It took some time to explain exactly what the written test was about to Meiko. Someone who just stumbled through the dark throughout most of it and then just somehow, just barely, managed to luck out and come out with the right answer, even though what she actually thought she had done was give up. After the whole point of the test was explained the blacksmith seemed to catch up quite fast.
Mana really had a great deal of respect for her friend, the feeling of being completely oblivious of everything that's going on was a genuinely scary concept. Just sitting there for almost an entire hour and observing a test one had no understanding of and people all around you work their way through it must've been absolutely terrifying. So many people would've seen such a scenario in their absolute worst nightmares and yet Meiko managed to overcome that, through sheer luck, maybe, but still she did the right thing.
Then again, the magician was a little biased in her blazing adoration for Meiko's success that's been set ablaze in her chest. She was spared entire years of being stuck at the lowest grade and getting no closer to fulfilling her dream. Mana was already feeling ready to begin working her way up to trying and living up to her nindo, she no longer felt like a child nor like a child ninja. Even if everyone around her kept amazing her and making her feel like everyone's so much superior to her in so many ways, Mana still felt obliged to charge at her dream and reach out for it. She'd seen too many people suffer and die around her while she was struggling to become a strong enough ninja to change that.
"That's kinda lame though…" Meiko pouted as the three made their way and settled down on a bench with some chili snacks in hand. "I expected a bit more… Something, that's something rather than nothing." She scratched her blazing red hair that were beginning to grow a little longer and more feminine than the manner she had them in when Mana first met the blacksmith where the hairdo looked more tomboyish and under all the armor she wore Meiko could've easily been confused for a young man.
"If it was something – we'd all have failed." Kiyomi laughed it off still breathing full lungs of joy and failing to get over how lucky they all got. Even if the answers of the test had not yet returned, for some reason, none of the girls questioned the answer Mana gave them. To the magician it felt flattering and a bit frightening, Meiko tended to have utter and complete trust in Mana's calls and Kiyomi was so obsessed with her weird shaped friendship with the blacksmith that she just went along with it just to see Meiko do things in her own way and giggle at that.
"Not Mana… She would've gotten it right." Meiko suddenly got all dreamy and serious as she relaxed on the bench and just looked at the murky noon sky.
"We'd all have failed." Mana repeated Kiyomi's words seconding the blonde. "The Chuunin Exams are all about the team. It doesn't matter how smart one is, how strong one is, what techniques they know or what bloodline they come from, as long as the team fails to keep up with them and the standard of ninja that become chuunin – they're not passing."
"Hmmm… Your dango are chili flavoured, gimmie some!" Kiyomi yelled out before munching all over Meiko's arm nearly swallowing the blacksmith's entire fist with it. An impressive feat, having the redhead's physical strength and rather buff physique in mind.
"Goddamn it!" Meiko shouted out peeved over Kiyomi's affections over the blacksmith's chili dango.
"I thought you hated spicy food…" Mana wondered as her mind slowly began to float away from the written test and prepare for whatever may have still been to come. Even if she didn't want to feel overly confident, something told her that the Team Hokage had it in the bag.
"Yeah, but Meiko's hand tastes like sweet potato so it evens it all out!" the Yamanaka cheerily explained, still struggling to speak over the amount of food she stole from the blacksmith.
"Oh yeah? Here's more of it!" the powerhouse of the team began playfully bullying the Yamanaka as Mana turned her head away in shame. She wasn't really embarrassed for her team, frankly, she was beginning to grow a bit attached to the two goofballs. Meiko was just the kind of person that lightened people up, remembering how Kiyomi was before meeting the blacksmith it was impressive seeing the blonde open up and goof around a bit. She certainly had enough of a sad past and weight on her shoulders to have every reason to brood.
"Is that how Konoha's teams behave?" a chubby and tall young lady raised her eyebrow alerting the three that she and her two companions were standing behind them.
For a miniscule wink Mana had wondered if the three were just looking for a fight. They certainly looked like they could bring some, if needed. The chubby young lady in front was even larger and bulkier than Meiko, her attire was a mixture of the traditional Akimichi clan armour combined with some of her own personal and flashier plated protection. Her two companions were more casual looking with nothing but long dark grey cloaks that topped off with hoods that were hanging around their necks.
"Because if it is, I'd like to ask your team leader for some advice!" the chubby powerhouse then erupted into a fit of laughter. "I wish my own team was so friendly with each other, I just can't get all of us on the same level of fondness for each other." She smiled.
"That's because attachments to one's team are pointless." The young man walked out from being overshadowed by his massive teammate and began walking away from her. "The genin stage of my life is just about over and after it is I won't have to stomach your stupid attempts at leadership for any longer, Choroina." The young man indifferently waved his hand like he tried to stuff all of his disdain for the strong looking teammate into a single gesture.
"Awww, come on, Gunoi! Would it hurt you to work together just once? Can we, maybe, at least grab some food together?" she ran after her teammate.
The third genin who looked like he was well into his twenties just looked onto the scene that his two teammates were making before nodding at Team Hokage and running after them.
"We'd better not take as long as you usually take, Choroina, we need to be back here in an hour for the results, I'm sick of us being late everywhere!" the third one yelled at his two quarrelling teammates before the trio ran off.
The three girls just continued to stare at the three for a brief minute longer before looking at each other, still wondering what had happened there.
"Maybe we're being a bit loud…" Kiyomi wondered.
"Yeah, let's bring it way down, it attracts all sorts of attention." Meiko nodded in agreement.
Mana had noticed the crescent moon symbols on the headbands that the three wore. The tall and bulky girl – Choroina had one right on her forehead as well as having the village symbol carved out on her shoulders. The other three were much more subtle, the second, rather rude and narcissistic seeming fellow briefly flashed it tied around his arm as he dismissed his friend. The third one had it tied around his neck, protecting a much more sensitive area. It showed his calculation over tradition approach and some innovativeness. Those symbols must've been the Getsugakure ones, the Village Hidden under the Moon.
An hour didn't take too long to pass. After a long while of seeing people from different teams mix and mingle around, most of them just indifferently talking over to their teammates, some quite frustrated over the way that the written test went, finally the firm and strong shape of Chestnut Hanasaku gently made her way through the crowded rabble of genin.
"Hey, you three!" she winked at them, "Everything's alright? I heard the test was pretty rough this year…" her voice sounded more silky and cheerful than Mana was used to whenever the magician was in the same room or even the same training ground as her mentor.
"Sure, Mana kind of pulled my butt out, kind cucumber-cheeks as she is! Meiko just stumbled blindly the right way I guess…" Kiyomi reported in the usual happy manner that was slowly beginning to define her role in the team. The Yamanaka was a channel of sorts, a channel between the other girls and the sensei. Given that one of the girls didn't really feel like she deserved her place on the team and another was actually unofficially booted out of it and still must've scorned the woman a fair bit. Also a bridge between the simply joys of life and plenty of things that could've easily soured it. Both Mana and Meiko still had those bitter spoons of tar in the honey basket whereas Kiyomi either kept hers so deep down or simply learned to deal with it that her psychological strength inspired the other two.
"Oh? You seem pretty confident you got it right…" Hanasaku tried cheeking her team but she also held a remarkably proud composure and posture signalling that she may have known more than she initially let them know. Mana couldn't help but notice a couple of uneasy yet thankful glances her way. If she was any bolder in her assessment she'd think that Hanasaku may have felt bad about the way the magician was treated for some of the past week.
"Oh, we got it alright! It does make me wonder though… How did you pass this test though? You're not the sharpest tool in the shed, you know, sensei…" Kiyomi couldn't help but wonder and imagine her long time mentor in the same role as the three girls over two decades ago.
"I had a little smart-mouthed pup hide in my bosom and whisper me answers. The instructor got a bit suspicious but when I encouraged him to check my chest he chickened out…" Hanasaku smiled with her cheeks blushing a little.
While the other girls couldn't stop their bellies from the pain of their own laughter, Mana instead felt a bit overwhelmed by realizing that her own mentor was already capable of summoning ninja animals and had enough trust with them to ask one of them to hide under her clothes. The magician couldn't really even begin to imagine asking someone like Usuzoku to hide anywhere close to her. She hadn't even tried summoning any of the ninja rabbits nor did she know anyone except the nasty-mouthed bunny she met in the Forest of Death. Mana did find Hanasaku's story quite funny, regardless of what surprised her more in the pair of the two.
"So you cheated? I don't know what I expected honestly…" Kiyomi tried teasing the sensei who quickly changed the subject.
"Anyways, judging from the early results I got, you guys passed. Two of you didn't pick a syringe and just signed on top of the paper, Meiko didn't even do that so the commission kinda wondered what to do with it. It didn't express an actual desire to choose nothing like the other two did but there was no one else who filled nothing in so I just… asked them kindly… to realize it's Meiko's test and just pass it." The woman explained.
"So what's next?" Mana wondered.
"Not really sure. From what I've heard only a bit over thirty teams passed. There will definitely be an extra elimination test but it'll be something more… Physical. So far we've been given instructions to tell you guys to prepare and meet us near the western village gate in an hour. They said to get ready just like you'd get ready for a serious mission, don't get cocky yet." The woman encouraged her team and gestured for them to leave as she went into the office to straighten something out or fill out some paperwork that still needed to be done.
"Well, I guess that's official. We passed!" Kiyomi thrust her fist up in the sky in joy of passing the written test and, judging from the looks of it, already began planning what could've laid ahead.
Meiko just breathed out uneasily, like rolling a stone off her chest before beginning to hype herself up for the upcoming part of the exams. This was shaping out to be more on her alley and she hoped to be more help to the team than she was so far. Mana certainly hoped so, after all – she didn't want to see her friend sad or belittling herself anymore.
There wasn't much that Mana wanted to do back home. She just kind of checked her gear for the nth time and did some warm up exercises before wondering just what kind of test laid ahead. If over thirty teams remained the village could've held a three on three single round elimination exhibition, the fact that they suggested that they were treating this exam as more of an entertainment spectacle than anything else troubled the young kunoichi. Not that many people chose to observe any part of the exams but the finals so the choice to treat it so much like a cruel reality show was a bit baffling to the magician.
Seeing how the magician went into the written test fully prepared for a fight, as there was a strong possibility of the second exam following immediately after the first, she had little else to do for the remaining time so she just settled down to meditate. Sadly even that didn't really work out too well – there were just too many unclear fires in the vast blackness of her mind, like heated comets and little stars sparking and exploding only to reform again all around and the magician couldn't understand them at all.
With her meditational skills out of whack, Mana felt a bit uneasy. Was she just incapable to concentrate because of the stress that the exams brought? Maybe it was something more physical, some sort of a disease that her body tried to warn her about? No. It couldn't have been, Mana was incapable of even accessing the Ego stage anymore, at this point her meditational concentration ability was worse than even that of Meiko's and Mana barely even taught the blacksmith anything during the training of the two.
Worried over whatever that strange sign could've meant Mana picked up a small backpack and headed out to the western gate. She was beginning to relate to Meiko quite a bit right now. After all – the written test was something where Meiko felt like a fish out of water and with the upcoming physical test the magician felt almost the same. She was so much behind training with her peers, Meiko and Kiyomi trained with the Konoha Sannin for entire days on end whereas Mana had wasted so much time. Granted, she was training by herself but she didn't feel like she had made tremendous leaps in growth, just keeping herself in shape. Not regressing was not the same as moving forward.
With similar troubled thoughts the magician located her team in a greatly thinned crowd – just thirty two teams out of over hundred and fifty that came to take the written test. Plenty of the influx of ninja were still walking around the busy evening Konoha streets, wandering around to pass time until the finals. If they got eliminated so early, may as well pay for the tickets and see the entertainment of the finals.
"Hey! Wait a second, I know you!" a strong grip of an old woman locked around Mana's arm, the magician was surprised how her first instinctual yank didn't free her. The woman's grip may just have been stronger than Meiko's and Kouta's combined even though she didn't apply any pressure. Had she wanted it – Mana's entire arm would've been bone dust, hell, she could've yanked the whole thing out with a little more than a mean caprice.
"You're Konoha Sorceress, aren't you!? I've seen your show once!" the old lady laughed out erratically, geeking out over Mana which, frankly, was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable.
"Oh… I'm glad you are so enthusiastic about it…" Mana grabbed the slight sips of happiness of meeting a fan and surfaced them over her shock and fear of this encounter.
"Heck yeah! I was told by my manager to check you out, just to know what real entertainment is all about! Travelled all the way from Iwagakure two years ago to see you and I would've travelled twice that distance. You helped me elevate my own entertainment tenfold!" the woman kept on jumping around energetically before her teammates noticed. A much younger attractive young man with a guitar case on his back gently pulled the old lady off of Mana.
"Enough, Gyllfa-san, just let the waitress take your order before you ask for any more food on top of that…" he advised the old lady whom he held in high regard as he used a very respective tone and honorific after her name.
Mana's lips couldn't help but pout after she was confused for someone in the service staff.
"She's not a waitress, Trest, can't you see the Konoha headband on her waist? She's a ninja." A much more mature man with dark green hair and eyes equally as blue as those of the musician shinobi who offended Mana informed his friend butting into the conversation.
The blond musician ninja began apologizing excessively, Mana played it off for laughs. It didn't help the fact that the young man's words cut deeper than she should've let them, even if they weren't deliberate. It was just that they were sharp enough and delivered at the right enough moment to stab straight through Mana's lowered defences.
"You're an entertainer too?" Mana asked, while she did feel uneasy in this company, she did try to show her interest in the woman and the woman's hint at her secondary profession was really genuine.
"Yeah, I'm a professional wrestler back in Iwagakure. Our wrestling industry isn't anywhere near as developed and world famous as that of Kumogakure but we have one…" the woman explained before noticing Mana's lingering and saddened eyes.
"Anyways, I won't hold you here for too long, hopefully we get to chat under better circumstances soon. It's clear that this half-wit here can't see a real entertainer when he sees one, don't blame him, blame his bad musical ear." The old woman bit back at the teammate of hers. While Mana politely excused herself and rushed away from the Iwagakure team that had interrupted her regrouping with her own team she still felt something hurting and squirming deep inside. It was apparent that the damage was already done…
Right after Mana joined her team a familiar frail and glasses wearing frame stepped onto a small stage positioned right in front of the Forest of Death. It was a familiar to the magician short frame covered up by a slick silky blue dress with yellow flowery motifs and draconic symbols. She was supposedly one of the jounin that were present during Team Oak's attack on the Konoha's junkyard district, she had not really met the woman face to face back then but she had seen her face on files and had her described to her by Shimo and Sugemi whenever they recalled that night.
"Attention, all of you!" she demanded, her voice was authoritative and strict enough to warrant it when she requested attention. "We are now going to begin the secondary exam of the Chuunin Exams – the survival drill! My name is Hozuki Shibari, I am a Konoha jounin and I will oversee this part of the exams."
While the woman spoke, without a doubt, seriously the smiling and rather playful tone of her seemingly strict voice somehow made her look like even more of a peculiar personality than the previous examiner – Akina Ishi.