Reborn as Sakura and Hinata: Lost in the Wind

The Second Exam

There was no time for lectures though, as we stood in the clearing before the second exam and listen to Anko ramble about the rules. I couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Could I really stop what was supposed to happen? I immediately began to put my plan into action.

"Hey, Sakura, anything you need me to do?" I turned to see Hina next to me.

"Like I said, just keep yourself far away and safe." I smiled at her. She gave me a once over before barking out a laugh.

"What the hell are you and your team wearing?"

What she was talking about, of course, were my metal plated, professionally sealed turtle necks.

"They're the latest fashion," I gave a dramatic pose, "and..." pause for effect, "bite proof."

"Ahhh." She nodded in understanding.

"Sorry I couldn't get you one." I winked.

"It's all good. They ratchet as fuck anyways." she scoffed.

"But seriously," I grew a little somber, "please stay away."

"Alright, I will." She seemed a tad confused, "Did you have a dream or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that!" I gave a dismissive hand wave. I really didn't want to talk about her being run through by a chakra scalpel.

"You know- never mind," she sighed before smiling and walking off, "Good luck!"

"Don't die!" I called back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We soared between the trees, me leading the way as I steered us toward the tower.

"Hinata, why are we going so fast? Shouldn't we look for other scrolls?" Kiba caught up to me and ran by my side.

"Yes, I'm not sure I understand the strategy." Shino flanked me on my right.

"The beginning is going to be a bloodbath. Some of the more overzealous are going to try and get scrolls as soon as they can. If we wait a bit, we'll get the people who are all beat up and tired, and we'll be closer to the tower so we'll have less of a chance of being picked off." I explained matter of factly.

"That's... surprisingly brutal." Kiba grinned, "I like it."

We carried on for a while, flying in between the trees. We could hear screams off in the distance, no doubt the result of the various horrors the forest contained.

"That first exam was crazy." Kiba said suddenly, probably bored of the silence.

"The test itself wasn't the crazy part." I laughed as I remembered Sakura's antics. "She's going to get herself killed." I sobered as I realized that she really could die today. Kiba didn't seem to notice.

"What do you mean the test wasn't crazy?" Kiba scoffed, "I could only do, like, three of the questions without cheating."

"That's still pretty good." I replied, "Y'know those questions were really high level right?"

"Well, how many did you do on your own?" he shot back.

I didn't say anything. I didn't want to make them hate me.

"Well." Great. Now Shino was pressuring me.

"I had to cheat on one of them!" I preemptively defended myself.

"Are you kidding me!" Kiba turned to me, shocked, "What the hell! How'd you know how to do all that shit!?"

"To be fair, I came from the Hyuga family. We had plenty of resources for me to study." I shrugged.

"Ugh," Kiba sighed dramatically, "when did you get so smart. It's so annoying."

I was about to jab back when I was suddenly overwhelmed by a massive amount of chakra coming from a clearing just a little ways in front of us. I immediately grabbed Shino and Kiba's arms and brought us to a stop.

"Be quiet and get down." I hissed as we ducked behind a tree.

It seems even with our different path, we couldn't help but still run into him.

We all peeked around the tree to see the Sand and whoever the poor souls he was going to kill standing at different ends of the clearing.

"Isn't that-" Kiba began to whisper, but I quickly squeezed his arm to get him to shut up.

Akamaru began to burrow into his jacket, sensing the impending danger. Kiba shot me a concerned look as we watched the exchange escalate into murder.

One of the combatants was lifted into the sky. I knew what was going to happen next, but I still watched in fascination as Gaara uttered the infamous "Sand Coffin."

The shinobi exploded into a fountain of blood. Kiba ducked back behind the tree as Shino looked down at the ground, only my eyes remaining on the red shower that occurred. Snapping myself out of my trance, I grabbed both of my teammates by the wrist and began running as fast as I could.

"Wh-what the hell was that!?" Kiba shouted, "Sakura messed with him!? Does she have a death wish!?"

"I don't disagree with you about the death wish." I conceded, "But we can't focus on that right now. We need to get as far away from them as possible."

"What the fuck." Kiba was muttering under his breath.

"We're going to be okay." I said it as much for myself as I did for him.

"I've never seen Akamaru so scared." He said quietly.

"It seems for good reason." Shino added, "I hope they aren't following us."

"They won't. We're faster than them and they aren't going to expend the extra energy, if they even noticed us." I assured them.

"It seems the competition this year is fairly steep." Shino looked over at me.

"Yeah, it's tough, but we can't worry about that right now, so stop psyching me out dude!" I replied a little angrily. My anxiety was creeping up on me, and this was not the time.

Everything came to a screeching halt, though, when I saw a certain white-haired bitch slip between the trees. That couldn't be right. Where was he going? Why wasn't he with his team? This was different. Something was wrong. If Kabuto went over to help Orochimaru, there was no way that things would end up well for Sakura and her team.

"Hey, Hinata, isn't that-"

"Yes, and we're following him." Kiba shot me a confused look.

"Why? You haven't even explained why you hate him so much and now you want to pick a fight?!"

"This isn't the time, Kiba, let's go!"

"No, explain to me what's going on!"

I'd had it at this point.

"Fine then! Meet up with you at the tower." I flew off into the woods with my teammates calling after me.