章 43: EXCHANGE PROGRAM

"Just stand still, I got this" Hibiki said as he placed his hand on his palm and interlocked his thumb, opening the rest of his fingers wide. It was a bird. " Ancient beast summoning: phoenix eagle"

The screeching of an eagle echoed throughout the area.

A giant eagle suddenly grabbed me by my shirt and flew away in the direction of the academy.

*3rd person P.O.V.*

The giant eagle dropped Kakashi at the entrance of the training ground before disappearing into thin air.

Kakashi quickly ran to the dorms and jumped straight to the second floor where his room was located and grabbed the window. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, trying to visualize himself standing on the wall. He could feel his Karma slowly flowing towards his feet, and as he opened his eyes, his legs were stuck to the wall.

He getting opened the window, before crawling into the room like a lizard.

...

Ayaka had waited at the gate for Kakashi to come back after Kanade-sensei had told him that he had gone out with Hibiki. She had waited for the past four days, she even tried to go look for him but Miss Natski had ordered her not to leave the academy, so there was not much for her to do.

"After all, he must come back for the exchange program"

She had waited at the training ground which will also used as an arena for the exchange program.

The training ground was up to two acres. It was divided into two levels, the upper level was the arena, about 1.5 acres radius was covered with a barrier, this was to protect people outside from inside and also avoid any disturbance from the outside during the matches, the other area was for others to sit and watch.

The lower level was the changing room and a parking lot for VIPs', even though there was a barrier to cover the battleground, another barrier was used to protect the entire arena from the outside from anything that might cause the viewers to be uncomfortable, even rain.

The exchange program matches were simple, students would be matched against each other and the top ten would be selected by a sage. One sage will be accompanied by a high-ranking supernatural to choose students who will be assigned to another academy.

You can either be invited to an academy or apply, if you apply you'll have to pass the exchange program first. You can reject an academy invitation, there is no penalty for that.

There are twelve sages in total, but there are currently only eight are known. Each sage represents a type of technique and is known as the strongest supernatural in the world. The sages are;

Flame sage

Water sage

Earth sage

Wind sage

Alchemy sage

Sword sage

Light magic sage

Dark magic sage

The rest are unknown.

...

"Ayaka!" Kakashi yelled and landed beside her.

"Where have you been? I waited for you but you never came back?" Ayaka snapped.

Kakashi stared at her with a rather worried look on his face.

"Don't worry, I'm here now" he consoled, patting her head gently before rubbing her left cat ear.

Ayaka blushed for a moment before she pushed him away.

"Stop that?, I'm not your pet"

"Of course, you are" Kakashi replied with a smile on his face.

"The exchange program is going to start soon. Luckily, your match is at noon"

"What about you?"

"I'm not participating anymore Ayaka said disappointedly, her mood suddenly brightened. "Miss Natski told me to tell you that..." She suddenly changed her voice trying to mimic Miss Natski. "If you can pass the program without any wound or broken bone, I'll tell you all I was able to find out about your sister's whereabouts"

"That mean she doesn't know where exactly Tokah is?"

"Why don't you look for her yourself!, Do you think it easy to look for someone when we have nothing but a five-year-old photo as a lead!"

"What was that about?" I asked utterly confused.

Ayaka changed back to her normal voice. "I'm sorry, miss Natski told me to tell you that if you said anything else"

_she had predicted that I'll complain_

Ayaka was more cheerful than usual, it was like Kakashi had healed her.

"Since my match is at noon, why don't we out?"

"Where?"

"Don't worry. Do you want some temaki?" I asked.

Temaki is a type of sushi in the form of a cone.

"Yeah!" Ayaka smiled at the thought of going on another date with Kakashi. She just hoped that another distractididn't pop out of nowhere, because this time she was going to rip it apart by herself.

Kakashi was in the changing room, where he had changed his uniform after taking his bath. He had returned from the city just ten minutes earlier to get prepared for the match, he could hear the continuous rumble above him.

"Your first opponent will be Kurumi" Ayaka had informed him earlier.

"You mean Kurumi Yamikaze?" Kakashi raised my brow causing a deep furrow to appear on his forehead.

"I wish I was matched up with her, I would have ripped her apart. That weakling, she is so full of herself" Ayaka whispered under her breath before turning to Kakashi. "Show her no mercy, deal with her"

"Whoa, whoa. Hold on" Kakashi held Ayaka by her shoulder. "Why don't you like her?, I've noticed that soar look on your face when I first mentioned her name"

"It's girls' stuff, your little brain won't be able to comprehend it"

_maybe she was right, I can never understand women_

...

As the large gate opened slowly as Kakashi walked into the arena, Kurumi was already waiting. Apart from Kurumi, there were people in the arena patiently watching, some were supernaturals, and others were humans who paid to watch the fight for entertainment. If Kakashi counted them right, there were about three thousand people there, including the flame sage and the wind sage who came to watch.

This was a surprise because two sages never go to the same academy, it wasn't much of a surprise. With the rise of demons, especially in Shibuya, Natski had predicted that there would be an attack at the academy, so two sages were meant to prevent that from happening.