A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

The Grass ninja turns away from Anko sensei and look at me blatantly for a moment, before returning to his/her spot next to his/her teammates.

‘Why is everyone always looking at me?’ I think with a shudder.

“Now, before we begin I have something that you all will need to look over.” Anko sensei pulls out a stack of papers. “This is just a basic consent form.” Some people must have looked a little confused, because she explains the consents further. “Some of you may not survive this exam, and I need your consent saying that will take that risk.”

I exchange a look of apprehension with my team. What kind of test was this going to be?

“Now while these are being passed out,” –Anko sensei hands the papers to Naruto, who was in front of everyone—“I will be explaining what you will be doing on this test. This part of the exam will require your survival skills.”

Shikamaru yawns and passes the now smaller stack of consents to me. I take one and pass the remaining to Rakuyo.

Anko sensei then pulls out a scroll and opens it, revealing a map. It’s a description of the terrain on the field, she divulges. There are 44 locked entry gates and in the center of the place is a locked tower. It’s in this forest where we will undergo the survival exercise. This survival test is…an anything goes battle.

At that, I feel several pairs of eyes fleetingly glance in my direction. I close my eyes and smile.

“You will be battling to get your hands on both these scrolls.” Anko takes out two scrolls from her weapon pouch. “A heaven scroll and an earth scroll. All 26 teams will be taking part in this exam, so that means half of you will be going after the heaven scroll and the other half will be trying to get the earth scroll. Each team will be given one kind of scroll, and the one you don’t get is the one you’ll be fighting for.”

“So, how do we pass the test?” Sasuke asks placidly.

“All of your teammates must bring both the scrolls to the Tower. You have a time limit to do this as well. You will be given five days to complete this task,” Anko sensei answers back just as calmly.

Chouji’s mouth drops open in disbelief. “What? What are we supposed to do about food??” I sigh mentally and then smile. Typical Chouji.

Anko sensei’s face beams. “Just look around you. The Forest is full of plentiful things you can eat.”

Kabuto cuts in. “Yeah, but there are also man eating beasts an poisonous plants in there too.”

I hear Neji and Lee exchanges words behind me.

“With all of this, there is no way that even half of the teams is going to pass this,” Neji says, arms crossed.

Lee’s teeth sparkle. “Yes, it is a challenge indeed!”

“This test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test, and you can bet it will be.”

Mutters float around.

“There are also ways to get disqualified. First, if all team members cannot make it to the Tower in five days with both scrolls. Second, if a member of a team dies or cannot function past his limits no longer. And most importantly, you may not, open and read the contents of the scrolls until you get to the Tower. Understood?”

Shikamaru shrugs. “What happens if we do?”

“You.Don’t.Want.To.Know,” Anko says simply, saying each word slowly and with a little more emphasis. She continues on in her regular tone. “There are times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents. These scrolls are those secret documents and it is to test your integrity. All right, each team will take your consent forms and exchange them over there,”–gestures to her right at a wooden shelter where three shinobi are seated—“for your scroll. After that each team will pick a gate and be let inside.” She sighs. “Oh yeah, and one more thing…just don’t die!”

All twelve rookies, including me, look out in fear, worry, or anticipation. I was a mixture of all three.

“An all out battle, huh? This is going to be interesting.” And by interesting, Lloyd means fun.

“Yeah,” I agree sullenly. Rakuyo, Lloyd, and I were sitting under a tree, not far from where we standing previously. We had all signed our consent forms, written proof that we knowingly and willingly were taking the risk of putting our life on the line.

One of the shinobi was putting up a red curtain around the shelter, and it dawned on me. “So, we won’t be knowing who has which scroll.”

“Yeah, I guess so. That is going to make it much harder. We’ll be fighting anyone who crosses our path, not knowing if they have the same scroll as us or the one we want,” Rakuyo elucidates.

“Man, this is going to be a hell of an exam,” Lloyd states with a smirk. But this wasn’t just an exam; this was for real. I mean, we could very well die on this test. I smile back at him hesitantly. “Hmm?” Lloyd moves forward, more into my line of vision.

“I’m anticipating this as much as you are, Lloyd. But I still can’t help but to feel anxious and uneasy about this.”

“Yeah, I can’t help but to feel that way a little either,” Lloyd says softly, his eyes somewhere else. His focus was on the redhead boy from the Sand village, I forgot his name, and the boy was looking over this way himself; at me to be more precise.

I turn my gaze away. Lloyd had interpreted me wrong. I was worried, and yes, I was scared, but not for my team or me. Naria sensei had prepared us well for this, and I was more in control of my healing power. Nothing could touch us. There was nothing for me to be afraid of, nothing. All this dread I felt though, was for my other friends, outside of my team. For Kiba, Hinata, Shikamaru…and Naruto.

“Don’t even worry about it, Kimina. Were more than ready for this. This is going to be a piece of cake,” Lloyd says matter-of-factly, breaking me of my reverie.

I roll my eyes at him, and smile. I never appreciated Lloyd’s cocky and confident attitude like I did now, and I’m glad that that side of him didn’t change.

“Alright! We’re gonna’ start handing out scrolls!” Anko sensei yells to everyone. I glance at her, and she nods and winks at me.

Every participant gathers to where we were when we first arrived, and our squad was one of the first to get our scroll.

Lloyd hands our consent forms to the middle shinobi and the one to his right hands Rakuyo the earth scroll, which he puts in his weapon pouch.

“Okay, everyone has received their scrolls, now go on to your gates! When the gate opens, the test will begin!”

Our squad picks gate 34.

“This is it. Time to show everyone what we’ve got!” Lloyd exclaims excitedly. Rakuyo and I nod in agreement. This was it, and we couldn’t be prepared more for it.

“Woo-hoo! We rock at survival! There’s no way we can lose this!” Kiba shouts, enthused.

“The time has come for us to carry out the plan and attack in the open,” Dosu tells his two Sound ninja teammates.

Zaku, standing on his left, replies bluntly, “But I’m telling you, if I see those punk ass genin in this Forest, I’m gonna’ kill them.”

Naruto punches the air in front of him. “Oh yeah, bring it on! I’m so ready for this!” Sasuke and Sakura both nod and smile.

“Oh man…this is going to be a drag,” Shikamaru sighs wearily. “I say we go after Naruto first, that should be easy.”

Lee’s eyes burn with the fire of determination, and Neji just shakes his head at him, and Tenten suppresses a laugh.

Gaara stares demented at the closed gate.

The time was here. “The second part of the Chunin Exams…has begun!” Anko shouts for all to hear her.

At that, the gates fly open, and Lloyd, Rakuyo and I run inside the intimidating dense forest.

It wasn’t before long when we stop in our tracks, sensing more than one presence around us. Two shinobi emerge from the tree branches above us, each with malicious sneers on their faces.

“Well, that sure was quick,” Lloyd says with a chuckle.

“Well, we couldn’t have been more lucky than to run into a couple of rookies. So, which scroll do you have?” the one closest to us asks, his eyes unblinking. They were two ninja from the Rain village I notice, looking closely at their headbands.

“Why don’t you come and find out,” I retort back, taking out a kunai knife.