Chapter 2: Exam 3
As Maemi laid in bed, he stared at his headband. He traced the outline of the shuriken on his headband with his thumb. The shuriken was chosen to be on the Village hidden in Steel's symbol because the village's smith's specialty was the shuriken and the kunai. The shuriken was then voted to be the village's symbols by the council of elders.
Maemi tied the headband on his arm again and got walked down stairs. It was nearly dinnertime and his mother had said she'd cook up a feast in honor of him becoming a Genin. Maemi could taste the sweet aroma of the food. His mouth began to water. It was his favorite, ramen noodle soup. He quickly got a seat at the table. His father came soon after.
"Maemi. Since you're a Genin now I think it's time for me to teach you one of the clans more powerful techniques. I figured tomorrow after you meet up with your new sensei and teammates." His father proposed.
Maemi smiled. This was the first time his father really talked to him with some form of pride in his voice. "Sure thing dad." Maemi said with glee. His mother placed down the food and Maemi dug in.
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The next day Maemi woke up late again. Like the day before he hurried down stairs, this time falling as he reached the bottom. He quickly got up and grabbed some breakfast and ran towards the academy were he'd meet his new sensei and teammates.
Maemi got his room number and hurried there. He opened the door to see he was the last one there. "So nice of you to finally join us Maemi." The sensei said. He motioned Maemi to his seat. "Now that you have finally joined us we can begin." Maemi looked at his fellow teammates.
Jiro was one of them. He had his headband tied around his forehead and changed his look a bit. He still wore cameo pants but also wore a cameo jacket now. His olive green shirt had the kanji for invisible in black spray paint on the front center of it. He also had a shuriken on a necklace now. A sign by his clan for become a shinobi.
Michiko was also there. Her hair was shorter now and wore her headband like a belt. She wore loss dark clothing over her skintight jumpsuit. Her glasses still continued to slide down her nose every now and then though. Maemi smiled a bit as he passed her, and then took a seat in the back.
"My name is Takai Akio. You are all members of squad 9. I believe you all know each other so we can skip introductions. If you'll follow me to the training grounds, we can get started on the final exam." Akio Sensei said.
"What are you talking about? We pasted the both tests and are Genin. You should be training us and taking us on missions!" Jiro yelled out.
"As expected. Most students react in that way. This final exam is a field test designed by the Jounin in charge of the squad to see if you are truly worthy of the title Genin. Now hurry up before we have to give the field to the next squad and I fail all three of you." Akio Sensei explained in an impatient tone as he walked out the door. Michiko, Jiro, and Maemi followed.
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Outside, the sun shown bright and the trees rustled in the winds. Maemi waited eagerly for Akio Sensei to tell them what the field exam would be. Michiko studied her surroundings, unsure of what this third exam would be she wanted to be sure she was ready for anything. Jiro leaned against a tree as if he was too good for this. Akio Sensei walked out from the trees hold a big stick. He dragged the stick behind him making a line in front of the students.
"The third exam is simple enough. Three flags are hidden on the other side of this line. Your job is to get them and bring them back to your side of the line. This is to reenact a rescue mission. You must not get tagged by any of my shadow shurikens or kunais three times. If you dead your dead and fail the exam. You have five minutes."
The three of us stood still for a minute, expecting him to say go or something. "So this is basically capture the flag?" Jiro asked.
"You have four minutes." Akio Sensei said. After that, Jiro and Maemi quickly ran into the forest. Michiko staid behind. "Three minutes!" Akio Sensei yelled. Jiro and Maemi split up now. "Two minutes!" Maemi hid in the shadows and Jiro leapt into a tree. "One minute!" Michiko performing the seals for her clans jutsu. "FA-SUTO NO JUTSU!" She yelled. Michiko then disappeared.
As the final minute ran out and Akio steeped onto the 'war zone,' Michiko reappeared in the safety zone with her flag. "There, pointless task done." She said and took a seat in the shade of a tree. Akio Sensei was a bit shocked but then focused on the other two that were still in the forest.
Jiro leapt from treetop to treetop looking for the other two flags; one for him and the other to fail Maemi. When Akio Sense was visible in the distance Jiro froze. He quickly did the seals for his clans jutsu. "HITOSHIRENU NO JUTSU!" he yelled under his breath. Soon his body became invisible. He lept down from the tree, landing softly, and quickly ran ahead, trying to get away from Akio before his five minutes were up.
"Nice try Jiro. I've fought with your father and know the unseen jutsu quit well." Akio Sensei said and through multiple shadow kunais and shurikens in the direction that Jiro was in.
Shit… Jiro thought as he saw the shurikens and kunais coming for him. At the last second he jumped to avoid. He grabbed onto the tree branch and pulled himself up. He felt a slight pinch as he pulled himself up. He looked at his foot. He had been tagged. There was a big, bright blue spot was there. He panicked. He could be seen easily now. He quickly took off in some random direction as his jutsu wore off. When he felt he was safe he quickly began to clean off the spot, but it wouldn't come off. "Shit… I'm dead." He muttered.
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Maemi walked through the shadows. He was being very away of his surroundings, wanting to be sure to find Akio Sensei before Akio Sensei found him. He saw it. A blue flag waving in the breeze. Maemi was about to go after it before he realized it could be a trap. "Airon kuro-n no jutsu!" He said. Four Steel copies appeared in a puff of smoke. He then started performing the seals for one of his clans jutsus. "Airon yuuchi no jutsu!" he said. Iron started coming towards him, little by little in unnoticeable clusters. He formed a line around him, about an inch high.
"Go!" he said and pointed at the flag. Maemi's clones speed out. They were ordered to take positions and retrieve the flag after one minute. Once they attacked he only hoped that the clones would survive Akio sensei's barrage of shurikens and kunais and get him the flag. Then he would only have five minutes to bring the flag back. Assuming Akio sensei was guarding the flag of coarse. They attacked. Nothing. No shurikens, no kunais, nothing. One of the clone lifted the flag from its position and multiple shurikens and kunais hit all four clones causing them to cancel.
"Well at least the trap got used on them and not me. But still. Maemi stood. As he walked the iron formed a protective cast around him. He made sure there was pace between the iron and him, just incase. He lifted up the flag and walked back into the shadows. He then hurried back, wanting to be sure he had some time left on his jutsu incase Akio Sensei turned up some where. Better safe then sorry.
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Jiro found his flag. It was green so he knew it was his. He grabbed his shuriken and threw it at the flag to nock it down, checking for traps. When the flag fell, shurikens and kunais flew in his direction. He quickly ducked to avoid them. He then preformed his unseen jutsu and retrieved the flag, then hurried back to shadows.
Jiro felt a pinch in his chest area. "Good thing were counting to three. That's a fatal hit right there." Akio Sensei said. "damn, damn, damn," Jiro muttered as he quickly began running back to the safety zone. Akio ran after him, throwing his shadow shurikens and kunais. Jiro dodged them, barely missing them. He couldn't go home a loser, he had to return a true Genin.
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Maemi's jutsu wore off just as he crossed into the safety zone. He saw Michiko sitting under the shade holding her yellow flag. "Wow. How long have you been waiting with your flag." Maemi asked. Michiko looked up.
"About two hours. Before Akio Sensei crossed his line I had my flag already." She said.
"Wow! How did you do that? That was fast." Maemi stammered as he walked towards the shade.
"My clan's jutsus specialize in speed. Getting this flag was quiet pointless to me." She said.
"Yeah. Well at least it was fun for me. I wish I could have seen your jutsu in action. Maybe I will some day." Maemi said, sitting next to Michiko. Michiko only shrugged, not really caring.
"Why are you different from everyone else? You seem to be the only one to treat me as an equal, not a egg head or a nerd or anything like that. Why?" She asked.
"I dunno. I guess I don't really care about that kinda stuff. I wana make friends with people because of who they are, not because of the stuff they know." Michiko smiled. She was actually showing emotion. She never really showed emotion before. She always acted bored, like everything we did at the academy was under her.
"That's sweet." Michiko said softly.
"You know Michiko, I like you… a lot. And I would love to take you out some time. Anywhere as long as I'm with you." Maemi said. He moved closer to Michiko, Michiko did the same. Their faces inched closer and closer together. Maemi was finally going to kiss Michiko.
"SHIT!" Jiro yelled as he jumped across the line. The last shadow shuriken that Akio Sensei had thrown went right over Jiro and hit Michiko in the head. She screamed slightly.
"YOU BASTARD!" She yelled as she jumped up and ran to Jiro and started kicking him in the side. Jiro yelled for help but Maemi stayed in the shade.
"That's enough Michiko," Akio Sensei said as he pulled her away from Jiro. Akio sensei sighed. "Well this is a first. Usually one or two of my students fail. Never before have all three passed. Well congratulations squad 9, you are worthy of the title Genin. Tomorrow we'll begin your training."
Michiko walked back over to Maemi. "I'd love to go out with you some time," she said and kissed his forehead softly. Maemi smiled slightly and stood up. He then took Michiko's hand as they walked back to the village.
