Chapter Five
We stepped through the doors in a triangular formation. Not one of us was naive enough to assume we were out of danger just yet just because we had stepped through the doors of our destination, so we were on guard as we crept through the wide hall. It had a high ceiling and was completely bare except for two large tablets on the far wall that had some writing on them.
"If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher." I read out loud as we drew closer "If Earthly qualities are what you lack, then train your body in fields and prepare to attack."
"When heaven and Earth are opened together, that path of peril will revert to the righteous path forever." Rafu continued, squinting a little as he stumbled over a word. "This 'something' is the secret way that guides us from this place today."
"So we open the scrolls now, right?" Akari asked, glancing between Rafu and I to ensure she had understood the meaning correctly.
"I would say so." Rafu said slowly, and I hummed in agreement. Akari got the earth scroll she had been carry and Rafu did the same for the heaven scroll we had given him at the beginning of the exam. They both slowly unraveled their respective scrolls cautiously, Anko-sama's warning still echoing within all of our minds of the perils of opening the scrolls and the consequences of doing so. As they were unrolled, I had only a moment to observe the markings in black ink before we all jumped back, Akari and Rafu tossing the scrolls away quickly.
"Get ready, it's a summoning jutsu." Rafu called out, and we fanned out to surround the two scrolls billowing smoke. The smoke was thick at first and I could see a distinctly humanoid shape within, and as it began to thin, I heard coughing come from inside of the smoke. I saw a hand gesturing back and forth in front of where the head would be, trying to clear the smoke away faster, and I relaxed a little, smirking. The smoke revealed Izumo standing there, a sheepish expression on his face and still coughing lightly.
"Congratulations! You've passed the second exam!" Izumo said, trying to smile and breathe properly at the same time. "The smoke thing must take some getting used too, huh?"
"What's going on, Izumo?" Akari demanded, rolling her eyes at the Chunins ridiculous behavior. "Do we have to fight you now?"
"As if." Izumo scoffed, looking mildly affronted before pointing behind himself towards the tablets we had just read. "I'm here to welcome you back from the forest and explain those. We Chunin get the 'honor'."
"Great, I am so tired." I said thankfully, promptly sitting down where I stood with my legs crossed and ignoring the judgemental looks my teammates and the older chunin shot me. Izumo wordlessly shook his head at me, and was going to open his mouth most likely to comment on my laziness, but I waved the comment off with my hand and spoke first. "Don't mind me, continue with the explanation."
"Whatever." Izumo muttered, clearing his throat and speaking up a little for the next part of his speech, which I'm sure he had practiced. "These are the wise words of the Lord Hokage; the meaning is pretty clear, but I'll explain it anyway. If your strength is your mind, you should train your body more; if you are physically strong, then you should study and meditate more to get a stronger mind. Only when you have a balance, when you work hard to compensate for your weaknesses, will you be an excellent and well-rounded shinobi."
"I understand, Izumo-san." Rafu said, nodding along with the chunin as he spoke. "And the blank space is for us?"
"Exactly!" Izumo said cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "Any questions? No? Perfect! Now, you guys go through those doors and wait for the others to arrive. Your sensei will be here with the others tomorrow to speak with you about the third part of the Chunin exam."
"We need to speak with Anko-sama." I told him, sitting up and taking the hand Akari was proffering to help me stand up completely. "It's about something we saw in the forest."
"What happened?" Izumo asked, mood switching from jovial to serious like the flip of a coin.
"We found two bodies in the forest, genin from Kusagakure, but we believe they may have been murdered by the third member of their team." Rafu explained, eyebrows furrowed.
"That is a rather serious accusation." Izumo said slowly, looking at us gravely. "Why do you think that?"
"The scroll was left untouched, so it was not to get that, and they didn't put up a fight at all." Akari told him, highlighting the evidence we had found to support our rather out there theory. "There was no third body."
"Even if another team killed the two, it's suspicious that they didn't take the scroll." I added in, and could tell that Izumo thought it was strange as well his facial expression.
"I will let Anko-sama know at once." Izumo said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "If she would like to speak with you about it, she will come get you or at the least send for you. Thank you for letting me know. Now, seriously, you guys look like you could use some rest. Go ahead inside, I'll take care of this."
"Thank you, Izumo." I said, the three of us then walked through the doors he had mentioned earlier and found a hall with various doors along it. The hall led to a large waiting room where everyone who had passed this part of the exam were waiting for everyone else to finish.
My eyes scanned the room, noting who had finished as well to see who we would be up against in the next part of the exam. Three sand genin, one of whom was the red haired shinobi who gave me bad feelings. He had a red mark on his forehead and his eyes were blank, as though he had no emotions. Beside him were a blonde-haired kunoichi with a giant war fan and another guy who had something wrapped up in cloth on his back, It looked like the thing wrapped up at hair sticking out of it? I was examining it, but I moved my gaze when the redhead noticed me watching them.
Three sound ninja had made it, they looked a little worse for wear from getting here though. One of them had is arm in a sling, as though it was broken; the girl seemed well enough and I couldn't tell with the other guy because he was completely wrapped in except an eye.
There were also three other genin from our own village, they looked like they were some of the rookies; I recognized one of them as Hinata Hyuuga, Neji's cousin, because of her eyes. The other was an Inuzuka, I could tell by the small dog laying on his head, and the third was an unassuming guy with sunglasses on.
We were the fourth group to walk in, and besides the faint bruising on my neck, we were relatively unharmed. Akari had a couple of scratches and Rafu looked a little beat up, but because of Rafu's ability with medical chakra, we looked better than most of the other teams. The only ones who did not appear as though they had fought at all were the three shinobi from the village hidden in the sand, which honestly just added to the bad feeling I got from the three of them. I decided to keep my distance from all of the people currently in the room, as they had spaced themselves away from one another as well, and I went to an unoccupied space between the sound ninja and the others from Konoha.
"I guess we wait for another day or so until the exams over." Rafu mused, taking a seat on a couch.
"I could use a rest." Akari said, plopping down as well.
"Yeah." I agreed quietly, still looking over the other ninja surrounding us. Over the next few hours a couple of other groups came in, one of them including Shikamaru Nara, and his teammates Choji and Ino. They went over to the other rookie genin, not without looking at over at us first though; Ino and Choji both looked over us, confusion and curiosity written all over their faces, and Shikamaru's face was unreadable. I was meditating with my eyes closed when they walked in, it wasn't until Akari nudged me and I opened my eyes that I had realized it. When my eyes met those inscrutable brown ones, he gave me a nod of acknowledgment, which I returned, before they walked over to the other rookies and began to have a conversation.
"Your boyfriend over there better not be telling them we are soft." Akari muttered, having seen the exchange and watched them as they walked over. She was currently on the floor stretching while Rafu was reading a book next to us. When Rafu had pulled the book from his bag, I had to fight hard to prevent from bursting out laughing; only Rafu would hear that we would be five days in a survival training mission as a test and think that he should pack a book along with everything else we would need.
"Shut up, Akari." I replied, closing my eyes again.
"Alright, alright." She replied, and I did not need to open my eyes to know she was rolling hers.
"One day, your eyes will get stuck like that." I told her quietly
"Okay, okaasan. I'll make sure to keep that in mind." responded Akari sarcastically
"You do that." I mumbled, restraining myself from retorting. I knew we were picking at each other because we were bored. Thankfully, it was not long after that we were told we could go to the rooms and go to sleep. The rooms were assigned by team, and they were completely bare of any furniture or decoration; so with a heavy sigh, mostly irritated at ourselves for thinking we actually might get a bed, we unrolled our sleeping pallets and slept.
The next day was the last day, and it was then that the rest of the teams filed in. There were twenty-four of us total and when the time came, we were bidden to file into a room and get into rows. At the head of the room were two giant stone arms forming a hand seal; there was a stage, where the Hokage was standing with our sensei's standing behind him. The chunin that had greeted us were lined up in a v formation with Anko-sama in the middle. On either side of the room, there were metal walkways that ran parallel to one another along the length of the room.
"Does anyone else think this looks like an arena?" Akari muttered under her breath as we walked in.
Coking my head to the side, I could see what she meant. There were stairs leading up to the walkways, so people could look down at what was going on in the floor below, and the stage was in front of us. I wondered what they could be up to as we all lined up.
"First of all, congratulations on completing the second exam." Anko-sama said, a microphone magnifying her voice so that is was easily heard. "Alright, now pay attention. Lord Hokage is going to explain the rules of the third exam to you. You better pay attention, Maggots! Lord Hokage, they are all yours."
"First, before I tell you what the third exam entails. I want to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you think we hold these exams?" Lord Hokage said, after stepping forward to address us. "To test your abilities as ninja and to develop friendships between nations, for sure, but it's important you understand it's true meaning - The exams are, so to speak, they are the representation of the battle between allied nations."
The Hokage went ahead to explain how we all used to be nations at war and how they used to pick champions to go fight at a predetermined location. He explained that we were fighting for the pride of our nation in front of many guests, and that they came to see us fight; the strong nations will get flooded with jobs because they have strong shinobi and the weak will suffer from a lack because not many will want to hire them. Takeshi-sensei had explained all of this to us before, it's one of the reasons I was willing to give the scroll over to Shikamaru and Choji; the more representation our village has, the better it is for us as a village. No sense in unduly eliminating someone from the same village if it could be helped.
As the Hokage was about to tell us what exactly the third exam was, a Jounin from Konoha dropped down into a kneel in front of him and asked to speak. He declared himself Hayate Gekko, and he was going to be the proctor for our third exam. After the Hokage gave his permission, Hayate turned towards us to begin speaking. I frowned slightly to myself when I noticed the constant cough he had; I wonder if he was sick or if he always sounded like that? It did not sound very healthy.
"There's something I would like all of you to do before the third exam." Hayate started, interrupting himself with a coughing fit. "Uh, we have to have a preliminary exam before we move onto the real one."
"Preliminary?" Shikamaru burst out, looking pissed off. "Just what do you mean by that?"
"I'm sorry, Sensei excuse me." A pink-haired kunoichi said, interrupting politely. I believe her name was Sakura, she was on Kakashi-san's team with Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. "But I really don't see the point. Why can't we just move onto the third exam?"
"Uh, well you see, the first and second exam might have been too easy. The fact is, we never expected so many of you to still be here." Hayate admitted "According to the rules of the chunin exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage to reduce the number of participants. It's just that, at this stage, we have to speed things up a bit. As Lord Hokage said, a lot of important guests will be watching and we can't afford to waste their time; they only came to see the best. If any of you feel you are not in top, physical condition, now's your chance to bow out. The preliminaries will start immediately."
"Come on! Right now?" shouted the Inuzuka boy
"We just finished surviving the last one." Ino complained, a heartbroken look on her face at not getting to rest anymore. We were all looking worse for wear, to be truthful, but at least we had slept for a night. "Don't we get a break?"
"What a drag." I heard Shikamaru complain, making my lips twitch as I fought a smile. Choji then wondered when they would be able to eat and I had the same problem; what was up with this team? I was interested to see them fight if they complained this much.
"Oh yeah, the winners will be chosen by one on one combat; if anyone does not feel up to it, please raise your hand." Hayate said, pausing and looking around the room.
Akari snorted quietly next to me, glancing at me as well "As if anyone would actually give up now. Who would come all this-"
"Okay, you got me. I'm out." A silver-haired boy with glasses said in a friendly voice. I frowned, looking him over; he was not the most battered out of us. I probably looked worse than he did; I mean, we were ninja for Kami's sake, fighting when we should give up was what we do. What was he playing at?
"Kabuto?" Naruto said, looking confused as Hayate gave him permission to step back. "Hold on a second, you can't quit! I don't get this, what's going on?"
"Oh Naruto, I'm sorry." Kabuto replied, looking back at the eccentric leaf genin. "My body is just too beat up. I can't hack it. I can't hear in my left ear after fighting the sound ninja"
Akari and I both looked at one another, then we looked to Rafu; He was already watching us, shaking his head slightly. He had noticed the same thing we had. That guy was barely hurt, he could fight if he wanted too. Something else was going on, no hearing or not. Kabuto started to leave and one of his teammates seemed to be fighting with him in hushed voices, grabbing his arm, but Kabuto jerked out of his grip and finally stepped away after waving one more time to Naruto.
After Hayate asked if anyone else would withdraw, and two other ninja from Kusagakure, we were told that the matches would begin. They used two machines to randomly decide who would face who in battle, while all of the others would watch from above. There were no rules, we would fight until death or someone conceded their loss. Hayate told us he would intervene if a match was hopeless, to save as many lives as possible. We all watched with baited breath as names scrolled on the machine, finally coming to a stop on Sasuke Uchiha and another leaf genin named Yoroi Akado. The rest of us filed onto the walkways to watch the fight as the two prepared.
We climbed the stairs, going onto one side with all of the other ninja from our village along with our sensei's. I watched Kakashi-sama as he stopped halfway on the walkway, and Takeshi-sensei kept walking past him. I stopped in front of Kakashi-sama while Akari and Rafu kept walking, shooting me curious looks that I waved off.
"Kakashi-sama." I bowed respectfully, a thin smile on my lips for the elusive copy ninja.
"Ren." Kakashi greeted, his eyes flicking down to the paint on my cheeks as they always did. It was his partner, Rin Nohara, who saved me and brought me back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I wore the green paint, as she wore purple, to honor her memory much in the same way that Kakashi-sama did by naming me after her before giving me to the orphanage. It was my goal to serve and protect the village, even if it meant my life, in the same way that she did; I owed her and Kakashi-sama a lot, so I went out of my way to say hello to Kakashi every time I saw him. I think it may have made him a bit uncomfortable, but I felt it was something I had to do.
"I am glad your team has made it through the exams as far as they have." I told him
"Yes, they are full of surprises." Kakashi responded casually, although there was tension in his shoulders. "Your team has done well, I see."
"Yes, Takeshi-sensei is a wonderful teacher." I said, my eyes flicking over to him. I could feel Naruto and Sakura both looking at Kakashi and I with growing curiosity as they noticed the exchange, so I figured it was time for me to walk away and rejoin my team, who just so happened to be standing beside Asuma Sarutobi's. Sometimes I truly hated Akari for putting me in these situations, it was a testament to my patience that I did not murder her.
"I hope your pupil does well and wins his match." I said in parting, bowing once more before walking away. I heard Naruto loudly ask Kakashi how he knew me and why he had never mentioned me before.
I walked up to my other teammates and turned to watch the fight as it began. They both began by throwing ranged weapons but they quickly closed in on one another, fighting with taijutsu. Sasuke got the upperhand for a moment, pinning Yoroi to the ground, but something happened to Sasuke to make him curl up on the ground in pain. Yoroi then gripped his head tightly in one hand, and Sasuke looked as though he was struggling.
"He's draining his chakra." Rafu told us, a sympathetic look on his face as he watched the Uchiha's fight.
"Draining his chakra?" Akari repeated, horror struck. "How is he doing that?"
"I'm not sure." Rafu replied, shaking his head sadly. "It's not good though for Sasuke though."
"He'll still win!" Ino said, looking over at them with a frown. "Sasuke is the best, there's no way he can lose."
"He needs to get away from his hand." Shikamaru said, joining the conversation. "That's how he is stealing the chakra."
"Easier said than done." Asuma commented, just as Sasuke was finally released from the hold Yoroi had on him. The two went back at it once more and I could see Sasuke's mind racing as he tried to figure out a strategy. That was when Naruto started yelling at him, it almost sounded like jeering, and it seemed to snap Sasuke out of his head. He quickly dodged all of Yoroi's attacks before he moved so quickly it seemed he disappeared for a moment, He kicked Yoroi up in the air and then followed him up, their bodies parallel to one another. Sasuke released a barrage of hits on Yoroi then; a kick, a back hand, a punch, and then one last kick that slammed him into the ground. They both collapsed and the room was silent for a moment. Hayate went over to Yoroi to see, declared him unconscious, and Sasuke struggled to his feet. He was then declared the winner of his match. Kakashi-sama quickly moved down to help Sasuke up to his feet and they both walked out of the room, Kakashi-sama's shoulder just s tense as they had been earlier. My eyebrows rose, wondering what that was about, but shook off the thought as we prepared to see who would fight next.
"Next up to fight - Akari Hatori and Rafu Akiyama." Hayate announced, looking up at both of my friends. I looked to Takeshi-sensei in shock; I didn't think two teammates would have to fight. Can't they rechoose?
"What?" Akari asked numbly, looking to Takeshi-sensei as well. Takeshi had a wry smile on his face, one more of acceptance than any form of positive emotion. I looked between my friends and felt terrible; I have no idea what I would do in their position. The two of them went down to the arena, facing one another on each side. I could see the conflicted looks on their faces and wondered how the match would play out.
"I can't believe two teammates are going to fight.." Choji said, looking at me but speaking to Shikamaru. "Who do you think will win?"
"I don't know." Shikamaru said, never taking his eyes off of my two friends. "Who knows if they'll actually give it their all since they are teammates? I would forfeit."
"Get ready." Hayate announced, looking between Akari and Rafu. "Fight."
Rafu looked pained for a moment, glancing up at both of us for a moment, before looking at Akari with an apologetic look on his face. I sighed to myself, drawing Shikamaru and Choji's attention, because I knew what was going to happen now. Takeshi-sensei most likely did as well, but he kept his thoughts to himself as he watched on in silence.
"I surrender." Rafu said, raising one hand up and looking towards Hayate.
"No you don't." Akari practically growled, her usually attractive face screwing up in anger. She sprinted forward, her wildly curly hair swinging in its ponytail behind her, and did a roundhouse kick towards Rafu's face.
Rafu caught her foot and let it down, grabbing her in a hug and muttering something to her. She stopped fighting and pulled away, looking at Hayate Gekko and waiting for him to announce her as the winner by default. They both walked up the stairs again, neither of them saying anything to each other on the way up. I clapped them both on the shoulder, my face conveying sympathy for the hard situation, and I was surprised Choji spoke up.
"Why did you surrender?" He asked Rafu
Rafu, for his part, looked confused for a moment but he finally responded. "I knew she would win anyway, we have fought in the past often enough; this way, no one will be able to see what she is capable of, making her a wild card, and giving my teammate an advantage in the next stage."
"Oh, wow." Ino said, looking at her own teammates thoughtfully. "I never thought of it like that."
The next match was a short one, Shino Aburame vs Zaku Abumi, who was one of the sound ninja. Zaku was also the ninja with both arms in a sling; by the end of it, I wondered if he had been faking the entire time because he was able to move both arms before Shino won the fight. I must admit, the bugs that Shino guy had really creeped me out when they came out of his skin like that. I shivered, wondering what that must feel like, before pushing the thought out of my mind.
After they cleared the floor, Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno were up next. They started out fighting one another but they were both pulling their punches, neither of them trying to actually hurt the other one. It was honestly kind of pathetic, more like sparring than actually fighting, but I could not judge because I would most likely do the same if fighting someone I cared for as well. Shikamaru was the one who pointed it out to Naruto that they were not seriously fighting, making me roll my eyes and wonder how Naruto had gotten this far when he couldn't even tell when two people were really fighting. I was severely confused when Ino cut her hair and threw it at Sakura's feet, thinking she was being dramatic, but I hadn't given her enough credit. She had thrown a rope with her hair, securing Sakura so she could cast her jutsu on her.
"Mind Transfer Technique!" Ino said, and they both slumped over for a moment.
"Oh Kami." I uttered, my face flushing completely red and my fists tightened on the rail. My knuckles clenched the bar until they were white and I clenched my jaw. I was almost shaking in fury.
"What's wrong?" Akari asked with a frown, looking down at my hands and then to my flushed face. "Ren?"
I could see out of the corner of my eye Shikamaru look over in curiosity when Akari asked me that and I clenched my jaw harder, keeping absolutely silent and still, my eyes staring straight ahead and never leaving the fight between Ino and Sakura. Akari put a hand on my shoulder and I rolled it off without thinking. I could tell she was exchanging looks with Takeshi and Rafu but couldn't bring myself to care. The reason I was so angry was because I recognised the expression on Sakura's face. It was the same look on Shikamaru's when we first sat beside one another during the first exam, right before he had said that I was cute; He had gotten the same dazed expression that was on her face right now.
I looked over at Shikamaru slightly and he balked for a moment when his eyes met mine, my eyes glaring into his and my face was most likely showing how angry I felt at the moment because I couldn't control it. I had never felt more humiliated in my life, and right now? That was translating right into anger. I could tell you the exact second that he realised that I knew it had been Ino that had called me cute, that I knew he had never bothered to mention it and let me keep making a fool out of myself in front of him afterwards. I was angry at him, I was angry at Ino for not having the guts to tell me herself after the exam had ended, and I was angry at myself for even putting myself in the situation to begin with.
'How could I have been so stupid?' I thought, clenching the bar so tight I thought it would break.
"Ren, talk to me." Akari said, making me tear my eyes away from Shikamaru's own wide ones. "What's going on right now? I'm worried. What happened?"
"I've seen that technique before." I told her quietly, looking towards the center of the room even as Sakura and Ino knocked each other out, making them both lose.
"Where?" Akari asked, confused
"Ino used it on the first exam." I explained through gritted teeth, finally looking at Akari. "She exchanged minds with Shikamaru. She was the one who called me cute."
"Oh, kami." Akari said, surprise flickering on her face before she shot me a sympathetic look and grabbed my shoulder. "Oh Ren.."
"Stop." I told her quietly, refusing to look in Shikamaru's direction. "Not here."
"Okay." Akari said quietly, backing off and leaving me be.
Hayate stepped up and read the next names off the list, I had not even heard the machine begin to choose because of the pounding in my ears. It was my name that caused me to look up quickly. "Ren versus Madan Harada."
It was the one Kusagakure ninja who had not withdrawn when both of his teammates had. I looked over the other ninja; he had a nasty scar across one of his cheeks and he was significantly bigger than me. I wasn't intimidated but I knew it was to my advantage if I could end the match as quickly as possible. He looked strong, and with me not being at peak strength, it would not take too many hits for me to be out of commission. I walked towards the stairs so I could go down to where the fight would take place, not looking at Shikamaru at all and letting the burning anger turn into a cold fury.
"Wow, that guy is like twice his size." I heard Naruto comment, looking over at the Kusa ninja and speaking to Kakashi. "He could probably pick up that Ren guy with one hand!"
"Don't underestimate him." was Kakashi's glib response, and I tuned them out as I walked down to meet my opponent.
"Are you two ready?" Hayate asked us, receiving a nod in response. "Begin."
"I'm going to smack you around for awhile before I beat you senseless." the Shinobi from Kusagakure said, smiling sadistically at me. I didn't respond, instead moving my headband to cover my eyes so that I couldn't see with my normal vision. I heard the whispers start to break out as people asked if I was really covering my eyes and wondered how I was going to fight blind, wondering what they would think if they knew I saw more than most of them ever would.
"Too scared to look, little leaf?" I heard the grass ninja asked mockingly "Shaking in your tree?"
"I don't need to see to beat you." I said, smirking and activating my dojutsu "Are we going to talk or fight?"
I jumped, twisting my body in the air as I saw him throw two shuriken at me. I felt them whizz by me as I dodged them, but I was already watching him begin to charge me; next he would come in for a couple of punches before trying an earth release technique.
I blocked them as he struck, flipping backwards and avoiding the floor turning into mud. I grabbed an arrow from my quiver and loaded it in my bow while in air, firing down towards the kusagakure ninja, smirking as he caught it in his hand. I threw my bow onto my back and the arrow exploded in his hand; while he was distracted I did a sweeping kick, knocking him off his feet and threw a punch at him with as much force as I could towards his head. I felt the ground crack as I made contact with it, rolled to my side to avoid his uppercut, and then put my arms together to block his kick. I jumped up in the air to put some distance between us, but he grabbed my ankle and squeezed tight. I shouted out, cringing as I felt him twist my ankle.
'I need to finish this quick.' I thought, and felt the grass ninja throw me towards the wall. I let the momentum carry me and just before I hit, I turned to spread my weight evenly out and caught myself. I used my feet to push off the wall and put chakra into the push, speeding towards Madan quickly. He hadn't expected me to catch myself, just like I had seen, and so I kicked him in the jaw, lifting him into the air. I jumped after him, punching him in the ribs once and then again on his upper body, lifting him higher into the air. I did a front flip and brought my foot down straight into his stomach, driving him into the ground with a sickening crunch.
I stood up, leaning on my good leg more than the one the guy had almost crushed during the fight, and deactivated my dojutsu, lifting my headband to uncover my eyes. The room was silent and Hayate Gekko was checking to see if Madan was down for the count.
"The winner is Ren." Hayate said, looking me over carefully. I nodded and walked up towards my teammates, Akari cheering loudly and the other two proudly smiling at me.
"How did he fight that whole thing blind, Kakashi-sensei?" I heard Naruto ask, sounding dumbstruck. "He countered that guy's every move."
"Yeah, it was like he knew what the guy was going to do before he did it." Shikamaru said as well
"And he did it all blindfolded." Choji added, watching me as I walked past. I refused to look at any of them, focusing on Akari and Rafu waiting for me towards the end. My chakra was low, my foot hurt bad enough that it may be fractured, and I was still pretty mad about how humiliated I felt about the Shikamaru, Ino thing.
"Nice work." Akari said, clapping me on the back.
"Thanks." I mumbled, looking at Rafu with a pleading look and smiling when he gave me an indulgent look in return.
"Want me to look at your foot?" Rafu asked, already bending down
"Yes please." I replied, sighing heavily in relief as I sat down. Rafu's arm was already glowing green and my eyes started to close of their own accord.
'Huh, I guess I'm going to sleep.' I thought exhaustively, vision going black and slipping into sleep.
A/N: Well, another chapter! Please review and let me know what you think! Poor Ren ;( feeling so embarrassed!