CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Towers, No Ivory.
"Your head will collapse,
But there's nothing in it.
And you'll ask yourself,
Where is my mind?"
TRIGGER WARNING: If you have EMETOPHOBIA, you will want to skip the cafeteria scene. If depersonalization and intentionally confusing wording upsets you, skip the nightmare scene. Please offer your thoughts on both, thank you.
Before any of them could be so much as relaxed, Naruto rushed her team to the Med-Bay.
The smell was outstandingly foul. The place itself, however, was truly nothing to be impressed by.
Twelve beds, separated across six "rooms." If you could even call them that, they were practically the size of shoe boxes and barren of anything except hospital beads and IV drips.
The nurse lead them down the short hall, to a small room towards the back. Naruto peeked in every room as the passed, getting a scolding glance from Tenten.
Naruto cared little for their privacy. Most were unconscious as it was.
"Just a checkup, right?" The nurse asked, his nasally voice making Naruto's ear twitch. "Yes." Tenten replied, failing to be polite.
The smell only got stronger when they were led into the room.
The entire medical bay smelled like chemicals. Bleach, lemon-scented cleaner, and something bitter. The sterile scent was preferred to the human ones, though.
Urine was the worst of them. Copper and body odor were tied for second place, blood and sweat were never known for smelling pleasant.
At least not to her. For the most part, their room was clean. Well, clean, if you considered stained sheets and thick layers of dust to be clean. At least there wasn't blood or dirt anywhere. Naruto had spotted some by the entryway.
With glowing green hands, the medic worked Lee first. Naruto found the silent way that he worked unsettling.
Most medics would at least tell you what they were doing. Comfort you. This one was blank, emotionless .
Tenten was next, and the medic worked on all of them standing.
Not even one of them wanted to sit on the beds.
Naruto was last. Being scanned for injuries was a strange feeling. Like ghosts of pins and needles, prickling all in her chakra network. She never understood how it felt relaxing to some people. It just made Naruto feel like she needed to move.
"Tenten-san, Rock-san, I suggest bed rest for both of you. I have healed any injuries, including those minor." There wasn't a hint of emotion or inflection, just cool, practiced stoicism.
Naruto wasn't sure if it made them a better doctor, or a worse one.
"Ingest plenty of fluids. Make sure you eat enough to recover from malnourishment in the forest." Both of them nodded firmly, and Naruto wondered if they were eager to hit the cafeteria.
Hopefully it was better than the med-bay.
"Uzumaki-san, I find you to be suspiciously… well. For now I clear you to continue, after the exam I suggest seeking a second opinion."
Naruto blinked, but Tenten seemed relieved. "She just heals easily," The brunette explained to the medic.
"It's an Uzumaki thing." Tenten said with pride, a smile gracing her tired face. The medic didn't react much, but Naruto felt some unfamiliar feeling come from them.
Hesitance. The medic didn't agree.
The girl hoped he wouldn't mention it to the Hokage. He didn't need to know all about her medical mysteries. And, she still hadn't been interrogated on the info she dropped.
She hoped she wouldn't be.
Naruto looked from Tenten, to the medic. "Ah, regardless. Post-exam check up, please."
Naruto nodded, but Tenten seemed confused.
The blonde didn't want her teammates lingering on it, however.
"Great! Can do, let's get outta here." Naruto hurried out of the room, not stopping to listen to Tenten thanking their medic.
"Wait up, Naruto!" Lee called after her, following behind.
Obliging, she stopped right outside the med-bay exit. Which happened to be the cafeteria.
"Do you want to have lunch together?" Lee asked, a cartoonish rumble to his stomach.
She thought about it for a second.
She had no appetite. "Nah, I need a shower. Desperately. And a nap."
Lee hummed, unsure. "Do you wish us to bring you food? I would not mind getting a plate for you." The boy offered, making the blonde girl smile.
"It's okay, I think they offer stuff all day 'round. Thank you though." She gave him a light pat on the back, walking ahead.
"You and Tenten make sure to say hi to everyone for me!" She added.
Lee watched her back as she turned towards the stairs that led up to their room.
The girl disappeared from sight.
Rock Lee couldn't place why something felt off, choosing to focus on her task.
"Say hi to everyone…" Lee thought… "Surely she didn't mean everyone? Only leaf-nin, I Imagine. And Karin-san." He nodded his head at his conclusion. That must be right.
But, then… "Would saying hi even be enough?! Were Naruto here, she would have full conversations with them!" Lee declared, to no one but himself.
Withdrawing his Guy-Sensei Wisdom Journal , Lee prepared himself. He would say hi to everyone, and make sure to have conversations with them. Then, he would write them down, and relay them all to Naruto.
She would be pleased by his youthful fervor! Anything for a teammate, Lee thought.
They'd been through so much in the forest, if it would make Naruto happy, he would do it. If it would make up for he and Tenten's recklessness in charging at Orochimaru, he would do it a hundred times over.
The boy shivered, refusing to let his brain stray to dark places like that again.
Naruto had a job for him, and he'd be doing it. Tenten walked up beside him right then. "What's with that face?" She asked, slightly unsettled.
"Tenten! You will be assisting me in my mission!" Lee declared, taking her arm.
Tenten slumped. She didn't have the energy to disagree.
"Sure. Food first, though."
Lee pumped his fist, "Yes!"
Naruto let the hot water dance across her skin, her face towards the showerhead.
Unmoving, she breathed in the humid air, the room filled with thick steam.
The grime on her skin had melted off, and she couldn't be more thankful. She'd felt the dirt, the blood and the crust and the sweat- washing down the drain. She hadn't even known where the dried blood had come from, until she'd taken her clothes off and thorns had fallen on the ground.
The medic must've pushed them out of her skin and sealed the wounds, she thought.
She didn't want to reach any other conclusions, suddenly deciding to sit on the shower floor. The water made her hair stick to her back.
Naruto was tired. Tired in the most bone-deep way a person could be.
Though, she knew she had no time to be tired. So the moment she turned the hot water off, the world would go on.
She would need to wash her clothes, probably in the bathtub she currently sat in. She would need to eat, and to work all of the kinks out of her muscles.
Some stretches would do her good, Naruto mused.
Reluctantly, she washed the muck out of her hair.
When did it get so long, she wondered?
Most of the time, she wore it in a bun. Not to mimic Tenten, but to keep it out of her face. Out of her way.
Stepping out of the shower, she looked in the mirror. Her muscles were more defined than most of the other people her age, she thought. Her hair, too. It was longer than most people her age.
It was well past her waist now. Naruto decided to leave it down.
Just this once.
Wrapping herself in a towel, she went to her weapon's pouch. She thought she might've packed some spare clothes, in a seal.
Nothing. Naruto cursed.
Finally, it hit her. Her spare clothes were kept on the scroll in her garters. Next to her weapon.
She withdrew her so-called, "junk scroll," which she always kept on her for missions. Clothes and a sleeping bag inside, she stuck her upper-half into the scroll.
Ah, the whimsy of a good-storage scroll.
It took a few minutes of held-breath, and some shoveling around, but Naruto managed to fetch an outfit from her little pocket dimension.
A black tank-top and some fuzzy pajama pants, Naruto had decided on comfort.
That, and, it was hard for her to choose anything coherent. The clothes were just in a pile.
Not smart of her. She resealed her scroll, tossing her dirtied outfit in the bathtub. She'd wash them later.
Ignoring the ache in her stomach, Naruto started on her stretches.
She flowed from the stretches she'd picked up from Guy, starting with simple ones and increasing the intensity from there.
Sphinx . Upward dog. Cobra.
Cow. Cat. Camel. Dolphin.
Her muscles stretched, joints cracking from days of missing them.
Heron. Lizard. Pigeon.
She bended into form after form, doing the typical deep breathing.
Naruto heard a scream. Her vision blurred.
She jumped up from the pigeon form, going from on her stomach to on her feet, in just a second. Her peripherals were nothing more than black smudges.
Her blood ran ice-cold, the girl unlocking their room door to swing it open. Stepping out onto the mezzanine overlooking the cafeteria, she peered down.
Blood rushed to her ears, her flesh hot and frigid at the same time.
Her face fell, her rigid posture relaxing just slightly.
There was no emergency. Someone just had a loud mouth.
People laughed raucously , because yes, screaming was just so funny.
The girl swallowed, her shoulders slumping slightly.
She returned to her room, closing the door with a slam.
She couldn't help but be angry that her stretches had been interrupted. As if the universe sought to push her further, there was a sudden loud knocking at her door.
Not thinking to use her sensory ability before opening it, she grabbed the knob and yanked the door open.
Her face was met with a familiar one.
Rather, a familiar two.
"Hey!" She was greeted, the boy before her looking more rugged than ever. She hardly heard its accompanying bark.
Naruto was momentarily frozen, before she ultimately stepped back.
"Hey, Kiba, Akamaru, what's up?" She asked softly.
"Oh, nothin', Lee said you were sleeping- but then I saw you step out here and-"
He paused, "And I thought, you shouldn't be sitting in that room all by yourself."
He rubbed the back of his neck, getting a yip from Akamaru.
"You wanna come downstairs? Lee is interviewing all the Konoha genin to report back to you… I think you might just be better off hearing it from us than him."
Naruto sighed, and Kiba looked down.
He'd learned from Akamaru. The kicked puppy expression was just too much.
"Lead the way, champ."
The brown-haired boy whooped, laughing victoriously. He looked like he'd won the lottery.
Barefoot, Naruto stepped out of their room. Locking it behind her, she hoped Tenten still had the key.
The boy's face dropped. "God, Naruto! Your hair!" He pointed offensively.
She stared.
He made a vague gesture.
She stared.
"It's long!" He said finally.
Naruto clicked her tongue. "So?! Cut it for me if it's such an issue!" Kiba walked beside her down the stairs, seemingly in thought.
"Okay." He decided eventually, "It's not an issue but if you want it cut… I will do it." He sounded like he'd just taken on some noble task.
"I've seen my cousins cut their hair before, doesn't seem too hard." Kiba thought aloud, nodding firmly. "Nope. Nope, no way in hell. Not letting you touch my hair with no experience." Naruto denied, following behind him.
He led them right to a long, oak table, which happened to house most of the leaf genin.
"But it looks so fluffy !" He lamented, groaning loudly.
A few of the leaf genin greeted Naruto politely, one at a time.
"Where's Lee and Tenten?" Naruto asked the table, getting her answer from Ino.
Naruto's eyes met Shikamaru's.
"They went to look for someone called Karin?" Ino answered, sounding a bit confused. It wasn't like her.
"Correct. Lee-san surveyed us and then went in search of one Karin Uzumaki." Shino confirmed, adjusting his glasses.
Naruto gave them both smiles, Ino being the only one who saw how fake it was. The Yamanaka girl furrowed her brows.
Taking a seat, Naruto sent a silent prayer to Karin. She'd probably need one. Or three.
Maybe five.
"Nice seeing you, Naruto!" Choji greeted her, as polite as ever.
As if they'd never stopped talking, as if she hadn't watched his team argue.
She could appreciate that about him. Friendly to a fault.
Yeah, that was a trait she could get behind.
"Hey, Choooo-jii." She drew his name out, thrumming her fingers against the table. She tried desperately to think of something to say, but nothing came.
Her cheeks felt hot.
"Hinata!" She addressed finally, moving on from the Akimichi boy. The white-eyed girl nearly poked her fingers together, but ultimately stopped herself. The corners of Naruto's lips turned up, and Kiba looked silently triumphant.
"Naruto! N-nice seeing you, hope the forest wasn't too, um. Strenuous!" The bluette managed, blushing less than usual.
Naruto snickered, refusing to think of it. "It was… Something," She revealed dryly, getting a cough from one Haruno Sakura. Shikamaru didn't let it go unnoticed. Tired eyes narrowed.
"That, it sure as hell was." Kiba agreed, and with that, it was like the table suddenly became capable of conversation without her.
Naruto felt overwhelmed suddenly, there were words exchanged all around her. Some to others, some floating in the air until she managed a response. Some quiet and some loud, some questions and some answers.
Sweat pricked at her skin, the sound of her fingers thrumming on the plastic table got louder. The sounds of plastic cutlery, of chewing and the smell of the cafeteria made her stomach ache.
Naruto was nauseous. Bile rose in the back of her throat.
Her eyes seemed to burn.
Uzumaki Naruto stood up.
And stiffly walked away.
A walk turned to a run, and then she was racing to a trash can down the hall.
She retched, loud and vile.
Naruto hadn't had much to eat these last few ways, but it still managed to find its way out her mouth. Her throat burned, tears pricking her eyes as her stomach emptied into the trash.
Acid scorched her throat, leaving the blonde coughing between gags.
Someone patted her back, and in her haze, she wiped her mouth and spun around.
Were it not for Shikamaru's sudden grip on her arm, she'd have fallen.
His eyes flickered around, from the trash, to the floor, to her.
Naruto didn't have a clue where his mind was. She didn't want to know. Didn't want to face him.
Attempting to tug her arm free, the boy nearly fell at her sudden jerk.
Guilt poked at her heart.
"What's the matter?" He managed to ask, voice softer than it had any right to be.
Was he trying to repay her for the forest? Naruto pondered it. If the answer was yes, she'd be furious. She didn't do that so he'd help her in the future. She didn't need help. Not like he did. Or like anyone.
The silence weighed on their shoulders like concrete slabs.
"Nothing." She answered eventually.
Her senses returned to her, her vision was fine and the world seemed loud all over again. Laughter, chatter in the cafeteria a hallway away.
Naruto registered that she was outside some communal bathroom downstairs. Her excuse lied there.
"Nothing?" Shikamaru repeated, looking at her disapprovingly.
Naruto huffed, the taste of vomit remaining on her tongue.
"Yeah."
Shikamaru made a noise of pure frustration, he seemed lost.
"You.. You can talk to me, Naruto. What happened? Are you okay? Sick?" He asked, one question after the other.
Naruto chewed her lip. "A little sick I guess. The smell of the food was too much and made the nausea worse."
To her surprise, Shikamaru believed her. "I… Get it, yeah. They could probably help if you went to the med-bay." Shikamaru seemed seconds from offering to take her, but Naruto shot it down before he could.
She shook off his arm, thus he took up his typical easygoing pose, his hands clasped behind his head.
"No way," Naruto faked a shiver. Shikamaru managed to chuckle, clicking his tongue. "Yeah, can't blame ya. Reeks back there."
Naruto nodded, "Piss. and bleach."
Shikamaru furrowed his brows. "And armpit."
Naruto gagged again, and Shikamaru hurried to hold her hair back.
Ino had long taught him that.
"No more stench talk," Naruto pleaded, turning her head to look at him with begging eyes.
The boy obliged, shaking his head furiously.
When she finally stopped hunching over the garbage can, Shikamaru felt it was a good time to ask, "You gonna go back?"
Naruto took a minute to think- or maybe just process. "Nah. I gotta brush my teeth."
Shikamaru scratched his neck, looking sideways. "Alright. What… Uh, what should I tell 'em?"
Naruto shrugged, a lie coming to mind with little effort. She didn't know when she started developing the skill.
"Ate a bad fruit in the forest. Made me puke. Went to get some rest."
Shikamaru chewed the inside of his cheek, tapping his fingers against his thigh. "Alright," He obliged hesitantly.
Naruto smiled genuinely, yet the Nara boy thought it seemed more worn than ever.
She was looking too much like him.
"Thanks. I appreciate it." She spotted the stairway up to the mezzanine, and started walking towards it.
"Uh, yeah. See ya?" His goodbye sounded more like a question.
"You will!" She replied, heading back up.
It was well into the night when another injured was found.
A sleeping body, fitful and drenched in sweat, brought into the Konoha hospital for urgent care.
It was well into the night when Naruto found herself locked in a nightmare.
She'd come to, floating in that dark abyss yet again.
She walked through the nothingness that stretched forevermore.
Desperately clawing through black, the girl eventually felt her feet reach water.
Ankle-deep in some shallow liquid, she trudged forward. Forward, into the nothing, as that was all that surrounded her.
No light, no scenery, just the sensation of her feet treading water.
Steadily rising water.
By the time the water was just below her knee, she was trudging more than treading.
Her next sense to recover; her sense of smell.
It was more alarming than comforting, to be suddenly knocked back by a pungent, sulfurous odor.
It stung her eyes, prodded her nose- And if she could've heard it, she'd have sworn she coughed.
The water seemed thicker than should be right, and she began to feel herself breaching algae.
There were no sounds, no light, and certainly no way to indicate how long she'd been there.
Naruto trudged on.
With no end in sight, part of her wanted to just drop. Fall into the water, float there. It certainly wouldn't carry her anywhere.
Nothing moved unless she moved it.
There was nothing to move. Nothing to move it.
The putrid smell became unnoticeable with time, and the void seemed unchanged.
Before long, there was water up her thighs and an itch in her very bones. In her marrow.
Had she any eyes? Or ears to hear? She could hardly remember.
Had she ever had anything beyond this? Beyond the water? Beyond the dark?
She could not answer.
No one would hear her anyway.
So she thought.
The water seemed to get warmer with every step forward, igniting her soul with desperation to keep going. To see.
To find.
She was not tired. She was not anything. She was a goal; nothing more.
Thoughts could've been words, words could be thoughts and no one knew what could be said or what had, or what hadn't.
Something was wrong. Something was in circles and knots and She didn't know where, because She was Nowhere and Nowhere had nothing to tie.
Forward, She marched. The water swallowed half Her body.
She wondered if it felt satiated, could water hunger? Could it be ravenous? If not, why did it aim to devour Her, with tides ever-growing?
There was no sound. There was no Her, only She, and She was finally seeing.
Seeing was something transcending all else, it was more than Water and Feeling and Smell, it was a light in the vacuum, beautiful and shining.
Coiled before her, It sat.
It, with smoldering yellow irises.
Sulfur choked She, or maybe She had forgotten to breathe. What if it were both?
A phosphorus- No, incandescent, light shone off pearlescent white scales.
The head of the cobra inched towards her, yet seemed miles away, miles above, somewhere out of reach and wholly intangible.
A forked tongue flicked out with a soft hiss.
The head of a Cobra, but the tail of a Rattlesnake.
An abomination, Something named it.
Something rumbled the ground.
Something shook the water.
It Rattled, the noise making her see double. Stumbling, the water moved with her, swaying as She dizzied.
Strange noise reached her ears, eardrums ringing and aching, she looked to the serpent with desperation.
Her throat constricted, She grasped at it, choking and desperate. It- The Serpent, did not save.
It watched.
She felt her eyes, the eyes She had just begun to know, protruding as she hung.
A flick of a forked tongue. Hacking and sputters of horror.
Something moved.
Through her blurred eyes, she saw light, dim as it was- And light revealed bars. Through bars, burst claws.
Claws, long and gnarled, attached to a ginger paw. An apex Predator, it was Something and It was no more.
The claw of the waiting Something stabbed through scales like butter, spearing It.
A rumbling, raucous sound.
A laugh.
Naruto was awake again.
She wouldn't have known it, not if she couldn't hear the gentle snores of two other teens. Moonlight poured in through barred windows.
She was in the tower.
And she had to move.
Age was something you carried all over. In your mind, in your face and skin, and worst of all, on your shoulders.
Responsibility was something similar. Young people see age and assume wisdom, they see responsibility and assume trust.
Hiruzen had enough of both to see beyond that. With every day, month, and year, he learned. His wrinkles deepened and his perspective grew.
To be Hokage was to take the lives of every one of your shinobi, your children, your civilians, into your hands. To hold them there and hope not to crush them.
Hard decisions were part of the job; executing his lifelong friend had been one.
Hard truths were a part of life; He'd lost so much he'd known it well.
One of his lost things had come back to him, though, and not in the way he'd have liked.
His most treasured student, the one he saw limitless possibility in the eyes of had returned. Only, not to apologize, or to surrender himself. But to attack six genin.
Age never brought him clarity regarding life's absurdism.
As it was, Hiruzen hadn't many options. He had ANBU working to sniff out any spies, and until then, strong action was inadvisable.
After Danzo's death- execution , Hiruzen had changed to honor him. To protect Konoha, was to protect its assets. ( So they could be used, was a part left unsaid.)
In the tower med-bay, Sasuke was never left without three ANBU guards. The boy had awoken, had thrashed and complained, but his guards stayed.
Hiruzen had stationed half of his best shinobi there in the tower. Orochimaru could not be allowed to pulverize genin as he pleased.
The Hokage rested his head in his hands. He'd attacked not just Sasuke, but their jinchuuriki . He'd attacked Naruto . Hiruzen knew some of it absolutely had to be personal. The girl looked just like a man Orochimaru despised, Minato Namikaze.
Not to mention the girl's sensei. Hiruzen wouldn't be the one to tell Naruto of Anko's condition. The girl had enough animosity for him.
Even further, he needed someone to check the girl for any sneaky lasting damage or insidious thing. An encounter with Orochimaru spelled danger for her.
And all of them.
Naruto had a way of attracting the strange and unusual, he noted. The girl had recovered an Uzumaki.
Sarutobi had no problem in allowing it. After all, it would give Naruto another tie to her village. He closed his eyes.
"The exams will proceed." Hiruzen told Iruka.
The man had outright gawked. "B-But, Hokage-sama, forgive my disrespect. But, my kids are in danger ! They're all lucky to be alive!" Iruka challenged, paler than a ghost.
Hiruzen blinked a lone eye open.
"They aren't your kids, Iruka. They are genin. The exams will continue." Hiruzen didn't even budge. If he canceled the exams now, the international incident that could cause … No, it wasn't worth it. There was a record number of foreign genin here, more than in the last five years or more.
It would be seen as sabotaging the foreign shinobi. That could quite literally cause a war to any trigger-happy country.
Konoha's relations were already strained. Not to mention…. Orochimaru wouldn't have attacked during the exam for no reason. Hiruzen needed his reasons. He needed to find those spies. He needed to stop him.
Canceling.. It would risk his retaliation, something Hiruzen dreaded seeing. He would act when the moment was right. He would flush Orochimaru out without any further incidents.
He was the professor. Strategy was his game.
And his opponent was his own student.
Hiruzen didn't believe Orochimaru had surpassed him yet. He would win this.
When her teammates woke up on that second morning, Naruto was soaked in sweat, doing push-ups on the floor.
Lee had applauded her youth. He'd told her how they couldn't find Karin yesterday, but he and Tenten would look again, just for her.
Naruto listened with half an ear as he recalled all his conversations with their fellow genin, as if giving an informal mission report.
Naruto smiled when needed, chuckled and nodded, but she didn't once pause her workout.
Her muscles were more than aching by the time Tenten woke up, who blinked at her with surprise.
"Er, Naruto?" Tenten had asked, the girl taking quick note of the shower running. Lee must be in it, she concluded.
Though, Tenten thought Naruto would be the one needing it. The blonde was red-faced and drenched with sweat.
"Yeah?" The girl ground out, looking up at her.
Tenten cleared her throat. "Nevermind, carry on."
Tenten flopped back on the shockingly soft bed, bored stiff.
Once Lee was done with his shower, steam had poured out of the bathroom and Tenten wondered how hot his showers had to be.
Hot as possible, she figured. He'd call it temperature training.
Tenten blew a hair out of her face, looking up at her freshened teammate.
She sat up suddenly.
"Lee!"
The boy in question turned to her, round eyes blinking.
"I am totally burning all your hair gel, you look so much better without it!" The girl blurted out, slapping a hand over her mouth.
"Sorry! Not trying to be mean, I just, Well- Um!" Tenten tried to save it, she really did. She loved Lee like a brother and never wanted to upset him, but…
Well, it was true. Lee with a middle-part was an improvement from Lee with the shiny dome they called a bowl-cut.
The boy stared at her in surprise, and Tenten felt a bit uneasy. "Naruto! Tell 'em!"
Said girl was halfway through 500 hundred push ups, and forced herself to look up at him.
She used one hand to give a quick thumbs up. "You look less like Guy-sensei, more like Lee." She spoke between breaths.
Lee seemed torn, he didn't seem to know what to make of their statements.
"Being you is a good thing, Lee. I know you respect Guy-sensei, but you don't have to be him." Tenten passed her wisdom onto the boy, who seemed to turn it over in his head.
"But doing my hair every morning is a way to portray my youthful exuberance!" Lee countered, raising a single finger.
Tenten looked askance for only a moment. "In the academy, you wore your hair just like that! Parted down the middle and free, it looked good!" Tenten tried to remind him, getting a strange questioning noise from Lee. "And the braid! Remember when you wore a braid?" She asked secondly, shrugging her shoulders.
"I dunno, Lee. I'm not telling you to change!" She winced, because maybe she was. Not kind of her.
"But, sometimes…" She looked down at her hands, "I think you're more Guy, than the Lee I knew in school." Tenten confessed, and the boy looked at her without a word.
"The Lee you knew in school?" He questioned softly, brows furrowed.
Naruto watched the conversation, now doing crunches. She'd been in their class once, but they'd gone up a grade and she hadn't.
She didn't know Lee, but she remembered what he looked like.
"Well! You're still you, personality-wise.. You've picked up some of Guy's traits, sure… But you don't look like Lee!" Tenten shrugged again, an uneasy expression.
The boy hummed, "This requires thinking, Tenten. Thank you for your input…"
The blonde on the floor spoke through crunches, "Be! Who, you wanna, Lee! If you wanna be Guy Junior! Be that!" Naruto advised, muscles burning as she over-exerted them.
She didn't care. By tomorrow morning they'd be all better, either from a medic or her own regenerative abilities.
She needed to move.
Seemingly, so did Lee. "Today! I will wear my hair down!" Lee decided, pumping his fist.
"Today, Tenten, we must search for Karin!" Lee reminded her, suddenly pointing at her.
Naruto grinned. He was still on that mission from yesterday.
Tenten fought off a groan. It was something to do, at least. And Karin seemed lovely.
It was the finding aspect she wasn't psyched for.
Because with Lee, finding meant searching every square foot, asking around, taking notes, searching for clues... And repeating that, until he stopped for the night, or found it, or reached some conclusion regarding it.
Standing up, Tenten slid on her sandals. She was still in her pajamas. Oh well.
"Lead the way, Lee!" She forced out some enthusiasm, because if she didn't have fun, she wouldn't enjoy this whatsoever.
Naruto grinned as he grabbed her arm and ran out.
She loved her team.
The blonde figured they had about two days left in the tower after this, making the second part of the exam a week long total.
Today was the fifth and final day in the forest.
It would be strange to end at midnight tonight, when other teams had been told they'd be given a "few days," to rest.
Lee had heard that from Team 8, and Lee had told Naruto.
6 days would be fine to end on, even number and a day of rest in. But Naruto hoped they'd leave it at 7, restless as she was. She wasn't quite ready for the next exam.
Standing up suddenly, Naruto wiped the sweat off her brow...
Time for some jumping jacks.