All characters and story belong to Kohei Horikoshi and Masashi Kishimoto
"YOU'RE THE ONLY IDIOT, BAKAGO!" Ino yelled, digging her index finger into Bakugo's collarbone.
"Hmm... Ino looks a lot like you, Sakura," Sasuke remarked.
—Huh? I don't look like Ino-pig at all!—Sakura retorted, gesturing wildly with her hands.
—Damn it! Only that idiot Bakago could make Sasuke-kun think that Ino and I look alike!—Sakura's inner self thought angrily.
The two blond boys stopped arguing when they saw the rest of the newbies walking in their direction.
"Well, well," Kiba commented with a mischievous smile. "Since when are you two so close, lovebirds?" he asked mockingly.
"Bakugo and I are not a couple, Kiba!" Ino shouted, covering her face with both hands to hide how red she was with embarrassment.
"Tsk," Bakugo muttered, frowning. "Shut up, dog face." Akamaru reacted by barking angrily, and Kiba felt a vein pop out on his forehead at the blond's insult, but he calmed down almost instantly, ready to counterattack.
"Call me whatever you want. The truth is, I'm glad you passed the second exam. That'll make it easy for me if I face you, loser. I hope we do," Kiba replied with a half-smile.
The tables had turned, and now it was the blond boy whose vein was bulging. He clenched his fists tightly to keep from hitting Kurenai's student.
"Ha. I, on the other hand, pray that I'm not the one who kicks your ass. There's no merit in passing against an extra like you," Bakugo said, narrowing his eyes.
"I've had enough! You'll see!" Kiba exclaimed, taking a step forward. He was grabbed by both Naruto and Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, Naruto! Let me go!"
—What a drag...—Shikamaru sighed, ignoring Kiba's request who was still holding him.
"Kiba, calm down already. We've all been studying together for years. Let's get along, dattebayo!" she said with a nervous smile. Then she added, "Or at least let's get along until the third exam starts."
—Ino and Bakugo-kun...—Hinata thought, feeling a little sad after seeing the two hugs Ino and Bakugo had given each other just minutes before.
"Grrrr..." Kiba growled, trying to break free from his two friends' grip. But he finally gave up with a sigh of resignation. "Fine. I'm calming down, Naruto. Now let me go."
A large cloud of smoke caused all the Chunin hopefuls to stop their thoughts and focus on the event. When the smoke cleared, two lines of ninjas appeared. In the back line were the six Jonin who were the senseis of the six teams that had passed. In the front line were several Chunin who had supervised the written exam, Iruka, the examiners Anko and Ibiki, and in the center of the line was Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage.
"I see your team has passed too, Kakashi," Might Guy whispered to his old rival. "Though judging by the way they look... they must have been incredibly lucky. But with my team around here, their luck ran out. Your team is destined to fail. Once we've reached this point, skill is all that matters. And in that, we're far superior. Although, well... I suppose failure is part of what you have to learn to grow up, huh, Kakashi? Hehe."
"Huh?" Kakashi turned his head toward Guy. "Were you saying something?"
"AAAAAAAHHHHH! KAKASHI'VE IGNORED ME AGAIN!" Guy thought, throwing his hands up to his head. "Fine, Kakashi. You win this time..." He clenched his fist tightly. "This guy drives me crazy when he tries to act all high and mighty. But don't think I'm going to show you the best I've got."
"So that's Guy-sensei's rival, huh?" Tenten thought, looking at the two jonin. "If we only judge by appearances, our sensei is likely to lose."
"Just as I thought..." Lee thought with a smile. "Guy-sensei is the best sensei in the world. He's so cool. Look at me, Guy-sensei. Someday you'll be proud of me!" He raised his fist in the air. Then he thought about his fight with the Sound ninja and about Sakura. "I never want to see anyone important to me cry again. That's why I'll never lose again! Never again, Guy-sensei, I promise!"
"I can't believe it. In the end, only six teams remain out of the twenty-six that started the second exam," Temari thought. "Although it doesn't matter how many the others are. With Gaara, it's impossible for us to lose."
"Look! All the teachers are here. Even Iruka-sensei has come!" Sakura said to her classmates Sasuke and Bakugo.
"Tsk," Bakugo muttered, making a face of contempt. "Damn scarface." The blond hadn't forgotten that Iruka had considered him the weakest of those who passed and that's why he paired him with Sasuke.
"I wonder what the third exam will be like..." Sasuke thought. Then he touched his neck, feeling a sharp pain. "My neck's hurting again. At the worst possible time."
"And the Hokage has arrived too," Shikamaru remarked, having overheard Sakura. "Did your father tell you anything about what it will entail, Naruto?" the Nara clan member asked.
"Unfortunately not," Naruto shook his head. "He didn't even tell me the first exam was going to be written! If I had known, I would have prepared better!"
"Alright, pay attention!" Anko shouted. "The Fourth Hokage is going to explain what the third exam will consist of. So listen carefully, you worms!"
"Who does she think she is, calling me a worm! You perverted bitch!" Bakugo thought with disgust.
"Yondaime Hokage, they're all yours," Anko said.
"Thank you, Anko," Minato said. "But it would be best if Hayate Gekko explained it to you. He'll be the instructor for the third exam."
"Understood, Hokage-sama," Hayate said, bowing. He then took a few steps forward to stand closer to the 18 candidates who had passed. "As the Fourth Hokage has stated, I am Hayate Gekko, and I will be your instructor for the third Chunin Exam. It's a pleasure to meet you all." *Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough* He broke out in a coughing fit.
"Is this guy going to be our instructor? He's a wreck!" Ino thought. Then she looked at Bakugo with concern. "Although Bakugo isn't doing much better. I don't think he's fully recovered from his injuries."
"There's something you all need to do before the third exam," Hayate said. "We have to take a preliminary exam before we can proceed with the actual third exam."
"Tsk," Bakugo muttered.
"A preliminary?" Sakura asked. "What do you mean by that? Why can't we continue with the third exam?"
"Well, you see... *cough*," Hayate coughed. "The first two exams might have been too easy. We didn't expect so many of you to still be here. According to the Chunin Exam rules, a preliminary test can be held at any stage to reduce the number of candidates."
"That's not fair!" Ino complained. "We need to rest!"
"We need to speed things up a bit. There will be many guests observing the third exam. We can't have so many candidates left and have the third exam drag on endlessly for the guests. We can't allow them to waste time," Hayate explained. "They've come to see only the best. So, if any of you aren't in peak physical condition, now's your chance to... *cough*
—That instructor doesn't seem to be quite right in the head...—Hinata thought.
"Excuse the interruption," Hayate said, recovering from his coughing fit. "As I was saying, anyone who isn't feeling strong enough, now is the time to withdraw. The preliminaries will begin immediately."
The announcement that these were going to be the preliminaries immediately came as a shock to the nine rookies. Even Sasuke and Bakugo weren't pleased. Sasuke because the pain in his neck from the cursed seal had returned, and Bakugo because he was utterly exhausted. His body had used almost all its energy fighting the poison and infection. But neither of them intended to withdraw.
"So what if I'm not completely fine? I'll beat any extra who gets in my way," Bakugo thought, clenching his fists tightly.
"What a drag. We barely passed the last exam, do we never get a break here?" Shikamaru complained.
"So when are we eating?" Choji asked. "I've already finished the last bag of chips I brought."
"The preliminary exam will consist of individual matches," Hayata said, ignoring Choji and Shikamaru's request. "As I've said before, if anyone doesn't feel up to it, they should drop out now."
—Does the instructor really think anyone will quit after getting this far?—Sasuke thought.
A sharp pain in his neck made Sasuke release Deku, who fell to the ground. The noise made Sakura and Bakugo turn around.
N/A: Zabuza's sword will now be called Deku, not Kubikiribōchō. Get used to this name change.
"Hey, if you didn't want to keep carrying Deku, you could have told me instead of throwing her on the ground like she was trash," Bakugo said angrily.
"The pain attacks are coming more and more frequently," Sasuke thought, touching the cursed seal and ignoring Bakugo's complaints.
Bakugo bent down to pick up Deku . But as he was about to lift her, he noticed how much effort it took, something that had been effortless just a few days before.
—Damn... I'm worse off than I thought.—Bakugo thought.
With great effort and sweating profusely, he managed to lift it. He decided to rest the tip against the ground and support himself by holding the handle so as not to lift Deku's weight.
"Sasuke-kun... I knew it," Sakura thought, her voice filled with worry. Then she glanced at Bakugo, who was breathing heavily after helping Deku up from the ground. "And Bakugo isn't doing well either. This can't go on."
"Guys, you have to quit," Sakura whispered sadly to her teammates.
—Huh?—they both said at the same time, looking at her confused.
"You haven't fully recovered from your injuries yet, Bakugo. It's a miracle you can even walk after everything you've been through," Sakura explained. "And you, Sasuke-kun. You've been like this ever since the Orochimaru incident. And you're getting worse."
"Orochimaru!" Bakugo thought, his eyes wide. "Did that bastard reptile attack them too?"
Since returning from the dead, Bakugo's memories of everything that happened in the Forest of Death were hazy. The ash-blond, who prided himself on his near-photographic memory, could only vaguely recall fragments of the conversations he'd had in those days. He only clearly remembered facing Orochimaru and losing, Orochimaru being the one who gave him the ugly scar on his shoulder. He also remembered Orochimaru experimenting on people from his world, and from Dosu's description, he assumed one of them was All Might. But he couldn't recall some details, like Orochimaru telling him he'd met up with his comrades.
—It's because of the mark he put on you, right?—Sakura continued.
"The mark?" Bakugo thought, alarmed. Suddenly, a vivid memory of his encounter with Orochimaru came back to him.
"Don't be so nervous, Bakugo-kun. Your friend Sasuke-kun impressed me, so I gave him a farewell gift. And now you've impressed me, so I'll give you the same gift. Kukuku-kun—"
After that flashback came to him, he paid attention to Sasuke's neck, which he was trying to cover with his hand. Three black marks adorned the dark-haired man's neck.
"Now what do I remember? That snake-faced bastard bit my neck. Why don't I have that mark?" Bakugo thought, trying to recall something that eluded him. "And what the hell will happen to Sasuke now? Will the gas delivery man's father find out?" (A/N: The gas delivery man is Naruto, since both the butane canisters and their uniforms are orange, just like Naruto's outfit.)
"Please, stop now..." Tears streamed down Sakura's face. "I'm scared. I don't want to see either of you suffer again."
—…—Bakugo remained silent, alternating his gaze between Sakura and Sasuke.
—Come on, you know as well as I do that you're not in any condition to keep fighting.—Sakura insisted.
"Shut up, Sakura!" Sasuke retorted.
"No!" Sakura exclaimed, raising her voice, causing the other rookies to look at her in confusion. "Do you think I'm blind or something?"
"That's enough, Sakura," Sasuke said, sounding annoyed.
"I'm sorry, I won't let things get any worse. I'm going to tell the teachers what happened. Then maybe they'll postpone the preliminaries," Sakura said.
"Browhead, the show must go on. You already heard the guy half-dead from coughing. They're not going to waste any time," Bakugo said. "Besides, no one's going to quit now. Don't make us look like the only cowards. If you don't trust yourself, trust us," he added harshly.
—But...—Sakura protested.
"I won't let you make me look like a coward! Nobody's quitting, so stop it already...!" Bakugo interrupted his tirade against his classmate when he saw Kabuto raise his hand.
"This... I resign," Kabuto said with a smile and his eyes closed.
"What the hell!" Bakugo thought. From the first moment he saw Kabuto, he'd suspected him, but Kabuto saving his life had put his suspicions aside. Now, he had the feeling again that something wasn't right with the perennial Chunin Exam repeater. "What are you hiding, you damn four-eyes?"