The large gates of the exam building towered over the three genin, only serving to further expand the pits in their stomach. They were meant to be on station for entry at 8:00, but suffice to say, the trio had all been a little bit too fixated on getting there on time and were stuck in front of the gate at the ripe hour of 7:20 in the morning. The sky was bleakly grey, the natural gradient that came out just after the nights had faded but before the sun rose. The gate itself was incredibly tall with Naruto estimating that it would take him around fifteen shadow clones for him to scale himself over the top of its brass metal perimeter.
"Yo, Sasuke, blow it down with a fireball." He idly murmured.
"Great idea, let me do that and then get us banned from ever taking the exam again." Sasuke shot back, the butterflies swirling around his stomach making him a little bit more on-edge than usual.
"Well how do we get in then dumbass?"
"Wait for someone who's working on it to let us in?"
"How do we know this isn't just the first test in the exams? Apparently, they do this stuff all the time to try and get ya to slip up and fail." Sakura explained, recalling books she'd read about the exams. Naruto turned to her with a surprised look.
"Whaddya mean?" He asked, prompting her to continue.
"So, like, maybe this is a test where if you can't get over the gate in time, then you fail. Their supposed to do it all the time with even small stuff like giving out your name." She elucidated, Naruto's eyes widening.
"Woah. Sasuke, you definitely have to blow it down with a fireball now."
"One, that's only a theory, I'm not going to expend myself to test it and, two, I really doubt a fireball would be able to break it down in the first place."
"Then use ten or something." Naruto replied like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"Did you not just hear me say literally less than a second ago that I didn't want to exert myself?"
"Hey." A voice echoed from the reaches of the building, snapping the genins attention to it for the moment. A man, presumably a jonin judging from his flak jacket (though he could've been a chunin), emerged into the clearing. He wore a bandana above his headband as well as carrying a senbon in his mouth like you would a toothpick. He slowly made his way over to the trio, his newfound closeness revealing that he was carrying a pen and a binder of paper along with him.
"Are you three here for the chunin exams?"
The trio nodded, encouraging him to speak further.
"I'm Genma Shiranui, a jonin advisor on the exams. I'll sign you in." He flicked through his pages, before realizing he needed additional information. "Can I get one of your names?"
"N- "Naruto was eager to speak, but silenced by Sasuke elbowing him in the stomach. This attack was meant to punctuate what Sakura had said earlier, keeping a possible fail from escaping Naruto's lips.
"Their supposed to do it all the time with even small stuff like giving out your name"
Genma seemingly noticed the fact that there were three genin responding to "What's your name" as if he'd just asked them what the meaning of life was. Upon realizing just what the issues was, he let out a loud sigh, eyes nearly rolling into the back of his head. His voice went through a drastic transformation, switching from mildly positive to wildly exacerbated. This was obviously a familiar event.
"No, this isn't part of the exam." He groaned.
The halls were surprisingly empty, with the one that corresponded with the room Team Seven was allocated towards being completely so. It seemed that they were certainly the first one's here out of their assigned group, a fact that made Naruto very happy (now no one of the other genin could call him a slacker!) The three of them had been stationed outside a large looking room, along with a supervising jonin who none of them had caught the name of. He was tall and somewhat pudgy, long black hair trailing down to his shoulders. He was on the tail end of explaining the specifics of the first segment to them, which was barley a segment at all honestly. They and the other genin in their group would be locked into a room for forty-five minutes where they would be "forced" to converse around with the other teams. The man had quickly left to go supervise another group, saying he would be back when 8:00 hit.
If Sasuke had been honest, he was both glad that the task was so simple and frustrated that it was so benign. Naruto on the other hand, was only frustrated at this, not expecting the first task to be so absolutely boring. Sakura was just fearful of the fact that "socialization" was probably the one thing that could realistically tank them in the first round if you recalled the other two's antics when interacting with people. The amalgamation of their hours of training, nervousness and sleepless nights spent worrying about the exams began to manifest very quickly due to these emotions. Naruto started clicking his foot against the floor, Sakura began combing a finger through her hair and Sasuke stayed perfectly still with folded hands. It was a little bit before Naruto spoke.
"Man, this is way too easy." He said.
"Agreed." Sasuke concurred.
Sakura nodded, though she understood that the pair were mainly frustrated because they actually had to talk to people.
"Like, if they want us to talk and stuff, why do we have to do for forty-five minutes? Ten would be enough." Naruto rambled. "And he said nearly all the people in our group were from Konoha anyway, so we know most of them already."
"That's the worst bit. Imagine having to interact with someone like Ino for forty-five minutes." Sasuke frustratedly mumbled, to Sakura's silent glee. Outwardly, she just nodded along, but inwardly, she was screaming.
Oh ho ho! Eat that, pig!
Sasuke's hypothetical caused a deep dread to crawl across Naruto's face, strangely realistic when considering the banal nature of his comment.
"If I have to talk to Ino for forty-five minutes, I'm flunking out dude, I swear to god."
"Understandable." Sakura laughed back, though she was slightly put-off by how serious Naruto seemed about the statement.
"Let's hurry, the man at the gate said people were already here!"
"Woah, chill out Lee, it's like two seconds- oh, there he goes."
" Idiot."
The sound of echoing voices a few halls suddenly became audible, being quickly followed up by the sound of running footsteps echoing back. They were so intense in their sound, that Sasuke and Sakura actually became a little bit convinced that they belonged to some neurotic psychopath rather than another genin. Weirdly, both turned out to be true.
The footsteps became louder and louder, reverb becoming more and more coherent before suddenly, a skinny boy emerged into Team Sevens hallway. The boy in question was thin, wearing a green fabric jumpsuit over his lithe form. His eyes were completely round, with only the most basic of details within them. His shiny black hair had been fashioned into a bowl cut, with eyebrows so thick that Naruto was half-convinced he'd just dunked his face in the ground and come back with centipedes covering it. His expression was blank for a second as he focused on Team Seven.
"H- "Sakura tried to greet him but was quickly cut off by the boy sharply jumping in front of her. His posture was strange (like everything else about him). He'd tucked one hand behind his back while extending the other one in front of him with an open palm. The rest of Team Seven braced, thinking that he might not have got the memo that you weren't supposed to fight immediately. This notion quickly ceased when he began to speak.
"Hello! I am Rock Lee!" He said, not altering his posture at all. His voice was loud, so loud that Sakura didn't doubt every other person in the building know knew of Rock Lee's presence. This volume caused her to just stare back at him weirdly, taking in his strangely bird-like posture.
"This is a handshake." Lee murmured from the side of his mouth as soon as he recognized Sakura's stiffness.
"Oh, o-okay." She said, still slightly shaken from his sudden movements. She shook his hand, weirded out by the fact that Lee seemed unable to wave the laser-focused eye contact he had with her even when shaking.
"What is your name?" He asked, once again way too loud when considering what he was asking.
"Sakura Haruno." She answered.
Lee jolted forwards, clutching her own hand both and his and then bowing his head against the bundle of appendage. If he'd moved any slower, Sakura would've become convinced that he was about to throw her to the ground like a ragdoll, but he was so quick that she didn't even have time to be worried
"Sakura Haruno.I respect your beauty and grace. I swear to protect you with my life!" He bellowed, continually nodding his head forwards. A sharp blush crawled up Sakura's cheeks. Not because she was at all attracted to Rock Lee, no, from the few seconds she'd spent conversing with him he seemed like a major-league weirdo. However, she couldn't help but feel a little bit flattered that a boy would lump as much attention as Lee had onto her. Her face turned into a "attempting to be sly but not actually looking sly" grin, folding her other hand over her flushed-red expression.
"Thank you, that's a really nice thing to say and I mean if that's what you think, that's what you think, I can- "Sakura had gotten so lost in murmuring to herself, that she didn't even realize Lee had already gone through the same song and dance with Naruto.
"Naruto Uzumaki, the flame of youth burns strong inside you! I swear to protect you with my life two times over." He went through the same hand bowing act that he did with Sakura, though Naruto's eyes were not fixated on the boy in front of him. Instead, they were locked onto Sakura, paired with a curvaceously smug grin.
"You hear that Sakura, two times over!" He commented. Sakura tried to laugh it off, but in reality, it was pretty clear she was fuming. In the meanwhile, Sasuke, who had seen Lee's routine twice, shoved his hands into his pockets to prevent him from latching on. When he got done conversing with Naruto, he tried to make this clear.
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. "He said. Upon announcing his name, he noticed Lee's face swirl into one that was oddly serious (well, as serious as his face could be anyway). Lee retook the stance he'd done in front of Sakura, only this time his handshake hand was pointed upward, almost goading Sasuke into hitting him. This admittedly wouldn't have been that hard, with the Uchiha having found his antics supremely irritating, but it was far from his intention.
"I know who you are! I am sorry, but I cannot pledge allegiance to you just yet! You are a top level genin, finishing high in the academy so ideally, I must defeat you if I am to prove myself worthy of youth's fruitful spirit! After you are defeated…maybe then I can entrust my life to you."
Sasuke stared back at him, expression blank because there were so many thoughts running through his head that his face could only manage the most blank of faces. His emotional reaction to Lee would be, in order, irritation, confusion, amusement and frustration. He really did not know what to make of Rock Lee. Luckily, Naruto absolutely did, even if it may have been a little bit cruel.
"I reckon you can kick his ass Lee." He said with a coy grin, surprisingly managing to keep his expression subtle enough that his obvious prodding would've gone over Lee's head (though this was by no means a hard feat). Sasuke looked over at his friend, on one hand struggling to laugh but on the other, really not wanting to flunk the chunin exams because he got into a hallway punch up with fucking Rock Lee.
"Shut the fuck up Naruto."
"You guys should fight right now, while there's no jonin around" Naruto continued to nudge, getting an instantaneous response from Lee.
"I would like that."
"I'm not going to fight you in the hallway." Sasuke bluntly said, causing Lee's face to drop slightly.
"Oh, bullshit Sasuke. You're ducking him 'cause you know he'll beat the shit out of you!" Naruto chided, struggling to make it seem like he wasn't about to laugh. Luckily for him, Lee was oblivious enough that he actually seemed to be weighing the possibility of duking it out with Sasuke right here, which in term, had a domino effect onto Sasuke himself, who was now cautious of Lee snapping into action. He was probably half a second away from activating his sharingan, which would've had major consequences had it been noticed by his would-be opponent. Luckily, sharp feminine voice snapped all four out of their combat-crazed daze.
"Lee!" A girl emerged into the hallway, being slowly trailed by another boy. With their sudden appearance, Lee completely changed his posture to one that was significantly softer than his battle position. "World's fastest man over here. Seriously, would it kill you to slow it down?"
Team Seven looked at the girl with odd glances, wondering if every student on this team was bizarre. While her pattern of speech was not as loud or weirdly formal as Lee's was, she spoke so quickly that the three were essentially comprehending her words on a half-second delay. She had dark brown hair, shaped into two matching buns and wore a long-sleeved white qipao-blouse with maroon outlines on its edges. These matched the color of her pants, well some of it at least. The shoddiness of her clothes was obvious, and their natural wear and tear had been continually mended. Patches of differing fabric as well as visible re-sown thread were a constant on both her blouse and pants.
"Were you starting fights?"
"No! It was not a fight; it was a duel!"
She raised her hand up and playfully wacked him over the head (though Lee recoiled as if he had just been shot through the brain).
"That's the same thing nimrod."
He quickly bounced back, looking at her with pleading eyes. "It is not! A fight is more vicious in its existence, serving to- "
"Yeah, whatever, I don't have time for your essay." She chided, leaving a practically sobbing boy in the dust. Her attention became solely fixated on Team Seven, mirroring Lee in the fact that her courtesies seemed to be first reserved for Sakura in particular. "Hey, hey! I'm Tenten. Oh! I love your hair, is it dyed or natural? Nah, no way, no one's naturally pink. Wait! I can test it, hold on- "
Before Sakura had even been able to understand anything more than the fact that Tenten liked her hair, the other girl was now threading a finger through it, examining it like an investigative jonin looking for fingerprints. "Oh shit, you've really just got pink hair. That's so cool, I've only got brown hair, which is totally boring. Bleugh!"
She changed facial expressions so fluidly, Sakura couldn't even hope to come up with a mental image of what her resting face looked like. Under normal circumstances, she probably would've found this slightly irritating but with the built-up stress of the chunin exams running through her, Tenten actually came of as charming.
"I think it's nice, it matches your eyes." Sakura pointed out.
"That's true! I like to keep it in the buns for the symmetry, ya know?"
"Right." Sakura nodded. In the meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke felt their gazes drift away to the boy to the side of them. He had leaned back against the wall, seemingly intent to avoid any greetings. His hair was a curious shade, both dark and light enough that it would either look black or brown depending on what angle he was standing. He wore a beige shirt thar was rounded at its ends, short sleeves rolling over his arms with the same visual curl. His most distinctive feature, however, was the color of his eyes. They were deathly pale, their lack of detail similar to Lee's, but they also contained a shot of lavender within their depths. Naruto squinted, trying not to make his staring obvious. He'd seen those eyes somewhere before, but he couldn't put his finger on where…
"Hello." A sudden figure blocked his view, appearing out of nowhere. The figure was spectacled, the lower portion of his mouth being covered by the coat of his jacket. His unexpected appearance caused Naruto to physically jump back, nearly slamming himself against the wall.
"Fuck! Shino, you scared the shit out of me!" Naruto growled, upon realizing who the person was. Shino continued to stand completely still even in the face of Naruto's over animated vulgarity.
"Okay. Sorry." He didn't speak fast like Tenten did, but he did speak bluntly and quietly, making him equally as hard to hear. Instead of making any small-tack with Naruto, he just wandered off presumably to do the same thing to the others as if he was running off a greeting's checklist. Soon after, both Kiba and Hinata emerged into the hallway, trailing their teammate.
"Fuck." Naruto heard Sasuke whisper to himself, putting one hand over his whole face to try and mask the that he was using the other to hold his nose. Naruto laughed as a way of acknowledging that he'd heard this.
"Oh, there you are. Who's a good boy? You are Akamaru!" Kiba said, as a small white puppy emerged from the confines of his hoody. He scratched at the dog's chin temporarily, before setting his eyes on the rest of the genin, giving out greetings. What he didn't catch, was Sasuke's annoyed gaze settling on Naruto.
"The dog! Why's he allowed to have the dog?!" Sasuke groaned, half-whispering yet also half-shouting.
"Right? Like, is the dog gonna become a chunin too?" He replied. This conversation would've undoubtedly continued long after the topic of "Kiba smells and so does his dog" was exhausted, if Naruto had not found another figure orbiting his range.
"H-hello Naruto." Hinata said, offering a shaky wave in his direction. In Naruto's mind however, the correct sentence would've been ""H-hello Naruto" someone said" because he did not know the name of this person. He recognized this person, obviously, but in terms of a name, the presence of an "H" "I" and "N" were all he could really come up with in the way of identification. It didn't help that he caught the boy from Lee's team walking off in an apparent huff for no reason, so his focus was completely shot.
"Oh, hey- "His mouth moved faster than his mind could stop it, locking him into a situation he really shouldn't have been in. He needed an extra letter. What was the best letter? A. Shit that was just the first letter!
"Hina…"
That's it, he couldn't think quick enough to add anymore, but he also knew her name was not as shot as just "Hina". Think, think.
"…Hina." He said again. "Hina-Hina."
Both Hinata and Sasuke shot him odd looks, Hinata's sad because he obviously couldn't remember her name while Sasuke's was incredulous yet amused.
"That's not her name." He said, insight brought on due to his mind still lingering over the memory of Naruto attempting to get Lee to fight him. Naruto's immediate defensiveness showed through, face contorting with sudden wavy arm movements.
"Yeah, I know, except it's my nickname for her since we're really good friends. You probably just don't understand because I'm, like, your only friend." The way Naruto stammered through his response somehow actually made it more obvious that he forgot her name than if he just flat-out admitted it.
"Well if you're my only friend, how come you didn't give me a nickname?"
"Ah ha ha. See, you don't understand. I don't give all my friends nicknames, obviously, which you'd know if you had more friends." He once again stumbled through his words like a blind man in a swamp, sounding like a first-grader attempting to read from a text intended for adults. Sasuke stayed quiet for a little bit, before coming up with the best response he possibly could. He took his focus away from Naruto, instead directing it to the girl beside him.
"Hey Hinata." He said, with a greeting smile. Hinata, who was practically chin down in the fur lining of her hoodie at this point, brightened up slightly, smiling back at Sasuke.
"H-Hello Sasuke." She waved, the tips of her smile managing to peek out even from the collar of her jacket. She seemed genuinely happy that someone tried talking to her, even if Sasuke was looking at Naruto out of the corner of his eye the whole time.
"Holy shit, is that Naruto Uzumaki?" Kiba's unmistakably boisterous voice came roaring back into audibility. He strode up to the small group, Akamaru balancing himself on his shoulder. "Damn, I like your new hoodie."
"Thanks." Naruto said, surprisingly quiet considering it was he who was speaking. Sasuke, in the meanwhile, pinched his nose intensely, using the same hand cover technique to make it seem like he was just balancing a palm over his face.
"Too bad it's gonna get ruined when I kick your ass during the exams." Kiba laughed with a smirk. Any power the insult had was menial due to how awkwardly and suddenly Kiba had delivered it, as well as the fact that it wasn't a particularity creative either. Naruto consequently snorted in response.
"Yeah right, you don't know if we'll even get matched up."
"But if we did, I'd kick the shit out of you."
"Would not, I'd drop your ass in fifteen seconds tops." Naruto snarled back, with enough confidence to somewhat put Kiba off his game. See, Kiba was, in an objective sense, probably smarter (at least, book-wise) than Naruto. However, Kiba was still kind of stupid, and clearly thought he wasn't. Meanwhile, Naruto was obviously stupid but accepted it. With those parameters in mind, one could only underachieve in terms of small talk while the other had more than enough room to overachieve and nothing punctuated this better than Kiba's academy-tier level comeback.
"Yeah, well I fucked your mum for way more than fifteen seconds."
And with that, he plummeted directly into Naruto's academy-tier comeback trap.
"My mum's dead, so you're going to jail if you do that." He laughed to himself, only to feel a small tinge of regret on the end of his tongue when he saw Kiba's face well up with an unexpected apologia.
"Oh shit, is that true?" He said, quieter than he had been speaking before.
"Yep." Naruto nodded, mind forcing him to smile due to the awkwardness of the situation.
"Fuck dude, my bad." He apologized. In a way, it actually took the wind out of Naruto's sails. The old "my mum's dead" gambit didn't work when the person on the receiving end said sorry. It didn't help that all three watching (Hinata, Sasuke and Naruto himself) had all been so used to seeing Kiba's trademark smirk that his sadness only stuck out more when his face chose to wear it. This made for a downright painful stretch of silence before Hinata worked up the initiative to break it up.
"K-Kiba, w-we should probably go say hi to the o-other people here."
"Oh, right!" He immediately pepped up, walking along with the girl. Hinata flashed one final look at Naruto and Sasuke, waving a temporary goodbye.
"Bye Naruto. It was nice seeing you a-again." She smiled.
"See ya Hina-Hina!" He waved back, repeating the nickname. Hinata slightly blushed at the term of endearment, pulling the hood of her jacket over her head to prevent anyone from seeing. Even if the term had been born from Naruto thinking she was forgettable, he had remembered said term anyway.
Small victories Hinata. Small victories. She mentally chided to herself, ignorant of the fact that your crush having to call you something else because he literally couldn't remember your name more closely resembled a major defeat than a small victory.
"Whoopty fucking do Ino, we're here. We're here two minutes earlier than we would've been had you not beat my door down, are you happy now?"
"Home invader, are you serious?! I swear, you are such a big baby Shika!"
"Oh, I am?"
"Yeah, cause all you do is whine and sleep like a baby.
"You are so stupid. Literally everyone in the world does those things."
"Oh, everyone takes twenty-minute powernaps at every chance they get?"
"Yes! Everyone naps dumbass. You just don't because you're so pent up all the time it takes you an hour to decompress."
"Whatever, shut up. I'm not talking to you anymore."
"That'd be great, thanks."
The sound of two bickering voices (alongside the ambient crackling of a potato chip packet) boomed down the hall, until three ninja finally made their appearance into the line of sight of the others. One had black hair tied into a messy spiked ponytail behind his head, along with a short sleeve grey jacket and black t-shirt with green highlights. The girl he'd been bickering with, had her platinum blonde tied into a similar ponytail, along with a large streak that lay over her eye. The round boy behind them munched into a chip packet. He wore a green overcoat and long white scarf, in addition to headgear that connected with his forehead protector.
Ino's demeanor went from irritated to sickly sweet however, as she caught a glimpse of a boy to her left.
"Oh, hey Sasuke!" She said, seductively winking in his direction (which could have also been a way for her to block Naruto out from her peripheral vision in favor of just focusing on the Uchiha). The boy in question looked to his side, raising his hand up in a wave for a second before dropping any attention. From her still on-going conversation with Tenten, Sakura couldn't help but crack a small smile at this. This smile quickly turned into a look of slight confusion, as she watched Choji make a beeline towards Naruto.
"Narutoooo!" He screamed, physically picking him of the ground as he smothered him in a hug.
"'ey 'oji'" Naruto's words feel short as he squirmed through the bigger boy's iron-clad grasp. Coherence was only restored to him after he'd been placed down onto the ground.
"How have you been buddy?" Choji asked, seeming genuinely interested despite the fact that he and Naruto had never been close at all.
"Uh…good. You know, just doing ninja stuff." Naruto said awkwardly, still being slightly winded by the vice-lock he'd just been placed in. Choji nodded along, his big dumb smile occasionally giving way to let him stuff another handful of chips into his mouth. After Naruto was finished speaking, he would proceed to do the same thing to essentially everyone else in the room (excluding the people he didn't know, as well as Sasuke, although those were essentially one in the same.) It came as little surprise. Choji had always been friendly, which was a pale contrast to his teammates. One of them was introducing herself with a look that could only be described as a permanent sneer, whereas the other was leaning against a wall with exactly zero care for pleasantries. Soon after, the jonin that had explained the rules of the next segment to Team Seven made his way into the vicinity, bringing a wave of silence with him. The genin crowded around, dividing themselves back into their teams as they did so.
"Okay, my names Niro Manakachi, I'm going to be assisting in this segment of the test. Now, before I go over all the details, are all the teams here?" He retrieved a piece of paper from his clipboard, reading over it.
"Team 7. Sensei: Kakashi Hatake"
"Here." The three members said in unison.
"Team 8. Sensei: Kurenai Yuhi."
"Here." Kiba's voice was the only one actually audible, whereas his team mates just mumbled.
"Team 10. Sensei: Asuma Sarutobi."
"Here." Choji and Ino said, whereas Shikamaru just idly raised his hand up.
"Team 13. Sensei: Might Guy."
"Here!" Lee and Tenten both attempted to beat each other to the punch of calling out the name, whereas their lavender eyed companion stayed completely silent.
"Team sey. Sensei: Baki of The Sand?" His request was met with silence and confusion from the genin in front of him. It took a few seconds before he repeated his application.
"Team sey. Sensei: Baki Of the Sand."
Tenten was quick to speak up.
"They're not here."
Niro looked up from the clipboard. The team wasn't late by any means, but they were definitely cutting it far closer than any other genin (except maybe Shikamaru) would've been willing to.
"Judging by their sensei and team number, I'm assuming they're from Suna. They might be having trouble getting here if they only speak Sunanese." He commented, though this was unlikely. You had a better chance of finding someone who spoke both Otsusukish and Sunanese in Suna, than you did of finding someone who was purely spoke the latter. This chance only increased when you put into perspective that 95% of the only-Sunanese speaking population of Suna were over 35 years of age.
A sudden array of footsteps resonated into the clustered genin's ears. Soon after, a group of three was brought into view. The one heading up the front was a girl, quadrilateral blond hair and misty blue eyes illuminating her presence. She wore a long black, almost robe like gown that trickled down her feet. A red sash was tied across her waist, leaving two crimson trails in her wake while her headband was rapped slackly around her neck. Next to her stood a slightly pudgy boy dressed in full black puppetry gear. Painted purple spikes ran through the outlines of his face, bestowing a sinister glint to his features. Unfortunately, if he was trying to look scary, it didn't work. When Naruto's eyes grazed over him, he had to physically bite his tongue to suppress the instinctive giggles that were crawling up his mouth. On his back lay a large bandaged object, the contents of which none of the genin could figure out.
Behind both suna ninja, stood a shorter boy. His hair was crimson like blood, matching the large tattoo which rested on his forehead. His eyes were sunken, with sleeping bags so dark, they ceased to even look like bags as much as patches of dead, withered skin. He wore a loose black baggy top, which was covered by an equally baggy and ill-fitting long-sleeved red coat. A majority of his face was covered with a large cloth scarf that climbed from his neck, resting just a bit below his nose. However, he quickly discarded the ware and wrapped it around his chest as the need to have it on decreased in the lukewarm inside air. Much like his two teammates, he also had an object strapped to his back. This came in the form of a large gourd of god knows what, which connected to a large leather strap that curved around his chest (and also served as a spot to put his forehead protector)
"Sorry, are we late?" The girl asked, the sly grin on her features telling everyone that she already knew she wasn't. Niro shook his head, tapping a finger at his clipboard.
"I assume you're Temari of The Sand?" He said, motioning to the Suna symbol she had engraved on her forehead protector.
Temari nodded.
"And these two are Kankuro and Gaara?" Kankuro shot a lazy thumbs up, Gaara stayed perfectly still. The jonin scrawled something over his paper, before stuffing the pen into his pocket and swapping it out for a key. With a crack, he unlocked the door to the room that the teams had been waiting outside, inviting them in with a large hand gesture. Excited to move onto the next phase, they packed into the area, finding something significantly homier than they expected for an exam that essentially promoted the idea that you might die during it.
"Hey, this is pretty snazzy." Kiba said, as he looked over the room. It was incredibly spacious; numerous couches and tables being laid out for the genin. There were also a multitude shelves lined with snacks, drinks and board games (including ones Sakura quickly noticed would take far too long to play in the forty-five minutes they apparently had).
"Okay, this is where you'll be staying for the next forty-five minutes. This is more of an icebreaker then anything. Just socialize amongst yourselves for the time allocated and you'll be let into the next phase of the exam." He said, pointing to the large clock at the head of the room. "Once the big hand reaches the halfway point of the clock, you'll be free to go onto the next section."
He then pointed over towards the door that hung near it. "It's right through there in fact, so don't worry about not knowing where to go."
He quickly reshuffled his focus around to the twin doors embedded in the wall that ran perpendicular to the clock. "This is a private room. It fits two people only, if any more than that are detected inside, the doors will lock and the team of whoever's in there will fail the exam."
He then motioned to another door that sat strangely close to it. "That's the bathroom. Same rules allowed, only this time only one at a time. You will not be permitted to leave this room but in the event of an emergency, I'll be guarding the door outside. Knock twice, and I'll open it to see what the problem is. Understood?"
A collective nod broke out from the teams in attendance.
"That's all you need to know. Enjoy these forty-five minutes kids, because it gets a lot harder from here on out." He tilted his head slightly, before fully slamming the door shut. A small clink was heard afterward, signifying that they were now fully locked into the room. After a little bit of weighted silence, everyone remembered that literally all they were instructed to do was socialize (and they didn't even really need to). A mass of chatter erupted in record fast time, to the point where Sasuke noted this may end badly should the proctors in the next room happen to hear exactly how loud they were.
"Come on Sakura, let's sit over here!" Tenten beckoned, leading her towards a triangle of couches. The pink-haired girl paused, looking back at Naruto and Sasuke.
"Wait, hold on. My team's back there- "
"Yeah so? They can come too." Tenten's figure moved from Sakura over to Sasuke and Naruto, who followed suite over to the couch triangle. The couches were composed of a rough leather and sat up to three people on each one. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura sat on one, whereas Tenten took a seat to their right.
"Hey, Sakura, stop getting buddy-buddy with the enemy!" Naruto yelled as he sat, clearly not enthused at being dragged over to the couches. He was going to sit on them anyway, but he didn't want someone saying he had to sit on them.
"Oh yeah, I'm just spilling out our team secrets to Tenten." She turned directly to face the other girl, a faux-smugness clear on her face. "Hey, did you know Naruto gets bed sores on the inside of his knees?"
"Oh no, I didn't know that!" The pair were clearly joking, that much was obvious from their voices and over-animated body movements. However, the situation Sakura had described actually hit close enough to home that Naruto began to get defensive.
"Actually, it wasn't bed sores, it was a one-time rash. Only dumb old people get bed sores." Naruto growled, only for his speedy self-justifying tone to slow down as he realized the looks, he was getting from the two girls. Sasuke's head was aloofly tilted so that he wasn't facing the conversation, but even he couldn't help but let a small curve grace his lips. With that, Naruto quickly began backtracking on the status of his rash.
"I mean, haha, that's funny. Mostly it's funny because I don't get bedsores, or, like, anything on the insides of my knees."
"Got ya'." Tenten replied, bemusedly smirking at the Uzumaki's embarrassment. "Hey, is there anything you want to know from my team?"
Sasuke surprisingly spoke before either of his teammates could respond to the only half-serous question.
"Who's he?" His gaze shot out of the back of the couch, lingering towards the lavender-eyed boy who was once again leaning against a wall on his lonesome. He had completely disconnected himself from not only the rest of his team, but the rest of the entire group as well, not having spoken to a single other genin as far as Sasuke knew. He found it eerily reflective.
"That's Neji. He's a total asshole." Tenten spoke too quickly for her own good, blurting out her true feelings and then quickly trying to cover them up. "I mean, he's okay. He's fine. He's cool. Just kind of quiet, that's all."
Naruto looked over the apparently stoic boy as well, noting his features. He had the same eyes as Hina-Hina. Could they have been related? In response, his mind boated up the distinct memory of Neji walking away after she had come near him. Why would he do that if they were family? She was from a famous clan wasn't she, maybe they were trying to hide it? They were both pretty big idiots then, because they had the same weirdo eyes that even Naruto could successively recognize. What was up with those two-
"Oh god, Lee no!" Tenten cried observing her teammate attempting to shake the hand of the red-haired Suna boy across the side of the room. She practically leapt out of her chair, power-walking over to try and stop him. Team Seven became fixated on the sight, Sakura specifically focused on Gaara's eyes.
"Look at the black stuff around his eyes. What's up with that?" She asked, getting a monotone response from Sasuke.
"I know. It's pretty ghoulish." He said, earning a snort from the girl across from him.
"Ha! Ghoulish?"
"It means like a ghoul." He slightly smiled back.
"I know. It just sounds funny in your voice."
"Shut up you guys. Maybe he was just too nervous to sleep last night, It's not his fault!" Naruto reprimanded, sounding genuinely sorry for the boy (probably because he emphasized with his own thesis). Sakura's face immediately fell, obvious apologia overtaking her features.
"Ah, you're right. Sorry." She felt bad for literally one second until Sasuke made her laugh again.
"Was he nervous for the entire month or something?" Sauske said, which actually got Sakura and Naruto laughing, despite immediately regretting it upon realizing that this was still mean.
In the meanwhile, Lee had stuck his hand out forwards in similar posture to what he had done to Sakura earlier. One hand titled at an odd-angle for a handshake, with the other tucked around his back. Gaara stayed completely expressionless in the face of this, barely even mustering enough emotion to blink. An odd, awkward silence ensured before Lee finally mumbled in the same way he had earlier.
"This is a handshake."
Gaara still did not do anything. This came as a surprise to Lee, who was used to people actually understanding when you told them what you were trying to instigate. The thought did not cross his mind that maybe Gaara simply didn't want to shake his hand and refused to. If it had, he most likely wouldn't have shoved his palm right up into the other boy's face like he proceeded to do. Gaara's eyes briefly moved, presumably to scout the fact that he had not just been punched in the face before he looked back to Lee himself.
"Do not touch me." Was all he said, voice low, gravely and unbecoming of his appearance. Lee looked confused, wondering why exactly you wouldn't want touch someone who was offering you a handshake. Just in time to not save the situation, Tenten leapt up, grabbing Lee by the shoulders and beginning to pull him away.
"Hey! Tenten, what the-" He protested.
"Lee. He's from Suna, they don't really do handshakes there." She lied. In reality, handshakes were no uncommon in Suna than they were in Konoha. Tenten just realized the kid with a big tattoo on his head and pitch-black sleeping bags around his eyes might not be the best person for someone as…loud as Lee to be interacting with. It helped that he bought the lie without second thought, face cartoonishly swelling up into one of shame.
"Ah! I'm sorry, I was unaware!" He said, Gaara yet again blanking him on the response. Luckily, Tenten was able to pull Lee away before he could embarrass himself further (even if he blurted out apologies halfway to the couch.)
"Come on. Let's go sit with those guys you were talking to earlier…" She said, dragging him back to the couch with her. Gaara stayed completely still for a few seconds, his lifeless eyes meaning he more closely resembled a statue than a person before he turned around and began to look for his teammates. He spotted the pair sitting in a far corner of the room. They were sitting on bar stools that were far too short for them which orbited a table that was far too tall for them. Each of their back accessories (the large metal bar and weird bandage ball) had been placed onto the ground to relieve strain.
"Hey, what were you talking to that guy about?" Kankuro asked nonchalantly, as Gaara approached the table.
"Nothing. He tried to touch me." Gaara spoke, sitting down at the stool. The lighting was quite dim over here. Well, it wasn't like the whole room itself was particularly well lit but this corner was still dim all the same.
"I think he was just trying to shake your hand." Kankuro explained, face clearly unimpressed. Gaara's eyes twitched, an immediate brace shooting down the other boy's spine as he prepared for what could've been a very bad situation. Luckily, the twitch was fleeting, and Gaara remained composed.
"I didn't want to touch him." He folded his arms over the other, looking dead ahead at no body. Despite all their years knowing Gaara, the two could never figure out if he did that because he was unaware or because he didn't consider them worth looking at. In a stage way, Kankuro thought it might be both.
Gaara coughed slightly before mechanically wiping at it with his scarf. "I found him irritating and nonthreatening. I want to kill him."
Temari looked back at him casually, incredibly relaxed considering he'd just admitted he wanted to attempt murder.
"Well, we'll see how the exam goes. Maybe you'll get the chance in the later rounds. Just put a little bit more pressure on and act like it was an accident."
Gaara nodded slightly, before becoming completely still again. This stillness lasted around thirty seconds before he began to uneasily shuffle.
"Why are we not sitting on a couch? These seats are uncomfortable."
"Hey, wake that guy over there up and it's all yours." Kankuro motioned to Shikamaru, who was currently draping himself over the entire length of the couch, mumbling something to Kiba. Their respective teams were both orbiting around the couch, so he imagined he'd face serious push back if he attempted to take it for himself. Gaara looked around further and found a free couch, but it was surrounded by two others, one of which contained the Lee boy. Gaara did not want to risk having to interact with him again, so he stayed put on the uncomfortable chairs.
After all, in the small time it had taken him to look around, he'd found something significantly more important than his own comfortability. His pale green eyes became locked upon Naruto, transfixed upon the boy like he was work of fine art. It took a short while until he managed to tear his head away from the sight and over to Temari.
"Sister, is that the nine-tails?" He asked. There was only the smallest glimmer of emotion in his eye, but it still took his sibling slightly off-guard. She looked back to his point of interest, squinting to try and see better.
"Which one?"
"Orange hoodie."
She spent a second evaluating the boy, before turning back to her brother.
"Unless there's another blond with whiskers in this room, it's him."
"Oh shit, I found another one. She's right across the table from me." Kankuro laughed to himself, much to Temari's annoyance.
"Shut up."
"What? Everyone has hair on their face, don't get pissy at me for pointing it out?"
Gaara payed no mind to the voices of the pair, their petty sibling squabbles being well and truly beneath him. Instead, his gaze continued to linger on Naruto, eyes occasionally flickering to the boy even when Gaara was set to look straight ahead. However, Gaara was not just doing this to satiate his own curiosity, he was doing it for someone else's too. The classic idiom about two mouths to feed rung true, after all.
Shit, is Kurama inside him? Man, I haven't seen Kurama in years! Not since those mist sickos went nuts at least. Oh boy! Get through the exams quick, Gaara please! I can't wait to see him again!
He truly hated the contributor of the voice, but he couldn't help but echo the sentiment. He was very excited to meet Naruto Uzumaki.
Niro leaned against the wall, whistling a tune he'd recently heard on a record as he did. His black hair messily draped down over his face. He could hear the chatter of the genin even through the relativity thick walls. Suddenly, another jonin appeared, walking down the hall while neurotically tapping at his clipboard. He had fair brown hair tied into a ratail at the back of his head. Niro's eyes peeped up as he saw him, waving over to the other ninja.
"Hey, Hisume!" He waved, commanding the other man's attention.
"Oh, hey Niro! How's it going?"
"I supervising the chunin exam on unpaid hours, what do you think?" Niro groaned, rolling his eyes back for emphasis. Hisume laughed, looking over at the door to the others left. His face became immediately interested.
"Oh! Is that the locked room segment?"
Niro nodded.
"Wow! You think they'll figure it out?"
He looked back at the door for a second before returning his gaze to Hitsume. "I didn't really get to know them outside of greetings and stuff, so I can't really give a analyical rundown or whatever, but, if I was betting man..."
He paused, fulling calculating his response.
"I'd say they're flunking out in the first round."