Trip Down a Hill Chapter 60, a naruto fanfic

It's weird having this chapter finished and ready to upload a week and a half before it gets uploaded. I'm not complaining, I just don't really know what to write here.

Meh, first world problems if ever I've seen them.

Without further ado, by now you get the idea.

Chapter 60: Tests of Varying (And Harder) Difficulty

Naruto wasn't quite sure why he found himself flagging Gaara down in the middle of the staircase down from the Hokage's office. Perhaps it was just a genuine curiosity, but he felt he needed to question the boy on something. He asked, politely, if he could speak to him in private.

Gaara accepted with a confused tilt of his head.

They didn't go very far, Naruto merely wanting to find a secluded corner he could really speak his mind in. Gaara, to his credit, followed along without much care, staring blankly at the wall beside him as Naruto considered how best to say this.

"So…" He began a bit awkwardly, trying not to squirm as Gaara once again tilted his head in confusion. "You don't want to be Kazekage?"

"Oh… no." Gaara confirmed. "I do not."

That… Okay, that was fine. Naruto could get over that. It wasn't like he was watching another man live his dream and turn it down or anything.

"W-why?"

"I simply do not care for the idea, at least, not terribly." Gaara explained to him. "I am not entirely against it, and it would be both interesting and thought-provoking to try and win the faith of my people, but… I have already obtained all that which I desire. A family who love and appreciate me, freedom from Shukaku's voice… I am even able to sleep at night, thanks to that Jiraiya of the Sannin."

Naruto didn't really know what to say to that.

"If I am remembering correctly… you are yourself aiming for the position of Hokage, correct?" The boy addressed him without any malice, though also without any real care. They'd spoken more than a few times, but ultimately, it'd been Sasuke, Sakura, and his siblings who'd solved his problems, not Naruto. "I think you mentioned such a thing at some point."

"I… Yeah. It's my dream to become Hokage." He spoke, despite knowing that maybe it was a bit more complicated than that thanks to some of his and Sasuke's talks. "I guess… ugh, I'll just say it. It sucks to see someone have the opportunity to accomplish my dream, and just… throw it away for nothing."

Naruto was a bit surprised to find the man opposite him smiling, and truly, even if he were the same age as Naruto, only fifteen, he looked an adult.

"I just said I had a reason, did I not? It's not for nothing." Gaara turned back towards the main hallway, where Naruto could see Temari, Sasuke, Kankuro, and Sakura lightly conversing about something or another. "I just don't value the position in the same way you do. I don't need to earn any respect or prove something to my village by taking it, and I mean no offense, but I have no need to prove anything to you, either. I… I just want to be myself. And live happily with my family."

Gaara turned back towards him, a glimmer in his eyes as an unspoken question passed between them.

'Is that enough for you?' He seemed to say.

He sighed out and breathed out some words under his breath that not even he managed to decipher. Still, when he looked up again, it was with a far more accepting demeanor.

"I… yeah. I understand that."

"You have such people as well, do you not?"

The question was phrased so innocuously that Naruto almost found himself blushing. He didn't stammer out anything, even if there was more than a small part of him that wanted to embarrassedly deny such a claim.

But that part didn't really matter.

"Yeah." He spoke as he smiled their way. "They're the best."

Gaara placed a hand on his shoulder, shooting him a kind, if not slightly naive smile.

"We'll protect them."

That, at least, he had no problems agreeing to.

"Of course!"

/-/

It came to Naruto's attention, sitting inside his apartment as they held a meeting on what to do for their test in the Chuunin Exams, that coming up with what to do for their test in the Chuunin Exams was really damned hard.

The fifteen members of their friend group had all gone out for dinner earlier, and while Naruto was fairly sure they hadn't been supposed to tell them all about the upcoming exams… Well, if Tsunade had honestly expected them to not say anything, then she'd trusted them too much.

He was sat on his bed, having let the others crash there for the night as they decided just how to arrange this whole test thing. Sasuke and Sakura sat on the floor in front of him, arguing back and forth over the logistics to some weird idea even he'd realized they should've tapped out on by now.

It seemed they agreed, too, however.

He moaned in abject sorrow as Sasuke tossed the piece of paper that particular idea had been assigned to into his garbage can, and even Sakura's humorous whisper of "goal" didn't have him feeling any better about their state of affairs.

"HOW!?" He shouted as he rolled around on his bed, covering his face with a pillow as he shouted into it. "How are we supposed to create an entire Chuunin Exams test… that's supposed to be even remotely challenging!?"

"That's not to mention it has to be right on the cut-off line between Genin and Chuunin." Sakura spoke, causing him to cringe slightly. "If we misplace it, it could end up with us having far too many Genin pass, essentially forcing Temari and everyone else to have to remake their entire set of tests on the fly. At worst, they might need to make up an entirely new stage of the exam."

"It can't be too challenging either." Sasuke remarked quietly, rifling through a few new pieces of paper. "If we fail significantly more than half of the students, our test will be rendered meaningless… the results would be thrown out, and we'd be essentially be divested from the mission altogether. Failures in every way."

He tried not to think about either of those two possibilities.

It didn't even begin to work.

"GAH!" He slammed his head into his pillow once more, even as Sakura quietly whispered for him to stop. "I hate this village… I hate this world… burn it all to the ground!"

"Have you considered you might be a bit dramatic?" Sakura smarmed with a horrid groan. "Look, just… shut up and help us. This isn't going to work unless we approach this as a team."

There was something there, Naruto couldn't help feeling. It was in her words, the solution to their problem.

"Won't work… unless we approach this as a team…" Naruto looked up at them. "What if we did something like that?"

They seemed to consider it for a moment.

"I mean, ours were single-elimination, or so we thought. In reality, if a single member of your team failed in the first test, then you were out." His teammates nodded, and he found himself following along, suddenly thinking up something. "That could be a good way to artificially enhance the difficulty, without actually making it too hard!"

"So, mistakes by one member cost the group." Sasuke reasoned, nodding as he considered the idea. "It's not terrible, but it worsens some of the earlier example. Sure, if it's easy, that means we can still pick off a few extra than we normally would, leading to a more average amount, but if we make this too hard, then we're risking knocking out almost every team instantly."

Aaaaand he was terrified again.

"N-never mind then," He backpedaled, his hands in front of him in a gesture of surrender. "I just-"

"Never mind? Why?"

He looked up at Sakura, seeing her eyes locked onto his own.

"Well, I thought you said it wasn't a good idea."

"Who said that?" Sasuke questioned, eyeing him calmly. "I was pointing out that it, along with I'm sure any other possible idea we'd come up with, will have it's ups and downs. We're going to have to choose something at some point." Sasuke shrugged. "It might as well be this."

He nodded, still not sure quite what to do.

"Besides, if we make that decision, then we can decide to purposefully skew on the side of easy." Sasuke explained, and Naruto crawled back along his bed, slinging himself off of it and sitting down beside his friends on the floor. "If we're doing a riddle like the last question-"

"Was it a riddle?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Then we can give them some extra time." Sasuke said, bulldozing through his girlfriends interruption. "The thing is… we first have to come up with an idea, and it has to be good."

Naruto nodded, leaned back, and laid down as he looked up at his ceiling. Idly, he noted that the hole he'd put in it while trying to practice shuriken techniques inside had not magically fixed itself while he wasn't looking, which was a real shame.

"Well… you said a riddle." He heard Sakura comment. "Maybe something like that? We could base it off of an interrogation, or, well, say it's like an interrogation. That's kind of what that guy Ibiki did, right?"

"That's true…" Sasuke murmured. "But I don't think they'd appreciate us just rehashing the last exam very much, especially with how many repeat takers there are from that year. We'd effectively give those twenty or so Genin a free pass."

They weren't getting anywhere, that much was clear.

He resolved to fix that.

"OKAY!"

Both of his teammates jumped, and Naruto thought he saw Sakura's curse mark flare in agitation.

"What the hell was-"

"We're sitting here twiddling our thumbs too much!" Naruto put both hands on his hips as he stood, taking a confident stance. "At the end of the day, we're going to have to pick something eventually. We might as well just take the idea of a riddle-based test and roll with that!"

His teammates looked to one another and shrugged simultaneously.

"Sure, I guess."

"Sounds good."

He smirked, sitting back down.

"Now the problem becomes… what exactly can we do that requires teamwork, but also can fail from one or more teammates messing up?"

Surprisingly enough, it was Sakura who perked up at that.

"Actually… I have an idea."

/-/

The first arrivals came a few weeks later.

It was a slow trickle, a few Sand Genin here and there, with the occasional Jonin or instructor following along. They filtered in simply enough, often going on small tours of the village, visiting place to place. It wasn't a terrible uptick in business, but her shop had scene a slight increase in traffic.

But, honestly, to Ino, it was all incredibly exhausting.

She yawned into her hand as she packed up for the road ahead. Every team who'd be participating in the Chuunin Exams this year had already been informed that they'd be headed to Suna if they succeeded. For most of them it was better to assume they'd do fine in the first test, and pack preemptively.

And today was the day of that first test.

She zipped up her bag and walked downstairs. She waved a brief farewell to her mother, who was, thanks to it being the end of the week, off that day. She sat her pack down in the corner, in a spot she wouldn't forget about and one that'd be easy to retrieve if for some reason she was in a hurry later.

She called out one last goodbye and pulled open the door.

Unsurprisingly, Haku had come to escort her.

He smiled warmly at her, well, warmly in the sense that his features attempted to defrost themselves, though it was… chipped, forced. It wasn't insincere, she was fairly certain Haku couldn't have lied to her to save his life, but it wasn't all there.

"Hey." She gave him a quick peck on the lips as she stepped in beside him. "You know, you didn't have to see me off. The exam site is like… four blocks from here."

Haku hummed out a sound that could've been construed as a laugh.

"Like it or not, you're a Chuunin hopeful. That means that you've got a target on your back, even if it's a small one. I refuse to let you out of my sight when you could be the target of some half-brained scheme to get ahead by some idiots."

Ino let out a quiet sigh as she rolled her eyes at that. He wasn't technically wrong, but he was certainly playing it up a bit. Sure, if someone had done extensive research, they might've figured out she was trying to go for Chuunin, but at the same time, they hadn't even taken the first test yet. It was way, way more likely that students would be focusing on their own results for now, rather than trying to sabotage the enemy.

Especially when that enemy wasn't even the foremost threat from this village. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain that while they were the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the real threats were Neji, Lee, and Tenten. Those three were almost shoe-ins for the title, taking on mission after mission in the last few months, and the only reason Tsunade hadn't already given them the promotion was, likely, because she'd known this exam was coming up.

Still, Ino couldn't deny the way Haku's overprotective streak made her feel. It was like a firecracker in her chest, warming her even as they crossed through a few alleyways to reach their destination.

It wasn't healthy. Even two years later, their relationship, one of necessity for Haku and one of indulgence for Ino, was a mess.

But it was hard to deny the addiction. She'd grown used to Haku's presence, and she could tell he'd grown to rely on her too much as well. His escorting her everywhere, waiting on her every move… he was too scared to lose her too, to lose the last claim to a happy life he could possibly have.

Ino might've steered him towards people like Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura if she were a better person. She might've steered him to the Hokage, even, or perhaps someone who studied in mental trauma to try and help him.

She hadn't. She'd simply let the boy fester. The fact that she wasn't a better person bothered her quite a bit. Kept her up at night.

But she wasn't sure that counted for much.

They arrived at the exam site more than a half an hour early, which had been her intention. She spotted Shikamaru and Choji and waved to the both of them, and they returned with their own half-hearted gestures. Well, Choji's was whole-hearted, but Shikamaru was barely there, so they averaged out.

A few boys from the Sand, people who would, likely, not know her, took the liberty of checking her out. She caught a few whispers, a few looks, and even one particularly enthusiastic boy who shot finger guns at her.

He seemed to be cowed by something a moment later however, and she didn't exactly have to be a genius to know why he was now trembling behind the rest of his team. She turned to Haku with a small sigh as he ungripped the handle of the massive blade slung along on his back.

He had the decency to cough awkwardly, at least. She gave a small laugh and planted a kiss on his cheek as she walked towards her team.

"I take it I'm fine from here?" She asked coyly, watching as the boy had the sense to at least blush in embarrassment.

"Y-yeah. I'm on security here, so…" The boy rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, if you need anything, let me know, OK?"

"I will," She smiled to show her sincerity. "I promise."

Haku had, around a year back, received a promotion to Jonin from Tsunade. No one, not even Naruto, could realistically argue with that, given that he'd already been a high Chuunin-level fighter when they'd first met. It'd taken him precious little time to incorporate Zabuza's sword into his style, wielding the blade like an extension of himself. He'd allowed his ice to run up the back as well, forming an icy set of spikes that clung to the cool metal's spine. As long as it was near him, that ice didn't melt, either.

She could admit he cut a rather imposing figure, though that was likely the idea, being one of the ninjas chosen for security.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that glow-up." Shikamaru muttered quietly, startling her out of her reverie. "Going from a 'never hurt a fly' type to an experienced and dangerous ninja. I mean, I guess he always was, but… eh."

She nodded as they waited for the test to begin.

It honestly didn't take that long. A bit humorously, though, there were a few late arrivals. None from the Leaf, but a team of sand Genin blazed into the area, jumping as they landed in the exam site and yelled "SAFE!".

"You guys alright?" Tenten had asked them with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, toooootally fine!" A girl with straight black hair and a dopey smile had answered. "Team Matsuri made it, baby!"

"Were you…" Neji tilted his head to one side. "Expecting to not make it?"

All three members of the team coughed, including their apparent leader, she guessed the youngish girl's name was Matsuri, who smiled with a fake confidence a second later.

"Nope! Definitely expected to make it."

Lee smiled supportively and shot them all a thumbs up, while his teammates looked just a bit doubtful.

She caught sight of Zaku, Kin, and Dosu all waiting a bit ahead. She didn't know them, really, but they were Sakura's friends, so by extension, she trusted them well enough. Stood near them were another rather odd set of faces, a green haired, scantily dressed girl talking animatedly to two men she could only assume were her teammates.

Strange… She couldn't help thinking. They don't… Seem like Genin…

"Attention!"

A voice cut into her thoughts, forcing her and the rest of the teams around to turn towards it. It'd originated from a set of Leaf Chuunin, a few faces she didn't recognize.

"We will now begin the first test of the Chuunin Exams!" The man called out. "You will be escorted inside this building, after that, you will be taken aside three teams at a time to take the test. You will take this test together, but separate from your team. Follow behind."

No one complained as the thirty or so teams funneled into the main hall, even if there were a few whispers asking just what the hell that meant. It was a spacious area, large enough that it fit all hundred or so of them without any difficulty. There was seating, but only enough for the first ten or so people who'd walked in, who now looked back at the rest of them with smug auras.

She couldn't blame them, she might've been a ninja, but she would've killed for a chair.

"We will be calling your teams up in no particular order. It will be those closest to the front first, and those who arrived latest last." The man explained.

She looked behind her as Team Matsuri all sulked and couldn't suppress a quiet giggle that came from it.

"I would also be remiss to point out that any and all Jutsu usage inside this room is prohibited. A first usage will earn you and your team a penalty, and follow-up usages will see you ejected from the exam."

The entire room seemed to nod as one.

"First team, split and step inside here." The man pointed to three rooms on the left-hand side of the hall, and a Leaf Team she didn't particularly recognize stepped into the space one at a time. "Next two, each split up and take the middle and right rows."

There were three rows with three rooms each, spaced a good fifteen feet from each other. Ino got a decent look inside one of the individual spaces and noted that the room was around the size of an office.

The three teams split up into nine individuals and stepped inside their respective spaces. The doors were, obviously, sound-proofed, so no matter what Jutsu they could've pulled out, which they weren't allowed to pull out anyways, they wouldn't be getting the instructions early unless they were very obvious about it.

It only took around fifteen minutes for the first three groups to finish. Two of the teams exchanged high-fives with one another, while the last had their heads in their hands, and walked into one of the room's corners, clearly having failed.

Ino gulped.

"Next."

/-/

Their turn came around somewhere near the end of the day, a good four hours into the exam.

Ino, Shikamaru and Choji had been conversing casually with both Hinata, Neji, and Zaku's teams, though she had a feeling a certain beast master would be less than pleased with her for granting ownership of 'his team' to his demure teammate.

Still, it wasn't hard to tell, given that they kind of followed her lead outside of combat, even if that lead was more stammered advice delivered at a near inaudible volume.

She felt much the same about Zaku's team, because even if it was technically Dosu's, it seemed pretty clear that the other two, Kin especially, answered more to the former. It didn't seem to be a rift in the team, more of a silent acknowledgement. Dosu didn't complain when she brought it up, either, merely nodding his head as Zaku smirked.

"I used to get protective about it," He'd said quietly. "But eh… I don't mind. We split the role, mostly."

Neji's team went in first, having arrived long before any of theirs. The three stepped inside their doors and emerged twelve minutes later with confident smiles on their faces.

"Hey!" Tenten called to them, laughing as Lee did a pose out of excitement. "Good luck you guys!"

"Do not worry." Neji assured them. "The exam was rather easy. I don't think you'll have any problems with it."

A few who'd already failed glared daggers at Neji, but they could do nothing else. He and his team had passed, and they had not. The three made to leave but told her quite succinctly that they couldn't reveal anything about the exam, or they'd be failed immediately.

The proctors all around the exam area watched the three like a hawk until they left the hall, stepping outside and conversing about something or another. They said they'd be back by the time the exam concluded.

Zaku's team had followed not long after, and emerged a good fourteen minutes later, wiping some sweat from their brow, but smiling mightily.

"Aced it." Zaku had assured them, before taking a spot in the back of the room.

It was another hour after that before Ino and her team were called. Along with them was Hinata's team, the girl herself looking incredibly antsy.

"In here." The proctor, an older man perhaps in his late thirties, held the door open for her, and she stepped inside. "Take a seat."

She took stock of the room as quick as she could, while taking great pain to absorb as much as possible. It was a simple eight ft by eight ft space, and the walls were colored a flat white. Aside from a button, which lied on a desk in the middle of a room, along with a simple communication device, the area was completely barren. There was, also, a clipboard which looked fit for taking notes.

The man took a seat at the head of the table, grabbing the clipboard in his hands, and she took the other.

"We will give all teams one minute to get situated, and then the organizers will explain the task."

She nodded, doing her best to meditate silently and rid herself of the nerves hanging off of her.

It didn't take terribly long before an intercom above her, which was a simple grate in the ceiling, buzzed to life, and a familiar voice echoed out into the room.

"Hello, hello!" Naruto Uzumaki's voice flooded the space. "Welcome to the Chuunin Exams! This is the first test of the joint Leaf-Sand Exams, which will be starting right now. I will first ask you to listen in on our directions, as they will be imperative to your understanding of the test. After they're over, you will have five minutes to decipher the code, and complete the exam. This will test your teamwork, your skills at information gathering and dissemination, and your ability to function under pressure."

Ino swallowed on some spit in her mouth, trying to maintain an aura of calm.

Five minutes? She found herself questioning. It fits how long the others were taking, but what could we be doing that would only take that long?

"Here is your scenario." Sakura's voice chimed in across the speaker, and she found a warmth in her chest at hearing her friend, even if they'd not been hanging out as much recently. "You and your team have captured three enemy shinobi. These shinobi carry a vital code, one that will unlock the seal on a scroll they posses, and allow you and your compatriots to learn the antidote to the poison you've been inflicted with. You must gather the code out of the ninjas in front of you before five minutes pass, and you perish."

Ino nodded, looking up into the face of the man before her, which revealed nothing.

"Your task is simple." This time, it was the voice of Sasuke. "Once this announcement ends, the ninja opposite you will tell you a simple poem. Within that poem, disguised among it's words, is the code. You are welcome to guess words until the sun sets in the sky, but you should probably know that every incorrect guess reduces your allotted time by one minute."

"If you run out of time… you lose." Sakura finished the boy's speech, the whole arrangement sounding heavily practiced. "The three of you will be read separate poems. The only thing all poems will share is a single word. That word is different from all the other words in the poems, because it will be the only one to be present three times. Once in each poem."

"There are multiple words in each poem meant to lead you astray from the true 'code' word." Naruto continued on. "Some words will appear twice, some will appear only once. Some words will appear two, three, or any number of times in only your story, but these are not the words you're looking for either. Your job is to identify which word is the true 'code' word by speaking with your teammates over the communicators in front of you. The problem, of course, is that it's not quite that simple."

"Your communicators are one way." Sasuke announced. "They can only contact one other teammate and cannot respond to any of your teammates. Look up at the wall in front of you."

Ino did. In front of her, hanging on the wall, as a painted on '2'.

"Room 3 can communicate only with room 2. Room 2 can communicate only with room 1. And room 1 can communicate only with room 3." Sakura summarized. "You will need to decipher just which line is the code. You may do this by studying facial expressions of the man before you, which will be difficult, but not technically impossible, or, more likely, you will need to communicate as best you can with your teammates, spread your information net, and capture your vital 'code'."

"When you have captured the code, you will all three of you need to speak it to the ninja's before you. If you're correct, they will end the exam. If you are incorrect, one minute will be deducted from you." Naruto spoke, and she could hear the cocky smile on his face. "The only way you can lose is by running out of time. Now, you will be read your poems."

"Good Luck!" All three of their voices echoed, before the speaker went dead.

Ino took a deep breath as the ninja before her closed his eyes, cleared his throat, and then began to speak.

"The high mountains of distant Kumo are heavy with rain and sleet this time of year. Snows atop its peaks are not uncommon either, and become a welcome sight for those in villages below. Festivals are held, and kites flow freely across winter skies. Truly, it is heralded as a time of grand splendor, and one of good tidings across all Lightning Countries."

The man opened his eyes, and then looked up to her. He brought a timer from out of his pocket and set it down in front of him. It was a simple thing, with bold letters inside of it, and a few red lights atop it.

"Your time…" He clicked the device. "Begins now."

Immediately, she held her hands out in front of her.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

Her body slunk across the table in front of her, but she wasn't worried about that.

She traveled as far into the man's mind as she could, determined to blitz through this exam to find the answer to their riddle. Unfortunately, when she arrived, she was greeted by a very unwelcome sight.

"Shit." She muttered quietly. "That's one of dad's."

Clearly, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura hadn't wanted to make this easy for her, or anyone who shared a Jutsu like hers. The mental protection on the guard in front of her, and likely every other one, here had been placed by her father, Inoichi Yamanaka. She recognized the handiwork of the man who'd taught her everything she knew.

And there was no way a Chuunin, let alone a Genin cresting on the edge of becoming one, had any hope of removing it.

4:47

She returned to her body, content, at least, that she'd tried, before she took a deep breath.

Okay… focus… we're fine.

A moment later, the speaker beside her rang into life.

"Ino. It's Choji." Her friends voice echoed out. "Shikamaru told me to tell you that he's going to be leading this. Says no time for arguments, so just be subservient to him for once." She heard him awkwardly pause. "His words, not mine, so don't kill me later."

She snorted but didn't bother. Shikamaru was right, it was better for him to take charge early if this was going to be a riddle.

"I got it, Shikamaru." She held down the button beside her, knowing that while Choji wouldn't hear her, he would. "We'll be having words later though."

4:28

She waited an agonizing three or four seconds before Choji's voice called out again.

"Ino, Shikamaru says to go through words that stand out first. I'm to tell you mine, and then you compare with yours, eliminating any that don't meet the criteria."

She nodded, before realizing there wasn't much point.

"Island, Palms, Lightning," She recognized the word from her own poem. "Storm, Rain," Another. "Tigers, Festival." She nodded there. "Death, Rebirth, Kumo," She bit her lip. This was nerve-wracking. "And Village."

She nodded, immediately she isolated all the words that she recognized from her own poem, and tossed the others aside. She was a ninja, so even though she'd had nothing to write her own poem down, she'd been able to memorize it instantly.

Or at least, she hoped she had.

4:10

"Shikamaru, here's the list." She spoke. "Repeated words: Lightning, Rain, Festival, Kumo, and Village."

She waited another ten seconds, biting her nails in a fit of anxious energy.

Choji's voice came back excited.

"Shikamaru says the word is Festival!"

Her eyes widened, and she looked at the man in front of her, practically shouting the word at him.

"Festival!"

The man paused for a moment, humming.

"You have had one minute deducted." He said calmly, taking off a single minute, and bringing their time from 3:49 to 2:49.

She just about choked.

"That wasn't it!" She shouted into the device, practically panicking, and Choji's voice came into hers just as garbled. He'd screamed the exact same thing to her.

"S-shit, what do we-"

"Shut up!" Choji suddenly shouted.

Her eyes bugged out.

Did Choji just–

"Sorry, Shikamaru said that'd quiet you down quick."

She pressed her hand on her own speaker again.

"Reeaaaaal harsh words." She promised the Nara boy, before sighing. "Alright, I'm listening."

Five more seconds. 2:27

"Shikamaru says look at Festival again. Is there anything odd about it?"

She did and felt crestfallen as she observed it.

"My word is Festivals" She clarified to Shikamaru, wanting to slap herself. "That's on me. I'm sorry."

Another bout of silence. 2:19

"Shikamaru says to read him your entire poem. Recite it word for word."

She nodded, doing so.

The line went silent for at least twenty seconds, and during that time she found dread building in the core of her stomach. She wished there'd been water for them to drink, but this was trying to simulate an interrogation where their lives were on the line, not a fun little conversation between friends.

1:50

Shit… shit, shit! She had her head in her hands as she looked down at the desk below her, letting Shikamaru work. If I didn't make that stupid mistake… we wouldn't–

"On an island in the distant meadows, rife with palms and beastly tigers, lies a Storm heavier than any seen. Lightning courses through skies dark and hazy, and they bring death to all caught in their wake. Yet rains that follow bring rebirth, falling from clouds, hanging in skies above, and many villages hold a festival of Celebration in old Kumo when these waters fall."

Her eyes widened as she caught onto something. Choji hadn't properly put his own word in either.

Villages… Wait, why the hell am I thinking about this, to make myself feel better!?

She slapped herself along the face, and briefly simmered as she listened to Choji continue.

"That's mine, but Shikamaru wanted you to both pass that along to him, since I can't, and then listen to his as well. See if you notice something."

She nodded, passing along Choji's poem over her communicator, before settling in to listen to Shikamaru's.