Yo yo! This is chapter number 9 of Konoha's Orange Comet and I don't really have much to say except to enjoy the fic and lemme know your thoughts. The chunin exams start in this fic and I have a nice idea of how the chunin exams are going to progress so yea, enjoy.
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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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Konoha's Orange Comet!
Arc: The Chunin Exams
Chapter 9: A Weary Start
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Namiko walked into the academy grounds with a smile on her face. She had a wonderful nights' rest, a glorious breakfast of some of her favorite ramen and here she was, ready to take on the next challenge she would be faced with; the Chunin Exams.
The blonde made her way through crowds of people and over to the swing she had become fond of during her time in the Ninja Academy as it was the one place she had felt comfortable while dealing with the disdain she faced as the Nine Tail's Jinchuriki.
She was a bit early, and she also had to wait on the arrival of Sasuke and Sakura so decided to ponder on the results of her training in the week since they had returned from the Land of Frost. She had the enigma that was her Jinton to still try and figure out as well as her Kenjutsu and Fuinjutsu which had improved in the past couple days. With the Jinton her Taijutsu was easily her strongest asset and like she had asked, Kakashi had shown her a couple low to mid-level Ninjutsu techniques she could use.
She was happy at the progress she was making and had no doubt in her mind that she was turning into a fine ninja, like she had been told her mother was.
In terms of her Kenjutsu, she had been able to channel her Lightning chakra through her tanto with ease, her Wind chakra on the other hand was still a work in progress. Her and Kakashi had also focused on incorporating the Kenjutsu into her Taijutsu instead of utilizing the two techniques separately and as for the Ninjutsu technique he had taught her, well those were a surprise.
Most importantly though, her kekkai genkai, the Jinton was progressing interestingly to say the least. She of course had practiced with the first two stages of the Jinton, the Ichi no Dan and Ni no Dan, but had refrained from utilizing the San no Dan as to avoid the risks it brought on.
All in all, she was at a point where she felt as though she could take on any and every one that challenged her so she was sure the exams would be a breeze for her as well as the rest of Dainanahan.
Thinking of her teammates, she saw that Sasuke was the first one to arrive as she watched him walk through the gates and look around before his eyes landed on her, and therefore he made his way over to her.
"Teme." She greeted him with a giant grin on her face, unable to contain her excitement for the upcoming challenge.
"Dobe." Was his quick response, a smirk forming on his lips.
"Now we just wait on Sakura." Namiko stated, crossing her arms across her chest in the process.
"Yea," Sasuke started. "Hopefully she doesn't chicken out, honestly I'm surprised you're the first here."
"Huh? What do you mean? Is it a problem if she doesn't show up?" Namiko asked.
"Kind of," the Uchiha began explaining. "It didn't quite hit me until this morning, but the Chunin Exams is a team assessment, so unless all three members of the agree to participate, we wouldn't be allowed to enter."
"Huh?" Came Namiko's dumbfounded expression.
He only nodded. "I assume Kakashi didn't want to say anything to avoid us pressuring her if she wasn't up to it, but hopefully she shows up."
Namiko frowned and looked off towards the gates.
They only had a few more minutes before the exams were to start so if Sakura intended on showing up, now would be the time. So, Namiko and Sasuke stood in silence, both silently praying that their pink-haired teammate showed up so that they could participate in the exams. It only took about ten minutes for their prayers to be answered as Sakura walked through the academy gates and made her way over to them.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," she began sheepishly "I was sort of having doubts."
Namiko and Sasuke both let out of sighs of relief, Namiko externally while Sasuke's was internal.
"What convinced you?" Namiko asked.
"I didn't want to let you two down. I figured that if you two thought we were ready, then I shouldn't be afraid, plus, we're a team after all." She finished with a smile.
Before either of the remaining genin could respond clapping was heard. The genin turned to see their sensei making his way over to them.
"Wonderful, my cute little genin marching on to the next step together," He began with his signature eye smile. "It's a good thing you did show Sakura, because Namiko and Sasuke wouldn't have been able to progress without you."
At that Sakura paled, considering how close she actually was to not showing up.
"Do you three have the forms?"
In an instant all three genin presented their filled-out forms to Kakashi who gave it the onceover before placing them within his vest pocket.
"Excellent, proceed to room 301, and good luck." He threw up a peace sign before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
The genin looked at each other before sighing at their sensei's theatrics and thus made their way into the academy. They walked pass various chunin hopefuls as they made it up the first flight of stairs. Namiko and Sakura, who was trailing on either side of Sasuke stopped when he stopped.
To the front of them, there were a bunch of genin trying to get into a door marked 301 and among them, a boy clad in a full green body suit with a striking bowl cut.
"Hey! Let us in! We have a right to participate in the exams!" He exclaimed. Behind him stood a boy dressed in a beige shirt and brown pants and to the other side, a girl Namiko recognized as the daughter of the blacksmith slash weapons store owner that forged her tanto.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but we only went up one flight of stairs, didn't we?" Came Sakura's question, to which Sasuke nodded.
"Seems like an illusion of some sort to weed out the hopeless." Was Sasuke's response, a smirk on his face. "Come on, let's go." He said and walked off, Sakura following behind him. Namiko on the other hand frowned.
"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up." She said as she walked off towards the commotion.
"Namiko! What are you doing?" Sakura asked but the blonde haired kunoichi waved her off. "Sasuke, should we stop her?"
The Uchiha looked at his blonde teammate before shrugging and shaking his head. "She'll catch up." Sasuke said and walked down the hall towards the next set of stairs that would talk them up to the actual room where the exams would be held.
Back with Namiko, she had made her way over to Tenten.
"Tenten." The girl known as Tenten turned to see Namiko walking over to her.
"Namiko! How are you? I see you're in the exams as well."
Namiko nodded. "Yup," she then turned towards the two ninjas at the entrance to the door sporting Konoha headbands. "Are you two trying to discourage people for fun? With this weak ass Genjutsu?" She asked them pointing towards the sign that said 301 and both frowned slightly before turning to each other.
"I guess the jig is up." One said to the other as he brough his hands in the release seal and the dozen or so people around them watched as the 301 morphed into a 201.
After that, the other guy spoke. "Thanks for selling us out brat, now we got a couple teams extra that were too complacent to notice a weak Genjutsu like that one…" the man trailed off before lunging a kick at Namiko. "Let's see if you're up for the challenge!"
In an instant, Namiko raised her own leg to counter but both her and the other guy who had launched the initial kick grew wide eyes when both of their legs were caught by the green clad ninja.
"Please, we are both ninja of Konoha. Let us not fight! Let us show our true flames of youth through unity." He proclaimed as her dropped their legs, causing Namiko to sweat drop.
"Anywayyyyy…" she trailed off as she turned to Tenten. "Good luck in the exams. I need to go catch up with my team." Before she walked off however, she noticed that the other member of Tenten's team was eyeing her, though she couldn't tell if it was out of caution, curiosity, or disdain as he sported those white eyes – the Byakugan, she believed it was called – that her former classmate Hinata had.
"Problem?" She asked.
"Hmm." Was his only response as he turned away, causing another sweat drop to form on Namiko's forehead.
The Uzumaki then leaned closer to Tenten and in a whisper, she spoke. "Does he always have a stick up his ass?" Tenten's only response was a sigh, giving Namiko the answer she needed before she shook her head and walked off, aiming to catch up with Sasuke and Sakura.
Trying to ignore what had just transpired Namiko walked out of the stairwell on the third floor to see her teammates as well as her sensei again.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
They all turned to her direction.
"Namiko, nice of you to join us," He said. "And now that you're all here, I just wanted to see you off before you entered the room for the first stage."
"But you just saw us outside…" Namiko deadpanned.
"True, but I had to ensure that you would be able to pass Kotetsu and Izumo's deception first," he eye smiled. "The real test starts now though, make me proud." He said before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"It wasn't even him…it was a damn shadow clone" Namiko said with a facepalm and a sigh. "Kakashi-sensei aside, you guys ready?" she asked.
She got a 'hn' from Sasuke and a nod from Sakura and the blonde genin pushed open the doors to the exam room…and boy oh boy were they taken aback. The room was practically filled to the brim with chunin hopefuls, sporting various village insignias on their headbands.
"Holy sh – " Namiko began but was cut off.
"Sasuke-kunnnnn!" The last loyal Uchiha to Konoha grew visible tick marks when a purple wearing genin jumped onto his back. "I'm so glad I can see you after so long! Did you miss me? Did forehead over here annoy the hell out of you?!"
"Lay off Ino." Was Sakura's response as the pinkette starting seeing red.
Namiko simply sighed as both Choji and Shikamaru made their way over to Team Seven plus Ino.
"Looks like you were right about the chunin exams, Namiko…" Shikamaru said with a sigh…or was that a yawn…at this point she really couldn't tell the difference when it came to her Nara clan friend.
"Yup," she said with a nod as she surveyed the room once more. "And boy oh boy are there a lot of teams here." A sigh escaped her lips this time.
"Well, well, well. Looks like the gangs all here."
Team Seven and Team Ten turned to see Team Eight, which comprised of Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga walking up to them.
"Just what I needed to see, dog breath."
"What'd you say you blonde dumbass?!" Kiba retorted, seemingly frothing at the mouth.
"You heard me."
At this point the blonde Uzumaki and Kiba were practically butting foreheads.
"Now, now, it seems that you guys are drawing a lot of attention to yourselves."
The rookies of this year's exams turns to see a man of average height with onyx eyes behind a pair of glasses and ash grey hair tied into a ponytail clad entirely in purple attire walking towards them and as they turned and looked around the room they could see that he was right, and that Namiko and Kiba had drawn quite a bit of attention from the surrounding participants of the exam.
Of course, this didn't seem to faze Namiko as she was more interested in the Konoha ninja that had stalked up to them.
"And you are?" She asked, with narrowed eyes.
"Namiko! Behave, he's a fellow Konoha ninja." Sakura chided her teammate. The man in question however raised his hands in defeat.
"Oh no, it's quite alright I can't blame her after all, village alliance aside the only people you can trust in these exams are your teammates." He explained.
"You still haven't answered my question…" Namiko said with a sweat drop/deadpan combo of a face.
"Ah yes, my name is Kabuto Yakushi. And I'd just like to warn you that you shouldn't try to attract much attention to yourself, these exams are hard enough as is…you wouldn't want any extra trouble. Especially since you nine are in fact the rookies of this installment of the chunin exams. Fresh out of the Ninja Academy and all."
"I'm assuming this isn't your first time?" Slightly surprising the other eight rookies, it was Sasuke who asked the question.
"Oh far from, as a matter of fact, it's actually my seventh time partaking in the exams."
"Seventh?" He nodded to Namiko's question. "Either the chunin exams are actually difficult, or you just suck." She stated matter of factly.
The grey-haired man shrugged with a smile before withdrawing some cards from his ninja pouch. "I'd say that's a matter of perspective and opinion, but it's not like I've been completely wasting my time, I've spent the past three and a half years gathering information, so maybe I can offer you some insight."
"What kind of insight?" Was Shikamaru's question, like Namiko he too was slightly weary of the senior genin ninja.
"These are my ninfo cards, and with them I can find out various things about different ninja, their mission record, their teammates and their skills…see, the cards appear blank but if I funnel a little chakra into them like so…I can reveal all their secrets." He said with a smirk that came off as kind of sinister to Namiko. "For example, my cards tell me that there are 56 teams total in these exams, 24 from Konohagakure, 10 from Sunagakure…and get this 2 from Iwagakure and 3 from Kumogakure which is surprisingly because they aren't on the best terms with Konoha right now…moving on though, we also have 7 from the Amegakure, 4 from Takigakure, 1 from Otogakure – a farely new ninja village so I might not have much on them – and finally, 5 from Kusagakure."
The rookie nine were impressed. "Do those cards of yours have information on individuals?" Namiko asked, causing Shikamaru to eye her.
"Of course, tell me anything you know about them, even the slightest description would do." He said, another sinister smirk adoring his features.
"Red head from Sunagakure, walks around with a giant gourd on his back." Namiko said as she turned towards Shikamaru who looked at her in return. They did say they'd need to keep an eye out for him.
"Very well," Kabuto then proceeded to channel chakra into his ninfo cards. "Hmm, name's Gaara no Sabaku…and wow, would you look at this. I can't see how many D rank missions he's been on, but he's completed 8 C ranks and wow…1 B rank, all without being scratched. And his teammates Kankuro and Temari are his siblings."
The rookie nine all looked wide eyed, a B rank as genin? Not to mention he did it flawlessly.
"Who the hell is this guy, Namiko?" Sasuke asked.
She frowned. "Shikamaru and I encountered him the other day, he snuck up on us effortlessly, we didn't even know if he was there or how long he had been there until he chose to make his presence known." She explained, earning looks of concerns from her peers.
"Anyone else?" Kabuto asked.
"Hmmm." Namiko hummed for a while before turning and making eye contact with Hinata. "Hinata…I ran into someone earlier, had the same eyes as yours and his teammate's name is Tenten, you know him?" She asked.
Hianta nodded. "H-hai, that's m-my cousin, N-neji."
Namiko turned back to Kabuto and his cards. "Yea, him."
Channeling chakra into another card, Kabuto spoke. "Neji Hyuga, teammates are Rock Lee and like you said Tenten. They've been on 20 D ranks and 11 C ranks, they're about a year older than you guys since they graduated from the academy last year, and it seems as though Neji is quite the shinobi, his speed, stamina, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu are higher than average, and his Genjutsu is alright too." Kabuto explained.
Namiko pursed her lips. "Thanks." Was all she said.
"No problem, always willing to help a fellow shinobi of Konoha, but like I said though, try to fly under the radar. Most of these teams won't be a problem for you, like that Oto team for example, being from a recently established village they can't be that good." He said with a shrug, and in an instant, everything changed.
One of the Oto ninjas lunged at Kabuto, who was successfully able to dodge the attack but then suddenly dropped to his knees as his glasses fell off his face and shattered. Kabuto then began clutching his ears.
"What the…?" Namiko was about to retaliate but had to stop when a bunch of people appeared in clouds of smoke to the front of the classroom.
"No fighting you retched maggots!" The man yelled. He was a quite muscular man with a bandana tied around the entirety of his head. "Up here, there is a bucket filled with strips of paper with numbers written on them, these numbers correspond with a seat. So get your number and get to your seats. NOW!"
The rookies all looked at each other before complying.
It took about ten or so minutes, but eventually all 168 of the exam takers were seated. The man with the bandana then began his monologue.
"Alright, my name is Ibiki Morino and I'll be your proctor for the first of the three parts of this edition of the chunin exams, and this is how the first part will proceed. It is a written test that will use a point deduction system, there are ten question each worth one point, and a point will be deducted for each question you get wrong…two points will be deducted for each incident of cheating. Also…" He paused for dramatic effect. "You and your team will be scored as one unit, and thus if one person on the team get a 0, the whole team gets disqualified. Also getting caught cheating three times is instant disqualification, for you, and your team."
At the mention of that, every member of Team Seven paled. Sasuke and Sakura because their hopes of moving on to the next round relied on Namiko who wasn't the sharpest kunai in the pouch, and Namiko because she knew that if she was the reason Team 7 failed, she'd be dead meat.
"The paper in front of you bears nine of the ten questions, after the time limit of one hour has passed, then, and only then will the tenth question be revealed, any questions?"
A few hands raised.
"Tough luck," Ibiki looked at the clock in the room. "Your time begins…now."
Once he had begun the test Namiko eyed the man for a while, long enough for him to notice and make eye contact with her. After about thirty seconds of eye contact she turned her attention to her test paper and her eyebrows furrowed.
"What the actual fu-?"
She trailed off as a kunai flew by her head and landed in the exam paper of a shinobi behind and to her right. Scaring the living daylights out of the person it was meant for.
"That's minus two points."
Came Ibiki's voice.
Namiko groaned internally, while she wasn't the smartest she knew for a fact that these questions were damn near impossible, at least for genin and hell maybe even some chunin. The questions seemed to be based on physics and geometry, topics that weren't covered – or at least she don't remember being covered – during her time at the academy.
She could hear the taps and scribbles of pencils moving around her and she wondered just how anyone could possible answer these. That aside though, she did find it slightly add that the proctor gave them multiple chances to be caught cheating before they were fully disqualified…something about this exam just wasn't adding up.
Namiko turned her head back to her paper. Then, like if a lightbulb lit in her head, everything clicked. They were ninja. They were supposed to be able to gather information without being caught. Which made her conclude that the purpose of the exam WAS to cheat and gather information! She smirked to herself, sometimes her genius was almost frightening. She looked around the room and noticed something…Ibiki had entered the room with 6 chunin with him, now, they were only 3 scattered among the room watching the genin take the exam.
Had they used the commotion of everyone finding seats to slip in? It made some sense to her, if the purpose of the exam was to gather the answers via cheating, they had probably planted some chunin who had the answers among the crowed and with a smirk the genin took a deep breath and exhaled.
Out of the corner of her eye she spotted someone fake writing on their exam paper, giving her the idea that he was one of the plants with the answers. She quickly formulated a plan in her head, but before she could put the plan into action she needed a distraction.
Before she could think of anything though, suddenly she felt like she lost all control of her body. Before she knew it, her hands were moving and scribbling the answers for each question one after the other.
She grew a tickmark. "Damn Shikamaru not letting me be great!" After she had seemingly answered all the question her body turned her paper over and reclined in the seat, crossing her arms behind her head. It was only then that Shikamaru released the jutsu and she regained control over her actions.
Once she had control she surveyed the room for the pineapple haired youth and when she found him they made eye contact and he simply winked at her with a smug smile on her face. She glared at him before rolling her eyes at the Nara and crossed her arms and gracing her features with a cute pout.
She was about to do something totally kick ass with her Jinton and Shika had to ruin her fun before it even began.
The rest of the exam past quickly as one by one students, and therefore teams were caught cheating and eliminated.
"Okay, time for the final question." Ibiki began with a smirk. "However, I must warn you about this particular question…as you have a choice. If you choose to answer the tenth question AND get it wrong, you will be disqualified from this year's Chunin Exams…and NEVER be able to take the chunin exams ever again, but if you chose to skip the question you will get disqualified, but you can take the exams again in the future."
"Bullshit." It was Kiba who had yelled the remark. "There's people here who've taken the exams multiple times."
"True, but I've never been their proctor. My exams, my rules. Now, who would like to forfeit here and live to take the exams again?" He asked.
The person who was seated next to Namiko raised his hand, a defeated look on his face as he announced his choice to not take the tenth question and one by one people followed his lead and the class continued to slim down one team at a time.
"Dammit…" A few rows behind Namiko, Sakura sat, petrified at the thought of remaining a genin forever. Her parents were ninja that never made it past the rank of Chunin, so to her, to never be able to surpass her parents made her feel anxious and insecure so she slowly began to raise her hand. She would no doubt disappoint Namiko and Sasuke…but she couldn't live with the chance of being stuck a genin forever...could she?
Before Sakura's hand could get to high, Namiko raised her hand and slammed it on the table.
"I'll be damned if I let you tell me whether or not I can take these exams again, bring on your stupid question, ain't nobody afraid of you or it!"
Ibiki simply stared at her and after a while of nobody raising their hand to forfeit, albeit their anxiety probably pushed to the side by the blonde's determination, Ibiki chuckled.
"Very well, in regard to the first exam of this edition of the chunin exams, you all…pass."
All around the classroom there were face faults, sweat drops, deadpans and yells of exasperation.
"What?"
"Allow me to explain. By including your group as a whole in terms of grading, I was simply trying to put unimaginable pressure on the individual. The purpose of the exam was to test your information collecting skills as ninja, chunin ninja at that, you'll be sent on missions that require you to collect information without being detected in high stress environments. Simply put, the Chunin Exams are made to first of all, show off a village's potential power, secondly to bring in potential customers and thirdly, but most importantly, train you for your future as your nation's defense, and thus – "
Suddenly, the windows to the room shattered and a figure entered, throwing kunai into the walls to hold up a banner that read: ANKO MITARASHI SECOND EXAM PROCTOR
"Play times over boys and girls! It's time for the nitty gritty of the chunin exams and I'm here to make sure you suffer."
The room simply looked at her.
"You're early Anko…again." Ibiki said with a facepalm.
"First of all Ibiki, just how many brats did you let pass?" She asked in shock. "You might be losing your touch old man." She joked with her superior.
"Or maybe, this year we actually got a good batch of candidate." While responding to Anko, his eyes never left Namiko.
"How many teams are left?" The kunoichi named Anko asked.
"30, down from 56." He responded.
"Hmm okay, that's a lot but down worry, by the time I'm done with them it'll be less than half." She said, a sadistic smile gracing her features. "Alright brats, congratulations on passing the first part of the exams but now, this is where the real fun begins. You're all free to leave for the day, I'll inform your jonin squad leaders were you are to meet me tomorrow, sayonara."
With that, she exited the same way she came in, through the window, leaving her banner behind which made Ibiki groan in annoyance.
"You heard her, congrats again, leave your papers behind and you can go."
The genin started pouring out the class until Ibiki and his subordinates were left behind.
"I swear, Anko always does way too much."
The chunin simply chuckled and nodded in agreeance.
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"You BAKA!"
Shikamaru began rubbing the back of his head lazily with a wince on his face. Among the commotion of everyone leaving the academy, he and his team had managed to strut off without him running into Namiko and thus facing her wrath…but that meant little considering she knew exactly where he lived.
"Ouch man, that hurt." He argued she only glared at him. "You're welcome by the way." He said and turned around, walking back into the comfort of his house.
She simply stood at the door glaring at him, and as she did so she noticed how different he looked in his civilian clothes that consisted of brown pants and a beige shirt.
"Are you going to come in or what?"
This took her aback and she looked at him slightly dumbfounded. She was never really welcomed in people's homes as a child considering she was a Jinchuriki, so when Shikamaru was practically inviting her in, in felt weird, in a sense.
"Um…I guess." The Uzumaki – who was now wearing black sweatpants and an orange hoodie after going home to change – stepped into Shikamaru's house and followed him up a flight of stairs.
"Listen, I don't want any trouble Namiko, I was just trying to help out a friend, I did the same for Choji. I would've done the same for Ino, but she has her family's mind techniques to rely on." She followed Shikamaru as he opened a door and stepped aside for her to walk in. "Ladies first."
"Yea, but Shika, Ino and Choji are your teammates, plus I was about to do something cool with my Jinton and you had to ruin it." She frowned.
"Stop being a brat Namiko," She realized she had walked into the Nara's room as he closed the door and stalked over to a bean bag and plopped down onto it. "I saw one of my best friends in need of help…so I helped." He said with a shrug as he picked up the magazine he was reading before she came to the house.
"First of all I wasn't in need of help and second of all…I'm one of your best friends?" She asked, looking at him with her head tilted.
Shikamaru looked at her over the magazine. Since she came in she had stood in the same spot, he gestured for her to have a seat on the bean bag across from him.
"Of course, we were always friends in the academy, and I feel like ever since we've become ninja we've gotten closer, so yea…I think you're one of my best friends." He shrugged again.
She took a seat in the bean bag. "Oh wow, thanks Shika."
"No problem."
They sat in silence for a little before Namiko raised a concern. "Aren't you parents going to catch a fit because you got a girl in your room?" She asked.
"Eh I doubt." Was his only reply, a reply that earned him a tick mark from Namiko he was so nonchalant about it.
"What do you think the second exam is going to be like?"
"No idea."
Another tick mark.
"Aren't you concerned with how it's going to play out?"
"Not really."
One more tick mark.
"Dammit Shika, what's wrong with you?!"
His head peaked out from the magazine.
"What do you mean?"
"It's like you don't care what the exams got in store for us!"
"I really don't to be quite frank with you Namiko…because let's say for example that I inquired about this stuff or worried about it, it would get way too complicated way too fast, ya know?" He explained and she could only sigh. "So I rather keep my mind clear than to worry about troublesome things." Back to his magazine he went.
She shook her head.
"Shogi?"
He put down the magazine and smirked at her.
"Now you're talking."
As Namiko and Shikamaru played Shogi, they chatted about various things training, what was going on in their daily lives and Namiko even got him to talk about his thoughts regarding the next stage of the Chunin Exams. They had been playing for quite a while when a knock was heard on Shikamaru's door.
"Come in." He called back as he waited for Namiko to make a move.
In stepped his mother drying her hands with a kitchen towel.
"Oh Shika! I didn't know you had your little girlfriend over." Yoshino said with a smile, causing both thirteen-year-olds to blush.
Namiko started stuttering in embarrassment but being the cool head he was, Shikamaru got over his blush and responded.
"Mother stop, that's not what's going on, we're just two friends playing Shogi." He said then snapped his fingers to get Namiko out of her daze. "Right Namiko?"
She could only nod dumbly.
Yoshino chuckled. "Of course." She then winked at Namiko who got even redder than the Kyubi's fur. "Namiko darling, would you care to join us for dinner, I'm making mashed potatoes and fried mackerel, Shika-kun's favorite."
"Mom would you stop with the nickname?" Shikamaru begged, causing Namiko to laugh cutely.
"I appreciate the offer; however, I don't want to intrude Yoshino-san."
"Oh nonsense child, Shikaku, Shika and I would be thrilled to have you."
Before Namiko could respond Shikamaru interjected.
"She's not going to take no for an answer Namiko."
Namiko sighed then smiled at Yoshino. "I'd love to stay for dinner Yoshino-san."
"Excellent, you can come down in five and everything will be ready, okay?" The two genin nodded and she walked out the room.
Shikamaru sighed. "Always embarrassing me that woman." He watched as Namiko laughed and made her move.
Shikamaru made one more move before they decided to put the game on pause and go have dinner before Shikamaru's mother decided to come get them. As he stood up, Namiko playfully stretched her arms out feigning distress and asking to be helped up.
"How troublesome."
He pulled her up and to his surprised she was lighter than he expected so when she came up she flew much closer to him that he expected. Once that had happened the two genin's were rather close looking into each other's eyes. It was only then that Shikamaru noticed that the blonde's eyes weren't just blue, they were more towards a cerulean color because they seemed to have a tint of violet within them.
As for the blonde, she noticed that his eyes were such a deep brown it was mesmerizing. The brown seemed to resemble that of a deer's fur, to which the Uzumaki found amusing.
Namiko smiled at him and let a chuckle escape her lips.
"I never noticed how taller you are than me." She said causing Shikamaru to laugh as well. She was good at breaking the ice.
"Eh I'm only a couple inches taller than you, that's nothing."
He watched as she did that thing he liked…rolling her eyes.
"Yea but still…anyways, thanks for helping me up, now let's go get our grub on!" She grinned and walked towards the door, Shikamaru following right behind her.
He was laughing on the outside but indifferent on the inside…
Just watch exactly was he feeling for his blonde-haired friend?
xxxxx
At 10am sharp Namiko, Sasuke and Sakura walked up to Training Ground 44, or as Kakashi had warned them, the Forest of Death…named for obvious reasons. They stood off to the sides by themselves, Namiko and Sakura having typical girl talk while Sasuke brooded on his own.
About fifteen or twenty minutes or so later the Anko lady appeared.
"Good, now that everyone's here, let's get down to business." She reached into her trench coat pocket and withdrew a bunch of forms it looked like. "These are consent forms for the next stage of the exam, they must be signed in order to proceed."
"And why is that?" The question came from one of the Iwagakure shinobi who was participating in the exams. Namiko took a minute to process the person. He was around their age, maybe a couple years older and he was wearing a red poncho looking garment and had black spiky hair.
Sasuke paid attention as his teammate surveyed the man cautiously.
"Well…quite frankly, from here on out death might be a possibility, and this little piece of paper is gonna stop me from getting in trouble." She let out a sadistic laugh. She then passed the forms to the genin closest to her, instructing them to pass on the forms once they had one. "Now, while these are being passed out I'll explain a few things about stage two of the chunin exams. To begin, the Forest of Death is gated and surrounded by 44 entrances – hence the name – there is a river than runs through the middle of the forest and there is a tower in the exact center of the training ground, this is where you should aim to reach."
Someone in the crowed raised their hand.
"Wait till I'm done brat!" Anko yelled. "As I was saying, the point of this exam is a survival mixed in with a full-on scrolls battle," She withdrew to scrolls from her coat, a blue and a white. "Half of you will be given an earth scroll," she held up the blue scroll. "…and the other half will be given a heaven scroll," she held up the white scroll. "Your goal is to make it to the tower with one of each scroll within five days' time."
"Five days?!" Came Ino's yell.
"What about food?!" Was Choji's concern.
"You're going to have to figure it out." Anko shrugged. "The Forest of Death is filled with all kinds of edible animals – among other things such as giant snakes, crocodiles and bugs – you'll be just fine." She said, another signature sadistic smile adorning her face.
Namiko turned to Sasuke and Sakura. "I won't lie, it sounds like it's going to be tough. Not only do we gotta compete with man eating beasts, but the other shinobi who'll be after our scroll. It might be a challenge to even get some sleep." Sasuke and Sakura nodded in agreeance with their blonde teammate.
"Moving on to the terms for disqualification," Anko regained their attention. "If all three members don't show up at the tower with the two scrolls within the timeframe, that is grounds for disqualification, also; if a team loses a member or a member is incapacitated, that is grounds for disqualification and finally, opening the scrolls before you arrive at the tower is also a disqualification. Got it?" She got a few nods and some resounding 'hai' responses. "Any questions?"
Off to the side, Shikamaru raised his hand. "Can someone quit in the middle of the exam?"
Anko grinned. "Nope, you'll be in there for five days or until you get to the tower, like it or not." Shikamaru sighed, earning a look from Ino. Did he plan on quitting? "Anyhow, that does it for the explanation, over at that stall, we'll trade you three signed consent forms for either a heaven or earth scroll, then you can choose a gate and get ready. Exam starts in twenty."
A few minutes later Namiko, Sasuke and Sakura stood behind a curtain with some of the chunin assisting with the exam. The three genin gave their consent forms and then the chunin handed a heaven scroll to Namiko.
"Which of us is going to carry it?" She asked.
"Hmm, maybe Sasuke should do it?" Sakura asked, thoughts pondering her mind.
"I think Namiko should hold it, push comes to shove she's the fastest if we need to get it out of the area, plus she's also the sneakiest." Sasuke countered, dying inside at giving his teammate/rival praise.
Sakura nodded in agreeance, and they watched as Namiko withdrew a blank scroll and sealed the heaven scroll within the blank scroll. "I have an idea, let's wait till we start though." She explained and her teammates nodded.
Another ten minutes or so later, Team Seven stood outside gate 23 of the 44 gates that the Forest of Death sported and then, they heard Anko's voice over a PA system. "Very well my little snakelets, BEGIN!"
The gate's in front of Team 7 opened and they darted in, running for a couple minutes before Namiko signaled for them to stop. Team 7 came close together and Namiko crossed her fingers and a shadow clone materialized into existence. She then withdrew a blank scroll and sealed the heaven scroll within it, and then the shadow clone henged into a heaven scroll.
"This way we buy a little time if shit hits the fan." She shrugged as she put the real scroll that was sealed within the blank scroll in her ninja pouch then offered the shadow clone transformed scroll to Sasuke. Namiko then grinned and put her hand out towards her teammates. "Team 7 on three?"
Sakura chuckled and stretched her hand while Sasuke offered a sigh but then put his hand as well.
"1…2…3…Dainanahan!"
xxxxx
Okay, that concludes Chapter 10. Just the beginning of the chunin exams here next chapter should get me through about half of the prelims so we'll see how that goes. Namiko's prowess is coming along nicely, I also gave her a couple ninjutsu techniques to work with which you guys will see in the next few chapters so yea, story is going great, see ya next time!
