Disclaimer: I do not own the series Naruto or any of the characters or concepts within it. I don't own Onimeno-sensei either; he's from another series entirely, and is merely twisted around to fit the premise of this story.


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The Eyes Have It

Chapter 29: Involved


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"Wait," Kurenai said slowly later on, during the celebratory dinner she was treating her team to. "Wait a minute, if you three finished within the first half hour then why didn't you come find me then, instead of four hours later?"

The sizzling of meat on the grill was her only answer as her students exchanged (she assumed) slightly guilty glances behind their dark glasses.

"…you didn't." Kurenai passed a hand over her eyes, full of despair and incredulous laughter that she couldn't let out if she wanted to retain even just the possibility of properly disciplining the three of them. "Please, tell me you didn't."

"They told us we could do whatever we wanted after we were done!" Kiba protested, his teammates nodding along. "So…well, they wanted to weed out the super awesome teams, right? And we eat lame squads for breakfast!"

"Mitarashi-san gave us permission." Sakura insisted, and Kuenai counted herself lucky that the girl's large sunglasses canceled the full effect of her innocent, earnest expression. Even though the attempt to shift the blame was transparent at best, Kurenai found herself resolving to have a long, long talk with Anko the next time she had the opportunity.

"You sabotaged your own village," Kurenai said, just to get the damning words out in the air.

"Well actually," Sakura frowned. "They were technically enemies at the time! And, if you think about it, we were serving the village's best interests, you know?"

"Unsuitable teams should not be permitted to advance and shame the name of Konohagakure," Shino agreed gravely.

Kurenai stared at them for a long moment, before shaking her head and taking the first piece of grilled meat. "I am trying so hard," she assured them. "So very hard to remember if you three were always like this or if I somehow facilitated this attitude." She let out a low, tired sigh. "…do I really want to know the details?"

"We were as awesome as we ever are," Kiba told her eagerly, snatching up his own share of the meat. He tried to poach some of Shino's share, but was quickly thwarted by his teammates. "But for like the first hour we didn't really do much. We just sort of sat on the wall and watched everybody try to break into the explosives cache."

"None actually succeeded, in the end," Shino remarked, with a touch of regret. "Ultimately, however, others did begin to come to the same conclusion as we did."

"The Hyuugas cheated," Kiba insisted around a mouth full of beef.

"They didn't cheat," Sakura frowned, dipping her own slice in sauce. "If you have a doujutsu, it's totally understandable to use it when you know it can help. They must have seen where we were headed, because at different times they came looking when they realized our team wasn't in the field anymore. Well…Hinata did, at least. I don't think that other guy had the time or energy to memorize the chakra signatures of every single team. So Team Seven kind of has us to thank, but they had Naruto and he was basically dive-bombing the chakra-field with hundreds of really weird clones. So we figured it evened out in the end."

"We got to pretend to be chuunin, about halfway through the second half," Kiba reminisced. "That was pretty cool. We led people up the wall and got them disqualified. It was great."

"Well," Kurenai said dryly. "Just so long as you enjoyed actively crushing the hopes of your fellow genin."

"I for one found it quite therapeutic," Shino admitted, before biting into a chunk of vegetable.

"You do realize that you just ensured that you would have stronger competition, right?" Kurenai wanted to know. "You have to know that."

"Easy pickings," Sakura told their instructor sagely. "Are no fun. And besides, it isn't the other Leaf-nin we'll be focusing on; not with all those shiny, unsuspecting new foreigners to take out."

Kurenai laughed and sipped at her tea, finally deciding to let her pride eclipse her exasperation for a moment. "We are so lucky you three are so patriotic," she murmured.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I asked if, towards the end, things ended up very chaotic."

"Oooh…Oh yeah, big time. Once all the proctors had been claimed, they made this announcement…"


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Honored Sofu-sama,

Thank you for your kind words. I apologize for the lack of timely communication on my part. It was wrong of me to drag my feet, but I wanted to be absolutely sure before I shared the news: my squad and I will be participating in the upcoming Chuunin Exams held by our village. From what our instructor has told us, this time the competition is more varied than ever before, participant-wise. She has expressed that she is confident, however, that we will be able to handle ourselves appropriate and impressively.

I am glad that my previous letter was able to alleviate your worries. If there is anything else in particular that you wish to know about doujutsu, I now possess quite the wealth of knowledge on the subject, and have easy access to an expert in the field. In response to your offer, I must humbly decline. As grateful as I would be for an official apology from Yutaka-ojisama, one forced from his mouth would sap a great deal of satisfaction from the event. I would much rather go about reconciling, or at least founding a truce in my own time. I cannot thank you enough, however, for your thoughtful and reassuring response, Sofu-sama.

It may sound a bit presumptuous or over-confident, but I believe that my team and I have an excellent chance for promotion. If you will excuse an undeniably selfish request, I would ask you to do me the honor of attending the tournament portion of the Exams. I know that you are a very busy man, which is why I tried to send my request at the earliest possible opportunity. Even if, for some bizarre, unfathomable reason, my team does not make it to the tournament, it would still be wonderful to see you in the flesh again after all this time.

If you could find time in your schedule, I would be eternally grateful, Sofu-sama.

All my love,

Haruno Sakura

The Lord of the Haruno Clan swept regally out of his office, passing by two maids who immediately dipped into deep, respectful bows. He paid them no mind, but as they straightened once more, the maids' eyes followed him down the hall. Once he had turned the corner, they broke into fascinated, hushed whispers.

"Hey, hey, Miki-chan," One of the maids tugged at her companion's sleeve insistently. "Am I going crazy or did Hideki-sama actually look…"

"Happy?" Miki finished for her friend, before nodding in amazement. "Yeah, he actually did! Though, after what I've heard, he has every right to be…"

"Oh?" The other maid perked up. "Do tell!"

"Well," Miki said. "From what I heard, after that scare from Yutaka-sama, Sakura-hime has kept in contact with Hideki-sama…"


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Sakura-san,

I can assure with my full, experienced opinion that the Chuunin Examinations, based on those held in or close to Kumogakure, at least, are not overly challenging. The circumstances of my own promotion are classified, but I observed Shī-san's process and it seemed relatively straightforward, design-wise. I do not believe you have very much to fear before the part of the Exams where you are pitted against another shinobi. As I do not have a declassified and comprehensive list detailing the attendees for the event, I cannot advise you any further.

I have been given permission to relay that Kumo will no be sending a delegation of genin to this exam, due to certain circumstances in the state at this time. So any chance of a true meeting must be postponed. I do thank you for the sentiment, however.

The events and parameters of my life still have yet to show any dramatic change. As far as I can gauge, the sky is blue, the weather is mild, and the climate is comfortable, so I believe that it can and would be deemed 'nice'. At your suggestion, I obtained several samples of sweets. I found the bun with the sweet paste within it to be most satisfactory, and have since purchased a larger supply.

Shī-san and I are not at odds with one another, since you asked. We are on purely neutral terms. At your urging, I have begun making incrementally more 'friendly' overtures. After a classified event, I extended my 'heartfelt congratulations' to him. He seemed to be relatively confused by the response, so that, perhaps, had been too large of a step. It does not appear to have set my meager progress wit him, but I shall do my best to be more aware of my current limitations. Though he doubted my sincerity, he did thank me. So please do not feel that your advice has been fruitless.

As a skill-set explanation would most definitely be classified, I cannot tell you with total certainty that you and your unit members will be the undisputed champions of the Examinations. However, I have deduced, through the course of our time together, that you are an intellectual individual, and your less exuberant teammate is much deeper than one person can easily fathom.

I am certain you will impress the pertinent individuals to an acceptable extent.

Eichi


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Chapter Word Count: 1,568

Total Word Count: 55,160

Targeted Word Count: 48,334


Urgh. Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I had a paper to write.

Thanks to Anon, Wandering the Arid Sea, Zlatka, blacKStreek, Netag Silverstar, deathgeonous, Haze Be It, Guest(#1), Ka, LadyDream3512, Sayle, minniemousemom, Anonymous, Chihori-chan, anna012, MoonShadow396, Alyn the Miracle, The Keeper of Worlds, romantiscue, Kitiara Woodbane, SilverICy, OrionRedde, ABCMECBA, Chibified-chan, Guest(#2), MrEmperor, Wren Truesong, and Beloved Daughter for all the reviews!

One chapter left guys. Time to wrap it up.