Naruto joined up with the rest of Team Seven before they reached the exam building. He had woken up early and went through a number of preparations, making sure his jumpsuit was clean and his headband lustered as befit a truly excellent shinobi who wasn't trying to hide at all.
Sasuke was far too emo to facepalm at Naruto's incredible ability to miss the point of dressing like a ninja. That didn't mean the idea didn't carry a certain appeal.
"The exam's on the third floor," Sakura said, looking at their tickets. "Let's go."
"Wait," Naruto said. He frowned and looked the building over. "Shouldn't we make a suitably dynamic entry?" he wondered.
"You spent way too much time with Guy-sensei," Sakura muttered, looking vaguely sick. "You aren't going to start going on about the fires of youth are you?"
Sasuke was absolutely terrified that the only word that fit that mental image was "unyouthful." That crazy jonin had infected him!
"Nah, I'm not sure I get the whole fire thing," Naruto said, utterly missing the point. "That sounds like it would hurt. But wouldn't it be better to leap in through the window instead of going through the door?"
"They'd throw us out and give us a D-rank to replace the window while the other teams watched," Sakura predicted.
"They wouldn't be that vicious," Naruto objected.
"Hn," Sasuke hnned.
"Okay, yeah they would be," Naruto sighed. "Door it is. The safer path."
The trio walked into the building and made their way up to the third floor. Naruto missed Sakura raise an eyebrow as they walked up the second flight of stairs, but Sasuke didn't. It would probably be a bad thing to admit that he was paying any attention to her at all, though.
Besides, they had a crowd of genin to get through. "C'mon, we have an exam to take!" one whined.
Two genin at the door sneered at the whiner. "The chunin exam is a high hurdle. A brat like you doesn't stand a chance."
Sasuke shouldered his way through the crowd and gave his own disgusted glare at the whining genin. "You're entirely correct about that," he said dismissively. He looked at the guards. "But you will let me pass," he continued in the same tone.
One guard sneered back. "And why would I do that?" he asked.
Sasuke contemplated giving the ninja a taijutsu lesson, but now wasn't the time to reveal their cards. His eyes narrowed. If he followed that logic, playing it close to the vest was a very ninja thing to do. Let these teams waste their time without a hint. "Fine," he said sharply. He turned on his heel and walked to the stairs. "Let's go. No point fighting here."
NRUTO GAPED AT Sasuke. "What!? We can take them, dattebayo!"
Sakura cuffed Naruto and shook her hand at how hard his skull was. Teamwork, remember Naruto?" she snapped.
Chagrined and fuming, Naruto followed. He caught Rock Lee's eye in passing and shrugged helplessly.
Lee grinned and gave Naruto a nice guy pose. This just confused Naruto more.
In the stairwell, away from the other ninja, Sasuke turned to Sakura. "You saw it first," he said simply.
Sakura nodded. "It's a genjutsu barrier. This is the second floor."
"Hah?" Naruto asked.
Sakura focused her chakra. "Kai!" The genjutsu, which was designed to test not stop genin, weakened enough to reveal the stairs going up to the real third floor.
Naruto stared. "Huh," he said. "That's impressive, Sakura."
Sakura was ready to punish Naruto for coming onto her when she realized it was a simple compliment. "Um, thanks?"
Sasuke nodded and hnned approvingly. Sakura felt lightheaded at his attention. "Well, let's go," he said, heading off fangirl glomping.
The exam waiting room was crowded. Not only that, there was killing intent leaking everywhere. The Sand genin with red hair, all the Sound genin, and a bunch of Rain all looked like they would start the bloodshed with as little as an off glance.
"Sasuke!" squealed Ino. Sasuke saw her approach and executed a sidestep and twist that dodged her charge, then pushed slightly in her side to make her stumble into Sakura.
"Get off me, pig!"
"Who would want to be on you, forehead!?"
"Troublesome," Shikamaru said, walking up with Choji.
"Oh? All the rookie nine are here?" Kiba asked. Akamaru yapped from atop his head.
"So it seems," Sasuke said blandly. He looked out over the genin and noticed the rookies were getting a large portion of the ambient hostility. "Hnn."
"It seems we are unwelcome," Shino observed.
Hinata just slouched a bit more and tried to hide her face in her coat.
Naruto looked out over the genin and adopted a crazed grin. He ran between the rookie nine and the rest of the genin, planted one foot on a table, and took a pose that looked suitably epic in his own mind. "Listen up! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to beat all of you on my way to the top! Who's first, dattebayo!?"
Everyone just stared at the idiot.
Hinata unslouched a little, but still hid her nervous smile.
Sasuke smirked slightly. Naruto was still Naruto. It was…oddly comforting.
Sakura slapped her face and groaned. Naruto was still Naruto. And why did she feel like smiling!?
Kiba rolled his eyes. "Way to make enemies of everyone," he sneered.
"You should all keep it down," a new voice said. An older genin in a Leaf headband walked over. "I am Kabuto. I have taken this exam seven times. I do not suck," he said addressing Kiba specifically. "People are upset that raw genin are taking this exam."
"How did you know I was going to say you must suck?" Kiba asked.
Kabuto pulled a card from his deck and put chakra into it. "Ah, here. Kiba Inuzuka. Your personality profile suggests you are prone to casually offensive remarks when confused, which is all the time."
Kiba growled but Shino put a hand on his shoulder. "We do not want to end up like them," he said, pointing.
Everyone turned to watch Naruto and a kunoichi with a Sound headband go at it.
Sasuke tilted his head. "He's holding back," he said.
"Really?" Kiba asked. Looked about as pathetic as Naruto's usual fights.
"She's not," Shikamaru said. "Her taijutsu…is not good."
"Er, right," Kabuto said, suddenly feeling like the script had changed on him without warning. "So, would you like me to go over the exam for you?"
"Aren't those chakra cards pretty inefficient?" Kiba asked.
"I need to keep my information secret," Kabuto pointed out.
"But the stats on Kiba are public knowledge used for marketing ninja to clients," Shikamaru pointed out.
Kabuto smiled. "And who said that's all that's on the card?" he asked slyly.
"So are you going to show us your secret stuff?" Shikamaru asked.
"Well…no," Kabuto said.
"Too troublesome," Shikamaru sighed.
Kiba thought that over, shrugged, and turned his back to Kabuto as well.
Kabuto stood there for a moment, thinking something had gone horribly wrong with how this sequence of events was supposed to play out.
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(Posted Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:42)
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