__Sara Pov__

I met up with my team early that morning. We all agreed that we wanted to get in a little practice before we went to the chunin exams, so now we were in a field.

"So, what are we going to work on?" Ryota finally spoke, breaking the silence. We had been standing there for about 10 minutes after all.

I looked at the two. Takeo seemed unable to think of anything, so I spoke. "Well, I've always been rather curious about the Hikawa's kekkei genkei. Think I could get a demonstration?"

The two thought it over. "I guess it wouldn't really do any harm," Takeo finally spoke.

"After all we're teammates," Ryota agreed.

"Well, before you show me, could you explain it?"

"Sure," Takeo shrugged, "Honestly it's mostly to do with blood, that's why our name is the Hikawa. Scarlet river refers to the veins and arteries through which the blood travels. Using our eyes we can see blood flow, much like the Hyuuga see chakra flow, or so I'm told. With enough practice, you can control the movement of somebody or even make a vein burst. We can also use our own blood as a weapon."

"That's... a little freaky to be honest." I shuddered a little, the though of controlling blood was a little overwhelming. "Referring to the weapon, how do you do so?"

This time it was Ryota who answered. "That's easy, one of the basic things we learn. Just watch." He lifted his arm and pulled out a knife.

Before I could say anything he had the knife against the bare skin of his forearm and slid the knife downward. Blood began to seep from the wound and he lowered his arm and the blood filled his palm. His eyes flashed from the normal pink to a vivid red, and there in his palm was a sword. The blood it was made of still circulated around, as if propelled by a tiny heart in the center of the weapon.

Without a word Ryota shot towards me, blade raised. Acting on instinct I drew the blade on my back and intercepted it. Ryota's blood blade went right through mine, stopping before it hit my skull.

"So it can shift. Is it still able to cut though?" I was genuinely curious about this now.

Ryota laughed, "what kind of weapon would it be if it didn't cut?" To demonstrate his point he sliced in a backhanded motion at a tree. In the moment before it struck I saw the blood stop circulating and become still. The blade sliced the tree, but got stuck halfway through. It was definitely enough to kill a man though.

"What about blood loss?" The thought suddenly occurred to me as I remembered the basic human anatomy and how much blood a grown man could lose without dying.

"Thankfully we don't have to worry about that," Takeo spoke, "See, our bodies are prepared for the strain of the jutsu, and once activated it will actually speed up the production of blood so we don't die from blood loss."

"Nifty. Such a weapon would be pretty lethal, even to a master swordsman like the samurai. Unable to block it, you would have to dodge, and that takes more movement, so you get tired faster..." My voice faded as I started to mutter about how I would go against such a jutsu. As I kept thinking another thought came to my head. "What about defense?"

"We can use it as a shield, but we have to know when and where the attack would be coming from. Of course, the ability to see the blood veins does help us keep track, but sometimes our eyes can't match the speed."

"Can I test my speed against your eyes? I love a good challenge."

Takeo's eyes lit up, you could tell he wanted the challenge as well. His eyes shifted to the bloody red that said he had activated them and nodded. Preparing myself I dashed off to the left, then in a split second reversed my direction to the right and became a blur. I poked Takeo in the back and he jumped.

"Suppose you win the challenge Sara," Takeo grudgingly admitted.

I didn't have time to dwell on the fact, for when I looked at the sky I could see that the exams started in about an hour. "I'll have to think of an awesome reward, but we better get going if we want to make it in time for the chunin exams."

The two boys nodded and we left on our way.

_-_

When we arrived at the academy we didn't even stop when we saw Izumo and Kotetsu harassing people with a genjutsu. Team 7 was actually right behind us, but they stayed, trying to get into the false room. Hope they realized the trap for what it was soon.

We slowed once we were in the hallway before we entered the room. Hitomi stood there, barring the door with her hands on her hips.

"Looks like you all came, but that's not very surprising. You are all ready for this test, maybe even beyond that," She tried to hide it, but there were tears in her eyes. "Just promise me you guys won't die, alright?"

I smiled at Hitomi and gave her a hug. Even though she had barely met us, you could tell she already loved us as a team could only love each other. We already had the bond that would probably last a lifetime.

"Don't worry Hitomi, we're definitely coming out alive," Takeo said from behind me.

Ryota nodded agreement, crossing his arms, "You bet, otherwise how am I going to get married?"

I turned to Ryota with a completely serious and blank look. "You're never getting married."

"I have to agree with Sara on this one cuz," Takeo said, putting an arm around Ryota.

Ryota burst into fake tears, and together we went by Hitomi and into the room to begin the chunin exams.

When we opened the doors I don't really know what I had expected. Maybe people in their own little groups from their villages, not talking to anyone outside of them. Perhaps I was thinking that one or two people would be trying to kill each other, out of hate from the two villages. Whatever I was expecting, it wasn't this.

Everyone was seated around the room, on desks or in the chairs. They chatted quietly amongst their team, or maybe even with another team, but it was pretty tense. You could feel blood lust radiate off of a few people, and others seemed to be shaking with nerves. Every eye had turned to face us as we walked in, and seeing Ryota in tears, there were a couple of snickers. I couldn't blame them, he looked rather funny. It would only serve to help us though, thanks to the fake tears, we would probably be marked as a weak team, which was fine by me.

Glancing to my left I saw Shika leaning against the wall with Ino and Choji next to him. He looked like he was faking sleep again, but with this atmosphere, he wouldn't fall asleep. I walked up and started to poke his forehead. His forehead wrinkled like he was trying hard to keep his eyes shut. Finding this excessively funny I started to play with the wrinkles and managed to make a face.

'I am the brain of a pineapple, who always likes to sleep' I said in a deep voice, making the new face form the words as well.

Choji bust out laughing and Shika just sighed and gave in, opening his eyes. "Sara, why do I even try to evade conversations with you?"

"I don't know, but at one point you'll have to realize that it's never going to work." I removed my hands from his forehead.

Then Ryota came up beside me and took Ino's hand. "Hello beautiful butterfly. I believe we have met before, but I was otherwise preoccupied and failed to recognize your beauty."

"Oh! W-well um... you... thank you. My n-name is Ino," She managed to stutter out.

I rolled my eyes when Ryota talked again. "I'm Ryota, the strongest on my team and a member of the Hikawa. Might I ask you out on a date."

"However, if you are inclined to accept my invitation, I will most likely completely forget you as I swoon another girl into a date," Takeo spoke in a fairly good imitation of Ryota's voice.

"Takeo! I've only done that on-" He was cut off by Takeo.

"To every girl in our old village? Yes, I'm aware." By now Ino had retracted her hand and placed it on her hip.

"You mean you've tried the same play on every single girl within your village? How many actually fell for this?" I was actually in a little disbelief.

Takeo turned to me and answered frankly, "Three, there were no second dates."

"I never quite figured out why..." Ryota muttered.

Ino and I looked in disbelief before combining forces to hit him on the head. Hard.

"If you treat a girl like trash she obviously won't want a second date!" I scolded.

Ino was right there with me, "You have to be gentle and kind, give a girl the attention she deserves!"

This went on for quite a while, until Naruto burst through the doors and into the room. We both fell silent, as did the rest of the room.

We went on chatting with Naruto and team 8 included now. This would have continued for a while, if a boy a few years older than us hadn't of interrupted.

"You guys are making quite a scene. You may not want to do that, considering where you are." He gestured to the room behind him, where everyone was still turned and staring at us.

I just shrugged carelessly as I examined the room. Naruto made a few ridiculous claims, probably gaining more than a few enemies, the dunce. In my examination of the room I noticed a familiar group of genin from the sand sitting in the corner.

Looking at my two teammates, nothing needed to be said as they followed me over to the team. Shika glanced at us in curiosity, but didn't remark, instead turning his attention back to the boy who's name was apparently Kabuto.

"Hello Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro. Fancy seeing you here," I greeted them rather politely, considering how Kankuro had threatened Daiki and Konohamaru.

Temari turned and regarded me. "Hello, never did tell us your name."

"Ah, but that was on purpose, wasn't it? Anyways, I wanted a word with Kankuro, if you don't mind?"

"We do mind, so get lost." Temari looked at me coldly, but the underlying emotion of fear was written in as a warning. She cast a quick glance at Gaara, but he didn't seem to notice.

Before I could respond there was a 'poof' and a cloud of smoke at the front of the room.

"Fighting without permission from a proctor is prohibited!" For a split second I thought he was referring to me, and I wondered how he knew what I was thinking. Then my gaze followed his to the back of the room and I noticed a man about to punch Kabuto, who already had broken glasses.

The man went on, "I am Ibiki, the proctor for the first exam. Come to the front and draw a number for your place during the written exam." I could practically hear Naruto freaking out at the thought of a written exam.

We all drew our numbers. I ended up front row, somewhere in the center. Ryota was to my left, all the way near the back row. Takeo was on the right and just a row or two back. I wasn't especially worried about Takeo, because he seemed smart, but Ryota... I hope the questions were easy.

Ibiki explained the rules of the test, the grading was pretty much the exact same as any other test, so there wasn't much worry there. One rule did surprise me a little though.

"If you are caught cheating then two points will be deducted from your score. If you lose all ten points through cheating you will be asked to leave, along with your teammates. In the end you will be scored on your tests collectively, but if any one member of the team receives a zero, you will also be disqualified. You have an hour, go."

I turned the test over and felt my heart sink. There was no way Ryota would be able to answer the questions, I even had my doubts about Takeo. They were rather easy for me, but that wasn't important. My mind flashed to the rules. Two points subtracted for every time you were caught cheating... I just had to get the message to my teammates somehow.

I leaned back and stretched. Immediately I felt three pairs of eyes on me. One was the proctor, and I just had to pray that the other two were my teammates. Leaning forward I began to tap my pencil lightly on the desk, staring at the paper as if in thought. In Morse I managed to tap out the word 'cheat' I continued to tap my pencil for a while after the message was finished. I knew that they both knew Morse code, after all, that was one of the things we had talked about one day after training.

I continued to tap my pencil and eventually the proctors eyes fell away. Almost immediately I felt the two gazes increase in intensity and knew they were ready. If the Hikawa could read the blood flow, I hoped they could decipher what I was writing.

I began to write in the answers slowly and steadily. I could have given the answer in Morse, but I had a feeling that one or two proctors knew it. There was also the factor of the other teams, I didn't want them to have the same advantage. I was sure a few people would cheat off of me, but there was nothing I could do about that.

Eventually all the answers were filled in. I flipped my paper over and started to doodle on the back. We still had a good half hour before the tenth question was announced.

When Ibiki finally did speak I had drawn a landscape of a desolate desert with waves as mountains in the distance. There was a moon, but rather oddly I had put it in a dress. There was a UFO that was run by cows and abducted aliens, and a few more oddities like that.

"Now then, before I give the tenth question you have the option of whether to take it or not." There was some uproar over this, but I stayed silent, regarding Ibiki.

He continued to explain the question, and I got a pretty good feeling of his character from just that... to be sure though, I let the pencil I had been twirling in my hands slip free and it hit him square in the face.

He stood stunned for a second, as did the rest of the room. After all, it wasn't like Ibiki promoted thoughts of rainbows and unicorns.

"Sorry! It slipped, didn't mean to."

He regarded me for a few seconds with a cold glare. He turned, picked up my pencil, then launched it at me. It landed on the desk and embedded itself in an inch or so.

"Don't let it happen again."

"If I even manage to get it back out again, it won't." He glared at me again, then went on with the explanation.

It seemed like almost a flood of people left, which was kinda understandable I suppose, but I knew that my team could do this, no matter what. Evidently so did they as neither of them spoke up.

Eventually Naruto slammed his hand on the desk, announcing he would never give up. I smiled at the sentiment. Everyone's confidence was boosted and we went on.

"You all pass, and can head on to the next round." Ibiki said simply. He went into his lengthy description of the test and the last question. He also showed us the scars he got from torture, which I knew first hand hurt.

The monotony was then broken by a crash through the window. A black ball launched in, then unfolded to reveal a woman standing in front of a banner.

"As usual, no sense for the atmosphere of the room Anko."

"Twenty-nine teams Ibiki? Going soft?" She joked with him as she regarded the room.

"We have some talented genin this year."

"That's alright, in the second test, I'll get rid of more than half the teams. Let's go! Time for the Forest of Death!"

I stood and looked behind me, all the Konoha teams were still here, as well as Kabuto's, those sound nin, and the Suna kids. I walked up to Shika.

"Is it too late to drop out?" He asked me lazily.

I looked to him, "I rather expect it is. Though the forest of death doesn't sound too inviting."

"What a pain."

"Troublesome man." He looked at me coldly and I just flashed him a smile.