I'm sorry this is so late. I'm going through a lot right now and updating wasn't even on my mind. I'm gonna try to do better. Take care.
Team Seven arrived in front of the Academy, which was hosting the first stage of the Chūnin exam, at three in the afternoon. Their guests had decided to go there earlier, so they could find their sensei and tell him about their strategy. Hitomi expected to see them in the classroom, but they had agreed to keep their alliance a secret: seeing the nine rookies unite wouldn't surprise anyone, but a secret pact between the Leaf and the Sand? Everyone would think they cheated, and not in an acceptable, ninja way. They wouldn't even be that far off but, like Ensui said, cheating was practically part of the job description anyway.
Hitomi went inside the building first, her brothers in tow. She climbed the stairs, reached the second floor and felt a genjutsu pull her in that corridor in particular. A smirk on her lips, she decided to engage and followed the mental injunction. Sasuke pulled on her sleeve, as if to reason with her, and she quickly signed 'everything is okay' to appease him.
They heard a hit landing on flesh, someone falling, then a boy's voice. "And what do you think you're gonna be able to do in the exam? You'd better quit while you still can."
The girl elbowed her way to the front of the crowd, and there she spotted a guy on the ground who could only be Rock Lee, with his unmistakable haircut and green jumpsuit. Then, the two teenagers behind him could only be Mori no Tenten and Hyūga Neji. Silently, Hitomi watched Izumo and Kotetsu, disguised but still easy to identify from their chakra signature, mock their victim. Tenten pleaded with them – Hitomi couldn't help the wave of killing intent that made people around her choke when Izumo punched the older kunoichi in the face. Tenten was almost a legend in the Academy, the first of the First Kunoichi to equal the Best Rookie in the rankings… Which made her Neji's equal.
"Sasuke," she called.
He hummed in approval and stepped forward, instantly becoming the focus of everyone. As for Hitomi, she hid in his shadow, doing her best to look vulnerable and mellow. After all, she was so tiny compared to all the other Genin, so fragile, as pale as a doll, with freckled skin and big, big red eyes. Ensui had howled with laughter the first time she had tried that subterfuge in front of him, then congratulated her profusely when she had managed to convince a Chūnin to give her a mission she preferred to the one he had wanted to hand her.
"I'm going to go through," Sasuke affirmed, his tone purposefully arrogant. "It's a nice trick you have there, but illusions don't work on me. After all, we're supposed to go to the third floor."
"Oh?" Kotetsu, still disguised as a Genin, said. "You're the only one who noticed."
"If you say so."
"But playtime isn't over yet." The guard suddenly swooped on Sasuke, who prepared to parry and retaliate, sneering down at his attacker. Hitomi could see how much he wanted to fight – part of her coveted the same thing. She made sure to step aside so she wouldn't be attracted in the two boys' fight, refusing to take a stupid errant hit. Anyway, Lee would soon… Yeah, there he was, standing up and stopping the two attacks with his bare hands, staring at…
Oh.
Oh no. Fuck.
He was staring at her. She blinked and looked away, thrown off-balance by the intensity with which he was looking at her. She certainly hadn't accounted for that when she had decided to play little doll; people were supposed to want to crush her and brush her off, not have fucking crushes on her!
"Lee!" Neji snapped. "It's not what we had decided!"
"I know, but…" The green-clad boy walked up to Hitomi, who made herself as tiny and non-threatening as she possibly could. Why wouldn't the ground open and swallow her down? She was ready, fuck it. "Hi!" he chirped when he stood in front of her. "My name is Rock Lee. What's yours?"
"Hum… Yūhi Hitomi. Pleased to meet you?" She couldn't help but turn that polite greeting into a question, because he was suddenly so close, and she hadn't prepared for her personal space to be invaded that way. At that moment, he beamed so bright he could put up with a Naruto patented smile and she relaxed instinctively, even though she just knew what he was going to say.
"Go out with me! I'll protect you until my last breath!"
"Uh… No? I'm very flattered, but I only know your name. That's not a solid enough base for a relationship."
His eyes went wide, as if she had just granted him with immensely wise words, and tapped his fist against his open hand, the beam coming back like the sun from behind a cloud. It was actually almost blinding her. "Ah, you're totally right, Hitomi-san! I ought to do a hundred laps around Konoha on one leg to make up for that obvious mistake."
"No need for that, now. How about this: when all that Chūnin exam stuff is over, we could go eat something and talk. You look like an interesting person to be around. But just as friends, alright?"
"Ah! You're serious? Okay, I'll come and see you for that when the exam is done, Hitomi-san!"
The girl let out an amused sigh, relieved she could navigate around that reef without wounding Lee's self-esteem or lying: she truly wanted to get to know him. She smiled and waved at him before stepping away, without even looking back to see if her brothers were following – she knew they would. They had her back, always, just as she had theirs.
"Why did you agree to go out with that weird guy?" Naruto whined.
"Because he looked kind and genuine. If my impression of him is wrong, well, I can handle myself, now, can't I?"
"I'd think twice before answering that, Naruto," Sasuke stepped in with a smirk. "Not a good time to make Hitomi-nee angry. She'd kick your ass, exam or not, and I won't help if you start asking for it."
"Uuh…"
Hitomi burst out laughing, light and careless, then led them towards the staircase. Before they could even reach it, Hyūga Neji stepped in front of Sasuke. "Hey, you. What's your name?"
"Politeness requires that someone introduces themselves before demanding someone's name. Even your teammate knows as much."
"You're one of the rookies, aren't you?" Neji insisted, ignoring Sasuke's cutting remark. "How old are you?"
"Again, I don't see why I'd answer your questions."
As if everything had been said, the two boys parted ways, going back to their respective teams. Hitomi exchanged an amused look with Sasuke, but didn't move. It was useless: she knew what was happening next.
"Hey, you, with the haughty look! Fight me, right here and now!"
Sasuke looked up to Lee, seeming far more interested than he'd been about Neji. The corridor was empty now that the Uchiha had unveiled the illusion for everyone, other groups reaching that same conclusion themselves. As for Hitomi, she frowned, glancing at the clock suspended over one of the class' doors.
"Let's spar!" Lee continued. "I'm dying to test my techniques against the infamous last Uchiha."
"So you already know me."
"Of course! I'm interested in the Genin who graduated this year."
"Well, since you seem to want it so badly…"
Hitomi extended her arm to interrupt Sasuke, stopping him from taking even one step towards Lee. "Out of the question. You're our best fighter, it would be stupid to have you injured before the exam even begins. I'm going to fight Rock Lee." A serene expression on her face, she stepped forward.
Lee looked absolutely dumbfounded, his eyes wide and a vague spark of fright in his big black eyes. "B-but I… I don't want to harm you!"
"Oh, Lee," she smiled with the air of the cat who just caught the mouse. "Why presume I'm not strong enough to handle myself against you? Fighting is just another way to get to know each other. Don't you want to get to know me better?"
He very obviously took the bait and the whole fishing rod with him, so she got ready, her hands forming the Seal of Confrontation. Suddenly, he disappeared, incredibly fast, but she was ready: her fingers adjusted to the Rat Hand Seal, and her shadow awoke like a hungry cat, stretching brutally at her feet. Lee had no chance, he who didn't expect an attack coming from the ground: he was instantly frozen in his tracks. He was fighting, his strength struggling against the shadow since his chakra couldn't, but she forced him to step toward her, one step after the other, until they were at arm's reach from each other.
Then, she rummaged in her belt, forcing him to imitate her movements against the air. When her fingers found the seal she was looking for, her predator smile sharpened and a vague expression of fear appeared on Lee's face. Delicately, as if careful not to hurt him, she stuck the seal on his forehead and activated it with a weak spark of chakra. Immediately, the boy's eyes rolled in their orbits and, when she let go of his shadow, she had to catch him as he fell unconscious before he could hit his head.
"Ouah!" Naruto exclaimed. "What did you do to him, Hitomi-nee?"
"I used a seal I created not so long ago. I call it the Knockout. Practical, isn't it? You just have to put it on someone's forehead and activate it to make them go nighty-night for five minutes."
Her brothers stared at her for a few moments then Naruto started whining again. "You're bloody terrifying, that's what you are…"
She couldn't help but laugh, flattered. "Well, thank you, I'm doing my best." She loved the idea of terrifying people, even though she knew Naruto was exaggerating when he said that. Neither he nor Sasuke really feared her, they loved her far too much for that – and she loved them just as much. She would have given her life away to protect them. Without those two boys, her family would have been incomplete. They were part of her now, part of her most precious memories and of the hard trials she expected to go through in the future.
"What are you gonna do with him anyway?" Sasuke drawled.
"Just wait for him to wake up. I'd feel bad, leaving him like this. We still have time."
"Poor chap, you didn't even let him show us what he could do."
"I have a feeling we'll have plenty of occasions to see his skills during the exam. Why, Sasuke, jealous I stole your fight?"
"Hm."
"Seriously, do you think you could have fought him without being wounded? Without my shadows, he would have snapped me in halves. You saw how fast his charge was, and I don't doubt for a moment that his strength is just as good. You're too important to get gleefully beaten up before the exam even starts."
"I know you're right, alright? I'll make up for it later."
They waited in silence afterwards, almost bursting with impatience. All three of them were eager to prove their worth. Finally, Lee started to twitch at Hitomi's feet. He took a few seconds to understand where he was – only then did his eyes start gleaming again and he stood up carefully. "I… I made an utter fool of myself, Hitomi-san. Would you please consider forgiving me?"
"There's nothing to forgive, Lee-kun. Just do your best during the exam. I'll be watching you."
Her words seemed to be enough to energise Lee once more: he stood back up, the Will of Fire burning in his eyes. His master would have been so impressed, but Hitomi couldn't help but worry. He was still so young, so unprepared for the ordeals Konoha would soon face. "I'll be watching you too, Hitomi-san, and I'll make you proud!"
Slightly stunned, Team Seven watched him run to his own teammates. Finally, Hitomi got back to her senses, an amused smile on her lips. "Time to go for us too. The others are probably waiting for us in the examination room."
"Ah, that's right!" Naruto exclaimed. "With everything that's happening, I almost forgot!"
Going to the examination room, the correct one this time, only took the better part of a minute. No one could have suspected, when they arrived, what had just happened on the second floor. The air was vibrating with a faint killing intent, which didn't belong to anyone in particular but to at least ten different ninjas, scattered through the whole room. Hitomi didn't let it get to her as she walked through the crowd, looking for the other rookies.
She found them close to the platform where, usually, a teacher stood in front of a classroom full of students. Apparently, the Chūnin exams always happened during the weekend, no matter which country was hosting them, so as to not disturb the life of the village around it. As for the final tournament, it happened during a weekend too, but the goal there was to allow as many people as possible to see it. A Chūnin exam often meant a lot of tourism and a lot of money for the village that organised it, so while the cooks and merchants didn't spend the whole day watching the matches, but they often arranged to see at least several of them.
"Hello, you three! Did you have trouble finding the place?"
"Come on, now, Ino," Sasuke drawled with a playful smirk, "you know us better than that. A little illusion wasn't going to fool us."
"Kurenai-sensei wouldn't have been happy with you if it had been the case," Shino commented in his usual soft tone."
They continued chatting idly for a few minutes, all nine of them forming a circle with their backs to the rest of the room, so no one except for them could see the way they were really communicating, with the sign language of Konoha. Once, to cover the fact Hitomi was handing her communicating notebook to Hinata, she, Kiba and Naruto burst out laughing, as if they weren't in danger of losing their lives during the exam – everything to appear dumb and harmless in the eyes of their potential opponents. As for the Children of the Sand, they were all sitting in the first row and watching, but they didn't step in, following the plan meticulously.
"Hey, you! You should really keep your voices down!"
Hitomi looked up to the one who had just spoken to them in that disrespectful way. He was standing a few steps behind Sasuke, immediately recognisable with his silver hair tied in a ponytail and round glasses. Yakushi Kabuto. The Yūhi girl was unable to totally hide the disdain he inspired her, but her sneer was fortunately hidden behind her brother's shoulder.
"You're the nine babies who just graduated this year, aren't you? Stop that ruckus, you're not on a school trip!"
Ino and Hitomi exchanged a look, twin ferocious smiles on their lips. No one talked that way to anyone in the Fellowship without painful consequences. It wouldn't happen right away, but neither of them would forget this insult. "And who are you to talk to us this way?" the blonde girl asked, looking at him like he was a smear on her shoes.
"My name is Kabuto, but it doesn't matter. Look around."
Hitomi instinctively did. It didn't surprise her to see that several groups were glaring at them like they were prey, a gleam of sadism in their predatory eyes. The killing intent intensified in the air. Unable to stop herself, she answered by allowing her own to bloom, as vicious and unyielding as a storming ocean. The only students affected were the ones sitting in the first row but even they didn't seem able to identify the origin of that cold force. It was better that way: she wanted to hide her hand for a bit longer.
"See those people there?" Kabuto continued, nodding towards a team in the third row. "They come from Amegakure and aren't renowned for their patience. Before an exam, everyone is tense, ready to fly off the handle. I'm just warning you before another team decides to turn you into minced meat." Kabuto sighed at them, almost compassionate, and it was only thanks to her iron will that Hitomi didn't snarl and hiss at him like her cats had shown her. "Well, it's normal you don't know how to behave. It's your first time, after all."
"Which doesn't seem to be your case," Sasuke noted.
"Well spotted. It's my seventh time this year. The exam happens twice a year, so my first was four years ago already."
"Ooh, then you know a lot about the stages, don't you?" Ino all but cooed. Behind Sasuke's back, she and Hitomi exchanged an amused look. If they could get free intelligence because a stranger had decided to show off…
"You're lucky. Since I like you, I'm gonna give you some information that could help you. Everything is on those ninja cards," he added as he brandished a deck of cards, their back branded with the kanjis for 'shinobi'. He showed them the first while explaining his security system and how they worked. Hitomi could spot fūinjutsu work when she saw it. As for her friends, after years of seeing and even receiving her creations, they weren't so impressed by Kabuto.
He showed them a card with a map of the Elementary Nations and the number of Genin each had sent to the exam this year. Of course, Konoha had the most, followed by Sunagakure. Kirigakure, since the first coup, hadn't sent their Genin to any foreign exam. Kumogakure had sent one team, just like Otogakure. Takigakure and Kusagakure had sent two each. The most surprising was Amegakure with its seven teams. As for Iwagakure's absence, it was expected: since the last World War, the Land of Earth didn't send their Genin in foreign countries anymore, and often the other way was true as well.
"Do you have cards on specific contestants?" Sasuke asked innocently.
"Of course. I have cards on almost all contestants, and on you as well."
Hitomi didn't even dare think about what he had done to obtain all this intel. She wanted to shake her friends to make them understand how worrying the whole thing was, how dangerous this young man was behind his stupid glasses and non-threatening air. Alas, she had no tangible proof, only memories from another life she couldn't explain. She stared at the Lee card, then the one on Gaara, the pressure of her killing intent thickening the air. Gaara had spent six years out of his own village. Kabuto shouldn't have had access to such information about him. The fact he had meant Orochimaru had already planted spies in Sunagakure – meant that the invasion would probably happen.
"Are all the contestants as strong as Lee and Gaara?" Naruto asked.
"Most of them are, especially those who come from a foreign country. They wouldn't come here for nothing, after all. The competition will be tough this year, as always! The exam won't be a pleasure cruise, you can trust me on this."
"Bah! I'm Uzumaki-Yūhi Naruto, and I'll crush them all!"
Behind Sasuke's back, Hitomi hid her face in her hands with a long, tortured moan. She had known it would happen, he'd end up saying something that would attract the other teams' attention on them, and not only the ones looking for easy prey like she had originally hoped. She walked around the young Uchiha and firmly gagged their brother, looking absolutely pissed. "Are you out of your fucking mind or do you want to have us all killed?" she growled against his ear.
"Hmm! Mhmmh!"
Suddenly, without letting go of him, she jumped backwards. The attack that had been meant for her only hit the air – and Kabuto, who had been standing to her right. Immediately, the Fellowship surrounded Naruto and her to protect them. Sasuke looked ready to fight, but hadn't awoken his Sharingan – she had requested that he keep this talent hidden for as long as possible. Aghast, she watched Dosu, one of the Otojin, throw himself at Kabuto. None of the rookies went to help him: he had belittled them and mocked them, after all, and he wasn't one of their own.
As for Hitomi, she took advantage of the chaos to slice her thumb open on the edge of a kunai and summoned little Hai, the youngest of her cats. Hoshihi had told her she was a Genjutsu prodigy, the first in the clan in generations, and had given his approval to the plan Hitomi had devised for that stage of the exam. She exchanged a nod with the tiny dark grey cat then let her disappear under the desks and sneak between the shinobi's legs without being seen even once.
Everything was in place when the proctors appeared on the platform in a huge puff of smoke, one of them yelling for the Genin to calm down. The killing intent that had lingered in the air dispersed suddenly – even Hitomi's bent, confronted by these immensely superior opponents. There were around fifty, almost one monitor for each team. Ibiki Morino was in front of them, his scarred face bearing an unamicable expression. His lips were twisting in a smirk, his eyes slightly more sunk in their orbits than usual, as if to emphasise the dangerous gleam that animated them. "Welcome to you all! I'm Morino Ibiki, and I'll be your proctor for the first stage of the exam!"
In such a few words, he had already managed to set an ambiance of tension and intimidation on the whole room. He did it so effortlessly Hitomi couldn't help but admire him reluctantly: she knew the control it required and had sometimes wondered about getting herself into the Torture and Intelligence Department for a few months after getting promoted to Chūnin to learn a few of their uncountable tricks. She still hadn't decided if what she would have to do there was worth the knowledge.
"You, the Otojin scum! I'd better not see you disturb the exam again. If you want to be thrown out so bad, I can handle it right now!"
"Sorry," Dosu bent, his voice just a bit too mellow to ring true. "It's the first time we participate in an international exam, we got carried away."
"Tch… I'm going to use this occasion to warn all of you brats: only a proctor can give you permission to fight. Do it without that permission, you get thrown out. And even with a permission, you are not allowed to kill your opponent."
Hitomi couldn't suppress a dismissive snort when she heard that: the second stage of the exam would have the teams fight and kill each other for damned scrolls.
"The ones who don't follow that rule," Ibiki continued with a voice full of anticipation, "I'll slit their throats myself. Do you understand?" Immediately, the proctor and his monitors started projecting their own killing intent, an almost sweet, caressing force, as if they lusted for violence and blood baths. Something inside Hitomi seemed to wake up in reaction to that feeling, making her shudder with horror – and something else as well, something she couldn't admit to.
"Good! We're going to start the first stage then. In exchange for the registration paperwork that you're going to hand us, one team after the other, you'll each receive a chip with a number on it. Sit at the desk that has the same number. Then, we'll hand you the questionnaires."
Hitomi and her friends were amongst the first to make the exchange, since they were standing close to the platform. As she hopped the stairs to find her desk, the girl went past Gaara. Voluntarily, their shoulders brushed together, the only sign of friendship and comfort they could indulge in in this hostile atmosphere. The number the girl had received led her to a desk at the back of the room, for which she was immensely, absurdly, thankful. She had no desire to have unknown ninjas, potential threats, where she couldn't see them.
She sat and watched as the other teams settled. To her left came an Amejin girl, to her right a Konohajin man who looked to be in his thirties – probably a member of the General Forces who had decided he wanted to be promoted. Hitomi wished him all the luck in the world, even though she knew this man wouldn't make it to the tournament and thus to any chance at a Chūnin promotion. Maybe things had changed, or maybe he and his team would have to wait for the next exam.
Finally, the last contestants sat. Hitomi only needed a second to locate her allies, particularly the ones who could benefit from her help during this stage. She breathed in deeply, awakening her sixth sense to sense Hai's chakra somewhere under a desk in the third row, and forced her shoulders and back muscles to relax. She was ready.