"Great job, you idiot," grumbled Satsuki, crossing her arms from where she stood rigid straight by his right side. "you just made us the target of oh-like-everyone?"
Haruto pouted. "Hey, I helped you guys regain confidence, didn't I?"
"And the confidence of the other teams too," added Sakura sullenly. Inner Sakura was viciously cheering Satsuki on when she was throttling her teammate but outwardly, Sakura tried to placate both of her friends to avoid bloodshed—and also maintain her image as a good girl.
She stopped, as did the Uchiha, when she noticed a very familiar but very much unwanted person approaching them. Sakura scowled when she saw Ino, still unable to get rid of the blonde's hurtful words and their last encounter but said blonde didn't even seem to care. The purple-clad kunoichi grinned, throwing herself at the Senju, pushing the Uchiha away meanwhile.
"Haruto-kun!" she squealed, nearly piercing his eardrums. "I'm so glad you passed. And you're so brave in that display!"
Satsuki scowled heavily, she felt like ripping the bloody Yamanaka off her teammate but another part of her demanded why she even care about who the redhead interacted with. She huffed, glowering at their new proctor as she explained the rules.
The proctor, Mitarashi Anko—a certified nuisance and crazy lady in Satsuki's opinion—was saying something along the lines of this Training Ground 44. "…also known as the Forest of Death." Anko grinned when she saw the hesitant and fear gathering in the genins. "Once you enter," she continued, enjoying the fear radiating off them. "You won't be able to quit, sweetie. Oh, and you better sign these, so that when you die in there, you'll save me from extra paperwork!"
That delivered in a cheerful tone was completely wrong.
Haruto scoffed arrogantly. "Do your worst, lady."
"You're so brave, Haruto-kun!"
"Don't gush over my teammate like that, Ino-pig."
That insult did not bode well with the blonde girl who retorted with, "Shut up, Forehead ."
"Ladies," grumbled Nara Shikamaru as he slouched even further in his stance which could barely be called standing the way he did it. "So troublesome."
"Especially Ino," agreed Akimichi Chouji, his hands in his bag of chips, rummaging for more chips but when he came up with none, he merely dump the plastic bag and dug out another packet of chips from his coat.
Satsuki felt an annoyed twitch form on her brow; these were Konohas's candidates? They'd end up as laughing stocks. She snorted softly but her breath caught when she barely snatched the kunai out of the air. She scowled at Anko who's eyebrow rose when she failed to intimidate her target as expected.
Satsuki blinked and the next thing she knew, the crazy lady was behind her, tongue and breath hot on her ear. Haruto turned, saw the scene, and gaped. Instantly, protectiveness surged in him when he saw his teammate cornered like that.
"Hey!" growled Haruto dangerously, feeling his chakra boiled at Satsuki's wide-eyed look, feeling the urge to protect her even though she was more than capable to kick-ass. "Get away from her! You–you pervert! Hentai!"
Everyone stared, stunned but instead of being insulted or mad like the genins had expected, Anko laughed. A wide, almost maniacal grin split her face. "Jealous that I'm bothering your girlfriend, kid? No worries, I just wanna scare the prodigious Uchiha." she pulled back but both Uchiha and Senju remained tense. "On the side note, I'm not interested in girls. But boys like you though…" she leered, leaning forward suggestively towards Haruto who was barely able to keep the disgust off his face.
What's wrong with this lady?
"Isn't it your job to proctor the exam?" interrupted Aburame Shino, adjusting his glasses as he assessed the woman before him coolly. "I believe you are not here to seduce the test candidates."
Anko smirked.
"The kid's right," she said, straightening her back but before she can continue on, her kunai that had dropped to the ground the moment she'd Shuunshin behind Satsuki, came into view held by a long tongue. She balked, alarm bells ringing in her head as she whirled around to face one of the Kusa-nin. "Why, thank you," she said rather sarcastically. "But you wouldn't want to sneak up on me or you'll end up six-feet-under."
It was to the Kusa-nin's credit that she did not flinch. Merely, she grinned as she retracted her long tongue. "I just want to help, that's all, Anko-sensei." The proctor of the exam did not miss the mocking tone in her voice.
"Hmph. Carrying on…"
***
"What you did back there," ventured Satsuki as they flitted through the trees. Haruto glanced back curiously at her but even without looking, he did not run into a tree. She scowled heavily when she saw his innocent face. "I'm not thanking you for anything."
Haruto grinned, having expected that a long time ago. "Hey, no problem. If anyone ever bother you just come to me!"
Satsuki scowled. "Why should I go to you, idiot?"
"Dammit, bastard, I'm trying to be nice and this is how you treat me?!"
"Stop it!" yelled Sakura, exasperated by both clan scions ability to change their mood so quickly. Surprisingly, both listened to her this time.
Satsuki stopped running altogether and landed on a clearing in the forest, gesturing for her teammates to follow. Suspicious but faced with no choice, they followed and crouched around her.
"What's wrong?" whispered Haruto, lowering his voice.
"We could easily be deceived, so let's create a password."
Haruto grumbled, the so-called password wasn't something he could memorize, heck it was a whole damned song. Just as he was about to open his mouth and complained a huge gust of wind blew him off his feet. "Uwaah!" he yelled, hearing similar cries from his teammates but he was powerless to reach them when the wing stung his eyes and carried him away from them.
The Senju's head connected soundly with a boulder and if his head wasn't as hard as it was, his skull would've split open already. "Owwie," he moaned, hand glowing with the signature healing chakra as he went to healing the growing bump and bruises and small cuts. "Who attacked us?"
When his own statement registered in his head, he sprang to his feet, cursing. "Shit." He had to get back to his teammates right now, what if they needed him? He placed his hand on a tree, feeling its senses flow through him, the roots were entwined with the rest of the trees in this playground forest and he could just sense Satsuki's and Sakura's chakra fluctuating in fear…?
They were facing an opponent they couldn't defeat, Haruto realized but when he concentrated, he realized the chakra flow of the assailant were far too large to be a mere Genin. Someone who's powers were on par with the Hokage had infiltrated the exam and would most likely cause a war.
"Double-shit," he muttered as he turned around, ready to sprint to his friends's help when something very, very huge burst forth from the trees. "Crap—" he muttered when he saw the large, writing and hissing serpent—a summon most likely but the only person he knew capable of summoning snakes were— "Fuck. We're dead."
That was when the serpent lunged. Haruto yelped, barely dodging.
It seemed like he would be delayed for a while. He sighed, cracking his knuckles and lunging with his enhanced strength.