Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Bathing in Blood
12. Alliteration
But they saw
The dragon first, stretched in front
Of its tower, a strange, scaly beast
Gleaming a dozen colors dulled and
Scorched in its own heat.
-Beowulf
The drone of a hundred voices swarmed like a colony of ants, veering against their peers in choreographed chaos. Each merely one more part of the collection, differentiating themselves as a group by their devotion to following the rest, blending in for their own protection, though not quite conscious of that. And it was only the truly strong who stood alone, wordless, in the openness of the crowded room.
Jade eyes swept the multitude methodically, almost bored, searching for the slightest hint of a challenge, the faintest vestige of hidden power. Just as a sign to know that she hadn't wasted her time here after all.
Of course, they found it.
Sakura focused first on the aura—orangely demonic, without a doubt, overlain by a shaky gilding of human grayish-pink that was ever-so-slowly wearing thin.
What luck! An unsealed demon, trapped temporarily in a flimsy vessel!
The pink-haired girl raised an eyebrow. If she guessed right, the demon was doing the same as she—scanning the crowd for a human strong enough to toy with. She patted her shoulder-bag of scrolls almost regretfully. It would have been fun to surprise it with a sudden burst of chakra.
But chakra is no longer my specialty. It will just have to wait and see for itself. And I...I'll just have to be patient.
A distant yet distinct crackling in the atmosphere alerted her to the sudden appearance of a fierce-looking posse of ninja. Their leader, a long dark trench-coat hanging gauntly over his uniform, stepped forward with a grim smile that showed off the large scars crisscrossing his face.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting. I am Morino Ibiki, proctor and chief examiner for this part of the test."
The tall man's mere appearance shattered the confidence of many genin. Sweat poured down their faces as they awaited his next words. Somehow they all knew, or were under the impression, that they could die here, die now. Here and now. Sakura smirked at their open displays of fear.
A black-gloved finger rose grimly, like the hand of Death, pointing at an unfamiliar team that had had been quibbling with a silver-haired Konoha teen. Sliced lips twisted into a mild snarl, sending a shockwave of shivers throughout the flock.
"You—the brats from Sound! You seem to think you can do whatever you please when the exam's about to start. Do you want to be disqualified instead?"
One of the 'brats' turned a head swathed in bandages, staring scornfully over his shoulder with one ledge-less window of an eye. "Sorry, sir. It's our first exam. We got a bit...carried away. Won't happen again." With something vaguely like a scoff, he turned away.
Ibiki's grin refused to fade. His eyes glared from beneath the silver leaf symbol on his forehead. "That so?" he sneered with authoritative cockiness, matching the Sound nin's sarcasm word for word. "Then it's time someone laid a few ground rules. From this point on, no more fighting without the express permission of the examining officer. Should that permission be given, any action that might endanger another applicant's life is strictly forbidden."
He paused for emphasis, relishing the terror of the students before him.
"And those of you who choose to break that rule are out. No second chances. Is that clear?"
One of the Sound shinobi nudged his comrade and shared an arrogant chortle. But the examiner, pointedly ignoring them, had not finished speaking.
"The first part of the exam is about to commence. Turn in your applications, take a seating assignment card, and report to the bench indicated. Once everybody is in their place, we will pass out the written portion of the test."
He waited for the throng's response, attentively giving them no attention at all. Because, truth to be told, he didn't really care. It was just part of his job.
Sakura shuffled covertly through her school-bag, drawing out her application and giving it a final glance. She looked at her teammates quickly—Naruto following a few steps behind, Sasuke trailing into the depths of infinity. The mob of others slowly rearranged around them into a straight line, stepping up with the courage of cowards to trade in their forms for numbered tiles. The pink-haired girl wondered briefly if she should laugh at the irony, the metaphor waiting to happen.
The herd was lining up, obedient and willing, expecting nothing and everything at the same time. Standing eagerly in line at the chopping block.
