Blessed by Rain

7. Iron

guys gals non-binary pals I entered this fic into Naruto Wattys under Kunoichi Only so 👀

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While Amegakure wasn't terribly small, it wasn't that big either. It didn't exactly hold an area that could be monitored and controlled while big enough to prove a struggle for the Academy children. That meant they would be leaving Ame, but only to go to a neighboring country that was rather neutral.

Ame was bitter from being destroyed over and over again, used as battlegrounds for pointless wars, but the Land of Iron had remained neutral through it all and held no shinobi. Instead, they manned an impressive militia of samurai.

Typically, Iron disliked the meddle of ninjas, bar the occasional mission, but had let Ame use part of their large land—a forest—as a final testing grounds for the genin exam.

"Doesn't this feel like overkill?" One boy murmured aloud, nervously tugging at his sleeves.

Haku tilted his head. "I don't really think so. I mean, it's basically just making sure we won't die the second we're out on the field. Compared to real missions, this should be frighteningly simple."

Hinata nodded, turning to face the rest of her class, and gave a bright, yet unnerving smile. "Besides, it's better than in Kirigakure, where test is to kill the rest of their class." She added. A shiver passed through most of their classmates—Ame was cold, but Iron was far colder. Hinata knew the shiver wasn't because of the cold, but she tugged her fur-lined jacket closer anyways.

"You'll be split into teams of three." Laizo-sensei announced, gathering the class's attention. "If one member is lacking or injured, you cannot leave them behind. Only to half-way through into the exam, there will be an alarm and all teams are ordered to disperse and work independently."

More murmurs broke out among the crowd. One boy, with spiky red hair and an explosion of freckles across his skin, rose his hand. "What's the objective of the exam?" His bright yellow eyes narrowed as Laizo answered.

"Don't get 'killed.' Killed means you're knocked unconscious, or get caught in a trap for longer than 10 minutes."

Hinata nodded. Traps, and possibly enemy shinobi that would try to knock them unconscious. Great.

Laizo leveled them all with a heavy stare. "Do your best to avoid other competitors. If your paths should cross, ignore them."

"I'll be calling out the teams now."

"Takeda, Vinay, Izami."

The red-haired boy straightened, eyeing the two students who approached him with a critical eye.

"Haku, Yugi, Tsuko."

Haku kept his easy smile, though Hinata knew both of them felt rather disappointed. Haku bid his best friend a soft goodbye before walking off to meet with his temporary teammates. Hinata crossed her arms, thoughts running through her head. Haku's team is lucky, as he's a medic nin and very easy to get along with, he'll be a great teammate. Hinata wasn't sure if she trusted herself to be extremely amicable with her own teammates.

"Karo, Hinata, and Nagai."

Hinata stood her ground as she felt two pairs of eyes turn to her. After a moment of hesitance, the two approached her, though one was shy and one was loud and confident.

She could practically hear Sasori's sarcasm echoing in her mind. 'Great. You'll all get along perfectly, and nothing will go wrong.'

"I-I-um..." Karo, the blue-haired girl, twiddled with her thumbs as she attempted conversation. Hinata felt herself soften, just a bit. Karo reminded her greatly of how she used to be. Timid, scared, and undeniably shy.