Thank you so much for the feedback from the last two chapters! I'm already working on the next one, but in the meantime, have this one!
Enjoy!
Sakura found Genma-san on the second day after Kakashi-sensei had dropped the 'Chunin Exam Bombshell' on Team 7. He was sitting at the dango stand and chatting with the owner, a plate of what Sakura identified to be mitarashi dango before him, but he looked tired, and Sakura briefly considered pretending she hadn't seen him and finding him in a few days' time instead, now that she knew he was back in the Village. But then her fear of what the 'next few days' would bring with them won out, and she stepped into the shop and slid onto the stool beside Genma-san, flashing a smile at the owner as she requested her own plate of bocchan dango, trying not to squirm from the feeling of the jounin's eyes on her.
"Glad you got back safely." She offered quietly, drawing a snort from the brunet.
"Thanks, kid." He acknowledged, before a teasing lilt entered his voice. "Though I didn't know that eye bags became the new trend while I was gone." Then his voice turned serious. "You look like you haven't slept in two days."
Sakura considered feigning annoyance and pretending to be offended by the words, but in all honesty, he wasn't at all far from the truth. "That's because I haven't." she admitted, letting the words out on a sigh. At his curious gaze, she grudgingly elaborated. "Kakashi-sensei signed us up for the Chuunin Exams."
She didn't miss how Genma-san stiffened beside her, but she was surprised by the muttered string of expletives that left his mouth, among which she could've sworn she heard 'fucking cocky bastard' and 'overpowered asshole my ass', at which she had to supress the snort of laughter that threatened to escape her. But Genma-san sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly before he turned to her and asked; "I take it he explained the process?"
And at that, Sakura blinked. "Uh, no?" she offered, because, now that she thought about it, Kakashi-sensei had only given them the forms to fill and told them to show up at the Academy in a week's time. Apparently, that had been the wrong answer, because Genma-san stabbed an empty stick into one of his dumplings with such force she thought the plate would crack.
"No, of course not, what was I expecting." He grumbled, stuffing the dumpling into his mouth, and, if chewing could ever be done angrily, Sakura was sure that he would doing exactly that.
"I mean, I know the basics that we learnt at the Academy…" she volunteered hesitantly, more out of fear for the fate of the plate than a need to defend her sensei. "Iruka-sensei told us that the Chuunin Exams would test various skill areas to determine whether we would be fit for the rank of chuunin, since the requirements are greater than those for genin."
Surprisingly, that made Genma-san snort. "Trust Iruka to be thorough." He laughed, but elaborated nonetheless. "The format of the Exams changes every year, and Iruka was not wrong in telling you that they test your aptitude for chunin. For that reason, the stages are usually quite similar, so there are some skills which will always be useful to you, regardless where you find yourself." he met her gaze, rolling the senbon which he'd placed back in his mouth from side to side. "During my Exam, there were three stages: theory, survival, and a combat stage. Normally, only about 10% of the genin who took the theory exam advance to the combat stage." At Sakura's stunned gaze, his smirk turned wry. "You were right to worry, since I'm assuming that that's what you lost sleep over. The Exams are not easy, particularly not for those who did little more than plough fields and chase cats since leaving the Academy."
Sakura paled at his summary, but nodded, glad that he acknowledged in that direct of his that her worries were not unfounded.
"But," he began, sending her a considering glance. "I doubt that you came here just for me to tell you what I'm guessing you already suspected." And Sakura couldn't help but wince at the truth in that statement, but nodded nonetheless – she was hoping he would teach her something, anything, that could help her with the Exams.
Genma sighed, but it was more amused than annoyed. "Well, in that case, finish your dango and meet me at the usual training grounds; I gotta go pick something up."
At that, a thousand-watt grin threatened to take over her face and she ate her dango in record time, excitement and relief making her feel better than she had since Kakashi-sensei had announced the news.
There was hope yet.
When they met at the training grounds, Genma-san had asked her to demonstrate the water-walking technique, and seemed pleased when she didn't hesitate to jump onto the surface of the stream and jump around a bit.
"Alright, alright, well done, kid." He called out, and Sakura obediently climbed back to the surface. "Admittedly, I'm not surprised; this just proof that you have all the necessary foundations in chakra control before we start building on it for real. However," and here, he met her gaze with one of his rare serious ones, "There's no point in starting you on some prodigious taijutsu sequence or an Uchiha-worthy ninjutsu. Likelihood that you'd be able to master either of them enough to actually help you in the Exams is slim at best." Sakura nodded, agreeing and at the same time infinitely grateful that Genma-san was being so up-front with her, not trying to sugarcoat his words in the slightest. "So, we're going to take the coward's way out if you wanna look at it that way: we're going to play to your strengths."
Sakura smiled at the wording, unused to hearing 'strength' and her name in the same sentence unless it was preceded by 'no'. Genma's answering smirk made something warm bloom in her chest, something different than the flame of determination which had been lit after their mission to the Land of Waves, something much softer.
Something like hope.
"Now," Genma spoke, breaking the moment before he did something stupid like hug the kid. He had less than a week from what she'd told him to make sure that she would survive. In his mind's eye, he could already picture his next weapons aim training, with every target replaced with Hatake Kakashi's face.
Sandaime should've kept him in ANBU; Minato's prized student or no, the bastard has no clue how to lead genin…
Then, his attention shifted back to his temporary charge, and he sighed. "What do you know about presence masking?"
Genma's Sandaime-imposed month of mandatory 'vacation' manning the library desk had reminded him of the basics which most ninja forgot the further up they went in the ranks; basics which, from personal experience, could save a life.
Looking at the fresh-out-of-the-Academy genin before him, at the eager green eyes which have not yet learned – nor needed to learn – how to mask the emotion within them, Genma in equal parts dreaded and welcomed the chance to pass those basics onto the kid, in hopes that they would somehow help her.
He had her start on an admittedly high-level technique, but he reasoned that with her control – which he'd had her demonstrate again so he could confirm it – it was possible that she would grasp at least the basic version of cloaking her chakra, even if not manage to erase her whole presence, as many veterans from the Third Shinobi War had learned to do. He had told her to visualise her chakra, find it in her core, gave her brief pointers on what it would feel like, told her to concentrate until she could feel it, and then imagine throwing a thick woollen blanket over it, stifling it. He'd even demonstrated.
But he still hadn't expected that after half an hour of trying, her chakra signature would suddenly diminish till it was comparable with that of a squirrel.
He turned slightly dumbfounded eyes to the girl, who was frowning and looking at him with a question in her eyes and an eagerness not unlike that of a child getting something right. Maintaining eye contact, she appeared to concentrate again, the frown creasing her brows even more, and Genma felt her chakra signature fading some more till even he wouldn't have been able to sense it had he stumbled on the clearing by chance and not watched her do it right in front of his eyes.
She'd called her teammates 'powerhouses' but if someone pushes her training in the right direction, and her determination persists, she'll become one in her own right. He observed with no small degree of amusement. Guess we can move on quicker than I thought.
Sakura had known that every living thing had chakra; whether she believed the legend of the Ten-Tails, she wasn't sure, but she could accept the logic that everything around her held a degree of chakra. But she had never been able to sense the chakra around her as acutely as she could after Genma-san's instruction. When she successfully managed to mask her chakra, something which he had congratulated her for and she would admit had made her blush, unused as she was to being complimented, Genma-san moved on to something she had initially scoffed at, but he smirked at her reaction instead.
"Meditation may seem tedious." He admitted, his smirk not budging. "But it is also the best way to enlarge your chakra reserves and get a sense for your surroundings. And, with practice, you won't need to meditate to get a feel for the chakra around you." And she must not have been able to fully hide her incredulous look, because he chuckled. "A civilian monk who never learned the arts of being a shinobi but meditated his entire life can have similar reserves to an active jounin. Few have also been known to be able to draw on the natural chakra around them."
And after what felt like an age but could've very well been only an hour, Sakura understood. She could feel the life energy of the nature around her, hear its chakra coursing through the tree trunks like she could sometimes hear her heart beat at night; she thought she could vaguely sense something smaller moving in the trees, but she couldn't be sure. Then her focus, which had spread to the forest around them, shifted to the man next to her and she startled, her concentration gone.
She jumped up from the lotus position as if burned, a very unladylike curse escaping her as she stared at the jounin in horror. To her irritation, he only met her eyes with a curious gaze and a hint of amusement.
"Y-You're like a bottomless pit!" she accused, pointing incredulously right between his eyes with a shaking hand, affronted when he snorted.
"You flatter me." Genma-san replied with no small degree of mirth in his voice. "But you're just sensitive at the moment, and frankly, even a genin has more chakra than a tree. I assure you my reserves are perfectly normal for a tokubetsu jounin."
Her outburst temporarily forgotten at the new information, Sakura perked up. "Tokubetsu? What's that?"
Genma-san appeared to measure her up with his gaze before he sighed and stood up, brushing off the dust as he addressed her. "A kind of specialised jounin. Now, you've dragged me out here less than five hours after I got back from my mission and then made me work even more; it's only fair you buy me dinner."
But Sakura was already used to the freeloader that was Kakashi-sensei so she only laughed as her feet led the way to Ichiraku's, Genma-san quickly falling into step beside her. She was pleased to note that her earlier anxiety about the Exams had mostly receded – because as much as Genma-san grouched, he also hadn't said no to training her some more.
And for Sakura, that was enough.
The day before Sakura was due at the Academy for the first stage of the Exams, she met Genma-san at their usual training grounds and was surprised to find the tokujo already there, sitting cross-legged in one of the more grassy areas. He gestured for her to sit opposite him, and when she complied, gave her an order that threw her off.
"Empty your pouch." Sakura blinked.
"What?" she asked, slightly dumbfounded.
"Your weapons pouch – empty it. Consider it an inspection of sorts." He explained, though there was not a single hint of impatience in his voice. Confused, Sakura did as asked, unclasping her pouch from her belt and upturning it onto the ground between them.
A dozen or so kunai tumbled out, and six shuriken, a coil of ninja wire, three explosive tags as well as one flash bomb followed. Sakura considered her pouch to be decently well-stocked, but Genma-san's raised eyebrow hinted otherwise. She watched him pick up her kunai and shuriken one by one and run his fingers over the edges of the blades before he raised his eyes to meet hers.
"Have you sharpened these in the last decade?" he asked sarcastically, pressing the pad of his finger into the 'sharp' edge of the blade and running it along, his finger coming out with an angry red line along it but no blood. "Kunai should be able to draw blood from the slightest scratch. The duller the blade," he explained, drawing his arm back and launching the kunai at the nearest trunk so quickly the movement blurred before Sakura's eyes, "the more energy it takes for it to maim its target." And as the knife embedded itself about half-way into the tree, Genma-san drew a kunai from his own pouch, and repeated the motion, which Sakura instinctively knew had the same amount of energy behind it, yet when the kunai made contact with the tree it kept going till only the hilt was visible.
When Sakura's eyes widened in astonishment, Genma-san merely sighed. "That," he gestured at the tree, "can mean the difference between an enemy that is down for good and one who can still get up and come after you." But as soon as Sakura felt a hot flush of shame at her obvious neglect of her weapons, Genma-san shook his head. "But you shouldn't be hearing this from me. When I was a genin, my sensei inspected our weapons on an almost weekly basis. He taught us to carry a sharpener with us wherever we went because he claimed that you never know how long a mission would take, nor what conditions it may will take you through, and the quality of your weapons can save your life."
Sakura nodded, swearing to herself to take better care of her weaponry from then on, because how could she help Naruto and Sasuke-kun in battle if, even if she managed to hit the target, the knives wouldn't do any damage because of her negligence?
"But, more than that, I'm surprised you don't carry any first aid." At that, Sakura was truly clueless. Genma-san sighed and smiled ruefully. "Might be easier if I show you what I carry instead." And he proceeded to empty his pouch, pockets, and scrolls which she hadn't even noticed were on him till what could've easily been a display of a small weapons shop and a pharmacy lay before them.
At least two dozen kunai, dozen shuriken, a handful of senbon, a whole pack of explosive tags, and five flash bombs as well as two small purple orbs which Sakura had never seen before came out of his weapons pouch alone. Despite feeling properly told off, the rosette couldn't help her curiosity and her fingers closed around one of the purple orbs as she lifted it closer to her face. "What is that?" she asked the brunet, her eyes flitting up after a few seconds of silence to meet his calculative gaze.
"Smoke bombs." He answered distractedly before his eyes seemed to clear and he elaborated. "The gas inside is harmless, but they're good for obscuring vision if you don't want your opponent to see what you're doing or you want to sneak up on them." Sakura twisted the bauble this way and that, her eyes trained on the little purple cloud inside.
"You could replace it just as easily though with something harmful…" she murmured, thinking out loud more than actually asking Genma. "Like airborne poison or chilli powder to dull someone's sense of smell…"
Genma's snort of laughter startled her to the point she nearly dropped the smoke bomb. "You're sharp, I'll give you that." He laughed, "Smoke bombs filled with poison exist, but the problem with them is that you'd either have to develop an immunity to the poison – which is really time-consuming and dangerous if not done right – or carry an antidote around you at all times." He eyed her up and down, his gaze back to thoughtful. "You might benefit quite a lot from investing in some, actually. If you used a smoke bomb in conjunction with an area-effect genjutsu, I doubt that most ninja that you'd face would be able to immediately tell something was wrong…"
Not waiting for Sakura's response, he swept his weapons back into his pouch, waiting till the rosette caught on and did the same with hers, then he stood up and extended a hand to pull her up.
Confused, she accepted, and her curious gaze must've clued him in to her confusion as he laughed and sent her a teasing smirk. "Now that I've seen the state of your equipment I can't with clear conscience let you take part in the Exams." When Sakura's confusion only increased, he snorted. "C'mon kid, we're going shopping."
Shopping with Genma-san was an experience, to say the least, and Sakura drew strength from that memory as she found herself before the Academy, waiting on her teammates to begin the Exams.
The tokujo had dragged her to the weapons shop to restock her pouch, and they both soon realised that the one she already owned was too small to house the sudden increase in killing aids. In a show of generosity, Genma-san bought her a larger one, identical to his own but olive instead of cream, and Sakura had immediately added five new smoke bombs to her collection, but was then forced to turn to Genma-san for further instructions.
Instructions which he more than happily provided; "Get five more of these.", "At least another dozen.", "Three explosive tags are not enough, get a goddamn pack, brat." "Are you actually serious? Get a kunai sharpener, snap." And a lot more colourful, enthusiastic orders which made even the shop owner send her a pitying glance at the end of the ordeal, but Sakura found that she couldn't keep the happy grin off her face if she tried. After the weapons shop, she was led to a pharmacy, and Genma-san instructed her to stock up with bandages, antiseptic cream, blood replenishing pills, basic needle and thread for hasty stitches and a rubber tourniquet (Sakura had raised a curious eyebrow at the last addition, but Genma-san offered her a grim twist to his lips and a solemn "Better safe than sorry. Just pray you'll never have to use it." And Sakura nodded and paid for everything, then promised herself she'd acquaint herself with the rubber band when she got home; if Genma-san thought it important, she'd make sure she knew how to use it.)
They left the shop, Sakura laden with bags carrying her newly-stocked weapons and medical supplies. And then, as if she wasn't already completely weirded out by the experience of shopping with a jounin, Genma-san mentioned her outfit.
"You might want to invest in something which blends in more." and it was such an offhand comment that Sakura couldn't quite stop the snort that escaped her. Genma-san grinned but elaborated, and the rosette had to grudgingly acknowledge the reasoning behind what he was saying. "Konoha is largely forests - why do you think the average chunin and jounin uniform is navy and green? It's more than a fashion statement, kid."
But then it was Sakura's turn to grin as a plan formed in her mind. "Well then, since I'm just an inexperienced genin, I'm sure you wouldn't mind going with me to find an outfit which you'd deem 'shinobi-appropriate'?" and if her grin was slightly devious... Well.
Genma-san looked terrified, but Sakura had been training how to enhance her strength for the better part of two weeks, and before the tokujo could so much as blink, she'd grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the nearest boutique.
The shop clerks who'd known Genma-san personally had no qualms against laughing at his predicament. Though Sakura had to hastily explain at one point that no, she most definitely was not Genma-san's daughter, ew, she decided that she could forgive the clerk for his comment when Genma-san looked at the clerk and asked "do I look like I could produce pink hair?" in a tone so aghast that Sakura had to hold on to the cabinet to not fall on her face with the force of her laughter.
In the end, they walked out of the shops with a similar outfit to that of an average chunin; but instead of a flak jacket, Sakura had a sleeveless zip up jacket the same navy as her hakama pants, and a bottle green turtleneck that hugged her arms and highlighted the slimness of her neck. Far from her previous qipao dress fashion wise, but Sakura could appreciate the practicality when she put it on in the morning and had enough pockets to safely stow away her newly-bought medical equipment and then some. But, more than that, she realised that despite the fact that it was only on an artificial, aesthetic level, she still felt closer to being a true shinobi when she wore it.
Genma-san had grumbled variations of "I can't believe you conned me into shopping." all the way to Sakura's house, where he stopped long enough to give her one final pearl of wisdom before the Exams.
"You're a genjutsu type, and your control over your chakra is substandard." He announced suddenly, almost startling her. "Those are your main weapons. They're unconventional, and still developing, true; you're not a master, not by far, but you are more advanced than most your age." he must've seen her confusion because he smiled ruefully and let one of his hands rest on her shoulder. "They are your strengths. Play to them. If it should come to a one on one battle, end it as quickly as you can. Best way would be to disorient them with a genjutsu, then disarm. Your taijutsu is at a stage where close combat will not end in your favour, and supplementary ninjutsu will only get you so far, but do not get discouraged." he bent so he was eye level with her, and said, with more conviction than anything she'd heard before, "You already have something far more specialised than I did when I took my Exams. Use it, and you'll be fine. Oi, none of that!" he scolded when she looked unconvinced. "You will be fine, alright? I trust you."
Sakura froze.
I trust you.
And before her brain could quite catch up with her body, she'd thrown her arms, shopping bags and all, around the jounin's shoulders and buried her face in the collar of his flak jacket, trying to wordlessly convey the endless gratitude she felt for his help and support.
"Oi, kid, get off, we're not that close yet, get off -!" but she kept clinging to him, and eventually he stopped protesting and one of his hands came up to rest on her head, ruffling the pink locks. "Make sure to come back in one piece, yeah?" and before she could reply, she was staggering forward, struggling to catch her balance as her hands fisted on air. But she couldn't even be mad that he'd shunshined on her, because the same three words were repeating in her head like a mantra:
I trust you.
"Sakura-chaaaan!" she was broken out of her reverie by a speeding blob of orange, and Sakura waited till he was less than two metres away from her before she gracefully sidestepped the blonde and laughed as he all but ran into the tree behind her. She spotted Sasuke-kun a few steps away and she sent him a smile before her attention was forcefully dragged to Naruto, who'd taken to jumping around her in awe. "Sakura-chan! Your outfit! Your hair!" and his hands were flailing and gesticulating so much Sakura thought for sure he was going to smack her in the face.
"Sentences, baka, I need sentences." She chastised in what she realised was a very Genma-esque manner. Sasuke-kun joined them and though his eyes scanned her from head to toe, he said nothing and stared at the blond with clear annoyance.
"Can it, dobe, people are staring." He sniped, and Naruto was about to round on him for the comment but Sakura quickly grabbed at his collar, strategically placing herself between the two boys. "How about we go sign in instead? I thought you were excited for the Exams?" and though she knew they still were very much excited, it was enough to side-track Naruto into forgetting about his anger at the Uchiha.
"Yeah let's go!"
But the moment they walked up the steps to where Room 301 was supposed to be, Naruto visibly startling at the small crowd already gathered by the door which seemed to be guarded by two other boys, Sakura froze.
Because the sign which read 301 in a clear, unmistakable font, was brimming with so much chakra that it would've earned her a smack to the back of the head from Genma-san had this been her illusion.
But… it doesn't make sense. A trick, so early on? And what can be so bad behind those doors that other genin would warn others against going in?
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto briefly forgot about the crowd to turn to her, Sasuke wordlessly doing the same. "Are you having second thoughts?" and Sakura barely restrained the urge to smack the blond, but instead laid her hand on his shoulder, an action which she mirrored on Sasuke-kun, ignoring his confused frown.
"Not at all." She replied, and sent a pulse of her chakra into the boys' systems, disrupting their own. When Naruto jumped under her hand and Sasuke-kun winced, she wordlessly motioned to the plaque, which, after a quick kai of her own revealed what she had already guessed:
The sign which previously read 301 now displayed 201.
Bingo.
"Genjutsu…?" Sasuke-kun murmured, sending her a surprised glance which she tried not to blush at, though Naruto's stunned face really wasn't helping her case.
"Yeah." She acknowledged, smiling slightly. "Now let's go – we've got another floor to get to, don't we?" And to her surprise, both boys started towards the stairs. She hurried to catch up, and all three ascended the stairs, ignoring the surprised calls of the crowd they left behind.
They noticed. The little genin who froze, who the brunet had been about to taunt and call a coward but bit his tongue when the pinkette broke her teammates out of their genjutsu simultaneously before releasing it on herself. Their eyes met for a second, the same thought circling in both minds.
Interesting.
Sakura was ready to murder.
Not even Zabuza had inspired such murderous intentions within her as Naruto's obnoxious, tactless declaration had. Then again, it was also her fault, as she should've already realised that the blonde flourished in situations where others would normally crumble, and a roomful of people who looked like they ate rookies like them for breakfast was no different.
She briefly listened to the silver-haired genin's explanations, allowing herself a moment of surprise at the stack of ninja info cards: even Genma-san said that they were a very high-level accessory, not simply because of their cost, but also the fact that they required a ninja to either be very well-travelled to be able to gather the information to fill the cards, have a wide-spanning information network or a background in espionage. At first glance, the guy didn't seem to fill any of the above requirements, and she spared a brief thought to where he gained the information before she dismissed it and forced herself to relax.
Sakura allowed herself an exasperated sigh, letting her shoulders slump in the company of people she had essentially grown up with, and focused instead on the rest of the room. Genma-san's instructions were echoing in her mind as she carefully sent out her chakra to 'gauge' the couple of ninja sitting the closest to where their group stood. She fought hard not to recoil at their far more developed chakra reserves and sent a quick prayer to kami-sama in hopes that these particular genin were the enigmas, the prodigies, and not, as she already suspected, a sign that her and her team were far more outclassed than she'd worried they were even before the Exams.
But then, she didn't have time to worry any more as, suddenly, the silver-haired genin – Kabuto or something – was being attacked by very unnerving-looking ninja with a hitai-ate bearing a symbol she had never seen. The urge to help Kabuto briefly crossed her mind, but it was soon drowned out by a memory of Genma-san's advice to 'keep a low profile' – right then, Kabuto's prone figure was at the centre of attention of the whole room, the exact opposite of inconspicuous. And while Naruto had no qualms against rushing to the genin's side, Sakura stayed where she was, preferring to observe instead.
At the last second, when it looked like the confrontation would escalate into an all-out brawl, a commotion at the front drew everyone's attention, and Sakura was in equal parts relieved and horrified at the rows of proctors who appeared when the smoke cleared. Relieved, because there was finally some structure in the chaos, a direct superior she could turn to. Horrified because of the gruesome scars which marred the tallest man's face, one spanning all the way from his chin and disappearing into his bandana, while the other cut across his whole cheek and looked longer than the length of Sakura's hand.
Scars were common in their career path, but facial scars were one of those things which stood out more than others and Sakura couldn't help her wince. Then two blissful words left the man's mouth and the rosette decided that scars and intimidating appearance or no, he was her new favourite person in the room:
Written Exam.
A relieved sigh left Sakura's lips, some of her confidence returning. This was something she could do; she was a paper-ninja after all.
Half an hour later, she was ready to take that wishful thinking back and spit the examiner in the face. Not only were the questions hard even for her and tested every iota of her booksmarts, but the requirement for passing was that all three teammates answer at least one question correctly.
And that meant Team 7's fate rested in Naruto's hands.
But then, Morino-san announced the tenth question, the choice they had to forfeit or stay. At first, Sakura had half a mind to raise her hand and quit while ahead, knowing that career-genin existed and could gain respectable positions. But then, she thought of Sasuke-kun and his talents and ambitions, she thought of Kakashi-sensei who she felt an inexplicable need to prove herself to, and of Genma-san who had sacrificed a lot of his free time to ensure she could stand up on her own feet, who had helped her when she felt overwhelmingly alone. And she thought of Naruto and his unerring determination, his tendency to thrive when the odds were against him, Naruto who-
-whose hand was raised to forfeit?
Sakura's mind short-circuited trying to reconcile brash, fearless Naruto with the quivering mess of a boy a few rows in front of her.
She failed.
And then, he surprised her again, and judging by the faces of the proctors, she wasn't the only one thrown off by the declaration.
Somehow, she found the energy to smile, her own resolve strengthening in the face of Naruto's will.
But then, her desire to spit Morino-san in the face returned full force when he declared that the whole written exam was a ruse and announced that they all passed.
What a terrifying, cheeky shit.
When all the chunin invigilators were allowed to stand down and gather in the break room, the written exam finally over, the commentary began.
"So many of them passed!"
"Are you really surprised? They're all future powerhouses."
"Yeah – there was the Uchiha, two Hyuuga, the Ino-Shika-Cho spawns, the Kazekage's children; they were bound to find ways around the rules."
"Still, it's weird. Normally, the numbers rarely go above thirty at this stage."
Among the chatting, Izumo found his partner staring out the window, watching the clearing where Anko was treating those who passed to the most charming aspects of her personality. "Hey," Kotetsu greeted when he neared him, eyes scanning the genin. "Oh, looks like pinky passed." Automatically, Izumo's eyes sought out the head of pink hair and he nodded an affirmative, opening his mouth to ask the other about something when they were interrupted;
"Not just 'passed'." Ibiki cut in, appearing behind them and brandishing a single sheet with neat, Academy-taught characters, every question answered in what appeared to be meticulous detail. "But passed with full marks." Kotetsu's eyebrows soared and he nodded in acknowledgement of the jounin's words before turning to one of the quieter chunin and demanding;
"Oi, Tsuzumi! She was in your row, wasn't she?" when the other chunin scrambled for his clipboard to verify, Izumo caught Kotetsu's eye, realising without the need for words that both of them were curious about the genin who'd seen through and singlehandedly broken their genjutsu.
"Yeah, Haruno Sakura, I've got her here." Tsuzumi announced. "What did you want?"
Izumo, catching onto Kotetsu's thought process, replied. "How many times did she cheat?" Kotetsu's approving glance told him that he'd guessed his intentions correctly, and they shared a grin before turning to hear the answer, expectant.
"Uh, none." Tsuzumi said, his own eyebrows rising. "She never looked up from her paper."
At that, Kotetsu whistled while Izumo considered exactly what that meant – the test wasn't meant to be answered by genin. In fact, he reckoned most of the chuunin in the room would struggle with answering all the questions – he certainly would.
Then again, they always said that intelligence was a prerequisite for genjutsu users – he was just glad someone had put the two together when it came to the girl's training; genjutsu, after all, was not a particularly popular Ninja Art style in Konoha.
This year's batch is proving to be very interesting.
Meanwhile, Sakura cursed herself for not raising her hand and forfeiting while she still had the chance: if Morino-san had been intimidating and fearsome with his scars and experience, the woman before them – Mitarashi Anko – could only be summarised with two words:
Clinically insane.
there you go! hoped you liked this chapter :)
if there's anything dodgy or you got any questions, don't hesitate to drop them off in a REVIEW or PM me
in the meantime, I slightly revised chapter 2, so if some of you would like to flick back and see the changes that had been made you're more than welcome to.