(A/N) Chuunin Exams!
"I've called you here today because the Chuunin Exams begin next month," the Hokage said, scanning the crowd.
Shisui knew that already, he'd know it was time for the chuunin exams, and his kittens were eligible for being entered. They'd finished a C-rank mission successfully, despite the unforeseen complications. It'd probably be a good learning experience for them. Get their toes wet while it's in Konoha. If they passed, they passed, if they didn't, well, there was always next time. Or a field promotion, but since this wasn't war, that was highly unlikely to happen.
"Shisui Uchiha, Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuuhi, do any of you nominate your genin for the chuunin exams?" The Hokage asked.
Shisui was first in line. He raised his hand. "I, Shisui Uchiha, nominate my genin, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki for the Chuunin Exams."
Uh oh, Iruka didn't look happy. Well, he couldn't do anything about it until Kurenai and Asuma either did or didn't nominate their genin.
They did, and Iruka looked even less happy. Shisui took it upon himself to speak first. "For the record, I nominated my genin because I believe that even if they aren't quite ready, which they should be, this would be a valuable learning experience for them. A way to get their toes wet in a more friendly environment than another village."
Iruka looked only a little bit pacified, so Shisui continued. "It will also give them a sense of where they stand on the power scale, and tell them far better than I ever could, what they need to work on." And just maybe, in Sakura's case, she'd be woken up to the realities of shinobi life. Shisui was having difficulty working out how to manage that without severely injuring either Sasuke or Naruto, or endangering her without the boys to save her. He hoped the third round, should his genin make it that far, allow her to be woken up without ending up with someone dead.
Iruka eyed him for a moment longer, but nodded, stepping back without having said anything. Well, that was one thing solved.
"Well said, Shisui," the Hokage agreed. "Maito Gai? I believe your students did not take the exam last year."
"I, Maito Gai, nominate my genin, Tenten, Rock Lee, and Neji Hyuuga for the Chuunin Exams!"
Shisui blinked away the spots in his vision from the sunlight reflecting off the man's grin. He never did figure out how he managed to get Kakashi to tolerate him, but who was he to judge.
"These Chuunin Exams will be fun," Kakashi muttered under his breath.
Shisui hummed. They would indeed. Especially with three Rookie teams participating, something that rarely happened. Oh heck they'd probably have preliminaries. Having rookies usually coincided with a preliminary round. Who knew why, but it did. Maybe it was the extra people.
Now he just had to tell his team!
"Shisui-sensei, you're late," Naruto sounded very accusatory indeed. He even had his hands on his hips, how cute. "Don't tell me you're picking up on Kakashi's habits."
Shisui held in a snicker because Naruto was doing a very impressive imitation of what Mikoto said every time anyone was late to anything. "Nope, not doing that. I promise I have a very good reason for being late."
"Was it the meeting the Hokage called?" Sasuke guessed, gesturing at the sky. "I saw the hawk."
"Bingo!" Shisui said, holding up the slips he'd grabbed. "The Chuunin Exams begin soon, and guess what these are…"
"Tickets?" Sakura asked, confused.
"No!" Sasuke said quickly, glaring at her. His glare was quickly turned on Shisui. "Right?"
"Nope!" Shisui agreed, dangling the papers in front of their faces.
"Did you say we could go?" Naruto asked, grabbing at them. Shisui moved them out of the way.
"Yep!" He replied cheerfully. "I nominated you three for the Chuunin Exams. As they're held here in Konoha, I figured it'd be a good way for you three to get your own sense for what you need to work on. I can say things again and again, but if you don't think you need to work on them, you won't ever get it." His gaze lingered on Sakura before moving on.
Naruto made another grab for the papers, and Shisui let him grab one, handing the other two to Sakura and Sasuke. "Sign these and be at the Academy in a few days, it has the date and time on it. Don't be late."
"We aren't Kakashi," Sasuke said. "We can be on time to things."
Shisui gasped. "Really? You can?" He put his hand on his chest in mock amazement. "Amazing!"
His efforts were rewarded by the rolling of eyes from all three genin.
He, of course was confined to the jounin lounge while the first exam was happening, because even if he'd been tapped to monitor the forest and pick up dying or dead genin along with his murder, he still had to wait while the genin finished the first exam before that happened.
"I'm just glad my dogs weren't called to roam the forest looking for dead bodies," Kakashi said, meticulously peeling an orange. "They hate that."
"You haven't been tapped to do that since they realized my murder was better at finding all of them and being more subtle then your dogs," Shisui replied, stealing the orange from Kakashi's hands as he finished peeling.
"Hey," Kakashi said, putting up barely a token protest.
"You hate oranges," Shisui reminded him, biting into the orange like an apple.
Kakashi sighed, but didn't refute it, grabbing another orange to peel.
"If you hate them why do you keep peeling them?" The sand jounin nearby asked, looking rather confused.
"Because it's something to do," Kakashi replied, peeling off a piece of the skin.
"Shisui why are you eating the orange like that?" Kurenai asked, sounding both long suffering and amused.
He paused halfway through biting into the orange again. "Li' wha'?"
Asuma snorted. "Like you're eating an apple. That is not how you eat oranges."
Shisui blinked at him. "It isn't?"
"It never was," Kurenai told him.
"Since when," Shisui asked accusingly. "Who's to say I'm not eating it properly?"
"Everyone," Genma called from where ye was previously chatting with Raido. "You are the only person I know who eats oranges like that."
"Seriously?" Shisui said, biting into the orange again. He chewed thoughtfully. "Then how do you eat an orange?"
Kurenai sighed, grabbing the peeled orange from Kakashi's hands. He sighed too, grabbing another one. "Like this." She dug her fingers into the top of the orange, pulling it apart. She pulled off one of the pieces, popping it into her mouth.
Shisui blinked, confused. "Huh. Weird. I'll remember to try that next time."
"If I can finish peeling an orange," Kakashi said, glaring significantly at Shisui and Kurenai. "You can use your newfound knowledge and give it to your crows."
"Oh they'll probably like that. They prefer fruit to cat treats usually," Shisui agreed.
An ANBU appeared, nodding to Shisui, then disappearing again.
"Well look at that, there's my cue." Shisui said, standing up and finishing off the orange.
Kakashi threw the orange at his head. "For the birds."
Shisui caught it easily. "Thanks. See you guys! I have dead bodies and injured children to find. Fun."
"Break a leg!" Gai shouted enthusiastically.
"Don't intend to, but thanks," Shisui agreed, shunshining away.
(A/N) The idea of someone eating an orange like it's an apple is just the strangest thing to me. Then again, I'm the kind of person who has one way to eat things and doesn't ever differ from that. *shrugs* Oh well.