Chapter 14: The Preliminaries.
Naru let out a quiet sigh as she laid on the bed she had taken up in the room, she kept her eyes closed trying to rest now that the ringing in her ears finally died off, It took nearly an hour to but the medication she was given by the nurse finally worked. Her bed dipped and she could barely hear Mamoru's purr before he laid down next to her on the bed, she put her hand on his fur and cringed at the feeling of the dirty fur and the smell hit her.
"You need a bath." She said, he let out a rumbled chuckle.
The door came open suddenly. "Naru! I got you some soap and stuff." Sakura said setting the bag of things in Naru's lap, she groaned and sat up and held her head. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"My hearing is messed up." Naru said and sighed.
"Has Sasuke-kun come back yet?" Sakura asked, Naru gave a slight eye roll.
"No." She said. "How about I give you a bath?" She said rubbing Mamoru, he groaned and stood up slowly, she held him and he walked into the large bathroom that had a walk in shower.
Naru carefully got the vest off and set it on the counter and pulled his collar off, he sat waiting as Naru pulled her dirty clothes off until she was in her bra and spandex shorts, she walked in and found the handle and turned it on.
Mamoru yowled loudly as it hit him, he jumped out. "That's hot!"
"Sorry, sorry!" She said and turned it and felt it cool down, he slid his paw in and sighed.
"There." He said and walked in slowly and sighed.
"Sorry, not use to this one." She said and grabbed the bag from Sakura. "This good?" She asked showing him a bottle.
"Yeah." He nodded. She poured the soap on his fur and began to scrub the soap into his fur getting the knots out of his fur, along with the mud, blood, twigs and whatever else got stuck in his fur. He sighed as felt like 10 pounds disappear from his body, the water drained and she rinsed him once more before he shook, she giggled flinching. "Better?"
"Yes." He said and licked her cheek. "Now you need one." He said, she chuckled, he stepped out and let her get washed up with soap not just a dip in a river.
She got out and dried off and helped Mamoru dry off, she searched in his vest and pulled out her scroll of clothes and opened it and got dressed in clean clothes. She sighed walking out, Mamoru followed, Naru hung his collar and vest on a chair to dry.
"Where did you get new clothes!?" Sakura whined loudly, Naru flinched and growled when her ears rang.
"Can you please stop whining!" She snipped. "I packed them before I left for the test." She said, Sakura pouted and sat down, Naru sat on the bed again and Mamoru followed and curled up with her, Naru rubbed her face a few times.
"We'll practice tomorrow and figure everything out." Mamoru said, she nodded and fell asleep.
*o*
Naru walked downstairs carefully with Mamoru next to her. She blinked as her arm was lifted and a another slid in and wrapped around hers.
"I'm glad you made it." Hinata said, Naru smiled and nodded. "How are you?" She said. "You don't look so good." She said.
"My hearing is messed up, and I just feel off." She said.
"Are you heading to practice?"
"Gonna attempt it." Naru said, Hinata nodded.
"I know where we can go." She said and led her and Mamoru down the stairs and into a small training room.
"You guys made it early huh?" Naru asked.
"Yeah, a couple hours." She said.
"Lucky." Naru muttered, Hinata chuckled.
"What happened?" She asked.
"First we were attacked by this weird guy and he knocked me out, I'm not too sure what happened during that, I know Sasuke got hurt. When I woke up the Sound team was attacking us and that's how my hearing got damaged." She said. "I guess something weird is going on with Sasuke, but I can't even 'see' that well." She said, Hinata looked at her shocked. "So, I gotta figure out what's going on."
"Maybe you should go see Hokage-sama."
"Maybe. I wanna try to spar." Naru said.
"Stubborn." Mamoru muttered, Naru shot him a dirty look. "Alright, stand there and I'll attack." He said, Naru nodded and stood ready and sighed.
Mamoru walked around her in circles a little then ran towards her, he caught the frown on her face and noticed she wasn't moving, he got to her and swung before she dropped down just barely dodging his paw. He skidded to the side slightly and looked at her annoyed.
"Why'd you wait for me to get so close?" He asked.
"I couldn't sense you!" She snipped sitting up and sighed rubbing her face.
"Can you sense me now?" He asked standing less then two feet from her.
"Yes." She said, he backed up slowly watching her before she began to frown and look around.
"You can't sense me now." He stated.
"I lightly sense your chakra but I can't see your chakra map." She said. "What's going on?" She said shaking tears pricking up at her eyes.
"Let me look." Hinata said walking up and focusing. "Byakugan!" She said, the veins spread on her head as her kekkei genkai activated, she looked at Naru carefully seeing her chakra network. "Naru, your chakra is damaged." She said.
"What?" Naru asked.
"How?" Mamoru asked walking up.
"Well for one your reserves are blocked. It's cut off the supply line to them and it's heavily weakened your regular chakra which has put it on the fritz." She said. "Some of the points are damaged too."
"Where?" Mamoru asked.
"Around her stomach." She said. "A heavy hit of chakra." She said.
"What do I do?" Naru asked.
"Let me try hitting the chakra points that are hurt. It may unlock them." Hinata said. "It's up to." She said.
"I'll try anything." Naru said.
"Alright." Hinata said and continued to look at her chakra points before pulling chakra into her finger tips, she hit at one of the points, Naru grunted in pain and shook slightly. Hinata hit it again and watched the chakra calm down slightly. "How's that?"
"Little better." Naru said.
"I can't do much more, I don't know how to undo the damage, but that should help you."
"Let's see." Mamoru said, Naru nodded and got up. "Hinata, do you mind trying?" He asked, she nodded and held her hands up, Naru did as well and sighed as Hinata swung slowly, Naru dodged and blocked slowly and began to pick up speed.
Kakashi walked down the hall about to head up to check on his other students, he heard a thuds, he walked up to the door and peered into the window to see Naru and Hinata sparring slowly, he sighed watching. They paused and Naru bent over heaving for air, he opened the door making them look at him.
"Hey there, I was actually just coming to check up on you." He said. "How are you doing?" He asked. "I stopped by late last night but you were asleep." He said. "Were you hurt?" He asked walking up.
"My hearing was damaged." She panted.
"Is that it?" He asked, she shrugged and stood up.
"Let's keep going." Naru said. "I gotta get faster." She said, Hinata nodded let out a quiet cry and swung towards her, Naru dodged and sent her own blow out, Hinata blocked and it continued until they were moving pretty fast.
Kakashi watched in slight awe at her movement and speed. 'She closes her eyes... hm.' He thought and watched as Mamoru watched both carefully.
"Come at me." Naru said, Hinata nodded and ran out quickly without making a sound, Naru focused carefully and dodged Hinata's kick and swiped her foot out, Hinata flipped and shot back towards her, Naru kept dodging using her chakra to locate Hinata which unfortunately she could only see at least five feet from her.
"You've gotten it down." Mamoru said, Naru panted and tipped forward, he caught her on his back, she moaned and passed out. "Naru!" He barked. Kakashi walked up and gently shifted the girl to the ground, he pressed her head and neck.
"Chakra exhaustion." Kakashi said, Mamoru sighed and nodded. "She needs to see a nurse." He said, Mamoru nodded, Hinata carefully lifted Naru up on Mamoru's back and they walked out and headed to the nurses station.
Mamoru watched as the nurse gave Naru a chakra injection then gave her four chakra pills for a later time.
'I need to talk to the old man.' Mamoru thought.
That night he put Naru in bed and waited for her to fall asleep before he slipped from the room and followed the scent of Hurizen to his room, he hit the door with his paw before it opened, Hurizen stood there shocked.
"Mamoru? What's wrong? Is Naru okay?" He asked.
"We need to speak quickly." He said, the man stepped back and let the large cat in and shut the door creating a barrier.
"What's going on?"
"Naru was damaged in the forest."
"How so?" He asked.
"That man, he used a seal on her and it's completely cut her reserves off."
"You mean-"
"Yes." Mamoru nodded. "Hinata-sama got her regular chakra somewhat unblocked but she is still very weak and runs out of chakra almost instantly." He said. "From what we've judged she only has a five foot perimeter of chakra viewing." He said quietly.
"That's dangerous." Hurizen muttered. "I have to unlock the seal, or get someone to do it."
"But who?" Mamoru said, Hurizen sighed quietly and thought.
-*o*-
"Listen to me Naru." Mamoru said as Naru got prepared for the meeting, today was the final day of the second test, they all had been summoned to the large auditorium to find out everything else from this point.
"What?" Naru asked as she tied her hair up.
"Whatever happens today, take it easy. I mean it." He rumbled.
"I know." She smiled and rubbed her eyes.
"Dry?" He asked, she nodded. "How does your chakra feel?" He asked.
"Still weak and weird. I guess I'm not use to having such a low amount." She said.
"Let's do our best not to use too much chakra." He said, she nodded.
"All teams please come down to the auditorium now." A voice sounded over the speakers.
"Ready?" She asked, Mamoru nodded and waited as she climbed on his back and adjusted her fan slightly and they walked down the steps and found the large room that had the teams that had reached the tower already, Sakura came up and sighed, Naru looked at her.
"Are you okay?"
"Sasuke-kun still isn't back yet, Kakashi-sensei wont even let me see him." She whined, Naru resisted rolling her eyes.
A loud shrill ringing echoed in the speakers, Naru cried out and gripped her ears, Mamoru looked at her, she whined rubbing them until the pain stopped.
"We'll get that properly looked at once this is over." He said
"Line up." A jounin said, they walked to the center and stood in line, Mamoru sat next to Naru, Sakura stood behind her.
The door opened and three teams walked in, Sakura gasped loudly. "Sasuke-kun!" She cried out and hugged the Uchiha as he walked up, he grunted and wiggled away and sighed standing behind Naru.
Naru listened carefully as everyone lined up and the jounin leaders stood the front facing them, Hurizen walked up and smirked as he looked at the group.
Anko stood next to him and smirked. 'So many made it. I knew I'd cut them in half but I was expecting single digits.' She thought looking at the remaining ninja's. Out of the 78 genin that started the second exam only 24 stood in front of them. Team 7, 8, 9, and 10 from Konoha made it, along with Kabuto's team, the Sound team, a team from Rain and the Sand team were the survivors.
'No wonder they were nominated, this is an impressive bunch.' Hurizen thought and looked over at Naru and sighed quietly. 'Be safe kiddo.' He thought.
"Alright everyone. Congratulations on passing this exam!" Anko said. "I will now turn it over to Hokage-sama to explain the rest!" She said and stepped back to stand next to Ibiki.
"First congratulations! You're are an impressive bunch." He said. "Now on to the rest." He said. "I wish to tell you the real hidden meaning of this test." He said, everyone began to murmur confused. "In the simple term this test is a replacement war between allies."
"What do you mean?" Kiba asked.
"Years ago, the current allies now were enemies and fought one another, in order to prevent this, we made a stage for fights." He said.
"Why do we have to do this?" Kiba barked.
"Let me finish." He said. "Yes these exams are a replacement war but they are also a way to help the village. In this up coming final test there will be many influential people and leaders there, if the strength of a country is clear, the country will get more clients, this also sends a message to enemies saying we have powerful ninja so don't bother." He said.
"Why do we have to risk our necks?" Shikamaru asked.
"The strength of the country is the strength of it's village, the strength of the village is the strength of the shinobi and the shinobi's true strength is born only through life risking battles." He said.
"So what about the next test?" Gaara asked.
"Well actually-" A jounin jumped in the front and bowed.
"I can take it from here Hokage-sama." He said.
"Yes Hayate." He said and nodded, the jounin stood up and coughed.
"Hello everyone, I'm Hayate, before we get to the third test, we have something for you all to do, a preliminary exam, so we can decide who gets to participate in the main event." He said.
"Why!?" Shikamaru barked.
"Yeah!" Sakura said. "Why can't we all just participate?!" She asked.
"Because the first and second exams have been much too easy." He said earning a dirty look from Ibiki and Anko. "There are too many of you, and as Hokage-sama said, there will be many important people and if let you all continue it will take much too long." He said. "Now, I have something important to say, if any of you wish to quit now, you may do so." He said.
"What?" They murmured confused.
"Teams are no long required from this point on." He said. "So if you wish to quit say so now." He said.
"Sasuke-kun." Sakura whispered, he looked at her. "You-"
"Don't." He said.
"But- I'm worried about you. Please. That … that's thing, I don't-"
"Shut up. I'm fine. I've told you before, I have to keep going." He said, she sighed and looked down.
Everyone looked at each other and murmured but no one walked away. "Okay then, let's move on." He said, a large screen pulled from the wall. "The matches will be random, your name will appear on the screen, you will do your battle, I will determine the winner. The matches will continue until either one or both are knocked out or unable to continue or if you die. But I'll jump in if it gets close to that point, we don't need that many bodies." He said. "Okay, let's get the first match started." He said, a loud beeping sounded as the names flashed through the screen before it stopped.
"First up huh." Sasuke said, Naru glanced back at the Uchiha.
"Uchiha Sasuke versus Akado Yoroi." Hayate said. "Those named come forward, everyone else please move to the upper sidelines and wait." He said, they walked up slowly. Kakashi paused behind Sasuke. "Don't push it." He said, he sigh smirked. "If that shows up, I will stop the match and you'll be disqualified." He said.
"Yeah." Sasuke said and nodded.
Naru got up to the side and sat down with a sigh, Lee bent down to her. "Naru-chan, are you okay?" He asked.
"Fine Lee, thanks." She said smiling, he nodded, Shikamaru plopped down next to her.
"How are you?" He asked quietly.
"Exhausted." She whispered, Hinata sat next to her and Mamoru set his head in Naru's lap and sighed watching.
"Are you both ready?" Hayate asked as everyone moved to the side.
"Yeah." Yoroi said.
"Yes." Sasuke said.
"Begin!" Hayate said and jumped back, Yoroi gripped his wrist and chakra shined over his hand, he pulled out shuriken threw them toward Sasuke who deflected them with a kunai. Sasuke turned a little and lost his balance and hissed, he looked up to see Yoroi jumped at him, he spun to the side and Yoroi punched the ground, he shot towards Sasuke quickly, he stabbed his kunai into the ground and spun slightly and got his one foot behind Yoroi's arm and kicked with the other foot, Yoroi cursed in pain and grunted as Sasuke grabbed his arm and slammed him to the ground with his leg pressed on Yoroi's neck and his arm pinned with his hands.
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cheered.
Yoroi turned his hand in Sasuke's grip and pressed his hand on the boy's chest, he grunted confused and panted as Yoroi's hand glowed with chakra.
'My strength … it's fading.' He thought as Yoroi broke his hand up brought it down on Sasuke's stomach harshly, he coughed up blood and shook in pain as Yoroi got up and smirked.
'What happened to my strength? Where did it go?!' He thought, he heard Yoroi move and sat up in time for Yoroi to slam his hand down on Sasuke's head and slam him back to the ground, his hand glowed, Sasuke pushed and struggled against his grip before he moaned and slumped.
"SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura screamed out, Yoroi laughed looking at him struggle.
"M... my chakra.." Sasuke rasped. "You're taking my chakra." He said, Kakashi watched in shock, Naru gasped listening and gulped, Mamoru frowned watching.
"You figured it out huh?" Yoroi said smiling.
On the other side of the room, the Sound team jounin smirked darkly watching. 'Exactly! Yoroi has the ability to absorb chakra, a wonderful jutsu that can allow him to suck his opponents physical and spiritual energy out just by a touch. And once your chakra has been devoured Sasuke-kun, you'll have to resort to the power of my curse mark. That's it! Open yourself up to that power.' He thought his golden eyes glittering.
Sasuke screamed out in pain and growled bringing his leg up and kicked Yoroi in the stomach knocking him off. "You son of a bitch!" He snarled and got up panting.
"Imagine a little vermin like you still having that much power left." Yoroi said and chuckled.
'That was too close. If he touches me again I wont have enough energy to move. It's his goal to keep me in reach, this is my last chance but what do I do?' Sasuke thought.
"Is this all he can do?" Gaara asked watching.
'Sasuke.' Lee thought, Sakura whimpered and looked away, Naru frowned slightly and sighed.
'I can't believe I'm gonna do this.' She thought.
"Come on you wimp!" Naru said. "I thought you were the great Sasuke Uchiha! You're getting your ass kicked!" She yelled, Mamoru nuzzled her, she smirked.
Sasuke looked up at her then looked at Lee standing next to her. 'That's it!' He thought and got up.
"You couldn't of picked a worse time to day dream!" Yoroi yelled running towards Sasuke. 'Now I'll absorb all of his chakra, now!' He thought.
Kakashi grunted ready to jump along with Hayate, the Sound jounin watched with a smile.
Sasuke smirked as Yoroi got right to him, he kicked his jaw sending him up in the air, Sasuke pushed up after him.
'That's my …' Lee thought in shock.
'What!?' Gai who was Lee's sensei said in shock.
Yoroi soared in the air and grunted as Sasuke appeared behind him and smirked.
"After this I'll limit the copying, from here it's original." He said, Yoroi grunted as Sasuke put two fingers on his back. "It's over." He said.
"Kage Buyo." Yoroi said.
"Take this!" Sasuke said and got ready to move but grunted in shock as a strong throb of pain shot through his body, he coughed up blood and his muscles stiffened as black flame marks began to spread along his body, the Sound jounin smirked evilly.
Hurizen and Anko gasped in shock seeing the mark spreading, Sasuke groaned closing his eyes tight.
"Please. I'm worried about." Sakura's voice echoed in his head.
"Come on you wimp!I thought you were the great Sasuke Uchiha! You're getting your ass kicked!" Naru's voice echoed in his head next.
'Hmph. They are so worried. But I'm not gonna let this thing take over!' He thought and focused.
'He's reached his limit.' Kakashi thought.
'NO!' Sasuke thought and opened his eyes, the mark moved back shocking everyone.
"Now." Sasuke and swung and pushed from Yoroi's back and brought his leg over to nail his stomach but Yoroi blocked with his arm.
"Stupid amateur!" He said, Sasuke smirked and nailed Yoroi's jaw harshly, he cried out and began to fall, Sasuke spun some more and yelled. "Shishi rendan!" He yelled and slammed his leg down on Yoroi's stomach slamming him into the concrete, Sasuke hit the ground and skidded panting harshly and slumped. Hayate walked up to Yoroi who had blood pouring from his mouth. 'I don't even have to check.' He thought and looked as Sasuke sat up panting.
"I'm stopping the fight now. The winner is Uchiha Sasuke." He said, Sakura and Ino cheered jumping, the others clapped a little, Sasuke got up and walked out with the medic to check up on.
"These ninja's are not a joke." Shikamaru said, Naru smirked. "You better be careful." He said pinching her, she whined with a frown.
"I will. I promise." She said.
The next match flew by in less than five minutes which ended up being Aburame Shino versus Zaku with Shino winning. The next match shocked many which was Sakura versus her once friend Yamanaka Ino, with Ino being the winner of the exam by a split second. Next was Kiba versus Kankuro. Kiba almost lost when Kankuro used his puppets but Kiba came out on top shocking Kankuro's teammates that the boy had lost.
"Man..." Shikamaru whined as the match between Temari and Tenten ended and his name appeared on the board. "A girl, this sucks." He muttered.
"Good luck." Naru said, he smirked.
"Thanks." He said and jumped down with a huff.
His match which was against the Kin from the Sound team ended quickly with him giving Kin a concussion, he jumped back up and sat down, Naru smiled at him.
"Hyuuga Hinata and Oboro." Hayate called, the girl sighed and stood up.
"Good luck." Naru said, Hinata smiled.
"Thanks." She said and jumped down standing across from the boy from the Rain team.
"Begin!" Hayate said.
Hinata activated his Byakugan and stood ready, Oboro smirked and ran forward, Hinata dodged and swiped his leg out, he hit the ground and growled, she stood ready.
"You're not gonna attack?" He asked with a smirk, she stood still glaring. "Fine!" He barked and ran forward going through signs, he threw a smoke bomb down, she flinched and looked around.
'Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu!' He thought, clones rose up around her.
'Clones?' She thought, they jumped at her, she dodged and moved carefully. 'They're not real.' She thought and grunted as she was cut in her cheek, she blinked and rubbed the blood. 'How?!' She thought and looked around carefully before jumping from the smoke and skidding slightly panting.
'Let's hope I got this.' She thought and took in a deep breath as the clones shot forward. "Kasun chakura boei!" She said and began to swipe her hands with chakra quickly creating a haze of white chakra around her, she moved forward and the clones passed through the haze, she smirked picked up speed her chakra shone brighter and brighter making a few wince in pain, suddenly a loud screaming sounded making them jump, Oboro shot away from Hinata panting holding his arm, she appeared from the chakra. "Jyuuken!" She said and hit his chest, he coughed in pain and fell to the ground and shook before passing out, Hinata panted and stood there.
"Winner Hyuuga Hinata!"
"WHOO!" Naru cheered clapping, the girl smiled and headed up to the side as they took Oboro out on a stretcher.
"That was a cool jutsu." Lee said.
"Thanks." Hinata said and smiled.
The screen beeped rapidly before stopping, Mamoru looked up and sighed. "Your turn." He said.
"Uzumaki Naru versus Mubi." Hayate called.
Naru gulped and stood up and sighed, Shikamaru got up grabbing her arm, she blinked quickly.
"I got your back." He said, she smiled with a blush and nodded quickly and got on Mamoru's back and walked down to the center.
"Ready?" Hayate asked.
"What about the cat? Mubi asked.
Hayate looked at Hurizen who nodded. "He is apart of her. It's allowed." He said, Mubi gave a 'Tsk' and sighed. "Ready? Begin!" He said moving back.
Naru stood ready with Mamoru next to her growling, Mubi threw smoke bombs down, Naru flinched and brought chakra out to see him but couldn't locate him, Mamoru moved to the side, his nails skidded on the concrete, Naru moved to the side and sighed. 'I can't tell anything!' She thought then cried out as a foot connected with her chest sending her from the smoke and skidding on the ground, she groaned and sat up rubbing her head. 'I didn't even sense him!' She thought and got up running forward. Mamoru shook out slightly and found Naru and sighed quietly and ran up to her, she looked at him. "Use your wind style." He said, she pulled her fan off and yelled swinging it, the smoke shot away and it revealed eight Mubi clones standing there.
"Eight clones." Mamoru growled, Naru sighed with a frown.
"I can't even sense his positions." She said.
"Get on. I got an idea." He said, she climbed on his back, he focused pouring chakra into his body, he ran forward, the clones shifted slightly in fear, he ran through and slashed through one but it passed thought.
"Haze clones. Use your fan." He rumbled quietly, Naru focused and swung the fan around a few times bringing up wind the clones faded from the view as the wind swirled around quickly, everyone groaned as the power. The floor tore up and Mubi was ripped up, he screamed struggling to get free, Naru groaned as the cyclone fell and he hit the ground, she slumped on Mamoru panting harshly.
"You!" Mubi growled holding his arm, he pulled out shuriken and threw them Mamoru dodged and Naru fell from his back.
"Naru!" He barked.
Kakashi watched closely with a frown, Shikamaru stood up as Naru struggled to get up, Mubi ran forward and brought his kunai up and slammed it down, Naru dodged just in time and smirked as she rolled on the ground, Mubi blinked confused as his kunai was stabbed in a round container, smoke poured from it, he coughed and threw the kunai to the side, he swatted at the smoke, Naru smirked.
"Mamoru!" She said, he ran to her and put his paw on her hand.
'Shōzō chakurarēsu no jutsu!' Both thought, Naru growled her canines shifted and her nails grew, she dropped down and growled. Hurizen watched with a smile as she introduced a new jutsu.
'This gaki.' He thought.
Naru and Mamoru shot out and skidded behind Mubi, he swatted at her but she moved and swung her leg, he jumped but cried out as he slammed into the ground and gasped. Mamoru smirked walking, Naru paced slightly using Mamoru's chakra link to see better. She ran forward, he brought his arm up and swung, Naru dodged and sliced her hand up her nails cut his mask, he fell back shaking in fear, Naru smirked and ran at him, he groaned as it seemed like it was slow motion.
Naru got to him and grabbed him and kicked him up, Mamoru launched slammed his paw into Mubi's stomach, he coughed up blood and slammed into the concrete putting a large dent it, both panted and looked at him. Hayate walked up and touched his neck and sighed.
"Winner Uzumaki Naru." He said, Mamoru smirked and cut the link, Naru smiled then moaned and collapsed, Mamoru licked her cheek, Shikamaru jumped down and lifted her up gently.
"You okay?" He asked, she moaned and fell asleep.
Asuma watched shocked and smirked. 'So that's why...' He thought.
-Flashback
"Asuma, I want you to take your team and go assist Kakashi in the Land of Waves."
"Is something wrong?"
"It's more than Tazuna let on. Apparently rouge ninja's and such." He said.
"Alright, Shikamaru is outside, I'll tell him to get his teammates and we'll head out."
"Good." He said, Asuma walked out and found the boy leaning against the wall.
"We got a job."
"What now?" He groaned.
"We gotta go help Kakashi and his team."
"Why?!" Shikamaru asked snapping out of his 'troublesome' attitude.
"There's a lot of trouble. You get Ino and Chouji."
"Yeah." He said and shot off leaving the jounin shocked and confused.
Flashback-
Shikamaru watched as they carried Naru out of the auditorium with Mamoru trotting out with her.
Kakashi frowned a little and huffed. "That was cool." Sasuke commented. "Those moves." He said and looked towards the area where she had been taken out.
*o*
"Are you ever gonna wake up?" Shikamaru's voice echoed, Naru moaned and opened her eyes and sighed.
"Shika?"
"Yeah." He said, she sat up slowly and groaned. "You've slept through all the matches."
"Really?" She asked shocked.
"Yep."
"Who all won? I mean who passed I mean-"
"All the winners that are continuing are Sasuke, Shino, Ino, Kiba, Temari, me, Hinata, you, Neji, Gaara, Dosu and Lee."
"Really?" Naru asked then nodded.
"You may want to get out of here." He said quietly.
"Why?"
"Kakashi is out in the hall wants to talk."
"Uh." She groaned. "Mamoru?"
"He's out in the hall. Hokage-sama wanted to talk to him." He said, she nodded and got up before falling back to the bed. "You're totally out of chakra huh?"
"Yeah." She moaned. "What's happening now? Don't tell me we start the next exam soon."
"No. we have a month to prepare." He said, Naru nodded and sighed in relief. "Come on, I'll take you to Mamoru." He said slinging her arm over his shoulder and helped her stand, she smiled.
"Thanks." She said and kissed his cheek, she chuckled as he stiffened and she had no doubt he was blushing.
"Troublesome." He muttered, she chuckled and walked with him out.
"You're up." Kakashi said, Naru nodded. "I wanna talk to you when you get rested okay?"
"Sure?" She asked.
"I'll come by tomorrow sometime."
"Okay." She said, Kakashi nodded and disappeared, Naru sighed with a groan. "He never gives up." She muttered, Shikamaru chuckled and led her to Mamoru so they could get home.