13

Ready For The Exam

"Well," Kakashi said as he dusted himself off and stood up. "I'd say you guys are about ready to take on the exams."

His saying that at all was actually a huge compliment and confidence booster, even though he said in such a nonchalant way.

Over the past four months, even I could say with certainty that Naruto, Sakura, and I had all made progress in leaps and bounds, and that was all because of Kakashi's training.

In the first month, he had put us through absolute hell. He had thrown all of us – including himself – into the forest of death and for a whole month, all the possible basic, intermediate, and advanced survival courses had been drilled into us over and over again. He not only taught us the theory behind all of it, but also the practical field application of everything. He had left us halfway through the month saying, "You're going to survive for two weeks now. You won't have any overwatch or supervision. I'll give you one hint, though: Look after each other, or none of you will come out alive."

It really had been a hellish month where any of us got barely any sleep. Not only was it incredibly hard to stay awake and attentive while being incredibly sleep-deprived, but because of the lack of rest, we couldn't even recover enough of our chakra. As such, most of the fights with the wild animals of the jungle were hand-to-hand combat. Even so, none of us complained even once.

The second month was purely battle application. Gathering intel, planning, executing, and improving the plans. For the first two weeks of the month, we were ordered to camp out in one of the training fields and told to defend our position from enemy attacks. What 'enemy attacks' really meant, though, was random chunin, jonin, and ANBU attacking us randomly in non-lethal ways at any time of the day or the night.

The latter couple of weeks of the month was the opposite. Kakashi was camped out there and we had to do reconnaissance on the enemy intel, make a plan to either sabotage or retrieve the intel, execute the plan, and do it all over again the next day. Though once every four days of the month, we met up with Kakashi for quick tips and lessons so that we could constantly improve our tactics.

The third and fourth months were full of 'real battle application'. What that meant was that we constantly took C and B-rank missions for two months straight and completed them with minimal to no oversight from Kakashi. He'd step in occasionally to give us pointers and hints, but he mostly just stayed out of the way unless we were attacked by high-level enemies.

And now, a few days before the exams officially began, we were battling Kakashi to gauge our strength as a team, and individually.

After going through all this, I was sure that we were at a low chunin level at the very least.

"I'd say you're all at about high chunin level individually, and maybe low to mid jonin level as a team," Kakashi said, making Naruto cheer.

"Awesome!" he shouted as he jumped.

"Yes!" Sakura also yelled happily from beside Naruto.

"It's all because of you, sensei," I said in my most serious tone of voice. "Thank you," I bowed a little bit. I really was grateful to Kakashi. It was because he shaped up and taught us seriously that I now had some hope for the chunin exams. Although, just thinking about Orochimaru still made my skin crawl.

Kakashi came closer and put an arm around me in a friendly manner. "No, no. It was truly my pleasure. I haven't had a team like you, ever. Me training you made me feel like I was training a special operations team rather than a team of genin," he said with a smile. "And I guess I have to thank you also. Training to be the next Hokage under Shikaku isn't so bad either."

"HUH!?" Naruto shouted as he heard us. "What do you mean, 'next Hokage'?" he asked. His face looked like he had just heard that the world was ending.

"Hm?" Kakashi said nonchalantly. "You didn't know? Your best friend here," he gestured to me and I whipped my head towards him, pleading with my eyes to not say anything, "nominated me for the position of the next Hokage."

FUUUUCK! THIS DICKHEAD!

I looked back at Naruto to explain, but all I could say was, "Oh, shit," as he tackled me to the ground and somehow got me into a chokehold.

"You traitor!" he yelled, squeezing my neck. "How could you!?"

"W-wait! Naruto! Hear me out!" I yelled back, fighting him while still trying not to hurt him.

"You betrayed me!" he replied, unwilling to talk.

"Sakura, help!" I called out, only for my pleading gaze to be met with a stern shake of her head.

"You shouldn't have done this, Sasuke-kun," she said as she just opted to watch.

DAMMIT! She was definitely taking revenge for when I refused to kiss her on that one clandestine B-rank mission we had.

...

It was after a long while and a difficult wrestling match – more like a brawl – that Naruto finally calmed down and heard my full story.

"Eh... Ehehe," the blond dumbass laughed as he scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "I see. Sorry, Sasuke," he apologized.

"And you? Why didn't you help?" I asked Sakura who was healing up my minor injuries.

"Maybe you should've played your part seriously during that B-rank mission," she said with a shrug.

Dammit! This sly little vixen!

In the end, I could do nothing but sigh. Annoying dumbasses as they were, they were still my team. And I loved both of these idiots dearly.

"Dumbasses," I still couldn't help but mutter under my breath, which was unfortunately heard by both of them and led to another 2 v. 1 brawl this time.

...

It was finally the day of the exam and the three of us walked towards the Academy where the written tests would take place.

"Guys we don't really need to see sensei's face, right?" I asked.

"Don't even think about it," I heard immediately and I felt two murderous glares on myself from both sides of me.

"Okay, okay, chill out, goddamn," I replied, holding my arms up in surrender. These two were so wild... Although it was probably my fault that they were like this.

As we neared the Academy gates, I suddenly felt a strong grip on my shoulder and the unmistakably cold touch of a kunai on my throat. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" I heard the sexy womanly voice that I had grown weirdly attached to over the last few months.

"Yes, you sadistic little witch. I think I'm ready. Thank you so much for the concern," I said as I gripped the arm that was holding the kunai and pulled it, hoping to pull her into me and feel the two squishy mountains on my back.

Alas, in the end, she was a highly trained ANBU operative and I was but a mere genin. She effortlessly dodged me instead and flicked me in the forehead.

"Cheeky brat," she said, following the remark with another flick.

"Ow! One was enough, you brute," I replied, holding onto my forehead. It might not have looked like it, but it had hurt.

"Lynx-chan!" Naruto and Sakura both exclaimed at once with a smile and Yugao greeted them back.

As the wholesome scene played out in front of me, I remembered when we had become so close.

...

It was the second day of us camping out in the training grounds and Yugao had been the first person to attack us. She attacked our rations – or more specifically, my rations – and held them over the campfire as she asked, "How did you escape from me that day after sticking your tongue out at me?"

Naturally, I had swiftly told her to piss right off, to which she had replied by burning my rations.

"AY! Ay, yo what the hell!?" I had yelled. I hadn't believed that she would actually do it!

"Now answer my question, or for the next seventy-two hours, you'll experience what a no-sleep hell feels like," she had said then.

But my stubbornness won out again, and once more I had answered with a middle finger and something along the lines of, "Suck my dick!"

Staying true to her word, for the next three days straight, Yugao and her team had harassed the living shit out of our team, though Naruto and Sakura had still been able to relax a little bit as the ANBU team never attacked us when it was my night watch shift, so they were able to get some shuteye. But I hadn't been able to get a wink of sleep, and yet I still refused to give in. After all, I had realized that if I gave up at that point, I'd forever be a quitter. So I held on for dear life and opposed her and her team as much as possible.

Finally, at the end of the 72 hours, Yugao had come back, a little more peacefully this time. She had walked up to me, and surprising us all, she had patted me on the head. "Good job. I didn't think you'd be able to hold on for so long," she had said to me. "If you ever decide to join ANBU, let me know; I'll take you in my team."

I had been so sleep-deprived at that point that just hearing those words brought a wave of relief over me and I had collapsed onto her right there and then.

From what I had heard from Naruto and Sakura, Yugao had apparently caught me, carried me into my tent, and given me first aid herself.

So, now, we still bantered every time we saw each other, but I was forever grateful to her for putting me through such hardcore training and caring for me. And I was sure she also knew that.

...

Bringing myself out of memory lane, I realized that it was almost time to get going. Naruto and Sakura bid her goodbye while I got another flick to the cheek this time. "For good luck," the sadistic woman had said as she flickered away.

Making our way into the building, we saw signs that said 'Chunin Written Test on Third Floor Room 301'. I activated my Sharingan quickly, just to make sure there wasn't any genjutsu on the signs. Since they looked clear, we continued on our way.

As we got closer to the stairs, I stopped my team. "Guys, hold up," I said, pulling them into another hallway.

"Hmm? What's up, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked as Naruto looked at me curiously.

"Listen, I just want to apologize in advance," I said to them, looking guilty as hell.

"For what?" Naruto asked.

"For acting like my old self again," I replied. At Sakura and Naruto's confused expressions, I continued. "Since we're going to be facing people from different hidden villages and stuff, I don't want to portray myself as too much of a nice guy. So, of course, I'll be acting normal when we're alone, but I'm going to be very quiet and broody when we're among others. That's why I just want to say I'm sorry," I said.

"Oooh! That's a good idea!" Naruto said suddenly. "I'll also act quiet and broody! That way no one will pay attention to us and think that we're just a random weak team. Sakura, you should do that too!"

"Eh? Well, I guess I'll try," Sakura replied as she contemplated Naruto's idea.

All the while, I was just looking at the both of them, surprised by how mature they had become since we first became genin. This was awesome!

"Alright then!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Let's go get this bread!"

"Bread?" Sakura asked.

"Eh? Um... Dough? Money? Success?" I answered, hoping she might get that.

"You're weird sometimes, Sasuke," Naruto said to me as we made our way up the stairs.

"You're the last person I wanna hear calling me weird," I shot back.

As we crossed the second-floor hallway, the familiar scene played out in front of us. There they were, a bunch of random NPC genin and then the two chunin disguising themselves as older genin, and finally, Team Guy. I looked up at the name board of the classroom they were in front of and it said '301'.

"Can you guys see what's wrong with that?" I asked my teammates as I subtly pointed at the name board.

"Hm? We're on the second floor, but it says '301'? Maybe it's a test to see if we just ignore the minor details because we are already familiar with the terrain?" Sakura quickly made an intelligent deduction.

"Or maybe it's genjutsu to throw off the people who are too focused on details?" Naruto also made a smart deduction, hitting the mark.

I activated my Sharingan for a split second and made sure it was a genjutsu. "You both made excellent deductions. This time, Naruto's correct," I answered quietly. "It's a genjutsu. The real exam room should be on the third floor," I said as we started to make our way through the crowd.

Suddenly, just as I expected, the events from canon repeated and Team Guy called out to us.

"Where are you guys going?" Tenten said to us, getting the attention of the other team as well.

SHIT! This was a tough situation. I didn't want to tell these people that there was genjutsu on the classroom name board. Otherwise, they'd follow us to the exam room and that would only increase the number of competitors. Not answering was also not an option because someone might follow us because of curiosity. And I couldn't even make up a comical answer since I wanted to stay quiet and broody.

Just as I was contemplating my choices, Naruto spoke up. "We're gonna go meet our sensei! He's that way I think," he said with not a hint of hesitation.

YES! Thank heavens for my genius teammates. And now to get us out of this situation, I said, "Let's go. We don't have time for this," and started walking away.

Naruto and Sakura also understood my intentions and quickly caught up to me.

But Team Guy was persistent. Or more specifically, it was Lee that refused to give us. At an almost superhuman speed, Lee blurred in front of us with his hand held up. "Wait!" he said. "You, the one with the dark eyes," he pointed at me.

"What do you want?" I asked with a scowl.

"You are Sasuke, correct? My name is Rock Lee," he introduced himself.

YESS! I've always wanted to do this to someone!

"No, my name is Nunya," I replied.

"Nunya?" he repeated, confused, and I mentally yelled 'YOU FOOL!' in my best Gilbert Gottfried voice.

"Yeah," I said, not being able to contain my smirk. "Nunya Damn Business. Now get out of my way," I replied and started walking. Never have I wanted a hype man more than now.

Lee gasped before narrowing his eyes in anger. "That is dishonourable! I have heard that you are the strongest rookie. I shall test my strength against you! Fight me, right now!" he demanded.

Wha... Dammit! This guy was goddamn persistent.

"No. I don't waste my time with useless shit," I said simply without breaking my stride.

Suddenly, I felt a prickling sensation on my neck. I knew something was coming, but I made no move to dodge it. Barely a split second later, I felt excruciating pain from my back and flew forwards, hitting the ground with a thud. It seemed like Lee had kicked me.

"You bastard!" I heard Naruto yell and before he could do anything stupid, I stopped him.

"Naruto, STOP!" I yelled also and he froze, looking back at me. I stood up slowly and waved my hand, gesturing for him to calm down. "You two," I said, pointing at the disguised chunin. "You're actually chunin, correct? You're just disguised as genin."

The two looked at each other in surprise before they shook their heads and undid the transformation jutsu. "You got us, kid. You're smart," one of them said.

"According to the Criminal Code of Konoha, Section 256, subsection 1(a), this person committed an assault. He harmed me without my consent, outside of a proper match. Shouldn't you arrest him?" I asked and in an instant, everyone froze.

"Wait... What?" I heard Tenten whisper.

"But... You're going to take the chunin exams, though," the other chunin said unsurely.

"The exams haven't started yet, and as such, this still counts as assault," I countered perfectly.

"No! That was an accident!" I heard Neji speak for the first time and I could tell from his expression that he was panicking.

"Did that look like an accident to you?" I asked the two chunin.

Once again, they looked at each other for a second, thinking about what to do before one of them sighed and said, "Genin Rock Lee, you are under arrest for the assault on Sasuke Uchiha."

"Wait, what? No!" Lee said, not understanding what was going on.

"Please do not resist," the chunin said as he approached Lee and took him by the arm.

"You asshole! I thought we were friends after doing that mission together!" Tenten screamed at me as she looked at me with a murderous look.

"Calm down," I said to her as I held up a finger. "I'll drop the charges once the first exam is finished. I only did this to get your team out of the exams. I don't want to ruin your careers," I said, trying to placate her.

The two chunin escorted Team Guy out of the venue as I joined Naruto and Sakura again.

"You're cold-blooded, Sasuke," Naruto said solemnly. He was merely stating a fact. He wasn't angry because I knew that he knows that sometimes you've got to do things that aren't nice to come out on top.

"This is a ruthless world, Naruto. And we must be ruthless to cope with it," I replied to him as we ascended the stairs towards the examination room.

"What?" Sakura asked as she caught me glancing at her.

"I want to know what you think," I said.

She merely shrugged as a reply. "I understand what and why you did it... But I wouldn't have gone that far," she said to which I nodded in understanding.

Good. One heartless bastard was more than enough for our team.

As we reached the examination room, we saw Kakashi leaning by the door. "Why the long faces, you three?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon, sensei," I said as we approached the door.

Kakashi shrugged and dropped the matter. "Anyway, all I wanted to tell you guys is to not become overconfident. As long as you keep that in mind, this'll be a breeze for you," he said as he rubbed our heads. "I'm proud of you three."

A warm feeling spread through my heart as I heard those words. With smiles on our faces and the blessings of our sensei, we entered the room.

Nah yo fr, my reading week is ending in like two days so don't expect any updates until like May or sum shit.

Edit (Feb 23, 2021): So... Uh... I kinda forgot how Team Gai and Team 7 did the Wave mission together, but I've now made some minor changes to the dialogue.