"Pass me the soy sauce, Sensei," Kai asks as he mixes his tofu and napa cabbage with a ball of rice. He's small compared to his companions, with his brown hair up in a topknot and his Hidden Leaf headband across his forehead.
"I'd rather you pass me some of that sake, Sensei," Nezumi chuckles, softening her mouse-like features. The thin albino girl playfully waggles her cup. Her red eyes betray her sly nature. Despite Nezumi's sickly appearance, she's highly capable and eats just as much as her companions.
"That stuff is no good for you," Shin Sensei says as he yawns. The old man rubs his eyes, brushing the huge scar which cuts across them. Locks of his grey dreads fall over his headband. Hidden Leaf, a symbol of home and allegiance.
He takes the soy sauce and places it on the other table, ignoring Kai's desperate protest. Then takes Nezumi's cup and fills it to the brim with sake from his bottle and slides it over to the teenage ninja. She reaches for it, but closes her hand around a puff of smoke and a ball of rice.
"You, young lady, are far too young to drink," he says as he gulps down the contents of her cup.
"Sensei, I've had sake before," Nezumi grumbles, placing the rice ball on a small plate beside her and licking the sticky grains off her fingers. With a sigh, she puts on her headband and shades combo, the dark glasses protecting her sensitive eyes from the light.
"I don't care that your mother lets you drink with her. When you're with me, I'm going to treat you like the young ninja you're supposed to be."
"I'm a chunin."
"You're a kid. Don't be in such a hurry to grow up."
"I'm not. I just wanted a little sake."
"I can't wait until the next Chunin Exam," Kai says around a mouth full of food. "I failed last time because I was too focused. This time, I'm going to relax and let success come to me."
Nezumi and Shin Sensei look at one another then burst into a fit of laughter. Kai's face turns red and his brow furrows. He stares down at his cabbage.
"Where did you hear that nonsense?" Nezumi says as she expertly steals one of Kai Sensei's last short ribs. She raises her chopsticks to her mouth and bites down on a puff of smoke and a cube of tofu.
"I heard Guy Sensei saying it to Sarutobi Sensei... I thought it sounded cool." Kai spears a steamed cabbage leaf with a chopstick. "I am going to pass this time."
Shin Sensei sobers up a bit and places his arm over the boy's shoulder. "I have no doubt you'll pass this time. Just don't go around quoting Might Guy. People will think you're strange."
"Even more strange, you mean," Nezumi adds.
Kai looks out the window of the small establishment. They sit on the edge of the commerce district in the capital city of the Land of Fire. The Daimyo's palace isn't far away.
