The air in Konoha was tense; the Kazekage and his wife were set to arrive any minute now. It's not like the two villages had a bad relationship with each other, not at all. It's just that there were some… complications in the past. Some things are just better left untouched.
Elsewhere, a young, redheaded girl was walking through the forest, her opal eyes shifting around nervously.
"Toshihiro! What if I fail the exam?!" Akemi whined to her cousin. She was poking her fingers together, a habit she had gained from her mother. Akemi had a lot of things in common with her mother, but luckily for her impatient cousin, Kenta, she had not developed a stutter.
"You won't Akemi; not with the way you train," Toshihiro yawned, adjusting the forehead protector on his arm. He loved his cousin to death, honestly, but sometimes her lack of confidence annoyed him. She had no reason! She was loved by almost everyone!
"God damn it! Stop complaining!" the other young boy complained ironically, running a hand through his messy brown hair.
"Kenta, use that language and I'm telling your dad," an older Baki warned. The young boy just scoffed. "Oh? Did I say your dad? I meant your aunt," he sneered sadistically. Kenta stiffened and shut his mouth; the wrath of his aunt was worse than anything his mother or father could do to him.
"We're here!" Akemi announced nervously, her frail form shaking.
"What're you talking 'bout? This is just a bunch of leaves," Kenta groaned, looking around. Both of his cousins turned to him, all fears diminished, and looked at him like he was stupid.
"What village are we going to?" Toshihiro asked simply, subconsciously touching the dirty blonde pineapple on his head.
It took the brunette a minute to answer and when he did, he was quite bitter. "So; not everyone can be a genius like you."
"All of you! Shut up! You're just as annoying as your parents!" Baki exclaimed, smacking Kenta upside the head. As they walked into the village the boy was still grumbling about why it was only him.
The first thing that Akemi noticed when she walked into the village was not all the different looking people, but her mom talking to two strange men.
"I'll be right back," she told her team. She walked up to her mom and despite having initiated it; she was still shy and hid behind her mom.
"And I'm guessing that this beautiful little girl is your daughter Hina-chan?" the man with red, upside down triangles tattooed onto him. Not to mention there was a giant dog beside him.
"Inuzuka, I sincerely hope that you are not flirting with my daughter; or I'll have to kill you," the deep, threatening voice of her father rang out, from right behind her. Akemi, now used to this, did not jump, but the Inuzuka on the other hand…
"God damn it! It was just a compliment! Are you really accusing me of being a pedophile?!" Kiba growled, walking towards the Kazekage.
"I don't know who you are, and even if you know my mother well, I will not allow you to threaten my father," Akemi threatened, all traces of shyness gone. Despite her being only twelve years old, Kiba still paled; have you met her father? Who knows what scary shit he taught her!
Hinata laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Calm down Akemi; Kiba was only joking. For reasons beyond me those two have been feuding for years."
"Only because I won," Gaara muttered, not at all sounding like the serious man that he claimed to be.
"What was that honey?" Hinata asked, a dark smile growing steadily on her face. Both men paled; they knew that that smile meant business. Taking this chance the other, always ignored, man took his chance.
"Hello, I am Shino Aburame. It is my understanding that you are the daughter of Hina-chan and Lord Kazekage. What is your name?" the tall, shades wearing man asked bluntly, despite knowing the answer.
"Hello, I am Akemi," she bowed, her red hair dropping to about a foot above the ground. Shino nodded to her as she rose.
"Are you competing in the Chunin exams?" Shino, surprisingly, continued the conversation as the other adults had a standoff.
"Yes, are you a sensei?"
"Actually, they are supposed to be meeting me here any-"
"Yo sensei!" a voice called through the crowd and Shino's eyes narrowed.
"Ichiro, do not disturb the citizens," the man scolded his pupil.
"Idiot!" a pink haired girl yelled, smashing a fist into Ichiro's face. Akemi could see the resemblance almost instantly. The blonde haired, green eyed boy and pink haired blue eyed girl, their features matched so easily to the pictures she had seen from her mother.
"Sakurako! What did Dad say about hitting me?" he whined, nursing his face. "Yasahiro! Can you tell her to stop hitting me?!" Yasahiro was a boy that looked very much like Shino, but Akemi didn't think they were related, just from the same clan. The boy ignored him, pushed up his glasses, and bowed. Both of his teammates looked at him like he was crazy.
"Lord Kazekage, Lady Hinata," he stated simply, but respectfully. He didn't know who the other girl was so he regarded her like he would anyone else. He spared a glance from the corner of his eyes at his two teammates, who were blushing and looking down shamefully.
"Sorry Lord Kazekage," they apologized simultaneously. Gaara just grunted but growled when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't be too hard on my kids now Gaara or Sakura might just whoop your ass," Naruto chuckled, gesturing grandly at his beautiful wife. Akemi looked at the two new arrivals and confirmed what she already knew; Sakura and Naruto Uzumaki were the parents of Sakurako and Ichiro. Having a father like Gaara made you more inclined to see people's emotions and as the daughter of Hinata, she perfected this art. Looking at Sakura she could see something sadistic and, excuse her language, bitchy in those beautiful eyes as she watched Hinata. Akemi's own opal eyes shifted to her mother and saw underlying sadness, but it was overcome by happiness.
"So this must be your daughter, she's beautiful. Why haven't you ever brought her here Hinata-chan?" Sakura cooed, looking at the smaller girl. Akemi glared, her Byakugan, yet slightly aquamarine, eyes glowing with hatred. Both of her parents placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Honey, you should go meet up with your team," Hinata said, looking from her to Sakura.
"Yeah," she agreed her cold persona up in front of the strangers.
She walked down the streets of Konoha, Byakugan activated, and got many weird stares; it's not every day you see a red haired Hyuga. From a bit away Akemi could see her team at a food stand, she sighed; go figure. She crept up behind them slowly and placed a hand on both boys' shoulder. Kenta jumped and spit out a bit of ramen, getting an annoyed look from the girl behind the counter, and Toshihiro just flinched a bit.
"What did I tell you about doing that?!" Kenta exploded his face turning close to the color of his father's make-up.
"Do you want to train?" she asked simply, surprisingly not bothered by her cousin's outburst.
"Sure."
"Why not?"