Restoration of Faith
Karrafear
Summary: SEQUAL to Faith in Humanity; Naruto OOC; PG-13. After Sandaime's death, Naruto made a promise to himself to defy his own destiny and pursue a future that will lead to freedom and happiness. Chapter Twenty-Seven: 1st Exam
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"Demon's talk", /Thoughts/, "Speech", 'Speech emphasis', (FLASHBACK), Titles, (Author's interruptions)
Warning: No real fighting exactly but a lot of mind manipulation and character development, sort of, I think. I’m also not going to go into detail for all the characters, just bits and pieces for most. In fact, since I can’t fit all of them onto this one chapter, I’m just gonna cut it short and some characters will miss out. Hope you don’t mind the jump scenes and still enjoy the chapter. Merry Christmas you all and have a happy new year!
I’d like to take this opportunity to personally thank the following people for supplying the Original Characters that will be showing up from here on out (yes, you know who you are): Hitomi no Ryu, Sam, Reeki Shadowstar, and Bryan Terran! Thank you all very much for the creations of the OCs, and now, they’re finally mine to butcher and maim as I see fit. Hee hee! This will be fun!
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Chapter 27
After travelling through a bamboo forest path for several minutes, the teams of genins and the 10 Gate Guardians suddenly stopped walking before two worn looking wooden staircases. The two stair cases stretched into the horizon up above where the genins stood, one to the left and the other to the right. Both staircases looked as if they’ve been chiselled out of the very mountain itself; if it hadn’t been the fact that they were built from wood, people would have thought this was a natural structure. It looked so old and worn that it was a wonder the stairs were still usable today.
Having stopped their progress towards the stairs, Jubei and the other Gate Guardians turned around to face the genins all together.
“For those of you who have participated in previous Chunnin exams before, throw away your existing preconceptions! Because right here right now, you live by our rules; and we do things differently from what you’re use to.” Jubei’s smirk was positively evil. A spark of glee could be seen in his eyes as he spoke with confidence and surety.
Grinning at the nervous expressions on the faces of some Genins, Akiko step forward in order to continue the spiel. “For example, instead of progressively cutting down the number of participants until the best ones are awarded the Chuunin rank; we do it by awarding points for good performance and taking away points for bad performances. Each of your teams have already gained points as you made your journey here, and from these points, your specified proctors have split them up evenly among the three members.”
Without giving the Genins time to swallow the previous information, Koushiro immediately launched into the rest of the explanations. “From this moment forth, all the tests are individually based. If you do well in a test, then you gain more points for yourself. If you suck, then too bad, your points will be taken away. Once you’ve reached a certain number of points (of which I will not tell you what it is), you will automatically be granted the Chuunin rank as is set down by the rules of the Kuunoki. However, since this is an international event, we will still hold a tournament of fights in one and a half months time, since it’s practically a prerequisite for all international Chuunin Examinations.”
Unlike her brother, Hikari at least gave the Genins some time to process all of the information thrown at them, before beginning her part of the speech. “Now, onto the first exam! We’ll be dropping you into a place where you can’t escape, where you’re completely alone, and definitely no way for you to reach your friends. This first exam is to test your mental strength instead of your physical strength so be prepared for some psychological manipulation. Basically, you’re task is to find a way out of the hell hole we’ll be dumping you in. Use whatever means necessary in order to get out. If you do find a way out, great! You gain the maximum amount of points depending on the amount of time you used in order to escape. If you can’t get out within the time limit we have scheduled for you (which by the way is 5 days), then sorry, points will be deducted from your own personal collection. Got that? Good.”
Watching in silence as more and more of the Genins put forth their game face – an expression of calm, confidence or arrogance, Yami nodded to himself (as if approving of their actions) before concluding all the explanations regarding the first test. “One word of advice; to gain something, you have to give up something. And sometimes, by giving it up, it would release you from a heavy burden. This first test examines the strength of your character, in essence your willpower. I wish you all the best of luck.”
With those abrupt words, all the genins were suddenly swallowed up by a large blob of living shadow, complete with tentacles reaching out to each individual genins and trapping them in its eternal grip. Pulled into the dark abyss, the genins didn’t even have enough time to scream before they were completely consumed by the black matter, only leaving behind the members of the Gate Guardians.
A second of silence later, Akiko suddenly laughed out loud, unable to hold in her inner mirth anymore. “Ahaha! Did you see their shocked faces? It was hilarious!!”
Jubei’s sadistic grin seems to hold a permanent place on his pale face. “Indeed. The fun has only just begun. Well! Let us get going as well. Remember, each of you will have 3 genins to proctor over. Follows the rules that we agreed to originally and if we need anything changed, we go to Kaga-sensei in order to manipulate the individual shadow-realm we’re proctoring. Understand? Lets go.” A flash of light followed by a few twirling of Jubei’s transportation rings and all the Gate guardians instantly disappeared from the grove in the bamboo path.
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Shikamaru watched the clouds above him lazily. Now, to Shikamaru this was the life - having absolutely nothing to do but lay there on the comfortable grass and gaze at the sky all day long. Sighing lightly, Shikamaru closed his eyes and imagined himself living like this for the rest of his life. It would certainly be a dream comes true. Unfortunately for him, Sakura chose that very moment to come visit him, breaking his fantasy of a carefree life with her soft footsteps.
“Hey.” She called out half-heartedly and was greeted back with a heavy sigh. “Geeze, don’t look so excited to see me.” She muttered sarcastically under her breath before plonking herself down beside his lazy form. “So, what have you been up to these few days? And why the hell are you lazing around anyway? Shouldn’t you be training?”
Shikamaru sighed again before answering Sakura’s unending questions. “Kaga-sensei is busy with organising the first stage of the chuunin Exam, with the rest of the Gate Guardians. He won’t be instructing me for the next 3 to 4 days, so I’ve got nothing better to do but lie around and watch the clouds.”
“Eh! The first exam has already started?! But where are the students? I haven’t heard anyone come in through the main village gates or anything!?” Sakura exclaimed in surprise as she didn’t know anything about this.
Shikamaru gave her a mild glare but then decided it was simply too troublesome to argue. “Yes, the first exam has already started, and no, they did not walk in through the doors or anything fancy like that. In fact, they haven’t even reached the stairwells before they were all pushed into the Shadow realm. As of now, I’d say they were forced to fight a psychological warfare.”
“What do you mean by that?” Sakura wanted clarification, having never experienced anything like that during her Chuunin Exam participation.
“God! You’re so troublesome.” Shikamaru tried to ignore Sakura’s whining voice as she continued to pester him for information, before finally giving up. He just hated dealing with girls. “Look! The kuunoki do things differently to the rest of the world. While other Shinobi countries test the Genins for their teamwork skills, information gathering skills, survival skills, knowledge over particular subjects, loyalty to their own villages and so on. The Kuunoki don’t care about most of that stuff! They want to know about your mental capacities – what are you afraid of, what can break you, and what is it you fight for. By knowing a person psychologically, you’ll be able to pick on their weakness. The Kuunoki Chuunin exams are going to drive each and every genin to the brink of going insane before they let up, just to find out how strong their willpower and personality is. After that is when they judge your physical abilities.”
“As you know, within the Kuunoki village itself, there is a large range of specialty abilities and even the members of a single clan can have different abilities and techniques to their arsenal. They’re not interested in who’s stronger than whom; they’re looking for who is more deserving of their help! Why do you think out of all the people in the world, only a few ever got to become apprentices here in the Kuunoki, Tsunade being one of the very lucky ones?” Shikamaru stared piercingly at Sakura before continuing on.
“It’s because her teacher saw something in her that was worthy of guiding. Every person within the Kuunoki who had ever taken on an apprentice only has one main goal in teaching - to have their apprentice surpass their own power. Kaga-sensei is the same. He was the sensei of Jubei and Yami. Both of whom have grown to become extremely powerful, enough to overcome and surpass Kaga himself in certain circumstances. Once an apprentice becomes a ‘master-level’ Shinobi, they are no longer considered apprentices; and the old master is allowed to take on more apprentices. At the same time, the new masters (apprentices who have attained ‘master-level’ capabilities) can also start looking for their own apprentices. And the whole process starts again.” Shikamaru concluded with a yawn, wondering whether there was any near by drinking water.
Sakura swallowed all the information Shikamaru had provided her like a dry sponge in the middle of the ocean. She was fascinated with how much Shikamaru had already analysed of Kuunoki society and all the knowledge he had attained from training with Kaga. She wished that she herself was that close to her mentor. Unfortunately for her, she was still stuck in the Library most days and struggling with the concepts of advance human biology. Until she had proven (both to herself and her new mentor) that she truly understood everything about the human anatomy, she doubted that Ryoko-sensei would teach her anything new. It wasn’t anything personal towards Sakura or anything like that. It’s just, given that if she doesn’t even understand the theory, how would she ever be able to do the practical experiments?
Back to the original topic at hand, Sakura was feeling rather envious of Shikamaru. At times like this, she truly believed that he deserved the Chuunin vest that was awarded to him some 6 months ago, while she herself wasn’t as confident in her own abilities. “If what you say is true, then why are there so few apprentices in the first place?” She asked in curiosity, truly wanted to know why it was so.
“It’s because the Council 7 have a rule on apprentices. Each master is only allowed 3 apprentices in their lifetime. As such, the masters are usually very picky about who they chose to become apprentices in the first place. They only pick the best of the best, and only those who have an affinity with their own abilities. Kaga-sensei taught Jubei because Jubei had an affinity with seals and specialises in instantaneous teleportation – his rings are about as versatile as Kaga-sensei’s shadows. Yami on the other hand, learnt from Kaga his amazing manipulation of molecular particles – to the point where Yami has his own shadow-counterpart. Yami-senpai’s Dyamon crystals act as his defence and offence at the same time, just as Kaga-sensei’s shadow does for him. As for me, well, it’s kinda obvious that I was only selected due to my affinity with Shadows.” Shikamaru muttered half-heartedly, as if feeling a little overwhelmed by the expectations placed on him.
Even an idiot would feel rather small and insignificant if he were to be compared to the great powers of Yami and Jubei. That’s why Shikamaru was finding himself more and more shadowed by his sempai’s reputations. The expectations upon his shoulder, the burden of being as good as, if not better than, Kaga’s past students – were slowly but surely drowning Shikamaru’s inner peace, which is uncharacteristic of his personality. But what people don’t understand or even thought possible, was that Shikamaru truly cares about what Kaga thinks of him as an apprentice. Sure, Kaga wasn’t his father or anything like that, but Shikamaru had grown fond of the reticent shadow master and he really wants to make his teacher proud.
“I see.” Sakura answered demurely. Even she could feel the undertone of sadness or some sort of tension. Sakura really didn’t want to get involved in the problems between teacher and student so she didn’t pursue this conversation any further. Hell, she had her own problems with Ryoko-sensei showing very little to no interests in her growth at the moment. It’s just all too depressing.
Shaking away her thoughts forcefully, Sakura refocused on the original topic of discussion. “So the others are here already and undergoing the first exam. How many from Konoha do you think made it?” She asked tentatively, thinking about the last member of team seven as well as her best friend.
“They all did; which was surprising, considering Jubei-sempai was their main proctor.” Shikamaru answered just as quickly, this time interested in the discussion as well.
“Really? That’s great!” Sakura sighed in relief for a moment. But then her mood soured again as she thought about what kind of psychological torture her friends were undergoing. “I hope they’re okay...” She murmured anxiously.
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“So, how long do you think it’ll take for the first one to break out?” Koushiro lounged on a large couch, eyes facing forward towards the trapped genins.
“I don’t think any of them would be able to get out on the first day.” Hikari answered confidently, leaning against the couch her brother was lying on.
“I wouldn’t say that.” Kaga answered from his meditative seating arrangement by the side of the couch. “Jubei was able to get out within the first day. In fact, if I remember correctly, he was able to escape within the first 4 to 5 hours. Quite a feat really...”
Hmpt. Jubei’s a genius and damn obsessive when it comes to training. The rest of the Gate Guardians weren’t able to get through until the second day or so. I wouldn’t put so much confidence in these brats.” Koushiro continued to berate loudly as he remembered his time trapped within Kaga’s shadow reflection technique. Those days were not fond days for the lightning affiliated teenager.
“We’ll just wait and see what happens.” Hikari concluded, her eyes never wavering from the large balls of black shadow floating still before them. Each giant ball was 1.5 metres in diameter and held a living, breathing person within them. There were 30 balls in all, and each ball held one of the chosen Chuunin Exam participants inside. Kaga had used his special shadow techniques in order to trap the genins into their own little capsules, and now had full control over what they feel, see and hear within the shadowed realm. It was like a high level Genjutsu had been placed on them; but in this case, they had to actively find a way to escape the shadow itself, instead of just a Genjutsu. This first round of examination had already proved too difficult to some, and far more a challenge than most have expected. In deed, in this round, the strong willed and the weak willed will be deciphered among the genins.
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xxx XXX xxx (Lee)
“Gai-sensei! Please stop! I don’t want to fight you anymore!” Lee cried desperately as he dodged another powerful punch from his possessed teacher.
“Lee! You must learn the final stage of a Shinobi’s life – the art of killing!” The usually passionate Taijutsu master had a strange glint of madness in his eyes and his mouth was wide open forming an unusually evil smirk. “Only those who strive to become the strongest can ever truly become strong. You must give up on something just as precious in return for something you truly desire. Now, fight me! Fight me like I’m the worse enemy in the world! Prove to me you can surpass my powers of youth!” The insane, green clad man shouted loudly, confusing his student even more with his jumbled speech.
“Gai-sensei! Stop! What is wrong with you!?” Lee called out again. Jumping over a high kick performed by his teacher, dodging another fist and cart wheeling away, Lee frowned at the silence from his master. “Why are you doing this? Answer me, Gai-sensei!” Lee was slowly becoming suspicious that this was not his sensei at all. Perhaps another person had Henged into his Sensei’s form and is currently battling him. But that theory wasn’t right either, because the person that was fighting him moves exactly as his beloved sensei would. The moves were exactly the same!
“Because it is right, because I wish to test my strength!” The Gai-look-a-like answered in justification.
“What the hell does that mean?” Frustrated at being kneed in the stomach and thrown some distance away, Lee could not help but feel more and more panicked at the continued assault of this opponent.
“I want to see how strong I truly am, Lee! I want to see how far I can push myself!” Gai’s voice had calmed somewhat, even though his attacks had not. “I have trained you for many years and you have proven yourself to be a genius of hard work, perhaps more so than myself.” He praised with sadistic glee, making Lee feel even more agitated than he already was. “It is time now, for me to see how far the both of us have come.” The man knocked Lee away once more with a powerful Konoha Senpuu before answering cryptically.
While Lee was struggling to get back to his feet, Gai looked over the boy with an unnatural calmness that spoke of deadly intention. “I trained you, Lee, not to enable you to fulfil your dream, but to fulfil mine! I want to be the strongest Taijutsu master in the world. I want to fight someone who is just as strong as I am and still be able to defeat him. Don’t you see, Lee? I trained you because I wanted you to become my ultimate challenge. I trained you to become the measurement of my strength. I trained you to become my equal and now I can finally crush you and prove my own strength!” The words were cold, so cold that Lee could not help but shiver. “You are and have always been, just a measuring stick for me, my beautiful Lee!” (1)
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xxx XXX xxx (Sasuke)
“You won’t be able to kill me, foolish little brother. If you do... you will become just like me. And then, there won’t be any Uchiha’s left in this world. And your precious clan will cease to exist...” An eerie voice rang out from the darkness. A vision soon shone through.
An older version of Sasuke slammed his Chidori charged arm into and all the way through the heart of his opponent. The man before him bled all over Sasuke’s form, raining onto his face. However, the frozen, insane smirk upon Sasuke’s face never wavered. This was what he lived for. It was for this moment that Sasuke had sacrificed all his time and energy working towards. Today... was the day he finally killed his older brother.
However, Sasuke was abruptly brought out of his musings by a shrill cry from behind him. “IIIEEEE! HANASE! (No! Stop!)”
“You are just like me... Foolish little brother...” Itachi’s final words were whispered right into Sasuke’s ears before the once foreboding man literary collapsed onto himself, leaning his entire weight upon his younger brother’s shoulders. Unceremoniously, Sasuke ripped his arm out of his brother’s chest, knowing that he had struck all the way through the man’s heart and he would definitely NOT survive this fight. Twisting around, Sasuke glared hatefully at the person who had dared interrupt his long awaited vengeance.
Before him stood a boy of no older than 6 or 7, trembling upon the blood stained earth with absolute fear and a splice of pure, uncontrolled hatred within his mid-night black eyes. The boy had short black, spiky hair and wore a simple peasant’s clothing. However, it was the eyes that captivated Sasuke. For in a split second, Sasuke noticed that those familiar black eyes turned blood red, with two dots swirling around the central pupil. There was no doubt in Sasuke’s mind that this boy carried the same blood as his brother and himself. This was an Uchiha, the last of his sacred clan, other than himself.
“Well... Well... Well... What have we here?” The insane smile had returned as Sasuke walked slowly and intimidating towards the fear-ridden boy. Finally reaching him, Sasuke lowered himself and gripped tightly onto the boy’s throat, slowly rising to a standing position pulling the boy up with him. “Heh... The bastard actually dared to BREED?”
The boy, having finally recovered from his shocked paralysis had given totally into his young rage, kicking and struggling against Sasuke’s formidable grip fruitlessly, chocking and screaming in protest.
“Do you hate me, little one? Do you hate me for killing your sire?” Sasuke asked in deathly cold voice. The boy spat back at him, rebellious to the extreme. Sasuke’s smirk disappeared as he used his free hand to wipe the spit away. Tightening his grip, resulting in the boy whimpering in pain, Sasuke mercilessly activated his own Mangekyou Sharingan and induced the boy to suffer the effects of the Tsukiyomi, forcing the boy to relive his father’s death for the next 48 hours straight.
The boy’s resultant scream echoed through the entire clearing for several long minutes, before finally, the boy’s young psyche collapsed, leaving the boy in a blank state of oblivion. Sasuke inched his way closer to the boy’s ear and whispered to his nephew: “If you want to kill me... curse me... hate me... and live a long and unsightly life... Always run away and cling to your pitiful life. And some day... when you have the same eyes as me... come before me as an equal Sharingan user... only then shall we fight... only then will you honour your father’s death.”
“You are just like me... foolish little brother…”
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“STOP!!!” Sasuke screamed at the top of his voice as he felt a thousand blades piercing his exposed and vulnerable chest, sides and legs. Having awoken and found himself strapped to a large white, metallic cross, Sasuke could do nothing more than scream as hundreds of his brother’s doubles appeared out of no where and started piercing him time after time, which chanting the same words continuously. Had he not been completely distracted by the unending pain assaulting his body, Sasuke would have wondered why the hell he was being brainwashed.
He had completely forgotten about the Chuunin Exams, he had completely forgotten about his team mates. His entire reality was now focussed solely on his pain – be it physical pain, emotional pain or mental pain. The agony continued and for how long, Sasuke wasn’t sure. But he knew that at some point, he finally fell into blissful unconsciousness.
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xxx XXX xxx (Neji)
“I am proud of you my daughter.” Hiashi gazed sadly at young Hinata before him. “My only regret is that you were born into the branch house, caged forever and unable to break free.”
“It’s okay, Otousan. I’m fine” Hinata mumbled even as she winced at the bruises left on her arm. She had been beaten by some Main house members some hours prior and was still wincing every now and then when she moves.
“I’m so sorry, dear Hinata. I’m sorry I could not birth you into the Main family...” Hiashi’s heartfelt words were suddenly cut off by a sharp and cruel, but young voice.
“Shut it, old man! How dare you disrespect those of the main branch?” Neji glared at his so-called uncle with heated hatred. He didn’t understand why his father always so favoured his uncle and their family. It’s not like they’re worth more than the other servants around the house. All members of the Branch house only have one purpose in life, and that is to serve and protect the members of the Main house. That was what Neji believed in and would always do so. “I’ll teach you to bow to your superiors!”
Otousan! NO!” Hinata cried as Neji activated the curse seal upon her dear father’s forehead. “Please! Neji-nisama!” Hinata begged and pleaded. “Please stop hurting Otousan!” Her pearly white tears rained down her pale face as she struggled with her screaming father, rolling around on the floor.
“Shut up, you wench! You useless toad of a failure! You’re nothing but a servant. How dare you try to stand in my way?” Neji deactivated the curse seal and raised his hand in preparation to slap the insolent girl’s face, when suddenly, his arm was caught from behind.
“Who dares...? Otousama?” Neji’s eyes widened as he gazed upon the angered and shamed face of his father.
“Neji.” His father’s voice was cold with fury, drowning out the groans of pain from Hiashi as well as the continued crying of Hinata. “Enough.” Pulling the boy away from the scene, Hizashi told Neji to stay put even while he returned to try and help Hiashi and Hinata off the floor.
Neji fumed silently at the special treatment his father bestowed upon his uncle and their family. It wasn’t fair. Why was Hiashi so important? His father never even treated Neji with such gentleness and yet, here he was, helping some slaves onto their feet. Growling slightly, Neji stalked away in a fit of childish tantrum, silently promising himself that he would get back at his uncle and younger cousin for this insult.
An hour later, Hizashi bowed lowly upon the floor in front of his older brother. “I sincerely apologise for Neji’s misbehaviour. I don’t know what has gotten into that boy, but he’s changed so much, it’s almost as if he’s a completely different person.”
“It’s fine, dear brother. He is the heir to the clan and holds the greatest potential. We must all do what is best for the clan. If it means that the boy and yourself must head the clan, then so be it.” Hiashi’s tired voice coughed as he stated the ugly truth of the matter.
“But it isn’t right!” Hizashi slammed his fist onto the ground. “I am the younger one; I was born to be one of the Branch members. You were supposed to be head of the household. But when you defied the ruling of the Hyuuga Council of elders, they stripped you of your standing and place me and my son into the Main family, using Neji as an excuse. No matter how much talent and potential Neji truly holds, it still does not justify what the council had done to you, my dear brother!”
“What is done is done. There is nothing we can do to change it.” Hiashi muttered tiredly, even while drinking the tea handed to him by Hinata.
“You have no idea how much the council elders spoil Neji, turning him into their puppet and literary changing his personality to suit their gains. Neji use to be such a good boy, quiet but gentle. And now look at him! Look at the monster he has become!” Hizashi purged himself upon his elder brother, needing someone desperately to hear his woes and sorrow. “I don’t know what to do anymore, oniisama (Big Brother). I rarely get to even see Neji anymore and the more time he spends with the elders, the more they poison his mind. I don’t know what to do. I just... I don’t know what to do...” Hizashi collapsed upon himself just before Hinata rushed towards him and pulled him into an awkward hug.
Hiashi could only gaze sadly upon his younger brother’s collapsed form. If he hadn’t of gone against the Council’s ruling, then this wouldn’t have happened. But what’s done is done and Neji turning into the cruel beast of a boy was just another sin upon his shoulders to bear.
Outside the room and with his Byakugan activated, Neji could hardly believe his eyes. Though he was far away enough to not be able to hear their conversations, he had taught himself how to lip-read as well as positioned himself into a good position to do so. To say Neji was shocked was probably the understatement of the year. Here was his father – someone he was ever so proud of – kneeling before a common slave. Sure, Neji had remembered a time (barely) when he was very young and had to suffer the expectation of becoming a Branch member. But unlike his father, Neji does not have a curse seal upon his forehead, for he was young enough at the time when the two families literary swapped places and status.
Had Neji been listening to the voice deep in his heart, he may not have done what he did later on. But as of this very moment, Neji only felt anger and hurt at being betrayed by his father. His pride as a member of the Main House would not, could not let this insult slide. As such, he silently crept away from where his father, uncle and cousin resides. Instead, he immediately ran to inform one of the council elders of his father’s words, hoping that the elders would punish his uncle and cousin, so that they’re finally taken out of his hair.
Two days later, Neji’s father, uncle and young Hinata were executed for treason against the clan. Neji watched in silence as his own father were burnt alive before his eyes. His heart felt cold and numb. Unsure of whether he felt guilty or just plain sick, Neji couldn’t help but be completely enthralled by his father’s final moments. He felt cold... so very cold that the iciest of materials in the world pale in comparison to the chill he felt up his spine. Just... so... cold. (2)
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xxx XXX xxx (Hikon)
Oneesan...” (3) Hikon choked out in a whisper. The hand around her neck tightened even more, resulting in Hikon’s eyesight starting to waver in darkness due to a lack of oxygen. “Oneesan, it’s me... Hikon.” The short, dark haired girl tried once more. The only response back from her assailant was a grunt and the continued tightening of her throat.
Kukuku... How many times must I remind you, sweet Hikon-chan? You’re sister no longer remembers you. She doesn’t even remember herself.” A dark and cruel voice chuckled from the shadows around her.
Hito-o...nee...san...” Hikon continued to try and claw her dear sister’s hand away from her throat, but to no avail. /This isn’t real./ She thought to herself. /I don’t... I don’t even know what Hiko-oneesan looks like anymore./ Her mind supplied logically. /This isn’t real./ She mentally reaffirmed.
/Then that means I’m trapped in a Genjutsu./ Hikon finally realised, but that doesn’t help her situation as she whined slightly due to the slow collapse of her lungs. /I have to get out of here... but how... I don’t have time... time? What time... how long... I.../ Darkness finally claimed the floating form of Hikon, with both shadowed images of her worse enemy (4) and her beloved sister disappearing into the abyss.
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xxx XXX xxx (Kiba)
“It has to be done, Kiba. Akamaru’s contaminated, there’s nothing else we can do. I’m sorry.” Tsunade spoke softly towards the young Inuzuka, having decided to brave the news herself instead of having an unsympathetic messenger do the job.
“But... But... he was... he was still...” Kiba’s eyes burned with tears, his throat constricted to the point of suffocation and his heart felt crushed under a tonne of weights. /This couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t be happening. Akamaru was getting better. He was finally recovering and now this... it’s just... so not fair./ Kiba fought hard against the tears, his fear, shame, anger and self-loathing. /Because of me... because of me... Akamaru... Akamaru has to die...?/ He couldn’t fathom how this could happen all of a sudden and his mind was still in shock and denial of he entire situation.
Just this morning, he had taken his usual morning walk with his beloved doggy companion, now he was told that Akamaru had been contaminated with some sort of mutagen. And unless they want a mutated Akamaru on the loose and killing people, they had to kill him. It just wasn’t fair. Akamaru hadn’t done anything wrong except protecting Kiba from the mutagen in the first place. If anything, it should be Kiba that was to be terminated, not his faithful dog.
But there was nothing that could be done. Akamaru had to be killed, that was all there was to it. Unless Kiba wanted an uncontrolled and deformed Akamaru kill people and affect other animals with his mutated genes, this was the only thing he could do to save his beloved dog. Kiba would be damned to let another suffer the way his precious friend had, he would be damned to let Akamaru suffer for much longer either.
“Let... Let me do it... I have to... I have to be the one... to do it.” Kiba stuttered as he uttered these words. Even while it tore his very soul apart to ask for this, he knew he would not be able to live with himself if he let any other person touch his dog. Akamaru was more than just a pet or companion. Akamaru was his partner, his best friend, the one and only person or creature that has ever stayed by his side through thick and thin. He was Kiba’s family. And to let anyone else do this final act, it had to be Kiba and no one else – his pride and emotions demanded it.
Half an hour later, a numb and cold Kiba carried his dead dog to the garden behind his house. Slowly but surely, Kiba buried his beloved Akamaru under the old apple tree where they spend most of their childhood playing at. Finally, after everything was over, Kiba finally let himself cry.
“AAAAKKKKAAAAMMMMAAAARRRRUUUUU!” HE screamed towards the heavens in grief. The tight control his held over his raging emotions broke and tidal waves of anger, shame, grief, anguish, sorrow, self-desecration and much more swarmed into his being. /Akamaru... how will I live without you by my side? How will I be able to live without you.../ The words echoed within Kiba’s mind even while his body collapsed into the numbed shock he had been suffering under. Without further ado, darkness claimed the boy.
xxx XXX xxx
xxx XXX xxx (Hinata)
“O...tou...sama...” Hinata gasped quietly as her father’s empty gaze looked down upon her from his hanging corpse, having been suspended 3 stories up from the ground.
“IIIIAAAA!!! This is all your fault, Oneesan! All your fault!! Hanabi slammed fist after fist onto Hinata’s chest, literary pounding her breath right out of her currently constricted lungs. “If you hadn’t forced the issue! If you hadn’t been so weak! Otousama and the others wouldn’t have died. Jubei-nisama wouldn’t have died. Even Naruto-nisan and Neji wouldn’t have died. This is YOUR FAULT!!! I hate you! I HATE YOU!!” With those words, Hanabi stopped using her fist and instead struck her older sister with a deadly opened palm, thrusting forward a dangerous Jyuuken strike in point blank range.
The force of the attack slammed directly into Hinata’s heart. She didn’t even have the strength to cry before her eyes suddenly darkened and she fell into the abyss of eternity, never to open her eyes again. /I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault! If I hadn’t been so weak... if I hadn’t been so useless, then the rest of my family and friends would have still been alive. It’s all my fault! I wish I had taken their place and died... I wish... I wish I weren’t so weak and useless... I wish I never existed... I wish I had never been born.../
xxx XXX xxx
xxx XXX xxx (Ino)
Ino continued to jump from tree branch to tree branch. Now that Shikamaru and Haku had joined up with Sakura and Kiba, Ino had felt slightly more relieved that her ex-best friend would have at least some support. But that still didn’t help her feel any less guilty for abandoning them to face the two enemies while she escaped with the Uchiha heir. /STOP THINKING ABOUT THAT! Think about the mission! MUST COMPLETE THE MISSION!/ Ino ranted to herself mentally, doing her best to push aside her fear and guilt from the whole situation, though it was only natural for her to be worried.
However, her thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when the barrel she was carrying suddenly jumped for no reason what so ever. The action was so sudden that it completely startled Ino and she almost slipped off her perch. Instead, she found some place large and stable enough to put down the barrel and decided to investigate what was wrong, not knowing why the “restrained” boy would suddenly fight back without saying anything.
Straight after the barrel’s bottom touched the bottom of the large branch they were currently standing on, the black ‘top’ of the barrel started giving off smoke, as if it was burning itself out. /Sasuke-kun?/ Ino could only guess as to the causes of this sudden change of events, but with hope in her heart, Ino clasped her hands together in a praying motion, hoping that the last of the Uchiha clan would once again triumph over evil, save her and then return with her to save Sakura and the others, as was the norm for heroes. However, her expectations were short lived.
With a loud ‘Popping’ sound, the top of the barrel burst open, flinging Ino’s body away due to the massive discharge of Chakra and smoke. Hitting a nearby tree and sliding down onto another branch, Ino scrambled back up to try and see if Sasuke was hurt or if he was even alive. What she saw emerge out of the barrel wasn’t something she’d ever seen before, nor was it something she ever hoped to see again.
A ‘creature’ was wearing a black shirt bearing the Uchiha symbol on its back, but this creature had long, spiky white hair and dark brownish skin running down its arms finally ending in sharp claw-like appendages. But most frightening of all was its Chakra. Ino could literary feel the large fusion of unnatural Chakra thrumming out of that creature’s very body. It wasn’t human – Ino thought. It couldn’t be human and it couldn’t be her hero. Ino cautiously lowered herself, getting into the ready position.
Before her very eyes, this creature shrank in size. Its hair simply grew shorter and shorter as if a ‘reverse’ button had been pressed somewhere that made the being go back into the past. And not only that, the hair changed colour too, growing darker and darker until it finally stabilised at the tone of midnight black colour. Its skin tone too, lightened dramatically until it finally settled on a light human skin-tone colour.
By now, Ino’s mouth was hanging wide open, her eyes wide with silent shock, and her heart raced with undisclosed fear, for what was once a ‘creature’ of monstrous description had changed to her childhood crush – Uchiha Sasuke.
“Sa...” Ino gulped nervously. “Sasuke-kun?” She asked in a squeaky, whimpering voice. “Is that you?”
The figure turned left slightly, gazing back at her with cold, heartless eyes – eyes that were the colour of an unnatural yellow and the whiteness of a normal human eye had completely darkened into blackness. This wasn’t a human eye she was looking at, Ino realised. Not only that, there were pulsing reddish patterns on Sasuke’s face, on the skin right next to his left eye.
“Ino... huh?” A low growl hissed through Sasuke’s lips. “Why are you here? Where is this place?” He demanded to know, his eyes never leaving the now frozen form of Ino, still staring at him with horror in her eyes. There was no way that could be her Sasuke, there was no way this was real.
“I... I’m here to rescue you... with the others... Um... Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji, Tenten, Hakun-sempai, and Kiba. We... we came after you when we found out you... you were kidnapped by the sound. We... we defeated them... and are now bringing you back... back to Konoha... back home.” Ino managed to stutter through an explanation, hoping that Sasuke would stop looking at her with such a deep sense of disdain and severe condescension, as if she was only an annoying fly not even worthy of being near his presence.
Sasuke’s slightly insane eyes narrowed in anger at her answer. “YOU...” He growled as if accusing her of committing the worse sin in all of existence. “YOU... are bringing me back to Konoha?” He asked in morbid fascination, as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard and was wondering whether he should laugh or be angry.
/This is... This is like before... during the Chuunin Exam... but much... much worse./ Ino could not find the courage to answer back so she only nodded slightly in reply, hopping that her Sasuke-kun would stop acting in such a strange fashion and return back to her beloved crush, back to that silent boy with an overpowering sense of confidence. However, her silent plea was not heard. In an instant, Ino felt an immense pain from the impact of something smashing into her right cheek, bashing her away towards the left direction of where she had originally stood. Flinging through the air in high speed, Ino abruptly smashed into the thick trunk of a nearby tree, face first and then followed by the rest of her body, before she was slowly pealed away from the smashed surface of the trunk and left to fall. Obviously delirious from pain due to the various impacts on her body and that she was still very dizzy and feeling completely uncoordinated with her body, Ino couldn’t do a single thing as her body landed roughly onto a tree branch underneath her, halting her descend in a rather painful manner.
Bleeding from a split lip, her right eye was starting to swell due to the impact against the tree, her forehead was also bleeding due to several pieces of sharp splinters from the broken tree stricking her; Ino also knew that both her cheeks were very bruised and probably turning black and blue. As for the rest of her body, she suspected that she had at least one or two cracked rib, and plenty of scratches, bruises and abrasions. /Shxt! What the FXXK happened!/ Ino thought to herself as her body slowly recovered from the shock of the impact and her mind started running properly again.
Once her blurry vision had cleared, she could clearly see that there was a pair of feet standing right in front of her face. She lifted her eyes upward, following the pair of feet to a person’s leg, up their chest and landed on Sasuke’s slightly amused face, his eyes having returned to normal and his face completely pale without any signs of having been possessed by strange markings. /Wha.../ Before Ino could even think up anything to say, the Uchiha boy had lifted his right leg backwards slightly, preparing for some kind of kicking action. Pushing Chakra into his right foot, Sasuke mercilessly smashed his feet into Ino’s chest, flinging her away once again to rebound off another tree trunk before skidding to a final stop on a rather long and large branch.
Ino coughed out a deluge of blood from her mouth, sure that several of her ribs had been broken due to that one action alone, not only that, she started gasping for breath as well, suspected that one of her cracked ribs and somehow punctured a lung. The pain was literary overwhelming. /GOD! MAKE IT STOP!/ She mentally wailed as even breathing was becoming more and more difficult and laboured for her.
Sensing that her attacker had once again landed next to her prone form, Ino opened her eyes at her crush and have him a vicious glare, with hints of hurt, pain and betrayal visible in her eyes. “WHY!” She could only croak through her throat as she vomited blood again, trying desperately to clear the airways in order to bring in much needed oxygen. /Why was he hurting her? Why was he doing this?/ Her mind began to give way to darkness. /Hadn’t they saved him/
Sasuke tilted his eyes to the side slightly. After a few moments of calm, he finally decided to answer. “Because I can.” The nonchalance of his words tore a hole into Ino’s heart as her once adoration of the boy before her slowly shattered into a million pieces and she was only left feeling fear, incomprehension, pain, confusion and most of all, betrayal. /I can’t stop him.../ She realised too late. /Sakura was able to call Sasuke-kun back from the darkness within him before... but I can’t do that, I don’t have that type of strength... I can’t reach him./ A stray tear dripped down the side of her face from her eyes. /Sasuke-kun. Do you even know what you’re doing? Are you even Sasuke-kun anymore? Will you recognise Sakura? Naruto? Your sensei? Are you... are you ever going to return to us? Why, Sasuke-kun? WHY!/ She mentally wailed.
Never in her life had she ever felt so helpless, and to a person she once idolised too. It hurt. It hurt her so much. This unimaginable pain that literary ate her heart bit by bit the longer the boy’s indifferent gaze stayed on her prone form. She had never felt so used and abused before; she had never felt so cheated, deceived, so dirty and worthless in her entire life. Ino, who had always prided herself as being one of the strongest, smartest Konoichis in her year, had felt like the world had suddenly crumbled all around her leaving her with no control over anything. And she knew she was about to die, and by the hands of this traitor, by the hands that would launch a thousand pains.
/If I’m gonna die anyway, I won’t give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream or seeing me cry./ This was Ino’s only thought as she forced down the rest of the tears that wanted to fall from her eyes. This was the only way she could put up a last stance against this man who she had once practically worshipped but who had betrayed her heart, her dreams and (though indirectly and unintentionally) used her feelings against her. To Ino, Sasuke’s betrayal of Konoha wasn’t just about him betraying his village. His current actions (hurting Ino) had proved to the girl once and for all that he didn’t’ care about anyone or anything that has to do with Konoha at all. This includes all the people he had ever met, all the people who had ever been close to him, and, especially, all the people who cared about him.
She, and Sakura, had been two of a large majority of the villagers in Konoha who had all felt a need to look after the boy after the Uchiha Massacre. They had all done their best to cheer the boy up, to give him a home, to welcome him. They were all willing to give their all to him, but all their attempts were returned with silence and contempt. But that didn’t stop them from trying.
Sasuke hadn’t just betrayed them by leaving; he was also betraying their trust, their hopes, and all their wasted efforts, all that the people of Konoha had ever tried to do for the last Uchiha heir. It really hurt. Like an uncontrollable snake, who bites its master once it has found certain freedoms, forgetting how well its master had ever treated it or looked after it. Sasuke was a snake, in Ino’s eyes, a devious, black hearted snake and one that could never be trusted again.
Not caring about the savage glare directed at him, Sasuke slowly and calmly bent down, closing his hand around Ino’s delicate looking neck and pulling her up slowly. The girl struggled violently against his hold, kicking him, punching him, and scratching him with her sharp nails but Sasuke ignored all that, they were futile actions anyway. When Ino grew desperate and tried to reach her kunai pouch to retrieve a weapon, Sasuke quickly seized her wrist and twisted it to an unnatural angle, completely breaking her wrist bone in a way not dissimilar to how Itachi had once broken his wrist, tearing the muscles holding her hand to her arm. Not surprisingly, Ino screamed.
Hanging limply now from Sasuke’s grip on her throat, Ino fought against the darkness that was about to consume her. Her right wrist was broken, her other was still thrumming from pain due to her previous injuries, her legs were tired and she could feel several of her thigh muscles had been pulled beforehand and was now throbbing. /I don’t want to die... I don’t want to die... I don’t want to die.../ Ino reiterated in her mind, not able to completely squash the hope that still resides in her, unable to let go of the animal instinct of survival no matter what stands in her way. And luckily for her, it seems fate was on her side this time.
Just before Ino was rendered completely unconscious due to the lack of oxygen reaching her lung, she could feel something prickly climbing up her unmoving body, first her legs, then her chest and finally the arm that gripped her throat. With a mighty forced twist of Sasuke’s hand, Ino was free of his once crushing grip and pulled along a floating mass of brown substance that felt surprisingly like sand. Blinking the bright spots away from her vision, Ino tilted her head slightly in order to look at the person who somehow rescued her, only to find none other than Gaara of the Desert standing calmly beside her.
The silence in the air was so thick, you could really feel the tension that just simply hung there without any help from the two glaring opponents at each other, while Ino continued to gasp for breath through her bruised and sore throat and her punctured lung.
xxx XXX xxx
xxx XXX xxx (Samure)
Samure sat silently against the broken wagon, silhouetted by the fiery blaze before him. His eyes were blank as he gazed at the smouldering flames, igniting and burning everything in its path, creating a literal wall of fire surrounding the negligent form of one boy. He could still hear the screams that had echoed through out their campsite just hours before hand, just hours before the ninjas raided and destroyed everything. Everything was taken or burn, all his belongings were gone and he wondered why he alone had survived the carnage. His parents and younger sister were gone, slaughtered just as the rest of his clan had been, but why leave him alone. It took a long time for Samure to understand why he was the only survivor of the massacre of his clan. The answer was simple; he had turned invisible and managed to stay quiet.
But unlike what really happened in the past – which was where he found the fortitude to stand up and literary walk away from the carnage that had once been his clan; in this dream or reality, Samure simply sat still and waited for the flames to consume him too.
/This is wrong./ He thought to himself. /I’ve lived through this already. I lived. I survived./ His memories confirmed his thoughts. /Genjutsu?/ Samure’s analytical mind immediately survived his body’s reaction to the vision before him. His heart rate was still calm, even before the sight of his mutilated mother, burnt father and decapitated sister. His senses were working as well as they usually do to. /High level Genjutsu perhaps?/ Samure remembered all the explanations Hikon had ever given him regarding the differences between Genjutsu types as well as how to break them. /No. There’s something more to this illusion. Something different to all the other Genjutsu Hikon had tested on us. There must be a seal somewhere controlling this place. And if there is a seal... I have the ability to break it./ Samure finally concluded before closing his eyes, ignoring the blood and gore that stood before him, he concentrated on the chakra lines that flowed around him and inside him. /I’ll find it. It’s just a matter of time./ He reassured himself.
xxx XXX xxx
xxx XXX xxx (Gaara)
“Monster!”
“Demon!”
“Just die, you hell spawn!”
A wave of sand later and the voices cease to be. Gaara looked upon his own face, his own body standing before him calmly. But this wasn’t him. This double had a maniacal gleam on his face, the eyes were large and filled with madness, the smirk was evil and cruel to the extreme. This was Shukaku’s version of him, the ‘him’ that had existed only months ago, before his defeat by the hands of Uzumaki Naruto, before he underwent the sealing by Uzumaki Ruri. This was the beast inside of him, his own dark reflection.
“You know. Nothing ever changes.” His double spoke with his own voice. “You will always be the mass murderer that you are. You can’t change your past, and you can’t change your destiny.”
Gaara’s eyes remained calm. “I have changed.” He answered succinctly.
His double’s smirk widened to insane proportions. “That’s what you think... But the truth is, you are still the uncontrollable killer you have always been... Don’t believe me? Look behind you and see the truth.” His double taunted in amusement.
Gaara slowly turned around to see what had his double in such a humorous mood. What he saw shocked him. Bodies upon bodies, blood and gore tainted the sand before him iron-red in colour. Whole buildings collapsed onto its sides, crushing those unfortunately enough to be inside or beneath them. What he saw was the entirety of the Sand Village in rubble. The stench of blood reached Gaara’s nostrils and he vaguely winced at the amount of it he could smell. He could tell from the scent of dry sand tainted with blood that this attack had been caused by the crushing force of sand - his own technique.
“That’s not all, look closer.” Gaara could almost feel his double clinging on to his amusement and not laughing out loud. He ignored his double’s glee and proceeded to walk forward. It took him a while but he eventually reached what seems to the gates of the village, which at the moment looked more like the start of a giant crater. It was there that he saw something that would break his heart. Temari’s dry, ashen face was spattered with stains of dry blood. Both her arms were ripped from her shoulders and left a bloodied, jagged hump where her upper arms use to be. Her legs were no better, having been crushed by the mighty power of compressed sand; it now looked nothing like a muscled leg but more like mashed potatoes.
Further along his journey, Gaara finally found Kankuro’s body, of what’s left of it at least. Pretty much all Gaara actually found was Kankuro’s head and his right arm, the rest of his body was ripped into so many tiny pieces that it would be impossible to piece together even if you had all the pieces.
Upon seeing his siblings’ mutilated bodies, Gaara couldn’t help but feel a heavy throbbing pain within his heart, as if was being crushed by the very sand used to crush his siblings. It hurt, like a burning sensation starting from the centre of his heart burning outward. Gaara then began to feel a strange stinging sensation in his eyes. Wiping his eyes with his fingers, Gaara was surprised to see clear, white tears upon their tips. /Am I crying? It’s been so long since the last time I cried, I thought I had forgotten how to.../
“There’s only one technique that could cause this much damage to a human body.” His double’s amused voice rang out from behind him. “And you know exactly what I’m taking about, don’t you? Of course you do, it’s our favourite attack after all.” The double continued to taunt.
Sabaku Sousou.” Gaara murmured, knowing the truth of behind the scene.
“The seal will not last forever, Gaara. And even if it did, it won’t prevent the beast inside us to rise up again. We will one day succumb to our inner desires to rip everything apart. One day, we will destroy the Sand and everything within it, including our dear sister and brother. One day, we will return to our true nature – that of a mass murderer.” His double concluded on a serious note this time.
Gaara looked on with piercing eyes. “No. I will not allow myself to become the mindless killer I once was. I have changed, and I will never allow this to happen.” He confirmed with resolution. “I will not fail.” He finished his speech before summoning for a large amount of sand to his beckoning.
“You no longer exists! I have no need for the beast inside of me anymore. You will cease to be, right here, right now! I will crush you, and protect my precious people.” Gaara shouted as the mountain of sand behind him continued to build. “I will crush this Genjutsu, Ninjutsu or whatever seal it is and find a way out. I refuse to lose!” With strong determination, Gaara planned to flood this entire reality with his sand in order to break free of the artificial world with brute force alone.
xxx XXX xxx
xxx XXX xxx
“Impossible. He’s breaking through! And it’s only been 5 hours since the start of the exam!” Koushiro abruptly sat up in surprise, watching in awe as sand somehow managed to move out of Gaara’s trusty gourd and flooded the entire shadow sphere that the genin was trapped in.
The three proctors watched in silent admiration as the sand continued to flow out of the gourd, pressing harshly against the walls of the shadow ball, pushing and forcing its way out like mindless ants looking for a weakness.
“I can’t keep this up for much longer.” Kaga warned only a second before a crack appeared upon the shadowed ball entrapping Gaara’s form.
“No way! Gaara almost broke Jubei’s record for having the fastest time in breaking his own psyche and rebuilding it.” Hikari noted the side wall clock’s time with surprise before quickly jotting this moment down on paper. This would definitely increase the point system in Gaara’s favour.
It only took a few more minutes before Gaara finally broke out of the Kage Kekai (Shadow Barrier) and landed upon a cushion made out of sand beneath him. He breathed heavily even while he looked around, judging for any hostile enemies. What he found was three completely flabbergasted proctors (including Kaga) sitting or standing before him.
“Wow.” Koushiro could only manage.
“Impressive! Extra points for this magnificent performance, congratulations Gaara-san! You received the second fastest time in breaking out of Kaga-san’s kekai!” Hikari congratulated the Suna Nin quickly and cheerfully.
“Congratulations, Gaara-san. You can now leave the facility and meet up with Haruno-san and Shikamaru-kun outside the building. They will give you a tour of the place and assist you with anything you need.” Kaga inserted himself with a calm voice, far more composed than Koushiro or Hikari in his explanations.
Gaara nodded and gave a vaguely wary stare at his sister and brother - still trapped within the shadowed balls – before he turned around and slowly walked towards the only door in the room.
End.
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(1) Eheh. This is the result of mixing Gai’s already psychotic personality and Itachi’s transformation into the ultimate killer. Sorry, Gai-fans!
(2) I don’t really know where this idea came from. But it suddenly struck me as fitting.
(3) ‘Older Sister’
(4) For those of you who have read about Hikon’s profile on my website, you will know that this person is none other than Orochimaru.
There you go. A completely truncated chapter. Hope you enjoy!
Anyway, no idea when the next chapter will come out, but it will be after the first stage of the Chuunin exam, all the genins would have now come out of the shadow balls (some by their own will, others not being able to make it until the time limit was up and therefore fail this section of the exam).
I hope I haven’t disappointed any of you with my version of the exam so far. Stay tuned and please be patient for the next chapter.