"Sheesh. It's so unlike Tadashi to be late." Kairi said. She and Daigo were waiting in their usual spot by the tree near the academy. "Today's a big day too. The chunin exams are in an hour, and I have no idea where he is. He's always early."
"It is kind of odd..." Daigo was trying to enjoy the fact that he had some time with Kairi. It had been a few weeks since she got discharged from the hospital, and the only time he'd seen her was when they had training. He knew she'd been spending all her extra time with Sasuke. He saw them everywhere together.
~~~
Daigo was walking home from the market with some bags of fruit his mother had sent him for. "Dang, these things are heavy." He said as he slopped a melon back onto his shoulder. "Ha ha ha! Don't drop that!" Daigo could hear Kairi's voice. He turned to find her standing with Sasuke over at a stand with vegetables and meat. She was handing him a large bag of potatoes. It wasn't the first occasion Daigo had seen them together. It was the third or fourth time he'd seen them at the market together, buying meals so they could cook and eat together. Other times, he'd seen her with Naruto. "You should probably stop staring." Tadashi was standing right in front of Daigo. "I'm not staring!" Daigo defended himself immediately. "Come on, you've been there for at least two whole minutes." Tadashi smirked. Daigo glared at him. "What do you want? Other than to make fun of me." Tadashi grabbed the melon off his shoulder. "Come on, our mothers are waiting for us to make the meat." "Our..?" Daigo said. "Your mother invited us to eat with you." Tadashi said. "And maybe we can work on that shuriken throw of yours." "My shuriken throw is just fine!" Daigo defended himself again. "Well it has to be better than standing here watching those two." Tadashi smirked and started walking. "Yeah yeah." Daigo followed him slowly. Thanks...Tadashi...
~~~
"So..." Daigo started.
Kairi turned toward him and smiled.
"How have you been? I haven't really talked to you much lately."
"I've been doing well. I've been working my tail off for these exams. I'm so excited to think we have a chance to be chunin."
"That is, if we pass." Daigo said.
"Well, that's a grim way of thinking about it." Kairi laughed. "No worries though. I have been training so hard lately. I'm trying to improve my speed."
"It's true though, this can't be an easy test. I wish I was improving more than I am."
"If anyone will pass, it will be everyone on our team. "
I have no doubts in you Kairi. I'm just being afraid for myself. Daigo shook his head.
Kairi was still in her own turmoil. News had recently been spread over the village that Tsuyoshi left the village and never told anyone where he was going. I feel like it's my fault...I'm scared to think I may not see him again... It was an honest worry.
"Hey guys." Tadashi appeared next to Daigo, who jumped.
"Where have you been?! We were supposed to meet like 15 minutes ago!" Daigo shouted at him.
"It really isn't like you, Tadashi." Kairi chimed in.
"It's nothing. Let's go, I see them lining up to the Academy building." Tadashi completely avoided the question.
That can't be good. Kairi thought. I hope Daigo doesn't press the issue. We need to focus.
"That's bullshit and you know it, Tadashi!" Daigo raised his voice a little and grabbed Tadashi's shoulder as he walked away.
I knew we couldn't be so lucky. I better try and do something. "Daigo. If Tadashi doesn't have anything to say, they we, as his friends, aren't going to press him." Kairi said, as she pressed a hand to his chest. "Guys, we need to focus today." She looked at both of the boys. "Alright?"
Tadashi's harsh look softened, and Daigo couldn't help but calm down.
"We got this." Kairi said, and smiled at them. She walked toward the building.
"I'll tell you later. I don't want Kairi to know by my word of mouth." Tadashi whispered to Daigo.
~~~
Punch. Down the hall, someone fell to the ground.
Kairi, Daigo and Tadashi approached a group of obvious exam candidates all gathered around room 301, the room the exam was to be in. There were two boys standing in front of the door.
"Ha. You think you can take the chunin exams but you can't even get past us?" One of them spoke. "Why don't you just give up now before you get hurt?" He was talking to a boy on the floor, whom he'd just punched.
"Please let us through! We're supposed to go in there!" A girl knelt down to help her comrade, and then walked toward the two boys at the door.
Punch. Down she went.
Kairi winced. How incredibly mean...
"Wow." "That was really harsh." "Yeah I agree..." Some people around were whispering.
"Harsh? We're being nice by comparison to the exams." One of the boys spoke again.
"Some of you won't survive the exams. Others will be wrecked for life, and some of you may even go insane. For chunin it's always life and death."
"You think it's a joke. Chunin are qualified to lead missions. The lives of your team members are in your hands, so better be tough enough to take the heat." The two kept talking. "Delicate little girls don't belong here." The boy specifically glared at Kairi.
What a jerk.
"Real nice speech. Now both of you step aside and let me through." Sasuke, with Sakura and Naruto close behind, walked up to the two boys. Sasuke placed himself near Kairi. "And while you're at it, release the genjutsu, we can see through it anyway. We're going to the third floor."
Gasps were heard all around. "What? What is he talking about?" "We're on the third floor!"
"Well well." One of the boys started again. "So you saw through the genjutsu, huh?"
"Go ahead, Kairi. I'm sure you saw it before anyone else did." Sasuke looked over at her.
"Well of course. Anyone to fall for it must be a real fool." Kairi knew that she had probably angered a few people when that was said. "This is only the second floor."
"Well aren't you just a smart one. You noticed an illusion." one of the boys said sarcastically to Kairi. "So you have some brains under that pretty face."
You asshole... Sasuke clenched his fists.
"Now we'll see if you deal with this!" the boy launched a kick toward Kairi. Sasuke immediately sprung to protect her.
The boy who had been previously punched to the ground, stopped both Sasuke's and the other boy's kick with his bare hands.
How on earth? I thought he was just a weakling getting knocked around like that. Kairi thought, standing behind Sasuke. He's as fast as Sasuke.
He just stopped my kick. That's some chakra he's got in his arm. Sasuke thought. The boy released Sasuke's leg.
"Hey. What's the deal? I thought you were the one who said not to reveal our abilities to the others." A long-haired boy walked over to him with the girl from earlier by his side. He had these purple eyes with no pupils.
"I know but-" the boy tried to defend himself. Kairi just looked at him. He had this bowl-shaped hair. Black as can be. He also had these massive eyebrows. If they could even be called that. Those things could just about crawl off his face.
"Nevermind. It's over. Forget it." The girl stopped the argument.
The eyebrow boy turned to Sakura.
Hey, what happened to the bruises on his face? They're gone... Sasuke thought, getting a good look at his face. Were they fakes?
The boy walked right up to Sakura. "My name is Rock Lee. You are Sakura, right?"
"Huh?" Sakura was caught off guard.
"Please be my girlfriend. I vow to protect you with my life." He said very straightforwardly.
"Definitely not..." Sakura had a look of disgust on her face.
"Why?!" Lee was devastated, or so it seemed.
"Because you're a weirdo." Sakura said.
Lee put his head down and Naruto laughed out loud.
"Hey, you. Over here. What's your name?" the long-haired boy called out to Sasuke.
"It's common courtesy to give out your own name before asking someone else's." Sasuke said back.
"You're a rookie aren't you? How old are you anyway?"
"I'm not obliged to answer."
"What's that?" The boy got aggravated very fast.
Sasuke turned and walked toward Kairi.
"You ready for this?" Kairi asked.
"Yeah, let's go." Sasuke turned to leave with Kairi. Their teammates followed close behind.
~~~
"Kairi, Daigo, Tadashi." Raido called to his team. They were walking down a hallway with Team 7 to the exam room. "I want to talk to you for a minute."
"Okay!" Kairi began to walk to him. "We'll see you guys in there." Kairi said to Naruto.
"Gotcha!" Naruto said. They walked off.
"Anyway guys, I jut wanted to say a few words before you went in there." Raido started. "I'm glad all three of you decided to do this, because you can all formally register for the chunin exams."
"Huh?" the three said collectively.
"You see, only groups of three are allowed to apply for and take the exams. That's the way it's always been." Raido said.
"But sensei, you said the decision to take the exam was up to the individual." Kairi said, confused.
"That's right. I did." Raido responded.
"Was that a lie?" Daigo asked.
"Sort of. It's an individual decision, but it affects all of you. I didn't tell you before because I didn't want you to pressure each other." Raido stated. "I wanted you to come to a decision of your own free will."
"You mean if I'd decided not to take the exam..." Kairi said.
"Daigo and Tadashi wouldn't be allowed to by themselves." Raido finished. "But it's a moot point. You're all here, and for the right reasons. Kairi, Tadashi, Daigo. I'm proud of you. I couldn't ask for a better team." He stepped aside. "Good luck."
"We will do you proud, Raido-sensei." Kairi said. The three continued down the hallway.
~~~
Raido disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The three walked down the hallway and approached some double doors at the end of the hallway. They opened the doors.
