A/N: The last chapter was a bit sloppy, that's why I needed my cousin to beta read it (And I thank her for inserting some powerful vocabs there). I'm trying my best to finish writing this story by this month because school starts next month for me (I'm currently enjoying my two-month year end school break.) So…a long chapter it is!

I was thinking of moving this story to my personal account, but there would be a lot of uploading to do again…your opinions?

Anyways, I apologize for any further sloppiness!

~Crystal

Chapter 4: The Price You Pay for Freedom

When Yagura finally removed his arm cast, it was only a day after Reiko did wonders on his shoulder. The nurse was giving him odd looks and repetitively asked the doctor how his shoulder healed in only two weeks. He was told that it would have taken up to two months for his muscles to accustom to the foreign and artificial clavicle bone. When he exited the hospital, doctors and nurses were still left wondering about what miracle have been done to the boy, but none of that mattered to Yagura anymore. Now he could finally go on missions and not need to sulk at the brown ageing wallpaper in his room.

He headed to his sensei's house immediately after his trip to the hospital. He smiled madly like a young exuberant child on a Christmas morning, except that he was going to get a mission, not a present. When he reached his sensei's doorstep, he rang the doorbell.

The next few seconds were rather bemusing for little Yagura. Heavy footsteps were trampling all over the house on the other side of the door. Doors were slamming, fabrics were waving. Yagura felt apprehensive as the steps heading towards the door didn't sound like his sensei's. Just when he was about to back away, a young lady answered the door.

"Yagura? Oh, you're early." she nervously tucked a lock of her hair behind her ears. Yagura doesn't recall ever meeting her but he walked into the house anyways. He sat on the couch without a word as she adjusted the cushions on the opposite couch. Moments later Saruki appeared from a room and marched towards Yagura in a rather unnatural way.

"So…ready for your first mission?" he asked. Yagura nodded effervescently. He immediately gathered his belonging before leaping for the door. He turned back to see if his teacher was following – only to catch him planting a kiss on the woman's lips.

Yagura turned away instantaneously and stuck his tongue out in disgust. The last image he wants to be implanted in his mind is of a man showing love to another woman, generally his own teacher.

At eight, Yagura had already seen most of the world. Most ninja would view finding lost pets and weeding a waste of talent and time, but Yagura relished every moment of it. It was just another fun way of bonding with his teacher and to build upper body strength since Saruki mentioned he lacked that compared to other kids of the same level. Occasionally the two of them would just horse around in the clients' garden or pamper the retrieved furry animals for their own entertainment, unbeknownst to the customers of course. And so, he was content with the little world of D-ranked missions.

Along the way, Saruki would teach Yagura more water styled techniques and chakra manipulation, which Yagura grew to be more proficient at. He was even happier when he got to show off his skills to enemies when they tried to disrupt their escort missions. When he got Saruki's consent, he would make sure that his water technique was the last thing they see before going off to the other world.

As months passed, the memories of the bloody exam have already been tossed to the back of his mind.

When he returned, as usual, his mother would flood him with questions about his missions. He refrained from telling his mother about those which involved murdering an enemy, but other than that he never missed a detail, though he doubted his mother would be interested in a whole day of weeding. Apart from the hours he spent answering to his mother's curiousity and training, he hung out at her sushi store often enough to be treated to countless plates of his favourite salmon maki by regular customers. It was a tactic he learned during his stay at the hospital where all he needed to do to get free drinks was hung around the desired object's spot and look as adorable and as lost as possible. Sometimes a wide smile can provide him second rounds.

It was seldom when Yagura got to rendezvous with Jinpachi and the others. But when they did it only consisted of Ameyuri's abusiveness towards Jinpachi and fights she picked with Kushimaru, which they sparred every time. Yagura couldn't help but think Kushimaru was going easy on her. Yagura wasn't being a sexist. He just didn't think anyone could spar with Kushimaru on sword fighting other than Jinpachi.

When Ameyuri wasn't in her aggressive mood, they spoke about the people they've killed during missions, which didn't make it any better for Yagura either. Jinpachi would brag about how the enemy looked like before he 'stabbed right into his liver and twisted the dagger around' as if it was the form of entertainment he enjoyed, which may not be surprising for someone like Jinpachi. Ameyuri and Kushimaru never really describe what they did to their 'victims' as clear as Jinpachi did, but Yagura was sure they treated their enemies more or less the same way. When he was asked about how he dealed his enemies, Yagura just described it as 'a fast and painless death'. He either drowned them or slashed them with his water skills, which were quite quick and painless enough compared to how the other three swordsman-to-be handled their foes.

Ao, on the other hand, who didn't have extraordinary sword fighting or ninjutsu abilities didn't seemed to like it when they were talking about murdering people, which was quite legitimate since he killed his best friend during the exam. Moreover, he was a tracker, not a slayer. Ameyuri teased Ao many times for being a baby on still being traumatized by the bloody feud months ago. Those situations were frequently followed by Kushimaru's favourite phrase none of them could ever forget.

"The world is a cruel place and you must fight to survive." intoned Jinpachi as he imitated Kushimaru's rather irritating high pitched voice, which resulted in a fight between the both of them later on. Their bittersweet friendship was like watching a scene from a drama series housewives swooned over. So predictable. Except that in Jinpachi and Kushimaru's version, it ends with a fight.

Yagura kicked his legs against the barricade they were sitting on as Ameyuri continued to referee the fight. He sighed. After countless missions of killing people as if it was an everyday thing already, Kushimaru was right.

The world is a cruel place, and you must fight to survive.

"What mission is this?" inquired Yagura, being too short to peek at the content of the mission scroll his sensei was reading as they step out of the village main gates. Due to the unusually hot weather, the mist had worn off before dawn. For the first time, Yagura could actually step out of his village and see his surroundings much more clearly, which is a bigger advantage than they already had. Saruki rolled back the scroll and placed it in a pocket behind his jounin vest. "We are going to do something different today. Do you like C-rank missions?"

"Finally." Yagura murmured. Even though he had nothing much to complain about D-rank missions, doing too much of it will bore anyone to death. Since the Mizukage isn't a fan of mediocrity as well, it was fairly common for genins of four months to be exposed to the world of C-rank missions. From what Kushimaru had told him, escort missions branded as C-rank were nothing like the D-rank ones. The chances of bumping into an enemy was higher tenfold, and the opponents were three times older than both Yagura and the enemies he'd faced in his D-rank escort missions, but to Yagura, facing his first opponent in D-ranked missions were just as tough. Enemies in that field were just only about two years older than Yagura and came in groups of three accompanied by a Jounin. Even so, Yagura hesitated for a long split second when he fought against a group of them two months ago, and he could tell they felt the same. If it wasn't because one of them used a lightning release technique on him mercilessly, Yagura would have hesitated even longer. But at the end of the day, they all died, and it was the only thing that mattered.

Yagura found it harder to deal with younger opponents, not because they were strong or adroit in any way, but because they were kids. If they were grown men, slaying them would be easier and less guilt-wrenching.

So Yagura was a bit delighted to be finally able to participate in a C-rank mission.

"All we need to do is deliver this to the border." Saruki held up a thick brown document folder. Yagura frowned a little in disappointment. He was expecting another escort mission.

Saruki chuckled, knowing what his student was thinking about. "Too much escort missions is not good for you. You're getting too bloodthirsty for your age."

Yagura frowned again at his words, slightly offended that his sensei just referred to him as bloodthirsty. "But Jinpachi and the others get to go on those missions all the time."

"Yeah, because they're twelve. You're nine. Too much murdering at such a young age will only do bad to you. Mark my words." his sensei advised.

"I'm training like that." Yagura argued.

"Then you shouldn't be training by killing, which is why this mission is going to be different." said Saruki, earning a questioned look from his pupil. "Just to make this delivery mission a little more interesting, I'll be training you on other aspects. None physically, in that matter."

Yagura watched as his sensei handed him a long black scarf weaved from silk. His puzzled look was soon answered by the young Jounin. "You'll be walking blindfolded."

"Huh?"

"To train your other four senses. Depending on your eyes too much will soon be a disadvantage to you in your own home field. " Saruki went on. "Our land is shrouded in mist. Sight, even if you were raised here since young, will be useless."

The scarf was still in Yagura's hand. Yagura glanced up at his sensei as they kept walking. "So if I use my ears, nose and skin, what's the tongue for?"

"Taste the air." his sensei said as if it was the most normal thing in the world. At first Yagura thought his teacher was pulling his legs, but nothing was said immediately after that. Yagura assessed his thoughts. Taste the air? Doesn't all air taste the same? Moist, tasteless and empty? Does air taste different in other places like volcanoes or winter land? He had no clue.

After tying the blindfold around his eyes, he realized just how much he depended on his sight, because at that moment he felt like the most vulnerable person in the world. Seeing only pitch black in front of him made him feel insecure and uncertain about every step he took, and worse, it was distracting him from focusing on his other senses.

Just as they beat a mile, Yagura had already tripped over countless small rocks, walked face first into long branches from trees beside their path, knocked into his sensei more times than he could count and blanketed his shoes in dog poop he didn't notice. Yagura told himself he must've been hanging around places dogs gone to – which were his training grounds - too often to not even able to identify the smell of defecation.

Is this how blind people go through life every day? Yagura wondered how they could manage.

When he started to get comfortable with see nothing but darkness, he reminded himself to focus more on his other senses and not on his inability to see. He memorized the feel of dirt road underneath his shoes, the moist air against his skin, the smell of debris and rocks, the unfamiliar heat of the sun, and the sound of birds chirping and squirrels hurrying along.

Suddenly he paused. The footsteps originally belonging to his sensei's were no longer there. The air was getting dryer and the weather was warming. He could tell that they were getting closer to their destination, but where was his teacher? He reached out for him but his skin only met with air. He felt his stomach sank. What if Saruki decided to leave him here in the wild? Or worse, did something happen to his sensei?

Panicking, he tries to untie the scarf around his eyes, only to realize that the knot was tighter than usual, a knot he doesn't remember tying. His were easy to loosen. But this one was a dead knot. Someone managed to screw with the knot on his head without him noticing? Unusual footsteps weren't ever heard on their journey, neither did the breath of anyone other than his sensei was detected.

He was very sure something was not right.

Without wasting any more time fiddling with the knot, he bit his lower lip in deeper concentration and listened intently. The wind moved around him in a normal manner, other than that it was completely silent. Yagura felt a lump in his throat. This was the worst way to die. Going without knowing how. Trembling a little, he clutched onto his kunai. His heart urged him to call out for his sensei, just in case it was just a practical joke or a test his sensei set up for him, but he doubted it. For Saruki-sensei to go so far by hiding his own chakra signature and body scent? It sounded like something only an enemy would do.

The sound of heavy footsteps knocked against his eardrum. Yagura flinched. Calming himself, he directed his kunai towards the direction of the sound. Tak. Another footstep, but this one was lighter. Yagura started to panic. This time he was sure it was not a practical joke.

Just as the two unidentified enemies took another step, Yagura lurched forward.

But nothing happened.

"Kage Tsukami no Jutsu. Shadow clutch technique, success." A young voice murmured from a few feet away. Yagura gritted his teeth as he struggled to move and bind himself free from an abstract object wrapping around his waist but to no avail. Another two figures landed from a rustling object – a tree, Yagura supposed – and approached him.

"Huh? It's only a child." Another voice on his diagonal front left said.

"Kiri genin."

"Sensei, are you sure we got the right one?"

"We won't know until we find out. Check for the documents."

The one with the heavy footsteps rummaged through his pouch as another one untied the scarf around his eyes. Yagura snarled at them inwardly. To be captured so easily by what – an afro ponytail, a blonde girly boy and an obese Konoha genin, to his opinion, would be quite demoralizing in Kirigakure. And where was his sensei at this kind of crucial time? These people were looking for the document. If they've already caught Saruki-sensei they would have already fled with their target object, and this scene of a genin group brushing their hands against him told him they have no knowledge of his teacher's existence.

Yagura looked ahead of him. There was a long black line connecting him and the afro ponytail in front. What kind of technique is this? A bloodline limit? The technique was doing a good job restraining him, but from the looks of it wavering, it wasn't going to last long.

"No documents." The fat one said.

"Then it must be on the jounin." their teacher looked around. Crud. They noticed his teacher too?

"Maybe we should bring him back to my dad." the blonde boy suggested, only earning a sharp fierce look from his teacher.

"Inoichi, don't reveal too much in front of the enemy." said the Konoha jounin. Yagura frowned at his last word. But everyone was everyone's enemy nonetheless.

"Just decide already. I can't restrain him any longer." the brunette boy pestered through his gritted teeth, but the teacher only gave them a signal to keep quiet. The trio, along with Yagura, obeyed. Trees around them rustled in an unusual way. While they were searching for the suspected invader, Yagura was busy seeking out for his sensei's chakra signature. He dearly hoped that his teacher was the "suspected invader" to this scene.

And it was.

"Get down!" the Konoha jounin yelled at his students as a demon wind shuriken sliced through the trees, missing its four target by only an inch above their heads. The moment the boy's shadow technique disconnected, Yagura caught the shuriken carefully enough to not cut himself in the process and swiftly swung it back to the group, injuring the fat one by surprise. Before Yagura could finish his series of hand seals to blast the group again, a hand pulled him away and soon they were fleeing from the scene towards an unknown direction.

"Why are we retreating?" Yagura questioned Saruki as soon as the Konoha group was no longer near their tails. Yagura had desperately wanted to ask his sensei where he'd disappeared to, but now there were more important thing to take care of. He made a mental note to ask his teacher later.

"It's two against four. And we won't stand a chance against their kekkei genkai. You know those three kids? They belong to the strongest formation clan in Konoha." he explained. "Futhermore, our mission is to protect the documents and deliver them safely to the base. Engaging in a fight now is unnecessary."

Yagura squinted his eyes as the wind blew straight into it. They have been running at top speed for minutes now. "But if we go straight to the base now we would just end up giving away the base's location."

Saruki looked behind them over his shoulders. "We will have to plan an ambush. You've managed to injure one of them, that would've given us some time, but another two are pursuing us."

"Who?"

"The jounin and the blonde." His sensei answered with a stoic face. They landed on top of a steady tree branch to stop. "Bloody persistent. Now we don't have time to even plan an ambush."

"Then what now?" Yagura asked as the enemies' chakra and scent were getting more detectable.

"We will have to take them on one on one." his teacher said, drawing out his katana. "The blonde boy knows how to manipulate people, but as long as you stand out of his sight you will be safe. I'll take care of the jounin."

Yagura nodded as Saruki summoned a thick shroud of mist around the area. He thought back at the recent hours of walking around blinded, depending only on his sense of smell, taste, feel and hearing. He crossed his fingers, hoping that the blind training that came with branches' slaps on his face and dog poop stuck to his shoes will pay off at the next moment.

He had never been more nervous on a mission than this. It was the first time he'd ever carried out an ambush so it was giving him first time creepers as seconds passed. The enemies were still flying at top speed until they reached the misty area, suspecting something amiss.

When the sound of the faint footsteps approached the mist, they struck.

Just as they planned, Yagura headed straight for Inoichi from the back and slashed his back with a kunai, but it only cut fabric. Before his second swing landed on his opponent, Inoichi blocked it with his own kunai. The kid could fight good in the mist, but not as good as Yagura. Inoichi hadn't been able to land any cuts on Yagura whilst Yagura already delivered a couple. So he did have the home field advantage.

If the kid knew mind controlling technique Yagura had to keep him busy enough to not be able to perform any hand seals. Getting caught in the boy's technique is not an option for him.

As the battle got relentless, their stamina started to deteriorate. It was just endless blocking and dodging in the mist blindly. Yagura's blows started to get heavier and slower. Neither of them were able to pause and perform any hand seals at all, which was both an advantage and a disadvantage to him. The only way Yagura could put him down effectively right now was to use ninjutsu, but it was the wrong timing.

One second he was lifting up a second kunai, ready to end his mission. The next, both his arms felt empty. The kunai that were originally there were gone. On the third second Yagura realized that Inoichi had knocked off the kunai in his hands when his grip loosened. He stopped dead for a split second before leaping out of his enemy's sight to avoid his incoming jutsu.

"Shintenshin- shit!" Inoichi cussed. Yagura leaped back a few metres until Inoichi was out of sight. Without sparing even a second, he executed a series of familiar hand seal-

Tug. Yagura felt someone jerked his head back and pointed the edge of a kunai to his throat. He felt a gust of wind escape him. A third party? He berated himself. He must have focused too much on dealing with Inoichi that he didn't realize-

-a clone of Inoichi had been summoned?

Yagura looked ahead of him. The Konoha genin inched his way towards an immobilized Yagura, hands trembling hesitantly. While Inoichi was considering whether to just kill Yagura without the consent of his busy sensei or to use his infamous bloodline limit, Yagura's mind raced with questions. When did the clone get here? Inoichi couldn't have possibly summoned it when they were throwing blows at each other unless it was executed before the fight-

-so it was.

The edge of the kunai met with his skin, but not deep enough to draw blood out of him. Yagura's eyes met with his opponent's bravely, but on the inside he was freaking out, trying to find a loophole in the way his clone was holding him in a hostage stance. Turn around and take out the clone first? Unfortunately speed wasn't his strength. What if the boy's technique gets to him before he could?

The clone behind him suddenly vanished in smoke, puzzling the two boys as the kunai it was holding earlier met with the dirt floor. But instead of stoning at his position wondering what happened like Inoichi, Yagura didn't have time to waste. He drove his kunai into Inoichi's abdomen. His blood poured out onto Yagura's hand as he screamed in pain. Withdrawing it, he watched as Inoichi slumped flat onto the floor, body jerking endlessly.

The battle was over.

When he turned around, Saruki's grinning face met him. He rubbed the top of his head. "Although I've said murdering was not really for you…this can be an exception."

Yagura beamed in pride as the mist around them faded. "What about his teacher?"

Saruki pointed to a mangled corpse drowning in blood on the floor behind him. "Forget about it. Let's go. We have a mission to complete."

When they reached the base unscathed, Yagura initially wanted to look for his father. But when a kunoichi took the time to listen to his question, she'd told him that Korosu – his father – was deployed to another base a month ago. It didn't disappoint Yagura too much though. He was satisfied with the info he got about his father's whereabouts.

It wasn't the first time Yagura had asked about his father. Weeks ago when they had delivered letters to a similar base, none of the adults there he asked knew about his father, but there was a particular group, after finding out that Yagura was Korosu's son, told him that his father gone into town to purchase weapon supplies. When he brought the news to his mother, she just shrugged and sighed, mumbling something about her husband being a workaholic.

When they returned to Kirigakure, they had a hard time explaining to the Mizukage how Yagura ended up getting caught without Saruki being there. Apparently Saruki left Yagura there on purpose as a practical joke, but ended up turning into a fiery battle when Yagura got caught by the great Konoha's Nara clan. The Mizukage only shook his head at Saruki, telling the young jounin to take it easy on Yagura.

The next day, instead of chatting with his friends as usual, training, getting free food or interrupting yet another private and sweet moment between Saruki and his girlfriend, after returning from the recent mission Yagura dragged himself to the hospital to fulfill his promise to his mother that he would attend a check-up for his shoulder bone no matter how many times Yagura told her he was completely cured. When he arrived, he felt like a regular. Doctors were asking him how he was doing, nurses were still craving to pinch his long-untouched right cheek. Jolly, even the Mizukage happened to be there.

"Ah, Yagura-kun, hello! My, is it Friday?" he said as if they hadn't just seen each other yesterday in his own office. Today he didn't sound like the cruel and intimidating Mizukage he is.

"Yes, Mizukage-sama."

He quickly slipped out of the waiting area before the old man could stop him any further and proceeded towards the Orthopedics department. He sat on the marooned cushion chair as instructed by the nurse and patiently waited for the doctor in charge as he kicked against the legs of the chair. He didn't have enough time to fall asleep from waiting - which he expected to - as the doctor walked in to entertain him after a few minutes. When his eyes met with the person following behind, he realized he had almost forgotten about her, and she looked just as surprised to see him in the most unexpected place.

The doctor scribbled something on his clipboard before casting her a look. "Do you want to do this one, Reiko?" Reiko nodded and approached Yagura with her familiar gentle smile.

"Can you lift you left arm up?" she asked, gesturing with her arm on par with her shoulder. It sounded more of an instruction than a question of ability. When people asked him that way he would literally respond by just nodding and staring at the person, pretending to not realize it was an order instead of a question. It was something he learned from Saruki to do, because according to him it irritates people, and irritating people is something Yagura started to enjoy doing.

But now it wasn't the time.

"Now can you stretch your arm upwards?" there it was again, but he acquiesced to her every instruction although he felt like a play doll being messed about by a little girl. There was the arm swing, then the shoulder roll, and then the shrugging. Yagura didn't understand how the last one worked, where Reiko massaged his shoulders for a mere ten seconds while asking him if it hurts because it felt more comfortable than testing out his shoulder bones. Initially he jerked his shoulders when she touched the most sensitive part of his body, but a warm layer of her skin - Yagura believed was chakra - gave it a different feeling for the first time.

It was the most awkward moment of his life as well.

"His shoulder seemed to have healed, Tsuichi-san. No sign of his bones jerking out of place." she told the doctor, earning a nod from him. He continued to dabble on his clipboard before finally casting a glance at Yagura without lifting up his head.

"Were you in action for the past few months?"

"Yes."

"Did you get any new injuries?"

"Just a few cuts."

"And your face?" the doctor pointed at his cheek, the one that wasn't disturbed by fingers of pretty nurses and female friends for the past four months. "Did the stitches open up? Did your cheek bone break again?"

"No." replied Yagura with uncertainty, bemused by his second question. Was his cheek bone damaged too? He never had any issues with his cheek bone since he woke up from that hospital bed.

"Hm." the doctor hummed, looking back at his clipboard as if he hadn't already looked at long enough. "You're completely cured so you no longer have anything to worry about. Must be thanks to your miraculous healing abilities...we are still wondering what wonder was did to your shoulder. Does your mom know anything? Where is she?"

"She's at home. I came alone."

"Hmm. Quite independent for a nine year old, aren't you? Just like Rei-chan here." He babbled on. The two children exchanged looks. "How about I write your mother a note to explain your condition? Let me get a paper somewhere..." he mumbled as he hobbled out of the room. Yagura shifted uncomfortably in his seat in the middle of the eerily still room as he waited once again. It was so quiet that the sound of a pin falling to the ground could be heard, until Reiko spoke up.

"I know what happened to your arm." she whispered. "They told me about the exam."

Yagura looked up at her. "Oh." Yagura honestly didn't know how to respond. He just hoped she wouldn't allude to the incident any further.

"Did you kill anyone?" Reiko went on while taking a seat beside him. Yagura tried his best to ignore the corner of her long white coat that landed on his knee.

"I passed the exam." he replied ambiguously. Despite his general respond, Reiko seemed to understand the purposely hidden meaning behind it. Yagura glanced at the door, hoping for the man to just quickly arrive with his note. The pungent smell of antibiotics was starting to cause him headaches.

"Are you a doctor?" Yagura broke the ephemeral silence to alleviate his dizziness.

"A trainee." corrected Reiko, not noticing that Yagura was more focused on inwardly struggling to cope against the strong chemical smell than her answer. "My mom spoke to my dad about the healing abilities and now I'm allowed to use it. So I'm starting from here, in the hospital."

Yagura kneaded his forehead with his knuckles. "What's that weird red chakra you have anyways?"

"It's a kekkei genkai. We have...a healing ability." she revealed more about her unique ability but didn't seem particularly fascinated or proud of it.

"That's cool." he complimented sincerely, still knocking against his head.

"You think? It would be cooler if we were shinobi. "

"You aren't?"

"There aren't any shinobi in Wave." she explained. She still used present tense when she spoke about the Wave even though there probably weren't anything left there except for piles of destroyed rubble. Or wood. Or whatever houses there were made of. From what Yagura saw on his textbooks, the Wave country was surrounded by water and mist. It gave him the impression that it was not much different from Kirigakure, but Saruki told him that the Wave looked nothing like Kirigakure. In what aspect, he doesn't know.

Escort missions were the only kind that granted Yagura the chance to explore the outside of his affiliation, but they never got to go anywhere near the Wave. None of their clients stayed near or across the Wave, but they often mention about it and the war going on in the heart of the country.

"Don't you want to be a shinobi?" inquired Yagura, catching a glimpse at the end of her coat.

"After looking at you I don't think I want to." Reiko's respond planted a tiny guilt in Yagura but was soon dispelled when they noticed the doctor standing at the door, narrowing his eyes at them with a rather mocking look on his face.

"So you two know each other." he commented while fiddling the note in his right hand.

"Actually, I was the one who healed his shoulder." Reiko told him flatly. The doctor looked surprised at first before his facial expression faded into acknowledgement. "Hmm. As expected of the Shobaru clan."

Yagura looked at them, confused.

"Here." the doctor placed the note in Yagura's open palm. "Pass this to your mom. You can go now. Come back if you have any problems."

"Thank you." Yagura uttered as he walked towards the exit.

"And don't forget to ask your mother to give me a special discount at her stall!" he called out.

"Okay." it was too late before Yagura found out what exactly he was agreeing to, but what happened already happened. He'll just have to find a way to forget the last sentence the doctor said. He bid goodbye to them and hurried out of the hospital before any nurses or the Mizukage calls him out.

Once he exited the building, he bumped into a crowd of animated genins.

"Hey Yagura." Ao called out. "Are you ready for the exam?"

Yagura raised an eyebrow. "What exam?"

"The chunin exam, duh." one of the girls said as if it was a very obvious answer. "Didn't you know?"

"Uh, no." he said rather frankly. Some of them sneered at him, making him wonder what it was that he missed out on. Nobody mentioned anything about any exam to him, until just now.

"Weird. I saw your name in the candidates' list." Ao said. "Maybe Saruki-sensei registered you without telling you?"

That sounded like something Saruki would do, and it was starting to terrify Yagura. He didn't mind taking part in the exam, but without being mentally prepared? He had heard cases of children being killed in chunin exams and people treated it like a common thing. Sure, it's not much different from the graduation test they took and the missions he had gone on, but to go through the entire thing once again was considered pretty intimidating for a nine year old, especially since the recent mission Yagura's confidence had totally deflated. Another bloody exam? He didn't think he would manage it. And what if he were to face the remaining Konoha genin trio again?

"Yagura." a voice too familiar called out from behind. Yagura turned around just to meet with his unusually joyful teacher. "I have good news for you." he dug into his pouch and pulled out a metallic object too recognizable to Yagura. He shoved it into Yagura's palm while smiling to himself. "Glad to see it again?"

Yagura absently looked at the dagger he had completely lost adherence for and forgotten about. It have been four months, after all. It was free from any visible blood stains and looked like it had been sterilized. Saruki must've thought Yagura would be delighted to be reunited with his long lost saviour again because he kept pestering him to say something. "Yagura?"

But his student took only one glance at the weapon before averting his attention back on his teacher. With a hint of questioning and confusion, the child could only ask a question every teacher had dreaded. "Sensei, can I not go for the chunin exam?"

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