QUICK CREDITS: Naruto and the original characters of Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Ringo Hyuga belongs to Sunsetfire of Shinobi Way. Aibara Okinawa belongs to midnight6606. Kagamori belongs to Nina of Warrior Cats 3. Hana, Niigata, Hikaru, and Takako belong to me. MOST of the dialogue by Ibiki Morino and Anko Mitarashi are from the manga translations of Onemanga dot com.
Don't Wither, Don't Wilt ... chapter 6 - It's Now or Never
A/N: The Chuunin Exams begin! We're officially all caught up with Shippuden and the plot just starts rolling from here. Excitement is on the way for Squad 5!
Note: During this time, Gaara would have been revived by the old lady, and Naruto and Sakura would have been introduced to Sai and Yamato.
----on with the story. xxxxx!
She moved a clothe over the blade slowly. Her silver eyes had dulled slightly as if she was in deep thought. The katana lied across her lap. It was spotless, yet she continued to shine it. Two pairs of eyes kept glancing over to her suspiciously from where they were sitting at the table. Finally one of them stood up, a man with a decent build and dark brown hair that ran down to his shoulders. He stood in front of the raven-haired girl, but she didn't seem to notice him.
"Chibi," He knelt down in front of her. Hana looked up at him after a moment. Her face held no emotion, which was something he disliked to see, "You've been shining that thing for hours, I think you can stop now," His Hyuga eyes stared at her curiously. Hana looked down at the blade her brother had given her, and nodded.
"Yeah," She said simply, and went to sheathe her katana. Ringo stood back up, and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Who gave you that thing anyways?" Ringo asked out of random. Hana paused for a moment, before getting up and placing the sheathed katana by the rest of her things. It was the night before the Chuunin Exams, and she didn't seem to be in a good mood, "You had it the day after your thirteenth birthday, but it wasn't one the presents," He thought for a moment. Hana merely glanced at him before looking away.
Ringo raised a brow, "It was your brother, wasn't it?" He saw her tense up, and he rolled his eyes, "Why are you getting all depressed over this now then. It's been nearly three years since-"
"That's just it," Hana glanced back at him and Aibara, "Naruto told me when he got back, that he only had three years to get Sasuke back before Orochimaru - takes him," She said quickly. Ringo frowned. It was obvious that she had been worrying about this for some time, not just today.
"He'll be okay, Hana-chan," Aibara said with a hopeful smile. Hana smiled back down at her, and that seemed to please Aibara. Ringo saw through it though, and sighed.
"Aibara," Ringo turned towards the white-haired girl, "It's your turn to get the snacks for the sleepover," He shot her a smile, and nodded his head to Hana. Aibara glanced between the two, and nodded.
"Yeah, you're right," She smiled and laughed a little, "I'll be right back!" Aibara grabbed her backpack that held her money, and basically skipped out of the door. Ringo turned back to Hana, who was giving him a small glare.
"Ringo, I'm fine," The Uchiha attempted to convince him, but he wouldn't buy it.
"No, you're not," Ringo said and stepped closer to her. He was much taller then her, and it was a bit intimidating. She glanced up at him with narrowed eyes.
"Why is it such a big deal?" Hana said quietly.
Ringo laughed, "Because the Chuunin Exams are tomorrow, dummy!" He said loudly and then quickly softened his voice, "If you're not a 110% in this, we'll fail," He finished. His pale eyes stared her over, and he felt the odd urge to brush her hair back from her face, just to comfort her.
"I'll be fine, Ringo," Hana repeated.
"Hana," Hana glanced up at Ringo again. She looked as if she were about to cry. Ringo sighed and wrapped his arms around her. Hana buried her face into his chest and sobbed, "We're here for you, okay?" Ringo felt very awkward, but made himself rub her back comfortingly. It was for Hana, and the team, so he guessed it was okay.
"Ringo," Her voice was shaky, but not as sad sounding.
"Hm?"
"You're really bad at acting nice," Hana laughed a little and hugged him back before stepping back. Ringo smiled and chuckled a bit.
"Yeah, I know."
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The sun moved slowly from the horizon and behind the trees that surrounded the Uchiha's house. Even though the trees were full of leaves this time of year, the rays of sun filtered through the gaps and through the window of her house. Hana felt the warm sun on her face, and was awake within minute. She stretched her arms out and arched her back and let her body crack back into place. The Uchiha girl yawned as she opened her eyes and realized what she had been sleeping on.
Ringo was glaring at her with his pale Hyuga eyes. Hana found her arms around him, and her cheek was rested on his shoulder, "Move it, you stupid Uchiha," He said in a strained voice. Hana grinned and sat back. She reached for the ceiling with her arms and stretched again, and looked around to see where Aibara was.
The white-haired girl had managed to drape herself over both of their laps, and was now covering the floor boards to Ringo's side with drool, "You girls sleep in very odd positions," Ringo grumbled as he rolled Aibara off of their laps and got up. Aibara rolled herself onto her back and stretched herself out.
"You know you like it Ringo-kuuun," She purred in a voice that clearly said she was half-asleep. Hana saw Ringo role his eyes, and watched him as he walked out of the room.
"Aibara you honestly need to wake up now," Hana laughed and crawled over to her white-haired friend. It was easy to wake her up, all you had to do was tickle her stomach and she was up. The Uchiha did so, but the girl merely curled up and rolled to the side.
"Why?" She moaned tiredly.
"The Chuunin Exams are today," Hana said simply. Aibara practically leaped out of her skin at the words, and was up in a flash. The Uchiha smiled victoriously. Ringo was back in a flash, it seemed, and stared at the girls with a very odd expression.
"Uchiha, make me food," He grumbled and scratched the back of his head as he walked over to the couch and sat down. Aibara nodded in agreement and fell back down on the ground, only to wrap herself up in her blankets again. Hana rolled her eyes.
"You guys are honestly hopeless," She grumbled and headed for the kitchen.
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Squad Five nodded to their sensei as she gave them some last minute advice, "And remember, please remember, if you give up this time, I will never let you try for the Chuunin Exams again," She rubbed her temples at the thought. Niigata-sensei turned around and pointed a finger at Aibara, "That means if you get scared that your gunna fail, to bad! It's either now or never, Missy!" Aibara blinked at the very friendly attitude coming from her sensei, but nodded with a smile a moment later.
Their sensei smiled, "Okay, you can go on now. Don't let the other genin intimidate you, because you're probably one of the most intimidating teams in there," She said, and gave them a thumbs up. The team considered it pretty lame, but forced a smile back. Niigata-sensei had never acted like this.
She finally stepped out of the way, and Ringo pushed open on of the doors. The team entered together into a whole classroom full of shinobi from other countries. Most of them looked pretty mean, while others looked like rookies, but some teams were familiar. For instance:
"Hana-chan~!"
Hana felt a force slam into her, and squeeze her in a tight hug, "Hikaru!" She choked out and tried to push herself away from his deadly hug. It had been about a month since they had really talked, and boy, was she glad to see him, "What the hell are you doing here?" She laughed once she got herself away.
"Me and my team are trying out for the Chuunin Exams of course!" Hikaru laughed and shot a wide grin. Two people came up behind him. One was a taller man with a nice build and jet black hair, amazing green eyes stared them over, and finally landed on Hana. He raised one brow like he was admiring her, and then shot her a handsome grin.
The green-eyed man held out a hand and smiled, "Nice to meet you, Uchiha-san," He said smoothly, "Hikaru's said a lot about you."
Hana stared at the hand for a moment before shaking it, "Er, nice to meet you to, uh-..."
"This is Kagamori," Hikaru said, patting him on the shoulder. Hana nodded.
"Nice to meet you, Kagamori," She repeated and glanced to the other person. Her hair was a very odd red-violet color, and her eyes were a strange amber. The girl was tall enough, and had a decent-sized chest. Hana had to say, she was jealous of the girls looks, and by the look on Aibara's face, so was she, "And you are?" Hana pointed this question to the girl.
"Takako." Was all she said. Hana merely nodded.
"And your teammates, Uchiha-san?" Kagamori asked as he glanced to Ringo, and then stared at Aibara. The white-haired girl blushed beat red before introducing herself.
"Okinawa, Aibara."
"Hyuga, Ringo," Ringo put a hand on Hana's shoulder and shrugged towards an open table, "C'mon, we can sit over there." Hana could have sworn he sounded very grumpy, but she couldn't be sure. The first test was about to begin, and she was to excited to focus on anyone.
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A sudden sound entered the room. All the genin moved their gaze to the cloud that had appeared in the front of the room. The cloud moved away to show a muscular scarred man, along with a group of chuunin and jounin. She had difficulty swallowing for a moment, but relaxed as the examiner introduced himself.
"Thanks for waiting," He said slowly. His gaze swept over the genin before he spoke again, "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chuunin Selection Exam's first test. Now let's get this over with," Ibiki sighed and looked around once more before going on, "First off, there will be no fighting without the permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be permitted."
Takako crossed her arms over her large chest and sighed, "Bummer." Hikaru and Kagamori hushed her in a moment's notice, and let the examiner go on.
"Those who disobey me, or any examiner, will be failed immediately," Ibiki narrowed his eyes now, "Do I make myself clear?" He was answered by silence. Hana glanced down at her teammates. Ringo was expressionless, and Aibara had a very confident look on her face. The Uchiha smiled slightly and instantly found herself relaxing.
"We will now start the first test in the Chuunin Exam," Ibiki started, and grabbed for a scrap of something with the number one on it, "Now, you will pick on of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you. We will then hand out the exams."
"Wait- What?" Hikaru choked out, "A written exam?"
Hana expected this much. Sasuke had went over briefly what happened in the first exam when he had come home for one last lunch before the second round. After that, Sasuke was in the hospital, and then out training, then Itachi got him, and after that he just left. She shuddered slightly, but instantly felt a hand on her shoulder. Ringo glanced down at her, and smiled slightly. Hana returned a thankful smile and turned her attention back to the examiner.
"Yes, a written exam. Come take your number and sit down."
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Ringo looked around the room for where Aibara and Hana had been seated. They were all on opposite sides of the rooms. The rules seemed simple enough: They started off with ten points. Each question is worth a point. Get one wrong, you loose a point. You're graded on how you AND your teammates do. And oh yeah, don't forget that if your caught cheating, you loose two points.
The thing was, and the team knew it, that you had to cheat to pass the test. Now, this was just fine for Ringo because he had his Byakugan. Aibara was actually okay to, because she had a ring that held a mirror-like gem, and she had gotten very good at angling it to see things across the room. Hana was the problem.
Why one of the sole remaining Uchihas didn't have sharingon, he'd never know. She was just lucky she was intelligent enough, or they would be doomed. The test began shortly after the rules had been said, and the classroom was quickly filled with the sound of pencils hitting the paper.
Ringo looked around for someone who had started almost instantly. The man seemed very confident, because his posture was straight and he didn't pause during answers to really think. He was someone that knew this stuff. Byakugan! The Hyuga summoned quietly. Veins welled up to the corners of his eyes and he could feel his eyes strengthen. Within seconds, he could see through nearly anything, and he could also see the tests.
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Hana read over the questions carefully. Her grip on the test tightened slightly, and frustration coursed through her. It would be so much easier if she had sharingon, she could just copy the pen strokes of Ringo then, who seemed to be getting this. She sighed and relaxed. Sakura just happened to be a life-saver, and had made her study many of the things on the test.
If anyone could pass it, an Uchiha could. Hana grinned slightly and began working on the first question. Before she knew it, she was on the ninth question. She read the tenth question over again: This question will be revealed 45 minutes after the test begins. Listen to the examiner closely before answering.
Hana smiled to herself. She could manage it.
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Aibara glanced her violet eyes around the room. Ringo seemed to be doing good, and Hana seemed to be getting the just of it. She was near the back of the room while Hana was near the front, and Ringo to the side in the middle. It wasn't the kindest of set-ups, but that didn't matter. She needed to get some answers.
She flicked her pointer finger a bit, and stared admiringly at the ring. A large gem had been planted atop a strong ring. It held many tiny mirror in it, and if she aimed it just right, she could grab test scores from nearly anyone. Aibara found it difficult to get to Ringo's answers, but she managed it after a moment.
She nodded once, and Ringo moved his arm aside and leaned back in his chair. Aibara got to copying down the answers with her left hand - she just happened to be able to use both hands perfectly - and quickly got the questions in few minutes. When she nodded again, Ringo moved his sheet up a bit, and the next questions came into few on the very small ring. within minutes, she had the answers copied down. Now she just had to wait for the tenth question.
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"Okay, and now, we will begin the tenth question."
Hana lifted her head up, and looked around. The room had been cleared throughout the test, and barely half of the teams had managed to stay. It was shocking to see how many people had failed already. She shuddered slightly and focused her attention back on the examiner.
"Now, before we get to it," Ibiki started and set a cold stare upon the remaining genin, "I'd like to go over the added rules to this question," There were a bunch of startled gasps and grunts. No one was expecting this. Hana merely remembered that she had nothing to lose with this question, and smiled.
"First, for this tenth question, you must decide whether or not you want to take it." Ibiki stated. She heard a pencil snap in half, and finally noticed Takako sitting two seats over from her.
"And what happens if we choose not too! Huh?!" Takako seemed furious. Hana imagined Hikaru getting beat on a lot by this girl. It looked like she wouldn't take shit from anyone.
"If you choose not to, your points will be reduced to zero. And you'll fail." Ibiki stated. There were some cries of protest and anger in the croud. She thought she could hear Ringo chuckling to himself.
"But if you choose to take it, and answer incorrectly, that person will lose the right to take the Chuunin Exams ever again," Hana's blood ran cold at the words, and she gripped her pencil tightly.
There was silence as they waited for the examiner to finish the rules, "Those who aren't confident can choose not to take it, and take it again next year. It's your choice," Ibiki smiled, "So let's begin the tenth question."
"Those that do not want to take it, raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave." Ibiki said, and waited. Silence overwhelmed the classroom, but within seconds, someone raised their hand.
"Number 50, you fail," One of the watchers spoke, "Number 103, Number 87, you fail as well." Immediately the room was filled with the sound of people being failed. The room was clearing quickly, she shuddered.
About fifty people were left when she saw Hikaru raise his hand. She and Takako shot their gaze over to him. Hana guessed that he didn't do a good job on the first part of the test - she had always had to help him with his homework when they were little, and he was no good at it - but it was shocking to see her friend raise his hand like that. But to her surprise, he slammed it down on the desk and laughed.
"You aren't going to scare me!" He yelled. Takako slammed her palm to her forehead, "I'm not afraid of some lousy test!" Hikaru grinned. Hana could see the confidence sparkling in his blue eyes. Ibiki tilted his head.
"I'll ask you again," Ibiki said, "Your life is riding on this decision, this is your last chance to quit."
"I'm not afraid, of a test question," Hikaru repeated, "No one's going to stop me from passing," The blond sat down and crossed his arms. Ibiki looked around, and nodded.
"Good decisions, now to everyone still remaining."
Hana glanced at Ringo, who smiled confidently and gave her a thumbs up. She turned to Aibara, who was looking fairly confident as well. The Uchiha nodded, and turned back to the examiner. She could handle this.
"I congratulate you on passing the first test!" Ibiki yelled. Hana's eyes widened. They'd passed?
"What do you mean we already passed?" Hana asked out of shock, "What about the tenth question?"
Ibiki laughed and smiled, "There never was such a thing!" The classroom fell silent, "Or you could say that those two choices were the question." Takako growled next to her and stood up.
"So the other nine questions were pointless?" She yelled. Ibiki threw on a straight face again.
"They were not pointless. They had already served their intended purpose," He paused, "The first nine questions were to test your individual information gathering ability. That purpose."
"First, as the rules explained, success on this test is based on the whole team doing well. This puts pressure on each member not to mess things up for their teammates."
"Oh, I guessed it was something like that," Hikaru said and nodded. Takako rolled her eyes. Hana giggled to herself and shook her head.
Ibiki went on, "But these questions were not the types that mere genin could answer. Because of that, I'm sure most of the people came to the conclusion that to score points... I'll have to cheat." Hikaru nodded again. He should really stop trying so hard to make people think he was smart, "Basically the premise of this test is to cheat. And to help you out, we placed two Chuunin who knew all the answers into the crowd."
The examiner put his hands to his forehead protector, and began to untie the clothe, "But those who cheated poorly, failed of course," And this was when he pulled off his forehead protector and revealed a horrific sight, "Because... In times, information is more important than life. And on missions and on the battlefield, people risk their lives to get their hands on it."
All those scars. He's a survivor of some serious torture methods. Hana stared at the examiner's head. It looks horrible.
"If the enemy or third party notices you, there is no guarantee the information will be accurate," He began to place his forehead protector back on his head, "I want you to remember this: Important information in your hands can be a powerful weapon for your comrades and the village. So we had you gather information through cheating. This clearly separated those that did not have the right abilities."
There were a couple confused looks in the audience, "I still don't get the whole point to this though. When will we use this?" Takako muttered. The auburn-haired girl rested her head in her hands and waited for explanation. Ibiki raised a brow.
"Well let's put it this way and say you guys do become chuunin," Ibiki was starting to sound like he had said these words before, "Your mission is to steal information from the enemy. Now you know nothing about the number of enemies, their abilities, or anything. There's also the possibility that they have traps already waiting for you. Now do you accept, or not accept?"
There was silence before she went on, "Because you don't want to die, because you don't want your comrades to get injured, can you avoid the dangerous mission?"
"No," It wasn't Ibiki who spoke. Everyone looked back to the white-haired girl with dulled violet eyes, "You can't. In the real world, in a shinobi's world... There is no 'maybe next year'," Ringo and Hana smiled at each other, "In the real world, it's now or never." Aibara glanced over at her teammates with an apologetic smile.
"That's right," Ibiki nodded, "No matter what the danger, there are missions you can't avoid. The ability to be courageous, and survive any hardship... This is the ability needed to be Chuunin," His face got more serious as he spoke, "Those who can't put their destinies on the line, those who cling to the uncertain future of 'there's always next year', those people do not have the right to become Chuunin... that's how I feel!"
"Anyone who chooses to take the tenth question, passes. Those people will be able to survive any troubles they face in the future," Ibiki smiled slightly now, and scanned over the crowd once, "The first test of the Chuunin Selection Exams are now over. I wish you luck." The sound of sighs of relief and cheers filled the room. Ringo and Hana ran over to Aibara and gave her a giant cheesy group hug, just for passing.
But just behind them, the ceiling tiles began to crumble away. Soon enough tiles were falling, and fell down near the front of the room. All the celebrating genin threw their heads to the person that fell through the ceiling, "Quit your celebrating! It's time for the second round!" The voice barked, "I'm Mitarashi Anko, and I'll be your examiner for the second round! Follow me!"
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QUICK BIO: Hikaru
Birthday: June 4
Element: Earth
Family: Parents. An older brother ( around 20 ), a younger sister ( about 4 ).
Appearance: Dirty blond hair with extremely blue eyes. He has a slight build a tan skin.
Clothing: Usually a brown and orange colored clothes of some sort. Nothing real fancy.
Guess What?: Hikaru was the second original character I had ever made. He was Hana's teammate since the beginning, I mean literally the beginning to. Even when Hana's name was just a bunch of gibberish that I thought was Japanese, he was Hikaru, her teammate. I got the name from Hikaru No Go, which I had been reading at the time, and just went along with it. He's always had blond hair and blue eyes, I don't know why. Another teammate that had been there since the beginning was Akira, who was mentioned in chapter 1, and I think I got him from Hikaru No Go too ( to lazy to check though. ) Anyways, Hikaru didn't originally come into the forums until the plot was restarted for a second time. He didn't have a very important role, he was just Hana's childhood friend. I eventually killed Hikaru off, because it would work well for the introduction of another character ( you might meet her someday too. ) If I had to date one of the characters in here, he would be the one. I think I gave him a lot of the qualities I like to see in others.