Part IV: The Chuunin Exam Section 1
Sora woke automatically at sunrise. It was about 4:45 in the morning. She tried to get up but felt a pair of muscular arms surrounding her. "What the-o my god!" She jerked herself free from Sasuke's grasp. She tumbled off the bed and managed to pull the sheets over her just as Sasuke woke up.
"Wha? Sora?"
"SASUKE!" Sora gasped not exactly remembering what happened the night before. "We didn't just…o my god…"
"Sora," Sasuke said fully awake now. He sat up not caring he was only in boxers. "I didn't! I swear!" He got off the bed and put his hands on Sora's shoulders to keep her from shaking. "Sora."
She shook her head to clear up her mind and slowly the memories of the previous night came flooding back. Her cheeks flared up again but she stood up keeping the blanket around herself. "I need to shower," she said trying to keep her voice down.
"Uh," Sasuke said a little shocked at the sudden change. "Ok." He pointed to the bathroom connected to his room.
Sora walked in and shut the door forgetting that her clothes were in the guest room she was supposed to sleep in last night. She turned on the water and jumped in while it was still cold. The freezing water immediately cleared her mind. She quickly washed her hair and body and jumped out wiping herself down with a clean towel. Then she realized her lack of clothing to change into. Oh shoot, she thought as she looked to the door. She sighed and wrapped herself in her towel then she opened the door and poked her head out cautiously. "Uh, Sasuke?" she said quietly looking around the room.
She saw the room was empty but her clothes were lying on the bed. She opened the door wider and stepped in the room slowly ready for anything. Nothing happened. She breathed a sigh of relief and changed quickly. So he can be reasonable, she thought as she combed her hair. Then she left the room to look for Sasuke. He was right outside in the hall completely dressed and washed. "Sasuke!" Sora said in surprise.
"Listen, Sora," Sasuke started. "About last night, I-"
"It's fine," Sora interrupted. "Just…let's not mention it to anyone, ok?" she said turning red again.
"Uh, yeah," he said a little crushed thinking that she just wanted to forget that anything happened.
Sora saw his expression and cautiously put a hand on his arm. "I mean, we can't let anyone know so just…we've got to act normally around each other," she said getting even redder.
Sasuke grabbed her hand and pulled her into an embrace. "Just don't forget, ok?" he whispered in her ear. He let her go and walked to the kitchen. "Breakfast's ready," he said completely changing his tone back to normal.
Sora looked at his retreating figure down the hall and shook her head. "This is going to be a bizarre day," she said to herself.
The card that each of them received upon turning in their applications said that they needed to be at the academy at 6 in the morning but they arrived at 5:30. There were already some Jounins waiting around for their teams and some teams waiting around for their senseis. Sasuke and Sora joined them in waiting for Naruto and Kakashi. Two older Genins walked by them growling and winking at Sora. Sasuke snapped and was about to pummel their faces when Sora stepped in front of him and slapped each of their faces.
"Hey, babe," one said smiling as he rubbed his cheek. "That kinda hurt, ya know?"
"Yeah," the other said. "But I like a girl who can kick my ass."
"Shut up," Sora said curtly sounding a lot like Sasuke, "and keep your comments to yourself."
"Oo, tough talk," the first said. "I'll be looking for you in the exam."
"See ya around, babe," the second said. The two walked away snickering to themselves.
"Is every guy here a pervert?" Sora said exasperated.
Sasuke was still in a sort of shock that Sora had lashed out against those guys since she was usually very polite and kind to strangers. "Uh-"
"Don't answer that." Sora sighed as she leaned against the wall. "You're not one to talk."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke asked turning to face her.
Sora laughed. "Nothing," she said and looked away stifling a giggle.
Sasuke was about to say something else when- "HEY! SORA-CHAN! SASUKE!" It was Naruto.
Sora turned around. "Hey Naruto-kun!" she said as she waved.
Naruto jogged up to them putting a hand behind his head. "Heh, sorry I'm late again," he said.
"You always are," Sasuke muttered.
"What was that?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing, baka."
"WHAT'D YOU JUST CALL ME?"
"Baka."
"OH YOU'RE GONNA GET IT NOW!"
"Good morning students!"
"Kakashi-sensei!" Sora said relieved that he was finally here.
"My, you all seem cheerful today!" Kakashi said placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" Naruto said fuming.
"Who?" Kakashi said lazily.
"THAT IDIOT, SASUKE!" Naruto said making a rush at him.
Kakashi tightened his grip on Naruto's shoulder hold him in place. I hope their teamwork isn't as bad in the exam as it is now… Kakashi thought as he sweat-dropped. "Well," he said as Naruto calmed down. "I'm glad that you all chose to take the exam because if one of you didn't, that would've meant that the whole team could not enter."
"What?" Sora exclaimed in shock.
Kakashi nodded.
"But, you made it seem like we could actually choose!"
"Well, you could," Kakashi said smiling. "I wanted to make sure that it was each of your own individual choices that decided whether or not to take the exam. If I had told you guys that you had to be entered in as a team, then you would've felt compelled to enter even if you didn't want to."
"Oh." Sora looked down slightly embarrassed.
"What?" Naruto said confused. "I don't get it. Of course we'd all take it!"
"Not necessarily," Kakashi said knowing not to mention anything about Sora's condition. "But anyway, you're all here and now you need to be getting in." Most of the other groups that had been waiting around in the lobby were gone now. "I'll walk you to the door." The group headed up the stairs to the main testing room. When they arrived, they stopped briefly.
The Genins stood in a line, Naruto, Sora, then Sasuke, facing their sensei. Kakashi looked at them. "Remember, you are a team. Work together and win or fall apart and lose. It's your choice." He disappeared.
The three looked at each other. "All right," Naruto said confidently. "Let's do this." He went forward and pushed open the doors. The three entered.
As the doors swung shut, the trio stopped in their tracks. The room was filled with tough, mean-looking Genins who were all staring at them, or more like glaring at them. Naruto and Sora gulped slightly and looked at each other. Sasuke kept perfectly calm and put his hands in his pockets. But-
"SASUKE-KUN!" shrieked a voice.
WHY? Sasuke thought in despair but did no more than twitch his eyebrow on the outside.
Ino came running up to him and threw her arms around him like she did before. "Sasuke-kun, I knew you'd come!" she said nuzzling his shoulder with her cheek. She glared at Naruto and Sora. "What're you guys doing here?"
Naruto snorted. "Well if you haven't noticed, I'm the better ninja of our group anyway, and we're a team so obviously we're here!" Naruto scowled.
"Don't kid yourself, Naruto-kun," another girl's voice came with a giggle. It was Hinata.
"Hinata-chan!" Sora said excitedly and the two embraced. "It's been so long!"
"I know!" Hinata said happy to see Sora again. "This'll be so exciting to see how much we've grown!"
Sora nodded in agreement. Then she saw Kiba and Shino. Sora went over to give a quick hug to Kiba. "Hey Kiba-kun," she said in a friendly tone.
Sasuke shook slightly but kept still. He knew Sora could sense his misery.
"Sora-chan," Kiba said keeping an arm across her shoulders. Akamaru barked happily at their feet.
Hinata smiled and jokingly raised an eyebrow at Sora. Sora shot her a playful glare and the two laughed.
"Hey guys," Shikamaru called as he and Chouji walked up to the rest of the rookie Genins. The others exchanged their greetings but then the room fell quiet as the rookies all felt the eyes of the other Genins on them.
"The atmosphere is so intense here," Hinata whispered nervously. "They all look so strong and mean."
Sora nodded her head not wanting to speak.
"That's what a couple of wimps like you would think," Ino said smugly but quietly as well. She was also nervous.
"Eh, this is just troublesome," Shikamaru said shrugging his shoulders. "They're all acting tough just to intimidate everyone else."
Chouji nodded in agreement as he continued to stuff potato chips in to his mouth.
Naruto had kept silent for a while but not anymore. "HEY YOU!" he shouted at the entire room. "MY NAME'S UZUMAKI NARUTO AND I'M GOING TO BEAT ALL OF YOU!" He crossed his arms as a triumphant smile crossed his face.
Sora immediately ran behind him covered his mouth. "Can't you be a little more tactful?" she hissed into his ear. "You just made everyone in this room your enemy!" She lightened up a bit.
"Oh, uh," Naruto said sheepishly. He laughed a little and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry about that."
Sora rolled her eyes.
"Well, he hasn't changed, has he?" Hinata whispered in Sora's ear.
Sora shook her head and smiled.
"Hey there," an older Genin said walking up to the group. "You must be the rookie Genins from this year, huh?"
"Yeah," Kiba said with a confident smile.
"Well, my name's Yakushi Kabuto," he said with a warm smile. "You guys just look like you need some insider's help on things."
"And how can you help us?" Shikamaru asked skeptically.
"Well," Kabuto said taking out a pack of cards. "There're these things."
"What are they?" Sora asked.
Kabuto smiled when he saw Sora. "Oh, they're just special cards that give information only when exposed to my Chakra." He picked a card out. It looked blank. "Is there anyone at all in this exam you want to know more about?" he asked looking around.
Sasuke stepped up. "Yes, there are two," he said.
"Who?" Kabuto said as he put the card on the ground.
"Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand," Sasuke said.
Kabuto smiled and rotated the card with his finger, pouring Chakra into it. Then writing appeared. "Here we are," Kabuto said. "It seems as though this Rock Lee you speak of can't use Gen or Ninjutsu but his Taijutsu is excellent. His leader is Gai-sensei and he's a teammate of Tenten and Neji who was the top rookie from last year."
Sasuke nodded signaling Kabuto to go on.
"Ok," he said as he put the card back in the pile. Then he swiped at the deck and drew another blank card out. He put it on the ground and did the same as he did to the previous one. A picture and status of Gaara appeared. "Hm, I guess there's not much known about this guy," Kabuto said putting a hand behind his head chuckling. "He's a teammate of Temari and Kankuro and he's from the Hidden Village of the Sand. Their leader is Yura-sensei. The only other thing here is that he's gone on a B-ranked mission and returned absolutely unharmed."
The group gasped. "That's impossible!" Kiba said. "If he can do that then why isn't he already a Chuunin or Jounin?"
Kabuto shrugged. "I don't know. This is the first year he's participated in the Chuunin exam so I don't know how he fights or anything."
"Then how many years have you been taking the exam?" Ino asked.
"Well," Kabuto turned slightly red. "Four."
"Really?" Ino said in surprise.
"Then you failed four times?" Shikamaru asked. "It's that hard?"
"I failed seven," Kabuto said. The group gasped again. "The exam is held twice a year so this would be my eighth time taking it. Throughout the other times, I've been collecting information on all the other competitors though so I know a lot of secrets."
"But you still didn't pass," Naruto said bluntly.
Kabuto laughed nervously and put a hand behind his head. "Well, uh, yeah."
Sora shot a glare at Naruto for his rudeness. "Uh, Kabuto-san, what else do you have in those cards?"
"Oh, well," Kabuto said glad to change the subject. He got out another card and poured his Chakra into it and a map appeared. "This is a map of the Central World, where our country is as well as the other seven main countries. Each country has its own Hidden Village where they train their ninjas. There's the Leaf which is us, Rain, Mist, Sand, Cloud, Grass, Rock and a new smaller village, Sound." The group crowed closer all wanting to see the card. "Each Hidden Village is its country's military power. If you ask me, the Chuunin exam is held in the same place for all the countries to not only pass their Genins but to see what the other countries are up to in their training. It's a balance of power."
"I see," Shikamaru said. "They're just using this to match up their powers with each other to keep war from breaking out like it did before."
Hm, Sora thought as she looked over the map again. The Hidden Village of the Sound, huh. I've never heard of it before.
From across the room, the only team from the Sound village was eavesdropping on the rookies' and Kabuto's conversation. "Did you hear that?" Dosu Kinuta asked, his face all wrapped up in cloth. "They said our village was small and weak."
"Yeah," said Abumi Zaku, another member of the team. "We should go over there and teach them a lesson." The third member, Tsuchi Kin nodded her head in agreement. Then three Sound Genins ran like shadows past all the other people in the room straight for Kabuto.
Sora was the first to notice their approach. "What the-"
Kabuto looked to where Sora was glancing and turned his attention to the three approaching shadows.
"You think we're weak, huh?" said Dosu. He ran right up to Kabuto and swung his metal arm at him.
Kabuto dodged but barely. The crowd of rookie Genins gasped. Kabuto smiled in triumph but then his glasses shattered and he fell to the ground clutching his stomach. "Kabuto-san!" Sora gasped as she ran towards him. Kabuto keeled forward and threw up.
"What? He dodged the attack!" Naruto said in complete shock. "How did it-"
"Those guys must have some kind of trick or something," Kiba said with Akamaru whimpering in his coat.
Yet he clearly dodged it, Sasuke contemplated. Their attacks must have something to do with sound waves then. Even their movements are like sound waves. I didn't sense them coming.
Sora kneeled down next to Kabuto and rubbed his back trying to get him to breathe normally. She shot a glare at the three Sound Genins. "What was that for?" she said angrily. "The exam hasn't started you know."
"He insulted our village," Dosu said laughing cruelly at Kabuto's state. "You'll soon find out what we're capable of and fear our abilities." The other two snickered at Kabuto as well then the three walked away.
"What assholes," Sora muttered as she helped Kabuto sit against the wall. "Are you ok?"
Kabuto wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved fist. "Yeah," he said weakly. "Thanks."
Sora smiled. Naruto and Hinata came over to join them. "You definitely dodged their attack," Naruto said to Kabuto still amazed that the attack hit Kabuto. "How could it still hit you?"
"Naruto you should have paid more attention in class," Hinata said blushing as she talked. "That kind of attack was some sort of wave that travels through the air and hits the target even though the attack does not physically touch the target."
"Really? We learned that?" Naruto said with a blank expression.
Hinata smiled and decided to leave him to his naivety.
"Students!" a loud masculine voice said over the crowd. A man with scars across his face came in. He was dressed in a black overcoat and looked like he could break them all in two if he wanted. "Silence!" The room immediately became silent. A number of Jounins filed in the room each with clipboards and pencils in their hands. "My name is Morino Ibiki-sensei, member of the ANBU. Now each of the examiners will give you a sheet of paper with a number on it. Sit in the corresponding chair." There was a wave of whispers that went around the room. "Silence!" Ikibi barked. The students shut up again and the examiners passed out the sheets of paper. Each Genin sat in his chair quietly while the examiners took their seats against the wall facing towards the rows of Genins. "Now," Ibiki said after seeing that everyone was seated. "Here are the rules for the written exam."
WRITTEN EXAM? Naruto screamed in his head. I didn't know there was gonna be a written part! I'm so screwed… He looked around for comfort from anyone he knew. What? No one I know is near me! He glanced over his shoulder. Sora was two rows behind him. Sora-chan!
Sora saw Naruto's expression of horror at the mention of the written exam. She gave Naruto a hopeful thumbs-up sign and smiled.
Naruto gave her a look of fear and desperation. He mouthed, "I'm going to fail for sure!"
"All right, now I'm only going to say this once so listen up and no questions," Ibiki barked as he began writing on the board. "The exam will have 10 questions with an hour to do all of them. Your paper has 9 of the 10 questions on it and the last will be given with 15 minutes left of the exam. Each question is worth one point. Try to answer all the questions to get as many points as possible. Any wrong answers or blanks will count for nothing. At the end of the exam, we will count up your team's points and that will be your score. Cheating is punished by taking away two points every time you're caught. If you are caught three times, you fail as does the rest of your team."
Oh, good, Naruto thought. That means I can get a bad score but if Sora-chan and Sasuke do well it'll mean our team's ok.
"If any one person on a team gets a zero, the team fails."
WHAT THE HELL? Naruto thought. They're going to kill me. He nervously glanced back at Sora who looked like she was in shock as well. She's going to hate me…
Sora began to get a little nervous. I don't know how well those two have done academically, she fretted. She saw Naruto looking back at her with horror in his eyes. This is bad.
Sasuke, who was sitting on the other side of the room, looked over at Naruto. Shit, he's going to fail all of us!
Naruto raised his hand. He hadn't heard that Ikibi had said no questions. "Hey, hey. I have a question."
"I SAID NO QUESTIONS!" Ibiki exploded.
Naruto brought his hand down quickly. Geez.
"All right then, begin!" Ibiki said. The sound of papers turning filled the room. All the Genins began nervously looking at all the questions.
Naruto clutched his pencil. Ok, ok, he thought breathing out. Calm, just take it one question at a time. He looked at the first one. What is the equation of the parabolic path of a shuriken knife thrown at the speed of 15 meters per second from a tree with a height of 10 meters at a target that is 9 meters from the base of the tree? WHAT THE CRAP? I don't even know what half of those words mean! He shook his head. Ok, it's ok, he thought again. Just look at the next question. He read it over and began to sweat. Ok, next question. He read through all of them. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO ANSWER A SINGLE QUESTION! I knew I should've paid more attention to Iruka-sensei… He plunked his head on the desk and wrapped his arms around his head. I'm so screwed…
Sora answered the questions one by one and she was soon done. Whew, that wasn't so bad, she thought as she turned her paper over. But these questions would only be easy to the academics. Something's up. She glanced at the clock. 20 minutes till the last question. Ok. She looked at Naruto's back. He was shaking. Oh, no.
Sasuke read through all the questions as well. These questions are nearly impossible. He looked around the room and back at the board. The rules of the exam were still up. Then it hit him. The cheating penalty is so lenient. This isn't an exam to test us academically, it's to test us in our information gathering skills. They WANT us to cheat. He quietly brought up his Sharingan. He saw the guy in front of him beginning to write. All right, I'll copy his every movement. He tilted his head down and pretended to concentrate at his own paper but instead he was looking up at the guy writing. He copied his movements and began to write. Come on, Naruto, he thought as his hand automatically moved without him concentrating on it. Notice this rule! You can't be that stupid.
Sora had nothing to do but look around the room so she glanced at the cheating rule again on the board and then it struck her. Wait a minute. They want us to cheat! She looked around at the examiners who were all busily writing things down on their clipboards. They've all caught someone cheating then. She tried to think of a way to get her answers to Naruto without being caught. How?
Then a kunai knife came flying through the air going right over Naruto's hunched over figure landing on the paper of the guy behind him. "WHAT THE CRAP?" the guy exclaimed.
"You were caught three times cheating. You fail!" Ibiki said.
An examiner got up and grabbed his arm pulling him out of his chair. "What? No! How can you just do that? You can't prove it!" He took a swing at the examiner.
"Shut up," the examiner said as he easily dodged the attack and slammed him against the wall. "My strength is proof enough." The Genin could do nothing but be dragged away.
"Numbers 34 and 152 fail," another examiner read out loud. The guy's teammates stood up and left the room.
Kakashi had gone to the main tower to wait for the results of his students. There he met Kurenai and Asuma who were sitting at a table drinking coffee. "Hey, Kakashi," Asuma called to him. Kakashi walked over to the two. "Have a seat."
"Thanks," Kakashi said and sat down.
"So how do you think yours are doing?" Asuma said puffing his cigarette.
Kakashi shrugged. "Fine, I guess."
"I was just telling Kurenai that the examiner this time is Ibiki."
Kakashi's visible eye shot open. "What?"
"Yeah," Asuma said. "That's what I said when I found out."
"I still don't get why Ibiki is such a big deal," Kurenai said.
"Heh, well you're new so I guess it's ok," Asuma said. He leaned forward. "Morino Ibiki is probably the most feared interrogator Konoha has ever known. He's gotten a huge reputation in the other countries for being able to crack open even their highest level ninjas for information."
"Really?" Kurenai said getting worried.
Of all the years, it had to be Ibiki, Kakashi thought.
As the minutes ticked by, more and more people were caught cheating three times. When it was time for the last question to be given, less than half of the original number of people were left. "All right," Ibiki said as a Genin was dragged out kicking and screaming followed by his teammates. "It seems as if we've gotten rid of all the fools who were stupid enough to get caught three times."
A murmur went through the crowd. "But that means-" "Yeah, then we were suppose to cheat!" "Duh, it's information gathering skills they're testing, not smarts."
WHAT? Naruto thought. I could've cheated? That means… He felt like the dumbest person in the world. I can't let the others know about this!
"Yes, you were supposed to gather correct information without being detected by my men. There were two Chuunins placed in the room to be your targets." Two guys raised their hands to signify that they were the Chuunins.
"Aw man…" "What the crap?" "Hey, that means I got them all right!" "Shut up."
"With all that said and done, it's time for the last question," Ibiki said.
Finally, Sora thought picking up her pencil. She didn't dare try to give her answers to Naruto since she noticed that some of the examiners were taking a special interest in her. Naruto, I hope you can get this one.
"But before I give it to you, there is a catch," Ibiki said. Another murmur ran through the crowd. "Silence! I must ask you whether you want this question or not," Ibiki continued as the Genins quieted down. "If you don't want this question, you will automatically fail this exam and be sent home to try again next time."
"What? Then of course we want the question," Kiba said. Other students agreed.
"This is where the catch comes in," Ibiki said slyly. "If you choose to take the question and you are unable to answer it or if you answer it wrong, then you will never be allowed to take this exam again."
The crowd gasped. "What?" "Then we'll be Genins forever?" "That's bullshit!" "Yeah. You can't do that!"
"SHUT UP!" Ibiki roared. The room was silenced. "Now, if you choose not to take it then raise your hand." He looked around the room making sure he made full eye contact with each Genin.
The room was filled with an uneasy silence. Then one slowly raised his hand. "I…I can't take it anymore!" he yelled out in desperation. "I'm sorry!" He got up and ran/walked shakily out of the room.
"Numbers 88 and 173 fail," an examiner droned. The two Genins who's numbers were called got up and left as well. Then other hands began shooting up. "I can't." "Dammit!" "I'M SORRY!" "Next time…" A crowd of people exited the room.
Naruto looked at everyone leaving. Dammit, he thought. If I don't get this question right then I'm dead…and Sora-chan and Sasuke are failed too. Dammit! But if I raise my hand now…NO, I can't. Sweat poured down his face. Dammit, dammit, dammit! He finally raised his hand in the air.
Sora looked at him shocked. No, Naruto! Believe in yourself! You can get this right!
Sasuke also saw Naruto's hand go up. Damn him. He probably didn't get any questions at all!
Then Naruto's hand came crashing down on the desk. "HAH!" he yelled.
"Hm?" Ibiki said as he looked at Naruto.
Naruto stood up with his hand still on the desk. "You think you can scare me?" he yelled. "No way am I backing down from this! I'm going to become the Hokage someday so what would it look like if I backed down from something as dumb as this?" The other students looked at Naruto with a mixture of awe, agreement, and annoyance.
All right, Naruto! Sora thought.
Naruto sat back down and crossed his arms in triumph.
Interesting kid, thought Ibiki. He made all the other Genins' doubts go away. He sighed. Well, it looks like I'm not going to get any of these other guys to go now. "All right then, if this is your final decision, then I'll give you the last question."
The tension in the room shot up. Here it comes, Naruto thought.
"You will all pass." All the students stared at Ibiki in disbelief. He rolled his eyes. "You all pass now snap out of it!" He whacked the board with a ruler. The sound brought everyone back to their senses.
"What?" "ALL RIGHT!" "I can't believe it." "Man, I thought I'd die if we'd had to wait any longer."
Naruto laughed in disbelief. I can't believe what just happened! I passed without even answering a single question! HAH! He got up and threw a fist in the air. "HAH!" he said out loud.
Sora got up and walked over to Naruto giving him a huge hug. "I knew we could get through this!" she said.
Naruto turned a bright red. "Hehe," he said hugging Sora back. "I wasn't worried at all!"
Sora rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Yeah right," she said.
Sasuke walked over to the two envious that Sora wasn't paying attention to him. "You're pathetic, you know that?" he said to Naruto.
Naruto puffed out. "What?"
"I could feel your nervousness from where I was sitting," Sasuke said putting his hands in his pockets.
"Why you-"
"Naruto," Sora said holding him back. "Stop it! We made it through as a team, remember?" She frowned at Sasuke making sure he knew to quit irking Naruto.
Then suddenly there was a crash as a huge pole came through the wall of the room sticking into the opposite wall. A curtain fell from the pole as a purple-haired woman appeared. "All right you losers! Time for the second part of the exam!" She stepped forward and looked at all the stunned students. "Huh?" She turned her head slightly to whisper to Ibiki behind her. "Hey, there's 78 left? That's too many! What happened? Did you go soft on them?"
Ibiki sighed at the outpour of questions. "No, no. There're just many good Genins this year, Anko." He shrugged.
"What?" she whined as she turned back to face the Genins. "Fine then!" She regained her former energy and loudness. "This second part will make more than half of you fail!" she yelled out a little too excited.
"More than half?" a Genin repeated.
"Yup!" Anko said nodding her head. "You are to meet at the edge of the Forest of Death at 3 o'clock sharp later today. GOT IT?" she yelled out the last part. The students nodded their heads vigorously. "Good." She touched the pole and shrunk it down to the size of a pencil and she put it in her pocket. "You went too soft on them," she said to Ibiki.
Ibiki just shook his head slowly and smiled. "Whatever you say," he said. The room emptied and he began to collect the papers. When he came to Naruto's he looked over the completely blank test. What a kid, he thought laughing to himself. This year's exam is going to be very interesting indeed.
Team 7 rushed out of the room to find Kakashi. "This is awesome!" Naruto said as he ran past and into some people in the hall. "We're all gonna be Chuunins for sure!"
"Wha? Wait up, Naruto!" Sora said trying to weave her way in and out of the people without knocking into them. "Naruto!" Sasuke followed Sora closely behind not saying anything.
Once outside, Naruto stopped and looked around to see if Kakashi was there. "Hm, hm," he said as he shielded his eyes from the sun. "Where is he?"
Sora and Sasuke caught up. "Naruto! You knocked like 20 people down in there!" Sora said.
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Naruto said obviously not paying attention.
Sora sighed in annoyance. Then she rubbed her temples. "Well, that was intense," she said.
"No kidding," Naruto said turning to face her. "But I knew that we could do it all along!"
Sasuke grunted.
"What?" Naruto said.
"Nothing."
"Hm. Well, we ought to tell Kakashi-sensei, right? I mean, we just passed Part one, right?" He was getting himself overexcited.
"Uh, right," Sora said.
"Then let's split up and see who can find him first!" Naruto said wanting to somehow beat Sasuke that day at something. He took off.
Sasuke couldn't resist the competition. He glanced at Sora and then took off as well.
Sora sighed. "They're impossible."
"That's given," a voice said from behind her.
She turned around. It was Neji. "Oh, uh, hi," she said recognizing him as the one who had asked her name before but Sasuke interrupted.
"I saw that you were able to answer all the questions correctly in there," Neji said walking up to her.
Huh? How does he-
"Know?" he finished her thoughts.
Sora's eyes shot open. He read my thoughts!
"I was sitting right behind you and I read your paper," he said calmly.
"Wha…" Sora said. How the heck? If he was using some sort of technique, I should've been able to feel it-wait, oh yeah, stupid seal…oh crap, he can read minds.
Seal? Neji thought. Then she's like me. He liked her even more. "I never caught your name," he said.
"Oh right. Sorry about Sasuke, he can be a jerk sometimes," Sora said smiling. "My name's Sora." She bowed slightly. "And you're Hyuuga Neji. Right?"
"Yes," he said as he felt a chill run down his spine. She remembered?
Sora smiled. "Then are you related to Hinata by any chance?" she asked. Maybe I can figure out-wait, mind reader…grr.
She's strong, yes, Neji thought. Intelligent and absolutely gorgeous... "Yes, we both come from the Hyuuga clan. Our family was the main family that started Konoha's hidden village. I guess you could say that our bloodline is similar to the Uchiha bloodline in that we both have Blood Line Limit abilities that have to do with our eyes."
"Really?" she said. So he just decided to tell me instead of letting me figure it out, huh? "Then I can't wait to see your technique! Maybe I'll be your opponent in battle."
"Maybe," he said smiling back. God, I hope not, he thought as he melted. I don't know if I'd be able to fight you. "I sense that you're very strong. It would be an interesting battle."
"Excuse me." Sasuke suddenly appeared and grabbed Sora's arm pulling her behind him.
"Sasuke?" Sora asked in surprise.
"Back off," Sasuke snarled.
Neji narrowed his eyes at Sasuke. "Who says you can tell me what to do?" he calmly asked.
Sasuke reached down for his knife.
Sora grabbed his arm. "Sasuke!"
"So eager to fight, hm?" Neji turned to leave. "Well then I hope I get to be your opponent, then." For her.
Huh? I can hear him? Sasuke thought.
You can hear me if I let you, Neji let Sasuke hear. You can't keep her from me anymore.
Save it you bastard!
If we fight, it will be for her.
Agreed.
"See you later, Sora," Neji said.
"Uh, yeah," Sora said as Neji disappeared. "Sasuke!" She shook his hand off of her arm. "You have to stop doing that! We were just talking!"
"He was hitting on you! Can't you see?" Sasuke said exasperated.
"He was not! Now just-ok, calm," she said rubbing her eyes. Just wait until after the exam…GEEZ! He's so arrogant and overprotective! She breathed out.
"Ok, fine, I'm sorry," Sasuke said quietly but sincerely.
Sasuke's apologizing? Sora thought. "It-it's ok," she said. "Let's just get through this exam."
Sasuke nodded. "I think Naruto's lost," he said changing the subject. He grabbed Sora's hand and leaped away taking Sora with him.
They found Naruto in the Ramen stand snarfing down bowl after bowl of ramen. "Naruto!" Sora said whacking him lightly on the head. "You said to look for Sensei!"
"Ow, geez!" Naruto whined rubbing his head. "I couldn't help it! Thinking makes me hungry and I was just going by and-and then I said I'd just take a sniff but then…it's like so addicting you know? I couldn't help it!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and leaned against the post.
"It's true!" Naruto insisted. "It like takes a hold of my mind and I can't control myself!"
Sasuke flinched slightly. Heh, similar to how I feel about her, he thought glancing at Sora who was sighing in exasperation.
"We only have until 3 o'clock to find Sensei and then get to the forest and it's 2:45!" she said glancing at the clock on the wall. "Maybe we should just go to the forest, since, well, I mean he probably already knows and-"
"Well, hello there students, fancy seeing you three here," Kakashi said as he casually walked up to the Ramen stand and sat next to Naruto who had returned to finishing his 6th bowl.
Sora's eyes went round. "Sensei!"
"Mmmf, we were just about to find you! How ironic is that?" Naruto said swallowing.
"Uh-huh," Kakashi said looking at Naruto with a little bit of disgust. "Well, good job in finding me."
"Sensei!" Sora said snapping out of her daze. "We all passed the first part of the exam in case you haven't heard but now we've got to get going or we'll be late!" She started to walk out.
"Hold on," Kakashi said lazily. "How was it? Was it difficult? How many of the others passed? Did Ibiki go hard on you guys?" He smiled innocently as Sora's eye twitched. "Just kidding. Good job," he said sweetly patting Sora's head.
She stalked away from the stand with Sasuke following. Naruto was drinking the soup in a hurry and spilled some on his shirt. "Aw, man," he said trying to wipe it off.
"I think you should be going, Naruto," Kakashi said laughing.
"But my shirt!"
"Oh, come on."
"Hey! It's special!"
"Just go."
"Ok." Naruto ran out and caught up with his team.
Kakashi watched them run down the street towards the forest and sighed. Sasuke, Naruto, I'm trusting you to protect her, he thought. I know by now at least Sasuke should have sensed that her Chakra is sealed. He felt a pang of guilt. I know, I know. She can do this. Right. I just need to relax and…Dammit, if anything happens to her- He clenched his fist.
"Uh, will you be ordering anything, Sensei?" the Ramen stand owner said from behind the counter.
Kakashi looked at him in a weird sort of way. "What?"
"Do you want anything today?"
"Uh, no thanks," Kakashi said as he got up. He adjusted his forehead protector out of nervous habit and walked out onto the street.
"Weird guy, huh?" the owner asked his daughter who helped him run the stand.
"Don't say that about people, papa. It's rude," she returned.
"Right, right," he said and went back to his other customers.