<hr/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: trajan pro;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><span class="bbc_u">Chapter 1: Team Building<span class="bbc_u"><strong></strong></span></span></strong></span></span></div><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: palatino;">After that first day of classes, things seemed to settle more into a routine. Well, as far as Midori could see, anyway: Miss Jinmi would make her lunch before class, she would walk to the Academy early and get into class first or nearly first and sit in her spot, play with Sunako a bit so the kitten would be tired out and sleep for most of class, the first half would be theory and history and all sorts of information, and then the second half of class would be physical training. Then, when class was over, she would take the rest of her lunch from the classroom and hurry to catch up with Ibiki and Misaki to walk most of the way home with them.<br/><br/>Mostly, at first, the Hyuga siblings hadn't interacted with her much when they walked together, but Midori sort of thought they were almost friends anyway. Misaki was always on the edge of being angry, but Ibiki was just quiet and polite, which was nice. And after Misaki had gotten mad and yelled at her one day for needing more practice, she'd started to train with Misaki.For some reason, Ibiki was not allowed to join them, even though he'd asked and Midori had thought it'd be nice to have more than just her and Misaki, especially since the other girl still sort of seemed like she didn't really like spending time with her.<br/><br/>But, training with Misaki was actually pretty fun, except for the katas, which she was not very good at, no matter how much Misaki corrected her. It was enough to pass for the Academy when they had exams, but not really that great for close quarters combat. But what she<em> was</em> good at was accuracy with projectiles; kunai first, then shruken when she showed talent in that, and then senbon, because it was the most accurate and precise tool, and Midori found she liked being accurate. It also made her feel more like maybe Misaki sort of liked being friends with her, even if she seemed angry a lot.<br/><br/>Midori was pretty sure that she and Misaki and Ibiki were friends, and neither of them were like most of the other kids, who were loud and boisterous and intimidating for Midori. Except Aburame Makoto seemed nice, very quiet, but nice. Not that she interacted with the other student much at all.<br/><br/>Eventually, Miss Jinmi had given birth, too, so now she had a little cousin, Yuuhei. Mostly he called her Big Sister and liked to try to play with her, and his favorite was waking her up in the mornings before she left for the Academy, and he was always waiting for her to come home after training with Misaki. Every time, as part of the routine, he asked if he could go with, and she'd say to him "wait until you're a little older". Then, the next day he'd say he was older and could he go with her now.<br/><br/>Miss Jinmi didn't seem to think he should go to the Academy, and kept trying to distract him with activities, but Yuuhei seemed to like the idea of going with Midori more than spending time with his mother or father. Midori knew that, when he was older, he was going to be loud and boisterous, like the kids who made her nervous. But, he was very cute as a three-year-old, and she liked spending time with him, even if he did like to wake her up by jumping on her and then running away screaming.<br/><br/>Today was no different, and the small child jumped on her stomach, shrieked "Get up! Get up, Midori!" then jumped off of her and ran from the room, continuing to yell, "Mommy! Midori is awake!" as he bolted into the room, his heavy footfalls echoing down the hallway.<br/><br/>For such a small child, he sure made a lot of noise when running.<br/><br/>Sunako, who wasn't really so small any more, wedged herself out from behind the bookcase, where she always managed to squish herself when she heard Yuuhei coming. The not-really-a-kitten-any-more was quite good at hiding from the little boy, and seemed rather annoyed by his attention most of the time.<br/><br/>Today was going to be a bit different, though, since she would find out what team, if any, she would be assigned to today. Teacher had told them that the last few weeks had been assessing them, and those who would graduate would be doing so today.<br/><br/>She hadn't told Uncle Kanetaro or Miss Jinmi about that yet; if she failed out then they'd be happy, but if she showed them wrong and graduated, she was pretty sure they'd be upset. And, really, she hadn't figured out how to tell them either way, anyway. She'd been working hard to get good enough to graduate and join a genin team. Mostly, at first, it was to show her Uncle and his wife that she could do well and that they were wrong to think that she wouldn't be able to do it. But then she sort of started to like it: besides the running, she liked being accurate with the senbon and working on jutsu and chakra control. Also, being a spy didn't seem like that bad a thing, and she could probably work up to being an assassin. Maybe.<br/><br/>Yeah, probably.<br/><br/>So the morning went like usual, and she got to the classroom early, as was also usual. Aburame Makoto was the only one there, and Midori nodded her head at the other girl as she walked by, but thought probably it would be best not to say anything: she knew what it was like to be shy, and didn't want to make the other student uncomfortable.<br/><br/>Eventually, Teacher started the class, and he was still as cranky as ever.<br/><br/>"Good, brats. Looks like everyone's here. Now, Today's not even really a full class day, got it? I'm gonna read off your groups, if you made it, that is, and those that didn't are gonna get outta here and go home or whatever, and the rest'll stay for their new Jounin instructor. Got it?" The entire class nodded, having learnt their lesson rather early on about that.<br/><br/>"Okay. So the first passing team is: Aburame Makoto, Inuzuka Tadaaki, and Nara Miyu. Second Team is: Yamanaka Mikia, Komori Shun, and Mori Chizue. The third team is: Hyuga Ibiki, Hyuga Misaki, and Yuhara Midori. The rest of you didn't make it. Maybe if you stick around another year you'll be re-assessed, but for now get outta here." he waited while the few who didn't pass left the room, while Midori found herself simultaneously relieved and excited. She'd made it, and would get to stay with Ibiki and Misaki, too, which was nice since she and Misaki trained together a lot and Ibiki was pretty nice. She'd been worried that she might get set with Inuzuka Tadaaki or Nara Miyu, who were both so loud.<br/><br/>Eventually, a lady came in and called out for the first team, listing their names off. Then, an older guy did the same for the second team, and both lead them away. As soon as the second team was gone, Teacher left the room and another man came in. He had blue eyes and a dark red-ish hair, and he immediately smiled and lifted his hand in greeting.<br/><br/>"Yo, last ones left, huh? Must be my team; two Hyuga, Ibiki and Misaki, and then Yuhara Midori must be the girl with the cat, huh?" <br/><br/>Midori decided he was weird, he was sort of talking to them, sort of talking at them, and sort of talking like there was someone else there that he was talking to <em>about</em> them. But, at least he wasn't calling them 'brats' like Teacher liked to. <br/><br/>"I'm your Jounin instructor, Kobayashi Ryuu. If you want, you can just call me Ryuu, I'm not nearly as grouchy as Noboru, after all. And, last ones, we get the classroom to ourselves for a while, which is great. So.. I read the files on you three, but I wanna know about you from you. What're ya good at, and what about your teammates? How much have you observed about them? You might be Genin, but it's never too early to start working out how to best be effective as a team, since that's what you'll be unless you make it to Jounin eventually." Casually, he hopped up to sit on Teacher's desk, and really reminded Midori of Sunako for a moment. Especially since the gangly almost-cat was still curled up on her own desk, watching the man while her tail flicked back and forth lazily.<br/><br/>"Why doesn't Misaki start, huh?" The easy-going man turned his attention towards her, his expression overly friendly, even if he was doing that weird way of talking again...<br/><br/></span>