Chapter 1 – Post Graduation?
"Congratulations, graduates. You've passed."
A general cheer rang through the room.
"-et. Quiet." Kirika-sensei's finally reached the children's ears. "You're not out of the kitchen yet." The room was deadly silent. Why couldn't I figure that out before they graduated Kirika thought to himself half-jokingly. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself before letting out the bad news. "The Moon village is still very small," he said, trying to ease into it. "We can't spare a lot of jounin…"
The class broke out all at once. Almost every one of the new ninjas had something to say.
"You mean I didn't graduate?!"
"What do you mean?"
"We aren't going to get to do anything?"
Kirika motioned for them to calm down, but the class kept going.
"SHUUUUTUUUP!!!!"
The room fell immediately silent. All eyes turned to see the new arrival.
He was dressed in a black tank top and black pants. His green chuunin vest was left unzipped, and seemed to be died to be darker. His long blond hair was pulled into a ponytail. "Can't you keep a handle on these kids?" he glared at Kirika. A general murmur of disapproval for him rippled through the class, silenced quickly as he turned his disapproval to them.
"The village leader has sent me," he said to them, his voice dripping in malice, "to tell you what will happen. The room fell silent, half wondering what would happen, the other half afraid of the glare he still gave them. "We have four Jounin that are not away on missions. This means that you will be separated into four groups. Each group will be tested individually."
"Four Jounin? Does that mean –"
"Yes." The mood in the room immediately dropped. "Only 12 may pass this year. That means more than half of you 28 are even able to pass. The grading will be a lot harder now, so I can't guarantee any will."
No murmurs. No whisper or hiss was made to their neighbor. The students had all become enemies.
"You will meet here at exactly 1400 hours tomorrow."