Her hair moved to the rhythm of the wind as her gray eyes looked at Yamato, the expression on Toru's face was covered by her hair.
"The exam is over."
Yamato took off his blindfold so he could see the student who failed, his eyes widened a little when he saw Toru in front of Ino, for a moment he remembered that day, that day when Kakashi said something that changed Yamato's life.
(So Toru saved Ino...) A sigh escaped Yamato's mouth, he couldn't understand why Toru had sacrificed himself for Ino.
When he heard Toru's introduction, Yamato could understand something about the grey-eyed boy, Toru was empty, he had no reason to live, and no reason to die. He was just a child whose purpose was not yet defined.
(Maybe this is what Kakashi tried to tell me yesterday?)
Yamato closed his eyes for a moment and tried to think about what he had to do. Quickly Kakashi's advice came to Yamato's mind, so, putting a smile on his mouth, Yamato spoke.
"Everyone brought their lunch, didn't they?"
Everyone looked at Yamato, including Hinata who at that time had already arrived at the place, for some reason she had a sad look on her face.
-Minutes later-
By this time everyone had returned to the place where the exam started. Ino and Hinata were looking at Yamato, who at that moment put his hands together, making three wooden pillars grow.
(He... I can't see his face)
Ino looked at Toru, he just looked at the ground while his hair covered part of his face.
(Why? I can't figure it out, if I had failed, it would have been better for him, right?)
Ino clenched her fists, she felt humiliated, after all she was saved by Toru. She always thought Toru was a weird kid, quiet, friendless, someone who didn't care about anyone but himself. To Ino, Toru was someone who didn't care about anything or anyone.
(I really don't get it)
Ino bit her lip because of the helplessness she felt, when Yamato appeared in front of her, all she could do was cry, but Toru, he made a masterful move to escape Yamato's hands. When she saw him move with such agility, she thought that her efforts of so many years had not been worth it, in the end, she could only cry because of the fear she felt.
(I can't stand it) Ino's gaze darkened as she kept biting her lip and clenching her fists tightly.
"Okay, Toru, can you come here for a moment?" Yamato spoke, snapping Ino out of her thoughts.
In response to Yamato's call, without saying a word, Toru obeyed.
"Okay, bring your back close to the trunk."
Taking a few steps, Toru brought his back close to the wooden pillar. The instant he touched the pillar, multiple branches came out, imprisoning Toru in the pillar. But even though he had been deprived of his freedom, Toru maintained the silence with which he arrived.
"What is Yamato-sensei doing?" Hinata asked, ever since Toru was found in the exam she felt useless, unable to help a fellow student.
"Nothing important. Now, how about you start eating your lunches?" With a slight smile on his face, Yamato looked at his students.
Yamato's sudden words made Hinata feel confused. It was assumed that if they were going to eat their lunches Toru couldn't, since at that moment he couldn't move.
The same thing happened with Ino, she had just stared at Yamato with a confused look.
"That's right, I almost forgot. You'll have to stay here for a few minutes, as I have to go report the ninja who failed the exam" Yamato's gaze had turned as cold as ice, Toru felt that look, but still he just stared at the ground without saying anything.
"But sensei" Hinata spoke, but was interrupted by Yamato.
"And one more thing" Yamato looked at his students with a small smile on his mouth.
"You will not feed Toru anything, no matter if he is starving, no matter if he cries, no matter if he begs, but if for some reason you get to give him something, no matter if it is a grain of rice, if you disobey my orders, you will all fail."
Ino and Hinata's eyes widened without understanding very well what they had heard, although they tried to ask Yamato questions, he had already disappeared without giving them a chance to speak.
(Toru-kun...) Hinata watched Toru, still thinking that she couldn't do anything about it to save him from flunking.
Meanwhile, Toru was still staring at the ground, his eyes were hidden because of his hair, no one could tell what he was thinking about, but still Ino came to a wrong conclusion.
(He... will he be sad that he failed?)
Ino for a moment felt guilty, but that guilt disappeared when she remembered the attitude with which Toru treated her the day they were chosen to team up.
(I guess he deserved it, after all he's the most useless...) Ino's eyes widened as she remembered Toru's physical abilities, if we're talking about physical ability here, Toru was the best in the team, while Ino only depended on her family's kekkei genkai.
(What should I do?)
Ino's gaze was directed to the ground, even when she was saved by Toru, Ino was refusing to do anything about it.
"Toru-kun... you can eat some of my lunch."
Ino's eyes were staring at Hinata, who was currently reaching out her hand to feed some rice to Toru.
"What are you doing, you want to flunk too!!!"
Arriving quickly, Ino stopped Hinata's hands. She looked at the Byakugan girl with annoyance, however, Hinata only gave her a confused look.
"I just... wanted to help Toru-kun a little."
"Are you crazy? If you do that you'll fail the exam, just let him starve to death!"
Hinata looked at the ground while holding the chopsticks in her hands, for a moment she felt that she should help Toru, even if she also ends up failing the exam, but after being stopped by Ino, Hinata realized what she was doing, but still the courage to answer properly appeared, making Hinata look Ino in the eyes.
"I... I want to help Toru-kun, thanks to him.... you and I passed the exam, at least he should get something in return, he sacrificed himself... for you, if Toru-kun hadn't intervened you would have been the one who would have ended up failing" Hinata said while looking Ino in the eyes, although seconds later she returned her gaze in the direction of the ground, after all she had regretted her own words.
After listening to Hinata, Ino could only clench her fists tightly, what the Byakugan girl had said was true, she couldn't deny it, she was saved by Toru.
(Why is everyone siding with that weird kid? He just wanted to act cool in front of a cute girl like me, that's the only explanation there is for what he did.)
Ino looked at Toru for a moment, despite overhearing the two's conversation, he was keeping quiet.
"I've had enough of this" Ino walked over to Toru and grabbed him by the hair, lifting Toru's head in the process and making the expression on Toru's face at last visible.
"Let go of me" Surprisingly, the expression on Toru's face was the same. His eyes, his lips, the way he was breathing was the same as always.
"You... do you think you look cool acting like that? Are you an idiot? Do you want to imitate Sasuke or something? Let me tell you, you look pathetic."
Although Ino's words were somewhat strong, Toru kept his expression calm and replied in a tired tone of voice.
"Let go of me."
Hearing Toru's reply, Ino became even angrier than she already was.
"You're a fucking idiot, you hide your true abilities, you try to act lonely to look cool, don't you? You saved me because you're in love with me aren't you?"
A smile had formed on Ino's mouth as she yelled at Toru, but still the gray-eyed boy's ability to remain calm was amazing.
"Why don't you answer, are you afraid?"
Hinata had looked too much, she wants to stop Ino, and that's something she did, as she stepped between the two causing Ino to let go of Toru's hair.
"Calm down, Ino. We have to get along because-"
"Why are we a team? That's what you were going to say, well too bad, he doesn't belong to any team anymore" Ino spoke up, she was still angry about being saved by Toru.
This made Hinata feel guilty about everything, she wasn't supposed to feed Toru, but she wanted to, she wanted to help him, since Toru ruined her chance to become a real ninja.
"Why are you so cruel?" looking down at the ground with a sad expression on her face, Hinata spoke. She didn't quite understand why Ino was so aggressive towards Toru, he never did anything to make her angry, he just saved her from failing the exam.
Ino knew that better than anyone, but still she was frustrated, she didn't want to admit that she was a little grateful to Toru.
(I... I can't accept it, I shouldn't even be grateful to that guy).
Ino took the lunch she had left on one of the wooden pillars and sat down leaning her back on it.
Hinata could only look at Ino sadly, but she couldn't do anything about it, so, she held her lunch box for a few seconds and then sat down leaning her back on one of the pillars.
After that, Ino and Hinata started to eat their lunches, at times Hinata would turn her gaze to Toru, who was just looking at the horizon without any expression on her face.
(Toru... I'm so sorry...)
While eating, Hinata thought, she had been watching Toru for many years, but even with all that time she couldn't understand Toru.
Looking at Ino, who was still eating her lunch with an angry expression on her face, Hinata sighed, she knew Ino is usually a bit intense, but to get to the point of holding Toru's hair and yelling in her face was something Hinata was unaware of.
(That fool, good thing he won't be on the team anymore, now I just have to focus on getting stronger to conquer Sasuke's heart) Ino said while biting the onigiri in her hand.
Taking a breath, Ino looked at Toru for a second. Her angry expression only increased and once again she remembered why she was so angry.
But she also remembered when she was saved, at that moment, even though it was only for an instant, Ino could see Toru's face and couldn't help but think as she remembered that expression.
(Empty...)
Toru's face didn't show sadness, anger or happiness, it was just an expressionless face, many times it looked like Toru was very sleepy.
Ino looked at Toru carefully.
(Isn't he angry or sad that he failed?) Ino asked herself, just like Hinata, Ino couldn't understand Toru.
(If he hadn't interfered I... I would have flunked.)
As she looked at the ground, Ino thought back to what she had done. She was saved by Toru, she would have flunked if Toru hadn't been there.
(He really is an idiot!) Ino clenched her fists tightly as her gaze darkened.
Rising from her place, Ino walked over to Toru and looked him in the eyes. For a moment Hinata thought Ino would punch Toru in the face, but that was not the case.
Raising an onigiri in her hand, Ino said:
"Eat."
Toru looked Ino in the eyes before replying.
"Why?"
At the question, Ino gritted her teeth, she knew she was disobeying Yamato, but she still felt she had to do this.
"Just eat the damn onigiri!"
Using force and while closing her eyes, Ino stuffed the whole onigiri into Toru's mouth, something that made Hinata stand up from her place a little scared.
By the time Ino opened her eyes, Toru was chewing the onigiri, because Ino had her hand over the boy's mouth, she could feel the movement of Toru's mouth, this made Ino remove her hand instantly.
"Thank you..." Toru said.
"Hmph, that's the least you could say, besides I'm not doing it for you, I only did it because I don't like to owe anyone anything."
Crossing her arms, Ino looked away. This made a slight smile appear on Hinata's mouth, so, approaching Toru she held out her hand, which held some chopsticks in which was a shrimp, which at first glance looked delicious.
"You can have some of my lunch too."
Toru responded with a slight nod of his head and opened his mouth. This made Hinata smile, and without waiting long she fed Toru.
"You!"
Yamato's voice was heard, Hinata and Ino looked around looking for sensei, but couldn't find him.
Suddenly, different branches started to come out of the ground, these came together to create the shape of Yamato's body, seconds later this wood took color.
"Yamato-sensei" Ino looked at Yamato with a guilty expression, she had disobeyed sensei's orders just like Hinata.
Disregarding Ino's words, Yamato approached the three pillars. You could see the angry look on his face.
"You!" Yamato spoke with an authoritative tone of voice.
"Sensei, we can explain" In a desperate attempt to explain what had happened, Ino spoke up, but again was ignored by Yamato.
"You!" It seemed that the anger on Yamato's face increased, but in a second Yamato's expression changed to a smile before he spoke again. "You passed!"
Hinata and Ino froze as they heard what Yamato had said.
"We passed?" Hinata asked, to which Yamato replied with a smile.
"Yes, everyone approved, Toru too."
Hearing Yamato's words, Toru said in his mind.
(I knew it...)
"But how? You found Toru" Ino asked, after all she wasn't understanding anything that was going on.
Because of that Yamato sighed, and with a slight smile replied.
"A long time ago someone taught me something..." Yamato looked at his students for a moment before a serious expression formed on his face. "You should never abandon a teammate, no matter if you have to break the rules, because if you don't you would be the worst trash in this world."
Everyone looked at Yamato in exasperation, somehow Yamato's words sounded too sincere.
(So... we all pass?) Ino looked at the ground trying to process the information she had received.
"Yamato-sensei, what's going to happen with the exam?" Hinata asked, she looked a little worried and confused, but that wasn't that important to Yamato, so she answered.
"The exam at the beginning was just a trap, it was all planned for this moment."
After listening to Yamato, Toru's eyes sparkled for a moment.
(It took me a while to figure it out, I knew sensei was planning something. I could tell when Yamato-sensei didn't catch me the moment he found me. It was too rare that a Jounin would become so slow to catch a smaller, slower target).
Toru had already foreseen everything that was going to happen, that's why he kept quiet the whole time, he was trying to make Ino angry, basically, Toru manipulated everything from the shadows, that's why no one noticed him.
(It's too easy to manipulate Ino, I'll have to strengthen that girl's mind. The same goes for Hinata, otherwise our team will not be efficient, and will not allow me to advance in my life as a ninja).
Toru closed his eyes as he thought, little by little he was tracing the route he would travel in the future.
(Basing my life on luck... although it was one of my many whims, I must admit that living that way is interesting.)
"Okay, so that's it for today. You are now officially a team, so we'll start with the missions as soon as tomorrow" Yamato spoke, making Toru look in that direction.
"That's right... the missions" Crossing her arms, Ino spoke. She was a bit confused so far, but still tried to forget everything that had happened.
"Yes, the missions are divided into different difficulties depending on the team of ninja that will complete them. For now you guys are rookie genin, so the first few missions will just be common errands that our villagers do" Explaining a bit about the missions, Yamato put his hand on Toru's head.
"We'll meet tomorrow at 8 a.m. Toru, I hope you come early like you did today."
Toru looked up and looked at Yamato, a sigh left his lips before replying.
"Being punctual is one of the many talents a ninja must have."
Yamato smiled at his student's response, he could see the bright future that awaited his team.
"Good, then we'll see you tomorrow, Ino, Hinata, good job" With those words Yamato disappeared, leaving the three students alone.
"Ha~ this was the hardest day of my whole life, by the way" Ino looked at Toru, who had already disappeared.
"What, when did he leave?" Ino asked, to which Hinata, in a soft tone of voice replied.
"He left when Yamato-sensei disappeared" Hinata spoke, for some strange reason she looked very happy.
"Seriously, that guy is really weird" Ino said, still thinking about what had happened at the end of the exam.