🌸 My team was the first to reach the location followed by a team from the Waterfall Village. We were invited into a building to be told the exam would not start until the next day. For the meantime, we will be under the Sand Village's hospitality.

Master Toneri sat on his bed while I stood in front of him. We were having a discussion about our next moves to capture Hinata.

"That other Hyuga.. What is his name?"

"Neji Hyuga. He's my— Hinata's cousin." I quickly corrected, almost calling him my cousin. Habits die hard. Although I knew the cold, harsh fact that he isn't related to me, I have been calling him my cousin from my earliest memories.

"He is known as a prodigy, mastering advanced techniques from a young age. I heard his Byakugan is the strongest pair in existence." I explained further about him.

A menacing smile graced his lips. "Bring me his eyes.."

"Yes, Master Toneri."

Although I want to object it, I know it is not wise. I owe him great debts and I must return the favour by completing his goals. His goals quenches my thirst for revenge, it is a win-win situation; however, Neji is extremely intelligent and strong. Despite training endlessly for the past three years, I'm not confident that I will be a formidable opponent to him. After all, he is a genius.

I should observe him to find his weakness and that means getting closer to him; however, he will definitely sense something is wrong if I were to suddenly befriend him. I must think of a way that would seem inconspicuous.

"I have told you before we came here, but I'll remind you again. Do not reveal your true strength until the time comes. We must not attract too much attention that would arise any suspicion."

"I understand. What should we do next?"

He crossed his arms and hummed. "Focus on your task for now."

I nodded my head and held in a sigh. I have been his only company for the past few years and he is still keeping so much from me. He does not trust me, I'm merely his tool. Although Master Toneri and I feel nothing towards each other, his feelings towards Hinata disturbs me. Because I feel inferior towards her. In the hearts of the people, she is the most important and her value is higher than mine. I hate it.

Don't I worth something too? Tears brimmed my eyes as I asked myself that question.

Master Toneri's hand suddenly raise and gently cupped my cheek. I was so surprised by his gesture. He had never shown any sign of affection towards me and this was truly the first time.

He smiled earnestly, "Further actions will be discussed after details of the second exam are announced. Take your time here, I'm not in a rush to bring Hinata to our home."

Our home? A tear slipped and he wiped it off.

I smiled as I remembered the reason I'm loyal to this fearsome and extremely powerful man. He was the only person who treated me like a family. From the first day, he had taken me in, fed me, trained me, and was never upset with me. He would smile all the time, aside from the times he was a little too obsessive about Hinata.

"Let's go." He said and led me to the canteen for our dinner. At that time, my clone had long been gone when she entered my room. I had to conserve my chakra. She will be summoned again before we have to gather for the test.

When we entered the canteen, the leaf ninjas were quietly seated in two groups. Master Toneri walked towards them as I walked closely behind. The lavender-eyed girl was the first to notice us and waved Master Toneri over.

"Hello, Toneri!"

While her companions looked at her quizzically, I tried not to cringe at her addressing Master Toneri so casually. Although I too, must address him by his name to avoid suspicion. I tend to not call him at all before bringing up a topic because I know he would be listening.

When Hinata looked behind Master Toneri's shoulders, there was a short moment of silence.

"This must be your teammate." She said.

"Yes, she is Miku. Her twin is Miki, but she's currently resting in her room." Master Toneri replied.

Hinata nodded and turned to her friends. She gestured towards us and said, "This is Toneri, a friend I met during the first round. Behind him is his teammate Miku."

She turned towards us and introduced all ninjas of the Hidden Leaf to us. When she introduced Sasuke, our eyes lingered in each other's for awhile. Although I'm in a disguise, it's unsettling to be around him. It's as though he could see through me easily.

All of a sudden, there was a thump from the back of the room and the ground started shaking.

Such heavy footsteps!

We looked towards the direction and a plump guy covered in sweat was walking towards the tables with food displayed on it. He caught the entire canteen's attention and as soon as he neared the table, most of the people lunged at the huge figure and pushed him down. Much to their dismay and in contrast to their objective, the ninja's sweat sprayed all over the food.

The ninjas from the Sand Village stood up one by one and one of them angrily said, "What have you guys done to our dinner?"

Followed by another female, "Yeah, what were you guys thinking?"

"Why are you disrespecting our friend?" Said a guy with slicked back pompadour hairstyle.

Lee countered, "Please don't misunderstand! We just want to protect our food!"

The girl from before argued back, "So you just want to protect your food and forget all our portions is that right?"

"What are you saying? We would never stoop as low as that!" Naruto retorted.

Then, Kiba added an unnecessary opinion, "Your suspicion means Gaara did not train you right."

It was a mistake on his part to touch a sensitive subject because the faces of the sand ninjas darkened; well, some of them.

A kunoichi with shoulder length brown hair punched Kiba furiously and shouted, "Criticising our Kazekage is unforgivable!"

With that first punch, everyone started to break into fights. I pulled Master Toneri to the side and shielded him with my body. It is my duty to protect him and he must not dirty his hands by fighting these low lives. While everyone was busy fighting, I took this as an opportunity to observe their skills. Knowing what we will deal with beforehand would be useful for us in the future if we ever encounter them in battles.

A few notable opponents were my ex-teammates, Neji's team, a shinobi from the Sand Village who seems to excel in taijutsu. Aside from them, there aren't anyone who are worthy to note.

I couldn't help but pay more attention to my ex-teammates. They have definitely become stronger and increased in agility. Especially Naruto, who was once an annoying idiot.

Perhaps I was too caught up with the scene that I have loosen my guard. An unfamiliar man from the village of the hidden leaves tried to land a kick to the side of my head.

Thankfully, Master Toneri was quick to notice it and flipped him to the wall. I drowned in disappointment towards myself. So much for protecting Master Toneri and to avoid his hands being stained by these unworthy beings.

I hung my head low and apologised in a whisper, "I'm sorry, Master Toneri."

There was his smile again, "That's Toneri to you." He placed a hand on my head. How odd. "It's okay, I know your focus is elsewhere and I hope it's for something useful."

I shot my head behind to face him. "Of course!"

🌸🌻🌸🌻

Dedicated to lmml11 for voting for this story in the Naruto Wattys Winter 2015! Thank you so much!

I'm aware that a lot of you have questions about this story, so feel free to leave comments below and I'll have publish a Q&A chapter to answer your questions.

Here's a quick image of Sakura's disguise, Miku.

A quick and very simple sketch. I might do a final piece of Miku in my Instagram so stay tuned(I guess?) —@Joelleapeno

~Joelle

Published: 12 May 2018