A couple of days later, and Meiko was finally completely set up in the house. She had done all the shopping she could, gotten Taka's room completely set up and had clean the majority of the apartment. She, of course, hadn't cleaned the entire thing, but the majority was clean to the point it at least looked better than it had before. 

Today was also the day that Team Kakashi would begin their chunin exams. All three of them has agreed to take the exam after they got back from their mission in the hidden mist. A mission that almost costed all of them their lives, which only gave them more reason to go on to the next level of their ninja training. 

Taka was spending the day with the third Hokage, Kakashi was with his team before the written exam actually started, so that left Meiko with little to nothing to do until she had to head towards the academy for the Chunin exams. She sighed heavily as she glanced around the household, before she grabbed her money pouch and put it into her shuriken pouch before she left the house. Boredom was not something the young mother was used to, so she was out looking for something to do.

She slowly wandered around the village, her eyes glancing around at all of the things within the village. All of the things that she missed when she was in Suna, from the green colored grass and the large trees that surrounded the perimeter of the buildings. The trees only broke when their was place for a training field, or a house. When she was at Suna, Meiko was unaware of how much she would actually miss all of the green color of her village.  

"Meiko?" A voice said, and the girl turned around to come face to face with Izumo, yet again. A scowled formed over her face and she shook her head.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" She said, and Izumo chuckled quietly, shaking his head.

"I guess not. But I learned that from you."

"Maybe you shouldn't have taken a lesson from me." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Listen, no offense, actually, all the offense, I dont care what you have to say."

"But Meiko, please. Ten minutes of your time, that's all I'm asking. I have to get to the Chunin exams soon, and I know you have to as well. But please. Walk and talk to me. You don't even have to say anything." He said as he clasped his hands together and stared down at her with pleading eyes. Meiko rolled her eyes slightly, but began to walk towards Izumo and towards the academy.

"You can talk. Until we get to the academy." She said, and the man practically jumped around in a circle and ran up beside her, nodding his head quickly.

"Thank you for finally hearing me out."

"I'm not. I'm not going to buy whatever excuse you throw at me. I'm just going to listen to whatever you string together." She said, shrugging her shoulders slightly, but the hope never left Izumos eyes.

"That's fine with me." He said with a hopeful tone to his voice as he kicked a few rocks, glancing down at the ground as if he was searching for the words. And in all honety, he was. He didn't actually think he would get this far.

"Are you going to say anything or can I just go to the academy now?" Meiko said, sighing heavily.

"No! I'm just... I just dont know how to explain everything." He said softly, and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Of course not."

"Listen Meiko, I never meant to hurt you. Neither of us did. We were dumb teenagers who had no idea how much pain we would be causing you with our actions. We just... We didn't know how to deal with it." He said, referring to her leg.

"And you thought that I knew how to deal with it?" She said, getting slightly angry.

"No! Of course not. No one knows how to deal with that. We were just.. We were scared and unsure of what to do, how to help. We figured that if we stepped away, we couldn't hurt you with doing things you could no longer do." He said lightly, and the girl chuckled quietly.

"So you two put your feelings ahead of mine, made sure that you were happy because you didn't know how to deal with my disability, and left me without really anyone. Thanks, you sure did a lot to talk your case up." She said, rolling her eyes slightly.

"Meiko, stop it." He said, shaking his head slightly. "You just need to accept my apology. I'm sorry, I really try am." He said, and Meiko stopped walking snd turned towards him. But before she had a chance to say anything to him, a voice called out and took her attention away from him.

"Yo, Meiko!" The voice said, and the girl turned her head to see Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara walking in her direction.  Kankuro flashed her a smile, but instantly dropped it when he saw how irritated Meiko was.

"Hello, kids." She said, and Kankuro raised his eyebrow, nodding in Izumo's direction.

"He bothering you?" He asked, and Izumo glanced over at Kankuro and scoffed slightly. This caused Kankuros facial expression to turn even more angry.

"It isn't any of your business. Who even are you kids? Get where you're going." Izumo said, and Meiko turned towards him, a deadly look in her eyes.

"Don't you DARE talk to them that way." She said, and from beside of her, Kankuro started to crack his knuckles.

"Like I said, is this guy bothering you?" He asked again, and Izumo glanced over at Kankuro.

"This is a conversation between the two of us, if you'd be so kindly as t-"

"Actually, yeah, yeah he is." Meiko said, and Kankuro smiled at Meiko, but stopped when he heard Gaara's voice.

"If you don't leave her alone, I'll kill you." He said, his voice in it's usual monotone. But it was enough to cause shivers to run down Izumos back. "Leave."

"Meiko, I'll see you later. We'll finish our conversation."

"No, no you won't." Kankuro said, chuckling quietly as he wrapped his arm around Meiko's shoulder, leading her away from Izumo.

"Who's that guy anyway?" He asked, and Meiko shrugged her shoulders slightly as she walked with the sand siblings.

"His name is Izumo. He was a friend." She said, leaning into the boy slightly. "Before it happened." She said, referring to her leg. Kankuro and his siblings were a few of the people in Konoha who were aware of her leg. And she wasnt bothered by talking about it with them.

"Is he one of the ones that was a total asshole about the entire thing?" Kankuro asked, and Meiko nodded.

"He's one of the ones that stopped talking to me because of it. It's a little below me to still hold a grudge against him for his actions then. But, then again, I think he deserves it." She said, shrugging slightly as she pulled away from Kankuro and glanced over at Temari and then at Gaara.

"So, how are you guys enjoying Konoha? Seeing where I grew up?"

"It's really green." Temari said, chuckling quietly. "But It's nice." She smiled.

"Yeah, I like it here. Coming back from Suna to here was the biggest change. I had forgotten just how green it is here." Meiko said, glancing around at the village. She looked back at Gaara, and gave him a small smile as she moved to walk beside of him.

"Thanks for helping me to get him off my back back there." She said, still smiling at him. Gaara barely glanced over at her, but nodded his head at her.

"He was annoying." Gaara stated, and Meiko nodded her head.

"You dont even know the half of it." She said, chuckling quietly as she walked with them.

"Are you guys ready for these exams?"

"Of course we are. You trained us." Kankuro chuckled quietly, and Meiko nodded her head, smiling at them as she leaned forward and rubbed his back slightly.

"I have nothing but faith in the three of you. You're gonna pass with flying colors. I know it." She said happily as they arrived at the academy. "This is where I have to leave you, but find when you're done. We can all get dinner or something." She said, nodding her head at them. They returned the nod and disappeared into building. Meiko sighed gently as she walked behind the building and transformed her apperiance so that she no longer looked like Meiko Saturtobi. She had short blonde hair that barely laid against her jaw line, her skin was more tan than before. She was dressed in a pair of ninja pants, a red and black criss cross top and standard ninja shoes. She had bandages wrapped around both of her legs and arms, masking her fake leg.  Around her arm was an Sound headband and she sighed quietly as she walked around from behind the building and made her way into the building quickly. She avoided as many people as she could and made her way into the exam room.

Once she was in the exam room, she glanced around to see who all she could spot out and who she knew. She saw Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, Obviously. Then she saw Shikamaru and his team, next was the Inuzukas team. She nodded at them and glanced across the room to sed the sand siblings, and she couldnt help the smile that formed across her lips. She was proud of them, having watched them grow in the last couple of years and becoming like a mother to them when she was there. Her proudness would be there no matter if they passed or not. But she knew they would.

While the position that she was currently in was supposed to be for Chunin, not Jonin, her father had asked her to sit in and do the exam, to see how many of the students would be able to obtain data from another students paper. So Meiko was pregiven the questions and she had been going over them since the previous night.

She sighed, having already gone through all of these tests. Luckily, she only had to go through this one exams, and not whatever the next two would be. Slowly, she watched as the students were told to make their way to the seats with their numbers on them. She tossed her head from side to side slightly as Kankuro sat down beside of her, and she couldnt help the smile that formed over her lips. At least she would have someone she knew was trained in this near her. She knew the Sand siblings could gather information without being caught. She was just relieved that her job would be easier.

"Okay you baby face degenerates! Pipe down and listen up!" A voice cried from the front, and Meiko glanced up to see Ibiki. She smiled at him, and he nodded her head in his direction. "It's time to begin. I am Ibiki Morino, and from here on out, I am your worst nightmare."

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