A/N: So sorry for the delay with the uploads, half of my teachers decided to forgo exams and ask for projects that took more of my time than I expected. Well, anyway the upload schedule should go back to normal now, and without further ado, here's the next chapter.
Chapter 17: Fiery determination
This was his only chance.
His one and only chance.
He glanced back at the shy girl he knew since he entered the academy; she looked fidgety and with a blush on her cheeks (but then again, as far as the blond could tell, Hinata always looked like that). They weren't that close, not really. Back before the...incident...Kagome-chan would sometimes drag the blushing girl to eat with them, and had once gotten her to partner up for a class activity, but that was pretty much it. One time he'd asked his childhood friend why not invite the girl to the Uchiha compound if she wanted to be friends, only to be good if rumors of the Hyuuga heiress being in the Uchiha compound could cause problems for the shy girl. After that, they hadn't really had contact until a couple of weeks ago, so why would she try to help him?
Did it really matter in the first place?
"Naruto-kun...please..."Hinata-chan whispered as she pushed the paper a bit more to his side. "look at my answer."
Was it a trick...no, no. Hinata was not like that. She was one of the nicer girls back in the academy, and their last meetings had shown she was just a kind (and apparently a pretty decent cook); even if Kiba and Shino tried to pressure her, he doubted she had it in her to go through with it.
So it was genuine...
Even if she had nothing to gain from this.
"Say, be honest with me," Naruto asked, genuine curiosity in his voice. No one ever did anything for him unless they wanted something in return. Only Kagome-chan and Sasuke had ever offered their hands to him. "What's in it for you if you help me?"
He waited; for some reason, it was taking her even longer than usual to answer back. The red on her cheeks becoming brighter as she struggled to speak up, well, whisper back in this instance.
"It's...it's just..." the girl stammered."I ...you"
And she was back to doing that thing with her fingers, man, she was really nervous, had they asked something that was too complicated? He didn't think so, but then, Kagome had told him he needed to be delicate when dealing with other girls because sometimes they were more sensitive. Maybe he had offended her in some way.
"I don't want you..." Her voice brought him back to the present. "to have to leave so soon, Naruto-kun."
He blinked, and then again.
He didn't expect that. The sudden influx of crimson on her face, and the stammering were thankfully more familiar for him.
"W-well, you know...t-there are only ten of us newbies here, and we d-don't know what we're facing next...the odds will be better for all of us...i-if we stick t-together...at least for now."
"Heh, I guess that makes sense."The blonde nodded. "That's really like you, Hinata-chan."
He could feel the tension leaving him; how lucky was he to have been seated right next to her. The prankster leaned over to the side where the girl had slid her paper under her arm only to freeze. The sound of the proctors' pencils scratching against their clipboard unbelievably loud in the silent room.
They were watching him.
"Hinata-chan, don't you get it?" He whispered before he could lose his bravado. "A world-class ninja like me just isn't the kind of guy who cheats."
"B-but...Naruto-kun."
Ah, she'd definitely noticed him panicking; she had to know he didn't have a single answer written down. He'd have to push a back harder or risk falling into temptation. As it was the only choice he could see was not one he liked, one he knew Kagome-chan would've been totally against, and the bastard would've straight out laughed at him for considerating it. He had no other choice, though.
"Besides..."No turning back now; gotta do the right thing here. "If I get busted, I don't want you to pay for helping me!"
Which was true, Hinata-chan was a nice girl; she'd never shouted at him or thrown him dirty looks, he'd also never followed Sasuke because of his clan, nor been meant to Kagome for being close to the Uchiha. If they caught him copying her answers, he had no clue if they'd punish her as well for being a willing participant of his cheating. It wouldn't be fair to the Hyuuga heiress, who was genuinely trying to help him. Plus, if he got caught, then his friends would also have to pay the consequences; he couldn't afford to mess things up, not here.
"I-I'm sorry, I b-bothered you..."
"Hey, no problem." The blond grinned.
He kept smiling until she turned back to look at her own paper before letting his grin fall. He didn't want te girl to feel bad, but...he was totally screwed.
Totally and entirely fucked, at least he managed to recover some honor by trying to act like a big shot.
Cerulean eyes looked back at his blank piece of paper. There was still half an hour left, but it would do him no good, no matter how much he tried to rack his brain, this just wasn't the kind of thing he was good at. His attention snapped to the last part of the exam, waves of anxiety rolling over him as he made his decision. At this point, the final question was his only hope.
Letting his head fall on his desk, the blond tried to breathe deeply; the only thing he could do now was to wait and try not to lose his nerve and ask Hinata-chan to let him see her test. That and ignore the dismayed sounds of those who cheated being caught. Ah, this was not good, the way they were going, half of the teams would end up disqualified. Which was why he was not looking up. Nope, he didn't need to see his fellow genins being escorted out of the room.
"Number 43, and number 27..."A random proctor made yet another call. "Start walking, you all fail!"
"Cheated five times?!" The yell got his face out of his desk, was someone seriously trying to fight the examiners? "Me?! What proof do you have? How could you possibly watch this many students at once?"
In less than a second, the proctor (whose eyes were entirely covered by both bandages and his forehead protector) had vanished and reappeared on the other side of the classroom. The Suna nin who had defied them forcibly dragged upwards before he could move a single muscle. A loud scream of pain echoing through the room.
"Listen up and good, we proctors are elite. Even in a group as skilled as the one gathered here today, we are far and away, the best. We miss nothing!"
Blood left his face as he paled...
Yep, he was not gonna cheat.
No matter what.
It was a risky bet, what he was planning on doing, but he didn't care. Cheating would have the three of them out the door. Again, he let his head fall to the desk; he wasn't going to see; he wasn't going to see anyone else being thrown out, and they couldn't accuse him of cheating this way. Naruto was just going to ignore everything and everyone, including the weirdo asking for permission to go to the bathroom.
"Alright." The main proctor's voice had his head snapping up. "Get ready, it's time for the tenth question.
"And before we get to the question itself... I'm adding one more new rule." The dramatic speech was paused as the painted weirdo re-entered the room. "Heh, looks like you're in luck, the time you spent playing with dolls hasn't been completely wasted." Dolls? What was that about? "Don't worry about it, sit down.
"Let me explain, this rule is absolute. First, you must choose...whether to accept or reject this tenth question."
"Choose," the blonde girl from Suna asked; there was a slight waver in her voice. "What happens if someone doesn't accept the question?"
"If you reject the question and don't even try to answer it, you'll lose all your points immediately...and fail! And both of your classmates will fail along with you."
Unsurprisingly, screams filled the air, whatever fear they'd had for the imposing proctor forgotten in their outrage.
"Then why would anyone choose to reject it?" A voice managed to ask from the noise.
"Because of the other rule," the proctor continued as if things had been quiet. "If you try to answer the tenth question and you get it wrong, you'll never be permitted to apply for the Chuunin Selection Exams again."
Ice seeped through his veins.
What? How was that even...
"You can't be serious! That's ridiculous!" Kiba's yell was as angry as it was unbelieving. "There are ninja here who've sat for the chuunin exams more than once already! We know there are!"
"Then it's just your rotten luck. I wasn't making the rules in past years. I am now. I've been upfront with you; you can take a failing grade and try again later. Anyone who had doubts would be smart to reject the tenth question right now, come back, and safely reapply next year." The prankster barely heard the end of his explanation.
This was not fair, not fair at all.
He wasn't sure he could answer, but not even trying would get him disqualified for sure...he was betting it all in something that could get him stuck forever as a genin. The odds were too big, too risky...
"Ready? Then, let's begin." Tension could be felt all around the room, pushing down on the blond a little bit more with each new word. "Those who choose not to accept should raise their hands, once their number had been confirmed, they will leave the room."
Silence blanketed the classroom even as his thoughts were spiraling. If it was another question like the ones that had been in the exam so far, then...there was no way he could answer something like that. Worse, if it was the last one, then it meant it was the hardest one, right? Usually, they give the easiest questions at the start, so this could only mean...
If he got it wrong, then he'd never be able to advance.
His goal of becoming Hokage would...
But if he chickened out and rejected it, both Kagome and Sasuke would be forced to pay the price for his cowardy as well. After all, if it was them, they could make it through the tenth question. They wouldn't get mad at him though, well, Kagome wouldn't, and she'd keep the Uchiha out of his back until he calmed down. Naruto could reject it, and they could try again.
That person had become a chuunin when he was younger than them. It wasn't something they ever said out loud, but he knew his friends, they wanted to catch up to him; it was their goal in life. As it was, they were already behind, if Naruto pushed them back even further...
No, that wasn't acceptable.
"I-I quit! I'm rejecting the question!" The loud yell form the guy right next to him almost had him jumping. "Genna! Innaho! Please, forgive me!"
"Number 50 failed! Number 130, number 111, you fail alongside him!"
Like a floodgate had been open, all around him, people were leaving one after another. It was the smartest choice. Honestly, it didn't take a genius to realize the risk/reward ratio was too skewed in the wrong direction. It wasn't worth it. They'd understand him.
He'd made his choice though.
No, perhaps there had been no other choice from the very beginning.
He could feel the shivers running through his arm as he raised it; there was no turning back now. There had never been
"Don't you dare underestimate me!" He didn't feel the pain of slamming his hand against the desk despite the force he'd used. "I don't quit, and I won't run!"
Lile hell he'd back down now.
Like hell he'd let them down now.
"I'll accept your stupid question! Even if I risk ending up a genin for the rest of my life...I'll still end up Hokage, even if I can only make it by pure stubbornness! I don't care! I'm...we're not afraid of you!"
"I'll ask you one more time." This time, the proctor was staring straight at him. "This is a decision that could affect the rest of your life. Quit now while you still have the chance."
"I never go back on my word. I'm just that stubborn."
Silence stretched for what felt way too long for the few seconds that actually passed. Every single eye was bouncing between the prankster and the main examiner.
"Good call." The words were slow but clear...and yet; somehow, Naruto still wasn't sure what it was he was saying. "So, everyone who's still here...you've just passed the first exam!"
Wait...
...What?
Golden eyes forgot not to stare as he kept watching the proctor for their first exam grin like an idiot.
He wasn't sure what he expected when the short blond behind him got the bright idea of confronting the main proctor, but it sure as hell wasn't this...Inuyasha must not have been the only one who failed to hide the shock in his face because the man only smirked and repeated.
"All seventy-eight of you who are still here...you've just passed the first exam."
"What do you mean passed?" The loud pinkette who'd looked ready to push the Higurashi girl aside earlier was the one who shouted this time. "When did that happened? What about the tenth question?"
"There is no tenth question, beyond the whole accept or reject thing."
"Hey, then why did we have to suffer through the other ten questions?" One of the Suna genins they were told to be careful of joined in the screaming. "That was a total waste of time!"
"There was no waste, those questions had a purpose, which they've served. Their goal was to test your skill at spying." And man, was it creepy to see the formerly surly examiner act all happy. "Remember the rules at the beginning? You pass or fail as a three-man cell. With that rule, I pressured you with the fear that anything you did wrong would bring your teammates down with you."
"You know, I figured that out from the start," the impulsive blond said again, way too smugly.
"The questions were purposefully beyond the level any genin could be expected to know, so most of you decided to resort to cheating. This was all set up with the assumption you'd cheat, and to ensure there would be enough suitable targets for you to cheat from, we made sure to set up three chuunin who already knew all the answers."
"Ahahahahaha! Yeah, it was obvious! Any idiot could tell!"
Just like any idiot could tell blondie over there had no clue what the test was about. Not that Inuyasha was about to make a comment; if he tried, there was no way word of it wouldn't reach his bastard of a half-brother. Which would mean that his father would also be notified, and he'd end up having to do extra assignments about to learn the importance of keeping undercover...he didn't even want to think what would the esteemed matriarch of his clan would think of as a fitting lesson.
"Of course, anyone who cheated in a clumsy or obvious way failed." The man brought his hands up, untying his bandana to reveal an admittedly impressive array of scars hidden beneath. Maybe the guy wasn't as useless as he'd thought in the beginning. "Because there may be circumstances when being caught in the act of espionage can cost you more than just your life. You pay in ways that can be taken from you little by little, and time and time again. When many lives hang in the balance.
"The information you obtain can't be trusted if the enemy figures out who you are. If you bring back intelligence from a compromised operation, you'll be doing your enemies a favor. This was the quickest way to weed out the students whose skill isn't up to snuff yet."
"Then what about the last question?" The silver-haired shinobi couldn't stop himself from grumbling.
"That was the first real test on the exam..."
The grand explanation the examiner was giving was one that judging from the expressions of the people around him, most were eating up without a second thought. And Inuyasha had to hold back a snort of disbelief because the whole overcoming your fear and launch headfirst into a mission was certainly an interesting take on things. One practically everyone in his household would have an...opinion on. It was, after all, a belief of theirs that there was nothing more important than being smart when taking risks. Blindly entering enemy territory when your skill is not good enough will get no one anything but corpses that may not even get a coffin. It was a lesson he'd paid for with the blood of his teammates flowing behind them as he finally relented and retreated (to this day, the teen wasn't sure if his brother would've interfered had they not managed to get out by themselves, and wasn't that an unsettling thought). More than once, Sesshomaru had actually pulled them out of a mission after realizing their info hadn't been accurate enough; of course, the bastard had gone solo and finished the assignments all by himself because the Killing Perfection did not botch missions.
Not that stepping back any time there was uncertainty was considered acceptable behavior, but Inuyasha would never make the mistake of thinking bravery was the only thing to consider when choosing a leader. Having guts and being able to inspire others was useless if the fight you got into was unwinnable. Loud and brash as he was, even Inuyasha would admit that a general who didn't hesitate when blindly entering into enemy territory was a shitty general. And yes, he was often impulsive, but he couldn't give a damn about becoming head of the clan. All that boring stuff (along with all the paperwork) could be Sesshomaru's for all he cared, and Miroku could easily pick up the slack in their team as their main strategist. The silver-haired teen always enjoyed being on the field more than anything else.
Then again, he thought as he looked back across the room, he figured this was the reason theirs was the only shinobi group capable of moving with absolute freedom without having to worry about borders and limits. They just were better at what they did.
"By choosing to accept, you answered the almost unsolvable tenth question correctly; you've passed the first hurdle. Part one of the Chuunin Selection Exam is now over. I'll pray, you fight the good fight."
"Yeah! You do that!" This guy was way too happy, and honestly, the older teen was starting to get tired of the conversation.
Before any of them could even move to ask for permission to leave, a loud crash echoed through the room, and a dark red...ball of cloth (?) shattered the window, and even pieces of wood from their frame, flew across the classroom. Going by the look on the other proctors' faces they had no clue about what the hell was going on.
A couple of kunais flew and sunk into the ceiling, a big dark banner flowing behind a provocatively clothed woman that would have them watching Miroku's hands way closer than usual.
"None of you are in any position to celebrate!" The woman's voice rang loud and way too happy. "I am the second chief examination officer, Mitarashi Anko! Time's a-wastin' people. Let's go! Follow me!"
Silence blanketed the room, the place so silent the youngest Taisho was sure he could hear his own breathing with little effort. A blush rose to the new proctor's face...and now even Inuyasha was feeling second-hand embarrassment. Who on Earth were these people? How was this one of the strongest villages around with weirdoes like these on charge?
"Seventy-eight of you are still here?" Shock was apparently enough for the woman to get back her bearings. "Ibiki, you passed twenty-six teams?! Obviously, you went too easy on them!"
"This year, we have applicants of exceptional caliber."
"Yeah, right; I'll cut down the number by half before the next test is done," she scoffed. "Ohh, I get charged up just thinking about it! I'll explain things in detail as soon as we move to our next location, so follow me!"
Idly, Inuyasha wondered how much did this lady want to say that phrase before shaking his head. Right now, it was better to get back to his team and away from the sadistic looking woman.
"Ah, and now we're all back together." Miroku's voice was as unconcerned as always.
"That wasn't too bad for a first test." On his right, Sango had caught up and was following their con-artist as he sneakily led them behind the team they were supposed to be watching. "The last part was...unexpected."
"Yeah, I'll say..." the teen trailed off as he remembered something he'd wanted to bring up, his tone tensing as he spoke. "Hey Miroku, you bastard, did you have to wait until the last five fucking minutes to pass me the answers?"
"Oh, but I passed them as soon as I was able to, Inuyasha." The fake monk showed fake innocence.
"Bullshit, you cheated, you wasted time cheating when you could've answered them all in half the time!" Because like hell Miroku, of all people, wasn't able to solve the stupid test when it was his brains that placed him in this team, to begin with.
Thanks to his lame attempt at being funny, Inuyasha had been forced to write like crazy during the last few minutes while trying to keep an eye on the main proctor less than five meters away from him. And his stupid calligraphy had been so freaking small his eyes had hurt by the end of it. He was so sure Sango had had so much more time compared to him.
"Ah, yes well, we were told to give it our all." An interesting way to interpret the fluffy bastard's threats of expecting their best performance or else..." so I figured if they wanted us to cheat, it would only be polite to do so. I do admit managing to get my eyes on the infiltrated chuunin took a bit longer than I'd wanted. Besides, you did have the examiner right in front of you, it wasn't a simple task, getting you those answers."
"Passing us the answers is cheating in and of itself!"
"But it would be less than my best, Inuyasha."
"Listen here, you..."
"Inuyasha, that's enough, you can punch him later, while not in front of members of all the other nations." In a too familiar tone, Sango interrupted them.
"Later? You break my heart, my dear Sango." The fake monk's grin didn't falter for even a second. "But, you do have a point; we should focus on our mission right now. So, did you find anything interesting?"
"Keh, you know I didn't. Other than blondie over there, had no clue what was going on." The kid had been overcompensating, hard. Screaming and laughing way too loud for it to be natural (Inuyasha may or may not have done the same at some point in time, a phase that may or may not have passed already).
"Yeah, that was a little...obvious." The girl winced a bit. "I did have an eye in the little heiress, she seemed mostly calm; by the end of the exam, she looked a bit stressed, but I'm pretty sure that had more to do with her teammates than anything else. I didn't manage to see how she cheated, then again, I was also keeping an eye on you guys so..."
So it might not have been as impressive as it sounded.
"Hmm, same here. The Uchiha was pretty relaxed through most of it. With access to the copy eye, I'm sure there wasn't much reason for him to panic; I did see him writing again after having stopped for a while, and there might've been another piece of paper on top of his exam, but I didn't manage to get a good look. It disappeared during one of the number callings."
"So they're not complete idiots, good to know," Inuyasha grumbled as he kept following the other; parts of the other team's conversations making him wonder if maybe he hadn't said that too soon.
"Now, now Inuyasha, there's no need to be so grumpy. Why not admire the beautiful nature around you?"
The boy scoffed; it was a fitting name for this village, he figured, hidden in the leaves. Trees were just everywhere in this place, sure their current state was located in-between nature, but Konoha felt like it was built around the trees instead of just within a forest. And now it felt like they were walking straight into one.
Giant ominous-looking trees were waiting behind a ridiculously small fence, and an equally small 'no trespassing' sign were standing right in front of him. And okay, fine, they looked creepy, even for someone who'd gone on C and a couple of B-ranked missions, this was still freaking creepy.
"This is the arena for the second exam, training ground 44," the second proctor grinned as she paused once more. "Also known as the Forest of Death."
Azure eyes examined the forest in front of them warily.
They had somehow managed to pass the first part of the exam, even with Naruto somehow missing the fact that she'd actually succeeded in getting the answers to him. For some reason, however, she couldn't shake the bad feeling she had from the moment she stepped into the school grounds. The creepy looking forest that was literally named The Forest of Death wasn't helping. That their next examiner seemed less...in control than their last one wasn't doing her any favors either. Especially when the woman began cackling.
"Oooh, you're about to find out why they call this The Forest of Death." The blond's voice on her right almost had her groaning out loud. Naruto was getting a bit too overconfident. "Like that's really gonna scare us. You're trying to psych us out, but I'm not gonna fall for it."
No, in fact, Kagome was pretty sure she wasn't. With or without her good intuition, the girl was fairly certain this woman was not just trying to scare them for the fun of it. At the very least, she wasn't lying just for that.
"Oh, really," Anko grinned, Kagome shivered. "You're pretty cocky, huh?"
A strong grip on her wrist kept her still as a kunai flew straight at the prankster. Sasuke was right; the instructors wouldn't kill any of them, not without proper provocation, at least. She was on edge, and being on edge could potentially make her act out in the wrong times.
The blade passed right next to Naruto, a superficial cult opening to let crimson flow. Just a second was enough to have the woman standing behind the blond.
"Heh, your kind are always the first to go." The woman's smile widened as she leaned over to lick the flowing blood. "Spilling all that rich, lovely, luscious blood."
Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong.
And this time, Kagome wasn't the only one who thought so. Mitarashi Anko had a new blade in her hand and halfway through the motion of stabbing whoever bridged the distance only to stop as a...tongue...made its way in front of her face.
For a second, the girl's fear was replaced by nausea; the grass nin had his...extremely long tongue...wrapped around the proctor's kunai and was handing it back to her like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Your kunai," The new voice sent shivers down her spine, she wasn't sure who this guy was, but her instincts were screaming at her not to get close. "I believe you dropped it."
"Gee...thanks." Anko smiled once again, fake and cruel. "Don't just stand behind me radiating bloodlust...unless you're in a hurry to die."
"I'll try to keep it under control, but the sight of fresh blood always makes me crazy, and I was already revved up from losing a strand of my precious hair."
"Sorry about that." The proctor seemed vaguely annoyed as she spoke again.
With a deep breath, she looked back at Sasuke, his eyes were cold as he studied the scene before him, clearly trying to find what it was that had her so tense. His grip loosened around her, the reassurance that she wasn't going to do anything impulsive was apparently more than enough. Still, things were not looking good; their new proctor was clearly sadistic, and she wasn't even counting on... azure eyes traveled throughout the crowd surrounding them, stopping on three different teams.
One, she wasn't sure what to think about, they'd been watching them for some time, but up until now, the warning feeling she usually got was non-existent.
The group with the Suna redhead, on the other hand, left her feeling quite unsettled. No, not the group; his teammates were pretty normal. In fact, Kagome was fairly sure they could handle those two. Gaara was a different story; she felt his gaze on both her and Sasuke as they made their way to the training ground more than once. He was not someone she wanted to face.
And, of course, the grass nins, warning bells had rung all around her the instant the creep got close. There was something unsettling about him (more than just the tongue thing) that left her wanting to run in the opposite direction. Something was off.
"Looks like we have lots of hotblooded teams on our hands this time. This should be fun." The girl was sure her definition of fun was a drastically different one. " Before we begin the second exam...there's something I have to hand out." Absentmindedly, the woman handed a bunch of paper to the blond. "They're consent forms, everybody has to sign one."
"Why?" the blond asked beside her.
"We want all the details covered before the first deaths occur. Sign in before you go in, so we can't be liable, you wouldn't want me to get into trouble, would you?
"First, I'll explain what the second exam entails, alright? Then you can sign the forms; after that, with the other two members of your team bring your forms to the hut behind you and submit them." Like a switch had been flipped, the woman seemed to regain her interest after those words. "Got that? Now, about the exam, to put it simply, it's a no-holds-barred survival test!"
The words on the paper were what she supposed was the standard; still, Kagome went ahead and read the whole thing as she let her thoughts wander.
The instructions were, once again, simple enough, exchange the consent forms for a heave/earth scroll, enter the forest, steal the counterpart from another team, and get to the tower at the center of the forest, all without looking inside the scrolls. Nothing too complicated, she was pretty sure that, unlike the last test, there were no hidden goals for this exam. It really was a fight-to-the-death version of capture the flag, and half of the teams would really be eliminated by the end of this, if not more.
Finding the right scroll and avoiding the rest of the team while they made their way to the center was probably the key to finishing this in a timely manner, not that there was much they could do about the former. As useful as the sharingan was, it didn't have the reach of the byakugan, they wouldn't be able to know what type of scroll the other teams had.
"That grass team..."Kagome let her voice trail off for a second. "We have to avoid them at all costs."
"Eh? They are weirdoes, sure, but we can definitely defeat them, Kagome-chan." Naruto smiled at her, probably trying to sound reassuring.
"I'm not saying we're weak, but...I think I'd rather take my chances with Gaara." Yes, the boy radiated bloodlust; however, it was more similar to an animal's than the sadistic and gleeful impression she got from the others. "They give me a really bad feeling.
"We'll try to keep away then, though we have no clue where they're going to start." The Uchiha couldn't feel what she did, but the Higurashi heiress was grateful he stopped questioning her intuition years ago.
"Well, the less we have to see that gross thing, the better...how are we getting the other scroll?"
"Rushing to the center or running around the perimeter are our faster options." It would also be predictable, but then again, Kagome figured, if they were fast enough, then it wouldn't matter, which was probably what the Uchiha was counting on. "We have no way to know what scrolls other teams have, so there's no guarantee we'll be set after ambushing only one team."
"With how deadly everything in this forest is, I'm not sure I'll be able to sense every opponent; we won't be able to tell how many more times we'll be forced to fight even after we get it." And that was something they couldn't afford to forget; relaxing just because they finished their set would be a foolish mistake to make.
"Say...guys..." The blond's voice was abnormally low when he spoke again. "Are we...you know...fighting to kill?"
His words stopped her, a reminder that that was the whole reason behind the forms they'd just signed. Not that she hadn't thought a good portion of the other teams (especially the foreign ones) would be going for deadly attacks; however, she failed to consider how they were going to tackle the issue. No, that wasn't right either...a part of her had already gone through it all; she just hadn't stopped to acknowledge what it meant.
Thinking logically there was only one reasonable course of action. The one that would not only secure the scroll; but also lower the number of opponents and completely eliminate the risk of having the teams they defeated go after them. It was only rational, it was expected. She glanced at her hands; blood had already stained her, and yet, not once did her nightmares included the nameless ninja she'd killed on the road to Wave, nor did Haku, despite the fact that she was directly responsible for the plan that took his life. For all that his words came to her mind often enough, crippling regret for his death was not something she felt. Not really.
Was something wrong with her?
Oh, she'd never dared to ask (or had been stupid enough) to say such things during the mandatory therapy sessions they got after returning. The girl had paid close attention to the reactions the nurses had back when they were retained at the hospital. Their expressions after she wondered why she missed more the warmth of the hands that had killed her guardians than their solemn approval?
Sasuke was looking at her when she raised her eyes, giving her the last word. The Uchiha never had much love for the others, and his rage and hatred against the village was steadily rising. Ever since the dirty little secrets behind the way Konoha was run, his tolerance was at an all-time low...no, not only his... regardless, if the choice was his, then he could go as far as to use lethal force against others from their own year. Her own feelings were more...complicated. And Naruto was very clearly troubled by the idea itself.
Even though not one of them would help him if they saw him lose control, no one would believe in Itachi's innocence.
"Not if we find our classmates," This was not about her feelings though; all these secrets had a heavy price if the fact that they knew them became evident. " or someone else from the village for that matter, we don't want to create more enemies for ourselves. As for the other villages...they'll probably attack to kill; holding back can be dangerous."
There was some reluctance on the Uchiha's face, but he nodded regardless, for all that he'd rather go all out with (or especially with) their so-called compatriots, the boy was still calm enough to understand the reason behind her decision. This was the logical choice here, despite the hatred they felt or not, they were still tied to the village and would remain that way for at least a couple more years before they were ready to leave. Being too bloodthirsty would bring eyes on them. Eyes they didn't want.
"Alright!" the blond pumped up his fist, blissfully unaware of the dark thoughts circling her mind. "So, we knock down Konoha and go all out with the rest! We have this won already!"
Exchanging their consent forms for their Heaven scroll probably didn't feel quite as important as it should have been. The wait on their assigned entrance lacked the anxiousness of something important about to start. The bad feeling in the back of her head, however, was just as loud. She was fairly sure she'd identified the source, and yet this time identifying the threat didn't feel enough to keep them safe.
Don't think of that; focus on the exam. That's what matters right now.
Pushing away those feelings, Kagome sprinted as the signal sounded, her teammates by her side. After a bit of talking, they'd chosen to rush to the center, it might have them waiting for a while, but it was the best way to avoid surprise attacks and make sure they got a scroll they needed while wasting as little energy as possible. The rations on their packs wouldn't last five days, and she wanted to try to finish this before they were forced to hunt for their food and get distracted. Which meant speed was the key.
"Ah, wait, wait. A burst of chakra to her feet was the only thing stopping her from slipping from the branch as she turned to see the blond give a sheepish smile. "I have to pee."
"You've got to be kidding me," Sasuke groaned from a branch ahead of her. "You couldn't have gone while we waited half an hour, moron?"
"I was too nervous to go."
"Just..." Kagome stopped, caught between laughing at the situation or feeling irritated; they really didn't have the time. "Just go, we'll wait here."
Sighing, the girl jumped down and let her eyes wander around. The place was certainly eerie with the giant trees blocking most of the sunlight. The knowledge that a good portion of the flora and fauna of this place was potentially lethal did nothing to calm her nerves.
"You're worried." She didn't jump when Sasuke's voice sounded behind her; she'd felt him follow her down.
"Should I not be?"
"You're too worried, Kagome." The boy ignored her attempt to change the conversation. "Don't bother lying."
"You're right," again, she sighed, there was no point trying to lie to him; they knew each other too well for that to work. "There's something about this that just feels wrong, I can't get it out of my head."
"We'll be careful with those guys."
"I know; we have a good plan." But so far, none of their plans had ever worked as they were supposed to when it counted the most. "Oh yeah, say if we run into Kabuto, think you can get him to take his cards out?"
"Not destroy them?"
"All I need is a single touch," she forced herself to smile, trying to push her anxiety away.
"Pacifist, yeah right," the Uchiha scoffed, an amused look in his eyes.
Something rang at the edge of her senses, not the cause of her current anxiousness, but not good anyway.
"Someone's coming."
"Oh man, what a relief!" It wasn't him, the person who walked out of the bushes with the face of their childhood friend. A slight pull on the Uchiha's arm and the message was sent, not that he'd need it, Naruto was right-handed after all. "Feeling all good now."
A single well-aimed punch sent the fake blond flying only to slam into a tree. Genuine surprise at being hit so hard clear on his face, was the guy stupid enough not to notice he placed the bandages and shuriken pack on the wrong side? Well, it didn't matter; he wasn't leaving here without giving them some answers.
"W-what was that for?!" the fake Naruto screamed, adamant in keeping the charade.
"What have you done with Naruto?" The Uchiha's voice would've worried her a few months ago, now she cared more about getting answers.
"Hello!" the imposter continued. "I'm in front of you, bleeding!"
The words died inside his throat, morphing into a scream as a senbon pierced through his left shoulder. Frozen azure watching the fake twitch in pain; the feeling of the person in front of her so different from her childhood friend, it would be impossible not to notice. She would give him credit though, he had yet to let go of the Henge.
"Please, don't insult us. Did you really think we wouldn't notice our best friend had been switched?" Kagome smiled, cold anger swallowing her worries. "Now, you can tell us where you hid him, and we'll all go our different ways...or, you can force our hand."
"You want me to confess?" the imposter grunted in pain. "Then why don't you do the same and tell me which of you has the scroll?!"
With a puff of smoke, the transformation ended, letting them see the Ame nin as he ripped the needle from his shoulder, immediately going for the offensive.
Apparently, deeming her the weaker link, the foreigner rushed at her. Bored, the girl simply stepped back, just in time for the flames to land where she'd been standing. The unknown ninja wasn't exactly slow, but Sasuke had dealt with faster. Leaving the Uchiha to deal with their current enemy, the girl focused on finding their missing teammate. A flicker of familiar chakra had her sprinting towards a few bushes on her right. A breath of relief escaped her as she caught sight of the real Naruto tied behind a tree; with a quick swipe of her wrist, the rope fell apart.
"Thanks," was all the blond said before jumping into the fray.
Without too much hurry, Kagome made her way back to the clearing. She could see her teammates corralling the Ame nin, the fact that the guy wasn't already captured, evidence that Sasuke was playing with him, probably trying to lure in his teammates. The growing crimson stain on their opponent's arm, further proof that there was no way the Uchiha was taking this fight seriously.
That guy was moving a lot here.
"You should really stop running around like that!" she screamed from her place in the ground.
The Higurashi heiress couldn't say she was surprised when her words were ignored in favor of escaping; she was surprised by the amount of smoke the explosive tags sent all over the clearing, though. Her teammates landed beside her, coughing a little from inhaling the left-over smoke.
"Can you track him?"
"No, he's too far already, and I'm sure he came alone," she answered the Uchiha's question before letting out a dark smile. "Though, he really should've listened to me when I told him o stop moving."
"Why?" Naruto asked, confusion clearly etched on his face.
"A poisoned one?" Sasuke smirked.
"I figured if we had something to trade, getting him to talk would be easier, shame he didn't stop long enough to listen."
"How...how long before..." the blond stammered.
"At the rate he's moving, two days, three at most." There was little warmth in her voice as she replied; they had made their choice about how to deal with their enemies. "The effects will begin to show in a couple of hours."
"We should keep moving, without knowing which scroll they have, there's just no point in wasting time for him to come back with his friends." Like her, Sasuke seemed more concerned about their next step. "We have to prioritize the test."
With that, they were moving again. The bad feeling at the back of her mind just as low as it was when it began. The question of what could be bad enough to have her feel like this when even their encounter with Zabuza had been easily pushed aside to concentrate in their plan, was one she tried to ignore.
OMAKE
Morino Ibiki made his way through the empty classroom. The rest of the proctor had long since left the room, not really interested in picking up the papers left behind in the desk. To be fair, they were mostly useless by now. Even if someone copied the wrong answers, it didn't particularly matter anymore. Still, Ibiki preferred to have a look at them, even if it didn't change the fact that they had all passed, they could still be good indicators as to how good at information retrieval they were.
It was also useful to let them see which were the cautious ones, the ones that made the calculations, and cheated just enough to have a decent chance at passing. Finding papers half-filled wasn't all that rare. Still, this year seemed to have some really ballsy participants, some were really obvious. The Hyuugas and the Uchiha could singlehandedly carry their teams in this one so long as they kept a semi-decent communication method with the rest of their team.
There was a surprising amount of completely full papers from non-eye technique users though; he had already picked up two perfect exams from the Taisho kids. And his earlier questioning to the proctors showed none of them had actually managed to catch any of them cheating. The same could be said for that one kid from Suna, while his proctors clearly caught the puppet hidden between them, not one of them saw the redhead do anything.
His thoughts froze as his mind processed the new piece of paper in his hand, the blank piece of paper in his hand. His eyes flew to the name scribbled on top of the exam only to let out a laugh that would've scared his underlings. This was from the same loudmouth who had effectively ruined his final question.
Not a single question answered.
Now that was something he never expected to find; he laughed again only to stop as he felt something stuck to the exam. Flipping the test, the man frowned at the sight of another, smaller piece of paper with seals he didn't recognize. Carefully, he separated the papers, only to let out another, louder laugh, as his gaze made its way through line after line of right answers.
It had to be the Higurashi girl's doing (for all the usefulness of the eye-technique, he was sure the Uchihas were not known for their seal mastery). Somehow, she managed to get the renowned prankster the answers, but the blond had to have been so nervous he failed to even notice the extra slip of paper.
Well, now that was something he didn't even think was possible; for a genin to pass with a blank test while leaving the answers behind. Man, Kakashi's brats surely were something else.
A/N: And we're finally in the second exam, things are really going to change from here on out. I was barely able to get this done, since my computer decided to malfunction when saving a 15 page report that counted as my exam and had to spent all of Friday and half of Saturday furiously typing it all back from memory and my original references...not fun. Regardless I managed and things will go back to their normal schedule of a chapter every Sunday night.
Also, I wanted to address something about the terminology I used that a reviewer brought up, I've been using the word albino to describe Kakashi despite the fact that it technically doesn't really fits, to be honest I wasn't giving it much thought at the time, probably because I've seen it used on other fics so it passed me by, regardless I wasn't being as careful as I could've. I won't be editing any of the published chapters (it would be way too time consuming) but I will refrain from using it later on, and if it bothered anyone I'm really sorry about that.
As always, thank you so much for reading, and any review, criticism or comment is greatly appreciated.