~Mira's POV~
Age- 18
I had no idea what Lord Hokage was thinking, letting all the rookie genin take part in the chunin exam. It was too early, they hadn't undergone very many missions to be ready for such a task. Already, other genin from other villages had shown up to take part in the exams. The sun began to set as I made my way through the village on my hunt for Naruto. I wanted to wish him good luck, the exams were starting in the morning, and I owed him celebratory ramen.
"Mira-sensei!" A familiar voice sounded from behind me and I turned curiously to see Tenten, running toward me.
"Hey, Tenten." I smiled as she came to a skidding halt next to me, "What are you up to?"
"Just finished training with Neji and Lee. We wanted to get in a last-minute session before the exams tomorrow." She looked a little nervous. "Mira-sensei, how old were you when you passed the exams?"
I'd passed with Itachi, we were two of the youngest to pass. "Eleven."
"Really?! That's two years younger than me." She looked momentarily relieved, but then a disturbing thought must have crossed her mind, "But you're really strong, aren't you?"
"I had a great team, we helped each other. So long as you and your teammates look out for each other, you should be able to overcome most obstacles. Just trust your teammates and help each other."
"Was it really tough?"
"Well, I was fast enough to get away from anything too scary. Though I did see a snake and fainted in the second phase of the exam." I laughed, Itachi had to carry me through the second exam. "My poor teammate had to carry me for most of it."
Tenten looked surprised at this, "You fainted?"
"I don't like snakes." I shivered.
"Why didn't you run away?" She laughed.
"I wanted to but my body didn't really listen to me."
Tenten looked like she was feeling much better about the exam, "Thanks, Mira-sensei. It's nice having a kunoichi to talk to."
"You can talk to me anytime." I offered her a warm smile.
"Thanks, Mira-sensei." She waved before heading home, just as I sensed Naruto's presence up ahead.
I raced in the direction I'd sensed his presence and smiled as I found him pacing in an alleyway with a chunin exam application form in his hand. "Hey Naruto, what do you say to that celebratory ramen, I owe you?"
He nearly jumped out of his skin as I appeared behind him. "Mira-sensei!" His grin was bright and nearly crippled me.
"What you got there?" I pointed to the application in his hand.
He displayed it proudly, "The application to take the chunin exam!" His bright blue eyes were filled with excitement and wonder. "Did you say, ramen?!" He was so excited he hadn't even heard me mention his favorite food.
I ruffled his spiky blonde hair, "Come on, my treat."
We headed for Ichiraku, his favorite ramen place as the sun fully set blanketing the sky in stars and giving room for the moon to rise. The night air had a slight chill to it and I pulled my orange silken kimono closer around myself as we headed for the ramen shop.
I sensed a familiar presence, my shadow that had been absent for the past few weeks, from the nearby rooftops. It was reassuring to know that even if he wasn't really speaking to me, he was still close by. I still had no idea what I had done to make him avoid me. Did I say something embarrassing in my feverish state? My eyes widened as a terrifying thought crossed my mind, did I confess to him? Perhaps I did spill my heart to him and gushed about being in love with him, that would explain the distance, he'd probably freaked out. Had I done that though, I feel like he would have at least rejected me and told me I was being a child... but he'd probably worry about hurting my feelings. This was so frustrating!
"Mira-sensei?" Naruto tugged at the sleeve of my kimono as I was about to walk right past the ramen shop, "You're spacing out."
"Ah! Sorry, Naruto!" I laughed nervously, "I wasn't paying any attention."
We ducked under the little half coverings attached to the awning and I paused as I spotted two familiar faces sitting at two of the bar stools. Kotetsu and Izumo, they were both chunin who usually helped with the chunin exams. Kotetsu was a tall man about six years my senior with spiky black hair, he had a thin white bandage running across the bridge of his nose. Izumo, Kotetsu's best friend, was of similar height, he had dark brown hair that poked out of his navy bandana with his forehead protector, framing his face and covering his right eye. They both turned as they heard my voice.
"Mira-chan!" They exclaimed in unison causing me to groan.
"Ah, Mira, have you come to buy more vouchers?" Teuchi, the shop owner asked curiously before smiling as he noticed my small companion, "Ah, dining in?"
Naruto looked up at me curiously at the mention of vouchers and I prayed he wouldn't realize that I was the one who constantly left him ramen vouchers on his door. "You must like ramen a lot too." He beamed.
"Yeah." I smiled before turning to the two chunin who were currently glaring daggers at one another and were shoving at each other to make room so I'd sit with them.
"What's with them?" Naruto asked staring at the two fools with a raised eyebrow.
"Ignore them, their idiocy may be contagious." I sighed.
"Mira-chan, you can come sit with me." They both said in unison before once again turning on one another, "Get lost, loser!" They shouted at each other simultaneously.
"Sorry boys, I already have a date for the evening." I pointed to Naruto and laughed as he straightened himself up and flashed a big smug grin in their direction.
We took a seat at the opposite end of the counter and ordered our bowls of ramen. Kotetsu and Izumo finished their bowls of ramen and decided to find solidarity in their rejection and reconciled before leaving together to drown their sorrows elsewhere.
"Mira-sensei?" Naruto looked over at me his bright blue eyes filled with curiosity as I poked at my ramen bowl with my chopsticks.
"What is it?"
"Do you know, Kakashi-sensei?" He asked out of the blue nearly causing me to fall off my barstool as my heart nearly catapulted right out of my chest.
"Eh? Why do you ask?"
Teuchi, the shopkeeper chuckled at my reaction and busied himself with his noodle prep as I shot a glare in his direction. Kakashi was sometimes with me when I'd buy vouchers for Naruto.
"Why's your face so red?" Naruto pondered, oblivious to everything.
"It's not!" I was going to die of embarrassment. Kakashi was so close, he could probably hear everything!
"Sure, looks red to me." Naruto laughed.
"Don't pick on your au-elders!" I'd almost said aunt. Luckily Naruto had missed my slip up as he was still laughing at my expense.
Once he'd finished his laughing fit, he straightened himself up, "You two have the same tattoo on your arm." He pointed to my shoulder, my kimono had slipped down revealing the anbu tattoo. "We saw Kakashi-sensei's on our mission in the land of waves. They're the same."
"All shinobi who served in anbu have them."
"Eh?! You were in anbu?" Naruto gaped at me.
"Not for very long."
"Kakashi-sensei too?"
"Mhm, he was my captain when I first started out."
"That's so cool!" Naruto gushed.
Video- "Gone" By RED