Chapter 12

(Setsuna's POV)

I stare up at the academy before me and let out a sigh.

Yesterday, Kakashi had told us that he's entered us into the Chunin exams and that we had to meet here at 3pm. I glanced around the area and noticed that I was the last to arrive.. as always. "Come on Setsuna-chan! Hurry up!" Naruto called as they began making their way inside the building. With one last look behind me, I followed after my teammates.

We slowly, yet surely, made our way down the vast corridors towards room 301 - our destination. After going up one set of stairs, we came up to a large crowd surrounding room 201, although it had a genjutsu cast over it, making it seem as though it was room 301.

A yelp came from the middle of the crowd and someone shouted "That's harsh" We walked forward to the front of the crowd and stared at the two standing in front of the door. "Heh! Your taking the chunin exams but you can't even get past us?" The one with the bandage over his nose asked "Yes, why don't you just give up now before you get hurt" The one with the bandana over his head stated with a smirk "Yeh! I think I hear your mummy calling"

I shook my head and stepped up 'Izumo, Kotetsu' I said their names so that only they could hear me. Their necks snapped towards me and they both gulped. I sighed 'Release the Genjutsu' This time, my voice went everywhere. "So, you saw through the genjutsu huh?" Kotetsu smirked slyly.

Sasuke came up to me and nodded "Tell them Sakura, you must have been the first to notice" "Huh?" She looked up, clueless as to what he was going on about. I nodded her in some sort of encouragement "Ur-Yeh, This is only the second floor" Kotetsu scoffed "Well, Well, you noticed an illusion. Now lets see how you deal with this" In the blink of an eye, he jumped and roudhoused kicked at Sasuke. However, just as Sasuke was about to block with a kick of his own, another person got in between and blocked the two.

He was a tall boy with a bowl like haircut. His eyebrow were larger than normal and he was wearing a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers. He let the two go and Kotetsu immediatly vanished from the scene. "Hey" Another boy came forward with the previous girl, who was being beaten, up at his side "What happened to the plan? I thought you were the one who said to keep a low profile" The boy had rather long dark brown hair tied into a low ponytail and his eyes were pupilless. "I know but.." "Nevermind, it's over. Forget it" The girl with two buns in her hair shook her head and sighed.

I noticed the boy (who I just now remembered as Lee - one of the genin Sentaro teaches) in green turn pink in the cheeks as he stared at Sakura and wondered why. He al of a sudden, waltzed right up to her and introduced himself. "My name is Rock Lee. You are Sakura, right?" Sakura had a 'whats happening?' expression on. "Please be my girlfriend" Lee gave her a thumbs up. However, he was instantly rejected.

"Hey you! Over here" Lees teammate, Neji, called as he walked towards Sasuke. "What's your name?" "..Isn't it common courtesy to give your own name first?" Ignoring him, the Hyuuga asked a different questione "How old are you anyway?" "I'm not oblidged to answer" Sasuke deadpanned and turned away.

Tenten, finally noticing me along the sidelines, rushed over with a grin. She looked happy, though I could not tell why. Thinking about it, the girl would always be over bubbly around me...

"Setsuna, you're taking the exams as well?" It was rather obvious, why else would I be here. Instead  of answering back rudely like that, however, I merely nodded. "That's great! Let's hope both of our teams pass, neh?" She was enthusiatic and rather pleased at the thought of passing the chunin exams with me, although I knew it would not be that simple and there was a possiblitly of either of us failing. 'Yes...' 

Giving a final smile that was mixed with a giggle like sound, Tenten waved as she skipped back over to her teammates; said boys glancing at me and giving their own sign of greeting. Rock Lees greeting being rather excessive. 

"Naruto, Sasuke, Setsuna. Come on, Lets go" Sakura suddenly called out to us with a grin, already hopping down the hall before all of us even gave her our attention. 

As the rest of my team followed suit and began making their way up to the third floor, I stayed behind and opened a random door, surprising Kotetsu and Izumo. I stared up at the two, now back to normal, men and tilted my head. "Ur, Hey Setsuna" I nodded in greeting "Sorry about that. We just wanted to test them.. ya know?" 'I understand' They both sighed in unison before bringing me into a hug. I froze slightly but didn't pull away "Good luck. Your gonna need it" With a wink sent from Kotetsu to myself and a wave from Izumo, they poofed away.

With one last look at their previously stood places, I made my way upstairs. However, instead of something normal, I came up to a giant turtle scolding Lee. Seeing me, Sakura called me over "Hey Setsuna! What took you so long?" I didn't answer and kept my eyes focused on the two in front of me. 'This is.. unnatural'

"Hey, you guys" Naruto called, running over to us. "What Naruto?" Said boy pointed to Lee and the animal "That weird thing he's talking to is a turtle. Right?" "Obviously!" Sakura deadpanned, an irk mark clear abover her brow. I shook my head at the bickering two and turned to Sasuke, who was still kneeling on the ground.

Noting me looking his way, he stared up at me. "What?" *Blink.. Blink* 'Nothing' I turned my neck and glanced back at Lee and the.. summoning animal? "You think you'll get away with a bunch of lame excuses like that? A true shinobi never reveals his technique's unless it's apsolutely necessary!" I nodded my head, silently agreeing with the scolding turtle.

From beside me, Sasuke looked as though he was about to explode. 'Calm down' I ordered blandly. With a glare, he ignored me but did indeed calm down. "Are you ready to take your punishment?" Lee hung his head even further "Hai" "Well then, come on out.. Guy-sensei!" A puff of smoke appeared on the turtles back and once it cleared, revealed a man.. It was Lees sensei and partner in teaching their team with Sentaro. "How you doing everybody!? Life treatin' ya good?" He asked in a weird pose.

Naruto and Sakura instantly screamed with huge eyes, even Sasuke was freaked out. I merely sighed and glanced to the side, not understanding why they have to be so noisy. "He's got the biggest eyebrows yet!! They're almost alive!! That's so freaky!" Naruto screamed, pointing an accusing finger at said man. Hearing this, Lee turned around with an irk mark atop his head "Hey! Do not insult Guy-sensei! He's one of the greatest men in the entire world!" "Just give it a rest Lee" Guy called to him.

As soon as Lee turned to face his Sensei, he was punched. "Your a fool!"

The next few scenes were even more confusing.

Guy apologised to Lee and they made up... By crying and expressing their feelings.. perhaps a hug in the end.. But then, as punishment, Lee was told to run around 100 laps around the practice field. However, once Sakura told them that the chunin exams were about to start, he simply increased the amount of the laps up to 500.

For the first time noticing that we were here, Guy turned to us and stared. "Tell me. How is Kakashi? "Do you know him?" Sasuke questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Do I know him? Hehehe.. well, people say.. he and I are arch rivals for all eternity" Turning around, I stared at the space Guy just moved to. My team were slightly slower in realising this thought. "Setsuna! As youthful as ever I see. And you could even see through my super fast speed!" He grinned a grin that showed all of his perly whites that had a weird gleam to them. His face then turning to a rather scary perverted expression, he switched his gaze to my teammates. "I reckon, it's 50 wins and 49 losses.. To me that is."

I sighed and fiddled with the strings on my Shamisen "I'm sorry for the trouble Lee caused you. Look into my eyes and accept my apology.. also notice my handsom, manly features" By now, Sasuke was shaking in his boots. I didn't think to ask him why though. "Lee, farewell!" "Yes sir!" With that said, Lee's sensei disappeared into a cloud of smoke and we were finally free to go. After a short speech to Sasuke about who the true stongest rookie is, Lee went off himself. But, I'm sure he wasn't talking about me.

'I wonder who this strong rookie is?' I mused to myself as I, also, made my way towards room 301.

_____________________________________

"Glad you came Sakura, for your sake and the others" "Huh?" Said girl stared at Kakashi with a confused look. "Now, you can all formally register for the chunin exam. You see, only groups of three are allowed to apply for, and take the exam" "But sensei" Sakura started "You said the choise to take the exam, was up to the individual" I sighed with a shake of my head 'He lied' "Sorta.. I didn't want you feeling pressured by the others to take part. I wanted you to make the descision of your own free will" She sighed in what seemed to be relief before stopping and turning confued again.

"You said only groups of three can take the exam.. we're a group of four" It was silent for a moment, before Kakashi's eye laid on my. 'Alone?' Was all I asked, already knowing what his answer was. I recieved an, expected nod. "Right.. Lord Hokage had given you persmission to enter the exam alone.. but that's only if you feel up to it" Sakura and Naruto gasped at the new information, even Sasuke's eyes widened the slightest.

"But that's nor fair to Setsuna!" Sakura stated. I shook my head 'It's not fair on you' Kakashi nodded in agreement to what I informed. "She's right. It's more of an advantage than a disadvantage. She doesn't have to deal with anyone other than herself. But, I can see your point Sakura" 'I'll do it alone' My, now, former team sighed and nodded in understanding.

"Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke and Setsuna. I'm proud of you all. I couldn't have asked for a better team" Stepping to the side, Kakashi let us pass him. But, not without a final "Good luck"

With a push to the door, the foor of us walked in. Our head held high.

However, that didn't last long as everyone in the room stopped what they were all doing to stare at us. Sakura, Naruto and even Sasuke gulped at the sight. Many older ninja sat at desks watching with bloodlust filled eyes. "Man" Sakura had beads of sweats sliding down her forehead "I had no idea there'd be so much conpetition" Naruto nodded, agreeing with her, whilst Sasuke smirked, as if happy that there's many ninja who might want to kill us.

"Ah! Sasuke? Where've you been?" A screechy voice came from our right. Turning our heads, almost symultaniously, we came face to face with Ino. She ignored the rest of us and jumped onto Sasuke back, making Sakura angry in an instant. "Boy, you have no idea how much I was hoping you'd show up" Growing an irk mark, Sakura pointed an accusing finger at the blond and growled "Your Porker! Back off, he's mine!"

"Miss forehead! They let you in?"

With a shake of my head, I leaned against the wall. But, made sure I was further away from them noisy rookies. "Setsuna!" A voice suddenly came from the front of the room. Everyone's heads turned face the person who called out to me as he (From the sound of his voice) pushed his way through the large crowd.

Soon enough, Mayonaka jumped over heads and landed around a meter in front of me. 'Mayonaka' I said so that only he could hear me. Coming over, he wrapped his arms around my frail body and pulled me close into a, might I add - very, tight hug.

As soon as he pulled back, he began asking questions "I didn't know you were gonna be in these exam" I nodded 'Same to you' At this, he scratched at the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, you know Lord Hokagen said to stay I had to become a ninja" *Nod* "Well, he told me of the Chunin exams and I said that it'd be the perfect chance. Will you come meet my teammates?" I was about to reply, when I low voice interrupted "We're right here, Baka"

Stepping to the side, Mayonaka sighed and pointed to two boys - looking around his age. One had black spiky hair and brown eyes, while the other had long, just above the shoulder, length white hair and light blue eyes. When in line with Mayonaka, the boy with black hair was slightly taller and the boy with white hair was slightly shorter.

"This is Kuro" He gestured to the dark haired boy "And this is Toshiro" He turned to the white haired boy. I nodded in greeting "Well.. you must be Setsuna. He hasn't stopped talking about you ever since we met.. which was yesterday afternoon" Kuro stated with a tired look. 'I see' Both boys raised their eyebrows before turning their gazes to Mayonaka. "You didn't tell us she couldn't talk"

Mayonaka chuckled "Woops, must have slipped my mind. Anyway, where's you team? I heard you can only take the test in groups of three.. so who're you with?" It was silent between us for a moment before I deadpanned - 'I'm alone' All three of the boys eyes widened and Mayonaka shook my shoulders roughly "What? It's too dangerous for you to do it alone! What if something happens" His two teammates nodded in what seemed to be agreement.

I shook my head and took a step back from them 'I'll be fine.' With a small nod, I made my way back towards the rookies, only to find them talking to a boy with silver hair tied up into a ponytail and round glasses. No one had yet noticed me standing beside them..

Sasuke stepped forward and smirked widely "Do those cards of yours have any info on the other candidates?" The man returned the smirk, but less intense "They might. Have someone special in mind?" "Gaara of the desert and Rock Lee while your at it" Silver haired man frowned fakely "Aww.. it's no fun if you know their names" Swiping a card, he began forcing chakra into it.

Wih a poof, the card showed contents of Gaara of the desert. HIs fighting abilities weren't visible, but his missions were. He had already done many B-Ranked missions without even getting a scratch on him. Next up, was Rock Lee of our village. He'd also done many missions, but his ninjutsu and Genjutsi abilities were his downfall, while his aijutsu abiliies were that of a master.

After showing us a map of the differnet ninja countires, the still mystery man to myself made a bad remark about the sound and ended up getting attacked by three of them. I shook my head and leaned against the wall.

I noticed the weird look Sasuke kept on giving Kabuto and decided to ask hims straight out 'Sasuke' I started, only him able to hear me. He turned around and rose an eyebrow 'You don't trust that man?' He was silent for a moment, before letting a smirk plaster over his face "That's right, he gives me a bad feeling" I nodded in agreement at that.

Form the front of the room, a large amount of smoke appeared.

"All right you baby-faced degenerates! Pipe down and listen up! It's time to begin. My name's Ibiki Morino.. your proctor" As the smoke cleared, many chunin came into view as well as Mayonaka's previous interregater.

'This is going to be interesting...'