Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Version 2: My Life as Haruno Sakura ❯ Get This Party Started ( Chapter 2 )

It wasn't long before we made it the next floor. After a troubling defeat handed to Naruto and Sasuke by Lee, they were not happy at the moment. Right now, both of them are glaring at Kakashi as if it was his fault that they got their asses handed to them. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I laughed. The glares I got from them were insane! I mean, it felt like they really wanted to destroy my very soul! I mentally shrugged as I thought about it. "No pain, no gain," I mused.

Though I should be listening to Kakashi. I really should be paying attention to what he says, shouldn't I? It could be important. "Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke... I am proud of you," he said. Okay, so it was kinda important. I'll make a note to listen to him in the future. "I couldn't ask for a better team."

"Aww, sensei...!" I felt myself getting misty-eyed at his words.

"Good luck, you three," Kakashi continued, stepping aside.

"We won't let you down, sensei!" Naruto exclaimed as the three of us walked towards the doors. It was Sasuke and I that pushed the doors open. The three of us walked in only to be greeted by a whole bunch of ninja. They were all glaring like we took the last meat bun, or something! "Oh, man, who knew that there would be so many?"

"Sasuke-kun...! Where have you been!" a familiar voice snapped my attention away from the mean-looking genin in the room. I saw that Ino had glomped Sasuke. I grinned at the scene. "You have no idea how much I was hoping that you'd show up here." Ino had a sweet smile on her face. She was on his back, hugging him from behind.

"Ino-chan...!" I exclaimed, making my way over to the two. Ino looked up at me, and then hopped off of her precious Sasuke-kun.

"Sakura-chan!" she said. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Ha-ha," I faked a laugh. I grinned evilly. I saw Sasuke flinch so I know he saw it. "Sasuke..." I nearly purred.

"Hell no!" he responded. "No way in hell!"

"You promised!"

"I did not!"

"Yes you did! We had a bet and you lost that bet, so do it!" I exclaimed, pointing a finger. The others looked back and forth between me and Sasuke; they were confused. "Are you a man, or aren't you? Where's you sense of honor?!"

Oooh… That was definitely a gut punch. Sasuke made a face as if he had smelled something nasty. He grumbled a few curse words, and then grabbed Ino's arm. "S-Sasuke-kun...! Wh-What are you doing?" Ino stammered out. Sasuke, quite rudely, forced Ino's face closer to his.

"He's really going to kiss her!" I thought, smiling widely.

Now instead of going for the lips, Sasuke took the cowards way out and kissed her forehead. I shrugged. It still got the job done, right? Ino swooned and fell. She would have fallen to the ground had it not been for Shikamaru catching her. Chouji was beside the real genius of the Rookie Nine. "I knew that this was going to be troublesome, but I didn't know it was going to be this lame," the lazy ninja sighed, looking down at his swirly-eyed teammate.

"Hn..." Sasuke grunted.

"So all three stooges are here?" Naruto muttered.

"Hey, you know what idiot... Ah, whatever...! You're just another troublesome person," Shikamaru waved off Naruto's insult. As expected from Nara Shikamaru. I secretly think he's a pimp. My eyes moved over to the bigger friend.

Akimichi Chouji was eating a bag of chips at this very moment. He, Shikamaru, and Ino were all apart of Asuma's team. He's the jounin who smokes. "Well, well, what do ya know?" another voice spoke up. I looked over to see Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, and Shino walking towards us. "It looks like the whole gang is back together again."

"Ah... Hello, Naruto-kun," Hinata greeted softly. Her lavender-colored eyes shifted over to me. "And Sakura-chan."

"Hey, Hinata-chan...!" I greeted back with a nod. She suddenly blushed and looked away. That must mean that Naruto staring at her.

Inner Mayu: All my otaku dreams would come true if they kissed!

"You guys, too, huh?" Shikamaru asked. He finally dropped Ino to the ground, causing her to wake up.

"HEY!" she shouted, glaring at the offender. Shikamaru only shrugged and pushed his hands in his pockets. His attention turned back to Kiba. "Man, everyone's here for this... troublesome thing." And then Kiba starts talking about how the nine of us were together again.

I sighed lightly. Can't we just get own with it? People talk way too much in this series. It gets annoying after a while. "Hey, you guys," an unfamiliar voice entered my ears. Who do I see walking towards us? I seriously wanted to snarl at that moment. Who else could make me react this way besides the snake bastard himself? The one and only right hand man, Kabuto. "You might want to try keeping it down." He stopped walking when he reached us with his hands on his hips, I might add. "I mean, no offense, but you're the nine rookies, right?"

"Oh, and what's it to ya?" I asked, stepping forward. He looked surprised that I was glaring at him.

"I just wouldn't go making a scene if I were you," Kabuto said.

"And who the hell asked you?" I took another step towards him.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" I heard Sasuke call out to me.

"My name is Yakushi Kabuto," the purple-clad ninja stated.

"Funny, I don't remember asking for it!"

"Sakura-chan, what's the matter?" Naruto appeared by my side. I only took another step towards Kabuto. Even though I was shorter than him, I really hoped I looked menacing. Well, he was practically gaping at me, so maybe I did.

"You may have everyone else fooled by you little… ‘I’m only warning you’ attitude, but you and I both know you have a secret motive behind it," I stated, glaring. Kabuto moved back, but I only followed him. "So let me tell you something right now. Stay the hell away from my team. Or you won't have to worry about not being a chuunin or anything else because I will make sure you life as a shinobi ends... permanently!"

I glared for a few seconds, and then turned my back to him. "Sakura-chan, what's-" I interrupted him by grabbing his wrist; I also grabbed Sasuke. I pulled them both away from Kabuto. "H-Hey, not so rough, Sakura-chan...!"

"Pipe down and move your ass," I retorted, pulling them forward. They stumbled in front of me. "Listen, you two... You can't trust everyone. That guy was giving me a real bad feeling just now."

"Huh...? I didn't feel nothing!" Naruto complained, locking his hands behind his head. I sighed heavily, wondering how dense a person could be.

"Just listen to me, okay?" I requested. "There are people in this world that deceive people just for the hell of it. This is a chuunin exam. And that means we can only trust each other. For right now, we can't even trust the other rookie nine. Got it?" The two were silent for a moment.

"Got it," Sasuke was the first one to speak.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Naruto agreed, nodding.

"Good, now-"

A small poof sound stopped me from speaking. I looked towards the head of the class to see a lot of older men and woman standing there. The one in front, wearing black and sporting two scars on his face spoke. “It’s time to begin. I am your proctor, Morino Ibiki,” he said. I felt my eyebrows knit together. Isn’t he that torture guy? “First, you candidates from the Sound village,” Ibiki pointed a finger towards the back, causing everyone to turn because we’re all just nosy people. “Knock it off! Who told you that you’re allowed to fight? You wanna fail before we’ve even started?!”

I really didn’t pay attention to the response. I already know what happened. I’ll tell my confused teammates about it later. My focus, right now, was on Ibiki. “I never realized… how scary-looking he could be,” I thought. “I wonder if he’s married…” And then I started to wonder who would marry him. Anko, perhaps? I am so glad I started paying attention again before I threw up.

“Now, if we’re ready, we’ll proceed with the first part of the chuunin exam,” Ibiki continued. “Hand over your paperwork. In return, each of you will be given a number. This number will determine where you will sit. We’ll start by taking a written test once all of you are seated.”

“Th-The what?” Naruto sounded slightly afraid as he continued look towards the front. “Did he say… written?” One of the ninja held up a big ass stack of papers. Those probably were the tests. “Noooooooooo! Not a written test! NO WAY!”

I heard Sasuke chuckle at the agonizing protest. “That’s right… You were always bad at written tests, weren’t you?” I asked, and then sighed.

“What a dobe.”

“Shut up, Sasuke-teme!”

“Let’s just turn in our paperwork,” I rumbled my temples wearily.
****************************

Here I am, sitting away from both Naruto and Sasuke. From my vantage point, I could see the blond ninja. As for Sasuke, I don’t know where he was placed. I sighed heavily as I twirled a pencil between my fingers. Lucky Hinata, she got to sit by her crush. Little ol’ me had to sit far away from Gaara and Lee. Not that they were my crushes. I don’t have crushes. Well, there was that one American singer. Now he was hot! What was his name again…? Chris Brown?

“Like I said before, they will be no questions! So if any of you didn’t hear what I just said, then tough shit!” Ibiki’s voice boomed. I literally went pale when I heard that. I really hope it wasn’t something important. “And with that being said… BEGIN!” I breathed heavily before flipping over my paper. When I watched this episode, the characters were all complaining how hard it was, so it was probably going to be super hard for me. I wrote Sakura’s name down, and then looked at the first question.

First question was a something like a puzzle. “Oh, I guess I have to crack the code,” I thought. Smiling, I began to write. “Luckily, I watched Case Closed a lot! Thank you, Conan Edogawa! One truth really does prevail!” I scanned over the second question as I finished up the first. My eyes widen. “But this is math. They teach this stuff back in school. I’ll just substitute the shuriken for a more practical object.” Doing that, I read over the question again. “I knew it! This is based on math! No wonder Naruto and even Sasuke thought this was hard. In this world, people aren’t taught about things like science and math. Well, at least they never showed it being taught on this series.”

I kept my head tilted down, but my eyes were on Naruto’s back. “This stuff is only semi-hard for someone who actually had to learn about it, but for Naruto and the others… they’re SOL, aren’t they?” I thought, looking down at my paper again. It really doesn’t matter, anyway. As long as the last question is answered right, we’ll still move on. And that means I don’t have to finish this! “But what should I do for an hour?” A smile spread across my face.

Everybody was kung-fu fighting!
Those cats were fast as lightning…

“Alright, listen up…!” a voice boomed. I slowly opened my eyes. My eyesight was a bit blurry. “That includes you, pinkie!” I sat up to see everyone staring at me. Was I asleep? I wonder when that happened. I covered a yawn with my left hand, and then rubbed the crap from my eyes. I really hope I don’t dream about ninja prancing around in tutus again. That was just plain weird. “Here’s the tenth and finally question!” Every head turned back to Ibiki.

“Oh, the tenth question,” I forced my eyes to stay open.

“Before I give you the tenth question, there are some rules…” Ibiki stated. When will this end?! “These rules correspond with question ten, so please try not to get scared.”

“Or sleepy,” I muttered.

“Who said that?! WHO THE FUCK SAID THAT?!”

I sank lower in my seat, just hoping and praying that I would turn invisible. The ones around me looked equally scared. Perhaps if I put on an ignorant face, he won’t even look at me.

He looked right at me.

“Oh crap…” I thought.

Something suddenly landed on my desk. It was small and white. “It’s a tiny piece of paper rolled up so it’s even tinier.” I looked up at Ibiki. His eyes were on someone else, thank Kami-sama. I hesitantly fiddled with the paper with my pencil. It looked as if it were a message. Because the writing was so tiny, I had to strain my eyes to read it. ‘Mayu, you idiot.’ That’s what it said. “Stupid bird brain…!” I grumbled.

“Very well then… I’ll find out later,” Ibiki continued pacing the front of the room. That sounded like a threat. Oh, man! Way to go, Mayu, piss off the torture specialist! “Rule number one, each of you can choose whether or not to be given the final question. This question is so harsh that it will test you very soul! If you get it right, you automatically pass the test. If you get it wrong, not only do you fail, but you can never take the chuunin exam again!”

Great, here comes the complaining. I think Kiba was the loudest of all. I’m surprised Naruto didn’t get up and start shouting at Ibiki for denying him the chance of becoming Hokage. “Can I go back to sleep now?” I thought, staring lazily at our proctor. He was laughing like an evil scientist at the moment. I’ll zone in on him once he announces the final question, not that I need to. He should be happy to get my attention for that, right?

Several people suddenly just up and left. What a bunch of cowards. Naruto raised his hand. I blanched. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I thought. “After I just called the other ones cowards, he goes and raises his hand!”

“DON’T UNDERESTIMATE ME!” Naruto shouted, slamming his hand on the desk.

I could seriously feel the sweat drop running down my head.

Why does he have to be so dramatic about it? “And he’s still declaring things,” I thought, almost rolling my eyes. “Was that the word ‘Hokage’ I just heard come from his mouth? How surprising...” Yeah, I was sarcastic even in my mind. I took a glance around the room. Everywhere I turned, there were smiles on every face. “Looks like he inspired everyone. Thanks a lot, Naruto.” I smiled at his back. “Baka.”

Ibiki took a step forward. “I admire your determination,” he said. “For those of you remaining, there’s only one thing left to do… and that’s for me to tell you… that you’ve all passed the first part of the chuunin exam!”

-pregnant pause-

I don’t think Ibiki could have dodged all those erasers and pencils if he tried.

After everyone calmed down, he began telling us why he did was he did. He told us why the others failed and why it was important to gather information. And then he showed us his scarred head. Really could have just described his injuries instead of showing it! A little decency goes a long way, my friend! Okay, now he’s telling us the importance of the tenth question. To further explain the importance, he even gave us a hypothetical mission. Oh, the joys of learning!

“ALRIGHT…! We did it!” Naruto exclaimed, jumping from his seat. The blond shinobi was so happy that he hugged Hinata. She promptly fainted in his arms. Naruto didn’t seem to notice at all.

“Hinata-chan’s so adorable,” I thought, smiling.

I turned around in my seat, so I could search for Sasuke. My eyes locked onto him; he was smirking as if he knew all along that we would pass. He caught me looking at him. If possible, I think his ego grew about an inch. Before I could call out to him, I heard a sound. It sounded as if something crashed into glass. I whirled around to see a dark banner and a lady, who seemed to love fishnets, at the head of the class. Ibiki seemed to have disappeared.

“Anko… of course,” I grinned at her flashy entrance. I rested my head in the palms of my hands, ready to listen to the dango-loving kunoichi.

“I’ll be your next proctor, Mitarashi Anko!” she exclaimed. “Ready for your next test!” Before anyone could answer, she struck the air with her fist. “GOOD! Follow me…!” It was quiet for a few seconds.

Someone coughed.

Ibiki stepped out from behind the banner and told her she was early. Anko looked mildly embarrassed because of this. Naruto’s name flashed several times in my head. I guess she and Naruto are alike. Anko turned her attention to us. “Hm… It could be, but they sure don’t look it. Trust me, before I’m done with ‘em, more than half of ‘em will be gone,” she commented, hands on her hips. “This is gonna be fun,” Anko continued, smirking. “You may have had it easy so far, but things are gonna be different starting first thing tomorrow morning! I’ll let your squad leaders know where you’re to meet me. Dismissed.”
****************************

Ibiki walked down the rows collecting the written tests. Outside, the sun was setting. The torture specialist stopped for a moment to gaze at its beauty. Back to picking up papers, Ibiki noticed something off with one of the papers. He read it out loud in confusion. It wasn’t every day that you see something like this, after all.

“Stupid… cocoon girl?”
***************************

“This is the second location for the next stage in the exam,” Anko stated. Her piercing gaze struck mild fear in the hearts of the genin. But it was the restricted area behind her that caused the rookies to shiver. Behind the gates was a forest of some kind; it had a sense of foreboding to it. “It’s a battle training zone… But we call it the Forest of Death.” Her malevolent smile did not quell the quick beating of their hearts.

Green eyes gaped at the giant tree. Slightly afraid, Mayu swallowed hard. She knew the most terrifying creatures lay dormant in this zone. The wind picked up, causing her legs to involuntarily wobble. “I hate snakes!” She hugged herself. “Oro-teme, too…! But I have to go through with this, or Sasuke…” Her thoughts trailed off as she took a glance at her oblivious teammate.

Uchiha Sasuke was staring into the forest as if he were fascinated by the very aura it gave off. Mayu turned her gaze to the ground. She didn’t want him or Naruto to get hurt. Before, it was just a show. The characters got hurt before, but it didn’t matter, they weren’t real. Now, everything was real, too real. Even her growing feelings for her teammates were real.

Mayu’s eyes shifted over to Naruto’s back, only to see that he was getting chased back and forth by… a rock, a moving rectangular prism, but a rock nonetheless. A pink eyebrow twitched. Mayu already knew who had on that terrible disguise. It was Konohamaru and his friends. Seconds later, the rock exploded, leaving behind pink, blue, and yellow smoke. Also, there were three younger kids.

The two boys and girl were on there hands and knees coughing because of the smoke. Mayu shook her head, sighing. “The calm before the storm, I suppose.” She watched her teammate converse with the little ones. Pretty soon, Anko came over to them. The brown-eyed jounin then remembered that the kids were supposed to do an interview for the Academy. She announced a ten minute break.

“Sweet…! That means I can rest before I take it!” Mayu almost jumped up in excitement. She wandered away from the restricted area, hoping to find a shaded tree she could lay under. Not a moment after she spotted a good place, she paused her walk and turned around. “Is there a reason you’re following me?”

“Hn.”

Mayu blinked.

“Is that supposed to be an answer?” She frowned. Sasuke made another sound, and then turned his head away. Mayu stared at her teammate with a flat look. “What the hell is with him?” She mentally shrugged, and then began walking towards the tree that she had picked out earlier. “He’s such a weirdo,” she thought, sitting down and pressing her back to the tree. Mayu sighed in content, closing her eyes.

“Now who’s ignoring who?” Mayu cracked an eye open to see Sasuke standing over her; his hands were, again, shoved in his pockets. He didn’t seem to care that Mayu was trying to doze off. Nor did he seem to care about the lazy glare that he was receiving at the moment. Mayu gave up glaring with a sigh. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

“What do you want?” She closed her eyes again. Sasuke didn’t respond for a moment, causing Mayu to look up at him. “What is it?”

“It’s nothing, really,” he began. He sat down, Indian style. “I just wanted to ask you if you’ve been practicing what I showed you.”

Mayu blinked.

Sasuke blinked.

Mayu gave a nervous chuckle.

Sasuke gave a heated glare.

“You’re the one who begged for me to show you that jutsu and yet you’re not even practicing?!” It’s no wonder the Uchiha felt insulted. He folded his arms. Mayu had come to him, in the middle of the night, and demanded that he show her the hand signs. Maybe he did taunt her before showing her, but still…! It was the middle of the night! Sasuke had thought she was another fan girl for crying out loud. And anyway, she shouldn’t have laughed at him for screaming–uh… giving a manly shout of surprise.

Mayu huffed indignantly. Seriously, Sasuke couldn’t take a joke, could he? “Relax, dude! I was kidding,” she waved off his fierce look as if he were nothing.

“Have you mastered it yet?”

“Seeing as how I don’t have anyone to ‘master’ it on, I don’t know.”

“What about the other one?”

The green-eyed kunoichi rubbed under her nose. “Actually, that’s kinda hard to do,” she admitted. “But I guess it’s improving.” Sasuke exhaled slowly.

“Good. Here, use that jutsu on me right now.” He looked at her as if he expected something. Mayu didn’t move an inch. “What’s wrong? I’m giving you permission.”

She only turned her head, closing her eyes as she did. “I don’t want to reveal something like that right now.” She crossed her arms. “And besides, the other teams are looking at us. I don’t know if it’s because of you surname or if they’re expecting us to kiss or something, but I don’t want them knowing.” Sasuke make a face at her comment. Mayu glared. “Glad to know I’m so repulsive in your eyes,” she muttered, sarcastically.

Sasuke had the nerve to smirk. “Yeah, whatever.”

“And this is why I don’t like you sometimes.”

Before Sasuke could retort, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi came towards the two. His dark eyes turned to the younger children. “Hey, Sasuke…!” Udon was to the one who spoke first. “You’re the coolest! When I look at you, I see my future self!” Mayu snorted, trying to stifle an obnoxious laugh.

“I bet Sasuke did have a runny nose when he was younger!” she thought, completely ignoring the eye daggers the Uchiha sent at her.

“Do you mind if I get a few things from you from our article?” Udon continued.

“Sure, why not?” He gave in. Mayu smiled, thinking he was a big softy. “Mind as well set the record straight. I’m sure that loser told you many lies.” The smile disappeared.

“Shut up, teme!” Naruto walked towards the group. “They came to interview me, not you!”

“They came to interview everyone, dobe. There are other ninja here, you know?” Sasuke grinned, “Dattebayo…” he mocked Naruto, causing the blond shinobi to growl. Sasuke growled right back.

“I’m never going to get that nap, am I?” Mayu sighed wearily.

She, along with Konohamaru’s group, watched the two go back and forth, bickering like four-year-olds. Mayu turned towards the three interviewers. “As you can see, Naruto and Sasuke have a bitter rivalry thing going on,” she told them. The kids wrote down some things in their handy-dandy notebooks. “Honestly, though, I think they act like brothers. They love each other deep inside.”

“What about you, Haruno-san?” Moegi asked. “Do you have a rival?”

“Nope, can’t say I do,” Mayu answered with a grin. “Though, there are a number of people I want to beat, but they’re not my rivals.”

“I see.”

“Hey, do you have someone you like?” Konohamaru asked. He held his pinky up. “Someone like this?! Is it the boss, or his rival?” Mayu did not notice that the bickering between her teammates had ended.

“Nani…? No way do I like those guys like that!” Mayu giggled at the silly question. “But there is someone who I kinda like.”

“What’s his name?” Udon asked, and then sniffed.

“Rock Lee, the greatest ninja ever!” If someone were to look closely enough, they would see sparkles in the girl’s eyes.

“NANI…?!” Naruto shouted, causing Mayu to snap out of her daydream. The four looked towards the blond ninja in surprise. “What’s that loser got that I don’t?!”

A pink eyebrow twitched.

“Ch… Your taste in guys is just horrible, cocoon girl.”

The other eyebrow twitched twice.

Mayu stood up calmly and stood behind her broody teammates. They were none the wiser as they continued to insult. “Why would anyone like a guy with bushy eyebrows like that, anyway?” Naruto ranted. “I mean they’re huge!”

“But than again, freaks and cocoons belong together.”

“Why don’t you guys…” Mayu began. Sasuke and Naruto flinched, and then looked up at their female teammate. She had this calm, eerie look on her face. Naruto could have sworn he saw lightning strike behind her. Sasuke could have sworn she was surrounded by flames and she appeared to be bigger, almost giant. The girl moved her hands; they now rested on each boy’s opposite ear. “GO TO HELL!” She finished, and then slammed their heads together. Her calm expression had turned into a demonic look as she stomped away, leaving her teammates withering on the ground.

Konohamaru hesitantly poked his boss with a stick. Udon proceeded to do the same with Sasuke. Moegi stared at Mayu’s back as she moved further away. “Sugoi…! I wanna be just like her!” she exclaimed. The young kunoichi-in-training clasped her hands together in admiration.
************************

Squad 7 stared at their proctor expectantly. Actually, Naruto nearly gawked at the forest behind her. His hand was perched over his eyes as if he was attempting to investigate the forest from his vantage point. Sasuke resisted rolling his eyes at the idiotic actions of his fellow teammate. His eyes drifted over to his other teammate. In her green eyes, he saw mild fear. It was strange seeing that certain emotion. Usually, she would make a joke out of dangerous situations. Sasuke moved closer to her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the gates that lead into the forest. Mayu took a quick glance at her companion, and then focused on the tall trees.

“What do you mean?”

“You usually stare into the face of danger and laugh.”

“Correction, I stare into the face of danger and crack a very humorous joke.”

“Forgive me for getting that wrong.” Sasuke almost rolled his eyes again. “Scared…?”

“Definitely.”

&# 8220;As you should be.” Anko must have heard their conversation. Her predatory eyes honed in on Sasuke and Mayu. She grinned at them. “It’s not called the Forest of Death for nothing. And soon enough, you’re going to find out why.” Naruto didn’t like the way Anko practically insulted his teammate. Sakura was just being honest, after all! To show his disdain, he openly mocked what Anko had said, while doing a little pose of some sorts.

“Do your worst! You’re not going to scare me away!” Naruto shouted, once he stopped wiggling around. Both Sasuke and Mayu looked away in embarrassment. “I can handle anything!” Anko merely smiled. On the inside, though, she was fuming. How dare that brat try to make a fool of her!

“So…” She continued to smile despite her hidden feelings. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a tough guy.” A kunai smoothly slipped into her hand from her sleeve. She quickly threw the deadly weapon at Naruto. The kunai glided pass Naruto’s face and landed near another ninja. Seconds later, a cut appeared on Naruto’s cheek. Blood seeped through the open wound.

“Now Naruto’s pissing off the proctors! I’m just glad it wasn’t me this time.” Mayu watched Anko vanish, and then re-emerge behind her teammate. The jounin was whispering something in Naruto’s ear. And Sasuke had to wonder why his green-eyed teammate was making faces of revulsion. He shrugged and passed it off as Mayu just being Mayu.

His eyes roamed over to Naruto and Anko. He was surprised to see that another ninja had appeared behind the older kunoichi. Sasuke’s eyebrows knitted together as he stared. This… person had a long tongue. And in ‘it’s’ tongue was a kunai. “What the hell?” Dark eyes stayed trained on it (he still hadn’t figured out the gender) as it moved back towards its teammates.

Sasuke noticed that it winked at him as it passed by. He grimaced, not liking the shiver that ran up his spine. He also noticed that Mayu was glaring at it. It was the same glare that she gave to that Kabuto person. His gaze lingered on his teammate, briefly wondering what was with her and random people that she didn’t even know.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a random ninja passing him a stack of papers. He scanned over the words. “A consent form…” He took one and passed it to Mayu, who also took one and passed it on. His attention focused on Anko again.

“… First, I’ll give you a description of the terrain of the practice field.” She held up a scroll with a diagram of the forest. “There are 44 locked entrance gates surrounding this forest. There are rivers inside this battle zone. In the middle of the forest lies a tower. Its ten kilometers from each gate. It’s in this confide area that you will undergo the survival test. The test consists of…” Anko put away the scroll and pulled out two more scrolls. “… Anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls.” She held them up for all to see.

“Both of them?” Sasuke asked. Though, the tone in his voice made it seem like he didn’t really care what her answer was.

“Yes,” Anko replied. “You’ll be fighting to get both a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll.” Every single participate of the exam looked on, waiting for her to continue. “All together, 26 teams will be taking part in this test, so half of those teams will go after an Earth scroll and the other half try to take the Heaven scroll. I’ll hand over one type of scroll to each team.”

“Right, but how do we pass this test?” Sasuke asked.

“You obviously get the opposite scroll, so you can have two scrolls. Once you have both, you go to the tower in the middle. That’s how you pass.” Mayu scoffed, and then grinned at Sasuke with teasing eyes. “Honestly, Sasuke, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out!” She laughed arrogantly as she crossed her arms, feeling superior. Her superior reign didn’t last very long because Sasuke delivered a swift, hard punch to her head. “Itai…! My master has beaten me for my disrespect! Oh, the pain...!” Mayu fell to her knees and clutched her head. Her tears were virtually like waterfalls, pouring out of her eyes.

“Quit being so melodramatic,” Sasuke crossed his arms and turned away. He didn’t feel the least bit guilty over what he had done. All around them, genin sweated, nervous smiles tugged at their lips. Anko chuckled at the amusing scene.

“Like the girl said, you are to bring both scrolls to the tower,” she stated. “Oh, yeah… By the way, the test has a time limit. If you can’t get both scrolls and make it to the tower in five days, you automatically fail.” Multiple teams gasped in astonishment; Chouji’s gasp being the loudest. After all, five days without food was basically the end of the world. Survival test, indeed.

“If you get hungry, all you have to do is look around. There are plenty of things to eat in the forest,” Anko stated, purposely looking towards Chouji. The bigger genin looked almost relieved.

“Yeah, but… that’s not the only thing the forest has plenty of. There are carnivorous animals and man-eating plants in there as well,” Kabuto thought it would be nice to let the others know.

“Arrgh! Why did you always have to open your big fat mouth?! Why don’t you hold all of our hands and tell us step by step what to expect since you’re so naturally gifted with knowledge?!” Mayu shouted. “Some of us like being quite in suspense, ya know?!”

“Something tells me that girl doesn’t like me very much,” Kabuto thought.

“I wonder why Sakura-chan doesn’t like that guy,” Naruto thought, confused.

“What are the odds that she’s PMSing again… Great…” Sasuke rolled his eyes, and then wondered why he kept coming back to PMS. It was probably because his mother threw tantrums like this during her time. Yeah, that was it.

“Well, anyway… This test will also measure endurance behind enemy lines,” Anko placed her hands on her hips. “This is designed to be a grueling test and I’m sure some of you won’t be up to the challenge.” Shikamaru raised his hand and asked if he could quit while taking the test. “Of course not. You can’t say ‘I quit’ in the middle of a battle and expect to just walk away. You’ll get yourself killed like that.”

“Troublesome…” was his response.

“There are also some ways you can get disqualified,” Anko continued, and then began listing the reasons a team could fail, one being not to open the scrolls until you reach the tower. “Okay, we’re done. Each team, take your consent forms and exchange them over there for your scrolls.” She pointed over to a small booth, where three ninja were sitting. “After that, each team, pick a gate and wait there until you’re let inside.” Anko gave a lazy wary type of sigh. “Oh, and a word of advice… JUST DON’T DIE!”

Mayu blinked in surprise. That expression then turned into a dreary look. “Thanks for the encouragement, Anko-sensei…” she muttered with her shoulders hunched over. No wonder not many made it out of the forest. The support she gave was horrible!

“No problem, pinkie!” Anko grinned with child-like innocence.

Mayu grumbled.
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It wasn’t long before the group of genin broke off into their teams. Some of them, like Sasuke and Naruto, decided to read their consent forms on their own. It was because of this that Mayu was currently glaring down at her chicken butt-haired styled teammate. He was sitting against the large rock. He didn’t seem to notice Mayu’s presence. She guessed that he was too busying looking around at everyone else. Her pink eyebrow twitched.

Anko stopped a few feet from the two. “That Uchiha seems to be really involved with this test,” she thought. A smirk appeared as her vision shifted up to the girl above him. “A little too involved, I’d say.” She watched a grin slowly materialize on the girl’s face. She suddenly leapt off the rock and crashed landed onto the unknowing Uchiha. Anko chuckled as he began yelling at her while rubbing his abused head. The girl only fell over laughing. “This is going to be fun,” she muttered.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Sasuke almost growled. “Do you get little kicks by doing that?!”

“What, did you think I was another fan girl?” Mayu smirked, while Sasuke visibly paled.

“I told you not to ever talk about that!”

“Yah, yah…” She waved him off, uncaringly. “That’s what you get for leaving me behind!”

Sasuke’s eyes turned white and angry as he towered over Mayu, who looked quite terrified at the moment. “That’s what you’re supposed to do!” He hoisted the girl up and gave her a swift kick in the rump, which sent her flying. “Now go read the form and leave me the hell alone!” he called after all.

Mayu landed a few feet away on her back. “Why does Sasuke treat me this way…?” she thought, standing. She rubbed her poor mistreated butt as she stalked away from the pissy Uchiha. She held the paper in front of her face. Mind as well read the darn thing before signing it. Her pink eyebrows furrowed together as she read some of the things the form said. It was ridiculous! If says that if one is on the brink of death, no medical attention will be provided if the time limit’s not over! “The sick sadists!”

“Sakura-chan…!” A voice caused Mayu to look up from her paper. She saw Ino and her team coming towards her. She paused her walk as the bleach-blond kunoichi reached her.

“Ino-chan, how’s it going?” Mayu asked, smiling. Ino laughed haughtily as if she ruled the world. The green-eyed girl took a step back, as did Shikamaru and Chouji.

“It’s going great! I got kissed by Sasuke-kun!” She punched the sky with her fist. Mayu wondered why the sky never punched back. The sky was a wussy, that’s why. “Sakura-chan, you’re the coolest friend ever! Getting Sasuke-kun to kiss me, I mean. I could die happy right at this moment.” Mayu smirked.

“Yeah, he’s scared of me now. I can totally get him to do anything I want!” She puffed out her chest, proudly.

“Hey… I wanted to ask you something…” Ino hesitated before speaking again. “What or who made you quit liking Sasuke-kun all of a sudden? It’s not like you to give up.”

“I didn’t give up! I just didn’t want him anymore, that’s all!” Mayu replied indignantly. “Besides,” she smiled. “I found someone bigger and better than lil ol’ Sasuke!”

“Nani…?! Better than Sasuke-kun?! I don’t believe it!”

Mayu looked around, grinned, and then pointed out the person that was supposedly better than Uchiha Sasuke. “Aaahhh!” Ino screamed in disgust when her blue eyes inspected who Mayu was pointing to. “That hair, that outfit… th-those eyebrows! Ew…!” She turned back to her friend with a look of disbelief. “You don’t mean that green freak, do you?!”

Mayu nodded. “That’s the one!” she replied with a toothy grin. Ino gaped at her like she’d grown an extra head in three seconds flat. What happened to her friend? Had she lost her mind?!

“Does he have some type of jutsu on you? I’ll go kick his ass for you!”

“Okay, okay, so he’s not perfect!” Mayu stopped Ino from stomping towards Lee. “What about him?” she asked, pointing towards someone else. Ino blinked.

“Slightly better, but you went from big eyebrows to no eyebrows,” she commented.

“Hey…! That’s what makes him look like a panda! I like pandas.”

“Is this all girls talk about?” Chouji asked his friend.

“Troublesome…” Shikamaru said a shake of his head.

“Okay! We’re ready to begin handing out scrolls!” Someone yelled across the field. “Please collect your teammates and make your way over to this area!”

“Oh, guess I got to go! See you around, Ino-chan!” Mayu took off, waving.

Five minutes later, she met up with her teammates. They were already in line. Naruto greeted her with his normal foxy grin. “Hey, Sakura-chan!” Mayu smiled in return.

“Did you both sign yours?” she asked.

“Yup! I’m raring to go now!” Naruto answered.

“And what about you?”

“Ano… See, what had happened was-”

“You’re hopeless.” Sasuke handed her a pencil, and then turned around. Mayu grinned nervously, and then pressed her form against Sasuke’s back. She quickly signed her name.

“Arigatou!” Mayu returned the pencil to him.

“Yeah, yeah…” Sasuke also took her form, and then handed both his and her forms to Naruto. “Lucky that you came. We’re next.” Naruto looked like a ball of enthusiasm.

“I can’t wait!” he squealed.

“Next!” A shout came from behind the curtain. The three quickly moved forward. Naruto handed in the forms and waited. The man stared at the top form. “Okay, I’m pretty sure your name isn’t Fifth Hokage, Granddaddy Master of Ramen, but since I don’t care,” he gave Naruto a Heaven scroll. “Here ya go!”

The team walked out from behind the curtain after successfully hiding their scroll. “What a nice guy,” Naruto commented. Sasuke rolled his eyes, while Mayu grinned. It took a few minutes, but pretty soon, each team had their scroll. Anko told them to go to their gate and wait there.

“I call 12!” Mayu shouted, grabbing her teammates and running towards that gate.

“Do you really have to be a moron about it?” Sasuke inquired once the world stopped spinning. Mayu had taken them in circles before actually finding the gate. Naruto had fallen over with swirls in his eyes.

“What can I say? I’m just excited, scared, and freaked out all at the same time!” Mayu tightened her headband. “This is going to be crazy.”

“Crazy as in bad ass!” Naruto jumped up from his dizzy state.

The man at their gate shook his head and muttered a “kids these days” under his breath. He looked at his watch and realized that it was time to unlock the gate. He pulled a key out of his pocket and proceeded to do so. Naruto watched him. If possible, his excitement kicked up a notch.

“Oh man…” Mayu groaned, holding her stomach. “I suddenly feel sick as if I’m about to get on a roller coaster…” Sasuke heard Mayu’s groan and looked towards her. He noticed the look of apprehension immediately. He placed a hand on the back of her head.

“You choose now to get jittery?” Mayu shook his hand off. She swallowed, successfully suppressing her anxiety.

“I’m fine…” she muttered. “Arigatou… bird brain.”

“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan…! I’ll protect you! … Maybe if he’s nice, I’ll protect Sasuke-teme, too!” Naruto patted Sasuke and Mayu’s back. The former receiving a harsher pat than the latter. Sasuke pushed the blond away.

“As if you could!”

“Sasuke-teme…!”

“Al right, heads up, you maggots…!” Luckily, Anko’s voice reached far. It successfully stopped Naruto from retorting. “The second part of the test has begun!” The gates flung open. Naruto and his team stepped inside the gate. They had no idea what they were in for.

Well, Mayu did, but she doesn’t count…
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I’m told Mayu-chan’s name means cocoon, so in case you’re wondering. Please review.

Next time: He’s a Cold-Hearted Snake