A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed as well as to everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows.

Looking at the huge crowds of people on the ship's deck, Naru couldn't help but wonder if she made the right decision to do the Hunter Exams. Almost everyone in this ship looked weak and she wasn't saying this because she was a shinobi but she could barely feel any energy from the people surrounding her. No one in this room looked as if they could give her a good fight, which was a disappointment since Naru didn't come here to stay at the same level. No, she came here so she could become stronger.

If she wanted to bring Sasuke back home then she needed to become stronger than he was. If she wanted her team to go back to the way it was then she needed to become so strong that Sasuke would regret his decision of leaving the village for Orochimaru. Kami, what was the boy thinking going with that perverted snake? Did he really think Orochimaru would really make him stronger? Naru wasn't a genius but even she knew Sasuke could have gotten stronger if he stayed in the village.

Sometimes, Naru wondered what went through her best friend's mind.

Shaking her head, she took a seat on the ground and looked up at the clear blue sky, where the clouds trailed after each other. Looking at the clouds, reminded her of all the times she used to sneak out of class with Shikamaru to go to the field, where they would lie down on the grass and just stare at the sky. Shikamaru must be doing that now, Naru thought to herself, releasing a yawn. She never understood how the boy could just lay still and stare at the clouds but as she stared at the clouds, she realized just how relaxing it was.

When she returned back home, Naru would make sure to join the boy whenever he was watching the clouds.

Nodding, Naru watched as the white fluffy clouds drifted away from the ship. She frowned when she noticed the new set of clouds were darker then the ones before and were not as orderly as its fellow clouds. There was also a distinct lack of birds whizzing through the air, which was very strange if you asked her. No matter what the season was, there would always be birds in the sky. The only time she knew there were no birds were the days when the weather was getting worse or so she heard the sailors say whenever they asked one of their own on how they could be so certain there was going to be a storm coming.

Taking in a deep breath, Naru furrowed her eyebrows as the smell of compost-filled her nose. With a number of times she had been suddenly hit by the rain, the blonde knew when the air started to smell funny that there was a storm coming. It took her a good five years to figure it out and even then she didn't even realize it until her journey to the port. If she hadn't asked that old man how he knew there was a storm coming, she wouldn't have figure out what the hell was happening.

Smiling widely, Naru pushed herself up and slowly made her way towards the corridors leading to the cabins. Opening the first cabin's door, the blue-eyed girl wrinkled her nose and pulled a face at the sight of the dust in the cabin as well as the number of sleeping sailors. The last thing she wanted was to stay in a room filled with sailors who could yell at her for being in their cabin while they slept. Nodding her head, she made her way to the next cabin where there was practically no one in the cabin.

Lying down on the hammock, Naru gazed out of the window where she could see her fellow participants head towards the corridors leading to the cabins. How many people could become Hunter? She wondered as she gazed at the swaying lamps. Was it really hard for people to become a Hunter? The man in the island told her people die in those exams. If people die in those exams then did it mean it was just like the chunnin exams or was it even harder? Naru hoped it was harder.

She didn't care about becoming a hunter but she did want to become stronger. She needed to be strong enough to drag her best friend back home to their team. The next time she saw Sasuke, she wasn't even going to give him a chance to hurt her like that. This time around, Naru was going to drag the older boy back even if it meant she had to break every single bone in his body.

No matter what he said, Sasuke was still a part of her family and Naru didn't abandon her family.

Smiling widely at the thought, Naru focused her chakra to her butt as the ship jerked. If this boat kept moving like this, there was no chance in hell she could sleep in peace without landing on someone's lap. Pouting, she looked at her fellow participants who were slowly turning green as the ship kept jerking forward. Naru laughed at their expressions, earning glares from the men, before looking out at the window.

It wouldn't be long before she becomes stronger than Sasuke, Naru thought as she stared out at the sky, and when that day happened she was going to rub it in her best friend's face.

Yeah, she couldn't wait to see his expression when he realized just how much stronger she became.

So many participants but only so few of them could survive this small storm, the Captain thought to himself as he watched so many of the participants vomited their food out into the buckets his crew prepared for them. He sneered when he heard a few participants crying out for their mother. None of them had the stomach of a hunter, he thought to himself as he made his way to the last cabin in his search to weed out for potential Hunter Exam participants.

Opening the door, the Captain pulled a face at the sight of the men moaning in pain as his ship was hit by another huge wave. He nearly closed the door but the sight of a blond-haired girl jumping out of the hammock drew his attention. Leaning against the door, the Captain watched as the blonde made her way towards the sick people, asking them if they wanted her to bring anything. What made the girl decide to help those men now? He wondered, watching as the girl scrunched her face as she tried to look for a bucket for these men.

It didn't matter to him, the Captain thought, the girl could survive this storm which meant she had the potential to survive the Hunter Exams.

He blinked his eyes as he suddenly noticed a blond-haired boy sleeping peacefully in another hammock. His eyes widened when he noticed a man wearing a business suit was chucking at a comic while a black-haired boy rushed pass him, bringing in the herbs he kept for his crewmembers who got seasick during weathers like these. That boy, the Captin thought as he stared at the boy's face, looked a lot like a boy who was on this same ship twenty years ago.

Could it be that boy was his son?

"Looks like there're a few who aren't complete weaklings," he declared to his crew, pressing his hands into his pockets, chuckling as the blond-haired girl gave him a wild smile as if to tell him she heard everything he said and agreed with him.

"Captain?"

"Tell your fellow crew members to bring out the boats," he ordered his crew member, watching as another man vomitted into his bucket. "Everyone who is seasick is disqualified from the exams. Anyone who could get sick from a simple storm like this doesn't even deserve to become Hunters."

His crew members hesistated but did as he said, rushing out of the corridor to give out his orders. Out of the two hundred people in his boat, only four people seemed to have survived the boat ride without one hint of discomfort. It could mean two things for him. It either meant those people have guts stronger then nails or their will to continue in these exams were stronger than any discomfort they felt. If it was first they needed to prove to him they deserve to be here but if it was the second then they more then deserve to go to those exams.

"What do ya want me to do boss?" A crew member asked, snapping him from his train of thought.

The Captain gazed at the four healthy partcipants and then to his crew members before barking out, "See those four kids? I want you to bring to the control deck and prepare a boat for them if I deemed them unsuitable for these exams."

"You're even going to test those two kids?" His crew member questioned, gazing at the two kids with shock. "Captain, are you sure that's a good idea? They're just kids...they aren't going to survive in these exams."

"Don't let kids fool ya brat," he informed them, putting a cigratte into his mouth. "They're people younger than you but stronger than you or are hell lot more smarter than they look. Besides...from my experience, kids seem to do better in these exams. Now call them to the control room and clear this cabin out of these pathetic fools!"

"Y-Yes, Sir."

These exams might just be the most interesting one just yet, the Captain thought, as he made his way towards the control room.

The question was, did these people deserve to be in these exams?

Staring into the beady eyes of the ship's captain, Naru couldn't help but wonder why the middle-aged man ordered his crew members to bring her here with three other people. She hadn't caused any trouble in this boat and tried her hardest not to touch anything in the boat that wasn't a herb or food so why would he call her out here with these three people? She glanced at the three people standing beside her, who all but one looked annoyed at what was happening.

The short boy beside her just looked excited at what was happening, which was just weird if you asked her.

"So it just the four of you now in this boat," The captain barked as soon as he noticed the four of them were standing in front of him. He flickered his eyes to her, then to the short boy beside her before looking at the last two. "Give me your names first."

"Call me Leorio," The tallest man said, giving them a cocky smirk.

"My name is Kurapika," her fellow blonde said, looking so serious that Naru was tempted to pinch the boy into smiling. She hated people who looked so serious all the time and the guy right beside her looked as serious as Neji, which was something since Naru never thought she would meet someone as serious as Hinata's cousin.

"I'm Uzumaki Naru, nice to meet ya Captain," Naru said, giving the middle-aged man a smile.

The Captain nodded, stared so intently at the four of them that Naru was nearly tempted to look away from him but Naru Uzumaki wasn't going to let the man knew he frightened her. She didn't want him to think she was scared of him but the fact he was staring at her like he was trying to figure out what was in her soul scared the crap out of her. No one ever looked at her like that, the worst stare she ever had was whenever the parents used to glare at her for trying to talk to their kids.

Sometimes those glares just made her want to curl into a small ball and hide.

"Why did the four of ya want to become hunters? What are your reasons?" The Captain asked, leaning against the wall.

Leorio frowned and narrowed his eyes at him. "Why do you ask such a question? Are you the interviewer or something?"

"Answer me," The Captain growled.

"I want to become stronger," Naru answered, stopping Leorio in his tracks. Running her hand through her hair, she smiled at the middle-aged man as the memories of the fun times she had with her team rushed through her mind. "I want to become strong enough to bring back my teammate and I heard from someone the Hunter Exams were hard so I thought it would be perfect training."

"Why the Hunter Exams? Why didn't you ask someone to train you?" The Captain asked her, raising his eyebrows at her. "The Hunter Exams are no joke kid, ya could lose your life in these exams. Is that teammate of yours worth it? Are you that willing to risk your life for this teammate?"

"I want to become stronger and the only way for me to become stronger is if I take the risk, if someone trained me then I won't be risking my life to get stronger," she answered, "And my teammate is worth it! He's my best friend and I'm willing to do anything to get him back home even risk my life for it! If it means I've to scarifice my life to have him go back home then I'll do it."

"Ya one insane girl."

The two men beside her nodded their head in agreement with the captain while the black-haired boy just stared at her with curiosity as if he never heard someone say these things before. She shook her head, grinned at the middle-aged man, before flickering her eyes at the other three, waiting for them to tell this strange captain on their reasons for being here.

"I want to know what kind of job my father has been captivated by," the black-haired boy finally said, smiling broadly at the captain.

The tall man looked at the little boy in disbelief and then looked at her as if she was an idiot. Naru crossed her arms and scowled at him. This man barely knew her and already he stared at her, in the same way, some of the teachers would stare at her whenever she got a simple question wrong. It was annoying. She wasn't dumb. She just thought things in a different way! That didn't make her dumb.

"How can the two of you give your answer so freely?" Leorio asked, pointing at them. "You don't answer like that."

The blonde blinked her eyes. "It isn't going to hurt me if I tell him my reasons. It's just a harmless question, anyone would ask ya a question like that if they want to know why ya doing it."

"She's right," Gon said, giving her a smile.

Leorio shook his head, gazed at the captain and finally said. "I don't wish to reveal why I'm here."

"I agree with Leorio," Kurapika said.

"Hey you," Leorio growled, earning raised eyebrows from Naru and Gon. "How old are you to be saying my name like that?"

Kurapika ignored him. "It's easy to pretend to tell the truth to avoid questions you don't want to answer however I also think lying is one of the most shameful acts possible."

If she said she understood every word Kurapika said then Naru would be a liar. She had no idea what the older teen was trying to say but she understood he didn't want to talk about it for some reason. Why did these two didn't want to give their reasons? The middle-aged man didn't look like he would hurt them if they gave them the wrong answer. She tilted her head and just frowned before shrugging her shoulders.

Adult men were weird that was what she learnt today.

"But for me to disclose my true reasons to someone I just met isn't something I can do," Kurapika continued, earning a raised eyebrow from the captain. "The reason for my wanting to become a Hunter is related to a matter that is just too personal. Therefore, I cannot answer that question here."

"...Am I the only one who didn't understand what he just said?" Naru asked.

Gon raised his hand, smiling widely at her and Naru couldn't help but smile wide at him. It was good to know she wasn't the only one who didn't understand a damn thing Kurapika said. It meant she wasn't that slow when understanding people's words, it just meant she was acting her age. Now she could say to everyone in the village to suck it because she was just acting her age. Now she could finally say, everyone in their village don't act like her age.

In second thoughts, she shouldn't say it.

"Oh? Is that so?" The Captain sneered, narrowing his eyes at the two men. "Then you two must get off this ship immediately!"

"Who are you to tell us that!" Leorio yelled.

"Don't you get it?" The captain said dryly, jerking his fingers at them and then to himself. "The Hunter Qualification Exam has already begun."

Naru couldn't help but gawk at the middle-aged man, who just laughed at her expression. Was he serious? She had never heard of an exam where they were being tested before they even reach the exam site. Not even the Chunin Exams were like that! Did that they mean they were going to be tested everywhere they were going? No, she could handle this. As long as they didn't give her a paper exam, she would be fine.

As long as there was nothing for her to write down, Naru would be more than happy with the exam.

"As you know, there're just too many of you wanting to become Hunters," The captain said once he finished laughing at them. "The examiners don't have enough time or the manpower to evaluate you. For that reason, people like me are hired to cut down the numbers. The others have been disqualified even if they did find an alternative route to the examination site, they'll be rejected."

In second thought, this exam might be just the thing she was searching for.

"I'm a survivor of the Kurata Clan," Kurapika said, drawing everyone's attention to him. "There's a group of bandits who massacred my tribe four years ago...I want to become a hunter to capture the Genei Ryodan."

From the Captain's alarm expression, Naru guessed those bandits were really famous and really dangerous. How dangerous were they? She wondered, flickering her eyes at the blond-haired boy, who stood there with emotionless eyes. Were they as dangerous as an S-class nin? Or were they weaker? They must be weaker, she decided. No civilian could be more dangerous than S-class ninjas.

"A blacklist hunter applicant eh," The Captain finally said, grabbing a bottle of rum from the table beside him. "The Genei Ryodan are A-class bounties even a veteran Hunter would have difficulty...you'll most likely get killed."

Kurapika's eyes hardened at the man's words. "I don't fear death. I only worry that my rage may dissipate."

"So to sum up everything, you want revenge," Leorio said, pulling a face. "Y'know that's something you can do without becoming a Hunter."

"People are willing to do anything to have revenge," Naru said softly, thinking back to her best-friends' actions towards her and everyone in their village. "But Leorio is right, revenge is something you can do without becoming a Hunter. How will becoming a Hunter help you in getting revenge?"

"The two of you are very ignorant," Naru narrowed her eyes at her fellow blonde, who just ignored her glare. "There're places you can't enter and information you can't obtain unless you're a Hunter. Don't you even know that?"

"Nope," she answered truthfully. "I only learnt about Hunters just a couple of hours ago."

Everyone blinked their eyes at her, looking at her as if she was crazy for not knowing about them and maybe she was but her village never talked about the outside world. The only times she heard about the outside world was whenever she overheard the merchants in the village talked about it or the few times she was able to get Jiraya to talk about his adventures outside the village. Not once did they ever mention about Hunters to her.

"So why did ya decide to become a Hunter if you only learnt about it just a couple of hours ago!" Leorio yelled.

The blonde frowned. "I told ya because I want to become stronger so I could save my best-friend. I heard from an old man on the island we just left that the Hunter Exams were hard so I decided if I want to become stronger then I'll just have to risk my life."

"You don't need to become a Hunter to save your friend!" Leorio yelled. "You can become stronger without becoming a Hunter!"

She crossed her arms. "I know that but I need to push myself to the limits and if this exam can make me break then I'm going to take it! This exam is going to be training for me. I need to get stronger and if this exam can make me stronger then I'm going to do it! If it helps me to become strong enough to save my best-friend then I'm willing to become a Hunter. If you could, wouldn't ya do anything to save a friend from making a stupid mistake?"

Leorio stared at her for a good long minute before looking away from her. He didn't have to say anything to her because Naru knew from the pain and understanding in his eyes that this man understood her feelings. Did Leorio lose someone close to him? He must have because only someone who understood her need to save her friend would look at her like that. Licking her dried lips, Naru gazed at her fellow participants.

"We heard from the others why they want to become Hunter, now it's your turn Leorio. Why did you come here?" The Captain asked, gulping down a good portion of his rum.

"Me? I don't wanna kiss your ass or anything so I'll just be honest," Leorio answered, grinning. "Money! If I have money, I'll be able to get my hands on everything! A huge mansion! Luxurious cars! The best wine!"

No one could deny he had a point, Naru thought as she remembered all the times the villagers charged her double the normal price for any nice vegetables or meat. If she had a lot of money then there would have been no point of her growing vegetables in the small patch of dirt behind her apartment. If she was rich then maybe everyone in the village would look at her like the way they used to look at Sasuke.

If she was rich then maybe she could finally move out of her crappy apartment and live on a nicer street.

"You can't buy character with money, Leorio," Kurapika said, closing his eyes in annoyance.

Leorio's eyebrows twitched at Kurapika's words and Naru couldn't blame the man for becoming furious with her fellow blonde. If Kurapika had said that to her, she would have punched the older boy for his insult. The guy must have never known what it was like to have no money in his pockets, Naru thought as she remembered the few times when she spent all her money on ramen. If you had no money then you couldn't even buy decent food.

"That's three strikes," Leorio said darkly, looking at Kurapika with so much fury that Naru was surprised he wasn't trying to kill the boy. "Let's take this outside Kurapika. I'll end the filthy bloodline of the Kurta Clan."

Now that was harsh, Naru thought, watching as Kurapika gazed at the older male with so much hatred that she was surprised he hadn't tried to kill the male for his insult. Those two were taking the insult too far if you asked Naru. She understood Kurapika insulted Leorio when he talked about his character but Leorio took it to a whole new level when he said he was going to destroy his clan.

Not even she would say these things to Sasuke and that bastard always made her want to throttle him.

"Take that back, Leorio."

Leorio gave the younger boy a frosty look. "You mean Leorio-san."

With those words, Leorio gestured for her fellow blonde to follow him outside to the deck. Naru stared at their disappearing backs and wondered if she should stop them from fighting. She didn't mind if those two fight, in fact, she would encourage it with how angry they were but they were in the middle of a storm. If those two took one wrong step then they might fall off the ship and into the freezing ocean.

Then again, a good fight might be just what they need to let out their frustration with each other.

"I'm not done talking punks!" The Captain yelled at their fading backs. "You expect to pass the Hunter Exams by ignoring me?"

"Let them be, sir," Gon said, drawing their attention to him.

"What?" The Captain asked.

Gon gave them a serious look and stared out at the window. "To know someone is to know what makes them angry that is what my Aunt Mito taught me and to me, the reasons why those two are angry are very important to I think it's better just to let them be."

"Sometimes, finding out what makes a person angry isn't the best way to find out about them," Naru said, wrinkling her nose. "Cuz when you make someone angry, it makes them a real asshole when they aren't really an asshole."

"But how do ya know that if you didn't make them angry?" Gon asked her, looking wide-eyed. "Don't you feel closer to that person once y'know what makes them angry? Didn't you and your best-friend always fight?"

"Of course, we did!" She said, scrunching her eyebrows together as she remembered the number of times they used to argue. "We argued every single day! The bastard always called me the dead-last and would do anything to make me want to hit him in the head."

"And you still consider him your best friend don't ya? Even after all the times you fight with him, the two of you are still the best of friends right."

When Gon put it in that way, she understood what he was getting at. Sasuke and her fought over everything, from the number of ramen bowls she ate to the plans they would make on how to capture Tora. They argued over every small detail but even then, she still consider him her best friend. He might do things which annoyed her, he might have nearly killed her but Sasuke was still her best friend.

He was the one person who knew her better than anyone in their village and the same went for her. She knew Sasuke like the back of her hand and she knew the boy was going to do something so bad that he was going to regret it.

"Captain!" A crew member yelled, drawing her attention to him. "The storm is approaching faster than we expected."

For a second, there was a tense silence as they processed the information the crew member had just told them. Once they realized what he had said, the Captain rushed out of the door, quickly followed by Gon and her. She didn't know how bad the storm was becoming but Naru did know she had to help them in this situation.

Her eyes widened when she noticed one of the younger crewmembers was being flung towards the sides of the boat. Without any hesitance, Naru ran towards the crewmember, making five clones to catch her in case she fell overboard. Everyone stopped what they were doing, gawking at the sight of the clones, before rushing to help her catch the man.

She grabbed hold of the man's hand, pulling him towards her as she felt someone grabbed her legs. Twisting her head back, Naru blinked her eyes at the sight of her clones pulling back with the help of Kurapika, Leorio and Gon. When did those two stop their fighting? And why was there only four clones? She knew she made five! So where was the fifth one? Did it even matter? She saved someone from dying.

"Are you alright, Naru?" Gon asked her as soon as they took the injured man from her arms.

Rubbing her head, Naru nodded. "Of course, I'm! Do ya think this storm can hurt me? If a little storm can beat me then you don't know a damn thing about Naru Uzumaki!"

"That little storm could have killed you, Naru!" Kurapika yelled, making the blonde gulp as the older boy came right up with her face while Leorio glowered at her. "How could you be so reckless as to jump in and save that man! Don't you care about your life? You could have died if you landed in the ocean!"

"If you didn't have those clones of yours and us grabbing your legs then you would have fallen into the ocean," Leorio yelled. "And what were you thinking of making them? One of your clones got popped when it hit someone! And how the hell do you make clones?"

Naru blinked her eyes, stared at the two older teens and laughed, causing Gon to laugh out loud with her. They blinked their eyes at her, which just made her laugh even harder. Just a couple of minutes ago, the two of them were fighting each other and now they were scolding her for trying to save someone. Those two made no sense, she thought to herself, tuning the boys as they scolded her for her actions.

This was the first time in her life that someone scolded her for nearly dying.

"Thanks for saving my ass," Naru finally said, grinning widely. "If my clones had popped while they were trying to save me then I woulda died...so thank you. As for the clones, I used chakra. "

"What the hell is chakra?" Leorio asked.

Kurapika frowned and shook his head. "I don't know...this is the first time I heard it. What is Chakra, Naru?"

Naru furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to figure out how to explain it to them. How did Sakura use to explain it to her? She furrowed her eyebrows before shrugging her shoulder. "I don't know how to explain it to ya but it's spirit energy and physical energy joined together...does that make sense?"

"No."

"I don't know how to explain it to ya," Naru admitted. "I never really paid attention to Iruka-sensei or Sakura-chan when they were explaining it to me."

"Does it matter how Naru made it? The two of you stopped fighting!" Gon declared, drawing their attention back to the important matter.

The two teens looked at each other and then to Gon before smiling at his two of them looked at each other before shaking each other's hands, apologizing to each other for their actions. She glanced at Gon, who just had a big smile on his face as he watched the two older males apologize to each other.

"See, I told ya they just need to fight it out didn't I?" Gon told her, giving her a smile.

She grinned. "Yes you did and you were right about it."

The sound of the Captain laughing drew her attention away from Gon and to the middle-aged man, who had a huge smile on his face as he gazed at them. He looked at the four of them in the amusement as if he found their actions amusing and maybe to an outsider it was but what just happened had been terrifying for her. Sweet Kami, she was never ever going to become a sailor especially if the boat was as dangerous as this.

"The four of you are really something," The Captain declared, grinning. "I'll make sure the four of you will reach the closest harbor to the examination site! You've my word."

Gon furrowed his eyebrows. "What about the exam?"

The middle-aged man shrugged his shoulders at him. "I'm happy so I forgot all about it."

Naru sighed in relief, slumping back down to the ground while Leorio and Kurapika sigh in relief at the middle-aged man's words. Gon just grinned before running after the middle-aged man, who declared he was going to teach Gon how to steer the boat. Naru couldn't help but laugh out loud at the man and the luck they had that the man decided to let them pass the exam.

This was the weirdest exam she had ever taken.

Tilting her head, Naru wondered if the old man had been drunk when he told Gon the direction on how to get to the exam site faster. The map showed the lone tree to be on the opposite side of their destination but the old man seemed so honest when he told Gon where they should go. She sat down on the ground, gazed at the map and then to Gon, who didn't look like he had any doubts on the man's words.

"That's weird," Leorio said, pointing to the tree on the map. "Look, the district of Zaban, where the exam site is located, is a big city that's even listed on the map so there's really no reason to head towards a mountain in the opposite direction. There's a bus going directly towards Zaban."

When Leorio put it in that way, it made no sense to go towards the trees but Naru didn't know why the old man would lie to them. He didn't have any bad intentions, Naru thought to herself as she remembered how the old man had been kind enough to give them extra-food for the journey. Besides, her instincts told her the man had been honest when he told Gon where to go.

If there was one thing Naru could count on, it was her instincts.

"...We might just end up wasting our time," Leorio continued.

Kurapika frowned. "Maybe, the Captain is mistaken."

"I'm still gonna go," Gon announced, smiling. "I'm certain there must've been a reason."

"I'm going to go with him," Naru declared, pushing herself up from the ground and followed Gon as he made his way towards the road heading to the tree. She was going to follow her instincts, Naru decided, putting her hands into her pockets as they head towards the empty road.

"Gon, Naru, you should learn to be somewhat suspicious of others," Leorio advised. "I recommend you take the bus."

"If I was suspicious of everyone I met then I'll be paranoid," Naru pointed out as they made a left turn. "Besides, I'm following my instincts and my instincts told me the old man wasn't lying to us."

"We might not have known each other for a long time but it was nice to know ya," Leorio declared as Gon and her walked away from him.

It was barely twenty minutes since the three of them left Leorio that the older male was back by their side. Naru furrowed her eyebrows at Leorio, who just shook his head and gave her a look that said if she even dared question him about his actions then he would make her life miserable. She would like to see him try to make her life miserable but Naru didn't want to cause any trouble between her and the others.

Shrugging her shoulder, Naru stared at the streets and frowned when she noticed a distinct lack of people. It felt like a ghost town in here, she thought to herself, straining her ear to hear any form of human life. She sighed in relief when she heard the pitter patter of people's feet as well as the scent of people in the buildings surrounding them. Okay, it wasn't a ghost town but there was something freaky happening around here.

"I don't like this place," Leorio declared. "It's like a ghost town."

"Yeah," Naru agreed, putting her hands into her pockets. "I just wonder why no one is coming out here to greet us."

"There's people in this town?" Leorio asked, blinking his eyes at her.

Naru nodded her head. "Yeah, I can hear people moving about in the buildings around us."

"From the rustling of their clothes, I think they're hiding," Gon added, making Leorio blink his eyes at the two kids.

"Don't lower your guard," Kurapika advised them as they continued to walk through the empty streets. Naru frowned but nodded her head at the older boy's words. She didn't know what was happening but she had a feeling things were just going to get more interesting now that they were in this place. Just how much more interesting? Naru didn't know but she hoped it was interesting enough that she didn't regret coming to this exam.

"How can you hear them?" Leorio asked, pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose as he tried to look for any sign of life.

"I've good hearing," Naru explained, shrugging her shoulder. "These people are really quiet even for me so I had to strain my ear to hear them...but I don't know about Gon or Kurapika."

Kurapika put his finger to his lips, signalling that the two of them had to stop talking. Taking a deep breath, Naru nodded her head and continued to follow behind Kurapika and Gon, occasionally glancing at the buildings around them. She blinked her eyes when she caught sight of people dressed in cloaks appearing out of the building. Her eyes widened when she realized they were surrounding the four of them.

"You fellas are heading towards the tree on the top of the mountain?" An elderly woman asked, walking pass the crowds of people surrounding them. "It's not possible to reach that point unless you pass through this town. The other paths up the mountains are labyrinths and on top of that, they're the territories of dangerous demon beasts. I'll present to you just one question and you only have five seconds to answer."

Great, just great, they were going to do a word quiz.

Why the hell couldn't they have a fight? She would definitely pass if they did a fighting exam.

"If you're wrong, you'll be immediately disqualified and you won't be able to take the Hunter Exams," the old lady informed them, making Naru groan at this.

Why couldn't she do an exam without wordplay?

"So this is another ordeal we must face if we wish to do the Hunter Exam," Kurapika mused as the old lady stared at the four of them with cold beady eyes.

"Answer with 1 or 2," The old lady continued, tapping her cane on the ground. "Any other answer and I'll consider them to be incorrect."

Leorio looked alarmed at her words. "Hey, wait a minute! All four of us will be asked just one question?" he pointed at Kurapika. "Then if he's wrong, I'll be disqualified too!"

"That's not possible," Kurapika dismissed. "The chances that the opposite is going to happen and that frightens me."

Naru stifled a laugh at his words while Gon laughed out loud at the two males. Those two could be the best of friends, she thought to herself as she remembered all the times Sasuke would say the same things to her. The bastard never had any confidence in her plans until he corrected a few minor details. Crossing her arms behind her head, she stared at the old lady.

"But that also means that only one of us has to get it right for all four of us to pass," Gon pointed out when he finished laughing. He rubbed his head as he admitted. "I'm not good with quizzes."

"You and me both," Naru admitted, gazing at the old lady with curiosity. "So it's a good thing too isn't it? I mean if one of us get the answer right then we pass...which is a win-win for everyone."

Leorio rubbed his head. "That makes sense too."

"Hey you! Gonna hurry up or what?" A man yelled, causing everyone to twist their body and turn around to look at the male. The man had shaggy black hair and beady black eyes which told Naru more than anything about the kind of man in front of her. She might be an idiot at times but Naru wasn't a complete idiot. She knew how to spot a cruel person from a mile away and this man had icy eyes. People who usually have icy eyes were usually evil and that was her rule of thumb.

"If you aren't feeling too confident, why don't you let me go first?" He asked, fixing his eyes on Gon as he gave them a smirk. "Sorry kid. I overheard what you said at the harbor."

The blonde shrugged her shoulders and eyed the man as he waited for everyone to make a decision on what to do. It didn't matter if the guy overheard them but what matter to Naru was what the man planned to do to them if he thought they got in their way. This man wasn't someone to trust that was what her instincts were telling her.

"So what's the deal?" The old lady asked, tapping her feet impatiently.

The blonde shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know about everyone else but I don't mind if he goes first."

"We'll let you go first," Leorio agreed.

The man smirked at their declaration, pushing them aside to meet the old lady. The old lady didn't look all too impress with the man's behaviour and to be honest, Naru didn't blame her since the man had the walk of an asshole. She hoped the question was hard for the bastard. She wanted to see the smirk on his face to be wiped away from his face.

"Your mother and girlfriend have been kidnapped by a couple of bandits, and you're only allowed to save one of them, who would you save?" The old lady asked, squinting her eyes at the male. " Number 1 is your mother and number 2 is your girlfriend."

Wasn't that a mean question to ask? Naru wondered, staring at the old woman with wide eyes. How could she ask such a deep question? She couldn't think of sacrificing someone to save another person's life. It was unthinkable but Naru knew from the amount of lectures Iruka used to give her that sometimes sacrifices had to be made but Naru didn't know who she would sacrifice to save another person's life.

She didn't know if she could even sacrifice her loved one to save another loved one.

"Number 1!" The man declared.

"What's the reason for your answer?" The old lady asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

The man smirked. "Obviously, I only have one mother in the world but I can always find a new girlfriend."

Could you? Naru wondered, staring wide-eyed at the man. She didn't have a mother and she might never ever had a boyfriend before but Naru doubt she could make a choice on who she would save. Why couldn't she give an easy question? Why couldn't she ask like who was the First Hokage? Or asked questions to do with Math...Naru could ace those types of question. Heck, even if she couldn't answer then Kurapika could answer it easily.

Her fellow blonde looked like a genius.

"You may go," The old lady said, waving the boy off to continue his path.

"This is bullshit," Leorio yelled, stomping his feet on the ground as he glared at the old lady. "What kind of messed up quiz is this? Stupid hag! These type of questions don't have a correct answer...it'll change from person to person. The judges and the ones who passed are all full of bullshit! I can't accept this."

The old lady just stared blankly at Leorio. "You're already too late. If you choose not to take the quiz then you'll be disqualified immediately. You'll lose the right to become a Hunter."

She couldn't be serious! Naru thought as Leorio gritted his teeth at the old woman. They should have the right to continue on even if they didn't want to take the quiz. How could she expect them to choose? She didn't have any parents but even she couldn't imagine sacrificing them for her boyfriend and the same went for her boyfriend. This wasn't a fair quiz. This was a quiz that made her imagine the worse case.

This was the kind of quiz that forced them to see the reality of the situation.

"Wait!" The old lady said, snapping her off her train of thought. "I won't allow you to say another word. I won't allow you to say unnecessary speech from right now on. Now answer! If you pick number one, you'll take the quiz and if you pick number 2, you won't take the quiz."

Naru raised her eyebrows and debated whether or not, she wanted to continue on the exam. If she wanted to continue on her journey to become stronger then she had to do this quiz but Naru didn't want to be forced to make a choice. Couldn't she be allowed to save both? She would rather die then have to pick to save one or the other.

"Number one!" Kurapika said, making the decision for all four of them.

The blond-haired boy tilted his head and gazed intensely at Leorio and her as if he was trying to send them an information. If the blonde thought she knew how to read his facial expression then he got the wrong person. Seriously, Naru didn't know what he was trying to tell her. If he wanted her to answer then he had another thing coming...she was going to keep her mouth shut because sometimes the best way to answer a question was to keep your mouth shut.

So, yes she was going to keep her mouth shut.

"Now here's the question," the old lady declared, waving her finger at them. "Both your son and daughter have been kidnapped but, you can only save one of them but who would you rescue? Number one is your son and number two is your daughter."

Who would she save if she had to make a choice? Those two would be her own flesh and blood. How could they make her choose between one or the other? Those kids were her family and to save only one family member wasn't alright with her but having one family member was better than none. It was something Naru knew from not having any family member in her life but...she still didn't want to make a choice.

"FIve," The woman said, beginning the countdown. "Four. Three…"

Naru glanced at Leorio and nearly yelled when she saw the older male had a piece of wood in his hand. Was he actually going to hit the old lady? She knew the hag was asking too much from them but it didn't mean the guy should beat up an old hag. Clenching her hands into a fist, Naru rushed towards the black-haired male and tackled him down to the ground, holding on to his arms to prevent him from hurting the old woman.

No matter how mean an old person was, it didn't mean he should try to hurt her.

"What the hell Naru! Let go of me! Let me hit the old hag!" Leorio yelled, struggling against her hold.

"Hell no!" Naru yelled, tightening her grip on him. "I know you're pissed off, heck I'm pissed off too but it doesn't mean you can hit the old hag. It won't make you any better than her!"

"I don't care if it makes me worse then the old hag!" Leorio yelled. "I'm going to take her head and send her to the exam site and tell them what the hell I think of them and their exams. If this is what it means to be a Hunter then I want nothing to do with this bullshit system."

"Do you really want to give up your chance?" Naru asked, blinking her eyes. "Do you really want to give up on your dream because of the damn system? Y'know you could change the system if you become in charge of them! You shouldn't give up on your dream because of her!"

"She's right," Kurapika said, drawing their attention to him. "We answered correctly Leorio!"

"Wait...a second, we answered correctly!" Both Leorio and Naru said, looking at him in disbelief.

Kurapika nodded his head. "Silence. That was the correct answer."

"I don't get it," Naru said, furrowing her eyebrows.

Her fellow blonde sighed and shook his head at her. "Leorio said it himself, there can't be a right answer. He was right. There is no correct answer but the rule is you can only answer one or two. So you can't say anything at all. There's only silence."

"But what about the guy from earlier?" Leorio asked, pointing in the direction at which the man left to.

"They just said he could 'go'," Kurapika pointed out, causing Naru to slap herself on the forehead for not realizing this earlier. "They didn't tell him he was correct."

"That makes sense," Naru admitted, smiling sheepishly at Kurapika as she let go of Leorio's arms. "So if the path he went wasn't the right path then what is? I can't see another way for us to go."

"That's a good question," Kurapika agreed, looking expectantly at the old woman. "I presume we're not going in the same direction since the path taken by the man earlier is filled with demon beasts."

"How do y'know if it's filled with them?" Naru couldn't help but ask her fellow blonde.

Kurapika smiled wearily. "I heard the man screamed a couple of minutes ago which meant he must have been most likely been attacked by a demon beast."

Naru paled at his words, causing the old woman to laugh at her while the other three males just shook their heads at her. Why did they act like she was being silly? This was the first time in her life, she had ever heard of demon beasts. Were they anything like the Kyuubi? Kami, she hoped not because Naru doubt she was strong enough to beat a demon that big. She might be cocky but Naru knew her limits and she definitely couldn't beat a demon.

"He's right," the old lady said once she was done laughing. "The true path is this way."

The blonde blinked her eyes as the people of this small town rushed towards the walls, pulling it apart to reveal a pathway. The pathway had always been right under their nose. If anyone of them had tried to answer the old lady's question then they would have been forced to go by the path the man had taken. She shivered as she realized just how close they might have been to death.

"Old hag, I'm sorry," Leorio finally said, bowing his head to the woman.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about," the old woman said, waving his apologies off. "I do this job to meet people like you and that little girl over there. Promise me you'll work hard because I wish for you to become a good hunter."

Leorio flushed red in embarrassment and muttered. "Thanks."

With the path to the tree cleared, Naru couldn't help but feel excited as she thought of the new challenges the four of them were soon going to face.

If things kept going at this rate, she had no doubt that she wouldn't ever be bored again.

A/N: Please review.