𝙇𝘼𝙑𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍. | 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗨𝗧𝗢

XVIII

IT was the day of the Chunin exams. The day was the First of July, to be exact. (Six days away from her birthday, but that wasn't important.) Team Seven stood outside of the academy, waiting for Sakura. She was late.

They all stood in a row, the afternoon sun bold and bright. Riki stood squinting in the sunlight. She wore her standard white shirt with wide-leg black trousers, ditching her hoodie because of the summer heat. Her bangs were parted in the middle and to the sides of her head because 'why not', her regulation headband fully seeable.

Team Seven saw Sakura approach them, looking slightly nervous. "Hey Sakura-chan! You're a bit late!"

"Good afternoon guys. Sorry for being late."

"Don't worry about it, it happens to all of us," Riki told her, smiling. She could see Sakura was feeling a little down, the least she could do was be nice.

"So should we go in?" Naruto said excitedly. They all nodded.

"Let's go," Sasuke mumbled, and they all followed him inside.

They climbed the stairs up to the second floor quickly, but upon seeing a crowd of people standing around a classroom, they stopped climbing the stairs and tried to look through to see what the commotion was all about.

From what Riki could see, a boy in a green jumpsuit thing was getting punched to the floor by two other teenagers who stood in front of a classroom door. The door said 301, but they were clearly on the second floor.

Talk about a crazy outfit, she wouldn't be seen dead in that green jumpsuit thing. No offence to the boy, of course.

"You want to take the Chunin exams but you can't even get past us?" one of the teenage boys at the door said. "Why don't ya just give up now before you get hurt?"

"Yeah, I can hear your mommy calling for you right now," the other one said.

"Please let us through, we're suppose to go in there," the boy on the floor's teammate said, walking up towards the two before getting punched down.

Team Seven walked through the crowd, getting closer to where the 'action' was. The boys kept on talking.

"Little girls like you don't belong here, we're just thinning out the herd so go home and play with your dolls!" At this Riki grew a little annoyed.

"Real nice speech," Saskue said as he walked forward, his team behind him. "Now both of you step aside and let me through. And while you're at it, reverse the genjutsu. We can see through your illusion anyway. We're going to the third floor."

"Well, well, you noticed the genjutsu huh?" one of the boys at the door said mockingly.

"Go ahead, tell them Sakura. I know you saw it before anyone else did. You do have the best analytical skills on our team," Sasuke said, looking at her.

"I do . . ?" Sakura said slowly, swallowing his words. Even she was surprised at Sasuke's kindness. "Right, I do! And I noticed it right away. This is the second floor after all."

"Exactly, exactly!" Naruto agreed.

And just like that, the label on the door changed from 301 to 201.

"Well, aren't you all smart. You noticed," one of the boys said. "But let's see you outsmart this!" Quicker than Riki could see it happen, the boy threw a kick at Sasuke, and Sasuke at the boy. But even quicker was the boy in green, who stopped their attacks with a single hand by holding each of their legs. The boy let them go with an exhale.

"What happened to the plan?" a Hyuga-looking boy questioned. "You're the one who's said to keep a low profile."

Riki recognised him as Neji Hyuga, nephew to the Head of the Hyuga clan. Of course her team had the pleasure of running into the Hyuga prodigy before the exams even began.