My Ninja Way | Naruto | DISCONTINUED

UNFINISHED CHAPTER 13

                Chapter 13

When they returned to the place where the first part of the exam would take place, Kakashi was waiting for them with an expression that said he didn't really have good news as he looked over all four of them carefully. His body language also said that something was wrong as he seemed slightly stiff.

He blinked slowly and slid his hands into his pockets. "So you've all come."

Nori frowned slightly. She had a bad feeling about this and she was positive she wasn't going to like what he was going to say. "Kakashi-sensei, is something wrong?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto nodded his head vigorously, also seeming to get uncomfortable with the heavy atmosphere. "Just tell us the bad news already!"

Kakashi let out a small breath as he closed his eyes in an attempt at gathering his thoughts and he wondered if he should say it bluntly or put it down lightly. When he opened his eyes however he saw the way that Nori was observing him, eyes sharp and not missing a thing. His felt a quirk of amusement when he realized that she knew it was something to do with her. "Only teams of three can take this exam."

It took a moment but the others seemed to realize what he meant.

"So one of us has to drop out?" Sasuke deadpanned with a twitch of his eye. "Aren't we supposed to be a team? That's not our fault it they have a faulty system because of their three man team rules." He narrowed his eyes at Kakashi as he waited for his answer.

Kakashi sighed. "I didn't say one of you had to drop out."

"Eh?" Sakura frowned in confusion. "Then... they're gonna make an exception?"

"Not really." Kakashi picked at his ear, "One of you just has to move teams."

Nori sighed softly and felt the thump of her heart against her chest when she realized that her feeling had been correct. "It's me." She spoke up softy gaining everyone's attention but Kakashi didn't look shocked, meaning that she was right. "There is a two man team and we have one too many here."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "A two man team?"

"Wait, Norio's going to a different team?" Naruto's arms fell away from behind his head and turned to stare at the red head at his side. "But she's supposed to be here with us, why she is leaving? Hm, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi nodded. "Nori will be placed on a team with Noboru Mayuki and Noboru Hiiroyuki."

"EH?" Naruto and Sakura exclaimed at the same time as they turned to Nori sharply, finding that her expression was strangely neutral. Sakura looked back and forth between her teammate and her sensei in shock. "Noboru? She's going to be placed on a team with her family?"

"They're not my family." Nori suddenly said and tried to hide the slightly hurt expression from the whole situation.

Kakashi took this moment to explain. "Yes. The two don't have a third teammate and we have one too many due to the high rate of graduation from your class at the Academy, they made an exception then because they didn't want to fail a potentially good ninja just because the number wasn't even, but the chunin exams have strict rules. The Hokage figured that cause they're from the same clan they'll work well together and Nori will have a good chance at getting through easily." He finished his explanation and turned to the red haired girl. "Of course it's up to you, whether you want to do it or not but that would mean that someone from our team would have to drop out so Nori could take the test instead."