RED • MITSUKI

xl. FIRST ROUND

***

"Woo!" Eiji shouted into the sky, fist in the air. "Chunin exams today! I'm so pumped. What do you think it's going to be like? I think it's going to be super hard, especially since it's taking place here."

Ichiro groaned. "He's been at this for the whole week. He even says it in his sleep."

Haruko laughed. "You can't lie. I've been the same. I heard it's going to be easy though." Haruko frowned. "But I saw some Hidden Rain people over at Thunder Burger and I think they noticed me."

"Well, forget them," Ichiro remarked. "You're a new you. You're not like your old Hidden Rain edgy self now." He turned to the two and placed his hand in the air. "Let's win this first round, okay?"

Ichiro never was the type of person to be so . . . optimistic. He always stated the negative and made jokes, but he never did such a thing like this. Haruko placed her hand on top of his. "To chunin!"

"To chunin!" they all exclaimed, raising her arms in the air. "Let's go win this thing, yo!"

"I will now announce the outline of the first round. The exam for Round One is . . . a quiz."

This shocked everyone. "The question will be given in Exam Venue B, which is 20km from here. Any genin who does not arrive to the venue within one hour of this stopwatch will be disqualified."

Haruko heard a ticking noise. At first, she thought it was the back of her head, but then she looked over at the stopwatch Sai was holding. It had already started. Eiji and Ichiro noticed this and looked over at each other. "Let's go."

The three ran out of the line, quickly trying to get a headstart from the rest of the candidates. They jumped into the forest, throwing their kunai knifes at the traps laid in front of them.

"Careful, this forest is filled with them," Eiji stated, dodging an incoming tree log. As they progressed further into the ground, an army of wooden robots stood before them. "Haruko, use your Water Style."

"Right." Ram, boar, dragon, horse... "Water Style: Raging Waters." A wave of strong water crashed the robots, making them malfunction. The three jumped over them, running towards the finish line. There was a huge explosion behind them, making them looking so badass.

They were one of the first ones there. Haruko sighed in relief, brushing off the sweat from her forehead. They walked over to the shade and sat down. The twins chugged down a bottle of water. Haruko took off her headband and placed her cold bottle on her forehead. It felt refreshing, making her make a small noise of pleasure.

"If it isn't Haruko Saitou AKA the bitch who betrayed us," a boy called out, causing a few teams to turn over to Haruko. Said girl gripped her bottle hard. "You should be taking that hideous headband off. Leaf doesn't suit you well."

"If it isn't Aiko Tanaka," Haruko sighed. "You still got that nasty ass attitude. I believe the exit was over that way."

"I don't need your help, Saitou," Aiko sneered. He grabbed his headband, which was around his neck, and pushed it towards Haruko's face. "See this? These four lines were meant to be yours too, but no~! You went off to wear some spiral with triangles. You used to be the top of the entire Academy and now, you're hanging out with Hyugas."

Ichiro and Eiji stood up, their chest out. Aiko laughed. "See? They're so sensitive when it comes to their clan. They hate other people who don't support their pride."

"You listen here, Tanaka." Haruko grabbed Aiko's shirt, pulling him forward. "You can mess with me, you can mess with the village, but you do not mess with my squad."

Something wrapped around both of their bodies, making them unable to move. Aiko tried to break free, but Haruko just stared empty at the Hidden Sand boy. "Shinki, this isn't necessary."

"Fights are not prohibited in this section of the exams," said boy stated, his emotionless green eyes piercing through their eyes. "I suggest you two stop before you get disqualified."

"You got me."

"Hah! You're just going to let this happen!" Aiko cackled, making Haruko cringe. "The Leaf has made you so weak! You're suppose to fight back, you complete dumbass!"

"His father and mine are friends, therefore we are acquittances. I don't want to pull a tie onto the relationship." Haruko was dropped to the ground, unlike Aiko. "I would say you should know how relationships work, but from I heard from Daiki, you don't have any friends. Perhaps that is why your teammates are afraid of you."

"What did you say?!" Aiko screamed, thrashing around. "I'll make you eat those words when I'm out. You too, Sand Boy!"

"Thanks, Shinki." Haruko put her fist up for a fist bump, but was rejected when Shinki scoffed. He threw the brown haired boy aside and walked back to his team. "He has as much emotion as a robot."

The next part of the exam was the true or false quiz. Sai then said that the question. "In the 5th volume of the Shinobi Military Strategy Handbook, the following password appears: Moon is day. Mountain is river. Flower is nectar. True or false?"

"5th volume?" Eiji wondered. "We only have 4 volumes in our house. I didn't know they made a 5th."

"Impossible," Haruko muttered. "There's no 5th scroll. I've practically memorized the other 4 and there's no way there's a 5th scroll."

"Maybe it's brand new?" Ichiro questioned.

"Let's just go to one and see what happens," Haruko recommended. "If we lose, then we simply step off of the platform. Remember, they say we lose if we turn black."

"The hell does that mean?" Ichiro asked.

They went over to false. Sai threw his arm in the air and the screen flickered between true or false. When it stopped, it showed both of them.

"Now!" The three stepped back, watching as everyone else fall into the pit of doom. Some had some sense and figured out a way to not fall into the pit of ink, but most fell terribly. Haruko grinned. "We did it!"

FIRST EXAM: COMPLETED

***

[ author's note: ahahah two chapters in one day wooooo.

if i manage to get caught up, you're going to see me updating the other books nonstop. yayayayayay

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