The boy in the middle is my height, with spiky red hair and bright green eyes. He's wearing a black shirt and pants, a fishnet shirt underneath, and a white sash slung diagonally across his chest. And on his back, secured to his body with a leather harness, is a gourd that's almost as big as he is.
Finally, there's the last boy, who looks to be a little taller than Sasuke, and is wearing… A cat suit and purple makeup?
...
I find myself stunned into silence as the foreign team sizes us up in turn. Then, before I can ask cat boy just what in the hell he thinks he's doing with that getup, the jonin of the group bows his head in a slight nod, eyeing Hatake.
"Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Cat," he rumbles, voice surprisingly deep. "And Maito Gai, Konoha's Green Beast. I had not thought to see you two with genin teams."
"Baki, the Tempest Blade of Suna." Hatake's eye quirks up. "I could say the same for you."
Baki smiles, and I relax as some of the tension leaks out of the hallway. "Alas, the Kazekage himself asked me to take these three on. I could hardly refuse."
"We love you too, sensei," Cat boy drawls, and Baki chuckles.
"Besides," he continues. "These three are special. I'd advise you to keep your students as far from them as possible tomorrow. They won't be pulling any punches in the exams."
"Ah, but our genin too are shining examples of Konoha's youthful fury!" Gai jumps in, to Neji's dismay and Lee's jubilation. "They will not stop until their springtime flames have been seen by all!"
"Yosh! I will see to it!" Lee cries, and I'm forced to admit that cat boy might not be the only weirdo in this hallway.
"So. You're the teams from Konoha," The red-haired boy says. His teammates seem to stand a little straighter at his voice, and even his sensei's expression reverts back to neutrality. His eyes roam over us, calculating and cold. "You're missing a teammate."
"She was injured," Neji says, and his face might as well be cut from stone.
"Hn. There are more of you, I assume?" He asks, scorn bleeding into his tone. "Or is this all the supposed Greatest Hidden Village has to offer?"
Oh, I don't like this guy. I don't like this guy at all. "We're all Konoha needed to send," I retort. "More than enough to deal with you."
The Suna genin's gaze falls on me. "What's your name?"
My eyes narrow. "Uzumaki Naruto."
"I'm Gaara." He smirks. "I look forward to crushing you in the exams, Uzumaki Naruto." He moves forward, and I grudgingly step aside to let him and his teammates pass. Their sensei, Baki, follows behind after wishing his fellow jonin good luck.
They disappear down the stairwell, and then it's just us again. The receptionist exhales, rubbing at his neck.
"That was rather tense, wasn't it?" He says, smiling nervously.
"Who were those assholes, anyway?" I ask, looking up at Hatake.
The receptionist gapes. "You don't know?" He asks, baffled.
"No, I do," I deadpan. "I just felt like asking."
"That was Baki, one of Suna's elite jonin," Hatake says. "And his students, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. The Yondaime Kazekage's children."
"Do not let their unyouthful demeanor fool you," Gai warns. "They have likely received training from the Kazekage himself. They will be formidable opponents."
"A kage's children," Sakura echoes, a worried expression on her face. "... Can we compete against that?"
"Of course!" Lee bellows, beating me to it. "No matter how skilled they are, they can be defeated with enough hard work! We will just have to give it our very best!"
While the two green beasts of our party join together in another bout of youthful hysterics, Kakashi ruffles Sakura's hair in reassurance. "Don't sell yourself short," he chides gently. "Every one of you three are capable of more than you think. Focus on yourselves, don't stress the strength of your opponents, and you'll do fine. I promise."
Sakura closes her eyes, nodding. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei."
"Any time."
The receptionist shows us to our rooms without any more confrontations. Team 9 moves into one at the very end of the hallway, while we're lead into the one right across from the room the Suna team had exited. My initial suspicion of this being the high end floor is confirmed as we walk into what can only be a penthouse suite. Expensive, tasteful furniture, a massive kitchen, two huge bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, and an open living area furnished with all sorts of uncomfortable looking couches. The lap of luxury.
I'm just returning from my raid of the fully stocked fridge when I notice Sasuke sitting in one of the bedrooms, already in the process of unpacking some scrolls from his pack. I groan.
"Split the bed?" I plead, moving into the doorway. He snorts.
"Not a chance."
"Come on! That thing has to be a queen at least. There's plenty of room for both of us."
"The other room is still open," he points out, smirking. I glare at him.
"I hate you."
Sakura reappears from her inspection of the bathrooms a few minutes later, and after some assurances from me that I'm fine with taking the couch, she starts unpacking in the other room. I wander into the living room, flopping down on a plain beige couch, taking a bite out of the chicken sandwich I'd thrown together in the kitchen.
It's every bit as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. I look over at Hatake, kicking back in an even more uncomfortable looking chair and reading. "Looks like we're stuck with these slabs for the night, sensei."
"I doubt you'd have gotten much sleep anyway," he says, turning a page. "The first task starts tomorrow, you know."
"Yeah. I only asked you twenty times on the trip here," I say, snickering.
A while later Sakura and Sasuke come out of their rooms to join us, and we have an official dinner. And let me tell you, after the weeks spent choking down rations on our trip here it tastes glorious. By the end of it I'm thoroughly content and even my crappy couch is starting to feel a bit less rock hard.
Sakura is the last to finish, and after she deposits her dishes in the sink Hatake snaps his book shut, sitting up.
"Alright, team meeting," he says, and we all give him our attention from our spots lazing around the room. "As you all know, the first task starts tomorrow. I don't know what it's going to be, or what you should bring with you, but I know that it will be tasking. So get a good night's sleep, and make sure you eat a solid breakfast before you leave tomorrow.
"It starts at 8 o'clock sharp, in the spire with the statue of two samurai fighting in front of it. You should be able to see it over the line of buildings if you take the roofs. Either way, I'd suggest you get there early."
I give him a thumbs up. "Gotcha."
"Good." He leans forward, arms resting on his knees. "I'm not going to be here when you three wake up, so this is where I give you my last minute advice.
"I've told you plenty of times that you have what it takes to do well in these exams, so I won't harp on you any more about confidence. I will say that Gai wasn't wrong in saying that Baki's team is going to be a challenge. They won't be the only ones, either. The Chunin Exams is for the cream of a hidden village's crop, so you need to go into this knowing that you won't be the only special team there.
"Keep a sharp eye out, both for yourselves and for each other. The other genin are going to target you, for being rookies and for being shinobi of Konoha.
They will not fight fair, and if you aren't watching each other's backs they're going to bring you down. You're probably sick of hearing it by now, but teamwork is going to be key here. If you three work together like I know you can, they'll never touch you."
He stands up from his chair, moving toward one of the windows. He pops it open, and just before climbing out turns back to us. "Starting tomorrow, you represent Konoha's next generation of shinobi. These exams will have a great impact on the village, one way or another. Do us proud."
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