Mkay! Second chapter! Uh, I have a second chance written….. except I wrote it on my phone…. And I cant figure out how to get it off without retyping it… ANY IDEAS?! They'd be much appreciated, and it'd make the chapter come out faster…
THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE REVIEWERS!!!! And to the one who said that Gaara is the same age as the rookie nine, I know that. Can we just pretend that by the time the exams start, he already had his birthday? Which would make Sakura's about a month after! Ok, work with me : PRETEND. K? good! ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, you should that! Why would I be writing fanfictions if I did? Besides, my manga art is nowhere NEAR as good as masashi kishimoto-sama!!!!!
Anyway, BEGIN!!!!
Sakura
Nanaki
Gaara
Shukaku
*Ino-pig*
*shuffle shuffle*
….What ARE you doing? A curious yet confused voiced asked from the back of her mind.
Sakura just sighed and let herself fall back against the wall behind her hiding spot, further sliding into a sitting position and letting her head rest on her arms.
"This is useless…" she muttered, leaning back and looking hopelessly at the clear blue sky which was the polar opposite of her mood.
WHAT is useless?! Just because I live in your mind doesn't mean I can read your thoughts!
Really? Sakura questioned, a bit of hope and disbelief lacing her thought. Well THAT was a relie-
No. I can, I'm just not the intruding type. The voice responded lazily.
Sakura just groaned again and let her head fall back against the stone wall. After a few seconds of silence, Sakura sighed and stood, dusting the dirt off of her red dress. She stepped out from behind the bush that concealed her hiding spot and walked into the bustling crowds that was the markets of Konoha.
I have to find him. Sakura thought as she glanced at the position of the sun. Only a few more hours till the first exam, and I haven't learned ANYTHING! She thought in despair, trudging along sullenly.
Ahhh. I got it now! We're looking for Sand Boy!!! The voice exclaimed, happy to have figured out what Sakura was doing. After all, hiding in bushes and observing the exits of hotels weren't what the pinkette normally did with her free time… At least the voice hoped she didn't.
"AUGHH!!!" Sakura yelled in frustration as the sun rose higher in the sky, almost reaching its midpoint at noon. She had until then to find the sand-wielder, and obviously, she wasn't having much luck with that.
Deciding it was useless in the end, that unless the sand-wielding boy WANTED to be found, he wouldn't be.
OKAY! New plan! She thought determinedly as she walked over to Ichiraku Ramen, sitting down and ordering the miso ramen.
….So what's the plan…? The voice asked, confused.
Sakura setteled into her seat, getting more comfortable, because she knew she'd be there for a while.
The plan is, you're going to tell me who… or WHAT you are. Right here, right now. She stated, determination lacing her thoughts.
The voice sighed.
I figured it was only a matter of time until your curiosity got the better of you… the voice said wryly as the chef placed Sakura's ramen in front of her.
You eat, I'll explain. Sakura obliged, splitting her chopsticks and starting to eat, her attention focused inward.
First of all, my name is Nanaki. My full title is technically Nibi no Ketsueki Bijuu. Not to be confused with the Nibi no Nekomata. I am the Two Tailed Cat, also known as the Demon of Blood. The voice, Nanaki, paused to let Sakura digest the information. Her reaction was understandable.
Upon hearing Nanaki's declaration, she promptly spit out the ramen broth she was drinking and choked on the noodles. Wheezing and coughing, she payed for the meal and promptly fled the ramen shop, all too aware of the crazy stares she was getting.
After her coughing fit had subsided, she made her way to the training grounds and sat in the shade of one of the trees there.
Okay, WHAT?! There is NO WAY in hell that I'm a jinchuuriki!!!!! I'm! I mean…! There's NO WAY!!! I'm not nearly strong enough! Sakura though in a panic. Ever since she was little, she'd had confidence issues, and this news was too much for her. She was going into hysterics.
A Bijuu?! There's a BIJUU living inside me?! A Bijuu-
OKAY! I get it! I'm a Bijuu. Just because I'm a demon, doesn't mean I'm a monster!... Well not really. Sakura felt the cat demon in her head grin, and shuddered a bit. This was too weird for her.
Okay, let's try this! Deep breath IN… Now OUT… Yes! Good, keep doing that while I finish my story. Nanaki advised as Sakura did her breathing exercises to calm herself.
At the time of your birth, I was a crazed creature. I had lost my mate only a month before, and I was taking out my fury on the Sand, the village that took my mate, my Shukaku away. Suna was weak at the time, for it had taken a lot to capture and seal the one-tailed tanuki, so they called Konoha for backup. She paused again, and Sakura finally calmed down and stopped her breathing exercises. A bit saner with the situation, she waited until Nanaki continued.
Well, as you can obviously tell, they caught me. And they needed a newborn to seal me in. Your mother and father were part of the team that captured me, though only your father participated, your mother was far too pregnant at the time. You were only a day old, but you were the only candidate. And… Well you know the rest.
Sakura just sat there, dumbfounded. This was seriously happening wasn't it?
*Sigh*So what now? Sakura asked the Blood Demon.
Well… What does someone usually do when they realize that they have a demon living inside them?
"…HOW WOULD I KNOW?!?!?!" Sakura accidentally shouted out blushing when she realized what she just did, Sakura jumped up and looked at the sun once again. Seeing it at its peak in the sky, her eyes widened and she took off running to her teams meeting place.
The Exams were about to begin.
"YOU! Fight me!" a voice yelled from above as Team 7 walked onto the third floor of the Academy where the first exams were to be held. Suddenly a green spandex-clad, bowl cut hairdo-wearing, bushy eye browed boy landed in front of the group.
They all raised their eyebrows at the boy in front of them. He was certainly… Different.
That's putting it lightly…. Nanaki thought sarcastically.
"Right now?" Sasuke asked.
"My name is Rock Lee! I wish to test my skills against those of the Uchiha Prodigy! YOSH!" Lee exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Plus…" he started, and a light blush made its way onto his face as he glanced at Sakura and gave a single wink. Sakura's eyes widened, horrified. AN/ no offense to lee! Hes COOL! This is just Sakura's reaction!
She shuddered, "That hair… And those eyebrows…!" she muttered as she shuddered again.
"YOU ARE AN ANGEL!" he yelled, and he blew her a kiss. If it was possible, her eyes widened even more, as she dodged the kiss and ran to a far corner of the room. The two males of her team stared at her strangely.
"Hehe… I think I'll just stay waaaaaay over here until your done. Okay? Good!" she yelled back at them. And she did. She stood in the corner as Naruto got angry at Sasuke and decided to fight Lee instead. That didn't end very well.
Just as Sasuke was about to begin his fight, Sakura saw a little bit of Sand slip under a door on the second floor ledge. Glancing at her teammates, who were occupied at the moment, Sakura used this opportunity to dash up the stairs and into the aforementioned door without being noticed by her teammates or Lee.
Stepping into the empty hall, Sakura looked at her surroundings. An empty hall, lined with doors on either side greeted her. But no Gaara.
*sigh* Not again… Sakura thought, discouraged.
"Come ON!!!" she yelled as her had flew out and hit the nearest wall in anger. Unsurprisingly, the wall had no damage to it, while her hand…
"OWWW!!! Okay! Bad idea!!!!" she yelled in pain, gripping her hand, "Geeze… Maybe I should just go… Either way, I'll see him in the exams…" she decided, turning on her heel and walking back through the door, not noticing the shadow at the end of the hall that disappeared in a whirl of sand as soon as the door closed.
"SASUKE-KUN!" a blonde haired blue eyed girl yelled as she glomped Sasuke from behind, just seconds after Team 7 walked through the doors of the first Exam room. Sakura glared at her rival, but focused on the task at hand. She had to find her new sensei. Why was that red headed boy so hard to find?
There's so many!!!She thought in disbelief. There must have been over a hundred at LEAST!
Okay… I'm a bit intimidated now…. Sakura thought with a sweatdrop, looking around.
Nope. Too tall… Too short… Too nice looking… *shudder* too CREEPY… THERE!
After all of her searching, the pink haired Gennin finally found the red headed-sand wielder.
…All the way across the LARGE room…
Great…
Eh, no biggy! You can talk to him after the exams! The demon thought with a smile.
Not like I have much of a choice.
Turning back to her group, she realized that the whole Rookie 9 had gathered in their edge of the room. They were causing quite a ruckus as it was. She was going to go over and shush them, but a silver-haired glasses-wearing boy beat her to it. He began showing the Rookies Nin- Info cards, blank cards that revealed information of a specific ninja when chakra was inserted.
Sasuke stepped forward and spoke, "Do you have information on specific nin?"
The man, Kabuto, chuckled and replied "Why, do you have someone you're worried about? It's fine though, I have information on all of this exam's participants. Even you guys." He stated, motioning to the Rookie 9. "Give me a name and I'll take a look."
"Gaara from Suna, and Rock Lee from Konoha."
Kabuto grinned slightly, but no one really paid attention. He added a bit of chakra into the cards and held up Lee's. He started listing out facts about Lee that were pretty standard, saying how taijutsu is his strong point. Kabuto then held up Gaara's card, and all of Team 7's attention was focused on the on the white/ silverhaired boy.
"Sabaku no Gaara. Mission History: C-rank 18; B-rank 1. Wow, a B-rank mission as a Genin." Everyone's eyes widened at that statement. " I don't have a lot of information on him because he's a newcomer, but… It seems he came back from all of his missions without even a scratch." Kabuto finished.
Team 7 was in shock, everyone for different reasons.
That spook is that good? Sasuke thought, eyes wide for a change.
This might be hard… But I'll beat him! DATTEBAYO!!! You can guess who thought that…
Sakura's eyes were by far the widest. What have I gotten myself into…? She thought, shell-shocked. Suddenly, Naruto jumped onto one of the tables.
"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO!!! I WON'T LOOSE TO YOU BASTARDS!!!!" he shouted to the entire room, "YOU GOT THAT???" he finished, jumping down from the table, a large grin on his face.
Sakura sweatdropped at him, but couldn't help but smile a bit. His enthusiasm was contagious.
Across the room, Naruto's loud proclamation drew a great deal of attention, including that of the Sand Siblings.
"Aren't those the brats we ran into yesterday?" Kankuro asked to no one in particular. Gaara was staring in the direction of the said Rookies, finding a specific head of pink in the crowd. He felt his demon shift within him.
When are you going to hold up you end of the bargain? He growled at his container.
What bargain?
You agreed to train the pink girl didn't you? Shukaku asked sarcastically. Gaara restrained a groan of annoyance at the thought of training the pinkette. He hadn't seen any of her skills, but he wasn't looking forward to it. She looked weak. Besides, he didn't want to risk… Whatever it was that happened last time they touched to happen again.
I'll find her after the exam. Until then, leave me be. Gaara commanded the tanuki demon in his head.
Shukaku chuckled darkly and said, As you wish…
Hearing a crash behind her, Sakura spun around and saw a Sound ninja attacking Kabuto.
Or attempting might be the better word for it. As soon as the Sound boy struck, Kabuto dodged in a blur. It looked as if the attack missed, but suddenly Kabuto's glasses shattered. Sakura turned her head as he threw up. If Naruto's yelling didn't draw everyone's attention, it was certainly there now.
Sakura shuddered slightly as she thought, What kind of an attack was that? I didn't see him hit Kabuto… Her thoughts were broken as a loud 'POOF' drew everyone's attention to the front of the room.
"QUIET YOU WORTHLESS SCUM!" a voice shouted from inside the cloud of smoke.
What the…?
As the smoke cleared, it revealed dozens of proctors for the exam.
"Thanks for waiting. I am Morino Ibiki, the exam proctor for the Chuunin Selection Exam's first test." He turned toward the Sound trio. "You Hidden Sound guys, stop doing as you please before the exam. Do you want to fail already?"
One of the Sound Ninja's grinned slightly, but you couldn't really see it through the mask. "I apologize… This is our first time… We got a bit carried away…"
"Meh." Ibiki replied. He went on to explain the rules of the first exam.
Someone up there must hate her. That was Sakura's only explanation for her current situation.
They had been randomly been assigned seats for the written exam, and she was lucky enough to sit right next to her current headache.
Gaara.
She sighed and placed her head on her test, laying her arms on the desk. She had finished a while ago, knowing all of the answers, and was now observing the other contestants. (And ignoring the boy not a foot away from her…) Every now and then, someone would be caught cheating too five times and their team would be disqualified and escorted out.
Sakura, being the bundle of brains she is, had figured out that the objective of the test would be to observe their information gathering skills through cheating without getting caught. With another sigh, she hoped that her teammates had realized it.
Glancing over in Sasuke's direction, she saw that he had his eyes were red with Sharingan and he was staring intently at the person in front of him, copying the movements. A little of the worry left her, but it was back when she glanced at Naruto, who was sweating profusely and pulling at his hair. She thought that she heard him muttering "Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme are going to kill me…" but it was probably just her imagination. Dismissing her worries for good, she convinced herself that Naruto would find a way to pass somehow.
She didn't dare glance at her *gulp* new sensei…
No WAY! Ugh, he's just helping me…
*Mind transfer no jutsu!*
All of a sudden, Sakura felt a chill go up her spine, and she sat bolt upright, before feeling a sensation of losing consciousness as her eyes closed.
*Hehe sorry FOREHEAD GIRL. I'm making use of the brain behind that big brow of yours. You should be thanking me.* The cocky voice of Yamanaka Ino thought, now seeing the answers on Sakura's paper through her eyes. *Heheheh!*
Next to Ino, who is in Sakura's body at the moment, Gaara was staring at the pinkette strangely. She had just sat up, looking like someone had shocked her or something, and now she had a malicious glint in her eyes as she was reading her answers.
What the hell? He thought, confused, not that he'd admit it. Looking at the clock and seeing that he only had half an hour left, he gathered some sand into the palm of his hand and it formed an eye. Making a hand sign in front of his forehead, he crushed the eye, sending sand flying in every direction.
The third eye is opened.
The sand got into a boys eyes, distracting him as the sand eye formed on his paper, allowing Gaara to copy his answers. When he was done, he just sat back, face emotionless.
Glancing at the pinkette sitting next to him, she suddenly slumped down on the desk before sitting up slowly, shaking her head and looking around as if she'd just woken up. When she looked his way, their eyes met for a second, before she let out an almost inaudible squeak, blushed and turned to face the front where Ibiki was about to speak.
"Okay, we will not start with the tenth question! For this question, you must choose whether or not you answer…"
"Choose?!" Temari's voice broke out. "And what happens if we choose not to answer?!" she yelled.
"Choose not to answer, and your points will be reduced to zero. You'll FAIL, along with your teammates!" he shouted over the gennins.
"And now the other rule…"
More?! Give it a break already!!!
"If a person chooses to answer the question, but answers incorrectly, they will be BANNED from taking the Chuunin Exams ever again!" his voice boomed. Everyone's eyes widened.
Except for Gaara's that is, he had already figured it out. He was sitting calmly, eyes emotionless as usual.
"Those who aren't confident enough to answer can quit and disqualify their team. To try again NEXT YEAR!" he finished, a malicious grin on his face. It was soon gone, replaced with a serious expression.
"Anyone who wants to leave, raise your hands now!"
Sakura waited nervously as more and more gennins left the room. She watched Naruto's back as his hand raised slightly.
"Naruto…" she whispered quietly. She thought about his dream to become Hokage. If he never made it past Gennin, how could he reach his dream? Her hand began to raise slightly.
A sudden tug on her wrist made her hand go back to her side. Glancing over, she saw a small string of sand looping around her wrist, preventing her from raising it. Giving Gaara an extremely confused look, she watched as his lips formed two words.
"He's bluffing."
Recognition dawned on her face as she let her arms fall completely limp at her sides, the loop of stand still on her wrist. As she thought about the whole situation, a small smile began blooming on her face.
She sat still as she watched Naruto stand and proclaim that he wouldn't give up, that was his ninja way!
Ibiki was quiet for a second, then he spoke again, " Now, to those of you who remain, I congratulate you for passing the first test of the Chuunin Selection Exams!" he shouted.
Shock was visible on everyone's faces. Everyone except Gaara and Sakura that is.
Gaara was sitting the same was he was before Ibiki announced they passed. Emotionless as ever.
Sakura on the other hand, was grinning like a mad woman. She felt like she was going to burst out laughing from relief. Deciding against that option, she let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding and slouched back down in her seat, a smile still planted on her lips.
She watched as Anko burst through the wall, causing quite a commotion. The lady seemed kind of crazy. Scratch that, she was crazy.
"All right you maggots!!! The second test of the Chuunin selection exams will begin in three days!!! Use your time until then wisely…" she ordered them, a malicious grin on her face.
Three days? Sakura thought worriedly as everyone filed out of the room, some to celebrate, others to train. That doesn't leave us much time… She pondered her options as she bid her goodbyes to her team and walked in the direction of the training grounds.
As she stepped into the clearing where she first talked with Gaara, Sakura got the sudden feeling of being watched. Spinning every which way to find the intruder, she only succeeded in making herself dizzy. Putting out an arm to steady herself, she froze when she heard his voice.
"If you cannot even find me when my chakra isn't masked, then we have a lot more work than I expected." Spinning again to face the voice, emerald eyes clashed with teal orbs. The sand master was perched on one of the branches above her head, looking down on her from above like a bird of prey.
"Gaara!" she gasped, holding her hand to her heart. He had given her quite the shock. Jumping down, he stood level with the pink haired girl. Only having about three inches of height difference, he only had to glance down slightly to meet her eyes. "You scared me…"
"I can see that." He responded, blunt as ever. He then sighed, an almost infinitesimal shift in his breathing. "We have a lot of work to do..." he muttered and turned on his heel, heading back into the trees.
Sakura just stared at his back numbly, not sure exactly what to do.
"Aren't you coming?" his low, gravelly voice called from over his shoulder. "Unless you don't want to be trained…?" the slightly annoyed voice called again.
Letting out a small 'eep!', Sakura ran to catch up with the boy.
Let the training begin.
Fin.
Cha-YES! This is EXTREMELY LONG FOR ME!!!!! NYAHH!!! Once again, this is dedicated to Deidara's Wolf and IM SO SORRY ABOUT BEING LATE TTT__TTT
Im horrible at deadlines.*sniff*
So! Here you go! And ill be updating BOTH of my stories soon, but not this weekend cuz my bball team made STATE PLAYOFFS!!!! YES! Haha mkay! Plz review, or alert, or pm or whatever! But I love feedback! It makes me feel guilty if I don't update, so I update faster ^___^
Revieeeeew \/