Child of the Moon

Proceed

"Why didn't you say something sooner!" Aki screamed at a laughing Aiyanna. "It's been a whole day, this could have been dealt with much sooner if you'd just said something!"

Aiyanna laughed again. "It was so obvious, and also, you were too busy trying to act tough for those Sand ninja."

"Ugh, shut up!" Aki yelled, pulling out the two scrolls. "Just take this one and open it."

Nanami chuckled. "Think about it, even if we complete this task, we still have to wait here until the time limit is reached."

"Oh yeah..." Aki sighed, taking the edge of one scroll. "Let's open it anyway."

The two girls opened the scrolls quickly, to see the symbol "hito" on both.

"Man? Person?" Aki turned the scroll every which way, trying to figure out what it could mean. "Are you supposed to use it in the clue?"

"If qualities of Heaven are your desire," Aiyanna started. "Acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever. This secret "man" is what guides us from this place today."

"Or secret person," Aki scratched her head. "I don't get it."

"A summoning jutsu?" Nanami suggested.

"Oh, are the scrolls supposed to smoke?" Aki questioned.

"I think Nanami is right," Aiyanna said. "Toss em."

The two girls threw the scrolls and watched as a burst of smoke exploded out of the scrolls, which landed crossing over each other. Before long, a female figure could be just made out in the smoke.

"Who the heck are you?" Aki demanded when it cleared to reveal a lavender haired girl a little older than them. The headband around her neck marked her as a member of the Hidden Leaf.

"My name is Ayame Hayashi," she said with a small smile. "I'm a former pupil of Tsukiko-sensei and a chunin. It's my duty to welcome you back from your test, and congratulate you on your speedy completion of this task."

"It would've been done a lot sooner if Aiyanna hadn't kept the secret of getting this done to herself," Aki muttered.

Ayame chuckled at the spunky redhead. "No matter, you've done well to get this far."

"So, the thing on the wall?" Aki questioned. "The heck does that mean? I don't get it at all."

Ayame smiled softly. "It's instructions from Lord Hokage that chunin are expected to follow. You'd do well to memorize and come to understand its words."

"And the blank spot?" Aki demanded.

"Well," she answered with the same patient smile. "The symbol on the scrolls means "person" so that can be filled in with yourself."

Oh, I see," Nanami said.

"No you don't," Aki answered.

"Well, I get it at least," Nanami agreed. "It would be safe to say that it would be 'this secret "self" is what guides us from this place today.'"

"Correct."

"Cool," Aki said. "Now what?"

"Now you wait for the last day, and from there, you will be given instructions on the final stage of the exam," Ayame explained.

"So, how come Tsukiko-sensei didn't come?" Aki questioned.

"She was a little busy..." Ayame said, her cheeks turning a faint pink. "Also, this is a duty assigned to the chunin."

"Oh, cool," Aki shrugged. "Wait, busy how?"

"Ahem," Ayame coughed nervously. "Last I saw, she was talking to the Lord Hokage, and then Kakashi-sensei."

"You're nervous," Nanami said. "Are you hiding something?"

"What? No!" Ayame's face turned bright pink. "I didn't see them kissing!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"WHAT?" Aki screamed. "DID YOU SEE KAKASHI-SENSEI'S FACE?"

"I uh... only saw the back of his head..." she said, chuckling sheepishly.

"Aw man," Aki sighed.

"I knew they liked each other," Aiyanna sighed.

"Well, yeah, but since they're kissing, I think it's a little more than just liking," Nanami commented.

"Always with the semantics," Aiyanna sighed again.

Ayame smiled shyly. "You guys are very close, huh?"

"Well yeah," Aki said. "We're a team, ya know?"