"Hey, sensei, people are convinced you've got a girlfriend, so you need to be seen with a girl soon, or people are going to start thinking weird stuff since you are hiding your relationship."
The spluttering following the statement made Minato's day.
10.
The day they departed for Water Country and Mist was as clear as any in Fire Country. The sun was rising in the eastern sky and colored the sky a bright pink and orange. Minato was the first at the village gates. He had gotten used to being the first there whenever he and Yashino met; he was up at ungodly hours anyway. The two guards gave him half awake, curious looks, but other than that they kept their silence. They had heard of the little blond prodigy the Uchiha clan had laid claims on. It wouldn't be a good idea to do something that would get their attention the wrong sort of way.
Minato sat down by the building the guards used and watched with a bemused expression as the groggy guards dealt with wide awake and all too happy merchants ready to start bantering even before they were inside the village walls. Some people sure were early risers.
He hadn't waited long before he heard the tell tale sound of a soft landing. He glanced around and smiled as he saw an Inuzuka. The boy had an almost tear like triangle under each eye and his puppy was perched on his shoulder. The golden-brown animalistic eyes combined with the fangs that were visible as he yawned widely were common traits of his clan, but the neatly arranged hair was not. It was the first time Minato ever saw an Inuzuka with some semblance of order to his hair…. Ah, Kiba's sister had had it in a ponytail if Minato remembered correctly. The boy blinked at him, once, twice, and three times before he shrugged and walked over.
"Hey, are you that blond kid sensei was talking about?" he asked bluntly. Minato was unsure of how to answer him. There were other blonds in Konoha, and he wasn't scheduled for any missions with anyone as far as he knew. He was here to leave for the chuunin exam in Mist. Well, Yashino often forgot to let him in on the details, so it was possible that the Inuzuka was talking about him and that they were teaming up for the exams. Though, it would have been nice to know beforehand.
"I'm not sure; I'm waiting for my own sensei. My name is Namikaze Minato," he said, and wondered if the boy was going to challenge him when he saw the gleam of recognition in the other boy's eyes.
"Then you are that kid. Sensei said we'd be meeting up with you and your sensei here. Who is he, by the way?"
Minato frowned in irritation.
"First of, I'm no 'kid', the name is Minato so use it; it shouldn't be hard to remember. Secondly, my sensei is Uchiha Yashino."
The boy growled and wrinkled his nose.
"Damn! Not another Uchiha! Do they breed like rabbits? They're everywhere: on my team, on the streets, geez! I can't get away from them!"
Before he could go into a fully blown rant, a stone hit him squarely in the back of his head. Minato looked past the downed boy to the girl who had thrown the rock. She was ruffling her hair with an air of impatience to her.
"Don't mind the rabid dog. He's always going off on a tangent," she said and met Minato's eyes.
"I'm Kimiko, and the idiot is Inuzuka Isanu. I think you know our last teammate, Uchiha Fugako; he's mentioned you. He said your sensei is one of his relatives."
Minato nodded. At least he knew their names now. He couldn't say he had heard of Kimiko and Isanu, but he had met Fugako.
"Mm, we've met a few times. I think sensei's mother was his great grandfather's cousin. They are nice people," he added to stop any rant the Inuzuka might have stored up. The boy snorted and glared at his female companion.
"What was that for? Did you have to hit me like that?"
"We are leaving for an exam. Try, try, to get along for that time, eh? The two of you are at each other's throats constantly! You better get along long enough for us to survive! I refuse to die because the two of you started another row in the middle of nowhere."
"They sound energetic this early in the morning," a low voice spoke close to Minato, and he looked around to see the large jacket and sunglasses covering Aburame Shibi. Another boy stood behind him, silent and stern. A giggle alerted them to the proximity of another small group.
Yashino had his hands in his pockets, eyes half lidded from sleep and his hair in incredible disarray. It wasn't pulled up in a ponytail, and fell down past his shoulders to his waist. In front of him stood Fugako, as serious as always, but his expression was clearly impatient. Whether he felt that way due to his teammates' antics or his relative's half asleep state was unclear.
"Please excuse our tardiness. Someone decided that today was a great day to sleep in," he said snidely and a little stiffly. It was probably Yashino he was irritated with, everything considered. The girl beside him gave into a wave of pure laughter, even as she tried to suppress it her body shook with it. Minato recognized her from his graduation; she was the Uchiha girl on Shibi's team. She had the fan on her outfit too, stitched on the front of her skirt.
Minato looked at his sensei and shook his head in amusement before he rummaged in his pockets for pocky and handed it to Yashino wordlessly. The man stared at it for a moment, as if unsure of what to do with it and Minato rolled his eyes.
"Take off the wrapping and eat it, sensei. It's a sweet."
"I see everyone is here! Brilliant! Let's leave for Mist and the chuunin exam- no time to waste!" a loud voice yelled and all of them jumped at the sound of it. Minato had seen the woman before, when she picked up her team, Shibi's team, and some of his suspicion concerning her was confirmed when her team scrambled to follow her orders. Minato fell into step beside Yashino, who seemed somewhat more awake now. He was trying to run a hand through his hair, with little success.
"What have you been up to?" Minato asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Babies cry at night," Yashino answered, as if that was something he had never realized before. Minato snickered at his misfortune. He waited for a moment, until he was sure the jonin with the large staff was too occupied with her students to pay attention to them.
"Who's the loud one?" he asked and Yashino directed his eyes at her and narrowed them.
"She's Misuri. I don't know her last name. We worked together a few times when we were younger, but I've hardly seen her since I entered ANBU. From what I know of her, her primal fighting style revolves around that staff of hers. Close combat in other words."
"Does she know….?"
Minato wasn't sure how much he could say when the others could listen in on their conversation, so he opted to say as little as possible.
"She's smart enough to know something is off. You might have noticed that we are a sensei short? Well, the Hokage didn't want to send more than two jonin, seeing as there are only seven genin. The Mist will be watching us close enough without us feeding their suspicion. Normally the sensei of the team, not the single student, would be going, but in this situation…. Well she knows something isn't right, but she won't comment on it and neither should you."
Minato didn't respond to that, and they continued to travel a bit behind the others. He told himself he was prepared for anything the Mist could throw at them, but that didn't mean he wasn't nervous. He had never been in the Mist, and barely in Water Country. He had heard of it, of course- it was one of the Elemental countries, and their hidden village one of the five large ones, but they had little influence in the future. This time was different. They were a power to be reckoned with, planning something strange and successfully keeping anyone from entering where they didn't want them.
It lay to the northwest; a series of islands out of the coast and a piece of the mainland. Before they annexed Whirlpool they hadn't really had much mainland. That was part of why they had overrun the smaller and (compared to them) insignificant country to begin with. From what Minato had heard, their village lay on one of the smaller islands and was impossible to enter without being seen. Like any other major village.
The mainland of Water country proved to be one large swamp. Minato could fully understand why the country wanted more land considering what they had before the war could only be called 'land' in the most generous meaning of the word. Large mangrove trees stood overgrown with moss and lichen, and some green substance none of the Konoha ninja were able to recognize. It made the trees slimy and slippery. One wrong move on their part, and they could easily lose their footing and fall into the murky waters under them. None of the Konoha ninja wanted to think of that fate. Who knew what kind of creepy creatures might live down there? Leaches were probably the least of their worries. It also made traveling through the trees tiresome and tedious. Of course, they could have run on the water, but then they would risk whatever lived in the brown and disgusting waters.
They were pausing on a particular large branch on their fifth day of traveling, and Minato was watching the swirling fog that seemed to constantly linger around the tree trunks, just above the water. He wondered how anything could grow in this humid, if not downright wet, environment. The earth had to be soaked, and even moss required some light. He was unwilling to classify the dim daylight under these trees as 'light'. It was a poor excuse compared to the bright sunlight of Fire Country.
"Hey, sensei, is this place always so glum?" he asked and Yashino turned from where he was silently talking to Misuri sensei. She had insisted on everyone calling her that, but Yashino refused. He called her Misuri and dealt with her mock scolding whenever she was up to teasing him. He sometimes threw in a senpai, but Minato had a feeling it was sarcastic.
"If you mean it is colorless, unwelcoming, wet and generally an ordeal to get through, then yes, it is always like this. The islands are better, and most of the people live there. This is just…. Oh, honestly I don't care or know why Water Country keeps this remote area of bog at all. Pride I guess."
Minato could have sworn he heard a muttered;"…good thing it isn't winter," and decided that his sensei really didn't like Water. He couldn't say he liked it any better. It really was a piece of useless land. They had even decided not to try to drink the water under them, especially when Mikoto had gone down to get some and reported back that the water was sluggish and had bits and pieces of small things in it. No one asked her what she meant by that.
Minato grimaced and listened to the low buzzing from Shibi's bugs. They, at least, seemed to enjoy this new environment. What had them so excited he didn't dare to ask, and when the Aburame's teammates gave him funny looks Shibi shrugged and said his bugs were enjoying themselves. The humid air must appeal to them or something. Minato looked at one of them, currently creeping slowly over his knee. It was black and glossy, with small antennas sticking up where he supposed its head was.
"Your chakra reserves have improved since last we met," Shibi said stoically, as if commenting on the weather. It was an improvement from one syllable words however.
"Mmm, sensei has seen to that," Minato agreed. Well, that and he wasn't a seven year old anymore. As his body grew, his chakra reserves grew.
"Your teacher has quite the reputation."
"How so? I haven't heard much about him except from what his family has told me," Minato said curiously, and what he had told him himself, but Shibi didn't need to know that. He wondered what the Aburame wanted in return for this information, but didn't ask. He supposed he would find out when the time came. The clan was hardly an unfair one, and they were always logical. You could trust an Aburame to keep the equations equal.
"An ANBU at fifteen, and one of the Uchiha who never joined the police force. They are rare."
"He has never had the need to join the police force since he was part of ANBU," Minato said. It didn't matter to him how rare it was, he just knew it happened. Yashino had said there were more of them, but not many. There were some Uchiha who were teachers as well, and some were ordinary ninja among all the others. If people were so damn curious about the Uchiha, then they could simply ask.
"Perhaps not," Shibi allowed, and dropped the conversation. Minato clenched and unclenched his hands while trying to ignore the feeling of damp clothes. The humid air penetrated their cloaks and was doing a good job of discomforting them further. His hair hung limp around his face, and he had the constant urge to towel himself dry. He didn't like this place the least bit, he decided. If he had a say in the matter, the only time he would ever return here was when he was heading home from this exam. The land of Water was aptly named, and he hadn't seen the worst of it yet.
The harbor, or the "town" where the harbor was situated, wasn't really something any of the Konoha ninja would call a town. It was a small huddle of wooden huts with dirt roads that were more water than dirt, and currently overcrowded due to the chuunin exams. Minato gritted his teeth and glared at Yashino.
"Sensei, this country sucks!" he exclaimed with all the sincerity he could muster.
"I'm inclined to agree," Shibi's muffled voice came from behind his high collar, and Fugako snorted.
"This place can hardly be considered civilized," the Uchiha drawled and scowled at the muddy road. At once a thick staff whacked him atop of his head and he whirled around to glare at Misuri sensei while rubbing a new sore spot at the back of his head. Misuri had taken it upon herself to literally beat humility into him. So far it worked great while she was in the vicinity.
"Be nice, child," she warned with a deceptive friendly smile. The Uchiha straightened at once and nearly saluted the woman. It hadn't taken long before he had learned not to anger her. If that meant swallowing his pride, then so be it. Yashino chuckled and smirked when the younger boy gave him a sour glare.
The small group of Konoha ninja quickly found their way to the harbor, where they stood mostly by themselves. They could see groups from the other major villages standing apart from each other. Some of them, like the Sand ninja, openly glared daggers at them. They had lost the recently ended war so it was understandable, but it didn't settle the genins' nerves any. Minato scanned the other groups, and found Cloud, which had been allied with Sand, and Rock, who like Mist and Konoha had fought their own war and only allied with lesser villages. For the first time he felt the pressure of the forehead protector he wore. This wasn't a fight on his home turf. This wasn't somewhere he'd have plenty of allies surrounding him to help him out of he needed it. This was a hostile environment with unknown enemies and grudges and wounds from a war that hadn't had time to heal. Oh yes, this certainly was what he considered the worst possible exam.
"Do you know how they are going to test us?" he asked quietly, but didn't take his eyes from the other groups. Yashino hummed thoughtfully.
"No one ever knows how a village will test the examinees. During a war each village will promote their genin after seeing them perform in the field, but during peacetime it's different. We need to make a show of power and strength, and also a show of trust. That is the reasons why villages will allow unfamiliar ninja into the heart of their territory and at the same time why villages will risk sending their genin. Some might actually say it is safer for the genin to be promoted during a war than during an arranged exam like this one…"
"But…" Minato prompted and Yashino smiled crookedly.
"Mist is a very narrow minded country. They have a reputation for turning out vicious, not to mention malicious, ninja with little to no concern for teamwork or friendships. That is why we can enter genin who aren't teamed up in this exam. You are all entering as sole individuals, but nothing prevents you from helping each other during the exam. It would probably be wise to keep close."
"I see…. Do you think they will test us individually?"
"It is likely."
Their conversation died down as the many people started to move towards the shore. Several boats had arrived, steered by Mist ninja. Minato didn't know that they were ninja until they were ushered into one of the boats. When he passed the boatman he could make out the glistening forehead protector in the dense mist. It had become heavier as the day had proceeded, and he wondered if it was a technique which caused it, or if it was natural. He turned to ask his sensei, but stilled as all he could see properly in the grey fog was the red eyes of the Uchiha's bloodline. All three of them had activated the Sharingan when they started to move, and looked suspiciously around themselves. He knew his sensei had tree tomoes in his eyes, but couldn't be sure of who was who of the other two. They both had two tomoes in their eyes.
He turned when he heard the boatman make a half strangled sound, and saw the man staring intently at the three sets of red eyes suddenly watching him. Minato didn't blame him. He would have watched any foreigners with a bloodline like that intently as well, especially since it was really unnerving how those red eyes stood out in the grey mist. He could hear the smirk in Yashino's voice when he spoke.
"The mist is natural. There is no chakra in it, but I we are heading for an area covered with chakra induced mist. If I am not mistaken, that's our destination. We'll cross into the area in a few minutes, so I suggest all of you are ready in case you'll react to the large amounts of chakra around you," he said, mainly for Shibi's benefit, but also the Inuzuka who would sense the large amounts of chakra thanks to the bond with his canine partner.
The Mist village had no walls surrounding it. Instead it had a large harbor going from one end of the village to the other, and all the houses stuck up from the flat sea like a sudden dark silhouette in the white fog. The village was built on poles between a series of tiny, stark islands and rocks. Hidden deep within the misty sea somewhere in Water country it was protected by not being seen. Even if someone knew where it was, it wasn't somewhere you could go unnoticed. Minato was ready to bet the chakra induced mist alerted the right people if someone tried to sneak into the village.
When they landed they were immediately attended to by another mist ninja, this time a chunin, who led them up streets illuminated by an orange light penetrating the mist. It was still somewhat hard to see what was going on around them, but they could see shapes and movements of ninja and civilians alike. It was easy to make out the difference. A ninja moved differently, more fluid, while the civilians would look like newly born deer in comparison: staggering around and not entirely sure where all their limbs were.
"This place is even gloomier than the swamp," Isuna commented and looked around with trepidation. His scent told him most of what he needed to know, and what he couldn't pick up his dog would, but being mostly bereft of his eyesight didn't in any way reassure him. Shibi hummed in agreement.
"My bugs do not like the mist. All the chakra in it confuses them," he told them in a low voice. Minato raised an eyebrow at that information. If that was the case, this certainly was a place where the odds were stacked against the Aburame. He wondered if the mist annoyed the Uchihas too, and glanced up at Yashino. He wasn't commenting on anything, just looking around with a nonchalant air to him, but Minato could see the slightly calculating look in his eyes. He felt sure Yashino was mentally mapping out the village while trying to figure out where it was possible to find the information he was searching for.
They were led to a hotel which, to their great relief had warm water and served proper meals as opposed to the rations they had had to live on for the past week and a half. It had been impossible to build a campfire in the large trees they had made camp in, and to make camp on the ground was out of question. None of them felt like sleeping in knee high water. Minato wasn't too surprised upon finding that all the dishes they served included some kind of fish. Really, where would they keep livestock in this country of water and well, water?
They were allowed to walk around the village, but as soon as they stepped out of the hotel they almost felt the eyes upon them. Minato looked around, but he couldn't see anyone.
"Hunter nin, the Mist's equivalent to our ANBU," Misuri explained with a short glance at Yashino.
"They're watching us?" Mikoto asked perturbed and Minato chuckled at her affronted tone.
"They aren't so much watching us as they are watching you, I think, or perhaps only sensei. The fan of your clan is almost as renowned as your eyes and where one is the other follow. They are probably afraid you might try something, copy techniques, spy or whatnot."
"I'm not about to do tricks for their entertainment so would you mind moving?" Isuna growled and poked his teammate with a finger. Fugako glared, but didn't say anything and wordlessly started to walk down the street. Mikoto sighed and shook her head.
"Those two…. When are they going to get along? Seriously, they are teammates," she complained and Minato was tempted to agree with her. If the spats between Isuna and Fugako were anything like he once had with Sasuke, than he started to understand why Kakashi tried to block them out by reading his book. He was contemplating getting his own distraction. Perhaps if he trained hard enough on it he'd be able to live in his own little bubble.
They walked around until they found where to meet the next day, and Minato felt… if not troubled then a little thoughtful of the place. It looked like any other part of the Mist village, only separated from the rest by a tall fence. From what they could see there were houses, streets and small alleys. The mist was thick and swirled in a lazy manner up from the sea under the platforms the village was built on. They couldn't see anything move in there, and they couldn't see more than a few meters, but it was enough to know where they were supposed to meet.
When they left they saw other teams doing the same, eyeing the stage of their exam with trepidation and excitement.
"What do you think we'll be doing in there?" Mikoto asked enthusiastically.
"Who knows? Every exam is different. If they were all the same it would be pointless. The genin would know what to expect and the teachers would train their genin to pass the exams and neglect other important skills. By differencing the exams they are ensuring the quality of the potential chunin in every country," Misuri explained before she frowned.
"It also simulates a war situation very well. You never know what to expect in a war and a simple mission can turn out to be far more in the end. When you enter this exam, all you will know is your objective, passing, but you will not know how to get there and what to do to get there. Since we have just finished a war it is unlikely any will break out again soon, but the truth still remains. We cannot predict the future, and the peace between the countries is…. delicate at best."
"If or when a new war breaks out, it won't be us fighting it, but you guys. You are the ones who will be the backbone of the village in the years to come. It might not be for years yet, but some day the uneasiness of our world will be the cause of a new war," Yashino finished for her. Minato was silent, knowing from the history he learned in his future life that Yashino was right. He didn't like being reminded that he had lived before. He could easily forget that past and just live this life. It was so simple to get lost in his new life, to forget and live for the present and not the omnipresent future. Deep down he knew he would have to change what happened, that whatever he did he had already changed things, but he had yet to see the results of what he had done by just existing in this time.
"We should go back and sleep," he said slowly, with one last glance at the grey fence separating them from the exam area. The foreboding mist swirled around his feet as they started to track back to the hotel and one last night of sleep before they were tossed into something they would never forget and cause them nightmares in years to come.
Hey. New chapter! My sister is occupying my grandmother, who's also spending time in the church now that it is Easter. So to everyone who celebrate Easter: happy Easter. What was I going to say here again? yeah, that was it, I've been to hospital and rebroken my leg bone. When I broke it I nearly snapped it in two or something like that, and apparently it didnt grow like it was supposed to, so they rebroke it and put it back like with some metal thingy there to make it grow properly. Eh, something like that. Lucky me have my body full of painkillers and stuff so it is a bit like being drunk. I am rambling and awake at an ungodly hour unable to sleep because... I don't know why, but I'm awake and still rambling. What I was going to do was to thank Raeigh for beta reading the chapters from now on. Thank you=) Now I am going to quit writing this authors note so I don't put down something I shouldn't - and good luck chasing the Easter bunny!