Finding Myself [Rewrite]

ch. 26: Chunin Exams pt. 2

"Sorry I'm late, I really didn't want to be here."

"Oh my God, I am so sick of you."

The first day of the exam came quickly. Sarutobi, the Hokage, had to get some paperwork done in order for me to take the exams myself. The Chunin exam is only for threeman squads anyway, so Kakashi's fourman squad would've had to have been broken up anyway.

In order for me to take the exam on my own, I had to prove to be as strong and balanced as a threeman squad.

...Which I think is odd because the only reason they put me on a threeman squad was to show me how strong a genin should be, and learn to moderate myself.

That, plus the fact that I was in Anbu for two years. Like... Make it make sense, somebody please.

Anyway, for the duration of the exam, I needed a teacher to "sponsor" me, because recommendations are important, so Anko became my instructor.

Anko is... An interesting person, who does interesting things..

Which is to say, she scares the hell out of me and I'm so happy to be on her not bad side. I don't think she has a good side.

Oh, she's also an exam proctor, so... That's nice. I haven't had many personal interactions with her before, and only one really stood out to me. It was around the time Kurenai brought me in, before it was decided that I would stay.

It was before I met Naruto, summoned Kano, learned from Iruka, and even knew who Sarutobi was...

A woman with short purple hair stalked into the room. She entered through an open window like a cat, and next thing I noticed, there was a blade at my neck, and cold eyes peering down at me with a snakelike glint.

"...You're one of that bastard's pets, aren't you. Talk, what are you doing here, what is he plotting."

Her voice was as cold as an artic night and her pupiless eyes bore a hole into my already shattered soul.

I wasn't afraid of her then, not even a little. The blade on my neck was drawing blood from the broken skin, digging into an old scar.

My body was absolutely covered with scar tissue, and my bones were weak from having been repeatedly broken and healed over. It was not a state in which any child should have been found, however, there was one more alarming detail on this body that alerted Anko.

"I can smell it, his chakra is all over you. They might not have noticed, but it's unmistakable. I should kill you right now, but if you tell me what he's got planned, I'll spare your life."

I could tell, looking in her lifeless eyes, eyes that I've seen many times before, it didn't matter what I said. Even if I could say anything, she was going to kill me.

I was barely alive as it was, I had no energy to try and rationalize the situation, and to add to that, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue living. I was so certain that this wouldn't be any different from the life I had led before...

So why, why did I see so much hesitation in that woman's face. I saw so much sorrow, pity even, honestly, I thought I was imagining it but looking back it was obvious. Anko was empathizing with me. As if she could see my life in its entirety, and resonated with what I had gone through. Though, it wasn't truly me who she was empathizing with. It was her.

Minaki Tahoma.

The body I had possessed had an entire life before I was placed in it. A life that... I actually bore witness to. I thought they were just nightmares, but no, they were her memories, or at least, fractions of them.