<strong>The North Gate</strong><br/><br/>"Yahoooo!" Came the cry of an energetic girl, Kita Tomo, as she ran through the gates past the two genin assigned to welcome newcomers to the village. She was dressed in dark blue baggy pants that exposed the sides of her hips with typical ninja sandals. She wore a skintight shirt that was black and backless, exposing her midriff. Around her waist she wore a sash that had the Takigakure-symbol plate on the small of her back. She was dark skinned, with deep blue hair tied up in a girly side ponytail, "We're finally here!"<br/><br/>"Huh?" Zato Ichimaru asked, stopping and scratching his cheek, "Already?" The blind swordsman wore his forehead protector over his useless eyes, with his brown bangs slightly obscuring the metal while he wore one long braid down to his back. He had a handsome shape to his face, with a narrow jaw. He wore a dark blue tank top over a fishnet tee shirt with black pants and ordinary sandals. In his hand he held a cane that Shiori knew actually contained his weapon... "Oh good, I was tired of walki-"<br/><br/>"Shiori! Ichimaru!" The girl ahead of them exclaimed, running back and grabbing the blind boy by the hand, "Come on already!"<br/><br/>Their Jounn laughed softly to himself as he stood beside Shiori, "Ah, it feels like only yesterday that I became your instructor." Kita Seiji said with a smile. He was a man dressed in the blue vest and uniform of Takigakure, though he wore a long coat over it. He had attached to the back a large scroll- the shinobi had dirty blonde hair tied back in a bushy ponytail and a scar that ran from his ear though to his eyebrow, "To think that coming here might be our last mission together as a team."<br/><br/>"Ah, well... Shiori, you'll have to take care of them for me." He said, laughing nervously. Though the word 'genius' was always tossed around wherever Ichimaru was concerned, in their private discourse, Seiji always seemed to entrust the most responsibility to Shiori.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>The South Gate</strong><br/><br/>Sarutobi Mirai entered ahead of her students with her hands in her pockets and a wide grin on her face, "Well... here we are. The village hidden in the mist."<br/><br/>She turned around, closing her eyes and smiling as she scratched her cheek, "Eeeey? Aren't you excited? You're going to be taking the Chuunin exams, one of the most celebrated traditions in the world of shinobi!" The woman was shaggy haired, of medium length that gave her quite a tomboyish appearance. She wore the usual green vest of Konoha and its accompanying suit and headband. She was not yet thirty, but older than Yoshi's sister, making her somewhere in her mid twenties, by his estimate.<br/><br/>The Jounin nodded her head and put her fist into her other hand, "Alright! All of your training has led up to this! You'll be competing with ninja from all around the world... I know you won't let me down."<br/><br/>Beside Yoshi, there stood Inuzuka Tēru. With her clan's characteristic red markings on her cheeks, wild brown hair that was dyed red at the tips, and a feral look to her, it was unmistakable to what clan she belonged to. Not helping matters any was the black and tan Shiba Inu that always followed her around. She wore a thick black hoodie with grey fur trim, short shorts that exposed much of her legs and high ninja sandals. Both her hands were buried in the pockets of her jacket. She closed her eyes and smiled, "No sweat, boss." She elbowed her teammate and laughed, "S'long as Yoshi here doesn't screw it up for us. Who ever heard of an Uchiha without a Sharingan? Hmph."<br/><br/>"H-hey, he's only doing his best." Came the voice of his other teammate, who clung to his arm in his defense. She pushed up her glasses with her other hand. In a way, it reminded him of his sister, which had been... just a bit unnerving. The girl had black hair, two long bangs and a ponytail. She wore her forehead protector around her neck and a black jumpsuit that exposed her legs and ended just above her navel, with a pair of suspenders framing her chest and crossing over at her back. Underneath, she wore a dark brown tank top and from her wrists to her ankles she wore a fishnet suit. This was his other team member, from an undistinguished clan, her name Hara Setsuko.<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>The West Gate</strong><br/><br/>"Welcome to Kirigakure!" A pair of genin said, bowing politely to the trio from Sunagakure.<br/><br/>"Huh." Rokuro said, tapping his watch, "We're here a little early, huh?" He was a puppeteer, wearing the typical bunraku hat over a mask that covered his face from the nose down. Around his eyes he had purple face paint in a rectangular pattern. The rest of his attire was plain and black, though he had a underarm holster for the two scrolls containing his puppets. Around his waist a large sash with an excess that trailed down to his ankle, "Though I suppose we do have a whole week to get settled in before the exams."<br/><br/>"That's right." Their jounin said, a woman with a poncho obscuring much of her vest and her forehead protector around her neck. Setsuko wore a side-slit skirt rather than pants and had high sandals- her short brown hair fell in bangs over her face down her cheeks, though her eyes were partially visible through it. At her hips hung a pair of knives in their sheaths, "We have a whole week to relax before the exams begin."<br/><br/>Takeshi smiled, "A little R&R would be great, yeah!" He stretched his arms out wide. The young genin was shorter than Mira, wearing a black civilian vest with pockets that seemed similar yet distinct from the old-style ninja vests. He had a pair of sunglasses in his short blonde hair. He wore a tee shirt under his vest, with his forehead protector sewn into one of the sleeves. Beneath that, he had shorts and the usual pair of shinobi sandals, "Don't you think so, Mira? We've been at it for awhile... halfway across the world, it feels like."<br/><br/>"The world's a lot bigger than the maps would have you think..." Rokuro said quietly.