The Shinobi took us to a school, a boarding school. He told us we were going to study how to become great ninjas, how to become the best ninjas possible. At that time, we didn't know what to think, we were just so confused. if we were going to school, why didn't our parents tell us? Why did they carry us kicking and screaming into a cart? nothing made sense, so we forgot about it and just focused on studying.
Because the sooner we graduated, the sooner we could be free and see our friends again.
None of us wanted to see our parents. either that or we just didn't show it. I think deep down, we all missed our parents terribly. I know I did. Some nights, I would look into the sky out of mine and Rins dorm window and just think about what mama and papa were doing, what mama was making for dinner, what papa was reading from the bookshelf. I would silently cry, because if you cried out loud here, you were considered weak.
Our days consisted of 2 hours studying, and then training non stop for 6 hours, then back to study until lights out at 9:00pm. routine was special and never questioned. routine meant order, it meant knowing what was next, knowing what was going to come.
But of course, none of us knew what was to come on the fateful day.
Graduation exams.
"Hey Ryuui-chan!" Rin called to me from across the lawn. I looked up from the book I was reading and saw my two best friends running up to meet me.
"Rin-Chan, Len-kun, how are you?" I asked them. Rin smiled.
"great! Len got 100 on his last test! and I came close with 96! isn't that great! we are so going to beat the graduation exam tomorrow!" she beamed. I smiled too.
"Yeah. but what kind of test is it tomorrow? a physical or a sealing test?" I asked them. Len thought for a moment.
"I did overhear the sensei talking about special rooms they are going to put us in to test us, but that's all. and he also said that they would need a few medic ninjas on standby, in case something happened, so personally im guessing physical." He concluded. I nodded, It was only reasonable.
"Lets try our best at tomorrow so we can all graduate together ok!?" Rin smiled and out her hand in the middle of our little circle. both me and Len smiled at one another and put our hands on top of hers.
"You bet ya!" I said
"Yep" Len said. and we all smiled at each other like idiots, unaware of what was to come.
That night we hardly slept, me and Rin were talking about what we were going to do once we graduated, one we got out of this place.
"Im going to ask out Len-kun once we graduated" She giggled to me that night.
"So you do like him" I teased.
"Yeah, but don't tell him please please please please!" she begged. I laughed.
"Okay okay I wont!"
Rin sighed in relief
"But ya know, I think he likes you too" I smirked. Rin blushed.
"What! no! he doesn't!"
"Just keep telling yourself that" I smiled. and then we shut up, because the sensei banged on the door and ordered us to go to sleep.
The graduation exam started at the normal time we got to lessons, 6:00am. When we all arrived in the exam hall, the main sensei told us to choose our own groups that we would like to train in. And of course everybody got into their friendship groups, so did we, me, Rin and Len.
"This is a bit odd." Len spoke my thoughts. "They normally put us in groups."
"mmm." I agreed. Our group what given a number. team 9. We were ordered to go to room 10 and await instructions. So, like any normal school kid, we did as we was told. the room they sent us to was plain, and about as big as the classrooms we studied in, but there was no desks, no training equipment, just an empty room. We all furrowed our eyebrows at each other and gave questioning glances. This was not routine, this was not expected.
A few minuets later and two chunins came in. they told us what we had to do. what we had to do to pass this exam.
"To pass this exam, you will have to kill each other. only one person will get out of this alive. that person who is still alive will graduate."
My mind went numb, my body ran cold. This had to be a joke, this had to be.
But in my year here, since when had any of the senior ninjas joked?
"what! this is stupid! what if we object?" Len cried, outraged.
"then," one of the chunins said with an evil grin on his face. "then you will be tortured with these" he displayed a number of weapons. "until you do fight." he said. I shuddered at the thought of the hot poker boiling through my skin. and I shuddered at the thought of possibly killing my friends.
"trust me, when we are done with you, you'll do anything to escape the pain of our torture, even kill a friend." he said.
So this is why they let us choose our own groups I thought. this is why, this is why. to make us stronger ninjas by killing those important to us.
"Humans are selfish beings, they'll do anything to escape pain." the other chunin said.
And he was right, because we all only took about 7 minuets of pure agony, 7 minuets for each year we had lived, until we gave in.
We stood there, swaying and gasping, wishing the pain to go away, wishing we could be anywhere but here. we looked at each other in the eyes. I saw the pain in my two dearest friends eyes when they looked at me and each other. I saw the unbearable pain and confusion and knew they saw this from me too. and then that's when I felt tears run down my cheeks, and through the blurry mess saw them cry too.
and that's when they looked at each other. my mind shot back to what Rin had said the night before, and it shot back to the look in their eyes that they had when they looked at each other. It was obvious they liked each other, no, not even liked, loved. And it killed me to think that they would have to kill each other.
I thought of the burden the one who survived this would have to bear, the burden of killing the people most important to them, and I couldn't let my friends carry that. I wouldn't put my friends through that purgatory. They meant so much to me.
I wiped my eyes and looked down at my feet, steeling myself. I felt both of their eyes on me and I knew that they knew.
"sorry. im so sorry." I told them, and preformed a jutsu, my own special jutsu that knocks people out. I aimed it at Len. He went smashing into a wall, and slumped down. Rin screamed out in horror and looked at me.
"Im sorry Rin" I told her. She set her lips in a thin line and took out her kunai. I copied her.
That's where it all began.
