Ch. 7: Arrival
It was morning, the third day after we had first been delayed, and we were currently on the move. "We should be there NOW," I complained listlessly and impatiently.
"I know!" Washi elaborated. "They're probably waiting for us now, thinking how it was a bad idea to let us come! And I was so looking forward to battling people!"
I blinked pointedly before remarking, "Washi, you just killed at least twenty ROGUE ninja in an all-out brawl for our LIVES, and you're STILL complaining about NOT being able to FACE someone? Then why don't you go look in a mirror? You'll find an UGLY enough face there!" I finished triumphantly, not caring that my last few remarks made little sense in regards to the statement they were answering.
"Well, actually," Kazu cut in as we both glared at him, "I sent one of my summons to the Hokage over in the Leaf Village with a message that we encountered trouble and that we'd be late!"
I grinned toothily at him and Yumi said, "Wow Kazu! That was actually smart!"
"I know!" he crowed gleefully. "Ha HAA! I win!" he laughed.
"And he's back to his regular self," I put in.
"Yep," Yumi agreed. "Say, do you know if there are any cute guys over there?"
As I answered in the negative, I overheard Washi saying, "And THAT's why I thank my lucky stars that I'm not a girl."
"I think SOMEONE's a little gender confused!" I smirked. "EVERYONE knows that the geniuses of the Mist Village have four girls, me, Yumi, Kaida, and Washi, and one boy: Deki!"
"Hey, what about me?" Kazu protested.
"Sorry Kazu, but it's also a known fact that you aren't human, and non-humans can't be boys or girls. But don't worry, you ARE a male."
"Phew, that's good to know!" Kazu exclaimed with a beaming smile.
"That's not fair!" Washi whined.
"I know!" Yumi said. "If Kazu's not human, then Deki can't be either!"
"Yeah, that's true," Kaida added.
"Even I think that's right!" Deki shouted.
"If Deki's a boy, then I should be too," Kazu stated.
"Hey, hey, HEY! What about me?" Washi yelled.
Everyone looked at him for a second, then we all turned right back around and started talking again.
"Hmmph. Fine!" Washi pouted.
The rest of us laughed and Yumi went back next to him and patted his head. "Aww, is Washi-Washi feeling left out?" Washi swatted her hand away and snickered when Deki ran into a low branch while looking back at Washi and Yumi.
"FUCK!" Deki yelled.
"DON'T SWEAR!" I smacked the back of his head.
"Wait, isn't that the symbol of the Ninja Village in the Fire country?" Washi said in disbelief when we spotted the sign over the entrance.
"Yeah," Deki said calmly. "Also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The birthplace of the Fire jutsus, the Sharingan and the Byakugan, and birthplace of the legendary Sannin, as well as the container of the nine-tailed demon," Deki told us.
"I guess we went farther than we thought when we were running from those psychopathic rogue ninja," Yumi thought aloud.
We jumped from branch to branch in silence, each one of us reflecting on the leg of the journey behind us, and thinking about the part of our lives that lay ahead of us in the unfamiliar village. That is, until the silence was broken by Washi perking up his nose and exclaiming, "Do I smell ramen?"
We laughed at him until we heard another voice chuckling nearby. "Yup. That's good ol' Ichiraku's, home of the best ramen in the world," the somewhat high, husky voice informed us.
We raced for the gates, then spun around, forming a tight circle, before Kazu demanded, "Who are you? Show yourself!"
"That would be yourselves," a laidback voice drawled. "Why are people so troublesome?"
A rustle of leaves made their presence known, and four little kids appeared and made a circle around us.
I fearlessly looked, well, down, because the kid in front of me was actually shorter than me. I first saw a splotch of yellow and a few spots of blue. I blinked and it cleared out. The guy standing in front of me had bright yellow hair, and a bright orange jumpsuit, along with a pair of strange green goggles, and he looked around the age of nine or ten, just like my own younger brother. Great. Just great. I looked up again, just in time to see his mouth open.
"Who are you clowns?" the kid asked defensively.
And of course, Kazu just HAD to speak up. "We're ninja!" he said, not noticing the glare I gave him as I turned to glare at him. I saw Washi to my right, Yumi to my left, Kaida directly behind me, Deki next Yumi, and Kazu next to Washi, and all of us, excluding Kazu of course, looked like we were thinking the same things: Okay, one, you DON'T answer a rhetorical question, number two, it's a stinkin' kid, you don't have to answer his question, and number three, I think it's kinda obvious. Remember? We have these things called headbands that show our NINJA alliances.
"We've got nothing to say to you, kid," Washi snapped suspiciously.
"Hrm." A bored looking boy stood in front of Deki and Yumi. Interestingly enough, his hair was pulled back into a ponytail that looked quite like a pineapple. Pineapple-hair-kid started talking again, saying, "They're from the Mist, they don't look threatening… Chuunin Exams?"
Yumi nodded once.
"Late team?" the boy drawled out.
Yumi nodded again. The boy standing in front of her and Deki looked up to the cloudy sky, sighing. "How troublesome…"
"Wait, these kids are from the Mist Village?" the kid in front of me asked cluelessly.
"Yes, Naruto, you idiot!" the pink-haired girl in front of Washi said through gritted teeth before throwing a punch that could've easily blasted the kid, who was evidently named Naruto, through several trees, had she put more force into it. But no, Naruto simply ended up with a large red fist mark on the side of his face.
"Sakura-chaaaaaaan…" he whined, reminding me of Washi for some odd reason. "I just couldn't believe that these weak looking guys could possibly be ready for the Exams!"
I scoffed. He had no idea of how ready we were. Many years ago, graduation required young children to be pitted against each other in a fight of life and death. Then Zabuza Momochi came along and wiped out over 100 other students on his own. From then on, children were teamed up from their sixth and seventh years of age according to skill level and whose traits would compliment who else's.
For example, my strength complimented my two teammates' not-so-strength, Deki's logic went well with Kazu and I's ability to follow orders, and Kazu's speed balanced off Deki and I's not-so-speed. On top of that, I was a genjutsu specialist, as well as knowledgeable in healing, Deki had a great intellect and store of jutsu, and Kazu was very talented in taijutsu. We balanced each other out.
Now these kids who showed talent would train together in those teams, then have to pass a strenuous and life-threatening series of trials to move on. We had passed these trials, at the youngest ages recorded for these passing requirements, and were allowed to go on this 'mission,' the mission of dominating the Chunnin Exams, of course.
But seeing as how this Naruto kid was an idiot, I smirked and decided to have a little fun, and hopefully give the little brat a scare. I quickly dashed into a tree, then perched on a branch just above and behind the confused boy.
"Hey, where did that one girl go?" he asked with a bewildered look on his face. His eyes flitted over to Yumi, who had a puzzled look on her face, then he quickly clarified, "No, not you, the other weak looking one!" Yumi rolled her eyes and turned back around.
I took advantage of this distraction to swiftly pull out a kunai, then softly dropped behind the blond kid, quickly holding his hands together in a tight, bone-breaking grip behind his back with my left hand, then using my right to hold the kunai to his neck. "Never underestimate your potential opponents," I growled. "If I were an enemy, you'd be dead." I took a glance at the kid with the dark black hair and annoyed expression. You'd think that he had seen this happen many times.
Naruto muttered, "So maybe you're not a weakling," reluctantly under his breath.
"Shikamaru," the pink-haired girl, Sakura, as Naruto called her, said. "Who are they again?"
"Shinobi from the Mist Village. They're here for the Chunnin Exams… troublesome ninja…" Pineapple-hair-kid, now known as Shikamaru evidently, said.
Deki spoke up suddenly, as if just recalling something. "Nara Shikamaru. User of Shadow Control jutsus. Haruno Sakura. An excellent student with book smarts but no proficiency in the field. Uzumaki Naruto, class clown with a record of juvenile pranks and associated offenses." Deki recited all of this with his eyes closed, as if he was reading a page of a book from memory.
"Ha, Shikamaru, they know what I'm all about even over there in the Mist!" Naruto crowed, completely oblivious to the fact that I was still capable of ending his life with a simple twitch of my hand.
"Tomoko, you can put your kunai down. These are friends. They are of no harm," Deki said nonchalantly.
"They're kids. Of course they're of no harm." I let the arm with the kunai fall loosely to my side and propped my other elbow onto Naruto's head. He scowled up, annoyed, but grinned impishly after a second.
"Tch," the dark-haired kid scoffed.
"What's his problem?" I whispered to Naruto.
"The prick thinks he's so much better than everyone else," Naruto pouted, quite loudly.
Overhearing, although he'd have to have been deaf not to, Sasuke scoffed again and turned away, refusing to look at Naruto, who stuck his tongue out at him.
"This is the first time any of us have gone outside of the walls of Konoha. It's like a field trip!" Naruto exclaimed. "But Sasuke's being pissy about it."
"Naruto, language," a voice warned darkly. A man with brown hair and a scar across the bridge of his nose stepped out from the trees. "You kids are here for the Chuunin Exams?" he clarified. I nodded. "Very well. Just go through the gates and tell the two guys sitting there that you're here for the Exams, and do what they say. And if you find them slouching or looking bored, tell them that Iruka told them straighten up or else."
"Or else what, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto wondered aloud. It seemed to me that this kid wasn't exactly the sharpest kunai in the pouch. I smiled amusedly, taking my elbow off of Naruto's head.
"Or I'll kick their asses, that's what," 'Iruka-sensei' growled darkly.
"Iruka-sensei! How come you get to swear and I don't?" Naruto cried out.
"Tch. Usuratonkachi," the dark-haired kid muttered derogatorily.
"YOU FUCKING JERK!"
"LANGUAGE, Naruto! While what Sasuke said wasn't nice, that doesn't give you permission to use strong language!" With that, Iruka smacked Naruto upside the head.
"Oww…"
Seizing the chance, my team and Yumi's team bolted for the gates. Along the way, Deki filled us in on the dark-haired kid, Sasuke.
"Uchiha Sasuke. Top of his class, considered a genius. Of the formerly prestigious, but now fallen, Uchiha clan, known for the Sharingan."
We finally entered through Konoha's gates.
Uchiha, huh?