Chapter 18. The Chunin Exam: 6

Chapter 18. The Chunin Exam: 6

"Mom, why is dad always making me learn new jutsu?" I asked, five years old.

"Well honey, You need to get stronger. There are bad people out there and weakness is not an option. Now come with me, I'll help you study chakra control." Mom said.

Like always, training.

"But mom, I understand that I need to become stronger, but can't I have a little fun too?"

"Maki Hatake, whining and complaining will not be tolerated in this house." Mom said in a strict tone.

I straightened up immediatly. "Yes mom."

She laughed and ruffled my hair. "Sweetheart, You know that we're only doing this for you, right?"

I nodded my head slightly and followed my mom back to the backyard to work on controlling my chakra.

**********

"Maki, You have something special. It's an ocular jutsu called the sharingan. It allows you to copy your opponents jutsu and read their moves. There's much more to it, but i'll explain later. Now, I have to teach you how to activate it.." Dad said, started to explain the process of activating the sharingan.

*2 hours later.

"Good job, Maki!" My dad exclaimed.

I leaned over my small legs, trying to get air.

"Now, I want you to gather up some of your chakra in your eye to cover it up. When you've succeeded in doing that, release it and your sharingan will be visible again. 

Now, the sharingan uses up a lot of  chakra. That's why we've been training your body since you 3, but we still need to work on it so you don't pass out whenever you plan to use it."

The rest of the year I was trained to use the sharingan without using up too much chakra.

By the time I finished my sharingan training, I was 8.

***********

"Hey dad, can I ask you something?" I asked, 8 and a half years old. I'd been working on the water dragon jutsu, but failing miserably. Normally I could master jutsu pretty fast, I don't know why I couldn't get this one..

"What is it, Maki?"

"Can you... can you tell me about our family?" I asked hesitantly.

This was the first time I dared to bring up the subject, family.

He sighed. "Okay, your mom's parents are dead. My parents are dead. I have a younger brother, Kakashi. He's very.. skilled and composed. Everything a ninja should be. He's invented his own jutsu and he once cut lighning in half with it..." He continued on with his brother's achievements and  though i was intrigued, I did get the feeling of jealousy.

***********

I walked up the stairs slowly,  the steps creaking creepily. It was silent and I turned left to where my parents door was located. I opened the door, turning the lights on. And gasped.

My parents were laying in bed. Dead, blood covering their bodies and soaked in the blankets. I was about to scream when a hand covered my mouth. "One move and you're dead." A menacing voice whispered into my ear. I could barely nod, petrified. Another one came into my sight. He wore a black coat with red clouds. "The akatsuki." I whispered barely. 

"I can't find out. He must have hidden it somewhere."

"It's not here. Let's check out the other places."

What were they talking about? Were they looking for something?

"What about the girl?"

"We can't just leave her here. She'll talk"

"About what? All of us are already S-rank criminals."

"Right. Good point."

"Just leave her. She might come in handy later."

Then i felt something hit my head hard, and everything slowly faded away into blackness.

*********

I woke up, sweating. I was on Sasuke's back and we were walking through the forest.

"Hey, I think I can walk now." I murmered, exhausted. Wait, I've been asleep for god knows how long, how can I be so tired?

Sasuke turned around. "You're awake."

I nodded. "How long have I been out?"

"Maki, you're awake!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura looked down. I wonder why she's not talking to me.

Then I realized something. I was on Sasuke's back.

She must be jealous.

"Well, we only have a day left to get a scroll so we're walking towards  the middle where the tower is. We can set up and ambush there." A new face said.

That Kabuto guy from the first exam.

"He's helping us, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Sasuke I feel better now, You can put me down." I said.

He nodded and let me down.

"Now, i've been out for what? 3 days? What scroll do you have?" 

Please be an earth scroll, please be an earth scroll...

"An earth scroll. But that snake guy got our heaven scroll!" Sakura said, talking to me again.

"Nah, Orochimaru got a fake. I gave Sasuke a branch transformed into our scroll to trick our enemies. Looks like it  worked." I said, pulling out the heaven scroll from the beginning of the exams.

I think Sakura and Naruto would've been mad at us for not telling them sooner, but they were happy that we now had both scrolls.

"Sorry guys, we needed your reactions to be genuine when Sasuke bargained the scroll for our lives."

Naruto nodded. "It's okay Mayu-chan!"

We walked until we finally made it to the tower.

"Well guys, this is where we separate. I have to meet my team, good luck!" Kabuto said cheerfully. Something was wrong, his presence was something like Orochimaru's. Not like the cheery, helpful guys he's been the whole journey. Whatever, as long as we pass I don't really care.

We entered the tower.

There was writing on the wall mentioning heaven and earth, so we figured that we'd open both scrolls now.

There was a poof and iruka sensei appeared. So it was a summoning scroll...

"Hey, long time no see. Congratulations! You've passed the second test. To celebrate your passing the second test, I'd like to buy all of your ramen.. But..-"

He got cut off by Naruto tackling him in a hug. "We did it!!!!" Naruto yelled.

How that kid still has energy I will never know.

Iruka laughed. "You sure haven't changed in your ability to relax."

Got that right.

Iruka sensei talked about  the writing on the wall. The chunin motto.

"So basically Naruto, If you lack brains but you have strength, work on your brains. And Sakura, you lack more strength, but you've got the brains. So you need to work on your strength." Iruka sensei explained.

He talked a bit more about being a chunin then led us to a room where all the people that passed were standing in a formation. 

We joined them and a few minutes all the jonin and the hokage came in.

"Hokage-sama will now explain the third test, listen carefully." Anko yelled.

The talking in the room stopped and silence filled the air.

The third hokage started explaining the reason behind the chunin exams when there was an interruption. Someone poofed into the room.

"I apologize Hokage-sama. As the proctor for the third exam, will you please allow me to take over?"

"Of coures." Hokage replied.

"Hello everyone, I am Hayate Gekkou." He coughed. "Before the test, There's something that needs to happen.: He coughed again.

"It's a preliminary to decide who gets to be in the main event. Too many genin passed which is rare. But when this happens-" Another cough.

Poor guy, I wonder what's wrong..

"When this happens, a preliminary round is held to determine which genin will go on to the third exam." 

He lectured on about why the preliminaries had to be held. "So anyone who does not feel well or up to another fight, you can quit right here. We'll be starting the preliminaries immediately."

Talking started back up, arguments. I mean seriously, they wanted to have the preliminaries right after the second test, everyone was exhausted. Maybe they wanted to test out our stamina.

A couple of people decided that they couldn't handle it.

I felt someone shake my shoulder. "Maki, you should quit." Sakura whispered.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" I whisper-yelled. (A/N-Does that make sense? xD lol sorry for my interruption.)

Sasuke and Naruto joined in on the conversation.

"Maki, we all saw the mark and what it did to you. It knocked you out for over 2 days!" Naruto whisper-yelled back.

"Forget being unconscious, you were screaming and crying out in pain. It was hard to watch." Sasuke muttered, trying to sound unconcerned.

"Guys, I'm not quitting. I've worked too hard to make it here and nothing you say or do will change my mind." I growled.

"If you won't quit, then I'll do it for you." Sakura said, putting her hand up.

I slapped it back down, hard. "Stay out of it Sakura." I growled dangerously.

"But you're in no condition to fight!" Naruto yelled.

"Shut up, all you of." I said, turning around and ignoring them.

"Maki, I won't! If Sakura and even Sasuke is worried about you, then I have a reason to be worried! I'm your best friend and I won't let you hurt yourself even more." Naruto said madly.

He's stubborn that baka.

I sighed. "Naruto, this isn't just about the mark. It's about how strong I am. I'm strong yes, but I've seen so many mere genin who are so strong. It's made me realize that i'm not as strong as I think I am. Especially after losing that fight with orochimaru. This is my retribution and I need it.

Naruto, I was knocked out for most of the test, but I heard about how much stronger you've gotten. It makes me wonder... And now I want to fight you to." I said, hoping for him to drop it.

Right when he was about to drop it, a flash of pain came from my curse mark and I grunted, gripping my neck tightly.

Sasuke growled. "Baka, you should quit."

"Too late!" I said happily, before flinching from the pain again.

*Kakashi's p.o.v

"Thought so.What should we do?" Hokage-sama asked as we watched Maki flinch and hold her shoulder. I could make out the curse mark from up here. Damn Orochimaru, how dare he touch my neice. I growled under my breath. 

"Remove her from the exam into an isolated room and have anbu watching over and protecting her! She'll be unpredictable right now."

"Anko, I know you have the experience and all, but this is my neice we're talking about. She's not going anywhere with out a fight." I said, controlling my anger and giving her a small close-eyed smile.

"Don't be foolish, we have to force her to quit! The curse mark is a forbidden jutsu that eats at the users body. Just by releasing chakra the curse mark becomes active and forcibly pulls out the chakra. It's amazing that the child's still standing, she should be dead!"

Well, this is my neice we're talking about..

"Hokage-sama, please!"

"Let her continue, but at the first sign of the curse mark taking over, I give you and Kakashi permission to intercept." Hokage-sama said.

*Maki's p.o.v

"Let's start the preliminaries." I proctor said. "It's a one on one fight, as if you were fighting in real life. 11 matches will take place, and one of the genin will fight twice because of the uneven number. The winners will advance to the next text. 

It's a no rules fight. Winners will be decided if their opponent dies, is knocked out or acknowledges defeat. The electic scoreboard will choose the 2 opponents.

The electric scoreboard picked two names.

Sasuke Uchiha and A sound ninja. 

"Those two, stay down here. The rest of you, go up to the second floor."

We walked to the second floor and the fight began.

*****

The fight shouldn't have even been defined as a fight. It was Sasuke kicking Yoroi's ass. (a/n that's the sound guy)

Everyone was silent as the next two names on the electic board were decided.

I saw my name. Then I saw my opponent. 

So this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be. 

A/N - Cliffhanger! ahahaha hope you enjoyed it! :) Comment, vote , follow <3