Uzumaki Twins

Chapter 17

~Chika's pov~

I got to the second round of the exams an hour early as instructed. I was the first there and waited for the rest of my team to arrive. I didn't have to wait long. They jumped down from nowhere a moment later. I smirked as they approached, wearing their own smiles of greeting. Sensei was looking pleased this morning. Was he happy with the results from yesterday? Had he received a rating of our performances? If so I hoped I did well enough for him to be proud of. He didn't look upset at all, so I take it the results were good? That is if he even got them in the first place. Since it is the exam, we might receive our scores right at the end, once we accomplished all the tasks asked of us.

'Morning, Chika,' Takane greeted, immediately moving to my side and smiling widely.

'Already beating us to the meeting places,' Akira said shaking his head. 'You're going to make a fine ninja.'

'That's enough chatter,' Hoshi-sensei commanded all serious. 'They're here.'

I felt their chakras pulse in the air before they arrived. Be they ninjas or average civilians, I will be able to tell through their chakras. A moment later they landed in front of us, the leader being the woman who had arrived early in yesterday's exam. She must be Anko, a onetime subordination of Orochimaru one of the three legendary sannin. Her hair was pulled up into a short somewhat spiky ponytail. She wore a cocky grin. She had a tan overcoat opened to view her fitted mesh body suit that reached to her thighs, a dark orange mini-skirt and a necklace around her neck. She would have been intimidating, but I've seen Ibiki Morino, a specialised torturing and interrogator. I have no need to be intimidated or be afraid of this exam proctor.

'I am Anko Mitarashi and the second proctor of the Chunin exams.' She stepped forward and placed a hand on her hip. 'I take it you are the specialised genin squad.'

'That we are,' Hoshi-sensei replied. 'What is needed of us during this part of the exam?'

'Quick to get to it, I see,' she smirked, pleased. It faded a moment later. 'This exam is about survival.' She turned to look behind us. 'As you can see this is what we call the 'Forest of Death'. The job is to reach the tower at the centre within five days.' She took two scrolls out from her pouch. One was dark blue with the kanji of earth written on the white part. The other was light in colour and had heaven written in kanji on the white part. 'These are the heaven and earth scrolls. The genin will need both of these scrolls to pass. How we're going to do is that half of the genin teams will have one scroll and the other half the other. Then they will have to compete and defeat other teams in order to get the other scroll to make the pair. Only with both scrolls can they head towards the tower and there is where they will pass.'

'The rules?' sensei asked.

'The rules are simple. They cannot have any outside help and they are not allowed to open the scrolls until they have both and have reached the tower. If they open the scrolls they will receive punishment and fail the exam.'

'What's required of us?' sensei stated, going back to his original question.

'Well you don't really do much in this part of the exam,' she said smiling. 'Once genin start arriving in the tower, that's when your presence is required in order to keep order and control. But until then, you can wander around the tower or even the forest if you wish. Just remember, do not help any of the genin. Good luck, we're going to go set up.'

She walked away with the others towards where the large metal fence towered high around the Forest of Death. It was a dark and foreboding forest with promises of tough challenges. Had I been on the same level as my brother and the team I would have been participating too. But because I am not, I require a different method in order to become a Chunin. I hadn't liked the idea at first but gradually I am warming up to it. The first part was simple enough. Keeping vigil on the genin whilst the written exam carries on was easy enough. We only had to intervene because of those sound ninja. With this one we have a little more leeway, well until a genin appears in the tower that is. But five days of waiting for this exam to finish? Yeah I can try and not complain but that won't be easy.

Forty-five boring minutes later the genin started to arrive in teams. There was the sound team and following shortly behind was the sand team. Some unknown leaf teams, then some water teams and then the leaf teams that I know. I had stationed myself on top of a boulder, overlooking everyone and everything. The Forest of Death stood at my left and the genin all on my right. Anko and her team had set up a desk, with canopy and a curtain to hide the scrolls that is given to the genin. Currently, it seems that everyone is just busy looking at each other, chattering away with teams to even notice that my team and I were stationed almost amongst them in order to keep surveillance.

I spotted my brother with his team near the front before Anko. She was talking to them about the exams. Already knowing what it entails, I blanked out her words and focused on everything else. Temari, Kankuro and Gaara were only a little ways off from my position, but I know that they knew I was there, even watching them right now. The three looked confident, but only the older two siblings showed a small form of hesitation in their forms. I don't blame them if I was up against the same challenges as them, but it seems that it is something else bothering them. Something that even I cannot determine by merely watching them. It's infuriating to know that there's something on their minds, bothering them and there's nothing I could really do.

Gaara lifted his head and looked up at me. His green eyes narrowed once he spotted me. As usual his arms were crossed over his chest. But not like usual, I didn't glare back at him. As a sign of surprise, his eyes widened and I smiled at it. His cheeks heated and he quickly looked away. I could see he was resisting looking back at me and it cause me to smirk. Unable to hold back his curiosity, his eyes found me again and I waved at him. Kankuro turned his gaze up to me, almost as if he could feel his brother's strangeness and his eyes widened. I stuck my tongue out at him and he shook his head. Temari was the last to notice where her brothers' attentions were. She smiled at me, one actually kind instead of cocky, and she was greeted with a wave.

I looked over at Anko just as I noticed a flash. I saw a kunai whiz passed my brother and I immediately felt anger spiral inside of me. Anko suddenly appeared being my brother and I noticed the blood on his cheek from the cut she gave him. I forced myself to stay still as she tortured him with words. A ninja, a grass ninja, appeared behind her, his tongue holding onto her kunai he had retrieved. The tongue, I noticed, appeared to be forked. He said something to Anko, who was smirking - nervously? - and took her kunai from him. She told them what was going to happen and pointed to the stand where the other jonin were waiting. Team by team, they approached the stand and got given a scroll. Before they came out they had stored their scrolls. No one, not even me, knew which one of the team members were holding onto the scroll.

'Get your designated gates and wait until you've been given the signal to enter.' The genin moved out almost instantly and we, my team and me, were left with the jonin and Anko. I dropped down from the boulder and walked over to where Anko was waiting. 'Once the signal has been sounded, you can just jump over the fence and head towards the tower. Make sure you arrive their first so the jonin waiting for you will know you've arrived. You'll be given communicators, so you'll be informed if a genin has arrived at the tower. Good luck.'

Her last two words were drowned out by the signal going off loudly. The four of us nodded to her and raced past her. We jumped the fence and landed on a very large and thick tree's branch. We jumped through the trees, whizzing past the scenes extremely quickly. Hoshi-sensei signalled to go up and we jumped off the branches and up higher into the trees. This is only so we don't get the genin confused. Seeing us would most likely have them think that we are part of the exam and they might attack us. Knowing the four of us, we would most likely attack and render them unable to continue. Well, we are cruel and rude so, what's to be expected?

'We're not going to suffer the journey in silence, are we?' Takane asked a moment later.

I smirked to myself.

'We're ninjas, Takane,' Akira reminded her. 'Do you think talking is the best idea?'

'We are nowhere near our destination. Talking isn't going to ruin anything. Most likely it may confuse the genin because they can't pinpoint out location, but by the time they do, we'll be long gone.'

'If you do not wish to go through the journey in utter silence, then you may talk quietly to another,' Hoshi-sensei spoke back to us.

'Thank you, sensei,' Takane called out to him. I barely heard his response. 'So, Kuro, who was that red head?' the suspicion in her voice almost made me miss the branch. A teasing smirk stroked her features.

'He's got auburn hair,' Akira corrected.

'Still classed as red, dumbass,' she scowled. 'So, who was he?'

Akira turned to me too. 'Good question. I saw him blush when you smiled at him.'

'Oooh, you two a couple?' Takane immediately enquired.

I felt the heat creep to my cheeks. 'What are you talking about, Takane? I don't even like him.'

'There's history there, I can see it. Oh and chemistry. You can't deny it. I've seen it,' she responded.

'There's that and that necklace I've noticed you've never been separate from,' Akira said pointing to the object of his words.

I sighed. 'It's the sign of our promise, that's all.'

They both smiled.

'I hope everything works out between you two,' Akira said quickly and looked away. He immediately jumped away from the pair of us to catch up with sensei.

What the hell has gotten into him?

'Oh, ignore him,' Takane said nervously. 'He just wasn't expecting any competition.' She pushed away a moment later to keep up with the boys.

What the hell is going on between those two? Competition…? What competition? What am I missing? It's obvious that there is definitely something going off, but I can't be sure as to what it could be. Takane seems to know what's going on but she doesn't seem willing to tell me about it. Akira may have just lost his mind, or something is bothering him that he won't tell me about it. I can tell that he's already spoken to Takane about it because she seems in on it. But why the hell am I left behind once again? Is it because I am new the team and I won't understand much? Or is it because my brother is slow and they don't think I'll understand?

I sigh and just ignore it. If they want to keep their secrets, let them. I don't want to bother myself with it if that is the case.