Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 53: Classroom 301
"Hmmm…"
"Sasuke…" Sakura was worried about how Sasuke was going to take his loss.
"Stop grumbling. Everyone loses once in a while. At least you're alive to try again," Naruto told him.
"Naruto!" She shouted at him.
"I'll beat him next time!" Sasuke growled. "And you too!" he added.
Naruto looked at him. "You may have a chance during these exams. I mean… we don't know if we have to participate as teams or if it's going to be everyone vs. everyone."
"Ehmm… guys?..." Sakura was getting nervous. She did not even want to think about her teammates fighting against each other.
"I won't lose against you!" Sasuke said.
"If that's your intention, then revealing your secret weapon was definitely a mistake." Naruto chuckled.
Naruto and Sasuke kept glancing at each other as the tension grew.
"It seems like my team is fired up already."
"Sensei!" Sakura said with relief.
"I hope you weren't planning on starting anything in the halls." Kakashi had a stern expression on his face.
"Of course not, Sensei," said Naruto.
"Good… then we can properly take the exam."
Sakura appeared to be confused. "Properly? What do yo—"
"We needed the entire team to participate, right?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke tried to hide his reaction, but he was obviously surprised.
"This exam can only be taken in teams of three. But if I told you that beforehand, I was afraid that you would pressure Sakura to join."
Sakura glanced back at her teammates before going to Kakashi. "So if they came without me?..."
"They could not participate at all. But never mind that, you are all here, so we can begin." Kakashi smiled and pointed at the door. "Go ahead. And good luck!" He pointed at the door.
After saying their goodbyes to their Sensei, the team opened it up and went inside.
"Whoa!" Sakura's eyes were open like plates.
The classroom was much bigger than expected, and it was completely filled with people.
"Are we the last ones?" Naruto asked.
"I think we barely made it… but what about… ahhh!" Sakura got startled when some large guy sitting nearby glanced at her.
When looking around, the entire room was directly staring at them.
"What's with all the attention?" Naruto wondered.
"Sasuke!"
A blonde girl came running and threw herself at the boy.
"Ino! Get away from him!" Sakura already forgot about everything else and went to yell at the other girl.
"Oh… you're here too, of course." Ino stuck her tongue out. "Naruto! How are you doing?" She let go of the Uchiha and went to greet him.
"I'm fine, Ino. So your team is also taking the exam?" Naruto said.
"Not just us, Team 8 is also here." Ino pointed at Hinata, Kiba, and Shino.
"Since when are you two so friendly?" Sakura had mixed feelings about this. For one, she was glad that Ino was no longer touching her Sasuke, but she didn't feel exactly happy to see her speak with Naruto either.
"Why do you care? I thought you only had eyes for Sasuke." Ino taunted her.
Sakura's face became a bit more red. She was about to yell something back at Ino when someone got in the middle of them.
"N-Naruto…" A red-faced Hinata was now standing in front of him.
"Hello, Hinata."
"Ehmm… I wanted to… I wanted to apologize for…" She began to rub her hands nervously.
'For passing out on me after inviting you to dinner?'
Naruto thought, but he couldn't say that here. The girl might actually die of embarrassment.
"Don't worry about it, Hinata." Naruto got closer to her, but not too close.
"I'm sure we'll have other chances to chat." He looked around at the crowd. "The mood here is not good."
"Hey!" Kiba approached with a displeased expression. "I hope you're not bullying my teammate, you loser!" He glared directly at Naruto.
"Hmm?" He barely remembered this kid. 'Did I do something to him? Or maybe he is like that to everyone.'
"Kiba!" Hinata raised her voice way above her normal levels. "It's not like that."
"Do you guys have to be so loud?" Shikamaru sighed. "So annoying…"
"How long is this going to take?" Chouji asked while munching on some snacks. "I don't know if I have enough…"
"Hmph! So the nine rookie genins are here." Kiba said. "I wonder how far you guys are going to make it…" He glanced at Sasuke. "What do you say?"
"I won't lose to anyone." Sasuke spoke with confidence.
"We'll see about that." Kiba glared at Naruto again. "Having to carry all that dead weight… make sure you don't drown."
"Hey, don't talk to him like that." Sakura stepped forward.
This took most of the rookies by surprise. She was probably the last person they expected to defend Naruto.
"Kiba, that's enough, please…" Hinata pulled on his jacket.
"Fine…" the boy grumbled.
"You guys are all rookies out of the academy, right?"
A senior ninja with silver hair spoke to them. "This is not a picnic, you know? You should try to keep it low."
"And who are you?" Sasuke asked.
"My name is Kabuto. But it's not me who you should be worried about." He pointed behind them. "Look behind you."
They could see a lot of angry-looking people staring at them, so they were not sure who this Kabuto was referring to.
"Those guys over there are from the Hidden Rain Village and are very violent, so be careful. Although, in general, everyone is nervous about the exams, so it would be best if you rookies didn't make a lot of noise. Things may get unpleasant…"
"See? I told you. You guys are too noisy…" Shikamaru complained.
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