Chapter Three

Hotaru waltzed into the motel room, grinning and humming happily. Her team was there, staring at her, confused.

"What are YOU so happy about?" Zeon laughed with a smirk.

"Oh! Hey guys…" said Hotaru, stopping in her tracks. "You'll never believe this! I found him! I met Sasuke again!!"

"Sasuke? You mean that friend of yours from the same clan as you?" asked Arc.

"Yeah…" Hotaru mumbled, yawning. "And he's gonna be at the exams, too."

"Man, hope you don't have to fight him or anything," said Zeon.

Hotaru's smile vanished. She didn't even imagine once having to battle with Sasuke. She pictured him fighting with no mercy and defeating her instantly. Sasuke forfeiting the match because he didn't want to hurt her.

"Wow…never thought of that," she muttered.

"Well, at least WE won't have to fight each other," said Arc, stretching his arms and sprawling about on the carpet.

"Yeah," said Hotaru with a sigh.

"Get some rest, you three. The exams begin tomorrow." said Koji, exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

Zeon and Arc got settled on the floor while Hotaru just sat on the bed, frowning.

"Hotaru?" said Arc. "Is something wrong?"

"I…can't fight Sasuke," she replied, sighing again.

Arc sat up and yelled at his cousin, "Z, why'd you have to go and say that?! She was in such a good mood after seeing Sasuke again. You ruined it!!"

Zeon just stared at his cousin seriously. "She has to know what might happen to her." he retorted. Then he turned on his side, facing away from Arc and Hotaru and falling asleep.

Arc sighed and lay back down. "Sorry, Hotaru. Try not to think of it. And you can have the bed tonight."

"…'kay…" was all that Hotaru could suspire. She curled up under the blanket and tried to fall asleep as well.

It took her quite a while.

Suddenly, Hotaru found herself in battle with Sasuke. They were in a small arena, and her team along with a few other people were standing off to the sides.

Sasuke jumped in the air, performing a few hand signs. "Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" he shouted, forming a ring around his mouth with two fingers. This caused a series of fireballs to emit from his mouth and fly in Hotaru's direction.

Her eyes bugging, Hotaru screamed and quickly threw her arms in front of her in an attempt at defense. Just as the fire was about to hit, she felt a splash of water in her face from nowhere.

"Hotaru, wake up!"

"Zeon! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Just go get Koji-sensei! Dammit! Hotaru, what's wrong?!"

Hotaru quickly sat up in bed. The battle had only been a bad dream. She started to breathe heavily.

"Hotaru!" came two voices. She saw Arc and Zeon standing next to the bed. Zeon was holding a paper cup.

"You were screaming! What was going on?" asked Arc.

"You dreamed…that you were fighting Sasuke, right?" came Koji's voice. The students noticed him standing in the doorway.

"Yeah…" said Hotaru.

"You okay?" asked Zeon.

"I'm fine." said Hotaru, standing up and walking past Koji and out the door.  "You two had better get ready. And keep an eye on Hotaru during these exams for me." said Koji to Zeon and Arc.

"Yeah," they responded. Koji vanished in a small cloud.

Arc sighed. "You think she'll be-"

"Only Hotaru knows." Zeon interuppted. They both merely sighed again and left the room.

Students began piling into the room and sitting in desks. Hotaru didn't know a soul from who she could see so far.

"Hotaru!" came a voice. Hotaru saw Sasuke standing right next to her. "I was wondering where you were." Sasuke sat down.

"Sasuke! How've you been?" asked Hotaru.

"Excited." he said, determined.

Just then, the proctor came into the room.

"Everyone quiet down! We're going to begin with a written exam!" he said harshly.

"HUH?!" cried Hotaru, her jaw dropping to the desk. "I wasn't prepared for this…!"

"Hmph. Don't worry, it'll probably just be some basic ninja rules or something." said Sasuke.

"Yeah…" said Hotaru with a nervous gulp.

Now, there are certain rules to this test." said the proctor as a few jonin began passing out tests. "But first, let me introduce myself. I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor for the first exam, and…your worst enemy."

Hotaru gulped again. "This guy's pretty intimidating, huh…" she whispered to Sasuke.

He smirked devilishly and asked, "You're not scared,are you, Hotaru?"

"N-no! Of…course not…" Hotaru muttered.

Ibiki finished writing on the blackboard. There he had written down the rules.

"First of all, a quite obvious rule- absolutely no cheating whatsoever. And we WILL know if you do. The Chuunin sitting around the room will deduct two of your ten points each time they catch you cheating. If you are caught five times, you and your teammates will fail." Ibiki explained.

"Correct." said Ibiki. "And another thing: there will be a tenth question. It will be given at the last fifteen minutes of your test time. You will have on hour total."

There was a pause. Everyone picked up their pencils.

"You may begin!"

After Ibiki's command, everyone observed the test in front of them.

"Let's see…" Hotaru thought, eyeing the first question. She read it over carefully, then frowned. She read it again. The very first question left her puzzled for a long time.

"I get it…" muttered Sasuke after a while.

"Get what? These questions are impossible for people as young as us!" whispered Hotaru, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Exactly," said Sasuke. "When you really think on it, just cheating once on any normal test would usually mean immediate disqualification. But they're letting us get away with it five times before failing. I think…they want for us to cheat. I'm guessing that they're testing our ability to…gather information without getting caught. Or something…"

Sasuke had Hotaru confused. "You really think…that they want us to CHEAT?" she asked, frowning more.

"Watch this," replied Sasuke. He closed his eyes. When they opened, they revealed his Sharingan. He proceeded to study the entire room, Hotaru watching tentatively. Suddenly, he smirked again and began writing on the paper.

Hotaru gasped. "I get it now!" she cheered, keeping her voice down. Within a blink, her Sharingan eye appeared as well. Another person had completed their test. She copied the entire thing.

Both of them just sat there, letting their dojutsu do all the work. Soon they had all nine answers filled in. But then he last fifteen minutes finally came. They sighed and plunked back in their chairs.

"Everyone- pencils down. It's time for the tenth question at last," said Ibiki.

Hotaru became nervous all over again. What could the tenth question be?