chapter 94

Sasuke and Naruto had done exactly what I asked of them; That was together all the participants of this year's chunin exam. Of course, I only gave them the names of those I wanted them to call over. Currently present was Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuga Hinata of Team Kurenai, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Suzume Akari af team Kakashi and finally Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru; the current generation Ino-Shika-Cho, of Team Asuma. Unfortunately, Team Guy was out with Guy.

Speaking of Team Guy, currently, Neji had mellowed slightly after the second incident. What second incident you may ask? Apparently, after he came out of the hospital, healed up, he was unwilling to believe the shy girl who he wiped the floor with multiple times during their spars actually beat him up that way. So, he challenged her to a fight. Unfortunately for him, Hinata was on a date with Naruto so she refused. Incensed about the refusal, he attacked without reserve, ruining a perfect mood. Enraged, she went totally crazy. It seemed she knew the chunin exam was approaching and did not want her cousin to miss it so she made sure to leave severe outside damage instead; Ones that would leave permanent scars. Underneath all that she was still such a kind hearted girl.

The group standing there were beginning to get agitated at having been dragged from their homes without any proper explanation. "Fear not! For I am here! Haha!" I suddenly appeared before them in a puff of smoke. Totally unnecessary, but worth it for me seeing their confused faces.

"Oi, Sakura. Why have you called us here?" Shikamaru was the first to ask. I could tell his lazy ass just wanted to go find somewhere to sleep. I hated the fact that he was naturally lazy and I had to find a way to enter my lazy mood. "We, my dear Shikamaru, are here to play soccer." I clasped my hands and began to two goal posts of earth emerged from either side of the park we were standing.

They looked at me as if I was crazy, Ino, looking at me with pity, as if I had finally gone crazy. Ignoring them, I continued, "As you all know, the chunin exam will begin in about a week. I bet you all would like to go and train more and things like that, but you can't overwork your bodies and mind too much. You need rest. A need rest, not just the body, but the mind as well. As they say; all rest and no play, make Jack a dull boy after all." I finished my speech with arms crossed, feeling quite good about myself.

"Who's Jack?" Ino asked in confusion. "Some Guy who keeps working so much without rest." Naruto answered before I could even speak up. The confusion on their faces building up at the thought.

"Maybe he has a reason for working all the time?" Before I could clarify, Ino cut me off again. "maybe he is a single father desperately trying to take care of his four kids" Ino continued. "Why four?" Kiba asked what honestly was on my mind as well.

"Think about it; I don't think one kid will make a dad work all the time without rest." She explained. "So, it must definitely be more that one child; Forcing Jack to work tirelessly without rest." Ino looked into the distance, as if she could see Jack toiling in the hard sun tirelessly.

'What are you looking at?' I thought to myself. The direction of the conversation had diverted completely. "Maybe he is an avenger. The only reason he works tirelessly is so he can get stronger to kill who he has to kill." Even without turning to see who spoke, I already knew who it was. The atmosphere turned gloomy with everyone looking at Sasuke oddly. I turned to look at Akari, who coincidentally had turned to look at me as well. She scratched the back of her head, feeling embarrassed for the boy she likes. Ino by the side kept screaming about how cool Sasuke was.

I heard Shino mumble something by the side but I just ignored him like everyone else. "Maybe he needs the money to eat barbeque me. Pork chops, pork ribs. Chouji began to list different kinds of meat while drooling and completely entered his own world.

"Guys that's not impor…" before I could finish, I was cut of again, "Wait, why does he have to be a ninja? Maybe he is just a regular man with a regular family and a regular job just too caught up in his work." Hinata chimed in and interestingly looked at Naruto.

"A man should never ignore his family" Naruto quickly said, as if to defend himself. That came as a shock to me. I could not help look at him with wide eyes. If he knew what I knew. Maybe things would be different this time considering Hinata herself was different. "What?" Seeing the kind of look I was giving him; Naruto could not help but ask.

I shook myself out of it before speaking, "Guys that's not the point. Soccer." But no one was listening. It had turned into a heated argument on who Jack was and why he was always working. Shino kept mumbling something at the side but no one paid him any attention. Chouji was still reciting types of meat like a school poem; Honestly, I did not know there were so many types; Some of them I had never even heard of.

I gave up and sat by the tree. Shikamaru was already there lying on his back, gazing at the sky. "When did you get here?" I asked the genius pineapple head. "Jack seems like a troublesome fella. I'd rather not think about him." That was his reply. I shook my head and leaned on the tree. I don't know when it happened but I had dozed off at some point and was only awakened by Naruto. It was already noon and everyone had left except Naruto and Sasuke; The others did not want to wake me up because I looked tired to them.

"So, who won?" I asked concerning the outcome of Jack's fate while I stretched. "We decided to keep Jack in our hearts and let him work." What? What the hell did that even mean?

I shook my head and picked myself up. I walked a little distance before turning to look at Sasuke. My action seemed to confuse him. "Sasuke. Come. Show me how much you have improved." I said to him which caught him off-guard but he quickly regained his composure and walked towards me.

"I know you were there for the first half of the conversation with Kurama. 'Everyone has a story', right? But, so what of it? Without personal strength you can't do anything about it. Now come!" His expression solemn, his breathing calm. Although I could tell he was slightly nervous, he seemed to be much more composed considering a single clean hit would tell him the truth about his brother, which honestly surprised me.

We stood opposite each other with the seal of confrontation. I did not know what was going through his head, but I could see the seriousness of the situation in both his and Naruto's eyes. I guess they the only ones that were taking this seriously. Not that I was underestimating my opponent, but to me I felt I was just about to bully him just as I did on the day of our spar back at the academy.

"Battle, start."