48 Le Beninging

Arriving at Kiri with the sun hanging low in the sky, having taken a boat to actually reach the island, we approach the gate guard, Jiraiya taking point greets the guard with his typical jovial attitude.

"Hello! We are here form Konoha for the chunin exams."

The guard looks at us with amusement and malice that he doesn't even try to hide but before he can even say anything he is interupted by someone else.

"Oi! You lot from Konoha, eh? Follow me and make it snappy, I ain't got all fuckin' day"

The guy who speaks is a fairly normal looking dude with black hair and a strong build, maybe twenty years old, oh and he has a giant fuck off hammer axe combination /thing/ that is just baffling to look at.

We are all supposed to be ninja right? Why does he have a weapon that looks like it would be fitting in the hands of a fantasy ogre?

Whatever, we all follow him and do our best to ignore the hostile glares he gives us every few seconds.

Also, I know this place is called the village hidden in the mist, but isnt this a little too misty? As we walk it's almost like the mist is getting thicker and thicker and I honestly don't know if my mind is playing tricks on me or if they're doing this on purpose just to be dicks. Though I would bet on the latter.

The buildings are all somewhat round or dome shaped, I wonder if that is because they want the rain to lide down easily or they just wanted phallic buildings, honestly it could be either or, the buildings are also very colourful, probably to help visability with the mist, it's also not really what you would expect from the 'bloody mist', I was expecting dark gothic buildings with sharp edges and spikes you could easily mount heads on but I'm no architect.

After a short while we are led to a three story inn that looks like Gaara's sand bottle but bigger, and given a set of rooms with instructions to basically not leave the building until someone comes to get us for the exams. They aren't a very hospitable bunch are they?

Akira leads us to our room since it's late and we all get ready for bed, Fumi using the restroom to change into sleepware while me and Kaito just change inside the room.

Now, I know that we are being watched, and you might think it would be best to do any sneaking around on the second day, but really I highly doubt that our security is going to weaken at all while we are here, besides, they will be focusing on the Jonin, no the Genin, that /is/ kind of the point after all, and as an added bonus that I am unsure if it was planned or not, they will no doubt put even more focus on watching Jiraiya of the Sannin than any of the others.

With all of that in mind, I head into the restroom after Fumi and when I close the door, I activate a camoflage Jutsu that the info guys taught me, it's nothing perfect, in fact it's not very good at all, but it will pass a brief glance, you can only see me if you're actually looking at me with it, it's more like blending than camoflage really, honestly I felt a bit miffed that it's only now that I'm learning it, but ah well, no point in complaining.

Aparently they assumed I already knew it and I am not sure if it is or not, but I'm taking that as a compliment.

After that I prepare myself for a moment, and then activate the shadow clone Jutsu whilst silencing my chakra at the same time, hopefully whatever sensors they have watching us will be fooled, otherwise I'm probably dead.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨

My clone starts running some water while I quickly change clothes to an indistinct dark outfit that doesn't have ties to any nation and jump up to stick myself to the ceiling, then my clone leaves the room while I wait till everyone is in bed and sleeping before dropping back down and in a quick shunshin I am outside clinging to the shadows of the building and god damn is it cold!

I was using a little fire chakra to keep myself warm before so I didn't realise, but I can't use so much chakra whilst I'm trying to be sneaky so I just have to deal with the cold humidity that is Kirigakure.

Now, today I will just be running around, getting the lay of the land properly, as I do so I notice that 𝘺𝘦𝘴 the mist most definitely is thicker around where we are than anywhere else, still, nothing happens and I return to the inn unharmed, once again using a quick shunshin to get back in through the small window in our room.

Once I am inside and sticking to the ceiling my clone that was pretending to sleep notices me, as he had been staring at a single spot all night waiting for me to return and sit there, then my clone groans a little and rubs his eyes before heading to the restroom, letting me sneak in as he opens the door and closes it behind us, then, I dispel my clone whilst deactivating my stealth at the same time, then I tear my damp, cold clothes off and change into my sleepware then pretend to be tired as if I'd just woken, used and flushed the toilet, not forgetting to wash my hands because it's important, then I go back to bed hoping to get at least a few hours of sleep.

The next day not much happened, Akira looked a little suspicious of me but like he was also unsure, but he didn't say anything and quickly went back to normal.

There wasn't really much to do for the day seeing as we aren't allowed out of the inn so we mostly just lazed around and talked until it was time for bed, this time I am actually going to scout out the Mizukage's tower.

Leaving at night the same way as last time, I head to the tower in a curve rather than a straight line but once I'm a few blocks away I have to stop getting closer as I notice patrols, doing a quick loop I am glad I spent the time to improve my chakra sensing so I don't have to get too close to the patrols, when I get back to where I started I stop and prepare for a long, cold night as I spend the next few hours memorising their patrols.

By the time I make it back to the inn I am shivering and feeling like I'm one step away from suffering hypothermia.

My fingers are so numb it's difficult to stay stuck to the ceiling as my clone goes to the restroom once again, letting me dispel him and release my chakra. It is with incredible difficulty that I slowly make an attempt at stopping my shivering long enough to get my arm out of the damn sleeve that seems to be frozen stuck to my skin until I barely make out the sound of the door opening over my own teeth clattering together.

Looking through the slightly open door is Akira.

Ah.

He just sighs and enters and starts silently helping me out of my clothes, normally I would protest but I am so damn cold my fingers feel like they will fall off and I don't know if you've ever jumped in a pool wearing an outfit that covers all of your skin but it is not an easy thing to get off, doubly so when said outfit is then frozen to your skin.

When I'm finally out of my outfit, shaking, I open a storage scroll and take out my sleepware, accepting Akira's help in putting it on because I can't keep my arms straight and it's only now that I see my hands actually are blue in the fingers.

After all of that Akira leaves, still without saying so much as a word and I try to actually use the restroom. It is really cold. Done with that, I take a moment to gather myself and all of my acting skills to make the walk to my bed without shivering and with a henge over my hands to look normal.

When I get under my covers I start to circulate some fire chakra as my shivering slowly subsides, even then I think I only got a couple hours of sleep.

The chunin exams start today, and I am already exhausted, not that I can show that as I happily chat away with Minato.

"-and I was like, who needs fancy Jutsu? just come over here and I'll beat you up with my fists! hahaha"

Minato laughs at my true story that I made up on the spot, probably more amused at the sillyness than what was supposed to be the punchline. Hah! Pun!

Anyway, the guy from before, with the giant axe that makes me think he's overcompensating for something, is now leading us to the first test apparently, we approach a big building, just a circular as the rest and as we are all about to entre, Axe Guy puts his arm in front of Jiraiya, who was taking point.

"The test is just for the kiddies, Jonin come with me, or don't your choice but I was told to cut down anyone who resists, that said, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺."

After a tense moment Jiraiya smiles a fake smile.

"Of course, of course. Well then, lead the way."

Axe Guy honestly seems a little dissapointed that this didn't turn into a fight, but dutifully leads our sensei's away as we head into the bulding.

Walking through the cold blue corridor we meet a Kiri-nin who sneers at us before pointing in a direction, following which we enter a large room designed like an auditorium, in the centre is a number of seats and desks but there is plenty of room around those desks and in that space stand the other participants, either leaning against the wall or just standing in small groups.

Minato and his squad, as the students of Jiraiya, are our unofficial leaders and so we follow them to an empty part of the room, the group next to us I notice all wear Kiri Hitai-ate.

As much as I really, really want to start chatting with the Kiri-nin because I don't doubt it would be a very fun conversation, I refrain, my job here is to avoid standing out, I don't want anyone to even give me so much as a second thought.

So everyone keeps to themselves or their little groups, us twelve included.

I don't notice anybody interesting from any village other than Kiri, which is understandable, I doubt any clans would let their kids come to the Bloody Mist after all and as much as me and Minato are talented, politics don't really care about that.

Not that I'm complaining, other than the cold, I'm having fun, this whole thing is exciting, we are literally in a village where just about everyone would kill us with a smile on their face.

Before I can contemplate more on the situation I am in, our attention is drawn to a Kiri-nin walking into the room with a stack of papers that he then starts putting on the desks.

Looks like the games have begun.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

I hate not having internet, I'm going to be so far behind all of my youtube subscriptions lol, also I feel like the quality of my recent chapters is dropping and I'm sorry if thats the case but I'm getting my internet back in a little over a week and it'll probs be better then.

https://ko-fi.com/bored_works