Disclaimer: i do not own Naruto or any of its characters, just the plot. and the OC's.
Title: Bearing an Hourglass
Language: English
Form: Multi-Chaptered
Genre: Romance/Adventue
Rating: T
Pairing: Sakura Haruno/Sasuke Uchiha, Kushina Uzumaki/Minato Namikaze
Summary: What would you do if you found out you are one of the only two people exclusively chosen to trade your existing time line for another one to fix past mistakes, so that the entire fate of the ninja word effectively lies on your shoulders in just a single minute? That's what Sakura and Sasuke have to figure out.
Note: Okay! Chuunin exams, start! Honestly though, I'm so glad I'm done with this chapter. It took a while, so it's not a short chapter, exactly. And this is the first time I'm writing from so many different points of views! In total, I wrote from the perspective of seven characters here. Seven. I'm pretty proud of that actually. I may be sticking to that format for the duration of the chunnin exams, maybe. If I feel like it. Also, I've been watching The Flash recently, and I simply cannot stop drawing comparisons between Barry Allen and Minato Namikaze. Is that weird? If any of the story readers watch Flash (and if you don't, you totally should cuz you're missing out on Barry Allen goodness), please message me about it! As always, follow/favourite and review!
Bearing an Hourglass
by fourthfireshadow
Act II
Chapter 12- A Test of the Heavens
Hitoshi looked around, already bored out of his mind as the seconds ticked by. The academy door swung open and close as various people pushed through—proctors, academy hopefuls, worried parents, the works—and the grounds were filled with scattered genin as well. However, there was a nervous buzzing almost palpable in the air, as well as the unmistakable aura of impatience all over. He was sure that same aura covered him completely as he waited for their surprisingly tardy third teammate.
"Where the hell is blondie? He's usually the most punctual one of us all!" he snapped out loud, turning to his other bright-haired female teammate.
Sakura glanced around her for the nth time, as if she would spot blond in her blind spot. "I don't know. Maybe something happened, or maybe…" she trailed off, looking at him with a peculiar look in her eyes.
"What?" Hitoshi's eyebrows furrowed before dread seeped in slowly, "…No. you don't think he doesn't want to take the exams, do you?"
In response, she simply shrugged, but that look didn't completely vanish from her eyes. If anything, her not-so-sly spying turned more frantic as green eyes roved over all the ninja teams already on the grounds.
That was just…great, Hitoshi couldn't help but think sourly. Their team was one of those that had the most prospects of passing completely, and then flaky decides to live up to his flaky name. Hell, he never thought Minato would ever live up to the nickname that red-headed twin of Sakura's always called him.
And he really was getting sick of clutching the exam form. If that blond didn't show up in the next five minutes, so help him he was going to go all Hyuuga on him. But then, Hitoshi deflated slightly—if he attempted that, Minato would surely kick his ass, which was definitely not the result he was going for, or the lesson he wanted to teach.
"Minato! Over here!"
At Sakura's call, the pale eyed boy turned sharply to see the blond in question running towards them, navy hoodie put on half-haphazardly and spiky sunshine hair messy and untameable. The exam form in his hands had definitely seen better days, he couldn't help but think as he saw the crumpled and half torn piece of paper clutched tightly like a life line in his tight grasp. There was a healthy pink flush on his cheeks as he finally reached them, gulping in breaths and looking at them with wide, anxious eyes.
"Did it start? Am I very late? Did we miss our chance? Oh God, please tell me we didn't miss our chance—" Minato blabbered on, his blue eyes growing wider and wider with each passing word.
"No, no we didn't," the pinkette cut in before he could give himself a seizure. She gave the blond a slight smile of amusement as he let out a large sigh at the words.
"But you almost could have! We were one of the last ones here without the complete team," Hitoshi grumbled, shooting a glare at the sheepishly smiling late comer, "we'd even thought you were going to ditch."
The blonde's eyes widened imperceptibly at the accusation before dropping his gaze to the form in his hands. He couldn't see his expression clearly due to that annoying hair of his covering his eyes, but Hitoshi got the sense that he inadvertently may have stepped on some form of truth here.
Minato had planned on ditching a chance at promotion? He was seriously thinking on it? Before, when he'd thought that to be one of the plausible reasons, he hadn't really let it sink in much and instead focused on spotting those yellow spikes. But now that it could've just as easily been reality, Hitoshi couldn't help but look at Minato differently, this feeling of disappointment at his comrade settling disturbingly in his gut. Did he think he wouldn't pass? Did he think his teammates would drag him down? Didn't he care about them in the least?
It was a…selfish thought.
He saw the way Minato flinched slightly at his intense gaze, but he didn't feel any remorse for looking at him harshly. This was his ninja career on the line. Not everyone was a prodigy who'd get a million chances, after all.
"Well. At least you're here now." Sakura said after a brief, awkward silence.
At that, Hitoshi turned to look at the female of the team, surprised to find her green gaze pinned on him. Her lips were pursed slightly, but he could see the understanding swimming in her eyes, the reassurance lighting the resigned gaze. She wasn't mad at him for reacting. She had seen Minato's clear admission of guilt as well; it wasn't just all in his head. And she was showing that she didn't see his reaction as an overreaction.
Something must've changed in his expression, he guessed, because Sakura slowly broke into a smile and pivoted on her heel, hooking her arms through his and Minato's impulsively. His eyes widened at the sudden contact and from his peripheral, he could see Minato also looking at her in blatant confusion, a pale dusting across his cheeks.
"W-wha—"
"Let's go kick ass, guys. We have to beat Kushina's team no matter what. Someone has to take them down a peg, after all." she declared with a smirk, turning to face each of them with a determined glint in her eyes.
Hitoshi stayed silent, but he could see that sheen of guilt—he really needed to work on containing his emotions, he couldn't help think—disappear almost completely in the blonde's gaze until resolve took its place. A smile tugged at his lips as he nodded and then both of them were looking at him, one expectant and one uncertain.
After a moment, Hitoshi let out a sigh, the tightness in his shoulders relaxing. He'd think about Minato's reasoning later, he reasoned in his mind, because at the moment, Sakura was right; he was here in the end.
"Lead the way then, pinkie."
That sheen of guilt was now completely gone.
.
.
.
"I wonder why Namikaze-san was so late." Kagetsu mused aloud, discreetly looking at the harried blonde that just reached his teammates across the grounds.
Contrast to him, Kushina was blatantly staring at her sister's team, hearing the question but opting to ignore it. It was rhetorical, anyway. Besides, she knew the answer to that. She wasn't stupid; she was actually more perceptive than people gave her credit for, she imagined, and so she knew he was contemplating on opting for the exams or not. She was glad that in the end though, he pulled through.
If he hadn't decided to enter the exams, then her sister's team would automatically be disqualified and she couldn't have that if she ever wanted to prove her strength to the other. Well, that and the fact that blondie was her friend too. And she cared what he did, as well.
Immediately, she blanched slightly at the way her thoughts were going—if Sakura ever came to know how much she had thought of Minato these past few days, Kushina was sure there would've been no end in sight to the teasing. For some ridiculous reason, the rosette loved to tease the redhead with him. She could never ever guess why.
"It doesn't matter in the end. They're all here now, they're not disqualified." Sasuke's voice cut through her thoughts, his gaze trained on the bright-hair team as well. However, the tic in his brow had ceased. The words he'd uttered may seem harsh to an unknown man, but Kushina knew that he was just as worried that they wouldn't have been able to compete. If anything, she mused, he was even more antsy than her.
"I guess we don't have our work cut out for us, then." Kagetsu said, sighing as he looked at the sky in slight dismay.
Kushina snickered at that. She'd been trying to bring the quiet boy out of his shell and bring out that inner confidence she was sure he had throughout the time they'd been a team, but sooner or later, his insecurities always got the best of him. It was a constant of the team now, almost. A dynamic necessary.
"Aw, c'mon Risako! Lighten up! Don't worry 'bout nothing. I'm here aren't I? I'll protect you, ttebane!" she declared with a bright grin, confidence radiating off her in waves. Her grin only widened in mirth as the boy's face burst into a violent shade of puce at the assertion, a scowl and widened eyes taking over his discouraged expression completely.
"I'm not a damsel in distress, Kushina-san! I can protect myself!" he sputtered loudly, disturbed at how the size of the grin kept on widening.
"Good to finally hear it." Sasuke said with a raised eyebrow, making the boy turn puce once more at the dryness in his voice. "No point in waiting around anymore." And with that, he walked away from them without a backwards glance and towards the designated spot.
Kushina rolled her eyes at his almighty attitude—someone really needed to beat the fact that he wasn't the king of the world into his head, and to do that, she clearly needed more help—and looked at the still slightly red Kagetsu, mock-bowing and motioning with her arm to lead the way as knights in story books do. The gesture got her a stink eye from the shy boy as he followed the Uchiha of the team.
Her grin eventually lightened to a small smile as she slowly followed the footsteps of her teammates, her eyes glinting with something sharp and laser-focused.
Sakura.
I hope I get to fight you in these exams.
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There was a drastic reduce in chunnin exam applicants than the last time he had taken one, Sasuke noticed. Counting quickly, there were only twenty-four applicants this time as opposed to the past hundred applicants. Of course, that was clearly due to the fact that this time, only Konoha ninja would be participating as a nation-wide truce hadn't ever been passed yet. However, it was still a little abnormal to be able to pay attention to each and every face and recall names.
"Pssst. Sakura-chan! Yoohoo—Ow!" Kushina yelped, cradling the spot where she was hit. "What the hell was that for, grumpy?!" she snapped, glaring hotly at the Uchiha next to her.
"Your whispering is the decibel of a normal person talking." He stated with a small scowl. At her look that screamed 'So?'—raised eyebrow and wide eyes and all—the Uchiha scoffed exasperatedly.
"You're attracting attention, idiot." He muttered, rolling his eyes subtly at the loud redhead. However, her whispering—not really—did bring his attention to Sakura's team as well. They were ridiculously easy to find in the narrow corridor of the second floor, even in the midst of the other genins. Sakura and Minato's bright coloured heads were a beacon that could be spotted by the most clueless of people, so much so that Sasuke couldn't help but sceptically wonder how either one of them could've been any good at the stealth aspect of the ninja business.
However, they looked better than they did a few minutes ago. Even that perpetually annoying Hyuuga, who'd looked the most distressed then. Must've worked everything out then, he figured, whatever it was. Good. Petty arguments couldn't stand in the way of both of them becoming chunnin.
"Staring at her isn't gonna get her attention, either grouch-face." Kushina mumbled with a roll of her eyes.
Looking away immediately, Sasuke sent a glare the redhead's way, and stared forward where the proctors were beginning to assemble. He wasn't even going to dignify that with a response.
Besides, he wasn't staring. And he wasn't trying to gain her attention; how preposterous. His eyes slowly slid to the smirking pest at his side and quickly looked straight, his scowl growing deeper. The following snicker earned another eye-roll. And Sakura had to live with this thing?
But it was slightly strange, the way she wasn't even looking their way. Was there a reason? Or was he over-thinking this?
"Candidates!" the proctor likely for this first test called out, snapping the applicants to immediate attention, "It is time to start the first test. Any team that falls short on the required number of teammates due to reasons I do not particularly care about, are automatically disqualified from participation. If there are any such teams, please leave immediately."
No one moved, and the lady's lips twitched upwards.
"Good. Now that that's out of the way, I will explain the rules of this exam. I will only say this once, so listen carefully. If any of you miss anything, then you're a goner who'll get no mercy, understood?" her eyes moved over each head with careful eyes, making sure to glare extra at the trembling ones.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed in return when the proctors gaze passed over him. He wasn't completely sure yet if he liked the previous scar-ridden proctor he'd had or this no-nonsense lady more. She wasn't as hardened looking, he supposed, with her lilac eyes and dark hair, but somehow she was still intimidating. The trembling form near him proved that.
"Alright. This is a written test, as is tradition, to test your logical and reasoning skills, but also a team exercise. Before I explain the rest, I want each team to stand in lines, one teammate behind the other. It doesn't matter on the formation of the line."
However, it was exactly that line that made him think otherwise. Why would she say that? There was no reason to mention the formation at all; all the genins present here would've chosen any order and quickly formed lines due to the intimidation factor. So, logically thinking, that meant she inserted that particular line for a reason. Of course, people may think he was over-reacting to something that may have been nothing, but if there was anything that had stayed throughout his life, it was the words look underneath the underneath.
The hustle of movement immediately filled the room right after that instruction was given, and just as Kushina was about to stand in front of him and Kagetsu—silly girl must've thought herself leader of the team; as if— Sasuke laid a hand on her arm to pull her back and instead, pushed Kagetsu to the front, positioning Kushina on the middle and himself at the end. Kagetsu on his end looked slightly terrified at being made the impromptu face of the team, while Kushina glared at him heatedly.
"What do you think you're doing, bastard? What's your pr—"
"Shut up."
Her glare only grew more deadly at being interrupted, but Sasuke didn't care. He was betting everything on the fact that this exam relied on smarts more than skill, and if that was the case, Kagetsu was their safe bet. Superstitiously, he saw that Sakura was at the front of her team, which only backed up his assumption.
"Now that that's done, I'll continue to explain. Each team will be taken to a room and each member of the team will enter the room one after the other, in the order of which you're standing in right now. Each person of the team will have to answer the paper that's kept inside." She said, smiling slightly, before amusement tainted her eyes. "The catch, is that the answers of the last team member attempting the paper should be the same to the answers of the last. There will be ten question, with each question amounting to ten points. Five points for it being the right answer from the first member, and five for the answer of the first and third teammate being the same. Those who get lower than fifty, are immediately disqualified."
"What?!" Kushina exclaimed confusedly, "how do they think we'll be able to—"
"Oh God. I'm the first one. I'll have to write all the answers. All the right answers. I'm not that smart, you know, why am in the front, oh God—"
"And what's all this about first and third teammates? I'm the second, what about me then? This is so fishy, ttebane—"
Sasuke tuned out after that, because truthfully he'd been thinking the same thing since the rules were laid out. It was odd. However, he was glad his gamble had paid off—Kagetsu was the right choice to start off with. The trick was to realize how to pass off the information from his test to himself. Just as he turned to his teammates to—reassure, rally, answer, something to make them shut up—another examiner flash stepped in front of them. Looking around, he saw that all teams now had an examiner in front of them.
"So, then. Let's start, shall we?"
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.
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Sakura entered the assigned room with caution, glancing around the space of the class with a wary gaze. There was nothing in the room, other than a lone chair and desk, a single piece of paper and pen resting on top of it. Nothing else.
Walking to the desk with measured steps, she sat down and looked at the test in front of her, glancing quickly at all the questions, front and back. These were all complex questions again, similar to her first try on the chunnin exams with team seven. Wasn't her team greatly lucky to have her with them then? She was glad she'd placed herself in the front of the line before.
However, as the sound of ball point scratching against paper filled the quiet air, she thought of how to pass on all these answers to her teammates, or more specifically, Minato who was going to come in after her. There was no clear cut way to cheat this time; this was like a game of whisper, where the first person whispers something to the next really quickly and on it went until the last person had to say the whispered word out loud. It was always for laughs then, for the called out word would usually be nowhere near the original. Well, now she just had to figure out how to make the last person call out the right word, essentially. Swatting the air near her ear to get rid of an annoying fly, Sakura squinted in thought.
Hopefully, if he had brains she couldn't help but think with slight annoyance, Hitoshi would already be looking into the room with his byakugan and spying on her answers the way she knew he could do with his fancy eyes. If he did, and he remembered the answers—which she severely doubted he would— then this exam was a cinch. If he didn't, then Minato had to be the bridge that gets all these answers to him. The trick was to think of a way to devise a way from which Minato could get the answers. This is all really strange, however, because with this logic, the middle person had the most pressure from an outside standpoint, as he or she is the one that has to make sure that the last person writes the same answers as the first one. So then, why would they not state the importance of the middle person, going as far as to not give or dock points for whatever they do?
Maybe there was something underneath that as well.
These questions were all quite easy for her, focusing more on physics and trajectory, chakra manipulation and consumption, as well as socio-politics thrown in for good measure. Easy for her, but advanced in topics for others. What to do, what to do.
It was at that moment that a person she hadn't explicitly thought since coming to this era made an appearance in her mind. Sai. Or rather, his techniques. Ink was his medium of choice for most of his offensive as well as defensive attacks. In his case, ink fused with his chakra. The chakra in the ink reacted with the substance to give it life, to make it bend to his will and do as he commands it. As soon as he finishes a drawing, it used to leap out and be free. So, then, why can't this same logic be applied in reverse?
Sakura brushed the material of the desk with her fingertips as she pondered. Wood, an element that's an absorbent of water, which was conveniently her primary chakra element. So, if her judgement was right, all she had to do was fuse a considerable amount of her chakra into the ink on the paper, until she can control it considerably, stretching her chakra until it takes up all the facets of the written ink. After that, all she had to do was will her chakra to bleed into the wood of the desk, much like water, or more specifically to the situation, ink, would. After it does however, she would have to immediately withdraw her malleable chakra so that the words bled into the wood would stay frozen instead of being absorbed into the wood completely until it was illegible.
Her brows furrowed at the plan. It seemed all right, in theory, but she had never practiced such manipulation of her chakra, especially with objects that were outside her element. Ink was liquid, and so in theory, her chakra should match the compound, but it needed good chakra control as well as the element match, and that was a pressure point as well.
Putting the pen down with a clack resembling finality, the pink haired girl placed her fingertips on the sheet of paper, directly over a few words, and willed her chakra to come forward. That familiar glow on her fingertips was familiar, if flickering with the control needed, and with pursed lips, she willed the chakra to bleed out. It was tricky—it was like a razor thin thread just a moment away, the frustration palpable, but in the end, she could feel the chakra flowing out slowly, almost reluctantly, leaving a faint stinging sensation on the pads of her fingers due to it being unadulterated chakra. The bleeding chakra gave the impression of spilling out into the page, that previous reluctance seemingly vanished as it seeped into the inked words, filling every crevice of every letter until the page looked bright and glowing blue, with some frayed edges. Her chakra must've sensed the liquid state of the ink and reacted more quickly, she assumed in blank fascination, and as she poured in more and more chakra to press down on the glowing letters—a time when having unlimited reserves came in handy—the glow started to decline gradually until no chakra was left on the paper, only ink if a little faded.
Immediately, she let go of her control, feeling her chakra snap back into her core and the numbness in her fingers give way to pins and needles. Clenching her fists a few times to get rid of the unpleasant feeling, she picked up the page to see the result of all this.
Nothing.
There was absolutely nothing on the wood. No letters, no words, nothing.
A harsh knock ricocheted through the room and the tell-tale creak of the door opening followed.
"Time's up. Time for the second member. Bring your paper over and submit it."
That familiar feeling of disappointment settled heavily in her gut as she stood up and walked robotically. The distress was crushing; her failure was upsetting. Of course, she always knew there was a chance it wouldn't work, but she was sure that there would've been something. She hadn't even had a backup plan.
Her only consoling grace was that they'd at least get the points for her correct answers.
It was all up to Hitoshi, now.
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.
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"Psst. Kagetsu. Kagetsu!"
Risako started badly, turning quickly at the call. His eyes widened when he spotted the redheaded teammate of his just outside the boy's washroom. Wait. Wasn't she supposed to be in the classroom writing the exam right now?
"What the—isn't it your turn right now? What are you doing out?" he sputtered, looking both sides impatiently; he was not going to get disqualified because of his rule-breaking teammate, that's for sure; his father would skin him alive.
"Um. That's not important at the moment." Kushina said, looking shifty. Which just naturally raised his suspicions. Not important? Not important? Was she serious. He peered at her closer, noticing her dubious eyes, fiddling hands and impatient posture. Dejectedly, he concluded that he couldn't really tell since he'd never even seen her be serious. Was this her serious?
His raised eyebrow must've sent the message across, however, because she suddenly started talking rapidly, animatedly. "Look, you don't need to worry about that at the moment. This is for us to pass, I swear. Really, stop looking so suspicious of me, dattebane!" she added at the end due to his eyebrow still being raised.
Risako reluctantly lowered his judging eyebrow. "Alright then. What are you here for?"
At that, she gave him an unimpressed look. "What do you think I'm here for?" His blank look made her roll her eyes. "I'm here for the answers! Tell them to me quick. I don't have much time as it is." She said with wide imploring eyes, coming closer to him to drive the point across fully.
"W-wh—isn't that—" he began incredulously, but was cut off once again. He was really starting to hate that. So he spoke a little slow, so what? Give him a chance to speak, for God's sake!
"Hurry up! I need to go soon. D'you wanna pass or not, genius?" Kushina broke in, an annoyed expression taking over as she tapped her foot impatiently, before apparently realizing something—probably the fact that she wasn't supposed to be here and was making way too much noise as usual, Risako thought in his own annoyance and anxiety—and ceased all noise. Instead. She just got all up in his personal space with a look that demanded answers.
It was also then that he remembered Sasuke's vague words as they were taken to the classroom. To simply remember all the answers he had written and not to worry about anything else.
Deciding not to question all this anymore, he went ahead to recite all the answers he had written in precise detail, satisfaction curling inside as the girl's eyes grew wider and wider, probably wondering how the hell he knew all these answers. However, Kagetsu hadn't thought the test to be hard at all; on the contrary, it would be pretty easy to complete for anyone who knew the basic principles of physics as well as had read the Ninja Guide to Evading Death—Strategies and Tactics numerous times. Lucky for this group, he had. As he reached the eighth answer, the doubt in his mind unfurled more—how the hell was Kushina going to remember all of this? With her starting to clutch her head melodramatically at the abundance of information, his doubts only grew.
"That's it, I guess." He finally said, looking at the pitiful view in front of him uncertainly.
"Ughmgh…too much information." She moaned unintelligibly, pulling her hair.
"Do you even remember the first answer?" Doubt still coloured Kagetsu voice in abundance.
At that, the Uzumaki's head snapped up with a fierce glare which lasted for a second before her whole body deflated.
"I think so."
She must've seen some form of indecision on his face because she suddenly burst into a sudden grin. "Don't worry so much, Risako. I'm not gonna let our team fail. Don't have any doubts about that, dattebane!"
Her grin brightened at the end, if it was possible, trying to enforce reassurance to her teammate and somehow, that did help relieve some of the tension from his shoulders. Not because she was grinning so brightly and all that—only sappy idiots would be reassured by a smile, of all things—but because such a grin only meant that the redhead had a plan that she was sure would work. Risako may have not known what Kushina looked like when she was serious, but he knew what she looked like when she was plotting, and this was that.
"See you in a bit!" Kushina said with a ridiculous grin and flashy eyes and right in front of his eyes, promptly burst.
Coughing and waving his arms to dispel the abundance of smoke filling out the narrow corridor, his violet eyes widened at the realization. Shadow Clone. She used a shadow clone. Which meant the real Kushina was inside the classroom right at that moment. A smile touched his lips at what this meant—his trainer had once mentioned something about the shadow clone of a person transferring all the memories of its short life into the user once it dispelled, which ultimately meant Kushina had all the answers in her possession at the moment. Sasuke's words made sense now—he must've been the one to plan this then.
The relief that poured over him was like a bucket of cold water. All Kushina had to work on was remembering all the answers.
Risako was right; she had been in the middle of a plot.
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Minato stared at the paper in front of him blankly—it wasn't hard, per se, but it wasn't a walk in the park, either. However, it wasn't the test that piqued his curiosity. Rather, it was the way the desk was subtly thrumming with…something. Energy? Chakra? Not entirely sure, the blond decided to lightly graze the seemingly unmarked wood with chakra and nearly gasped at what was slowly appearing.
It was chakra, like he had previously assumed, but it was in the form of…sentences. There were sentences—no, not sentences; answers, being revealed slowly, almost like ink flowing to take place, but instead with chakra. Like invisible grooves for the letters had been burnt into the wood, and with more chakra supplied, it would settle into these grooves to make the answers visible. As long as he increased the chakra he used, the words became more legible. However, as soon as he stopped his chakra supply, the words would be invisible once more, seemingly sinking back deep into the crevices of the wood. Sakura clearly had been busy, he thought with a smile. It must've been with her water affinity, Minato realised, and made up his mind to ask her of her chakra manipulation skills.
He wondered, slightly baffled, why the pinkette looked so despondent after her test then, if she'd managed to do this.
It also indirectly meant that she had done his job for him; there was no reason for him to pass on answers since Hitoshi, since with his Byakugan, wouldn't even need to infuse his own chakra to the desk; his eyes would do all the work automatically.
His eyes followed the path of a fly in the air as he thought of his options. Essentially, he really didn't have to do anything. He only had to make the proctors think that he worked, since the middleman didn't have any points assigned to them. The middleman had pressure to relay the correct answers, sure, but no points to win on their own. The former part was already done for him, and he didn't have to worry about the latter. He could just walk out of here, really. But best not to take risks. So genjutsu then, and since there were no proctors inside the room, such blatant cheating wouldn't be se—wait.
Minato's blue eyes latched onto the fly that had been buzzing by his ears from the moment he had sat down on the chair. Insects were the domain of the Aburame clan, and he was sure he'd seen at least two Aburame proctors prior. Were they using flies to spy on the students? Would they do that, or was he overthinking as usual? Focusing on the fly, there was no way to tell, really.
Well, better safe than sorry, he reckoned, before slamming a hand to the desk with force, grimacing slightly at the feel of dead squished bug on his palm. Scraping the remains off on the edge of the chair, he went on to perform a small genjutsu on the paper that would affect the person's senses enough to make them believe that they were looking at a copy of the paper they saw prior to his, which would undoubtedly be Sakura's. It's a low level genjutsu though, that would work for maximum three minutes from the moment a person touches it, but Minato's confident it would be enough.
The whole ordeal only took four minutes, and as he walked out, the blonde was sure that if they went at it in the same pace, their team would probably be the first one done.
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Mikoto felt a little giddy at the moment; her team had passed the first stage of the chuunin exams! They were one of the five teams that passed, and she couldn't be happier about that fact. They would've come first too, she couldn't help but think, if their teamwork was a lot better than what it was, instead of ending up second, but it was fine. Minato's team clearly deserved to be first if they'd managed to finish the whole thing in just thirty-four minutes—from what she'd heard, only Sakura had used her time slot fully; the other two had breezed past it in mere minutes And they'd even managed to score a ninety-five at that. But still, the thought of losing first place in a matter of minutes—her team had taken forty-one minutes to clear it—was putting a damper on her bright mood. They're answers were almost similar too! If only the time was managed better…it was all that stupid Kaede's fault! If only he'd listened to Aburame and her from the get go, they would've gotten top billing here.
Mood thoroughly declining, her eyes caught bright yellow.
"Minato!" she called, jogging slightly to catch up to the blond under the large oak tree. It was only when she came closer that she realised there were others there as well, or more specifically, the Uzumaki sisters and her own cousin, as well as a Hyuuga boy—Hitoshi, if she remembered correctly. She gazed at the pale eye boy a little curiously—she recalled he was the teammate of Sakura and Minato, but an addition in their foursome was certainly new—before averting her gaze to the rest, a smile quirking her lips easily.
"Mikoto-chan!" Kushina beamed, "congratulations on coming second, ttebane!" she said earnestly, making the ebony haired girl laugh lightly and look at her in silent gratitude.
"Thanks, Shina. I actually came here to congratulate you guys too, on passing the first stage." She said softly, her previous negative thoughts washing away, "especially your team, Minato, for coming in first."
"There wasn't any doubt about that, really. We are one of the best." Hitoshi suddenly threw in, startling the Uchiha slightly. She could feel her eyebrow raising in soundless indignation. Well.
"…Er, that's not what he meant to say. Really. He sometimes doesn't have a brain-to-mouth filter, the idiot." Sakura's voice cut through after a moment of awkward silence, uneasy laughter underlying it. However, when Mikoto quickly looked at the pinkette during her explanation, she was surprisingly looking nervously at her cousin instead of her, who in turn was puzzlingly levelling a nasty glare at the now sputtering Hyuuga.
"What the hel—" Hitoshi began in offense before he was cut off again, this time by Minato.
"Really. Shut up, Hitoshi." He said in exasperation, dragging a palm across his face.
Hitoshi only rolled his eyes at that—it seemed to be a team dynamic, she noted, and he was obviously the team idiot, she thought in annoyance.
"Yeah, why is he even here again? We should get rid of him, and keep Mikoto-chan here instead." Kushina grumbled, levelling her own glare at the now scowling Hyuuga.
"Hn."
"Oh, now you talk, you grumpy bastard. Oh sorry, I meant grunt."
"Okay, let's not start this again, you guys, you're teammates now—"
"The day she becomes a respectable teammate is the day she shuts up."
"That'll never happen, Sasuke."
"…Exactly.
"Hey! I'm the most respectable teammate in the whole team, you chicken haired weirdo!"
"Why do I put up with this? Really, why?"
"Sakura, please do not keep lying to her. She's clearly believing delusions."
"I don't know why I put up with this either. You realize we can just walk off, right?"
Mikoto watched the argument unfold like a storm, and fought the urge to fidget as she stared down at the rumble. The awkwardness was settling in again, all too familiar whenever she hung around the four of them, as well as the faded wistfulness trailing her thoughts. What would it be like, to finally be a true part of their friendship, instead of always taking on the mantle of an outsider? What would it be like to finally prove her strength, her earnestness to them, and not just be that acquaintance? Turning her head slightly with an increasingly straining smile, she noticed the Hyuuga boy again, sitting right near them but remaining quiet throughout the noise the others were making trying to talk over the other. An all too familiar quiet really—a quiet that simply screamed her same plight. What must it be like for him, she wondered belatedly, to be on a team with two of them but still feeling like an outsider?
Because that's what they were, ironically enough—outsiders. Because this was a bond that no name and influence would grant them easy access to. But then again, why should Mikoto wait for them to grant her access? She's usually been a taker, anyway, so why shouldn't she take the first step to get whatever she wanted? It's only as hard as she'd make it out to be, after all. Levelling a stare at the now silent boy—a stare she hoped he'd get—she plopped down next to Minato, making the boy look at her in blue eyed surprise and the others to quieten a little.
"Do you guys have any idea what the second test is gonna be?"
"…It's probably some kind of survival test, I'm thinking." The pinkette spoke after a second, sneaking a quick glance at her cousin again—which was somehow becoming the norm here, Mikoto quickly noted.
"How do you even know that, Sakura-chan?! How do you know everything, God." Kushina grumbled, her face twisted mockingly.
"Our sensei told us. Figures yours didn't tell you guys anything." Hitoshi teased, the blankness in his eyes lifting slightly.
"Hey! Your sensei's the biggest pervert ever seen in the world. You've got no room to talk about sensei's, white eyes!" she quickly rebutted, eyebrows raised incredulously.
"Wait just a minute. Our sensei's not the biggest—yeah, okay." Minato quickly deflated at the redhead's sharp look, making Mikoto laugh. "But at least Jiraiya-sensei's not a slave-driver!"
"Yeah! He's just an idiot."
"Yea—hey." The blonde shot a betrayed look at his pink-haired teammate, who was snickering with her sister. "Who's side are you on?"
A smile easily spread on the raven haired girl's face. This was fun, this was easy. Of course, she knew she still had leaps to do to get close to the others as much as they already were, but sharing a quick look to the slightly annoying Hyuuga—she figured she should soften up to him somewhat now since they were kind of like kindred souls regarding this; he was still annoying though—she thinks she could get there. Even though her cousin still didn't talk much to her or even look at her—for some reason she promised herself she would figure out no matter what—her mood went back to what it was—happy and light.
Mikoto didn't care what her father always told her about how bonds make people weak; now that she'd gotten a taste of what it could be, she's never gonna let this go.
.
.
.