A/N:
I'm not really sure how long this chapter will be (I'm literally just 500 words into it), but one disclaimer I need to give is that I'll kinda just skip the final exam fights because there's tea to be spilt and I won't write all the canon things. Thanks, and enjoy!

Kaiya could feel the sweat drops rolling down from her forehead to her cheeks and then down her neck as she stood in the middle of the arena, who was full of people on the sides, who wanted to see the upcoming fights.

Next to her stood Neji, Naruto, the redhead boy who fought against Lee and a girl Kaiya saw during the preliminaries. One thing was clear; they were all genin who passed the preliminaries, ready to become a chuunin. Kaiya wasn't really sure about how the other's felt about this whole situation, but she couldn't feel anything but nervousness. She prayed that, when her match will come, it wouldn't be against Neji, as she had absolutely no chance against him.

In front of them stood their proctor- a man in his mid-20's or early 30's with a headband covering his entire head and a straw in his mouth, along with a relaxed look on his face.

'Alright, alright.' The proctor sighed. 'Welcome to the final stage of the chuunin exams. Let's get into the first round.'

The air tensed as the spectators stopped talking as the participants looked at each other nervously.

'The first round will consist of...' The proctor checked a paper. 'Neji Hyuuga and Naruto Uzumaki.'

Kaiya couldn't help but sigh a little in relief. She was safe for now. The proctor instructed the rest of the participants to get away from the arena, and everybody obeyed with no hesitation.

They all placed themselves on the first row of seats, watching carefully. A few minutes into the fight, Kaiya couldn't help but be impressed by both opponents' skills.

'Hi, do you mind if we'd sit here?'

Kaiya looked up startled, to see Sakura, accompanied by a blonde girl who looked at her curiously.

'No, not at all.' She answered. 'Take a seat.'

The two girls sat down quietly and continued to watch the fight.

'Neji's in your team, right?' Sakura asked.

'Mhm.' Kaiya said, with a nod.

'Oh, so you're in a team with-' The blonde girl began, but without getting the chance to finish.

'Ino, I told you about this.' Sakura hissed.

Kaiya couldn't stop herself from letting out a laugh. The two girls looked at her confusedly.

'I'm sorry.' She apologised before something dawned upon her. 'Wait, didn't you two fight each other in the preliminaries?'

The two girls sweat-dropped, with a chuckle.

'We did.' The blonde girl named Ino said, with a smile. 'But we're on better terms now. Right, Sakura?'

'Right!' Sakura nodded, with enthusiasm, before turning her attention back to the fight. 'Neji's got really strong, didn't he?'

'Oh yes!' Kaiya approved. 'He's got quite stronger than I last remembered him. To be honest, I haven't really seen much of him during the last, so God knows what he did during all that.'

'Same goes for Naruto.' Sakura related. 'I mean, I guess he was still quite strong before the finals, but I haven't seen him very much. From what I understood, he was training under Jiraiya-same.'

'Jiraiya?' Kaiya asked astonished, in recognition of the name. 'Jiraiya the Sannin?'

From what she heard ever since she was little was how there were these three people -two men and a woman, to be exact- who, during the second great ninja war, each got the title of Sannin for their amazing skills and abilities. And one of the three Sannins lived under the name of Jiraiya.

'Mhm, the Jiraiya!'

'I see...' Kaiya mumbled.

The fight went on quite a bit and, even though Neji eventually lost, both of them didn't fail to amaze Kaiya, especially Naruto. It was true, at some point a weird, orange chakra emerged from all over the nota's body, but Kaiya tried and didn't put too much thought into it. After all, only the lord would know what kind of jutsus there could be. Especially the ones taught by a Sannin..., Kaiya couldn't help but think.

As the fight ended, a ninja exchanged some messages between the Proctor and the Hokage.

'Alright, the second fight will be between...' The proctor sighed, in thought. 'Shino Aburame and Kankūro of the Sand.'

The crowd murmured, clearly unpleased. But, much to their pleasure, the boy named Kankūro gave up early on as he said something of the sort that he wanted to keep his techniques a secret.

'Fine.' The proctor said. 'Then we'll move on to the next round... Temari of The Sand and Shikamaru Nara.'

None of them complained and prepared for the fight.

'Go, Shikamaru!' The blonde girl named Ino yelled supportively.

The fight wasn't particularly long, but it was sure something. The two turned out to be great masterminds for their battles, leaving it to see which one was better. In the end, the fight turned into Shikamaru's favour, but, for some reasoning, Kaiya couldn't understand, the boy didn't take it and gave up in the last hundred metres of the fight.

'He's a great tactician, but I don't get it- he could've won!' Kaiya told the two girls.

'Yeah, I know.' Ino said, rubbing her nerves. 'Shikamaru's really smart, but he has about the same amount of laziness as his intelligence. That idiot.'

Hearing the girl's comments, Kaiya couldn't help but feel amused. The blonde girl really seemed good friends with Shikamaru and the way she talked about him, well, it reminded her a few her brothers. For a moment, the thought of her brothers had an effect on her, but she quickly shook her head, brushing off those feelings of bittersweetness. Now's not the right moment, Kaiya. Not now., she thought.

The proctor exchanged a few other words with the Hokage, as, all of a sudden, two familiar faces appeared in the middle of the arena.

A white-haired man in his mid-20's appeared along with a teen boy with dark hair. At their sight, Sakura and Ino gasped, along with most of the public.

'Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-Kun are here!' Sakura said, relieved. 'Thank God.'

As she said that, something dawned upon Kaiya.

'Sasuke wasn't here earlier.' She said in realisation. 'Where was he?'

'Kakashi-sensei took care to train him personally for the past month.' Sakura explained. 'I'm not really sure where or how, but he did that. And they're late.'

'I see.' Kaiya muttered.

'The next round will be between Sasuke Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara of the Sand.' The proctor announced, obviously relieved.

The public roared with excitement. To cut them some slack, both opponents were skilled.

'I don't really like this.' Kaiya told Sakura. 'You know what happened in the preliminaries when Gaara had to fight with Lee.'

The two girls nodded, in agreement.

'That's right. Speaking of Lee... how's he doing?' Ino asked.

'Oh, he's doing much better!' Kaiya exclaimed as she looked over the large crowd behind her. 'He should be somewhere here in the crowd.'

'I'm glad to hear.' Ino smiled. 'Your name is Kaiya, right?'

The sudden act of kindness took Kaiya aback and made her pray that the girl wouldn't notice how her face gained a tint of pink.

'Yeah, that's me.' Kaiya answered. 'What's your name?'

'I'm Ino Yamanaka.' Ino answered. 'Nice to meet you.'

Kaiya smiled in response, as she returned her head back to the area, to notice how the fight began already.

The fight was about just as Kaiya expected. Violent, bloody, and full of sand. This time, though, things took a slightly different turn.

The boy named Sasuke turned out to be quite a resisting opponent, but, sadly for him, they didn't get to fight to the very end. Just as Sasuke laid an effective attack against Gaara, penetrating his sand wall of protection, a wave of feathers began falling from the sky. As they fell, a feeling of sleepiness laid itself upon the public, including Kaiya.

People began yawning and each slowly falling to the ground sound asleep. Kaiya felt how the feeling of sleepiness got stronger and stronger and noticed how Sakura used a jutsu that repelled all the feathers around her.

'S...Sakura...' Kaiya said, struggling to remain conscious as she fell from her chair.

'Right. Sorry, Kaiya.' Sakura said as she hurried to apply the same jutsu upon Kaiya. 'You'll get better really quick-'

Just as she wished to say more, Sakura was pushed away by someone and made their way to Kaiya. Sakura was fine, but she was confused by the actions. She didn't get to see the person's face, but judging on their back and body, they were a woman with long, brown hair and dirty clothes that clearly didn't belong to a shinobi.

'Kaiya- Kaiya get up already.' The woman said, as they shook Kaiya's body agitated, before looking up for a second, as if looking for someone. 'Akira, Amida, we found her!'

Kaiya, who now regained her consciousness back, nearly jolted up in recognition of the voice. She looked up, wide-eyed, and her heart skipped a beat.

'Mom? Mom! What are you doing here?' She asked as she got up on her knees, her heart now racing in confusion.

'I should ask the same question, young lady.' The woman hissed, obviously angry.

Just as the woman said that two boys around 16 with scruffy, brown hair appeared and jumped over the tributes until they arrived next to Kaiya and her mother.

'Lady Kaiya, so you're still alive, eh?' One of the boys asked, with a laugh.

'Akira...' Kaiya murmured, looking at the boys helpless.

'Akira, shut up.' Kaiya's mother snapped.

As the scene played before her, Sakura couldn't help but watch speechless. Mother...? As she sat there, one of the boys noticed her and, with one jump, he was next to her. She backed away in shock and put her arms around her head in an attempt to protect herself.

'Hi, there!' He said, energetically. 'Do you know Kaiya?'

'Amida, leave Sakura alone!' Kaiya said as she looked over her mother's shoulder, coming a little back to her senses.

'Yeah, Amida.' The other boy, Akira, mocked. 'Leave the girl alone.'

'Listen to your brother and come here.' Fuzasane said, seeing how Amida hesitated.

Amida mumbled something unintelligible before he eventually returned back where he sat earlier.

'So what do we do now, Fuzasane-same?' Akira asked.

Kaiya's mother rested her chin against her chest in thought.

'We should probably return back home. We've been gone for over a month now, they should be worried.' She eventually decided.

Akira and Amida nodded obediently along with an in, but Kaiya couldn't agree.

'No.' She said.

'What?' Her mother spat out. 'You mean to say-'

'You've been away for over a month, mother. You said it yourself.' Kaiya said calmly, looking right into her mother's eyes. 'You should get some rest, don't you think? Otherwise the chances of getting home will be very small.'

Her mother bit her lip as she considered for a moment.

'She's right, you know?' Amida said.

Fuzasane puffed lowly in displeasure. 'Fine. But not for long.'

Hearing her answer, a large smile appeared on Kaiya's face. 'Thank you.'

Fuzasane's face softened a little. 'Don't get too excited, ok? It's not forever.'

Kaiya nearly wanted to jump and hug her, but she shook her head as she looked around.

'I have a lot to tell your mother, but let's see what we can do here first.' Kaiya said as she got up on her feet.

'Speaking of here... what happened?' Fuzasane asked, looking around.

'It's hard to explain- I have no idea.' Kaiya said as she went over to Sakura. 'Are you alright, Sakura?'

'I'm- I'm fine, thank you.' Sakura answered.

Kaiya looked around, hoping to see someone who wasn't the enemy still awake. Much to her relief, she noticed Guy and Kakashi still awake, trying to figure out what happened.

'Guy-sensei!' Kaiya called out.

The man turned around and, once noticing her, a wave of happiness appeared on his face. He said something to Kakashi, before making his way towards his student.

'Sensei? Is that man your teacher?' Fuzasane asked, narrowing her eyebrows.

'He looks weird.' Amida pointed out.

'I know, but he's really cool.'

'Sakura, Kakashi-sensei is there, too.' Kaiya told Sakura, who seemed to be just as relieved as her.

Sakura called out for her teacher, who preferred to respond with a polite smile and a nod as he made his way there, behind Guy.

'Wait... The man behind your teacher, who is he?' Fuzasane asked Kaiya, with anxiety growing inside her.

'Um... His name is Kakashi Hatake and he is Sakura's teacher. Maybe she can tell you more if you want to. Why?'

Kaiya turned around to look at her mother, only to see her hands begging to shake as something Kaiya thought to be horror growing in her eyes.

'Kaiya,' her mother said decisively. 'we need to leave this place right now.'

'Hm? Why?'Kaiya asked, confused.

Just as she asked that the two men arrived. It was at this moment that Kakashi noticed Fuzasane and, to be fair, the air around tensed for a moment.

'Are you alright, Sakura?' Kakashi asked, moving his attention to Sakura.

'Yes, sensei. I managed to put a repelling jutsu and I managed not to fall asleep.'

'Good job.' He congratulated and patted her head.

Kaiya looked at Guy, expecting him to say something, but instead, he pulled her into a bear hug.

'Sensei... don't...' Kaiya whispered uncomfortably, unsure of how to react.

'Keep your hands off my daughter, teacher or not.' Fuzasane snarled, pulling Kaiya out of the hug.

'Don't mess with her, she's scary.' Amida whispered, pointing to Fuzasane.

A simple glare was all Amida needed to quiet down.

'I'm sorry, ma'am-' Guy began to apologise, as something dawned upon him. 'Wait, did you say 'daughter', miss?'

Kaiya laughed awkwardly. 'About that... Yes, she's my mother.'

'You... You didn't tell them about your family?' Fuzasane asked, slightly amused.

'I didn't even tell them my last name.' Kaiya snorted. 'But some of them may or may not know that Kiba is my cousin.'

'Well, I guess there's no point in hiding it now.' Fuzasane said. 'So, Tsume-chan's here?'

'Yeah, it appears so. Kiba says he grew up here, so I doubt aunt Tsume ever moved away from here for the past decade or so.'

'Kiba's your cousin?' Sakura said, surprised.

Kaiya nodded.

'Speaking of which... you got me curious about your family name now.' Guy said, rubbing his neck

Kaiya sighed and looked at her mother. 'Can I really tell them, mother?'

Her mother shrugged. 'They already know that Kiba's your cousin- it doesn't matter now as the word would get out anyway.'

Kaiya looked at her mother for a few more moments expecting her to change her mind, but nothing happened.

'Well, aren't you going to tell the man? You got him curious.' Her mother said, pointing at Gai.

Kaiya's cheek twitched.

'Fine.' She turned her look back to Gai. 'My name is Kobayashi. Kaiya Kobayashi.'

Hearing the name, Kakashi's face whitened.

'Kobayashi, you say?' He asked, doing his best not to stutter.

'That's right, Kakashi.' Fuzasane hissed as she searched for direct eye-contact with the silver-haired man.

'Do you two know each other?' Guy asked, confused.

Fuzasane closed her eyes for a moment, as her whole body twitched.

'Mum...?' Kaiya asked, as a feeling of worries took over her. 'Are you alright?'

'I'll tell you later.' Fuzasane decided, looking onto the ground.

Kaiya looked at her mother in disbelief. She knew for a fact that when her mother said that, she'd either get a scolding over something or never mentioning the subject ever again. 'You sure?'

'Listen to Fuzasane-sama, Kaiya-san.' Akira requested, quietly. 'Please.'

Due to the mask on his face, nobody saw how Kakashi's mouth worded the name Fuzasane, and maybe it was for the better. If Fuzasane was Kaiya's mother and the girl was the age he approximated, then... no. This had to be a misunderstanding... wouldn't it?

'I'll tell you later.' Her mother insisted.

Kaiya shook her head, forcing herself to accept the answer as it was. 'So be it.'

'Do you really want to know what the problem really is?' Her mother asked as her head jolted up as her brown eyes fixed on her, with a new layer of eagerness.

Kaiya laughed nervously with a change of mind as she slightly raised her hands in defeat. 'You can tell me la-'

'No. Some people might want to know about this.'

Kaiya shook her head with a sigh. Why did it always have to be like that...?

'Some people who decided to leave things behind like nothing and curse the innocent!'

Kaiya frowned. 'What do you mean?'

'It's about your father.'

'Dad? Did something happen to him?' Kaiya asked quickly, in a moment of panic.

'No, not the dad.' Fuzasane swayed her hand quickly. 'I meant your real father.'

'Oh?' Kaiya asked.

Back at home, she did, in fact, have a father, but she knew that he wasn't her real, biological one even from a young age. Even so, she really cared for him and considered his father. After all, he raised her well and he seemed to care for her, too.

'He never bothered to come or even ask about you, and he's here. Right here.'

For a moment, Kaiya felt confused, but after noticing her mother staring suggestively towards Kakashi, Kaiya's face whitened as her heart skipped a beat or two. Everyone in that group had about the same reaction, as they all fell silent.

'No...' Kaiya began, her voice trembling, 'you wouldn't mean that.
Right?'

'I know exactly what I mean, Kaiya.' Fuzasane told Kaiya, before lowering her voice. 'This man right here -Kakashi if I recall-, is your father.'

At that moment, even the birds went quiet. Even if Fuzasane lowered her voice, everyone there heard her perfectly. Kaiya looked at her mother, then at Kakashi -who was in no better state of shock-, and then again at her mother before the cycle repeated a few times. She laughed nervously.

'I'm sure that this is- no... this must be a misunderstanding! He can't be my father.'

'May... may I say something?' Guy asked awkwardly, slightly raising his hand for permission.

'What?' Fuzasane asked.

'It so happened that, whilst a mission, Kaiya got a rather deep wound over her appendix and, after she returned and went to the hospital, she needed an operation to get the appendix out- for her better health you know?'

'Yeah, go on.' Fuzasane hurried the man with a flick of a hand. She understood the idea of wounds and operations very well, and, to be fair with herself, such things didn't matter very much at that moment.

'So, of course, for safety reasons, they had to take some blood and DNA tests.'

Amida opened his mouth to say something, but Akira made him a sign to shut up. The story turned out to be quite interesting, so Amida listened to his brother.

'They took them,' Guy continued, 'and well, the blood results don't matter much here as they're pretty much ordinary, but when the DNA results came in, it was shown that Kaiya's DNA matched Kakashi's DNA, a DNA unknown to us at the time that was a little similar to the Inuzuka's DNA.'

Fuzasane nodded for a few moments in thought as she digested the information, but Kaiya didn't really have the same reaction.

'Then why did no one tell me anything? If I knew that you guys knew so much-'

'You didn't tell us anything about your past, let alone your family name. Hokage-same thought it was for the better not to push it.' The guy explained, carefully.

He was as shocked as anybody else, but one thing he learned as a shinobi was how to keep his calm. He shot a look at Kakashi, and he was standing there as stoic as he always was. Guy knew him from a young age and he learned by now to read him a little bit, and it was clear to him how, as stoic as he was, there was something different in Kakashi at that moment. He wasn't sure what, but something in his aura was different.

Kaiya shook her head as she stepped back.

'I'm sorry.' She apologised, before turning her back and leaving.

A/N

Heyyo, everyone! How's it going?

I'm back here with an extra long chapter here with like, 3.4K worth of words. So, what do you guys think of this chapter?

I waited for a really long time to write this chapter -and yes, it got really interesting at the half, but I couldn't really skip the entire canon part, so y' know- so, here it is!

What did you guys think of Fuzasane's (Kaiya's mother) appearance?

Note: for any curious souls, Amida and Akira are brothers, and are Kaiya's cousins.

What did you guys think of the revealing?

P.S. What do y' all think of the new cover? I renamed the book back to its original title, 'The Nomad', but I kept the name 'The Possessions of the Wild' as the series name (as there'll be a second book too, and maybe a spin-off), so it'll still be as easy to find.

Let me know!

See ya in the next chapter!