The Acrimony Anomaly [Naruto Fanfic]

The Chunnin Exams

     Naruto and Tsubaki hadn't spoken at all since that day. She tried to give him his space, but the Uchiha began to feel lonely. Sure, he was technically Hashirama's reincarnate, but he was still different. Over all, she could say that he was the upgraded version of her old friend.

     Her relationship with Hashirama hadn't improved much either and the Hokage even threatened to commission them with a D-ranked mission. 

     She was just so confused. Tsubaki Uchiha no longer felt like Madara Uchiha anymore. She knew that she was once him, but just couldn't label the two as the same any longer. 

     Tsubaki gripped her morning coffee, barely noticing that 'Genma' had entered the kitchen to retrieve some food.

     "... Hashirama, " she murmured, looking over at him, "Do you still see me as Madara Uchiha?"

      He scoffed, "Of course I do! Why would I see you as anyone else?!"

     She wanted to feel happy at the fact that he still saw her as one of the most powerful shinobi ever to walk the Earth. She wanted to need it, but instead, there was the ever crushing bit of disappointment. "Never mind..."

     Was she wishing for someone to truly understand her?  Tsubaki Uchiha didn't want to see him as a girl, but rather someone that had changed. For some reason, it felt as though he hadn't changed one bit... As if he was purposefully programmed that way.

     She shook her head a bit and downed the rest of her coffee.

      "Does that mean that you forgive me?"

      She was no longer mad at him, more like saddened. "I guess so..."

     He hugged her overbearingly, "I knew that I would get through to you!"

     He feels like a broken record...

     They headed to the building with the Mokuton user acting like he was either on Cloud 9 or snorting some good shit. "Chunnin! I really can't believe it!"

     She tried to smile at him, "Yeah... I never imagined that I would be put through this system."

      "I know, right!?"

      He believed the smile.

     They walked up two flights of staircases instead of just teleporting on in to avoid suspicion and getting more targets on their backs. Having the tutelage of the Sandaime Hokage was enough as is.

     "Can't these people count?" she asked quietly to the Shodaime.

     "This isn't it?" he asked obliviously, blinking innocently at her. 

     "We have one more staircase to go. There's just a genjutsu on the sign."

     He looked at the sign that had the distinguishable 3 in front before he backtracked. Then, he realized his error. "Oh... Let's go then!"

     The duo travelled up the next staircase while being greeted by a lazy Kakashi Hatake sitting up there on a foldable chair. "Yo."

     "What are you doing here?" she asked curiously.

     "Did Naruto not tell you about going to the Chunnin Exams?"

     At the boy's name she flinched. Trying to fake a smile once more, she replied, "W-well, Naruto's been busy lately, so we haven't had much time to talk."

     His onyx eyes narrowed at the girl, every single tracker instinct screaming that she was lying. Even more so, it was hard to even tell if the girl was lying or not. Most of the time, he couldn't even distinguish the two. 

     The Hatake just did his signature closed-eye smile and motioned to the door, "I see then... Go on in. I think that Gaara's already in there."

     When he mentioned the redhead's name, she showed no sign of excitement or happiness. Her cold, onyx eyes only looked empty. That was when he knew how bad it was.

     Naruto hadn't been giving his best for missions either. He was now even becoming ticked off by Sasuke, trying for every chance to one-up him. Each time he failed, but that only made him more irritable. Whenever anyone mentioned Tsubaki, some indescribable look would appear on his face. Whatever it was, he hoped that the two would make up soon.

     When she walked in through the doors, Sasuke's twin just went to find an empty seat, ignoring the fact on whether she sat by a friend or foe. 

     Everything began to slow down and the sounds suddenly became more quieter. It was just Tsubaki Uchiha and oblivion. 

     There was a knock on the desk and she looked up. A sheet laid face-up, greeting her with 9 questions, and a pencil was right beside it. 

    Finally, she looked at the tense surroundings where everyone was focused upon their own sheet. Ibiki, the proctor stared right at her, motioning for her to copy what everyone else was doing.

      There were chunnin sitting along the sidelines, clipboard in hand. Everyone else had to draw lots on where to sit, all except her. Why had Ibiki made an exception and let her stay there? Of course, he knew of her fanciful travels and troublemaking skills, but what he saw was so intriguing. 

     She looked just like all the other war-torn shinobi he had seen. It was the most peculiar, especially in a time of peace, but he knew that the look in her eyes was one of the reasons she was taught under the Hokage. 

     Tsubaki picked up the writing utensil and easily began to fill in each question correctly. Afterwards, she looked around, curious to see how her other friends were doing. 

     Hashirama, even though he was a dumbass, was already finished and was doodling all along the back of the paper. Sakura was taken over by Ino's mind control. Sasuke was using his Sharingan to copy the pen movements of one of the implanted Chunnin. Gaara was using his sand eye, along with using his sand to spell out the rest of the answers on his siblings' papers. 

     Naruto was...

     He was copying off of Hinata's answers.

     Somehow, that hurt. She wanted him to rely on her again. The Uchiha female knew that she was being selfish, but there was a pain in her heart. 

     Tsubaki could see that there could've been a budding romance between the two. From the way she looked at him when everyone thought he was a demon... Almost anyone could say that they were meant to be. 

     She didn't want him to be taken away though.

     She then remembered that she wasn't supposed to be there in the first place. Wasn't even supposed to be born. Wasn't supposed to become friends with everyone. 

     However, she couldn't help but be selfish. 

.

.

.

.

     Tsubaki Uchiha missed her best friend.