Chapter 14

They had gotten back to D-ranked missions, and they were done for the day. Kakashi had left already, and Ayumi said, "Well…I better get home…" "But I thought we were going to spend the rest of the day together, Ayumi-chan?" "Oops! Sorry, Naruto, I forgot…" They started walking, and both immediately noticed a box following Naruto around. "Um…what's that?" She questioned, and the box was surrounded by smoke, and three Academy students threw the box off. Ayumi's eye twitched as she asked, "You know…no one's going to fall for that…" "You did." Konohamaru pointed out.

A vein throbbed in her head as she balled up her fists and said, in deadly calm voice, "I don't fall for things that low…or can you do better?" The younger kids cowered in fear, and Ayumi said, "I see you get my point." The anger left her features, and Konohamaru asked, "You wanna play Ninja with us, boss?" That's when Sakura came and, one way or another, began to pummel Naruto and Konohamaru. "Aren't you being a bit…extreme, Sakura-chan?" "No!" "Okay! Okay! Sorry I asked…" Konohamaru tried to run away, and bumped into someone.

It was a Sand shinobi, judging from the headband, and he didn't seem happy. He lifted Konohamaru off the ground, and Ayumi glared icily, saying, "Let him go." "And why should I?" Ayumi took out two kunai, saying, "Don't make me use force." Her face was impassive, and she twirled the kunai expertly between her fingers. "Like you could hurt me." He said, cocky. "Let's see. I've fought a Jounin already, and I hurt him pretty bad. I wonder how I'll do against you." She smirked, and threw the kunai, hitting a small hole in the fence to her left.

The Sand Genin's eyes widened as Ayumi said, "Years of practice really DO make perfect, ne?" She had ninja wire attached to the end, and pulled the kunai back to her. She caught it, saying, "Let him go and I won't have to hurt you."
A girl came up behind him, asking, "What are you doing, Kankurou?" "Stay out of this, Temari." Ayumi cracked her knuckles, and said, "This should be easy." She took a fighting stance, and Kankurou threw a kunai. The Ayaka Sharingan flashed, and she relaxed as a stone hit the kunai off course. She stood straight, saying, "Well, that was no fun, Sasuke. I could have blocked it." "You've always been slow." "On the contrary. I've always been fast."

Sasuke switched his attention from Ayumi to Kankurou, and asked, "Why are you bothering Leaf Genin?" "I don't have an excuse, if that's what you want." Ayumi sighed, and grabbed a small stone, tested it, and threw it at the hand holding Kankurou. She ran in, catching Konohamaru, and jumped back. The next moment, the Ayaka Sharingan flashed, and she set Konohamaru down as a voice said, "Kankurou stop." Everyone froze, but the Sand Genin froze out of fear. Ayumi looked up to see another Sand Genin upside-down on a branch next to Sasuke, and his voice was emotionless as he said, "Kankurou, you're an embarrassment to our village."

The Sand Genin seemed frightened, and Ayumi put away her kunai and ninja wire. He appeared beside his teammates in a swirl of sand, and Sasuke jumped down. "What's your name?" He questioned Ayumi, and she said, her face just as impassive, "Ayumi Uchiha." Hara appeared beside her, snarling warningly, but Ayumi picked her up, silencing her with a hand on the head. "Gaara of the Desert." "…It was nice to meet you, Gaara." 'The Chuunin exams are finally here!' she thought as the Sand Genin left. She turned to Naruto, smiling, and said, "Sorry, Naruto-kun, but I have something I need to do. See you later!"

She disappeared the next moment, with Hara right beside her. They had become inseparable since they started training together, and she went to the training ground, saying, "I'm going to work on my strength…who knows, maybe I'll need it later…"
As she was training, she sensed chakra nearby…and she looked around inconspicuously for a moment before grabbing her blades and throwing one at a tree. She heard rustling of leaves, and tensed as she looked around again. She saw a shadow, and Hara growled when she was facing this unknown enemy. When Hara's growl shot up to a snarl, Ayumi did some hand signs, muttering, "Wind Release: Wind Blade jutsu!"

She whirled around, slashing at the unknown ninja with her blade, making him fly into a tree. "What do you want here?" She demanded, holding her blades in an offensive pose. "I see even Leaf Genin are strong. But how smart are they?" He ran at her again, and the Ayaka Sharingan flashed before she dodged, stabbing the shinobi in the chest, and he poofed. She jumped back, and ripped her blade from the tree. She could no longer sense the shinobi's chakra, but she didn't drop her guard for a moment as she jumped back down, picking up Hara, and left. Once she was far away, and was sure no one was following her, she relaxed.

Only later did she find out they were going to be in the Chuunin exams…