The recruitment tents are situated a ways off from the training grounds in the flat valley below. Actually, that's pretty much of an understatement, because they have to get past the small birch forest that lies between the tents and the training grounds. After a few twists and turns (and a few breaks in between), they reach a crossroad. There's a nondescript wooden post with six weather-beaten signs.
…All of which are written in code.
"…A-are we lost?" Sakura pants, doubling over. It's been a while since she's exercised this much, and there's a stitch in her side that's killing her.
Bear makes a few hand signs and words slowly appear on the boards. They're all evidently written by different people.
BaRAcKs, one pointing to the left reads in sloppy characters; Recruitment, the sign pointing to the direction in which they had just come from notes primly in beautiful calligraphy.
"What are those supposed to be?" Sakura asks, pointing toward the remaining signs which, despite being translated into readable Japanese, seem a little…off.
See Vol.1 p. 23., the third sign says.
Road to life, the one below it reads, and on the last signpost, someone has simply scrawled a doodle of a henohenohemoeji.
Bear grimaces. "Ask your squadron leader when you meet him, because HE'S the one who came up with the code," he says shortly, and mutters a few choice words about eccentric genius assholes.
Ooookay.
"He sounds like a character," Sakura says, quickly adding "sir." Bear just makes another weird face that makes it look like he's constipated.
"He is," he says shortly. He doesn't elaborate, and Sakura drops the subject. "Anyway, just walk straight down the hill until you reach the training grounds," Bear says. He jerks his thumb at the sign pointing straight ahead which reads "TRAINING GROUNDS" in neat block letters. For a moment, he seems to hesitate.
"Hatake-taichou is a little…unique in his training methods. Good luck, kid."
Bear makes a few hand signs, and a whirlwind of skeleton leaves surround his figure. "Don't forget," a voice calls out from the storm of flying leaf litter and debris, "he likes to look underneath the underneath."
"What? What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura says, dumbfounded, but of course, she's too late-Bear disappears and she finds herself talking to empty air.
"GODDAMNIT!" she screams.
Like Bear couldn't be more cryptic. Look underneath the underneath? What kind of stupid advice was that?
Kami, this was why she couldn't stand soldiers or people from the Capitol. Well, however rude and condescending Bear was, this Hatake-person sounded infinitely worse.
Life really couldn't get worse than this, could it?
"Only one way to find out, I guess," she mutters to herself. She hefts her bag and heads toward the training grounds.