Naoko sat quietly at the assembly. They had gathered all the new students of the Kirigakure academy to assign them partners. She waited impatiently as others were being called, shifting in her seat.
"Akagi Daichi!" A small boy with red hair stood up and ran over to the center of the room. As he was up there he made sure to give everyone he passed a small wave, earning a disapproving nod from the Jounin in charge.
"Aoyama Naoko!"
Naoko breathed a sigh of relief. She stood up, making sure to show off the new outfit her mom had bought her, and headed to the center of the room.
"Hi friend!" Daichi waved flamboyantly at her. The jounin had to restrain himself from giving the kid a beat down right there but he knew what would come next would break the boy.
Kindness was not a shinobi trait. It invited weakness. That's what the Mizukage said. Naoko barely acknowledged the boy, instead turning to the Jounin. He pointed them towards the rooms in the back. They went together, Daichi tried to make conversation but Naoko ignored him. She was more interested in becoming a ninja at this point. There was a long hallway that separated into two rooms, one was for girls and one was for boys. She was led by an older female into the room. In the room there was a hot furnace and two other chuunin. She sat obediently down on the bench that was provided. The two chuunin grabbed her arms. She wondered what was going on and started to try and pull away from them. The jounin grabbed a steel pole with a design on the end from the furnace. It was red with heat. She went slowly to Naoko. Naoko was kicking now. She screamed as she fought as hard as she could. The Jounin approached and Naoko caught her in the jaw with her foot. The Jounin stepped backwards, trying to stop the blood coming from her nose.
"Little bitch! I was going to do this easy!"
The Jounin stepped forward and backhanded the young girl. Naoko was turned around at the force of the blow. The Jounin pressed the searing metal into her back. Naoko screamed a blood-curdling scream that would've scared the oldest of people. However, Kirigakure Jounin were never scared, and she kept on pressing until the burn was done.
"Mizukage-sama orders this. He wants you to know that he owns you, completely." The Jounin added to deepen the girl's sorrows. They let her out and told her where her room was.
When she arrived she saw her partner, Daichi, rubbing a spot on his back.
"That hurt! Who do you think peed in their cereal?" He said with a giggle.
Naoko laughed a little, "I kicked one of them in the mouth."
Daichi rolled off his bed. "Awesome! I wish I was there!"
They both broke into laughter despite the horrible experience. They started talking about how funny the Jounin looked, how scared the chuunin looked, and how the design made some weird kind of face if you looked at it sideways. Soon it was lights out. As they were both snuggling into bed, Daichi was kind enough to let her have the top bunk; he poked his head out from the bottom.
"Naoko?"
"What?"
"I like you"
"I like you too."