The group arrived at the entrance door where Kakashi stood waiting for them.
"Kakashi" Haruto smiles and runs over to him "hey I haven't seen you since I arrived at the village"
"Hey kid" Kakashi smiles "I'm glad you're here"
"Sensei what are you doing here?" Aika asks happily
"yeah were you waiting for us?" Naruto questions walking over with the group
"Yep, I wanted to tell you guys, I'm proud of all of you.. couldn't ask for a better team" Kakashi rubs his neck "but I have some bad news"
"huh?" Sakura looks confused
"What bad news?" Sasuke asks seriously
"The limit of team members can't exceed 3, unfortunately you are a squad of 4.." Kakashi looks away
"Are you saying one of us can't take the exam?!" Sasuke shouts
"No that's not it at all" Kakashi looks at them and puts his hands in his pockets "I'm saying, one of you will be joining another team"
"Who?" Sakura asks
"Aika will be teaming up with Haruto" Kakashi tells them "that way Haruto won't have to be alone, besides this exam will be a good test of strength for Aika, who up till now has been mostly relying on Naruto"
"...NO WAY" Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke shout
"Sensei, their's no way we can focus on this exam, we'll be too worried about Aika" Sakura argues
"yeah believe it!" Naruto shouts "I don't want Aika to get hurt, I wanna be able to watch her"
"This isn't fair" Sasuke agrees
"Look" Kakashi sighs and looks at Aika "this is the only solution I can think of, either you join Haruto or you don't take the exam, you can't hide behind Naruto for the rest of your life"
"...I'll do it" Aika decides "I want to take the exam"
Naruto turns to her "Aika-"
"Kakshi's right, I can't hide behind you forever" Aika smiles and looks at Haruto "I'll be in your capable hands"
"Don't worry, we're gonna kick some ass" Haruto puts his fist out "partner?"
Aika giggles and fist bumps him "Partner"
"You better keep your eyes on her" Sasuke glares at him "got it?!"
"Relax would you, you act like she's completely useless" Haruto glares at him "she's not some weakling all of you have to protect, she can fight on her own"
"she's an airhead!" Sasuke argues "don't be acting like you know her after 5 days!"
"Sasuke, Haurto, stop fighting" Aika steps in between them "please"
Sasuke sighs "whatever" he looks at her "are you sure you'll be ok?"
"of course" Aika assures him
"Great now that that's out of the way" Kakashi smiles to them "like I said before, I'm proud of every single one of you, the exams will be hard but I believe you will all do just fine, good luck"
"We won't let you down, Sensei! Believe it!" Naruto promises
Kakashi smiles as the group walks past him and enters the room. Once inside they all saw all the genin waiting to take the test. It was a whole lot of people. Even kids older then them were in there.
"Sasuke! Where have you been?!"a girly voice squeals
It was Ino Yamanaka, one of Sasuke's main fangirls from the academy days. She jumped onto Sasuke's back and clung to him.
"You have no idea how much I was hoping you would show up here" Ino says while the look on Sasuke's face was pure annoyance "I've missed your good looks"
Aika looked concerned "Sasuke.."
"Hey you porker! Back off!" Sakura shouts "He's mine."
"Miss Forehead, they let you in?" Ino sticks her tongue out at her
"Well they let you in didn't they" Aika mutters
Sakura and Haruto laugh as Ino looks annoyed
"Hey" Ino says annoyed "what have you been teaching that child forehead?!"
'why does everyone assume I'm a child' Aika thinks 'I'm Naruto's twin, it's not like I'm younger then them... i'm just short'
'maybe it's because you act like a child'
"huh" Aika looks around confused
"Something wrong?" Naruto asks her
"ah, no nothing" Aika replies
"It's you guys. I knew this was going to be a drag but I didn't know it was going to be this lame" Shikamaru says while Choji was chomping on chips
"Shiki!" Aika runs over to him "I haven't seen you since the academy"
"What's up kid?" Shikimaru pats her head "have you been training?"
"not at all" Aika says proudly
"of course not" Shikimaru chuckles
"Well well.. What do you know? It looks like the whole gang is together again" Kiba Inuzuka says as he walks over. With him was Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and of course his dog, Akamaru "This is gonna be fun at least for those of us good enough to make the cut, right Sasuke?"
"Don't be so cocky" Sasuke replies
"Akamaru!" Aika bends down and Akamaru runs over to her, he licks her and she pets him "aw look at you, you're as cute as ever"
"I see Akamaru is still attached to you" Kiba comments with a smile
"he's just so cute" Aika squeals and hugs the dog
Sasuke stares at her with a slight smile.
"Hey you guys.." A guy with glasses and silver/white hair, approaches them "Keep it down. I mean no offense, you are the rookies right? I wouldn't go making a show about your selves. Just cool it, this isn't a class field trip."
Aika stands up holding Akamaru.
"Who are you?" Ino asks rudely
"I'm Kabuto Yakushi but really look around you. You've made quite an impression." everyone was glaring at them "See those guys? They're from the rain village, very touchy. They all are. This exam makes everyone tense and you don't want to rub them the wrong way right now. Well, you can't help it. I mean. how could you know how things worked, you're just rookies. You remind me of myself a while back."
"Kabuto, this isn't the first time you've taken the exam?"
"No, its my seventh. Well they're held twice a year so this is my fourth year."
"Cool! You can give us all the insight and tips!"
'but he's never passed'
"Well, seventh's time the charm. That's what they say" Kabuto took out a stack of cards. "These cards have been chakra encoded with everything I've learned the past four years." He set them down on the ground. "I got more than 200..I haven't been completely wasting my time. They might not look like much to the naked eye. In fact, they appear blank. I don't want just anyone seeing this stuff."
Kabuto started using his chakra to reveal the images on the cards. It showed a map with the number of candidates who came to take the test. "Why do you think they come to take the test together?" Well, its to foster the friendship between the nations. "International brotherhood and all that. This way they can calculate the number of shinobi in each village."
"Do those cards of yours have any info on the candidates?" Sasuke asks
Aika turns around to see Haruto's walked off somewhere. She puts down Akamaru and follows after him. Haruto stands in the corner by himself and just sighs.
"I know they're a bit overwhelming" Aika says as she approaches him
"Ah, so you followed me" Haruto rubs her head
"Well we're a team, we should stick together" Aika smiles
"Alright" Haruto shrugs "I suppose it won't be a bad idea, what about your brother and batman? Won't they worry about you?"
"I'm always being protected by those two" Aika looks away "I wanna be strong on my own for once, I'm growing little by little but I'm still too dependent on Naruto and Sasuke"
"So you want to get stronger?" Haruto says "then we'll get along nicely"
"MY NAME IS NARUTO UZUMAKI AND I'M GONNA BEAT ALL YOU BASTARDS! BELIEVE IT!"
The two turn and look at Naruto yelling as the room went silent.
"Big brother you idiot" Aika facepalms
"He's an interesting one" Haruto chuckles "but it's that kind of attitude that'll get us through the exams"
"huh?" Aika looks confused
Suddenly their was a puff smoke and a man with a group of people behind him appeared.
"Pipe down and listen up! It's time to begin.. I'm Ibiki Morino, your proctor, and from this moment.. your worst enemy!"
