Several days had passed in Konoha now as Hitomi and Akane worked to prove to the villagers that they meant no harm. They spent most of their days helping out at the school, training students in simple techniques. Every now and then, they received the opportunity to show off, and when they got wind of a major competition coming up, it took no time for them register.
The hall was packed of ninja of all ages, assuming that they were, of course, at least Chuunin level. Hitomi peered over several heads, being amongst the taller ninja, with Akane to see how much longer they would have to wait. "Oh, joy," Hitomi muttered as she noted that the wait would probably take most of the day.
Several hours had passed by the time they started drawing closer, and Hitomi had finally settled on sitting against a wall and keeping an eye on Akane for when they moved up. Every now and then she'd doze off before she was jarred awake by someone's rowdiness. When she wasn't sleeping, she was scouting out the competition. She easily spotted Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji. And at the same time, she felt someone tapping her shoulder.
Before she had time to react, she was mobbed by a ninja with flat black hair and, well, rather large eyebrows. "I am the beautiful green beast!" he exclaimed, causing an awkward look to come over her face before she started laughing. "What? Do I have something on me? Is Sakura here?" She shook her head and asked him what he wanted. "Well, you seem to be an unfamiliar face, and therefore a traveler to Konoha. I like to check out my competition beforehand."
"Well, go check out some competition over there, because I do not appreciate being looked over," Hitomi retorted, trying to sound serious.
"I've already scouted out most of these other ninja! Besides, I've heard you know something about that battle everyone saw about a week ago. You must be a pretty strong ninja if you were involved with it!" The ninja seemed like a child in the awkward green garb and excitement at the strength of his competitor.
"More than you'd ever know," she muttered as she stood and walked back to Akane, as the line was finally coming to an end for the two. "Hey, Akane! Sorry for ditching you!" she said with an innocent smile, receiving a scowl.
"Oh, yes. Thank you for bestowing me the honor of waiting in line for FIVE HOURS while you slept," she grumbled, clearly all sarcasm. "Who's your friend?"
"ROCK LEE!!!" came the voice of the bushy-browed kid Hitomi had been talking to before. Akane laughed as her friend's face drooped, then took on a familiar face as she started waving her hand over her eyebrows.
"Uhh…hi! Hitomi, why are his eyebrows so….HUGE!?" she muttered out of the side of her mouth, receiving only a shrug.
"NAME!" came an all-too-amazing voice. The two let out a sigh of relief as they had been not only saved from this weird creature, but their torturous wait had finally come to an end. Akane turned and delivered their answers. "Akane and Hitomi."
"These are separate entries, correct?"
"Uhh..yyeaaahhhh….." she looked at him like he was a moron.
"Very good. Village?"
Akane opened her mouth to speak, but Hitomi beat her to the punch. "That information, sir, shall remain confidential. Of course, I'm sure you already know anyway, being the genius you've proven yourself to be thus far."
The man looked at her, revealing nothing but a blank stare from one uncovered eye. He sighed, and quickly jotted down a note on the papers before continuing. "Rank? And yes, you must answer this."
Akane thought about this for a minute. They had never actually managed to establish much ranking in their village since the dispute with this one. Granted, that was before her time, but they had tried to reestablish themselves at some point, giving Akane and Hitomi the ranks of Chuunin. So, she'd go with that. "Chuunin." The man looked as if he were about ready to make a remark, but decided against it. Instead, he simply took the registration fee from her and stamped a few papers.
With a smile, he added, "Be ready to fight in three days."
The three days passed with excessive training for most of the village. Everyone was training with their Sensei or with friends. Hitomi and Akane preferred to go out to the border of the village, by the river. They had done everything from simple stretches to entirely blowing each other into the water, quite literally. When the time came for the tournament, Hitomi had already managed to acquire a black eye and a few scars across her arm and Akane's arms had what looked to be sunburns on them and the tips of her braids had become charred. The other competitors glanced at them warily as they filed in for the event to begin, unsure of whether this was to be taken as a strength or a weakness.
The rules were reviewed, mostly for the duo's sake, and the competition began. First up was a girl name Hinata, facing a rather cruel opponent from some other village. Though, despite his big talk, the seemingly feeble Hinata had still managed to beat him. Though, she would probably have to recuperate before another fight.
The day grew long, and it became apparent to Hitomi and Akane that they were being saved for the final few matches of the day. So, they sat up in the competitor's balcony, watching other fights and making commentary. "That kick was horrible! 30 pushups!" and "ooo..that's gotta hurt! Hope he was wearing a cup!"
Shikamaru watched them from a distance as he talked to a blond kid whose name seemed to be Naruto and the guy Hitomi and Akane had gotten into a fight with before. "They are so immature. And I can't believe I thought they were a danger." Hitomi watched them out of the corner of her eye, knowing they were doing the same, as she conversed with Akane. Suddenly Akane was tugging on her arm, shoving her over the edge of the railing.
"You're up!" she shouted at her friend, sending her to face her first opponent—Ino.
"Well, this should be fun!" Hitomi exclaimed excitedly to her opponent as the match began. She received only a scowl, to her satisfaction. Then she got serious. The two circled each other cautiously, then Ino's face went blank. Hitomi stopped, and before she could think, knew exactly what had happened. She was being controlled. "Hey, look at me! I'm an immature slut!" she heard herself say, causing her to become fairly angry inside.
Akane looked at the scene, knowing Hitomi would only put up with that for so long. Well, actually, she wouldn't put up with that, and knew that Ino had just signed her life away. And, sure enough, there was her control over Hitomi fading.
Ino's eyes opened, almost as enraged as Hitomi was. "I DARE you to call me that again!" she shouted at Ino, coming at her with fist full of fury. The crowd Oo-ed as Ino was knocked into the ground by the punch. Her nose was now bleeding, and she was covered in the dirt.
"Oh, I will! You're an immature slut who only knows how to get into fights!" Shikamaru heard his teammate and wished he was strangling her right now. He regretted underestimating this girl, seeing that Ino was on a one-way track to losing, or being killed.
Hitomi struggled to not lose control over herself. She knew things would get iffy if she went straight into a ball of lightning. But one more comment and she knew it would be over. She treaded lightly, waiting to see if there was some sort of trap Ino was trying to lead her into.
"Ooo! Look at me! I'm Hitomi and I don't know how to dress myself!"
Hitomi blinked. "That was the most retarded insult I've heard in my life. And for the record, stay the hell out of my head." She'd kill Ino just for being stupid at this point.
The referee took the moment to interfere. "Ladies, if you don't mind, you ARE expected to..well…fight. Not start a catfight."
"Rightyo!" Hitomi responded with a thumbs up before turning back to Ino. She threw her hands together, making a symbol, and appeared behind Ino with an arm around her neck. If everything went accordingly,--
Ino flipped Hitomi over, receiving a kick to the stomach that sent her flying. As she landed on the ground, she found lightning raining from the sky around her. "Oh, I see how it is," she muttered, using a replacement jutsu to relocate herself.
"Ugh, I've had enough of this," Hitomi muttered as she pulled out a shuriken and lit it afire with lightning. The weapon went racing at Ino as she turned around.
"Enough!" a shout came from somewhere and the match was ended. Ino was out cold, but Hitomi knew she'd be okay. Instead, she focused her attention on Tsunade, sitting high up looking down on her. She gave the Hokage a glance that she hoped conveyed her message.