"We will be taking a short interlude to fix the field." Eito yells out to the crowd. "They... kinda broke it."
He's not wrong, there's craters and after effects from my usage of earth jutsu and a lot of suspiciously body sized indents around the field. Most of them are from me.
Okay fine, they're all from me.
"So what kind of food do you like?" Hiro asks me with renewed interest.
Must not kill contestants. Must not kill contestants. Must not kill contestants.
"Pfft, kid that's not how you win a maiden's heart. You have to figure out what they like, then offer that to them." Noboru cuts in. "So, what do you like? Besides getting the beating of a lifetime."
Underneath my mask my left eyebrow is furiously twitching.
"Books." Sasuke idly says from my side. "She likes books."
My head snaps to him, he's getting a sick sense of satisfaction out of this.
"Books huh?" Noboru rubs his chin in contemplation. He turns to Hiro. "Ask her what kind of books."
"So Leader-sama," Hiro attempts to sound smooth and cool, "what kind of books do you enjoy reading?"
Must not kill contestants. Must not kill contestants. Must not kill contestants.
I can feel Sasuke grin under his mask. "The ones I've seen her read the most is Ich-"
My arm darts out and punches Sasuke right in the shoulder and pushing him off his chair. He wasn't ready for that blow at all. Plus I may have used just a little bit more force than necessary.
"Worth it." He says from his spot on the ground.
"Yeah well now this is happening." I storm out of my chair and stomp my way over to the wide eyed Konoha gennin.
Either they're still shocked that I can move -since most of them here know exactly how hard Lee can hit- or they're shocked that I'm a 'girl.'
I'm about to do something petty. Very petty.
"You!" I point at Hinata. "Hyuuga! Remember the blonde that you went to check on? You know, when you freaked out on me with the 'did you hurt whats-her-name and insert-dude's-name-here?"
"... You mean Ino?" She hesitantly replies. There's a tinge of worry in her eyes, she's scared of what I might do next.
"That's her name? Cool." I haphazardly gesture over my shoulder at Sasuke, who is fortunately back in his seat, before continuing. "See Red over there?"
She slowly nods her head.
"He thinks she's pretty." A not so subtle feeling of my doom starts wafting off of Sasuke. "Is she here? And can you introduce them?"
"Why on earth would I do that?" Hinata fumes in anger. "What could possibly make me even consider doing something so utterly deplorable?"
"Hm." I strike a thinking pose. "I could take it easy on the next Konoha shinobi I fight? If I fight another Konoha shinobi. I mean come on! Did you not see that out there?"
Her eyes dart to Kiba and Shino. Including Hinata herself they're the only ones left in the tournament from Konoha.
"NOPE! Not touching this! You couldn't pay me to touch this!" Kiba instantly shouts. "I'll take the beating. I'll take that over a pissed off Ino any day!"
"I too will refrain from answering." Shino stoically adds. "It would not end well."
"But what if it turns out she likes him?" I bait her. Please just do it. I need revenge, I need something!
"Green-chan!" Kami damn it now Lee's back! This is great, just great! "I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!"
He falls to his knees and bows deeply to me.
"I didn't mean to cause you such pain!" He's literally groveling at my feet. "I promise to make it up to you! Please forgive me!"
Tenten snorts. "Green, meet Lee. Lee, meet Green." Then she sends me a sly wink. "Just between you and me, I think he likes you."
"WHAT?!" Lee springs to his feet with a beet red face. "Tenten no! I-I-I mean it's not that I don't like you or anything! But it's just-"
"What?" Tenten interjects again. "Is she not pretty enough for you?"
"OF COURSE SHE'S PRETTY! LOOK AT HER!" Lee shouts, drawing the attention of literally everyone in the gazebo and half of the stands as he sweeps an arm at me as if I'm a world renown piece of artwork. "She's like a blooming green orchid, simply breathtaking!"
There's a beat of my five hearts where nothing happens.
His hands fly to his mouth and cover it as his face soars to a new shade of red.
"Psst!" Tenten is grinning like a predator that just sunk it's claws into it's next meal. "Lee! Ask her to go get food or something!"
Lee nervously scoots closer to me. I'm frozen in shock. Is this really happening again?
"Green-chan?" He timidly says, his face is tilted towards the ground but his eyes are darting up to look at my covered face. He's idly poking at the ground with one of his feet and his hands are clasped together behind him. "Would... would you like to get something to eat later?"
"Hahaha! Ahaha! HAHAHAHA!" Sasuke's boisterous laughter fills up the abrupt silence. "HAHAHAHA- ow!"
I threw a spool of ninja wire at his face to get him to shut up. "What do you know, guess bringing that was a good idea."
"Not so fun when your own idea is used against you, is it?" Tenten grins evilly. "Have fun dealing with Lee. He's very enthusiastic about certain things, and I think you just made it to the top of that list."
"... Well played." I promptly turn on my heel and head back to Sasuke and the others.
"Green-chan!" Lee calls after me. "You never answered me!"
"Leader-chan! He got to use chan so that means I can too right?" Hiro eagerly asks as I get closer.
"Right, not going back there." I turn on my heel again.
I look towards the Sand Siblings, more specifically Temari.
"No hard feelings?" I hold my arms out as if I'm going in for a hug even though I'm meters away from her.
She draws a kunai and starts twirling it on her index finger with an Orochimaru-like smile. "Of course sweetie, you're more than welcome to join us."
"Oh hell no!" I sprint back to Sasuke, Hiro and Noboru.
"Leader-chan! You came back for me!" Hiro gleefully says the moment I sit down.
"Okay let's clear this up right now." I pin each individual here with a stern glare. "I'm not here because I want to be, I'm here because you all annoy me the least."
"The next fight will be between Hiro of Takigakure!" Eito's loud voice halts all other conversation.
Oh thank Kami, I'll be spared of his presence for a while.
He quickly rushes onto the field. "Be sure to watch me Leader-chan! I'll win this for you!"
Sasuke and Noboru both snicker.
"I will end you both." Pure malice is dripping off my words.
Noboru's eyes widen and he pales slightly, almost as if the idea that we might end up fighting each other never occurred to him.
"Whatever you say Ice Queen." Sasuke isn't daunted by my threat.
I narrow my eyes at him. Revenge will be sweet, but it'll have to wait.
"Oh, and remember that favor you owe me? For keeping your sleeping habits quiet?" He cockily says.
"Yes." I force out.
"I'm cashing in on it. You can't seek revenge for any actions I do today." That arrogant bastard. "Oh and today means until the sun rises again. I'll have all through the night to tease you relentlessly."
"... Agreed." There goes all my fun.
"And his opponent will be Shino Aburame of Konohagakure!" Eito calls out again.
"Go get 'em Shino!" Kiba gives his teammate a slap on the back.
"I believe in you!" Hinata adds on top.
Shino accepts it with grace, but no words, and confidently walks onto the field.
"So, hoping your beloved Hiro-kun is going to win?" Sasuke says to me.
This is worse than torture. This is so much worse. "No. The opposite really, I want the Aburame to win."
Out of the corner of my eye I see a few surprised looks on the faces of the rest of the Konoha gennin.
"Maybe then he'll leave me alone. He could be too embarrassed to show his face. I thought these Exams wouldn't be stressful."
"Not like we haven't dealt with worse." Sasuke responds, no doubt alluding to our first Exams, then falls silent.
It's time to watch the fight, we can chat later.
...
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