Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Irony of it All ❯ Chunin Exams? ( Chapter 16 )

Alright so the next one will definitely be Chunin exam number 1!! Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 16: Chunin Exams?

 

Rayne groaned as she walked along. She was being followed as she walked to the bridge. Not the bridge, just their usual team meeting place. The people who were following her was no other than… Konohamaru and his friends. It all started the other day, damn Naruto. She had made the mistake of hanging out with him. It also happened to be the day he was "playing ninja". How the hell a ninja "plays ninja" remains to be known. Then it build up from the day they went together to look for the clover. In some way or another, Konohamaru grown a rather large crush on her...it was kinda creepy...

"She is very pre-tty."

"So you had better be-lieve!"

"Got yourself a fanclub?" Rayne froze right in her footsteps. She turned and looked behind her to see Sasuke behind her "fanclub" who were still chanting. Without knowing, her face turned a slight pink.

"Well eheh...they were just leaving." Rayne glared at the boys who actually got the hint and scrambled off. A smirk twitched at Sasuke's lips as he pushed past her, walking faster towards the bridge. Rayne stood there for a while, blinking as birds chirped ahead. After a minute she shook her head viciously and continued on her way to the bridge. Sasuke was leaning against the railing, Sakura was standing a few feet away and Rayne were sitting on the railing on the opposite side of the bridge. As footsteps were heard, they all turned their attention to the orange teamate running up. Naruto stopped in front of Sakura.

"Good morning Sakura!" Seconds later, Naruto's expression turned aggravated. Rayne and Sakura followed Naruto's gaze to Sasuke, who was giving off a similar look. Naruto crossed his arms and turned his back away as Sasuke turned his head. Sakura slumped in between them. Rayne sighed; it had been like this since they all got back from the Water Country. It made no sense really, to think after all that happened they'd all be friends, but no, their team just HAD to be a bunch of egotistic morons but hey, what else was new? It was weird actually, the way everyone acted now. Rayne all knew what had happened, excluding Sakura, and yet, they all acted as though nothing had happened. It was a few hours later and now everyone was leaning against the railing. Except for Rayne, she was sitting on the opposite side still, her feet dangling off the bridge as she threw things into the river. Sakura and Naruto were either sleeping or in such a state of boredom they were literally bored out of their minds, even Sasuke looked irritated.

"Hello everyone, good morning." Everyone immediately turned around to the sound of Kakashi's voice. Naruto and Sakura immediately sprung into their:

"YOU'RE LATE!"

"Well today I got lost-"

"LIAR!" Naruto and Sakura yelled in unison. Kakashi jumped down onto the bridge, as the team grew closer to him. Except of Sasuke, because of course, he was too good for the rest of them.

"Kakashi-sensei! What mission are we doing today!? Is it really exciting!? I need a big one! One that shows how powerful I am, my way of the ninja!" Naruto was real close to Kakashi, fire in his eyes. Kakashi held his hands up and sweatdropped.

"Okay okay,just calm down.." Rayne sweatdropped and sighed and glanced at Sakura..

“He just wants to show off in front of flat-pink one...” Sasuke was standing back, with his eyes closed, until he realized he was being watched. Sasuke looked at Naruto, as Naruto gave Sasuke a look of evil. Rayne watched Naruto's face, able to tell he was thinking about all the times Sasuke had shown him up in missions, no doubt Naruto was fanaticizing about how he was gunna show Sasuke up. Rayne, Sakura and Sasuke all put on a face just screaming 'bakka...'. Yet that didn't change Naruto's mood, he still stared at Sasuke with extreme fighter's spirit.

"I wanna say something like that!" Naruto yelled out of nowhere. They all sweatdropped, yep, he had been fantasizing again...

"Naruto, what are you doing? We have a mission to complete..." Sakura said. Kakashi nodded but turned to Rayne.

“The Hokage needs you, Rayne. Come back when you're done.” Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her but Rayne just shrugged and whistle. A raven flew and landed on her arm. She scratched under his neck and patted his head.

“Stay with the team so I know where they are, k? If I'm not back by the time they're done with their mission then call me.” The raven caws and flew to Sasuke's head and makes itself comfortable. Sasuke, irritated, pointed at the raven.

“Get it off.” Rayne chuckled and shook her head.

“Nope. Once Ace finds someone and is comfortable with them then, you shouldn't force it off unless you want to have peck marks. Besides, leave it on your head for a while and it'll get use to you. You can then ask it to move somewhere, as long as its near you, then Ace will listen.” Rayne then ran off toward the Hogake tower. Today was nothing but easy, crappy missions. First they were pulling weeds out of some cranky lady's garden. As Sakura plucked some weeds and put them in a basket, she looked over to see what Naruto was doing. Sakura sighed as he wasn't he paying attention to what he was doing. He kept glancing back at Sasuke who was pulling weeds off in his own little world. Naruto suddenly got angry. He obviously wanted to beat Sasuke badly because all of a sudden a flurry of weeds...and plants...came from Naruto's area.

"Hey you!" The team looked up from their batch of weeds over to Naruto. He was standing in front of what use to be a flowerbed...and a big green pile in the middle of it. Sakura sweatdropped.

“Naruto, you bakka...” Naruto turned to the slightly large, rough talking woman who was watching Naruto with hate.

"Hey lady, I got all the weeds out for you!" The lady closed her eyes and looked down, shaking slightly. Naruto's smile turned to a frown.

"What's wrong?" The woman shook more as now both of his other teammate were watching.

"You picked weeds.... along with the herbs I've been growing!" Naruto's eyes widened. The rest of his team closed their eyes as beating sounds and yelling were heard. Their next mission was cleaning the river. Kakashi sat boredly against a tree, reading his book as the rest was in the river picking up trash. Sakura and Sasuke's basket was half full as they picked up a can and placed into the basket on their back. Sakura bent down to pick up a piece of metal as she heard a large splash followed by:

"Someone help me!!!" Everyone turned their attention to Naruto as he tried to swim. He must have tripped and was no being swept down stream...to a waterfall. Sasuke quickly reacted, running quite swiftly considering the water, towards his idiot teammate. Naruto let out a bloody scream as he was sucked down the waterfall. Naruto was now dangling in the air by his ankle, Sasuke who was hanging by a rope he had attached to a tree and was holding Naruto.

"Loser..." Naruto glared up at Sasuke. Afterwards, the team was assigned to walk dogs.

“Hey! No! Don't go that way! Bad dog!" A dog was dragging along Naruto almost as big as he was towards where else, a field of booby-traps. Sasuke, and Sakura just stood back and watch. Sasuke was walking a wiener dog as Sakura walked a small golden retriever.

"That bakka..." Sasuke commented. Sakura sighed with an annoyed expression. "He just had to get the big dog..." They all watched at Naruto struggled to halt his dog, but with fail. Naruto stared in horror as him and the dog neared a hole in the fence.

"No! We're not suppose to go in there!" The team watched in slight awe as explosion after explosion happened. Red flames and black smoke filled the scene in front of them as Naruto had been finally pulled in. Seeing as none of them had even bothered to make an effort to try and help Naruto, it was funny...in a car crash kind of way. As the smoke cleared there was Naruto, covered in suet and breathing out smoke. The two sighed and bowed their heads. The dog licked Naruto.

 

WITH RAYNE

 

“Hokage-sama? You wanted to see me?” Rayne asked knocking on the door before she goes in.

“Yes, come in.” Sarutobi answered. Rayne entered and raised on eyebrow in surprised to see Mitsu there as well.

“Sit down, Rayne.” Rayne sat next to Mitsu and closed her eyes.

“What's up?” She asked after a moment of silence.

“Hokage-sama is wondering what we're going to do now that everyone knows that we're from the Kouseki clan, nee-san.” Misu explained, filling me in. I nodded for him to continue.

“He says that there's going to be a lot of people coming after us, since the Kouseki clan was famous and just about as strong as the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan.” Rayne reopened her eyes to face the Hokage.

“So you're saying that we might be in danger since I'm only a genin and Mitsu is just an academy student? Sorry to sound rude, Hokage-sama but we're stronger than we seem.” The Hokage nod slowly.

“I know how you feel, Rayne. The Chunin exams are coming and other countries may want to take advantage of this moment to capture you. I do not know if you will be taking this exam but nevertheless, you both need to be ready.” Mitsu and Rayne became quiet for a moment before Rayne smirk.

“Well then, Mitsu and I would just have to be ready when the time comes.” Mitsu smile and also nodded. Sarutobi smiled and sigh.

“Seeing as you made up your mind, I can't stop you two. However, I will keep a handful of Anubs ready in case of any attacks. Mitsu and Rayne nod. Rayne then turn toward Mitsu.

“Mitsu, did you activated your Kekki Genki yet?” Mitsu frown but shook his head no.

“But… I did activate something… but I don't know if it's the Kouseki kekki genki.”

“Show me.” Mitsu closed his eyes and opened them to show red.

“The Sharingan…” Rayne, along with Sarutobi thought.

“How did you get the Sharingan?” Sarutobi asked. Mitsu deactivated it and shrugged.

“I don't know. I was training and then when I went back to wash up I found my eyes red like this. What's the Sharingan?”

“The Sharingan is only from the Uchiha clan.” Rayne explained. Sarutobi nod with Mitsu forrowing his brow in confusion.

“But, we're not from the Uchiha clan…and I'm not… adopted, am I?” Mitsu asked looking toward Rayne. She shook her head, closed her eyes and reopened them to show the Sharingan also. She then deactivated it.

“Maybe we got it from dad. After all, Hane is not his real last name… it could be anything.” The three then heard a call, or more like a caw from a bird.

“Time to go, sorry Hokage-sama but my team is finish with their missions,” The Hokage waved her off.

“Mitsu, I think the academy is over too.” Mistu nodded. Rayne ran off with Mitsu following.

 

It was a while later as the team walked back from missions. Sakura and Sasuke supported Naruto between the two of them with Kakashi walking along side, Sakura lecturing Naruto.

"This wouldn't have happened if you weren't so reckless!" Sakura scolded Naruto. Sasuke smirked.

"You just need help all the time." Naruto got angry and pushed away.

"SASUKE!!!" Naruto was about to lunge at Sasuke when Sakura's arm cut his path off. Sasuke rolled his eyes and began walking away, with the raven flying behind him.

"If you don't quit it, I'll finish you off!" Sakura yelled. Kakashi sighed.

"This team is so out of order lately..."

"Yeah, and you're the one disrupting the teamwork Sasuke! You're always sticking your nose into everything!" Naruto yelled, shaking his fist at Sasuke's back.

"That's you idiot..."

"If you want to actually become useful..." Sasuke stopped walking and looked behind him to Naruto. "Become stronger than me." Kakashi was now no longer standing watching them and had his back to the group. Looking up from his book he sighed. "Well then, shall we all quit for today? I have to turn in the mission report..."

"Then I'm going home..." Sasuke turned around and started walking away again.

"Hey Sasuke, wait up!" Sakura started to chase after Sasuke. Naruto held his hand out but sighed and slumped.

"Ah man..." Naruto sighed and looked ahead to see Sasuke walking and Sakura slumped. Naruto stared to wave like an idiot.

"Hey Sakura, forget Sasuke! You can always train with me!" Kakashi must have been thinking the same thing because in a puff of smoke, he was gone. Naruto noticed a rock walking toward him because he looked behind him and his eye began to twitch.

“Is that suppose to be a rock?” Naruto took a few steps forward, the "rock" followed. Naruto began to run back and forth, the "rock" followed. Naruto halted after a while...and the "rock" did the same. Naruto pointed an accusing finger at the "rock".

"A square rock with two holes does not exist!"

"I should have thought this would have been the outcome from my rival..." a voice said from inside the horrible disguise. The disguise began to glow a bright yellow, making Naruto shield his eyes slightly. It exploded, different colored smoke rising into the air. The smoke cleared to show who other than Konohamaru and his two best friends.

"You guys, I think we used too much gunpowder..." Konohamaru coughed along with his little buds. The little girl stood up, striking a pose. "The girl with the sex appeal of an adult, and the female ninja from the senior group, Moegi!" (Someone's going to be a slut… no offence to her but this is what I first thought when she said the `girl with the sex appeal of an adult' part…)

"I love math, Udon!" A rather nerdy looking boy jumped back to Moegi.

"The village's number one genius ninja, Konohamaru!" Konohamaru stated as he too struck a pose.The three kids posed together and chanted. "And when we're together we form, the Konohamaru Ninja Squad!" Naruto was watching boredly with his hands behind his head.

“Just as I thought, you three...." Naruto took a closer look. "And why are you wearing those goggles?" The three friends grinned proudly, Konohamaru touched his goggles and explained.

"We copied the old you." Naruto stared a while before asking.

"What do you want?" Konohamaru whispered something to Udon as Moegi stepped forward.

"Um, leader, do you have time right now?" Naruto smirked and shook his head.

"Nope, I'm off to train."

"But you said you'd play ninja with us!" Konohamaru objected. Why would a ninja need to play ninja? No idea.

"What's the point in a ninja playing ninja?" Naruto looked at Sakura, who was slumping towards the group. As everyone looked at Sakura, she stared at Naruto. Naruto started to laugh stupidly as red appeared on his face.

"Huh? Who's this girl?" Konohamaru asked. Konohamaru stared at Sakura a while, seeming to be deep in thought. A moment later his face lit up and with a sly smile, looked at Naruto.

"Aye boss, I get it. You're smoother than I thought."

"Huh?" Naruto looked down.

"She's your..." Konohamaru held up his pinkie. "Girlfriend right?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

“You kids are pretty sharp."

"NO!!!" Sakura suddenly punched Naruto in the face, sending him hurtling into the fence behind him. The kids stared in horror, calling out Naruto's name. Konohamaru raised a fist to Sakura.

"You ugly hag!" Sakura started to crack her knuckles.

“Uh-oh…” Konohamaru started running away. Sakura chased after Konohamaru, Moegi chased after Sakura, Udon chased after Moegi and Naruto stood up and ran after everyone else. Konohamaru kept running forward, not looking where he was going, until he was suddenly knocked backward on his back. Sakura stopped and so did everyone else. Konohamaru looked up to see what he had plowed into. Turned out it was a girl with blonde spiky hair and guy dressed in black with what look like a mummy on his back.

"Hey kid, watch it!" the guy in black stated. Naruto stood next to Sakura as everyone bunched together, watching Konohamaru. They all gasped as Konohamaru was lifted by the collar of the neck.

"Konohamaru!"

"Hey put him down!" Naruto declared, stepping up.

"I think this brat needs to know who he's messing with..." the guy in black said, tightening his grip on Konohamaru.

"Stop it... unless you want to get into trouble again..." the girl said, glancing around.

"I-I'm sorry! W-we were just.." Sakura started. Sakura looked at the two in slight fear.

“Who are these people?”

"Let him go!" Naruto shouted. Konohamaru fell to the ground as blood spurted from the boy's face. Everyone gasps, then looked to the tree next to them. Sitting in it was no other than Sasuke. He sat, glaring at the boy and tossing a rock up and down in his hand.

"What are you doing in our village?" Sasuke questioned coldly.

"Sasuke!!" Sakura exclaimed, squealing. Naruto looked up in annoyance, the boy looked up with hatred and the girl blushed as she looked up at Sasuke. Konohamaru ran back to the group, besides Naruto. Sasuke glared down at the ninja in front of them.

"Get lost." Sasuke ordered, crushing the rock in his hand into dust. Moegi and Sakura stood with hearts in their eyes as Udon watched like it was the coolest thing in the world.

"He's just so cool!" they all said in unison. Konohamaru turned to Naruto.

"Naruto, compared to him, you're so not cool..." Naruto started to make up excuses as Konohamaru discharged all of them. The boy in black glared.

"Get down here brat, so I can rip you to shreds!" The boy took the mummy type thing from his back, the bandages unraveling.

“Oi.” The boy and girl turned around, along with everyone else turning their heads to see a glaring Rayne.

“Ray-nee-chan!” Naruto shouted

“What are you doing to my teammates?” She asked in a cool cold voice. The boy growled.

“Great. More bugs keeps on showing up everywhere.”

“Oh really?” Rayne pretended to look around, glancing everyone in the eye before saying,

“The only bug I see is someone with painting on their face.” Rayne then walked to the other side with the rest of the group, along with Mitsu. At this Naruto laughed while Mitsu, who is next to Rayne bit his lip to hold in a laugh.

“Why you!”

"Kankuro, no!" the girl shouted.

"Kankuro.Stop." Sasuke froze. He glanced over, there was a boy with maroon hair, hanging upside down in the same tree as Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes were wide.

“I-I didn't even sense him!” Rayne looked up at the kid. Now he was weird...his eyes were an aqua and his eyes had what looked like an overdose of eyeliner. Kankuro and the blonde looked slightly frightened as Kankuro began to speak.

"G-Gaara..." Rayne narrowed her eyes at this kid named Gaara. You hadn't sensed him come, and from Sasuke's expression, either had he.

KAKASHI'S POV

"I have summoned you all here for a reason," the Hokage smirked. He had all us squad leaders lined up in front of him.

"You should know why..."

"Is it that time of year already?" I asked dully.

"You've already reported this to other countries. I've seen a few already..." Asuma stated.

"So, when is it?" Kuraine asked.

"One week from now," the Hokage spoke, smoking his pipe.

"That's sudden..." I said. The Hokage exhaled smoke.

"I will make the official announcement seven days from now, the first of June, we will begin the Chuunin selection exam.

 

BACK WITH THE OTHERS

 

“You're an embarrassment to our village," the maroon-haired boy, Gaara, said. "What do you think we came to the Leaf Village to do?" Rayne raised an eyebrow as she listened. This Gaara kid, his voice was like death itself. She glanced over to the shocked Sasuke near the boy, they were similar in a way.

"L-listen Gaara, th-these guys started it a-and..." the boy named Kankuro stuttered. Rayne glanced at the blonde girl and Kankuro. They seemed to be looking up at Gaara in the tree...with fear. As she examined the size, Gaara was so short he must be younger than the other two...so why was he the leader?

"Shut up. I'll kill you." Gaara said, his gaze never wavering from the boy dressed in black.

Kankuro cowered slightly as the groups eyes widened.

“He must be bluffing...” Rayne glanced from Gaara to Kankuro

"I-I got it. My mistake..." Kankuro said, voice wavering and putting his hands up. The blonde girl stepped closer to Kankuro.

"I'm sorry, very sorry," Kankuro said as if he were pleading.Gaara turned his head to look at Sasuke.

"Apologize to them."

“His eyes...they're strange...” Sasuke thought, meeting Gaara's gaze. Rayne continued to watch Gaara, eyes narrowed. He was strong, she could tell. Excluding the fact that older ninja were afraid of him, he was quiet. After all, he sneaked up on Sasuke, on the whole group. Plus his steadiness...it was nerve wracking.

“To be able to strike Kankuro with that stone so easily...this guy's good...” Gaara thought, watching Sasuke. A second later, sand swirled around Gaara and he disappeared. Sasuke stood up, looking down as Gaara reappeared by the group of sand ninja.

"Let's go. We didn't come here to play around," Gaara stated to the other two ninja in his monotone voice. The three started to walk away but Sakura ran forward.

"Hey wait!"

"Sakura!" Mitsu hissed in warning. But because we're talking about Sakura, she didn't stop but continued. The three ninja stopped, their backs facing the group.

"What?" Gaara asked coldly.

"Judging from your headbands, you come from the sand village do you not?" Sakura asked. Rayne and Mitsu anime fell at Sakura's stupidity.

“Oh...my...God, is she just now figuring that out!?” Mitsu said rather loudly, earning a glare from Sakura and amused looks from the three sand nins.

"It's forbidden for shinobi to enter other villages without permission," Sakura continued.

"No crap Sakura! But they're not attacking so obviously they're here for a reason." Rayne said between her teeth to Sakura after taking a step closer to her. Sakura ignored the two and pushed forward a little more.

"State your purpose! Why are you here?"

"Talk about living under a rock," the blonde girl stated as her and the other two turned to face the group once more.

"Don't you know anything?" Kankuro said with a snotty stretched in his voice; a smirk set upon his face.

"Here is my passport," the girl held up her pass. The group read the passport quickly, Rayne and Mitsu finding her name was Temari.

"You're right, we are ninja from the Hidden Sand Village. Since you don't know, we're here to take the Chunin Exams," Temari continued.

“Geez, we could've told them that.” Mitsu told Rayne with his arms crossed. Rayne nodded.

“Even we knew about it…” She muttered. The talk between the two siblings earned a stare from Gaara after hearing them.

"And the Leaf Village is holding them I presume?" Sakura asked, eyebrow raised.

"Chunin Exams?" Naruto finally spoke up, behind Rayne and Sakura and standing beside the four young academy students. Everyone glanced back at Naruto.

"What are these 'Chunin Exams'?" Naruto asked again.

"You mean you honestly don't know?" Temari asked with a smirk.

“Idiot. The Chunin Exams are a series of trials with a main goal to evaluate your shinobi skills and determine your rank of ninja," Rayne said knowledgeably. Naruto stood there quietly, mouth open. A bit a drool formed at the corner of his mouth, trying to calculate the first few words of her explanation. Everyone sighed and sweatdropped as Konohamaru decided to take over.

"Uh...boss, if you take the Chunin Exams and pass you'll go from a genin to a chunin..."

"Really? I should take that too!!!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. Rayne almost anime fell and sighed. Suddenly she let out a slight gasp and stumbled backwards as Sasuke landed right in front of her. To maintain her balance, she quickly grabbed onto Sasuke. Sasuke almost fell over too but with his too-cool pose, he managed to stay standing. Rayne was then able to pull herself up completely and step away from Sasuke, giving out a small glare. Sasuke returned her look with one of his own. Sasuke faced the sand ninja and called out.

"Hey you! What's your name?" Temari stopped and looked back looking slightly flustered.

"You mean me?" Sasuke let out an annoyed expression.

"No, the guy with the gourd."

“That was rude…” Mitsu murmur softly to Rayne. Kankuro and Gaara stopped, looking back. Rayne blinked and peered around Sasuke, looking at Gaara. It was true, he did have a giant gourd strapped to his back. How strange...

"Gaara of the desert." Rayne blinked again.

“Wait a second...that was a stupid question!” They all already knew Gaara's name, the other two had been saying it. That was dumb, but what about a last name? Hm, well the question and its answer were pointless.

"I'm rather interested in you as well," Gaara continued.

Sasuke smirked. "Uchiha Sasuke." Rayne's eye twitched slightly and lean toward Mitsu.

“This conversation just sounds so wrong....”

"I want to know you as well," Gaara said. Rayne abbruptly stood up, faced Gaara, whom had his vision on her and her mouth opened a tad.

"Er um...I'm Kouseki, Rayne..." She blinked, wondering why she were being pulled into this. Gaara then looked at Mitsu.

“Is he the kid of you two?” asked Temari pointing at Sasuke and Rayne. It was silent for a minute, the wind blowing pass.

“NO!” Everyone shouted.

“I would never have children with her!” Sasuke shouted, blushing slightly.

“I'm too young to have a kid!” Rayne shouted, mostly red.

“Although it'll be cool to have nee-san as a mom and Sasuke for a dad, I'm Rayne's little brother, Kouseki Mitsu!” Mitsu shouted, talking at first then shouted the brother part. Sakura and Naruto twitching and fuming behind them. Another moment past,

"Hey hey, bet you're dying to know my name!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed with a wide grin. Gaara barely glanced at Naruto.

"I couldn't care less." Then the three sand nin turned around a jumped away into the trees. Sasuke watched the area the ninja once stood and smirked.

“This is starting to get interesting.” Naruto on the other hand was squatting next to Konohamaru with a disappointed face.

"Hey, do I look weak?"

"Compared to Sasuke, yes," Konohamaru answered. Naruto anime-teared as Sasuke began to walk away. Rayne was standing by a wooden fence, hairs on the back of her neck on end. She felt as someone was watching...but after a gust of wind, nothing seemed wrong.

“Nee-san?” Mitsu asked pulling her hand.

"Hm?"

“Can you carry me?” Mitsu asked shyly. Rayne gave a small loving smile and Mitsu climbed onto her back. She then ran to catch up with Sasuke, seeing they were going the same way with Sakura fuming with Naruto. Somewhere in the shadows, someone smirked as they watched Rayne walk away.

 

IRUKA'S POV

 

"Now, to begin the Chunin Exam. First, those watching over the new genin, please step forward," the Hokage stated as he sat behind his crystal ball. I watched as Kakashi, Kurenia and Asuma stepped forward.

"Kakashi, Kurenia and Asuma," the Hokage muttered. "Are there any genin you would like to nominate for the exam?"

"I shouldn't have to tell you this but, once genin have completed eight missions, they may take the exam if nominated by you. Of course, completing more than that is norm," the Hokage continued to explain.

“He doesn't need to ask, they aren't ready.” I was quiet as the jounin began to speak.

"Cell number 7, led by Kakashi, consists of Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Kouseki Rayne. I vow upon the honor of my clan, the Hatake- that all four of them are ready for the Chunin exam." I gasped. All four!?

“Cell number 8, led by Kurenai, consists of Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. I vow upon my own clan, the Yuhi, that I am as certain as is my esteemed colleague- that all three are ready for the Chunin exam.”

“Cell number 10 led by Asuma, consists of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. I vow upon my clan, the Sarutobi, that I am equally as certain- that all three are ready for the chunin exam." Random murmurs came from the crowd. "All three?" "All rookies nominated?" "Are they ready for that?"

"Hold on a second!" I stepped forward as the Hokage nodded at the squad leaders.

"What is it?" Hokage-sama asked as the three genin leaders looked back at me.

"Please Hokage-sama, let me have a word." Hokage-sama gave me a look but allowed me to speak my mind.

"I may be speaking out of place but, but these ten rookies were once my students at the academy. Of course they are all very talented but it is way to early for them to take this exam!"

"I became a chuunin when I was six years younger than Naruto," Kakashi said to me calmly. I glared, a bit of anger surging through me.

"Naruto isn't like you!"

"Are you trying to crush these kids!?" I asked, stepping forward. I mean really, these tests were extremely difficult!

"They are always complaining about their missions, experiencing some pain might be good for them," Kakashi said. "Crushing them would be good too." My mouth hung open, I could feel a bead of sweat run down the side of my face.

"That er, was a joke.." Kakashi said. I clenched my teeth. Kakashi used the same tone of voice no matter what he does, he should not be allowed to talk like that!

"Kakashi, let's finish this.”

"I understand what you are saying, but… they are not your students anymore, they're my soldiers," Kakashi said fiercely, “My tools for me to choose if I want to use them or not.” I know I must have scowled, I know I really felt like it. How dare Kakashi say that! I'm trying to look out for their well being, for Naruto's!

“How annoying...” Asuma thought.

"But the Chuunin Exam is-" I was interrupted by the Hokage.

"I understand your feelings, however..."

"But Hokage-sama..."

"We will conduct a special preliminary exam for the rookies," the Hokage said.

"Preliminary exam?"

 

Rayne sighed. It was about...she checked her watch to see it was 10:30 am. The team has been at the bridge for about three hours now. Rayne was sitting on the ground, cross-legged and tossing a shuriken up and down. Sasuke leaned up against the railing that her right side was facing. Slumping beside Sasuke was Sakura, and beside her was a half-asleep Naruto.

"Why does Kakashi-sensei make us wake up so early when he doesn't even come on time!" Sakura yelled, facing Naruto.

"Yeah yeah!" Naruto agreed, pumping his fists in the air.

"I woke up late and didn't get time to blow dry my hair!" Sakura complained.

"Oh God not that!" Rayne said in an over dramatic voice. Sakura looked to her.

"Well just because you don't take care of yourself-" Rayne sent a death glare.

"There's a line between taking care of myself and making sure I look fine enough for ninja training!"

"And what's that suppose to mean!?" Sakura put a fist in front of her body.

"That there's no point in waking up three hours early just to work on your hair when you're going to be getting hot and sweaty all day!" she argued.

"Well maybe-" Sakura started but was cut off by Naruto.

"Hey hey, I woke up late that I didn't even get time to wash my face or brush my teeth!" Rayne and Sakura immediately stopped arguing. In unison, the two of them turned their heads to Naruto.

"That's...just disgusting," Rayne and Sakura said together. Sasuke just continued to lean against the railing looking annoyed.

“Why must it always be so noisy in the mornings?” All of their heads turned as they heard a popping noise. Looking up to an arch above the bridge, they looked at their sensei.

"Morning everyone. Today I had to help this little old lady across the street and then-" Sakura and Naruto got in line as they shouted.

"Liar!" Rayne put her hand on Sasuke shoulder and sigh.

“Sometimes, I can't help but to think they're all related.” Sasuke gave his oh-so-famous `hn' and turned away from Rayne, trying to keep his composer. Kakashi jumped down and stood in front of your squad.

"Yeah, er...anyway, this is sudden but I've nominated you for the Chuunin Exams." Rayne and Sasuke blinked, now listening to Kakashi.

“He...nominated us?” Kakashi held out four sheets of paper.

"Here are your applications."

"Chunin Exams..." Sakura said wearily.

"This is only a nomination, you don't have to do the exam if you do not wish to," Kakashi said. They all took their sheets as Naruto clung himself to Kakashi, hugging him.

"I love you Kakashi-sensei!"

"Yeah yeah, get off!" Kakashi said, prying Naruto away.

"Those who want to take the exam must sign those forms and take them to room 301 of the academy three days from now," Kakashi instructed.

"Chunin Exam! Chunin Exam!" Naruto started to chant excitedly. Rayne watched Naruto a second before looking to her form and reading it.

CHUUNIN APLICATION

Kouseki Rayne

The above person under the name of Hatake Kakashi, has been nominated for the Chuunin Exams.

Jounin
Hatake Kakashi


She clutched the form in her hand as the team started walking away.

"Chunin Exam, huh?" Naruto started to speak. Rayne turned her attention to him.

"Yeah, there's suppose to be a lot of strong ninja there. And I'm sure there'll be many difficult and complicated tasks," Rayne thought aloud. No one said anything. She watched Naruto whom had a dazed look on his face. She smirked and shook her head going into her own thoughts.

“That Gaara kid...I want to face him, he seems strong. Then there's Kankuro...hmph, he doesn't seem to tough....” She turned to the Uchiha. “And Sasuke will be there too… along with Naruto.” Rayne smirked. Now wouldn't it be interesting to see who the top rookie is? Sasuke was in his own thoughts as well.

“Gaara of the desert....I want to fight him....” Sasuke glanced over to Rayne who was walking, watching her feet. “And Rayne...I want to fight Rayne...” Sakura had stopped while everyone had been walking.

“I...don't want to. I mean, I can't keep up with Sasuke or Rayne, not even Naruto. The Chunin Exam is-”

"Sakura?" Sakura looked up to see her team had stopped and Rayne had called her name.

"What are you doing flat-pink one?" Rayne asked. Sakura shook her head and ran up beside her and Naruto. Meanwhile, at the gates, dozens of foreign ninja walked through the Konoha gates. Their headbands indicated ninja from sound, rain, grass, etc. The ninja all smirked, they just couldn't wait to get a piece of the Konoha ninja.

 

It was the next morning and Rayne found herself sitting at her kitchen table, application form spread out on the table.

“I know I want to take it, I'm certain... I can beat the other ninja right? After all, I graduated top female ninja..." She nodded and looked back to her paper. Taking the pen that lay beside her paper, she took off the cap and held it over the signature line. She put the tip to the parchment, but it stayed there. She sighed and closed her eyes, after a second, she smirked, opened her eyes, and signed her name in bold symbols. Later that day, Rayne went walking around town while Mitsu went to Ryuko Shiro's house for training. She turned a corner and bumped into someone. Groceries fell into the air and Rayne scramble up to fetch them.

“Ah… here you go Miss…” Rayne glanced down and almost dropped the groceries again, “Sakura!” Sakura got up and took the groceries from the floor then took the ones from Rayne's arms.

“Thanks…” She then stacked up the bags, it was too high for her to see, and tried to walk. Rayne moved out of the way and scratched behind her head, debating between herself. Finally she sigh and faced Sakura, who just took a couple of steps.

“Stupid conscious.” Rayne stated to herself before grabbing the top two bags, revealing her face.

“Huh?” She looked around to see Rayne carrying two bags, “Oh! You don't have to Rayne…”

“Why did you buy so much? Where's your house.” Rayne said cutting Sakura off. Sakura pointed to the right and Rayne started walking. Sakura followed behind her, staring in wonder. Was this the same girl who she always argue with? The same Rayne who picks on her?

“Sakura.” Rayne said, calling her name. Sakura's eyes widen in surprised, Rayne never calls her Sakura, always pinkie.

“Are you really Rayne?” Sakura asked cautiously.

“Can't I call you by your real name without any suspicion, Pinkie?” Rayne retorted. Sakura walked next to her left and glanced at her. She tilted her head to her right and was very interested at the ground on her lower right corner.

“What's wrong?” Rayne asked for a moment. Sakura looked at her in confusion.

“Huh?”

“What's wrong?” Rayne repeated. After asuming that Sakura didn't know what she was talking about explained, “You've been… different since this yesterday morning. You're quiet and not all ga-ga over Sasu-cockatoo pretty boy. Is it about the Chunin exams?” Sakura stayed quiet and faced forward. She heard Rayne muttered to herself about getting use to the team and calling everyone by their first names. They reached Sakura's home and her mom was surprise to see her daughter along with another girl whom she never seen or met. Rayne was a little taller than Sakura by about half an inch.

“Sakura?” Her mom said walking to the kitchen where the two girls are putting the food away, “Who is this girl?” Sakura didn't know what to do. She didn't know if Rayne would be disrespectful or not. Rayne looked at the women and bowed, shocking Sakura.

“Mrs. Haruno. I'm Kouseki Rayne, a teammate of Sakura. It's a pleasure to meet you.” Rayne said clearly. Sakura's mother nodded and smiles.

“I'm happy Sakura has another friend.” She then left Sakura and Rayne. Unknown to the two, she just turned the corner and listen to what they were saying.

“Wow… I never knew you could be so… polite.” Sakura said after her mother `left'. Rayne smirk at her.

“I can be when I want to be.” They then continued putting the food away.

“Pinkie, You still haven't answer my question. Is the Chunin exams bothering you?” Sakura wince, she was right.

“Yeah…” she replied quietly. Rayne put her hand on Sakura's shoulder, since they were done and Rayne was going to leave.

“Don't worry, you've gotten stronger. Not as strong as Naruto and no where near Sasuke and I but you've become better.” Sakura slump, Not as strong as Naruto…

“But let me tell you a secret.” Sakura looked up at Rayne's face.

“We're strong because we have a supporter, someone stronger and better than us in chakra control. Along with the fact that we forget everything, we have someone to remind us.” Rayne then winked at Sakura, “Besides, you're good at seeing jutsus and making strategies, just don't let cockatoo boy into your head so much. It makes you look weaker than you are.” Rayne then gave a small smile, waved and went down the road. Sakura stayed at her door for a moment, smile then left herself into town.

 

RAYNE'S POV

 

I was walking to my favorite spot in the woods but couldn't help but feel something was strange. I stopped and turned but only sawdust being blown behind me. I shrugged and took out a shuriken. I heard someone walking behind me and threw the shuriken. The person grunted and came out of the bushes.

“Cockatoo head? What are you doing here?” I asked with my arms crossed. He came closer to me.

“I was just walking around.” He then places his arm around my shoulders.

“Sasu-Uchiha doesn't do this…” I then place my hands in my pocket, secretly reaching for a shuriken.

“I don't think you should participate in the Chunin exams.” He stated. I raised my eyebrow.

“Why?”

“Because it'll be too dangerous for you.”

“Oh really…”

“Yeah. I really care for you Rayne.” This is where he draws the line, Sasuke would never say the word `care' and my name in the same sentence. I flipped backward and took out the shuriken, placing it on his neck.

“Who are you?” I asked. He chuckled.

“Saw through the illusion, huh?” He disappeared.

"Coward!" I yelled out. I heard laughter as I saw an outline of a figure coming from the woods.

"You are not scared are you Rayne? If this scares you, you are no match for the Chuunin Exams," the voice said, not showing its complete form. I narrowed my eyes.

"So this is what this is about, you're trying to scare me off? Well guess what, it won't work! I won't back down! I'll take your stupid test!" The laughter became louder.

"Then I will see you there, and watch your back." Suddenly wind picked up from everywhere. I covered my face and frantically looked around but could not see, nor sense the being of anyone. I saw a glance of metal. I went to pick it up to find it was a kunai. I picked it and yelled out to the forest,

"Guess what! I'll take the Chunin Exams! Me, Kouseki Rayne! Watch out!"

 

KAKASHI'S POV

I sat on the rooftop of my apartment. It was late at night and the moon was almost full as I looked out across Konoha. I sensed chakra and a second later a ninja appeared behind me.

"So, how were they?" I asked.

"So much for the special preliminary exam..." the ninja said in a raspy voice.

"All ten rookies passed?" I assumed.

"They showed strength, confidence and courage in the face of danger," the ninja said before in a cloud of smoke, he turned into Iruka.

"It's just like you said, their abilities and will have improved," Iruka said. I smirked.