"Oni-chan, why did Onee-chan left this early?" she asked and I took another sip before answering.

"Her teammates must have wanted to talk about the Chuunin Exam," I answered. She took another bite of the bread.

"Eh, I don't understand what's the fuss about this exam," she commented.

"Well, through my understanding, taking this exam, meant that ones will be an average ninja. Compared to a genin namely the apprentice ninja, ones might be tasked to a different sector if one should pa.s.s the exam. So, the team's future is pretty much at stake here," I tried to explain.

"Not necessarily true, ones could refuse the job offer if ones don't want it unless it was an order of course. But, a chuunin does have a say in a team's operating procedures as they are pretty much a squad leader. This could change the dynamic of the team as a whole," Hias.h.i.+-sama suddenly entered the dining room. Hanabi-chan and I hastily rose and bowed to greet him which he just dismissed us from doing so. He poured himself a cup of tea.

"So, have you made up your mind yet?" he asked, referring to my dilemma.

"Yes, I chose not to partic.i.p.ate in the year's exam. As I said, I'm in no hurry," I said before taking another sip of my tea, "though, I could take it halfway to see how the exam was conducted."

"I don't know if you knew this, but only a team of three is allowed in the chuunin exam," he said and I was surprised by this.

"Then why did," I was about to contemplate Kakas.h.i.+-sensei's words, "I see, he wanted to test the team's resolves. Our teamwork was suffering lately."

"Suffering?" Hanabi-chan asked which made me chuckle.

"Naruto and Sasuke always had this rivalry when it comes to strength. After the Nami no Kuni, we had been knocked into our senses that there are a lot of strong people out there in the world. They must be struggling," I explained, "I was hoping that their ego would simmer down a little so that I could pa.s.s on some jutsu that I had learned to them."

"You know, if it were up to me, you would already be a jounin. That high intelligence and knowledge are unexpected if people didn't know that you're Sandaime-sama's student," Hias.h.i.+-sama commented. I let out a chuckle.

"Knowledge had always meant to be pa.s.s on. It's neither too early nor too late. Well, you should know," I said. Being the only one to cross time, I knew that knowledge is power when it comes to living as a s.h.i.+n.o.bi. I made my way to the academy to meet up with the team. Luckily enough, I ran into Sakura but she didn't notice me. I brought my face to peek at her face from below because she was looking down. She jumped when she saw me.

"Hikari-kun..." she muttered then she looked distant again. I patted her head and grinned at her.

"Don't worry about it. You would do fine in the exam, Sakura. You are my bravest sister, right?" I said and when she smiled at me, I hoped that I had comforted her enough. We walked together for a few minutes when we saw that Sasuke had already arrived there. There were a.s.sortments of people there.

"Man, I didn't know that we had this many ninjas. Why didn't I saw them at all?" I wondered aloud. Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed at me.

"What do you mean? They're from a different village," he said.

"How can you tell?" I asked, puzzled.

"Seriously, sometimes I wondered how did you graduate at all. There are different symbols on their headbands," he said pointedly, "among the small hidden village, there are five major s.h.i.+n.o.bi village namely Konoha, Iwa, Kiri, Suna, and k.u.mo. Right, Sakura?"

"Huh, what?" Sakura had missed the question but she mumbled, "Oh, yeah."

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I was worried about her but I knew that the nerves had caused her to be this way. I didn't manage to comfort her because our loud knucklehead teammate had arrived.

"Hey!!!! Sakurchan!!!!" he yelled as he was arriving.

"Yeah... Good morning..." she said nervously.

"d.a.m.n, she's still this nervous. Perhaps distraction would work," I thought.

"Hey, Sakura, would you inspect his application? His enthusiastic behaviour today is so suspicious," I asked and Naruto handed her his form. Sakura reviewed his form for a few moments.

"You didn't write your name here," she pointed at the paper to Naruto. Clueless as ever, one could expect what would Naruto said.

"Huh? I have to write my name here?" he asked and Sakura dropped a sweat.

"Can't you read?" she said and Naruto nodded.

"I don't like to read these many letters. Makes me dizzy," he simply said. Sasuke didn't want to waste time, he urged us to go in immediately. As we reached a door that was full of genins, there was a commotion. A couple of genins was preventing some of them from entering the room. The two genins looked familiar. I used Byakugan to look at their chakra and found out that they were none other than Izumo-san and Kotetsu-san.

"We are just thinning out those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?" Kotetsu said.

"I agree but," Sasuke said, "you will let me pa.s.s through and also remove this surrounding created with the genjutsu. I'm going to the third floor."

"What's that guy talking about?" a genin asked.

"I don't know," the one next to him said.

"Ah, so you noticed..." Kotetsu and Izumo collectively said. The way they both finished each other sentences should be a clear sign of who they were.

"Sakura, you must have noticed first, right?" Sasuke continued, "your a.n.a.lytical ability and genjutsu know-how are the most improved in our team."

"Eh, this might work. She did have a feeling for him," I said, silently.

Sakura was blus.h.i.+ng and then her face looked determined.

"Of course, I noticed it a while ago. Because this is the second floor," she confidently said and our favourite knucklehead concurred. I doubt he knew it but he was smart enough to play along.

"You two lazy b.u.ms should Henge into someone else. It's way too obvious," I grinned.

"Not bad..." Kotetsu rushed ahead and threw a kick at Sasuke but he was fully aware of it so, Sasuke returned a kick at him. The kicks landed on someone's hands. There was a boy in green who was there in a flash. I was amazed because he was as fast as me. The boy let out a sigh of relief when Kotetsu fell on his feet and Sasuke withdrew from the fight.

"Hey, what happened to the plan? You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves," A familiar face said. I immediately ran at him to greet him.

"Neji!! You're here?!!" I said. I grabbed his forearm as our normal handshake. He chuckled at me.

"Of course, I am. So, decided to take the exam, after all, Hikari? I am so not looking forward to fighting you," he said.

"Wait, you know this guy?" Naruto asked me while pointing at Neji.

"Why wouldn't I? He's my cousin, I mean, look at our eyes for once," I said with a grin on my face.

"Ehhhhhhhh??!!!" both Neji and my team were surprised. Neji was silent as he chuckled and shook his head. Then the one in green walked forward towards Sakura and Naruto.

"Hi, my name is Rock Lee. So yours is Sakura. Let's go out together!!! I'll protect you till I die," he let out a thumb up and smile while winking at Sakura with s.h.i.+niness.

"No... Way... You're lame...." She muttered with disgust. The green boy slumped in defeat.

"Hey you," Neji talked to Sasuke, "what's your name?"

"When you want to learn someone's name, you should give your first," Sasuke replied.

"How old are you?" Neji pressed.

"I don't have to answer to you," Sasuke turned around from his.

"Guys!!! Let's go!!!" Sakura was now ecstatic because she pulled along Naruto and Sasuke with her. I let out a chuckle and bid Neji goodbye. We made our way to the stairs towards the third floor. We were walking around the lobby when we heard someone from the top floor balcony.

"Hey, the guy with dark eyes," it was Neji's teammate, Rock Lee. Sakura was immediately disgusted.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Will you fight me right here?" Lee asked.

"A fight right now?" Sasuke asked back. Lee said yes and he jumped from the balcony and landed in front of us. He pointed at himself.

"My name is Rock Lee. When you want to learn someone's name, you should give your name first, right?" he said.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Heh, so you know," Sasuke replied. Lee took his stance, ready to fight. I took this chance to look at him through the Byakugan. I found that there a close to none chakra flowed through his body and I find that was odd for a ninja. However, I did saw those bruises on his hands and the weights he was wearing. This could only mean one thing.

"This boy specializes in close-quarters combat," I deduced.

"I want to fight you. I want to test my techniques against the offspring of the genius ninja clan. Plus..." Lee explained and we waited for him to continue. Instead, he winked at Sakura. She was now much more disgusted by him.

"Ewwwww!!! Those lower eyelashes are Ewww!!!" she yelled, disgusted, "hairstyle is lame and those thick eyebrows..."

"Mua!! You're an angel!" he gave her a flying kiss which she immediately fell back to evade it. I burst out laughing. That was the funniest thing I've ever seen in days. Sakura immediately punched me and I was sent flying towards Naruto's head. Bruises could be seen on our heads.

"Challenging me knowing the Uchiha name. Frankly, you're a fool," Sasuke said, "you're about to learn, what's this name means, thick brows"

"Please," Lee said readily. On the contrary, I flat out thought that Lee might have the upper hand there. Sharingan if Sasuke had awakened it that is, might be useless if Lee's movement was as fast as I think he was and he was wearing weights too. Not to mention the bruises and scars on his hands, clearly, he worked hard to be at this level.

"Wait," Naruto said and I noticed that he was irritated about something, "I'll take care of thick brow. Just give me five minutes."

"Who I wanted to fight is not you. It's Uchiha," Lee said seriously. Naruto immediately charged forward.

"d.a.m.n it!!! I'm sick of hearing about Sasuke," He threw a punch at Lee. With my Byakugan, I could say that he deflected Naruto's fist and with Naruto was thrown forward. He slapped his hand on the floor for leverage and gave Lee a tail kick. Lee ducked and gave Naruto's other leg a sweeping kick.

"Konoha Daisenpu!!!" Lee yelled. Naruto was sent rolling towards the wall on his own volition.

"As expected, he is faster than I was. I'll give you that and I can see he is wearing weights," I said for Sasuke's sake. He should know because he saw my speed during the tree training.

"Ah, you must be Neji's cousin. He spoke so highly of you and he also told me that you had beat him. So you're our goal now. Looking forward to fighting you," Lee said as he bowed. I bowed back towards him.

"Hyuuga Hikari. It's an honour to meet my cousin's teammate. I believe he was just exaggerating, I can see that you're both are a lot better than me," I said. Both of us never rose from our bow as we kept complimenting each other. Sakura hit me in the head to make me stop. Both of Lee and I chuckled and he took his stance yet again.

"I'll say this, you can't beat me. Because next to Hikari-kun and Neji-Kun. I am the strongest Konoha genin," he said confidently. I like this guy. Well mannered, highly skilled.

"Sounds fun, I'll do it," Sasuke said, smiling. I sighed at him. I knew he will never let this go.

"Sasuke, what did I tell you..." I chided him.

"Yes, don't. We have less than thirty minutes to the meeting," Sakura agreed. He stubbornly charged towards Lee.

"I'll be done in five minutes," he muttered. Sakura yelled his name in despair.

"d.a.m.n, right you will," I thought.

Lee disappeared and appeared above Sasuke to give him a left-handed back kick.

"Konoha Senpu!!" Lee yelled. Sasuke managed to evade the kick. Then Lee slapped the floor to give leverage for his right kick. Sasuke rose his hand to block it but he was not fast enough. Lee's kick had already landed and Sasuke was thrown back. I could tell that he was baffled because his chakra acc.u.mulated at his eyes and his Sharingan appeared. So he had awakened it after all.

Sasuke rushed at Lee again. I knew that it was useless because Lee had already appeared in front while kicking Sasuke's chin from below. Sasuke was then sent flying upwards. Lee sat crouching ready for his next moves. My teammate couldn't do anything but wondered about how things could end up that way.

"Yes, my techniques were neither ninjutsu nor genjutsu," Lee said and he disappeared only to appear behind Sasuke that was still in the air.

"Sasuke!!!" Naruto yelled. He was knocked out by his fall.

"Kage Buyou..." Lee said, "yes, my techniques are simple taijutsu, Sasuke-kun. You may not believe it because it is so basic but they say that Sharingan can reveal all types of nin, gen and taijutsu. It is true that by reading ninjutsu and genjutsu which needs chakra to be raised and seals to be performed, you get an advantage through the Sharingan but taijutsu is a little different."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"Even if you can read my movements with your eyes, your body does not have the speed to react to my taijutsu. Even if you can see it, if your body can't move, then it's useless," he continued and I noticed that he was unwinding the bandage on his hand. I wondered what was he planning to do.

I couldn't hear more because I saw a giant turtle appeared out of nowhere. The turtle had a Konoha headband hung on his neck. The next thing he did was completely baffled me as to how it was done. He threw a toy windmill to anchor Lee's bandage to the wall.

"That's enough, Lee!!!" the turtle yelled. With that, the attack was halted. Sakura ran ahead to catch Sasuke that was falling. Sasuke was shaken up by that. Well, that's what he got for being stubborn.

"Lee!!! That technique is forbidden!!!!" the turtle yelled. Lee just sat there obediently muttering an apology. Then, he got scared because the turtle had a serious look on its face.

"But I wasn't planning on using the other one..." Lee reasoned with the turtle.

"What does he mean by the other one? This is interesting. I admit I am intrigued," I thought.

I was calculating the possibility of Lee's secret techniques when a man dressed up as the same as Lee appeared on the turtle while striking a weird pose.

"Geez, all of you guys are the epitome of adolescence," the man said. All of us Team 7 was disgusted and surprised at the same time. The man smiled, winked and pointed at himself with s.h.i.+niness. I could see where did Lee get his quirks from. Lee must have been idolizing this man. That fact alone meant that he was even stronger than Lee.

"Ewwwww!!!!" Sakura yelled, "he's got even thicker eyebrows."

"Super thick..." Sasuke muttered.

"Super f.a.ggy..." Sakura was next.

"Those are incredible eyebrows, I've never seen that before," Naruto said.

"That indeed," I concurred with Naruto.

"Hey!!!! Stop insulting, Gai-sensei!!!" Lee yelled at us. Normal for Naruto, he yelled back.

"Shut up!!! All these freaks keep appearing!!! How the h.e.l.l are we supposed to react!!!"

"What did you..." Lee clipped but Gai-sensei called him instead, "oh, yeah!"

Out of nowhere, Gai-sensei punched Lee as hard as he could.

"You fool!!!!!" he yelled and that punch gave Lee a bruise as he was bleeding through his mouth, " You are... You are..."

"Sensei..." Lee cried and now both of them were in tears, "Sensei... I... I..."

"That's enough Lee!!! You don't need to say it!!!!" the man hugged Lee as he cried.

"Man! Now I know what Neji meant," I grumbled.

"You know, that's some good stuff," Naruto said to Sakura. I nodded concurrently.

"No way! Too dangerous!!! Way too dangerous!!!" She screamed angrily at us.

"It's alright Lee, youth and mistakes go together," the man said, seemingly recovered from the tears but Lee wasn't.

"You are too nice... Sensei..." Lee was sobbing as he said it.

"But you did start a fight and almost broke my rule, your punishment will take place after the chuunin exam," Gai-sensei said and Lee nodded, "500 laps around the practice range!!"

The man struck another flashy pose as he said it and Lee salute him as he accepted his sentence.

"Stupid..." Sakura muttered.

"Hey! Hey! What the h.e.l.l was that turtle?" Naruto was puzzled.

"That's a summoning animal. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei had a couple of dogs," I explained to him.

"No, he's looking over here!!" Sakura was ready to run.

"You guys, how's Kakas.h.i.+-sensei doing?" Gai-sensei asked.

"You know Kakas.h.i.+-sensei?" Sasuke asked back.

"Know him?" he chuckled for a moment and then he suddenly appeared behind us, "people refer to us as the eternal rival."

"As expected," I simply thought.

All of us were surprised by his speed even when I was expecting that.

"50 wins and 49 losses," he pointed at himself and smiled with s.h.i.+niness, "I'm stronger than Kakas.h.i.+."

Ugh, Seeing it so many times, I don't think I can handle it anymore.

"See?! Gai-sensei is incredible!!" Lee enthusiastically said.

"Sorry about Lee, I swear to my face that it won't happen again. You guys and Lee should head over to the cla.s.sroom," Gai-sensei said and then he threw a kunai to knock over the toy windmill to free Lee's bandage. Then he noticed me. I immediately bowed at him out of respect.

"Hyuuga Hikari, nice to meet you, sensei," I said. He let out a chuckle.

"Neji's cousin and Sandaime-sama's student. You are br.i.m.m.i.n.g youth!!!" he gave me a thumbs-up, "good luck, Lee! Later!"

"As I said earlier, next to Hikari-kun and Neji-Kun, I am the strongest Konoha genin. I was testing my ability here. I entered this to defeat them and you're also my target," Lee said confidently and then he fled away, "be prepared during the exam!!!"

Sasuke was shaking in anguish. There was a lot of strong genin in this exam and Lee was no doubt among them. Sakura tried to comfort him Naruto was antagonizing him.

"Oh well, the Uchiha clan ain't worth much these days," he said as he crossed his arms over his head.

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded.

"Shut up," Sasuke muttered slowly, "next time I'll beat him"

"Sure, you just got your a.s.s kicked..." Naruto went on.

"Now, now, Naruto," I chided. Sakura was agreeing with me.

"You saw his hand too..." Naruto said and I knew what he meant.

"Yeah, bruises, cuts, and scars mottled his knuckles," I said as I look outside of the windows.

"That thick-brow must have trained hard, every day, more than you, that's all it is to it," Naruto continued.

"Man, I never knew you were this perceptive. You looked cool, Naruto," I slapped his back. He was grinning widely at me.

"I was cool! Wasn't I?!" he yelled at me and we both high-fived.

"This is getting fun, this chuunin exam," Sasuke was determined and because of it, we were determined too, "ready to go, guys?!!"

"h.e.l.l yeah!!" Naruto and I exclaimed. When we arrived the room 301, who else that we ran into other than our Kakas.h.i.+-sensei.

"Oh, Sakura! You came too!" he said, "now we can properly take the exam."

"What do you mean?" Sakura inquired.

"The truth is that the test can only be taken by a team of three," he explained. I already knew it so, I was wondering what I would be doing next.

"You wanted to test our resolves right?" I asked, suggesting and our sensei nodded, "So, if Sakura along with me refused to take this exam. Naruto and Sasuke couldn't take it."

"But you guys came at your own will, you guys are my proud team. Now go," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei said, "eh, oh! Right, Hikari was summoned to the Hokage's office. His sensei had a personal mission for him."

"What?!" Naruto yelled in protest.

"No..." Sakura cried. She was back to her nervous self.

"It's ok, I was going to explain it to you guys. I will wait for the next chance. You guys do your best and watch over each other. You guys are my brothers and sister. I love you guys," I grabbed all of them into a bear hug.

"Let me go, idiot!" Sasuke yelled. I tighten the hug because tears had fallen on my cheeks. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei rustled with my hair and I released them.

"Don't worry, they will be safe," Sasuke said and Naruto grinned at me. Sakura pulled me into another hug.

"Thanks for everything. I'll join you if I didn't become a chuunin this time," she gritted as she cried. I returned the hug and patted her head.

"Be strong. See you guys later, eh?" I said, "now, go, go, go!"

With the last waves of goodbye, they entered the room. I wiped my tears and sniffed loudly as the door closed after them.

"I'm really worried," I said. Kakas.h.i.+-sensei just hummed at me.

"Watch over them, please. The Suna's genin, the one with the gourd. He's a Jinchuriki like Naruto but he is very unstable," I gritted. He was surprised of course. n.o.body had ever used the word in the village.

"How did you know that the boy is one?" he asked.

"The beast spoke to me through the boy. Though it wasn't truly speaking to me it influences the boy's judgment. Not to mention that the beast is very protective over the boy," I asked.

"Let's go see the Hokage. He needs to hear this," Kakas.h.i.+-sensei said. With that, we shuns.h.i.+nned into Sarutobi-sensei's office.