Chapter 2: Those who look up to the Sun

 
Those that were done, were free to do as they pleased for as long as the ceremony lasted, which would ussualy take about an hour altogether. After that the teams will be summoned inside to meet their new Sensei.

Up at the Balcony of the Kazekage Tower stood the Kazekage himself, Sabaku no Gaara. But seeing his son being the first to step out the Wind Shadow would show a small quick smile before quickly turning around and moving away, in respect to the traditions, he shouldn't see his son until he had either failed or graduated and visible by Meran's forehead protector he hadn't done either yet to a completion.
His father however clearly happy to have gotten a sneak preview at the results.

(Those that are done with their battle post here.)

Meran came outside laughing from the tension release. He had done it! He would spin around and raise his hand towards the sun!  "YEAH!"

Only then did he notice the kid that was turned down and Meran was brought back to reality. He would mutter an apology and then find a secluded spot to sit and write. His sand released from his body again and provided a nice little shade for him to sit under. This was not an unfamiliar sight for fellow students, as Meran did this regularly.

He gathered his little booklet and started writing...

Quote :

'Gisou no Ranmaru'

Fights: I
Wins:
Defeats: I

Fight notes: Used Genjutsu in our fight, Area genjutsu. Must watch out for area genjutsu more. Also uses clones to confuse enemies. Is quick, about 4 times as quick as I am. I must work on my own speed.

Personal Notes: Machine like, does not talk much, hard to read emotions, genuine nature, Strict(but fair)

Lessons learned:

• Become Faster
  
• Become more aware of surroundings
  
• Train more against Genjutsu
  
• Raise defensive capabilities.
  

Meran was sure to leave enough space for later additions.

He would then look up to see more sobbing faces emerge from the building.
Was he the only one so far? When would his teammates come out?
Meran pondered as he looked at the door. Would there be any cute classmates to console?
What if he needed to console Akira? Or Hina? Or even Hiten? Would they dare to go all out?

Eagerly he awaited to see those who would emerge.

After a while, Meran got bored and the urge to know more and do something got the better of him.
He molds some chakra and moves towards the exit. The boy made a elaborate swinging motion and with it sand starts to gather near the exit. There was always sand everywhere outside, but he needed a little more in front of the Exit.

While he was still under his little shade of special sand, he found the heat quite irritating. More so then usual, which was weird, because he was a child of the desert.
Shaking the bad feeling of his shoulders, the boy would step away from the pool, stand casually against the wall of the building and he would make a whirling motion with his right index finger.

With this move, the sabaku kid creates a quicksand trap in front of the exit, in order to trap the next person to exit that door. They'd be able to give him more information about the fights and opponents they faced inside!

Meran grinned, then he takes out his notebook again, thinking mostly of what he could do with his friends in order to prepare the best they could before the next task. Perhaps they should do a training session together? Or should they go out and have fun? Perhaps seduce a girl! Hina would surely help him get kissed right? Or would Hina rather train... But kissing also burned calories and Meran had read somewhere that it stimulates all sorts of things like adrenaline! Oeh and it also relaxes you and according to a study, people perform best in tests if they are relaxed!

And it has been ages since Meran got a kiss from a girl! Not counting his Mother offcourse... But he must not tell Hina that, she would surely tell Akira and Akira must not know..

Hhmmmpppfff... Perhaps it is best to just work on one skill every one of them had to improve... But in what skill were they all lacking? Meran opened his notebook and looked up his notes again and pondered....

Hina felt the weight of the headband against her forehead. It felt.. great! She bowed to her cousin and thanked her. The thank you was both for the battle, her headband and the advice. Hina almost ran towards Chouchou when Kazenkou took the weapons and walked back. She attached chakra strings to Chouchou from afar and let it fly towards her. She caught the puppet in her arms and almost hugged her. She would never let her puppets leave her side again. Luckily though she could make it look not too obvious. After manipulating the puppet to hug her back like a backpack again she looked over to where Hiten and Akira had stood earlier. However, they both weren't there anymore.

It quickly became very obvious where Hiten was. In the arena enshrouded in the mist. She had seen his fighting skills before and knew that he would do well. Her eyes searched for Akira. She was walking towards the arena, ninjato in hand. Oh. Well, fuck. She was fighting Souran. She wasn't happy. But she knew that Souran would never be allowed to seriously harm her friend, and that Akira could hold her ground. She had faith in her friend.

For now, she decided to go outside, as is of course tradition, to meet her cousin. Meran had already passed. She dearly hoped that all of her friends would pass. It would be so sad if one of them didn't. ...Which gave Hina an idea... She stopped right in front of the door, with a wicked grin on her face. After removing her headband and putting it in her pouch, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and brought herself down from the high she was having from her passing the first test. She opened her eyes, looked up at the ceiling and blinked tears into her eyes. It looked like she was on the verge of crying.

She sniffled, put one of her hands to her eyes and walked outside. Right.. into the quicksand. Instantly recognising the technique she wasn't alarmed, she let however out a yelp, because she was playing off-guard. She looked up to see Meran leaning casually against the wall.
"What the hell, Meran?!" She cried out, sounding frustrated and even managing to get more tears to appear in her eyes, "First I fail at the test, and now this?!" She tried in vain to climb out of the pit, looking rather miserable.

For a moment Meran actually believed her... Shock crawled into his system, this is what he feared, one of his friends not making it. He got up from the wall and rushed towards Hina to set her loose and comfort her... But something didn't seem right, when he left the room, Hina was actually doing quite well...

Meran faltered somewhat at his steps and then stood still, a wicked grin appears on his face. "I knew you could not do it! Pfff, way to weak for my sister." Meran shrugged and tried not to laugh "You even fell for my trap! I mean come on! If anyone should know, it would be you! Pffftt... yup it was no surprise you failed really...." At the end, Meran could not keep his laugh in anymore and he had to laugh out loud. Not a maniac freaky mean laugh, but one of joy and tomfoolery.

"You almost had me there, Hina" Meran laughed while releasing the sand.. "almost... If we did not spend the last 13 years together and I had known you less, the you might have succeeded properly. That was a good one!"
It was just because he knew Hina better then he knew his own sister, that Meran figured out the trick and not completely fall for it.

Hina let out a peal of laughter as well. "I didn't almost have you. You totally fell for it at first. She smiled at him as she stepped out of the sand. If anyone would know of her tricks and foolery, it would totally be Meran. "Also, you're a fine one yourself as well. What would you have done if it hadn't been me to walk out that door, eh?" Sometimes, she felt bad for their classmates that would get caught up in their jokes. But that was only sometimes and never lasted very long.

"By the way," she grinned as she fished her headband out of her pouch, "Look what I got!" She proudly fastened it around her forehead again, though she was thinking about tying it tight around her neck instead. "Kazenkou liked the way I fought." Her smile was sincere, since she didn't think Kazenkou let her pass just because she was family. "We ended up switching weapons. She had an umbrella, and I had a kunai to begin with. Too bad she ended it so quickly, though, I had a great plan. Tell me about your battle! Against.. oh what was his name again.. Gensou no Ranmaru?" She would send her cousin a questioning glance while walking towards the shade of an overhang.

Meran slightly flushed, he had not thought about the emotions of the one trapped. He just wanted to know more.. "Asked them who they fought I think... As well as what happened and what techniques were used. You know, so I could learn and stuff" Meran shrugged.

Meran was glad of the change in subject, "Gisou" Meran corrected her gently. "He used genjutsu and Bunshin. Very confusing and he was so so fast. I really need to become faster Hina!. Perhaps we should train tonight... Or right now seeing we are waiting for the rest of the class!" Meran smiled and began warming up. It felt weird, he had done this hundreds of times before, but this was the first time while wearing the headband. It did not feel right on that location, but he would fix that tomorrow.

"How about we sprint to the other side of the yard and back, to train?" Meran suggests as he is warming his body up, not that it needed much with the heat and the fight he had just had, but there was no such things as too much warming up before training.
"Out of the four, who do you think will be our sensei if we succeed tomorrow?"

Hina listened to Meran. Of course he hadn't thought about that. Then again, what did it matter? It's not like people were trapped up to their necks. They would probably just be slightly startled. Some people are so sensitive, anyway.

"T-train..? Now? Are you out of your damn mind?!' She whacked him against the back of his head, as she not unfrequently did. "It's too hot outside. If I run now, I'll melt into a puddle." She folded her arms, and gave a slight pout as she mumbled, "Besides.. I hate running." She really, really did. Unless she had a reason. And running just for the heck of it while it felt like she was on the surface of the sun just didn't feel like a good enough reason to her. "But," she added, since she knew Meran really wanted to train, and she wanted to improve her speed as well, "How about we train tonight? When it's cooled down a bit? We can run laps through Suna if you want to." She gave him a smile. "I really want to improve my speed as well. Your sister is fast!"

She uncrossed her arms. "But I think she did save my hide back there. Did you see the way that Souran was glaring at me?" Creep. But Meran probably did not. He was in his own fight at the time. Talking about clans and family, Hina looked up to see Gaara standing on the balcony of the Kazekage Tower. He must be proud of his son. Hopefully he was proud of her as well.

"Oohww!" Meran exclaimed as he was hit on the back of the head "Watch it Hina, people can see!" He humpfed and sat down for a moment. "I only wanted to be prepared for tomorrow, what if we are not good enough! We might have to wait a whole nother year! Imagine another year in the academy." Meran shuddered. He was much rather free to see the land of the wind!

"Perhaps Kazenkou can train us tonight? Either way, you never did answer my question. Who would you want as a sensei?"

"Don't worry about it, Meran. We are good enough." Though, he had of course a point. Extra training was always good. And another year in the academy would be unbearable.. "We will train tonight. And asking Kazenkou is a good idea."

She sat down next to him. "I don't know who I would want as a sensei. I don't know much about that Ranmaru, except that he obviously is good at time-space and sealing jutsu. That could be interesting. I don't think I'd like Souran as my sensei. I can get my puppetry-training somewhere else." She was randomly doodling with her finger in the earth next to her. "Kazenkou could be an okay choice, I guess. I like her and she's strong. But I wonder," she looked up from the ground to give Meran a questioning glance, "Do you think she is allowed to be our sensei? With you being her brother and me being her cousin. She could be biased in the judging of us and even jeopardise missions if you or I were to be on her team and in danger. I don't think the village would like something like that." She let out a huff of air to blow the bangs from her face. With a slightly amused grin on her face at the next words she said: "And can you imagine peace-loving-hippie Isago as my sensei?" Sure, Hina respected him for having values and standing by them, she just thought he was completely unrealistic. She glanced up at Gaara standing on the balcony again, besides, he wasn't really a kage-sympathiser.

"How about you?" she asked, as she looked around the yard, seeing more and more students walking out of the building. Some sad, others happy. "Who would you like to have as sensei?"

"I don't know!!!" Sighed Meran as he sat on the ground, shaking the sand from his clothes, an odd gesture, for him, but it was something to pass the time while thinking.
"Isago is out if I'm concerned, I do not really like that man. He wants father out of office. He won't like training his son, seeing Dad is not going anywhere!" Meran said defiantly, though he knew enough of politics to know that it was not that easy.

Meran moved back, as if laying down, but before he would hit the ground, the ground would hit him instead. Halfway sand had met his back as a pile formed something to lean against.
"I don't know about Souran, he didn't seem too pleasant, but I do not know the man too well. But his intent is to replace dad as well. Though by a different person. So I don't think he would be a great sensei either."

"So for me there really are only two option I think... Either Kazenkou or Ranmaru." Meran sighed thought for a second. "I have mixed feelings for both, Sis can be a great girl, but we never really got along. She is all about Konoha these days... Sheessshh, you'd say she was a Konoha shinobi instead of a Sabaku... But, in all fairness, she could teach me a lot. Same goes for you, Hiten or Akira. She dances with the best of them. Ranmaru on the other hand is like a robot... He is alright and all, but there is no feeling in there. At least that was the sense I got when I fought him. At the end he was a bit more open... But, how much can I learn from a machine! I need someone of flesh and blood... The sealing is nice, but hey..."

Meran tapped his chin a couple of times and then his eyes shot open.. "Ohh no, what if Hiten, Akira and you are in one team and I am in a completely different team?! Or one of you guys is separated...What do we do then." Meran never really thought of the fact that the four would get split up. There were 4 men teams, but those either included the Sensei of said team, or it would be an ANBU team and Meran highly doubted they would instantly become the latter, so they would be split......

"Well, well, well....if it isn't the Royalties." The voice of the HEAT leader sounded from behind the two aspirant Genin as Guuzou approached them chuckeling a bit.
The man had a friendly smile on his face which was obviously forced as he placed a palm on each of their shoulders carefully and gently looking between them.
"What's the worry about? There's no need to worry at all." The man had his eyes closed to hide his true emotions better as he smiled, the duo didn't have to be good at empathy to know this man hated their guts perhaps more so than Souran did Hina's. He was the man who wanted to take Gaara's spot as Kazekage.
He chuckled again letting out little sniffles through his nostrils, the old man of 69 would remove his hands from them again having gotten their attention.
"I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself if your royal highness didn't get what he wanted. So I have already arranged for the 4 of you to be positioned on the same squad."

he would then smirk at them as if he was withholding some information peering his eyes a bit.
"That is offcourse, if you all make it through all of the rounds. And one of you won't fail the ongoing test."

He nodded to them and took a step back before placing his hands behind his back connecting his fingers like a typical old man before slowly and seemingly cheerful and exited going towards the door, clearly to check on the ritual's proceedings. He was smiling to himself, this unlike what he did before to Hina and Meran, was an honest smile this time.

Hina listened to Meran, nodding to his words. As he came to the realisation that their team would probably be split up. Her eyes widened and she looked at Meran, but before she had time to react she heard a voice and chuckle behind her.

She whipped her head around. Guuzou, leader of HEAT, with a fake smile on his face. She had to resist the urge to flinch. 'Physcical contact...' she thought. Also, the fact that there was a mutual disliking between her and Guuzou didn't help the matter either. She was relieved when he took his hand off her shoulder. Her heart leapt up when she heard they would all be in a team, but it sank again a second later. Why would he do something like that?

He was obviously talking more to Meran, but she couldn't help but answer him when he told them they would be in a four-man-team. "I would like to thank you for your kind deed, Guuzou-sama. It means a lot to me to be able to be in a team with my friends." She gave him a sweet innocent smile, that probably wouldn't fool even a blind person. She didn't however like the way he said, no almost suggested, that someone would fail the test.

Her eyes followed him as he walked towards the building. As soon as he was inside she said to Meran, "I don't like it. He seems way too cheerful. You think he's up to something?"

As he hears the voice of the HEAT leader Meran quickly rises to his feet again. Not as gracefully as he'd hoped, but he made it none the less. Something in the greeting had spoken a challenge and Meran knew enough of conflict that he had to react in his prime, if it was not for himself, then he would have to do so for his dad.

As Guuzou explained that in fact the four would be a a single squad Meran would find that he has mixed feelings about it. He was glad they would be together, because that would mean that they would make a great and strong team... But there was something in his attitude that changed as the man walked away... Something very, very wrong.

Meran just smiled a fake smile and spoke clearly and sweetly. "Oh thank you, Guukou-sama, you are ever to kind." He echoed Hina, which caused Meran some inner laughter he tried to keep hidden.

After the man closed the door behind him, 5 or 6 heavy thuds could be heard, followed by a strangled scream from Meran, as he lets go of some frustration. "Someone really needs to wake up in a bed full of sand! The evil slime-faced son of a goat!" A hint of a mischievous slime appears on Meran's face, as he looked towards his niece. If only he had the chance...

"I am certain he is up to something Hina, I could feel it in his grip...I would not be surprised if it turned out his lackey would be our sensei. Or at least someone well connected with HEAT. I think we'll be in for a harder challenge then others tomorrow, I think we really need that training tonight!"

Hina stood to her feet as well and nodded "I agree." To train would be wise. They couldn't slack off. "Also," she added with a smirk on her face, "a bed of sand doesn't sound too bad. I'm sure he'd be very comfortable." Though she wasn't too sure how wise it was to be shouting those things in public.

She threw a worried look the door's way. "Should we do something?" She hated not knowing what was going on in there. Sure, it was tradition, and she would find out eventually. But if something important was going on. If Guuzou would try to do anything.. Or one of his members. She looked around her, taking in her surrounds to see if there was anything she could use in any way. A window. A ledge. A hole in the roof. She also looked around to see what other people were out there with them, and if they'd seen the little interaction with Guuzou, and if they were reacting to that in any way special. Lastly, she looked up at Gaara on the balcony, to see if he had seen it.

(I'd say, roll for Investigation, Empathy, and anything else. These are the two I can think of.)

Not too long after the HEAT leader entered loud sounds could be heard inside and then Kazenkou's voice screaming, then Souran's voice, then it all went quite again. It remained quite for a while and then the door would open as Guuzou would be walking out Souran on one side, Ranmaru on the other.

As the doors opened inside the two could see Akira laying on a bed of sand made by Kazenkou, seeming rather hurt and Hiten and Kazenkou beside her as both Akira and Hiten had a forehead protector on their bodies. Two Academy teachers likewise ran out passing by Guuzou and his entourage headed in the direction of the hospital.
"Damnit, why don't we have medics standing by for these things, would be handy!"
One said as they ran by Meran and Hina while the other one replied.
"Because this is the only time I remember when a Jounin went this crazy on a student, he almost killed her!" The two dashed away towards the hospital.

Ranamaru would glance at Meran as he passed by and gave the boy an acknowledging nod and a little wave. Though his expression again as robotic as before. He would seem to miss Hina's presence at all, not even registering her as being there it seemed, his eyes looking through her as if an empty spot before he would turn his head again and keep on following right behind Guuzou, Souran right next to him, not paying either of the Genin any attention.

Hiten slowly walked out and inhaled the warm air. For some reason this feeling was better as the pressure in the room. He waved at Hina and Meran. "We made it! And so did you.. These are the first steps in our new lives."

"Daaamn those fights are intensive... I wonder about the team set up.." Hiten stopped and stared at the floor. He forgot the rule about 3 man teams..

Hina's head snappend towards the door when she heard Kazenkou yell. "What the..?" she tentatively, and almost without noticing, took a step towards the door. She looked at Guuzou, Souran and Ranmaru when they came out, not really sure what to make of all this. why where those three together?
When the door opened and she saw Akira lay on the floor she felt her blood freeze. Was she..? She couldn't be.. Right..? To her relief two teachers came storming out and Hina could hear that Akira wasn't dead at least.
When Hiten came out she all but stormed at and jumped him, ignoring his stupid comment about team set ups, and demanding, "What the hell happened?! Is Akira okay?!"

Anger dissipated when Meran heard screaming from within. "What the..?" he heard himself say in unison with Hina, but where hina took a hesitant step, meran rushed towards the door. Meran knew kazenkou better than any other around and though it was not particular unheard of for her to scream, the sound of her voice let him know this was serious.

Just when he was about to reach the door, it swung outward, causing him to jump back to avoid it.

As Ranmaru walked out with his compagnions, Meran looked stumped, one of the medical nins brushed his shoulder as he rushed by. Earning Meran a quick angry look. What was Ranmaru doing with that beast of a man guuzou... He was stomped that he did not expect this... And what was this about Akira??!

Meran was surprised at a lot of things that moment, without paying a lot of attention to it, he returned the gesture to Ranmaru, almost as robotic as the man. Though with a different reason most likely.

At least... the man did not seem very pre-occupied with Akira's health and that was Meran's reason. Meran wanted to go in towards Akira badly, but he knew that stepping back in, would mean stepping back into the academy.

He backed Hina's question by looking at Hiten as well, what the hell had happened, Meran was just as curious...

Hiten sighed. "Akira is okay. She's going to spend a night in the hospital to recover. Her opponent did not hold back and had to be stopped by kazenkou-sama."
He walked towards a place in the shadow and sat down. His face was pale and empty.
"He had killing intent. Or was just extremely good at faking that..If the other jounin believed it."

Meran's fist shaked as he watched Akira from afar. He wanted to go closer, but could not... Should not...
"I am sure he had just that! If you seen who was with him when he left." Meran stared at the back of the retreating men. He wanted to act, to shout, to hurt... But he knew that he could do that even less than he could walk in to Akira.

"I told you Hina, that we would have a harder time during the survival test." He huffed and started to pace around until he took out his booklet and made an extra entry on the Ranmaru Section. "Is most likely tied in some way with Guuzou."

Meran thought the political game would become a strain on their life, no matter what their own wishes would be.. Meran looked through the doorway, wishing he could get closer and help Akira, but instead spoke distractedly to Hiten as he watched her breathing somewhat in pain. "The nice man" he started sarcastically "was kind enough to arrange for us to be placed into a 4 man team as an exception. Which I am sure is all in his favor, not ours... He wants us to fail Hiten.. He wants us to ruin my father's good name."

Somewhere Meran was nudged to ask Hiten about his fight, all the details about what went on and which tactics his opponent had used. Meran wanted to know!, but instead snapped his book shut and put it away.. For the first time in a long while he was not in the mood to record it. He wanted to see Akira, but could not. "I guess this is what it is like from now on... No more protection from youth, no more innocent believes. I just thought the ones hurting us would be from outside."

Hina felt relief when Hiten told her Akira would be okay. She nodded at Merans eords that they would have a harder time and agreed with a, "Yeah." hina went to stand next to Meran and felt as bitter as he sounded. They hadn't e en finished their entire genin-exams yet and already their innocent days were over. Though she had to wonder, if she was honest, if they had ever had any real innocent days.

She looked at the closed door. She knew Akira had been fighting Souran, and that Souran had been eager to fight her instead. Should that have been her there? In stead of Akira? She quickly shook such thoughts off. Thinking that way didn't help anyone and certqinly got them nowhere. They were shinobi. They would get hurt. And Akira would survive this. Next time it would be Hina. Or Hiten. Or Meran. The most important thing was for them all to stick together and have each others' backs.

From outside.. Yeah, she had thougt that too. But they couldn't even trust their own people. "It's us against them, guys." She kicked against a stray pebble. Now all they had to do was to find out who "us" and "them" were exactly. She looked around the yard. It didn't seem like they could do anything other than wait.

She sighed and forced a small smile, "So, Hiten, how did your fight go?" Trying to change the subject and the mood. If they couldn't trust anyone it wasn't wise to discuss things too much in the open anyway.

Hiten nodded at Meran's words and looked at the him with a determined smile on his face "So it seems Meran. But.. We are a team and will be capable of defeating everything that they might throw at us... Yes it will take huge effort.. But we will persevere." He leaned against the wall and looked at Hina. "My fight went reasonably good. Isago-sama managed to push me into a uncomfortable situation. But luckely I had what it took to prove my worth to him. We better start training soon if all our opponents will be of his caliber in the future. And taking the test for tomorrow into account.. Rest would also be very nice."

Frustrated as the boy was, Meran started picking up stones from the ground and skipping them away. His eyes downcast, his gaze kept returning to Akira, who lays down on his sister's special sand. "For that to work, we need to swear on it Hiten.. We need to swear an oath to eachother, letting nothing come between us." Meran trusted the three of them blindly and he wanted them to be able to trust him completely as well.

When Hiten started to tell about his fight, Meran automatically took hie little book out again and half heartedly took notes. "Can you tell a little more about the fight Hiten, how did he get you in that situation?"

On his comment about training, Meran nodded, "If we will be facing them together, we need to train together. Tonight..." He did not sound very enthousiastic as he watched Akira laying there. He was afraid she would not be able to join them in that training.

Hina gave Hiten an almost wry smile. "I know about being outside your comfort zone as well. Kazenkou-san forced me to fight with her in close combat." She couldn't help but give a small appreciative nod. Kazenkou was a damn good fighter.

She looked up in surprise at Meran's words. An oath? That sounded a bit... Pre-school to her. "What. You mean like a pinky swear?" She had a smirk on her face. The training sounded like a very good idea though. Extra training was never bad. As long as there wasn't any unneccessary running involved, of course.
She attached chakra strings to her puppet and let it detach itself from her shoulders. Letting it float in front of her she moved the fingers in different ways, practising the fine mtor skills. She did this with half a mind, though. She also looked around for antthing interestung. She was beginning to feel the boredom creep up on her, now that the first part was over and Akira wasn't in any life threatening danger. 'There must be something to do,' she thought almost desperately. Maybe being one of the first to get picked didn't come with good things only.