~Scroll 6~
"Glad you made it after all, Sakura." Kakashi's voice echoed in the hallway as Team 7 approached closer to their destination.
The three teens looked at their sensei in surprise as the silver-haired Nin stood before room 301.
"This way you all qualified to apply for the Chuunin Selection Exams." Kakashi stated proudly.
"… What do you mean?" Sakura gasped in confusion; mostly confused by her otouto's impish grin as if he knew a secret.
"The way the test is set up, it can only be taken by three-person cells." Kakashi explained.
At this revelation, Sasuke quietly growled at the silver-haired Jounin; not believing that the older Nin would jeopardize the Uchiha's chances of advancement. Naruto, on the other hand, just grinned. The blonde had suspected that their sensei had a reason for lying when they were told that the decision was up to them individually. Naruto had even asked his father about it. Iruka then explained to him that the Chuunin Exams could only be applied by the whole team.
"But…" Sakura started, "Kakashi-sensei, you said it was up to each of us to decide whether or not to apply. Were you lying?"
"I said what I had to, to keep your partners from pressuring you into coming along." Kakashi explained. Of course, when the ex-ANBU said 'partners', he really meant Sasuke. Even though Sakura was slowly getting over her crush on the raven-haired brooder, Kakashi feared that with just one word from the Uchiha heir and the pinkette would agree to apply, just going through the motions without her heart being in it.
"What would have happened if Sasuke and Naruto had shown up without me?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi just shrugged.
"I'd have washed them out right here. None of you would have gotten past this point without both of the others. But you're all here because you want to be." Kakashi smiled, "And I'm very proud of you. Now get in there!"
Naruto and Sakura beamed at their sensei while Sasuke glowered at the silver-haired man, who dared to gamble with the teen's future.
Naruto then looked through his lashes at his brooding friend when he felt a sudden heat coming off of the other teen and heard another disturbing sharp snap in Sasuke's Heart Song. The blonde fidgeted a bit in nervousness before he boldly grab hold of the paler teen's wrist and proceeded to pull his teammate toward the door.
"Look out everybody," Naruto dramatically proclaimed to cover his unease, which did not go unnoticed by Kakashi, " 'cause here we come!"
Sakura giggled at her otouto's antics while Sasuke… while the Uchiha suddenly felt himself feeling free, invincible and warm. The moment he felt his dobe's cool touch, Sasuke felt this golden warmth shot through his arm and set his entire body ablaze. He felt warm and strong as if he could take on the entire Shinobi world and win! He felt and knew, in his heart, that he could take Him on and win! And it was all thanks to his dobe. Only his dobe could make him feel this way. Slowly a small smile graced Sasuke's face, which also eased the hidden tension in Naruto.
Suddenly Naruto's eyes grew wide as he was overwhelmed by a tsunami of Heart Songs. Sakura let loose a gasp of surprise while Sasuke scowled at losing his happy euphoria because Naruto had let go of his wrist to turn around and see the literal wall-to-wall of shinobi.
"What the…?" Naruto whispered.
"What is this?" Sakura stared in amazement at the number of shinobi applying for the Chuunin Exam. The pinkette was not sure if she should be impressed or scared witless by the applicants present. Suddenly a sharp, happy squeal echoed over the loud din of the crowd, breaking Sakura's musing.
"Sasuke!" Squealed a blonde-haired kunoichi as she jumped onto Sasuke's back, "Where've you been, cutie?"
Sasuke sneered at the pale teal-blue eyed girl, who just blushed.
"I could hardly wait! It's so exciting, seeing you again after all this time!" The blonde girl gushed.
"INO, YOU PIG!" Sakura roared in a childish fit of jealousy, "Get your hooves off of Sasuke!"
"Hello to you too, Sakura." Ino cooed in faux-friendliness, "Still hoping the big, mutant forehead look is going to come into fashion, huh? How sweet."
"What did you say?" Sakura challenged with a clenched fist.
Naruto looked between the two girls with a frown. Still unsure as to why these two girls would fight over his teammate. With a deep sigh, Naruto just shook his head.
~Girls.~ Naruto send, ~They're so weird.~
Ka'a just chuckled, but mentally thanked his Goddess Inari for his Host's pure innocence.
"Why don't you three save yourselves the embarrassment of flunking this test?" Drawled a bored voice of a dark brunette teen with droopy aloof dark eyes, "Go die, okay?"
"Hey, Shikamaru, Choji." Naruto called to the rest of Team 10.
"What a pain in the butt." Nara Shikamaru grunted as he casually looked over the petite blonde Genin, who just smiled, unbothered by the lazy teen's drawl.
Nara Shikamaru, without a doubt, was Team 10's Genin Leader, much like Sasuke was Team 7's Genin Leader. However, unlike Sasuke, Shikamaru would rather spend his days cloud-gazing than do any missions.
The Nara teen was tall, even taller than Sasuke, but then again, many in the Nara Clan were tall. Shikamaru had light tan complexion despite spending many hours beneath the sun's glow. His dark brunette hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, and his dark eyes were hidden beneath heavy eyelids, giving the tall teen the appearance of always being sleepy. Shikamaru wore a pair of black trouser-shorts with his hands stuffed in his pockets. In his slouched posture, his mesh shirt looked as if it actually fit, but in reality, the mesh shirt was short that it barely covered his stomach. Even the Nara's gray vest was also small for the teen's lanky length, but he wore it nonetheless. In fact, most of the tall teen's clothes were small for the ever-growing youth; however, in his immortal words, to go shopping for new clothes, especially with his mother, would be a drag! The teen's golden earrings glittered under the artificial light as he gave the petite blonde the barest of nods in greeting.
"Chick fight…" Mumbled the portly teen standing beside Shikamaru as he happily munched away at his bag of potato chips.
Akimichi Choji was an oddity among the shinobi world. He and majority of the Akimichi Clan were big, and not big in regards to being tall or heavily muscled. No, the majority of Akimichi Clan were … fat. There was no delicate way to describe the young shinobi, who was Shikamaru's best friend. The large teen watched the two kunoichi eagerly in hope that they would go to row over the Uchiha.
The teen's brown hair defied gravity and was parted in such a way that it looked like he was wearing a pair of underwear on his head; however, it was just his hitai-ate, secured soundly on top of his round head. His chubby cheeks held a permanent rosy hue. His brown eyes were barely visible due to his chubby face. Choji wore a pair of baggy black pants with a tan tee-shirt that had a red kanji emblazed on the center. He also wore a green vest and a white scarf around his neck. Choji also wore an earring in his right ear.
"Gonna make Sasuke mine!" Ino claimed as she pulled the lower eyelid of her left eye down and stuck her tongue out to incite Sakura further into a fight.
Yamanaka Ino was only slightly taller than Sasuke, but not by much. She had long blonde hair, pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a matching purple sleeveless top and mini-skirt. If it were not for her under-wrappings, Naruto was certain that Ino's mother would have never allowed her daughter out of their house. Ino also wore a pair of arm covers, similar to Sasuke's. Perhaps as some sort of attempt to emulate the Uchiha heir.
"Hey!" Another voice bellowed out before Sakura had a chance to reply to Ino's taunts, "There you are!"
Both Teams turned around and saw their fellow Genin companions from Team 8. Much like Team 10 and 7, Team 8 consisted of two youths and one kunoichi. Team 8's self-proclaimed leader was Inuzuka Kiba, who was never without his faithful companion Akamaru. A cute little white pup, whose favorite perch was on top of the Inuzuka's brunette hair. Kiba wore a pair of black pants with a beige and brown fur-hemmed coat that was always zipped up all the way, regardless of the weather. Kiba always had a feral and wild appeal to him, which were made more pronounce by the pair of red fangs tattooed to the teen's face.
Even though Naruto knew that Kiba was no real threat to him, the young Kitsune just could never be at ease around the young inu-pup. And if animal instincts were what kept Naruto and Kiba from being true friends then the blonde would honestly have to say that the quiet Aburame Shino just gave him the plain willies. Naruto could not place his finger on it, but there was something about Shino's presence that made the blonde's skin crawl despite the fact that Naruto knew Shino as a nice, quiet and loyal friend.
Aside from Shikamaru, Shino was actually the tallest out of all of the nine rookies present. Shino was pale and had raven-black hair. While many people speculated what color eyes Shino kept hidden behind his black round spectacles, Naruto believed that he was probably the only one outside of the Aburame Clan to know, and in Naruto's honest opinion, Shino had the most beautiful eyes that he had ever seen. Shino's eyes were a breathtaking translucent shade of blues and greens.
Shino hid much of his features behind his dark glasses and his baggy clothes. The tall teen liked to wear dark and mute colored clothing in order to escape notice, which worked for the most part; however, never on Naruto, since the blonde teen heard the quiet teen's soft and gently buzzing Heart Song. Naruto found it fascinating that Shino's Heart Song reminded the petite teen of a series of buzzing beetles and chirping crickets. And then…
It was then that he heard a familiar Heart Song. It was a soft melody of flutes and harps that greatly reflected the shy girl, who possessed the Song. The melody moved to and fro in a soothing rocking motion, much akin to when a mother rocks a child to sleep. The Heart Song was soft and quiet, but by no means insignificant. It was one of those melodies best hummed quietly as a source of calm amongst the current din of chaos. As Naruto latched onto the Song mentally, as a source of calm, the petite blonde could not help but wonder why he had heard the same melody recently and with a hint of an echo.
Naruto then looked at the petite brunette girl with white, pupil-less eyes… well, to the unobservant, Hyuga Hinata's eyes looked white, but if looked closely, one could see the extremely faded shades of lilac in her wide orbs. It was also then that Naruto realized why the pale-eyed teen with Dog-brow seemed familiar. He and Hinata were kin, and of course, being kin, it also meant that they would have similar Heart Songs. Once the petite blonde understood, he kindly smiled at the painfully shy brunette, who instantly blushed wildly and hid behind Kiba.
"Uh… Hi…" Hinata stuttered.
"Looks like the gangs all here." Kiba grunted.
"Including you… unfortunately." Shikamaru sighed before muttering 'what a drag' beneath his breath.
"So…" Kiba continued as his team approached the others, "I guess all three of this year's newbie trios decided to apply, hunh?
"I wonder how far we'll get. What do you think… Sasuke?" Kiba coolly drawled.
"Trying to psych us by acting cool, Kiba?" Sasuke too drawled.
"Who's acting?" Kiba barked, "The way we've trained, no way can you beat us."
Suddenly at Kiba's boast, Naruto felt immediately overwhelmed by the multitude of Heart Songs compacted in the single room. All the noise just became one giant mess of a convoluted noise that seemed to cause a small throbbing behind Naruto's eyes… A prelude to the growing headache that threatened to explode into a skull-splitting migraine.
~Naruto-dono…~ Ka'a whispered as he sensed his Host's pain.
~I know… but I can't block 'em…~ Naruto whimpered in confusion. Even though he knew that he was in pain, he was also humming and buzzing with energy that was rolling off of each and every applicant in waves, and the poor petite teen had no way to block allof the energies.
"N-Naruto…" Hinata's soft and timid voice called out, causing the blonde to look at her curiously. "A-are you alright..?"
But as Naruto was about to answer, all the noise and energies suddenly and unexpectedly became null. It was as if Naruto was plunged into a world without senses.
"Would you guys…" A quiet voice requested, causing Naruto and the others to look at a young gray-haired man wearing glasses.
The young man was tall and lean. His gray hair was tied back in a low ponytail. He wore a white undershirt with a dark blue top and matching bottom. The stranger also wore a pair of half-fingerless gloves that covered most of the man's forearms, and around his waist was a white sash.
"… do us all a favor and just shut up?"