Lost In Pain... || Naruto Fanfic [NWA Winner 2015]

Preliminary Round - Battling Against One Another

Reina's P.O.V

After seeing Uncle Iruka again, we were sent off to line up. There were three rows, these threes rows held all the Genin that passed the test. When Anko said she would cut us down by half, she really meant it... I think she even managed to lose more than half of us. Great.

I glanced to my right at Atsushi, he was glaring ahead at two people. They were both boys...most likely twins. They looked exactly alike each other. They had scratches and bruises all over them, but they didn't seem to care Atsushi wasn't with them. I scoffed. 'Those who abandon their teammates are worst than scum...'

Anko stepped forward, a large smirk etched on her face. "First off, congratulations on passing the second test!" She shouted, scanning us all, slight annoyance in her eyes.

I sighed. Did we disappoint her with the number of people left? She already cut us down...what more does she want? I looked around. What teams were left?

Guy's team, Gaara's, Shikamaru's, the Sound's, Atsushi's, and a few others.

"Now then, we will have the explanation of the third test from lord Hokage. Listen carefully everyone!" She ordered, backing up for lord Hokage to speak.

I rolled my eyes and ignored his speech. It wasn't worth my time. Right now, I need to talk with Atsushi. I walked to the right slowly and carefully, trying not to draw attention to myself. I looked straight forward as if I were listening, but I nudged Atsushi's side a bit.

"Eh? Reina? What is it?" He whispered, glancing over at me from the corner of his eyes.

I glared at his two teammates. "What're you going to do about them? They hardly care about you at all." I said.

He groaned, "Yeah, I know that. I might just drop out of the third test. I'm not ready for this Chūnin exam thing...my own team left me." He replied.

I glared at them even harder. 'They don't deserve a good guy like Atsushi on their team. They might as well fail together, as siblings. But...' I looked at Atsushi. 'I really don't want him to drop out of this test now... Still, it's not my choice to make.'

"Hey, Tataki..." I said, catching his full attention. "I just want to let you know, that no matter what you do, if you want to drop out or stay... I'll accept your decision. Okay?"

He smiled and grabbed my hand, squeezing it softly. My eyes widened, I looked up at him in shock.

"Thank you, blueberry." He whispered, squeezing my hand once more before letting it go.

I lifted my hand and brought it up to my face, staring at it in shock. 'I haven't had anyone hold my hand since...' My thoughts wandered back to when I was younger and Kakashi found me, then to Iruka when he helped me after I got lost. 'It's been so long since I felt...this happy. I actually have people that care about me.'

There was a sudden cough that brought me back to the real world, I looked at the man kneeling before gramps.

"Please, allow me, Hayate Gekko, to explain the third test." He insisted, kindly.

The Hokage nodded and backed up. Hayate stood up and faced us all, giving us the chance to see his face. I grimaced. Hayate had large, dark bags under his eyes, most likely from the lack of sleep... He looked sick beyond sick. I wonder what's making him go into this state?

"I'd like you all to do something before we begin the third test." He said, looking at us lazily. "And that is a preliminary to the third test, with participation in the main battle on the line."

My eyes flew open. No way...! Right after we come from the forest of death where many of us almost died or were attacked, have to fight again just to move forward?! This is so sudden... I hardly have any chakra left to put up a fight!