Before heading to the academy, Snow, Kichi and Tamaki met up at what they considered to be their hangout spot. It was a sparse area in the woods that bore a log on the ground and a target for kunai throwing practice in the trees. As Kichi sat on the log engrossed with her novel, Snow watched Tamaki throw several kunai at the hung up target. It was not before long until Tamaki and Snow started bickering. 

"Look, if you think you can do so much better Snow, then why don't we make a bet. If you hit the center of the target, then I'll buy lunch. If you hit anywhere other than the center, then you have to buy lunch," said Tamaki as she held her hand out toward Snow. 

Snow happily shook Tamaki's hand without much thought as he thought of the delicious entrees Tamaki would have to purchase for him. As Snow prepared to take a shot at the target, he took his stance and breathed in the sweet, spring air, allowing Tamaki to take a seat next to Kichi on the log. 

"You truly are a sly girl," muttered the blue-eyed beauty without breaking eye-contact with the novel she is currently transfixed with. 

Tamaki questioned her best friend, innocently stating that she had no clue of what slyness Kichi spoke of. Kichi gently laid her novel on the log, indicating that she finished the book. She sighed, turning toward her blockhead of a friend in order to give her a straight look. Kichi explained how Snow was inevitably doomed to treat them to lunch since it was required of him to showcase absolute precision when executing his attempt at becoming victorious in this obviously rigged bet. 

"Yo, lunch is lunch man," shrugged Tamaki with a sheepish smile. 

Kichi only sighed once more, "You really are a has-been."

Due to being surprised by Kichi's insult, Tamaki fell off the log to gawk at her friend's response. Before Kichi could chuckle and provide reassurance to Tamaki that she was not a has-been (but a blockhead), Snow zoomed passed the two, screaming "run" at the top of his lungs. As Tamaki picked herself off the ground, she felt a tight grip around her wrist. Suddenly, Tamaki found herself abruptly being dragged by her blue-haired friend. 

"Slow down Kichi! My bun might fall out!" yelled the Okiayu with confusion. 

"Request denied!" argued Kichi as she ran even faster. 

Before Tamaki could bicker back, she heard several buzzes behind her, causing her to realize the vast amount of hornets that seemed to be quite adamant on ruining the friend's day today. Adrenaline started rushing through the long-haired Okiayu's body, which enabled Tamaki to start running as fast as Kichi throughout the woods. It was not long until the three found themselves uncontrollably running down the giant hill. 

"Shit!" cursed Tamaki, causing Kichi to loudly scold her best friend without realizing that Tamaki's bun came undone. 

Tamaki's hair was already long enough on its own when her head bore a bun, but without her bun, Tamaki's hair flowed all the way down to her feet. In other words, Tamaki tripped on her own hair, causing her to curse aloud as she fell into Kichi and Snow. As if things could not get any worse, another trio has placed themselves on an edge that curves up on the hill. 

"Pfft, look at those idiots," laughed one member of the trio previously mentioned as he bit into his sandwich. 

"U-Uh T-Takashi..." stuttered another member of the trio, causing the male who spoke previously to turn his attention away from Kichi, Snow and Tamaki. 

"What's up, Shogo?" questioned Takashi as his grey eyes stared down the timid male with brown eyes that accompanied his dirty blonde hair. 

"W-W-Well, I-I don't mean t-t-to to-" stuttered Shogo as his brown eyes moved rapidly, looking at the grass, Takashi, his own shoe, etc. 

The third male grunted, only causing the timid male, Shogo to jump at the sudden response. The third male's red eyes unintentionally glared at Shogo, which caused Shogo to begin quivering. 

"I'm not gonna hurt ya, Shogo- just spit it out!" yelled the third male as he ran his fingers through his own brown hair that bore red tips.

"W-Well, th-those idiots are about to run into us!" yelled Shogo as it was too late. 

Tamaki, Kichi and Snow rolled into the three males and off the ledge they were previously on. Due to rolling at full speed down the hill and off a ledge, the six were in the air. Unfortunately, yet fortunately for the six, they ended up flying into a lake that gratefully softened the fall. 

Tamaki was the last to float up to the surface as she was pulled up by the male with red tips. 

"You know, I can swim perfectly fine, Dramacus," mumbled Tamaki, causing Dramacus to let go of Tamaki. 

Due to such actions, Tamaki was frantically splashing water around, screaming that she was going to die. The splashing stopped whenever Dramacus took a hold of Tamaki once more, grinning as she continued to pout as she let him pull her to shore. Sadly enough for them, their arrival only started bickering. 

"Alright dweebs, what's the meaning of this? We were literally having a great meal before heading off to the academy and you guys just had to roll in!" exclaimed Dramacus angrily as steam started to come off his body. 

"Woah buddy, cool down, literally. Save your fiery badass fire for another day," said Takashi as he pats Dramacus on the back, enabling Dramacus to fully calm down. 

"Ah well, I suppose I should not have placed the target close to that hornet's nest. You live you learn I guess!" chuckled Kichi as she finished cleaning off her glasses. 

"How could an intellectual like you make such an idiotic mistake?" furiously yelled Takashi as his hair started to produce electricity. 

Dramacus had to hold Takashi back before he unleashed his own sassy fiery onto Kichi, allowing Tamaki some time to place a bun in her hair. Before Kichi could rebuttal, Shogo spoke up, stuttering once more about something related to the academy. Before Dramacus could yell at him again for being slow, Tamaki finished putting her hair up in a bun and realized what Shogo was attempting to warn them, which caused her to start yelling about how everyone's going to be late. 

"Last one there is a slaughtered shinobi!" exclaimed Tamaki as she begin to run towards the academy. 

The other five looked at each other, then finally darted towards the school in hopes of not being the slaughtered shinobi.

. . .

Michio-Sensei, a short, yet fit man closed the door of his classroom, preparing himself for the tears of joy and depression before he told everyone who passed the written exam and who did not. As he closed the door, the door was aggressively smacked into him, causing him to fall over as he clutched his head. Before he could ask what happened, he heard a familiar Okiayu's voice apologize before she took her seat. 

He excused her actions, assuring Tamaki that accidents happen. When he picked himself up, Michio-Sensei found the door to be partly closed due to the force of the door coming and leaving his body. As he moved his hand to close the door all the way, his body was met by another slam, causing him to step back a little as he held his head. He watched Kichi and then Snow run into the classroom to find their seats, only hearing an apology once they sat down. Michio-Sensei assumed that they were excited and accepted their apologies. 

This time, Michio-Sensei noticed that the door was a little more open than it previously was when Tamaki first ran into the classroom. Again, Michio-Sensei went to close the door and before he could finally shut it for good, the door slammed into him. This time Michio-Sensei was prepared and was able to catch the door as he watched Dramacus and Takashi run in, first apologizing, then taking their seats. Before accepting their apologies, Michio-Sensei slammed the door shut, praying that he would not get hit again. 

"Michio-Sensei, Shogo is on his way," stated Takashi as he watched Michio-Sensei turn his back on the door. 

Before Michio-Sensei could open the door, Shogo opened the door, causing the door to gently smack the back of Michio-Sensei's head. Shogo stuttered out an apology and quickly made it to his seat. Michio-Sensei asked if there were anymore students arriving, then shut the door with relief when he received several no's. Unfortunately enough for Michio-Sensei, before he could walk away from the door, several more students came rushing in, apologizing once they realized they stepped on Michio-Sensei (who sadly enough fell to the ground once being hit by the door abruptly). 

Michio-Sensei decided to leave the door open in fear of never getting back to his own seat. Once he sat at his desk, he cracked his back, causing some student to flinch at such aggression. Most instructors would be angry by now, but Michio-Sensei was one of the most gentle beasts that anyone knew in the village, Shizen. The only time Michio-Sensei became angry was when something he adored was destroyed or in the process of being destroyed. 

All his students waited anxiously, crossing their own fingers in hopes of being inked today. Michio-Sensei pulled out the exams and named each person that passed. Once he finished, he looked up from his desk to find several students crying out of joy or sadness, as he predicted. 

"Alright guys, as I call your names, please come up to the desk so I can ink you and then you can leave the academy for good. Those who failed will have to talk to me after class about make-ups," stated Michio-Sensei as he called on his first student, Dramacus. 

As he inked his students, those waiting to be inked went to their own friend groups to discuss several things that related to shinobi things or not. 

"I... I knew I wouldn't pass," mumbled Snow as he pouted at his desk. 

Kichi patted Snow's head, reassuring him that she would help him study for his make-up exams. As Kichi sat at the empty desk next to Snow in order to comfort him, Tamaki sat on top of Dramacus's desk, which was in front of Snow's. 

"Wow Tamaki, this is the first time I'm actually watching you breaking a sweat to think," teased Dramacus as he returned to his desk to find Tamaki deep in her thoughts. 

"Very funny, but things don't add up," muttered Tamaki. 

"What do you mean things don't add up? You passed right? Was that a mistake?" sarcastically said Takashi as he sheepishly looked at Tamaki, waiting for her to overreact as she usually would. 

However, Tamaki only responded with a legitimate reply. Her friends watched her body posture straighten as she explained her thoughts. 

"Look guys, Snow shouldn't have failed. Not only did he study with Kichi, the smartest person ever, but the exam was easy enough for me to get an A, even without the curve Sensei placed on the exam. The only way for someone to fail is if they didn't study or just didn't take the exam," explains Tamaki as her brows continue to furrow. 

As Tamaki tried to wrap her head around such trivial matters, she hears Michio-Sensei call on another student, "Kemmi", and attempted to go back to her thoughts. As the boy walked passed Tamaki, Tamaki caught a whiff of the musty scent that Kemmi gave off. Actually, Tamaki realized that this was a familiar smell to her, that was when she realized something. She quickly jumped of Dramacus's desk, startling her close friends and pointed her finger at the front of the class where Kemmi is about to become inked by Michio-Sensei. 

"Stop right there!" yelled Tamaki as she made her way to the front of the classroom, collecting stares from her peers. 

"Um, what's wrong Tamaki?" asked Michio-Sensei, carefully placing the ink and paintbrush on his desk. 

"Kemmi, did you study for the exam?" asked Tamaki, glaring right into the boy's soul. 

"No, unlike you, I don't need to study to pass the exam," retorted Kemmi as he scoffed at Tamaki's sudden intrusion. 

"What did he score on the exam, Michio-Sensei?" asked Tamaki without breaking her eye contact with this black-haired delinquent. 

"Ah well, I can tell you that he had the second highest score, next to Kichi's who placed first in the exam rankings," answered Michio-Sensei. 

"I guess I'm just that good," sheepishly grinned Kemmi, causing Tamaki to turn her attention away from the idiot in order to bless her eyes with the sight of her sensei.

"Isn't that weird Michio-Sensei? A delinquent that usually scores poorly, scores almost as high as Kichi, who if I may add, works her butt off to get her scores?" questioned Tamaki, awaiting for her sensei's response. 

Tamaki noticed that all the attention in the room was on her, since she struggled to keep an inside voice, especially when she was riled up. She watched her sensei become engulfed in deep thought, listening to the tap of his fingers on his own desk. Tamaki noticed how tense Kemmie appeared to be, meaning that there was definitely something he was trying to hide.