After a few hours had passed, the Chunin Exams were over. Naomi and Kuroshi had a tie, Asuma and Genma won, Kurenai and Anko won, and even Killer B's match went well for him. Overall, it seemed like everyone did a good job, but Obito was the only one who didn't pass. He was still very upset by that.

Lord Hokage stepped down to the arena to give a speech and after that, the Chunin Exams were complete.

We exited the building to go back home and Asuma caught up with me.

"You did a really good job, Hana," he compliments.

"Thanks, Asuma, you did too," I replied.

Suddenly, Asuma's cheeks started to change into a light pinkish color. I was confused as to why he was blushing until I heard Kurenai's voice.

"I just wanted to congratulate the both of you, you both did a good job," Kurenai complimented while blushing herself.

Asuma rubbed the back of his neck and smiled nervously. "Thank you, Kurenai. I can say the same for you,"

"Thanks, Kurenai, you did well too," I added.

"I uh, better go check on Guy to make sure he isn't trying to train again," Asuma said dismissively. "I know Genma and Ebisu will have a hard time trying to get him to relax."

He walked away and I could tell he was being shy. He needed an opportunity to talk to her alone.

A mischievous smirk spread across my face as I thought of that festival coming up.

I broke out of my devious plan when I felt someone elbow me. "Ouch, what the hell?!"

I turned and I saw it was Kakashi who had elbowed me.

"You're smiling really creepy, snap out of it," He sighed.

"Shut up Hatake! I was planning something beautiful!" I retort.

Kurenai sweat dropped at our interaction. "And what exactly were you planning?"

"Oh, it's no big deal...yet," I smirked and walked ahead.

Kurenai and Kakashi both had sweat-dropped at me again and Kakashi followed me to go catch up with Obito and Rin. Once we did, we all agreed to eat at the barbecue restaurant since Rin thought it would be nice to eat out after the Chunin Exams.

Rin and I sat next to each other while Obito and Kakashi sat across us.

"How much should we order?" Rin asked while reading over the menu.

"How about the large? I mean there's no doubt we're all hungry after that," I suggest.

"Sounds about right," Obito nodded in agreement. Kakashi didn't care either way, but he didn't mind being here with us.

We also ordered some soda to go with our meal. My mouth watered as the waitress brought our plate. It was raw of course right now, but the thought of it after we put it on the grill in front of us sounded amazing right now. I grilled four pieces and put some on my plate.

I ate mine eagerly and Rin nudged me a little and leaned over again. "If you want Obito, now's your chance,"

"Rin!" I exclaimed and she giggled.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, idiot," Kakashi sighed.

"Shut up Hatake!" I exclaimed at him.

I chewed my food and finally swallowed it. "You're so mean, Kakashi,"

He shook his head and raised the chopstick up to his mouth. I gasped a little when I realized this might be the first time we see him without his mask. Even Rin and Obito were eager to see how he looked, considering he never took his mask off.

Kakashi knew we were watching so somehow, he distracted Obito and Rin, then turned his head. I caught a glimpse of how he looked and a bright blush appeared on my cheeks. He was very attractive without that mask on. His jawline was very defined too.

Blood started to trickle down my nose and I quickly hid my face. Obito and Rin were both looking at me confused and Kakashi rose an eyebrow.

I looked down to grab another piece of barbecue. "A-Are you ever gonna take that mask off?" I tried to play it off.

"No,"

"But then how are you gonna eat?" Obito asked, confused.

"Very quickly," Kakashi shrugged.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Obito retorted.

"It makes a lot of sense. You just can't comprehend it,"

Obito huffed and continued to eat.

As time passed, we set our share down to pay for the bill. Thankfully, it wasn't too expensive for the large. We parted ways to go home, but Obito decided to walk me home. Kakashi joined too oddly. They were both silent as if they were trying to bring something up, but something was holding them back.

"So uh," I cleared my throat. "I wonder what's going to happen now that the exams are over with,"

They both shrugged and stayed quiet.

Suddenly, my eyes locked with golden ones and I froze in place.

"Are you okay?" Obito asked.

What is he doing here? I thought we were supposed to talk in secret so no one else gets involved.

Kuroshi stepped out from the shadows and walked towards us. Obito and Kakashi both tensed, staring at him.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"Isn't it obvious? I need to talk to you," He replied.

"You can talk to her right here," Kakashi stated.

Kuroshi and I both looked at Kakashi, then looked back at each other. I think I should tell them now. There's no use in hiding it from them anyway.

Kuroshi sighed.

"Kuroshi, you should probably tell them. This is hard to hide anyway," I said.

He nodded.

"Well, a month ago I asked Hana if she could kill Nozomi for me," Kuroshi started. "I attacked you guys at the Forest of Death because I needed to see if Nozomi's opponent would be able to overpower her,"

"So it was you that caused that explosion?" Obito asked.

"Yes," Kuroshi nodded. "I needed to get you two out of the way and used that girl on your team to test Hana. I never meant to actually cause harm to you four, but I really needed to make sure that she would be able to take her down,"

"Could've fooled me," I muttered, remembering how he acted as if he was going to kill me multiple times that day.

"So why do you need Hana to kill Nozomi?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah and why do you want to kill her in the first place?" Obito added.

"Well, I heard about Nozomi challenging Hana and Nozomi mentioned how she was going to try and take her down. I figured if Nozomi was challenging her, that means Hana is the only one strong enough to do it,"

Kuroshi looked at Obito. "And I need Nozomi to be eliminated because there's no telling what she's going to do next if she isn't stopped now. She's too filled with hate and anger, that could cause a problem in the future,"

Kakashi nodded and Obito looked worried.

"But what if Nozomi hurts her? Didn't you think of that?" Obito asked.

Kuroshi rose an eyebrow. "But her chakra levels repelled my kekkei genkai away. I'm sure Hana is strong enough to do it,"

Now we were all confused. I had no clue what he was talking about and neither did Kakashi and Obito.

"Kuroshi, you're supposed to tell me everything, like you promised at the Chunin Exams," I reminded.

He looked at Kakashi and Obito, debating on whether he should talk about it with them here.

"They already know, so you might as well just tell me right now," I pushed.

"Not now, I'm still trying to figure out how to tell you. I'll see you later because I need to go check on Yukiko and Nozomi," Kuroshi said and left.

"Hana, you shouldn't do what he's telling you to," Kakashi said and turned to me.

"I agree with him for once. This is dangerous." Obito added.

I wasn't going to listen to them. I needed to get this over with so Nozomi doesn't continue trying to target me. Also, she was the only one who knew the answers to my question. This was necessary.

"Guys, you don't get it," I shook my head. "I have to do this. Nozomi is the only person who can tell me why my parents were killed,"

"That was a long time ago. You need to let it go and just let the past stay in the past." Kakashi tried to reason.

"You don't understand, Kakashi!" I shouted and stormed off.

I ignored Obito trying to call after me and I heard them starting to bicker with each other. I made it home and hoped that Kuroshi would come by later tonight to talk to me more.

I entered my home and took my shoes off. I was greeted by Minato and Kushina.

"Congrats, Hana! You're going to become a chunin!" Kushina gushed and hugged me tightly.

Minato was chuckling at my reaction because I was flailing my arms because of how much she was squeezing me.

"A-air," I choked out.

"Oh, sorry!" She laughed and let go.

Minato put his hand on my shoulder. "You really impressed me because you were new to your lightning release and the rasengan and you did it pretty good,"

"Oh and someone else is very proud of you too," Kushina added.

I looked at her and I saw bushy white hair behind her. I grinned, knowing that he saw me win.

Jiraiya ruffled my hair. "Great job, Squirt! You really pulled off that rasengan!"

"So you were there?" I ask.

"Yeah, I was," Jiraiya nodded. "I can't miss out on my student's match after I trained them. Also, you took me by surprise. I thought you were going to lose and then one of the spectators pointed out that you were using an 'odd jutsu' and I realized they meant the rasengan,"

Words couldn't describe the pride I felt hearing compliments from Jiraiya and Minato. Kushina's compliments even made me feel better.

"I bet you're hungry," Kushina said. "So I'll go make some ramen for us,"

"No, I'm alright. I ate barbecue with Obito, Rin, and Kakashi earlier," I said.

"Okay, that's fine," Kushina nodded and sat down on the couch.

Jiraiya, Minato, and I all joined her and we caught up for a bit.

"Jiraiya, we were planning a family outing because we need to do this more often. It'll be next week, so would you like to come with us?" Kushina offered.

"I wouldn't want to intrude on family time," Jiraiya replied.

"But you are family to us, Master Jiraiya. Come with us," Minato added.

"I'll come next time," Jiraiya said. "The old man has something he wants me to do for him,"

"Oh, alright then," Kushina said. "You better come with us next time then,

"Definitely," Jiraiya nodded and looked over at me.

Minato was looking at me too and now I was confused.

"Hana?" Minato asked.

I looked at him. "Yes?"

"Do you think you'd be interested in some more training? Jiraiya and I thought you'd like to learn something new," He offers.

"Yes!" I exclaimed with excitement, nearly jumping out of my spot next to Kushina, causing her to jump.

Jiraiya laughed at how I startled her. "That's great kiddo, we'll start soon. Maybe after the Cherry Blossoms Festival,"

"Speaking of that, do you have a date for it?" Kushina grinned and nudged me.

"I..." I trailed off, blushing.

"Oh! Are you going with Obito? You two are pretty close after all," She continued to nudge me.

I continued blushing, not being able to form any words in my mouth. "I...I..."

"Or is it Kakashi? You two are close as well," Jiraiya joined in, just to get a reaction out of me. I quickly got up and hid my face.

"I'm gonna go to bed! Night!" I exclaimed and rushed to my room.

I heard them laugh and before I shut my door, I heard something that caught my attention.

"So, you really think she's the one, huh?" Minato asked.

"Yeah, I think so Minato. It wasn't you, so it might be her instead." Jiraiya replied.

"I still think we need to think about this. Don't you remember what I told you about our mission?" Kushina added.

I knew they were talking about that prophecy thing again and I know it's not me. How can someone like me be a 'Child of Prophecy'?

I got ready for bed and I heard a light tap at my window. I knew that was Kuroshi.

I opened it and he walked through it. He sat down on my desk and looked at me.

"So?"

"I finally figured out how to tell you everything, like you asked," He said.

I nodded and shut the door quickly. I then sat down on my bed and he sighed before speaking.

"So I don't know exactly everything," He started. "But what I do know is that she completely changed after her birth father died. She ended up going through depression and eventually that pain changed into hatred because someone she associates with takes advantage of it,"

"Why would he take advantage of her pain?" I ask.

"I believe it's for an experiment,"

"An experiment?"

"Yes," Kuroshi nodded. "All I know is that he targeted her father, Shinji, because he was associated with him. Shinji took something that belonged to him and he wants it back. When he learned that Shinji died, he learned that the only way he could get to it is Nozomi and made up a bunch of lies,"

"And where do I come into this? Why is she targeting me?" I ask.

"This guy told her that your parents are the reason why her father died and told her that she needs to get stronger so she can take her revenge by killing you. I'm not sure why you, but that's all I know, Kuroshi explained.

I was shocked. She wants revenge for her father dying? That's why she's after me?

"Okay, but when exactly am I going to be 'taking her down'?" I ask.

"I'm thinking in about ten days," Kuroshi said. "That's the only time we can pull this off. It's a long trip back to the Blood Mist from here and she hates being around Yukiko and I. She'll be traveling alone and that'll be the perfect opportunity to do it,"

"Why can't you do it, Kuroshi? You have that kekkei genkai of yours, so you can overshadow her body and make her do it, don't you think that would work better?" I ask.

"That reminds me," He said. "I'm not strong enough to do it because she's getting stronger and because of what you have, you're the only one who can,"

"You say I have something, but don't you think it might be because my chakra levels are overpowering for you?" I ask.

"That's not it Hana," Kuroshi shook his head. "I was born into a noble family and I was trained by very many people who are high-leveled. That's not it,"

"Are you saying I'm weak?" I ask.

"Compared to me, yes,"

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay back to the story," I changed the subject. "Do you know the guy who she's working for?"

"No, I don't. I only know this because I overheard her talking about it with an associate of the guy and no names were said because they knew I was there,"

"Okay then," I said. "I need to get some rest tonight because I'm exhausted after the final rounds. Goodnight Kuroshi."

"Goodnight, Hana. See you in ten days."