Let's start this from the beginning

Grand Assembly

- Part 1 -

"Foreigners"

II

"Damn, I'm glad our shift is almost over. This job is so boooring!"

Izumi resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her teammate's drawn-out complaint. It wasn't that she disagreed with him, mind you; guard duty was unbelievably dull. Staying still for long periods of time had never been her greatest strength, and it was even worse in situations like this when there wasn't much to distract herself with.

"Your whining doesn't make this any easier," her second teammate, a Hyūga named Kishin, said, but his voice didn't have any bite. "The less you think about how ridiculously, painfully, mind-numbingly slow the time passes, the faster it goes by."

Izumi snorted. "Hard to do that if you two are always talking about it."

Both men chuckled at that.

Most notably, neither of them denied her words.

"It would be nice if at least something interesting happened once in a while," she continued exasperatedly. "I mean, I don't even want something extreme like enemy shinobi trying to breach the walls, but can't one of these merchants at least try to smuggle some forbidden wares in or something?"

Her comrades in this hell of boredom didn't bother to respond with anything other than an agreeing grunt.

It wasn't as if any of them would intervene if a merchant were to indeed try something like that, but it would at least give them a much-needed change of paste. It would also be more interesting than watching the endless, never changing stream of guests moving into the village without any notable occurrence.

Their mission was easy:

Ensure that no shinobi illegally entered the village in secret.

There were always patrols all over the village, on Konoha's walls, and in the forest outside the village's walls who did everything in their power to do just that already, of course, but due to the increase of travel inside their borders, and with all the guests that came to Konoha to enjoy the finals of the Chūnin Exams and all the festivals that would happen in the weeks before and after the finals, security had been drastically increased.

One consequence of that was that in addition to the regular shinobi on guard duty who checked every new arrival, one special team would hide unseen in the background and double-check everything.

'Special' because this team had always to consist of one Uchiha, one Hyūga, and one sensor type. That was obviously not an easy feat as the increased security meant that members of these three groups in particular were in increased demand pretty much everywhere. Finding one that was free and not already involved in another assignment was all but impossible. So, what was logically the solution to somehow make it work anyway?

Overtime, oh so much overtime!

That being said, no matter how annoyed everyone unlucky enough to be picked for this task was at their assignment, everyone took it seriously. They were very much aware of the importance of their work, after all. The fact that neither she nor either of her two teammates had looked away from the entrance even once during their shift, not even when they were complaining about their bad luck, was proof of that.

Without break, most of their attention was directed at the steady stream of people below the roof they were perched on, senses outstretched and Sharingan and Byakugan activated.

Serious or not, however, the situation was still dreadfully dull.

At least my shift is almost over…

"Heh, I told you Kakashi-sensei would decide we are ready and nominate us. You better never doubt me again from now on!"

"I still can't believe that he did this," Sakura muttered, barely managing to muster the energy to throw Naruto an annoyed look before her face morphed back into a confused frown. "Like, isn't it really unusual for a Genin team to participate this early in their career?"

Naruto laughed, his chest puffed out and his head held high. "So what? That just shows how awesome we are!"

"But still…"

We did perform well, Sasuke mused, but while he didn't show it as obviously as Sakura, he was just as confused by this turn of events as she was. However, as much as I hate to say it, I don't think our track record is quite impressive enough to warrant this.

Sasuke was confident in his and his team's abilities, and he wanted nothing more than to think their sensei had nominated them because he truly believed they were ready, but try as he might, he couldn't convince himself that this was the case. For all their hard training, they didn't go on a whole lot of missions and therefore didn't gain much practical experience – one of the most important things for a shinobi. Yes, their training was intense, but it wasn't the same as actual combat experience.

Also, it had been only a little more than half a year since they had graduated. Sasuke was smart enough to realize that a village would usually not send their youngest Genin into what was a display of power to discourage all the other nations from messing with them.

"What do you think of this, Sasuke?"

He looked up at the question, both his teammates having fallen silent as they waited for his response, and confronted with their expectant looks, all he could do was give them a forcefully nonchalant shrug. "I suppose it's not without precedent," he said. "My brother also took part in the first exams that took place after he graduated. They were even held early that year, so he had even less time to prepare than we."

He had hoped that this would be enough to satisfy those two and allow him to fall back into his thoughts, but apparently, it did the exact opposite.

Sakura frowned even more. "No offence, but I don't think Itachi-sensei is a very good example of what is considered normal and what's not."

Sasuke almost groaned at the honorific. Itachi was a Jōnin instructor, so it wasn't as if it was inappropriate, but it was just plain weird to hear anyone address him like that!

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, his demeanour a bit more serious than earlier. "Actually, now that I think about it, it's maybe a little bit strange that we're basically in the same boat as he was. Stuff like this doesn't happen a lot, right?"

Sakura nodded enthusiastically, clearly happy to have Naruto agree with her for once. "Exactly! There is obviously something else going on in–"

They never got to hear what she was about to say. One moment she was speaking as they casually walked down the street, and the next, she stopped in mid-sentence as her muscles tensed and she instinctively fell into a ready stance.

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke knew what had prompted this reaction, but they didn't bother with doing something unnecessary like questioning her or demanding to know what was going on. Instead, they immediately fall into stances of their own in a way that covered all their backs.

Between the three of them, Sakura was the most talented in sensing others. According to Kakashi-sensei, she even had the potential to become a sensor-type in the future. Consequently, she was the one most likely to notice that they were being watched, and they trusted her judgment even if they didn't sense anything amiss themselves – even if it was in a supposedly safe location like inside the village.

"Who is there?" Sakura exclaimed, not quite screaming but not far off either and with a drawn kunai in hand.

Her gaze was directed at a nearby tree, and after a few tense seconds of silence, a boy wearing a black, baggy full-body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front and purple face paint stepped forth onto a branch from behind the trunk.

"Colour me impressed for noticing me," he said haughtily, lips twisted into a cocky smirk. "Can't say I expected a bunch of kids to be this attentive. Maybe coming here wasn't a waste of time after all."

Naruto scoffed. "Pah, does it make you feel good to call us kids when you can't be much older than us? Pretty embarrassing if you ask me."

The boy's lips twitched, but although Sasuke could see the displeasure in his eyes, he managed to control himself and keep the façade up. He then opened his mouth, probably for a cutting remark of his own, but Sakura beat him to it:

"You're from Sunagakure," she stated, and now that she mentioned it, Sasuke finally noticed the forehead protector as well. "Are you here for the Chūnin Exams?"

"Oh, how clever of you," he sneered before dropping down from his branch to land a few meters in front of them. "You're the one who noticed me, too, so can I assume you're the brain of your little group?"

Not like you would recognize intelligence if it hit you in the face, Sasuke thought. He didn't say it out loud, though. There was something more important to consider right now.

Sasuke began to look around to check their surroundings without ever leaving the other boy completely out of his sight, noting that no one else was around while absently listening to the back and forth between him and Naruto. Try as he might, he couldn't spot a single nearby person. There weren't even any civilians around as far as he could see.

"Where's the rest of your team?" he interrupted the ongoing conversation, ignoring the two annoyed pairs of eyes that focused on him in response. "You're not alone, are you? Your teammates must be somewhere around here, right?"

If he was here for the Chūnin Exams, he obviously had to have two teammates, and considering Sasuke would never let either of his teammates run along by themselves if they were visiting another village, the boy's team had to be around here somewhere.

The Suna-nin smirked. "We split up, actually, but props for considering the possibility. Maybe pinky over there isn't the only brain in your group after all." He then turned toward Naruto. "I guess that means you're the odd man out, eh?"

Surprisingly, Naruto didn't get angry. Instead, he merely grinned, and Sasuke knew he would somehow insult the stranger even before his friend opened his mouth.

"At least I'm not some kind of groupie."

The boy looked just as confused as Sasuke and Sakura felt. "Huh? What the hell are you talking about?"

Naruto's grin grew even wider. "Ah, c'mon, you can't fool me! Sakura said you're here for the exams, but that isn't it, right? At least not really."

"Listen, brat, I have no idea what you're–"

"No need to lie, buddy. The face paint, that loudmouth of yours that's all bark and no bite, and that thing on your back that's probably full of merchandise; you're here for the exams, but not to participate. You're here as part of the cheering squad!"

Sasuke had to admit that the gobsmacked expression on the boy's face was hilarious, and judging by the badly suppressed giggles coming from Sakura despite the situation, she apparently found it quite amusing as well.

It seemed that comment was enough to finally push the boy over the edge, too.

Whatever amusement Sasuke and his teammates might have felt at Naruto's joke vanished in the blink of an eye when the boy made to grab for that thing on his back. For all that Naruto's taunt had been funny, neither of them really believed for even just one second that it was actually filled with merchandise, and while it was impossible to say for sure what it was instead, it was in all likelihood some kind of weapon.

The situation became tenser with every second. Should I use this… Sasuke didn't like the idea of showing one of his aces before the exams even began, but depending on how things went from here, he might not have any other chance. If there are any ANBU watching, now would be a good moment to intervene!

"You won't attack us," Sakura stated, trying and almost succeeding in sounding more confident in her words than she actually felt.

"Oh, and why not?"

"Because you're in the heart of Konoha. You represent your village while you're here, and I doubt Suna would have sent you if you were stupid enough to cause trouble and start a fight like this."

She isn't wrong, Sasuke thought, but all that doesn't matter if his anger overwrites his common sense. He should have better self-control than that considering he is indeed a representative of his village, but who can say for sure?

As it turned out, they would never find out.

"Are you seriously picking on a bunch of kids, Kankurō? Come on, leave them alone. There's no good reason for starting trouble when we have just arrived."

Sasuke whirled around, his eyes wide, at the sudden sound of that female voice when he hadn't felt anyone sneak up on them.

Barely ten metres behind them stood two teens, one boy and a girl, with the latter apparently being the one who had just spoken.

She had teal eyes and sandy blonde hair pulled in four consecutive pigtails. She wore a long-sleeved purple blouse under a grey top, a dark blue skirt, a long sash arranged in a bow, and a forehead protector put around her neck.

Much more important, however, was the redheaded boy to her right, wearing a black body suit with an open neck, short sleeves, and almost full-length leggings. He also wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips, and the most notable feature was the large gourd he carried on his back.

How did they manage to get this close without any of us noticing? Sasuke thought, his heart beating wildly in his chest. Not even Sakura noticed them? This is bad!

They didn't look particularly intimidating, especially considering both held corns of ice cream in their hands which Sasuke thought didn't suit the situation at all, but the fact that they evidentially managed to sneak up on them without breaking a sweat spoke volumes about their skills.

And as if that wasn't already enough, the new boy gave him the creeps. He could say why or what it was that unsettled him so much, but something about him simply screamed danger. They weren't even fighting yet, but Sasuke already twitched to activate his trump card in advance just in case.

This isn't good, not good at all!

"Stay out of this, Temari," the boy that was apparently called Kankurō said without even looking at the girl. "They have it coming, especially that blond brat!"

Naruto opened his mouth, probably to shout an angry retort, but thankfully, the new girl beat him to it. "Don't be stupid. You don't really want to explain to our father that you started a fight less than an hour after we arrived, do you?"

"I'm sure he will understand if I explain that I did it to kick some competition out of the exams before they even started."

That made her look at them with renewed interest for a few moments, but then – much to Sasuke's irritation – she seemed to judge them as no threat and just shrugged before turning back to her brother. "So what? Don't tell me you're afraid of them?"

"I'm not–"

"Gaara," she continued without giving him the chance to finish his sentence while turning to the boy next to her, and Sasuke had to blink in surprise at the change in her tone; where she sounded annoyed and bored before, she now sounded almost sickeningly sweet. "Support your big sis and tell him that he's being an idiot, would you?"

This Gaara person hadn't even paid attention to the conversation until then, instead looking around the area with a bored expression on his face while slowly eating his ice cream, and even now that he turned towards them, that expression didn't change in the slightest.

"Stop it, Kankurō," he said, his voice nearly devoid of emotions were it not for the tinge of exasperation in it. "You're being an idiot."

Kankurō took a few steps toward his fellow Suna-nins with an incredulous look on his face, and Sasuke got the feeling that the three had all but forgotten about him and his teammates by now.

"Argh, why do you always listen to her? Don't you know that men have to stick together?!"

The other boy, Gaara, didn't react to that and instead simply turned around and began to walk away. "Come, we're leaving."

"Hey, don't just walk away dammit!"

Temari chuckled and stuck out her tongue at him before turning around as well and joining her brother.

"Oh, c'mon!" Kankurō cursed, not paying Sasuke's team any attention whatsoever.

Now, Sasuke wasn't exactly happy about that treatment, and he was very much tempted to forcefully stop them and demand… something. He wasn't even sure what. All he knew was that he didn't like being dismissed like this and that he couldn't just let it be. He managed to control himself, however. These people were dangerous, especially the red-haired one, and this wasn't the right time or place to start a–

"So you run away like this, then? It seems I was wrong; you're not a groupie, but a damn coward!"

"Naruto!" hissed Sakura while Sasuke gave him a smack on the back of his head, but it was already too late.

"A coward, eh?" Kankurō said with a glance over his shoulder without breaking his stride. "Believe whatever makes you happy, I guess. We will see what you are made of when the exams start." He then smirked before turning his head back forward and throwing some last parting words over his back with a careless wave of his hand. "Not that I'm expecting much considering you don't even know how special this year's Chūnin Exams are if the conversation I overheard earlier is anything to go by."

The only reason Naruto didn't hurl himself after him or at least shouted some more insults was Sakura's warning hand on his shoulder, and usually, Sasuke would be right there with her, but he was otherwise occupied right now. More precisely, those parting words had confirmed something that he could previously only theorize about.

So there really is something different about the exams this year. Does that have anything to do with why we have been chosen to participate even though we have been Genin for barely half a year?

"Oh man, I knew I shouldn't have split from the group. How am I supposed to find our residence like this?"

Haku didn't make a habit out of eavesdropping on other people while walking through the streets, but the pitiful whine was impossible to miss. It sounded as if the speaker was just about to start crying! That sort of thing happened from time to time, of course, and the people in question were usually children who were more often than not cheered up easily enough by simply being led to their parents.

This time was different, however, as the voice very clearly belonged to a teenager.

Finding the person it belonged to wasn't hard. There, only a stone's throw away from here, stood a blue-haired boy wearing square, black-rimmed glasses connected to ear protectors, a blue pin-striped shirt, and camouflage pattern pants. Even more notable, however, were the unnaturally sharp teeth and the oversized sword strapped to his back.

Haku would have recognized him – or at least where he came from – even without seeing the forehead protector attached to the front of the holster he used to carry his sword.

So he's one of the Genin from Kirigakure, huh?

Sometimes, on rare occasions, Haku found herself wondering what her life would have been like if Itachi and Anko hadn't taken her with them all these years ago. It never went so far as that one could call it homesickness, and as far she was concerned, Konoha was the only home she needed, but she couldn't help but be at least a bit curious.

Consequently, she did read up all available information about her birth country she could get her hands on. She was subtle about it, of course. There was no reason to make anyone distrust her, after all. Having people potentially suspect she might consider going rogue and rejoining Kirigakure was the last thing she needed.

Without actually thinking about her next move, she crossed the distance between them with a handful of quick steps.

"Excuse me? I couldn't help but notice that you appear a bit lost. Are you looking for somewhere in particular? I wouldn't mind pointing you in the right direction."

He blinked up at her, surprise evident on his face. A second later, he flushed beat red.

Not necessarily an uncommon reaction from boys she was talking to, mind you, but in this case, Haku thought it might be more out of embarrassment over being caught in an uncomfortable situation than anything else.

"O-oh, yes, that would be amazing! You see, well, I got kind of lost from my group and…"

Up to that point, things went about as one might expect. Unfortunately, the situation made a turn for the worse when his voice slowly became more silent as he spoke until he fell silent altogether, a confused frown on his face. Then…

"Oh, I know you! You're Haku Yuki, aren't you?"

Although Haku's smile remained unchanged and she made sure that her body language didn't give anything away, that comment made her immediately much more alert. Why does he know who I am? she thought, effectively suppressing her instinctive panic in order to think things through rationally. It would be one thing if he were some higher-up, but he's only a Genin. Why would he be informed about me?

Suddenly, she couldn't help but wonder if she shouldn't be more alert of Kirigakure. She had always assumed that Konoha had made a deal with the other village to keep her, a carrier of a Kekkei Genkai native from the Land of Water, here without starting some kind of political incident, and if that wasn't the case, that Kiri didn't even know she existed. Unlikely, considering she didn't hide her abilities on missions, but not entirely impossible as the Land of Water should be far too occupied with domestic issues to pay much attention to the rest of the world. Even with the civil war being over for some years now, there was surely a lot to be done yet to get things back in order.

I need to talk with Itachi-nii about this later, she decided. Maybe with his parents, too. They definitely know more than I do.

"I am," she replied kindly with only the barest minimum of delay. "And may I assume that you're one of Kirigakure's famed Swordsmen of the Mist? I heard a few years ago that they gained a new member – you, I presume – but I'm afraid I forgot your name…?"

He blinked, apparently surprised he got recognized as well, before impossibly blushing even harder and falling into a rigid bow. "A-ah, I guess the sword is hard to overlook, eh? My name is Chōjūrō, nice to meet you."

Haku made the deliberate effort to make her smile look a bit warmer while taking half a step closer to him, spotting his immediate embarrassment at her sudden proximity with satisfaction. Good. He's more likely to let something slip when he's like this. "Indeed," she said with a soft giggle as if he had said something funny. "I'm sure you have caught the attention of everyone around here."

"What?! R-really?"

If it weren't for the fact that she was still deeply troubled by him recognizing her, she might have found his apparent discomfort at the idea of being the centre of attention adorable.

"Really," she confirmed teasingly. Then, "I wonder what gave me away, though…"

That seemed to confuse him. "Huh?"

"You recognized me as well, remember?" she asked while talking another half step towards him, making him swallow nervously. "Unlike you, I don't carry such an impressive sword with me, you see, and I don't think I'm quite famous enough yet to be recognized on sight, so I'm merely wondering what gave me away."

It was only then that he apparently realized that he shouldn't have been able to recognize her in the first place.

"Oh, well, that's because, ehm, it's really just, you know…"

Another step brought her close enough that she could feel his breath on her face. More importantly, however, he should be able to feel her breath on his face as well. "Yes?"

"E-ehm, that is because–"

Unfortunately, mere seconds before she assumed he would break and admit everything he knew, he was suddenly pulled backwards and away from her.

"What exactly do you think you're doing, Chōjūrō?"

Haku would have recognized the new arrival even if she hadn't spent the last few years reading up on everything about Kiri she could find, and Chōjūrō's next words confirmed her suspicion.

"Zabuza-sensei! You're here!"

Well, you really don't have to sound so relieved about that, Haku thought, but that was only a secondary concern. She was much more concerned with putting even more focus into making sure her warm and innocent smile was watertight and didn't give anything away as the famous Kiri-nin watched her with narrowed eyes and undisguised suspicion.

"I am," Zabuza said, finally turning away from her to look at Chōjūrō after what might very well have been the longest three seconds of her life. "Much more important, however, is why you are here and not at our residency with the rest of your team."

Whatever relief the boy had felt at the sight of his sensei visibly evaporated in an instant. "Sorry," he murmured. "I, well, kinda got lost…?"

Haku used that opportunity to make her escape. "Well, it seems you don't need my help after all," she addressed the boy, resolutely ignoring the man with an even larger sword on his back whose eyes were once again focused solely on her. "It was nice meeting you, Chōjūrō-kun. I hope I will see you around."

She didn't wait for his reply before turning around and walking away, and it took all she had to keep her face pointed forward and not start running with the burning sensation of Zabuza's eyes on her back. She didn't even hear Chōjūrō's started farewells.

I really need to talk with Itachi-nii about this!

After wasting hours of her day on guard duty, Izumi looked forward to spending some time with Shisui.

If there was one good thing about all the extra work that came up in preparations for the Chūnin Exams, it was that Shisui went on much fewer missions outside the village. They were still both very busy, of course, but even with all the overtime they had to do, they had much more opportunities to meet now than when he was gone on weeks-long ANBU missions all the time.

It almost made all these painfully dull guard assignments worth it.

With that in mind, she really didn't appreciate anything that stopped her from going to meet her boyfriend after a hard day at work.

"Get out of the way already! Where else do you think are we supposed to sleep?"

"Jeez, do I look like I care? That's not my problem. You can sleep in some back alley for all I care as long as you're not under the same roof as me."

"Who the hell do you even think you are? If you don't step aside, we will–"

"You will what? Attack me?" Izumi could hear a dismissive snicker. "Feel free to try your luck, but don't expect any mercy if you do."

"You–"

Izumi was technically no longer on duty, but as no one else nearby seemed capable or willing to intervene in what was an argument between a group of foreigners, she had no other choice.

"Alright, that's enough!" she said with a loud voice that held the authority she had grown accustomed to in the months since she joined the KMPF, with just enough bite to catch everyone's attention while still not being aggressive enough to result in a fight or flight reaction. "What seems to be the problem here?"

She already heard enough to know the answer to that, of course, but it was always a good question to start with, if only to get rid of misunderstandings. Lots of problems could be solved by simply making sure everyone was on the same page. In this case, there were two groups, one consisting of three shinobi from Takigakure standing outside a building Izumi recognized as an inn and another consisting of two shinobi from Iwagakure, one of which was standing in the entrance to stop the first group from entering.

Funny, she mused. I thought Taki and Iwa were allies. Are there troubles in paradise, I wonder?

"And who do you think you are, eh?" one of the Taki-nin scoffed, apparently not even bothering to give her a close look before dismissing her.

That was nothing she couldn't deal with, though.

"I'm Izumi Uchiha from the police force," she said while pointing at the KMPF symbol on her flack jacket, her voice a few degrees colder than before, "and I have the authorization to take all of you into custody if you don't behave. Shinobi, even if they're only Genin" – they were clearly here for the Chūnin Exams, so guessing their rank wasn't hard – "can't be allowed to run wild. I'm sure you understand."

That fortunately shut them up. She didn't want this to escalate for real, so she was glad that seemed to be enough to make them behave. If she actually did take them into custody, that would only result in problems and annoyances down the line, and that was best avoided. Not the least because she would be one of the people who would have to deal with it.

Unfortunately, the Iwa-nin standing in the inn's entrance appeared to be a bit more stubborn.

"The police force, huh?" the girl said. "That's just perfect! Please get rid of these eyesores for me, would you? I can impossibly share an inn with such people."

Is this really what this is all about? Izumi thought exasperatedly, although she didn't let it show on her face. Man, why do I have to deal with this? All I want is to eat lunch with Shisui dammit! She could hear from the girl's voice that she was clearly used to getting what she wants, and even now, she seemed absolutely convinced that things would work out as she wanted them to.

Considering Izumi recognized who she was, that attitude was probably not much of a surprise, though.

"You're the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, aren't you?"

The girl smirked, apparently feeling vindicated at being recognized. "Exactly, so–"

"In that case, I would like to ask you not to embarrass both your village and your grandfather," Izumi continued, interrupting Kurotsuchi before she could finish her sentence. "A lot of work went into the planning of which guests get put into which residency, and every decision has been coordinated and agreed upon with the respective village's leadership. I assume you understand what that means?"

Judging by the lack of reply and the grimace on her face, she did, but Izumi explained it anyway. "It means that your grandfather agreed to put you together with the participants from Takigakure. Therefore, it will be you who will be removed from the inn if you don't cease causing trouble, and you who will then explain to him why you were arrested when all you had to do was adhere to his decision."

Maybe it was unbecoming of her, but Izumi enjoyed berating the girl like this. It wasn't exactly the height of professionalism, but considering she had had a very tiring day, and with the fact in mind that Konoha and Iwa had been at odds for ages now, she didn't feel bad about it at all. In fact, it was actually rather refreshing!

"Let it be, Kurotsuchi," the second Iwa-nin, a large and heavy-built boy who seemed almost too old to be a mere Genin and who had stayed in the background so far, said with a tired sigh. "It's not worth the trouble."

The girl didn't look happy about it at all, and Izumi honestly expected her to continue arguing if only because calming things down had been almost too easy so far, but much to her surprise, she just scoffed and turned around without another word.

Weird girl, Izumi thought absently as she accepted the words of gratitude from the Taki-nins and the surprisingly honest apology from the Iwa-nin who was apparently called Akatsuchi. Well, I suppose growing up spoilt would do that to anyone. I should probably count myself lucky that she wasn't worse.

With this final thought, she put the whole episode out of her mind and made her way back to the place where she and Shisui had arranged to meet after her shift was over.

"I can't believe he sent us away like this," Kiba complained as he walked to Hinata's right with his hands clasped behind his head, an annoyed look on his face. "You would think he would increase our training since he was the one who signed us up for the exams in the first place, not give us the day off!"

"It's important for our bodies to get rest in-between training periods. If they don't, we will only collapse. I, for my part, am glad Sensei understands this."

Hinata subtly tilted her head toward the ground so that neither of her teammates, who were walking on either side of her, would see her smile. Shino always acts as if talking to Kiba is a chore, she thought with amusement, and yet he's also always the first person to reply.

She agreed with him, though. For the last two weeks, ever since their sensei had told them about their upcoming participation in the Chūnin Exams, their training, both as a team and with their families, had increased tenfold. In her case, that meant warming up with Lee in the morning, which could be a training session all by itself if she was being honest, followed by meeting up with her team, and then ultimately additional lessons with either her uncle, Neji, or both.

Hinata was in all honesty surprised that her father hadn't insisted on increasing his lessons as well. However, rather surprisingly, he had done the exact opposite and decreased them, stating that too much training would only be detrimental to her progress and therefore cancelling all of their practical lessons together for the time being.

Thankful as she was for him being so considerate, and bad as she felt for thinking it, she couldn't help but feel that behaviour was rather odd. Nevertheless, as there was nothing she could do about it anyway, she put the thoughts about it out of her mind.

"Still," Kiba continued, evidently not at all appeased by Shino's logical reply. "Even if we hadn't trained for real, Itachi-sensei could have taught us something! A hint or two on what we can expect would have been nice, y'know."

"I very much doubt he would be allowed to tell us anything, Kiba."

"Doesn't matter much if no one knows that he did, now does it? I'm sure some of the other teams got hints…"

Noticing the subtly signs that Shino was about to lose his calm and realizing that he was probably about to say something a bit more mean than necessary, Hinata quickly spoke up before he had the chance to do so to avoid them starting an actual argument in the middle of the street:

"That's actually a really good point!" she said, not even having to fake the enthusiasm in her voice. "Even if Sensei can't tell us anything, I'm sure someone can. He always says that information gathering is one of the most important skills for a shinobi, right? Why don't we ask our families if they can tell us anything?"

In hindsight, that should have been one of the first things they should have done. In their defence, however, with how busy they had been for the last two weeks, the idea simply never crossed their minds.

Shino seemed to actually consider that idea, but for some reason, Kiba looked kinda awkward.

"Yeah, well, I kinda already did that, you see," he mumbled, awkwardly scratching his cheeks and not meeting their eyes. "My mum just laughed into my face and said something about how she wasn't allowed to."

For a few seconds, she and Shino just looked at him, totally dumbfounded. Then, "Are you an idiot?"

Usually, Hinata would immediately chide Shino for insulting their teammate regardless of whether there was any real heat behind it or not, but this time, she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Kiba bristled. "Hey! Who are you calling an idiot?"

"Who?" Shino asked rhetorically. "You, of course."

"You–"

"You wanted to ask Itachi-sensei to tell us something about the exams even though your mother already told you that there are rules in places that forbid telling Genin anything about them. Logically, that means you're an idiot."

The two of them glared at each other, and while their little argument hadn't crossed the line between playful and real quite yet, it wouldn't take much more to push them over the edge. One wrong comment from either of them would be more than enough. It was this that made Hinata come back to her senses. However, before she could intervene to make them calm down again, a new voice spoke up:

"Hey, did you just say 'Itachi-sensei'?"

The three of them turned around as one and came face to face with a dark-skinned girl who looked a bit older than them with long spikey red hair and amber eyes, wearing a long, short-sleeved dress with frilly edges, fishnet stockings, and thigh-high boots with white soles.

Most notably, however, was the flak jacket and forehead protector she wore like a bandanna which identified her as a kunoichi from Kumogakure.

Hinata hadn't heard about the incident in which a Kumo-nin might or might not have tried – and failed – to sneak into her clan's compound to kidnap her until shortly before her graduation, and as nothing had actually happened to her that night, she obviously didn't have any bad memories either. However, the idea of what could have happened had made her pay close attention to not accidentally cross parts with any guests from Kumogakure ever since she had heard they had arrived.

Apparently, she hadn't been careful enough.

That being said, she wasn't afraid now that it had happened. Rather, she had to forcefully suppress the frankly misplaced instinct to fall into a fighting stance. Hinata was reasonably sure that the other girl hadn't noticed her reaction, and if she did, most likely just thought of it as her being startled, but Shino and Kiba definitely did.

Which was probably why they immediately forgot about any and all misgivings they might have had with each other just moment earlier and took half a step forward to function as some kind of protective shield between the newcomer and her even though they had no way of knowing what it was that bothered her.

"And what if he did?" Kiba asked, and although his voice was much calmer and more controlled than just seconds earlier, there was no mistaking the hostile wariness in it. "Got a problem with that?"

Surprisingly, the girl didn't seem offended by his tone, and if anything, the grin that slowly spread over her face made it seem like she actually liked his attitude. "Oh, quite the opposite, actually," she said. "I didn't know Itachi Uchiha got a Genin team. I'm not one much for gossip, so I must've missed the news. My sensei will be happy to hear this, though."

A casual observer – of which there were many, considering they were speaking in the middle of a busy street – wouldn't have thought of Shino's voice as anything but perfectly neutral, but Hinata could hear the frown in his voice when he asked, "And why would a shinobi from Kumogakure be happy about such a thing?"

The girl shot him a predatory smile. "She and he still have an old score to settle, you see." Then, before anyone could reply to that, she turned her head around and shouted, "Hey, Omoi, Kurisu, get over her and look what I have found!"

Almost instantaneously, a male voice called back with a tired drawl, "Please don't tell me you offended someone important and started some kind of international incident. I don't want to be thrown into prison, Karui!"

"I didn't start anything, idiot!" the girl who was apparently called Karui called back, clearly aggravated. "Just get your ass over here and see for yourself!"

It became quickly very clear who she was screaming it, the forehead protector easily giving the approaching boy away as another Kumo-nin. Other than that, he had short, spikey white hair, skin just as dark as Karui's, and wore an overlong shirt with a hood, red bandage hand guards, shin guards, and a Kumogakure flak jacket.

He also had his hands packed with piles of sweets and souvenirs to the point where one had to wonder whether he was actually seeing where he was walking, making him look like a stereotypical tourist rather than the shinobi he was.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with all that stuff?!" Karui exclaimed upon seeing him, turning around from Hinata and her team for good to focus solely on him. "What do you even want with all that rubbish?"

"It's no rubbish," the boy defended himself. "It's sweets and souvenirs. The exams start in four days, and if we lose in the first round, we will have to return home immediately. There won't be any time to get anything if that happens, and I don't want to return empty-handed, so I thought–"

"Don't be stupid! Don't you remember what Sensei told us? We're here to represent our village, not to act like some kind of tourist!"

There was a short pause. Then, "So you don't think Raikage-sama will like the pack of protein bars I bought him?"

"You did what?!"

It was at this point that Hinata decided to take a step past her teammates' protective forms to stand beside them. She appreciated their concern, she really did, and the fact that they were so quick to protect her made her feel warm in her chest, but she didn't need to be protected, especially not in this particular situation.

"Excuse me?" she said loud enough to catch the attention of the pair before them that was still arguing. "You mentioned something about your sensei having an old score to settle with ours. Would you mind elaborating on that?"

Hinata allowed herself a second to mentally pat herself on the shoulder for making her voice sound simultaneously more polite than her teammates' while still upholding an aloof sternness appropriate for talking with someone who, while not quite an enemy, would be a future opponent very soon.

Otou-sama would be proud.

Unfortunately, whatever reaction she had expected to her question, the boy collapsing to the ground with a metaphorical cloud of despair over his head wasn't one of them.

Hinata blinked, suddenly unsure of herself. "Ehm, is that my fault?" Future opponent and shinobi from Kumogakure or not, she couldn't help but feel a little bad upon seeing the pitiful form of the boy before her.

"I doubt it," Shino commented, now sounding more annoyed than anything else. "I don't see how anything you have said could have realistically resulted in… that."

Even Kiba seemed too confused at the situation to remain hostile. "So, is he some kind of idiot, then?"

It was surprisingly Karui who replied. "Yes," she said dryly, pinching the bridge of her nose in an obvious sign of just how done with her teammate she already was. "He very much is." Then, addressing the boy, she asked, "What are you crying about now, Omoi?"

His answer didn't give away much, though.

"What am I going to do, Karui? This is bad, so very, very bad!"

"How am I supposed to know if you don't even tell me what your damn problem is?!"

"This isn't good at all, oh no. Something like this wasn't supposed to happen…"

One could almost see the murderous aura surrounding Karui as she made a threatening step towards him, to the point where Hinata was almost surprised that no ANBU had appeared yet to investigate. "I swear, Omoi, if you don't get a grip right now and tell me what got your pants in a twist, I'm going to kill you here and now before participating in the exams with only Kurisu!"

That made the boy look up, at least. However, for some reason, he looked first at Hinata with a weird look she couldn't quite read before turning to his teammate. "It's terrible, Karui. We're from different villages, but she's also the most beautiful girl I have ever seen! Our villages would never allow us to be together, and even if we were to elope, we will be hunted for the rest of our lives! I never wanted to be part of such a tragic love story!"

Everyone, including– no, especially Hinata, needed a few seconds to realize what he just said. When the words set in, however…

Hinata blushed beet red on the spot, anything else she might have felt before all but forgotten. M-most beautiful girl he has ever seen? He doesn't mean me, does he?

Flustered as she was, she didn't even notice Shino and Kiba moving forward with the kind of bad intention that might very well result in an actual international incident.

"You idiot!" Karui roared, having clearly forgotten about where they were, and she too took a step forward with a raised arm ready to hit him when yet another new voice stopped her.

"What do you two think you're doing, exactly?"

Karui and Omoi immediately stopped what they were doing, remaining motionlessly as if frozen in place.

Thankful for any distraction, Hinata focused on the appearance of the newcomer. Other than her two teammates, the girl had fair skin, and while she shared Karui's hair colour, hers fell in a straight line down to her thighs and stood in strong contrast with her violet eyes. Her clothes consisted of dark pants and a sleeveless top, white on the right side and grey on the left, with a red line separating the two halves and lapels at the front and back, which hung down all the way to her ankles and was fastened with a red belt around her waist.

And judging by the stern expression on her face, she wasn't likely to fool around like her two teammates.

"I leave you alone for three minutes," she continued when the two didn't say anything in their defence, "and you somehow managed to make a scene in front of all these people. Do you think this behaviour is appropriate for shinobi from Kumogakure?"

That pulled them out of whatever spell they had been caught in as Omoi jumped to his feet while Karui grumpily crossed her arms. "He was causing a scene," she said stubbornly as if she hadn't been at least half the reason all the people around them were staring while ignoring the boy's indignant protest, "not me. Besides, look what I have found! These three are students of Itachi Uchiha!"

That made the new girl, who Hinata supposed must be Kurisu, look at them for a few seconds, her stern face briefly turning curious before dismissing them and turning back to Karui. "Do you really think that explanation will be sufficient for Sensei when she hears what a ruckus the two of you have caused?"

"Well, I–"

Before she could finish, Shino – and Hinata was actually somewhat surprised that it was him instead of Kiba – interrupted her, his voice stern enough to match Kurisu's expression. "Speaking of which, we would still like to know what you meant when you said your sensei had a score to settle with ours. I think you owe us an explanation after all this commotion."

Both girls simultaneously opened their mouths, but – again – yet another voice beat them to it:

"Yes, I quite agree. Having someone explain what's going on here sounds like a wonderful idea."

Seriously? Hinata thought, feeling exasperated against her will. Another one? In any other situation, the constant appearance of ever more new people might have been somewhat amusing, but it was honestly becoming exhausting and, considering the newest person was clearly the sensei of those three Kumo-nins and therefore a Jōnin, maybe even a bit threatening.

Omoi was the first to respond. "Yugito-sensei!" he exclaimed, trying and failing to hide his panic behind a very fake-sounding chuckle. "What are you doing here? I thought you said you wanted to check out the hot springs?"

The blonde woman raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "I wanted to, yes, and I would have loved to do just that, but unfortunately, a certain tumult involving two of my students forced me to abandon these plans. You don't happen to know what that was about, do you?"

Karui and Omoi withered under the twin stares of Kurisu and the newly arrived Yugito. No matter how hot-tempered the former and, well, weird the latter were, they evidently didn't want to get on the bad side of their remaining teammate and sensei.

"Ehm, you see, it's just that–"

"I was just buying souvenirs and then Karui–"

Yugito sighed and raised one hand, and immediately, the two fell silent.

"On second thought, you can tell me the details later," the Jōnin said before turning her head to look at Hinata and her team, who had been watching the scene unfold in stunned silence.

Or more precisely, she looked at something behind them, a small smirk forming on her lips. "There is someone else I want to talk to first."

Somehow, Hinata wasn't surprised in the slightest when she suddenly felt Itachi-sensei's presence appearing right behind them a moment later.