A sharp tisk stuck on the end of Kankuro's lips as he tepidly sipped his soda, the Suna boy quickly recoiling in disgust as he did so. This one was called "vibe" and judging by the illustration (and the big colored text on the label), it was grape flavored. It was also fucking disgusting and Kankuro was only drinking it for the sake of drinking it. He looked over at his brother, his only other companion now that Temari had excused herself to go talk to that Konoha boy, hoping to try and start some small talk.
"God, Konoha soda is so bad dude. Seriously, look at this shit- "He said, motioning to the back of the label.
Gaara was not even looking at him.
"Look at all that sugar. It's literally twenty-one percent sugar. Do you know how much sugar that is? It's like ten teaspoons. Ten. How are the people here not, like, overwhelmingly obese? Do they have- "
Gaara's head snapped around to face him, the suddenness of the movement derailing Kankuro's monologue.
"Cease your pointless rambling Meticcia. I do not wish to speak with you."
Kankuro had to bite his tongue at the insult. Meticcia meant "half-breed" in Sunanese, which stung as badly as the putrid Konoha sugar-water. His cooler head prevailed though, knowing it wasn't a good idea to try and insult Gaara when he was in one of his moods. Hell, it wasn't a good idea to insult Gaara ever. Kankuro mumbled something about "just wanting to make conversation" before beginning to nip at his soft drink once more. In doing so, he also happened to ignore the metallic whirring that was bouncing around the bottom of the can…
The beetles flew through the air, wings flickering in the steadily-approaching sunlight while they navigated through the morning breeze. Their small, glimmering eyes were set dead ahead at the top of the exam building, each beetle making sure to keep their lithe bodies in formation for better scouting purposes. As they overtook the rooftops, they began looking down in order to identify the building Shino was in. From there, they looked around in an attempt to find the location of the room over. This was not difficult, as its presence was punctuated by a massive glass skylight that nearly ran over the whole room. A cacophony of fluttering wings began to buzz through the air as the beetles flew towards it, careful to both stay in formation as well as avoid the attention of any ninja who may have been in the room already.
This concern however, was menial. The Aburame clan was renowned for their insect breeding programs, with each ninja carrying many types of bugs on them at all times. These ones were the "Kirameku", by far the clan's most utilized insect when it came to reconnaissance. They were tiny, with massive amounts of peripheral vision. While they had no real offensive options, they were also incredibly mobile as well as resistant to sunlight thanks to the exo-skeleton like armor that wrapped around their bodies. For a shinobi to see them would take incredible vision (a feat none of the ninjas in the halls were capable of producing seeing as they'd managed to sneak outside undetected), but the bugs were smart enough to not take even the slightest risk. They gently crawled towards the edges of the skylight, slowly peering into its confines.
As suspected, there were already genin in there, sitting in what looked like exam conditions. Not chunin exam conditions, but the traditional classroom arrangement with desks and stationery. A ninja with a long scar running across his face sat at the front of the room, posture stiffly unmoving. The room itself was surrounded by several doors, which looked strange when you accounted for the multiple levels of seating that it also had. One of these doors had been opened and from what they could see, it very closely resembled the same room Shino was in. If there was any doubt about the escape theory, it had died with this sight.
Fwoosh.
One bug's antennas twitched as it heard a wispy sound to it's right. It gently turned its head that way, trying to find its brethren that it had just seen standing there. However, that bug had apparently disappeared from view. In its place sat a small pile of sand.
"Wait, what?! We fail if we don't get out before the clock goes down?" Sakura nearly screamed, quickly being shushed by Sasuke.
Even from the solitude of the private room, he couldn't help but try and quiet her. In all fairness, she was rather loud when she was shocked, even if she had been attempting to whisper.
"I don't know for sure; I just saw Shikamaru writing about it. Maybe he's wrong but it does hold up under scrutiny. Why would they waste a "getting to know each other" segment on genin who mostly already do? In fact, why would they do it at all? There are better ways to build camaraderie as well as examine us." He whispered.
Sakura nodded, briefly thinking to herself before turning back to Sasuke.
"How do you think we get out then?" She asked.
"Maybe a key or something, I don't know. The door to the next rooms definitely locked so- "
The privacy of the private room seemed to be a guaranteed feature if you judged by its name. Unfortunately for Sasuke and Sakura, their conversation was the second one to occurs in this area that was also being eavesdropped on.
Tenten had noticed early on that the bathroom and "private" room had been placed ridiculously close together, probably less than half a meter apart in length. She'd preemptively drunk a soda and while it was no substitute for a glass, it was good enough. Walking into the bathroom only a few seconds after Sasuke and Sakura's private retreat, she noticed the shiny white tiling that had been layered upon the walls. It was a poor attempt to mask the bathrooms true intention, that being a private room in which one could listen in on the contents of the actual private room. See, Tenten wasn't stupid. Purely going off of street smarts she was easily the cleverest and most crafty of her teammates. The "just socialize" had seemed suspicious to her from the get-go, and this suspicion was only confirmed as the secrecy of the other genin began to intensify.
She grazed her finger over the tiling, wasting little thought over it's pristine finish. Instead, she was focused on its specifics.
Marble tiles, white in color. Stuck loosely to the wall, maybe half an inch raised from it.
A quick flick through her pockets brought forth a kunai. She flipped it over, holding the blunt part outward and began pressing down against the wall. As expected, after only a little bit of pressure, the marble began to crack, spilling to the ground like snowflakes in the winter while revealing a thing wood material where it once stood. With only a quick glance, Tenten was already sure she could straight up break through into the next room if she wanted. She retrieved her soda can, gently using the blunt side of the kunai to mold the inward-facing bottom into a brim before switching to the sharp end and cutting away the excess top to shape it more like a glass. Then, she pressed it up against the wooden section of the wall, soundwaves immediately beginning to relay into the metal and then her ears.
Sasuke and Sakura's conversation was heard in full.
Shikamaru clicked his knight into place, staring unflinchingly at the shogi board. He was playing against himself, as per usual. He'd easily beat Choji earlier, and Ino, who was more of a challenge, was too busy breaking into hysterics over not being able to find the key to be able to play. He checked up at the clock. Seventeen minutes left.
Shikamaru was a simple boy, no matter his intellect. He lived for three things which were his mothers cooking, shogi and sleep. He found playing against himself in the game incredibly relaxing yet also thought provoking. When you were thinking for two people, it became easy to domino yourself into a good idea. Unfortunately, he was coming up blank for the moment. Niro didn't have the key on him, which meant that the key was somewhere in this room. They would have to excavate the whole damn thing to find it, which would only serve to cause mass panic, which would lead to fights which would lead to a lot of teams potentially failing. In all fairness, this might actually help them if the Ino-Shika-Cho trio just stayed out of the way and let everyone else get escorted out of the room. But then the problem still remained, what if the key wasn't in the room at all? What if there was some different way that you were supposed to escape out of the door?
"Hey." A voice came from his back, prompting Shikamaru to chase after its source.
What he found was the Suna girl from earlier, the one with the black robes. She sat down at the seat adjacent to him before he could say anything in reply, cutely cupping her chin with her palm. Shikamaru tilted his head back straight to face her, nearly instinctively pulling his shogi board closer. Despite the fact that she was sitting on the opposite side of the table, she wasn't actually that far away. In fact, she was surprisingly close (which was more due to the small size of the table than anything).
"You're Shikamaru right?" She asked, with an offputtingly sly grin.
He didn't know how she knew his name, but also didn't care that much. The answer was likely to be something boring anyway, so he just played along with her in an attempt to make enough conversation that she'd be satisfied and leave.
"Yep."
"I'm- "
"Temari. I heard before." He mused; one eye focused on her while the other stayed transfixed on the shogi board.
"You play shogi a lot?" She asked, keeping the conversation going despite the Naras boy's previous occlusion.
"Nah. Only a little bit." He murmured back.
In his mind, Shikamaru told himself that he said this because he didn't want to give away too much information to a potential enemy. In reality, he just didn't want to seem like he was a total nerd in front of a cute girl.
"You want to have a game? I'm, like, the only one to play it Suna but I hear it's much more popular over here. Maybe you can teach me a few things, huh?" She winked with a coy smile.
Shikamaru froze up, brain kicking into overdrive in an attempt to get a response out before his irritation became visible. He didn't really have time to waste on a game of shogi right now, and could only agree if this girl was substantially bad enough at it that he could beat her quickly. From his estimations though, she didn't seem that intelligent. In fact, from the way she'd awkwardly introduced herself to him, she seemed a little bit airheaded. If he tried hard enough and she didn't stall her moves, he'd probably be able to lock her into tsume in a little over three minutes.
"Sure." He obliged, rounding up his placed pieces and putting them back in their respective positions.
Temari softly waved her hand, motioning him to start. He did as instructed, moving his pawn up one space in a feeling-out move. She responded in kind, though Shikamaru couldn't help but notice that her eyes were more on him than the board itself. The cat-like grin that she had previously wore was now gone in favor of a more "girlish" one that he couldn't help but feel was incredibly tacked on. She was also better at shogi than he had thought. Not to the point where she posed any real threat (her style was way too heavy on offense for that) but she did enough to keep him from sleepwalking himself to win like he normally did.
The clicks and clacks of the pieces on the boards remained the solitary sound between the two before Temari decided she wanted to speak.
"Are you enjoying the exams?" She asked.
"Not really. I think they're boring." Shikamaru replied, briefly looking up at the girl as to not seem rude.
Temari nervously looked to the side, blush adorning her features.
"Oh, y-yeah. I agree." She stammered, demeanor serving in stark contrast to the raw confidence she'd radiated earlier in the hall.
All in the while, they continued to play, game moving quickly as the wood chipped pieces shuffled through the board. However, Shikamaru had found himself off his game slightly. Was it possible that this girl…liked him? If you looked at it logically, the answer would be yes. She was blushing at the simplest of his glances as well as stammering at her own words (although this may have been a language barrier issue if she was one of those people who spoke Sunanese as their primary vernacular). It most likely wasn't anything more than a school yard thing, but judging from the way she'd approached him in particular (having specifically sought out his name before doing so), it wasn't that farfetched to think that she was at the very least attracted to him.
And in all honesty, he kinda returned these advances. She was definitely pretty and surprisingly cute in her mannerisms. Her voice dripped with a sunshine-quality that he once thought exclusive to the theater. Not to mention she was good at shogi, definitely better than anyone he'd played short of his father or Asuma-sensei. If she wasn't so aggressive in her playstyle, she may have actually been able to provide a challenge for him. As much as Shikamaru liked to regard himself as above the trials of the heart, he would be lying if he didn't say he noticed her as she smiled back at him. It was nothing more than surface-level attraction, obviously, but even that was a lot more attention than he gave most people in the first place.
"Hey, Shika- "She said, voice high-pitched as she further sat her face down against her palms.
She was definitely cute.
"I've heard this crazy rumor about the exams…" She continued on, dark blue eyes sparkling even if the dim light of the area.
"Hm." Shikamaru nodded, moving his rook sideways to try and shield the attack from her bishop.
"Someone's been saying that if we don't get out before that clock goes down, we all fail."
Time froze in the Nara boy's head. He once again titled his gaze upward from the game, gently as to not alarm Temari at his sudden action. Her bubbly, "girly" gaze was, for that split-second, completely gone. Her glittering blues were now cold and mechanical as they looked at him, with her smile becoming less cutesy and more fiendish. It was an act. Shikamaru wanted to slap himself over the head in annoyance, not because of the dashing of his three second crush, but because he'd somehow stumbled into her trap when all it took was a bit of scrutiny to see through. The words of his father echoed through his head.
"Always think with your brain Shikamaru, never think with your dick…"
He gently took hold of a shogi piece, attempting not to wither under Temari's gaze. If she was smart enough to think of the ploy she'd just incorporated, she was smart enough that Shikamaru would have to chose his next few words very carefully. Right now, he was at a disadvantaged state because the slightest mincing of his words would indicate that he had figured her initial ruse out. A concrete refutation of said rumor (E.g "that's stupid") would give him away instantly, as would any attempt to try and find the source of said information. God, he'd thought Temari was nice but really, she was a massive drag. Some might say, an ultra-drag or, if you wanted to go further, a drag among drags.
Move the king one step to the side.
He smoothly slid the shogi piece sideways, looking back at the Suna girl with the same tepid indifference he gave most problems.
"That'd be pretty clever actually."
"Oh, you think so?" Temari replied, once-again beginning to sugar coat her words.
This was hard to do when she was so obviously judging Shikamaru, so her natural husky tone had a habit of bleeding into her dialect. While her eyes may have been displaying the same childish femininity that were seen in romance manga, they were faker than a genjutsu, truly watching intently for any discrepancies in the Nara boy's features. She gripped her own shogi piece, moving it forward without ever taking her eyes off Shikamaru.
Move the knight forward two spaces.
"Yeah." He murmured, moving in time with her.
Move the bishop diagonal, block the knight.
Temari smiled as she watched her war of attrition begin to ware down Shikamaru's defense. She had no doubt that he could beat her if he had been trying, but he'd been taken so off-guard by her faux-interrogation, that he could barley focus on the game. This wasn't actually true, Shikamaru simply ceased to care about the game at all since one wrong word could give information to an enemy, but functionally, it made no difference.
"Maybe it's true?"
Drop a lance.
The way she spoke was cartoonishly lively that it only served to further confirm in Shikamaru's mind that Temari was attempting to bait him into giving away what he knew. He temporarily focused on the shogi game, realizing he may lose if his laxness kept up.
Move pawn to the side, in front of another pawn which will block the lance.
"Doubt it unless they want to wean out a majority of the genin before the tournament section even starts." He mumbled, watching her king with intent.
Strangely, Temari had been using her king offensively for a majority of the game. Shikamaru would've found it interesting if he wasn't caught in the middle of an elaborate ploy to try and sap info from him.
"Yeah, but apparently they always do this kind of thing during the exams. It's meant to mess with you."
Move promoted Bishop to the side, take pawn. Set up silver general.
"Could be." Shikamaru commented, eyes shooting downcast to underneath the table before flicking back up to the shogi board.
Move pawn to try and block silver general with king gambit.
"Yeah. Maybe there's something that we need to find."
Move sliver general diagonal, take one of his gold generals.
"Like a key?"
Move bishop to the side. Bait.
"I didn't say key."
Take bishop with silver general, open up king completely.
Temari smirked, thinking she'd fully bested Shikamaru at both shogi and her interrogation. Any move he made now would open up his king to be taken by her bishop. He had no drop reserves that could do much more than delay the inevitable meaning she'd won. She was also interested in seeing how exactly he managed to weasel out of the verbal blunder he'd stumbled into. In truth, she hadn't even planned for him to say "like a key?". She'd actually expected both the spoken gridlock and shogi game to go longer, but instead, he'd trapped himself in the most simply way possible. A shame, she may have overestimated him.
However, when Shikamaru looked back up at her, there was not even the most trace lingering of defeat in his eyes. Instead he looked bored.
"You lose." He said, taking his gold general and swiping her king off the board.
Her eyes expanded in shock, taking a little bit to formulate what had just happened. She'd had him open completely! On the next move there was no way for him to maneuver the king out of harm's way. It was-
"You got so obsessed with using your king offensively that you didn't even remember I'd moved my gold general into your rear lines earlier. You could have probably got him with a rook too, if you'd noticed." He looked up at her, unimpressed. "You really need to watch your back."
Temari had to practically crack her teeth to keep her rosey smile upturned.
"Right. That was…totally stupid." She said, accidentally letting anger flood into her voice despite the obvious attempt to try and keep her façade up.
"And I'll tell you something else…" Shikamaru continued, folding his hands over each other.
It was at this moment that Temari ceased to have any feeling in her legs. It felt like something had gripped her ankle and then just nothing. She couldn't even stand up; her lower body was entirely numb. For that matter, she could barley see under the table because its shadow was so dark (plus it didn't help that her clothes were black).
Is he doing this? She asked, attempting in vain to get a grip on her autonomy.
"…I know that we fail if we don't get out in time, and if we do, I'll be kind of happy. No one in this room has a chance of making chunin, certainly not me in particular. I'm already starting to get sleepy, so I'd like nothing more than to be dismissed early enough that I can make it back home for an afternoon nap."
Temari grimaced as the Nara boy monologed, realizing she'd somehow fallen into his trap. She was no longer trying to mask her true intentions, any cheerfulness fading from her expression while she struggled to move. She could try to make a fuss about this (she had no doubt both Gaara and Kankuro could kick this guys ass) but her objections had to be halted when she remembered that Gaara had been getting rather anxious. He'd be eager to kill Shikamaru outright, which would at best, put a massive amount of scrutiny on the Suna siblings for the future, and at worst, mean they fail the exam outright as it would seem unprovoked. No matter what, they needed to get to the finals, so this was essentially out of the question.
"So, would you like another game?" Shikamaru asked out of the blue.
There was a slightly smug smile stuck to his lips, similar to the one Temari usually wore. She took a brief second to look over both him and the board, giving a harsh scowl before beginning to place her units back in their intended position. Maybe she could at least try and get some more information out of him while she was stuck here…
"What?! We fail if we don't get out?!" Kiba barked, the anger in his face reflecting upon Akamaru.
"Yes." Shino said, bluntly.
"Oh, what the fuck!" The Inuzuka growled, slapping himself over his forehead.
Hinata nervously sipped at her drink while her friend descended into hysteria. At first, she'd been peeved that Shino's information had dragged her away from her conversation with Naruto, but now she was more concerned about, ya know, failing the entire chunin exam in the first round.
"M-maybe it's like a s-scavenger hunt and we can find our way out with a key or something l-like that?" She suggested, earning a slight nod from Shino.
"That's likely. Why? Because if they locked us into a room with-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm on it." Kiba interrupted, recovering from his anger in record time.
He and Akamaru stormed off towards the main door, sharply knocking on it twice. Its frame was thrust open only slightly, a small slit of light radiating into the room.
"What is it?" Niro asked, unwilling to show anything more than a tiny section of his face after what had happened when Ino had knocked.
Luckily, this was all Kiba needed, holding Akamaru's face up to the doors gap. He mumbled something about needing to go to the bathroom and was quickly redirected to the bathroom that was actually in the room he was supposed to be in. The door shut, a large smile adorning Kiba's face as he returned. Judging by his friend's reactions, they didn't have the faintest idea of why he'd done that, so he took it upon himself to elucidate it for them.
"We've got his scent. If he hid something, it should still smell like him right?"
"Ah! Good job Kiba!" Hinata exclaimed, face brightening while Shino nodded in agreement
Kiba placed Akamaru down on the floor, the white pup immediately setting its nose upon the ground and beginning to scurry off with a sharp bark. He himself raised his nose upwards, taking in the smells of the room and trying to discern Niro's own from the rest. This was tough. Smells could be hard to discern in the first place and the fact that there were so many people crammed into the room meant Kiba had his work cut out for him trying to properly differentiate them. Between the material of Naruto's jacket, Ino's perfume, leftover cigarette smoke from Shikamaru and metric fuck ton of styling gel that had been put into Lee's hair, Kiba's nose nearly became completely overwhelmed. That was until he hit it.
It may not have been Niro's exactly. The jonin man was generally well washed so attempting to differentiate it from the crowd was hard, but with his enhance sense of smell, Kiba could at the very least read something that smelled similar.
"I think I've got him." He happily growled, dashing along the trail of the aroma.
There was a distinctive energy, which some people may have called "panic", that was spreading around the room like a virus. At this point, every team had become informed about the true nature of the room and were reacting like you would expect when you had just been told the most important academic event of your life was about to become forfeit to a scavenger hunt scheme.
"Hey, coming through!"
Naruto barged past Ino, earning a loud snarl from the Yamanaka girl.
"Watch it!"
In the meanwhile, Tenten had stationed herself at the head of the room, using one of her hair pins to pick away at the lock. Neji stood to her side, eyes veiny and pulsating with ocular ability. He scanned over the area, seeing through every possible blockage and obstruction. This was the power of the Hyuga dojutsu: the byakugan. The user of this jutsu could see through any wall with increased visual fidelity and field of vision. In comparison to the sharingan, which primarily enhanced the users focus and reflexes due to its accuracy, the byakugan gave its wielder a massive scope of their surrounding area.
Nevertheless, Neji could not spot any sort of key or object hidden away that seemed out of the ordinary.
"There doesn't seem to be a key anywhere." He said.
"Try looking harder." Tenten bluntly replied, clearly more focused upon cracking the lock herself than doing so with the aid of a key.
Neji didn't listen to her direction, instead deciding to continue leaning against the wall. He was still young and his byakugan wasn't even close to being nearly mastered. While something significant may have been detected, it was entirely possible that an object as small as the key likely was (judging by the keyhole on the door) could've stayed concealed. It was around the time that Naruto charged past an unexpecting Lee, that he began to laugh once more.
"What on earth are you doing?" He asked, as Naruto ruffled through a shelf.
"Let it go Neji." Tenten murmured, though her voice was slight.
Upon practically ridding the thing of all it's wares, Naruto turned back to the Hyuga boy with a pout on his face.
"Looking for the key to help us pass, which you probably don't even know about because you're stupid." Naruto said, acting like an authority on the subject despite the fact he'd only learnt about said key from Sasuke in the last two minutes.
"Oh, I know about it and honestly, I'm not worried now that you're on the case Naruto." Neji scoffed, looking down at the other boy with distain.
Naruto gave a groan of aggravation before turning to Neji with a look of complete exacerbation.
"Oh, shut the fuck up dud branch, at least I'm doing something unlike you."
Neji froze, a cold, blistering anger beginning to radiate out from every possible inch of him. He was not concerned about Naruto's false claim that he done nothing, no. It was the nickname he'd been given that had really set his blood to boil.
"What did you call me?" He asked softly
"You heard me dud branch." Naruto said back, smiling slightly now that he'd actually managed to get a reaction out of Neji.
Well, maybe a little bit more than just a reaction. Neji charged forwards, pure bloodlust roaring through his eyes. He moved so quickly; Naruto didn't even have a chance to jump out of the way. By the time he'd realized Neji was even moving, the Hyuga boy was already in striking distance. A bone-shattering palm crashed into Naruto's nose, dropping him to the floor with force. Neji leapt forward, intending to beat Naruto into a vetitive state before the Uzumaki exploded into a cloud of smoke. With his hands suddenly gripping the floor instead of his foe, Neji began looking around, eventually finding (the real) Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura clearing out another shelf in search of a key.
Naruto was smugly smiling to himself, watching from the corner of his eye. Embarrassment began to overtake Neji, overriding the wave of anger he'd previously been riding upon. He stood up, cleaning any muck off of his shirt before walking back over to Tenten. A conscious effort was made to try and keep the sound of Naruto's laughter on mute for the time being.
"Dud branch is a good one." Sasuke said, half-watching Neji's detected stride.
"You think so?" Naruto said back between giggles.
"You know Naruto, sometimes you swing and miss but with that one you really hit it out of the park." Sakura complimented sweetly, before her face became cartoonishly angered. "Now start emptying those cans a little bit faster!"
He recoiled at her sudden anger, doing exactly as she said with a nervous smile. The theory was positively crackpot, but with every couch cushion being uprooted, it was really one of the only available options. The hypothesis was that the key had been hidden in a can of soda, much like a promotional ticket of some sort, which meant Team Seven was now grabbing the drinks off of the shelves and pouring them onto the ground. Other teams had similar ideas (Ino was in the process of slicing the couch cushions open) but, expectedly, they'd not been able to find anything notable except a dead fly (which Naruto had then tried to stuff into the keyhole to no effect).
While the general air between the three was positive, there was a general unease around the room. Fifteen minutes left and no sign of the key did not bode well for anyone's chunin exam chances. It would've been a little bit less disheartening if they had simply lost in combat or something like that, because that meant there was genuine room for improvement. Here, they were literally about to lose because they couldn't open a door. Increasingly bright flashes of self-doubt embedded themselves within the mind of the three genin.
Oh god, mum's gonna kill me if I don't make it to at least the second segment! Sakura flinched inwardly.
He passed it on the first try. Sasuke thought.
Naruto just bit his lip, trying to suppress the feelings before they could fully get a foothold in his brain. If he failed here, all the work he'd done over the past few months, hell, past few years of his life, still wouldn't be enough to even let him pass the first damn stage.
He nearly crushed a soda can in his hand, continuing to pour them onto the floor. No matter what, he couldn't give up until the time was completely depleted.
With seven minutes left, the time crunch was truly punctuated and with it, came mass hysteria. Each teams lead had come up blank in crushing fashion. Team Seven had poured out every can of soda (aside from the one Kankuro was currently drinking) and each one had been empty, Tenten had broken both of her hair pins in an attempt to crack the lock open and Kiba's smell trail had just led him to the main door. In a surprising display of unity, the genin had all teamed up to try and beat the door down physically but it was so sturdy that this proved to be nothing more than an effort in futility.
"I volunteer as a sacrifice so that you can all go onward! The flames of youth will burn brighter without me than if we all fail!" Lee cried dramatically, which only exacerbated Tenten.
"That's not how it works Lee." She practically growled back; hair buns having been placed back into position with the aide of two cracked match sticks.
BANG!
"Again!" Naruto screamed, smashing back against the door that lead to the next stage.
Sasuke, Sakura and a group of two shadow clones had chosen the strategy of attempting to use him as a human cannonball to try and smash the door down with. In the five times they'd executed this plan, all they'd really achieved was hurting Naruto's back and making a lot of loud noise. Around the eighth time they'd done it, Sasuke realized that this was not helping in the slightest.
"Okay, stop. This isn't doing anything." He growled, stepping away from the group as the clones dispersed.
"Yo Sasuke, blow it down with a fireball!" Naruto yelled, which was actually a decently valid suggestion (at least, compared to the other dozen or so times Naruto suggested Sasuke blow something down with a fireball, which was usually just because he liked the way it looked).
Sasuke gave it some thought, before shaking his head solemnly.
"No, a fireball doesn't actually have that much kinetic impact. At least, not enough to impact a durable metal door like that. The only way I could maybe get it down is if I tried to expand the ball inches away from the door but then I'd probably burn my face off, which I don't want to do."
"Well, teach the jutsu to one of my clones then!" Naruto suggested, not able to realize how dumb the idea was in the heat of the moment.
"It took me six months to learn that jutsu." Sasuke yelled back, beginning to become frustrated by Naruto's antics.
"Yeah, when you were, like, eight. I'm thirteen so I can probably do it in half of that time!"
"That's three months and we have seven minutes!" Sasuke shouted.
Click.
Clack.
Click.
Clack.
Click.
"Tsume." Shikamaru said, placing his rook to the side of Temari's king.
He looked up at her, unimpressed at being able to exploit the same mistake he'd used to win during the previous games they'd played. Temari just looked bored. She'd quickly realized she had no leverage in the situation, not even knowing why she was confined to the chair. This meant that she had to sit still and wind down the clock with Shikamaru, who was unwilling to talk at any length above one-word answers. Despite the chaos that was blistering around them, he just seemed dead-set on playing shogi.
"You keep charging forward with no plan for what comes after. In the short term, you might be able to push me backward, but you're flubbing your defense. Again, you need to watch your back more."
Temari glared at him, before sarcastically mouthing "thanks" in a way that made it clear she wasn't at all thankful for his advice. However, as she felt the movement resume back into her legs, she was at the least taken off-guard.
"You want to play another game?" He asked, feigning ignorance to her plight.
Temari quickly recovered from her shock, shaking her legs awake before standing up. She continued glaring at Shikamaru, not at all amused by the boy's antics.
"I think I've played enough shogi for today." She said, beginning to walk away
In all honesty, Shikamaru was somewhat sad to see her leave. Even in her interrogation, she'd made for more stimulating conversation then practically anyone he'd met in Konoha. If you took away the fact that she'd only been communicating with him to try and fish information out of him, she was actually pretty cool. As she strode away from him, Temari couldn't help but feel the same way. He may have been lazy and conceited but when her only real company in the exams were an insufferable loser and a cationic weirdo, Shikamaru didn't seem that bad…aside from fact that he just used some sort of paralyzing jutsu to keep her from passing the chunin exams. Yeah, actually fuck Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru!" A crazed voice screamed at him, snapping both ninjas out of their thoughts and reallocating the Nara boy's attention upon a different blonde.
Ino stormed over to him, Choji in toe. She gripped onto his collar with a surprising level of physical strength, anger bubbling so hotly in her eyes they were essentially pure white.
"Tell me you got some info out of that bitch!"
Shikamaru took a moment to catch his breath after his clothes were suddenly yanked upon before shuffling back to his usual deadpan look.
"I found out she was good at shogi." He mumbled, quickly being discarded by the raving Yamanaka girl.
"Oh, you're so selfish!" Ino whined, melodramatically thrusting her hands over her eyes. "You couldn't have tried a little bit harder to try and get us out? Now me and Choji's dreams are dashed because you can only think about yourself!"
"Actually, I had a good time! I ate tons of snacks, I met tons of people, I-" Choji added with a bright smile, only to be immediately cut-off.
"Oh, shut the fuck up fat-ass!" Ino growled, temporarily redirecting her anger towards the larger boy.
"Okay." Choji replied, smile not fading despite the abuse that was being thrown at him.
Ino's jagged eyes quickly turned back to Shikamaru, arm thrusting out to transmit his attention back to the other genin.
"Look! People are going crazy Shika and I'm going crazy too! We could've been the ones not going crazy but instead you doomed us to wilting damnation with the rest of these looneys!"
Despite the massive amount of hyperbole that had been injected within her statement, Ino was actually right about the other genin going crazy. Kiba was growling to himself, sniffing like a drug addict two days after a binge while Hinata just watched in nervous silence.
"How much does this motherfucker bathe?! Like seriously, I can't get a damn read on his scent! Or maybe it's because everyone in this room fucking stinks like shit and it's hiding it!" He roared, oblivious to the fact that he was the worst smelling person in the room by an absurdly massive margin.
Shino, in the meanwhile, was desperately opening different tubes that he'd strapped on himself, attempting to find some insect that would help with the breaking down of the door. Judging by just how many different things he was opening; this was not going to happen anytime soon.
Naruto was pacing around the room while Sasuke and Sakura huddled together on the floor, trying to devise a plan. Sakura was deathly pail, while Sasuke was coldly analytic, chanting some indiscernible gibberish to himself.
"You got an idea yet?" Naruto asked, briefly pausing his wandering as he passed the pair.
"For the seventh fucking time, no! I don't have a fucking idea yet Naruto because I would tell you if I did!" Sasuke exploded, lashing his arms backwards.
Upon seeing Naruto's face fall, he quickly stiffened up, eyes shooting back downcast.
"Sorry. Just let me think, okay?"
Naruto nodded, restarting his half-a-meter patrolling lap of the room.
DING!
DING!
DING!
"Attention! Attention." Lee's voice rung out, slapping a match stick against a soda can like makeshift drum.
Everyone's focus stuck to him and Tenten, who was now standing upon a chair with Lee by her side. The way the two were standing closely resembled what you'd expect from some fanatical and crazy authoritarian regime. The fact that one of Tenten's hair buns was now sagging across her features because she'd gifted Lee one of her makeshift match pins to use as his improvised drumstick didn't help. What also didn't help was how she slowly held up an explosive tag.
"Everyone get to the back of the room! I'm going to blow the door down with an explosive tag and if you don't get out of the way, I can't guarantee that you're not gonna get caught in the crossfire."
Surprisingly, out of everyone in the room, it was her own teammate that was the first to call her out on this idea.
"Tenten, please, this is ridiculous." He scoffed, which only fanned the flames of mania that were burning in her eyes.
"Neji, get back or I swear to god- "
She didn't finish her threat, letting the silence do the talking. However, in Neji Hyuga's opinion silence was a piss-poor speaker. He shrugged his arms back, looking at her with a tepid glare.
"I'm not moving."
"Then get blown up bitch!" Tenten screamed, the intensity in her voice quickly making Neji walk back (literally and figuratively) on his previous statement.
Tenten quickly looked back at the clock. There were two minutes left which meant even the most forgivable of errors could screw her up completley. She leapt forwards, rushing towards the door and beginning to prepare the tag. It was truly crazy; she didn't even know if the tag was powerful enough to blow the door in but she was attempting to do so with an amount of desperation that was palpable to everyone in the room.
"Okay, check the seal, implode upon trigger set by the- "She began mumbling through her words at a speed that was fast even for her.
Temari and Kankuro both looked on, silently praying that she was successfully able to get the explosion ready. They were entrusted with the task. To disgrace the village by flunking out in the first round…oh god, they didn't even want to think about how angry father would be.
"This is tiring."
Gaara's words snapped their attention to him, both siblings being thoroughly surprised to see their brother, for one, stand up and for seconds, walk over to the door where Tenten was about to lay the tag. His sudden presence earned the girls focus as well, her erratic eyes gently fixating on him.
"Move." He said simply.
"What, are you crazy?! This is the last chance any of us have of passing. Even if only one team is allowed to go through don't you think- "
FWOOSH!
Out of nowhere, a stream of sand exploded out of Gaara's gourd. It shifted around in the air with such liveliness that it nearly seemed sentient, before redirecting itself towards Tenten with absolutely blitzing speed. Before she was even able to see it coming, the sand had somehow gripped onto Tenten and flung her sideways like a ragdoll.
"Ah!" She exclaimed, crashing onto the floor with a loud thump.
"Tenten!" Lee yelled, running forwards.
He immediately rushed over to her, making sure she hadn't suffered any injuries. She quickly managed to get back to her feet, eyes clashing with Gaara's in a much more ominous context then they had before. The Suna boy seemed to care little for her well-being, ignoring her glare completely.
"I said move." Was all he said in response, before turning towards the door fully.
BAM!
His sand smashed against the entryway, throwing it off it's hinges like it was made of nothing more than pillow fluff. The sound of it smashing against the ground brought forth a sudden silence between the twelve genin. Their brains couldn't comprehend the sudden switch. Before, it had been a sure thing they would fail, this fact being cemented by the presence of this hulking blockage in their path. Now, Gaara had just disposed off this blockage like one might do to a garbage bag, showing complete indifference in the process. The sound of footsteps echoed out of the bright opening, soon being paired with the appearance of an ashen haired ninja, presumably chunin or jonin level.
"Hoho! You guys were cutting it close huh? Hey Ibiki! We've got another passing room." He said, flashing the group a bright smile before calling backwards.
With him came a burst of light from the room to his back, illuminating the slow crawl of the realization. A majority of the genin didn't get it at first, standing and sitting in still silence. It was only after the older ninja noticed this that they were told flat out what had just happened.
"Yeah, you guy's past the first stage."
A few seconds past.
A wave of cheer erupted among the ninja, sudden rushes of dopamine exploding into their mines with a suddenness that some couldn't react to in time. Sasuke was one of those, so sure of their inevitable defeat that the presence of victory had left him stunned and shocked while he sat on the ground.
"We…passed?" He asked to nobody in particular.
"We passed!" Sakura's voice boomed into his ears as she suddenly clung onto his side.
He didn't even really have time to process this before he realized Sakura was smothering him in a hug. A flush ran over his face, as would have Sakura's if she was moving on anything more than instinct at this point. She didn't even realize she was hugging Sasuke, her brain was so overwhelmed with happiness.
"YES! We did it!" Naruto screamed, dogpiling into Sasuke's back.
The Uchiha's predispositions meant that he initially tried to escape from the group hug, but, in an uncharacteristic move, he quickly accepted it and flung his arms around both Naruto and Sakura. The hug was imbued with a feeling he hadn't felt since before the massacre. It felt…nice to have it back.
"Okay you guys, settle down. It's only the second stage." The ninja at the door said.
He wasn't only talking to Team Seven when he said this. Most of the other teams were celebrating with similar fanfare, most notably Kiba practically locking Hinata in a chokehold of a hug (he would've got Shino too had the Aburame boy not been adept at sneaking away from said affections).
As the rush of adrenaline wore off, the genin began packing into the next room, eager to start the next phase of the exam. The last remaining in the room were the Suna trio, of which Temari was giving Gaara a strange look. Due to his…tendencies, she did not normally call her brother out on things and accepted his eccentricities for what they were. However, with the amount of worry he could've avoided her had he just smashed the door down as soon as he was aware of the locked-room challenge, she felt she deserved an explanation.
"Gaara, why the hell didn't you just do that earlier?" She scolded.
Gaara stayed typically solemn for a few seconds before a slight grin broke out on his face. Now, normally, this would be a cute thing to do but Gaara's smile was ugly. It was less of a smile and more of him just folding his lips over themselves in a display of cruel arrogance.
"I thought it was funny." Was all he said before turning his back to her and walking out of the room.
There was something about his cadence that send a chill down Temari's spine, cold enough to keep her standing still for a few seconds.
"Oh shit!'
She turned back suddenly, noting Kankuro's sudden outburst. What she found was her brother spitting out a small, bronze key that he had nearly swallowed with the last gulp of his soda.