~~~~~

Tensions were high in the fifth year, everyone scrambled to get their shit together because if they didn't they would be dropped from the program. Friends began to drift apart and the Sasuke fan club only got bigger and bigger. Sasuke pretended to ignore it all, but that's hard when you have a bunch of eleven-year-old girls screaming, 'Sasuke-kun!'

Speaking of Sasuke, I'm pretty sure the kid hates me. Ever since I got the same score as him for the written part of the hand seals test he's been glaring at me when he thinks I don't know. Sasuke did get the highest score in the class, but I came in as a close second. Of course, his fangirls had congratulated him, as for me? Only Tenzo and Hinata actually gave a shit.

Hinata and I almost never saw each other outside of school. We were both busy bettering ourselves or being forced to train by our guardians. Tenzo was trying to teach me elemental jutsu, which wasn't going the greatest considering he knew no fire jutsus. Hell, a library book is teaching me better at this point.

As for the basic three jutsu, I had finally improved my clone jutsu, my transformation jutsu was passable as long as I didn't speak and I was best at the substitution jutsu. Dodging is just my thing I guess. I had also improved my archery, even more, learning new techniques from books I picked up.

After Tenzo and I discovered that I have a fire affinity, we set to work right away with a new skill. Can you guess what it is? Lighting my arrow on fire using only my chakra and then letting it fly into a target and burn. Watching something be burned is a fascinating sight, but Tenzo only lets me practice that when he's around so he can put the fires out. 

Tenzo ruins all my fun.

~~~~~

For the end of the fifth year, we had another major assignment; an English assignment. Plenty of the class was panicked, however, I wasn't. Having knowledge of another language really helped me out in the long run. Unfortunately, it wasn't a group project, but that didn't stop me from helping Hinata out after I finished the project early.

The project? Write a speech in English about the importance of having a strong leader such as the Hokage, and then read it out loud in English.

Writing it, no problem, talking in front of the class may be an issue. Hinata was just as panicked as I was in the speaking department.

Tenzo suggested that we practice reading it out loud, which brings us to where we are now.

Hinata and I stood before a crowd of masked individuals, all of which were completely silent. Tenzo brought us to ANBU headquarters to read our speeches to all the free ANBU available. Just great. I was more annoyed than scared, however, Hinata trembled like a leaf.

Among the crowd of ANBU was also Tenzo, Katsu, and out of all people who could be there, Hinata's father; Hiashi Hyuuga.

"So, who's going first?" Katsu asked, smiling more gently at Hinata.

"I'll do it." I sighed. "For Hinata's sake."

~~~~~

"... And that is why leaders like the Hokage are valued and important."

A polite amount of clapping filled the room as Tenzo hollered and whooped like a soccer mom.

Hiashi Hyuuga eyed me up, clapping simply because it was polite.

Hinata nervously shuffled her papers around, glancing at her father.

"Next is Hinata Hyuuga, with her English speech on why leaders are important." Tenzo announced.

Hinata replaced me at the front of the room, shifting her way from foot to foot. Shakily she took a breath in, switching from Japanese to English.

~~~~~

Hinata finishes her speech with a bow and gets an encouraging amount of applause. While I could speak English better, Hinata could pull together a better speech.

"I didn't understand most of that, but it was great!" Katsu exclaimed.

"But aren't all ANBU required to speak English?" I asked.

"Yes, but I just let others do all the talking!" Katsu barked out in laughter. "I was never good at English!"

The room of ANBU sweatdropped. Hiashi just sighed.

'Why does my daughter hang out with idiots like these?'

~~~~~

Just shortly after my eleventh birthday came the presentation day, which most of the class was on edge about. Murmurs spread across the rooms about the presentations.

"No way!"

I looked in the direction of the shout and my eyes land on Kiba and Shikamaru.

"Not so loud." Shikamaru mumbles.

"You only wrote part of the assignment?!" Kiba shouted.

"That is what I said." Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag."

I sighed too. If I could get away with that stuff I wouldn't have tried so hard on the project.

My writing could use work, but my pronunciation was flawless. I did have experience speaking other languages after all. I was forced to learn Spanish as a child. Everyone once in a while I would purposely mess up though in order to make me seem like Japanese was my first language. I mean, it is, but it's also not. Moving on.

Finally, Iruka walked into class, slamming a clipboard down on his desk to catch everyone's attention.

"When I call your name you will come up to the front and present your speech." He said. "Afterwards, you will give me your paper so I can mark it."

The room stilled, only a few overconfident and cocky students looked unaffected by the tense atmosphere.

"Choji Akimichi."

Seems like we're going in alphabetical order. I'm going to be waiting for a while.

~~~~~

My turn came and went, and I honestly feel pretty good about it. When Hinata and I presented our speeches to the ANBU unit I used it to figure out how to make my speech better by using Hinata's as an example.

Hinata had a very powerful and persuasive speech, however, due to her stutters and nerves, her pronunciation wasn't all that great.

My speech didn't stand out, but the way I spoke caught attention. Even Iruka seemed surprised by my grasp of English.

If you shock even your teacher, I think you did well.

~~~~~

Naruto's speech was probably the worst.

His pronunciation was so horrid that I barely understood him, and the speech just turned into a rant about his dream for the future.

Whatever could his dream be?

His speech was only powerful in the sense that he yelled through most of it.

I just sighed, leaning back in my chair.

This coat is getting kind of hot...

~~~~~

The coat was getting annoying, so Tenzo and I decided to go shopping for some new clothes.

"How about this as an undershirt?"

I looked at the garment Tenzo held up and nodded.

It was a gray sleeveless undershirt, one that left my shoulder blades free.

"And here is a coat for over top."

I picked up a long dark green overcoat that fasted at the front with a single strap and button. On the sleeves at the shoulders were also two gray stripes.

"This would be good for your waist." Tenzo said.

I took the purple sash from him and nodded. "Perfect. What do you think about these pants?"

I held up a pair of pants that went to just below my knees.

"Good, you can wrap bandages around the rest of your leg to keep the pant legs from flapping. It's much more silent. Good for stealth." Tenzo agreed, adding them to the pile of clothes in his arms. "What about shoes? Do the ones you're wearing still fit?"

"They're getting a little tight." I admitted, wiggling my toes.

"Alright then, dark blue or black?"

"Black."

~~~~~

I admired myself in the mirror, twirling left and right to make my cloak flutter. I glance to the right, seeing the moon the corner of my mirror.

I crack open the window and throw off my cloak, taking off into the cool night.

A/N

Graduation day is coming! Prepare yourselves! Yuuto's updated outfit below!