Sasuke woke up early that morning, yet his best friend’s futon was already empty. He got up and dressed himself before leaving the bedroom they occupied, following the outer pathway until reaching the living room. He opened the sliding door and predictably found Shinku inside, staring at a book.

“Aren’t you up from a bit too early?” Sasuke called out, guessing the red-haired Uchiha had been awake for a while already.

“I couldn’t sleep too well.” Shinku’s eyes left the book and he faced Sasuke with a wide grin. Sasuke sighed.

“What if you fail the test because of this?” Shinku’s grin only widened causing Sasuke to shake his head. “Don’t blame me if that happens.” He said as he sat down.

Shinku cooked breakfast afterwards, taking his time eating together with his clanmate, before eventually both leaving.

“Don’t you have to meet up with your team or whatever?” Shinku asked Sasuke.

“No. We’re set to meet up in front of the academy. What about you?”

“No. I’m the only one taking the exam on my team.”

“I see.” Sasuke answered, usurprised.

That was all the conversation the two had on their way to the academy. The two tended not to talk to each other much, nor did they need to after having lived together for years. That was just how their relationship was, not talking more than was needed to be said. At least, that’s how it’d been ever since the incident. Not even when Shinku made two shadow clones and sent them ahead, did Sasuke really question anything. He was used to Shinku’s crazy ideas. He’d especially been abusing that Jutsu in every possible way he could find since the moment he learned it.

It didn’t take too long for the two to get to the academy. It might have taken long when they were smaller, but by now the way seemed quite short. Maybe they were just used to it. Maybe it was simply their concept of “long time” that had changed. Shinku didn’t know, nor did he really care. The two spotted Naruto in front of the academy, approaching him.

“Hey, Sasuke!” He greeted.

“Yeah.” Came the simple answer.

“Hi, Naruto. It’s been a while huh?” Shinku greeted him instead.

“Ah. Um… Mhm.” He nodded awkwardly. Shinku never knew he could feel so depressed over having one knuckleheaded ninja not remember him.

“You know! We were in the same class for years! The genius of Konoha?! Shinkumaru of the Eternal Sharingan?!”

“Now that you mention it your eyes are the normal black today.” Sasuke interrupted him, causing Shinku to hang his head.

“A-Ah! So it’s you! That’s right! Your eyes were so different I didn’t recognize you, you know?” Naruto excused himself. This didn’t make Shinku feel any better.

“So why is that?” Sasuke pushed the subject.

“Well, I mean shouting that out probably didn’t help, but it was supposed to be so that people don’t expect to have to deal with it when they attack me. Plus, going through this thing without it would be an interesting handicap, you know?”

“Well, knowing it’s you I figured it was something like that.”

“Ah by the way, Naruto.” Shinku changed the course of the conversation “I wanted to thank you for letting me see you perform the shadow clone jutsu that one time. It’s been an enormous help.”

“Eh? Uh… When did that happen again?”

“On the orientation day. You tied beat Sasuke up by taking him by surprise with your clones and tied him up.”

“Huh? You were watching back then?”

“I was… in the room.”

“No way! I didn’t notice you at all! That’s amazing!”

Shinku put up his arms in defeat and shut up. Even as Naruto called out to him he didn’t feel like talking anymore. He just waited patiently until Sakura eventually arrived.

“You’re late, Sakura-chan!”

“Yeah…” She nodded raising an arm in greeting. “Sorry…” She apologized, before turning to Sasuke “Good morning, Sasuke-kun…” ‘Was Sakura always this timid?’ wondered Shinku. He didn’t remember that to be the case. Maybe she was nervous about the exam. He guessed she might be the least capable on Team 7. Naruto had shadow clones which also meant he had an impressive chakra pool and he was known for his incredible stamina and Sasuke was… Sasuke. Sakura… had great grades on written exams, Shinku guessed.

“Yeah.” Sasuke answered simply, though it seems he noticed she was acting weird as well.

“Good morning.” Shinku greeted as well.

“Ah… Good Morning, Shinkumaru-kun.” ‘Yes! She remembered my name! Finally, somebody from my academy days that isn’t rude! Fuck!’ Shinku celebrated in his mind.

The four entered the academy and climbed up to the third floor, well, the second floor, noted Shinku, as he explained that he was there to take the test alone as his teammates could unfortunately not afford a recommendation.

A large group of people had gathered in front of room 201 which Shinku approached along with Team 7, wondering if he needs to point out that there’s a genjutsu barrier in place. As they approached they saw two people blocking the entrance of the room while talking about how they were doing everyone a favor, not letting them pass, since they’d only die if they couldn’t even get through something like this. Shinku… couldn’t disagree in theory, but the guys were quite the assholes about it. A girl with a double-bunned hairstyle and a weird guy with a bowlcut and just the most insane eyebrows Shinku had ever seen were already on the ground with a bruise on their faces. Sasuke walked up.

“What you’re saying is a just argument. But, you’ll let me through. And while you’re at it why don’t you just undo this genjutsu barrier already? I have business on the third floor.” He said in his usual cool manner, relieving Shinku some, now that he knew he wasn’t the only one to notice the thing.

It seemed like most of the others in the crowd hadn’t noticed. Sasuke proceeded to ask Sakura to explain, saying that of the team she had improved her analytical skills and knowledge on genjutsu by far the most, which she did, explaining that this was the second floor. Even Naruto nodded confidently, not a hint that he didn’t notice it himself, which honestly surprised Shinku. ‘Looks like they’ve improved quite a bit.’ He noted as the genjutsu came undone and the number of the room changed from 301 to 201.

The genjutsu failing, one of the two blocking the door attempted to attack Sasuke, who was closest to him with taijutsu, Sasuke raised a kick in turn. Shinku was ready to see his best friend kick some annoying guy’s ass when the wild eyebrows lying on the floor suddenly intervened, getting in-between them and catching both of their legs. Shinku was impressed once again. That wasn’t the speed of an average genin. Far from it.

His two teammates approached him, one of them being a Hyuga, Shinku observed, being able to spot one from a mile away by their exotic eyes. They started lecturing him on how they were supposed to not attract attention and that it was his idea in the first place only for the eyebrows to send an intense passionate glare at Sakura. Shinku… was terrified… ‘Just please let this be over already.’

Bowlcut approached Sakura and introduced himself as Rock Lee, before asking her out while swearing to protect her for the rest of his life. This was where Shinku drew the line.

“Sasuke, I’m going ahead.” Shinku declared to his friend as Sakura brutally rejected Lee.

“Yeah.” He answered during a moment of intense, depressing silence.

Shinku didn’t hesitate for a second in leaving the scene behind, walking way faster than should have been necessary and never looking back. Climbing to the third floor, he made his way straight to room 301, opening the door. The room was full of other ninja. Just at a glance at the forehead protectors, Shinku spotted ninja from, sand, rain, grass, waterfall, and, of course, leaf. It was enough to fill up almost the whole room, the people numbering probably over a hundred. Most of them, looking much older and more experienced than any genin Shinku knew. With a grin, Shinku stepped inside, expecting a fun and interesting challenge.