Over Takigakure's thrashing waterfall, on top of the ridge, Fu laid in a small field of grass warmed by the sun. She rocked her foot on her knee as she gazed at the drifting clouds.

"Such a beautiful, yet boring day."

She stretched her limbs and laid flat on her back. Focused only on the wind that blew over her body, she shut her eyes and ignored the footsteps that came her way.

A foot kicked her arm.

"Fu, get up," Yoro said.

"Can't you see that I'm asleep?"

"It's important," Kegon said.

"What?" She folded her arms under her head and peeked at them. "I thought I had the day off."

"Lord Shibuki sent us for you," Yoro said.

With panic expressed in her face, she sat up. "Did I do something wrong?!"

Fu followed them to the residence house. To the side of Shibuki's seat were a kettle and a small stove. Due to all the work he had, he rarely left that spot. Not far from him were rolls of scrolls and a bookcase.

"Hey, chief, what's up?" Fu asked.

Shibuki didn't bat an eye away from his scroll, almost uninterested in the ordeal. "Did you really send an application for the chunin exams?"

She cringed. "I might've! But let's say I did, would you… recommend me?"

Breath seeped out between his teeth and out of his lips as he lowered the scroll and shook his head. "I can't do that, you know that I can't."

Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. "But why not? I'm ready for the outside world!"

He gave a stern look. "And what if someone were to find out you're a jinchuruki?!"

She turned her back to him and crossed her arms. "I'll just go on my own, then!"

"Hey, wait!" He took in a deep breath. "Maybe I'm being too hasty. Take a seat. This may be an opportunity for everyone, even you."

Fu sat between Kegon and Yoro, with Shibuki on the platform a few inches in front of them. He poured steaming tea into a cup and set it to the side.

"The chunin exams are where ninjas represent their village and reach for their goals. I've told you before, that even though our village is small, it was among the strongest because we've been able to produce capable ninjas. Since I had taken the mantle of head of the Waterfall, I've been wanting to keep on the down-low until I was ready. Perhaps the time is now we need to show how strong the Waterfall is. This would certainly lead to virtue and trust of feudal lords to hire us for important missions."

As she eyed him, Fu scraped her teeth against her lip. "So, I can go?"

"Did you even listen to what I just said?!"

"Of course!" She stood up and held her fists, stopping her from jumping up and down. "And I won't let you down! Everyone will know of Takigakure!"

Shibuki eyed her. "Without them knowing about the Seven-Tails, right?"

"They won't know a thing!"

"Kegon, Yoro, you two will disguise yourselves Fu's genin team."

"Got it," Kegon said.

"Great! I'll meet you two in front of the waterfall! I need to get something from my hut!"

Kegon waved his hand around. "Yeah, yeah."

Fu hurried out of the building and flew across the village like the thousands of times she's done before, waving back to the people below. She flew over one of the giant branches, through the beams of sunlight that penetrated the leaves of the Holy Tree, and to her lonesome hut.

Inside, as she placed on her cylinder bag, she heard her name being called by the girl she saved from Suien years ago, Shizuku, along with the voice of her brother Himatsu.

"Fu! Come play with us!" Shizuku yelled from the ground.

Fu fluttered her wings and floated down to land in front of them. "Sorry, I can't."

"But we thought you had the day off!" Himatsu said.

"Welllll~, something came up! Shibuki is letting me go to the Chunin Exams!"

"The Chunin Exams? What are those?" Shizuku asked.

"They're exams, and if I do well, I can be promoted and take on better missions. Missions that would be outside of the village!"

Shizuku folded her arms behind her back as she glimpsed down to Fu's feet. "How long are you going to be gone for?"

The child's eyes rolled to look up as Fu placed a thoughtful finger to her lips. She gazed up to an imaginable thinking cloud. "I'm not sure, not at all."

She peeked down at Shizuku and saw her gloomful expression. Fu crouched down and squeezed her cheeks, making her laugh. Ever since she saved her from Suien, Shizuku has been like a little sister to her.

"I'll be back soon enough, though! And then I'll play with you two!"

"You better!"

Fu hugged the girl and shook the hair of the boy before she rushed to meet with her team.

After she flew over the ridge, she saw her team waiting in front of the exterior waterfall. The wet grass almost made her slip as she landed.

"You're bringing that?" Kegon glanced at the red bag on her back. "Have you figured out how to use it yet?"

She shook her head. She's gotten used to flying with the bag on, enough not to notice it, but it was still a mystery to her.

"Not yet, but what if that time comes during the exams?!"

Kegon shrugged. "As long it doesn't get in the way."

"The exam is in Konohagakure. It's rather close so we'll go straight there instead of camping," Yoro said.

Fu walked between the two men. With wide eyes, she took in the scenery around her. A huge plain of grass, wide and tall trees, scattered waterfalls, and a warm sun. She wondered if she would miss this place, but then she wondered what Konohagakure looks like!

"How long will it take to get there?"

Kegon rubbed his face. "If we were to camp, we would be there by tomorrow evening. The exam doesn't begin until the day after that."

"That long?! It only takes me like twenty minutes to cover the area of our village, so…" Fu counted her fingers.

Kegon and Yoro rolled their eyes and grinned at each other before Kegon pulled out a map and unfolded it. "Hold the other end, Fu."

With the map straightened out, Kegon pointed at a waterfall. "This is our village, the outline around it is our country, the land of Waterfalls." He dragged his finger down and right, toward a leaf. "To the Southeast is Konohagakure, in the Fire Country."

"Wow… such a long walk."

"You better not fly and leave us here!" Yoro exclaimed.

Fu couldn't hide her crooked smile. "Whaaat?~ Nooo~.. I wouldn't everrr~ do that!"

Yoro folded his arms. "Better not. We're faster than you think."

Her face cracked into a smile. "That so?"

As she sprinted ahead with the map, she folded it and fluttered her wings out.

"Fu! We're serious!" Kegon said.

"I can't hear youuuu~," She said as she sped up.

"Damn it, Fu!" Yoro said before they began jogging, playing keep-up.

"Honestly, how do you two walk allllll~ the time? I can't even walk ten minutes without needing to just... not walk."

While she glided through the path, she ignored the calls behind her. Every other moment, she would look behind her to make sure the two were still in the distance. She had to take a second look after they vanished. She squinted an eye as she hopped to her feet, but grinned as she walked back.

"Oh, where have Kegon and Yoro gone?!" She held her face. "I sure hope they're okayyyy~!"

Silence.

After her teeth scraped her bottom lip, she cuffed her hands around her mouth. "You two can come out now! Ya got me! I'm sorry!"

More silence.

She curled her fingers at her chin before she walked back. Her eyebrows knitted in worry. "This isn't funny!"

The path was empty as she started to glide over the rough, dirt path. "Yoro? Kegon?!"

The leaves above her rustled. Someone in black gear with a different headband had grappled her to the ground and made a snark laugh.

"You shouldn't have left your team! They were so tired from chasing after you, they weren't able to defend themselves!"

Her limbs were pinned down, her face was pushed to the rough ground. "Who are you?!"

"I'm!-" Poof. "Kegon."

Yoro walked out of the woods to their side. "It's a real-life event that could happen at any time. If we're running trying to keep up with you, we'd be too tired to defend from an ambush. You need to remember that during the exam, or anywhere in the world. No doubt we'll be pitted against other teams and something like that may come up."

Fu whimpered. "I get it but you two are mean."

"It's a good lesson. We've all had it..."

Kegon stood up and offered Fu a hand, which she gripped to pull herself up. She sucked in her cheeks and glared at them before she marched past them.

However, she smiled and turned, making her hair sway around. "Even if I can't fly on the way there, I'm still super excited, so can we get a move on?"

Yoro tilted his face down and grinned, closing his eyes. "I get why you're eager, Fu, but you need to get a grip on yourself. This world is dangerous, especially to those who wear headbands."

Fu looked to the headband wrapped on her arm, the sign of a ninja with the symbol of her village.

"Are we there yet?" Fu asked.

"No, Fu," Yoro groaned.

"But my feet hurt."

"You shouldn't rely so much on your flying," Kegon said.

The puffiness of the clouds above took her attention before she tilted her head to look at them. "I'm hungryyy~. Do you think there'll be a barbecue restaurant there?"

"They do," Kegon grinned. "We've been here before."

"Oh?! I'm glad, that means we can go straight there!"

The team of three walked between the paralleling groups of trees. Unlike the Waterfall country, there weren't any cool breezes brewed from the clusters of waterfalls. It was replaced by humidity and heat, and it made her feel gross.

"I really need a bath or something," she said.

Kegon rubbed his chin. "There is a hot spring."

"Kegon," Yoro glared.

"Right… not supposed to let her out of our sight."

Fu huffed a breath out.

Beyond the horizon of the dirt path and trees were mountains, it wasn't until they were much closer she realized the mountains had carved, stone faces on them.

She pointed. "There's' faces up there!"

"Those are the Hokage," a smug Yoro said as he pointed to the utmost left face. "The first Hokage, the second, the third, fourth, and fifth."

"Think we can meet one?!"

Stress lines appeared on Kegon's face as he made a fake smile. "You've seen Shibuki and how busy he is. The Hokage is even busier."

Fu puckered her downturned lips. "I guess there won't be time to meet a foreigner, then."

Once they were within range, Fu smiled at the sight beyond gigantic, opened doors that made a gap between the just as big wall. She didn't expect to see so many people, so many buildings, and so much luck she must've had to take in that sight right then.

On the other side of the door, two Leaf ninjas sat inside a booth, in which the three of them signed in at.

"Ah, here for the chunin exams. Good luck, it's a joint exam this year with the Leaf and Sand," one of the Leaf ninjas said.

"Thank you, we look forward to it," Kegon said.

Fu was more attracted to all the people that roamed the giant road, she was almost overwhelmed by the number of people. The road led up to the mountain, under which was the Hokage's office.

"Do you think that the team of Leaf genin that helped against Suien will be taking the exam, too?" Fu asked.

"No idea, we didn't see them ourselves," Yoro said.

Kegon rubbed his chin. "But if they were able to go toe-to-toe with Suien, they might have already become chunin."

"Oh, well maybe I can make other friends during the exams?"

"We're not here to make friends, Fu!" Yoro said.

She pouted. She was going to make friends, whether they liked it or not.

After they explained to Fu what a hotel was, they walked to it. It wasn't far from the entrance that the tall building stood, made of bricks and green, wooden panels. The lobby had sofas, which Fu sat in while Yoro and Kegon checked-in.

The door chimed as a team of three walked in their headbands that of an hourglass. Two girls, one boy with glasses.

"Three whole days of traveling," the girl with brown hair sighed.

Fu jerked up. "Hi! I'm Fu!"

"Eh?" The girl was stunned at Fu's sudden outburst, while the other two stared. She took Fu's hand and shook it. "Hello. I'm Matsuri…?"

"Would you like to be friends?!" Fu beamed.

"Uh, are you here for the chunin exams?" Matsuri asked.

Fu kept her smile and nodded. The boy cuffed his hand over Matsuri's ear and whispered. Before she could react, Yoro and Kegon pulled Fu away.

"Hey, wait, I'm not done making friends!"

"What was it that we said? We're not here to make friends, we are here to represent our village," Yoro said. "Also, Kegon is starving. Weren't you just before getting here?"

Kegon smiled. "You say that like you weren't hungry yourself, Yoro."

Fu pouted as she glared at them. "Yeah, but…"

"We'll go to our room, unpack, and head straight there," Kegon said.

"Fineeee~"

The hotel room consisted of the main room with two beds, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It was nicer than any room she had ever seen. Compared to her hut, she felt like a savage.

As she put her bag down, she let herself fall back onto the bed that almost bounced her to the ceiling. "It's like a cloud," she smiled. "Why doesn't our village have beds this nice?"

"You should be grateful, Fu," Yoro said.

Fu let out a huge snore, which made Yoro tighten his fist up. "Hey, wake up! We know you're not asleep! We're not leaving you here!"

Fu opened an eye. "Do you mind…? I'm trying to sleep."

"You need to learn some respect."

Snoooree.

Kegon grinned as Yoro gritted his teeth. "Fine, let's tie her up while we go eat, Kegon."

She pushed herself up from the bed. When they trained at the village or if she was getting into trouble, they would tie her up to ground her, in a literal sense.

"Hey, I'm up, don't tie me up, again! I hate when you two do that!"'

Fu sat at the stone table as she people watched from the window. The seats were comfy due to the green cushions, a real high-class restaurant. At least, to what she's known all her life.

"Fu, you're missing out," Kegon said as he used his chopsticks to grab a piece of meat from the circular grill built into the middle of the table. On both sides of the grill were plates of raw beef.

The moment she walked in and smelled the aroma of cooking meat, her stomach rumbled and she was eager and her mouth watered.

But when she gazed outside and saw the Hokage Rock above the buildings, she felt envious of Konohagakure. She loved her village and her people, she loved the Holy tree and her lonesome hut, but her home was but a branch compared to Konohagakure.

"This place is so… amazing," Fu said.

Kegon and Yoro glimpsed at each other before back at her.

"They are one of the great five Hidden Villagers, of course, they are," Kegon said. "They have a rich history, more than almost any other village."

Fu used her chopsticks and snatched one of the grilled meats. They eyed her, expecting an exuberant reaction, yet…

"How do you like it, Fu?" Yoro asked.

"It's great, it's the best thing I have ever eaten." She turned her attention back to the people outside. "So, this is what I've been missing out on…"

Kegon held his chopsticks together. "There'll be more to come, and after this, Shibuki will definitely let you leave the village more."

"Hope so…"

"And, the chunin exam isn't for another day. We planned on training our team dynamic a bit, but surely, there'll be room for other activities," Kegon said.

The three of them already knew how to work as a team. After all, they were the ones that trained Fu. Shibuki trained her some but not to the amount that Kegon and Yoro had.

After training in a distant training field, the three of them walked around the village. Unfamiliar faces smiled at her as they went by, even their shinobi.

"This village really like foreigners, huh?" Fu asked. She held her arms as she glimpsed around. "It's so different from ours."

"Feeling homesick?" Kegon asked.

Homesick. As in, sick of home? "Yeah… you can say that."

"Hm… say, why don't we take her to the hot springs?"

"You were serious about that?" Yoro asked.

Kegon raised his hands. "She seems pretty tense, and she would be in her element."

Yoro cuffed a hand at his mouth and whispered. "But what if she sneaks away?"

"Hey!" Fu called out.

Yoro shut his eyes. They strained themselves before he gave a stern stare. "One wing out of place and we go right back to our village. Understood?"

She glared and scrunched up her face. "Yes, I understand."

A hot spring. Takigakure didn't have one inside its interior, though there were some all around the area. Of course, a village's hot spring was gender exclusive, that's why Yoro was cynical about it.

The thought of sneaking off did occur to her, but where would she even go? No doubt Yoro would find out, anyway. After she dressed in a towel and walked toward the woman's hot spring, she found herself smiling.

Not only was the area surrounded by ridges, but the thrashing of the waterfall also made her feel at home, though it wasn't as intense or as gigantic Taki's. Over and under the sleek, red rails attached to the wooden beams were the clean, hot water that emitted the steam like Shibuki's cup of tea.

Outside in the world without being accompanied by Kegon and Yoro. The word "free" past through her mind. Getting away from them, away from everything was what she needed. After the chunin exams, would the door of freedom be unlocked for her? She played out the scenario in her head.

"Fu, you returned!" Shibuki would say. "You have presented our village well! You may now go off on any mission you like and go anywhere you would please!"

Once she was done admiring the outside, she walked into the empty hot room. In the middle was a pool of water, surrounded by rocks that held the water in place. The steamed brewed from it cluttered the inside.

As she sat at the side of the hot spring, two people come in.

"Oh, Fu, right?" Matsuri asked. Her teammate with the black hair was with her, too.

Fu gleamed. "Yeah!"

The two of them sat on the opposite side of the spring. "Did you come here to get away from your partners? Mikoshi, our other teammate is so uptight that we had to come here to get away from him."

"I understand, my teammates are like that, too. They don't let me do anything."

"This is Yukata, by the way."

Yukata smiled. "Nice to meet you, Fu. You have really pretty hair."

Although she was in a hot spring, her cheeks turned hot. She wasn't ever complimented before on anything but her abilities. She rose her hand over her mouth. "Oh, uh, I well, it's… green…"

Yukata giggled. "Well, yeah."

"You were from Takigakure, right? With the waterfalls?" Matsuri asked. "That's so far away from Sunagakure. Have you ever been there?"

"No, but I've read about it! The Land of Wind is a giant desert with a lot of natural barriers and dangers," Fu said. "A complete opposite of Takigakure's country, with the grass, trees, and waterfalls…"

"You make your place sound like paradise," she chuckled.

"I heard you earlier that it took three days to get here. I can't even imagine that…"

"It's not the easiest, but at least we don't have to go back for a while. We came with the Sunagakure proctor. She said the exams usually take a month or so."

"A whole month?"

Matsuri nodded. "Yeah, although she wouldn't tell us how long it would take this time."

Fu smiled. "I hope it's a month, though. That gives me a lot of time to make some friends!"

"Is that your only goal in taking the exams?"

Fu kept her smile but looked down at the water between her lets. "No. I wanted to represent my village like any other ninja and become chunin, but I also wanted to make friends along the way!"

Matsuri and Yukata smiled. "I see, well whatever happens during the exams, I hope you'll think of us as friends!"

"You two will be my friends?! Really?!"

"Of course!" Yukata said. "Lord Garaa always said it was good to form bonds beyond our villages as it might bring our villages closer."

Matsuri nodded. "If it weren't for a certain ninja here, the Leaf and Sand villages may not be so close to each other as they are now to do a joint chunin exam."

"Lord Gaara, is he your leader?"

"Yeah. He is our Kazekage, like the Hokage of the Leaf."

Fu wondered if Shibuki could ever behold the title of Kage. "I wonder if my village could ever become like yours one day."

A few days later, at the entrance of the chunin exam's building, several teams of genin stood outside. Fu tried to count them, up to fifteen teams.

Kegon and Yoro stood on each side of her. She saw Matsuri and Yukata, who smiled and waved at her. Mikoshi was clueless.

However, someone else stuck out. A genin with pink hair. She tried to remember where she saw it before…

As she took a step toward her, Yoro grabbed her wrist. "What is it? The exam is about to start."

She pointed. "That girl over there, I think she helped against Suien all those years ago. I wanted to say thanks."

"It wouldn't be a good idea right now," Kegon said.

She pouted. Although she stood back, she kept looking at all the genin. Some teams had a theme between them, others were unique in every way. One person even had a huge dog by their side.

The two ninjas from the check-in booth walked around the corner and to the front of the building. "Please form a line and come in as teams as we call for you."

Fu bit her lower lip as she pulled on her teammates' sleeve to be near the front of the line. "Fu, what are you doing?" Kegon asked.

Without them even knowing, she got them behind the pink-haired girl's team. "I'm… just excited," Fu said.

Like how she wished, the girl looked over her shoulder. "Oh, you look familiar."

Fu smiled. "I think it was your team that came to the Waterfall village one time."

The girl turned fully around, along with the blonde girl and the stout boy. She pointed. "Oh! Yeah, with team Kakashi!"

"Everyone in the village is still really thankful for what your team did."

The girl smiled. "I'm glad to see you're okay. You went into a coma after you defended that girl against Suien…"

Fu scratched her cheek. "Oh, yeah… I forgot about that."

"Well, good luck on the exam."

"Hey, wait! What was your name?"

"The first team may now come up!" One of the booth ninjas said from inside the building.

She smiled. "It's Sakura. See you inside."

As Fu waved her goodbye, Yoro nudged his elbow on her arm. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

She scratched her cheek. "Eh, well…"

Kegon chuckled. "If only you were always this bright."

Fu gawked at him. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"

"Next team, come up!"

"Come on, Fu," Kegon said, as the two of them walked into the building.

Fu pursed her lips as she followed them. This was the turning point of her life. She can't wait until she sees Shibuki's face at awe how responsible she was and how ready she was for the world!

What could go wrong?

In the neighboring country, near the thrash of the Takigakure's waterfall entrance played Shizuku and Himatsu. They ran around the pond until they noticed the figure emerged from the shadows of the trees.

"Who's that?" Himatsu asked as he stood behind Shizuku.

Shizuku looked to the man's headband. Although he was scary, she recognized their village's headband, even if there was a slash through it.

"He's one of the ninjas. Hi! Have we met?! I can't tell who you are under that mask and cloak."

"I haven't been here in a long time," the man said in a deep, brash voice. "Where is the girl Fu?"

"She's at the chunin exams?" The girl gasped and pointed. "Are you her father?"

The man stood and stared for a moment before he turned around and left.

Both of the kids slowly walked away. "That was really weird," Himatsu said.

"We should probably go talk to Lord Shibuki," Shizuku said.

"Oh, well you now?" Another man said. Though he had the same black cloak with red clouds, the new man wore a different headband around his neck. He stood between them and the entrance, gripping a large scythe.