Chapter 1
Konoha Village seemed so tranquil even after the constant destruction it had been through. Of course, Hitomi never really cared about what had happened in the past. She always focused on the here and now. Sliding out of bed, she tousled her light brown hair a bit, a habit she had never grown out of. Looking in the mirror, she blinked and her normally black eyes changed a deep shade of gold, as if there was an individual radiance within them. This was another thing she couldn't change. But she shrugged it off and quickly changed into her ninja outfit.
Looking back to the house she had lived in for nearly all her life, she smiled. It was so small, only a story tall, a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen the only rooms in the entire house. It always seemed so big to her, but that was probably because her parents never lived here. She never knew them that well. She only knew her friends and teachers. And one teacher seemed so familiar to her, but she never understood why. She shook her head and rushed off to class, even though she was early.
Another set of eyes watched the young girl, one pale white, the other a piercing black and red. The eyes seemed dead and they blinked and faded away in an instant.
Elsewhere, another girl awoke to the birds that had roused her from bed every morning since she was small. Rubbing her eyes, she was careful not to wake her brother, who seemed to always sleep with one eye open. A scary eye at that! She tiptoed all the way to the kitchen, where she snatched a few rice balls and a tea packet. She spoke silently to herself.
"Need to get some early training in before brother wakes up…"
She slid open the door, but stopped at the sound of her name.
"Risa…"
Spinning around, Risa stifled a scream as her brother stared at her, one of his eyes; the left specifically; instinctively closed.
"Minoru…what are you doing? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Just wondering where you were going. You've been leaving early for the past two weeks. Somebody you're meeting? Or…secret training?"
Risa gasped and composed herself, replying, "No…just want to watch the sunrise…"
"Ok…see you at class…" Minoru replied, stumbling back to bed.
Risa nodded and ran out the door, purple hair blowing in the wind, emerald eyes glinting in the sun.
Kenta liked to practice his ninjutsu against animals; especially cats.
"Akimaru…I'll find you…"
His orange eyes darted around, looking from tree to tree, focusing chakra into every crevice. This was what improved his chakra levels, but it also exhausted him. He still hadn't had breakfast, and he needed to find that stupid cat. He sat, the soles of his feet pressed together and his knees parallel to the ground. His eyes squeezed together, still concentrating on finding his opponent. As if he saw the feline through his eyelids, he grabbed out at the air, snatching the tail. A screech from the cat knocked him out of his stupor.
"Got you! Now let's get back home to have some of Natsumi's breakfast!" Placing the cat on his shoulder, he rushed through the trees, blonde mess of yellow and gold hair still clouding his vision. Yet again, the two orbs of light and darkness shone through the forest and disappeared just as fast, unseen even to Akimaru, much sharper vision than Kenta.
Just as Kenta stopped to catch his break, a shuriken narrowly missed his face, cutting his cheek. He heard a chuckle behind him and turned around to see a smirking face, reminiscent of a snake's grin.
"Basho…don't scare me like that!"
The taller ninja replied with another giggle, still smiling like a raccoon, "But you need to keep your reflexes up, Jotaro. The test is today and most everyone has been training early this morning. But you've lost your touch."
Kenta smiled and a hand grasped Basho's shoulder from behind.
"With all your intelligence, Basho, I thought you would've known that was a clone, namely my cat."
A burst of smoke revealed the foot high pet, its head cocked to the left.
Basho's fear turned to confidence as his hand grabbed Kenta's shoulder from above. Kenta looked up to see Basho, standing upside down, using the younger ninja's shoulders to support himself.
"You're still slower than Tsunade-sama! We'll see who becomes a genin today!" Basho pushed himself off and faded into the trees, leaving behind a trail of purple smoke.
Kenta glared towards the direction of the smoke and turned back to face the village, grabbing up Akimaru and disappearing into the leaves.
Konohamaru sighed, putting a hand to his head. Three of his students were late, and it didn't surprise him who they were. Basho reminded him of his father: lazy and apathetic. But he had incredible talents. Why couldn't he see that for himself? Jotaro and Kyoji were probably sparring again. Thos two were so much like Naruto and himself. Fighting to gain a position that one would have to abandon.
Suddenly, the door burst in, three figures standing in the dust. Jotaro, a boy with brown hair down to his ears and eyes that shone as deep a green as the forest, was the first to walk in, overly confident, a swagger in his step. Kyoji's hair was cut shorter, nearly past his forehead and his brown eyes a mix of anger and sorrow. Following Jotaro, the two sat in the back of class, stumbling as they walked up the stairs. They sat near Kenta, who still sat in the same fashion as his partner, his legs crouched up and his hands flat on the seat.
Hitomi, Risa and Natsumi all sat in another row. Natsumi reminded Konohamaru so much of her mother. Her eyes were green like Jotaro's, but were a medium shade; lighter than her elder brother's, but darker than Risa's.
Basho stepped in last, slouching slightly, his face dead and empty, quite juxtaposing his grin from that morning. Konohamaru adjusted his headband, his dark brown hair falling in front of his eyes.
"Well, good morning everyone. Today's our final exam and I hope you're all ready."
