Murder, Talk no Jutsu and Other Easy Solutions

Enter, Mizuki! ...Why the Hell is he Important?

Mizuki dropped his papers, sending them scattering on the floor when he heard the next examinee's yell. Maria cursed when she saw the mess she had indirectly caused.

"Ah shit.", she cursed, before getting on her knees to help pick up the papers. Mizuki did the same, getting up out of his seat and crawling around to clean up his mess.

"I am so sorry, I didn't think I would cause anyone to drop anything.", Maria apologized. Mizuki laughed nervously.

"No no, you're fine. I should have learned my lesson when Naruto came bursting in here earlier.", the white haired man said. Maria chuckled.

"Yeah, he's like that.", she agreed. By now, they had both gathered all the papers. Seeing that they were done, they stood up and brushed themselves off.

"Thank you for the help.", Mizuki said as he straightened the papers in his grasp until they were all neatly aligned. Maria did the same and held hers out to him.

"No worries, man.", the pink haired woman said. Mizuki took the papers and took the chance to finally get a good look at his surprise helper, and was shocked to find a beautiful woman a half a foot taller than he was. Maria looked down at the gaping man with a raised eyebrow.

"You okay, dude?", she asked. She knew she was weird looking, but compared to how other people looked in this world, she wasn't that weird looking. Mizuki shook his head and smiled at her.

"Yes, I'm fine. My apologies for staring off into space like that. My name is Mizuki, and you are?", he asked cordially. Maria blinked at him, confused by his interest in her, but answered all the same.

"No, you're fine. The name's Maria. I'm kinda your next examinee.", she said awkwardly. She had no idea why this guy was being so nice to her (well, comparatively anyway). Mizuki was a one episode villain, who barely got any screen time in his own filler episode. He was going to steal the Scroll of Sealing, get busted by her, and spend the rest of his life in ninja jail. He hated Naruto, and she was Naruto's friend. Therefore, he should hate her by association.

So why was he staring at her all... weirdly?

Mizuki stared at Maria for a few more seconds, before Iruka clapped him on the shoulder and snapped him out of it.

"Mizuki, Maria's here to take her Genin exam. I think it's time we get started.", the brunette suggested. Mizuki blinked in confusion.

"Genin exam? Are you sure? She looks old enough to be a Chunin by now.", he said, hoping to any god that would listen that he didn't just have a meet-cute with a thirteen year old. Thankfully, Iruka laughed.

"Yeah, she is, but she had a bit of a late start. She's new to the village and has the skills to be a shinobi, so she decided to join the graduating class and take the official test. It's more of a formality than anything.", Iruka explained.

Mizuki internally sighed in relief, and Maria stood in front of the two men, feeling bored and awkward. She wanted the situation to be over already. She had to take Naruto and Sasuke out for celebratory ramen, and then she had to go bust Mizuki with Sai. She didn't have time for idle conversation. She frowned and rubbed the back of her head.

"Hey, teach one, teach two, can we get this over with already? I promised Naruto I'd treat him to ramen after this shit.", Maria said brazenly, hoping the tidbit about Naruto would make Mizuki go back to being the cartoonishly evil villain he had been in the main series. But there was no glint of hatred in the white haired man's eyes, no flicker of disgust. He just nodded and smiled while Iruka laughed.

"Eager, are we? Alright then, let's get started. You know what jutsu to perform.", Iruka said as he took a seat at the examiner's table at the front of the room. Mizuki sat down beside him and shot her a wink. Maria didn't know how to feel about that.