"Who would've thought we'd actually be the first ones in?"
Naruto sprawled on the floor without a care.
A thick crust of dried yellow mud covered the legs of his orange pants.
He dug off a chunk with his fingernail and crushed it in his palm.
"Quit flattering yourself, dead last."
Kiba crouched nearby, his leather vest reeking of a dog that hadn't been washed in days.
Akamaru nestled in his arms, his pink tongue hanging out as warm drool soaked Kiba's shoulder.
"If it weren't for Sen, you'd probably be fertilizer under some tree right now."
Kiba turned his head and spat on the ground.
"All right, Kiba, give it a rest."
Shikamaru leaned against a cold stone pillar, scratching hard at the back of his head with his right hand.
Black grime filled the spaces beneath his nails.
"Seriously. Sen caused all that commotion in just the second exam."
Sen stood in the farthest corner, rubbing the corner of his eye hard with his mud-covered right hand.
The corner of his eye felt painfully dry.
He picked out a crust of dried yellow eye gunk and flicked it onto the wall behind him.
His faded short-sleeved shirt gave off the sour stink of sweat that had soaked in and dried over and over.
He opened his mouth wide and yawned repeatedly, tears welling in his eyes.
He still clutched half an uneaten wild pear.
The exposed flesh had long since turned black and gave off a faint, fermented sourness.
He gouged out the rotten parts with his fingernail, shoved the rest into his mouth, and crunched away.
"What a pain."
Sen sniffed.
The ground floor of the Central Tower was as cold as an icehouse.
A draft howled through the main doors, chilling him to the bone.
Anko