I got up early the next morning. Packed my things. I took every weapon with me that could be useful. Even the bow and arrows, including the katana. Everything was invisible. Only the kunai and shuriken were visible to everyone. They shouldn't be able to judge me.
I stowed five small water bottles in my bag. We might still need them. No one knew exactly what was in store for us, only that one part would take place in Konoha and the other in Suna. That alone made it exciting. But since the survival test was in Suna, we would have to get there somehow. That meant either we would travel together or Shikamaru had a plan to turn it into a competition.
We met up at Kiba's before we went to the academy together to wait for further instructions. My whole body was tingling with excitement. We finally had the chance to prove ourselves. To show that we had become stronger. I had promised Naruto. And I would keep it. I didn't want him to be disappointed.
When we entered the square, it turned out that several other genin were already here. Including many from Suna. One face in particular was all too familiar. I hadn't seen Matsuri since her liberation. She also seemed to have changed, looking a lot more confident now, much to the dismay of her teammate, who looked annoyed. Poor guy.
Nevertheless, I was very interested to see how far Gaara's pupil had developed. Our eyes met briefly as we walked past her team. She nodded stiffly at me and I nodded back, less tense. After all, these were the chunin exams, which were also intended to strengthen the bond between the villages.
A few minutes later, we lined up and went into the house, team by team. Izumo and Kotetsu were sitting at a small table, grinning at us in a friendly manner, before a container with four small pokes in it was held out to us. Taken by surprise, we each took one out. They had different numbers on them.
„The number will assign you to your room. However, two of you will be in one room as you are a team of four."
That sounded logical. We nodded to each other before we each went our separate ways. Hinata and I had been given room one. Together with Neji, wo hat apparently also drawn the same number, we entered the room.
I quickly headed for the empty seat next to Choji, who seemed visibly pleased to be sitting next to someone he knew. Hinata and Neji made do with the last row. There was a TV at the very front behind the desk, which began to flicker as soon as the doors closed. So now the exams began.
Shikamaru's highly unmotivated face appeared on the monitor. It was clear that he didn't have the slightest desire to lead this exam. A big grin crept onto my face, which the Nara couldn't see as I was sitting on the outer edge. Too bad.
„My name is Shikamaru Nara, I'm supervising the first exam. There are slips of paper at the front of the desk, everyone take one."
Everyone walked quickly to the front and lined up dutifully. The fact that there were no crowds to begin with was a good thing. Inwardly, I already suspected that the atmosphere would soon no longer be as relaxed as before.
„Everyone is seated. Good. It's really annoying, so let's get started right away."
Definitely unmotivated. But...did I know him any differently? Unlike me, the rest didn't seem so relaxed. They were all staring at the monitors, which showed Shikamaru's bored image.
He explained that the first question was worth thirty points, the second forty and the third fifty. And that everyone only had to answer one question. There was a reason for this, or so I hoped. Probably one that would make us panic.
Thoughtfully, I interlaced my fingers and rested my chin on them before I spoke up and actually got the nara's attention.
I remained silent, thought about his words, weighed them up. Various possibilities arose in my head.
A kunoichi from the back rows spoke up.
„I didn't get a sheet."
The Nara's bored look met her.
„Not my problem."
„But..."
I stood up with a jerk, took my paper and walked to the kunoichi from Amegakure, handed her the paper, which she accepted with a slightly surprised expression and then nodded briefly at me. Knowing that Shikamaru's gaze was on me, I walked through the rows to the end and squeezed myself onto Hinata's bench. The Hyjuga gave me a puzzled look.
„It's not called teamwork for nothing," I whispered quietly. "Why else would there be one less leaf? You and I have to work together to get out of here."
The clearing of the Nara's throat interrupted me.
„The teams with the lowest grade point average are out. The exam starts now."
Shouts of horror went up in the classroom. Hinata moved uneasily beside me, but I was far too focused to notice. Apparently, this was all based on teamwork, similar to the first exam, which also explained the separation from the others. Back then, it had been easy for us to coordinate with each other.
But now... separated by rooms whose windows and doors were sealed off, there were no slits through which Shino could let his bugs fly. The Nara had really come up with something. However, not all genin had a kekkei genkai to help them make contact with the others. And the test was supposed to be equally fair for everyone, so there was more to it than that.
It was important to keep a cool head now and not get confused by the questions. My thoughts briefly wandered to Naruto, who hadn't answered a single question back then but had still passed. Perhaps the concept was similar here. My gaze wandered to Neji, who also seemed very focused.
I slowly detached myself from the bench and moved forward to the blackboard, trying to add up the individual points with concentration. I didn't notice how curious eyes were following my actions. We had to achieve a high average score...but what if everyone had the same result? Shikamaru could hardly disqualify everyone.
After all, a lot of people had passed the first time. Too many for Ibiki. That could happen again now. After all, if everyone failed, why go to all the trouble for the next exams? I was sure that Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro and Gaara had thought through all the possibilities and therefore also the possible risks.
„I think you have clearly understood Shikamaru. The teams that are below average are out. And each of you wants to pass this part of the exam, so I suggest we work together to get out of here. First of all, we need to contact our teams so that they know about our plan. But as everyone knows, all the doors and windows are locked."
My eyes wandered thoughtfully to the wall. I'd been in this building many times, knew where a room was and where it wasn't. Possibly.
„But I don't know if the walls are as soundproof as they look," I said quietly, before walking to the other end of the room and examining the wall in front of me.
I dared to look at the clock. Twelve minutes had already passed. Time was running through our fingers like sand...wait...I had an idea.
There was a lot of sand out there in the playground, if there was someone in this room who knew the wind element, they could theoretically communicate with the other teams for us.
All of a sudden, the sand court swirled. Letters formed in the brown element, forming a sentence. My teeth gritted. That stubborn fool. That certainly wouldn't make him a chunin.
Right next to me stood a Suna-nin. He had just told his teammates what task he was going to solve.
He grinned slightly. Triumphantly. I turned around ninety degrees and ran towards the boy. The spiteful laugh still on his face, he looked at me.
„Why are you here?"
„I think you know that. Me and my team are appointed chunin and you pathetic wimps aren't."
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
„Do you think your selfishness and egoism will get you all to this rank? No. There's a reason for taking this exam to become a chunin. You don't become one just like that. Chunin have to take responsibility and not be selfish, as they often command teams. If you want to become a chunin at some point, you have to be a team player. Nobody will just throw this rank in our mouths. That's why it's important to work together here and trust our teammates at the same time."
He fell silent before an angry growl rose up his throat.
„All right, then. That's fine with me. But don't think we're going to be kind to your team in the next parts."
I withstood the glare.
„Go ahead and try. You'll see what you get out of it."
An angry hiss escaped his mouth before he turned to the window and wiped away the letters with a simple hand movement. Now we could finish this part too. With our Suna friend's less than clear consent... but still.
Shikamaru:
I focused on the rows of genin with interest. They all seemed relatively relaxed after most of them had stuck to Tora's plan. Not a bad idea to let them all stay here. But... maybe not all of them. The best part was yet to come.
And then I had made it. Finally. After all this annoying effort, a little peace and quiet. To have all the people gone. Working together with Suna was actually quite good. At least we wouldn't have to prepare for the final exams.
Supposedly, Gaara personally supervised the second part of the exams. Perhaps a little risky of him. Even if he was considered Suna's strongest shinobi, he also had many opponents. Not everyone liked to see him as Kazekage...that would certainly have consequences. Temari had already told me something similar. She was worried about her youngest brother, who wanted to follow Naruto's example and make peace with enemies.
Well...unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be.
Temari gave me a side blow. Oh yes. Time was up after all. Never mind. It could happen to anyone. Besides, it was nice to keep everyone in suspense a little.
I slowly leaned forward to the microphone.
„So listen up, everyone. Now please turn over your papers and answer my third question. You are on a mission and you are under attack. The enemy is right behind you. One of you must intercept the enemy. Who will that be? Keep in mind that each of you must have the same answer. You have three minutes."
Grinning with pleasure, enjoying the excitement and horror, I leaned back in my chair and waited for the reactions. This could be really interesting. The job wasn't as bad as I had initially thought.
Tora:
We all stood in the playground, happy to have made it. Well... most of us, at least, but still. The first phase was over. I grinned. As Shikamaru had said, we should all have the same answer. But that didn't mean it had to be on paper. Because he hadn't explicitly said that.
And besides, none of my team would abandon a comrade just like that. A grin flitted across my lips. The Nara had certainly been inspired by Naruto for this idea. Very interesting. And I was really excited to see what lay ahead of us, because we had to leave for Suna soon. But neither Shikamaru nor Temari moved from the spot. Finally, the latter let her fan hit the floor.
„My name is Temari. I'm responsible for the second round. However, there are too many participants, so we will reduce the number of participants a little. This round is also based on teamwork. The team that loses its third or fourth partner will be disqualified. It will take place in Suna. We will meet at the Demon Desert. It will take three days in total, regardless of how fast you are. Ten teams will make it and the rest will be disqualified."
The teams looked around uncertainly, needing to let the words sink in. My eyes met with Shino's. We nodded to each other. Team 8 left Konoha almost at the same time as Neji.
Off to Suna.
We ran and ran, trying to manage our energy as well as possible. Although we had a three-day run ahead of us, we had to try to put as much distance as possible between us and the others. Only then was a break possible. We were one of the fastest teams in Konoha, but we were still tied with another. Nejis was just behind us. But Kiba doubted that he would attack us, as we were the front runners and not the rearguard. There would probably be more fighting there.
Because at least half of them wouldn't make it. They would simply cut them off. The number of participants had to be reduced after too many had passed. But perhaps Shikamaru had set his sights directly on that.
My ears only heard the sound of the others' breathing, the sound of our feet on the branches and the whisper of the wind in the trees. Hinata's breathing was irregular and her eyes were focused on the path ahead of us. We had been running for a whole day by now. Accordingly, I understood her incipient tiredness quite well. But we still had a long way to go before we could take a short break.
My gaze crossed with Kiba's and he nodded, letting Akamaru walk more slowly until he was next to the hyjuga. At first the dark-haired girl steadfastly refused, but in the end she gave in and sat on the nin-ken. So far, very few people had been allowed to ride him. But if not Hinata, then who?
„We're not allowed to rest until we have a good head start. So manage your strength well," Shino said half aloud and we nodded. That was true. Even though we were among the first to set off. The rest wouldn't be long in coming.
Hinata's hands clutched Akamaru's fur tensely as the nin-ken picked up speed and began to bark in warning. Someone was behind us, trying to stay hidden. In a flash, my hand went to the kunais in my pocket.
Three dark shadows emerged from the depths of the forest, moving faster and faster towards us. Their chakra was strange, unfamiliar. They didn't belong to any of the teams from Konoha. Not even from Sunagakure or Amegakure. But that didn't matter now. I could already tell from their stance that they were ready for a fight.
Their kunais were drawn, their faces tense, waiting, lurking. I crossed my gaze with Kiba's for a heartbeat. He nodded. Our goal was not to fight, but to outrun our opponent as much as possible. They shouldn't be able to analyze our abilities. Not know what to expect. Shino had suggested using my tactics from the last test, which wasn't a bad idea.
Then everything happened very quickly.
Raiton chakra shot through my arm, into the knife. The movement blurred before my eyes before the weapon shot towards our opponents, getting stuck in the branch the team had just entered. For a moment, their faces were covered in scorn. Wrong thought. A blink of an eye later, the letter bomb that I had invisibly wrapped around the kunai exploded.
They cried out in surprise, trying not to be hit by the shock wave caused by the explosion. But in vain.
Reassuring myself once again that I had really shaken off the team, I turned around and caught up with the others. They had run a little slower so that we wouldn't get separated. But now that the enemy team would need a little time to recover from the shock, we could make good use of this head start.
As dusk began to fall, Shino decided that it really was time for a break. Akamaru was thirsty, Hinata's eyes were closing and the other three of us were also struggling with exhaustion. We had never stopped. We had always tried to move at a steady pace.
By chance, I had managed to shoot a turkey that I was plucking. The feathers floated to the ground in large quantities. Akamaru sniffed at them, looked at the dead bird and licked his mouth hungrily. I grinned. He would have to wait, like everyone else here. We were all hungry, we hadn't eaten for a long time.
Something cracked in the withered bushes. It wouldn't be long before we reached the desert. We could already feel the huge difference in temperature here. The air began to get stuffier and stuffier, the bushes drier, the earth more crumbly. Soon we were in Suna. I had never been there or seen the desert before. But the country where Gaara, Temari and Kankuro had grown up interested me greatly. It certainly wasn't easy to live there.
Resources such as water certainly had to be managed very well and sparingly. And even so, this landscape didn't hold much. At least that's what I'd read in many books. But let's see. Admittedly, I was very excited about the so-called Death Desert. It wouldn't be easy for any shinobi outside Suna to survive in it.
A chakra entered my consciousness, its presence was very strong. My body tensed as a figure emerged from the undergrowth and stepped towards us. Expecting Akamaru to growl and jump up to protect us, everyone remained seated. But nothing of the sort happened. The dog stayed put, licked his mouth and stared at the petite girl who had just entered the clearing.
Her hair was about as long as mine, light blue and her orange eyes were a strong contrast. She carried a red bag on her back. A broad grin stretched across her young face. She seemed to be about our age.
„Hello, I'm Fu. Could you help us? My companions are terribly thirsty and we don't have enough water."
There was silence. We looked at each other, taken by surprise. We had expected anything, but not this. An opponent asking us to help him, that's how the others seemed to see it. I struggled with myself. They didn't seem to care that we might be their enemies and attack them, they seemed to trust us. And somehow that reminded me a little of Naruto, that fearless, almost cheeky way of approaching other shinobi. But then again, I didn't know her. She was from Takigakure, a village I hardly knew. Still, something told me that she wasn't a danger.
I slowly straightened up, stepping towards her. Fu didn't move, grinning at me in a friendly manner. I returned it timidly before my fingers went into my pocket and pulled out one of the small bottles of water.
Her eyes lit up with delight as she recognized the precious element. Nevertheless, her fingers reached for it rather hesitantly and questioningly.
„Thank you very much. Tell me. Wouldn't you like to be my first friend. Because I came to the trials to get hundreds of friends."
The bright voice trembled with excitement and a gleam crept into the orange eyes. Her hand gripped mine firmly and began to squeeze it. Too surprised by the outburst, I didn't resist.
„Tell me...Fu...why don't you see us as enemies?"
„Hm? Why should I? You're nice and I'd love to be friends with the whole world," she cheered. „I don't even know who invented that word. It's terrible. Everyone should form their own opinion about who is a friend and who is an enemy. My master told me to stay away from other shinobi, but so far you've all been really nice."
I bit my lip. On the one hand, she was right that you should often form your own opinion about certain things. I lived by that resolution too. But when I thought about it, not entirely. For example, the topic of the Uchiha massacre. Itachi had killed his entire family. Everyone except Sasuke had died by his blade. But why?
At first glance, he didn't seem like an unscrupulous murderer who just killed shinobi like that. There had to be something behind it. Maybe there was. Fu was right. We shouldn't believe all the things people tell us about others.
„You're partly right...but not all ninja are good...you can't be friends with all of them. Besides, it's more important to have a few very good friends than too many and not so close ones. Do you understand what I mean?"
Fu nodded, but I still didn't know if she was serious. This girl seemed so innocent, so playful with a far too simple view of the world. But she wasn't like that. On the contrary. Nevertheless, I began to like her. Her friendly manner, unbiased, no matter what kind of person might be standing in front of her.
„Fu?! Where are you again?"
Loud shouts rang out not far from here and she seemed disappointed.
„It was nice talking to you. Even if I don't know your name. Your team is nice too, I think. Actually, I shouldn't have left at all, my master told me to out of fear, but they're thirsty and I would never abandon a comrade."
Then she was gone. My teammates began to stir, but I remained pensive. She reminded me so much of Naruto, but Fu wasn't like him. Similar to Naruto, Gaara and me. We had parallels, but we were still not the same. But one sentence had confused me.
Her master had told her to take care of herself. Why did she say that? Did she have a special ability? Or even a criminal? No. It couldn't be that. Maybe something else. Like Gaara and Naruto, her chakra was very strong. But that didn't mean anything. Some shinobi just had an extraordinary amount of chakra... or maybe there was more to it than that. In any case, I would keep an eye on things. Perhaps also because the blue-haired girl had already won a place in my heart.
We set off a few hours later and reached the Desert of Death at dawn. And the meeting point at lunchtime. Fu's team was already there and Neji, Tenten and Lee arrived almost at the same time. Everyone looked exhausted and exhausted. No wonder, with the sun burning down on our tired heads with full force.
Drops of sweat ran down my forehead, dripping into the sand. A shadow fell over my figure. The shinobi walking towards me seemed to be tall, carrying something on his back, it seemed to be several scrolls, judging by the shadow. I was almost ashamed not to have recognized him when I heard his voice.
„Finally here too Tora?"
A tired grin crept onto my lips.
„Go ahead and run for three days. I bet you need longer Kankuro."