The Red Maelstrom

[18] The First Challenge!

"ORAA! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm not gonna lose to any of you! GOT THAT?"

Kohana grabbed Naruto's jumpsuit and shook him. "Naruto, I really love you, I do, but isn't this a lil' bit excessive?" His passionate outburst seemed to just make everything even worse; the hostile environment increased tenfold, but Kohana was so happy she couldn't bring herself to mind too much! Maybe that was just what they all needed to fire things up. Hopefully they wouldn't have to endure being target practice for the other examinees.

Fat chance of that happening.

Sakura jumped in in an attempt to defuse the situation. "Everyone, it as a joke! He's a severe idiot, so there's no need to take what he says seriously. Please don't worry about it." With that done, she resumed scolding Naruto.

"Hey, shut your best friend up, will 'ya? He's gonna get us all killed," said Shikamaru. Kohana just sighed. They were right.

Just then, Kohana sensed movement amongst the crowd of genin upfront. "Sasuke, heads up," she hissed. A team of three came flying at them. One boy wearing headgear threw two kunai at Kabuto. Before the boy could dodge, Kohana managed to throw some shuriken to deflect them. However, another figure came zooming past. His back was hunched and he had a gauntlet of sorts on his right arm, which he swung towards Kabuto with a punch that just ended up feeble for Kabuto managed to dodge it.

Or so they thought.

Kabuto's glasses shattered. "I see, so that's what kind of attack it was."

"What's going on?" Sasuke demanded. "You definitely dodged it; why did your glasses—"

"He probably hit his nose," Shikamaru guessed. "That's what you get for trying to look cool."

Just then, Kabuto doubled over and fell to his knees. He vomited, and both Naruto and Sakura ran to his rescue.

Kohana frowned. Was it a jutsu? If so, what kind of jutsu could it be?

"You're not as good as I thought you were for a veteran who took the exam four years running," said the boy with the fur on his back.

The boy who threw the kunai spoke as well. "Write this in your card: the three from Otogakure who will definitely become chūnin. He slid his eyes to Kohana and glared. Kohana stood her ground and lifted her head up ever so slightly to intimidate. "You dropped your kunai." She threw the pair she'd picked up and tossed them at the boy.

"Tch."

An explosion came from the very front of the room. "Quiet down, you punks!" A man's voice boomed. The smoke dispersed, and there stood the tallest man Kohana had ever seen. He had two scars on his face: one on his right cheek, and the other ran diagonally across his face. He and wore a large black coat. Behind him were men and women dressed in gray uniforms.

"I am the examiner for the 1st test of the Chūnin Selection Exams, Morino Ibiki."

"Stop your growling. It pisses me off."

"Well, your face pisses me off..." Kohana grumbled and shot Kiba a dirty look, to which Akamaru whimpered at as if to say, "Please stop fighting."

Kiba looked down at Akamaru, whose head was sticking out of his jacket. He petted his head slightly and sent his partner an apologetic look. "Sorry, Akamaru. Kohana just won't shut up."

Kohana decided to ignore this as she flipped her paper over after the signal was given. She didn't like the idea of Kiba having to sit next to her. He could cheat anytime, especially when Akamaru was with him. Oh well, she thought, this is probably what the test is all about. She wasn't entirely sure, but there was something strange about the way that Ibiki. He did say, "Those who try to cheat without thinking carefully..." Maybe Kohana was looking into it too much.