Book 1: Sakura Heart (Kiba Love Story)

Chapter 24

Sakuya's P. O. V:

The person standing before us is Izumo Kamizuki. Instead of the green and black Chunin uniform, he's wearing a grey long sleeved buttoned shirt with a standing collar and matching pants. He still has his headband fashioned like a bandanna.

I gasp as I take a step forward, "Izumo?!"

"You guessed it!" He says, beaming at us.

Ren demands to know, "What's the big idea?! Why'd you appear with the Summoning?"

The Kamizuki explains as he lowers his book, "At the end of the second exam, we Chunin are supposed to welcome the test takers back. Looks like I got you guys, huh?"

I ask, "Are we one of the first ones here?"

Izumo responds with his arms folded, "Nope. A couple of other Genin teams have arrived, but it's only the second day. We're still waiting to see who else will make it."

"Oh. I wonder who else is here?"

Izumo smiles as he steps towards us. He says, "Congratulations! You've passed the second exam!"

We were stunned. We'd passed? And we made it before most of the other Genin?

Kyo huffs as he briefly closes his eyes and muses, "Now I see. If we'd looked at the scrolls in the middle of the exam..."

"Huh?" Izumo blinks his eyes at the greenette.

"What would you have done to us, Izumo?"

Izumo bends and picks up the Earth scroll, holding it up to us. "So you've figured it out already. You're sharp, Kyo. Part of this exam was to test how well you could see a difficult mission all the way through. Simply put, you knew opening the scrolls was against the rules of your mission, and if you had tried to open one..."

"What? What would've happened?" Asks Ren.

The brunette continues, lowering his arm, "If a scroll was opened, we were ordered to knock out whoever opened it. Some ninja found that out the hard way."

Ren sweat drops as he mumbles, "I'm glad we didn't even think to open our scrolls. I don't know anyone who's be dumb enough to do it."

I speak up as I remember the writing on the wall, pointing, "Oh, yeah, Izumo?"

"Hm?" He glances to me.

"What does the writing on the wall mean? The parchment the letters are written on is kinda eaten away, so it's difficult to read it. We can't understand it."

Re grumbles as he slumps on the floor, leaning back in his hands, "Who cares about some dumb writing?" I scowl at him in annoyance. "We passed. That's all that matters, right?"

"I also was meant to explain that when I arrived," Says Izumo, turning to us.

"Are you serious?" The blond asks in exasperation with a raised eyebrow.

Izumo nods, glancing at the parchment. "Yup. It's serious business. Give it a good read. They're instructions that Hokage-sama has recorded that Chunin should follow."

Izumo explains that Heaven stands for the mind and Earth for the body. For heaven, we'd need to study hard to sharpen the mind and prepare for our missions. As for our bodies, if we lack physical condition, we'd need to work on it every single day so it improves all the time.

When heaven and Earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever. Which means, if the mind and body are working as one, even a dangerous mission can become an easy one.