Chapter 20
Ugh… I messed up. I wrote this chapter once with the Chunnin exams in Konoha. Then, I realized it was supposed to be in the Sand Village this time, so I had to re-write it. But, no worries, it's all good now! XD
Temari had traveled to Konoha along with Team Gai, so that she could serve as a guide for the team of examiners and examinees who were to leave for the Sand the next day. Since the Chunnin exams were to be held in her village this year, and Temari was the representative for the Sand in such affairs, she had opted to travel to the Leaf to meet with the examiners befor departing.
Along the way, she didn't say much, and Team Gai didn't bother to do anything about it. As far as they were concerned, she was a nice person, tolerable, but not much more.
However, once the kunoichi set foot in Konoha, a new bubble of life seemed to burst from her. She was taken to see the Hokage at once and had an animated talk with Tsunade, reviewing the procedures for the exams. Then, at the Hokage's signal, Temari was brought to the Academy where she ran into an old friend.
"You again?" Shikamaru looked up from the pile of papers in front of him, lazily shifting his fingers through the stack. Such troublesome procedures…
"Well, it's not like I'm any happier to see you", Temari retorted, sticking her nose in the air. Shikamaru smirked at her reply and invited her to sit down, then began explaining what she was supposed to do with the stack of papers in front of them.
"You want me to do this?" Temari looked at him, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, it's part of the job", Shikamaru shrugged, sliding a stack of papers in front of her, "and we have to finish it before we leave tomorrow".
"Fine, fine".
They sat in silence, shifting through the papers and filling out the needed materials for each examinee. After a while, Shikamaru's head suddenly popped up and he groaned, "oh, man, forgot".
"What?" Temari didn't look up.
"You're here for the…".
"The Chunnin exams?" Temari stated the obvious.
"No, no. I mean, of course for that, but you're the representative from the Sand".
"Well, duh".
"Right, c'mon. I forgot". Shikamaru left his seat and Temari followed, giving the never-ending stack of papers on the table a quick glance. She was glad she didn't have to do those anymore.
They walked through the hallways until they reached a large room, lined with row after row of cabinets. Shikamaru maneuvered expertly thought room, found the right cabinet, retrieved a book from it, then handed it to Temari.
"Now what?" she looked at him, confused.
"This is your job as guide- a troublesome job, I have to admit- but you have to make sure that everyone listed in here leaves with us tomorrow".
Temari groaned and rolled her eyes.
Shikamaru smiled lightly and they exchanged a small laugh before exiting the room. As they passed by an open window, Temari looked longingly outside. The sun was at the center of the sky, signaling that it was noon. But really, they didn't need the sun to tell them that it was lunch time and that they were hungry.
"I know a good ramen place", Shikamaru laughed, thinking about the times when Naruto had dragged him there. Man, he missed that kid.
Temari gave him a funny look, then hmphed lightly and began walking alongside him. She was just glad they didn't have to return to the tedious paperwork again.
As they walked down one of the busier streets of Konoha, Temari began looking at the different restaurants, claiming that it was for future reference. "People can't live off of only ramen", she said. Shikamaru almost laughed aloud as the image of Naruto popped into his head again.
When they passed by the barbeque restaurant where their team always ate, Shikamaru stopped to smell the air, as was his habit. The delicious scent of the different flavors of meat greeted his nose and he smiled to himself. Temari watched him weirdly for a moment, then asked, "Hey, isn't that one of you teammates?"
Shikamaru lowered his head and looked into the restaurant, spotting Ino at a table with Chouji.
"Yeah", he tried to wave, but the two didn't seem to see him, "It's alright. Let's just go". His guess was that Ino was probably dishing out the latest on 'how to be a cooler guy' to Chouji, and he wasn't too interested in hearing what she had to say. After all, women were quite troublesome.
As the two continued down the streets, heading for Ichihara's Ramen, a figure looked up from inside the barbeque restaurant. She stared out the window for a while, then turned back to her companion.
"Chouji, did you just see Shikamaru walk by?"
"Huh?" Chouji looked up from his food and shook his head.
"Well, I thought I saw him. And he was with some girl too".
Chouji shrugged.
"See, if you listened to me, you could be out with a girl too!" she urged him.
Chouji shrugged again and took another bite. Ino was hard to understand- wasn't he out with her? And wasn't she a girl? Besides, he didn't want a real date; he wasn't interested in that yet.
"Are you listening to me?" Ino broke into his thoughts and Chouji snapped up his head.
"Huh?"
"I said, 'what do you think Shikamaru sees in that girl?'. You know, I'm not sure who it was, but I think it could have been that girl form the sand… what was her name?"
"Maybe she's mature", Chouji shrugged. A while earlier, Ino had just been telling him that girls liked guys who were more mature- so wouldn't it work the other way around too?
"More mature?" Ino echoed. That does make sense, she thought, maybe I should be more mature too.
"You know, that was really insightful!" she beamed at Chouji, then grabbed her stuff in a hurry to get home. "Since you ate the most, you can pay, right? Thanks!"
Without another word, she rushed out the door. Chouji looked up slowly, then shrugged and dug into his food again. He just didn't understand girls.
Ino spent the rest of that afternoon at home, digging through her closet until she was able to come up with several new outfits. More "mature" outfits, as she liked to think of them. She set them aside and decided to choose one later. For now, she would deal with the rest of her appearance.
The remainder of that day was spent in front of the mirror, as she played with different hair styles. More mature, more mature, she kept thinking, running a brush along her shimmering blonde hair. This was a lot harder than she thought.
A couple hours later, Ino was ready. She stepped into the hall way and looked over herself in the large mirror, then smiled. She had exchanged her old outfit for a more sophisticated one- a sleeveless top with a high collar that showed her stomach, which was no longer adorned in bandages, a dark skirt with short, fishnet leggings underneath, fishnets for her elbows and knees, and of course, the ever-so-loved shinobi sandals.
Her hair had also lost some of its childish playfulness and was now slicked against her forehead, covering one eye. A thin clip held back the other side of her hair and the rest was still tied in a ponytail, although it was not nearly as bouncy as it had been before. Overall, she was satisfied. It was a new look, and people were bound to notice it.
That same night, not too far from Ino's house, a spar was going on in one of the training grounds. The sun had already set and the stars were beginning to make their entrance, but the two shinobi were still working hard.
Finally, one of the two yielded and quickly dodged a last kunai that was sent at him, then turned to his partner.
"You have to rest", he stated simply.
"Why? We still have time", the other protested between huffs of breath as she emerged from a tree, with a few leaves clinging to her hair.
"You'll wear yourself out".
"It doesn't matter. The first exam is written, remember?" She landed lightly on the ground, tucking a weapon behind her.
"Tenten, you can't keep training", there was an exasperated sigh following this comment.
"Geez", Tenten turned towards her teammate and gave him a glare, but it was too dark for him to see it. She sat down on the grass, then slowly lowered herself onto her back, gazing up at the stars. Behind her, Neji's footsteps crunched though the grass as he made his way around the perimeter of the training area, picking up all the weapons they'd used.
When he returned, he sat down beside the girl and looked up at the stars as well.
"Nervous?"
"Not really", she sucked at lying.
"Right". He sounded skeptical and she turned to look at him.
"Ok, maybe just a little. Or… a lot".
"About what?" he asked.
"Not passing. I don't want to stay a genin forever".
"A rank isn't everything. Sure, it's important, but it's not the only thing that measures your abilities".
"So if I don't pass this year…"
"If you don't pass, it doesn't mean you haven't grown since you became a genin. And it doesn't mean you won't become stronger".
"You know, this is the third time I'm taking the stupid thing", she grumbled.
"Which is a lot less than the average", Neji reminded her, "Even examinees who win the final matches are not always promoted to Chunnin".
"But, why? There has to be some… reason, or something!"
"The judging is based on skills, techniques, abilities, reaction, and thinking. It's not all about strength", Neji replied.
Tenten muttered something unintelligible in response.
"You remember the year that kid Shikamaru became a Chunnin, don't you?" Neji asked.
Tenten nodded stiffly.
"You remember his fight at the end? He lost- he gave up, actually, but he knew what he was doing".
"Yeah, yeah, I know", Tenten groaned."But you make it all sound so simple, Neji".
"Because it is", he said no more and she couldn't find the words or energy to argue back.
They sat under the starry sky, feeling the caress of the cool wind across their cheeks. Neji flopped onto his back beside Tenten, who stretched out her arms and closed her eyes so that she could better feel the cool night air. When it got too late to be outside any longer, Neji rolled onto his side and looked over at his teammate.
"Let's go", he murmured quietly.
She didn't respond and he had a slight suspicion that she was angry at him.
"Tenten? Let's go", he repeated.
Still no response.
"You can't be mad at me", he groaned, gently tugging at her sleeve in a very childish manner.
No response.
He grew worried and leaned closer, only to find that she'd fallen asleep. "See? I knew you'd exhaust yourself", he smirked slightly and thought for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Should he carry her home? Nah, that wasn't something he would do. And she'd probably freak too. Wake her up, then? But he didn't have the heart to.
He finally decided to just sit there and wait for her to wake up again, which, judging by the past days' events, wouldn't be until the sun rose once more. Oh well, he could deal with that.
When Shikamaru stepped out of his house the morning of the Chunnin exams, he was greeted by an unrecognizable girl, leaning against the railing beside his door.
"Hey", she said lightly, flipping her hair to one side.
Shikamaru paused, stared for a moment, then exclaimed, "Ino?!"
"I thought we could walk to the Academy together. Everyone's meeting there before you guys leave. You're one of the examiners, right?" she grinned.
"Y-yeah", he stammered, unable to stop staring. He couldn't figure out what she'd done, but she looked extremely different. She'd lost her childish flair and there was an air of elegance and mystery about her.
"I'll be at the Sand during the final matches. You won't be an examiner for that last exam, right? We can cheer for Chouji together", Ino suggested enthusiastically.
"Of course. I hope he makes it", Shikamaru turned towards her and gave her a rare, genuine smile, then motioned towards the street in front of them. They stepped away from the house and made their way down the streets, turning several corners before the Academy came into view.
There was a large group of people in front of the main doors. Several examiners in the dark green vests, just like the one Shikamaru had on, stood to the side, talking amongst themselves. Most of the people who'd gathered were there to see off the examinees- friends, family, and teachers.
While Shikamaru was pulled away by a senior examiner, Ino drifted into the crowd, looking for people she knew. She caught sight of Chouji and was about to head toward him to wish him luck, when someone tugged on her arm. She turned to see a head full of pink and smiled. Her new transformation, at least that's what she thought of it, had put her in a good mood, and she didn't even feel the need to insult her so-called rival today. "Sakura! Taking a day off from all the medic stuff?"
"Yeah, Tsunade-sama is here too, so I had a free day", Sakura grinned.
"Are you going to the Sand?" Ino asked.
"Not yet. I'm going with Tsunade-sama for the final matches".
"Same here. I'm going to wish Chouji good luck", Ino nodded towards the direction she was about to head and Sakura followed. They reached Chouji and both wished him luck. He thanked them between mouthfuls of chips, sending the two girls into a bought of laughter.
"Chouji!" A voice called.
Ino and Sakura looked up to see Shino walking towards them, his head bent low, sunglasses in place as always.
"We're on a team. You, me, and Tenten. Have you seen her?" he asked. Chouji shook his head.
Behind Shino, his two teammates stepped up and patted him on the back.
"We're all going to watch the final matches, so you better be in it", Kiba gave Shino a hard, friendly slap on the back.
"Yeah, we're going to cheer you on!" Hinata agreed.
"Oi, Hinata, why aren't you going?" Chouji wondered aloud. Kiba made a face, as if warning Chouji that it was the wrong topic to bring up, but it was too late.
"Oh, I talked to Kurenai-sensei and we decided that I should skip the exams this year and take it next year, so I have more time to train", Hinata didn't seem to mind answering the question and Kiba sighed in relief. He was actually surprised that Hinata wasn't too upset.
"Look, is that Tenten? I think you've got all your team now", Sakura squinted her eyes to look at something in the distance. Two figures walking side by side towards the academy grew larger, until they could be recognized as Neji and Tenten.
They were talking rapidly- almost an argument, and Tenten seemed to be fidgeting the whole time.
"Is she ok?" Ino wondered, tilting her head to one side. No one answered her, because no one knew the answer. As they approached, Neji seemed to say something that ultimately shut his teammate up. Tenten was quiet now, with a smile plastered on her face. She walked up to Chouji and Shino, gave them a big grin, and nodded, showing that she was ready.
"We're going to do great, you guys", she said. She was about to say something more, when a loud voice rang out from behind them.
"This gathering is most exciting!" Lee ran up to the group, and, if his arms had been long enough, he would have given them all a huge group hug. Well, it was good his arms were just normal, human length.
"We have to leave soon", Shikamaru had joined the group and was holding a clipboard, looking quite official despite the lazy expression on his face. Temari stood behind him, a clipboard identical to his in her hands. She was also carrying the book that listed all the members who were traveling with them.
"If you're leaving for the Village of the Sand, please gather over here", she announced. As examiners and various examinees began filing towards her, Tenten motioned for Chouji and Shino to go ahead, then turned back towards Neji.
"What are you doing? You're supposed to be- " he stopped and looked worriedly at Tenten. This was completely unlike her. Recently, everything she'd done had been unlike her. Although there was still a faint trace of the strong-willed, spirited Tenten shining somewhere, most of her had become withdrawn, unsure, and somewhat… afraid?
She didn't say anything, but looked at Neji with a sad, longing stare. Had it been anyone else, he would have immediately brushed them off as weak and paid them no more attention. But this was different. She was different. He knew what she was capable of and he knew how strong she normally was, which led him to think that maybe, just maybe, there really was something wrong.
"You'll be fine", he whispered, his eyes smiling at her. Her large, chocolate eyes looked sadly at him and he felt all the coldness and composure he usually held melt away. There were people everywhere, so he couldn't do much, but he wanted, really, really, wanted to give her a big hug.
He ended up giving her hand a small squeeze and a small smile found its way onto her face. Her eyes brightened just a bit and she gave him a quick nod before turning away and joining the group gathered around Temari. She was calling off names, making sure everyone was present.
"Examinees will travel with their team. Examiners will travel in groups of four. Stay together. The trip should be easy, but be careful anyways", she began.
"Let's go see them off at the gate", Sakura grinned, tugging Ino behind her. They, along with a whole mess of other villagers, made their way to the main gates of Konoha. Temari was leading at the front; Shikamaru lagging at the end.
Ino leaned against the one of the large poles supporting the entrance to the village and Sakura stood beside her. They began chatting as the group of Chunnin examiners and examinees passed by. In the midst of the conversation, while Sakura chatted happily about a new book she'd found, a figure stepped up beside Ino in a casual, familiar manner. It whispered something so quietly she wasn't sure if she was imagining it.
"It must have been troublesome, but the new look is nice"
Tenten was walking uncomfortably between Chouji and Shino. Her new teammates had been nice enough, but she'd suddenly realized that her old team, her own team, wouldn't be there with her. Sure, she was supposed to be able to do things on her own, and really, she could, but the lack of comfort was making her… well, uncomfortable.
Neither Chouji nor Shino were very talkative- Chouji offered to share his chips with her, as long as it wasn't the last chip in the bag, and Shino made sure nothing dangerous in the forest approached them- but they really weren't talkative. She supposed she should have been used to it, since Neji wasn't too talkative either, but there was still something different about the atmosphere.
She missed Gai and Lee's insane babbling, missed the impossible tasks they assigned themselves to, missed the way Neji rolled his eyes at their ridiculous teammates. It was silent in the forest, with the occasional chirping of a few birds, rustle of leaves, and of course, footsteps crunching on the leaves.
They'd decided as a group to travel like civilians, taking their time to walk instead of traveling by tree. It was a lot more relaxing and Temari had decided there was no need to rush.
As Tenten walked, taking in her surroundings, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
"You ok?" Shikamaru walked up between her and Chouji.
"Yeah", she nodded and smiled at the younger shinobi.
"Alright", he didn't continue to question her and she was glad. Shikamaru was very perceptive, clever, and if he'd wanted to, he could easily have seen through her.
"We're setting up camp for the night!" Temari announced from the front of the group. The travelers began murmuring amongst themselves, unpacking their supplies.
Tenten found a spot near a cluster of trees and her two new teammates followed her. They arranged themselves into a comfy, triangle shape and Tenten felt slightly better. Maybe, just maybe, the exam wouldn't be that bad. Besides, Neji had promised to come watch her at the last exams, that is, if she made it that far. And Lee and Gai-sensei would be there too! She was able to quickly cheer herself up with these thoughts.
As Ino and Sakura watched the group disappear into the forest, Sakura couldn't help noticing a small smile on her friend's face. Well, friend was a loosely used word.
"Why so smug?" she asked casually, tilting her head to one side.
Ino looked like she was a little kid who'd been caught stealing cookies. "I'm not being smug", she replied quickly. A little too quickly.
"You're kidding me", Sakura rolled her eyes, then began walking back towards the center of the village. Ino followed her, trying hard to think of what next to say, but Sakura beat her to it, "And what's with the new outfit?"
"Just a change", Ino shrugged.
"Mmhm", Sakura gave her a 'I-so-don't-believe-you' look, then turned away.
"Fine. I just thought I'd go for a more mature look, you know? What do you think?"
"Actually, I think it's nice", Sakura admitted, "I want to look more like a woman too".
"Yeah? Yeah, it would do you some good, forehead girl", Ino muttered.
"WHAT?!" Sakura lunged at her friend, "YOU TAKE THAT BACK! INO-PIG!"
"Are you pulling my hair?! Get your hands off my hair, or I'm not helping you find a new look!" Ino shrieked, jerking away from Sakura's grasp. The two girls were locked onto each other, hands tugging at the other's hair, angry fire burning in their eyes. With one final look at each other, they burst out laughing.
"So, come over?" Sakura grinned as Ino ran a hand through her hair.
"Yeah, hopefully, you'll have something to work with", Ino agreed. They laughed again, and the amiable atmosphere returned as they walked towards Sakura's home, side by side, the way they'd done many years ago when they were best friends.
COMING NEXT TIME Chunnin exams begin! Shikamaru and Temari as awesome examiners (These two are a lot smarter than people take them to be) Ino and Sakura's hunt for Sakura's new look (Which is just going to be the one we all see in Shippuuden, because, you know, this is like the bridge between the first and second Naruto) YAY!!