Chapter 10.1- Gamer of the Desert

XXXXX - HANA INUZUKA

It was pure pandemonium that ensued the moment the proctor started the test. Isagi tugged at both Rin and me with his bugs, silently telling us to follow him as he made his way from the hall. I guessed he had already gotten the requisite amount of clues. As we ran, I searched the hall with my eyes, taking note of the standouts in the chaos. I searched, especially, for the three prodigies. Kurotsuchi was the easiest to spot. There was a wide berth around her and her teammate as she had already roasted someone with what looked like lava. Fuck. Kekkei Genkai, too? Gaara of the desert was a bit more difficult to spot, but once I did, I could barely keep up as he moved across the hall.

He was a storm of taijutsu as he moved from victim to victim. I couldn't believe my eyes. When I first saw him, with that gourd floating beside him, I had assumed it was his primary mode of fighting, but just watching him tear through adults like they were nothing was terrifying. His hands had unreal strength, and his feet moved with unreal speed as they lashed out and broke bones and tore muscles. He was something else, and I was forced to admit it. Sensei was right. He would chew me up and spit me out if given the chance.

When I looked away from him and searched around the Konoha teams, I noticed that most of them were also heading towards the doors. Had they all come up with the same strategy? Get to the door and steal people's clues as they attempted to leave the room. Not a bad strategy, of course. Just something I would never do.

I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye, and when I turned, I saw the blond-haired, muscular Noel Yotsuki standing in front of the prone forms of six different ninja. He turned to me and stretched out his hand. I watched in shock as a disk appeared right in front of his hands. Motes of light gathered within it, and Isagi suddenly shouted right behind me. "Get down." I obeyed, almost as shocked to hear my teammate actually shout as I was to see, or rather not see, what happened next. There was a flash of light that nearly blinded me, and when I could open my eyes again, seven of the ninja that had been running for the door by our side were slumped on the floor twitching. They had been electrocuted. What the hell? Noel Yotsuki.

Isagi covered us in his kikaichu, and they fell to the floor, roasted, a second letter. I watched, my heart in my chest, and nothing more than a puppet in my own body as Isagi grabbed both Rin and me and dragged us the last few feet to the door. When we finally made it out and I could breathe again, I nearly burst into tears. Only thoughts of Rin's mockery stopped me.

Right in front of us, sitting down and looking to all the world like he was having the time of his life, was Gaara of the Desert. I looked behind me and saw him still tearing through multiple genin. But I looked in front of me again and saw him sitting down. I lost sight of the Gaara in the hall as the door swung closed once more.

"Well, that was interesting. Gaara of the Desert. How do you do?" he asked, stretching his hand out to us. I looked at Rin, only to find him staring at me. I scowled and took the boy's hand. And when I took it, it truly sunk in that he

was nothing more than a child. His skin was pale. Much paler than I had ever seen, and his red hair seemed to shine with its own glow. He was also small. Very small. Barely more than half my height and strong enough to just tear through me if he wanted to. What kind of world did I live in?

"Inuzuka Hana," I said, giving him my name. I didn't see any harm in it, and while I was at it, I introduced my teammates. "These are my teammates Aburame Isagi and Yamanaka Rin. We're from Konoha." He nodded, like I had just given him some serious secret. The look on his pale face almost made me 'awwww,' but I caught myself in time. My mind just flashed with images of him shoving his knee into someone's face and catching a thrown kunai from another person in mid-air before shoving it into his opponent's shoulder. Cute, but very, very dangerous. I took my hand back once he let go and waited for him to say the next words, but he only smiled and pointed down the hallway. "You should probably get going if you want to turn in your clues. You do have clues, right? You don't seem the sort to have run out just to escape the crazy lightning dude." Ignoring the strange last word, we nodded and thanked him, not keen to pick up any more conversation with the boy.

Monsters. The lot of them were monsters, and as we left him behind, I was grateful to be done with them.

“How was it?” Bachira-sensei asked as we left the building that the first task had been held in.

“We passed” was all I said, and I left the after action report to Rin. He and Bachira-sensei were two peas in a pod, after all. I just couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel room and see the triplets. They’d been down with a nasty case of food poisoning so I couldn’t take them with me for the task. It would be fine, Sensei had said. Nothing but a test of our wits, Sensei had said. I guess that showed me.

A/N; New chapter. Let’s go!