Ayame's P.o.V.
I hardly got any rest last night. That probably wasn't a good thing, but there's nothing I can do about it now. I suppose I could just sleep when I was finished the writing portion of the Exams, but that'd be extremely dangerous. What with bring surrounded by ninjas and all.
All of Team Seven was in a corridor of a building, attempting to find the room in which to register for the Exams. We found a small cluster of other ninja, waiting for the doors to open, so we stopped there for a moment. We weren't there for even an entire minute without being approached by another team.
"Hello! Uchiha Sasuke! I am Rock Lee! Please fight me!" There was a slender boy in a green jumpsuit and orange legwarmers before us. He also had a bowl cut and big, round eyes. "I challenge you!" He was so direct. He looked over at Sakura and blushed. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Please go out with me!" Oh, Kami.
"I-I-I-I-" Sakura's mouth hung open. She shook herself out like a wet dog would. "No way! Cha! You're weird!" There she goes again. Granted this kid wasn't the Average Cho, she didn't have to be so mean.
"I will not accept no as an answer!"
"Lee! That's enough." Another boy manifested from behind Lee. "I apologize for him. I am Hyuga Neji." This boy had long brown hair. His eyes looked like Hinata's and they shared the same name, so they had to be related.
"EXcuse me, Neji-san, are you Hyuga Hinata's brother?" I asked and he seemed to tense in the slightest before narrowing his eyes and responding.
"Cousin." He corrected. I blinked. Was there really that much of a difference? I didn't think so, but he must have.
"Neji-kun, we're going to lose our place in line." A girl said. She had two buns of brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a pink shirt that was really girly-looking. "We've been here long enough. What are you-"
"You're wasting your time." Sasuke smirked. "It's pointless to wait around here. You're in the wrong spot. Right, Team?" I didn't know what he was talking about right away, but I got it.
"O-Oh, right!" Sakura piped out before I did. "You know what room we are supposed to be in, right?" At this point, the other Genin were listening in and watching us. Tenten folded her arms across her chest.
"Yeah, obviously. Three." She pointed at the number above the door. "Like it says right there. The proctor just isn't here yet, so the door is locked." Sakura smirked.
"Take a closer look at it. See what it really says." Sure enough, Sakura was right. If you focused on the number, you could see what it really was. Thirty three instead of just three.
The ninjas gasped in amazement as some of them said "Hey!" or "Whoa, look at that!". I even heard a "What a scam!" somewhere in there. The crowd began to disband from that area in search of the real room three. Everyone aside from Neji's team and my own. Sasuke and Sakura had almost the same stance, which made me extremely uneasy.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted. "Nicely done, Sakura." Sakura smirked and made a small wink in my direction.
"Thanks, Sasuke-kun." She said. I kept an indifferent expression on the outside, but I was a maniac on the inside. Sakura is so lucky that we are on the same side or she would be so dead. Not figuratively speaking, either.
"Let's go, team." Sasuke said, and began walking forward, passing Neji's team.
I saw the intense glare of Neji's eyes and heard the grinding of his teeth. I flicked a glance over at Lee, but his expression was a mixture of emotions. Eyebrows arched in slight anger; Lips pressed into a hard line of thoughtfulness; Posture perfectly straight in admiration. I didn't know what was going through this guy's head.
"Ayame-chan." Sasuke called, asking me to catch up. I did and we continued walking in silence.
We didn't know exactly where we were going, but I was able to use my ears to determine where the most activity was taking place. We continued down the hall and took a few turns before entering this large, open space. To the far right, there were stairs that led to a walkway or corridor and there were windows right in from of us. There were several pillars there for structual purposes. We weren't halfway across the floor before someone called Sasuke's name.
"Uchiha Sasuke!" We turned around and saw Lee at the top of the stairs. "I challenge you! Fight me!" I sighed.
"Lee-san, I think it would be wise if-"
"With all due respect, teammate of Sasuke, this battle is between your leader and I!" Lee interrupted politely. I blinked and looked at Sasuke, who shrugged. "I would like to test my skills on a descendant of a great clan! However, if you are afraid to lose, that makes you a wise man!" Sasuke clenched his fist.
"I am most certainly not afraid of you." He retorted. "We'll fight. Now."
"Saskue-kun, we don't have time for this!" I protested, but Sasuke shot me a look that told me to stop.
I rolled my eyes, but motioned for him to go on. I pulled Naruto and Sakura back to give the fighters even more space in the already empty room. I stared at Lee's face as Sasuke walked towards him. There was so much determination. So much...strength. He really thinks that he is stronger than Sasuke. With the look of certainty on his face, I could believe it, too.
"Sasuke-kun, I don't think-"
"Shh!" Naruto shushed me, obviously wanting to see this epic smackdown. I groaned, but shut myself up.
Lee tucked his elbow into his side, but kept his forearm extended and his hand palm-up. This must have been his ready stance. It was a realy unique style that I had never seen before. Sasuke separated his feet, a little farther than shoulder length apart. He twisted his back slightly so he could put one hand behind him and the other in fromt of him. That was his original style. Sasuke looked at me to give the ready and I shook my head, telling him that I thought this was a really bad idea. He should have been conserving his energy anyway! Boys are so stupid. He looked in front of me, where Naruto was seated comfortably, waiting for the show, and gave him the same look. Naruto chuckled with a huge grin.
"Ready!?" He called.
"Wait just a moment!" Lee interrupted. He turned his head and looked to the left of me, at Sakura. "Sakura-san," He said with pink on his cheeks. "I love you."
"NOO!" She yelled, eyes shut tight in fury. "I reject you!" Lee started blowing kisses at her and she dodged all of the little hearts that were floating towards her. Naruto cleared his throat loudly.
"BEGIN!" He shouted.
I couldn't watch. But I had to. It was like a train wreck. Something you know you shouldn't be staring at, but you do anyway just to see what's going to happen next.
Sasuke's eyes were intense, but they were black. He didn't think he had to use the Sharingan quite yet if at all. He sped off towards Lee, ready to strike, but his target vanished and manifested behind him. Lee tripped Sasuke up and the latter rolled over, landing on his feet but still sliding to a stop.
"He's fast," Sasuke muttered under his breath, too soft for anyone but me to hear. "I guess I have to use it." Sasuke's eye's faded from black to red in seconds. I rolled my eyes. This is so troublesome.
Lee kept his original stance in tact as Sasuke corrected his posture. He focused his eyes and even I could see the strain on his face. What was going through his head? I had no idea. I managed to turn my head and watch Lee take one step forward before his vanished in a blur of green. Sasuke was right he really was fast. But how was he doing it? Did he infuse chakra into his feet to increase his speed? If that were the case, why does Sasuke seem to have trouble tracking his movements?
"What if he isn't using chakra," I whispered aloud, more to myself than anyone. "But that's ubsurd. He's going way too fast. Faster than Sasuke."
Lee managed a few hits on Sasuke before I could even blink. Sasuke leapt up in the air and hovered there. We all stared at him, graciously floating there. What was this jutsu? I didn't recognize it, which was odd, considering I know a lot of jutsu.
"Saskue-kun, look out!" Sakura called out. Lee was floating underneath Sasuke, following him like a-
"Shadow of the Dancing Leaf Jutsu!" He called. So was Sasuke's justsu of the Dancing Leaf? Sounds feminine.
Sasuke looked vulnerable and I wasn't about to stand around and watch someone destroy him. I kind of need Sasuke for the exams. Plus, I kinda have a crush on him. Don't tell anyone.
"This has gone on long enough." I said before running straight under them. I watched as Lee extended his left leg, like he was about to kick Sasuke, and leapt up with all my might. I grabbed Lee's leg and threw him down to ground before grabbing Sasuke's arm and pulling him down as I went, too. "Stop acting like children!" I yelled at them.
Lee, caught by surprize, had landed on his back. He was groaning for only a moment before he sobered up and got to his feet. "Just what do you think you are doing!? You were not invited to this challenge! I demand a rematch!"
"No, Lee!" There was a differnet, deeper voice that sounded like a male adult. We turned around and there was...a turtle? What... "Listen to your sensei, Lee! You come here right-"
"Sensei! Guy-sensei, please forgive I only wanted to test my strength against this youthful young Uchiha! Please fogive me!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Naruto said, standing up and point at the mysterious turtle. "What the heck is that thing doing here!? And why can it talk!?" There was a puff of smoke and there was a man seated upon the turtle. He looked just like Lee. This is getting scary. Before the man uttered a word, he punched Lee squared in the face. I made a small gasp and my eyes were wide.
"You should know better than to use that forbidden jutsu, Lee!" That had to have been Guy. Lee started sobbing loudly and crawled on his knees to his sensei.
"I am so sorry sensei!" He shouted. Before I knew it, Guy was sobbing, too.
"It's all right, son!" Wait, what. Ayame's confused. Guy was holding onto Lee and Lee was clutching onto Guy. Whoa, this is not the kind of twincest yaoi I'm into.
"Um, Team Seven, let's go." I said, deadpanning until I saw the exit. I was still holding onto Sasuke's arm, but he shook me off and went ahead of the group. I sighed. "Sorry for being responsible."
. . .
When we finally got to the lobby of the Exams, there were already a lot of teams there from villages all over. The rom was buzzing with chatter and it was killing my ears, but I figured that it would be helpful for my team if I eavesdropped a little and listened into some of the conversations. Most of them were weak; "When are we gonna get started, already?", "Man, I shouldn't have had that octopus for breafast", "Whoa, that smells weird". So I stopped listening. I sighed and looked at the faces until I found a familiar bored expression.
"Shikamaru-kun!" I called and he turned, saw me, and smiled. He motioned for his team to follow him as he strode over to my team.
"Ayame-chan. What took you guys so long?" He asked. I nodded over at Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun made a new friend." I said and Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "So, Shika-kun, head any chatter about the proctor?" The indifferent Nara shook his head.
"None at all. Man, all this waiting around is so boring." Shikamaru kicked at the ground and sighed. I looked ove at Choji who was munching on some Bar-B-Q flavored chips. Those were his favorite kind- I knew because he always smelled of them and I always saw him with a bag. He caught me looking at him and waved at me. I smiled at him and waved as well.
I looked around and realized just how many people were here. I began to feel anxious, but Kiba's team began to approach us, making me realize that I was going up against my own village- my own friends. I felt my breathing get harder and I was light-headed. How did I not think of this sooner? Why did I agree to this? I can't do this.
"Hey," A voice popped my thought bubble and I jumped slightly. I, as did the rest of the people in our group (including Team Neji which had just arrived), turned and saw the pwner of the voice. He was a tall boy with white hair and round glasses. He had soft expressions that made him appear wise and knowledgable. "I see you newbies are looking a little tense, ne?"
"Hn," Sasuke grunted. "What's it to you, stranger?" The mysterious boy smiled.
"My name is Kabuto," He introduced. "And I only came to share some advice and tips." He pulled out some cards from his back pocket. They looking a lot like playing cards at first, but upon a second glance, they were profiles of some ninja that were in this very room.
"Are those stat cards?" Shino- a member of Kiba's team- asked. "Where did you get those?"
"These show the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents and even your teammates," Kabuto said, narrowly avoiding the question. "See, check this out." He pulled out a card from the deck and it, of course, was Sasuke's card. "See, here, it shows how broad your taijustu, genjustsu, ninjustu, yadda, yadda, yadda is. And here, it shows the chakra type this person has. Pretty neat, huh?"
While the group started mumbling in astonishment and began asking for their own cards, I got the uncanny feeling that we were being watched. I turned my "hearing-aids" up and scanned the room from eyes that were pinned on us.
"...little brats," I heard. That deep, male voice felt like a good lead, so I kept on it. "Look at them. They're children."
"Dosu-san, calm down," it was a girl's voice this time. "It will only be easier to kill them when we need to." The two, plus another member of their team, began laughing. I turned to the direction of their voices and locked eyes with a mummy-man. His entire body was wrapped in bandages, all but one eye that was directed straight at me.
"Kin, what is the likelyhood that the Konoha brat looking this way can hear us?" He askd the girl. I pretended to deadpan and have a look of utter obliviousness on my face. Kin laughed.
"Don't be so paranoid," She snorted. "Konoha-nin are the dumbest." She was baiting me, but I wasn't going to take it.
I turned to Kabuto and knealt down to him so I could whisper.
"I need to know everything about that team over there," I demanded, subtly gesturing to the team I was listening to. "And just how dangerous they are."
Omg, yaaay! Dosu-san, Kin-san, and Kabuto-san all got their debuts! Those little bastards! Oh well, I hope you enjoyed it, everyone! I was stressing about this chapter in particular because I wasn't sure how wel it was going to followthrough, but it's done for now and I'm happy. KTHNXBYE!