Chapter 9

Ding-Dong

"Come in! The door's unlocked!" Yukiko yelled from her bedroom, frantically getting ready for her Jounnin Exam. Kakashi opened the door and stepped into the apartment. He sniffed the room that smelled of his girlfriend's scent and sighed dreamily.

"OK! Let's go!" The girl hurried out her room and passed the boy without even looking at him. She was very nervous about her exam. She was already out the door, while Kakashi was standing still at his spot. The girl looked at him questionably as he pulled down his mask, pouting. They had been going out for more than a week now, and Yukiko understood the gesture of pulling down his mask indicated that he wanted a kiss.

She groaned and quickly gave him a morning kiss, which curved up his pouting lips. "Go! Go! Go!" She pushed her once-again-masked boyfriend out the door . Her heartbeat accelerated as butterflies danced in her stomach. It had taken her two attempts to pass the Chuunin exam. Not that she expected to pass the Jounin one with just one try, but she sure hoped she would. Training with Kakashi for the past week had definitely reinforced some of her techniques. However, she also expected many life-and-death situations during the exam.

They finally arrived entrance of the examination building. Yukiko was thankful that this year's exam was being held in the Leaf Village. She would be in a worse condition if she had to travel to a foreign village without Kakashi there.

"Kakashi, is the exam hard?" she couldn't stop worrying. Regardless of how obvious the answer to the question was, she still asked anyway. Of course the exam was hard. If it weren't, everyone would be a Jounin. But then again, she was asking the boy genius who had passed both the Chuunin and Jounin exam with only one attempt, not to mention the age he had passed them at.

"You'll do fine, Yuki-Yuk," he said encouragingly and gave her a short and sweet good luck kiss. "Ganbatte*!"

The Chuunin was startled by his actions at first, but a sweet smile quickly appeared on her face. "Thanks! I'll do my best!" She wrapped her arms around him as he returned a comforting hug. Then she thought out loud, "I'm so glad that you're not gay."

"What?"

She just smiled back and marched into the hall stiffly. Inside, there were about thirty ninjas from all the villages. She remembered a couple of them from her Chuunin exam years ago. Everyone had grown. Everyone had become stronger. "Yukikoooo!"

She turned to see Gai waving at her. She waved back as he came running toward her. "How's it going?"

"Nervous," She smiled forcefully.

"Don't worry, just treat it like a mission. You'll be fine!" Gai grinned with his sparkling white teeth. Yukiko had always thought that he would make a good teeth-whitening model.

"Welcome, Chuunins from all villages," the Hokage spoke from the podium. Voices in the crowd subsided immediately. "You should all understand what this exam means without my further explanations. It is an extremely dangerous test to filter out the ones that are not qualified to be promoted to the next level." Several Jounins started to pass out a pile of papers to the candidates. "Similar to the Chuunin exam, each of you must sign the release form in order to enter the exam."

Yukiko read the form and took a deep breath, 'This is it.' And she signed, Uchiha Yukiko. Without realizing, she started giggling to herself as she imagined signing as Hatake Yukiko.

"What's so funny?" Gai's voice brought her back to reality. He also noticed her slightly reddened face.

"Huh?" She blinked at the clueless boy. "Oh, nothing. Just that we are signing this form. We could die, eh?"

"Ya, just like any other mission. But how's that funny?" Yukiko didn't know what to answer, so she just shrugged. Observing the blush on her face, Gai analyzed, 'She was giggling and blushing. That's the reaction a girl has when it concerns her beloved. Ah, I see. It must be because we are sitting so close to each other that she couldn't help but showed her joy."

"What's so funny?" It was Yukiko's turn to bring the giggling and blushing Gai back to reality.

"Huh? Nothing, I see why you thought the form was so funny now," the boy winked at her, giving her a shudder.

Five minutes later, the Hokage spoke again. "Please hand in your form over at the booth to your right. Once you've handed in your form, you will be given a number, and they will determine the team you'll be working with in the exam." Murmurs arose from the crowd as the old man continued, "Because of several reasons, you will only be teamed up with ones from your own village. The teams will consist of two to three people and you are required to complete a Class A mission. These missions are real missions. Thus, the difficulty is just as high as a real Class A mission you will be handling once you've become a Jounin. During your mission, you will be under close supervision to determine your eligibility."

"A real Class A mission. I've tried it last time I took the exam. I know what to do this time," Gai boasted confidently.

"Class A," Yukiko pondered, tapping a finger on her chin. "Ya, I helped out with one as well." Gai was taken off guard. He didn't expect the girl to have completed a Jounin-level mission.

"Really? What was it about?"

"Uh..." She hesitated. It was sort of an embarrassing mission to talk about. Moreover, she didn't want to describe to Gai how she and Kakashi used a bait to attract Jiraya. "It was...confidential."

'Confidential? That sounds important. I can't believe she has completed such an important Class A mission. Man, it would be so embarrassing if she passes and I fail again,' Gai couldn't stop worrying.

They lined up eagerly in order to receive their missions. Fifteen minutes later, a loud familiar cheer echoed within the hall, "BIN~GO~!!" Eyes diverted their attention toward Gai, who was making this really gay pose. He raised two fingers indicating victory to everyone, "I'm in Yukiko's group!! Are you jealous or what?!" Embarrased, the girl turned away immediately, covering her face.

Somewhere in the corner, a gray-haired Jounin frowned at the scene.

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*Ganbantte = "Do your best" in Japanese. It's more like a cheering phrase.

A/N: I could've started off the Jounin exam with a one-on-one battle to cut off half the candidates and all. But I really don't wanna describe all those fights, since I'd have to make up Jutsus, which would be totally unrelated to the storyline. So I figured that I'll just jump right in and have one dangerous mission.

I just got the Character's Official Data Book. Apparently, Gai's a lot more talented than I thought. He graduated from the Academy at 7 and became a Chuunin at 11. Well, ya, still not as good as Kakashi, but still smart.

Busy Busy Time for me. I don't think I can update for at LEAST another two weeks.