"Wake up!"
You groaned as something came in contact with your head. You swatted at air, keeping your eyes sealed shut. You expected something else to hit you in the head, but when nothing did, you felt sleep pull at you again. Your bed was so soft and warm. You could lay here all d-
Your mattress was yanked upwards, causing you to tumble on to the ground. You were immediately awake, scrambling to your knees and holding your head. You glared over the bed at Keitaro as he replaced the mattress.
"What the heck is your problem?" you rubbed your head.
"I said wake up," Keitaro said simply. He walked over to the window in your room, pulling open the brown, satin curtains. Light rushed in, bathing your room in sunlight. You hissed, throwing an arm in front of your eyes.
"For god's sake, Nakao. You're going to be late," Keitaro frowned over at you, hands sternly placed on his hips.
"And so is my sensei!" you glanced over to the clock on your nightstand, reading the red numbers. You growled, glaring over at your brother. "He said meet up at eight! You woke me up two hours early!"
"It's seven-thirty…"
"FINE. An hour and a half early," you let out an aggravated sigh, getting to your feet. You yawned, rubbing at your sleepy eyes.
Keitaro said nothing but rolled his eyes before leaving the room. As he closed the door behind him, you spit your tongue out at the closed door. Pouting, you slouched over to your dresser, grabbing out your clothes and headed into the bathroom.
-Twenty Minutes Later-
"It's about time," Keitaro lectured as you wandered down the stairs that connected to the dining room. He was sitting at the table, paper laid out in front of him.
You glared before pointing a finger at him accusingly. "Whatever. Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Yes," Keitaro said, getting to his feet. "I have to meet with the Hokage."
"For what?" you asked, watching as he made his way to the front door, slipping on his black ninja sandals.
He glanced up, one hand on the doorknob and winked at you. "It's a secret."
"What?" you furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. Keitaro didn't keep secrets. Not that you were aware of. He usually gave you a brief, general description of any missions or meetings he was assigned to join.
Keitaro flashed you a devious smile before slipping out the door. Your eye twitched.
Kakashi-sensei had assigned your team to meet on a bridge close to town. This meant you were going on missions today, not training. Otherwise, he would have designated you to meet in squad seven's usual training clearing. When you finally reached the bridge, you found that your three teammates were already there.
Sasuke was furthest away, leaning up against the red railing of the bridge. His back and elbows rest on the railing. He was staring off into the distance, bored. Sakura was to his right, closer to where you were entering from. She, too, was against the railing, but slouched. She was clearly agitated with Kakashi-sensei's absence. Naruto was on her right, sitting on the ground. His head was pulled back and he appeared to be sleeping.
You didn't even bother to greet your teammates as you stepped onto the bridge, and they didn't even bother to acknowledge your existence. Things had been particularly…awkward, since you got home from the Land of Waves. Especially between Sasuke and Naruto. There appeared to be some awkward tension between you and Sasuke as well, but you just tried your hardest to ignore it.
You, Sasuke and Naruto had yet to discuss anything that had happened on that bridge in the Land of Waves; and something told me you never would. It was like the three of you were just trying to pretend none of it had ever happened.
"Naruto…" you whispered. You noticed that his eyes were watery. "Can you put me by Sasuke…?"
"What?" Naruto looked visually surprised. His voice was shaky.
"Please…"
Your face flushed and you glanced down at your feet, embarrassed. This was probably a good thing. There was nothing worth remembering from that anyway. You didn't glance up until poof!
"Good morning, everyone."
You glanced up to find that Kakashi-sensei had finally joined your group. He stood in front of your team, smiling beneath his mask. "Sorry I'm late. Today, I got lost on the road of life."
"Liar!" Naruto and Sakura shouted, pointing fingers at your sensei accusingly.
"Kakashi-sensei! What kind of missions are we going on today!? I need a really big one! One that shows my way of the ninja!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.
"Naruto, remember what happened the last time we did that?" you asked, eyebrow raised and arms crossed over your chest.
Oh wait, of course not. You were all trying to forget your mission to the Land of Waves. Naruto didn't respond to you, however. Instead, he craned his neck to peer over at Sasuke. You raised an eyebrow as Sasuke noticed he was being watched. He stared right back at Naruto.
"I wanna say something like that!" Naruto suddenly cried out of nowhere, punching an arm into the air and almost causing you to jump in surprise.
Today's missions were boring and tedious; just like every D-ranked mission. You had several to complete and you were only on your first one. Apparently, a middle aged, cranky woman was too lazy to weed her own garden and it was your squad's job to do it for her. You each sat in a different section of the large garden, a basket on your side and a bunch of weeds to pull.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura's voice asked from somewhere behind you.
Plucking a rather large weed out of the ground and depositing it in your wicker basket, you glanced over your shoulder. Naruto was closest to you and was sitting on his backside, staring pensively at the weeds around him. He then shot a glare over at Sasuke, who was trying to pick weeds while retaining his dignity.
Naruto scowled, then set to ripping up everything in sight in a frenzy. Every plant, weed or not, was subject to his onslaught and soon, stems and weeds and dirt began flying everyone. You threw your arms in front of your face, protecting it from the debris.
"Naruto, knock it off!" you shouted.
You were beginning to grow concerned about Sasuke and Naruto's rivalry. Lately, it had been getting way too out of hand. If Naruto couldn't even handle Sasuke picking more weeds than him, how was your team ever supposed to get along? What if you got another C-ranked mission? God forbid Sasuke take out a few more ninja than Naruto. Good lord, by the end of the day, you'd have one less teammate. And you knew what teammate that would be.
"Hey you!"
You watched as the, rather large, woman you were weeding for, marched up to Naruto. Her face was scrunched up in anger as she stopped in front of the blonde, glaring. Naruto got to his feet, grinning widely. "I got all the weeds picked for you ma'am!"
The lady looked down, her body trembling. You bit your lip as her hands clenched into fists at her sides and she squeezed her eyes shut. You feared she might actually have an aneurism.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, finally sensing her distress.
"You picked all the weeds…along with the herbs I was growing!" the woman finally shouted.
Naruto cried out in surprise as the woman aimed several punches at him. You sighed, turning back to your own section and plucking another weed. As Naruto got the life beat out of him, you sighed, depositing the weed into your basket. "I'm bored."
Your next mission was a little less boring, but not by much. You and your teammates were standing in a flowing river, pants rolled up to your knees and large baskets strapped to your backs. You were using pokers to collect trash out of the river and depositing them in your basket. Kakashi-sensei, in the meantime, was ashore, sitting in the grass against a tree and reading his little orange book.
You stuck your stick into the water, catching a soda can that was floating by. You were depositing it in your basket when you heard a large splash.
"Ahhh! Help me!"
You whirled around to see Naruto had fallen down and was being swept downstream by the river's current. Downstream towards a very large waterfall.
"Naruto!" you yelled out, eyes wide. If there were sharp rocks at the bottom, he'd be dead for sure.
You dropped your poker and ran towards the blonde. He flailed out a hand, trying desperately to catch onto yours. You held onto a large rock, keeping yourself from being swept away as you tried to grab the boy. Your fingers touched momentarily, but they were slippery and Naruto failed to grab hold.
"Nakao!" Naruto yelled as he flew off the side.
"Naruto!" you cried, about to rush over to the edge of the cliff. That was, until you noticed that Sasuke had tied a line to a tree and had caught Naruto just as he had fallen. You let out a mushroom sigh in relief.
Late afternoon saw your last mission. This one was, by far, the best of the day. Your team had been assigned to walk dogs. Sasuke was walking a little wiener dog while Sakura walked a type of poodle mix. You were walking a small Pomeranian. Her name was S'mores and she was a happy little dog. She was hyperactive, always trying to run way ahead, but she only succeeded in choking herself as you held the leash tightly.
"Hey! No! Don't go that way!"
You glanced over. Naruto, of course, had taken the largest dog; a large bull dog. Your team stopped and watched as the dog, bigger than Naruto, was dragging Naruto with little effort towards a fenced off field. A quick glance at the sign with bold, red letters reading WARNING, told you it was a mine field.
"He just had to get the big dog," Sakura sighed.
"Bakka," Sasuke agreed.
"Do you think maybe we should have stopped him from taking a dog bigger than him?" you asked, glancing over at Sasuke. He was to your immediate left.
Neither Sakura nor Sasuke said anything as the dog neared closer and closer to the chain-linked fence. He was headed straight for a hole in the fence.
"Stop! We're not supposed to go in there!" Naruto yelled, desperately digging his heels into the ground in attempts to stop the dog, but failing miserably.
You winced as Naruto and the dog disappeared behind the fence and explosion after explosion began to light up. Red flames and dark gray smoke began to fill the area, blocking out your view. Your team waited several minutes for the smoke to dissipate.
When it did, you saw that quite a few trees had been blown apart. Fortunately, Naruto was alive. He sat on the ground, seemingly knocked into shock. He was covered completely in soot and he appeared to be breathing out smoke. The dog licked at his face.
"What an idiot."
You were more than happy when your crappy missions were done for the day. You could only handle so much of squad seven per day and you had long past reached your quota. You just wanted to go home, maybe practice some weapon combat, eat, bath and fall asleep. Was that so much to ask for?
Your team was returning from your last mission, walking horizontally on a back road. You and Sasuke were supporting Naruto between you, who was still out of commission after the mine field. Sakura was on Sasuke's side, hands on her hips, glaring over at Naruto. Kakashi-sensei was wandering a slight ways behind your group, his book still open in front of his face.
"This wouldn't have happened if you weren't so reckless, Naruto," Sakura scolded.
"You just need help all the time," Sasuke smirked, mockingly.
Naruto reacted before you could. He pushed forwards, away from you and Sasuke with such velocity that you stumbled backwards. You managed to stay upright, but you glanced up to Naruto, glaring. He had spun around to face Sasuke, shaking a fist angrily at him.
"Uuugh Sasuke!"
Naruto made to lunge at Sasuke, but Sakura suddenly cut in front. "If you don't knock it off, I'll finish you off."
"You guys, knock it off!" you complained, walking the several steps to stand right next to your team members. "I'm so sick of this."
"I agree. What happened to teamwork?" Kakashi-sensei asked, sounding more like a rhetorical question as he stood a slight distance away, glancing up from his book.
"Yeah, yeah! And it's always you messing up the teamwork, Sasuke! You always stick your nose into everything!" Naruto yelled.
"That's you, idiot," Sasuke glared.
"Alright, the both of you, stop it now," you demanded, stepping between Sasuke and Naruto. Sakura was still there too, but she wasn't very threatening.
"Nakao, how come you always take his side!?" Naruto complained, looking legitimately hurt.
"I'm not taking anybody's side!" you exasperated, throwing your arms into the air. "But I'm sick of having a headache every day when I get home! It's bad enough I have to deal with Sakura's face every day."
"What!?" Sakura rounded on you, fuming. Her face was actually flushed with heat. "Nakao, you're such a bitch!"
"Me! What about you!?"
Kakashi-sensei sighed as he watched his team argue. Sasuke with Naruto and you with Sakura. Just as fists were about to fly, Sasuke suddenly separated from the group.
"I'm sick of this. I'm going home," Sasuke announced, turning his back on the team.
You and Sakura immediately stopped arguing. You glanced over your shoulder to Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei took this moment to interject. "I think we should call it quits for today. I have to turn in these reports."
The words had barely left your sensei's mouth when Naruto began yelling. "See, Sasuke! You're ruining the missions and this team!"
Sasuke stopped and turned around, watching Naruto coolly. "You do that on your own. If you want to actually be useful, then become stronger than me."
Naruto's mouth opened slightly, as though he was dumbstruck. Sakura, too, was completely silent and you watched her shake gently. Was she really that afraid of these two?
"You two are giving me an aneurism. I'm leaving," you finally announced.
You had had enough of this squad. You were sick of always having to listen to Sasuke and Naruto fight. You were sick of Naruto being so hot-headed and sick of Sasuke baiting him. You were sick of Kakashi-sensei never intervening and always sitting around reading his book. And you were sick of Sakura because she was Sakura.
A poof from behind you told you that Kakashi-sensei had left. Sasuke glanced at you, then turned his back on you, leaving again. You waited for a second, contemplating your options. The way Sasuke was walking was the quickest route you could take home, since you lived on the outskirts of the village. If you took another route, it would take you at least twenty minutes longer to get home.
As you milled over your decision, Sakura ran past you, after Sasuke. "Nyeh Sasuke, how about we train together?"
Sasuke stopped, not even bothering to glance back at the girl. "Honestly, your abilities are worse than Naruto's. If you spent your time training instead of bothering me, you could actually learn a jutsu or two."
You let out a low whistle. 'Damn. He sure told her.'
Sasuke was beginning to walk again, but you being a smartass, you couldn't let that go. You just had to say something. "What about me? Don't you have something to say to me?"
Sasuke stopped and looked over his shoulder, glaring at you. You watched him expectantly, interested to hear your critique. Instead, he only glared a second longer, then turned his back on you again, walking away. You blinked, your mouth dropping open. What the hell? You knew you were awesome, but you didn't know that Sasuke had known that!
Sakura turned around, glaring daggers at you. You noticed after a second then glared back at her. "What?"
"I'm on to you, Nakao," Sakura walked over to you, poking a finger into your chest.
You hissed and stepped back. Glaring, you held up one finger. "Rule number one: never, ever, ever touch me."
"God you're so annoying!"
"And you're pink!"
"You're such a child!"
"You're the one poking me in the chest, you pedophile!"
Sakura suddenly lunged at you, hand pulled back. Your instincts set off. You dodged the hand aimed at your face and rammed a knee into her shin. She cried out and fell towards the ground, where you quickly grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her back. You sat atop the girl, holding her wrists together with one hand and pushing her face into the dirt with the other.
"You idiot," you glared down at her. All humor had left you now. Now you were just furious. "Did you honestly think you could lay a hand on me?"
Sakura did not reply but struggled beneath you. You let her do so for a minute before pushing off of her. She got to her knees as you turned your back on her and Naruto. Naruto had been watching the whole ordeal with his mouth hung open, eyes wide.
"See you tomorrow, Naruto," you said simply before taking your leave.
You took the way Sasuke had taken, figuring you wouldn't be running into him now. You felt tired now. Your team literally wore you out. They were so childish, so immature, so selfish. Honestly, how hard was it to do a day of chores, aka easy missions, without getting into one fight? You had managed it with Sakura. You bet Kiba didn't have this much trouble with his team.
'Kiba…'
You hadn't seen your friend in a very long time. Since before you left for the Land of Waves. You should probably pay him a visit. He could always make you laugh. Would he still be training now? You suddenly stopped, trying to decide what time it was. In fact, you had been so distracted with your thoughts you hadn't even been paying attention to where you were.
You glanced around yourself, barely paying noticing that you were entering the main market section of the village when something suddenly grabbed you around the waist. You immediately screamed out, flailing and trying to kick your assailant in any place you could reach. You felt your heel make contact with a shin.
"Ow!"
You stopped struggling and blinked. That voice…
"Kiba!" you squealed as you whirled around, for he had let you go when you had kicked him.
He was pouting, rubbing at his shin. "What the hell, Nakao?"
You scratched your cheek sheepishly. "Sorry. I thought I was being attacked."
"Well I'm glad to see you won't be kidnapped by anybody," Kiba mumbled.
You grinned and slung an arm around your friend's neck, pulling him against your side. "Oh quit being such a baby. You're fine."
"So where the heck have you been?" Kiba asked, slithering an arm around your waist to give you a quick hug.
The two of you began to walk aimlessly. You still had your arm slung around Kiba's shoulders as you walked, for you were nearly the same height. You shrugged the shoulder of your unoccupied arm. "Meh. I only got back a week or two ago. We've been busy doing crappy missions."
"Yeah, us too," Kiba sighed.
"I was just about to come find you," you told the boy, glancing over at him.
"Oh, missed me too much huh?" Kiba grinned.
You rolled your eyes. "Oh yes, I simply die without your constant presence."
You and Kiba shared a laugh, leaving you momentarily distracted. In just that second, you suddenly rammed into something, catching your attention. You stumbled back, glancing up to see you had run into someone's back. They turned around to face you.
The subject in question was a male, maybe a year or two older than you. He was dressed completely in black, including a black hood that covered his head. Purple paint decorated his face in lines. On his back was, what appeared to be, some kind of mummified pot. What was odder, however, was the headband wrapped around the boy's forehead. He was from the Village Hidden in the Sand…where your clan was from. The boy glared down at you.
"Sorry," you apologized, Kiba at your side, but your arm no longer around his shoulders.
"You ran into me," the boy stated.
You shifted your feet, confused. "Yeah…sorry…"
Suddenly, the boy's arm flashed out at you and a gloved hand grabbed you by the collar of your shirt. Kiba cried out in protest as the boy lifted you up by the collar of your shirt, effortlessly. You swung your legs, trying to kick the boy, but he was taller than you and your feet couldn't reach him.
"Stop it, unless you want to get in trouble again," a girl on the boy's left muttered, glancing around herself nervously.
You hadn't noticed her before. She appeared to be about the same age as the boy. She had blonde hair pulled into four ponytails, two on the top of her hair and two by the base of her neck. She was wearing a pink, what appeared to be a, dress that started at her shoulders and ended mid-thigh. A red sash was tied around her waist. On her back was a long object that was nearly her height. It was thin and at a glance, you couldn't figure out what it was. She wore the same headband around her neck.
"Let her go," Kiba demanded, sounding incredible angry. You didn't often hear that tone in Kiba's voice; not even during the worst fights between him and his older sister.
"Nakao!" you heard Naruto's voice.
There was the sound of running footsteps from behind you, though you couldn't turn around and look. Obviously, Naruto was there, and you felt Sakura's presence too. Then there were…one…two…three others. Their chakras weren't familiar and very faint.
From your left, you could sense movement; Kiba was going to strike. Just as he was about to do so, however, an object came sailing towards you from your right. It was so quick it was barely a blur and almost quicker than you could calculate, the object whizzed into the boy's hand. He cried out in surprise as blood squirted from his hand, and you fell to the ground on your backside. You winced, rubbing at your side while everyone looked to their right to see where the object had come from.
It was Sasuke. He was sitting up in a tree, staring down at the two newcomers. He was tossing something up and down in his right hand…pebbles. He had tossed a pebble at the boy's hand.
"What are you doing in another village?" Sasuke glared, crushing the pebbles in his hand. He opened the hand, letting the pebble dust blow into the wind. "Get lost."
While everyone was concerned with Sasuke and Sakura was swooning at him, Kiba paid no mind and ran over to you. He quickly grabbed you by the hand pulling you to your feet.
"Are you okay?" he asked, his eyes critically scanning you for wounds.
"I'm fine," you assured, rubbing at your tailbone for a second before glancing up at Sasuke.
Kiba looked sourly up at Sasuke. "What a show off."
You glanced back to Kiba at the odd influx of bitterness in his voice, but agreed with a mumble. "You have no idea."
What was Sasuke doing here anyway? You thought he was going home.
"Get down here you little punk so I can rip you to threads!" the boy yelled up at Sasuke angrily.
You watched, alert, as the boy reached for the object on his back. He brought it in front of him, setting it on the ground. It rose to just above his waist. The bandages covering it began to unravel.
"Kankuro, no! Don't use that here," the girl hissed.
"Kankuro. Stop."
You glanced back up to Sasuke. His head was turned, surprise written on his face. Hanging upside down on the branch above Sasuke's, was another boy. His spikey hair was a deep crimson color. He too, was wearing a large object on his back. It appeared to be a gourd, held in place by a sash that ran diagonally across his chest. That was where you found the Sand headband.
At the sight of the boy, the girl began to fidget uneasily. The boy in black nearly began to shake in…fear? "G-Gaara…?"
You looked back to the boy named Gaara. Two things interested you about Gaara. Number one was his eyes. They were a very interesting sea foam green color. Very beautiful. But his eyes were outlined, thickly, with black. It looked almost as if he had taken a whole thing of eyeliner and smudged it around his eyes. Secondly, Gaara appeared to be your age; younger than the other two ninja; who you guessed were his teammates. So why was he the one in charge?
"…In this world, there are kids younger than you, but stronger than me."
'Hmm…'
"You're an embarrassment to our village," Gaara said to the boy named Kankuro. "What do you think we came to the Leaf Village to do?"
"L-Listen…Gaara…" Kankuro stuttered. "Th-these guys-"
"Shut up. I'll kill you," Gaara's voice never changed as he kept his unwavering gaze on Kankuro.
Kankuro and his female companion seemed to visibly shake in fear. The blood in your veins chilled. This kid wasn't kidding around. This was insane. Who the hell were these guys and what were they doing in your village?
"G-Got it! My-my mistake!" Kankuro's voice seemed to plead. "S-Sorry. So sorry."
"Apologize to them," Gaara demanded.
Kankuro slowly turned his head to face you and Kiba. Fear was written all over his face. His mouth opened, but no words came out. Kiba stepped in front of you, holding his right arm out as if to keep you behind him. Which was strange. "Forget it."
A noise brought your attention back towards Sasuke. You watched in surprise as, what appeared to be, sand, began to flow around Gaara, swirling around him much like your wind did. The sand made a sort of hissing sound as it did so. A moment later, he was gone. Right in front of you, beside the other two Sand ninja, the sand reappeared, revealing Gaara.
"Let's go; we didn't come here to play around," Gaara addressed Kankuro and the kunoichi. They made to turn their backs on you, when Kiba stopped them.
"Wait."
You glanced over at your friend, tugging on his sleeve. You hissed in his ear. "What do you think you're doing?"
Kiba paid no mind to you, making you huff in frustration. You subconsciously noted Sasuke presence drop down beside you.
"You're from the Sand Country. What are you doing here?" Kiba demanded, revealing nothing but confidence.
"Talk about living under a rock," the girl smirked, pivoting to face your group once more.
"Don't you guys know anything?" Kankuro sounded smug.
"Here's my passport," the girl retrieved a small, pocket-book looking object and flipped it open. Indeed, her picture was on the passport and skimming through it quickly, you found that her name was Temari. She continued. "You are right; we're from the Sand Country. But since you don't know, we're here to take the Chuunin Exams."
'Chuunin Exams!?' you mouth dropped slightly. Konoha was hosting the Chuunin Exams? Why the hell hadn't you heard of that?
"Chuunin Exams? What's that?" Naruto asked cluelessly from somewhere behind you.
"You mean you really don't know?" Temari smirked, amused.
You felt a flash of embarrassment. You, of course, knew what they were. But Naruto…ugh. How would he ever become Hokage if he had no idea what the hell he was talking about half of the time?
"Uh boss…if you take the Chuunin Exams, you can go from genin to chuunin."
You glanced behind yourself for the first time. Behind you stood, of course, Naruto and Sakura. The other three presences were Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. They were three, small academy students who worshipped Naruto. They often tried to get him to play 'ninja' with then. How a ninja plays ninja still remains a mystery to you. It was Konohamaru who had spoken; he was the Hokage's grandson.
"Really!? I should take that too!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.
You sighed. You could feel a headache coming on. The three Sand ninja began to walk away again, before Sasuke stepped in front of you. He called out to one of the ninja. "Hey you, what's your name?"
Temari turned around, blushing. "You mean me?"
"No, the kid with the gourd," Sasuke pointed. You looked to him, confused. You had already figured out the boy's name was Gaara. Why was your team so stupid?
The 'kid with the gourd' turned back around. "Gaara of the desert. I am quite interested to know your name as well."
"Uchiha Sasuke," your teammate responded, smugly.
You rolled your eyes before you were suddenly barreled into. You fell to your side, knocking into Kiba, who caught you. Naruto had dashed in front of you, grinning and sticking a thumb into his chest. "Hey hey, I bet you're dying to know my name."
"I couldn't care less," Gaara responded before turning his back on you once more, and taking his leave.
It was quiet for a minute as everyone watched the Sand ninja disappear into a throng of people. Naruto was watching the ground in disappointment. Sasuke turned to look at you.
"You're just as bad as Naruto, needing help all the time," he told you.
You glared. "What!? Why are you starting shit with me?"
"Because you just wasted my time having to save you," Sasuke responded, hands in the pockets of his shorts.
You could feel heat flush into your face as the anger built up inside of you. Your body was shaking. You could feel the curse words bottling up. But to your surprise, Kiba stepped up beside you.
"Why are you such a jackass all the time?" he glared at Sasuke, wrapping one hand gently around your upper arm.
Sasuke glared at the boy. Anger was beginning to take place of his features. "This doesn't concern you."
"It's a wonder you haven't committed genocide," Kiba muttered to you. "Come on, let's go, Nakao."
Kiba turned away from Sasuke and your other teammates, dragging you with him. You glanced over your shoulder momentarily just in time to see Sasuke glare holes into Kiba's back.
You yawned widely, stretching your arms high above your head. It was far too early to be up; especially after last night. Kiba had stayed the night by your place; meaning the two of you hadn't gotten very much sleep. You had both sleepily forced yourselves to get up and get ready to meet your respective senseis.
You had headed to the bridge to see that Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were already there. Those saps always came right on time. As you arrived, it seemed Sakura had already begun her complaining of the day.
"Ugh, why is Kakashi-sensei always late!?" she cried out as you walked onto the bridge where you had been designated to meet. "What about the feelings of a young maiden who woke up late and didn't have time to finish blow drying her hair?"
"Oh god, not that!" you cried, mocking despair, throwing an arm across your forehead theatrically as you passed the kunoichi.
Sakura turned to you and you sat down on the bridge next to Sasuke, who was leaning against the railing again. She glared. "Just because you don't take care-"
"Woah, woah, woah, let me stop you there, Pinkie," you held up a hand. "My hair is already better than yours. End of argument. I win."
Sakura shook angrily and was about to respond, when Naruto interjected. "Hey, hey! I overslept and didn't have time to wash my face or brush my teeth or change my underwear!"
Sakura looked over her shoulder at the boy and you peered past her to him. You raised an eyebrow. "Naruto that's…nasty…"
A popping noise grabbed your attention. You and your teammates glanced up to find Kakashi-sensei squatting on the arch that hung over the bridge. He waved. "Good morning, everyone. Today, I had to help a little old lady across the street and-"
"Liar!" Naruto and Sakura yelled.
Kakashi-sensei jumped down and the four of you moved closer to him. "Yeah, well, anyway…I know this is sudden, but I've nominated you four to enter the Chuunin Exams."
'Huh? He nominated us?' you blinked.
Kakashi-sensei reached into his back pouch, pulling out four pieces of paper. "Here are your applications."
"Chuunin Exams…" Sakura said wearily as she took her application.
"This is only a nomination. You don't have to take the exam if you do not wish to," Kakashi-sensei assured, handing you your application last.
Just as you grabbed the paper, Naruto latched himself onto Kakashi-sensei. "Oh thank you, Sensei!"
"Get off!" Kakashi-sensei began to pry Naruto off.
"Chuunin Exams! Chuunin Exams!" Naruto chanted excitedly after Kakashi-sensei had managed to remove him.
"Those who wish to take the exams should sign this form and bring it to room 301 of the academy building in three days," Kakashi-sensei instructed.
You glanced down at your application.
CHUUNIN EXAMS APPLICATION
Makase Nakao
The above person, under the name of Hatake Kakashi, had been nominated to take the Chuunin Exams.
Jounin Hatake Kakashi
Below the text was a line for you to sign and date. You were so distracted by this that you hardly noticed when Kakashi-sensei disappeared in a cloud of smoke. In fact, you were in autopilot as your team began moving, walking side by side, and you joined without realizing.
"Chuunin Exams, huh?" Naruto looked to his application with admiration.
His voice had shaken you from your deep thoughts and caused you to glance past Sasuke and Sakura to him. You then looked back to your paper, thinking aloud. "There are going to be a bunch of tough opponents there. This won't be easy…"
'That Gaara kid will be there…This is gunna be a lot of fun.'
"I don't know about this, Nakao," Keitaro said uneasily, his eyes scanning your application form for the tenth time.
You rolled your eyes, sitting across from him at the table. "Come on, Keitaro. I can't stay a genin forever. Besides, you took the exam."
"That's exactly why I'm worried," your elder brother sighed, setting the application down on the table.
You reached across, sliding it over to you. Your eyes fell over the text again. Picking up the pen you had set beside you moments earlier, you scribbled your name onto the sheet of paper. Keitaro watched wearily.
"Just be careful," Keitaro resigned. "And Sasuke will be with you, right?"
Your head snapped up. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Keitaro looked at you pointedly, like it wasn't the oddest statement in the world. "He's a strong kid. And he'll protect you."
You stared for a second. "…What drugs are you on and where can I buy some?"
"I'm serious, Nakao."
You pointed your pen accusingly at your brother. "Do you doubt my abilities?"
"Everyone has their limitations, Nakao," Keitaro responded.
You rolled your eyes. "What an amazing pep talk. 'Don't shoot for the stars, they're too high for you'!"
Keitaro glared lightly, getting to his feet. "Must you always be a smartass?"
"I learned it from somewhere," you looked pointedly at him. "Besides, when you're a part of squad seven, it's the only thing that keeps you sane."
Keitaro sighed, running a hand through his bangs. "Alright, I'll give you that."
The smoke was everywhere. It clouded out your vision, making you momentarily blind. Breathing was becoming hard too. Every time you inhaled, you took in smoke, causing you to cough so hard your throat was beginning to hurt.
"Nakao!"
A sense of relief rushed over you. "Keitaro!"
You still couldn't see anything, but you could hear footsteps. They were bounding towards your closed door. You coughed again, waiting as something smashed through the wooden door, sending splinters of wood spraying in all directions. You opened watery eyes to see a dark figure walk into the room.
"Keitaro!" you coughed, getting to your feet.
From somewhere to your right, a window shattered inward, making you cry out in fear. You felt a strong pair of arms grab hold of you.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
With a start, you woke up from your dream, shooting up in bed. It took your eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness as you peered around, wondering what noise had awoken you.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
You looked over to your window. It was partly covered with your curtains, keeping the full moon hidden. That's where the noise was coming from. You rubbed at your left eye, keeping your right eye trained on the window.
'What the hell?'
Pulling back your blanket, you slid out of bed, bare feet on the floor. You wandered over to the window.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
You draw back the curtains, expecting to see a bird knocking into your window. Instead, Uchiha Sasuke stood on your roof, hand on the window cill. You were immediately awake. Self-consciously, your hands flew to your hair, your fingers running through it rapidly, hoping to fix any locks out of place.
You unlocked the window, pushing it open. A breeze rushed through, passing over your bare arms and legs, for you were only wearing a tank top and a pair a short, shorts. You shivered, crossing your arms over your chest in an attempt to hug yourself.
"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" you whispered, glancing nervously behind you at your dark room. You looked back to him. "What's wrong? What happened? Who died?"
A smirk slid onto Sasuke's face. You watched him confused. Were you still dreaming? Had your dream just taken a rapid turn?
"Come out here," Sasuke nodded his head, indicating the roof.
"Why?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes but moved away from you. Confused, you slowly clambered out of the window and onto your roof. The shingles were rough beneath your bare feet and the wind blew your hair across your face out here. You shook it out of the way.
"Sasuke, what the hell are you doing? Did you have a stroke?" you asked, finding him. He was only standing a foot away from you, for a second.
You watched as Sasuke moved to the edge of your roof, peering down over the side cautiously. You were far beyond bewildered at this point. And you were growing cold. Was Sasuke on acid or something? But regardless, you moved towards the edge. Standing beside Sasuke, you peered down as well. There was nothing down here.
"Sasuke, what the-" you started without looking up, but Sasuke interrupted you.
"You're an idiot. A trusting idiot."
"What-" you glanced up just in time to see Sasuke reach an arm out, pushing you.
You let out a gasp, the wind catching in your throat. You fell forward but twisted your body, catching onto the gutter of your house. Pulling yourself back up onto the roof, you glared at Sasuke, who was standing in front of you smugly.
You breathed heavily. 'Something's not right here…'
You forced your body to calm down and your breathing to become shallow. Never taking your eyes off of Sasuke, you concentrated. The harder you concentrated, the more the image in front of you began to change. 'Sasuke', like an oil painting in water, started to drip away, leaving in his place a rather square looking man, completely covered in clothing.
"Who the hell are you?" you demanded, getting to your feet. "And where's the real Sasuke?"
The imposter dropped his genjutsu, revealing to you his true form. You glared. Your weapons were inside your room, but no matter. You had your ninjutsu and taijutsu.
"Very clever," the imposter commented. "You saw through the genjutsu."
"You're a poor actor. Sasuke's an asshole but he wouldn't knock me off of a roof. Now where's the real Sasuke," you demanded, taking a step forward.
"Unharmed, for now," the imposter assured. "But the Chuunin Exams will not be so easy."
"Get the hell off my roof," you glared. "I don't know who you are, but if I see you at the exams, you better run because I will kick your ass."
The imposter chuckled deeply before he simply vanished into thin air. You narrowed your eyes. This was going to be an interesting time.