The Crystal Serpent [Naruto X Oc] |Book 1

Chapter 34: The True Purpose of the Chunin Exams

Akira's P.O.V

After congratulating Mizuko-sensei, we were gathered in a large waiting room. Today was officially going to be the end of the Second Exam meaning the Thrid Exam was going to be announced soon.

I took a glance at the person who was sitting next to me on the right. It was my closest friend and teammate, Kei. She had her left-hand clasping her right shoulder where a black three tomoe mark resided. However, even though she tried to act cool and tough. I could sense from looking into her eyes that she was in pain. She would grit her teeth in agony from time to time. Her hand, which had the black mark covered, was shaking slightly. It was pretty clear that the mark was starting to cause her severe pain.

"Kei, are you okay?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowed in concern.

She turned and glanced at me with pain still in her eyes."I'm fine, Akira," She replied in a slightly raspy voice.

Her answer wasn't convincing me.

It has been about five minutes since the last two teams entered the tower and gathered with us inside the room. The first being Kabuto and his team. Then soon after them three minutes later, Naruto and his team walked into the room. Everyone meaning my class, happily greeted them when they took a few steps into the room. I immediately realized that the twelve rookies had made it to the tower.

Naruto's lips turned into a large smile when he noticed Kei in the room. I bet he was pretty happy to see that she was okay after Kaito and I rushed off to save her. He gave me a thumbs up, which I returned back, but My Expression turned into concern when I saw Kei wince and clutch her shoulder and, at the same so, then Sasuke.

I narrowed my eyes at both of them, seeing their reaction, and was guessing that Sasuke must have gotten the same mark as Kei from the same Orochimaru guy.
  
Right now, we were waiting for the third exam to start. We were told to wait in this summer room, which only had nothing but tables and chairs with windows that showed us the view of the Forest Death.

Naruto then walked up to Kaito, who was resting his head on a desk as. Naruto enthusiastically talked about how he had passed the second exam when Kiba joined in and told him that the third exam would be much more challenging and that there was a high chance Naruto would fail it. That clearly made Naruto upset because the blonde orange started an argument with Kiba. Kaito sighed as he tried to get the two to chill out.

Sakura then headed straight towards Ino, boasting that she had made it to the third exam as well. Ino began to insult the pinkette about her prominent forehead, and then Sakura retaliated by calling her 'Ino-pig.' From that point on, the two began bickering like usual.

'Geez, those two are a pain.' I thought, rolling my eyes when a particular golden eye female glanced at me from her seat next to me.

We were sitting down at a table that could only fit four people. The other teams took other tables and minded their own business. That's when Kei grunted in pain, and her hand clutched the mark on her shoulder close to her neck once again.

"Kei..." I grumbled nervously,"...you should really consider whether it is a good idea to continue taking the third exam or not. That mark has been giving you pain ever since you got it."

I could tell from her expression and being her friend and teammate for a while that she tried to ignore the pain she was in as she responded."I'll be fine, Akira. It's not a big deal, really."

She withdrew her hand from her shoulder, and the pained look on her face was replaced with a more serious look. As she tried to pretend that everything was good. 'Kei, I can see you're trying to harden your pain, but you're not fooling me. Why are you being so stubborn suddenly? I know there has to be something more to this than how you lost control earlier.'