Chapter 5: The Chuunin Exams Part 2
This is the last part of the chuunin exam chapters. Which teams passed? Which ones didn't? Read and find out who gets to kick who's asses in the final exam. This chapter is dedicated to my awesome little sister. Love ya Lily-girl!
"Do you all understand the meaning of this passage?" Genma asked, referring to the wall scroll.
"Not really, we just got that we were supposed to open both scrolls," Shino answered. Genma nodded and explained that he was also assigned to tell them the meaning of it.
"In the part that says, 'If you do not posses heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared,' heaven symbolizes the mind. If your weakness is cunning or intelligence, then you should study before missions and acquire knowledge. 'If you lack Earth, run through the fields and gain strength.' Earth in this case symbolizes strength. If your weakness is strength, then you should train harder every day and become stronger. The missing character is the 'human' one written on your scrolls. This symbolizes a chuunin. A chuunin's job is to lead a team on a mission. They must be both strong and cunning for this. That's what the passage means," he told them. "There are still two days until the exam ends. You will not be allowed to leave the tower until then."
"So we just camp out here for two days?" Kiyoko asked sarcastically. Genma laughed. "Each team gets a room, full medical attention, and food. It's kind of a reward for finishing before the last day. Have fun, kiddos. Good luck."
With that, he disappeared with a small poof of smoke. They spent the remainder of the test relaxing and being poked and prodded by fussing mednins. Kiyoko was the only one with any serious injuries, though.
"So what's the third exam like?" Kiyoko asked as she lounged on her sleeping mat on the fifth day, boredly playing fetch with a kunai with Akamaru. It was almost like being stuck in the hospital again.
"One on one fighting," Shino answered. "Last year they did preliminary matches because there were too many people who passed. That's probably why they're keeping us here. They must be expecting a need for a preliminary match."
"The real thing isn't for another month," Kiba added. "It's in front of all the Kages and leaders of the countries. They're part of the panel of judges who decide who passes. Even if you lose, you could still become a chuunin. Last year, the only one who passed was Nara Shikamaru, even though he technically lost."
"Did you make it to the matches?" Kiyoko asked. Kiba shook his head. "Nah, I lost to Uzumaki in the prelims. Shino here made it, though. He didn't even get to fight though. The guy he was supposed to fight forfeited."
"I still got to kick his ass later on, though," Shino stated, and proceeded to tell the story of last years disaster involving Konoha, Suna, the Hidden Sound, and the traitorous Uchiha Sasuke. When he finished the story, the chuunin Kotetsu came and got them. When they entered the main arena, they saw that there were only five teams left, including theirs. Among them were Ino and Chouji, but not Naruto and Sakura. There was also Maito Gai's team, a team from the Hidden Sand, and the Hidden Mist team that had almost been team eight's downfall. Fifteen total, Kiyoko counted. All the jounin senseis were present, along with a handful of chuunins and Hokage Tsunade.
"Congratulations on surviving the forest. My name is Hagane Kotetsu. Due to the high number of passing teams, we will be holding a preliminary round to eliminate some of you. Those of you who win your match will automatically advance to the finals. To make the numbers even, we will also be selecting two people who put up a formidable fight even though they lost. The rules are simple: there are none. The match ends when you or your opponent is unable to fight or is killed. If I sense that the match is over, I will intervein to prevent any unneccessary deaths. I am the referee, so what I say goes. If there are no questions, the first match will begin in just a minute," he explained.
"What? But some of us just got here! Shouldn't we get some time to rest?" protested the mist team. Kotetsu ignored them. Everyone turned to the large screen to see who would be fighting first, praying it wasn't them. The first pair appeared on the screen.
"Akimichi Chouji versus Hyuuga Hinata," announced Kotetsu. Kiyoko gave her teammate a quick hug and wished her luck. At first, Chouji seemed to be winning. Hinata was spending all her time avoiding Chouji's deadly Meat-tank jutsu, giving her no opportunities to attack. When he came out of his 'rolling ball of doom' and began using his partial multi-size technique, though, Hinata was finally able to get on the offensive. She used her clan's abilities to shut down his chakra flow, rendering his attacks useless, and finished him with a series of taijutsu attacks.
"Winner: Hyuuga Hinata."
Kiyoko and Kiba jumped over the side of the arena wall to congratulate Hinata on a match well fought. Kiba punched her shoulder and tousled her hair playfully. "Ata' girl, Hinata. We knew you could do it."
The second pair was announced.
"Dokugi Takeo versus Hyuuga Neji."
It was the Mist ninja that Kiyoko had first fought against. She chuckled and hoped that Neji would beat him up good. She was disappointed when the match ended in less than five minutes with Neji knocking him out without even using his byakugan.
The third match will be Kankurou versus Kiyoko."
Her heart skipped a beat when she heard her name called. My turn.
"Good luck, Kiyoko-chan," Hinata said. Shino put a hand on her shoulder as she turned to leave and told her, "The shinobi you see in front of you is a puppet. The real Kankuro is in the package on his back. Aim for that, and watch out for the puppet's weapons arsenal."
Kiyoko nodded grimly, her face paling slightly. She stepped into the center of the arena. Kankurou smirked. "So, you made it this far. I'm impressed. It ends here, though."
"For you, yeah. Hopefully I won't have to kill you before you realize that," Kiyoko retorted with an overly sweet smile. Kotetsu signaled the start of the match. Kiyoko remembered what Shino had said about the puppet and formed a plan in the blink of an eye. She rushed at him like she was going in for a direct attack, but then rolled to the side and threw five kunai at the bundle. Kankurou saw through the attack, though, and moved just in time.
"How did you know where to attack?" he questioned in amusement.
"Lucky guess," she lied. "I needed to find out what the thing on your back is and how important it is to you."
"Luck will only get you so far. Don't count on it to save you, especially against Karasu," he replied. Kiyoko watched as a the real Kankurou emerged from the wrappings. She could see the strings of chakra connecting his fingers to the puppet.
"The puppeteer comes out. Clever, but not good enough. Doton: Maruishi Tounyuu!" ('Earth Element: Boulder Throw')
Kiyoko hurled three large boulders at him, glad that the arena was made of stone. The disguise on the puppet disappeared, and Kankurou twitched his hands to make it launch a series of spikes to destroy the rocks. Chikuso, that puppet is going to become quite troublesome. I'll have to try something else. I hope that taijutsu training with Hinata has paid off. She formed her seals and shouted, "Doton: Iwa Katana no Tebukuro!"
Kiyoko concentrated on making her Stone Blade Gloves as dense and sharp as she could, then charged at her opponent. The puppet Karasu moved to block her, but the silver haired shinobi dug her bladed arms into the puppet and flung it out of the way before going for Kankurou. As he reached up to block her fierce punches, the lines of chakra connecting him to the puppet disappeared. Karasu slumped to the ground behind them. Everytime he tried to reestablish the connection with his puppet, Kiyoko forced him to block her attacks by aiming her spikes at a vital area of his body. She could feel him straining to keep up with her attacks. He managed to jump back and evade Kiyoko long enough to reconnect his chakra to Karasu. Their roles were reversed and it was Kiyoko who was now on the defensive. There seemed to be no end to the number of weapons that puppet posessed. She ended up using more chakra, and more time, than she anticipated protecting herself from being hit. Eventually, she formulated a plan. You know what they say: The best defense is a good offense. She threw down one of her smoke bombs, giving her the few seconds she needed to form the seals for her Dochuu Eigyo ('Underground Fish Projection'). She sank into the stone floor. Kankurou whirled around, searching for her as the smoke dissippated. Kiyoko conjured up a Bunshin no Jutsu and used a genjutsu to make it look like she was attacking him with another Maruishi Tounyuu. As he used Karasu to block the illusionary attack, Kiyoko 'swam' through the floor towards him. Just as he realized it was an illusion, Kiyoko rose up silently behind Kankurou and grabbed him by the arms. She dragged him down until he was up to his shoulders, and then let go. He was stuck in the stone, unable to move from the neck down and therefore unable to command his puppet. Kiyoko rose herself up from the ground and knealt down in front of the trapped Sand nin.
"Remember how this match went. If I had dragged you down all the way, you'd be crushed under more than two thousand pounds of solid rock. I could have killed you, but I didn't," she smirked. He glared at her and growled, "Then why didn't you?"
"Because I like you. You're a good opponent, and I know you could beat me. I look forward to facing you again," she answered, then flicked him on the nose and stood up.
"Winner: Kiyoko," Kotetsu announced and then walked over to where Kankurou was still wiggling to free himself. "Uh, Kiyoko, a little help here?"
"Oh, right. Sorry," she said, then sank back down into the ground and lifted him out easily. She rejoined her teammates, who congratulated her on a great fight. Kurenai complimented her on the flawless chakra control in her finishing move. "I'm impressed that you were able to stick him in the ground like that with out crushing him."
"She's got some mad skills, alright," Kiba boasted. Kiyoko just blushed and dismissed it as 'the product of way too many hours of practice', which it was. She had read about it in a book of jutsus and decided to teach herself how to do it. At first, the branches she practiced with came out of the ground as little piles of splinters. Admittedly, this was the first time she'd tried it on anything living, but Kurenai didn't need to know that. The next match was announced a minute later.
"Aburame Shino versus Rock Lee."
"Yeah, go Shino!" shouted Kiyoko, but was disheartened when he ended up losing to the unbelievably fast taijutsu user. Kiba told him that at least he managed to seriously creep Lee out with his bugs. Even Shino laughed at the remark.
"Next match: Tenten versus Nagichi Satoru."
Kiyoko recognized Tenten's opponent as the one who had stabbed her with the three water spikes.
"Kick his ass for me, Tenten!" she called out to her friend.
"This the one who tried to shish kebob you?" she asked.
"Yeah, that's the one," Kiyoko laughed. Tenten smirked. "Will do, hun. Don't you worry."
She didn't let her friend down. When the match ended, Satoru had to be carried off on a stretcher, looking like a human pincushion. Kiyoko snickered and high-fived Tenten, her revenge satisfied. Even Hinata looked happy to see him become the victim of Tenten's famous projectile weaponry. He had put up an excellent fight, though. Tenten was now sporting a black eye and a sprained ankle. He almost got her quite a few times with those damn water spikes of his. That Satoru was a ruthless fighter.
"Next match: Yamanaka Ino versus Inuzuka Kiba."
Kiyoko groaned and smacked her forehead in frustration. It just had to be two of her best friends going against each other. Who was she supposed to cheer for?! She ended up cheering for both. Kiba won the match, though. When he and Akamaru did their beast-man clone, Ino couldn't use her mind transfer because she couldn't tell which one was which, and because if she did use it on one, then it would leave her body defenseless for the other one to attack. Kiyoko congratulated Kiba and told Ino that she'd do better next time. They were down to the final two matches.
"Nagichi Michi versus Gaara no Sabaku."
"Just watch the way this sand guy fights," Kiba whispered. "It's freaky cool."
He was right. Kiyoko was astounded by the way he controlled his sand to do his bidding without any effort. "He doesn't even have to use hand seals," she remarked as a wall of sand came up to block Michi's attacks. Gaara hadn't even moved the entire match so far. He just stood there with his arms crossed.
"He doesn't use hand seals because the sand acts on its own. He doesn't have to do anything," Ino explained, still holding an ice pack to her head where Kiba had hit her. She shuddered. "Sasuke-kun fought him last year. He got one punch in. When Gaara saw the sight of his own blood, he went crazy."
"The one-tailed demon Shukaku is sealed inside him," Shino said. "I saw it myself. It was...frightening."
"That guy kills without even thinking twice about it. He hates everyone and claims he only exists to kill people," Kiba put in. Kiyoko waved her hand in dismissal. "He's probably not that bad, you guys."
I live with a nine-tailed fox demon, and you don't see me running away screaming, do you? She watched as Gaara raised a hand and said in a bored voice, "Sabaku Kyuu." ('Desert Coffin')
As the sand from his gourd wrapped around the helpless mist nin, Michi struggled futilely to escape. He let out a scream of pain as the sand began to crush him.
"Match over, Gaara, release him," Kotetsu called. Gaara brought his hand down and Michi fell to the ground, shaking. Kiyoko realized that there was only one person left, the Suna girl with the four pigtails. Someone would have to fight again.
"Are there any volunteers among those who lost their match to fight the final competitor?" asked Kotetsu. Dokugi Takeo, who had regained consciousness, stepped forward, eager for another chance to advance to the finals.
"Final match: Temari versus Takeo."
Unfortunately, the fight with Neji had tired him out more than he expected, and he was blown away in the first three minutes. Literally. Kotetsu and the other chuunins got together to discuss who would be advancing in addition to those who won their match.
"Here are the names of those who will be advancing to the final exam: Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Neji, Kiyoko, Rock Lee, Tenten, Inuzuka Kiba, Gaara no Sabaku, and Temari. The three who have also been selected to advance are: Kankurou, Nagichi Satoru, and Aburame Shino."
"Congrats Shino, you made it!" Kiyoko exclaimed, rushing up to her friend and giving him a huge hug. She was a bit miffed that Satoru had passed, but somewhat happy that Kankurou would be advancing as well. She wanted another chance to fight him.
"Before we let you go, there's one more thing we need to take care of. Izumo is going around with a box. Everyone take a piece of paper."
Kiyoko reached in when it was her turn. The paper had a five on it. Izumo instructed them to read off their numbers and wrote something down on his clipboard as they told him their numbers. He held up the clipboard to show a tournament style setup.
"This shows who you will be fighting in exactly one month. The first rounds will be Tenten versus Neji, then Hinata versus Kankuro, Kiyoko versus Kiba, Rock Lee versus Temari, Gaara versus Shino, and then Satoru versus the winner of the previous round," he read off. Kiyoko's heart sank to the bottom of her stomach. She had to face one of her best friends on earth. As Izumo explained the final exam, Kiyoko walked up to Kiba.
"I don't want to fight you like this, but hey, that's the way it goes," Kiyoko shrugged. "I won't go easy on you, and I expect you not to go easy on me."
Kiba grinned and stuck his hand out. "Deal. I think this could be fun. Me and Akamaru are gonna have to train extra hard the next month."
They 'shook on it' and agreed not to go easy on each other and not to hold a grudge against the winner. Then, to everyone's relief, they were all dismissed. She arrived home to find Naruto packing a backpack full of clothes and supplies.
"You're leaving, then?" Kiyoko asked. He whipped around, just noticing her. "Hey, Yoko! How'd you do? Did you make it to the final round?"
"Yeah, I beat Kankurou in the prelims," she told him. "Where are you going?"
"On a mission with Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan. I just got the assignment. It's a classified B-rank, possibly A-rank, so I can't tell you about it until I get back in a few weeks."
"Will you be back in time for the exam?" she asked. Naruto told her that he should be. He finished packing and Kiyoko walked him out.
"Be careful, Naruto-otoutosan. Don't get yourself killed," she said, giving him a hug goodbye ('otoutosan' is younger brother).
"Hai, don't worry about me, Yoko-neesan." ('neesan' is elder sister)
For the next month, Kiyoko trained as hard as she could. In the evenings when she was done practicing, she would draw as a form of meditation. There were countless sketches tacked to the walls of her room until there was hardly any wall space left. She pushed aside a drawing she had been doing of the Hokage monument and took out a new piece of paper. Lately, she had been doing sketches of her friends. The intensity of the exams made her realize that a ninja's life is full of danger, and death could catch up with you at any time. The drawings she did were a way for her to preserve her friends in a sense. A few hours later, she had a finished drawing of her team training together. In the months that she had been in Konoha, the entire village had become her family. Kiyoko was almost happy that she didn't have any memories beyond her new life in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.Tap, tap, tap.
Kiyoko looked up from her sketch to see who was at her window. For ninjas, doors were over-rated. It was Kiba and Ino. She set down her pencil and opened the window. It was the evening before the test, and Kiyoko was more than a little nervous. Kiba flopped down on the bed and Akamaru let out a happy bark. "What is this?" Kiba laughed, picking up the floppy-eared, stuffed bunny that was on the unmade bed.
"Ninja Bunny!" Kiyoko yelled, snatching it away from him. Kiba snickered. "Ninja Bunny? Sorry, but that's pretty sad."
"I think it's darling," Ino defended. "Aw, look, it even has it's own little forehead protector."
Kiba rolled his eyes. "Girls."
"Anyway, we came here to see if you were going to the festival tonight," Ino said. Kiyoko shrugged. "I wasn't planning on it, but I guess I'll go if you guys want."
"Great! So, what are you going to wear?" she asked excitedly. Kiyoko raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with what I always wear?"
"Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting that you've only been in Konoha for like eight months."
"Nine," Kiyoko corrected.
"Whatever. Anyway, at the festival you have to wear something traditional," she explained. Kiyoko groaned. "You mean I have to go shopping for a kimono?"
"Bye, guys. See you at the festival," Kiba announced at the mention of the word 'shopping'. Kiyoko grabbed him by the ear before he could dart out the window. "Oh, no you don't. If I have to go shopping, so do you."
"Damn."
An hour and half a paycheck later, Ino had talked Kiyoko into a spring green kimono with dragon and lotus flower designs on it. Then Ino wanted to do her hair, but Kiyoko wouldn't let her.
"It's fine, I like wearing it long. Besides, the festival will be starting any minute," she insisted. Ino pouted and told them that she'd see them at the carnival later. Kiyoko arrived at the festival and located Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Tenten, and Rock Lee at the food booth.
"Hey, Kiyoko," Tenten greeted. "You look great. I love the kimono."
"Thanks, Ino helped me pick it out."
They all walked around, laughing and having an all around good time. Towards the end of the evening, all the participants of the final exam got together at a table for some good natured pre-battle talk. The only ones missing were Gaara no Sabaku and Satoru of the Mist Village. The festival ended with fireworks and the Hokage wishing everyone good luck in their fights. They all went home for some sleep, knowing that the next day they very well might be killed in front of the entire village. Not a comforting thought. The next morning, Kiyoko woke up, showered, forced down some breakfast, and headed to the huge ampitheater where the fights would take place. She joined the other ten in a small box overlooking the arena and sat down by Tenten, who seemed to be meditating.
"Hey," she said. "Nervous?"
"Nah, just excited. I've been up since dawn. I'm so ready to fight," Tenten grinned. Kiyoko nodded. "I know what you mean. You're lucky, though. You get to fight first round."
Just then, Kiyoko's favorite blonde ninja burst into the room.
"Hi, Yoko! I made it just in time!" he said. "Good luck on your fight."
"Thanks, Naruto."
Just then they announced the start of the event, so Naruto had to go take a seat in the stands. Tenten and Neji walked onto the field. Despite Tenten's unbelievable precision, she was no match for Neji's byakugan. The battle ended, and it was Hinata's turn. Kiyoko watched anxiously as she fought Kankuro with everything she had. Her taijutsu had improved greatly to an almost untrackable speed. Kankuro, however, had some new tricks up his sleeve. He pulled out a scroll and summoned a second puppet called Black Ant and caught her completely offguard. Hinata went down fighting, but she still went down. Then, it was Kiyoko's turn. She swallowed nervously and nodded at Kiba.
"Third match: Inuzuka Kiba versus Kiyoko."
"May the best ninja win," Kiyoko stated, giving Kiba a playful punch in the shoulder.
"Hai," was Kiba's intelligent response. Like the gladiators of Rome, they took their places on the field for the crowd to cheer, and the judges signaled for them to start.
"Doton: Jishin!" ('Earth Element: Earthquake')Kiyoko shouted right off the bat, sending chakra into the ground and using it to stir up the earth beneath Kiba and Akamaru. They jumped to avoid it just as she predicted. Putting her palms to the ground, she made the loosened soil from her last attack explode upwards at them. Direct hit. Kiba swore as a large stone glanced off his shoulder, dislocating it. When he hit the ground, he merely stood up and put his joint back in place with a sickening popping sound. He tossed Akamaru a soldier pill and took one himself. They executed their beast-man clone jutsu and rushed at Kiyoko on all fours. Using the taijutsu that she'd been practicing with Hinata, she delivered a powerful kick to one of them. The second Kiba-clone swiped her with a clawed hand. Blood ran down her left arm from the marks. Kiyoko formed her seals and a large boulder erupted from the ground, slamming into the clones. For the next fifteen minutes, they continued beating the crap out of each other. Both inflicted damage on the other, but neither seemed to be winning nor losing. Finally, after being flung into the stadium wall, Kiba slumped to the ground in exhaustion. He raised his hand and called out, "I forfeit. I'm out of chakra."
Kiyoko walked over to her friend and helped him up. His leg was injured, so he had to lean on her shoulder so she could help him limp out of the stadium. The medicnins took over. They were both pretty beaten up, but both had a smile on their faces.
"You've improved," Kiba stated.
"So have you. I thought you had me there. Right up until that last hit," Kiyoko told him. When they emerged from the small infirmary, the sixth match was being announced; Gaara versus Satoru. They had missed two rounds.
"Hey, who won the last two rounds?" Kiyoko asked a spectator walking by.
"Oh, cool, you're that earth jutsu girl," he said. "After you, Temari of Suna defeated Rock Lee, and Gaara of the Sand beat Aburame Shino."
"Thanks," she said and went back to the fighter's box. The match ended with Gaara winning, to no one's surprise. The seventh match was round one's winner versus round two's winner: Neji versus Kankurou. Everyone thought that Kankurou was no match for Neji, but the Suna nin had some new tricks up his sleeves. He pulled out a scroll and summoned a second puppet called 'Black Ant'. Kankurou won, and the next match was announced: Kiyoko versus Temari. Kiyoko knew that she couldn't win against that fan of hers if she stuck with her normal earth attacks. She'd have to get up close and personal with a series of close-range jutsus. Using her Dochuu Eigyo ('Underground Fish Projection'), she snuck up underneath Temari and exploded from the earth like a bullet, knocking the girl to the ground. Temari hit Kiyoko with her wind blades, but eventually Kiyoko won by using her Stone Binding to trap her. Exhausted, she wondered why the crowd was cheering so loudly. Then she realized, hang on a second, I made it to the final round! Cool. They announced a one hour break for the two finalists to rest. When it was time, Kiyoko walked onto the field to face Gaara.
"Let the final match begin."
Kiyoko experimentally threw a kunai at him. Just as she thought, the sand rose up to protect him. A very effective defense, Kiyoko thought. But no defense is impenetratable. She kneeled down and put her hands over the ground palms down. Using her chakra she sifted through the earth, feeling for the hardest rocks she could find. Gaara watched silently as Kiyoko formed the hand seal Mi, and closed her eyes in concentration (note: 'Mi' is the snake hand seal, which is associated with Earth Element manipulation). With a low rumble that made the crowd fall silent, she summoned the selected rocks from the ground to wrap around her arms and formed her trademark Iwa Katana no Tebukuro. This one was different, though. The twin spikes protruding from her arms shimmered blue with the chakra she had infused them with to make them more powerful. Using the same technique she had utilized against Naruto's Kage Bunshins in practice, she made the dirt swirl around her. With the dust cloud covering her, Kiyoko launched herself at Gaara with as much speed as she had to try and beat the sand's defense. She felt her spikes bite into her opponent, so she settled the dust to see for sure. Both blades were stuck into Gaara's shoulders. He looked up at Kiyoko and smiled evilly. She looked at where the spikes were stuck into him and saw that there was no blood. It was cracked like broken porcelain. What the hell? The cracked pieces crumbled from Gaara and turned to sand. Of course! He uses the sand as armor.
"Not many people have gotten through my sand barriers. You are indeed a worthy opponent," he said. "But only one has ever pierced my armor of sand enough to draw blood."
Kiyoko yanked her spikes free and jumped back. Gaara formed a seal Kiyoko had never seen, forming a triangle shape with his hands.
"Sabaku Kyuu." ('Desert Coffin')
The sand snaked out of his gourd towards her. Kiyoko sank into the earth to avoid it. Gaara smiled.
"Baka."
He used his chakra and his sand to crush the rocks and pebbles in the ground to create more sand. Feeling his opponent struggling in the trap, he wrapped his sand around Kiyoko and dragged her to the surface, coughing and sputtering sand.
"How did you-?"
"I used my sand to crush your precious earth into more sand," he explained, then entrapped her in his Desert Coffin. He held out a hand and said, "Sabaku Sousou." ('Desert Funeral')
Gaara felt a sharp delight at the scream of pain coming from his prey, a scream that was cut off abruptly as the sand ripped Kiyoko apart. Something was wrong though. There was no blood for his sand to absorb. Instead, fine soil fell to the ground. Suddenly, a spiked arm wrapped around his neck with the blade pressed to his throat.
"Surprise," Kiyoko grinned. "Like my Earth Clone? I've been practicing. Now then, do you forfeit or do I have to shove this spike through your throat?"
"I never lose," he growled. Sand wrapped around Kiyoko's legs and lifted her high into the air, swinging her around a few times before releasing. She hit the wall with sickening speed and dropped to the ground. Amazingly, Kiyoko managed to raise herself so she was on her hands and knees. She spit out a mouthful of blood, turned to Gaara, smiled, and said, "That was fun."
She collapsed to the ground. When she came to, Kiyoko opened her eyes to see Shino, Hinata, Kiba, and Kurenai standing over her.
"Welcome back," Kurenai smiled. Kiyoko sat up and groaned, "Ah, my back is killing me."
"Well, I should think so," said a white clad medic nin. "When you hit that wall, you fractured your spine. Then you were foolish enough to try and get up. We got to you right away, so we were able to heal it easily."
"How long have I been out?" she asked.
"Only a few hours. It's six-thirty now," Hinata told her. Kiyoko stiffly got to her feet. "Well, let's get going then. I'm starving."
Exactly one week later, Kiyoko looked in the mirror, admiring her brand-new chuunin jacket. She, Neji, Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari had passed. Only five total. Over the next few weeks, things slowly went back to normal in Konohagakure. Well, as normal things could get in a village where five-year-olds were trained to kill and how 'cool' you were was judged by how many battle scars you had.
Shiori's blurbs:
Well, that one took a bit longer than anticipated with school starting up again. I probably would have finished sooner if I wasn't so addicted to Clash of Ninja 2 (even though the voices are so annoying in English). I am definately getting the imported version of Clash of Ninja 4 so I don't have to listen to the stupid voices. Anyway, I think I did a pretty good job condensing the entire test into just two chapters. Thanks to AnimeKaiser for reviewing chapter four. Next chapter: The Silver Leaf of Konoha