.
He smiled, "Go get your gear. Anko's not one to keep waiting." She studied him for a moment, then nodded and ran out of the classroom, meeting her teammates outside.
He picked up her blank paper and shook his head, "She's just like her father."
"Weren't you saying that shinobi shouldn't be getting emotional?" Shikamaru said as he walked into the classroom from the room where he had been observing the proceedings.
"Lord Hokage," Ibiki bowed, "I was just looking over the exams."
"Troublesome," the Nara sighed, "You gave this version because so many of them were kids of the last batch you got to test. If I had known that..."
"I wonder," the interrogator nin smiled, "It seems that you lined up the same test as well. You want to know their abilities and how they compare as much as the rest of us do. I know for a fact that there are a few you have your eye on." he held up the Hitori's test paper, "But then we've all had our eye on this girl. She's just too much like he was."