A/N: A small chapter, setting up for the monster that is the next chapter.
A Tree or A Root?
Chapter 7: Wind
(Arc II: A Monument To All Of My Sins)
Opening: Alone by Marshmello Album: Alone (Single)
Weak….Even with all of her training, she still felt weak. Perhaps she had an inferiority complex? She doesn't think she does, and in her defense it's hard not to feel inferior when looking at her ridiculous teammates. One's a prodigy and the other she's pretty sure is a robot.
She huffs in laughter, she'll be telling Sasuke that one later. Damn, she was doing it again. Her mind sometime just worked too fast, too many thoughts to categorize. Kakashi called it overthought. Naruto called it analytics. She digresses, perhaps when this whole chunin exam is over, she could try asking Sasuke on a date.
"Speak of the devil," she mutters as both Sasuke and Naruto land in the clearing. Noting the craters scattered throughout the whole clearing, Sasuke snorts and Naruto mirthfully shakes his head. Noting the looks, Sakura laughs awkwardly and blushes.
"How was it?" Sasuke asks.
Sakura shrugs, "It wasn't too difficult, he had Ice Release. I just beat him in taijutsu."
A simplification, of course. She figured they didn't have time for a summary.
Sasuke nods in approval and walks over to the unconscious Gray, and begins to search him. He finds what he's looking for relatively quickly and with a signal to his teammates, they make for the tower. As they jump from branch to branch, Naruto allows his senses to expand; he reaches for that familiar spark….well more like small sun.
From behind Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto smiles.
Dearest Sister...
LINE BREAK! WOO! LINE BREAK YEAH!
Limestone covers an open plain, where wild green once ruled, a mundane gray now covers. On top of that gray sits the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage; twirling a small scroll in her hand she wonders how well that redhead is doing.
"Oi, Kurotsuchi! Let's go!"
She tosses the scroll up in the air, and snaps her fingers; with a hop she strolls to her waiting teammates. As the trio leave the field, a fragment of the scroll hits the gray before burning up.
LINE BREAK! WOO! LINE BREAK YEAH!
Within the tower, all of the teams who have made it rest. Team 7 relaxes in their dorm, all of them doing small things to pass the time; Sasuke, while laying on one of the three beds in the room, scribbles in a journal with the Kanji for "Kaleidoscope" on the cover, Sakura sits on the floor and counts her stock of weaponry and medicine, and Naruto sits in a chair reading Icha Icha.
"It's bad etiquette to read that with a lady in the room, Naru-kun." Sakura notes as she finishes her fifth and final check.
A grunt is her only reply, and that pisses her off. Taking one of the kunai from the set, she flicks it at the offending book...only for it to bounce harmlessly off the cover. A pink eyebrow twitches.
"Please don't tell me you seriously covered that damn thing with seals…"
Sasuke comments from the bed, "The fact that you're even surprised anymore is sad, Sakura."
Sakura facepalms and Naruto huffs in response.
"It's a limited edition….Kakashi gave it to me. He said it would help me understand people better. Neh Sasuke, what do you think "Wetter than Amegakure" means?"
Two groans, and raucous laughter from his tenant are his only responses.
The ex-root just shrugs and continues his reading. He had wanted to go check on his seal, but he did not want to chance him being caught or the seal being found. This phase required the utmost confidentiality and, annoyingly enough, patience. He snaps the book closed and seals it away.
"I'm heading to bed you two, try to keep the moaning to a minimal, neh?"
"OI!"
LINE BREAK! WOO! LINE BREAK YEAH!
"...a deterrent for war!"
Eight teams, twenty four chunin hopefuls. A lot for a chunin exam; too many. Cutting that in half however, makes perfect sense, thus, preliminaries.
"E-Excuse me, Hokage-Sama. May I please take over?" With a nod from Minato, a sickly looking Leaf Jonin speaks to the hopefuls. Minato quietly walks back to his wife as the Jonin, Hayate, explains that the Prelims will be team vs team. All members of the opposing team must be either killed or rendered unconscious to move on to the next phase.
Kurama, relaxing under a tree, chuckles, "Kill? Yeah, right. As if Minato-brat would ever let that foreign bomb explode under his supervision."
Naruto snorts as he walks up the steps with his team. Ignoring the inquisitive looks from his team, he responds, "I came to the same conclusion."
The stairs lead up to the ledge, where all of the Konoha teams that passed reside. Teams 7, 9, and 10 all stand next to one another, most of them happy to see familiar faces.
Sakura, oblivious to her teammate's conversation, asks, "Hey Sensei, why team based combat? It makes more sense for this to be a one-on-one combat thing."
"Yes and no, Sakura-chan. Konoha, as you know, is a village based on teamwork. That is a image we wish to continue, also while one on one would help the judges see more individual skill, team based enforces the ideal that you should never be alone on the field."
"So, basically. We're just showing the Leaf's ideology is superior to all other villages'," Naruto adds.
The small disgust in his tone makes Kakashi glance at him, only to see him staring intently at the screen where the combatants would be chosen. Sighing, Kakashi pats Naruto's head only for him to growl and toss it off.
"Oi."
"..."
"OI."
"..."
"OI KAKASHI."
"Hm, Naru-chan, you say something?"
"..."
"Well?"
"Nothing you bakashi."
The Hatake eye smiles at his charge. However, his eye opens and narrows at the teams on the screen.
TEAM KAKASHI VS TEAM SANBO
Sasuke lets a small smile grace his features. The party is about to get started.
Ending: Wind by Akeboshi. Album: Stoned Town
A/N: And, life keeps on moving. We move with the wind, things constantly change. I regard this site, and by proxy, this fic as my rock. For people who also see it like that, I apologize. I apologize for how long I've taken. I apologize for not staying as consistent as I promised. However, like the wind, we must keep pushing. We must never stop walking. Sitting in this college classroom, I find myself questioning everything. I hope this fic shows my growth, and it will continue to show that. Please, review. Help me become a better writer. Thank you, thank you for the follows, favorites, and reviews. I will do my best to keep this story going. May your new year be filled with blessings and good times.