Naruto/Miko

Naruto yawned as he slowly stretched out on the bed. His body felt so cramped at the moment and he just couldn't figure out why. Man, what did I do? Sleep on the sofa bed or something?

"Actually, Miko said softly, "that is exactly what you did Naru-chan."

The blond stared at the ceiling. Oh. OH! The memories of Ino showing up at his door the night before rushed to the front of Naruto's mind suddenly. I completely forgot that Ino had showed up here last night. Do you think she is still in my room?

"Why don't you go see and find out?" Miko sighed. Naruto chuckled as he threw his legs over the edge of his bed and walked down the hallway to his bed room. He went to grab the door knob when Miko screamed into his mind. "What are you stupid!? There's possibly a girl in that room! Knock you dumbass!"

Fine, fine just stop yelling. Naruto gave a few light knocks on the door to my own room. Knocking on my own door. There was no response, so just to keep Miko from yelling at him again, Naruto knocked once more. He continued to wait, but he didn't hear a thing on the other side of the door. Opening the door slowly, Naruto peeked into the room.

Laying comfortably in his bed, Ino was snoring softly. Her ponytail was had seemed to have fallen out letting her hair lay lazily across her face and down her back. A small blush crossed Naruto's face as he looked at the girl. "Ew! Stop looking at her like that you pervert and go make some breakfast before it's time for you to leave!"

Quickly backing out of the door, Naruto retreated to the kitchen. I didn't mean to look at her that way, Naruto thought. I just never saw Ino with her hair down.

Miko chuckled lightly. "Yeah I know what you mean. Ino-chan does look so much better with her hair let down. Someone should talk her into to keeping it that way." Naruto nodded in agreement. "Anyways, don't look at Ino-chan that way anymore. It is extremely wrong even though you don't know it yet."

What does that mean?

"Exactly what I said is what it means! Now hurry up and eat breakfast so we can get to your test site early. Being early looks good ya know." Naruto nodded his head as he ate a small bowl of ramen. Usually he would eat a bowl of ramen the size of his head, but Miko had forced that bad habit out of him. The kid only handle so many headaches induced by screaming in his own mind.

Finishing his quick bowl of ramen, Naruto raced out of the house to Training Ground Seven to meet what he was sure to be his future team. On the inside though, Miko was smiling brightly. Mm, Naru-chan it shouldn't be much longer. You'll soon feel that hole in your heart seal up.

Ino

Ino slowly woke up from her sleep as she rolled onto her back. Looking at the ceiling, the girl quickly recalled the events of yesterday. She closed her eyes in sighed. No going back now neh?

"Not if you want the both of us to feel whole again," the dark voice in her mind said.

Ino nodded and slid out of bed. She stretched her arms and legs as a soft yawn escaped her mouth. The girl quickly put her clothes on for the day and left Naruto's room. Looking about, she noticed that her brother had already left.

"Well I still have about two hours before it's time for me to meet my Shikamaru and the others," she said as she looked at the clock and then around the house. "Guess I might as well clean up the apartment while I still have a chance. Naruto really does need to clean up here once in a while."

"That's what you're here for maid-chan. Hop to it!"

Ino growled as she began picking up trash. Don't make me come in there and chain you down. You know I'll do it. The blond smiled with satisfaction as the laughing voice suddenly stopped.

The apartment wasn't hard for the girl to clean up. Apparently Naruto could keep his home clean if he wanted to. The boy was obviously just too lazy to bother about cleaning his living room. The bathroom was sparkling clean, his room was only slightly messy when she went into the night before, and his kitchen looked like it was never really used.

As she was rolling the sofa bed back into itself, she noticed something white sticking out of the compartment the bed went into. She plucked it out and sat under the half folded bed to look at it.

Ino held a completely white book in her hand, that held no writing on it's covers. Turning it all about, she could not final a single mark on the book and decided to open it to a random page. There were two pictures of a young girl with crimson red hair and beautifully cerulean blue eyes. In one she was smiling widely while she held up a fishing rod in one hand and a fish that was slightly larger than her in the other. The other she was just looking into the camera with a small smile and a peace sign.

Today I turn three was in captions next to the first picture, and Today I turn four in captions next to the second. "Huh, I wonder who this is," Ino mumbled to herself. She flipped backwards through the book finding more pictures and longer captions of the same girl over and over again.

Ino's curiosity had reached it's peak when she hit the first page. In big bold letters was 'RED'. Ino wasn't sure if that was who the girl was or just her favorite color. Noticing that she had somehow wasted an hour flipping through half of the book. Deciding she wanted to know more, she pushed down the bed and took off with the book.

She ran as fast as she could, and hoped that she could beat Shikamaru to a meeting place for once. The entire time the dark being inside her was pondering the little girl in the photos. She seemed extremely familiar, but how can that be? That girl was never even born... Hm, this might be interesting.

Naruto/Miko

Naruto felt bad as he listened to Sakura and Sasuke's stomachs growl. With the event of last night having thrown his mind of course, the boy had completely forgotten not to eat breakfast like he was told. He wasn't sure how his sensei would react to his disobedience, but he knew he just had to deal with it. Whenever his sensei decided to show up.

"Uuugghh! I can't to this anymore!" Sakura yelled as she raised her fist angrily. "Where is is that masked bastard!?" Sasuke grunted as though he didn't care, but upon closer inspection, a person could see the annoyance in his eyes.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I have been here for three hours waiting for that guy cause I was told it was good to be early to meetings. What kinda sensei can't show up on time."

"Naruto... he has been here for the past hour," Miko said quietly into the boy's mind.

Naruto's eyes widened. What!? Where and how do you know that for sure!? He whips his head around every which way to try and spot the man that was supposed to be giving them there exam.

"That tree behind Sakura. He has been there watching you guys for a while now," Miko said. "I don't know how I know, I just know that I know, and I know that I'm right! Now call that bastard out for some brownie points!

Naruto looked at the tree and scrunched up his face. Aren't brownie points meant for like girls Miko-chan? A small growl began in the boy's head. "Hey you!" he yelled with a small bout of fear while pointing at the tree behind Sakura. "Come out from behind that tree and train us already!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "Shut up dobe. There is no one..." Kakashi suddenly appeared behind Sakura with a small eye smile. The pink haired girl squealed at the man's sudden appearance behind her and jumped into Sasuke's lap.

For a moment no one moved. Then Kakashi lazily lifted his hand in a wavy. "Hey guys, good morning," he said cheerfully.

All three of the kids glared at the man angrily while Naruto tapped his foot, Sasuke tapped his fingers together, and Sakura dusted her dress off from being pushed on to the ground. "You're late!" Sakura screamed.

Kakashi chuckled slightly. "I'm sorry. I got lost on the road of life." The three intensified their glares. "Anyways here is you exam," he said lifting two bells from his pouch.

"What are those for Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

These to bells are your objective. You are to somehow obtain these bells before noon," Kakashi explained. "Those who are unable to obtain a bell by noon will be not be fed any lunch. Not only will I tie you to one of those stumps, but I will eat the food directly in front of you."

Sakura and Sasuke's stomachs growled as Naruto glanced down at his stomach. At least I don't have to worry about that, but it would still be nice to get lunch.

"Do you understand what he did Naruto?" Miko asked. Naruto shook his head slightly as the two beside him grumbled. "That man weakened them. Doing anything on an empty stomach makes it almost impossible to work at your best. Not eating before this exam was just his way of making this harder on you guys."

So since I ate, I have the upper hand. So cool. Miko chuckled in the boy's mind.

Kakashi jiggled the bells before him. "You only have to get one bell. Since there are only two bells at least one of you will definitely be tied to a stump." Suddenly, his eye took on a serious glean. "And... the one person who doesn't take a bell will fail. So at least one of you is going to be sent back to the academy."

Not me, Naruto thought as he clenched his fist. He glanced at both Sakura and Sasuke who in turn glanced at him. I won't be going back to the academy any time soon. I'm going to be Hokage and no one's going to stop me.

"If you want, you can use shuriken and kunai on me. You won't be able to succeed without coming at me with the intent to kill."

"But sensei!" Sakura exclaimed worriedly. "You'll be endanger if we do that!"

Naruto giggled to himself as he went to yell something in after Sakura. "Don't you even think about it Naruto. If you say anything about that eraser you will regret it." Gulping, the blond stayed quiet.

Kakashi eye smiled at the girl. "Don't worry about me. Worry about yourselves. Now we will start when I say... Begin!"

Ino

Ino flopped on to her back next to Shikamaru and Choji as their sensei stood above them. "You three did a pretty good job of figuring out the truth of the test. The test within the test. Not only that, but you three actually got the bells. You should be proud of yourselves."

Choji and Ino smiled widely as Shikamaru just turned to his side. "Does that mean that we are officially a Genin team Asuma-sensei?" Choji asked.

Asuma grinned as he nodded his head. "Yep. As of now, you guys are a part of Team 10."

"Yes!" Ino punched the air excitedly. "Can you tell us how we did sensei? You did a lot of 'hming' and I want to know what you were thinking."

Asuma rubbed his chin. "Hm. That seems fair enough. Even though this was aimed as a joint exercise, you three did show your individual skills. Choji you did quit well. Sometimes it can be hard motivating a fresh out of the academy Akimichi to work, but you pulled your weight and then some. Not only did you use your Human Boulder as an offensive move, you used it to defend your teammates and as distractions at some points." Choji grinned as he stuffed food into his mouth.

"Shikamaru you definitely live up to the name of a Nara. The control you have over your Shadow Possession is quite amazing for your age. The reach of your shadow is already that should be watched out for. You also planned out impressive traps using your teammates abilities, or Choji's at least." Shikamaru grunted.

"Which brings me to you Ino." Asuma furrowed his eyebrows as he took out his cigarette and replaced it with another that was somehow already lit. "You surprisingly unsurprisingly did better than Shikamaru and Choji. The accuracy you have with kunai and shuriken is to be expected, but that was it. Everything else was something that I wasn't prepared for. Your Taijutsu was definitely no joke. You are faster than I thought you would be, and stronger than thought possible of any kunoichi, other than Tsunade herself, at your age. The punches you threw actually numbed both of my arms."

Ino smiled. "Well Asuma-sensei I have worked really hard for this. Also don't forget Shinobi rule #13: Expect the expect while expecting the unexpected."

Chuckling, Asuma laid his hand on Ino's shoulder. "You got me there Ino, but tell me. Why didn't you use any of your clan jutsus? That was something everyone would expect from you at this age." Choji looked at Ino worriedly as Shikamaru glanced over at his new sensei and teammate.

Ino looked at her sensei with a smile. "That's why sensei. With you expecting me to use my clan jutsus and not be so well versed in my Taijutsu, it seemed I had the element of surprise over you. I for one came in expecting to fight a Jōnin and nothing more nor less."

Asuma blinked at the young girl laying at his feet as did her teammates gave her odd glances. After a moment the man nodded and crossed his arms. "That is actually pretty smart of you Ino. To know what your enemy knows about your battling styles and build on what they would least expect of you." The man nodded before taking the cigarette in his mouth out. "Next time work on what you already have though. you can't expect to always know what your enemy knows about you. As a matter of fact you can just about guarantee that you might never know what your enemy knows about you."

Ino sighed and nodded her head. "Hai sensei I will." Not like you know what I already know though so expect some more surprises sensei. Standing up, she dusted off her skirt and turned to her new sensei. "So now that you are our sensei does that mean you are going to be treating us out to lunches and dinners?"

"What are you talking about," Asuma said as he gave Ino an odd look. "That's not what a sensei has to do for his students. Who told you this?" Ino pointed down at Choji who was drooling at the thought at being treated out to dinner and lunch everyday. "..." For some reason Ino and Shikamaru heard the sound of a cash register being opened and quickly assumed it to be Asuma's wallet.

Naruto/Miko

Naruto groaned as he held his head. It wasn't bad enough that hanging upside down had been causing him a headache, but Miko took that time to berate him until he got himself out of the trap. By now he knew how foolish his attacks against Kakashi were, and why he should have known that the bells being out in the open they way they were was a trap.

The boy slowly stood and rubbed his temple as he looked around. "Geez Miko. You didn't have to try and blow up my head the entire time," he whispered.

"Maybe, maybe not," she replied, "doesn't matter since we know better than to do those stupid things now right?" Sighing, Naruto nodded. "Good, now you have ten minutes left to get those bells and I know how you can pass. Sakura and Sasuke will be here in a... well right now actually."

Just as Miko's sentence ended, Sakura and Sasuke came out of the forest. Sakura noticed Naruto sitting at the base of the tree that he had fallen for Kakashi's trap at first. "Hey you baka! What do you think you are doing just lazing around for!? We're running out of time!"

Naruto frowned as the two walked over to him. "I'm not being lazy Sakura-chan, I promise. I was just trying to... think of a plan of action to get the bell." The blond nodded to himself as Sakura snicked.

"You think of a plan to get the bells from Kakashi? You think of a plan? Ha, that's funny Naruto." Sakura shook her head as a small smirk rose on Sasuke's face.

"Bitch thinks she's so smart, but I bet she still doesn't know the true meaning of this test." Miko sighed.

The true meaning of the test? Naruto sighed as well. Isn't the true meaning of the test to get one of the bells so that you can pass on to your Genin team and become a real shinobi?

"While getting the bells from Kakashi would be nice, it's not the true meaning of the test. The true meaning of the test is to test the teamwork between the three of you."

Huh?!

"Naru-chan, do you really think that you alone can take on a well trained and truly experienced Jōnin like Kakashi right out of the academy all on your own?" After a moment of silence Miko groaned as Naruto chuckled nervously. "What am I saying? Of course you do. Well you can't. The only way for you guys to pass is to work together. If one of you fails, you all fail. Just tell Forehead and the fag that and they'll understand."

She doesn't have a big forehead! Shaking his head, Naruto stood and looked at his teammates. "Look you guys we have to work together to pass this test."

Sasuke glared at his rival/teammate. "What are you talking about dobe? If you think I'm going to help you pass this test, then you're dead wrong." Sakura nodded her head beside him.

"No no, that's not what I meant. I mean this test is rigged." Naruto waved his arms widely. "I mean it's really obvious that this entire test is just some big trick to test our teamwork." How is it obvious Miko-chan?

"Oh, and if it's so obvious then what is it Naruto-baka?" Sakura crossed her arms and glared.

"Oh for Kami help me you are all stupid. Just repeat what I say so this can go faster. How many bells are on this Kakashi guy?" Miko said annoyed as Naruto did as he was told.

"Two," Sakura sighed as she rolled her eyes. "We already knew that so what's the point?"

"There's two bells, three of us, and one strong Jōnin saying we have to take the bells from him and the one without a bell fails. You can't tell me you don't see what is wrong with this entire situation can you?", Miko/Naruto huffed.

The other two Genin just blinked at the boy before them. Sakura eventually started shaking her head, as Sasuke's glare began to turn murderous. "You're wasting our time dobe. Either get to the point or shut your mouth."

Miko wanted to rip her hair out. She wanted rip their hair out even more. Um... Miko-chan? Naruto asked worriedly as the girl in his head began to growl. What do you want me to say? I don't know where you're going with this.

Miko sighed. "Keep repeating what i say Naruto. The point is freaking right in the rules. Only two out of three academy graduates will become Leaf Genin. When have you ever seen a team of just two Genin instead of three in the village? Don't need to repeat anything else now Naruto."

It finally dawned Sakura, and Sasuke soon after. They had been tricked. "That... that bastard tricked us!" Sakura screeched angrily next to her crush.

Sasuke clenched his fist and turned away from t his teammates with a scowl on his face. "We fell for the most obvious trick to pit the three of us against each other. This entire test is nothing more than a set up."

Naruto grinned cheekily as he placed his hands behind his head and crossed his legs. "That's what I've been saying this entire time you guys!" Wow! How did you figure that out Miko-chan?

"Shut up!" Naruto instantly quieted down in his own mind. Miko was quite obviously unhappy with the three Genin's insight, or lack thereof.

"So what should we do now Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked in a slightly pleading voice as she turned to the only remaining loyal Uchiha in the village and batted her eyes for some unknown reason.

Sasuke looked around their surroundings as he began to think of a plan. "We could possibly set a trap for him, but I can't think of one that someone of that man's caliber hasn't already encountered."

"Maybe ambush him?" Sakura offered up.

"No," Sasuke sighed. "Something tells me this guy won't be caught off guard by a simple ambush." Sakura deflated from the small amount of eagerness she had gotten from her idea.

As the two began tossing back and forth ideas to deal with Kakashi as a team, Naruto had his arms crossed in front of his chest, his eyes closed, and was tapping his foot aggressively. After a while an idea suddenly came to Naruto himself and he grinned wildly. "Hey you guys," he said excitedly to get his team members attention, "I got an idea."

Ino

The young platinum blond found herself standing in front of the Yamanaka Clan Head and its council. How... in the hell... did I end up in this shit?

Flashback

Ino sighed as she walked out of the dango restaurant that her sensei had treated her and her teammates to. She stretched and looked at the blue sky above her. It was slightly passed midday from what she could tell from the suns position in the sky.

After basking in the warm sunlight for a few minutes, Ino started walking towards Naruto's apartment with a complete plan to take a good nap. Nothing else seemed more urgent on her agenda than to sleep with the day feeling overly draining to her.

As she walked towards the apartment she suddenly got the feeling of being watched. She continued to stroll forward while slowly scanning her peripheral view. Nothing out of the ordinary really stood out. No one was throwing her any odd glances, nor was anyone just glaring at her like she was the worst thing on the earth.

"You're being followed. There are three of them. Their scents are familiar, but something about their presence is off."

Frowning, Ino was forced to make a decision. She wasn't sure why she was being followed, but she didn't want to lead them back to her brother's apartment in case things went south. The slowly began to veer away from Naruto's apartment. Instead she eventually arrived at training ground 16.

She stop walking once she reached the middle of the field and turned around. Standing not to far in front of her were three blond haired and light blue eyed Genin. Yamanakas...

They were all women and looked like they were ready for anything. The Yamanaka on the right was the shortest of the three. She had her hair in a standard ponytail with a white butterfly clamp holding it in place. there was much else that could be noted of interest of the girl other than she looked the most worried of the group. The Yamanaka on the left was looked inpatient. She was tapping her foot on the ground rapidly. She had short spiky hair and wore a strangely spiked collar around her neck.

Senbon... Ino observed warily though she still found that to be the least of her worries. The person directly in front of her was the one the troubled her the most.

Yamanaka Mabī. This girl was always a thorn in Ino's side. The two would constantly butt heads when none of the grownups were around them to stop anything that happened. The problem was that Mabī never fought alone, nor was she someone to consider weak at their age. Mabī was one of the few Yamanakas that learned how to take control of other people's minds without having to throw away her own consciousness.

A small smile rested on Mabī's face as she looked Ino up and down. "Well I always knew that you didn't have what it takes to be a true Yamanaka, but I never thought that you would run away like a scared little bitch from us." The two girls next to Mabī chuckled lightly.

Ino narrowed her eyes at the three girls. "I never wanted to be a Yamanaka in the first place. Your clan is nothing more than a bunch of spineless mind raping pussies in my eyes."

The girl on Mabī's right jabbed a finger at Ino angrily. "Bitch you better watch your mouth. This is the greatest clan in the entire fucking village. You should know that having been born a part of the clan before your name got struck from the records."

"Don't you think that's a little over the top Pet?" Ino said as she raised an eyebrow.

Pet growled at Ino as Mabī put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Pet. You know that this is about to be handled. We can't let people like you walk around disgracing our family name Ino. Right Ryo?" The shortest of the three nodded hesitantly before all of them took up a fighting stance.

Ino shifted onto her back foot and leaned forward slightly. Are you sure you want to do this Mabī? This could end badly."

"Yeah you're right," Mabī said. "This could end badly... for you!" The three girls threw a hail of kunai at Ino with paper bombs attached to them. "Kai!" they all yelled just before they hit her, detonating every single last bomb.

They watched with satisfaction as Ino's body was engulfed in a fiery explosion. The girls were sure that they had just completely and utterly obliterated the ex Yamanaka. "She obviously didn't she that shit coming," Pet said with a sneer on her face.

Mabī nodded her head, but then shook sadly as she put up her hands. "I had expected her to put of more of a fight though. Oh well."

Ryo looked around worriedly as she took a step back. "That was a really big explosion. Maybe we should..." Ryo was cut mid sentence as she felt a foot bury itself in her side and send her flying. She screamed out in pain as she slammed through a few trees before stopping and fell to the ground unconscious.

Mabī and Pet gasped as they looked over to where Ryo had made her violent landing. Pet's eyes were wide as saucers as she trembled slightly. "Wh-what the fu-aaagghhh!"

Twisting around, Mabī was greeted by the sight of Ino burying her fist into Pet's stomach and hoisting the girl high into the air. Pet coughed up a few specks of blood before going completely limp on Ino's balled fist.

Ino tossed the girl aside onto the ground as she held her head down. She began chuckling lightly as she shook her head. "Come on. Did you really think that something as simple as that would take out a completely healthy kunoichi Mabī. An academy student could have easily gotten out of that if they wanted to live."

Mabī looked at her fallen comrades before glaring at Ino. "Alright, I was only planning to fuck you up a little bit, but now bitch your ass is so fucking dead." Ino made a bring sign with one of her hands and grinned as Mabī charged her.

Flashback End

"Maybe it's because you put three of their clan members in the hospital. One of which will be in the ER for a good while I believe."

Oi shut up in there. I didn't ask for your opinion in this. Ino glared at the man in front of her unhappily. The man she had called father for her entire life. Someone she had always looked up to and believed she would always be able to trust even during the darkest of days. Now here she stood with the feeling of facing down her worst enemy. "Is there a reason I am surrounded by all of the leaders of your clan like I am on trial Yamanaka-sama?"

Inoichi slightly flinched on the inside at how Ino addressed him, but expertly hid his reaction to her words behind his councilman mask. "Young lady you pretty much are on trial. I have gotten permission from the Third Hokage himself that I would decide what to do about you and what you did to three of our clans men." Ino's muscles clenched as she tensed in anger. "Now tell me why I shouldn't execute the worse punishment that we can come up with her."

Ino sighed angrily. "I don"t see why I should be punished at all Yamanaka-sama. I only acted in defense of myself when the three made an attempt to end my life. In truth since I am now a Genin myself, a ninja of the Leaf Village, I had every right to kill them for treason after what they tried to do to me."

The Clan Head nodded his head as one of the councilmen exploded. "Spare us your excuse child. We have witnesses who say they saw you attack the three girls while they were training completely and utterly unprovoked. You just want to come out as innocent as you can, but you can't erase what you did girl." The other councilmen grumbled their agreements.

"Hm, quite the successful lie there he just made, or they are all conspiring against you right now." "I wouldn't be surprised," whispered Ino. "Yamanaka-sama, I can swear to you on my oath as a ninja that I only acted in my defense." Ino cut her eyes to the man who had accused her of assaulting the three girls without any probable cause. "Also, might I add that it is unwise to have anyone with a direct relationship to the... victims apparently... to be here to make judgment since emotions can and will cloud their abilities to make proper and fair decisions here."

The man sputtered as Inoichi looked at him and sighed. "You know she is right Kenshin. It is best you left so that I can be sure that this trial isn't being corrupted towards an incorrect punishment." Kenshin"s turned a murderous red and he glared at Ino as he slowly backed away from his seat and left the room. "Now," Inoichi sighed, "I've taken everything you've said into consideration along with a few witness statements. You may leave and go to your home. Word will be sent to your Jonin sensei when a decision has been made. is there anything more that you have to add before you leave?"

The young girl frowned at the ground before shaking her head and walking away. "Just... those girls really don't represent what it means to be a member of the Yamanaka clan. That's all I have to say." Ino could hear the arguments ensue the entire room before the door even completely shut behind her.

Naruto/Miko

Naruto barely stood huffing and puffing in front of Kakashi as they looked at each other. The sunny blond had been taking a beating from the Jonin for quite a while now and wasn't going to last much longer against the man on his own. As soon as Kakashi arrived, the other two had taken off to leave Naruto and Kakashi to have their completely uneven one on one battle once again. "Naruto you need to give the signal now." Miko said urgently to him as they saw Kakashi begin to move.

Not yet.

"What?! Naruto give the signal! You can't take much more of this!" Kakashi crouched down with kunai in each of his hands.

Not yet. Kakashi quickly launched himself at the tired and weakened Naruto.

"Dammit Naruto! Give the..." Just before Kakashi reached him, Naruto threw down a few smoke bombs and covered the entire area in a massive cloud.

Stopping short, Kakashi stretched out his senses just in time to feel several miniature fireballs flying at his back. He weaved around the the attack and went to through kunai in the attacks general location when he felt more minature fireballs coming from his side. Kakshi cursed to himself and hoped out of their way to find more coming towards his back. What is this?! the Jonin thought surprised by what was happening.

After flipping over the attack, Kakashi landed and pressed his body close to the ground just in time to be missed by another volley of fireballs. As he stood, his eyes widened as he felt one last volley of fireballs come towards him. The only problem was that they were coming from every direction around and above him with little to no room to escape. He gritted his teeth as he saw an opening to escape from, but found himself weighed down to the ground as he attempted to jump through it. looking down, he gasped at the sight of a dirty Sakura and Naruto holding onto his feet with large grins. Shit...

Just before Kakashi found himself turned into a well roasted turkey, the fireballs all glowed a bright white before exploding into a brilliantly blinding light. Covering his eyes, Kakashi protected his eye as best he could from the light. After a minute or two, Kakashi felt the air around him settle enough to let him know that the bright explosion of light had ended. Slowly bringing his arms down, the man found his students all standing in front of him with smirks, a full blown grin in Naruto's case, on their faces. When he lifted his eyebrow questionably, they all held up a bell between them. Naruto and Sasuke held one between them while Sakura held out her own.

After blinking for just a moment, a small eye smile formed on Kakashi's face. "Congratulations. You all passed." Naruto and Sakura jumped up and down excitedly while Sasuke just crossed his arms with a smug grin as if he knew he would pass from the very beginning. "Now does anyone want to clue there knew sensei in on what exactly they did just now, because that was an impressive display from Genin?"

Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto as his smile grew even wider. "Shadow clones Kakashi-sensei. Before I started fighting with you all alone again, I made a crap load of them and let Sakura and Sasuke put them where ever they felt that they thought would be best fro them. After that everything was all up to them what we would do once I gave the signal."

"The signal being the smoke balls you threw correct?" The three Genin nodded. "Hm, I think I can guess what happened from that point on especially with how drained of chakra you look Sasuke. You must have been constantly using the substitution jutsu to get to another spot to keep shooting fireballs at me." Sasuke nodded tiredly as Kakashi nodded his head. "Well then, you three can go home now and rest for the rest of the week. Starting bright and early the beginning of next week, we'll be going straight into your training."

Kakashi watched them celebrate a little more before leaving them all alone. Hm, I might have something to work with if they can keep up that kind of teamwork and skill that just showed me today. Then again if Naruto is anything like Kushina-sama...

Naruto kicked into the door of his apartment with a loud whoop. "Alright! I'm truly a really ninja now! Whoooooo!" Miko chuckled at Naruto's excitedness with a smile playing in his mind. "I think I definitely deserve to celebrate this."

"Well do you have room for one more person in this celebration you're planning to have?" Naruto whirled towards the hallway towards his room to see Ino walking down his hallway with a paint brush in her hand. "If so I think it should be me since I passed my actual Genin exam like I'm sure you just did too."

A wicked grin split Naruto's face as he ran over and high-fived Ino without hesitation. "Of course. Tomorrow me you can go crazy Ino!" It suddenly dawned on the the boy who he was talking to and he immediately backed off the girl. "That is if you really what to Ino."

A soft smile settled on Ino's face as she looked at Naruto. "Of course. It's not like I have anything else to really do tomorrow." Naruto cheered and started rattling off things to Ino that they would do the next day while Ino just listened to him talk with all the attentiveness of a sibling who has been deprived of the other for an extremely long time.

"He seems at peace," the Kyūbi grumbled inside of Naruto.

Miko scoffed and looked over at the caged beast. "You know if you weren't such a jackass, you could be just as at peace as him." The Kyūbi just growled at Miko like she had insulted him since she pretty much just did. "Yeah I thought as much." Miko glared hard at the fox with great annoyance before shaking her had and grunting. "One day, you'll see peace Kurama. That I can promise you."

Red

Red looked down at the lake in front of her with a sad smile. In it, her small Kyubi mask floated in small pieces from a random drunk villager smashing it. She silently mourned her mask's death for a few minutes before turning away from it and walking away.

The young girl walked down to the alley way that she called home and sat in a box castle she built to sleep in. She was starting to find herself sleeping in it more and more lately. It had actually been awhile since she had even went to visit the Third Hokage and just talk to him like she always liked to. Laying down on the cold floor of her castle, Red looked at the dust that was collecting on the floor. "I should sweep soon," she told herself just before her eyes closed.

The little girl screamed in pain as she was violently awoken. She found herself tossed against the back side of a barn on the outskirts of the village with three men surrounding her. "See," the man who Red presumed had tossed her, and the man who smashed her mask pointed out, " I told you I found a little orphan girl how much will you pay for one her size?"

Red's eyes widened in horror at the man's words as one of the other two men leaned down close to her face. "Hm, she is a pretty little thing, but we can't take her. She is too small for us to make use of her, and there is no telling if she'll be worth anything if we take her now and hope for the best."

The other man nodded his head. "Yeah, sorry bud, but we can't make good use of her right now if you know what I mean." They all laughed as the began to grab for the young child. Screaming, Red lashed out with her feet and started kicking them randomly in the shins. "Ah bitch!"

As they all stumbled about, Red quickly dashed between their legs and ran for her life. "Hey don't let her get away! That little slut could ruin everything for us!" Red heard them start to pound after her and picked up her speed as much as she could. At the moment she had the field of advantage with the grass she ran into being taller than her and it being night time with no moon out. Then only problem was that she had no idea where she was exactly or where she was running. All she knew was that she was running for safety.

As she ran Red did her best to listen for the men chasing her. She could hear one of them behind her and guessed the other two had veered off to ;look for her elsewhere. So I just gotta out run man. That's easy. Hopping over large stones and weaving about random wooden post, Red smiled as she ran. There was no way that one of them would catch her at this rate.

Suddenly a boot came through the wall of grass and smashed into the little girl's face. Red's cry of pain was momentarily muffled by the boot before she hit the ground with a loud thud. Looking up in a daze, Red saw one of the men standing over her with an old rusty sword in his hand and a horrible smile on his face. "Try to ruin us huh?" Red rapidly shook her head and instantly regretted it as she clutched her head. "Oh you don't need to lie to me now." The man picked Red up by the hair and place the tip of the blade on her neck.

Flashes of light began top pass over her vision as the man talked. She could no longer hear the man's voice as she began to tremble for some unknown reason to her. Flashes of red constantly disturbed her, and random screams of pain that she was sure weren't her own kept piercing her ears. After what felt like hours, Red found herself staring straight up into the sky. The moon was beautifully full and so attractive to her that she almost didn't noticed the strange feeling all over her body.

Looking down she noticed that the rusted sword was in her hand and it was completely covered in blood. The blood reached all the way up to her elbows and specked her toes. She could just about feel the streaks of blood that was on her face as tears began to well in her eyes. She looked at the ground and the tears flowed free from her eyes as she saw the dead bodies of the men who had taken her surrounding her in pieces. Dropping the sword the girl slowly covered her mouth and closed her eyes. That night everyone parent checked on their child in fear something had happened to them from the screaming they heard all throughout the night.

A/N: Ugh my head hurts. I was so focused on finishing this I forgot to drink or eat anything while I was at it. Any was I hop you all enjoy the return chapter. For any of you who read my other fanfictions I apologies in advance if it takes a while for another chapter to be updated for them. Until next time my friends!