It was the day Team Akari was leaving for the Chunin exams. Just before they were about to leave, the three Genin were called by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The three Genin stood in front of the Hokage as he put down his smoke pipe on the table.
'His Chakra is massive but still less than Jiraiya Sensei's.' Kazuki thought as his mind's eye perceived the chakra.
"This Chunin exam is very important for the village. The last time Chunin exams were in Iwa, we sent a very average team, and they got killed in the first round. The daimyo was very upset by that and he has reduced our budget since, so this time I am sending you three hoping that you will win and impress the Daimyo, he will be watching every round." Hiruzen said in a concerned voice.
"We won't disappoint you, Lord Hokage." Ryuma said.
"There is just one problem. I just got the information that this year Iwagakure prodigy Deidara and Onhoko's granddaughter Kurotsuchi are participating as well. Kurotsuchi might not be a problem, but Deidara is a once in a generation genius in explosion release." Hiruzen explained.
The atmosphere became tense, everyone in the room was serious.
Kazuki thought, 'Deidara, huh! He is trouble. He is the only character I never wanted to fight. Who would want to fight such a lunatic who doesn't think twice before exploding himself? But this might be a good opportunity. He's a child right now and it will be relatively easier to kill him and if I remember correctly, he stole a forbidden jutsu from Iwa before he went rogue, so he shouldn't be as powerful right now.
After that, Hiruzen gave them a speech about the will of fire to try to brainwash them.
'I thought he would say, "Don't die," but he just tried to brainwash us into thinking that we should give our lives for the village.' Kazuki thought. 'Well, that's the Hokage's duty, I guess. He can't care about the lives of every single shinobi like Naruto does when he becomes the Hokage.
After that Kazuki and his team begin to head towards Iwagakure.
Aside from Team Akari, there was one more team from Konoha going for the chunin exams.
When they were taking a break, Kazuki said to Yuki, "Hey Yuki, don't believe the words of that old man. Your life is more important than these stupid exams."
"I know, same goes for you by the way." Yuki said,
"Of course," Kazuki replied with a faint smile.
On their second day they reached the Land of Earth. The terrain completely changed from trees and grass to rocky fields and they could see mountains in the distance.
After a total of three days they reached Iwagakure. They were welcomed by an elite ninja squad, including Kitsuchi.
Kazuki thought, 'There is a team of ANBU that's following us but I noticed that the Senju clan's ANBU team is also there to protect Yuki.'
The village was massive. The buildings were all made of rocks and honestly the infrastructure was looking better than Konoha.
'I guess that's art.' Kazuki thought.
Kitsuchi and his team led them to a building and assigned them their separate rooms to stay for the chunin exams.
They were told that the chunin exams are tomorrow and a team will be sent in the morning to take them to the location.
It was evening, and they still had time to explore the village, but Ryuma was too tired and went to sleep, so Kazuki and Yuki started exploring the village.
They walked for a few minutes and found a rice cake shop that had a lot of crowds.
After a few minutes of waiting, they finally got to try the 'Rock Rice Cake.'
"It's delicious, a little too sweet for my taste though." Yuki said.
"Would you like some extra spice in it, Madam?" Kazuki teased.
"You meanie!" Yuki pouted.
After strolling in the village for a few more minutes, they saw some stairs at the edge of the village leading to a mountain.
They climbed the stairs and reached the top.
"Yuki, look at that." Kazuki said, pointing towards the village.
From there they could see the whole village, it was a very beautiful sight, for them at least, because they weren't familiar with this type of terrain.
"It's beautiful." Yuki said, her eyes widened.
They both sat on a nearby bench and enjoyed the view.
Yuki, who was always very mature and unexpressive, now often acts childish and enjoys every small moment now.
He remembered when Yuki always had that fake smile on her face when they were in the academy and now it's replaced by a real smile.
But then Kazuki's smile vanished as he remembered something.
'Why wasn't she in the original story? She has already become very powerful and will become even more so as the time passes, so why is it that she wasn't in the manga or anime? There's only one possibility, something that I don't want to consider.' Kazuki thought.
'I always thought that I wouldn't get so attached to someone but now I can't imagine my life without her. This chunin exams might be where she died in the original story so I have to protect her at any cost.' Kazuki thought.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Yuki said.
Kazuki snapped out of his thoughts and said, "Oh, I was just thinking about tomorrow's exams."
"Don't worry about it. We'll definitely top the chunin exams." Yuki said with a smile.
The next day Kazuki and his team arrived at the exams location and he noticed that there were many teams, even from minor villages. Among them Kazuki spotted a Yellow haired boy, a black-haired girl and a chubby boy standing together with Kitsuchi.
'They must be Deidara, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi.' Kazuki thought. 'Kurotsuchi looks too young, like she should be in the academy. I guess she graduated very early.'