I managed to doze for an hour last night, so I felt really well rested. Of course, I was woken by nightmares. Nightmares about being abandoned, hated. I looked at the time. It was Four a.m. It would take ten minutes to get the training field. I went and took a shower. I love the smell of this honeysuckle shampoo...

I go to eat breakfast, and remember him telling us not to. I hesitate, then shrug and make some scrambled eggs. I can tell that Naruto is still sleeping, and it's... four thirty. By the time I get dressed, it's four fourty. I wanted to leave in five minutes. I open the door, ready to leave the apartment building when I hesitate.

I walk back to Naruto's apartment and knock on his door. I tap my foot impatiently, listening to him crash to the floor as he wakes up. "Kuso!" he swears, opening the door and rubbing his head. He looks at me in confusion for a moment, then everything seems to click, "Oh no! What time is it? When were we supposed to get there? How late am I?" He spouts, freaking out and pulling his hair.

"It is four fourty six. We are supposed to arrive at five. You aren't late, but you will be if we don't leave within the next four minutes." He stares at me, slowly abosorbing the information, then slams the door in my face. I blink in shock, then smile slightly as I hear him getting ready.

"Just wait a second for me, Keira-chan!" He shouts out the door. Chan... He opens the door, standing there for a moment as he catches his breath. He had a backpack with him. I blink.

Should I have brought a back pack? All I brought was the usual weapons, herbs, medical guaze, and some food pills. Hopefully I'm not ill prepared.

"C'mon, let's go Keira-chan! We don't want to be late!" I glance at the time. Four fifty nine. Wow, he took three minutes to get ready. We both go down to the street, heading towards the training field. I take a deep breath in. There was always something peaceful about wandering these streets when they are totally deserted.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Naruto yawns loudly. Well, nearly deserted. I snicker slightly. Naruto is obviously not a morning person. We arrive at the spot at the same time as Sakura and Sasuke. I immidiately sit down, wanting to conserve my strength.

I wanted to ask them if we had a plan to "survive" this as a team, but they totally blew me off yesterday, and, well, none of them seemed like morning people. Hours pass as I debate with myself whether or not I should suggest it.

Finally, I work up the nerve and open my mouth. "So, guys, I was thinking that maybe we should have some sort of... preplan on how we're going to pass this as a team." I say hesitantly. They all look at me strangely.

"Why would we do that, Keira-san?" Sakura asks. Inside, I hear her think, She's just trying to get close to MY Sasuke-kun, isn't she?

I sigh and open my mouth to explain, "Well, we're a team, so we need to pass as--" I was cut off by a poof of smoke.

"Morning everyone, ready for your first day?" He asked casually.

"Hey you're late!" Sakura and Naruto accuse together.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way." He explains casually. I smirk, but the other's glare and grown. Didn't they find that lame excuse slightly funny?

"Well," he coughed slightly, "Let's get started." he walks over to a stump and sets an alarm clock on it. "Here we go. It's set for noon." he pulls out three bells. I didn't want to pass this because of my mind reading or other special abilities, so I raise my mental defenses to lock out others minds.

"You're assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it." I immidiately start thinking of ways to get the bells. Naruto and Sasuke can work together to attack him from the front, Sakura can be the decoy "attempting" to take the bells from the side, and I can use my speed to steal the bells from behind.

"If you can't get them by noon, you go without lunch." He says. Everyone's stomachs growl except for mine. Everyone turns to me.

"Hey, Keira-chan, why isn't your stomach growling too!" NAruto shouts, pointing a finger at me.

I poke my fingers together, much like Hinata. "Er, I may have, uh, went against orders and... eaten breakfast?" I admit. They all glare at me slightly, stomachs growling again.

"Hey, wait a minute, there's four of us and only three bells." He begins to explain the reason behind that. This is where I got worried. Normal teams only have three genin. I was the odd one out. He was probably trying to even up the teams again by dropping one of us out. I take a deep breath and let it out.

Once our team gets the bells, I'll volunteer to be the one without. I deserve to go back to the academy. He insults Naruto, who gets angry and attacks him. In a demonstration of his speed and strength, Kakashi redirects Naruto's attack back at him.

"Don't be in such a hurry. I didn't say start yet." We all take several steps back as he releases Naruto. "But you came at me with the full intention of destroying me. So... how can I say this? I'm actually starting to like you guys. Get ready. Aaaand.... start!"

I grab the three of them by the back of their shirts and jump away with them. "Hey, what's the big idea?" Naruto asked.

"Shh!" I shush him, peeking out of the foliage and still keepinga grip on the three of them. "So, I made a plan. Naruto-san, Sasuke-san, you two can attack him straight on, while Sakura-san is the decoy, pretending to grab the bells from the side. While he's totally distracted, I'll grab the bells from behind. Once I jump away you three clear out then we'll distribute the bells. I volunteer to go back to the academy." I explain in a rush.

"Loser, why would we trust you?" Sasuke scoffs, pulling his arm away and jumping off. Sakura glares at me, "Why would we work with a yellow eyed freak? I'm going off to find Sasuke-kun!"

They all turn their backs on me. Loser. Untrustworthy. Freak. I turn to Naruto in desperation. "Sorry, Keira-chan. If I'm gong to be Hokage, I have to get over this myself. But I do like the part of your plan where I attack him head on!" I stare in disbelief. Inconceivable.

Naruto jumps down to attack Kakashi, who had a, Seriously? look on his face. He creates a hand sign and Sakura freaks out. At least she cares a little. As Kakashi prepares to poke him is the butt, I begin to sneak up behind him. I'm hiding in the shadow of a tree when he turns around. I freeze, and his gaze skirts right over me.

I sneak forward as he yells, "A thousand years of death!" And slams naruto in the butt. I wrap my hand around a bell....

And I get punched in the stomach so hard I go flying backwards, bell in hand. He begins to walk towards me to retrieve the bell. I bend over, panting fro the blow.

I'm on my hands and knees when I feel my stomach heave. And, just like sensei had warned, I threw up my breakfast. While i threw up, Kakashi casually leaned over and took the bell from me.

"I did warn you," Kakashi mocks. I wipe my mouth on my sleeve and catch a glimpse of Sasuke. He's preparing an attack.

He looks me in the eye. I can see his eyes asking, Distract him for a few more moments. I nod slightly. Kakashi leans over me with a close eyed smile. "What can I say? I told you if you ate breakfast you would throw up!"

I steady my hands on the ground and send my foot flying up, nearly connecting with his chin. I appear behind him, sending a roundhouse kick towards his side. I miss. I run around him again, appear in front of him, and finally, my side kick connects with his stomach. And that was with my weights on.

My weights were simple, thin stone bracelets and anklets. I fill them with chakra. The more chakra they have, the heavier the get. Best thing I've ever bought, even if they were expensive. I can even withdraw Chakra from the stones to replenish my store.

I jump away to catch my breath, seeing that Kakashi was already standing, and there was no way I could beat a jonin on my own. So, I run. By the time I saw Kakashi again, he was about to fight Sasuke.

I appeared next to him, making the signs for my only wind jutsu. He looks at me, angry, and I mutter, "Just trust me here." He breathes in deeply as I do the same, and we breathe out at the same time.

"Firestyle: Fireball jutsu!" He calls out.

"Wind Style: Powerful Wind Wave!" I shout. When our two jutsu's meet, his doubles in size. I smirk and Sasuke looks shocked. "Nice jutsu there," I compliment. But by the time the fireball dissipates, Kakashi is no where to be seen.

I suddenly sense his presence below us. "Jump, Sasuke-san!" I shout, doing so myself. But Sasuke is to slow, getting caught in the headhunter jutsu. Kakashi appears, looking a little singed. I land on the ground, and look back and forth between Sasuke and Kakashi.

I should get out of danger, but I need to help my teammate. I sprint to Kakashi, acting like I'm going to attack him, but jump up, use his raised hand as a spring board, and launch myself away. I sense him chasiing me, and head towards the stumps.

Just as I get there the alarm rings. Kuso. He ties me and Naruto to a stump. "Uh oh, stomachs growling, huh?" He teases, "Oh, by the way, about this excersice? I've decided that I won't send any of you back to the academy." they all cheer, but I narrow my eyes at him. He seems more... serious than usual.

"Yes. All four of you are being dropped from the program," His tone suddenly goes deadly, "Permanently."

"Why's that?" Naruto questioned.

"Because you guys don't think like ninja, you think like brats." He insults. Sasuke runs at him, and quick as lightning Kakashi has him pinned down. "You don't know what it means to be ninja!" He goes on to explain about the KIA stone, creating a depressed atmosphere.

"Teamwork! That's what determines if you pass or fail! Sakura! You obsessed about Sasuke, who was gone, while Naruto was right in front of you and you wouldn't lift a finger to help him! Naruto, you do everything on your own, everything. And you, Sasuke, thought that everyone was so far below you they were worthless. Arrogance. And you, Keira, were the worst of all of them!"

I cringe away, half expecting him to slap me like past villagers have when yelling at me. "You realized that the point of this exercise was teamwork, and you failed to communicate that with your teammates! Did you enjoy having your little secret, thinking that you would be the only one to pass because you "tried to work as a team."? Disgusting."

I feel the hurt attack me, my old motto, Don't trust anybody, love equals pain. Try to work its way back into my brain. "You're wrong." I whisper.

"What's that?" Kakashi asked, tone demeaning and patronizing.

"I didn't know that this was a test on teamwork. I thought, actually that because I messed up all the teams by making my two teammates quit, you were being forced to send one of us back to the academy. So I was planning on having our team retrieve the bells, and I would be the one to go back to the academy!" I burst out, pain, self hatred, and loathing obvious in every word.

Kakashi tilts his head. "So, you had a natural feel for teamwork. It never crossed your mind that it was a test, you just had the teams best interests in heart the entire time. Impressive. But, you did eat breakfast against orders, so, you remain tied to the stump."

"Alright. I'm going to give you one more chance. Here's your lunch," He hands it to Sakura and Sasuke, "Don't feed Naruto or Keira, or you fail." They nod and he leaves. Naruto stomach growls and mine is silent.

"Keira-chan, why isn't your stomach growling? I saw you throw up your breakfast, you should be just as hungry as us!"

I give him a close eyed smile. "Naruto-san, I've gone much longer then this without food. I guess my stomach is used to it." Though, I do starve faster than most people, because my body requires more calories to keep running.

Naruto's stomach is rumbling and he's trying to bluff his way over it. Finally, Sasuke gives in with a sigh, holding his lunch out. "You'll be weak and ineffective if you're hungry. Here." Sakura begins to feed Naruto, and Sasuke glances towards me. I'm looking away from them all, not expeccting anybody to give their lunch to me, when someone's shadow falls over me.

"Here." Sasuke is trying to hand me his lunch. I look at him, waiting for him to realize I can't move my hands. "Oh, for Kami's sake." He mutters, then cuts the ropes with a kunai. I take a bite of his food. "If I'm gonna break the rules, might as well break them thouroghly." He mutters.

Suddenly, the clouds go dark and Kakashi sensei appears in front of us. "YOU!" He thunders, quite litleraly. Then the sun comes out and a smile makes its way onto his face. "Pass."

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