Kagome stared in awe as the hidden cloud came into view. It was even more magnificent than she had read about. Buildings soared above them built into the high rock outcroppings. Even the air was a bit crisper than in the hidden leaf. It was a bit colder this high up than she was anticipating, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle.
She felt a hand settle on her head and she looked up, "You ready Kiddo?" Jiraiya asked.
She nodded in determination, "I didn't work so hard and go through so much just to fail. I'll do my best, I promise."
"Yeah, you got this. My precious little student is going to dominate the competition." He exclaimed loudly.
Kagome blushed heavily as the other genin with them glared daggers at her. It wasn't her fault her sensei was a loud idiot. She let out a sigh and decided to simply ignore them. Not that she wasn't used to that. As they approached the gates of Kumogakure her mind wandered a bit.
Things had been pretty calm the past few weeks since they sealed Midoriko away. They were pretty sure that it worked as they couldn't sense her anymore, but she also hadn't heard anything from Magatsuhi since then so they weren't 100 percent sure. She was really hoping that he hadn't gotten affected by the seal as well and that his silence was just him regaining energy. She could still feel a strange phantom sensation from the sealing mark, even though she knew that she shouldn't actually feel it. The best way to describe it was the weird feeling of having a fake tattoo put on. Jiraiya had told her the feeling would pass after a while. She caught herself rubbing it unconsciously at times and Minato and Jiraiya were doing their best to break her new habit. They didn't' want any unwanted attention brought to it. For now, the cover story was that she had a small injury from training.
Kushina had taken the news of her true past rather well all things considered. She had taken a day to process everything and had come back like nothing had happened. I know this version of you, not the old you. If you don't want it to be a big deal, I won't make it one. The only thing she hadn't told Kushina was her semi-nightly talks with Kurama. Though, nobody actually knew about that other than herself and Magatsuhi.
The day they had left for the chunin exams her friends had met her at the gate and wished her luck. Minato had gotten teary-eyed and he wished he could come with her. He was needed for other missions. There were six other genins besides herself going along, plus their sensei's. With the looming war, they were taking extra precautions and two other jonin were coming along. It surprised Kagome a bit when she realized she knew both of them. Tsume Inuzuka and her wolf companion Kuromaru were the first to arrive. She had only met them the once, but they seemed nice. Kuromaru instantly bounded forward to greet her when he caught scent of her. Kagome giggled and hugged the giant wolf, his wagging tail nearly knocking Obito over.
The second escort being sent along was none other than Fugaku Uchiha himself. Kagome had eyed his back suspiciously as he apologized for his tardiness. I had clan business to settle for my absence. She hadn't thought he took active missions anymore. Not since he had taken over the Uchiha's. What was he doing escorting a bunch of nobody genin?
They had left not long after Fugaku's arrival. The Uchiha kept trying to pull her into conversations, which she kept as neutral as she possibly could. Jiraiya noticed quickly and had started keeping her close to him. Usually keeping himself between the two. When that didn't work Kagome politely excused herself to wander closer to Kuromaru and Tsume. She got to know the heiress to the Inuzuka clan a lot better during the trip, and she got plenty of wolf cuddles. She took advantage of Kuromaru's willing closeness as a buffer to Fugaku who seemed to avoid the wolf.
She came back to the present as they came to the main gates. As the most senior among them he was in charge of the official business. He signed them in and took their arrival package. They listened to the instructions, basically saying not to cause trouble, before they were let in. Jiraiya passed out maps and hotel keys to everyone. Each squad was sharing a room, with the exception of Fugaku who had his own room. Tsume was bunking with Jiraiya and Kagome.
"Alright everyone, the curfew back to the hotel is eight o'clock. We have one week before the chunin exams begin. Enjoy yourselves around the village, but stay out of trouble. You are representing Konoha while being here. For your safety I want everyone to stay in at least in pairs, preferable would be staying in your complete squads. At the very least do not go anywhere alone." Tsume barked out orders, taking over for Jiariya who clearly didn't want the responsibility.
One of the genin boys scowled unhappily, "What about Namikaze? She doesn't have a squad, why does she get to go solo?"
Kagome rolled her eyes at the immature boy who clearly wasn't going to pass the exams with his attitude. Honestly, why did Tsume ever say that she got free reign? She was probably going to get stuck to Jiraiya's side the whole time. She didn't mind too much as Jiraiya was on strict orders from the Hokage to be on his best behavior. Which meant no peeping on unsuspecting women at the hot springs
"Since Kagome does not have a squad she can either tag along with one of your two groups, or she will be accompanied by one of the present Jonin," Tsume told him, sending him a warning look. She let out an annoyed sigh, "Now, we will head over to our hotel first and drop off your things. Then you have free reign to explore the village. Let's go."
They wound their way through the roads and even across a few rope bridges connecting rock peaks. The groups quickly parted ways after dropping their bags into their rooms. Most likely to avoid being asked by Kagome to join them, not that she wanted to. She was a bit tired from the long journey and a simple soak in a hot spring sounded wonderful. Plus, one of the perks of having the sensei she did he always knew where the best hot springs were. She could always bully Jiraiya into giving her a tour of the place later. They did have a week before the exams started after all. Plenty of time to see the sights and do some shopping.
She knew she wasn't getting to the hot springs right away when she saw the look on Tsume's face. Something was going on.
Tsume bit her lip in thought, she had been hoping that Kagome would do something with one of the other groups. They all had a meeting with the Raikage and she didn't know what to do with the lone genin. Should they just leave her in the room with strict orders not to leave? Was the young Namikaze one to follow said instruction? Her train of thought screeched to a halt as Jiaraiya opened his big mouth.
"Wanna meet the Raikage Kiddo?" he asked as he pulled the scroll from the Hokage out of his bag.
Kagome's eyes lit up in excitement, "Really?" She wasn't huge into politics or anything, but meeting another Kage would be a good experience.
"Hey." Tsume tried to interrupt, but Jiraiya plowed on.
"Yeah, the Hokage gave us a side mission. Conversations about upcoming issues." Jiraiya told her.
Kagome nodded in understanding, "Ah, war talk. Sure, let me just freshen up a bit first."
"Wait a minute!" Tsume barked out, "Isn't this supposed to be confidential information? She's just a kid?" She had just learned about the upcoming war a few weeks ago herself.
Jiraiya looked unconcerned, "Oh, yeah, play up on your age. They'll willingly underestimate you. Use that to your advantage." He told Kagome who nodded her understanding before turning to the steaming Inuzuka, "Relax, Kagome's been involved in this since the moment she graduated. She's got a very unique skill set that makes her input useful. The Hokage wants her involved."
"Don't worry about me Tsume-san. I can handle boring political meetings." She tried reassuring the older girl. She had gone to a few meetings with Sesshomaru, well more like he had dragged her along so he could show off his alignment with the Shikon Miko. She had plenty of experience with these types of things, plus the past nine or so months of missions. She had been sent on a few diplomatic missions, which were tedious but necessary. She gave a small shrug, "Can we hit a hot spring on our way back?" she directed the last part to her sensei.
"Sure, why not. It won't be as enjoyable as usual though." He lamented sadly.
"Oh, I don't know," she smirked deviously, "I think this will be much more enjoyable than the everyday hot spring visit with you. I won't have to worry about my dignity and I get to see you suffer. Sounds like a win-win to me."
Jiraiya pouted at her, "You're so mean to me."
Kagome merely laughed in response.
Tsume was left speechless at the calm casual banter between the two. It was like they weren't even nervous about the upcoming meeting. She watched as Kagome pulled a brush through her hair, pulling it up into a neat bun. Why did the Hokage have a kid on the front lines of the war movement? What skill set did she have that Jiraiya had commented towards? Was it the mysterious kekkei-genkai the kid had that caused rumors to fly throughout the village?
It didn't take long for Fukage to knock on their door signaling he was ready and they all started heading towards the Kage tower. Fugaku didn't seem surprised to see Kagome with them so she kept her opinions to herself. It felt wrong to bring someone so young into a meeting about a possible war. Granted, she was the youngest kunoichi to get applied into the chunin exams from Konoha, and if she passed she'd be the youngest female chunin. There had been boys around the same age as her, but she was the first girl under the age of eleven-years-old. Practical skills and mental readiness were two different things though. Were they just unnecessarily traumatizing this poor kid at such an early age? The life of a shinobi could be a hard one and the younger you started the worse it could get. There have been many active shinobi that had to be forcefully retired because their mental states were just not stable. She honestly hoped that this kid wouldn't be one of them.
A few hours later Kagome left with a slight frown on her face. That meeting had been less productive than she would have liked. The Raikage seemed mostly neutral, not wanting a war at all. She could understand that sentiment, but he had to see that the war was inevitable at this point. It was no longer a question of if, but when. He needed to face reality, all it would take was one mission gone wrong to set it off. She decided to simply play off the fact that the meeting bothered her for now.
"Well, that was boring."
Jiraiya gave a dry laugh, "Yeah, that is one way to put it. Can't say I expected more from A, however, he recently took over from the last Raikage and the last thing he wants is to start his reign with a war. Understandable, but rather annoying for us."
Tsume hmmed in agreement, "It's getting pretty late. If you want to hit the hot springs before curfew I suggest you get going now."
"Ah, right," a perverted grin stretched across Jiraiya's face, "You know there is a wonderful hot spring here that is communal, we cou... UGH!"
Kagome flooded her elbow with chakra before ramming it into his stomach as hard as she could, "Absolutely not." She glared hotly at him.
Tsume stared at Jiraiya in shock while a look of utter distaste appeared on Fugaku's. Tsume grabbed onto Kagome and pulled her away from the white-haired Sanin.
"You know what, why don't I take Kagome-chan to the hot springs? I've been here a few times before and I know where one is. Why don't you take Kuromaru back to the room for me since animals aren't allowed." Tsume didn't even give Jiraiya the time to answer before she steered Kagome away from the males of the group and towards the one hot spring she knew existed in the city.
Kagome couldn't help it as giggles started escaping her as she let the older girl direct her away. Oh, she could not wait to tell Minato-Nii about this!
The rest of the week passed a bit too slowly for Kagome's liking. Genin from different villages rolled in one by one and the atmosphere slowly grew more and more tense. Kagome felt there were targets painted on their backs and the exams hadn't even started yet. The other leaf genins didn't seem to notice it at all and for a brief moment she was envious of their ignorance, but she knew all too well that ignorance was not bliss. If they didn't grow up soon, that ignorance would bite them in the future and hard.
On the positive note she finally got connected back up with Magatsuhi. He had scared the crap out of her while she was killing some time within the hotel room. Thankfully only Jiraiya was in the room with her, he was working on one of his books. She was slightly surprised just how relieved she was to hear him. She was glad to have him back with her in time for the exams. He had told her that he'd been too low on energy to do pretty much anything until then. So, to make use of his time he had searched for Midoriko's soul within the jewel. He had found her chained to the "ground" of the jewel by glowing chains reinforced with the seal marks that Jiraiya had placed on both the jewel and Midoriko. She had apparently been ranting about breaking free, but he didn't think she would be able to do so. He had reassured her that he would keep a close eye on the Miko and let her know if he saw any degrading of the chains.
As a cohesive unit, they approached the first area's testing grounds. From what Jiraiya had prepped her about the first test was usually a mix between a written test and a psychological test. The written part wasn't always actually involved with the final passing of the test or not, but there were times when it was. Chunin couldn't exactly be stupid after all, they were trying to prove that they could lead other shinobi into the field. The second test was usually both a mock field test of some kind and a way to get rid of the remaining competitors by at least half. The third and final test was always the same, a one on one battle between the remaining genin. For the third test, the Kage from the participating villages would come and view it. It was a way to even out the villages and for their Kage to show their support of their shinobi and kunoichi.
They were all shown to a room by a volunteer and were told to each pick a seat and stay quiet. The person left all of them alone in the room, Kagome took the time to start taking stock of the competition. Most of the kids in the room weren't much if she was being honest. There were a couple that caught her attention, though. There was a pair from the hidden sand that sent her nerves on high alert, they were definitely two to watch out for. An older girl from Iwa kept staring at her so she put away a mental note to keep an eye on her if at all possible. Then there was one of the boys from the cloud itself. She had lightly sensed him all throughout the week, but now that she was in the same room with him she was sure. The kid was a jinchuriki. She wondered if he knew about it, as some kids weren't told until they were older. If he did know, did he get along with his demon? Which demon did he hold? She wished Kushina had been one of the escorts that had come with them because then she could have talked to Kurama about it. He would have been able to sense his sibling's chakra and tell her which one it was. So was so curious and she wanted nothing more than to befriend the boy knowing that most jinchuriki were isolated because of the demons inside of them. She would have to think of a way to form an alliance with the boy, who she really needed to learn the name of.
They were left alone in the room for so long that some of the more inpatient genin started getting restless. Shifting could start being heard throughout the room. Finally, one of them lost their remaining patience.
"What the hell is taking so long?" someone growled out.
It was at that time that a hidden cloud kunoichi walked into the room and glared at the boy that had spoken, "You are free to leave."
Kagome looked around at the others around her and saw eyes widening and mouths dropping. Kagome hid her smirk, this kunoichi wasn't someone who took bullshit.
"What?" the boy yelled out.
"You lasted merely seventeen minutes before opening your big mouth. Your instructions upon entering the room were to sit down and stay silent. You were the first to fail, so you shall be the first to leave. Now, get out." The boys fumed silently for a moment before marching out of the room. The kunoichi took her place at the front of the room, "Now, for everyone else, my name is Ishira Tokitose and I shall be your proctor during these exams. You will listen to what I say and do what I tell you to do. My word is law here." She waved her hand and three other jonin entered the room, each with a stack of papers in their hands, "You will each receive a test that you must complete by the end of the time limit. Any cheating caught will result in immediate failure and you will be told to leave. Do not argue with the decision as anything you say will change the outcome. You must score at least 50 out of 100 to proceed to the next stage of the exams. And need I say that any talking during the exam will also result in failure. When the papers are all handed out and I say begin you will have one hour to finish as much of the exam as possible. I'd wish you luck, but this is a test of skill."
Kagome grinned at the tough woman at the front of the room. She was amazing. This test was simultaneously testing their knowledge, their ability to stay silent as that was needed on many missions, and their ability to steal knowledge without others knowing. Three people within the room clearly were not genin from the feel of their chakra. Their chakra was way too refined and controlled to be genin. So her best guess they were chunin or jonin henged to look like genin. They would know the answers and the others could cheat off of them, they just couldn't get caught. She was hoping that she would simply know all of the answers, however. She didn't cram study for this thing to have to risk getting caught cheating. She had tons of experience cramming for tests from when she still tried to keep up with school during her adventures in the feudal era.
Ishira looked around at the genin who were nervously shifting around. The helpers finished passing out the tests and once everyone settled a bit she smirked and simply said, "Begin."