15. Shinobi Rule Number One

Like many days in Konoha, the sun was shining brightly. It warmed my skin as I made my way to the Academy building. There was no chance of being late today. The application I'd received three days ago was due by nine.

As I made the journey, application folded into an uneven square in my pocket, my stomach was aflutter with excitement and anticipation. Despite prodding for answers on the content of the exams, my brother had refused to give me any. Not that it would do me much good, he pointed out. The Chuunin Exams changed a bit every year and there was no guarantee on what I would be facing.

Would I need to face the other competitors in battle? Would they test my knowledge? Would I need to know how to perform certain jutsus as we had in the Academy?

On and on my brain thought of the scenarios I would face in the coming days. So deep in my thoughts was I that I barely recognized my feet had taken the well-practiced journey to the Academy building. It had felt like a life-time ago that I was here, passing my final and receiving my team assignment.

I found Naruto and Sasuke waiting near the entrance. Naruto spotted me first and waved a hand wildly above his head. "Nakao!"

As I neared, I could feel the energy of excitement radiating from the blonde. Sasuke, on the other hand, looked as calm and composed as usual, merely glancing at me as I reached them. I glanced between the two. "Where's Sakura?"

Naruto quit bouncing on his heels for a moment, glancing around us. Had he been so caught up in the moment he hadn't recognized that our fourth teammate had not yet arrived?

He was peering over my shoulder when a grin broke out over his face. "You're late!"

I turned to look as Sakura drew closer to us. Instantly, I could sense that something was wrong. She was watching her feet as she walked, only glancing up once she heard Naruto. Her face looked trouble, her skin pale. She chanced a smile as she came to a stop beside me. "Oh yeah...sorry."

I watched on curiously as I saw her look to Sasuke. Normally, her eyes would sparkle and her cheeks would flush an unflattering red. But today, she merely looked at him as Naruto and I might and calmly greeted him.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun."

I narrowed my eyes. Well that confirmed it. Something was way off. Sasuke, too, was watching Sakura skeptically. And then, the most damning evidence of all.

Sakura turned to me, giving me the same, forced smile she'd given Naruto. "Good morning, Nakao."

I blanched. What? I stared at her dumbfounded, not even realizing I hadn't greeted her in return. Keitaro would have a fit over my lack of manners. But my mind was whirling. Was this Sakura an imposter as the "Sasuke" had been three nights ago?

But Sakura didn't seem to notice my lack of response, or my expression. She glanced up at the Academy building, now looking a little green. She sighed. "I guess we should go in now."

As Sakura stepped forward, up the concrete steps that led into the building, I glanced to my male counterparts. Naruto was completely oblivious and followed Sakura excitedly. Sasuke and I, however, exchanged pointed stares. One that said: "Is she okay?"

Slowly, I followed Sakura and Naruto into the building, Sasuke close behind. Wordlessly, we traveled the familiar hallways, following the path that would lead us to room 301. As we reached the end of a hallway, where a sign above the last door read "301", we were halted by a throng of shinobi, each with different village emblems etched onto their metal-plated headbands, grouped in front of the door.

"Oh, that's horrible…How awful!" I heard from a few of the ninja, their eyes set on something in front of them.

I pushed past these individuals, sidling through the crowd, intent on getting a look at what everyone found so fascinating. As I shouldered my way to the front, I saw four people directly in front of the door. Two males dressed in traditional chuunin armor, stood shoulder to shoulder, smirking at two people on the ground before them.

A boy, dressed in a green spandex suite, completed with orange leg warms and a red headband tied around his waist, lay on his backside on the tiled ground. I took in his black hair, styled in a bowl cut, and round eyes, noting that I was not familiar with him, though he wore a Konoha headband. On her knees beside him, helping him to sit up, was a girl with her brown hair tied up into two buns atop her head. She wore a pink, Chinese-styled tank top. The weapons belt she wore around her waist signaled to me that she was in the habit of using weapon-based techniques.

I watched in surprise as the boy in the green spandex suit got to his feet and attempted, presumably, once more to get through the door. But one of the chuunins kicked him in the gut, sending him sprawling backwards. The girl caught him before he hit the ground. Her brown eyes scanned him worriedly. "Lee, be careful!"

"You plan to enter the Chuunin Exams with that?" one of the chuunin sneered.

"You should just quit now," the other commented.

"Please, just let us through," the girl pleaded, getting to her feet.

She moved forward but one of the chuunin slapped a hand across her face, making her stumble backwards until she landed on her backside next to the boy named Lee, who I assumed was her teammate. Murmurs and shocked gasps erupted from the ninja around me as the girl put a hand to her cheek.

"Horrible," someone to my right muttered.

"Horrible?" one of the chuunin snorted. "This is nothing compared to the Chuunin Exams! We're doing you guys a favor."

I scoffed. Were these guys for real? Didn't they have anything better to do than stand over a door to omit people from entering?

I stepped forward before I could help myself. "Alright, move along now. I want to go through."

The crowd lapsed into stunned silence as I glared down the two males in front of the door. They turned their own glares at me, which I ignored as I walked over and offered a hand to the girl in pink. She eyed me carefully, her eyes flickering to the headband tied to my left arm, before taking my hand and letting me pull her to her feet. She immediately turned back to her teammate to help him.

"Well?" I raised my eyebrows at the chunnin before making a shooing motion with my hand. "I said scram."

The chuunin on my right gritted his teeth in irritation. "You have a lot of nerve for someone so small."

"Is that a short joke? I'm unimpressed. I'm not even that short."

The boys were watching me like they'd like to eat me for dinner as someone detached from the crowd, moving over to my side. I glanced over to find it was Sasuke. He stared at the chuunin evenly, hands dug casually into his cargo shorts. "You will let us through now. Oh, and remove the genjutsu; I want to go to the third floor."

"So you noticed," one of the chuunin smirked.

I tried to not let my own surprise be noticed by all the eyes on us. I subtly glanced up to the door, watching as the numbers turned from '301' to '201'.

A genjustu? How did I miss that!?

Irritation at my own negligence flushed through me. Genjutsu was my weak point. I never used it; and as a typically offensive ninja; I didn't usually think and plan long enough to catch one being used. If I noticed it, I could dispel it with some concentration, but I lacked the natural talent of seeing through one.

"You must have noticed it first, right Sakura?" Sasuke glanced over his shoulder to our pink-haired teammate, who now stood at the front of the group, watching the scene. She glanced up in surprise. "You have the best analyzing skills on our team."

No hiding my thoughts now. My mouth dropped open as I openly gaped at Sasuke. What the hell was that? Were we being nice to Sakura now? Did I miss the memo?

Sakura finally smirked, shrugging nonchalantly. "Of course. The sign says 301, but we're actually on the second floor."

Gasps and murmurs came from the crowd again. No one had noticed.

I felt something bubble in the pit of my stomach. It was something I felt unfamiliar with and that I didn't understand. But there was one thing I understood: Sasuke's blatant praise.

Should I be angry Sasuke boosted her ego when she was clearly nervous about the Exams? Probably not. But I couldn't deny my irritation. So she finally showed some kind of skill. So she was useful for something at last. We were going to praise that? Well what about me? You know, little old me? The one that protected Naruto from death. The one that had nearly died in the Land of Waves. The second strongest member of our team. You know, me?

Where was my praise? When did I ever get a: "Oh, solid job Nakao."? The answer is never. NEVER. So what; should I just suck all the time so that when I finally do something, people actually notice?

I took a deep breath of air in through my nose, telling myself to cool my own jets.

Alright Nakao, you're sounding a little crazy right now. Tuck that right back in immediately.

"Heh, not bad, but all you did was see through it," said one of the chuunin.

I turned a fierce glare on him, in a fouler mood than I was when I first spoke to him. "Didn't I tell you to get lost?"

The chuunin turned flashing eyes on me. The tension of impending battle engulfed the area; now here was a feeling familiar to me. I slid a foot back, readying myself. I caught the flicker of movement from the chuunin as he brought a leg back, aiming a kick at me.

I could have defended, but quickly realized it would be unnecessary. Sasuke flashed in front of me, his own leg moving to kick the shinobi. But in less than a heartbeat, both kicks had been caught and my eyes widened to find the boy in green, Lee, standing between the chuunin and Sasuke. He caught each of their legs in either hand.

Woah. Talk about speed! This isn't the same boy that was just getting his ass kicked. I glanced over to the girl with him. Was it an act?

Lee released the males and they both stepped backwards. Sasuke was watching Lee carefully, probably coming to the same realization that I had.

"Lee, what happened to the plan?"

I glanced over to the brown-haired girl to find a new arrival stepping over to us. The newcomer had long, brown hair, pulled into a very long ponytail at the very tips of his hair. His eyes were a clear lavender color, devoid of pupils.

Those eyes...he looks like a Hyuuga. Is he related to Hinata?

"You're the one who suggested we not draw attention to ourselves," the girl agreed, moving closer to me, Sasuke and Lee.

Lee had opened his mouth to give an explanation, and I took the opportunity to look him over more carefully. He was...strangely dressed in that spandex. And the hair cut wasn't winning him any favors. His eyes were nearly perfectly round, topped with bushy, black eyebrows.

Just as Lee had begun to speak however, he paused. He had peered over my shoulder and his cheeks flushed pink. I followed his gaze and noticed it was resting on Sakura. She'd only taken one step forward when Lee bounded straight for her, stopping directly in front of her.

"My name is Rock Lee. Yours is Sakura. Let's go out!" Lee gave a thumbs up and grinned. I'm pretty sure his eyes literally sparkled.

Sakura's face turned a very odd shade of blue as her pupils shrunk. She stared at Lee as though he was utterly terrifying.

"I will protect you until I die!" Lee promised, smile never faltering.

I almost let out a bark of laughter before biting my tongue. What was with my manners today? I shouldn't laugh at the boy, even if he did have a poor taste in women. But I should probably tell him his mission was futile. Sakura had eyes for no one but Sasuke.

"No…way…" Sakura finally responded. "You're totally lame."

Lee's face fell. I rolled my eyes. And with that rude response, the old Sakura had returned. I guessed I'd never be receiving a 'good morning' from her ever again.

"Hey you, what's your name?"

My attention turned back to the Hyuuga, as he'd spoken. He was watching Sasuke with a sense of interest.

"It's impolite to ask for someone's name if you haven't introduced yourself first," Sasuke told the boy.

I found my eyes rolling again. What the hell did Sasuke know about manners?

"You're a rookie right? Just how old are you?" Lee's teammate tried again.

"I don't have to answer you."

I'd tire my eye muscles if I rolled them again. I took a step to draw level with Sasuke. I looked to the boy. "His name is Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke turned a glare on me as Lee's female teammate let out an involuntary giggle. I ignored Sasuke's burning glare. "And my name is Makase Nakao. And you are?"

The boy regarded me for a moment. I clearly hadn't caught his attention before but now he gave me the same look of interest he'd given Sasuke. He finally responded. "Hyuuga Neji."

"You see Sasuke? Was that so hard?" I quirked an eyebrow.

Sasuke looked ready to retort, until Sakura's voice cut him off. She bounded up to Sasuke's other side, Naruto in tow. "Alright, Sasuke, Naruto, let's go!"

She took Sasuke's hand in her right, for her left was occupied by Naruto's hand and began to drag them towards the third floor. Glaring, I stalked after her. Dammit. I liked her better the way she was twenty minutes ago; quiet and realizing that she sucked.

We climbed up the stairs to the third floor landing. I was trailing behind my team, thoughts on the characters I'd met below. As we left the stairs behind, my eyes found a clock on the nearby wall. It was nearing nine and we hadn't handed in our applications yet. Leave it to my team to make things longer and more complicated than they needed to be.

The stairs had led into a large, empty room. The upper walls were home to a balcony with a railing that ran the length of the room. Two hallways split off, one to the left and one to the right. We began to head for the right hallway, when a voice echoed throughout the empty room.

"You there, with the attitude."

Each of us stopped in surprise. I glanced around myself, looking for the source of the voice. I found it up on the balcony. It was Rock Lee. He gazed down at our group as we looked up at him.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, annoyed.

Was it funny he replied to the title? Yes, yes it was.

Lee jumped down, landing before us with ease. His eyes were trained on Sasuke. "Will you fight me?" he asked.

"A fight? Right here?" Sasuke asked, seemingly slightly surprised.

"Yes, I want to test my skills against a descendant of the genius Uchiha Clan," Lee slid into a fighting stance. I immediately recognized it to be associated with taijutsu attacks. "Also…"

Lee's eyes slipped over to Sakura and the blush ascended into his cheeks ago. "Sakura, I love you."

Sakura let out a shriek, clutching at her head. I couldn't help it this time. I'd not forgotten the bubble of acidic feeling in my gut earlier. I let out another joyous laugh, clapping my hands together once. "Oh Sakura can you see it? You could wear matching spandex suits!"

"Shut up, Nakao!" Sakura screamed, face contorted in rage.

I snickered.

"You're an angel," Lee blew a kiss dreamily towards Sakura.

Sasuke, who seemed disinterested with all of this, cut into the conversation. He had one hand in his pocket. "You challenge me knowing my name is Uchiha? You must be ignorant. Do you want to know what the name of Uchiha is capable of?"

A heavy sigh escaped my lips.

"Please," Lee responded seriously, returning to his stance.

"You guys, I don't really think we have time for this," I insisted, my eyes finding the clock again. We only had thirty minutes to spare.

"This'll take me five minutes," Sasuke assured.

I let out an aggravated sigh.

"Wait!" Naruto stepped forward, obviously angry that he was not in the spotlight. "I want to face fuzzy brows."

"I don't want to fight you, I only want to fight Uchiha," Lee responded.

"Uggh, what's so special about Sasuke!?" Naruto roared, angrily.

"Sasuke is a genius and this year's top male rookie," Lee said. "I want to see if my power can measure up to a great clan."

"Can't you do this on your own time?" I asked, irritated. "I want to go hand in my application."

Apparently, no one was listening because seconds later, Naruto came charging past me, straight for Lee. I called after him, to no avail. He aimed a fist as Lee, but Lee simply put an index finger on Naruto's fist and Naruto fell to the ground. On the ground, Naruto crouched, swinging a leg beneath Lee's feet. Lee merely dodged and sent a kick back at Naruto. His foot collided with Naruto's chest and he was sent flying backwards, only being stopped by the wall behind him. Naruto hit the wall with a loud bang, then fell to the ground, unconscious.

My eyes widened as I turned my gaze back to Lee. Concern for my teammate was secondary. I was awed by this strange boy and his obvious skill.

Lee straightened and looked back to Sasuke, as though Naruto's attempted assault had never happened. "I will declare now that you cannot defeat me, because I am the strongest Konoha genin right now."

Sasuke smirked. "Interesting. I accept your challenge."

With an aggravated cry, I threw my hands in the air. I had half a mind to simply walk straight to room 301 and hand in my application solo.

Sasuke rushed Lee, aiming a fist for his head, but he only hit air. Lee had jumped upwards so quickly Sasuke had actually missed.

"Konoha Whirlwind!" Lee began to twirl rapidly, falling back towards Sasuke. As he spun, he sent a series of kicks at Sasuke. Sasuke ducked, but Lee quickly appeared at his level, kicking Sasuke square in the jaw.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried as Sasuke flew backwards. He struck down hard and skidded for a moment against the polished, wooden floor.

I watched in complete surprise. I'd never seen Sasuke be so easily put on the defensive by someone in our own league. I was impressed.

Lee stood straight as Sasuke got to his knees. It was quiet as Sasuke watched Lee for a moment. He closed his eyes, getting to his feet. When Sasuke reopened his eyes, they were crimson. Sakura gasped from beside me, confusing me for a moment until I remembered that Sakura hadn't been with us when Sasuke had achieved his Sharingan.

Sakura was beaming widely as she watched the battle in front of us. I rolled my eyes, once again feeling rather unappreciated. I'd been wielding my kekki genki since I was a child and no one was ever awed. Seriously, what did it take to get a little recognition around here? Huffing, I fell to the ground on my butt, crossing both my legs and my arms. I put my chin in my palm, looking on as uninterested as possible. Maybe Sasuke would get a little humility knocked into him; it'd be good for him.

And if the Sharingan is so great, why is Sasuke getting his ass kicked? I found myself wondering.

"My moves are neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu," Lee said as Sasuke landed on his feet and they went after each other again. Lee fought quickly, Sasuke having barely enough time to dodge one attack before getting hit in the stomach which such force he was pushed backwards. Sasuke stumbled backwards, clutching his stomach. He winced as he watched Lee. "My attacks are only hand-to-hand combat."

Ah, that would answer my question. The Sharingan can't detect which taijutsu move is going to be used next like it can predict with genjutsu or ninjutsu.

"Sasuke..." Lee disappeared and reappeared behind Sasuke. Sasuke quickly moved and Lee jumped back. "I hear that your Sharingan can see through ninjutsu and genjutsu. You can definitely see through and deal with genjutsu and ninjutsu that require forming hand seals and kneading chakra but taijutsu is a little different."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked glaring. Sweat was forming at his brow.

"Even if you can see my movements with your Sharingan, your body does not have the speed to keep up with mine."

Sasuke was quiet. I watched intently. Lee was right. Sasuke couldn't seem to hammer down a pattern; and I couldn't blame him. I couldn't seem to track Lee very well either.

"Did you know there are two types of ninja? There are genius types and hardworking types. If your Sharingan is a genius type that carries the blood of Uchiha..." Sasuke started to run at Lee. "Then I am a hardworking type that continuously improves my hand-to-hand combat."

Sasuke sent a punch that Lee easily dodged.

"Your Sharingan and my taijutsu skills are a bad combination," Lee said dodging another attack and sending a kick. Lee's foot made contact with Sasuke's chin and Sasuke was sent flying upwards towards the ceiling. As Sasuke was in the air, Lee appeared underneath him.

"Shadow dance..." Lee murmured. Sasuke tried his best to watch Lee underneath him. "I will prove to you with this move, that hard work does surpass genius!"

The bandages on Lee's left arm began to unwrap. My eyebrows furrowed.

"I win!" Lee stated.

From the corner of my eye, I caught a fast moving, red object. The red object went straight to Lee and pinned his unraveled bandages to a wall. Upon closer inspection, I was surprised to find that the object was a pinwheel.

"Stop right there, Lee."

We all glanced over to find the new arrival. More surprise to find it was a turtle. I blinked and rubbed at my eyes, wondering if I was officially going crazy, but the turtle remained. It was huge, bigger than me by at least double. A Konoha headband was tied around its neck.

Lee flipped and let himself down easy and kneeled in front of the turtle. Sasuke, who had still been in the air, started to fall down quickly. Sakura called his name and ran, catching Sasuke so he didn't hit the floor.

"Are you okay Sasuke?" Sakura asked but Sasuke didn't answer. He simply watched Lee, pushing away from her. Gaze never leaving the turtle and Lee, I got to my feet.

"You were watching?" Lee asked, head bowed to the large turtle.

"Lee, that move is forbidden," the turtle's voice thundered.

Well, this was certainly the most bizarre thing I'd ever witnessed.

"I am sorry, I got carried away..." Lee said, glancing upwards. When the turtle looked unconvinced, Lee began to panic. "I wasn't going to use the Reverse version! Really, I'm telling the truth!"

Sasuke and Sakura were watching the turtle, confused. Slowly, as to not pull attention to myself, I moved over to them. Naruto seemed to have come to and had moved over to them as well.

"Hey hey, that's a turtle right?" Naruto asked, squatting down beside our group and pointing.

My eye twitched.. "Please tell me that was rhetorical question."

"So can a turtle become a ninja teacher too?" Naruto asked Sakura.

"I don't know!" Sakura hissed.

Something in my mind clicked. Oh, that's right!'

I'd nearly forgotten about summons. Their use was pretty rare, and I'd never actually seen one. But I'd read about them and Keitaro would regale me with stories of his experience, though no, he could not use them himself. Only incredibly powerful ninja with an incredible amount of training could control summons. They took the form of abnormally large animals and came from a special island. They could be used in battle and to assist in, well, anything really.

As Lee was lectured by the turtle, and Naruto continued to prod Sakura with questions, I chanced a glance at Sasuke. He was watching the floor, in obvious distress over his beating. My sympathy was admittedly thin. After all, shinobi rule number one, never underestimate your opponent. I could hear Keitaro's words echoing through my brain. And hadn't I told him not to go through with the fight?

"You fool! Did you really think that excuse would work!?" the turtle yelled at Lee making him close his eyes and stand straight. "Are you prepared to face the consequences?"

"Sir..." Lee bowed his head.

"Gai-sensei, please take care of the rest," the turtle said to seemingly no one.

But in a puff of smoke a man in the same outfit as Lee appeared. He even had the same eyes and same hair style. They could almost pass as twins if the new arrival wasn't a good twenty years older. "You guys are in the springtime of your life aren't you?"

The surprises kept coming. Our mouths dropped open.

"An even more funny-looking guy came out!" Naruto shouted, practically horrified.

Coming to, I smacked the boy in the arm, with a hushed warning. "Naruto!"

The man pointed to himself and smiled, his teeth literally sparkling. "Hey Lee."

"I guy with even bushier eyebrows, bigger bowl-cut and even more weirder looking!" Naruto exclaimed.

Lee looked back at our group with anger. "Hey, don't make fun of Gai-sensei!"

"To hell with that! Look how weird that guy looks!" Naruto shouted back. I hit him again.

"What did you say!?" Lee shouted in response.

"Calm down Lee," the man named Gai said, standing on top of the turtle's shell.

Lee turned around and faced his sensei seriously. "Sir."

"You..." Gai pulled his hand into a fist. "Idiot!"

Gai punched Lee hard, causing blood to run from his nose. Our group gave a collective gasp. Lee landed a little ways from us and Gai walked over. Gai got to his knees, as did Lee. "Lee you...you..."

"S-sensei..."

My eye twitched as tears began to roll down their faces.

"Lee..."

"Sensei. I-I..."

"It's okay Lee, don't say anymore."

"Sensei!" Lee stood up and hugged his sensei.

"Lee!" Gai hugged back.

As the two cried into each other's shoulders, I felt the need to amscray.

"Ah yes, this is youth," Gai cried happily.

The two in green let go of each other and Gai put a hand on his pupil's shoulder. "It's okay Lee. It is normal to make mistakes when you are young."

Tear streamed down Lee's face. "You are too kind, Sensei."

Gai dramatically pointed to a window. "Now! Run 100 laps around the training field in the sunset!"

"Yes sir!" Lee responded, equally as dramatic.

The two wiped away their tears and grinned, teeth literally sparkling again. I was speechless. The two started to walk away until Naruto spoke up. "Hey, wait a sec!"

"What are you going to do about the Chuunin Exam? There's no time left," Sakura pointed out to the two in spandex.

"What? Oh yeah..." Gai said. He coughed and put his hands on his hips. "Lee, I will have to punish you but first, on to the exam!"

Lee saluted. "Yes, Gai-sensei!"

"Hey, so what's up with the turtle?" Naruto asked smiling, clearly amused, glancing around at myself, Sasuke and Sakura.

I sighed. That was the one thing he had a question about?

It was then that Sakura noticed we were all being watched by Gai. She slid behind Naruto slightly, whispering. "Ew, he's watching us!"

"You four, is Kakashi doing well?" Gai asked.

My teammates glanced at each other. Naruto finally looked back to Gai. "You know Kakashi-sensei?"

Gai chuckled. "Do I know him? Well I guess you could call us, rivals."

"Rivals?" I echoed, not helping the eyebrow that quirked.

The rest of the team went back to their disbelieving faces. "There's no way you're Kakashi-sensei's rival!"

"Hey! Gai-sensei is really-!" Lee began but was cut off.

"It's okay," Gai said calmly. "Don't say it out loud Lee, express it with your attitude."

I watched the two and suddenly it was one. I whirled around to see Gai standing there. "The record stands 50 wins and 49 losses."

My team was silent. Kakashi-sensei was an incredibly strong shinobi whom we'd watched defeat strong opponents. But as we watched the man named Gai, our confidence wavered. His speed was uncanning, just like Lee's.

"Let me just tell you, I'm stronger than Kakashi," Gai said, pointing to himself.

A mere twenty minutes ago, I wouldn't have believed this strange man. But I also hadn't believed Lee either, and I'd just watch him demolish Sasuke. And just like with Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan would be no match for this man's speed.

"How's that! Gai-sensei is amazing!" Lee piped up, proudly.

"Lee made a mistake but please forgive him for the sake of my face," Gai said, grinning at Sasuke. His eye twitched.

"Lee and the four of you should go turn in your applications now," Gai said.

Gai threw a kunai, knocking away the pinwheel pinning Lee's bandage to the wall. Lee began to gather the bandage and rewrap it around his left hand. "Do your best Lee! Farewell!" and with that, Gai disappeared. The turtle disappeared as well.

"Sasuke..." Sasuke looked over to Lee. "Let me say this before I go. To be honest, I came here to test my skills, but I lied a while ago. The strongest rookie in Konoha is in my team, but it is not me."

My memory conjured the image of Neji. He could be the only one Lee was talking about.

"I entered this exam to beat him, and you are one of my targets as well. Prepare yourself!"

And with a dramatic exit, Lee flipped up to the balcony and ran from the room. My team silently watched the empty spot where Lee had taken off from. Quietly, I finally voiced thoughts. "Yikes."

"Well, it looks like the Uchiha clan isn't that great after all," Naruto said, his arms casually behind his head.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"Naruto, don't be an ass," I shot a warning glare at the boy.

"Shut up."

The tone in Sasuke's voice brought my eyes to him. Shadows covered his face as his fists clenched at either side of him. The sight caused my gut to clench nervously. No good thing could come out of this.

Sasuke continued in a cold voice. "Next time, I'll slaughter him."

"Alright, a little dark there," I muttered quietly, honestly a little afraid of Sasuke at the moment. Oh not for me; but bad things seemed to happen to Sasuke when he got himself into these moods. I was biting my lip and Sakura, too, looked slightly distressed.

"You lost so badly though," Naruto continued, as though enjoying the taunting.

Sasuke glared.

"Naruto, you're being a total douche," I said again, eyes finding him and clearly telling him shut his big mouth. Naruto shot me a frown, clearly irritated I wasn't joining in the occasion of Sasuke losing. I sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Come on, let's just hand in these stupid applications. We're nearly out of time."

I led my team down the long, dimly lit hallway that led to room 301. As we reached the end, we found a familiar figure standing in front of the wooden doors.

"Kakashi-sensei," I said in surprise to find him standing there.

"Yo," he replied. He glanced down to our pink-haired teammate, who was standing between Naruto and Sasuke. "So I see that Sakura came as well. Good, then you can officially register for the Chuunin Exams."

"What are you talking about, Sensei?" Sakura asked, confused.

"You can only register for the Chuunin Exams as a squad," Kakashi-sensei explained.

"But you said we had a choice," Sakura pointed out.

"That I did."

"So you lied?" I crossed my arms.

"Well…yes," Kakashi-sensei confessed. "If you had known you needed to register as a team, Sasuke, Naruto and Nakao may have pressured you into registering. Even if you didn't want to, you would if Sasuke asked."

"So what would have happened if they had shown up without me?" Sakura asked.

"I wouldn't have been allowed to let them take the exam," Kakashi-sensei admitted.

"Hey wait a second, Sensei," I glanced to my sensei in thought, realizing something I hadn't thought of before. "We're a four-manned squad. Isn't that cheating or something?"

Kakashi-sensei scratched the back of his head. "Well, allowing you guys to participate took quite a bit of time. The rule stated that all four of you had to be here, since it's an official team, but everyone was pretty upset about it."

"I don't really think there's much to worry about," I muttered under my breath.

Kakashi-sensei smiled at the four of us behind his mask. "Well you're all here so I wish you guys good luck. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Nakao…"

The four of us watched our teacher expectantly.

"You guys are my team, and I'm proud of you. Good luck."

Kakashi-sensei stepped aside. Sasuke and I glanced at one another before stepping towards the doors. We each grabbed a handle of the heavy slabs, pulling them open. Sakura and Naruto walked through first, and Sasuke and I followed.