Part II, as promised.


Silver Streams

Better to be Feared

It was still dark when Hayate and Ai reached the fence around the Forty-Fourth Training Ground. A number of chunin proctors and helpers were milling about as well. Some wore that ugly grey uniform, which Ibiki had threatened her with, while others wore the standard ninja gear.

Ai slumped to the ground, pulling at her absurdly large chunin vest and removed a high-energy ration bar from one of the front pockets. She sleepily began to eat it. Abel settled onto the ground behind her, curling up like the overlarge cat he is.

"I'm going to speak with Anko," Hayate started, "get us checked in."

"Sure," Ai nodded, grateful that she didn't have to talk to the purpled-haired woman. Hayate knew Anko made her uncomfortable, the woman wouldn't leave her alone since she had let a 'that's what she said,' slip in Anko's presence, which she had thought hilarious.

Ai couldn't even remember what had induced the response, so it couldn't have been as funny as Anko seemed to think it was. Hayate said it was because she would sometimes say odd things and Anko was waiting for another one.

It made her uncomfortable. Anko had a bad habit of staring.

Blinking, Ai looked around, noticing that more chunin were showing up, more than she had thought would be arriving.

"How come there's so many?" Ai asked to herself, mostly.

"Not many of the chunin are interested in being transported from the village to the tower. The farther the transport the more uncomfortable it feels. It's easier to just be there instead."

Ai started slightly and looked up to her side. She was somewhat surprised to see Iruka standing there looking as tired as she, his hands tucked into his pockets.

Abel had never seemed particularly concerned about Iruka. Sure, he'd started off alerting her when he came around, just like for anyone else, but after a few months Iruka had somehow reached the same threat-less level that Hayate occupied. She didn't know why, Iruka was a good ninja and could kill as easily as the next, but Abel had never bothered explaining his reason and Ai trusted his judgement. This did, however, afford both Iruka and Hayate the ability to sneak up on her.

"Hello Iruka-san," she greeted, actually using a honorific. She never usually bother, it was part of why she was considered rude. Honestly, she kept forgetting. Where she was from, they weren't a thing. She liked Iruka enough to remember, though.

"Hello Ai," he returned, settling down beside her.

She and Iruka had a friendly relationship, they had met through Hayate – he was the one she had met everyone through.

Iruka was a good-natured and intelligent man that didn't seem to mind her idiosyncrasies. Probably because he had to deal with rambunctious, and often manic, children on a daily basis. Ai would seem tame in comparison, though admittedly she was a lot more relaxed than most.

Hayate had that effect on people.

If Ai had to guess, he might enjoy her company simply because she behaved much older than the fourteen years she'd lived. That she was capable of holding an intelligent conversation with him. He even humored her wild ideas. He did seem quite fond of the hot air balloon, though.

"I didn't know you were going to be here," Ai told him.

"You didn't?" He said with slight disbelief.

"I've been doomed to organizing the genin teams and pushing papers. I wasn't aware of who would be involved in helping," Ai paused before adding, "other than the obvious, I suppose." Iruka nodded, recognizing she meant the special jonin she had been directly working for.

"All right!" Anko yelled over the group of ninja clustered together sitting or standing as they waited. "If you are unaware, the tunnel is in that group of trees over there," Anko gestured. "So, those going to the tower, get moving!"

Iruka, the well-trained ninja he was, was up faster, and more gracefully, than her. Being the kind man he was, he offered his hand to help her to her feet, which she happily took. She was lazy and the look in Iruka's eyes as he pulled her up, with more effort than if Ai had been helping, said he knew exactly how lazy she was being. She grinned at the older man.

Abel stood up, rattling himself and bumping into her thigh.

Ai leaned over and picked up her large duffle bag which contained a number of food items. Iruka held out his hand as an offer of help once more. She gave him a firm look before sniffing.

"I am a strong, independent, young woman and I don't require your help," she said as she hefted the duffle bag onto her shoulder.

"Of course you are," he grinned.

Hayate appeared a moment later.

"Do we have to take the tunnel?" she asked him as their group of three, plus Abel, went to meet up with the small group heading for the tower. Anko sent her a wink. Ai hastily looked the other way. "There's spiders in there."

"There are bigger spiders in the woods."

Ai glanced at the tall trees of The Forest. "I think I'd take my chances. The odd of coming into contact with those spiders are much lower."

"The odds of seeing them before they drop on your head are much lower too," Hayate commented casually.

"There is some form of validness in that statement," Ai admitted reluctantly. Hayate looked at her, a glint in his eye. Before she could back away, the older man's arm flashed out and his hand grabbed her head. His fingers slid into her hair and he vigorously ruffled her already unruly, blonde locks. "No, no," Ai protested as he ruined her hair more than it usually was, "I worked hard on it today."

Hayate released her from his hold and ignoring her withering glare, he 'hmm'ed his disbelief. Ai didn't take that much care of her appearance, beyond the essentials. She sent another glare at the chuckling Iruka and she tried to finger-comb her hair into a slight form of order.

A chunin performed a few quick hand signs and the ground cracked open, which was then hauled up to reveal the entrance to the tunnel that would allow them to bypass the forest entirely.

Abel darted down as the entrance was opened, his limbs rattling as he went to which Ai received a few looks and to which she shrugged in response.

Most people thought, and it was a good idea thanks to Hayate, that Abel was an exercise in chakra control. She had to maintain control over him as she sent him out of eyesight and over large distances. That it was more of a self-trained puppetry jutsu.

The truth, however, was that Abel was a thinking, self-aware creature of his own. The spark that had given him life, if that is the best way to describe it, was her chakra.

How, Ai wasn't sure. The idea of magical 'chakra' that seemed to allow one to break the rules of physics disagreed with her highly science-infused brain, but she had been living with, and using it, for a number of years now and she couldn't deny the fact it existed.

How it worked, beyond flowing through the body, soul, and everything else around you, Ai had no clue.

Turning to Iruka, Ai asked, "How's teaching going?"

"Different," he responded. "I'm sure you know I've been teaching a new class of students." Ai nodded. "The Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru, is in my class now. He says he's been training with Naruto, you can see Naruto's influence on him. I can't decide if it's a good thing or not, but at least Konohamaru is calmer than him still."

"I met those nine genin of yours yesterday," she said. Iruka's look asked 'did you?' "Well sort of," she redirected. "Naruto yelled at me."

"Of course he did," Iruka sighed. Beside her Hayate chuckled.

"I also met their Sensei," she aimed this a bit more towards Hayate, though she knew that Iruka was aware of Kakashi as well. "He's a bit condescending, don't you think?"

"He can be," Hayate said laughter still in his voice. "He's a good man, and ninja, strange though, but I suppose we all are somewhat."

"You forgot conically late," Iruka added. As an administrative ninja that had to do his rounds in the mission office, Ai was sure that Iruka found that trait particularly annoying.

Abel came trotting back to her, rattling that the way was clear. He circled about her and bumped into her legs before dropping back to walk behind her.

Chatter continued amicably between them and the other ninja in the tunnel until they arrived to the exit leading into the tower. Once inside, talk turned to business and once again Abel took off to examine the current level of danger.

Which Ai was pretty sure was very low, but Abel had an almost excessive protective streak.

The one bright side in the dark, dank tower was that it had already been cleaned in preparation for the second portion of the exam.

Ai made her way for one of the two stairways, with the intent of setting up the kitchen. She truly hadn't been joking with Hayate about making food while they were here. Eating what tasted like cardboard and packing peanuts, even if it did have more nutrition, wasn't entirely appealing.

She walked past a chunin checking the seals in the doorframe. These seals were meant to keep the genin from wandering into the wrong section of the tower.

That section being the one she and the few chunin, plus Hayate (as the next round's proctor), would be staying in. The barrier was there, as Ai put it, to keep the snotty-nosed genin out of their stuff.

Ai made for the mess hall, where she distributed food to the proper places of storage. They would be here for five days and four nights, the vast majority of them would be filled with training, at least for her. What those other chunin would be doing, she had no clue. They probably wouldn't see a genin team until the third day.

Though Team Kurenai showed potential to arrive earlier.

Her stomach growled. Looking about, there were a couple of people in conversation with each other, but they were the only ones in the room and they didn't seem to have heard it. Shrugging, Ai decided she might as well start on brunch.

Some beef teriyaki sounded good, but did she want noodles or rice to go with it?

Noodles. Definitely noodles. And some vegetables, yes.

Cooking was one of the things she had learned since coming here, mostly because she was sick of eating out and sick of getting sick on Hayate's food. He wasn't the best cook she'd ever met, which turned out to be a depressingly common trend among ninja.

"Food already?" It was Hayate's voice that asked from behind.

"I'm hungry and it's nothing special," she had basically put together a stir fry, though it was closer to Pad Thai really. "I made enough for everyone."

"Ai, you really are too kind."

"Keep it to yourself, you'll ruin my reputation."

"Especially the one you're building among this year's genin."

"I'm only doing my job," she defended.

"If you ever get tired of it I'm sure I can convince the Hokage to at least let you be a food nin–"

"Not that joke again," she interrupted waving the spoon she'd just used to scoop food at him. "I actually believed you about food nin. Not that I wanted to be one, but I believed you."

He gave her That grin. The one that said 'I'm trying to rile you and you know it, but you're still going to get upset.'

Just as he was about to speak she sent the bowl skidding down the counter. He was forced to body flicker to catch it before it hit the ground.

She received a dirty look in response.

It was at that moment that Iruka walked in. He raised an eyebrow at the pair. Hayate still hunched over from catching the food and Ai's arm guiltily pushed out from tossing said food.

"Can you believe her? She's willing to hurl food just to get me to stop talking." Ai started on making a second bowl.

Iruka was unimpressed. "Are you two ever going to behave?"

"I guess you won't want anything… to eat then." The bowl was out of her hand before she finished. Honestly, ninja and food had a disturbing relationship. She got to work on a third bowl. By now word had somehow spread and others were showing up to get their own food. It wasn't that she was an amazing, or even great, cook, but it was fresh, she hadn't burned it, and seriously, anything was better than the food that was stocked here.

She had just finished serving herself when a chime rang out. A hush briefly fell over the gathered ninja as a screen flicked to life. Displayed on the monitor was one of the entrance rooms, inside stood three figures.

"A team already?" Muttered a ninja Ai had never met before.

She looked towards Hayate. His eyes were narrowed as she studied the team on screen. He was suspicious and that raised Ai's guard.

"You should probably get down there," he finally spoke.

"Yeah," she sighed, putting down her bowl on the counter. So much for food.

Ai turned to walk away, but a hand brushing her arm stopped her.

"Be careful," Hayate warned. "Genin-level shinobi do not finish so quickly." She nodded in acknowledgement.

Outside the door, Abel rattled and stood as she moved past him, letting her know he would be watching.

※※※※※

"How are we supposed to get out of here," Kankuro wondered aloud, looking for a door. Moments after the words left his mouth a portion of the wall slid away.

"Welcome to…" the figure paused, "you know, I don't even know what this tower is called." The form stepped out from the shadowed doorway.

Kankuro was surprised, she was young. Younger than he was expecting anyway. She was maybe his age and wearing a too-large Konohagakure vest, dark pants and a purple shirt with a red flower reaching across her midsection. Her blonde hair was pulled haphazardly up, her eyes were light blue and bored, but nowhere on her could he spot her Konoha headband.

"If you'll follow me, I'll show you where you'll be staying until the end of the second exam." Her eyes slipped across them, pausing just milliseconds longer on Gaara than on him or Temari. She stepped out of the doorway and gestured for them to go through.

Gaara immediately moved forward. He and Temari followed a second after. When he passed her into the short hallway, he reached out and touched her with his chakra. Her chakra was just barely above that of a civilian's, which confused him. If she wasn't a ninja, was she just wearing a leaf's vest as a show she was in charge? He supposed it made sense; a shinobi wouldn't listen to a civilian without good reason.

"So, are you our tour guide or something?" he asked. The small smirk that formed on her face was secretive.

"Or something," she replied in a not very reassuring tone.

She fell into step beside him as they moved through the hallway. It opened quickly into a larger central room. The ceiling rose away, leaving all the floors exposed.

"This is the central room," the girl began to talk on they had emerged. "There really isn't anything down here, but you may notice on the other side, there are stairs." She moved forward to be in front of them. "We will be taking the ones on the left. The stairs to the right are warded to keep you out unless you have the proper identification." She turned around, walking backwards. "So don't bother trying. Now, the left."

"Wait, hold on." Temari finally spoke, interrupting the girl turning around. "What's through that doorway there?" She gestured to the huge set of doors between the two stairwells. The girl sighed like Temari had just asked her to donate her every last ryō to charity.

She moved to the doors and pulled one side open. "It's another room. More specifically, it is the room in which you will gather in at the conclusion of the second stage. Congratulations, you have one-hundred and eighteen hours and twenty minutes." She slammed the door shut. "You'll love it here." She moved back to the left stairwell. "Onwards and upwards."

Once they arrived on the landing to the second floor she began talking again. "On this floor you'll find a kitchen and a communal gathering area. The kitchen does not come pre-stocked; however I suppose you can heat up your lizard jerky, or whatever it is you eat in a desert."

Kankuro clenched his fist as rage flared through him. How dare she say something like that! He could see Temari's face had hardened as well.

"Third floor!" she called, moving up the continuing stairs, completely ignorant of what she'd just done. Kankuro did note, however, that Gaara simply followed her passively. He supposed pot-shots at Hidden Sand didn't bother him as much as it did his siblings.

Once again on the landing she stopped. "Here you'll find the bunk rooms, there are three and they are all identical. The first and last doors in the hallway are washrooms." She then turned and made direct eye contact with him. "May I suggest a shower." Kankuro clenched his jaw. He was going to strangle her. She sighed before saying, "There is also a fourth floor you may visit. It has an area you can train in, or not, it's up to you. Higher access is blocked off."

"Unless we have the 'proper identification'?" he questioned her waspishly.

"You catch on so quickly." He was going to strangle her and enjoy every moment of it. "Your jonin teacher will be notified of your success. Enjoy your stay." She turned to walk back down the stairs.

"Hey!" he shouted at her. "You didn't give us your name!"

"No, I don't suppose I did." She didn't even turn back.

"I am going to kill her," he growled.

※※※※※

Ai entered the mess hall once again. All her food had been eaten, but they ninja here were kind enough to leave her bowl of food untouched. And let it get room temperature. Ah, ninja thoughtfulness. She sighed, grabbing it up.

"You good?" Hayate asked as she sat down next to him. Across the way was Iruka.

"Don't get me wrong, I enjoy antagonizing people, but being a complete bitch leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

"That just means you still have a heart," Hayate reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him.

"Eeeeh, feelings are gross," she whined, pushing away.

"Keep in mind; you have a job to do," he talked over Ai's 'I know,' "and you really were the best choice."

"That sand team gave me a heebies though," she stirred her food mindlessly. "Particularly the red-head, Abel told me his chakra is completely unstable." Iruka's eyebrows crumpled together and Hayate went silent. After a few moments he spoke.

"It seems best you avoid the sand team when you can. Stick to escorting the passing teams in, all right?"

"Sure," Ai agreed. That sand-nin, Gaara, really did give her the willies though. Through the whole thing he hadn't reacted once. His siblings had shown signs, but not him. It was like she was little more than a fly on the wall to her. Not that it seemed to be a bad thing per se; she had noticed how far the other two had stood from him.

"Eat your food; we'll get some training in."