A/N: I am so sorry for not updating until now. I had to review for the board exams and that meant keeping away from this site in order to pass the exam. Sad to say I didn't pass the exams on this month of May. I cry. Then again one can still take it a second time, right? For now here is the next chapter. It's a bit long, I guess? Please review. Do tell me if I have any mix ups or what not. I wrote it for an approximate of five days.
POV: Itachi
Ever since Iruna-neesama came back from her sparring session with Minato-san's team, she's been… anxious and worried. That had been a week and days ago. She doesn't leave the house, only to go to her sensei and show her the seals she makes. She has her attention on her seals most of the time and kept indoors. She still did her daily routine of going on her morning runs, target practice and katas. It wasn't just me who had noticed, but Mother and Father as well.
While we were eating dinner and Neesama was the first to finish again and just as she was to stand up to get back to her seals, Mother spoke up.
"Iruna, is something the matter?"
Iruna-neesama looked at Mother with a confused look on her.
"No, nothing's the matter. I just want to finish my seal right away."
"Can't you—" Father by then had held Mother's shoulder.
"You can go, Iruna. Be careful with your seals."
"I will." Iruna-neesama answered smiling before she left the room.
"Mikoto, Iruna has already expressed what she wanted to do. You cannot stop someone as determined as her."
Mother looked at the doorway neesama went through. Our parent's couldn't get through her. She hid what she knew and what she felt from our parent's. I couldn't help but think that she was starting to keep things from me as well.
Breakfast was over and Iruna-neesama came back from our room wearing her gear.
"Where are you going Iruna?" Mother asked just as she was starting to wash the dishes.
"To Kushina-sensei's house" she answered.
"Come back home before it becomes dark."
"I will." Neesama answered.
"Can I come?" I asked. I didn't want to stay at home that day. I would end up sleeping again.
"Mother?" Iruna-neesama turned to Mother.
"You can go, but be careful." Mother answered.
That day the academy had been attacked must still be fresh in her mind. That had happened a year ago.
"Alright, come on Itachi." Neesama said to me grinning. "You get to see how Kushina-sensei tests my seals."
On our way to Kushina-san's place, we came across Gekko-san.
"Iruna-chan!" Gekko-san called. "How's the youngest genin doing?"
"Good." neesama answered "Don't get too many missions outside; all of them are inside the village. The last I want to take as a mission is of that cat."
"You mean Tora? You know I recall my parent's mentioning a cat before during their genin days."
"The cat's probably an immortal." Neesama shrugged.
"When are you graduating?" I asked him.
"Didn't you know? I'm already a genin. I graduated two months ago." he answered. "What about you Itachi-kun? When do *cough* you plan to follow Iruna-chan here?"
"When were seven" Iruna-neesama answered.
Gekko-san stared at Iruna-neesama. "Isn't that a bit too long?"
"Given that I did enter the academy too early, and the incident in the academy. Our parent's most likely won't let him enter early and they'll have him enter the same time as Shisui."
"You know, Itachi-kun, sometimes I think your sister is five years older than your ages."
"That is a reason why I call her neesama." I answered.
Neesama and Gekko-san stared at me openly then, Gekko-san gave a hearty laugh then.
"Well, I better get *cough* going I'm already late as it is. See you around, Uchiha twins."
"Hey! Don't call us that!" Neesama shouted after Gekko-san.
By the time we arrived at Kushina-san's home, Kakashi-san, Obito-san and Rin-san were also there as well as Minato-san.
"Ah, Iruna-chan!" Kushina greeted "and you also brought Itachi-kun. How's your mother doing?"
"Fine." I answered
"Can we test my seals?" Iruna-neesama asked right away.
"Aren't you eager to test them?" Kakashi-san spoke up.
"It wasn't me who thought up of how to test my seals." Neesama answered.
"Yes. It wasn't." Kakashi-san answered before turning to look at his own sensei.
"We're in the same boat here, Kakashi." Minato-san answered.
Now, I was curious. How did they test seals if their backyard wasn't that large?
"Do I need to use my medical ninjutsu again?" Rin-san asked.
"Not to worry, Rin." Kushina-san grinned. "Not one of us will get hurt."
"Yes, but…"
"Alright, let's get this over with." Kushina-san said excited even much more than neesama.
I walked in step with neesama towards one of the nearest training grounds. Neesama and Kushina-san went off to set the seals. While Kakashi-san and Minato-san made hand seals boar, dog, bird, monkey and ram before they placed their hands on the ground. A puff of smoke came out from the seals that appeared underneath their hands and as the smoke cleared a small toad and a small bulldog was there.
"What are they?" I asked Obito-san next to me.
"Contract summons." Obito-san answered then. "Minato-sensei with toads and Kakashi with dogs."
"A pack!" Kakashi shouted from where they stood.
"Right, pack." Obito-san said as he shook his head.
"Why did they call their summons?"
"You'll see." he answered.
I looked back as Kushina-san and Neesama had left the center of the grounds. One of the two summon, the toad, approached the area of the seal, nothing seemed to be happening at first, but after a while the summon fell down. Kushina-san slapped Neesama on the back congratulating her. Neesama then cancelled the seal, but the toad remained on the ground. Minato-san had to go and carry the toad away from the area. Neesama then placed another seal, and it was the dogs' turn. It took seconds before the dog started to walk in a zigzag path. Just what seals did Neesama make this time?
"Did they always use summons to use for testing Neesama's seals?"
"No. Minato-sensei was the usual, erhm, you know the one who checks to see if they do work." Obito-san answered.
"Is that why Rin-san asked if she needed to use her medic jutsu?"
"Yes." Rin-san answered. "Minato-sensei got shocked by Iruna-chan's powered lightning trap; the person gets doused with water first before getting electrocuted. She also made a trap using water and genjutsu together, I can't remember the effects correctly though."
"I recall her calling it water douse nightmare." Obito-san answered.
"Water douse nightmare?" I wondered. I never heard that from Neesama before.
"Ah! I remember now. We don't really know what happens when it's used. Only that when activated water comes out from the seal and drenches you and you end up falling asleep. The time Minato-sensei was unconscious was three hours long. Kushina-san and Iruna-chan couldn't cancel the effects of the seal. Minato-sensei, during those three hours, he kept sweating and lashing out. Kushina-san was really worried for him. She didn't move when she held him in her arms. When sensei woke up, she gripped Kushina-san into a tight hug." Rin-san replied while looking at Iruna-neesama. "Iruna-chan, where does she get her ideas? Some of the seals she makes they're kind of scary."
I looked over at Neesama as she stood next to Kushina-san. Neesama did say she wanted to learn fuinjutsu, she said she wanted to use fuinjutsu to protect others.
POV: Iruna
"Neesama?" Itachi spoke up jolting me out of my focus.
"What is it, 'Tachi?" I asked.
"What seal are you working on?"
"A seal that can make a hole on a boulder" she answered
"Why? Can't you just blow the boulder up using an explosive tag?"
"Explosive tags have a delay time before it can destroy the boulder, besides that it would create shrapnel that could hurt your team mates within range. I'm trying to make one that doesn't have such destructive power, one you can use inside a small space."
"Why not reinforce a sword or tanto with chakra so you could cut the boulder up into pieces?"
"I'm still not good with using a sword nor a tanto, Itachi and I can't make use of that method yet. Where did you learn that anyway?"
He stared at me when he didn't answer and I decided to just leave it.
"All I have for now in my arsenal are seals, kunais, and shurikens. I have to be really fast if I want to cut up a boulder three times larger than our house."
"Why do you need to make a hole on a boulder?"
"To fit a person, so they won't get crushed, but just by placing it and activating it is nearly impossible. I wouldn't have the speed to accomplish that feat, maybe after years of training." I answered sighing.
I wasn't getting anywhere near on how to save Kakashi or Obito, wait, those two from getting injured or anything else.
"I don't understand when or where that can happen neesama."
"It's just a thought I have. You know in case someone gets close to getting buried alive."
Itachi nodded and returned to reading the book he held. Two days are left before the chuunin exams, I'm already done making the seals I would need for the exams. I know we would be facing Guy and the others. I have yet to see them and it would be at this upcoming chuunin exam. I'm running out of time. It would be next year, months away, but I can't help but feel anxious. It feels so close. I should be worried for the chuunin exams, but I'm not even thinking of the exams but what can happen once the Kannabi bridge mission happens. Will I even be there when it happens?
It was the day of the chuunin exams, and Itachi asked Mother something during breakfast.
"Mother, what's the chuunin exams?"
I had just grabbed the bowl of rice, when he asked that from Mother.
"Chuunin exams?" Mother said looking at Itachi. "It's an exam so you can move up the ranks. From genin you move on to becoming a chuunin and after that there's the jonin's exam. Why do you ask?"
My heart pumped faster than usual. Mother will never let me leave the house if Itachi mentions that I have a permission form to enter the chuunin exams. She'll likely lock me up in our room until the time for the start of the exams. I can't let that happen.
"Obito-san and Rin-san are entering." Itachi answered.
"Just them?" Mother asked.
"There's also Maito-san."
Mother gave a sad smile at the mention of Guy. "At least he's not letting his father's death get the better of him. Didn't you mention he was optimistic, Iruna?"
"Yes. The day after his father died, he went running around Konoha."
"I wonder if I can handle that losing my family." Mother said wistfully.
Me and Itachi stared at Mother then, why would she say that?
"You won't lose us, Mother." Itachi answered and it was even convincing.
"'Tachi's right. You won't lose us." I added.
"Of course, I won't." Mother said smiling at me.
Just when I thought I had slipped through, her eyes opened and I met her sharingan.
"I'm sorry, Iruna. I don't want to lose you. It would destroy me."
I was caught off guard. I never got to cancel her genjutsu as my eyes closed against my will.
POV: Obito
Where is she?! Its ten minutes to eleven! If we don't enter before the appointed time… well I don't really know what can happen, but just from Kakashi's yapping about the shinobi code and my usual late streak a shinobi shouldn't be late. Fugaku-san gave me a cold look whenever I was late in arriving when he had been acting as our team leader.
"Your tardy streak must have rubbed on her." Kakashi said to me.
"Say that again!" I growled at him.
"Your tardy streak must have rubbed—"
"Oh, shut up." I snapped at him. "Tardiness doesn't rub off on anyone, and the reason I've been tardy most of the time is—"
"Because you came across a black cat and you had to go around." Kakashi ended for me.
"No!"
"Then, it's because you had to help someone carry their groceries."
"Not that either!"
"Then, you needed to—"
"Will you to stop?!" Rin-chan exploded. "You two fighting isn't helping. Iruna-chan—"
We then heard glass break down the hallway. We find Iruna just getting up to stand and went towards us.
"Come on, we can't waste another minute." She said to us before entering the examination room.
"You heard your kohai, you two should go inside. We'll see you after the exams." Minato-sensei said to us. "Good luck."
We entered the room just in time as the proctor showed up at the front. The proctor arranged us by the number on our forms. Iruna-chan sat at the very front, Rin-chan on the third row near the windows and I sat at the very back of the room. As I listened to the proctors instructions, I knew then and there I was doomed. I thought I was done with written exams when I graduated from the academy. Curse you written exams! Once we received our papers and were told to start, I swallowed hard before flipping it. I bit my lip as I read one question to the next until I reached the last one. I couldn't answer even one! We didn't even cover this stuff in the academy! I tried to answer the questions on my own, but really what can I squeeze out of my brain? I'm not Rin!
I looked at the others in the room they were all bowing down concentrating on their papers. How can they possibly know the answers to these questions?! You'd have to copy off someone else! I looked over at Rin-chan, she was answering the questions with no problem, and given that she was one of the top in our class I wouldn't pass it off that she could answer them. As for Iruna-chan, my mouth dropped open in shock she has her head resting on the table!? She does plan to pass the first part right? Why is she sleeping the exam off?!
POV: Iruna
I read the questions on the paper, and the answers easily came to mind. I did read books during my stay in the academy, and some of the answers were examples from those books. If you were even studious enough you'd be able to answer them with no problem at all. Then again I did use our kinjutsu while reading; it lessened the whole having to memorize the lot of it. After writing the answers on the paper, I decided to get a bit of a nap. When I woke up it was because of a yelp from the person next to me. A shuriken was on his test paper, and he was told to leave as well as his team mates. So, it's the same exam as when Naruto took the exam, go figure that they didn't bother changing the examination. If that was the case then after this we would be in the forest of death.
Two hours passed and the proctor came to the final question. I was glad that Obito-nii didn't raise his hand nor did Rin-san. The proctor by then left the room and the one to enter was a Yamanaka, judging from the pale blond hair color and irisless blue eyes. He had us follow him out of the academy, well; I had a bit of problem with that. Mother was outside the academy with her sharingan spinning as she saw me walking with the rest of the examinees. She said my name aloud coldly.
"Uchiha Iruna, you will not proceed to the next venue. You will come home this minute."
I swallowed. She was scary that moment, but I needed to finish the exam. I have to become a chuunin. I have to save Obito-nii and Kakashi-nii even Itachi. I don't want him to live just for our family and be a sacrifice. I want him to live and be happy, not be a tool for someone.
"I'm sorry, Mother, but I cannot go home with you." I answered as I approached her standing next to the Yamanaka who was about to speak to our mother. "I have to see this through. I'm sorry if I didn't tell you. I knew you would stop me if I mentioned it. Mother, to me this is something I have to do."
"Why? Why is it important that you have to enter the exam this early? You haven't been a genin that long."
"I know." I answered meeting her eyes with my own sharingan. She gasped then, to which I have no clue why she did. "I know I lack experience. I know that I'm also the youngest, but I said to myself that I would take the exams and become a chuunin."
"Did your father tell you to take the exams earlier?"
"No, he has no idea. This is solely my decision and I will stick to it. I won't back out from this." I won't back out from
saving Itachi, Kakashi and Obito and possibly even the whole clan of Uchiha from massacre.
Mother seemed to resign as she cancelled her sharingan.
"Just come back alive and whole, Iruna-chan." She said to me before leaving.
I closed my own eyes to cancel my sharingan before turning to the proctor and other examinees. They were all giving me stares. They weren't penetrating. They were all in wonder. I turned to the proctor then.
"So, where is the next venue?" I asked.
He shook his head before he turned around and continued to walk. During our walk towards the forest of death, Guy-san walked in step with me.
"You are very keen on becoming a chuunin, Iruna-san." He told me. "Whatever is the reason for it?"
"I want to become stronger." I answered.
"Why?"
"The circle I held was small at first Guy-san, but as time passed it grew."
"This circle?"
"I need to protect it. I cannot let it become smaller."
"Why do you need to protect it?" I heard from my left, it was Sarutobi Asuma.
"Because if it disappears then I have no reason to live"
"You're three years younger than us. You still have a long way to go before you say those things." Asuma replied.
I couldn't help but chuckle then. It was ironic actually, I wasn't young. My body is. My mind isn't.
"What are you smiling for?"
"Age doesn't matter for us. We chose to be shinobi and we chose to be placed on the battlefield." I answered before I walked ahead and in step with Obito-nii and Rin-san.
It was still the same; we would either receive a heaven or earth scroll before entering the forest of death. We would have to take another team's scroll to proceed to the tower in the middle of the training ground.
"Erhm, Iruna-chan, you weren't late because you were escaping from your Mother were you?" Rin-san asked me.
"I was late because I was sneaking out of my room. It was twenty minutes before eleven when I was able to get out of the genjutsu she placed on me so I couldn't come. Turns out she had some traps set-up in case I would wake up and still come here. She also had a group from our clan to guard the perimeter so I won't leave the compound."
"So you managed to escape them?" Obito-nii asked.
"Yes, using some of the seals I made."
"Which seals?" Rin-san asked.
"Just a simple sleeping seal."
"Iruna-chan! You do know that it would take a day before they would wake up!"
"I know." I shrugged. "I lost one copy of my seal because of them."
"You're worried about losing one seal? You could have hurt them!"
"I can't possibly think of their safety when they were trying to capture me."
"Iruna-chan, they're your family. You can't harm them. You even left them on the… the streets or the top of the roofs?"
"Someone will help them eventually." I answered trying not to tell her off. I hate being nagged at. "I didn't even harm them. They only fell asleep."
"Even so, some of your seals are strong and causes effects that can't be cancelled so easily even by just disturbing their chakra. Not even my medic jutsu could help. You have to tone down your seals, Iruna-chan. You can hurt someone."
"I know."
"You can't just make seals because you had an idea. You have to think how powerful it could be. You have to be careful Iruna-chan. Your seals are great, but they're scary at the same time. What if it falls to someone who has an evil purpose?"
"Erhm, Rin-chan?" Obito-nii spoke-up.
"Not now, Obito-kun, I'm speaking to Iruna-chan. Do you even know what can happen? Do you even think about the people that can get hurt?"
"I know!" I shouted. "I know! I have Kushina-sensei, Minato-san and my Mother telling me that! I don't need you to tell me those things as well! You don't know what I have in mind. You don't know anything!"
By then we heard a loud bang, the signal to enter the forest of death. I stared at Rin-san blankly before I turned away from her and looked in the direction of the entrance of the training ground.
"Let's go." I said before I made a rush into the grounds.
We couldn't see the sky because of the large trees. There was still some light, but your eyes need to adjust to the shade. We continued jumping from one tree to another, until Obito-nii said that we should stop as it got darker. I was hoping we would find a source of water. Most likely the other teams will be looking for water as well.
"So, uh… who's going to set-up camp?" Obito-nii asked.
I know the atmosphere was still tense between me and Rin-san. It didn't matter though.
"I'll check the perimeter and place some traps."
"Iruna-chan" Rin-san spoke up as I was about to leave them. "Don't use any seals that can be permanently damaging to the others. We're all from the same village."
I didn't answer as I left them. I didn't want to talk. If I did I might just say something that can hurt as well.
Our position was up in the trees, I would have to place a seal that would alert the one on look out if anyone had approached us within a ten meter radius. That included below and above us. It wouldn't be easy to set them up. The seals work only together not alone, you would need a lot of chakra to power one seal to act as an alert mechanism for just a five meter radius area. Removing them was easy, just a simple hand seal and a code it would burn up.
When I got back to our camp, which really was only a small fire.
"I placed the seals and traps. I'll take first watch." I said.
"Here" Obito-nii handed me a bundle of cloth.
"What is it?"
"Berries and nuts." he answered. "You need food to have strength."
I nodded. I ate the berries and nuts. Due to my escapade from our house I had to leave my scroll of provisions at least I had my water sack inside my wristband storage.
"You two should get some sleep. We have a long day tomorrow. We'll have to find another team and take their scroll, then head to the tower. Not to mention we only have three days to accomplish this."
Obito-nii and Rin-san shared a look.
"Shouldn't we plan what to do when we come across a team?" Obito-nii asked.
"I'm the one who's been working alone. You two should tell me what I should do. You two are more used to working together than me." I answered. "Besides that you two already know what I'm good at."
They shared another look before Rin-san spoke up.
"Okay. So, erhm, Obito-kun you'll handle close range attacks to mid-range. Iruna-chan…" she looked at me "…you'll handle mid-range to long range attacks and you'll support Obito-kun using your genjutsu. As for me I'll handle long range and support."
While my two team mates for now are asleep, I couldn't help but think on my words earlier. It's true they have worked together and knows more about each other's movements. I haven't been with them for a mission. All my missions have been solo missions, most had something to do with seals. Besides that they know each other longer than me and I know some things. It's difficult enough to keep this to myself. To carry the burden of knowing what will happen if I fail on my self-imposed mission.
Morning came soon enough, and no one approached us within the area I placed the seal traps. Although I can't be too sure, there were two Hyuugas that had passed the first test and some from my clan. The one's I needed to watch out for though are Guy-san and the others in their generation. I've been here for years already and I still can't place myself with their generation.
"Iruna-chan" Obito-nii said as I stood up.
Early birds aren't they? It was difficult to tell the time in the forest. We couldn't see the sun and we don't have watches.
"When?" I asked.
"Minutes"
"Rock, paper or scissors?"
"Scissors" Obito-nii and Rin-san both answered.
I nodded and with the boar hand seal I cancelled the seals. We stood there for a while then did three persons showed their selves. Just great too, it was Guy-san and his two team mates, one I didn't know and one I think is Morino Ibiki. One day that will be a great torturer in the future.
"Pleasant morning, Iruna-san!" Guy-san greeted me.
If they had said Rock, we would have fought with them head on.
"Morning, Guy-san. Which scroll do you have the heavens or of the earth? It would be a waste fighting and getting the same scroll."
"Tell us what scroll you have, first." Morino-san said.
"Earth" I answered.
"We have Earth as well, Iruna-san!" Guy-san shouted. "I had wished to engage with you in battle. To see if rumors say that you are quick in taijutsu."
Glad to know, we have earth. I did not want to fight with their team right now.
"Maybe another time Guy-san" I answered.
"Come on, Guy." I heard come from Morino before they left us.
"We should get going ourselves." Obito-nii told us.
We had been going around the forest searching for another team. We even came up on two teams fighting each other. It was Sarutobi Asumas' team. We didn't stay to watch, it was a waste on our part but if we had we would have known what they were good at. Our main priority though was finding a heaven scroll. We were regrouping by the river when a kunai landed near me. I activated my sharingan before I turned to face the other team, lucky me, one in their team was from the Uchiha clan, one from the Aburame and the Inuzaka clan.
"Hello, Iruna-san." The other Uchiha greeted me with his own sharingan.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think we've met." I answered glancing at my team mates and his.
"We haven't. I'm Uchiha Yakumi. I heard about you from our sensei and my parent's." He looked at me from head to toe. "A prodigy aren't you? Mikoto-san and Fugaku-san must be proud of you. Just like my parent's their proud of you, but not me."
"That's not my problem."
"Yes. It isn't." He answered. "But it's your fault my parent's tell me to be like you. You? A prodigy? A brat."
"I don't care about what you say." I answered. "We're here to become chuunin. Tell that to your parent's that you're not me."
"They'll be proud of me once I tell them that I took your scroll during the second test."
"That's if you can really take it. You should keep your attention on your team mates not only on me. Open."
I released the seals Kushina-sensei placed on my wristbands and footwear. In the morning I have to activate it during my runs, missions, and practice sessions. It's only in the night that I don't have them activated. She told me I could release the seals when I would need my real speed, there's a downfall with not using or training with your real speed.
"Iruna-chan! Watch out!" I heard from Rin-san.
I had just jumped out of all three strikes from Yakumi, Inuzuka and her ninken. I was fast, but my speed was no help if that got Rin-san in danger. Yakumi had jumped up at me engaging me with taijutsu. I wasn't used to my speed and got ahead on my defenses and strikes. That gave him an advantage and most of the time I was blocking. I was useless that moment. I couldn't get the upper hand. I was blocking. I could have used a seal, but that required me to use my hands or even pull out the seal from my pocket. I lost my focus when I saw Rin-san fall onto the ground. No! It was my job to protect her. It was stupid of me to look away from my opponent. I was punched in the gut and send towards a tree with my back hitting it.
When I looked up and at Rin-san, I still had my sharingan activated to tell that she was under a genjutsu. I looked about from Rin-san over to Obito-nii, he was fending off the Aburame, but Yakumi had told the Inuzuka that I was his target and she go over to help their team mate. I had to do something. I can't fail. I have to pass.
I pulled out a seal from my pocket; I didn't even look what it was before I activated it. My eyes were blinded by light and then the earth shook. When I opened my eyes, Yakumi was in a pitfall with his head above the ground.
"What the?!" Yakumi shouted and he tried to get out of the pitfall, but he was stuck.
I chopped him behind the neck before I rushed towards Obito-nii to help him.
"They have a heaven scroll." I said after going through the other team's weapon pouches and storage scrolls.
Obito-nii though didn't hear me as he dispelled the genjutsu placed on Rin-san.
"Are you okay, Rin?" he asked her.
I wasn't looking at them as I tied up the other team together and also the ninken of the Inuzuka.
"I'm fine, but you aren't Obito-kun. You have scratches on your face and you're sleeves been ripped! I'll use my—"
"Don't" I spoke up then "He's not heavily injured for you to waste you're chakra."
"What?" Rin-san said and by her tone I could tell she was going to argue with me. "I'm a medic-nin! I have to check he's injuries and heal them."
"They're only scratches." I answered before turning to her. "We can't stay here for too long. They'll wake up eventually. We have to get to the tower."
"But you're both injured." Rin-san voiced out, but staying in the forest other teams will have a chance to take our scrolls.
"We can't waste time staying in one place. If we don't want to come across another team we may as well head to the tower."
We managed to get to the tower before nightfall. There we saw the writing of heaven and earth. It wasn't a problem for me to know what to do with the scrolls. Hurray for having knowledge of this exam, or not, it takes the surprise away. It's not exciting if you already know what's going to happen.
POV: Obito
We arrived at the tower without meeting another team. Iruna-chan once we entered the tower handed the two scrolls to me and Rin-chan. She told us to open them and stepped back.
"On three?" I said.
Rin-chan nodded to me before she counted from one to three. We threw the scroll open and we dropped them as smoke came out. Once the smoke cleared we were greeted by Minato-sensei.
"Congratulations the three of you for passing the second test." He said to us smiling.
At the same time did Iruna-chan say "That's it!" in glee
"What's it?" Minato-sensei turned to Iruna-chan, whose cheeks and ears turned red.
"Erhm, a seal idea." she answered
"Another one?" Rin-chan spoke-up. "You always have your head on seals Iruna-chan. Minato-sensei was just congratulating us and you have your head on fuinjutsu again? Can't you focus on what's happening in front of you?"
"I can't help it if I just get an idea." Iruna-chan answered.
"Then, you can just jot it down your notes and listen." Rin-chan said irritated.
Iruna-chan glared at Rin-chan before she pulled out her notebook from her weapon pouch and wrote on it.
"You can continue, Minato-san." Iruna-chan said blankly.
Minato-san looked at me before he continued.
"Right, you three will have to stay here until the other teams arrive. Once they arrive, you three will be informed on the next test. For now, you three can go rest; there are rooms you can use down that hallway. A jonin will come to call you for the next part of the exam."
"What about food sensei?" I asked, since we didn't get to eat. We rushed all the way here without stopping.
"I can show you where they're serving food." Sensei answered.
"Alright!"
"Which way sensei?" Rin-chan asked, even she was hungry.
When we got to the cafeteria, we grabbed a tray of food for us to eat from the shinobi in charge of the room. Just as we sat down Minato-sensei spoke up.
"Where's Iruna-chan?" he asked.
"She didn't come with us?" I said looking around.
We weren't the first team to arrive, but the room was empty except for us and the shinobi that gave us food.
"She's probably tired, Obito-kun." Rin-chan said as she also looked around.
"You're probably right. She did use her sharingan the whole time we were headed here."
"How long was that?" Minato-sensei asked us.
"Since we came across another team, she didn't cancel it even after we got the scroll only when we got here." Rin-chan answered.
Minato-sensei held his chin for a while before he stood up.
"You two fill your stomachs and get some sleep after. I'm going to check on Iruna-chan."
We both nodded as Minato-sensei left the room.
POV: Iruna
I walked in the direction of the rooms as Minato-san said, on the way though I could feel my head throbbing almost like I have a migraine. That can't be right. I can't have a migraine. I wasn't even thinking too much.
I was relieved to see a door; maybe a bit of sleep will remove this head ache. I knocked on the door to be sure that no one was inside. When there was no answer I opened the door and turned on the lights. The room had three beds, a room for a team.
I was about to head inside, but someone came up behind me then. I turned on my sharingan before I turned to the person with a kunai in hand.
"Woah, there, it's only me." Minato-san said with his hands raised in front of him. "You can cancel your sharingan and lower your kunai."
I nodded and cancelled my sharingan, as I did that, I felt a splitting pain in my head. I felt myself lose balance and lean on the doorway.
"Iruna-chan?!"
"I'm fine. I just need to get some sleep." I answered as I got myself up right.
"Are you sure? Maybe you need to see a medic-nin."
"No. I'm really fine." I answered smiling a bit, but I think I only made him worry.
Minato-san nodded. "You don't need any help?"
I shook my head slowly in answer.
"Alright. Good night, Iruna-chan."
"Good night, Minato-san." I replied before I closed the door and the lights before I dropped on the nearest bed to me.
It was easy to close my eyes. I was tired and my head throbbed in pain. All I needed was sleep; tomorrow I'll be good as new.
I woke up without my head aching but I felt tired. I was by myself in the room, Obito-nii and Rin-san must have used another room. I got up and searched for the dining room in the tower. We still had to wait for a day before we were told what would be the next test. I entered the dining room to find Obito-nii and Rin-san eating together with Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai at one table. I grabbed a tray of food from the shinobi by the counter and sat by myself. I didn't want to join the two couples at the table.
"Iruna-san!" I heard a loud voice from the door, and it was from one person alone, Guy-san. "Why are you not ea—"
I jammed a piece of egg roll into his mouth before he could even finish his words. He almost choked, but he recovered right away.
"Keep it down." I told him as I rubbed the side of my head. My head still hurt from yesterday.
"You don't look good kid." I heard from Morino Ibiki, he didn't have a bandana covering his head. It's a surprise that he has brown hair.
"Better than being dead" I answered which only serve to add tension in the room, which Guy-san was easily able to turn around.
"Iruna-san let me introduce my two team mates. This is Morino Ibiki and this" I turned to look at his other team mate that had sunglasses on and a bandana on his head like Ibikis "is Ebisu."
I felt my mouth drop open for a bit. The way he dresses from now and then doesn't change. Maybe its better this way, it would have been more difficult to tell who he is if he had changed his appearance. I can't even imagine what his eyes look like.
"Nice to meet you Ebisu-san and Morino-san" I nodded to them. "I'm Uchiha Iruna."
"The youngest to enter the chuunin exam" Ebisu said as he together with Guy-san joined me at the table.
"Aren't you afraid brat?" Morino-san asked me.
"I wouldn't be here if I was." I replied.
"Why did you enter the exam?" Ebisu asked
"To become a chuunin and have Minato-san teach me."
"Don't you already have Kushina-san as a sensei?" Guy-san said "Why would you need Minato-san to teach you as well?"
"It's about fuinjutsu." I answered. "He has a different way of using it than how Kushina-sensei does. You can't be stuck with what you just know. You have to keep learning if you want to improve."
"Are you really four?" Ebisu asked "The way you speak it's as if you are older than your age."
"Leave it alone, Ebisu. She is a prodigy. Why wouldn't she speak as if she was older than her real age?" Morino-san said.
"Iruna-chan?" I heard from behind me. I turned around to see Kushina-sensei there.
"Sensei?" I was surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Why wouldn't I be here?" She said smiling and ruffling my hair. "I only came by to see how my student is doing. I heard Mikoto came to the academy to fetch you. I told you to tell her didn't I?"
"It slipped my mind."
Kushina-sensei though only raised an eyebrow at my answer.
"If you three will excuse me, I need to have a word with my student." Kushina-sensei said before she dragged me out of the dining room and into a room with a medic-nin inside.
POV: Obito
"Obito-kun, isn't that Kushina-san?" I heard from Rin-chan.
I looked over the door to find Iruna-chan being dragged away from the room. You can even hear her protest that she wasn't done eating yet.
"Huh, she must have come here to see how Iruna-chan is." I said.
"So, Uchiha Iruna is really Kushina-san's student." Kurenai said.
"Almost like Kakashi, wasn't he Minato-san's student for a while before you two came along?" Asuma asked.
"He was. He's also stuck up. He keeps mentioning the shinobi code every time I do something that's against it."
"Like being late?" Rin said giggling.
"Come on, Rin. There was a time you were also late because you helped me carry the old lady's bag for her!"
"Yes. That's kind of you Obito-kun, but we both got chewed by Kakashi because we, both of his team mates were late."
"Kakashi?" Asuma was amused. "Not Minato-san?"
"Yes." Me and Rin answered.
"When we don't have missions only training he doesn't tell me off when I'm late. Now that I think about it, before Iruna-chan became a genin, she and Itachi often came with me during training. He doesn't tell me to be early or about the shinobi code. Iruna-chan even manages to make him smile."
"What?" Asuma stared at me shocked. "Kakashi can smile?"
"He's not a robot, Asuma. Of course, even he can smile, for someone who's often spouting about the shinobi code. Still, when I heard him mention the code and number, I thought he was one of those shinobi that doesn't have any bit of emotions in them." Kurenai answered. "Glad to know he's changed a bit, my father mentioned how pitiful Kakashi was."
"What do you mean?" I asked them.
"You two don't know?" Asuma looked at me then Rin.
"Know what?" Rin asked.
Asuma and Kurenai shared a look before they looked back at us.
"You'll have to find that out from Kakashi himself, if he's even willing to tell you two." Asuma answered.
"What do you mean?" Rin asked.
"You two don't know Kakashi as you thought you did." Kurenai answered. "The same goes for Uchiha Iruna. You may have known her because of you had to babysit her and her twin, and you've spent an amount of time with her, but that's only the front not the contents."
"How are you even sure?" I asked her.
"It's almost like genjutsu, Obito. Genjutsu are illusions they are layers and layers of them to trick the opponent, but once you've gotten the trick and passed those layers you'll be able to find what's real."
"I don't understand." Rin answered.
"Yeah, you lost me on the layers to trick the opponent." Kurenai rolled her eyes. "Hey! If you just said it straight I would have understood."
"You two are shinobi. You should be able to figure it out." Asuma smirked.
The day passed with us just chatting with our friends during our time in the academy. All of our teams have endured the mission with Tora the cat. Not the most pleasant mission you can have, and there were the usual babysitting, cleaning up the streets, walking other people's dog, delivery and bringing supplies to the outposts.
"Obito-kun, didn't you bring the Uchiha twins to our class before in the academy?" Rin asked me.
"I recall bumping into them before during lunch. They mentioned running away from their babysitters."
"My dad remembers that, I told him about twins staying in our class that day. He chuckled when I mentioned them, said that their babysitters must have had their hands full finding them."
"Did you ask him who the Uchiha twins babysitters were?" Kurenai asked.
"He mentioned that they were a pair. A jonin and a chuunin."
Minato-sensei and Kakashi introduced themselves that way, a jonin and a chuunin. I couldn't help but chuckle then.
"Want to bet it was Minato-sensei and Kakashi?" I suggested.
"It can't be them." Rin shook her head. "Minato-sensei is good at finding people and Kakashi can use his summon."
"We can ask the little Uchiha." Kurenai said.
"Yeah, about Iruna-chan, where is she?"
I looked around the dining room. We've been in here since morning and it's almost close to dinner time.
"Maybe she's sleeping?" Asuma suggested. "She is… what, four or five? She's still younger than us."
"I think I'll go look for her." I said. "Want to come with Rin?"
"You go, Obito-kun. I'll stay here." Rin smiled at me wryly.
I left the dining room and headed to where the rooms were. I was about to round the corner, when I heard Kushina-san and Minato-sensei speaking.
"How is she Kushina?" I heard Minato-sensei ask.
"The medic-nin said she suffered from chakra exhaustion, but aside from that I remember Mikoto saying using one's sharingan for a prolonged time can take a toll on your body and mind especially when you're young. She won't be able to enter the next round."
She was the most excited out of the three of us. She even helped me when I was stuck with the Inuzuka and the Aburame we faced in the forest. She devised those signals we could use so others won't be able to understand what we were planning. She deserves to be a chuunin more than me or Rin.
"Maybe I shouldn't have given her that permission form to enter the chuunin exam." Kushina-san said guilt and worry in her voice. "She's turning five next year. No wonder Mikoto was worried for her, being a genin is already difficult what if she makes chuunin? It will be more difficult on her part."
"Kushina, listen, you gave her that form because you believed she could pass the exams. I can't argue that she's too young. She's really good at fuinjutsu. She understood your explanations about seals so easily unlike when you were teaching me. Don't fault yourself for this. You believe in her, the same way I believe in my students. You just didn't account that she's—"
I didn't listen to them anymore as I went back in the direction of the dining room. Will Iruna-chan still be able to fight on the next test?
"Did you find her?" Rin asked me.
"Yeah, I did." I answered. "She was asleep. Kushina-san told me not to wake her up, said that she was exhausted from getting here."
The other team finally arrived and the start of the third test would start. Minato-sensei was there, even Kakashi, but there was no sign of Iruna-chan.
"Where's Iruna?" Kakashi asked us.
"We don't know." Rin shook her head. "We saw her the other day, but that was when Kushina-san came to check on her."
"You don't think she'll forfeit, right?" I asked. "She deserves to be a chuunin."
"Maybe, Obito-kun, but there are some things that have to be taken into account" Minato-sensei spoke up.
It only meant one thing; Iruna-chan won't be able to take the third test.
POV: Iruna
When I woke up it was to a white ceiling and the smell of antiseptics.
"Iruna-chan?" I heard from my right.
I slowly turned my head to see Kushina-san there seated on a chair. I tried to get up to a sitting position, but I felt like my body didn't have strength to do that.
"Just lie down, Iruna-chan, you're not in your best condition."
I lay there for a while thinking how I ended up here. I recalled being dragged by Kushina-san into a room with a medic-nin, the medic-nin asked me to activate my sharingan and that was all I can remember.
"What happened to me sensei?" I asked
"You suffered from chakra exhaustion. You used your sharingan too long, Iruna-chan, didn't your father tell you how long you can use your sharingan?"
"He mentioned to only use it for a maximum of two hours." I answered then did I remember I was in the middle of the chuunin exams.
I got up from the bed, only to have Kushina-san stop me by holding my shoulder.
"The chuunin exams are over, Iruna-chan."
"It can't be over." I shook my head. It can't.
"I'm sorry, Iruna-chan. You had to forfeit the last test. You were in no condition to continue, much less use your chakra. You only activated your sharingan when you were being examined by a medic-nin before you fainted."
"But…" I stared at Kushina-sensei before I looked down at the floor.
I failed to pass the chuunin exams. I can't join them on the Kannabi bridge mission. I won't be able to save Obito-nii.
"Iruna-chan?" I heard from Kushina-sensei.
"Where am I?" I asked instead.
"In the hospital" She answered.
I nodded before I lay down again, but with my back to my sensei. When I didn't say anything to her, Kushina-sensei left the room. Once she was gone, I curled up on the bed and only one thought was in my mind. I failed to become a chuunin.
A/N: Thank you for reading.