When it was over, basically only the rookies from the leaf were still up. Naruto seemed to have caught Nuji's eye even more than Gaara. Then there was Sasuke, who had managed to win despite the obvious pain he was in.
I wonder what was wrong with him…not that it it matters.
At the end, the genin were given a month to train and ready themselves for the next test. The next test would be them battling each other in an arena with people watching...and judging...and most definitely betting on the winners. Those damn rich people thought the most important thing about these exams were to win bets.
"I quit!" Nuji yelled down as the prompter said her name, stating that she would continue on. Many people stared at her in confusion and surprise, except for her sensei, she just looked furious and scary. Mostly scary.
"What!? Why!? You did great, you could totally win!" Naruto leaned over the bar just enough that he could yell at Nuji.
"He's right Nuji! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Her sensei screamed as well, even though it was an unspoken rule that the senseis did not interfere with their students decisions.
"I can't, I'm sorry. The truth is, my comrades both died in the forest. I've been cheating, and the guilt's eating away at me."
What a dirty lie.
"What?" The prompter took a moment to cough. "Then how did you get through?"
"I'm stronger than I look, sir. Please, would you just disqualify me?"
"Nuji Exomun, you are disqualified!" Cough cough. "If you would please exit."
She did as he asked silently, ignoring the strange looks they all gave me. We felt Gaara's eyes follow us, and the sensei's eyes glaring at her failure student. Her monster student.
The demon.
"Freak. I bet it was you who killed those two. I thought you cared, I thought you loved them. They saved you, and you repay them by letting them die or taking their lives yourself. I know you can hear me freak. The village will never forgive you for the lose of those two."
Nuji glared up at her sensei, freezing in place.
You need to ignore her, Nuji. Ignore her and move on, or the punishment will be worse.
But that damn woman made a terrible mistake, one that would cost young Nuji a lot more than you would expect.
"Leave Nuji. Do as asked, like I expected you to."
"Just say it sensei," Nuji spat through her teeth. Nobody else was telling her to leave. The prompter's cough was the only thing that filled the silence for a moment.
"You're a monster, Nuji, and we all expected this to happen one day. You killed your companions, didn't you? You monster. You killed the only people who ever cared for you just so you could escape those chains."
And that's when Nuji lost it. In front of everybody, all the genin and senseis and even the Hokage, she lost it. In a flash, she lept to the railing and slashed at her sensei with my chakra. My cloak of chakra covered her body within seconds and both of our anger towards the woman and the hidden mountain pass was released. The woman didn't even have time for hand signs before my Jinjuriki ripped through her body with my claws. My blue claws.
She'd lost complete control.
The Hokage ordered the genin to be evacuated and for the jonin to stay and help subdue me. Nuji lost control soon after killing the woman and I was free to roam if not for a little while. But I didn't want to destroy anything, why would I? All I wanted to do was see the sun for myself but whatever.
I retreated back into Nuji, leaving her to fall backwards over the railing. I was relieved when she was caught, but not so much when everything went completely black and I couldn't tell where they would take her.
~Time skip to about a day later. Also, I'm going to tell this from Nuji's POV for a little while~
"She's waking up," I heard someone whisper.
"Hey, wake up," somebody else began slapping my cheek lightly to wake me up. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't put a face to the voice. I opened my eyes, but I was blindfolded. Then I realized I was tied to a chair. Ugh, my nose was itchy.
"Could you scratch my nose for me? I can't scratch it." To my surprise, he actually did. "Oh! I recognize your voice now. You're Obiki aren't you? You were the prompter for the first test."
"Yes, you are correct."
"Wait... you're an interrogator?"
"Were you not paying attention?"
"No, not at all. That's what my siblings are fo-" my smile disappeared as a few memories hit me. "Were. That's what they were for."
"What happened to them?"
"Um...well...they died...It was sort of an accident, we fell into a sort of trap I think. Gege died first, trying to slow down the enemy, then Jiejie died doing the same. I was unable to run though, because I was scared." I felt some tears form, but...but… "Ninja aren't supposed to cry, right?"
"Yes," his voice was calm. It was filled with sorrow though, sadness as deep as mine.
"So why did they make me a ninja so young? I'm not allowed to cry, but I want to so badly." I felt him untie my blindfold. I stared into my eyes as he knelt in front of me to be at my height. We were the only ones in there except for another man by the door. They were blurred slightly by the tears that had began to flow because the blindfold no longer restrained them.
"Then cry. Cry until you can't cry anymore. We'll wait, and then we'll continue with the questions."I just stared at him with frightened and wide eyes for a few minutes as the tears covered my cheeks. A bit of snot joined the tears. Gross.
Eventually the tears and sobs stopped after I'd finally mourned for my siblings. The only people who stuck by my side despite everything. I looked up at Obiki again with sad eyes and nodded for him to start the interrogation.
"I need to know if you've ever heard of somebody named Orochimaru."
I stared at him blankly for a moment as I went through all the names I knew. "I don't know the name...is he from the Hidden Mountain Pass?"
"No he's from here. I believe you're telling the truth about knowing him, but I need to know who you do work for."
"I- well I- I don't really work for anyone." I shuffled in my chair a little awkwardly and looked away. I couldn't look at him, what was he going to think? Should I tell him? I can't, but I've got to...right?
"What do you mean?"
"Well... I'm sort of…" Do I tell him? I can't lie...and he'll probably get curious or upset if I don't tell him now…
"Nuji. You need to tell me." His face made me flinch. I swear, it was like his scarred face was mentally slapping me.
"I'm a slave." He blinked twice, but showed no surprise like I wish I could say I thought he would show. He is a ninja after all, he's not supposed to show emotion, especially not one that would show weakness.
"Who is your owner then."
"Well, it was my sensei and her husband, who is sort of like a feudal lord of our village, except he's not a wimp and was a ninja. They've been thinking of selling me though, since I'm not of much use anymore. I'm really too young to be a ninja, and the crops are growing well now thanks to my powers."
"And do you know who it was planning on buying you?"
"I'm a slave, Obiki, I'm not even told when to cook dinner. Why would you think I'd know who my future master might be?" Well...I guess… "They never told me his name to be honest, but I might have met him."
I'm pretty sure slavery is illegal in most of the world, and frowned upon by everyone else, especially when it comes to children. Why does he seem so calm with all this.
"Could you describe him to me?" He pulled a notebook out of seeming nowhere.
"Well...he's sort of hard to describe. I think it was a man, at least. If it wasn't for the...raspy...voice then I would've thought it was a girl. And, um, he had dark hair and...gold eyes."
Obiki let out a sigh as he facepalmed and shook head. He looked back at me. "You met Orochimaru. You need to tell me exactly what he said."
"Um, okay, but may I ask why he is so important?"
"I'm sorry, but that's sort of a secret."
"Oh. I'm not good at keeping secrets, so I suppose it's a good thing you didn't tell me. Anyways, it's a long story so you might want to get comfortable."