Ch. 14

Second and Final Exam Begin

Tsunade P.O.V.

When I arrived at the arena I found Gaara- who had at one point found time to change into his Kazekage robes- giving Tsubaki one last kiss and a 'good luck' to Neko. I walked over and asked if I could talk to the girls alone. He nodded and gave Tsubaki one last hug before heading to our seats.

I looked at the girls and smiled "You two are my pride and joy. You are the best students that I could have asked for and I send you off with great luck. I warn you now, should fire be used in Tsubaki's fight I will stop the match and give it to her opponent. I will do so because I know what will happen if I don't. I told them

I gave them each a hug and said "I see you both as daughters and wish to keep you safe. Please, be careful out there and come back to me safe and sound." They both smiled at me and Tsubaki said "we both see you as a mother. You taught us, watched over us and make sure we stay healthy and happy." They gave me one more hug before we went our separate ways.

Neko's P.O.V.

When we parted ways with Tsunade we started to head down to the arena. On the way we were stopped by all the rest of our friends. They each took a turn giving us a hug and telling us 'good luck'. With that we continued on our way to wait for the exam to begin.

We decided about half way down that walking took too long. Instead we took a step back and jumped from about the top of the arena to the ground floor. When we landed we heard a get knocked over and looked up to see Tsunade with a worried face and her chair knocked over. When she saw that we were okay she reset her chair and sat down.

We were the only ones there so far and we ended up waiting ten minutes until a third person arrived. The person was a male that had rainbow colored bangs but the rest of his hair was black. We know who he is but have never talked to him before. His name is Saku; I am certain that he is gay because of the way he watches Naruto.

Tsunade stood and said "welcome everyone; even though this is supposed to be the second exam because so many died in the first we will just have the third exam instead. We will have each of these three competitors fight one-on-one with a jounin level ninja in order to know that they are ready for this." Tsubaki looked really nervous and I swore that I heard her gulp.

Tsubaki's P.O.V.

Neko stood tall but I knew that she was slightly nervous too. I grabbed her hand and she gave it a tight squeeze- no one else cared because they knew that if I ever got scared I would hold Gaara, Neko or Neji's hand for comfort.

We patiently waited for our fighting partners to be announced. As we waited I glanced at Saku; I always wondered why he was here. I also wondered what was special about him- I could tell he was very different from others. He suddenly sent me a glance and our eyes met. For a few short seconds everything went black. When I could see again he had already looked away.

It had been ten minutes before Tsunade stood up to inform us of who our opponents were going to be. "We have decided that the opponents will be three of the four missing ninja who have just this morning arrived in the village. Saku will be facing Kisame, Neko shall face Itachi, who has been a spy for our village since the Uchiha massacre, and Tsubaki will face Deidara." Almost everyone either gasped or started to shout their disagreements about it.

It surprised me when Sasuke stood up and said "Itachi and the others are of no harm here. Itachi never murdered our family; he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. So let them be the opponents for they will make sure that everything goes well." Everyone stared at him as he smiled down at me. I smiled back as I pointed at the sky and everyone looked up to see 'thank you' written in the clouds.

The first fight was between Saku and Kisame, so Neko and I went to our seats. Neko sat to my left and there was an empty seat to my right for Saku. We heard Tsunade call "begin" but nothing happened except Kisame took his sword from his back. Both also got into a fighting stance and waited for the other to attack.

Saku was first to charge with a kunai in hand. Kisame blocked with his sword and pushed Saku away about ten feet. When Saku was out of the way you could see the blood on Kisame's right arm. I looked ready to throw up- I had never been good with blood- and looked over at Saku. At that moment Saku looked back and then everything went black.

I was still fully conscious but I couldn't see anything. I heard clashed of metal on metal, cheering and then a thump. After a few more minutes I could see again and I looked over at Neko and asked "What happened?" She looked at me in shock before saying "Saku just beat Kisame in the strangest way. One second Kisame's sword and Saku's kunai hit then Kisame started to look around as if Saku had disappeared. Saku was ready to attack Kisame from the front. Saku hit Kisame in the back of the neck rendering him unconscious."

Soon Saku was sitting on my right side and Neko stood up. I gave her hand a small squeeze before she headed down. As soon as she left Itachi walked past me with a small nod of the head; in which, I returned.

Once they were both in the arena they shook hands- unlike Saku and Kisame- and once again Tsunade called 'begin'. Unlike Saku and Kisame both Neko and Itachi charged at each other at the same time.

At first it was all taijutsu. It just went back and forth, every time Neko hit Itachi he hit back twice as hard, which led to her hitting him three times harder than that. After about ten minutes Neko did a basic clone jutsu and Itachi activated. 'This is where it really begins' I thought.

Neko used an earth jutsu and Itachi dodged before it could hit him. This continued and I had realized what Itachi was doing, he was tiring her out but Neko had yet to notice. After a few more minutes a look of realization appeared on Neko's face and I smiled. Soon my eyes started to wander from the fight; I looked at Saku he looked bored, and then up to Tsunade and Gaara who looked very serious as they watched the fight.

A moment later I heard Neko call my name in terror. I turned to see what was wrong but saw nothing other than fire. It was coming right at me; I froze in fear and closed my eyes as I waited for the burning pain that was to come; it never came. When I opened my eyes I found a sand wall mixed with a protecting vines jutsu which kept the fire from burning me.

I felt someone holding onto my arm as if ready to pull me out of the way. When I looked I found out it was Saku. Once I knew I was safe I curled into the smallest ball I could and started to cry and shake. Saku released my arm and I heard the sand as it went back into Gaara's gourd and the vines retreated into the ground.

The next thing I knew I was picked up and hugged close to someone. I looked up to find Tsunade holding me with Gaara and Neko right behind her with worry on their faces. I clutched onto her crying harder and she started to rub my back in order to calm me. You could hear all my friends as they came running and asked Neko if I was okay. They already knew the answer; I was completely fine but had been scared by the fire.

Neko's P.O.V.

I watched as Tsunade held Tsubaki and soon felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to find Itachi who asked "Is she okay? Was she hurt? I'm so sorry about this." I looked at him and said "She is completely unharmed; she just has a fear of fire because of something that happened three years ago." Itachi looked at Tsubaki again and then back at me. "Is it possible for you to tell me what happened, please?" he asked.

I nodded and then waved him to follow me. We walked for a little while before Iruka, Kakashi, Deidara and Sasori stopped us. "Can you tell us what's going on?" Kakashi asked in a slightly annoyed tone. I nodded and said "Tsubaki is having a panic attack." Iruka was about to ask why she was scared but I just told them to come with Itachi and I.

After a few more minutes of walking I found a spot that didn't have anyone else around. I stopped and sat down before motioning the others to sit as well. I explained what had happened in our village the three years before as well as why we had to leave our village. When I finished the story Deidara and Iruka were hugging each other crying, Itachi didn't seem different until you looked into his eyes- they were filled with a feeling that showed that he understood- and Sasori looked slightly saddened by the story. I couldn't tell how Kakashi felt.

After a few minutes Kakashi asked "Did you ever figure out who started the fire the first time?" I shook my head and said "It was impossible since we lived in such a small village." By then you could have sworn that someone could drown in the tears Deidara and Iruka were crying.

After Deidara and Iruka stopped crying a few minutes later we all headed back to where the others were. When we got back we found Tsubaki asleep in Tsunade's arms. When she saw us she handed Tsubaki to Gaara and waved Deidara over to speak with him. After a few minutes he returned and Tsunade headed back to her seat.

After she had returned to her spot she called "The last match will be postponed until tomorrow when Tsubaki is feeling better. Also the winner of Neko and Itachi's match is Itachi. The winner does not affect if she passes or not, that shall be decided later. That is all, thank you."

When she was done she came back she told me that I was to take Tsubaki strait home and I understood why. I asked Gaara if he could carry her back to our house. He happily- at least I think he was happy- replied that he would. The others walked with us until we came close to their homes then they would be on their way

When we got to our house we said goodbye to Naruto and went inside. I showed Gaara to Tsubaki's room and told her to put in her bed. When he went to let her go Tsubaki gripped his clothes tight enough that it could break steel. I told him that he could stay the night since we both knew that her grip was too tight to try to get her to release it.

It was almost 2 in the morning before I headed to bed. I looked in on Gaara and Tsubaki one last time before going to my room. When I checked I found Gaara lying on the bed wide awake watching Tsubaki as she slept with her hand gripping his shirt; it was as if she was a small child. I quietly shut the door and headed to bed.