Chuunin Exam Finally Arrives! The Dark Room.

It's been about a month and the Chuunin Exam has finally arrived. I have been training non-stop with Gai-sensei the last few weeks. I needed as much training as possible. This year, the Chuunin Exam would be in the Hidden Village of the Cloud in the Lightening Country. Our team traveled with Gai-sensei's team. Hinako was especially pleased by this. Mr. Kyo was disgusted the entire way by Gai's looks. He couldn't even stand to look at him.

"Oh, Gai, you are so unfashionable that it disgusts me!" Mr. Kyo cried as we walked. "I want to puke everytime I look out you."

"Is that any way to talk to your comrade," Gai replied.

"Do not make fun of Gai-sensei!" Lee snapped.

Me, Jin, and Hinako all sighed. It was gonna be like this the whole way. Gai made me wear the training weights all over my body the entire trip.

We arrived in about a week. The Hidden Village of Cloud was in a valley surrounded by mountains. According to the map that Neji had, there was a range of volcanoes not too far off. You could see the smoke clouds in the sky. I always thought that the Cloud Village, would be a more cooler place. When we arrived there, we went to the Raikage's Office to turn in our entry forms. While there, I saw some other Genin teams. There were tons of Cloud Genins. I saw Kiba's group turning in their entry forms and went to greet them.

"Hi, Hinata, Hey, Shino," I said in a chippy mood. "Oh, and I hope you didn't forget our little bet, Kiba."

"Not at all," he smirked. "In fact, I was looking forward to it."

"I see. When we meet on the feild, I'm not going to hold back."

"Neither shall I."

I waved and then returned to my group. They all smiled at me weirdly. "What?"

"Gaara's team is here," Jin said while pointing in their direction.

I flicked around, and, indeed, there was Gaara's team. My heart swelled with joy. Gaara! I was about to go over to them, but they came towards us. "I see you are taking the Chuunin Exam," he said to me. "But I thought you were already a Chuunin."

"Well, I was a Chuunin in my village, but its burned down to the ground now. Besides, our Chuunin Exams are different from ya'll's. We didn't even fight with other villages."

"I see," he turned towards Rock Lee. "I hope to fight you again this year."

"As do I," Rock Lee replied with a smile. I was glad they were going to be friends.

"Although we may be friends now," Temari said. "We will be enemies on the battle field."

I froze in realization. I was still not mentally prepared to fight Gaara, and I knew that I was gonna have to fight him. I could feel it. Hinako glanced at me. She must've known what was going through my mind.

"We'll be ready for you," she said. "Good-bye." And then led us away.

"You're gonna have to get over him," she said to me in hushed tones. "I can see that he's not going to hold back against you. You need to forget all that you feel about him."

I nodded, but it was easier said than done.

The next day, we went to the specified area for the first exam, Mt. Fuugi, which was a volcano. "Are you sure its safe here?" Jin asked weakly. "What if the volcano erupts?"

I smiled sweetly. "Then run."

I suddenly felt very ill in the stomach. I felt like someone was watching me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a man with long, black, greasy hair. He was licking a knife, that wasn't too clean either. There was this cold glint in his eyes. The kind of glint that a predator gives his prey. To try and calm myself down, I said to him, "You know, that can't be hygenic."

"Really?" he answered with a scratchy voice. "Tastes pretty good to me. I love the taste of blood. Would you like to give me some?"

My hair stood up. Okay, this guy is a psycho. "Sorry, but I kind of need it." I then scooted as far away from him as I could. The psycho guy laughed and I could see his red sharp teeth. This guy wasn't human. And from the looks of his fore-head protector, he was a Sound Ninja. His other teammates didn't look any better. There was a hucky one with a bulging mirth and the chinese symbol for sound on his forehead. And there was a man with long black hair and golden serpentile eyes. . .

A woman stepped in front of the crowd on a higher rock. "Listen up, Punks! I'm the first Examiner of this pathetic Chuunin Exam. Tremble before my awesome name, Fugisaki Shigame. In this tormenting, insane, first exam, you are to go through this cave"-she pointed towards the cave behind her-"one team at a time, and retrieve one of these." She held a shiny orb, and from the looks of it, it was a ruby. "And here's the sick twist. There are only two, and if you do not have one, you will be flunked. Inside the caves are traps and very few candles. Those few candles are your only light, so be careful not to blow them out. Oh, and it would also be possible for you to pass with two items."

A murmur spread across the Genins. That means that at least one person had to fail. I looked at Hinako and Jin, and they looked at me. Who was going to fail?

"First Team up, Hanasaki Jon, Fuuma Saki, and Junchiri Konkensun. Enter the cave now." A team from the Cloud village stepped up and walked into the cave, glaring each other, all the while. It was gonna take a long time for every team to go in, so we sat on the ground and tried to make ourselves comfortable. It was hard to talk to each other when we knew that someone was going to make you fail.

Suddenly, a scream came from inside the cave. Everyone started. Shigame laughed evilly. "Looks like my first victim has already been caught! Oh, and there's a 76 chance of dying." Now, everyone was really shaken up. One group even quit. We were getting ready to sit there forever when our team was called up. Wow, so soon. We were only fifth.

We walked inside. It was pitch dark from the looks of it. We went inisde and turned a corner, being cautious of our steps. As we turned the corner, we could see a faint flicker of light. That must've been one of the "few candles". As we got closer, we could here this howling sound. "Wassat?" Jin started.

"It's only the wind blowing through the cave," Hinako said.

I looked at her. Hinako seemed to be calm. Too calm. I glared at her suspicously. Jin looked like he was going to seperate his soul from his body at the slightest sound. I never knew that eyes could get that big. As we walked I felt one of the tiles I step on sink slightly. Uh-oh. A trap.

Suddenly, the floor below me opened up and I fell.

"Sarafu!"

I fell for a while before I felt myself land in a pool of water. It wasn't that deep. It only went up to my chest. I calmed my frantic heart. It was pitch dark. The opening above must've closed. I decided to swim to a wall, and see if I could find a way out, when I felt something brush past my leg. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I wasn't the only thing in here. My heart was pounding in my head, louder only than my breathing. There was no calming it down now. I frantically swam to the right to try and escape. Something wrapped itself around my leg and continued to wrap all the way up to my waist. It was squeezing me tightly. I reached the wall and tried to feel around for an exit, but there wasn't one. Whatever was around me, was now squeezing me so hard it was getting difficult to breath. I grabbed a kunai and sliced it. It unwrapped itself and slithered away. Huh. Slithered.

Then, out popped a giant snake. It opened its mouth and shot towards me. I heard it hissing my way and I moved. It missed me, but it must've been close, cause I could feel it brisk by. I closed my eyes. I didn't really need them. I began to focus on my other senses. I needed to get rid of this snake. I held my kunai tightly when I heard a splash of water and knew it was after me again. I swung my kunai in the air, hoping that that was where the snake was. I was right and sliced off something. From the sounds, I guessed that it was its head. There was a splash. I could feel the ripple. After a while, there was no noise, and I couldn't feel any waves in the water. So this trap tested your other senses. I used the wall climbing technique to reach the top. I pushed on the ceiling and it lifted. Wow, that was easy enough. When I got myslef up on the floor, from what little light there was, I could tell that I was alone now. Where did everyone go?

They must've left me. I grumbled and began to walk again, this time, making sure where I stepped. As I walked down I heard voices. I took off my sandals (they made squishy noises because of the water) and tip-toed down the tunnel. I followed the sound of the voice which led me to a little chamber. I hid behind the corner and looked to see who was talking. I saw Hinako, and she didn't look too happy. I heard a familiar scratchy voice say, "Itachi-sama is looking forward to your entering the Akatsuki Clan." I recognized this voice. It was the psycho guy. I couldn't see him from my position, but Hinako was all I needed to see.

"It's still not for certain that I will," she said.

"True. It all depends on your behavior here. That's what I'm here for. And something else."

"What?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

"What should my behavior be to get in?"

"Heheheheheh. Itachi-sama says that you must have the Mangekyou Sharingan."

Hinako gasped and her eyes grew wider. I didn't know what this "Mangekyou Sharingan" was, but it must be pretty bad.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do."

"It wasn't a trap that caused that scream earlier, was it? It was you."

He cackled evilly. "You're sharp, Hinako-sama. Yes, it was me. I was very hungry."

Hinako curled up her lip in disgust.

I gasped. This guy was a cannibal. I regretted gasping, because they heard me. I quickly did the invisible jutsu and pressed myself against the wall. I held my breath. If I made even the slightest sound, it could cost me my life. Psycho Cannibal looked around, but couldn't see me. There was a dripping sound. CRAP! I was still wet.

"What was that noise?" Hinako asked as she looked my way.

My heart was beating wildly. Faster than when I was attacked by that snake.

"There's a pool of water in this cave, and sometimes, water drops from the ceiling. The sounds would echo through the cave."

I calmed down a little. I never thought I would be gratefull to a cannibal. They walked away. When I was sure, they were gone, I undid the jutsu and breathed. I thought I was gonna die. But how did Hinako know that psycho? And what was the Akatsuki Clan? Who was Itachi? This whole thing was overly suspicous. I knew that Hinako was a bit, well...darker than most people, but could she be a psycho killer too?

...to be continued.