288Hi all! Hope you're all excited for another chapter! And we hit 150 reviews! Yay!
This is kind of rushed, and to be quite frank, I'm very unhappy with the final result. I blame my muse, she was distracted. (I also blame you! You know who you are, you distracted me!-j/k I promised I wouldn't blame you, but my muse certainly does!)
Hehe, secret, incomprehensible messages apart, this chapter moves things forward quite a bit. We're getting close to the part I really want to write about (*cough*soundinvasion*cough*). Only two more chapters, I think till then. WooHoo!
Anyways, Poll is still up (until next Saturday, then I'll close it) if you lovelies want to vote on Sarutobi's survival.
Disclaimer: Do not own either work, else Shika would be together with Sakura and Fred with Hermione! (OTP and all that xD)
Chapter 10: Realizations & Troublesome Tests
In the Hokage Tower, the Jounin senseis gathered in front of their leader. Most were talking but the moment the Hokage entered, silence fell over them.
"I believe we all know why you are here. We'll start with the jounin in charge of the rookie teams. Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma?"
Kakashi stepped forward. "Team 7, led by Hatake Kakashi: Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura—I nominate them to take the Chuunin Exams at this time." Whispers broke out at this, but the Hokage quieted them with a single raised hand.
Asuma went next. "Team 10, led by Sarutobi Asuma: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji—I nominate them to take them Chuunin Exams at this time." Once again whispers broke out.
Kurenai was the last one to step forward. She spared Kakashi and Asuma one slightly guilty glance before speaking. "Due to severe injuries to one of my students, I feel my team will not be able to perform at their best. Team 8, led by Yuuhi Kurenai: Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba—I do not nominate them to take the Chuunin Exams at this time." Both other jounin senseis looked at her in mild shock. They had talked weeks ago about this: they would all nominate their teams, hoping that since it hadn't been so long ago that they had been in the Academy together they would tend to work together and thus have a slight advantage over other teams. Hopefully this would give them some experience without endangering them as much. Now, without Kurenai's team there it would be slightly harder. That is, if they had actually bothered to work together. That would have been another test, that would tell their teachers about their development and whether or not they had really absorbed the lessons on teamwork. Of course, they hadn't bothered to readdress the issue after Hinata was hurt and they really should have. Still, the nominations were submitted and there was nothing they could do about it now.
The Hokage nodded, accepting the nominations. "Two out of three rookie teams. This will be interesting…" One by one, the rest of the jounin either nominated or declined to nominate their own teams. Once the last one finished the Hokage addressed them all one more time. "The Chuunin Exams will begin in exactly seven days. Information on the meeting place is in the applications. Dismissed."
~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~
It was almost a week later and Hermione was once again watching the team practice. She had helped in the beginning, once again with her coloured lights and was pleased to see that this time all three genin took her training seriously, allowing her to make the lights faster and more abundant. Kakashi was beside her. He had warmed up with his students, but opted out of the coloured lights. Now, the team was sparring against each other in a sort of mini free-for-all. Or rather, it was Sasuke vs. Naruto with Sakura sometimes talking a half step as if wanting to join but not having the courage to do so.
Kakashi's mouth twitched up beneath his mask. While Sakura wasn't outright joining the fray, just the fact that she was looking for openings was an improvement over her standing to the side and cheering Sasuke on. He doubted she would actually attack but it was an improvement. He was distracted from his thoughts by Hermione asking something.
"Why isn't Sakura involved? I thought it was a free-for-all?"
"She's not really a taijutsu type. She's more suited for subtler techniques, like genjutsu."
Hermione frowned. "Well, but she needs to be able to fight in taijutsu too, right? She won't always be able to remain out of range and Sasuke and Naruto won't always be there, either."
"True," he sighed. "But it was only a couple days ago that I walked to her and hopefully managed to convince her to take her training seriously. It had me really worried, the way she wasn't taking this seriously. Even after Wave…" He sighed again. "Hopefully it's fixed now. In any case, her attitude these last few days is an improvement."
She looked at him, incredulous. "This is an improvement?"
"Mhmm. Before, she'd just stay on the side and… and cheer." He shuddered.
"Sasuke?" He nodded in response. "I saw her asking him out the other morning. He didn't seem particularly interested."
"He isn't."
"Ah."
He cocked his head to the side. Hermione had been… different today. Distant. "Everything OK?"
"Yeah."
"Sure?"
"I—I guess. No, not really." She sighed. They seemed to be doing that a lot that day. "I'm just worried. I sent a letter to my friends back in England about two months back."
"They haven't answered?"
She shook her head. "I don't know what could be keeping them! At first I thought it was just the end of the school year—they both work for the school, you see. Now… now I don't know what to think. A week ago I sent a message to the rift wardens—the people who guard the rift between here and there asking if they had received anything or if there had been any delays. They answered back yesterday. According to them they haven't received anything from England in weeks. I just—I don't know what could've happened!"
He ran his hand through his silver hair. He finally asked, "Is there anything I can do?"
She shook her head again. "It's OK. I'll think of something. I should go now, I have things to do back at home." She hesitated for a bit before continuing. "Do you want me to come back tomorrow?" She said in a rush, but her voice sounded decidedly hopeful.
He shook his head though, and didn't miss the way her shoulders dropped slightly. "We won't be training tomorrow, but… give me a minute." He said, his voice pitched low so the genin wouldn't hear him. He was about to say something else when he stopped himself. Instead, he addressed his genin. "Naruto! Sasuke! Sakura! That's it for today!"
They immediately came to a stop. "Sensei?"
His eye curved into a smile. "This is sudden, but... I've nominated you guys for the Chuunin Selection Exams." He took three papers from his pouch, handing them to the teens. "These are your applications. This is just a nomination. If you want to participate, turn in these signed forms tomorrow at room 301 in the Academy Building at 9am. That is all. Dismissed." He waited until they were out of sight before turning back to Hermione. "We won't be doing much tomorrow, except waiting for the results to come in, but if you want…" Here, he hesitated. Unconsciously rubbing the back of his head he went on. "If you want you could keep me company while we wait. I mean…"
She smiled brightly at him. "You're inviting me to wait with you and the rest of the senseis for the results of the test?"
"Well… yeah." And Kami could he sound any more pathetic. It's not like he fancied her, really. He was just being nice, wasn't he? On the other hand, why would he even care? But just the way her shoulders had dropped when he said they weren't training the next day… The decision to dismiss his team and invite her to spend the day with him tomorrow had been almost unconscious.
"I'd love to." And her bright smile when she said that made all of his confused feelings worth it.
He watched her Apparate away before making his way back to his apartment. He hadn't planned on dismissing his students early, so had nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon. That's fine, he thought. I have much to think about.
The next day dawned and Kakashi met Hermione outside of her house. They walked in relative silence to the Academy, where there was a room set aside for the Jounin senseis to watch the first part of the exam. As soon as he felt his team approach he left her there with Asuma, whose team had already arrived to the designated classroom.
Hermione was uncomfortable. She knew Asuma from the few times Kurenai had taken her out drinking, but he spent most of his time talking to Kurenai, so she really didn't know much about him. There was also the fact that many of the Jounins gathered were shooting her weird glances. She wasn't stupid, she knew she dressed and looked nothing like a jounin—or a kunoichi, for that matter—and the others in the room must be wondering what she was doing there. Thankfully none of them approached her.
The door opened and she raised her head hoping Kakashi was back but it wasn't him. It was Kurenai. Frowning, for she was sure that Hinata was still recuperating from her injuries she was about to make her way towards her when the red-eyed woman saw her.
"Hermione? What are you doing here?"
She smiled slightly. "I could ask you the same thing. I thought Hinata was still injured?"
"She is. She's much better now, though. She left the hospital a few days ago and that cream for scars you gave her is doing wonders. Her hands still feel very stiff and she can't form hand seals as quick as she could before. It will take a few weeks but she'll be good as new. Also… I wanted to thank you."
"Hm?"
"For that other thing you did for her…"
It took a few seconds for Hermione to get what she was saying. "Oh, it was nothing really, a simple spell. She just looked so sad, I thought that might cheer her up." One of the many times Hermione had stopped to see Hinata she had found the girl crying in front of the mirror. Up until that moment she could've sworn Hinata cared nothing about her appearance, but she should've known better. Everyone cared. And Hinata now had to get used to the burn scar that covered part of her face. It wasn't too terrible, or it wouldn't be after the treatment was complete. Just a slight discoloration that most people wouldn't notice. Right now, though, it was very noticeable.
The other thing that had been damaged and the thing that Hermione had been able to correct immediately, had been her hair. Half of it was burned and charred and Hinata had been in the process of cutting it off when Hermione had walked in. In tears, she had told her that she had been growing it out after finding a picture of her mother with long hair, and now she had to cut it almost to the roots. Smiling, Hermione had told Hinata not to worry and after waving her wand around a few times, Hinata's hair was all the way down to her waist.
The shy girl had started crying again, this time in joy.
"It did." She sat down in the seat near her where Asuma was seated. Making light of it, Kurenai barely spared a wave at him before turning on her seat to talk to Hermione. Hermione resisted the urge to scoff. Why they insisted on maintaining the charade that they weren't together, she wouldn't know, but she was sure that both of them believed no one knew they were a couple.
For jounin level ninja, they were both rather naïve.
Though thinking about it, maybe that right there was the answer to her question. Kurenai must have been here to support her boyfriend as his genin took the exam. Just like she was keeping Kakashi company. Except it wasn't the same, because she wasn't his girlfriend. Why had he invited her again? Shaking her head—it wasn't as if she could guess the reason by herself—she turned back to her friend.
Kurenai was about to ask Hermione what she was doing there again when the answer to her question walked in the door.
"Yo." His voice attracted the attention of the two females and he gave them both a smile from behind his mask. "The exam is about to start, I sensed Ibiki and his team of proctors enter the room soon after I left." With that, he sat beside Hermione and stretched his arm along the back of the couch while his other hand pointed at the huge screen that had just come alive.
As they watched Ibiki explain the rules (10 questions, points deducted for cheating, etc.) his mind went back to the problem he had been pondering since the day before.
A problem which was currently sitting a few inches beside him. He took notice of the fact that his body had instinctively sat very close to her. So close that his knees were brushing against hers. As he leaned over to whisper the true purpose of the test (it had taken him less than ten seconds after hearing the rules to guess it) he couldn't help but notice the way she leaned a bit into him to hear him better.
He took a deep breath, taking in her aroma—some kind of flower and maybe vanilla? He had to repress a sigh. It appeared the conclusion he had arrived to yesterday had been correct. Of course it was, he thought. Now the problem was what to do about it? His realization that he was attracted to the witch had hit him like a sack of bricks the night before, but now, with her sitting beside her, he couldn't help but wonder how on earth had he not noticed before. Her words about the Sharingan's Curse came back to him then. It also dulls positive emotions, such as joy and happiness. Love. Logic is the only counter to deep emotions, so until you overcome it, that will be your only defence. Was that it? Had it been that thrice-dammed curse that had kept him from realizing how he felt before? It was the only explanation. He had taken a very logical approach the night before, preferring to sit down and think about every interaction he had had with Hermione, trying to discern why he had felt he needed to do something, say something, when she had been so disappointed when he told her they wouldn't be training today. He needed to get rid of that Curse soon.
So what to do about it? Or more to the point… Did he want to do anything about it? She was smart. Maybe as smart as he was, and given he had been hailed as a genius since he was five, that was saying something. She was also very beautiful. Even now he could see some of the foreign jounin stealing glances at her, though that might have been because she was obviously civilian.
There was also the fact of how his genin—namely Naruto—would react to the news that they were dating, if they ever got that far. He had already expressed a very negative opinion the week before when he had been doing nothing more than holding her back to ask for something.
This was why he had remained happily single all this time. Things were just so complicated. He was perfectly happy the way he was right now, wasn't he?
Yes, yes he was, and that was it. He would do nothing and this silly infatuation would fade in time.
No matter how smart, and pretty and funny… She giggled. Kami I have it bad, he thought to himself as she leaned towards him to tell him what she was laughing about. Apparently Naruto had not yet divined the purpose of the test because he could be seen obviously panicking in the third row from the top.
"He'll be fine," he whispered in her ear. They hadn't gone over information gathering yet with his genin, but obviously the test wouldn't be graded—no time to go through all the tests—which meant that there was something about that last question that would determine whether they would pass or fail. He was confident that Naruto, and Sasuke and Sakura, would make it through.
The rest of the test went by like that. He would start thinking about how he would do nothing about his budding attraction and then she would do something—giggle, laugh, push her hair back—and he would be back at square one. Thinking of how cute she was when she giggled, and how her laughter was so relaxing, and how nice her hair smelled.
Kami I have it bad, he thought again.
She stood up to refill her glass of water and he was watching the way her hair swayed from side to side when someone clearing their throat behind him brought him back to reality. He turned to see Kurenai and Asuma both looking at him suspiciously.
"Nani?"
"What's going on between you two?" Kurenai's eyes narrowed a bit more when she asked the question. He shouldn't have been surprised, they were jounin and both her and Asuma were rather observant—if somewhat naïve about their own situation. So it was rather unsurprising that they would've picked up his unusual behaviour.
Still, he wasn't going to just spell it for them. "Nothing," and his words meant nothing, he could see, because at that moment she walked back to them—to him—and he could tell his smile, though unseen, could be guessed at.
So he liked her, so what? That didn't give neither Kurenai nor Asuma an excuse to act like 14-year-olds who suddenly got hold of a piece of tasty gossip.
It wasn't long after that that Ibiki halted the test and presented the genin with the 10th Question. Hermione was by now wringing her hands in her lap, nervous. He had explained that even if they didn't answer any questions this was the moment that would define whether they passed or not. So she was wringing her hands in her lap and biting her lower lip and he could feel her anxiety rolling in waves out of her.
So he did the only thing he could as they watched team after team give up. He took one of her hands in his and squeezed. Her grateful smile more than made up for the ribbing he was sure to get out of Kurenai and Asuma later. And Gai, now that he saw the man only a few seats to their right his eyes fixed, not in the screen, but on their joined hands. With a raised eyebrow as if to say "comments?" he turned to Gai only for him to, thankfully silent, raise one hand, thumb up. His approval, he supposed.
Holding back another sigh, he turned back to the screen, not noticing how his fingers were slowly rubbing circles on her skin, or the way her own caressed his hand back.
~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~
"Now before we start the second test there's something I have to pass out." The voice of the Exam Proctor cut across the muttering that had started soon after she had licked the blood off of Naruto's cheek. Serves the baka well, being loud and attracting attention to us… Sakura couldn't help but think, though, that the proctor was not the only thing wrong in the exams. That genin with the long tongue certainly felt way more dangerous than a genin. And the looks—bloodthirsty, cold, eager—on some of the other genins… it unnerved her.
She listened carefully to the rules: two scrolls, 15 of each type, no holds barred. Five days, no debilitating injuries, no deaths.
Waivers.
That sole piece of information terrified her more than anything else so far in the exam. Even after the mission in Wave, where they had faced an opponent far stronger than they, she had known they would pull through. Kakashi-sensei—and Kurenai-sensei, too—would never have let them die.
Her head dipped when she remembered what a coward she had been. After Mahou-san had appeared and Team 8 had joined the fray she had stayed back. Need to protect the client, she had told herself at the time, but inside she knew the truth. She hadn't wanted to get involved. She hadn't wanted to fight. Hadn't wanted to risk dying.
She had almost quit being a shinobi right then and there after they got back to Konoha. It had only been Kakashi's assurance that she did the right thing, that she had not been prepared to fight like that, that had stayed her.
Faced now again with the possibility that they might die, that the place they were sending them into—without sensei—was so dangerous, that the other genins were definitely more prepared for this than her, that her desire to quit, to give up, rose again.
"Why did you apply yourself in the academy and choose this life?" Sensei's voice interrupted her thoughts as she thought back on the conversation they had had a little over a week ago. "Why did you apply yourself in the academy and choose this life?"
Why indeed. A week ago she had remembered her answer. She hadn't told him, he had said that as long as she knew, that was fine. And she did. Because I wanted to be strong. Because I wanted to do something worthwhile. Because—like Ino had done to her one time—I wanted to protect those I care about.
So she looked to her right—Sasuke-kun, red eyes spinning, memorizing the map—and to her left—Naruto, his face set on a grin, always happy, always with a kind word to her, even when she didn't deserve it—and she knew, she knew she had found her reason to be strong.
Her precious people to protect.
With a nod, she straightened up. She would walk into that forest with her head held high and she would come out the other side, her teammates with her, whole and alive and ready.
~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~oO*Oo~
On the other hand… She screamed as she jumped to dodge yet another attack from an older Konoha nin. The team wore something akin to a full body suit, all black. They must have pegged them for rookies and thought they were easy pickings.
And they would've been, had they not had Sasuke-kun and Naruto-of-the-Hundred-clones on their team. Her… not so much. But as the test required all three of them to be alive and well and she was carrying their scroll… Suffice to say she was being looked after.
Sasuke-kun had looked very put out when they decided to let her have the scroll, she was weak, he had sais so to her face, and even though Naruto had defended her it lacked the usual candour. It was as if he just didn't feel she deserved to be defended as strongly as he used to.
For some reason, the thought made her sad.
She jumped away again, berating herself for getting lost in her thoughts. She sent back a kunai with an explosive tag attached, but her opponent dodged it easily. That was fine, he dodged left, where she could see a bunch of Naruto's clones hiding.
How the older ninja hadn't been aware of them, she didn't know, but she was thankful. He was soon subdued, overwhelmed by the numbers rather than skill, and joined his companion in the land of the unconscious.
Seeing he was the only one standing, the remaining nin set some smoke bombs as a distraction and by the time all three of them got free of it he had fled—taking his comrades and their scroll, with him.
They had little time to rest, though, for not two hours later they were ambushed by a single Kusa nin. As she watched Naruto get separated by a strong attack she couldn't help but wonder if this would be the fight where they would die.
The feeling intensified a thousand-fold when the Kusa nin hit the with her Killing intent. Sakura couldn't breathe. She saw her death coming, over and over again. She saw herself die in ways she had never even thought possible. It was like Zabuza all over again. Except much worse. She couldn't move, she could barely think. Then, out of the corner of her eye she saw Sasuke breaking out of whatever it was that had a hold on them.
The Kusa nin moved her lips, she was saying something, but Sakura was in no shape to process the words. Taking a deep breath, she realized that whatever it was the other nin was doing had ceased. Standing up, she took a kunai hand and threw it at the Kusa nin, while at the same time jumping to the side to take refuge behind the same tree Sasuke was in. She quickly took a mental catalogue of their abilities—her own coming woefully short compared to his—and came to the conclusion that they were screwed.
"Sasuke-kun…"
"Hn."
"She's… she's too strong." He looked at her then, a deadpan expression that conveyed more than any words—or grunts—he could've said. No shit, Sherlock. "I—If Naruto were here…" She tried to say that if Naruto were here he could provide a distraction. Spam clones until they could get away, but Sasuke's rage filled expression stopped her short.
"I don't need the dobe to fight her!" And with that he was off, sending three shuriken at the Kusa nin, followed by a Katon technique. Sakura, seeing no other option took to the trees in an effort to harass the other nin from a different angle. Since Sasuke wasn't leaving…
She quickly tied two explosive tags to a couple of kunai and sent them in the direction of the Kusa nin. One she dodged and the other was lodged at her feet, but half a second before it went off the enemy nin was already on the air, her own shuriken flying back at Sakura who quickly jumped to another branch to avoid them.
She took out another pair of kunai and prepared to fire, but she could barely follow the movements of Sasuke and the other nin. If she threw them, she risked hitting Sasuke as much as the other nin. She was startled when someone landed on the branch beside her. She turned to see Naruto, covered in a sticky something grinning back at her.
"Sakura-chan, who're we fighting?"
She wanted to call him baka, but she had refrained ever since that day they had argued and he had run away from her looking so sad and broken. She still thought about him that way, though, just didn't vocalize it. "Some kunoichi from Kusa. I don't," she swallowed, nervous. "I don't think she's really a genin, Naruto…"
"No problem! Uzumaki Naruto, Future Hokage will save the day!" and with that, he was joining Sasuke spamming clones that the kunoichi took down with little effort.
By the fifth wave of clones even Sakura, who had known Naruto had enormous stamina had to rub her eyes incredulously. It seemed that the foreign kunoichi was as tired of it as Sakura was impressed, though, because she suddenly stopped moving, looking furious.
"ENOUGH!" Sakura saw her doing some hand seals, and she was only able to shout half a warning for her team to get away before the kunoichi was done and threw her arms forward towards them. "Futon: Great Breakthrough!"
Despite trying to anchor herself to the tree with chakra, the attack proved much too strong. She went flying backwards, hit a tree, and blacked out.
AN! Yay! Another chapter done! Hope you all liked it! A bit of a cliffie here at the end and this time I can honestly say... KuKuKuKuKu!
We see a bit of KaMione moving forward (one of them finally admitted his feelings to himself! Finally!) and a bit of how Kakashi's talk with Sakura affected her. She's still not all the way there, but she's improving. Somewhat.
Also, first serious repercussion in the story... Team 8 is not in the exams! *gasp* Poor Hinata-chan, being so sad D:
What will this do for the prelims? Will there be any prelims? Hehe, for me to know and you guys to find out... Next week!
Once again another reminder poll up until next Saturday! Vote for Sarutobi Hiruzen's fate!
Let's see how many reviews we have this time! We're starting at an even 150, so review away!
Cheers~!
C.
PS: We broke the 50k word barrier this chapter, yay!