Disclaimer: Again, I don't own anything or anybody except Tomoko, her family, and Nagareboshi Cafe. Any concepts/ideas mentioned in this fanfiction that seem to be borrowed from another media/piece of continuity - note that I don't mean to plagiarize anything or anybody in any way! This fanfic was made for entertainment purposes, not for pissing off others! So yeah!

The theme for this chapter is once again from Animenz Piano Sheets, this time his cover on COLORS, the first opening for Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. Even though I never did fully get into the show like my more serious, anime-loving friends did, I can't deny that the show's music and appeal is amazing. The fact that it's getting a THIRD season this year says more than enough. Not to mention, the cover does cover the cheeriness/tension that is going on, since it's the first half of the prologue to Kannabi. It's coming soon, people!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 41: Passing and Preparation

Day 2 of the Konoha-only Chunin Exams.

The Second Phase meant team battles and survival in Training Ground 44.

The Forest of Death.

Civilians weren't exactly allowed to come and visit the Forest of Death, but that didn't stop me from worrying. Who could blame me? The only time I saw the Forest in canon, that was where motherf-king OROCHIMARU came in and ruined everything for Naruto's team.

The fact that he had YET to defect still bugged me too. The anime and manga wasn't really clear on WHEN he defected, but it was still a thing by Naruto's time-period - which meant that he disappeared during Kakashi's - MY - time.

What could I do?

"...oko. Tomoko."

I found myself blinking. Then, I looked up.

A masked frown greeted me.

"... Kakashi?"

Hisako was facepalming again. Tomoko-chan, you have to work on your space-out intervals. Because this is getting ridiculous.

"What were you thinking about?" He poked me in the head before I could respond. "You were spacing out AGAIN."

I tried not to blush, but the heat was spreading out on my face already. "Uhhhh…."

"Let me guess," Kakashi opened his palm to start counting off fingers. "You're worried about something."

Strike One.

"That something being…" He paused for effect while glancing at me with one open, exasperated silver eye. "Obito, Rin, and Guy all heading out to the Forest of Death?"

Strike Two. Aaaand…. He SCORES! Home run!

HISAKO!

Heheh.

I just buried my face into my knees with a muffled groan. I was getting easier and EASIER to read now, wasn't I?

And this was supposed to be a relaxing day. Sitting out on the roof and all with my best friend. So then WHY did it feel like I was being interrogated?!

"... I'll take that muffled noise as a 'yes', then." Kakashi said dryly.

"Mm," was all that left me as I hugged my legs tighter to my chest.

What else was I supposed to say?

I was worried.

Team Minato had officially set out to the Forest about a few hours ago, so then why wouldn't my heart stop pounding? When could there be a moment where I could just let them go without shaking in my sandals?

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I found myself getting pulled out of my self-made ball and into a sideways hug. I blinked. "... Kakashi?"

"Quit worrying about it," he said, squeezing my shoulders softly while resting a cheek on my head. "They've trained for this. They'll be okay, Tomoko. Don't get so worked up about it."

"... Can I at least say that I'm trying not to get worked up?" I attempted, gulping the lump in my throat down while leaning against him. "I know that they've trained, but…" A sigh involuntarily left me. "I just… I just can't help but feel like this, Kakashi. It's the Forest of Death, which is kinda telling for a name."

"..." He sighed, squeezing my shoulders again. "There's nothing wrong with being worried, Tomoko, but worrying too much is just going to be troublesome in the long run. And besides," Kakashi looked up towards the sky with a frown. "I was able to get through it, didn't I? And yet you worried anyways."

"I can't help ittttt." I facepalmed, dragging my hand across my cheeks while doing so. "You ninja can be reckless, ridiculous, impulsive, battle-hungry… lazy - "

"Oi." Kakashi interrupted.

"I have a point though," I muttered, closing my eyes. "You all are so quirky, ridiculous, and yet…" I sighed. "I still love you all anyways. And that's why I worry."

Kakashi inhaled through his nose. Then, he squeezed me again while rubbing my head with his cheek. "... And I know we all appreciate that, Tomoko. Me, Dad, Uncle Judai, Aunt Hikari, Kushina, Minato-sensei, everybody. But working yourself up won't help us. Just try not to worry, and..." He paused, lifting his cheek from my head. "Trust us, Tomoko. And in Team Minato."

Definitely, Tomoko-chan.

I sighed again, leaning against him. That was all I could do now, huh?

"... Okay."

Kakashi sighed himself before leaning back against me. "Good," he finished.

I just hope nothing bad happens. Be safe out there, guys.

In the meantime, Nohara Rin tried not to chew on the inside of her cheek.

They were going to fight any moment now.

A bee buzzed above them. A small sound signifying the intense amount of concentration and tension going on in the Forest of Death.

"As of right now, we will begin part two, the team competition preliminary qualifier…" The nearby Jounin raised a hand in the air. Obito gave her a glance before nodding.

Guy in the meantime cracked his knuckles.

Right across from them, Yuuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, and Morino Ibiki raised their individual weapons. A kunai, some ninja wire, and a bo staff.

The Jounin threw his hand down.

"Begin!"

Rin made sure to jump back as soon as Obito and Guy leapt forward in unison.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu!"

"Konoha Whirlwind!"

From the looks of it, Asuma and Ibiki were caught off guard, immediately dodging out of the way of the volleying flames. Rin had to hide the smile on her face because Ibiki then soon found himself on the rough side of Guy's shoe, taking on the full force of the 'whirlwind' and left spiraling in the air. Asuma was then kept busy with Obito taking him on with taijutsu, so then where was -

Rin found herself ducking when a kunai came swiping at her neck. Thankfully, the only thing it cut were a few stray strands of hair, so it must've been Kurenai.

A backflip later, and Rin pushed her hair out of her eyes to see the opposing kunoichi dart forward, kunai in hand.

"ACK!" Obito yelped suddenly, accompanied by an equally harrowing noise of skidding feet. Rin bit her cheek, jumping out of the way to instead run in the Uchiha's direction.

Fighting Kurenai could wait. Her teammate needed help.

"Obito!"

And then Kurenai was gaining on her, anger in her voice. "Focus on me!"

Only for an orange-leg-warmer-covered foot to come crashing down behind Rin's back and probably into Kurenai's shoulder. "Konoha Whirlwind!"

Thank goodness for Guy.

The sudden attack covering Rin's back gave the medic enough time to dart forward and reach the Uchiha, who was panting and barely keeping up with the assault from Asuma… AND Ibiki?! For good measure, Rin jumped forward to intercept an incoming kunai with a few well-made senbon before throwing a smoke bomb.

BOOM.

"W-Wah!" Asuma coughed, clearly disoriented.

"Don't breathe it in like an idiot, Asuma!" Ibiki darted out of the cloud irritably, waving his hands in the air. "Do something!"

Rin grabbed Obito in the midst of the chaos to pull him out and into the shade of the surrounding trees.

"R-Ri -" The medic covered her teammate's mouth, shaking her head.

"Not now," she whispered, letting go of Obito before allowing her hands to glow blue with the Diagnostic Jutsu. Thankfully, the Uchiha stayed still, black eyes following her movements as she started looking him over. "Are you hurt?"

"No, luckily. My pride? Yes," Obito stage-whispered back, caught between frowning and pouting. "That Asuma is a tough guy… but…" he glanced back, only to wince. "I'm just grateful for our third team member."

"Hm?" Rin barely caught the last end of that sentence due to starting the healing with a quick Mystic Palm. "You mean -"

A loud BLAM echoed in the Forest of Death as her answer.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" was the cheery reply to her initial thoughts.

"ARGH!" was Asuma's ensuing shriek.

Obito held back a giggle. "Serves him right."

Rin didn't know whether to sweat or sigh. Instead, she finished going over the last few bruises with her chakra. "... We'll have to help out over there at one point. I could only hear Asuma screaming. Kurenai and Ibiki are still unaccounted for."

"Well," Obito grabbed her hand before she could pull away to grin. "No matter what happens, Rin, I'll protect you! That's a promise!"

Lub-dub.

Heat climbed up the medic's face before she could stop herself. "U-Uh… sure?" she said dumbly, blinking. "B-But Obito, we need to go! Like, NOW!"

And as if on cue, Ibiki and Kurenai burst out from the nearby bushes, hands coming together in various hand signs.

But Obito, for once, was too fast. Being the Yellow Flash's student and Kakashi's fighting partner probably helped.

Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, and Tiger.

The Uchiha leapt forward and past the medic, taking in a breath.

"FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU!"

The largest fireball Rin had ever seen had then erupted from her teammate's mouth, and she had to duck to avoid the heat.

The last thing Rin saw from her opponents were the whites of their eyes.

Ibiki went, "Oh SH -"

BOOM.

"Achoo!"

I blinked before turning around. My best friend had just moved a bit of his mask down to instead wipe at his exposed nose, so…

"Kakashi?" He grunted in response, glancing at me while still wiping at his nose. "You okay?"

"Fine," he responded dryly, flicking away any remaining snot. Ah. "I think that sneeze was an omen... or something."

I offered him a handkerchief. "Omen like what?"

Surprisingly, Kakashi and Hisako spoke in unison.

"Like Obito did something extremely stupid."

Rin nearly found her jaw dropping to the forest floor.

Singed trees, burnt grass, and the unmistakable scent of…

"Obito, you overdid it!"

The Uchiha blinked, letting his hands flop against his sides before exhaling shakily.

"U-Uh…. I meant to do that?" Obito smiled at her, rubbing the back of his head.

It would've been a nice gesture, if not for the burnt trees taking that moment to collapse behind him in a loud blaze.

The medic wasn't sure what was worse. Obito trying to wave it off, Minato-sensei's possible reaction, or Tomoko-chan's supposed worries.

This wasn't a good situation no matter how you looked at it.

"How very YOUTHFUL of you, Obito-kun!" Guy interrupted. Rin did her best to not jump, but nonetheless found herself wondering when the Green Genin showed up. "But you must work on subtlety! That is an important part of being a ninja!"

A pause.

Rin could've sworn she heard a crow above them start screeching something akin to, "Idiot! Idiot!"

"... Coming from the guy who screams about 'FLAMES OF YOUTH' all the time?!" Obito raged, throwing his hands up in the air. "I don't want to hear THAT from you!"

Rin felt her eyebrow start to twitch. "... Guys."

"Still, Obito-kun! Save your chakra for another time! This kind of scenery could be better for an actual battle!"

"OHMIGOD, are you seriously pulling that now when we're in the Forest of Death, Guy?!"

"Yes! This is only the preliminaries, Obito! We should save what we can!"

"Coming from the guy who just did a few Konoha Whirlwinds AND a Dynamic Entry?!"

Rin was clearly feeling her irritation start pooling in her gut. "... Guys."

Even Ibiki, Asuma, and Kurenai, who were all sporting their own small bruises and cloth singes were glancing at each other in confusion.

"That is part of my usual training, Obito! It does not take up much at all!"

"Oh yeah?! REALLY?!"

Asuma seemed to finally have enough, and snapped before Rin did. "HEY!"

Obito and Guy looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What?!" they answered in unison.

"What are you guys doing?!" Asuma continued, tapping his foot against the singed grass while frowning.

"Trying to have a conversation, thank you very little." Obito sniped back, waving a kunai in the air for emphasis.

"Yes, this is for team ears ONLY, Asuma!" Guy added hotly, waving a fist in the same motions as the Uchiha before turning back to the Genin. "Nonetheless, what were you talking about just now, Obito-kun?"

"YOU FORGOT?!" The Uchiha screeched.

Ibiki seemed to be reaching the end of his patience too, judging by his impatient twirling of his bo staff. The staff itself soon found a position in the ground as its owner deadpanned loudly, "We're in the middle. Of. A. FIGHT!"

"And we're in the middle of an important argument!" Obito snapped finally, throwing a fist up in the air threateningly while stomping his foot. "What don't you get about that?!"

Rin frowned before reaching over to touch the Uchiha's shoulder. "... Obito."

The ninja paused, letting his shoulders drop. "... Yes, Rin?"

She merely motioned with a sweeping arm towards the burnt clearing. "I believe we're ALL in the middle of a fight here?"

The same crow passed over, dropping some white poop onto the same clearing in-between the two groups of ninja while muttering the same, "Idiot, Idiot."

"... Uhhh…" said Obito.

Guy blinked. "Errrr…."

Kurenai cracked her knuckles while raising an eyebrow at them.

Rin sighed while letting go of Obito's shoulder. "Well then, boys…" She reached into her back pouch, pulled out another smoke bomb, and left it hanging in the air. "Trap, then team attack?"

Obito glanced at her before hanging his head in shame. "... Okay, trap, then team attack."

"Team attack!" Guy echoed loudly in agreement.

Asuma, Ibiki, and Kurenai didn't even have the chance to move before Rin threw the bomb down.

BOOM.

Heck, Kurenai didn't even see Rin leap at her with fists outstretched until she was properly decked in the face with chakra.

That felt nice, strangely. Rin made sure not to put that much force in, for the sake of the kunoichi getting angry later.

They should probably hang out with dango another time to make up for this whole thing.

The battle ended pretty quickly as soon as the boys got their ends fixed too.

All with a simple yet effective cry of, "DOUBLE DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

The opposing boys let out varying degrees of "AHHH!" to accompany the initial shout.

Rin had to hold back a laugh when the smoke cleared and the full attack could be seen. Almost in slow motion, Asuma and Ibiki were sent spiraling into the air before landing in a few random trees in the distance. On her side, Obito and Guy still had their dominant legs outstretched in the pose, clearly basking in… well, whatever spotlight the Forest of Death could give.

Then Guy had to speak.

"That was perfect, Obito-kun! We must do that again!" The Green Genin cheered, putting his leg down while jumping on the Uchiha in a side-hug, grinning. "We were at the pinnacles of our Youth just now, I'm sure of it!"

Obito wasn't looking as great. Once his foot found its place back on the ground, red flooded his cheeks. "Ohmigod," he muttered, covering his face. Even his ears were tipped with crimson. Aw. "I can't believe I just did that! That was - that was - …! "

Rin allowed herself a single chuckle.

"C'mon boys," she smiled, skipping over while waving at the speechless Jounin behind them. "Let's get to the tower."

The Chunin Exams weren't over yet.

"... Huh." Kakashi said suddenly, looking up from his meditative pose while blinking.

I blinked too, relaxing my legs to a more casual sitting position. "Kakashi?"

My best friend grinned at me sheepishly through his mask. "Tomoko, think you could come with me?"

"Wait, Kakashi," I had a bad feeling. "Where are we -"

And then he had to grab my shoulders.

POOF.

Hoshino Judai felt a shiver go up his spine.

"Judai?" Sakumo started, lowering his signature White Chakra Blade an inch or two to blink. "What is it?"

"Nothing… I hope," he grumbled, channeling his chakra into his own tanto again. The chakra katana came out the same as always, and Judai gave it an experimental swing for the sake of getting out his irritation. "I just had a feeling Tomoko-chan was just involved in another ninja thing… AGAIN."

"Hahaha…." Sakumo laughed sheepishly before glancing upwards.

Thank god Judai didn't notice the white smoke billowing from Tomoko-chan's window upstairs.

"... Sakumo, you know something, don't you?" said Judai slowly.

Oh shit.

The next thing I knew, my stomach was flipping upside down as the smoke cleared and my bare feet found ground in the form of… cold tile?

I tried not to barf as Kakashi squeezed my shoulder. Ack.

"Hello team," he said pleasantly.

Once the smoke cleared, I looked up to see Obito, Rin, and Guy all staring at us.

"HUH?! Kakashi?! T-Tomoko-chan?! H-How - " The Uchiha pointed a shaky finger between the two of us and… a scroll on the ground?

I looked at it in an attempt to keep my stomach at bay. The scroll itself was blank, having been unrolled rather inelegantly on the ground, as if it had been thrown, so…

Kakashi just pulled us into being SUMMONED along with him, didn't he?

Oh no.

Why did I leave my barf bag at home?!

"Oh," Rin bopped her fist on her open palm in understanding. "The scroll that the Jounin gave us was a summoning scroll, right?"

"That explains how my Eternal Rival showed up!" Guy added happily. "It's good to see you, Kakashi!"

Even with a few tears in his green jumpsuit, Guy looked pretty cheerful. Yay.

The Exams must've been a success then…!

"So wait," Obito blinked, finger pointing at me now. "How did Tomoko-chan show up with you?"

Kakashi shrugged, his hand still squeezing my shoulder reassuringly. "Pulled a few strings. Tomoko was getting worried about you all."

Urgh. He has a point, but…

I covered my mouth with my hand while wincing. The butterflies in my stomach were probably mating or something if my voice had anything to say by it. "K-Kakashi…"

The Chunin blinked before looking down at me. The others of Team Minato did the same, before it appeared the same lightbulb went off in their heads all at once.

"... Oh no." Obito said succinctly.

"Tomoko-chan, you're…" Guy sounded horrified. "You're teleport-sick?! Why did you not say it sooner?!"

"K-Kinda hard... When..." I whimpered before the first signs of bile started climbing up my throat. "Urgh…"

Kakashi had already taken out a brown paper bag and was offering it.

Where in all hell did he get a -

Hisako then went silent as soon as I grabbed it and started throwing up in it.

Ack.

Kakashi could merely watch with half dread, half concern as Rin immediately put herself to work, running over to Tomoko's side to rub a hand along the girl's back. "Go on, Tomoko-chan… Let it all out…"

He KNEW he forgot something. The civilian throwing up her lunch in the bag he offered was clear evidence of that.

"Kakashi." The Chunin stood on attention almost immediately as Rin glanced/glared at him. "Where's the nearest bathroom."

Yep. The fact that Rin had dropped all formalities said a lot.

"First door on the right of this room, Rin," he answered, and Rin merely nodded before carefully escorting Tomoko out of the room, the sound of her retching left echoing in the tower LONG after the girls were gone.

Kakashi facepalmed. "Ugh."

"... That could've gone worse." Obito added quietly.

"I don't think that really helps, Obito-kun," Guy said in an equally quiet, yet uncharacteristic tone.

Kakashi dragged his hand across his face before sighing.

"... Sorry Kakashi," said Obito solemnly.

The Chunin sighed again before putting his hand on his hip. "Nonetheless, the formalities." He didn't miss how Obito and Guy straightened themselves almost immediately. "Congrats on passing the Second Phase of the Chunin Exams. Since you still have a day before the deadline, you can take the time to rest in the tower and all that. Going through the speech when it's written right behind me seems a bit repetitive anyways." he waved a hand towards the barracks in the back, shrugging. "The Third Phase should start as soon as the deadline passes, so be sure to rest up."

"What does that Third Phase include, Rival?" Guy asked, still using the same quiet tone.

Kakashi blinked before exhaling. "... One-on-one fights. I can't guarantee anything, but don't expect to not be paired up against each other in a fight, Obito, Guy."

The two Genin looked at each other before shrugging.

"Ah well," Obito crossed his arms behind his head with a wide grin. "We made it this far! No matter what happens, we'll still be friends!"

"Definitely! Our Flames of Youth will only burn brighter with a fight!" Guy added, his usual vigor seeping back into his voice as a thumbs-up was thrust into the air.

Kakashi found himself smiling a little.

Things were going to be okay after all.

The Third Phase of the Chunin Exams came pretty quickly. The fact that Papa ALLOWED me to watch with Kakashi felt almost like a miracle considering the last time this kind of thing happened.

Even though…

Kakashi nursed his ear with his pinky while grimacing.

"I'm sorry…" I whispered in his direction. The Chunin just turned to glance at me before shaking his head.

"No, I'm sorry, so don't get too hung up on it," and then Kakashi turned back to the center of the arena blinking.

I never thought I would see the day that Kakashi would apologize and wave off what might be ear soreness with a few mere words.

Even when Papa nearly blew a vocal fuse at his 'kidnapping' of me via summoning a day or so ago.

Thank goodness for Uncle Sakumo.

Papa was still sulking when we left for the Tower in the Forest of Death. Unfortunately.

"... At least I know how Minato-sensei feels now." Kakashi added dryly, still rubbing his ear. "I'll make sure to tell Uncle Judai before anything happens again."

"Uhh… still," I started, shaking my head. "I'm sorry, Kakashi…"

"Quit apologizing, Tomoko." A hand landed on my head, and I looked up only to see him smile grimly. "I wanted to take you along with me, so it's fine. It's all me. Just watch Team Minato, okay?"

I found myself sighing. He was serious about this. "... Okay."

Then I focused down towards the arena. Rin-chan was starting her fight.

I ran over to the railing, leaned over to get a closer look, and then took a breath.

"RIN-CHAN! YOU GOT THIS! KICK THIS GUY'S BUTT!"

A long pause followed.

The medic blinked before looking up at me sheepishly, and I didn't miss the bright red spreading across her face.

… Tomoko-chan. Hisako said.

Oops.

I still waved down towards her with a shaky smile. "Y-You got this, Rin-chan! Do your best!"

She smiled before waving back, the red tinging what was visible of her ears. "Thank you, Tomoko-chan!" was my response.

Yay! I did something!

And then the match started.

Above the large stone hands in the center of the arena, the billboard glowed: Nohara Rin vs. Ebisu.

I bet on Rin. The glasses-guy has no chance.

I don't know, Hisako…

Ebisu WAS the personal teacher of Konohamaru, who went on to teach Boruto and Sarada, for one thing.

But then Rin proved me wrong.

Quite splendidly in fact.

By the end of the fight, with someone I assumed to be Inuzuka Tsume calling the match, Ebisu was left walking out of the arena on a stretcher, suffering from quite a few senbon sticking out of him, a numb arm and leg, and, AND marks of ninja wire on what visible skin was there.

Rin-chan wasn't even harmed with the exception of a few bloody scratches on her skin, sighing while dispelling her chakra scalpels.

You owe me 500 ryo, Tomoko-chan.

I can't pay you, Hisako!

Heheh.

But Rin was okay. Now it was…

The billboard whirred to life again.

Uchiha Obito vs. Might Guy.

My heart sunk.

Oh dear.

Obito took a breath while jumping down to the arena. Guy was looking at him with solemn eyes, arms folded across his chest.

"So," the Genin started, sighing. "It comes to this. The final match of the day."

"Well," Obito offered his hand with a shaky grin in return. "What we said before the Third Phase still stands, right? We'll still be friends?"

Guy blinked before nodding a bit more eagerly, taking Obito's hand and shaking it firmly. "Of course we will, Obito. Our Flames of Youth will only burn stronger with this event."

The Uchiha grinned a bit more firmly himself. "Alright then," his hand dropped to his side, quietly reaching for his ninja wire.

Jim-san had given it to him to use, so might as well use it now. "Let's have a fair fight?"

Guy took a fighting stance as well, grinning back. "Let's have a fair fight."

"Alright then, brats," Inuzuka Tsume raised a hand in the air, smirking. "Uchiha Obito vs. Might Guy."

The two Genin took one step back. Tsume's fangs glowed in the faint light.

"BEGIN!"

They leapt at each other with as much force as they could muster.

And then Tomoko found her eyes getting covered.

"HEY!" she protested, flailing. "What's this for?!"

"Tomoko-chan, you probably shouldn't look," Namikaze Minato answered dully, not even twitching as the civilian continued to wave her hands around. He even ignored Kakashi and Rin's disapproving looks at the sudden appearance, shrugging. "It's not pretty."

"But I wanna see!"

The Yellow Flash shook his head. "Nope. You still need your innocence."

And that was that.

Despite Tomoko's continued squeaking and Obito's battle cries mixing with Guy's loud exclamations.

A few months later, and I found myself waiting outside the Academy again with Kakashi. Spring had just started, so the sakura petals were falling around us as we waited.

I fidgeted with the hem of my skirt.

"... Tomoko, quit that." Kakashi muttered, shaking his head. "They'll be coming out any moment now, so stop worrying already."

"I'm tryinggggg," was my response as I looked up at him with a frown. "But it still kinda worries me since Obito REALLY went through the ringer and I wasn't allowed to see it! That still pisses me off!"

Second that! Hisako yelled. I seriously wanted to record that in our memory! That would've been so badass! Even Monty FREAKING Oum would've been proud!

Kakashi facepalmed. "Tomoko, I think Minato-sensei did you and Uncle Judai a favor, so don't complain. It was somewhat of a messy fight."

"Mm," I pouted, crossing my arms and looking away. "I still wanted to support him and Guy-kun though…"

A hand landed on my head. "I know," was the soft reply. "You can still do that now since they're coming out."

I blinked, then looked up. True to my best friend's words, the large red Academy doors swung open, and there they were.

Obito, Rin, and Guy, all walking out together with low heads.

I took a step forward as soon as Kakashi let me go. "... Guys?"

Rin was the first to look up, grinning as she brandished a certificate from behind her back and…

I immediately jumped forward to tackle the medic in a hug. "Congratulations, Rin-chan! You did it!"

The green flak jacket was a dead giveaway. Despite her shriek of surprise, she caught me nonetheless, giggling as she fell to the ground with me on top of her. "We did it, Tomoko-chan!"

"YEAH!" Obito cheered, throwing up his own green flak jacket. "We're all Chunin now!"

"We have reached another pinnacle of Youth today!" Guy was… crying? Nonetheless, doing so while brandishing his own flak jacket, still in its plastic packaging. "We… we actually did it…" He put an arm in front of his eyes.

I got up from Rin to tackle the Green Beast into a hug too. "You did it, Guy-kun. You did it."

"I-I did… I did…" Guy sniffled before hugging me back.

Really hard.

Ah. My back. I think it cracked...

I forgot the Green Beast had a strong grip.

"G-Guy…" I whimpered.

"... Guy, Tomoko can't breathe. Let her go already." Kakashi deadpanned behind us.

"O-Oh! Sorry," and the new Chunin set me back down, wiping his eyes with a shaky smile. "But thank you, Tomoko-chan, really."

I smiled back, just as shakily, while nodding. Then I looked towards the Uchiha of the group, and he immediately shook his head.

"No way. No, no, nonono. No tackle hugs, please." Obito said, waving his hands in the air and crinkling his certificate in the process.

I pouted. "Obitoooooo."

"Tomoko-channnn." He echoed.

We stared at each other.

Rin, Guy, and Kakashi glanced at one another.

Then, I just opened my arms with a sigh. "Okay… then you hug me?"

Obito raised an eyebrow at me. A wind flew by, almost cozily. "Uhhhh…."

I just motioned with my arms again, frowning. "Obito."

The Uchiha then sighed, handing his certificate and flak jacket to Rin before walking over and hugging me back.

Finally.

I giggled, squeezed the Uchiha for a little bit, and then let go.

"Congratulations, all of you. You're finally Chunin." Another giggle left me as I took a step back to glance at the trio with a warm smile. "And last I checked, I promised a concert for you all when you passed, right?"

Rin blinked before a matching grin adorned her face. "Yeah! You did, Tomoko-chan!"

"Let's go to Nagareboshi Cafe then!" Guy cheered, jumping up in the air with an equally eager fist pump. "Let's race on it!"

"No." Kakashi, Obito, Rin, even Hisako, and I all said in unison. Then we all looked at each other, because that was just weird.

"Awwww!" Guy complained, placing his hands on his hips. "You all are not using your youth! We have much time!"

"That I would like to take slowly, Guy, thank you very little." Kakashi snarked.

"Please, Guy-kun, another day," Rin said placatingly, smiling sheepishly. "We just got our results back, so why not take it slowly?"

Obito, for some reason, was turned away, whistling.

I just sighed, raising a hand before Guy could yell some youthful protests. The flowers smelled nice, so... "Okay then, let's just all walk to the cafe and I'll play something. On the house, alright?"

The only Uchiha turned around to shrug, orange goggles glittering in the sunlight. "Yeah, Tomoko-chan! Let's go!"

"Okay, okay…" I shrugged myself, smiling while grabbing Kakashi's hand. Ignoring his raised eyebrow, I started to march, taking in the sight of the falling sakura petals. "Let's go!"

Team Minato, including Guy, were now all Chunin. Just as scheduled.

Which meant we had two-to-three years until Kannabi.

Two-to-three years to prepare.

I could only hope it would be okay.

For now…

I would give my ninja friends a taste of the world's Colors.

Author's Notes: I'm REALLY sorry to all of you. My readers, followers, and so on. This chapter really shouldn't have taken so long, but with finals being stressful, summer having just started, and my dealing with the recovery after said finals, this took a while. I ended up taking references/inspiration from Lang Noi, RWBY (of all things strangely in the writing process), and SAO Abridged. Credit goes where it goes.

Nonetheless, we're getting close to Kannabi! Just one more chapter, with Tomoko's side of things until Kakashi Gaiden.

Hope you all continue to stick with me!

Also, thank you! As of June 22nd, 2017, we finally have 1,050 favorites, going OVER the one thousand mark! Not to mention, with the 1,280 followers and 720 reviews, thank you all so much for the support. This chapter is dedicated to you guys!

This is Writer-and-Artist27 signing out to write Chapter 42 ASAP!