Chapter Fifteen: The Chunin exams begin!

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Disclaimer: If I owned it, then I wouldn't need to write fanfiction.

...

[six days later]

Once again the four genin were all waiting for Kakashi to show up, as usual.

Sakura looked like a wreck, like she hadn't slept all night. "Sheesh!" She sighed. "Okay, look! Are we going to just stand around and let them get away with this? Why is it, whenever we get called out, we end up waiting like dopes for the challenger to show?"

"Challenger? What 'challenger'?" Akina wondered.

"She's right! Say it, Sakura!" Naruto cheered.

"I mean, think how I feel. I overslept, and I didn't even get to blow-dry my hair!" She shouted in rage.

"We can tell." The purple haired girl mumbled.

"Yeah. It's not right. I overslept, too…and I didn't even pause to wash my face or brush my teeth!" Naruto just had to put in his two cents.

Sakura stared at him. "Ewww! Gross!"

"We didn't need to know that, Naruto." Akina said with a look of horror. But at least they've been able to sleep lately…I can't get those eyes out of my head, like they're constantly looking at me from the shadows… She sighed.

"Akina…"

This made her jump. Slowly she turned to see Sasuke standing behind her, once again disregarding the personal space bubble. "Ah… Y-yes? Did you want something?"

He gave her an odd look, something that could've matched concern on anyone else. "You've been looking a little tired lately; I think maybe you should go home and rest."

She looked down. "…Do I…really?"

He nodded.

The girl then glared up at him as her arm suddenly swung out. He caught it, inches from his face, just barely noticing the kunai she held.

Sakura gasped when she saw. "Akina! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Whoa! Hey, now! I hate Sasuke too, but don't you think that's a little much?" Naruto asked frantically.

"Just mind your own business, Uchiha!" Akina growled at Sasuke, ignoring the other two. "If there's something wrong with me I'll make sure not to let it affect my performance on our missions. So you don't need to worry yourself."

Sasuke stared at the girl in shock; he'd honestly never heard such venom in her voice before, not directed at him anyway, nor had she ever attacked him like that. Akina pulled her hand free and walked to the other side of the bridge, crossing her arms. A small amount of mist started to rise up behind her above the water. Only her teammates seemed to notice this; they glanced at each other questioningly.

"Oh! Sasuke, you're bleeding!" Sakura suddenly squealed as she rushed over to him.

Akina looked up and saw that the boy indeed had a small slash on his cheek which was bleeding down his neck and under the blue shirt he always wore, she then looked down at her hands; there was a bit of blood on the kunai as well. I wasn't actually trying to hurt him… I just…

Sakura cleaned Sasuke up and it was then that Kakashi appeared on a pole overhead, waving at his students. "Morning, guys! Today, I wandered a bit from the path of life…"

"You are such a liar!" Naruto shouted while pointing accusingly at his sensei.

"Would it kill you to at least pretend to be sorry?" Sakura added, mimicking the blonde's actions.

Akina turned away irritably. So noisy…

Kakashi jumped down from where he was standing and leaned against the rail of the bridge. "In any case… This may surprise you…but I've recommended all four of you for the Chunin exam."

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto just stood there, dumbstruck.

"Say what?!" Sakura suddenly shouted, looking angry.

"Good one, sensei. You almost had us." Naruto said, an unimpressed expression on his face.

Sasuke just stood there quietly, his eyes closed.

"He's not joking." Akina spoke as she walked over to where they were standing.

Kakashi smiled. "Right…" He held out four pieces of paper. "You have to fill out applications."

Naruto suddenly jumped on Kakashi, hugging him tightly. "Kakashi sensei, I love you!"

"Get off…you're embarrassing me!" Kakashi shouted as he tried to remove the blond boy.

Akina sighed. "Big dummy…"

After they'd all received an application Naruto sat down and stared at his paper like it was sacred treasure while the other's stood and actually read what it said.

"If any of you don't wish to compete, the exam is entirely voluntary. The choice is yours." Kakashi explained. "You needn't turn in those application forms unless you want to. If you do, report to room 301 at the school by 4:00 tomorrow afternoon. That's all." And with that said Kakashi disappeared.

All four of the genin walked down the road together.

Naruto was singing. "Dum-di-di-duh…the Chunin selection exam!" He even marched to the tune. "I'll bet there'll be a lot of tough competition." He seemed to think for a moment. "Like him!" he pointed in the air as if anyone was supposed to see a thought bubble above his head. A moment later he glared at Sasuke, who promptly glared back.

"Like who?" Akina asked, actually wondering who he meant.

But Naruto was already off in his own little world, chuckling like a fool. Even Sasuke seemed excited. …But Sakura didn't. In fact, she seemed downright depressed. Akina noticed when the pink haired Kunoichi stopped walking and stared down at her paper. Naruto and Sasuke kept walking, completely oblivious.

The purple haired girl stopped and turned to look at her teammate. "Sakura…are you okay?"

She looked up and gave the other girl a fake smile. "Oh…yeah. I'm just fine! Heh-heh…"

"Liar." Akina mumbled as she walked over to her. "If you're still worried about what Sasuke said, he was just trying to make you feel bad for flirting with him."

Sakura looked back down at her paper. "But he's right, I can't even keep up with Naruto, this exam will be too much for me."

Akina tapped her on the head lightly, bringing the girl's attention back to her. "Naruto and Sasuke are fighters, Sakura. But you? You're our brains." She smiled encouragingly. "And we could really use some brains around here with two big dumb boys messing things up all the time!"

Sakura smiled slightly.

The Mizuto girl turned away and waved over her shoulder. "Just think about it, okay? Do what you feel is right for you."

Sakura waved back. "I will. Thank you, Akina!"

The smile faded as Akina walked away and looked down at her own application worriedly. Now I just have to convince myself of that… "…What should I do?"

On her way to Shikamaru's house Akina noticed that a rain Ninja was fallowing her.

She stopped. He stopped.

"Heh… A disguise like that won't fool me." The girl turned to smirk at him. "I thought you knew better than that…Iruka sensei."

The rain ninja poofed and Iruka walked out of the cloud of smoke, scratching his head nervously. "It's really not fair when you use that, Akina."

"So, are you testing all of us?"

Iruka nodded.

"Then, can I ask you a favor?"

"What is it?"

"It's Sakura; she thinks she's not good enough to enter. But honestly, I don't think we'll be able to make it without her." Akina smiled. "She could really use a good confidence boost!"

Iruka smiled and nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

Akina finally managed to arrive at Shikamaru's house for dinner, albeit a little later than she'd wanted.

"Ah… So, Azuma sensei applied you guys for the Chunin exams, too?" She asked her friend as they were once again on the roof outside his window like they usually were after dinner.

Shikamaru sighed and laid back. "Yeah…it's a real drag, but it's not like I have anything better to do."

The girl laughed. "That's for sure!"

He just turned away. "And…what about you?"

Akina looked down at him innocently. "What about me?"

He glared at her lazily. "Are you entering?"

She sighed. "I don't know…it's…complicated…"

Shikamaru sat up, looking into her eyes, she seemed troubled. "How complicated?"

This made her turn away. "…Um…well…there are certain people attending that, for reasons I'm not going to tell you, I'd rather not meet."

He touched her arm gently. "Akina…"

She turned and smiled up at him "No. Don't worry." then looked out at the darkening village. "I think they're going to need me for this one anyway. I can't abandon my team just because I'm scared."

[At home]

"What?! Really?!" Mai jumped up and down like a child. "Little Aki is going to be a Chunin!"

"No, Aunt Mai, I'm just taking the test." The girl sighed. "There are going to be ninja attending that are far stronger than I am, so there's no guarantee of anything."

The dark haired woman waved off the comment. "Oh, whatever, you need to have more confidence in yourself." She grinned. "Ayame made Chunin right after she graduated from the academy and Akito, as I was told, had already been in a special forces squad by the time he was your age."

Akina turned away, not liking to be reminded of what she had to live up to. "Yeah? Well, I'm not like them."

Mai huffed. "Oh, you know I didn't mean it like that. With both the Sharingan and you father's sword, you're sure to win!"

The girl didn't bother looking at her "What Sharingan?"

"Now don't be like that. We both know it's-"

"I don't have it." The girl interrupted. "And until Sasuke receives his, I never will." She then walked up to her room and slammed the door shut.

Mai sighed. "Oh, Akina..."

The day of the exam

Sakura and Sasuke were standing outside the ninja academy, waiting for Naruto and Akina to show up. The two of them didn't speak to each other with Sakura not sure what to say, and Sasuke just being Sasuke.

"Hey, Sakura!" Naruto shouted as he came up to them, hand flailing in the air as he tried to wave while running.

"Uh…hi." Sakura replied with a nervous smile.

Sasuke glanced at her, noticing the odd behavior.

"Hey…uh… Is this where I sign my name?" Naruto asked as he held his paper up toward Sakura.

"Can't you read?" Sasuke asked in exasperation.

The blond boy looked around, finally realizing that something was missing. "Hey! Where's Akina?"

Sakura seemed worried at this. "I don't know…" She then put on a fake smile. "You know how Akina is, always late for something! Heh-heh…"

Sasuke turned away, slightly disappointed. "She's not coming, is she?"

Sakura looked down. "I don't know…she seemed fine yesterday…but…"

Even Naruto looked depressed.

"Heya! What's everyone just standing around for, huh?" Asked a chirpy girl's voice.

"Akina!" Sakura cheered and ran over to the purple haired girl.

"Hey! Sasuke said you weren't coming!" Naruto burst as he joined his pink haired companion.

"I did not!" the raven haired Uchiha defended.

Akina merely put her hands on her hips and gave them a cheeky grin. "Of course I'm coming! I'm not gonna stand back and let you guys have all the fun!" She smirked. "Besides, I can't skip out on things like this! What fun would that be?"

Naruto smiled and punched his hand in the air "Yeah! That's right!" this caused the Mizuto girl to laugh.

Sakura stared at her friend. "Akina, you're wearing different style clothes than normal."

Akina stopped laughing and looked down at herself, instead of the usual blue shirt and white capri pants, the girl was wearing a sleeveless blue zip up shirt with fishnet underneath, a short white skirt over black skin-tight shorts, and a pair of black fingerless gloves.

There was a slight bit of sadness in her eyes when she answered "These…were some of my mother's old clothes." She brightened then "You know, she became a Chunin when she was my age."

"Wow! That's so cool!" Naruto beamed.

Sakura smiled. "You're mom must have been an amazing Kunoichi."

Sasuke just stared.

"Well... Let's go!" Akina cheered, joined by Naruto.

The four Genin pushed past the crowds that had gathered inside the ninja academy, trying to make their way to the third floor.

"Jeez…there sure are a lot of them." Akina mumbled.

As they reached a slight clearing in the halls the group noticed bunch of Genin were gathered near a door of which the sign above read 301

…Hmm…that's odd, now isn't it?

There was a bunch of noise coming from that side of the room.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked.

"Looks like a fight." Her purple haired friend answered.

Two older boys were standing in front of the door. One with spikey hair and two giant kunai on his back, the other had flattened down hair and didn't really have anything distinguishing about him.

The one with spikey hair had knocked down a Genin who was wearing a green jumpsuit and had a black, bowl-cut hairdo. The bowl cut guy rubbed his cheek, which was littered with bruises, while he sat up.

"Is someone as talentless as you really planning to take the Chunin selection exam? Why bother?" The older, spikey haired boy spoke. "Bunch of wet-behind-the-ears snotnoses!"

"You said it!" The other boy smirked.

A girl in a pink shirt walked up to them. "Please…we're begging you…let us in."

The spikey haired guy knocked the girl away with a single swing of his arm.

"…That's just cruel…!" A Genin said from the crowd.

"How can he just abuse people he knows are weaker than him?" Akina growled.

"What did you say?" Spikey haired guy glared at the crowd. "You misunderstand! We're just trying to spare you… The Chunin exam is incredibly difficult…and we should know. We've failed three times so far."

He explained that there have been people who made it through and gave up being shinobi, people who ended up being crippled or reduced to vegetables. Akina shuddered at the thought, knowing first-hand what it's like to not be able to use a part of your body.

The spikey haired guy smirked then. "Besides that. Chunin are cell commanders. They lead their units. The responsibilities for failed missions and dead shinobi rest firmly on their shoulders. And you little punks have the nerve to apply?" He snorted. "We're saving a step by weeding out the obvious losers beforehand."

"That sounds good in theory…but you'd better let me through." Sasuke said with a smirk. "And drop the force-field illusion you've created, while you're at it. I have business on the third floor."

"What's he talking about?" One Genin asked.

"Who knows?" Another said.

The two older guys smirked.

"So you figured it out, eh?" Asked the flat haired one.

Sasuke smirked back. "It was easy. Right, Sakura? You were probably the first to notice it."

"Huh…?" She looked at him with bemusement.

Akina smiled at her encouragingly. "Yeah, Sakura! You're the most observant one on our team."

Sakura blushed and smiled. "Heh. Of course I noticed it. Obviously, we're still on the second floor."

Sasuke smirked, pleased with himself.

Naruto had a confused smiled on his face, clearly he'd been fooled. "Of course!"

"You had no idea, did you, Naruto?" Akina whispered to him amusedly.

"Ah…well…" he scratched the back of his head nervously.

The illusion faded, and the sign above the door now said 201

The spikey haired guy smirked. "Hey…not bad. But just seeing through it isn't…" He snorted and quickly shot a foot out in Sasuke's direction. "…Enough!"

Sasuke put his hand up to block, and kicked out with his own foot. But just then the boy in the green jumpsuit stepped in between, stopping both attacks instantly by grabbing the boys' legs mid-kick.

Whoa! He just intercepted and blocked both attacks! Akina thought in amazement. I know that Sasuke is pretty strong and by the level of his Chakra, that spikey haired guy is no pushover, so, to stop both attacks at once, this guy is something else; definitely stronger than he was letting on before. She then looked at him more closely. But…there's something strange about his chakra…

The guy in the green jumpsuit let go of Sasuke and the other guy, causing the spikey haired jerk to fall to the ground, then walked back over to his team and sighed.

It was then that the purple haired girl noticed Neji standing there. Oh…so this is Neji's team, huh? I guess it makes sense, then.

"Hey…" Neji whispered to his teammate. "That's not what we agreed! You're the one who insisted we should avoid drawing attention to ourselves."

"…B…but…" The guy in the green jumpsuit glanced toward Team Seven and blushed.

The girl in pink shook her head. "Here we go again…"

Neji also looked in that direction seemingly shocked to see his least favorite violet haired girl standing there.

The boy in green walked straight up to Sakura, his face as red as a tomato. "Hi. My name is Rock Lee. You must be Sakura. Will you…be my girlfriend? I promise to protect you with my life!" He then gave her a thumbs up while flashing his very shiny teeth.

Dude…that is so dorky… Akina couldn't help but laugh a little.

Sakura had an odd look on her face. "Definitely…not!"

Rock Lee looked disappointed. "Why?"

"Because you're a weirdo!" She blurted.

Naruto laughed.

Wow, Sakura…that was pretty harsh…

Lee then turned to the purple haired girl with hope in his bush toped eyes. "What about you then?! You are Mizuto Akina, yes?"

Akina smiled sweetly, hardly even fazed by the sudden question. "Sorry, I'm already taken."

Lee sighed in defeat. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Neji gave the girl a curious look. Naruto also seemed curious.

Sakura had a look of amazement. "Really? Who?!"

This caused the girl to sigh. "Honestly? If you haven't already figured it out I'm not telling you..." The stares she was receiving from the boys didn't go unnoticed by her.

Sakura didn't have a clue as to what was going on, but she let the subject go anyway.

Lee was now slumped over and facing the wall, a dark cloud of depression hovering over him.

Neji walked up toward the group and gave Akina a glance before staring at Sasuke. "Hey, you!"

Sasuke turned around, not having paid any attention to the Hyuga's presence until that point.

"What's your name?"

Naruto seemed upset by this, Akina figured it was because so many people asked for Sasuke's name and completely ignored the blonde boy.

Well, Naruto, everyone in Konoha basically already knows who you are. Though she didn't relay these thoughts, figuring it would only serve to further the boy's already failing mood.

"It's common courtesy to give your own name first." Sasuke smirked as his reply to Neji's question.

"You're a rookie, aren't you? How old?" Neji questioned again.

"I don't have to tell you a thing." Sasuke sneered before turning away.

Neji also turned away, clearly not getting the answers he wanted, but not before glancing at Akina once again.

The girl shivered under that cold stare. Why must he always do that?

All the while Naruto and Lee were both standing at the wall, deep in depression.

Sakura smiled, trying to break the tension in the air "Now! Sasuke, Akina, Naruto, let's go!" She grabbed Sasuke and Naruto's hands and started pulling them along down the corridor.

Akina merely shrugged and followed at a close pace. Whatever…