Chapter Thirteen
"Psst…!" someone hissed through the window above my bed.
I groaned and rolled over, slamming the pillow over my ears.
"Psst! Squirt!" the person hissed again. "Wake up!"
Mumbling quiet profanities, I pushed myself up off of my bed, forcing myself into a sitting position. I blinked tiredly as I stared blankly at the window, where I was greeted with the sight of Deidara, his hair untied and messy and still in his pajamas.
"Deidara Senpai? What is it?" I asked quietly and tiredly, rubbing my eyes. I glanced at my clock and frowned. "It's only six AM…"
"You're gonna help me and Tobi prepare for tomorrow. Un," he stated.
I shook my head. "No way. Sasori no Danna chucked me into the pond yesterday; I am not going through that again," I muttered defiantly, crossing my arms over my chest.
"It's not an attack on Danna. It's something Pein wants me to do for the Chuunin Exams, un," Deidara said, leaning against the window frame. "So come on."
"Why is it always me?" I asked.
"I caught you as a lone camper and you owe me. And you're fun and better at handling explosives than Tobi. Un," he explained.
At that, I couldn't help but smile a very small smile. "Okay, okay, give me a minute," I said, reaching out and closing the window curtain.
I slid out of bed and made my way over to my wooden chest and pulled out shorts, a bra, socks, a tank top and a cutoff tee.
I pulled those on quietly, careful not to wake the other girls or Kurenai, and then crept over to the door. I crouched on the ground and pulled on my sneakers before straightening up. I grabbed my brush off of Kurenai's dresser, where we all keep our brushes, and quickly ran it through my hair before tying it off in two braids.
I slowly pulled the door open and tiptoed out before silently shutting the door.
"Ready?" Deidara asked, carrying a box full of clay, dye, matches and numerous other things whose purpose I did not want to know.
I nodded and followed him wordlessly to his cabin, being careful not to get whacked by the branches that he inadvertently sent my way.
"Senpai! You're back! And you brought Andi-chan!" Tobi yelled, greeting myself and Deidara and then hugging me tightly.
I blinked a few times before hugging him back and patting him on the back. "Hey, Tobi-san."
"Hello, Andrea," another voice said.
I stiffened and leaned to the left, peering past Tobi to see Sasori no Danna, sitting calmly on Deidara's desk.
"Um…hi, Sasori no Danna…" I said, waving at him. "You're not still sore about the explosives, because I'm sorry, and-"
Sasori lifted a hand, silencing me with the simple gesture. "This has nothing to do with that. Pein is having me help the brat prepare for the Chuunin Exams."
I sighed in relief. I really did not want to have to constantly be on the lookout for attacks on me… "So what are we doing, exactly?"
"Making fireworks!" Temari exclaimed, kicking the door open and entering dramatically. Tobi and I jumped in shock and ended up landing on either one of Deidara's feet, sending the three of us tumbling into Sasori, who merely stepped to the side and smirked as we crashed to the floor.
"Temari! What have I told you about kicking my door down, un?" Deidara demanded, disentangling himself from Tobi and jumping to his feet.
Tobi grabbed my arm and jumped up, pulling me to my feet as well.
"I'm pretty sure you said something along the lines of if you do it again I'll blow you up, un! …Right?" Temari asked, smirking after imitating Deidara's voice and way of speech.
"Danna! Why did you let us fall?" Tobi asked, turning to Sasori.
Sasori just smirked and shrugged. "I saw no reason to."
"And you call me the brat! It was pretty bratty of you to let us fall, un!" Deidara yelled to Sasori.
"It isn't my fault that you're so clumsy, brat!" Sasori yelled.
"Why are you such a grouch, Danna, un?" Deidara demanded.
"Why are you such a brat? Don't talk to your Danna like that!" Sasori exclaimed.
"Okay, break it up," Temari said, putting her hands on either one of their shoulders. "You two argue like an old married couple!"
"Heheh, no wonder Senpai calls Sasori Danna…" Tobi said with a chuckle.
Deidara and Sasori stiffened and turned on Temari and Tobi, knocking them both to the ground. "Shut up, brat! Un!" they yelled, Deidara being the only one saying un.
"…I don't get it," I said with a shrug.
Temari got off of the floor and looked at me. "Danna either means master…or husband," she said with a smirk.
"Eh, why does Deidara Senpai call Sasori no Danna Danna in the first place?" I asked.
"Because they're lovers!" Temari exclaimed, receiving a punch in the back from the angry redhead and blond, knocking her to the floor.
"Because Sasori no Danna was Senpai's tutor in school," Tobi said. "Sasori no Danna told him to call him that!"
"Ohh…" I said, nodding in understanding. "That makes sense… So when are we making the fireworks?"
The firework making business was fun work. Sasori made wooden capsules that Tobi and Temari painted while Deidara and I mixed different explosive powders together with dye and some of his special clay.
He didn't want Temari or Tobi to handle the explosives with us, since he said they're both too clumsy, and he didn't want his cabin blowing up. I have steady hands, though, so I was fine.
"Come on, Squirt," Temari said, getting up and placing a hand on my head. "I'll take you back to the cabin before the others wake up, alright?"
I sealed my final firework before handing it off to Deidara and nodding at Temari. "Yeah, I'm done now."
"Thanks for the help, Squirt," Deidara said, grinning and nodding at me.
"Yeah, we finished faster because you helped, Andi-chan!" Tobi exclaimed, giving me a closed-eye grin. Sasori merely nodded in agreement at me and Temari.
"See ya," Temari and I said, waving to the three guys before heading out of the cabin and over to my cabin.
"So today should be fun," Temari said, folding her hands behind her head as we walked through the foresty path.
"Why would more training be fun?" I asked with a groan, my muscles still sore from yesterday.
Temari grinned. "Because students and teachers are coming from the other Elite schools today. So you get to meet Baki, Suna's official Chuunin Exam trainer!" she exclaimed excitedly. "He's great, he really is."
"About how many kids from each school come?" I asked curiously.
She shrugged. "It differs, really, but you're allowed no more than twenty. Otogakure, that new school that Sasuke goes to, is only bringing seven, plus Sasuke. And Sunagakure just has you and my brothers. Kusagakure has a few, Kirigakure isn't coming this year, and neither are Takigakure or Amegakure or Kumogakure or Iwagakure…"
I blinked. "How many Elite Schools are there?" I asked.
"Nine Elite, but there are a few others that are on their way to becoming Elite, like Getsugakure and Hoshigakure and Uzushiogakure and Yugakure and Yukigakure and Moyagakure," she said, counting them off on her fingers. "Takumi and Kagero want to be Elite too, but they're not even close!"
"Mhmm…" I said, nodding and trying to make sense of the confusing, Japanese-sounding words.
"The five main Elite schools, however, are Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure," Temari said matter-of-factly. "They decide collectively on whether or not a school is worthy of becoming an Elite."
"Why do the schools have such complicated names?" I exclaimed, exasperated.
Temari laughed. "Well, we normally abbreviate them by getting rid of the gakure, but I wanted to mess with your mind a bit," she said, slinging an arm around my shoulders, getting me in a headlock and giving me a noogie.
"Gah! Knock it off!" I exclaimed, pulling myself away from her and grinning.
"There you are, Andi…"
Temari and I froze and looked ahead of us to see a glaring Kurenai Sensei with the rest of my cabin behind her.
"Um…h-hey, guys…" I said nervously with a little wave. "Eh, good morning!"
"Why did you leave the cabin so early this morning?" Kurenai asked me.
"…You heard me?" I asked.
Kurenai nodded. "Hinata woke up when you were leaving, so she told the rest of us."
Hinata blushed and looked at the ground, ashamed and embarrassed about having ratted me out.
I shrugged. "I was with Temari," I replied, not sure if I was allowed to tell them about making fireworks with Deidara and Sasori and Tobi.
Kurenai looked at Temari in the eyes, and the two had a wordless exchange. Temari nodded and silently left without a word.
"Well, since you're up and dressed and read, let's head over to Morning Ceremony," Kurenai said, spinning around and beginning the walk over to the blacktop.
I sighed in relief and followed, only to have the rest of the girls drop back and talk to me.
"Where were you? You were with Deidara Senpai again, right? Well?" Ino asked me all in a rush.
"One question at a time, sheesh," I muttered, letting out a yawn and stretching. "But yeah, I was with Deidara Senpai."
Tenten leaned toward me, hanging on my every word while the other girls stared at me with interest. I rolled me eyes and shook my head. "Not like that. Sasori no Danna, Tobi-san and Temari were there as well."
Ino's eyes bugged out, and I really felt like slapping the perverted look off of her face. Instead, I facepalmed, slapping my own face.
"We were…working on a project for the Chuunin Exams tomorrow. Jeez, and you guys call me the pervert," I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest.
When we arrived at the blacktop, I noticed that it was considerably more…crowded.
"Hey, Squirt!" Kankuro yelled, waving in my direction, successfully attracting the attention of numerous newcomers, causing them to stare at me.
I mentally cursed Kankuro as I left the girls and made my way through the crowd toward the loud boy. "What?" I asked bitterly.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Kankuro said with a snicker while poking my cheek. "I just wanted you to meet Baki, our trainer for the Exams," he said, pointing over his shoulder at a tall, tanned, bald man with tiger-stripe-type face markings on his cheeks.
"…Hi," I said, squirming slightly under his intimidating stare.
He turned to Kankuro and Gaara. "You really think this little Squirt is good enough to represent Suna?" he asked skeptically.
I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest. "You people…always calling me Squirt…" I muttered, glaring and looking away from the three.
Kankuro laughed and ruffled my hair. "She may not look it, but she's pretty tough. She's got a mean right hook," he said, chuckling nervously as he remembered me one of the bonfires. I had punched him once when he scared the shit out of me during a scary story by poking me in the sides during a suspenseful moment.
"Attention, please!" Tsunade yelled, making everyone fall silent and face forward to look at her. "I would like to welcome, on behalf of Camp Konoha, those of you from Sunagakure, Otogakure, Kusagakure, and, of course, Konohagakure."
She paused, and the counselors took the opportunity to quickly applaud. When all was silent again, Tsunade cleared her throat and began speaking again.
"As some of you may know, the Chuunin Exams is a chance for those among the Elite Schools to strengthen our bonds and our students. I would like to give a special welcome to Otogakure, having only been founded three years ago, achieved Elite status two years and entered the Chuunin Exams for the first time ever this year!" Tsunade said enthusiastically, though everyone could see her glaring at a tall, pale, snakelike man who seemed to represent Oto.
Everyone cheered, either warily or enthusiastically, while those of Otogakure stood there with serious and somewhat-deadly expressions on their faces.
There were eleven of them, plus Sasuke, all of them equally weird looking. There was a clump of three, one with silver hair and big glasses, a tan guy with black glasses, and another tan guy with regular glasses. The two tan guys were wearing weird, purple masks.
Then there was another cluster of three, consisting of two males and a female. The girl had long black hair and bells for earrings. There was a guy with a weird fuzzy thing on his back, as well as bandages covering his entire face, save his left eye. The last guy with them had spiky, dark hair and weird headgear.
The other five were the oddest of all. One was a redheaded girl with a really angry expression on her face as she glared at the younger kids. Then there was a really tan guy with spider tattoos up and down his arms, as well as Siamese twins with silver hair and sneers on their faces. There was a large buy with tufts of orange hair and a guy with white hair and a relatively calm expression.
Sasuke chose to stand with his cabin rather than the Oto people, and I don't blame him. I found my gaze drawn to the group of five, seeing as they were the most threatening looking, as well as the most interesting.
The redheaded girl caught my stare and glared at me, and I quickly looked away, returning my gaze to the back of Gaara's head.
"Orochimaru," Tsunade said, staring at the snake man. "Why don't you introduce your students to us…?"
Orochimaru smirked and made his way to the front of the crowd, his students following close behind, this time Sasuke included.
"Thank you, Tsunade-hime," Orochimaru said, casting the woman something between a smile and a sneer. "Six of these students of mine are seniors or alumni, and therefore unable to participate, but they wished to witness the exams. This is Kabuto, Kimimaro, Sakon/Ukon, Tayuya, Jirobo and Kidomaro," he said, pointing to the silver-haired guy with glasses, the white-haired one, the Siamese twins, the redheaded girl, the orange-haired guy and the guy with the spider tattoos.
The first two remained expressionless while the others sneered or smirked.
"The ones that will be participating are Kin, Dosu, Zaku, Yoroi, Misumi and Sasuke," Orochimaru said, gesturing to the other girl, the guy with bandages, the headgear guy, the two with glasses and Sasuke.
All were smirking, except for Sasuke, who had his arms crossed and was glaring at nothing in particular.
"How about you, Baki? I take it you're representing Suna in the stead of Sabaku-san, the Kazekage…" Tsunade said.
Baki nodded and put his hands on the head of Kankuro and Gaara. "My team attends here, but to those who don't know them, this is Gaara Sabaku and Kankuro Sabaku. The third one," he said, moving his hand from Gaara's head to mine, "is Andrea Scully, and isn't a student at Suna, but she'll represent us."
Kankuro smirked and nudged me, nodding in the direction of the numerous people staring in our direction. I shot him a glare before turning my gaze toward the ground.
"Kannabi, why don't you introduce your team?" Tsunade said, and I sighed in relief as the gazes were pulled away from me and toward a tall man with red hair.
He nodded and gestured to three males standing before him. "Shiore, Tsuba, Midori," he stated simply, pointing to a male with long, dark hair that looked rather girly, a guy with short brown hair and a guy with grey-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail.
"Welcome," Tsunade said, nodding at them. "Now I'll introduce Konoha's participants. Neji, Tenten, Lee, Sakura, Naruto, Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, Kiba, Hinata and Shino," she said, pointing each of them out. "And their trainers, Asuma, Kurenai, Kakashi and Gai."
The four said trainers waved before going back to their natural poses, meaning Gai did his good-guy pose, Kurenai and Asuma leaned against the basketball hoops and Kakashi whipped out his pervy book and read it with one hand in his pocket.
"Now…let's all head to the mess hall for breakfast, and then we'll spend the rest of the day training!" Tsunade said, hopping off of the stand she was on and heading in the direction of the mess hall. "Let's go!"
"Is it just me, or are those five Oto students staring at us…?" Tenten whispered to me. Tenten, who was sitting across from me, had a perfect view of the Oto table. I swiveled around in my seat, swallowed, and spun back around.
"Yup, they're staring at us," I nodded in confirmation, grabbing my orange juice. "That spider guy creeps me out…"
"Those Siamese twins creep me out!" Ino exclaimed quietly. "I'm just glad they're not entering. Imagine going up against one of them!"
"Eh, those twins don't look so tough," Kankuro said with a shrug. "I mean, they wear lipstick! Tch, I bet I could take them on…"
"Hm, me too," Kiba said with a smirk.
"Doubt it," Kankuro snorted, receiving a punch in the upper arm in return. "I'd probably have to come rescue you if you got in a fight with them…"
"That's not true! I'm an awesome fighter!" Kiba exclaimed.
I rolled my eyes and smirked as I nibbled on my toast, watching the two boys fight animatedly. Then I got a weird feeling in my gut, and a shiver went down my spine.
I glanced over my shoulder before turning back around, hoping that I only imagined that murderous look in Tayuya's eyes.
"Is that a-"
"Tankui? Yes."
"And is it going-"
"Into a gourd? Yes."
"And Gaara's gonna-"
"Carry it around and fight with it? Yes."
I blinked and stared at Kankuro like he was crazy before returning my gaze to Gaara, who was just now putting a giant gourd on his back. I tilted my head to the side, and saw that it looked a lot like his nature pet he made on one of the first days.
Then I watched as Baki carried a, for some reason weird unknown to me, tanuki, a creature resembling a brown raccoon, in a cage toward Gaara. Then Gaara opened the cage, reached in with his bare hands and grabbed the tanuki before placing it on his shoulder.
Then the tanuki, who Gaara was calling Shukaku, crawled into the gourd of its own accord.
"…That was probably the weirdest thing I have ever seen," I said. Then I turned and my eyes widened. "I take that back. This is the weirdest thing I have ever seen."
"Shut it, Squirt! I tripped, okay?" Kankuro exclaimed, struggling to get out of the rather provocative position he fell into with his puppet.
I knew it was an accident, but I couldn't help but laugh. "Playing with your sex toys, Kankuro?" I asked, still laughing as I avoided the wooden limb he threw at me.
"Oh, god, another pervert…" Baki muttered, shaking his head.
I smirked as I bent over and helped Kankuro out of the messy pile and back onto his feet. He shot me a half-hearted glare for teasing him and then went about picking up the broken puppets he had tripped over.
I crouched beside him and watched in interest as he put the puppets back together. It was fascinating, really, how he could do that. And he treated the puppets with such care. He never screwed a screw in too tight or too loose, he polished the wood and put special liquid on it to keep it from cracking.
Then he filled the puppets with weapons, and that's when it got really interesting.
"Hey, Squirt," someone said, casting a long shadow over me.
I turned around and squinted, blocking the sun with my hands. I grinned up at the person upon recognition. "Hey, Kisame Senpai. What's up?"
"I'm here to train you. Duh…" Kisame said, shouldering Samehada and rolling his eyes.
"But Baki Sensei said that he's gonna train me," I said, pointing my thumb over my shoulder in the direction of said man.
Kisame raised an eyebrow. "Is he any good with a sword?" he asked, directing the question toward Baki.
Baki shook his head. "If Andrea's specialty is kenjutsu, it'd be best if you taught her, Kisame no Danna," he said, bowing his head respectfully at the end.
I looked back and forth between Kisame and Baki, slightly confused over numerous things. What is kenjutsu, how do these two know each other and why does Baki call him Danna?
"Alright, let's go, Squirt," Kisame said, grabbing my upper arm and literally lifting me off of the ground and placing me on my feet. He put his hand on my shoulder and steered me away as I waved to Gaara and Kankuro.
"Danna? Kenjutsu? What?" I asked as he led me away.
"Kenjutsu is the art of the sword. He called me Danna because I am highly respected for my prowess in the art of Kenjutsu. And I'm just naturally sexy," Kisame replied.
"Naturally se- hey! I didn't even ask that!" I exclaimed.
He laughed. "Oh, I though that's what your What? question meant..." he said, ruffling my hair.
"That's ridiculous, Kisame Senpai," I said, shooting him a look.
He grinned. "I was just messing with you, Squirt."
"Heads up!" Kisame yelled, chucking tennis ball after tennis ball at me, making me dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge every one. I'd already gotten hit by quite a few, but that's why we're using tennis balls instead of golf balls.
…Yeah, he had originally wanted to use golf balls.
"Alright, that's enough," Kisame said, dropping the ball he was holding to the floor.
I groaned and collapsed on the ground, worn out from the past three hours of training. The training consisted mainly of working out, running, swordplay and avoiding tennis balls.
"Catch," he said, tossing me a water bottle.
I nodded at him in thanks before unscrewing the cap off and dumping the water onto my face, my mouth wide open so I could catch some of the water.
Kisame laughed and sat beside me, discarding his shirt and hanging it on a tree branch. "Tired?"
"Mhmm…" I mumbled, sitting up and peeling my own shirt off, leaving me in my tank top and shorts. "We done for the day?"
"Hell no!" Kisame said, laughing. "We're gonna train until you drop unconscious from exhaustion!"
I groaned again and fell backwards, landing on my back. I sighed and let my eyes wander to the skies, and I began to watch the clouds drift by slowly. Maybe I could fake passing out from exhaustion. It was worth a shot.
I let my eyes fall shut and my breathing slow and steady itself.
Something hard smacked into my stomach, awaking me with a grunt.
"Aww…Kisame Senpai…" I groaned, rubbing where his fist had landed and smiling a bit in satisfaction at my starting-to-get-defined abs. Maybe this training wasn't so bad after all…
"Alright, more tennis balls," Kisame said, jumping energetically to his feet. "This time, avoid them and deflect them with your katana!"
Fun, fun…
"I never thought I would be so happy for dinner…" Ino said, collapsing across from me at our table in the mess hall. "I thought I would die during training!"
"Same here," I mumbled, mouth full of mashed potatoes. "Kisame Senpai really works you to death…"
"So does Baki," Kankuro groaned, rubbing his arms. "And fighting Gaara is the worst…" he said, casting a sidelong glance at his younger brother. I looked back and forth between them, wondering how someone smaller and scrawnier than Kankuro could give him such a hard time during the battle.
Then Shukaku crawled over Gaara's shoulder and jumped onto the table, helping himself to Kankuro's roll.
"Hey! Shoo, you stupid rodent!" Kankuro exclaimed, waving his hand in the little tanuki's face.
Shukaku bared his teeth and made a weird hissing/growling sound before snatching the roll and returning to Gaara's shoulder.
"Aw, don't be mean, Kankuro. He's cute," I said, slowly holding my hand out to the little creature, who decided to narrow his beady little eyes and snap his teeth right in front of my fingers.
I pulled my hand back and glared. "It's a little demon in disguise!"
"Shukaku isn't friendly to others," Gaara said, holding his hand up, only for Shukaku to nuzzle against it affectionately. Gaara patted the creature on the head before returning to his dinner.
"Kiba, what are you doing?" Tenten asked, grabbing Kiba's face as he turned toward the door for about the twentieth time.
"Hana and mother are coming up tonight instead of tomorrow, so I can train with Akamaru for a bit," he said, facing us but his eyes on the door. "I can't wait to see him again!"
"Who is Akamaru? Your brother or something?" I asked, swatting Kankuro's hand as he attempted to take my roll.
Naruto laughed. "He's not his brother! Akamaru is Kiba's pet dog!" he said, resulting in him getting conked on the head by Kiba.
"Akamaru isn't a pet. He's my best friend," Kiba said defensively, glaring at the sore, muttering blond. "And he should be here any minute!"
As if on cue, the doors to the mess hall flew open and in ran a white dog. To say it was big was an understatement. The thing was about the size of a pony!
He jumped and tackled Kiba to the floor, licking and slobbering all over Kiba's laughing face.
I grinned. "Awe, he's cute," I said, starting to reach my hand out, but pulling it back for fear he was a devil in disguise, like the nasty Shukaku.
Akamaru leaned his head forward and bumped my hand with it, almost grinning at me.
I laughed in relief and scratched him behind his ear, laughing all the more as Akamaru's thumping tail nailed Kiba in the stomach over and over again.
Hinata giggled as well and moved over toward me so she could pet Akamaru as well. I wiped my hand on my shorts before turning back to my dinner, gasping when I realized my roll was missing.
"Kankuro!" I exclaimed. "Give it back!"
"It wasn't me; it was the demon!" he said, pointing at the tanuki.
I swear, if it was even scientifically possible, that that little rodent was snickering as it nibbled on my roll from his perch on Gaara's shoulder.
"Hey, Squirt," Kisame said as soon as me and my three cabins walked out of the mess hall, along with Shukaku and Akamaru.
"Please, no more training!" I begged, falling to my knees and shaking my folded hands desperately.
Kisame stared at me before smirking and chuckling. "Gee, Squirt," he said, reaching down and ruffling my hair. "I'm not gonna train ya! You just left your katana back at the training grounds, so you need to go get it!"
I blinked stupidly for a moment before jumping back to my feet and rubbing the back of my head embarrassedly. "Heheh…right…" I said, dashing off.
"Lone camper!" Tobi yelled.
I skidded to a stop and Tenten ran over to me, and the two of us waved innocently at the clay-bearing Tobi and Deidara.
"Oh shit…" Deidara muttered, tossing the bird high in the air.
"Not again…" Tobi groaned right before the clay exploded in their faces.
Tenten and I exchanged glances and a laugh before walking to the training fields at a leisurely pace.
"The Chuunin Exams will be great! Once I become a Chuunin, I'll be able to become a counselor next year with Neji and Lee and Temari, and maybe even Kankuro, if he makes it," Tenten said, chatting animatedly to me.
"We need to go left here, Tenten," I said, grabbing her elbow and steering her away from the archery grounds and back onto the correct path.
"Right," she said, barely taking a moment to breathe before continuing to talk. "And once I'm a Chuunin, my dad said he'd get me more weapons, like a mace or something! And-"
"Shh!" I hissed, holding my arm out, stopping Tenten in her tracks. "Do you…hear that?" I asked her quietly.
Her ears perked as she looked silently around the clearing.
"-of course, Orochimaru-sama. The Sound Five will be taking care of the competition," a man's voice said.
Chuckling was heard, followed by a smooth, snakelike voice that I recognized as Orochimaru's. "Excellent, Kabuto. We don't want anyone getting in the way of the match between my Sasuke and the Sunagakure brat…"
"Are you sure those two will end up fighting in the finals, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked.
"Do you doubt me, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked.
"Of course not, Orochimaru-sama. I apologize," Kabuto said. "Shall we return to the guest cabins?"
"Yes, I am quite tired…" Orochimaru said.
Tenten and I exchanged glances before quickly jumping, or scrambling in my case, up a tree in order to remain hidden from the two men as they emerged from the woods.
"And you're quite sure that the Sound Five will be able to take them out?" Orochimaru asked.
Kabuto smirked. "Are you doubting me now, Orochimaru-sama?"
Orochimaru chuckled. "Watch it, Kabuto. Just because you're currently my number one, it doesn't mean you're irreplaceable. I'm still in contact with Guren, and-"
"Forgive me, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said hurriedly. "I was out of line."
Orochimaru said something else, but he and Kabuto were now too far away for me and Tenten to hear.
After a minute of silence, Tenten and I turned to each other. "What…were they talking about…taking care of the competition…?" I asked nervously.
Tenten shrugged and jumped out of the tree. "I don't know, Andi, but I highly doubt they were talking about catering to them… But we should get your katana and then back to the cabins right away."
I nodded and dropped out of the tree, landing beside her before breaking out in a sprint toward the training field.
"Well, well, well…" a deep voice said with a chuckle. "Look what we have here; two little competitors, just begging to be taken out before the Exams even begin…"
Tenten and I froze before slowly turning around to face the three from Kusagakure, gazing maliciously at us. I clutched my newly retrieved katana to my choice, freezing up in fear at the advancing men.
Tenten and I subconsciously rotated so that we were standing back-to-back, staring at the three Kusa students.
"You sure this is a good idea, Shiore?" Tsuba asked the one who I presumed was the leader. "After all, we could get disqualified if we're caught…"
Shiore chuckled darkly before pushing a strand of his long hair behind his ear. "Look around, Tsuba, Midori…we're in the middle of the woods. No one is around to see this. And by the time the girls regain consciousness, the Exams will be over…" he stated.
I felt the blood chill in my veins at the sound of his voice, and I started to slowly pull my katana out of its sheath.
Something small, hard and metallic was thrown at my hand, making me drop my weapon in shock. The katana was quickly snatched up by Shiore, who unsheathed it and ran his tongue along the blade. I shivered.
"You won't be needing this, dearie," he said, dropping the sheath and poising to strike me with my own weapon.
My eyes snapped shut of their own accord, and I flinched, waiting for the blow.
…But it never came. Instead, I heard several grunts and a threatening voice, saying, "Touch them and you die."
The Kusa students laughed. "Three against one? This'll be easy," Midori stated.
"Hn."
More grunts were heard before silence filled the clearing.
I opened my eyes and was shocked to see the three Kusa students lying unconscious in a heap, and Tobi glaring at them. I turned to Tenten and saw that her eyes were still squeezed shut in fear.
I tapped her on the shoulder, and her eyes opened cautiously. They widened in surprise at the sight of Tobi and the three Kusa students.
"T-Tobi-san?" I said quietly, reaching a hand out and placing it on Tobi's shoulder.
His eyes snapped up, and his serious, threatening face disappeared, replaced with a happy, one-eyed smiled. "Are you and Tenten alright, Andi-chan?"
I nodded. "What hap- Did you- I mean- …How?" I finally managed to splutter out.
Tobi shrugged and hugged me and Tenten quickly, wrapping his arms around us and leaning us into his firm chest.
"Those mean students were gonna hurt Tenten and Andi-chan. Tobi couldn't let that happen…" he said, releasing us and patting us on the head.
He stretched his leg and kicked my katana and its sheath into the air, catching the sheath first and then the katana with the sheath. He smiled as he handed it over to me. "Be careful with your weapon, Andi-chan. A weapon is an extension of the body!"
I swallowed and nodded, taking my weapon from him and smiling gratefully.
He grinned back. "Now, come on you two. Tobi will escort you back to camp and make sure no more meanies get you!"
Tenten and I exchanged relieved yet incredulous glances.
How in the hell did Tobi whip out a can of that major-ass-whooping on the three Kusa students without breaking a sweat?
One thing was for sure: the Chuunin Exams tomorrow were gonna be intense!