[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FC2bMh6.png[/img][/center]

	Irezumi Makoto had awoke on the day of the chunin exams with a bandaged arm and a pain in the neck. Her father had walked into her room loudly and plopped himself next to her head, prodding and poking at it with her hanbo. She growled, and a moment later her oni tattoo had come to life and seized the hanabo in its hand, staring at her father intensely. For his part, Irezumi Taka reacted with little more than a chuckle.

	"Good, you're awake," he said simply, spinning the hanbo in his hand and dismissing the oni with an easy blow. He held it over Makoto's shoulder, and she grabbed it roughly, pulling it to her lap as she sat up and scratched at her shoulder. "Makoto, don't scratch at your tattoo, you know this," her father reprimanded with that same authoritative tone she hated so much. She knew damn well not to scratch it, it was just that waking up had a habit of removing one's ability to think about such things, she stood, spinning her hanbo absentmindedly as she pulled her ninja outfit out.

	[color=blanchedalmond]"Might wanna fuck off because I'm not going to stop changing just because you're in here,"[/color] she insisted with a playfully exaggerated scowl at Taka, who held up his hands in resignation and walked out. That was the scope of their interaction for the day, her father was never the talkative one, he had his brother to do the talking for him. Makoto didn't mind much, he minded his own business and let her mind hers. She would totally have stopped if he had refused to leave, ew, but he took those things literally. In short, it was easier to exaggerate to get him to leave quicker.

	She dressed quickly, and slid the door open violently, continuing to tie her hair up as she walked around the koi pond in front of the Irezumi clan compound. The sound of stomping feet alerted her to the fact that her uncle Kuren had waylaid her.

	"Off to the exams, huh Koto-chan?" he asked, pushing his way into her space in a way that she'd come to find more irritating than endearing. She violently poked him in the cheek with her kanabo, shoving his head away with a dismissive snort.

	[color=blanchedalmond]"Off to [i]pass[/i] the exams, geezer. Mind your distance."[/color]

	"Who the hell is this runt?!" her uncle yelled out in a rage that had to be at least partially real. "I remember when you had some respect for me and your dad!" he continued in faux-outrage. He had been the same way at her age and the both of them knew it.

	Makoto tilted her head away from him and closed her eyes contentedly. [color=blanchedalmond]"I have respect for him, not for some old chubby jackass like you. Don't you have some maiden half your age to be lusting after?"[/color] she asked with another poke of her kanabo, this one to his ribs. [color=blanchedalmond]"I've gotta focus on mentally preparing for this, ojisan, how did you do it?"[/color]

	Her uncle chuckled, massaging his hip with a hard brick of a hand. "Teased your dad, kinda like what you're doing to me," he joked, much to Makoto's annoyance. Thankfully he seemed to notice her irritation, and scritched her hair. "You'll do fine, Koto-chan. The hard part is learning it, putting it into practice is the easy part," he offered with a ridiculous smile that made her eyes roll.

	[color=blanchedalmond]"Whatever,"[/color] she snarked, pushing away from him and hefting the kanabo over her shoulder. A few steps away, when she was sure he wasn't following her, she turned back and gave him a smile. [color=blanchedalmond]"I'll thank you this one time, but don't you dare let it get to your head!"[/color]

	"Aww! You do love me!" he replied with a cackle, which continued behind her as she made her way through the village proper to meet with her squad. She looked forwards to this, her teammates were all talented if nothing else, even if that Shirou kid's inferiority complex irritated her like nothing else.

	Whatever happened, she'd pass, and she'd try to make sure they all passed too. She arrived at the gathering area, and watched the hokage give her speech with a relaxed face. It was exciting and kinda scary, she had to admit, but she had to reserve her energy for the fights ahead, considering the amount of foes they had to face... she needed to stop thinking about it before she broke into a smirk that might scare away her teammates. When the hokage finished speaking and left, she turned so that she was looking at the whole crowd, and crouched, her eyes scanning her opponents with a smirk forcing its way onto her face. This was exactly what she was looking for.