<span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: palatino;">"Midori!" Miss Jinmi was looking for her again, as though she were anywhere but in her room. She had left the house a little, after hearing them talking about her, though only to let Sunako play outside a little while Miss Jinmi was gardening. For the most part, she had still stayed in her room, though she had read the books Miss Jinmi put in there about a million times over. Mostly, she talked to Sunako, she practiced the math and writing that Father had taught her, determined that she would do well at the Academy that Uncle Kanetaro and Miss Jinmi still hadn't told her about.<br/><br/>Father had always spoken to her like she was an adult, he treated her like a person, not like... not like she couldn't be trusted. Why did Uncle Kanetaro and Miss Jinmi keep things from her, especially when it was something that affected her more than them? They would be rid of her during the day, and not have to deal with her like before. Because they talked about how much trouble she was sometimes, like they had when she had heard them before. They were as unhappy with her living with them as she was to have been left behind by Father.<br/><br/>And Miss Jinmi told her to her face that she was happy she was here. It was a lie.<br/><br/>So, Midori pretended, as much as she could, that she didn't want to just be left alone. She was in trouble no matter what she did; why couldn't they just leave her alone? <br/><br/>With a sigh, the young girl put her brush down, standing from the floor where she was practicing her writing. Scooping Sunako up, where she had started batting around the ink brush, the little girl opened the door and padded out into the kitchen, where Miss Jinmi was making some food. "Yes, Miss Jinmi?"<br/><br/>The woman turned to look at her and began to pack rice balls into a little box. "Your Uncle and I are going to send you to the new Academy that will begin in a few days. There are some tests that they want applicants to take, so you will be doing that today."<br/><br/>Oh, so now she decided to tell her, with no warning about it at all. Why would they do that? That seemed really...rude.<br/><br/>Rather than say anything, Midori just nodded, allowing Sunako to climb onto her shoulder where she liked to sit. As the box was handed to her, she took it... apparently, it was her lunch. Then, still remaining quiet, she followed Miss Jinmi as she lead her through the village. As she walked, the woman told her all the places she should not go, but never once told her of anywhere that was alright to go. Like she was only supposed to know what to do, rather than know anything that might be alright to do. That didn't seem right, and it wasn't how Father did things. Wasn't it important to know the good and the bad too?<br/><br/>____ ___ __ _<br/><br/>Once they had arrived at the building, the Academy, Miss Jinmi had found someone who seemed to know what was going on, and left her with them. He seemed rather cranky, and had just ushered her into a room with a lot of other kids her age, who were all mostly talking to each other and being a bit loud. Then, she was told to wait. <br/><br/>There were a lot of seats in the room, so she took one in the back, away from most of the other children, and figured that she should wait, as instructed. Eventually, another adult came into the room, they talked, and then the younger one, with almost brown hair, raised his voice, "Hey, you brats settle down! Everyone find a seat, ya hear me?" Immediately, a hush settled over the room and the other kids scrambled to find a place to sit. The older one, a woman with long blond hair, nodded once at the brown haired one then left, closing the door behind herself.<br/><br/>"Okay, listen up. You are all here because your family wants you to attend the Academy. Well, some of you aren't gonna be fit to attend, so today is all about tests. If you pass, I'll be your instructor. My name is Kyoto Noboru. I expect you to call me 'Teacher', and not by my name, got it?" Midori nodded, while some of the kids chimed in and spoke up, and others did as she did. Looking around, Midori found that most everyone had sat closer to the front, but this way she had been away from most of the other kids: they had been too loud, anyway.<br/><br/>"I'm gonna pass out these tests. First ones are written. You get two hours, fill it out as best you can, and then the other tests will be outside. When you are done, you are to sit quietly to wait for the time to be up." Midori nodded again, carefully pulling the sleepy Sunako off of her shoulder to tuck into her pocket again. Otherwise, she'd learned from experience, the little kitten would fall off her shoulder, and then catch herself using her claws. Usually, it was not very pleasant. <br/><br/>Everyone got a pencil and the paper tests. There were only two pages, it seemed weird to Midori that they were given so long for such a short test. But, maybe the other kids could not read quickly, or something? When they were allowed to start, she dilligently began filling in her name and answering the first questions. The first question was that first she had to read a long paragraph, then answer questions about the details in it. It was pretty easy, and even if some of the words were bigger, she often would remember Father using them, so she knew what they meant. The next one was a math one. There was one on the next page about the different countries, though she did not know a lot about them, she just described what she remembered from traveling through them with Father. There was a complex one about the village that she did not understand, and so wrote that she was new but would learn as quickly as she could. And that was it. Two pieces of paper for four questions. And she was done within twenty minutes.<br/><br/>Looking around, she saw that quite a few others seemed to be done too. Well, it was time to wait. Good thing she had lots of practice sitting still and being quiet. And, Sunako was asleep, so she would not be distracted by her kitten, either...<br/><br/>____ ___ __ _<br/><br/>Noboru sighed as he stood at the front of the classroom and watched the children. He could see that a few of them were a bit confused by the test. Some had finished already, which was a good sign for them, while some still seemed to be struggling to get further than filling in their name. They were definitely not ready for the Academy. Moreso, though, the real test, after the few questions, was to see how they acted after. Could they follow directions and sit quietly? Would they get squirmy? Would some forget and get up, or start talking? His job was to keep track of all the undesirable traits that were displayed, and then report them to see if any of the brats were to be eliminated.<br/><br/>He hated kids.<br/><br/>There were a few who were already squirming in their seats, they were mostly from civilian households; ones that wanted something as prestigious as a ninja in their family. The kids probably didn't even know what they were doing here, or, rather, half of them probably didn't know, anyway. There were a few others, and why there was a Hyuga taking the test was beyond him: their clan were always extremely proficient. And yet, one of their children was here. Probably to scope out the place for the clan head. She looked to be from the branch family, if her covered forehead was any indication.<br/><br/>And so, he watched, ticking off in his head which children acted too much like kids. When the test was over, he paced up and down the rows, collecting the papers, noting each name on each test, so he could write his observations on them before giving them to the Jounin in charge of evaluating them.<br/><br/>"Hey brats! You get a half an hour to eat lunch, or to go home and eat lunch, before the rest of the test. It'll be outside, so be ready for that." he waved his hand, dismissing the kids. Most of them jumped up immediately and ran out the door. Though a few stayed behind, and some stood and walked with the quiet and calm expected of a ninja. There was a civilian kid in the back, probably a girl, though her hair cut made it hard to tell, who simply pulled out a lunch box and began eating quietly at her desk. For a civilian, she had sat very still for the entire test, even after having finished her test relatively quickly, and her handwriting was very neat for a nine-year-old. If she could keep up with the physical tests, she might be one of the few civilians not to be cut from this first class...<br/></span>