Hinata had watched all of the matches intently, but her mind kept drifting toward her cousin, who stood with his team on the other side of the hall with the Sand, Cloud, and Sound teams. His glare was so oppressive that she hid behind Naruto during the whole first half, and as they came back out for the second half, she found herself hiding again.
Naruto turned around and looked at her, saying "What's wrong, Hinata?"
"It's Neji..." Hinata mumbled. "He's glaring at me. Ever since Father began to get nicer, Neji's been getting meaner. He can't beat up on me now, so he does little things that Father can't see... I think he really wants to kill me."
"I believe in you, Hinata. You're strong enough to ignore him," Naruto responded in a low voice, hugging her tightly.
"But what if I have to fight him?" Hinata asked.
"Then you'll just kick his butt," Naruto replied. "Right?" He flashed his brightest smile, and Hinata couldn't help but feel weak as she nodded. "See? That's the Hinata I know. Now let's watch the matches. Who knows, maybe he'll fight Gaara and he'll put Neji in his place."
Hinata looked over at the red-haired boy and immediately felt that she'd rather her cousin win than Gaara. She almost sighed in relief as Gaara, whose picture had appeared on the screen, was accompanied by Sakura's picture. Relief was quickly replaced by panic, though, as she remembered what Sakura had told them about his skill in the forest. Turning, she said to Sakura, "Forfeit this match!"
"Of course... there's no way I'm fighting him," Sakura responded as she walked down the stairs. She crossed her arms as Gaara walked down and stood across from her, and although it was difficult to force her fear down, she managed it as she leveled her eyes with him. "Just so you know, I'm not going to bother fighting you, so don't expect to do anything."
"Answer my question, and I shall let you escape with your life," Gaara replied. "Mother does not want your blood."
"That's a relief," Sakura replied half-sarcastically. "Fine, I'll try to answer it as best I can."
Gaara nodded. "Tell me why the thought of you has replaced many of the thoughts in my mind ever since I saw you that day, when Kankuro was being his foolish self."
Sakura was taken back; she thought for sure it would be a difficult question. "I'm sorry, do you mean you've been thinking about me for the past week?"
"Without ceasing, and I do not know why," Gaara responded. "It has frustrated me to no end, because it is only when Mother wants someone's blood that I can focus on a person. However, Mother has made it clear that your blood is not desired, yet I still cannot think of anything aside from you."
Sakura blushed as she realized what was going on. "Uh, I think I know what you're asking, but why not ask your teammate, Temari, about it?" She barely had any time to dodge a blast of sand.
"I must know, and you're the only one who will listen without assuming that I am going to kill you. In all honesty, of course, I probably would have, but for some reason the thought of killing you is sickening." Gaara held his head as if in pain. "Be quick... Mother is getting impatient."
"You're in love with me," Sakura replied, her face matching her hair. "I can't imagine why, since you don't even know me."
"Love..." Gaara muttered. "... What is love?"
"Uh... well..." By this time, people were starting to shout at them to get on with the match or forfeit, but all were quickly silenced as Temari and Kankuro shouted for them to shut up before Gaara grabbed any of them and shut them up permanently. "Well, I don't really understand love myself, but I do know that one of the things about love is that you can't stop thinking about someone, and when you do you feel happy. Kurenai-sensei says that there's far more to love than that, though."
"I see... and where can I find this... 'Kurenai-sensei'?" Gaara asked.
Sakura turned and pointed to Kurenai, who was standing with Chouji. "That's her, right there, but maybe this conversation should be saved until after the preliminaries. I'll tell her that you want to talk to her. Is that okay?"
"I suppose so... Mother has been screaming for blood, and I am nearly at my limit, so I must at least depart into the forest to kill non-humans in there. Excuse me," Gaara replied, then turned to leave.
"Alright." Sakura raised her hand and shouted, "I give up!"
The proctor, who had been listening to the whole conversation, blinked as he said, "Uh, alright... Haruno Sakura has forfeited; Gaara of the Sand is the winner."
Chouji and Sasuke looked at Sakura oddly as she walked up. "What did you two talk about? I thought he was going to turn you into shepherd's pie as soon as the proctor said to begin," Chouji asked.
"Nothing, he just wanted to know something," Sakura replied as she turned to the ring, still blushing as she watched Gaara walk out of the room. Chouji and Sasuke looked at each other and shrugged, then turned back to the screen, which showed the pictures of Shikamaru and Temari.
"Nara Shikamaru vs. Temari of the Sand." The two genin made their way down to the floor and stood opposite to each other. Temari, Shikamaru noted, stood poised and ready to attack with the giant weapon on her back. Shikamaru, of course, was in his loose, lazy stance, which confused Temari to no end.
"Hey, are you ready to begin?" Temari asked.
Shikamaru bit back a "troublesome" comment and instead said, "Let's just get this over with so I can go cloud-watching."
"Hmph, I'll teach you to underestimate me," Temari responded as she pulled out her fan. When the proctor shouted for the match to begin, she said "I won't need more than a quarter-moon to finish this-" She almost missed the quick flick of Shikamaru's wrist, which had sent a kunai headed at her. She blocked with her fan and snorted. "Don't expect me to get done in by cheap tricks. Wind-style: Wind Scythe jutsu!" With a sweep of her fan, she sent large blades of air, which eclipsed that of Kosuke, at Shikamaru. The battle continued on in a similar fashion to the battle between Ino and Kosuke, with Shikamaru doing his best to dodge Temari's attacks. Every time he got room, he muttered "Earth-style: Earth Spike jutsu" and a pillar of rock would shoot through the floor of the stadium. 'Strange, those pillars protect him from my quarter-moon, but he then dodges to another place. There's a lot of them now...' Opening her fan to half-moon, she broke down all of the pillars and smirked. "Hey, your strategy isn't working; not only are you a horrible aim with your jutsu, those pillars weren't strong enough to block my half-moon." She saw him smirking and holding an unusual sign, and as she moved to swing again, she realized that she couldn't move. Looking down with her eyes, she saw a shadow darting from each rock pile to the next, starting from Shikamaru and ending at her own shadow.
"Actually, my plan worked perfectly. The Earth Pillar jutsu is a low-level jutsu that allowed me to add natural shadows to the field, no matter if the spikes stayed up or were broken to pieces by your wind." Shikamaru began imitating folding the fan up, which Temari found herself doing. "Goodnight, Sand Princess," he said as he quickly brought his arms up to his head, which forced Temari to smack herself with the metal part of her giant fan, which easily knocked her out. The shadow quickly retreated back to him and he lazily made his way back to the platform, thinking 'It's a good thing she got impatient; if I'd had to make any more pillars, that plan would not have worked.'
"Akimichi Chouji vs. Kankuro of the Sand!" The next battle was vicious, as Kankuro displayed the power of his puppets and Chouji used his Partial Expansion to deflect the puppet's attacks and attack Kankuro. Kankuro taunted Chouji, but this only pissed the big-boned ninja off and made him use his Human Boulder jutsu. Kankuro really had no chance; one puppet was completely demolished, and the second could not penetrate Chouji's strengthened skin to administer the poison that was on its blades and ended up losing its arms. Kankuro himself tried to attack, but even that turned out to be a puppet as Chouji knocked the log on his back into the wall, revealing an unconscious Kankuro. Chouji returned to his team, cheering with the rest of the Rookie Nine, while Kankuro (who was woken up by Temari and her bottle of smelling-salts) was glad that Gaara had left already so that he wouldn't have to speak of his failure.
The only one not cheering was Hinata, who was muttering "Please let me fight Lee... or even Naruto..." Unfortunately, the screen displayed a far different outcome.
"Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji." Rock Lee, in addition to Naruto and several of the Rookie Nine, shouted objections to the fairness of making family members fight each other, but the proctor blew a whistle and said, "All decisions are final. It may not be a nice setup, but it's final."
"Hmph, as well it should," Neji said as he walked up to the starting point. "They know that Hinata cannot beat me, so they hope to put someone stronger out, though it does not matter; even Lee is not as strong as I am. Only Sasuke and Gaara could ever hope to match me, and they've already had their turn."
"As if... Gaara would flatten him in an instant," Temari muttered. Kankuro nodded in agreement, but said nothing.
Hinata had frozen for a second, but an encouraging pat on the shoulder by Naruto shook her out of her stupor. His smile warmed her up again and gave her the courage to walk down the stairs to face Neji.
"You may have the blessing of your father now," Neji said arrogantly, "but that does not mean that you have any hope at defeating me. Give up and go home, or better yet, retreat with your blond boyfriend when you remember how upset Uncle will be once he finds out that you lost to me, just like every. Other. Time."
Hinata closed her eyes and forced her muscles to relax as her Byakugan flared to life. "You can keep your comments to yourself. Win or lose, you will see that I have improved. I do not wish to be better than you, my dear brother Neji. I just want us to love each other as family should."
"That will never happen!" Neji shouted as his own Byakugan activated. "The Hyuuga family is bound by fate to be split into the main family and the branch family, never to be reconciled!" With that, the two began a dance of blue chakra-fire as each tried to gain an advantage over the other by closing off chakra points in the other's arms. "Hate is our destiny, not love! Love is weak; hate is strong! That's why you've always been weak!" Blasting Hinata back, he got into a stance and said, "You're in my range of divination: one palm, two palms, four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty-two palms!" As he did this, his arms quickly lanced out and hit Hinata's arms, legs, and chest. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" Hinata backpedaled and knelt down, coughing up blood as Neji stood in front of her, triumphantly.
"You've done enough, Hinata!" "Get out of there!" the voices of the Rookie Nine rang out, seeing the murder in Neji's eyes.
"Your friends may be weak, but they're smart," Neji commented. "Go ahead, give up. Who knows, maybe he'll just put the Caged Bird seal on you."
Hinata's eyes watered as she began to raise her hand, but one voice rang out. "Don't give in to him, Hinata! I believe in you! Remember what you've been taught!" Naruto shouted. "You know how to beat him!"
The fire returned to her eyes as she stood up. "You're right, Naruto... I forgot that I did that already..." Hinata muttered as she stood up. "Neji, no matter how badly you treat me or anyone else, it won't stop my love for you. I've always looked up to you as an older brother... as someone to aspire to... but I have to blaze my own path now. I won't stand in your shadow any longer..." Her hands blazed with chakra as she shot forward, but before they could hit Neji he reached out and began sealing her chakra points again.
"I know you changed your chakra flow to avoid being affected by my attacks, but it's useless," Neji said. Each hit he landed weakened the girl further, until she could barely stand. "And now, the finishing move. Rest in peace!" Just before he reached her, though, hands reached out and restrained Neji.
"You've won the bout, Neji," the proctor said, who pulled out a short sword and leveled it against Neji's neck. "Don't push your luck."
"Bah... you've gotten off lucky," Ignoring the proctor, Neji spat at Hinata as he relaxed. As soon as he did so, she collapsed. "We'll see how long you last..."
"I'd pay more attention to my surroundings if I were you," Kakashi muttered. "Look up, if you don't mind." Neji did and found everyone that had not come down to the floor restraining Naruto, whose eyes seemed to be blazing as red as Sasuke's Sharingan. "If you had followed through, you'd be nothing more than a mass of blood and burnt skin right now."
"Hmph, as if a weakling like that could beat me," Neji said as he shook the jonin loose and turned to leave.
"NEJI!" the roar of Naruto's voice commanded, practically forcing Neji to turn around. Naruto, whose eyes were still red, leaped down to the ground, picked up some of Hinata's blood, and held it out to Neji. "I swear on her blood that, when we meet in battle next month, I will avenge her." Closing his fist around the blood, they both felt, solidified the vow.
"..." Neji scowled and walked off hurriedly, not wanting to be there. He would never admit it then, but he knew instinctively that Naruto meant every word and could back it up.
Naruto turned and knelt down to hold Hinata, his eyes having returned to their crystal-blue color. "You did well, Hinata. I'm proud of you- we're all proud of you, and I know that your father is proud of you. Rest well... I'll see you in the hospital."
"Thank... you... Naruto..." Hinata whispered. Just then, medics came in and began tending to her. They put her on a stretcher and quickly set off for the main hospital in the village proper, since the tower didn't have the right facilities to treat her.
"Uh, everyone, please return to the platforms for the last match: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Rock Lee," the proctor shouted. With that, everyone but Naruto and Lee returned to where they were standing.
"My friend Naruto, please accept my deepest apologies in regards to my comrade!" Lee shouted. "I never could have imagined that he would go so far, and on his own cousin! If I cannot set Neji on the right course, I swear I shall-"
"Later, Lee," Naruto said as he tightened his headband. Smearing Hinata's blood on the metal of his headband, he said, "We have a match to fight, and I'm not about to lose."
"I would gladly forfeit and allow you to move forward and administer justice, but I know you would never allow me to simply quit, and you know that there is no part of my being that would allow me to quit anyway. Whoever wins gets to defend Hinata's honor on the field of combat," Lee responded as he settled into his fighting stance.
"Agreed. You've worked too hard for this," Naruto replied. "Weights or no weights?"
"Take your weights off," Lee replied. "Without them, you're almost as fast as I am with my weights. I want to make sure we both have an equal chance to win."
Naruto nodded and tossed his weights behind him. They collided with the wall and sat in the new cubbyholes that the impacts made. "Let's go. Shadow Clone jutsu!" Four copies of Naruto appeared around him and split up, jumping around erratically.
"Do you think such a petty trick will confuse me? Remember, I am a student of Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted as he leaped at one and landed a hit, knocking Naruto out of the sky. While the four Shadow Clones continued jumping around, Naruto and Lee were locked in a fistfight.
"How did Naruto get so good?" Sakura asked. "He's keeping up with Lee, and I know for a fact that Lee is the fastest one out of all of us Leaf genin!"
"Lee still is," Tenten said as she walked over to where the Rookie Nine were standing. "He hasn't taken off his training weights. They want to fight on equal grounds."
Kiba, who had just returned from the infirmary, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, they want to decide who will fight for Hinata's honor. I guess both of them were offended by Neji's actions, just like we all were. Hinata's alright, though she'll be out for a couple of days to a week, but if she hadn't done whatever it was she did she'd probably be out for at least a month."
"A month!?" Ino gasped. "That bastard! I'm so going to wring his neck the next time I see that stuck-up prick!"
"Don't forget, Ino, we used to be attracted to stuck-up pricks," Sakura reminded her, "so we probably don't have any room to talk. Anyway, I'm glad to hear she's alright. I'm going to go visit her once Naruto's fight is done." Ino nodded in agreement.
Tenten smiled and said, "I'm glad to see you three sticking together. I'm going to go visit her, too; Neji's going to spend the whole month training solo, so I'm not going to bother spending time with him." She sighed. "I was really hoping things were getting better at the Hyuuga home, but I guess not."
"Hinata had said that things were getting better with her father, but not with Neji," Shikamaru commented. "He's been treating her even worse, since I suppose he can't beat up on her anymore. That match was probably a lot of pent-up hostility released in one brutal assault. I have to hand it to Hinata, though; she lasted far longer this time than she used to. I hope her father doesn't react too rashly, on either of them." They all nodded as they turned back to the match. Nothing, it seemed, had changed in the past several minutes that they'd been talking. Both of them were punching, kicking, and blocking expertly. 'That's to be expected, since Naruto and Lee spend much of their solo training time training with each other. What is Naruto going to do with those Shadow Clones, though?'
Lee had been thinking the same thing, but he got his answer as he made it through Naruto's defense and punched him in the face, only to have it disappear on him. 'When did he switch a Shadow Clone in!?' Lee thought as he quickly reacted, catching a roundhouse from behind. "Nice job, Naruto, but not good enough!" Lee flipped Naruto over and slammed him into the ground, but frowned as that one, too, disappeared. 'Another one...' He looked around and counted five Naruto bodies running around. 'The Shadow Clone is one impressive skill... he must be trying to wear me down.'
"Water-style: Water Dragon jutsu!" a Naruto shouted as a large dragon appeared behind him and launched itself at Lee, who began dodging as he was chased down. Soon, however, the taijutsu expert was being chased by five Water Dragons that were as fast as he was moving, and soon he found himself cornered. "Got you now!"
"I don't want to open the Gates... Naruto would be dead if I opened even the First Gate, but if I want to win I don't have a choice." He looked up at Gai, who shook his head. Lee nodded back and dropped his weights, then kicked them at the Water Dragons. The Dragons exploded and a couple of people had to duck as the missiles embedded themselves in the wall far deeper than Naruto's had. He disappeared from view and began knocking Naruto around. Kicking him into the air, he unwrapped his arm straps and bound Naruto. "Let me show you one of my techniques. This is the Primary Lotus!" He grabbed Naruto and spun as they fell into the ground. Lee then jumped out of the impact crater and bowed. "My apolo- ack!" He found himself sent into the wall and recalled, too late, that there had been five Water Dragons. He slammed into the wall with the same force he'd slammed Naruto into the ground with, and fell to the ground.
"Uh... Uzumaki? Rock Lee?" the proctor asked. "Well, I guess that they're both-"
"Wait!" a strained voice shouted. Out of the crater Naruto crawled, holding a wound from his head that seemed to be gushing blood. "I can still fight..."
"As... can... I..." Lee said as he picked himself up. No one could tell, but Lee had suffered broken ribs that were making it difficult for him to breathe, and one of his arms was broken as well. A cut on his forehead and being covered in water and dust were the only signs of his having taken a hit. The two of them walked up to each other and nodded once, then wound up and punched each other in the head. For a moment, neither moved, and the crowd gasped in anticipation. Finally, Lee fell to the ground and whispered, "You had... the advantage... longer... reach..." He looked up and cracked a smile, giving Naruto a thumbs-up. "Teach Neji..." With that, he finally fell asleep.
"I guess *cough* Naruto will be moving on to the *cough* next round," the proctor said as he examined Lee, "though I suppose it's a good thing *cough-cough* for him it's not now. Someone get the medics and tend to these two. *cough* The rest of you, I look forward to seeing next month." Coughing up a storm, he left the room and the genin dispersed.
…
Naruto had shaken the medics that were coming to check on him, determined to visit Hinata. Shikamaru quickly joined up with him, and soon Saito and Yuugao were with them as they entered the hospital and made their way to Hinata's bed. On their way in, they met Hiashi and Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi, who stared at Naruto with intense curiosity as they left. Only Shikamaru noticed, though, as everyone else's attention was focused on Hinata, who was still unconscious.
"I can only let you visit for a minute," the attending nurse said. "Miss Hinata hasn't awoken yet, though Lord Hiashi was kind enough to open her chakra points so as to speed her recovery." Noticing Naruto's head wound, she asked "Young man, should you be up and about with such a serious injury? It looks like you've lost a lot of blood, too..."
"Oh, no, this is nothing new," Naruto replied hastily. "I just haven't had much of a chance to clean up the blood."
"I see. Very well, then," the nurse replied, then turned to Saito and Yuugao. "I expect that Miss Hinata will be up and about within a week, but it might be a day or two before she wakes up."
"Thank you, ma'am," Saito responded, bowing. "Come on, everyone, let's go. We need to set up a training schedule for the two of you."
"Go ahead, sensei. I'll catch up," Naruto replied.
Saito looked at him and said, "Naruto, there's nothing you can do for her right now. The only thing you can do is train and get ready to face Neji and Gaara in the finals."
"Please, sensei?" Naruto asked earnestly. "I..."
Saito sighed and nodded. "We'll step out, but you can only have a couple of minutes, if it's alright with the nurse."
"It's fine with me, but this technically is against protocol," the nurse responded as she followed behind Saito and the others.
As soon as the door closed, Naruto moved over to the side of Hinata's bed and took her hand. "I'm so sorry... I knew that Neji was too strong for any of us, except maybe Shikamaru, to beat, but I encouraged you to stand and fight anyway. It was stupid, and it nearly cost you your life..." Tears welled up in Naruto's eyes. "Please forgive me, though I don't deserve it. I promise, I'll save Neji or die trying." Driven by an impulse he didn't understand, he leaned forward and kissed Hinata on her cheek, and as he did a couple of tears fell onto Hinata's cheek. "I'll be back tomorrow, believe it." Drying his eyes, he left Hinata to recover and joined the others outside.
Later, the two genin found themselves at their usual training field. "Both of you performed admirably," Saito responded. "I was originally going to pull you all out before the third part began, because I'm still not convinced that any of you have what it takes to be promoted to the rank of chunin. For one thing, you still don't have enough experience in the different types of assignments, and you're not mature enough to handle running missions on your own. However, circumstances have drastically changed, and all of you are going to be needed to take part in the final test of the Chunin Exam."
"What, exactly, has changed?" Shikamaru asked.
"We're facing war, and it will likely take place here in the village," Saito responded. "You weren't going to be told, but, like I said, circumstances have changed. The other main point is that most of you did so well in your respective matches that, if we were to pull you, it would upset the balance of the final battles."
"Is it the Sand Village? Aren't they our ally, though?" Naruto asked.
"Possibly, but like Shikamaru probably figured out the Sound Village is going to run it. We also have reason to believe that Orochimaru is, in fact, the leader of the Sound Village, but we have no concrete proof," Yuugao answered. "That Gaara kid is probably their ace-in-the-hole."
"Gaara did say something about his mother wanting Sasuke's blood, but Sai, Haku's teammate, said that there's been no bad blood between the Uchiha and the Sand Village," Naruto commented.
"His 'mother'?" Saito asked. "But his mother has been dead since his birth; she died giving birth to him. Curious... why would he think his mother is still alive? His father never remarried, so it couldn't be a stepmother..."
"Wait, do you actually know who Gaara is?" Shikamaru asked.
"Yeah, he and his teammates are the children of the Kage of the Sand Village," Saito replied.
"WHAT!?" both Naruto and Shikamaru shouted. "There's no way that any leader could have such a psychotic son."
"Remember Itachi?" Saito retorted, which effectively silenced the two of them. "Anyway, that's not the case. What is the case is that his instability could be the key to causing enough chaos for Orochimaru's forces to slip in and destroy the village, though I imagine Orochimaru wants to go for the throat immediately. Without a Hokage, the village will not recover and will be ripe for invasion from Rock and/or Cloud, should they choose to move."
"Well, that makes sense," Shikamaru responded. "Orochimaru was one of the Third's last students, along with Jiraiya and Tsunade. Fitting that the Professor's students became the Sannin... We need to evacuate the Hokage to a safe place and initiate a preemptive strike on Sound."
"That wouldn't be the best idea," Yuugao responded. "Kabuto clammed up and Kin hardly knew anything, except that the orders of her team were to kill Uchiha Sasuke."
"Why would anyone target Sasuke? To maybe draw Itachi out of hiding, or kill off the last loyal Uchiha and deprive the Leaf of a strong ninja?" Naruto asked.
Shikamaru shook his head and said, "That makes no sense. Orochimaru was in the Forest of Death and clearly after Sasuke himself. If it wasn't for Lord Jiraiya's traps, we probably would've been killed and Sasuke would've likely been captured, or something to that effect." He was about to tell them about their hypotheses, but he decided to bring it up with the Hokage instead, since the Hokage knew far more about Orochimaru and would be able to confirm some of the things they'd talked about.
"Okay, so Sasuke needs to miss the final exam, but what if that forces Orochimaru's hand? We need to be on the lookout for suspicious activity during this month..." Saito said to himself and then looked at Yuugao. "Think we can convince Kakashi to take Sasuke away on a training trip secretly to a remote location, away from either Sound or Sand territory?"
"That sounds like a good plan," Yuugao replied. "Let's get these two situated, though." Looking at Naruto and Shikamaru, she said "I've asked Hiashi to train you two in combat against the Gentle Fist. I'll continue to train you, Shikamaru, and Saito will train Hinata in the interim. Naruto, Jiraiya has asked to have the opportunity to train you during this upcoming month."
"Well, I suppose. He is the Toad Sage, and the teacher of the Fourth Hokage," Naruto replied. "I was hoping that you two would be able to train me, though."
"We will, but only in a supplementary role this month," Saito responded. "Trust me, Lord Jiraiya is much stronger than I am, so you'd learn more from him." He ruffled Naruto's blood-stained hair and said, "Now, let's get your headband cleaned, not to mention the rest of you."
"The headband is fine the way it is, sensei," Naruto replied defiantly. "I'm keeping it as it is, at least until after the Exams are over."
"..." Saito smiled knowingly and nodded. "I understand. Let's get to the baths; I booked the whole afternoon for the three of us to spend some time relaxing in the hot spring."
"As long as Pervy-Sage isn't there peeping on the woman's side like last time," Naruto muttered. "Stupid perverted adults..." Saito chuckled as he led the two genin off to the baths, while Yuugao walked off in another direction to speak with Kakashi.
…
"Achoo!" The sneeze was so sudden that Jiraiya had no time to cover his mouth, which caused the women in the female side of the bathhouse to freak out and run for the safety of inside the building. "Geeze, why does that always happen in the middle of my sessions? First my brat of a godson with a rock, then a sneeze out of nowhere... ah well, better go see the old man about beefing up security prior to the final part of the Exam."