Oh dear – I can't believe I haven't updated in so long! I'm a bad author, please forgive me. Classes swallowed me whole in the weeks before Christmas, and I fear a repeat come February, when exams start. I have no excuse for Christmas though; there was simply no time for writing when I had to eat good food, drink lots of wine, and sleep until 1 p.m. My family takes holiday food and drink real seriously.

So … I did something I've never wanted to do: I did a pov change. Hope you don't mind. It seemed necessary and I think it turned out ok.

BTW: I noticed that many of you seem to think that this is already the second test. Actually the last chapter was sort of a preliminary - like they did it in Konoha. You remember the genjutsu?

There is a time limit.

Sora doesn't give two shits about the official one – if they need two hours for this crap then they don't deserve to become chuunin. He's pretty sure the examiner gave them so much time to give them a wrong sense of security. The truth is much closer to twenty minutes, which is about as long as Hisana can fool the guards outside. He knows the limits of his teammate's kekkei genkai very well. It's not the solution to every problem; currently it's only a useful tool wielded by an inexperienced little girl. All she can do for now is knock out the guards, and it's only a matter of time until one of them realizes that they're suddenly short a few men.

Haru's weight pulls at him as he crawls along the ceiling and he has to suppress a wince every few feet when his belt cuts into his skin in a particularly vicious way. He'd have preferred the other boy to do this part. Haru is better at genjutsu than him, and stealthier too. If one of the servants scurrying along the hallway were to look up … well, it would be pretty bad. But Sora is physically stronger, and there's no way his weedy teammate would be able to carry him in any capacity, much less upside-down.

Another servant's chakra signature comes his way. It's slower this time, though the steps don't sound any less urgent. It's a woman in a kimono and she's carrying a tablet with tea.

Aha. He has no idea what the hostage looks like, or anyone of Akihiko-dono's family, and there's no way to be sure for whom the tea is. But if he follows her, he'll at least find someone important. He crawls after the woman, careful not to make a sound while the teacups clink away below him.

She leads them towards a shoji door. He wants to curse – of course things can't be easy even once in his life. The door slides open and the servant girl daintily shuffles inside. Never has Sora ever wasted a thought on the mechanics of a shoji door. Most of the time he even forgets they exist – his family home, old and creaky, and most official buildings use more solid wooden doors. Now he kind of wonders if a class on architecture might not be useful for every ninja. An unmoving piece of bamboo connects the door to the ceiling, a not even knee high wall of paper; right now it might as well be a fifteen foot, solid stone wall. Maneuvering over it in the few seconds that the girl needs to open and close the door is pretty much impossible.

Annoyed, he shuffles closer, carefully poking a hole into the washi paper with his finger before pressing his eye to it.

Akihiko-dono is a fat elderly man dressed in flashy attire. Surrounded by his family like adoring fans he looks more like an empereor than a lowly noble. Like a villain out of a trashy samurai novel. But then he laughs and he sounds like the jolly old man that sells candy outside the old Uchiha district. His wife titters in response. She's a lovely lady, dressed in equally flashy clothes and her hair full of ornaments. There are two dark haired children, maybe five or six years old, who share their mother's dark hair. The only one out of place is a little red-headed girl.

Sora allows himself a petulant whine. A child. Great. Because he's so awesome with kids. His own siblings don't count – they fear the power he wields over their food, so they're easy to control. Also, this one is a girl. They cry. Often.

The sound of teacups being set rips him out of his thoughts. Fifteen minutes. It doesn't matter how to get the girl out – not yet at least. First he has to get her alone. But how? Fresh tea is being served; he doesn't think they're going to go to bed anytime soon. They could cause a commotion outside, hope to catch her in the confusion. But then Hisana-chan's efforts to get them inside undetected would have been in vain. This is a stealth operation; they need to be clever about it. He takes the Haru-Kunai from his belt and rams it into the ceiling with a thud.

"I'm all out of ideas," he admits. "Come on, help me out a little."

Haru emerges with minimal smoke effect and no noise at all. There's a moment of silent panic as he almost falls off the ceiling, only clinging on with his knees. Sora jerks him upright.

"I-I can find her room," Haru suggests, a little out of breath and eyes still wide with nerves. "If I make n-noise there – if I break something – maybe she'll be called away."

"What if you get the wrong room?"

12 more minutes – maybe less. He wishes he'd signed a summoning contract right about now. Some communication with the last member of their team would be appreciated.

"You know what," he decides, "screw stealthy. When she's gone they'll realize what happened and why. They just can't know that it's been Konoha doing the dirty work."

"So … we just blow something up and hope Hisana-chan understands?"

"Basically."

An explosion rocks the east side of the estate.

Hisana flinches as if struck. For a moment all she can do is stare, watch the guards on the ground shout and scramble for cover. What in all the world was that? An explosion tag, certainly; the blast was relatively small – for a ninja. For a civilian this might have been the biggest explosion they'll ever see outsight of war. She drops down from the tower and snatches one of the surprised guards to drag him into the bushes. He stares at her, mouth open as if to scream, but no sound comes out. Middle-aged, distinguished looking with his mustache. Perfekt. She knocks him out, careful to preserve her chakra.

"Henge."

The other men have by now gathered their wits.

"Go!" one of the yells. "Protect the Lord!"

Three of them hasten inside the building. Hisana follows the rest of them towards the bombsite.

It's the garden that has taken the worst of the blast. The trees are gone and and the earth is scorched, but only a few shingles have been knocked loose on the estate. A distraction. Of course, she reminds herself. The boys might be a little impulsive, but even they wouldn't have risked accidently blowing someone up. In a dramatic poof of smoke someone appears on the empty, half-splintered watchtower. It's a familiar figure, but it's not Haru.

A girl with a Kiri hitai-ate is staring down at them with a stony expression that strikes a chord with Hisana. The girl drops down in their midst, raising a cloud of dust and vanilla scent. That damn sopa, she thinks in hilarity.

"Kiri!" she yells in a generic male voice, hoping that nobody notices that her voice doesn't match her face. But adrenaline is on her side; the guard in charge raises his sword.

"Get her!"

Haru sweeps through them, easily downing two men, and grips Hisana by the scuff of her neck.

"Sora's inside. I got this," he tells her, before throwing her clear across the garden. She plays dead for a few precious seconds, listening to the footsteps of more men rushing past her. When they fade she jumps to her feet and bursts into the estate. A servant girl squawks and Hisana grabs her wrist.

"Akihiko-dono," she gasps at her, "is he safe? Is the family safe?"

"Yes, yes," the girl yelps, "they are in the saferoom!"

Hisana grips her ribs and affects a wince.

"Save yourself!" she tells the servant, who scurries off with a panicked look.

She follows Sora's chakra signature deeper into the estate. More servants hurry past her, but none of them seem overly frightened. Sora must still be hiding; an open fight would have had more of an effect on them. She rounds another corner, nearly running straight into two men, positioned left and right in front of a door. Somewhat smugly she realizes that Sora is already inside the room. Another Henge turns Hisana into the captain of the guard.

"Two more intruders in the north wing!" she snarls, stumbling towards them.

"Sir!"

One of them immediately runs towards her, trying to support her limping form. He's young, maybe too young to convince his comerades, but he'll have to do.

"Go!" she tells them. "I can still guard a damn door in my old age, but not going jumping after those young bucks anytime soon."

The men share a look and her heart nearly stops. "Go!" she urges and they run for it. As soon as they're out of earshot she scrapes together the dregs of her chakra for a last Henge into the young guard. Then she stumbles into the saferoom as if she'd just escaped certain death. Four men snap to attention, pointing yaris at her. Safely bracketed between their protectors and the wall cowers Akihiko-dono's family. He himself is nowhere in sight. Finally one of the guards recognizes her face.

"Boy!" he snaps. "What are you doing? Don't abandon your post!"

"Sir," she squawks, "please, it's not safe anymore! All men have been ordered to fight the intruder! She's on her way; we need to relocate!"

A fearful murmur runs through the room. Only one person is conspicuously not speaking. Hisana eyes the elderly guard right next to a little red-headed girl. In the small room Sora's chakra signature is almost overwhelming. It feels a little surreal that nobody else seems to notice. Finally someone helps the noble's wife to her feet.

"Let's go," the guard barks. "We need to move quickly then."

The woman hurriedly tucks her youngest child into her arm, his sister is foisted onto another guard. Before someone can volunteer Sora snatches up the little red-head. For a moment Hisana almost forgets to breath. Can they really be that lucky?

"Quick!" she urges and is brushed aside by one of the more senior guards.

"Don't think this will get you a promotion," he jeers. "Braver men than you are fighting outside. You're just the messenger. Couldn't they have sent some servant?"

She gives a helpless shrug and an insolent face for good measure. Then she deliberately flares her chakra. It's a distress signal. Any ninja in the vicinity would know in a matter of seconds where she is – luckily they're currently the only ones. Sora stares at her for a long moment and then joins in. Haru will come for them. She's not sure if he'll get what's going on, but right now he only needs to turn up.

They round a corner when something whistles past her ear. A kunai thunks into the wall and she only has a second to realize there's another explosive tag tied to it. She ducks away, bumping right into Sora and the girl. The explosion is almost laughably tiny. It's still enough to rip a hole into the wall and scatter debris everywhere. There are men yelling as Haru blasts a Futon into the mess, whirling up dust like a miniature tornado. Next to her Sora makes a break for it. She follows him outside, past the unconscious people littering the lawn, and up onto a watchtower.

"We made a mess," she states unhappily. "I'd thought we'd be cleaner about it. In and out, you know."

"No helping it," Sora says and, in a puff of smoke, releases the Henge. The girl on his arm sniffles.

"I want to go home," she blubbers.

"We're bringing you home," he says, trying to smile at her. "That's why we're here. Your kaa-chan and tou-chan want to see you again."

"No," the girl insists. "I want to go home. To Mei-dono and Akihiko-dono!"

They share a helpless look.

"Extraction time?" Sora suggests.

"Extraction time," she agrees. "You'll have to do it, I'm out of chakra. Give me the girl."

There's another small explosion of smoke and a butch shinobi stands in front of her, Kiri hitai-ate wrapped around his bulky biceps. He winks at her, expression entirely at odds with his harsh features. Her teammate jumps off the tower, dropping into the grass like a stone, and then shoots back into the estate like a bullet.

"It'll be fine, you know," she tells the girl, feeling compelled to at least try and comfort her. "You'll meet some nice people, see some nice places. And in a few years you can come back if you want."

The girl only sniffles. There's more yelling before the rest of her team storms back into the garden. Hisana ducks her head, hiding her own Konoha symbol against the girl's firey hair, as Akihiko-dono himself stumbles after them.

"You ok?"

She musters Haru, who only nods curtly. He's out of breath and a little scuffed up, but that seems to be all.

"All right; let's go."

They drop down from the tower once more, this time not into the grass, but onto the cold stone on the other side. Three of the great spot lights turn off one after another and the noise on the other side dies down immediately. In the sudden half-dark Hisana can already feel the fatigue set in while adrenaline is still making her limbs shake. It feels like a sickness; violent, cold shivers taking control of her. Next to her Sora's shoulders sag. He suddenly looks only half as tall anymore. Haru yawns.

There's the sound of wood creaking and the great gate opens to reveal Mei-dono, Akihiko-dono's lovely wife. She walks towards them with small, dainty steps and a mild smile.

"Caused some chaos, yes?" she says.

Hisana can feel her jaw drop. One last Henge is released and the examiner bends down to them. He takes in the little girl's slightly dusty clothes and tugs at her hair.

"But you have the girl – and she looks fine, yes. What do you say?" he addresses the red-head who is still clinging to Hisana's neck. The girl's watery pout is replaced by a bright smile and she gives a thumbs up. The examiner nods contemplatively.

"Passed. But a little more stealth would have been nice, yes. Someone still has to clean that up tonight."

When they return to their rooms everyone is already asleep. It must be around three or four in the morning; in a few short hours the sun would rise. All adrenaline is long gone by now and the brief surge of happiness has been completely replaced by a bone deep tiredness and the familiar mission-low. They trudge up the stairs in silence. For a moment Hisana envies her teammates, who stumble towards their own room, occasionally bumping into each other. She already knows what is still awaiting her.

True to her expectations, Kohaku-sensei is still awake. He is sitting cross-legged on his bed and there is a chair in front of him. Dirty, sweaty, and shivering she resigns herself to her fate.

"Tell me," Sensei says, "… about everything you did wrong today."

Anyone noticing what Kohaku-sensei is doing?