Chapter 4

Tests, Tests, and.. More Tests?

It was early morning as Yui rolled around sleepily in his new bed. He didn't have to wake just yet and it was cold outside of his blankets. He rolled to his left and then to the right. Finally after rolling back onto his side he accepted that he wouldn't be falling back to sleep. So with a shove of the covers and a bit of effort he sat up on the edge of the bed and timidly let his feet make contact with the chilled floor.

As he made his way to the kitchen he remembered that he hadn't yet stocked his shelves with food. It was still early and he didn't quite feel like going shopping so instead he would go out to eat. Maybe he could stop and get some dango at the stall he found yesterday and do some exploring before his tests. With that he made his mind up and quickly got dressed before heading out. He didn't bother to put on his usual gear of shuriken, pouch, or water gourd. Instead he would be light and inconspicuous.

The dango from the small street stand was delicious and sweet, just what he wanted. As he ate he took his time exploring the area, completely unaware that anyone was looking for him. The jounin had already tired to find him at his house and was annoyed that he wasn't there. "They told him to stay close so he has to be somewhere near by", he muttered to himself. His long black hair danced around his cheeks as he took a look around, the long strand between his eyes somehow never clouding his vision. With his deep blue eyes locked toward the shopping district, he decided to start there. He went to various stores asking if anyone had seen a young genin with short white hair and green eyes. That was the only description he had been given but you would expect it to be easy to find a white haired kid. So far no one had seen him and the only place left in the area to check with was the dango stand.

He asked the woman at the counter if she had seen a young genin today. "I don't know about a genin but I've only seen one boy today around that age. I haven't seen anyone so young with white hair since Kenatiko was a boy." The mention of white hair caught his attention more so that the mention of his former team mate.

"That's exactly who I'm looking for", he told the woman hoping she would stay on topic. "Which way did he go?" The kind elder woman hoping she would stay on topic. "Which way did he go?" The kind elder woman raised one hand from where she had been shaping a ball of dough and pointed down the street.

"Thank you", he told her respectfully before heading further from his original destination. He was beginning to feel it was a game of cat and mouse as he walked asking passerby's if they had seen the boy. By the time he made it to the park he was thoroughly annoyed, and that's when he spotted a boy with white hair and all black cloths sitting on a bench just feet away. "Hey you ", he said with agitation clear in his voice. The boy turned quickly to see who was there. "You're Yui right?"

Yui nearly flinched at the mention of his name. He had heard his name called in such a voice before and it was never pleasant. "Am I supposed to know you?", he asked in a flat tone as he stood from his seat.

"No you're supposed to be at home waiting for me." The man's words broke Yui's defensive wall as he realized why the man was there.

"Wait you're the one who's come to get me for testing?"

"Yes and I've wasted enough enough time searching for you so let's go." The man crossed his arms as if to make his point even sharper.

'I should have figured they would send someone strict', Yui thought while mentally scolding himself for thinking it was a good idea to explore. He knew he should had stayed home and now the man was already on edge with him. "I need to get some things first." He spoke just enough for the raven haired man to hear and prayed he wouldn't be scolded for wasting more time.

"Are they essential?" The man's voice was leaning more toward boredom now.

"Yes", Yui responded promptly.

"Fine I'll just wait here." He sat and Yui didn't know what to tell him.

"But I.." Yui's voice was too low to hear.

"What are you waiting for?", the man's blue eyes locked onto his green ones.

"I don't know the way back", Yui confessed feeling pathetic. 'What kind of shinobi gets lost so easy?' The man's only complaint was a sigh as he stood and told Yui to follow him. He lead him straight back to his front door with ease. As he unlocked the door Yui politely offered for him to wait inside, just to get another reminder of the man's annoyance.

"Just be quick", he complained as he picked up Yui's book on water jutsu and started thumbing through it. Yui was quick to grab the belt with his gourd and fasten it around his waist. Upon reaching for his bandages to wrap his leg, the man spoke up stopping him in his tracks. "Don't bother with that. Yui can use the tools at the academy.. unless yours are special in some way." Yui hadn't even seen him look up from the book he was scanning and made note that the man was observant.

"They're not special", Yui mumbled half lost in thought. 'I need to be careful around him. Even when it doesn't seem so, he's watching.'

"So are you ready?" The jounin finally looked up snapping the book shut.

"Yes sir", Yui jumped out of his inner thoughts at the thud.

"Just call me Kazuki sensei", said the jounin as he rose from the couch and made his way to the door. He felt odd announcing himself in such a way. He didn't really care to be a mentor and honestly didn't want such a job. Baby sitting was a job for genin, not jounin. "Pay attention so you don't get lost again", he told the young genin before they had even left the apartment complex.

"Yes Kazuki sensei", Yui replied unenthusiastically. 'Great now he probably thinks I'm a idiot and a burden. Why did I have to go explore today.' As they walked Yui did his best to remember different stores or features that might remind him which roads to take. They had only made a few turns when they came to a stop.

"This is Konohagakure's shinobi academy. You'll be taking todays test here", Kazuki announced at their arrival. They didn't stop for long before making their way to an unused classroom on the first floor. "You'll take the written test first. It's already been laid out for you." Yui's eyes followed the trail of his pointing finger to lock on the small stack of papers centered on the long desk at the front of the room. He made his way quickly, having already realized the man in charge had no sense of patience today, and slid onto the bench seat to start his written test.

The test wasn't excessively hard like he imagined but it was dreadfully boring. After the second page he heard a noise. He looked up to see Kazuki silently reading a book at the front of the class and wondered what he might be reading when the sound came again and pulled his attention to the window. It was laughter. There were kids running and joking around outside, no doubt the next generation of shinobi in the village. He wished he could throw his test away and just go out to enjoy the day too when he heard the sound of a throat clearing to speak. "Get back to work." And he did for the last two pages. They seemed even longer than the first two.

Finally he was done and stood to take his papers to the jounin at the front. 'I hope I did ok. Some of the questions were really hard', he thought with his tired brain as he waited for the results. 'He looks as bored as I am', Yui noted to himself as he watched Kazuki scan the last page. He just couldn't seem to make up his mind on the impression the man gave off.

"Ok next up we'll test your weapon skills. Do you need anything besides shuriken and kunai?"

"No just those", Yui replied finally starting to relax. The weapons test took no time at all as he hit the bullseye on the target with every weapon, winning himself a few young admirers from the class exercising.

'He seems pretty average so far', Kazuki thought to himself, 'Average test score and good weapon aim.' "Now I need you to display some jutsu for me." He waved his hand signaling for Yui to follow him to the empty section of field. "Start with the basics. Show me two clones." Yui did it with ease making two copies of himself appear on either side. Kazuki seemed unimpressed. "Transformation next." Yui did again as he asked transforming both clones along with himself into a trio of bored looking kazuki. "Ok now show me some of your own jutsu."

'Here we go', Yui thought to himself. He would have to release his clones and transform back into his normal self all at once to make it look like he ended all the jutsu. When he pulled it off he couldn't help but grin. All he had to do now was pass his water off as a normal justu, but of course he would display his fire first in hopes he wouldn't need to show his water at all. With ease he weaved the familiar signs and then took a deep breath expelling his chakra laden air through his finger tips to create a giant torch like flame reaching out 10 feet.

"With that grin I expected something bigger but that's still good. Show me another." Yui wasn't sure if Kazuki was trying to put him down or praise him with his words but he was too focused to analyze them. He had to remember the signs he had practiced the night before. He popped the cork off of his gourd and readied himself. 'Hmm? That's similar to what the Kazekage carries', Kazuki quickly noted as Yui now weaved his handsigns trying to keep them smooth so they didn't appear clumsy. When he stopped on the sign of the dragon water floated from his gourd and propelled forward like a high powered hose. "Let me see that again", Kazuki demanded in an odd voice.

'Shit does he know?!' Yui was beyond nervous. It would be bad enough if he knew but to find out that Yui was trying to hide it would probably make him even more angry with him. 'I can't just call my wanter back or it will give it away. I'll have to go over and use it from the ground', he deduced running over to where his water had formed puddles on the ground. He did the handsigns again with more effort this time to quell his nerves and keep from making a mistake, reenacting the hose like technique. As he waited for feedback his anxiety didn't budge an inch until finally there was a response.

"I've never seen that jutsu before", Kazuki told him with narrow, attentive eyes. 'Something's not right about it.'

"Oh is that so.. heh I.. learned it in a different village", Yui stumbled nervously with his words, hoping the conversation would drop and it did, but not in Kazuki's mind.

'He doesn't want to tell me. That's fine. I'll figure it out eventually', he decided as if it were a puzzle challenging him. "Well done. Are there any other jutsu you want to show me?"

"Do I have to?", Yui nearly groaned. He was already on edge about having to show his water a second time. He didn't want to tempt fate with a third attempt.

"No. That will do for now", Kazuki replied as if he would rather be elsewhere. "Tomorrow we will have the team assessment. Koji will be there too. You met him yesterday."

"Will that be here too?", asked Yui, confident he could find his way back again.

"No I'll send Koji to get you in the morning so you can go now", he started to walk away before adding, "This time don't get lost."

'He's really not a talker. Must have somewhere else to be', Yui thought to himself as he scanned the area before calling his water back to his gourd. He made his way home remembering all the markers for him to turn and thinking about the days events. 'Maybe I should wash up before bed.' As soon as the thought passed through his mind he remembered what Koji had told him. He had no shower of his own which meant one thing: Public bath.

Yui tried and tried to get up the nerve to go but the thought of being in a room naked with a bunch of other guys just weighed too heavy. In the end he resigned himself to taking a sponge bath, washing away the nerve wracking thoughts with a rag before crawling into his bed for the night. He slept rather soundly as his dreams replayed a distorted view of his previous day, from getting lost, to children playing, to the nervousness he had when Kazuki had asked him to repeat his jutsu.

It was at that point when he woke to a series of loud bangs. He opened his eyes with a jolt as the light coming through the window made his retinas ache. What time was it? Through squinted eyes he peaked out to see the sun hanging low above the village. "It's too early for visitors", he groaned but he didn't have much of a choice. He let the curtain fall and walked lazily as the pounding continued, not stopping until he clicked the deadbolt lock. The face that greeted him, like the sun, was too bright for this early morning.

"Hey what took you so long!", an excited Koji chirped to the dismay of Yui's ears. To make it clear he pulled his hands quickly up to cover them as he shot the brown haired ball of energy a disapproving look.

"What are you doing here? It's too early for you to be this wound up", Yui grumbled as he held his hands firmly in place, awaiting the next outburst.

"Just hurry and get ready", Koji ordered as he pushed his way into the living room.

"Seriously?", Yui closed the door behind him. "It's like 6 AM." Koji who had been looking around turned back to the white haired genin and crossed his arms. When he spoke it was low and flat.

"It's 8:30." His sudden change in attitude made Yui look like a child throwing a tantrum but he didn't care. He rubbed his eyes and gave a big yawn before asking again why the boy was at his house. "Didn't Kazuki sensei tell you I would be coming? We have our team test today."

Yui who had been stretching flinched as he recalled Kazuki saying just that. "I forgot", he muttered as his arms sunk back to his sides.

"Yeah I know", Koji sat and waved his arm at him. "Hurry up and get dressed. Kazuki sensei won't be happy if we're late." With a grumbled complaint, Yui did as the other boy told him and when he returned to the living room he was rushed out the door before he even had a chance to eat.

Yui was still half asleep as they made their way from roof to roof toward where ever it was that Koji was leading them. He wondered for a moment if people would be mad at them for using the tops of their houses like a highway but as he looked around he could see others in the distance doing the same. After coming to the conclusion it must be normal, he let his thoughts trail on the sights of the village moving beneath him until they reached the woods.

As they walked the trail through the trees they slowed their pace. Yui could see someone up ahead coming into the distance. It was a girl leaning on a tree as she moved things about in her unattached hip pouch. He had just started to get a good look at her when Koji startled him with his new found burst of energy.

"Good morning Kitsura!" Koji shot ahead of Yui, his hand raised in greeting.

"Hey Koji", she replied and as she turned , the beams of light flickering through the shifting trees made her long hair glow brilliantly gold. Not the ugly yellow color most think of but a soft, warm glow ever so gently tinted and glistening from the sun. As her light blue eyes focused on Yui, who was trailing behind him, she cocked her head a bit in curiosity. "Who's that?"

Koji made a glance back to him before he shut his eyes in a huge grin. "This is Yui, our 3rd team member."

Kitsura proceeded to give the new boy a good look over before she smiled a grin which made him nervous. "Well you don't look so bad", she told him surprising both boys as she popped her eyebrows up playfully.

"Hey don't hit on him right in front of me!", Koji shot the words out as fast as his brain could think them.

"Why not? It's not like we're dating and we both know it was a joke", she told him in her defense.

The two continued to go back and forth on the topic but Yui wasn't paying any attention to their words now. He was still caught up on the part about being their third member. The way he saw it, if the team was already planned out then the jounin leader must be too. "If the three of us are a squad then who is our jounin sensei?", he asked before realizing he was interrupting the two.

They both gave him a look as if questioning his intelligence before Kitsura finally answered. "Kazuki sensei.. Haven't you met him already?"

"Of course he has", Koji blurted, "He did a placement test yesterday."

Yui could see the two were about to start arguing again when he spoke up to clear his intelligence level. "So you don't get to pick here in the leaf?" Surely that simple question would explain the confusion he thought. Kitsura seemed to understand right away.

"The higher ups try to pick teams that will work best together", she explained and then added a question. "Where are you from that you would pick your sensei?" It was a fair question. Yui came from a place where they had a say on the matter while Koji and Kitsura were from a village where these things were decided for them. It was understandable that the situation see odd to both parties.

Yui opened his mouth to answer her question but before he could Koji spoke up and in a nonchalant tone he informed her that he had come from Sunagakure.

"Oh like how you came from the mist?", Kitsura asked suddenly surprising them for the second time in the last five minutes.

"Sure I guess", Koji replied in a grumble, "but I really wish you would quit telling everyone that." He seemed to be annoyed now.

"I don't see why when it's common knowledge", she pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Just look at the way he's staring at me now", Koji protested as he pointed to Yui. "It's not as well known as you think it is."

At the mention of his actions Yui realized he really was staring. He had just been caught off guard by the mention of Koji being from his own original nation. Was it more common than he realized for genin to be transferred? Had Koji done something similar to end up here? These were all questions that were newly forming in his head and already they were earing away at him. He was just about to ask when a fourth voice startled them all.

"It's nice to see you're on time today", came a calm, flat voice from the tree above them. All three genin shot their eyes up to see Kazuki relaxed on a limb about 20ft up. Yui had just made out a book in his hand when he turned his eyes back down and started to feel embarrassed. Was the man never going to forget his being lost yesterday? When he started talking again Yui thought for sure he would tell the others of the incident. "It's about time you start taking this serious Koji."

Yui felt a rush of relief when he learned the comments were not being directed at him and his embarrassing mistake. He watched and waited to see how the charismatic youth would reply to the man. Yui could see a thin pink layer of blush forming on Koji's face. The boy looked away from Kazuki with a sheepish smile as his hand rubbed the back of his head, pushing his brown spikes ever forward. "The Hokage said he would start docking my pay when I'm late", he confessed.

"Well at least something can motivate you", Kazuki seemed to say to thin air as he packed the book into his pouch before leaping down to their level.

"How long have you been here sensei?" Kitsura seemed confused but her words made the two boys feel better about not being the only ones caught off guard. They really needed to be more attentive in the future.

"I've been here long enough", the man sighed and seemingly as bored as the day before he reached into his pocket to pull out two shiny brass bells that clinked against each other as he displayed them to the team. "Let's get started. I'm sure at least one of you is familiar with this test."

Kitsura recognized right away what their task would be and upon seeing the other two confused she sighed to show her disappointment. Yui was new and so he had an excuse but for Koji not to know made her feel she should lower her expectations of him. "We have to work as a team and get the bells", she told them. "It's pretty straight forward."

"So then why are there two bells? Why not just one?", Koji asked as the explanation seemed lacking to him. Kitsura looked over to their sensei as she thought about what he said. Koji had a point.

"There are two bells and three of you. Obviously you'll have to work together to have any hope of getting one before time runs out." Kazuki could feel the anticipation rising within them, which was exactly what he wanted. "And whom ever doesn't have a bell by the end", he gave a devilish smile, "will be spending all of their free time doing hard training with me." It might not seem like a hard pressing threat but for Koji and Kitsura who had friends and places to be and most of all, had heard all the rumors about Kazuki Kurosawa, it seemed like hell. And even more so for Yui who had absolutely nothing but free time. Each of them made up their minds, they HAD to have one of those bells.

'This might be tough but if I just use my water', Yui was already in his head forming a plan before he even remembered his handicap. 'Wait.. I still have to disguise it as a jutsu! Damn!' His clenched hand shot up to his mouth to think it out more clearly when his new sensei spoke and brought him back to the physical plane.

"You look like you're trying to solve an advanced math problem over there", Kazuki remarked as he shot blank eyes at him. Yui could feel his cheeks warming as he realized everyone had been watching him.

"He's so right", Koji laughed only to get smacked on the back of the shoulder by Kitsura, to which Yui decided he might actually like working with her. Maybe.

Kazuki apparently was not entertained. "Moving on. I'm giving you three until dusk to get these", he said jingling the prize in front of them. "Begin." As soon as the word left his mouth Koji sprung forward with his arm outreached for the bells. The rest of his team found themselves in awe, not at how fast he was to react or that he was doing something great but by the simple fact he thought his dash would actually work. In fact he was the only one surprised when Kazuki stepped to the side, watching him fall flat on his face. "Did you really think it would be that easy?", the black haired man mocked before departing what he himself had been told many years back. "Fight to kill or don't fight at all." With that it was abundantly clear to them. This would be their toughest fight yet.