Chapter 87
"Alright, starting with you, Kakashi." Kakashi stepped forward slightly with his usual bored expression and spoke, "The Kakashi led team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Suzume Akari, and Uzumaki Naruto, under the name of Hatake Kakashi, nominate them for the Chunin Selection Exam." When he was done, I looked undetected behind me and saw Iruka with clenched fists and teeth. He looked to want to speak out, but seemed to hold himself back.
Kurenai Yuuhi stepped forward slightly as well, reaching the same step as Kakashi and spoke, "The Kurenai led team 8, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuuga Hinata, under the name of Kurenai Yuuhi, also nominate them for the chunin selection exam." The Third Hokage nodded and looked to the last remaining Jounin, who also stepped forward and spoke, "The Asuma led Team 10, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, and Nara Shikamaru, under the name of Sarutobi Asuma, nominate them for the chunin Selection Exam."
"Good. If there is no one else then let us move on to other business." The three stepped back after the received the affirmation from the Hokage. The Hokage continued after the three moved back. "Ibiki Morino, Anko Mitarashi, Haruno Sakura, step forward."
"Yes" We all responded and moved forward. I could feel some eyes on me but I ignored it with a straight face. Well, tried. "The three of you will be in charge of the exams. As always, you will be in charge of the first stage and second stage, Ibiki, Anko." He looked at the two who nodded in response. I could hear a few murmurings and feel almost all eyes on me.
"Some of you may or may not know, but allow me to introduce you officially. This young lady here is a newly promoted Jounin Haruno Sakura." With a chuckle, seeing some of the chunin in the room frown in disapproval, he continued, "It would be best not to underestimate young Sakura; Her skills are a sure thing." The Hokage turned back to me and continued, "Haruno Sakura, you will be in charge of the third stage of the exam, as the proctor for the preliminaries and finals. Are you willing to take this role?" His narrowed eyes staring seriously at me. It was as if he was not particularly asking, but an order I was not allowed to reject. I did not mind though; I had not intended on hiding in the village anyways. With the different participants of other villages coming, I would definitely be recognized. Sometimes I wondered if my second mission was a blessing or curse.
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" He nodded, satisfied with my answer. "Good. During this time, others will take the opportunity to create troubles for our village, I expect every one of you to be on alert. Understood?" "Yes!" We all responded, echoing in the room. "Dismiss. Young Sakura, stay behind for a while." Just as I was about to bolt from the room, Hiruzen called out to me.
Kakashi walked to my side and placed his hand on my shoulder, "Meet us at the Jounin Standby station after you done." I nodded to him and watched him and Guy, who was giving me a thumbs up, leave the room. Asuma, stared at me as well as he was leaving, to which I nodded to him knowingly. He came out of his stupor and smiled at me before nodding back. After a brief moment, the whole place was cleared out, leaving just me and the Third Hokage; And the hidden Anbu, of course.
"Are you worried?" He re-lit his pipe and began smoking. "Not really." I adopted a comfortable position, as I placed my hands in my pockets before continuing, "It was not like I was hiding or anything. The other villages will find out my village eventually. If they want to come after me, hehe." I smirked dangerously to which the old man did as well. "This will only get it out of the way quicker, so it's good." He scrutinized me for a short while before breaking into a laugh. "That is good to hear. We can't always stay in the comfort of our positions. Only by facing hardships do we grow." I nodded to him. He was right about that; The power I held was not something I got by properly and truly suffering. No matter what, I went through quite the setbacks before I became what I was.
After a bit of small talk with him, I left his office and made my way towards the Jounin waiting area. The old looking building with the signs and words, "Jounin" and "Jimon Jito". Ever since beginning my missions I had not been there before, so it was all new to me. Well, it made sense; I always took my missions as an Anbu or from mother. I made my way upstairs and opened the door without knocking. It was a waiting area, and I was a jounin; I did not think I needed to knock.
When I opened the door, a purple-haired young woman was about making her way out the small circular room. When she saw me, she glared at me for a brief moment before stomping out the room. I looked back at the other Jounins in the room with confusion and asked, still standing at the door, "Did I do something wrong?"
Kakashi waved at me to enter, as I walked to Kakashi and his little group. A man among them chuckled slightly before answering, "Don't worry about it." He had short brown hair and something that looked like very dark bags under his eyes. He looked like he had not had much sleep. Although still confused, I merely nodded.
I turned to the man with a cigarette in his mouth, who was staring at me with an amused smile on his face. I smiled at him and spoke, "Hello, Asuma-san. Good to see you again." Asuma who had his hands in his pockets smiled back at me. "I did not think you were part of our village. I'm glad we have someone like you part of the village." He smiled slightly wider as he said those words.
The others by the side looked confused. "You know her, Asuma?" The woman standing by the side with long wild hair and red eyes, Kurenai Yuhi, finally asked the question everyone seemed to be thinking. "Of course, Asuma-san saved my life on a mission almost a year ago. I still need to repay that debt."
"It's not as serious as that. Plus, you looked to be handling things well yourself." Waving his hand, he replied, more to Kurenai, than me. I narrowed my eyes when I saw that. A slight smirk formed which I quickly concealed.
"No, no. Of course, it is. How about this; I have a nice lady friend. How about I hook you two up as thank you? The shy one we met during the mission. She was totally into you." I spoke with the most innocent yet serious look I could muster. Asuma began to throw fits of cough as he choked on his smoke. The others tried to hold their laughs. He shook his head vigorously at me and then at Kurenai, unable to get the words out since he was still coughing.
"Hmm? Let's go Asuma. Tell me all about this mission of yours." Asuma completely looked deflated right after and looked at me with almost dread. I looked at them, intrigued at their relationship. From the looks of things, they seemed to have progressed much further than the beginning stages of the manga or anime.