Naruto 1. Hajime!

Live Fast, Die Young

Summary: Sakura found a reason for wanting to become a ninja – the other Uchiha. Sakura-centric, focused on character and story development. Not just a retelling of cannon events.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did I would probably hug him, then put a muzzle over his mouth and tie him to a tree. Then hug him again.

Edited: 10/11/13 for things that sounded funky in a second read-through.

Chapter 1

He stood calmly on one side of the arena floor, ignoring the cheering civilians in the stands. As impossible as it seemed, his face was an emotionless mask despite the fact he was about to start a fight that would determine the rest of his ninja career. He was the youngest one in the competition, and this worried some of the mothers in the audience who didn't know him. However, for those who knew the legacy of Itachi Uchiha, they recognized that if a ninja could qualify for the Chuunin exams at such a young age, said ninja was probably more terrifying than the older competitors.

However, since he was so young and inexperienced, his reputation was still confined within the walls of Konohagakure.

"You should forfeit, kid. There's no way you can win against me."

In response Itachi silently activated his sharingan, making no other move to respond.

The referee stood on the edge of the sparing field. "Ready... begin!"

The larger boy, Kenichi, made a few very fast hand signs and pressed his hands to the ground. There was a rumble and then a wave of earth started rushing at Itachi.

Instead of jumping out of the way the young boy raised a kunai above his head and, as the dirt approached, smoothly cut the wave in half with a wind jutsu, using the kunai like a sword. The earth fell to the ground in two piles next to him and, before Kenichi could react, he did the same hand signs as Kenichi had just done, sending the earth back at the older boy in a wave. Then he jumped into the air and disappeared.

There were murmurs in the crowd as some of the civilians looked around, wondering where the boy went. The jounin's in the crowd realized that the genin had used the earth jutsu as a cover for throwing his kunai into the sun and doing a mid-air kawarimi with it, however it took Kenichi a few precious seconds to realize the same thing, and when Kenichi finally noticed Itachi coming at him in the glare of the sun, it was as he was being kicked in the face.

Kenichi crossed his forearms to block the blunt of the force and ended up keeping his balance, but was shoved back several feet. He coughed and spit out a glob of blood.

I gripped the banister in front of me as I watched Itachi land gracefully. He glance coolly at the other, taller ninja like a predator towards prey. The Uchiha's body language and facial expression suggested boredom, but his eyes, glistening with the adrenalin of the fight, betrayed his excitement.

"I'm going to be a ninja," I said to my parents, my green eyes sparkling with reverence.

They were silent for a few seconds, before my mother said hesitantly "Sweetheart, being a ninja is really dangerous. We brought you here to show you how violent it is, and how easily you could get hurt."

I watched as Itachi stood calmly a few feet from his opponent. They stared at each other, yet even as Kenichi started to catch his breath and reach for his weapons, Itachi didn't move an inch.

Suddenly Kenichi performed some hand seals, kunai still in his hand, and disappeared into the ground. Still, Itachi was unfazed. Calmly, the Itachi jumped into the air, gripped his hands together and said "release."

The ground exploded. Literally exploded. Technically it was a lot of little explosions all over the area the two had been fighting in, however all together the little explosions made one giant explosion, and the dirt shot up like fireworks.

"Itachi hid explosive tags in the ground when he sent the earth wave back at his opponent," I heard an older ninja say to his team a few feet from us.

As the dust cleared mother covered my eyes, but then father took her hands away. "Let her see this," he said. "If she really wants to be a ninja, let her see what they do."

I looked down at the arena, seeing Itachi walking off the floor and hearing everyone cheering around me. But where was his opponent? There was a smudge on the ground and I squinted my eyes...

"He was blown into thousands of pieces."

I looked at my dad, then back to the field again. The splotches now took on a new meaning. Most were unrecognizable, however one was distinctively long with a foot at the end. If my parents were telling me that being a ninja was dangerous, and I could get blown up...

**Then we'll just have to be so good that we'll be the ones doing the hurting!**

"Well, I'll just be a ninja like Itachi then. I'll be the best, and then I won't get blown up. That's how it works, right?"

"The Haruno's are a family of traders, Sakura," my mother said. "We've never had a ninja in the family."

As the cheering died down, I responded "then it'll be all that more awesome when I become one!"

My parents looked at each other, sharing a silent conversation. "We'll sign you up for the academy," my mother finally said, and before I could start cheering she added "on one condition: if you ever do poorly, or are told to repeat a grade, you will quit and help out with the family business. Understood?"

**Che, like that would happen!**

Well, that worked perfectly with my plan to be the bestest ninja ever like Itachi. "Thank-you mommy!" I screeched, giving her a huge hug. Although I knew she had a worried face, I like to pretend that she was just as excited for me as I was.

[..7 years later..]

I finished the written portion of the final exam and turned it face down on my desk. Like all the tests in the ninja academy, I had aced this one. I didn't have the natural born genius of the Nara's, however I also wasn't an idiot like most of the other non-clan students. I worked extremely hard to get good grades the first few years of the academy, so much that I ended up learning most of the curriculum ahead of time since they went so slow. By now everything was review of review, things we'd gone over 10+ times already. Soooo boring.

I tore off a small corner of my test and rolled it into a ball, hiding it from Iruka. As Iruka went over to scold Naruto for who knows what, I aimed and fired. The ball hit one of the points of Shikamaru's pineapple hairdo. **Bulls eye! **I smirked, tore off another small corner, then quickly stashed it below my desk, sticking it to an old piece of gum as Iruka headed my way.

He gave me a very stern look, which quickly melted into acceptance before taking my test away. I smiled thankfully. Once he took my test, I was allowed to read a book until everyone else was finished. He did the same for Shikamaru and Sasuke, the only other two that finished well before everyone else, however the former just slept for the rest of the class and the latter stared out the window, so it didn't matter as much.

The library for academy students didn't have any techniques, however it did have some basic intelligence books. Currently I was reading a book on code breaking. Why was I studying about cryptography? Because, to be the best ninja ever without being a natural born genius, I had to be well-rounded throughout the academy. That way, when I got my jounin sensei, I could discuss with him or her which subjects I should focus on. Although Iruka was nice, he was still just one chuunin overseeing a class of thirty students. There was little time for one-on-one attention, especially with Naruto around.

"Alright class, after lunch I'll post the results of your test, and those that pass will be allowed to take the ninjutsu portion of your final, which will determine whether or not you have to repeat this year of the academy."

I pulled my lunch out from under my desk, not bothering to close my book. Everyone around me was getting up to go outside and eat with friends, and even Shikamaru woke up to do so. However, with all the training I did, I never had time to make friends. I stared at the page, reading the same line over and over again. Sometimes I wished I had a friend.

**You don't need friends. You have me.**

Thanks, inner Sakura. Glad to know you care.

**Stop moping and continue reading. You only have a couple more days with that book.**

Until...?

**Until we get access to awesome new books as a genin!**

"Yatta!" I cried with an excited smile, doing a fist pump. The classroom had already cleared out, so nobody heard or saw, and my smile slowly slid off my face.

"When I get my teammates, do you think they'll be my friends?"

**You'll get paired with the same idiots you've had class with for the past five years. What do you think?**

I frowned and took out a rice ball, eating it while reading.

**Don't worry,** Inner said. **Become the best ninja ever first. The friends will come after.**

"Thanks, Inner," I whispered, once again concentrating on my book.

[...]

"The jutsu we will have you do today," Iruka said, giving a dramatic pause, "is the clone jutsu." There were a couple groans, some yay's, and a lot of whispers. "Please step into the adjacent room when your name is called."

He did it alphabetically, and I managed to just finish my chapter before Iruka called out "Haruno, Sakura." While all the jutsu's we'd learned had been easy, the clone jutsu was the easiest for me. I'm not sure why. Maybe because the clone jutsu was more mental than physical. Even the transformation jutsu was a mixture of sensory manipulation and a lot of concentration. The clone jutsu was just, hey, look at what I look like! Now, pretend there are two more of me. Yeah, just like that, you got it! Okay all done.

**Or maybe it's easy because we're just that awesome.**

Maybe. I tied my new hitai-ate to my forehead, using it to make sure any bangs that fell out of my pony-tail wouldn't fall into my face. The metal was surprisingly malleable and formed to my small head easily.

Later that night, after my parents made me a feast and I was tucked into bed, the village alarm went off. I quickly interpreted the signal's code: chuunin and above search for Uzumaki Naruto, jounin and above only engage. Everyone else, remain indoors.

Although I wanted to know the outcome, it'd been a long, tiring day and I ended up falling asleep to the sound of the village alarm bells.

[...]

A week later I arrived at the classroom for my last time ever. This classroom had been my place of learning (well, place where people taught at me) for the past seven years. I would be sad to see it go. But I was happy that it was being replaced with an actual Jounin sensei, who would only have three of us to teach. Imagine, personalized one-on-one teaching, all the time! Well, 1/3 of the time. Unless I got paired with Shikamaru, then I'd have more time since he'd always be asleep.

"Team 7," Iruka said, "will consist of Haruno Sakura," – that's me! - "Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. Your jounin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

Well, I probably couldn't have had worse teammates: a natural born genius that everyone fawns over and an attention seeking brat. Also, the two hate each other. However, on the bright side Copy-Cat Kakashi is one of the strongest ninja in the village. If I had the choice to learn from anyone, it'd be him. Sometimes, you have to overlook the bad and focus on the good. Glass 1/3 full and all that.

"Who's Sakura?" Naruto asked, looking around the classroom.

I growled softly. Sasuke turned around, glancing at me, but didn't tell Naruto. Sasuke and I had a friendly rivalry going on. We were head-to-head for first in the class; he was better at taijutsu and I was better at intelligence, however the scores evened out. Sasuke is the only one that can remotely keep up with me in class, although I'm sure I study and practice much more than he does. The woes of not being a natural born genius. At least he knows who I am, I guess.

"Naruto! She's been your classmate for seven years and is top of the class!" Iruka yelled, throwing his eraser at Naruto, hitting him square in the center of his face.

Once Naruto finished rubbing his hurt nose, he said "woah, she sounds pretty cool." I preened under the praise. "When I'm Hokage, I'll make her my secretary!"

**Oh hell no!**

My mood quickly soured and I made a fist under my desk. Ninja's don't show their anger. Ninja's are emotionless, precise, and above all _controlled_. I will not pummel him. He is unknowingly obtuse, and probably didn't mean it the way he said it. He's just a dumb boy.

"Why will she be your secretary, Naruto?" Iruka asked.

Naruto scratched his head. "Because she's a girl, duh."

**KICK HIS ASS!**

We weren't allowed weapons in class when indoors so I had to improvise. I shot my pencil at Naruto like a senbon. It sped through the air and whizzed past his ear, missing his head by half an inch, and impaled itself in the wall at the front of the classroom. Everyone in the class turned to look at me, including Naruto. "Hi," I said with a forced smile, "I'm Haruno Sakura. Pleased to meet you, Naruto."

"Whaaaaat?!" Naruto yelled. "I thought you were a guy!"

Despite trying to keep my cool, my left eye started to twitch.

"I mean, you have short hair," Naruto continued, "and you always wear dark loose clothing, not cute things like girls do. And your have a small che-"

"Naruto!" Iruka said, tackling Naruto and covering his mouth. Wise man.

"Short hair and dark clothing are what ninjas should wear," I said, twirling a piece of my hair around my finger. It really wasn't _that_ short, just above shoulder length. Maybe if I had kept it bubblegum pink instead of dying it black (although even with the dye it turned out only a dark purple) it'd be more feminine, but since my hair was almost more noticeable than Naruto's orange jumpsuit, it had to go if I ever wanted to become the best ninja.

Iruka finally let go of Naruto (after tying him to the chair and putting tape over his mouth) and continued with the team assignments. I didn't really care about the other ones, but listened anyway because it was a good source of information. I noticed that two teams were filled with major clan members, and that Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were on the same team, like their parents were. The other had Hinata, the heir to the Hyuuga clan, as well as Shino and Kiba, both from major clans. There were no other major clan members in our class besides Sasuke. The academy records showed that in the past few years usually only 2-3 of the ten teams passed the Jounin's test and actually became genin. The two clan teams were definitely going to pass, and my team was a wild card. The other teams were made up of non-clan students, and most of them would be cannon fodder if they became actual ninjas, so I counted them out.

After the last team was named we were released for lunch and went outside. Well, I released the genjutsu that had been hiding my book and took out a rice ball, while everyone else went outside. Or almost everyone.

"What do you know about Hatake Kakashi?"

I noted what page I was on in my book and looked up at Sasuke, raising an eyebrow. Everyone in the class, except apparently Naruto (but he's as dense as lead) knows that I'm the best information gatherer at the academy. For the right price I can give you information on nearly everyone and everything in the village, and even Iruka is paying me off to not steal tests for students. However, I have two rules: I never do anything for free, and I never accept cash. My favorite form of payment is books. Since I'm not a clan member, the only sources of ninja related information I have access to are in the small section of the library, available to both civilians and pre-genin, which is only two shelves of carefully controlled information so that the civilian villagers don't hurt themselves, or spies don't learn essential information on village security.

"We're teammates now," Sasuke said, giving me a firm glance.

**Rule number one**.

I looked away from him and went back to my book.

He made a noise of displeasure, but I watched out of the corner of my eye as he opened his bag and pulled out a scroll.

I quickly snatched it from his hands and opened it. Scrolls were infinitely more difficult to get than books. Most clans don't usually mind if their children lend a book on, say, chakra or history or something to a friend, but scrolls were safeguarded and treated with utmost care. Any jutsus that weren't private or clan secrets were kept in the ninja library, sorted by level of access, and currently pre-genin (since I hadn't passed Kakashi's test I didn't have access to the genin section yet) only had five jutsus, all very basic, low-level, and taught at the academy.

I opened the scroll. "Elemental Manipulation," I read, and my eyes widened. I skimmed the contents in the scroll. It was the basics of fire manipulation. An explanation of how to mold chakra to form fire, as well as about a dozen exercises focused on improving both chakra and fire manipulation control. This was the kind of thing that clans grew up with, that I thought I'd never have the chance to see for years, since it was restricted to chuunin, and even then just for their element. However, it was now _in my hands,_ the hands of a non-clan member. This was worth the information on ten people, not just one. I definitely owed Sasuke, but I wasn't sure if he knew that or not.

"Hatake Kakashi," Saskue said, jerking me from my thoughts.

Ah, right. "Hatake Kakashi," I began, not taking my eyes from the scroll. "Age 26. Born September 15th. Son of Konoha's White Fang. Graduated the academy at age 5, made chuunin by 6, and jounin soon after. His nickname is 'Copy-Cat Kakashi' because he has copied over 1000 techniques with his sharingan." I paused as I heard a sharp intake of breath, and looked up at Sasuke. His eyes were wide, but he quickly smoothed his features once again and I continued. "He isn't a member of the Uchiha clan," I said for clarification, "his sharingan was implanted. However, I don't know the details of that. He has an affinity for lightning, has created a multitude of techniques, and is most famous for his Chidori, a lightning-based assassination attack. He's studied under the Yondaime, and works with ninken. Also, out of the other jounin sensei's, we definitely got the most knowledgeable. He's even a candidate for the godaime. I'm very excited to be working under him."

"Appearance?"

"181cm, 68kg. White spiky hair. Wears standard jounin attire. Has a face mask, and covers his left eye with his forehead protector."

Sasuke grunted and walked away. "Thanks for the scroll!" I said as he left.

I quickly stashed my book on codes in my bag. This scroll was much more interesting, and although I only had a few minutes left before the jounin sensei's would be arriving, I'd read as much as I could before then.

[...]

"He's late!" Naruto yelled.

I adjusted my position on the windowsill of our room so I could rest my head against the cool window while still reading the scroll. Naruto was too much to handle sometimes. At least Sasuke and I tolerated each other. Shikamaru or Shino would have been good third partners. I'd even take Choji over Naruto. Sure, I felt bad for the blonde sometimes when people picked on him, but only sometimes. Most of the time he deserved it for being an annoying gaki.

"Like a Jounin is going to fall for such a simple booby trap," I heard Sasuke say. Traps? I looked up just in time for the door to open, and an eraser that was placed in the doorway to fall on Kakashi's hair, chalk dust causing it to become even more white than before.

Naruto started to crack up.

**Serves him right for being late!**

...why didn't he dodge? Or just grab the eraser out of the air?

Sasuke gave me a look. _Are you sure your information is correct?_

I gave him another look that said _Are you really doubting my intelligence?_

"My first impression is... hmm, how can I say this...? I don't like you guys."

A few minutes later we met on the roof and began with introductions. After Naruto yelling something that I was not paying attention to at all, Kakashi started by saying absolutely nothing about himself except his name.

Then Naruto went. He said a lot of things about ramen. **Dumbass**. Then he said that his dream was to surpass the Hokage and have all the people of this village acknowledge his existence.

"Naruto, there's no way anybody could ever _not_ notice you," I said, rolling my eyes. Naruto pouted at me, but I ignored it.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke began. His speech went much in the same way as Kakashi's except he added "My ambition is to resurrect my clan and kill a certain man."

Itachi Uchiha. Single-handedly wiped out nearly the entire Uchiha clan, and Sasuke's brother. Also my reason for wanting to become a ninja – and my idol. I understood Sasuke's need for revenge completely, although Naruto just looked confused. Kakashi was emotionless, without the crinkle in his face mask of the fake smile he wore through his own and Naruto's introductions.

I let us sit in silence for a few more moments before saying quietly "I'm Sakura Haruno. I like learning new things, and dislike annoyances. My dream for the future is to become the best ninja."

Kakashi wasn't paying attention to me, still focused on Sasuke. Perhaps he assumed I was the third wheel, the boring, plain civilian girl stuck on a team with the great Uchiha genius and Naruto, who has more chakra than most chuunin. Maybe he thought I had no value to this team besides being the token girl. Well, he thought wrong.

After a few seconds he evidently realized I'd finished because he clapped his hands together and said "Alright! Tomorrow we'll start survival training. I'll be your opponent, and this isn't normal training."

"Is it the genin test?" I asked.

Kakashi finally looked at me, giving me a sharp glance. "Test?" he asked.

My teammates looked confused too, so I elaborated. "Of the ten teams that graduate the academy each year, only 2-3 generally pass and actually become genin. The remaining ones either drop out of the ninja program or take an accelerated refresher course and try again."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto. "So if someone on our team can't pass..."

"Then we all fail," I said. "Or one of us will be placed onto an outstanding team that needs another person, or if there are a few 'good' students that fail, we might get reteamed and take the test again. However, the way the teams are currently broken up, we wouldn't get reassigned. There are only two other teams that are bound to pass, and seven that are going to fail no matter what. Also, we don't have the experience to be put onto an outstanding genin team. So either we pass, or we take the refresher course and try again."

"Is that true, Kakashi?!" Naruto asked. "If Sasuke fails, we won't become ninja! Then what was the point of graduating?!"

"If I may ask," Kakashi said, looking at me, "how do you know the academy passing procedure? It's kept very confidential."

"I just asked a genin," I said. Among other things. Many nonessential 'confidential' documents aren't kept very securely. Information gathering is very easy, and useful, so I don't understand why other people don't do it more often.

"I'm not going to fail," Sasuke said confidently.

"Waaa! Me neither!" Naruto yelled. "We'll complete this test together, and I'll pull Sasuke's weight, believe it!"

"The power of teamwork," I mumbled. "Sasuke and I will pull _your_ weight, Naruto."

Sasuke grunted in agreement.

"Maa," Kakashi said, and we all looked over at him as he crumpled up a ball of paper and incinerated it (that was an exercise in the scroll!) "Well, that is how most teams work, however I've decided to do things a bit differently. You see, I'm thinking about taking on an apprentice."

...**what?!**

"So, in fact, would only be a 33% success rate. You three are my candidates. Tomorrow's test will determine who among you is the most qualified to be working directly under me."

I glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of my eye, and saw him looking at me as well. We both knew who this was really a competition between. _I'm very excited to be working under him_ is what I said to Sasuke earlier, and I meant it. I would become his apprentice, if it was the last thing I did. Unfortunately, it was clear that Sasuke felt the same.

**We'll pummel the both of them, and show Kakashi who the real apprentice should be!**

Well, I'm glad that one of us is confident.

On my way home I began making a list of things I'd need to do for tomorrow. I'd have to make some more explosive tags, recoat my kunai in poison, not to mention I really wanted to go through the rest of my new fire scroll. Unfortunately, it was already dinnertime so it didn't look like I'd be able to do that tonight.

[...]

"Hey guys," Kakshi said, appearing in the training field three hours late. "Why is Naruto gagged and tied to the post?"

"Because he hasn't managed to free himself," Sasuke said.

Kakashi didn't even bat an eyelash. "Why was he tied there in the first place?"

"Meditation requires complete silence," I said, finally opening my eyes and standing from lotus position.

"Maa, well would you mind untying him? It'll be difficult for him to participate if he's unable to move."

I walked over to Naruto and took out his gagg, then grabbed his rope. Before he could say 'thanks' I took a deep, calming breath and focused my chakra into my hand, sending it along the rope. Then I snapped my finger.

The entire rope caught on fire.

"AHHHH!" Naruto screamed, easily breaking the rope now. He started patting himself down frantically, putting out all the small fires on his jumpsuit.

"A ninja should always wear fire-retardant clothing," I said happily, excited that I actually got the rope to catch on fire.

Kakashi sweatdropped. "Well, now that we're all here, I'll explain the rules of the test." He gave each of us a bell. "Your task is to obtain all of these bells and return them to the Hokage before noon."

I held my bell tightly. Sasuke and Naruto placed their bells in their pants pocket. I eyed my bell and raised it to my mouth.

"You must physically give all the bells to the Hokage, so I would not recommend eating it," Kakashi said, his one visible eyes crinkled.

I frowned, placing my bell in my pants pocket as well.

"Ready, set, GO!"

Sasuke and I ran into the forest. Naruto stayed, facing Kakashi, but I didn't care. Hiding in the bushes, I took out my bell. Sasuke was on the other side of the clearing, and the other two were occupied, so I knew I wouldn't be disturbed for a while at least.

I took a senbon out of my pocket and carefully began carving into the bell with it, then infused the explosion seal with my chakra. If someone got the bell now they'd be in for a nasty surprise. If I couldn't have this bell, then nobody could.

I heard the sound of feet against ground and quickly stashed the bell in my bra. Lets see someone find it there. "Sasuke," I said, recognizing his nearly-silent steps. If it was Naruto I'd hear a bunch of twigs snapping – Kakashi I wouldn't hear anything. "Here for my bell?"

"Yours will be the third," he said, appearing before me.

"Taking Naruto's isn't something to really be proud of," I said dubiously, making the snake hand seal.

Sasuke, immediately realizing what I was about to do, jumped into the air as I said "kai."

The ground where Sasuke had just been standing exploded, throwing dust everywhere. I threw a kunai at where Sasuke had jumped. It made a thump, and when the dust cleared I saw Sasuke had substituted himself with a log.

A 'whoosh' was all the warning I got that Sasuke was behind me. I blocked his kick to the right side of my head with my forearm, grabbed his foot with my left hand spun left, using his momentum from the kick to make my turn faster. But he turned, breaking from my grip, and landed on the ground in a crouch.

Sasuke rushed at me, pulling out a kunai and smirked since he knew he was better at taijutsu.

I pulled out a kunai also, although while his was just a regular kunai mine was laced with poison. I purposely left myself open. Sasuke must have thought I was really that stupid because he took the bait, and I ended up getting punched in the face, while he only got a light cut with the kunai. But even just a slight slash was enough.

"Wha-" Sasuke said, faltering as he tried walking towards me. He couldn't stand up anymore and staggered, crouched down, putting his hands on the ground for balance.

I was on the ground fifteen feet away, slowly recovering from his punch. "Poison," I said with a smirk, but it came out wrong. I felt my nose – broken. With a wince I popped the cartilage back into place. It'd do for now until I could get a medic to heal it. "Fast acting," but short lasting, I added in my head. I'd have to move fast. I quickly stood up and walked over to him. Sasuke was now laying prostate on the ground, unable to move. However, his eyes followed my every movement, glaring at me.

I searched his pockets and found one bell, but the other wasn't there. Frantic, I searched again. I only had a couple more minutes before the poison would begin to wear off. "Where is it?!" I asked.

Of course, Sasuke said nothing.

I growled and quickly grabbed Sasuke, hoisting him into a sitting position against a tree, and quickly tied him up, making sure it was loose enough that he'd be able to escape easily. Then I divested him of his weapons, threw them into his bag and slung it along with my pack over my shoulder. I gave one last look at him before I jumped off into the trees.

Before I got more than fifteen feet I hid the other bell in my bra, then doubled back and hid in the bushes, watching Sasuke.

It only took a few minutes for the poison to wear off enough that he could slip out of the bindings, then Sasuke started running west, towards the Hokage tower. Clearly Sasuke's plan had been to hide the one bell, then get Naruto's, mine and Kakashi's bells and pick up the last one on his way back.

Sasuke started to slow down, and then stopped in front of a knot in a tree. I leaned forward through the bushes I was hideing in to get a better view. He reached his hand in, then swore.

There was a tinkle of bells from our left. "I happened to stumble across this on the road of life." Kakashi said, presenting the bell to us. He casually clipped it to his belt, where the other bell was.

There was a crashing sound from the right, and Naruto came barrelling in. "Hey!" he said, pointing accusingly at Sasuke, "gimmie back my bell!"

"Maa, we're all here." Kakashi said.

Sasuke looked around. "Sakura-"

"Has been following you," I said, realizing my cover was blown. I jumped out of hiding, and stood next to Sasuke. "And if you had hidden the bell better so Kakashi didn't just stumble upon it, maybe he wouldn't have two right now!"

"I'll just take his, then I'll take yours."

RIIIIIIING.

[...]

"Well, none of you have managed to complete your task," Kakashi said, his visible eye making a half-moon. "Therefore, I won't take any of you on as my apprentice!"

I felt a cold wave of dread pour over me. My parents said if I ever failed they wouldn't let me be a ninja anymore. Of course, I could continue without their permission, but they're my parents. I'd hate to do that to them. So I have to pass, even if Kakashi won't accept me, I'd have to find someone else. Maybe ask the failed team's jounin's if any of them would take me, just so I can gain experience and eventually be used as a replacement on another team. Even if they won't be an eighth as good as Kakashi would have been...

**Hell no! We'll make Kakashi train us, if we have to pummel him so hard that even his ninken won't be able to recognize his deformed body!**

I sweat-dropped in my mind. Sometimes Inner could be a bit melodramatic.

"Well, there's no need for you guys to go back to the academy," Kakashi continued.

I felt that something was very wrong, but Naruto started jumping up and down. "Then, then all three of us will be on a team?!" he asked.

"Yep, all three of you..." Kakashi started, then his eyes suddenly went cold "should quit as ninjas."

We were all stunned into silence. I would never quit trying to be a ninja, but it really hurt that Kakashi said we should. That someone as strong as him didn't believe in me was a huge sting to my pride.

"Quit?!" Naruto shouted. "What does that mean?! Sure, none of us could get all the bells, but why do we have to quit?!"

"Because all of you are just punks who don't deserve to be ninjas."

I glanced at Sasuke. He was fuming with anger. I couldn't blame him, but I felt more hurt than angry. Naruto just looked confused.

"Are you guys underestimating ninjas? You heard Sakura; you were divided into teams to do this training. What's the most important part of being a ninja, the thing you must have to become a Konoha ninja?"

The most important thing? Ninjas nearly always work in groups of three or four. It's the only thing they all share. So something every ninja must have... "Teamwork," I said.

"Yes, teamwork. The three of you working together may have gotten my bell."

"But we were working for one spot!" I said. "What's the point of teamwork, when only one of us... oh. We'd have to work with teams in the future."

"This test is purposely set up to make you fight amongst yourselves," Kakashi said. "The purpose is to see whether you can forget about your own interests and successfully work together under these designed circumstance. Yet you all focused on yourselves, when you should have been focusing on the biggest threat to your mission. As a _team_."

I should have known. This was never a test to be his protégé. We made assumptions that it wasn't a test to be a team, when his words were all traps, never explicitly saying one way or the other. Teamwork was the question all along, and we completely failed the test.

"You guys... I'll give you one more chance. But after lunch I'll make it even tougher. Also, since Sakura is the only one of you three who had a bell at the end, she will be the only one allowed to eat." My stomach rumbled, remembering that I'd forgone breakfast as he told us to do yesterday. "If your teammates eat anything, you all will fail immediately. I am the rules here! Got it?" Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

I walked over and picked up the bento Kakashi had left on the ground. I was really, really hungry. But Sasuke and Naruto looked hungry too...

Sasuke sat against a tree and Naruto sat on the ground, clutching his stomach with tears in his eyes. "Sooo hungry!"

I looked down at my lunch, then over at Naruto. I threw Sasuke's bag, which I still had, over to him, then dug in mine and pulled out a sandwich I'd made earlier. "Sasuke," I said, and threw him the sandwich, too.

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"It's has tomatoes, so you should like it. Naruto, you can share my bento."

"But- but we'll be kicked out!"

"If Kakashi goes on a spiel about teamwork then sends us back to the academy for helping each other, he doesn't deserve to be anyone's sensei."

Naruto scooted over to me eagerly and I threw him a pair of chopsticks I found in my bag. As he took the first bite from the bento, Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of us with a very scary look on his face. "What's this! You guys!"

I cringed, expecting the worst.

"...Pass~!

...

"Yay!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

"You guys are the first to not just blindly do whatever I told them. They others were morons. A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are trash, but those who don't take care of their comrades are worse than trash. Alright! Everyone meet back here tomorrow at 7am for our first mission!"

I was smiling all the way home.

[...]

"And then he passed us! So all we really had to do was work as a team."

"Teamwork is very important for every profession," Father said. "Can you please pass the rice?"

I did. "And, I mean, Sasuke is a good teammate, but I'm not sure how Naruto will be-"

"Naruto?" Mother asked. "That brat is on your team?"

I blinked. "Yeah. I told you. He's the annoying one."

"I didn't know it was _him_," she said. "I won't accept that."

"The team formations are up to the Hokage," I said. "Besides, he's annoying, but besides that he's really not that bad."

Mother sighed. "When will you get over this ninja faze?"

I froze.

**What the hell? Faze? **

"I mean, it was cute when you were a child, but you're getting older, Sakura. It's time to start thinking about what you really want to do with your life."

My appetite vanished. "I want to be a ninja, mother. I've always wanted to be a ninja."

"Even after that Uchiha boy, the one who caused you to want to be a ninja, did those horrible things? It's time to start thinking practically, Sakura. Do you really think you'll become a jounin, or even a chuunin? You don't come from a clan family."

"Dear," Father said. "This should be a happy occasion. Can't this wait?"

"No," Mother said. "I don't want to see her get hurt, physically or emotionally. It's time to start thinking about growing up, Sakura."

I closed my eyes. Tears, from both sadness and _anger_ were threatening to spill out. "I'm afraid I can't do that," I told my mother between clenched teeth, and stood up. "Excuse me."

"If you continue being a ninja, we won't allow you to keep living in this house!" Mother said as I ran up to my room.

I slammed my door shut. Everything was so happy and _perfect_ earlier. What happened? I thought my parents accepted that I was going to be a ninja. I was first in the class not only to be the best, but to make them proud. I picked up my bag. It was already packed from the survival test earlier today, but I threw the rest of my money, the code book and fire scroll into it. I couldn't stay here any longer. I had to get away.

[...]

Knock knock knock.

Silence.

POUND POUND POUND.

The door opened.

"Sakura?"

"I-" I faltered and adjusted the strap of my bag on my shoulder. I looked away from Sasuke because anytime I tried focusing on something tears filled my eyes. "Can I maybe stay with you for a few days?"

Sasuke was silent but didn't automatically reject me. That was good. He looked about to say something, but then just opened the door.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

I entered took off my shoes. He led me from the entranceway down a long hallway. I was still plagued with thoughts of my parents not accepting me that I didn't pay any attention to my surroundings. He opened a door and there was a bed inside. It was sparsely furnished, but plenty for me. I put my bag on the floor.

"Thanks," I said again.

Sasuke nodded then left, shutting the door behind him.

I laid on the bed, still in my clothes, and fell asleep.

[...]

"Sorry I couldn't make more," I said as Sasuke sat down at the table. There was very little in the house, and I ended up just making egg covered rice, as well as some grilled fish and tea. I picked up my chopsticks. "Itadakimasu."

Sasuke took a bite and froze.

"Is it bad? We can go out to eat breakfast if you want-"

He shook his head and took another bite. "I didn't know you could cook," he said.

"My mother taught me. She, well, she wants me to be a good housewife one day. Not a ninja. So that's why I left." I was babbling, but I couldn't stop the words from coming out.

"You should go home."

Was I a burden? Was making breakfast not enough? Or... "if you want rent or anything, I can pay you once we get our mission checks-"

"It's not that. You should go home and be with your family."

Oh. Ohhhh. "I still love them," I said quietly, "and I will go back. I just need some time away to think. My mother doesn't believe I'll continue being a ninja. She thinks it's just a 'faze.' But it's not. And I want her to see that."

"If... if she loves you, she'll accept that you want to be a ninja," Sasuke said, moving the food around his plate with his chopsticks. "I'm sure it will be fine."

I looked down at my plate. It would be fine. Probably. I just had to convince my mother that I was going to continue being a ninja, and not a trader's wife. Somehow. I glanced up at Sasuke and smiled. "Thanks," I said.

"Hn." He glanced away. "You can still stay here for a few more days, if you want."

I nodded. I would return home. Just not yet.

[...]

I took my potato fork and dug into the earth, trying hard not to stab any of the new potatoes. I knew, from talking to older ninjas, that D-ranked missions were boring, but I didn't know they were _this_ bad. Also, Kakashi showed up five hours late to our meeting, so he ended up just sending us off for lunch before meeting again (and being late again). He didn't train us _at all_ and now here we are, 5pm, hoeing and picking up potatoes. If I didn't know the missions were going to get better I'd consider actually listening to my mother and forgetting about being a ninja.

"Oh!" Naruto yelled. I glanced over at him as he made a ram symbol and said "kage bunshin no jutsu!"

Six more Naruto's appeared around the original.

"What are bunshin's suppose to do?" I asked, poking one and expecting my hand to go through. But it didn't. It was solid. "What the..."

"We're kage bunshin, not bunshin! We're real! Right, boss?"

"Yep, you're real alright! Now help me really pick up the potatoes!"

One of the bunshin wrinkled its nose. "That's boring. Can't we go get ramen instead?"

"After we finish, we can go eat all the ramen!"

"Yatta!" echoed six Naruto's, all doing a fist pump towards the sky.

It only took us ten more minutes to finish with all the solid bunshin's. "Naruto, what was that technique that you used?"

"Kage bunshin!" Naruto said.

"Do you think maybe you'd be able to tell me how you did it?"

Naruto suddenly looked serious. "Ji-ji told me I couldn't tell it to anyone. Cause I have a lot of chakra I can do it, but it might hurt others."

"Alright," I said less enthusiastically. "Thanks anyways."

Once we were done Kakashi sent us home. No training or anything. "Kakashi," I asked.

"Hm?" he asked, nose buried in a little orange book.

"Can you teach me any jutsus?"

Kakashi thought for a moment, then nodded and put away his book. I looked up expectantly. He made the ram seal. "Concentrate your chakra through your entire body, then release."

Kakashi disappeared with a swirl of leaves.

I looked around, but he was no longer there and I was alone. I growled. "Kakashi!"

I took a calming breath. Okay. Ram seal, concentrate chakra, release. Concentrate chakra. Chakra. Flowing through my body. Pull it back, hold it in, and _release_.

**Wait!**

I felt myself moving really, really fast, and then my world went black, and suddenly I was suffocating.

A/N: Wow! Long first chapter. I hope it didn't scare anyone away! I'm writing this to hopefully improve my writing as well as to tell an interesting story. I love Sakura and feel that she can do so much better than her cannon self. If you notice any Mary-sueing going on, smack me and I'll fix it. Same goes for if I'm character bashing, writing things that aren't at all realistic, dumb dialogue, pointless descriptions, too little descriptions, etc. Also, I'm open to suggestions for future chapters/events. I already have the second chapter written (although it's quite a bit shorter than this one) however I only have the skeleton of the next two arcs written, and a general idea about what will happen after the chuunin exams, however the characters might have their own ideas too so that could change XD. Also, I haven't watched Shippuden *runs and hides* so if I make a totally dumb cannon mistake please correct me.

This will NEVER be a romance story. I hate it when awesome adventures turn into sucky romance novels. That said, there may eventually be temporary awkward teenage pairings, but that will only _ever_ be as a side plot, and never the main focus of the story.

FINALLY (sorry for the long A/N) if you have written or read a great Sakura or SI or time travel fanfic, I would love to read it. Or just something not romancy. With lots of adventure and awesomeness.

Thanks!


	2. Omoshirokunai

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did I would tie Naruto to a tree and force him to wear cute fuzzy fox ears and a tail! Or just give them to him. He'd probably put them on willingly.

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews guys! Hope you like the next chapter :) It's a bit shorter, but it's where I wanted to stop. As always, all criticism and story recs are welcome! Although, with the life of a college student I'm not sure how much time I should be devoting to reading fanfiction...

The Hokage sat at his desk, doing dreaded paperwork. He must have made the Paperwork Gods angry because there seemed to be more than usual today.

Or maybe it was because he spent the past few days reading the new Ichi Ichi Paradise book. Really, who could blame him for ignoring paperwork for the cute Megumi and her fervid adventures?

He felt a breeze as someone shushined through the window. "Hello, Kakashi," he said.

Kakashi walked in front of the desk, putting away his little orange book. "Hokage-sama."

"I see you've finally passed a team."

Kakashi nodded, the only show of emotion from his cloth-covered face. "They seem to be... less moronic than the other candidates you've given me in the past."

The Hokage chuckled. "You know that I was just waiting for your sensei's son to become old enough." The Hokage became more serious. "What do you think of him?"

"He has great stamina and a high chakra reserve, explained by his heritage and prisoner. However, his intelligence and overall capabilities as a ninja could use great improvement."

The Hokage steepeled his fingers. "I think you'll find that he's much more intelligent than given credit for. Did you know that he has gotten very good at evading anbu after his pranks?"

"Perhaps that tells more about the quality of our anbu rather than our genin."

The Hokage smiled. "And Sasuke Uchiha? How is he doing?"

"He is above average in skills, however has an unhealthy obsession with taking revenge on his brother."

"Perhaps we can channel that for the good of the village. I will look into options. And Sakura Haruno?"

Kakashi took out his book. "She seems unremarkable so far, however she does have an interest in learning. Is that all, Hokage-sama?"

The Hokage nodded. "Make sure you do not overlook one of your students in favor of the others."

Kakashi nodded and, without another word, disappeared out the window.

[...]

Cold.

Floating. _Surrounded._

I opened my eyes, but everything was still dark.

My lungs began to burn, but I couldn't take a breath. I tried kicking, moving, getting to the surface, but I didn't know which way was up and I was probably moving farther from air and I didn't know what to do.

Panic.

I had to breath. I couldn't hold it anymore. But breathing just brought the water into my lungs and I panicked more. Couldn't stop it.

I was going to die.

...

I didn't want to die.

How did I get here?

Bring your chakra in and _push_.

...

Still under water. What else was there? My brain was getting fuzzy. A hand sign?

I couldn't think anymore. I really was going to die.

Tense chakra, _push_ again.

As my brain shut off, I felt something grab me, but I didn't have enough consciousness left to register anything else.

[...]

**Sakura...**

**Sakura, WAKE UP!**

I opened my eyes. This time light flooded my vision. I still couldn't breath, but I could cough.

"That's it, just get all the water out," someone said, patting me on my back.

I was laying on my side. After a few seconds of throwing up water there was finally a pathway for air to come in. I started gulping it in greedily.

When I became less frantic I sat up and looked at my rescuers. The girl patting me on the back had buns in her hair. There was also a green-jumpsuit guy with a bowl cut, and then a Hyuuga. _Tenten, Maito Gai, Hyuuga Neji. Team Gai. Well, most of them._

"What happened?" I asked, standing up.

"Neji youthfully rescued you from the depth of the pond! How did you find yourself in trouble, young one?"

...pond? So, it wasn't that deep? "I was trying to shunshin," I confessed, blushing. I didn't like confessing when I couldn't do something.

"Clearly a youthful first attempt!"

"How did you find me?" I asked Tenten.

"Neji found you," she said, pointing at him.

I turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"I saw your chakra pulse," he explained.

"We were fighting on the surface," Tenten elaborated. "Neji saw it with his Byakugan. Oh! We haven't introduced ourselves!" She said everyone's names, even though I already knew who they were. I knew who every recorded non-classified ninja in the village was.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," I said. "How-"

"Ah, Haruno-san!" Gai said. "My rival's youthful genin! You must be a great team for him to take you after years of failing students!"

I blushed. "Um, I guess. Anyway, how were you fighting on the surface? Like, in the water?" But that didn't sound right. If it was deep enough that I couldn't see the surface, were they swimming-fighting or something?

Tenten giggled. "No, Lee and I were sparing on the surface. We were water walking. It's a chakra exercise that you'll learn when you've been on your team longer."

Water walking? That sounded useful. "Can you teach me?" I asked, giving her puppy-dog eyes.

"Your sensei will teach you when he feels you're ready," Neji replied.

I frowned. If Kakashi taught me water walking at all like he 'taught' me shunshin-

_-Cold, surrounded, can't breath-_

I shook my head to clear it. I know he didn't mean for me to get hurt. It's just, I wish I hadn't.

"Oh! Thank-you for saving me, Hyuuga-san." I bowed respectfully to him.

He nodded his head in return.

"I should go," I said. I was still shaken up over the whole ordeal. Even though I had planned on staying at Sasuke's house for a while longer, I suddenly had the urge to see my parents.

"Alright, stay safe Sakura!" Tenten said as I left.

I just hope my parents weren't too angry that I left last night.

[...]

Seeing my parents again wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Even though I was only gone for a day, there was a little yelling, a lot of crying, and I think I made out in the end better than when I started. My mother did say that I would have to invite Sasuke over for a formal dinner soon to thank him for allowing me to stay at his house, but besides that there weren't really any other consequences of my momentary absentee.

The next day we met at training ground 7, same as we did every day, except this time Sasuke handed me a bag. "You left your shirt."

"Thanks," I said.

I looked over to see Naruto sputtering. "It's not like that!" I said quickly. "I just spent the night."

"Y-y-you two... I thought you weren't his fangirl, Sakura!"

I hit my palm to my forehead. "No, I just needed a place to stay for the night. I stayed in his guest room!"

Naruto pouted. "Why didn't you want to stay with me?"

"I don't know where you live, Naruto," I pointed out.

He blinked. "Oh, right."

"Good morning!" Kakashi said, appearing in front of us.

"You're only 45 minutes late this time Kakashi," I noted. "What happened?"

Kakashi put away his orange book. "Have you guys learned how to make storage scrolls?"

We shook our heads.

"Alright. I'm only going to show you once, so pay close attention."

While Naruto and Sasuke were practicing making scrolls, Kakashi took me to the side. "Gai told me that you nearly drowned yesterday."

I closed my eyes for a moment. _Coldness, pressure_- "I was trying to shunshin and it didn't really work."

Kakashi sighed. "I... didn't mean for you to get hurt. However, I think I know what happened. Did you have a destination in mind when you did the jutsu?"

I shook my head.

"Next time, think about where you want to go. I'll... try to be more clear with my explanations in the future."

It didn't fix the fact that I almost died, but I was grateful for the somewhat apology anyway. Besides, I'm sure I'd have more near-death experiences in the future. I suppose I should get used to them now, when there are people to help me out of my own mistakes.

"I will. Thanks, sensei."

Kakashi nodded and I went back to trying to make a storage scroll.

[...]

I took a deep breath, smelling the delicious scent of all the scrolls and old books. It'd been took long since I'd last been in the library, especially now that I could access a ton of new books as a genin.

"Hello, Sho," I said to the librarian as I walked in.

"Oh, you've already graduated! That's great, Sakura-chan!" he said as I handed him the book on codes. "Did you enjoy the book?"

"Yes I did. Although I'd like to look at the genin section instead of another book on cryptography today, if you don't mind."

"Of course!" he said. "I'm sure you already know where it is."

I nodded and waved goodbye as I went upstairs. Books available to all villagers and academy students were on the first floor. Genin books were on the second floor, and Chuunin on the third. The library didn't have any other books for Jounin or Anbu simply because by then a ninja was usually specialized in one area, and found their information elsewhere than the library.

As I got to the top of the steps I looked around. At the top of the steps there was a long hallway. I started walking down it and looked to my left and right. There were doors, each with a clan symbol. I put my hand on one of the doorknobs and felt a sharp prick of pain. The door stabbed me! I stuck my bleeding finger in my mouth and tried the door again (more carefully this time) but it wouldn't open. So, the books behind these doors were only for specific clans?

I walked to the end of the hallway and entered a small room. There were three shelves, each covering a wall, and a chair in the center of the room. I had been expecting a bit more, especially since the entire floor had been devoted to genin, so I was a bit disappointed. Hopefully the books would be worth it!

After about ten minutes of searching I decided that the books were _not_ worth it. Most of them I'd already had access to at one point or another, whether from classmates lending them to me or just coming across them elsewhere. A majority were on the history of Konoha, which we'd already learned about in the academy, and I didn't particularly find it fascinating. There were only a few books on the history of other nations, and while I find other nation's pasts interesting, I prefer knowing what's going on _now_ but, of course, that's classified.

There was an even smaller section of jutsus. I was hoping for something exciting that I could use in a battle, but there were mostly just the standard academy ones, which I could have found downstairs! There were only two that were useful: one was a scroll on the Temporary Paralysis Technique, which seemed to be a useful technique, but it wasn't exactly the kind of battle-ready exciting technique I wanted. The other was a scroll on shuriken techniques. I was good with shuriken, but they weren't my favorite weapons of choice – I much preferred senbon because they're easier to use, fly faster, and pierce deeper. However, beggers can't be choosers so I took my two scrolls down to the front desk.

"Is that everything?" Sho asked. "You're getting fewer than usual today."

"I think the genin section might have been picked over. The only techniques not already covered in the academy were these."

"I'm afraid there aren't many more," Sho said. "Most of the techniques in the village are clan techniques or elemental, and you'll have to wait until you're a chuunin to get access to your element's techniques."

I sighed. That was not what I wanted to hear. It really annoyed me that only clan kids got access to information. Kakashi had better step up his teaching, or else I might have to start doing information gathering in exchange for books again. That made me remember. "What about the water walking technique? That's one that most genin learn, right?"

Sho looked at me with piercing eyes. "Your sensei is Hatake Kakashi, correct?"

I nodded.

"Alright," he said, his voice getting softer. "That's a chuunin-level technique, but every genin learns it at some point. Now, I'm just going to talk to myself for a moment, so feel free not to listen." I leaned in closer. "When I was a genin and learned water walking, I didn't begin with it. I started out with the tree-climbing exercise. For that one I ran up a tree and stuck my feet to the bark with chakra. Ah, that was fun, reminiscing." He winked at me.

I smiled. "Thanks, Sho!"

He nodded. "Anytime, Sakura. Feel free to stop by again soon!"

[...]

The doorbell rang. My mother quickly left the kitchen to answer it. "Sakura, begin putting the dishes on the table!"

I sighed, rolling up the long, billowing sleeves of my kimono just to have them fall down again. Carefully I picket up the food, trying not to let my sleeves touch the dishes. When my mother said we were going to have a formal dinner to thank Sasuke, I didn't think she actually meant _this_ formal.

My mother led Sasuke to the table, and then we all sat down; Father and Sasuke at the heads, mother and I on either side. "So Sasuke," mother said as she passed him some vegetables, "how do you find being a ninja?"

Sasuke looked to me and I shrugged. "Our teacher is useful when he's not late," he said.

"Is that right?" mother said, as if this was news to her and not something I complained about _all the time_. "Well, thank-you very much for letting Sakura stay at your family home, Uchiha-san."

Sasuke looked away uncomfortably. "It's not as if I'm in lack of room," he said bitterly.

"Even so," mother said, not looking as enthusiastic as she had before, "Thank-you," then added brightly "now who wants dessert!"

[...]

Sasuke and I stood in the backyard. I had changed out of my kimono into more practical clothes. "Sorry about my mother," I said. "She can be a bit overbearing sometimes."

Sasuke looked up to the sky. "It was actually nice," he said softly. "I don't usually eat other people's cooking."

"Well, you're welcome back any time," I said. "It's nice having someone else for her to focus on for a change."

He glanced at me. "You seem bitter."

I frowned. "Not really. Well, kind of. She doesn't want me to become a ninja." I dug the toe of my sandal into the ground. "Civilians don't understand anything about being a ninja. It's very frustrating."

Sasuke made a noncommittal noise. "Do you think tomorrow will be digging potatoes, babysitting, or catching Tora?"

"Oh, I'm hoping for Tora," I said excitedly, and at Sasuke's dubious look I added "It's fun watching Naruto try to hold the struggling cat without getting scratched."

"Animals really don't like him, do they?" Sasuke commented.

"It's a good that he heals quickly, or else he'd have scars all over his face from that cat."

Sasuke looked at me questioningly.

"You haven't noticed? Watch him next time he gets hurt. His scratches and bruises heal in minutes."

"Interesting," Sasuke said, then under his breath added "I wonder why."

I didn't know the answer so I didn't reply. Maybe it was a kekkei genkai. We certainly had enough of those in this village. "I know a new exercise you might be interested in," I told him. "I'll show you how to do it in exchange for another scroll on techniques."

"Why don't you go to the library?" he asked, neither agreeing or disagreeing.

"There are very few scrolls for non-clan affiliated genins," I responded bitterly.

After a brief pause he nodded.

"It's called the tree-walking exercise. Do you know it?" Once he shook his head I continued. "You concentrate chakra to your feet and... climb trees. Since it's just sticking your chakra to stuff, I assume it can be used to scale buildings too, and walk up walls and on the ceiling. The next level is the water-walking exercise, but tree-walking is easier." I went to the tree in our backyard. It was only about 20 feet tall with branches about half-way up. "I'm not very good at it yet, but watch." I took a couple steps back, then ran at the tree. I got one, two, three, four steps up then, as I felt my chakra faltering, shot a burst of it into my feet and leaped, grabbing a branch that was towards the top yet still thick enough to support my weight, and swung myself up onto it so I was crouching. "Easy enough, right?" I yelled down.

Sasuke nodded. He ran at the tree, but only got two steps before flipping backwards and landing on his feet once again. "I will master this."

"And I will too," I said. "Along with water walking. I think it'd be interesting to see what other surfaces we could stand on. Sand, probably. What if we could walk on air?"

Sasuke took one more try at scaling the tree, then looked at the setting sun. "I should go home."

I jumped down from the branch and walked him back through the house and out the front door. "See you tomorrow Sasuke."

He nodded and left.

"You two get along quite well," mother pointed out with a wide smile.

"I'm not marrying him and quitting being a ninja," I stated flatly.

**Hell no!**

She frowned and added indignantly. "I wasn't suggesting anything of the sort."

Yes, she was.

[...]

The Hokage sat at his desk, smoking a pipe and shuffling through papers. "Now... Kakashi's Team number 7, your next duty is... hmm... babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, or help with the potato digging..."

I looked at Sasuke pointedly. This was soooo boring.

"No!" Naruto shouted. "No, no, NO! I want to do, you know, a more awesome mission! Find us a better one!"

"You guys just recently became Genin," the Hokage pointed out. "D-rank missions are perfect for you."

There was a long pause. We knew we could do better than babysitting. "If you want it that much," the Hokage finally said, "I'll give you a C-rank mission."

...Really? **Yatta!**

"It's a courier mission of a certain item."

"What, what?!" Naruto asked excitedly. "Gold? Jewels?"

"The Kage of Kumo's birthday is in two days. You four are to deliver this-" the Hokage pulled out a black jewelry box "-diamond bracelet to her in time for the celebration. Do you accept this mission?"

"Hell yea!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke and I just nodded.

"Very well," the Hokage said with a small smile. "You're dismissed."

"We got a mission! We got a mission!"

"Naruto, shut up!"

The boy stuck his tongue out at me. "You know you're happy too."

"Anything's better than babysitting," I said with a shutter. Little kids are terrifying.

"Meet at the gate in a half hour," Kakashi said. "Pack enough for a week, although this mission shouldn't take more than four days."

[...]

"Up ahead is Shimo. We'll stop there for the night."

"So we're in the Land of Frost," I said. I thought it would be colder. Even though it wasn't _that_ cold, it was still nice to know that we were sleeping in an inn and not out in the forest.

The town wasn't guarded, so we walked right in.

"Kakashi!" someone said ahead, waving to get our attention. She had long, brown-colored hair in a bun on the nape of her neck, and was wearing a short black dress. I was more interested in the sword on her back. They didn't teach kenjutsu at the academy, but it was something I'd always been interested in. Around her forehead was an Iwa hitai-ate, framed by long, chocolate covered bangs.

"Who's that?" Naruto asked.

She ran over to us. "Kakashi! It's been too long!"

"Maa, Takako," Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I waited for your letter!"

"I've been busy. New genin team, you see."

"Oh, I do." She narrowed her eyes at us. "And who might you three be?"

"Uzuma-"

Kakashi grabbed Naruto and wrapped his hand over his mouth. Naruto squirmed, but couldn't get away. "I'm afraid we're just here for the night, Takako. We need to find an inn before they all fill up. But I'll write to you soon!" With that Kakashi ran off with Naruto in his arms and Sasuke in tow.

I looked at the Iwa nin, and she looked at me. "Who are you again?" I asked.

"Takako Fuji," she said. "Kakashi and I dated for a while." She lowered her voice. "Just between us girls, I have a new boyfriend. I just like messing with him!"

I smiled conspiratorially. "Your secret is safe," I said, then added "if you teach me kenjutsu!"

She tilted her head. "Kakashi is pretty good with a sword. Is he being lazy again? Should I straighten him out for you?"

She winked at me, but I just sighed. "I don't think that would help. Also, since I'm not a clan member, it's difficult for me to learn anything."

She paused, then took out a piece of paper and writing tool. "This should help," she said, writing some things down, then gave me the paper. It had her name and address. "Since you're the student of my cute Kakashi, and the only girl on the team, I'll help you out if you want. Send me a letter if you have questions about something ninja related, or just want to talk." Then she leaned in and whispered "I came from a civilian family too, but I turned out just fine." She stood up straight again. "See you later!"

I was so stunned that I forgot to thank her, and didn't even say goodbye. That was... really, really nice of her. Especially since she's Kakashi's ex-girlfriend.

...ulterior motives?

Most likely. But until they prove to be a danger to myself or the village, I'll use every advantage that I have. Because the truth of the matter is that ninjas from a civilian background, especially kunoichi's, get overlooked as inferior to clan kids. I hated it, but it was true. Of course, many civilian kids just 'play' ninja, but for those of us who actually try our hardest and want to learn, the opportunities for us are few and far between. So yes, I will mail Takako. Even if it is some weird plan to get back at Kakashi, I will use every tool in my arsenal to my advantage. Because, honestly, I can't afford _not_ to.

[..later, in a dark room, a few miles away..]

"Report."

Takako bowed, showing her respect. "Everything is going according to plan, master."

"Excellent," the man hissed. "Now, Yami."

A boy dressed all in black nodded to the man, then melted into the shadows.


End file.

Naruto, Adventure, Humor