A Lethal Weapon (Naruto) [ALW Series Book One]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The First Test

“Alright, brats, it’s time for the test to begin!” The voice of a man could be heard from the back of the classroom. Everyone turned to it to find a tall man with a bunch of gray uniformed chuunin standing beside him. “The name’s Ibiki Morino, and I’ll be the proctor of the first test,” he announced with an evil smirk. Hanako could notice that a lot of people standing around them trembled slightly and gulped at the proctor’s face. “To start, hand over your signed forms and we’ll give you a card with a number. That number will be your assigned seat for the exam,” he finished saying. Nobody moved. “Well, what are you waiting for? Get in line!” Without losing a moment, they all lined up to hand in the forms. “Once you’re all ready, I’ll begin explaining the rules,” Ibiki added.

Hanako was the last member from her team to exchange a form for a card. She noticed that Ibiki would keep looking at her curiously, and when she returned the glare, he would smirk and turn away. As expected, she was assigned a seat far away from her teammates. Takeshi was four seats in front of her, and Kazuki was completely at the other side of the classroom, away from them. There were three rows of desks, each desk long enough to fit three people. Kazuki was on the right row while Takeshi and Hanako were in the left row. Hanako also noticed that Itachi was sitting two seats behind her, in the middle row. He noticed her stare and looked back at her with a smile. Hanako looked away without doing anything, trying to keep the blush away from her cheeks. She could also feel a pair of eyes burning the back of her neck and she looked over her shoulder. Koharu was sitting right behind her, sending her a death glare. Hanako ignored her, and turned around.

“Careful,” she heard a voice mutter into her ear. Hanako looked around for its owner, and found Hyori walking past her to the last seat in her row. She looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Hyori just smirked and pointed towards the proctor in the front of the class. He was staring at the Uchiha silently, waiting for everyone to sit still in their places. Hanako narrowed her eyes at him. Ibiki only cleared his throat, calling everyone’s attention.

“Fine, now that we’re all ready I’ll explain the rules,” he said as he turned his back to everyone and wrote a big ten on the chalk board. “Each and every one of you will begin having a total of ten points. The test consists of ten questions, one point for each question, and it’s based on the reduction of those points. One wrong answer means one point less. That would mean that if anyone gets all ten questions right, he or she will be having ten points as a final score. If anyone misses three questions, then they will be having seven points as a final score. Success or failure depends on the total points the team gets as a whole. Besides that, the participants are not allowed, under any circumstance, to fight each other during the test unless allowed by the supervisors here.” He motioned to the chuunin behind him.

Hanako smirked slightly, and looked over her shoulder at the Genin behind her. “Sorry about that…” Koharu snarled back at her and Hanako chuckled before turning away.

“Breaking that rule would mean an immediate failure,” Ibiki raised his voice, his eyes glued to Hanako Uchiha, who looked back at him with a smirk plastered on her face. “And don’t even think about copying once you receive your test. If one of the supervisors busts you, you will be punished with the removal of two points from your final score, for every time. They won’t tell you if they bust you, so beware.” Ibiki smirked. “You could be left in zero without even realizing it and you’ll fail.” He chuckled, “If you’re busted five times, you and your teammates fail.”

Hanako could feel her muscles tense. Failing meant points would be taken away, but yet… The girl looked up at the man in front of the class. Class… it was like some lame test in the Academy, but harder. For once, he wasn’t looking at her. It was like he wanted them to copy; instead of failing them immediately, they would only take away points. They were giving them five chances at copying.

“Do we fail when we reach zero, then?” Hanako asked loudly, not even bothering to raise her hand as they were instructed back in school. “Or how much do we need to pass?”

Ibiki smirked. “Asking the important questions here, I see,” he commented. “Why would you ask that? Are you intending to put your minimum effort required to pass?” he raised an eyebrow.

Hanako sighed. “I was just asking a question.”

“I never said you could ask a question.”

“Can I ask a question, then, Ibiki-sensei?” Hanako inquired back, retreating into her seat. “I am very concerned about your answer.”

Ibiki smirked again. He could notice that everyone was looking intently at him, waiting for an explanation. “You pass as long as none of your teammates gets a zero, does that work for you?”

Hanako smiled. Did that mean she only had to answer one question? One question and she would be allowed out of there, successfully passing the test. Ibiki was right, she intended on putting her minimum effort into it. “Yes sir. Very much, thank you.”

“You have an hour to answer the test. Good luck,” he said in a final tone, turning away from the class. Every one turned the paper upside down. Hanako skidded her eyes from top to bottom, numbers from one to nine were written in line. But there was no ten. The Uchiha frowned.

“Excuse me,” another participant called before she did. “Sir, there are only nine questions here.” The girl turned her paper around and then looked at Ibiki with expectant eyes.

“In forty-five minutes I will deliver the final question,” Ibiki said. “Orally.” He finally walked towards his desk and sat down. “You may begin.”

Hanako looked around. All the chuunin supervisors were sitting in rows at both sides of the classroom, and each of them looked at the participants with keen eyes, waiting for them to make a movement. Hanako locked eyes with one of them, and he smirked. He then looked at boy beside her, and wrote something in his clipboard.

Hanako looked at her neighbor from the tip of her eye. When he noticed, he immediately looked away to his own his paper. He had been watching her test, even though it was still blank. Hanako chuckled and looked back at the chuunin, he was still smirking in her way. He was very observant, indeed. Copying in the old ways wouldn’t work at all, she would have to be creative if she intended to.

She focused on her paper and read the questions. They were extremely complicated for a Genin to answer. Hanako chuckled and rested over the table, closing her eyes. Just by staring at them, she could guess they weren’t meant to be answered. So, why would she waste her time in it?

Something sparkled behind her, and Hanako opened her eyes again. She decided to ignore it and closed her eyes once again. It sparkled again and Hanako could feel someone watching her. She couldn’t just brush it away, it felt like a tingling sensation that moved all over her back. Hanako sat up and opened her eyes. Was it one of the supervisors glaring at her for suddenly falling asleep? They shouldn’t even mind, right?

When she was sure none of the supervisors was looking at her, she turned to look over her shoulder. Her eyes immediately fell on Itachi, who was looking straight at her with the Sharingan.

Her eyes widened, and suddenly everyone was gone. There was no one in the classroom except for them. Itachi was writing something on a paper, then he crumpled it into a ball and threw it in her direction. Hanako caught it swiftly, silently wondering what was going on. “Open it,” he said casually, not caring if the supervisor heard him. Hanako closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The supervisors couldn’t listen to him because they weren’t there.

Hanako unwrinkled the paper and her eyes widened. Itachi had written all the answers of the test for her. When she looked back at where Itachi had been, she found an empty place. She was alone.

Hanako jerked —waking up in a second— and bit her tongue when almost all supervisors looked at her with intent eyes. No one else seemed to notice, except for the two boys sitting on either side of her. She was so close to falling asleep, and that had to happen. Was she dreaming about Itachi giving her the answers?

No. She wasn’t. Or else they wouldn’t be burnt into the back of her mind as they were. Hanako could close her eyes, and the answers would be there, easy for her to read. She started to write what she saw on her paper, when she heard graphite being forced repeatedly against the clipboards. Hanako looked at the supervisor she had seen previously, and he was looking at the boy beside her with the same smirk he had before. Hanako continued writing an answer, without prying her eyes from the supervisor. What was he looking at?

The chuunin grinned wider, and wrote again in his clipboard. Next thing, he took a kunai out of his pouch. Hanako widened her eyes as he swung his wrist in her direction. Hanako retreated until her back hit the back of the chair; the kunai flew past her and nailed in the paper of the boy beside her. The one the supervisor had been eyeing for a while.

The boy stood up and eyed the supervisor with questioning eyes. “What’s the meaning of this?!”

Hanako sighed relieved. It could have been her paper he was aiming at. He was definitely trying to scare her by throwing it at her; he knew she was going to move away. But what if she hadn’t moved on time? They were already treating them like chuunin, measuring how much they would endure it.

Hanako looked at the supervisor, he was still looking at the Genin with mocking eyes. “Number thirty, failed.” The boy widened his eyes and his jaw dropped.

“What?”

“I caught you copying from number twenty-nine a total of five times. I’ve reduced all ten points from you already, so there’s no reason for you to remain here. You and the rest of your team have failed, get out.” The boy clicked his tongue and walked out, following by his other two comrades.

The supervisor’s eyes then met Hanako’s and he smirked at her. “What are you looking at, number twenty-nine?” he asked. “You shouldn’t be letting others copy from your test.”

“You don’t reduce points from letting others copy from me, do you?” she snapped back, not controlling what came out of her mouth.

“No talking,” Ibiki glared at Hanako, and she retreated back to her test. She tried to focus on the answers in her head, but she still couldn’t understand what had happened. Unconsciously, she looked again at the chuunin. He was back at writing names in his clipboard. But he was still smirking. Hanako looked over shoulder, Koharu snapped her eyes back at her.

“What are you looking at?” she mouthed at her. Hanako looked away, and her eyes landed on Itachi. He was sitting quietly, resting his chin on his hand as he looked out the window, even if he was sitting in the middle row. His test lay forgotten on the desk in front of him, as if he had finished it a long time ago.

Feeling her stare on him, he looked at her. And he smiled, “You’re welcome,” he mouthed, and looked away back at the window.

Hanako looked back at her test and closed her eyes. She didn’t imagine it, Itachi did give her the answers, through Genjutsu most probably. But if she had been sleeping, she didn’t even look at him. Only before the test, but there was no possible way she could have been under the influence of an illusion during the entire explanation of the rules. She would have felt it.

It happened when she rested on the table and closed her eyes. That’s when she felt that sparkling sensation, it was his chakra entering her body and messing with her mind, burning the answers into her head. Hanako didn’t know what to do. She had the answers, and she wrote one of them in her paper, managing to get her neighbor expelled. But still she didn’t want Itachi’s answers to be on her exam. Even if the test was meant to copy, she couldn’t write answers that were given to her. If she had to copy, she would do it on her own. She didn’t need Itachi to do it for her.

Hanako bit her lip and frowned. Why did he do that? Did he realize he was helping someone from another team? Why was he doing that? She was so confused.

Hanako shook her head and tried to ignore every answer in her mind, but they were all correct. Would she be an i***t if she discarded every correct answer for ones that might be wrong?

* * *

Itachi observed the hill from across the window pane. He had already finished the exam and now he only had to wait until the proctor announced the time was up. His mind was still wrapped around the mission Hanako had given him the day before.

Itachi sat in the table with the girl. She was so focused in her manga book that she barely noticed his presence. “Can I sit with you?” Itachi asked nervously. “There are no more tables available…” The girl looked at him with curious eyes and smiled shyly.

“Uh…sure…” She then looked around, away from him, and blushed slightly. “You are…the leader’s son…Itachi-kun, right?” Itachi pressed his lips. Hanako had been right, the girl knew who he was, but he failed to recognize her.

Itachi looked back at Hanako. She was watching him keenly, still smiling. Itachi turned back to the girl, she had not turned to look at him. “Yes, I am,” he replied. “Who are you?”

The girl was stunned. “I am…I am no one important…” she looked at him with a shy smile. “I am just happy I got to meet you in person. They say you’re outstanding, Itachi-kun…” Itachi sighed. He didn’t like it when people praised him.

He sensed movement and Hanako was suddenly sitting beside him with a cute smile. She had dragged a chair and sat along with them in the table. Itachi had never seen her seem so amicable, but he knew Izumi talked about Hanako being a good person, why was she so cold at times then? Had it been because of her father’s death?

“Akame Ga Kill?” Hanako read the cover of the manga the girl was reading. “I’ve read it… my favorite character is Akame. I love how she can put away her feelings, she doesn’t let them intervene with her job. And her swordsmanship is amazing also. What’s yours?” she asked suddenly. Itachi looked at her with confusion, what was she doing?

Surprisingly, the girl smiled. “Leone, she’s just so fierce. I admire how brave she is, how she doesn’t stop to think twice about saving her friends.”

“You can be brave too.” Hanako smiled. “My name is Hanako, you are?”

“Mayumi…” she muttered lightly. “It’s nice to meet you, Hanako-san.”

“I agree. So, is Itachi here bothering you? I can give him a few lessons if you’d like.” Hanako smiled, putting her arm around the boy. “We girls ought to have each other’s backs.”

“No,” Mayumi laughed slightly. “He was just sitting here.” She closed the book and stood up. “Well, I have to go. My mother is probably expecting me now. I hope we meet again.” She bowed at them one last time before she turned around and left.

Hanako let go of Itachi, and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “So, what did you figure out about her?” she asked.

“Her name is Mayumi, she is about our age so she must be in the Academy. She doesn’t look like a shinobi though, she mustn’t be very good.”

“The Uchiha often force their children into becoming warriors, even those who don’t want to be.” Hanako looked at Itachi. “She is a shinobi, but she doesn’t want to be one. She is reading a manga about revolution. The protagonist joined an organization of assassins who seek to overthrow the empire. Mayumi wants to change the obligations of the Clan, she doesn’t want to be threatened into becoming something she is not. She might seem shy, but she is actually just keeping to herself.”

Itachi widened his eyes. “That’s why she wouldn’t tell me who she was, because I’m the leader’s son.”

“That’s correct. In your position, it’s hard to talk to people, but if you continue to avoid everyone, you are giving them reasons not to trust you.” Hanako sighed. “When you want to know something about someone, you don’t have to pay attention just to what they say. You also have to pay attention to what they don’t say. Their actions, what they’re holding in their hands, how they are holding it. All those small details say a lot about people.”

Itachi smiled, he was still looking at the window but from time to time he would sneak glances at Hanako. He was going to put into practice what she had told him, and he would gather as much information as he could about her.

* * *

Hanako rested her forehead on the test. “I don’t know what to do…” she muttered. She had been wasting her time deciding whether she should change her answers or not.

“I get you…” a boy at her side commented. Hanako looked at him from the tip of her eyes, careful not to be seen by the supervisors. He looked at her slightly and then back at his test. “I have answers one through five,” he said. “What do you have?”

“All of them.” She closed her eyes. “But I don’t want to write them down, because I didn’t do anything to get them…”

He looked at her strangely. “Okay… how about I use your six through nine, and you use my one through five? Or two through five, since you have number one answered already…” he looked at her for a moment, before writing scribbles at the top of his test.

“Isn’t it the same, not doing anything?”

“We’re bargaining,” he smirked. “It is a way of gathering information.”

Hanako opened her eyes and looked at him slightly. “I guess you could say that…” she scribbled the answers from six through nine and then moved her paper towards him. ‘They won’t reduce points if I give him my paper,’ she thought while looking intently at the chuunin. He was only smirking at her before looking around the class. He didn’t write anything on his clipboard. Hanako then pulled her neighbor’s test towards her, and scribbled once again the answers six through nine. “Ah, the magic of loop holes,” she commented silently while finishing the last answer. Meanwhile, the boy beside her wrote the answers from two to five on her test.

When they were both done, they switched tests again. Hanako observed the chuunin supervisors, none of them seemed to suspect a thing. Hanako felt a gaze on the back of her head, and she looked over her shoulder at Itachi. He was staring at her, not angry, but curious. Hanako just smirked and looked back to the front. She hoped that her teammates had managed to answer the test.

“Well, I guess it’s time for the last question,” Ibiki called, standing up from his desk. “But first, I will give you two options. You can choose whether or not you want to answer the last question.”

“WHAT?!” Everyone yelled loudly.

“If you choose not to answer, your score will be reduced to zero and you will fail along the rest of your team. But if you decide to answer it and you get it wrong…” He smirked. “You’ll fail and will not be allowed to apply for the Chuunin Exams, ever.”

Hanako flinched. At least one fourth of the room was already kicked out and now they had to choose whether or not they wanted to answer the last question. Being a Genin forever was totally unattractive, but they had to take the risk. It was just one question, it couldn’t be that difficult. ‘Come on guys,’ Hanako thought. ‘Don’t give up!’

“I’m out!” one of the participants stood up in a second and along him, many others walked out the classroom. After a couple of minutes, only half of the group, that originally came to apply, remained.

“Is that all?” Ibiki asked while eyeing one last time at all the present participants. “In that case…you all…” He narrowed his eyes. “FAIL.”

Hanako’s muscles all tensed up upon hearing it. They had failed?

People slowly stood up, and one by one left the room. Hanako didn’t move from her place, instead she clenched her hands into fists and trembled furiously. Everything they had done to get there, how hard they had worked themselves, only to be failed.

Hanako smacked her hand on the table, and stood up. “I refuse to accept that!” Hanako said loudly while looking at the proctor with challenging eyes. Everyone froze on their spots and turned to look at her as if she were crazy, but she didn’t mind. If they wanted to spend their entire lives as Genin, they could do it, but not her.

“Is that so?” Ibiki walked up to her, standing right in front of her table.

“That’s a stupid rule,” Hanako gritted her teeth.

Ibiki chuckled. “Hanako Uchiha…” he hissed slowly, making the girl frown. “Should I be surprised? …The famed troublemaker who graduated early from the Academy, of course you would be the first to protest.”

“You can’t just fail us like that!” Hanako’s words were loud enough to cause an echo in the classroom. Everything was silent for a moment, until the faint sound of Ibiki’s chuckling could be heard. Hanako’s eyes widened, was he laughing at her?

“That’s too bad for you.” He looked at her straight in the eyes. “This year, I make up the rules.” The smirk decorating his face made the Uchiha’s blood boil, but she just chuckled. She found the irony of the situation oddly comical.

“That’s fine by me,” she challenged. “You want me to play by your rules? Fine. I’ll play by your rules, but this game is not over.” Ibiki raised both his eyebrows in surprise. “All of us, sitting right here —in this classroom—, are here with a purpose.” Hanako narrowed her eyes. “You are just an obstacle, Ibiki-sensei. I know who you are. I know you t*****e people. I know you play with their minds until they become insane.” Hanako smiled. “I do just about the same, and I won’t stop until I find that tiny little detail that makes everything fall apart. I will move through your words until I find something I can use against you. I know you said at the beginning of the exam that fighting was not allowed, but if I have to beat you so that everyone passes the test, I will. Even if that means I fail.”

“All right then, Miss Uchiha.” Ibiki, smiling, walked away from her desk. “Thank you for your demonstration. You pass the first test, you may stay here.” Hanako stood aback.

“What?”

“Being a chuunin is all about leadership, being a guide to the rest of the team,” he said, looking at all the participants. “To be a leader, you have to be courageous. And you, Uchiha, have maybe a little bit too much courage.” He smirked, looking at her. Hanako scoffed, but she was smiling. “You have proved yourself to have the courage to continue, but how about the rest of you?” he looked at the other participants. “Will you follow her example? Are you sure you are ready to continue even if that means your death?”

“YES, WE ARE!” Ibiki smiled.

“Five minutes ago you all looked like scared little puppies with their tails stuck in between their legs. And now, with all that determination you can almost set this room on fire.”

“Don’t tempt me…” Hanako sat back down in her place.

“Alright,” Ibiki grinned widely. “Congratulations, all of you who stayed, you’re all officially approved.”

All the class elevated in a single chorus. “We did it! We did it!” Hanako smiled when she heard everyone yell in excitement. Hanako then noticed that Ibiki was approaching her.

“Hanako?” he asked, looking at her seriously. “Can I have a word with you?” Hanako looked at Kazuki who was yelling at Takeshi for leaving the exam blank.

“Sure,” she looked at the proctor. “What is it, sensei?”

Ibiki sighed. “You are different from all of them,” he said. “You seem to understand what it’s like, the real world. I’m sorry about your father.” Hanako looked down. “I’m not supposed to comment this, but I know what happened. Use that experience as a lesson, and never forget that sometimes these things happen and you can’t blame yourself.” Hanako nodded. “You will do well in these exams, do it for the ones you care about. Do it for yourself, and become a chuunin.” He patted her shoulder and turned away.

Hanako looked at his retreating figure until she felt someone behind her. “What did he want?” asked Itachi.

Hanako shrugged. “He was just wishing me good luck, I guess…” she turned to look at him. “Why did you give me your answers? I didn’t ask for them.”

“I thought you were in trouble, you seemed distressed after looking at the exam.”

Hanako scoffed. “How would you know that?”

“Because I was looking at you.” Hanako raised an eyebrow. “You told me, you have to pay attention to what people don’t say.”

“Did you know you’re creepy when you tell people you’re looking at them?” Itachi widened his eyes and looked away.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Hanako laughed.

“It’s okay, thank you,” she said. “Next time, though, don’t. I want to do it on my own. If I need your help, I’ll let you know.” Itachi looked at her.

Takeshi and Kazuki hurried towards Hanako. “We did it!” Takeshi threw his arms at the brunette, but she ducked just in time. Takeshi hit the ground, hard. “OW!”

Hanako rolled her eyes. “Should I say I owe this one to you?” Hyori approached the group, looking at the girl with a smile.

“Call us even after that beat up I gave you,” Hanako smiled back.

“Shut up,” Hyori laughed.

“It’s not the time to be celebrating. You may have passed the first test, but the exam isn’t over yet.” They were all surprised to hear a voice in the classroom, before a cloud of smoke appeared next to Ibiki. When the smoke faded, a black haired teenager smiled at everyone. Hanako immediately recognized him.

“Shisui?!”

He looked at her, and then back at the crowd. “Yes. My name is Shisui Uchiha and I’ll be the proctor for your second test. Tomorrow morning, I’ll let your Jounin tutor know the exact time and location you’ll have to meet me. Then I’ll explain what the test will be about. Congratulations for completing the first test.” He then turned to Ibiki. “Don’t tell me you were soft with them, Ibiki.” He smirked. “I was expecting less than the ones here, given your reputation and all.”

Ibiki shrugged. “That, or these brats are really something. However, the first test is officially finished, you’re dismissed.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Shisui announced. “And I expect you to be prepared for anything that I may have prepared for you.” He smiled evilly. “You really have no idea of what awaits you.” He then disappeared.

Hanako looked at her friends. “Make sure to sleep well tonight,” she said. “Knowing Shisui, this won’t be good.”

* * *

Hanako felt the cold wind collide against her back, at the same time it swayed her hair in random ways as it pleased. “We passed the first test,” she tried to say it with a little bit more of excitement, but —surprisingly— her voice came out blunt and void of any kind of emotion.

She was standing in the middle of the Third Training Ground, in front of the Memorial Stone. She just stood there —staring steadily at her father’s name engraved in it— telling him about what happened since he died.

“I’m sorry I haven’t visited.” Hanako took a deep breath. “I just have… too much going on in my mind.” There was no answer. It wasn’t like she was expecting one, though, stones didn’t talk.

Next to her father’s name, another one called her attention: Obito Uchiha. Hanako lifted her hand and reached for the stone, brushing her fingers over his engraved name. A frown made its way to her face. Why did that name sound so familiar? Was he someone she used to know?

“You seem troubled.” Hanako’s body tensed at the sudden voice. “Was he important to you?” he asked again. His voice was deep and calm, as if he wanted to let her know he meant no harm but at the same time he wasn’t someone she should mess with. Hanako turned her head sideways to look at him.

He was a young man, not much older than Shisui. He was wearing the Anbu uniform, —a silver armor covering his thorax and silver arm protectors, a tattoo on his right arm— but not the mask. Not like he needed one though, he already had a black tissue­­­­­­­ covering the lower half of his face. “Who are you?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. The man came closer until he stood right next to her; his eyes were glued to the stone and her hand lingering over a certain name.

“Did you know him?” he spoke again. Hanako pulled her hand back and looked at the ground. She didn’t say anything. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. Hanako looked at him.

“I came here for someone else,” she pursed her lips. The man’s eyes were slightly hidden under a lock of his silver hair covering his forehead. She frowned. “Are you okay?” He didn’t say anything. Instead, he reached his hand to the name her hand was previously on.

“You’re from the Uchiha, I can tell for the crest on your back.” He turned his head to look at the girl. “There aren’t many names from the Uchiha on the stone. We may be mourning for the same person.”

“Maybe…” Hanako’s eyes drifted back to the stone. “Or maybe not.” She closed them as she took in a deep breath. “The Uchiha tend to honor their deaths in a different manner than the rest of the Village does. The names of the Uchiha on the stone are there because someone not from the Uchiha thought that they should be there, because they were heroes to them.” Hanako as if she really knew what she was saying but, actually, she had no idea. Maybe that was what she hoped for. She reached her hand to Obito’s name, next to the man’s hand. “I’m here for my father, Yusuke Uchiha.” She looked at his hand. “And you’re here for the person whose name is next to his.”

“He was my best friend.” Hanako heard his tired voice once again. However, this time it was…different. Like he was alone, desolated; looking for someone he could open to. It seemed he had chosen Hanako to be that someone. “I always taunted him, chastised him about being late, told him that he would never be an elite like the rest of his clan because he didn’t act like it. I thought that I was always teaching him a lesson. But the truth is,” he paused for a second and took a deep breath. “He was actually the one who ended teaching the most important lesson to me.” Hanako didn’t know what to say, so she just remained silent for what felt like hours. He just stood there, staring blankly at Obito’s name without saying anything, without doing anything.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Hanako repeated the same words he said to her earlier. Maybe that’s what he wanted to hear, and maybe that’s why he approached her in the first place, so he wouldn’t feel like he was alone. He didn’t reply. At first, she thought that it was because he didn’t hear her, but she knew he heard her. And, somehow, she knew that he was thankful, although he didn’t show it.

“You’re a Genin, aren’t you?” Hanako only nodded as she pulled back her hand, her eyes drifted slowly over his figure. “Are you on the Chuunin Exams?” She nodded again. “Good.” He nodded back, before turning on his heels in a swift movement. “You know, they say the second test is always the hardest. Good luck.” And with that, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Hanako blinked a couple of times before turning her head back to the stone. She felt a smile tugging at her lips.

“Did you see that, Father?” she asked as she let out a muffled laugh. “All that talk and he didn’t even tell me his name.”

* * *

Hanako and her team stood in front of a large metallic fence, with some other Genin scattered around them. That, Kaito told them, was supposed to be the designated location for the second exam.

“So, this is the forty-fourth training ground…” Takeshi mumbled as sweat rolled down his temple.

“It seems…interesting,” Hanako replied. The fence had lots of gates, all numbered from one to forty-four. On the main entry, there was a large precaution sign painted in yellow, hinting them about the danger it held. There was a wooden post in which three chuunin seated comfortably, looking at them completely amused. Leaning against a nearby tree stood Shisui, who upon seeing them straightened himself.

“So, now that you’re all here…” He eyed everyone the same way Ibiki did with them during the first test. “It’s time to begin with the second stage,” he smirked evilly, making Hanako feel shivers run down her spine. “Welcome,” his grin widened, “to the Forest of Death.”