Hey everybody! I am back with a new chapter and I am working on the next one soon. I would like to say thank you for all of the lovely reviews I have received on this story so far and to all of the story followers/favorites. But I would like to warn those who are writing guest reviews to actually make them about them about my story and not something like this that I received not too long ago:
Gogu:I'm the best f*** the I have a nice D*** and b*** keep on sucking it!
I do not appreciate seeing this in my inbox so if you're gonna write something like this please don't bother and go find something to do with your life, whoever you may be. Thank you for listening and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
"Why do you waste your time with them?" I turned around and standing against the fence in his usual stance, hands in his pockets, was Sasuke Uchiha.
"They're our teammates Sasuke. We should all spend time together so we can try to fix our teamwork." I said as I wiped some dirt off of my shirt. He scoffed in annoyance and began to walk towards me.
"Those two are only holding us back. What's the point in trying to work with them?" Sasuke asked. I cocked my head slightly in confusion, as I looked him in the eyes. There was something in his voice that sounded more than just his usual condescending tone but I couldn't place my finger on it.
"A team is only as strong as its weakest member. So it should be up to us, the stronger members, to build them up and make them stronger." I answered before walking in the direction Naruto and the kids ran off to. I didn't hear a response from Sasuke but I felt his presence as he walked in step with me.
"That would only take up the time we could be using for training ourselves."
"Yes but being in a team isn't always about the individuals it's also about the team as a whole. If you only have half of the members at the same level and the other half at a lower level then the stronger members have to pull not only their weight but also the weaker member's weight as well. Resulting in a lower missions success rate. But if everyone in the team are at an equal level then they are all not only pulling their own weight they are also more likely to have a higher mission success rate. So that's why I spend my time with them." Sasuke was silent for the next few moments as he pondered what I told him. As we were about to walk around a corner I halted, while also putting my arm out in front of Sasuke; making him look at me in surprise. Using my eyes I motioned towards the scene we almost walked in on. Konohamaru was hanging over a foot above the ground by his scarf. The guy holding him wore black attire, a black on his head that had cat ears, a large object wrapped in white bandages hung on his back, and he wore purple face paint in a warlike fashion. On his cat hat stood his village's symbol, an hourglass with a rectangle above it.
'What are sand village ninja doing here?' I thought as I noticed the girl behind him. She was obviously older than us by a few years, she had dirty blond hair that was separated into four ponytails, she wore a light purple dress with a red sash around her waist, and her Sand village headband was around her neck just like mine. On her back I could see some kind of large black object but I wasn't sure of what it was. Both Naruto and Sakura, along with Moegi and Udon, stood across from the two foreign ninja with hesitation and a little bit of fear.
"What are sand village ninja doing here?" Sasuke whispered.
"Lets find out." I said and I looked around for a good spot to get closer. To the left of us stood a tall tree that overlooked the little scene and would provide us with good cover. I motioned towards the tree and Sasuke nodded in understanding. Silently we climbed over the fence, lowering our chakra as well, and used the tree climbing techniques, we learned from Kakashi, to station on one of the branches. From here the foreigners stood towards the left of us and Naruto and the others were to our right. Sasuke stood next to the trunk of the tree, his right side leaning against it, with his hands in his pockets while I sat down next to him but not too close.
"You better take your hands off of Konohamaru right now!" Naruto yelled out in anger. The cat guy wasn't scared or intimidated by Naruto at all.
"Just put him down Kankuro. You know you'll get in trouble for it later." The blond-haired girl scolded.
"We still have a few minutes before he gets here let's mess with these punks for a little bit." Kankuro answered with amusement.
"Let go of me you jerk!" Konohamaru yelled at him while trying to use all of his energy to kick him but they weren't effective at all.
"You're feisty but not for long." Kankuro teased as he gripped Konohamaru's scarf tighter.
"I told you to put him down!" Naruto yelled as he charged towards Kankuro. I noticed Kankuro move the fingers in his left hand and suddenly Naruto fell back and landed on his butt. I scrunched my eyes in confusion.
'How could Naruto suddenly fall back when he was running forwards? Did Kankuro somehow manipulate Naruto's movement?' I looked at Sasuke and he seemed just as confused as I was.
"So you're a leaf genin too. It seems like your village is full of wimps." Kankuro mocked while Naruto stood up. Kankuro tightened his hold on Konohamaru's scarf.
"Hey put me down! That hurts!" Konohamaru yelled out his face scrunched in pain.
"That's it put him down or I'll tear you apart!" Naruto threatened but Sakura put him in a headlock, before he could do anything, while scolding him.
"You're annoying all of you. I don't like runts or any type of weakling so when a punk like you starts shooting off his mouth. I just want to break him in half." Kankuro warned, successfully making Naruto and Sakura fearful of him. Both Moegi and Udon had tears running down their faces from fear of what would happen to Konohamaru. I stood up on the branch and was prepared to intervene but Sasuke grabbed to my arm, stopping me from moving. I looked at him confused on why he stopped me but he only shook his head and held up a rock the size of a pebble. He must have collected one when I was paying attention to what was going down below us.
'How is a rock supposed to help us?' Seeming to understand my confusion he only motioned towards Kankuro who was preparing to punch Konohamaru on the face. Letting go of my arm Sasuke threw the rock directly at Kankuro's right wrist, freeing Konohamaru from his grip. Judging by the pain on Kankuro's face I could tell that Sasuke had added some chakra to his throw to give it more of an effect.
"What the hell." Kankuro spat before he looked up, along with everyone else.
"You're a long way from home and you're way out of your league." Sasuke taunted, as he stood tall, his usual brooding expression on his face, with one hand in his pocket and the other continuously tossed the second pebble, which I didn't notice he had, in the air.
"Sasuke!" Sakura yelled out with hearts in her eyes. I saw that even the blond-haired girl was taken back by Sasuke's looks, judging from the blush on her face. It was amusing to watch but I didn't let that show on my face. I had folded my arms across my chest and I had set my expression neutral to give the appearance that I was strong and not to be messed with.
"Naruto!" Konohamaru yelled out in relief as he ran back towards his friends.
"Just great another wimp to piss me off." Kankuro muttered but we could still hear him.
Sasuke held the rock in his hand and, using chakra, crushed it. He opened his palm to let the dust slide through his fingers.
"Get lost."
Sakura, Moegi, and Udon all had stars in their eyes and adoration for Sasuke while Naruto stood there looking down and playing with his fingers in a Hinata-like fashion.
"How come you're not cool like that?" Konohamaru asked Naruto.
"What are you talking about Konohamaru? I could have taken that guy out in two seconds flat." But Konohamaru seemed to have lost his respect for Naruto by that point.
"Hey punk! Why don't you get down here? You're the kind of snot I hate the most, all attitude with nothing to back it up." Kankuro said as he took the object off of his back and put it on the ground.
"What? Are you really going to use the crow for this?" The girl asked with shock on her face but Kankuro's expression was dead serious.
"What does he have in there that has her this worried?' I thought as we waited for his next move.
"Kankuro. Back off."
My muscles went stiff as I realized that the mysterious voice was closer than what I expected. On the other side of the tree trunk was a young red haired boy, who seemed to be our age, and he was hanging upside down using chakra. I looked at Sasuke and saw that he was just as shocked as I was; we both had no idea he was even there.
'Where the hell did he come from? The only people who could be that silent and unnoticeable are shinobi of Kakashi's level, maybe even higher.' I thought as I continued to examine him. He wore a brown outfit with a white scarf wrapped from his right shoulder to his left hip. On his back was a large gourd that seemed to be almost bigger than him and on the strap of it was the Sand village's headband. But the thing that set off warning bells were his eyes. They were an ocean green color but they seemed to hold no life in them and the bags under his eyes showed how little sleep this guy was getting if he was getting any at all. On the left side of his forehead was a red tattoo of the word 'love' in kanji.
"H-Hey Gaara." Kankuro answered nervously.
"You're an embarrassment to our village. Did you forget the reason we traveled all of the way here?" Gaara asked with no emotion at all.
"I know I know but th-they started the whole thing. See here's what happened-"
"Shut up. Or I will kill you." Gaara interrupted. I could feel the hair on my arms and the back of my neck raise up, the feeling to hide rising. Strange how this boy could make me want to run yet when we faced Zabuza the Silent Killer, I didn't feel much at all.
"Uh, right s-sorry Gaara I was totally out of line." Kankuro mumbled raising his hands in surrender, even the girl behind him raised her arms up even though Gaara hasn't even looked at her. Those dead eyes turned towards Sasuke and I, both of our bodies tensing up in caution.
"I'm sorry for any trouble he's caused." We didn't say anything but I nodded my head in acceptance. Suddenly Gaara transformed into sand and reappeared when the sand gathered on the ground.
"Let's go we didn't come here to play games." Gaara ordered and both Kankuro and the girl followed behind him. Sakura rushed from the group and ordered the three sand shinobi to stop.
"What?" The older girl asked in annoyance as they stopped without turning around.
"I can tell from your headband that you're from the Village Hidden in the Sand. Of course the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind are allies but no shinobi can enter another's village without permission. So what's your purpose here?" Sakura asked, confident in her knowledge.
"Have you guys been living under a rock? Or maybe you really don't know what's going on. We have permission see." The girl said, smiling at our lack of information, as she held up a pass.
'So her name is Temari.' I noted looking at her pass.
"You are correct, we are Hidden Sand genin from the Land of Wind. We're here to take the chunin exam."
"Chunin Exam? What's that? I've never heard of any chunin exam, believe it." Naruto stated.
"Oh I believe it alright. You are totally clueless." Temari said amused.
"Hey boss that's the exam every genin must take to become a full fledged chunin." Konohamaru answered for him.
"Oh well why didn't you just say so? I'm totally there." Naruto stated with excitement. Gaara took this as his cue to go with Kankuro and Temari right behind him.
"Wait." Sasuke demanded as he jumped down from the branch.
"Who you mean me?" Temari asked with a sweet voice as she turned around with a smile on her face.
"No him, the one with the gourd on his back." Sasuke said pointing to Gaara. Gaara stopped and turned around to face Sasuke.
"I am Gaara of the Desert. I'm curious about you as well. Who are you?"
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke stated with a smirk on his face. I could practically feel his excitement from the tree about having a strong opponent.
"Hi! I bet you're dying to know my name right?" Naruto shouted.
"I couldn't care less." Gaara admitted. Then he turned around and continued walking. When he was out of sight I could feel my body completely relax and the hair on my arms went down. I jumped down from the tree and walked towards Konohamaru, who was trying to soothe Naruto's self-esteem.
"Hey Konohamaru are you alright?" I asked and he looked at me with confusion before he puffed out his chest and smiled.
"Don't worry about me Akina I'm tough. I can face anything and come out just fine." This display of machoness was cute on him but as I bent down to get closer to his level I could see a bit of a blush adorn his cheeks.
"Let me check just to make sure ok?" I asked and he nervously nodded his head. He unwrapped his scarf for me and I couldn't see light bruises around his neck area but nothing too serious.
"Yup you are totally unscathed." I said with awe and he smiled.
"Hey Akina can we eat now?" Naruto asked as he rubbed his stomach. I shook my head him but I couldn't help but smile at him.
"Sure lets go to the market. Would you guys like to join us?" I asked looking at Sakura and Sasuke, Naruto giving me a traitorous look.
"I don't think I can I-"
"Sure." Sasuke agreed. We all looked at him surprised. I recovered from my moment of shock first and started the walk to the market with Sasuke behind me. Naruto caught up to us moments later.
"You know what today is perfect I have nothing planned for today anyway!" Sakura said as she ran to join us.
No One's POV
Many jonin and chunin were gathered in a large meeting room, ready to begin the meeting. The Hokage sat at a desk, which held his seeing mirror, the main focal point of the room.
"It is time to choose the candidates for the Chunin Examination. Will all of the jonin in charge of the rookie genin step forward."
Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai stepped forward in front of the Hokage.
"Kakashi, Kureni, and Asuma what is your decision? Is there any in your squad who you feel are ready to take the Chunin Exam despite their inexperience? As you know any genin who has carried out eight or more missions are technically eligible to take the exam. Beyond that only you can decide when they are ready. Of course most genin usually need longer training periods and almost double the amount of missions before they are ready.
'There's no need to say all of this. They're not ready yet.' Iruka thought as he waited for the three sensei's decision.
"Kakashi you may begin." The Hokage started.
"I lead squad 7. Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, and Akina Yukito. I Kakashi Hatake recommend all four genin for the Chunin Exam."
Iruka almost stopped breathing. All four of them?
"I lead squad 8. Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. And now I Kurenai Yuhi recommend all three genin for the Chunin Exam."
"And I lead squad 10. Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. And I Asuma Sarutobi recommend all three genin for the Chunin Exam."
Many of the other shinobi couldn't believe what they were hearing.
All ten rookie genin were nominated?
Are they serious?
They're gonna get those kids killed.
Iruka couldn't stay silent any longer.
"Now hold on just a minute!"
"Yes Iruka, what is it?" The Hokage asked calmly.
"With all due respect Lord Hokage, the ten names that were just given were all my students at the academy. Even though I cannot speak entirely about Akina's abilities I do know them. They all have great potential to be great shinobi but they need more experience before they are tested. If they try now they are sure to fail the exam."
"When I became a chunin I was six years younger than Naruto is now." Kakashi stated, irritated by the delay.
"Naruto is nothing like you!" Iruka shouted angry as he walked towards him. "Are you trying to destroy him?"
"Well he's complaining that they're not being challenged enough so maybe wiping out on the exam will teach them a lesson. A little pain is good."
"Wha-What did you say?" Iruka asked in disbelief.
"Oh nothing too serious or fatal of course. But seriously Iruka, relax. Listen I understand how you feel this is very personal for you and it upsets you but-"
"Alright Kakashi back off. You've said enough." Kurenai intervened, ready to get this meeting over with.
"On the contrary Kurenai Iruka needs to hear this. He needs to understand that they're not his students anymore. They're mine." Kakashi said with a hard edge in his voice.
"But these exams could destroy them you know that-"
"Iruka." Lord Hokage said silencing Iruka. "You have made your point and I understand."
"Lord Hokage." Iruka said much more calm than before.
"Accordingly I have decided the best thing to do is to hold a special preliminary test."
"A preliminary test?" Iruka said confused. They had never had a preliminary test before.
Akina's POV
It was around 12 in the afternoon and we have been waiting for Kakashi-sensei for about three hours. I was lying on my back, my arms behind my head, on top of one of the archways on the bridge, my left leg dangling in the air. I was enjoying the light breeze and the warm sun until Sakura interrupted the peace.
"Why?! Why?! Why?! It's always the same. He sets a time and we have to wait hours for him!" She sounded like a broken record. She's been complaining about Kakashi-sensei's timing ever since we became a team and it was starting to get old. It wouldn't help that Naruto would usually join in and encourage her ranting.
"What about my feelings?! I have to rush to get here that I didn't even have time to blow-dry my hair."
"And I didn't have time to brush my teeth or change my underwear." Naruto declared.
"That's disgusting Naruto." I said not even bothering to open my eyes. There was a poof near my head and when I opened my eyes I see an amused Kakashi-sensei.
"Good morning everyone, sorry for being late. I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life."
"You liar!" Naruto and Sakura yelled out in unison.
"Come on Akina we have something important to talk about." Kakashi-sensei said as he jumped down. I wondered what he wanted to talk to us about as I followed his lead and joined the rest of my squad.
'Maybe it's about the chunin exam?' I thought as I waited for him to speak.
"I know it's a bit sudden but I recommended you for the chunin exam, all four of you. These are your application forms." Kakashi announced as he gave each of us our slips of paper.
"Application forms?" Sakura said confused.
"You're repeating me Sakura. This is all voluntary; it's up to each of you. If you don't feel ready then you can wait until next year."
"All right! Kakashi-sensei you rock!" Naruto shouted as he launched himself at Kakashi-sensei.
"Don't slobber on my vest!" Kakashi shouted as he quickly removed Naruto from him.
"For those of you who wish to take the exam just fill out the application form and go to room 301 in the academy at 3pm five days from now. We wont be having any missions or training until then so take this time to get yourselves prepared." Kakashi announced before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
'We waited for three hours for him to give us this?' I thought looking down at the form.
"Akina I'm so excited! We're totally gonna ace this thing, believe it!" Naruto shouted as he jumped up and down in front of me.
"Of course we are, we're badasses." I said confidently holding my right hand up, Naruto giving me a high-five.
"Now how about we get some training done today?' I asked and Naruto nodded his head harder than usual, his excitement still radiating off of him.
"Can I join you?" Sasuke asked. Naruto and I stopped walking, surprised he asked. Before Naruto could say no I covered his mouth and answered for us. "Of course you can Sasuke. Sakura would you like to join us?"
Sakura quickly recovered from her shock and agreed to come. "Yeah sure. I have nothing else to do anyway." I nodded and continued to walk towards the training grounds, Naruto mumbling 'traitor' under his breathe. I was actually excited; Sasuke seemed to be taking my advice on spending time with his teammates and helping them get stronger. I looked over my shoulder to take a glance at him. He had his eyes closed, as he walked with his hands in his pockets, but opened them when he could feel my gaze. I sent a small smile, of gratitude, his way and he quickly closed his eyes again. A slight blush of embarrassment barely noticeable. When I looked away from him I noticed that Sakura had stopped walking with us and she was just staring at the ground with a look of defeat on her face.
"Sakura are you coming?" I asked worried.
'What could she be thinking about that has her upset? Is she worried that she's not strong enough? Or is it something else?' I wondered as she tried to cover her despair with a mask of happiness.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm coming." She said as she walked faster to catch up with us. I quickly looked at Sasuke and I knew that he saw behind her mask too. I decided that after practice I would speak to her to see if she would talk to me about it.
Three hours later…
We were all scattered around the training ground, panting from our exhaustion. When we came to the training ground we decided to work on our aim, then the tree climbing exercise, and then sparred against each other using only taijutsu. I won against Naruto and Sakura but it was a draw between Sasuke and I. The sun was still high in the sky, adding heat to our already hot bodies, but luckily there was a breeze still blowing to make it bearable. I was leaning against a tree, trying to cool down in the shade, drinking from my water bottle. Naruto was lying down on the ground, in the sun, looking like he was about to fall asleep at any moment. Sasuke was leaning against another tree, not showing how tired he was, drinking from his water bottle too. Sakura was sitting down against a tree playing with the blades of grass, her eyes not really concentrating on it meaning she was thinking about something.
'Now I just have to get her away from the guys to get her to talk.' I thought as I tried to come up with a good reason to get her alone.
"I'm heading out." Sasuke announced as he gathered his weapons and turned to leave.
"Bye Sasuke." Sakura said but her voice sounded like she wasn't paying a lot of attention to him. I was really worried now because usually she would be begging him to do something her but she just sat there not looking at him walk away. Even Sasuke was bewildered by her expression and looked me with the look 'what's wrong with her?' I simply and shrugged my shoulders and made a signal to tell him to go on. He nodded his head and turned to leave. I looked at Naruto and saw that he had indeed fallen asleep on the ground, his soft snores filling the silence. I walked over to Sakura and sat down next to her.
"What's up Sakura?" I asked.
'"N-Nothing, I'm fine." She said trying to feign confusion but I saw right though it.
"Sakura you've been spaced out ever since Kakashi-sensei gave us our applications earlier. Is there something you want to talk about?" I asked getting straight to the point. Sakura let out a sigh of surrender before she answered.
"It's just that…I don't think you guys really need me." I was stunned.
"Why would you feel like that? You're a great asset to the team." She scoffed at that.
"No I'm not, I've never really done anything on the missions. Back in the Land of Waves I basically just stood around and watched you guys do all of the work. You guys were the ones to get Kakashi out of the water prison. You and Sasuke were the ones to fight off the chunin after we thought Kakashi died. Naruto has grown so much with his clone jutsu and I just feel…"
"Left behind?" I finished for her. She nodded her head in agreement and continued to look down in her lap.
"Sakura you do more than you think." She looked at me like I grew a second head, making me smile a little. "You have the best chakra control out of all of us, you're basically the smartest girl I've ever met, and you help to the balance the team out. You are important to this team Sakura whether it's in action or watching from the sidelines you are important to us." Sakura looked at me in surprise before she smiled, her eyes no longer clouded by negative emotions.
"Thank you for that Akina. I think I needed that."
"Anytime Sakura. But if you're really not sure about the Chunin Exam then don't do it. It is a personal choice and we will never hold it over you if you don't want to come with us, we will support you as your teammates and friends." I added. She nodded and stood up.
"Thank you for being so nice to me Akina. That means a lot." She said with seriousness and sincerity. I stood up with her brushing some of the dirt off my pants.
"No problem Sakura. Anytime you need it."
"I have to go now my mom needs me to get some things for dinner. I'll see you guys later okay?" I nodded at her and watched her walk away. I was happy that Sakura that Sakura opened up to me and let me help her; she really was a nice girl under that temper of hers. I walked over to Naruto and lightly kicked him in the head.
"Ow!" Naruto shouted, rubbing his head.
"I didn't hit you that hard." I said amused at how he can exaggerate things.
"How would you know you weren't the one that was kicked." Naruto pouted as he stood up, still rubbing his head.
"Will the baby feel better if I buy you some ramen?" I asked and immediately Naruto froze and began jumping up and down.
"Yes! Let's go Akina." He yelled grabbing my hand, dragging me behind him.
'Good thing I always have enough money on hand for the 10+ bowls he always needs to have.' I thought regretting my words.
Sasuke is finally learning to be a team player! Thank you for reading this and I hope you guys enjoyed it. As always review, an actual review, and be on the look out for more.