Sand and Blood

Chapter Seven

Enter Konoha

It is in change we find purpose

"Tenoki..." Mitsunari started, but paused to think, looking up at the ceiling. She waited patiently for him to find the words as they sat in a hotel in Konoha Village. It had two double-beds in the main room, side-by-side, a bathroom and a small kitchen. They were not sharing a house with Tetsuo this time; instead he bunked with the other three ninja from the Sound Village in a bigger room below them in the same hotel. They were all here for the same reason. "You will be put in a group of three for the exams. I know you're... not used to that, but please just deal with your teammates and try to work together with them."

"...Who am I to put up with, sensei...?" Tenoki asked timidly, her voice shrinking at the thought of the only two Sound Ninja groups of their village. Which one would she have to join?

Mitsunari sighed, the first and most obvious indication of who she had been paired with.

"I'm sorry, Tenoki, I suggested you be with Dosu and his team, but I did not choose. You're paired with Tetsuo and his group..." Mitsunari looked up at Tenoki, his voice deepening. "But... If he gets too bad... I will kill him personally." He said, half joking and half not. "Please don't do anything rash, and don't forget our purpose here... anything too serious could cost us the mission. I will have a talk with Tetsuo also, so don't worry." He paused, Tenoki did not speak. "Remember when I was telling you about this time we will spend in Konoha during the Chuunin exams?" Tenoki nodded. She always remembers. "You remember your assignment, I have no doubts..." He spoke in a serious tone. She nodded once more.

"Yes, Mitsunari-san..."

"Do not forget who your target is... Once you find him, there is no way to undo what needs to be done... So don't get the wrong man.... I'm counting on you, Tenoki..."

"I will not let you down, sensei..." She bowed to him respectfully, not showing any signs of distress. He nodded back at her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I will tell you when the time comes... until then, at least try to be nice to people, and do not attract unnecessary attention to yourself..." He removed his firm hand from her shoulder, stood up and walked towards the door. "Go to the meeting, all participants must attend. It's already started, but I know you will get in undetected." He opened the door and in a flash Tenoki had vanished.

"...to take the Chuunin exams..." A Jounin ninja spoke to a crowd of lower ninjas, all taking the exam. A boy wearing a bright orange outfit yawned and stretched, looking around at his competition and completely tuning out the instructor's voice. He turned to his side, his eyes watery from yawing, and jumped.

"Who the hell are you?!" He blurted out in a loud whisper. A few other ninjas turned around and shushed him, but he paid not attention. A girl with dark blue hair up in a ponytail had seemingly appeared next to him, she wasn't there a second ago. Her scarf fluttered down until it lay still against her back. "Where did you come from?!" He asked slightly softer, still being shushed by a few people.

"Me? ...I was standing here the whole time..." Tenoki turned to the boy, thinking of Mitsunari and forced a half-smile. The boy was convinced, and watched her cautiously. Nobody else had seen her come in. The instructor continued.

"The first test will be a written one," The boy in orange almost fell over at hearing this.

"NANI?!"

"It will be held tomorrow at the school, promptly at 9 AM. Those who are late of do not attend will be disqualified. Also, the score of all three in the team will be added up for an accumulative score. If one person fails, they take their entire group down with them." He paused, looking around to where the sound ninjas had congregated on the other side of Tenoki. "However, we do have a special case. There is one group of four," He stopped briefly to wait for the students to stop groaning and complaining that their score would be the highest. "That's not necessarily true... The four of them will still be graded the same, so, if anything, they have it worse than the rest of you. They have a greater chance of one of them failing the entire team." he said, "We will explain the rules of the test tomorrow before you take it. This meeting is over. See you all tomorrow,"

Everyone filed out of the room and outside, talking within their groups. The boy in orange still looked crushed, his face dead-like. The other two members of his group came up, a girl with pink hair and a boy with raven-black hair. Neither of them looked so hot either.

"Naruto... Please, at least get one question right tomorrow...." The girl hissed at him.

"Sakura, don't pressure him or he'll do even worse. Naruto," The boy looked Naruto in the face. "Don't get all the questions wrong tomorrow, got it?" He said forcefully.

"Hey, Tenoki!" Someone called to her, breaking her concentration on the blonde boy's conversation with his own team. Three boys faced her, Tetsuo in the middle. The one to his right had his arms crossed and looked unhappy. He was wearing a white shirt with a low V-neck, the sleeves ripped off to reveal a tattoo down his right arm of a Chinese dragon, spiraling around his arm and disappearing under his shirt at his shoulder. He had shaggy white hair that covered his right eye and the right half of his forehead protector. The boy on the other side of Tetsuo also did not look very happy as he stared at Tenoki with a disgusted look on his face. He had short, black, untamed hair that spiked in every direction, except for one extremely long lock of hair in front of both of his ears that hung down to his chest. He had an evil look that would never leave his face no matter how much he smiled.

"So this is Tenoki? Not bad, Tetsuo, she's pretty cute," The guy with black hair said. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his baggy grey jacket that was unzipped, revealing a t-shirt under it picturing the silhouettes of naked girls. He reached out his right hand for her to shake. "Name's Hideyoshi, butchu can call me Yosh." No one thought it was weird that they had all grown up in the same small village, and even had the same forehead protector with the sound symbol on it, but had hardly ever caught a glimpse of Tenoki.

The other boy with the white hair did not speak, but examined her. "And that's Ryu. He's anti-social, don't mind him." Yosh put his hand back in his pocket once he realized that Tenoki was not about to shake it. They all started walking down the crowded streets in a line, Yosh next to Tenoki, and a steaming Tetsuo becoming more and more infuriated as Yosh kept trying to talk to Tenoki.

The turmoil and chaos of the busy roads was unfamiliar to the Sound Ninjas, each except Tenoki and Ryu, were looking around and taking in everything. They spoke not to any other ninjas as that made their way down the dirt road, passing cramped together stores and buildings and shops.

"I have to go now..." Tenoki stopped walking, and the others turned to face her. She bowed to them all. "...It was.... nice meeting you..." She stood back up straight and was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving her new teammates alone and confused in the crowded streets. Ryu stood calmly, waiting for the other two to calm down as well.

"Yeah... see you tomorrow..." Tetsuo said to her, wherever she had vanished to. They walked back together to their hotel room as the sun was setting. Back in their room, Ryu had to talk Tetsuo and Yosh out of going out to meet the "chicks of Konoha," and to convince them that it would be wise to get some rest to be mentally ready for the test tomorrow. He lost the argument, but they stayed home due to minor concussions and slept soundly all night.