"Chunin exams?" Sakura worried.
"Apparently," Kakashi agreed with practiced disinterest. "All the villages are sending genin teams here. A few from Suna have already arrived. Naruto?"
"Yeah?" Naruto looked up from where he was practicing sculpting his ice as it formed. He could do basic shapes now.
"Try to use as little jutsu as possible until the exam," Kakashi advised. "And if you don't participate, we'll get a mission out of the village so we don't have to worry about spies."
"Aww," Naruto said. He dropped the small sculpture he had formed, which was good because it was supposed to be Hinata and came out looking like a hideous monster. Complex shapes, he still needed work with.
"Naruto, your jutsu has been classified as secret," Kakashi explained. "So has your kekkei genkai."
Naruto grinned. "I am that awesome, dattebayo."
"But that means we can't risk the foreign nin seeing you practice," Kakashi added.
Naruto deflated. "Oh. Yeah, I get it," he grumbled.
Kakashi smiled. "Don't worry. We can get you started on chakra nature training. You should be able to use water and wind elements already, once you learn how."
Sakura pouted. "Kakashi-sensei?" she asked timidly. "Can I start on chakra nature training too?"
Kakashi blinked and considered the young kunoichi. Her chakra was weak enough that even figuring out her nature could be difficult, but with her control it was not impossible. "Maybe someday," he allowed, "but I was going to start you on genjutsu techniques. It's an area Naruto is very bad at-"
"Hey!"
"-and Sasuke has the ability but not the temperament," Kakashi finished. He ignored Sasuke brooding just a bit more. "So you would substantially add to team seven with such skills."
Sakura perked up. Being the only one without a Nature made her feel a little second-rate, but if she could add to the team in her own way, well that made her more awesome than Naruto, who didn't have anything Sasuke didn't really. Wait, when did I start thinking Naruto was awesome at all!? Sakura sweated; she REALLY had to step up her training if that kind of tragedy was taking root in her head.
"Exams?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh, right," Kakashi said. "You each have to decide to participate or not on your own. Here are your tickets." He handed them each a slip of paper. "Take the rest of the day to think about it." And then he vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Three ninja looked at their tickets in surprise, then at eachother.
Naruto broke the silence with a huge grin. "We're going to make chunin!" he cheered. "Dattebayo!"
Sasuke hung his head slightly and closed his eyes, a small, satisfied smile on his face.
Sakura looked at her ticket. She could be stronger. She would train hard. But…was there enough time? She looked at her teammates and made a fist. "I haven't been training as hard as I should," she declared boldly, startling Naruto and Sasuke both. "That ends now. I'm in. Let's beat this thing." She tried hard not to throw up. What was she getting herself into?
Iruka hung his head and sighed. He was in a tree a fair distance away, watching his favorite students. Oh, teachers were not supposed to have favorites, he knew that, but he had a connection to Naruto and it was hard not to get attached to prodigies like Sasuke and Sakura. And now they were going for chunin. It was much too soon.
"You really think so?" Kakashi asked.
Iruka jumped, tripped, and ended up holding the branch by his hand to keep from falling. "Kakashi-san!?"
Kakashi looked up from his book. "You tripped."
Iruka swung back onto the branch with grace appropriate to a ninja who totally meant to do that. "You think they're ready?" he asked worriedly.
"Naruto, absolutely," Kakashi said. "He has the raw power that he is wasted on D-ranks."
"But does he have the maturity?" Iruka pressed.
Kakashi looked back to his book. "Who knows?"
Iruka was completely disgruntled by this. "And the others? Sakura still breaks into fangirlism. And Sasuke…"
"Iruka," Kakashi said sharply. "They are my students, now."
Iruka deflated abruptly. "I know, but…"
"And I care about them, too," Kakashi said softly. Iruka blinked at this. Kakashi closed his book. "Team seven faced an S-class missing nin and came out largely unhurt. They need these exams. They are either too strong to be genin, or they think they are too strong to be genin. The exam will test them, and teach them."
"What if it breaks them?" Iruka asked plaintively.
Kakashi actually smiled. "Those three? They'll break the exam first, dattebayo."
Iruka just stared, then chuckled. "Okay. I'll believe that," he sighed.
Hinata stared at the slip of paper in her hand. Chunin exams.
If she did not participate, her father would be angry. If she failed, her father would be far beyond angry. But she didn't stand a chance at passing, did she? She was just a rookie genin. An embarrassment to the Hyuuga.
"Hey Hinata!"
Hinata jumped and eeped as suddenly Naruto was in her face with a big foxy grin. "Na-Na-Narutokun!" she squeaked.
"What's that?" Naruto asked. "Ooo, chunin exams? You're going to go for it too?" He smiled and showed his own pass. "So am I. Let's show them what we got together, Hinata!"
Show them…together? Hinata thought. Her skin slowly turned incandescent…then went pale. FAINT!
Naruto caught her. "Why does that keep happening?" he asked the trees.
One of the trees, the one hiding a certain genjutsu-specialist jonin-sensei, silently radiated amusement at the question. Oh well. When Hinata wakes up, she'll be going for the exams, the tree thought. Her father being disappointed she can handle. Naruto? Not so much.
(Posted Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:47)
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