Desert Flower

The Chunin Exams Part 1

Yuri said goodbye to Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke and started to head home. But along with way, she couldn't help but feel like she was being followed. As she reached her house, Yuri opened the door and stepped inside. Her mother was in the kitchen fixing dinner while her father was in the living room sharpening his kunais and shurikens. She smiled and walked over to him.

"Hey, dad, going to war?" She joked. He laughed and placed the ninja weapons into a kit, tying it back up. Then her father hugged her.

"Very funny. It doesn't hurt to be prepared for anything." he told her. Yuri's mother stepped into the room, wiping her hands.

"Did anything exciting happen today, sweetie?" She asked Yuri.

"Oh, nothing unsual. But I did ran into some old friends from the Sand Village. And I got invited to participate in the Chunin exams." She told them, nonchalantly. Her mother and father's eyes widen a little.

"The Chunin Exams, already?" Her mother spoke, worried.

"I'm going to do it." Yuri told them.

"We have no doubt that you can do it." Her father spoke, grinning, proudly. "I just can't believe it's finally happening! My little girl's going to become a Chunin!"

"It's just...be careful. This isn't just like your ordinary missions. It is going to be dangerous." Her mother told her, concerned.

It was the middle of the night. The moon was full in the sky. Yuri was asleep in her bed. Suddenly, sand began to pour in from the lock of the doorknob. It slowly began to inch its way towards Yuri, who was still sound asleep, and began to crawl onto her bed. From the sand, Gaara quietly appeared as he stood over Yuri, standing beside her bed. He raised his hand. The sand slowly began to creep closer to Yuri's neck.

"Gaara." Yuri mumbled, quietly in her sleep. Gaara's eyes widened, and he held his head in pain, letting out a shriek. Yuri's eyes immediately flew open, and she quickly sat up. She flipped the lamp beside her bed, turning it on. As she looked around her room, Yuri saw that there was no one there. She frowned in confusion. She could've sworn she heard a voice. Feeling the sleep slowly overtaken her eyes, Yuri, turned her lamp off and went back to sleep.

The next morning, Yuri, met with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke at the academy. There were other teams as well, standing outside the room, trying to getting. There were two Leaf shinobis blocking the door, refusing to let anyone in. One of the shinobi's punched Lee, knocking him back into Neji and Ten Ten.

"You plan on taking the Chunin exam like that? You should quit, now, while you have the chance." One of them spoke.

"You're just a little kid." The second one said.

"Hey, what's going on?" Yuri whispered to Ten Ten.

"They're not letting us in." She told her and started to walk up to the two shinobi's. Yuri frowned and looked at the sign displaying the room's number "301", like Kakashi told them to come to. Then something weird happened. The sign had a strange color surrounding it, then it started to become distorted, warping a little. Yuri's eyes widened. This was all a genjutsu! The room is fake! But how come, no one else noticed it yet?

"Please, let us through." One of the shinobis smacked Ten Ten across the face, knocking her down.

"How horrible." One of the test takers murmured.

"What did you say?" The leaf shinobi frowned. "Listen, this is our kindness. The Chunin exams isn't easy. We have failed three times straight. Those who take the exams, end up quitting as shinobis. Those that die in the exams, we've seen it all. And Chunins often become captains of military teams. The failure of the mission, the death of a comrade, that's all the captain's responsibility. Yet, kids like you think you can pass? We're just thinning out those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?"

Then Yuri stepped up, standing in front of the two shinobi's. "It would be nice if you showed us the real room for the test."

"Real room?" one of the test takers commented confused. One of the leaf shinobi smirked, looking at Yuri.

"Little girl, what are you talking about? Are you blind or something? This is the real room." He spoke. Yuri raised her hands and performed a hand sign to cancel out the genjutsu. Everyone's eyes widened when they saw the sign turned into 201. One of the leaf shinobi guards smirked, chuckling a little.

"So you figured it out."

Sasuke turned to Sakura. "Sakura, you must've noticed it as well?" She blinked confused.

"Huh?"

"Your analytical ability and genjutsu know how is the most improved on our team." He told her. Sakur's eyes widened, and she blushed. Naruto frowned, looking at the two of them.

"Of course I noticed, a little while ago! This is the second floor!" She said. One of the leaf shinobi guards smirked. Yuri frowned, staring at him.

"Not bad, but all you did was see through it!" He lunged at Yuri in a flash, about to throw at kick. Yuri raised her hands getting ready to make another hand sign. But before either one of them could attack, Lee quickly jumped in between them, grabbing the man's leg and Yuri's hand, so she couldn't perform a hand sign.

"Lee?" Yuri blinked, surprised, by how fast he was. Lee dropped the man's leg and he fell to the ground like a ragdoll. Sakura and Sasuke were still shocked and surprised as well by Lee's speed.

"What happened to the plan? You said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves." Neji asked him. Lee turned to him, shooting Neji a glare. Then he turned to Yuri and blushed and smiled. Ten Ten sighed.

"Of course. Now I see why." She murmured. Yuri still stared at Lee, still confused, but also creeped out.

"Um, thanks for stepping in. But we got to go." She told him and started to walk off. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were about to follow her, when Lee grabbed Yuri's wrist. Yuri turned back to him.

"What is it?" She asked him. Lee grinned and winked, holding up this thumb.

"Let's go out together! I'll protect you until I die!"

Yuri's mouth dropped a little, staring at Lee in shock and in disbelief. She wanted to laugh but stopped herself.

"That's really sweet. But you don't know me, and I barely know you. It'll never work out. I'm sorry." She told him, smiling. Lee fell to the floor on his hands and knees, as Yuri walked away, completely dejected. Then Neji turned to Sasuke as he was leaving.

"Hey, you what's your name?" He asked Sasuke. Naruto gritted his teeth in irritation.

"What does everybody talk about Sasuke!?"

Sasuke stopped, looking at Neji. "When you want to learn someone's name, you should give yours first."

"You're a rookie, right? How old are you?" Neji asked.

"I don't have to answer you." Sasuke replied and the two walked away.

"Let's go!" Sakura shouted, grabbing Naruto and Sasuke's hands, while Yuri followed behind them, heading to the exam room. Just as the team was about to head up the stairs a voice called out to them.

"Hold it!" Lee stood on top of the railings, looking down at them with a determined look in his eyes. "You with the dark eyes!" Naruto stared up at him confused and so did Sakura and Yuri. Sasuke frowned.

"What is it?"

"Will you fight me, right here?" Lee asked.