The second Sakura comes into mine, Sasuke's and Naruto's vision from the front of the Academy, my body coincidentally starts aching. Maybe it's from last nights' skirmish. I'm too sore to tell, or care.

"Good morning, Sakura," I greet as she comes up to us. "You're a bit late today, huh?"

"U-Uh, right," and she laughs apologetically. "Sorry, guys." Very briefly, I catch a strange expression on her face before it'd melted away. It only reminds me of the question I'd wanted to ask them all since yesterday. Had that strange Ninja attacked them, too? Did he have accomplices helping him out? He'd disappeared after I'd done what I'd done – were they clones? Had it only been me that was attacked? Or were the other participants of the exam involved, too?

"G-Good morning, Sasuke," Sakura says, and from in between his bangs, he looks to her and offers a single nod.

Finally all back together, we make our way into the Academy, moving slowly up the staircase until we finally reach our floor. I'd yawned, nearly tripping from having an unwilling consciousness, but I manage to stay on my feet, though just barely.

Up ahead of us, a large group of what I guess are the other Genin stand near the door we're supposed to enter. They're talking amongst themselves, staring nervously to the door, leaning into each other and whispering question that don't seem to be getting answers. Then, there's the crack of someone's knuckles connecting with another person's body, followed by a loud grunt, several gasps of worry, and something heavy falling to the ground.

"You're taking the Chūnin Exams but you can't even get past us?" a voice says.

"Why don't you give up now before you get hurt?" a second suggests.

"Yeah, I think I hear your mommy callin' ya!"

We make an attempt to push our way to the front, but the crowd is too dense, too crowded to get through without having to exert much effort.

"Please let us through!" a girl calls. "We're supposed to go in there." The same sounds repeat themselves. Sasuke reaches forward and grabs one of the Genin out of the way, making a path.

"Do you think it's a joke?" Two male Ninja, who I can only assume are the ones who've been speaking, stand in front of the door we're supposed to get through. "Chūnin are qualified to lead missions. The lives of your squad members are in your hands; you better be tough enough to take the heat, 'cause delicate little girls don't belong here."

"You won't pass anyway, so why don't you go home and play with your dolls?" the others adds.

"Real nice speech," Sasuke says with a scoff. "Now both of you, step aside and let me through." He steps forward, only a few feet away from getting in their faces. "And while you're at is, reverse the Genjutsu. We can see through your illusion, anyway." I blink, surprised. "We're going to the third floor."

"What does he mean?"
"We're on the third floor!"
"I know!"

"Well, well," the first one says, chuckling.

"You saw through our Genjutsu, huh?" Sasuke looks over his shoulder toward us.

"Go ahead, Sakura," he says. "I'm sure you saw it before anyone else did." She blinks, too, her expression blank. "You have the best eyes and the most impressive analytical skills on the squad. You must've seen this coming from a mile away."

"I must have?" she repeats. "Well, sure! Of course! Yeah, I spotted it right away. This is only the second floor."

"Right!" Naruto pipes, and I nod in agreement. The sign above the door that had read the numbers 301 become contorted and transform back into the numbers 201.

"Well, aren't we the smart ones? So, you noticed an illusion." The first Ninja scoffs. I'm too surprised to properly react when he'd stepped at us – at me; why me?! – and lifted his leg in the air to attack. "Well, let's see you deal with this!"

Instinctively, I'd put my arms up to defend myself, not even considering an evade and counter, when a black-haired boy dressed in green suddenly flies between him and us, holding back the legs of both the Ninja and Sasuke, pushing them away from each other.

I lower my arms, heart racing.

"Hey," another boy calls on his way toward us, sounding and looking irritable. Beside him – the girl who'd been hit earlier. He must be a Hyūga, I realize, my gaze drawn to his familiar pale eyes. "What happened to the plan? I thought you were the one who said to keep a low profile and not let anyone see our skill level?"

"I know, but..." The boy sighs.

"Never mind," the girl says, shaking her head. "Forget it." The boy turns toward us finally, before setting his wide eyes on me.

"You!" he exclaims.

"Uh, m-me?" I stammer, startled by the height of his voice.

"You are Kari Yamada, no? The Taijutsu prodigy from the rookie class?"

"Um, I guess," I answer warily.

"My name is Rock Lee! I have heard of your skill. What a coincidence that we meet here today – I wish to see your skills for myself sometime."

"My skill?" I repeat, finding myself flattered – I have notoriety? "S-Sure, then – okay."

"Excellent!"

"Hey, you – over here," the Hyūga boy from before calls, looking to Sasuke. "What's your name?" Naruto suddenly grumbles under his breath from behind me, sounding too obviously annoyed.

"It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking someone else's," Sasuke replies coolly.

"You're a rookie, aren't you?" the boy guesses. "How old are you, anyway?"

"I'm not obliged to answer." The boy narrows his eyes at him, and his female teammate lets out a laugh. Leaving with the final word, Sasuke turns around and walks toward the opposite end of the hall. Moving to follow after him, I spot Naruto leaning against the wall, pouting.

"No one wants to know my name," I hear him mumble. Sighing, I grab him off the wall and follow after the other two.

I'm a pretty honest person, I can admit this. I have no problem admitting defeat or expressing a fear. Like right now, for example – these big, bad Chūnin Exams? I should have worn some brown pants today.

What if we don't pass?

What if we're attacked again like we'd been last night? Or just minutes ago on the second floor?

I shake my head, trying to rid myself of doubts. I'd spent the entirety of the night thinking about the "what ifs" that it'd left me near sleep deprived, so I can't start that up again. There's no point in it, especially if I have faith in my team and me. But is this really fear that I'm feeling? Or maybe I'm just so excited I feel like my bladder is going to explode. Either way, I'm sure they're one in the same.

"Hey, you! The one with the attitude!"

Over the shout, I'd barely heard Rock Lee's footsteps from the balcony area. Hadn't he just been with his teammates?

"What do you want?" Sasuke asks him.

"I want to fight," Lee answers. "Right here, and right now."

"Here and now, huh?" Sasuke smirks, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Yes." Lee jumps down from the balcony, landing surprisingly gently on the floor. "My name is Rock Lee," he reintroduces himself. He points at Sasuke. "You said it was "common courtesy" for a challenger to give his own first name, right? Sasuke Uchiha?" He takes a stance, lowering his extended hand. "I challenge you!

"Everyone is always talking about the Uchiha Clan and how great they area. Well, I want to see if it is true! If you are half as talented in Taijutsu as Kari is rumoured to be, then I figure you must also be a good test for me also!"

"Wh... What a ridiculous rumour," I murmur, hiding my twisted expression behind my hair.

"You've heard of the Uchiha Clan, and yet you wish to fight me?" Sasuke says. "You must be even more of a psycho than you look, if that's possible." His eyes narrow at him. "You want to know more about my clan? Then I'll teach you – the hard way."

Lee grins. "Bring it on—""Hold it!" Naruto interrupts, the rest of us looking his way to find out what his outburst had been about. His lips are pursed as he glowers at Lee. "I get him first; the weirdo is mine!"

"Go for it," Sasuke says.

"Naruto—""It'll take me two seconds to get him to beg for mercy," Naruto says, cutting my warning off. I sigh in defeat – what is with everyone and the violence today? They should be saving the fighting for the exam! Besides, Lee doesn't really seem as big a pushover as Sasuke and Naruto believe he is – by the look on her face, I apparently share this sentiment with Sakura.

"No, thank you," Lee says. "Right now, the only one I wish to fight is the Uchiha."

"Yeah?" Naruto challenges, quick to run at him. "Well I've got news for you! Sasuke can't compare to me! Believe it!"

Levelling his hand out in front of him in a new stance, I'm struck with a strange sense of déjà vu by it. Makara-sensei had used that stance all the time – she used it to kick my butt and send me flying into the snowy dunes around our cabin. Now, Lee uses it to do the same to Naruto, launching him into the wall several meters away.

"You should just accept it," he advises. "You have no chance against me, and your skills are inferior. You see, Sasuke... out of all the top Genin, I'm the best. Fight me and I will prove it to you!"

"Sure," Sasuke says. "It sounds like fun. Let's do it."

"Sasuke, you can't," Sakura says, looking up at the clock nervously. "We've got to register by three o'clock! That's less than a half hour away."

"Relax," he tells her. "This'll all be over... in five seconds."

I groan at him when five seconds later, Sasuke's on the ground after Lee's foot connected with his jaw. Well... he wasn't entirely wrong, I think, my own lips now pursed.

"I... 've been waiting to try this out," he says lowly, picking himself back up. His normal black eyes have gone red, replaced by the Sharingan that I'd only just remembered that he'd gained in his and Naruto's fight against Haku – the same Sharingan that both Kakashi-sensei has and Makara-sensei had.

There's just... too many coincidences, I think, teeth gritted when after Sasuke had run at him, Lee easily engages him.

"You see—" he straightens himself out, watching Sasuke sail through the air above him before dropping clumsily to his feet "—my technique is not Ninjutsu or Genjutsu!" Lee launches his elbow into Sasuke's gut, forcing him to back off, cradling it.

"Do you see now?" Lee asks him. "I'm using Taijutsu – no tricks, Sasuke." He takes another stance before suddenly appearing behind him. "It's just straight martial arts; nothing more."

"Why, you—!" Sasuke swings his arm back, turning, but as I'd figured he would, Lee dodges.

"I know your technique," Lee says calmly. "Forget it. It will not work – not on me." My shoulders are tight now. "That Sharingan gives you the ability to read chakra and decipher hand signs and movements. You can guess what he's going to do before he even knows himself.

"The problem is," he continues, "Taijutsu is a little bit different."

"Right," Sasuke says through gritted teeth. "What's your point?"

"I do not try to hide or disguise my moves," Lee tells him. "I do not have to. Even if you can read them, you still cannot stop them. You are too slow." Sasuke glares at his opponent. "Your eyes may be able to stay one step ahead of me, but if your body cannot keep up, what good does it do you?" Sasuke growls loudly at him. "You know what? Here is what I believe.

"There are three different kinds of Ninja. Those like you, who are born with talent and do not have to work at it. Those like Kari, who are born with talent but have many difficulties in honing it. And then there are those like me, who have to train every day of their lives!"

Lee dodges Sasuke's outstretched fist.

"The fact is, your Sharingan is the worst match for my extreme Taijutsu!"

And once more.

"And here is why I mean!" With a shout, Lee spins around, leg extended into the air and into Sasuke's jaw, sending him once more through the air. I recoil away from it, my body shuddering so badly you'd think I'm cold.

When the mysterious pinwheel appears, I stop shaking, my body going rigid with both worry and confusion, just waiting for something else terrible to start happening. It pierces Lee's now-unwound bandages to the wall, though I wish I could say it's the oddest thing to have entered the room in the past minute alone. No, the tortoise takes first prize.

"This is bad!" Lee cries from his place on the wall.

"All right, that's enough!" the tortoise yells; I yelp in response. "Lee!" Defeated by the order, Lee is able to drop to the ground, leaving Sasuke to fall, too. Sakura runs to him, shouting his name, and catching him before he could hit the floor. I follow after her, worry, amongst other things, flooding me.

I'm... in awe. Ever since the end of the fight in the Land of Waves, I've yet to have the feeling of emasculation lifted off of my back. Watching the two of them fighting back then, fighting alongside them; Sasuke with his Sharingan, Naruto with his Shadow Clone Jutsu and his crazy amount of chakra, however I know he's got so much of it in the first place. But what do I have? Taijutsu? It won't exactly be useful for every fight – I'd barely gotten more than a couple of hits in, and they'd barely slowed him down. That Fire Style Ninjutsu that I'd barely been able to perform since the first time I'd used it that night at the edge of the water – the same one I'd nearly burned my arms off with. I don't... have much to contribute with right now. I'm too far behind these guys, even behind Sakura, all because I wasn't raised around this stuff like they were, and it's upsetting.

It's also a little upsetting to see Lee conversing with a shelled reptile.

"I-I-I was not planning to use a forbidden Jutsu!" he swears to it. "I-I was just... in the middle of a fight, and you know what I m-mean—"

"Hey, I was right! That turtle is his Sensei!" Naruto had joined us.

"What, Naruto?" Sakura says. He points over at the two.

"That weird thing he's talking to is a turtle, right?" he asks, looking for confirmation.

"Obviously!"

"Actually, it's a torto—""Okay, then – maybe that means turtles can be a Sensei, too!" I sigh.

"How would I know if they could be?!"

"It's not a turtle," I tell them in a mumble; "it's a tortoise."

In a large puff of smoke, a Ninja dressed in the same outfit as Lee with the addition of a vest appears on the tortoise's back, posed in one of the most ridiculous poses one can even pose.

"Hey!" With the thumb and index finger curled into a circle around his eye and his right hand curved in the air, the man winks. "What's shakin'? How're you doin', everybody? Life treatin' you good?"

My lips part in response.

"He's got the biggest eyebrows yet!" Naruto screams in horror. "They're almost alive!" Unfazed, the man flashes a smile and sticks out his thumb.

"Hi, Lee," he says, winking again.

"Too weird," Sakura says, grimacing. I can only nod in agreement.

"So that's where he gets it from," Naruto adds. "Same soup-bowl haircut, and even bushier eyebrows!"

"Hey!" Lee shouts, whirling around at us. "Do not insult Guy-sensei! He is one of the greatest men in the entire world!"

"Well, excuse me for not noticing his greatness!" Naruto yells back. "I was too busy watching him crawl up from underneath a turtle!"

"It's a torto—""He did not crawl out!!"

"Give it a rest, Lee," Guy-sensei says, waving him down. His pupil turns back around, sighing. "And now... for your punishment!"

A loud gasp escapes my mouth when Guy-sensei punts Lee away from us, across the room. And then, he apologizes for it?

"I-It was for your own good!" he whisper-shouts, and Lee looks up at him, tears welling in his eyes.

"S-Sensei," he says, sniffling.

"Oh, Lee!"

"Oh, Sensei!" Lee chokes back a convincing sob. "I-I-I'm so sorry!"

Never mind "convincing" – I don't even think this is some kind of strange act anymore!!

"It's alright, Lee," Guy-sensei says, his voice laced with emotion. "It's over! You don't have to say anymore!" And they jump at each other, clinging to the fabric of their body suits.

"Oh, Sensei!"
"Lee!"

Even the turtle's crying?! T-Tortoise, I mean! Jeez.

Besides all the strange and crazy theatrics, all of it reminds me of my grandmother and how brutal she'd been with punishments. It'd never been as serious as a punch to the face, but the sentiment behind them were always clear as day.

"Actually... it's kinda sweet how they're all huggy and stuff," Naruto admits to me with a smile.

"Y... You're kidding, right?" I ask wearily, my eye on the verge of having its own seizure. He shakes his head. "Naruto, you have to be kidding! All of that was totally uncalled for!"

"You're just c-caught in between," Guy-sensei says, placing a trembling hand on Lee's shoulder. "You're too old to be called a boy, and not yet quite a man."

"You are so good to m-me, Guy-sensei!" Lee cries out.

"Now take off!" he orders. "I want you to give me one hundred laps around the practice field, so show me what you got!"

"Yes, sir! No problem!" I have to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from saying anything more.

"Run into the setting sun; run and suffer! But don't mess up your hair." My head starts aching.

"Hey, w-wait a minute!" Naruto calls after them. "We're not finished here! You guys can't just take off like that!"

"Well, they can," I argue into my palms. "In fact, let them..."

"And what about the Chūnin Exams?" Sakura asks. "There's no time for fooling around!"

"O-Oh, right," Guy-sensei says. "I forgot about that!" He chuckles before clearing his throat into his hand. "Lee, you not only disobeyed the rule of not fighting, but you also disrupted the Chūnin Exams. I think that calls for a slightly more severe punishment, don't you?"

"Yes, sir," Lee answers with a salute. I nearly fall over, unable to keep myself properly upright when his Sensei poses again. It's so provocatively uncomfortable, I'm surprised I haven't had that seizure I'd mentioned before.

"Then let's say five hundred laps!"
"That sounds outstanding, sir!"

"They're insane," I tell myself, head now in my hands. "They are absolutely crazy."

"Probably, but never mind them," Naruto says. "What's the deal with that turtle, anyway?" My eyebrow twitches.

"For the fifth time," I say through my teeth, "it's a frickin' tortoise!"

"What the heck is that?!"

"It – it's like a turtle!"

"Gwah, he's looking at us!" Sakura screeches, eyes wide in Guy-sensei's direction – oh, boy, he is looking at us!

"Tell me," he says, "how is Kakashi-sensei?"

"Do you know him?" Sasuke inquires.

"Do I know him?!" he repeats, chuckling slyly. "Well, people say that he and I... are archrivals for all eternity."

"There's just no way!" the four of us shout.

"How dare you!" Lee says in a growl. "If Guy-sensei says it is true, then—""Let it slide, Lee," Guy-sensei interrupts. "A Ninja's actions always speak louder than words."

To my alarm, he disappears, only to appear behind us?!

"My record is fifty wins and forty-nine losses," he says, looking thoughtful, "which is one better than his, by the way." We all gasp.

"What?"
"Now you're kidding!"
"How did he beat Kakashi?!"
"I just can't believe it!"

"The fact is, I'm better than Kakashi," he tells us. "And stronger."

"You see, Guy-sensei is the best there is!" Lee adds.

"I'm sorry for the trouble Lee caused you," his Sensei goes on. "Look in my eyes, and accept my sincere apology, and also, know my handsome, manly features." I carefully slide my hand up to my face to cover my expression. "Lee, you should accompany these fine, young Ninja to the classroom. Right now."

Pulling a kunai from his pocket, he throws it at the pinwheel, causing it to snap in half and drop Lee's bandages. My eyes widen at the sight of him.

"Lee, your hand," I say, "it's—""Remember to give it your best, Lee! Farewell!"

"Yes, sir!" And both Guy-sensei and his tortoise disappears. "I have not been totally honest with you," Lee says, having turned to us once more. "I said I wanted to test my skills, and that is true enough, but... you were not really the one I wanted to test them against.

"I lied to you when we were fighting before. I told you I'm the best Genin here, but there is another – someone on my own team." Sasuke's eyes narrow at him. "I came to fight him. You were just practice. Now, you are a target! I will crush you! There you have it! Now consider yourself warned!"

And Lee leaves, too.

I sigh, my chest heavy.

"Well, how 'bout that?" Naruto says, putting his hands behind his head. "Looks like the Uchiha aren't as great as everyone thinks they are."

"Just shut up!" Sasuke barks, his eyes focused hard on the floor at his feet. "Next time, I'll drive him to his knees!"

"Yeah, right! Who just got his butt kicked?"

"What are you saying?!" Sakura demands, whirling on him. "Just cut it out!"

"You saw his hands, didn't you? When he took off the tape?" Their expressions soften a little. "I bet ol' Bushy Brows has been training 'til he drops, day in and day out. He trains harder than you, anyway. That's all I'm saying."

"And now's not the time to start fighting each other," I tell them, "not when we're this close to becoming Chūnin. I understand you have this whole self-preservation thing, Sasuke, but constantly getting worked up and not knowing if you've got enough to back it all up is really—""I have something to back it up," he interrupts, "but you know what?"

"What?" I say, glowering a little at him.

"It looks like things are just getting interesting. These Chūnin Exams... I can't wait to see what's next."

Sighing for the billionth time today, I relent, my attempt at a frown turning into a laugh and a smile. I tear a piece of my own bandage off and press it against the underneath of his chin, where I'd noticed a bit of blood, gesturing for him to take it from me.

"Let's get started," he says, doing so. "Naruto! Sakura! Kari!"

"Let's win this!" I add, grinning.

"Yeah!"

Let's become Chūnin!

Updated July 26th, 2021 | 3,946 words