Chapter 14:

"There you are." Kyoske said when I walked up to them in the exam room.

I smiled at the boys and pulled myself up on one of the desks. "I got a little sidetracked."

"A little?" Kyoske grunted and then nodded up at the Rookie 9 standing above. Naruto was being loud as usual, but instead of fighting with Sasuke, he was fighting with everyone else and they seemed just as annoyed as Sasuke usually was.

"How long has that been going on?" I asked.

"Ever since they walked into the room and Ino threw herself on top of Sasuke which irked the heck out of Sakura, I can tell you that much." Kyoske yawned.

I looked up at Ino, the girl Sakura had been arguing with the other day and spotted another girl beside her, nervously pressing her fingertips together. She wore a heavy fur looking coat and dark hair that looked purple in the light.

"The other is Hinata Hyuga." Hideki said.

"Hyuga?" I repeated.

"Cousins, but we know how Neji feels about the main branch so I doubt their paths have crossed much and if they did, I'm sure he gives her a piece of his mind each time." Kyoske said.

"Interesting." I said and caught sight of a gray-haired ninja with glasses stepping up to the Rookie 9. He seemed kind and soft and rather pleasant and judging by his headband he was a Leaf shinobi as well.

"Who's that?" I asked, feeling a bad feeling brewing in my stomach at the mere sight of him.

"No idea." Kyoske said.

"They don't seem to know him either." Hideki noted.

The boy produced cards and Sasuke and his team gathered close to get a good look at them. I sensed the chakra from the cards and crossed my arms.

"Intel." I said. "Unless that's a super fancy card trick."

"He puts all your fancy computers to shame, Hideki." Kyoske chuckled dryly.

"I don't remember seeing anything about that boy." Hideki said. "I studied that entry list from top to bottom."

"Maybe he was a late applicant." I said and looked away finding Gaara's dark glare in the crowd. Temari was busy filing her nails and Kankuro was fiddling with Crow's hair. Gaara sat in the middle of both of them, his arms crossed.

That was when it happened, a figure darting from the crowd, nothing but a blur landing on the railing above with an empty fist aimed at the boy with the glasses. The boy stumbled back, shock filling his features before his glasses cracked and shattered. He was frozen and shaking, his eyes wide. It was as if time had frozen the attack had been so swift, so sudden and a moment later the boy fell to his knees and began throwing up.

"A Sound ninja." Kyoske breathed, reaching for his sword.

"Not here." Hideki warned.

I was ready to jump on the table, to get a better view. My hands were gripping the edge of the desk, my body hunching forward. Upon hearing Hideki's warning, I relaxed back into my seat just as a hand snaked around my waist and pulled me off the desk, pressing me to their side.

Hideki and Kyoske swung around at the sound of my gasp and I looked up to see a ninja from the Rain village standing beside me with a pompous grin on his face.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Let her go." Kyoske growled.

"Relax, I just want to talk to the lady." The Rain ninja said with a sickly grin.

"Miyuki!" Naruto's voice filled the room and I could feel all eyes shift onto my little predicament. Sasuke stepped to the railing, his eyes narrowing.

"You picked the wrong one." Hideki muttered.

"Let her go." Kyoske said again. "I'm saying that for your own good."

The ninja ignored them, his hand snaking over my stomach as he used his other to pull my chin up to his face. I stared at him, feeling my body tense.

"My name's Oneru, what's yours?" He said, his breath hot against my face.

I had been told numerous times that my body was fit to tempt people. I was only eleven and had the curves of a full-grown woman and Megumi-sensei always said it would only get worse the older I became. But, she also pointed out that it depended on how I used it. Having a pretty face could help in certain situations and it was always good to play the damsel in distress before turning on the other cheek. Regardless, as I pretty as I was, I didn't like to be touched and this Rain ninja didn't seem to get that.

"Hey wise guy! Let go of her!" Naruto shouted from above.

"Back off, Rookie brat! The Rain ninja shouted back, turning his attention away from me and up toward Naruto who was looking like he was ready to jump off the railing above. The only thing holding him in place was Sakura who was gripping him by the back of his shirt.

Which was fine because I didn't need his help. The moment the Rain ninja's eyes left my face, I moved. Snaking out of his grasp I managed to catch his wrist in the process. He was stunned as I flipped him onto his back and pulled a kunai to his throat. He blinked up at me, his eyes wide as the rest of his team came running up behind me.

"You should watch where you put your hands." I growled, my eyes dark as I balanced a foot on the crook of his shoulder.

"Why you little bi—"

I snapped the Rain ninja's arm clean out of its socket and the sickening crack echoed throughout the room. I spun around just in time to meet the rest of his teammates who came at me at the exact same time, firing kick and punch right after the other. I blocked them all with and managed to bring one down before delivering a sharp knee to the other's stomach. The hit sent the ninja flying back against chairs. As for the other, he was lifting his fist, readying himself to strike just as I caught it and twisted his hand. He cried out, his wrist twisted and dropped to his knees as I positioned myself, ready to break his arm. At the same time the first Rain ninja, Oneru, rose behind me.

Kyoske shot forward, blocking the punch aimed for my back with the sheath of his sword.

"Fighting us before the fighting gets started, huh?" Kyoske grunted. "Hideki, you gonna get off your ass and help out?"

"Break him, Miyuki." Hideki said, a dark edge buried in his voice. "If they haven't stopped us yet, it's because they want to see you do it."

"Let's give them a show then." I said before breaking the ninja's arm. He screamed in pain and I kicked him right in the jaw, finding great pleasure in seeing his head fall back and slam on the hard floor, blood spewing out of his mouth.

It was like the entire room took held their breath. A hushed silence fell through the room, a silence so strong, I could hear the rumbling of a brewing chuckle in Kyoske's chest.

"Whoa…" Naruto uttered from above, breaking the silence after a moment.

"Wh-who is that?" Ino followed.

I turned to face Oneru who was struggling against Kyoske.

"Move." I growled. "He's mine."

Kyoske pushed Oneru back and barely made it out of the way as I charged toward him. Oneru tried to punch me and I dodged it by jumping up. I remembered mid-air watching Lee spar with Hideki one morning during a mission a few months back. The two of them had gone at it and I remembered being blown away by Lee's form, his moves registering in my mind. I also remembered the shock in his eyes when I had mirrored his moves perfectly in a fight a few days after.

I lifted a leg and heard Lee suck in a breath as I brought my foot down hard against the back of Oneru's head, watching it bash forward, slamming hard on the floor. He was out for the count when I landed, but my rage had built to the point where I felt the need to desperately make a point. I pulled a kunai from my pouch, all rationality vanishing from my head as I raised it high above my head. I was ready to strike when Orochimaru's voice rang through my head.

Kill him. Make him pay. Kill him.

My kunai was swinging down when an explosion of smoke came from the front of the room. Ninja were on me instantly, two of them, one grabbing my shoulder, the other grabbing my kunai.

"That'll be enough, Obanji." Ibiki's rock-hard voice called from the front of the room. "You've proven these Rain shinobi were way out of line and need to be escorted from the building. Now settle down or we'll have to escort you and your squad out with them."

I pulled myself away from their holds and slid my kunai back into my pouch. I watched as the Leaf Jonin picked the Rain shinobi off of the floor.

"Oh man! Just when it was about to get interesting!" Kankuro called. He was joined by a few hollers of equal opinions, all of which ended when Ibiki waved a hand through the air.

"Enough! Let's get this exam going! You were each given a number when you walked in here and each seat in this room is numbered. It's not difficult to figure out what to do next." Ibiki said. "As for the tables spotted with the most blood, those seats will be given to Obanji's team since they couldn't hold back until the actual fighting begins. So, whoever has the number to those seats, will just be taking their numbers in exchange."

Grunts broke out as everyone found their seats and I wiped the sweat from my brow.

"Nice." Kyoske sighed. "Now we got the crappy blood soaked seats."

"Way to make an entrance." Hideki said.

"Stopped you right before you drove a kunai into that kid's head." Temari's giggled. "How nice of them."

"At least now everyone knows not to mess with us." Kyoske said, defending me.

"At least now they know to keep their hands to themselves." I followed.

"It's a fine lesson, my dear." Temari said as I passed her and settled into a seat that the ninja I had kicked in the stomach had bashed his face on. Blood was smeared across it and I sighed as one of the Jonin handed me a handful of tissues to wipe it with.

"No disinfectant?" Kyoske shouted. "How am I supposed to nap?!"

"Idiot." Hideki grumbled from down below.

I flipped my hair and took the tissues, wiping at my desk as Ibiki went over the rules of the exam after telling Kyoske to keep his comments to himself. I watched the blood smear across the surface and my stomach bubbled. I could feel the memories coming, bubbling up from the darkest part of my mind. I flinched, remembering that night all over again, the weight of Sayuri's blood against my skin. I remembered tears lighting my eyes the moment I had caught sight of her expression which had been half stuck between shock and relief, an expression that was just as painful to look back on as it had been that day.

We had been safe. We had been safe. We thought we had been safe. But it was a lie. It was just a ruse to get our hopes up, to make us think that we could actually escape. We weren't supposed to survive. That night, we were all supposed to die except, they didn't kill me right.

The paper exam was being passed out and as it slid onto my desk, I stared down at it, unable to register the words on the back of it. All I could hear were Sayuri's desperate cries echoing through our house and the icy, pulsing fear that quaked through my body as a result. I lowered my head to the desk, my hands lacing around the back of my neck. I was shivering when a firm hand came down on my knee, giving it a sharp squeeze. I nearly jumped out of my seat and looked over only to find Sasuke sitting beside me, his eyes focused on Ibiki. I looked down at his hand feeling it's roughness, warmth, and firmness all at once. But, what I felt more than anything was my body being pulled back into the room, breaking free from the nightmare. I sucked in a breath and Sasuke moved his hand away, using it to prop his head up. I wanted to whisper a thanks of some kind but just when I was about to, Ibiki announced that we could flip our papers over.

I flipped mine over after everyone in the room had flipped theirs and lo0ked down at the words on the paper, barely able to process any of it. I knew the questions were impossibly difficult and it was done on purpose, forcing shinobi to cheat but secretively, thanks to all the Jonin watching in the room. It wasn't long before numbers were being called, chairs screeching back as ninja were escorted out of the room. Then, it was crunch time, a mere fifteen minutes until the exam was over. I spotted Kyoske napping on his desk, a big drop of drool sliding down his mouth. Hideki was hard at work, his pencil moving at a furious pace. Sakura was the same way until she slumped over, looking like she had just passed out and as for Sasuke his pencil was mirroring the movements of a kid's pencil a few seats below us.

I couldn't help but smirk, proud that they all seemed to have caught on, that is until my eyes landed on Naruto who was sitting beside the fur coated girl. He looked like he was ready to scream and I could see his shoulders trembling too. The final call came, for anyone who felt they couldn't handle the pressure. Ibiki reminded them further that if they raised their hand, they would not only get their team "disqualified" but would never be able to become Chunin again. I remembered the first time hearing those words and how Kyoske had felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. I had barely batted an eyelash at them and Hideki knew that his answers were right. As for Kyoske, he had looked a lot like Naruto and admitted that somewhere between it all he had just passed out from the pressure.

I caught sight of Naruto's hand raising and felt my insides twist. Sasuke leaned forward, his hands in tight fists on his desk as he glared at Naruto. Sakura was frozen in her seat and a hushed silence filled the room as the number one knucklehead, loud-mouthed, big shot ninja curled his fingers in, his raised hand becoming a tight fist. All eyes landed on him just before he slammed his fist down on the table.

"You're not gonna weed me out, believe it!" Naruto shouted and I could feel the relief ripple not only through his team but through me as well. Naruto settled down and Ibiki scoffed as the last remnants of shinobi that had given up left the room. The clock rang, announcing that it was all over and Ibiki revealed the truth to a stunned room of shinobi, a room that housed half of the people who had applied in the first place.

When it was over, Anko appeared at the front of the room announcing that in a few days, we would be entering the Forest of Death. Sasuke folded his arms as everyone around us rose to their feet. I looked up at him, feeling a blush warm my cheeks.

"Th-thanks." I muttered.

"Hmph." Sasuke breathed, rising to his feet just as Sakura broke out into the aisle, jumping for joy.

"Sasuke! We did it!" Sakura's voice chimed and suddenly she was beside him, grabbing his wrist and jumping up and down excitedly. Sasuke didn't seem to share her level of enthusiasm but did manage a small smirk while Naruto celebrated beside the fur coat girl, throwing his fists in the air and cheering.

"Oh please, that wasn't even the hardest part yet." Neji grumbled as he moved past us. I hadn't noticed that he was in the row above us and he didn't even shoot me a glance as he made his way out into the aisle.

"It was stressful for them regardless." I said.

"Because they're rookies." Neji said, shooting Sasuke a look. "How could I forget."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as Neji walked away and I let out a sigh just as Kyoske and Hideki appeared beside Sakura.

"We should get going." Hideki said.

"Why don't we go and celebrate?" Naruto cheered.

"Wish we could join you, but we have better things to do." Kyoske said with a grin.

"Like annoy the hell out of people." Gaara grumbled as he moved past us with Temari and Kankuro behind him. Temari giggled and Kankuro chuckled as Kyoske glared at the three of them.

"I can't wait to fight him." Kyoske grumbled once Gaara was out of earshot.

"If you even make it to the next round." Hideki said and then touched my arm nodding toward the door.

I nodded as we parted ways with Team 7 and once outside, Hideki pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket. He peered down at it, squinting down at the words scribbled in a quick hand.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Kabuto Yakushi." Hideki grumbled. "That was card boy's name."

"How did you get that?" Kyoske asked.

"I saw it when I was walking up to you." Hideki said.

"Something about that guy rubs me the wrong way." I said, folding my arms over my chest.

"He's an interesting character, especially with those cards of his." Hideki said and nodded to something ahead of us. We stopped walking and peered to where Hideki had nodded toward and found Kabuto beside other Leaf shinobi who I realized could have been his squad.

"We should keep an eye on him." Kyoske said.

I shivered just looking at the kid, feeling my face contort with disgust. I didn't like him and it felt like a gut reaction. Something about him, something about the easiness of his smile, the cool, calm and collectiveness of his movements. Something was off but I couldn't put my finger on it. He looked innocent enough but that was the thing with people, it was the innocent ones you had to watch out for.

"Thought you three had somewhere to be." I jumped at sound of Sasuke's voice and we all turned to face Team 7.

"Did you guys change your mind about celebrating?" Naruto asked, his eyes hopeful.

I was opening my mouth to respond when someone responded for me and a quick glance in Kyoske and Hideki's direction proved it hadn't been them.

"You're going to have to hold off on the celebrating for now."

We all turned only to see White Fang walking toward us. He seemed friendly enough as he took us in, giving my team a courteous nod before turning back to his team.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed.

"We made it to the next round, Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

Kakashi nodded and seemed to smile down at them under his mask. "That's great. I knew you could all do it."

"Why cut off the celebrating?" Kyoske asked, stretching. "I mean what if we were actually considering it?"

Kakashi smiled at him. "You have a mission."

"A mission?" Sakura gawked. "But we're in the middle of the Chunin Exams."

Kakashi nodded. "It's fairly easy. You'll just be delivering a sacred scroll to the Village Hidden in the Rain."

"When do we leave?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi smiled again and reached up to scratch the back of his head. "Now, actually."

"Now?!" Sakura exclaimed. "We don't even have time to pack anything!"

"Yes, it's urgent they receive the scroll as quickly as possible." Kakashi said. "But you're not going alone."

"Who else is going?" Naruto asked.

"We are."

We turned again to find Megumi-sensei standing behind us and she didn't seem too happy. White Fang smiled at her and she didn't even bother to return it. In fact, it seemed like it was taking everything in her to be civil.

"Wait…we are? As in us?" Kyoske asked, motioning to us.

Megumi-sensei nodded. "It's against my wishes but the Hokage as well as our Daimyō felt that the mission could be done a lot faster with our services."

"Wait, we're going on a mission with them?" Sasuke asked, earning a look from Kyoske.

"There a problem Uchiha?" Kyoske growled.

"Other than the fact that anyone else but you guys should come with us? No, there's no problem." Sasuke said dryly.

Before Kyoske could react, Megumi-sensei beat him to it. "At least someone shares my feelings." She mumbled.

Kakashi held up his hands. "You'll all be fine I'm sure."

"Wait, why are you saying 'you'll'?" Sakura asked. "Are you not coming, Kakashi-sensei?"

"We aren't." Megumi-sensei said. "This classifies as a C-rank because of all the thieves you might encounter on the way."

"Wait, so who's in charge? Do we get to pick!?" Naruto grinned before his hand shot up in the air and he began hopping up and down. "It should be me!"

"No." Megumi-sensei said, making his enthusiasm drop.

"The acting leader will be one of the Water ninja." Kakashi said.

"Hideki." Megumi-sensei said, nodding toward him.

"Wait! Shouldn't the acting leader be a higher level shinobi?" Sakura asked.

"Hideki has been in charge of countless missions plus this mission is so small and simple, there's not really a need for anyone else to be attached to it." Megumi-sensei explained.

"C-Rank missions, as you know, call for either experienced Genin or Chunin." Kakashi said.

"Experienced Genin." Sasuke said, his eyes darting over to us, carefully looking us over.

Kyoske was ready to say something again when I dug my nails into his arm. He let out a small cry and turned to shoot me a look, but I was turning to face Kakashi and Megumi-sensei.

"Enough with the comments back and forth. You have thirty minutes to pack and meet at the gates." Megumi-sensei said before nodding to us. "So, I'd hurry if I were you."

Team 7 scattered then and our team inched closer to Megumi-sensei, our voices low.

"We're going to make sure Sasuke doesn't get attacked." I said.

"Or that they just don't die." Kyoske said.

"Our mission for Orochimaru was just a mission given to us by the Priestess, not our main village." Megumi-sensei said. "The Daimyō can still throw missions at us if he pleases. The Hokage needed experienced ninja with them and since a good portion of their shinobi are taking the exams and off on other missions, he asked the other nations."

"But it works out in our favor." Hideki said.

Megumi-sensei shrugged. "Just keep an eye on them and make sure they don't die, have it coming, or it's inevitable."