21
Once we were released for the day by a loud and annoying woman that had burst through the classroom window, I wait for Naruto just outside of the swinging doors to the classroom. Gaara passes by me with his two teammates behind him. Our gazes meet for a moment before he looks away and continues walking. Sasuke comes out of the room with a smirk, both of his hands in the pockets of his shorts. "Tala." He speaks as he stops near me. "Let's get something to eat." He states as if that is what we are going to do no matter what.
Shaking my head I move to turn away from him as I decide to wait for Naruto at Ichiraku's when he catches my arm. Looking over my shoulder questioningly I watch his eyes close. When I turn to face him more fully I expected him to let go but his hand wouldn't move. "Something wrong?" He asks rather quietly before he finally looks at me again. Confusion is heavily in his gaze much like after I had first trained with him in the land of waves. Showing me he noticed I was doing the same thing and instead of remaining silent about it as he had at the time. He's up and asking me about it.
"I told you. I only went with you last time because the light was finally shining through the darkness." I utter out with a sigh and look away from him. "In there, talking to Kabuto. You let it take you over. You looked as if you were ready to coat your hands in blood." I inform him before pulling away from his grip. I go to move away from him before I find myself hesitating as I still feel his gaze on my back.
"Grow up, Sasuke." I state before turning halfway towards him. This however had his eyes narrowing on me. "You've given yourself one purpose in life. To blindly seek blood be it Itachi's or anyone else's who gets in your way. It's childish and Naive." This causes his body to begin to shake as if he is about to lash out at me. "You may think you want to date me. But you are blind enough that nothing would deter you from this path of blood."
I watch as he opens his mouth to say something when the door to the classroom opens. "As I once told him, it takes more to see than just your eyes." I repeat the same words I had told Itachi when I was four causing Sasuke's body to stiffen. "Huh?" Naruto and Sakura give sounds of question as they look between us noticing the tension. Probably thinking Sasuke and I are about to fight. "It's nothing." Sasuke practically snaps out the answer to their sound of confusion before walking away.
Shaking my head I move to the nearest window and slip out of it. Making my way to the cliffside where I usually train. What I had told him is true. Even if he believes he has feelings for me. They will never outweigh his bloodlust. It is for the best that I shut those feelings down before they become a problem. Either way, right now, is not the time to dwell on what has been steadily growing between him and I. Now is the time to focus and prepare for the next stage of the chunin exam. To do that. I still need to perfect my skill enough that I can complete it at a moment's notice. If only to lessen the amount of blood that will be unnecessarily spilled.
I had actually come to the training grounds early this morning. I couldn't sleep last night with everything weighing on my mind. From old memories trudging themselves up to Sasuke. Even the pain in my chest as I think about my brothers' wills and what I should do. But the emotions within me wishing for me to take the same path Sasuke is hellbent on. To top it off the loud Jonin weighed heavily upon my mind. From her warning of how more than half of the examinees would be cut, I didn't want to chance coming unprepared. So I had made certain my storage scrolls were completely stocked. From medical to camping equipment. Protein bars to other revitalizing food. Extra ninja tools to additional clothes and masks. Absolutely anything I could think of that could possibly be needed.
I have found that unless it's a long and difficult mission all these extras are pointless, yet I still thought it right to pack them. Leaning my back against the tree with my right leg hanging down from the branch I close my eyes. I'm not childish, I know. If I choose to stain my hands and make Danzo pay for everything he caused I would cast aside not only my life in this village. But also who I am. Besides, the Uchiha clan are just as much to blame for it all as he is. I can't get revenge. Sasuke is an Uchiha but he is innocent. Danzo was only doing what he felt was right... Or so I keep trying to tell myself.
The area in front of the training ground had become noisy as the examinees congregate and wait for the second exam to begin. The noise draws my eyes to the rest of the area before they find the bright orange of my best friend. My squad seemed to be looking for me as I watch their heads shift at everyone around them. Sighing I hop off of the branch and move up towards them as I slip my hands into the pockets of my shorts. Sakura was the first to notice. She waves slightly as a small smile shows drawing the other two's attention to me as well. Coming up next to them I take my place at Naruto's side ever before shifting a brief glance to Sasuke. Unlike usual, he didn't have an arrogant smirk. There wasn't darkness lingering in his onyx eyes. But, a different emotion altogether. As if his mind is dwelling on something beyond his past for a change.
"Tala! Where've you been?!" Naruto pipes up loudly pulling my gaze to him. "In a tree nearby." I point out for him calmly causing his eyes to widen. "Uhh. Tala?" Sakura questions as she takes a step closer. Her green eyes fill with worry as she furrows her brows. "Are you all right?" This nearly had me frowning. Taking the bored stance I've begun using I reach up and rub the back of my neck slowly. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine." I utter out covering my exhaustion and emotions with a bored tone.
"This is the location for the second phase of the Exam. It's the 44th battle training zone." The female proctor speaks drawing our attention to her. She was wearing a fishnet outfit with only a small piece of fabric as a skirt and an open jacket to barely cover her womanly parts. "But we call it, the forest of death." The proctor finishes with a smirk expecting all of us to gasp in fear. "Forest of... Death.." Naruto mutters in shock just staring at the proctor with wide eyes. As it sunk in I could hear a faint clunking sound as if it was cardboard being moved against the ground.
Naruto seems to notice this shortly after I do. His eyebrow raises before he begins walking away from it having it follow him. Before he begins to run back and forth in front of everyone. As it was passing a third time Naruto suddenly stops and faces it pointing down at the box. "That's the worst disguise of all time! There's no such thing as square rocks, it's completely obvious!" He yells at it in annoyance as he puts his left hand on his hip. "Good eye boss. Just what I'd expect from my rival." A familiar child's voice speaks up from the box before it abruptly explodes in pink and blue smoke causing the kids to cough and sputter.
"I think we used too much gunpowder, you guys." The kid in a yellow shirt with a long blue scarf coughs out. Konohamaru was it? The smoke draws the proctor's attention and she stalks toward us. "Konohamaru what are you doing here?" Naruto questions as he crosses his arms. "I don't have time to play ninja, we're in the middle of the chunin exams."
"I know boss, I'm here to interview you for the academy newspaper!" The kid shouts up happily. "What's going on here?" The proctor questions with her hands on her hips. "Well umm, Konohamaru and the others are here to interview us for the academy newspaper…" Naruto speaks up rubbing the back of his head. "Oh, that's right." The proctor laughs lightly. "I forgot Lord Hokage said the academy was sending someone here to interview me." She continues to laugh lightly with a grin. "Alright." She speaks up as she sobers. "We're breaking. Anyone asked to do an interview for the academy newspaper please do so." Her eyes travel over the other genin, particularly the ones nearby. She then walks away with a smirk. "Squad seven! First up!" The proctor suddenly shouts as she takes her place back in front of the fence and points at us. So, why didn't she just say that before she walked away?
"I'm sure that Naruto is just talking about himself over there to those kids. I'll bet he never even mentions us." Sakura says standing behind Sasuke who was resting on the ground. I'm only a few short feet away from them leaning against the nearest tree.
"Hmm. That would be just like him." Sasuke comments almost somberly as he closes his eyes.
After waiting for the other three members to finish their interviews, I wonder if they left me as last for a reason. As Sasuke leaves the trees the three kids walk over to me and set on the ground in front of me. Their notebooks at the ready. "Alright, tell us about yourself, for the article." The one I recognize as the very kid who had been picked on by Kankuro asks. Konohamaru right?
As if I can't believe I am doing this, I sigh heavily. "I am Tala Yuhi. The fourth member of Squad 7. I'm certain that Naruto talked about himself, Sakura only talked about Sasuke, just as Sasuke said a little bit about everyone in the squad. There isn't much left for me to say." I point out for them with a shrug causing them to blink up at me quietly before they look at each other. "We heard you train a lot. Do you have any other hobbies?" The one with snot hanging from his nose asks trying to grasp at straws to salvage this interview.
"No." I state simply causing them to stiffen as if they didn't expect me to admit I do nothing but train when I'm not with my squad. "Speaking of training. Like what'd you do?" The girl asks looking up at me with wide eyes. "Are you asking because you heard from the others that I am stronger than they are and you being an aspiring female ninja. You wish to be better than the boys on your squad?" I ask her lightly getting her to giggle. She is almost too cute.
"Even if I told you what my training entails it would do you little to no good. You need to find a training regimen that works for you. Find your weaknesses and focus on them. Once you have well-rounded yourself then add in your skills so you may sharpen them along with what you had already been training on. Never say you can't. There is no try. Do or do not. Focus hard on your goal, never waver, and never slack off. If you find someone stronger than you then fight like hell to be better than them. Just remember, strength isn't everything. If you find yourself getting medium to low grades in school, work on your grades. Never settle for anything lower than a high score. Your body and mind must be equal to be a strong ninja. In missions, you will need to gather information, and know all you can about your target. Then you'll need the strength to take them down. See, you need both."
"Wow, you're smart Tala!" She squeals causing a slight smile to wrinkle my mask. Glancing at the others I notice one of the other two boys writing like mad on his notebook as if he was trying to not miss even a single word of what I had just spoken. "Next time we meet. I expect you to be stronger." I move away from the tree and walk away from them towards where my squad is waiting for me. I take my placee next to my best friend. Ignoring Sasuke standing at my left.
The kids obviously having followed me stop in front of us. "We really want to thank all of you. That was a great interview!" The female kid says happily looking up at us. "Yeah, thanks." The one with snot hanging from his nose speaks up. "Knock them dead on the chunin exam boss." Konohamaru chirps holding his thumb up. "Don't worry guys, we'll make it!" Naruto exclaims holding his own thumb up to the kids as they walk away to do more interviews.
After some time of waiting, I slip my hands back into my pockets. Watching a huge snake make a snack out of a bird behind the fence avert my gaze to the ones behind us, who had yet to look away from our squad. My gaze meets one of the grass ninja with long wiry black hair. The Genin looks at me with a smirk though I give none in return. Our locked gazes seem to break as a kunai flies past us slicing a bit of the grass ninja's hair as it does. Turning from the ninja I look to see the proctor behind Naruto whispering something to him as she reaches up to the freshly drawn blood on his face. Causing my stomach to almost painfully clench. This woman has obviously lost her grip on reality. The grass ninja chakra steps with great speed up behind the proctor. Their overly large tongue holding out the kunai that had been thrown.
"I was... Just returning your knife." They say with their left hand raising their straw hat slightly. "Why, thank you, grass ninja." They share gazes with a moment's pause though the proctor's smile never wavers. "You know I only recommend you stand this close behind me if you wish to reach a premature end." She says with more than a hint of warning in her tone as she takes her kunai back. "My pardon, with the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair mmhm, I'm afraid I just became a little excited. I meant you no harm." The ninja chuckles turning around to walk past me. "Likewise." I hear the proctor respond watching momentarily after the grass ninja.
Sasuke taps my shoulder to get my attention as he passes me the consent forms. Taking one I hand the stack to Naruto on my right. I take in the proctor's every word as I study the map she shows all of us. When finally committed to memory I begin to focus more on her words. "44 locked entrance gates, there are rivers and a forest inside. In the center is a locked tower located 10 kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test. The test consists of."
She closes the map scroll putting it away before speaking again and pulling out two other scrolls. "Anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls." She raises the two scrolls so all can see them. "You'll be fighting to get both, a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. Altogether 26 teams will be taking part in this test. So half of those teams will be going after the heaven scroll. The other half will be the earth scroll. I will hand over one kind of scroll to each team."
"Okay so how do we pass the test?" Sasuke asks causing me to glance at him from the corner of my eye. "Your entire squad must bring both a heaven and earth scroll to the tower." She answers him without hesitation as if she had expected someone to ask that question and she was ready to give an immediate answer. "That means at the very best half of us will fail. More if not every team is able to get both the scrolls." Sakura points out aloud as if it wasn't obvious. "No one ever said it would be easy. Oh and one more thing. The test has a time limit. You must finish it within five days." The proctor responds to her though this time she sounded even the slightest bit annoyed.
"5 days out there?!" Ino yells in disbelief. "What are we supposed to do for food?!" Choji shouts next to her looking completely worried as if he is about to die. "Just look around, the forest is full of things to eat. There is plenty to feed all of you." The proctor nearly chuckles as if she is enjoying the nearly panicked tones. Creepy. "Yeah but, that's not all the forest has plenty of." Kabuto states for those of us who have never been within this training ground. "There are man-eating beasts and poisonous plants in there."
"Oh, man!" Choji audibly sighs. It's obvious from his tone, that he's rethinking his decision to show up to this round of the exams. "Quiet down, this is why it's called survival you know." Ino tells him with her left hand on her hip. "Completely surrounded by enemies there won't be time to rest we'll have to keep a constant watch." He points out as he glances in my direction. I very nearly sigh before giving him a nod showing I agree with him. "Right, this test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test. And I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge."
"So umm, let's say mid-exam. Can we quit?" Shikamaru questions hesitantly. "Of course not, in the middle of a battle you can't say sorry I quit. Well, I guess you could but it'll probably get ya killed." The proctor smiles tensely as if she couldn't believe what Shikamaru had just asked. "Oh just great. This is going to be a drag." Shikamaru may be smart but his lazy streak is going to end up getting him killed someday.
"There are also some ways you can get disqualified." The proctor points out trying to move things along. "The first is simple. If all members of the team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after five days. Number two. If a team loses a member or if a member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. But most importantly none of you, absolutely none of you, may look at the contents of the scrolls until you've reached the tower."
"W. What if it just happens to flap open and you read it?" Naruto stutters out his question enticing me to reach up and place my hand on his shoulder. Causing him to look at me as his body relaxes a bit. "Let me put it to you this way young man, you. don't. want. To. Know. There are times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents, the scroll rule is to test your integrity. Okay, we're done, each team sign your consent forms and take them over there in exchange for your scrolls." She points to a booth with three ninja sitting there waiting for us. "After that, each team pick a gate and you'll be led inside." She sighs closing her eyes. "Oh, and I have one more word of advice. Just don't die!"
I watch Naruto and Sakura go in their separate directions to read through the consent form. I go to the large boulder nearby and set down next to it. Leaning my back against the uneven surface as I read my consent form. It seems this year's chunin exams are consisting of two stages where they pit the genin against each other. Yay, lucky me. Not. I glance to Sasuke, seeing him sit on the ground next to me. "Tala." He speaks up quietly as his eyes are on his consent form to seem as if he is simply reading it. As if he is trying to hide the fact he's talking to me.
"Hm?" I give a sound of question as I look back down at my consent form if only to keep distance between us. "You were right." He states nearly drawing my eyes back to him. "It is childish of me. Unlike you, I never stopped to wonder if my parents would want me to avenge them or not." I look to him from the corner of my eye to see him peering at me the same way from behind his bangs. "I assumed this much." I point out to him before I lean my head back and look up at the blue sky.
"I would think, a mother would want her child to find happiness rather than purposefully burying their life in pain and darkness. A father would want their son to not only do what's right but uphold the family name. Being an Uchiha, I would think that would be furthering your skills and establishing your place in the village. To keep up the role of Uchiha in his stead." I speak out quietly ignoring the fact that the uchiha would probably want him to take control of the village just as they had been planning to do. Causing a sound of agreement from him. "That, I know." He states somberly. "I just, can't forgive what he did."
With this admission I look away from the sky back to him. Reaching up I place my hand lightly on his shoulder if only to make him look at me fully. "That is fine. He took your family and clan away from you. Left you alone. To most people this act is unforgivable. But to move on, you don't have to forgive. Just think about what your family would want. Set it into your heart to take the path they would have you choose." I offer for him gently causing a small pained smile to show through his arrogant persona. "It's not proving how strong you are or gaining strength for a personal dark vendetta. It's becoming as strong as you can be while living your life. It's not like you are alone anymore either. You have friends who love you." I add in.
He looks away from me and back down to his consent form as he thinks. Signing it if only for something to do before handing me the pen. I move my attention to my own form and sign my name to it before my eyes widen as I feel his cheek brush past mine. His warm breath fanning over my ear. "Last night, I decided. If avenging my clan means losing you. I'll choose you." These words had my heart stopping as my fingers subconsciously crinkle my form and snap the pen in my grip.
When he pulls away from me, he chuckles as his eyes meet mine. Turning my head away from him a bit I try to will the heat that flushed my cheeks to calm. "I know you don't feel the same but I'll prove it to you. Tala. So you will." He states arrogantly with a smirk before he stands. Thankfully giving me the time I need to calm my inward emotions before I push to my feet and step up beside him as he slips his hand into his pocket. Just saying that tells me if I don't fall for you, Sasuke. You'll revert back to the path of bloodshed. I very nearly sigh knowing my thoughts are true. It's almost like he is giving me a decision. Date him or watch him kill. Thing is. I don't want to be that close to anyone. I myself have already lost too much.
Walking in the direction of where we were to turn in our consent forms. Finally allowing me to realize Naruto and Sakura were already waiting for us. Once the curtain closes behind us, we each hand in our consent forms. Sasuke takes the scroll from the examiner and then turns around to face me. He holds it out silently for me to take, causing me to nod and retrieve the heaven scroll from him. I then secure it in with my other scrolls in my bag before leaving the booth.