Naruto stretched loudly as he walked into the waiting room with the rest of his team, coming from a brief congratulations speech from Iruka.
"Naruto-kun!" a familiar voice called out as he came into the waiting area.
He looked over and saw Hinata there, standing up and looking very flush, as if she'd recently just stopped training. The Hyuuga girl slowly and nervously raised her hand to wave slightly.
"Oh, Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out with a smile and started to angle toward her. "How long have you been here?"
"We got here the first day, Naruto-kun," Hinata said. "We...we heard you were hurt. Are you okay now?"
"Oh, hai, hai," Naruto said. "There was this freak snake guy or lady or something that attacked all three of us..."
"Snake!" Ino snapped stepping past Hinata as if the Hyuuga weren't there and grabbing Naruto by the scruff of his orange jumper. "Did you say something about a 'snake freak' What did they look like?"
"Ino," Naruto asked, blinking. "Why are you shaking me?"
"It wouldn't matter," Sasuke said. "The face we saw was a decoy."
He winced a bit and reached for his neck and grimaced before forcing the pain back down.
"Sasuke-kun," Ino said, letting Naruto go and moving toward him. "Are you okay? Did he...do anything to you?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes and clinched his hand over the curse mark as Ino asked him that question. Behind them, Ryoko was sitting down seiza.
"Why are you so interested?" he asked darkly.
Ino looked around carefully.
"Because..." she whispered. "Someone...hurt Sakura-chan. Someone who uses snakes."
Her own eyes narrowed darkly then and a Sasuke noticed the other two members of Ino's team watching her cautiously.
"And I'm going do anything I can to bring hi..."
"No," Sasuke said.
"No?" Ino asked, blinking.
"He took the best Ryoko, Naruto and I could throw at him," Sasuke said. "And laughed at us."
Then his voice rose to more conversational levels.
"A silly girl like you wouldn't understand what is to face death like that," Sasuke said as he brushed past Ino and straightened his clothing.
"Ano..." Ryoko said, looking up. "Uchiha-san...sh..should you not be more polite."
"Forget it, Scaredy-Cat," Ino snapped, shaking slightly. "I'm sure he's just not feeling his normal self."
"Did you say something about Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, stepping forward nervously.
"Oh, Naruto," Ino said, frowning before ignoring him and walking to join her team.
Gaara turned to watch the last part of the exchange between Sasuke and Ino with a bit of curiosity. This girl let that one tell her what to do?
And he claimed that she couldn't understand what it was to face death?
He knew that was wrong. The blonde girl had faced him pridefully despite her weakness. So he knew she could face death. It made him curious what power the Uchiha had over her that she would bend to that one, but not him.
"What did she mean about Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, turning around to face Hinata. "Do you think Sakura-chan is fine?"
He took in the Hyuuga girl's face and flinched at the expression he saw there. A lump of nonsensical guilt started to flitter through him and he wondered briefly what he had done wrong to make Hinata look more upset than usual.
"Uh...Hinata-chan," he asked. "Are you okay? Did I do something?"
"No," Hinata declared quickly, shaking her head vigorously and blushing. "I...I'm just worried about Sakura too. But I'm sure she'll be fine."
"Do you know what happened?" he asked.
"Not really, no," Hinata said quietly. "Ino and her team haven't explained."
"So how did you guys do?" Naruto asked after a moment of silence. "Didn't you say you got here first."
"Oh, hai," Hinata said.
"Wow, you guys must be awesome," Naruto said.
Hinata flushed briefly.
"Kiba and Shino are very skilled," Hinata agreed.
"Yeah, like you aren't," Naruto said with an amused snort. "You can't fool me into thinking your not strong."
"Oh no!" Hinata said, shaking her hands. "I'm...I'm really not that good, Naruto-kun."
"Hinata-chan," Naruto said, looking around. "You've passed the second stage of the chunin exam. That pretty much makes you awesome by default."
"Ano...maybe?" she said, shrugging.
Behind them, Kiba walked in from the lounge, Akamaru perched on his head, and a soda in his hand. He glanced around and immediately saw Naruto speaking to Hinata. Looking past that, he saw Ryoko sitting in her standard seiza off to the side, partially obscured by Naruto.
"There she is," he said with a relieved breath before strutting over there. "Ryoko-chan."
Ryoko flinched in surprise and looked up toward the dog-boy.
"Let me get you a soda," he said.
"Ano..." Ryoko said, blinking. "Ar..are you courting me?"
All eyes seemed to be latched onto Kiba for the moment as the dog boy looked up and around, facing flushing in embarrassment at Ryoko's statement.
"Uhh...just come here!" Kiba declared loudly, grabbing Ryoko's arm and pulling her along.
"I...I had no idea yo..you could be so manly," Ryoko said nervously as she took a coquettish pose behind Kiba.
"It's not what you think!" Kiba protested.
"It is not?" Ryoko asked, sounding vaguely disappointed.
Ino started to open her mouth when Shikamaru cut her off.
"The less said about that right now the better," he noted.
"Wh..what did you want to speak to me about?" Ryoko asked.
"What we were talking about before," Kiba said firmly.
"Wha...oh, I told you," she said, quietly. "You..d..do not understand."
"You're damn right I don't understand," he said. "Why would I understand anybody wanting to kill myself."
"I...I do not wish to," Ryoko said. "B...but if I dishonor my family..."
"Then you kill yourself?" Kiba asked.
"I clea...cleanse my family honor," Ryoko corrected. "But...but there is no need. I a..am careful to not be a..burden to my family honor."
"Who shoved that garbage down your throat?" he asked.
For the first time since he'd met her, Kiba saw Ryoko's face firming up in anger.
"It is not garbage!" she protested. "It is the way of my family! My mother is descended from ancient samurai blood that goes back to older times than the days of this shinobi world. I will not be a poison to my own family!"
She straightened her kimono and calmed herself down as she started to walk out of the lounge.
"Ryoko-chan," Kiba said. "Does Joseibi think that way?"
The martial artist stopped at the doorway for a moment and then walked out.
Neji came into the waiting room after his team had finished with their messenger and frowned as he looked across the waiting room to see Hinata speaking casually to Naruto Uzumaki.
He had to admit that Naruto was not the completely worthless ninja that Neji had first taken him to be. The shadow clones had been very much a surprise, but he was still inferior, only acting as a support for the rest of the team. Coming in at the last moment to steal a fraction of the glory earned by someone else.
He was thus, only mostly worthless.
It was thus somewhat understandable why Hinata might be drawn to him like those other girls were drawn to Sasuke.
But it was still unacceptable that a Hyuuga, especially one of the main house, should so stain themselves with such a commoner, inferior ninja's presence. It compounded the other failures of Hinata to this point.
Now that they were in the final portions of this test, he expected the teams to be broken up. Then the failures like Naruto and Hinata would be culled from the rest of the pack.
At this point, Ryoko Saotome almost stomped into the room with a very clear expression of anger on her face before she sat down into seiza again and held that posture.
When Kiba came in a few moments later, looking frustrated and angry himself, she pointedly turned to look away from him.
"Ryoko-chan...?" Hinata asked. "Kiba...What is going on?"
"Kiba does not respect my the traditions of my family," Ryoko said, putting out her chin and not stuttering at all for once.
"It's a stupid tradition," Kiba protested.
"I must protect my family's reputation," Ryoko commented.
"And what's shoving something into you going to do for your family reputation?" Kiba snapped.
"Quiet," Gaara demanded. "Both of you."
"Yeah, that just went way past the too much information border," Ino said.
Ryoko blinked in honest confusion as her anger faded away.
"It's not what you think!" Kiba declared desperately before hanging his head.
"Ano...?" Ryoko said, looking around and hoping someone would explain matters to her.
Thyme, the badger-like Musk, and his fellow arrived with Kashou behind them near the end of the fifth day, looking distinctly disappointed.
"We never found this supposed Saotome in all the five days," they snapped bitterly at their third. "Your supposed skills were worthless. You weren't even around to help us acquire a scroll."
"Well, well," Kashou said. "If she is a Saotome after all, they maybe she can pull her presence out of the flows of chi. You've heard of the Redeemed School's tricks I'm sure."
"Feh," Thyme said. "Caper and I don't fear any of the supposedly mighty Senken. We leave that to you outsiders who are so impressed with such upstart traditions like the Saotome family."
"Then why are you so interested?" Kashou asked.
"If there is a Saotome," Caper said with a leer. "And a female at that, then she would be a great addition to the bloodline."
Thyme looked around and frowned.
"The chi flows in this building are complex," he said in dissatisfaction. "Yang flows in from the jungle outside, but there are many deep shadows and quiet in this place. It is steeped in Yin as well."
He said the last with a curl of the lip. Kashou smirked at that. Like many chi traditions, the Musk insisted on focusing on one side of the Tao: Yang, as was the most common such bias. The strong flows of Yin here would be useless for them.
"You think we'll have to fight in here?" Caper asked in consideration.
"We're weary and on the edge," Kashou said. "Of course they'll bring it to a test here."
"Then we'll just have to pace ourselves and familiarize us with the chi," Caper said with a shrug.
They nodded and walked out to join the other passing teams, eyeing the various women in consideration as they did so. For such a misogynist race, they still insisted on strong women as good breeding stock, and the children here would seem to be appropriate candidates.
The first they encountered was a young girl with long black hair and a pair of glasses that were held to her eyes with string rather than having frames that were set onto her ears.
They felt the way the chi coming off of her was stronger than that of many adult Joketsuzoku and stopped in a combination of awe and greed. She was too young to be attractive, but in a few years she'd be ready to add her clear strengths to the Musk.
Even if they did not find the pretender queen, then they had found a potential prize. Given Ryoko's own preference for yang and lack of skill with yin, they did not see that a fair amount of chi was of the dark chi. And unless they found Kashou's Mind Walk ability, that would likely remain the case.
"Saotome?" Thyme asked.
The girl blinked and turned to look back at them with a nervous smile.
"Hmm...ha..hai," Ryoko said nervously. "D...do I know you?"
"No," Caper said, licking his lips. "We are familiar with your family."
Ryoko regarded them carefully and bowed nervously.
"I..I hope th..that father did not st...borrow any..anything important," she said. "I...I am not sure where to find him anymore."
"That's fine," Thyme said, looking her over.
When Kiba stepped around in front of Ryoko and crossed his arms, he glared at the two Musk.
"Lay off her," he said. "Now."
"What's this," Caper asked. "A lost brother here among the weakling outsiders?"
"Try me and we'll see how weak I am," Kiba practically growled.
"Let's quiet down," Kashou noted walking between the two. "It looks like things are about to get started."
Kakashi watched his genin line up as a team and noted Sasuke occasionally reaching up for his neck in pain. He'd been briefed on Orochimaru's interference with the exam and narrowed his eyes, wishing Anko wasn't with the Haruno girl just at the moment.
He had a suspicion but he wanted someone who would know to confirm.
"I thought as much," the Hokage said watching Sasuke himself after finishing his speech.
"Hokage-sama?" Ibiki asked, looking toward the old man.
"Nothing to worry about for the moment," Sarutobi said before turning to look at Kakashi. "For now, he can participate, but if things get out of control..."
"I Understand," Kakashi said.
Apparently, the Hokage was thinking as far ahead of him as usual.
"Oh, and it is individual competition from here on out," Hayate said. "So if anyone wishes to quit, now is the time."
The lines of ninja and martial artists among remained solid until two hands rose into the air to the surprise of everyone.
Hayate blinked and took down the names.
"Kinnosuke Kashou, of Taniga," he noted. "And Kabuto Yakushi, of Konoha. Very well."
"What do you think you are doing?" Caper demanded angrily as Kashou started to walk away.
"How will I be searching the village if I'm stuck in these matches?" he asked with a smile.
"Weakling," Thyme snorted.
The man shrugged and walked away towards the back of the room, trading a look with the other man who'd quit with him. The look they exchanged was all so very friendly, but both saw through the shallow image, familiar to each.
"I need to watch that one," both thought as they left the room.
Behind them, Hayate indicated the electric scoreboard behind him.
"And the first match of the preliminaries will be decided now."
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Mon, 20 Sep 2010 10:22)
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