Disclaimer: We don't own Naruto. If we did Danzou would SO not be the new hokage.

Warning! We do read the manga so there will be mild spoilers.

Rin's Return

Chapter Nineteen

The week before the exams were a blur for Misaki and Yuuto. They were told to just relax by Sasuke and Sakura and not think of the exams, but even though no one could tell, they were constantly worrying.

On the day of the exams Misaki and Yuuto both woke up early to meet with Sasuke and Kakashi.

Misaki wore what she normally did: a tight black skirt with navy shorts underneath. Her shirt was tight and sleeveless in navy blue, with a long sleeved fishnet shirt over it. She also wore a weapons pouch and had black shoes.

Yuuto also wore what he normally did-baggy black shorts that went to his knees with a tight navy blue shirt under a black jacket, much like Naruto's orange one, that was left open. He wore a weapons pouch and navy blue shoes. He also wore a pair of navy blue wrist length gloves that were a lot like Sakura's.

On the way to the meeting spot Yuuto couldn't stop fidgeting with his gloves, and Misaki couldn't stop messing with her shirt. They looked at each other and said "You're nervous aren't you?" at the same time, as if they really could read each others minds.

"No," they said at the same time again. Misaki looked embarrassed and Yuuto sighed.

"We both are, huh? I thought I'd be the only one," he said.

"Me too," Misaki said, looking slightly relieved. She paused for a moment, thinking of what Sasuke told her and added, "We shouldn't be! We're strong enough, and have been training for a month!" Yuuto smiled at her silently agreeing. They walked the rest of the way to the meeting spot in silence, both full of new confidence.

As they reached the meeting place they saw Sasuke and surprisingly, Kakashi standing there. They wondered why he wasn't late.

"Okay, now that everyone is here, I guess its my time to give you a little pep talk right? Well, you are all great ninja and are going to do fine! So, now we can get going!" They took off toward the arena, slightly disheartened by Kakashi's less than spectacular pep talk.

Once at the arena, Kakashi stopped with them in front of the door that Sasuke, Misaki, and Yuuto were supposed to go through to get to the field. Kakashi turned around, looked very serious and said "A little advice, try not to die! Oh, and good luck!" With that he smiled, did a hand sign and disapeared in a puff.

Sasuke, Misaki, and Yuuto just sweat dropped, looked at each other, and entered the arena. It was huge. Every seat was full, and everyone was cheering. They could hear there names mixed in with the cheers and it gave them all a bit of shaky confidence.

Inside they saw the other teams: Suigetsu, Karin, Jugo, the sound team: Katsuro, Tadao, Hitomi, and the unknown sand team all in a line. They took there spots in the line and as soon as Karin saw Sasuke her eyes lit up and she said " Hiiii Sasuke-kun!!!" Sasuke just ignored her and Misaki smirked while thinking, 'If she tries anything she's dead.'

Then a guy in traditional chuunin clothes, a bandanna around his head, and a senbon sticking out of his mouth popped out of nowhere behind the group of gennin, making all of them, besides Sasuke and the unknown sand team, jump. They all turned around. Misaki and Karin were mad about being surprised and glared evilly at the guy, who just laughed nervously a scratched the back of his head.

"Okay, so my name is Shiranui Genma and I will be your proctor for the third exams. I already know who all of you are. So, are you ready to know who your gonna fight?" Everyone nodded and Genma said "Okay, Sasuke with Katsuro, Misaki with Tadao, Yuuto with Hitomi, Suigetsu with Chou, Karin with Emi, Jugo with Gorou," Misaki did a double take. Two of the sand team members were girls, with only one guy.

"The teams were picked at random, so don't think we tried to fix it or anything," Genma said. "Also the first to fight will be Karin and Emi. Now everyone not fighting please exit the arena."

--

There was a bit of nervous energy in the air as the teams climbed the steps up to the balcony. Misaki didn't know much about Tadao. She eyed his green hair and almost girlish beauty with interest. She knew one of his techniques, the mystical senses block, but she didn't think that it would work as well without his pink haired teammate there with him. He was looking straight ahead with a blank expression. She hoped that she would be able to figure out something else about him before their fight.

Yuuto looked at Hitomi's pink hair and couldn't help but think of Sakura. He knew that she was in the audience somewhere, but he couldn't see her. He remembered Hitomi's weird technique that they saw during the second exam. It was some genjutsu, and Yuuto knew that it had something to do with her eyes and her voice combined, but that was about it. Short of gagging her he wasn't really sure what he could do to keep her from using it on him. He would have to figure something out during their fight.

Sasuke was pumped. He got the guy that he wanted. Katsuro with the long red braid and the huge killing intent was going to be fun. He remembered his deadly scream attack and how it had killed those chuunin fast, but he also noticed that they were under some kind of restraint when he killed them. He thought that the technique maybe didn't work with a moving target, like Ino's body swapping one, but he couldn't be sure. He would just have to see.

They reached the top just in time for Genma to say "Go."

--

As Misaki Watched Karin and Emi fight she started thinking. Thinking about a lot of things. This surprised her. She'd expected to be too nervous to even function, and here she was, forming coherent thoughts and complete ideas. She thought a lot about her and Sasuke. It couldn't be denied that she liked him; a lot. The question was, how did he feel about her?

After their kiss Sasuke had hinted that he wanted her as his girlfriend, but so far he hadn't done anything to back that up. He'd barely talked to her, let alone kissed her again. Had he changed his mind? Did he never really mean what he said? Or had she completely misinterpreted everything? She knew enough about Sasuke to realize that there was no way that he was just too nervous to talk to her. She desperately wanted to know what his deal was, but now obviously wasn't the time.

Karin was still fighting. She looked liked she was in pretty bad shape. Despite all of the sour feelings between them, Misaki hoped that she pulled though. Karin really wasn't a bad person, she was just a little bit too obsessed with Sasuke for her liking.

Misaki's mind drifted again. She found herself wondering about her mom and Kakashi. What was going on there? Were they friends? Were they dating? Were they practically engaged? Misaki had no idea. Her mom didn't talk about it much. Misaki hoped that they would work out this time. She really didn't want to see her moms heart broken. She also kind of liked the idea of having a dad, a complete family.

Wondering about her mom made her wonder if they permanently lived in Konoha now or if they were just stopping through. As much as she liked traveling, she really hoped that they would stay in Konoha. She loved the people, the village, her friends. They were all a part of her now.

Misaki's thoughts continued like this for a few minutes until she was brought back to reality by the announcement of the winner: Karin. She had come back and won, but barely. She looked like she was about to fall unconscious, like her opponent. Even though she won she still might not become a chuunin, but it sure upped her chances.

Misaki watched as the medics came with a stretcher for Karin's opponent and led them both out of the arena. Everything was quiet for a moment before Genma announced the next pair of opponents:

"Tadao and Misaki."

Misaki sighed and jumped off the balcony into the arena. this wasn't totally unexpected.

"All right, let's get this over with," she said, to no one in particular. Tadao sneered, marring his perfect face.

"I think that this will be over even faster than you think," he said.

Misaki just raised an eyebrow. "We'll just have to see, won't we?"

They squared off, waiting for the command.

"Go," Genma said. And they went.

Hey, sorry for the wait! We've been busy. This chapter is a little different from the rest. Savanna wrote the first part, and I fixed it up, because we wanted to see how it turned out. We're sorry that it's a little short, but we'll try to get a longer one out next time! Please tell us what you think!

thebookwormandtheskater