His Gift to Her (Mary Sue Series)

Chapter 22

"I feel like this is a reoccurring theme here." 

After a heavy tumble and run in with the other teams, Team Seven finally found Qui in Kabuto's care, a wet towel covering her entire face. Kabuto lifted the towel from her face and noted some color had returned to her face. 

"What is?" her uncle asked mildly interested as Team Seven ran up to the duo. 

"You caring for me."

"Am I eventually replacing your Uncle Igo?" he murmured, reaching over to removing the towel.

"Never. Nice try," she muttered, smiling at the thought of her uncle. 

"Qui!" Sakura cried from the distance. 

"Looks like the whole team is back together again!" Naruto's yell didn't leave far behind. 

"Are you hurt?" Sasuke asked quickly. 

"No, Kabuto is here. Say hi everybody." 

"Kabuto? Oh! He's that dude who showed us the cards of everybody!" Naruto shouted in recognition. 

"Yeah. He is a family friend and was with me with I woke up," Qui said, Kabuto putting her down. "What about you guys?" 

"We had a bad run in," Sakura explained. "Did you see the person who attacked you?"

"No. After that big blast, I was thrown for a good couple measures and knocked out. Kabuto was here and looked me over, so I'm fine. What kind of 'run in' did you guys have?" 

"Oh! Um, well..." Sakura quickly ran over the whole story, leaving out the whole part that Sasuke had a strange mark on him. So when Sasuke made a clear effort to cover and conceal the black mark on the side of his neck, Qui thought nothing of it and believed he was merely injured.

"Sasuke, here. You're hurt, right?" Qui said, holding out balm and extra bandages. "You've been holding your neck for a while." 

"Hn." Sasuke accepted the items, but refused her help and turned away to presumably treat his wound. 

"Sakura, haircut?"

"What of it?" Sakura snapped. Qui's mouth twisted into a wry smile.

"No, nothing. It looks mature on you." 

Kabuto stayed with them for a moment longer before pointing to the tower and helping them halfway through the exam. 

Upon reaching the tower, they were immediately thrown into the next part of the exam: the preliminaries. 

Each Genin that passed the second exam went on to compete against one other person. The fights determined who would exceed the fight and move on to compete in the preliminaries. 

"And up first is our dearest Sasuke," Qui mocked, stretching her shoulder muscles. Being knocked earlier didn't really benefit her except maybe conserve her strength.

"It's a shame Kabuto-san didn't want to fight," Sakura sighed. "I thought he was strong." 

Qui hummed absentmindedly, wondering about the real reason why Kabuto would have quit so early. He was no weak fighter and he had a lot of backgrounds to be a medical ninja on the offense and defense of fighting. 

The Uchiha Massacre was no village secret; in fact, everyone who didn't know of the tragedy the noble clan faced was living under a rock. So when Sasuke faced his opponent Yoroi Akado, everyone recognized the only survivor and younger brother of the killer. 

Since the Uchiha bloodline also carefully raised Sharingan users and their children from an early age, Sasuke garnered a lot of unwanted attention from others. Many wanted to see him in action and display his strength, while others wished to test their own skills against him. 

"Why is he so popular? What's so good about him?" Naruto grumped, causing Qui to smile wistfully. 

It's not that he's popular. Well, he is, but definitely not in a positive way. He has a target on his back and he has to always be on guard. Nothing must take him by surprise. He carries the weight of his clan's pride and even if no one supports him, he still holds onto to that Uchiha pride. 

Sasuke proved his strength, and successfully defeat Yoroi, but had to be rushed to the infirmary to be treated. 

Soon, more pairs went up against each other and the fewer people were left, two by two. Even Naruto had a chance and, to the surprise of many, defeated Kiba, a former classmate during the Academy. 

During a battle between a puppeteer from Suna and a Chakra-expert from the home village Konoha, Qui turned to Sakura, the other member of Team Seven who hadn't fought yet. "So, Sakura. Do you have a strategy or something when it's your turn?" Qui asked innocently. "What if your opponent is a body manipulator and strangles you?" 

"Uh, um...Well, I mean..." Sakura trailed off, thinking. "I guess I'll just have to rely on weapons and my fists." 

"Good for you," Qui murmured. Sakura's determination was admirable enough. Then again, Naruto shined more in that area...

"Winner: Kankuro! The next pair is Tanzo vs. Qui!" the proctor shouted.