As to the Chunin Exam, a lot of people have been asking me to hurry it up. I agree with you. But it is a part that any author must eventually come by if s/he is starting from the beginning of the story. (Except maybe crossover or later years) Bear with it; I'll try to move on with the First part of the exam.
I can't believe how long it took me to update this.
"talking"
"demon talking"
'thoughts'
'demon thoughts'
Pride talking Chapter 11
The mission didn't take as long as Naruto had expected. With the Chunin exam form in hand, he made his way back to his apartment. This exam was definitely a good thing for him. Ever since Nina came along, things seemed to have been going his way. He wasn't so lonely anymore and he even met new people. Not to mention the fact that his eye hadn't been bothering him lately.
He climbed the stairs to his apartment door quickly. There was no telling what Nina might do. He took the key to the lock out of his pocket and inserted it into the door. He braced himself for whatever lay beyond. Naruto swung open the door only to be greeted with………nothing.
Nothing was out of place. Nothing was broken. The stove was off, couch was still there, the plates and dishes were still intact. The only thing wrong was the fact that Nina wasn't there.
"Nina? I'm home!" he called, as he set down his jacket on the couch. Not hearing a reply, he walked into the kitchen. Naruto went over to the sink to wash some of the gook off of his hands. Some of the stuff they threw out there was pretty gross. He turned on the cold water faucet only for it to clog.
Naruto sighed. Sometimes the landlord would shut off the water just to annoy him. 'One day, I'll get my own house, without these stupid people around.'
As he walked away to talk to talk to the landlord about the water, he heard an odd churning. Naruto looked back to the sink. Out of the nozzle, a large shape was floating overhead. Taking water from the now running faucet, the shape added more and more to it. Soon it landed on the floor, taking a more distinctive shape.
"Look what I learned" said the water, in a familiar voice.
"N-Nina!"
"Yea, I practiced all day while you were gone. My whole body can turn to water. Isn't it great?" she said. She had now completed her form.
"That's amazing Nina." he said, "we should train together to see what else we can do."
She hopped onto his back and they made their way out of the door
"Left"
Whack
"No I meant your other left"
Crack
"What if I did this, little big brother?"
Splash
"It means I get soaked." Naruto sighed, completely drenched. "It looks like whenever your hit, your body forms into water and regroups. Kinda like a defense."
He threw a kunai at her. As it hit, it slowed down, until it dropped harmlessly though her body. The part of the body that was hit, only sewed back together. Nina patted her stomach, where it had hit.
"What about you, little big brother? Your gloves don't work on me." She asked.
"I didn't think they would. If we ever get into a serious spar, then I'd have to use a different method." He said
"You could still beat me though. That's because big brother's the best." she said.
"Hey you two, get off out training ground." A voice interrupted. Both of them looked back to see two bays, probably genin, if their forehead protectors were correct.
"What makes you think this is yours? We were here first." said Naruto.
"Because, pipsqueak, we need to train for the Chunin exam, so we have priority over you." said the first genin.
Naruto anger had risen at the pipsqueak comment. Nina knew that an explosion was coming, but was surprised when Naruto calmly answer the boy.
"Well what do you know, so am I. And since we were here first, you two jerks can just get lost." He answered.
The two genins eyes narrowed. They were being insulted by one, considerably shorter, genin, who also happened to be the object of hate for their parents. The boy did what anyone who was being insulted would have done. The genin punched him. Hard.
Naruto was sent reeling back a few feet. His anger was rising to a whole new level. It wasn't that the punch had actually hurt, but the fact that the bay had the nerve to do it. To make it worse, his eye was starting to hurt him again.
You know you want to.
'NO!'
It isn't that hard. They are weak.
'I won't'
"Let him go!" said one of the boys.
Naruto looked up from the ground and saw the two boys. The genin that had punched him was being held up in the air with a bubble of water surrounding his head. It occurred to him that the genin couldn't breathe. He was gasping for breath, while the trail of water stayed firm in place. Naruto's eyes followed the trail of the water back to Nina.
One of her arms had become transparent. What was worse was her eyes. They had become cold and hardened the pupils more slitted in shape. This was not good.
"No one…no one will hurt my brother." The grip of the water tightened, to genin turning paler by the second.
If Naruto didn't do something soon, the genin would die.
"Nina" he said firmly. She didn't relent in her attack, simply smirking.
"Nina, you have to stop. He didn't hurt me" he pleaded. That didn't reach her. She was still constricting the water around the genins head. The other genin had abandoned his partner, running back into the village.
By now the poor boy was barely holding onto consciousness, grasping at the water. Naruto was beginning to panic. If she killed him, they would blame it on him as well, and the Council might take Nina away from him.
"NINA, you have to stop this now!" he yelled, but to no avail "NINA" 'Damnit, what can I do?'
"SLOTH!" he screamed. Naruto watched her eyes widen in realization, as she dropped the now unconscious genin onto the ground.
"I didn't mean to" she said tearing, her hand going back into its solid from. She ran over to him and began sobbing into his shirt.
"I know" he whispered to her, trying to calm her down. He picked her up and brought her over with him as he checked the genin's pulse. It was still there, and going strong. Naruto guessed that he would wake up in an hour or two. For now he had to get Nina away.
"Is he going to be ok?" came Nina's timid voice from her position against his shoulder. She looked scared at the thought that she hurt someone, maybe even killed.
"Don't worry, he'll wake up soon." He said reassuringly. 'I can't just leave him here out in the open.' Rearranging Nina onto his back, he slowly dragged the genin into a bush. 'That should work until he wakes up'
With that done, he started sprinting back to the apartment. Nina had fallen asleep from crying so much, or he surmised that was what caused it. For all he knew, it might have been from using her 'power' on the boy for so long. Whatever the cause, she was now resting peacefully on his back as he made it to his apartment.
Going through the door, he made his way into her room. Placing her gently on the bed, he covered her up, and made his way to the living room. The room itself was connected to the rest of the house, but that was to be expected from the tiny apartment. He flopped down onto the couch and tried to sort out his thoughts. Nina was dangerous. He knew that when he met her and knew that when he decided to take her in. That wouldn't change. But he wasn't about to give up on her.
But she had never had such a horrible relapse before. She had never attacked someone so harshly before. And the worst part was that Naruto knew that, given the chance, she would have let the genin die a slow, painful death. That in itself, made Naruto shiver. He was a shinobi. He should be used to death. It was what he would be required to do as he rose in the ranks.
Then again, he hadn't killed yet. That is what's bothering him. The fact that a little girl (No matter what she was, he reminded himself) would have blood on her hand before him. His musings followed this trail of thought as he drifted off to sleep.
He hated birds.
Correction. He hated them in the morning when he was trying to sleep. He slowly sat up and stretched, frowning when he found that his back was sore. Naruto's mind was still fuddled. He looked over to the clock over the kitchen, finding it to be almost 8:00.
Groaning, he got up off the coach and went over to Nina's room. She was already up, playing with her crayons and paper. She smiled up at him. It was one of those 'I know something you don't' smiles.
"What?" Naruto asked.
"Do you know what today is?" she asked. He looked down at her, confused. He then made his way over to her calendar.
'The 15th? So what' He thought about the date some more before coming to the painful realization. "THE EXAM!"
He ran out of the room, listening to Nina laugh as he went to get changed.
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"You're late Naruto" said Sakura, standing next to an irate looking Sasuke.
" Aha…sorry, I forgot the day," he answered, as he slowed to a stop in front of them. She rolled her eyes at his answer. After their time at the Wave, she had seen him as more than a loud mouth idiot. He was willing to protect his friends, and stand for his morals. That was something she could respect, even if he did annoy her sometimes.
"Whatever, let's get going already" said Sasuke, as he pushed himself up off the wall he was leaning against.
And with that, Team Seven entered the building.
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Very short in my standards, but I have to get back into the story after being gone all summer. Please review.
After reading the newest chapters, I have decided that I really like Sakura's character depth. I want to expand on team seven in this fic, so I'll go deeper as time goes on.
And I started a writing journal in lj. The link is in my profile. Go over and give a prompt, and I'll try to write it out.