The Place We Return to

Chapter 21

It was the night before the first part of the Chunin exams. Kakashi was telling his students what to expect:" Your first part is a written exam, second is a team exam and third is a singles exam." Team seven were in the best shape they've been in so far. They wrapped up training earlier than usual that day so they can get the rest and fuel up properly for the exams. They were excited about tomorrow, they wanted to go to bed early just for it to come faster.

NEXT DAY&:&:$/$/
They woke up quite early, got ready and made sure they had all of their gear just in case. They ate a quick breakfast and were instantly out the door. They made their way to the academy casually chatting:" I'm so ready, we're so ready. Bitches better be ready for team 7." To said making Ke and Ra chuckle.

For this occasion, team 7 changed up their looks a bit:" To, you willingly are repping the colour orange?! Wow..." Ke said:" I never said I didn't like the colour, I just didn't like it in that horrid outfit." To said, shuddering at the thought of that jumpsuit. He was repping some dark green shorts with a black t-shirt on top and a zip-up orange vest to match. Sakura undid her ponytail so she could fix it up as they walked: "That all black is something I think you should stick to, you look good." Sasuke said making Naruto laugh but he quickly covered it up with a cough: "You don't look too bad yourself, blue's your colour." Sakura said with a slight smirk on her face. She was wearing her usual black biker shorts but paired them with a black cropped tank and layered a cropped sweatshirt on top. Sasuke wore a matching set of navy blue shorts and a zip-up vest with a white shirt underneath.

During all that chit-chat, they had already made it to the academy and easily spotted the genjutsu placed on the floor number, they shared a look that signalled they were on the same page. The commotion happening in front of the so-called "waiting room" was ignored by these three, as the chunin tried to stop the group of genin trying to barge in: "How haven't they noticed?" To whispered to which Ke replied: "Usratonkachi, not everyone is paying attention to every tiny detail, and not everyone had the opportunity to train with three elite ninjas for two months."

A small chuckle sounded: "You should be careful what you say, you don't want to lose that opportunity." Kakashi said from behind them: "Good luck, don't overthink and don't fail because if you do I will beat your ass." he casually said with one of his signature smiles which still creeped them out: "I'll never get used to that." Ra said under her breath as they opened the door to the waiting room.

All chatter stopped as the loud creaking of the door echoed through the room: "Oh, hey?" To said confused as to why random people were starring into their souls: "Naruto, over here!"Choji called team seven over to where the Konoha rookie nine were chilling: "Yo, it's creepy as f in here, why are they staring like that?" Naruto whispered to his group of friends. "You're the fresh graduates, the Konoha rookie nine. If you're gonna show up here with these cute little baby faces you might as well leave."

A grey-haired guy who didn't seem to be much older than them said. They noticed some heavy huffs and angry glares and dared to look back: "These are hidden rain shinobi, very short-tempered might I add. I've done this multiple times, let me give my kohai some senpai-class information. The name's Kabuto." he said while pulling orange cards with the word "Shinobi" imprinted onto the back: "These are info cards, basically I carve information about different shinobi onto these cards using my chakra and the only way to retrieve this information is by using the same chakra that carved it the first time." he explained showing the thick deck of blank cards

"Give me someone you're interested in, I have about 200 cards give or take." He asked looking up at the genin: "Show us Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke said earning him a couple of looks at the mention of his brother's name: "Interesting pick, let's see..." He pulled a card from the heavy deck and started infusing it with his chakra until the image started to appear. There was a picture of Itachi, his missions and their ranks, his rank as a shinobi, and his abilities in an octagon from 1 to 5. Sasuke tried looking for hints of his brother's location but the only thing that came close was ' joined the Akatsuki after going rogue.'