"EHH?! A survival test?" said Naruko.
After the headache she had dealing with Arika's love life, and the absolute hell of the written exams, now they had to deal with most of the candidates worst nightmares...the dreaded field trip to Aries for the survival and cooking test.
Most of the Corals hated it, but Naruko and Arika were looking forward to it.
Mostly because it was the sort of thing they excelled in anyway.
Naruko grabbed one of Arika's braids before she had a chance to jump in the water.
"Naru-chan..." whined Arika.
"This vacation isn't for us silly. It's for the top three Pearls and the others. We're stuck going through the forest later and cooking," said Naruko.
"Thank you Miss Uzumaki," said Meister Yomiko.
"Aww..."
"Look at the bright side...we might end up paired together!" said Naruko.
And because it was a luck of the draw, that was exactly what happened. Naruko's luck had always been good when it came to gambling.
"You want to take to the trees?" asked Arika.
"Yup. Less chance of running into a snake or something, and we can keep an eye on where our position is. I beat this thing last year with Nina-chan before any of the other girls got half way."
Arika thought that the challenge sounded like fun...more than just walking. So they both took to the trees and started running.
By the time the sky turned dark and night began to fall, they were already halfway to the end of the course.
"Let's stop here and make camp. I'll go get some fish while you start a fire," said Naruko.
"Got it!" said Arika.
By the time Naruko returned, Arika had started a decent fire.
"Hand me a knife so I can clean these fish."
"Wasn't part of the exercise to cook for one of the examiners?"
"Yes, but if this were a real survival test then we would need to stretch supplies as long as possible. As long as it's edible, we should be able to ace this test. Besides, you want breakfast for tomorrow right?" said Naruko.
Arika agreed. That sounded like a better idea than wasting parts just to make it all fancy. Naruko set her to dicing some roots she found that were edible, and when she was done she stuffed the fish with them and put them over the fire. She turned them once she smelled that side done.
"Hi Akane-nee-sama!" said Naruko.
"Hello Naruko! Hi Arika!" said Akane. She liked Naruko because the girl occasionally distracted Ms. Maria so she could visit her boyfriend Kazu. As long as she brought back a book for her to read, Naruko would keep the others distracted.
Naruko didn't care if Akane dated Kazu...if she wanted to quit being an Otome because she found love, that was her business.
Naruko handed over two large fish that had been prepared with care. Akane dutifully tried it, as the meal was rather simple.
"Hmm...full marks! Can I ask why you didn't do more?"
"In a real survival test, supplies are always a constant worry. Instead of wasting food just to make the meal fancy, one should consider the factors. How long are you stuck outside civilization? How far is it to the nearest water supply? Are any of your party injured, and how much food do you need? Sometimes the basics are the better idea, instead of trying to overdo it," said Naruko.
Arika nodded in agreement.
"Waste not, want not," said Arika.
"Good reasoning! You two get full marks for today!" said Akane. She knew the headmistress would agree to that.
Naruko caught another fish, and with a short fire the two had breakfast. Fire jutsu was a useful thing to have, considering they didn't have the time to do it the usual way. Despite the memories it evoked from Naruko about a red-eyed, raven-haired bastard.
Once they had a decent breakfast, Arika was ready to go.
It took less than two hours before a problem arose.
"We're lost," said Arika.
"We're not lost," said Naruko stubbornly. If they held to the coast they would end up near an area with guards. It wasn't against the rules to ask for directions.
"Yes we are! We passed that tree ten minutes ago!" said Arika.
"How do you know that?"
Arika pointed to a mark she made earlier when they passed the same tree twice. Naruko winced.
"Dammit...let's follow the coast instead of going through the forest. About ten miles that way is an area with guards. They can give us directions if we ask," said Naruko.
This happened last time too, and Nina hadn't been happy about it one bit.
The two of them made their way to the cliff side where Naruko had seen guards last time this happened. It took them ten minutes to climb (without chakra as Naruko felt that was being lazy...and a bit mean to Arika who didn't have her coils unlocked) and reach the top.
Naruko stopped Arika from getting too close, as she smelled blood in the air.
"Something's wrong..."
"How right you are, cute little girls," said a voice.
Naruko pushed Arika out of the way of the whip.
"Who are you?"
"I'm more interested in how you two knew about this place. I noticed you headed directly for this spot from the cliff," asked the attacker. He looked like some sort of cyborg.
"Last time we came here I got totally lost. I knew the guards here had directions," said Naruko flatly.
"A pity you had to get lost in this sector, little girls," smirked the man.
"Naruko, what do we do?"
"Well considering we are under a hostile situation and these armbands would only bring two Pearls at the most... Come over here," said Naruko.
She had to bring help, fast, and those armbands wouldn't bring them fast enough...however a Coral activating their robes under a survival challenge when it wasn't allowed would bring more help, and fast.
Arika stood to the right of Naruko, who brushed her hand over her earring. It shimmered before changing to it's true form, that of a fox head with the gem inside the mouth and a pair of wings on either side.
"Under emergency order AC195, I, Naruko Uzumaki of the Fox Fire Agate, command you to release your powers," said Naruko, kissing the earring on Arika's left ear.
It whirled into life, since Naruko was technically an unofficial Sixth Pillar.
"Materialize!" said Arika, and to her shock her robes appeared.
Back at base camp...
"Headmistress, we have an unauthorized activation of a robe!" shouted Akane.
"Who activated their robe and where?" asked Natsuki.
"Coral 52, Arika Yumemiya! She's way off course!"
"Shizuru, get Haruka and meet me at the coordinates. Naruko wouldn't activate Arika's robes unless they were in combat situation!" said Natsuki.
"Materialize!"
Natsuki was off to the area where the activation occurred, and she only hoped she was in time.
"Impossible! Corals can't activate their robes unless..."
"Unless authorized by someone with a Master gem or a Pillar," finished Naruko. She brushed back her left ear, where the smiling winged fox could be seen.
"I'm sort of an unofficial Pillar," smirked Naruko, "The only reason I didn't activate my robes is because it wouldn't have gotten our base camp's attention. I'm not registered on their servers."
Which was true. Because she could force an activation with her chakra at any time, Natsuki had her on a special frequency that only she could access. Naruko was still considered a Coral, so she had to follow the same rules as everyone else. Since she considered this an undercover mission, she rarely activated her robes unless given 'permission' by a teacher.
So for her to activate another Coral meant that something serious was happening.
"Rasengan!" shouted Naruko, trying to shove a spiraling ball of death and pain onto the cyborg.
Clearly the cyborgs hadn't been informed of Naruko's ability to fight without robes or a Slave.
"Naru-chan!"
"Uzumaki," shouted Natsuki. They found the Headmistress had arrived.
"Finally! I thought authorizing Arika would get your attention," said Naruko with relief.
Natsuki saw the cyborg and growled. How dare he attack her students!
"Arika, you and Naruko head back to base camp. When you see Shizuru and the others, make sure that they know what's going on," said Natsuki.
"Right!"
Naruko was the one to spot Shizuru, and pointed her in the direction of the fighting while Chie and Akane brought them back to base camp.
"What happened?" asked Mashiro.
"Aswald from the Black Valley is what happened," said Naruko sourly.
Arika had been sworn to secrecy about the fact it was Naruko who authorized her robes. Because she technically hadn't graduated, she wasn't legally allowed to do that without an emergency. Even if she did have the Neptune Emerald in her possession, though only Natsuki and Shizuru were aware of that since the ring had accidentally bonded to Naruko.
Since she did have a Pillar Gem, she could legally have an Otome accompany her, though it was highly unusual. There were a few times when a Pillar had a partner, like in the case of Natsuki and Shizuru.
Even though technically the only way they could get that allowed was if her partner was also her partner in another sense.
"Uzumaki Naruko, you did well," said Natsuki.
The cyborgs had managed to make it out of that place with whatever they were after, though they had a lot more trouble doing it.
They had to retake the exam, but in the end Naruko and Arika passed it with flying colors...in two days.
"So your birthday is on September 7th Nina-chan?" asked Naruko. She had forgotten to ask about it last year because Nina had been so busy re-wiring her brain from the mess it was thanks to Konoha's bad educational system. Who knew they were only a little over a month apart, birthday wise?
"Yes," said Nina.
"Isn't that Mashiro's birthday too? Talk about lucky," said Naruko.
"I heard they plan to have a big celebration for her, since she became queen this year," said Nina.
"Seriously? Talk about wasteful! Everyone knows it's Mashiro's birthday, so why is she having a big to do about it? Shouldn't she focus on the fact that the slums have grown exponentially since she became Queen?" said Naruko.
As someone who lived in the slums most of her life, she was more aware than most about how hard it was to make ends meet when you didn't have a steady income.
Which was why she paid some of the children in the slums to grow flowers for her to place in memorial of the fallen Otome. That way their families would be able to eat and be able to survive. Sure she could get professionally grown flowers that looked better, but as someone who had struggled to make ends meet for years, she preferred locally grown ones.
Among the slums, Naruko was considered the savior of the common people since unlike other Otome candidates, she genuinely cared about the less fortunate.
"It's not like we have a say in Mashiro's behavior," said Nina.
"No, but Arika might be able to get it through to her that she should remember those who keep this kingdom running."
"Get through to who?" asked Arika.
"Mashiro. I get that she's excited about her birthday, since she was recently instated as queen and all, but she needs to remember that she can't blow the kingdom's money on fancy parties just because she was spoiled as a child. Think you could convince her to try and share some of that fancy food with people from the slums?"
"I doubt it," said Arika.
"You do realize that most of the people who live in that place hate the queen with a passion right?"
"What?"
"It's because Mashiro doesn't have a head for managing money that so many have lost their jobs. Quite a few people in the slums actively hate her because of the tax increases that came from paying for all that fancy crap she's into. Repairing her castle isn't cheap you know," said Naruko flatly.
Arika didn't know what to think about that. Which was why Naruko took her down to the slums (in disguise of course) and gave her the hard reality of the situation.
She wasn't exaggerating on how much the poorer people hated Mashiro.
"Ni-na-chan! Happy Birthday!" Naruko called out.
Nina saw Naruko had something behind her back.
"What is that?"
"Your present silly! I got one for Arika too...who knew you had the same birthday?"
For Arika she got a photo album of her mother. She had ordered it months ago through Natsuki and it came with stuff that was normally difficult to get...like her graduation picture.
"So what's in that?"
"Open it and find out silly!" said Naruko.
Nina took the box and slowly opened it. Inside was a new pair of hair barrettes to hold her hair up and what appeared to be a necklace.
"This looks expensive!" said Nina in surprise.
"It helps when you agree to bodyguard the shop from thieves and even stop a robbery... they gave me a discount!" said Naruko.
Which was partially true. The real reason they gave a discount was because Naruko had been helping the owner's brother by 'employing' his seven-year-old daughter to grow flowers for her. Because of that and the robbery she stopped, she was able to get Nina's present for a much more reasonable price.
"Thanks Naruko," said Nina, hiding a blush. The barrettes were in her favorite color too.
"Thanks Naruko-chan!" said Arika, clutching the album tightly.
"Which reminds me, didn't you get a letter from Zipang earlier?" asked Nina.
"I almost forgot! Akira has been helping me work on my seals!" said Naruko.
Naruko had hit it off with the Zipang Prince's bodyguard Akira, who had been happy to tell the Uzumaki that the time to go home would be soon. In return, she had been helping Naruko with her seals through letters.
That didn't mean they were abandoning Zipang, but it did mean that they would be able to reconnect with their roots. It was nice having a country without having to worry about an invasion.
Naruko took out the letter and when she read it her grin widened.
"That explains so much! Really, Jiraiya is such a useless teacher..." muttered Naruko.
Despite keeping her in contact with Tsunade, Jiraiya hadn't done much as her 'sensei' aside from leaving jutsu and fuinjutsu scrolls for her to read. Akira had much easier to understand lessons on the subject.