Chapter 22
"Hey you, with the attitude... Hold on!" We hear someone holler from the balcony causing us to pause and turn to look up at him. It was the creepy-looking Rock Lee.
"Which one genius?" I snap causing Sasuke to chuckle.
"The boy."
He glares down at us but Sasuke adverts his gaze up to him. "What do you want?" He snaps this time I giggle.
"I want to fight, right here right now."
"You want to fight me here and now huh."
"Yes." Rock Lee says before leaping off the balcony in a way I haven't seen a ninja do in some time. Not since the anime. Raising a brow at him I glance at Sasuke.
"Let's just go, he isn't worth our time." Sasuke looks at me curiously as if wondering what I see that he doesn't.
"My name is Rock Lee. You said it was common courtesy for a challenger to give his own name first." I look to Rock Lee who was now pointing at Sasuke. "Right? Sasuke Uchiha"
"hmm, so you know me."
Watching Rock Lee dunk down into a fighting stance I sigh stepping back and leaning against a pillar behind us. It's not in Sasuke to turn down a challenge. "Everyone is always talking about the Uchiha clan and how great they are. I want to see if it is true. I figured you would be a good test for me. And also." He looks to Sakura then blushes in his pause. "Oh, Sakura... I love you." Covering my ears as Sakura screams I groan annoyed. Closing my eyes I finally uncover my ears when I hear Sakura stop yelling.
"If you two are going to fight, start fighting. I hate it when there is too much talking before, during, and after a fight."
"Easy Kira. I know you want to see blood. You'll see some soon enough." Sasuke says and I could hear him almost smiling.
"Yeah... Maybe I'll see yours in training later." I smirk catching his eyes causing him to shake his head. Lately, Sasuke has been training with Aphro and I about once a day. In this time we have learned a great deal about each other. More than we would have if only seeing each other training with team seven or on missions. This was all or nothing training without a jonin standing over the top of us to keep us under control. So we could be more ourselves the entire time.
It wasn't long before Sasuke looks back towards Rock Lee. "You've heard of the Uchiha clan yet you are challenging me? You must be even more psycho than you look. If that's possible... You want to know more about my clan. Then I'll teach you. The hard way."
"Bring it on." Rock Lee takes a stance that causes me to tilt my head. It looks familiar. Probably from taijutsu classes in the academy. Interesting.
"Hold it!" Naruto yells. "I get him first. This weirdo is mine!"
"Go for it." Sasuke says after a short pause.
"Naruto." Sakura's voice came out angry. Why? Is she afraid he'll get hurt? Maybe Naruto's begotten love is finally being returned. I nearly giggle at the thought.
"What, it'll take me two minutes to have this guy begging for mercy."
"No thank you, Right now the only one I want to fight is, Uchiha"
"Yeah! Well, I got news for you!" I hear running so I open my eyes to see Naruto running towards Lee. "Sasuke can't compare to me! Believe it!" Seeing all of Naruto's attacks being stopped I smirk pushing away from the pillar and walking up to Sasuke.
"Taijutsu. Surprising. I hadn't expected him to be so advanced in it. I misjudged, Sasuke."
"Just accept it, you have no chance against me. Your skills are inferior. You see Sasuke... Out of all the top leaf Genin. I am the best. Fight me and I will prove it to you." Yeah... With your Taijutsu at that level, Sasuke doesn't stand a chance.
"Sasuke, I advise against it."
"What? Do you think I can't beat him?" He glares at me.
"I know you can't beat his Taijutsu. You aren't up at that level yet." I glare at him. "But, if you wish to. Prove me wrong. You promised me blood I better see it."
"hmm. Kira thinks you're special. This will be fun. Let's do it."
"There's no time Sasuke, we have to register by 3 o'clock that's less than half an hour"
"Relax, this will all be over in five seconds." Sasuke says before running towards Rock Lee. Yeah, it'll be over with you losing. Crossing my arms I close my eyes so I don't have to watch. It's bad enough I'll have to hear this complete waste of time. Turning around I walk back to the pillar, I press my back against it with a sigh.
"I've been waiting to try this out." I hear Sasuke say causing me to open my eyes as I notice Sakura looking to him happily with wide eyes. So, he ignited his Sharingan. Fool. Seeing Sasuke bolt foreword my eyes narrow as he is kicked straight into the air.
"You see, Kira was right. My technique is not Ninjutsu or Genjutsu." Sasuke lands as I watch Rock Lee run after him throwing first a punch, then a kick dodging Sasuke's blows more than Sasuke evades his. "You get it now? I am using Taijutsu that means no tricks. Sasuke" He seems to vanish from silently jumping and landing behind Sasuke. "It is just straight martial arts nothing more."
"Why you." Sasuke brings his arm back to knock him one but Lee is too fast for him as he leaps back out of reach.
"I know your technique. Forget it. It will not work. Not on me. I know you can see through your opponent's jutsu. That Sharingan gives you the ability to read his chakra and decipher his hand signs and movements, you can almost guess what he is going to do before he knows himself. The problem is, Taijutsu is a little bit different."
"Right, so what's your point?" Sasuke glares at him.
"I do not try to hide nor disguise my moves. I do not have to. Even if you can read them you still cannot stop them. You are too slow. Your eyes may be quick enough to stay one step ahead of me but if your body cannot keep up then what good does it do you?" Sasuke growls. Lee is clearly getting to him. I watch as Sasuke begins to shake with anger more at himself because he knows what Lee is saying is true. "You know what? Here is what I believe. There are two different kinds of ninja. Those like you who are born with talent and do not have to work at it." Sasuke runs at him again probably wanting to shut him up. "And those like me, the ones who have to train every day of our lives!" Sasuke throws a punch and Lee dodges. "In fact, your Sharingan is the worst match." Sasuke throws a kick and again Lee is too quick. "For my extreme taijutsu! Here is what I mean!" Lee lunges forward sending yet another kick through Sasuke's guard and into his chin, sending him flying into the air. My eyes widen watching the events unfold. No! He can't! Lee gets down on his hands and feet before disappearing. Reappearing behind Sasuke in mid-air.
"Dancing leaf shadow." Sasuke points out as I shake my head. He should have just listened to me and not participated in this fight.
"Good eye, I will now prove my point!" Seeing Lee's arm wrappings come loose. I shove myself away from the pillar I was leaning against. "That hard work beats out natural talent… You are finished!" Shoving my chakra to my feet I propel myself from where I was standing. Doing a flip in mid-air I wrap my arm around Sasuke's waist plucking him from being above Rock Lee. Landing upon the floor just as a spinning windmill catches Lee's wraps pinning them to the wall. Glaring at Sasuke as I stand straight and turn loose of him.
"Alright! That's enough, Lee!" I hear a familiar voice say as I keep my back to it with my arms crossed.
"Believe me now?" I ask him.
"I didn't need your help." Sasuke snaps at me causing me to shake my head.
"You know if no one interfered you wouldn't have been able to participate in the exams. You would have been hospitalized yet you act like it's not something to learn from?" His eyes widen as they return to their usual black. Looking away from me to stew in his loss. Good, no argument. He's at least smart enough to know when I'm right.
"It almost sounds like you were worried I'd get hurt." He finally speaks up looking at me again with a smirk.
"Oh, ha-ha. Maybe I was." I turn away from him. "Then maybe I wasn't. Who knows." I poke at him with a giggle though for some reason I am glad he finally has gotten rid of that serious look.
"Alright then, please come out. Guy Sensei!" Looking back to Rock Lee the grip on my arms tightens. This is just perfect. If I remember correctly from Rock Lee's looks this Guy is even creepier and will make this take far too long.
"Guys, how about we just go, like now." They look at me oddly as I start to walk to the pillars only to hear a popping sound signifying Guy was already here. Shit.
"Hey! What's Shakin! How you doing everybody! Life treatin ya good?!" Hearing my team's stunned screams I sigh turning around. One glimpse of the annoying idiot was all I could take, seeing my teammates eyes however nearly made me laugh. Yet, seeing as they weren't listening to me and following me out of the room meant. There is nothing I could do to save them from the annoyance of Might Guy. They should have learned by now to listen to me.
"Whatever, I'm leaving." I turn back around walking out of the training room through the pillars and making my way down the hall to see Kakashi leaning against a window sill near a set of doors at 301. Sighing I cross my arms and lean next to him.
"Where are the others?" Upon hearing his calm voice question me I relax some welcoming the change from the chaos I had just left.
"Right now, with Guy."
"I see, so you left them behind."
"Yeah, they will be here soon, hopefully." Kakashi just chuckles at me before falling silent as we wait for the others. I'm not exactly sure why but Kakashi is frustrating and downright irritating at times but… he's cool. Around him, you can be as silent as you want without being hounded, and it's never an awkward silence either. It's always comfortable with a calming vibe that helps soothe the frustrations and pain endured throughout the day. Of course, getting him alone like this is a rarity. Usually, we are around the loudmouth idiots which ruins the silence Kakashi's presence accepts. Closing my eyes I exhale a slow breath allowing the calming effect of his presence to consume me.
Finally hearing my team's footsteps round the corner I push off of the window sill and stand next to Kakashi looking at them. I unfold my arms from my chest and place my hands at my sides. "Glad you came Sakura." Kakashi says calmly. "For your sake and the others." The three of them make confused sounds before he continues. "Now you all can formally register for the chunin exam."
"Why? What do you mean?" Sakura asks as I glance up to Kakashi.
"You see only complete groups are allowed to apply for and take the exam. That's the way it has always been."
"But sensei, you said the decision to take the exam was up to the individual." Sakura points out confusion lacing her tone.
"That's right. I did."
"W. Was that a lie?"
"Sort of." I nearly smirk as he looks out the window. "It is an individual decision. But it affects all of you. I didn't tell you before because I didn't want the other three pressuring you. At the same time, I didn't want you to feel obligated to participate because of any feelings you might have for Sasuke or Naruto or out of fear of Kira. I wanted you to come to a decision of your own free will." Question. Why whenever he has that look in his eye I feel all tingly inside? Is it odd and unnatural? Shaking my head to get that thought out of my mind so I can continue to listen.
"Wait a minute, do you mean if the others had shown up but I had decided not to come with them.."
"It would have been the end of the line. If you hadn't of come along I couldn't have let the others in. But it's a moot point. You're all here and for the right reasons… Sakura... Naruto... Kira… and Sasuke... I'm proud of you. Couldn't have asked for a better team." He walks to the side opening the way to the doors. "Good luck."
"We won't let you down Sensei, believe it!" Naruto says as Sasuke moves to the door grabbing one handle and I grab the other. Pushing the doors open We walk in with Naruto and Sakura behind us. And as the doors close We stand side by side. Me, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura. From right to left. "Wh. What's this?" Naruto practically whimpers filled with shock and nervousness.
"Gee, I guess we're... Not alone." Glaring at the others in front of us I scan the faces for any I hadn't already witnessed. "Oh, man... I had no idea there'd be so much competition." Sakura's tone came out more dumbfounded and disbelieving than she probably meant for it to.
"Sasuke! Where you been?!" I hear an annoying voice come running up behind us. My body stiffens as I feel my fingers wrap around my blade handles. Narrowing my eyes I turn to look as that blond annoying girl jumps on Sasuke's back. "Boy, you have no idea how much I was hoping that you'd show up here. I've missed those brooding good looks of yours." Hearing Sakura growl I shoot a glare at her and I see her visibly shiver.
"Ino.." She says quietly looking at me. My eyes move back to Ino as her eyes widen and she gets off of Sasuke."
"Um…"
Sasuke looks at me and smirks. Giving him a faint smile in return I sigh turning back to face the room now that Ino had backed off. Why did it even bother me that Ino had jumped on Sasuke as she had? It was nothing new for her character, she was a fan-girl just like Sakura. So why did her actions upset me? "Thanks." He whispers low enough the others cant hear.
"Don't mention it.." I speak in the same tone hiding the confusion that was now building up inside of me from my own actions.
"Oh, it's you guys." I hear a boy's voice averting my gaze to them I see a heavy-set brunette and a lanky black-haired boy. "I knew this was going to be a drag but I didn't know it was going to be this lame."
"So all three stooges are here." Naruto comments.
"Hey, you know what pipsqueak?!.. Awe forget it, you're a waste of time." The lanky black-haired Shikamaru speaks annoyed before obviously deciding he would use too much energy yelling at him. One of the reasons why I like Shikamaru even though he and I haven't really spoken all that much. He's not hyperactive and he is actually really smart. I would have to say his deductive reasoning skills are fairly high, probably around 85%. He thinks more than he acts so I could see why he seems unmotivated and lazy. Everything around him is too trivial to keep his attention and even when things become stirred up he is too busy thinking of the situation and probable outcomes to really become excited about it. I have a feeling if I ever did put myself around Shikamaru, that we would get along just fine.
