Critical Exam

Maho entered the classroom, only to be met with loud, random blabbering in her ears. It was easy enough to notice how everyone was nervous, jumping up and down in their seats and not being able to keep still; she even got a strong scent of sweat as she walked past one guy. She just politely smiled and held her breath as she walked past him, trying to suppress the compulsion to twitch. Hinata and the rest of her friends were sat in the usual seats in the back corner and she smiled at them, walking up to the bench; however, as she walked past one particular row, she noticed Sasuke glance over at her for a second before turning to his original position with his chin resting on his hands, elbows on the desk; probably happy that he knew what the bruises and bandage were from. Unfortunately, she also noticed two strong glares from a pink and blonde haired duo who sat on the bench behind him. Maho smirked as she walked past, but when Sakura winked and gave her thumbs up, glancing over to Sasuke, it was then she remembered. Geez, that stupid bribe; which I happily turned back onto Sakura ha! But still, I really don't want to do this. Hey, on the plus side, at least I get to see Sasuke embarrassed, or even better yet, humiliated! Maho thought over the night before and remembered the pathetic blush that appeared on Sakura's face after she stated her proposal. Nodding to the pink-haired girl to acknowledge that she knew what she had to do, she turned her head back to her friends and continued on, followed by Kiba and Akamaru.

"Hey guys, nervous yet?" Maho asked as she sat on Hinata's desk, crossing one leg over the other; Kiba taking a seat on the bench in front of Hinata's.

"Nah, this exam is so troublesome, but pretty easy. Who wants to be a ninja anyway?"

"Y…yes. I j…just hope you and N…Naruto do well,"

"Not for me and Akamaru, no sweat!"

"I'm fine as long as I have my lucky bag of chips!"

"That's alright then, because I have confident friends to be nice to me when I fail or give me a bear hug when I come out. You fancy taking up that offer, Akamaru?" Maho asked Akamaru with a smile and laughed when he growled. "Oh right, sorry Akamaru, I'll change it to a puppy hug not a bear hug, ne?" With a bark in response, Maho laughed while Akamaru happily nuzzled into Kiba's clothes. Iruka had walked in without her noticing, however, and shouted, slamming a few books on the table, in turn making Maho's head snap around so fast that she got a sharp pain in her neck. "AH! Dammit, Iruka-sensei, don't scare me like that! Do you want me to die before the exam?" Maho exclaimed, rubbing her neck to try and ease the pain.

"Of course not; I just want you to be quiet and behave."

"Wow, I have the nicest sensei in the world." maho replied with a sweatdrop as she took a proper seat next to Hinata behind the bench.

"Okay, today is the day of your final exam which will determine if you graduate to become a ninja. I know a lot of you are probably very nervous, but don't worry, it'll all be relatively easy; you will all have to perform the clone jutsu." As if thinking the same thing at the same time Naruto and maho pulled the same facial expression Clone jutsu, the one think I'm not very good at! "When your names are called please come into the next room to take your exam. When you are done you may leave. First up is…Inuzuka Kiba, follow me." Kiba stood up from his seat and left with Iruka, saluting Maho on his way out which made her roll her eyes. With the teacher, gone she sat back up on the desk again, facing the front.

"Oh Hinata, I'm going to fail, I know it! Even if I do pass I'll probably on the same team as a dork that I hate and none of you guys!" The ginger pouted with an annoyed expression on her face.

Shikamaru, however, let out an annoyed sigh at his friend's whining, lightly glaring at the girl. "Stop worrying, you are so troublesome geez. You were up training all last night right? Plus you said your mother thinks you've gotten better; what's there to worry about if you can make clones? That's all you have to do!"

Turning her head and blinking at the dark-haired boy, Maho's lips lifted into a smirk, "Yeah, you're right; I mean, I worked so hard, how could I not pass? I've got this nailed down! Just watch, I'll even do better than the chicken-ass!" Shikamaru, Chouji and Hinata sweat-dropped with blank faces as they stared at Maho who was laughing manically, stars in her eyes as she continued on with her fantasy. She then stopped laughing and turned around awkwardly as she noticed everyone was staring at her. Giving a slightly embarrassed chuckle, the ginger scratched the back of her head. Opening her eyes, she managed to catch a glimpse of Sasuke watching her, although he quickly shot his eyes in the direction of the opening door, as did Maho. An extremely happy and energetic Inuzuka Kiba jumped in and approached her the light red-head.

"Maho, I passed, look! Whoa, this is so cool; I'm so excited, and I've got to go and tell my mom and my sister! Maybe I'll see you later!" Kiba who was smiling with his fangs showing, proudly produced the hitai-ate in his hand, then turned to the door and ran out of the school again. Maho watched him out of the window as he ran out the school gate still very happy and headed down the road to his house, her light green eyes holding an unusually soft gaze to them. She smiled to herself and day-dreamed, ignoring the names being called; the people who passed running in smiling showing their head-bands to their friends. She didn't even notice her friends talking to her, or the odd glare from Uchiha Sasuke, and was only snapped out of it when she heard the door slam very loudly. Jumping slightly, she looked out to the window a little stirred and noticed a depressed, upset and crushed Naruto walk and sit down on the swing, one leg on and holding onto the rope on the side. All the other graduates who were outside were far too happy and busy to noticed him; all engrossed in their own conversations. All the while, Naruto was fading into the shadows by the trees. Maho frowned sadly and wished she could've jumped out the window there and then and slapped some sense into him; however, her name was called next. Giving a final look out the window in Naruto's direction, she noticed there were only 3 people left in the room with her; 3 people that she didn't really know too well.

"Coming sensei," Maho said politely as she followed Iruka into the next room, her heart racing a thousand beats a minutes. Her knees shook at little and she went dizzy, she even felt her body heat up rapidly, which was really unusual because Maho had never one to be nervous, or show it if she ever felt it. Iruka quickly noticed the change in his student's behavior, her jagged breathing pattern giving revealing her apprehension, and he gave her a warm smile and spoke to start the exam.

"Maho, just do your best."

Closing her eyes and taking in a very deep breath, Maho narrowed her focus onto the task at hand, calming her frayed nerves. Snapping her brilliant green eyes open, the sharp determination that was always present returned, a confident smirk gracing her lips. "Well of course, Iruka-sensei; I wouldn't give you anything less." Her body could finally move as she saw the warming smile on Iruka's face. Bowing politely, she closed her eyes. Concentrate; pretend I'm in my room at home or in front of mom. Just try as hard as I can, if I fail I can always try again next year… Oh what am I thinking? Pass so I can be with my friend! Stay with them…but what about Naruto… Her heart-beat was like thunder in her ears, but she forced herself to ignore it, and placing her hands together, she tried to gather her energy and chakra equally around her body as best she could, like Sakura had taught her and like she had done in front of her mother the previous night."Clone jutsu!" Maho exclaimed, the sound of a 'POP' cracked through the air and just as she opened her eyes the smoke on both of her sides began to dissipate. Trying to hold back a grin, Maho wanted to brag about how awesome she was and how it was so easy, and how she had never really been nervous. Turning to face her senseis, Maho eagerly watched their expressions; they looked half-impressed and it was either half-shocked or half-disappointed she couldn't tell. Not being able to hold in her anticipation any longer she turned her head left and expected her clones. Both were an exact mirror image of her; she even got the mole next to her left eye down perfectly! Oh she was so join to pa-

"You only created two clones."

Blinking, Maho slowly turned her head to look at Irkua with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

The brunette gave her a serious look, his elbows resting on the surface of the desk, "You only created two clones while all the other students had been able to make three complete replications." He explained.

Maho simply stood there, jaw hanging open as she stared at Iruka in shock, not knowing how to react; all that hard work and effort, all that progress that she had made and she still wasn't going to pass? "What? Are you telling me that I'm not passing because I missed a clone?" The ginger's usual tenor voice rose up a few octaves until it became a screech. Mizuki had too turned to look at his comrade in surprise, an unsure and questioning look on his face.

Iruka, however, continued to stare her down, no hint of humor in his expression. "I am saying you, Igashowa Maho, hereby pass your graduation exam. Congratulations you're an official Konoha genin." Iruka's expression faltered and an amused smile took the place of the scary-serious. Blinking in utter confusion, Maho's green eyes narrowed into a glare as she stomped up to her sensei's desk and slammed her hands on the table, glowering over at the man who laughed in amusement. "That's what you get for all the trouble you've given me! But you deserve this, Maho. I'm sure your mother will be proud of you." The kind smile Iruka gave Maho made the orange-haired girl stand back up straight and smile in return, holding no ill feelings over the joke Maho knew she deserved. Bowing to show her thanks, she took the new hitai-ate that was handed to her, running her fingers across the silver plate on the front; the engraved Konoha symbol on top of it, and smiled victoriously. Maho had put so much thought into what she was going to do next and she immediately knew where to tie it. I want something different…it just seems right to me to be different… Maho remembered the conversation she had with herself in her head the past nights and brought her hands down to her left thigh. Since her skirt was mid-thigh and there was only fish-nets on underneath she though it would go perfectly on her left-thigh, then she'd be representing Konoha on one leg and have all her weapons and kunai to protect herself on the other. She tied it tight into a knot, but not so tight it would cut off the circulation and smiled proudly as Iruka gave her a knowing look with a smirk. "That's just like you, Igashowa; always trying to be different, ne?"

"Psh, honestly, did you expect anything else from me? I'm going to miss you, Iruka-sensei, you know me so well, ha, ha! See you tomorrow for when we're put into teams, but right now I need to go check on Naruto, ja ne!" She then turned into a run and left down the corridor going straight outside and pushing herself through the hoard of happy twelve year-old kids.

"Why is she checking on Naruto? He'll be fine; she hasn't seemed to care about anyone before anyways." The oddly colored-haired man

"Mizuki, have you never heard that saying 'never judge a book by its cover'?" Iruka asked, slightly turning to look at his friend. In response, the man simply let out a sigh, pushing himself up to his feet and out of his chair as he moved to call in the next student, not bothering to answer the question. Iruka just shook his head with a soft smile, looking off in the direction the ginger had left in."A tough-girl on the outside, but a soft, caring girl on the inside…"

X~X~X

Maho looked left and right, pushing herself out of the crowd of nattering genin and brushed the imaginary dirt off her clothes once she was out, glancing over her shoulder at the crowd and shooting them a glare. Honestly, some people were just so rude! Her eyes went straight to the swing and surprisingly enough, a heart-broken Naruto still sadly swinging on it. She could hear some of the horrible things that the adults were saying along with the dirty looks they were giving him and how Naruto was staring at the ground, no doubtfully able to hear everything that they were saying. Now, normally Maho was respectful to strangers and to those who she didn't know, or wasn't close to, but when other were hurtful and disrespectful to others, especially to those who don't deserve it… Her fists balled up and with anger blazing in her eyes, Maho walked straight up to the two her were loudly whispering to each other.

"Hey, bitch, do you mind? That's one of my friends you're bitching about. So I suggest you stop what your talking about because if I ever catch you shit-talking about one of my friends again, I will come and find you, and that's a promise. No one, no one makes fun of my friends and family and gets away with it, because without them I'd probably be dead. Yeah that's right, I'd probably be dead and not the person I am today, so frankly I think you should be trying to hang on to your friends not losing them by talking shit behind people's backs and showing just how ugly you really are, got it?" Maho took a deep-breath and shook her head to toss her bangs out of her eyes, not realizing she'd been shaking them in fury and emitting a rather frightening aura. No one had seemed to see the small girl's enraged rant but the two it was intended for and they stared at her with wide eyes, completely taken back by the ginger's ferociousness. Apparently they didn't know how to react to such a direct confrontation and they turned and walked away, sparing a few glances at the glaring Maho.

Green eyes followed the women until they blended in with the crowd, her eyes slowly shifting through the crowd for any sight of them. She wanted to make sure they were gone and weren't going to bother Naruto anymore; he didn't need that shit, especially today. Satisfied when she couldn't point them out of the crowd, she went to turn and walk over to Naruto, but her eyes caught someone's gaze, which belonged to Sasuke. He was at the outer edge of the group, trying to keep to himself even though the fan-girls were ever drawing nearer. Having caught him staring, she simply stared back and to her surprise, the hint of emotion in his eyes wasn't one of annoyance or dislike; it was one of understanding and maybe… respect? Not knowing what else to do, the ginger gave him a slight nod before her head turned from him to her true objection; that being now a very depressed orange ninja. However though, she looked around with wide-eyes, frantic and panicked as he was no longer there, but instead the wind slowly caressed the seat and made it swing back and forth, like a boat on water. What the duce? Where did he go! Seriously, had he missed her rant on his defense? A bright smudge caught her attention from the corner of her eyes and she noticed Uzumaki Naruto walking out of the school gates and about to turn around a corner, the tiniest, most minute hint of a true smile plastered onto his face. Letting her shoulders sag as the tension in her body was released, Maho smiled to herself, content with her day's work. It was time to go home and brag to her mother about her awesomeness at being a ninja now. She smirked and made her way out of the gate, except ready to turn a different way for her home; unfortunately, she was called to a stop before she could walk out of the gates.

"Hey, Maho!" Rolling her eyes, Maho balled her fists as she heard a certain pink-haired kunoichi call her name, taking a deep-breath to calm herself and not punch her in the face, placing a look of fake cheerfulness on her face as she turned around.

"What is it Haruno?"

"Make sure you don't forget about our promise!" Maho caught the slightest nod of Sakura's head towards Uchiha Sasuke and nodded in compliance.

"Aa, will do…" With that she winked and smirked, knowing the next day was going to be even more exciting than the present one. The sky tinted slightly orange in the sky in front of her as her hitai-ate caught the light, reflecting the Konoha symbol back to the sky…