Yasu met her students in the morning, right after she signed them up.
"These tickets will allow you entry to the exam, so don't lose them," She held out three, one for each student. Susumu and Ayame snatched theirs quickly, but Yasu had to coax Jun to take hers.
Immediately after their sensei handed out their tickets to enter the exam, Susumu and Ayame wasted no time and hurried to the village entrance to scope out the foreign competition.
Perched on a tree branch, both watched as a steady stream of people entered the village gates.
"So, like…are all those people entered in the exams?" Susumu asked blinking in amazement.
"Yeah, there's quite a crowd," Ayame replied in a hushed tone, peeking out from behind some leaves. Within the last 15 minutes, three teams had already signed in at the gate.
Susumu gave a scoff and pulled down a branch to get a better look, "Psh, you scaredy cat, they don't look so tough."
"I just said there's a lot of them, you're the one that should be scared." Ayame countered.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Susumu asked narrowing his eyes at the other boy. Ayame arched an eyebrow, then waved his hand to gesture at the latest team to sign in, "Yeah, so? What about those guys?" Susumu asked looking down at them.
"Can't you sense their chakra?" Ayame asked, giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"…Sense…chakra? That's a thing?" Susumu responded in confusion.
"…How did you even graduate?"
"Are you calling me dumb?!"
"I'm not calling you intelligent—"
"Take that back!"
With a toothy grin, Ayame climbed higher up the tree, out of Susumu's reach, and playfully stuck out his tongue.
"You wanna go!? When I'm through with you, you're gonna wish you couldn't sense anything—" Susumu grabbed the blonde boy's hand and pulled him back down to the lower branches.
"OW! Why you—" Ayame retaliated and pounced on his teammate. The leaves rustled as they tussled, and the branches and sticks occasionally poked into their bodies until there was an unfortunate snap
"UWAH!" they tumbled out of the tree together when the branch holding their weight broke, making a spectacle in front of everyone.
"…" Looking up, they saw Jun standing over them, her arms crossed in silent disapproval.
"Did you see what he did to me?!" Ayame pointed out.
"Everyone saw that…" she said holding out both hands to them.
"Why are you here?" Susumu asked as she pulled them up. "Come to watch the genin arrive with us?"
"No," she turned around and walked off.
"Where are you going?" Ayame called out.
"A meeting,"
"Who're you gonna meet with?" Susumu asked curiously.
"This is a private matter," it didn't look like she'd give out any more information, so the topic was dropped.
"…What's with her?" Susumu frowned after Jun left.
Ayame gave a shrug, "I dunno...but look at that guy!" he said pointing to a group of nin who had just arrived. Ayame nudged his teammate with his elbow and ushered him to look back towards the gate. "I wonder what he looks like under the bandages."
It was now late afternoon as Susumu waited in his room; the day just wouldn't end fast enough. It felt like a waste to just stay inside with all that pent-up excitement. What better way to spend it than to train?
"Don't go anywhere," He whispered to the exam ticket on his bedside table, giving it an affectionate pat as he backed out of his room to leave.
Most finished training around this time, so he expected to find the grounds close to empty. As he thought, he was mostly alone. Once he came to a nice open area he placed his bag on the ground and began his warm-up. A few sit-ups and jumping jacks later, he heard panting sounds.
"...?" But he hadn't done anything strenuous yet. Where was that sound coming from?
He listened carefully and navigated through the copse toward someone else's practice area. Concealed behind the trunk of a tree, he observed another nin pant their way through a rigorous routine. Susumu inched closer to get a better look.
"Huh?" That was Jun.
"...Nnnhh," Suddenly she swayed, unable to keep her balance. Her hand came up to her head as she dropped to her knees, then weakly she toppled onto her side.
"O-Oi Jun?!" Susumu ran over. "Hey!" when she was unresponsive he lifted her up and carried her to a shady tree.
"Jun," he knelt in front of her. To wake her he gave her shoulder a gentle nudge.
"Wha—" Her head slowly rose and she opened her eyes.
"You fainted," Susumu explained, "Don't try to get up," he cautioned and eased her back down when she attempted to stand.
"...I'm fine," she insisted, trying once more to get up.
"No, you're not." This time she complied and leaned back. But another wave of dizziness made her cradle her head again.
"Useless..." she muttered under her breath.
He'd heard her use that word a lot; whenever he did something wrong, so he raised a brow. "I was just trying to help,"
"I wasn't talking about you," she grumbled as she reached into her bag.
"H-Hey!"
She was about to put a soldier pill in her mouth, but Susumu grabbed her hand. Jun looked up with a glare and raised her other arm.
"Nngh," he gave a grunt when he blocked her attack.
He met her gaze with confusion, and overpowered her, smacking the kunai out of her hand, and slamming her other hand against the tree, effectively knocking the pill away.
"…Let me go," She ordered, and he obliged.
"Please don't hurt yourself," she ignored the plea and pushed Susumu off as she stood up. Immediately she lost her balance, and he held her steady. "I'll take you home—"
"No—" she murmured, "I have to keep practicing,"
"So you can faint again? And I thought you were the smart one,"
"I have to," she argued. "I'm running out of time—" she tried to take a step, her legs had no strength and Susumu tightened his grip to make sure she didn't fall.
"…You sure?"
"…" She sighed in annoyance and caved to his offer. "Fine,"
Susumu crouched down and hauled her onto his back. "You can't walk right? So I'll just give you a lift," he took a cautious first step, gaining his balance. "Whoa, you're pretty heavy—I-I mean—"
"Don't finish that sentence,"
He gave a nervous chuckle and began walking. "…Jun?"
"What?"
"You can't use chakra can you?" he felt her exhale when she scoffed.
"Have you just noticed?"
He grumbled at the response, "No, but…"
"Why am I bothering to use chakra when it's obvious I can't?" she finished for him.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to,"
"Because it's necessary," she mumbled.
"If you're worried about not becoming a chuunin then—"
"That is the least of my concerns…"
He knew there was something more to all of this and wanted to press her for more information. Despite his curiosity, he was more worried about Jun. Had he not been here just now, how long would she have just laid there unconscious? Was this even the first time?
"…"
"Jun?" he wondered if maybe she'd fainted again, but her grip across his chest was still strong.
"…Without chakra, I'm useless."