Hikari; The Forgotten Otsutsuki

Chapter 14

I was drinking my usual breakfast tea with Hanabi-chan who ate her slice of whole-grain bread next to me. Hinata had already left due to her team wanted to meet a little bit earlier. After quite a bit of thinking moment last night, my uncertainty resulted in me not participating in the Chuunin Exam. Hanabi-chan nudged my hand as I took a sip of the tea.

"Oni-chan, why did Onee-chan left this early?" she asked and I took another sip before answering.

"Her teammates must have wanted to talk about the Chuunin Exam," I answered. She took another bite of the bread.

"Eh, I don't understand what's the fuss about this exam," she commented.

"Well, through my understanding, taking this exam, meant that ones will be an average ninja. Compared to a genin namely the apprentice ninja, ones might be tasked to a different sector if one should pass the exam. So, the team's future is pretty much at stake here," I tried to explain.

"Not necessarily true, ones could refuse the job offer if ones don't want it unless it was an order of course. But, a chuunin does have a say in a team's operating procedures as they are pretty much a squad leader. This could change the dynamic of the team as a whole," Hiashi-sama suddenly entered the dining room. Hanabi-chan and I hastily rose and bowed to greet him which he just dismissed us from doing so. He poured himself a cup of tea.

"So, have you made up your mind yet?" he asked, referring to my dilemma.

"Yes, I chose not to participate in the year's exam. As I said, I'm in no hurry," I said before taking another sip of my tea, "though, I could take it halfway to see how the exam was conducted."

"I don't know if you knew this, but only a team of three is allowed in the chuunin exam," he said and I was surprised by this.

"Then why did," I was about to contemplate Kakashi-sensei's words, "I see, he wanted to test the team's resolves. Our teamwork was suffering lately."

"Suffering?" Hanabi-chan asked which made me chuckle.

"Naruto and Sasuke always had this rivalry when it comes to strength. After the Nami no Kuni, we had been knocked into our senses that there are a lot of strong people out there in the world. They must be struggling," I explained, "I was hoping that their ego would simmer down a little so that I could pass on some jutsu that I had learned to them."

"You know, if it were up to me, you would already be a jounin. That high intelligence and knowledge are unexpected if people didn't know that you're Sandaime-sama's student," Hiashi-sama commented. I let out a chuckle.

"Knowledge had always meant to be pass on. It's neither too early nor too late. Well, you should know," I said. Being the only one to cross time, I knew that knowledge is power when it comes to living as a shinobi. I made my way to the academy to meet up with the team. Luckily enough, I ran into Sakura but she didn't notice me. I brought my face to peek at her face from below because she was looking down. She jumped when she saw me.

"Hikari-kun..." she muttered then she looked distant again. I patted her head and grinned at her.

"Don't worry about it. You would do fine in the exam, Sakura. You are my bravest sister, right?" I said and when she smiled at me, I hoped that I had comforted her enough. We walked together for a few minutes when we saw that Sasuke had already arrived there. There were assortments of people there.

"Man, I didn't know that we had this many ninjas. Why didn't I saw them at all?" I wondered aloud. Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed at me.

"What do you mean? They're from a different village," he said.