Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

A/N: I would like to thank everyone who had added this story to their favorites and follows as well as reviewing the story. I'm going to try my hardest not to make Naru overpowered or too smart but I should warn you, she's going to be slightly different then Naruto.

"Naru, what the hell are you doing here? Only those who passed the exams are supposed to be here and the last time I checked you didn't pass the exam!"

Naru looked up from the table to see her ex-classmate scowling at her, his hands crossed as he tapped his foot. She arched her eyebrow at him before scanning the room. Everyone in her class was staring at her, all of them looked pretty irritated to see her but also confused as to why she was here. The last time they checked, she failed. She adjusted her seating position, staring right back at her irritated classmate.

She had kind of forgotten that no one in the class knew that she had found better way to pass the exams. Did she have to tell them? Or does she go back to having her wonderful nap and continue on with the dream that she had?

"Well!"

"I guess you're right that only those who passed the exam could be here but I'm also right in guessing that if you've the Konoha headband then you can be here," he frowned and she tapped her headband. "So I guess that answers your question on why I'm here."

"B-But how?"

"Where's the fun of me telling you? I want you guys to imagine how but I'll give you a hint, I did another test and you can guess what happen next," Naru smiled like a Cheshire cat at him before putting her head back down on the table. Her eyelids were already dropping and she could almost see that wonderful dream again, with the Hokage's hat and everything. She couldn't wait for that dream to become a reality, and just when her mind was finally lured to the idea of sleep, it was gone.

And it was all thanks to the loud noise that echoed throughout the corridor.

She groaned at this and sat up straight, glaring at the doors, which were now shaking and squeaking as the sound of people stampede becoming louder with each second. Of all the days, she had to put up with this it had to be today. Couldn't there be another day when people do this? She didn't want to get a headache and yell at their sensei. She needed to give him a good impression. Of course, her life wasn't going to be nice to her.

"Hey, will you let me through?" A familiar voice said and Naru looked up from the table, raising her eyebrows when she saw Sakura rushing through the doors. Why was the pink-haired girl making her way to her? They weren't friends or anything so why would she come here? She rubbed her neck as she looked around for any clues that would tell her why the girl would come near her. She hung her head when she noticed that Sasuke was sitting beside her.

That explained everything. She knew of Sakura and of course the other fangirls blatant love for the Uchiha, who didn't? You would have to be living in a cave not to notice how much they adore the young preteen. Why did they like him, she had no clue. She hadn't seen one ounce of niceness from him in her life, never seen him treat the people around him like they were important to him. She couldn't understand their love for him. She probably would never understand.

"Naru! MOVE YOUR FAT ASS! I WANT TO SIT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF YOU!"

Naru frowned. "I was here first, why do I've to move? And you keep speaking to me like that and I won't move my 'fat ass' from this seat. It's very rude, y'know."

Sakura's eyebrows twitched and she was cracking her knuckles, causing Naru to falter. Her hesitance was heightened when she saw the fury in her eyes. That dark look on Sakura's face gave her a horrible feeling. It told her that if she didn't do what she wanted then she would hurt her. She hardened her face at this. No way was she going to allow herself to be pushed around by anyone. Especially a fangirl.

After all, it was time to teach her lesson on not to boss her around.

"You don't scare me Sakura and if you bloody hell think that I'll do what you want because you're furious then you're so wrong. Your anger won't make me change my mind, if anything it makes me want to stay in this seat more," Naru smiled. "But if you wish for me to move, I'll but only if you don't mind me reminding everyone about the incident last year with Sasuke."

Sakura paled at the memory and in the corner of Naru's eyes, she saw Sasuke visibly shuddered at the memory. She grinned. Oh yes, she hadn't only embarrassed Sakura that fateful incident but also Sasuke. Who knew that by accidentally finding Sakura's diary and having the courage to read it out loud in front of everyone would also humiliate him? It wasn't like she knew Sakura would write all of her dreams into that diary, right? Okay, she kind of did know. It wasn't like it was a well-kept secret how the girl, along with the other girls in their class, had an obsession with Sasuke.

"If it makes you feel better, there's a seat on Sasuke's right," Naru tilted her head to the dark-haired boy's right side. She smiled impishly. "I think Sasuke will love it if you take that seat before any of the other girls notice it!"

Sakura flickered her eyes to her and then to the empty seat beside Sasuke, looking unsure if she had planned anything on the seat. Naru smiled even wider. If there was something, Naru couldn't deny about Sakura, it was her brains. The girl knew that she wasn't nicest person in the class. Last year, she wouldn't even say this and if she did then she was planning something. Surprisingly, today she hadn't even thought of doing a prank on any of the fangirls.

She would probably do that tomorrow if she weren't on a mission.

Naru shook her head at this thought and turned her head to the blackboard, noticing that Iruka was standing there. Grinning, Naru waved her hand at the teacher, who smiled back at her and gave a small wave back. She looked at Iruka closely, searching for any bruises, limping or anything really that was proof of her sensei still being hurt, anything to strengthened the guilt she had of allowing him to get hurt.

If she saw any proof that he was still hurt then she would do anything to make it up to him, to apologize for her actions.

"Starting today, all of you are real shinobi," Iruka said, snapping her out of her thoughts. She straightened her back, propping her hands against her cheek as she listened to this. This was the speech she had been dreaming about for the last couple years of her life. "But you're still genin, the hard journey that lies ahead has just started."

Iruka surveyed the classroom, smiling when he saw the alert looks on every student's face. His smile was soon replaced with a serious expression. "Now you'll get missions to help the village. So today we'll create the 3-man squad and each squad will have a jounin sensei. In order to succeed, you'll complete your missions and you'll follow your sensei's instruction."

Naru groaned at this. Instructions? She hated instructions, especially the ones that restricted her freedom and made her do things she despised doing. Why it was thanks to instruction that she kept fighting fangirls that were a waste of her time and rarely fought people who were stronger then her. It was thanks to instructions; she couldn't ever punch the fangirls.

"…We tried to balance each team's strength," Iruka said, snapping her out of her thoughts. The blue-eyed girl blinked and blinked her eyes, hoping that the older man was joking but the serious expression and the groans of everyone told her otherwise. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided that she wouldn't make her decision on whom she wanted.

The speech Iruka had given had been long and boring just like any of his speeches and Naru found it a miracle she hadn't slept once through it. Now Iruka was calling out the names. Naru yawned as many names were called and the genins reacted with either enthusiasm or dread, sometimes they even had both reactions. She put her legs on the table, tapping her fingers as she waited for her name to be called. Finally:

"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naru," she stopped tapping her finger and sat up straight. "Haruno Sakura," Naru mentally groaned at this. "And Uchiha Sasuke."

Naru shivered as she felt the intense glare from Sakura. Why her? Why was she stuck with a teammate who hated her and another teammate who barely spoke more then ten words to her? This sucked. She might be able to get along with the pink-haired girl if she wasn't obsessed with Sasuke or if he wasn't in their team but this had to be the case.

But at the same time, she was excited about this team. She couldn't think of a better teammate then those two. Sakura was smart even if her behavior didn't suggest it and admittedly, Sasuke was a pretty good shinobi. He wasn't the top of the year for no reason. With the two of them, she might be able to stomach working with them.

She glanced at Sakura, who was giving her the look that she was keeping an eye on her and found it slightly disheartening. She had been hoping her teammate would be a little bit more enthusiastic with her. They were going to work together for the next couple of years together.

After Iruka gave them the last lecture, it was up to her and her team to wait for their sensei.

Three hours.

Three whole hours that was how long they waited for their sensei and Naru had checked the clock to make certain she wasn't imagining it. What type of person was late by three hours? It was horrible. She always thought jounins would be on time and everything. Now this sensei proved her wrong. The sensei had even made her think the guy or woman didn't seem to give a damn about them or even particularly liked them.

This wouldn't be so bad if she had friends with her but she had no friends. No one particularly liked her or anything. She was the loner. The outcast. Not the popular kid who had a lot of friends like Sakura or had people hanging around their every word like Sasuke. No one liked her.

"Can't you sit still or do something, Naru?" Sakura said, looking at her with frustration. The pink-haired girl had her hands pressed against the table, a small irritated look on her face while the blonde paced through the floor.

The blue-eyed girl peaked out of the door before looking at her pink-haired teammate with frustration. She gritted her teeth. "Why the fuck is our sensei so goddamn late?!" Naru crossed her arms and continued. "All the other teams already left with their sensei and Iruka left too, we're the only ones here who are stuck here."

"What can we do?"

"Beat him up?" Naru suggested with an easy going smile playing on her lips. "It would make our lives a lot more easier if he was beaten up or if we do a prank."

"We would get into trouble," Sakura pointed out.

"So? He deserves it," Naru said as she picked up a duster from the blackboard. Sakura raised her eyebrow at her, looking curious to see what she was planning to do. Sasuke crossed his arms, not bothering to change from his brooding position. Sometimes Naru wondered if the boy was just a statue. He certainly had the attitude of one and had the looks of one if you asked some of the girls in her year.

She wanted to vomit at that thought. Shaking her head at this, the blonde dragged the chair behind Iruka's desk to the door. Naru closed her eyes as it made scratching noises through the floor. She opened her eyes when she reached her destination and leaned the chair against the worn-down door before climbing on top of it.

"What are you planning Naru?" Sakura asked, tilting her head as she watched her teammate carefully place the blackboard duster against the door. The blonde grinned wildly at her, looking as if she had done something important, looking as if she had saved the world from a monster. In her eyes, this was just as an important as saving the world from the monster.

"That's our sensei punishment for being late!" Naru finally answered as she dragged the chair back behind the table before scanning the room to find anything that would point out she had been the one to do the prank. There was no clue she had been the one to do it so, she had nothing to worry about or lie about.

"I'm not getting involved with this," Sakura said firmly, placing her hand on her hips as she gave her a reprimand look.

"If you say so," Naru went back to her seat and placed her legs on the table, clasping her hands behind her head. Now she felt like she could relax. All she had to do now was wait for their sensei to come and see whether or not he would dodge the blackboard duster. Knowing her luck, he wouldn't be able to dodge it.

It sounded stupid of her to be confident that their sensei wouldn't dodge it but it can't be argued she should be confident of her skill in traps and pranks. Not one person had ever managed to avoid them.

"Hn. Like a jounin would fall for a stupid booby trap," Sasuke said, looking at the relaxed girl with disgust. Naru glared at the boy, jumping up from her seat and stalking over to the boy. No one and she meant no one was allowed to look down at her pranks, not even the Hokage.

Sasuke was going down.

Before she could even launch herself onto Sasuke, the door slowly slid open and time seemed to start to slow down for the three genins. It felt something of a horror movie where you saw the last few moments of a person's life being dragged out or something similar to that in Naru's mind. Her breath hitched as the door slid open even further, causing the duster to being to jiggle.

The blonde grinned.

THUNK

The duster had landed on their sensei's head, a cloud chalk dust enveloping the man while a couple of chalk landed on his hair and clothes. For a few seconds, everything was quiet. It was like the whole world had stopped, holding its breath as they waited to see what was about to happen.

The silence was soon broken by Naru's laughter. The blonde had a wild grin and she looked at her dark-haired teammate with smugness. "What did you say about a jounin not falling for a stupid booby trap, huh Sasuke? Our sensei fell for it! He fell for it! Take that bastard!"

Sasuke shot her an irritated look and then looked at their sensei with brooding eyes. It was easy for everyone to see that he wasn't impressed wit him. Not that she blamed him…she had been hoping he would dodge it. Sakura gave her a frown but the blonde could see the glint of satisfaction in her teammate's eyes. This made her smile even wider. At least someone saw the greatness in her pranks unlike a certain teammate who thought her prank was stupid. Like he could come up with anything better.

"I'm so sorry sensei, I tried to stop Naru but…" Sakura said when she finally gotten over her glee. The pink-haired girl was hunching her shoulders, eyes looking regretful and Naru would almost fall for it if she didn't know how the girl hadn't stop her. The girl had practically encouraged her when she said she wasn't involved in it.

Well she couldn't say this to their sensei could she? It would mean telling on Sakura and the last thing she wanted was to be seen as a bitch and snitch. It also didn't help she wanted to get along with her teammate. Telling on her wasn't getting along with her as well as not being nice. Not that she cared about being seen as nice but she didn't want to be seen as being mean.

The silver-haired sensei ignored Sakura's babbling, gazing at the three of them thoughtfully. Naru immediately straightened her back. It felt like he was seizing them up, like he wanted to see if they were worth his precious time. It felt like she was a tiny ant while he was the human could crush them. Their sensei rubbed his cloth-covered chin, eyes closed as if he was smiling at them before looking at them with a smile.

"Hmm…how can I say this?" Their sensei mused, rubbing his chin as he stared at the three of them. "My first impression of the three of you is that I don't like you guys."

Naru hung her head down at this, clenching her hands into a fist. She could feel her anger rising like a wave, threatening to wash over her and take control. It was tempting and she wanted to let herself slam her fist against the man's face but she knew it would do her no good. He was a jounin. He was still in some ways stronger then her, punching him in the face spelled trouble.

It doesn't change the fact she still wanted to punch his face.

"Alright you three, we'll meet at the top of the Academy in five minutes," their sensei said, snapping her out of her thoughts. Naru blinked her eyes and gawked as the man vanished in a puff of smoke. That was so cool. Could she do that? She really wanted to learn how he did it? Could they use fire instead of smoke? She had so many questions about the technique however only one was important to her. Could he teach it to her? It seemed like every shinobi could do it.

"He's a weirdo," Naru muttered. Her teammates nodded their head in agreement.

It wasn't long before the new genins found themselves sitting in front of their Jounin-sensei. The silver-haired man was leaning against the rails, looking as if he had all the time in the world and had absolutely no care he might fall down. Naru wanted to strangle the man for wasting her time, time where she could be training.

"Well, let's begin with introducing yourselves," their mysterious sensei said, clapping his hands together.

"Introductions? We already know each other, you're the one whose name we don't know!" Naru protested. "And you should go first so we know what to do."

The ninja sighed. "Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes…. dreams for the future…hmm…and I have a lot of hobbies."

Twitching her eyebrow and crossing her arm, Sakura leaned closer to her two teammates and whispered, "So all he told us is his name?"

"And that he's one miserable bastard," Naru grumbled, her eyebrows twitching as she gazed angrily at the laid-back sensei. She found this man to be a complete bastard as well as being one mysterious man. A lot of hobbies really? What did he like? Comics? Cooking? Sleeping? Playing Shogi?

Kakashi gave them a one-eyed smile. "Now it's your turn, let's start with the blonde."

Naru blinked her eyes. "Blonde! Really? That's very creative! I'm Uzumaki Naru! I like ramen, art, gardening, Ichiraku ramen…oh and pranks of course, there's nothing wrong with a good prank. What I dislike is waiting three whole minutes for the ramen to cook! Arrogant bastards who think they're better than anyone because of their high grades and because they're stronger. My hobbies are training and pranking. My dream," she adjusted her headband, "is to surpass the Hokage and have the people of this village acknowledge my existence!"

That earned a raised eyebrow from their new sensei.

Sakura thought this was the first time she heard her classmate admit this. Sasuke thought it was pretty informative.

Kakashi's eyes rolled towards Sasuke. "Next is the emo-boy."

"Why didn't I think of that nickname. It's way better then brooding bastard," Naru muttered under her breath, flickering her eyes towards her teammate. This earned her glare from her teammate. She grinned at him.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There're a lot of things I dislike and I don't really like anything," Sasuke placed his hands together, "And…I can't really call it a dream…but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man."

A shiver tore though Naru's spine. Never had she heard a kid her age wanting to kill someone before. Her teammate was messed up if he wanted to kill someone at this age and what reason would he have of killing someone? The last thing she checked, he had everything he ever needed to be happy.

Sakura was flushed red, not caring about what her teammate and crush had just admitted.

"Ok…and lastly the bubblegum haired girl," Kakashi smiled at the raised eyebrow from Naru. What? It suited the girl all right just like the other names had.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like is…well the person I like is," Naru quietly groaned at the flush expression on Sakura's face, realizing what the girl was avoiding to say. "And uhm…my dream for the future…uhm?" she squealed. "OH YEAH! What I dislike is Naru."

Naru furrowed her eyebrows. Was she really that? Sure the prank she had done to her was kind of mean…okay very mean. In her defense, the girl had deserved it. No one got away with calling her a bitch. Everyone in the class knew it was a taboo just like it was a taboo to call Choji fat.

"Well now that we introduce each other, I'll tell you about our first assignment," Kakashi said, flickering his lone eye at the three genin. Naru sat up straight, eyes glinting with eagerness as she waited for his words. Sakura was the same except nervousness replaced her glint while Sasuke didn't seem to have much emotion.

"What's it going to be?" Naru tapped her foot impatiently. "What's it? Come on, you can't leave us in suspense! It isn't nice y'know."

"First we're going to do something with just the four of us."

Naru and Sakura furrowed their eyebrows at him but it was only the blond who voiced out the question. "What is it?"

"Survival training."

Survival training? Naru found herself hunching her back at hearing this. It wasn't going to be protecting some important person or going after bandits or even looking after a couple of brats, it just had to be survival training. Why was it that? They had done a couple in school, not the best kind but it was still survival training.

Surprisingly, it was Sakura who voiced out her thoughts.

"Why is our first duty a training?" Sakura asked. "We've had enough training in the Academy."

"This isn't an normal training…this time I'm your opponent."

Rubbing her chin, Naru stared at the silver-haired man with thoughtfulness as well as curiosity. This wasn't going to be easy. Winning a match against Kakashi wasn't going to be easy. The guy might had not been able to block the eraser but he was still a jounin. Becoming a jounin isn't an easy feat. Not by a long shot.

The question was how was she going to defeat this guy? He was smarter then her. He had more battle experience then her. Hell, he was way stronger then her. Defeating him was going to be a huge problem. If she could trick him then it wouldn't be a problem. If she could find his weakness then it wouldn't be a problem.

The question now…what was it?

How was she going to find out his weakness?

"What's so funny sensei?" Sakura asked, snapping Naru from her thoughts. Scratching her head, the blonde realized Kakashi had been laughing the whole time and not once did she realize it. Damn it, this was going to be a problem. The laughter could have given her a hint on how bad this test was going to be…or if their sensei was even more of a weirdo then she had thought.

"Well…" Kakashi muffled his laughter and Naru found herself twitching at this behavior. She didn't like the way he was underestimating them. "Well, it's just that when I tell you this you guys are going to freak out."

"Why the hell will we be freaking out?" The blond of the team asked, furrowing her eyebrows at him. "It can't be that bad! Try us! We might surprise you!"

"Of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be chosen to become genin," Naru and Sakura turned pale at this while Sasuke stiffened at this piece of information. "The rest will be sent back to the Academy. This training is a very difficult exam with a failure rate of sixty-six per cent."

Taking calming breaths, Naru tried to think of the positive of the exam. She could test herself against a jounin and she had always wanted to fight one. Then again, her dream was to become Hokage and how could she become Hokage if she wasn't a shinobi. The chances of them passing was low if the percentage was right and the last thing she wanted was to fail.

There was no way in hell she was going to allow herself be sent back to that hellhole.

"What was the point of the Academy exam then?" Naru clenched her hands into a small fist, trying to control herself from punching the man on the face. "We worked so god-damn hard on those stupid exams and now you're practically telling us that there was no frickin' point in the exam! If that was the case then why bother having them!"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulder. "Oh…that? That was just to select those who have the chance of becoming genin."

"Then they have such a great way of picking the potentials don't they?" Naru asked sarcastically, remembering the questions in the exam. "Seriously, do you remember the questions they ask us? One of them asked us the name of the Hokage? How the hell was that picking the potential of the genin?"

Kakashi curled his lips at her words while Sasuke nodded his head in agreement with her. Sakura looked torn between protesting against her words and just nodding her head. None of them could argue that question in the test had to be one of the most silliest question they ever had.

"Anyways, tomorrow you have to show your real skills on the training ground," Kakashi stated. "Bring all the shinobi tools you have and skip breakfast, you might throw up."

Naru bit her lips and stared up at the sky. The wandering clouds and singing birds were now starting to become annoying. It really didn't reflect the way she felt. Not one bit. How the hell was she going to defeat him? She was a lot of things but a genius she was not and she was definitely not a prodigy. There was no way she could pull a powerful jutsu and defeat him.

She didn't even know any jutsus except for the ones taught in the Academy and the Kage Bunshin.

Damn it, this was going to be a huge problem.

Blinking her eyes, Naru realized Kakashi had already left and she was stuck with her two teammates.

Teammates…

Maybe there was a way after all but first she would need to see if she could actually convince them to work together.

"Hey guys, do you want to have lunch together?" Naru asked, stopping her two teammates in their tracks. Sasuke and Sakura turned their bodies around, raising their eyebrows at her or in Sakura's case gawking at her. Naru mentally cursed. She forgot that she had a reputation for being…for being her that was it.

"W-What did you say?"

"I'm asking if you guys want to have lunch together, I'll even pay for it," Naru repeated and Sakura squinted her eyes at her while Sasuke crossed his arms. She sighed. "Look I know I'm not the nicest person, hell I can be quite the jerk too but we're teammates. We need to learn to get along…we also need to know how strengths and weaknesses."

"We're not a team yet you heard Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura pointed out. "Also we need to get ready for tomorrow! We might fail tomorrow's test!"

"We could get ready together and you're right, we're not a team yet but we might be a team if we pass," Naru glanced at Sakura and then Sasuke before looking at the spot where their sensei had been. "So why not learn about ourselves now? Besides we can think of ways of passing the test together."

"Why together?" Sakura asked. "It's going to be like the Academy one isn't it?"

Naru crossed her arms and tilted her head, flickering her eyes at the spot where Kakashi had stood. "We don't know do we? We've got no idea what he's planning to test us…for all we know it might not be like the Academy. It might be even worse. The second fact is this Kakashi is a jounin…do you realize what that means?"

"It means he's strong," Sasuke stated. Sakura's eyes widened as if she just realized their sensei rank and the blonde didn't blame her for forgetting. The little stunt with the blackboard easer didn't make Kakashi seem threatening. If a person couldn't dodge that then how the hell were they strong?

But if there was one thing Naru knew for certain, it was that the Hokage picked his jounins very carefully. He didn't hand the rank to just anyone because if he did then there wouldn't be many chunins and genins in the village.

"We're genins!" Sakura cried out. "H…How are we going to defeat a jounin? We haven't been out in the Academy for long."

"That's what I've been thinking the whole time," Naru admitted. "How the hell can I defeat him? He's stronger then us. He's smarter then us. He has more experience then us. Chances of any of us defeating him is…"

"Zero," Sakura said weakly.

"Why are you pointing it out, dope?" Sasuke asked, staring hard at the blond haired girl. He didn't seem to be too bothered by the fact at what she pointed out and she remembered that Sasuke was smart. He must have realized this too and if he did, why the hell didn't he say anything?

Maybe it was because he was a jerk or he just didn't care.

"Because I ain't smart like Sakura so I can't outwit him," Naru admitted, scowling at the boy. "I don't know any jutsu like you do so I can't use any special jutsu that can make him go on his knees. All I can do is use my fist. Taijutsu is my thing. He's a jounin so taijutsu is a bad idea. If I don't have a jutsu that can beat him then I can't do anything. The only thing left is outwitting him but…"

"But like you said you can't outwit him," Sakura muttered. "I don't know any jutsu except the ones we're taught at the Academy. I…I also suck at taijutsu. I had one of the highest grades when it came to books."

Naru looked at Sasuke with expectation.

He sighed. "I'm alright in all three but I don't have the dope's monstrous strength," Naru glared at him and he glared right back at her. "Fine. I…I'm also not as smart as Sakura."

Sakura flushed red at the compliment and she opened her mouth to say something but one irritated sigh from Naru and the pink-haired hair regained her composure. It was good to know that maybe there might be hope for her teammate. God knew she didn't want to spend the next how many years complaining about her or getting into fights about her attitude.

"Since we said that, what do we do now?" Sakura asked, looking at the blonde in curiosity.

Naru shrugged her shoulders. "Iruka-sensei said they put us together to balance the team's strength right?" the two of them nodded and she continued. "And from what we heard from each other, the other have something we want."

"So what? Are you suggesting we work together?" Sakura asked, frowning.

The blonde nodded her head, giving a huge smile at her teammates. "Yup. You said it yourself chances of any of us defeating him is zero but if we work together, chances goes higher doesn't it? Or is my math wrong? Anyways, I just want to pass this exam. I want to pass it so badly that I'll discard any dislike I have of the pair of you…what about you guys? Can you forgive me for what I did last year? I'll buy lunch as an apology for that prank I did last year to the two of you. So what about it?"

Both Sasuke and Sakura stared at her. Sasuke was the first to nod his head and Naru knew it would be only a few seconds before the other female would do so. If there were one thing she knew about fangirls, they wouldn't pass up an opportunity to spend time with their crush.

Predictably, Sakura nodded her head with hearts in her eyes.

Grinning, the blonde threw her hands over her teammates shoulder and proceeded to drag them to her favorite ramen stand. Not once did the three of them notice the silver-haired jounin watching them or the smile on his face at the three of them.

The darkness of the training ground made Naru wonder for the second time that day why Kakashi had to make them come so early in the morning. Rubbing her eyes and letting out a yawn, the blonde wondered if he could be a normal person and say that they could come at nine o'clock in the morning and not five. Who the hell woke up at five anyway?

Definitely not her.

"Good morning," Naru muttered, noticing her two sleepy teammates. "How long have you guys been here?"

"Ten minutes," Sakura answered, rubbing her eyes as she struggled to stand up. Nodding her head, Naru sat down on the grass floor and closed her eyes. Maybe if she slept for a couple of minutes then she would be ready to go. The plan depended on the three of them being in the best condition as they can be.

"What about you, Sasuke?"

"Twenty."

"…I don't even want to know how you can wake up so early," Naru grumbled. Sasuke smirked, opening his mouth to say some kind of retort but the retort was replaced with a yawn. Okay so maybe Sasuke was also tired like them. Naru struggled to keep herself from yawning or sleeping in the comfy grass. This was a huge problem. All three of them were tired and Kakashi was going to come any minute.

"Hey Naru…do you think the plan will work?" Sakura asked, biting her lips as the blonde struggled to keep her eyelids from closing.

"You tell me? You're good in strategy," Naru answered, pausing to let out a yawn. "Through you're not as good as Shikamaru, now that guy could drive you in a corner."

"Shikamaru?" Sakura asked in disbelief. "That lazy bum? His grades are just as bad as yours."

"Don't insult Shikamaru, he's a great guy," Naru hummed. "You're right his grades are just as bad as mine. It's just that Shikamaru doesn't put any effort. If he wants to, I think he can be the top of the class. It might not look like it but Shikamaru is actually pretty smart. You should never play Shogi with him…the guy doesn't hold back."

Sakura bit her lips and nodded her head, glancing at Sasuke, who was staring at the sleepy blonde. Naru had her stretched her arms and Sakura saw the navel of her teammate. The girl tilted her head, narrowing her eyes at this, glancing at the staring Sasuke and then to her unaware teammate. She shook her head, deciding it was just her imagination. Naru tilted her head at her pink-haired teammate, not knowing why the girl was doing that.

"So? Do you think it'll work?"

"I don't know…do you think he'll hold back?"

"How am I suppose to know? I never met the guy before the meeting so I can't really tell. These types of things aren't my strong suit. Teme, what do you think?"

"Hn."

"You're probably right. He might hold back on us since we're after all genins," Naru said, frowning at the dark-haired boy. Sakura looked at them in confusion. Her green eyes flickered to the blond and then to her crush, who simply stared hard at the river, before going back to the smiling blond. For as long as Sakura could remember, the blonde had always been able to translate what he was saying and she wondered for a brief moment if the two of them were close.

No, what was she thinking Sasuke didn't have any friends.

"So how was your day, yesterday?" Naru asked, staring at Sakura. "Did you do anything interesting, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura blinked her eyes before smiling widely. "I read a couple of books and helped my mom cooked. Oh and I talked to Ino-pig! She's so jealous that I'm with Sasuke-kun!"

"Oh? What's wrong with Shikamaru and Choji?"

"Have you met them?"

"Well I used to skipped class with them along with Kiba so yeah," Naru answered dryly and the pink-haired girl had the decency to flush red. "Why do you look so red? Anyways, she is in good hands with them. Shikamaru is smart and Choji is a real softie as long as you don't insult him. Then again, the two of them could be so unmotivated."

"Is there anyway to motivate them?" Sakura asked.

"Of course, tell Choji you buy him food if he does what you ask and Shikamaru, just say you tell his mother."

"Just that?"

"Of course…doesn't Ino know that?"

Sakura tilted her head, looking at her thoughtfully before shrugging her shoulders. Naru simply tilted her head before shaking her head. It wasn't her business. Ino would simply have to learn how to deal with them just as she had to learn how to deal with her teammates. She spread her arms and legs out, staring up at the sky that was starting to light up. How long would it be before their sensei would come and they could start the exam? She was excited about what was to come and of her team's plan.

It was going to work. There was nothing that could stop it from failing! Absolutely nothing! How could it fail? The three of them put a lot of thought into it. What could possible make it fail?

In the coming hours, the blonde would realize just how stupid she had been for being overconfident of their ability but for now, the rest of the day was bright and she was happy for the first time in her life.

"Good morning guys!"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naru and Sakura yelled, glaring at the older man. Sasuke simply shot the man a dirty look.

Kakashi simply shrugged his shoulder, chuckling at the disgruntled expressions of the two female preteens. A few minutes later the genin-to-be found themselves in front of three training stumps. One of which Kakashi placed an alarm clock on. The three of them peered their eyes at the alarm clock, raising their eyebrows at him.

"Ok, it's set for noon," Kakashi informed them. A jingling sound rang throughout the silent training ground as silver-haired man raised his arm. "Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before the time's up. Those who don't have a bell by noon…get's no lunch," his eye that usually seemed lax now seemed to hummed in happiness as he heard three stomach grumbled.

"I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps but I'll also eat right in front of you."

The blonde crossed her arms and muttered, "Great he's a sadist."

Sakura and Sasuke nodded their heads in agreement. All three of them glared at their smiling sensei, who seemed to have too much joy at their irritation. What kind of man had they been signed to? If this was what he was like now then Naru had a bad feeling of what he was going to be like when he actually trained them? And why did they only have two bells?

"You only have to get one bell," Kakashi jingled the bells to emphasize this. "There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied up to the stump," his eye took a dark tint and the three genins had a bad feeling of what he had to say next. "The person who doesn't take a bell fails so at least one of you will be sent back to the Academy."

Naru gulped at this piece of information. This was bad. She couldn't work with them now. There was no way in hell would she allow herself to work with them if it meant this. She couldn't let herself fail this exam. This wasn't something they had expected to happen. All of the scenarios they came up with, had never mounted to this idea that only two of them would pass.

The three of them had done the math and figured since only nine people would pass then that meant three teams would pass. After all the teams were divided up into threes. Now hearing this, it might not be the case.

Well she learnt her lesson. Never again would she try to do math ever again on trying to figure out how only nine could pass ever again. Nope, no way. Next time, she was going to go with her gut and not with logic. Iruka was wrong in saying that logic was better than her with going with instinct.

Glancing at her teammates, it seemed like the two of them came to the same conclusion. They would need to discard their original plan because none of them wanted to go back to the Academy. Going back was going to be humiliating and the last thing she wanted was that.

She spent so much of her life there, there was no way in hell was she going back to that hellhole.

No, she was going to try to outwit this guy by herself.

Thank you for reading.

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.

I would love to hear about your thoughts on this chapter.