Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto… Oh, the many conventions I would control…

A/N: All right, I'm just going to say this straight out: I am horrible at keeping characters in character. So instead of struggling throughout this fiction to keep the characters in their zone, I added pieces of myself to each character. So they're not going to be perfectly like the originals, but they're as close as I'm ever going to get. So if you're bugged by this, please don't complain too badly. I'll accept criticism and HELPFUL flames.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy.

MUSIC SURVEY!

Love music? When your favorite song plays, do you have this sudden urge to break out into dance or song? Play an instrument? Are you constantly thinking of scores or lyrics? Maybe both?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, this is the survey for you! Just answer the questions below, and you might win a prize! Be sure to be detailed, don't be afraid to write what you think, and be yourself!

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School District?
Konoha

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School?
Konoha School for Gifted Boys and Girls

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Grade?
Eighth Grade (1)

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What is music?
Music can be anything. It can dazzle you. It can make you move. It can make you remember the past, or be hopeful for the future. Music can be feelings spoken through words or through an instrument. It can make a average girl brown-eyed, brown-haired girl like me seems like something more. It is self-expression after all, and everyone can relate to one another if we just tried!

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Why does music make you, YOU?
It's my escape from all of reality, to let me breathe without someone telling me I'm only second best. I'm free to be myself when I'm writing, and I don't need to know anything other than notes to do it. It's hard to think of other things, such as a certain someone and her inability to protect herself, when I'm thinking of music and writing it down at the same time.

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What does music do?
It lets you be yourself! Music has the personality of millions, but it has the face of one. To have so many choices to choose from, yet it all has to be one thing. For me, it turns me into my ultimate dream: a rock star! And I can give a shit if anyone else cares, but I'm going to top that those charts one day! JUST WATCH.

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Where does it come from? Your surroundings? Your mind? Or is it as easy as being bribed with money?
I believe music comes from the heart. You need your mind to write it, and your surroundings help to shape a song or a score, but I believe it's mainly the heart's job to give it life. Music that's written for money often has no soul in it. Humans can usually hear this soullessness because we're gifted with natural rhythm from our own hearts, even if we don't notice it everyday. When you're writing a song, you have to believe that the music came from your heart, and that it's not just a piece of paper with your name written on it. And all of this I know without my father having it shove it down my throat.

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How did you react to it when you were first introduced to it? Who pushed or encouraged you?
Horribly. I gave up after my first lesson. But my grandfather simply said to try again. And every time after that I began to get more and more reluctantly attached to my bass by the time I was eight because he told me to keep going. "Just because it's troublesome, doesn't mean it's not worth it," was his favorite phrase, even when my grandma was yelling at him. I guess I live by this phrase too.

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What does the phrase, 'Listen to music with your heart, not your ears,' mean?
It means music is not just words written on a piece of paper or a weird symbol that pasted on a bunch of lines. (Duh, even I know that.) It's something that can touch a heart, or even make it cry. Music comes from the heart. And you listen to music from other people's hearts with your own heart. You can hear a lie with your ears. But the heart cannot because the heart only tells the truth. And music is definitely NOT a lie. I mean, who likes lies? Especially from a heart?

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Finish the line.
Come at me with all your might, come to me when-

When you're ready to stagger off your knees.

Why did you choose this as your answer? (Be detailed!)
When you're coming at someone, you're probably either wanting to get knocked down or knock them down. If the person you're going at has half a brain, they would probably side-step you, causing you to be an idiot by falling flat on your face. Or at least a foolish person. There. Details.

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Why did you choose to take this survey?
Well, I chose to take this survey because of the title, duh. Music Survey? Seriously? I love music, so why not? I'm in choir; I know what half of the weird marky thingies are when you sing them. Besides, me and my friends have nothing better to do in my school's office when they're having computer problems. (I just want my summer reading list for ninth grade. But no, the very day I decide to get it, someone had to hack into the system! Thank you Kami-sama.) That, and because who doesn't want free stuff? I'm going to need it if I'm ever going to Konoha College for Girls! Escalator school or not, everyone knows the girls of KMS have to pay for college, unlike the guys. (2)

Oh, Konoha School for Gifted Boys THEN Girls is SO not sexist. Seriously.

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Lastly, whom do you see yourself as when you graduate from high school music-wise?

"… Shizune?"

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?"

"What the hell is this?" A blonde asked. A manicured fingernail pointed to the scattered papers on her mahogany desk. The woman, Tsunade, didn't bother looking at her assistant when she added, "When I said you could do anything for applications, I didn't mean you could turn them into children's surveys!"

"Well, yes, I know, but-"

"And a 'prize'? Shizune, a scholarship to my school is not just a mere, 'prize,' it's an honor! Do you know how many times I've been bribed by foreigners for even the slimmest chance of their snot-nosed brat getting in here? Hundreds of times, Shizune! Hundreds!"

"Yes, I know Tsunade-sama - have you been drinking on the job again?"

"What? No! And don't try to change the subject!" the woman continued, "And these applicants in particular! No manners in any of them! They have no right-"

The blonde went on as the other woman ignored her. Dark brown eyes looked over her superior's shoulder, gathered the misplaced papers into her hand, and chuckled lightly when she read where the papers came from. "Ah, they're from Konoha. One of the smaller schools a certain someone agreed to sponsor for some reason.

"They never did go co-ed, no matter how many times we asked them to."

Tsunade shook her head. "Of course not. Sarutobi is too old-fashioned. 'Girls should be kept separate from boys. That way they won't be distracted,' my ass. Why don't they just make two separate schools?"

"I don't know, Tsunade-sama," Shizune looked at the papers once more. "So?"

"Hm?"

"What do you think of them?" Shizune gestured to the papers in her hand.

Inwardly, Shizune hoped Tsunade would approve of at least one of them. The woman was so picky when it came to applicants, that most student were only able to come to the School of Dance and Song through personal connections to teachers and scholarships. Shizune had looked up the students just in case her stubborn employer and friend needed more proof of these kids' capabilities.

Amber brown eyes blinked slowly for a moment.

"Please, Tsunade-sama? Here, I printed out their résumés for you. They're very good."

Sighing, Tsunade leaned back into her leather chair and slid those eyes shut. The busty woman held her hand out, and snatched the eight files.

Besides the fact they had no manners at all - "Kids these days usually don't,"she thought bitterly - Tsunade had to admit their musical talents were good. She skimmed the papers inside the manila files quickly. One had a Kabuki-dancing father, and another was able to play songs like 19's Sound Factory's Dear by the age of ten at a regional competition. Most of them could do some style of dance, whether or not it was formal or informal. Each were prodigies in their own ways, and their personalities - from what she could see from their, "applications," - differed like heaven and hell did. And to top it all off, six out of the eight came from prominent families: the Hyuuga, the Uchiha, the Yamanaka, the Nara, and the Uzumaki.

She particularly had an eye for the other two though. One was a dancer/gymnast. Her résumé had the most competitions listed on it, and most of them she had come home a national champion as a dancer. But even more so than the one called, "Tenten," Tsunade couldn't help but stare at the paper of the one named, "Sakura," seeing as her choir teacher had purposely stopped the application to praise the girl of her singing talents on a green sticky note.

Well, then again, it's probably because she couldn't help but see herself in the girl's hand-writing and skills in the vocal department.

"Tsunade-sama?"

"They have potential. Send out a scout, and give these files to Jiraiya for his approval. Knowing that idiot, he'll agree with me." She stared at the ceiling.

Shizune's eyes brightened. She scampered off with the eight files, now excited to have more students.

The brown-eyed woman cursed to herself. She looked at Shizune, who was halfway out the door, then stared at her assistant's computer, in which had apparently been hacked into. Tsunade was really worried about it, but because her assistant's computer was down, that also meant the saved file that held the Acceptance Letter document was down.

Shaking her head and straightening herself, Tsunade began to type.

"Dear Sir or Madam,

I, Tsunade, Headmistress of the School of Dance and Song, am proud to announce that your son or daughter has been accepted to the wonderful place of S.o.D.a.S. through application…"

Mid-sentence, Tsunade wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into.

Lastly, whom do you see yourself as when you graduate from high school music-wise?

"I want to be someone who can live up to my mother's name. I may be from the streets, and I may not have some high class name, but I'm going to prove to the world, that with hard work, you can become one of the best!" - Nakamura Tenten

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"Away from where I am now, someone higher, and flying like a freed bird. I will be living the life my father was denied!" - Hyuuga Neji

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"A ROCK STAR. I'LL BE FAMOUS, AND YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT!" - Uzumaki Naruto

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"I want to see myself as a better person. NO. I will be a better person. I will be strong enough to make my music heard, to make my words be known. And hopefully, I'll be able to tell the people I care about most the truth through music… because that's all we share together." - Hyuuga Hinata

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"I don't care. Maybe I'll find someone to tell me to keep going, like my gramps did before he died. Maybe music can lead me to them. Maybe I'll find someone who's worth it, like my bass is." - Nara Shikamaru

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"I'll be a SUPER DIVA. I'll be rich, and living the life! I'll find myself a gorgeous husband, a sexy car, and I'll be the IT Girl. I'll be an independent girl, and I won't need someone to spoil me the rest of my life! Every diva needs a bit of drama, right? Of course they do! That's part of being FAMOUS!" - Yamanaka Ino

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"Better. Stronger. Alive. Determined. Ready to take on the world. I will be known, and I will overcome and avenge my past. I will be the best." - Uchiha Sasuke

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"I don't know. Hopefully I still have the music in me. But if I do, I think I'll be okay. Music just does that for me. But like I said, I don't know if I'll always have it. I'm just hoping for a better tomorrow, haha!" - Haruno Sakura

And so we begin.

(1): In Japan, elementary schools go up to sixth, middle school up to ninth, and high school finishes at twelve.

(2): An escalator school is a school where you transition from one school (middle school for example) to another (such as high school) without any paperwork or having to apply to one. They're common in western private schools, but even more common in Japan.

A/N: …some of you might recognize this. This is my edited version of my previous story titled, SoDaS. There are going to be some major changes in the plot since I have grown as a writer over the years. Please don't kill me D':

And if any of this is confusing, I'm sorry! If you have any questions, ask it through a review, and if it won't be answered easily through the story, I'll answer it for you.

Review, or I'll send the bunnies after you, okay?

Edit: 5.31.10, 11.29.10