Chapter 11
Megumi, Yuki, Haru had been walking through the tower in search of other people. So far, they hadn't found anyone in the hour they had been there.
Yuki stopped walking with a sigh, "Jeez, how much more are they going to make us wait? And where is everyone?" He was obviously frustrated and bored. Megumi sat down on a nearby bench and rubbed her arms for warmth.
"Well it is the third day; maybe the others weren't as lucky as us." She tried to calm him down, but her reasoning seemed to only frustrate him more.
"Yeah, maybe they ran into that weirdo, Orochimaru, you told me about." He stated as he looked at her small wounds. "Or maybe they ran into your little friend Sasuke." He said in a condescending tone as he looked at her bruised neck.
Megumi glared at him and was about to say something in Sasuke's defense when they heard approaching footsteps. She looked up to see the Sand Village team walking by them, Megumi heard Temari speak to the boy, Kankuro but she was focused on the other boy Gaara as he stared back at her.
"Well, it seems more teams are going to start finishing." Stated Temari as she noticed Gaara looking at Megumi.
Kankuro looked at them trying to remember who they were when his eyes flashed with recognition. "I know who you guys are, you two were walking on the fences that day I was trying to teach those brats a lesson." He sat next to Megumi with his arm around her.
Yuki glared at Kankuro and his team. "Yes that was us, I'm Yuki and these are my teammates Megumi and Haru."
Temari looked at Yuki with the same smile and blush she had given Sasuke, "Oh well, I'm Temari and these are my brothers Kankuro and Gaara." Megumi just gave a small smile, 'She must be a sucker for a cute face.'
"Nice to meet you, now if you'll excuse us we'll be on our way." Yuki maintained his polite mask but inside he knew these people were trouble, especially the one named Gaara, he still hadn't stopped looking at Megumi.
Yuki wasn't sure where he was leading them; he just knew they had to get away from them. Megumi was walking behind them when she suddenly felt a force pull her to the ground with a small yell.
"Gaara stop!" She heard Temari yell. Megumi looked down at her leg and saw sand wrapped around it, she looked towards Gaara and gasped as she saw a strange hunger in his eyes.
"No, I want her blood it'll make me stronger." Megumi could feel herself get pulled towards Gaara but she didn't know what to do. She looked up as Yuki threw kunai towards him but only saw them fall as a wall of sand protected Gaara.
"Stop this now, I know you think this exam is nothing but Temari and I don't want to be disqualified for something like this." Kankuro tried to reason with his younger brother but he was only ignored as he saw the sand reach Megumi's waist. "Gaara!"
She suddenly felt the sand recede from her body and get pulled up from behind by Haru. Gaara's face returned to its blank disposition, "Forgive me, that won't happen again."
She shook at the sound of his voice, 'What just happened? I haven't felt that scared in so long.' "I-it's fine, no harm done." Megumi just wanted to leave and knew that despite the abilities she and Yuki possessed, this person had something else that could completely over power them. It reminded her of Naruto's surge of power when they were fighting Orochimaru.
As they left she could still feel Gaara's eyes on her, 'What does he mean he wants my blood?' She shivered in fear of what this new acquaintance could bring.
They had been walking for a while longer and still hadn't seen any other teams when they found a strange site. A small dog was walking aimlessly towards them, they looked at it in confusion as it stared back. Suddenly it started barking and jumping, Not knowing what to do Megumi picked it up in hope of getting it to quiet down. "Megumi, just leave the dog." Yuki told her as he walked by her.
Megumi just continued to pet it trying to quiet it down. "Akamaru! Where'd you go?" She heard someone yell, suddenly the boy with a fur laced jacket appeared with the rest of his team. "Hey, you found Akamaru." He pulled the puppy from her arms and put it on the top of his head. "I'm Kiba by the way, this is Shino and this is Hinata." He pointed towards a boy in sunglasses and a girl with short raven colored hair. "And you already know Akamaru."
"Hello, I'm Megumi and this is Yuki and Haru." She introduced, Yuki nodded towards them and couldn't help but look at Hinata.
"Hinata, are you a part of the Hyuga clan?" He asked, he had heard they were the strongest clan in the Leaf and couldn't help but be curious.
Hinata just played with her fingers and seemed to sink into herself as she blushed. "Y-yes, I-I am a Hyuga."
Yuki seemed pleased by the information. "To bad we didn't meet in the forest, it would have been nice to see how great the Hyuga clan really is." Hinata looked at him with a scared face at the proposition of a battle and Kiba and Shino glared at him, Megumi just shook her head, 'I try to make friends and you just have to ruin it'. "It was nice meeting you." With that said they left looking for a place to get comfortable for the next two days.
….
The second exam had finally ended and Megumi now found herself and the others who passed in some sort of arena. She looked towards the front and could see the Hokage standing next to Anko and all of the team's sensei. 'Hmm, I didn't count on the team leaders being here, hopefully they don't get suspicious that we don't have one.' She couldn't help but be surprised at how many teams were left; she was more surprised at the fact that she knew them all too some extent except for one team. They all wore glasses and seemed to be hiding something. 'I'm just being paranoid.'
Anko stepped up and called for their attention, "Alright now listen up! Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you, you better pay attention, maggots."
The Hokage cleared his throat before he spoke, "Before I tell you what the third exam involves, I want to explain something about the test itself. Why do you suppose this country holds these exams in conjunction with its allies? To raise the ability levels of the shinobi and increase friendship between allied nations to be sure. But the exams are so to speak," He breathed out a puff of smoke from the pipe he had in his mouth, "they are representations of the battles between allied nations, part of the point of these exams is to select shinobi worthy of being Chunnin, the other is to carry the pride of their nation on their backs and fight for their lives."
'This old man is crazy, he calls this a way of increasing friendship and then tells us to fight for our lives.' Megumi thought.
"Any exam is fine, just get on with the details of the next exam already." Gaara stated, Megumi couldn't help but shiver in fear at the sound of his voice.
"Very well then, here are the details of the third exam," Before he could start another Leaf ninja appeared in front of him and asked to speak first.
"It's nice to meet you all; I am your third proctor Hayate Gekko." He coughed, "There is something I would like for you to do before the next exam." He coughed heavily before he spoke next. "Uhh, we have to have a preliminary exam before the real one. The fact is, we never expected so many of you to make it. According to the rules, we are allowed to do this to reduce numbers. So if you're not feeling in top physical condition now's the chance to-" He had another coughing fit and everyone looked on with skepticism on their faces, was this really their proctor? "Sorry about that, as I was saying; anyone not feeling up for this now is your chance to bow out. The preliminaries will be starting immediately."
The room filled with disapproval and complaints. Yuki looked back at Megumi while she nodded in understanding. 'This is our chance to get Haru to forfeit, then I'll finally be able to use my chakra without worrying.' She thought with a sigh of relief.
"Oh yeah, the winner will be determined by one on one combat so like I said; now's the chance to leave if you don't feel up to it." From the corner of her eye, she could see Sasuke and Sakura speaking and she noticed Sasuke holding his shoulder, 'He must be in pain and Sakura wants him to quit. Is it bad that I kinda want him to quit too?' She could see Sakura starting to raise her hand when another person beat her to it.
"Ok, you got me I'm out."
Hayate coughed as he looked for his name on the list, "Uh, Kabuto Yakushi of the Leaf Village, your free to go please step out."
While Naruto argued with Kabuto over his forfeting, Yuki found the opportunity to finally speak. "Our teammate, Haru from the Mist Village would also like to leave."
"Alright, Haru you're also free to go." As Haru left Megumi kept her eyes on her creation, she would undo the jutsu five minutes from now, in that time Haru should have made it back to their hotel room and she wouldn't have to worry anymore. The proctor coughed to get back their attention, "Now then does anybody else wanna quit? No, alright then. There are 22 of you right now, that means there will be 11 matches, as for the rules there are none. You will fight until someone dies or is unable to continue, of course as proctor I will have some leeway and will be able to stop a battle if it looks hopeless."
The Hokage watched as the Gennin were spoken to, he looked towards the Mist ninjas and called Anko's attention. "Who are those ninja?" he asked.
Anko looked through her papers, "Uh Megumi and Yuki, they are Gennin from the Mist Village, normal stats, normal grades in the academy over there, is there a problem?" She asked in confusion.
The third Hokage let out another puff of smoke, "Yes, I recently sent a message to the Mizukage asking if he would be sending Gennin this year. He said no." Anko gasped at the revelation. "For now, we will let them continue the exam I'm curious as to what they are doing here, remind to speak with them after all this."
As he finished talking, a panel on the wall opened to reveal a screen. They were explained to that the screen would reveal the pair that would be fighting completely at random. They waited in anticipation for the first two ninjas to battle, the screen revealed; Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado.
Megumi moved up the stairs with the others and couldn't help but look towards Sasuke in worry, he was obviously in pain and she wanted to help somehow. "I'm sure he'll be fine." She looked up to see Naruto consoling Sakura next to her; she somehow knew that it was for her too.
The battle began with Sasuke and Yoroi both throwing ninja tools at each other in order to avoid being hit but Sasuke fell to the ground in pain from his curse mark. Yoroi suddenly appeared in front of Sasuke and punched the ground with his chakra as Sasuke rolled away from the attack. Sasuke then took advantage by stabbing a knife on the ground to be able to kick Yoroi onto the ground into a hold he couldn't move out of.
Megumi let herself smile as she watched, he might be able to do this. Before she could get her hopes up though, Yoroi brought his hand to the front of Sasuke's shirt and seemed to have frozen him in that position and jumped away from him. It was as if he lost all his energy.
"Sasuke no!" Sakura yelled, and almost as if he heard it, he sat up but couldn't avoid Yoroi's direct grab for his head. Megumi could tell from the upper deck that Yoroi's attack was eating away at Sasuke's chakra to the point of exhaustion, this wasn't going to end well if he didn't get up soon.
Somehow he was able to kick his enemy off of him and barely stand up again. As Yoroi continued to go after Sasuke with his fist, Sasuke was barely able to dodge each attack.
"Really? Is that the best you can do, Uchiha." He taunted. In a flash, it looked like Sasuke had gotten an idea. "I'll teach you to turn your back on me." Yoroi kept going after Sasuke with the same attacks and for a while it seemed as if that was as far as it would go until Sasuke disappeared and kicked him into the air and appeared behind him.
'Wait, this is that guy Lee's jutsu. When did Sasuke see it?' Megumi asked herself. She gasped as Sasuke cried out in pain while in the air. The mark was spreading threw his body again and it seemed to be more painful. Almost as suddenly as it appeared, the curse mark receded and Sasuke started his real attack. He spun Yoroi towards his kick but was only blocked, he smirked as he saw an opening to punch him in the chest and then kick him straight into the ground. "Lions Barage!"
Hayate went over to Yoroi's body but could clearly see he was done for. "I declare this match over, Sasuke Uchiha will continue into the finals." The only thing that broke through the silence were Naruto's cheers and taunts towards Sasuke. Yuki looked on with his serious expression. 'So this is the power of the Uchiha. He might have won but it was pure luck, then again what's a ninja without a little.' Megumi looked towards Sasuke as his sensei took him away to be taken cared over, she was glad he won but was still nervous about the mark on his neck.
The proctor coughed once again, "Let's move onto the second match." They all looked towards the screen to see who was next. It randomized their names and revealed; Zaku Abumi vs. Megumi. "Step forward please." He coughed.
Megumi began to climb over the railing when Yuki stopped her, "Don't be afraid to finish this creep. After everything you told me about him, it would be the least he deserves." She nodded and jumped down in front of him.
Zaku laughed as he saw her, "So you're Megumi, I don't know why Dosu couldn't finish you off but I don't think I'll be having the same problem."
Megumi just stared with an emotionless face, "Seeing as though both your arms are broken I don't think you should be talking." She could hear Naruto cheering her on and giving her encouragement, she blushed in embarrasement. 'Shut up Naruto, how embarrassing.'
"Heh, well what do you know. I got a little movement in one of them." Zaku took out one of his arms from his sling and showed it to her.
'Darn it, I might have gotten away with not using my Kekkei Genkai last time, but this time I might not be so lucky.'
AN:
C'mon people, please review. I am in dire need of them!
-Michelle
TT_TT