Out of the Ashes

Chapter 25

The End of the Second Exam

I woke up from a nice sleep to a much less preferred state than a coma. For one, my back hurt among my various other aches and pains. I sat up and the entirety of my body screamed at me like I had done some kind of intense work out. I extended my senses outward and found my chakra felt pretty solid and normal, meaning Fushicho's presence was rather muted. I could feel her in my body though. It was weird. Parts of her were just chillin in my cells ready for action should I need her. In my mind, if I checked, I was sure she was getting comfortable after I opened the door for her.

"Fu?" Kyuketsu's voice sobered me from my half asleep daze and I blinked at him, he hastily corrected himself, "Fushicho, you are awake now?"

I snorted, "Yeah, Kyu-Kyu. You couldn't have found me a better bed?"

Kyuketsu shrugged and held up a scroll. I blinked at it. We had a heaven scroll right, so why did he have an earth scroll?

I looked at my pouch where the feminine hygiene pouch was still untouched. I looked back at Kyuketsu, narrowed my eyes for a moment, and then realized somehow my two idiots got us our second scroll.

"What did I miss while I was napping?"

Kyuketsu happily filled me in. Team Ten stayed with Team Seven and us, Team Four, until Kyuketsu regained most of his chakra and Ino was done making sure Sakura wasn't going to go commit seppuku or something over her missing limb. Naruto, apparently, had a major freak out over Sakura's arm that took some time but eventually after Sasu was back in regular action Team Ten left and Team Seven split from Team Four when Bu and Kyuketsu promised I was in good hands. Sasu apparently trusted them with my life because Team Seven was off to do whatever they had to do. I had no idea if they had a heaven scroll or not since everything was a bit different but regardless I was sure I would see them at the tower. Then Kyuketsu and Bu came across these poor souls who met some creature of the forest and that's where the scroll came from.

We were on the fourth morning since we were let in and Kyuketsu admitted they had been waiting for me to wake up since day two when they acquired the second scroll we needed. A bit embarrassing but after I did some stretches waiting for Bu to wake up and stop snoring I was good to go. Stretching made everything better by the way; even aches caused by chakra pains. Sasu's chakra burn didn't scar either which was awesome.

The middle tower was easy to reach because when Kyuketsu was tired of us wasting time he summoned a spider about the size of a Volkswagen beetle. Kyuketsu hopped on this spider silently and looked at Bu and I expectantly.

Bu and I shared tentative looks, "So uh, what's this spider's name?"

"Kuikku-Ebu." Kyuketsu said slowly. Kuikku looked up at him.

I blanched, "So, his name is quick web?"

"Yes." Kyuketsu did not explain any further.

Bu and I shared another look, this one not any more positive than the last.

I was the one who had to break the news to Kyuketsu, "I... am really not about getting on that spider."

Kyuketsu stared at me for a moment, "I assure you, Kuikku-Ebu will not harm you."

"I'm really not a spider kind of guy." Bu agreed. We both stared at Kyuketsu and he returned the look with an unamused expression.

"Get on her back." Kyuketsu demanded flatly.

"No." Bu and I, together, stated. Glares were exchanged silently before Kyuketsu turned his spider around and started to slowly move away. Bu and I went to look at each other, for a third time, when the spider shot a web out at us. Bu and I both screamed and the spider leaped into the air towards the trees. Bu and I swung upwards and landed on the back of the spider beside Kyuketsu.

He looked at us, very smugly, "Was that so hard?"

Bu and I were not pleased, to say the least. But at least we had a ride.

The spider was actually incredibly fast. We had to use our chakra to stay on, well, we could have held onto the fur of the spider's back. Bu and I both thought that was the worst idea we would ever have in our lives though. So we were content at keeping stable with chakra.

Generally, people don't like spiders. We didn't meet any resistance on our way to the tower and I was willing to bet it was the spider.

I wouldn't fight a spider, that's for sure.

Unrolling the scrolls in the tower was uneventful because I didn't wait for Bu or Kyuketsu to read the message on the wall. I just grabbed the scrolls and tossed them. They rolled open and there was a puff of smoke.

Hyuga Aina stood there. Instead of the greeting I expected she bowed and rather tonelessly greeted us, "Congratulations on reaching the tower, Team Four. My name is Hyuga Aina and I will lead you to the rooms you will be staying in while the second exam comes to a conclusion."

Bu grinned, "Woo! We made it!"

"I hope the beds are comfortable." I sighed, rubbing my back. Kyuketsu rustled around in his backpack before handing me a jar.

"That will relieve your aches and pains." Kyuketsu informed me, "I will make more after the exams."

"Thanks." I put the ointment in my pouch while Aina led us into the tower through a paneled door that was near impossible to notice in the room. We were brought up a few floors and Aina left us with the parting words of "Don't stray from this floor."

She winked at me when Kyuketsu and Bu were looking around the room.

After she left Bu jumped onto one of the beds in our room with a running start. He bounced with an oomph and promptly announced he was going to sleep. Kyuketsu gave him this disgusted look.

"There are showers here." Kyuketsu, scandalized, whispered, "Would you choose a bed over cleanliness?"

"I'm exhausted." Bu whined.

I rubbed my face and felt some dried blood flake off, "And covered in dried blood. I say we all hit the showers."

I really wanted to know why Bu hadn't even washed off. I had the excuse considering I was unconscious for the majority of the test and couldn't wash in a stream or anything. Bu however was awake and able to rinse off in a stream. Why didn't he was the real question here. Bu grumbled about it but he got up. We all peeled off our armor and got out our changes of clothes. There were towels hanging on a hook in the small room so we each grabbed one, although I grabbed an extra one for my hair from another room. On our way to the communal, but gender segregated, shower rooms, we passed Kankuro who was coming back from the shower. He took one look at us and leaped away.

"Problem?" I demanded.

Kankuro shook his head and raised his hands passively, "You really need to shower."

"Rude." I didn't stop moving for this exchange. I had a goal and its name was shower. I split away from the boys and headed into the girls room. I was pretty excited for my shower and then I decided after my well deserved shower I was going to get some good food. Well, hopefully this place had good food. Kyuketsu shoved two ration bars down my throat after I woke up but now I was feeling ready for some real food.

Inside Temari was drying her hair and putting it into her signature style. When she caught a glimpse of me she winced. I looked around her to see the mirror and I understood why I needed that shower. Dried blood was around the edge of my face and mushed into my hair. My lip was healing but still split and if I had a black eye it was fading by now. Dirt and what looked like ash was smeared in a few places, likely where I rubbed my face unconsciously while waiting for Dosu and his team to show up.

"Yes I know." I said dryly, "I need a shower."

I picked up a bucket from the entrance and walked over to a washing station. I peeled off my dirty clothing and I could feel Temari watching me. As I got to my last layer, a sports wrap and underwear, I looked at her a bit awkwardly.

"Not to make this weird, but why are you staring at me?" I questioned. Despite the fact that we were in a crude version of a sento you generally didn't stare at the other women as they undressed and bathed.

Temari averted her eyes but spoke boldly, "What was that fire thing you did in the forest?"

Ah, that made her curious I see. I shrugged, "It's a thing I can do."

"Is it... does it protect you? Does it... kill for you?" Temari struggled to ask. She was clearly thinking about Gaara and his sand.

I shook my head, "I control it. It's not like it has a mind of its own." That probably would have been a really weird question to be asked if I wasn't aware of her family situation. The way she phrased it was just, off. You could tell shes seen some shit.

Temari ahed in relief and I took off my remaining layer and sat down at the washing station. It had soap dispensers that were labelled with shampoo and soap. No conditioner but that was because this wasn't exactly a luxury hotel we were staying in. I listened to Temari get ready to leave and as she walked towards the door she stopped again.

"Your team was lucky you could do that. He would have killed you if you hadn't of peeked his interest."

I didn't respond and Temari walked out. I rinsed off and instead of taking a bath I returned to the room in a fresh set of clothes. I didn't actually pack pajamas for something like this, you see. So I threw myself onto my chosen bed and stayed on my back to gaze at the ceiling. Despite feeling sleepy I waited for Bu and Kyuketsu to get back before I let myself drift off. When they got back we all crashed into our respective beds and fell asleep pretty quickly.

The next day was the beginning of the preliminaries and we had to be ready. Of course the boys didn't know that.

.

You get pretty used to waking up with your teammates after various team exercises and doing missions together but there was something about waking up to Bu with a massive bedhead. Kyuketsu had clearly already seen Bu's hair and Bu was frantically going through his things looking for a brush.

"I lost my brush!" he exclaimed after emptying a final scroll, "This is awful!"

"What's awful is your yelling." I snapped, sitting up and running a hand through my tangled bangs. Bu didn't look away from his bag as he made sure every crevice and scroll had been checked.

Kyuketsu, who was already dressed and ready, was reading a book on his bed. I slipped out from under the sheets and pat down my clothes. Kyuketsu gave me a dirty look because he knew I wasn't going to bother changing out of what I was wearing. When I pulled my own brush out of my things, Bu gave me these puppy dog eyes that begged for him to use it. I started brushing my hair and Bu slowly crept closer.

"Ne, Fu, think I could use your brush?" Bu almost begged.

I tapped my chin with the brush thoughtfully, "Hm, I dunno... what if you give me lice or something?"

"You've used my brush before!" That was true.

I continued to brush my hair, "What if you picked some bugs up in the forest?"

"Fu please! I'll do your hair for you!" Bu offered desperately.

I blinked at him, "Do I look as vain as you, Pinky?"

Bu deflated. Kyuketsu peered at me from over his book, "You should let him put up your hair. It's long for a genin. That girl grabbed it in the forest."

I shrugged and taunted Bu with the brush, "And that hurt her more than it helped her."

"Traditionally the third stage of the exams are one on one fights. It would be a wise decision to tame your wild hair." Kyuketsu flatly stated. He gave me this dead stare and I groaned and tossed Bu the brush. Bu did his own hair in record speed and even without a mirror could do his braid. I was vaguely impressed as I couldn't do a braid on someone else while looking at it.

When Bu was finished he beckoned me over and I sat down facing away from him. My hair was long enough where Bu stood behind me and hung my hair off the bed. He brushed it again, this time to his own standards, and he started to pull at the pieces at the top of my head. It was actually rather relaxing I have to admit. There's something about the feeling of someone else doing your hair that is so much better than when you do your own hair. I felt myself reclining back a bit.

"What a pleasant slumber party, yes Fushicho?" Kyuketsu remarked as he turned a page in his book.

I rolled my eyes at him, "I'll show you pleasant when Bu lets go of my hair."

"Of course you will." demurred Kyuketsu. He returned his full focus to his book and I closed my eyes. Bu finished my hair far too quickly in my opinion and he ended up braiding around the base of my ponytail. It kind of cleaned up my hair. Really I think Bu just wanted to show off that he knew how to do fancy hairstyles as opposed to actually doing something productive.

After we finished getting ready there was a call for all teams to report to the examination room. We were led in through a set of double doors and lined up in the middle of an arena. On a flat platform that held a few chairs stood the examiners, important figures, and the Hokage. Up on the second floor platform stood all the senseis and I made a point not to look at Orochimaru.

As the Hokage began giving a speech my mind wandered. How could he not recognize his own student's chakra? Considering this man was a well known legend among shinobi something like knowing his own students chakra would be a walk in the park. The only thing I would give him is that Orochimaru's chakra, from his crazy experiments, could have changed. But even so, I was pretty disappointed in our grand Hokage.

As I looked over the teams I found Sakura standing rather strong beside Sasu and Naruto. Sasu had been burning holes in the back of my head and when I looked in his team's direction he looked away. On the other side of the room Gaara was also staring intently at me but I did not look in his direction. I returned my attention to the Hokage asking if anyone was going to be giving up before the preliminary fights.

No one raised their hands.

I accepted this for all of ten seconds.

Then it hit me-Kabuto? I looked around to find his team was here and Kabuto was standing passively with his team. He was looking straight ahead and appeared relatively bored. Of course I felt bored too but that was because I knew the gist of what the Hokage was saying.

Long story short, we all got herded up to the rafters as the first fight was put through the randomizing system. The screen flashed through various names and I hung over the edge of the railing in anticipation. Bu was eagerly bouncing next to me and surprisingly Kinoe was nowhere to be seen. Kakashi was here alongside Team Seven and the other senseis. I was kind of butt hurt that Kinoe wasn't here but all my feelings dropped to my feet when my name was the first one to come up on the screen.

Uchiha Fushicho vs Yakushi Kabuto

Sometimes I really hate my life.

I was a ninja so instead of taking the stairs I vaulted myself over the railing and landed in the arena. Kabuto touched down beside me and threw a charming smile my way.

"Good luck, Fushicho-san!" he said warmly.

I nodded to him, feeling very awkward and unsure, "And to you as well."

The proctor, Hayate stepped forward and explained the rules very briefly again before starting the fight and leaping backwards. Kabuto and I both got into a ready stance but neither of us moved. I narrowed my eyes and called my sharingan forward to make sure if he tried to genjutsu me, I would see through it almost immediately.

He didn't though. He just... stood there.

"C'mon Shicho! Kick his ass!" Naruto called, cheering me on. Sasu nodded in firm agreement. Sakura looked at her teammates and then, in a sudden change of personality, put her hand on the railing and yelled, "Yeah! Kick his ass, Fushicho!"

My mouth dropped. That was when Kabuto made his move. He rushed forward and had I not been distracted I probably wouldn't have hit him. I say that because he wouldn't have moved. As it was he moved and I instinctively did a side kick and caught Kabuto right in the chest. He flew back and he landed solidly on his feet. But he waivered for a second before falling to one knee.

He coughed, "I forfeit!"

"Eh?" my mouth dropped again.

"What!?" Bu and Naruto, together, yelled.

Sakura cheered for me and Sasu had his eyes narrowed. The rest of the room was a bit scattered in their feelings on the match. Kabuto, as a medic came to check on him, apologized, "I'm sorry, Fushicho-san. I should have forfeit before the preliminaries but I wanted to try my best."

"That wasn't your best, you liar." I retorted hotly, aggravated that he made me look bad in front of the room, "You could have put up a much better fight!"

I didn't really think about my words but I was ushered back up to watch the next match. Kyuketsu congratulated me on having an easy win and Bu complained he wanted to see me have a good fight. I scoffed at him and there was a gasp from beside us as the next names were rolled.

Haruno Sakura vs Tenten

Oh good, here it comes. The fuckery.

Sakura didn't forfeit like I expected her to. Instead she took the stairs down and looked bravely at Tenten. Tenten looked a bit put off by Sakura's brave facade.

"Are you sure you want to fight?" Tenten asked, biting her lip. She was looking everywhere but Sakura's injury.

Sakura nodded and looked far more determined than I had ever seen her before, "Yes."

Where had this come from all of a sudden? Why was Sakura suddenly trying so hard?

"Forfeit you idiot." I whispered under my breath. Bu and Kyuketsu looked at me sharply while Sasu agreed with me under his breath. Naruto was cheering on his teammate regardless of how obvious it was that she was not going to win this fight.

"You can do it, Sakura-chan! I believe in you!" Naruto was yelling as loud as he could. Kiba yelled from across the room for Naruto to shut it.

This was when Ino joined in, calling out that she believed in Sakura.

The fight was rather quick. Tenten was a year older than us and Sakura was badly injured. Tenten clearly didn't want to actually hurt Sakura and danced around her while trying to trip her up with long rang blunt weapons. Sakura faltered when Tenten took a katana out of a scroll to engage in close range. Fear clearly made her freeze up and Tenten made the connection that a sword was what had cut off Sakura's arm. In fact, everyone in the room made the connection. Despite how awkward the fight was, Naruto and Ino were still cheering. It was amazing how the blondes could care less about the situation.

Sakura forfeit shakily when Tenten advanced with the katana. Instead of returning to where her team was the medics took her. I saw a flash of red hair and realized that Kinoe was back there playing doctor. I jumped over the railing, much to Bu's vocalized shock, and darted towards the med wing. No one stopped me since I already had my match and when I got inside Kinoe was waiting for me.

"Want to fill me in?" Kinoe questioned in a rather somber way. He was looking off down the hallway where they likely took Sakura.

I dug around in my pouch, "You know exactly what happened."

Kinoe sighed. I found the marked scroll I was looking for and I held it out for Kinoe to take. He eyed it like it was dangerous.

"What is it?" he asked.

"The missing arm."

"Ah, you didn't think to warn me before trying to hand me someone's missing limb?"

"I thought it would be funny to watch you scream." I deadpanned. Kinoe didn't take the scroll.

He shuffled awkwardly and took out a lollipop. He unwrapped it and shoved it in the corner of his mouth. As he sucked on it he said, "We can't reattach it."

"Oh." I felt kind of bad about that. I was honestly expecting to hand him the arm and Kinoe to be all "Awesome we can put this back on!" rather than this. I looked at the scroll with an expression that probably looked rather dejected to Kinoe. He pinched the bridge of his nose when I asked if I should just throw away the scroll.

"Keep it for now. When she's in a better mind state, maybe give it back to her?"

"Oh my god, that sounds like an awful idea. Why would I give her the severed arm back? I'm not that much of an asshole, sensei!" I huffed.

Kinoe rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, it's not a terrible idea."

"No it really is. Why would I give the poor girl her arm back if it can't be attached? What is she going to do, hang it up like a trophy? Give it to her parents saying 'Here mom. Dad. A present from my chunin exams.' Like, aren't you supposed to be the smart one here?" I put my hands on my hips. Kinoe, instead of giving a response to that, dropped a handful of lollipops in my direction and pushed me out of the way as Hinata was rolled by on a stretcher.

"Gotta go, share those will Pinky and Kyu-Kyu!" Kinoe hurried after the medics with Hinata and I took this as my opportunity to return to the stands. Bu asked me where I went when I got back. I tossed my handful of lollipops into Bu's arms.

Kyuketsu watched me put the scroll back in my pocket as he answered, "She had something to give to Sakura-san."

"More like get denied by sensei." I complained. Kyuketsu hummed.

"That's unfortunate."

The names rolled onto the screen again and Bu was forced to stop questioning me when his name appeared on the screen.

Bakuhatsu Obu vs Abumi Zaku

Ah, that's an interesting fight.

Zaku sneered at Bu as he jumped down, "I get to mess you up like I did your girlfriend there!"

Bu's face got red, "I'll fuck you up!"

Everyone else seemed appalled by Bu's language. Sasu snorted. He knew it was my influence. The cheeky asshole.

The two stood across from each other and the proctor wasn't even out of the way before Zaku and Bu were exchanging angry close hand blows. Bu took a good hit to the face while Bu likely broke one of Zaku's ribs with a well aimed side kick. They split apart and Zaku faced his palms towards Bu. Bu looked like he was having traumatic flashbacks as the wind that came from his palms caused Bu to fly backwards and into the wall. Bu didn't hit his head though and rolled a few bombs towards Zaku. Zaku blew them away and Bu was a bit frustrated his usual attacks couldn't do much.

Back to close range. Bu was experimenting with techniques recently and one of them he liked to brag about, but his mother would kill him if he used it without her supervision. One of them was trying to channel his chakra to his fists and causing an explosion. This was dangerous for Bu as he could blow his hand off. But Bu was Bu and he wanted to win the fight. So when fighting hand to hand with Zaku again there was a sudden explosion that engulfed both of them.

Smoke filled the arena and Sasu and I watched with our sharingans as Bu and Zaku's chakra rolled back a few meters before stopping. Bu rolled to his side and got up while Zaku didn't move again. When we could see the actual people instead of their chakra networks, Bu was standing over an unconscious Zaku. Bu looked like shit though with his skin covered in dirt and blood dripping from his crooked nose. He was smiling with a fat lip and Kyuketsu sighed next to me. Bu was brought into the medic bay to get his face straightened out.

Up next was Kiba and Naruto whose fight was kind of similar to canon. The only difference is Naruto is a much better fighter because of his relationship with Sasu, so he actually beat Kiba with more... grace? Technique? Style? I don't really know what to call it. He didn't do anything stupid to win, is what I'm saying. Similarly, Sasu went up against Yoroi and won. His mark was clearly causing him pain and after the fight Kakashi whisked him away to do his thing. I watched Orochimaru leave after that and relaxed when he was out of the room.

The next fights weren't very interesting even though they were mixed up. Ino fought Temari, who really wrecked Ino's shit. Ino was carried out on a stretcher, unconscious, after being slammed in the face by Temari's fan. I was sure Ino would need medical attention to fix her nose back to how it was. Shikamaru fought Dosu and won which was pretty awesome but not very exciting. Shikamaru was too smart to let Dosu's sound waves hit him and his fight ended with Shikamaru slamming Dosu's head back into a wall.

The next match had my interest.

Gaara vs Tsuchi Kin

I think you know how that fight ended. It wasn't even a fight really. Kin was dead as soon as her name was called and she hopped down into the arena with a confident swagger. Gaara's sand was way faster than her and before she could cry out any kind of forfeit the sand engulfed her. There was a crunch that could only mean one thing and blood dripped from the sand still floating in the air. It dropped her mangled corpse after a few moments and Gaara returned to the stands.

Everyone in the room was speechless.

Instead of medics, ANBU dropped from the ceiling and removed the corpse quickly and efficiently. There was nothing to do about the blood stains in the middle of the tournament though.

"How could he just... kill someone like that?" Naruto demanded suddenly and everyone in the room definitely heard it.

Naruto looked at me with big eyes, "Shicho, how does someone just... do that?"

Kyuketsu and I shared a look and Kyuketsu was the one who answered, "Rage. Blood thirst. Hatred. Many things."

Naruto looked back at the screen when the next names appeared.

Akimichi Choji vs Rock Lee

This was a much nicer fight than the previous one. Lee was way too fast for Choji though and Choji was finished with a kick aimed to knock him out. Lee was very efficient and clearly very well trained. A few people did applaud Choji for trying his hardest against an older genin. The next fight was actually Kyuketsu against Shino.

Kyuketsu looked at Shino and flatly called out, "I forfeit."

I almost fell over the railing, "Ehhhh?"

Shino gave off a disgruntled aura but the proctor accepted Kyuketsu's forfeit. As the last match, between Kankuro and Tsurugi Misumi, which was a canon fight. I was very not interested in this fight so I turned and grabbed Kyuketsu by his shoulders. I leaned forward and Kyuketsu looked slightly uncomfortable as I pressed my forehead against his goggles and glared into his eyes with my sharingan active.

"Why did you forfeit?!" I demanded.

Kyuketsu put his hands on top of mine in an attempt to stop me from pulling on his cloak and choking him, "If Shino-san and I were to fight then my spider colony would destroy his kikaichu and potentially kill him. I could not repay my aunt for her kindness that way."

I removed my hands and grit my teeth. I wasn't happy with his answer but I could accept it. It was true that Kyuketsu said his spiders were dangerous and that he wasn't fully in control of his actual colony yet.

"You couldn't have used your summons? Clearly they listen to you." I remarked, turning back to eye the match lazily. Kyuketsu leaned on the railing.

"I could not risk Shino attempting to use his colony and subsequently agitating mine." Kyuketsu didn't add anything further and I didn't ask.

The fight ended with Kankuro as the winner and everyone who won was called to the middle to draw numbers. I drew a one and as everyone else started to pick numbers the pairs were created. Bu ran out of the medic bay to grab his number and he tried to peek at the other numbers people had already drawn. The proctors took down everyones numbers and my heart almost dropped when I saw who got number 2.

Bu and I looked at each other, mirrored alarm on our faces.

I was fighting Bu in the first round.

I vaguely saw the other pairings, but the ones that stood out to me were the fact that Shikamaru was fighting Sasu, and Lee was fighting Gaara.

Holy hell, this was going to be interesting.

.

Honestly the rest was a blur but after we got escorted out of the forest Kinoe ushered us to our training ground. He plopped himself down on his usual log and grinned at us.

"Two of three, not bad for our first run!" he cheered, "Don't worry Kyu-Kyu, you can support your teammates by helping them train."

"Yeah, train to fight each other sensei!" Bu exclaimed, waving his arms about.

Kinoe hummed, "And it will be a good fight. I expect something very fiery and explosive!"

I inhaled, "How about no?"

"You can't avoid fire. We've been over this." Kyuketsu nagged. I groaned and leaned back into the grass. I closed my eyes and announced I was taking a nap. Bu plopped intot he grass next to me with a groan of agreement.

"Well I guess you two will have to train separately then. Hm... Bu, I know exactly what to do with you!" Kinoe announced and I cracked open an eye when Kinoe stood over us. He pointed to me, "And you! You... I actually have no idea what to do with you. I was going to suggest Kakashi but he already has a handful."

"Why don't you train me, you lazy sensei?" I growled.

Kinoe shook his head, "What I want to show Bu will likely take a lot of my time up. I won't have the time to actually do anything intense with you."

Bu sat up, "Sensei I can train with my mom-"

"And yes you will do that because what I have planned accounts for her too!" Kinoe grinned like a madman.

Kyuketsu cleared his throat, "I can assist the Hime."

Kinoe looked at him thoughtfully, "I suppose you can be her sparring partner. She needs a teacher though. And I can't think of anyone who can help her with her particular focuses."

"What are her focuses? Being sarcastic and temperamental?" deadpanned Kyuketsu. I glared at him.

He pointed a finger at me, "Don't look at me like that. You know very well that you avoid your natural affinity for fire and focus on taijutsu!"

"I don't need this! I'll find my own fucking teacher!" I turned away.

'Don't be arrogant, Fushi-" Kinoe began but I stood up abruptly and started to walk away.

"I'll find someone, just you watch!"

Not my smartest decision I admit. I went home and took a long bath and ate some good food. Kinoe stopped by before Sasu got home.

He was butthurt.

"Why are you so stubborn? I don't understand!" Kinoe threw his arms up in frustration, "Don't think I'm throwing you under the bus here or that I like you any less, I'm going with Bu-"

"I don't care about that!" I shouted. I curled my fingers into a fist and shook it at him, "You help Bu! He needs the help, hopeless bomber that he is."

Kinoe rolled his eyes at me, "Lets get off this topic for now. Give me a run down of what exactly happened in the forest."

So I did. I told him about Gaara leaving us alive. About how terrible Orochimaru was. I gave him a fully detailed rundown of what happened.

Kinoe leaned back against the wall in serious thought, "And you said Fushicho said something to you?"

I blinked and tried to recall, "Ah yeah, she said something about there being a problem."

"And did you talk to her yet?"

"No. Probably tonight or whenever she wants to." I answered.

Kinoe looked at his feet, squinted his eyes at them, and turned abruptly. He started towards the door, "You said you'll find your own tutor for the exams, so go do that. Just don't die in what's coming."

"That's it?" I yelled after him.

He also replied in a yell, "Yeah, that's it!"

What the fuck Kinoe!?

AN:

I don't like canon plot. It means I have to watch the anime, do research, meh.

Sorry this took so long! I recall there being a problem with fanfiction alerts so sorry if you didn't see last chapter!

Fun Fact: My simself has the traits, in sims 3, Neurotic, Artistic, Hot-Tempered, Hopeless Romantic, and Ambitious. I actually started a Tumblr legacy blog for sims. PM me if you wanna check it out!

Sorry I missed some review replies! I had AP tests in the beginning of the month and kind of just... got lazy.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed (:

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