A Snail, a Cat and an Exam
The harsh bark of the tree branch I kneel on digs into my skin, sure to leave imprints that wouldn’t linger very long. Ruffling my hair, the wind whispers words in a language I don’t understand. It could be telling me the meaning of life, and I would never know. Not that I would want to. Information like that sounds like too much of a burden. Ick, why am I trying to sound philosophical? It's not working.
A snail crawls up the thick tree trunk to my right, dragging his swirly shell along with him.
I wonder if he would be faster without his little house? I guess he needs that though, huh? I ask no one, tracing the swirls of the snail's shell with my eyes.
The radio strapped to my neck crackles to life, the voice of my teammate, Masami, blaring in my earbud. With a wince, I turn the volume down as he begins to speak.
“Target has been spotted, it’s headed north-east, towards your position, Yuuya!” Masami shouts. “I’m giving chase now!” The air whooshing past him batters at the microphone, making his words hard to hear.
Our sensei starts speaking almost right as Masami’s microphone clicks off. “Good. Yuuya, be ready to head the target off from the front. Toki, I want you to come from the north. I’ll approach from the east. Understood?” Syuuto-sensei’s stern voice commands through the microphone.
“Affirmative, Syuuto-sensei.” Yuuya says, clicking off his microphone just a moment before he finished his sentence.
“Understood, sensei!” I confirm, pushing off of the tree branch.
The wind pushes back against me as I fly through the air, my hair flapping out behind me like a flag. Sounds and sights blur past me, and yet I've never felt more aware of my surroundings.
Landing heavily on the ground, I stop to listen.
This should be where Yuuya was stationed… I muse, looking around my surroundings. Was that tree always there?
Almost as if on cue, a loud yowling sounds in the distance. With a smile, I lean forward and run. I wasn’t too far off.
-----------------------------------------
A scene of chaos unfolded ahead of me, barely visible through the dense shrubbery of the woods.
“Get this stupid thing off of me!” Masami yells, holding a small, white, screeching and clawing cat up above where he lay on the ground.
“It’s just a cat, Masami, please be gentle!” Yuuya insists worriedly.
“Gentle? Gentle?!” Masami exclaims. “Look at- AH- this thing!”
I skid to a stop in front of them, almost tripping over my own feet in my haste.
“Here, give her to me!” I say, holding my arms out in front of the difficult feline.
He quickly shoves the fluffy cat into my hands. I hold her firmly but carefully out in front of me, trying not to get swiped by her sharp claws. This is the fifth time we’ve had to recover her, and it doesn’t seem like she's grown to like us very much.
“Where’ve you been for, like, the last forty-five minutes?” Masami complains, dusting himself off as he stands.
“You’re so dramatic, I didn’t take nearly that long!” I protest with a grunt, looking down at my noticeably shorter teammate. The cat calms the slightest bit in my hold, but I still struggle to hold her.
“Alright, that’s enough.” Syuuto-sensei sighs, landing on the ground beside Yuuya with a soft thud. “Hand over her to me, Toki.”
Passing the cat over, I glance around at the small clearing we stand in, my mind wandering. Trees surrounded us on every side, looming over us like giants. I wonder how many years these trees have stood here? How many more will they stay? Ancient and wise, the trees of Konohagakure have been guarding its inhabitants- both human and not- for many years. Like that little snail. I wonder if he has a name, a family? Or, she, I guess. They?
I snap back to the present. The cat, as usual, has quieted down in the stiff hold of Syuuto-sensei’s arms. There’s something about him that cats seem to like, but I’m not sure what it is. He’s always so stern and cold, all business.
“Let’s head back now. Stay in formation. In a higher ranking mission, you would keep your guard up, even after the mission has been accomplished. It isn’t over until we’ve returned to the village.” Syuuto-sensei speaks gruffly, repeating the same words we’ve heard from him countless times before.
“Like we’ve never heard that before.” Masamis mutters, loud enough for all of us to hear.
Sensei simply sighs, taking one hand from the cat to motion us to follow.
-----------------------------------------
As usual, we arrive in the village with little incident. The cat(Ayaka, I think her name is?) is handed off to her owner, of whom we weren’t unfamiliar with. I’m not too sure of her skills as a pet owner, but as Syuuto-sensei says, it’s not our business to pry, only to complete the missions we are given diligently. I suppose he’s right. I mean, what do I know anyways? He’s an experienced jonin, I’m still merely a genin.
-----------------------------------------
We stand outside of the client’s stuffy little apartment, the sun turning a honey-yellow colour. The client had insisted that we stay for tea, as she usually does, which always eats up a few hours and erases the chance for any extra training afterwards. Despite that, Syuuto-sensei is always polite and even kind to her, in his own way.
“I’ve got to go fill out today’s report, but first…” Syuuto-sensei hands a few sheets of paper over to us. “One for each of you.”
I look down as he places a sheet in my hands. It reads; Chunin Exams Application Form.
My heart skips a beat. “You really mean it sensei? We’re ready? We get to participate this time” I exclaim excitedly, crumpling the paper slightly in my tight grip.
“Of course we are.” Masami smirks, throwing an arm up over Yuuya’s shoulders. “I mean, how many missions have we been on already? And even got that one A-rank not long ago. We’re like, overprepared. Right, Yuuya?” He grins, glancing up at our fair-haired teammate.
Yuuya stiffens at the sudden contact. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, overprepared, that’s right. That is I. Us.” He stammers.
Masami laughs, but I swear that I can almost see a hint of a frown in his eyes as he slides his arm off of Yuuya’s shoulders.
“”Overprepared” isn’t quite the word I’d use, but yes, you are plenty more experienced than you were at the time of the last exams.” Syuuto-sensei nods tersely. “But don’t go getting full of yourselves, this will be difficult. Many of the participants will still be older and more experienced than the three of you, so I expect you to keep your guards up.”
“Don’t worry sensei, we always do.” I grin, clutching the crumpled paper tighter. “They won’t be ready for us.”
Syuuto-sensei looks like he’s about to say something, but he just sighs again. “Sure. I expect to see the three of you bright and early for training tomorrow. The forms are due by the end of the week.”
With that, he turns on his heel and walks off, leaving us with nothing but our thoughts and the papers in our hands.
-----------------------------------------
“I’m ho-ooome!” I call, placing my sandals in the genkan, facing the wall. The form lays face down beside me.
“Tokiiii!” A young girl’s voice cries gleefully, followed by the pitter-pattering of little feet running across a wooden floor.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” I tease, turning and catching her in my arms as she runs at me.
“Mum let me stay up late so I could say good night to you!” Kadou smiles brightly, hugging me tight. “So goodnight!”
“Aw, goodnight, midget.” I bury my face in her honey coloured locs for a brief moment, before she runs off again. She can be a big pain sometimes, but I’ve missed her. With missions and training, I haven’t seen her as much as I might’ve liked too. I stand, watching her almost run into a wall as she goes to get ready for bed.
“Your sensei has been keeping you pretty late recently, hasn’t he?” My Ma says critically as she approaches from the kitchen, from which I could smell a savoury aroma.
“Well, yeah, but Ma, guess what?” Beaming, I hold my form out to her.
Ma wears a pale blue apron splattered in stains that come with years of use, on which she wipes her hands before taking the paper from my hand.
“The chunin exams? So soon?” Ma raises a brow, her eyes scanning over the crumpled sheet. She glances at me. “Your sensei cleared this?”
“Uh… yeah, he said we’re ready.” I falter.
“Well… alright then, if he approves. I’m just, surprised, is all. Neither me nor your father took it until well into our teenage years.” She smiles, although it looks a little strained to me. “I’m sure you’ll do great, juts, make sure you’re careful, alright?”
“What’s going on here ladies, hm?” My Da asks, limping over, his cane thumping against the wooden floor duly.
Ma hands him the form, saying, “She’s taking the chunin exams, Toguro.”
His face lights up as he takes the form in his free hand. “Wow, already? That’s my girl, I’ll bet you’ll surpass even your mother and I. We’ve got a future jonin on our hands, eh?” Da grins, winking. He hands the form back to me. “That’s great, Toki, I’m proud of you.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Da, I haven’t even taken it yet!” I protest, unable to keep a smile off my face. Although I know the chunin exams are tough and must be taken seriously, I can’t help but be excited. Syuuto-sensei thinks we’re ready!
Da opens his mouth to speak once more, but Ma interjects before a sound even escapes from his lips.
“That’s enough talking now. I’ve been keeping your food warm for you, Toki, now come sit and eat.” She says, sauntering over to the table and setting a plate of nikujaga down in front of my usual spot.
After I sit and scarf down the meal of pork, noodles and vegetables, I excuse myself and practically run to my room, scrambling around for something to write with.
Name: Gushiken Toki
-----------------------------------------
Mr. and Mrs. Gushiken stand on opposite sides of the room, struggling to keep their voices down during a heated argument between the two of them. Meika, Mrs. Gushiken,
“This is ridiculous! Ever since the third war, they’ve been taking it earlier and earlier! These are children, children who are being made to fight against and even kill each other just for a chance to rank up!” Meika rants angrily, her voice little more than a whisper but no less intense.
Toguro breathes deeply, calming himself down. “I know, I know, but things have changed since we were shinobi, Meika, the exams have changed and so have the shinobi taking them. Besides, it’s not like we have any say, so we might as well do all we can to support her, Meika-” Toguro protests, but he’s cut off by another angry outburst from Meika, her voice rising in volume.
“Toguro, it’s more than that, and you know it! They’re even letting first year genin take it! All they care about is how many more soldiers are added to their army. That fucked up old man doesn’t give a shit about the village, nor the people inside it. We need to talk Toki out of this Toguro, I don’t want to lose a daughter to these stupid exams!” She retorts desperately, her bottom lip quivering as her eyes flash with anger. “I will not!”
“Meika, please, you’re going to wake the children.” Toguro chides, shifting his weight on his cane. “Syuuto is a good man and an even better sensei, he wouldn’t recommend her team for the exams if he didn’t truly believe that they were ready. Now, please,” his voice turns firm. “Let’s just go to bed now, alright dear?”
Meika hesitates, clenching her jaw. She still has more to say, but she also knows that her husband won’t budge about it. With a nod and a sigh, she walks silently to their shared room, her worry for her young daughter still holding a dominant presence in her mind.
Images of her daughter’s bloodied, beaten and mangled body flash through her mind as she lays opposite of her oblivious husband, who sleeps soundly at her side.