(Premiering in this Chapter are two NEW characters: Akara (Property of PandaChan21…And Gaara) and Kristen (Property of Snowkitty) They don’t have a third team member because…I couldn’t find one and am too lazy to make one up. Why do you think Keiko is teamless, crazy?!)


Keiko sighed as she slid slowly down the concrete wall of the tower. It was the final day of the mission and she had made it only a few minutes earlier. It was still early morning, so she was still pretty early, but every bit of her ached. She hadn’t eaten anything until the night before, when she’d finally ate a single food pill. It hadn’t helped much though and now her body ached from the chakra loss. She was so tired; Balki still had not regained consciousness and she’d been up two nights straight making sure the silver-haired girl wasn’t coming after her.
She placed her head on her knees, trying desperately to stay awake, feeling her grimy, unwashed hair through the cuts in the black fabric. Keiko stood up, feeling her legs shaking, and walked into the middle of the room. Her thoughts were flowing sluggishly and she simply stood there for several long minutes, staring at the pair of scrolls in her hands. Finally, in the empty room, she spoke:
“Well, I guess I’ll have to open them.” And with that, she spread the two scrolls, earth and heaven, on the dirty tile floor.

******

A lecture on what it meant to find body and soul, a nap, and four hours later, Keiko was ushered into a large, open room. It had a rectangular pit in the center, with stairs leading down into it. Along the edges of the pit were wooden railings and on the opposite side of the room was a sculpture of hands in a ninja sign. That was where the Hokage and all the senseis were standing. All the teams were in lines, and Keiko could see Sakura and Sasuke were having an intense but quiet fight. (Seriously, what was WITH that? They were in a room VERY CLOSE TOGETHER, and no one could hear them shouting at each other?)
Yawning and still feeling like she was about to collapse from exhaustion, Keiko looked around the room while the adults near the front discussed whatever it was that they were discussing. She spotted Kaori, Jackerah, and Tsuki near the other side of the pit, looking a bit worse for wear but excited to be there.
Next to them was a pair of girls. Keiko couldn’t tell if they were supposed to be that way or if they had lost a member during the last portion of the exam. They didn’t look too concerned either way, but Keiko inferred that they were simply a ninja squad with two members instead of the usual three.
The girl at the front of the line leaned in to whisper something to Tsuki. She was wearing a bright red tank top similar to Tsuki’s and a black skirt. Underneath the cut off and the skirt was black fishnet. Her green eyes sparkled at something Tsuki said and as the girl stood back up, the gold earrings on her ears caught the light. She had black hair tied up in a pony tail and striking, crimson bangs. She pushed them out of her eyes with a hand that had a fingerless fishnet glove on it.
The girl behind her looked calmer and wasn’t really doing much of anything beyond patiently waiting for the instructions. It seemed like her bright blue eyes were examining the coming orders without even knowing what they were. Her long light brown hair fell across the back of a pink kimono, studded with decorative flowers in different shades of purple. As Keiko watched, the girl adjusted the periwinkle sash and the striking pink headband on her forehead.
“All right, listen up.” The Hokage’s weathered voice called. Everyone in the room immediately fell silent and Keiko stopped her observations without hesitation, “You have all passed the second portion of the Chunnin Exam. Congratulations.” There were some tired cheers from several teams before he continued, “However, it is not the last part. And, unfortunately, more teams then we expected have passed. We are going to have to a preliminary round.” There were several groans, but the Hokage dismissed them, “The procter will explain the next task.”
With that, a dark haired man in a Chunnin vest took the spotlight. He had dark rings under his eyes and looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks. The room was filled with the sound of his coughing for several minutes before he took up the speech, “Thank you, Lord Hokage.
“As you all have been told, the Chunnin exams are time for making cross-country alliances and friendships. Still, its purpose goes beyond that and the chance to gain another rank. It is also a time for the leaders of the country to assess each other. You are competing. The country that gains the most Chunnin is less likely to get attacked than the country with the least.”
“So…wait. You’ve basically lied to us for half of this exam and now you want us to try and kill each other?” Someone, Keiko thought it was the red-headed sand ninja or possible Kiba, asked.
“Basically, yes. Before the final competition, we will be having one-on-one battles. The pairings will be selected randomly by a computer. There are no limits, but if I need to intervene, I will.” There was silence, “If any of you wish to drop out, now is the time to do it.”
“Eh. I guess I’m out.” A silver haired boy Keiko recognized from the hallway before the written exam raised his hand. One of his teammates protested, but was quieted when the boy said something back.
“Okay, if that’s everyone, we’ll begin.” All the teams traipsed up the stairs to stand in groups with their senseis. Keiko felt a bit left out, but didn’t feel right about going to hang out with Kaori’s group. She stood off to the side, leaning her head against the wall as the computer cranked out the first pairing:

Kaori
Vs.
Kristen