The chūnin exams begin today.

Young shinobi from all five of the great shinobi villages were gathered in Konoha, accompanied by their jonin squad leaders — along with a few participants from some of the smaller shinobi lands. The annual chūnin exams were a huge deal for shinobi everywhere. They dictated what the future looked like. The villages with the strongest showing in the exams would get the most work following them, and the village with the most work would have the most money, and thus be the strongest village.

Truth be told, it wasn’t too common for the Kage of the host village to address the genin so early — typically, it was saved for before the finals… but Kaminari Masuyo was far from a common Kage. Plus, her own son was among the gathered genin, and she wanted to at least see him before the exams started.

That was why the Lady Hokage was standing in front of all the gathered genin in the staging room before the first phase of the exams. It was time for her favorite part of the job: speeches.

Smiling out at the genin, Masuyo shifted her Kage headpiece and prepared to officially initiate the exams.

“Welcome to the chūnin exams. Most of you have been preparing for this all your life… and it will be the toughest challenge you’ve faced yet. The chūnin exams are going to be your first real test as shinobi — it won’t be like the standard missions you’ve been completing during your time as genin. But, all of you have been marked as ready for examination by your assigned jonin leaders.”

A brief pause as she let her words sink in.

“The exam will be in three parts, each more dangerous than the last. I’m going to be very, very frank with all of you. There is a chance some of you may die. However, that’s a risk I and my fellow Kage are willing to take. If you want to leave, leave now. If you want to stay, then you can wait in this room for when the proctor for the first exam comes to fetch you. Feel free to talk to one another, but just know that during these exams… The only allies you have are the genin from your squads. Everyone else — yes even genin from your own village — are enemies.”

“Good luck, you’re probably going to need it.”

With that, Masuyo turned, with her cloak sweeping behind her, before she left out the door… and left the gathered genin to their own devices.

Hikaru hadn’t slept a wink, but who could blame him? He was a little ball of nerves, who knew he was ill prepared for what was to come. He hadn’t even unlocked his Sharingan! And it wasn’t for lack of trying — he’d spent the whole night poking and smacking his friends with his chopsticks trying to trigger the emotional trauma necessary, but… no luck. Karu had then decided that he might as well put the stress-induced insomnia to good use, and figured he might as well do what Katsumi-sensei would have recommended.

Karu let his teammates sleep, even if he couldn’t, and read the Encyclopedia with the light of a lamp. When he’d asked Katsumi-sensei for advice, the only thing she’d said was ‘it’s in the book…’ and Karu had practically no clue what he was doing… so if that was all the advice she was going to give, then it was what he was going to do. His sensei wasn’t exactly the best at giving advice — in fact, it sometimes came down to something as simple as ‘don’t lose’ — but he was going to take it seriously all the same!

As he read the night away, Karu scribbled notes in the margins of the book, with the soft sounds of his friends sleeping in his room, finally free from Karu’s overwhelming energy. If he had his way, Squad Three would have spent the whole night training and getting ready for the chūnin exams, but apparently he couldn’t always get what he wanted — and Iza wouldn’t stop throwing her pillow at him if he tried to keep them awake.

Karu understood though, girls needed like, beauty sleep. He got that, really. That was why he’d decided to curl up by his lamp, and focus on reading. It was kind of relaxing, having to think about just the words on the page, and not the failure that was inevitably coming…

“Hey, Karu, positive thoughts! Positive thoughts.” He whispered yelled at himself, dropping the book on his bed. He ran a hand through his short hair, and briefly wondered if he should wake up his parents for a bit of advice — he would have thought about going to Kenshin for this kind of thing, but Kenshin wouldn’t wake up if he blew something up next to his face.

Still, Karu needed a drink of water. Working hard made him thirsty, and he was definitely working hard! He was just exercising his brain, instead of the normal muscles he spent his days working out. Karu was careful to be quiet as he slipped out of the room, carefully stepping over the sleeping form of Iza. He’d woken her up and before and that… was a dangerous game.

Once he was in the halls of the Hokage Residence, Karu could move freely. Yawning widely, he wondered how much time he had left to get some rest before the exams in the morning… Right now, it was the dead of the night, and he knew that his mind was racing too much for him to get any meaningful rest. “Might as well send it,” he grumbled to himself as he stepped into the kitchen.

“Hey, kiddo. What’s up, you can’t sleep?”

Hikaru froze when he heard the voice that came from the shadows, and turned to look as the source stepped out. If it had been any other voice, he might have been concerned, but this one belonged to… “Dad? What are you doing up so late? Don’t get mad at me when you can’t sleep either!” Karu protested, turning back to reach up and grab a glass from the cupboard.

“Geeze, never seen someone get so defensive because their dad asked one thing.” The head of the Kaminari clan commented, watching as his son poured himself a glass of water. “Are you nervous?” He asked, and Karu didn’t respond. Unfortunately for him, a father’s intuition was better than Karu thought, and Daisuke just nodded and kept talking on. “Of course you are. It’s perfectly normal to be nervous. I was, too.”

“You’re gonna be fine, don’t worry. It’ll be easier than you’re expecting, I promise.” Daisuke ruffled his son’s hair, before digging around in the cupboards for something, while Karu frowned.

“I mean, yeah, but… what if I fail? Wouldn’t you and mom be disappointed?” He asked, sipping from his glass of water. He had, in his mind, a valid point. Karu’s insecurities were creeping up. What kind of Kaminari would fail the chūnin exams? A shinobi’s career hadn’t even really began during their exams! It was what came afterward.

“What? Of course not! We couldn’t be more proud of you. and if you fail? Who gives a damn. You know who else failed their first exams?” Daisuke glanced over his shoulder at Karu, who was listening intently, wondering who his father could be referring to. Maybe one of his older brothers?

“Your mother.” The answer got an audible reaction out of Karu, and Daisuke smiled, turning around to show that he was holding two shot glasses, each filled with a clear liquid.

“Here. And for my sake, don’t tell Masuyo.” He said, smiling at his son. The Lady Hokage would have his head if she knew what he was doing. “Nobody’s perfect, Hikaru. If you don’t succeed, you don’t succeed. The worst thing you can do is give it anything less than your best. You’re a Kaminari. We don’t give it less than our best. Your mother and I will be proud of you no matter what.”

“Now drink up.” Daisuke said, holding his glass up toward his son.

With a huge smile on his lips, Karu clinked his glass against his dad’s. He thought about asking what was in the glass, but thought better of it, knowing that his father wouldn’t answer him even if he did ask. If he couldn’t trust his father, who could he trust? Without a care in the world, Karu tipped the glass back, and he grimaced as it went down. Once he swallowed, he blinked a few times, staring at his father.

“That… that wasn’t very good, Dad.”

“Don’t tell your mother. She’d have my head. Did the same thing with your brothers, but somehow, I’m always the bad guy… You’re gonna do fine, kiddo, don’t stress. You got this.” Daisuke said, holding out his closed fist. Karu nodded his agreement and held his hand out, bumping his fist against his father’s. “It’s sake. It’s good to learn to hate it now — in fact, this is probably why your brother didn’t drink…”

“Yeah… okay. Thanks, Dad.” Karu sat the now empty glass down on the counter, and backed away with as mile, offering a thumbs up and a grin, “the next time you see me, I’ll be a chūnin. Trust me!”

---

If Karu wasn’t dead on his feet tired like he was, he would have shaking with hype from the speech his mother gave. Unfortunately, while others — even his own squad — were getting excited from the Hokage’s speech, Karu’s only response was a disrespectful one, out of context. After the Hokage wished everyone good luck, Hikaru’s mouth opened wide as he yawned, rubbing his eyes.

“Sheesh, I should have slept longer… Did Mom- Lady Hokage say we might die? That’s crazy… I didn’t think it was like, deadly deadly. Maybe she’s just kidding. Not that I’m worried about it — we’re just gonna send it anyway, right?” Hikaru said, looking between his two teammates, giving the best smile he could — while his fingers were still digging at his eyes. “Hey, when do you think lunch is?” Despite the massive breakfast he’d eaten before coming here, Hikaru was already hungry. It wasn’t his fault! He’d been too nervous to sleep, and staying up late burned a lot of energy. Food was fuel! And Karu was running low on fuel.

“Oh man, there’s also the written test, right? Crap, I should have studied more… I’m not prepared, there’s no way! Not for a written test. How much time do we have? Maybe I should cram some last minute study time in now…” The stress was creeping back in. Maybe he should have asked his dad to give him some more of that sake for the road. Hikaru looked between Iza and Mori and groaned. Both of his friends were way better at retaining Katsumi-sensei’s speeches and nuggets of knowledge. What the heck was he supposed to do now? His whole future was riding on these exams!

If I had my Sharingan, maybe I could actually scan this crowd effectively… Karu thought to himself as he looked around the crowd, Hikaru was able to make out exactly two interesting things. At least working with Katsumi-sensei had made him learn how to look at crowds with some effectiveness. In fact, Karu was pretty good at it (he might have seen more things going on, had he not been so tired), but he couldn’t help feeling insecure about the lack of his clan’s dojutsu.

After taking in the crowd, Hikaru reached into his bag and pulled out the one thing he was smart enough to bring along: a thermos filled with some still hot tea. Uncapping it, Hikaru took three huge gulps, and let the warmth flow through his body before bouncing from side to side as he screwed the cap back on, and stuffed the bottle back in its place, trying to re-energize himself. It worked, at least a little bit, because before long, Hikaru was off to the races.

“I’m gonna go see if that guy over there’s studyin’! A study buddy is exactly what I need right now. Maybe someone who can ask me some questions and answer some of my own is what I need to really get the ball rollin’, and the juices flowin’. Iza, there’s a fight that’s gettin’ ready to bust out over there, so go check it out for me, alright? Normally, I’d be in there, but I can’t be now — I really gotta study or I might fail before the second stage. Do you know how embarrassing that’d be? It’s scoutin’, so make sure they actually commit, and don’t just beat their chests at each other! They’re just arguin’ now, s’far as I can tell. Mori, can you use your little slug buddy to check things out too? I wanna know if there’s anybody we need to worry about! We went to school with most of these people, but if they’ve been trainin’ half as hard as we have, then we’re gonna hafta be ready for anything! If Mom- Lady Hokage says we might die, then we’re probably gonna be fightin’, and Katsumi-sensei says a fight is won before a blow is ever thrown, so let’s just send it and win some future fights right here, and right now, ya got it?” With that, the self-proclaimed leader of Squad 3 was off, bounding through the crowd and toward the only other person in the whole damn auditorium who was studying. Hikaru was feeling good, even if he was forcing himself to a little bit. He needed to put up or shut up. This was his chance to prove he was more than just ‘the youngest Kaminari,’ ‘the Hokage’s son,’ or ‘Kenshin’s little brother.’

Once he made it to his target, Hikaru boldly tapped the young man on the shoulder to get his attention. “Hi, man. You’re Kotetsu, right? We went to school together. You might not remember, but that’s okay. Anyway, I saw you were studyin’, so I was hopin’ that I could study with you? I’m not too confident when it comes to the written stuff…” With all the hope in the world, Hikaru flashed a smile in Kotetsu’s direction.