Suki didn't know what was happening. One minute she was sitting in the chair at the table, patiently waiting, and the next she was in the corner and against the wall, shivering uncontrollably and trying to steady her blurring eyesight. She tried to blink away the visions she had been seeing, unaware she was actually dreaming. Her eyes burned like fire, the worst case of dry eye she ever experienced. Her head throbbed, but slowly, she could make out her dreams.
That's the first time she thought of her past life in a long time. She almost even forgot about it. She slightly grieved the fact, and the fact she could barely remember anything from said life. She had wholeheartedly moved on and accepted Suki as her identity.
The camera, which was in the corner above her, had changed positions. It now facing straight down to point at her. She just realized how her clothes were damp, as if she went back outside in the rain. She knew it was sweat, even if she wasn't really sweating anymore. She patted her body, checking for any injuries. Other than a bruise she felt forming on the side of her head, she was fine.
The room around her was basically untouched, if not a little swirly-looking, now that she could focus more on her surroundings. The chair she was sitting at before was on its side, casting a deep shadow that trapped her in the corner. What she logically knew was just a shadow was moving and rippling like water. For some reason, she felt like sensei was in it, trying to capture her like he did in training. He always targeted her with his shadows, since she's the one who often tried to ambush him from behind in their team fights.
Maybe it was time to switch up their tactics.
She couldn't ever touch the moving shadows. It was drilled into her subconscious.
She noticed her mind wondering and tried to re-focus. That's when she realized that nothing was staying still, not just the shadows. The wood grain lines in the table looked like marching ants. The walls looked like they were bending inwards and outward in some places. Every crack and imperfection in the stone floor was now a pattern in her mind, branching off and creeping towards her like tiny spider webs until she blinked and it all went back to normal for a second. But only for a second. And then the room started swirling again.
Suki avoided the mirror on the wall completely after she saw her reflection. It looked like her eyes were melting red bean ice cream and her mouth was far wider than she remembered it being last.
She sat back and tried to calm her rapid heartbeat. Poison. This must be some type of poison. Hallucinogenic most likely. Shit.
At least she was lucid? At least she thinks she is. The dark haired girl tried to stand, unsuccessfully. She staggered back into the wall, dizzied by the moving floor and once again startled by the chairs' dancing shadow.
There was a pit of anxiety in her stomach so tight it was almost painful. She felt like she was going to throw up. Shaking hands came up to rub her temples once again, trying to make sense of everything. Her skin felt odd, almost numb.
She couldn't remember what happened. Her eyes throbbed in pain, along with the headache that was setting in, and she was becoming quite miserable in her damp clothes. She suppressed waves of shivers as much as she could and tried to circulate her chakra like she saw Sensei do to warm up on cooler days.
This was probably the test, and hopefully she didn't fail already. She couldn't remember if she received any instructions. She distracted herself from the depressing thought by reminiscing.
The idea of being a man was weird now, but she tried not to dwell on that fact. She sympathized for him, though. Or, for herself? There was a disconnect, while she knew that she had a past life, she was so busy living and learning the present, she never had time to reflect.
Or maybe she subconsciously didn't want to. It didn't seem like he had a very nice life. Maybe this was her chance at something better?
She tried to make it back to the wooden chair, but tripped and fell heavily to the hard floor as soon as she left the support of the bending wall. The floor felt solid, safe, if she closed her eyes. She stayed there, content to ride out the poison or whatever the fuck kind of hallucinogenic drug they deemed appropriate to give young children.
Suki knew Ame was famous for their poisons, but she didn't think they would test any on their contestants. Although she supposes it's not exactly against the rules, it has to be frowned upon, at the very least. Right?
This is a completely different world though. And Suki has come to the conclusion that she hasn't even scratched the surface of the darkness that awaited her, despite knowing how dangerous her career was before she started. She suddenly felt small and naive, wondering what else she has yet to realize about her new reality.
She didn't know how long it took, but eventually, her shaking started to subside and the pit in her stomach started to loosen up little by little. When she was stable enough to stand, the first thing she did was lean over and puke in the corner she had been curled up in for who knows how long. Uprighting the chair, she sat and brought out her water canteen. She wet the sleeve of her hoodie and laid her cool, damp arm over her burning eyes, sighing at the slight relief it gave her as she sipped on the remaining water.
She didn't realize how dehydrated she had gotten. Or how bad she needed to use the restroom. How long had she been in here?! Must've been at least 20 hours, judging off how badly her bladder felt it would explode.
She laid her head on the table, bloodshot blue eyes wincing at the bright light when she finally tried to open them. As soon as she did, the stone door she had come through once again slid open, making her jump out of her skin. Her bloodshot eyes opened enough to glare at the same man who had brought her here.
He had the decency to at least look a little guilty at her state. She must've had a stronger reaction to the poison than most did, considering how much smaller she was comparatively.
He motioned to follow him. Confused, Suki cocked her head. "Wait, weren't we supposed to receive instructions?"
He shook his head, motioning her to follow him again. "You already did. Come on, let's go."
As she got up to follow him, the anxiety she finally got rid of came back full force. She already received the instructions? What the hell?! Did she fail the test already?
She was led back to the foyer and the jonin left without a word. She was one of the first there. There was a bathroom, thankfully, which she immediately took advantage of. With the aid of chakra, ninja are trained to hold their bladders for a ridiculously long amounts of time, but that didn't mean it was pleasant in any sense of the word.
People were being led back one by one, some more lucid than others. Surprisingly, she seemed to be one of the more lucid people in the room. Genin from other villages were looking around, absently staring at their hands or the walls in complete fascination. One in particular she noticed with very damp pants. Looks like not everyone could hold it for so long.
Jun was brought back to her first. As soon as he cleared the doorway, they were back to back, watching each others blind spots as they waited for their final teammate. It was relieving to have him back at her side, but she was worried for their final member.
He still had the shakes, which means he might've not worked the poison from his system yet. Maybe they gave her a smaller dose, due to her small size? His eyes weren't red like hers, but his pupils were three times the size of what was normal. His hair was mussed, like it always was a year ago, before he found out what the function of a hair brush was.
They sat in a tense silence until Masao finally walked trough the doors. The brown-haired boy made a beeline for them.
Suki gave him a once-over, noticing some bug bites under his ruffled raised collar. His eyes were hidden by his sunglasses, but she could guess they were either red like hers or his pupils were huge like Juns'. He wasn't shaking, but he was moving slow and awkward as he completed their formation. Every once in a while she could feel him dry heaving, and was glad he could hold it down. Her clothes were still kinda damp from sweat and she probably smelled horrible. No reason to add "being puked on" to the list of reasons she felt gross.
The room steadily filled once again, with more and more teams reuiniting. The proctor approached the podium and waited for the final genin to find their team before he began to speak. Suki swore, for a moment, her met her eye, but wrote it off as her imagination. There was a considerably less amount of Genin in the room than what they started with, he was probably just taking a head count. "Some of you are missing team members. If you are, please exit the exam area. Your teammate has failed this portion of the exam, and therefore, so do you."
Suki was immediately glad she had both her boys by her side.
There were shouts of protest. "Wait, where's our teammate?!" and "I don't even remember anything! What happened?!" were the most prominent.
His indifferent look didn't falter as he explained. "Your missing teammates are probably at either the Amegakure Poison Research Center or the Great Moku Hospital. You can go retrieve them at any time. As for what happened, I will only explain to those who passed. So please, if your team failed, take your leave immediately."
A mass amount of people filed out of the doorway. There were only 8 teams left in the end. We were the only team from Konoha that passed, which was really shocking, considering we were also the least experienced.
One Iwa team passed, and of course, it was the one with the creepy boy. Iwa was at a disadvantage from the start, considering their larger numbers, so the fact they passed at all was impressive. Two Suna teams passed, along with Ame who, with 4 duos, passed the most genin. Since they were the two villages that specialize in poison, it wasn't all that shocking. Kusa and Kiri are out of the running completely, leaving 21 genin to continue to the second exam.
Once the door slammed shut behind the last failing team, he continued his explanation. "This was a rather extreme test, I commend you all on passing. I'm sure you all have a lot of questions."
There were scattered murmers and some harsh remarks Suki heard, but if the proctor did too, he pretended not to. "You all might be surprised to find out you were in those rooms for approximately 30 hours. It may seem extreme, but we just simulated a real-life situation, of which you all passed admirably. In the field, you won't always know what your missions are. You may be left in the dark for days, weeks, even months as you wait for instructions on your mission. Or maybe you'll have to wait for an informant behind enemy lines. You'll have to be patient, waiting weeks to months to years for highly sensitive information to be passed into your hands. There's a lot of unknowns in the life of Shinobi, and you must be prepared for all outcomes."
Suki absorbed the wisdom she found rather profound. She could see the logic behind his words clearly, even if some others in the room couldn't. Maybe it was because they had a Nara for a teacher, but team 13 knew when to accept wisdom and advice when offered. But that did explain the hallucinogen.
A random voice called out, irate, and slurred, voicing the same thoughts she was having. "Hey! But, hey, what's with the the poison?!"
The proctors facade finally cracked. He couldn't hold back a smirk. "Here is a possible scenario. You and your team have been dispatched to kill a noble in a neighboring country. You fail, and during your escape, you get captured while your squad escapes. You are ransomed to your village, who has to make the decision on whether you're important enough to risk the manpower to save you forcefully, or bending over to the demands of their enemies. You have to wait in enemy hands, and you don't know if you'll ever be rescued. You won't have any way to contact your team. You'll have to depend on your village or depend on your own abilities to escape. You don't know what sort of interrogation techniques or inventions they'll try out on you. That's the price of being at the mercy of the enemy. And you won't always know if you gave away sensitive information. Never, ever leave yourself at the mercy of your enemy."
Almost all of the genin blanched, remembering the cameras and the mirror they were most likely being observed through. Who knows what happened to them or what they spilled when they were tripping absolute balls for almost two whole days.
Jun had finally stopped shaking and his eyes were slowly receding to a normal size. Masao was still itching his bug bites, but it didn't seem like he felt sick anymore.
Suki felt almost back to normal, forgiving her aching eyes, and a unique clarity to her vision now that everything was finally sitting still again.
"The next exam will begin the day after tomorrow. It will last two days. I will explain the test now, so you may prepare yourselves adequately."
His voice boomed even louder than before, recapturing the attention of the room.
"Shinobi and Bandit!" He yelled, almost gleefully. Team 13 deadpanned in unison.
"The next exam will be based off of the popular children's game. Your team will be labeled as either a Shinobi team or a Bandit team. The Shinobi team is in charge of protecting an object. The Bandit team is in charge of capturing said object and bringing it to one of three check points. The Shinobi team wins if they are able to protect the object for the entire four hour limit, if the Bandit team is unable to continue, or if the Bandit team doesn't make it to a checkpoint with the object within said limit. The Bandit team wins if they are able to steal and deliver the object to one of three checkpoints in the four hour limit or if the Shinobi team is unable to continue." He seemed rather amused by the childishness of it all. "The Bandit team will be given a five minute head start to set up. If one of your teammates becomes injured or unable to continue, you may still pass the test. Lethal force is allowed. Please stand by while we draw teams." He stepped down from the podium, conversing with a few other Jonin as he left the room for a moment.
Masao leaned over to Jun, whispering loud enough for her to hear, "Wait, so we know who we'll be going up against beforehand? This will make things a little less stressful at least."
I nodded my head. "They'll probably put one Ame team against all us other villages. It gives them the highest probability of getting genin in the final rounds, which always gets the most publicity."
The proctor returned to his station, holding a small sticky note. He cut everyone off, and the room silenced as he began announcing teams. "First day, first round: Team Scorpion from Suna versus Team 77 from Ame."
Jun's eyes became sparkly as he heard Suna's team name. "Woah! Suna's names are so cool! Why don't other villages do cool stuff like that?!"
Masao shrugged, also slightly impressed. Suki couldnt care less. She was more focused on the pair of girls that was team 77 that wouldn't stop blushing and giggling in Jun's direction. Thankfully the flirty boy was too dazed and still coming down from the poison, far too distracted by the "bad-ass" Suna team to notice their attention.
To be fair, they did look pretty cool, with their coordinating camo outfits. Maybe they should try something like that?
The next team was announced. "First day, second round: Team Windstorm from Suna versus Team 49 from Ame."
Team 49 was a pair of downright mean looking teens, probably about 16 years old. One had a spear strapped to his back, and the other was wearing an odd triangular shaped sun hat. The Suna team was entirely unremarkable, just a team of puppet users.
"Second day, first round: Team 02 from Ame versus Team 89 from Ame."
Suki, surprised, threw a questioning look back to her teammates. Then she realized who they were up against. It only dawned on the boys as they watched the pale girls face drop, already having accepting her fate. Her blue eyes faded to an almost grey color as she stared at the boys in despair, pleading for the exam to be over with already. Jun and Masao could feel the self-loathing radiating off her in waves. It seems Team 13's luck ran out. Why now of all times?
"Second day, second round: Team 13 from Konoha versus Team 4 from Iwa. Please report to this same address the day after tomorrow. Congratulations on passing the first test."
He didn't waste a moment before trotting off, leaving everyone to their own devices. Suki completely avoided looking in the Iwa teams' direction, hoping she could just ignore the gazes she felt burning into her skull. Of course, Masao couldn't let her pretend they didn't exist.
"Man, those guys are really giving us shit. I get we really destroyed them in the war, but come on, you'd think they'd have learned their lesson by now." Suki elbowed him sharply, sneaking a panicked look in the their direction. The four teens looked absolutely murderous, probably having heard Masao's stupid little comment. "You idiot!! Let's not do this today. Remember when sensei told us NOT to die?! This is BEGGING for us to get murdered!"
He shrugged, at least having the courtesy of looking slightly sheepish as he rubbed the new bruise forming above his hip. Jun sighed and started dragging his team out of the building and back towards the hotel, just wanting to find sensei and feel safe again. They let him, both too tired to protest.
As soon as they arrived at the hotel and entered their room, they finally were able to relax. Jun hopped in the shower as Masao and Suki waited for their turns.
Sensei was waiting patiently for them to get clean and comfortable on Masao's bunk. It didn't take long. One minute he was relaxed and looked almost asleep, the next he was summoning a monkey, one they haven't met before. It was rather unexpected.
They all shot up from their positions. Masao, who was slouched over the sink brushing his teeth, started gagging and choking on the toothpaste. Jun, who was on the top bunk, jumped so high he hit his head on the ceiling. Suki, who was on the ceiling meditating and trying to relax fell hard to the floor, hitting her already sore head. That would definitely leave a bump.
It wasn't every day they got to meet another one of Senseis' summons. Her fur was the same silver white color of Buro and Boro's, and she had the same tan and wrinkly face. Her tail was twice the length of her body, and wrapped around sensei for support like it was second nature as he sat up to regard them with calculating eyes.
"This, children, is Mako. She'll be clearing the poison from your systems and taking samples, while checking you for any other bodily injury. I hope you don't mind. Don't worry, she's actually quite gentle and experienced in medical ninjutsu. She can't talk, but I have my own way of communicating with her." He calmly explained.
The small, fluffy white monkey made chirping and cooing noises as she jumped onto Sensei's shoulders and wrapped her long arms around his neck in a hug, rubbing her furry head into his goatee affectionately. He seemed annoyed by whatever she said, but declined to share with us.
She released Kotaro, and after snaking down his tall form, scuttled over to Jun with her tail held high in the air behind her. She patted his cheeks gently, and Suki couldn't hold back her laughter at the dumbfounded face he made. "Wait, so what was the point of the first test Sensei? That wasn't anything like what we heard it was supposed to be."
Mako the monkey continued examining and checking over the black haired boy as he spoke, unbothered by the conversation. Sensei responded after making sure his summon didn't mind. "I don't know. This was a power play. They are pretty much the smallest elemental nation, and they're smack dab in the middle of everybody else. They've only barely survived as a village this long, and my guess is they're hoping to show the world they're not weak. I'm worried about the impact this might have when we get home though. Be prepared for some very thorough mental and physical testing."
Masao groaned as he entered the room and conversation, clearly not liking the idea.
His cloak was abandoned, leaving him back in his t-shirt and black pants. Bug bites were visible all up and down his arms. Suki gasped and leaned towards him, grabbing his wrist and inspecting the wounds. In a move he didn't expect, and too fast for him to stop, she jerked his shirt up and exposed his pale abs, and the numerous red marks dotting his entire abdomen. Mako immediately stopped with Jun's checkup with a screech and attached herself to Masao, wrinkly hands glowing with white energy as she healed what she could.
Jun eyed one of Masao's passerby Kikaichu suspiciously. "What the hell happened Masa?! Those bites are insane!"
Suki has never seen the Aubrame cringe so hard before. The fact his glasses were off and his brown eyes were exposed only dramatized the effect. "I'm guessing they tried eating the poison out of my system, only to be affected themselves. They've never been out of control like that before. The clan won't be happy when they hear about this."
Sensei nodded, understanding. "Suki, tell me what the exam room was like exactly."
Suki followed her orders. "It was made completely of limestone and another form of rock I didn't recognize. There was a dark oak 4x4 table about four feet tall, with a matching chair. There was a surveillance camera in the right corner of the room, a version I have never seen before. It looked clunkier than the ones we use. There was a mirror on the opposite wall as you walked in, I assumed it was a 2-way. And there was the blank piece of paper on the table when I got there. I didn't realize it the time, probably because of the poison, but it wasn't there when I woke back up..."
By the grim look on sensei's face, she knew this didn't mean good news. Mako finally healed Masao and of all his little red dots before moving onto her. The small primate wrapped her long tail around Suki's waist (it was long enough to go around almost three times) and placed furry hands behind her back in a hug similar to the one she gave sensei. As she did, Suki felt healing chakra delve into her system. She turned off her sensing and just tried to enjoy the warm tingling she felt as Mako moved her palms all around her body, checking joints and ligaments and muscle responses, with chakra alone. It was quite fascinating.
Mako got to the bruise on her head (made worse by her tumble moments ago) and healed it swiftly, only to start chattering oddly a moment later. Suki opened her (still sore) eyes in confusion, wondering what was wrong, and hoping she could just heal her dry eye already. Mako's chattering turned into screeches. The boys were just as confused as she was.
Masao, wanting to protect his female teammate, quickly tried to pry the monkey off of her, only to get swiped and hissed at viciously. Sensei took charge, finally able to decipher the primates' panicked wails.
"Mako, are you sure?" His eyes were steeled, and he stood up and appeared next to her so fast she couldn't even sense it. He was there one second and here the next. Sometimes it was scary when the Jonin showed their real abilities.
More chippering and face pats from Mako later, and it seemed like it was confirmed. Kotaro-sensei just stared at the black haired girl intently, like he was seeing something he hadn't tried looking for before. He brought both hands up to his face a moment later, rubbing his eyes and cheeks hard. "Oh fuck me. Fuck. Alright. Alright little missy. I'm going to go get someone, and you three are staying right here with Mako. If anything happens, she's going to reverse summom you with her back to the summoning world. Okay?"
He was gone before any of us even answered. Jun and Masao were looking at Suki oddly, like she was about to keel over and die any moment. She glared right back, before throwing her ratty old slippers at them. Sadly, her stink bombs were dodged. "I don't know what happened, but it's obviously serious. If I'm gonna die, I don't wanna die looking at those stupid faces you're making."
Jun scoffed, giving her a cheesy smile. "Nice try, but we know we're cute."
Masao punched his arm, noticing how panicked Suki actually was despite trying to hide it. The Aubrame scooted next to her on the floor and wrapped a comforting arm around her.
Suki wasn't ever one for physical contact. Unless it was to hurt someone. But in situations like these, she didn't mind at all. It was nice to have someone there, it grounded her. Specially when it was one of her favorite two people.
Sensei wasn't gone long. A moment later, he and another Konoha jonin were by her side. She assumed it was their ANBU gaurd, the muted chakra she felt before finally burning brightly in front of her.
She had long, wavy, chestnut colored hair cut bluntly at her knees. She was wearing a sleeping kimono, obviously having been just woken up, a pink sleeping mask covering her forehead. The woman was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She was dainty and thin, something Suki was surprisingly jealous of.
When her small palms left her face, the young orphan was shocked to see the eyes of a Hyuuga meeting her own. "Wait, what's the meaning of this Kotaro?"
He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Emergency. I need you to confirm something with your byakugan."
She eyed him blankly before turning to me, the obvious problem. "You're gonna make this up to me. Big time. You're lucky I even put up with your lazy Nara ass. What am I looking for?"
The three Genin were shocked to hear such language leave the mouth of a noble Hyuuga clan member. Kotaro-sensei nudged her towards me, not giving us time to process. "Check her eyes and tell me what you see."
She scoffed, closing her own tired eyes. "I'm not an iryo-nin, I can try, but-" her voice receded as the veins bulged at her temples. Her eyes were still closed, but she could see exactly what sensei wanted her to confirm.
She spun, deactivating her kekkei genkai and marched up to the preteen. The beautiful woman cupped Suki's face with a delicate hand and inspected her with the same expression that sensei has worn a few minutes ago, even eyeing her small beauty mark under intense scrutiny. Her long hair fell like a curtain around them. Suki tried to pull away when the clouded gaze became too much, and the Hyuuga let her. "Kota... we don't know for sure. It could be anything. Or even something new."
The Nara sighed, covering his face with his palms. The two teens next to her were once again tensed, never having seen the jonin this stressed. Masao voiced his concerns first. "Woah! What's wrong?! Did the poison make her sick? Is she going to be okay?!"
"She's going to be fine... actually, she's going to be great. We think she might actually have... a kekkei genkai. Maybe." Kotaro replied.
Suki sat in shock at the words, staring dumbly at the jonin before her. She felt Masao and Jun's eyes dart towards her and holes started burning into the sides of her head. Jun's voice was shaky as he asked the question they were all wondering. "Wait... it can't be the byakugan right? Her eyes aren't white. And she has pupils, so she can't be a Yamanaka... what other ocular kekkei genkai are there?!"
The adults looked like they knew, but didn't want to say. Suki has figured it out almost immediately. It was Masao's turn now. "The Sharingan."
She finally snapped out of her daze and looked at her teammates. Masao was staring at her like she now belonged in a museum. Jun was still slightly confused. "Wait... didn't the Uchiha all get slaughtered?"
Suki saw Kotaro wince out of the corner of her eye, and she resigned to just stare at the ground. She didn't wanna see everyone's reactions anymore. The silence turned deafening as Jun finally caught on. "Wait, Jonin-san said it could be anything. Or something new. How do we find out??"
The woman immediately cut it down. "We're not doing anything. We're going to finish the exam, go home, and get her evaluated. Messing with it now would be stupid, her eyes are already strained enough. Suki Cho, you are absolutely under no circumstance allowed to attempt to activate it. Am I understood?"
She shriveled under the intense milky gaze, conceding easily with a nod.
She spun on the boys, giving them the same glare. "And you two aren't to tell ANYBODY. This is going to be an S-ranked secret until you're told otherwise. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal!" They chanted in union, blanching under the pressure her chakra was exerting. Even Jun, who wasn't a sensor, could feel its effect.
Mako, who was still wrapped tightly around Suki, finally put furry palms over reddened eyes and lessened the pain. The girl sighed in relief, finally able to fully relax. Sensei shuffled over and ruffled her hair, "Mako will stay with you, whenever you're not in the exam. You need to get back to the village safe and sound no matter what, so she'll reverse summon you if anything happens. You're lucky she even knows how. Alright?"
She nodded, leaning into his touch. He chuckled at the action, only now realizing how tired his little Genin were. "You three get to bed. We're going to discuss everything in her room. If you need anything, just ask Mako. I'll be back later."
We all nodded, gathered ourselves, and cozied up in our respecting bunks without protest. It had been a really, really long day. But the team all laid awake.
Jun's frustration was growing. She could tell. It wouldn't be long before he voiced whatever was bothering him. Masa cut the quiet tension before it could grow any more. "Su? My mom said you looked like an Uchiha once. I don't think she meant for me to hear, but I did. She said, "If it weren't for those bright blue eyes, I'd have thought there was another Uchiha survivor."
The black-haired girl cringed and turned on her side, facing the wall. He continued. "I think that's amazing. Everything makes so much sense. How good your eyesight is. How pretty you are."
Jun cut him off. "How good she is at everything."
The silence turned deafening. Suki had enough. She didn't even turn over, just spoke to the wall as she finally found her voice. "I'm good because I worked hard, Jun. Don't ever invalidate my work again. And don't think this is some happy moment for me. Do you two realize what I just learned?"
Tears started falling, for the first time in a long while. "I just gained a family, only to have it ripped away in the same moment. I might have one clan brother who may or may not accept me. My ability was revealed to my enemy before even I knew I had it. There's no way we can just keep this an S-rank secret... we were under surveillance during that test, and apparently, I activated it. If we weren't already a target before, we're the fucking bullseye now. I'm the bullseye. We might not even make it home safe, if they're serious about eliminating or even capturing me."
The real ramifications finally caught up to them.
The next test, which they only had one day to prepare for, was going to be more than just an exam for them now. It was going to be a test of their will and their trust as a team.
Despite her exhaustion, Suki stayed up for hours trying to calculate the odds of her actually being the bastard child of an Uchiha. No matter what excuses or possibilities she thought up, a moment later senseis' face of absolute certainty flashed in her minds eye, and she was once again lost for words.
The blue eyed girl tried to remember the last time she saw Sasuke, the Uchiha survivor who was a year below her in the academy. She never thought much of him, but now there was a possibility he was her cousin. She couldn't help but feel an attachment already.
Suki never had an actual family before. The closest she ever got was her orphanage caretakers and siblings (who all changed like the wind), and now her genin team. But that was a different kind of family.
Biting her thumb, she tried to imagine what her childhood might have been like, had she been born into the noble clan. She tried to remember the Uchiha children she went to school with, the clothes they wore, and the way they acted. She tried to remember the times she walked past the Uchiha district, before it became lonely and deserted.
She cried herself to sleep that night, mourning the family she never got to meet.
She regretting not paying more attention to the memorials. When she got home, she would visit every single grave.