I do not own Naruto, this story is for entertainment purposes only. I came to terms with that a long time ago... (Sniffs)
Son of Terumi
Chapter 6: The beginning of the Exams
Shinobi Academy, Konoha
"Can we finally take these stupid masks off?"
"No."
They passed through the set of double doors manned by a pair of chunin of Konoha and meandered to the nearest stairwell.
"Why?"
"Just humor him."
Not long after them the other genin team of Kiri entered the hallway and followed them up the stairs.
"Can I at least punch the first guy I see?"
"Not without provocation."
Ken irritably grumbled to himself as they passed the flight of stairs and found themselves on the second floor. Instead of moving for the staircase behind them they ambled towards the hallway leading out, out to the second floor... they stopped themselves at the threshold of which upon realizing this. With varying levels of curiosity they looked behind themselves in the direction of the stairs leading to the third floor only to find any hint of which gone altogether, unnoticed by the genin as they sauntered their way up to the landing.
"A genjutsu?" Naruto muttered in a dull groan. With a sigh Ken raised a hand in a hand seal only for it to be slapped away by Sio.
"It would work more for our benefit if we leave it be," she lowly explained herself just as Ken leveled an annoyed glare at her.
"Less competition?" Naruto muttered softly just in time for his sister and her team to arrive, all of whom confused.
"Brother?" Ayane asked while Sio answered his question with a silent nod. With a frown she looked about in confusion, joined by another of her teammates as the remaining one looked like he could've cared less as to why they were doing so in the first place.
"Can we get going now?" he drawled. His bored countenance didn't change in the least not changing in the least when their lavender haired teammate turned to glare at him with the company of a scowl.
"I'm with him on this," Ken added not a moment later.
"... I guess it'll probably be best if we play along for now," Naruto relented. He glanced to the side and frowned underneath his mask as he nodded in the direction of a gathering of genin around a door guarded by another pair of genin. "With luck then whatever they have in mind would thin out the crowds, for better or worse."
"Huh?"
He turned to Ken. "Quality over quantity for the most part."
From underneath his mask the taller genin smirked as he turned towards the hallway, hefting his nodachi along his shoulder between comfort and underlying excitement. "Sounds good to me." Before he took more than a step forward in all eagerness he was stopped by Sio's tanned hand on his shoulder, promtping him to once again glance at her with an annoyed glare.
"No fighting till after its approved by the proctors."
"Tch, fine..."
As he and Sio meandered down the hallway, Naruto took the time to look at Ayane and point a half teasing finger at her. "Same for you," he pointed out with a touch of seriousness, though with a ribbing lilt to his voice that garnered an incredulous scowl from her. She even crossed her arms over her chest to emphasize her mood.
He canted his head down a little further at her with a frown of his own. "And what exactly was that little stand off yesterday?" he asked.
She looked away, her body defensively rigid and yet with an silent air to her that, as he discerned over the years, she only got whenever he criticized her in any fashion. At least when it came to her as a shinobi general.
Sighing, he reached up and mussed with her hair, earning an aggravated frown aimed at him with a childish growl emitting from her. "I know you're skilled," he assured her. "In fact I wouldn't be too surprised if you got to be promoted to chunin before me thanks to this exam," he added, smiling slightly at the ghost of a suppressed smile that adorned his younger sister's lips. "That said, however, I don't want to find out you got caught and injured in a fight you could've avoided in the first place. Especially if your TEAMMATES..." He leveled a glare at the other two who tried to hide the sudden nervous looks on their faces by looking away, "... let alone your sensei, aren't going to help you." By the time he looked down at her she was pouting behind her mask of indifference once more.
"I'm not trying to scold you," he murmured as he gently ruffled her hair once more, again receiving a slight scowl of annoyance in return. "I just can't help but worry for you, as your brother no less."
A small, sideways smile flirted across her face as she deigned to look at him out of the corner of her eye.
"So, no suicidal charges?"
She shook her head and nudged his hand away at long last as she faced him. "That's more of your thing, brother," she countered with a smile.
"Good. I have to have at least one claim to fame to annoy everyone with."
As she smirked she moved passed him, down towards the hallway just as the crowd dispersed and made their own way down the hall. Lagging behind them was his own team, both of whom looking a tad agitated though for different reasons if he were to guess. Then again they could've found some common ground and were annoyed by the exact same thing.
With one last glare sent to the now anxious genin on his sister's team he left them behind, making a bee line to his team. "Is something wrong?"
Of the two Ken spoke up first after being addressed. "I was hoping to at least see a good brawl before things got started."
"Sio?"
She glanced at him. "Kakashi's other student, the black haired one, pointed out the genjutsu both at the stairs and here."
"Damn," Naruto sighed. He scratched the back of his head as well. "I guess more for Ken then."
A brief, dark chuckle escaped Ken, offset only by cheery "meow" from the kitten on his shoulder.
"Right, let's go before we get disqualified or something for being late."
"Yeah, yeah," the largest of them grumbled as he shuffled away without them . Glancing at the kunoichi, Sio glancing back at him, her silent irritation obvious under the mask thanks to years of intimate knowledge, before closing her eyes to quietly vent her annoyance before departing as well with him and the other genin in tow.
XVX
Exam Room
Though they quietly shuffled into the room a short time later, many a glare was sent their way that were largely ignored or returned in kind by at least two members of the Kiri teams. Almost the front half of the room, or rather the portion of what appeared to be a tiered classroom furthest from the doors, was crowded by teams of genin from other villages as well as those from Konoha, each looking as happy and comfortable as a hawk stuffed into a cage with other hawks. The only ones seemingly nonplussed by it all were at best two teams of genin who stayed near the back, closest to the door yet stuck to isolated areas away from the others, an idea the Kiri teams soon pirated.
It didn't take the least bit long for them to find themselves a comfortable spot by the bay windows decorating the wall, a fair distance away from the door and yet more so from the crowd that anxiously waited for the exam to begin while waiting to see if there was anyone else to hopefully intimidate into either submission or dropping out altogether. Sadly their efforts were in vain, at least in part as the next group, an all too familiar one at that thanks to the blonde, entered only to be surprised by the latent hostility aimed at them. Not long afterward what shock they have felt was brushed away by the sudden exclamation of yet another blonde, a kunoichi of Konoha, just before she tackled the dark haired teenager's back and enveloped him in an affectionate hug much to his irritable dismay. Soon after what could be assumed as her teammates wandered over to them, the other team, now recognized as the very team they almost had a brawl with upon entering the village thanks to the dog, joining in as well.
"He looks... disturbingly similar, brother," Ayane carefully, softly noted with a frown. She turned to the Naruto she personally knew, her frown still in place and deepening seeing the lack of an overt reaction from him let alone some other form of acknowledgement. If anything he purposely kept his back turned to them, letting the sword hide him where it could. In fact, after glancing about, she found the only other person the only one interested in the group in the slightest was Sio who kept them in the corner of her peripheral vision whereas everyone else seemed, in a word, bored as they contented themselves with waiting for the exam to start...
At the slight cant of Sio's head the younger kunoichi discreetly looked back, soon finding another shinobi in their midst, one with silver hair and wearing round glasses. He was saying something, unfortunately she couldn't tell what as she only caught the tail end of what was said, "seven" or "seventh" if she heard right. All that was made apparent was that whatever was said seemed to have confused or even concerned a few nine other Leaf shinobi.
"Well they're held twice a year. This would be my fourth year."
"Wow, a veteran! You must be an expert by now!" the pink haired kunoichi spoke up.
"Yeah! You could give us all the inside tips!" 'Naruto' animatedly added.
"Yeah, some expert. He's never passed!" a dark haired boy half muttered aloud, his hair pulled back into a spiky pony tail.
"Well, seventh time's the charm," the silver haired one replied bashfully as he reached up to scratch the back of his head with a sheepish smile on his face.
The black haired boy immediately followed up with a low groan of defeat. "I guess it just proves all those rumors about the exams being tough were true." He looked away. "Man, I knew this was going to be a drag."
"Hang on, don't lose hope just yet," the silver haired genin offered as he reached over to a pouch strapped to his waist. "Maybe I can help you kids out a little," he produced a deck of cards with orange backs, dark gray borders and a white circle with a border of black with the kanji for "shinobi" printed in the middle of which, "with my info cards."
"What are those?"
The smile was lost in favor of a contemplative frown. "Basically these cards have been chakra encoded with everything I learned over the past for years." He knelt down, placed the cards in a neat stack on the ground and picked up one. "I got more than two hundred of them," he explained, "so you see I haven't been completely wasting my time." He flipped the card over and placed it on the ground, revealing a blank face. "They might not look much to the naked eye. In fact, as you can see, they appear blank." He smirked to himself as he placed his index finger on the middle of the card and began to spin the card in place. "You wouldn't want just anyone seeing this stuff after all."
A small puff of smoke escaped the card. Once it cleared it was obvious the card wasn't blank, yet at the same time she couldn't see what was on it thanks to her current distance from them.
"Awesome! A map! Of what though?" the pink one asked.
"It's the geological distribution of all the candidates who come to participate in the Chunin Exam; what villages they come from and how many from each village." He looked up at them from his card. "Why do you think they all come to take the exam at the same time?"
A moment passed and no one answered him, causing him to sigh.
"It's to foster friendship between nations of course! International brotherhood and all that and its true enough as far as it goes."
From her spot Ayane couldn't help but scoff to herself. As if hearing it however, the silver haired genin canted his head in her direction, the light reflecting an opaque shine, hiding them away as he gave her a smirk...
As benign as it appeared, It unnerved her to say the least.
"But there's another reason, isn't there?" the other dark haired teenager asked coolly, drawing the genin's attention away from the kunoichi.
"Yes. This way they can carefully regulate the number of shinobi that end up in each village, thereby maintaining the balance of power."
"Balance of power, big deal, it's all a drag."
The "map" on the card disappeared in a plume of smoke the moment the genin's hand deliberately hovered over it.
"If the balance of power isn't maintained then one nation may have many more shinobi than it's neighbors, and it might be tempted to attack them. So they try to maintain the status quo. Or at least they try to."
The other black haired genin stepped forward with an earnest air about him. "Do those cards of yours have any info on the other candidates, individually?"
The kneeling genin's eyes narrowed slightly as a small smirk grew. "They might. You have someone special in mind?"
The other teenager's eyes narrowed to a more drastic degree. "I might."
The glasses wearing genin retrieved his card off the ground, placed it back onto the back, picked up and deck and began to even it out by tapping the butt of which on the ground. "Well I can't promise my information is perfect or complete, but I got something on just about everyone."
In the distance the Mist kunoichi narrowed her eyes along with Sio regardless if either knew of it.
"Including you guys of course," the Leaf shinobi added with a grin. "So which one is it? Tell me anything you know about them, their description, whatever." He held up a card, its back facing them. "Anything at all."
"Gaara of the Desert, Rock Lee of the Leaf Village," he paused for just a moment to directly point at the Kiri shinobi, Naruto to be specific, "and the guy with the giant sword."
Ayane scowled at him, her hand clenching.
"Ayane," Naruto muttered lowly but loudly enough for her to hear, and subsequently relent.
"That's hardly fun," the still kneeling genin sighed. "Knowing their names just makes it too easy..." He began to shuffle his deck. "Though I suppose I can try to have fun with one challenge at least." He stopped shuffling just long enough to glance at the Kiri teams and frown. "You're not talking about the guy with the bomb tags on his sword, are you?"
"Yes I am," the black haired teenager stonily confirmed with a scowl. In return the other shinobi sighed as he grew eerily quiet.
"Truth be told I don't think I have a card on them. Even then, in all honesty, it might be better if I only divulge it if he's out of earshot," he said as he produced two cards yet set them aside to continue his search.
"Why do you say that?" the pink one asked first as her blond haired counterpart fumed at being beaten to the punch.
The shinobi paused for just only a moment. "Between the civil war and right now there's been something of an information blackout for the whole village; with a civil war at the very door it's only logical they would try to keep as many of their forces within their borders outside of what was necessary. Even then it's said that they carefully chose their missions in order ensure they have some funding. Rumor has it that not many shinobi from Kiri had been seen since then." He adjusted his glasses so that the shine once more to have the glare of the light to obscure his now hidden eyes. "As a result you could say their own particular influence in Elemental Nations has lessened as a whole because of that," he added.
"Even if that wasn't the case, if you bothered to learn anything about Kiri from the library then you would be keenly aware of the overt clue as to what unit he's a part of. A warning really to tell anyone who knows a thing or two about Kiri that they're better off looking for easier marks elsewhere; Kiri is making a comeback at last with quite a literal bang."
Kakashi's students, for the most part at least, shifted uncomfortably whereas their black-haired counterpart seemed to intensify his gaze on his lighter haired comrade. "And why is that?" he asked.
"Sasuke," his teammate muttered aloud as she carefully glanced at the Kiri team in general, her already cautious attitude as of the moment unnerved even more so upon finding one of the younger genin openly glaring at them. "You do remember that the guy with the sword faced Zabuza, right?"
"With help," Sasuke sternly countered without so much as glancing at her. Instead he turned his head just enough to scrutinize the swordsman out of the corner of his eye.
"That just confirms it."
All eyes went to the still kneeling genin.
"What are you talking about?" the shinobi with the dog huffed. "Something we ought to know?"
The other genin adjusted his glasses once more, the glare of the light still obscuring his eyes.
"Zabuza Momochi was from the previous generation of Kiri's famous Seven Swordsman of the Mist. It's an elite fighting unit that, as the name suggests, is compromised solely of seven swordsmen of great skill and power." He looked to Sasuke and his teammates. "So much so that even one member is a match for someone of same caliber as Kakashi Hatake, or am I wrong?" No one that compromised the man's genin team looked comfortable in the least. Sasuke himself had betrayed himself by slowly balling his hand into a fist and as a deep scowl formed on his face. "At any rate," the genin continued, "each of the swordsmen carry a unique weapon, one of a kind that has yet to be replicated by any of the other villages. As such they will go to great lengths to ensure those weapons remain in their possession. The fact that he's not only from Kiri but openly carrying Shibuki is evidence enough that he's one of the swordsmen. Right off the bat he's the last person you want to face in a fight. My advice is to either run away or surrender if you value your lives should it come down to a fight."
"H-hey!" the pink haired kunoichi interrupted. "If he's really a swordsman then why's here in the Exam? Shouldn't he be a jonin by now?"
The one with the dog scoffed with a feral grin. "Yeah!" he agreed. "If he's as tough as you say why's he still a genin then?"
"Unbelievable," the other dark haired teenager sighed, earning everyone's attention save for the kneeling one.
"What's that?" the previous genin growled.
"I'm in agreement, Shikamaru," another genin spoke up. Who wore an overcoat with a hood and a high buttoned up collar to hide away most of his face sans a pair of sunglasses.
"Huh?"
"Shino?"
"What are you two talking about?" the blond kunoichi huffed with an annoyed pout, her fists planted on her hips.
"It's a simple thought," the one named Shino spoke up. "It's quite possible he was deliberately held back so he could partake in these exams."
"Yeah... what a drag," the other dark haired genin sighed.
"Huh? Held back?" the other 'Naruto' asked, his head tilted and eyes shut in thought as a confused frown marred his face.
"Think about it," Shikamaru offered. "If they receded from the main land in general to fight a civil war then their reputation as a village would inevitably suffer from the lack of missions they take in and complete. Even their most loyal clients would eventually turn to their rivals if they cannot so much as get a request through, thus not only would their reputation suffer from the bad turn out but their source of income would be hurt as well. In order to get everything back, their influence and clients, they would definitely need to pull out the stops to earn them back."
"Kind of like a grand reopening of a restaurant!" the portly one inferred.
"Yeah," the other one sighed. "Kind of like a grand reopening: the best linens, service with a smile, and cutlery sharp enough to slice through the toughest of meats."
"Mmmm... Hey, Shikamaru, we should head to the BBQ place after the exams! I'm getting hungry!"
As the fat one was talking to his friend, Sasuke scoffed, albeit more softly than the other genin's louder, more abrupt and derisive one.
"Yeah, well, I'm still going to kick his ass! I'm not going to let some overrated goon smash into my girlfriend—"
The rest of his rant was lost out of interest and yet kept going. With her first clenched Ayane reached behind her for a kunai holster fastened to the small of her back and retrieved one of them. It didn't leave her hand however, let alone come into plain view for the world to see. Naruto, the swordsman, finally turned just enough to warrant taking a step to properly look at Ayane, his hand reaching out and clasping his hand on her shoulder to effectively prevent her from doing anything rash.
Once more she relented, sheathing the kunai before an incident took place. Turning around, she came to look down toward her feet upon seeing his disapproving stare from behind his mask. At best she half listened to what was going on behind her, the shinobi with the large dog having been calmed down enough for the other genin to offer information on "Rock Lee" and "Gaara" who, if she had heard correctly, had yet to so much as be cut during any one of his missions, including a B-rank unless she misheard him... She dared to glance up only to return her gaze back down to her feet.
That is until the distinctive shouting from 'Naruto' drew not only her attention but the entire classroom as well.
"MY NAME IS NARUTO UZUMAKI! AND I'M GOING TO BEAT EVERY ONE OF YOU!" he declared with a finger pointed out towards the class, a hand on his hip and a bold smile on his lips.
So... dumbfounded by his apparent lunacy, she that she missed the cause of an argument that occurred behind the look-alike involving the blond kunoichi and her pink haired counterpart whilst others from other villages either shared in her incredulous gaping or openly glared at him in response to his challenge.
"Phew! I feel better," the Leaf shinobi pleasantly sighed with a grin, both hands resting behind his head as he did so. At least until his teammate came to strangle him from behind for drawing all the attention in the room. As she loudly reprimanded him, both physically and verbally, an explosion of smoke from the back of the room where the chalkboard is had erupted.
"Alright you baby-faced degenerates, pipe down and listen up!" a grizzled voiced barked, both demanding and successfully earning the attention of the entire room at once. From the dissipating smoke was a large group of chunin of Konoha, all of whom garbed in gray uniforms and headed by a similarly garbed individual who wore a black trench coat over which. His head was completely covered by his black bandana which proudly bore the Leaf head plate above his scarred face.
"I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor. And from this moment, your worst enemy."
XVX
Hokage's office, Hokage Tower
"Are you certain about this? That this is all of it?"
There was doubtlessly shinobi of importance who have been given the task of reading the very list of names before him in a search for genin of renown, particularly troublemakers to be aware of should they cause a ruckus outside of the Exams proper. Even if it didn't result in an international incident, it wouldn't do for anyone, least of all the poor saps called in to clean up the mess, if hotheaded genin of differing villages 'accidentally' forgot the exams altogether to settle national grudges or rebuke new ones on the spot. What he didn't expect to see, despite potential coincidence, was a name he was particularly familiar with to be printed twice, under different last names no less.
Needless to say he was... inquisitive to say the least. Especially given the Mizukage's visit, perhaps in anticipation of this and his subsequent suspicions.
While true the sheer concept of two people being given the exact same name isn't a farfetched possibility, the odds of it being an innocent coincidence dwindled considerably if the name itself was relatively unique. Especially if 'coincidence' happened to coincide with... other matters.
The moment he asked for it all the information that was available on Terumi's son had been planted on his desk, all one page of it. While not unusual given that even their allies in Suna were reluctant to give out information beyond the essentials, the bare minimum: name, affiliation, blood type, name, eye color, height, weight... there was no picture of his face, a common courtesy between villages or at least neutral countries the Exams. If anything the visual confirmation of certain details such as blond hair and wielding a sword associated only with Kiri's most legendary unit to date only served to feed his apprehension and fuel his suspicions as his thoughts branched out upon reasoned possibilities.
"Yes sir."
"I see..." He paused for a moment as he wracked his mind as the gentle tug of a memory insistently tugged at the corner of his mind. "Would you please bring me the mission report from the Wave Country?"
"Yes sir!"
The man dashed out of the room, leaving the elderly man to his thoughts as he meticulously rummaged through the contents of his desk drawers for a crystal ball and a small pillow to settle it on. By the time he found and placed the items on his desk the same man from before rushed in with the requested documents in hand. Immediately they were placed before Hiruzen, within hands reach as he made the final adjustments for both the items the elderly man had gathered and the technique that turned the once clear surface of the sphere into an image of Ibiki Morino. With both hands hovering above the ball, never touching it, he motioned to his left as if he were turning a vase within his grasp, in turn turning the image to showcase the man's back and, to the Hokage's fortune, revealed not only the exam taking place but the swordsman was close enough to be observed by the technique at hand. He observed what he could, noting the mask that denied him the last piece of evidence he desired, and paid particular attention to the prosthetic wood hand peeking out from his sleeve, writing into a piece of paper.
Glancing at the report, left open on his desk as a courtesy by the jonin, he confirmed both the description of the mask used in "Naruto's" previous sighting as well as a confirmed appendage made of wood. Most likely it was reinforced for combat, especially if it involved a weapon as destructive as Kiri's Shibuki.
"Regardless if they pass the first test or not, I want a team to observe the swordsman from Kiri. Find out what you can on the Mizukage's son before the third portion of the exam takes place."
"Yes sir!" The jonin made to leave in all urgency only to be halted by the Hokage.
"If at all possible, get a picture of his face. Or, if nothing else, should you or your team see his face but cannot take a picture of it, report to Inoichi or else one of the other Yamanaka in the TI department of the Anbu for confirmation. But remember, do not engage him as a hostile unless there is no other alternative."
"Yes Lord Hokage!"
Not a second later the jonin had left through the door, leaving the older man to his thoughts as he leaned back into his chair, he drew his hands away the now clear ball in favor of coupling them together in thought. From his lips came a drawn out sigh as a finger slowly tapped along his knuckle during his contemplation.
"I suppose I should've seen this coming," he muttered to himself in his empty office. "One way or another you were going to show up eventually, that much I knew without a doubt."
After a moment's pause of introspection and thought he looked to the picture of a young Naruto on his desk before canting his weary head down, blowing a solemn breath.
XVX
Exam Room
Much to his irritation Naruto had at best scribbled onto the paper once he was seated for the test.
The first exam was evidentially a written exam, one where the teams were divided into randomized seats so that they would sit amongst potential enemies... and potential cheaters as well. Just by skimming through the given questions, the tenth one having been declared a verbal one that wouldn't be announced till near the end of the hour, it was obvious that these questions were the kind to give even jonin a migraine in trying to decipher codes, predict trajectories , explain theories and know the histories of both obscure and unfamiliar territories as well as certain people of relative note. As such it wasn't a surprise that to answer them a good many were cheating as best they could; the other proctors, the 'sentinels' as they were called, were weeding out entire teams that made a poor effort in disguising their particular attempts to answer the questions correctly.
Even if they weren't, he couldn't help but suspect some were able to keep in contact with one another... somehow. But then again that was a wild guess with no proof whatsoever. On the other hand the closest to their own attempt, his team's, was the kitten Ken kept with him, most of the time at least, wandered about the classroom without anyone batting much of an eye at it. All hopes of it being a messenger or a spy for them were however dashed when it chose not only to leap onto the lap of his neighbor, the Hyuga girl from before, and fell asleep. Between the test and using her byakugan, she found the time to enjoy petting the kitten that peacefully slumbered on her lap with a small, innocent smile on her lips...
Though a part of him felt guilty for doing so, thanks to his mask and the brief intervals she took to tend to the kitten, he was able to glean a good amount of answers for his own test. Planned or not, he'd have to thank his giant of a teammate later.
"All right! Listen up! Here's the Tenth Question!" Ibiki suddenly announced, earning everyone's undivided attention with keen interest. "But before I give it, there are some more rules you need to know."
With everyone's attention on him he sauntered to the nearest window, each step calculating and decisively loud. "These rules are unique to question ten, so you better listen." He turned his head toward the classroom with a hard, almost evil gleam in his eye as he sized them up.
He turned to them, hands in his pockets. "Rule number one: each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question..."
XVX
Meanwhile, Mei Terumi's room, Eight Leafs Hotel
"Are you sure any of this is accurate?" the Mizukage asked softly in quiet seriousness as if the walls had ears. For all she knew they did despite the measures taken to ensure the adjacent were lodgings for Kiri and Kiri alone. They even had seal tags installed to ensure some semblance of privacy if that had failed.
In her hands were hand taken notes, courtesy of her guards when they left the hotel under the pretense exploring the town, getting a drink, or even looking to have some definition of 'fun.' Though she doubted they would learn anything worthwhile between the raised security for the Exams and a civilian populace which was only permitted public knowledge for the most part, it was the only lead they had without looking too suspicious. At the very least that if suspected of anything they could be excused, in part at least, as any village would try to better the chances of their teams if given half a chance. Still, how badly they, Konoha, might react to them subtly trying to investigate Naruto Uzumaki was something they could only guess at should the host village learn of it.
"We've already weeded the more... outlandish details, ma'am," a jonin responded as he stood before her. He then held up a small stack of notes which were pinched between his curled fingers and thumb. "Though if you are curious, we have kept them, just in case."
"No. It's quite alright. I wouldn't have brought any of you along if I didn't trust your judgment."
"Thank you Ma'am."
She shuffled through the pages, her already small frown increasing by the increment as she read and reread the first among many reports to come so long as they were here.
"Orphan, lives alone..." she muttered as she flipped through some more. "Genin... Kakashi Hatake, team sensei..." She kept shuffling through them at an increasingly rapid pace. "Teammates: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno..."
She stopped and gave out a defeated sigh. "I suppose I should've expected as much from the first day, from civilians no less."
The jonin bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Lady Mizukage."
She waved off his apology. "In all honesty I would've been surprised if your team found anything more noteworthy on the first. At least we're not entirely ignorant of who it is we're observing."
"Yes ma'am," he agreed as he stood tall once more.
On the other side of the door someone knocked once. Then twice. Then struck the door once once again.
She nodded to the jonin who in turn started for the door. He opened it, allowed the head of another Mist shinobi to lean in and whisper into his ear, then closed it after the shinobi ducked back into the hallway. Quietly he turned around and returned to Mei Terumi.
"It appears both teams have passed the first exam, ma'am. They are currently en route to Training Area Forty-Four."
At the news she smiled. "Thank you," she offered just before stepping past him for the door, the man following shortly after.
"Though I'll doubt it'll be much of an issue, I'm going to speak with the Hokage to see if I can better observe our teams in action."
"Then with your leave we'll try to uncover what we can on this other 'Naruto,' my lady."
She hummed in acknowledgement as she opened the door. "Just try to not get caught."
"Yes ma'am."
