Minato put their drill on hold to pull Rin aside, and Kyoko took the opportunity to flop back on the ground and gasp for air. Obito appeared above her, grinning.

"Hey, Kyo," he sang. "Can't keep up with your big brother?"

She grunted in lieu of the exhausting task of stringing words together. When he laughed, she swatted at him. Obito jumped back just in time, but his grin got bigger. Then he disappeared and came back moments later with a water bottle in hand.

"Thank you," she said, sitting up with a groan.

"Sure," he said, dropping down next to her. He didn't say anything as she sipped. After a minute, he said, "You're good."

She glanced at him, frowning. "Thank you?"

He blew out a breath hard. "I mean, I knew you were good. But it's one thing to know that, and it's another to see it. Like during the mission. You're gonna be a good chunin."

Her chest was warm, and she beamed up at him. "Thanks, Niichan."

He smiled back. Then it grew cocky. "Maybe not as good of a chunin as me, but—"

"We're going to call it for today," Minato announced. "Good job, everyone. Get some good rest. We'll meet at the Tower tomorrow morning instead for a D-rank. Just as a team-building exercise."

Obito groaned, but it was Kakashi who verbalized his protest. "A D-rank? Really?" he asked, nose clearly scrunched up under his mask.

"It won't be that bad," Kyoko said, grabbing her brother's shoulder to leverage herself to her feet. "Thank you, Minato-sensei."

He smiled. "You did well, Kyoko-chan. And I'll let you know when Kushina's back so you can schedule your next fuuinjutsu session. Although, in the meantime . . . ." He paused. "I might portion out a bit of time for that while everyone else is running their regular drills, if you'd like. Fuuinjutsu is easy to loose a grip on if you aren't working on it every day."

She straightened, catching a breath. "If you don't mind, I would—" She tried to dial back her enthusiasm so it wouldn't be too overwhelming, but this was the Yondaime offering to teach her one of the things he was most known for. It felt a lot like when Kakashi had offered to teach her chidori; she hadn't been able to do it—raiton was not something she'd ever gotten a hold on—but just the fact that it was offered made her jittery inside. "I would appreciate it," she managed.

He nodded. "Alright. I'll work up a plan, then." He gave them all a wave before disappearing.

Obito finally hauled himself to his feet and started gathering up his things. Kakashi lingered, giving Rin a quiet farewell as she headed off. Kyoko shifted from one foot to the other, glancing nervously between Kakashi and her brother. The former seemed unfazed, patiently waiting with his tanto unharnessed from the spars and held in one hand.

The latter turned towards her, things all packed away, and grinned. "Alright! Let's go!" He wheeled around to start heading back home. After a few steps, he paused and turned to stare at how she hadn't moved. His eyes narrowed. "No way," he said flatly.

"Niichan—"

"You two are going to train more? Minato-sensei just put us through hell!"

"It's wasn't that bad," Kakashi said, sounding miffed.

Obito scoffed. "Yeah, sure. See you in the morning, Kyo-chan." He started off.

Kyoko glanced towards Kakashi. "He's right, though. I don't know that I'll be up for much sparring. Shisho's strength training has me sore all on its own."

He shrugged. "That's fine." He looked to the side, scratching his arm. "I wanted help, actually."

She racked her brain for what he could possibly need help with. She was already there whenever he was working on rasengan, and he didn't have any injuries that she needed to address. "Okay," she said slowly. "What with?" It was as she asked the question that she saw the approaching blur. Wanting to give Kakashi some warning but also excited to see her friend, she called, "Ohayo, Gai-kun!"

"Ohayo, Kyoko-chan, my rival," Gai greeted them, as upbeat as ever. "Good! You haven't left yet."

"Hi, Gai," Kakashi said cautiously. "I'm not going to do a challenge. Not right now."

"Oh, I'm not here for a challenge. Unless you want one!"

"No!" Kakashi's voice rose in panic. "I just said— If you aren't here for a challenge, why were you looking for us?"

"We heard Kyoko-chan is replacing you for the Exams, and the others haven't met her. They want to know who we're going up against."

"We?" she asked. A knot was tying itself in her chest. She had a solid idea of what he meant.

"Yes." Gai turned, peering back the way he'd come. "My team shouldn't be too far behind. They wanted to meet you."

"Oh."

Kakashi glanced at her and shrugged. "Genma and Ebisu aren't too bad. As long as Gai isn't making us run laps."

"You made it!"

Choza laughed and lifted hand to wave to them. "You didn't need to run ahead, Gai-kun. Kakashi-kun, it's good to see you again."

"Choza-sama," Kakashi greeted, bowing his head.

When Kyoko was thirteen, she'd run a covert operation along the Iwa border. It had been a rare occasion where she'd been separated from her ANBU team and placed elsewhere for a mission. Choza had been the leader, and watching him fight had taught her to be scared of Akimichi. With that in mind, she bowed and kept her eyes down. "Choza-sama."

"Kyoko-chan. I've heard a lot about you. Anyone that willingly tries to match Gai's challenges is . . . ." He trailed off instead of finishing that statement, shaking his head with a smile.

Gai skipped closer, throwing one arm around Kakashi and the other around Kyoko. "Come meet my teammates. Ebisu! Genma!"

Kyoko thought she was about to finally start crying by the time Kakashi announced, "We have to go."

Even with that, it was still a good five minutes before they managed to separate themselves from Gai and his team and shunshin away. It was when they landed that she took a breath again. "Thanks."

"Uh-huh. Do you not like them?"

"I like them," she defended. Ebisu had never really been someone she'd talked to, but Genma had once saved her life back when she'd been a chunin and he'd been her lead. They fell into step together, and she squared her shoulders. "Sometimes I have problems being around people," she hedged.

He nodded and then pointed to the right as they approached the gates. "This way."

She blinked and moved to follow him. "Where are we going?" It wasn't the right direction for the Hatake Estate.

He glanced at her before jerking his stare back to where they were heading and lifting his chin. "Last time, I had someone with me. I was told it's good to have someone to back me up on whether it's the right pick." He hunched his shoulders before seeming to intentionally square them. "I told the Inuzuka I'd be there today. They have a litter that's old enough for pairing."

Kyoko had been fifteen when Kakashi had asked her to come with him on the trip to the Inuzuka that had ultimately resulted in him bringing Bisuke home. That was the first and only time she'd done that with him, and he'd said exactly what she'd just heard: someone told him that it was good to have another person there. "Okay," she said, figuring agreement would be more supportive than asking more questions.

She'd been tempted to go straight to her room, but Kagami had tea ready, and he'd been watching her a lot more ever since he'd learned about the Exams. So instead, she sat at the table and took the cup he'd poured for her. "Thank you." She eyed him as she drank. He finally looked like he was sleeping again. He also looked like he might want to talk about her training, so she decided to head that off. "Kakashi took me with him to pick his new ninken."

Kagami paused in refilling his own cup. "His ninken?" he asked, both eyebrows going up.

She hummed and nodded, sipping at her tea. "His name is Guruko."

"Oh? I'm glad he asked you to do that. Is Kakashi attending the D-rank tomorrow along with the rest of you?"

His attempt shifting the conversation was so obvious that she had to bite back a sigh. "He is. He's planning to bring Guruko with him to start his training. He was telling me about how that works since our clan doesn't have any summons that typically require training."

The redirect gave Kagami pause. He smiled and picked up his tea. "Tell me about Guruko."