Chapter 5: Breakout & the Chuunin Exam
Everything is pitch black. Kimi could barely see her surroundings. For safety, she decides to wait until the mysterious voices leaves. Once she no longer is able to hear their footsteps, Kimi thrusts chakra into her arms. Both her wrists glow bright red as she burns through the manacles, freeing them. She thrusts more chakra into hands as she pulls apart the manacles around her feet. As she stands up, she activates her sharingan, hoping it would improve her vision. Where's the door… Her vision improved greatly, but not enough to for her see clearly. For precautions, Kimi runs her hand along the stone walls, away from the middle of her cell. She eventually feels a wooden door and quickly finds the door handle. She twists the handle and the door opens to a low lit hallway. What kind of villain won't make sure his captives are locked up properly? Feeling glad her capturers are pretty forgetful, Kimi quietly dashes through the hallway looking for her teammates. Damn! It's my first time being team captain, and I'm already failing…some mission this turned out to be. I can't have a bad reputation now. I got to find them and restore my image! Kimi stops looks behind her. No one is following her. She quietly creeps around the next corner. BAM! She bumps into someone. Kimi looks up to see who she bumped into. Fortunately it was Sasuke!
"Sasuke! You're okay!" Kimi cries.
"Shhh…" Sasuke quickly quiets her.
"Sorry," Kimi apologizes out of happiness.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Where are the others?" Sasuke whispers.
"I was about to ask you the same question."
"Well, I ran by a hallway with several more cells. I didn't bother checking but maybe they're in there." Kimi nods as Sasuke begins to lead her back to the hallway. Pretty soon the hallway splits into two directions. Both of them glance from left to right.
"Okay, you take the right. I'll take the left. We'll meet back here," Sasuke instructs Kimi. Kimi nods again, and dashes towards her direction. Wait, whose team captain again? As Kimi opens each cell, she begins thinking over the mission. Oh my goodness! None of these cells are locked! Who owns this place? Shit! What happened to the old man we're suppose to guard? I hope he's fine or I won't get paid! Almost every cell is empty. Kimi is already on the second to the last cell. Once she opens the door, she sees Naruto struggling to get break free. He tries to break his manacles by banging it on the ground and pulling his arms sideways. He looks up once he notices the light.
"Kimi! You're okay!" Naruto screams.
"Shhh…" Kimi quiets Naruto. "I'm doing fine so far. Let me help you with those." Kimi breaks off Naruto's manacles the same way she did with hers.
"Thanks. Where are the others?" asks Naruto, as he slowly stands up.
"I don't know. I met up with Sasuke so he's searching another direction."
"Well, let's keep searching."
Kimi and Naruto peak out of the cell. Then they slowly dash to the last cell door and open it. Sure enough, lying on the ground is Sakura. She is also struggling to free herself, except she was trying to pick the lock instead of using brutal force like Naruto did. She quickly takes notice of their presence once she sees the light from the hallway.
"Bring it here! I'll quickly free you," Kimi whispers. She is already losing her patience. The manacles burn off Sakura's wrists and legs and Sakura is on her feet in a few seconds.
"Where's Sasuke-kun and the others?" asks Sakura.
"Sasuke is searching for the others in another direction. He probably found them too seeing how this is the last cell and I only found you two."
The three ninjas dash back to the meeting spot. Once they arrive, Kimi sees Sasuke dashing towards them, followed by Kiba and a few other genins.
"Shikamaru is missing," says Sasuke, as he catches his breath. "Have you found him?"
Kimi shakes her head. After catching his breath, Sasuke looks up and analyzes his side of the hallway. He walks to the first cell door and says, "Haven't checked this one yet."
Sure enough, there lays Shikamaru on the floor with both his arms and legs already freed and his eyes closed. No way! Is he sleeping? How can he sleep at a time like this? Ino walks pass Kimi towards Shikamaru. She picks him up by the shoulders and starts shaking him.
"Wake up you sleepy head! Now it's not the time to sleep!" she screams. Shikamaru opens one eye and looks at Ino.
"Yeesh… Woman. Don't have to yell. I wasn't sleeping that deeply," he moans as he continues to stare at her. He turns and glances at the others. After sighing once more, Shikamaru finally stands up and places his hands in his pockets.
"So where's the old man?" he asks.
"Actually we don't know," Naruto replies. "Kiba, can't you sniff him out or something?"
"If I could, I would have done that already but this place reeks! I can barely distinguish any of the scent I'm getting," Kiba replies along with Akamaru's puppy bark. Naruto stares at his feet as he thinks. Kimi glances back from Naruto to Kiba to Naruto again.
"Well, we already searched the two hallways. That only leaves us with one direction to search. So search that way?" Kimi suggests sarcastically. Everyone looks at Kimi and remains silent. After a moment, Naruto smiles.
"Yeh! That makes sense! Let's go search," he says. Everyone just follows Naruto as he runs down the hall. Only Sasuke and Kimi stays behind. Sasuke glances over at Kimi, and quickly follows Naruto as well. Kimi watches Sasuke as he runs first. He notices my sarcasm. Did he. Kimi dashes forward as well, following him. Pretty soon, Naruto arrives to another cell door. It was the only cell any of them passed since the beginning of the hallway. Naruto looks up at the door as he slowly reaches for the handle. Suddenly Sasuke grabs his wrist.
"Better if I check and you stay on guard in case anything happens," he instructs him. Naruto stares at Sasuke seriously then let's go.
"Yeh. Sure." Naruto replies. He grabs his kunai out while everyone also prepares themselves. Sasuke swings open the cell door and looks him. To their luck, they find the old man looking up at them surprised with his limbs locked up and his mouth covered with a cloth. Everyone runs in and helps him free.
"You don't know how happy I am to see you guys," the old man exclaims. "But I wouldn't say this was exactly a successful mission of guarding me."
"It doesn't matter anymore," Sakura explains. "All that matters right now is getting all of us out of here."
"And how are you kids plan on doing that?"
Kimi's eyes brightens up, once she catches an idea. She runs up to the opposite side of the cell and presses her ear against the wall. She knocks on it several times. After a second, she glances back, specifically at Sasuke.
"Can you tell how thick this wall is?" she quickly asks. Sasuke walks up next to her and knocks on the stone wall.
"Not that thick," he replies.
"Awesome." Kimi does several hand signs. "Fireball jutsu!" Kimi blows up the wall in front of them. The bright sunlight gushes into the cell, lighting up every corner of darkness.
"Quickly! Let's get out of here!" Kimi screams. Everyone dashes towards the direction of Amegakure. From far away, Kimi could hear men screaming.
"Hey! The prisoners are escaping!"
After a few more seconds, Kimi can only hear the wind rushing towards her face as she runs along her teammates. They all arrive to Amegakure with the old man on time. Before they leave, they all apologize to the old man for the inconvenience. Fortunately, the old man was kind enough to let them go and promises to give a good report on them. The genins all feel relief as they set off for their return trip. As they travel, the dark night falls. Everyone sets up camp and gets ready for bed. Sasuke walks up to Kimi as she sets up her sleeping bag.
"Hey, mind if I speak with you privately?" he whispers. Kimi nods and follows him to the edge of where the campfire lights hit. I hope he's not going to criticize my leader skills. I mean true, I messed up this time. But it's only one time. Sasuke isn't that mean right? Sasuke turns around and looks directly at Kimi's eyes.
"Kimi," Sasuke starts. "I know I haven't known you for very long. To be honest, I only know you for several days…but I realize that I have come to like you very much. Will you be my girlfriend?" Kimi stares back at Sasuke, speechless. Her face shows no emotions but her eyes were in shocked.
"Why me out of all the other girls? What makes me different from them?" she hesitantly asks.
"You're not like the other girls I have known. You don't squeal or scream when I enter a room. You don't always boast about how I'm better than everybody just because I am cool, as they say. In other words, you don't try to impress me. You just act yourself, natural. I like it," Sasuke explains.
"I guess," Kimi smiles gently, for once. She blushes as she stares at her feet. I can't believe it. He actually likes me. Soon Sasuke's hand tilts Kimi's head back up so her eyes look towards his eyes again.
"You haven't answered my question yet?" Sasuke grins.
"Yes. I guess," Kimi replies softly. Her face glows pink even further as she continues to look at his eyes.
"Great, we'll talk about this more once we get back to Konoha…" Sasuke moves his mouth close to Kimi's ears. "…girlfriend." After his last words, he leaves Kimi and joins everyone else by the campfire.
"Hey Kimi!" Naruto screams. "What's the hold up? You better come get some food while there are still some! It tastes great! Hehe!" His scream breaks Kimi from her trance as she looks up at Naruto.
"Hey! Save me some!" Kimi yells back angrily. She joins back the other genins around the campfire. As everyone chats, Kimi glances at Sasuke. He looks back and grins. He then returns his gaze back at the others. Kimi remains looking at him. She then smiles too and return her gaze back at the others too.
The next day, the team arrives at Konoha by noon and they all realize that the chuunin started 5 minutes ago. SHIT!
"Crap! We're late! We didn't even get to train or study! Maybe that's why those ninjas ambushed us." Kimi cries. She is so full of rage, she's grinding her teeth.
"Calm down, Kimi. I believe the proctors will understand. It is the hokage who sent us on this mission," Sasuke explains.
"Yeh I guess so," Kimi sighs as she follows everyone to the testing building. Atleast we trained…sort of…Kimi and the others enter the testing room. All is silent. Every individual is focused on their exam paper. Written test? I thought there will be more action! The proctor looks up at the genins that just arrived. Kimi starts to explain but the proctor holds his hand up, stopping her.
"I know who you are. Don't worry. Just take an empty seat and quietly start on your test," he instructs the genins. "Reminder: If even one team member fails, the whole team will fail the exam." Wait… so does that mean I'm on Sasuke's team? The group splits up and each individual finds his or her own seat. From a distance, Kimi can see Sasuke and Sakura eyeing Naruto. Naruto had a worried face. Ignoring that, Kimi sits near a boy with a tattoo on his forehead. She stares for a second, then glances on her paper. This should be a sinch!...just a few physics problem and a few government problems. Kimi quickly finishes her test. She looks around secretly then slips her test under her shirt. The silence breaks immediately when the sound of pencil writing comes from the side proctors. I wonder what they are marking… Well, I'm not called out, so I should be okay. Plus I didn't cheat! Soon the clock ticks the end of the session and the main proctor stands up.
"Now I will present the tenth question. But there are rules. Rule one: You must decide whether or not to take the tenth question," the proctor explains. Murmurs and gasps fill up the room. A blond lady yells out, "what happens if we choose not to?"
"If you choose not to…" the proctor continues. "…you fail! Along with your two teammates!" After this, the room fills with yells of other genins.
"The second rule: if you choose to take it and answered incorrectly, that person loses the right to take the chuunin exam again."
"What kind of rule is that?" cries Kiba.
"You guys were unlucky. This year, it's my rules," the proctor grins. "However, if you choose not to take it, you can try again next year." Kimi looks up at the proctor in shock. I'm confident enough to take this question…but if I assume I'm in Sasuke's team, then Naruto… Naruto, please tell me you will take it and don't fail. Kimi stares at Naruto from a far. She also looks at Sasuke and Sakura who are also filled with worries. Later, one by one, a genin raises his hand and refuse to take the question. This gives more pressure on the three ninjas as they stare at Naruto to see his reaction.
Suddenly Naruto stands up with a smile on his face. He faces the proctor eye to eye.
"I'll take it! Even if I am a genin forever! I'm not afraid!" Naruto screams. Kimi looks up at Naruto and smiles. Sasuke and Sakura smile too from the back. The proctor looks back at him.
"Is that your final decision?" he asks.
"I never go back on my words. That's my ninja way," Naruto replies with no fear. The proctor looks around the room.
"Very well. For everyone still remaining…" he continues. "I congratulate you on passing the first test!" The proctor continues explaining the meaning behind the written test. Soon everyone in the room understood the risks of being a chuunin. This is nothing … compare to what I have to go through. All of a sudden, the windows crash. Two kunai hit opposite sides of the ceiling, holding up a black cloth with words on it. A lady stands in front of it and yells,
"I am the examiner for the second test! Mitarashi Anko! Let's go!"
Everyone stares at her in silence.
"Follow me!" she yells out again. This time everyone slowly follows her out the room. All the genin arrives to a wilderness surrounded by a fence. Kimi stares at the forests with awe. That's a thick forest…
"Welcome to the stage for the second test, Practice Area 44…" Anko yells again. "Also known as… "The Forest of Death!""