Chapter 12:::Arrival Greeting

Nami mumbled to herself and rolled over. She shivered and curled up in a ball, hands unconsciously trying to grab her blanket. All she was met with was cold concrete. She opened one eye and looked around .

Where-Ooooooohhhhhh right. The exam. Nami groaned and stood up. She stretched and tried to get the kinks out of he back, shoulders, and arms.

"100 push ups." She announced to herself before starting her push ups. Ten minutes later she stopped. "One hand." She did 100 more with her right hand, and then 100 more with her left hand. She stood up and rolled her shoulders, moving her head from side to side.

Smirking she opened her eye and looked down at Fuyu and Gen, they were still asleep. She kneeled down next to Gen and shook his shoulder.

"Gen...Gen wake up. Gen!"

Gen pushed she hand away and groaned. He opened his eyes and squinted at Nami. "Nami-chan?"

Nami smiled brightly. "Good morning, Gen! It's time to wake up!"

Gen sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Where are we?"

Nami jumped up and spread her arms out. "The tower!"

Gen's eyes widened and he jumped up. "Really! We made it?!"

Nami crossed her arms. "Well I made it. I had to carry you, so technically I made it while dragging you."

Gen pouted and reached a hand into his pocket. "But I carried the scrolls!" He shoved the scrolls in her face.

Nami laughed and moved his hand out of her face. "Okay, okay, you helped. So want to help me get Fuyu up?"

Gen blinked a threw a weary glance at his brother. "Ummmm, I don't know, Fuyu can be very grumpy sometimes. Maybe we should let him sleep."

Nami nodded and took the scrolls from Gen as he looked around.

"Hey, what's that?" He asked suddenly pointing to the description on the wall.

Nami blinked and looked up. "Oh yeah, I forgot that was there...lets see. 'If you open both Heaven and Earth Scrolls, dangerous paths become safe ones. This is the secret of...something something... It shall lead you on your way.' Hm, Heaven? Earth? Seems like it's time to open the scrolls." She handed Gen the Heaven scroll. They opened the scrolls at the same time. Nothing happened at first, but suddenly smoke started to come out of the scrolls.

Fuyu suddenly sat up. "It's a summoner!" Nami and Gen threw the scrolls across the room.

The smoke cleared and Nami's eyes widened.

"'Kaasan!?"

Suki smirked and Fuyu and Gen blinked, taking in the identical turquoise hair, brown eyes, and cocky smirk.

Fuyu stood up. "Woah."

Gen nodded. "It's like looking into the future."

"Weird." The said together.

Suki smiled wider and grabbed both Fuyu and Gen, hugging them. "So these are you teammates? Well you didn't tell how cute they are!"

Nami's eyes widened and she tried to help her teammates as her mother chocked them. "Yes yes, but it won't really matter if you kill them! 'Kaasan what are you doing here?! Besides trying to smother my friends!"

Suki instantly let go of the two boy, who fell in a heap at her feet, and suddenly looked determined. She raised a fist. "Right! This is not a friendly visit, it's strictly business, but first." She checked her watch and the next second Nami was in her arms and being spun around. "I am just so proud that you got this far! I knew you could do it!"

Nami wiggled out of her mother's arms and yelled. "Okaasan! WHY ARE YOU HERE!?"

Suki hid behind Gen, eyes large and watery. "Nami-chan mean."

Gen nodded.

Nami sighed annoyed. "Sorry, so why are you here?"

Suki stood up straight. "Every passing team is greeted by a Chuunin, you three were lucky enough to get me!" She smiled cheekily.

"What did you do?" Nami asked in a motherly tone.

Suki linked her hands behind her back and kicked some imaginary dirt. "Nothing..."

Nami crossed her arms. "Okaasan, what did you do?"

"Okay!" Suki groaned, giving up. "I may have threatened a person or two until they let me greet you guys, but I just wanted to be the one to give the greeting message!"

Nami rolled her eyes at her mother's childish tone, but smiled none the less. "That's was very nice of you 'Kaasan, so what do yo need to tell us?"

Suki smirked. "I'm here to explain that." she pointed a thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to the banner.

Gen nodded and Fuyu silently read it. "Yeah, we noticed that, what does it mean. I know it's referring to the scrolls, but what about the missing spaces?"

Suki smiled. "This is the principle Hokage-sama wrote that you should keep in mind as a Chuunin. The Heaven in the text represents the head of a person and Earth represents the body. If you don't have Heaven, gain more knowledge, and if you don't possess Earth, train harder. When you possess both heaven and Earth, dangerous mission will become safer."

Gen jumped up and down. "I get it! It's like me and Fuyu! We're both better at some things than other. I have Heaven, and Fuyu has Earth. And by working together, we can do almost anything. And Nami already had both Heaven and Earth. She's smart and strong!"

Suki smiled proudly. "Yes I know, but it doesn't matter if you acquire both Heaven and Earth. What matters, is how you us your abilities. That's what this test is all about. The examiners are trying to see if you're ready for the next step or not."

Nami nodded. "I get it, but what's the missing letter?"

Suki turned her head. "It's the letter that symbolizes a Chuunin. The human letter that was on the scrolls goes there. Never forget that Chuunin principle, and go to the next step. Now that's all I have to tell you. Congratulations on passing the Second Exam. This is where I leave you. To leave this room go through that door." She pointed to the door to her right. "Tata!" A second later she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The three Genin stood in silence for a moment. Fuyu yawned and walked towards the door. "Well that's very exciting, but I'm still tired and we have four days before time is up and the next exam begins. Now I'm going to find a more comfortable place to sleep."

Gen quickly followed, but Nami just walked at a slower pace. She was up and she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep for a while.

As Gen and Fuyu found a place to rest of one of the benches, Nami walked around. She sighed bored and unwrapped her Chain Sickle.

"Might as well practice with this while I have the chance." She started twirling her weapon in a crisscrossing motion in front of her. She stood on her left foot and let her right leg stretch out behind her. Soon as she spun the chain the front of her body and her right leg were moving up and down in a circular motion. As she did she moved her right arm and spun the chain above her. She pivoted on the left foot and spun in the opposite direction of her chain, right leg and front still stretched. After a moment she jumped up replacing her left leg with her right and changed directions. She spun the chain a little slower and switched hands, then speeded up again.

After another couple of minutes Nami pivoted the in opposite direction so she was facing the ceiling, chain spinning above her. Before she fell from lack of balance she did a series of back flips, maneuvering the chain and blade so she wouldn't hit herself. She landed in a perfect stance and her Chain Sickle was once again being twirled in front of her in a crisscrossing motion. She suddenly stopped moving her arm and and chain continued to spin, wrapping tightly around her arm. She just calmly removed it, ignoring the redness of her skin as a result from her blood circulation being cut off for a moment.

By now she was used to the pain that came from training, considering who her cousin was. This was nothing compared to the harsh nonstop, 'no we can't stop for lunch now, not while we are still alive and have our youthful souls and wise minds to guide us!', after a while Nami formed an immunity to small pain. Plus she could run faster and was stronger because of training with her cousin and Lee. Although she didn't go as far as either of them as to master Taijutsu, seeing as she wanted to concentrate more on her Ninjutsu and weaponry skills.

Nami sighed and dropped her weapon, moving it aside. "Okay, first I'll warm up with 500 kicks and punches, then 100 jumping jack, then 200 squats, 150 push ups, and 200 sit ups. If I can't finish that I will run 1000 laps around Konoha after the Chuunin Exam is over!"

Nami made a fist and a determined fire appeared in her eyes. "I will make you proud Gai-itoko, Lee!" Another trait Nami had gotten from her cousin, announcing things out loud when no ones around.

Nami started off slow, it was unwise to start off to fast, you'd burn out your energy. By starting slow her body would adjust better until she was ready to go faster.

-right punch...left punch

...right...left...right...left..right...left...right...left...right..left..rightright..leftleft..right.leftrightleftrightleftrightleftrightleft. Right hook-jab-punch. Left hook-jab-punch. Right uppercut. Left uppercut...She continued at that speed just throwing random punches. Once she reached 500 she switched to kicks.

"Okay, 250 kicks for each leg." She started with her right leg and once she was nearing her goal she did a front flip and landed a hard roundhouse kick to the concrete floor, causing a crater to form. She repeated the exercise with her left leg, but when she made the final kick the crater was slightly smaller than the first.

Nami blinked. "Well that's not good, I'll have to work on balancing the strength in both my legs later. Alright 100 jumping jacks!"

"1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19.20"-15 minutes later-"95.96.97.98.99.100!" Nami stretched her arms above her head and took a couple of breaths.

"Okay, 200 squats! 1..2..3..4..5..6..this is..going to..take a..while..11"-30 minutes later- "193...194...195...196...197...198...19-199!...200!" Nami leaned

against the wall and rubbed her legs. After a 15 second break she began to do her push ups.

"1...2...3"-30 minutes later-"...147...148...149...150!" She rolled onto her back and began her sit ups. "1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15"-15 minutes later-"195...196...197...198...199...200!" Once done she did a backwards somersault onto her feet. She picked up her Chain Sickle and wrapped it around her waist. Nami rolled her shoulders, throwing a couple more air punches. "Geez, training alone is boring, too bad Lee isn't here, he'd spar with me." Nami narrowed her eyes and punched the wall, it crumbled. "I'm so bored!"

"Why are you destroying the biulding?"

Nami turned slowly, face blank. Suddenly her face split into a sly smirk. Hello opponent.


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