"Dude, they can't be serious."
Kaeru looked up from his book. Shisui was closing the door, still staring at the letter in his hand with his jaw agape. Behind him, Anko was wearing a wide grin, her eyes also locked on the white envelope before she quickly snatched the said object from the Uchiha and ran across the room, jumping onto the couch and leaned her back on Kaeru's body as she waved the letter in front of his face.
"I told you, we're gonna pass!" she half-yelled with over-excitement.
Shisui scowled. "We don't even know what it says," he stated, reaching for the envelope, but Kaeru had pulled it out off Anko's grasp and ripped it open without a second thought. He ignored Anko's surprised exclamation and Shisui's "Be careful- Nevermind."
The Hatake stayed silent, reading through the letter while he kept it out of Anko's sight. She whined for a while, though she fell quiet when she realized Kaeru had gone through the whole text for at least twice now. "You're making me nervous, just tell me what the Raikage says!"
Shisui took the paper from Kaeru. The Hatake didn't even struggle, seemingly in shock after what he had read. "...We passed," the ravenette muttered, "We're going to the next round!"
"I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO!"
"Anko-chan, you're hurting my ears..."
"Sorry, not sorry. So, what else?" Anko asked, "Surely that long-ass letter isn't just saying two words over and over, right?"
The Uchiha hummed. "We can do whatever we want tomorrow, second round's in two days. Each team will be transported out of the village, near the borders, and we will have to find a way back inside, whatever it takes. We're not allowed to bring anything but weapons. That means, nothing like clothes, sleeping bags, even food or water. Just what we need for self-defense. Each team will be given an item to protect, and we have to rob at least two other teams."
"What item? Like a scroll or something."
"No," he shook his head, "It can be anything. A scroll, a piece of paper, a necklace, a statue, it differs for each team, so we also have to guess what it is."
"Well, damn. That's hard. Any other rules?"
"... We have five days. It starts at noon, the day after tomorrow, and it ends at midnight. There are no breaks, no timeout, no medical assistance, no kind of help or whatsoever, unless you give up."
Anko visibly winced, "Okay, that totally killed the mood." She turned to look at her silverette friend. "Kaeru, you've been quiet. You okay?"
The said boy gulped, shaking his head. "I think... I'm getting scared..."
Shisui frowned. That's... unexpected. Totally unlike the Hatake, but well, he's still human, right?
Surprisingly, Anko gave him a shrug. "It's totally normal, don't worry. We're gonna be fine, I'm sure of it. I told you we're gonna pass and we did. So now, I'm saying that we'll be alright. Just believe me, okay?"
Somehow, Shisui found it reassuring, too.
They spent their free time preparing everything they need. Under Kaeru's tutelage, Anko and Shisui learned how to do many things without chakra. Starting a fire, purifying water, even building shelters. Anko called it 'inefficient' but Shisui agrees with the Hatake's logic: chakra is easier to track, harder to regain; better not waste it.
On the exam day, just as day finished breakfast in their room, there were loud, impatient knocks on their door. Anko almost yelled at their guests, who turned out to be the proctor of the exam.
The shinobi, a woman wearing a mask, didn't speak a single word. She checked their IDs and gave them all a sheet of paper. Kaeru signed it without questions, Anko skimmed through it and gave the proctor a suspicious glare, while Shisui took his sweet time reading the whole thing. By the time he's finished, the proctor looks ready to hit him. He counted it as a win, grinning like the kid he's supposed to be.
His grin fell once the woman transported them to their assigned location.
| × | × | × | × | × |
A pair of chopsticks.
The item they received was a pair of bamboo chopsticks, with tiny carvings of the Hidden Cloud's symbols on them.
"Do they make these specifically for the Exam?" Anko asked, "Because I doubt they're selling these in their shops. We don't have anything like this back in Konoha."
Kaeru shrugged. "Can we bring this home? As souvenirs?"
"I doubt it."
"Should I put it in my hair? We need to hide them."
"In plain sight?"
"That's the point!"
"You're too clumsy, Anko."
"Guys," Shisui interrupted, holding back his sigh. Kami, he's working with children. "We only have three, four days tops. We should figure out what we're doing next."
Kaeru spared a glance at his sides; the sea on his left and the forest on his right. "We have to go back to the village, right? So we're obviously going that way," he pointed at the latter.
"Thanks, that was so helpful. What would I do without you?"
"You wouldn't be here, Anko-chan. A team must consist of three individuals, therefore-"
"What about your summons, Kaeru? Shisui cut him off, "They might be able to scout the area," he offered, as he gestured for the chopsticks. Anko grumpily handed them to him, and the bamboo chopsticks turned into needles in his hands. 'Genjutsu', he mouthed as he placed them in his pocket, though clearly Kaeru wasn't accepting it so easily.
"Won't it waste your chakra?"
"No, it's a permanent jutsu. Kinda like a seal," Shisui explained, as he pulled out a pair of kunais and turned them into the said items they were supposed to protect.
Anko squinted her eyes at him. "That's definitely not a genin level."
"Perks of an elite clan."
"... Right."
Shisui turned to the Hatake, who still seemed amazed at the little tricks he had just done. "So, your summons, Kaeru?"
Kaeru shrugged. "I sent Saiken this morning. He says he'll find me once he's done. He also wants to find us some checkpoints; rivers or caves or any safe opening, maybe even hunting grounds for food."
"Well, that's just a little extra, isn't it?"
Right then, a large vulture —a condor, to be more exact— flew down towards them. Saiken landed on Kaeru's shoulders', his talons digging into the Hatake's skin as he swayed under the sudden weight. The bird chuckled, tilting his head in greeting towards his master's teammates. "Ah, the young Uchiha Nice to see you again. Who's this lady?"
"Anko Mitarashi," she sighed and crossed her arms, "You're one ugly-ass bird, aren't you? Kinda big and scary, it must be handy." Upon hearing the insensitive comment, Shisui almost choked on his own spit, while Kaeru flinched.
Saiken didn't even blink.
"It sure is. We get to eat the best kind of food; big snakes, for example. Or clumsy little girls who don't know when to keep her mouth shut. Or both."
Anko gulped.
"Keep an eye on this one, Uchiha. She's lucky it was just me. Had it been my father, he would've torn her body apart for the whole wake's breakfast."
"Setting that aside," Saiken turned at Kaeru, who still seemed a little pale after the exchange, "It seemed that your team is quite lucky. If you started walking now, you might make it to the riverside before dark. There will be fish and clean water. Sounds good, doesn't it?"
The team agreed and immediately started their journey.
| × | × | × | × | × |
This isn't supposed to happen. Everything was supposed to be alright, they had followed every rule, done everything legally, done the best they are allowed to do, so why did this happen?
They didn't try to attack anyone first. Didn't even say a thing. They were planning to collect enough herbs and food supply before starting their hunt to complete the exam's objectives.
They weren't ready.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
| × | × | × | × | × |
It was only the second day; none of the three had gotten a satisfying night's sleep, most probably because of Kaeru's paranoia which made him toss and turn every two minutes. Saiken had left them alone, saying that he had accompanied them for a whole day, which is far too long without payment (that payment being dead bodies, which the team isn't ready to 'provide') or anything else in return.
Fishing went okay, though somehow Anko had gotten the most fish. Just small ones, not enough for dinner, but Kaeru cooked up some small frogs. They tasted okay and considering how they hadn't had any indigestion, it must've been safe to eat.
Their breakfast consisted of some burnt pigeons (again, it's not that bad), and they took their time to enjoy it before they continued their march.
The ambush started not even five minutes after.
Shisui concluded 3 things:
1. They should've stayed as far away from the river
2. He should have learned more than just fire jutsu
3. Kirigakure ninjas are more powerful than the rumours
Those shinobis appeared from the river, from the water, like demons from that book his father once showed him. Just three of them, but walls of water suddenly surrounded his own team, swallowing Anko inside it as soon as she reached into her weapon pouch. Kaeru freaked out immediately, and Shisui was thankful that his teammate was too shocked to move.
'I had to stall them,' he thought, 'they're genins, they're bound to run out of chakra soon.'
He didn't even have time to say anything. One of his enemies emerged from behind him, tackling him from behind and quickly wrapped an arm around his neck. He choked, moving his hands to create the handsigns before he breathed out a burst of flames from his mouth. It surprised his opponent, as expected, and he managed to pull himself away as he activated his Sharingan. The water walls around him fell into a wave of water (he really wished it was more than just a Genjutsu), startling the Kiri nin even more, and Shisui took the chance to land a hard punch to the guy's jaw.
Shisui turned, to see Kaeru already engaged in a fist fight against another Kiri nin, at least two heads taller than himself.
Wait, there should be three of them. Where's the other?
Anko!
The Uchiha turned back to his first assailant, blocking a kick towards his head and dropped the Genjutsu, only to cast another directly at the older teen. The Kiri nin stumbled in his steps, and Shisui grabbed his arm, twisting it as hard as he could. He heard a crack, and this time, one of the walls fell apart for real. The others followed, and the sight it revealed made Shisui stop and drop his guard.
Another wave of water was shot towards him, hitting his gut; he doubled over and a kick landed at the side of his head.
| × | × | × | × | × |
Kaeru had just beaten his own assailant, pinning down the blond, still hesitant to permanently injure the guy. The said blond smirked smugly at him, and as the walls of water disappeared, Kaeru understood why.
He gulped in horror as he spotted Anko all tied up on the tree, upside down, gagged and battered. Her eyes sent some kind of pleading look, asking for help. He turned to look at Shisui, but the Uchiha was no better. Their opponent already had his arms in his grip, as he grinned, while his teammate, a girl, appeared beside him and sent a powerful kick onto Kaeru's gut, causing him to hit a large boulder behind him.
The pain only made Kaeru stop completely. His ears started ringing, and he could hear faint yells calling his name.
"Come on, just give it up already!"
Shisui growled, "Like hell we will!" His voice came out shaky, hoarse, blood already dripping from his head.
"Don't be like that, we don't want any dead bodies here. Your pretty teammate wouldn't like to have herself sliced and diced!" the girl replied, smiling as she approached Anko, who could only flinch as the girl tugged her hair, hard.
"So. You gonna give us what we want or should we take it by force?"
| × | × | × | × | × |
I promised you "first week of January" and look, it's February! Punch me in the face.
WAIT NO DON'T.
Forgive me guys, really. Things went downhill over here and I had 3 full weeks of exams/homeworks/camps so I didn't have any time to write. This chapter isn't as long as it's supposed to be but I feel guilty if I don't update anytime soon.
WELL ANYWAYS. Tell me what you think. What do you think will happen, what do you want to happen, what would you like to see, whatever crosses you mind. Vote, too?
See you, guys.
*Wish me luck on my exams! If I pass them then I'll definitely have more time to write!
Have a good day!
- Rae (Midnight-Ravencrow)